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A day -- a weekday too -- with no Mma Ramotswe; it seemed strange, almost ominous, like a day on which something dark was due to happen. But she put that thought of her mind. She had resigned and had moved on. That's what people said these days -- they talked about moving on. Well, that's what she had done, and presumably people who moved on did not look back. (The Good Husband on Zebra Drive)
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| (And we start with a side-quest. I am not kidding, this elder fired a side-quest as soon as we opened the doors.) |
"This place is creepy," said Christina. "And there's even a skeleton here!"
Grace approached it and it came to life. I grabbed my bow, ready to attack, but it spoke. "Wizard, you have a good heart beating in your chest. I am Zebu Blackstripes, one of the great kings of old. Thieves stole my grave goods and I charge you with recovering them."
Grace bowed to him. "Rra Blackstripes, we will honor you with your request and recover the goods."
"We're gonna have to beat up a bunch of guys to get them back, are we?" groaned Christina. "Can't we skip it for later? Tse-Tse..."
Grace glared at her. "It is always important to honor one's ancestors, and Rra Blackstripes is the ancestor of King Shaka. If we help him, he may help us with his descendant's curse."
"Okay, but if Tse-Tse gets away, I'm blaming you," said Christina. I giggled.
In truth, I am glad we helped the dead king as he told us stuff about what he called The Council of Light. I had a feeling we would become very acquainted with them in the future. I also learned that the sword was crafted in Valencia by a 'duelmaster.' Hmmm... I wonder...
(Side-quest time! I didn't detail it, but we had to get a sword from Jackal Bandits, scrolls from the Shamans[okay, so I misinformed you about the last Shaman kill quest :(] and yet MORE of them rhino men for the Imperial Fan.)
Unfortunately, it didn't look like we were getting to the inner sanctum without a fight. :(
(The Ghostly Iklaw Warriors have 1950 HP and are Death, so get ready for plenty of this.)
"We're okay," I said. "Let's hurry!"
"Tse-Tse!" I shouted. "You are NOT getting away with your evil!"
"Foolish girls," said Tse-Tse, summoning...
SPIDERS. Oh no...!!! O_O
KILL THEM WITH FIRE! Or frog puke works. :)
"No," said Grace.
"We can get out of here and..." I began.
"I don't think this ghost is gonna let us live," said Christina.
"Great Zebu, please don't attack us!" begged Grace. "We are not your enemies!"
"I don't think he's listening, Grace!" shouted Christina as she unleashed an attack...
And then got knocked unconscious by the Shadow-Weavers. Me and Grace finished them off.
(Funny story here - I forgot to pack Grace and Sierra away from the center of the room, I thought they would be okay. Two lessons I learned today: [1] Shadow-Weavers respawn quickly. [2] Fleeing a battle in this area is a BAD idea as Dungeon Recall seems to not count this place as a dungeon. Actually, Christina was able to warp back with Dungeon Recall, but it didn't appear for the others, and you can't port to a friend in the tomb, this is one of those 'disabled friend port' areas. Needless to say, the game thought I had switched realms. Short story shorter - I HAD TO REDO THE ENTIRE THING WITH THOSE TWO! Yeah, it's three battles but SERIOUSLY! I was luckly Ryan Blade helped Grace out[he also got denied because he had to flee as he ran out of cards] and I had Amy help out with Sierra, but GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!!!! :( )
(So the next few screenshots are inconsistent. Sorry.)
"Yes, we are trying to stop her," I said. "Can you help us?"
"Wow, this helps," said Christina. "Grace, you take it. You do the honors."
"I will try," said Grace. "Let's return to Queen Autumnrain."
"Yes, but Tse-Tse stole some of his essence of got away," I said.
Amahle's stripes paled. "You have no time to lose, hurry to the palace and destroy that evil vine!"
"Not if we stop you!" shouted Christina as Tse-Tse pointed at the shield. The barrier fell away and Tse-Tse caught the artifact as Christina powered up her Ra.
"No!" said Grace, grabbing her arm. "If you attack, you'll destroy the shield."
Tse-Tse cackled. "You foolish girls, you think you are warriors but you are nothing but whelps. I will take this to the Umbra Queen... and you will have the pleasure of fighting the greatest zebra warrior alive! Bwa ha ha!" He teleported away.
"DANG!!!!" screamed Christina, stomping her foot. "Dang you, you freak!"
"We have more important to deal with, guys," I sighed.
"King Zebu, resist the evil!" screamed Grace. "Don't make us fight you!"
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| (Shaka Zebu is Balance and has about 6750 HP; the Carrior Flower Men are Life and have about 2015 HP) |
"He's too enthralled," I said as Judgement arrived and zapped me. "I'll Medusa him..."
"No... I must do this..." Grace summoned her power.
"Great King Zebu, wake up!"
The Leviathan slapped him and he collapsed. (Woo! Awesome!)
I still had Medusa appear, and she turned the tropical treant with him to stone. (Had to fight a mob battle of two Carrior Flower Men first.)
Grace took the oddly-shaped blade and slammed it down on the dark vine. It shriveled up and melted into a stinky smoke and the tree recovered.
"Uh, what happened?"
The zebra king was back to normal and his eyes looked fine. We bowed before him as he took to his throne. "My name is Sierra, this is Grace, and this is Christina. We have destroyed the evil vine."
"You have restored me," said Shaka, smiling. "Your names will be told in legends here in Zamunda until the sun grows cold." He turned to Grace. "I heard about you, Rainchild. You are the one whose father traded good food to us. He had fine cattle."
"You honor me," said Grace, bowing low. "Forgive me, we couldn't stop Tse-Tse from stealing the Shield... and the Umbra Queen has the Lions' Crown."
