"Man, I don't like this," (Patreon)

the bovine guard muttered as he and his colleague turned away.  "How many husbands has she gone through?"

"Thirteen so far," the lupine guard whispered.  "Once she gets her hooks into a guy, there's no hope for him."

"At least it's not anybody we know," the bovine guard remarked.

I gathered from this that it would probably be safe (for me, at least) to leave Jerry in the feathery embrace of this she-raptor while I snooped around the town.  I decided it would be best to investigate now, while I was here, rather than trying to come back later.

If the Duchess was involved, any further delay might have dire consequences!

I noticed a poster stuck to a wall in an alley, advertising a famous Antglade beverage that had been outlawed by my grandfather.

Oh yes, the Duchess was definitely involved.

Was she merely peddling intoxicating drinks to the lowfolk, or did she have more sinister plans in the works?  My mother had hinted at unguessable horrors when she had contacted me earlier.

I noticed a large mill building which was labeled as "O'Daisies Arms Foundry" and floated inside to investigate.  Dozens of lowfolk at workbenches were assembling contraptions that looked like a crossbow combined with a trumpet.  Had they discovered - and weaponized - a musical instrument even more diabolical than the baglute?  I shuddered at the prospect .. but I had to know.

I followed a pushcart full of assembled devices through a passageway that was labeled "TESTINGE." 

There I beheld two very familiar skunks, and my blood ran cold.

Matholwch took one of the devices from the cart, poured a measure of what looked like birdseed into the trumpet, placed a pinch of powder into a tiny pan at the back, pulled back the catch, and aimed the instrument at a straw dummy across the room.  The device let off a loud explosion, and the dummy was torn to shreds.

"I dunno bout this, Bodb," Matholwch sighed as he lowered the weapon.  "Seems like to make killin' just a lil' too easy.  Pert near takes all the fun out of it, I reckon."

My heart was pounding.  If the boy Dukes were here, the Duchess couldn't be far away!  And they were mass-producing some sort of terrible doomsday weapon that could throw a shredding cloud of red-hot gravel at anyone who stood in their way!  An army equipped with such weapons would indeed be a force to reckon with!

The Duchess owed me a favor, since it was I who had liberated her.  I needed to get in touch with her so she could help free me from Edessa's imprisoning geas!

Suddenly Bodb grunted and pointed directly toward my hovering, supposedly invisible presence.

"FUMA'S SAKES!" Matholwch exclaimed.  "We's bein' scryed on!  There's only one scallywag I know of that could do that .. or not more'n two that'd even dare!  That means he ain't as dead as we thought, nor as trapped as them Vulpy Vulps claimed he was!  We gotta go tell Aunt Momma right now!"

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