GM's note:  We have our last starting player now, Lysander.  As we haven't gone too far, just assume he's been there since the beginning, simply busy.  Maybe not enjoying the weather.


The Honoan sailors see things like Tamara does:  it's been a long day, it's well after dark, we might as well try to sleep.  What's with the midnight music?

Fortunately, they know a few things about how these houses work: they grew up living in them.  The same mats that are laid out flat for sleeping can be hung from beams to make instant partitions!

And so you get a long, windy, dark night.  It is what they called the Chaos Storm.  Perhaps that was overly dramatic, it certainly doesn't sound that different.  But it goes through the night and into the late morning, when it dies down to a respectable breeze.

The locals do not venture out until it does.

In the morning, Pemberil Berrytread is back, with a few of the local children, bringing food, and water.  It's a simple meal, with cakes baked of coconut meal, eggs, and little pieces of... is that cornbread?  Not a feast, but filling.

"Well it wasn't so bad, really," the Halfling explains.  "The Chaos Farm's wiped clean again, but that's normal, it'll be back soon enough.  That's the one upside of these storms.  Sure, we get some damage, but it's worth it.  So!  I must say in daylight, you're an unusual group of travelers.  Forgive me for speculating, but may I guess, not a family group?  And none of the usual stuff a settler brings.   You must share your story, and I'll give you the two copper tour!"

Lysander has remained quiet throughout the journey, knowing that if he opened his mouth at sea, it would most likely be to take food in, or vomit it out.  It wasn't his favorite way of travel.  Having kept mostly away from everyone, it probably wasn't noticed that he carried a lute, and while he relished the thought of playing, the sea was not going to hear him.  Now, on dry land, and a settled stomach, and some food in it, he decided to play a tune that even the lovely, very young, Mary had never heard.  It has a haunting melody, and, as his fingers moved over the strings of the lute, the almost hypnotic song gave a feeling of joy to all that heard.

Mary was shocked at the sudden appearance of a haunting melody and looked toward Lysander,"Oh, you were at the ship with us as well, and your a musician too, hmm." she says, and listened to the song well. She pulls out her guitar and tries to brighten this little home by playing a more relaxed melody then Lysander.

She then looks toward Pemberil,"So you want to know more of our tale, well we our merely strangers so I wouldn't know everyone's story. But I'll tell you mine, even though it's not really that exciting." she says, still playing her guitar and her melody grows tenser as she speaks,"I hail from the Northlands, in those lands their lived a priestess of Hoar and a bardic knight of legendary renown. These two are my parents and my father was known far and wide as a womanizer and often cheated on my mother and would run away from any familial, financial, and therapy problems that often arises in our daily lives. So I made a knightly vow to avenge my mother, by challenging my father into a duel and also signing some divorce papers. But I'm too weak to face him, so I decided to travel to the Southlands, in the hopes of learning new experiences and honing my skills with a blade." she says with fiery determination and she abruptly stops playing her guitar as she finish telling her story. She was silent for a bit, and then turns to the rest of the group,"So that's my story, not that great or exciting. But if any of you happen to know of a great swordsmen nearby or around here, that would be a big help. Anyways, can't wait to here what all your stories are." she says with a wide grin and cheery mood.

As Mary's song and story dies out, Lysander takes his lute and starts playing a rhythmic little song and starts singing:

In days gone by I'd sing and play
as those around me worked all day,
My village, though was quite the pity,
So off I took to find the city.

The city offered many places
to sing and put a smile on faces
of people from all walks of life
to help them ease their strife.

But years of this brought naught but pain,
so I went on the road again.
to find a path that where things are clear,
and that is what hath brought me here.

"Gunnar not skald, not tell story. Gunnar's clan lives in mountains in small valley. Gunnar not want chop trees or watch sheep. Gunnar choose travel."

"I am Tamara Duskbloom, Druid of the Twilight Enclave.  Daughter of Virfaren and Wynfira.  I come to the Southlands to learn what wonders Sylvanus has wrought here." Tamara said with a soft but firm voice.

Mary looks at Tamara with frustration,"Huh, is that it? I can understand why Gunnar isn't use to telling stories but it doesn't have to be a song or ballad like me or that lute playing guy. At least provide some context on who your parents are instead of their names, unless it's too personal for a stranger to know then I can understand your privacy."

"There's no need to be contrary, Mary,
It's her story to tell
If she want to leave out the details
I think that is swell."

Leysa blinked at all the singing and stories and yawned. She'd stayed up practicing the song for a few hours the night before and again in the morning as she was not used to sleeping past the rising of the sun. Once most of the others had shared she smiled, "My parents are of no repute in the north. They, along with my clan, made a living hunting and raiding. I parted ways with them for a better path. The Hart of the Woods showed it to me. Now, I come south seeking answers to certain questions." That was the most she would say about that.

