When Jub moved as far from the satyr as possible and tried to hide his features under his cloak, the satyr chuckled and reassured him, "Oh, there's no need to be shy! I don't bite! What's your name, young goblin?" Unfortunately, Jub can't tell where the group is. Only that they are hanging in cages next to some sort of cottage...

When Brutrumukk tries to bend the bars, for the first six seconds, nothing happens except Brutrumukk breaks the wind. That gets a laugh out of the satyr. For the other six seconds, the bars don't give way.


Gabriel does rouse Zavakri and she wakes after mumbling about how she wanted to sleep for five more minutes to someone named Rirvudd. The Satyr smiles to Gabriel and he answers cheerfully, "Hello! My name is Vansel! Nice to meet you! And I always smile! After all, there's always fun and delight to be found, no matter the situation,

He then asks, "The Harengon Bandits got you too, huh? It's okay, they got me too," He added the last sentence with a laugh as though he was recalling something hilarious.

After twelve seconds of huffing and straining, Brutrumukk stopped to catch his breath. But despite the lack of visible progress on bending the cage bars, he did have something to show for it. The bugbear could tell that he'd be able to bend the bars. But expending vast amounts of energy on an extreme effort wouldn't work. He realized he needed to go slow and steady, finding the right bars and exerting on them in the right places. It would take a few minutes, but he'd get the job done so long as he had the time to do so. And so once he'd finished taking his breather, Brutrumukk went to work.

Aurora started to wake up just as Brut had paused to take a break on trying to bend the bars. Her head was pounding, and as she ran her hand over her forehead she felt the welt from the rock that knocked her out. Touching is sent a spasm of pain across her head and her body involuntarily recoiled. She noticed then that her short sword was under her armor, between her shoulder blades, and hidden by a piece of cloth she did not remember having. The elf took a minute to move the blade out from between her back and armor, trying to keep it hidden under the cloth cloak for the time being. Afterwards she shifted into a slightly more comfortable sitting position.

"A lock might be easier to open than trying to bend these bars wide enough for either of us to climb out through. Let me see if I can find my lock picks..." A few minutes pass as Rory went through her bag only ylto find her picks were now missing. "Damn it! I know I had them in my pack where are they?!" As she was asking she remembered that Agdon had lifted an item from Gabe as he fell as well as Brutrumukk after striking him with the brand. From that she figured he has likely taken her thieves tools while she was unconscious. "Those dammed bandits... if we ever see them again..." She muttered to herself as she kept digging through her pack. Her hand brushed against a key that the trees fro. The hill had given her. Realization struck, the trees mentioned that they might need a key as Jingle Jangle had dropped this one in particular. Quickly the elf began to inspect the cage for the lock and any potential means to escape.
"I fail to see the fun in being locked in a cage. I know I've heard of some people who find delight in such things but I do not. If you want to get out of here help me find the locks. We might have a key that we can use to get us out of these cages."

Jub relaxed slightly when he notices all his friends were now awake and seemingly well enough to talk and move around. "Jub," the goblin eventually answered the satyr. "Jub the Peculiar." He looked the stranger up and down. "I may regret asking this, but how long have you been in here, err, exactly?"

"It's nice to meet you, Jub!" Vansel greeted after Jub gave his name. He shrugs at his question and answered his question, "I'd say about...ten hours or so?"

While Brutrumukk gets to work on bending the bars, Vansel gets into the story of how he got captured,

"I was simply bathing in a river, and the bandits took my clothes! I chased after them to get them back, but they caught me with a net and knocked me unconscious. And now...here we are! Right at Bavlorna's Cottage! This will be quite a story when we get out of here!"

After Vansel finished speaking, the iron bars creak as Brutrumukk successfully bends them to let himself and Aurora out.

However, there are still two more cages: Gabriel and Aurora's Cage, and Jub and Vansel's Cage.

Jub's eyes widened. "Wait... did you say Bavlorna?" he said. "Those rabbits took us to Bavlorna?" He places his hands on either side of his head. "Oh no... we're dead, we're so dead. The hag's got us and she gonna cook us and eat us!" He wasn't exactly sure if that was a thing hags did, but in his panicked state it sounded about right.

