Qho's Holiday Adventures!
Cyliena and Qho tackle Nights of the Dead and Frostfell in an original story!
* * *
Qho wasn't amused by my explanation and it wasn't until the next morning that I finally convinced him to venture out of the house again with me. After a while he began to relax and had a grand time with the local Gigglegibber Illusionist. We browsed a merchant who had brought in new holiday wares and finally headed out, by boat, to Nektulos Forest.
Once we arrived in Nektulos, Qho finally looked at me and asked the inevitable. "So, where are the special harvests? I can't wait to start gathering them!"
He wasn't going to like my answer one bit. I had an inkling that locking blades with zombies, ghouls and skeletons was not his idea of "gathering". It took some more convincing but Qho was a good sport about it in the long run.
We spent the next couple of weeks assisting various citizens of Norrath. We investigated a haunted house in Qeynos, releasing a curse put upon a long-dead family that had dwelled within. Next we met some young man named Sarkon for dinner in Loping Plains, but he turned out to be inhospitable. It seems that he had been a greater terror to the denizens of Somborn and we destroyed him in a new, unfortunate widow's mansion.
Ponchy Shorttoe sent us to the McQuibble farm in Antonica, where we solved the great mystery behind the spooky scarecrows that inhabited the place. Back in Nektulos we prowled through the Hollow Hedge, searching for the cure for Altius Volfban. Finally we entered the newly discovered Charnel Hollow, in search of Setri Lur'eth's granddaughter, only to find ourselves scrambling to team up with some local flora as we struggled to survive the night.
By the time the Nights of the Dead celebrations came to a close we had more candy than we knew what to do with. Qho was quite perplexed by the concept of candy being used in crafting, but after producing some finished products to reassure him that it was the truth, he sat absorbed for weeks studying all of the leftover candies.
* * *
The weather soon turned colder around Norrath and the snows began to arrive more heavily at New Halas. Knowing that the season of giving would soon be upon us, I pulled my Frostfell tree out of storage and decorated it with Qho's help. We were just admiring our handiwork when someone knocked at the door.
"Letter from Mr. McScroogle!" a voice called. An envelope was shoved under my door and before I could even reach it, the courier was gone.
I handed Qho the letter to read while I packed up our things. "Who is Mr. McScroogle?" he asked.
"Oh, you'll love him. He's right about your height and probably looked just like you as a kid." I responded sarcastically as I pulled Qho out of the house behind me.
We reached the magic closet and stepped inside, finding ourselves within the Frostfell Wonderland Village. Qho dashed around, oooing and ahhing at everything on the upper landing. I showed him the rainbow and he gawked as he watched other people slide down it.
"My turn!!" Qho shrieked as he charged at the rainbow, sliding all the way down belly-first.
When I finally caught up to the boy he was already on the ice below, sliding around in circles. Grabbing his arm I dragged him over to Santa Glug, who greeted us and gave Qho a pretty snow globe of Thurgadin Harbor. This must have reminded Qho of the fact that we never have had the time to go to Velious for harvesting so, as he started to ramble at me about it, I put my hand over his mouth and pointed to the side.
"Look, presents to gather harvests from!" I explained. Qho shrieked in delight and for the rest of the day he dashed around the Wonderland Village gathering from every present he could lay his hands on.
