[Slight backpost]

Even though Aelistae chokes back her own tears, Linnix cries for the two of them.

"That's sad." Linnix says, in between tears.

"My parents... they held quite a few expectations on me and my sister. They were totally into the whole idea of economy, making money based on overpricing and other such things. They expected my sister and I to eventually take over that whole 'business' they built. I didn't much care for it, so I left, without..." Linnix bites her lip, and a few more tears flow down her face, "I didn't even consider Caera at that time; I just ran away by myself. It wasn't until much later that I found out that they, my parents and Caera, had started to develop another building project, and there was a fire. None of them survived, not even Caera."

Linnix takes a deep breath, and rubs her eyes, "I'm going to continue to dance. I know the song too now, and I know I can dance. I'll dance with you and Caera, my sisters."

Linnix chuckles, "I just wish we could have danced from the beginning, together."

“Sisters,” Aelistae echoed simply, after Linnix had spoken.

“Some day, when all this is done, I will take you to the Promenade - the holiest shrine to Our Lady. There is a chamber there where just one song had been sung continuously for over a thousand years, to remember all those who have passed on in Her service. We will go there, lift our voices to join that song, and add Caera’s name to it.”

Aelistae smiled, but before she could add anything more, a knock at the door stole her attention.

“Misses,” a soft, voice spoke through the door, “I bring you a bottle of wine, some hot tea, and some fresh drop biscuits as a courtesy from a man downstairs. Before leaving, he wanted me to extend his sincerest gratitude for the show you put on, and can only hope you’ll be around again in the future to provide such a spectacle.”

“That’s…most kind,” Aelistae replied after she had walked over and opened the door. She absently dropped her hand to her waist, as the woman bustled past to lay down her tray, only to realize that she had no coin with which to express her thanks to the woman.

“I don’t have my purse with me, but, please, join us if you will,” she offered, before pouring some tea for herself and Linnix and nibbling on the edge of a biscuit.

(as confirmed through Msn)

Linnix and Aelistae accepted the wine, tea and biscuits from the barmaid, inviting her to partake in their unexpected bounty. With a yawn, the barmaid stepped into the room. “I really simply wish I could head to bed, but perhaps a little tea and biscuit might tide me over till I can finish cleaning and find rest this late night. Looking towards the two elegantly dressed women, and then at her own stained apron and common blouse she shook her head. “On second thought, perhaps I’ll just take a biscuit to go. There is still so much to be done, not everyone has the luxury to wine and dine this night.” Plucking a biscuit from the silver platter, she bowed her head low, returning to her place of servitude as she left, and closed the door behind her.

Her footsteps faded down the hall, and Linnix and Aelistae continued to work on their bond which had strengthened to a new level tonight. They talked for anther minute or so while partaking of the gift brought to them, when suddenly both realized they were very sleepy. Their word’s began to slur as their eyes drooped. Linnix looked down at the glass of crimson which swirled before her, even as her biscuit fell from numb fingertips.
The last words Aelistae could make out before unconsciousness claimed her were Linnix’s lips moving to form the words “Aw Hell” as she too slipped over to land gently upon her bed.

The cup slowly rocked in Aelistae’s hand, and the tea within swirled hypnotically to its own rhythm. She tried to lift her eyes from it but she found she could not. The whole world was suddenly spinning and Aelistae was spinning with it.

“Elg’cahl…”* she muttered, feeling the same numbness creep over her as she had decades before in Menzoberranzen.

The cup crashed suddenly upon the wooden floor. And soon Aelistae joined it.

OOC: *“Poison…”

Loriel leaped up with Kass and started moving to where smoke billowed out of the chimney and windows. She took took a clue from Kas and soaked her cloak in a tough an slung it around her. She ran alongside the woman helping her along. Listening to anything the panicked woman said.

Fire could so easily get out of control in such a crowded city. Houses and shops were so closely packed that it spread easily. Let the fire brigade handle that, what concerned her was the child and whoever this Mr. Wuggles was.

Artanis was about halfway up the stairs on her way to bed, when a woman burst through the door screaming about her house being on fire, and two people still being inside. One was a baby.

