Some people should not play with fire!!!!

[Phineas J. Pennefeather]

Phineas the Halfling runs to his private chambers, just off the main tap-room of the Watering Hole, to look out the back window of the tavern.
He can plainly see that the fire that they locals set to help clear the brush behind the Tavern for farmland has gotten out of control.

"What the …??""

The Halfling turns on his heal and immediately starts to gather a sack of materials.

"Borin, if you can, please bring as much water as you can and bring it around the back. See if anybody else is around. I'll grab some shovels and bring your strongest axe!"

Phineas runs through the Inn and grabs as much kindling, dried mosses and cooking oil. He then runs outside to behind the Inn.

[Phineas J. Pennefeather]

Carrying a torch lit from the tavern's fireplace, Phineas ignite a small amount of dry kindling and builds up small fire just behind the midline point of the Inn. Once going, the Halfling quickly shovels the snow that has accumulated in various corners into the first line of defence just behind the border of brush.

Once the line of snow is in place, Phineas gathers a small bundle of kindling and sets a small fire every three paces just on the other side of the line of snow. Within a few minutes, he has a line of low fires burning into a tightly defined fire-break between the Inn and the encroaching danger.

If any one brings water, the Halfling first directs the soaking of the side of the Inn, and then the lawn. between the Inn and the fire.

[Phineas J. Pennefeather]

As the line of fires consume the border of brush, Phineas shovels more and more snow onto the retreating boundary. This expands the firebreak by consuming the combustable material and widens the zone of sodden ground.

Moving back and forth along the line of defence, sometimes with a shovel, sometimes with a torch, Phineas works to strengthen and widen the line of protection in an arc behind the Watering Hole Tavern.

[Phineas J. Pennefeather]

Phineas looks up from his work to see the Fire Mage running around. He doesn't appear to actually be on fire. Phineas returns to his work of making the firebreak an ever-increasing barrier between the Inn and the fire!

[Borin Ironhammer]

Borin signals to Phineas that he would be another minute and quickly finishes his stew and gulps down his ale. He then heads straight to the forge and grabs his quenching trough. He fills it with water at the lake and drags it over to the watering hole and starts dousing the inn. when the side of the inn that would first catch is reasonably quenched he went into the bunkhouse and found the axe that he made for Timmean so many weeks ago. Marveling at the craftsmanship for a moment , he notices that after all this time the blade is still as sharp as the day it was forged. He then heads to the trees surrounding the fire and starts felling them to create a fire break between the fire and the forest before a full on forest fire erupts.

[AD]

*some of the tress go down without resistance, others are too big to fell without incident.*

[Ira the Elf]

Ira wakes up from her nap to the sounds of shouting and the smell of burning leaves. Instinctively she leaps out of bed grabbing her knife in a panic. Realizing she is nowhere near the Scarred Lands she runs to the window of her room to see a wall of fire burning though the forest.

In an instant she is running down the stairs, still in her light chemise and underwear. She bursts out the back door of the inn:

"PHINEAS! WHERE ARE YOU?!?!" she cries, her voice panicked and strained.

[Borin Ironhammer]

Borin continues to chop tirelessly. When he sees the elf who seems to be in a state of panic he walks over to her. "don' get yer files in a flute lass, Merryweather is fine." He lays the quenching trough in front of her. "we do need yer help though, use yer magic to fill this up with water and start gettin' this damned fire under control."

[Ira the Elf]

"Oh... Right! Ok!" she replies. Summoning her magic she shouts "With Water I Strike You 2 points!" and directs a blast of ice towards the quenching trough. Upon hitting the heated metal the ice begins to melt.

"And Borin, let me help you too! I can make sure you don't get burnt!" touching his arm she says "With Water I protect you from Fire!"

[Phineas J. Pennefeather]

The Halfling keeps working at pushing the fire break further and further away from the Inn: pushing the burning embers back behind the fire line and then beating and stomping out the rest.

"Keep it up, Borin." shouts the Innkeeper. "Try to chop the burning brush from the back so it falls away from the Inn and ignite the brush further back!"

While continuing to work, Phineas turns to his Elven assistant (or sometimes ward).

"Ira, I do not think combat spells will work here." he says. "But while you can help with the physical work, I want you to call on your affiliations with Water and Air may help us carve out this fire break."

[Timmean]

The growing noise from outside slowly encroaches on Timmean's exhaustion-fueled sleep; eventually, he jerks awake, realizing the noise isn't just imaginary. Jumping out of bed and poking his head out the bunkhouse door, Timmean lets out a loud groan and grabs his cloak.

"They never go smoothly! Why do things here NEVER go smoothly?!?"

Leaving his staff behind, Timmean rushes out the door, his mind spinning, trying to come up with a solution.

Strike with ice? ...probably won't do much.
Untaint? ...clearly useless here.
Healing? Maybe later, hopefully not.
Toughen? About as good as untaint.
Binding? Nope.
Uh... um...
Water! Buckets of water!

Pulling open the door to The Watering Hole, Timmean rushes inside, rummaging around until he finds a large bucket. Grabbing it, he rushes out the door toward the lake.

