"...Is it really so mysterious? Well, we can return it to uh... I forgot the names, but Startail's friends, later, if nothing else."

I clutch the fork in my hand; I don't think it will throw off my balance, I'm not really using my hands much when tree surfing. Though I do take a good close look. What kind of metal does it seem like, what color is the little bit of debris? Cotton or plant fiber of some sort, perhaps?

"Calling out that my game goblin sensibilities and my real life sensibilities are clashing. In real life, why would I keep a random fork? It's not mine, someone might be looking for it. In game it is, apparently, a clue. So I'm tryna compromise?"

"Well, you could just tell Dapple to carry it for you." 

"It's not Dapple's fork either! What is this, preschool? Finders-keepers?"

"It obviously belongs to the missing person you picked up a sidequest to find!"

Vanessa snickers.

"I mean, you don't know that, even if it is really obvious above table. What's that called, meta-gaming?"

The substance tangled in the tines of the fork, on closer examination, greatly resembles thin ribbons of clear latex, like someone put a condom through a very small paper-shredder.

"...Or attacked it with a fork. Ahem."

"...Huh. Do you think this could be - destroyed clothes, or bits of a bag? I don't want to jump to assuming there was some kind of fight - or accident? But... I have a bad feeling, I guess."

"It's very, very difficult to suffer permanent damage as a guest of the Starheart Lodge," Dapple says kindly. "Even in the worst case, Startail is almost certainly unharmed. She might be stuck, somehow, though..."

Dapple peers more closely at the fork.

Hmm. Actually, would Dapple recognize this? It's not exactly her expertise...

"Hmm. I'm not sure, actually. It's rubbery, but it really doesn't look like ambershade to me, so probably not?"

As she says 'ambershade' she gestures at one of the benches, at the black rubber you've seen used in the construction of various things along your journey.

"...Maybe we can show it to an expert, later. If there is such a person."

Dapple nods several times, and then, sensing your awkwardness at carrying the clue, takes it and sticks it in her hair.

She skips over to the start of the next mossy branch. "Keep going?"

"And since you did make that last roll before that whole conversation happened, I'll let you roll a fresh Grace check for the next leg of the journey, if you want."

"Feels like cheating. Besides, I want to fail at least once along the way, seems more aesthetic!"