Chapter Seven

## Burning the Midnight Oil

**Zwatandag 15th Biriskjur 1770**

The gold dragon sat upon the smouldering ruins of the Bureau of Licensing, as the party looked on it began to turn on the spot, clambering over the rubble, its tail colliding with a nearby building and cleaving off a portion of stone and metal. Extending its neck towards the night sky, it emitted a deafening shriek, which left all that heard it frightened.

The streets weren't busy at this time, but the scattered few who remained outside stood stunned and gawking at the dragon before them, frozen in fear. The silence left in the aftermath of the dragon’s cry was palpable. A woman's scream broke the tension and the people of Russet began to scatter, fleeing in all directions away from the dragon, grabbing assorted belongings or scooping up their children as they ran.

Among those in the streets was the gnomish student Booker Longsparkle who, always being curious of nature, sat up from where he had been knocked prone by the dragon's arrival and began to sketch a portrait. He was clearly in imminent danger so Plymouth Argyle, being a responsible university professor, gripped him by the scruff of his collar and began to drag him away from the dragon.

The tiefling Ryan "Fitz" Fitzpatrick, who had been procuring some cured meats at the time of the dragon's arrival, immediately helped the merchant Bill Tong to his feet and told him to flee, while Nixe Airendil and Brandyr Greybeard hesitated on how to act in the face of such a creature, the likes of which they had not seen before.

The dragon gave a single flap of its gargantuan wings and a wind washed over the party, snapping them from their daze. They noticed a swelling in the dragon's chest, which puffed up momentarily before it extended its widening maw towards row of buildings in the centre of town, behind the Bureau. A ninety-foot gout of flame emerged from the dragon’s throat, instantly setting the roofs of the houses ablaze.

Brandyr headed for his friend Gart Steakhammer's house, which was nearby in the market district and found Gart leaving his home with a chest of important items strapped to him. They briefly discussed options and decided it would be best to get as many people to exit town via the southern exit and gather together to flee. The plan was relayed to the party and they burst into action!

Hearing a woman calling out for her child, Fitz headed towards the burning houses to assist. Booker, remembering that he had stashed his prized tomes, the accumulated knowledge of his family, in The Flange and Whistle, immediately set off to retrieve them. Whilst Nixe and Plymouth headed for the mines, to warn as many people as possible of the impending danger, and tell them to flee the settlement. As they headed out, the dragon gave a second flap of its wings, then a third and was lifted into the air where it loomed over the burning settlement.

Fitz found the woman shouting for her son, who she could not locate before fleeing her home, and heroically entered the burning building to look for the child. Thick black smoke assailed him, but Fitz tapped into the power bestowed upon him by his ancestral bargains to locate the boy hiding in his bedroom. Covering the child's face in a blanket, the tiefling carried the boy to safety, breathing in soot and smoke that burned his lungs as he did so. He returned the boy to his mother and set about rescuing more people, focusing on the larger houses of the market district.

Brandyr saw the shopkeep, Mark Ungart, struggling to drag a large chest from his general store. He shouted for him to leave the items and head for the southern exit and after some deliberation, Mark reluctantly did so. The pair of dwarves then headed for the smithy, where the smithy's son Set was shouting inside for his father. Brandyr entered alone and found Delroy Straightpeen trapped beneath a burning support beam. Mustering his strength, he helped the smith lift the log and administered healing to the man, before sending him, his son and Gart to the southern exit, whilst he continued to rescue those in need.

Booker entered The Flange and Whistle and retrieved his items, tossing the rest of the party's belongings into his homemade Bag of Holding along with them. The workers were already fleeing the inn, but Gantrant Lipsworthy seemed reluctant to evacuate her tavern and local trapper Combine Rostselmash refused to leave without her. Booker stepped forward and encouraged the old gnomish innkeeper to go with a few choice words. Gathering a few key items in her old oat-pot, she and Combine headed for safety.