"We ain't 'eaded fer Acheron today, booyagh." Brutrumukk said as he finished his work on the bars. "Wanna know the best thing about the lowest points in life? The only way to go from there is up!" With that said, the bugbear slipped through the hole he made in the cage and began climbing up to wherever it was the cages were hanging from. With any luck, a way to release the others would be waiting for him up there.

At the top of the ropes, Brutrumukk finds a series of cranks he'd be able to pull the others up with. There wasn't a way to open the cages other than bending the bars though, and Brutrumukk had no idea how long it would be until whoever put them in those cages came for them. Wanting to open the other cages faster than he opened his, Brutrumukk snuck over to the open door leading into the cottage from the balcony. There, he hid himself behind one side of the door as quietly as he could manage and peered inside.

When Brutrumukk reaches the open doors of the balcony, he hears a loud ruckus coming from inside and sees a gore-spattered kitchen. A stout figure with a stained apron, iron boots, a crimson cap, and a bloody meat cleaver chases a pair of vultures around a butcher's block while the squawking birds fight over a scrap of meat.

She shouts at the pair of vultures, "Get outta here ya damned buzzards! Go on, Git!"

The vultures avoid her swinging cleaver, and but they are not the least bit intimidated and do not leave the kitchen.

Brutrumukk suppressed a snicker at the humorous sight that greeted him beyond the door. From his hidden spot, the bugbear figured that the crimson capped butcher was the one that put them in the cages. And if she put them in the cages, she could get them out too. 'Time to put the Rule o' Recipe City to good use.' Brutrumukk thought to himself before taking aim at the furthest vulture from the door and pinning it to the wall with a well thrown javelin. "Looks like you could use an 'elpin' 'and in 'ere." The Spirit of the Snoring Stone stated as he strode through the doorway, already reaching for another javelin. "Lucky fer you, I got two."

Hearing Brutrumukk's voice and seeing him succeed in breaking out of his cage must have comforted Jub because his mind went from picturing various ways he was going to die to trying to figure out he himself could escape. Obviously, he couldn't brute-force it the way the bugbear had, but with a little magic, he might be able to deal with those bars. "Okay okay okay, I think I got an idea," he said, more to himself than to anyone in particular, and produced his wand. Using Fire Bolt more like a blow torch rather than throwing it as someone, he was able to open the door to his and Vansel's cage.

Success! Except...

Jub looked down from the open cage door to the murky water below. "Huh," he said. He turned his gaze up towards the chains he had seen Brutrumukk climb up moments ago, then turned them back to the water. "I... did not think this far ahead." He turned back to Vansel with a strained smile. "Erm, any ideas, old chum?"

Brutrumukk easily impales the first vulture with a javelin, and it dies quickly. The other vulture looks at Brutrumukk and moves to fly away. The butcher doesn't answer Brutrumukk yet, as the vulture tries to fly away. But she doesn't look bothered by the fact that he was there.

If anything, she looks both annoyed and impressed. Brutrumukk gets the impression of the latter emotion from her approving nods.

---

Vansel watches as Jub uses his knowledge of arcana and deft hands to melt the lock and open the cage door. He looks like he's watching a magic show and when Jub is done, Vansel applauds Jub praising him, "That was amazing, Jub!"

He then stood up and walked over to the edge. He looks at the cage opening and up to the balcony before looking back to Jub, and answering him, "Oh yeah! I can make that. Would you be okay if I carried you?"

After getting a hesitant answer of yes from Jub, Vansel picks the small goblin up and places the wizard on his shoulders, like a how a father carries a toddler.

Vansel then begins to belt a musical note, "Ooooohhhhhhh!"

He sings a jaunty song while dancing around the cage. At first it seems like just dancing, but Jub notices that the dancing is getting the cage to swing! Despite the swinging and how it increased, Vansel didn't seem to be phased, or threatened to fall. If anything, he was able to go with the flow!

He then takes advantage of when the cage is at an angle that caused the opening to face upwards towards the beam, and jumps upwards!

Both Vansel and Jub seem to fly upwards from that jump, and they fall back, right onto the beam! Vansel finishes the song and dances off of the beam and onto the balcony.

When all was said and done, he was about to just walk into the kitchen, but he stops himself upon remembering that Jub was sitting on his shoulders. He lets out an "Oh!" upon remembering.

