Jub gave the two darklings a look at the suggestion of a 'gender reveal party', though it came off less as the scowl he intended it to be more as a tired stare. He remained quiet as Brutrumukk carried out his transaction, glad at least that neither of them would have to give up their most cherished memory and even a little surprised that the barbarian had offered to pay for most of his spell components. He didn't think anyone had ever offered to buy something for him before.

He had no time to dwell on this - or any of the millions of things that were whizzing round his head right now - because his friend suddenly keeled over and started screaming. "What the f..." he started to shout at the darklings, only to be cut off when Brutrumukk rose back to his feet, seemingly fine. He didn't look any different than he had a moment before but his posture and mannerisms seemed a little different. He seemed to think he had fur again and then started attacking, saying something about them not creating any more weretigers.

"Oh great, he's finally gone crazy," Jub muttered quietly to himself. There was a short pause before he added, "Well... crazier."

When one of the Darklings called over to Jub to get the gnome under control, he gave her a look. "I'm sorry, but you're the one who's weird... ritual... thing made him start acting like this," Jub pointed out. "If you weren't prepared for the consequences, maybe you shouldn't be doing that. I'm just saying." He produced his wand. "Plus, you two kind of caught me on a not-so-good day and your shenanigans are pretty much the final straw for me so." With that, he unleashed a magic missile attack, two hitting Trinket and two hitting Bauble.

The Magic Missiles hit the darklings true, and the both of them look badly injured now. Trinket glares at Jub and they respond to the goblin while taking the herbs needed for the Find Familiar spell off of the shelf.

They respond to Jub, "If you can't handle Feywild Business, then you're not welcome either, even if you are the fucking Witchlight Monarch!" They then throw the herbs into the lake nearby. The plants sink into the depths along with the vase they were contained in. Trinket then adds after doing so, "By the way! We're the only shop in Prismeer. So, Good Luck finding another one!"

They then move to strike Brutrumukk with a dagger, only to find that his Brutrumukk's dodge saved him from another strike.

Brutrumukk let loose a furious roar as Trinket cast the herbs into the lake. A light bolt launched from his chest that sailed towards Trinket. And as Trinket deflected with their mirror, Brutrumukk lunged for Bauble. The darkling tried to ward the 'weretiger' off with their dagger, but Brutrumukk easily disarmed the already weakened darkling with a swipe up his 'claws'. As the dagger fell down onto the floor, Brutrumukk grabbed Bauble by the neck and lifted the darkling up into the air. As he strangled his helpless prey, Brutrumukk rounded on Trinket with a menacing grin.

"I 'ave a gift fer you. One I'm sure that you will love." Brutrumukk declared, reigning in his intense desire for bloodshed just enough to loosen his grip on Bauble's neck when the Darkling passed out from a lack of air. "It's the gift o' me not drownin' you like I'm about to drown this one 'ere. Now don't you think that's just the loveliest gift what you've ever gotten? O' course, now the Rule 'o Recipe City says you 'ave to gimme a gift in return. An' I would very much like the gift o' you goin' into that water an' gettin' those 'erbs back."

"You better do what he says," Jub said, motioning with his wand from Trinket to the water. "If you go down there and retrieve the herbs, there is a chance you might survive. If you don't go down there, I'm going to make this whole place light up, and I have a feeling that's not going to be very fun for either of you."

Trinket doesn't seem the least bit intimidated. After Brutrumukk and Jub speak, they spit at the ground, and answer, "That ain't a gift. It's a common courtesy. We followed the Rule of Reciprocity ourselves," They then sneer at Jub, "His Highness shot us with Magic Missiles, so he ain't gettin' a familiar,"

They then sneered, "We've been nuttin' but accommodatin' ta ya. Ya could've renegotiated if ya didn't like the prices. If it wasn't possible, we never would have accepted the Terrasque balloon animal. Yer the ones who attacked. Yer in the wrong. And yer the ones who will suffer for it,"

"Final answer?" Brutrumukk asked. When he received no notion that Trinket had changed their mind, Brutrumukk chuckled, kicked the dagger up off the ground, caught it, and shifted Bauble into a shielding position. "I can respect that." Brutrumukk stated. "Die well an' go to yer gods with pride. When Mag finally get 'round to 'em, I'll look fer you in the fightin'." With that said, a tense standoff settled over the two as they readied themselves for the final clash. Then, in the time it took to blink, they were on each other. Trinket missed their thrust, and Brutrumukk had almost missed his own. But his pact with the Will-o'-Wells came into play just in time to guide the dagger into the darkling's heart.

But it seemed the darkling wasn't done just yet.

Trinket lunged trying to get at Brutrumukk, only for the dagger to plunge itself into Bauble. They gasp as the Brutrumukk's dagger was plunged into their body. They remained standing and they give a raspy chuckle.

