Save the Queen (Dun Dara, Part 1)

 

We entered the dark gloomy fort of Dun Dara... more like a village of druids, mind you. We greeted the leader, Aodh. "We are here to see Queen Gwendoyln, Rra," said Grace.

"Ah, the Queen," said Aodh. "She is over there. Present yourself."

We bowed as deep as we could go before the Queen. Her Highness was more beautiful in person.

"Ah, three young ladies," said the Queen in a beautiful voice. "Are you traveling Knights, questing Wizards, seeking Heroes, or a little of all?"

"Last option," said Christina. "I'm Christina, this is carrot fairy, er, Sierra, and the other girl is Grace. We are on a quest for the Sword of Kings."

"And who sent you?" asked Gwendolyn.

"Rra Ambrose, our headmaster," said Grace.

"Merle Ambrose!" The Queen giggled. "So that old trickster still lives! I will aid you as best I can."

"We need that sword to fight Morganthe," I said.

Queen Gwen sighed. "I have not seen that child since she disappeared, shortly after my beloved king... no, I digress." She waved her hand. "You are still not worthy to touch the Sword of Kings. Only a true Knight of the Silver Rose can handle that weapon. Go to the Lightning Touched Tree down the path and pray to it. Summon Sir George Martyn and see if he will knight thee."

On the way there, we found another portal arch. I entered it and came out. "Shortcut!" (This is the third Caliburn Portal, which is very handy... though why they put it so far from the Dun Dara fort and through a path of enemies is beyond me!)

We found the scorched tree and prayed to it and a bolt of lightning spooked our shorts as a ghostly knight appeared.

 "Aye," I said. "We seek to be knighted."

"Well then, you must prove your worth," said Sir George. "I was a famous wyrm-slayer back in the ages before Catalan the Lightning Lizard ended my streak of wins. Could you defeat that foul wyrm for me?"

 It was easy to recognize the blue-scaled dragon which had been used on us a few times in spell form.

 

Medusa is like my big sister - whenever someone threatens to cook my goose, they get turned to stone. We tore off a wing and headed back to Sir George.

He had bad news. "Alas, I cannot knight you three. I am too far to the Other Side to be able to aid you. Speak to Queen Gwendolyn and report your success." He faded away.

"Well, that was a bust," said Christina.

"We did good," I said. "But Sir George went to the afterlife so we couldn't get knighted."

"I see," she said. "Well, you will have to pray to the other shrines then. The Shrine to Nobility of Kings, Knights and Common People Like You was defaced, its shield ripped off. Speak to the ghost Brigit, who will aid you in restoring it. When you have prayed to it, return to me."

I wasn't about to complain about the name to a Queen. Beside, it was a shorter name than the others.

 

We barged into the ogre's house and exchanged Ras...

Then Medusa and Judgement cleaned up. (Eurgh is Ice, so Medusa owns here. You have to deal with a couple of Ice Skurkers if you come in with three wizards. Should have used Frog on those guys, but whatever.)

We got the shield back, but it was scrapped raw. "I think I know who can help us restore it," I said. "Let's take this back to Abbey Road."

Ashlynn, the fox-woman we rescued in Caer Lyon, was all too willing to restore a sacred shield like this. In what seemed like seconds, she had the shield restored.
 

Oh come on! This isn't a TV show! X(

(Sorry, but I just had to point out that KI has added a new feature in Wizard101, the Earn Crowns option in their options menu. If you turn it on, a button appears next to the Crown Shop icon. Click on it and your play is interrupted so you can watch Youtube commercials. Every commercial you watch fully earns you 10 Crowns. It's sort of like the Trivia Games in FreeKIGames. Since I am going to have a lot of trouble getting Crowns for the time being, this is a good way to earn some Crowns to get stitching money so I can stitch new clothes to my wizards, or get a quick 100 Crowns for a needed henchmen in a battle.)

With a little spit and polish, Christina worked her 'magic' and restored the shield to the Shrine of Nobility to Kings, Knights and Common People Like You. Wow, I can't believe I could say that! We prayed to the Shrine and then returned to the Queen.

