Miss Stockbridge

[Mr. Handy]

"Someone fetch Miss Winters!" calls Reverend Trask, "Her skills will be needed!" He prays over Daniel, doing all he can to keep him alive until help arrives.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Arriving at the scene of the calamity in haste, Miss Winters attempts to reach the injured lad, whilst caring for her own safety as best as may be done, given the continuing fury of the maddened beasts. Mrs. Collins is not far behind.

Spoiler:

same as before4d20

Three successful attacks. We now have six possible targets. 1 = Daniel, 2 = Trask, 3 = Forbes, 4 = Jeremiah 5 = Victoria 6 = Laura.3d6

Damage3d6 Odd coincidence of numbers, but I've checked to make sure I used the correct new roll.

Daniel is struck a glancing blow by one of the horses, which makes his situation grave indeed. Meanwhile, Jeremiah is trampled by a pair of steeds that knock him to the ground and tread upon him madly, rendering him as insensate as his little cousin.

As Mrs. Collins approaches, the rampaging beasts run off in a frenzy, and are soon lost to sight. She evinces no fear of the fire, taking no thought for her own safety as she nears Daniel, who lies upon the very border of life and death.

"My son," she says softly, apparently addressing the boy in this manner due to the tragic nature of the situation. "I will take you with me." She reaches her hands out to the lad, seemingly intent on embracing him.

[Mr. Handy]

"Let me try to help him first," says Victoria, kneeling beside Daniel and working to save his life.

Using Cure Light Wounds.

[Mr. Handy]

"Let Miss Winters help, Mrs. Collins." says Reverend Trask. "Her healing skills have saved lives before." All he can do to help her, aside from trying to keep Mrs. Collins from interfering, is to pray.

[SunlessNick]

Millicent screams as she sees her brother injured, and joins MIss Winters at his side - though she will reluctantly accede to a request to retreat and allow the other lady room to work.

Josette joins Reverend Trask in exhorting Mrs Collins to wait.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

The ministrations of Miss Winters produce just barely detectable signs of life in the boy. Entirely insensate, with heartbeat and the movement of lungs slowed to a rate that can hardly sustain life for any great length of time, Daniel trembles on the verge of death. His skin is unnaturally warm, perhaps due to the nearness of the fire, although the conflagration has grown less threatening, coincident with Mrs. Collins approach. It may be that the flames cause the seeming glow in her countenance as she kneels near the boy, her hands just above his body, kept from touching him only by the fact that Miss Winters, due to her intimate treatments, blocks her way.

"You must give him into my care," she insists. "Only I can save him."

[Mr. Handy]

"How can you save him?" asks Reverend Trask.

[Mr. Handy]

"I don't see what other option we have," says Victoria. "I've kept him alive for now, but he won't last much longer without help. I'm not a doctor."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

"I will take him away with me, to a place where no harm can ever come to him."

As she speaks these words, ghostly flames seem to cover her from head to foot, and yet do not consume either flesh or clothing.

"A moment of pain, then life everlasting. My son cannot speak for himself," she continues, apparently still confused as to Daniel's identity. "You must speak for him, and allow me to take him with me."

Most witnesses present are taken aback by this strange speech, and even more so by the peculiar fire that surrounds her.

"Must you leave me?" Jeremiah draws near her, but steps back, seeming to fear the flames.

"For a time. Only for a time. Will you speak for him?"

Jeremiah only shakes his head, waiting for others to answer this strange request.

[Mr. Handy]

"Where would you take him?" asks Reverend Trask. "What manner of being are you?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Laura is a phoenix," says Victoria. "Millicent should be the one to speak for Daniel. If you take him away, will we ever see him again?"

[SunlessNick]

"You mean to take him?" Millicent stammers. "But where?"

"Do not accede; her words are trickery," interjects Nathan.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

"Where would you take him?" asks Reverend Trask. "What manner of being are you?"

"I would take him where he has always been, and always will be. I am that I am."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

"Laura is a phoenix," says Victoria. "Millicent should be the one to speak for Daniel. If you take him away, will we ever see him again?"

"You have already seen what he is to be. We have met before, and will meet again; there is no difference. You and I are not so very different."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

"You mean to take him?" Millicent stammers. "But where?"

"He has always been mine, and shall ever be."

"Do not accede; her words are trickery," interjects Nathan.

In response to this direct statement of denial, Mrs. Collins raises her arms high above her head.

"Until we meet again."

These final words are hardly spoken when a burst of white-hot flame, such as has been reported by those natural philosophers so bold as to expose a curious metal, first discovered by Anton Rupprecht when he heated magnesia with charcoal, to fire, blinds all present with its light. When sight returns, there is no evidence that Mrs. Collins is present, and pure black ashes lie upon the ground. Dies lies where he was, with no change in his condition. It will require the services of the finest physician available to preserve the small spark of life that remains in his young body.

"Laura?" Jeremiah searches throughout the charred and smoking stable, to no avail. "We must find her."

[Mr. Handy]

"She's gone," says Victoria. "What we need to find is a doctor, a good one. Or rather the rest of you do. I have to stay here with Daniel and make sure he stays alive until the doctor gets here."

[Mr. Handy]

"The best place to inquire for a doctor is in town," says Reverend Trask. "We must pray that God has brought an excellent physician into port. I shall leave forthwith. Who shall go with me?"

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

There are many who are all too willing to accompany Reverend Trask to the center of town. Not among them, it seems, is Jeremiah, who appears distraught with grief. It will later be noted that he ran to the manor house, there to speak with the Countess.

The local physician is called to examine the boy. He arrives in great haste, fully aware of the gravity of the situation.

Spoiler:

d20

The doctor proves to be a healer of great skill and wisdom, making a diagnosis that might have escaped others.

"The boy has sustained internal burns, it seems, without suffering the same on his skin. How this may have happened is difficult to say. I can only imagine that he swallowed a considerable amount of highly heated air during the fire. He requires internal cooling, to quench the excessive supply of phlogiston within his body. If only it were possible to obtain some ice!"

[Mr. Handy]

"Praise the Lord!" says Reverend Trask. "He has guided you well, Doctor."

[Mr. Handy]

"There must be ice somewhere," says Victoria. In her own time, she would just have gone to the freezer and gotten some ice cubes from the tray, but that won't work here. "Is there an ice house, either here or in town? Maybe one of the ships in port has some ice aboard."