Midwinter Festivus Ball

Midwinter Festivus Ball
Creator	The Observer
Information
Quest Giver	Elthara
Requirements	Completing Specter of the Wyld
Level Range	None
Quest Type	Seasonal Event
Reward	9x Ice Wine, potentially 2x Red Cow Wine
Location	The Winter City
Timed?	No; event must be accepted or rejected
Can Fail?	No

Overview

A seasonal event that can occur in the Winter City during the month of December or if seasonal events are turned to always on. Also requires Specter of the Wyld to be completed, laying the ghosts of the Ice Palace crypts to rest. The event is entirely without combat, and consists of boreal elven revelry, dancing, and companionship...with an optional visit from a certain frenemy of the Champion's.

Requirements and Preparation

The event will trigger as soon as the Champion visits the throne in the Ice Palace, so long as seasonal events are on (or if it is the month of December) and if the business in the crypt is settled. This can mean that the event fires upon leaving the crypt during the right season. However, since there are other preparatory steps one may wish to take beforehand, it is advisable to temporarily deactivate seasonal events entirely so you can make those preparations. Specifically:

All of the Champion's recruited companions will appear at the Ball, even if they are not in the active party. If you have not recruited some of them yet, you may wish to do so.
Etheryn's content is dramatically different based on her Confidence level; high-Confidence Ryn is very excited to have her Champion in attendance, and is affectionate to the point of romance.
- Some of Etheryn's dates are reflected in the Festivus Ball. However, they are not accessible at all until after Specter of the Wyld, either. You may wish to play through them before doing the Ball.
  - In particular, the Marketplace date results in the Champion acquiring a formal outfit suitable for such a fancy occasion. NPCs from the Peat Brewery and the Marketplace also appear at the Ball.
If Kasyrra is romanced, she will appear at the Ball incognito. She will not appear otherwise.

Initiation

Upon returning to the Ice Palace throne with all requirements met, Elthara and Etheryn will invite them to the Ball. The tone is slightly different if Ryn is in the party, with Elthara severely reminding her about her royal responsibilities. The two elves then take the time to explain the event to you.

As it happens, the Midwinter Festivus Ball is a celebration for all boreal elves, both druidic and Lumian, dating back in its original form to long before the Godswar. Normally, the Winter City celebration is quite elaborate, with the royal family inviting the whole city onto the palace grounds to feast and dance as part of a tradition of royal service. Now, however, the festival is even grander: an opportunity to try to mend the schism between druids and Lumians by focusing on their shared culture. As Princess Regent or Queen, Ryn must take center stage in opening the party, greeting her subjects, and using her yearly queen's speech as an opportunity to speak directly to the whole city.

Ryn then excitedly or anxiously asks her Champion to attend the festivities. Champ can accept or reject the invitation, although if you reject it and Ryn is in the active party, you find yourself marking time alone in the Palace for a day while Ryn leads the celebrations. If you accept, Ryn excitedly lays out the plans and offers to put you and your companion(s) up at the palace for the evening so you're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for the daylong party tomorrow. You retire for the evening, with a brief interruption if you have done the Marketplace date with Ryn: Telfir the seamster will visit that evening to go over your formal wear and ensure that it is what you wish to appear in for the Ball.

The Buffet

Upon waking, Champ gets dressed, either formally or not, and makes their way down to the palace grounds. There are several ways to while away the time among the eating and dancing elves before Ryn's noontime speech:

Buffet - Try some varieties of traditional frost elven cuisine. Like Scandinavians, they serve hearty stews and soups, thick cakes, plenty of wine, and many, many, many kinds of fish.
Entertainment - Take in some elven music, dance around the Festivus tree, or talk to the berobed elven kids walking around serving special pastries.
Companions - Visit with each of your companions, all of whom make the trek up to the Winter City to enjoy themselves with you.
Elves - Spend some time with the denizens of the Winter City.
- Etheryn - Check in on the Princess Regent/Queen to see how she's managing with such a big public event.
- Elthara - El has done most of the work of organizing the affair and could use a hug. Or a vent.
- Hethia - How does the druidic huntress and unlikely diplomat think the party is going?
- Familiar Elf - Who's this?
  - (only if romancing Kasyrra, and only once per game)
- Garadelle - Check in with the friendly barkeep for an ordinary elf's take.
  - (only if completed the Peat Brewery date with Etheryn)

Each action burns up some time, and at noon the Champion will be reminded to attend Ryn's royal speech.

