Her silhouette had been bathed in the dim green light from the corridor and the creature within perked up, swinging it's attention there. It was a new addition, fairly recent and it was perhaps a good thing for it was not trained for it' normal role or rather the one that had been forced upon them.

It was a hairless gray creature with slate gray eyes and elongated rubbery limbs. It stood maybe three and a half feet tall and had been covered in oily secretions. The cage that held it too seemed to be specially designed, the bars closer together and there were horizontal and vertical ones making a checker board effect with a series of one inch squares.

She could smell it. The creature smelled of faint kerosene and it was looking at her. There seemed to be an intelligence to it's eyes. There was a bowl of food and a bowl of water in the cage as if it were a pet. It seemed to be watching her with uncertainty, the cage straight across from the door, the room seemed to be a storage room of some sorts. A place for junk too it seemed. There was a mattress here and a few cages on it of various sizes, one being a bird cage. A dresser had been here and a full length mirror along with a sofa and a few extra chair and table for the bar above.

"Oh .. dear .." Flame had been petrified at the unforeseen entity which lingered near the far side of the room, instantaneously profoundly heedful of her own warily measured breaths in hopes of getting the confined creature to either ignore her presence on the off chance that these penetrating gray eyes would not partake of her voluptuous frame and sound any kind of alarm. "Careful now .." It remained silent, however, her heart beating strongly beneath layers of homely clothing which had made the young sorceress feel as though she would end up breaking a sweat with these continuous shudders washing over her entirety.

Sealing the door behind her the greatly encouraging emerald glow faded away, but her mental sacrifice likely prevented anyone from the outside to regard the buxom vixen beyond. It was impossible to tell what they had hidden away down here whilst mucous membranes churned out the strange substance which encased the creature in a mild sheen akin to dousing yourself in cooking oil. She had never seen anything like her most recent find and pondered on what Renee might possibly do with the imprisoned lifeform.

"Curious little thing .. I don't know what you are .." It hadn't appeared to be physically abused in any way save for being trapped in confinement, food and water indicative of its lowly position as little more than an ordinary pet, no doubt, but judging by the great many other cages they likely planned on acquiring more or once housed other wildlife. Flame wondered what had happened to them unless they truly were stored here for the sole purpose of keeping these metallic prisons out of the way.

She approached the inhabited cage with hesitant steps, studying the contraption from afar in search of any traps or other vicious mechanisms which would prevent her to draw near, but apparantly there weren't any in place even though the distinct smell of kerosene agitated the nubile red head in more ways than one, her nostrils tingling in discomfort at the scent despite how faint it had been. Once nearby her fingers languidly draw themselves along the frame of the cage, investigating whether the stuff had been on the surface or not in consideration of her possibilities here, the holes there small enough to barely squeeze more than one finger through at any given time.

"Sadly I cannot break you out .. Not yet anyway." Melting the metal was an option worth contemplating, but without knowledge on what Flame happened to be dealing with at the time, releasing an unknown creature into blessed freedom was far too severe a risk to bear in face of their objective. "You wouldn't happen to speak my language, would you?" It was a long shot, but not enough to abate her courage any if proven false.

Crimson eyes averted their focus from the alleged pet and scanned the premises once again. No other doors. It would probably be prudent to head for the other door in the corridor outside even though leaving the locked up being behind pained her beyond reason. Empty cages riddled the chamber and potentially foreshadowed future events, her mind envisioning the wicked perversions Renee might force it to endure. Matters would have been simpler if they were already leaving and had the means of letting the creature fall asleep and turn invisible altogether which would minimise expore and risk of detection.

The door closed casting them in darkness. The smell of kerosene growing stronger as she neared the cage and the faint glow of the corridor provided the only real hints of illumination. The creature racked her movements, it must have had excellent senses or perhaps it was as simple as seeing in the dark as well.

It moved to the front of the cage intermingling it's hands with the mesh of he cage and Flame could tell that it was rather simple with a pad lock keeping the creature within. It seemed to be the source of the kerosene though the lighting was poor it did not seem that the cage had any slickness on it.

A grunt. The creature might have comprehended what she was saying … but when it came to speaking her language it simply shook it's head as if it understood what she was relaying. He was more than a simple beast it seemed though was being kept as one.

It pointed towards a dresser at something and if she bothered to look there had been an assortment of earrings here. Most of which seemed commonplace enough save for a few pairs. There was a busted jewelry box here where several of the ear rings had spilled out of it.

