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Mak'da sits quietly at the back, listening carefully.
I too believe we should help our halfling friend here. Staying here is not a good idea, these miners might easily turn ugly and seek to do him some harm. We do not know where the lizardfolk lair yet and the halflings may be able to give us better information on the lay of the land.
She begins checking over her gear. As far as supplies go I would bring plenty of food and water. While I can provide water magically and can hunt as we travel it is best to be prepared. She glances over to Shen. As far as other equipment goes, the jungle is home to many disases and poisonous creatures, antitoxin or antipague might be a good idea
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"Hoe ver zou het zijn voor je familie? Mijn metgezellen en ik zouden bereid zijn je veilig naar je stam te begeleiden."
How far would it be to your family? My companions and I would be willing to escort you safetly to your tribe.
"I have asked him how far the travel would be. I am glad to know that others are as concerned for his safety here as I am. I believe I should be adequately stocked on antitoxin from my previous mishap in the jungle."
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Muhdzuhdi begins to describe the distance and then, getting frustrated at your lack of shared landmarks that he can refer to begins to draw a crude map - the rough location of his tribe can then be placed on your own manp
The party goes and purchases provisions and the town is mostly really welcoming to you - you are basically folk heroes after you saved the town while the nobles stayed holed up in the mansion.
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Looking at Muhdzuhdi Shen nods and says in Polyglot - which she translates for the others and also his response.
"Well, that is a little bit farther away than anticipated but you and I will have a good time until we arrive at your home!" she says smiling to the halfling and tries to hug him like a little girl would hug her teddy bear.
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With map in hand, Antal smiles broadly. ”This is great! I can navigate us around. Do you want me to spend a bit of effort to muddy our tracks in case anyone follows us? Or take up the rear to watch for trackers?”
A short delay in visiting the ruins is ok. How do I feel about finding another tribe of halflings? A little strange, but Arisira seems convinced that all will be well.
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You exit to the North in an effort to throw off the opposing factions - it was becoming clear that you were not going to able to operate clandestinely in Pridons Hearth.
The first day is uneventful as you traverse the Savan ah but the second day led to a slowly thickening forest that gave way to mucky swamp.
Muhdzuhdi was growing excited as you grew closer to his homeland.
Antal
Vera
Arisira
Shen
Makda
Arisira, Shen and Makda throughout the day spot shadowy figures stalking them from within the swamp. Makda makes out that they have short humanoid forms but never close enough to get a good view of.
Night is falling, what will you do?
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Shen is very uncomfortable in the jungle and although her choice of clothing is a little bit more adequate now she did not imagine the heat and warmth to bother her this much.
”This place is really something else! I … I have never been on such a tour … without a bed and blankets you know. Wait … did you see that?! Are you seeing these shadowy figures stalking us from within the swamp?! What is that? What do we do in the night? We need guards? Why didn't we hire any guards that would have accompanied us?” she says very nervously.
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Mak'da calls a halt to the group. Yes Shen, we are being stalked but let us not assume they are enemies. The jungle is a dangerous place, many of its inhabitants must use stealth simply to survive. I suggest we make camp, it is growing dark. Perhaps they can be convinced to speak to us if they see we are not hostile.
Mak'da checks about for a likely camp site. She makes it apparent to their shadows that she has seen them to guage their reaction.
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Having seen the figures and talked with Mak'da and the rest of the party, Arisira plays off being far more comfortable with the circumstance than she actually is. She carries light conversation with each of the team members- including Muhdzuhdi
Quietly, she pulls Muhdzuhdi aside:
"Har du set skyggerne hos dem, der følger os? Hvad laver du af dem? Er de din familie?"
Have you seen the shadows of those who follow us? What do you make of them? Are they your kin?
As Mak'da cooks the meat, Arisira too joins in with the invitation.
"Tuna mengi ya kushiriki"
We have plenty to share
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Muhdzuhdi shakes his head at Arisira's inquiry [spoiler=Halfling] I am afraid I did not spot them but if they are as you describe they could be my kin. Times have been very hard since the colonists arrival. Someone had to be left out of the local pecking order...and it seems it was us Song'O who were at the bottom of it. [/b]
At Mak'da and Arisira's invitation, surely enough 6 halfling scouts come forward from the shadows at first, cautiously preparing to accept your offer...when they see Muhdzuhdi and begin to rejoice with him.
Soon it becomes clear that they are grateful to you, Arisira hearing how Muhdzudhi's survival is seen as perhaps a good omen.
