Swamped

It's a lizard sitting on the head of a muckbeast.

You're not especially frightened - muckbeasts are among the less aggressive creatures in the swamp. Besides, at this point they just look like smaller, browner versions of Rider's swamp beast to you.

But it's certainly strange. And the lizard bears more than a passing resemblance to the talking ones you saw in the desert.

"Um," you say a little awkwardly to it. "Hello?"

The lizard does an excited dance.

"Mortimer!" it says. "Lady! Vanish! Where?"

You feel totally lost, but the wizard seems to pick up on that, as he excuses himself from the conversation.

"Oh dear," he says. "One of our problems might be worse than I thought."

"Maybe you should tell me about that problem," you say, a little annoyed. "Because I'm already feeling pretty lost."

"No, I think I'll have to deal with it," he sighs. "Too complicated to explain. What you can do is deal with my sea terror problem. The doctor just told me he managed to find a neutralizing solution."

"Yes, although I couldn't make that much. Kandrian tobacco is fairly expensive and we don't have a supply agreement like we do with the wine," the doctor replies.

"Kandrian tobacco?" you ask, a little baffled.

"It's the key component to neutralizing it. I could go into detail on how I worked that out if you'd like..."

"No, I think I'll just take your word for it," you sigh.

"Would the amount you have be enough to neutralize a small cauldron of the stuff?" the wizard asks.

"Probably. But you'd need the whole thing."

"Hopefully that's all there is," the wizard sighs. "I'll tell you where it is, and then I'll investigate what this little fellow is trying to tell me about."

He gives you directions. He also mentions that there's a particular actor he wanted to talk to, in case you run into them. Not that you know how you'll handle that if it happens, but it's probably just as well to have a heads up.

You head over to the bar and glance at the open window.

Odd. Didn't he say there was someone in here when he left? You don't see anyone. But you do still see the cauldron, at least. He also mentioned another muckbeast, but you don't see any sign of one either.

You climb in the window, and pour the neutralizer in. You stir it for good measure.

And then you hear a loud noise again. Maybe now would be a good time to investigate it.