"You get to decide nothing of the sorts. Last time you decided something with all of us present you became food for fish. On top of that you only want her for your own selfish reasons. All I am doing is letting her decide her own path now." Her hand darted to buckle ready to try to release it quickly. The motion was too slow, Brutrumukk's hand was already over it blocking Aurora from unfastening it. "This creature has an owner and it is not you nor I. You will not be keeping her. Now. Move. Your. Hand."

A tense standoff ensued in the wake of Aurora's words. If the bloodthirsty glare Brutrumukk had fixed on the elf was any indication, the bugbear gnome was looking for an opening to commit violence. But no violence came. What came instead was a sudden, instinctive idea that had Brutrumukk grinning with cruel mischief. "Alright then. I'll move me 'and." Brutrumukk said accommodatingly, before moving his hand in a series of somatic gestures that enveloped him in mist. A split second later, Brutrumukk reappeared in the chariot, took up the reigns, and flicked them hard with a cry of "YAH!".

Brutrumukk had learned how to drive land vehicles during his time as Spirit of the Snoring Stone. And so he found it easy enough to drive quickly away from Aurora, haul Jub into the chariot as the bugbear gnome rode past the goblin, and make good his escape into the wider realm of Thither, laughing all the way... Or at least it should have been easy. But since he'd been trying to get the owlbear to leave in a hurry, things didn't turn out as easy as they should have been.

Brutrumukk quickly finds that the owlbear does not respond to the reins at all. She seems to disregard him completely in favor of Aurora this time. The owlbear does eat the jerky, and leans in more into Aurora's hand as she pets her head.

As Brutrumukk tries to get the owlbear to move, Juniper instead lies down comfortably, and seems to move her head to guide Aurora's hand to a spot her neck. Should Aurora scratch that spot, Juniper's front leg moves in circles and her eyes close in satisfaction, not too unlike how a dog would react to when an itchy spot was being scritched gently.

It seems like Juniper is not in the mood to leave.

@Vertigo@Lurking Krog@Dark Cloud@fellsing@rush99999@Necroes

Aurora was surprised when Brutrumukk did not lash out and actually moved his hand. The look in his eye seemed to be one just asking for a reason to fight. When he disappeared and reappeared in the chariot, Aurora did noy have enough time to move from the side of the owlbear before Brutrumukk tried to urge onward Juniper with the reigns. Fortunately for Aurora the owlbear was content with staying put and trying to get the elf to scratch a particular spot. She obliged the owlbear and started to scratch the spot on its neck using both hands, smirking in triumph at the gnome.

In Elvish she starts to talk to the owlbear again. "There you go Juniper. You've had a long day haven't you. You just want to rest and get some attention don't you. Don't worry, I'll get you out of this harness soon and you can find your way home."

Voth had intended to respond, but being told he had said booyahg wrong had caught him off guard. Had it really been so long since he had spoken to one of his own that he was beginning to forget how the words were said? No. Far more likely being turned into a gnome had corrupted Brutrumukk's ears, if not his brain. Either way, Voth spent enough time dwelling on the question for the situation to escalate.

When Brutrumukk and the elf started fighting, Voth took that as a chance to check the chariot for anything of use. His long-legged stride took him quickly behind the thing, and even as the two continued to bicker he looked inside. To his disappointment there proved to be nothing of use. Just as he was about to declare as much, though, he heard the words of a spell being spoken before the body of a gnome suddenly filled the empty chariot. Brutrumukk had used some magic to enter and take the reigns, issuing a command to the owlbear which... Completely ignored him, as the elf kept talking to it in her own language.

"If this is so far as you can see ahead," Voth said, speaking in goblin to the gnome in the chariot. "I see why Grankhul thought to send you a guide. The beast is named in fae-speak. Why would it not be trained to such?"

Wanting to prove a point, as much as anything, Voth would reach into the case of bolts that hung at his hip. Pulling out one of the long, wooden rods, he would let out a sharp whistle to get the owlbear's attention. Once he had it, he would speak to it in Sylvan. "Juniper," he would say, repeating the name the elf had given it previously. "Stick. See stick? Fetch stick!" With that command, he would toss the small wooden rod further down the road, intent on sending Brutrumukk for a brief ride with the little game.

Aurora's triumphant smirk set Brutrumukk's blood to a most violent boiling point. For a moment, thoughts of bloodshed re-entered his mind again, and this time he was a lot more tempted to act on them.

color=5ffb01]"If this is so far as you can see ahead,"[/color] A voice spoke up in goblin before thought could become action though. Brutrumukk turned to look at Voth as the bugbear continued to speak. "I see why Grankhul thought to send you a guide. The beast is named in fae-speak. Why would it not be trained to such?"

