A Sugar Plum Yuletide (Part One)
Grotto leaves from Lorraine's, en route to sailor training at Councilor Summerwalker's warehouse. A thin layer of snow crunches beneath his booted feet. As he turns a corner onto the tree-lined waterfront, he hears voices, one of them is Raven's.
Grotto walks until he finds Raven. "Arg, Cap'n, seaman Grimmbeard reporting for training!" Grotto says in his tired worn out pirate bit. "Swash me buckles and shiver me timbers!" Grotto laughs, amusing no one but himself. "So", Grotto says in his speaking voice, "who do we have here and what is our sea training for this session?"
Grotto rounds the corner and sees Raven talking to what he thinks is a familiar face. Many enchanted gingerbread people inhabit the fairy tale world of the Grimmlands. "Gingie? Gingie Bread? Is that you? Run run as fast as you can, can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!" Grotto jokes to who he thinks is a familiar face, "Last I heard you got into it and were nearly eaten by Sly Fox! How did you get here from the Grimmlands?" Grotto asks the sentient cookie.
Raven clears his throat, "Not your Gingerbread Man. Grotto, this is Marzipan, Marzipan, this is Grotto Grimmbeard. Manservant to the Sugar Plum Fairy and my chief tormentor."
"I am not tormenting you. I am only reminding you that you have obligations, my lord," the Gingerbread Man retorts.
"I have obligations here as well," Raven replies, "There is a war we must prepare for."
"Then the sooner you do what needs to be done, the sooner you can get back to your sword sharpening or whatever it is you do here in the mortal realm," Marzipan pauses. "It's a pie-eating contest, for Sugar's sake! How bad could it be?"
Raven sighs, "If I do this, you'll leave me alone?"
"Until your services are needed again, my lord," Marzipan states matter-of-factly. "Close your eyes, picture the Lodge, and step towards it. You could even bring your friend if you'd like!"
"Bless my beard!" Grotto exclaims with much enthusiasm, "I haven't been to a pie eating contest since the Simple Simon debacle back home! Let's go! This will feel like a vacation! Sugar Plum Fairy to boot! Are you sure we aren't headed to my Grimmlands?!"
"So Marzipan, I really only see marzipan treats during the high holidays. Is it high holidays where we are going?" Grotto asks the delicious looking being. His question only a cover so that he can talk to Raven.
Grotto whispers to Raven as the intelligent confection answers his question, "Who is this tormentor of which you speak? There will be two of us there now. If my magic gets restored there, between your brawn and my god, we can relieve you of this burden!"
"As I said, Marzipan is my tormentor - he likes dragging me into this fairy nonsense!"
Grotto then again speaks to the wise wafer, "So do I hold my friend's hand to be transported? Not sure what lodge to imagine". Grotto observers the reaction of the brainy biscut, hoping he didn't overhear his questions to Raven.
But Marzipan is already gone, vanished into the the ether. Grotto feels Raven's hand upon his shoulder a moment later, he is standing in front of a log cabin in the center of a large clearing. He blinks his eyes, noting that the trees are laden with purple fruit.
Movement in the shade draws Grotto's attention to a hulking beast. It is covered in coarse, green hair and sports a pair of short horns atop its massive head. The beast rises to its feet, snow dropping away as it rises to its full height, and takes a lumbering step forward. Raven tenses and turns and the creature inclines its head slightly, "Joyous Yuletide, Master of the Lodge."
Raven relaxes, "And to you as well, Guardian of the Gingerbread Grove."
The hairy troll turns and shuffles away, leaving a wide furrow of plowed snow in its wake.
The smell of cooking draws the scarred dwarf's attention to a two-story log cabin with a covered entryway. A chimney of fitted stone emits a thin plume of smoke. Marzipan stands on the top step, waiting on the pair of adventurers.
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