…he’s big and scary
Voting on the last poll was tight…so tight that I had to flip a coin before casting my tie breaking vote. Anyway, the esteemed Mr. Karloff is our mayor.
On The Road With Violet: Slime & Punishment
It takes less than 15 minutes to slog up the street to the Mayor’s house. During the slog, Violet cannot help but feel badly for the townsfolk. It appears that they were just getting the town decorated for a Spring Festival when the swampy tsunami hit. While no expert in village clean up, Violet is pretty sure that getting this village clean again will take more than a few days.
“Oh, Lavender, we’ll be lucky if these people don’t lock us away for a year”, she says to her porcine pal.
“Grunty grunt grunt!”
Violet sniffs the air before replying, “You’re right. It does smell like rotten cabbage and cow flop.”
“Oink, oink, squeal.”
“It is not an improvement on how humans normally smell!”
“Grunt”
Before Violet can reply to Lavender’s dismissive grunt, the crowd stops in front of a very large (and now mud covered) house. A tall, older gentleman, clad in a gardeners outfit (and swamp muck) is standing in what earlier in the day was a no doubt beautiful garden.
“Will you look at this?”, he says in a sad voice. “My roses…my delphiniums…my agapanthus…all fouled by this mud and muck.” Turning, he points to a small pool of swamp water. “That was my new herb garden. I just put it in last Tuesday.”
Turning towards the crowd, he gets an angry look on his face.
“Are these the people responsible for this outrage?”
The tall villager steps forward. “It is, yer Honor. We brought ’em up here straightaway.”
Over the next few minutes, Our Heroes are introduced to the Mayor and then several other people, who turn out to be the town council. Sir Rupert gives an account of of how they came to be here and why the muck wave hit the town and how sorry they are and how they’ll help with clean up.
After a short, huddled consultation, the Mayor and the council make an announcement.
“First off”, the Mayor begins, “we accept your apology. Accidents do happen, even though they are not usually of such a magnitude. Your offer to help clean things up will be taken.”
The crowd nods and agrees. Our Heroes breathe a sigh of relief.
Waving down the noise, the Mayor continues.
“It has also been decided that you must make some payment to the village for ruining our Spring Festival.”
Sir Rupert steps forward and says, “You just name the amount, Mayor, and it’s as good as taken care of.”
The Mayor shakes his head and smiles.
“Good sir, I’m afraid mere money just won’t do. You see, we have a bit of a problem that I believe your Miss Thistledown can help us with.”
Surprised, Violet says, “I shall do anything I can to be of help, sir. What do you need of me?”
An older lady steps forward and, untying Violet’s hands, says, “Come with me, dear and I’ll explain everything while we get you cleaned up.” With that, they walk off into the Mayor’s house.
Nigel, thinking the worst, steps forward.
“Here now, you’re not up to any funny stuff, are you, Mayor?”
The Mayor laughs loudly.
“Oh no, my dear boy. I assure you that she is quite safe while here in our village.”
Nigel and the others relax a bit.
“However,” the Mayor continues, “I cannot predict how things will go when tomorrow she goes into the marsh to meet with the Ogre Brothers.”
Ogre Brothers? Oh my, Dear Readers, that does not sound good at all!
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