- GM’s note: And here at last we have the very very late Christmas Special for 2020. I think this is the first year that we’ve missed Christmas. The fates conspired against us.
January 2021 wasn’t much better. David had a period of ill health and we ended up taking a whole month off.
Oh well, that’s life.
For those of you who haven’t read the holiday specials before, they are a bit more lighthearted but are not deliberately silly.
Here we go….
Part 1 – Spiced Cinnamon
- There has been an indeterminate period of time since the end of the Dragon War. It’s holiday season and the boys (Grant and Ethan) are on the Stair, collecting ingredients to make a very special cake.
* Image from Giraffes Can Bake
- The list of ingredients is very long. A mix of mundane and unusual items.
- Normally collecting ingredients would be easy, but not this time. Isabelle needs the ‘traditional’ ingredients, not some close copies but the ‘real’ ingredients. She has tried to make this cake more than once and each time has been a failure.
- But this time there shall be no failure. Ask no questions. Obey the cook. Get me the ingredients or die trying…. Or else you shall have no cake, and that would make the cook very angry! You do not want the cook to be angry…..
- Grant and Ethan head off to many different realms. There are Christmas-like festivals in many different realms. It is not necessarily Christmas, but there are many places that have a midwinter festival and their Exogesis translates the festivals as ‘Christmas’.
- They are halfway through the list and have come to a snowy valley where they hope to buy some of the spiced cinnamon that is unique to this realm. Unfortunately the local store is out of stock (everyone is making cakes) and the mountain trail which leads to the next major township is blocked by avalanche.
- GM’s note: As I mentioned in Session 236, this session worked well but we had to repeat a section. What actually happened was that David had railroaded the characters such that the merchant carrying spiced cinnamon was on the other side of the avalanche, and hence we needed to go 15 miles to clear the debris, but we weren’t allowed to use any flashy magic because the natives weren’t used to that.
And at that point I asked David to halt the story and we tried to tell the story more interactively so that the GM wasn’t dictating both problem and solution. I felt going back to a question/answer style worked much better.
- Winding back just a fraction, Grant and Ethan have come to a snowy valley to collect some spiced cinnamon but all three of the shops in the village are out of stock. Ethan asks the shopkeeper of one of the shops as to where it comes from. The shopkeeper says that it comes from Portsmith (which is on the coast). It’s hard to get.
- Ethan spots some cooking sherry in the shop. It wasn’t on Isabelle’s list but he adds it anyway. Grant also adds some bits and pieces which he thinks the family might like. The goods are stored in Ethan’s multi-dimensional cube.
- The two talk for a bit about how to acquire the spiced cinnamon given that there is no stock here and the nearest town is a long way away. Ethan wonders if he could possibly buy the quantity that Isabelle wants from one of the villagers, compensating them for the inconvenience. There is one recluse in the village who typically bakes his cake very late – Old Man Williams. He might be persuaded.
- Old Man Williams lives on the hillside in one of the older buildings. Once it would have been a prime position with a stream running through his property. But the water wheel appears broken and the woodshed is listing and appears short of wood. There is smoke coming from the chimney.
- The old man is very slow, painfully thin and stooped. He blinks at the pair when Ethan asks to trade his spiced cinnamon for some silver coins. The old man isn’t used to seeing strangers or receiving visitors but is quickly convinced to trade his cinnamon for a tidy sum that can be used to buy more when the next merchant caravan reaches town in a few days.
- Ethan notes that the man is badly injured. Something raked his back when he was much younger – and there are burn marks around the edges of the wounds. Explaining that he is a healer, Ethan offers to help the man. Old Man Williams looks at him doubtfully but explains that he’s not been able to ply his trade for a long time and any relief that be offered would be most welcome.
- Ethan uses Eidolon to repair the old man’s back. He stands up straighter and feels much stronger. Apparently Williams used to be a hunter, and he used to make charcoal, then heatstones. But he got injured on one of his hunts and his health has been steadily deteriorating ever since. The healing that Ethan provides with Eidolon makes him feel much better but it will take him some time to develop a measure of his old strength.
- The trade appears to be complete and Williams is happy. He offers Ethan a lucky charm made out of carved wood. It is beautifully carved and feels like it has an echo of Wrighting about it. Meanwhile, Grant has chopped wood and brought back a brace of rabbits.
- They leave Old Man Williams feeling that they’ve done someone a good turn who needed help.
