Kyran, who was still waiting for a response from Drakar, looks over at the smoke. "I, um... That doesn't look good, it certainly doesn't." He calls off to the rest of the party. "Should we look into that explosion?!" He points at the rising plume of smoke. A dark figure steps from the bush onto the road for a moment , surveying the explosion on the horizon. Once he’s seen in plain sight, he makes no effort to hide himself, but does not approach either. "What in all the hells was that?!" Tanda asked as the explosion went off. She shrugged as she urged Midnight toward the explosion, following all the rest of the people who did so. "C'mon, Stoneface!" she cried over her shoulder. "Chaos and opportunity await!" Katrina immediately turns her horse in the direction of the explosion, urging him into a gallop. She shouts back at Drakar, "Twenty to one says we may find the rest of those bastards behind that display." Growling an oath, Drakar takes off running down the road after Katrina, followed by Narush. Kyran looks at the other two as they bound off, then starts running torwards the scene, putting his hand to his chest and easily changing into a wolf as he bounds in that direction. Segev eyes those who take off at a run, gallop, or whatever, and hurries his own pace. It's amazing how quickly he can move without quite seeming to run. It takes the party a good half hour to cover the distance between the campsight and the plume of smoke. When the party arrives, they're greeted by what appears to be a lavish plantation mansion engulfed in flames. A nearby barn is also aflame, although it appears as though the animals inside have already been freed. A plate-barded warhorse stands in the yard, the shield of a Crusader dangles on the horse's side. Several commoners of various races, most dressed in servant clothes, stand huddled off to the side. Some of them are nursing burns, and one--a half- giant man dressed as a butler--is hacking and coughing something fierce. Before any of the party can act, a male figure appears in the main doorway, unarmored, half-carrying/half-dragging a screaming dwarven woman (dressed as a cook) away from the mansion. The woman is screaming about her baby on the third floor still being inside. Katrina curses loudly, dismounting as soon as Alastyn stops. "Guard them, keep those damned crusaders away from them. Someone help me get the kid! Segev arrives on the scene, leading the horse bearing his now-pungent cargo (which is still in its Crusader armor). He waits silently for a few moments, surveying the scene. He's obviously waiting for...something. The figure that has been shadowing the party all this time quickly flits past the group from quite far behind. He is inside the mansion before the man dragging the screaming woman even gets a chance to react, searching quietly for the stairway or some other method of accessing the third floor. Drakar scans the group of commoners quickly, looking for faces he recognizes as he runs in. With a quick flick of his fingers, he signals Narush to circle the plantation and scout edge of the woods as he runs towards the house. Drakar manages to make it up to the front of the mansion as Katrina is dismounting and rushing towards the entrance. He tosses his bow and spear off to one side as he runs up to the front of the house, then leaping high into the air, he lands on the wall - clinging like a spider. He scrabbles over to a third floor window that looks accessable as Katrina and the stranger flit through the doorway on the ground, and whispering a prayer to the spirits he enters the house. Lannstucht notes the figure running inside and casually grabs Katrina by her shoulder. "Someone else has beaten you to the task. There is no need for one of our party to injure themselves as well." She narrows her eyes and looks sharply at the unarmoured man, then at the horse, as Katrina pulls away. She wheels Dunnstacht and heads around the corner of the mansion searching for either a man in armour or a discarded pile belonging to the man out front. Glim pulls the mules and wagon to a halt near the servants. "This everyone from in there? And who's using explosives?" The black-clad mage turns his attention back to the scene before him. His words, however, must be directed at Katrina, since there's no way anyone further away could hear them. "Before rushing off to burn in the flames, you may wish to determine if anyone is left inside to make such an act less than pointless." Nodding towards the gathered servants, he continues, "They would probably know." In order to help calm the flames, Menaria taps into her divine magic and creates enough water to douse the areas directly around where the man helping the woman out. Once clear of the smoke, the man is easily recognized by his clothing as a Redwater Crusader. His armor is currently nowhere in sight; presumably, the armor is in a saddlebag on the horse. He leads the woman over to the other commoners, and turns to the party. "I reckon there are three more people inside," he explains as the dwarven