It took some doing though she worked out that it was the hoop earrings that were there or rather just one. It seemed that he wanted one for whatever reason and had grunted in disapproval when the wrong earrings were selected and it seemed that these were the ones.

Departing from the unlit chamber without lending any assistance whatsoever would have been unforgivable and Flame happily indulged in his presence while tending to the unknown creature. Naturally crimson eyes swung themselves towards the nearby dresser upon acknowledging his guidance to explore the piece of furniture, cautiously opening the doors which creaked faintly under her tender touch. She glanced over her shoulder once her questing gaze fell upon the fractured box therein, communicating back and forth with gestures and whispered questions on her behalf in order to discern what the confined specimen truly wanted her to do.

"I believe these will do .." She wound up with a pair of hooped earrings dancing amidst her feminine digits which matched his unspoken specifications, contemplating on the matter of interest between the creature and the objects in her palms briefly before sealing the dresser and carefully traversing the room once again with vigilant steps, gradually closing the distance between the two. "You have to remain quiet. I'm not actually supposed to be here and it would be best if you don't show anyone that you have them."

Spencer hadn't shown up yet and with one of the two remaining rooms occupied Flame wasn't truly pressed for time here anyway. She handed him the two or merely one of them depending on what exactly he sought to obtain, partially sticking her fingers through the metallic mesh in the process. "I'm sorry, but I cannot do more for you than that. I'm going to have to leave now."

A warm smile splayed over her features, thrilled to have helped out even the slightest bit when nobody else would have taken it unto themselves to show kindness to the undoubtedly intelligent beast. Whether that gesture would earn the young sorceress anything in the future or not remained to be seen, but to her not even the reward mattered for the delightful feeling alone was the greatest praise of all. "I'll let you out of your cage when my deed here is done."

It had gotten what he wanted. One hooped earring that was pushed through one of the tiny gaps though each time she had tried to give it the second it ejected it from the cage and pointed at her as if she should keep it. It seemed to understand her well enough but appeared to be getting agitated, gray eyes widening as she mentioned having to go.

Shaking it's head in the negative he pointed to her, the earring on the floor then towards the padlock as if it were trying to relay something to her. It held up three fingers, pointed to her, the earring then the lock again as it grunted though in a softer manner.

Whatever it was attempting to do it could not do alone but it seemed incapable of speaking her language at all which broke things down into pantomime. Of course the decision to stay or go had been entirely up to her. There were still two other rooms and Abdul to get to after all ...

"Huh?" Somehow giving it the hooped earrings proved insufficient and while Flame had been eager to resume her mission with countless worries on her mind, not even the gorgeous sorceress insisted on pushing the metallic ring through the mesh more than twice in her understanding of the situation at hand. She held profound empathy for the imprisoned creature and nearly frowned in frustration at these widening eyes, gray hues faintly reminding her of Whitney though her heart bled for the caged entity in consideration of the future, promptly mulling things over in the back of her mind as she pondered on what to do next.

"Alright, I'll stay .." But there was not an ounce of annoyance enhancing her voice. It presumably loathed the fruitless existence down here and whichever treatment Renee had reserved for the little thing as it went through various gestures in order to make her purpose here clear. It proved mildly bothersome to work out the clues, however, but the young woman tried her best to discern them quickly.

She bowed down in order to retrieve the earring and focused her attention on their meaning once again. Did Flame need three earrings in order to undo the padlock? Were they somehow related? She knelt and allowed for these endearing crimson eyes to scan the simple locking mechanism whilst applying the earring in whichever fashion appeared reasonable. Another resided amidst her palm considering that bringing only two made sense at the time.

"Do these work together? Does the lock open with these earrings? Do I need a third, or .." Her gaze travelled to the bestial prisoner while fumbling with the lock. She was starting to believe that melting down the mesh would be far easier and less time consuming than her current endeavors, but remained unaware of any magical enhancements which might impede progress of elemental nature.

It smiled and had been glad that she was staying put for the time being. While it wasn't entirely true, she was on the right track and it gave her points for effort. Holding up a finger it pointed to one of the earrings then gestured with it's palm to receive it.

When she turned it over it held up one finger, pointed to the earring then to her though this time it had thought of something different as it turned in the direction of that lock and held the earring up towards it though it did not have the best vantage point from here at the lock. It then pointed to her again and pantomimed the same matter until she did it and one she had that ring at least facing the lock it made it's intentions clear enough for her to work out the rest.

