Fat Tuesday – Well, That was Different

Loki Eliot decided to hold his annual Pancake Race underground. In the sewers. I have no idea why. It was something of a ramshackle affair – the course was created by placing boards across the water, propped by the small walkways on either side. The placement of the boards was not uniform, creating rather interesting gaps to add to the trickiness of the race.

Still, I would have won the adults-only race, if I hadn’t tripped on a board coming around the turn. Mr. Henly won that race. Jimmy Branagh, of course, won the urchins-only race *and* the all-comers race. How that boy got to be so fast, I’ll never know.

Even while I was running, though, I noticed a few strange rocks scattered about. After the races were over, several of us went back to take a closer look at them. As we were doing that, who should come along but Margo December! I’d swear her pack was even larger than the last time I saw her – how she was able to get herself down into the sewers with that thing is a definite mystery.

Her words were mostly ramblings, as usual, but there were two things she insisted upon. One was that the strange rocks were “older than the city.” Though, as virtually all rocks are, I don’t see how that is helpful. (Though, as Beryl pointed out, what were they doing on top of the man-made walkways in the sewer?) She also berated us for not listening… though she didn’t say to what. Soon after that, she disappeared through the sewers, moving surprisingly quickly.

A few of us continued to poke around in the area, having grabbed some of the torches Loki had set up along the race route. We found several more of the rocks, and I picked one up myself for further study. We also found a small hatchway, leading… well, Beryl and I explored it, and found it led into a short tunnel to another hatchway. That one… dropped us into a flooded tunnel. Neither of us were happy about that, but we pressed on. The only routes we found, though, led to dead ends.

So that seems to be that… for now, at least. I can’t help but consider, though, that the last time Margo December was seen – widely seen, at least – was during the Dark AEther mess. The fact that she’s come back gives me a bit of a chill. I’ll have to give this rock a closer look… I wonder where I put my geologist’s pick?