Disappearance of Krawk Island

Krawk Island in the grasp of the creature.

This article documents a current event. Information may update rapidly as the event progresses.

The disappearance of Krawk Island occurred on 20 July 2011, following sightings of an enormous tentacled beast around the island on 11 July†. All that was left of the island was a single shanty occupied by Gavril McGill, who tasked the player with finding where his home island has gone.

The Neopets Team described this event as "not a plot [just] a transition".

Participation

All that remains of the island.

Beginning around 11 July 2011, users who visited the explore map could see the tentacles of an enormous squid-like monster encircling Krawk Island. While they could still visit the island during this time, by the 20 July all that was left was a single building on a rock a fraction of the size of the full island, and every other Krawk Island activity became inaccessible.

The disappearance was noted in the New Features section of the site, and site adverts and a front page banner implored users for help.

The search

The building is owned by Gavril McGill, who enlists the user to help him search for the rest of the island. He provides the player with a chart of part of the ocean, divided into a seven by seven grid. The player must then search the sectors of their map one at a time. They may search five sectors per day.

Each player was issued with a chart like this one of the part of the ocean they are to search.

The sector map.

Each sector is in itself divided up in a seven by seven grid. The player, captaining the ship The Surly Peadacle, and their crew of sailors can then start searching these areas one at a time. Each area may either be empty, have a small item prize, or intersect with an island. Finding an island also rewards the player with an item prize. Islands take up two by two grid spaces.

The player can keep searching a sector until their crew is completely demoralised. They grow more frustrated the more empty areas are searched - after finding five empty areas, they will insist on calling off the hunt in that sector. When this happens, the player is returned to their chart and the area they have searched is checked off.

By the second day of searching, McGill had discovered an old book on Krawk Island hidden behind a dresser, which he thought might shed some light on the catastrophe. He also noted that they had had a lot of reports of searchers discovering small islets, none big enough to be Krawk Island.

On the third day, he discovered from the book that Krawk Island was originally made up from many small islands put together - he realised that these must be the islets that the players were finding. He revealed that he intended to rearrange the Island's plots so as to make Krawk Island even better.

Two days later, the shanty was updated to include a meter measuring how many islets had been found. McGill confided that although he knew now that the islets had been combined by their inhabitants to make it a harder target for Dread Pirate Sherman, the meanest pirate Neopia had ever seen, he did not know how. He promised that the players hard work would be rewarded.

Another two days later, McGill had discovered that the founders of Krawk Island had anchored the islets to the sea floor to keep them together. He also mentioned that he was planning to become the new governor of Krawk Island. McGill predicted that all the islets would be accounted for by the end of 28 July.

Island retrieval

By the 29 July, all the islets had been found. The next challenge was to bring them all together: McGill gave players a new chart of their part of the ocean, marking the location of ten islands. Players could retrieve one per day.

In order to successfully retrieve the island, players had to arrange their crew on the ship in order to keep it balanced. This puzzle plays out like a simplified version of sudoku: the player is given a four-by-four grid, grouped into four two-by-two squares. The crew consists of four cooks, four cabin boys, four boatswains, and four gunners. One of each will already be placed on the grid and cannot be moved. The remaining crew must be arranged such that no column, row, or two-by-two square contains more than one of each crew type.

Once the crew is arranged correctly, the island can be sailed back to McGill, and the player is awarded a Krawk Island related item prize.

Trivia

• Several of the captions describing crew morale refer to previous plots, including the Altador Cup and the Cyodrake's Gaze mystery. Others refer to the Golden Dubloon, Food Club, and the free training Neopets receive at the Swashbuckling Academy.
• During this plot, Krawk Island activities and shops became inaccessible - attempting to visit them issued the message,

  Other than a tiny plot of land, Krawk Island has gone missing! It's believed that the island's disappearance has something to do with a huge sea creature. You should probably look into what's going on.

Unlike in The Faeries' Ruin plot, Krawk Island flash games like Deckball and Dubloon Disaster could still be played.

• A similar story about Krawk Island disappearing off all nautical maps for a day is featured in the Neopedia as The Day Krawk Island Went Away.
• The disappearance was mentioned in the Daily Puzzle for 27 July.

Notes

† The map image of Krawk Island being dragged down by tentacles was initially substituted in error with the disappeared image on 14 July before reverting - as acknowledged in Editorial 503.

External links

• Plot locations: Krawk Island (missing), Solitary Shanty, Neopian Sea Chart, Neopia's Waters: A Closer Look
• Editorial: 503, 504