Balliol looked around at the dead snakes, the wounded and silent Aros, the new 1/2 orc, the faerie dragon in a cage, the tower, the bullywog and . . . the weirdness seemed to go on. Thankfully the orcish paladin(that was a hopeful sign, probably) healed Aros of her leg wound and seemed friendly.

Bugs approached the Paladin.  "No gifting names, eh Doc?"  He paused, wondering about calling him Doc, but it seemed to fit.  "And you even are a bit of a Doc.  Since she can't say it, I'll thank you for Aros.  Ever heard of a (insert name of stupid insect that stung Aros here until I can look it up in the thread)?  One stung our friend here and I think it would be really helpful if we could figure out how to get her mouth back.  Right now I'd say that is our primary goal."

Bugs just couldn't make himself want to give away all of the information right away, heck half of the party still didn't know what half of the party was really after.  "I suppose I should just share a name as well - Balliol Bugglesworth IV of Sweetcress Monastery.  If you are wondering why I aged the way I did . . . I have no idea.  The feywild seems to have made us younger and healing seems to have made me older."  Suddenly he looked carefully at Aros - had she also aged when healed????  He also looks at the faerie dragon to see if he reacts to this bit of news.

He then nodded towards the Faerie Dragon.  "And before we just open that cage, Sir. Faerie Dragon, perhaps you could share your name and explain why you are in a cage?  It seems rather odd that a friendly pilot would keep his passengers in such a state. "

 When done getting some answers Bugs will also look over the snakes briefly to see if they are marked in any way - were they someone's guards or just random?   

Shushed by Chapley, the little fairy-dragon puffs out his chest. "Well..." but it seemed no one was paying him any attention as Chapley told his story. So he stood up in his cage, patiently waiting with his hands on his pink fairy-dragon hips.

Chapley lays his hands on Aros, healing some of her wounds and relieving her of the painful hip. Her mouth is still gone from the smapper bite, and unlike Balliol, she remained the same apparent age. Chapley continues and tells his story of the fairy that tried to steal his name. But he was too smart for that. 

Chapley voices his need for food. Halei concurs and suggests it might be time for some food and rest.

Balliol shares his lack of understanding about the anomaly that is their age with Chapley and the fairy dragon (no indication of any knowledge of this oddity is apparent). "And before we just open that cage, Sir. Faerie Dragon, perhaps you could share your name and explain why you are in a cage? It seems rather odd that a friendly pilot would keep his passengers in such a state."

The fairy dragon frowns, "As I told you before, Good Sir," he says to Balliol, "I am Sir Talavar, one of the Summer Queen's loyal servants. I was amid a daring escape from the vile Bavlorna Blightstraw, who imprisoned me in this cage when our balloon was set upon by an ill wind and sent plummeting to its current unfortunate location. My pilot, the honourable Wigglewog, did not survive." he says as he points to the dead bullywug. "And, I know nothing of your ageing process. Now please, would you mind helping me out of this cage. I must tell my queen of the fall of Prismeer!" pausing briefly, he looks to Wildred. "You look like a scholar. Don't you have a trick up your sleeve?" Addressing the group, he says, "Or you could take me to a goblin named Jingle Jangle. I am sure she will have a key to this birdcage."

Balliol looked at Sir. Talavar and just knew he didn't want to bother calling him Sir.  He wasn't being overly arrogant, but there was that about him that needed to be called . . .Doc.  "So, Doc, my congratulations on your partially completed and daring escape.  It does seem to have been going well until the air got in your way."  He paused and looked at the honorable Wigglewog.  "And I'm sorry about your companion.  I take it Wigglewog got you out of Blightstraw's clutches, but not out of her cage?  That does complicate things a bit."  Now he turned his gaze on Wildred and looked questioningly, wondering about the mage's ability with a useful spell.  "But while our scholar here tries to figure out what to do about your cage, Doc, there are some other issues confronting us at the moment.  Perhaps if I just list a few questions you can answer them?"  Here he turned to look at Chapley as well.  "You too, big guy, I think we need to find some answers."

"Ok, lets, see . . .

1.  The summer queen that you work for.  Who is she?  What is her name?  And yeah, if you haven't guessed, we are new in the neighborhood.

2.  Ever heard of a smapper?  One of them stung our friend here and it would be nice to get her mouth back.  It is important for things like drinking and eating.  Any idea what to do about it?  Might this goblin know something?

