Zalanna Fernroot braced herself as she entered Gnorma's Gourmet Goodies. The proprietress was such an absolute genius when it came to delicious sweets that she was now the "go to" place for all the classiest party catering. However, she'd let just about anyone in the door, which ... bothered ... the high society elf a tad. Why, the last time she'd visited, there had been a dark elf acting as if she belonged in there!

She had just started to relax as she saw that the current clientele were more her sort of people, when a pile of purple fabric shuffled through the door. She blinked, trying to make sense of the vision. Neon pink flippers were just visible beneath the pile, and Zalanna determinedly turned her head away. Whatever it was, she didn't want to know.

Gnormajean had also noted the entrance, and her face broke into a wide grin. "Pinking? Are you done them already? When I asked you to swing by, I meant for a little extra something that I made for you. I didn't mean I was rushing you for the new curtains!"

Pinking Shears, neon pink froglok tailor extraordinaire, dropped the large pile of curtains onto a clean chair, bouncing a bit with excitement. Since she was also dressed in pinks from head to toe, she knew exactly why the snooty-looking high elf customer kept sneaking sidelong peeks at her, and she rolled her eyes expressively as she grinned at Gnormajean. "No worries, Gnorma! These may have eaten up a solid amount of purple fabric, but curtains are easy to make. Besides, your note made me curious, and it gave my fingers something to do while my brain was busy speculating! I'll just start hanging them while you deal with your customer, and then we can have a good little chat, ok?" With that, she hopped into the kitchen for the gnomish stepladder, and began to hang the new curtains in all the shop windows.

Gnorma, meanwhile, was steering Zalanna away from her Bristlebane Day special. "Really, ma'am, you want to stick with the cordials that have the pink tags, as they're filled with liqueurs for the more um ... refined ... palates. The grab bag is a mix of all the liqueur cordials listed, and some of those would not be to the taste of you and your guests. The same goes for the non-alcoholic jelly-filled ones. I color coded the tags since we welcome all the races here."

Several minutes later, during a moment where the shop was blissfully empty of customers, Gnorma tugged at her short white hair. "That woman! It would have served her right if I'd let her buy the prank grab bags! But she and her ilk can't take a joke, and I'd lose some large-spending customers if they got something like the troll spit brew in a mystery cordial at her party. Just as well, anyway. We can barely keep ahead of the demand for the grab bags. There are lots of folks out there who adore a good joke or two at this time of year, so let her go for the snooty stuff, others who can appreciate it more, can go for the fun stuff." She grinned mischievously at Pinking, "Speaking of fun stuff, I need you to be a taste-tester for some froglok-friendly candies."

"Gladly! Oh, please tell me you took my comment about chocolate-covered dragonflies to heart!" Pinking started excitedly bouncing in place.

"Among other things. I present to you, Bug Bites!" Gnorma pulled a small covered tray from under the counter, and handed it to Pinking.

"Frrrrooooooaaaaakkkkkk! Oh, happy day!" For the next several minutes, Pinking sampled one candied delicacy after another, with random comments thrown in. "Hmmm, the chocolate-covered mayflies would taste better in a white chocolate, I think." "The dragonflies are perfection in the dark chocolate." "I'd have never thought to use mint jelly as the base for the mealworms. Surprisingly, it works well!"

Finally, there was a single chocolate-covered-something on the tray, and as Pinking reached for it, Gnorma casually placed a mug of water on the table beside it.

"Aiiiiiieeeeeeefrrrrooaaaaakkk! Hot! Hot!" Pinking downed the mug of water in long, desperate gulps, then fanned her face. When she could speak again. she continued, "I like spicy, but that's too much. Cut the amount of Kith pepper powder in half, at least, and they'd be good. Fire ants, weren't they?" As she noticed Gnorma's shoulders shaking with laughter, she squinted a bit. "Thought you'd prank me with it, did you? Seriously, though, I know frogloks, and likely some iksar, among others, who'd love them, if they were a bit more sanely spiced."

Gnorma grinned unrepentantly. "I figured with Mum still feeling out of sorts, I needed to do a bit of extra pranking in her honor. The last time I stopped by for a visit, I didn't even bother knocking, since the sign was still up on the door and I heard her coughing and grumbling. She was well enough to send me a note with some suggestions, though, which is how the mystery liqueur grab bags came about."