"Your greed shall be your undoing..."

"Oh no, this isn't about greed," Jub said. He paused before glancing over at Brutrumukk. "Well, least not for me. I'm just really sick of this fey nonsense right now." He pointed at Trinket. "It's ridiculous. You're ridiculous, and I'm not taking anymore of it!" With that, he flung a fire bolt at Trinket.

When the firebolt struck the darkling, Brutrumukk refused to look away for even a moment. Even as Trinket's Death Flash robbed him of his sight for a time. The courage to defy a foe to the bitter end was something Brutrumukk both respected and envied in other races, and he always made sure to show that respect in the final moments of those enemies he faced that fought to the death.

"Perhaps it will. Someday." Brutrumukk spoke in reply to the dead darkling's final words when his vision began to clear. "Not today, though... Not today."

With battle no longer at hand, Brutrumukk's rage abated and he set about looting the shop. First, he pulled the dagger out of Bauble and tossed their body into the water. Then he shrugged the backpack off of his back, set it down on the counter, and set about collecting up everything in the shop, starting with his balloon tarrasque and the marbles that held his colors before moving on to everything else the shop had to offer. Once that was done, he donned the jester's garb and sheathed the darklings' daggers on either side of the outfit's belt.

Once the looting was concluded and the backpack was back on his back, Brutrumukk vaulted back over the counter and walked over to the edge of the boardwalk nearest the spot in the water where he saw the herbs land. He looked into the depths and found the herbs pretty easily... But he wasn't the only one who had found the herbs. "Mag damn it. Nothin' is ever simple 'ere, is it?" Brutrumukk spoke in annoyance as a fish the size of an ogre swam up and swallowed the herbs. Thankfully, Brutrumukk had picked up something of a proficiency with handling animals when his duties as the Spirit of the Snoring Stone called for him to watch over herds of livestock. This had included an aquatic farm of giant fish that had been set up along a river near the Snoring Stone.

Taking the Duskmallow Pie and the dragon gourd out of his backpack, Brutrumukk 'transformed' back into gnome form to appear less threatening and crumbled some of the pie into the water to lure the fish up to the surface where Brutrumukk could then use past experience in dealing with giant fish to coax this one into giving up the herbs.

As Brutrumukk collected the items in the shop, he notices that a lot of the items are just junk. The only thing that seems to be of value is the Moonlight Monocle. When Brutrumukk takes the marbles that held their colors, they seep back into his being. The bells on the outfit jingle and ring as he moves about in this jester costume.

He does manage to get the fish's attention, and it does swim to eat the bits of duskmallow pie that was crumbled into the water. Brutrumukk would see the fish open its maw. It's not just large enough to swallow him whole, but it has circular rows of sharp, shark like teeth. The herbs seem to be deep in its gullet now, because he cannot see them in the maw.

But taking in this sight...a primal fear starts to make itself known to Brutrumukk.

Everything was going so well. He had lured the fish up from below. He had coaxed it into opening its mouth wide enough to let him reach in for the herbs. But just as he was about to do so, Brutrumukk felt a familiar presence take hold of him. Having been denied His chance to possess Brutrumukk during his encounter with the merrow, it seemed that Skiggaret had no intention of letting Brutrumukk escape His influence this time. And so Brutrumukk froze, unwilling to pull away but unable to get any closer.

"Booyagh... Booyagh..." Brutrumukk quietly called out to Jub. "The 'erbs are in this fish's gullet. But Skiggaret's got me, and now all I can do is keep the fish 'ere with more pie. If you want the 'erbs, yer gonna 'ave to get 'em yerself." With that said, Brutrumukk crumbled some more pie down into the water to keep the fish from swimming away.

The rush of adrenaline and righteous anger that had been motivating Jub left him the moment the shopkeepers were dead, and newer, stronger feeling quickly took its place: dread.

He hadn't been thinking to clearly when Trinket had said that greed would be their undoing, thinking they was speaking generally as some last attempt to be ominous. But no. No, turns out this plane had some tricks up its sleeve to prevent this kind of thing from happening, and by breaking the Rule of Reciprocity they had attempted to invoke just a moment ago, they'd rendered the magical items they'd just purchased useless.

"... I hate it here," Jub said aloud, more to himself than anyone else.

However, before he could start to dwell on what a terrible mistake they'd just made, Brutrumukk happened upon another discovery: the herbs had been swallowed by a giant fish, a fish that Brutrumukk had managed to coax close to them using bits of the previously-magical pie he'd bought. Seems like the items they had purchased weren't so useless after all.

