"No! Fuck that! I ain't stayin' like this!" Brutrumukk exclaimed when Tsak declared his transformation permanent. "The monkey. If givin' 'im a button means 'e 'elps ya, then maybe 'e'll turn me back into a bugbear if I give 'im another button." Brutrumukk nodded to himself then, his destination set. "I need a button. An' a way back to the Witchlight Carnival." Brutrumukk declared. "...Does anyone 'ave either o' those things?"

The initial shock had faded some and Aurora realized that Brutrumukk was stark naked before the group. Quickly she averted her gaze looking to something further off and not at the gnomish figure before her."First off, the only way back to the carnival is back at the hags hut and I am unsure of how to use it to get back. Secondly, I do not think giving Earnest a second button will reverse this." The elf paused as she racked her brain for something that might. It could have been that in the moment there was just to much to take in as she could not think of any of the different spells her eldest sibling had mentioned could alter one's form. "I'm not sure what can." She said after a moment before irritation set in at Brut's immediate obsession with getting his form back now. "Do you even realize what just happened? You almost got Jub killed on top of getting yourself killed! All because you could not keep yourself from drinking some alcohol back at the hut. While you were under the influence of whatever that liquor was, we had to try to get you to follow us out of there. If it had not been for Jub you would have been left there."

At this point all of Rory's frustration with Brutrumukk had finally started to boil over. Anger and disbelief at how little of the risk he had put the rest of thr group into, especially Jub with how close of a friendship they had made in the last two days. "Maybe instead of trying to go back to being a bugbear you should consider the fact you've been given another chance at life. Rushing into something is what got you killed in the first place and almost killed Jub. If you are going to continue this then you will do so without my help. Here, take what little of your stuff I could get." Rory stooped down to grab the wet back and threw it as hard as she could at the now gnome, formerly bugbear. She turned away and started off in a direction away from where everyone else was. The elf knew she had lost her temper and wanted to find somewhere more calm and quiet to try to collect herself and process what had just happened.

"Gah!" Brutrumukk cried out as a backpack that was much heavier than he remembered it being made contact with him. All consideration of Aurora's words left the bugbear's gnome's mind as he felt the weight bearing down on his weakened arms. Another chance at life? This wasn't life. This was a fate worse than death. Brutrumukk would have thrown himself back to the monsters the moment he saw his reflection in the water if it weren't for the fact that he would have to face his gods again, only this time not as a bugbear and right after raging against them for laughing at Jub. As Aurora walked away, Brutrumukk looked to the remaining party members. "What's the way back to the Carnival at the 'ag's 'ut?" He asked them.

As Aurora stormed off, Jub realised he probably had to act fast before this situation escalated. The last thing they needed was for Brutrumukk to go running off and getting himself killed again... likely permanently this time. "Well first off, the fairy is correct," he said, tossing his cloak over the former bugbear. "You're not going anywhere until you've put some clothes on. I don't know how the fey feel about nudists, but I don't want to test that out. Might turn you into a naked mole rat or something as payback." He cleared his throat with a cough. "And second off, there is another way we can undo this that doesn't involve traipsing off back to the carnival: by doing exactly what we were doing in the first place. You want to help your fairy godmother right? Restore her, get rid of the hags, put her back on her rightful throne, whatever. You do that, she probably will turn you back to how you were before if you ask." He put his hands up in the air and looked at the faces of his remaining party members. "There. I solved it. Wow. Don't all thank me at once."

Tsak Vlos

---

Tsak, not for the first time, was shocked by the closed-minded selfishness of the bug-gnome. Shaking her head cussing under her breath in sylvan, she would fly off after Aurora, knowing all too well how easy it is to get lost in the Fae. Catching up to her, Tsak would call out "Aurora!" before landing beside her. "Aurora, what in the nine hells did I miss? What happened back there and what was that all about?"

"Yeah, no. Fuck that. I ain't goin' through the rest o' this job as a gnome." Brutrumukk firmly denied Jub's solution. "If you lot wanna keep goin', that's fine by me. Just tell me what the way back to the Carnival is an' I'll catch up once I've fixed this."

Watching as his elf friend stormed off, he couldn’t help but sympathize with Aurora but at the same time he still felt the weight of the situation upon his shoulders for many different reasons despite her attempts to tell him otherwise.

Gabriel grunted, picking himself up off the rickety planks of the ramshackle wooden dock. The half-elf massaged his temples, wishing he had drunk from the casks of liquor back at the witches shack instead of the ex-bugbear.

