The Professor:

"Sounds like we are resolved, then, to seek out small groups of Grung for Gruk to talk to today?" states/asks the Professor, confirming with the others.  Assuming the answer is in the affirmative, Snively uses his Comprehend Languages ritual and casts his Mage Armor for the day and prepares to move out, saying to Gruk, "We are ready--let's win over the hearts of your fellow Grung."

Inspired by the direction that once seemed to involve little more than somehow making it through the day, the group enthusiastically gets to work packing up their gear and getting ready to leave the camp behind. Within an hour, most is packed up, until you realise that a lot of the bulkier items had been behind and buried: We need to travel light if we want to cover as much ground as possible. If we need to, we can always get back for our gear, thanks to Shae’s map”, Falx states, flatly.

With the matter decided, you start heading out soon after, with Gruk and the Professor, flanked by Berrus and Brax, leading the way according to Gruk’s thoughts on where they would likely find isolated hunting parties or small warbands.

Everyone, please roll either perception to try and spot other grung, nature to determine where they would likely be found, or survival to look for travks that could be evidence of grung nearby.

The Professor:

Not particularly skilled in tracking or spotting Grung, the Professor nevertheless keeps his eyes open for trouble.

Perception:  20

Snively also offers to use the Floating Disk again if needed to carry some of the bulkier items, but he sees the wisdom in traveling lightly if they aren’t actually leaving the area yet.

Guessing games were more to Maxine alley and she tried just that: "If I were a grung, where would I hide?" Nature: 17

Shae would wonder off along with Maxine to explore the jungle's wild nature. It's been a while since she's taken some time to investigate their surroundings and now was the perfect opportunity to get 'lost' in this lush environment. She liked Maxine's approach to try to look at the jungle from a natives perspective. Occasionally Shae would look over to Gruk to get inspiration of what to look for by the way he walked and moved his body through his habitat. She would crouch as she searched, keeping a hand on her tome for comfort and guidance.

Nature: 22 + 4 Guidance

Berrus moving cautiously watching mostly for traps and ambushes. 

Perception:  12

It doesn’t take you long to reach an area with several tracks, and after Gruk ensures you that his tribe members must be close by, you all try to move as quietly as possible, weapons at the ready if things go awry, but also trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. As you take up position, you hear some movement in the bushes nearby, when three green grung and a purple one emerge. They don’t seem to have spotted you yet.

The Professor:

With no weapon out, the Professor has his hands at the ready--if the Grung attack at range, he will use Gust to deflect the attacks.  He nods at Gruk to take the lead when he is ready.

Berrus crouches down shield at the ready

Gruk rises, with Berrus closely behind him, axe tucked away, but shield at the ready. Gruk spreads his hands and carefully approaches the dumbfounded grung, and then begins to speak: "Grung. Koro-arak is bad chief. Koro-arak want war. Why? Grung have what grung need. New lands for grung make no sense to Gruk. Gruk find reason why." At this he shows the other grung his broken amulet "Koro-arak mad because of stone. Evil magic. Gruk, with help from longknives, destroy evil magic. Gruk want to avoid war with lizards. No need to die for fever dreams of Koro-arak." As he continues, you all see the four lower -caste grung lower their weapons, listening to Gruk, out of both tribal respect and genuine interest in what he has to say. As he finishes, three of the four look expectantly at you, as if to back up Gruk's word. Their weapons are still lowered, though firmly in their hands.

The Professor:

Standing with his hands spread out peacefully, the Professor adds in the Grung language, “Gruk speaks the truth.  I have met the Horned Lady and fought her.  We have her journal describing her efforts to manipulate the Grung for her evil purpose.”

Maxine, still skeptical but trying to keep look confident and convincing, was observing the conversation, prepared (just in case) to shoot at the first sign of aggression.

Shae would pop out from behind Berrus and wave. She'd hold out the journal the Professor mentions to show additional proof.

The grung at first react with surprise, but trained hunters and warriors alike, they quickly discern that you’re not a threat. Hearing the Professor speak in grung however earns him a surprised look by the purple grung.

Gruk explains: “Bro-fasser and tribe of longknives want to help grung. Bro-fasser can speak grung, if grung have questions.”