“I came from a bit east.” Robyn said quietly, perhaps to everyone’s surprise. “My parents run an inn there, Short Respite. I grew up hearing so many wonderful stories from travelers that I decided to do a little traveling too.”

Robyn continued just as quietly.“Been traveling for awhile now. Thought it might be nice to work on a place to call my own. Then I met a man by the docks with an interesting offer.” No doubt the same offer that brought the others along as well.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:11, Wed 05 Aug 2020.

In reply to Lysander (msg # 39):

Mary nods in agreement to Lysander and replies,"You make a good point lute playing person that's speaking in poems, I shouldn't be so judgemental in everyone's stories."

She then listened to the last pair of strangers with interest,"Hmm, I guess everyone's not as open as me in regards to the past, though,",she says, a mischievous grin begins to appear,"I'll just use this as an opportunity to get to know you all better. But I gotta say, we make a pretty odd group to be around with, huh."

Lysander gives a nod towards Mary.

Tamara had an amused look on her face when Mary ranted about her lack of context about her parents.  She nodded in appreciation for Lysander's poetic understanding.  As for herself all she would add was, "My parents' story is not my story.  Why should it?  I haven't seen my father for well over 50 years, nor my mother since joining the Twilight Enclave."

“How about that breakfast?” Robyn said, venturing to change the subject. “I have never had cooked coconut like that before. I liked the mild sweetness. And who would have suspected cornbread here? I thought that was mainly in the hills regions.”

There might not be any need for a change of subject to make sure that no one was offended, but it couldn’t hurt. Whatever their impressions of him so far, Robyn liked this group of people that he now found himself journeying with to and through this new land. He hoped that they might be able to support each other in common goals. Whatever your path, no one ever succeeded alone.

"That is a very good point about the cornbread, sir," Pemberil Berrytread says.  "Takes a Halfling to notice something like that, right?"

Pemberil winks.

"It's like this.  I came to the Southlands six years ago, because I was the seventh child and home was getting a little crowded for my taste.  I was planning to travel on to Ziflunde or Fenwyck like most Halflings do, but I thought I'd do one big tour first, see what all my options are.  Well, I stumbled across this place just as they were dealing with a fine crop of onions.  But these people had never seen onions growing before, they were waiting for something to sprout on top when, of course, the important part's down below.  I gave them some advice, and that, along with my being something of a wizard... well, a very minor hedge wizard, I know a few tricks... and decided I was their farming expert, so I became Little Kahuna and lived here ever since.

"But that doesn't answer the question, does it?  Here's how that goes.  There's something about the big island of Momokawahe that's.. well some say touched by Chaos but that's only correct if you'd say touched by rain when you're really soaking wet. When the winds blow in from that island, you get a Chaos Storm- it's a storm with some strange magic effects.  One of those effects is what they call Chaos Farming.  They figured it out in Montebon a long time ago, this is the only one in all the Honoan islands.

"They figured out that when the chaos storm blows across a farm that is ready and prepared and tilled for it, somehow the storm knows that this piece of ground should be a farm, and it makes one.  Only, you don't know what it's going to grow.  Could be anything. We had cactus, once.  There's a lot of details, but that's the summary.  Now, if you do it right, and you're lucky, you can be very successful with this, because people want to buy unusual things.  Coconuts are everywhere in the islands, we had the only corn!  Well, what we could get of it, anyway.  So now, everyone is eager to find out, what's next."

The Halfling looks directly at Tamara.  "You said you were looking for wonders?  This should count, I think.  There may be a few people here happy to have a Druid here.  We don't have one, sadly.  There's less than a hundred people on the island, I'm the only wizard, the chief's mother is a healers, and his wife is a Water Mage.  There are things here it would be nice to have a Druid look into.  Not to impose, of course.  But as you're looking for wonders, well, there we are, aren't we?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:11, Wed 05 Aug 2020.

"Indeed, these Chaos Storms are most perplexing.  As for any of this island's wonders or things needing a druid's touch, that will depend on when the ship I arrived on is leaving here." Tamara answered diplomatically.  She had the impression that Pemberil was looking to recruit people to become permanent islanders.

I would find it hard to stay and entertain the masses,
but will agree to go along with these fine lads and lasses.

Mary rubs her chin in thought at the explanation of the Chaos Storms,"Hmm, so this storm creates random effects and you use it as a farming system to create random plants and vegetables...But by some chance, what would happen if this storm starts creating a terrible effect like a field filled with dangerous plant-life and vegetation. Surely you would have a more defensive measure for such things."

