Under The Sea AGAIN (Stormriven Hall)

(Included the Medusa quest. Sierra was getting dangerously close to Level 66 and I needed to get her that spell before she could get Basilisk. Oops.)

This place was surreal. The chained Kraken statues gave it a unique touch.

"Thanks," I said.

"Unfortunately for you," said Vassek. "That will be quite difficult. The last portal piece is held by Tempus Stormfist, one of the last remaining Tritons. He serves the Storm Titan implicitly. There is an altar in the center building. In the past, when one wanted to speak to the Storm Titan, they would take three Storm Shards and place them on the altar. However, my fellow soldiers and the Water Lurkers have gotten a couple of those Storm Shards, but there is a third near the pedestal. When you have all three Storm Shards, charge them on the pedestal and then we can continue."

Wow, what a wall of text! We had our work cut out for us.

Mindy pulled me aside. "I heard from Professor Drake... you want to get a Quicksilver Shield? Leave it to me!" She swam off.

What's with her?

 

Down a girl, me and Christina worked on getting the Storm Shards. We fought the Water Lurkers(curse you Earthquake) and the Shadow Web Conscripts(curse you Tower Shield) until we got the two shards we needed.

 

The third was where Vassek said it was. We placed them on the pedestal and the Kraken's eyes glowed and filled them with energy.

"Me too," I said, smiling. "So what now?"

"Use the Storm Shards on the moondial nearby to open the way to the temple," said Vassek. "Go inside and place the shards inside of the altar to summon Tempus, then defeat him and you will get your portal piece."

We thanked him and headed to the moondial and did what Vassek told us to do - a beam of light from the pyramid lit up the shards and the doors above clicked open.

"Let's go!" said Christina.

"Wait... we should wait for..." I began to say.

And then I was blinded with light.

When I recovered, I found myself somewhere else in Celestia. Amy was there. "Listen, Sierra, I haet to pull you away from your work, but Venus is in the Science Center here and she's in danger. She asked me to take her to the Science Center for something... I was a fool to trust her."

Oh no!

I was off like a shot. Mindy, you idiot! If you die, the Sailor Wizards will disown me!!!

I met a dogman who was dressed smartly. "Did you see a blonde-haired girl running about?"

"Ach, I saw her," said the dog. "She was asking me about Quicksilver Shields."

I gasped. "You're Engineer Montgomery, right? What did you tell her?"

"Oh, a Quicksilver Shield? Not a problem, I've got one right here!"

"Really?"

"Oh wait, I don't. Of course it's a problem! It's not like I've got a brace of 'em in me pockets! Tu Talos, a rogue steambot, ran off with the last of our of supply. He's hiding in one of the towers of the Crystal Reactor. I'd have dealt with the troublesome git, but I'm too busy!"

"Let Sailor V do the dealing! Yatta!" 

"Miiiiindy..." I hissed in anger, clenching my fist. I hurried to the Crystal Reactor room...

Just in time to see Mindy get blasted by a Hydra and knocked out. "SAILOR VENUS!"

"I won't let you get away with that!" I screamed. "Prepared to be punished!"

 

I discovered to my dismay that he had a little gimmick - whenever I threw up a blade, trap or shield, he would cry unfair and plant a trap on me. I used up all of my Cleanse Wards but he kept throwing them up. I was in dismay... this was the trick that Helios used against Christina! He also threw up Spirit Shields to make my attacks weak. Was I doomed too?

(Tu Talos is pretty tough - even though he and his steambot minion are Balance and both get boosted damage by Myth, Tu Talos will spam Spirit Shields given the chance. Make sure you max out your Cleanse Wards and Pierces before this fight. Other than that, he just uses Judgement and Sandstorm, not too tough.)

"Luck can work sometimes, but only if your courage holds."

The words that Harek Shieldbreaker spoke to me long ago in Savarstaad Pass rang in my head. I plunged my hands in my pockets, then I felt something and pulled it out of my robe - this flute... I blew into it...

"You are not Mma," said Jabari after he came through the portal. "But I will help you as well. It seems Mma trusts you if she gave you that flute. My oath to her is mine to you, to protect you."

He unleashed a mighty moss-colored demon elephant on Tu Tulos, and I unleashed the Ninja Pigs to bring down that steambot with him. The battle got intense and I wanted to end it before Mindy died...

And then SHE appeared again. I gasped as I saw her blast her eye lasers at Tu Talos and gulped as his metal body turned into stone. She slashed him with her blade and he shattered into rubble.

I turned away as the creature looked at me and then vanished once more. Jabari was gone too.
 
I found Mindy on the floor and administered healing to her. "Sorry... I got the Quicksilver." She handed me two bottles of flowing silvery liquid before passing out.

