Editing The Faeries' Ruin

[[Image:Tfr faerie festival.png|thumb|550px|right|A curse turned all the Faeries to stone.]]

The plot opened with the interruption of the [[Faerie Festival]] as nearly all of the [[faerie]]s in the world mysteriously turned to stone<!-- except bottled ones, see "Balthazar discovers the Faeries Ruin" Neopedia article -->. Without the faeries' magic, [[Faerieland]] began sinking towards the ground, and shadowy monsters began to emerge. During the course of the plot, nearly all activities that involved faeries — from the games and shops on Faerieland to the [[Neggery]] and the [[Cooking Pot]] — were suspended due to the faeries' condition.

The plot starred several new characters, including [[Brynn]], a female [[Kougra]] knight, [[Hanso]], an [[Ixi]] thief, and [[Xandra]], a [[Xweetok]] sorceress.  It also revisited several characters who have appeared in previous plots, including [[Jazan]] of [[Lost Desert Plot]] fame and [[King Altador]].

Like [[The Cyodrake's Gaze]] plot, parts of the story had [[wikipedia:unreliable narrator|unreliable narrator]]s. Beginning on 10 November 2014, the plot comics were [http://www.madefire.com/motion-books/Neopets-faeries-ruin-episode-1 re-released] on the Madefire platform, a [[Wikipedia:motion comics|motion comics]] [[wikipedia:app|app]].

 

The Faerie Festival would be disrupted by [[Wraith]]s again in [[Faerie Festival 2017|2017]] due to [[The Wraith Resurgence]].  

However, Xandra betrayed them: Faerieland crashed east of the [[Haunted Woods]] and she turned most of the heroes to stone. Xandra, it was revealed, was the villain all along: she saw them as tyrants who kept their magical power to themselves instead of using it to help the rest of the planet, and turned them to stone to begin with.  

[[Hanso]] - one of the heroes who escaped the second petrification spell - stole the first artefact and used it to absorb some of Xandra's spells. He smashed it, the magic was released, and he and Xandra were turned to stone as well. This broke the curse holding the Faeries, and [[Fyora]] was able to restore Hanso to life. The heroes returned to their nations, and the Faeries started work rebuilding their city in its new home.  

[[Image:Tfr_chapter_2_2.png|thumb|left|300px|"It's a pretty good story, actually..."]]

At the Faerie Festival, all the Faeries had been turned to stone, and [[Hanso]] the [[Ixi]] was looking for things to steal.  

He was not the Festival's only visitor. Several [[Neopia]]n lands had sent representatives to investigate the crisis: from [[Altador]], [[King Altador]] and his guards, from [[Brightvale]], the knight [[Brynn]], and from [[Qasala]], King [[Jazan]].

Hanso explained that as he was on the way to the festival - "You mean you were going to steal from the faeries at their festival." - he saw [[Hubrid Nox]], who was holding a shiny artefact and chanting an incantation. After a blinding flash of light, Nox had vanished and all the faeries had become stone. Although Jazan and Altador doubted Hubrid Nox would be powerful enough to curse all the faeries, Brynn vouched that he would have no reason to lie, and that the artefact Hanso claimed to have seen may have something to do with it.

[[File:Flashb.png|thumb|300px|left|Hanso looted Xandra's library.]]

 

[[Image:shadows.png|left|thumb|300px|A new threat emerges from the shadows.]]

 

Jazan reasoned that the monsters they were fighting could not belong to Nox, as his minions are ghosts. Hanso and Altador realised that the wraiths were distracting them from the sinking Faerieland, and between waves, they resolved to split up. Brynn would go to [[The Finneus J. Scrollbottom Auxiliary Surplus Archives|Brightvale's library]] to see if there was anything they could use, and take Hanso to the dungeons there. Xandra said she should research more on faerie artefacts as well. The rest of the team would remain to see if the wraiths led them to Nox.

 

 

Hanso remembered the 'Nox' he saw cast the spell called Faeries "winged tyrants" - and realised 'Nox' must have been Xandra in disguise. Xandra said the world would be better off under a Neopet ruler: her. The artefact Hanso had stolen and the sibling they found in the ruin had both served to amplify her magic so she could overwhelm the Faeries. The shadowy wraiths, spectres, and phantoms, who had been plaguing Brightvale and the Haunted Woods, were a side-effect from the petrification spell unintended by Xandra.

 

[[Image:chase.png|right|thumb|300px|Hanso steals one of the artefacts.]]

Hanso revealed to his allies that beforehand, he saw something in the book from Brightvale that helped him break the spell, freeing everyone from their stone predicament. He then confessed that he was lucky that Fyora freed him. The group began to go their separate ways: Altador and his men returned to [[Altador|their own kingdom]] to see if there was any damage done from the days past, while Jazan and Hanso discuss buying some of the jewellery Hanso had stolen for [[Nabile]] as a gift.