Thus it was that Pinking set out in search of her Bristlebane Day festivities with Mum on her mind. She'd known that Niami had been under the weather for a couple months with some sort of nasty cold that just didn't want to give up, but she hadn't realized that the flame-haired mischief maker was still feeling poorly enough that she'd miss Bristlebane's holiday!

Her musings were diverted by a shiny purple glow out in the Enchanted Lands, and she pounced upon it eagerly. Her enthusiasm dimmed, however, as she tried, repeatedly to grab it. One purple shiny turned into three. Another failed grab, and it was five shinies, and she swore she could hear cackling as she kept coming up empty. She lost count of the purple glows surrounding her, and she knew there just had to be a catch, given the time of year. Sure enough, when she finally managed to actually grab the collection item, all of the surplies shinies disappeared. Feh.

Of course her frustration turned to amusement as she sat on her bovoch mount, Patches, and watched some greedy adventurer cackling over his multiplying shinies. He had worked up quite a sweat before they all disappeared on him, and she idly made note of a few inventive curse words that she'd never heard before. She'd concede that there was amusement value in this prank!

She even told the Grand Prankster so when she spoke with him later in the day. He, meanwhile, wanted to share a story from the Age of Turmoil with her. However, he didn't just want her to hear the story, but to experience part of it firsthand. She knew there had to be some catch or twist to it all, but she agreed anyway.

Just as she stepped into the portal, she noticed a goblin walking up to the Grand Prankster, trailing a scroll that was longer than he was tall. Oh good, she'd left just in time. Goblin-speak gave her a horrid headache.

Other than a tendency to hear random comments come out of thin air as she battled various creatures, things were surprisingly predictable until she hopped down a short hallway and came nose to whisker with a large white were-rabbit. She stared at the were-rabbit. The were-rabbit stared back at the vision in bright pinks. Pinking eventually won the staring match and managed to tame the were-rabbit as her newest warder, and was feeling quite proud of herself as she rounded the next corner and ran straight into a were-bear. Nah, she didn't want to replace her patchcraft bear warder with a big brown were-bear, so she and BunnyFufu battled it instead.

When Pinking emerged from the dungeon a short while later, she found that the goblin was still there, and was apparently reading an epic poem to the Grand Prankster of all the things that the gobbie loved about Bristlebane. Pinking was so intent on watching The Grand Prankster squirm, that it took a moment for the line "and Snorblezonk even loves your yummy, yummy toe-jam" to sink in.

Pinking lost it. Completely and utterly lost it. Fell off Patches and lay on her back, pink flippered feet waving in the air as she froaked with uncontrollable laughter. BunnyFuFu looked quite confused, as did Snorblezonk, who stopped his recitation to peer at the noisy froglok.

The Grand Prankster seemed to be experiencing equal parts of embarassment at the "poem" and relief at her timely interruption. "Ahem. Well, yes, I'm sure the rest of the, um, poem, is equally as wonderful. Why don't I just take the scroll so I can enjoy it later without interruptions, eh?"

"Sure! Sure! Snorblezonk's been working on this long time! Since 'Lissi day, when Mum saids alllll da gods needed love notes, just nots on 'Lissi's day, but on their owns days insteads!"

"Aha! I should have known she was involved in this. I'm surprised she's not around to have a good giggle at my expense." The enormous halfling looked around from his several-story height, as if expecting to find the wee Niami leaping out from behind a bush at any moment.

"No. She's nots involved, she ickysick! Snorblezonk wanted to give you small note on 'Lissi day, but she said to waits for your holly-day, instead of love's holly-day. Snorblezonk hasn't seen her since. Went knock-knock today to read this for her an' dere was a weather sign and lots of cough-cough grumble-grumble from behind closed door, but no see Mum. Not sure why sign talk about weather. Did she leave you for Karana?"

Pinking's laughter had finally calmed down, so she chimed in (anything to get the goblin to stop talking!) "Mum's been fighting on and off with a nasty cold for the last couple months. She's had an "under the weather" sign on her front door for two months now, and has been mostly just sending her friends notes when she wants to tell them something. We're starting to be worried about h--" She trailed off as she realized that the Grand Prankster had simply ... disappeared ... leaving the scroll, and a woebegone Snorblezonk behind.

