Lost Pages of Taborea: Guide to Pumpkin Festival
Runes of Magic has been around long enough now that holiday events are making a second round. In the wake of the Juice Festival's first appearance, the Pumpkin Festival is one of the events getting a second go.
Legend tells us that before humans rediscovered the continent of Candara, the land of Kolydia was ruled by tyranny. On a cold winter's night, unknown assassins wearing masks succeeded in eliminating the unsavory rulers and the hoi polloi rejoiced. The people started celebrating that day by wearing masks which became rumored to bring good luck.
Unknown years and another continent later, humans made do the best they could on the underdeveloped land. The tale is said that a farmer carved out a pumpkin and put a candle in it. After seeing this, the Eye of Wisdom thought it would be a great idea to mark the day for rest and celebration before Winter. The mask wearing was added to this, kids added costumes and trick-or-treating, thus the Pumpkin Festival was born.
I don't have a photographic memory nor did I painstakingly write down all event-minutea from last year, but this year's festivities look to offer more activities. On top of that, there are plenty of costumes, holiday furniture and even holiday mounts to obtain or buy. The only problem is the absence of any source to help you traverse the ins and outs of what you can do and what you can win. Until now. Click past the break for help making your way through this year's Pumpkin Festival.
Monster parade
The parade repeats back-to-back, twenty four-seven and starts on Varanas' bridge. You'll need a transformation potion that you can buy with diamonds or phirius tokens, or by gathering twenty suspicious powders that randomly drop from all mobs. If you have the powders, just turn them into the NPC in Varanas' Central Plaza in exchange for a transformation potion. Sign up on the bridge and check in with the NPC at each rest stop along your route to Forsaken Abbey and back. Baddies appear between checkpoints, but they are low level and plenty of players of all levels are always taking part. You should have no trouble completing the event, no matter what level you are. You'll get a minor prize of phirius potions and food buffs for completing the parade, but the pumpkin chests you get at the checkpoints house special costume pieces. You'll need ancient treasure keys to unlock them that you can buy with phirius tokens, diamonds or by turning in feathers you can get from Harpy Mox.
Celt family
While you're still walking around as a zombie or other critter, stroll around the major sections of Varanas to scare some NPCs. Scaring certain -- not all bear the Celt family name -- NPCs will reward you with sugarcane or strange candies. Look hard, because by my count there are NPCs in almost every section of the city, and more than one in some of those sections. Most are obvious, but a few are not so easy to tell until you actually talk to them. You can only scare the participating NPCs once a day and while using a transformation potion. But if you collect 20 sugarcane candy, you can turn them in for the Prankster title. If you're a true master, you can turn in a whopping 300 candies to earn the Super Prankster title. Good luck with that one!
Five strange candies can be handed to Little Anna in Varanas' West wing. She'll send you on a hunt for her sister Little Annie in Varanas' Central Plaza. If you can find Little Annie, she will reward you with yet more goodies.
Pumpkin Prince and strange pumpkins
The Pumpkin Prince is over at Dorian's Farm where you also pick up the quests. He's a holiday boss that spawns some lower level elites. Defeat them all and win either some candy buffs or pumpkin pie. The pie will give you different colored ribbons that you can turn in for the Pumpkin Eater title.
Gathering the pumpkins is a simple enough task -- probably to ensure players of any level will have at least one thing to do -- rewarding you the chance at the same prizes as the boss quest.
Kaz Madness
Head over to the Oblivion Shrine in Silverspring to sign up for this hectic time trial. Rings of pumpkins spin around giant pumpkin cores. The pumpkins will temporarily stop spinning allowing you to click on them. You will either get a colored pumpkin mob or a little pumpkin monster that attacks the large pumpkin. You actually will want both. First you need to keep clicking until you get a monster. The monster runs into the giant pumpkin and seeds are released onto the ground. Picking them gives you seeds of various colors that appear on your user interface as a skill. Throw the colored seeds at the corresponding pumpkin mobs. Nabbing a little monster and throwing the correctly colored seed each yields one point. The giant core occasionally casts a spell that will set you on fire and running around in a fear-like state. It all can be hectic because you have to get as many points as you can in under 5 minutes.
Pumpkin Pranksters
Numerous pumpkins are located throughout Dalanis. Every half-hour pumpkin pranksters will disguise themselves as some of those pumpkins to play tricks on the unsuspecting passerby. I had been strolling around the city before to suddenly have fear cast on me. You can accept the quest from the event coordinator next to the main entrance of Dalanis and she'll give you five traps. Hunt down and bag as many pranksters, and then bag your prize.
Furniture, costumes, mounts and consumables
Besides the holiday oriented quests, there's some fun festival-themed items you can buy in the cash shop. Displays filled with witches, ghosts and festival dressings are available for you to decorate your house. A selection of transformation potions -- fancy that -- are on sale, which includes my personal favorite: the zombie. I love my "BRAINNSSS..." macro. There's also a nice variety of festival costume and costume pieces you can buy. I'm partial to the wolf head and tail, but there are cute as well as scary costumes to choose from. Last but not least are the witch broom and Drag-3000 mounts. I think the Drag-3000 just may give the Firebolt a run for its money. If not, I still think it looks cooler.
Conclusion
All of the items in the cash shop are available until October 31st. I think it's safe to say that the entirety of the Pumpkin Festival may end on that day as well.
I won't lie. Gathering this information was an exercise in patience. So, to make this Massively guide on RoM's Pumpkin Festival the one-stop shop for all your holiday needs, I'll need your help. Yes. I'm actually encouraging you to nit-pick, scrutinize and tear this article to shreds. I've triple-, quadruple- and even duodecuple-checked these facts, but if anything at all is missing or wrong, let me have it in the comments. What are all the costumes you can actually win? What are the exact prizes each activity gives out and what do those prizes actually do? Is there anything else missing or incomplete? I'll give you a virtual cookie for your effort.
Each Monday, Jeremy Stratton delivers Lost Pages of Taborea, a column filled with guides, news, and opinions for Runes of Magic. Whether it's a community roundup for new players or an in-depth look at the rogue/priest combo, you'll find it all here. Send your questions to jeremy@massively.com.
