Event synopsis: A Kazdelian Rescue
| Event | Synopsis | Medals |
Acting as a prologue to Sarkaz's Furnaceside Fables, A Kazdelian Rescue showcases daily life in Kazdel in the aftermath of the Londinium crisis and the return of the Lich Court to their homeland. As the religious ceremony to pacify the Revenants draws close, the oldest eternal furnace in Kazdel suddenly explodes, prompting Ermengarde and Nymph to go on a wacky hunt to retrieve the shattered pieces of the furnace's Revenants.
Falling Like Fireworks[edit]
After the Londinium crisis, the Sarkaz who have returned to their homeland of Kazdel are struggling to rebuild both the city and their lives. Nymph, a Djall girl, talks to former Sarkaz mercenaries, Snapstring and Steelskull, about an upcoming ceremony that will be held in a few days. This ceremony is crucial as they will be replacing the Revenants in the furnace with a new source of energy. However, Fremont faces difficulties in convincing the Revenants to give up on their revenge, worsened by the furnace's environment. High above, Manfred, who is revealed to have survived the Londinium crisis, stands guard over the Military Commission's airship, monitoring the situation in Kazdel.
Wis'adel brings the Elder Revenant inside her launcher to the furnace's core, much to Fremont's displeasure. The Elder Revenant speaks with the other Revenants in the furnace, who are enraged to see him. The conversation becomes heated, and fed up with their mocking, the Elder Revenant uses his remaining connection to the airship to take control of its cannons and shoot the Soul Furnace. Manfred and his soldiers are too late in preventing the cannons from shooting. The resulting explosion causes Revenant slags fragments to scatter all over the city, damaging several buildings, including Nymph's home. After the explosion, Ermengarde contacts Nymph, requesting her assistance in gathering the scattered fragments. She quickly finds one that had landed in her hair and reluctantly talks to the Revenant inside. Curious about the current situation in the city-state, the Revenant is taken aback when Nymph reveals that no one is currently fighting in the city, proclaiming their rest.
The Streets on the Way Back[edit]
Ermengarde tutors Nymph on how to capture and secure the Revenant slags. At Nymph's request, she provides her with a special Revenant detector and a box for storing them. Nymph starts by asking the local citizens if they had seen a falling 'meteor' yesterday. One of them directs her to a group of mercenaries. On her way, she encounters a Sarkaz named Pohl, who informs her that the fragment had been taken by a nearby gang. Nymph then proceeds to approach the gang's turf, but is not allowed to enter without the "Consultant." She decides to wait for the Consultant to drop by. Much to her surprise, the Consultant turns out to be Pohl. Nymph accompanies him to a gang meeting, where the people are bickering about a territory dispute. In the middle of the meeting, Nymph's detector beeps loudly near the Oriron the gang gathered, just when she was reaching out to it with her box. Though a revenant slag is confirmed to be hidden within the Oriron, Nymph is accused of theft and tensions rise. Pohl manages to calm all parties through negotiation, while Nymph fabricates an excuse about needing to take a sample to assess the Oriron's quality, allowing her to obtain the fragment without a fight.
Once they are safe outside, Nymph notices that Pohl's back is wet from sweat. Despite his outward calm, he was deeply afraid of what might happen if the situation went wrong. As a Djall, Nymph is particularly sensitive to people's fear, and Pohl becomes embarrassed when she points out his stress.
The Linen-Draped Monster[edit]
Nymph and Pohl are planning their next search location when they accidentally interrupt a kid practicing writing. The kid, Cherie, tells them about an alley rumored to be haunted by a ghost that steals people's belongings. The two question a citizen named Bean Sprout, who claims to have witnessed the ghost. According to him, it was incredibly tall, covered in bandages, and had blood-shot red eyes. He points them to a shack where he saw the supposed ghost. Inside the shack, they encounter a member of Mudrock's squad who is secretly hiding in the city. The squad member explains that the squad is helping the furnace's construction in exchange for food.
