Sal stands 10 feet from the creature--seemingly more than a respectful distance, but she can reach him with her spear if he gets cranky. Otherwise she stays quiet and lets the others do the talking. For once.
"No idea what it is saying."
He shrugs.
Salaamati can pick up on its fear.
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"I'll try . . .."
Luimener tries to copy the signs that he thought represented monkey goblins, and then threw his hands down to the side, hard, before folding them across his chest. Then he'll soften his expression, and reach an empty hand out, tentatively.
The creature tilts its head to the side as it watches Luimener's actions.
It looks around the room and very slowly, watching for any objections, reaches down to a pile nearby and picks up a bottle. There is the slosh of some liquid still inside.
It delicately (and clearly still terrified) hands it to Luimener.
This seems to be a peace offering of sorts. The alcohol is obviously valuable to the creature.
As you watch more of its behaviour creature seems to still be a little drunk.
"Careful with this one. He is still drunk. Whatever is in there is probably strong. He seems like he might not fight. That's good"
Coldir is thoroughly fascinated by this creature. His skin reminds him of a shark, or string ray. His appendages certainly do not support a water based life, however. What is he?
"Bacon good for hangover, yes yes." In response to the creature's peace offering, Sete pulls out a strip of cured meat from her rations, reaching with it towards the frightened drunk.
The elf carefully accepts the bottle, holds his breath, takes a quick, small swallow, and offers the bottle back before starting to breath again. Yes, he's trying to protect himself from what could potentially be a horrific drink, while trying to display trust.
The drink appears to just be ale, slightly stale but not foul.
Your best guess from the drink and the contents of the room is that the creature's drunken state is purely due to sheer volume.
The creature nods at Sette's words, her tone and actions seeming to convey the message. It then gingerly reaches for the bacon and grabs it before darting back out of reach.
It sniffs then takes a bite and its face contorts into what could definitely be interpreted as a smile. The gusto with which it finishes the bacon supports that interpretation.
It shuffles forward again and holds out a hand to Sette hopefully.
"Bacon. That's a bargaining chip even I get." Sal remains watchful, but relieved so far it seems to be going well.
"More bacon?" The ratfolk shrugs, taking out another piece of jerky and handing it to the creature.
Less fearful now the creature shuffles forward and takes the offered treat and starts eating.
This creature will probably stay here till you return if asked in the context of extra bacon. This seems to be its nest.
"It seems to happy here. Sette, maybe offer it another bacon and point to it and then this building. If it will stay here, maybe we can figure out a way to talk to it latter. Perhaps we can find a comprehend languages scroll."
Moving over to Trix and leaning in a bit; "Can you not speak to it directly in it's mind? I thought I've heard you say something about reading thoughts, or something like that, earlier."
Coldir's mind going back to the sword,he walks up to the person currently carrying and does a quick detect magic on it.
"I think that he will stay. What do we have left in this village? The Ankheg, not to excited about finding a nest of them, the mechanical bug, or follow the golin tracks? Goblin tracks seems least risky at this point."
"The goblins seems like a better choice to me, as well." He points towards the one with antennae "The question is how urgently do we wish to pursue our investigation?"
Sal shrugs. "More time we wait, more time the people stay disappeared. But at th'same time, if we all ain't top of form, we could disappear ourselves. I'm game to track the gobbos, but if the rest of ya want to take a breather I'll follow suit." She scratches her head. "Anybody 'member if and when we're sposta report back?"
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Triix ponders that. I guess we should press on and follow those tracks then. I'll make do. Before we do though, maybe we should send a report to the ship to let them know what we've found so far. Maybe the rest of the colonists and crew can secure the settlement while we do so.
I was thinking of using Dancing Lights as signal flares she concludes.
"Report back, yes yes, then follow the tracks. Sette good to go, but low on bacon."
The ratfolk mournfully pulls out a third strip of jerky, but instead of handing it to the creature she places it on the bed while maintaining eye contact. She then points at the creature and jabs a finger down at the floor several times, in what she hopes conveys 'stay here'.
Coldir looks off into the distance as the group discusses their next move. "I'd say we get to decide when we report back. Reporting back before we leave the village makes sense. If the villagers are in danger, we should probably do this quickly. Then we can try to follow the goblins. Deal with that. Then we can puzzle out this bug." He then looks to each of the party members for confirmation. Thinking back to the mime show with their newest 'friend', "Does anyone speak goblin?"
"Nope. What I've heard 'em say in Taldane generally makes me not want to know what they say in their native language. I ain't never met a gobbo who wants to chat anyways, less they're takin' time while they're settin' ya and yer dog on fire."
Sal leaves the conundrum of goblin diplomacy to others and looks for their tracks instead.
"Never had a reason to talk to goblins before. Tracking them, on the other hand . . .."
You are able to find some monkey goblin tracks leading into the forest.
You also remember that the ship has gone to the second landing area to the north of the colony.
Sal points in the direction the tracks lead, and says, "Shall we?"
Salaamati nods.
"Yes, let us follow the tracks."
He starts to search!
"Off to investigate the guidance. We will meet you back with the ship's captain later. I'm in north side, right?". Later."
Coldir falls in beside Trix. Worried about her 'being down to cantrips', he attempts to provide companionship.
"Not the start I expected."
"I doubt any of us expected to find the established settlement deserted and raided by the locals. But you deal with what you have, not what you want. Otherwise you go hungry and cold."
You find a variety of tracks, most seem animal though they are strange and there are several you don't recognise.
There is a trail which appears to be a group of monkey goblins leaving the forest going to the blacksmiths.
After you have followed the trail northwards for around 20 minutes Luimener spots something odd.
An unusual swath of ground lies ahead. A section of ground approximately ten feet wide crossing your path looks as if it is grooved, covered with minute depressions and trampled grass.
A first impression suggests a path left by hundreds of thousands of insects marching in a tight formation, but none of the plants appear to be eaten or damaged.
Where the strange trail intersects with obstacles, it either splits and goes around the obstacle like water, or veers to avoid it entirely.
"Even though I'm more comfortable in the deep blue, this is interesting.". Coldir says as he peers at the markings.
Maybe we don't need to rush back to the ocean just yet.... He thinks to himself
"That's . . . unusual. Don't think I remember hearing of anything like this before."
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Earlier in reply to Coldir: Well ... I have to admit, I was just looking forward to settling in then freediving those Azlanti ruins with Sal or arranging where the astronomical observatory was going to go. Or maybe even putting on a magic show for the colonists.
But yeah, Lumenere is correct. One can only play the hand one is dealt
"This is weird. But we're still tracking the gobbos first, right? I'll see where both go in case they tangle."
"More of those mechanical bugs, perhaps? If so, very many." Sette crouches to examine the trail as well.
"Could be, Sette. Could be. Don't know that I would want to run into that many of those trying to do harm, though."