Mid-Winter Delights – Celina Zabinski – 22/12/21
Feb 3, 2022 12:18:13 GMT
Riah and stephena like this
Post by Celina Zabinski on Feb 3, 2022 12:18:13 GMT
Since It's Christmas, Make You Wonder If People Are Naughty Or Knife...
Written by Celina Zabinski
A block of yule wood is nailed to notice boards across the Dawnlands, decorated with holly and oak. Carved into it is the following message:
Celina sees the note, smiles and thinks this would be a perfect job for her. The next day, she gets herself ready and makes her way to Daring Heights. As she arrives, she notices some familiar faces, Kelne, Glint, Tayz and Sorrel. She figures they must have seen the note as well. Celina looks at their surrounding and notices the bright colourfully painted lamp posts that were lit. Looking to the building, she notices it appears to be lilac coloured. This must be ‘Fiore Popolare’. Everyone decides to head in the shop. As they approach, Celina can hear the locks turning in the door and then the door swings open, almost like magic. Once the door is opened, there’s an excited voice that comes from inside that says invitingly “Come In”.
The group head in and at first the place appears smaller inside. However as they walk more into it the whole room gets bigger. Celina can’t help but notice the massive tree in the middle of the room. She also notices all the decorations around this place. Holly Berries and Mistletoe all around the room. She sees thirteen small windows around the room, each window a different colour. The whole room is decorated in mid-winter fashion ad it looks like the room is ready for a party. Celina can’t help but think this place looks fantastic.
Looking around further, Celina spots a woman with auburn hair and freckles. She’s wearing an ever green dress. She has in her hand a wand which looks like a branch of holly. She’s standing behind a bar area and Celina notices all the bottles lined up behind her. There is rows and rows of bottles. Celina can’t help wonder if this woman excels in potions or cocktail making. As the group approaches, the woman smiles happily to everyone. She quickly focuses on Glint and says hello to him. It would seem Glint has met this woman before. She smiles again and introduces herself as Leona.
She quickly gets down to business. She says she’s super busy but could really use the group’s assistance getting some peppermint bark from the sugar plums castle. It’s a specific special peppermint bark that’s quite rare. Leona usually goes to local places to get produce like the plumbstead farm. They’re good business clients of hers. This time she needs to make a trip somewhere else to pick up another item and she can’t get to two places at once. She mentions she would be much appreciated if we could retrieve this peppermint bark. She mentions the sugar plum fairy owns the castle and she’s quite lovely. There should be no issues from what she can tell. However she doesn’t know what to expect. Celina freezes on hearing the Plumbstead farm and starts to panic if they have to go there. The Plumbstead farm is Sammy’s family’s home and his parents really don’t like her. It would be quite awkward if she had to go there. Especially after everything that’s been going on lately. Celina quickly and awkwardly asks Leona if the group would need to go to the farm to which Leona confirms they didn’t. Celina sighs with relief and relaxes for a few moments.
Someone mentions would Leona be able to help make some potions before the group head off. Leona appears to look slightly uncomfortable by this. She offers the group cocktails instead. She says she has a wide selection she can make. Celina’s immediate focus is on the booze. She had never seen so much and definitely wants to try some.
After a few more moments, Leona says she needs to go but she guides the group towards a portal. She mentions this is the way to the sugar plum castle and it should be easy enough to find. The group all grab their things and make their way through the portal.
As Celina comes out through the portal, she can’t help notice the shift in the air. It feels fresher and cooler. There’s a smell of pine, crisp snow and mint in the air. Looking around she notices, that the evergreen trees were dusted in snow. In the distance, Celina also spots an amazing view of an aurora borealis. This whole place seemed beautiful to Celina.