Glad she was dressed for the task, Artanis jumped over the side of the stairs, landing in a crouch and springing forward at a run toward the front door. She followed Kas, Loriel and the woman into the night and toward the house. She could see the flames beating angrily against the windows as they tried to consume everything in their path. Knowing she could not run into the house dry as she was, she followed suit and stopped at a water trough only long enough to dip her entire body in the water, cloak included, before jumping out and sprinting to catch up with the rest.

As they drew ever closer to the burning building, Artanis yelled her question to the woman, “In which rooms are the baby and Mr. Wuggles?” She looked back at the house as she continued, “How do I get to the rooms? How old is the child and what is his/her name?”
Even as she spoke, Artanis pulled her hood up over her head, and searched for a way into the building to go after the child first, then the man once the child was safely out.

Artanis, Kas and Loriel all jumped up to help the poor woman in distress, all taking the time to try and prepare for the necessary entering of the burning building. Kas simply confiscated the nearest cloak she could find, a beautiful black velvet and suede riding cloak with gold filigree and embroidery depicting a raised horse in gold stitching. As Kas fled from the Green Gryphon, the owner of the cloak stood up so quickly he knocked his chair over. “Stop! Thief! That cloak cost me two heads of cattle!”

Xaris however it seemed was just too plumb tuckered out from the day’s activities, and remained in his chair watching the others take off. (Lack of posting means lack of action)

Kas couldn’t be bothered however, her mind was set. She and Loriel both dunked their cloaks in a nearby watering trough, while Artanis, typical of her brazen fashion simply jumped into the entire thing, knocking it over but sufficiently covering herself in a wet sticky layer of cloth much to the disapproval of the horses nearby, now denied their drink.

Who is Mr Wuggles, and where the occupants are seemed to be the two questions on everyone’s minds, and the woman did her best to explain. “Maribelle is my daughter’s name, she’s only a few months old, the nursery is upstairs near the back of the house. Mr Wuggles is my cat, been the only company I’ve ‘ad since my no good husband took off to shack with some dirty little trollop ‘alf ‘is age. Didn’t know I was with child I bet, didn’t much care to check up on it ‘after the fact anyways. Please, you’ve got to save them, they be the only family I ‘ave left!”

As the small group of people gathered around the burning building parted for the mother and three adventurers, they took a better look at the building. While the outside front façade had some decorative stone, the entire structure was framed and fortified in wood, clearly decades old. The old manor house consisted of two floors above ground that could be seen, as well as an attic area in which a single small window led out to the roof. The front door was wide open, and fire claimed the first floor almost entirely as walls were covered in uncontrolled fire, support beams cringed under the assault of heat and gouts of flame escaped through the windows, doorway, even cracks between the boarding of the house’s exterior walls, seeking any fresh oxygen it could to feed its insatiable hunger.

The first floor looked as though once it might have contained lush furniture of deep woods; a parlor lost to the damages of fire and a small closed room across the hall from it, presumably a bathroom of some sort were on the ladies’ left. While on the right, was once presumably the kitchen and dining area, a large table on the right still bearing the remnants of the evening meal, and the wood stove at the far end stood foreboding, while the iron grate clattered against the hinges as though something were desperate to escape.

Straight across from the front door was a staircase leading upstairs, and with a look of support and urgency amongst themselves, the three women rushed into the burning domicile, as even now flames crept along the railing and wall supporting the stairwell leading upstairs. And spreading untamed to claim more resources for their fueling on the second floor. The iron grate on the wood stove shook violently again as a faint cry muffled with interspersed coughing could be heard from above, and the ladies new time was of the essence. The heat was incredible, and flames licked at the women whenever they neared something alaze, which was practically the entire first floor. Their wet cloaks wrapped tightly around them sizzled in protest to the temperature. While offering meager protection for the time being, even they would not offer resistance for long.

(Your preparation with the wet cloaks has netted you 2 minutes (or twenty rounds) of 'heat/fire resistance for the purpose of searching. Obviously jumping through fire, or other unforseen obstacles will decrease that amount and when expired you will begin to take fire damage, and suffocation damage as well the longer you are within as the fire consumes any usable oxygen. Good luck!)

