The smaller cave

You cross the river, avoiding getting anything but your feet wet, and climb the far bank. You will need to let your shoes dry overnight, but at least those are the only things.

The cave is dry, with a flat floor, which would be a possible place to sleep. It wouldn't be comfortable, but it would be doable. You are somewhat worried about the passage that leads deeper into the hillside, but if anything lives in there, going deeper whilst unarmed will only alert it to your presence sooner.

As night falls, you lie down, and try to get comfortable.

As you lie there, a strange scent drifts into your nose. It reminds you of home and you smile.

Over the next few minutes it gets stronger, and curiosity overwhelms you. You get up and step out of the cave for a moment. The smell is fainter here, so it must be coming from inside the cave.

Heedless of your earlier thoughts, you walk deeper into the cave, intent on finding the source of that wonderful smell.

You follow your nose into a large cavern, faintly lit by something in the middle of the floor. The smell seems to be coming from the glowing thing. You walk around it, trying to find where it is strongest.

There.

There is a small hole in the thing, and the smell is wafting straight out of it.

You crouch down, thrusting your nose straight into the hole, which squishes slightly around your face. You take a deep sniff, and stay there, thinking of home with a goofy smile on your face.

The thing twitches slightly, before suddenly pulling away from you at high speed.

You look up, confused. The glowy thing is by the wall now. You stumble towards it, and it moves, glow fading and leaving you in pitch blackness.

You close your eyes and try to track it by smell, but it seems to have stopped making it.

In the end you just stand where the smell is strongest.

It slowly fades, and the grin fades from your face with it.

Your eyes widen. You are now in a dark cave with no idea where the exit is. The scent was obviously some kind of monster lure, and you were very lucky that it didn't seem to be in the mood. Your eyes search the darkness, certain that it is still in here, watching you.

"Time to find the way out," you mutter.

As soon as you speak, a glow appears behind you. Turning around, you see the creature that trapped you. The amorphous blob surrounded by long strands which disappear into the darkness leaves you with no doubt as to what you've stumbled upon.

A tentacle monster.

This might not be as bad as you thought. Tentacle monsters are a varied bunch, ranging from primal beasts which **** everything in range, to intelligent and thoughtful creatures who only want a loving partner, and everything in between. Given that you aren't currently ten feet in the air with at least one tentacle in every hole, this one is probably closer to the latter end of the spectrum.

"You're... not going to hurt me, right?"

It waves a tentacle left and right.

"No, you aren't, or no, I'm wrong."

It makes a move like a shrug. Right, yes or no questions.

"Are you going to hurt me?"

No.

"Will you let me leave if I want?"

Yes.

A pair of tentacles move closer to you. You almost step back, but manage to hold yourself still. One of them curls itself into a loopy shape, which you eventually realise looks a bit like a giant human ear.

"An ear?"

Yes.

The second tentacle slides slowly into the folds of the first, before pulling back out and pointing at you.

"You want to put a tentacle in my ear."

Yes.

You think about it. There are many horror stories of tentacle monsters taking over their victims' minds, and turning them into mindless sex toys. On the other hand, it had at least ten minutes to do that while you were... not all there.

You could give it permission, and probably be OK, or you could just leave.