We ventured into the Great Chasm, a dreary place. We eventually discovered a ghost called Belia Windgazer who was all too happy to help us - she was the vault keeper. Sadly, her hands were tied as she was unable to give us the key to the vault we needed as the only known one had been on the vault master, who was dead. She referred us to another guy, a scientist called Edrik Scatterglow.
Of course, HE was busy himself, studying a crystal that was reflecting states of time. I sighed. "If we help you, can you help us?"
"Of course," he said, lighting up with glee. "Fetch my research notes and we'll talk."
Luckily, the research notes were easy to get, but then he asked us to harvest the crystal spinnerets from crystal...
"Spiders," I choked, shivering in fear.
"Are you okay, Mma?" asked Penny, worried.
"Yah, you're like totally bonked out," said my pet.
"It's nothing," I stammered, trying to conceal my fear. I didn't know how long I could hold a brave face - every since I saw the Ice Weavers way back in the Krokosphinx, I had this... problem. I didn't realize how it would affect my life until much later, but I knew things would come to a head if I kept fighting spider monsters. I felt sick to my stomach but fought the fear long enough to grab the required spinnerets for Edrik. (I hate quests that require collecting from enemies with bad drop rates.)
Along the way, we helped a knight recover a dangerous artifact and set up a vault to protect it, then hid the key. The knight thanked us from the bottom of his heart and I was glad too. "Good thing we locked it up," I later told Grace. "Such things should never have been created."
"But someone was stupid enough to create them, eh," she replied, smiling. "Just like the book we need to recover from Malistaire before he uses it."
I nodded and focused on hurrying our tasks - the quicker we got to the former Death Professor, the better. But first, I had business to do...
I had finally made it to Master Artisan, my first crafted house was in my reach! ^_^
And Amber was getting the gold to buy the recipe for the Watchtower Hall. (Yep, Amber finally got to Halfang, which means gold is coming in to this account! Woooo! In case you didn't know, Halfang drops the most valuable loot in the game, including the Cow's Pearl, which is worth over 10000 gold if sold in the Bazaar.)
But Balthazar told me I wasn't done learning. "What do you mean?" I asked.
"There was a Grandmaster Artisan, a Marleybonian by the name of Pierce Stanson," said the ghost. "Prospector Zeke told me he was on expedition to Celestia."
"Celestia?" I asked. "Never heard of it."
"Well, if you swing by there, seek him out and he'll train you further," said the ghost. He bowed. "It was an honor testing you. I feel you will surpass everyone in crafting."
"I have to," I said. "I have a goal to own houses built by my own hands."
"An ambitious goal, young wizard," said Balthazar. "Good luck on your journies." He sold me the Water Fountain recipe and I went back to Grace. (Dang, took long enough. I was lucky a few Black Pearls were in the Bazaar this morning!)
Continuing on, we charged up the crystal spinner in Edrik's vault(but not before we fought a ton of guards placed to protect the vault. We then used it on a device and saw images of a beautiful village.
"Uh yeah," I said in a droll. "But can you help us now?"
"Of course," he said. "Now it is time for me to help you."
"We're looking for a Portal Stone, Rra Scatterglow," said Grace.
"You are looking for a Portal Stone?" said Edrik. "Oh dear, I'm afraid you can't get one - the last of the Portal Stones were locked in one of the vaults, and the key was lost with the Vault Keeper."
"Too bad we can't go back in time and..." I began to say. I wish I had kept my mouth shut.
"That's it!" said Edrik. "That crystal... perhaps you can use it to travel back in time to when the Vault Keeper was alive and ask him for the key to the vault. It's risky, but do you have any other option?"
No, no we didn't. I touched the crystal and felt a lurch of pain...
And then found myself in the past of Dragonspyre, before it was lava-choked ruins.
It was beautiful but the sounds and smells of war were beyond the gate.
Grace was with me. "We must find the Vault Keeper quickly, before he is slain," she said.
Just then, a military figure accosted us. "If you aren't hiding, help me out!" he said, pushing a ring of keys into my hands. "Take these keys and lock the vaults so the army can't raid them! If they raid the vaults, we'll lose everything Dragonspyre has to offer! Oh wait, you must first repair the bridges leading to the other vaults. I'll go get more help!" He ran off.
"We'd better do it," said Grace. "I have feeling he will be helpful if we help him."
We worked quickly, avoiding the draconians and drakes that were assaulting the place. I locked the vaults and Grace used her magic to repair the bridges so I could reach the other vaults. Soon we had all the vaults locked.
We found the figure, Vasek. We followed him tot the last vault...
And found trouble. "Lords of Light!" cried Vasek. "What is that thing? Distract it so I can lock the vault before it reaches us!"
I shook my head. "Ugh, just another day in the life of a tightwas conjurer."
This elephant unleashed terrible flame spells at us, but Grace vaporized it with her Triton.
"I sense you two are not from this world," said Vasek. He tossed me a key. "Here, take this key far away from here. I must remain here and make sure the Titan's army doesn't get any further."
We nodded and left back through the time gate.
We showed Belia the key and she directed us to the vault, but inside we found a familiar figure, and this time there were two differences: (1) He was dead and (2) he was hostile as all get out.
We had to show off our skills. "I remember you!" he said after we defeated him. "You helped save the vaults. What do you need?"
"A portal stone to the Necropolis," I said.
"If you need the stone, then it must be for a good reason," said Vasek. "Please take the stone with my blessing." He waved his ghostly hand and a blue crystal flew from a shelf and landed in my hands.
"Finally," I muttered. "Let's go seek Laszlo and get this thing charged." We returned the key to Belia and said farewell to this place.
Laszlo showed me how to charge the stone and it flowed with energy. "Now you can enter the Necropolis," he said. "The doors to the Necropolis are just past here."
"Thanks for helping us out," I said. "Come on, Grace, we are about to enter the Labryinth..."
And I felt of rush of energy. I realized that I was a Grandmaster now. (Sierra reached Level 50 after getting halfway through the side-quest with the Spiral Crystal plot. Sadly, Grace was still only halfway to Level 50. Yeah, I don't know how she could be so low in EXP.)
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