Crusty Magic

So I opened it ... and in doing so ignored rule number one in Mar's List of Hard Lessons and added a third one ...

I was too busy beating out the trail of flames on my sleeve to adequately defend myself, but thinking quickly Whiff came to the rescue with a hail of what could have only been snow (my first experience with these bits of frozen water). Needless to say, it was very effective against the little (but fast) elemental. Of course, now we were up to our knees in rapidly melting crushed ice, but I wasn't complaining ... oh no, not even a little bit.

That left the cellar. 

While Dane carefully removed the chair Ariana checked for any traps and listened for any signs of danger behind the door. She detected nothing on both counts.

Dane opened the door slowly and we're all taken aback by the intense odor of baking bread and other spicy smells ... the same smell that we detected outside and in the house, but MUCH stronger.

Whiff's stomach growled.

A stairway lead down for about half a floor and turned to the right. There was a faint glow coming from whatever was around the corner.

Leading our little group, Dane quietly stepped into the hall and crept down to the turn. The stair actually doubled back on itself and continued down ... as did Dane.

The light at the bottom of the stairs was dim at best. As our eyes became accustomed to the gloom, two things were clear ... this was the pantry ... and everything that was once on the shelves was now smashed on the floor. Okay ... four things ... there were also two huge mounds of what

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