Zarâm
Escaping a burning building
As
Zarâm stood there looking at
Allaccan, time seemed to pass very slowly and almost magically, until
Allacan pulled out the knife. For a moment, she pointed it aggressively towards
Silendris and then she pointed it towards her own breast.
Zarâm didn’t know what came over her, but she lunged towards the woman, knocking the knife out of her hand and the both of them to the floor. Unbeknownst to her, while attempting to save the rohir-minion’s life (after such a speech,
Zarâm was even more confused about this strange woman’s loyalties), she had knocked her makeshift lantern to the floor on the other side of the bar. It fell to the ground with a resounding shatter and the flame touched the alcohol that had spilled out onto the floor.
Allacan stared up into her face in a rather surprised and confused expression. But there was no time to think or talk. The flames had reached a wooded casket containing some type of alcohol and the fire became all the more ferocious, leaping up from behind the bar to engulf the aging wood in flame.
Zarâm reached up and in one swift movement, knocked as many of the wonderful torture tools onto the ground, and stuffed as many as she could into Allacan’s bag, which was still on this side of the bar.
The flames were getting hotter and she could feel the heat on her back. Allacan still lay where she had fallen, oblivious to the destruction that was filling the abandoned pub.
Zarâm took a break from gathering weapons to risk a quick glance around the pub.
Frost had apparently regained some amount of consciousness and strength, grabbed
Silendris,
Taeth, and
Zôr, and shoved them out of the door. For a brief second, the two of them stared into each other’s matching eyes. The Númenórean looked at her in something that resembled confusion or disappointment,
Zarâm wasn’t sure which, and at the moment, it didn’t matter. For the second time today, there was a huge fire, which excited her, but it wasn’t a planned one, which meant they didn’t have their escape route figured out.
Frost disappeared from her line of sight as he exited out of the room, which was fast filling with smoke and flame.
Throwing the bag of weaponry onto her back,
Zarâm stood up and was about to leave, when she looked down at the still stunned
Allacan. This mysterious woman certainly had a history with the Black Lands, and while minions were notorious for leaving others behind, this woman was too intriguing to leave. Cursing her luck,
Zarâm heaved the bag onto her shoulder, bent over, and picked up the woman. Despite the way the woman carried herself, and her strength as an obvious warrior, she was not overly heavy and
Zarâm could easily carry her in her arms. Just as she picked her up, a beam fell down from the ceiling as in the few moments she had been distracted, the fire had crept up the wall and had reached the roof. It would not be long now before the ceiling caved in on itself.
The fire had spread and was licking at nearly all the walls by this point.
Zarâm could just make out a path to the door. Unlike the majority of the individuals in the pub, the smoke was not overly bothersome. Orc lungs tended to be a bit more accustomed to breathing in smoke and ash, so a little house-fire was nothing to worry about, at least inhalation wise. But, it would not be wise for
Allacan to stay in the pub much longer, especially considering her dazed state.
For a brief second,
Zarâm wondered where
Thali and
Orco were as she thought they had been close to Frost’s corner, but she hadn’t seen them shoved out by him. But, she trusted them to get themselves out. Orco was an orc after all and Thali, well, she was a resourceful creature.
Zarâm briskly walked towards the door, holding
Allacan in her arms, as the flames quickly began to make its way towards the empty spaces left in the pub. The woman’s head lolled against her chest. Apparently the tackle had been harder than she had planned and the woman wasn't entire cognitive at the moment. It wouldn’t be long before the whole thing was completely filled with fire. She dashed out of the exit as the flames followed her. At the last moment,
Zarâm thought she heard the sound of a glass window exploding from the heat. That would at least provide an alternative exit if Thali was still in the pub.
Upon arrival outside,
Zarâm saw
Frost lying on the ground,
Zôr standing over him, looking thoroughly annoyed about something. While she desired to head in their direction, she had a feeling that neither of them exactly wanted to see her at the moment. It might be best to wait until she had interrogated
Allacan to find out what she woman was up to and why she appeared to be both Rohir and minion.
There was a small patch of trees a short ways off. It would be far enough from the fire that they should be hidden from the rest of the group to take care of whatever business was necessary, but close enough they could rejoin the group if necessary. And it was empty, or at least so she thought. After she settled the woman, who was still conscious, but clearly somewhat out of it, onto the ground,
Zarâm turned around and looked back at the fire. It was a delightful bright light against the darkening night. As she watched, it burned brighter and brighter. If something didn't happen soon to slow the flames, more buildings would be in danger.
At last, she turned and looked at the woman lying on the ground before her. The bundle of weapons made several clanging sounds as she dropped it down.
Zarâm stared down at
Allacan, who was slowly beginning to become more aware (likely thanks to the absence of smoke) and asked , “
Are you a minion or a Rohir?” The woman clearly had some status in Edoras due to her position in the Campain, but at the same time, had clearly made a rather impassioned speech about chaos and allusions towards coups within Rohan. But where were her loyalties? And why was she so interested in getting to know this woman? Why had she bothered to rescue her when any other sane Mordorian wouldn’t have thought twice about leaving the hindrance behind?
Zarâm stood, hands on her hips and her eyes on the bag of weapons, wondering if she should be holding the saw, just in case. She might have prevented
Allacan from taking her own life, but she was prepared to finish the favor if necessary – especially if the woman was a threat to the Black Land.
(
Like Frost, Zarâm is ignoring the songs, though perhaps she noticed something strange going on. I also added the fire spreading to an adjacent building like we discussed)
OOC
@Gwai: (
Per the discord conversation, Zarâm has carried @Allafyrefleorhtlig out and to the same grove you are. Feel free to listen in on whatever sort of conversation/interrogation we have)