Arriving in Paradise
Our adventurers arrive at Paradise, a beautiful, progressive druid resort island located in central Aowier. At this island no crimes exist, for fear of angering its protector. Its sole purpose is to provide peace and pleasure to its guests while simultaneously benefiting from the process. After being led to their rooms and vices of choice, all the guests are invited to a party, at which place our story begins. They are greeted by the island’s protector and “owner”, a wildly gorgeous Faun named Pandora Crystalpond. She greets everyone, wishing upon them peace and joy in their time at Paradise. She reminds them, “this is my island, you are merely allowed to enjoy her pleasures.”
The adventurers begin by waiting around a unique but gorgeous fountain with a fire at the top. Flux, Gitter, investigate the fire. Nyx is nearby playing a chill tune akin to the “Fire and the Flame” on their instrument, gathering a decent crowd chanting “encore!”. They gain a couple handfuls of gold. Moon Blossom meanders around the trees collecting pretty rocks and twigs. She notices that many of them are glowing a metallic color even when detached from the tree. Skye flirts with a beautiful armored elf named Elsbeth and a faun named Lake Lotus. Voya hangs out by the everlasting keg being a wallflower. Uthgor enters the party a bit late and encounters the Owlbears hanging out at the edge of the forest. He misidentifies them as bugbears and they get offended. He tries to remedy it by offering them food, but they turn away.
He then turns his attention to Pandora and introduces himself to her and her underling. Pandora sends her underling away and greets Uthgor. They move their conversation to Pandora’s nearby hut. As this occurs, The Owlbears and Gitter are overly excited about Moon Blossoms rock and twig collection. Gitter shows hers excitedly in response. The owlbears shift back into Fairies and join the group of rock and twig enthusiasts. A trade occurs, and Voya is weirded out, uncertain of why people would want to trade sticks and rocks. Flux nods in agreement, mentioning her preference for gold.
After some time goes by, Pandora brings parchment, and an elaborate ink and quill. She says, "Friends, this is your opportunity to shed all the threads linked to fear, stress, lost love, anything that’s weighing on your heart.” She invites them all to write their biggest stressors on the parchment and cast them into the fire. “Allow nature to take on this burden for you.” She starts the process by writing out her own fear, and magically casts her parchment into the fire.
Nyx pauses their music to write “FUCK YOU KEVIN” on a piece of paper and cast it into the fire and then returns to playing jaunty tunes. Flux invites Voya (aka sparkfingers) to turn this into an opportunity to compete with one another to cast their pieces of parchment into the fire. Voya attempts to cast his parchment into the fire but misses, barely missing one of the other guests. Flux is entertained by this and gracefully sends hers into the fire. The smoke forms a heart as the paper sparkles into non-existence. Amused, Flux and Voya then return to hang out by the everlasting keg.
Skye introduces herself to Voya and Flux by returning the parchment Voya missed to him. Flux winks at her and introduces herself as a magician, she is no mage. She offers Skye a rare flower she found nearby, gracefully flicking it around her fingers and tucks it in her ear, making Skye blush. Voya speaks about his professional goals working at the nearby university. Flux speaks about being a wanderer and looking for work. Skye discusses her quest to visit with other cultures so that she may take her place in leadership. She says she must rely on the friends she meets along her journey and not on those from home. Then, she asks if they all are friends. Flux replies that she wouldn’t mind journeying with her. Skye then pulls her new friends into a dance around the fountain. Nyx begins playing a rendition of “the safety dance”
Uthgor returns from his discussion with Pandora. He doesn't understand how parties work. Somehow a drum circle is created with Skye drumming on Uthgor's shield, Nyx plays a rhythmic tune. Eventually people are losing their balance, almost falling into the fountain, fully enjoying themselves. Flux introduces herself to Nyx, who speaks about how her mom taught her music and her methods of practice. She shows off her tuning crystal to Moon Blossom, who speaks more about her rock collection. She is excited about her rock that looks like a potato, but she has a vast collection of rare stones, gems, and twigs from all around Aowier. It is to be noted that she is the only one not consuming wine.
Gitter suddenly loses her excitement and becomes nervous of a new member of the party on the other side of the fountain. Skye inquires about it, and Gitter tries to say she is fine. Moon notices her discomfort and asks if she is constipated. She replies that she sees someone concerning that is present and asks the others to look. She sees a Katari with a large scar over their eye. They seem to be there for ill intentions. She is reminded of someone who she knew from her cult that was kicked out for being too extreme.
“To being in a good mood!” Skye cheers, returning the attention back to the party. Moon blossom attempts to drink from a normal size glass but is unsuccessful. Uthgor sees a friend that he met before coming to Paradise. He greets him and asks to meet with Uthgor after lunch at Paradise. Voya is joined by Torenia, who he knows as Pandora’s underling. She inquires about his time at the university and asks if he knows how to have a good time. He doesn’t. He doesn’t like to hang out with people of “lesser intelligence”. She offers to help him with his job duties the next day.
Pandora notices Flux and introduces herself. She mentions that the winds have blessed Flux if they brought her to Paradise. Flux then proceeds to question the lady out of curiosity. What happens to those who break the rules of the island? Nature takes its course, the Lady replies. Are guests allowed to defend themselves? “Intentions are weighed when a decision is made regarding punishment. If someone is simply defending themselves, they aren’t to be punished for it.” Flux compliments her wisdom, to which she replies, “It seems I am drawn to others who have an immense amount of wisdom as well.” Flux then informs Pandora of a potential evil guest. Pandora then walks up to her and takes her hand, leaving behind a piece of paper, saying “I am most displeased to hear about this.” Flux compliments her ability to host and states she has not once been displeased since she’s been here. She then praises the clankers for their upkeep of the island and respectfully takes her leave.
Flux returns to the party to observe the pretty rocks. She tells Moon Blossom that she can duplicate a rock for her. Moon Blossom produces a shiny blue one and Flux indeed is able to duplicate it. Gitter then asks if she can duplicate Chad Chadsly, her cult leader. She describes him with awe, though the description is of a manipulative, unattractive person. However, she describes him down to the last fiber on his jacket. Flux then shifts her appearance to look like Chad Chadsly which excites Gitter immensely.
Nyx is then joined by Todd, a Tribbet and their previous client who graduated out of their music therapy program. Todd tells Nyx about her adventures getting into the orchestra as the 4th chair harpist, speaking about how she played for the queen and king in the capital city. This conversation is 20 minutes of excited bard banter. Then Skye pulls everyone into the fountain to dance. Voya reluctantly is pulled along the outside of the fountain while everyone else splashes about in the fountain.
For the first time all evening, Moon and Uthgor notice that Pandora seemed concerned while talking to Torenia. They quickly move the conversation to the hut Uthgor was in earlier. All the party members except Voya go to see what troubles her. As they do so Voya sits tipsy on the side of the fountain. As Torenia opened the door to greet them and invite them in, we left off.
