Dmitri now knows there's enough of a mind to possibly initiate conversation. But given the trigger-happy demeanor of his compatriot, he needed to hurry. "Hang on people, I may have a mind connection here."

He then turns his attention to the creature whose mind he has partially linked to and thinks, "Hello, creature. Can you hear me?"

After halting the party, Dmitri mentally thinks towards the creature...

A startled response comes back!

This time, it is more easily translated, though once again Dmitri is aware these thoughts are not done in English, or any language... though, the creature's stream of consciousness does seem closer to an internal monologue than the mere feelings and half-thoughts of the little crustacean-like entity he had previous spoken with

'Huhh? Whho?? {Not me}.... Scarinng!' notably, the thought is only on the topic of Dmitri's intrusion, not towards him in particular. Still, he is able to hear it since no attempt to hide is being made.

Emily moves slowly to change the angle of her view slightly.  She wants to know what the creature looks like as well as how it feels to Dmitri but her movements are still extremely slow, she also looks around to see whether she sees anything resembling tracks or spoor.

Arjun's restless mind, craving another hit of Magic Sight but fearful of another overdose (how quickly I adopt the language of drug usage! I'm fine, though. I don't have a problem controlling it, he reassures himself), Arjun's mind wanders slightly.

He tries to calculate the size of the island and understand the overall geography of the place. If he could learn to predict where the Plums would be...

The meaningful response causes Dmitri to speak and think together. "Sorry. Not trying to scare. Who are you?"

Emily angles her view, but that doesn't really change whether or not an obstacle is blocking her. She's have to jump for that, or maybe just get on the  tips of her toes.

Next, she observes hard for any tracks or scent, and though she finds no tracks, she does get a whiff of a new smell, MUCH more unpleasant that that of a plum!

It's actually as if several plums were mixed together, and then... fermented! Also, there is a bit of something that is somewhat reminiscent of body odor, and one kind of zoo-like!

Still, not enough to make her hurl, but truly unpleasant - and probably at the limits of what she can stomach...

---

Arjun glances around the island, and tries to measure it... he finds it's shockingly easy for him to assign his choice of unit such as 'centimeter' or 'inch' or 'foot' or 'meter' and then use that to get a value for the space between points... of course, he isn't sure how accurate it is, just that he is able to do it very quickly...

Still, that isn't enough for the whole thing, since the terrain is rough and in the way. The overall geography is easy to grasp, but not at all normal or earthlike. The ground is wrinkled and folded all over, and several lumpy mounds rise out of the otherwise mostly flat terrain. The tallest of them are just above the waist, while the shortest are mid-calf.

The other thing the actor may try is to simply use the knowledge he has about the diameter of this landmass being roughly forty feet from any previous thoughts on the matter, and then simply calculate the area of a circle, which is basically regular addition to him at this point... Hell, he can even get a few decimal places in there what with the irrationality of pi...

actually, how many decimal places of pi CAN he remember? Probably no more than he ever knew at some point... which probably wasn't a ton, but still...

Beyond that, he has no real way to 'predict' where plums would be, as they have only ever found two (maybe a third now) and he hasn't studied any sort of pattern. By looking itself, well that's best left to Emily, but if he DID do so, the big giveaway for them would clearly be hollow space underneath a fold (which until now has had some level of exposure to the outside, and not been entirely self-contained).

He would also notice that generally the plums thus far seem to haev been found in ""valleys"" and not on the raising parts of the terrain.

---

After Dmitri sends his message, the sense of static is cut off after a moment... it flickers in out and out a couple times before going silent.

Then, with a terse growl, another translated message appears...

"{what you}...??"

The emotion in the pseudo-thought is ... well hard to measure ... but, it's definitely a bit hostile... not in a 'fight to the death way' like the other hostile things in this place, but definitively aggressive or maybe just angry... the severity? Dmitri isn't able to tell, really... it could be anywhere between a pissed off customer to a pitbull or rottweiler on the verge of ripping some faces off if provoked any further...

And below that... though, it's hard to be certain... Dmitri thinks he can sense suspicion.

Dmitri moves into a more defensive posture, not quite submissive, but ready to go there if things get worse. He looks to make his voice as even-tempered as possible as he says and thinks, "We're humans. What are you?"

OOC: I'm assuming the "you" from the creature was plural. Mine is intended to be singular. If Dmitri knows the creature was speaking in the singular, I will respond in kind.

OOC: You can assume freely, but the phrase and delivery themself were both ambiguous

There is a rapid reply,

'You is {more than one}!??'

Then next to the latter half of Dmitri's words... 'Not {telling}... not {knowing what} this'

And with that, the tether spasms terribly before collapsing to nothing!