She then took that as her cue to also beat a hasty retreat, before the goblin offered to read her his "poem" as well.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Niami DenMother had just taken a large sip of cider when her (supposedly locked) front door flew open with a loud crash. Therefore, her coughing was not at all feigned as she ended up inhaling some of the slightly tart drink, while the rest went flying out of her mouth and nose. She stared at the sudden intruder into her home through watering eyes and barely had time to recognize Bristlebane in his Blat Berisen guise before he was scolding her. "What are you doing out of bed? What does the healer say about your condition? Why is it lasting so long? I can call in a favor with Rodcet to find you a better healer! Cider's no good for a cold, you should be drinking brandy!"

When she finally got her coughing under control, Mum tartly responded, "Well, hello tae ye as well, yuir grand grumpiness. I hope ye're going tae repair that door o' mine afore ye leave. I've been o'er th' nasty cold an' such frae a couple weeks now, an' this time it seems tae have stayed gone."

"Then why are you coughing now? You're not allowed to get that ill, you're one of my prime pranksters! Wait, this isn't a prank, is it? No, wait, others have heard you coughing too. Really, you don't sound at all good. I think I'm taking you directly to the Temple of Life. Rodcet owes me a favor or two."

Mum sat there for a moment, just sort of blinking confusedly at him. She'd never heard him quite this rattled before and it rather derailed her train of thought. When he reached for her as if to bodily carry her out of the house, she managed to recover a bit, and slapped at his hands.

"Och! Ye jus' startled me wi' yuir breaking into me home an' all, an' th' cider went down my windpipe." A smirk spread across her face, and her blue eyes glinted with mischief. "Howe'er, if ye'd knocked, like any civilized person wuild hae done, I'd hae burnt a bit o' this feather in this candle, an' inhaled, sae I'd be heard tae cough. I jus' got tired o' all th' interruptions, an' needed a bit o' a break afore I went back out in th' world. I was truly sick long enow tha' folks are finally mostly gi'ing me a bit o' peace oot o' fear o' disturbing my rest."

"But, but ... what about my holiday?" Oh great, now he sounded like an overgrown boy-child preparing to throw a tantrum. Best nip that in the bud quickly. A sulky god of Mischief could wreak more havoc than a mere mortal could survive.

"Tcha! Tha's what accomplices are frae. Or ... minions ... aye, I like th' sound o' that. Snorblezonk DID visit ye today, didn't he? An' ye DID hear aboot th' yarn bombings o' landmarks in Freeport an' Neriak, eh? An' th' mystery candies wi' all sorts o' odd surprises in them? An' ..." She continued to recite a number of events that had occurred due to the notes she'd been sending out both while on her sickbed, and during her reclusive recovery, and slowly started to relax as he finally started chuckling.

"All right, all right, score one for you, little one. It was rather cruel of you to make your friends worry like that about your health, though." He peered at her, as if to once again reassure himself that she wasn't on her deathbed.

"Well, I ha'e been sick! It felt like I was coughing up a lung more than once this winter an' e'ery time I thought I was o'er th' worst o' it, it came back! It only makes sense tae take it easy frae a couple weeks after all that, sae well-meaning visitors do nae tire me oot enow tae gi'e me a relapse!"

As his eyes widened as he looked her over once more, Mum realized that she was sitting in her kitchen with her hair all askew in a cider-sodden nightgown that was uncomfortably (and revealingly) sticking to her chest with none other than Bristlebane himself.

"Och!" One hand went to her hair, the other to her chest as she dove out of her chair and ran for her bedroom. Bristlebane was left alone in the kitchen with an overturned chair, spilled cider, and one lonely fuzzy bunny slipper that had been lost in Mum's hasty exit. There was a loud slam, then Mum's raised voice came through the now-closed bedroom door. "An' remember tae fix th' door on yuir way oot!"

A deep chuckle was the only response.

Welcome to the Bristlebane Day festivities! This event content, full of merriment and mischief is scheduled to run from March 25, at 12:01 AM (Pacific) until April 7, 2016 at 11:59 PM (Pacific) on the live servers, with special hijinks and quests available on 4/1 only (including a veritable explosion of harvests in EL from all holiday events on that one day, as well as from your upgraded pack pony).

New Craftables

The Bristlebane Day merchant in your local crafting society area will sell you Perfectly Serious Items to Craft VII (as well as the six earlier volumes from past years). These recipes, which can be crafted by all crafting classes, require an event harvest as well as common tier 1 and tier 2 harvestables. (The Jester's Gardens for the event harvestables are found in Antonica, Commonlands, Darklight Wood, Timorous Deep, Greater Faydark and Frostfang Sea.)

