Tamara watched as a tiny illusion of a the sky played out in front of her.  First it was warm and breezy.  Then in quickly turned to windy with periods of heavy rain.  When the tiny mud balls and howling frogs showed up, her eyes grew real large and her jaw dropped in amazement.

When the spell ended, Tamara shook her head to try and dislodge the shock of it all.  "Yeah... I don't think I like chaos storms."

Mary looks at Gunnar up and down,"Wow, your as tall as this dragon lady, but as for your song request I can definitely do it as long as you can keep up. Maybe we can do a duet at Rapatua's tavern, if only we have someone with bagpipes though, that song is not the same without those." she says, giving a thumbs up to Gunnar and notices the worry in everyone's faces,"Huh, this chaos storm everyone keeps mentioning sounds like one wild ride. But let's not worry about that, if we get shipwrecked we can just make a raft out of coconuts and sail off to unexplored territory." Mary says, her overconfident inexperience showing.

A strange experience existed and Leysa was grinning as she looked Gunnar in the eyes. "Wow, not many humans so tall." Grinning, she looked back at the dark horizon, "Some experiences are not worth having... I think." She scratched at her scaled chin and shrugs. She would take what comes her way as it came, "But a tavern and a song do sound nice. I am Leysa. Well met. You are quite cheerful for a knight of doom and gloom." She extends her hand to each of the adventurers one after the other.

“Oh, my first storm onboard a ship.” Came a voice from the back. “How very exciting! And this one is a Chaos Storm? That must be what they say makes the crops grow so big. I wonder what else it does? Any magickers or sages onboard come to study this phenomenon?

Robyn reached into his bag and pulled out a nice shiny apple that he proceeded to crunch into enthusiastically. As usual, he had found a safe place to watch the biggies do what biggies normally do and waited to explore this new land. Robyn had already explored the ship. It wasn’t very exciting. Good thing that he wasn’t training to be a sailor. Although grog did sound good.

Mary gives Leysa a firm grip with a surprising amount of strength for someone of her stature,"That's what most people say back in Northlands, but don't worry. I'll bring doom to any enemy that picks on me and gloom to my archenemies." she says cheerfully and let's go of her handshake. She then glances at the back as the halfling spoke and crushed an apple,"Ugh, that short guy gives me the creeps. Like a 'don't take candy from a stranger' vibe kind of creep."

"I did not come to study these chaos storms, no.  And as to whether I am a magicker or not depends on your view of that topic.  I am however a druid of Silvanus.  Tamara Duskbloom is my name.  And you are?" Tamara asked of the halfling.

“Robyn Lovejoy, at your service.” He performed a slight bow. “Not a half of anything, but a whole Halfling. Light of foot and nimble of finger. I make a decent scout, a fair trap-finder, an earnest negotiator, a well palated food taster, and a general lifter of spirits.” Here Robyn leaned a little forward and stage whispered, “Not the best, however, at providing candy for bright and cheery doom and gloom knights. Might be something about the holy retribution. Talk about a killer toothache.”
This message was last edited by the player at 15:37, Fri 31 July 2020.

She was just opening her mouth to reply to Mary when others joined the chorus. Frowning, she tried to follow that small one's words but found herself just shaking her head. She turned to Mary and looked her over once, "I am sorry, did I miss something? Did you ask for candy?" She glanced at the druid and smiled happily, distracting herself, "I've met a druid before. Grendel Shortsnouth, He's a black dragonborn. Do you know him?"

Tamara shook her head.  "I do not.  I can not recall a single dragonborn druid of the Twilight Enclave.  Perhaps he belongs to a different enclave?" she said to Leysa.

Turning back to the halfling she said, "Well met, friend Robyn."

Mary looked at Leysa with a raised eyebrow but then suddenly understands,"Oh, you don't understand figures of speeches, I only meant that his a bit strange is all. But I shouldn't just judge him base on the first interaction."


