Kinfire Kickstarter Conundrums Pt. 2
Welcome back to the Conundrum of the Cosplay Box! In part 1 the Seekers created a wager to determine who would be the one to win the prize box that Khor had made. They then found themselves in a variety of wacky hijinks put into place by our Kickstarter community voting on how they wanted to the story to go next. In today's blog we'll finish out the conundrums and see who the winner was!
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MACES, KNIVES, AND BOOKS, OH MY
The heavy, gilded doors of the Library of Light creak as they open. The library is dead silent apart from a few other scowling Seekers browsing in the picture book section. As the group passes through the shelves, Roland lingers next to a collection of romance novels with wind-torn dwarves on the covers. “I’ll catch up,” he says, pulling his reading glasses from his jacket pocket.
“He’s already read through that series twice now,” Valora whispers.
“A good story is worth hearing a hundred times over,” Feyn says. He grins a lopsided grin.
“Wait, everyone! I’ve found it. This is the one.” Asha pulls a silver volume from the shelf.
“Maces and Knives: A Guide,” Khor reads aloud. “Hmm…couldn’t we look for something a little less…work-related?”
Naz pushes through to Asha. “Let’s read it now!”
As Asha begins to read aloud, a woman in a long, hooded cloak approaches.
“It’s you,” the woman says. “You’re the ones who saved me.” She pulls back her hood, revealing long, red hair and milky white eyes.
“A foreteller,” Feyn murmurs. Everyone else looks around at one another.
“I’m sorry,” Valora says, “but I don’t believe we’ve ever met.”
“You all saved me from that vicious shark bear,” the woman says again.
Naz laughs. “A what?”
Feyn waves his hands at them and whispers in a low voice. “Foretellers don’t always see what is before them. Their vision reaches to the past, the present, and…the future. We haven’t saved this woman in the past…but we may yet.”
“Please,” the woman implores, “choose an enchanted item from my wares as a thank you.” She opens her cloak to reveal an array of random items hanging from tiny chains.
Valora spots something familiar. “Hey, isn’t that my—“ but Feyn shakes his head vigorously.
Just then, Roland appears balancing a stack of books reaching higher than the shelves themselves. “What did I miss?” he asks…
IT APPEARS WE'VE REACHED AN IMPASSE
When the Seekers arrive in the dining hall of the guild, they are surprised to find a crowd. Word of this little contest, it seems, has spread. Khor carefully places their box on a table and opens it. Gasps and chuckles ripple through the audience of off-duty Seekers.
A frenzied murmuring comes from a collection of dice sitting on the table, eliciting strange looks from the crowd. “Shhh,” Khor says to them before tucking them into their satchel.
“Well, Feyn,” Asha says, collapsing into a chair and kicking their feet up, “who’s the winner?”
“Yeah!” someone in the crowd calls out. “Who won?”
Feyn jumps onto a table and lifts Khor’s box to show the crowd. “To remind you all of the terms of this competition, the victor will be wearing this!” The room bursts into cheers and whistles. Feyn sets down the box and pulls a square piece of parchment from his pocket. He clears his throat. “In last place, I’m afraid we have Roland with a single point. What a sad, sad performance.”
Roland looks over to the contents of Khor’s box. “That’s a victory in my book.”
“Tied for fourth place, we have Naz and myself!” Feyn’s grin grows even larger as he gives a little bow.
Naz shrugs. “Normally, I hate losing. But in this case…I’ll make an exception.”
“And in an unprecedented three-way tie, we have…in first place…Asha, Valora, and Khor!”
The crowd roars.
“What?!” Asha cries. “There’s no way I’m in first place. Count again!”
Khor bounces a little on the balls of their metal feet and puts their hands together in a silent clap.
Valora laughs and pats Khor on the back. “So what now?” she asks. “We can’t all wear this.”
The crowd begins to chant. “Tie-breaker! Tie-breaker! Tie-breaker!”
The tiny voice of a talking d6 chants from Khor’s bag. “Tie-breaker! Tie-breaker!”
