The river deep

Glidbem chirps up to say "As much as I would greatly prefer talking to fighting, I'm not sure that whoever is on this other ship can even communicate with us. Not that we have much of a choice other than to try I suppose; but if anyone has any non-verbal ideas for showing that we mean no harm, it might be worth considering here."

Try we shall, and I'll do my very best to establish communication, but its up to them how friendly they feel like being. If we get close and arrows start flying I make no promises that I'm capable of calming things down, or that I wont be staying behind the nearest form of cover. I've had one too many attempts on my life as of late... she says, looking around nervously to see if the sailors who tried to throw her overboard are still present.

"Thank you Nel, that does make me feel a bit better. Though I suppose I cant be too mad at them, anyone is liable to crack under that kind of pressure. Let them know I forgive them, but that they should avoid trying to toss any ladies into the water from now on."

Glidbem considers the situation along with Hanks words and thinks for a moment. "If there are indeed scholars of some sort among the group then that helps our chances quite a bit. I don't suppose you have any paint somewhere on this ship, or anything else to make a sign with perhaps?"

Glidbem ponders for a moment before sketching out a pair of symbols "PEACE" with ties to community and civilization and "TRADE" that is less commerce based and more of an exchange. The sailors quickly rig it to a couple poles set into the boat and you wait. After several minutes you notice the nearby activity in increasing and Dree catches a few figures circling around between the boat and the cavern floor where you came from. But then with a splash 2 large figures leap from the water to land on nearby rocks before crouching down behind shields and watching you.

A third figure joins the first two. All three are humanoid though their skin tones are in blues and greens and you notice gill slits on their necks. The first two are larger muscular men and though they only hold weapons at the moment, each has a short but thick spear on their back. The woman hold a decorative trident and studies the markings drawn on the cloth and the nervous crew on the ship before waving a hand and releasing a pale blue glow that pull the mist between the two groups into the shape of two symbols. "Peace" and "Need". The woman then speaks several words repeatedly and Glidbem is able to faintly recognize them based on the shape of the two runes. This is an older dialect and seems to be heavily influenced both by the dwellers of the underdark and sea elves.

Glidbem peers hesitantly over the railing of the ship to read the message in the mist, before ducking back down and letting out a sigh of relief. Wonderful, it seems that they're at least willing to handle this in a friendly manner; truthfully that's more than I was expecting. Now if I could just get a chance to better understand their language so that we could more fully communicate. She thinks for a moment before grabbing the canvas and pitch again, preparing to paint another sign.

After some back and forth between Glidbem and the priestess Ishtara you get the impression that though her people have lived here below the river since at least the Shattering things have not been great and gotten worse. Some recent shift has brought a threat to their community. Thus they used some forbidden magic to try and bring about a solution. However the only thing that happened was for the river to pull the boat down into their caverns. The priestess was sent for as soon as the hunters discovered the boat while they keep the crew from doing anything to return to the surface.


Looking over the ship she then pauses a moment before whispering a few words to one of the guards to drops into the water. You come not to talk leader? he priestess asks.

Glidbem does her best to try and explain to the priestess that she did not come here to talk to their leader, and that she and the boats crew were on their way to a city called Paphos when the boat was pulled into the cave. As for her two companions, she states that they both came to the caves while searching for something but assures the priestess that they mean no harm.

Glidbem hesitates for a good moment, none of this was what she had in mind when she set off on this trip, but helping these merfolk seems like the only way out for now; plus she is admittedly curious to see what kind of civilization they've built for themselves down here. She gives an uncertain nod to the priestess before moving to follow her.