Still, Jub very quickly realised that the herbs were going to have been rendered useless at this point, either through the water or the fish's intestinal juices. Another wonderful quirk of the Rule of Reciprocity, it seemed. However, he could perhaps still retrieve something else from the fish's stomach, likely some other treasure it had managed to swallow.

Taking a deep breath, he pointed his wand at the fish, conjuring up a spectral hand that entered the fish's mouth.

The fish doesn't seem to mind the Mage Hand as it keeps eating at the bits of Duskmallow Pie thrown into the water. Jub manages to fish out a strange notebook, a jar containing a paper wasp nest complete with wasps flying in there, and two gold pieces for the trouble.

Brutrumukk did keep the fish there for a bit longer with the gourd, but Jub wasn't able to get anything else out of the fish.

Once it has eaten the gourd, it swims away from Brutrumukk and Jub.

As Brutrumukk watched the fish swim away, he felt Skiggaret's influence fade. Despite this however, the unpleasant knotting sensation in his stomach remained. Brutrumukk was puzzled by this, and frustratingly it was a puzzle he could not solve. For every time he tried, Brutrumukk found his thoughts drawn time and time again back to his actions both past and recent regarding Jub and his familiar. He recalled how it was his request of Jub to cause a distraction that got the spider killed. He recalled how Jub had only needed to buy the herbs needed for the spell. Herbs that were now lost to the fish. And with these recollections at the forefront of Brutrumukk's mind, the knotting sensation only grew worse. But why though? Why was remembering these things making him feel so un well. As he pondered this confusing question, Brutrumukk sat down on the edge of the boardwalk and looked out across the water with a crestfallen expression on his face.

Jub gave a loud sigh as the fish swam away. Well, at least they hadn't come out of this situation completely empty-handed... though he was probably going to have to apologize ten-times over to Eighteyes once they were reunited for keeping her waiting so long. Then again, maybe she was enjoying the reprieve in... wherever familiars went when they weren't in a physical form.

He started inspecting the things he had retrieved from the fish's stomach. He was a little hesitant to mess with the nest, so he turned his attention to the notebook. The pages appeared empty at first, but he had a feeling due to just how wacky the Feywild had proven itself to be that there was more to it than initially appeared. He began turning the book over in his claws, trying to figure out a way to unravel its secrets.

What he uncovered was perhaps a little underwhelming. It seemed to be the journal of some poor sailor who, Jub could only assume, ended up also being swallowed by the fish at some point. Well, it was a good thing neither of them had attempted to go after the herbs themselves then, as they would have likely met the same fate. Jub placed the book in his bag, likely to go over it at some later point.

"There are two pieces of gold here," Jub said, turning to Brutrumukk. He didn't seem to register the gnome's change in demeanor. "We could split or you could have both of them instead. Considering you were the one who actually paid for that stuff, I'm content with you having the money."

"There are two pieces of gold here," Jub interrupted Brutrumukk's thoughts, causing the bugbear gnome's eyes to flick towards the goblin. "We could split or you could have both of them instead. Considering you were the one who actually paid for that stuff, I'm content with you having the money."

Jub's words brought a chuckle out of Brutrumukk, though it was a chuckle that sounded devoid of any genuine mirth. The herbs that Jub needed to resummon his familiar had been lost because of Brutrumukk's rash actions, and the goblin was trying to pay him for it? The knot in Brutrumukk's stomach tightened.

"You can 'ave the gold." Brutrumukk said before rising to his feet and beginning to walk back up the board walk and towards D8. "C'mon. We still gotta find a boat."

Jub blinked in surprise at Brutrumukk's response. He had not expected that. "Oh... kay," he said after a long pause. "If you're... sure." He quickly packed the remaining things in his bag, being extra careful with the jar that contained the nest, before hurrying after the barbarian.

Jub and Brutrumukk are able to cross the bridge and reach land once more without much incident. Now that they weren't in a hurry to investigate the storm cloud, they see what they initially passed by...

Rising from the soggy earth is a sturdy wooden hut with an open doorway on one side of it. At the back of the hut are two holding cells. Thick mangrove roots serve as bars, with a small round door closing off each cell. The floor of one cell is covered with several inches of stinking water. The other cell holds a figure in rags slumped against the back wall.

@rush99999@XxFellsingxX

"No boats 'ere." Brutrumukk said as he took in the sight of the holding cells. "Just some jail fer the frog nobs. Let's keep movin'." With that said, Brutrumukk turned away to head for D6, but would stop if Jub wanted to linger.

We will look for it the next time we are in Bavlorna's hut. I believe we are going to be there again sooner than anyone would prefer." Her tone was probably more anxious and uncertain than she had intended.

Rory glanced to her three remaining companions hoping one of them may have an idea of what to say or do next. She knew they would need to find Jub and Brutrumukk soon. That and figure out how exactly they were going to deal with Bavlorna.