Mazzel's eyes bug out at Voadam's introduction, then a hearty handshake is offered. "Well met, Green Wizard!" Dungeddin and Fognewtin hurry on ahead. Mazzel walks a bit slower, to accompany everyone back into the thicket to his hidey hole. To Chev, Mazzel nods enthusiastically, saying, "Aye, we've rabbits for stew, a half keg of porter, braised mushrooms, and tea. You're welcome to what we've got." At Voadam's question, Mazzel puts a finger to his ruddy lips and winks but says no more.
With Thisbe snuffling for mushrooms out front, the blazing haired gnome guides everyone into and through a thorny bramble to the base of an old oak stump that, by the look of it, was struck by lightening and cracked in half. "Just down in there. Mind your heads, now, mind your heads!" The gnome points to a hollowed out knot at the base of the tree with a cleverly hidden set of hardened clay stairs leading downward. Though it's hard for some of the taller folk like Brakkus to squeeze through the knot, the inside of the tree opens up vertically and is surprisingly spacious. Though narrow, the clay steps give way to stone and everyone soon finds themselves down below the tree in a round well-furnished room complete with a wooden plank table, four small chairs, one bench seat, a hearth with a odd flue that looks to point down rather than up, and a hearth that has a bit of copper piping running from the back of the cooktop to the hearth flue as an impromptu exhaust. Bundles of wild onions, dried mushrooms, lavender, and thyme hang from pegs on the walls. A brace of four coneys is strung up near the hearth. Stripped of their skin, the rabbits' pink flesh glistens in the dim light of the hidey hole.
Dungeddin and Fognewtin have evidently been quite busy in the interim, for a copper kettle on the stove whistles with steaming water. Fognewtin pours cups of tea and brings these round while Dungeddin lays a platter of creamy oyster and woody morel mushrooms out on the table for the guests. Dungeddin offers a quiet, "Stew'll be ready, but not for an hour or two."
Once inside, Mazzel winks again at Voadam. "As I said, Arquestan's a queer sort. He last come 'round maybe six years ago, and it warn't when we were here. We've not been here that long, maybe two years. The keep's locked up sound, but there're wonders secreted down below, in the rock. I've sometimes wondered how Arquestan knows the things he does. He seems to show up just before things happen sometimes." Mazzel quirks an eyebrow at Gamad. "Think he has a crystal ball? My nephew saw one of those once, in a wizard's tower. Turned hisself into a toad trying to use the darn thing, though." Mazzel points at a pot of water in the corner of the room, where a large bullfrog croaks from its perch on a bit of rock inside the pot.
Fognewtin eyes the plate of mushrooms with lust and pops one in his mouth. Between chews, the gnome asks, "Can we see the thing you got? Arquestan said he thought something important'd been found. I'm kinda curious to see it. I just love magic items, and Dungeddin too!" Mazzel harumphs. "Don't mind them two. We're here on the citadel grounds hoping to find some buried treasure. Found a few things already, a pretty ladies necklace and a ring. Lost the ring though." Mazzel looks thoughtful and touch sad for a moment.
suffered her/his curse, but quickly tries to recall Forsythe's statement about healing Arquesta as a minimal baseline.