Dmitri is saddened, not just by the fact that the creature broke contact, but the probable reaction of his companions to the broken link. "They don't know what they are. And they aren't talking to me anymore."

Seeing the group kind of stall in its hunting, jerzy observes the consistency and nature of the "ground".

Emily thinks hard about what Dmitri says as she resumes observations.  After a few moments she starts trying to locate the truly horrible smell, the one that is concentrated and fermented plums.  She hopes their shit will help identify them as beast or not beast.

Sensing Jerry crouch down, more than actually seeing him, Arjun offers the use of his Ebony Stiletto, saying, "You want to try taking a sample of the ground? And you can hold onto this dagger for this patrol, if you want."

Assuming Jerry obliges, Arjun examines the chunk of Sweatrag Jerry pulls up, possibly suggesting a larger or smaller chunk.

Jerzy thanks Arjun for the blade and tries to collect a representative sample.

"Do we believe the 'monster' is digging under this? It does not seem like the best medium. Perhaps it's just under a fold? "

Emily looks at Jerzy and says, "I suspect it's something like a rat so it can be under or over.  I have no proof of that though and currently it's just a guess.  I'm looking for some of its shit.  Once we have that, we might have more of a clue."

Emily, seemingly fully in her role as a huntress, decides to look for any droppings left behind by the creature... not that she knows anything about scatology anyway...

She doesn't notice anything, but she does manage to sus out the putrid smell is coming from behind the mound, where the supposed creature is.

---

Meanwhile, Jerzy and Arjun cut out a small section of the ground and study it... They also both notice sickly strands of... some substance... latched onto the portion they pull out, before snapping back to the floor wetly after being pulled apart.

Also, a clear liquid, more viscous than water, is seeping from the damaged part they severed... The smell is truly terrible, and they have to lean back or else risk being violently ill...

Well, it seems the smell of this place is coming from this liquid... perhaps putting the 'sweat' into the 'sweatrag' so to speak

Whispering Jerzy says, "Well, we might be able to use the 'rag' for something, though it will need to be processed.

Are we going to confront this creature?" He adds, gesturing to the mound.

Arjun whispers back to Jerry, "And identify it, before even that. This is the first time the system hasn't told me what an object is."

"{SYSTEM} may not know what it is. I tried asking it and the creature didn't know. If {SYSTEM} is taking names of creatures from the creatures themselves, it would not have a name to attach to it."

Otto, ready to rejoin the others after his brief rest and some personal time, approached the group from the side of the dirt disk, his club over one shoulder, his chest bare above his kilt and foot wraps.

He looked better than he had, and although Emily's had worked her magic on his wounds, he seemed to be in better spirits than he had, calmer, more confident.

"What's goin' on?" he asked as he paused at the edge. He was not looking forward to getting his footwraps soaked again, and began to take them off so he could set them aside.

"It's a monster and it's heavily imbued with magic", says Emily.  "If there's one, I wouldn't worry about it but maybe it's scared.  Most species of spider tend to be easily frightened, rats are neophobic, and little kittens.  It's probably not a bird, but I'm not sure whether it's a beast or not.  Let me try this."

With that, Emily began playing gently on her banjo and accompanying that with a song in Farsi, which System possibly translates differently for different people.  It's a lullaby she learned as a child.

Otto takes off his shoes as he joins the party on the grossest part of the land. Also, the wettest if you don't count water as being wet.

Meanwhile, Emily plays a song in hopes of calming the unseen monster.

As she plays, there continues to be no reaction. Perhaps it has calmed down, perhaps not.

Jerzy has a thought, mostly inspired by....Arjun's apparent break up? Jerzy didn't have the best grasp of what was going on there.

Feeling a little embarrassed and a more than a little foolish, Jerzy looks up into the sky(?) and speaks, "Diety of Ultimate Truth, if you exist, I beseech you for understanding. I seek knowledge of this place, specifically what creature Emily has found. If there is anything you require in return I would gladly consider carrying out your will."

Emily moves close and indicates to Otto that he should do the same, so that they can catch Jerzy when he falls.  If Jerzy doesn't get a positive result, she plans to start exploring the chaotic ball disc.

"It's under there?" Otto gestured to the bizzare fleshly strata, obviously concerned. "If it is we should cut it out and kill it before it gets any bigger." he suggested grimly. "Better we get it before it gets us, whatever this thing grows, it's...unnatural..."

Arjun considers Dmitri's counter-suggestion, saying, "So you think System is copying everything from elsewhere and not creat....you know what? After what happened the last time we tried analyzing the season plot rather than the episode, I don't know that I want to talk about this..."

As Otto approaches, Arjun says, "We definitely should kill all the plums we can find."

He worries about this unidentified ground material but doesn't know what else to do to analyze it. And, if he's being honest with himself, this disc gives him the creeps and he'd rather just be done with it.