It was looking toward the lock inserting a finger through the hoop earring which vanished and came out of her's, startling at first no doubt. After the initial shock it seemed to use the claw on that finger to focus on the lock picking it with skill that even the best human rogues would have had trouble matching.

When the lock clicked it grunted softly and grinned though the pad lock still kept the lock closed it was a simple matter of removing it now and thus it pulled back a finger it disappearing from the loop as if it never left it's body.

It was as if it could produce mini portals out of holes, reaching or passing through one and coming out the other, that was the best guess for it, almost like walking the Shadow in a sense, some sort of limited dimensional travel and he holes of he cage being too small to let it pass through.

Now though it was still stuck in a cage but the cage was unlocked and it pointed in that direction, the hoop being too small to stick a hand through and remove he lock so it needed just a little more help.

It certainly proved unexpected that the confined entity possessed such peculiar powers or the rings themselves held magical properties, but given what Flame had seen in most recent days not even the display of disembodied digits could truly unsettle her, not that she could afford to gasp in surprise as her free hand latched onto her mouth in an attempt to suppress the sound.

From there things went on rather smoothly. She had expected Spencer to show up by now, but hadn't minded the extra time required to free the unknown creature in the basement beforehand. Positioning the hooped earring accordingly and holding it in place allowed for the gray eyed individual to virtually free himself. Once the deed was done she couldn't wait to finally pull through with her intention to set it free.

Flame had been unusually trusting in the creature, but being unable to discern any semblance of malice within it certainly made room for a little bit of naivety. Her hands briefly fumble with the padlock and remove the single remaining boundary from his despicable confinement chamber, radiant scarlet eyes flickering from the lock to the door leading outside, then to him and back to the lock once more, slipping the device free whereupon the slightest pressure could open the cage.

"Shhh .." She brought an index finger to her lips in the silent notion that even the slightest noise might jeopardise their mission down here and begun unsealing the cage. It would be free to roam about for the moment and once outside of the disdainful prison the young woman would happily explain how he could depart from the establishment from their current vantage point.

Grateful to be out of the cage at last it understood her and nodded. The thing was that it was not going anywhere remaining at her side though as she tried to hush it she heard a voice from the other side of the shut door.

“Flame?” Her name whispered, the invisible Faerie Dragon had indeed finished but did not open doors while he was invisible least he indicate that something was amiss and he had been waiting out in that hall for a little while now unsure of which room she had slipped into though he had eliminated one.

When she opened the door for him he came forth, his vision in the dark was better but the oily scent made it possible for a blind man to recognize the creature though he saw that it was a Boggle and it was looking straight at him while tugging at Flame and pointing at him, how unusual that it did not whine or keen …

“GEEZ!” His voice excited but contained in volume. “A Boggle Flame! What were you thinking, that could have blown our cover – right, memory loss...” As he flew the creature regarded his movements like a watchful catch studied the movements f a mouse before pouncing.

“A Boggle is neither good nor evil but once broken it is used as a guard dog of sorts given it's heightened abilities it can detect invisible creatures. In addition to making it as slippery as all hell the oil actual makes it flame resistant oh, and it can warp dimensional space … give it a hole it can reach through it and out any other hole whine sight so if I begins attacking you you got to be aware of all the angels and points of attack it could use.

“The elastic nature of it's body allows it to contort easier too, stretching or compacting as necessary and it's bones are softer too unlike ours, more malleable though I guess bone is the wrong term, it's more like hard cartilage.”

His poor soul had been freed from the reign of that vile woman even though Flame lacked evidence to confirm her growing suspicions on Renee. Nobody with half a heart should feel the need to imprison another lifeform for the sake of personal gain and while its true purpose was unknown to the nubile sorceress, it couldn't have been anything pleasant given how desperate the little thing sought to escape from the cage.

She headed for the door with the oily creature in tow and responded to the familiar voice accordingly, retrieving Spencer from the corridor in an instant though with him invisible it had taken an educated guess to ascertain that he truly entered the room. "It's okay .." It was almost cute how the freshly liberated entity tugged at her garments and pointed at the invisible Fae like a most curious child even though her own eyes hadn't spotted anything in that direction, gently patting its head in reassurance although the greasy surface had the young woman wipe the stuff straight into her clothes as Flame recoiled her tender touch.