In the distance, everyone spots a large purple castle. They realise this is where they have to go and they all walk towards it. As the group get closer, they also notice a glow on a massive tree next the castle. However as they get closer to the castle, Celina quickly spot that something doesn’t seem right. She can’t place her finger on it though. Celina makes a quick glance into the castle and notices there’s shadows moving. They appear shorter and hunched upright. The others in the group agree something seems off. Kelne decides to use their spell to make more Kelne’s appear and suddenly there are three. However Celina notices that they all appear to have white fluffy beards. Celina laughs to herself and wonders what type of joke the Halfling is up to this time. However she says nothing and just grins towards Kelne. At the entrance to the castle, there are two tin men slouched over. They appear to be wounded. Kelne tries to heal them however it doesn’t really work. Tayz also goes up to assist in healing. But they agree there’s nothing more they can do for the tin men at this time. The group decide to head in cautiously. As Celina passes one of the tin men she pat it in the head and says they’ll be back. She grins and heads in.
Looking around the place, it’s very clear that there was a fight. There were rat folk dead on the group and some tin soldiers unconscious. The group decide to be on guard. Celina whispers to Sorrel, if she was ok and if she needed those manacles like last time? Celina has a brief flashback to Sorrel attacking everyone as her eyes glow red. Sorrel mentions she’s ok now and she won’t need them. Celina nods and takes her word. There’s a large spiral staircase up ahead. The group make their way towards the stairs, but before they reach it a voice makes its way across the room “You there”. Everyone freezes. They see a man dressed in a suit and a top hat. He makes his way over to the group. He looks cautiously at first and asks who everyone is and what they were doing here. The group explained Leona sent the group here. The gentleman relaxes a bit and says he’s the consort to the sugar plum fairy. Then he quickly explains that the rat folk broke into the castle and started attacking everyone. The rat king came and he’s after the heart from the sugar plum tree. He then asks for the group’s assistance in defending the tree and that he can get the sugar plum fairy to come after. The group accept. He mentions there’s still fighting in the main hall and he knows a secret entrance in.
Everyone gets ready and they make their way in. Once they arrive Celina spots the massive room they’re in. It’s beautifully decorated in pink. She also sees plenty of swarms of rats still fighting with Tin Soldiers and right next to the tree in the room stands the rat king. The rat king is massive and Celina notices that it has three heads. She also hears the rat king mumbling about finding true happiness once he has the heart of the tree. Celina decides to sneak up closer towards the rat king, so she dashes fast. Suddenly she can see a swarm of rat, Celina uses her spell ‘Suggestion’ and tells the swarm that she can see that the rat king has cheese and it’s keeping it from them. They should talk to him about it. The swarm of rats believe her and make their way towards the king. This starts a fight across another swarm of rats and they start fight with each other. Celina smiles at the mischief she caused. Celina launches her dancing rapier in the air and gets it to focus stabbing the rat king. Out of nowhere a new swarm of rats go to attack Celina. Celina realises she’s in a bad position, that there are too many swarms of rats around. She remembers the crystal gift she received from one of her missions and she quickly pulls it out and uses its properties to turn invisible and move 60 feet away from the fight. Celina moves away from the swarms to the other side of the hall. Leaving the swarm of rats confused what happened. However after arriving in the new space, Celina realises she dropped her dancing rapier. It can only stay within 30 feet of her. “Nooooo, my beautiful rapier” Celina cries out to herself and she quickly dashes over to retrieve her rapier. She manages to get it and Celina hugs it tight smiling happily. As she is standing there invisible, she quickly looks around. She can see Sorrel, Tayz and Kelne attacking the rat king. Celina decides this is the perfect opportunity to attack and she heads over to the rat king. She stabs it once with her normal rapier and again with her dancing rapier. Celina’s dancing rapier stabs down and completely cuts one of the heads of. The rat king falls to the ground and is dead.
The sugar plum’s consort makes his way over to the group and thanks everyone for their help. Then suddenly a beautiful purple fairy appears. She introduces herself as the sugar plum queen and she also thanks the group for their help. She wished it wouldn’t have gone that way for the rat king but she couldn’t convince him to stop fighting. As she’s taking Sorrel seems to be flushed in the face staring at the sugar plum fairy. Celina notices it looks like someone has a crush and she grins watching. The group mention that Leona sent them and that they’re here for the peppermint bark. The sugar plum fairy smiles and mentions she was expecting her. She takes some of the bark and hand it to the group to bring to Leona. She also offers the group a chance to taste it. Celina happily takes up the offer and it tastes divine. It tastes so fresh and so full of flavour. But it also makes Celina feel extremely happy. Like a really nice warm hug was wrapping around her. It gives her nostalgic vibes. Celina smiles thinking that this is a very pleasant experience. The group say their goodbyes and make their way back to Leona’s place.
