It took Barkingthwaite and Venatrix (Patreon)
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longer to gather the ingredients than it did to obtain the clothing, but they still managed to return sooner than I expected.
"Everything's here," I observed, as I looked in the bags. "Honestly I wasn't sure you'd be able to do it."
"I'm a bit surprised too, old boy," Barkingthwaite admitted.
"Twas elementary," Venatrix declared proudly. "Folklore is, after all, my field of specialty."
"I'm impressed," I stated. "You've done a good job."
Aside from a few key annoyances (to be expected from lowfolk), these two had been shockingly competent, especially compared to the lowfolk I'd met in the past.
"You've earned your pay," I told them, "and I shall grant you that interview I promised as an additional reward."
I won't bore you by repeating everything I told them. You can find it published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Folklore and Macrology, 1890. Or was it 1891?
Next, I set up a brazier and allowed them to observe me making the Elixir of Revivifaction with the ingredients they had collected.
"Now then," I explained, while the elixir was cooling. "Time to brief you on the real mission, the big one. You're to go to a certain address in Londinium where there is an elf entombed, probably in the cellar. She has been concealed there for almost two centuries, which implies a hidden room. You may need to break down some masonry, and then administer this potion to wake her from her magickal slumber. The spell requires a jolt of energy to get started, and the best way to do this is by performing an act of venery while one or both of you are touching the catatonic elf."
"Egad," Barkingthwaite spluttered.
"Oh my," Venatrix gasped. "So Al was right all along about there being magickal power in that? I always thought he was just trying to ... well, you know."