Entry Nine
Lady luck decided to smile upon me today. My efforts to gather information over the past 12 hours or so have been very informative. I spent the better part of the day mingling with and observing the customs and rituals the natives practice. I'm fairly sure I have the basic structure for their society down for the moment. The events of the day have been as follows.
As the day began, I emerged from my hole. The sun was just rising, and the locals had not yet woken. I took the opportunity to set up my trap. Now, changelings aren't the best, or fastest diggers. That title goes to the Diamond Dogs. We can still create caves and holes in a timely manner, so making my snare was the easy part. My trap was quite honesty...well... nothing more than a hole in the ground. Literally, nothing more than a pit right under a small decrease in elevation. Thankfully, most of the hole was hidden simply by that change in elevation. In hindsight though, I don't think that hiding the trap was actually necessary. That'll come later though.
After catching one of the few locals that would occasionally walk outside the village alone, I formed a stasis cocoon around him. (I assume it was a him.)
I would like to mention quickly that contrary to popular belief, should a non-changeling that could understand this language find this journal, a changeling stasis cocoon does not transform its occupant into a changeling. I can see where an overactive imagination can lead to such conclusions, but the common opinion that the green pods occasionally used to house prisoners transform it's host into a hive member. A stasis cocoon is simply used for keeping anyone we don't want running around in a place they won't interfere.
Back to the locals.
After subduing and taking the form of the now imprisoned villager, I headed out in an attempt to learn more about the social structure and basic interactions with my now soon to be neighbors. An odd thought, but I don't quite know how else to describe what they will be, or are to me.
On the topic of odd things, Bipeds. Walking on my two rear hooves and legs was a very different and downright weird experience. Now, I know this isn't the first time that a changeling has had to adopt this form of locomotion. Many changelings actually prefer to take the forms of other species, such as Minotaurs. It was simply my first.
So, anyway, I arrived at the village in disguise, trying to mimic the patterns made by the villager I was currently impersonating. He/she/it (I've yet to actually bother to identify gender,) was a bit of a loner. That was what allowed such an easy capture. After observing the patterns my current persona before replacing him/her/it, I was confident in my ability to play the part. As long as I don't have to actually speak to any of them, since I have yet to actually identify how it is they communicate. From a distance, all I can hear are various grunts and such, but then again, every language sounds like that from a distance...
I kept myself away from the center of the town, and by proxy, away from the potential center of attention. I chose to instead browse around the buildings near the edge of town. In attempts to learn more about the society at large, I wandered inconspicuously around aimlessly gathering as much information as I could about these local creatures and customs. My search lead me to a few particular buildings.
One of them, was an open building, with a large pit filled with what I would assume to be either somewhat cooled lava, or very hot coals. Standing beside that were a pair of what I think would be safe to call stone ovens. They were stacked on top of one another, and made of large pieces of rocks shaped into some form of kiln, or at least, as far as I could tell.
The other, however, was without a doubt, a library. Be it public or private, I still don't know, but I intend to find out soon. What came as a shock, and a relief, was that some of the texts in the library were, for the most part, written in the standard Equish language.
I decided to make off with a few select books that I could. Not wanting to be caught in case it was a private library, and left with all haste. Tomorrow I will sort and look through the books I found, and see what they contain within them. Hopefully, I will find something of use. For now, however, I will rest. It's been a long day.