"A Boggle, you say .." He seemed about ready to patronize the ignorant ruby gemstone only to ease up in realisation of her blatant shortcomings regarding her suppressed memories. "I couldn't leave him locked up in here .. kept in a cage like an animal." She lowered her gaze to the ground, fidgetting a little. "I'm sorry. I should have known that getting sidetracked like that wasn't a good idea .. It won't happen again."

But with him already in her presence detailing the premises had proven relatively simple which ultimately came down to nothing of interest. There weren't any more doors around save for the nearby wardrobe and with them concluding their search of the chamber they still had two more to go. "My findings are limited to this room, unfortunately. I haven't checked the one occupied by Renee and the one next to it either, which means we better get back on track quickly."

Perhaps the three had left the first room of the hall which would give them ample opportunity to scope things out properly. With the light burning upstairs it seemed reasonable to assume that the owner of the establishment would be heading to bed soon enough. "I was going to send the Boggle outside while we keep moving on. You're right about him, after all. His smell will inarguably alert any bypasser to our presence."

“Yes you will,” Spencer commented. “It's in your nature. A bird will fly, a fish will swim … I am no upset about it at all.” Spencer sated as he glanced at the newly liberated creature, Fae opposed slavery and placed a high value on personal freedom after all so even Gale would not have been upset.

On the fly though his mind worked quick. “There was one Half Orc upstairs. I had to use a little caution getting the key but here it is.”

He turned the key over to her. “There are two doors left. I'm guessing the one we seek is with Renee only because that makes life a little more difficult but I suppose we can be thorough about this and check the other first.

“We can use your friend ...” He glanced to the Boggle. “If our door isn't beyond the other we can bring Typhoon in and, well an escaped Boggle could be all the distraction needed and between you and he disabling Renee should be a synch if she stays behind.

“I can go with your friend to see him safely you of here and that gives me an excuse in not joining you two to Nod. Sound good? It's more direct though I'm sure Typhoon has a means of accessing the room undetected and with just one or two people in their I should be a piece of cake... which reminds me, I'm still a little hungry.”

Flame had taken note of several empty cages and thought another might enter into their ranks before they accomplished their current objective although with the Half Orc upstairs Renee might have other things in mind throughout the night, but then again he may very well be positioned there in order to guard the key leading to Nod while the others discussed matters in the basement. Not that the luscious sorceress would have any reason to blame the captor of her father with a sex drive like her own, these strong and lecherous specimen quite tempting to have in the bedroom throughout the night.

Whichever the case, Spencer handed over the key and detailed a means of ridding themselves of the masses and potentially scan both unexplored chambers without any sort of hinderance in their path. It was a shame he planned on utilising the Boggle to their advantage given his recent liberation, but the little thing proved more than smart enough to guide her through the process of unlocking his temporary prison.

Besides, it kind of owed her for that more or less risky maneuver and getting it out of here would inevitably allow the Fae Dragon to pursue their secondary mission without drawing too much suspicion from Typhoon.

She smiled softly at the notion of cake. "I'm sure Whitney will fetch you something to eat once you've made your way back to him. I'd rather you wouldn't go ahead and steal food around town .. again." His incident in J'zar's bazaar could have gotten them into a lot of trouble yet thankfully nobody happened to be blessed with their ability to spot invisible creatures at the time.

"But yeah .. I like your plan. It's easy to prepare for and simple to execute. We'll check the other room and see what comes next from there." It might contain nothing or everything they needed, but with the Boggle here in that desolate chamber at the end of the corridor Flame had to wonder what else might be hiding in these few dark rooms.

"Are you willing to participate in our plan? Would you do that for me?" Crimson eyes bestow themselves unto the Boggle and the unmatched warmth they tended to emanate in the process, asking him to follow through rather than demand that he repaid her for his freedom.

“Very well,” he considered his theft and would just suck up his hunger until things had been settled here. He was not ravenous, not yet any way, and so he could wait. “I'll go fetch Typhoon after we check out this room.”

Crimson eyes swept to the Boggle who was following what was said. The plan did not seem to risky and seemed to help them out. They needed to get into that chamber though it had it's own idea but did not know all the circumstances involved. First it nodded then it launched into explaining as best as it could. Boggles weren't the brightest of creatures on par with Goblin intellect for the most part. There wee some as bight as a human though most were a little slow.

It appeared sharp enough, pressed the palms of it's hands together then turned them sideways as well as it's head atop them closing it's gray eyes briefly, then peaking one open and pointing to the room they could hear faint sounds coming from. Made a gesture with a hand as if someone was walking then pointed to the ceiling.