Once they arrive back at ‘Fiore Popolare’, the group hand over the bark which Leona is extremely grateful for. Then they explain what happened when they arrived. Leona is horrified to hear everything. She genuinely seems to have not been aware of the danger there. She is apologetic, however very happy to hear everyone made it back safely. She is very thankful that that group could assist with helping the sugar plum fairy. She hands each of the group a pouch of coins which works out at 90 gold pieces. She also offers everyone a cocktail on the house. Celina is very intrigued by the cocktails and happily stays to try some. Leona also gives everyone in the group a “Festive Cocktail of Plenty”. Which lets everyone get three drinks a day from this tankard. Celina is very excited with this item.
After Celina has had a few drinks, Celina decides to have a private chat with Leona away from everyone. She asks her if she knew if the Plumbstead’s visit her place? Leona mentions that they don’t, if fact they never been to the place. She keeps hoping they will come but they never do. Celina digs more and asks if she’s sure that she hasn’t even seen their son pop by on occasion? To which she confirms again that she hasn’t ever seen him. Celina is slightly disappointed by this. However she decides to do something. Celina thinks, maybe it’s the alcohol or this time of year but she wants to do something. She owes Sammy something despite the fact they aren’t talking. Celina slides over the pouch with all of money Leona gave her as a reward back to Leona. She tells Leona that if any of the Plumbstead’s ever came to visit to give them a free drink. Whatever they want. She mentions to tell them they won a prize or something but they’re not to know it came from her. Leona seems confused but she agrees to this. She then asks how Celina’s knows the Plumbstead’s and Celina only mentions she’s just a friend. Then she walks back over to the group and starts drinking more, leaving Leona even more confused.
Written by Celina Zabinski
A block of yule wood is nailed to notice boards across the Dawnlands, decorated with holly and oak. Carved into it is the following message:
Though the days are short and the nights are long, there are always the stars shining above.
That's right! The Winter Solstice is nearly upon us and I require assistance to obtain the sweetest bark found only on the darkest of nights.
Meet me at my abode, the Fiore Popolare, in a tenday hence -- not a day too soon nor too late! The timing must be precise!
Merry Candlenights and Blessed Midwinter (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧
Celina sees the note, smiles and thinks this would be a perfect job for her. The next day, she gets herself ready and makes her way to Daring Heights. As she arrives, she notices some familiar faces, Kelne, Glint, Tayz and Sorrel. She figures they must have seen the note as well. Celina looks at their surrounding and notices the bright colourfully painted lamp posts that were lit. Looking to the building, she notices it appears to be lilac coloured. This must be ‘Fiore Popolare’. Everyone decides to head in the shop. As they approach, Celina can hear the locks turning in the door and then the door swings open, almost like magic. Once the door is opened, there’s an excited voice that comes from inside that says invitingly “Come In”.
The group head in and at first the place appears smaller inside. However as they walk more into it the whole room gets bigger. Celina can’t help but notice the massive tree in the middle of the room. She also notices all the decorations around this place. Holly Berries and Mistletoe all around the room. She sees thirteen small windows around the room, each window a different colour. The whole room is decorated in mid-winter fashion ad it looks like the room is ready for a party. Celina can’t help but think this place looks fantastic.
Looking around further, Celina spots a woman with auburn hair and freckles. She’s wearing an ever green dress. She has in her hand a wand which looks like a branch of holly. She’s standing behind a bar area and Celina notices all the bottles lined up behind her. There is rows and rows of bottles. Celina can’t help wonder if this woman excels in potions or cocktail making. As the group approaches, the woman smiles happily to everyone. She quickly focuses on Glint and says hello to him. It would seem Glint has met this woman before. She smiles again and introduces herself as Leona.
