Mary replies to Lysander,"I would prefer if you played the bagpipe, but lute is fine if you don't got one. We'll just have to make do with string and percussion instruments for now." she sighs and turns to Leysa,"I like your enthusiasm, your going to do great in our performance, just remember the lyrics and what we practiced."

"I tried the 'pipes, I was not keen, the sound they make's a mess,
But the biggest problem that I had was I had to wear a dress!"

Leysa looked at Lysander askew, "What's wrong with dresses? Well, as long as they are not too big or too tight, they move quite well." She shrugged and looked at her own pants. Leysa always wore what was most practical and easiest obtained.

"I would not want to sound like a churl,
But dresses look nicer on a girl."

Tamara smiled and shook her head as the musically inclined debated musical instruments and dresses of all things.  She however turned to one of the sailors and asked, "When do you think the ship will be leaving to head to Deluzion Break?  I would not wish to miss my ride."

“Yes, if it doesn’t conflict with our departing passage to Delusion Break, perhaps we could investigate this strange occurrence.” Robyn suggested. “It may provide us with beneficial knowledge about chaos farming that we might need in the future. And based on the information already provided, I have a working theory.”

One of the extraordinary things about Honoan technology is the very limited amount of metal used.  Instead of nails and bolts, things are held together with ropes.  Lots and lots of rope.  The beams of the houses are lashed together, the roof thatch is lashed into bundles and the bundles lashed to the beams... and the boat is largely made of wood lashed together.

This is very helpful for them:  wherever they are in their part of the world, they have the resources to make what they need.  If you have coconuts, you have coconut husk fiber, which can make fine ropes.

But the ropes take a beating in rough weather.  They loosen, the fibers break.  With their own hands and a few tools the sailors can make the catamaran as good as new, but it will take some work.

They inspect their boat, and break the news to the passengers.

"Two days to reweave and retie all the damaged ropes," the lead sailor says.  "The sail is not damaged, the wood is not damaged.  We were fortunate.  At least the people here are generous, if you sing for them, they will probably be more generous.  Honoans are music and dance lovers."

Leysa clapped her hands excitedly, "Plenty of time to sing and dance as well as see what we can discover about this farming problem!" The large, green dragonborn seemed equally excited about both prospects. She grinned at Mary then turned smaller smiles upon the rest as well. Experiencing new things was a rush after all.

Mary chuckles at Leysa's excitement, then pulls out her guitar,"Alright, then let's head to the center of the village. We'll attract a lot of them if we sing their."

Lysander takes his lute and joins on harmony.

Tamara thanked the sailor then turned to Pemberil.  "I believe you promised a tour?  And perhaps you can elaborate more on what's causing trouble for you chief while we see the sights?"

Robyn waited for everyone to prepare to leave for the tour so that he could fall in behind them. Yes, he had told them he was a scout, but if true danger came, Robyn fought best from a position of stealth. Something was causing damage to the crops and whatever or whoever it was, Robyn didn’t expect them to be overly friendly once discovered.

Pemberil is not in a great rush to leave, as there is music to listen to, and it reminds him of the homeland over the sea.  But he promised a tour.  Many of the Honoans, meanwhile, are gathering around.  Music is important enough to justify a break in the daily routine, and even the cleanup from the storm.

They walk along the beach.  Up ahead, a trio of giant sea urchins is stranded, and trying to return to the sea- slow going for them.  They are a lot like normal sea urchins, but the size of a beachball.

"If they don't hurry they'll be on the menu tonight," Pemberil says.  "I don't like them, but many people here do.  And the spines have a hundred uses.  They must have been washed ashore.  Ah, let's not bother them, much to see.  Unless you're in the mood for sea urchin, of course."

There are 16 houses along the beach, all of very similar design, although one is larger than the rest.  There are many smaller structures, most of which are just roofs over platforms.

"Most of life is outdoors, or at least, not inside walls," the Halfling says.  "I sent a letter once, noting the number of Gazebos on the island.  Several adventurers arrived to battle them.  Anyway, the larger house belongs to the chief, of course.  They need it for Official Business, though I'm not sure how much official business we have.

Next up, the strange carved figures, most about the size of Pemberil but a few much taller, placed at the ends of the row of homes, and various strategic places.  They all look like very stylized abstract representations of... well, of something with faces.  The taller ones are made from a stack of short ones.

"Tikis," Pemberil says.  "Magic protective wards.  They honor the spirits of ancestors, so that even though the people may have traveled very far, the spirits know where to find their descendants and protect them.  Powered by the Mana.  So they tell me.  Maybe they work, maybe not... but the Honoans believe in them, and the... well, our plant killing problem hasn't gotten into the village itself, or the coconut grove, and those are protected by the Tikis."

There are coconut trees in the village itself, and many more in a strip along the beach north of the town.

"These are the southernmost growing coconut trees in the world," Pemberil says.  "Our chief said that this was a sign that Honoans must settle this place, to mark the natural boundary.  Coconuts only grow along beaches, so its a good thing we have plenty.  North of here are a few other settlements, but all very small and considered outliers of this one.  The chief is the chief of all of the settlements on the island.  Still, that's less than a hundred souls."