[AD]

*everyone working is feeling the heat of the fire and the strain of working so hard next to a large fire.*

[Phineas J. Pennefeather]

Over the last little while, the Halfling Innkeeper is very noticeably slowing down in his efforts to work a fire break into the space behind the Inn. The smoke and heat is most definitely having an effect on Phineas.

The Halfling's face is red and sweaty with his efforts. Exhausted by the intense heat, his eyes are red and starting to water.

"Timmean, Borin keep bringing in water buckets." he shouts to those nearby.

Phineas stops and puts his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

"Ira, my friend, tell me something?" he asks through gulps of air. "Do you know how to make yourself one with the air? And if so, can you control the wind to blow this fire away from the Inn?"

(OOG: You may wish to consult with the AD….)

[Borin Ironhammer]

As the rate at which trees ar falling begins to slow borin realizes that with his newfound resistance to fire he can start to smother it at its source. Dumping the rest of the water in the trough onto the edge of the fire he takes Merryweather's shovel and goes down to the lake. He splashes water on his face,gratefulfor a chance to finally cool off. He then starts shoveling sand into the trough. slowly dragging the now very heavy trough back to the inn he goes straight into the fire with it. Choking on smoke and hot, dry air he manages to get the sand to the hottest spot in the fire and dumps it there. Unable to stand the heat anymore he runs out of the fire without his trough.

[Timmean]

Timmean rushes back and forth from the lake, dumping buckets of water into the troughs and throwing a little on the fire itself. It doesn't take long before he starts to get short on breath, the heat and constant running straining his endurance. Still, he continues, doing his best to continue bringing water despite the sweltering heat and his dwindling speed.

[Phineas J. Pennefeather]

Phineas takes a moment to evaluate to progress of the collective efforts to save the Watering Hole Tavern.

"It looks like we have a pretty good brake built started here," he states. "But we have to make sure we don't get ourselves too overheated!"

Phineas stops and deliberately takes the time to go back to the Inn, pick up a jug of water and a handful of mugs filled with the now cooling stew.

"Everybody," he shouts. "Please have some water and a swallow or two of food! We all have to keep up our strength!"

[Timmean]

Timmean turns, the shouts from the halfling catching his attention. After a momentary pause, he takes the few remaining steps to the edge of the fire, emptying his most recent bucket of water. With that done, he approaches Phineas, his usual stride now replaced with a tired, lurching step. Dropping the empty bucket, Timmean accepts a mug of water, emptying it in a few hasty swallows. Panting, but feeling a little better, he glances down to the bucket at his feet and gives a rough sarcastic grin.

"I don't suppose the lake water is good to drink?"

[Ira the Elf]

Ira is rushing around putting out small fires as quickly as possible using "With Water I douse this Fire". Hearing Phineas's comment she stops for a moment thinking about whether she can make a difference by blending with Air. Deciding it is worth a try, Ira calls out:

"My essence will blend with Air"

[Phineas J. Pennefeather]

The Halfling blinks as the Elf quickly becomes "one with the Air" and out of his perception.

"I really hope that you can help like this, Ira," he whispers, knowing that she should be able to hear. "But, as much as I know about magic, I have never been an Elf."

He stops to catch his breath.

"I just hope that you can will the Air to help move this fire towards the other to burn both out!"

[Borin Ironhammer]

Borin, grateful to oblige Phineas on his offer goes into the watering hole and with a few mugs of water and a bite or two of stew he is ready to fight fires for the rest of the night. Figuring the water mage's spell would wear off soon he decided now would be the last chance to retrieve his trough. This was important because it was the highest volume means of transporting water that Borin could think of. As he headed back into the sweltering he managed to find it and get out just as he felt his beard begin to singe.

[Phineas J. Pennefeather]

Phineas is noticeably slowed down, worn out from his frantic pace to build the fire-break and save the Inn from burning.

"Let's keep a careful watch on this, but everything seems to be working out!" he shouts to the others.

Whether it's Ira's efforts or something else, the line of defence has been burned into a solid stretch of "nothing left to burn" between the fire and the Inn.

The Halfling grab his buckets and, now pacing himself, makes his way to the water and returns, a little more slowly than you might expect. Once back at the line, he carefully soaks a wider and wider area of the burned-out patch of land.

[AD]

*the fire is still hot and anyone working to fight the fire can still feel the heat and is grateful to deal with water. while the fire seems to have stopped coming toward the inn, the ground still feels warm to the touch*

[Timmean]

Following Phieas's lead, Timmean continues hauling water from the lake to the burn area. Glancing up, his eyes watering from the smoke, he pauses as he scans the flames.

"Hey, um, I know we want to save the inn and all but... what about the rest of the forest!?"

[Phineas J. Pennefeather]

The Halfling Tavernkeeper keeps working to protect the Inn even though he is showing very definite signs of exhaustion.

"We have to make sure that the Inn is safe," he says. "Then the rest should be contained by the borders!"

Phineas stops and points towards the major features of the area.

"The water acts a boundary here on the right and the rocky ridge does the same on the left. The woods do extend a ways back from here. But that will reach the river eventually."

[Borin Ironhammer]

Borin, sweaty and tired from a whole night of work, tips over a trough full of water on the fire one last time. He looks his halfling friend and grins. "Looks like Tim's farm's gonna be a wee bit bigger than expexted."

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