The Tale of Woe

The Elephante Gypsy.

The Tale of Woe is a plot based in the Haunted Woods and entails the release of Neovia. It began on October 2, 2006, and finishing November 20, 2006 (designed to coincide with Halloween). The plot follows the travels of Gilly, who first appeared as the star of The Castle of Eliv Thade.

Plot summary

The gypsy camp

Gilly at the Gypsy Camp.

Deep within the Haunted Woods users happen upon a Gypsy Camp, where a Pink Elephante greets and warns them of the dangers of the woods - "[...] Trees and creatures roam the night, and they can swallow the unwary. It's no accident that so many legends and myths surround this place [...]" - and reads the user a story of Gilly, when she visited the Camp and heard the story of Neovia...

The Legend of Neovia

The Elephante began his tale of a family of Edmund and Alice, and their three children: sons Bruno and Reginald, and daughter Sophie (who the Elephante avoids mentioning until his story is almost over). They lived in Neovia, and had many troubles. Bruno sought the affection of Lily, but lacked the charm and strength to court her, and was not helped in his attempts by Oscar, Lily's current protective companion.

After Oscar hit Bruno for talking to Lilly, Bruno resigned to his fate but stumbled upon Mr. Krawley, who offered him a potion which would make all his troubles go away for only a few Neopoints. After drinking the potion, the very next day he was handsome, strong and much more presentable to Lily.

Edmund claimed Bruno was foolish to take such an action, complaining that one must work for success. However, when he was offered the potion by Mr. Krawley, he reluctantly took it to resolve the family's financial hardship. Like Bruno, the elixir worked and he became rich within the next few days. With the testimonials of Bruno and his father, word of the potions spread quickly. When Reginald took a potion as well, increasing his intelligence and knowledge, the popularity of the elixir was assured. Before long, everyone was taking the potions to have their wishes - such things as height, beauty and youth - granted with a single swig, and only the innocent, such as Sophie, refrained from drinking the potion.

Mayor Thumburt and the rioters.

The potion seemed to give everyone in Neovia happiness... but as the days passed, the effects of the potion continued to make their wishes more twisted. Edmund became suspicious of everyone, carefully guarding over his fortune. Bruno became a muscular, deformed monster. Reginald became lonely, seeking refuge in his books when people couldn't stand to talk to him and his great intellect. Curses like this spread to everyone who drank the potion, and the angry town joined together and searched for Mr. Krawley, only to find he had disappeared. They then decided to put the blame on the family which advertised the elixir, and attacked Edmund's home.

Bruno ran outside to distract the villagers while Reginald and Sophie sneaked out the back and ran for the woods. In the forest, they encountered Ilere, who said Sophie had no where else to go but in her care. Reginald refused such an action, but relented when Sophie went of her own free will, saying she felt safe with Ilere. Returning back to Neovia, Reginald saw Bruno being chased into the woods outside of town, and escorted his parents to an abandoned mansion on the other side of town, used in the past for games of hide-and-seek.

Bruno lost those chasing him in the forest, and when the towns people returned they attacked, determined for retribution. Suddenly, Mayor Thumburt stopped them all and said they must be cured before bring justice to those responsible. The Neovians summon The Spirit of Slumber, who cures them with magic, but at a terrible price...

The ruins of Neovia

The locket that was found in the ghost town.

The story ends and Gilly goes to sleep, and after a night's rest she sets out into the woods and stumbles upon Neovia itself. The small town is in ruins, but after looking through a burnt wreck of a house she found a strange silver locket hidden, with the picture inside decayed beyond recognition.

Gilly headed to the Deserted Fairground and took the locket to Lyanka, of the Cork Gun Gallery; Leeroy, of the Coconut Shy; Harker, of the Bagatelle stall; and Ssidney, of Ssidney's Scratch Cards. None of them knew who the owner was, although some seemed impressed with the metalwork and one mentioned they were quite popular a long time ago. Heading back to Neovia for more information, she discovers a path leading to a hut in the swampy part of the woods.

Sophie's Shack.

At the hut, Gilly met the adult Sophie, who snatched the locket and shouted for the Usul to leave and not to disturb her. Gilly ran off through the rain and took shelter in a cave. Inside, amongst strange, old artifacts, she was stalked by a dark creature. By arranging a mirror, a broken lamp post, and a chair around a pile of food for bait, Gilly managed to get the monster to eat some of the food, leap back from its own reflection, and stumble across the lamp post and into the chair, where it banged its head and fell into the moonlight, revealing itself to be the horribly disfigured Bruno.

