Everyone but Krodhen mounts a river dolphin. The process is a bit weird, and the lack or a saddle of some sort could spell disaster. Mr. Thicc's weight needs to be borne by at least two of the creatures, which is now possible since the half-orc is not claiming his ride.

Afraid her own shell's weight might be too much for a dolphin, Eeyal finds a comfortable spot beside her creature and lightly holds on to its dorsal fin. The creature has to compensate a bit, but the setup works well enough in the end. Kairus likes this approach and attempts to copy it. His grip falters midway through the trip, and the triton finds himself having to swim for a small portion of the crossing before getting a chance to reconnect with his dolphin. All in all, a fun little mishap. The bard completes the crossing with a smile on his face.

Aided not only by a dolphin but also by his cloak, Yulmiath completes the crossing effortlessly. An onlooker might have guessed the dragonborn has previous experience in dolphin-riding. Despite not being very enthusiastic about it, Rhogal also completes the ride as it began. The dwarf is much wetter than before, but the experience was not nearly as unpleasant as he had feared.

To everyone's surprise, perhaps' even Hun's, Mr. Thicc's legs gingerly wrap around the dolphin and latch together in a comfortable manner for the creature. Not needing to breathe, the construct then rotates so that his head and torso are below the dolphin. A second dolphin approaches and Mr. Thicc wraps his arms around it, distributing his weight between the two creatures. It looks awkward, but it is incredible effective. Mr. Thicc acts as a malleable chain loosely linking two dolphins through the crossing, while the creatures themselves swim alongside and around each other in an instinctively synchronized manner.

Wondering if he should have asked Krodhen to carry him instead of the construct (which I'll say the paladin refused), Hun demonstrates how not to ride a dolphin. Jumping onto the creature with a makeshift rope harness in hand, Hun scares the poor thing. The dolphin swims away quickly but one of its fins gets looped in the harness. Hun is dragged all the way across the river, at times fearing he'd swallow too much water. By the time he is dragged over to the other side, Hun is waterlogged, bruised, and exhausted. 

Krodhen takes the safe route and crosses the river by simply walking on top of it. Although slower than the others, the half-orc has no trouble in eventually reuniting with the Snack Pack on the other side of the river.

Once it is all over, the river dolphins linger for a bit, behaving playfully and not refusing any extra meat scraps the group is willing to throw at them. Eeyal makes a suggestion: "We still have a few hours to go, and at least a portion of the trek will take place after sundown. If you desire to rest a bit now, it shouldn't add too much time to our trip anyhow." She looks at Hun in particular.

Hun doesn't respond to Eeyal. In fact, it almost looked after mostly being thrown ashore that the kobold wasn't even breathing! Before anyone can panic to the point of delivering healing or performing CPR on the Kobold, Mr. Thicc steps up to its creator after smoothly transitioning off his rides and gently presses his foot down on the bloated dragonoid's belly. And not unlike some cartoonish parody Hun fountains out a small stream of water for a moment or two, before then finally coughing up the rest.

Then as if to answer Eeyal's earlier concern, Mr. Thicc then nonchalantly throws the waterlogged Kobold on his shouder, before turning and giving Eeyal thumbs up, followed by pointing out into the jungle.

 Kairus was shining with his own light now. He thanked the group's new friends with another series of clicking sounds and waved them goodbye. "Was not it fun? Truly, the jungles are not half as bad if such creatures live here!" Hun's miserable state was a bit discouraging but the triton was convinced that even kobold will learn to love both water and water-riding with some practice. Surely, the opportunity will present itself again soon.

He was about to offer his own service for grandpa's transportation but Mr. Thicc beat him to it (and was a  better caretaker anyway), so, there were no reasons to linger on the beach any longer. "Let's get to the village. The faster we get there - the faster we can eat." Nothing raises up the appetite like a good swim!

Yulmiath gives his dolphin a little extra jerky and a grateful pat and rub before it turns away to join the rest of it's pod in the river.

