When Ban’Koliath arrived at the Five Crowns Hotel, the sun was dipping toward the horizon casting long shadows across the cityscape. After his successful conversation with Sharlot, he’d gotten the information on where Targel and Olayne Eveningfall were staying. He had the carriage drop him off a block away, where he took the time to survey the area. He spent ten minutes milling about outside before he was satisfied he wasn’t being watched and headed inside.

He walked up to the reception desk, rapping on it and gaining the clerks’ attention. “Evening, I’m looking for a human male and elven female that should have checked in earlier today. Perhaps you could assist?”

“Gent,” the clerk said, pulling his head away from some files he was sorting. He gave the minotaur the same look of disdain he’d directed at Ian earlier. “We are not in the habit of giving out our guests’ information. I am going to need some credentials, or a very good reason, to continue this conversation.”

“Of course,” Ban’Koliath replied, leaning against the counter. He fished around in his vest, and pulled out his lawyour badge for the clerk, Dave his nametag said, to examine. “Ban'Koliath, Lawyour for Justiciar Law. I need to speak with them and while witnesses mentioned this hotel, they didn’t know any names or what room they were staying in.”

“Oh,” Dave said sounding a little disappointed when Ban’Kolith produced his badge. “Well, I will need more information than that Lawyour Ironroar.”

“The man I’m looking for is about this high,” Ban’Koliath said, stretching his arm up to indicated Ian’s height, though he was still a few inches short. “With dark blonde hair. And the elf is a little shorter than myself, golden hair like sunshine. Names of Targel and Eveningfall. Sound familiar?”

“Yes, that does bring to mind a couple that came in here a few hours ago. Most unusual pairing but I’m not one to judge," The clerk ran his finger down the ledger that sat beside him and then picked up a pscry. “One moment please while I try their room.”

Ban’Koliath was confident that they wouldn’t panic when they heard that someone from the law firm was here to see them. After all, that’s exactly what they were waiting for. He frowned when Dave hung up the pscry.

“Sorry Gent, there doesn’t seem to be anyone there," Dave said.

“Then can I have the room number? It is very important that I speak with them, and they may be more liable to answer the door than the pscry.” While he was speaking Ban’Koliath had retrieved a ten til coin from his vest pocket and discreetly slid across the countertop.

“I’m sorry, but we do not give out that information for respect for our guests’ privacy. You understand," Dave said while pocketing the coin and scribbled the room number on a slip of paper.

“Thank you anyway," Ban’Koliath said as he picked up the note.

With a final nod, he headed for the floortal bank and pushed the summon button. Each floortal here had a doorway with a porthole window in the center. He waited for the ding and pulled open the door. He checked the number written on the slip of paper before slipping it into his vest pocket, 1408. Stepping inside he tapped the button for the fourteenth floor. With a lurch, the floortal began its ascent. The lurch reminded him to take the stairs next time as an uncomfortable feeling settled in.

A minute later, during which Ban’Koliath thought of everything but being trapped inside the floortal, it slowed to a stop. He pushed open the door to the landing and stepped out swiftly enough to shed his discomfort. He walked down the carpeted hall, so he took it, eyeing door numbers as he went. When he reached the end of the hall and the correct room, he knocked twice and waited. His conical ears twitched as he tried to pick up the sound of movement from the other side of the door. Only silence.

He raised his three-fingered fist to knock again. Before his hand connected, a billowing smoke poured out from the gap beneath the door. The acrid scent of sulfur hit his nose and caused him to reflexively step back. Ban’Koliath had no more than two steps to process the situation before the door blew out into the hallway. Razor-sharp splinters of wood flew everywhere. He instinctively brought up his arms to shield his face as a roaring inferno of hungry flames poured out from the room.

“HUMAN!? ELF!? Are you there!?” Ban’Koliath called frantically into the fire.

No response. He came to the logical conclusion: if they had been inside at all they were dead now. His ears swiveled as they picked up a sharp chittering sound in the flames. Never once in his forty years of life had Ban known that sound to mean anything good. He pulled his battle hammer from his back and took one more step back, bracing for an attack. When no opponent presented itself he quickly came to his senses. Turning away from the flames he ran back down the hallway banging on doors as he went.

BANG! BANG!

“FIRE!”

BANG!

“FIRE!”

Occupants came out with annoyed expressions at the disturbance but soon became panicked upon seeing smoke filling the hall. Everyone started frantically trying to get away from the spreading fire. It licked across the carpet and up along the walls to the ceiling in a relentless tide of destruction. Knowing that trampling was a real risk for some of the smaller guests, Ban’Koliath tried to remain calm and restore some order.

As he attempted to herd the civilians towards the exit, a little human girl let out a high-pitched scream. She was pointing back towards the fire as her mother carried her along through the crowd. He looked back, and immediately wished he hadn’t.

A spider the size of a pony came crashing through the wall mere feet away from the mass of people. Its chitin was colored in bright oranges and yellows. Many deep black angular lines cut across its thorax only improving its sinister presence. The very tips of its spindly legs glowed white with heat, and from its horrible pincers dripped thick globules of molten ichor. Every step it took ignited more of the hallway adding to Ban’Koliath’s growing list of problems. It reared up on its back legs, pointing its body aggressively at the crowd and let out a horrific grinding metallic screech.

