When we had gotten home from our trip on Friday, we were too exhausted from it to go gaming, but on Saturday, after we spent some time readjusting to the fact that we were no longer on an all-expenses paid vacation resort and had been returned to our normal lives, we ended up logging in one by one, or in twos, until the eight of us -- nine when Derwydd showed up -- were all back in Cloverbell after dinner that evening.

“So it's official! Winter Quests are out!” Lizzy beamed happily. “I had a full day at work, but when I saw that on the forums after getting home it got me re-energized!”

“I bet,” Lysandra grinned.

“We wanted to do that one in Cedarville, right?” Ariana asked me.

“Want to go and check to see if we were right?” I asked her.

“Definitely!” she smiled.

“You two can do that one; I'm going to look around Heimgar. Someone told me there'd be one I would enjoy there.” Lizzy said.

“Hmm?” I wondered.

“You'll see! Heali, Der, wanna come with?”

“What do you think?” Healina said to our not-quite-a-member.

“Sure! I'd like to see Heimgar a bit myself,” he agreed.

“Cool!” Lizzy beamed once more. “What about anyone else?”

“Oh, I promised Anhe to check the Monasteries with her today,” Maryn said. “We're taking Fyu along for the ride!”

“I cannot wait to see if we can get a holiday cosmetic for him!” Anhe smiled, and we all laughed.

“Fyu in a Santa hat! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hahh!” Heali cackled with delight.

“Right??” I squeaked out between laughs, clapping my hands. When we had calmed down from that, the older girls then gave us their plans.

“I... got a message... from Myanihia. She wants to spend time together today, so I'll be on my own with her.” Lysandra said with a soft smile.

“Oh nice! Hope it goes well,” I told her.

“Thanks,” she replied.

“Then I'll go with our littler lovebirds to help them out!” Belle declared. “Meet back here later or go to Queen's Haven?”

“Let's meet back here. It's more cozy.” Maryn said.

“I agree.” Anhe nodded.

“Seconded!” Lizzy said.

“All in favor?” I said, and the motion passed unanimously. With that, we parted ways for the time being, each of us heading out to do our thing for the day.

Cedarville was just as we remembered it, except it was now covered in snow. It almost reminded me of Hollydale now, or at least the village and its shops. Ari, Belle, and I walked around leisurely, keeping an eye out for the places we could recall as being suspicious or foreshadowing.

“Oh, there's one of them!” I said as I caught sight of a small cedar that was now occupied by fairies. It, like a few others in the area, had caught my eye a couple months ago on account of the red and green mushrooms that had been upon it.

“Yes! Nice!” Ariana exclaimed as we ventured closer.

“Whee! Fairies!” Belle flew ahead to dance with them for a moment, and then fell to chatting with one, a jovial looking fellow in festive purple with shimmering golden wings. Belle flew back to us after a moment, and gave us the news. “He says that there's something fishy going on in the Other Realm, where the Winter King rules. No stories or gifts have been arriving from his realm the way they used to, and they're all concerned about it.” she said to us.

“Hmm...” I pondered.

“What's the objective?” Ariana asked.

“We need to find the Seven Sacred Stones and then travel to a special sanctuary to activate a portal to the Other Realm; and that's all it says.” Belle read, softly shrugging.

“Seven Sacred Stones, huh...?” I mused.

“Lana?” Ari said to me.

“Fairies, stones... was there any other hint?” I asked Belle.

“Hmm... he did say to try looking in the Caverns of Frost for the first one,” she told us as she looked at the log again.

“That's down in the Mountains of Night, isn't it? One of the dungeons we did with Healina when she first started playing?” Ariana said to me.

“I think you're right,” I said. “Some games do add special items to old dungeons to spice things up a bit, though,” I remarked as I thought about it.

“Oh neat,” she returned. “I guess we have our first destination, then!” she smiled, and with that we set off, Belle sharing the quest with us before we left to head for the dungeon in question.

***

Now, the Caverns of Frost had been fairly easy back when we were forty-five or so. This time we were ninety-five, and although our party was perhaps not the ideal party, it didn't quite matter on account of this fact. Some of the monsters outright ignored us on account of the level difference. But we definitely had to get through the boss monster, a crystalline ice-beast that had nearly gotten Healina on our first trip here. We beat him for a second time, and then found what we were looking for.

“Oh! Cute! It's got a little snowflake on it,” Belle said as she hoisted the stone off of the ground in pixie form. It was about a third of her size.

“Nice! Oh, I bet the others have a special design on them too!” Ariana said.

“Probably!” I agreed. “… If we can get another hint on where to find them...” I then realized.

“Hmm?” Belle then remarked. “I can see some sort of -- let me pull up my map,” she said, and when she had done so, her eyes began following something across it. “It's heading to... Woodhall, on the border of Aldholt and Woody Heights,” she said.