"We all here? We all good to go?"

Sticking close to Eeyal on this section of the journey, Yul reckons that once the sun sets, the Tortle might need a little help either from his darkvision or from a handy torch.

With Hun signaling that the group should keep moving and Kairus reaffirming the decision, Eeyal takes the lead once again. Once darkness begins to cover the skies, Yulmiath lights a torch and walks side by side with the tortle. No additional danger makes itself know to the traveling group.

As promised, Eeyal leads you back to Ahoyhoy. The party arrives a few hours after sunset. Most Ahoyhoy residents have already found their corners in the open-sky living area to sleep for the night. A few others are still awake, including old man Mudgraw. He welcomes you back to the settlement: "Welcome back, explorers. I am glad to see you safe, though I can tell the island left some marks on your bodies. And you brought another tortle with you!" Eeyal introduces herself, sure that Mudgraw won't remember her. The old one takes some time, but does indeed recall the youngling named Eeyal who left the island many years back. "Such is Ubtao's maze we call life."

He begins to lead the group to the center of the living area, inviting you to enjoy the fish soup they prepared for the communal supper. He then turns to enjoy a conversation with Eeyal. You can spot Kwilgok and Damu, but they are both already asleep.

(@MB: please deduct at least two torches from your inventory. They have been used up during the walk to Ahoyhoy.)

(OOC: Feel free to interact and RP. We can then move into a Long Rest if you'd like. It would be nice to hear the Snack Pack's plan for the next day as well.)

Yulmiath never thought he'd be so pleased to be back in the relative comforts of Ahoyhoy, but after a couple of nights in the jungle being back among the Tortles has its own charms. Find a quiet spot, make a comfy bed, awaken in the morning. Sounds ideal.

"Good to be back in civilisation, Mudgraw. Ubtao's obviously favouring us right now. The road back was nice and easy and it helped having Eeyal here to point the way."

Offering Eeyal another torch should she need it, Yul is pleased to see Damu made the journey safely as well. Agreeing to meet the rest of the group in the morning, he heads off to find a quiet place to sleep.

Kairus was somewhat relieved too to be inside the walls. Even the most devoted adventurer needs to sleep with both eyes closed from time to time. He greeted the elder, but quietly enough to not wake up half the village. He remembered "sleeping chambers" from the last time (under the sky, of course), searched for a free spot and settled down. Stories and everything else could wait until morning.

With all the strange happenings throughout the day, what with the bone snakes and riding river dolphins, Rhogal figures that today had enough stuff going on and turns in for the night. That way he could properly come back to the issue with the snakes with a fresher mind.

Krodhen follows suit as the others turn in, finding himself a corner in which to curl up in and ponder his dreams of justice

Hun is yet still half out of it by the time the group finally arrive in Ahoyhoy, so merely greeted the old Tortle with a tired wave from the shoulders of Mr. Thicc. And though almost desperate to get some shut-eye, Hun was not want to skip a free meal, if only in anticipation of being possibly bereft of food in general the next day.... however impossible such a scenario may be.

Even then, he is subdued throughout dinner, only offering a spattering of details about their journey if prompted before finding his rest near the sands again. Come the next day he'd broach the topic of searching the caves for the statue, if only since it doubled as another place to search for Volo. A thought occurs to him as he drifted off to sleep. Or really a question pretaining to Rohan and Krogel, but... it could wait until the morning...

Eeyal thanks Yulmiath but kindly waves the extra torch offered away. There are several campfires in the middle of the living area which provide plenty of light. (This is area 3 in the Ahoyhoy map available in the camping page.)

Noticing that the group is quite tired, Mudgraw keeps the welcoming conversation to a minimum. The tortles who are still awake also pick up on this, although a few cannot resist the novelty of interacting with Mr. Thicc. Eventually, even the most curious tortles find a spot to sleep for the night.

