The Cyodrake's Gaze
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| Plot summary to be written, timelines, prizes, and pretty much everything else, and a rewrite to make everything neat and tidy. Discuss if help is needed. |
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The Cyodrake's Gaze is a vessel from Shenkuu that first appeared, unexpectedly, at the harbour of Krawk Island on August 3, 2006, as the lead up to the new world. It was part of a mystery plot involving the user interviewing crew members with each chapter to determine what happened to the ship's lost navigator, Hoban. The Plot ended on September 8, 2006.
The ship sold exclusive foods, weaponry, and medicines which were available to buy while it is docked, along with the game Kou-jong. The facilities that were available on the ship have since become available in Shenkuu itself after the plot finished. The design of the ship's rigging, the items it supplied and Kou-jong implied the vessel came from a Chinese style world, which were revealed to be true with the release of Shenkuu on Septeber 8, 2006. Besides being able to sail on the water, The Cyodrake's Gaze was capable of flying as well, allowing it to travel and trade with many different lands. Its relation to the Cyodrake, the Petpet which it borrows its name from, is unknown.
Crew
The Cyodrake's Gaze is manned by the following Neopets, in the order they are encountered in the plot.
Captain Tuan
Captain Tuan, a Blue Gnorbu, is captain of the ship, and has taken it upon himself to find his lost crewmate Hoban. Though until the forth chapter he insists that you will be of little help to him, he continues to allow you to investigate, and suggest a crew member to interview each time his ship moves. By the time the ship reached the Lost Desert, the captain has decided that the user's willingness to help is genuine and gives the user his gratitude, and starts to wish more Neopians would be as kind, but trails off before he finishes the thought.
First Mate Shumi
First Mate Shumi, a Green Scorchio, First Mate Shumi is the first of the crew to give his story on Hoban's disappearance, and apparently doesn't play much of a role in any of the stories, even his own. It was him that suggested to the captain they needed outside help.
Orrin
Orrin is a Red Nimmo, who keeps the inventory on all the ship's stores. He saw someone being swept overboard during the storm, and it is believed to be Hoban.
Navigator Hoban
The navigator of the ship, Hoban the yellow Aisha is responsible for plotting the ships course. He was apparently swept overboard in a storm, and the crew set out to look for him. In each recollection of the events of that night, Hoban is seen first carrying only an empty bag at his side...but later appears to have acquired three scrolls. Appears to have threatened to sail the ship into a storm as a bit of revenge.
Linae
Linae is a pink Kougra, who hosts the game Kou-jong. She seems to have told Hoban that he was very bad luck.
Chef Bonju
An orange Blumaroo, Chef Bonju manages the Magical Cooking Vessel, which appears to be related to the Cooking Pot on Mystery Island. He was noted in the second chapter of the plot to be sneaking out of the arms room, possibly concealing something. He claims in the third chapter to have gotten a small blade from there to use in place of his knife which had gone missing.
Kentari
Kentari, a yellow Shoyru manages and sells weaponry from the ship. He is the second crew member to give his story on Hoban's disappearance, and keeps check of the weaponry stores.
Anshu
Anshu is a brown Ruki, who sells medicines from the ship. Bonju believes that he and Linae are conspiring to do something in chapter 3, but Linae claims that they were only discussing how bad the food was.
Plot Summary
Plot Progression
The Cyodrake's Gaze appeared at Krawk Island on the August 3, 2006, unable to make it to Mystery Island, their destination. The ship had just sailed through a storm, during which they lost much of their supplies and also appeared to have lost their navigator, Hoban, overboard. Captain Tuan shared his story with users, detailing what happened from his perspective. Three days later, presumably when the ship had repaired sufficiently, it sailed away.
On 8th August, the ship appeared on the shores south of Mystery Island. The crew had hoped to find Hoban there, but he had not reached it. As they resupplied, Kentari have his story of the night of the storm. The ship set sail at midnight NST on the August 11, again having stopped for only three days.
On the 15th August, the ship reappeared in Faerieland - the Captain had forgotten to mention that the ship can fly. Chef Bonju was interviewed, and the ship left Faerieland at midnight on 19th August.
The ship reappeared on the 23rd in the Lost Desert, where Linae gave her version of events. The ship left the desert on 27th.