Mary grumbles at the halflings loud whispering,"Though I'd appreciate it if he didn't call me a toothache, especially if his saying that right in front of me."

Gunnar has a puzzled look on his face as he tries to follow the multi-sided conversation. But at least it distracts him from his seasickness. "Gunnar glad to meet all. We have fun travel together. Gunnar is warrior. Green lady who tall like Gunnar what you do? Mary is little lady with axe bigger than Gunnars, you also warrior. Elf lady in between other ladies make pretty pictures. And littlest one is scout.. and other things Gunnar not get."

Gunnar is careful as he shakes every ones hand.

The main sails are taken down, the small storm sails raise in their place.

As the characters talk, the sailors are working hard to keep the boat on as northerly a course as possible, with the wind steadily picking up and the waves getting higher.

There is a jolt every time the catamaran slaps into a big wave crest.

The sailors want no help, unless a character is a sailor too- in times like this an untrained person might only cause harm.  They aren't afraid at all, all of them have faced rough weather at sea.

Okay, when night falls, they do sound a little worried.  Night at sea in rough weather is always worse.

One of the sailors explains, "If you fall over, you are gone in seconds, we will never see you or hear you.  Don't fall over."

Still, they try to keep everyone's spirits up.  "In this bad weather, a sea monster will not find us. And don't call this a storm.  This is only rough ocean.  We are running from the storm, which is good for speed."

It is the custom of the Honoa people to leave lights on the beach, where they can be seen at sea.  The larger towns have genuine signal towers, the villages just make do with torches.  If they are fortunate, possibly even Continual Flame spells.

It's well into night when the lights of Rapatua are visible, one of those "Just a Row of Torches" villages.  But the sailors are very happy.  They steer straight for it.

As the catamaran approaches the shore, there is a response from the village.  A conch horn blasts.  A sailor uses a conch horn to respond.  The catamaran heads for the shore as alerted villagers arrive on the beach.

The waves seem to die down very suddenly.

"Magic from the village," a sailor says, "to help us.  They are making a safe channel of water, across the reef.  It is our custom to always help travelers in bad weather if we can."

The catamaran gets close enough for the sailors to jump into the surf to help guide it in, and people from the village join to bring the Catamaran ashore.  There are about fifty people present, and a couple of dogs.  Some of the people are holding weapons, but from the look of it things seem friendly.

"It's good to see that the locals practice such helpful magics like this." Tamara commented as the ship was brought in.  She made sure to stay out of the sailors way and well away from the edge of the ship until it was safely brought to shore.

Mary pulls out her guitar and stands beside Tamara,"You got that right, I was sure that we were about to be shipwrecked. But I can't wait to play March of Cambreadth on their tavern, maybe I can give you all free rooms with the rousing success of me and Gunnars performance."

The experience had been interesting. While Leysa had not totally enjoyed being tossed about like a squirrel caught by a dog, she could now say she understood the feeling. Thus, she was grinning ear to ear as she caught sight of the magics to guide them into the village. She clapped giddily and bounced on her heels, "I wonder what I will experience next? Oh! A song? I do not know the words, but I can sing. Maybe not well; I don't know yet. If you taught me, I am sure I would be happy to join you."

Mary gives a smile to Leysa's offer,"Sure, I'll teach you the lyrics once we head to the tavern, we'll sing together if your having too much trouble. I'm sure you'll do well." she says, giving some confidences to Leysa and hoping she's not jinxing herself before even starting.

In the dark and the wind the catamaran is dragged ashore and unloaded.  The locals engage themselves enthusiastically, as helping people escape a storm appears to have priority over everything else, including introductions.

You can see only part of the line of houses facing the beach.  They look similar, and from what everyone knows of Honoa from past travels, very normal.  They are built on low stone platforms, and they have tall peaked thatched roofs.  The roofs are supported by heavy posts and beams and kept together with more rope than nails.  The walls are mostly large woven mats that can be rolled up when the weather is nice, which from what everyone has already learned about Honoa, is almost all the time.

