Morgan heads down the passage first as quietly as possible, putting some distance between herself and the rest of the party. Once she is out of sight everyone else follows, ready to rejoin her at a moment's notice.
Two other passages lead out of this cave, one to the southwest, and another to the southeast.
"If our journey continues into tomorrow, I will change out some of my cantrips to keep in contact with scouts." Era says, quietly, as she looks around the immediate area for anything of interest.
The floor in the next cavern is littered with debris, a mixture of shattered rock and twisted metal. A large collection of crates, boxes, rubble, and scavenged metal lies heaped in the northwest section of the cave, distinctly lacking anything of the way of organization. On the far wall appears to be some kind of mural, drawn in chalk, but obscured by the precariously piled scrap. The air here remains dank, but away from the underground spring, the odor is no longer quite as terrible.
Two other passages lead out of this cave, one to the southwest, and another to the southeast. You notice that a smaller pile of scrap partially blocks the latter cave entrance, as though someone attempted to barricade it.
"Give me just a moment," Wrixx says "There might be something useful buried in all this scrap." He takes a quick look through the pile and glances at the mural on the wall.
Era wastes no time going to investigate the chalk drawings. She gives the wall a wide berth, recognizing how precarious a pile of scrap could be if not properly balanced. Perhaps something had tried to communicate? Or simply to draw? Regardless, that was certainly very interesting, and all the pieces of scrap meant that something at least slightly intelligent had made this space their home.
Most of what Wrixx finds in the heap is junk, but there are several traces of ruined technological devices - shattered fuses, tangled wires, and scraps of metals molded into peculiar shapes. Nothing that is remotely useful, however.
These seven silverdisks in particular are destroyed batteries. A functional battery's circuitry emits a soft, blue light when carrying a charge.
Era takes a careful look at the mural, which from the looks of it, was drawn fairly recently. Despite lacking in detail (or anything in the way of artistic talent), the drawings clearly depict two different types of strange-looking creatures. The first type is a three-legged creature with long arms and a single eye, centered on its forehead. The second is a thin, four-armed humanoid creature. Drawn around the creatures are twisted, spiny plants.
Era watches the rubble carefully as Wrixx sifts through it, wary of it coming to tumble down, and notes first one, then several more small, thin cylinders. "Those do not appear broken." she says, pointing to the objects. Given the lack of exposed wires, they might be useful for something else; she would collect them if the others would leave them. "They are worth about ten gold pieces, each."
"Whatever lives here has drawn other creatures. Four armed creatures and three legged creatures live together in a twisted forest.
Are they four armed, or three-legged? If they are not, they have not drawn themselves in the pictures."
"Oh, I remember these. Some of these were always packed in with whatever cargo we were carrying. They use them as a power source for a lot of the technical equipment around here when they actually work." He pokes at one of the disks in Era's hand. "I don't think these do though. Still, might as well hang on to them. They're still worth a bit."
Era looks to Wrixx's shoulder as he speaks, then back down to the disk in her hand, then back. She chews on her lip for a moment. "Like a spring that holds tension, but not." she says, enigmatically.
"Is anyone good with footprints? Is there any chance that what lives here has three legs?"
Cruodh waits, half crouched spear at the ready, until Morgan calls the all clear. As silently as he can, he moves into the next room. The sight of the pile of refuse and strange drawing his attitude changes. For a moment, his guarded stance almost disappears, he begins to straighten up with gleaming eyes. Excitement creeps into his mind, his grips continually changes on his spear and his steps become more energetic. But he is not careless, he is a Kellid. Regaining control, he listens to Era and Morgan speak. With curiosity, he bends down and starts searching the ground for tracks.
The southeast passage runs for about fifty feet, leading to a ledge that overlooks the largest cavern you have entered yet. Nearly thirty feet overhead is the ceiling of the vast chamber, while the ledge slopes down ten feet to the sprawling cave floor below. Two ramshackle huts sit at the bottom of the slope, constructed out of metal, animal hides, and some kind of fibrous plant matter.
"Nindol zhah waela. Udos zhal'la inbal fridj raza nind plica rena nind zhahen naut'kyn."
"Lueth noa lil' v'dre de' udossta zikowt? Sef orn'la naut fre'sla whol ol."
"Fridj ortelanth nindel nind qua'l ulu telanth, xor nindol orn inbal jal tlus whol naubol."
"Ortelanth ulu vel'uss, ilro'e?"
Anna remains as the rear guard, following the group slowly continues through the caverns. Her axe is ready at hand in case something would attack them. While they wait on Morgan to return from checking out the southeastern passage, she eyes the barricade with interest. "We should remain alert. Clearly, there was something coming from that direction that they wished to defend themselves from," she says.
She doesn't care much about the silverdisks - strange creations with no obvious use were as worthless as the rocks around them, to her.
However, the mural was interesting to her. "Animals? Or spirits, perhaps," she says, eyes narrowed. "I do not recognize such creatures. Dynan," she says, looking down at the little Kellid. "Have you or Llinellau Haul ever seen a plant like that?"
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Wrixx frowns slightly and his ears perk up. "I hear it too. Not a language that I've heard before though. We should be cautious. Whoever they are might not be the most friendly of sorts."