woman continues bawling. "All children. We must act quickly, this place will collapse at any moment." Drakar slips into an open window, flames licking his skin as he does so. Hearing the cries of an infant, he easily manages to find the child, but becomes trapped as the window he entered through collapses. Katrina follows suit, diving into the flames as the hawk and fox seach for the culprit. She keeps her head low, heading for the stairs, if any are left standing, or any other route upstairs, listening for any sound from the child. The mysterious figure gets caught in Menaria's water burst as he enters the building. Did he time that just right on purpose, or was it a coincidence? In almost no time he finds two children, both halflings, huddled in a corner of what looks like it once was the mansion's study, sitting in fetal positions facing each other. They don't even notice him, nor do they notice the burning beams that fall from the ceiling, blocking the only way out. Menaria continues to use her divine power to keep the flames down to a minimum while folks attempt to come and go from the mansion. Kyran looks about the area. Looking back and forth from the group to the burning mansion to the injured, he appears confused at the moment on what to do. Drakar grabs whatever sheets he can find inside the house, soaking them with water from his waterskin and wrapping them about the babe in his arms. From his pack the half-ork draws forth a crwobar. Looking about quickly, he searches for a way out. Finding nothing else, he takes the crowbar to an outside wall, prying non-structural boards to create his own opening as he shields the babe with his body from any possible falling debris. Katrina attempts to head for Drakar, if she can see him, fighting her way through the smoke and flames. Quietly and quickly, the mysterious figure picks up the two halfling children, searching for any way out at all, whether it be through a hole in the ceiling to through the wall. The sounds of an infant crying can be heard over the roar of the fire, although the heat and smoke are starting to make everyone inside choke and blister. The stairs at first seemed sturdy, but give way under Katrina's feet, plunging her into the mansion's basement. She lands on the stone floor with all the grace of an olive in a martini... she's shaken by the fall, but not stir- fried. She appears to be under the flames, but the house itself is almost ready to collapse on top of her. Spread across the floor of the basement seems to be some sort of flour dust which leads to the outside basement door. The staircase leading up to the main floor above her is quickly going from way up to no way out. Katrina curses loudly, choking, as she ducks her head down, covering her mouth and nose with a piece of cloth torn from her tunic, heading towards the basement door, attempting to unlock and open it. The lock is nothing more than a deadbolt, which comes open easily. The door opens inward, showing a staircase headed upwards. Directly overhead are two closed doors which should swing up and out. There is no lock on these doors. Drakar breaks a hole through the outside wall large enough to squeeze through and begins climbing down the outside of the mansion with the infant in his arms. Yelling, he calls for someone to take the infant from him as he jumps down to the ground outside. Drakar thrusts the precious package to the first to reach him. "Here!" Turning to the party and the commoners outside he demands, "Is there anyone else inside?" A beautiful person comes from out of nowhere and takes the baby from Drakar's hands. It's hard to tell at first glance whether this person is a man or a woman. The feminine face and golden tresses could easily grace a beautiful body, however the lack of female form may be a trick of sight, due to the speed this person is moving or because the person is wearing armor to conceal his/her form, you cannot tell at this time. Moving at a speed not normal to humans, he/she takes the infant to it's waiting mother. Kyran looks about the house. Wincing from the collapsing parts of the building, he carefully makes his way into the building, checking the floorboards and supports to make sure he doesn't get trapped himself while he looks for others. Already below the level of much of the smoke from being a wolf, he uses all his senses to try and locate others still in the building, although hearing *anything* over this racket might be next to impossible. The half-giant butler looks down at Glim (in more ways than one). "Everyone's out so far. And who said that any explosives were involved? We're a grain plantation, not a mine or something like that." "Grain plantation. Then you keep garineries and storehouses, yes? That's a lot of particulate matter. That equals explosives, just add fire. So where's the Redwater goon that belongs to that horse?" Lannstucht finishes her scan around the plantation and returns to the group. "It certainly appears that that fellow over there is the missing knight. Question is, if he's