Without bothering to hear the rest of the woman’s words regarding the cat, Artanis ran straight into the house and up the stairs. She ran towards the back of the upstairs area, following the baby’s cries. She could feel the heat of the fire trying to envelope her, but she refused to acknowledge it. The only thing on her mind was getting to that baby.

She dodged, jumped over, stooped beneath, and or pushed out of her path, anything that may have been in her way until she found the baby. When, and if, she was able to do so, she carefully, but quickly snatched up the baby from wherever she was and held her close to her beneath her cloak. Once the baby was secure in her arms, she turned and ran back toward the stairs to exit the house, coughing as she went.

Artanis braved the flames that licked at her heels, and ruhed for the stairs, making great strides as she took the burning apparatus of assention to the second story. The fire here had spread as well, fortunately though not as much as on the first floor, except along the walls. It appeared the fire was eating away at the insulation between the walls, and had exploded in some places back onto the second floor.

Artanis rushed for the direcion of the nursery, ignoring the three other doorways she passed to get there. In fact, she even ran right under an attack ladder, leaning against the wall in the hallway leading upwards.

Artanis rounded the corner into the nursery, the once sky blue paint blotched and bubbling in some places fom the heat of the flames behind them. another cry came forth, and Artanis rushed to the crib, leaned over the side...

and was met with a tiny form of fire ( about 1.5 ft tall)atop a scorched set of blankets which cackled in devilish glee. "What, fire catch your tongue? baby's not here, try again!" It said as it lept from the crib at Artanis catching her square in the face as it latched on with a burning grip. (40/42hp) (Artanis is now grappled with a diminuative fire elemental, and effectively blinded as well)

Artanis' gasp of shock and pain is met with a cruel laughter which hangs in the air, but which its location is untraceable.


~*~*~

Meanwhile downstairs, the iron gril of the wood stove burst forth, as a pair of fire elementals of like size burst forth from their enclosure, running around frantically touching whatever they can to spread the fire faster as they aproach Loriel and Kas. "Burn burn to the ground, leave no traces to be found, burn burn bone to ash, and Jethro shall collect his cash!" The same cruel laughter filters through the downstairs, coupled with the tormented outcry of a feline, from somewhere upstairs.

Gasping in shock, Artanis turns to leave the room, but is too slow. Suddenly, not only is her face on fire, but she can’t see a damned thing! She grabs at the thing on her face, effectively burning her hand, and chunks it at the window. “Hmph! Maybe I’ll get lucky for once and it’ll fall in a trough full of water!” she thinks as she runs out of the room while blinking rapidly trying to see where she is going.

Once outside of the room, she feels slightly disoriented. “MARIBELLE” She screams, “WHERE ARE YOU?!” Her hope at finding the baby almost lost, she notices, through blurred vision, that there are a couple other doors in the hallway. She runs to the first one, throwing all her weight against it while turning the handle at the same time to get the door open.

Kas casts a Blessing on them just before entering the burning building, it was all she could do to help them. She races through the burning first floor to and takes the stairs two at a time. Seeing Artanis head straight to where the lady said the nursery was, Kas starts opening doors into the other rooms. She looks quickly under the furniture and in the corners where cats like to hide. She also takes note of windows that they might use as an escape route. She calls out for the cat, “Mr. Wuggles,” sure that Artanis would have the child soon in hand.

If she can find no sign of the cat in this room she will go to the next.

At some point she hears Artanis scream out, “MARIBELLE, WHERE ARE YOU?!”

That did not bode well.

Loriel raced after Artanis and Kas upstairs. Being last she saw the elemental erupt from the stove and heard what they said. "Burn, burn to the ground, leave no traces to be found, burn burn bone to ash, and Jethro shall collect his cash!" The same cruel laughter filters through the downstairs, coupled with the tormented outcry of a feline, from somewhere upstairs.
Loriel remember those words but filed them away for know, knowing that someone had caused this

The tormented cry of the cat led her upwards. Trying to think like a cat she knew it would hide away is a spot where it felt safe. She had hoped it would have fled but that cry led her to believe it hadn’t. So she looked and listened for any clue that would lead her to locate the cart or the child in cast the others had not.

