“No, I am Flanwicket,” the gnome said as he appraised the giantess. He still did not come into full view watching in silence from where he was for the most part unless asked a direct question such as now.

“Oh, I do believe so, we tend to have at least six draughts on hand when we're at our lowest.” He cursed inwardly that Harold might be a factor here that he would have to do away with temporarily. He had only a few hours at this.

Zoot took advantage of opportunities when they were presented, he wasn't a molester or rapist in that sense of the word but suffice it to say if some quaffed an aphrodisiac and wanted it well he wasn't going to say no unless he really didn't want to do it in the first place.

And while Harold had more time and could very well be considered those things would he do so with the gnomes present? Would they rush to defend her? Zoot had appeared fond of her so that may or may not have been a good thing.

And sleeping out here well it meant that she would probably be out here alone with Harold, the gnomes would probably go back to their home leaving the two here if they chose to camp here that is …

Tough decisions but it seemed to be settled. “Flanwicket get Lucy, it will be easier with her now that I think of it.”

“You sure?”

Zoot nodded. He then looked at the two giants. “I may need you help after all, I have an idea that might work, no harm in trying. Oh, and I never did say how deep the pit was.” Zoot laughed about the over sight, for you, probably deep enough to kill or injure at least.”

Kirsty listened with interest. Harold seemed willing to do the shrinking thing so that was good news. She was truly leaning in that direction as she would feel safer being indoors tonight. Just in case the tommyknockers weren't as trapped as they were supposed to be. The gnomes seemed to sense their uncertainty though and the older one sent the younger to go find someone named Lucy. She wondered who that could be but before she could ask Zoot drew her attention back to the hole. "What can I do to help you?"

Zoot pointed to a spool of thread. “Unwind that and keep doing so then toss the end into the hole, don't stop I won't know when it hits bottom until Lucy gets here. I'll need your strenght, or yours to pull something up.”

He let her do that and made small talk with her and Harold while she worked, meaningless stuff for the most part like the weather for instance or that the number of wolves in the forest increased after dark. But she had nearly been finished with the spool before Flanwicket returned riding walking next to a gray spider. Lucy …

“Alright, hold that thread tight ...” Zoot told her, grabbed the string and said something and Lucy descened into the hole. He then rappeled down it. The string moved and danced as he did something in the hole with it for a few minutes then the spider, Lucy returned crawling out of the hole.

“Alright,” Zoot called up from the hole. “start pulling. Slowly I want to see how this holds first ...”

Normally, Kirsty would have had a more violent reaction to seeing a spider that sizes but this was a dream and the gnomes clearly trusted Lucy so she kept her cool. She watched as Zoot used the spider's silk to rappel down the dark hole. She held her end tightly until she finally heard him call up to her tell her to start pulling. She complied, pulling slowly to ease the object on the other end of the string from the hole.

As she drew the thread up there was a noticeable weight to it, though the weight to her was probably equivent to that of a small apple.

When it cleared the hole though she saw that the spider's thread was secured to string that had been wrapped around a garnet about the size of a half dollar. It glitttered in the sunlight, reflecting the light quiet well. The silk had been an added measure to keep the string in place once it was up there Zoot called out.

“You got it?” A rhetorical question given that the garnet did not fall back into the hole he was in.

“Ok, untie it and lower the thread back down.”

Kirsty blinked at the gem on the end of the string. It hadn't been what she was expecting at all. Was this the object Kevin had lost? How had he acquired it in the first place? She untied it carefully and began examining it as she lowered the string back down the hole. "This is what you were looking for?" She asked the other gnome.

Flanwicket nodded as she admired the garnet and how it glistened it the light.

“The wizard wanted us to get the gemstone from him. From what I understand the raptor tried to steal it back from him and he ended up dropping it. Neither could get it but he ran into us a short time later and offered us a rug to get it for him, easy work.”

Lucy came back into view crawling out of the hole.

“Alright, ready!” Zoot called from the hole start pulling me up now.

"'Tried to steal it back from him'? You mean the wizard stole it from the bird first??" Kirsty wondered why. What was so special about the stone? Did it have magical properties?