We had a long road ahead of us. "So now what?"

"You must get a Silver Rose from the tower of Belle Regard," said Queen Gwen. "But you must first deal with the Black Knight."

"We'll do our best, Your Highness," I said, bowing.

"Okay, Black Knight," I said. "We challenge you to a duel."

I nearly toppled off my pogo when I heard the Knight's voice... it was female! "None shall pass. If you seek to enter, you must defeat me. I shall wait inside." She entered the tower.

"You know, we could just..." Christina pointed to the hedge of beautiful silver roses flanking the tower. "We don't have to fight."

Grace and I glared at her.

"Just a suggestion," said Christina, sweatdropping. "Ah he he he."

"True knights do not steal," scolded Grace. "Let us enter, Mma."

"Sorry, not gonna happen," I said. "You can't surprise us."

 OH FOR THE LOVE OF THE GREAT TREE AND GRANDMOTHER RAVEN!!!! X(

(Yep, The Black Knight is Fire... and she won't be scared to cast Efreet on the first round. What was worse is that I had to waste a Frog to get rid of that freaking nerf charm the genie put on her. Also, for some miraculous reason we pulled the Knight in the battle so we didn't have to fight the mooks, but we had to avoid them after the battle.)

 Perish in Puke, you jerks. :(

"I've have worse," said the Knight. She cringed in pain. "No, no I haven't." She began to weep.

"Good, we don't have to dismember you," laughed Christina. I was horrified. (Yep, if you haven't guessed the reference, I am not helping you. :p)

"If he leaves his prison, the tower will collapse and kill him!" sobbed the Knight.

Grace touched her shoulder. "Do not worry, Mma, we will rescue him."

"Yeah, I am sure we can break the curse," said Christina.

We went upstairs and found the poor boy behind a glowing barrier. "Stay back!" he warned. "If you cross the threshhold, the tower will fall!"

I didn't mistrust him - that was powerful magic I was feeling! "Don't worry, we'll help you."

"Hey, look," said Christina.

It was another piece of the tapestry, showing our headmaster entering a magical portal as a castle rose up behind him. I deduced that was the castle of King Artorius. I pocketed the tapestry piece. "So, what happened?" I asked Finn.

"I saw this beautiful faerie called Melusine in the pond nearby," said Finn. "I was cursed by her when I saw her. Please tell her I meant no harm." He blushed.

I then understood what he was feeling, I touched my cheek and blushed too. It was the same feeling Ethan was giving me... he was in love.

"I am going to fix this," I said, heading to the stairs. "Grace, stay here and keep him company. Christina, you come with me."

"Can do, boss," said Christina, saluting.

No words. NO. WORDS.

Well, if humans have mermaids, I'm sure the people here have mer-foxes. :i

I quickly recovered. "Melusine, it is about the boy you cursed. Before you curse me out of anger, please open your foxy ears. The boy saw you and was smitten with you. He meant no harm, so even if you do not return the affection, at least release him."

The mer-fox was surprised. "He... I thought he was scared of me, most are. I cursed him to protect me. But... he likes me?" She blushed. "I see. Well, if he wants my affection, he will have to prove he can swim as well as I. I know! Gather some Silver from the Scurvy Skulkers in Froudling Village, then take it to the smith in Dun Dara and have him craft a Triton's Tail."

I smiled, glad this went well. "I will see to it Finn gets the Triton's Tail."

I was a bit upset having to farm these gremlins for silver. It would be so much easier to go to Cooper's Roost and ask the miners there for some. Oh well, I guess it had to be SPECIAL silver. (For those wondering, that was a Pirate101 reference. I really need to update my Pirate101 blog.)

Lewelyn the smith managed to create a beautiful silver fish tail with the silver with Christina's help. "Uh, how is he gonna wear this?" I asked. "It looks like a charm."

"It needs magic," said Lewelyn. "A powerful entity called the Three-Color Serpent could enchant it."

