7 - Festival of the... no, just "festival"

General Summary

Odds and ends

The party returned to Padstow and returned their climbing gear for a partial refund. They then board the airship Penelope owned by Raines' Shipping and Transport, piloted by Biggs.

Upon it, they meet Helwy, Mara, Withuia, Celuthiel, Cid Raines himself, and a nameless Dark Knight.

Cid seems to have taken a liking to Vexacious Rein and Zar'ral Helvimtor.

Kupo spoke to Helwy about his life, and found out the older man had been looking for Fiendscythe, intending to place it in his museum, he would have been willing to trade other artifacts for it, if found.

The lone death knight didn't utter a single word, standing at the front of the ship, staring outwards.

Mara spoke excitedly about a festival taking place in Crysteria soon, one where adventurers are released upon the Crystallized Lake that surrounds to The Crystal Spire, in order to thin the number of monsters present for a reward.

Cid spoke privately with Vex, about how he had been willing to sell off his Gridalian airship contracts to Vex' parents shortly before they went missing. The deal was to be highly beneficial and potentially lucrative for Cid and his company, allowing him to focus on his Olidian dealings, where the big money lies. Cid was very dismayed to hear of the disappearances.

The crown jewel of religion

The party arrived in Crysteria, on time, after a short stop in Shipton, where they were witness to, or took part in, remembrance day.

They bought a chicken.

The party headed off to The White Mages but found no one was home. Or rather, no one answered to their knocking. The mages were out helping with the festival preparations.

Festival.... .. !

The party went to the festival. They saw roughly 50 to 100 people there, adventurers and officiants. The rules were fairly simple, and focused on teamwork and the betterment of Crysteria as a whole by keeping the Lake clear of monsters. Rewards were offered based on the highest tier of monster defeated, with it being possible to split the credit where agreed or necessary. All entrants were given a greater healing potion and a wand of return, that would ensure their safe return should they activate it during a time of danger.

The party decided to take place. The notes on their name in the official ledger are smudged, so we will continue to call them, the party.

The first thing "the party" encountered, were a group of crystalline imps, who they chose to rush past upon their Chocobo. Some adventurers in the group behind caught the brunt of them, losing a few of their number.

Due to their focus on avoiding the previous encounter, they were ambushed by a group of Harpies, who took a few chunks out of them as "the party" managed a victory.

Next, they noticed some displacer beasts nearby had taken down a full team of 5 who had not managed to use their wands to retreat, this distracted them from the hulking fomorian zombie that lurked nearby, clearly worth a hefty bounty. The party split, ensuring the displacer beasts were unable to take any lives whilst also moving off to the fomorian zombie, who due to the delay, had been attacked by Celuthiel and his lone team mate, who were unleashing a powerful alpha strike, confident and strong.

The group managed to deal with the beasts, and obtained partial credit for the fomorian (after it had dealt a knockout blow to both Kupo and to Zephyr), at which point..

All the fame, and some of the fortune

A crystal dragon attacked, it's breath weapon wreaking havoc upon the group, taking out more of the party. This fear triggered a response in Kupo, who had felt the cold embrace of an approaching death only moments prior, concerned for the lives of his friends and travelling companions, as shimmering purple and blue aura surrounded him, allowing him to fire off a huge crystal arrow, they bounced between ally and enemy alike, healing friendlies, and harming monsters. This gave the group the edge, and the willpower to become those who fight further.

A horn was sounded, signalling a temporary retreat from the field, the dragon being too dangerous to be considered. The party held on. They fought hard, deliberately willing away Celuthiel and his friend, as the whole allied force now watched them from afar. They fought hard, finally taking the dragon down before leaving the field for a short rest, returning after to help clear the lake some more, now quite famous, it would seem.

They claimed their rewards, 150,000 gil, and a magical Lantern of Seeing, that could prove invaluable in the trials to come.

They also almost bought a trident of fish command from the store, but I'm sure some other buyer has since arrived to purchase this surely invaluable item.

Next, they plan to head to The Great Library in Crysteria.

Date - 7/2/279

Rewards Granted

30% xp, 150,000 gil, Lantern of Revealing

Missions/Quests Completed

Avoided crystal imps (0% xp)
Killed a band of Harpies (5% xp)
Killed half of two displacer beasts, and half of a fomorian (10% xp)
Killed a young crystal dragon (15% xp)
Won the festival (150,000 gil, item - Lantern of Revealing)

Campaign

Eriad Campaign

Protagonists