Adventurer's Cabin
The 'deluxe' adventurer's cabin in Stonebarrow is actually furnished quite nicely. It's several rooms, meeting/kitchen, sleeping, and bathing. Recent renovations have even added internal plumbing to the cabin, making the bathing room equipped with running water. Hot water is provided by a second ceramic fireplace quipped with a water reservoir. Needless to say, it wakes a while t actually get a warm bath. The hot springs are still faster.

Once Aiken and Jack got back to the rented cabin, Aiken was put to work. Box after box of artifacts and other 'treasures' had to be unpacked and sorted through. Most have just been broken bits of pottery, statues, stone tablets, and various bits of jewelry. The latest box, though, has a different sort of treasure in it; souvenirs from some of Jack's Famous Holiday Adventures(tm).

Twirling a makeshift wreath of paper flowers on a finger, Jack says, "I'm telling you, the Gigi Coast is the place for a holiday. They don't call these things leis for nothing!" Another wide grin and he sends it through the air towards the Kadie.

Most people might call it work, but in all honesty, Aiken felt like he was having a personal field trip. Although they may have just been bits and pieces, the squirrel still found all the artifacts fascinating. Currently distracted with yet another object, he doesn't even notice as the lei comes landing on his noggin. "Well, I sure hope to go there some day," he replies, not quite getting the joke. "I hear its warm there - and the air is clear, not like the bog here in Stonebarrow."

"Warm, warm? That's only a quarter of the reason to go there! The surfing is awesome," Jack exclaims and sends more leis flying through the air. They land haphazardly around the room. "The nightly fish barbecues are incredible too. And the dances, well. Let's just say they don't leave much to the imagination, eh?" the otter says with a toothy grin. "Plus they have some amazing ruins there. Did you know that their temples to the goddess 'Nala' are the origins of a lot of other religions on Sinai? The Babelite religions start there, in fact. Just, well, don't visit those ruins at night, sometimes cultists try to use them. Barely escaped with my heart still in my chest. On the good side, though, I did get a nice white dress out of the experience."

Dusting off his paws, the Kadie takes a seat on the floor, regarding the otter with an arched brow. "Um, no offense or anything… but you don't seem like th' dress wearing type… "

"Not given the choice, no. But when someone holds a knife to your neck, well … slap me in a dress and call me Nelly, eh?" Jack says, still grinning. Mind shifting gears, he starts looking through the things they just unpacked, muttering, "Now I know I saw it a minute ago in here… "

"Whatcha looking for?" Now on his feet, Aiken walks up behind the otter, and looks just to the side of him. "Tell me what it looks like, and I bet I can help ya find it. I have a good memory for this sorta thing."

"A really ornate wooden box. About, oh, six inches square or so. I keep my pet vermite in it," Jack says with a shrug.

Aiken's nose scrunches up a bit, his tail curling around his waist. "Well, I saw several boxes like that in the pile over there, but… you keep a vermite as a pet?" The squirrel cracks an amused grin. "Seems like most people try to get rid of em."

"She's right special, she is," Jack says with a grin as he diverts to the other pile and starts digging. A moment later he declares, "Ahah!" and strikes a pose, box held high.

The Kadie walks over near Jack, staring up at the box. "I'll be… she must be special if you keep her in that! So what's so special about her? She save your life or somethin'?"

"Not at all. In fact, she quite endangered it once," Jack says and pops the lid open. He shakes it upside down and an obsidian carving falls out into his palm. It sure looks like a vermite, except for being stone, of course, with inset red jewel-like eyes and a gold-painted tail. Upon closer inspection, all sorts of runes are inscribed all over it. "Got this on my first dig, I did. Lots of traps protected this beauty. Nearly lost my tail and without a tail, well, life isn't worth living. Never have quite figured out where this bugger came from, though. Might be from Necropolis, though, since it was found in one of the old necromancer strongholds."

Someone bangs loudly on the door to the cabin. It sounds like a hammer is being used to do the knocking.

