Published by: The Santae Team
The Secret Beneath The Spring
Skylar woke up feeling refreshed from their nap and ready to take on the challenge of exploring the mysterious Celestial Peaktop. They stretched, yawned, and reached into their pack for a quick snack.
Puzzled, Skylar withdrew their hand holding the container of cookies from the Winterlight Machine -- but it was completely empty! Had somebody been in here?
"Hop," Skylar asked, "did you eat these?"
The Quibbit shook its head, croaking a denial.
"Then who did?" Skylar wondered aloud. They quickly donned their coat and boots to head out onto the Peaktop and investigate.
Sure enough, there were signs of disturbance right outside the entrance to the tent. A handful of marks were in the snow: A mix of webbed claw- and paw-prints. Along the trail, Skylar also spotted some scattered cookie crumbs. The creator of these tracks must also be the cookie thief!
Skylar and Hop followed the prints. After a while, the trail changed from individual prints to a single wide depression, like something had slid along the surface of the snow. The sliding track vanished over the edge of the deep, icy spring and disappeared into the water.
"It went into the water..." Skylar kneeled to examine the end of the trail. "Hop, this one's up to you! Can you get us to the bottom of this spring?" Skylar winced, thinking of how cold the water must be -- but their warm gear, and Hop's skillful aquatic navigation, would make exploring underwater a lot safer and easier than it could be.
Hop fluttered its wings and croaked reassuringly. Together, they could explore anywhere!
Skylar and Hop descended into the spring, Skylar gasping at the shock of cold. But the way to go was almost immediately clear. There was a big open space nearby, in a pocket of air trapped beneath the surface ice -- and it was glowing with soft rainbow light!
The adventurous duo popped out into a cavern, and Skylar quickly scrambled out of the water onto the hidden shore.
The ice in the ceiling was a prism, lighting the whole chamber with rainbow light. It acted almost like a greenhouse: Not only was it surprisingly warm in here, but the ground was also covered in thriving greenery. It was a lush oasis of life -- hidden directly under one of the most remote and frigid places in Santae. How incredible!
As Skylar was slowly getting their bearings, a croak from Hop caught their attention. The Quibbit was pointing across the pool they had just emerged from, gesturing toward something half-hidden in the greenery.
Skylar peered over, catching a glimpse of sleek blue-black feathers and a bright orange beak. It was a Luffin!
As Skylar watched, the Luffin tossed its head, throwing a beautifully iced gingerroot cookie into the air. It caught it with an effortless snap of its beak, swallowing the baked treat with evident delight.
"You're the thief!" Skylar exclaimed with a laugh. "You know, I would have shared if you asked," they said. The Luffin simply blinked its wide eyes in response.
Skylar held out one hand in a gentle beckoning gesture, stepping slowly around the pool to try and approach the Luffin. But the Luffin wouldn't let them get any closer, sidling around the edge of the water to keep the pool between Skylar and itself the whole time. When Skylar tried to catch its gaze, it tilted its head away, aloof.
"I really think we could be good friends," Skylar remarked, "but it looks like you're not interested in leaving here yet. Your home really is very beautiful," Skylar said, gaze turning upward to the prism-like ice crystals in the ceiling.
"We'll be back!" Skylar declared. "But for now, let's leave and figure out what to do next. And I bet everyone back at the Celestial Peaks can't wait to hear about this hidden hollow!"
A Sparkling Discovery: Luffin Hollow
Skylar and Hop have discovered a brand-new location at the Celestial Peaktop. Luffin Hollow is a submerged cavern hidden below the Peaktop's deep spring. It's the natural habitat of the mysterious Luffin: An adorable, playful, but very rare resident of the Celestial Peaks.
There must be some way to befriend the Luffins within the Hollow and bond with them to bring them along with you on your adventure through Santae. But how...?
Skylar is on their way back to the Celestial Peaks to think about this mystery, and they will need the Adventurers' help to solve it!
Skylar will reach the base of the Celestial Peaks on December 27th for the next phase of this investigation!
Tracking Through The Snow
Accustomed to the sunny warmth of the Lani Archipelago, Silvershade didn't care much for the superchilled Winter weather sweeping Santae. But there was one undeniable benefit: Snow made tracking Minimals a lot easier!
Silvershade was familiarizing themself with the snowy paw- and claw-prints of all kinds of different creatures. A fresh layer of soft snow was like a blank page for Minimals to write the story of their day on by scurrying around -- and Silvershade had the skill to read it.
The abundance of snow prints had even helped them track down three new Minimals they had never seen before!
One trail was a trail of mixed talon- and paw-prints. There were occasional imprints of wing-shapes on either side -- but although the shapes were familiar, the outline had none of the softness of normal feathers. It led Silvershade to a stony gray gryphon sitting as still as a statue: Rocktalon!
Another trail led to marks where sharp claws had dug into the earth to search for something. The snow where the Minimal had crouched held the imprints of smooth scales. Silvershade thought they were on the trail of a reptile at first, but in the end they found the true culprit. It was a shiny, scaly gryphon: Wingclaw!
A bouncing trail of tiny pawprints led Silvershade on a looping, swirling trail across a snowfield. Eventually, they discovered the round, fluffy gryphon responsible fast asleep, tuckered out from its romping: Fluffon!
Now that Silvershade is familiar with their tracks, all three of these new gryphons are available for discovery via Herding at Silvershade's Ranch!
Quality Of Life Update: Receive Log
As this is the season of giving, we thought it important to be able to know who has gifted you during this time. So with that, we have added the Receive Log. You can find the Received Log linked under your Inventory header menu. It allows you to review all items that have been sent to you from other users over the last 7 days. This is the first of several updates the "Send to User" feature will see over the coming weeks.
Vespera Discovers Missing Pet Colors
Vespera walked out to her store front and glanced at her stock. She was proud of the rare trinkets she was able to provide for the adventurers of Santae. She walked down the aisles, adjusting item positions as she went, humming to herself whilst making sure that it was dust free and organized.
As she approached the shelves where the Rhymoss And Ursoso Figurines were placed, she gasped as she noticed something really odd - one of the shelves had tilted back, obstructing the view of the items on the next shelf behind it.
After tinkering with the bolts and screws, the shelf finally returned to its default position. She ducked into the next row of shelves to check on the wares and was shocked at what she saw --
She reached forward and grabbed the figurines that now had dust gathering on them. "Ah!" she grinned, "So that's why I haven't been selling any of these!".
Within a few minutes, the figurines were as good as new -- clean, shiny and ready for sale. Vespera placed them proudly at the front of all of the Divine Figurines so adventurers wouldn't miss them!
Vespera only has enough stock of the original Rhymoss and Ursoso Figurines to last a few more days, so they will still be leaving her shop as scheduled.
However, Vespera will have these new figurines in stock for another 30 days!
TL;DR
★ Skylar and Hop discovered a new location under the spring at the Celestial Peaktop: Luffin Hollow!
★ The investigation of how to bond with the Luffins within the Hollow will continue on December 27th.
★ Three new Minimals are available via Herding: Rocktalon, Wingclaw, and Fluffon.
★ QoL: Inventory now has a Receive Log so you can review who has sent you items in the previous 7 days.
★ Additional Ursoso and Rhymoss Divine Figurines (Netherflame and Regal) are now stocking in the Cash Shop and Dust Shop for the next 30 days.