Part 2 – Tears of a Mermaid
- Grant and Ethan pick up other ingredients that they need but the next item on the list sounds ridiculous: Tears of a Mermaid. Is it a reference to some sort of herb, or is Isabelle asking for tears of an actual mermaid? How does a mermaid cry underwater? And if a mermaid were to cry underwater, how would one capture their tears? And then – how does one actually make a Mermaid cry?
- Ethan decides to check with Isabelle via Icon and she confirms that she wants actual tears of a mermaid. It isn’t a herb or a metaphor. Real tears. She’ll only accept genuine mermaid tears.
- Grant and Ethan have never met a mermaid before but Grant mentions one of the realms that Marindar trades with called Pacifica which has an undersea kingdom. He supposes that the females are called mermaids. Grant decides to bring onions with him, just in case they are needed to make a mermaid cry.
- They make their way there quickly and arrive in a trading port. There they hire a guide for silvers and charter a vessel. The merfolk don’t come to the islands very often – they prefer deeper water.
- Ethan enjoys a few days on a boat travelling through warm waters. After a missed opportunity, they find a small reef at the edge of deep water where a blue-skinned Merman is waiting to trade. Neither Grant nor Ethan speak their native language, but the Merman speaks the common trade tongue.
- The Merman is very surprised when Ethan explains what he is after, but they are happy to trade for this unusual request. It takes a bit of time to get a Mermaid (as most of the traders are men), but eventually a blue-skinned alien woman comes to the surface. Ethan notes that Mermaids are not pretty after all, despite what the stories say.
- Then they have to figure out how to make the Mermaid cry. Onions work, but only after Ethan enhances them via Eidolon – and when he does that, everyone ends up extremely teary. Nevertheless, they manage to capture a Mermaid’s blue-tears (which turn into a strange crystal that appears quite solid once separated from the Mermaid). The Merfolk are very pleased with this deal – from their point of view they have acquired trade goods for something that they consider to be very mundane.
- Grant and Ethan return to port and consult the remaining list. There is but one item left.
Part 3 – Dark Elven Jam
- Tridoran Jam.
- It’s like sherbet pop for Dark Elves. The Dark Elves from the Tridoran Empire have conquered the surface world and subjugated all of the other races. Still, they prize their Tridoran Jam. It takes a thousand slaves almost a year to produce just one jar of Tridoran Jam, and hence it is not possible to buy the Jam. Just having the Jam is a sign of prestige and status amongst the Dark Elves.
- As such, Grant goes undercover as a Dark Elf – with Ethan as his slave. Grant is resplendent in his finery. Ethan is wearing basic clothes – which his generous dark elf master allows him to wear (clearly he is a trusted slave).
- To acquire the Tridoran Jam, Grant infiltrates Imperial society and he decides to pick on an obese Dark Elf named Kerixkas (using Umbra to figure out who is weak). Grant presents Kerixkas with a bauble – an Eidolon-enhanced artefact – and engineers a situation where the only thing that Kerixkas can gift in return is a jar of jam.
- The trading of gifts goes well, and Kerixkas believes that he has been given an artefact of real power (it’s very shiny).
- Returning to the Stair, Ethan remarks that Grant enjoyed being a Dark Elf far too much for his liking.
Part 4 – Dwarven Ale
- On the way home, Grant and Ethan visit a dwarven brewery. The locals are not pleased to see these rich newcomers. Lord Harnaek is the current brewmaster but he is hopeless compared to his father, grandfather, great grandfather and so forth. His recent brews are dirt cheap because they are mediocre, but he still has what’s left of his father’s stock – and those aged brews are awesome. The prices are astronomical, but Grant and Ethan can afford them.
- Some of the dwarves cry as Grant and Ethan take a barrel of ale, and a barrel of mead.
Part 5 – Holiday Feast
- Grant and Ethan return to see Isabelle with days to spare. She has been trying to use Eidolon to fix her stove without upgrading it but she doesn’t have the control that Ethan does (she is still learning). She refuses to let Ethan help as this is her project.
- While Isabelle cooks, Grant and Ethan prepare the rest of the food and set up for the many guests. Grant has also managed to find chocolate oranges from somewhere. (Ethan doesn’t get the attraction of chocolate oranges).
- They have a lovely Christmas with family and friends. Grant’s family and Ethan’s family. Isabelle and Lucien are there. Isabelle’s parents (Stefan and Yolanda). Abigail and Hilda. The cake is a success, Isabelle is praised for her cooking and they have a happy holiday.
And this ends the Holiday Special…..
Next we start a new plot arc with the Shadow Fey…..
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