Taking pity on Bruno for her actions, even though he was trying to scare her, Gilly approached him, only to be chased outside of the cave. Gilly ran all the way back to Sophie's hut, asking to be let in from the chasing Bruno, and Sophie answered the door angrily, but calmed into shock when she saw Bruno was alive. Exposition ensues as they related their stories: Bruno hid in a cave from the townspeople deep in the Haunted Woods, never daring to return to Neovia. Sophie went with Ilere to her now current home and was only given a chest which Ilere said contained all she needed to survive, and left her.

A few days after Sophie settled into the hut, she returned to Neovia only to find deserted buildings. Sophie returned several times in the weeks that followed, but there was no sign of what had happened to the residents until Halloween night, when she saw ghostly apparitions of the inhabitants living their lives. Sophie noticed the Neovian's faces were without emotion, working and moving in silence, and when she touched one of them, her hand went straight through the Neovian. Sophie concluded they were not physically there, and returned to her hut to work on a cure. The next day, however, the town was once again deserted. For ten years, Sophie revealed, she had been working to cure the Neovians on Halloween night, and had little else left to try.

Gilly, almost forgotten in the exchange, remembered the Gypsy Elephante's story and explained the Spirit of Slumber's involvement, realizing this must be the "terrible price" mentioned in the story - while the spirit restored them to their forms before their use of Mr Krawley's potion, they would be unable to enjoy their restoration. Sophie was sceptical it would help, but decides to ask Ilere for information. She was reluctant to bring Gilly along, but relents when Bruno asks her to come, providing Gilly doesn't get in the way (to which Gilly finished Sophie's spoken request before her).

Seeking the Spirit

Ilere's residence, deep in the Haunted Woods.

Travelling deep into the Haunted Woods, the trio finally found Ilere's home after opening the gateway with the aid of Ghost Meepits. Sophie began to explain to Ilere the curse placed on Neovia, and was interrupted by an excited Gilly about the Spirit of Slumber and how they wanted him to reverse the spell on them. Ilere called them mad and said the spirit of Slumber was far too powerful, and told them to leave before they got hurt. Bruno then attacked Ilere in a rage, and while she defended herself with her magic Bruno got the upper hand. Before anything more developed, Sophie threw Ilere and Bruno apart with her magic.

When Sophie asked why Bruno attacked Ilere, he explained he could feel Ilere's great power, yet she did nothing to help Sophie during the years, help save Neovia ten years ago, and refused to even help now. Caught in a magical spell by Sophie, Ilere acknowledged who powerful she had become, and when prompted by Sophie told her the Spirit of Slumber was an ancient spirit of a Neopet who had died long ago, before she ever came to the Haunted Woods. She then said there were others in the Haunted Woods who would know more about the spirit than her. As the trio turned to leave, Ilere said to Sophie, "For your own sake, I hope you fail."

As Bruno complained about Ilere's lack of help, Gilly began to suggest they see the Brain Tree, who was one of the oldest residents of the Haunted Woods, to which Sophie immediately refused because she had a bad experience with it. Gilly began to drag her along, saying it wouldn't be so bad, to which Sophie blasted Gilly with her magic. Bruno scolded her, saying Gilly was only a little girl, and the Brain Tree may have the information they needed. Still feeling grumpy, Sophie apologized and went to the Brain Tree with them.

Upon asking, the Brain Tree said he would give the Spirit of Slumber's name if they told it when he died. Gilly immediately set off to see The Esophagor for the answer, and Sophie began to say how she had a bad experience with him as well, but stopped when Bruno and Gilly looked at her. When they came to the Esophagor, the Esophagor said he could only tell them when someone died, and the Spirit of Slumber never did. He said he would give the date if the trio could give him the Spirit's real name.

This angered Gilly, as it created a paradox: they needed the Spirit's name to know the date of his death, and the date to get his name. Sophie, however, said she could identify the remains of the Spirit of Slumber's if she used a special potion, finding his name on his gravestone. When Gilly asked how they would find the Spirit's grave, Sophie said they would dig up every grave in the Haunted Woods, to which Bruno and Gilly gulped in fear at the thought.

Seeking the Spirit's name

The three heroes arrived at The Caretaker's Shack to find his indices had been stolen by an unknown thief. Without them they could not find and search all the graves of the Haunted Woods, so they searched for them and eventually found them in a maze (corresponding to the plot action in Fetch!), and had The Caretaker guide them through the gravesites.