When Pohl asked to meet the squad's captain, they are told to wait until she returns. However, the wait proves longer than expected. When Mudrock finally arrives, Nymph greets her and surprises her by revealing that her sister is a Rhodes Island employee. The squad member then proceeds to tell Mudrock that Nymph and Pohl are here to chase them out which Nymph quickly clarifies as a misunderstanding and that they are actually searching for a monster. Mudrock then pointed at Pohl, much to his confusion, only to realize she was pointing at the golem behind him. Nymph points out a crack in the golem, where a slag is embedded, the root of the golem's unstable behavior. They successfully secure the shard with Mudrock's help, who uses her Arts to disassemble the golem. Afterwards, Nymph and Pohl bid farewell to Mudrock who departs for the Rhodes Island branch office in the city.
Unfinished Attitude[edit]
After some time, Ermengarde contacts Nymph, inquiring about her progress. Afterwards, Nymph visits a merchant to buy food when she spots a peculiar looking Sarkaz. She is surprised to see someone dressed so finely and makes a note to see her goods once her mission ends. However, her detector suddenly goes off in the direction of the finely-dressed Sarkaz. Puzzled, Nymph suspects that the woman's brooch might contain a revenant slag.
Suspecting that the Sarkaz's oddities might be the result of the Revenant's influence, Nymph tries to contact Ermengarde but receives no response. She decides to follow the woman all the way to the city outskirts and into a warehouse. The finely dressed Sarkaz greets her, revealing her name as Crownie Mantel. Nymph tries various methods from persuasion to using her Arts to convince Crownie to give up her brooch to no avail. Crownie, focused on her own errand, left her to her own confusion. Determined, Nymph follows her to beyond the city where Crownie takes off using a glider. Frustrated by Ermengarde’s continued silence, Nymph is left with no choice but to pursue Crownie with her staff. Nymph is later shocked to find Crownie meeting a Sankta, Mostima. The Sankta surprises her, assuring her that she's here only to deliver supplies on behalf of Penguin Logistics.
Curious, Nymph asks how Mostima knows Crownie. Mostima explains that Crownie once worked in Ursus but moved back to Kazdel after the country gave her nothing. During a conversation between Mostima and Crownie, the Sankta reveals that more caravans are coming and going from Kazdel and that Rhodes Island has established some connections for the city, mentioning that Crownie will no longer need her logistics service. Crownie and Nymph bid farewell to her and her bodyguard arrives to retrieve her, confused why she went so far to deliver to Kazdel. Crownie welcomes Nymph into her home, where she voluntarily gave her brooch containing the revenant slag. After a long conversation about Crownie's past, Nymph returns to the furnace to meet Pohl, who wants to hear more about this 'distinctive lady' Nymph had just befriended.
The Witch and Her Afternoon Tea[edit]
Ermengarde contacts Nymph, urging her to gather all the remaining slags quickly, as she cannot stand Fremont and Wis'adel's quarrels in the furnace. Nymph reassures Ermengarde that Pohl is currently assisting her in collecting the slags, along with some of the people he knew. Their conversation is interrupted by a herbal tea smell, reminding Nymph that a Sarkaz called Qalaiša lives nearby. Ermengarde scolds her, accusing her of feigning an excuse for a snack time visit but Nymph insists that she intends to ask Qalaiša about any revenant slags, causing Ermengarde to sigh.
Nymph arrives at Qalaiša's house, greeting her with flowers. Qalaiša is thankful of her gift but told her she had an errand to do and instructs Nymph to sit and not to touch anything unfamiliar. However, her detector vibrates intensely inside the house, though strangely did not detect anything outside. Nymph searches house and eventually discovers a strange cabinet, revealing a garland. When she recites Snow in Ancient Sarkaz, she is transported to an unknown place, where she encounters a Nachzerer much to her bewilderment. The Nachzerer reveals that he deserted from the battlefield and asks for Qalaiša's help in ending his suffering. Nymph realizes she is witnessing Qalaiša's memory from one of Kazdel's many civil wars. Qalaiša, known as the Northwind Witch, instructs the Nachzerer to go north. In another memory, Qalaiša helps Nymph to soak herself in an ice spring, and by Nymph's prompting, reveals that the Nachzerer perished on his journey. Suddenly, darkness envelops Nymph, and she tries to call out to Qalaiša, asking if she can leave, but receives no response.
