The female grippli seems to think for a moment before drawing a picture of a serpent eating a small grippli while other small grippli run away from it toward huts where larger grippli stand (picture 8). She places this in the middle row to the furthest right and looks at you, hoping this will make everything clear.
Seeing the grippli's confusion, Teleri adds "Aš nesuprantu, kad tu kalbi Dwarfą?"
The grippli looks at Teleri in more confusion, trying hard to understand. She shrugs and holds out some bark and the sharp stick in case either of the odd visitors would like a turn with it.
"Easy, Ives, you're going to scare her," Teleri says. "Shouting won't help."
She takes the bark and stick. She draws a large frog with swirls for eyes and a shiny gem in its forehead. In the background she adds a snake, coiled up and looking menacingly towards the frog. Then she shows the grippli.
The grippli looks wildly confused and somewhat afraid at Ives' shouting. But mostly confused. She responds loudly then looks over her shoulder with some concern. Turning her head back, she looks at Teleri's sketch with the frog and snake and looks even more confused. She shakes her head and puts Teleri's sketch out of the way, face down. Then she draws a large frog with swirly eyes and a shiny gem. Standing next to it is a grippli with a staff (like the elder). She puts this drawing far to the right of drawing 0.
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"This middle row... if you trace it from the right to left, could be the order of things. It ends with us fighting the Grippli champions again, I think. The top and bottom row maybe are... results? If we kill the snake, they are happy. We build a hut here and become friends?"
Ives reaches out to the trees around him.
speak with plants;2/5 I think
"Trees of the swamp... do you know of a dangerous snake who attacks the grippli...Where is it?"
"No, I don't think so," Teleri shakes her head. "That would work if you read it first the fight with the two grippli, then them standing over us, then we fight the snake, then the snake is dead."
"But in the order it's given, if you read the middle row left to right, first we fight the two grippli, then we're standing over a dead snake we haven't fought yet, then we fight the snake that's already dead, and then we're lying on the ground with grippli standing over us."
"There there," Teleri says, patting the grippli on the shoulder.
She resumes studying the array of drawings. "Well, she's clearly trying to tell us something," Teleri says. "But it's all muddled. We've got things that have already happened all mixed up with things that haven't."
"She doesn't want us to just leave," Teleri goes on. "She shoved that picture with us leaving over to the side. That's the 'no, wrong, bad' pile. And the snake wasn't behind the enchanted frog, that was the elder apparently."
She chews at her lip. "What are these, I wonder?" She picks up the picture of Teleri and Ives offering some kind of objects to the sad grippli (#7). She puts the blank bark on the ground, taps the tip of the stick to one of the objects in the picture, and then taps the blank bark with the stick and offers it back to the grippli.
She looks uncertainly at you but the request is simple enough. She draws some leaves and roots.
They are medicinal herbs.
Teleri looks blankly at the illustration, feeling as though she ought to know what they are.
The grippli woman grows increasingly frustrated and concerned. She takes her stick and points to pictures in the following order.
0, 4, 2, 5
0, 1, 6, 5
0, 7, 3, 5
The swamp trees hear Ives and respond "Who are you, stranger? Why do you ask of the serpent?"
"Ah," Teleri says. "It's meant to be read right to left, but the first and last pictures apply to all three rows, not just the middle one. She's telling us what our options are if we want a rematch."
"The first option is that we move here, build a hut, become part of the community, and then we can challenge those two again. As outsiders we don't have standing to issue challenges, but if we join the tribe, we won't be outsiders any more."
"The second option is we go kill this snake, which they don't like apparently, and that will prove us worthy of a rematch, because we have done a service to the tribe."
"The third option is that we ... uh ... go get some leaves and roots and perform an amusing dance for the benefit of some depressed grippli, and once they're happy again we can have our rematch because we've ... I don't know, acted as social workers for the benefit of the community? I just don't understand why the leaves and roots are needed."
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"Maybe people are sick and dying because of the poisoned water. They need healing. But we aren't good at that kind of thing."
"See Miss Teleri! I told you that it was right to left!" Ives sounds a little smug like only a teenager can.
Ives whispers mentally to the trees... "The serpent is killing these people. We want to help. If I walk near you, can your branches show us the way?"
The trees respond to Ives "That is good. Yes we will show you the way if you are ready."
"It certainly sounds the most straightforward," Teleri says. "And while the swamp is lovely, I don't think I'd care to settle down here."
"All right, friend," Teleri tells the grippli. "Message received." She takes a piece of bark, draws a snake on it, and then pins it to the ground with the stick.
Teler's stomach growls loudly, causing their grippli friend to blink rapidly. "Right after breakfast," she says. "We never head dinner, on account of being unconscious, and I'm starved."
After a quick but filling meal of oatmeal, Teleri asks "Uh ... I don't suppose the trees said how far it was? If we're going to be gone less than a day, I'd like to stash a lot of my stuff here. It's heavy."
Teleri sighs heavily. "All right," she says, and shoulders the pack. "Let's go."
As you walk across the catwalks out of the grippli village, some of the grippli jeer at you while others look quietly disappointed. The trees lead you deeper into the swamp for about an hour. Then one of them whispers The snake is basking in that clump of trees.
Wrapped up in worries over whether they'll be able to get the issues with the mine resolved, Teleri fails to notice when Ives stops and almost -- but not quite -- collides with him.
She starts saying "Wha ..., but Ives gestures for silence, and then points up ahead. Her lips form an O.
Cautiously, Teleri backs up a good forty feet, quietly takes off her backpack, and leans it gently against a tree. Then she returns to Ives' side.
