Chalk Glade
There is a good view of the Milk Run river and the small bridge that crosses it. On the east side of the river, the remaining tower of Dontgointhe Castle and its surrounding woods is a familiar landmark. To the west, where the soil is deeper, more woods begin to form behind smaller copses of trees. In a few spots, grass and soil have eroded away to reveal the white chalk that underlies the area.

Dotting the slope is a flock of shaggy Rughrats being tended by a young antlered Lapi in a colorful coat. Axel, a human boy with increasingly bird-like features is nearby as well, and noticing that Parsley is late for her daily visit.

The noticing is done in a purely internal sort of fashion. Lost in his own thoughts, the concept of the late bunny maid is noted in Axel's stream of inner doings.

Sitting quietly, Axel stares with an almost glazed blankness at the flock and its shepherd, although the boy isn't really looking at anything at all. He's looking inward, working out a private conversation with the two sides of himself, which more and more are becoming difficult to differentiate.

The breeze shifts, bringing from the river the most remarkable odor. A small wagon drawn by cross-eyed, twisty-horned Rughrat pulls up to the far side of the bridge. A Skeek is driving it, with a Lapi on either side of him. One of the Lapis hops down and starts across the bridge. "I think that's Parsley," Kalvin reports out loud, unsure if Axel can even hear him.

As usual Axel's slow to respond to attempts to bring him around to the external world. It takes him roughly a minute before his eyes focus and, quite surprised, he looks around and ruffles his feathers. "Parsley?" he inquiries, sounding uncertain.

By this time, the Lapi in question is standing in front of Axel, looking a bit concerned. Parsley has her basket of food, as usual, but seems more nervous than Axel has seen her before. "Are you alright?" she asks the bird-man.

Axel looks up when he realizes Parsley is standing right in front of him. "Oh," he remarks in a vaguely surprised fashion, the sort of comment someone makes when confronted by a very obvious answer to a previous question. He stares at her intently as he ponders being "all right," noticing her mood but not at all sure what to make of it. Anything that isn't human or avian tends to confuse him. "I'm … all right?" he answers carefully.

Parsley sets down her basket, and holds out her hands toward Axel, as if expecting him to take them. "I need you to come with me, Axel. You're needed someplace, but I don't know why or where, but it's important," she explains.

Axel thinks about this. It sounds important, and Parsley is someone he follows around because, well, it's simpler that way. And what was he doing? Was it important? The wind is important, that's obvious, and he was enjoying the wind. He was also, and this is a confusing concept not easily explained to people not possessed of, well, possession, "working himself out." But it can wait, he decides. It's time to follow Parsley again. He takes her hands and watches her expectantly.

"Kalvin, I have to borrow Axel for awhile," the milkmaid says to the antlered boy, who shrugs and replies, "Don't break him." She then starts leading Axel down to the bridge, and the smelly cart waiting on the far side of it.

The bird-man doesn't like the sound of being broken, but then he thinks, hey, I was already broken, and it's going okay, considering. He ruffles his wings a bit in a avian sort of shrug and keeps following.

On passing the Rughrat, Axel hears a loud, rude noise. His vision begins to swim even before the smell registers, but at least he's being led towards the end of the cart, which is stacked high with hay. "You'll need to ride in the hay," Parsley explains to him, sounding a little bit jealous. The smell of warm hay cuts some of the stink at least.

Even two, or more accurately one and a half, minds and internal confusion aren't enough to deflect that much smell. Axel's nose wrinkles and he tries to cover his face with both a hand and a wing. "Nnnnkkkay," he wheeze-mumbles, then flees for the hay.

Half-way into the hay, a pair of brown furry hands grab onto Axel and pull him the rest of the way in. There is a flurry of movement, and the possessed man is completely buried. Something quacks, and the wagon begins to move again.

Axel lays very still. He's not sure if the hay has hands. He wouldn't put it past it. He's seen a lot of things – or maybe just forgot about a lot more, and reality just isn't what it used to be. He also decides he'll need a serious preening what with all this hay in his feathers.

Something sits in Axel's lap, perhaps to ensure he doesn't move too much. Three black dots hover in front of the man's face, and as he adjusts to the light filtering through the hay he can tell they are a nose and two eyes. There are also whiskers, rounded ears, a short muzzle and a slightly fishy scent to the creature's breath.

