But First Another Drink!

Dear Mama,
 
Well… yesterday was an interesting day.
 
Now that we are on the Onclave Island, they decided to let us go meet their “Protectorate” people—they are the people who made the Onclave in the first place or something. We are taken down into this natural cave to see something called the “Beacon”; it is a large and bright sphere that sort of… um… draws you to it? I am not sure how or why, or even how to explain the feeling, but it was very strange, mama.
 
Anyway, so we go to this cave and we see this beacon and we are told to stand there and wait for the Protectorate to come and when they meet us we cannot talk at all! At all, mama! You know how hard it is for me to say nothing, so it was not an easy task! Especially after seeing what they looked like! Mama, they came in wearing these suits of armour that were beautiful, and they had helmets on in the shape of animals! One wore a lion helmet and was named Ronor, one wore a hawk helmet and was named Fehran, the one with the bear was named Elote, the one with the wolf was called Itolla, and there was even an ocatopus called Narath! Strange names, strange armour, strange beacon… everything about these people is strange, mama. I cannot explain it, but I am not sure we should be here. I am not sure we should trust them. I know I know, we should not judge people just because they are different, but this is not that I do not think. They just… I do not know how to say it… they just seem not right somehow.
 
I do not know, mama. I do not know what to do. They are not being bad to us or rude or trying to hurt us or anything. They seem pretty nice now that we are part of their group, but maybe that is what is bothering me about them. We did not choose to be part of their group, it was forced upon us, you know? I guess I feel that any society that has to force people into being part of them through violence is not… right? That is not the word, but I cannot find the word in common right now.
 
Anyway, for now we decide we are going to trust them (but I am keeping my eyes open, just in case). Katrain—the one who introduced us to the Protectorate and answered all of our questions—told us that the other ship with the rest of our crew should be coming in soon, so we are going to wait here for them so we can get our crew back. There is also a library and a research center that Dio is very excited to look at, but they were closed by the time we finished with introductions, so we will visit today I think. Katrain also said there were rooms available for all of us to sleep in should we want, but everyone decided we would rather stay on our ship.
 
However, since the rest of the crew was relaxing and enjoying a drink, Dio, Kressara, Harley and I all decided to check out the local tavern! I have only been to a few taverns in my travels, so I was very excited to see another one! AND! MAMA! Oh mine gosh… ok, so you know how you would never let me have the drinks the adults had at festivals? Well Tuna never let me drink them either when we visited taverns. BUT! Since I am an officer on a ship now, and I have been through quite a few crazy fights and stuff, I thought it would be okay to try the alcohol now!
 
Oh man… mama… I had no idea alcohol could do such crazy things to you. I started talking even more than I normally do, only the others tell me I was not speaking common—but I swore I was mama!—so they could not understand me! And then I lost my balance and fell over and suddenly I was a bear! Right in the middle of the tavern! I did not even mean to do it! How crazy it that, mama!? And then when we got back to the ship, Tuna was trying to put me to bed and I DID IT AGAIN! Oh mine gosh… it was so strange!
 
AND AND AND! Then this morning I woke up with a reaaaally big headache. Lucky for me I have my herbs to make it go away, but still… what a strange drink that can do all these crazy things to you! I had fun, mama, really, but I am not sure I will be drinking the alcohols for a while. I do not know how Kressara does it so often… she must have the stomach of a rhino or something!
 
That was all yesterday. It was nice to have a day of semi-rest after so much craziness, you know? I really enjoyed getting to be with my friends without the worry of a monster or something around.
 
OH OH! MAMA! I ALMOST FORGOT!!! When we were in the tavern, I saw a drow! He was the first drow I have seen since leaving home! I tried to go talk to him, but the alcohol made me feel strange and then Kressara said it wasn’t a good idea so I did not. But if I see him today I will definitely talk to him! I think… maybe. No I definitely will!
 
It could be him, mama. You never know!
 
Whatever happens, I will write you again tonight. I miss you, mama! I hope you are well.
 
Love,
 
Your Memen