12/07/2022 - Music, craic and dancing

After overnighting along the way, the group arrives at the herdkeepers. A handsome halfling town with many newly constructed and some half built halfling hole homes. The town is full of animals. Mostly sheep and goats. On approach the group is greeted by the stares of many happy looking halflings and approached by a young halfling girl many recognise (Belami, the one who guided the party up the mountain) wearing a burlap sack as a dress. Khrom makes a joke about the new kids fashion. Belami explains that the sack signifies that she has been accepted onto the halfling folkcouncil. The group catch up and exchange niceties and suddenly Khrom is pounced upon by a bear. Kunai turns to kill, but Krom explains that it is just Jason the friendly bear. Khrom comes here lots and Jason likes to wrestle him. None of the halflings can take such rough and tumble.

Belami explains that the ancestor ceremony which the group is here to celebrate should begin within the week. The shamans do not know exactly when. She explains that there will be a big party tonight with music and stories and merriment. She also invites the group to take part in the ongoing festive pranks. There will be a prize for the best prank. The group start thinking up schemes. At the last minute she remembers to tell them that Finnian is also in the town, and he has been trying to get on the folkcouncil. In hushed tones she says that he has been unsuccessful and that the councilfolk wish that he would just give up, they don't really want to tell him he isn't going to get on. The party go to meet him.

They find Finnian in a muddy field full of many squealing pigs. They find him grappling one of the pigs to stop it escaping his grasp and trying to clean it with a sodden towel. He is filthy and slips as the group approach. The great and catch up. Bayul tells him that Blagden is dead. But after a few moments reveals that he was not and it was a prank. Finnian vows to get him back. Finnian explains that to get on the folkcouncil he has to go a period of humiliation, which has been doing for some months without success. Elyan tries to probe him into why he wants to be on it and whether he should just be serving people with his music. This leave Finnian with much to think on. After a while they go back to the "Khrom Cave". Khom visits the town often and had built himself a log cabin. The halflings, thinking this looked quite sad, built up earth around it so bury all but the front face of the cabin and make it more homely. Here the party begin their prank plans. Elyan uses the paper to send a letter to Quayl asking about what they are looking for and whether it would resemble a solar or lunar eclipse. A moment later a paper hat magically appears on Elyans head. Several minutes later the party tell him it is there and has been for some time. Quayl says it will not resemble an eclipse, and does not know exactly what to expect as you can't see the other planes from this plane, but explains that any observations of anomalies would be highly valued. Kunai contacts Jizirian to ask if he would get the chance to come to mount celestia for some short time. Jizirian answers with perhaps, if he can find the right path.

The set out to acquire some ingredients. Bayul goes in search of cream pies and comes by a market stall of Laphae the baker. Laphae offers Bayul as many pies as he would like as he is a guest in the town and Bayul feels bad taking them knowing he plans to throw them at people. Elyan casts levitate on the table to make it easier to transport and Laphae astonished by this asks Elyan if he can make Laphae float like this. He wants to use it to prank his friend. They take pies back to Khrom's and Elyan casts fly on Laphae and Khrom lends him a white sheet so he can be a ghost. The party go to his friend Wenos' house and Laphae spends the next 10 minutes pretending to be his own dead ghost come back to haunt Laphae for having stolen onions from his garden.

Kunai goes in search of spoiled fruit and veg and comes to a different market stall. The halfling girl there sees through his explanation of why he needs the veg that has gone off and demands an explanation. A story about Kunai preparing a horrible soup as a prank emerges (not true). In payment for the off veg, kunai helps to girl to take the other of veg to feed the yaks, which are the only animal in the village kept in a pen for some reason.

In the evening the group go to the celebrations in the great mound. There is food and drinks, and music, and dancing. Elyan plays a song which Khrom had learned from the halflings and sung for him. Elyan had also used mass suggestion on some halflings to get them to dance erratically when he started playing. They danced. One of the halflings announced that the great orator Khrom was due to make a speech, and brought in Jason the bear dressed in Khrom's clothing. Jason roars. Halflings laugh. After Jason's set he comes over to sit next to Khrom. A silence descends as Old Harbo (the halfling that told the party about the island turtle in the previous campaign) gets up to tell the story of Phee-Shee, the great island turtle and how she came to be here.

The party spring into action on their prank, Belgaer minor illusions a fire under the stage and Elyan shouts and acts panicked. The halflings run out. The rest of the party had already made their way outside and are there to throw pies and slight off tomatoes at the halflings as they emerge. Its chaos. They all laugh, then they all start smearing the pies off themselves and onto everyone else. They decide they might as well go back inside for some more music and dancing. Old Harbo tells another tale of the water kelpie and how that the halflings came to live on the island. All go to bed.

Khrom and Elyan, who decide not to sleep in the bag just in the Khrom Cave, are awoken to many filthy squealing pigs rubbing themselves against them, and a very please Finnian and 3 other halflings giggling outside. Elyan goes out and turns into a dire wolf and they scatter. Elyan chases one of them through some trees and pins him to the ground. The halfling pees himself. Elyan lets him go and he runs off. Meanwhile Khrom decides that there are supposed to be pigs in the Khrom cave and calmly lifts them one by one and places them outside.