The Thalassian Skyguard 2021 Winters Veil event tradition
The Skyguard are requested once more to help in Farstrider good will by putting up the Winterâs Veil decorations, this time they are aware of a competition happening in Fairbreeze Village for the best decorated building, with a cash prize! Unhelpfully the only decorations the Skyguard can afford are drab and old decorations from many years ago offering little chance of the Skyguard winning the prize even with any cantrips from their Sergeant.
[People start putting out decorations, though one crate is -really- -really- heavy! Another releases a hiccup⌠one giggles⌠a fourth even sounds like someone vomiting! The Skyguard open up these boxes to reveal a very drunk collection of unwelcome guests, from the love is in the air notorious Peddlearm, who was tipped off by his cousin thrice removed on his fatherâs side about the Skyguard being great welcomers of love is in the air, to a very large drunken looking rabbit with a top hat and bowtie, some animated gingerbread men and women with icing party hats and eggnog foam streamers. Stuck upside down from the lighting fixture is a Winterâs Veil Gnome with a big woolly jumper and a face as red as a cherry holding onto an empty bottle of wheal whisky, and a candy cane in his other hand. The Gnome known as Winky peers blearily at the Skyguard as they converse with Peddlearm and tried with all of his might to reach upâŚor well down depending on your angle to free his foot from the lighting fixture. He sways left, he falls right, he twists and snarls and then with a hiccup of surprise windmills his arms sending the whisky up in the air in slow motion for all to see, spinning and releasing small fountains of brown swell. Winkey yells in a deep low vibrato and points out with his candy cane which sits at a jaunty angle and releases a bright stream of white light that looks awfully like tinsel through the air only to bounce off the bottle and retract slamming into the Skyguard!
The Skyguard find themselves snapped together, shrinking and falling down atop of an open book that flips itself open to the first blank page after seemingly two story entries at the front, to where the blank page has writing begin to appear, reading âA Skyguard Winterâs Taleâ. Around the Skyguard they can see themselves, much larger than they are, gathering to look down on their smaller selves in a giant cluster. Giant Deâvontae can be heard saying âRight! Remember how we rehearsed it, Iâll have no interru-â Giant Elzyrn pushes her way forwards and clears her throat âI think I can make an explosive start, sir.â There is a pause and a possible swear word that we shall replace with the word âFor Forks Plateââ for the sake of keeping this Winterâs Veil friendly as the entire giant Skyguard collective start to talk over each other demanding to be the first to start. It is however an unlikely fellow who manages to quieten the team in the form of the half elf Enjae who yells with a gruff voice âSHUT UP!â The Skyguard giants look over the heads of their mini selves on the book in shock and awe as Giant Enjae grabs the edge of the book roughly and tugs it close to himself so that they can see up his nose as he clears his throat âShut up- please⌠And just listen to the story of the Skyguards third Winterâs Veil and how it really goes.â
âTwas the night before Winter Veil, when all through Skypeak,
Not a soul was stirring, not even old Shriek,
Twenty hole ridden flight socks were hung by a break in the wall,
In hopes that their sad state encourages their pay to become more ethical.â
âThe Dragonhawks were nestled all snug in their beds,
Whilst visions of burning long hair ran round Ylyndarâs head.
Denalia, Vatheras, and Elzyrn stare on in fear,
Because the Skyguard are being conscripted to the DND frontier,
Weapons at the ready they stood prepared for the job,
Of defeating this yearâs evil harbinger Lord Blizzard and his workshop!â
Suddenly the ground beneath the Skyguard starts to shake as Giant Enjae reaches out to grip the corner of the page and begins to lift it up. The little Skyguards can try to outrun the page but it is inevitable as your feet are picked up and you are tossed towards the other page whereupon blots of ink begin to spread forming the image of a sweet little village covered in snow. Where youâd expect the light to dim and for the crushing of the book to finally be the end to the Thalassian Skyguard, instead something unique happens and the Skyguard find themselves standing in that very image with snow falling from an aurora sky upon their red and green topped heads. Red and green topped heads? Thatâs right, because on their bodies are Winterâs Veil costumes with a badge on their tops beneath their fur ruffles with a âclassâ and their weapons have been replaced!
