Riding the Lightning (Stormriven)

(I decided to split this up into two parts - one for Stormriven and one for the hall. This way it'll be two short parts instead of one huge part. Enjoy!)

I immediately got turned off by this guy's attitude.

"Hey now," said Christina. "We're not like that!"

"A Wizard like yourselves cause this chaos!" snapped Leland. "The next thing I know, there are ghost running about and the dome is breaking apart! If you want my help, you'll go and fix the water pump - the ghosts are guarding crates of pump parts, go find them!"

"Fine," I growled.

 
I saw the problem - there were ghostly aliens like Selwyn roaming about the place. Was another Necromancer like Malistaire messing things up? Or was it... no, can't think that right now!

We gathered the crates and found the parts to the water pump.

"This is pretty easy," said Christina as she fixed the pump and turned it back on. It began to pump vigorously... ew, that sounded wrong.

"You're getting on my bad side," I said under my breath.

"If you are an electrician as well, maybe you can fix the power generator as well," said Leland. "Those Celestian Remnants made off with the power cores needed to run it."

So it was time to face the ghostly aliens. They were pretty skilled combatants...

But they crumpled to Earthquake. (Confirmed weakness of Star-element enemies, Myth?)

"You're pretty handy," I said as Christina fixed up the power generator.

"My parents were handymen," said Christina. "They taught me to be experimentive."

"Let's show that foul dog we meant business!" said Mindy.

I rolled my eyes. "Leland's not foul, but we do need to report our success."

"Hold up," said Christina. "We need to turn on the device. There should be a lever somewhere..."

There was, but it was guarded BY SHARKS. UGH!

Yeah, that was a 9.0 on the Richter Scale. (The Piscean Lancer is an elite enemy but not too much more difficult - he's Storm, making it easy to Quake him for a 1HKO.)

There. NOW we could tell Leland what happened.

"Yeah, told you we were good guys!" said Mindy.

"I guess I was a little upset, I didn't give you due credit," said Leland. "Right, off to a fresh start."

I smiled. "I want us to have a good relationship between us, Leland. Whoever that other Wizard was who caused this mess, we will fix it." I quickly explained our reason for being here.

"We too are trying to find a way into the Lunarium," said Leland. "We've discovered that there are several pieces of a portal stone around here."

"And we'll be finding them, I guess," I said, face-palming. "We'll go look around." Yep, I had an inkling that one of the portals in the Grand Plaza lead to the Lunarium and the portal stone to that was broken up as well.

My heart skipped a beat as we were looking.

Shadow Weavers.

I recalled the conversation I heard in Dragonspyre when I was getting the Stone of Mazzaroth and how they talked about their "queen." I realized that they served Morganthe. This woman was even more powerful than I had thought.

"Here's one piece!" said Mindy.

"I found another!" said Christina.

And I found a third piece being guarded by the Shadow Weavers and their ghostly soldiers. I slipped through and grabbed it.

"So what now?" I asked.

Leland rubbed his chin. "Perhaps the Celestians know. There is a Celestian called Alaric Moonsunder in the Ossuary. He is a friendly fellow, mayhaps he might know."

The Ossuary was swarming with enemies, but I saw a ghostly alien nearby. I approached.

"No, we are Wizards," I said. "We are looking for Alaric Moonsunder."

"I am he," said the alien, who I realized what one of the ancient Celestians. I was intrigued.

"We are seeking pieces of a portal to the Lunarium," said Christina. "Can you help us?"

"I am afraid not," said Alaric. "When the armies of Morganthe invaded, years ago, we called upon the Storm Titan to aid us... and he drowned this world in the sea. Even now, we are battling the Morgantine invaders. My counterpart amongst the Morganite invaders is Karolax Nightspinner. He might be able to help you."

What did G.R. say about trusting a giant? I wish I had that urn right now - I didn't trust working with a Shadow Weaver.

"Can you help us find the portal pieces?" asked Mindy.

"If I had my Shadowseeker amulet, I could help you locate them," said Karolax. "Alas, I lost it when it was severed from my neck in battle with Alaric Moonsunder himself."

"We'll go find it," I muttered.

"Look over here," said Christina.

"Oh, that old thing?" said the Shadow Weaver. "Go ahead and read it, I don't mind."

I took notes of the Kraken Zodiac book and shuddered as I read its page. I had a feeling we'd be getting doom and woe soon enough.

"This is only a piece of the medallion!" said Christina. "Where are the other pieces?"

"Maybe Alaric knows?" I said. "After all, he cut off the thing."

"Yeah yeah," I said. "Sorry for the rudeness but can you spare the poetry and just tell us where the other pieces are?"

"It shattered when it fell," said Alaric. "He didn't notice but his men did, scrabbling for the pieces. I thought they would return them to him, but they have no honor. They kept them for themselves."

"So we just beat the **** out of those ghosts and we'll get the pieces?" said Christina, grinning.

"EASY PEASY!" (The Shadow Web Mercs are Death, so be careful of Death Ninjas and Wraiths. Yes, enemies start spamming Rank 6 spells now if they get the pips.)

"We are not doing this for you," I said. "We just want the pieces to the portal stone."

"Yes yes," said Karolax. "But it's broken. Put it on that pedestal and it will repair itself."

Why do I get the feeling like I've seen this before?

 I knew it. Never trust a Shadow Weaver. :(

 

Christina: "OW!"

 Christina: "STOP IT!"

 

(Insert Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme here)

And the Pigs finished off Karolax.

"Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaay," said Mindy, rolling her eyes. "Clearly a masochist."

I found a portal stone piece in the remains. "Let's see if Leland has any more insight."

"Well, where do you surmise that we find the last piece?" I asked.

"Probably Stormriven Hall," said Leland. "It's found in a whirlpool in the Ossuary, you have to be careful there! When you get there, speak to a fellow called Vassek Shadowspite. Don't be fooled by the name, he's quite friendly."

I turned to the others. "Edith should have the submersible ready by now. Let's go speak to her."

Sure enough, she had it ready to go. We lugged it to the Ossuary and deposited it in the whirlpool and climbed in. We were close to the Lunarium, we had to keep going.

[To be continued...]