Alarielle

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Kendra Serrana

This was starting to go better than Kendra expected. The little spirit had planted itself upon the halfling's shoulder after nodding in response to her mentally-posed question. So it did understand her. That was good.

What would you say to coming on a little journey with us? she asked it with her mind. A friend of ours needs your help with a project she's working on.

She looked to Kythor. "I asked with magic, but your guess is as good as mine on the response. Maybe I should go with you, if you want to try to convince the others to leave the people here alone."

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Kendra Serrana

Kendra held out a hand to accept the marble that was being offered to the party, though she didn't know what they had in mind. They seemed child-like, more interested in games and make-believe than anything else, even when confronted with strangers. "I'm not sure what to do. They don't seem to understand us or communicate. Seems like they're a nuisance to the locals, but not enough to warrant abducting one by force."

She sighed, a little frustrated. Nothing was ever clear and obvious here, was it? For the hell of it, she looked at the one offering her the marble and let her mind reach out to it, her eyes subtly taking on a more violet hue that would likely go unnoticed by the others. If it understood any language at all, it would be able to understand her, but not speak back.

Can you understand me? Nod if yes.

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Kendra rolls a 9 on arcana.

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

She doesn't know that spell. Not sure it would work anyway, spell description says spoken languages or written languages, and these things don't seem to speak or write.

If they understand any language at all she could just use her patron's gift to have a nice one-way conversation with one, but I dunno if they have a language.

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Kendra Serrana

Kendra was happy to let the ranger take the lead on tracking the little spirits, and before long they successfully found a little group of them. Curious little things, having their little tea party and imaginary meal in the little thicket. Kendra approached slowly after Kythor and Jitter did, introducing herself as they did, though she was unsure if they understood any of this.

"Do you speak?" she asked, hopeful. Maybe Common wasn't the best choice. They didn't seem like beasts so she doubted her spell would be of use, but she knew several languages, and the one she used for some of her... incantations, seemed like the best bet.

"You speak with me?" she asked, in somewhat broken Primordial. If she could confirm they were capable of understand at least one language, she'd be able to speak with them perfectly, though the others wouldn't be able to share in the conversation.

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Kendra Serrana

"Maybe we can find a volunteer. If we can speak to one of these things. Trying to make the weather here a little less lethal isn't a bad goal, and we don't know what our employer's research involves. We can always try to confirm it won't be harmed by her studies before giving her the chwinga." Kendra's experience in magical study hadn't been extensive, but she knew there were both good and bad people involved in magic. She'd do her best to get a read on the woman before handing a live creature over to her, but she wanted to believe the best of a fellow mage rather than the worst.

One of the locals started shouting to Kythor, warnings of the wind. Kendra stepped up to the tiefling's side and waved at the human woman. "Yeah, we got intimately familiar with the wind on our way here. Trust me, we won't be out any longer than we have to be."

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Edited my post to add a little more.

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Kendra rolled a 19 on investigation.

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Would studying the book be investigation, or what should I roll?

D&D 5e Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Kendra Serrana

Darkness approaching again. Kendra missed the parts of the world where the sun shined for at least eight hours. This was not one of those places. And gods, it was cold outside. She pulled her cloak tighter around herself.

Her eyes turned to their energetic halfling acquaintance. "A killer? As in, another one, besides the one that was just burned at the stake?" She shook her head. This town had issues. They'd only just arrived.

Jitter handed her a book, its cover stained with blood. Kendra's handed reached out of her cloak only long enough to take it, before darting back in with a shiver. She tried to find a spot a little more shielded from the wind, then took a better look. "This is... ominous. Did you ask anyone at the library about it?" She flipped it open, finding poetry inside. There wasn't anything urgent to do while waiting for a chwinga chance, so she started reading and studying the pages, hoping to find something interesting.

It really wasn't interesting. But in that way, it was. "This is awful poetry, you guys. Terrible. Basically gibberish." Really she wasn't the best judge, but there was definitely more to the book that the bland verses. "There's magic in this, concealing something. Wish I knew a spell to fix it." She glanced up at Jitter. "Nice find."