Aiken's eyes go wide at the sight of the treasure, and he leans in close with ears perked to get a better look. The expression of wonder vanishes immediately, however, when he mentions the word 'necromancer', and the squirrel leaps backwards as though the carving were an angry hornet. "You got it from one of the necromancer places? Dagh, don't you know how dangerous that thing could be?" Still backing up with brushy tail frazzled on end, the Kadie makes a leap that almost sends him into the ceiling at the sound of the knocking.

"Oops, guest, okay little beastie, back you go," Jack says and drops the carving back into the box and closes it up, then quickly puts it away into one of the stacks. As he heads for the door, he calls back over his shoulder, "Pah on danger! Gotta have a little peril if you want to live. Otherwise, well, you're no better than a plant!" Opening the door, he says, "Hello, hello! Welcome to the temporary home of Sylvania Jack! If you're a woman and cute, I have a nice bottle of wine… "

"You don't know Sylvania very well then," Aiken mutters under his breath. Smoothing out his fur, the squirrel gives the golden box a wide berth, and peers around Jack at the visitor.

"I'm both!" snaps the shrunken figure of Integra "Granny" Oggton. The elderly otter is going white in spots, and actually wears a shawl and dress. To help her waddle about, she uses a long staff with a burly knob on the end – handy for knocking on doors too. Emmett stands behind her, all smiles as usual.

"Hello Emmet, Mrs. Oggton," Aiken says, giving the otters a friendly smile. "We weren't expectin' you so soon. How's the family, Granny?"

"Num'rous and damp," Granny replies. "Ow's Curiel and little… little… the little one?"

"Yeah, but if I give you the wine, you might shrivel up even more! Can't have that, now can we?" Jack says without missing a beat and opens the door the rest of the way. "Come in, find a seat! Just please, not on anything too valuable."

"Kiona's doin' just fine – shootin' up like a grape vine!" Aiken ducks under Jack's arm, and offers Granny a paw of assistance. At the larger otter's words, the squirrel just gives a look – apparently, you don't talk to elders that way in a town like Stonebarrow.

"Roight," Granny says, accepting Aiken's help over to a box. Her feet dangle over the floor once she gets settled. "Emmett tells me you're one of Viv's bunch. She send you here to 'pologize finally?"

"Nope, she doesn't know I'm here. I'm just here to get the final fragment to the key. I'm an archaeologist, so it's my duty to collect old things," Jack says as he clears himself a spot and flops down into it, literally. His thick tail thumps lazily to the side.

"What… she still has that broken thing?" Granny asks, and then blows a raspberry of laughter. "Sicky-ei' years and she still ain't got no clue! An' who'd she end up wi' after that bastard Billy Treacle spurned her for not bringin' him the whole key, eh?"

Once Granny is settled in, Aiken finds a spot for himself as well, curling his tail in his lap and fidgeting with the fur. "Apologize?"

"For trying to steal the Key in the first place," Granny says to Aiken. "Billy told 'er it was the only dowry he'd accept, the greedy stupid lumpkin! I swear, he'd lose his place counting his toes, that one."

"Yes, and I intend to un-break it, I just need the last piece, which you happen to have," Jack says calmly as he wiggles his hand and inspects the webbing between his fingers. "And that's not what I heard. I heard you stole it because you didn't want her to marry the man she adored. So, you not only broke it, you broke her heart. Not very sisterly of you, no."

Aiken scratches behind an ear uncomfortably. Family feuds are never a fun thing – especially when you're an innocent bystander.

Granny barks laughter again, which ends in a wheeze. "O', course she'd say that, what wi' the rest of us being gone and all." She fishes inside her bodice for a moment, and pulls at a piece of black lacquered wood on a leather thong. "This wa' you want? For sure? This little bit here. That's all you want, eh?"

"As long as that's all of it, that's all I want, yep," Jack says with a grin and sits up. "So, what do you want for it?"

The old otter just grins like a Khatta. "Oh, it was just a memento of me dear sister," she says, and hands over the bit. "You might want to see if old Zeke Carter's great-grandson or whatnot will fix it fer ya. Zeke's the one I hired to make the fake in the first place."

Jack's brow goes up. "Pardon?" he asks as he peers at the fragment. "Just what do you mean, fake?"

"Fake?" Aiken says this almost at the same time as Jack. "You mean the key was never real, granny?"

