Yesterday we did a quick Zoom session of Pugmire because illness still plagues our household (stupid air-needing lungs). But on the plus side, the Pioneers made it back to the village of Ellendonk!
Recall that last time, they liberated the village of Sparkle's Notch (or "Glittercrack," as my son insisted on calling it) from a bevy of devils (that's a song quote, and I don't expect anyone to catch it, but it's this song and it's a favorite of mine) and had a brief conversation with their foe, the Nagayaga. They continued north towards Ellendonk, and as they approach, they start seeing that the area around the village is decorated for a holiday...
Petunia Pibble is immediately overjoyed! She recognizes this as Descension Day! "I didn't realize it was Descension Day already! I must have lost track of when we were." Gelert Sausagedog has read about this; Descension Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the north of the Kingdom of Pugmire commemorating the day when Trenette Pibble ascended to walk with Man, but then chose to return to Pugmire to be with his fellow good dogs. Petunia adds that Trenette is recognized as the paterfamilias of the Pibble branch of the family that includes the Pitbull and Staffordshire lines. Descension Day is typically celebrated with mud wrestling, a hearty meal, and a nap. (All of the Pioneers are fully in favor of this.)
They enter Ellendonk and see that things are underway. There's a big oval area outside of town where the earth has been tilled and turned up, and dogs are bringing buckets of water to turn it into a big mud patch. Peppa Papillon, something of a connoisseur of mud, goes down to the area to check it out, and Boomer Pitbull goes with her to start limbering up. He does one-armed pushups for a while until a crowd forms, and then switches to handstand pushups to the delight of the crowd.
Petunia gets approached by a large, black-furred dog wearing a pair of fake floppy pibble-ears (common on Descenion Day). He introduces himself as Gerald Beauceron, the Mayor of Ellendonk - he doesn't know Petunia but recognizes adventurers when he sees them. She introduces herself and her companions and he welcomes her to the festivities. Graff Doberman gets mentioned, too - Graff is the son of Heinrich and Viveka Doberman, the nobles in Pugmire who had that whole "enslaving cats to work in the iron mine" thing going on that the Pioneers disrupted years ago. Graff did not follow in the family business of being a racist asshole, and actually helped the characters in their endeavors. Gerald says that Graff was here in the village, but isn't anymore. Petunia doesn't push the issue, but makes a note of it.
She heads to the Lively Pie Inn (which is a new thing, she notes - Ellendonk never had an inn before) and books a room for the group. The proprietor, Ritta Pitbull, tells her that there was a family or group coming for the celebration but she got word they weren't going to be here, so the room is free (not free, of course, she takes plastic). Petunia asks about Graff, but Ritta says that he's not here, changes the subject, and is clearly uncomfortable. Petunia lets it go for now.
The village gathers around the edge of the mud pit, and Gerald Beauceron steps to the middle of the oval and gives a brief speech, welcoming the visitors and reminding everyone that the essence of Descension Day is to follow the example of Trenette Pibble and Be a Good Dog. Everyone cheers (giving the traditional Descension Day cry: "PIBBLE PIBBLE PIBBLE! WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!"), and the mud-wrestling begins!
Peppa and Petunia basically stick to the shallow end, where people aren't so much wrestling as enjoying the mud. Boomer is immediately tackled by some of the biggest and strongest dogs in Ellendonk, while Sausagedog nimbly dodges away from anyone attempting to grab him. He leaps off of dogs' heads and splashes through mud like a greased pig!
Meanwhile, a bunch of young pups tackle Dire Newfoundland (rather, they try, but Dire is of course much too lorge to knock off his feet so easily). Dire wrestles the young'uns a moment, and then charges at Boomer, knocking him into the mud. Boomer tries to grab Dire's feet and swing him around like a kettle bell, but completely misjudges Dire's weight and winds up on the bottom of a dog-pile.
But Boomer will not be defeated! He bursts upwards, scattering dogs, and the wrestling continues.
Eventually everything dies down, people drift away, and the fluffier dogs go down to the stream to wash off while the short-haired ones avail themselves of special washing barrels placed in the village (there are several outside the Lively Pie). The last dog still being washed is named the Floofiest Dog of Descension Day, and this year it's Dire! Everyone gets a big, hearty bowl of stew (Boomer is a little disappointed that there's not a turkey-leg eating contest today, but that's not really a northern Pugmire kind of thing), and afterwards they all collapse in a puppy pile in front of the Lively Pie.
They idly chat, and Petunia mentions that they probably need to find out what happened to Graff. "But not today," says Peppa with a yawn.
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