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[Stirk]

Knock on one of the hut's door. If they live near these ruins then they surely would know a lot about them.

I'll join in on greeting the locals like the social butterfly / dog I am.

Join in on greeting the locals as well, if they bother greeting us that is.

You weave through the maze like gates of the three fences and knock on the door to the first house you see. The door is made of dried grass making it look more like a mat than a more traditional door, but a solid tapping is enough to get the attention of at least one of the inhabitants who moves the rug-door aside to greet you.

It is a woman - a grass-runner near middle age wearing a leather apron, with the appearance of a farm wife. A slightly pudgy one suggesting that she is at least successful enough to fill her belly regularly.

"Well what do we have here? We don't get many visitors these days. Its getting cold out, would you like to come in for some supper? Bread and soup isn't much but we've been a bit short handed lately so its all we got."

Van knows it can be a little off-putting so it leaves the meeting and greeting to others. Instead, it tries to gauge how often travellers might pass through here.

It is fairly difficult to guess how often people travel through the town given there isn't a road that would give away any such secrets, but the fact that there isn't a road is pretty telling to how poorly traveled this place is. Hostile wildlife would mean anyone coming through would have to be at least well armed enough to take down a couple of bugs and there doesn't seem much reason for anyone who doesn't already live here to come. At most they likely get some trade with any neighboring villages and the occasional adventurer passing through, possibly sending people back to town with whatever products are produced here.

I explore and kind of take in the sights. 

You wander around the village aimlessly. What you see is essentially what you get, ruins, a few huts, and a few hut accessories. The locals mostly use dried grass in places that other towns would use wood, which makes since given that hauling lumber through the grass forest would be a pain and a half. The huts unique design are fairly novel, but they are certainly just huts. If you arn't interested in huts, fences, really tall grass, or looking at ruins there is not much to gaze at here.

[Maximum Spin]

It's a good thing you told us she was slightly pudgy so we won't feel bad about accepting hospitality.

[Lenglon]

regrouping with Lanith, Lysia nods to the kindly woman.
"Thank you very much for your hospitality, if you're willing that would be lovely."

[Stirk]

It's a good thing you told us she was slightly pudgy so we won't feel bad about accepting hospitality.

If not for her life of physical activity she would likely be outright fat. This information will become important when your group gets stuck in the etherwind and becomes cannibalistic.

regrouping with Lanith, Lysia nods to the kindly woman.
"Thank you very much for your hospitality, if you're willing that would be lovely."

"Its no trouble, we got more food than we know what to do with. Come in, come in!"

She moves out of the way to allow the group inside.

The hut is rather crowded. There are a total of seven grassrunners in addition to the woman at the door, an elderly couple and five youths ranging from young adult to small child. The house has very little furniture, everyone is sitting on a pillow stuffed with grass rather than a chair with the sleeping mats hanging on the wall being the only other comforts available. Still it feels cluttered, with all usable equipment placed into baskets weaved into the grass wall of the hut. Those of the taller races, being most of you, find you have to crouch to fit comfortably inside. The hut is not overly large, if it was just your party the hut would still feel crowded.

"Joson we got guests. Bring out your daddy's pillow, auntie and uncle's too. Then give them yours. You can sit on your mat. Marrybella get the extra cups and bowls."

The woman gives orders to the oldest and second oldest youths, who place their own food down to follow her orders with a nod. Despite the large crowd they seem to be eating in mostly silence. The oldest son puts out pillows randomly in the hut roughly near each other, while the girl fetches some drinking horns made of suspiciously chitinous material along with clay bowls and hands them to her mother. Said mother makes her way to a cauldron on a hearth stone in the middle of the hut. She begins filling the bowls with the the stew. For the horns, she takes a handful of pulp from a citrus fruit bigger than herself and crushes it in a basket-like tool that easily produces enough juice to fill the mug. Its a mystery how they even managed to get that fruit through the door.

The woman places a full loaf of dry-looking bread on top of the stew and waves at you to claim your supper and your spot.

[Maximum Spin]

Claim a supper and a spot, then. Since they have members already eating, it seems like there aren't any cultural taboos that should hold me back from doing the same.