 

 

 

 

Brynn was worried that Hanso would encourage Timmy to follow in his thieving footsteps, but Hanso reminded her that if he wasn't a thief, they may never have met.

The player could participate in this plot, like in the [[Tale of Woe]], by solving puzzles that are released after certain chapters of the story. Solving puzzles, and solving them in specific ways, earns the player achievements called ''Fearless Deeds''. Achievements are often named after internet memes.  

|[[Image:Tfr_art1.png]]

|[[Image:Tfr_art2.png]]

|[[Image:Tfr_art3.png]]

|[[Image:Tfr_art4.png]]

If Hanso is hit, or if he leaves the library without getting all the artefacts, it is indicated as an error in retelling the story - Xandra or Hanso will answer that it didn't happen as such, and the user can try again.  

The layout of each of the floors is randomised each time the puzzle is played. The location of each group is indicated by a risen bronze peg. The doorways between the rooms are colour-coded red, green, or blue. They player can open all the red doors, or all the green doors, or all the blue doors, at once. If some of the heroes are in a room where one of the doors open, they will go through it into a different room.

In certain rooms are staircases - when a group enters a room with a staircase, they will immediately go up or down it and out of the room at the other end. In other rooms, there are certain traps, as denoted by small grey tiles on the control panel. These traps - from [[Wadjet]]s - [[wikipedia:Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark|"Why did it have to be Wadjets?"]] - to [[scarab]]s (a reference to the [[Lost Desert Plot]]) - cause the group affected to miss whatever door opens next. Three of the tiles are not traps - one is a gold key, which must be found and used to unlock the front door - one is a room full of [[Usuki]]s, and one is a room full of [[ice cream]].  

*: Collect the key and get all three characters to the exit. Due to a bug when this puzzle was first released, it may not have been achieved when the puzzle was completed successfully, although this was later fixed.  

*'''[[wikipedia:Non-standard poker hand|Five of a Kind]]''' - ''If this keeps up, we'll win this battle in no time.''

Refreshing at the map of [[Brightvale]] eventually causes a text link to appear beneath it, reading "You notice a strange door on one side of the castle... how odd." - some people have reported having to turn [http://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865/ Adblock] or [http://noscript.net/ NoScript] off in their browsers before it would appear. The link leads to [[The Finneus J. Scrollbottom Auxiliary Surplus Archives|the Brightvale archives]], where a relative of the grumpy [[Yurble]] [[The Foreman|foreman]] is trying to get the library organised for Brynn. Mistaking the player for a library intern he requested, he orders them to get to work sorting out one of the archive's many rooms.  

|style="text-align:center;background-color:#eeeeff;color:#000000;"|[[Orange]] [[Meowclops]]

|style="text-align:center;background-color:#eeeeff;color:#000000;"|''[[Wikipedia:Garfield|Forbidden Lasagna Recipes]]''

*'''[[wikipedia: retail sales|They're Flying Off the Shelves!]]''' - ''Go home, book! [[wikipedia:Happy Gilmore|Are you too good for your home?!]]''

|- style="vertical-align:bottom;"

|[[Image:Tfr npc1d.png|Kali]]

|[[Image:Tfr npc2d.png|Mike]]

|[[Image:Tfr npc3d.png|Victor]]

|[[Image:Tfr npc4d.png|Charlie]]

|[[Image:Tfr npc5d.png|Oscar]]

|- style="vertical-align:bottom;"

|[[Image:Tfr npc1.png|Kali]]

|[[Image:Tfr npc2.png|Mike]]

|[[Image:Tfr npc3.png|Victor]]

|[[Image:Tfr npc4.png|Charlie]]

|[[Image:Tfr npc5.png|Oscar]]

[[Image:Tfr gemstone.png|Gemstone]]

[[Image:Tfr lens.png|Lens]]

[[Image:Tfr crystal.png|Odd crystal]]

[[Image:Tfr cane.png|Fancy cane]]

[[Image:Tfr duster.png|Feather duster]]

[[Image:Tfr ladle.png|Soup ladle]]

[[Image:Tfr rope.png|Length of rope]]

[[Image:Tfr belt.png|Old belt]]

[[Image:Tfr pipe cleaners.png|Pipe cleaners]]

Only the first three challengers were available from the beginning. The [[Shadow Phantom Minion]], [[Shadow Phantom Destroyer]], [[Shadow Phantom Fury]], and [[Shadow Phantom Zealot]] have the same images as the Shadow Wraith Minion and Shadow Spectre Minion; the Shadow Spectre Destroyer; the Shadow Wraith Fury and the Shadow Spectre Fury; and the Shadow Spectre Zealot, respectively, but different opponent id numbers and different sets of weapons. When this step was released, the [[Shadow Phantom Conqueror]] and the [[Shadow Phantom Brute]] both have the same stance images as the [[Shadow Spectre Brute]] and the [[Shadow Wraith Brute]], even though the Shadow Phantom Conqueror's opponent picture was the same as the Shadow Spectre Conqueror's opponent picture, suggesting that the wrong images were used for his battle stances. This was fixed some time after this step closed.  