Axel stares at this creature a bit, processing it out. He decides that it's cute! This prompts him to carefully lay a hand on its head, then fuzz it up in an amiable fashion.

"Yeep?" the otter whispers, and grabs Axel's hand with webbed fingers. "No no, you aren't to move about," it whispers. "I'm Bebe, I'm to keep you hidden. Not a good time for roll in the hay."

The bird-man pauses. He did somewhat roll in the hay. This prompts him to wonder if the otter is a) teasing him, b) confusing him, or c) operating on some obtuse reality. He goes with d) he doesn't know and thinking about it makes his head hurt. Not moving requires he keep his hand on her head, which makes his arm hurt as well.

Slowly, Bebe returns Axel's hand back to his side. One of the rear wheels of the cart is off balance, causing one side to rise up and down in a vaguely wave-like pattern. Just to be sure her charge doesn't move again, the otteress wraps herself around him in a tight hug. "Not moving is how you stay hidden," she whispers into the man's ear. "And then, you have to move really really fast when you do. Understand?"

Axel thinks about answering that. It could be a trick question. After all to answer he has to move, and if he's to move he's supposed to do it, what was it he wonders, oh yes very fast. So, he nods. Really really fast.

Although not important to the concern of fast moving with otters, the hug makes Axel feel kind of happy. He'd flutter and smile, but he doubts he can do it fast or hidden enough.

The ride continues for several minutes of bobbing and jouncing, until the wagon slows to a stop in a shaded area amidst more quacking and rude noises. The wagon rocks twice, indicating that both of the Lapis must have gotten off this time.

Out in the open, Parsley and the other Lapi make their way from the trees towards the Wingnut compound and the dam. "Are you sure you can't tell me what this is about, Bron?" the girl asks the other rabbit. "Yup, I'm sure, 'cuz I don't know myself," is the reply. "Just s'posed to pick up something or someone here, and that Gunther Kettenrad is the contact, and that you know him."

During the ride Axel has come to find hay to be rather comfortable, and indeed it touches on a instinctive nesting instinct – it's one of those instincts that has been inherited from his spirit-side and bled over so much it's just a part of who he, combined, is now. What this all means is that he's on the verge of taking a nap.

"You aren't going to lay an egg or anything, are you?" Bebe whispers to Axel.

Axel's eyelids flutter open, and he blinks repeatedly. An egg? He searches himself for that event, and realizes he isn't sure about that except that eggs usually require a mate, and he's reasonably sure he doesn't have one of those. Then again, he has been surrounded by a lot of naked people and constantly isn't sure of what they're up to. This makes him nervous. He makes a indecisive avian noise, a kind of low "kraw?"

Outside what was Zahnrad's shop Gunther is sitting on a couple crates. He looks, well, amazingly bored, really. "You're late," he remarks when he finally sees the two Lapi approaching.

"We had to pick up someone first," Parsley says, wondering what time they were supposed to be here. "Um, this is Bron, with the militia," she says, introducing her escort. "So… do we just take these crates?" she asks.

Gunther hops off the crates and nods. "Correct. The top one contains eight smaller version repeating crossbows, each can contain about thirty small bolts in a rotating drum. The lower crate is, well, the ammunition, of course. There's a usage guide included, unless you want me to show everyone how to use them?" he asks, sounding hopeful.

"Amy said we should bring him if he wants to come," Bron tells Parsley. "We've got a spare otter."

"A spare otter? I hear they have a cure for that nowadays," Gunther remarks with a smirk.

"I think I'm male," Axel insists in very quick whisper after far too long a wondering about eggs and his having them. "But I could be wrong," he adds, in afterthought. He thought he wasn't a bird once, and look what happened there!

"Oh, I wasn't sure," Bebe whispers back. "I've never had anyone start to doze off while I was in their lap before."

"Well, I guess if you want to come along then, Gunther, you can," Parsley says, eyeing the crates. "Are they very heavy?"

"Eh, bottom one is probably fifty pounds. Top one is half that," Gunther remarks and waves his hand. "Nothing terribly heavy, really."

