Anthony, who typically is sleepless without company, looks out the window.

If Sparrow's in any position to notice the burning, he'll also fly outside to investigate; and if it in any way threatens Yala's room, then there will be loud shouts of "Fire!" heard throughout the hotel immediately afterwards.

Sparrow, erroneously believing that his sleep spell worked like a charm, flies outside to continue his night's plans. Rounding the corner of the building, he sees that the stables are on fire. The air is filled with burning cinders and bits of hay, raining down on the fairy. And the wind is blowing the fire towards the inn.

Edric is slow to wake on the best of days, and as far as reasons for getting up, a fire nearby is one of the best of days. He groggily gets to his feet and stumbles to the window, blinking rapidly to try to get the sleep out of his eyes.

Punchy snores like an anachronistic chainsaw.

Edric can see the trees in the outdoor theatre bursting into flame. Across the yard, at the stables, people are appearing in ones and twos, trying to organize bucket brigades and get the animals out of the burning building. There's so much confusion that no one is very successful. It looks like the party's oxen and ox-carts, along with many other animals and supplies, will soon be totally engulfed in flames.

Taddeo is also asleep, though if his friend is present, she may wake him up. As long as no-one tries to enter his room, he can sleep through shouting.

Animals, and people, are in a panic. The burning buildings trap them all. Sparrow can see horses, oxen, bellowing and yelling in fright; trapped in a burning building.

The humans and other sentients can, by and large, look after themselves. Many of the animals are locked in. And so it's to the animals that he speaks, in a voice amplified by magic to be easily heard, soothing and calm for all its volume.

"Stay calm! Stay calm and you can survive! If you walk out the door, one by one - briskly, but don't panic - you can all get out! If you panic, you'll get stuck in the doorway! Remember, stay calm!"

Any animal that's too panicked to listen will get just about enough of a sleep spell to be drowsy. Sparrow's pretty sure he can't make these animals fall asleep in any case, they're far too awake, but maybe he can just take the edge off their panic... and while he tries to calm them, he hurries along, opening the stalls one by one, freeing the animals to leave the building, starting with the party's oxen since he knows them better than the other animals.

Since he's still invisible, this may cause some bewilderment among the dwarves, elves, humans and other races milling about.

Samara is a light sleeper, and sits bolt upright at the sound of commotion. She listens to the shouting until she hears someone in the hallway say "fire." Then with a cry, she leaps out of bed--unfortunately, planting her foot directly on Taddeo's more sensitive area as she does so--and dashes from the room, pulling her robe on as she goes.


Many of the other animals dash out as soon as their stalls are open. Even in their drowsier states, they nearly trample members of the bucket brigade, causing confusion all around.

The party's oxen, magic-bred to the core, obey the direction to stay calm and simply stand in place. On the far side of the stables, a burning timber drops directly onto the party's carts.

The heat is becoming unbearable. Sparrow will only be able to stay in the stables for another thirty seconds at best, or risk serious injury.

"HOLY %&*#!"

Taddeo is up, grabs his rapier and is looking around the room in shock. Samara is gone, the door is open, people are shouting and by the gods of the earth air and sea his balls hurt.

Next step. Pants.

Anthony sees the fire outside, and hears the commotion in the hall. "The reasonable thing to do is run into the hall and down the stairs, get to the fire and see if anybody needs help."

Anthony crashes through the window and on to the ground below yelling, "Save the women! ONLY THE WOMEN!"

At the moment, Sparrow doesn't care about the carts, but he does care about the oxen. "Move out through the door!" he tells them. "Get to the river! Quickly but without panic!"

Having told them to get out, he then hurries out himself, unwilling to remain any longer.

The inn's servants are in the courtyard behind the inn, directing the bucket brigade to fill their buckets from the showers in the bathhouse, which are connected to the huge cistern on the top of the bathhouse building.


Anthony tumbles to a stop in the midst of a group of women -- Samara's company of players -- all in various states of undress and awakeness. They scoop him up and start dragging him towards the stables. "You have to help us!" "All our equipment is in there!"


The oxen lumber out, escaping without injury. The party's carts are smoldering under the burning timber, but due to the heavy tarps on top, have not caught fire yet. In the far corner, a theater wagon begins to smoke in the heat, paint peeling and blistering.

Sparks shower over the roof of the inn, kicking up little fires in the wooden shingles.


Taddeo's room faces out onto the front street rather than the rear of the inn. Through the curtains, he can see people gathering. Some call for help, shouting "Fire!" and some run around to the back of the building. A few shout orders to protect the nearby buildings. Others are merely gathering to watch the show. On the corner, a few citizens begin to pray loudly. "It's a sign!" someone yells. "Fires and flood, they said! Fires and floods!"

Zaljan tried to get out of Yala's room, but he decided to stick his head out just as a dressing Samara was running by, and so he instead got tumbled back into the room, dazed and confused.

A few moments later, he decides to pick himself back up and try again. Hopefully, this time, no one will rush out of Taddeo's room and make him stumble over again.