"...Oh yeah." Brutrumukk said to himself. That did make a lot of sense, after all. Brutrumukk watched then as Voth took up a sick, spoke to the owlbear in fae-speak, and then threw the stick. As Voth threw the stick, Brutrumukk flicked the reigns yet again, hoping that between being given both verbal and non-verbal commands to move and also something to move after, the owlbear would finally get this show on the road.

Jub felt his exhaustion lifted slightly and replaced with amusement as he watched this little 'competition' between Aurora and Brutrumukk for the owlbear's attention. Under normal circumstances, he might have come to Brutrumukk's aid as he tried to get the owlbear to move... but it seemed his new 'guide' was already doing that for him, and thus Jub did not feel inclined.

In fact, he almost felt like doing exactly the opposite.

"It's not a dog, you twit," Jub said as Voth tried get the owlbear to fetch after a stick he had thrown.

Aurora rolled her eyes at Voth's attempt to throw a stick to get Juniper to chase after. Taking one hand away from petting the owlbear, Aurora started to undo the harness from the chariot. Once Juniper is free of it, the elf gathered as much of the jerky as she had to give to the owlbear. "I know it's not enough, but you should be able to find more when you get home or in your hunting of this area. Either way you are free to do as you will."

"Oh no you don-GAH!" A voice exclaimed as Aurora tried to free the owlbear again. Were she to turn and face the voice, she would see Brutrumukk now struggling in Voth's grip. "Let go! Let go o' me, Mag damn it! Whose side are you on!?

"The side keeps you breathing," Voth would say in goblin speak as he caught the furious gnome and held him in place, at least long enough to speak his peace. "Beast didn't listen to you. Beast didn't listen to me. It likes knife-ear the best. Is how it is, and not liking it won't change that. Probably looks like its owner, least more than either of we do."

Putting the gnome onto the ground, Voth would keep his grip until he finished speaking. "You jump knife-ear and the beast'll jump you. You win that fight, then glory to you. Beast is dead and still not yours. Lose the fight and you're owlbear food. Won't be enough left to bring back, either. Doesn't take a guide to know if you got two paths and neither leads where you want to go, you find another path."

Bending down, Voth would whisper into Brutrumukk's ear, just incase someone present knew more goblin speak than they were letting on. "We keep the knife-ear close, and leave some food to trail, beast is more like to follow us than not. There's booyahg I can ask Grankhul to grant, next time we sleep. Can use it to help make the beast like us more. Tame it proper. You a bugbear, then act like it. Some stupid orc takes a fight without thinking. Grankhul taught us better."

It seemed Jub's attempts at heckling went unnoticed. He crossed his arms and began to sulk... until he remembered something. For once, they didn't seem to be hurrying anywhere in particular, so Jub took out the components for Find Familiar that Aaliyah girl had given him earlier.

While he normally would summon Eighteyes in her preferred spider form, he realised it probably would be far more helpful to have a creature that could fly. After all, they'd seemed to have lost that fairy from earlier and his charm had limited uses.

He settled down as he watched charcoal, incense and herbs burn away in the brazier before finally, from the resulting smoke, something began to form. It at first resembled a falling dead leaf in the breeze but started to spread out, forming into a purplish-brown bat. It hovered in the air for a moment, blinking at Jub incredulously. In this form, she had only two eyes, though there were six spots around her face where her extra eyes might have been. Jub opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, the thing fluttered forward and landed on his face, its wings gripping onto his nose. He was entirely sure if this was an attack or a hug, but he didn't seem to mind regardless. Eventually, he was able to pry her off and settling him to his hands.

"Did you miss me?" he asked.

The bat stared up at him. To anyone else, its expression would be unreadable, but Jub could understand the intent.

"Yeeeeeeah, sorry it took so long," he said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. He glanced behind him at the rest of the party, still squabbling over the owlbear. "We ran into some... complications."

Eighteyes followed his stare, gave a little squeak before pushing off his palm and back in there. She fluttered in front of him before roosting upside down on her customary perch: the goblin's right ear.

"Oof okay," Jub said, wincing slightly. "That's not as comfortable as when you're a spider, but I'll deal."

After Aurora frees Juniper from the harness, it takes a few moments for Juniper to realize she is free from the chariot after receiving some more pets and scritches. Upon realizing she is free, Juniper lopes about happily at her newfound freedom. She looks at Aurora with a tilt of her head, before realizing one of Aurora's friends is sitting at a distance.

