Wander over to the mesa man and say the following:
"You said something about creatures. Why kind of creatures are we talking about?"
"They are flesh born of the river bank mud and the sun of morning. Their flesh is new each day; I cannot tell you their guise as I have not looked upon it this day. But they are usually furry, and about so tall." He holds his hand up to about stomach height.
Xankarvo briefly clenches his fists at the challenge to his power, a few sparks flying from his teeth as he clenches them, but he relaxes. He can awe them after he finds and steals what makes their power powerful.
"Tell me more about this 'voice of the people'. What is this balance you speak of?
Gain info about local magical customs.
"The voice is exactly as it sounds. We of the people may change the world with our speech if we all so will it. But we of the people rarely will it ourselves, this world is cruel as it should be, and we see little reason to change it.
Balance in injury. If you get a scar on one side of your body, you have to get one on the other, to balance. It must be the right scar too, not simply an identical one; that is not balance. It must be the right kind, delivered at the right moment by the right thing. Some will spend their whole lives searching for the right scar."
Might these totems be magical in nature? Might they be related to sound?
Look out for a snazzy hat to put on my skull. And find a more impressive hat to stick on Xankarvo's dome.
Also inquire as to if the Voice of the People can be carried.
They might be but it's kinda hard to tell. They're little metal men in a variety of contracted and scrunched up positions. They're also covered in sharp edges and spiky protrusions that make it quite hard for people with fleshy hands to hold them safely. As per related to sound, probably not.
You find a sort of beaded headband with upward facing spikes for yourself and a jade plate skull cap with radiating spikes of golden metal for xan.
"The voice of the people resides within us. But the proof of it, and the signal of its need may be carried."
"Voice of the people? I like the sound of that. I'll take it!"
Sebastian grabs a small brittle knife from the trade offering (he can manipulate things like those cats in internet videos do) and pokes through the rest for the thing called the voice of the people (pokes with his nose and whiskers, not with the knife)
You grab one of the knives and listen as the man explains the voice of the people to the to the others.
Wander over to the mesa man and say the following:
"You said something about creatures. Why kind of creatures are we talking about?"
"Yeah, are they strong? Strong hearts are best hearts!" Details
"Some are. Some are not. If you seek a strong heart, find the one which is largest."
Fly over the other mesas. Do they all look freshly inhabited, or are some abandoned?
Those that still have structures look, judging by the smoke from their homes and occasional people seen wandering around, inhabited.
The scarred man separates 25 nails from the pile of trade goods to show how much the items grabbed would cost.