Leysa listened raptly to both stories, one about the halfling and the other about chaos farming. "So, it's supplementary? I mean, you can't depend on the chaos farming for sustenance, that would be foolishness. Also, depending upon the size of the farm, you have a very limited supply of the exotic material. You sell most of it? Some of it?" Leysa was no druid but she understood nature to some limited extent.

It seemed that some were gearing up to aid the village. Getting to their final destination was important for Leysa's studies, but it was good to help people. "If there are some small tasks to complete, I think I can accommodate. I am not much of an arcanist yet, but I know a few tricks."

"Breakfast good, Gunnar not have cornbread, like." He says as he rapidly demolishes everything put in front of him. Then he carefully checks over his armor and weapons."Metal rust really fast on ship."

Ignoring the discussion of Chaos storms flying right over his head he asks: "When ship leave? Gunnar can help until ship leaves. Tell him where."

When Mary mentions the problems of dangerous plants, perhaps brought about by the random effects of Chaos, both of Pemberil's eyebrows raise.

"Funny story there," he says with a slightly worried voice.  "The Elves at Lighttree said the very same thing.  That's why they don't settle the area where the Chaos storms hit.  And there is a... well.. plant related issue here.  I can't say the Chaos storms caused it, there's no solid connection, but there's something out there that kills plants and makes them go bad and it seems to like our chaos farm best of all.  Sure, we have other farms, but the chaos farm is special, you see, the resource we hoped we'd tame and.. hmm... I think I'd better explain the whole mana thing, before the questions come up.

The Halfling adjusts himself to get more comfortable, obviously settling in for a longer story, and helps himself to some of the remaining breakfast.

"Honoans do some things that other people don't, and you might think they're crazy or silly.. but then, some of the magical traditions from back home might seem silly to them.  In their way, it works.  For them, certainly.  They believe in a magical energy called Mana.  The things you do determine the mana you get, and what kind it is.  There can be good mana, and bad mana.

"But this pretty much happens only for the upper classes, like our chief's family.  On the other hand, they're supposed to use the mana they get for everyone's good.  Kind of like public mana managers.  As strange as it might sound, good management and proper manners is a big part of gaining mana.  Being generous, for example, is good mana.  So the chief will provide food for visitors, like you.  There's no need for a tavern here!  Well, maybe for some good drink, but that's another story.  Taking care of your people, good mana.  Tending your land well, good mana.

"The Chief is only chief of this island, and there aren't many people here.  There are higher chiefs.  Our chief's chief, the Tribal Chief, is in Panua.  Not far.  So you might think, if the Chief has a problem, he can go to the Tribal Chief, right?  Not exactly.  You see, if we faced some outside threat, pirates, sea monsters, yes, of course.  But if it looks, as we might say, home grown, then it is the Chief's mana.  He must deal with it.  If he cannot, then the Tribal Chief and the old women in Panua will say, he is a bad chief with bad mana, and his settlement is a failure, and they must leave.

"But I am just a simple Hedge Wizard.  There's nothing I can do.  And this is not the kind of thing someone faces without magical aid.  All the villagers known that.  They will face down Kuo Toa, but not things that feel supernatural.  And so, we have seen our crops ravaged and turned bad, and a village that should be prosperous is struggling.  It is our shame that we could offer such a meager breakfast."

Pemberil thinks, and then looks at Mary, and adds, "You don't look like you weigh any more than I do, how can you haul around weapons and armor like you do?  There must be magic to you, and therefore, perhaps it was the Chief's good mana that brought you here."

Lysander says,
"Could it be that someone out there is ruining your chaos field,
whether for some perceived slight, or to prevent the yield?"

Mary chuckles at the mention of her stature and her oversized(compared to her atleast) equipment,"Heh, well I would be lying if I said the stuff I carry is heavy. But their's really no magic involve, I'm proud to say that the stuff I carry is no problem for me." she says, and starts swinging her greatsword in the air and mostly avoiding everyone,"Though I doubt your chief's mana is the one that brought me here, it was probably my God but you believe you, I'm not one to judge on your beliefs." she says, thenk takes a look at Leysa and adds,"Hey, maybe we can raise some good mana by playing that song to the rest of the villagers. Leysa has been practicing all night, and Gunnar will help out too."

Leysa was lost in thought about the problem when Mary mentioned the song, "What? Oh yes!! Let's do that..." Her chin dipped again as she considered the problem of the chaos farm again. The source of the problem could be so many different things. Her master had warned her about certain things after all. She drummed her fingers along her thigh a few times and then shrugged, "First things are first though. A song and some good will. I am unsure what part we play in your beliefs or what part you will play in mine. But, who doesn't love a song?"

Lysander says,
"Would you like me to accompany on the Lute,
Or perhaps I could play the flute?"