Sleeping within a settlement with dedicated night watchers feels quite safe. The night goes by and the party can get the easiest night of sleep they had in a while. When morning comes, a breakfast consisting of a variety of fruit is offered to all. Some taste sweet, other slightly tangy, but they are all refreshing. Kwilgok is happy to see the group again, especially Rhogal. Damu is retelling the tale of his hunt to anyone who will listen. Eeyal is catching up with some tortles she has not seen in many years. Mudgraw is checking on everyone: "If you'd share the story of your travels within the island so far, I'd love to hear them now that you had a chance to rest. That said, if you prefer to spend the morning at our market, I wouldn't blame you. Surely you found coins or goods worth trading while out there."

While the group is still all together, Hun mentions his preference to go searching the caves next. Opening his map for all to see, the kobold points to all major landmarks in the north/northwest portion of the island and indicates that the party has visited all of them. Landmarks to the east/south/southeast are farther away from Ahoyhoy, and seem more remote. As a refresher, the kobold reminds the group of where in the map they can find The Typhoon Palace {hex D-15}, as well as all of the marked entrances to the Geonid Caves {hexes G-12, I-12, E-18, F-19, J-15, I-18, and H-21}. It is obvious to anyone looking at the map that long treks over the jungle, volcanic areas, mountains, ridges, and bodies of water might be in the cards for them depending on the exact path the Snack Pack chooses.

(OOC: You may all hit that Long Rest button.)

Morning in Ahohoy was no less wonderful! Kairus woke up with the dawn, as usual, but decided he deserved a lazy nap closed his eyes again and got up only when the sounds of a waking village became too loud to ignore.

"Oh, the stories we have are unbelievable! You live in the middle of the adventure, I can say. One step past your walls and you get attacked or meet a mystery. Can not imagine why would your youngsters leave the island when they have everything right here and can be back with the craziest of adventures by the dinner!" Kairus happily repeated all the stories of the group's adventurers, which took quite a while. By now it was several battles and a handful of explored locations.

The number of Geonid caves Kairus found both inspiring and complicated. "The snake said "caves to the sought east. That would be the volcanic one, right?" He was not a big fan of fire in any shape or form, but if that is what it takes, so be it. "Quite a journey in any case." He sighed but then smiled. "Imagin all the food that will try to kill us on the way!"

Yulmiath scratches his head when Mudgraw asks whether they'd struck it rich on their travels.

"Uh, I'm not sure we found all that much out on our travels. A bit of coin but all that much really. We had a couple of tasty dinners..."

His face becomes pretty animated at that point.

"Roast fowl, smoked meat, a crab gumbo. No empty stomachs so can't complain all in all."

 Rhogal recalls that that some canoes were available. He makes a mental not to ask for one or two before they set out. But at present, regaling their tortle hosts is the order of the day.

"Aye, we also figured out what was wit' them mudbaths a ways out."

"What I wouldn't give for a foldable boat right about now..." Hun muttered to himself at some point while studying the map. In fact for the most part and in part thanks to Kairus, the map and planning the next leg of their expedition hard largely occupied the kobold's mind since awakening that morning.

"Mudgraw, wasn't it?" He asked, finally looking up from the mat to properly address the aged Tortle. "You wouldn't happen to know any locals that might fancy the mountains and volcano area most of all? Hoping to get some advice on the dangers we might face trying to reach these geonid caves here." He gestures towards the southern most ones. "And, uh... If you happen to have some old climbing gear you're not particular, uh... planning to use any time soon, might we borrow it?"

The Snack Pack spends most of the morning sharing their tales and planning their next trek. Kairus makes a suggestion regarding the caves but can't resist the many gathering tortles' sparkling eyes and their thirst for the bard's retelling of the adventures of the past few days. The musical accompaniment brings many smiles out.

Yulmiath reports that their non-edible findings have been slim so far, so any visits to the Ahoyhoy market (area 9 in the map) will have to likely be postponed for now.