When the ship docked at Mystery Island again, on the 29th, Captain Tuan remarked that the crew were running out of time and that their stories do not tally. First Mate Shumi unlocks Hoban's map room, where there are two documents (a grid and a map seeming to show the direction change from Mystery Island to Krawk Island) annotated in red which are of interest. It should be noted that, presumably, since Hoban disappeared only Shumi has had access to this room.
On the 31st August, users were then allowed to guess at what had happened and where Hoban was now.
On the 7th of September, Hoban has finally been located, and gives his account of the storm in the most recent sixth comic. The existence of Shenkuu, the heavily speculated Asain world, has finally been confirmed by Captain Tuan in the third page of the comic.
The Night of the Storm
Captain Tuan's Account
At the start of dinner, Captain Tuan sent Orrin to the supply room to complete the inventory he had failed to finish, where he locked him in until he had completed his work. On returning to the mess room, he found Hoban declaring "Let's see you laugh when I sail you into a storm!" before marching from the room. After dinner, a storm arrived, and the captain called for all hands on deck, The storm lasted for several hours and after it the ship was somewhat worse for wear, having lost a considerable amount of supplies overboard. Realising that Hoban and Orrin were not with them, and that the captain had locked Orrin below deck for the entire duration of the storm, Tuan sends First Mate Shumi to fetch the Nimmo. As soon as he reached the captain, Orrin says that during the storm he heard a scream and saw someone fall into the water. Despite their searches, the crew could not find the navigator on board, concluding he had indeed been washed over.
Kentari's Account
According to Kentari, Hoban said his fateful line in a angry manner, whereas Tuan thought it was less emotional. The crew dismissed Hoban, and carried on with their meal. Kentari finished his meal first, and left the mess room before the others. He went to the armoury and ran his usual inspection - everything was in order. However, later on, while he was doing his rounds, he saw Chef Bonju leave the armoury, concealing something in his jacket. Before he could investigate, the storm broke out and Kentari was called to deck. While he was trying to secure the starboard side brace for the forward topsail, Hoban came over to assist him, complaining that Linae thought he was bad luck and had brought the storm on the ship himself. Kentari did not see Hoban again in the storm.
Chef Bonju's Account
According to Chef Bonju, Hoban spoke his words matter-of-factly before leaving the room, and the others enjoyed the meal greatly. He noted that Linae and Anshu remained behind, whispering together. He then thoroughly washed the dishes, but as he was getting to the silverware had to go up to the deck as the storm broke out. He saw Hoban three times in the storm, first at the starboard railing, then at the port railing, then later he talked to him, although this does not match Anshu's account, when he had calmed down. He asked whether he was thought of as bad luck, as Linae had said something to that effect which had irritated him. When prompted, Bonju explained his trip to the armoury by saying he was fetching a knife to carve with, as the one he usually uses had mysteriously vanished. However, if the Chef was busy washing up when the storm started, he would not have had the time to go to the armoury and fetch a knife, if the timing Kentari recalls is accurate. Also, it has been questioned what the Chef would need to carve after after the meal. Finally, it should be noted that the knife he took from the store does not appear to be suitable for carving, although this may be a mistake on the behalf of the artists.
Linae's Account
By Linae's account, Hoban's muttered his words furiously, like a "fateful hex". After dinner, Linae returned to her cabin, stopping to pause and speak with Anshu, apparently about the poor quality of the food, although this seems unlikely as the other crew members seem to be able to go on at length about the meal and it does not match Anshu's explanation. She describes her discussion with Anshu as "brief", while Bonju insisted they lingered behind to talk. In her cabin, she began to play a game of Kou-jong, but found she was missing her Lost Desert Sunset tile. Having searched her cabin, she then went up onto deck, where she found it behind a crate. While retrieving it, she heard Anshu and Hoban arguing, but the call for all hands on deck came shortly after they started arguing, and Hoban went to the wheel. She worked on deck for a while, twice beside Hoban, before going below deck to help Anshu fix a leak, although Anshu does not mention her himself. She considers Hoban responsible for the storm, and bad luck.