He takes Jub off of his shoulders and sets him down on the balcony gently, and he tells Jub, "Here you are, Jub! Wasn't that fun?"

While Jub had partially assumed that, with those hooves, Vansel would prove a far surer climber than himself, he hadn't quite envisioned the manner in which the satyr would get them out of the cage. He made a few panicked yelps as they started swinging back and forth, and the motion caused his stomach to threaten to spew up the stew he had consumed earlier. Thankfully, he was able to keep it down and soon enough they were back on more solid ground.

Once Vansel had taken him off his shoulders, he took a moment to take a few deep calming breathes and waited for his nerves (and stomach) to settle down before trying to speak. "It was... certainly something," Jub eventually responded. "Thank you." He glanced back down at the cages where Aurora, Gabriel and Zavakri. "Don't worry, friends! I'll figure out some way to get you out..." He paused before looking back over to Brutrumukk, who apparently was having trouble with large bird. Typical. "I... just need to figure out how I'm going to do that," he muttered under his breath. Quickly, he scanned his surroundings, trying to see if there was anything in his vicinity that could be used to open the cage. Upon seeing the crank connected to the cages, Jub turned it in order to bring the remaining cages back up.

"Oh no you don't!" Brutrumukk exclaimed as he threw caution to the wind and struck at the cowardly carrion eater, impaling it with his javelin as it tried to fly past. "Looks like it'll be vulture shish kebabs fer breakfast." Brutrumukk said as he inspected his second kill. He then looked up at the butcher and said to he-

"Ooooohhhhhhh!"

"...What the fuck?" Brutrumukk said as he turned towards the sound of a musical number going on down below. But as the song went on and his confusion faded, Brutrumukk began to nod his head and tap his foot to the beat. Towards the end of the song, the bugbear even joined in. Putting Palasha's lessons to good use, Brutrumukk provided backup singing to the finale of Vansel's song as the satyr leaped mirthfully onto the balcony with Jub on his shoulder. Once the song was finished, Brutrumukk let loose a cheerful roar at a song well sung. "Good song, mate!" Brutrumukk exclaimed to Vansel before turning to Jub. "An' it don't surprise me one bit that I didn't need to bail you out, booyagh. Now let's get the others!"

With that said, Brutrumukk turned to the butcher and spoke. "Since I 'elped you out, the rules say you gotta 'elp me as well." Brutrumukk invoked the Rule of Reciprocity as Jub pulled up the cages. "I want me friends outta their cages. Where's the key fer the one what ain't been opened yet?"

Vansel gave a wide smile to Jub and Brutrumukk before cheerfully answered the bugbear's praise, "Hey, thanks! You're a great singer as well!"

While the performance took place, and when Brutrumukk looks back to the butcher, he finds that she has this expression of just...absolute loathing of everyone and everything right now. She let out an irritated growl as Brutrumukk invoked the Rule of Reciprocity.

She stuck her open hand into her apron and digs out a key. She growls as she answers Brutrumukk, "Gah! Might as fucking well! Can't butcher you now, since you're living guests! First the Fucking Rule of Hospitality, and now the Fucking Rule of Reciprocity,"

She tosses the key to Brutrumukk and takes one of the vulture carcasses and places it on the bloody table. She tells Brutrumukk, "You can have the other vulture. This one's mine,"

"That's fine by me." Brutrumukk said when the butcher claimed the vulture he'd pinned to the wall. With that said, Brutrumukk turned to Jub, who was standing in the doorway behind him. "Here's the key fer the last cage." The bugbear told the goblin. "Get 'em out an' get 'em ready. We got work to do." Brutrumukk then walked further into the kitchen, stopping where his javelin had stuck in the wall to reclaim his weapon. Once he'd done that, Brutrumukk looked over at the butcher again. "Oi oi. This is Bav's cottage, yeah?" Brutrumukk asked. "If so, where'd you reckon Bav is right now?"

Jub opened his mouth to tell Brutrumukk that the butcher was unlikely to hand over the key just because he asked, when the woman... produced the key from her apron. Because Brutrumukk asked. "I really need to stop trying to figure out how this place works," Jub muttered to himself as he took the key from Brutrumukk. At very least, they weren't going to be eaten today. He unlocked Zavakri and Gabriel's cage.