The Queen's Speech

With the Champion at her side and flanked by an honor guard of Lumian valkyries, Ryn explains the events of the year to her people and calls for unity and resilience in the face of the demonic threat. At low Confidence, she will stumble over her words more, but Elthara's coaching enables her to get through; at higher Confidence, she will deliver an effective and popular queenly oration. Either way, once her speech is complete, she opens the ballroom floor to dancing.

The Dance

The Champion only has time to dance with four - sometimes five - of the available dance partners. Make sure you choose wisely!

Champions with the Noble Scion or Courtesan backgrounds tend to be better dancers, although high-Agility Champions can also move across the floor well.

Etheryn - A fairy-tale dance with fairy-tale royalty? How could you possibly turn this down?
- As usual, at high Confidence Ryn is a more natural dancer, and is very eager to show everyone watching how she feels about her Champion.
Hethia - It's kind of awkward, but… does Hethia want to dance?
Kasyrra - Who better to ask than Kas herself?
- (requires having spoken to the Familiar Elf earlier, will be available without speaking every festivus after)
Cait - Ask the pink kitty for the privilege of the next number.
Azyrran - Join the knight for a little time on the dance floor.
Quin - Ask your bunny-boy to head down to the floor for a romp.
Atugia - Find your beacon among the stars.
- (can be danced with twice, second time requires having danced with Etheryn as well, and will result in the three of you dancing)
Just Watch - Progresses time to the next event.

The Hymnal

After the dance, as the stars come out, the Lumian elves move outdoors to enjoy a choral performance by a group of valkyries down from the Dawn Maiden's keep. The Champion has the opportunity to enjoy the elfsong, or can sneak away into the hedgerows of the palace gardens to spend the rest of the evening with one elf.

Etheryn - The poor girl's been under a lot of pressure today in her capacity as the face of the var Ridells. Why don't you help her relieve some of that stress and anxiety?
- Buttfuck - Give her the whole candy cane.
  - (requires a cock or magicock)
- Finger Her - Handle her urges manually. It's the season of giving, after all — and you know Ryn will be happy to give back to you.
Elthara - As far as you're concerned, the Midwinter Festivus ball was a great success. While there's still the clean-up for her to do, this is the time to congratulate Elthara for a job well done in the most direct fashion.
Hethia - Hethia's people have done a great job in both working to make the Winter Festivus ball a success, and conducting themselves gracefully for the day. You're sure that this is in no small part due to Hethia's perspective on the matter, and you ought to thank her directly.
Kasyrra - Tomorrow you'll have to go back to pretending to be enemies, but just for tonight… it wouldn't be bad to at least try and get her to change her perspective on things in the most personal and intimate fashion.
- (requires having spoken to the Familiar Elf earlier, will be available without speaking every festivus after)
  - Ride Cock - Straddle Kas' horsecock and take it all inside of your [pc.vagOrAss]. Show the demoness the meaning of some good old holiday cheer.
  - Service Pussy - Kas appears to have made the mistake of not realizing that boreal elf half-sexed don't have a pussy, but that's all the better for you.

Aftermath

Champ wakes up the next day in the palace with their companions from the active party. After trading some thoughts and dressing, Ryn and Elthara arrive to thank them for being there and having fun. Ryn is especially ebullient if Champ chose to end the night with her. However, no matter what, she and Elthara present Champ with a large package of ice wine as a thank-you for attending; if Champ also met with the Familiar Elf at the buffet, they can also receive some of Kasyrra's red cow wine.

With the celebrations concluded, Ryn then either wishes Champ well or rejoins the active party.

Trivia

The event was conceived and primarily written by The Observer. Aly contributed the Entertainment section, along with most of Etheryn's content. Garde added Atugia's content and SKoW wrote Azyrran's content.
Many of the frost-elven events are based on Scandinavian culture, especially the cuisine and the entertainment. For example, the Lumenkatter pastries that the small elven children offer guests are essentially Lussekatter, which are served on St. Lucia's Day in Nordic countries.