Before he launched into another rant he paused, catching the fugitive look the elf cast his way "Sacred my ass," Gabriel muttered with a huff, stowing his rapier back at his side "Forgive my dreadful manners I have not had the greatest day if you must know." with a sigh the half-elf ran a hand through his hair, pausing to stare at his finger bare of its ring "Now if you will excuse us we have..ugh chores to be doing." he grumbled at that last part but he would have more time to complain later or rather his companions would at him.

"And a thousand pardons, my elvish friend is correct in saying I am unaccustomed to the laws of this realm, please I beg your forgiveness at least on behalf of myself as well as the rude interruption." Gabriel added for good measure, his words had an edge to them that filled Aurora with a bit more confidence.

Zavakri looked just as enraged as Gabriel, but she fell silent as Aurora spoke up and salvaged the situation. As Gabriel gave his tirade, Charm simply sipped her tea while Bavlorna stood up to loom over the group. But when Aurora spoke, she seemed to calm down and lower herself back to her perched position.

"At least one of you knows your manners to a gracious hostess,"

She gives a few more raspy chuckles, and she speaks again, "Now then...here are the three chores you must complete before you can ask for my aid,"

She counts off each chore with a long, gnarled finger,

"My Preservation Pool. It won't fill with water. One of the wells is clearly plugged. Fix it,"

She uncurls a second finger,

"Find my Big Book of Bad Blood. It's gone missing. It couldn't have been taken too far from here,"

She then raises the rest of her fingers to show an open hand,

"And finally: Pick up a package for me. I'm a taxidermist, you see. And a Bullywug hunter should have my next projects ready for me,"

---

Meanwhile, when Brutrumukk and Jub open the door to the room on the side, they would see that Bloody Toes was not joking about the alcohol...

A contraption made of entangled copper tubes connects to a pot-bellied boiler and a dozen cylindrical containers, which in turn sprout even more tubes that feed into buckets. Barrels are clustered in the southeast corner, and a worktable in one corner of the room has bits of copper and metalworking tools strewn across it. Light filters in through the green, diamond-shaped panes of glass set into the window.

Jub would definitely recognize this as a Hooch Distillery. Bavlorna has been making her own alcohol.

Brutrumukk paused at the door when he heard Aurora successfully smoothing things over with Bavlorna. "Looks like we ain't in no 'urry no more." Brutrumukk said. "That's fine by me. Means there's time fer drinkin' now." With that said, Brutrumukk opened the door and beheld the alcoholic treasure trove that lay within. "Oho, jackpot!" Brutrumukk said eagerly before looking to Jub. "I reckon the 'ag wouldn't miss a barrel or two, eh?"

"I reckon the 'ag wouldn't miss a barrel or two, eh?"

Jub frowned. "I don't know if we should be messing with anything that belongs to her, personally," he said. "For all we know, this could be some weird fairy booze that is toxic to mortals. Or turns us into frogs or..." He shrugged. "Whatever hags do to people."

"Thank you for your patience. We shall return later." Rory gave a slight bow as before motioning to the others to step out of the room. She waited for the other two to step out before shutting the door. "We need a new plan now. Let's find Jub and Brut and figure out a new plan. They went down that way." She said quietly while pointing to the last spot she had seen the goblinoids. "Did either of you notice Bavlorna's other guest did not have a shadow? It kind of reminded me of an old story tale I heard. I don't remember the exacts but there was a character who had used scissors to separate the shadow from another character. The shadow then continued on as if it was it's own person. It was a strange tale, though now I find myself wanting to remember more of it. There might be something in it that would give us more knowledge of who or what Charm is." The elf was doing her best to keep her voice down should others besides Gabe and Zavakri being listening in.

"Ah you worry too much." Brutrumukk said dismissively as he walked over to one of the barrels. "At least some o' this 'as gotta be the booze what Sue lost, so as least some o' this should be safe to drink." With that said, Brutrumukk stopped before one of the barrels and punched a hole in the top of it. "Cheers!" The bugbear exclaimed before lifting the barrel up and chugging down whatever poured from the hole.

"Ah you worry too much," Brutrumukk said dismissively.

Yeah, that was about the response Jub had expected. At least Brutrumukk was back to his old 'devil-may-care' self again, which, despite the annoyance it causes, it help Jub to feel more at ease despite their current situation. "How do you feel?" he asked the bugbear after he had consumed some of the alcohol, ready to spring into action should he could badly affected.

Before Aurora, Gabriel, Zavakri and Vansel leave, Charm bids them an invitation, "Oh, by the way, while you are doing Bavlorna's chores, feel free to stop by my shop. It's underneath the Thunder Cloud. You can't miss it. I'm sure my fellow merchants would be delighted to meet you,"

After that, both the hag and mysterious merchant watch as the party members who bursted in leave. Zavakri follows, albeit very reluctantly.

