Mists of Winter: Chapter Three

[ewancummins]

FIGHTING THE FIRE


Working together, Raen, the ladies, and the bucket brigade manage to beat the fire down, damping the flames, choking the hottest parts of the blaze.

An hour later, the tenement house stands smeared with soot, thin trails of dying smoke drifting from the holed roof and puffing out the broken shutters and doors.

Cathedral bells ring again, orderly and regular now, marking the change of the morning watch.


Two the bucket men enter and begin picking through the smoky lower level, jostling with displaced residents who have reentered to claim valued items. The injured woman whom Raen and Sara rescued thanks her rescuers and then hobbles back into the blackened building, yelling about her best shoes.

The bucket brigade captain, a big fellow with red cheeks and curly gray sideburns, offers to stand Raen and the two women for drinks at any tavern of their choosing.

[ewancummins]

BENN

Bennedict stands up tall, straightening his suit jacket and dusting himself off. He turns to Hornbsy.

"Go and fetch Charlotte and Jonas, please," he says, "Their ride is here."

As the serving man turns to go, Bennedict tries to straighten up the entryway, removing the broken fragments of the door and picking up any furniture that had been knocked over.

Hornsby does as his employer bids him do.

Charlotte wipes away teardrops as she hustles Jonas into the waiting vehicle.
'''Yay, ride!" the little boy says, as he waves to his father from the upholstered seat.
Charlotte kisses Benn on the mouth.
“Stay safe. I’ll write as soon as I reach Moderntshire.”
The coachman helps Benn load the last of the luggage and then close the door.
He tips his hat to Benn, cracks the whip.
The horses start off at a walk.
.The last Benn sees of his wife is her white face framed by long black hair pressed to the frosted glass of the door panel window, watching him.
Snow falls from the leaden sky.
The Cathedral bells ruing again, steady now, chiming the hour.

Benn might be running a bit late his meeting with the others…

[Adam]

Feeling a bit of himself ride away in the wagon, Bennedict pulls his coat tightly around himself and turns to Hornsby. "See if any workmen are available to take care of the door. I need to go meet with Dorgio."

He turns and walks through the streets, heading towards the common room.

[ewancummins]

THE PUB, COMMON ROOM
Vlad rises from his stool near the bar and strides towards Benn with a sloshing mug.

The Barovian shoves the overflowing flagon in Benn's hands.
"You should be drinking. This cold weather..."

[steveflam]

Franz stands up, rousing Munchen. "Sorry I have dallied so long, but I must return to my friends at the public house in the city.
I am much appreciative of your hospitality and friendship. We shall meet again, I promise."

Heading out the barn door, he regrets leaving, but must keep his appointment with the others.

Soon he is in the city proper and makes his way to the public house, Munchen in tow. Entering, he spies Dorgio, Benn and Vlad.
He walks immediately over to where they are. "Guten afternoonen. Sorry I am late. I vast viss deiner elves unt I lost track uff time. How ist evryone dis mornink? I noticed much smoke as I came into de city. Vast dere a fire?"

He waits but moves to be next to Dorgio. "I vould like us to visit dot man I telled you about the other day unt his daughter. Sooner den later if possible."

[Adam]

"Hmm," Bennedict says, looking down dubiously at the mug. "Thank you."

He sets the mug down on the table. "Hopefully your morning has not been as interesting as mine."

[VAN]

Sara looks one more time at the building a bit perplexed how the fire has started in such cold night. Hoeever remembering their appointment with Dorgio and the others prefers to not ask about the fire now.

"I'm afraid we have to decline your offer captain. We have an appointment and we are already late. I hope you manage to find out how this fire started because I'm afraid the cause isn't natural...but for sure you are better than me to find out. Farewell."

Sara rushes at the pub, knowing she is late. She spots Dorgio, Benn, Franz and Vlad at the table and noding at them from the door joins them.

"I'm sorry for the delay gentlemen, but was a fire downtown and had to help putting it down. It's all good now though."

[alhoon]

Raen turns to Sarah and Kat. "Unfortunately, I need one more hour to prepare. A man of my profession is as good as his prepared magic. It's really weird to be able to speak about it openly, and to be able to openly use magic as I did with the fire even in small nearly powerless effects and not have people staring... or accusing you for the fire."

[Adam]

Bennedict arches an eyebrow. "Indeed?" he says, "Where was it? What got you involved?"

[VAN]

Sara tells her gathered companions where the fire was.

"I got involved as Raen and Kat did because we heard the bells and saw the fire really close by...we couldn't just stay in the house and do nothing about it so we run out and joined the firemen as better as we could. The strange thing is that the fire started in such cold night, there was even snow that we used against the flames. I don't know if the Captain knows how the fire started, if there was an accident or someone put it on purpose."

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

THE PUB

Dorgio glances at the frothy mug that his Barovian comrade passes to Benn with a hint of jealously. "One small beer," he tells the bartender, mindful of his promise to Lorna about cutting back.

"A fire?," he asks Sara. "In this chill, not unsurprising." He takes a sip of his watered down brew and frowns to himself. "Now that we're gathering, we must discuss our plans. I've heard no word of new bodies this morning, but that is unsurprising given the layer of ice that coats most everything today. I am hoping that means nobody ventured out to the water last night. But it might mean that our Hag took her prey, who's even now under a layer of ice. We must be prepared for that."

"But perhaps there is a way we can track her still. There are dogs trained to find corpses under the waters, yes? I doubt our Hag is dead in the conventional sense, but I am thinking she has a smell that can be tracked all the same. We should be finding one of these dogs, though it may mean speaking with the gendarmes."

[VAN]

"Maybe we should ask the Gendarmes if anyone disappeared during the night, as you said Dorgio we might haven't heard about any body yet but this doesn't mean the hag didn't kill anyone. Trained dogs are good idea, maybe we can find something that belongs to the hag so they can get the smell and then follow it. "

Sara glances Franz and asks:

"Can Munchen by any chance follow this hag underwater? he has been at her lair so maybe he has gotten her smell."

[Adam]

Bennedict muses the details of the fire. "Could be arson. Could just have been an accident. Tough to know without investigating." He shrugs. "Between the hag and the ruffians that just broke into my home this morning, I have enough on my plate at the moment."

He looks skeptically at Munchen. "I think those sorts of dogs need special training. It's not a bad idea, Dorgio, but I think we'll need to find a beast that is better prepared." Seeing Dorgio eyeing his mug, he slides it across the table to him.

[kintire]

Kat follows Sara to the inn and sinks down as close to the fire as she can get.

"Bit of a nasty morning all around. What was your problem master Benn?"

[Adam]

"Some ruffians that broke into a friend of mines' bookshop came calling on my house," he says, "I had assumed they'd stolen a scroll detailing Barovian ancestry from the shop, but apparently someone else got to it first. They believe I had taken it, and tried to shake me down. Now I have 10 days to find it or they'll be returning in force." He keeps his outward coolness, but the white knuckles of the hand gripping his walking stick give him away. "Unfortunately not something that we can focus on now, I'm thinking."