After picking a few 'souvenirs' from the Atrocious Gifts Shop (that weren't plush zombies or trolls) it was time to return to the hotel. Once there, Eve grabs the room service book and asks, "Who wants a spa service?"

"Well.. only bits," Eve admits. "They wash your feet, and clean out your ears and rub your back until all your muscles go gooey."

Lin turns one of her feet over and looks at it. "Can't you just wash your feet when you have a bath?"

Aviri looks more concerned than excited at the prospect. "I don't think it's for me, sorry Duchess," he says, pulling on one of his ears.

"Well, of course you can," Eve says, and rolls her hand around. "It's just that they do it professionally and it feels nice. Like being groomed! Well, I don't know if otters do that.. but Lapi and Khattas do."

"Oh.. well, they sit down and you lay your head in their lap, on your side like, and they use these sticks with.. uh.. little spoons or scoops on the end and scrape out all of your ear wax," Eve explains. "It's nicer than it sounds."

"I'd hope so!" Aviri says, looking horrified. "That doesn't sound very nice at all...!" He shudders.

"They stick things inside your ears?" Trilup asks to sure. "I don't think I need that. I can hear fine! And.. uh.. our ears get washed out regular when we swim, right Lin?"

Lin pulls her ears tight against her head. "Only if you're swimming wrong." She says, "Should close 'em up so water doesn't get in an' make your hearing all swooshy."

"Well.. Aviri probably has a collection of fungus he keeps in his," Trilup says.

"I'd not expect anyone to lick my ears clean," Aviri counters. "Or ... scoop them. And I don't have fungus in my ears!" He glares at Trilup. "Mycelium needs soil, anyway," he mutters.

"You sleep outdoors, so you could have dirt in your ears for your sell-ums," Trilup counters right back.

"Are you sure there's not a moss that can grow in fur?" Eve asks. "I was sure I heard about that. Or saw it. But it could have just been some really dirty people. When Jynx worked in the Rephidim sewers, he talked about weird stuff growing down there."

Lin rolls her eyes at Trilup and Aviri. "What about the rest of it?" She asks Eve, "With the grooming and the massages? That doesn't sound too bad."

"M'ears are clean enough," Aviri says. "And I think moss needs soil. Algae could probably grow in fur..." he looks to the otters suspiciously. "Anyway ... without the spoons-in-ears the spa sounds nice."

Eve keeps looking through the options. "Foot and back massage then?" she asks. "Or just feet? Anyone have a sore back or just feel tense?"

"The back massage might be nice," Aviri says. "Last one I had was going to eat me."

"What's a massage then?" Trilup asks Aviri. "Is it.. getting licked by a giant tongue from a giant beast that could swallow you up?"

"That's 'cause you weren't in control of the situation. I killed mine off when it started ta get uppity. You had to go an' flirt with yours." Lin scolds, "How long until the next train anyways? I'd rather we didn't miss it. This zapper is too cool not to be used!"

"It leaves in the morning," Eve notes. "So we've got some time yet. The engineers have to look over everything and replace the parts that got chewed on by gremlins so the engine won't explode."

"A massage by not an undead moss thing would be good," Aviri says. "And ... so would non-exploding engines."

Eve fills out the appropriate order slip, and has to include age, gender and species for everyone. Then it's into the slot! Before too long there is a knock at the door, and three matronly human women and one matronly Lapi doe are setting up fancy looking shallow buckets and filling them with hot water and herbs and salts. They even light an incense burner, which smells nice.

Aviri retreats to a far end of the room while they set up, watching their every move, and in general regretting his agreement to this whole thing.

Chairs are set out, and everyone is encouraged to sit (and not worry about their feet dangling). The women are all very motherly, and the doe one is giving Aviri an 'are you going to be troublesome' sort of look.

After some hesitation, Aviri makes his way to the chair and sits down, trying to hide his jitteriness.

Lin hopps up on a chair and sneakily pokes Aviri on the back of the neck with her tail, watching out of the corner of her eye to see if he jumps.

The washers for the otters and Aviri making clucking sounds of interest - after all, the Akwavi have webbed toes, and Aviri has digitigrade feet that are very uncommon in Lapi.

Aviri doesn't jump, but does shoot Lin a disapproving look as he tries to settle in to his chair.

"You should calm down," the doe tells Aviri, and starts cupping water over his feet. It's best that it was humans working on Lin and Trilup - a finer sense of touch makes sure they don't rub the webbing the wrong way.. because they do clean between each toe. "You must be from down by the great swamp," one of them observes. Trilup tries not to giggle - she might be a little ticklish.

