"Alright. I take it that they'll have already let everyone know we're friendly, and that the Keepers will know what we want when we come to visit? Do you guys have a currency, or a barter system? And... um. It looks like you guys were the ones to seal the cave in, based on all the stoneworks here, do you happen to know if that's true? Oh. And probably more important. Is there anything that we absolutely should not do that we might not think not to do? Remember, we're from a very different place, so even obvious things may not be obvious."
"People trade what they want for what they want... They often usssse ingotssss..." The raptor fishes out a small metal chit, about an inch wide, two inches long, and a quarter inch thick. It looks made of iron, given the blackishness of the metal. "I do not know who ssssealed the cave originally, it hassss been ssssealed for all of my time, and my predesssosssoorrsssss time. Assss to what you should know that you do not... I am not a Sssseer, I know not where you are from, nor what you know. Do you know that assssid is bad for you to drink? Or that attacking thossse who are alwayssss armed is bad?" It makes an odd side to side bobbing with it's head.
"Yes, we know that. But... things like smiling. Where we're from, showing our teeth means we're happy. To some... people... where I'm from, it was seen as threatening body language." Nevermind that those people were large cats. "What sort of things insult your people, that we should not do, is more what I was worried about. I get the feeling body language is really important, and I don't want to say something extremely rude, just because there was something on my shoulder. Or maybe turning down an offer of food is taboo."
Lina grimaces. As cooperative as the raptors may be, she's all too ready to remember that the party is surrounded by unknown and dangerous forces—which means watching to make sure that nobody else's curiousity gets everyone into trouble.
"Perhaps... we should just aim to be neutral in our dealings."
"We have tools you could use to open the caves, if your people wished it. Our home above ground is rich in some metals, but we lack others, and ingots could be valuable to us as well."
"We are here to learn, and keep our heads down. You saw us fight that troll—saving people from dangerous monsters is our specialty, but we can always use tools to help with that."
"And... speaking of tools, the Keepers have claw... guards?" he asks what they are via tone, "That are made of a metal I'm not familiar with. Do you have a name for it, and does it have any unique properties, other than looking interesting?"
The creature blinks and thinks for a second. "It would be difficult to talk without sshhowing teeth. You have ssstrange thoughtss, upperworlder." It then looks at Lina. "I did not sssee the troll, that wasss told to me, but I did not ssseee it. If ssssome wisssh to go to the upperlandssss, they may. Opening cavessss requiresss no toolsss, only knowledge and sssskill." The head bobs oddly and tilts sideways.
As the creatures look at the group, their resemblance to birds becomes much more than their resemblance to reptiles. Their bodies move and heads bob and twitch much like birds. The feathers help as well.
"The ssscoutsss would have killed it onssse it wasss tired out, I'm sssure, but we thank you for your effort. Assss to the clawbladessss, I am not a metalsssinger, ssso I do not know itsss sssecretss. I know it issss essspessially deadly to Formianssss. It is called Whissspssssteel."
"Alright, thank you very much. What of our... understanding problem? If you guys are locked down here, we'd have to find people who can cast your spell... or learn it somehow, in order to be able to converse. We were kind of worried about that, but when we first got here... things changed a bit. Turns out they don't just magically teach you new languages when you arrive in just any place." He seemed stumped. "I guess there's really no way to trade, other than to just bring what we want to trade down here, and see if we can find things we'd like. Unless we impressed upon you, or someone of your stature... and that seems a little expectant."
"If you like, I can ssspread the word that you are looking for a guide who sssspeaksss upperworlder. They would want to be paid, of coursssse."
Neri paused for a moment. "You have contact with the world above?"
If Luna was able to get a word in without interrupting she would speak,
"Do you know of more settlements that would be peaceful, would they be willing to accept payments other than metals?"
"We are here to learn, but we can offer small payment for services today, and the possibility of future trade. A guide would be nice."
The raptor tilts it's head thoughtfully. "There are thosse who come down to trade. The wall makesss thisss difficult, but there are waysss to get thingsss through it sssafely. It issss eassssier to trade if one can sssspeak. There are ssseveral Kortha townsss and cccitiess, thisss is the largessst. I will sssseee if I can find one who will be willing to be a guide for you."
