One of the villagers steps up and volunteers to challenge the half-dragon. He introduces himself as Sergeant Markguth, and he looks like a capable warrior, for a villager, though a little beat up from the day's skirmishes. Governor Nighthill pulls Bilbo aside and encourages her not to let Markguth challenge the half-dragon, as he would likely lose his life - which he probably knows, but the captives are his sister and her children, so it is a sacrifice he is willing to make. Bilbo assures Nighthill that she can fight the half-dragon, though as she says so, she wonders herself whether she is walking to her death.

The adventurers gather all their resources in support of Bilbo. Karat gives her the Staff of Defense, which adds some magical capability to her armor, and also five potions of healing. Bilbo drinks one of them immediately to make herself as strong as possible. Karat also casts a Protection from Energy spell over Bilbo, against lightning, in order to blunt the half-dragon's most potent weapon. Elbolin asks Nighthill whether they have anything else at hand that might help, but Nighthill says they have nothing except warriors and conventional weapons, which are not likely to help.

The adventurers also make a backup plan, just in case this is some sort of trap. Hooflepoof prepares to take a potion of invisibility, such that if things go awry, he can use his Cloak of Invisibility to hide the woman prisoner and escort her out of danger.

As prepared as she can be, Bilbo steadies her strongest voice and calls out to the half-dragon, "I will accept your challenge. I am the notorious human fighter Bilbo, from Corlinn Hill. And with whom may I have the pleasure of battling today?"

"I am Langdedrosa Cyanwrath, champion of the Cult of the Dragon," answers the half-dragon. "From me you can expect to be soundly defeated in a fair fight, with no magic or trickery."

"Fair enough," says Bilbo, "I am coming out, with a few of my friends to keep an eye on the fight."

The villagers open the gates of the keep and Bilbo strides out, flanked by Karat, Elbolin, Black Barry, and Gourbain. Hooflepoof and Elfo stay inside the keep, watching from just inside the door - Hooflepoof in case he needs to rescue the woman, and Elfo in case any of his spells might be useful. Bilbo walks up to face Cyanwrath, about 10 feet away, and his friends form a semicircle 20 feet or so behind him, much as dozens of kobolds and cultists form a semicircle behind Cyanwrath.

"All right, champion of Greenest, let's get this show on the road," snarls Cyanwrath, and pointing to a kobold off to his left, "give us a count down from ten."

"Wait a second," says Bilbo, "you said you would release the children if we accepted your challenge."

"Indeed I did," answers Cyanwrath, with a wry laugh that implies his mistake wasn't accidental. Beckoning to the children, he commands the cultists to release them, and then again to the kobold to begin the count.

The kobold starts tentatively "ten... seven... four..." and everyone is a little confused, but then Cyanwrath realizes that the kobold can't count, so reassigns the task to a human cultist, who counts down in the expected manner, and the battle begins.

Cyanwrath begins with two shots of lightning, which do minor damage to Bilbo due to the resistance of Karat's spell. Bilbo stays far away at first, to avoid Cyanwrath's double melee attack and force him instead to use  lightning, to which she has resistance, and uses her heavy crossbow to damage the half-dragon from a distance. But soon he starts to feel that his lightning isn't doing that much damage, so he closes the distance and begins to use his melee weapons. Bilbo finds his greataxe lands well on the half-dragon, and the half-dragons melee weapons aren't that much more potent than the lightning, which would be quite deadly except for the magic resistance.

In spite of Bilbo's bravery and toughness, Cyanwrath clearly has the upper hand, and nearly kills Bilbo, except that Karat very quietly sends over a Prayer of Healing, which unfortunately nearly misses Bilbo, so Karat is forced to use another spell to give Bilbo just enough health to survive and continue the fight, and with a few lucky strikes with her greataxe, the half-dragon falls. Bilbo nearly collapses from exhaustion, but not before slitting the throat of the half-dragon. Immediately the crowd of cultists retreats into the dark, and seeing this, the villagers stream out of the keep, whooping and cheering. Bilbo finds the woman, abandoned by her captors, and holds up one of her arms over their heads in victory.

Bilbo chastises his friends like "you who had so little faith in me - I showed you!" but everyone is just too relieved and elated to argue. Governor Nighthill congratulates Bilbo with "nice fighting, lass - I'll admit toward the end there I thought you were dead, but you came through for us!"

Governor Nighthill invites them to stay the night at the town's inn, which is nearby, and to come by the town hall in the morning; he says he hopes to give them a reward, if he has anything left after the raids. They find the inn partially burned and full of dust and debris, but the grateful townsfolk quickly make up rooms for the new heroes and fix them a dinner fit for kings. After the meal, the adventurers collapse exhausted into their beds.