"Oh, he owes us a favor," said my friend. "Let's head back to Chromatic Tower, carrot fairy."

I was used to her nickname for me by now.

We picked up Grace and visited the dragon again. "We need this Triton's Tail enchanted to help one swim like a merman."

"Enchanting a Triton'ssss Tail?" said the dragon. "Sssimplicity itssself." He chanted some arcane words over the silver charm and it glowed with magic. "Now we are eeeeven."

"Thank you, Rra," said Grace, bowing.
 

Melusine dropped the curse on Finn and we took him to her and gave him the charm. He invoked it and his legs became a fish-tail. The two agreed to spend half of the time in the pond and live in the tower the other half. I was happy. I had a feeling they would be wed within the month.

"Let's tell the Black Knight the good news," I said.

"Of course!" said Christina. "The Knights of the Silver Rose would gladly welcome your bravery! They are gathering in Caliburn."

"Very well," said the Knight. "I will head to Caliburn and set up my tent. If you seek a Silver Rose, I gladly suggest you speak to Melusine first to save you trouble." She saluted and left the area.

"Yes," I said. "The Knight told us to speak to you."

"The Silver Roses hold the tower up," warned the mer-fox. "If you try to pull a rose from it, the tower will fall and that would be a waste of a perfectly good tower."

I sighed in relief. I was glad I followed the Knight's advice! Since those two lovebirds would be spending half of their life in that tower, destroying it would be an insult to them. "Okay, so how..."


"Go to the garden and I will make a rose come to you," she replied. "Then you can cut it without disturbing the garden."

We did so and I heard a beautiful watery voice sing. It was Melusine's voice; a large silver rose grew out of the garden and opened its blossom. It was magical.

"She could be a superstar," said Christina in awe as I carefully snipped the blossom and stored it in a spot in my robe. "Let's go back to Queen Gwen."

"Kneel, my friends," said the Queen. We dismounted and knelt, bowing our heads. "I hereby dub thee Knights of the Wyrd!"

Our badges had changed yet again. The tower of Belle Regard was emblazoned in gold. We felt almost like true knights... almost.


(And that is where I leave you, folks. Have a Happy Halloween and I will try to update the blog on All Soul's Day tomorrow. ^_^)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I don't own the icon I used.

The author here! I am pleased to see so many people following this blog. We wish to wish all you little Froudlings and Wizards a safe, happy Halloween. Grace and Christina donned transformations for the holiday. (Grace doesn't like the wings and Christina is insulted to be in a pig suit but some sacrifices had to be made for the photo shoot. ^_^)

This could be a short post, but I wanted to rant a little bit on this holiday. It's from what my mom ordered me not to do - give away homemade cookies for the trick-or-treaters.

I know that there are a lot of sick sick people out there who would put razor blades and roaches in their treats to hurt kids and cut open their tongues. I am so angry at these people - they ruin the spirit of the holiday. Now that it's against policy to give homemade goods to anyone but your family and friends(you can but they'll be trashed and wasted), it makes me upset. Isn't Halloween a time to make new friends by talking to the kids who come to your door and yell "Trick or Treat?" Even if it's just to compliment their costumes, you make a sort of temporary rapport with them. Even if you never see them again, it's nice to see new kids every year make the pilgrimage in their costumes. Halloween was created in such a manner - ancient people wore costumes of goblins to scare away demons and exchange treats to appease the pagan gods. It's a fun holiday with the only food obligation, unlike the later holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas, being handing out candy.

I wanted to do something different this year and I can't because of the policy. I'm sure some people can vouch for my honesty and the fact that I would NEVER EVER do something as sadistic as stick nasty things into a kid's candy. But I can't give away anything but unhealthy processed brand name candy stuffed into sealed plastic because the policy says so. It's a conspiracy!