Moments later, she was begging for mercy. "You idiot!" I snapped. "Why did you do that? You could have died out there!"

"I wanted to prove I was a good friend," sobbed Mindy. "I admit I should have waited for you to join me, but I..." She sniffled and I sighed. How could I stay mad?

"Okay, you got the Quicksilver so I'll forgive you..."

"But I can't say the same for our professor, hmm?" I winked and she got pale in the face.

Montgomery took the Quicksilver and spread it on a plate, causing it to harden into a hard shiny metal. He forged it into a hand shield and gave it to me. "My finest work! Go take it back to whoever you was needin' it for!"

I nodded, grabbed Mindy, and teleported back to Ravenwood.

Needless to say, Cyrus put Mindy in time-out while he talked to me. I showed him the shield.

"Very good," he said. "Do not think for a moment that even with a Quicksilver Shield, you'll be completely safe."

I shuddered. Time to find the Medusa.

"From what Silenus told me, the Medusa was last seen in the ruins of Dragonspyre Academy," he said. "Take your shield... you will need it."

I gasped. After seeing the terror of that monster many times, I was worried for Ashley and Chester! I hurried to Dragonspyre right away.

I was glad to see Chester safe, but I then saw my friends standing there, not seeing me. Was this my vision that I was sharing with Grace and Christina?

I saw the scales and turned ashen. "RUN! YOU'LL..."

It was too late. SHE emerged. The Medusa. I cried in horror, held up the shield...

...and ran between them. "You won't turn my friends to stone!" I screamed.

A moment later, I heard a voice. "A shield to protect you from my glare. How clever. Put it down. I won't hurt you."

Scared, I lowered the shield and saw her eyes. I gulped, but saw that she was right - I wasn't turning to stone. The ophidian woman smiled. "So that was you... the one whose heart cried out for aid so many times, I couldn't help but come aid you. Tell me your name."

 "S-Sierra, the Frugal Conjurer," I stammered.

"Frugal... you are indeed cunning and resourceful. I have a feeling that you will face many battles. Very well, I will serve you." She leapt into the ground and vanished.

I let out a breath. "Phew! You two okay?"

They turned to me. Christian laughed. "Of course we are! You threw your life on the line like that! You're the best friend I ever had!"

Grace approached, and I saw her eyes were bloodshot and her lips was bleeding. I was about to speak when she whispered something. "Save my world..."

 "Wait, what?" I gasped.

But they were gone. The vision was over. I sighed... what Jabari had said was true. Grace was in grave danger, as was her home.

"It was nice to see our mother again," said Chloe with a grin. I shook my head again...

Cyrus handed me a card to summon the Medusa. "Thanks, this will help against Morganthe."

Cyrus cocked an eyebrow. "I heard that name before... my brother tutored somebody by that name. I will inform the Headmaster of this development. You continue exploring Celestia."

"Yes sir," I said. This was an interesting development. It couldn't be the same person, could it?

Mindy had returned to meet with Christina and we went into the temple. The altar was blocked by a thick gate but I saw the giant squid and was reminded of Luska Charmbeak. I shuddered.

"Looks like we have to kill these guys to get inside," said Christina.

We took them out quickly and the gate opened. (We had to defeat two groups, but only the Water Lurker was trouble. I miss Grace again.)

"Let's do this," I said, placing the Storm Shards. A figure appeared...

A Triton. I gasped as we approached.

"Who dares summon Tempus Stormfirst, avatar of the Storm Titan?!" he roared. "You will be destroyed for this insult!"

"Oh shut it," said Mindy, casting a spell. I assumed it was Minotaur...

But I nearly died when I saw what appeared. "You have MEDUSA?!!" I cried.

"Trade secret," said Mindy, winking. "Sailor Venus never tells her secrets."

Needless to say, it was overkill but at least we defeated the grumpy Triton.

Unfortunately, I wish she had not outright VAPORIZED the guy because we had a problem. "Mindy, you cracked the portal piece."

"Sorry!" said Mindy.

"It's an item, it can be repaired," said Christina. (See that statue behind them? You can pick it up!)

I did find another book detailing the Loom Zodiac sign. Notes were hard to take underwater but we managed to get it done.

We met with Leland who gave us a bit of info about the Shadow Web. (I did the side-quests involving killing a bunch of enemies. The Haunts were the worst as they failed to spawn a lot.)

Luckily, we didn't have to defeat and collect anything - Leland directed us to the Archivist and she helped us repair the portal piece. Time to fix another thing - the Portal to the Lunarium.

 

 

Christina did the honors this time. She was excited. "Let's go!"

Well, hello... what's this?

[To be continued...]