This adventure came from a freelance, message board RPG based on the Final Fantasy job class setup. During this quest, I was playing a Summoner and was joined by a Ranger, Paladin, Thief, and Warrior. We were questing through a place known as the Vanishing Mines, a quite mysterious place that we knew little about. Thankfully in this case, we only needed to know one thing: there was treasure here, or so we were told by our greedy Thief.

We fought our way easily through the tunnels of the mines, never really breaking a sweat, when we finally made it to a giant room with a light shining down from a hole or window high in the top of the room. There was a giant armored statue at the far end of the room with what seemed to be a chest under one of its feet. We cautiously entered the room, spying around for any signs of trouble. There seemed to be nothing here except the statue and the chest that was trapped under it. After careful examination, we finally proceeded to check out the chest. It was a standard lift-top chest, but there was no way to move the statue to get the chest open.

After examining the room once more, our Ranger climbed to the top of the statue in an attempt to find a way to move it when he found a lever. We decided that we had come this far, we were not going to leave without trying everything, so we told the Ranger to pull the lever. It looked like we had succeeded, because the statue came to life. Needless to say, this sentry wasn't going to let us take the treasure as it quickly (for a giant) grabbed the Ranger and tossed him to the ground. Our Warrior and Paladin rushed to his aid and drew their weapons to combat this giant. The Thief was sneaking toward the chest with hopes of finding out what was inside. I summoned forth Shiva and ran to join my companions. It didn't take long for the giant to notice the Thief going toward the chest and to turn its attention that direction. We all ran to the chest to defend our greedy friend, encircling him.

As we held our position, the giant stopped and suddenly punched a rune on the wall, setting a trap into motion. We were ejected from the room and into an area we had passed a few floors back. After checking to make sure everyone was fine, we traveled back to the giant's room. There was now a solid stone door blocking our progress back into the room. There was no handle, so the Warrior and Paladin both tried pushing the door to no avail.

We finally decided that a team effort might do the trick, and we all charged the door. We didn't so much as budge the door, so the Ranger decided that perhaps he could make up some explosives that would do the trick. He lined the door with his special powder and asked me to light it. I dismissed Shiva and called upon Ifrit. We all backed away, and I commanded Ifrit to ignite the powder. The explosion didn't even so much as dent the door, but the smoke from the blast made the area difficult to breathe in. We had to escape with no treasure. Our Thief was severely disappointed.

We figured that sometimes the simple way is the right way, so we just knocked on the door. Much to our surprise, it opened. The giant that was inside was once again frozen in place, but this time the chest was not underneath its foot. Our Thief quickly ran to the chest to see what was inside. We each obtained a magical ring for our troubles.

We finally decided that a team effort might do the trick and we all charged the door. We didn't so much as budge the door; however, Shiva traveled right through the door into the giant's room. Upon seeing this, we heard a loud crashing sound in the room beyond. I quickly called for Shiva to return to us and seconds after she magically passed through the solid door once more, the giant smashed through the door in pursuit. We fought the giant in the cramped hallway and defeated it. Upon reentering the room, the chest was free for looting. We each obtained a magical weapon for our troubles.