“RUN!” Ban’Koliath shouted with all the authority he could summon.

The shout drew everyone’s attention. He gestured towards the stairwell at the far end of the hall, doing his best to quell their panic. With so many people he needed to buy them time to get away. He moved against the flow, heading towards the molten spider. When he broke free of the crowd he planted his feet. He ignored all the shouting and crying around him, breathing deeply he centered himself. Ban’Koliath became the immovable object to the fire’s unstoppable force.

The spider let out a hiss and rushed him.

He firmed up his grip and dropped his hammerhead down low.

It scrambled madly along the hallway, twisting its body so that it was half on the wall and half on the floor. Its heated poker tip legs leaving dots of fire in its wake.

At the last possible second, Ban’Koliath brought his hammer up in a forward arc and connected with the beast’s body.

Eight glassy eyes glowing red with hatred locked onto the minotaur as Ban’Koliath sent the spider hurtling backward. The spindly monster let out another screech as its limbs flailed wildly, landing on its back with a crash. It flexed and kicked until it managed to roll its frame over and got back to its feet, it wasted no time in charging again. As it skittered down the hall past the burning room, two more spiders burst through the flames and into the hallway.

Ban’Koliath swung his hammer at the nearest spider while backing away towards the exit. He spared a quick backward glance through the thickening smoke. Only a few of the hotel’s patrons remained in the hall. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw other unconscious forms on the floor. Ongoing battle be damned, he had to get them out.

He avoided the snapping of razor mandibles and sent a spider airborne with a satisfying smack from his hammer. The other two spiders snapped and clacked at each other as if in an argument. Their companion soared into them and they all went down in a tangle of limbs. He used the time to find what he needed, a squat wooden box mounted on the wall. It had Emergency Only in bright white lettering printed on all sides in spellskrit.

The spiders untangled themselves, but as they got up they kept their distance. The blows from Ban’Koliath’s hammer had cracked their carapace. White-hot ichor drooled out onto the floor from the wounds. More fuel for the fire.

With a well-placed elbow, Ban’Koliath smashed the box, breaking it free from the wall and spilling its contents to the floor. He had to keep looking back and forth between the spiders and the contents. After kicking away the first aid items he found what he was looking for; a dark blue sphere of glass.

Centuries ago there had been a great fire in Raxal. It had consumed half the city and countless lives. Though the damage and carnage were terrible, it had led to the creation of two things. The first was the Fire Mage Brigade, who were no doubt already en route to the hotel. The second was the S.N.U.F.F. (Sphere of Nullifying of Uncontrolled Fire and Fumes) that Ban’Koliath snatched up from the floor.

Hardly pausing to aim, he threw the S.N.U.F.F. directly into the fire behind the chittering arachnids. Like dogs playing fetch they watched the sphere fly into the room and pounced in unison. Ban’Koliath slid his hammer over his shoulder and into the clasp on his back. Ignoring the spiders, he snatched up the unconscious citizens in the hall and counted down.

“Three,” He said through gritted teeth as he pulled up a bulky orcish man onto his shoulder, trying to keep the man’s limbs from dragging on the floor.

“Two,” He stacked a petite elven woman on his other shoulder, practically swallowed by the tangle of limbs.

“One,” He reached the last prone figure in the hall with time left only to grip his shirt collar. He dragged them all toward the stairwell as the spiders lost interest in their hunt for the S.N.U.F.F. They noticed that their prey was escaping. They turned, took a step, and the glass sphere erupted.

Cold. Cold like the bitterest day of winter in Ice Cast filled the room, snuffing out the flames as it spread. Right behind the wave of frigid air a cloud formed on the ceiling and poured down rain, clearing the smoke away. As the air washed over the spiders they cried out in pained tones, leaping to get away. Two spiders collided and shattered on contact. Their bodies hissing like a tea kettle as the cold air claimed them. The last one leapt toward Ban’Koliath and his charges, determined to take his foe down with him. The minotaur had never stopped moving and pushed through the door into the stairwell, kicking the door shut behind him.

The spider slammed into the door. Ban’Koliath heard the icy fragments clinking onto the floor through the door. It was all the confirmation he needed. He took a firm grip on his three passengers and began the long trek down to the ground floor.

Ban’Koliath came out of the stairwell panting heavily, his fur damp with sweat from exertion. He gently deposited the unconscious people on the floor and scanned over the chaos of the lobby. He spotted a mage and waved him over with tired arms.

“Healer! Need a healer here!” He bellowed.

A man dressed in red and white colored robes rushed over. The emblem on his left breast displayed a trio of frostbolts, signifying him as a member of the Fire Mage Brigade. He looked over Ban’Koliath who waved him off and pointed at the other three.

“Not me, they need help. And the fire is on the fourteenth floor,” Ban’Koliath said.

The mage nodded and signaled his team over. “You two, help the wounded. The rest of you come with me!”

The other mages took to the stairs and Ban’Koliath decided he’d fulfilled his duty. The fire would soon be out if the S.N.U.F.F. hadn’t taken care of it already. He didn’t have time to deal with the Fire Mages, he needed to get back to Tuin. He slipped into the milling crowd, planning on disappearing in the chaos. He was nearly through the crowd when he felt a blade against his back.

“Move, slowly, away from the crowd. Don’t draw attention to yourself,” A soft feminine voice whispered in his ear.