"What, you didn't think that bit she has was real do you?" Granny asks, still grinning. "That the Key could actually be broken? I made it soon as I heard what Billy was up to, knowin' Viv would try to take it from me."

"So, where's the real one, then, hmm?" Jack asks as he peers a bit at the fragment.

"Safe, wi' me, where it belongs," Granny says, crossing her arms. "At least, until it chooses a new bearer. If Billy was gettin' antsy about it, I figgered the other folks might be too, so I followed it's advice and left, afore they did something foolish."

"Followed… it's advice?" Aiken looks at Granny curiously. "What do you mean by that? It was a talkin' key or something?"

Jack sighs. "Right, fine. So, how much do you want for that, then?" he asks next. "It's not like it's doing any good just sitting around. At least it would be useful to me, considering it's my life's work to unravel the mysteries of the lands. And well, to suffer a nice snog or two, but that's the price of fame, alas."

"Of course it's a talkin' Key," Granny says. "Only the bearers can hear it consc… shoosh… awake-like. That's why the Snifflers came with us, since old Goodie had been the keeper before me, and her kids knew the truth." Looking at Jack now, Granny notes, "Ain't for sale. Key don't work like that. If I give it to ya, it'd drive you mad within a week. It stays here 'cuz this is where it wants to be, until the time comes for it to open the Lock. Try to use it before then… and well, it wouldn't be good. Least, that's the impression I got, laddy-buck."

"And how do you know the next bearer will be from here, then? Could just as easily be from your sister's side as yours, you know," Jack points out. "Plus, if I've learned one thing in the world, everything is for sale, it's just the matter of finding the right price."

Aiken leans back on his crate, brow furrowed as he tries to keep up with the otters' back and forth banter. "Sounds to me like it's a moot point, Jack. Th' Key still wants Granny as its keeper."

"Pah, you give up far too easily," Jack says and waves a hand limply at Aiken.

The squirrel shrugs at Jack. "Hey now, I don't got a Dromodon in this race – I'm just callin' it as I see it. If Granny's right, the Key goes where it wants, and I don't got a reason to doubt her."

"You ain't too bright for an 'ologist, is ya?" Granny says to Jack. "Ancient artifacts and such has a will o' their own, and it don't matter what you do: they's too stubborn to bend to yours." She reaches into her bodice again, and produces a shiny black object on a platinum zolk cord this time. It has a faint, ultraviolet glow beneath its surface. "Tell you what, Sylvania Junk, I'll loan it to you for one night. Maybe the visions won't be too bad, if it ain't taken away from here. Maybe not. But I see you ain't gonna take my word alone, is ya?"

"Eh, Granny," Emmett speaks up. "You can't just give it to 'im! It's our Sacred Thingy and all! You gotta rent it to him at least!"

Aiken does a double-take as Granny produces the artifact. "By the First Ones… that looks like it was made… by the First Ones!"

"Pshaw, he's a male, he can't be a bearer," Granny tells Emmett. "Ain't no chance o' him scarperin'. Just set your sister to watching 'im." She shakes her head a bit, and mutters, "Give a man a key and he can't wait to stick it in something… "

Jack peers at the object for a bit. "I'll offer you a better deal. I'll stay with your clan for the night, and offer you to hold onto one my my treasures in return," the otter offers as he stands and goes to fetch the box. He does at least resist the urge of waving it at Aiken as he passes by the Kadie. He pops it open and drops the carving into his hand, holding it out for the elder to see. "Just to show I'm an upstanding sort of Akwavi."

"Ugly little bugger, ain't it?" Granny comments on the vermite. "Maybe Maggie will be impressed by it though."

Emmett groans, and says, "Granny, you gotta stop pimpin' out my sister! Just 'cuz she ain't settled on a guy don't mean you should throw some stranger at her!"

Aiken's ears flatten as Jack grabs the box, his tail bristling as the otter passes. "I dunno if you want that in Oggton lands, Granny… "

"Pfft, it's beautiful," Jack counters, "And I'll expect it back. Still researching the origins of this little beastie."

"Just keep it in it's box," Granny grumbles. "And… you are kin, and I suppose we should be hospitable like. You can come stay on our barge tonight if yer really want to," she relents. "Just don't make a big fuss if you have nightmares or start seeing things crawling out the walls."

