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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RUMBLETiGER" data-source="post: 6274928" data-attributes="member: 6674868">You want a fun suggestion?  Only the squirrels remember how to speak it.This ancient, long dead language has not completely been forgotten, it simply has been remembered and passed down by one species of creature.  This could be the Squirrels, the Rust Monsters, the Xorn, the Canaries, whatever ends up being entertaining.  When encountering the written text of the language, pictorial symbols of this creature wearing elaborate headdress and depicted in positions of authority (think of Egyptian hieroglyphic images of cats looking like gods) that clues the party that they may want to consult that creature.The party or individual character needs to find (in the case of a rare monster) and/or befriend (monster or animal) the creature using Wild Empathy/Diplomacy checks plus some roleplaying.  Perhaps the player needs to earn the trust of the creature thru food, protection or fighting their ancient nemesis the raccoons.  After earning trust and developing a method of communication between Common and the creature's native tongue (which, if communication is only possible by magic, may be limited to a few minutes per day of communication limited by the spell's duration) the creature travels with the party and gradually teaches the ancient language.  This creature refuses to teach them in one sitting, instead bargaining for the right to travel with them and see some of the world in exchange for a gradual teaching of the language.  This could mean the player walks around with a squirrel on his shoulder, or you need to explain to the town guard why the Rust Monster is your scholarly tutor and you will take responsibility for it entering the village.I had run a island hopping campaign where my players, upon being shipwrecked, became aware of elusive natives.  A misunderstanding occurred when the natives, a race of anthropomorphic rabbits called the "Bunnions", tried to kill the party because the party had killed some of their children while casually hunting for food- the children go thru a stage of looking like ordinary bunnies before a transformation into adulthood.  A strange series of events lead them into the active volcano where they met the Bunnion's "God", an Azer scientist of sorts who was responsible for the experiment of breeding the race for a future, undisclosed purpose.  The party ended up building new ships, gaining new friends and learning a language, "Bunnion" which was a cross between Ignan and bunny squeaks that for the rest of the campaign, they could speak to one another without anyone else in the world having a clue what they were saying.</blockquote>

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