I apologize if you got upset at this rant. I just wanted to get that off of my chest. I'm poor, making minimum wage, and I have to spend that money I earn(and later found out is paying my bills so I can't have that money when it goes into my trust fund, even more of a slap to the face) and that I want to use to keep the Frugal Conjurer and her friends questing in Avalon by refreshing their paid time... and now I need to use it to buy Halloween candy? As Charlie Brown would say...

I am sorry if I am reading too much into this, my autistic tendencies make me frustrated and feel stifled. I know I can probably do something cool next year for Halloween. But for now, I will have to be content with handing out candy I bought with my own money. I am not following my mom's advice to just isolate myself and not give out treats this year. I enjoy it when kids come by in their cute costumes(bought or made) and shout those words that made Halloween special.

Of course, kids might not come by this year. I got a slow Halloween night last year. Happy Halloween anyways and may the Lost Souls not haunt your dreams, cheers! ^_^


(NVM - My dad said that if I want to give out candy to trick-or-treating kids, I could do it at his house, which is a far more kid-friendly neighborhood, so I guess the point is moot. Still, I had to rant a bit about the policy. I'll try to update more often for the rest of the year - for now I need to work on getting more pre-paid time for my wizards. Ciao for now!)

What's In A Name? (The Wyrd, Part 2)

(A much needed Sierra update. It's important because I am close to running out of paid time on Christina's file and that means she'll revert to free-to-play, meaning she will get booted back to Wizard City and stuck there until I renew the time, so I have to spend as much time as I can with her before she reverts to free-to-play and I have to put the travels of Sierra and her friends on hold until I get money for another game card. :( There is only so much you can do in Unicorn Way and Triton Avenue at Level 10 before it gets old. Anyways, enjoy!)

After a hiatus - where Grace and Christina had some fun harassing the citizens of Caer Lyon for Hallow'Een - it was time to explore the Nameless Knight's tomb and see if the Sword of Kings was in there. We had put it off long enough.

As soon as we entered the tomb, we were assaulted by ghosts. Fitting for the holiday.

 Grace didn't a jacks daniel about it and neither did Jove. :p (I should have used Mass Storm Prism to make this attack Myth as these ghosts are Balance and would suffer more damage from it.)

 "We need to be cautious," said Grace. "This place is filled with anguish and pain."

"Hey, we'll be fine," said Christina.

We ran into a room with a locked door. "What does this all mean?" asked Grace.

"I dunno," I said, playing my guitar. "I'm just the minstrel."

"Look over here," said Christina, pulling me to a tapestry of a knight. Part of the tapestry was scratched out, but I read "The Colors of Descent."

"Maybe it means the emblems on these shields," I said. Several shields were scattered all over the room - even having a background color and a gold or silver emblem etched on them.

"There are emblems like that on these headstones," said Grace. "Maybe we need to match the right emblems on the shields to the pictures on the headstones."

"Hmm," said Christina. "Stand back, let me do this." She scoured the room for a while, then...

"Amazing," I said as the doors unlocked and opened.

"You could be a fine detective, Mma," said Grace.

Christina laughed modestly. "It was nothing. Let's go."

(This is not a hard puzzle, but it can be tricky. Under the tapestry is a banner of five colors from left to right. You have to match the colors to the shields and then the emblems to the headstones, left to right. It's not that hard.)

We approached the ghostly figure in the inner sanctum and bowed. "You must be the Nameless Knight, I assume."

"Who are you? A knight come to mock me, or a wizard come to banish me?" sneered the ghost.

"We seek the Sword of Kings," said Grace.

"Ah then," said the ghost knight with an evil smile.

We gasped. "This is a trick," said Grace.

I shook my head. My gut was telling me this was the object of our visit to this world. I grabbed my axe(guitar) and scowled. "Give us the Sword or..."

Without warning, a mermaid with blue hair appeared, grabbed the sword and babbled stuff, then vanished with a flash of light. I blinked.

"Uh, relative of your 'secretary?'" asked Christina. Grace was stunned beyond speech.

I was the one to reply. "No. That woman oozed myth as powerful as an ogre's body odour. That was a powerful figure."