Juniper looks to Jub and moves up to the goblin after he finished casting Find Familiar and Eighteyes hangs from his ear. The owlbear towers over him for a moment, before Juniper picks up the back of Jub's shirt with her beak and she carries him back to Aurora. Once she reaches Aurora, she plops Jub in front of her, having successfully 'fetched' one of her companions.

When they leave, Juniper sits still in confusion for a moment, before finally deciding to follow the group from a distance...

The group is able to continue on their way to Clapperclaw's intended destination.



Cozy torchlight radiates from a cave in the wooded hillside. Twenty feet from the cave is a tree with a weathered sheet of parchment nailed to its trunk.

"How dare this ragamuffin defy me? Bring him to me alive and unharmed, and I'll grant you a loyal servant,"

Clapperclaw, who leads the way, speaks to the group, "Here we are! This is Nibs's Cave! Here you should be able to get some rest!" He then moves ahead of the group and calls into the cave,

"HEEEY NIBS! It's me, Clapperclaw! I have friends with me!"

An old man's voice feebly answers back, "Oh...? Please come in. You and your friends are welcome..."



@Vertigo@Lurking Krog@Dark Cloud@fellsing@rush99999@Necroes

The elf blinks in confusion and astonishment when Juniper brings Jub to her. It was telling in how well trained the owlbear was. Whoever was Juniper's owner must have spent a lot of time and effort to get her to this point. "Thank you Juniper." She says in Elvish before turning to the others.
"Are you ok Jub? I didn't expect her to pick you up and bring you to me." Aurora asked while offering to help Jub up. "I may have gotten more than I bargained for by freeing her." She said quietly to Jub before looking to Voth and a still clearly angry Brutrumukk. Voth was clearly saying something to the gnome, what Rory was not sure. This might be something to ask Jub about later.

Once they had arrived at the cave Clapperclaw was leading them to, Aurora turned to see if Juniper was still following them. A faint smile passed over her face seeing that she was following, even if it was at a distance. She waits to enter the cave for a few moments, stopping to read the next wanted poster pinned to a tree. The poster seemed to be yet another offer of reward for bringing Will of the Feywild to this Granny Nightshade.

With a shake of her head, Aurora heads into the cave to meet Nibs. The elf was a bit surprised to see him spinning gold into some fiber. "Excuse me, but why are you turning gold into fibers?"

The elderly man jumps in his seat, seemingly startled by Aurora's voice. He looks towards her despite the blindfold. He answers her, slightly relaxing but not quite off edge, "It's...It's so I may find atonement, Madame. Or at least...for the hope of it,"

He bows his head in shame towards her and he explains further,

"I've led a cruel and heartless existence. I earned these riches by exploiting my tenants' misery, buying up condemned property and renting it out for an exorbitant fee. But...I realized the extent of my misdeeds when I realized that my actions have caused deaths of innocent lives..."

He gestures to all of the gold coins surrounding him and the others in this cave, before he continues,

"Granny Nightshade is helping me to make amends. I told her I wanted to put my bad deeds behind me and my ill-gotten gains to good use. She cursed me to dwell forever in this cave, spinning my gold into useful items for anyone who comes my way," His trembling voice almost gives way to tears, but he gasps in fear when he realizes something.

"Oh! Please pardon me, Madam! I didn't mean to be rude and disregard the Rule of Hospitality! Please, hold on a moment..."

He quickly whips out a pair of knitting needles, and he takes the fibers of thread he just transformed, and proceeds to quickly knit away! The threads quickly form into a pair of fine boots of elven make! Once they were done, the gold almost transforms into leather, with only a sheen left. They are perfectly sized and fitted for Aurora herself. He then picks up the boots and hands them over to Aurora.

"Please, accept these as a token of my hospitality. I insist!"



@Vertigo@Lurking Krog@Dark Cloud@fellsing@rush99999@Necroes

Aurora gently took the boots from Nibs. "Thank you, these look exquisite! I've been needing a new pair of boots for a while. Prestidigitation keeps them clean but does not fix wear and tear." She finds a spot to sit, and took off her old boots to put the new ones Nibs just made her on.

"Are you originally from these lands or do you hail from elsewhere? " Aurora was generally curious about the matter. She knew of a few merchants and nobles who 'saw the error of their ways' and tried to undo what wrongs they or their ancestors had done. Most gave money away to those harmed or in need. Others forgave debts that were owed to them. However, these good-hearted folks were few enough as it was.

As the cave came into view, Voth would bow his head and whisper a prayer for guidance to Grankhul. Once it was done, and he saw the elf venture first into the cave, the cleric would poke his own head in just long enough to get a look at the man. While turning gold to thread was certainly an odd venture, it was by no means the strangest thing he had seen. Looking him over, he sized up the man, letting the guidance of his god lead his intuition.