3.  Jingle Jangle the goblin?  Ok, where would we find such a goblin?  

4.  And part of finding Jangles is knowing where we are.  So, where are we?  And do you know anything about this tower we all seem to have bumped up against?

5.  Oh, and what exactly do you mean by the "fall of Prismeer?"  

"I am Sir Talavar, Mr Balliol Bugglesworth IV of Sweetcress Monastery!" You can see he is trying to hide his being annoyed. "I am knight-errant of the Seelie Court and a loyal vassal of Titania, the Summer Queen. You will find noble etiquette and courtesies take you a long way." the little fairy dragon replies to Balliol. "Please pay attention, Good Sir. I have been imprisoned in this cage by Bavlorna Blightstraw, who is one of the hags of the Hourglass Coven. They have used Iggwilv's Cauldron against her and frozen time in Zybilna's palace, trapping the Archfey of Prismeer inside. I must be set free to return to my Queen and report the news that Zybilna has been overthrown by the Hourglass Coven." He is becoming more animate and frustrated with being in the cage and your lack of empathy for his plight. "Snappers usually manifest as a result of disrespecting words. It is the swamps' way of teaching one good manners." Pausing for thought, Sir Talavar takes a deep breath and continues, "Jingle Jangle has the key to this birdcage. She lives atop of Telemy Hill, which is not far from here." he explains while pointing west, "If you could take me to her so I can be free of my binding, I would be most grateful". Sir Talavar pauses, hands on his hips and looks up and around at all of you waiting.

"Come on guys, even if he isn't who he says he is we can't just leave somebody trapped in here. If he ends up being bad news we'll deal with it," Halei walks over and gestures to the cage, crouching down beside it and facing her companions, won over by Talavar's pleading. 

Balliol keeps himself from smiling at the little dragons antics.  He found that those that leaned on etiquette were often those who thought they deserved a lot of it.  But then, good manners and respect also went a long way.  He joined Halei by the cage.  "Ok, Sir. Talavar.  I agree with Halei.  We will do what we can.  I hope you understand that being cautious when finding people in cages is a reasonable thing to do.  And we have some interest in finding out what has happened to Zybilna as well.  Perhaps as we travel you could tell us what has happened?  And perhaps about the Hourglass Coven?  It is obvious that you know more about these things than we do."

Bugs then stood up and looked at the others.  "That, of course, depends on what the rest of you think.  Halei and I seem to have given voice to where we stand."  He turned to Chapley. "And you, sir.  I thank you again for your aid in the battle and with healing.  We would welcome another on our journey."  He paused and looked at the others. "Again, assuming the others agree.  I don't wish to assume too much."

When the others had voiced their opinions on Chapley and aiding the errant knight (No, he didn't say it that way, but he did think it!) Bugs had one more comment.  "But before we leave, there is a door to this tower.  And it seems like it would be a very odd thing to not check it out while we are here.  I don't think it would slow us down much.  Who is in favor of giving the door a try?"

Wildred quietly listened trying to way up the Inentions of the caged sir talavar..it would make sense he would be caged if indeed prismeer had been captured by the coven of Hags...hags were bad news he knew well enough..but was unfamiliar with this Hourglass coven!...he mulled over the facts for a while then put his hands in his pockets and remembered.

"I wonder"he whispered thoughtfully he produces a key from his pocket and tries it in the cage lock.

(This is the key that was given to wildred before setting off)

(I have a quick moment, trying to do a little catchup)

Resmae listens to all the conversation with as much patience as the little hare got can muster.  When it finally seems that Balliol is ok with opening the cage, she runs over to Aros, “Can you please try and open that cage?  Looks Like Wildred has a key, but just in case it doesn’t work?  If you can’t, we can try this Jingle Jangle.  Honestly, I’d like to go there even if we do free this Sir Talavar, as who wouldn’t want to visit a Jingle Jangle goblin?”

She then turns to Bugs, “Yes, lets check out the tower!”  And once the cage thing is settled, she hops up with him.

Halei blinked and turned to Chapley. She hadn't even given it a second thought, she'd assumed it was just a given that their new companion would want to tag along; she hadn't even thought to ask. "Yeah, would you like to tag along with us? We would love to have you, a fresh mind and brawn would be super helpful as well!"