Anshu's Account
Anshu's recollection is that Hoban's words were spoken less angrily than Linae recalls, and possibly with some desperation. After their meal, Linae pulled Anshu briefly to one side to ask about an undisclosed medical issue. Anshu then went for a brief walk, alone, on deck, but just before the storm came he got into an argument with Hoban. Anshu wanted to stop in at Krawk Island to obtain some medical supplies, but Hoban refused to change course. As the storm hit, Hoban went to the wheel while Anshu was sent down below to repair a leak. Twice Anshu heard Hoban above him on deck, the first time, when he investigated, Hoban was arguing with someone, and then later he heard him arguing again, on the aftdeck, but when he inquired Bonju didn't know anything about it.
Hoban's Account
According to Hoban's story, he claims that after he stated the fateful line, he left the dining area to his map room to get some work done. Several hours after, Anshu confronted him and they both got into a heated argument. At one o'clock, Captain Tuan sent him to assist Linae, where she called him bad luck. Two hours later, he went to help Kentari and was ignored. At 4:00 he saw Anshu again, but avoided him because he was clearly still bitter about their disagreement, then at 5:00 had an argument with Linae about what he had said earlier. He was passing the cargo crates at six o'clock when he noticed Bonju was furious at how he had not finished the "glorious meal" hours before. Hoban then confronted him and in the resulting fight, he was pushed overboard by Bonju, where he was left floating in a crate full of food. After his eventual rescue, Bonju was finally punished by being locked in the storeroom, and Captain Tuan invited the user to Shenkuu.
Hoban's Timeline
From the information each of the crew have given, it is possible to construct a timeline of Hoban's projected whereabouts on the ship on the day of the storm. Where conflicting reports exist, they have both been listed parallel.
It should noted that some of the times are only projected times based on the assumption that the storm occured at 12:00 NST, which although not confirmed would tie in with the rest of the times and would allow each of the events to fall into order by the 1:00-6:00 time scale that is given in the area to input the solution.
Currently in the works on how the timeline will be presented. Thought it wasn't proper to add a timeline when it wasn't completed nor was it thought out how it would be. Discuss proposals and ideas in this articles "Discussion" page. --Jacob 17:24, 2 Sep 2006 (CDT)
Solving the Mystery
On August 31, after questioning all the crew, users were able to make the following guesses about Hoban and his whereabouts...
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Prizes
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Prizes were rewarded on September 14, 2006, by visiting Captain Tuan. At least 2 correct guesses needed to be made, and a user would be rewarded with an avatar, a sidebar, and a trophy and random prize, the rarity of which was depending on the number of correct guesses. Prize progression is as follows...
- 2/5: Sidebar + Avatar +
(Lucky Guesser) - 3/5: Sidebar + Avatar + Hobans Leftovers +
(Know-It-All) - 4/5: Sidebar + Avatar + Hobans Map Book +
- 5/5: Sidebar + Avatar + Hobans Hat +
Presentation
The way the comic-strips for this plot are written, it is as though the reader is conducting the investigation and is an integral part of the plot line, something absent from previous, similar plots which included part-by-part chapters.
Whenever the ship leaves harbour, the main comic page becomes inaccessible. The sources of the comics can still be accessed, however, for them to be read:
Due to the size of the source images, however, and the inability to scroll down them on most browsers when viewing them in source form (as they are Flash movies), sites such as TheDailyNeopets have set up pages where they can be seen and scrolled.
Trivia
- References to Mystery Island Volcano, the Lost Desert Plot and the Altador Plot were made in the release of the plot in the saying...
Ah ha! So there is more going on! Clever one, you are. You hesitate for a moment, though, if only because you remember previous times you've offered to help a strangers. Volcanoes... and spike traps... and flooded cities. *shudder*
- Many theories emerged throughout the participation of the plot where the Cyodrake's Gaze would appear next after each disappearance. Lutari Island and Altador were of major discussion, and many users were angry at the thought it would arrive as Lutari Island, because it was only available to user who had Neopets Mobile.
- After the plot, Eye of the Storm, staring The Cyodrake's Gaze's crew, was released. The game was available for Premium Beta testing during the plot.
- On The Cyodrake's Gaze comic page, it said in text under the banner "Sponsored by: PokemonCenter.com".
External Links
- Plot Info: The Cyodrake's Gaze, The Cyodrake's Gaze Plot Comics
- Shenkuu
- Selected Pet Pages: Guide by glenstew
- Selected Fansites: Guide by frozenpandaman