Barrel of Fool's Gold	Bottle of Bristleberry Wine	Classic Rivervale Horn
Gold Filigreed Jar	Jester's Oversized Confetti-Globe	Loony Patterned Pillow
Lucky Horseshoe* SEE BELOW*	Rivervale Conveyance Draft	Rivervale Furnace
Rustic Rivervale Barrel Rack	Thief's Chest of Gold	Halfling Hot Peppers
Square Jester's View Window Pane

*The Lucky Horseshoe will have bugged placement until a patch on March 29 due to the extra time needed for art asset changes.

New Buyables

An Owlbear Wall Trophy 5 coins	Jocular Patchcraft Howler Plushie 20 coins	Jovial Patchcraft Snapper Plushie 20 coins
Mimic (no-trade housepet) 10 coins	Petamorph Wand - Nurgan Scout 6 coins	Prankster's Crown 5 coins
Rivervale Vine Wreath Door 30 coins

New Quest

There is one new Bristlebane Day quest this year, "Rescuing the Princess - A Bristlebane Tale". Reward for this quest is your choice of 10 Fool's Gold Coins or a Vibrant Bristlebane Banner (ceiling mounted). The quest is available from the Grand Prankster in Antonica/Commonlands, and I am assuming you first have to have done the (non repeatable) quest series from Blat Berisen at some point in order to see him.

Since there is new content for this event, Casdoe of Maj'Dul has put together a Bristlebane Day Quest Tracker for us to use. Thanks again, ma'am!

Cyliena has put together a quest walk-through over at EQ@Wire for those who need it.

Beastlords Take Note!

New Collection

There is one new purple shiny collection this year, which can be found in Enchanted Lands (check around Lookout Stump and Seamist Plains Village as well as in the Snack Snatcher area), Sinking Sands (the beach and above at the airship area), the new quest instance and the instance for Gnary a Joke to Tell. It is a rather mischievous set of pie shinies, as you will soon see for yourself! ;) "Prankster's Piece of the Pie" rewards a no-trade appearance-only Cloak of the Grand Prankster.

Just one little shiny

But it seems to be multiplying!

Wow! All for me?!*

**Sadly, no, all those shinies aren't for you. They simply keep multiplying each time you fail to harvest a shiny, then the surplus poofs when you successfully grab something. What a nasty trick by Bristlebane, eh?

New Quest Reward

There are also new quest rewards for the April 1-only riddle quests. Those are covered down in the April 1 section.

Ready, Aim ...

... BAM!

Bzzzzzzzzzz

April 1

Harvestables: on this special day, there will be Jester's Superior Gardens scattered all over the Enchanted Lands. These special shrub nodes will give you any of the special events harvestables from: Frostfell, Erollisi Day, Nights of the Dead, Tinkerfest, Brewday Festival, and Bristlebane Day. The upgraded version of the pack pony, on this one day only, will bring back a HUGE ton of harvestables from all of the above events, so make sure to be standing near your depot, and/or have tons of bag space, when you collect holiday harvestables from your pony on that day.

Frostfell in ... April? Most of us are happy with one season of Frostfell a year, but for those like {cough} Lera {cough} who can't get enough of Frostfell, as well as those who find themselves with a Frostfell fuel shortage due to poor planning, there will be Frostfell crafting stations and fuel merchants in Enchanted Lands and Sinking Sands on April 1.

Questing: On April 1, seek out the sphinx located near the docks in the Enchanted Lands. You will need to answer some riddles, and do some traveling (all of which is safe for even low level adventurers) in order to claim your rewards. In addition to the rewards from past years, "Riddled Throughout the Land" has a new reward option of a "Golden Stone of Gygax" housepet, "Riddled Again" has a new reward option of an "Onyx Stone of Chance" and "Riddled Yet Again" will now also offer "Stone of Arneson."

Golden Stone of Gygax "Riddled Throughout the Land"

Onyx Stone of Chance "Riddled Again"

Stone of Arneson "Riddled Yet Again"

Odds and Ends

Patchcraft critters: While I am not covering the questing end of things, I'll just drop in a memory refresher for those trying to either do the "A Plethora of Patchwork Parts" quest from EL, or are trying to tame a patchcraft warder:

• Growlers (bears): Frostfang Sea and Greater Faydark
• Howlers (wolves): Darklight Woods and Commonlands
• Thrashers (badgers): Antonica
• Snappers (crabs): Timorous Deep