You are lead over a series of bridges to a large hut. Inside, there is a grippli wearing a large, feathery head covering and silk robes. She motions for you to sit.
Then she takes a small vial out of her sleeve, and drinks it.
She motions, croaking something that sounds like "Garounda" as she points at her chest. Then is appears she motions for you to speak.
Aki gives the grippli leader an elegant bow. "I am Aki," she says.
"Ahh-kee." The grippli nods, and looks expectantly at the others.
Nathan points to himself "Nathan"
Echo nods respectfully at the grippli, and sits down when signalled to do so.
Pointing at herself, she announces, "Echo." Then she gestures at the grippli woman and attempts to pronounce "Garounda?"
She gives the grippli a questioning gaze, curious if her pronunciation is accurate.
The grippli nods, and waves a hand while using the other to motion towards Pharithstilis. Another grippli standing nearby moves, and pulls out another vial similar to the one the leader drank. He presents it to Pharithstilis.
Celebeth bites her lip as she waits to see the effect of the elixir.
"Welcome. You can understand me now, yes? Our magic is limited, but I believe you are worth communicating with. We are the Houran tribe. You appear to be enemies of the evil Gengar, so maybe you can be friends with us. Who are you, and why are you here?"
"Lost? I am sorry for you. We can show you maps to help. But what is 'ships'? And what is 'island'?"
"Basically, from somewhere that isn't the jungle, across the big water," blurts Celebeth. "Ah, they can't understand me, what's the use?" She scuffs her shoe idly on the floor.
"Tell your friend that I can understand her, despite that I have never seen her, or your, kind. Island is land surrounded by water. Isn't all land islands then? You are a strange people, but we like you much better than the others that share our land. They eat grippli? Do you eat grippli?"
As soon as Pharithstilis translates, Aki snarls. "We do not. Many of us here killed those who would enslave other thinking beings. To eat them is an even worse evil."
"Very well, then. Welcome to Cro-ah-krik. We meet few strangers, and invite fewer still into our homes, so I hope you will not be offended if we ask that you remain escorted throughout your stay here. If you agree, we will provide you a hut, and then you may explore our village and our people. Perhaps we can learn much from each other. I fear, though, that this magic will not last long, and it is not easy for us to make. So perhaps you would like to have a teacher to learn our language?"
Assuming you agree, two grippli's lead you to a hut in the trees. They show you in, and then stand guard outside. It is a decent size hut, comfortable enough for all of you to sleep around the edges, and a fire pit in the middle that works well for cooking meals.
Aki gives Garounda another bow. "My thanks, Garounda. I would learn your tongue, if there are those patient enough to teach me."
"Yes, I'll go with the language lessons as well. Can't really work together if we don't understand each other, and I want another shot at those damned cannibals. "
Nathan spends some time wandering around the village, and the rest of his time with the appointed teacher learning their language. He also spends a bit of time focusing on his water based abilities, and manages to use them to change his own appearance.
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Likewise, Pharithstilis acclimates himself to his new surroundings. He agrees to the Grippli language lessons, giggling with glee as he learns to replicate all the croaks, chirps, burps, and trills of the amphibian tongue. Thinking back on their adventure so far, he adapts his growing magic power to increasing his defenses and sharing his intuition.
Days go by, which turns into weeks. You find the grippli people to be very gracious, and many of you learn the language. While it takes a while to sort out variations in diet (the grippli's main staple is insects), you manage to find your new home quite comfortable.
Over time, you also find out much more regarding the island and its inhabitants.
For as long as any can remember, the grippli were happy and healthy alone in his jungle. Then one day, many years ago, the first of the Gengar arrived. At first, they seemed friendly and cooperative, but then members of the grippli community would simply disappear. As more and more cases of disappearances would happen, the grippli began to have regular stealth patrols to find the cause - the Gengar were abducting grippli!
After some more investigation, and confrontation, it was discovered that the Gengar were sacrificing individuals to their great ape god located on a nearby island, connected to this island by a long suspension bridge. It starts in the volcano you can see in the distance, and spans the water to attach to another mountain.
Sacrifices are still made about every other month - grippli if they can catch one, or one of their own if they do not. Those captured that are not deemed worthy of the sacrifice are instead eaten by the Genger warriors.
Both sides are now very alert, and there are regular raids and clashing of patrols. It is a terrible way to live, but soem peace in the village cannot be found. Luckily, it seems, the giant ape-god cannot cross the bridge.
Celebeth also hears a rumor that equipment resembling what she lost has been used by at least one of the Gengar patrols.
Aki proves to be a ready student of the grippli tongue, picking it up with an ease that borders on supernatural. Before long she is speaking with their hosts, if not fluently, then at least comfortably.