After a moment, the purple grung starts to speak: “B’ark is name. B’ark know Gruk, but Gruk dead, after lizards attack, B’ark think. Happy to see Gruk alive!” then, turning to the Professor, the grung  asks: “B’ark ordered to scout lizard village in direction of sunset. B’ark not to question orders, B’ark is good soldier. Why should B’ark stop? What should group do?”

The Professor:

"Gruk is a wise leader," says the Professor, "and I am trying to learn your language, but for now I am using magic to allow me to communicate with you."

"Greetings, B'ark, we are travelers who are come to this part of the jungle when our ship met with misfortune.  What you say about Gruk makes sense, for when we found him while we were looking for water he was near death after a battle.  We had just been attacked by the Grung ourselves, but instead of attacking we brought Gruk and the water back to our camp, healed him, and spoke with him.  We learned that the Grung have a new leader, Koro-arak, who leads them into war.  We discovered that the magic stone we found on a skeleton in the area where the plants attack was as symbol of authority given to the Grung by the Horned Lady."

Speaking with sadness, he continues, "Our friend was taken prisoner by the Grung, yet we did not wish to fight your whole tribe to free him, as we do not consider you our enemy.  When Gruk found out about the stone, we gave it to him as a gesture of friendship, but we soon learned of its dark purpose.  We went to visit the Horned Lady--she turned out to be an evil hag, using the stone to enchant the Grung to attack the lizardfolk, wanting the death on both sides to fuel a magic ritual she plans to summon the rest of her coven from their exile."

Now, with a more positive attitude, Snively says, "But when Gruk found out about these plans, he had the strength to overcome the amulet's enchantment, breaking it in two and ending its influence on him.  He has the wisdom to seek peace with us and avoid bloodshed with the lizardfolk.  The minds of your priests and Koro-arak have been poisoned by the hag, but we want you to be free and have peace.  That is what Gruk wants too, and the broken stone symbolizes the broken power of the hag and the freedom of the Grung to choose their own path."

Turning to face their leader directly, the Professor says humbly, "It is not my place to tell you what to do, B'ark.  I can only tell you what I have seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears.  My only suggestion is that you think for yourself what you should do and listen to the counsel of the wise leader Gruk."

"Well said perfesser"  Berrus tenses while waiting their response

Shae listened and couldn't help but feel inspired by the Professors summary. The scholar wanted to hop, clap and fist pump with glee, but decided sudden movements would not be a great idea. Instead she remained as still as possible holding her hands in front of her. Shae couldn't hide the smile on her face though, as she waited patiently for their response.

The grung lower there weapons, and a confused expression crosses B'ark's face: "Grung… think for grung? B'ark… make decisions?" The concept of individual responsibility is a bit much for B'ark to wrap her head around, used to receiving orders and processing them to pass to the green grung below her.  Hesitantly, she continues: "B'ark… choose… to follow Gruk?". Looking at the green grung, they seem to be fine with her decision, and so, with newfound confidence, she turns around, and positively beaming exclaims: "B'ark choose to follow Gruk!" A warm smile creeps across the face of the red grung, and you could swear that he turned several shades redder at the entire exchange.

After a moment of hesitation, the green grungs join in, and soon look to the Professor and Gruk, to tell them what to do and where to go next. Gruk, shily, asks :"B'ark, where is the rest of tribe? Where can Gruk and Bro-fasser find more grung to convince?" B'ark quickly responds in succinct, almost military fashion: "Other scout unit near stream by lizard colony, five grung. Two hunting parties in forest near grung village, looking for food. About three grung each. About thirty five grung in village, plus priests. Koro-arak prepare for ritual, Koro-arak not in village for now." Once she finished imparting this information, she looks at the party, and asks :"What next?"

The Professor:

Smiling at the response of B'ark and his scouting party, the Professor translates for the rest of the party.  Processing the information himself, Snively comments to Gruk, "Congratulations and well done.  It sounds like we have several options before us.  Going to the other scouting party before they can come into deadly conflict with the lizardfolk seems like the next best thing to do, though if we could find where Koro-arak went to prepare for the ritual, perhaps  confronting him alone would be beneficial--especially if he is conspiring with the hag.  Whichever of those we choose, talking afterwards with the smaller hunting groups on the way to talk to the tribe would also seem to make sense.  What do you think?" Snively finishes and then translates for the rest of his party, asking the same question of them.

"The boss isnt in the village?   Maybe if we can find him we can end this quicker"