If there’s a tavern here, no one says a word about it.  Instead, an old woman who was simply holding back and observing points out one of the nearly identical looking houses and says it is the visitor’s house.

One of the sailors explains that it is the custom, especially in smaller, more “traditional” villages that places be built and set aside for the use of visitors, because as island sailors the Honoans do a lot of visiting.

“If they knew us and liked us we would be invited into homes,” the sailor says, “but they do not know us.  Villages provide for visitors, though.  It is not like you would find in a port city like in Montebon or Pomera but it will do.”

As everyone is shuffled towards the visitor house to ride out the weather, the group notices that one of the villagers is not like the others.  All of them are Human, and dressed in simple skirts.  One of them is a a Halfling man.  Half the height of the others, also dressed in a skirt, and wearing a very tall pointed hat adorned with many odd symbols.  The others call him “Little Kahuna”.

“Little Kahuna” helps you move into the visitor’s house.  The walls are being hastily rolled down and secured, and torches are being lit.  Two women deliver piles of woven sleeping mats.

“Nasty night to be out at sea,” the Halfling says.  “You’re lucky to be here, the storms never hit us very hard, they mostly stay south.  Still we get a taste of it all the same.  I’m Pemberil Berrytread.  Pemberil, of course, or Little Kahuna, if you wish.  Welcome to our little bit of paradise.  It’s normally much nicer, this is just a transient thing, really.”

Pembroke looks at Leysa.  "Goodness me, it's a lucky thing the Honoans are a lot more exposed to the world than they used to be.  Still, you're going to get a lot of looks and a lot of questions, you know.  The people here have never seen anything like a Dragonbon, before, which is ironic since they have stories about great noble families being descended from their Dragon God."

Tamara followed along with the sailors and the others as they made their way off the ship and the shore.  She nodded her thanks when the matron pointed out the visitor's house and softly thanked the women who brought in the sleeping mats.  She took one and laid it out near "wall" farthest from the shore then rolled out her bedroll and rolled her cloak into a pillow.

She sat on her bedroll listening to the halfling native speak as she removed her boots and set them aside for the night.

"Master Pemberil, is there much concern about different races?" she asked.

Gunnar watches with interest as the sailors and the villagers get the ship secured. The grin slowly returning to his face as the ships motion settles and he steps on land. He sways a bit at first, so used to the ships motion that he still automatically adjusts for it. "Good to be out of storm. Not like jumpy ship in storm."

He gathers up his gear, and anything else that needs to be carried, and follows the crowd to the visitors hut. "Is like home, Gunnars clan has visitors house too. Clan house is all stone, not like this."

Gunnar, with a slight bow, thanks the women for the mats. Taking one he rolls it out near the door so that he is in between Tamara's (and Mary and Leysa's?) and the door.

Mary was a bit bummed that their wasn't a tavern but was amazed at the houses and the Honoan traditions she's unaccustomed of but willing to learn. She also gives a slight bow to the woman and lays her bedroll next to Leysa, then she stares at where Gunnar's bedroll is layed,"Uhm, Gunnar maybe you should place your bedroll near that halfling who I can't seem to remember his name right now. We don't need you on this side of our sleeping position, maybe you can go over their near our halfling companion, he seems like he could use your company and it looks way better then this side of the room." she says, then turns toward the Little Kahuna,"Mr. Kahuna, is it okay if we were to play a song from some foreign land to the villagers. Maybe it could be a small festival though if it's against your traditions then that's fine."

“Little Kahuna” Pemberil Berrytread looks a little surprised that Tamara would ask such a thing.
The Halfling tries to explain.  “Races, well, you see, they’re a pretty friendly folk, here, certainly welcoming to me, and Elves, you know they visit sometimes from their harbor at Lighttree.  I suppose I even have a position of honor here.  As long as I stay within their system, you see.  The way of life here isn’t exactly what you’d see down in Montabon or the other colonies.  It gets complicated at times.  Always friendly, but complicated.  Feel free to ask me.  Now, sure, they’d have a different reaction if a band of Kuo-Toa swarmed out of the ocean, those aren’t exactly welcome.

