Swamped

You're starting to wonder if this whole thing is some kind of distraction. Maybe a small group has broken off to do something else while the rest of the crowd sits around looking intimidating. You can't tell, it's not as if you did a headcount before.

Well. If you're not sure what's going on, your best bet is to confuse the enemy and even the playing field a bit. So you turn to one of the greblings.

"Okay, if that's how it's going to be, can you take this horse back to the stable?"

They're surprised. Probably because you don't sound very intimidated. But they soon gather their bearings and just glare pointedly at you.

"Just trying to be considerate to my hosts," you say. "Since they've so graciously let me stay here for a few days now. Wouldn't want the poor thing making a mess somewhere it shouldn't."

"Enough."

This is a different voice. Another grebling steps out - slightly taller than the others, but just barely enough to be noticeable. He seems important.

"You are disrupting our supper, human," he says. He doesn't seem angry at all.

"I just want to pass through and leave my desert-horse at the stables. I'd be done by now if your crew here hadn't stopped me. Seems to me that would have been a lot less disruptive."

"It would be even less disruptive if you were to take another route," he says.

"This is the most direct one. Look, I just want to go between those two tents over there, and your group's not exactly close to that path. Why is this such a big deal?"

"At the risk of repeating myself, I would recommend you take another path."

He's not even acknowledging your argument. Clearly he's trying to scare you off.

You've got half a mind to just go along with it, frustrating as it is. But now what you really want to do is figure out exactly what's going on here, because it's very strange and keeps getting stranger.

So how can you get somewhere with that?