156 / 1: Pipes and Pageantry

Two days ago, a titanic storm monster had descended on the city of Fort Coral, wreaking massive amounts of havoc and damage.

Yesterday, it seemed as though the entire city must have rallied to clean the streets of wind-tossed debris and ruined decorations, only to dash back through and put up new glass, new awnings, new booths, and new festival banners and buntings. Myllo had given Joe a task that took him from the Fort for most of the day. So for him, it was a shock to witness how bad everything looked in the morning when he left and how amazing it all was when he, Wen, and the Hellions returned from the west woods. It was like one of those makeover TV shows he had suffered through during his days trapped in the hospital, where dumpy homes were transformed into mini mansions in just one hour.

Today, it was joyous chaos. Joe had never made it to Mardi Gras, but he couldn't imagine the Big Easy could come close to matching the fervor of Mairree's city of partying maniacs. From Founders Plaza down Waves Boulevard, the main strip through Seaside, it was wall to wall people in the road since the sidewalks were filled with food stands, play stages, and knick-knack vendors.

The city even had Founders Day merch. One-handed wooden replicas of Margen's mighty tulwar, Doomherald, were everywhere. As were Jequa's scarlet orb, Sun Scorcher, and Tintze's pair of wavy daggers, Death and Taxes. The red spheres were enchanted to create illusory pyrotechnics, while the daggers could be tossed into the air, where they would become blades of light that would spin around a person before solidifying back in their hands. Mira's mask was harder to spot, but Joe bumped into dozens of folks wearing them.

Everywhere Joe looked, on the buildings, lampposts, people, and more, he spotted the four colors associated with the four founders: lavender for Mira, gold for Tintze, blue for Margen, and, of course, red for Jequa the Red.

Music and voices filled the air along with thousands of scents, which were causing Joe to have to use [Crystal Mind] to keep his nose in check. Joe and Mojo had already sampled a dozen Founders Days staples as Kenda and Wen dragged them through the throngs. Tez was with them as well, but, as always, the archon defender was the composed member of Joe's new inner band of friends. Hah'roo was around somewhere as well, but she had a habit of vanishing and reappearing without warning.

Joe was sure Mo was going to hurl soon, given the number of sweets the girls had been plying the small canine changeling with. Finn would have loved all the food, given his curse of endless hunger, but there was no way an elephant-sized chimera would have been able to walk the streets with them. Joe didn't let the big guy's absence get him down; he could sense him happily hunting with his podmates in the bay. Bonding with Joe had given the akhlut prime a significant power boost, so the orca-like brute was radiating a smug feeling of superiority as he showed off for the other members of his pod.

The group's current destination had been selected by Kendell. There was another limited edition item you could get during Founders Day, and being the skills geek she was, she knew exactly where the best quality version was sold. They approached a booth selling skill crystals. There were several signs warning that the Founder Shards did not align with conventional crystal coloring. Joe identified the five types, starting with the purple one out of habit, since Spirit was his primary attribute. Technically, his Vigor and Spirit were tied at sixteen each, but in Joe's mind, he was more Spirit-based than a tankier Vigor-based adventurer.

[Founders Shard of Mira's Sight] (Item: Skill Crystal (Consumable - Special) Only one Founder's Shard can be absorbed each year. This item is only functional from dawn to dawn on Fort Coral's Founders Day. It will dissolve at the end of the festival.

[Mira's Sight] - Stacking - Perception: Your Perception efficiency increases by 5% plus 1% for each skill rank you have with this skill. Efficiency with Perception will improve your ranged attacks, your awareness, assessment abilities, and other such effects that are based on this attribute. Passive. {Prophesy}

The other shards and skills had similar descriptions.

[Tinze's Touch] - Stacking - Dexterity: Your Dexterity efficiency increases by 5% plus 1% for each skill rank you have with this skill. Efficiency with Dexterity will improve your ability to hit with non-heavy weapons, your evasion or parry chances, and other such effects that are based on this attribute. Passive. {Expertise}

[Jequa's Verve] - Stacking - Spirit: Your Spirit efficiency increases by 5% plus 1% for each skill rank you have with this skill. Efficiency with Spirit will improve your spell potency, mana renewal, and other such effects that are based on this attribute. Passive. {Potency}

[Margen's Might] - Stacking - Strength: Your Strength efficiency increases by 5% plus 1% for each skill rank you have with this skill. Efficiency with Strength will improve your physical damage, your lifting and carrying capacity, and other such effects that are based on this attribute. Passive. {Might}

[Founders Resolve] - Stacking - Vigor: Your Vigor efficiency increases by 5% plus 1% for each skill rank you have with this skill. Efficiency with Vigor will improve your health and stamina recovery, and other such effects that are based on this attribute. Passive. {Endurance}

That last one was actually green, which matched Vigor's common color coding.