She quickly gets down to business. She says she’s super busy but could really use the group’s assistance getting some peppermint bark from the sugar plums castle. It’s a specific special peppermint bark that’s quite rare. Leona usually goes to local places to get produce like the plumbstead farm. They’re good business clients of hers. This time she needs to make a trip somewhere else to pick up another item and she can’t get to two places at once. She mentions she would be much appreciated if we could retrieve this peppermint bark. She mentions the sugar plum fairy owns the castle and she’s quite lovely. There should be no issues from what she can tell. However she doesn’t know what to expect. Celina freezes on hearing the Plumbstead farm and starts to panic if they have to go there. The Plumbstead farm is Sammy’s family’s home and his parents really don’t like her. It would be quite awkward if she had to go there. Especially after everything that’s been going on lately. Celina quickly and awkwardly asks Leona if the group would need to go to the farm to which Leona confirms they didn’t. Celina sighs with relief and relaxes for a few moments.
Someone mentions would Leona be able to help make some potions before the group head off. Leona appears to look slightly uncomfortable by this. She offers the group cocktails instead. She says she has a wide selection she can make. Celina’s immediate focus is on the booze. She had never seen so much and definitely wants to try some.
After a few more moments, Leona says she needs to go but she guides the group towards a portal. She mentions this is the way to the sugar plum castle and it should be easy enough to find. The group all grab their things and make their way through the portal.
As Celina comes out through the portal, she can’t help notice the shift in the air. It feels fresher and cooler. There’s a smell of pine, crisp snow and mint in the air. Looking around she notices, that the evergreen trees were dusted in snow. In the distance, Celina also spots an amazing view of an aurora borealis. This whole place seemed beautiful to Celina.
In the distance, everyone spots a large purple castle. They realise this is where they have to go and they all walk towards it. As the group get closer, they also notice a glow on a massive tree next the castle. However as they get closer to the castle, Celina quickly spot that something doesn’t seem right. She can’t place her finger on it though. Celina makes a quick glance into the castle and notices there’s shadows moving. They appear shorter and hunched upright. The others in the group agree something seems off. Kelne decides to use their spell to make more Kelne’s appear and suddenly there are three. However Celina notices that they all appear to have white fluffy beards. Celina laughs to herself and wonders what type of joke the Halfling is up to this time. However she says nothing and just grins towards Kelne. At the entrance to the castle, there are two tin men slouched over. They appear to be wounded. Kelne tries to heal them however it doesn’t really work. Tayz also goes up to assist in healing. But they agree there’s nothing more they can do for the tin men at this time. The group decide to head in cautiously. As Celina passes one of the tin men she pat it in the head and says they’ll be back. She grins and heads in.
Looking around the place, it’s very clear that there was a fight. There were rat folk dead on the group and some tin soldiers unconscious. The group decide to be on guard. Celina whispers to Sorrel, if she was ok and if she needed those manacles like last time? Celina has a brief flashback to Sorrel attacking everyone as her eyes glow red. Sorrel mentions she’s ok now and she won’t need them. Celina nods and takes her word. There’s a large spiral staircase up ahead. The group make their way towards the stairs, but before they reach it a voice makes its way across the room “You there”. Everyone freezes. They see a man dressed in a suit and a top hat. He makes his way over to the group. He looks cautiously at first and asks who everyone is and what they were doing here. The group explained Leona sent the group here. The gentleman relaxes a bit and says he’s the consort to the sugar plum fairy. Then he quickly explains that the rat folk broke into the castle and started attacking everyone. The rat king came and he’s after the heart from the sugar plum tree. He then asks for the group’s assistance in defending the tree and that he can get the sugar plum fairy to come after. The group accept. He mentions there’s still fighting in the main hall and he knows a secret entrance in.
