The Civil Service (Stone Town, Part 1)

(A little introduction... I foreshadowed a fourth character...)

 

(I did it. I made a third sub-account. You can only have five accounts, but I only really need four since you can only have four people fighting side-by-side. It's free to play now but I might give it pre-paid time too - that would mean $40 a month, ouch! And worse, he's just starting so I'd have to spend a month at least to get him to Zafaria, but hey, I'm willing to sacrifice my time on this blog to get a decent healer. ;) )

(Since it's my first character there I had to do the tutorial, but it was quick and we got him situated. I plan on having him work with one of my more negelected wizards as he progresses. Anyways, I won't start speed-running until Monday because I have a lot of work to do on Sunday with church AND a long shift of work! I won't spoil anything about this mysterious fourth character until next part. Back to the story! But first, some foreshadowing...)

"Oh hello," said the handsome guy on the black stallion as he rode outside and nearly bumped into me. "Sorry, I'm new here. This is a rental mount as I'm very poor."

"Oh my," I said. I blushed a bit, he was pretty handsome. "It's okay. Say, you have any meek treasure cards? I can trade you all of my Empowers for them, they sell for a decent amount at the Bazaar."

"I really couldn't," he started but I forced him to trade.

"I insist," I said, throwing in a few Auras. "You need the money and I don't need these cards - it's good stuff but I'm strong as it is and my Couch Potatoes keep giving me these."

He did a double-take. "You're Sierra Fairyfriend, the one who slew Malistaire, right?"

"I had help," I said modestly.

"Well... I've been helping Ambrose deal with some old foes of yours who came back from the dead, like Lady Blackhope."

I gasped. This must be Morganthe's doing, her dark magic was not only affecting Zafaria, it was affecting the entire Spiral! "You okay?"

"I'm good," he said. "Name's Ethan Jadeshade. I'm Wu's student."

"You're a theurgist?" I said.

He nodded. "Just got my Nature's Wrath spell."

"Okay, so you're an Initiate," I said. "That's too bad, we could use a healer. But don't tell Christina if you see her, she's angry because I tank better than her."

"Well, I'm sure I'll, by some miracle, be able to join you and your friends some day, I owe you one." He rode off and I caught a glimpse of a ring...

(Those last two screenshots are something new - KI just added a new update which causes a few events to get camera cut-scenes like in Pirate101. I haven't seen any more new such scenes in Wizard City, but maybe in other worlds...)

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"This is a very sad day," said Mma Makutsi.

"Yes," said Mma Ramotswe. "It is." She would have liked to say that it was not, that there was a positive side to this; she was not one to concentrate on the bleak. (The Miracle at Speedy Motors)
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Queen Amahle directed us to a guy called Hannibal who had a boat on the river of Baobab. Since he was an elephant, I knew the guards would let him pass to Stone Town.

"Yes," said Grace. "We would like to go to the Elephant Nation, please. We heard you had a boat."

"Haven't you ever heard of the Zafarian Queen?" he said. "Well, no matter, the thing's busted."

We facefaulted.

"I traded the boiler to some guy called Esop Thornpaw," he said. "Lives out in the Savannah."

"We know where Rra Thornpaw is," said Grace. "We'll go there."

 

Of course, she just HAD to help out a Marleybone woman who was visiting Baobab, especially when she wanted to try some red tea and some bandits stole it. Grace forced us to go hunt down the crooks. "After all," said Grace. "A good cup of red tea is always important."

I shook my head and decided to go with it. (Touched on this side-quest, which doesn't open up until you reach Zamunda. There are three quests involving a chain of fights and the last one... just has you returning to the Pyramid of the Sun to chat with Professor Winthrop. X_X)

 

Esop offered a trade for the boiler, claiming it was art. One man's trash... we had to harvest the Evil Magma Peas(with Chief Kakura's permission, of course) - I am jealous! I wish I could harvest a few for my garden, I have a 69-plot garden read for the EMPs and I only have three seeds! :(

 

Of course, we had to fix the thing, but Kiliman let us borrow a book from Marleybone and Christina and I got to work on it...