helping people, how did the fire get started?" "Glim seems to be working on a theory involving a spark in a grainery," Segev remarks. "I see no granery near the mansion, however. Lies can say as much about a man as truths can about a situation. Questioning the crusader will perhaps yield suprising information." Segev sweeps his gaze over the gathered commoners. "They may also know something. Glim has, I believe, distracted himself again, before he could finish questioning." Glim ignores Segev's remarks and continues addressing the butler. "Right, so who owns this plantation? And is there anyone who'd particularly like to see it put out of business?" The newcomer moves towards Menaria. With a deep voice, removing the doubt of this beautiful man's gender, he asks, "Miss, how many more are trapped in this inferno?" In between spells, Menaria answers, although she continually observes the house and not turning to the person who had spoken just yet. "I am not sure as to how many. The butler there said there were a few others. I am trying to keep the fire down as much as possible so those who have entered have a better chance in getting out with those trapped within." She said calmly, her face full of concentration. Drakar looks over both the commoners and the adventuring group. Spying Katrina's empty saddle he does a second check of the group. "Where is the elf-girl?" While it is difficult to hear anything, Kyran does hear the following: a scraping along the outer wall where Drakar is climbing and the wail of an infant from outside. There is nothing to see other than burning furniture at the moment. His sense of smell, however, does manage to filter out the smoke to catch the scents of two halflings, a human, and a half-elf. The half-elf seems to be in the basement, and the human and halflings are on the ground floor, near the back. The half-elf as Katrina, and the human scent seems familiar but he's unable to actually place a face to the scent. The wanderer sets the children down, calmly walking over to a wall that would lead to the outside. He places his feet carefully upon the ground, focusing his energy, his life force, into a single fist. He then drives that fist through the matter of the wall itself. Kyran hears the sounds of collapsing wood from the direction of the human and halfling scents. Suddenly, a lower wall on the right side of the house towards the back ripples as is if were a calm pond of water with a pebble thrown into it. The pebble in this situation comes in the form of a black-clad fist that shoots through the wooden wall as if it were as thin as paper. Possibly due to the fact that the structure of the building is not fully in tact, nearly half of the first-floor outer wall collapses around the fist due to what could only be described as the shockwave. Out steps the dark wanderer, a Halfling over both shoulders. After his feet touch gracefully down upon the cool grass, he moves at an unnatural speed to where the people are being treated for smoke inhalation, etc, a safe distance away. He looks to the other members of the group. Standing small, this man strikes people as unremarkable and odd simultaneously. Something about him tells everyone that the wind of change is an integral part of his being. It's difficult to garner much from him aside from this, as his completely unremarkable black clothing gives no information as to who exactly this man is or where he's from. A black mask covers his entire head, and when the hood of his cloak is up, which is at this point, his eyes cannot be seen. The Crusader finishes where he was healing the dwarf woman of any bruises and smoke inhalation, and clears his throat. Menaria takes the dwarf infant from the androgynous one, and casts a quick spell, curing the child of any ailments it might have received. "I happen to be the Redwater Crusader you refer to, little one," he tells Glim. "While I do not appreciate such language about my countrymen, I understand your apprehension towards us. There are some of my brethren who do not uphold our knightly ideals as they should." He looks around the flaming areas. "It would appear the fire started in the barn's grain storage loft, and spread to the house. I did what I could to save the people inside. I am grateful for your help." The Crusader turns to Drakar. "And thank you, especially. You've shown more courage, bravery, and heart than most of my fellow knights would have in similar circumstances." He offers Drakar his hand. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XP Time! Okay, everyone who posted gets the regular 100 session XP for remaining in-character. Menaria gains 250 XP for judicious and useful use of spells. Drakar gains 350 XP for rescuing the infant dwarf. The Wanderer gains 300 XP for rescuing the halfling children. Lannstuct and Katrina get an additional 50 for remaining in-character despite conflicting reports. The Wanderer gets a bonus 100 XP for style. Glim gains 250 XP for dogged, meticulous brainpower. Katrina and Kyran get 200 XP for attempting to help out.