The Grand Ball.

[Raven]

Assessment from the mercenary would be swift, feather light touches and unwavering attention upon the innkeeper's face. It wouldn't take long to ascertain what injury Dulcie has suffered and there'd be a frown from Sarcyn. So much for a nice night out, he could've taken her -anywhere- and they would've been less likely to end up in this kind of trouble.

"You're hurt, is what happened and Catch can wait till another time." Only she could be splayed out on the floor and find the effort to be worried about someone else. He didn't know whether to smile or sigh. A shake of his head and the mercenary would slip his arms beneath the innkeeper. Ever so carefully cradling her before he'd push up to his feet and take her to the Rememdium Edificium.

[Vanidor]

Christoph would tilt his head slightly, seeing the look upon the woman's face, then the barest of smiles would form upon his features. A motion of his hand would find a slender vial of silvery liquid. The man would raise it up towards Drache. "A gift then, before I depart, Drache. Perhaps it will assist with your own injuries. As for Companion James, I shall return in say... in pair of days. This should give his injuries the time..."

The Ambassador would shift his gaze slightly. His eyes fell upon Ginny. "Hm. Perhaps you will not need to see to him directly then? Only provide for him a safe place until I can return him home. Again, I thank you Madam Sgarsiath. The nation of Thessilane is in your debt."

With that, the man would pull close his robes, lifting the hems enough to clear the debris and blood that stained the ground about them. He would move for the door, even as the thrum of his returning vessel would fill the courtyard. It was time to take his wife home.

[Dulcie]

Fred looked over at Genny in her despair and then back over at Descant at his words that she should be helping her friend, just blinking a little in surprise.

"I wouldn't know what to do with -that-" She said, looking at the obvious grief of the of the other woman that she just couldn't quite wrap her mind around. Her green eyes would turn to Descant then, looking over at him for a moment and then back over at the fallen James.

"Do you think he's still alive?" She'd whisper to him, not able to overhear the conversation that was going on closer to the fallen man that would have given her a better answer to that question.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dulcie wasn't about to argue with Sarcyn considering the blossoming spot of pain that she could feel slightly on her right side. As prideful as she could be, Dulcie knew well enough that she was hurt and she wasn't going to argue with her companion over the matter. It didn't stop her from worrying about Catch, her hazel eyes drifting briefly over the crowd, almost as if to assure herself that someone hadn't impaled the man on the end of a sword tip. For what it was worth she was rather impressed that Sarcyn hadn't attempted some silly act of violence and she found it spoke a great deal about his character.

As Sarcyn lifted her up into his arms she'd wince again, sucking in a pained breath of air as she'd let her arms drape lightly about his neck, letting it stabilize her movement a little. Quietly she'd speak to him and to him alone as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"This isn't exactly how I intended to get into your arms this evening." Even pained as she was the innkeeper was still trying to make light of the matter and she would stay in as good of spirits as she could manage on the trip to the Rememdium.

[Raven]

There'd be a sigh from the bard. There were quite a few things outside the sphere of his knowledge. How to console someone suffering grief was one such thing. It was a blessing of travelling. You couldn't make many lasting ties and have to suffer through death if you just drifted around. "I don't think there is anything anyone can do with -that-. Just be there anyway."

At her next question he could only shrug. Yet another thing outside his realm of expertise. He had no answer to such a question, wouldn't even hazard one. No, he'd offer a quick, reassuring pat upon the shoulder to the carpenter and then he'd make his way over to the dragoness that was looking at him. There'd be some quick offered words of wanting to talk to her as soon as she could spare.

He wouldn't wait for a reply, he didn't expect one. She had her claws full as it was. Instead he'd get down to the business of closing up and cleaning out. The Grand Ball was over. It was now just a matter of everyone filing out and leaving the premises as they could.

[Drache]

Warm scaled fingers ending in cruel claws reached almost instinctively for the proffered gift. The dragoness raised it up before her eyes, tilting it back and forth in front of her snout, peering with those slit-pupiled eyes narrowed with scrutiny. Apparently mollified and with no convenient pouches to store the little ampoule, she tucked it through the keyhole in the front of her gown and into her bust. It was as best a place as any for now.

An eyebrow lifted and a small smile of approval threatened the corners of her snouted face. A gift, flattery and a proclamation of debt? This one was good. She liked him very much.

"If he is cleared by the Healers I can take him sssomewhere sssafe. If not, I will make cccertain he is looked after." With Genny so glued to his side the half-dragon didn't anticipate there being a problem with -that-.

Bejeweled horns nodded at Christoph as he departed and then she turned to find that Des was close. "Of courssse," she agreed readily.

She moved gingerly around James opposite to where Genny was sobbing. Her expression businesslike, she stooped briefly and bundled the human into her arms, letting his head fall against her warm bare shoulder. It wasn't the weight of him that was difficult. She could easily carry much more, but long legs and dead weight made him unweildy.