[BlackPaladin99]

I look for a friendly-looking local and strike up a conversation. 

[Crystalizedmire]

"What do you know about those nearby ruins?"

[Jerick]

Van tries to find the most unobtrusive spot to join the supper.

[The Canadian kitten]

Join the supper!
"How's life 'round here?"

[Stirk]

Claim a supper and a spot, then. Since they have members already eating, it seems like there aren't any cultural taboos that should hold me back from doing the same.

You claim a supper and a spot. The pillow isn't particularly comfortable but is better than sitting on the floor. The stew is fatty and gamey, with chunks of root vegetables and meat you may or may not recognize as rabbit. The bread is unbearably dry unless dipped into the stew, clearly of the type that is made to last long rather than to be particularly palatable. The company isn't particularly pleasant or grating, the family mostly nods or says a small greeting before returning to their own food in silence. Their manners are not up to your standard though - you note that you where not even given a spoon, the family sipping the soup as a drink and occasionally grabbing chunks with their bare fingers and wiping them on the bread afterwords.

I look for a friendly-looking local and strike up a conversation. 

You do not find anyone outside. In fact most of your companions have also disappeared. You should probably knock on either a random door or find your companions (they are probably in that house the one animal guy's mount is hanging out outside of.)

"What do you know about those nearby ruins?"

"No more or less than anyone else I suppose."

Once again the most talkative is the middle aged woman who invited you inside. The others follow the conversation attentively, but mostly just eat.

"They where a Precursor greenhouse they say. Anything we plant in them grows giant sized - like the grass you saw coming here. Grows year around too, cold doesn't bother them at all. Our little settlement could feed a big city by itself I bet. We'd all be rich if we didn't have to drag trade goods through that forest!"

Van tries to find the most unobtrusive spot to join the supper.

All spots are equally as obtrusive as the others, but you manage to put your back to the wall at least. Nobody pays you any more attention than the others.

Join the supper!
"How's life 'round here?"

"We got enough food to eat and fire to keep warm. It ain't easy but it is nice enough as long as we don't get eaten by a snake..."

At the middle aged lady's words, everyone awkwardly stops eating and looks at each other with sad eyes.

"Oh, don't be so gloomy. You have to believe they're fine. Sorry, a group of our villagers went to a dwarf settlement to pick up some new tools and they haven't come back yet. Some people are starting to think they won't but you can't live life without hope. They'll come back any day with shiny tools that we'll use for generations. Every family sent someone in the caravan...its like the village itself is missing them. Normally we'd be loud enough to scare birds for miles around at supper time."

[Maximum Spin]

"I suppose we should keep an eye out for them too. About what direction were they headed?"

Ethan mostly manages not to sneer noticeably at the disgusting table manners.

[BlackPaladin99]

I find my companions. 

[The Canadian kitten]

"Best to give us a general description of the group so we know what to look for. On less gloomy matters, any advice with travelling through the grass forest? We certainly had an experience with a bunch of giant ticks on the way here."

[Stirk]

"I suppose we should keep an eye out for them too. About what direction were they headed?"

Ethan mostly manages not to sneer noticeably at the disgusting table manners.

"South-East, more or less. They're a few days off their track...a few weeks now even. They probably got held up in town."

I find my companions. 

You presumably knock on the door and get invited inside with the others. Or managed to sneak in while everyone was distracted and also managed to get the right building.

"Best to give us a general description of the group so we know what to look for. On less gloomy matters, any advice with travelling through the grass forest? We certainly had an experience with a bunch of giant ticks on the way here."

"If you see any grassrunners that don't look like adventurers that would be them. Hard to confuse them for anyone else, I think. The forest is a bit daunting but lucky enough the animals are just overgrown versions of themselves. If you make enough noise the real big ones stay away from you. Some like the ticks and wondering monsters don't have problems attacking people, but there isn't much you can do about that. If you leave town in the frontier you just accept that something will try to kill you sooner or later."

[Crystalizedmire]

Lanith examines the soup closely and gobbles it down.