Looking around for the first time, you realize that
you are on a beach, apparently at high tide. A line of palm trees
gives way to a wooded area beyond, so you set out toward the underbrush,
confident that Vanetin would have warned you if there was anything to fear
from these new worlds. In the distance, you hear a strange hooting
noise, but you figure that it is a local animal's call. Setting forth,
you take in your surroundings, but suddenly, you almost trip! Looking
down to see what almost made you fall, you see a large dip in the ground,
perhaps three feet across, rounded at one end and with spikes pressed into
the other. Wondering what could have made such a strange mark on
the ground, you lean down to see closer, hearing the hooting in the background
of your thoughts, and absently noting that it sounds closer this time than
before.
Absorbed by your investigations of the ground marking,
you don't notice the faint rustling of the bushes behind you, nor do you
see the strangely parrot-like face that sticks itself between fern fronds
to eye you intently. You even put it out of your mind when that very
face comes closer, on a body about the size and shape of a large hog, save
for the tail, which resembles that of an extremely large lizard.
However, you do notice, and quite violently at that, when the hog-parrot
clears its throat to you. In fact, your 'noticing' of it includes
you jumping no less than three feet in the air, with an intricate twist
of the hips that turns you to face the creature, but also succeeds in causing
you to land in a less than comfortable position on your derrier.
This less than graceful landing of yours is forgotten almost immediately
as you gawk intently at the hog-parrot for several moments. Seeing
that this is not getting it anywhere, the beast, again, clears its throat,
then offers, a bit apologetically, "That seems like it hurt." Eyes
widening even more at the sound of its voice, you push yourself backwards
with your legs, crabwalking until you hit a large solid object. Quickly
glancing up to see what you've hit, you figure it's a tree, then go back
to gawking uncontrollably at the creature in front of you. But then,
suddenly, you look up again, more precisely, and remember that trees, no
matter how big, do not have heads. It is around this time that you
faint.