Looking at the little creatures, I bring myself to a low stance with the intention of bolting out of the cavern at the slightest sign of aggression from them. Yet the four creatures seem even more apprehensive then me as they pull themselves into a tight huddle with their weapons pointed towards me.
Seeing as they even had those weapons in the first place meant that either they, or something related to them, had some form of intelligence. And I didn’t exactly want to wander these caves without knowing anything if I could help it.
Still trying to seem anything but hostile, I slowly start to loosen myself up after holding a staring competition with the creatures, eventually going back holding myself in a casual manner.
Watching the creatures stay in the huddled formation, I start to grow impatient waiting for them to do anything. Not entirely sure what to do in a situation like this, I let out a sigh and try communicating with the group to tell them that I didn’t mean to attack them.
“Aiy… mehn… noe… haghrm…”
In all honesty, I should have expected that I wouldn’t be able to speak correctly. What I did not expect was to have a voice that sounded like a combination of rolling thunder and Tiamat.
Reaching up to my throat, I massage it in the useless attempt to not sound like Zeus woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
Understandably so, the four little lizard creatures start literally shaking where they stood while no longer staring at me with apprehension, but with the same fear of someone who was staring up at a massive wave about to crash down on their boat while in the middle of the sea during a storm.
To my surprise, one of their group stepped forward while chittering something unintelligible to the others. It seemingly was able to interpret what I had said was at the very least a declaration of peace, because it laid down its spear and held up a hand with its palm facing me.
Feeling glad that we had stepped at least onto the starting line of properly communicating, and hopefully trading information, I begin trying to come up with a way to communicate. What information did I have? Absolutely nothing, but they don’t know that… yet.
Seeing as they had decide to trust me enough to not attack, I try to find a common ground of understanding that we could use that wasn't verbale by using the tried and true method of writing in the dirt. Though in this instance it wasn’t dirt, it was solid rock, which for a moment surprised me that I was able to carve into it with brute force with as much ease as walking. Walking before this body mind you, I would still trip if you challenged me to a race right now.
My strength surprised the lizards as well as the one who had stepped forward who retreated back a few steps before realising what I was trying to do and looking at the crude description I was making.
I never really was someone with what could be considered an ‘artist's touch’, making my weird scribbles in the stone even more confusing to the both of us. It really didn’t help that I didn’t even know what to ask or tell them, let alone how.
Though after a few minutes of being a caveman and making shapes and indications to somehow picture that I didn’t know where I was, the lizard seemed to pick up what it was I was saying.
Now hopefully knowing that I was asking for our whereabouts, it pulled out a knife from its tattered clothes, if they could even be called that, and started to scratch out a map. From what it was showing me, I was able to get a general layout of the place, though somewhat concerningly, one of the lizards in their group had run off back down the tunnel halfway through our crude conversation.
Even more concerningly yet intriguing was that a lot of the map the lizard had drawn out seemed to just randomly go from being jagged and cave-like to being symmetrical and uniform, almost like the inside of some sort of ground complex.
Whether that meant that the place was artificial, or that there was an even more advanced race, it did mean that I had an objective for the immediate future. That being to find out what that place was.
After roughly ten or so minutes, the lizard stopped marking down the map and looked back to me with curiosity. Wanting to ask more about the complex-like part of the caves, I try to motion to the parts of the map that had them in an attempt to get the lizard to understand. Though if I was in its place, I doubt that I would be able to decipher my intent.
Giving up on trying to act from a distance, I push myself from my crouching position to go over to the map to better describe my questions. At this point, the lizard backed away several steps, moving into a defensive position as I started to walk over to it.
Its actions made sense, the entire time we had been about a stone's throw away, staying out of eachothers area of action. Walking over to the map, I crouch down again and tap my claw on the uniform part of the map while tilting my head in the same manner that a confused dog would.
The entire situation was crude and embarrassing to me, but I didn’t really have any other choice given the communication barrier between us.
After I tapped on the map several times, I held my hands up just in case as a sign of peace. Seeing this, the lizard puts its spear down again before bending over to continue scribing into the stone, never taking its eyes off me.
Halfway through the lizard writing out danger signs yet also putting down symbols that I could only consider being signs of, trading? Which made no sense to me given that it still wrote down danger signs at the same time, the other two lizards turned around before moving to the side of the tunnel as if making way for something.
Noticing this, I go on the alert and put my full attention on the tunnel, straining my hearing to the absolute max hoping to pick up anything that would tell me what was coming. To my dismay, I just faintly hear the sounds of multiple footsteps coming down the path.
Not wanting to gamble the pain of being stabbed again let alone dying, I quickly jump back and prepare to burst into a sprint at the slightest sign of hostility. As I watch the tunnel, the first thing I see is the lizard that had run away before, and following it were three people.
…
‘Wait what? Why are there people here?’
To my complete shock, the people that followed the lizard were dressed in light mediaeval armour and carrying a vast handful of weapons. Even more shocking than the fact they were armed to the teeth, was the fact they were humans.
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It's not necessarily surprising that there were other universes and realities with humans, but the fact that I had only been sent to places with humans was improbable. The concerning part was that even though there were humans in this place, I wasn’t one. I was some sort of humanoid scaled something or other that I hadn’t even seen the full appearance of.
The confusion I felt seemed to be shared with the group, but for different reasons. They immediately began conversing in a language I didn’t recognize. I was hoping that I would have been given a cheat that let me understand their language like the last place I was in, but sadly, I wasn’t.
Out of the three of them, two of them seemed more concerned than anything, while the last one had pulled out a piece of paper and was tracing their finger over it while rapidly muttering in excitement.
Curious as to if they would be able to understand me if I were to speak, even with my inability to control my voice completely yet, I try asking them if they could understand me.
