Twas the night before patch day [poetry]

[Pondera]

Twas the night before patch day
And all the servers were down
All warriors of light were logged out
Sleeping soundly with nary a frown

The players all pouted. They wanted to play, and prayed the downtime would not be delayed

The devs worked their hardest, squashing every bug they could catch
while Square Enix, in their wisdom, applied the new patch

Then by voodoo or hacking, magic or zen,
something strange had happened because Ven of Arcadia had logged in.

The things that he saw defied description
But that will have to do, since this writer lacks artistic depictions

The NPCs weren't in their place that morn'
Spriggan and Kobold partied with the likes of Lalafell and Elezen

Some Amaljaa were cooking marshmellows over Ifrit's roaring flame
And some drunk Xaela were doing the same

In strolled Ravana, holding pumpkin spice and skull and saw Ven and let out a call

Come sound department, modeling, and environmental detail
Onward programming, and design team, there's raids for players to fail!

They lit up the torches, and sang songs with glee
And there could be only one explanation: Halloween Party with Yoshi-P

Hraesvelgr and Vidofnir took to the skies, the moogles of Mog and Pom following close by.

And down to the four cities, the dragons they flew
Carrying candies of all sorts and large kegs of brew

After scanning the crowd and giving each Mob a stare,
Ven came to realize that one boss wasn't there.

So he mounted his mount and flew through the skies of fall,
Across valley and mountain to the slopes of Sohm Al

Niddhog the dragon had a soul colored black
Teeth ground sharp and scales across his back.

With red eyes of fire, he could give quite a scare
He had invitation but because of Ishgardian eternal winter, was froze to his lair

The King of the first brood was neither jolly nor merry, there aren't words to describe stuff this scary

His big frozen butt all covered in snow, he wanted to party but just couldn't go.

Just then, in the distance, a figure flew in and walked right inside
It was the black mage, Ven

Nidhogg was furious, beside himself
Of the audacity of this creature to confront him on this northern ice shelf

But he had an idea, forced a smile through his lips and beckoned "come forward, young one, I've a gift"

Skeptically, Ven approached Nidhogg's throne
"The rest celebrate but they leave me alone. I enjoy dressing in costume and demanding a trick or treat. But I've a plan" Nidhogg said with a laugh. With a snap and motion like a whip, his tail lashed out and cut Ven in half

"Don't worry, I've not ended your life. Now rise and become my minion, Dragon Knight!"

Newfound power coursed from vein to vein, no long desiring parties or candy to the level of insane. Nidhogg gave him some armor, decorated in black, a runic forged sword and then sent him back.

Party still raging on by the time he'd returned, rejuvenated by the power he'd learned. He landed in town, made quite a scene, and was voted the best glamour this Halloween.

Now what happened next, bears not repeating, but the party was over, many retreating. The candy was trampled, decorations turned to soot, Ven killed all the bosses, scored all the phat loot

Well, Halloween was over but Nidhogg was pleased
"Gather the treats, my son, and bring them to me. Gather the candy, the snacks, the large kegs of brew.... and is that a space heater? You can bring that back too!"

Loading the treats on his mount, Venusiel flew out of sight. Happy Halloween from this dark dragon knight!