It was hot. 

It was quite hot. 

In fact, it was uncomfortably hot. 

Richard Knierko sat up in bed, abruptly woken by the oppressive heat. The first 
thing he noticed was that it was very hot. The second thing he noticed was that 
he smelled smoke. The third thing he noticed was a red light under the door. 

It doesn't take a college degree to put one and one and one together and get 
fire. Richard rolled out of bed and grabbed his backpack. Tying his armor into a 
roll with a shirt, he hooked it onto the backpack, slung that over his shoulders, 
and transformed. 

The air was even more oppressive now; English dragons lack sweat glands, and must 
disperse heat through panting. No time for that, though. Serothen charged at the 
door, and it broke before him; the hallway was engulfed in flames. Holding his 
breath against the urge to pant (and inhale the deadly smoke), he charged through 
a burning mass blocking the fire escape, and took briefly to the air outside, 
almost a gigantic, controlled leap to the ground below. 

He turned and looked at the hotel, then shook his head regretfully. "What a damn 
shame...." Sighing, Serothen lumbered off towards the hot springs; there was 
little he could do to fight the flames without water, and Terasuko would 
certainly be able to escape by portalling out; if she did, the springs were the 
best place he could think of to rendezvous.