Not. (I had to LOL here. This is the most hilarious line in the game! "This is a complex procedure... oh wait, you're a wizard? Screw it, just magick the thing!" XD)

Hannibal was good on his word and we boarded his boat and took a trip down the river to a much more adobe-built community.

"Thank you, Rra Onetusk," said Grace. "Now if you excuse us, we must go to the palace right away to make peace with your people."

We bowed. "Rra Sharptusk, it is I, the daughter of Obed Rainsmith," said Grace. "My father's cousin lived near here and we traveled here to trade goods."

"Ah yes, the little blue-haired child," said Amar, bowing. "Your people have been very good to us, trading pumpkins and meal for our stone to build their houses with. Alas, things have become more violent as of late and your people have had a harder time trading with us."

"We know," said Grace. "We are here to end this fighting. We need an audience with the queen."

"I'm afraid it's too risky right now," said Amar, polishing his swords. "The Musuth Berserkers have started rioting and I must make sure that the queen is safe. If you can douse the Musuth's fires, I will grant you permissiion to speak to our Highness, Arayane Silvertusk."

Hey, when you are in the Elephant Kingdom... (Yep, the Musuth Berserkers are Fire. Easy-peasy kills for Grace. ^_^)

"We know," I said. "The sooner we get to speak to your queen, the sooner we can end this."

"Very well, you are free to enter," said Amar, stepping aside. "Do behave yourself, though."

I was impressed by the aquarium, but focused on our goal. We approached the reclining Queen and bowed deeply in respect.

"Why you..." whispered Christina, but I held her back.

"No, Your Highness," said Grace, bowing. "We are ambassadors of Queen Amahle Autumnrain. We are here to inform you that the Umbra Queen is responsible for attacking your son and that a traitor to the Zebra Clan, a foul sorcerer called Tse-Tse Snaketail, has been serving her as a spy. If my hunch is correct, The Umbra Queen has your son."

There was a terse silence and I thought we would be thrown out, but she nodded. "Your father, Obed, was a good honest man, my child. If you are as honest as he, then I have no doubt what you say is true. But... my people will not be as easily convinced. They have captured one of your Wizards."

"That must be Lail Brighteyes, the final student," I said. "The Pyromancy student. He was the one

 Go speak to my adviser, Hathi Irontrunk."

"Says you," said Christina. I facepalmed.

"Rra Irontrunk, we are here to ask your help, we want to see the Wizard which is imprisoned," said Grace calmly. "He is with the group I was attending to."

"I see, so he is with you," said Hathi. "We have him impounded in the Dajarani Zoo."

 

Sadly, a Greyhorn guard kept us out. Hathi was not pleased about this rudeness.

"Can you help us get a Royal Order?" I asked.

"Of course, I'll make one for you," said Hathi. "I will need Queen Anryanah's Royal Ring, though."

That was easily done.

"Seriously?" I said in a deadpan.

"Wait, I never forget!" said Hathi. (Yeah, because elephants have perfect memory. :p) "My pen and parchment were stolen by those Musuth Berserkers..."

I sighed. "BRB."

(Several battles later...)

We managed to get the items back to Hathi, and he forged the Royal Order. Rakstede Steelhorn quickly cowed when he saw the royal seal on it. "Okay, I guess it is. You can enter."

"I can't believe our fellow student is locked up with guys like these!" said Christina.

"Here he is," said Grace.

"I'm glad you're okay, Lail," I sighed. "Of course... that's a relative term."

"Oh thank goodness you guys are here!" said Lail. "You've got to get me out of here! I stowed away on a riverboat manned by those elephants but they found me. I tried to explain that the Prince was captured by a crazy zebra but they threw me in this hole!"

We facepalmed.

"Well, now we know where that rumor got started," Christina mumbled.

"Huh?" asked Lail.

Congrats, I thought. Your words started a war between the elephants and zebras!

"It is okay,"said Grace. "For now, be calm. We will try to get you back to Ravenwood."

"Thanks," said Lail.

"For now, this is the safest place for you," I said. "There is fighting in the streets and I'm sure they feed you decently. We'll get you out, though." I turned and nodded. We had to talk to the Queen.

I grabbed Christina's arms as she snarled. Grace calmed here down - I admit I was angry as well, Lail was not a guinea pig! But we were in the presence of royalty, and when you are a 100-pound elephant with authority, you got to say what you dang well pleased!