"Thank you, that'd be really helpful. Do you have any... books? Tablets, things like that? That way I could study your language, since you have knowledge of our language, maybe you have primers of some kind that I could try to learn from? I understand you may specifically not have them, but maybe someone does."
"We do not normally ussse sssuch thingsss, I'm afraid. We learn from otherssss." The raptor responds, tilting it's head again. "There may be ssssome who have sssuch thingssss asss curiosssitiesss of otherssss."
"A shame. That'd let us learn the language without having to impose on anyone. Who do you learn from? And do you think they'd be able to teach us for a price?" Neri tilted his head. "Does Kortha specialize in something that the other cities and villages do not? Are there any things you'd say we absolutely 'must' see?"
"How about this? We've got some precious metals and gems on us—surely enough to hire a guide. Neri, if it's alright for you, we can ask these folk to take us on a tour of their city—show us the best weapons they have, the magical goods they know how to make (and might be willing to sell). As we go, we can ask merchants what they would like to trade for from the surface, and keep a list—and if we can find any book merchants, we'll stop in and try to negotiate a purchase."
"That sounds good. We might even get one of their stoneworkers to come up top and help to fix up the town for Mahb, Luna, and maybe even ourselves. That could be worthwhile, as well. He turned his attention back to the raptor. "Do you think you could get us a guide? We've only brought some samples, but we can get a lot of above-world stuff, and probably some rare materials as well, if we know what you're wanting. We can also get through the wall pretty easily, if that helps you out."
The raptor nods. "I will tell folk, who will tell folk, who will tell folk. If anyone wantsss your job, they will find you." The raptor nods down the street he had led them to. "Sssuggesst you wait in the ssentral plassa, it will make it easssier to find you."
As the group follows the road indicated, they are eyed by the Raptors they pass. Within a few blocks there's a fairly large crowd of young raptors, from knee high to thigh high, following them all making hissy honky noises in hushed tones.
They also see at regular intervals the raptors in the heavy armor, clanking as they stride along.
While no specific armored raptor follows the group, there is always one within line of sight as they moved through the city.
As the group moves deeper in, they come to the center of the town, which is a large central circle with streets leading off of it. There's actually a good deal of light here, as glowing orbs give off daylight levels of brightness and are stuck on the tops of stone rods about 30 ft high. Each orb is about 40 ft apart, and scattered throughout the 100ft radius area.
There are raptors standing around in large circles, each with a wagon with an odd looking double yolk. The double yolk in front has springs on each arm of the yolk, forming two swing arms. The swing arms drop down to form two legs when the wagon is parked, but when swung up and over, form the handle to pull the wagon by.
Most have placed planks over the yokes in order to increase their table top surface, and have goods spread out on the wagons and planks, with more on the ground in packs ready to be placed or pulled into view.
The square is filled with noise, and the smell of roasting meat and fungus. Small carts with fires dot the area providing food.
Neri spends a portion of their time entertaining the children. He hasn't really had much of a chance to do so in a while. They've likely had a ton of experience with what prestidigitation can do, but seeing a weird squishy pink surfacer do it might make it fun, or exciting. He curses himself a little for not keeping up with card tricks and such... not that he had any cards. But likewise, he does do a few standing acrobatic tricks for the children whenever they come to a corner (Nothing above dc 21 :)).
He seems unconcerned with anything not within a block of him. Once he arrives at the bazaar, he casts detect magic, and does a slow sweep of the nearby carts.
"What sort of things are we looking for, aside from services, and trade goods?"
There's magic scattered around the square, but not a lot of it. The glowing bulbs give off magical auras. Other than those, most of it's smaller stuff scattered around.
"Meat and fungus. Hmm. I wonder what feeds the ecosystem down here—could it really be all from chemicals in the rocks?"
"Very little magic, but there is some around here. All the lights are, and some of the stalls have minor things. Maybe people with powerful magic have their own places of business. I wonder how valuable our ingots are..."