To her astonishment, she is met by none other than Nezzsalem, the Nachzerer King. He recognizes Qalaiša’s rejection of the Military Commission’s offer but stops mid-sentence, puzzled by the Djall's presence. Nymph hesitantly greets him with confusion and he reveals that they are inside an unrefined memory. He explains that although Qalaiša abandoned war, she never abandoned her people, instead finding a way to circumvent their necessity for war. Nezzsalem inquires Nymph about the Londinium crisis, to which Nymph replies that he may not like how it ended. Changing the topic, the two talked about daily life in Kazdel, such as vegetable seasons and food. Qalaiša returns to her house and is shocked to see Nymph near one of her unfinished trinkets. Her presence causes Nymph to snap back to reality. Horrified, she profusely apologizes while Qalaiša tells her to explain everything.
Qalaiša explains that what she touched was a trinket filled with her memories, specifically created to help veteran Nachzerers recover from the trauma of war. Nymph tells her that the Revenant slag she detected might be the source of the disturbance in her house which Qalaiša herself confirms. Qalaiša uses her Arts to subdue the slag, but in the process, Nymph's Arts also brought down her house, much to Qalaiša's anger. The sight surprises Pohl, who was nearby, and Nymph immediately begins to repair Qalaiša's house.
Meanwhile, Tin Man is strolling through the city, is complaining about the city's infrastructure and musing about the changes when he suddenly hears an alert from Nymph's detector. Unknown to both of them, the detector is reacting because the Tin Man is a Revenant himself, though not the one they are looking for. To his amusement, Nymph and Pohl attempt to restrain him and carry him to the furnace.
What's in the Can?[edit]
Nymph, in the process of contacting Ermengarde, tells the restrained Tin Man to stay put. He points out that her comms is broken and offers to fix it. Pohl remains wary, but Tin Man nonchalantly reveals that he had already untied his restraints earlier, surprising the two. He reveals that he cannot actually fix her comms, as Liches often craft their own devices without considering how to repair them. Nonetheless, he assures her that he will help in contacting Ermengarde.
Ermengarde, who just arrived, is wary of Tin Man's presence. She remarks that there are only a handful of revenants who still walk in present day Terra and asks which one is he. Ermengarde, even more wary than before, asks why he is here and what he wants. Tin Man replies that he wants to go inside the furnace to meet his own kin, the Revenants. Ermengarde asks if Nymph has completed gathering the slags which she confirms. As a reward, Ermengarde grants her permission to visit the Soul Furnace's core, and Nymph requests for Oriron which Pohl explains the reason for. Nymph surprises Ermengarde by announcing that she intends to bring others with her, bringing along a group of people consisting of: Cherie, Crownie, Qalaiša, Pohl, and Mudrock.
Ermengarde prohibits Cherie from going inside the Furnace, and the young girl complies. She leads the rest of them to the core. Next, Ermengarde asks Tin Man to help her in completing the appeasement ritual, and she begins the ritual. However, she nearly loses herself while attempting to return the Revenants from the slags, but Tin Man saves her. Tin Man reveals that the Revenants have long since lost their thinking capabilities due to their prolonged suffering in the furnace. He has Pohl pull out his notes and asks everyone to write their wishes and burn them with his lighter in front of the furnace core. Meanwhile, Tin Man engages in a conversation with the Revenants, asking them to consider this akin to their funeral rites. Curious about the result, Nymph asks Ermengarde if the ritual is still ongoing. Ermengarde replies that the ritual isn't even progressing and that she has lost control of it. The Revenants are intrigued by everyone's wishes for different versions of Kazdel and, using Nymph as their conduit, ask to see what they've wished.