Joe had three available attribute points to spend, and Kenda made sure he saved at least one to use for a Founder's Shard. The two of them had bantered around some ideas on what to do with the other two points, but they had decided to hold off on making any final decisions until after Founder's Day. Depending on how well Joe could raise his [Basic Warding] skill, there were some wards that Joe could craft that would cover some functionality he wanted instead of taking a skill. He just had to get his ward-crafting high enough to learn more wards.

Hopefully, he would have enough time to do so before they set out to take on the undead in the Valley of Lament.

Which shard to buy was a no-brainer for Joe. Since Vigor and Spirit were his go-to attributes, it made the most sense to pick between one of those two this year. Since he already had plenty of health and stamina recovery, Joe bought Jequa's red shard. He spent one of his three open points into Spirit, finally breaking the tie for his highest attribute. He focused on the stone point in his hand and it melted away, imparting the skill onto Joe's growing list of abilities.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Name: Joseph (Joe) Morris Race: Changeling Level: 15 Experience: 46,025 / 53,580 ATTRIBUTES · Strength: 6 · Vigor: 16 · Dexterity: 4 · Perception: 8 · Spirit: 17 Available Attribute Points Unspent: 2 RESOURCES · Health: 2,185 / 2,185 · Stamina: 3,133 / 3,133 · Mana: 5,524 / 6,138 CLASSES · Primary Class: Healer · Secondary Class: Baleful Warder · Tertiary Class: None SKILLS STRENGTH SKILLS: (6 / 6) • [Heavy Hand] (U) rank 22 • [Hunter's Pursuit] (C) rank 14 • [Savage Claws] (U) rank 13 • [Steadfast] (C) rank 20 VIGOR SKILLS: (16 / 16) • [Basic Warding] (C) rank 9 • [Bonemail] (C) rank 12 • [Efferous Endurance] (U) rank 26 • [Healer's Ward] (U) rank 13 • [Deaden Flesh] (U) rank 14 • [Morphic Form] (U) rank 26 • [Rattlebones] (U) rank 8 • [Stun Block] (U) rank 12 • [Vulture's Beak Mark] (U) rank 6 DEXTERITY SKILLS: (4 / 4) • [Sidestep] (C) rank 7 • [Swift Strike] (C) rank 17 • [Versatile Weapon Expertise] (C) rank 30 • [Whisperstep] (C) rank 14 PERCEPTION SKILLS: (8 / 8) • [Assess Wounds] (C) rank 28 • [Casting Claw] (R) rank 31 • [Identify] (C) rank 33 • [Know Curse] (C) rank 3 • [Night Eyes] (C) rank 9 • [Tracker] (C) rank 7 SPIRIT SKILLS: (17 / 17) • [Crystal Mind] (C) rank 20 • [Curse Cleaver] (U) rank 8 • [Dispel Noxa] (C) rank 13 • [Grit Razor] (U) rank 9 • [Halefire] (U) rank 25 • [Healer's Touch] (U) rank 51 • [Jequa's Verve] (C) rank 0 • [Mesmeric Command] (U) rank 7 • [Pack Master] (C) rank 12 • [Purge] (U) rank 22 • [Swap Stamina] (C) rank 11

AVAILABLE SKILL EVOLUTIONS: 1

TRAITS • [Anyone] (Racial) • [No one] (Racial) • [Sneaky] (Racial) • [Dual Cast] (Hereditary) • [Ideal Alias] (Hereditary) • [Iron Mind] (Hereditary) • [Scion of Hart's Holt] (Hereditary) • [Beastmaster] (Achievement) • [Chill Bane] (Achievement) • [Death Toll] (Achievement) • [Defy Death] (Achievement) • [Durable] (Achievement) • [Force Adept] (Achievement) • [Free Hand] (Achievement) • [Hobbler] (Achievement) • [Hometown Hero] (Achievement) • [Overachiever] (Achievement) • [Punching-Bag] (Achievement) • [Signature Skill] (Achievement) • [Skill Monkeys] (Achievement) • [Storm Strider] (Achievement) • [Spirited] (Achievement) • [Survivalist] (Achievement) • [Synergistic] (Achievement) • [Tactician] (Achievement) • [Thick Skinned] (Achievement) • [Undaunted] (Achievement) • [Unliving Fortitude] (Achievement) • [Wellspring] (Achievement) • [Winter-kin] (Achievement) • [The Seal of Passing] (Prophetic)

