Beldan glances warily at the stick. Foreigners ... why don’t they ever learn Common?
“I. Don’t. Understand. You.” Beldan speaks slowly and loudly (cos that always helps). “Maybe. One. Of. My. Friends. Knows. Your. Language.” He gestures back to the others, approaching the bridge, then smiles in a friendly fashion, steps back and calls out, “Pip? Altai? A little help here please.”
Beldan glances warily at the stick. Foreigners ... why don’t they ever learn Common?
“I. Don’t. Understand. You.” Beldan speaks slowly and loudly (cos that always helps). “Maybe. One. Of. My. Friends. Knows. Your. Language.” He gestures back to the others, approaching the bridge, then smiles in a friendly fashion, steps back and calls out, “Pip? Altai? A little help here please.”
He looks at Elgan;
and says "miem?...."then, in Animalese grunts and growls where Elgan can understand him;
Elgan
He points the wand at himself, then at you guys;
then,
he's still speaking weirdly but you can understand him.....
"I....am.....Kaii-to. Kaii-to. Do....you....understand now......Kaii-to....."
He grabs a flask from his belt; takes a drink.
“Ha! Yes, I can understand you now. Nice to meet you Kaii-to, I’m Beldan. We’re ... not from around here. We’re kind of lost.”
"Yeah. I never seen you before in this valley. Where are you looking for?
Are you a tengu? You have a small nose."
He looks at Elgan again;
"are you a.....miem?
“I don’t think I’m a tengu,” says Beldan. “I’m not sure what that is. Um, yes, my nose is pretty small I guess.” He’s polite enough not to add ‘compared to yours’.
“Elgan’s not a mime, he’s a druid – he’s quiet now, but he usually talks a lot. So ... this valley, it’s not anywhere near Asgard is it? Or Sasserine for that matter? Is there a town nearby?” He glances down at the stream. “How’s the fishing? They biting?”
"miem,.....I don't know what a "MIME" is.
Well you're not in France...
"Only asked if you were a tengu because,....you know,...you have a tengu sword.
I don't know what Asgard is,...or Sasserine is.....
oh, yes. Cities of men....nearby. Cities of men.
No catch fish this man way. Don't know how man does this.
Just wanted to try.
You know the way of the man stickstring fish magic, yes?"
“A tengu sword huh?” Beldan pats the new fancy rapier at his side. “This one? Oh, I didn’t know. Could you point us in the direction of the city?
“Oh yeah, I can fish,” he adds. “Used to fish off the wharf all the time when I was a kid ... I don’t think I ever caught anything edible though ... it’s more about the fishing than the fish, you know?”
"Naah. That makes no sense. I'm hungry."
He taps the road with his bean bag.
"Men make these things. Yeah, it wasn't always here like the mountains.
They make them between their cities, so, if you follow one of these things, it should inevitably pour into another city.
It's like a river of stone, moving too slow to see. And the cities, they are like lakes. Where the water is trapped where it can no longer flow."
Elgan, having been temporarily silenced as he contemplated the creatures,... Bean bag, (Altai & Pip being behind him, noticed Elgan giving an elvish salute to the creature) brightens with a smile as the creature begins to speak common.
"Oh, yeh, s'ure. Ah kin' unnerstan' yew per'fec'ly now. An ah gots mos' uv whut yew wuz sayin' befur. Jes',... deh accins a lil diff'ren, yeh no?" He says almost comprehensively.
"A 'Meim'? Ah dunno fren. Ah'm whut yew call an elf. Frum deh Dreadwood. Muh names Elgan. If'n yeh mean whut ah does fer a livin'? Ah'm a druid. Whut Beldin dere calls a 'tree-hugger'. (Ah t'ink he means dat az uh complement.)" He adds Sotto voice.
"Um, Ah hopes ah'm not bein' rude heah suh. But Ah've been roun' deh countryside wunce er twahce, an' ah don' t'ink ah've never seen deh lahkes uv yer kin' befo'e. Whut ere yew? If'n yeh don' min' me askin'?" Eglan asks, positively oozing excitement and puppy-like curiosity.
Beldan nods. “Yeah, that makes sense. We have some food we can share if you want some ... it’s just trail rations mostly, but there’s some good wine to go with it.” He fishes the three quarters full bottle of elven wine he was drinking earlier from his pack. “If you drink that is.”
He taps the road with his bean bag.
Beldan winces. “Doesn’t it hurt when you do that?”
Elgan, having been temporarily silenced as he contemplated the creatures,... Bean bag, (Altai & Pip being behind him, noticed Elgan giving an elvish salute to the creature) brightens with a smile as the creature begins to speak common.