Everyone gets ready and they make their way in. Once they arrive Celina spots the massive room they’re in. It’s beautifully decorated in pink. She also sees plenty of swarms of rats still fighting with Tin Soldiers and right next to the tree in the room stands the rat king. The rat king is massive and Celina notices that it has three heads. She also hears the rat king mumbling about finding true happiness once he has the heart of the tree. Celina decides to sneak up closer towards the rat king, so she dashes fast. Suddenly she can see a swarm of rat, Celina uses her spell ‘Suggestion’ and tells the swarm that she can see that the rat king has cheese and it’s keeping it from them. They should talk to him about it. The swarm of rats believe her and make their way towards the king. This starts a fight across another swarm of rats and they start fight with each other. Celina smiles at the mischief she caused. Celina launches her dancing rapier in the air and gets it to focus stabbing the rat king. Out of nowhere a new swarm of rats go to attack Celina. Celina realises she’s in a bad position, that there are too many swarms of rats around. She remembers the crystal gift she received from one of her missions and she quickly pulls it out and uses its properties to turn invisible and move 60 feet away from the fight. Celina moves away from the swarms to the other side of the hall. Leaving the swarm of rats confused what happened. However after arriving in the new space, Celina realises she dropped her dancing rapier. It can only stay within 30 feet of her. “Nooooo, my beautiful rapier” Celina cries out to herself and she quickly dashes over to retrieve her rapier. She manages to get it and Celina hugs it tight smiling happily. As she is standing there invisible, she quickly looks around. She can see Sorrel, Tayz and Kelne attacking the rat king. Celina decides this is the perfect opportunity to attack and she heads over to the rat king. She stabs it once with her normal rapier and again with her dancing rapier. Celina’s dancing rapier stabs down and completely cuts one of the heads of. The rat king falls to the ground and is dead.
The sugar plum’s consort makes his way over to the group and thanks everyone for their help. Then suddenly a beautiful purple fairy appears. She introduces herself as the sugar plum queen and she also thanks the group for their help. She wished it wouldn’t have gone that way for the rat king but she couldn’t convince him to stop fighting. As she’s taking Sorrel seems to be flushed in the face staring at the sugar plum fairy. Celina notices it looks like someone has a crush and she grins watching. The group mention that Leona sent them and that they’re here for the peppermint bark. The sugar plum fairy smiles and mentions she was expecting her. She takes some of the bark and hand it to the group to bring to Leona. She also offers the group a chance to taste it. Celina happily takes up the offer and it tastes divine. It tastes so fresh and so full of flavour. But it also makes Celina feel extremely happy. Like a really nice warm hug was wrapping around her. It gives her nostalgic vibes. Celina smiles thinking that this is a very pleasant experience. The group say their goodbyes and make their way back to Leona’s place.
Once they arrive back at ‘Fiore Popolare’, the group hand over the bark which Leona is extremely grateful for. Then they explain what happened when they arrived. Leona is horrified to hear everything. She genuinely seems to have not been aware of the danger there. She is apologetic, however very happy to hear everyone made it back safely. She is very thankful that that group could assist with helping the sugar plum fairy. She hands each of the group a pouch of coins which works out at 90 gold pieces. She also offers everyone a cocktail on the house. Celina is very intrigued by the cocktails and happily stays to try some. Leona also gives everyone in the group a “Festive Cocktail of Plenty”. Which lets everyone get three drinks a day from this tankard. Celina is very excited with this item.
After Celina has had a few drinks, Celina decides to have a private chat with Leona away from everyone. She asks her if she knew if the Plumbstead’s visit her place? Leona mentions that they don’t, if fact they never been to the place. She keeps hoping they will come but they never do. Celina digs more and asks if she’s sure that she hasn’t even seen their son pop by on occasion? To which she confirms again that she hasn’t ever seen him. Celina is slightly disappointed by this. However she decides to do something. Celina thinks, maybe it’s the alcohol or this time of year but she wants to do something. She owes Sammy something despite the fact they aren’t talking. Celina slides over the pouch with all of money Leona gave her as a reward back to Leona. She tells Leona that if any of the Plumbstead’s ever came to visit to give them a free drink. Whatever they want. She mentions to tell them they won a prize or something but they’re not to know it came from her. Leona seems confused but she agrees to this. She then asks how Celina’s knows the Plumbstead’s and Celina only mentions she’s just a friend. Then she walks back over to the group and starts drinking more, leaving Leona even more confused.
