The Hatter's Tea Party (Part Four)
If you missed the first installments, the following links for parts one thru three are provided:
DAY FOURTEEN (December
12th), 8:03 am
As the White Rabbit races
away, Shadow watches him depart and chuckles, “I do hope he is not too late for
whatever appointment he is running off to." Shadow turns to the table and
says "I think I will skip the tea and go see from where our friend
came." He think goes over to the Rabbit's home and enters it. The dark elf crouches slightly to duck
beneath the lintel of front door and finds himself in a well-appointed hallway complete
with a coatrack, low benches, and a small table. Several doors open off of the entry and lead
into other portions of the home. He
heads forward, peeking into each room as he passes their entrances and finds a
linen closest, a pantry, a dining room, a kitchen, a set of stairs that lead up
to what are presumably bedrooms and then the back door that opens out into the
rear lawn.
Korbin continues to eat with gusto, shoveling food into his mouth as fast
as his feathered wings can carry it from his plate to his beak. He mumbles something unintelligible around
bites, drinks more tea, and resumes eating.
Desmond continues eating as well while slipping scraps to his pet wolf,
Tank, beneath the table. Hansuke
continues to ask the sergeant where he has been but Desmond shakes his head, “I
really don't know, my friend. One minute I'm with you all leaving the passage
and the next you were gone. I went searching for you but to no avail. That's
when I met the Hatter who invited me to tea. It wasn't long after that you guys
showed up."
Cedron completes their host, “That’s a fine hat sir. May I ask where did
you have it made? Personally, I prefer a blue and purple plume in my hats.
Something artificial, as not to offend my feathered-friend here. But yours
looks good on you. You’re obviously a man of fine style and excellent taste.”
He then turns to Korbin “Don’t get too big of bite. Allow me to break some of
this up for you. We can’t have you choking,” says the priest as he breaks apart
a wafer for Korbin.
The Hatter smiles, “Why Thank You, my good man! I made this hat myself for, I, am a
Hatter. That is my stock in trade
whenever I am not hosting these lavish tea parties. In fact, I was just telling March Hare here
that…”
Kysek cuts the Hatter off, “Our comrade here has no recollection of how he
got here or how long he’s been here. Yet, you are all willing to partake?
Clearly this is some form of rouse to keep us from our quarry. I for one will
not partake of this trickery.” The elven
mage-thief flashes a coin in between two of his fingers, drawing the eyes of
all observers and slips it unseen to the back of his hand and cries out a
litany of nonsensical words before approaching the Hatter and “pulling” the
coin from behind their host’s ear much to the delight of the Hatter who
applauds the trick. The elf then slips
the coin back into his pocket and pursues Shadow into the White Rabbit’s home.
Grotto walks directly over to the Hatter and asks why others call him mad,
“You seem perfectly normal to me.”
“Who knows why people say what they say.
More importantly, do you know why a raven is like a writing desk?” is
all the Hatter has to say in response while pouring a cup of tea for the
scarred dwarf, “Do have a scone, they are simply delicious.”
Arthur crouches before the round door and peers down the hallway at
Shadow. Kysek slips past him and enters
as well. Drax appears at the edge of the
trees and calls Arthur’s attention, “Rabbit hole…” are the only words he speaks
while pointing toward the rear of the house.
“Let us retrieve the others.”
Back at the table, Ra'ziir relays to Raven via Mindlink, "He has some
enchantment upon himself and the table that increase desire to sit at the table
and stay for as long as possible... Not something I'm fond of, but not in and
of itself malicious..." The Elf considers the situation. Unsure of what
sort of character this 'Mad Hatter' is or his intent, Ra'ziir whispers the
words, “Discuteret Area Magicae”. Energy pours through the elf and washes over
table, the food, and the tea service.
For just a moment, everything seems to go “woobly” and several of those
seated blink a couple of times and look around at each other as if
confused. Then the Hatter’s watch
“dings” and he shouts “TEA TIME!
EVERYONE TRADE PLACES!” and leaps from his seat and plops down in the chair
occupied by the March Hare. The rabbit
extricates himself and leaps across the table, nearly landing in Grotto’s arms
and slides onto a three-legged stool.
The Dormouse clambers down off of his shoulder, curls up beside the
butter tray and goes to sleep. Korbin
flaps his wings once and hops over the centerpiece to another spot on the table
while Desmond and Cedron each simply trade seats as if nothing had happened.
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