"Oh, yeh, s'ure. Ah kin' unnerstan' yew per'fec'ly now. An ah gots mos' uv whut yew wuz sayin' befur. Jes',... deh accins a lil diff'ren, yeh no?" He says almost comprehensively.
"A 'Meim'? Ah dunno fren. Ah'm whut yew call an elf. Frum deh Dreadwood. Muh names Elgan. If'n yeh mean whut ah does fer a livin'? Ah'm a druid. Whut Beldin dere calls a 'tree-hugger'. (Ah t'ink he means dat az uh complement.)" He adds Sotto voice.
"Um, Ah hopes ah'm not bein' rude heah suh. But Ah've been roun' deh countryside wunce er twahce, an' ah don' t'ink ah've never seen deh lahkes uv yer kin' befo'e. Whut ere yew? If'n yeh don' min' me askin'?" Eglan asks, positively oozing excitement and puppy-like curiosity.
"I am a tanuki.
Hmmm......never heard of elf. You look like miem. Or, how I've heard of them. Never seen one.Why do you hug trees? Are trees the wives of elves?"
Beldan nods. “Yeah, that makes sense. We have some food we can share if you want some ... it’s just trail rations mostly, but there’s some good wine to go with it.” He fishes the three quarters full bottle of elven wine he was drinking earlier from his pack. “If you drink that is.”
He starts pounding the food, smacking with his mouth open; "gooooood."
Tries the wine; "good, but I like.....THIIIIIS!"
He takes a swig; proffers it to ye;
"SAKE!!!"
Why do you hug trees? Are trees the wives of elves?"
"Heh heh."
Elgan nods emphatically as the creature speaks of the road and the cities.
"Yeh, yeh! Iz lahk, deyze tryin' tew pertec' demse'ves frum deh bes' deh wurld haz teh offeh! Dey build dere walls an hide behin' 'em, instead uh goin' out an seein' whut a wunnerful place dey gots raht outside!" He responds, almost bouncing up and down in happiness.
"Yer deh furstist persun ah've mets on muh jurnee dat gets it! Deze guys er nahce an' all. Purty stan' up fellas willin teh see deh bes' in anywun, er anyTING dey meets. But deze citified sumt'in awful. Aldough Altee's magic cabin IZ purty cumfert'ble. Iz bettah den a tree limb any time. An' ah lahkes trees."
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"Told you he's not a mime."
"Well, this is different..." In an attempt to seem friendly, Altai takes off his nightvision faceplate and stows away his flamethrower staff as he approaches the odd fisherman. Claw follows 10 feet behind him, with the grumpy turtledragon perched on his shoulder.
He takes a swig of the poffered sake. "Nice. Now, Kaii-to - the men that live in cities and build roads, do they look anything like me or Beldan here?"
Elgan nods emphatically as the creature speaks of the road and the cities.
"Yeh, yeh! Iz lahk, deyze tryin' tew pertec' demse'ves frum deh bes' deh wurld haz teh offeh! Dey build dere walls an hide behin' 'em, instead uh goin' out an seein' whut a wunnerful place dey gots raht outside!" He responds, almost bouncing up and down in happiness.
"Yer deh furstist persun ah've mets on muh jurnee dat gets it! Deze guys er nahce an' all. Purty stan' up fellas willin teh see deh bes' in anywun, er anyTING dey meets. But deze citified sumt'in awful. Aldough Altee's magic cabin IZ purty cumfert'ble. Iz bettah den a tree limb any time. An' ah lahkes trees."
Oh; I understand Redneckese. ;)
"Where have you journeyed from? None of you seem to be as the humons here oddly."
"Well, this is different..." In an attempt to seem friendly, Altai takes off his nightvision faceplate and stows away his flamethrower staff as he approaches the odd fisherman. Claw follows 10 feet behind him, with the grumpy turtledragon perched on his shoulder.
He takes a swig of the poffered sake. "Nice. Now, Kaii-to - the men that live in cities and build roads, do they look anything like me or Beldan here?"
No. Your eyes look different, and your skin. Your skin looks pasty compared to them.
And the scent. You all smell like butter farts; they smell more like they eat a lot more fish."
He swigs the sake;
"Why do you humons have such small bean bags? Well maybe you pasty humons have big ones; can't tell because you all seem to wear clothing over your bean bags."
"We're from Saltmarsh ... Originally," says Beldan.
To Beldan....
"And why do you have a tengu sword?"
