The sound of heavy footsteps causes Bog to let go of the love-dusted mouse and spin around with his staff ready. He recognizes Lizzie easily but he doesn't relax until she sits down in front of him and cocks her head curiously at the mushroom riding the escaping mouse. The pair don't get far as his subjects finally arrive to take them to the dungeons.
"It's fine. This is Lizzie and she's promised not to eat anyone," Bog assures the wide-eye goblins. "Now, Lizzie, what are you doing here?"
Bog can't help his grin as Lizzie explains her reasons and he happily follows as the reptile leads farther into the Dark Forest after the thief's scent trail. With her help, they'll be able to track down the thief in no time.
His subjects quickly apprehend each love-dusted victim they come across and with each victim, Bog grows angrier at the thief. More sentient mushrooms, a mole, two toads, a hedgepig, another mouse, and three goblins all spelled by that cursed potion. The thought of the permanent damage that could have been done by this reckless creature is infuriating.
No more so than watching Kyanite being forced to subdue a dusted Remus after first being devastated because he believed that she had rejected him of her own free will. Remus' distraught whimpering as her love-dusted mushroom lover is taken away tears at Bog's heart and he grips his royal staff harder. He's only glad that Marianne didn't come with him and be forced to see these acts of fake-love.
Turning to signal Lizzie to continue, Bog pauses as Remus' whimpers cease and he only hears Kyanite's rumbles of affection and reassurance. He turns just in time to notice Remus' eyes lose their pink-haze and to see the female goblin quit struggling in her prospective mate's hold before returning his embrace with her own rumbles of affection.
"What?" Bog mumbles.
Lizzie's roar distracts him from trying to figure it out and he takes to the air to catch up to the charging reptile. The white figure dashing across the ground ahead of them must be the thief. It doesn't look like any creature he's seen but it's obviously not an animal judging by its laughter as it dives into the briar patch and forcing Lizzie to quit following it.
Bog motions Lizzie to circle the patch before he flies into the prickly maze. The creature laughs from its position on one of the briars ahead before it continues to the other side faster than Bog is able to. Its cockiness is its undoing and as the creature jumps from the briar patch, it turns its attention to mock Bog, not noticing Lizzie's open jaws heading straight for it.
Bog cackles as Lizzie grins smugly after closing her mouth around the little creature. What was it his mother used to say when he was a young one? Don't celebrate your victory until you've won or your opponent will be celebrating instead.
"Good work, Lizzie! Alright, you little thing in there, give me the potion," Bog orders, snorting as a small white-furred hand squeezes past the reptile's lips to shake a finger. "Fine. Have a nice trip to the other end of the lizard."
Smirking as the pink glowing bottle is forced between Lizzie's lips, Bog grabs it before reaching his other hand into the closed mouth and pulling out the thief. He blinks at the figure in his grip. What he had grabbed was a pair of long white-furred ears connected to a small mouse-like white-furred body, all except a patch of black fur on the tips of its ears and the top of its head. Black tear-filled eyes stare back at him and whimpers emit from a long sharp-toothed snout as it holds its long furless tail between its hands.
"Are you a Breezy Meadow subject?" Bog questions.
The creature shakes its head the best it can and holds its hands out before hissing and curling into a ball.
"Are the Breezy Meadow subjects mean to you?" Bog asks, getting a nod. "Can't you talk?"
Bog sighs as the creature covers its eyes, shakes its head, and sniffles. It'll be a lot harder getting the answers he wants out of a creature that can't tell them anything. He doubted the magic they could use to understand animals when they want to communicate with them would work on this creature since it had magic of its own.
"You've caused a lot of chaos with your antics and by rights, I should put you to death for the pain you've put my subjects through," Bog states, sighing again at the creature's distressed howl.
Maybe Marianne would have an idea of how to deal with this.