The Third Shrine (The Wild, Final Part)

(This part is pretty intense, so be careful. There is another part after this which details the gimmick boss you have to fight to get to the Wyrd, but I didn't include it here for story reasons. Oh, and don't worry, Christina will rejoin the group soon! ^_^)

I vented my rage on that incompetent bard on the Wildfire Treants so that Sophia would be safe.

I also defeated that Belloq clone and rescued the Basilisk eggs, getting one of my own. (Finally did the pet quest for Sierra but wasted 500 Crowns on Elixirs. :I Hers was the toughest - Idris Beast-Taker was Death, but he had 9600 HP and had TWO GREYHORN MERCS WITH HIM. I wasted all but one of my Crowns for the crab Life henchman to save Sierra's butt.)

We finally found Deidre. "Do you know Beatrice Wildwind?" I asked.

"Aye, ye must be the two Wizards who participated in the Spiral Cup tournament," said the fairy. She bowed. "You are very strong to be here. Can ye help us out with the Froudlings?"

"Gladly," I said. "I still have some rage to vent."

But it looked like some fellow students were already on driving out the Red Caps. We helped out and defeated a bunch of the fiends.

"Thanks," I said. I explained why we were here.

"The Sword of Kings?" Deidre bowed in reverence. "I dinnae nae see that Weasel Minstrel of yours drop it but mayhaps one of me scouts did. Alas, they have been captured those crow-cursed Red Caps and locked in cages. If ye can free them, we can ask them together."

Wow, this took me back to the beginning. I recalled one of my very first adventures being rescuing fairies from cages in Unicorn Way. I went nostalgic. It had been so very long since I had been there in Unicorn Way... and back then I had only Blood Bat and my wand strikes and a feral wildclaw for a pet. Now look how far I had come and how many friends I had made! (Cue "Time is Changing" from the Dark Cloud 2 soundtrack. Even I was amazed how far I had come, even though I have not really been frugal with my Conjurer. :I )

"You okay, Mma?" asked Grace.

I wiped a tear from my eye. "Yah. I wish Christina was here."

"We'll find her," said Grace.

"No!" said one of them "But Kerry Mustardseed is still missing."

Deirdre gasped. "Kerry Mustardseed is our best scout, if anyone saw the Sword of Kings, she would!" She conferred with the others. "One of the scouts said Kerry Mustardseed was captured by a vile Spriggan and taken to the Cave of Anguish."

I had seen Nerys Barbed-Heart, the minion Christina had gained. I knew what a Spriggan looked like. "We'll save her, I promise."

"Release the fairy and nobody gets hurt," I scowled.

 

She didn't listen.

(Calista the Spriggan has 12050 HP... and she's Storm and has a Black Cap with her. So yeah, Grace struggled a bit here.)

 
('Struggled a bit' being moot because I had forgotten to remove her Storm Prisms. :p)

"Please don't turn me into a newt!" cried the Spriggan, cowering in pain.

I stepped over her body and approached the fairy. "Are you okay, Kerry?"

"You are okay, Mma," said Grace. "We'll escort you to Deirdre."

We escorted her back and Deirdre thanked us. "Kerry Mustardseed's me best scout. She has a sorrowful tale to tell ya."

I approached the fairy. "Have you seen a minstrel with the Sword of Kings? We need it badly."

"I saw your blade, I did, I did!" said Kerry. "I saw the blessed blade of King Artorius, the Sword of Kings! Your weasel minstrel dropped it on the ground but it was carried away by the Spirits of the Brocken before we could recover it! They took it into the darkest place of the Weirwood, the Wyrd!"

GREAT. Things got much more difficult.

"We must follow the ghosts into the Wyrd, Mma," said Grace. "Mma Madden, how do we get into the Wyrd? We must hurry."

"To get to the Wyrd, ye need to cross the Hanging Stones," said the fairy leader. "But therein lies a wee problem..."

There was a problem, all right - the bridge was OUT.

"The cursed Froudlings knocked the Hanging Stones out of the sky," said Deirdre. "'Tis a travesty."

"Is there no other way into the Wyrd?" I moaned.

"Nay," said Deirdre. "I can think of no other way. You'll have to repair the Hanging Stones. I know not how, but Friar Nolan might. He is wise in such ways."

Back to Caliburn!

 

We bowed to him. "We need your counsel," said Grace. She explained about the Hanging Stones.

"Ah, the Hanging Stones Bridge," said Friar Nolan. "To fix the bridge, you must get the Hearts of a Jabberwock." He chuckled at our reaction. "Do not worry, they aren't real hearts, they are rubies that the dragon swallows, enchanted with his flame. However, I do not know where a Jabberwock lives. I do know who would - the Dark Knight, a rogue who betrayed Queen Gwendolyn. You can find his manor in Caer Lyon."

