Mission 029: Foreboding and Festivities
The Golden Standard has been called to leave behind Wildemount and venture over to Tal'Dorei, the continent for a mysterious client, who simply asked a group of mercenaries to appear at the Winter's Crest festival in the sleepy town of Drynna.
Mission Log
With little information on the day's mission other than 'headed to Drynna due to an unknown threat', the all-gentlemen party headed over to Tal'Dorei to join the Winter's Crest Festival in search of the job. Finding themselves in a humble little town square decorated with bright lights and festive colors, booths and wagons galore, the party immediately split their attention. Fess made a beeline for a cluster of delighted children to try to coax information out of them, but found they knew little about a call for mercenaries, or indeed what the word mercenary even meant. Undeterred, he and Rhuck attempted the nearby "Withstand the Cold" carnival booth but found that even Fess' nimblest efforts were frustrated. Nico was drawn immediately to the Dragon Mince Pies' booth, grateful to find that they were actually comprised mainly of beef and homemade merriment. After turning down a bet to take on a dwarven woman in an eating contest, he purchased three to split amongst the party. Tykhon and Lark, however, squabbling about what comprises a dragon as they approached the Wyvern Rides booth, suddenly found themselves rooted to the spot beneath a sprig of enchanted mistletoe. As Lark drew his weapon to cut it down, Tykhon simply had no choice but to sweep Lark up into his arms and kiss him soundly on the mouth. In shock, Lark brought his dagger down on instinct but with a natural one, was so taken by the embrace that it only slid through his fur. Freed from the enchantment, Tykhon merrily explained the tradition as Rhuck took a brief tour of the unexplored booths, noting with interest the refreshment booths, a half-elf woman carving an attractive mermaid out of snow, and an older bejeweled tiefling smoking a long pipe who impressed even the impassive monk with his harnessing of a small aurora. One by one the group came back together with Fess insisting Lark would love the Withstand the Cold booth, but were quickly distracted by a colorful older man who hollered to the party about whether they want to purchase goods. Intrigued, the group piled into the back of his cart which was significantly larger on the inside and stacked with a veritable tetris of old crates and boxes. Talking a mile a minute, the man introduced himself as Nedayne and rattled off a list of wares, each stranger than the next, until he came to his special ware for the festival: MYSTERY BAGS! Unable to resist, each of the party members purchased a ragged burlap sack with paper snowflakes pasted on messily (with Lark and Tykhon splitting the cost to purchase one for Nico). The assortment of items varied from wildly confusing to deeply interesting, with Rhuck winning the 'specialty' prize, a black crushed-velvet sack from which toy versions of anything can be endlessly produced. (Toy halflings, mugs of ale, and countless dicks come into existence, much to Tykhon's delight.) Deciding against the rest of Nedayne's questionable wares as he unceremoniously rejected Tykhon's offer of a kiss in exchange for a mysterious vial, they return to Withstand the Cold for Lark's own failed attempt before Nico smelled something rotten and leaned in to cast Friends on the proprietor who reluctantly admitted the only real ways to win are for a rogue to use their inherent dodge or evade abilities, or to be extremely lucky. Say, an impeachable success…? The warlock, however, was extremely persuasive in convincing the proprietor this was extremely unfair, and he adjusted the difficulty of the booth such that Nico could handily dodge the next blast of cold air! Given the prize by a very unhappy booth-runner, Nico then hurried the party along before dire consequences could find them. Tykhon obtained drinks for the party (ale, mulled wine, and a hot cocoa for Nico), weaving confidently through the crowd, as they settle in for a puppet show put on by two tieflings, one white and one black, each with one horn. As the crowd tittered and laughed, the party began to recognize some of the events playing out on stage: elves falling into lava pits, crowned kings selling contraband, a dancing satyr in a leather bikini, a zombie cow, a goblin asking about other planes. Unsettled, they approached the pair of tieflings after the show with questions, and were haughtily invited into the wagon for a private discussion. Elder sister Alka (the pale tiefling) and younger brother Kala (the dark tiefling) turned out to be the very clients the party was looking for. Alka explained to the party that her brother has prophetic dreams and that they called for the Golden Standard as in the week prior he had a vision of a great icy threat approaching the village and destroying it in the night. Night before last, Kala saw the party themselves putting themselves between the danger and the town, and walking away without a scratch. As such, the party agreed to take the job on despite a reward of only 25 gold apiece (though Tykhon charmingly negotiated a kiss from the sweet and flustered Kala into the bargain). With time to kill before evening falls, Lark and Nico (with Fess onlooking) approached the fortuneteller's booth to have their futures told. The former received a warning that his weapon would be crucial, while the latter is given an unsettling omen of death in his path. Neither of them terribly pleased with their fortunes, they sought out new distraction as Tykhon pulled Nico and Rhuck over to the snow sculpture booth while Lark joined Fess at the Climber's Dice booth. The pair of rogues bought in as a team of two to play a neck-and-neck match of Climber's Dice, using a combination of good rolls and better strategy to emerge victorious. The good-natured booth proprietor seemed as delighted as they were with their win, and rewarded them with an Everburning Candelabra and a Top of Turning. Foregoing tools altogether, the monks and the warlock participated in a speedrun of a snow sculpture contest, facing off against a group of children whose best efforts produced only a messy snowman nearly-knocked down. With great aplomb, Rhuck meticulously carved out the mountain range he recalls from his childhood, while Nico reproduced a snow Izar and Tykhon, inspired, created a beautifully detailed dick with a top hat. Though the craftsmanship on the latter two was near-impeccable, the flustered half-elf booth owner was pleased to award the final prize to Snow Izar, an old silken hat with some magical properties. The phallic snowshape, however, much pleased the nearby tiefling who introduced himself as Ambition, and gifted a shabby-looking wooden amulet to the satyr. Afternoon faded into evening faded into night, and at midnight the townsfolk all together flowed out toward the massive bonfire soon-to-be-lit. The Golden Standard made their way out to the frozen Mooren Lake. As they put distance between themselves and Drynna, they saw a massive hulking shape in the distance, a few of the party members recognizing the silhouette as belonging to a frost giant. As it let out a low bellow, Tykhon pulled out his bagpipes and echoed the intonation, causing the massive creature to come to a halt and tilt its head. Taking a risk, the party gathered together one of the large mugs of ale and the single leftover Dragon Mince Pie, and Lark carefully took to the skies, cautiously and briefly alighting on the ice fifteen feet from him and setting the items down as an offering… … And in a shock to the party, as Lark retreated to a safer distance and the rest of the group closed in a bit more, three distinct smaller silhouettes clambered down from the back of the frost giant! As the frost giant children (all four, as two of them share a pair of coveralls) descended on the food and drink, the father bellowed in broken Common, "HUNGRY!" and the Golden Standard jumped to. Rhuck pulled out his Bag of Bounty and generated more than a hundred pounds of food of varying quality, while Tykhon hatched a plan to lead them away from the village with an alluring tune on his bagpipes. With the help of Izar's telepathic communication, Lark's interpretive dance, and the general goodwill of having been fed, the Golden Standard successfully diverted the path of the Frost Giant and his brood, alleviating the danger to Drynna without a single drop of spilled blood. Mission successful, they returned to the tiefling twins who, true to their word, gave over the gold, and Kala (blushing) pressed a gentle kiss to the satyr's cheek.
SUMMARY
DM Katie
PLAYERS Luke (Nico), Mike (Fess), Rae (Lark), Sarah (Rhuck), Zoe (Tykhon)
RESULT Mission Complete!
TOTAL XP 2270 each
TOTAL GP 25 gp each