"Well it's not strictly a waste," John says, "it could be bait. You know, 'don't you dare follow me into my underground volcano lair where my laser is pointed directly at the door'."

Something like that? Anyway --

"Also, I'm pretty sure the reason he jumped ship is that too many of us Natha-loving folk decided to turn up and complain about how he nearly murdered us all with a dragon. Which, personally, I think is a pretty valid complaint."

Nobody really enjoys having a dragon turned on them, surely? At least, nobody John would categorise as sane. Still! John squints around the area, trying to turn over all of this.

"Anyway, we'll need to gear ourselves up under the assumption this may take a while. So if you have any shopping you need to get done before we leave now's the time."

You know, for spares, bigger jackets, anything that might help them find a fiddly radio thing.