What staff there actually were, found themselves quickly out of harms way. Standing side by side to those who were summoned guests just hours earlier. But to any who may have paid attention to the faces of those gathered, several were missing. The brunette who showed them in and later led them upstairs to their quarters, several of the maids who had brought the travelers food and drink. And lastly, the young woman who had led Diagorides to the secret passage. None of their faces were among those who had escaped. There should have been time for all living beings to flee the house before it fell, yet those crucial faces were not among the survivors. Had the house gobbled them up as well?

Isabeau landed softly on her feet, despite the impact her heels made in the ground. Within an instant of her land, there was a blade angled at her throat. She should have expected as much, but the truth of it was, her thoughts were on everyone else. She had never met the beast woman before, though her experience back in Waeldeshore taught her never to underestimate. What could she possibly say though, to gain this woman's trust? 

She might have answered, she would have answered. But the moment she opened her mouth to do so, the entire house gave way and collapsed into a heaping pile of rubble and soot. A large crash shook the ground, and distracted them all long enough for Isabeau to turn her thoughts to other things. She wasn't much worried about the Magi, she knew he wasn't truly there. But there was one thing that did stick out in her mind ... the talisman. 

Turning her back on such a beast just might be a very big mistake, but she did it anyway. However, she indulged an answer as she moved about the rubble. [color=darkseagreen]"She was using you all."[/color], she stole a glance at Ajax before continuing, [color=darkseagreen]"Even the blind can see, the woman is downright sinister." [/color] She stepped closer to the splintered wooden planks and large stone boulders. [color=darkseagreen]"I would keep a safe distance away from that stone, good sir."[/color], pointing towards the prize that Ajax clutched so dear. [color=darkseagreen]"It would make even the most noble of men turn into greedy, wretched little green goblins.[/color] 

She looked up at the sky, then gazed around the rubble, lifting piece by piece, sifting around what she could see in the dark. It was here, she knew it was. Standing among the ruin, she could feel it. [color=darkseagreen]"I am not the one responsible for this, though I doubt you would care. But I am sure it would be interesting to know that it was your host herself who caused the house to come down. And look at her now, enchantments of youth washed away ...."[/color] The pull the artifact had on her was intoxicating, which was dangerous in itself. But she couldn't just leave it there, not when anyone else could find it if they looked. It was near, and it was buried well. She was waste deep in the wreckage of the once tall house, and would have spent all night there looking if she had to. She pondered a moment ... [color=darkseagreen][i]Would it be so horrible of me to ask for help?[/i][/color]. She wouldn't dare it though, not just yet. [color=darkseagreen]"I had only come to warn you, and to retrieve what is in that box."[/color] she shouted to them all, disappearing into the darkness of the fallen structure. Shards of glass could be heard cracking beneath her heel, planks of wood shuffled around, and she grunted and growled as she tried with all of her might to move the large stones out of her way.