scott casper

He was mostly recovered already, but held back from casting a spell.

"What's the…matter?" Tenser found the breath to ask Bastro. "Not
going to be as easy…to silence five witnesses? Or explain what
happened to us if we all…disappeared? Or are you just going to try to
do to those four girls next what you were trying to do to Ehlissa in
there?"

Ehlissa's friends seemed to notice Ehlissa standing there in front of
the smashed door for the first time. Their expressions took on a look
of pity and concern and they waved for Ehlissa to come to them.
Ehlissa moved carefully around the two resting combatants, holding her
clothes between her and them, and back up slowly toward her friends.

Bastro Felgosh's eyes were steady, but he had nervous hands and might
still have tried to fire off one quick spell to end this problem
before it became worse for him. But then a trio of dwarf guards came
down the hall from the same direction everyone else had come. They
walked up right behind the line of female guildmembers and startled
them.

"Master Felgosh," one of the dwarves said slowly, "it was…suggested to
us that we should check on the disturbance at your office."

"Oh, was it now?" Bastro shot back at them angrily. Then he
controlled his temper and said more coolly to Tenser, "I don't know
what you're talking about. This…slut," he said, waving dismissively
at Ehlissa, "came to my office and threw herself at me. And then you,
the jealous boyfriend, I suppose, animated that statue with a
restricted command word you had no right to know, used it to break
into my office, and attacked me! I'll have you both expelled! Now,
the lot of you, go and leave me alone!"

Ehlissa felt hands grab her and she jumped, but it was just her
friends gathering around her. Eura and Johannah blocked Ehlissa from
view while they tried to dress her. Leana and Joyhdee kept a close
watch on Bastro and Tenser. Ehlissa, for her part, was still so
distraught that she could barely pay attention to what Bastro was
saying, though "jealous boyfriend" somehow caught her ear.

"Is that what happened?" one of the dwarves was asking the junior
guildsmen quietly.

Ehlissa realized this was her chance to speak up and accuse Bastro of
what he had tried to do – what he had nearly done to her. Yet, her
memory of the spell he cast on her was coming back to her more clearly
now and she could see how effective it had been. Another, bolder plan
took over her thoughts. "Actually," she said loudly, "Master Felgosh
and I were just negotiating payment for a special spell he had agreed
to teach my friends and me. A very public class. Hertha will be
there too. She's another favorite pupil of Master Felgosh, I believe.
We all will want to learn that spell you were showing me."