There was singing, swearing and all kinds of squawking with different levels of their own charming irritability, Gabe deadpan stared as the satyr broke out in song with a look of utter bewilderment and just a level of- "What in the actual fucking Nine Hells." he was impressed, astonished and all around confused by the satyr as he danced and sang his way to Jub, he was like some sort of story book character in fact this whole fucking place was like a giant storybook come to life and he was starting to get sick of it.

Shaken from his stupor by shouting and swearing coming on high the half-elf couldn't help but smirk as he faintly heard their bugbear invoke the Rule of Reciprocity "Well I'll be," Gabe muttered to himself, his street twang of an accent barely noticeable with a snort he looked up to Jub as he foisted the keys "Good work, now do hurry I would love to find out how in all the worlds we ended up here."

Once he and Zavakri were out of their cage, he helped the sorceress out of the metal prison first then stepped out himself, he had the time to sort his items and put them back in place while they were left to wait as Jub got the animated and over the top Vansel out first.

"So you said this is Bavlorna's cottage eh?" the half-elf gave Vansel a sideways glance as he dusted himself off before resting a firm hand on his weapon "If I'm memeberin' right ain't she the lady who stole all that alcohol?" Gabe didn't really wait for an answer from the satyr, stepping past him and Jub to casually walk towards the doorway where he could see Brutrumukk and some old hag with a cleaver.

Blood everywhere, it was a sight that made him want to gag but he didn't he stared down the old woman with a hand on his weapon not making any threatening moves yet as he didn't want to break the Rules yet.

"Who are you," he stood at the doorway silhouetted by the light that came in or out the room "Where is the alcohol and why does everyone sing and dance at the most inopportune of moments?" he had it up to here with all this feywild bullshit.

He just wanted to get the stupid alcohol, find wherever Agdon was and cut off that rabbits ears for taking a keepsake his old mentor had given him.

"A most kind host should introduce themselves before they eat their guests I presume?" he added trying to cover his annoyance, with a lopsided smile.

Vansel walks further into the kitchen to let the rest of the party members enter the kitchen from the balcony, he is clearly distracted because he didn't seem to hear Gabriel's question. The butcher looks to Brutrumukk when he asks her about Bavlorna and she answers irritably, "Speakin' with a different guest in the study,"

Zavakri accepts Gabriel's help in getting out of the cage and she also compliments Jub, "Impressive magic-craft, Jub! I hadn't thought of using those formulas to achieve that result with the cantrip!" After that, she watched as the rest of the party spoke with the butcher.

The butcher answers Gabriel's first question as she chops the vulture's head off with her cleaver, creating a loud thud, "The name's Bloody Toes! I'm the damned butcher, not the maid,"

She then raises an eyebrow at one of Gabriel's questions, "And why the bloody hells are you asking me about the singin' and dancin' when I'm not the one who's doing it?!"

Before she could go onto the next question, Vansel's voice could be heard as he cheerfully speaks up, "Oh hey!" When the party looks at him, they see that he is now wearing a dirtied white tablecloth as a robe, despite the clear stains on it.

And right now...he is guzzling down a bottle of wine!

Bloody Toes smirks at the sight and looks to Gabriel. After watching his reaction to the sight of Vansel guzzling down all of the wine in the bottle, she tells him, "There's more alcohol in that room," and she points to a door to a different room. (Room B17)

Maybe he misjudged the man-no the goat man rather, maybe he was more peculiar than even Jub or maybe the tales of forest folk and their revelry were more than fairytale? In the same breath that he sighed as he watched the satyr tie a dirty tablecloth around his neck like a bib and down a bottle of wine the half-elf also exhaled a laugh "Next room you say?" Gabriel's gaze darted from the redcap to the next room as if trying to decide what was more important, he decided though he would like nothing more to drink to his heart's content there were more important things than drink, they were in fact closer to their goal of finding Bavlorna "That is most kind but where is this study you mentioned? We have many questions for the lady of the house."

"Yeah, that we do." Brutrumukk said once Gabriel was done talking, eager to be about the business of killing the hag. Both to complete his deal with the Wisps and to get back at Bavlorna for stealing all the alcohol. "We've got a lotta very... pointed questions fer that beer stealin' bitch."