The Skyguard awoke in a queer little place,
A village for Gmâs who handle any complaints case,
âWorking from home? Now that couldnât be fair!â
Yelled our poor Lyllithe in quite the despair.
Not a single worker though did they see,
As they traversed the quiet vicinity,
But hark up ahead! Ranthos points with conviction,
As Iâlen threw shade like it was a drug addiction.
Around the corner ahead there arose some chatter,
Our heroes rallied forth to see metal shatter,
A giant shaped L stood talking to his hammer,
That floated and hit metal with cool glowing glamour
Sharp eyed Sylvariah and Asyra pointed as do all good rangers,
This L was forging bad lore points putting subscriptions in danger!,
The outraged heroes began to grow angered and heated,
This wouldnât be backed up, he had to be defeated!
Weapons spring forth and spells charge with a flash,
Leaving the Lore forger, like his schematics, on the floor with the trash,
Felicia and Leynwa stood fighting over who got the last hit,
Whilst Illuriel flirted with shadow which is afraid to commit,
The other heroes did search the poor old forger on the floor,
Only for Illuriel to find a pen of vapour to add to their store.
Pick up the pen of vapour which comes with a card, reads the following: âWe are aware that this modified pen is not usable as a writing instrument and that occasionally the leftover ink leaks into peopleâs mouths, but do not worry. Itâs mostly nontoxic. Available in all sorts of delicious, sugary flavours that we can market to children! Holding this pen in your mouth and breathing in allows you to project thick clouds of vapour, but donât worry itâs not tobacco! You can use this to blow vape out to create a shroud around yourself making you immune to damage for one round or use it to blow away an enemy. One time use item!â
âWait just a minute my dear game subscribers!â
Yelled the L forge master to the distant song of I saw a tiger.
âBefore you continue, take this information I impartâ
âThe ideas that I crafted were from the maker who isnât as smart!â
Now with a vape pen in the warbands possession,
Our heroes continue with a new plan of recession,
Theyâd overthrow the lore maker and finally have an expansion thatâs good,
Afterall Noviah had always fancied herself a female robin hood.
So the Skyguard continue in their merry Winterâs tale,
With Aladria and Caithalis drunk on cocktails,
Valarmar kicked his feet spinning his arms in the air,
Whilst Sedori punched him in the back and taught Rowyn to swear.
Around the corner they come to a stage,
Filled to the brim with discarded Lore character rage.
Their grim stories forgotten and faces contort,
Their bodies start stuttering and charge with a snort!
With a lively kick from the melee and projectile from the ranged,
The heroes invoke the laws of equivalent exchange.
Pick up some Boots of The High Ground: Item very rare with a card attached.
âYou: Itâs over, I have the high ground!â
âThem: Nuh-uh.â
âYou: Bro, if you try to attack me I will cut off three of your limbsâ
{Exactly that happens}
Them: Shocked Owlbear face
Once per encounter you can say, âItâs over, I have the high ground!â, when this happens the ground underneath you rises a few feet for one minute and your performance is impeccable. For years, onlookers will want to see more of you and your adventures. Small print: Does-not-actually-affect-your-rolls-and-really-is-just-a-cosmetic-ego-boost.
Elune reflected on the elves down below,
As they basked in the after battle that gave Gaxxius a glow,
Pushing on they proceed down a tunnel of cogs,
When what should appear but a train from the fog!
