This year, Fantasy Faire once again presents the hunt in an expanded, story-based quest in which visitors to the Fairelands are invited to participate. In previous years, a call has gone to Heroes and Heroines to come to the Bard Queen and assist her in righting wrongs. But this year, it is the Bard Queen herself who has seemingly vanished – and that could be very bad news for the Fairelands!
Watch the trailer to find out more!
So – if you’re ready to be the Hero or Heroine – here’s a quick run-down of what to do and what to expect.
A Quick Overview
There are in fact two quests available – the The Bard Queen’s Song, which forms a multi-part adventure, and a treasure hunt.
The Bard Queen’s Song is multi-part, HUD-driven story you can complete in one go, or complete in stages; it is an Experience based activity, so all your progress is automatically saved, even if you remove your HUD. These notes are about this quest.
The treasure hunt involves seeking the treasure chests hidden in each of the Fairelands involved in the hunt (one per region) and touching them to claim your prize. The hunt can be completed before, after or during your progress through The Bard Queen’s Song, or without ever engaging on the main Quest.
Getting Started
First off, you’ll need the Quest HUD. This can be obtained from the kiosks at any of the Faireland realms landing points. Two versions are available:
- L$250 – provides you with the quest HUD and tools to get you going
- L$350 – provides you with the quest HUD and tools to get you going and male and female costumes so you can be more in character – and it will help you recognise other Adventurers, so you can help and support one another!
When you have purchased your HUD package and unpack it.
IMPORTANT: if you purchase the Deluxe HUD package you must REZ it to unpack it do not wear it to unpack, as doing so will cause the gift card to be lost.
When you have unpacked the package, wear both the HUD and the Farion NPC (which will sit on your shoulder, but be invisible – it will appear once you have met Farion on the Quest.
As noted above, The Bard Queen’s Song is Experience based. This means that if this is your very first Fantasy Faire Quest, or if you revoked the Fantasy Faire Experience from 2016, you must accept the Experience via ta dialogue similar to the one shown on the right (note that as I never revoked the Fantasy Faire Experience, the image on the right refers to the 2016 Quest – the dialogue box you see will reference The Bard Queen’s Song).
It is essential you accept the Experience by clicking Yes, otherwise it will not work.
If you have previously participated in the 2016 Fantasy Faire Quest and did not subsequently revoke the Experience, you will be automatically accepted into The Bard Queen’s Song without this dialogue appearing.
The HUD
As with most HUD-based activities, the HUD tracks your progress, provides hints, provides access to various options and displays information pertinent to your progress, such as the scrolls shown below.
The following options are available on the HUD:
- Teleport – displays the clickable teleport list (shown above right)
- Sponsors – displays a list of Quest sponsors’ logos
- Help – provides a note card on using the HUD
- History – displays dialogue box allowing you to replay the videos (“cutscenes”) which introduce the various parts of the Quest or obtain note cards (“logs”) introducing the various parts of the Quest
- Lists – displays a list of the Fairelands containing a treasure chest if you’re on the treasure hunt (shown above left). Regions where you have found a chest are greyed-out (as with Mudrana)
- Setup – offers you a number of settings:
- SAVE – saves your progress to date in the Quest (which should happen automatically)
- RELOAD – reloads your progress to data if required – this is sometimes necessary if you crash for any reason while on the Quest
- RESET – completely resets your status in the Quest, allowing you to start over from the beginning, if you want. Use this option with care, as all your current progress will be lost!
Farion NPC
Make sure you wear the Farion NPC – it will not be visible until you’ve completed your fist task (finding him!) – but one visible, you can touch him at any time for additional clues – some of which will be vital for progress without frustration. Should he turn transparent for any reason, just touch him again to pop him back into view.
Game Play Guidelines
Task 1: Find Farion and Embark on Your Quest!
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Your first task is to find Farion. Note that conversations with NPCs are displayed via the HUD, rather than appearing as in-world local chat, as with previous Quests Your first task in the HUD is to seek out Farion in Fairelands Junction and receive her instructions. The HUD should teleport you to his vicinity, so make sure you look around a bit before wandering off!