Rhogal participates in the storytelling as well, but excuses himself at some point and inquires about any available canoes. The fishing tortles at the shore repeat their earlier offer, letting the group borrow one or two canoes if they need them. They also remind the dwarf that they are best used in shallow waters when following along the shoreline. This may save the party some time when traveling long distances across/around the island, but any incursions inland would require carrying the vessel or hiding it for future retrieval. Rhogal (passive insight) can tell that the tortles expect the canoes to be returned, and would not take it lightly if they were left behind, lost, or destroyed.

Hun leads the mapping out of the party's next adventure. Mudgraw responds: "Well, Ubtao has seen it fit for me to wander these islands plenty. If you need someone to guide you in your next trip, I'd be happy to do it for a fee." Kwilgok also approaches at this point: "I know the island quite well myself. I might not be as experienced as old Mudgraw here, but my ankylosaurus Deadly Treasure is quite an asset out in the wild." Finally, Eeyal joins the conversation, pointing at all the different tools hanging from her homemade shell-harness: "If it is a set of climbing gear or any other tools that you need, you'll find no better prepared guide than yours truly."

GUIDE OPTIONS

• Eeyal: A tool for every occasion --> proficient in may useful skills (2gp per day).
• Kwilgok: Comes with a friendly dinosaur --> beast of burden, mount, or fighting companion, depending on the situation (3gp per day).
• Mudgraw: Experience comes at a price --> knows some druidic magic (4gp per day).
• No guide: Snack Pack will have to roll survival or vehicle proficiency checks while traveling on the overmap.

Nodding along as the rest of the group notes their achievements, Yumiath feels like actually, maybe the real riches are the friends that you make as you travel along life's journey and the experiences that shape and help you to grow as a person... Then he remembers that none of those things will pay a bar tab and the warm, rosy feeling he had inside dims a little.  Then Karius reminds them that at least on this island, every member of the group appears somewhere on the food chain, and likely not at the top.  

"If we're talking climbing, maybe we best take a visit to that market? I've a couple bits of rope, but likely we need more than that.  No-one wants a fall from height. On a boat, into the water, might be ok. On land? Doubt any of us are walking away from that."

(OOC Happy to start trekking to the Geonid caves, my vote, assuming we get that far, is to take Eeyal for the tools for this one.  She's cheaper than the other two, so we could maybe afford a longer expedition and has the tools to help us scale a volcano.  Failing that, some kind of way to get advantage on the survival checks so we can have a fighting chance to not get ourselves hopelessly lost might do in a pinch.)

"Oh, and some bolts too. Maybe rations as well." It was a bit contradictory to his previous statement but you never know when food sources will run dry. Yumiath exaggerated a bit when he said they returned completely empty - there was some gold they got. At least enough for rations. While they were shopping (he would happily join with gold to buy ropes and hooks) Kairus could discuss the matter of guide. "Do not know how to choose, to be honest. I mean, Eeyal is great but our Grandpa is not that bad with tools either, while that dinosaur... Not that we need to carry something or even someone, just a great animal. And Kwilgok was a good guide too. If we do need a guide, any will do." That was not very helpful but Kairus truly could not choose.

(Getting some bolts and rations - how many can be bought?)

Hun grumbles and mumbles to himself while considering the options. He then takes a moment to "slyly" look into his own money pouch, only to regardless reveal in a scowl the defencies there. "Hmph! Perhaps when the next leg of our trip proves more lucrative, Mr. Mudgraw. For it would certainly be, uh, appreciated to have a fellow Sunset walker. But for now-..." He looks to Eeyal. "If you're still up for another venture, young one, it'd be appreciated Eeyal." He says, thoughtlessly speaking as if the matter would be settled there.

"Sorry Kwil. Perhaps once we're ready to hit up the temple we could use your deadly treasure. But for now, we got caves to explore!"

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