Chapter 6: The Hunter and the Prey

Verrian and Coreene

The old woman barks out a laugh and whacks at Coreene with the end of her broom. "You people!" she cackles, and turns and swings the bristle-end at Verrian. "You don't care a bent brass coin about any of us except when," *swing* "you," *whack* "come around giving," *smack* "orders!"

"Whoops!"

She overbalances on her last attempted beat-down and tumbles forward awkwardly, well on her way toward falling to the ground.

Trying to dodge the old woman's attacks, Verrian takes a faceful of broom straw just before the woman starts to fall. Acting on an instinct rooted in a much better frame of mind than she currently possesses, Verrian lunges forward to catch the woman before she hits the ground.

Coreene does not resist aside from protecting her face with her arms, and goes to help the old woman when she falls with Verrian.

Uelten takes that lead, being the only one of the MSC crew familiar with Hara. He leads them mostly away from Volcano Girl but generally toward the Silver Gate.

As the party and their growing crowd of hangers-on move to the south, away from the fire, they move into what was once the fancier part of town. At first, the mostly abandoned homes are simply large. A bit farther, as the road starts to climb low hills, they become estates, fenced or walled in many cases. As the road continues to wind through the ever more opulent compounds, you can see that unlike most, one particular estate — the massive home set far back from the gate — shows signs of occupation, with lights of some type around the front entrance and the grounds (from what you can see) are still maintained to some extent. The massive iron gate that would allow someone entrance to the grounds is closed.

The old woman growls and tries weakly to get back to her own feet, but it seems all the fight has left her body.

She looks up at the two who hold her up, and recognition dawns when she sees Coreene.

"You! You’re that woman with the herbs that helps out around here sometimes. The one who came to investigate when Evina went missing."

Frowning, she says, "Are you here for the girl? She’s sleeping inside. Is Evina all right?"

Verrian stares at the woman, stunned. "Is Evina all right? Are you serious? Look around you! The city is on fire. There's a... There's a creature made of fire following it. Nobody is all right! We have to get Minama out of here, and you should come, too!"

Do any of you know who lives here?

Wil asks the crowd streaming by.

We should warn them of what is coming

Wil will look to see if there is a way in without breaking and entering, while waiting for an answer from the crowd.

"We ain’t up in this part of the city very often, sir," says one young man.

An older woman barks out a sharp laugh. "Then maybe y’oughta keep your word flap shut, Joren Bedge.". She aisles up to Wil, walking with a cane made from a twisted branch. "The captain o’ the guard, our so-called mayor, Martin Ghara, took this place over a couple o’ years ago."

"Good guy? Stand up fellow? Always going above and beyond the call of duty to help his neighbor?" Uelten produces a slightly singed piece of parchment to record their answers for a future epic. And here, the turn, he scrawls across the top.

Are there any guards or any other staff near the gate to the mansion? Wil hates to leave any one to the warm embrace of the fire, but he also doesn't want to derail the whole rescue operation.
If he sees anyone he will warn them, if not he leans towards getting these people out.

I suppose we could come back to warn them after we get everyone else out.

Coreene lays a calming hand on Verrian's shoulder. "Evina is as safe as we could manage. She is being escorted from the city by some friends of ours to safety, but we needed to make sure Minama was safe and warn others of the approaching danger."
She furrows her brow in worry as she looks at the old woman. "I will go collect Minama, but I implore you to leave with us. It is no longer safe here."

Yelnar arrives from the rearguard. "Looks to me like they put a lot of effort into separating themselves from other people Wil, be a shame to allow that effort to go to waste. Not to mention folk that do that normally have contingencies in place to make sure they keep their privacy." He puts a hand on one of his wounds and another on his weapon meaningfully as he says the last sentence, raising his eyebrows at Wil.

Ember's been running along in a panic, trying to keep pace. At least Wil has short legs.

I hate holier-than-thous.

She shouts as the travel through the district.

HARA IS BURNING! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

A seamless pairing of efficiency and "not dying".

No worries my friend, I have no desire to fight some fool who would rather be rich than alive. Just looking to see if there are staff close to the gate that can be warned. I have committed to getting this group out. That is enough for now.

Wil means what he said, but he stills looks at the estate with a troubled mien.

Like your auntie always said, you can't save them all.

Not being privy to his inner thoughts, Yelnar is surprised by Wil's outbursts.

Auntie! Damn!

Will searches the crowd for the halfling woman who recognized him.

Yelnar, have you seen any other halflings in the crowd?

Yelnar looks around and tries to recall.

The old woman shakes her head. "Take Minama. She needs to get to safety. I'm not going anywhere," she says as she creakily gets back to a standing position. Her hand is tight on her broom handle, as if it alone can stem the advancement of the fire. "I've lived through war and desolation and the loss of everything else I held dear. This is all I have left to me, and I am not giving it up."

She clasps both hands around her broom and closes her eyes. A faint shimmering glow surrounds her in a golden aura, and then it fades again. Opening her eyes, she says softly, "I will not be in pain. Now go. Take the girl and get your own selves to safety."

Verrian wants to protest; leaving someone behind to almost certain death is not in her nature. But she forces herself to nod and wait for Coreene to return with Minama. She looks around to see how far the fire is from their position.

Coreene goes to find Minama inside, and tries to gently wake her.

The woman that identified the estate gives a loud, barking laugh at Swan's comment. "I 'ppreciate a strong sense of sarcasm. You must be from Hara too," she says, giving him a broad wink. She walks forward, spits on the gate very deliberately, and then turns her back and walks away.

There are a few halflings in the crowd, but none of them are Wil's aunt, and none of them seem to know anyone matching her description. They all seem to have suggestions on where a newcomer to town might have gone. Given that it was only earlier today that the party entered the city, it's likely that she didn't get too far past the gates. One suggests that there's a couple of city blocks in the district near the gate that have a sizable halfling population, an area recognizable as the part of town Coreene and Verrian went to.

People sort of distance themselves from Ember, the small, shouting sorceress, but her cries do seem to at least alert a few people here and there to the danger, and people in the crowd do a reasonable job of finding others that are squatting in this area of the city and getting them on the move.