Axel understands this. He's not too sure either. "Parsley said something like that once," he confides, and wonders if this will occur every time he just happens to hold women like this. Maybe he should say something beforehand, something like, "I might be male, but I'm not sure, and mind that when I take a nap with you in my lap," as a warning.

"They'll need to be secured," Bron says, and glances sidelong at Parsley. "Don't try to carry any, Parsley," he eventually says, then nods to Gunther, asking, "Think we can do this in one trip? Can't bring the wagon closer."

Gunther considers the crates. "Yeah, if each of us grabs a side, we could do it. And why can't Parsley help?" he asks as he goes to one of the sides.

"She's accident prone," is the buck's reply, as he grabs the opposite side of the crate. "And I need her to keep her ears open."

Parsley frowns and her ears darken, but she doesn't argue the point.

"On three. One, two, three," Gunther recites, then starts to lift up his side. "She is?" he grunts, then glances at Parsley, "I always thought of her as nice, not clumsy."

"A box is attempting to sneak up on us," Axel informs Bebe quietly, and, of course, very quickly.

Bron lifts at the same time, and starts moving backwards along the trail. "She isn't clumsy. Pretty graceful, really… just has bad luck at times."

"Like when?" Gunther inquires and walks along slowly with Bron.

"Oh… she got her head stuck in a ceiling a few times," Bron says, smirking. "Lost in the woods more times than I can count. Stuck in trees. Fallen off boats. Buried in wool… " With each mention, Parsley looks more and more embarrassed, until she finally interrupts. "Those were all special circumstances, it's not like I can't do everyday tasks safely."

"I know," Bebe whispers, then lets go of Axel. "Stay still," she says, and vanishes a little deeper into the hay.

Gunther grins widely. "Good thing Zahn didn't know that when you were helping in his shop, naked," he replies, barely able not to laugh. "He would have freaked out if he knew someone accident prone was near his stuff."

"I only have accidents when… well… okay, the last one with Axel was different," Parsley says. By now, the wagon is in sight, shaded by trees at the edge of the road. "Just set the crates on the back," Bron says, preparatory to lifting a little higher to get them onto the wagon.

Staying still without people and things interacting, Axel decides, is a bit on the dull side. He lapses back in to his inner world, eyes glazing a bit. The parts of him that, together, form what other people know as his personality as a single individual mull over women, eggs, and hay.

"Accidents when what?" Gunther follows up, not about to let that one go so easily. He shifts his hands a bit now too, preparing to lift the crates in a bench-press like movement when they get to the wagon.

"I'll explain when you're older," Parsley mutters. With the crates on the wagon now, Bron unstacks them and pushes the heavy one into the hay. About halfway in, there are a pair of grunts and the box is pulled the rest of the way until it vanishes.

"Wow, a box eating wagon," Gunther comments, "And me without a pitchfork." He then glances towards Parsley and remarks, "Ah, so I'd bet you tell Zahn, then, huh? Well, if he could even hear anyone right now." His expression changes a bit at this, more agitated and upset.

"You have to ride in the hay as well," Parsley says, as the second crate is swallowed up.

Gunther crosses his arms. "Yuck. Why?" he asks.

"So that nobody sees you," Bron says. "Trust me, you'll be better off than riding just behind Pretzel."

"Good point," Gunther agrees. So, into the wagon he climbs too.

This time, two pairs of brown, webbed hands reach out and grab the Kadie.

"Ack, monsters!" Gunther cries out as he's grabbed and yanked in.

"Err, not quite," Bron says with a chuckle. Under the hay, two otters pull Gunther past the strapped-down crates, going, "Shhh!" the whole time. Finally, the Kadie finds himself with an otter girl in his lap, trying to hold him still.

Gunther wrestles momentarily with the girl, then eyes her. "Hey, don't I know you?" he asks suddenly.

The noise stirs Axel back into the outer world, and quite abruptly at that. He ruffles, makes disturbed kawy noises, and otherwise seems startled as reality jumps out and yells, "Surprise!" again.

"Shhh, you too!" Bebe says, and returns to restrain Axel. The otter on Gunther whispers, "I'm Nene. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. But at least I got the cute one this time."