Vaelath stormed his way forward to become the driver,
Malâthadian helped by giving him a hat for a fiver,
Zayâaedis handled the sound of the train,
Whilst Tealeaf was thanked and screamed âNOT AGAIN!â
With a rapid electric vehicle the heroes burst through the door,
As Deâvontae took his A stance and picked Aelevie off the floor,
âAttention Cadet and Hawkrider and Skyguard!,
Destroy that lore maker, come on Gaxxius it isnât that hard!
To the centre platform he waits with his evil redacting,
Go find out who is making this lore and bad voice acting!â
As quickly as comets the Skyguard do fly,
When they come across the lore maker - a giant golden eye!
Itâs piercing gaze quivers as it looks at ten screens,
Screaming âREDACTED!â But what does it mean!
With rattling speed black blocks take over,
From the lore that had been written years ago and moreover,
Some of it didnât make anymore sense,
Than not introducing flying for a guild of air dence.
Who is this geezer whose eye decides our loreâs fate?
Probably someone whoâs after Enjaeâs title as a cheapskate!
Destroy him they must and attack with a fever,
Theyâll not stop subscribers from being a lore believer!
âGoodness gracious my friends you sure did me a help,
My lore making skills were corrupted like kelp,
The man behind it all, the evil hat with the scheme,
Lives down in the frozen corridor where you can escape this dream!â
So down the corridor they went with a sack full of toys,
With presents a plenty for the aviary girls and boys,
And then, in a twinkling, they came across a rune,
If they step on it quickly theyâll get transported to another room!
A frozen corridor is where their final stage is set,
The shops are all shut. Did you get in your bet?
Because here he comes the dreaded man of the hour,
The misogynist beast Lord Blizzard the bell tower.
He looked a little familiar, with his maskless grin,
âYou thought you killed me in 2020, but here is the sin,
My tyranny remains, 2021 was my commission!
Itâs me, Blizzard covid the true Winter villain!â
So Covid was really a blizzard plan to cover their backs!
As their game railroaded and their lore went off the tracks.
He was dressed in pyjamas, from his head to his foot,
His clothes were dripping with sanitizer that looked more like soot,
He eyes your bundle of toys spilling out from their sacks,
He looks like a politician who got into theatre to rewrite all the acts.
How his burning eyes - they flare, his face how bare!
He still wears no mask and he keeps coughing everywhere,
âI lead the frontier of no vaccines or masks!â
âYou canât stop me now cause my virus is changing fast!â
His droll little mouth was like ships stuck in the suez canal,
They chomped and they churned consuming all morale,
His head of his chin was made from shredded legal accusations,
And between his teeth is the stump of the European nations.
He has a fat face and a big podgy belly,
That shook when he sneered, and was covered in hair the size of vermicelli.
He was chubby and glum, and a right dour old virus,
âSisters to me!â Yelled Zylinea âPass me the focusing iris!â
It wasnât a usual battle cheer that they were expecting,
But hey itâs the Skyguard, who were they to start objecting?
And so our heroes did charge with their weapons all raised,
Bad stories and isolation never again! Attack brave heroes and feel the rage!!
Could it be that Covid was defeated and the elves had survived,
But confusion and uncertainty was all they felt inside,
Would it come back stronger again? Refusing to die or to end?
Will there be enough vaccines for both them and their friends?
Will Blizzard start learning how to write their own lore?
Will old friends come back encouraged with more to explore?
All of these questions, spun around in their heads,
Would they still be worried when they wake up in their beds?
But there is hope on the horizon as they look to the skies,
What was that coming ? A plot twisting surprise?
A glowing community, small and atop of a Dragonhawk drawn sled,
Its formâs of a blanket made from memories and friendship thread,
It filled up all the heroes pockets with presents and turned with a jerk,
Itâs colourful blanket twisting into a friendly smirk,
As itâs Dragonhawk carriage rose up with a flutter,
And away they both flew but with one more word did it utter,
To a Skyguard Winters tune and Enjae yelling with all of his might,
With love from your GM, we bid you all a Merry Winterâs Veil Skyguard! And to all a good flight!