Queen’s Day (Date 1/7/22)

With Lex and Giada off exploring the gnoll frontier, Marty thought it an opportune time to journey to the elven lands. Unfortunately, with Queen’s Day fast approaching, Euwyn felt compelled to remain in the kingdom. The party returned to the capital and began preparations. Lumi was enthusiastic and planned to build a fire-breathing dragon float. Justice thought the whole affair was a waste of resources and did not in any way honor the military, but the Prince implored him to participate. In response, Justice and Hedge set to work building a siege engine on wheels. The pair were stymied at first - neither one knowing the first thing about engineering - until a young orphan named Edgar (he pronounces it ‘edger’) showed remarkable aptitude. During the construction Justice discovered Edgar possessed magical talent as well, but kept it to himself. Lady Bell suggested that the Prince line the parade route with ever-burning torches to ‘wow’ the citizenry with his magic. Fearing the risk involved in a flame shooting, mobile float Marty convinced Lumi to opt for red streamers and compressed air, simulating flame, offering to call up a mist for added effect. Hedge called in Mjelde to aid in decorating the war machine. At the last minute, Marty had a crisis of conscience and withdrew his mist, fearing a conflict of interest if the temple and the magic of Strom were used in so frivolous a fashion.

The parade went off wel. The trebuchet couldn’t shoot straight, but that was nothing compared to when Lumi’s dragon exploded! Fearing that the streamers weren’t impressive enough on their own, the young blacksmith had worked through the night to refit the float with the working flame-thrower she had originally envisioned, however, flaws in the design and the hasty work caused a nearly catastrophic gas leak. Lumi was nearly killed, but Justice saved her with a healing potion, and Marty healed the crowd with the power of Strom.

In the end, the trophy went to a local flower shop who more appropriately celebrated the day by rendering a beautiful, tasteful and perfumed vision of the Queen. There were touches of bitterness, but overall a good time was had by all. Lumi made a new tech-savvy friend, Justice and Hedge got a working catapult and the kingdom’s loyalty continues to improve.