Neri approached one of the nearby (non-food) tables to look things over. We're their belongings significantly different, aside from clothes, weapons, and armor?
Luna doubted these people had a way for them to get back home so she didn't bother looking which means they had little of value to her.
"We may need proper building supplies unless we plan to move down here with them, food and basic supplies we'll always need."
Things like steel and flint look similar, rope, folded canvas and blankets all look similar. Tools have odd shapes to fit 3 fingered opposing hands. Not a lot do they have in the way of weapons as the group would use, their upper arms aren't very strong, they tend to go in for weapons that attach to their powerful legs for kicking, or that sheath their natural weapons in harder substances.
Jewelry, at least some of it, could be used by either or. Body paint could probably be used by either.
The locals don't seem to do tattoo's so much as scarification, which makes sense, given their skin is more hide like than skin like.
At least two shops are selling magic of some kind, as the owners are waving their hands and small magical effects are going off almost continuously, floating lights, transparent replicas of customers, etc. There are a lot of raptorlets near those stalls, obviously.
Spices seem to be popular, as at least 5 wagons have various spices for sale (based on your best guess of the small powders, dried leaves, and such). But it could be alchemy supplies or medicine instead.
After about 30 minutes of wandering, and drawing eyes, a smallish black raptor with dark grey, black and red died feathers bobs up (it's about 2/3rds the size of most of the raptors walking around).
"I wass told that you are sseeking guide, yess?" The Raptor says in passable 'upperworlder'.
"Yes, that is correct."
"Someone that could help us to trade, and find out what the populace desires from the surface would be great. I'd also like to try to learn the language if you think that's at all possible. Possibly from a book. Right now, I think we're more interested in services and possibly opening trade than actively buying anything." He looked to the others for confirmation.
"I could ssertainly do that. Do you have ingotss, and if sso, what ssize and type?" The raptor asks, head tilting sideways in a very birdlike manner. "I do not work for free. What isss 'book'? I do not recognize thiss name. I could ssertainly teach you language, for a fee."
Lina shows the bits of crystal, speaking slowly. "We have some of this, and metals from the surface. We can return with more, if necessary. We wish to learn what your people can trade, and what they're willing to trade it for."
"Ah, the jade iss valued by jewelry makerss and enchanterss. The ssilver thread quartss by golem makersss. The other gemss have value ass trade goodss." The raptor reaches into a small sack that's on a strap, something like a belt pouch but across it's shoulder for easy access given it's anatomy. It holds out a handful of metal ingots, each about an inch and a half long, a half inch wide, and half a finger thick. "Three Iron Ingotss are worth one copper ingot. Ssix copper ingotss are worth one ssilver ingot. Ssix ssilver ingotss are worth one gold ingot. Ssix gold ingotss are worth one Elinium ingot. Ssix Elinium ingotss are worth one Byzanium ingot. Ssix Byzanium ingotss are worth ssix Byzanium ingotss."
Neri smirks when the creature says the last line, fairly certain it was trying to make a joke. And it kind of worked. "Books are..." he looks over to Lina, "Wanna show him the map to give him an idea?" He wasn't sure showing the raptors that they had a map that showed relative details of their homes for -miles- was wise.
Luna went through the belongings she had gained while there had been here and some of the things from before they were pulled that she still had.
"Does any of this have value?"
The Raptor looks over the items. "I do not know what thiss iss." It points to the phone. "The ssmall painting might be worth ssomething, I know not what. It iss a very good likenesss of you. The paperss might be worth ssomething ass artwork, I would not know how much without talking to an expert." It nods at the potions. "I would need to take them to a Sshaman, but I'm ssertain they would be worth money if they are magic. The vermin repellant is alwayss worth money, and can alwayss find a buyer. The amulet might be worth ssomething, I would need to sshow it to a Sshaman."
The Raptor takes the bag of gems and looks through it, eyeing each gem in turn. When it's done, it hands the bag back. "The gemss range in value from ssix gold ingotss to ssixty gold ingotss. The entire bag iss worth roughly three hundred thirty gold ingotss. My prisse would be thirteen gold ingotss per ssix day."
