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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 4353554" data-attributes="member: 11760">"Ah, the gnome and his feral dwarf. I didn't expect you quite so soon."Skeeter suddenly goes mad barking as the Wizard of Green Mountain's cat sneers at the dog from beneath a broad bush too dense for the dog to enter."Down," Emus mutters in Dwarven. With a final growl at the cat, Skeeter settles down. With mutters about "that flea-ridden dirtbag" starting trouble, Emus looks at Bufer expectantly.Normally, Bufer would be incensed at being referred to as "the gnome," and would object quite vocally at length. But he is so shocked by wizard's appearance -- both his sudden manifestation from the depths of a bush, and the haphazard, disheveled look to him -- that he actually forgets to be offended. Instead he stares open-mouthed at Khenemet-Apep for several long seconds, until a nudge in the ribs from Emus brings him back to his senses."Uh, good afternoon, Mister Wizard, sir," he stammers uncertainly, even as his eyes track up and down the Kemite. As an afterthought, he sketches out what he probably thinks is a polite, courtly bow. "This is quite a, um, surprise. We weren't exactly expecting ye to come out of a bush and meet us in the woods like this."Bufer looks helplessly at Emus for a second, then grimaces and shakes his head as he turns back to the wizard."All right, so maybe this is going to get us off on the wrong foot here, but at the risk of offending ye, sir, I got to ask: Just what the hell happened to ye, man?""Nothing happened to me! I was merely out for a refreshing walk in the woods." So saying, Khenemet-Apep pulls himself fully free of the undergrowth, cursing quietly in Uraqi as he does.Looking around, he spots a deer track and points to it triumphantly."Yes! I shall return to the Black Tower to await you."He glances dubiously at Emus and Skeeter."You are coming alone, are you not, gnome?""I'm just making sure Gnomenuts here gets to your tower without turning himself over to the kobolds," Emus says, sticking out his chin defiantly. "I might hang about the area for a while afterwards, too. That a problem?""It was always my intention to come alone, Mister Wizard, sir," Bufer says, casting a sidelong glance at Emus, "but keeping a secret in a town small as ours is no mean feat, especially when you've recently had yer brains knocked loose by ... bygones."Point is, Emus is right: I did need a guide, if' ye ever wanted me to show up at all. I'm afraid that, for a gnome, my woodcraft's a bit on the abysmal side of things. He ain't got no interest in accompanying me into the tower, though, sir," he looks pointedly at Emus, as if daring the dwarf to contradict him, "our business is our own.""Well, if you wish, you may accompany me back to the tower. Your bodyguard and his dwarf can turn back here."With a silent nod at Khenemet-Apep, Bufer turns and smiles tightly at Emus."I think this is where we take our leave of each other, Shillelagh," he says, reaching over awkwardly to scratch Skeeter behind the ears. "You two take care of yerselves, and Lil' Big'un and the beanpole for me. Tell them, well, it's all in the note I left, really, there ain't that much more to add. Just let them know I got this one, OK? Really. I'll see y'all when I gets back."He smiles at Emus somberly for a moment, then giggles as Skeeter licks his hand, oblivious to the gravity of the moment. With a final pat of the hound's cold, wet nose, Bufer shakes the slobber off his hand, and then turns back to the wizard and gestures onward."After you, Mister Wizard, sir."</blockquote>

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