He sighed picking up a stone from the ground and turning it on his hands "What I wouldn't give to turn back time to when I understood what in the Nine Hells happened. Might just quit the adventuring life when this is over, Hells I might even quit drinking-" the half-elf snorted in disbelief to what he was saying cutting himself off and shaking his head.

"I wish I believed even myself, I...I think I should go after those two." the bard winded his wrist back and twisted it before leaving throwing the stone into the murky water as he followed after Aurora and Tsak.

Zavakri looks to Aurora as she storms past, and she turns her attention to Brutrumukk while Tsak and Gabriel move past her. Her irises are still showing the golden clock face irises as her attention is on Brutrumukk.

"I am inclined to agree with Aurora. Someone did the most they could in magic, guiding the wild magic surge into bringing you back from death. Your immediate dismissal is equivalent to spitting on this gift,"

She then turns her back and she asks Brutrumukk, "You just cursed at the Goblinoid Gods. Do you really think they will let you go back to being any sort of goblinoid if they have anything to say about it?"

After giving that bit of food for thought, she calmly walks after Aurora, Tsak, and Gabriel, leaving Jub and Brutrumukk alone.

---

Aurora, Gabriel, Tsak, and Zavakri's hearts suddenly feels cold, filling them with a sense of loneliness that borders on despair. A haunting, melancholy tune played on a flute reaches out to you from somewhere within a field of oversized toadstools.

Tsak would recognize this. She's met the player and listened to him play for a while before catching up with the others. She knows who the player of the flute is.

Does the rest of the party follow this music?

Tsak Vlos

---

Tsak, finding it hauntingly mesmerizing, will stop bothering their rogue friend and simply follow, humming the sad tune, wondering who hurt him, who did the elf man lose, to play such a beautifully despairing song. "Do you think we're going to make it back..?" She asks openly to no one, wondering if she was too small and weak for this.

"You just cursed at the Goblinoid Gods. Do you really think they will let you go back to being any sort of goblinoid if they have anything to say about it?"

That question, more than anything else said by the party thus far, made Brutrumukk pause. Would the gods really not allow him to go back because of a handful of insults? Would he be doomed to spend the rest of his life as a gnome. And once he died, what then? Would the Infinite Battlefield still be the place his soul is drawn to? Or would he be brought to wherever gnome souls were sent to and have to go before whatever false gods the gnomes revered instead. Brutrumukk shuddered at the thought.

The bugbear gnome shook his head then to clear those dark thoughts from his mind. No. There was still a way back. There had to be. If the gods were truly angry about the insults, he'd know. Hruggek would have called down lightning. Grankhul would have struck him blind or dead. Maglubiyet certainly wouldn't have stopped at keeping Brutrumukk a gnome forever if he had actually been offended by the bugbear's gnome's cursing. And if even half the stories Brutrumukk's dad had told about the Eternal War were true, then Brutrumukk knew the gods wouldn't be so quick to throw him aside. They needed to keep up with the rapid growth of Gruumsh's horde after all.

Brutrumukk shook his head one more time to clear away the last lingering thoughts brought about be Zavakri's words. Once that was done, he looked once more across the lake to where Bavlorna's cottage lay. If what Zavakri said about the monkey having done all he could was true, then it probably wouldn't be able to help him turn back. Bavlorna though? The hag definitely had more magic than a monkey would hope to have. More than enough to turn Brutrumukk back if he was lucky. All he had to do was convince her to do so. But before he could, Brutrumukk would need to do those things she wanted done before she'd make a deal. Only trouble was that he'd forgotten what those thing were, so he'd have to go ask her what they were again. Which begged the question: How would he get back across the water?

The skiff that Brutrumukk rowed out on to fish was still out on the lake, no one had bothered rowing it back when fleeing the merrow, Opting to simply swim back to the shore. And since Brutrumukk wasn't keen on risking a second encounter with the merrow, he wasn't going to dip a single toe in the water if he could help it. "I need another boat." Brutrumukk said before looking around. After a moment, Brutrumukk spotted the dock that leads to D11. "That looks like as good a place as any to start lookin'." Brutrumukk declared before making his way over.

Jub looked visibly deflated when Brutrumukk dismissed his idea, and his expression only worsened with each member of the group who decided to leave and go after Aurora. Eventually, it was just him and Brutrumukk, and the former bugbear seemed adamant as ever at making his way back towards the cottage. Jub glanced back in the direction the others had gone to, and despite understanding their frustration, he couldn't help but feel angry at them for just deciding to up and leave. Yes, Brutrumukk was being a major pain in the ass, but he had also just died and had been brought back in a new body. Did they really think leaving him alone right now, of all times, was a good idea?