"We'd be happy to pay in gems first," Lina responds, comfortable in the knowledge that the sum total represented approximately one hour of mining from the veins she had found.
And, as an aside, to the others—Lina's been keeping a close eye on their metal stores. "Neri, I believe your volcano produces copper at 1/5 the rate of iron, silver at 1/10 the rate of copper, and gold at 1/10 the rate of gold."
"I've been studying the magic jewelry we found, and we've already found a source of gems—I think that trading for gold at a discount may be an excellent way to get the precious metal we need, too, as we're talking gold at 1/5 the cost."
And then, cocking her head, "Err, no, that's not right. That's by weight, not volume. It's been... a while since I took any chemistry, and that was a college course on forensics... but gold is about twice as heavy as iron, so maybe we're getting it for 1/10 of what it costs us to produce?"
Kong watches the bargaining with interest, but doesn't look too interested.
I zuppose ve chould learn jour language. Vat vould zat cost?
Over the next two weeks, the group works on learning some of the Raptor's language (this requires 16 gold ingots, as it means Flames is giving up part of her skills that earns her work with you).
Neri does find that there is magic that can restore tongues, but it's higher level, and requires the patient be there in person.
The Raptors use their refuse to feed the mushrooms they use as both food and to feed their domesticated lizards and vermin.
While learning about their buildings, the group sees a sight that is almost familiar. A raptor group hauls metal frameworks made of iron rods out to a new house location. They assemble the framework of a house out of the metal rods. Younger Raptors then approach the framework and point to where it touches, and the ends grow white hot. They push the frameworks together, and then poor water on the hot ends. Once the framework is in place, the older raptor goes over it inch by inch, occassionally making the younger ones fix something, either with hammer or spell or saw.
When it's satisfied, it gathers a small miniature of the house and sets it on the ground. Then it draws diagrams around the miniature. Then it replicates the diagrams around the framework.
Then it begins chanting, and as it does, stone flows up out of the ground and over the framework, until the large house matches the smaller model.
For a second story, they repeat the process, pushing the metal framework down into holes on the top of the first floor that were in the model.
The Raptors don't like talking about their history to outsiders, other than the wars with the Phatai, a race of fungus men they are at on again/off again war with, and have been for generations. The war has gone on so long, that neither side remembers why it started, only that it's the way it is. It's become almost something of a population maintenance thing now, as described, as it seems to be the hot blooded amongst both species that tend to get into fights.
The Raptor's don't particularly care for the upperworlders, although they do trade some. They don't often because of the Barrier, although they've discovered how to get some objects through it, living beings are dangerous. There are Raptor's on both sides of the Barrier, and they trade with each other. This is where most of the metals the Raptor's have comes from.
The Raptors need metal, and it's worth much, which is why they trade in ingots. They are also interested in any exotic food (meat mostly) as well as spices.
The city itself has numerous small magical item shops, and minor magical items are common enough.
The Raptor's have three types of metal the group have not encountered before.
Whipsteel - This is a very flexible type of metal which isn't entirely solid at touch, it seems to flex and bend in one's hand, thus the name. A weapon made of whipsteel bypasses the damage reduction of any earth based creature it touches, such as Formians, and wounds from it do not regenerate as easily (what the Raptor's call things like the cave troll, and other earth based creatures with DR or Regeneration, it doesn't seem to affect Fast Healing though). Creating something of Whipsteel costs an extra 200gp per pound of metal. For weapons made of both metal and wood, assume the metal takes up 90% of the weight for non-polearms, and 50% for polearms. Ammunition made of Whipsteel costs 4gp per. Armor made of Whipsteel grants no special effects, except to allow unarmed strikes the same benefits as weapons.
Elinium - This black metal is found in deep cave pockets, and is lighter and stronger than steel, but harder to work. It is functionally the same as Mithral. However, the cost of enchanting it with protective magic vs earth is increased by 25% while protective magic vs air is decreased by 25%.
