An Unexpected Guest

Whilst I am still somewhat confused by the social interactions in this society, performance is a universal language, and one in which I need no tuition. The Thumbuppa were a people of deeply held traditions and festivals. Every equinox, the tribe would conduct a series of rituals. Dances, hunts, performances, displays of combat prowess........ It was at these times where I felt most accepted by the tribe and at one with their customs. Despite never being fully accepted as a half breed....... as a Druid, and as one who would inherit the role of the Kalatch, the one who is in charge of conducting the various rituals that the tribe believed would bring luck in battle, and bountiful hunts, I was afforded a prime place in the festivals. My skill with the bow also earned the respect in many of the contests of huntsmanship........ it seemed strange to me that they could venerate my skill one day, cheer my achievements, and toast my name, and go back to spitting on me the next........ Nevertheless, during these rituals I learnt to control and temper my druidic magic to evoke the right reactions........ My mentor Kalassia (If I remember how to spell her name) always said, that our role was largely that of a performer, although our rituals held a great power in the hearts of the tribe, they were irreverent to the fortunes in war or hunt.
 
Anyhow........ it seemed remarkably easy to bluff past the guards by saying we were performers, perhaps the humans simply are not very alert, or perhaps trickery is not in their nature. I found myself confronted by a display of such wealth as I had never seen before...... a....... I believe Sir Rees said it was a "fountain", a construction from which water continuously flows, seemingly without end.... I would have filled my waterskin from it, but I somehow sensed that his performance would be somehow seen as vulgar.
 
Walking into the hall itself, the display of opulence was not lessened. The windows were framed with glass, I believe on several of the walls I saw ornaments of metal and carved precious rocks. Such baubles were of little use to the tribe, indeed, we often came across seams of such precious rocks on our travels, but we knew the humanic races valued them, because of the prices the vendors would pay for them....... it was such transactions that convinced many of my tribe of the essential stupidity of the humans, who would trade a fine waterskin or a healthy animal for a handful of useless stones?
 
Ushered into the main hall by the guards, I looked around and sensed that I could utilize my long honed skills to give my allies a chance for profitable mischief. Directing my trusty meercat sidekick "Pumba" to slip out and look in the windows for sign of any rooms that looked particularly opulent, I told my comrades to use the distraction I would provide to slip away and search themselves..... Directing myself to the largest and stupidest looking of the humans in combat gear (it seems the largest and stupidest often seem to be placed in charge in human affairs) I told him that the first performance would be mine.
 
Stepping onto the stage, I drew on the primal forces in my soul to summon a range of vines and plants to sprout from every crack in the masonry. I felt the lifeforce of every blade of grass, every drop of moisture in the air, and let their natural lifeforces breakfree and multiply. Soon the room was a scything mass of leafy tendrils, seemingly wild, yet all under my control....... I was in my element, having performed this trick many times before the Elves of the Thumbuppa, who are a much more discerning audience. I manipulated the leaves to form an archery target, whipped out my bow and, deflecting arrows off both walls, pierced its heart with 3 arrows...... As I did this I believe I saw Nuttah, Sir Rees, and Zwork slip out the back door. T'Chai meanwhile was in the corner, conversing with a Thrai Kreen, whose scars and abrasions on her carapace spoke to an age and experience rarely seen amongst their kind. Indeed, I have had many squabbles with clutches out in the badlands, usually when a tracking party came to steal our kill......... and I had never seen a specimen of such advanced years.
 
Feeling weary from the immense concentration required to hold the explosion of plant life for this long, I finished the performance with an old Thumbuppa song, which seemed to...... "bring the house down" as I have heard the humans say. As I held the last note, I saw Sir Rees and Zwork slip back into the room, which was to my relief, as I would need someone to continue the performance as I was spent. I did not know where Nutta had gone though. Perhaps she had found the quarry that we were seeking?
 