"Come Genny, the sssooner we get him to the Healers the sssooner he can wake up to find you by his ssside," she suggested comfortingly in a low voice, showing perhaps a surprising amount of sensitivty with this sort of thing.

Pausing briefly to check that no one else was too close, she coiled a tail around Genny's back and summoned the power. Teleporting humans was tricky business. A ripple of fire rolled across her flesh and then the trio was consumed in a towering conflagration. Then they were gone.

[Suede]

Well that had certainly been an entertaining ball in the tailor's mind. Dukes, duchesses, demented dandelions, drunks, dragons, and dancing. The tailor was still in the same stop he'd taken up at the table as people began to file up and the restoration of the ball began. He'd watch several people actually drink from the bunch beside him with an entirely false expression of surprise. He'd taken a hard look at their faces and made a note to see how they were doing later.

Despite popular belief the tailor just wasn't out to poison everyone! Such scandal. It would be wise to note at this point that while all the activity had been occurring in the ballroom, the punch bowl had begun to bubble and release steam into the air of the ballroom. The tailor tapped his chin a moment as he smiled.

With a sudden bustle of movement he jumped up to intercept one of the straggling guests who was passing by on her way to the door. There was a protest from the lady's escort, but he whacked the man upside the head with his cane and dragged her close into his rather slick touch. "Now, now. Jirai isn't here and I think a bit of fun is in order." He leered rather blatantly at the woman's chest, or more precisely her dress. "You know, I cut the fabric for this myself. I used to make quite the living, I'm glad to see my skill hasn't faded." Wide-eyed, the poor, young lass could only gasp as he ran a hand over the center of her cleavage and the red gem sewn into the flowery pattern of the bust. He took a deep sniff, smelling the faint aroma of the punch in the air.

"Oh, but don't worry, I won't charge you for it." He released her then and shoved her back several steps only to stumble and land on her backside from being sent off balance. With his free hand he grabbed the hood of his jacket and dragged it over his face, pulling a cinch so it wrapped tight around his neck. There seemed to be no eye slits in the material, but the tailor moved towards her with the mask turned down as if he had no trouble at all.

He took his cane in both hands and lifted it high overhead, flakes of paint falling off the red gem at its head. "I can't say I can compare to the little show earlier, but darling with a girl like you as my side, things are going to get hot." He swung the cane down and connected it's jewel with the one on the girl's dress.

The moment the two connected was punctuated by a brief crack. Then the explosion came like a fireball being set off within the room, a wave of heat and fire blooming out from the epicenter the tailor had created. The initial force blew holes in the back wall, the roof, and one of the side walls of the ballroom.

It didn't stop there, however, as the air itself caught fire, snaking and dancing on the fumes from the punch. Angry, scorching fingers would reach out towards the roof and walls with terrifying rapidity, and those that still remained would be wise not to stay much longer. Several of the staff, and the young lady's escort, had already disappeared into the fire with brief screams quickly swallowed up by the fire and shock wave.

[Dulcie]

Fred wasn't sure exactly how she had found her way out of the ball in time. One minute she was with Des watching over Genny and the next there were people screaming and running and there was the heat of fire behind her and she found herself thrown from the building in stumble of ripped skirts and people fleeing the ball that had been such an anticipated event. Smoke whirled around the people that had left the ball and free of the building and the explosion behind her Fred stumbled into the alley, coughing and wheezing in a futile attempt to expell the smoke from her lungs.

As the dark air began to clear and the carpenter could breathe again she found herself alone in the darkness and she shivered a little, looking around the space that had originally felt like safety and now seemed to reek of danger. She couldn't stay here certainly, she'd have to find her way back out.. find Genny and Des!

She wouldn't normally have started to run in the darkness but the creeping feeling at the back of her neck only seemed to spark her onwards. She was almost at top speed when something caught under her foot and she tripped, sprawling forward with her hands before her face as bits of rock and rubble caught beneath them leaving bits of stone and blood to trickle down her arms. She groaned in pain, moving her hands around to try to find her way back up to her feet when she realized what she had tripped over had been a body.

In the darkness there was no way to tell how harm had befallen the man that was laying there. Perhaps he was a victim of the ball, or a ruffian who had come on the wrong end of an alleyway deal but as her hand groped about to find the floor's surface his cool skin and rigid frame were indication enough that he was dead. A queasiness rolled up in her stomach and in her attempt to get away from the dead man her bloodied hand came in contact with that cool bare skin and what had once been still and gone began to stir, fingers and limbs twitching with an animation that was anything but human.

Her scream would fill the night air already deafened by the explosion at the hall nearby before Fred would find her way back up to her feet and would flee the creature that was coming to it's own awareness back in the alley. There would be no rest for the terrified carpenter as she wouldn't stop her dash away from that place until she had reached the safety of her room back at the Dagger.