We did not mean offense we thought you were bad, stupid, rich adventurers who would have enough food and goods to share with our declining village. You were returning our friend? That makes you ok for such types at least. Even you, collaborators the lead huntress says with a bitter but playful grin towards Arisira and Antal.
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Arisira laughs at the teasing from the halflings, those does feel a little of the need to defend herself.
"Medewerkers misschien. Ik kom uit Qadira, over dit hele continent en over de Obari-oceaan. Deze landen zijn mij onbekend."
Collaborators, perhaps. I am from Qadira, across this whole continent and over the Obari Ocean. These lands are unfamiliar to me.
She continues to interact and converse, changing between Hafling and common relatively seemlessly.
"Even still, we are glad to accompany Muhdzuhdi back to his home. After, we will seek out the Lizardfolk who attacked the settlement on the sea. If it would please you, what do you know about the cyclops ruins? We would like to soundly defeat the Lizardfolk and drive them back to where they came. If we were successful- would that improve your tribes position in the local pecking order? Any help you could provide us in that endeavour would be well worth your time!"
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The halflings giggle at Arisira before responding in Halfling
Anyways, we don't know nothing about that, but Grand Mama definitely will - come with us. She knows everything about everything. Of course if you were to go get rid of that thing that keeps eating all our fish.....it might really impress her!
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Arisra listens and laughs along with the Song'o halflings, attempting to further relax their mood and temperament.
She quickly relays the gist of the conversation to the rest of the party.
"They will bring us to the "Grand Mother" of their tribe. Their tribe is starving. Apparently some river monster is preventing them from fishing."
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Vera shares the meal with the haflings. "We don't have a time limit on the lizardmen, and I'd rather help these friends than help the miners at the moment. Let's see what we can do about the river monster they speak of."
She spends the evening listening and telling stories to the halflings. "Should we keep watches tonight?"
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Absolutely Vera. I will volunteer for the first watch," Antal says. "And I could use a bit of time to sharpen my weapons. This humidity..."
He lights a torch and sets it against a rock with the butt of it in the dirt. Pulling out his whetstone, he then lays out his weapons on a blanket and begins to apply some care to them. Harmony whickers and settles down for the night behind him.
Assuming his watch begins, he takes a moment to pray to Irori and then begins his work.
In all, he sets out his glaive, a halberd, a small longsword, and several daggers. Once those are sharp, he oils his heavy flail and the dark wood of his composite longbow. Bow gleaming, he sorts his bundles of arrows and sets them back into his quivers, testing the feathers with a touch. Holstering the quivers again, he tests drawing and notching, then sheathing various arrows again.
Eventually satisfied, he sheathes all of his weapons again, wraps the whetstone and puts it away carefully, and then folds the blanket back up. The halfling leans against harmony to finish his watch. Eyeing the torch, he gauges the time until he is to wake the next person and scans the surroundings for any trouble.
A good day, and nothing better than work to ease my burdens.
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"I'll slip up there and see what I can see. I am so excited! Searching for river monsters in order to save the natives- I can already hear the ballads! Arisira and company- Hero's of the Song'o!"
Arisira disappears into the underbrush, gently making her way to the uppermost pool. Finding a good observation point, she sets down to observe the lake for signs of life, unusual ripples in the water, or other activity.
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Arisira sneaks up and finds a creature, not exactly hidden, that looks like an oversized crab. The trail of discard and half eaten fish and shellfish leads to what looks to be some kind of nest.
The creature itself is eating gluttonously and singing a sea shanty sounding song as it devours clawful after clawful of food.
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After attempting to identify the creature, Arisira slips back down the trail to the others in the group.
"There is a huge crab up there. Like... Huge! He is eating a ton of fish- no wonder the Song'O were running out of food. I think we have a pretty good chance against it. I bet we could catch'em unaware if we are careful!"
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Shen has heard of these beings - Tojanidas. They tend to reside on the elemental plane of water and in places where the border between that plane and our own are weak - this source of the Song'O river seems to be such a place.
They are haughty and arrogant creatures who seem themselves as the natural ruler over lesser lifeforms. It likely sees itself as the monarch of this river.
In combat its known for its defensive ink jets and its powerful bite
T'Krit scampers around Mak'da's feet, chasing his own tail. As his mistress casts a spell on him he stops, body stiffening and ears pivoting, he knows this strange feeling probably means food is about to arrive.