Gunther's brow goes up at this, but at least he quit struggling. "I'm pretty sure you're one of the ones I had to chase out of the compound last year," Gunther whispers.

As usual, Pretzel backfires before starting up, but those in the back of the wagon are spared from most of the cloud of methane and sulfur as the wagon rattles back onto the road.

"We all look alike without our warpaint," Nene says, admitting nothing. "What would have done if you caught me, anyway?" she then adds, blowing the bluff.

The implied insult flies over Axel's head like a comet, but at least he has his otter girl back. Comfortable, Axel resumes tuning out the world. To Bebe it seems like a light turns off in the man's eyes and then he's somewhere else. Off in space, like the comet.

"Ahah! I knew it!" Gunther hisses, glaring. "I would have locked you up, then catapulted you into the swamp the next day."

"Seriously?" Nene asks in a hush, pushing her nose up against Gunther's. "You promise about the catapult?"

"Heck yeah," Gunther remarks, grinning. "We have a great cata … er, otterpult, to deal with the likes of you."

"What's that?" Nene asks. teasingly. "You like me?"

Gunther's eyes narrow again and his nose scrunches. "Like you? I don't even know you! I just recognized your backside," he comments … then groans after he realized how that must've sounded.

Bebe giggles at that, and before Nene can reply she hisses, "Keep it down. No fighting, flirting or frolicking until we get out, remember?"

"I'm not flirting!" Gunther hisses in reply.

"Shhhh," Nene tells the Kadie, and just to annoy him she licks his nose. "We'll be there soon."

And with that, Gunther sulks.

All this noise makes zoning out very difficult! Axel, now "awake" again, remarks curiously and quickly, "He's not going to lay an egg either I take it?"

Things quiet down, and the wagon rolls and bobs and clatters. "Why does he keep doing that?" comes the pained voice of Parsley. "I think I'm going to be sick. Are they feeding him old shorts or something?" There is a reply in the form of several quacks, followed by Bron saying, "See, there's a simple explanation."

"No egg," Nene replies in a whisper. "But I bet he has something stuck up his… " The otter's comment is interrupted by Bron knocking on the wooden seat of the wagon, then saying, "Okay, we're nearly there, get ready." "Ready for what?" Parsley asks. "Just hold onto your seat, Parsley," is the buck's gruff reply.

Gunther grabs Nene's nose and glares at her for that comment. "Oh, you are so asking for it," he mutters.

Both otters tighten their hugs around their charges, and say, in unison, "Hold onto me tight."

"Darn right, you're not getting away from me now," Gunther growls and grabs onto Nene.

Axel does so, and does so very quickly! There's a rapid rustle as he closes his arms around his otter, followed by the same by his wings which toss a lot of hay around.

The wagon suddenly shudders. Something cracks loudly, and the entire wagon begins to tip over! Up front, Parsley squeals, while in the back the hay begins to spill out, along with the hidden passengers. Axel and Gunther find themselves falling into a dark, empty space instead of being rolled onto the ground as expected.

Gunther actually squeaks! at this and squeezes Nene even more! "Curse you evil otters!" he yells.

The bird-man isn't so articulate, or aware for that matter. Still trying to process where he is now he falls quite peacefully.

The otter girls shift their weight, so that they are underneath when the two groups land on some bales of hay. Overhead is a rectangle of light, with the wagon laying on its side along one edge, and Parsley staring down with a look of astonishment. There is only time for a quick glimpse though, as larger figure block the light, using long pole-arms to cut the ropes holding the crates to the wagon. More hands pull the Kadie and bird-man out of the way as the otters relax their grips.

Gunther, however, won't relax his grip on Nene and tries to drag her along. "Oh no, you're not getting away," he insists. It hasn't exactly registered with him that they're surrounded … yet.

The crates tumble free into the waiting hands of two giant Kadies, who quickly climb down from the bales of hay. Two Lapis immediately grab the bales and attach them to the camouflaged trap-door top, then swing the door back up and closed, cutting off the rest of the light.

"Important things are very confusing and filled with strange movement," Axel remarks on the obvious. Axel helps his otter stand up, then looks around expectantly. It's much the same way he looked at Parsley earlier, in that sort of lost, "you know what I should be doing don't you," manner.