     "But then there’s your friend here”… he gestures towards Leysa… “the likes of whom they haven’t seen before.  I’m from the Northlands myself, only six years in the Southlands, so I know what a Dragonborn is.  But they don’t.  Like I said, the irony is that some of the high families of the Honoans claim to have Dragon ancestors, but those Dragons could shape shift, according to the stories, so that resolves a lot of the obvious issues.  So a Dragonborn visiting here can expect questions and curiosity.

    “Maybe not everywhere in the Honoan Islands, because some places are more, let’s say, exposed than others.  But Rapatua is just a little old fashioned settlement.“

When the question of music comes up, that's a little easier.

    "The Honoans certainly love music," Pemberil says, "I’m sure they’d want to hear it… but in the morning and after the storm.  Right now, everyone’s huddled in their houses.  Tomorrow will be busy here, repairs, inspections, trying to figure out what the chaos farm is doing... we have the only one north of Montabon, you know!...  but they always make time for visitors, and music.   So for the moment, make yourselves at home... do you need food or drink?  It shouldn't hit us too hard, it never does, and tomorrow you can see what Rapatua is really like!  And play some music."
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 15:11, Mon 03 Aug 2020.

Leysa had watched Gunnar gathered up many things that did not belong to him. Looking around the village, she surmised he was not thief. Still, she was unsure why he would do that. Shrugging, she followed along to the hut and tried her best to ignore any looks. Once there, she watched silently again and took in information. Her long sequestering had taught her the benefits of observance.

She understood that Gunnar was acting out of some inefficient sense of protectiveness. She understood that human females were generally smaller than the males and perhaps less bulky. It was not so for her kind. In fact, Leysa was one of the largest to be born in her village and easily was bigger than Gunnar. Still, she was generally unopposed to how others liked to live their lives as long as it did not interfere with her choices.

At the talk of races, she let her scaled eyebrow arch, "I don't appreciate being ogled, Friend Kahuna. Questions and curiosity, if it is honest, are fine though. I dealt with a lot more sinister types of interest during my journey from my home to the ports."

At the mention of the halfling, Leysa ignored it. But at the mention of the song, she grew excited. She hummed a few bars and sang a nursery rhyme from her village about a drunken gnome as a test. Her voice was raw and untrained but had charm. "Mary, can you teach me that song now?"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:44, Mon 03 Aug 2020.

Mary was overjoyed at the acceptance of music,"Oohh, you won't regret it, we may not know each other well but I bet we'll play great. And it's a good way to further strengthen our bonds through music, as for your question on drinks. I'll take some juice or milk, whichever you've got that's nonalcoholic." she says, and takes notice of Leysa excitement and her voice,"Hmm, you've got some potential as a singer, it might even fit the song we're about to play. Sure, let's go to a corner and I'll teach you the lyrics from what I can remember, and since we've got a lot of time we can do some practice songs." she says and moves toward the farthest wall near Tamara. She takes a seat on the floor and pats the empty space beside her, signifying Leysa to take a seat as well,"Alrighty then, let's begin..."

With the human and the dragonborn intent on playing some music, Tamara settles into her trance for the evening while lying on top of her bedroll.  As is her wont while in trance, her eyes occasionally open before softly closing again.

“Sure, come on over to this side of the room, Big Gunnar.” Robyn said in a friendly tone. “The ladies like to have a bit of privacy when they turn in for the night.”

Robyn didn’t press the issue, just found a nice spot on the far side of the room and settled down. He understood that Gunnar was bring protective of the women, but they could likely take care of themselves. Especially with Leysa there. She was a tower of a being in Robyn’s eyes and even though she seemed to have a warm heart, Robyn suspected that she could be a fierce warrior when the need arose.