The knight snarled. "You thrice-cursed curs! You will pay for this!"

 

The fight was brutal but we survived, though I did get eaten by a couple of Stormzilla. (I forgot to switch to the boss decks, eh oops?)

The knight fell to his knees and sword. "What have I done?"

"Oh, now you're regretting your actions?" sneered Christina. "When you're about to be..."

"Wait," I said. I walked to the ghost. "Malory..."

"It has been... so long since one called me by my name," choked the ghostly knight, looking at my face. I saw his eyes and they were pained. "Come, let us speak in the fresh air." He faded away.

"My family, my title, even my name was erased to history," said the knight.

"So your name is Malory but nobody remembers it because of the curse," I said.

"That is tragic, Rra," said Grace. "But there is a chance you can still be forgiven. You can atone for your sins by aiding us in recovering the Sword of Kings."

"I will do that," said Malory. "Let me guide you on the path of a true knight, then you can be worthy of the Sword of Kings. First, show the aspect of Mercy - there is a White Hart trapped in the murky water of the Froudling Village. Show Mercy and free it."

I was wondering what a heart which was white as snow was doing in a bog...

Only to learn that it was a white stag I had seen earlier. "Okay, let's get this guy out of the muck," said Christina. She set us roles and we carefully roped a lasso around its front quarters and gently pulled it out of the bog. It shook its head in thanks and pranced into the woods.

"You showed Mercy to the beast, you are quite virtuous," said Malory. "Next you must demonstrate Loyalty. Find someone in Avalon who remembers my good name."

"Well, we'd better start looking," said Christina.

It turned out that Sophia in the Wild knew that name. "I know him, he murdered King Artorius!" said the dryad. That was a twist. "But... when he was young, he saved my mother from a giant's axe. If it hadn't been for him, I would have never heard her sweet songs and chants to this day. Yes, I do remember that name."

"It will ease in time," I said. "As long as you aid us, your sins will be forgiven."

"Well, then you must show Hospitality as well," said Sir Malory. "The virtue of Hospitality is that once you invite one into your house, the guest's safety is sacred. The witch known as the Lady of the Blue Dahlia, whose tower is in the Wild, has violated that policy, inviting knights into her home and then ensorcelling them. Teach her the ways of Hospitality."

I cracked my knuckles. "Time to carve us up a witch!"

We had to deal with her current slave, though. "If I defeat you, the curse will be prolonged just a little longer. If you defeat me, you will free me but end up her current champions, forced to fight all who enter until your defeat."

 "Should you fight him?" I asked.

Grace smiled. "I am sure we can break this evil curse. Let us defeat him." (I had to defeat a couple of Red Caps first, so I didn't have Sierra join that battle.)

 After a long battle, my Basilisk and a Storm Efreet that Grace invoked defeated the knight. "Where did you get that?" I asked.

"From Skull Island," laughed Grace. (Had to use that Treasure Card sometime.)

"Alas," he said. "You have defeated me and thus you must serve her... but wait, you are not a full knight. Perhaps you can defeat her and break the curse on yourselves."

"Flee the tower," I said. "We'll take out this witch and make her learn some manners."

"You are rude," I said. "Time for your lesson in Hospitality 101!"
 

 

After dealing with a couple of Spriggans, we went all in... and Christina nearly got wiped by that evil wood witch and her freaking Medusae! (I was grateful the LoBD didn't use Quake but Christina got smacked by TWO Medusas, the second critical hitting and NOT being blocked, so the second shot shows Christina re-entering battle after fleeing to potion up. She was stunned for two rounds anyways so she was dead weight. :( )

 Grace slapped some sense into the owl. "I give!" she moaned.

"Remove the curse on us," I said. "And swear to Artorius you will never do this again."

"I shall," whimpered the Lady. "I will swear to be truly Hospitable." She chanted a spell and we felt the curse lift from us.