"You'll need to duck down," one of the new Lapis tells Axel. The large Kadies have already begun moving down a small tunnel, nearly doubled over.

"Hey, not so hard," Nene complains to Gunther.

Gunther finally realizes there are others around and lets go of Nene. He dusts the hay off his body and peers after the other Kadies. "Must be Amelia's relatives," he remarks dryly.

Axel does so. Having his wings against his back and himself hunched certainly doesn't make him look less bird like.

"Just come along, okay?" the Lapi says. "This tunnel is only temporary." Bebe takes Axel's hand and leads him on through the dark, close tunnel, while Nene just goes on ahead of Gunther, pausing to wiggle her rear at him and says, "Try not to lose me again."

Gunther makes a grab for Nene's tail. "Don't provoke me," he growls as he follows the others. He's rather thankful for the Kettenrad family trait of good night vision.

Axel follows. That's his usual method. And if, say on a whim, he didn't, well, he'd sure stretch his hand – and that would hurt.

The otter either lets Gunther catch her tail or covers her surprise well when he does. The group moves through the tunnel, with clods of earth occasionally dropping down on them, until they reach a larger cross-tunnel that is dimly lit by lanterns. Two Lapis wait on either side of the exit, holding onto ropes that lead back down the tunnel they just came through.

"Wow, it's as dirty as my secret lab, but less slimy," Gunther notes as he peers around.

All this time underground makes Axel realize, "I don't like being underground," suddenly and verbally. Something about being cut off from the sky makes him nervous, and he shows it by rustling his wings and looking around in darting motions as if trying to find a way out.

Bebe squeezes Axel's hand reassuringly, which is a good thing, since the two Lapis yank on their ropes as soon as the last person is out of the tunnel. There's a whoosh of air and dirt as the tunnel collapses behind them.

"Eh. It's not that bad underground," Gunther notes, then jumps as the tunnel collapses behind them. "Warn us next time," he hisses.

Bebe can feel the heat in Axel's hand, and he's surprisingly warmer than he was just before the tunnel collapsed. He's also, like Gunther, a few steps from his previous location due to suddenly jumping.

"Ouch!" Nene complains as her tail gets yanked by the startled Kadie.

"Er, sorry," Gunther tells Nene. He actually even pets Nene's tail briefly.

The ceiling of this clearly older and well maintained tunnel is plenty high enough for Axel to stand up straight. Even then, he finds himself level with the two tall Kadies carrying the heavy crates.

"Sorry, we're used to doing things in silence," one of the rope pullers apologizes. The big Kadies start off down the tunnel, and the first Lapi urges the rest to follow.

Perhaps suspecting an optical trick or maybe that he has shrunk, Axel stares at the nearest giant Kadie with intent concentration. Clearly the cogs are spinning, because in a moment he says, "You're … tall," deductively. Then he's off and following Bebe again.

"Why did Amelia say she needed that one again?" one of the Kadies asks the other, who just shrugs.

Gunther sighs and mutters something about people saying Kadies are crazy. He follows along quietly and even finally lets go of Nene's tail.

The group passes a few side tunnels before coming to another temporary looking one, also flanked by two rope-holding Lapis. The big Kadies put down the crates, and one says, "We'll need to open these here, they won't fit through the tunnel end."

"Oh," says Axel as he tries to sound like he's completely okay with that, and totally aware of the flow of things. He even nods slowly. He nods slowly to Bebe too, for extra effect.

"Er, I'm not sure you have enough arms to carry it all," Gunther remarks. He then just walks up to one of the crates and kicks it in just the right spot. It creaks, then falls apart, spilling its contents of folded crossbows into a pile. He then kicks the other one and it too falls apart. Except lots of little cylindrical containers starts rolling everywhere. "Oops," he says weakly. "Forgot they'd do that."

The two otters leap into action, catching and gathering up the rolling cylinders.

"Well, at least otters have some use," Gunther has to admit.

Axel seems more interested in watching the containers roll then actually stopping them.

"They're the ones that'll be using some of these," one of the Kadies says, picking up a folded crossbow. One of the tunnel-Lapis whispers to his partner, "Good thing they're naked… no pockets."

