<strong>The Wilds of Dra Sirdu: the previous night.</strong><br/><br/>Reliyian's kindness was not unrewarded, at least not entirely. Her ministrations, at first, were met with a suspicious, unblinking stare, but the creature quickly relaxed and became quite pliant, indeed. Regardless its lack of choice in the matter, it seemed to enjoy her attention, however fleeting, despite its earlier efforts to do her and her fellows harm. When she finally finished her work, the creature bobbed its head at her made a soft hissing noise, followed by a sharp snap of the tongue. Perhaps it was a thank you, or perhaps it had just called her a whore. It didn't<em>sound</em>angry, at least.<br/><br/>The creature, Reliyian would recall, was known as an Otyugh or a Gulguthra, depending on the tongue in which it was named. Exceedingly rare on the mainland, their first reported by elven scholars spotting had happened several hundreds of years ago, not long after the initial encounters with conquering Vuali. While solitary, roaming scavengers not above eating defenseless humanoids, they generally prefer carrion and have occasionally even been recorded aiding survivors of great battles or massacres. If anything, the elven naturalist Yemilio described it best when he claimed that their outlook on smaller creatures was roughly equivalent to the way human nobility and respectable* elves viewed rabbits: cute, easily frightened, but quite tasty.<br/><br/>*Yemilio, in addition to his many contributions to the great libraries of his time, was a rather notorious racist when it came to what he saw as "low elves." Ironically, his most famous work is a collection of long, detailed interviews with literally thousands of non-elves. This list includes, most notably, seven dragons (only three of which are still alive), three heads of a particularly lucid hydra, dozens of treants, dryads, and other nature spirits, many hundreds of humanoids, and an entity which called itself "Ngesh." The entry devoted to the last interview disappeared from every existing copy of the book a year and a day after Yemilio semi-publicly issued copies. The name only remains in incomplete copies or vague references. In an event unlikely to be a coincidence, Yemilio vanished on that same date.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">A bit long, I admit</div><div class="spoiler_body">But hey! Superb rolls ought to be rewarded. Besides, inspiration struck me, so why not. The Otyugh/Gulguthra is, of course, a direct theft from D&amp;D, but not in exactly the same role that Drakes and Depths settles them in. I felt that the literal dung-eating took things a bit too far.<br/><br/>I think it'd be reasonable for Aeryn to recognize the names, both of the creature and the writer, if Reliyian mentioned them. She is an extremely learned scholar herself, after all (another roll could accompany this for more information, but I'd have to make it up on the spot, I fear).</div></div><br/><strong>The Wilds of Dra Sirdu: a surprise, but thankfully not a nasty one.</strong><br/><br/>The appearance of carelessness was, apparently, more than just an appearance. Their long, cautious approach was rewarded with only boredom and the natural noises of the silence until they were almost directly below the cluster of tree-borne dwellings. However, perhaps a dozen yards out, a somewhat lumpy patch on one of the houses moved and resolved itself into a scaly, humanoid shape. Even as it skulked cautiously along one of the massive tree branches supporting the houses, its skin shifted to match the hues and textures around and behind it, just as had the creature they had recently released.<br/><br/>"Soft skins!" it called to them, words somewhat disjointed-sounding and extremely sibilant. "What look here?" It paused, face twisted in obvious frustration, then tried again, "What … seek?" It was somewhere between the sizes of the smaller creatures they had slaughtered the night before and their burlier leader, maybe standing somewhere around four and a half feet tall. It did, however, err on the slimmer side as compared to the muscular alpha lizard, and lacked the plethora of scarring that the other had displayed. Like all the others, it wore a loincloth and the tight-fitting cowl over its head and shoulders. However, unlike all of the creatures seen previously, it bore no weapons.<br/><br/>Not waiting for them to decide who among them would respond, much less how, it made a quick series of harsh shrieks and oddly melodious chirps. Still, it had approached them more in the manner of an envoy or city guard than a hostile sentry. All those living within the dwellings might now know of their presence, but no armed, enraged militia boiled out to meet them.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Dealing with the greeter</div><div class="spoiler_body">The issue is that while he obviously speaks some of the same language, it's going to be difficult to communicate coherently with him. I'd pin the challenge at Fair/+2 to communicate your point, and another two higher to coax out an unambiguously positive reaction. Social skills, in either case.</div></div>