So, how did it happen? Well, it was all thanks to Santa Claus. It transpires that not only is Santa trans-dimensional, he has multiple centers of operation in all the territories he serves, and since he's very much the traditionalist, he always sets up shop at the local equivalent of the North Pole. In the Auruan planetary system, that just happens to be the frozen planet of Luna.
I found this out entirely by chance. I was jogging through Zant when I spotted someone in a very striking red car. Or was it a sled? Hard to be sure. I'm not quite up to speed on how mounts work in ROSE - I think we only have vehicles but I could be mistaken - but I know a holiday ride when I see one. Especially when it's being driven by someone in a Santa suit.
As luck would have it, the NPC for the event was standing right behind me. You can see her in the picture. Her name is Judy. Up to this point I hadn't even realised there was an event running, although in retrospect I guess the gigantic Christmas trees I'd been taking selfies next in front of all week should have given me the hint.
I spoke to Judy and she spotted I was carrying some snow crystals in my bags. I'd picked these up as drops but so many crafting mats pop out of every creature I kill I hadn't realised there was anything special about them. From context, I now understand these are both the currency and the entrance fee for the event.
Judy asked me if I'd like to go visit Santa in his space workshop. Okay, she didn't put it quite like that. What she actually said was... wait a moment, I think I took a screenshot... ah yes, here it is!
Obviously I said yes and next thing I knew I was in a cut scene, flying off to space in a wooden airship. I took some screenshots of that, too - three of them, in fact - but unfortunately each time I pressed the button the cut scene changed to a loading screen and that's what I caught on camera.
I figured out eventually that hitting any key terminated the ride. The view was something worth seeing but you're just going to have to take my word for it.
Even when the ship had landed and I was trudging through the snow I didn't realize, until I opened the map to find out where to go next, that what Judy referred to as "Santa's Planetoid" was actually the planet Luna. I think we came down somewhere in the Mana Snowfields but don't quote me on that. One snowy plain looks much like another.
Wherever it was, there were people everywhere. The place was packed. I found my way over to the
center of activity and, after a brief comic interlude where I gave
the wrong response to a simple question and found myself on the airship back
to Junon, I managed to have a word with Santa to find out just what sort of problem he was having this time.
In my experience, whenever Santa's having difficulties, it's always with his elves or his reindeer. They're either trying to unionise or they're drunk again. This time it was the reindeer, collectively known here as "Rudolphs", an act of blatant disindividualisation that tells you plenty about the kind of organization Santa's running.
I wasn't surprised to hear there'd been a dispute over conditions. In his own words, the training methods employed on the Rudolphs had been "rigorous" and the put-upon deer had staged a revolt. Santa wanted me to chase them down and administer a salutory beating, although he was careful to make it clear he didn't want the reindeer killed. They still had a job to do, after all.
I find it interesting that, whereas most quests in ROSE Online come with a
couple of responses, one to accept and another to refuse, this one assumes
you'll be as indignant about the reindeer revolution as Santa. I felt more sympathetic to the Rudolphs but
solidarity with the workers wasn't going to get me a new, red suit so I agreed
to act the enforcer on his behalf. That left Santa free to stand back and look jolly.
Wouldn't do to sully the brand, now, would it? Although I have to say the suit would be good for hiding all that reindeer blood.
Finding the reindeer was no problem. They were running around all over the place, being chased by players hacking away at them with swords, blasting them with fireballs and generally behaving like the hired strikebreakers they were. I joined in, of course.
Bashing the beasts was no problem. They didn't fight back. All they did was run in circles, into trees, into snowdrifts, anywhere to escape the relentless pummelling. As they ran, endless streams of Snow Crystals spewed out of them, punctuated by the occasional Elifedora, the mysterious power source that keeps Santa's sweatshops churning out the toys.
Where I did run into difficulties was in picking the damned things up. Occasionally I was able to pocket one but mostly I got a message saying they didn't belong to me. It was clearly something to do with attribution but I couldn't figure out how it was being calculated. Was it first hit? Most damage? A timer?
About the only real success I had was when I found a rudolph stuck almost entirely inside a wall of ice and mercilessly pounded him with a stick until he died. Santa's bland assurances that they'd know when they'd learned their lesson and return home in shame proved to be over-optimistic in the extreme.
Everything that deer dropped I was able to loot but after that I was stuck getting nothing again. I was about to give up when someone popped a party invite on me. I accepted with alacrity. In a group, all the loot became... erm... lootable. The only issue now was one of etiquette. How long do you have to keep whacking a reindeer before it's acceptable to take a break to pick up the pieces?
I'd collected a decent stash and was just begining to wonder how to extract myself politely from the party, when the server solved my dilemma by disconnecting me. I'm finding ROSE pretty stable for the most part but there have been a few more disconnections than I'm used to in other games.
When I logged back in I was out of the party so I went to Santa to spend my crystals. I'd had a look at the price list before I started and I'd ruled out many of the more exotic items, like the car, on the grounds it would take me days of grinding to get them.
The basic Santa suit looked very doable, though. I'd seen other players wearing it and I thought it looked pretty smart. When I counted my crystals I found I had enough for the sweater, the hat and the boots. I bought the sweater and the hat. Why I didn't buy the boots I couldn't tell you. I'll get them next time.
When I put the "sweater" on, I was surprised to find it came with a jacket and tie. And a skirt. And socks. And the sweater itself was blue. And V-necked. It's basically a Christmas-themed school uniform, something I had signallly failed to notice when looking at other players wearing it. It looks very smart, if not exactly traditional. Certainly more suited to the season than the bell-bottoms and halter-neck combo I've been sporting until now. And at least the hat meets the Santa Standard.
All in all, I thought it was a pretty solid little holiday event. It's a fun trip to get to there and an easy task to complete, at least once you group up. The rewards are well-judged in that there's decent stuff you can get in a matter of minutes but also things you could spend a good few sessions grinding for, if that's your bag.
I think the full santa suit, including boots and gloves, will probably do me. I'll leave the big ticket items to the real holiday grinders.
That sled-car does look good, though...
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