Feyn motions for everyone to quiet down. “I’m afraid there’s no better way to break this tie than to put it in the hands of the people.” He motions to the crowd before him, who explode into cheers. “Fellow Seekers! Which of these three excellent contestants should be declared the victor?!”
THE TIEBREAKING VOTE
The dining hall in the Seekers’ Guildhall is packed to the brim with onlookers. Flickers, Khor’s pet mothling, flies down the stairs and flutters over the crowd for a moment before alighting on Khor’s shoulder.
Feyn lifts his arms into the air. “The people have spoken! The results have been tallied, and our winner is…”
Khor, Valora, and Asha stand next to each other—Khor bouncing up and down, Valora grinning, and Asha crossing their arms and staring up at the ceiling.
“VALORA!” Feyn calls out.
The crowd breaks into cheers—a few quiet boos and calls for Khor or Asha, but mostly cheers!
Khor’s head sinks for a moment before putting a hand on Valora’s shoulder. “Well done.”
“Yeah,” Asha says with a wink, “great job, Val. Go get that prize.”
Valora shrugs and steps up to address the crowd. “I whole-heartedly accept your vote and will gladly—“ she glances over to Khor, “and proudly accept my prize.”
Khor and Flickers both clap vigorously as Feyn presents the box to Valora. “Your winnings, milady.”
“Off to the dressing room I go,” Valora calls out. “And the next time you see me?” She grins. “Well…you’ll just have to be surprised…”
In the dining hall of the Seekers’ Guild, Valora gives a little bow and a wave to the crowd before she disappears upstairs with Khor’s box.
The Seekers enjoy a round of ale as they wait. Feyn leans against the railing with a smirk. “This is going to be good,” he says.
Roland pats his beard. “I’m just thankful it wasn’t me.”
“I’ll drink to that!” Asha says. They raise a mug in his direction and the other Seekers join in.
“Ha!” Naz laughs. “I would have paid good coin to see Roland all dressed up.”
At the other end of the table, Khor seems to be ignoring them all, impatiently tapping their fingers. Flickers leaves their shoulder to fly up the stairs after Valora.
Not long later, Valora reappears. The crowd seems stunned. Some stifle their laughter. Others can’t help but release an “Awwwww!” or whisper “So adorable.” One person in the back even appears to pass out from the shock of cuteness.
Valora descends the stairs in her full-length mothling costume. At the bottom, she gives a deep curtsy and uses her wings to motion upward. Everyone shifts their gaze to the top of the stairs. Flickers hovers there proudly, decked out in a newly-fashioned Valora outfit, complete with hat, tiny bow, and mothling-sized arrows.
The cries of cuteness are even louder than before. Khor puts a hand to their mouth. “I—“ they say, and if they were capable of tears, it seems likely that they would have burst into them at that very moment.
The rest of the crowd shoves their way forward and lines up to take turns petting Flickers and giving Valora a little pat on the head.
Suddenly, Guildmaster Leera barges in through the front entrance. “We have a problem,” she says. “Luca’s cargo snail has gone rabid and it’s loose in the city. A load of bandits have taken advantage of the chaos. You lot—“ She motions to Asha, Feyn, Naz, Roland, and Khor, and then hesitates before motioning to Valora as well. “There’s no time. Grab your weapons and come on.”
“Now?!” Valora cries, looking down at her outfit.
“Well, Val” Feyn says, patting her on the back. “If your arrows don’t land, you can always kill ‘em with cuteness.” He hands over her bow, gives her a wink, and pulls her out the front door.
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The community voted for Valora as the winner, and her Flickers onesie outfit is now an official alt skin for the game! If you backed for the premium collection it will be included with the other 12 alternate outfits (and you can late pledge right here if you haven't yet). We also have it available as a print and play version.
We had SUCH a fun time doing these conundrums, and we can't wait to do something like this again in the future. If you have any ideas for what you'd like to see, join our Discord or drop it in the comments