Beldan winces. “Doesn’t it hurt when you do that?”
He taps the road with his bean bag.
"Me, or the road?"
"We're from Saltmarsh ... Originally," says Beldan.
"Saltmarsh? Is that on the mainland? I've never heard of that on the island."
Elgan scratches his head.
"Wha'll,... Ah reckin' iz cuz deh hoomens all ahz whut we calls 'Kahoonas'. Means dat dey has small bean bags, but dese usually made uv brass." He explains with a twinkle in his eye.
"Das' in'tres'tin'. Has yew evah seen any lahk me? An elf ah means? Skinny, pointy ears? Us'ly lives in deh fores'."
Saltmarsh? Iz on deh coast. Deh mainland uv where weze frum."
"Yeah. I've seen miem. Or,....elves. I guess your language is different.
I.....guess they're the same thing..........
can you turn into a kakenzoburakami?....."
apparently the word has no meaning in your tongue....
Elgan scratches his head, again.
"Kake,...zooboo,...kama?" He ponders.
"Ah dunno. Ah nevah tried. Prob'ly cuz ah don' know whut it iz. Aldough ah'm purty good at udder animals." He says matter-of-factly, without a trace of pride.
"He really is good with udder animals. Mostly cows."
He turns into a tanuki quadrupedal "racoon dog" and back;
"That's the extent of my tricks in that area.
So, if you're from elsewhere, what are you guys doing here?" he asks.
He looks Elgan in the eye;
"Are the miem returning? Are you from.....the First World?...."
HUZZAH!
"I have no idea why we're here. No. Idea. Whatsoever. Not to mention that I have just as little idea where we are. It is enough to make a man drink. Speaking of which..." Altai eyes the flask of sake speculatively.
He laughs; hands Altai the saki.....
"Well, this is......huh; never thought of it as anything but "THE LAND." Hurmh.....it's an island.
A pretty big one.
With a lot of smaller islands, nearby...If you're from the mainland, well.....it must be a good distance away.
Where's your boat?"
He looks Elgan in the eye;
"Are the miem returning? Are you from.....the First World?...."
Elgan shrugs. "Ah don' t'ink so. Ah'm frum deh Dreadwood. Iz purty old. But it aint deh 'first' er deh oldest fores'."
"Deh Furst World,dat soun's kinda,..." He touches the tips of his pointed ears thoughtfully.
"Er yew tawkin' bout deh fey? Naw, deys mo' lahk a distint cuzins."
Elgan considers teh deeper meanings behind the chatty creatures words as Altai talks to him. He pulls out his own flask of spirits and takes a deep swig. He holds it out to Beldan,...
"The miem,......look like you. Ears,....what all....they've left the world. Went back to the First World."
Beldan nods in thanks, takes a swig from the flask, and hands it back to Elgan.
“Strong stuff.” He leans back against the railing of the bridge. “I’ve never heard of any place like this near Saltmarsh, or near Sasserine for that matter. We could still be on a different plane.”
"Stranger things have happened;" says the tanuki, his beanbag growing to large size, and then back to medium;....
"We might just be somewhere entirely else on Oerth - things appear similar, but are clearly quite different." (Y'know, like this.)
"Or it could be a different planet, like the place those four-armed giants came from. The possibilities are, quite literally, unlimited. However, once I get a good look at the night sky, I should be able to eliminate some options. Until then, we might as well join in on the fishing - I'm getting a bit peckish."
Dorito....burrito.....
Well, wherever you are,.....there's carp, and catfish, as are evidenced by the efforts of your fishing. And other things that look like strange fish, none of which talk to you or produce lightning bolts or anything of the sort, or have rabbit heads.......
And the sun gently sets eventually, ending a day of bounteous fishcatching.
Beldan fashions a rough and ready fishing line out of a straight stick, a length of string and a bent nail. He then sits back and fishes for the afternoon, chatting with the tanuki and his friends. “Not a bad place,” he thinks.
He doesn’t catch anything with his dodge fishing rod ... in the end he kneels down on the edge of the bank, waits for a fair sized carp to swim by close to the surface, and darts his hand in to grab it, relying on his almost supernatural quickness.
“Dinner!” he announces, holding up the fish.
It's a big one.....
The tanuki inquires, "are you sure you're not a tengu?"
“Pretty sure,” says Beldan. “What do these tengu folk do or look like?”
"They're masters of the sword,.......and thieves to boot. Often they are bizarre; they are as men with heads of crows, and wings......some have heads like men and long long noses.
I think they're usually a real pain in the ass."
huzzah!!!