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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1554348" data-attributes="member: 143">Thanks for the kudos, and yes, I don't think we've seen the last of Dannel...  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious    :]" data-shortname=":]" /> * * * * * Chapter 142“So, do you want to talk about it?” Mole asked.  The companions were walking quickly from the Temple of Helm toward the Drunken Morkoth, where they had rooms they’d been occupying on a semi-permanent basis for the last several months.  As night descended upon the city, Ash Street was fairly quiet, with occasional people headed home after a day’s labors, or toward Lava Avenue and the various taverns there that catered toward the crowd that saw nightfall as an opportunity to throw off the restrictive shackles of the working day. Arun and Hodge walked back a short distance behind Mole and Zenna.  Mole almost had to run to keep up with the taller woman’s pace, but her magical boots made that little difficulty.  Normally Zenna subconsciously slowed her pace to match Mole’s, but tonight the tiefling seemed intent on returning to the inn as rapidly as possible, with no small talk.  Zenna had not responded, and Mole started to ask again, only to be cut off with a hard, “No.”“Look, I know men are crazy and all,” she began, shooting a glance back at Arun and Hodge to make sure that they were out of range of hearing.  The two dwarves, their deliberate, armored steps much slower than Zenna’s brisk walk, were now just shadows a half-block back.  “Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em, yadda yadda ya.  But Dannel’s an important part of our group, we need him—““Not anymore,” Zenna said.  She looked down at her friend without breaking stride, and smiled wistfully.  “We got along all right before, didn’t we?  Just you and me, all those miles on that long road...”“Well, sure.  But here... well, it’s clear that we’re stirred up in a whole big mess of trouble.  And... well, he did save your life...”“It’s done and over,” Zenna said, turning back to the street ahead.  Suddenly, she stopped, so abruptly that Mole had to turn around and come back several paces to join her.  “What is it?”“Do you smell smoke?”Mole tested the air.  “Yeah.  And look, down by the lake.  That looks like the glow of a fire, over there, over the back of those shops...”The clank of metal announced the arrival of the dwarves.  “What’s the matter?” Arun asked. The two women shared a look.  “Trouble,” Mole said. * * * * * The four companions hurried in the direction of the fire.  Even as they drew near to Lava Street, the lowest of the four concentric roads that encircled the city’s central lake, they could hear cries and shouts that indicated the source of the fire.  They emerged from one of the sloped connecting alleys that linked the city’s four main avenues around the crater to a scene of chaos.   Before them stretched the calm black waters of the lake that filled the center of the caldera.  Reflected in the surface of that quiet body were the dancing flames roaring out from the windows and eaves of a waterfront inn, a rambling two-story structure named Mintua’s Board.  A number of half-orc mercenaries were gathered before the inn, hurling bucketfuls of water onto the flames in what seemed to be a fruitless gesture.  The companions rushed closer, in time to see a despondent-looking man clutching his head with his hands as he stared at the flames.  “Me inn!” he cried.  He turned to one of the half-orcs, a hulking brute with a patch over one eye.  “Them’s burnin’ me in, you gots to stop them!”  The half-orc clutched the man by the throat of his torn and soot-stained jerkin, lifting him off his feet.  “Demons of fire inside!  They burn us!  Weapons do nothing!” he screamed, shoving a hunk of metal that looked like it might have once been a weapon into the terrified man’s face.  Arun rushed into the courtyard before the inn.  “Is there anyone left inside?” he shouted, already starting toward the main entry, wreathed in fire and smoke.  “Arun, no!” Zenna yelled.  But before anyone else could respond or take action, a burst of flame exploded from the doorway.  Arun drew back, shielding his face, as the flames solidified into a humanoid form, easily sixteen feet tall, a figure shaped of living flames.  The half-orcs drew back in horror, but the fire-creature was faster as it lunged and caught up one in a fist of flame that wrapped around its throat, lifting it into the air.  Its mottled gray-green flesh turned black and its screams choked off into gasps of agony that in turn died with the mercenary, falling back into a smoldering heap upon the cobblestones of the courtyard.The elemental turned toward Arun.</blockquote>

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