Jub shook his head and took a deep breath. He needed to stop thinking about it, or he'd just make himself upset, and at least one of them needed a clear head right now. Without saying anything, he quietly started following after Brutrumukk.

It didn't take long for Brutrumukk to notice that Jub was following him. The bugbear gnome felt the urge to hoist the goblin onto his shoulder, but he remembered a moment later that he was in no position to do that now. Brutrumukk's shoulders weren't as broad as they were before and he was barely strong enough to carry the backpack he was holding. Although the fact that it was completely drenched might have had something to do with that. "Oi oi, booyagh." Brutrumukk said as he held out the dripping wet backpack. "Me backpack's soaked. Don't suppose you know a spell to dry it quick?"

It took all of Jub's willpower not to give a very loud, exaggerated sigh when Brutrumukk requested his magical assistance. He went to grab his wand out of his pockets, only to realise that he'd left it in his cloak which the barbarian was now wearing. "Hold on," he muttered, taking a few steps towards the gnome and snatching his arcane focus out of the cloak before holding it over the backpack. Technically speaking, he didn't need the wand to do such a small spell, but performing magic without it felt lacking in showmanship. He waved it over the bag and mumbled a few words under his breath and within an instant, Prestidigitation did its thing and it was instantly dry. "There. Done." He then put his wand back into his own bag.

Aurora in her anger was not paying attention to where exactly she was going. Nor was she actively listening the remaining conversation that was happening as she was leaving. It was just as Tsak landed and started to ask what happened that Rory stopped and examined herself. In short order she started cleaning the muck off and drying what she could of her clothing and gear with prestidigitation.

"Tsak I'm not even sure where to begin. Shortly after we lost you we found wisps bound to a well with a grudge against Bavlorna Blightstraw made a deal with them so Brutrumukk could get a few trinkets amd the rest of us a small boon to help fight the hag. We stopped at a hill with living trees that moved about and could talk, a goblin obsessed with keys, freed Sir Talavar, found a walking inn who's owner also has a grudge against Bavlorna Blightstraw. Just before we woke up in Bavlorna's cottage we stumbled into the bunny brigades led by Agdon Longscarf. He was kind enough to leave some of us with this mark." Aurora had paused long enough to show the brand on her collar bone. "From there we ended up in cages, without thieves tools to properly pick the locks either. Brutrumukk did manage to start the process of freeing the rest of us. After we were freed we learned one of Bavlorna's weaknesses, something called Widdershins, and Zavakri learned her sister was being kept as a slave to one of the other hags. She charged in before we were ready and we almost had to fight the hag. We managed to smooth it over and were given a list of chores to do before we return. Unfortunately I think those are just something to distract us while she plots an escape. Brutrumukk drank a whole barrel of some kind of wierd fey alcohol and was acting wierd since. We finally got him out of there then he decided to go back on the raft for something, started to try to go fishing, and got killed by those things in the water." The elf had run out of breath in giving this explanation. She was still angry with Brutrumukk's insistence on turning back into a bugbear. Not as much as a few moments ago but enough still she was not going to go back and help him. It was far past time that she left him to whatever his decisions would result. The only guilt she felt is that Jub was also left to whatever consequences those decisions would be.

With a shiver, Aurora noticed the cold feeling that settled over herself. The music had caught her attention and drew the elf towards the source of the sound. "I don't know Tsak. With everything that's happened today I'm starting to wonder if we will."

Pausing he listened to the sad melody, Gabriel frowned having heard nothing like it before but with the recent happenings even the melancholy of it didn't effect him.

Would they make it out of this? there were times he asked himself this all throughout his life, and he wasn't dead yet.

He had nothing useful to add, with the death and resurrection or rather reincarnation of Brutrumukk he was beginning to feel detached from his emotions as he had no time to process them. His usual outgoing and charismatic demeanor was gone, Gabe wouldn't even look his friends in the eye. Still feeling what happened was his fault, he didn't quite know whether to talk to his friends about it. So he just stood in silence, listening to the music.