To Aiken, Jack says, "You're going to worry yourself gray. Not everything in this world has a monster hiding under it. Before I told you much about it, even you thought it was beautiful."

"If he's with us, who's gonna guard all this loot then?" Emmett asks.

"I thought it was… interestin'," Aiken replies to the adventurer. The Kadie starts to frown, but immediately perks up at Emmett's words. "Um, well… I guess I could be persuaded too… if Mister Jack needs someone he trusts, that is… "

Jack sets the carving back in its box and closes it. "And who is this Maggie you mentioned? This one's sister?" he asks and nods towards Emmett. At Emmett's question he nods towards the Kadie, saying, "I don't mind. I do suppose he won't want me to leave this here, though."

Emmett eyes Aiken, and hmmms. "You can keep the witches out, then? They see some o' this stuff, they'll have a fit. The sort of fit that ends in frogs."

"Maggie is a right fine gel and wouldn't have nothing to do with a musty… " Emmett starts to say, then just gives up. "Eh, she'll like you fine. You're different and crazy."

Granny pokes Jack with the knobby end of her staff, and notes, "But we ain't like them Chalks! You get her wi' child and yer staying right here for the duration, mind you!"

"Moschusartig," Jack corrects Emmett, "Moschusartig. It's not that hard to say."

Aiken's tail twitches at the mention of the box, "Well, that's up to you mister Jack. I dunno if Granny'n Emmett'll want somethin' like that on their lands, after all." Turning to Emmett, the squirrel just grins. "I can keep Morgan and his Momma occupied if I need to. B'sides, they'd probably trust me with it more than Mister Jack anyroad!" Perking an ear on the conversation about Maggie, the Kadie doesn't mention the fact that she and Jack are practically cousins.

Jack oofs and holds up his hands. "Hey. I have no intentions of starting a family. Can't easily travel with a family and I live to travel," he insists. "I stick to safe fun."

"Right then, Mr. Mouse-sour-tit," Emmett says. "Be at the dock by dusk, and I'll pick ya up."

"May I borrow your staff for a moment," Jack asks Granny.

Granny hands it over, but warns, "Won't do no good, Emmett has a skull harder than rock."

"Oh, I'm not going to aim for his skull," Jack saws with a widening grin as he eyes the other otter. He lowers the staff until the knobby end is touching the ground and swings it back. "Just hold still now… " he says, whiskers twitching.

Emmett backflips out of the doorway, and says, "Hah, I seen that one before too! You ain't met Amy and her Broom O' Doom, but I have!"

"Hey now!" Aiken calls out, making a leap for the cane. "Keep this friendly, Mister Jack! You're a guest in Stonebarrow!"

"If you can't handle a woman with a broom, you are one sorry Akwavi," Jack retorts with a grin as he offers the staff back to Granny when Aiken makes a move for it. To the incoming Kadie he says with a grin, "Hey, if he wants to start something, he'd better just be prepared to finish it."

"I'll be sure to tell her that," Emmett says with a grin. "She likes meetin' confident guys, she does."

"He started it with his gob," Aiken says to Jack, settling back down on his crate, "so you should finish it with your's – no reason to go hittin' a fellow. Asides, Emmett gets whacked by Granny all the time – he doesn't need any more lumps on his noggin."

"Yar," Granny says, hopping down from the crate. "He's got enough that that retro-phrenologist woman wouldn't touch him," she notes, shaking her head. "And we went through all the trouble o' tying him up and all… " She starts waddling to the door.

"Bring it," Jack says with a grin right back. "Like I was telling your friend here, I've traveled. And to show no hard feelings, like cats, do you? Noticed the bit of paint on your face. You want some feline adventure, you should check out the Gigi isles." To Aiken he says, "Now, if I was really going to hit him, I'd have hardly done it while he was watching. Secret of survival, whack 'em when they're not looking."

"And hey, uh, Great Aunt," Jack adds as the older woman heads towards the door. "I do have one more thing I'd like to say to you."

"Better be nice if it's about me bum," the old woman warns, turning just enough to look over her shoulder at Jack.

