It was a cold day, the sun had vanished behind a thick cloud cover, and Jillian could see her breath in front of her. It had been hours since she lost sight of Susannah. She swore, for all that monk'y wisdom that girl was supposed to have, she didn't have a lick of sense when it came to the most rudimentary rule of hiking, "never leave your Seafarer behind, she can't navigate on land!"
She made her way up the tallest tree she could find, to scout out the area. She wasn't worried about Susannah, that girl could take care of herself. If the dragon swooped by, she'd probably punch it in the face. Jillian chuckled at the thought, tiny little halfling, punching a white dragon in the face, now that she would like to see one day.
The top of the tree swayed threateningly as she held on, scanning the surroundings, trying to see the city, or at least the smoke over the city. There was nothing, they had wandered to far, and the wind and snow was making it hard to see. What she did see was the ocean waves crashing against the rocks in the distance, and it was downhill from here, what luck! If she could make it to the shoreline, she could just follow that east and eventually she would get back to the city. Ah, the sea, was there anything it couldn't do?
So, she made her way down through the evergreen woods, the low branches slapping her in the face. She really did not like being in the woods, there was just so much- stuff, everywhere! How could people stand it?!
Eventually the trees started thinning out, giving way to the rounded pebbles and boulders that constituted most of the shoreline on Gundarlun. As she emerged from the woods, she immediately heard singing? Chanting? Many voices anyways, in unison seemingly trying to drown out the wind and the sound of the crashing waves. She hid behind a boulder and observed them from afar.
As far as she could tell, they were having a party. It was a strange place to have a party, and very cold. They didn't even have a campfire, which was odd, because they didn't seem to be wearing much clothes either.
She looked up in the sky, nothing but grey clouds, not even a hint of where the sun might be, and she had lost her compass somewhere in that blasted mountain. She took a deep breath and prepared to accidentally insult someone as she darted out from her hiding place and headed towards these strange people.
They didn't seem to notice her, completely focused on their chanting. She saw as she came closer that they were wearing fishnets! Actual, honest to Valkur fishnets, layers upon layers with in-woven shells and seaweed, they had bracers made of- she did a double take, were those made of turtle shell? How in the nine hells? And around their necks they had what she was fairly certain were shark teeth on a string. They definitely had a theme going here.
She walked up to them, not trying to sneak up on them or anything, they still took no notice of her. She was close enough she could reach out and touch the closest one; a man with the unkempt mane of black hair, stiff from the saltwater that they were splashing on their faces.
She cleared her throat; the gale swallowed the sound. She stood there awkwardly, uncertainly, before she took a chance and poked the man with the black crow's nest on his head on the shoulder and jumped back in case he lunged out. He did not. In fact, he didn't seem to notice her at all. None of them did, and she poked each and every one of them to make sure.
She stood back, just observing for a while, and noticed they weren't just splashing the water on their face, they were drinking it as well. Well, at least that had to mean it wasn't salt water, right?
She crouched by the bowl in the middle, and dipped a finger in, tasted it- and spat it out. It was definitely salt water. She stared at them in disbelief. How in Valkur's hairy ass- these people were crazy! And then she had a thought, a terrible thought, like many of her thoughts often are.
She took out a small vial that Susannah had given her. She looked at it, unstoppered it, and almost as if her hand was guided by some unseen force whispering in her ear it'll be hilarious, you have to do it, she poured the content of the vial into the basin of salt water.
A few minutes went by, nothing happened.
A few more minutes passed. The person closest to Jillian, an elven-looking woman with bright yellow hair, started swaying, then giggeling, then put both hands solidly into the basin and started splashing the person next to her. She fell backwards laughing, and it was like she started something, because soon the whole assembly were laughing, splashing each other, and rolling around in the pebbles on the seashore.
Jillian's whole body was trembling with mirth and excitement. There was just something entirely satisfying with ruining a serious moment with bullshit, replacing dourness with fun, and disrespecting those that craved or demanded respect.
As the circle fell apart, the ritual ended, and the assembled masses now completely in disarray, the skies cleared, the storm passed, and Jillian could tell the way home.
She left the giggling people behind and started her trek along the shore back to Gundbarg, not really reflecting on what had just transpired, as per usual.