Zavakri answers Aurora's question regarding Charm's shadow, "I didn't notice that. Maybe you're overthinking it? I mean, we're not exactly casting long shadows in this cottage either,"

The group continues walking until they finally enter the Hooch Distillery where Jub and Brutrumukk are...

---

Brutrumukk lifts the heavy barrel full of hooch and proceeds to drink all of the contents, chugging all the way. As he chugs, Jub would notice how an air of fey and wild magic seemed to gather and accumulate around Brutrumukk. This magic grows intense, becoming a visible aura of rainbow colors around him until finally...the aura of magic settled onto pure white, reminiscent of healing magic, before settling onto him.

The aura would disappear only to show that Brutrumukk's fur color changed!

His fur is now a bright red with some hairs colored black to form large polka dots. The coloration resembles that of a ladybug.

The rest of the party enter the Distillery just as Brutrumukk finishes the barrel of hooch and his fur color changed.

When Brutrumukk turns to face them, the group would see that his pupils have dilated. One would have to squint to see his irises.



Zavakri notes how Brutrumukk looked in the silent Distillery and she asked Jub, "Bloody 'Ells! Jub, what did he do?!"

Once Brutrumukk had drunk every last drop of hooch in the barrel, the bugbear slowly lowered the barrel and gazed blankly into space for a time.

"How do you feel?" Brutrumukk heard a voice ask.

Brutrumukk's simple reply was to let loose a long, thunderous burp that echoed throughout the cottage, shook the building to its very foundations, and filled a eighth and one third of the room with pink bubbles. Brutrumukk giggled giddily before looking at source of the voice with a big goofy grin "I feel great, Jellybean Starfish!" Brutrumukk drunkenly exclaimed before watching as the starfish that held Jellybean Starfish together waved at him.

"Hi Brutrumukk!"

"Hic! Oi oi!"

"Hi!"

"Hic! 'I to you too!"

"Hi!"

"Hic! 'Ey there!"

"Hello!"

"Hic! 'Ello!"

"Yo, I'm Bob!"

"Hic! Nice to meet ya, Bob... Wait a sec... Bob? Weren't you a snail earlier?"

"It looks like Brutrumukk enjoyed our creation, ladies!" The Contraption spoke up before bob could answer, sending the entire room into a musical number.

Brutrumukk giggled and hiccupped as he danced along to the song. Stopping only when ne noticed those present at the door. "Oi oi! Shadowflowers! Panache! Tick-Tock! Goat!" Brutrumukk called out. "Come join us! The party's just gettin' started!"

Jub's eyes darted between the delirious Brutrumukk and the rest of the group. He held up his hands. "Before anyone says anything," he said. "I was the one who suggested we don't drink the alcohol. Okay?" He looked between the group again. "I said no, and he did it anyway. Thus, this is 100% not my fault."

"For the love of Gods, Jub..." the half elf kneaded the skin between his eyebrows, shaking his head and sighing "We don't have time for this, we have a job to do. And for the love of Correlon splash some water in Brut's face, he needs to sober up fast." Gabe knelt by the now empty barrel his shaggy comrade had likely drunk from, didn't look any different from your regular cask but nothing here was regular.

"Not that I'd love to drink this day away, we have some chores to do for our gracious hostess." his gaze swiveled to Aurora expectantly for her to fill the two goblinoids in on the current situation.

Jub made a face. "Chores?" he said. "So she cages us and almost serves us for dinner, and now we're supposed to, what, tend to the garden and clean the kitchen, is that it?" He folds his arms before muttering under his breath, "The nerve of some people."

Aurora looked from Jub to Brutrumukk realizing that the bugbear was throughly drunk. She wasn't sure of she should be surprised or not that the bugbear had decided to drink a whole cask of... whatever Bavlorna was brewing. "Shadowflowers? Where in the... You know what never mind there's more important things at hand." The elf gave a quick look around before turning to Jub. "Yes there are some 'chores' that Bavlorna had requested we do before she would help us. Had we not offered to do these I do not think the four of us would be here to talk. Hopefully we can use this time to get him sobered up" She pointed to the intoxicated bugbear, "and get a new plan together. It was requested that we clear out one of the wells for her preservation pool, find the big book of bad blood, and pick up a taxidermy project from a bullywog. I would prefer we discuss more of these things not here in this hut. It feels a bit to stuffy." She hoped the others might catch on that she meant there might be others listening who did not have the best intentions for the party. "Bavlorna's other guest, Charm I believe is the name Bavlorna gave, mentioned that they have a shop under a thunder cloud. There might be supplies there, though I think we should all be careful. I'm not entirely sure why but something about them is off."

"Yes there are some 'chores' that Bavlorna had requested we do before she would help us," Aurora responded to Jub's question. "Had we not offered to do these I do not think the four of us would be here to talk."

Jub gave a very loud sigh. "Yeeeeah, you're probably right," he admitted after a long pause. "But I'm still not happy about it!" He rifled around in his things, searching for his water skin. "But you are correct about getting Brutrumukk sobered up. Don't want him running after hallucinatory enemies and getting lost somewhere." He pulled out the waterskin and held it up to Brutrumukk. "Hey, Brut? Would you do me a favour and drink some of this, please?"

