Balthus has some trouble tipping over the keg, but another bar patron helps out and rolls it to the door. "Should we start putting the kegs against the door?" they ask.
After handing Eran the torch and making sure he is not going to fall, Jerex runs over to yell down, "DON'T PLACE ALCOHOL OR WOOD NEAR THE FIRE, ANYTHING, KEEP IT AWAY! IF AVAILABLE, START THROWING WATER ON THE ENTRANCE WALLS AND DOOR! IT WILL NOT STOP IT BUT IT MAY SLOW IT DOWN!"
Jerex shakes his head, "And they think I am naive because I ask too many questions."
Jerex runs back to Eran, "Eran, we better hurry, they are about to try to burn the place down faster!"
Karson yells out to everyone else "Everyone, I think the windows may be better suited here for an exit than the roof..." and then hurries over to the windows taking cover next to the wall so that he isn't directly in plain sight in front of the window.
Well boys, there is a rather large fire out front. Good new? It hasn't caught the door yet. Maybe if we bash the door down and drop it on top of the fire, then toss a barrel of weak ale or water on top of it we can use it as a bridge to get out. Ethan shouts over his shoulder, making sure the maintain contact with the door so he can keep watch on the events outside.
The drunkards mill around in confusion, unsure whether to throw the beer onto the door or not.
Karson looks through the building smoke and notices that the fire has not spread in front of the windows, though the windows are only three feet-wide or so and it's difficult to see through them.
"The likely watered-down beer they serve here is most probably not flammable. It's their only hope, as I doubt much water is kept in here."
Eran opens the torch and pulls his scarf over his mouth and begins chipping away at the straw roof, attempting to open a big hole and see outside.
Karson moves away from the window and goes towards the roof as well. "I can't really get a clear picture from there. I don't see any flames out of it, but it's not exactly easy to see through it. The roof may be a better idea." He looks up at Eran, attempting to put a hole in the roof. "Are you having any luck up there with getting a way out?"
"It's not necessarily the beer I worry about, more things come in kegs than beer or water down beer."
Eran begins hacking the straw roof and bits of dried straw rain down on him and onto Karson. He creates a hole that overlooks the hovel situated at the back of the bar. The hovel is only a single-story, around 10 feet below the roof of the inn, with solid wooden walls, but a rather makeshift straw roof.
"Well, here goes nothing." Eran says, holding onto the edge and lowering himself down, aiming to land on a part of the makeshift roof with a support beam under it, close to the edge so that if it does give under his weight, he doesn't fall far.
Seeing Eran disappear out the hole, Jerex goes up to follow and waits to see if Eran is uninjured before telling others.
Brie is going to slip around the bar toward the back rooms. If there is no one behind the bar, she'll slip back behind it to look for loose valuables.
Eran lowers himself down closer to the shack's roof and lets go...
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The roof momentarily holds, but then the support beam sways under Eran's weight and falls to one side. In a chain reaction, the other supports begin to collapse and the shack flattens. Amid the crunching sounds of the falling roof, the shriek of the frightened woman and the children can be heard.
"Jerex, wait a moment before sending the others. I'll try to get the occupant out of here before she is crushed."
Eran tries to climb down through the newly flattened roof and usher the woman and her children out.
A glimmer catches Bree's attention out of the corner of her eye: a single copper coin sitting on a small leather pouch. The pouch jingles with the coins of the day's earnings, but the coins are too numerous to do a rapid evaluation.
Jerex shakes his head at the poor workmanship of the shack, "Ok, are you ok? Hurry up, the fire is not going to wait for diplomacy"
Eran manages to bury himself in the debris and gets stuck.
I try to get un-stuck.
Eran seems to be stuck head-down into the debris, while his legs flail uselessly behind him.
Brie shrugs her backpack off her back, opens the flap, and sets it down beside her. Grabbing a towel/rag under the bar, she cuts it into strips while humming lightly to herself.
"Yell, scream, smash,
outside we've gotta mob,
light, toss, laugh,
we give the bomb a lob!
She grabs the bottles of spirits with the highest alcohol content and stuffs rags down the necks. Spreading the mouth of her backpack wide, she fills the inside with straw, towel and rag - cushioning four molotov cocktails.