"Okay, we'll find him," I said.

As expected, the Dark Knight was not pleased to see us. That or he was Goth. :p

(The Dark Knight has 11100 HP and is Death, and he has a new mook with him, a Dog Knight, which has 3200 and is Storm. Luckily, a Colossal Feinted Medusa took out the Dog Knight before he caused trouble...)

 
(And the Dog Knight kindly left a Darkwynd bubble for Grace to exploit and one-shot the Dark Knight with a Colossal Triton. ^_^)

"All creatures know fear," said the Dark Knight as he collapsed, defeated. "Don't hurt me!"

"We don't mean your death, Rra," said Grace. "We just seek the Jabberwock."

The Knight got up and sheathed his sword. "Meet me outside and I will tell you what you need to know." He left.

"Can we trust him?" I asked.

"We have no other options, and we proved ourselves in battle," said my friend. "Let us go."

"Yeah," I said. "We need his Hearts to fix the Hanging Stone Bridge."

"You will find the loathsome beast lurking in the High Road, near the Shrine to Loyalty in the Face of Gloom, Melancholy, Angst, Bitterness and Snark."

I groaned. Can't these names be shorter?!?!

"It may burble and trudge, but show no fear," said the Dark Knight. "When it breathes its fire, that is the time to strike. Once you have defeated it, bring its Hearts to the Shrine of Loyalty to purify them, then take them to that blasted Friar Nolan."

"Thank you, Rra, we will follow your advice." Grace bowed. "Let us go."

I sighed. This would not be easy.

 
We held off and helped Page Jimmy with some tasks, including avenging a knight who lost his axes, Greater Paul and Smaller Paul, to a Hart Lancer. (Matis Axethief has two gimmicks - he uses the "Your Miss" gimmick Ervin in the Tower of the Helephant uses, only his proc attack is a Power Link, and every three turns... he casts a Mass Reshuffle on your party. Yeah, the only threat this poses is that you get back your traps... and he cleanses traps on himself. Luckily, he has only 11300 HP and is Fire, but Sierra took a beating thanks to Matis and his Storm Elemental mook. :( )

(You get the Greater Paul axe... which is bad; it only gives 15 Block and a Frozen Armor card as well as four wand attacks.)
 

When we got to the Shrine of Loyalty(which was gladly undefiled) we saw something shocking: A bag at the shrine, which had rubies and a note.

This is what you want, right? I already purified the Hearts of the Jabberwock for you. Come to the Wyrd and I will explain - Saint Agnes Oblique, Vestal of Balance

This was weird. We prayed to the shrine and went to the Friar.

"You defeated the Jabberwock, purified them at the Shrine of Loyalty, and punished the Dark Knight for his deeds," said Friar Nolan. "A truly frabjous day!"

"Actually, we only did the last thing, brother," said Grace. "Someone else defeated the Jabberwock, Saint Agnes Oblique."

"Ah, I see," said the friar. "Still, you punished a traitor to the realm, so that makes you worthy enough. Kneel, my friends." We knelt and bowed our heads. "I hereby dub thee Knight Errants of the Order!" He waved his hands and we saw our badges change into golden ones marked with the emblem of a knight's helmet. "Rise, Wizards. You have earned it."

We stood.

"Take the Hearts of the Jabberwock to Deirdre and she will tell you how to restore the Hanging Stones Bridge," said the friar. "Good luck in your travels."

 

We returned to the Wild and meet with the fairy leader, who informed us to touch the Hearts to the stones to fix the bridge. It was no small amazement seeing the rubies glow and attach themselves to the rocks, which flew into place.

"Let's go," I said firmly.

If the Wild was the 'nice' part of the Weirwood, then the Wyrd was the 'nasty' part, with twisted trees and fog so thick we could choke on it and the aura of death and evil. We found ourselves face-to-face with Spectres of the Brocken, which we slew viciously.

One of them released a will-o-wisp which I remembered Deirdre talk about - a Faux Fire Light. It jiggled and floated away, seeming to want us to follow it. We followed closely...

And it stopped before a familiar person. I sighed. "Saint Agnes Oblique, Vestal of Balance..."

[To be continued...]

(Outtake)

(Sierra managed to do this easily with Amy Mistcloud because Wizard Mercury had 92 Fire Resist, making her all but IMMUNE to the Jabberwock's annoying Meteor Strike gimmick. Amy spammed Fire Shields and tried to get a hit but in the end it was Sierra who used Amy's Feint and the 200% Hex with a super-bladed Medusa to finish off the jerk in one shot - I was so glad that we pulled a Storm Elemental in and NOT a Formori Giant, or else we would be dead. Grace needed a lot of help and she and Christina got annihilated a lot by the Meteor Strike GX and had to flee a lot to replenish their health via potions. :( )