It was fortunate that Zwork had reappeared, as a further deception would be required. We had gained entry to this place as a group of entertainers, and it would look out of place if only one of the group performed. I had seen the elves of Thumbuppa bay for blood during the seasonal contests, and these pampered nobles had clearly reacted well to my primal distraction, perhaps the primal distraction of violence would also be an apt distraction. I quickly suggested that himself and T'Chai engage in a duel. T'Chai opened the contest by swining his weapon high above his head....... and bringing it rather clumsily down upon a stone pillar which caused his weapon to shatter into shards on the stone floor, causing a nearby noble woman to jump backwards in fright spilling her drink all down herself......
 
I permitted myself a smile as I slipped out the room in pursuit of a human male who I had seen admiring me. Just as performance is a universal language, I have very quickly found sexuality to be the same. The human elves of my tribe would not allow me to sit at their table, yet they had no problem laying in my bed, and I have long learned that I can use men's baser drives to manipulate them, and I must confess I do enjoy myself in the process. This human.......... he could not said to be in the prime of his life, yet he had a certain energy about him, and a healthy glow of color that only a few in this land have, those with the wealth to buy enough nourishment, and with others to do their manual labour for them. Having got his attention...... I remember not what was said, it was all too easy and all was cliches, he took me upstairs to his room, where I found him a pleasant enough distraction for the 10 minutes or so he managed to last.
 
Leaving him exhausted on the bed, I also left him light a few valuable objects, in particular a leather map. Some of the inscriptions of it are not familiar to me, I will have to see if Gar can decipher these symbols. Walking out once more into the sweet haze of some human smoked narcotic, the scent of perfume, the sounds of those engaged in the orgy, I was surprised to run into Zwork. He doesn't seem the type to..... indulge in carnal pleasures, yet here he was, strolling through the haze...... well not really strolling, he was clearly peeking into every room, looking for items to loot.......... *sigh* though I had not come much into contact with urban civilisations such tactics seemed outlandish even to me. One of these days these people I seem to have attached myself too are going to get me killed.......... only Sir Rees seems to be competent and virile among them.
 
As he peeked into one door he gave a truncated burst of surprise, and beckoned me into a doorway. It appears that T'Chai had managed to seduce........... or going from the age of his partner, had been seduced by, the elder Thri Kreen. The dynamics of the forthcoming conversation were somewhat......... strange, and I will not waste space in this journal describing them, but it turned out that this very Thri Kreen was the brood mother to the massive clutch that we had encountered when we were in the wastes, and that we, indirectly was searching for the Heart of............. The red stone thing, on her behalf. She wants it to reclaim her youth or some other equally foolish quixotic quest.......... it does not concern me........ though I must confess I feel more and more attracted to this Heart, it seems to have some sort of power of attraction..........
 
She pointed us down the hallway to the master bedroom of the owner of this place, some pampered noble no doubt whose name I long since forgot. His bedroom however was, I must confess somewhat interesting, I quickly spotted a treasure of some value hanging from the Eastern Wall, a knife.... and made of steel no less! My senses told me such a treasure would not be unguarded, and yes, there was a small trip wire attached to the back of it. I was carefully untangling the mechanism when suddenly I heard Nuttah crying from the balcony........ Yes apparently Nuttah and Sir Rees were here..... I have no idea when they turned up, but it certainly seemed convenient that they did. Anyway, her screeching distracted me, and a razor sharp dart embedded itself in my palm and the trap mechaism engaged. I saw the rest of the group run past me onto the balcony where apparently some "secret door" had been found or something similar. It seemed she had found an entrance to the North-West tower, which we were now climbing.......... I was not sure about the wisdom of this, we had discovered earlier that the "real" performers had arrived, and that they were now searching the grounds for us, it would have seemed prudent to jump from the balcony down to the ground and plot an escape........ going higher seemed only to increase the chances of us being trapped. Nonetheless I followed, I had tied myself to this group, and I would not see them harmed, no matter how foolish their actions were.
 
As we crested the top of the tower our eyes fell on a familiar hulking body, all cruel strength, and sinewy muscle, that we'd seen before.