Elise enters the red door

It's hot in here. Too hot. Elise tugs at the neck of her chainmail shirt, sweat pouring down her face as she walks down a dark tunnel lined with bubbling magma pits. Who knew this was the fire-themed part of the dungeon? It didn't say anything about that in the riddle!

She hears a screech, and her sword comes around in a flash as another fire imp jumps at her, screeching out of the shadows. The little monsters aren't too much trouble, so far, but she's got a suspicion there's something worse around the corner. It's early in the dungeon, after all.

The imp explodes into a puff of ash as her blade slices through it. She calmly blows smoke off the sword's tip, wishing there was someone around to see how cool she looked doing it. After all, she thinks, there's nothing more badass and impressive than being a paladin of Etherial. She pats at her hip where a stray cinder has scorched a hole in her leather breeches, frowning, and rounds the corner into the next room.

In the room's centre, a bubbling lake of lava. In the centre of the lake, an island. On the island, a pedestal of black stone. On top of the pedestal, a golden key, clearly visible even from a distance. On the other side of the room, a door, locked, with a conspicuous golden padlock. A few firebats hanging from stalactites in the ceiling. Elise sizes it all up. There's even a few stepping-stones leading across the lake towards the island. It's pretty clear what she has to do.

But as soon as she steps towards the lake, she feels her chainmail grow uncomfortably hot. It gets even hotter as she approaches the stepping-stones, making her sweat even more inside her leather breeches. Just a little too hot to handle. And her armour makes her fairly clumsy. Might not be the thing for jumping across a burning lake.

There's one obvious solution. After all, it would only be for a second.