Loriel started looking into the rooms whose doors were still shut.
The woman had said the baby was but a few months old so it can’t really get anywhere under it own power. She found the back room and the crib but no baby. Why wasn’t it in it;s crib? Was this all some trick to get them in here.

Then Loriel heard Kas yell "I HAVE THE CAT!" at the top of her voice. So that wasn’t a lie. She redoubled her efforts to find the baby.

“Artanis, have you found the baby?” Loriel yells even as she hurriedly checks out the rooms and any place a babe could be. Still in the back of her mind are questions that have been raised. She knew that she would be asking them and expecting answers for each of them.

The house creaked and moaned in protest as the women desperately hastened their search once more in hopes of finding the child, and recovering her and the infamous Mr. Wuggles. A beam cracked and split somewhere below, and all three women felt the house actually shift beneath them. Kas stared down the fire elemental for but a moment, before searching for water, however the basin was currently empty; no more than a couple hand fulls of liquid sitting in the bottom of the curved bowl. Taking off her cloak, she moved to throw it at the Elemental, who responded with a hurl of his own, the fiery projectile catching Kas’ elegant dress and her bare skin behind it with a painful burn. (Kas 29/30) Quickly patting it out Kas was able to prevent her dress from catching fire however. Her borrowed cloak flew at the Fire elemental, but its heavy fabric, combined with the added water didn’t open nearly as nicely as KAs had hoped, and barely draped across the fire elemental, steam rising from the thing a almost immediately it began to burn its way through the expensive cloak. Kas could not be bothered by material things however, and she moved alongside the elemental which seethed the fiery hues of anger and reached for the kitten, which clawed at her defensively in fear, but did not draw blood.

As Kas turned to leave however, the elemental swatted at her leg, thankfully missing the woman, who held the terrified kitten in the clutches of her dress’ material. She turned to grab at the cloak, but so enflamed and scorched was it that it was already almost half consumed by the heat and flames of the elemental, and was lost. Running from the room, she called “I HAVE THE CAT!” and prayed the infant had been located as well.

Loriel too checked in the next room, battering down the door to reveal what must have been the master bedroom, as ponce polished floors and a large four poster bed immediately met her gaze. The bedroom, for the most part was still in tact, the windows, both framed in expensive trimming of a foreign white wood were in tact, and though the heat in this room was rising with he opening of the door, for a moment, their was a wave of relief as the relatively cool air of the sealed room washed over Loriel. The room contained two other closed doors, presumably to a closet and an antechamber. In the corner of the room, ironically was a fireplace, though thankfully it remained empty, only the ash of previously consumed logs covered the bottom. A small stack of chorded firewood lay in a neat pile beside it. One might presume this fireplace lay in such a position as to share the same flue and chimney as the one below it in the parlor. Aove the mantle was a plaque, the words “For service to the Kingdom, We recognize Augustus Miller, and bequeath him with this blade of honor. Sitting across a pair of mounts affixed to the plaque is a longsword, wreathed in silver and gold, with a highly polished edge. The blade is of high quality, though weather suitable for actual combat due to it’s ornamental appearance is hard to tell. “Artanis, have you found the baby?” Loriel yelled, hoping the others had had more luck than she.

Artanis was in her one track mind, as she hurried up the ladder into the attic. As soon as her head popped up through the entrance however, a thin ray of flame shot past her catching the gathered relics and storage behind her ablaze and the flames quickly began to spread up into the thatching of the roof.. Then came that same cruel laughter, coupled with a baby’s cries. “Hush little baby, speak not out of turn, lest dear old uncle Jethro leave you in this house to burn Mwa ha ha!” Artanis could see that by the back window, the only one in the attic stood a man wreathed in a veil of thin wispy blue-green flames, clutching the child against his chest in one arm tough apparently neither were in any form of pain. “Glad you ladies could join me for this little bonfire Hehehe! Come, dance with me and my fiery little friends ha ha!” At his words, all the fire elementals in the house began chanting, as they exited rooms into the hallway rom the bedroom and bathroom, and clamored up the stairs to seal off escape from below with a trail of fire and destruction behind them. The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire; we don’t need no water let the entire structure burn!”