"I sh-should," Aviri says quietly, trying to do so. He flinches when she touches his feet, but then he forces himselt to remains still. "Sorry," he says. "F-feels good."

"You have webbed feet," the woman replies to Lin. "So you swim a lot.. which means you must be Akwavi, and Akwavi come from the great swamp or the Akwavi-kin Mangrove near Half-Valley, which is rather far away from Sylvania."

Lin giggles, "Oh! I thought you'd identified a particular kind of swamp slime or somthin'. That makes a whole lot more sense though."

The Lapi washer mutters. It's not like purring in a feline.. but it's comforting to Lapis, even she doesn't look at all like Aviri's own mother.

Eve is purring loudly. She isn't one of those Khatta that fear getting wet, apparently. There also appears to be a bit more to the washing than.. washing. It seems to involve a pedicure as well, which varies a bit for those who have pads on their toes and those that don't.

Aviri had closed his eyes and is now taking deep measured breaths which, combined with her muttering, seemed to be working to some extent. He slowly relaxes, and actually begins to enjoy the experience.

For the girls, there's an extra step - a clear polish for their claws to make them extra shiny. Then comes the toweling dry, since nobody wants to walk around with damp feet if they can help it.

The wash-pans are set aside then, and some extra things are brought forth from the supply cases. "Now, who wants to sit in a lap and who wants to sit in a chair?" the eldest of the washers asks.

The former option seems to be aimed more at the shorter otters than the other two.

Eve clearly wants the lap option.. but at fifteen she's a bit too old (and large) for it to be practical, so also goes for chair. This involves turning around to sit backwards while a donut-shaped cushion-and-arm is clipped to the short back of the chair as a face-rest.

Lin examines Eve's chair skeptically. "Is that even safe?" She asks, "Lap is fine."

Aviri observes the more experienced Duchess and imitates her position, finding it a bit awkward but no moreso than being around completely strangers like this.

The women working on the otters lift them up and take the chairs for themselves, putting the Akwavi into their laps so their chins are resting on their shoulders. The other two kneel down behind Eve and Aviri, and stick pillows and cushions here and there to pad out the back of the chair. All of the massages start the same though - by rubbing behind the ears and then kneading the scruff-flap of skin at the back of the neck.

There's usually some humming and rocking for the ones holding onto the otters too. These women must also be the rent-a-moms that do nanny services.

"It helps to alleviate homesickness in young travelers," Aviri's doe-mom explains. "You're all very nice children as well. Not spoiled at all."

Eve mews in response, and Trilup.. is already asleep. Otter-moms probably aren't as softly padded as the nannies.

Eventually, hands move lower down and apply more pressure, actually loosening neck and shoulder tension on their way towards the tails (which don't get massaged, as a rule. Only reptiles and otters have tails thick enough for that to be useful).

"Not spoiled?" Aviri asks dully into the pillow, his words melting from the massage. "Didn't know kids could rot...."

"Some children are very demanding or obnoxious because their parents give them whatever they want," the doe explains. "Instead of hugging them or slapping them, they let servants deal with it."

"That really doesn't sound like parents." Lin says, "We don't have any servants. Wouldn't know what to do with 'em if we did."

Eve mews, "My servants usually boss me around. Well, Ysnor does. He wants things run a certain way.. and the Titanians just do whatever they do when they want to do it.."

"You seem to have a pretty good handle on it though." Lin notes, "Looks like Oops an' Uh-oh would go along with pretty much anything if you asked them the right way."

"They both wanna marry me when they grow up," Eve says proudly to Lin. "And become air pirates, too. Or monster tamers. Really if they can do something that involves explosions they'd be happy."

A few minutes more, and the massage ends, which leaves the problem of how to move now. "Do you want to be tucked in for a nap?" one of the women asks. "There's a pantomime revue down in the ballroom this evening that you might enjoy watching while you eat."

Lin tries to move and just wiggles a bit. "That's weird, she says, "Coulda sworn I was able to get around on my own before this. Yeah, a nap sounds nice. An' this wears off, right?"

"It'll wear off.. once you get hungry, I imagine," Lin's masseuse says with a chuckle.

The otters are carried to one of the overstuffed beds, which they sink into. Aviri and Eve are left to get up or not themselves.

Aviri just murrs into his pillow, even after the massage was over. He manages to pull his head up. "Shouldn't be so tired," he says, pulling himself off the chair and ambling toward a couch before falling into it.

"Can someone wake us up for the dinner show?" Eve asks, resisting the urge to stretch as she goes to one of the chaise lounges.