"Can you help us?" said Grace.

"I am sorry, my head hurts," mumbled Queen Aryanah. "The fighting in the streets is so loud!"

Grace pulled us aside. "We will not be able to reach her as long as the fighting continues. We must quell the rioting before we can get anywhere."

"Yeah," I agreed. "While Lail's to blame for the rioting, we should fix it first."

So we had to beat up a few more grey-skinned guys. (You talk to Hathi and he tells you to beat up a bunch of Greyhorn mercs. You thought we were DONE with fighting these guys? BWA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAA!!! XD)

"We will never serve the queen!" roared one of the rhinos. "She is weak and surrounded by fools!"

"I see we have dissent," I muttered.

We defeated a few more Musuths and then Christina held up something - the hat they were wearing. "This feels pretty wonky."

"Yes," said Grace. "I feel a very dark magic around it."

"Hmmm... maybe that's what is making them berserk," I said. "Let's show this to Hathi."

"Take this to the market, I am sure some people there might know where it came from."

 

 

We asked around the market and were directed to a merchant called Kella Longthought. She too was clueless, but she pointed us to Tala Snakesquasher.

"Thank you," I said.

"I am leaving for a trade pilgrimage soon, the fighting here is unacceptable to me," said Tala. "I will hit all the usual stops - Marleybone, Mooshu, Avalon, Polaris. The usual stops."

"I heard about Polaris," said Grace. "Mma Thatcher told me she broke a notorious criminal from there out of jail. It is a very cold place."

"It is good you caught me at that time, any later and I would not have been here," said Tala, smiling. "So, what do you need?"

I held out the headdress. "We've asked around and people say you might know something about this."

"I see," said Tala, examining it. "But the gem is damaged."

We looked at each other sheepishly. "We'll get some more... and be more careful this time."

(Three battles later...)

Grace grew pale. "I know that place - when I was young, me and my daddy would go there to graze the cattle. We stayed in the outer reaches as the inner reaches were inhabited by the Gorillas. Daddy told me never to go too deep in the jungle as the Gorillas do not believe in politics and we would not be safe from their wrath. We did trade a bit with them, but only for small things. They are powerful magic-users, you do not want to cross them."

"But who and how would associate with them?" I murmured.

"I know of one who trades with them," said Tala. "His name is Belloq."

"I wonder if Hannibal knows about this guy?" asked Christina.

"What's up?" I said. "You wouldn't know a man called Belloq, would you?"

"Ugh, Belloq," he muttered. "He's a shifty one. I wouldn't advise associating with him, but I'm sure you have your reasons if that name comes up. He works down in the Waterfront, a port that borders the Drum Jungle down river. We'll have to see if the Greyhorns will let us pass. Go and 'discuss' it with them. Don't be afraid to use your 'tusks' if you hafta. He he."

Oh yeah, we 'discussed' with our 'tusks.' Unfortunately, the answer was the same: "We will not let you pass down-river!"

"Can't we sneak down-river?" asked Christina.

"The Zafarian Queen's too big a target, they'll blow us out of the water," said Hannibal. He then got thoughtful. "But... I have a friend with a rowboat that barely fits four, he might be able to help us. Go talk to the lion Sobaka in the market."

We had to deal with a mice problem. I knew elephants get a little antsy around mice, but discovered that they were toys.

 

 

We tracked down the culprit laying down these toys. It was a zebra warrior who was sowing chaos in Stone Town. We subdued her.

I let Grace deal with the negotiations.

"Mma Wildside," she said. "We know why you are doing this, you want to drive the Elephants from Stone Town. But we promise that we will return Prince Tziri to his mother's side and she will stop the invasion of Zamunda. We promise this fighting will end, on my daddy's grave. Please stop."

"I see," said Zandile. "There may be more to this war between Zamunda and Stone Town than I know. Very well, I will stop laying down the mice... for now."

I nodded and understood. We were bargaining - if we didn't uphold our end by ending this war, she would start laying the mice again. "We promise we'll keep our bargain... unless we get killed, but I doubt that will happen." I laughed.

"I hope so too, Kella," I said. "I hope so too."

[To Be Continued...]