Outside, the elf in the pale blue robe finished his spell, and a shimmering barrier encased him, and with a pull of his robe around to mask his mouth, he too darted into the inferno, small wand in hand.

Fire flew past her almost before she realized it had even been hurled in her direction. The items being stored up there were now ablaze, filling the attic with light. The baby’s cries ‘caused her head to whip about to look in the direction of the man holding the child. Her heart stopped in her chest as she gaped at the man who appeared to be engulfed in a strange sort of blue flame. Neither the man, nor the child seemed in any pain, and as such, Artanis breathed a momentary sigh of relief for that small favor.

“Glad you ladies could join me for this little bonfire Hehehe! Come, dance with me and my fiery little friends ha ha!”

Artanis climbed the rest of the way into the attic, stepping away from the entrance, and closer to where the man held the baby. “What do you want with the child? Why are you burning this house down?” Even as she spoke she took her shield from her back and held it before her. She also drew her sword.

”Just hand me the baby.” As she said this she slowly stepped closer to the figure, her heart beating faster with each step. All she knew was she had to get the baby away from this deranged man, and find a way out of the house. The child must be saved.

Vision reluctantly returned to Linnix and Aelistae as the numbing sensation which had striped them of the capability to move slowly wore off. The two ladies found themselves in a small room, and as they looked around they took in their surroundings. They were on a polished wooden floor, on what appeared to be a ten foot long by five foot deep stage of sorts, the back wall a solid deep red wood and before them iron bars of steel with a locked door on the left hand side. Dancing lights seemed to hover and swirl all around the room, illuminating the surroundings and each other to their eyes. Linnix’s dress was still on her, but as for her makeup what once was a simple layer to highlight her already pretty features was now a caked on layer of white compact, ruby red lipstick and bright black eyeliner that made her appear the part of a porcelain doll. Aelistae was no better off, the white chalky make up irritated her skin, and was an affront to her natural ebony beauty.
Whimpering in the corner was the barmaid who had fed them the meal, equally done up in make up, and now wearing a rather scantily skirt of plain linen, white to match her ‘new look.’The three women had been presented like Geisha girls, and as they looked out through the bars to the room beyond, they soon understood why.

The room was abuzz with activity, men, women, and even creatures whose gender was undetectable were gathered in the small 10x20ft room. Some were dressed elegantly, and other’s garbed as warriors, and most notably, slavers given their customary green bandana with a ball and chain etched into the fabric. There were a dozen patrons here this evening, and they leered at the women, even now some of them counting coins and jewels and calling out to the women.

Near the back of the room, by the single black curtain which draped down to the floor denying any vision into the world beyond the room stood a man with dark bronze skin, bald headed, with a bulging muscular chest and a simple gold sash across his shoulder leading to his hip. As he smacked the small cudgel on the podium before him the crowd began to simmer down and he spoke, his voice heavily laced with a Calims***e accent. “Tonight ladies and gentlemen we present to you a fine trio of women to add to your collections. The serving wench Tessa, from the Green Gryphon right here in Tethyr, already trained to serve and answer to your every need, see how pretty and submissive she is? Then there is the woman named Linnix, who with a little more training might prove to be quite the dancer, but her natural beauty and grace are easily seen, and while I hear she’s quite the little firecracker, I’m sure you all know how to teach obedience to your pets am I right?” To that the crowd murmured and jeered.

“Finally, and I know this is the reason some of you have traveled from so far away this night, is Aelistae, a genuine priestess, and a drow to boot! A touch cookie to crack I’d imagine, but we’ve all heard, and some of us have been privileged to the rumored legendary bedroom prowess of the dark elves. Perhaps it is time to wipe the arrogant smirk from their lineage, and replace their bastard god’s with a prayer of your name? She’s a magnificent dancer to that I can attest, and will add great value to any collection across the land, for surely a rare collectable such as her is found but once a lifetime.