“I doen’t suppose yew uhndeahr staan mae?”
Upon trying to say anything I immediately regret it, realising the degree of severity that was my inability to speak. I would have had a better chance doing an interpretive dance to get them to understand me then whatever the fuck it was I just said.
Not to mention the unfamiliarity of my own voice that made things ten times harder. Luckily, even though they didn’t understand me, I did get the point across that I could speak at all. The two that had before shown concern now were simply surprised, while the other guy seemed to be as excited as a kid in a candy shop who had also just been told that their best friend was coming to their house later.
They began talking amongst themselves and the lizards for a moment before coming to some sort of conclusion and giving the excited guy some space. Curious as to what they were doing and also realising that I should probably have created mental profiles for all of them sooner, I’m pulled from my thoughts and lamenting as I see the guy start to weave his hands around each other while muttering something.
After a moment, a faint light appears and flashes between his hands before disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. He then looks towards me again, and I feel a pull on my conscience in his direction for a split second.
Having had so many interactions with malicious mental manipulation, I immediately tense up and prepare to dash out of the room.
“Wait! We don’t mean any harm!”
Confusion becomes my main emotion as the guy speaks in a language I could understand. Staring at him for a moment, I remember one of the subcategories of the main magic branches in Reldrav had something like telepathy.
Again, not wanting to directly compare and assume things worked the same way here as they did in Reldrav, I put my thoughts aside for a moment and prioritise getting information from these people.
“How am I able to understand you now? I assume that it’s at the very least some form of cantrip. No?”
For some reason, I was able to control my voice perfectly even though I had no experience speaking with it. Assuming that it had something to do with the spell that the guy had cast, I put it to the side with my ever growing pile of unanswered questions and curiosities.
“You’re right about it being a spell, but it’s not a cantrip. It's a higher tier of communication magic that has been compared to and is the direct descendent of mental magic. That's not important right now though, who are you. And if you are willing to tell me, what are you?”
Starting to put together that this person was some sort of historian or researcher, and that the other two were more basic fighters, I realise that I couldn’t actually answer the man's question. I knew who I was, but I couldn’t exactly say it, and I had no idea what I was, leaving me the job of creating a character on the spot and in the next ten seconds.
Quickly throwing things together, I settle on using the variation of my original name, and a variation of how I handled things in the previous world.
“Why should I tell you, let alone trust you.”
Deciding to try and play it safe, I try to create a foundation for cooperation by getting them to give a reason for mutual trust. In the worst case scenario, I could try to run away and stumble around until I figured things out for myself.
The man perks up a bit, seemingly happy that I answered him at all. “You don’t have a reason to trust us, but you already tried to get information from the kobolds so you probably don’t have any hostile intentions.”
Now knowing that the little lizards were kobolds, my brain starts to run wild as to what else could be in this world. Though I’m brought back to reality yet again when I realise that these people didn’t know what I was. Now my brain started to run wild again, but this time instead in worry that I was some sort of unique being more than I already was.
“I want to figure out what you are, and I imagine you want to know where you are. I don’t see a reason for us not to cooperate.” The man says.
Things were progressing well, but I couldn’t say that I wasn’t nervous. This guy seemed smart, and while that would be useful to me, it would also make things that much harder for me because he would be more likely to call my bluffs.
“In that case, what do you propose?” I ask. In a perfect world, they’d take me back to wherever it was that they were staying, resulting in me not having to scavenge for food and shelter while also letting me adopt the cultures of this place.
“I’d like it if you would follow us back to our ca-” He says before the bigger of the two other men pushed him back a drew his sword, “we don’t even know what that thing is. And it’s been on alert as if it’s waitin’ to attack us this entire time! AND, it has blood on it!” the man bellows.
He wasn’t wrong, ever since they had entered the room I had been tensed and ready to bolt away if things went south. I didn’t know the extent of my physical abilities, nor did I understand what the blood on my arm was.
You couldn’t really tell it was blood, it just looked like red tattoos, but the tiny chunks of flesh that were dried up of all liquid from the snake before didn’t paint a good picture. If anything, It was a miracle that the kobolds first and then these humans had not run or attacked yet.
“I do kinda have to agree with Malcolm, it may be acting friendly and all, but the fact that it didn’t even want to tell us its name doesn’t sit well with me.” The other man says.
By this point, I had developed pretty decent surface level profiles of the group, I still didn't have two of their names, but I was sure that I would soon.
“Why would it give us its name? It said it itself, why should it trust us!” The guy who had cast the spell in the first place says.
“By that logic, why should we trust it then? I know we said that we’d follow you on this, but I have never seen anything like it before and I value my life more than you do apparently.” Finding the situation funny, but also not wanting to stall so much I chime in again hoping to get back on track.
“Your friends are right, I’m an unknown in a dangerous situation but by far not the most dangerous.” I say.
My words catch their attention and they all turn to me, confused by what I had said. “I don’t entirely know your strength and I doubt it’s planning to come back anytime soon because it just ate, but the entire reason I’m here is because a massive worm snake thing just fought and lost against another behemoth of a wolf like creature, and I don’t know about you, but I also value my life so if possible I don’t want to stay here too much longer.”
My words seem to send everyone into a panic at the mention of the two creatures. They seemingly knew what they were and didn’t want to encounter them either.
“Quick, home go back!” One of the kobolds squealed the first words of theirs that I could understand. Upon it saying that, the rest of them wholeheartedly agreed and started to rush down the tunnel that they had initially come from.
Not knowing whether to follow them or not, I decide to follow them, regardless of if they care or not seeing as they hadn't told me to not. Besides, there was no way I was going to lose my most probable source of information and an alliance.