Based on the man's appearance, he seemed to be of no threat. While what he did was clearly some kind of booyahg, he spoke no incantation and did not appear to be concentrating on a spell. Likely the trick had something to do with a magic item, or so Voth would assume. Either way, the strange creature that had lead them to the cave recognized him, and Voth had not sensed the creature intended to lead them into a trap.

After looking long enough to satisfy his curiosity, Voth would step back outside the cave. If the rest entered, he would follow. However, he did not want to be the last one inside the cave with the owlbear still following them. In that same vane, Voth would whisper yet another prayer to his god, this one more powerful than simple guidance. Speaking in his native tongue once more, he would pray, "Ever Vigilant Grankhul, through your sight let me see friend and foe."

Brutrumukk settled down in Voth's grip when the other bugbear pointed out the dangers of opposing Aurora so openly when the owlbear had clearly come down on her side and mentioned that he had a way to bring the owlbear around to them later. As much as he hated to admit it, Brutrumukk knew Voth had a point. The bugbear gnome growled in frustration as the elf freed the owlbear. Even though it seemed like the owlbear was still willing to follow the party, Brutrumukk had been really looking forward to riding around on an owlbear chariot. After taking a moment to add Aurora's name to the list of people he would seek brutal, bloody vengeance upon that he'd been compiling ever since he arrived in the Witchlight Carnival, Brutrumukk went with the others to continue on the journey.

Upon arriving at the cave, all anger left Brutrumukk's mind as he beheld the vast fortune that lay within. "Gold." Brutrumukk reverently whispered in awe and wonder. "Beautiful gold." He approached the largest of the piles, completely oblivious to all else going on around him.

Jub briefly felt his heart stop as the owlbear suddenly approached him, only for it to start hammering the moment she picked him up. Startled, Eighteyes opened her wings and quickly flew up so she wasn't dragged along with her master. She only returned to him once Juniper let go, fluttering back onto the top of the shaken goblin's head as he lay for a moment, face down on the ground in front of Aurora.

"Yep. Never better," Jub grumbled as he raised his head. He picked himself up, brushing the dirt off him as he shot a glare at the owlbear. He followed the rest of the group to Nibs' cave with a grumpy expression, deciding to keep close to Aurora the whole time lest the owlbear attempt to 'fetch' him again for her. He also was displeased that Brutrumukk hadn't made any effort to call Voth out for the blatant lack of respect the bugbear was showing, and thus didn't really feel like interacting with him at the moment.

Once they reached the cave, Jub entered along with Aurora, though kept slightly behind her in case there was any threat. Thankfully, there was just some old man... spinning gold into thread? Weird, but definitely not the weirdest thing they'd encountered in the last few days. While Jub was briefly dazzled by such a collection of wealth, the moment Nibs said that he had been cursed by one of the hags, Jub quickly shook all thoughts of maybe pinching any of it.

However, when the man handed Aurora a pair of boots, Jub considered something. He put his bitterness towards Brutrumukk to the side to address the barbarian. "Hey, Brutrumukk," he said. "Maybe you can have this guy make you some new clothes if you're not too fond of that jester outfit." However, when he glanced over at the gnome, he already saw Brutrumukk was making a beeline for it. "Oh for the love of..." Jub shook his head again, this time in dismay. Despite knowing that it would probably do no good, he called out to Brutrumukk again, "You realise that stuff might be cursed, at least until he spins it, right?"

Nibs gives a shaky, but grateful smile when Aurora accepts the boots with praise. However the smile disappears with a noticeable wince, even through the blindfold. His expression is back to the normal fearful, miserable state.



Nibs looks to Aurora when she asks about his origins, and he answers her shakily, "Oh. No...I'm from Toril. Waterdeep, to be specific..."

When Jub speaks to Brutrumukk, Nibs quickly turns his head towards the two, judging from where he heard them, and he confirms Jub's words, "You are right, young man. The coins are cursed. If you take the coins, you'll be cursed too. So, please...don't. I'd hate to see anyone else suffer my fate,"

@Vertigo@Lurking Krog@Dark Cloud@fellsing@rush99999@Necroes

"Called it," Jub said when Nibs confirmed his theory, sounding a little more smug that he intended. "And I didn't even have to cast Detect Magic for that." He then glanced over at Nibs. He felt a pang of sympathy for the man. "Hey, err, there's spell called Remove Curse. I don't have it on me per se but, err... do you think it would help with your situation?"