Tsak, Aurora, Gabriel, and Zavakri walk to the source of the music to find a slender elf with pale blue skin and black hair sits curled in the shadow of a gray, six-foot-tall toadstool, playing a somber tune on a double flute. He finishes the tune and sets down his instrument and looks to the party. With a monotone voice, completely devoid of emotion he greets Tsak, "Oh. Hello again,"

---

Jub and Brutrumukk manage to make their way to the dock without any issues. There they see a skiff floating back and forth from this dock, to the other nearby dock across the lake. Jub can sense the magic around the skiff, causing it to move on its own. He immediately gets the sense that they are not going to be able to hijack this skiff to make their way back to Bavlorna's.

If anything, this seems to be somebody's alternative answer to a bridge.

"Cheers." Brutrumukk said in grateful response to Jub's magic drying his things. As they continued on, Brutrumukk decided that since he'd be staying like this for a time, he might as well take stock of what he had gained from this. If nothing else, it would take his mind off what he'd lost for a time. After a moment of pondering himself, Brutrumukk realized three things about himself.

The first thing was that though the kind of cunning he was used to was no longer there, Brutrumukk realized that it hadn't left him. Rather, it had changed. Instead of having a good mind for stealth, he now had a mind that could more easily shrug off magic. Something that could come in handy if he ran into that kenku again... Assuming of course that he ran into it again before turning back into a bugbear, that is.

The second thing was that while he was no longer proficient in stealth, he could tell there was still something he could do to aid his sneaking efforts. But he didn't know exactly what that was just yet. He knew he'd find out once he had a bit of fleece though.

Finally, there was something he had noticed the moment he'd woken up, but had been too caught up in the horror of his transformation to actually take in until now. When he heard the sounds that were being made by small creatures, he could understand the gist of what those sounds were meant to convey.

Brutrumukk knew that final thing was the racial ability that most forest gnomes favored above all. Forest gnomes loved animals and often kept squirrels, badgers, rabbits, moles, woodpeckers, and other creatures as beloved pets... Where did that come from?

Brutrumukk was certain he hadn't known that before. He took a moment to ponder his mind and realized that there were quite a few things in there that he didn't know before. Turning into a gnome had made him more intelligent!

Sensing an opportunity in this, Brutrumukk searched through these newfound pieces of trivia to see if he knew a way to turn himself back. Sadly, he new knowledge offered no easy solutions. Even the spell that had changed him into this was beyond Jub's current ability. And even if it were, there was no guarantee it would turn him back into a bugbear. The only way out was to get someone powerful enough to wish him back to normal to do so without fucking him over. The hag remained his best bet to a speedy solution.

Brutrumukk was pulled from his thoughts by the sight of a skiff moving back and forth between a pair of docks without anyone on it to make it go. "That boat don't got no one steerin' it." Brutrumukk remarked to Jub. "So I'm sure no one'll mind if we change that."

Tsak Vlos

---

Tsak couldn't help but blush a little at being recognized as she looks down at the ground, "Hey you, said I'd return... I think? Found my party, thanks for the advice by the way! Err... wouldn't know how to turn a Bugbear who died and came back as a gnome, back into a bugbear... would you?"

Jub followed Brutrumukk's gaze towards the boat. It said a lot about the state of things that a boat driving itself was perhaps the least bizarre thing that had happened to them today. That being said, the boat and the magic that seemed to be around it still made his wary. "If you're planning on hijacking that boat back towards the cottage, you're going to be sorely disappointed," he said. "It's got some sort of enchantment on it to make it go back and forth between the two docks." He glanced over at the barbarian. "I heard somewhere that gnomes are apparently more magically attuned than most other folks so I'm surprised you can't sense it. Maybe that's something they have to train themselves to do..."

As he was speaking, something seemed to occur to him. "Look, if I really can't persuade you not to go to that cottage, there is perhaps another way. I still have a couple more uses of that charm the Witchlight Carnival gave me when I was crowned monarch. Now that we're about the same size, I could try and carry you over there." He didn't exactly want to enter that hag's house again, but if the former bugbear was dead set on it than he doubted he could persuade him otherwise. At least this would save them some time... and the possibility of ending up in the water once more.

"An old song, a touching one at that..." the duelist mused aloud to himself while scratching his goatee "Say you know this lad?" Gabe couldn't help but raise his brows at the faeries blush, almost put his mind off Brutrumukk almost he sighed. "I never should have done anything..." he mumbled running his fingers through his silvery hair.

"Anyways," the half-elf apt to talk about anything else cleared his throat "Pleasure to meet you..." Gabe bowed slightly "Beg pardon what is your name?"