“You catch all that?” Spencer asked. Acting involved body language too and this was easy enough to follow and he figured Flame would catch it a well. “Typhoon may even bring up the same issues. We have the key and don't have to alert Renee if we are a little patient … I suppose we can amend the plan a little and just claim I'm escorting your friend out of here. It would be true and separates me. Little risk … time will be a bit more contained but I can see no real flaw with waiting.”

The other room was an additional storage room though this had extra lab equipment, vials and beakers, chemicals and powders most seemed common enough though others sounded quite exotic like the innocence of a new borne babe … the bottle was corked but there was noting inside ...here was something … the hot breath of an Efreeti, also an empty corked vial, what was this for? It was probably from Abdul ...

She gathered the Boggle recommended they wait until Renee and the others had gone to sleep before venturing into the first room rather than alarming anyone to its escape and Spencer merely confirmed her thoughts in that regard when the show of gestures ceased once again. "Alright then, we'll check the next one and wait for them to retire for the night."

It was simple enough for the three to move into the corridor outside and slip into the following chamber unnoticed. From the outside shallow voices could be heard emanating from the first door, but thankfully nobody heard the intruders from within.

Down here Renee amassed an exceptional stockpile of miscellaneous ingredients truly befitting of alchemy and several particularly strange components had her ponder on their usage in the grand scheme of things. Flame never recalled having dabbled in chemistry herself although with these suppressed memories and Abdul being her father, not the slightest shred of doubt resided in her mind that she might have been familiar with the subject, but that thought didn't occur to her due to some distant memory. She skimmed through the selection of goods, visually exploring the great many stashed chemicals and finally stumbling across something meaningful in the process.

Ember eyes study the empty vial labelled the hot breath of an Efreeti, noting the cork yet by definition alone the contents might already linger within its glass vessel. Did her father become little more than the means of extracting rare elements? She remembered the innocence ladened vial, another empty receptacle, whether already filled or devoid of anything the young woman could not tell. Perhaps such things didn't have any visible texture or appearance? What were these curious substances supposed to achieve anyway?

"I'm not sure I like what we're seeing here .. Not like I expected to find little more than spices in here, but still .." Flame highly doubted that things merely boiled down to freeing Abdul tonight. Something else happened to be cooking here in town though for the sake of completing their objective stealthily they couldn't exactly confront Renee on the spot. Patience would be rewarded, however her mind kept scratching away at the holes in her memory, hoping for some clarity on the matter.

"I see no other doors in here, either .. I suppose what we're looking for is in the next room." She whispered to her companions while looking through the equipment once more, torn between concealing the fact anyone broke into her establishment and stealing the bottle potentially meant for her father and nobody else, the bottle which screamed betrayal above all.

It might have been impulsive and foolish, but when nobody happened to be looking, Flame usurped the vial either destined for her father or already being filled and popped the cork, dipping it over for several long moments to come before placing it back in its place. Renee likely lacked any Efreeti contacts outside of Abdul due to her affiliation with the resistance hence this potentially rare component went missing from her formula then and there.

To be shown up be a Boggle of all things! Spencer assumed because he was capable of greater thought he was making things overly complicated whereas a Boggle could only focus on simple matters and in this case simple worked.

They were all in agreement after all and went into the next chamber that obviously possessed a bad smell. A Boggle's senses were superior to both her and Spencer. The fact that it did not draw attention to the matter other than a brief dour look was am indication that it was not a dangerous scent, just an unpleasant one. Though she nor her companion smelled anything.

Spencer fluttered round and appeared behind Flame's shoulder. “Ohhhhhh,” he eyed the contents, the innocence of a new born. Depending how it was extracted allowed for one to use it in holy weapons against Demons and other such creatures or it could be used for notorious deeds and even harm Angels and other such beings of light. "You should hang on to that one."

Detect Magic would allow him to determine if Necromantic magic was used and thus the evil way to extract innocence had been used. Even that brief contact was something a Fae would pass on if possible and he would let Typhoon do that, just encase.

No one had noticed her pilfering of the other vial though the Boggle did grunt and scanned around. Either there was a scent or the heat increased a bit. Yes, it was getting warmer though only slightly at that.

The Boggle gazed around and Spencer waited until it was less agitated. “If you'd be so kind, I'll fetch Typhoon now,” and he gestured to the door before going invisible once more.