She has more trouble learning the ways of the jungle, but through dogged persistence she becomes at least somewhat competant in finding her way around and hunting.
Perhaps most importantly, she manages to find something to use as an ink to add new spells to her spellbook.
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Pharithstilis spends his time practicing the new language with other villagers. As he meets new people he studies their accessories, jewelry, and styles of self decoration. Whenever he sees a piece made with a unique material, a pretty shell or wooden bead, nut or brightly colored feather, metal or even a gemstone, he’ll ask about it and try to learn how to acquire such a specimen. He’ll accompany any foraging expeditions where he might be able to gather some of the unique materials the island and jungle has to offer, lending his skills to such expeditions.
If he can gather enough material (plus the bones and shells he gathered from the beach), he’ll begin to make some decorative accessories to complement to fashion sense of these people. He first makes a headpiece for Garounda as thanks, as well as necklaces, bracelets, belts, anklets, etc. as gifts for their language teacher and for the grippli who helped save them from the jungle and lead them to the village. Anything leftover he’ll try to sell to other villagers.
He’ll also ask to meet the grippli responsible for making potions, would be a good idea to make friends with that person, he thinks. He wonders if there are any other spellcasters in the tribe, and what kind of neat tricks they’re capable of. He’ll also ask around about the black smoke the monkey told him about.
Echo has great fun among the grippli. She explores their village, tries their preferred foods (even the bugs!), and follows them out hunting and foraging, hoping to learn as much as she can about surviving on this island as possible. Soon she speaks their tongue, almost as if she were born to it.
You all settle in nicely, joining the grippli's in their routine. Pharithstilis makes some friends by making jewelry, but whenever he asks about the black smoke, he gets a shudder and shrug from the grippli. Clearly, they don't want to acknowledge it, and certainly don't want to discuss it.
Once she's feeling more comfortable with the language and more familiar with the jungle, Aki suggests to the others that they speak with the Grippli about how to stirke at the Gengar.
Echo agrees with Aki's suggestion wholeheartedly.
Nathan is fully in favor of wiping out the cannibal tribe.
Echo smiles at Pharithstilis.
"I feel like this goes a little bit deeper than that, hon. But, it's a good thought."
"I wonder if they have some kind of evil cannibal god and they sacrifice hearts to it at a big statue of a giant gray devil-ape or something," muses Celebeth.
You ask for an audience with Garounda, who welcomes you in . "I am impressed you have learned our language so quickly, and my people tell me that you have been kind and courteous. We appreciate that."
"Regarding the Gengar, their shamans are very powerful, and we are in no position for an all out assault. We could not survive a direct assault, and I fear that would cause the rest of the tribe to come and destroy us. Much thought has been given, but the problem is that their source of power is too close."
"Now, if their ape god was to be destroyed..."
"I was right about the ape-god?" says Celebeth incredulously.
"I bet if we could arrange a diversion to draw them off a small but highly capable team could get in there and destroy their altar."
"Or at least the bridge," Aki suggests. "Depending on how it is constructed, of course."
Echo nods. "Yes, I suppose killing their god would throw them in disarray, but won't that be more difficult than killing the Gengar? What do we know about this ape-god? He's not a god, obviously, or you wouldn't suggest we kill him."
Echo, who is clearly very knowledgeable, doesn't really know specifics without seeing the creature, but is able to do some of the math.
"Hmmm... Now that I think about it, the Gengar number in the hundreds. Killing their ape-god could weaken the shamans considerably... What do we know of the path to the ape-god? What route should we take?"
Yes, there do appear to be multiple tribes, and more than a few shaman.
The path to the ape god is to climb the volcano on the north side of the island.
"While I don't know that climbing a volcano sounds safe or fun, it sounds like the only way to win. "
"You are brave, new friends. But there is something you should know. We have tried in the past to attack this fiend, but the bridge across the water is small and dangerous. And your weapons, while interesting, might not be enough. There is a story some of the warriors like to tell - it is probably just stories, but perhaps... a cavern made of wood appeared in the water just off shore. My grippli tried to explore it, but were chased away by some sort of sea creatures. But one of the warriors got a look inside before running away, and claims to have seen items similar to the things you carry. Perhaps it could be of some use? It is far to the west of here, if you are interested."
"That is called a ship, honoured Garounda, though it sounds broken. And yes, that sounds like just the thing we need."
Echo asks for thorough directions to this shipwreck.
Aki nods. "We should spend time building our strength and bleeding theirs, yes."
"...I hope so." Echo replies in a voice suddenly heavy with sorrow.
After a moment she shakes her head slightly and listens for Garounda's directions.
With directions given, I assume you head out.
After a couple days journey through the jungle, which is not too eventful, you come to the seashore. A little looking, and you find what they spoke of - a shipwreck not far into the water. It does appear to be the remains of your ship.