Competition Season
The kids spent over a year competing for the coveted YA Adventurer's Championship. Along the way they learned new skills and developed relationships around their community.
Relationship with Kastor
Each kid had different feelings and experiences with their YA mentor,
Kastor Raines.
s'Thom thought of Kastor as her idol. He convinced her that magic wasn't a worthwhile pursuit and to put her efforts into martial training. She especially loved the confidence she gained from Kastor's lessons in staff combat.
Quinn learned how to utilize his climbing and hiding skills to help the team during the competition. Kastor taught him how to scout ahead of the party and gather intel about the enemy. Quinn respected Kastor, but was also frusted that his mentor could sometimes be an ass.
Berov avoided Kastor whenever possible. He appreciated his mentor's advice and learned how to use his size and strength to gain an advantage over his opponents, but didn't appreciate Kastor's attitude. When they weren't actively training for the competion, Berov with his parents or guild members.
Red had a neutral but respectful relationship with Kastor. He learned the value of teamwork and to rely on his friends' strengths to overcome his personal weaknesses.
Spying on the Neighbors
As part of the YA Competition, the competitors were awarded bonus points for gathering information and reporting it back to YA Leadership. In some cases, the kids earned rewards for turning in evil-doers, but many ordinary every-day citizens were spared.
s'Thom flatly refused to participate in the information-gathering activities. She never spoke again of the Night of Proclamation. She focused on weapons training and kept quiet about what she saw.
Quinn practiced his scouting techniques by following "the creepy guy". He learned that the man was called Marshal, and was the guardian and protector of Roman Congers and Regina Congers. When not with the twins, Marshall lived the life of a hermit on Meditation Point. When the twins were out and about, Marshall could be always found lurking nearby if one knew to look for him. Quinn kept this information to himself.
Berov told his parents about the Zerubitxi samples he saw at the bazaar. His parents began researching the properties of the material and searched for the merchant. Berov never mentioned to the YA Leaders anything about his parent's interest in Zerubitxi.
Red overheard merchant guards complaining to each other about how much trade had fallen off since Blessings replaced gold and old coinage were outlawed. Some of the guards' masters contemplated stockpiling their wares for a few years until the economy recovered or gold became legal again. Red decided not to get mixed up in their business and did not report the conversation to the YA Leaders.
Volunteer Activities
Since New Horizons failed to get many points from spying, they earned extra points doing volunteer work in the community.
Red helped load coal, heft iron ingots and tend fire at The Trikxy Anvil, a smithy operated by Birlith Trikx, a fire genasi. Although he is an outdoorman, Red appreciated the craftmanship of the smith and how raw materials could transform into something special.
Quinn's grandparents forced him to help Ibah Eagerine, a friend of Grandpa's who retired at the shipyard to run the Olde Stinker, a tavern near the fishmonger docks. They worked Quinn hard but were kindly and kept him well-fed. Quinn learned that you don't need to climb a tree to spy on someone. Many folks will spill their guts in public over a pint of ale.
s'Thom helped Adikia Osmadiel tend the gardens of the Temples of Light. She found working with nature relaxing after a long week of combat training. Adikia was always polite and accepting of grung culture.
Berov was voluntold to clean the Eternal Flame lighthouse. Isabelle Atieno expected perfection and required Berov to clean every flake of soot off the braziers before each nightly service. He would have rather been outside, but didn't hate on the religion.
For the Championship
Capture the Flag
Team New Horizons trailed Shifter's Heirs in points but ended the season with hope in sight. If they won both the offense and the defense sides of the last game of capture the flag, they would (barely) win the year-long competion. Kastor rewarded them by upgrading their treehouse fort with some amazing construction and suprises.
Their initial strategies revolved around each team member working independently to sneak around Shifter's Heirs base, but they were always spotted and repelled. Kastor's final advice was for them to work together as a team, to stick together and use their strengths to cover each other's weaknesses.
The team tried once more, moving together into a strategic position.
As Quinn snuck into the enemy grounds and found their cave, Berov saw the twins and Denzil walking through the forest towards the New Horizon treehouse. The team eventually regrouped and raced to defend their base.
s'Thom fought off the intruders from within the treehouse, raining rocks from above and swinging her staff when they got inside. The boys tried to pull the twins off the rope ladder but got tangled in vines.
About Damn Time
Kastor Raines,
Paige Mirek, and
Thisby Noor arrived on the scene. The boys, stuck in the snakelike vines called for help, but the adults paid them little heed.
Professor Thisby enchanted the vines to lift the treehouse off the tree and set it on the ground where it transformed into a wagon. He demanded payment for his part of the bargain, information on something called the Star (on reflection, Berov wonders if he meant
Kurtulmak's Star). Kastor told Thisby that he'd get his payment once they were safely in open waters.
The kids tried to break into or out of the treehouse/wagon but were stopped by an invisible magical barrier.
The kids' screams for helped were answered by the
Marshal, the creepy guy who followed the twins everywhere.
After a few brief words and a short standoff, Kastor attacked. He missed his agile target and was stabbed in the chest by Marshal's shining, silvery blade that disappeared when he put the hilt back into his robes. The wizard Thisby chanted an incantation but Marshal blinked to his side lightening-fast and cut the wizard down. Paige threw daggers and lost an arm to the glowing silver sword.
Most of the kids stood in stunned silence. The twins cried for mommy and daddy. Marshal say on a tree stump and meditated for a moment then announced, "He is coming."
All Hail the King and Queen of Verdancia
A roar and breaking tree tops announced the arrival of something huge and angry. The kids saw, for the first time, an adult green dragon. The sight left them speechless. With one swipe of his giant claws, he rended the treehouse/wagon to kindling. None of the kids inside were hurt, but Denzil covered in fear and played dead.
The male dragon who wore a giant cape the size of a circus tent calmed when his unhurt children, the twins Regina and Roman, transformed into their true forms. They were a pair of green dragon wyrmlings and had disguised themselves as half-elves for years to infiltrate humanoid society and learn about their ways. Their father,
King Gaularyz, spoke to Marshal about the events and surmised that Kastor was working with
Sephadex, in a deal to trade the green wyrmlings for Kastor's nephew. For a dragon, Gaularyz seemed rational and willing to talk.
Then mommy arrived. Mommy dragon,
Queen Jharmere, sparkled with bright emerald scales which had tiger-stripe patterns in darker greens. She fumed (quite literally) at the attack on her children and roared at Gaularyz to take her children to safety. Once the wyrmlings were over the horizon, Jharmere turned her fury to the YA Leaders.
To the sounds of sickening crunches, bellowing roars and hissing poisonous gasses, Marshal led the children away from the meadow.
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