"I feared as much," sighed Shaka, shaking his mane. "I do not know what sinister plan Tse-Tse has for the Umbra Queen, but he will likely go after the Swords of the Elephant next. I know because I am a military genius. If he can steal the essence of the ghosts of our people to break the barrier..."
"He doesn't need ghost guts," I said. "Morganthe's got the Prince of the Elephants."
"I dunno," said Christina. "I mean, wasn't he with the students? Msizi said she helped them escape."
"Even if that were true," said Grace. "He's not in Zamunda - the Shamans would have found him long ago and ended this attack."
"I am sure you will find him," said Shaka. "Just like you saved me, you will save him. Go tell my wife that the spirals are gone from my eyes."
We bowed again.
"You look like Ravenwood students," he added. "Long ago, your headmaster, Merle Ambrose, led the Council of Light to defeat the Umbra Queen and entrusted us with the four Golden Treasures. I am assured that you can, if not protect the Gorilla's Amulet and Swords, you can save the Prince."
That was a bombshell - Merle Ambrose lead this Council of Light?
"We have words for him when we recover the others," muttered Christina. "He has a lot of explaining to do..."
"Iie," said Grace. "No doubt she wants the Prince's power to break into the tombs of the Elephants. We must not let her get him."
"The elephants will not parley," said Queen Amalhe. "They believe WE are responsible for their missing Prince."
"Can you help us go to their kingdom?" I asked. "We can be your ambassadors and tell them what really happened!"
"They live down the river," said Queen Amahle. "They have closed river travel... but one Elephant owes me a favor. Speak to Hannibal at the Baobab Market docks. Tell him his favor must be repaid."
We nodded and looked at each other. We had to hurry before Morganthe got her claws on the Prince... and we have one more student and the professor to find.
The elder Blind Whitemane asked us for some favors, but they were nothing serious, we didn't have to do any battles. We helped him out and he told us a story which changed our lives forever...
He said: "Do you know much of Zafaria of old? Time was when the Umbra Queen ruled the whole land from her Spider Temple. Her shadow fell on all people and they were forced to serve her dark whims. But there was always hope. A Lion King, a Zebra witch doctor, an Elephant Longdreamer and a Gorilla Chief created a mighty spell to open a Spiral Door. A council of Wizards came through and helped them tear down the Spiral Temple and restore the world to brightness."
"Perhaps we are hearing that story again today."
That last past was a prophecy though I didn't know it at the time. Grace called us into her office.
(I plan on putting a drawing I made of this part here when I can borrow a scanner to scan the picture into a file.)
She pulled something out of her desk - it was a ring with a lion's head carved out of ruby. She slipped it on her finger. "Nice jewelry," said Christina.
I examined it closely. It was a silver ring forged with expert craftsmanship, like two silver vines in a loop. The head was a ruby inset carved in the shape of a lion's head with two garnets for eyes.
Grace sighed. "My daddy's cousin gave it to me, and she said her mother gave it to her and told her that it was given to her by one of the Lion Tribes and that it would bring good luck to whoever wears it and it was part of a set of four."
I gasped. "That's why you wanted us to see it."
"What?" asked Christina.
"Well, you see..." I slowly dipped into my pocket and pulled out a similar ring. Only it was forged from gold and had a sapphire carved in the shape of an elephant's head with the long trunk holding an orb made of lapis lazuli. Grace gasped.
"This is an heirloom my mother gave me before I was orphaned," I said. "And yes, I am an orphan, my parents... we lived in Cool Ranch before some banditoads sank my parent's ship, with them on it. I was at an uncle's ranch and he took me in when the news hit. She said her grandmother gave it to her after obtaining it from a Elephant merchant in another world and was told it would bring good luck and was one of a set of four..."
"You too?" cried Christina. We turned as she pulled out something from fanny pack. We went eyes wide as we saw the ring she put on her finger. It was like ours only it was made of copper and had an emerald shaped like a zebra's head with jade eyes.
"Let me guess," I said. "That thing is a family heirloom, your parents gave it to you and they got it from their grandparents who got it from a Zebra..."
Christina nodded. "And it would bring the wearer good luck and was one of a set of four. This is beyond creepy."
"We all have rings that are unique," I said, rubbing my chin. "And our grandparents got them from one of the tribes of Zafaria. Look at the colors - red, blue and green, all colors of the rainbow. There has to be a connection between them..."
"And between us," said Grace.
We looked at each other. "Okay," said Christina, taking out her deck case. "On the count of three, all of us will whip off the top card in our decks." We took our cases out too. "One... two... THREE!"
We took off the top card in our decks and showed it.
Reshuffle. The card used to reshuffle cards back into our decks in a duel.
What were the odds?
I felt my body tingle and I am sure the others had too.
"But there is one more ring, the Gorilla ring," said Grace. "Whoever has it... that must be the one who will be connected to us."
I looked at the girls and shrugged. Where could this person be? Was it another wizard like us?
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"Thank you, Headmaster, for showing me around. I am eager to begin my training."
"Of course, Young Wizard. You..." Ambrose paused. "Oh my... I fear that..."
"What?" asked the boy.
"Nothing, nothing," said Ambrose, but the boy suddenly felt a tingle down his spine. He rubbed the ring he had worn since his father had given it to him...
A ring made of platinum, shaped like two vines intertwined, with an inset of a topaz carved in the shape of a gorilla's head with fangs of diamond.
(Dun dun DUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!) ^_^
I feel bad for deleting Sierra's boyfriend. I am going to avoid deleting Sierra, Christina or Grace because they are all Level 101 now.
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