Mahogany Kingdom/Deptimaya

Joaca traveled south along the coastline. She had never been this far south. While stories of the gnomish people had always pervaded their culture, noone had ever made contact with them. Not in her lifetime.

As she approached the coastline, she gave instruction to her dolphin to wait near the shore for her. Joaca was unsure how the next set of events would unfold. Joaca gathered herself up and proceeded to emerge on the beach of the settlement.

Joaca might have been surprised that the first gnomes came into view even before she left the water. No less than a dozen were submerged in various stages of diving down the shelf that dropped off from the beach. They wore simple cloths with net-like bags looped around their necks, and held short, wide-bladed knives. The seafloor was litted with thick beds of oysters, which the gnomes were harvesting.

Industriusly busy with their work, the closest did not notice the merfolk's approach until she was within a handful of yards, and jerked around startled in the water at the sight of a stranger. A large air bubble escaped the gnome's lips, and he gestured wildly with one arm to get the attention of the others before kicking up toward the surface. The other divers followed suit, swimming up and away from the new arrival to reach the surface and the shallows.