Byzanium - This is a bluish metal that can't be forged by fire. It can only be forged by long arduous days pounding on it with an Adamantine hammer. The metal is found in pockets deep under ground, and is rather rare. Weapons made from the metal are immune to fire attacks that damage weapons and spells that heat metal. They also bypass the regeneration and DR of fire based creatures. Armor made from the metal grants 5 pts of Fire Resistance, and keeps it's wearer cool in hot environments. It costs 400 GP per pound for weapons or armor made from Byzanium. Ammunition costs 8GP per round.
The Raptors can make most of the 'standard' minor magical items from the books. Things that wouldn't make sense for them are out (boots, for example).
The Raptors have most of the 'homey' things people might want for either the village or their own homes. Blankets, carpets, shelves, etc. Beds and chairs are not likely to be usable. Plates and pots and pans are all usable, although they don't seem to have the concept of silverware or knives (they use teeth and claws).
Nobody finds any hints of things about traveling from world to world. The mostly oral tradition of the Raptors means that such things don't always stay around.
The Raptor society is a mystiocracy. By that, it is the Shamans who run everything, but only because the people choose to let them. Shamans can be male or female (and telling the difference without Scent is difficult to say the least, and somewhat dangerous). Everyone is expected to contribute, whether it be sweeping the streets, building, making, scouting, farming, or entertaining. Anyone who chooses not to contribute is exiled. Those who can't (injuries, etc) are maintained by the community. There is no single shaman in charge, indeed there seems to be about one out of 30 Raptors are a shaman. If there's conflict between shaman's pronouncements, they have a Moot where all the shamans hammer out policy publicly, with input from respected members of the society.
They don't know a lot about the surface dwellers, although they've heard nasty things about them from their relatives on the other side of the barrier.
They don't do a lot of smithing, due to their arms (other than Byzanium, which is extremely difficult for them to forge). Instead they have what are called 'Metalsingers' who are crafters who use magic to craft, and the Raptors study for years before being allowed to sing to the metal.
There are no maps, as the raptors use oral tradition, so they sing the maps, which are next to impossible for the humans to use, as it includes such things as 'fresh air on cheek, smell of glarba urine' and other interesting things the humans don't have the senses to sense.
The group is able to get some information on nearby villages and dangers in the caves (rather than list them, assume you now know the basics, and won't step into anything obviously dangerous now).
Lina will ask around if there's interest in crafting of the sort difficult for a metalsinger but easy for a smith, since she's got half a dozen smiths under her command. She'll also ask for permission to theoretically use the upper caves as a shelter for the party in case the village gets sieged.
After a few weeks, when the group pools their knowledge of the raptors: "This seems like a... limited success. Seems iron is a bit rare down here and gold is a bit more common, and it might be easier to trade for precious metals while we pull mundane ones from the volcano. We've got access to gems we could mine, and I think I'm picking up some of this 'metalsinging'. Don't know if we'll get any alliances or weapons out of this excursion, though."
"Well... we did get a lot of other things. If we can get them to come to the surface, they could make houses that are significantly improved over what we managed. That would likely be fairly expensive though. If we're going to bring a lot of steel down, we'll need to repair the bridge as well. Maybe we could simply get the raptors to stonesing a solid bridge in place? I also found out that we can definitely get the kid and his mom fixed up... but it's going to be expensive. Doesn't mean I don't want to, though. But we'd also have to convince them to come down here. If you're right about the math... it won't be nearly as bad as my head wants to think it is, since we can provide them with iron... but that's going to be a lot of iron, and something tells me that if we abuse Id's good graces, bad things will happen. I just don't know when the tap will shut off, so to speak. At the very least, we can make Flames rich by being our liaison in some way."
"I'm guessing they have magic they can teach us, or items they can sell us for building with songs... and that we're probably not powerful enough to use them, yet."
"And if we're going to visit regularly, we could just set up a proper rope bridge."
"That, and if we want to bring anything in, really, we'll need to be able to fit horses and carts in again. Seems like a lot." He frowns. "So it's a lot of effort for little pay-off. They do have better craftspeople than us by far, though. But including the time to travel between the compounds, to the caves, then to the city... I don't know that we'd gain much. Still, they have the magic I promised to find them, so I think I'll make an effort to see if the two are okay with meeting these guys before we work on any deals."