- Part of the story will be told through videos displayed in your viewer via a screen provided by your HUD. If the videos do not start automatically, click the screen. If they refuse to run, use the links in chat to watch them on YouTube (please do not share or embed links to the videos in blogs!)
- When the video has finished, close the window and click on Farion to complete your conversation with him and to get started on your way
- Note you will be returning to Farion when you’re ready to start the final part of the Quest, and will need to repeat these steps.
- Note also that conversations with NPCs and hints and instructions for the Quest are displayed via the HUD, rather than appearing as in-world local chat, as with previous Quests.
Task 2: Locate Barnabas and then Find the Ingredients
Your first port-of-call after Farion is to find Barnabas, who will then set you on your way to finding the 14 ingredients needed to help the Bard Queen. These are located one per region, according to a list displayed by the HUD.
- You do not have to collect the items in the order given in the list
- Use the teleport scroll to jump to a region you wish to search
- Touch an item in the Ingredients List to obtain a clue as to where it is within the region in question
- Note the clues can be cryptic and play on words (e.g. “need wings” could mean you need to look on higher levels when searching; “make a splash” might mean finding your way under water, and so on)
- Ingredients may be found anywhere in a Faireland region, but not in any of the shops
- Ingredients are of varying sizes – some quite small, others blend very well into their surroundings – and so a very keen eye is required
- Whilst visiting one region, Farion may suggest looking-up an old friend of his. She has information which might be useful
- When you find an ingredient, Touch it to obtain it. The item and region associated with it will be greyed-out on your list
Task 3: Assisting the Bard Queen
Once you have found all the ingredients and hopped back to the Fairelands Junction for a quick conflab with Farion via video, you must gird your lions and enter Morbus, where you must come to the aid of the Bard Queen.
To complete this part of the quest:
- You Must first find the Bard Queen and heed her words!
- Locate the six parts of a broken key and assemble them to unlock the door to the underworld within Morbus
- Make your way though the underground maze – be prepared to get a little wet along the way!
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The Alchemist’s Scroll When you get to the tower, mix the ingredients of the potion
- You’ll be given a temporary attachment of bowl, cauldron and horns, together with a key of ingredients
- Poke Farion for additional aid or seek the Alchemist’s Scroll (right)
- Mix the ingredients by grinding and / or pouring them / placing them in the horns – click the item in the list (not displayed in the key) you wish to grind / pour / place
- Note that not everything has to be ground, and that the horns can hold more than one item.
- The colours of the stoppers on the horns provide a clue to three of the items which should go into them
- When you’ve mixed everything
- Read the instructions carefully
- Make sure the fire under the temp cauldron you’re wearing is lit
- Drop the horns into the temp cauldron you’re wearing – you must do so in the right order!
- Heed Farion’s instructions about stirring the cauldron, and make sure you turn the fire out when done.
Task 4: Distract the Monster
To complete this part of the Quest:
- Follow the instructions! – Touch the correct lines of the verse as your choices are shown
- If you get a verse wrong, you’ll be teleported away and must return to the top of the tower and start over
- Don’t close the text prompts if there is a “continue” arrow in the lower right – it will curtail a verse you’re reciting and teleport you away, so you’ll have to find your way back to the top of the tower and start over in distracting the monster
- When you complete a verse correctly instruct the Bard Queen to attack (click on the option in the HUD text area)
- You must complete all three verses correctly in succession to allow the Bard Queen’s attacks to work, although it doesn’t matter which order you complete the verses; just click on the first line of the one you wish to start
- When you are successful, the monster will be destroyed and you’ll be treated to two final videos
- Touch the glowing portal in the air alongside the tower to reach the treasure chest.
Remember!
You can reset your HUD and re-take the The Bard Queen’s Song if you wish, and you can still hunt the other treasure chests hidden throughout the Fairelands!
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