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The bats have been sent on a Mission. It's a very important Mission, and something that will be of great help to their Boy.
They swarm through the night, canvassing the fields, until one of them finds the flat wood outside the large hole. He releases an ultrasonic chirp, and the others converge on his position.
They'll have to go about this carefully — they don't have their normal preparations to rely on.
A lead bat dips her head into the hole and squeaks, to hear what's inside.
Inside the hole is:
The bats confer.
The teapot looks neither particularly dangerous nor particularly tasty, but looks can be deceiving. They fly inside in one fluid movement, hanging from the ceiling around the table.
The lead bat makes an inquisitive chirping sound at the teapot.
The teapot abruptly stops fweeting and straightens up into proper teapot posture. After considering the situation for a moment, she makes a small hop toward the teacup seated at the smallest chair and motions to it with her spout, sloshing invitingly.
The lead bat stares at her for a moment, sizing her up, before releasing her grip on the ceiling and flipping to land in the chair.
She sniffs the teacup.
The teapot pours tea into the cup. It smells fruity and herbal, and is warm but not too hot to drink.
The lead bat squeaks up at her flockmates. They give her a thumbs down (up, for bats) to let her know that they'll pull her out if the tea is a trap.
She sticks out her neck, lapping quietly at the tea.
When the lead bat does not come out of the experience any the worse for wear, the other bats start chattering to have a chance to taste the tea.
The steam has wafted up to them, and it smells wonderful.
One by one, the bats fly down to sit awkwardly on the chairs.
There are only three teacups, but the teapot pours each one full as soon as there is a bat waiting at it, and if anyone finishes their cup she'd presumably be happy to pour more.
The bats are fairly small; one whole teacup is too much for an individual bat. But that's okay, because they can share. Eventually, the bats are all pleasantly full of sweet herbal tea.
They chitter happily at the teapot, before eventually remembering that they are on a Mission.
One of the bats hops toward the curtain, waiting to see if the teapot will react.
Hearthfire Ring (1 Treasure) - Faintly warm to the touch, this plain gold ring grants the wearer a sense of peace and comfort whenever they focus on it. Once per Challenge, if used when the wearer is not in danger, this comforting aura can heal 1 point of damage.(The teapot waves goodbye.)
One of the bats fishes the ring out, and turns it over in his claws. He can sense the warmth within it.
He puts it on like a crown and waves goodbye to the teapot.
The bats regroup and proceed past the curtain. If this place has such treasures as sparkly hats, it's no wonder the Boy sent them to retrieve something.
Past the curtain is a cozy kitchen, warmly lit by glass wall sconces and warmly warmed by several large ovens. A young lady wearing a chef's hat and apron over her poofy dress is pulling out a cookie sheet from one of those ovens, with a single pizza-sized cookie on it. She sets it down on the stovetop, picks up a different cookie sheet, transfers the cookie from that one to a wire rack to cool, then takes off her oven mitts and waves at the newcomers.
"Hello! Would you like a cookie?"
The bats settle down on the wall sconces while the lead bat lands on the counter to inspect the cookie.
She sniffs at it, and then straightens up and nods seriously.
"Chirp," she informs the young lady, which is bat for "Yes, thank you. We're on a Mission, but it smells good."
The just-transferred cookie is still slightly warm, and smells sweet and mysterious. "If you wait for it to cool I can decorate it with icing," she says, "but you caught me early so I don't have any already decorated, and warm fresh cookies are nice in their own way. This one's shortbread."
The bat lowers her head close to the counter, measuring the distance between the counter and the top of the cookie with her echolocation.
She agrees that it's short.
But it's a bit fortuitous that they're early; even if it's a short cookie, it's also a wide cookie, and they're still very full of tea. They can take the time to digest.
"Chiirp," the lead bat states, by which she means "We will wait. Do you have a name? Our Boy says that many people have names."
(Bat is a very expressive language; it's the harmonics)
"I am La Patissière and this is my kitchen!" she says proudly. "I only just opened it this morning. I hope I get lots of visitors!"
The bats rustle. They're twelve in number, so she's had twelve visitors already!
The lead bat cocks her head to the side.
"Keeek-ik," she replies. "Will you have enough cookies for many people? If we come back again, should we bring you insects so you don't run out? We're good at fetching things."
"My kitchen has given me what I need so far, but if you bring me insects I can decorate cookies for you with them! I don't think there are any in the pantry."
The lead bat nods. It's understandable for her pantry to be a bit bare, if she's just starting out.
"Chirp," the lead bat promises. "We'll bring extra so you can have some for later."
"Kek," she continues. "The swamp near our house has plenty — it's why we can spare so many of us to go on Missions."
"Much appreciated!"
She holds a hand out over the cookie to check for warmth, touches the edge gently, then nods to herself and retrieves a large piping bag full of icing from the counter. The icing emerges white from the bag, but acquires colour as it touches the cookie, and soon she has painted a lovely scene of twelve bats flying together under a starry evening sky, their dark bodies silhouetted against the rich star-flecked blue.
"There you are."
"Chirp!" the bats exclaim — which is, of course, their way of saying thank you.
They descend on the cookie en mass, long ago having abandoned the idea that they need to be on guard. They appreciate the sweetness. Normally, they only get things like this when they eat fruits in the summer, but the icing is very sweet and the cookie filling.
The flavour of the cookie is plain and hearty, and each bat who eats it finds that it echoes and complements something wonderful or comforting or pleasantly memorable that they've eaten in the past.
When they've all had their fill, La Patissière presses a hidden button under the edge of the countertop, and the biggest wall sconce at the back of the room opens like a blooming flower to reveal the dungeon's core, a warmly glowing white glass sphere.
The bats peer at it, clustering around the opening to see. It's like a tiny moon!
Suddenly, two of the bats find themselves holding small bags marked with a 💰 symbol.
They take to the air and wheel around in jubilation. This is what they were sent for! They did it! Now they just have to bring the bags back to their Boy.
The bats regroup and flap through the curtain one by one, waving to La Patissière as they go.
"I hope we can visit again soon," the lead bat tells her.
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