"We'll make sure you get there in plenty of time," one of the other women says, while they begin to clean up. "It won't be too much longer."

After a refreshing nap, a bellboy wakes everyone up and escorts them to the ballroom. It's probably the largest single room any of them have been in, save for Eve, who owns an opera house after all. There are lots of big tables arranged around a stage, and a 'buffet' that still has chefs for mixing up special orders. There's even a reserved table next to the stage for them. After filling their plates, the show begins. It is mostly 'skits' of a funny nature that usually involve pratfalls or someone dressed up as a Gallisian getting a pie in their face, along with singing and dancing acts and people telling jokes and some acrobatic jugglers that actually move between the tables while they perform. It's pretty fun, all around.. and distracting enough that Aviri can forget all the other people in the audience around them, when he's not getting food at least.

Returning to the suite late enough to get to bed early, they are consumed by the soft mattresses (and Aviri gets his own room separate from the girls this time). It does make it hard to get up in the morning though, and the smell of fresh baked goods is required. After breakfast it is finally time to say goodbye to the hotel and its luxuries and return to Eve's train car with its lesser luxuries. The compass readings are checked again along the way, to make sure whatever is being pointed at hasn't moved, and then it's arrival in Blackshire again, where Eve's steam-wagon contraption is waiting to take them back to the castle.

Map Room, Blackshire Keep
This stone room has been repurposed since the Kurai's moved in. There wasn't much use for reading old maps, so it became the laundry room. The castle originally had a magically-animated washing system, but the enchantment wore off over the decades and Butterlump and Gnarr have their own preferred means of washing things. There is an oddly placed stone table in the center of the room, fixed to the floor but at an off angle to the walls so that one edge is pointing due north. It even has built-in hold-downs for the maps.

One of the purchases made in the museum was a brand new, supposedly current map of Sylvania, which they can hopefully plot a route on.

Aviri pulls out the map and notes he'd taken on both train-rides, laying them out on the table along with the new map. "We should be able to pinpoint the ring," he says, frowning as he recalls it seemed the ring was underwater, when he'd seen the map in the museum.

Looking at the two maps shows just how much the landscape has changed. Indeed, the former Chafing Chasm is now Lake Frunge, and is in Gallisian-controlled territory.

"Finally!" Lin chirps, "We kin use our terrifying reputation as a benifit! Who needs diplomacy when we kin just storm in, comandeer a boat, an' go get this thing. They'll be so happy we're not evisceratin' them that we won't have any trouble at all. Maybe?"

"Yeeeees," Aviri says, searching for a straight-edge of some kind, "because we've come across so many military forces here in Sylvanian-controlled land. I doubt we'll have issues." Using the straight-edge he draws several lines, first from the castle, then from the capitol, and then a few along the railroad, indicating the direction the ring had been pointing at those places.

"It would be more convincing if you had a Kadie with you," Eve notes. "They drool and growl all the time, right?"

"Only always." Lin says, "They kin forget about hygene an' keeping their mouth closed when they get focused on stuff, an' they're almost always focused on some project."

"You don't have any official town crest or anything," Eve notes. "Well.. aside from being otters. Akwavi only live in Stonebarrow.. or else sort of pirate around a bit."

Any route to Lake Frunge would have to pass through Tempest County and Spearhead. The latter being the northernmost official Gallisian held town.

"I think we should try to rely on not bluffing," Aviri says, still intent on his work. He draws what's apparently the last line and steps away to look at the junction of them.

"Who says we're bluffing?" Lin asks, "How do we know we're not actually highly trained assassins sent to wipe a few towns off the map?"

"Because none of us have been through assassin-training," Aviri says matter-of-factly. "Spearhead ... that's not an ominous name for a town at all."

Linyala says nothing to this and walks around to the other side of the map. "Seems friendly enough. What's Tempest County like?"

"Oh, it's.. uh.." Eve says, and then sort of wobbles on her heels a bit. "I don't know. Jynx's been there, and fought with and for Count Tempest. He's a vampire. A human vampire. So.. technically he's undead."

"Oh, good!" Aviri says. "Another vampire! Should be pleasant enough company, then! Might even offer us a boat to use!"

"There're different flavours of vampire though." Lin interjects. "Most of the Eeee ones aren't actually undead. Some are, most aren't."

"So?" Aviri asks. "At least one of the vampires I've met has been undead, and they were super-nice."

"Wait.. when did you meet a vampire vampire?" Trilup asks. "You don't mean the dancer bat from the gypsies do you?"

"Human vampires are undead," Eve claims. "They don't have natural vampires, like Eeee do. Or.. well Sylvanian Eeee they're called.."