Gunther grabs one of the crossbows and one of the cylinders. He fits it into the base off the crossbow with a click. "You can't be serious. They're kids … and even worse … girls," Gunther says, aghast.

The big Kadie looks at Gunther for a moment, and says, "Yeah, they're also dead shots with spears and bows, small enough to fit through the wall gap, and fast as… well, fast as otters."

Gunther snorts at that. "You don't need as much accuracy with overwhelming force," he mutters.

Becoming something of an expert on naked Stonebarrow women Axel glances at the otters and notes, indeed, they are both naked and girls. He looks at himself and compares notes regarding earlier confusion.

"You do if you don't want to hit everyone else in the room," the big Kadie notes, and hands out crossbows to the Lapis that came with them, and even holds one out to Axel.

"You don't use them inside generally," Gunther points out, then shrugs. And then out of the blue, comments, "Oh, yeah, duh. I should have expected Amelia's brothers to have the same opinions as her."

Axel takes the crossbow with both hands and begins examining it curiously. He turns it over, pokes at it, and otherwise fidgets with it.

Hunched over and carrying crossbows and cylinders, the Lapis move into the narrow tunnel, followed by the otters. "Hurry up," one of the Kadies says, "we need to close this and reseal the room as fast as possible."

Gunther collects a few stray cylinders then says, "I'm ready whenever."

Axel hurries up, as directed, although he continues to fidget with his new "toy." At least he's holding it with the correct side up now.

The new tunnel is even more claustrophobic than the first one, and ends against a wall of large stone blocks. A few of the blocks have had the mortar chipped out and been pulled away to make for a narrow, zig-zagging opening that may be a bit of a challenge for Axel… but at least he's skinny.

Gunther squirms his way through, then complains briefly about kinking his tail in the process. "Was all this really necessary? Couldn't we have used the front door?" he asks one of the Kadies.

Still toying with his crossbow Axel catches his wings on the wall, stumbles backwards a step, squawks indignantly, then snaps his wings back and wiggles through. Unfortunately for anyone behind him the sudden backward movement of his wings spreads dirt, and may result in a wing-whapping.

The first pair of Kadies were too large to make it through the tunnel, but another pair is waiting on the far side, wearing smocks. They're a bit more reasonably sized, as Kadies go. "Uh," one of them says. "No? Someone might have seen you then. We were told you might be being watched."

Gunther just shakes his head. "Er, right, well, whatever," he mutters. "Where are we going, anyway?"

The appeal of the crossbow begins to wane for Axel, and he begins to increasingly neglect toying with it in order to stare intently at this and that. This just happens to be the room, and that appears to be the two new Kadies.

The two Kadies begin pushing stones back into place and applying fresh mortar. The room itself is large and heavily built, lit by oil lamps. A wide hall slopes upwards at one end, and the other two unmarred walls have large iron double doors with built-in locks and multiple keyholes. Both doors are ajar, and through one Gunther can spot a dissembled heavy ballista, along with racks of other weapons. Lapis carry more arms from the other room into that one. "Go through that door," one of the Kadies says, pointing with a trowel to the one the Lapis are carrying things out of.

Gunther looks around, then just shakes his head. "Must be nice to come from a wealthy clan," he mutters darkly, then walks through the door indicated.

Axel follows Gunther until his wing brushes against the iron door. The bird man suddenly jumps as if a otter had plucked a tailfeather! He also squawks, puffs up, and glares at the door in perhaps a misguided effort to intimidate it for … whatever it did to him.

"Excuse us!" barks a burly Lapi, as he and three others try to maneuver a wheeled cannon out of the destination room. Inside, it is clear that racks have been removed and things moved about. Hooks in the walls still hold some weapons, which the Lapis are busily removing, and a cot is set against a wall, piled high with blankets.

Gunther's brow goes up at the removal of weapons from an obviously secure room. "Ah, why exactly are you removing things from this room? This would certainly be the safest place for them," he points out, then glances at Axel. "And what's your problem? That's a door. Repeat after me, a door."

