Issue 121 of the DDO Chronicle is now available!

[Cordovan]

Thank you for reading the DDO Chronicle. Don't forget to reply below to the Chronicle Comment for your chance to win 500 Turbine Points! We'll select a random winner after Noon Eastern on Friday, December 12th. Good luck!

[Vulkoorex]

The Festivult coin is a token to enter the event "Festivus for the rest of us".

[UurlockYgmeov]

they're magically delicious

[alancarp]

The coins are specially minted by the Jester himself to be weighted on one side to help avoid counterfeiting.
There is a rivalry between the Coin Lords and the Festivult Jester that came from a dispute over how much
of a cut the Coin Lords got of his operation.
Long story short, when no agreement was reached, the counterfeiting started so the Coin Lords would get
some of the action regardless, and they further told him never to set foot onto Eberron lands again.

So he doesn't.

[Enoach]

Festivult coins represent the first deal the Coin Lords did that started their reign. Currently referred to as Taxes, but at the time was more closely related to protection money. Now they use these coins to make people forget about these taxes which during the time after will cause people to only reflect on how much the Coin Lords pick from their pockets.

[Trillea]

They used to be foil-wrapped chocolate but since the great cacao blight they had to start making them out of precious metal to lower the costs.

[MadCookieQueen]

twas the night before Festivault and all through Eberron
Not a Kobold was stirring not even Krom
The halflings were hung by the trolls with care
in the hopes that Dwarven coins would soon be there

The adventurers were nestled all snug by the shrines
While visions of loots danced in their minds
And Deleria in her tomb and I in the inn
Had just settled down with a tumble of gin

When out on the beaches arose such a clatter
I sprang to Lordsmarch to see what was the matter
Away to the beaches I flew like the flash
To see the Droam army had a party to crash

With a little old fighter, so lively and quick
I knew in a moment, this fight would be quick
More rapid than zergers to the fight we came
We ended the army as part of the game!

Up above us I saw a streak of blue
A fancy old dragon and a team of ooze
A lively old Dwarf behind the reigns
Shouting commands and waving at all that remains!

Now treasure, now armor, now silver and gold
On cookies! On tomes! on copper and bags of old
To the top of the Harbor! to the top of the Inn!
Now haste away! Haste away! Festivault Begins!

[The_Human_Cypher]

The Festivult Coin was the smallest of the coins used by the Xen'drik Giants of antiquity.

[Saekee]

twas the night before Festivault and all through Eberron
Not a Kobold was stirring not even Krom
The halflings were hung by the trolls with care
in the hopes that Dwarven coins would soon be there

The adventurers were nestled all snug by the shrines
While visions of loots danced in their minds
And Deleria in her tomb and I in the inn
Had just settled down with a tumble of gin

When out on the beaches arose such a clatter
I sprang to Lordsmarch to see what was the matter
Away to the beaches I flew like the flash
To see the Droam army had a party to crash

With a little old fighter, so lively and quick
I knew in a moment, this fight would be quick
More rapid than zergers to the fight we came
We ended the army as part of the game!

Up above us I saw a streak of blue
A fancy old dragon and a team of ooze
A lively old Dwarf behind the reigns
Shouting commands and waving at all that remains!

Now treasure, now armor, now silver and gold
On cookies! On tomes! on copper and bags of old
To the top of the Harbor! to the top of the Inn!
Now haste away! Haste away! Festivault Begins!

Wow! Please feature this in next week's issue!

As for the coin history:
The Jester is part of a division of Archons that seek to bolster the efforts of adventurers in Eberron. Soon there will be a quest like Running with the Devils in which your are mistakenly forced to slaughter your way through a stronghold full of Festivault jesters. It is a low-level quest--the jesters drop fast--and the end reward/reveal is, shockingly, the coin-making device with an input tunnel from the Fleshmaker lab...
From then on all cookies cause nausea unless you are either a toaster or in a pale master shroud...

[Vooduspyce]

An ancient mimic filled with a century of plundered gold, silver and copper ate a Tu Vista Elf whose portable hole was filled with Potions of Wondrous Power. Inside the enormous mimic's gullet, the trapped and doomed elf, in a final act of desperation, shoved his Quiver of Ehlonna inside the portable hole, which created a magical explosion that could be seen for miles. The instability of the hoard of potions altered the elf, the mimic and his treasure, and the the massive eruption of energy sent the magically altered coins hurling into the sky and raining down onto the land. The next day, people from all across the countryside reported finding strange coins in the forest, in the fields and in the streets.

[Dulcimerist]

They're used as currency in Risia. The Festivult coins in DDO have been stolen and stashed in chests for us to find and turn in to the Jester as part of a money laundering scheme.

[cdbd3rd]

What is the history of the Festivult Coin?

A nod towards the RL status of the holidays...