“Hmm... let me see that for a sec,” I said, and she handed the snowflake stone to me. I pulled out my own map to look, but nothing was happening for me. After waiting a few seconds to be sure, I handed it back to Belle. “I guess it only works for pixies!” I grinned.

“Lucky us, having such a wonderful friend in our guild!” Ari smiled, cupping her hands together for Belle to sit in.

“Aww... shucks!” the older girl blushed. “Hey! Let's hurry and find the place! No game secret stays secret forever, you know!” she said as she took off again.

There's one that I hope does stay secret, I thought bemusedly as Ari and I set off after her, my partner giving me a grin as we hastened to catch our pixie friend.

We took the nearest wayport we could find, and then hastened along through the overgrown pathways to the outdoor dungeon, where we encountered a vengeful beast, a magnificent but quite aggressive reindeer of silver color. Belle managed to use her pixie skills to pacify him instead of killing him, and we received the second stone, this one marked with--yep, a reindeer.

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Our next destination took us southeast, to Belledown, where we ended up fighting through an old crypt to get the third stone. The guardian of this one was a corrupted evergreen, oddly enough, but it was withered and corpulent, for a tree, so I didn't think too deeply about it. An evergreen stone was soon in our possession, and it pointed the way to a dungeon in Ipping Forest that Ariana and I knew very well: the Grotto of the Twin Dragons.

“This is exciting!!” Belle squealed with delight as we approached it. “We're visiting the birthplace of a Panarena Legend: the Silvernight Twins!!” she continued in a tizzy, Ari and I exchanging a faint grin with each other.

“Think we'll have trouble this time?” Ari asked me.

“Not a bit!” I laughed merrily.

“Who knew that all these months later, the two of you would be back here?? Ahhh!! I have to take a screen-grab!!” Belle chattered, swiftly flying back a bit to hover at various places as Ari and I reached the entrance of our first major dungeon experience, taking several pics.

“Been a while, huh?” I said to the dungeon. We then passed through the watery curtain which delicately concealed the grotto, and headed on inside.

As in a couple other dungeons, the monsters here ignored us this time because of our higher levels. But when we got to the boss room, the dragons did not ignore us. For a second time we busted them up, this time with the advantage of Belle's debuffing skills, and then we claimed our fourth stone. This one, of course, had a dragon on it.

“What do dragons have to do with winter or Christmas?” Belle wondered somewhat indignantly.

“Hrrmm... but they do have a lot to do with fairy tales and otherworlds, especially in the myths of places like Britain and Scandinavia,” I shrugged.

“Well... I guess I can let that pass, then. But if there's a dragon at the Winter King's court, it had better be holidayish!” she remarked.

“I'm sure it will be,” Ariana grinned. “Where's the map leading us now?”

“Hm? Oh!” Belle said, and brought up the map again. “Hallowed Vale, it says.” she told us.

“Oh, nice!” Ari said. “Right around where we ended the Garth-Queens War,” she said to me with a smile.

“And got these,” I said to her, holding up my hand with the Band of Unity on it. She smiled back, holding up hers as well. Belle looked at us with adoration, smiling brightly at the two of us.

“Let's go, kiddos!” she said, and the three of us set off for our fifth destination.

At the Hallowed Vale, we found a small, peaceful village beyond the pagoda made up of various fairies and other mystical, harmless sprites. We played a few games with them and answered a few of their riddles, and then they happily handed us the next stone, this one having a hearth etched on to it. When Belle used it with the map, we were directed to an open dungeon of wolves in Varkstania, where we claimed the next stone, this one with a wolf's likeness upon it. The sixth stone pointed us to the Ghoulwood, where we found an ancient castle awaiting us.

Unlike the other dungeons, this one tailored itself to our levels. I was on the alert at once. An on-level dungeon in a low-level area meant that this place was specific to the quest we were doing. We fought through several twisted and corrupted versions of normally jolly and sweet winter-holiday creatures, taking care not to rush ahead and get overwhelmed.

“Ugh! Lizzy had to take our main healer!!” Ari griped as her DPS was halved by the necessity to heal.

“Hang in there, partner!” I called back.

“I can't help you heal, but I can reduce their hitpoints a bit and lessen their attack strength and accuracy!” Belle said as she charged into action to impair and debuff our enemies, helping me out a ton.

We continued with this basic strategy all the way to the boss room, which took us nearly two Panarena hours to get to, never mind the hours we had already spent running around. Once inside that chamber, we found a monster that definitely resembled that most dreaded of winter-holiday horrors: a rare elite boss labeled as the Scion of Krampus, the horned beast who deals with children on the not-so-good lists. After a long and stressful fight with this hairy monstrosity, we claimed the seventh and final stone from him, this one with a crown upon it.

“Hmm... oh! This is right near Cloverbell!” Belle exclaimed as she read the map for us.

“Nice!”

“Cool!” Ari and I replied.

