The Ballad of Adler Young, Canto 2.5

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Lady Hawk, have plans for Jerry. Nasty plans...
>Hawk Woman: Suffice it to say, it's surprising you turned out to be a hawk instead of a "Black Widow".
>Adler: Aright look like Jerry is distracted for a little while, shame you couldn'gt get him thrown into prison but this'll do
Hawk Femme: Gaze longingly into Jerry's eyes and imagine how wonderful those eyes would like outside of his head.
Jerry: There is a giant shoe that looks like a hawk staring into your eyes! Hug the shoe.
Hawk Femme: All according to plan

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"Man, I don't like this," 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.

Adler: Finish your investigations first so you don't have to later.

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!

a poster advertising a certain bevarage quite familiar to Adler.

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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.

Adler: While Jerry is being taken care of, spy in on a local forge to see what kind of strange technology these lowfolk have developed, be shocked and terrified as you see a strange metal tube weapon that destroys a target dummy from across the room!

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."

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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."

>Adler: Have you considered just directly contacting Duchess

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!

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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!"