“Do you have the baby?” She called out as she reached the second floor. “Hurry, someone is intentionally trying to burn this place down. There are two fire elementals below,”

“MARIBELLE, WHERE ARE YOU?!”
That did not bode well.

Artanis had painfully grabbed at the miniscule fire elemental which had latched onto her face, tearing it free and throwing it out the window, at the expense of her own hands now a deep red and blistering. (Artanis 37/43hp)The tiny flaming creature flew out the window with a crash, and streaked downwards to land in the flower bed with a thud. It quickly hopped up, before happily running around the prized Begonias's and turning them to wilted scorched remannts of their once beautiful selves. Some spectator's saw this, and the crowd began to panic, until a lone figure in flowing pale blue robes stepped forward, and with a single word, shot a ray of icy frost from his fingetip, to strike the tiny elemental causing it to shudder and puff out like a snuffed cigarette. His platinum blonde hair an pointed ears were a give away of his heritage, and he motioned for the crowd to give him room while he fell into another spell.

ARtanis had run from the room, blinking away the blindness and red haze which filled her vision, as Loriel and Kas ran upstairs to join her in the search. Artanis put all her weight into a push at a closed door while turning the handle, and nearly toppled over as the door easily opened in her hand and she stumbled through. To meet her gaze was more fire damage in the remnants of a beroom, possibly a spare as there seemed fewer furnishings, and a half empty closet was stacked with more storage than clothes, much of which was already smoldering itself. jumping up and down on the bed was another small elemental. "Boing boing boing boing" it chirped between the crackling sound of wood ablaze. It looked at artanis and whisps of orange almost formed the resemblance of a fiery grin. It jumped up one last time on the bed, but the fire weakened frame and destroyed matress would no longer support it and it sank into the matress and box spring, stuck for the moment as it burned angrily he material around it.

Loriel bid the other hurry, as she peered behind her at the unwanted and unwelcomed ompany. The fire elementals down below had given chase, and were ever so slowly juming up the stairs, one step at a time, seemingly in no real hurry to approach the women upstairs, happy to simply burn more of the building around them.

Kas hurried into the first room she came across, the open doorway leading to a bathroom of sorts, a large ceramic tub resting against the back wall, with a wash basin, small countertop and toilet flling the rest of the 5' x 14' room. In the tub, Mr. Wuggles meowed in protest, hissing and whimpering as before it, peering over the side of the tub was a slightly larger Fire elemental. (this one is about 2 1'2 feet tall.) It was revelling in the singing of the cat's hair, firing little gouts of flame at the poor kitty, a once beautiful persian now mottled with ashed and blackened fur. As Kas enters, the fire elemental turns, a small ball of flame appearing in it's fiery appendage. (the sie of a tennis ball)

Kas does not falter ar the sight of the threatening fire elemental, but looks of a bucket or ewer of water, usually keep in such a place to wash up. If she finds it she will throw it over the fire elemental. If there is no water the she whips off the cloak and throws it over the fire elemental and then makes a grab for the cat and then wraps it up in the cloak, or if she tossed the cloak over the elemental then she wraps it in the skirt of her dress.

"I HAVE THE CAT!" She yells at the top of her voice.

She then grabs back her cloak, if she had to throw it.

Artanis crashed through the door, stumbling as she went. A quick glance around the almost empty room told her the child would not be found in there. A frustrated sound, almost like a growl, echoed in the room as Artanis turned and ran back into the hallway. She knew time was running out, and she had none to waste. Scanning the hallway again, her gaze fell upon the ladder. Her eyes followed it upward, and almost before the thought had formed fully in her head, she was practically running up the ladder and into the attic.

As soon as she entered the attic she scanned the room thoroughly, fighting hard to keep the panic at bay. The need to get the baby out of this house consumed her. She could think of nothing else. "I have the cat." Barely even filtered through her focused mind.