Which was good as Hilda Brewer needed her business today. (She sure got a lot - Christina had to potion up twice and the others potioned once. :( )

 

The next enemy we had to defeat, the vile Spriggan Heidi Ironnails, was easy by comparison... though the fact she ensorcelled Penny's sisters to her cause ticked me off when I lost my blades. Medusa punished the freak. (Yeah, Heidi is Storm, and you have to deal with two Foul Skirkers beforehand if you came in with three wizards, so again Sierra sat out that fight.)

We showed it to Sir Malory, for he had been the one to steal it as one of his crimes. He sighed. "I saw the future it showed me but could not deny my own fate. Return this to the Three-Color Serpent in the Chromatic Tower."

I recalled that place, that was where the fountain was where I got the water to douse the imp's tree.

Luckily, the Three Color Dragon was very benevolent when we returned his mirror. "Ah, you have returned thisss to me," he hissed.

Ecstasy flowed from us. We were going to get some information about how to recover the Sword of Kings at long last!

"She's beautiful," whispered Christina as the mirror showed a fox lady wearing a tiara.

"A queen lossst in exile," hissed the Serpent. "That is who you must speak to to continue your quessst."

We saluted. "Thank you!"

"You mean, the wife of King Artorius?" I asked. "The one who the Dark Knight committed crimes against? That Queen?"

"There is only one Queen in Avalon," laughed Sir Malory. "Queen Gwendolyn of the Silver Rose. I know where she is, she is hiding in the Ring Fort, Dun Dara. That is where me and my sister Morganthe were raised..."

We three gasped. "SHUT UP!" cried Christina in shock. "MORGIE WAS YOUR SISTER?"

"You know her?" asked Sir Malory. He sighed. "She had such a warm smile that could melt a Winter Wyrm, but she had a cruel streak."

"I'll say!" snarled Christina. I held her mouth and shook my head. Malory was tormented enough, the thought that we were getting the Sword of Kings to defeat his sister was even worse.

"Oh ghosts and dire goblins!" snapped Sir Malory. "Go to the path left of the Chromatic Tower. You will find Dun Scaith, a vile fortress. The path to Dun Dara lies there."

We approached and saw a creepy sight - people trapped in cages. They saw us and screamed. "Turn back, fair maidens!" said one. "This is Dun Scaith, home of the foul Indigo Giant! He hungers for all human flesh! Run whilst thou can!"

"Oh really?" said Christina. "You know what they say, the bigger they are, the harder they thud. Come on, girls, let's defeat this indigo freak."

"Ew," I said. "You can go burn in Tartarus!"

We engaged. Christina launched a spell that destroyed the giant's aura. "A new trick I learned," she said. "Just like that last one I used to take out that Spriggan, Mana Burn." (Christina completed the two spell quests and got Mana Burn from defeating Sir Agravaine and this spell, Supernova, from defeating the Raven witch who stole Fiana's bag. This spell destroys a target's Star aura and inflicts 525 damage... which can be enchanted. ^_^)
 

The giant roared and summoned Levi to crush my friend...

But Grace prismed him and gave him a taste of his own medicine, knocking him into the flames of his pot and roasting him alive. Good riddance! (I already gave the stats of this guy because due to a bug, an earlier giant boss in the Dread Keep had two of these giants as mooks if you enter with three wizards. Yeah, they retain their stats. :( )

We released another guy. "Thank you, kind ladies!" he said. "In exchange for your succor, I can give you the ability to craft mighty spells."

"That sounds cool," said Christina, who later found that only I could learn the recipes. (That goat monk in Shiritaki Temple past the Plague Oni sold half of the Lore spell recipes, this druid sells the other half, including the Loremaster Treasure card spell and the Loremaster spell. I have to get Christina to Legendary Artisan.)

We released the people who introduced themselves as druids from Dun Dara. "We wish to go to your home," I said. I explained about our quest.

"I see," said Doran. "We will use our own magic to open the way for ye. Speak to our leader."

The way was open, it was time to enter Dun Dara, find the Queen, and hopefully find out who that mermaid was who took the Sword and how to get it back.

[To be continued...]