Endgame

Noel is probably flunking his academy classes at this rate, what with all the magic letters he has to poof about.

You could at least give it WP: 1, or make it ruby-imbued, or something!

What, will the hundreds of paragraphs of NPC dialogue you'll be generating not worth the price of admission?

Dear Masson; To be brutally honest, you probably know nothing of me. My name is Vitus - better known as Sorrow, hero of Heroica. I'm probably the last living relative of Karie - essentially her great grandfather, in simplest terms. I'm also one of the ones who defeated Violetta during her final battle, as well as vouched for her execution. At the time, I didn't know the relation, or even Karie, for that matter. Before this devolves into the ramblings of an old man, I'll keep this brief: Long ago I had a chance to have family at arm's reach, and I royally screwed it up. I almost did it again this year, thanks to Ulric's corrupting influence on Violetta. So when I learned that Karie was dating the head of an organization, well... I hope you'll be able to forgive my skepticism, should we ever actually meet. Long story short: Thank you for not killing my granddaughter. After Ulric pulling Violetta's strings like that, I'm glad the last of my bloodline has found someone better. Family and friends mean a lot now, especially during this season, so it is good to see you make her happy. As a small gift, I have enclosed a Mead, bottles of Smelling Salts, and a Nostrum - perhaps it will help in the field. Merry Grogmas. -Vitus (Sorrow)

QM Note: Merry Christmas, one and all! Just popping in here for a bit - updates will resume tomorrow morning. (The afternoon will likely be dominated by either me building the Tower of Orthanc, playing Pokemon X, or trying to figure out how to effectively do both at the same time.)

"Could've sworn I saw you writing more letters than two... Maybe I'm just going senile. If I can't even remember my own last name, well." "I wrote to a suicidal redhead who was brainwashed by a chemical called... Exter-something. No response yet."

"I was involved in that house fire, or at least the circumstances around it. It was no accident, nor as it at the hands of Heroica." I choose to simply leave it at that. "Its Grogmas Eve - think it would've killed them just to put something cheery in the paper for once?" I mumble. "Oh well, at least we have this "Tidings of Comfort" service to help us out with spreading holiday cheer. How has your letter-writing gone thus far?"

"Unfortunately, it doesn't apply if you're inside the house currently." I muse. "Butcher of Eubric? You mean a fair percentage of us heroes?" I give an invisible smirk.

Sandy wouldn't be so cruel! ...Would he?

I was oh so close to sending Lydia a bottle of Exterium.

To Lydia, I trust you have been faring well after the whole Iron Knuckle incident? I hope your recovery has gone well - the Grogmas season used to always lift my spirts for me while in presence of family and freinds, and I hope it is the same for you this year. Never give up hope on life - I've enlcosed a gift. It's a dragon scale, apparently from some mighty obsidian dragon slain by the heroes of Heroica. You seemed like someone very capable of doing good in this world: Hopefully this will inspire some valor. Merry Grogmas! -Sorrow

QM Note: After one last atrocious delay, we return you to our regularrly scheduled programming! "Without another jelly to mix that with, if memory serves, that bluer vial is worthless. Had you found another in the deeps, you may have been able to make some sort of bomb, but now we don't even have Punii to make more... Speaking of which, may I see the boy for a second?" Fydelle picks up the young Progg gingerly, expressing surprising amounts of care compared to his normally gruff and coarse behavior. He runs a claw gently down his back, giving a gulp of grave concern as he reaches the middle of his vertabrae. "Tell me that isn't what I think it is, Fydelle." Fydelle grunts, and hands the knocked out Punii to Johon. "Yes. His spine is broken. Fortunately... The Colony's nurse is at the Royal Pond. You see, one of our princes... impregnated, to say the least.... her. Thus, our current heir to the throne, Aquos Jr. was born. I imagine that she is at the pond right now, along with the young monarch." Solon doesn't even look at the party as he slithers forward with surprising speed. "Then what are we waiting for?! Onwards, already... its like we've been wating in this foyer for days to finally forge onward." The party takes Solon's lead, following him all the way the Royal Pond. It was in an isolated corner of the colony, away from all of the hustle and bustle... The large steel gates were suspiciously open, and guards absent. "Hmph. My men are absent - and I imagine not because they were skipping guard duty..." The party enters through the doors, stepping into a large cavern - and plunged into darkness. The normal torches that lit up the colony were snuffed out here. Nothing could be seen, and only a soft whimpering could be heard. "Gnnrgh. Does anybody around here have a ruby or somet-" Solon is cut off by the lights coming back on... and not the torches. The room is flooded with light, revealing dozens of glowing eyes. They stare silently at the heroes, as if expecting something.

Just don't show it to Sorrow, unless you want to make him seething mad.

Ulric, you glorious bastard.

I pen my name under 92 and 93. "Already saved one group of kids from a magic building... Why not another?" "In between all of these odd occurences and that weird black note, dark days are definitely coming for Heroica..."

Hectic weekend, 81ers - these delays really are getting atrocious. I'm on winter break now, however, so I should be up and running again. And although a Karie/Arthur/OldUndeadGuy party would be nice, I'd imagine preference would definitely go to those who actually know Ella.

"Hm. Fair enough. If it is of any consolation, Charis shopuld be back to normal now - and if not, before long. I... I was the one who dethroned the Fantome. Things should be stabilizing with him paralzed from the neck down, rotting in some cell." I look down at the letters fluttering down from the sky. "Huh. Plenty of letters these days... One appeared on the questboard." ------------------------------------------------------------------ Sure enough, a black parchment was hanging on the questboard, though it offered no assignment - only Grogmas greetings, upon first glance. however, the glowing white writing on the slip betrayed a more grim message than any quest assignment could... What was going on in Olegaia? It had no signature... only "R".

Loving the Grogmas event thus far, Sandy! Quick question: are you the only QM who can respond to NPCs, or may others write for their own characters, as well?

I take a sip, yet another deep breath, and regain my composure. "Erm Yes. Really sorry about that little outburst... None of you could understand what I was saying though, right? The expletives are better left unsaid, really. So, back before I had a momentary fit of fury. Heh, no need to remind me that I'm an old man getting older, Karie - you work hard for your paycheck, keep it. Everything alright, though?"

I hope you're happy, Cutcobra. You made Sorrow drop a cluster f-bomb.

A letter suddenly poofs into existence above my head, adorned in both pink and festive green. "That time of the year again." I rwead through Heckz's words with a warm smile... Until I reach the words "Ether Core", along with the enclosed gift. I take a deep breath, before letting out my frustration in a rapid string of unintelligble syllables - in reality, Necromancer cant. "Xre'travithelkcufnigdammyhwdsoetiskcufnighapenperveyheladdmedkcufingyerakcufkcufkcuf!" I inahle deepy, and look at Arthur and Karie. "Erm, sorry." Such good intentions, too... He doesn't know the story, though. I can't fault him.

It is only about 3/7 of the battle they would be missing, if and when they get knocked out - it is supposed to be a final rush, do or die situation; Coming back will not be possible until the battle is concluded. I'd be happy to set up a write-board/shared pm chain to chat with the villain and any others who get KOed, however.

I'm intrigued to see how your letter goes down, Jeb.