The front side of the village, the beach side, is where life generally happens.  Food is prepared, clothing, weapons and boats and made.  Most of the activity of life is there.  On the back side, where Pemberil leads you next, are farms and animal pens, storage huts, and a sort of lumber mill where trees are cut down into planks.  The messy work happens on the back side.  In the farms they grow yams, millet, and a variety of fruit and vegetables. The pens have chickens and pigs.  There are quite a few chickens that have decided they have no need of pens and are patrolling the back of the village, picking off tiny bugs, seeds, and other scraps of food.

And then, a little distance from the main village, is the chaos farm itself.  Right now it is just a flat, newly tilled roughly oval shaped area of ground, intensively weeded so that nothing green is left.  It is surrounded by native woods and meadow vegetation.

Unlike a regular farm, there are no straight furrows anywhere.  Everything looks curved.  One might say, randomized.

Pemberil points to a large discolored area on the far side of the chaos farm, and then, another and another.  "There are more of these in the woods, nearby.  It is the effect of... well... the thing that comes and kills plants."

Each of these areas seems to be a roughly 40' semicircle centered on the edge of the chaos farm, as if it might have been a full circle extending into the farm prior to the tilling.  The plants in it are withered and sickly.  Towards the center, the plants are gray and dead.

"Some bad magic out there," Pemberil says.  "Give the people here a fair fight and they'll be all over it, but something like this... this has got them worried."

Lysander pulls out a pan flute, playing a lively melody and challenges to add her guitar.  One day, he will have to teach Leysa the words, but for now, it should be pleasing.

Tamara took in the halfling's tour with delight until the end when the reached the chaos farm and the blights.  She carefully approached one of the semicircles and with her sprig of mistletoe in hand called out, "Tíra saew a ihaew".  She made sure to stay outside of the blighted areas but as close to the edges as she dared as she moved around them.

OOC: Casting Detect Poison and Disease.

Gunnar gets out his bodhran and drums along.

"We should help. Village give us food, place to sleep, help fix ship."

Gunnar follows along on the tour, looking around with a delighted smile and waving to the villagers.

On reaching the chaos farm his smile fades. "Plants sick, bad magic?"

Mary pulls out her guitar and follows the beats and melodies of everyone's instrument.

When they reach to the chaos farm, Mary replies to Gunnar,"Hmm, well their is a plant killing problem appearing out of nowhere. But we do got a druid on our side, so maybe we could help out and slay whatever it is that's killing your plants."

Leysa quietly hums the melody of the song, quickly learning the pattern, "Slay it? What says that is the required solution? Keep an open mind, friend. Perhaps it just needs to be understood?" She then starts to vocalize the melody a bit.

Robyn had no magic spells or specific skills suited to investigate the rotten vegetation, but as most halflings, he was fairly perceptive. So when the opportunity presented itself, Robyn was certain to have a look at the despoiled areas to see if he could find any tracks or any other clues.

After a good look, Robyn scratched the back of his head. “As I suspected, dead plants.”


OOC :
17:15, Today: Robyn Lovejoy rolled 3 using 1d20.  Perception.

"If one could simply slay it then I suspect slaying would have been done," Pemberil says. "The bad plants... oh, yes... I should have been more clear... when I said the plants go bad, I didn't mean they all died like this.  I meant... went bad.  As in, bad plants, roaming around the forest, looking to hurt people.  Those can be slain, because the warriors here have destroyed a few. But the thing that does this is dark and shapeless, and the one warrior who fought it said his weapon did nothing.  Nothing at all to it.  But, this all goes back before my time here.  Not that far back, the whole settlement is only eight years old, but I haven't been here nearly that long!  If you want those stories, those aren't my stories to tell, but I imagine more of that music might put the chief and his wife at ease.  Perhaps they'd share it."

Pemberil turns his attention back to the chaos farm.

"One of the great things about this is the amount of energy the plants get from the Chaos.  We'll have seedlings by tomorrow morning.  It's that fast.  I hope we get a good crop and get to harvest before that thing comes back."

Tamara listened to Pemberil after she had examined the dying plants.  "Indeed these plants were dying even before the fungus laid waste to what remained inside these circles.  But I would still recommend they pull and burn these plants well away from here to prevent the rest of the plants from getting sick."

She walked back to where the others stood and thought about the problem at hand.  "You say these circles appear in the woods as well.  Is there any place that sees more of them than the others?  If this black and shapeless thing is behind this blight, then we must concentrate our search."

"The path to take, if I may be so bold,
isn't always to look at what is old,
but to look at what's new might help us more
in finding what we are looking for.

The foulness that causes this nasty blight,
whether by day, or even by night,
has a purpose in mind that we needs know
if we are to stop it and let plants grow."

Mary listened to the conversation and starts thinking about it,"Hmm, evil plants, a dark and shapeless being, this sounds like something right up my alley. Maybe us musical folk should speak with the chief to gain some intel while you and that halfling over their could investigate this blight problem." she says to Tamara.

Leysa looked over the patch of blighted plants curiously and concurred with Robyn, "Mmm, you sure they are dead... or plants?" She nodded sagely and wondered at just how blank a distracted mind could be.

She tried her best to contribute to the conversation as well, "Oh, splitting up? Well, be careful if you run into anything." She frowned again and tapped at her lips with a single claw. Shrugging she started to hum the tune she had bene practicing the night before.

---

Today: Leysa the Emerald rolled 3 using 1d20+2.  Nature.

Lysander says to Leysa,

"It is a joy to play a dance
and watch the people up an prance,
I think we should also play a tune
that would bring tears unto the moon. "