Nixe and Plymouth located the miner's houses, a densely packed sprawl of single storey shacks in the north-west of town. Mine foreman Cleft Shallowide was working tirelessly to evacuate the families within, telling them to head for the mines. At first Nixe argued with the dwarf, telling him that people could be trapped inside, but Cleft assured them that there was a passage that lead to an exit about half-a-mile from town, at the base of Shaft-X. Reassured, Nixe headed onto the mine while Plymouth assisted the foreman in helping the remaining workers escape.

Nixe arrived at the mine where he found a worker struggling with two horses, a mule and a carthorse. Weaving a spell and talking to the animals, Nixe found himself unable to persuade the haughty horse to come with him with him, but the dim-witted mule was eager to help, so he set off to warn the town at an accelerated pace from the back of his newly acquired mount.

The learned professor and the miner worked well together and were resolute in their determination to help as many as possible. With the assistance of a messenger from the mine, they managed to evacuate nearly everyone from the densely populated mining ghetto, before disaster struck. Straightening out in the air, the dragon spread its wings and glided over the western side of town, unleashing a inferno of flame down upon the houses beneath it and setting half the town on fire. Plymouth managed to dive out of harms way at the last moment, but regrettably Cleft and the messenger were not so lucky and were engulfed in flame and incinerated before his very eyes. With no-one left to save, Plymouth made for the mine.

Exiting the inn, Booker saw the converted hearse that was Easy Delg's Taxi Wagon approaching from the south. It was laden with people, with Delg himself hanging from the door of the vehicle. Easy Delg offered Booker a lift and the young artificer clambered up beside the coachman, Wilf and took a seat. Just as he did, a large burning timber support fell from The Flange and Whistle and nearly struck the giant goats that pulled the taxi. Leaping from the driver's seat, the huge hooded coachman blocked the beam with his forearms and tossed it aside, before returning to the reigns, seemingly unhurt, and making for the exit.

As Russet burned and the only cries remaining in town came from the party as they desperately searched for more survivors, the dragon attacked the north of town, destroying the mine's entrance and cutting that means of escape. Sensing they could do no more good here, Nixe, Brandyr and Fitz made for the southern exit, where they reconvened with Booker and the rest of the survivors.

Gart had been organising the people as best he could, but the job was too big for one man, so he asked the party for their assistance. Brandyr healed the injured, Fitz reorganised the transport and supplies to carry those in need and Nixe, having given up his mount to two children, set off with Combine to scout the path ahead. Meanwhile, Plymouth had told the survivors in the mine about the way out in Shaft-X and a slow, steady procession began to make its way along the cramped tunnels.

Finding the light at the end of the tunnel, they people began to exit into the cold night's air and were soon discovered by Combine and Nixe. After some discussion (and some confusion) they waited for the rest of the party to catch-up. Gart endorsed heading to the neighbouring town of Rime, a three day journey on foot under good conditions, but Booker and Nixe were keen to return to Russet, to see if it was fit to habitation and scout for supplies. Brandyr suggested sheltering for the night in the mines and setting out in the morning and Fitz asked Delg to go on ahead, taking a message and some of the more injured people to Rime and retrieving supplies.

A plan set in motion, the denizens of Russet rested for the evening. Nixe gave an encouraging, if not entirely inspirational, speech and Booker helped prepare and distribute the oats he had secured. Combine Rostselmash thanked the young gnome for helping him get Gantrant out of town, and gave him a gift of thanks; the horn of a narwhal, a trophy from his "best kill" that he had boasted of to Nixe previously. Meanwhile, Plymouth broke the sad news of Cleft Shallowide's passing to his family, and explained the heroic circumstances under which he perished. The foreman's widow thanked him for the news, saying that the safety of others was always Cleft's foremost concern, a truth that the party had witnessed firsthand.

Out of approximately one-thousand people who were residents of Russet at any one time, over half were saved by the party's actions. Survivors and party alike knew that the death-toll would have been far, far higher had they fled or failed to act, but keeping over five hundred people alive in the days ahead may yet prove to be even more of a challenge.

Next: Chapter Eight. Ogre and Out.