"Want me to catch one?"

"Derron seems to have taken out all the ones here, but if we run into any more it would be very interesting to take one alive."

"I'm going to start dissecting one of the dead ones, see if there's any obvious way they could have flung themselves that high without magic." Chaenath suits action to words.

"Well, next time leave one of whatever attacks us to me and I'll grab it."

"Sounds like a plan! Want to take a look around here while Chaenath is getting her hands dirty, see if there's anything cool in here?"

"Sure!"

They check out the rest of the ruin, finding a handful of little metal bits that have managed to survive the elements. The best finds are a pair of rusty but cleanable pliers Derron digs out of some rubble, and a single emerald earring Cayra finds in the snakes' nest.

"Pretty." She creates a place to stick it in her ear and puts it on.

"The head of the Archives is probably going to want that for a museum, but you did find it. Keep it safe, I guess, and you can argue with her about it when the time comes."

"I'm not terribly attached but maybe she'll pay me."

"We three are all getting paid for this, you can probably get some money out of joining in somehow. I can't promise anything, though."

"I meant for the earring, I don't need to be paid for following you around."

"Yeah, I meant for the earring too, though you've been pretty useful to have around so far. I think we've about cleared out this building; Chaenath, are you done playing with your food?"

"You joke, but we probably could eat this, it's pretty similar to a species back home. Best to stick with travel rations, though. And yes, I'm about done."

"You eat snakes?"

"Oh, I am not saying it would taste good. Just that it probably isn't poisonous. It is venomous, though, so if either of you got bit and didn't say anything, now is the time."

"I'll be fine. I mean, I would be even if it had gotten its teeth in me but I had scales then."

"I assure you, if I had been bitten I would have complained about it."

"Oh good. As the expedition medic, I cannot solve your medical complaints if you don't complain about them."

"I don't need medical attention in general but I appreciate it."

"I figured, yes. I'd love to examine some of what you can do more closely, if you wouldn't mind."

"Examine it how?"

"Mostly just ask you to do various things--grow wings, grow scales, whatever--and watch closely. Maybe take a feather to examine more closely, and a scale if you can shed them."

"Yeah, okay."

"We should probably do some more exploring first, though." The party exits the building and starts heading up the ruined street.