Verdant Castle

Observer: Your feet have carried you once more to the Verdant Castle. This time, though, after finishing your visit to Queen Deja’s Memorial, you find yourself once again in the room where you first met Queen Iola and received a gift of welcome from her. To your surprise, you find here there again, over a… stove…?

Observer: You don’t remember there being a stove in here last time, how odd. She looks up at you and waves a greeting. In the pot, you see something… wiggle… ?

Queen Iola: “I’m just finishing up cooking something for you, I had a… a feeling somebody would be visiting today!”

Observer: You’re… not sure you want to eat what is in the pot, but you’re equally unsure if you’ll have a choice, as she goes to pour it into a pair of bowls.

Observer: However, as she pours the second one, the bowl somehow overbalances and crashes to the floor. You brace yourself, expecting it to break, but instead, there is an odd slorping noise and the bowl rises slowly off the floor.

Observer: The two of you stare in confusion as the ‘spilled’ stew begins to move around, and the first one decides to flip itself over. Slowly, Iola looks at her hands, then at the moving stew, which is confusedly bumping into the table.

Queen Iola: “Did I… is it… is it alive…?”

Observer: The … stew… ? has now begun to climb your leg, which seems to suggest that yes, it is very much alive.

Queen Iola: “…I made something living…? I have to tell Nero!”

Observer: You watch her as she picks up the first stew and runs to tell Nero, leaving you alone with your stew, who seems quite attached to you now.

The Great Mushroom Harvest (Shop)

Observer: As you meander down the path, you notice a new stall. Since you haven’t been here before, you head over to it, curious what it might hold.

Observer: A pink jelluxi floats towards you, before its momentum is arrested by an equally pink dextroluma, who gives you an apologetic look.

Blossom: “Hey, come on, we talked about this. You have to stay put and not wander off, or else I’ll have to put you in your carrier…”

Observer: To be polite, you pretend you didn’t hear her talking to the now-sulky Jelluxi. Instead, you ask her about the shop, and watch how she brightens, as the jelluxi flutters onto her shoulder.

Blossom: “Well, it’s a temporary stall for the Great Mushroom Harvest. The higher ups for it wanted to do things to encourage more dextro to participate, so we’re here to give out daily rewards for coming to the Harvest and doing things for it.”

Blossom: “If you get enough of these Bloom Shrooms, then you can redeem them with me to get some rewards, like these cute guys.”

Observer: You can’t help but smile as she pets the jelluxi on her shoulder. It stops pouting for a moment to lean into her hand, clearly happy at the attention.

Observer: Looking over the stall, you spot some similarly pink hoppoppers, some cookies, and a number of intriguing elixirs. Well, it wouldn’t hurt to come back again more during the harvest…

The Great Mushroom Harvest (Daily)

Observer: The moon is just peeking over the horizon as you approach the work area for the Great Mushroom Harvest, along with plenty of other dextroluma.

Observer: As you approach the stall where you were told you could get daily rewards for your work - beyond the mushrooms you actually harvest - you see Blossom handing out the Bloom Shrooms.

Blossom: “Thank you, here’s your Bloom Shroom for today!”

Observer: The jelluxi floating near her attempts to steal the Bloom Shroom for you out of her hand, sulking when she catches its arm.

Blossom: “Come on, I know it’s early but it’s too early for you to be doing this…”

Observer: You hide a smile behind your hand as you accept the Bloom Shroom from her and tuck it away with your crystals. Once the smile is under control, you thank her.

Blossom: “No problem. I hope I’ll see you tomorrow too.”

Observer: As you go to leave, she catches your sleeve.

Blossom: “Also… I was told that on the 10th and 20th visits here, you can get something special, but don’t tell anyone I told you.”

Observer: You thank her for the tip and promise to bear it in mind before you head off to the Harvest… but maybe you’ll stop back by her stall later in the night when you’ve gotten some more Bloom Shrooms to see what the rates are for what she is selling.