The Paragons, Carla, and Patricia departed the Drunken Frond suite for day three of the Festival, choosing to attend the Music Festival. The group signed up for a contest being held by two judges being held later in the day, then ventured off toward a dancing class, where they had varying success. On the way back to the contest for their call time, the party ran into Former Rectifier Gale sharing a meal with some of her colleagues.
Gale had the waiter pull over additional tables as she introduced the Paragons to the councilor of Haven, Mira. She was a stern woman, her blonde hair just barely beginning to show hints of graying. Next to her was a man with long red hair and a bushy beard, Karth, Haven’s head researcher and also a Former Rectifier. The Paragons chatted with the three for a time, learning of the heist at Greth’s Tower in Haven, where the posted guards remembered very little. They had necklaces with faded runes on their person, and a project of Mira’s had been stolen. Vespello gave Mira one of the strange, weighty rings they had found as well. The Paragons learned more about their strange benefactor, being warned by Gale to stay far away from the man that offered the gifts. Finally, Mira offered Vespello a ring that seemed to have belonged to a former warlord from before White Hand City became ruins. She said it held a bit of magic and may reveal more to him. With that, the Paragons bid farewell to Mira and her companions, heading off toward the contest.
At the contest, those that chose to compete went through several rounds of musical performances, making it through the eliminations through votes from the crowd and the two judges, Vint and Revelrae. Before the winner was revealed, Vint and Revelrae performed a song together. Revelrae sang the lyrics while Vint played a masterful piano. When the results were called, the Paragons emerged victorious, partially thanks to the musical guidance from Patricia. They were awarded shining tiaras as the contest came to a close.
On their way back to the Drunken Frond as the sun began to set, Arturo was summoned to a side alley by a very aggressive, cloaked mage woman. Vespello decided to accompany Arturo at a distance. Though the party did not overhear exactly what happened in the alley, Arturo emerged with worry on his face. The group found an enchanted stone disc that would play a random Revelrae song as a gift from the Music Festival.
Vespello donned the ring Mira had given him as he drifted off to sleep, seeing a dream of the warlord with a mysterious woman inside of a stone tower overlooking the snowy forest of his last dream. The next morning, Carla seemed to recognize the ring, saying it was a long-lost heirloom of her family’s, that it belonged to Kanor, the “warlord” from Vespello’s dreams. Carla agreed to allow Vespello to hold onto the ring for the time being to see if he learned anything else from it.
For the Paragons’ final day of the Festival before the Grand Finale, they opted to visit the Jewelry and Glasswork Festival. They were met with a brilliant display of gemstones of all shapes, sizes, and colors, as well as master craftsmen forging beautiful crafts made of glass. Before they could get very deep into the Festival, a young child wearing a wizard’s hat stopped them. The child was quite arrogant with a scolding tone. He revealed that he recognized Aksell, the thief that had stolen a pendant from him. He revealed that it was a gift from his friend Azel, and he wished to have it back. Aksell said he no longer had it, but the child, introducing himself as the Archmage of Tenso, still wanted payment. He thought for a moment, then decided to curse Aksell with a branding spell of a light blue wizard’s hat on his palm. The hex also materialized a pathetic maggot that was bound to Aksell. The child laughed, saying he hoped the maggot taught him a lesson, then vanished into the crowd. Aksell would learn that the maggot would regularly require feeding…
The group’s first stop was a class from an older man teaching them to craft glassworks of their own. Each Paragon crafted a beautiful glass piece with quite a resounding success. With their new glass charms lining their pockets, they ventured toward the next part of the Festival. On the way to meet a spellweaver that would teach them enchantments, the Paragons encountered Ronotte, Lord of the Queensguard. Ronotte approached the group, seemingly trying to escape the flock of fawning fans that were following him. After hearing a few of their names, he recognized them as the The Dragonguard from what he said were weekly reports of Calathan’s which he found quite boring most of the time. As they walked, Ronotte explained he would usually have a day or two to wander the Festival as Zola would sleep in. He neared a stall of a tanned man selling a chromatic display of jewels he greeted as Bassad. The two spoke quietly to each other as Bassad revealed a gold-and-jewel-encrusted dagger he presented to Ronotte. Ronotte paid the man, though he tried to refuse, then dematerialized the dagger with magic that nearly resembled the night sky itself. Before he departed, he offered the purple rose on his doublet to Aurora, telling her that he saw great darkness within her, but to not let it overshadow her light. Carla was immensely jealous of the attention.
The group continued to the spellweaver, who offered to teach them a set of enchantments he weaved onto scrolls, though he seemed rather shady. He warned the group the process would be dangerous, as the spells would be testing their mettle. After some discussion, the Paragons decided to only learn one of the enchantments as they needed to save their strength for the Grand Finale. Once the magic was bested in combat, the enchantment was successfully learned, and the Paragons began their trek back to the Drunken Frond. Within their suite, they found a set of gemstones for the each of them as parting gifts. The Paragons then drifted off to sleep with their shiny new trinkets.