The avian fellow has to jump again to get out of the way of the Lapis and the cannon. He does not forget the door, though, and eyes it in a manner that clearly indicates he's on to it, and whatever tricks it might think to pull, as he walks inside the room. "A door!" he repeats loudly and not without suspicion.

A Kadie woman is in the room as well, sweeping up. "Oh, you're here!" she says as she notices the otters, Gunther and Axel. "You must be Gunther Kettenrad?" she asks, looking to the young Kadie.

"I'd say that's highly likely," Gunther remarks. "Unless you're out to get Gunther, then no, I'm not Gunther. Er, who are you?"

Axel steps up behind Gunther and asks the woman with equal suspicion, because he's just in that sort of mood, "You're not out to get Gunther are you?"

"I'm Goody Blacktail," the woman says. "I'm to take care of you until the witches and Dame Natasha arrive." She seems a bit excited about the prospect. "Once you're all here, we can seal you up tight and wait for the necromancer to come! Won't that be fun?"

"Woah, wait. Seal me up? Why? He's not after me," Gunther says and starts backing towards the door. "And what do you mean, take care of me?"

"Well, we don't know when he'll come, you see," the woman says. "And of course he isn't coming for you, he's coming for your brother. But under the covers, you'll look enough like him I think."

Picking up on the woman's enthusiasm Axel lets his suspicion slide, and instead fluffs his wings and says, "The necromancer," in an excited tone, an attempt sound enthused, and more so convince other people that he is, indeed, enthused.

The last of the weapons are carried out, each one giving Axel a slight twinge of discomfort as it passes, but ultimately it makes the room feel a bit friendly to him.

"You're serious? He's bigger than me by a fair amount and his fur color is somewhat different," Gunther points out. At least he quits backing up for now.

The weapons get The Look. Axel's on to them, too, and they ought to know it. It's a curious shift of emotion as the bird-man changes from mock-excited to quite suspicious and back again as his focus of attention changes. At least he calms down once the last weapon leaves, anyway.

"Well, yes, but he shouldn't have time to notice those little things," the woman says, in the same sort of tone another might discuss, say, needlepoint. She picks up one the special crossbows, and checks the sights on it. "The important thing is that he takes the bait. Granted, you're the bait… or half of the bait I'm told… but at least you'll be very well armed bait, eh?"

"The bait!" Axel tries to sound very upbeat about that, too.

"Oh yeah, that makes me feel better," Gunther remarks and shakes his head. He considers something, then notes, "You know, if my mother finds out about this she will be livid."

"Livid!" enthuses the bird-man.

"Well, I'm sure she'll be proud when we tell her how brave you were and such," Goody explains. "It's a big thing you're doing for the community here, young Kettenrad. Very big. It's just a shame that Isolde plans to use the Sealing Box on this one. When I was girl, my grandmother told me about how she got to see a necromancer's head that could still talk! But it wore out, apparently."

All this enthusiasm seems to wear on the bird-man, and he takes to wandering around suddenly. He takes a few steps, pauses, cocks his head, then steps off in another direction as he looks around.

"Did you fall on your head a lot when you were young?" Gunther inquires, peering at the odd Kadie. He then just sighs and shakes his head. "I gather I really don't have much of a choice, either. It's not like I know how to get out of here. Which was probably the idea with all the tunnels."

So far, there's just the cot in the room, and lots of empty hooks on the walls. "Well, I'll go see to getting you some snacks and chairs and such," Goody says, still smiling as she hands the crossbow back to Bebe, and heads out. "Won't be a tick!" she says on leaving, and then the heavy iron door shuts and multiple locks click.

"Great, I'm stuck in a room with two girls and a lunatic," Gunther mutters and heads over to the cot. He sits down heavily and sighs. "This is not going to go over well with mom. Not at all," he says grimly.

After completing a circuit of the room only to find he's trapped here, Axel blinks once, then shakes his feathers out and drops down on his toes and hugs his legs. "Two girls and a lunatic, two girls and lunatic and over well, two girls a lunatic and a well over necromance … " His wings flutter. "Necromancer, necromancer … " He suddenly pales. "Uh oh!"

The two otters huddle in the corner, whispering to themselves. Then they suddenly go quiet and look over their shoulders at the two males, and grin sweetly.

Maybe too sweetly.