After everyone who wanted one bought their Founders Shard, the band of friends went to watch the skits and plays. There were three major plays. The first was entitled the 'Falling Star,' where Mira Starseer witnesses the omen that foretold the doom of the Glandryth Empire. The actress portraying the diviner was truly amazing. Using just her words, she brought shivers down the spines of the audience as she foresaw the rise of the Necromancer. Not a necromancer, but The Necromancer, Necronias.

Death magic and the undead were not unknown to Illuminaria from the ancient days of legend, but the art of raising the dead was only a few centuries old. Undead of old were things like unquieted ghosts or dreadful vampires. Then came necromancy, named after the genius mage who mastered its horrid potential. Necronias found a way to create undead: ghasts and ghouls, rotting zombies, walking skeletons, furious wights, and more.

Mira saw the rise of the Necromancer and how his legions would swallow the empire. She cast her vision into the heavens, looking for a place her people could escape to. To the west lay only death, for there resided the lands of the Great Devourer, the primordial swarm lord, Khimbar. To the north were the war-torn lands of the Horned Plains, full of savage tribal warlords. South was blocked by the Voiceless Dunes, a near-endless desert where only dunian nomads and saurian warriors were able to thrive. Only east offered any hope, even though they must cross over the mighty Baerrok Peaks and then navigate the fey-filled Kingswald forest.

The play ended with her convening the council of elders and trying to convince them of the coming doom. Only a tiny handful heeded her warning and prepared to flee. A deep-voiced narrator closed the tale, listing the dire fate that Mira and her people managed to escape. The land they left behind, once called Glandryth, renamed Blackfell, was now populated by countless hordes of undead and ruled by the Necromancer.

The 'Long Dread Trek' was the second play and was a tragedy. It detailed the fall of over three-quarters of the refugees fleeing Glandryth. The only uplifting part was where Margen and Tintze held the pass against a troop of raging wights while Mira and Jequa led their people into the Kingswald. Tinzte's cunning and Margen's tenacity were very well depicted. While overall the play was masterfully performed, Joe found it to be more of a downer than anything else. Even the finale of reaching Coral Bay was too little too late for his tastes.

The last play, 'Fort by the Sea,' was more uplifting. It had a frontier vibe, showing how the fledgling city was formed. The first fort was built high on the cliffs because the waters of the bay were filled with shellycoats and sea-lions, which were not seals but half-fish, half-lion chimeras. Even the akhluts received some stagetime as illusionists crafted images of the mighty black and white predators circling the audience and stage.

When the tale got to the point where Margen was lost in a far-off valley with Tintze, Joe paid close attention, but there was nothing new that he had not already read during his research of Glen Cumha for Myllo.

As a matter of fact, after the main plays, the group watched many of the smaller skits, which Joe found himself already knowing. Even though this was his first Founders Day and he had never heard any of the skits performed, he had read through all of them already. It was kind of an odd deja vu, to be hearing something for the first time yet still aware of what the next line was going to be.

Finally, the group headed back to the Adventurers' Guild for what Wen and Tez stated was the best part of the day. One of the interesting features of the Adventurer's Guildhouse was the folded space that made up their training fields. For Founders Day, those fields were converted into a carnival, with magically powered games and amusement rides.

Skill Street, which ran alongside the guildhouse, was filled with a long line of Forters. The five of them had to wait a quarter of an hour, slowly creeping forward until they reached a set of very familiar magical crimson portals. Wen and Kenda wanted to cheat and use the main door to the guildhouse, but a certain rules-stickler archon insisted they wait their turn like everyone else.

Joe stepped through the red mystic gate into something that would make Disney World die of shame. True magic flowed through the air. There were spinning wheels high overhead. Pegasus rides. Real-life arcade games where you could fight illusionary dragons, ogres, and more. Instead of electrical gizmos trying to look mystical, Illuminaria had real magic. And it was amazing.

Joe realized at some point during the skits that Kenda had taken hold of his hand, and unless one of them was battling one of the monstrous figments, their clasped hands stayed connected through that long magical day.

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