Bidding will begin in five minutes, take the time to assess these beautiful women, and count your pocketbooks ladies and gentlemen, for you surely shall not be disappointed.

Jethro cackled at the warrior before him gingerly stepped forward and drew sword and shield. "Mwa ha!, you are either very brave or very foolish." He said as he held his free hand to the baby and his finger glowed red with an incandescent radiance. "My wants for the baby, are hardly your concern, and as for the house? Well, it separated you and your friends did it not? I'd imagine the rest of them are equally enjoying the hospitality of me compatriots at this very moment." With that he cackled in glee once again, causing the baby to shirek in a wail of annoyance and cough sputtering eve nas the flames began to creep along the roof and floor behind Artanis, quickly moving to cut off any chance for escape. "What does one do when caught between the frying pan and the oven hmmm?" His question was sinister and he almost dared Artanis to step forward again.

"Mwa ha!, you are either very brave or very foolish." Came the mocking words of the man who held the baby captive. "My wants for the baby, are hardly your concern, and as for the house? Well, it separated you and your friends did it not? I'd imagine the rest of them are equally enjoying the hospitality of me compatriots at this very moment."
“I’m neither brave, nor foolish. I just want the baby to be safe and back in her Mother’s arms where she belongs.” She didn’t have time to stop and consider the meaning of the man’s words regarding having separated her and her friends, or about the others enjoying the “hospitality” of this man’s compatriots. She only hoped she would have time later to ponder the meaning of his words.

Artanis’ eyes looked at the bundle in the man’s arms that was the baby as she began to wail again. She looked behind her as the flames grew, engulfing that part of the attic, effectively trapping her, and the baby, the heat growing more intense by the second. Then her eyes snapped back around to look at the man’s face as he taunted:

"What does one do when caught between the frying pan and the oven hmmm?" The look on his face practically dared her to move closer.

Without a second thought, Artanis did just that. She stepped closer still. She didn't know exactly how she would do it, she only knew she had to get Maribelle away from him, and out of this burning inferno, or die trying. She would not walk away without the baby. Not this time.

A shrill scream rent the air that was already thick with smoke and the smell of charred flesh. But there was no answer. That lone voice was lost amidst thousands more raised in glee or filled with the furtive prayers of the dying.

She ran. Or at least she tried to run, but her legs buckled beneath her and she fell in an undignified heap upon the cool, obsidian floor.

“Mistress?” a smooth, oily voice inquired from somewhere behind her. Her head willed her neck to turn so she could see who it was, but it barely moved. All she could see was a dark shadow out of the corner of her eye – one that soon fell on top of her.

“Who…who are you?” she rasped, her tongue suddenly numb.

“Oh, Mistress, all these years in service and still you do not know me?” the shadow replied, breathing heavily upon the back of her neck. “Don’t worry, soon you will.”

She tried to scream again. But couldn’t.

She slipped into unconsciousness. And she was thankful.
Aelistae’s eyes flicked open. Her head pounded, and she shook it in an effort to dispel the pain and the nightmare that she had had. But neither would leave her. The pain focused into a sharp throb behind her eyes, and the memory or dream grew more real. Everywhere she turned she saw that shadow, smelt his breath, felt…

‘Calm yourself,’ a voice within her uttered. ‘Now’s not the time to dredge up memories of the past.’
She nodded weakly in answer, and rose to leave the nightmare behind. Unfortunately for Aelistae, she only found herself entering another.

Her drow eyes blurred into focus and spied the three walls and iron bars that made up her cell. Beyond those she saw and felt the hungry eyes of those that had captured her and others that obviously wished to purchase her for their amusement. Within the cage were the scattered forms of Linnix and the woman who had served them. Both were covered in thick, chalky make-up – a crude parody of their natural beauty. And Aelistae soon found that she was no better off in that regard.

“Are you hurt?” she urgently whispered to Linnix and Tessa as one of their captors moved to begin an auction – where they were the commodities on sale. “Listen we don’t have long. If they sell us and divide us, we’ll have no escape. We have to act now or not at all.”