Aiken grimaces at Jack. "That don't seem very sporting. You wouldn't make a good Kadie, mister Jack – if I may say so."

"You're not nearly the drooling, trollike, Akwavi dear ol' Grandma said you were," Jack says, whiskers wiggling with amusement. "And a bit o' news from home. Just as well you prevented the marriage with ol' Billy, truth be told. About two years after you left, he lost 'em to a drunken game of 'Who sat on the Eep?', anyway. That little branch of the clan finally snapped off."

Aiken blinks at Jack, and leans forward in empathetic pain.

"Hah!" Granny barks. "It's true then, all the luck gods came wi' us!" she chirps, then continues on her way, shooing Emmett away from the door.

"You," Jack says and points to Emmett. "Wait a moment," he says and tries to hand the box with the vermite in it off to Aiken. "Got a question for you."

"Err?" Emmett gruffs, but loiters in the doorway in that casual way he has. He could be standing at attention and still look like he was loitering.

Regarding the box with an expression that suggests it were a chocolate covered acorn crossed with a furious tarantula, Aiken cautiously takes it from Jack, holding it at arms length.

"You know a lot of people in this town, right? What the heck is wrong with that little Kadie who runs around with a spear? He's been harassing me since I arrived," Jack asks. "How do I get rid of him?"

"Gunther?" Aiken says, lowering the box a bit. "Well, you don't really get rid of him."

"Oh, that's just Gunther Kettenrad, from the Wingnuts," Emmett says. "He's the local Unwelcome Wagon. The Anti-Parsley, I like to think of 'im."

"Anti-Parsley, you say? Well, I'll just rig up some weed killer. Figuratively speaking, of course," Jack says with a laugh. "I'm sure I can come up with a few surprises after all the traps I've dealt with. It's not like he'd be any good at dismantling anything complex, right?"

Aiken just exchanges a knowing glance with Emmett, not wanting to rain on Jack's parade.

"Oh, course not, he's just a dumb kid," Emmett says, with a perfectly straight poker-face.

"Heh-heh-heh," goes Jack and rubs his hands together, "Thanks. See you later tonight."

Emmett tips an imaginary hat to Jack, and winks at Aiken, before hustling off after Granny.

Jack scoots back to Aiken and takes the box from him. He goes and sets it up on a shelf before turning back to ask, "So, you're willing to look after things? What's it going to cost me?"

Fighting back a laugh, Aiken just gives a harried glance upwards, then hands the box back to Jack with a look of relief. "Cost you?" The Kadie hops down from his box. "Well, as valuable as my time is, I think I can go pro-bono on this one." He grins to Jack, his twitching tail giving away his anticipation of a night alone with the artifacts. "Y'know, one collector helpin' out another and all."

"All right. I was going to offer you a choice of almost anything I have here, 'cept my vermite, but that makes this even easier," Jack says, beaming. "Now, before dusk I'd like to see a bit more of the town. Let me go get my hat." The Akwavi heads off into the back sleeping room.

Aiken's tail wilts. "Well… maybe I should take a little fee you know… since I'll be away from the family and the vines and all." The squirrel goes to stand by the door, cursing at himself under his breath.

While Aiken waits, there's this odd scratching sound in the room. Faint, but noticeable.

The squirrel's ears twitch at the noise, and he swivels them about, trying to track down the source. "Maybe that vermite has a friend… "

Jack returns while Aiken is searching for the sound. It's hard to place in the mess of the room, unfortunately, so the Kadie just can't seem to find it. The otter clasps Aiken on the back and says, "Let's go while there's still light to show off the … peeling paint." Grinning, he leads the Kadie to the cabin door.

Aiken gives a leap as the otter startles him, and looks back over his shoulder in the direction of the noise as he's ushered out. "You better have Mandy take a look at this place then we get back," he says to Jack. "I think your pet has a few friends scurryin' around."

As the cabin door closes behind them, Aiken catches out of the corner of his eye a two little glints of red from the shelf where Jack stashed his box. Within the blink of an eye, they're gone and the door then closes. "Oh that's silly," Jack tells the Kadie as the two head back towards the main square. "The place was spotless when I came in. Now … let's go have some fun."