Zoot's voice interrupted her musings. She shook her head and began pulling the string again to lift the gnome out of the fissure. "Any idea why the wizard needs the gem?" She asked once both gnomes were back on the surface. "I suppose I could just ask him tomorrow but I admit I had thought when you told me he'd lost something that it would be something of his that I would recognize. I have no clue what this stone is though."

(What color is the garnet, btw?)

(blood red)

Zoot was pulled out of the hole the end of the thread looped around his belt and he was in the process of untying it when the question came in. Zoot seemed to know better than Flanwicket though unfortunately he did not seem to know much.

“I am unsure why he wants it,” Zoot said, “but I suspect he's collectinging the five legendary treasures of Thul. Razor Wing was one of the guardians. I am unsure as to why he's collecting them but he has since dealt with Razor Wing who stayed here watching the crevice where the stone fell so there was no danger in retrieving the stone.”

Kirsty was listening with rapped attention now. Legendary treasure, mysterious guardians? Kevin had most certainly been busy since coming to this world. And his adventure seemed infinitely more interesting than hers. He got blood-red gemstone and fierce winged sentries. And what did she get? Perverts, aliens, giant bugs and gnomes. She sighed dejectedly. Well, it was only for one more night. Tomorrow she would find her fiance and join his quest and hopefully wash her hands of Tommy Knockers and the opportunistic Harold.

She glanced behind her to check and see if her lecherous guide was still there. He had been quiet for sometime now. Maybe hearing about the heroic exploits of her intended was giving him second thoughts about sticking around. "You feeling alright, Harold?" She asked casually. She didn't want him dashing off just yet. She still wanted him there as buffer with the gnomes. "I would like to hear more about how my fiance 'dealt with' a legendary guardian, Mr. Zoot. But perhaps we should start back to your place first so we can hold up for the night. Harold and I have be traveling all day and you believe you mentioned wolves..."

Harold was still around, perhaps he was thinking of a way to get around the gnomes later on tonight or was listening of these tales of Kevin besting this Razor Wing that sounded deadly. “Huh? Oh, yeah I'm alright.” He was thinking about something for she drew him out of his stupor.

“Yes, there are wolves actvive in these parts at night ever since Grue has returned to these parts so it's best we make ourselves scarce while we still have the light of day. Lucy, Flan.”

He called to the two to follow though Zoot gazed at Kristy for a moment. “Would your mind carrying the stone until we get back? It is much to heavy for us to carry as easily as you or harold.”

They traveled a short distance to a tiny knot in a tree. It was only when Flanwicket was sent to fetch the shrining potions did she notice that it was a well conealed door. A moment later he had returned carrying a thumble sized potion.

“Who's first?” Zoot asked the pair obviously the potions were too heavy to carry both out at the same time.

Kirsty smiled and took the first thimble of potion. "I've got it." She considered handing it off to Harold but it seemed rude. The gnomes had been most informative today and had not given her any reason to distrust them. Still, she didn't drink it. She waited until they both had a portion before drinking. She still didn't want to to be first nor did she want to shrink alone. "We'll drink together."

“Very well.”

Flanwicket brough out a second potion which Harold smelled bfore drinking the green sugary substance. A yelllow aura encompassed him for a few seconds, as well a Kristy if she drank it too shrining the pair down. They were still taller than the gnomes but not by much.

Lucky had gone off by this stage but the gnomes were eager to show off their home. It was large, tere waas a common roon, three half a dozen befrroms, a restroom, kitchen a well stock pantry (where they kept the potions) as well as a stoerppm that had been closed and locked at the moment. They sgoed everyobe ariybd abd let them draw in the olace first and foremost.

It was a very impressive little home and Kirsty told them so. "But why so many bedrooms? Are there more than just the two of you living here?" Did they have families living here as well. She had not considered that they might be married with children but why on earth not? It was honestly such a silly assumption. "Do you have wives and children living here as well?"

(sorry I took so long to reply and then wrote so little.)

(don't worry about it)

“Oh, no it is but us two.” Zoot reassured her as the went towards the kitchen. It had only been when they had gotten to the kithen that two largebowls, the tops of aorns really that Flanwiket olaced out before them.

“Drubj?” Zoot asked as he looked between the shrunken humans. He smiled at them. “We have a lot of guest rooms in case we get lots of guests dropping in on us so we don't have to turn anyone aside.”