"Oh," Chapley blinks back. He hadn't even given it a second thought, he'd assumed it was just a given that would tag along; he hadn't even thought to ask. 

"Well thank you for the invitation. I figure you being here and the tower being there must be some sort of sign about what I am doing here, and I'm not one to ignore an obvious sign." He grins wide.

After some consultation, you decide to try to free Sir Talavar. After all, how much trouble can the little chap be?

Aros and Wildred move to the little cage. Halei joins them for support.

Wildred, you rummage around your gear and eventually find the bronze key given to you by Madryck. Trying the key in the lock, it goes in but does not turn. You fiddle around, adjusting the angle and motion of the turning, but still to no avail.

Aros, you step up to try your shot with your thieves' tools. Crouching low, you gently insert a small tension wrench, then a tiny hooked prong and feel around, skilfully searching for the pins. 

"I'm afraid your skill and tools won't succeed today, M' Lady," says Sir Talavar. "You see, Bavlorna Blightstraw has cursed this cage, my now prison."

Balliol and Resmae, you decide to investigate the tower. Moving through the brambles is still hard going, so you hack away and make a path to the other side, where you find an open door at the tower's base. Inside, the tower's interior is empty except for a flight of stairs that spirals up the inside wall to an opening in the ceiling that leads to the crenellated roof.

Chapley, you are happy that you have found a group of skilled folk to join you on whatever quest you are on. You are still hungry.

It begins to rain.

Feeling the first few drops of rain, Chapley says "Bah, there'll be no cooking snake meat in this wet." Covering his head, he makes for the tower behind Balliol and Resmae. Looking around he says, "Huh, not much in the way of interior design. Are we going to see what's above?" and he starts up the stairs.

Balliol agrees with Chapley that they should go up the stairs.  "Are the rest of you coming?  It might be best not to leave the knight caged outside alone as well."

(When he comes down he wants to take a closer look at those snakes as well.)

Wildred annoyed at the mystery puts it away in a huff,he walks up to the dead bullywug and starts searching it thoroughly in the hopes of finding the key.

(Forgive me if this has already been done I couldn't remember if it had or not and didn't want to scroll through the endless posts..if it has been done wildred would like to investigate the area again)

"Coming!" Halei hurries to trail behind and ascend the stairs.

Chapley, followed by Balliol, then Halei, ascend the stairs. They spiral up the 50' tower hugging the walls of the 20' wide slanted tower. The west side is easy going as the stairs lean into the wall, but closer to the top, the east side slants toward the open drop to the ground. You manage to skilfully navigate the hazard and find yourselves at the top of the stairs that lead out to the battlement that circles the perimeter of the top of the tower. Short of being a dry space, there is little to the peculiar building.

Balliol, upon your descent, you go and investigate the snakes. They are huge boa constrictors, and a closer look at their lifeless bodies reveals indeed how lucky you are not to have been their lunch. There doesn't appear to be anything else to notice on the monstrous serpents. No brandings or evidence of magics. Just a couple of really big snakes.

Wildred, you investigate the dead bullywug. He has a small leather pouch tied to his belt and an empty scabbard (Halei carries the sword from it). He lies face down in the smashed brambles. Obviously, he has taken a significant fall.

The rain is getting heavier.

Wildred grabs the pouch and follows his companions up the stairs.

(A bit confused are we leaving sir tavalar in the cage or have I missed something?)

"So," Halei begins, turning to face her friends. "Should we stop to rest for a bit before we head over to get the key? I'm sure we could all rest our legs and we'd fight better as well."

Chapley stands tall with his hands on his hips and his back turned to the group. "Yes, you kids rest. I'll keep watch over you"

Bugs thanks Chapley for the offer to stand watch.  He suggests to the others that they use the tower to take a rest.  "At least it is dry.  Which isn't true of much else around here."  At that he looks around at the landscape and raises his hands in a pacifying way.  "Not that there is anything wrong with a damp marsh.  Damp marshes are lovely places to march through if your into that sort of thing."  He turned back to the group, "But I do prefer something dryer for a nap.  And maybe while we are relaxing a bit Sir. Talavar can tell us where to go to find Jingle Jangle."

After getting some information from the Dragon about Jingle Jangle's possible location the monk has one more question for the dragon.  "It seems that this land reacts to what you say about it.  Insult the land and it does something to insult you back.  How does that work?  If we say nice things about it will it react in some way?  None of us are used to a land that reacts."