[Fnordian]

Once upon a time there was a Mad Jester who sneakily rose in power in the Coin Lords until he was running things behind the scenes. One of his first edicts was the creation of marvelous magical cookies and cakes in the month of Vult, followed by the minting of special coins that could be used to trade for them. Why he did this isn't exactly known, except that he was a fun sort of guy (albeit, somewhat crazy too).

[madmaxhunter]

Festivult Coins were the last attempt to create a currency before the astral shards became the basis of the economy. The Jester was the coinsmith and is trading his wife's cookies (she's a hag btw) to get them back.

[nordlav]

Tis a long tale, but suffice to say they are elvish in origin, created in the high north country.

[rfachini]

The Coin Lords had special coins minted to exchange among themselves during Festivult. The coins were being transported to the city gates one day when a horde of hobgoblins attacked the caravan and claimed all of them. They bragged so much about their pile of loot that many other monsters ganged up and decimated the clan, taking the coins. Through petty squabbles and other groups of monsters stealing and re-stealing the loot through the years, they became scattered all throughout Stormreach. Once per year the Festivult Jester, for reasons known only to him, exchanges them for gifts. He then secretly re-distributes these coins to the wilds and into the clutches of the local monster populace the following year.

[Hazelnut]

Thank you for reading the DDO Chronicle. Don't forget to reply below to the Chronicle Comment for your chance to win 500 Turbine Points! We'll select a random winner after Noon Eastern on Friday, December 12th. Good luck!

The history of the Festivult coins is quite simple. When the Crystal Cove event is over, there are a lot of leftover doubloons kicking around. Most of them are simply tossed out to save inventory space. The Kobolds that live in the sewers of Stormreach sneak out and collect them up. The are re-stamped with the Festivult markings by said Kobolds. The orcs and assorted bosses collect these coins and stick them in their treasure chests thinking they are of value.

A similar think happens after Festivult is over, except is it the pirates who plunder old festivult coins and re-stamp them as doubloons. Thus the cycle of currency continues.

[ForgettableNPC]

In an alternate plane, there was an apprentice baker who desired endless riches beyond his own imagination, after spending several years in the bakery, he grew tired of his culinary acts and dawned a sword and shield and started a journey to attain his heart's desire.

He slew thousands of monstrous aberrations and deceived many a good men in order to reach his goal, by any means necessary. Sometimes his actions were akin to that of a hero's, other times, a villain, which he truly was we cannot say.

In the last days of his adventure, he was finally face-to-face with the God of Wealth and Prosperity, and asked for the wealth that he always wanted, and put an end to his adventuring days.

But the deity was not a fair one, he DID give him wealth...it just didn't appear before him immediately.

He knelt before the God and pleaded: "Where is the gold? The wealth? The riches?"

To that the God explain to him: "The wealth is truly yours, mortal, but you will not find it here. But rather, where it belongs: in Treasure Chests, in a different world...Eberron." And with that, he vanished, never to be seen again.

The man fell to despair, feeling that his eternal wealth has been robbed, and wept for three days and three nights, until one of his comrades, one who he did not betray until the end, came at his door, and learned of his situation.

At first the adventurer berated the man for his actions, for his foolishness for ruining the lives of many for chasing after such a dream, but soon felt pity; and wished to aid him...as long as he was willing to split his wealth with a certain close friend.

His friend opened a portal for him, a portal to Eberron, a world where his riches lie waiting.

When the two set foot in the world, they saw Stormreach, a cesspool of crime and villainy, and corruption, definitely corruption, as least four different kinds of it.

At first they went as all adventurers do and searched for treasure chests across the land, but it was not an easy task. There were countless chests all across the world, not even the two of them could possibly get all of them.

Then, by pure chance, a passing beggar asked the man for anything to eat. He would've spared the man a slab of Ham, or some filling corn soup...but all he had on him was a single, stale cookie.

The beggar accepted the treat happily as the man apologized for his lack of foodstuffs...but just as the beggar bit down onto the cookie...he screamed.

He screamed in joy; an affliction that hindered him for years that could only be cured magically has healed him back upon his own two feet, he thanked the man and ran off joyfully.

The two adventurers stared back at each other in disbelief, staring only at the crumbs the beggar left behind...to them, they were just ordinary cookies, but when consumed by those of this particular plane...it had magical effects.

They had an idea: An idea to easily gain the wealth the trickster god had spread throughout Eberron, to any and all passerby adventurers, the man offered his various confectioneries in exchange for his riches...the Festivult coins. He goes back to his own realm until time dictates, stocking up on thousands and thousands of magical cookies and cakes and other sweets, and brings them with him to Eberron, and exchanges it for coins of Copper, Silver, and Gold.

His deeds were repeated every year-sometimes multiple times per year, depending on the amount of the confectioneries that were baked in that amount of time-and eventually, to the locals of Stormreach, he became to be known...

As the Jester of Festivult.

[FAQ]

They're lost kobold souls

[krzyysiek098]

They were minted in the Roman Empire and later magically teleported to Eberron.