Wait for it...
There were two sets of steps to the balcony, and two more to the hallway on the next floor. When Kor’tac took the other set of steps, I saw him appear at the opposite end of the hall. After the rest arrived, we talked over which door was most likely to match the fire elemental’s room. There were two doors on one side and only one on the other, so the others gathered around the single door. Kor’tac put his shield up, and Rowind turned the handle and shoved open the door.
It turned out that they’d found the kitchen. As I began to walk down the hallway, I heard someone muttering about how cold it was in there. I also suddenly thought I remembered which door on the other side matched the fire elemental’s room. Since it was at the other end of the hall, I popped open the closer door for a quick look as I walked by.
This was a mistake. The fire elemental reached right out and smacked me before I pulled the door shut! I dimly heard shouting from down the hall as I created a shower of water over my head to put out the flames. It didn’t work, but I was hoping that I hadn’t broken whatever spell kept the thing in its room.
The shouting in the kitchen had turned to the sounds of fighting. Still, Roywyn, bless her, came to my aid, rolling me in the water on the floor to smother the flames. Mishklo even came over to heal me up! This meant that we were all right next to the door when it exploded into the hallway. I need to apologize later for putting them in danger. I’m used to being the only one who pays for my mistakes!
I got up and backed up to Kor’tac, pulling out my bow, and found that he was killing things with wings in the kitchen. Mishklo was healing me a second time when the fire elemental reached down the hall and knocked me down...
....I woke up on the floor - third healing from Mishklo in as many minutes, I fear! Someone had created a wall of ice between us and the fire elemental, so Kor’tac could concentrate on one threat at a time. There was also a fire on the ceiling, moving toward the creatures, and the others were right - that room was *cold*. I found out why an instant later, when one of the creatures unleashed a blast of icy shards at us. I expressed my opinions rather creatively and began shooting.
Mishklo was healing, I was shooting, ‘Wind was keeping the ice wall up, ‘Wyn was directing the flames on the ceiling, and Kor’tac was mowing the things down with his glaive. I managed to kill - one. Argh! Finally, we finished them all off and Mishklo tried to get us healed back up while we talked over our options. It turned out that the wall of ice was one of ‘Wind’s illusions, so ‘Wyn sang for us, and we lined up to send a volley of shots through the wall at the elemental.
It seemed to work - the thing left the doorway and headed off down the hall. In fact, it was moving down the steps, too, which didn’t bother me until Mishklo freaked out. His wolf had been told to “stay” out in the scorched garden, and Mishklo didn’t want to see his friend hurt or killed. He took off down the hall, while Kor’tac was looking in the other doors of the kitchen and ‘Wyn and I found out that I wasn’t exactly wrong about which room the elemental came from (there were two doors, but one room. I just hadn’t seen it move from one end to the other, before).
It didn’t take long for the maniac druid to lure the fire elemental back up the steps to save his wolf. Although I am very grateful for his help, I was ready to kill him or his wolf, myself, at that moment! In fact, I tried to call the wolf, too, in the vain hope that the thing would give up on its “stay” command in the face of obvious trouble. ‘Wind now made his ice wall move to the end of the hall to block the elemental’s progress (he even let Mishklo get by, first) - and when the elemental charged down the steps to come up the other way, he moved it to that end.
‘Wyn took a chance that the thing could be distracted, and set herself at the top of the steps to sing and juggle. Amazingly, it worked! The fire elemental stood still to watch her, and allowed Mishklo to sneak by to find his wolf. Even more amazing, they both made it back to us. We gathered in the kitchen, again, and ‘Wind moved the ice wall one last time. Kor’tac had found more steps, so we left ‘Wind holding the spell and went up the stairs for a quick look.
The door at the top opened to show another hallway with three more doors. We found a dusty living room, which gave ‘Wyn lots of furniture to check underneath and then jump up and down on. She was hollering for ‘Wind to come take a look upstairs, while Mishklo was hollering for his wolf - it was staying in the kitchen and failing to listen to him, yet again. Kor’tac opened another door and found a plush bedroom, also dusty, with many cabinets to open and search.
‘Wind, at least, had come upstairs (the elemental had wandered off and not been back in a while), and cast detect magic to find anything of interest. I’m not sure where the wolf was but - bash! Here was the fire elemental, and our party blocked in a bedroom with no exits. After trying to block out the smoke coming under the door, we gave up and decided an all-out attack was our only hope.
‘Wyn cast a “wave” of water at it, which not only knocked it back a few steps but knocked Kor’tac over. I shot wildy, hitting Mishklo, sorry! Between spells, arrows from my magical bow, and Kor’tac’s glaive, we surprised the thing into retreat. This led to a chase from room to room, with Mishklo healing us periodically and occasionally putting out Kor’tac when the thing set him on fire (the rest of us were able to stand back and shoot it from a distance).
It took forever, but Kor’tac finally damaged the thing to the point that an arrow of mine finished it off. Thank Shaundakul that bed is large, as I think we’re all climbing onto it for a nap!