“Linnix, do you still have that token on you? The one you won? If so use it when they open the door. They want to sell us. They will not want to see us harmed.”

“And Linnix,” she quickly added in another whisper, “Forgive me for what I’m about to do.”

Aelistae slapped Linnix across the face, so hard that her head almost ricocheted off the hard wooden floor.

“Foolish women! You led me here to be captured by these humans! I will kill you for your stupidity!” she shouted in a mock show of indignation, before leaping upon Linnix and clapping her hands around her throat. Yet, although her face was a mask of rage and anger, Aelistae’s hands were loose enough to allow Linnix to breathe easily, and to allow her to prepare to act if the slavers opened their cage.

Loriel gathers up the plague and sword and any other small easily carried valuable and stuffs them in ht epcoke off the cloak. She shuts the door behind her hoping to lessen the damage to this room. Spotting artanis going up the ladder she follows her up. Not sure why but perhaps she has the baby and is trying to find a way out not that the fires are closeing in.

She can heare voices as she dows but only catches the last part clearly, a mans cracked voice.

"Well, it separated you and your friends did it not? I'd imagine the rest of them are equally enjoying the hospitality of me compatriots at this very moment."

Loriel then heard that same voice cackle and a baby's baby shirek in a wail of annoyance and cough sputtering.

Then the high-pitched man's voice cackled again. voice, "What does one do when caught between the frying pan and the oven hmmm?" His question was sinister and he almost dared Artanis to step forward again."

She hear Artanis's reply as she reached the top of the ladder and stepped out on the floor “I’m neither brave, nor foolish. I just want the baby to be safe and back in her Mother’s arms where she belongs.”

"Artanis, I am here." Loriel calls out "and I am armed."

Loriel draws the sword smoothly and advances towards Artanis slightly apart from her and towards the man wreathed in blue-green flames with the baby.

Whoever youa are you will face us here and now for what you have done here. She holds the sword before her and advances steadily.

Kas wraps the cat more fully in the skirts of her dress, to keep it from clawing her in its terrified state, and exposing a fair amount of her long slender legs, not that Kas had morals against nudity, and even if she did, she would had done the same thing.

Exiting the room Kas sees there is no going down, so she looks of the others. Then hearing Loriel's voice she races that direction.

One thing is very plane in her mind. This fire was set purposefully, the elementals were proof of then, which would mean that there would be justice to pay by the perpetrator.

"Tyr, please lend us aid to same the innocences that are in danger, and grant us safe passage from this fiery building so that the miscreant can be brought to justice.”

Darkness... Only darkness... No dreams... No light... Caera? ... Where are you? ... Aelistae?
Linnix opens her eyes, and then immediately wishes she hadn't. Perhaps she is still dreaming. A nightmare?
Voices in the background... what are they saying?

"...Linnix, who with a little more training might prove to be quite the dancer, but her natural beauty and grace are easily seen, and while I hear she’s quite the little firecracker, I’m sure you all know how to teach obedience to your pets am I right?"
Linnix jolts upright upon hearing her name, now awake. She takes in everything with a single glance. She had let down her guard. She should've known better. The flickering emotions fly over her face, but fortunately the white mask helped conceal them. Linnix feels infuriated. If she only had her crossbow. Every single despicable thing in the crowd deserves a bolt through the head. Linnix's hands clench in rage and malevolence. She couldn't do that; she might as well be helpless.

“Forgive me for what I’m about to do.”
It is Aelistae's voice, but what is she-

Linnix cries out in pain against Aelistae's strike, but she catches on immediately. "What are you-" She begins in feigned innocence.

“Foolish women! You led me here to be captured by these humans! I will kill you for your stupidity!”
I hope this works, Linnix thinks as she grips Aelistae's wrists in playing along, letting her body grow limp in feigned weakness. From her eyes she begins crying, thinking about memories which always causes her to cry. Inside Linnix also tries to think a bit ahead. What would she do if this worked? It looked like running would be the only option.