"What now?" she whispers. "Try and surprise it?"
Teleri shifts slightly to one side, staying back a bit from Ives and stepping cautiously. She pulls her light mace as she goes.
The snake notices Ives and begins to move!
That's huge, Teleri thinks, and begins casting her spell of sleep.
Disturbed, the snake heads toward the nearest prey item, Ives! It bites at him, huge fangs snapping, but misses!
The snake then immediately falls asleep.
Ives claw smashes through the skull of the snake, leaving it twitching in death. The trees whisper to Ives "The grippli have tried to kill the snake many times but it has eluded them. Their warriors didn't think to ask us... Few of them could..."
Teleri looks unhappily at the dead snake. "I feel ... guilty," she says. "It was just an animal. It killed grippli from the tribe, and it would no doubt have tried to kill us, too. But ... I made it sleep. It never had a chance."
"Oh, I know. But this time, this death, is because I made the snake sleep when it wasn't tired. I just ... I don't know. It doesn't seem fair."
She sighs. Walking over, she runs a hand along the sun-warmed scales of the dead snake, her face a mix of regret and sorrow. "I've always thought of my sleep spell as a way to knock someone out for a few minutes so I could run away. This is only the second time I've used it for anything else."
Ives finds no goodies on the outside of the snake...
Teleri shudders and backs away. She collects her pack while Ives dismembers it.
Ives finds several small stones with holes drilled through them. He also finds a stone with an odd symbol carved on it. Plus the snake does indeed look like good eating.
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Ives inspects what he finds, and he hold some out for Teleri to look at. "Were the grippli wearing these, Miss Teleri? Maybe we should give them back. Look at the one. It is fancier than the others... belonging to a chieftain, maybe? Is it magic?"
As Teleri inspects those, Ives starts butchering the snake. "Maybe having a snake feast will make the grippli listen to us." He does his best to prepare the corpse for travel, so they can show off what they have done.
The stones with holes drilled in them do indeed look as if they belonged to grippli as you have seen them wearing similar jewelry. Ives removes the head of the snake for display and removes several nice long strips of serpent meat. The pair begin heading back into the grippli village. When they arrive, several grippli approach them curiously. When they get close enough to notice the snake head Ives is carrying, they get very excited and begin shouting in grippli. Soon, the elder approaches to investigate, hobbling briskly along one of the swaying catwalks over the swamp. Seeing the head, he bows respectfully "You have found and killed the snake? That is a great service to our people." Loudly before the others, he shouts in grippli then seems to repeat himself in common "I grant you the rights of warriors!"
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"When the time is proper, we want a rematch against those two who beat us. I think we can take them this time! But this battle, Miss Teleri is allowed to stand behind me, just like that cleric stood behind his guard. It is only fair!"
Ives' blood boils just thinking about that fight. This time, they will win! They must!
The elder nods. "It is your right as warriors to demand a re-trial when injured before first trial. We find big bug bites on you when healing. When do you want to enter again? I will ask your opponents as well."
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Ives glances at Teleri. "What do you think Miss Teleri? Tomorrow morning? Tonight, we should feast on snake!"
Ives raises the snake head high up into the air so all looking can see how they, the outsiders, ended this threat to their village.
He hands the snake meat over to the village elder and asks him to see it prepared!
"Tomorrow morning would be fine," Teleri says.
On the way back from the snake lair she had cleaned off and then examined the fancier stone.
The elder accepts the snake meat and directs some of the younger grippli to prepare it. He responds "We will, of course, not eat the thing which has eaten our kin. But you may if you wish. It is not forbidden. We just don't want."
Back in her hut, Teleri determines that a strong aura of transmutation is given off by this stone but she doesn't figure out its properties.
You feast on snake meat with the grippli as they consume fish and giant insects. The festivity last late into the night. The next day, it is time for your re-trial. The grippli gather again around the platform where you can take your stances. The strong majority of the crowd is smeared in orange this time. It seems that the crowd likes winners... But perhaps they will be swayed a different direction this time?
"Oh good," Teleri says with relief. "I thought it was creepy to eat something that ate people." She doesn't partake.
The next morning she prepares herself, pocketing a vial of oil and clambering back up onto the platform. She eyes the opposition warily, light mace in hand.
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"All this snake for me! Horray!" Ives happily dives in, and when he is done, he breaks out his candy he bought in town.
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The next morning, Ives puts the carved stone they found on a string and hangs it around his neck. "It's pretty. Might as well wear it!"
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Ives prepares for the battle to begin. "I got you both this time. Gahh!" He raises his hands to the air and screams, punches himself in the chest twice, and unsheathes his claws.""The lot of you should have green. GREEN! I KILL SNAKE!"
Safely out of Ives' line of sight, Teleri rolls her eyes at this display of literal chest-thumping.
The Grippli begin whispering to themselves when they see Ives wearing the drilled stones. You walk into the arena as the Grippli grow excited again.
The elder raises his staff to quiet the crowd. The massed Grippli fall silent. The fight begins! Ives leaps quickly into action this time!
Ives rushes forward and strikes the surprised grippli with a claw! The grippli spellcaster attempts to step carefully away from Ives but has to balance on the edge of the platform. He barely avoids falling off the platform and into the water! The crowd gasps and then cheers loudly.
Standing precariously on the edge of the platform, he grasps his necklace and calls forth the vines again. And they are just as effective this time! Ives and Teleri are both ensnared by the plants! The other grippli strikes Ives twice, hard! The green-painted grippli erupt in throaty roars of pre-mature triumph!