"But are they still people or are they going to be all weird about us having blood?" Lin asks, cradling the Zapper.

Aviri gives Trilup a look. "A while ago," he says, as though he thought meeting a 'vampire vampire' was normal. He gives a shrug. "We probably won't even meet the count, though, since ..." he looks at the town, "well, we could probalby pass right through without having to have tea with barons."

Aviri suddenly gets a thought and looks to Eve. "Though ... would taking a Duchess through Gallisian territory be a good idea?"

"They don't like my family, we keep causing them trouble," Eve says. "And I promised my brother and parents that I wouldn't go near Gallisian territories. If they get me, they might hold me hostage in exchange for railroad access, since Chronotopia doesn't have an issue with them."

"My thoughts exactly," Aviri says. "A captured ... you would be bad. They capture any of us..." he gestures to himself and the otters, and looks at them. "Well, we're not exactly high-value."

Lin holds up a paw. "Is this the part where you tell us you can't come along an' we have to go off on this potentially hazardous an' lifethreatening adventure with even more cool gear like this?" She holds up the zapper.

Aviri blinks. "When has this not been life-threatening? The only difference here is now at least it won't be monsters trying to kill us." He looks at the map. "Even if they try to kill us."

"Well.. I can't go on adventures," Eve says apologetically. "I have other stuff to deal with. A day-trip to Justininople is one thing, but going through swamps and stuff to find a magical whosit.. the Titanians wouldn't let me."

"Ooh! They could be handy." Lin says, "Why not? They seem alright an' look like they could handle themselves in a pinch."

"Trust me.. if they don't have something to focus on their attention will jump around a lot," Eve says. "It's all I can do to keep them occupied enough not to blow up the castle."

Aviri shakes his head with Eve. "We'll be fine without them," he assures the otters. "We've been through worse, after all." He gives a hopeful smile. "I hope."

"Besides, Lin and Trilup should be plenty destructive enough on their own," Eve says encouragingly.

"Ooh! Maybe we'll find some actual traps this time!" Lin chirps, "The things I've done to some of the wingnut traps back home." She cackles quietly and rubs her hands together.

"You still don't know what's under the lake," Eve points out. "Maybe you should try to find out more about what was special about the Chafing Chasm before it was flooded?"

"We have them," Aviri says, pointing at the otters and grinning. "But good point. Do you have ... books or something?" He pulls at the old map and tries to find enough similarities between the two to mark it with the ring's location.

The only thing on the old map near the cross-point is.. well it might be a 'Z' that sort of blends in with the contour lines.

"If we're lucky, it'll be in some kinda underground temple thing with a nice cave entrance. We kin drag Aviri down or stash him in Waddles so he doesn't drown then let him out once we're in air. If we're unlucky, it'll be burried under rocks at the very bottom of the lake." Lin chatters excitedly.

The Lapi tilts his head at the old map, then back at the new. "How deep can you guy swim?" he asks Lin and Trilup.

"This lake looks pretty deep," Aviri says, pointing at both old and new maps. "Getting down there might be a problem." He bites his lip in thought.

Lin looks over Aviri's shoulder at the map. "Getting down isn't an issue. Grab a rock and go, you'll be at the bottom right quick. It's exploring and getting back up that has me worried." Lin says, then casts a wary look at Eve and hopes the duchess didn't notice her accent vanishing.

"You could make a diving bell," Eve offers. "It's.. like a barrel with no bottom but it's got an air hose or something and the air inside magically keeps the water out.. I think."

"So, barrel, rocks, and rope..." Aviri says. "This is going to be tricky." He looks to Lin and Trilup. "You probably know more about water stuff."

"Kewl!" Lin chirps, "That'd solve the problem of runnin' out of air on the way up. Exploring too! Just come back to the barrel. We've got the frog-lights so we'll be able to see an' everything! I'll go get it an' we kin test." Lin hurries off to retrieve Waddles.

"Right," Aviri says, "that's my cue to ... go." He gathers a few pieces of paper from his satchel. "I'll be ... uh ... compiling list of things might be handy...." He makes for the door.

"Wait!" Trilup calls out. "You can ride down inside the chest, that way.. uh.. I thought I was going somewhere with that that wouldn't make you panic.. sorry.."

Lin returns shortly thereafter, riding the enchanted chest and humming a cheery marching tune as it trundles along.

"It's fine." Aviri calls as he scurries into another room to complie the list / avoid Waddles.

"That woman in the hotel was right," Eve says. "Aviri really doesn't know how to relax.."