“Foolish women! You led me here to be captured by these humans! I will kill you for your stupidity!” she shouted in a mock show of indignation, before leaping upon Linnix and clapping her hands around her throat. Yet, although her face was a mask of rage and anger, Aelistae’s hands were loose enough to allow Linnix to breathe easily, and to allow her to prepare to act if the slavers opened their cage.

Linnix did her best to play along, even as the eyes of the crowd turned on them in bemusement. At first, no-one seemed too overly concerned with the spectacle behind the bars. Tessa however shrieked however as Aelistae began to seemingly throttle Linnix after a vicious slap, drawing tears from the woman’s eyes.

From the crowd came a mixture of cat calls, vulgar retorts about watching a drow at her finest, and those that immediately started throwing down their bids even before the auction had officially began. The showing of money and interest however soon raised the volume level of the room to new heights, and it seemed to drown out Aelistae and Linnix’s feigned feud for the time being.
The Calims***e man in the corner ran his large hands across his bald head, wiping the sweat which had collected there off with a flick of his wrist as so many bodies in a small area seemed to increase the temperature within.

“Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I can tell you are chomping at the bit to bid on these dangerous lovelies! Let’s start with the Drow then shall we? Before she ends up killing or damaging the other merchandise hmm?” Bids will start at 2,000 royal crowns.”

Almost immediately hands flew into the air, and in a matter of second the bid had skyrocketed to more than three times the starting value as those who valued wealth above life bid and outbid each other in hopes of claiming the rare ebony priestess to their assorted slave collections.

Linnix hears the person begin the auction. This didn't bode well, but maybe... an idea sparks in her mind. It might not necessarily work, and Linnix isn't sure how to do it well, but it is still better than nothing.

Linnix relaxes her body, letting her hands fall, trying not to react or do anything. Her head falls back, eyes closed. This is just another role, she realizes, another disguise, and disguises she could do well. She didn't need to talk or anything to portray this, so nothing was really required, just the look.

And so, Linnix let herself look, for all the audience to see, dead.

Xaris had rested his head on the table for a moment as his friends joined them, and for a second he thought about his past life once again. He thought about the woods and the war and he closed his eyes, imagining everything as it was. The next thing he heard was screams and his companions running down the road to a house which was ablaze. The three of them ran down, and Xaris was about to get up to go after them when a man stood, screaming at Kas.

Stop! Thief! That cloak cost me two heads of cattle!”

He thought that his friends could handle the situation, and decided to get this man calmed down before the guards started to arrest people. He walked over to the furious man, and spoke to him.

" Sir, how much did that cloak cost? I'm know we could re-emburse you when they come back. It was for a good cause."

Aelistae’s face was contorted into a mask of rage and anger while her fingers remained in place around Linnix’s throat. But her charade – however elaborate it had been – had had little effect. Her value it seemed had only increased in the eyes of the slavers and their patrons, who were all keen to sell and buy a ‘genuine drow’.

“Jallil belbau uns'aa z'ress,”* she muttered as she loosened her grip around Linnix’s neck and carefully scooped up the tears the woman had shed.

“Whatever happens when they try to take me away, stay with me. I will not leave you…either of you,” she whispered to the women she had been locked away with.

OOC: *"Lady give me strength."

From the back of the room, a figure shrouded in a dark grey and black travelers cloak sightly too short for their height entered in silence, nodding simply to the Calims***e with the slightest movement of their head. Taking a place against the back wall, he listened as the worth climbed, before chiming in with an alarming declaration.

"I'll give you the worth of your lives in exchange for the three, came a voice thick with a Tethyrian laced with an almost undercommon accent. You can drop your coin purses where you stand and leave this place, or forfeit your pathetic lives to my blade. With that he pulled forth a gleaming double sword, the crosspiece a magnificent mithril cross; accenting the rest of the blade resembling a holy icon. With a slight raise of his brow revealing a few stray strands of sandy hair and piercing emerald eyes, he smirked. Even now as more than one shocked patron turned around and prepared to draw steel.

“All transactions are final. Thank you for coming, and I’ll see you in hell!”