"I think we're going to have a fun time tonight."
Eran continues to try to escape the debris, growing less and less concerned for the well-being of others and more and more concerned primarily with his own.
Eran, finding himself unable to back himself out of the debris, begins to push forward to try and find an alternate way. He hears the frantic screaming of the woman inside, mingled with the mewling of her babies.
Brie seems ready to cause mayhem. Ethan sees the flames cover his door sight vision and instinctively pulls his hand away as the door spikes in temperature.
Jerex is on the fence about telling the others but his good side wins over, he climbs down and yells, "LISTEN UP, WE NEED A ROPE! IF WE CAN TIE IT OFF SECURELY, EVERYONE CAN LEAVE OUT THROUGH THE ROOF INTO THE HOUSE NEXT STORE TO RESCUE ERAN FROM THE DEBRIS AND ESCAPE! HOWEVER, WE MUST BE ORGANIZED AND NOT ACT LIKE A BUNCH OF RATS ON A SINKING SHIP!"
After he lands, he gets out of way just in case one of the "rats are ejecting." If not, he attempts to pull Eran out and making sure he is not going to become a dropping rat cushion.
Oi boyo! Ethan hollers at the Scholar, pulling a coil of rope from his backpack and tossing it to him (50ft hemp) My old eyes can't pick one spot from another so tie this off and lets be on our way!
Ratlike, Brie scrambles out from behind the bar running for the stairs up. Like a true vermin, she knocks down some of the chairs in her path to slow up the other rats in the back room.
Jerex nods to Ethan, "Thank you Mr. Rivers, I want to make sure the mob acts organized before I tie off the rope."
Bathus abandons his effort of moving the keg of beer. Exhausted at the effort, he scrambles towards the other voices. [b] Whats going on? Oh thank the six. There's a rope. [\b]
While Brie pilfers the area behind the bar, members of the Caedmon party begin fleeing up the stairs. Brie notices the flight and scurries off herself, throwing chairs behind her as the drunkards try to follow them to safety. The mass of people and chairs make a large pile-up at the base of the staircase, as smoke begins to fill the room.
Jerex hands off the rope to Ethan and leaps off the roof, landing safely on the pile of debris below. He sees Eran's legs sticking out of the wreckage. Ethan ties a rope and Balthus tries to climb down, but slips and falls to the ground.
Brie runs up the stairs, bursting into the attic more excited than she's been in ages.
"This is awesome! I had no idea human drinking establishments could be so much fun! Can I get a boost Mr. Jerex? It's an awful big climb for me."
Jerex helps or helped Brie get up and situated to climb down on the rope. If the fire starts getting too bad, Jerex will slide down on the rope like a firehouse pole or jump on whatever roof remains to break his fall.
Augh! Bathus cries out as he lands badly on his leg.
Ok kids. Time to go. Ethan says as he begins guiding people to the rope and helps those that need it to climb up. Once the fires get too hot he will climb up himself.
Ok kids. Time to go. Ethan says as he begins guiding people to the rope and helps those that need it to climb up. Once the fires get too hot he will climb up himself.
1d20
One by one, the members of the Caedmon party climb down the rope and out of the burning building. The last ones out hear the scared screams of the drunkards inside as the flames burst in downstairs, before they are abruptly silenced. Then, a sudden whoosh as the dried straw on the second floor catches fire, leaving a pillar of flame that erupts from the straw roof.
Mr. Samuel flinches as the inn goes up in flames, but doesn't seem so surprised. He starts going down his checklist. "Where's Eran?"
A crowd is beginning to gather outside the inn to watch the flames.
Have I been able to disentangle myself from the debris yet?
Have I been able to disentangle myself from the debris yet?
Eran pops out and makes his way to the rest of the evacuated people. If he gets down and sees that the woman's front door isn't open, he will try to open it to help her get out of her house with her babies before the fire consumes that building as well.
After getting clear of the falling debris, Karson starts to attend to people in order to make sure that they are okay. Looking around, he asks "Okay, so does anybody know who or why a fire was set? And why just the front door? If it was a riot, why wouldn't they just throw something into the tavern?"