“Ready girls?” Belle winked back.

“Definitely!” Ari smiled at once.

“Ah-heh-heh, s-sure,” I returned hesitantly. Ari snickered, then took my hand as Belle sat on my shoulder, and we headed back to a wayport.

***

“What kind of crazy coincidence is it that your player-home is near our quest objective?” Belle remarked as we made our way through the snow to the place she had noted on the map.

“Our player home, now,” I smiled back at her.

“True!” she grinned. “Oh! I see it; there's a clearing ahead with standing stones and a... it's a dolmen, right?” she said, and I sucked in a breath, sprinting to the place as Belle grabbed a hold of my quiver-strap to hang on and Ari chased after me. I came to a halt as we reached it, gazing around in wonder.

It was beautifully pristine. The great stones were perfectly arranged, as if the place had been newly-built. And a few paces away to the east of it was a magnificent dolmen, intricate spiraling patterns inscribed upon it. I stood there for almost a solid minute, just staring at the place in wonder.

“Lana?” Ari smiled at me.

“A dolmen, one of the legendary ways to enter into the Otherworld,” I said softly.

“Oh, neat-o!” Belle remarked. “And look, there's a spot for our seven stones,” she then said, pointing to the middle of the standing stone ring, where a large rock with seven small impressions sat.

“Let's place them in the order we got them?” Ariana suggested, and I nodded, Belle doing the honors.

As soon as the seventh stone was placed, we heard a humming sort of noise, and the dolmen's yawning entrance seemed to shimmer. I may never get to do this in real life, but I can sure as heck do it here!! I thought to myself excitedly, dashing over at once to head inside as the others followed me in.

***

It was truly another world on the other side. Panarena had places that were beautiful, pristine, majestic, awe-inspiring, breath-taking. This place left them all behind. The new virtual sub-world now revealed to us was truly the Other Realm. After a few seconds, the three of us had our weapons and gear automatically unequipped, replaced with festive garments of green for me, white for Belle, and silver for Ariana.

“Phew!” our pixie said. “Not sure I'd like the idea of going starkers in a snowy place like this!”

“S-same,” Ari and I both agreed. It was definitely snowing. And all around us, we could see fairies and elves and dwarves dancing about in merry gatherings, or feasting heartily around a warm fire. If Hollydale was ten times what it was, but set in a fairy tale world instead of the real one, that would be this place. And in the distance we could see a beautiful castle, out of which was coming the Winter King and his entourage.

“Wow!” Ariana said, gazing at the scarlet-clad figure in his red and gold sleigh, pulled by nine silver reindeer with crystal white antlers. A regal lady was at his side, and the two of them, along with their entourage of Snow Elves and Tundra Dwarves, came to a halt as they reached us.

“Vis'tors, my lord!” one of the Dwarves said.

“I see! Emissaries of our dear friends, no less!” the Winter King noted. “What would you have, friends?” he asked of us.

“S-sire, the fairies below have been worried because they haven't been able to hear from you lately,” I told him.

“It was the Scion that caused such mischief,” the Winter King replied, “But now that you have dealt with him and returned the stones, all has been set right. Go with my blessing, and tell them I will see them soon. And feel free to come back while my season lasts to enjoy our festivities!” he said to us, waving his hand. A golden shower rained down on us, and we received a notification of inventory additions. The three of us bowed, promising to return and enjoy the festivals of the Other Realm before leaving.

We received seasonal tokens upon delivering the news to the fairies in Cedarville, who rejoiced happily, some of them setting off for the portal at once. The three of us went up to the tree-tops tavern afterwards, sharing a round of warm drinks together.

“While his season lasts, huh?” I mused aloud, reflecting on the Winter King's words.

“I'd bet early February will be our cut-off,” Belle said.

“Agree. We've got a good month to play around there, and of course other places!” Ariana smiled.

“Oh, that reminds me,” I said, opening my inventory list and looking for the star that marked new items. “Cool!” I said, finding a Ring of Winter tailored to my play-style.

“Neat!!” Ari exclaimed, pulling out a ring of her own.

“Oh totally cool!” Belle smiled, pulling out a tiara and setting it on her head. “Stylish and stat-boosting!” she grinned, and we giggled. “Speaking of which, did you two get your presents for each other yet?”

“Oh definitely.”

“Yep!” we said together.

“Nice!” the older girl smiled, taking a sip from her pixie-sized mug. “Let's have lots more adventures here, and see all sorts of amazing things, and meet as many interesting people as we can,” she said softly, and Ari and I reached out our hands towards her. She touched her own tiny hands to them, smiling brightly. Across the way, we could hear the NPC musicians launching into a carol as we smiled at each other.

“To the adventure,” I said, raising my mug.

“To the adventure!” Ariana did the same.

“Hear, hear!” Belle exclaimed, raising her own tiny mug to join us as we toasted the future days to come.