When challenging Oblivion in the Battledome, two icons are shown either side of his name. These change every few hours. The icon that appears ''before'' his name indicates to what element Oblivion is weak: dealing this element of damage to him, using a weapon or ability that deals ''only'' that element, will reduce his total hit points. However, the icon that appears ''after'' his name indicates the element that will be his strong suit; using a weapon or ability dealing ''only'' that element, will increase his total hit points instead.

This version of Oblivion was no longer available to fight following the release of chapter 13, but it is not clear if he had been defeated by this time.

At the top of each enciphered spell is a title with seven symbols. Players decipher the page by clicking the three symbols in the title that correspond to the three ''least''-used symbols in the page of text below. This can be done quickly by estimation - the three correct symbols are quite rare, and the others in the title are quite common. The order the symbols are selected does not matter. When the page is deciphered, Xandra can decide if it is the right one or not.

|style="background-color:#FF0000"|2

|style="background-color:#AAAAAA; color:#FFFFFF"|9

|style="background-color:#BC8AFF"|13

Each spell also has an index code consisting of a glyph (one of the twenty to the right) and a colour (one of twenty to the left).  Sometimes, deciphering a spell will eliminate all spells bearing the same combination of color and glyph.

*'''[[wiktionary:cast away|Cast Away]]''' - ''Everyone gets an achievement! Even this [[wikipedia:Deep Space Homer|inanimate carbon rod]]!''

*'''[[wikipedia:Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog|Triumph]]''' - ''[[Wikipedia:The Secret of Monkey Island|How appropriate. You fight like a kau.]]''

 

 

 

 

 

==Neocash activity==

==Behind the scenes==

 

Several site elements were altered during this plot:

*Although the Faeries were petrified, the [[Healing Springs]] had some "residual magic" to be used at the user's own risk. Before the release of ''Into the Fray'', if the user tried to "Heal my Pets", they were told there was no-one there to heal them; during and after ''Into the Fray'', it generated one of the Water Faerie's item events - either a low level snowball or a healing potion.

*The shops both at the [[Healing Springs]] and the [[Hidden Tower]] remained open without their owners present, presumably relying on an honesty-box system, even after Faerieland crashed. New items were released as normal: the Maractite Paint Brush began to be sold at the Hidden Tower on the same day that Faerieland crashed.

*Beginning around 10 November, the height recorded on Faerieland's main page dropped from 10,000 feet to 9,000 feet in line with the events of the plot. It had dropped another 1,000 feet by the 15 November, and another by 18 November. It was down to only 3,000 by the 23 November - Oblivion's release date. Later on that day, it was down to 2,000 feet, and by the 24th it was at 1,000.

*By the end of 24 November, the description on Faerieland's main page was gone, replaced by a link to the picture of Faerieland crashing to the ground.  At the end of the plot, the map was remade to show that nearly all the activities and damaged infrastructure were being rebuilt in a lush landscape on the ground, and most activities were accessible again with new art - an exception was the [[Faerie Quest]]s, which remained closed during rebuilding until 7 February. Faerieland was never rendered inaccessible at any point of the plot.

=== Cameos and references ===

The titles and descriptions of the Fearless Deeds often contained jokes or references to other media. These are linked to in the walkthrough above. Additionally:

*Both this plot and the video game ''[[Neopets: The Darkest Faerie]]'' had the scene of Faerieland dropping to Neopia.

*[[Captain Rourke]] made a [[wikipedia:cameo appearance|cameo]] in chapter three as a patron at the bar.

*[[Kanrik]] made a cameo in chapter seven in a flashback as one of the people [[Hanso]] robbed.

*The foyer of the Brightvale Archives has [[wikipedia:Roman numerals|Roman numerals]] hidden in [http://images.neopets.com/faerieland/tfr_fa61c26562/p4_e784d30682/intro2_aae72f2d43.png the design], including an 'X' on the floor.  This may be a reference to the similar scene in ''[[wikipedia:Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade|Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade]]''. Also, in the eleventh chapter, Hanso mentions swapping the artefact with a bag of sand, referencing the famous idol swap scene in ''[[wikipedia:Raiders of the Lost Ark|Raiders of the Lost Ark]]''.

*Some faeries were not shown as petrified during the plot, including [[Siyana]] of Altador or [[Bree]] the Keyquest Faerie, this was not a clue but an [[wikipedia:Goof|oversight]].

*The [[Ogrin Master|Ogrin]] is never named at any point during the plot - and he was simply referred to as "The Ogrin Master" in the epilogue.

*In the [[Games Master Challenge 2010]], several qualifying games were unavailable since they were set in Faerieland.  However, there were no challenges that ''required'' those games to be played.