Tarja rushes to find some water, and would find the water that Fae was bringing. She would try use it to put out the fire on Horton, using Shape Water to help the water reach wherever the elephant was burning.

Zeke would stagger forward as the Fire Elemental gave way before him, nearly losing his balance as the creature dissipates before he can land. his next blow. 

Breathing deeply, he'd concentrate on maintaining his battle trance, holding the shadows of those who have come before him in this realm, ready to meet the next threat.

His concentration was so absolute he'd barely notice, let alone register the pain from where the fire had gripped him, but would feel the comforting warmth of Elra's magic flowing through him.

The Stonehill family is busy filling more buckets of water when Fae gets to the front door of the inn.  She is soon joined by Tarja and the two extinguish the flames on an extremely irritated Horton.  The pachyderm quickly ceases trumpeting and stamping his feat as the flames subside.

Zeke's burns and other wounds heal a bit from the magic but he his still smoldering away when Daran Edermath comes over with a cloak and pats him down in a flurry until any last flames die out.  "Well done, young man.  Well done indeed!"

Meanwhile the largest Redbrand and the few others remaining in the center of town look around at each other and for the majority of their now missing companions.  They look a bit unsure of what to do next, unsure if they could get away with simply walking away.  Linene Graywind stands just inside the door of the Stonehill in with her crossbow trained on the Redbrands still hiding on the floor there, and a moment later Sildar and Elmer Barthen emerge from behind a couple of the houses with more Redbrands and a still dazed looking Gundren in tow.  Elmer barks orders at their Redbrand prisoners, the apron clad dwarf's confidence surely bolstered by the presence of so many capable warriors now on the town's side.

It is another minute or so before the portly townmaster, Harbin Wester, comes bobbing up through the town center to exclaim "oh my!"  "What is the meaning of all of this?"

"Huh?" Elra looks around, "Oh ya. We were coming back into town and the Redbrands tried to attack us but then a fire elemental came out of nowhere. We stopped it though."

Fae would take a breath when Horton's anguish would subside along with his stomping. Her original instinct was to rush to Zeke's side as he was burning, but was even more relieved when Elra would lend a healing hand. Though, she still held concern when Daran would still have to pat him out. She was sure their clerics magic would of soothed the burn. Glancing down at her own hands, she remembered how soothing water was. That's why she ran for it to help.

The wizard would smile to their druid and tentatively move closer to look up at Horton. With Tarja's blessing, she'd reach out to the pachyderm to give him a gentle pat. His size and presence was massive and comforting and reminded her of how she felt around others. Fae would smile as she'd pet the elephant. After her own heart was calmed, she'd approach another bucket of water. This time she would take some cloth from her healing kit and dunk it in a few times before wringing it out.

Fae would slowly approach Zeke. He already had lots of help and didn't appear to be phased by the burns, but... She felt insistent it would help even a little, because it helped her. Or maybe that was it, it'd make her feel better. The wizard would hesitate at first, then look up at the tiefling only briefly to make sure she wasn't invading his space before she'd gently start dabbing and pressing the damp cloth against anything left that was smouldering or looked burned. Eventually she'll lay the cloth across the largest burn.

"Someone summoned that fire elemental. I believe they left using a dimensional door..." Fae would add to Elra's summary.

"And just who are you to stir up this trouble?!" asks the the flustered looking town master.  "They'll surely make the town pay for this.  It's best to just keep them happy, or it was.  Now they've summoned an elemental because you had to fight with them!  What will come next?!"

"We didn't stir up trouble they attacked us," Elra says.

"They goaded you into it and you took the bait.  Now the town will have to pay!"  The fearful looking town master moves over to the largest of the Redbrands and begs "they are not part of our town.  Please, we will find a way to make up for this trouble.  What would your 'Glasstaff' require in return?"

Linene Graywind approaches and sticks the butt end of her crossbow in Harbin Wester's chest.  "Hey!  We'll have no more of your groveling!  All we needed was a little help to deal with these bastards and now we've got it!  They'll be no more payment of any kind!"  The town master looks shocked and at a loss for words.  The Redbrands continue to look equally unsure of what to do next.  The silver haired half-elf Daran Edermath makes his way over and stands behind Linene with his arms folded, sword at his side.

Some of you also notice that Sister Garaele now stands in the middle of the street next to Sildar and both look mostly just pleased or even amused at the situation with the town master at this point.

Arvel begins whistling a song to himself.

Tarja stays close to Horton, and whispers a quick Healing Word (heal: 8) using her Song of Sylvanus. She would want to find 10 minutes to cast Speak With Animals as a ritual, but there's still too much going on around here to find a good moment. She would instead go up to Harbin and Linene.

Linene's right, this town hasn't been faring so well with these ruffians running it. Travelers assaulted, farmers robbed. They'd keep grabbing whatever they could even if we weren't here. 

I'd rather put some of these boys here back on a good track. Someone's been corrupting them and putting all sorts of violent nonsense in their heads, I remember they were talking about strange rituals last time we were here. Not healthy for sure!

Ethan lets out a sigh of relief as the Fire Elemental dissipates, only having realised his imminent danger at the last moment.

At Fae's remarks about a Summoner, Ethan looks about, keeping his Eldritch Canon ready and alert.

When the Town Master starts to complain and beg in his fear, Ethan frowns but doesn't get an opportunity to comment before Linene shuts the Town Master down.

Ethan nods his agreement, turning his Eldritch Canon towards the Redbrand and keeping his Programmable Caster at the ready.

"Bullies should be punished, not placated."