Vansel decides to chime in, trying to be helpful, "If I may, the water's not going to do it. At this point, he's going to need to sleep it off,"

He then went over to one of the barrels and opened a barrel to try some of the hooch himself. "Mmmm! Not bad! A hint of mushrooms...Yeah, this was made from mushrooms," He then giggled himself. His eyes are still normal, but he is swaying a bit.

A swirling aura of fey and wild magic appears around Vansel, changing colors as it swirled, until finally it settled on a light blue. The aura gathered in Vansel's eyes before fading.

Brutrumukk took one look at the waterskin that Jellybean Starfish had offered him before bursting out laughing. "Hahahaha! Oh you silly bean." Brutrumukk said. "You can't drink cheese."

"I mean... you can if you melt it." A voice chimed in.

"Yeah, but you need fire fer that. An' there ain't any fire in 'ere." Brutrumukk replied. "...'Ang on a moment. Who said that?"

"I did."

The voice drew Brutrumukk's attention down to where he had put the barrel he'd emptied, where he found a small dragon-like with scales some strange color between blue and green staring up at him. "Weren't you a barrel just now?" Brutrumukk asked.

"Bob was went from snail to starfish, what's wrong with me going from barrel to drake?"

"Fair enough." Brutrumukk said. "Wanna come explore the other rooms with me?"

"Sure!" The little dragon said eagerly.

"Let's go then!" Brutrumukk said before hoisting his new draconic companion onto the shoulder that Jellybean Starfish wasn't sitting on and stumbling off to B16.

To everyone else: Brutrumukk hoisted a barrel on his shoulder and marched to the next room. Vansel looks at the barrel, and he comments, "Oh? Is that a drake? How cute!"

Brutrumukk opens the door to find the Dining Room.

This room has two exits. Above each door, mounted on a wooden plaque, is a severed goblin head with its mouth agape. Other furnishings include a sideboard, two cupboards with doors made of wood-framed glass, and a large banquet table covered with plates of half-eaten food and a swarm of feasting flies. A chandelier hangs above the table, its tallow candles filling the room with dim, flickering light. Six mismatched chairs flank the table—three chairs per side.

"Oh? Is that a drake? How cute!" Vansel said.

"I know, right?" Brutrumukk agreed.

"Aw, shucks you guys. Stop it" The drake said bashfully.

Brutrumukk then opened the door and beheld the Dining Room that lay beyond. More specifically, he beheld the two head mounted over the doors he could see from looking into the room.

"Brutrumukk!" The head of Hruggek boomed in joyful greeting from above the door opposite the one Brut was looking through. "Good to see ya, lad!"

"Yeah, always 'appy to see you, Brut." The head of Grankhul agreed happily from the door off to the side. "Come on in. Come on in."

"Hruggek! Grankhul!" Brutrumukk greeted his gods as he stepped through the door. "Good to see the two o' you as well"

"Skobeloff! Am I glad to see you!" A girlish voice cried out from above the bugbear.

"Stargaze!" The drake on Brutrumukk's shoulder cried out in turn as Brutrumukk looked up to see another drake. This had white scales and caught in the mouth of Skiggaret, whose head hung above the door Brutrumukk had just walked through.

"Can you help me down? I'm stuck!" Stargaze implored before squeaking as Skiggaret bit into her for speaking. "He won't stop biting!"

"Don't worry, Stargaze!" Skobeloff reassured. "We'll save you!"

"Yeah, don't you worry." Brutrumukk said. "Mean as 'e is, Skiggaret ain't all that tough when you ain't about to die." With that said, Brutrumukk reached up, poked Skiggaret in the eyes, and pried Stargaze from the jaws of the bugbear god as he recoiled in pain. "There ya go." Brutrumukk said as he brought Stargaze down to eye level with him. "Yer alright now."

"Aaaand that's now two of our allies who have completely lost their minds," Jub said after Vansel had drank some of the hooch right in front of the group. He clapped his hands together decisively. "Okay, new rule: no one else is allowed to drink the alcohol." However, as he was in the middle of this speech, Brutrumukk started moving away into a different room, taking Jub along with him. "Oh for the love of..." He took a deep breath before calling back to the rest of the party. "We'll see the rest of you outside in a few minutes! He just needs to get this out of his system!" He turned back to Brutrumukk, who seemed to be engaging with his new hallucinations. "Hey, buddy," Jub said in a slightly strained voice. "Don't you feel like having a lie down right about now?"

To everyone who is sober, they watch Brutrumukk reach up into the severed goblin head above and actually pull out something. It's not a drake. You see Brutrumukk pulling out and holding another one of those mini-Bavlornas!



The creature looks at everyone wildly while Brutrumukk speaks, and when it had the chance, it squirmed out of his grasp and landed on the floor, moving to the opposite exit to escape.