Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 1330048" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the Twenty-SeventhIn which: the party recovers from a night that felt like it lasted three months…The party gathers outside the ruined building.  Even here, the air reeks of smoke, but Reyu gulps the comparatively cleaner atmosphere.  It feels like her lungs will never be clear again.Nearby, Lira coaxes a very wet, sputtering weasel out of her cloak.  Euro quickly runs up to her shoulder, and snorts.No offense Boss, but your hands are freezing.Lira touches a hand to her face and jumps at the sudden cold. She supposes this is what you get for casting nine rays of frost in quick succession.Thatch looks at the devastation all around them.  The Academy still smoulders, but the flames are no longer spreading.  Members of the Watch run down the handful of enemies who have not already fled the scene.  At last, he spots what he’s looking for.  There, in an empty space between two buildings, stands his faithful steed, Bob.Thatch whistles, and the wounded but faithful warhorse slowly makes his way back to his master.  Thatch pats him on the neck reassuringly, and looks around to see if there is a healer available.Instead, he sees a dark figure, standing at the edge of the Academy grounds.  With a start, Thatch realizes it appears to be staring at him and his companions.“Thatch!  You coming?” The young fighter turns to see that the others are already making their way towards the street, leaving the final mopping up in the capable hands of the City Watch and fire brigade.  He hesitates, looks back at the shadowy figure… but it has already vanished.**********Mrs. Blackburn is considerably less than pleased to have three of her boarders coming in after midnight, filthy and reeking of smoke.  “Never in my life!” she exclaims, although the force of her scolding is largely lost on its intended targets.  “I run a respectable establishment, I do, and here you are, coming in at all hours, up to gods know what--”  She turns to the stairs and spies Tessa watching.  “What did I tell you about them?” she demands of her daughter.  “I told you they were trouble.  Do you want to end up like this!?”Reyu breaks into the landlady’s harangue.  “Would it be possible to get a bath?”“A bath?!?  At this hour?  Of all the—““It’s that or smoky sheets tomorrow,” Lira offers, managing a vague shadow of her usual charming smile.  “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”Mrs. Blackburn continues to mutter to herself as she turns up the stairs to heat the bath-water.******************Lira is dead tired.  Still, she has enough energy left to be glad that she isn’t dead.  She dries off from the bath and slips into her night-shirt, covering the scars that the beast’s claws have left across her belly.  Despite magical healing, Reyu and Anvil bear souvenirs of their encounters with the shadow creatures as well.  The priests at Anvil’s temple have no explanation, and can only guess that the marks are permanent.Lira shudders at the memory of the burning claws.  One thing she is sure of.  Whether by nature or by training, those things were hunting spell-casters.****************</blockquote>

Verification