Feeling someone attempt to grapple him with, the barbarian spins towards Eldermath even as the half-elf works to douse the flames dancing across his skin.  Eyes flaring, the tiefling's eyes flare in anger for just a moment before he recognizes the attempt to help him.  Barely hearing the praise from Eldermath, he nods a quick thanks to the old man and turns back to survey the scene and insure no additional threats appear.

As it becomes clear that the danger has passed, Zeke allows his breathing to return to normal and the shadowy figures sink back into the ground.  He shifts his grip on the haft of his blade and sheaths it as it shrinks back down.  

Feeling Fae's gently ministrations, he smiles down at the wizard. 'I was born in the fire my friend, and fire still runs through my veins.  It'll take more than that to harm me.'  he lays one of his large, clawed hands on top of her delicate one and looks her directly in the eye 'but thank you, the cool cloth feels nice against the burns.'

As the Town Master begins his verbal assault on Elra, Zeke would stride across the square to back her up - and back the portly little man down.  Fortunately for the Herr Webster, Graywind got to him before the barbarian could clear the square.  As it was, Zeke maneuver to put himself in the Town Master's eyeline, but behind his more diplomatically inclined party members.   The sight of the imposing warrior, his skin still smoldering from the Fire Elemental's assault, hand resting ever so lightly on the hilt of his blade, shoulders back and wings tucked in, should be enough to convince anyone to mind their manners when addressing his comrades.  

The cowardly town master backs down quickly.  "But... but... who knows how many.... and what they will do... we don't know what kind of magic and demons and abominations they have up there!"

One of the less than notable redbrands nearby clears his throat after a second and says "but we do."

Elra looks back and forth at everyone during this conversation, not really sure of where it was going. "Oh, you do? That would make sense. That would be helpful!"

Fae returned a dimpled smile, but now she could use something to cool her cheeks. Her heart would flutter feeling the gentleness of Zeke's hands and his attention on her. She'd could only bring herself to nod. Surprised by the outburst and commotion, she'd be sure to step aside to allow Zeke through to their defence.

The wizard will move to stand with Ethan to check on him. She had recognized the artificer's reaction and alertness to the spell she mentioned. Fae would stand at his side to keep an eye on the discussions. "A penny for your thoughts?" She'd ask genuinely to him.

How she wishes she had prepared her detect thoughts spell today. It would have been useful to dip into the mind of the Redbrand that just let slip that they did know something. But, Elra was quick as a whip and pounced on it right away. That caused Fae to smile. Between her, Zeke and Arvel, she was sure they could easily get it out of them.

The townmaster said Glasstaff. I recognize that from somewhere. The divination wizard had heard it before and she was pretty sure it was a Redbrand. Of course, her mind drifts to the staff user that appeared in the fog and summoned that elemental. Could that be Glasstaff? That would be too easy? Fae would wonder off in her own thoughts but would be sure to listen to any words spoken to her by Ethan, or the others engaged in discussions.

Quote from Hexblade37 >>

One of the less than notable redbrands nearby clears his throat after a second and says "but we do."

 "Now there's a bright person! One looking forward to their place in the new paradigm of Phandelin!"

The charlatan approaches the redbrand and puts his arm around their shoulder in a chummy manner.

"So, the Glassstaff eh? What should we know, and (more importantly) what shouldn't we know?"

Ethan wears a frown on his face as he keeps watch.

As Fae approaches and asks him for his thoughts, Ethan quietly asks her,

"Does it seem strange to you that so much is going on in a town that's not really that big?"

"I've not really had a lot of experience outside of Lantan, but this seems like much more than just coincidence."

"There is a dragon roaming the nearby county side, a group of goblins harassing the roads to and from Phandalin."

"There is a large group of thugs trying to control the town, and whoever their mysterious leader or benefactor is."

"And now another possible threat from a mysterious summoner, who only stays around long enough to try and burn down the town."

Ethan looks over at Gundren.

"And there is whatever Gundren is here for, some big, lucrative, undertaking."

Ethan looks at Fae,

"Is this normal for a town this size, in this part of the world?"

Fae would look up to their artificer when he’d unload his thoughts. Inside, she’d smile more the longer Ethan thought out loud to her. She could appreciate his recap summary of all the oddities that are currently popping up with Phandalin being a center point of it all. Deep down she wondered if it could be related to... the wizard would shake her head stop herself. There was already too much ‘coincidence’ as it were.

Her head will tilt to the side “The dragon Venomfang spoke of something of great value that the Spider was searching for... Gundren is on the search of something of great value... this Glasstaff and the Redbrands...” Fae would respond with some thought strings of her own. “I’m inclined to agree with you Ethan. I don’t believe this is normal for a small community like Phandalin but...” She’d pause before adding, “It does have a rich history.” Her eyes would waver from Ethan’s and pan over to their druid Tarja with a hint of sorrow on her face. 

The other redbrands suddenly look at the one who spoke with surprise, but it quickly fades as they too realize this may be the best course of action at this point.  "What are you going to do with us?" asks the man who just spoke as he hopes to somehow leverage any useful information he might have to save his own skin.

Sildar, Sister Garaele and others circle round to hear what the redbrands might say and see what happens next.

"Well, I'm just a simple city boy and have no idea how the wheels of justice work in such instances, but my inclination would be to form some sort of tribunal that would evaluate each Redbrand's actions on a case by case basis and then mete out appropriate punishments where necessary. Community service and probation and the like. With service to the town factored in, of course.

But that can only happen after we deal with the Glassstaff.

I'd be happy to speak to the tribunal on behalf of and helpful penitent..."