With signs that there might be others nearby, Fal readies her spear and hides, preparing in case they are attacked.
At the mention of his name, Llinellau scurries out of Cruodh's bag and onto his shoulder. He takes some time to settle comfortably on the shoulder before looking toward the mural too.
Meanwhile, the small kellid's gaze is directed at the ground, at first he cranes his neck slowly in different direction, apparently bored, but it does not take long before his foot starts tapping and his movement start betraying a renewed curiosity.
"Someone has been traveling to and fro this tunnel" he says, controlling his voice.
"A voice?" Cruodh replies to Wrixx, suddenly speaking much softer. "Must be the person who left these tracks.Maybe we should trick the person to come hear rather than going to them.... we can setup an ambush... "
You see another hut further ahead, but no signs of present habitation. The floor is empty, bare.
Anna stands and waits for Cruodh to finish analyzing the murals, and for Morgan to return information on what she has seen ahead of them.
It does occur to you however, that the three-legged creatures resemble something you've seen recently.
"I like tricks, but we don't actually know who they are yet. Perhaps we should poke ahead a little further and try to learn more before picking a fight. The fewer surprises we have to deal with, the better."
"That might be the best bet," Fal replies. It was either that or all out directly, but given the ample evidence that the inhabitants weren't friendly, it seemed better to bait them out first.
Anna nods. "I am unable to sneak up on anything at the moment. But I will keep an eye on our flank."
"This seems amenable. I am ready to move forward. Thank you, Dar'shyn, for carrying the Silverdisks."
"I suppose I am one of the best sneaks after all," Wrixx jokes. "Alright, I'll go ahead then."
The members of the party that can see in the dark go down the tunnel, entering the cavern that Morgan peeked into earlier. They draw closer to the ledge overlooking the cave floor, until...
"Who goes there?" a raspy voice calls out from within the hut below, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of blades being unsheathed. A brief exchange of whispers between unseen participants follows, before the speaker adds, "We mean you no harm, but we will not hesitate to kill you if you give us no choice!"
Another whispered discussion ensues, longer and more feverish than the last.
"We are coming out. No tricks, interloper," the same voice from before says, finally.
One by one, a trio of long-limbed humanoids - two males and one female - emerges from the makeshift hut. They wear little in the way of clothing, their simple cloth and fur garments just barely preserving their modesty. Their exposed gray skin seems to shift as they move, mimicking the colors and patterns of rough stone. All three of them wield crude metal daggers, but the apparent leader of the group carries a lit torch. He holds it aloft, looking above to where Morgan is standing.
"Here we are. As I said, we have no intention of shedding any blood. Our leader has expressed her wish to speak to anyone that intrudes on our domain."
Wrixx cocks his head at the strange figures in front of them. He's never seen someone with skin like a humanoid chameleon. "Who is your leader?" he asks carefully. "And why do they want to see intruders?"
"Our past few encounters with surfacers have gone poorly," the one with the hoarse voice explains. His two companions shift uncomfortably, daggers lowered, but still in hand. "Chief Sef would like to arrange an accord, so that we may avoid any further violence."
Fal steps out of cover, moving adjacent to Morgan and Wrixx. "Perhaps we can get some information then about what happened to the two parties before us," Fal says. It was certainly worth the risk to gain some information as to what happened.
From afar, Anna listens to the conversation between the creatures and the others of the group. There seems to be no pressing danger, so she hangs back for now, Dilynwyr in hand. She keeps an eye on the tunnel crossing should anything try to sneak up on them from behind.
Cruodh perks up when he hears the conversation down the tunnel is mind, having lost focus on the strange drawing and the tracks of the metal beast, is now mostly preoccupied with a new exciting prospect: speaking creatures who have had little dealings with surface dwellers. Yet, for all his excitement, the little kellid is still aware of the possible danger, and so he remains silent and alert and gives a protective look toward Anna.
"If you agree to this meeting, then I will lead half of your group to our chieftain," he says, his eyes darting from Morgan to Fal. "Your three companions are welcome to wait here. The wolf as well."
Wrixx taps his fingers together and glances at the strange beings. "Don't stray too far away," he says after a moment. "You never know what might happen."
Anna moves forwards down the tunnels, gesturing for Dar'shyn, Cruodh and Era to move ahead of her. She steps out onto the small cliff that overlooks the small array of huts, and with her glowing axe, peers into the room.
She nods at the strange, grey creatures, though she does not smile. "Greetings, cave-dwellers. It is good that you do not want a fight today. I feel that your terms are fair." Then, she murmurs in a low voice, to Cruodh, next to her, "Dynan, ydych chi'n ymddiried yn y bobl hyn?"
She then sheathes her axe and draws her bow.
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Morgan grunts with disappointment. Maybe there would be no fighting these creatures after all. Honestly, this cave was a big disappointment so far. Just one strange frog-creature which wasn't very dangerous and which ended up being terribly boring to fight. She throws her hammer up onto her shoulder. "We're speaking at your request, but you want us to divide ourselves and leave ourselves vulnerable?" she says, frowning. "I don't think that's how negotiations work. What do we want from this, exactly?"