Bruno dug up the graves while Gilly helped Sophie create and use potions on the bones unearthed one by one, until one of the bones tested glows, signifying if was of the Spirit of Slumber. Sophie excitedly asked which grave it came from, and Gilly pointed to a broken headstone which bore no name, to which Sophie cried out in frustration. Without much enthusiasm, they all realized the needed to go back to every single gravestone, marking off the legible names they found on the gravestones from the indices and have only one remaining name, it being the Spirit of Slumber's. Upon returning to the Caretaker's Shack however, he was furious they had dug up all the graves of the Haunted Woods and taken his indices, and chased them out. Realizing they needed to move more quietly through the graveyards because of the furious Caretaker, they set out writing off each name from the indices one by one.

They eventually found the name Jubart Igig and they all returned to Sophie's shack where she read up on a ways to summon the Spirit of Slumber. After reading the proper spell, Sophie slammed the book and said it wouldn't work, explaining the only way to summon the Spirit of Slumber was for someone to drink it a special potion and allow him to inhabit their body. Bruno volunteered, to which Sophie objected, saying she didn't want to lose him again. But Bruno reasoned with her, pointing out Gilly was too small and she was needed to create the potion, making him the only choice to bring their family back.

Sophie began making potions, two of which Bruno drank and became really hairy and shrunk in size, but upon drinking the third potion, he dropped the flask to the floor and a sinister gaze was fixed upon his face, signifying he was possessed by the Spirit of Slumber. When asked why he was summoned, Sophie asked him to reverse the spell he placed on Neovia, to which he smiled and agreed.

Sophie and Gilly followed the possessed Bruno back to Neovia. Along the way, Sophie reassured Gilly werelupes weren't normally seen in the woods around Neovia, while Ginny reassured Sophie the town and her family would be cured as Sophie looked at the charred remains of the locket her mother gave her.

the Spirit of Slumber led them to Neovia's town square, and he raised his hands and said, "Let the spell be undone!" In an instant, the inhabitants of Neovia and Sophie’s family were restored to material form as Bruno fell unconscious. As Sophie tried to wake Bruno saying their family was cured, Gilly was trying to get her attention as she stared at the Neovians. Annoyed, Sophie turned around and watched in horror as the Neovians began to transform, realizing the Spirit of Slumber only reversed his spell and not the potion. They returned to their cursed forms and mutated even more monstrous, including her mother, father and brother. Sophie ran in horror at the sight, and Gilly and Bruno tried to chase after her, but were surrounded by the mutated Neovians.

Into the fray

Mayor Thumburt pointed to Gilly and Bruno, saying they were to blame for the way they were now, and the Neovians attacked. Bruno scanned the angry crowd and saw lurking at the edge Mr. Krawley. He began to run away after he was noticed, and Bruno urged Gilly to chase after him as he fought back the crowd. Gilly ran after Mr. Krawley into a graveyard, whose gravestones turned to life and attacked her. Grabbing a nearby shovel (perhaps left by a gravedigger), Gilly defeated all the gravestones, after which Mr. Krawley used his magic to bring the surrounding trees to life, which Gilly needed to defeat as well before continuing her chase of him.

Chasing Mr. Krawley to the front of Meepit Oaks, Gilly confronted him and he revealed himself as Mr. Krawley for the first time, but said it was not him she needed, but what was inside the asylum. Calling him a liar, Krawley said he led her there for a reason. Just then, Zombie Neopets moaning for brains walked into the courtyard, blocking escape. Krawley said she needed to make a decision, as the way out was closing, and Gilly hesitantly walked inside.

Meanwhile, Bruno fought against the crowd of Neovians being herded by Mayor Thumburt, and hid in a cellar when the danger became too great. From the safety of the cellar, he saw his parents cursing him, and mourned at the fact he couldn't help them.

Sophie ran all the way back to her shack, and on the inside finally collected herself and began to make a potion to cure Neovia, which she tested on her Meowclops who went through many side effects before becoming a safe potion. After completing the concoction she left for Neovia but couldn't help thinking there was something still missing.

Back at Meepit Oaks, Gilly walked through the corridors of the vacant asylum and fought off zombies and pieced together the mystery of what happened there, eventually finding an unwilted, glowing purple flower in a jail cell containing a long dead nurse named Lucy. Taking the flower and sneaking past the zombies on the outside, Gilly ran into Sophie who saw the flower and realized it was the final ingredient of the potion. Placing the flower in the potion, they set off to pour the contents into the well of Neovia.

At Neovia, the residents were waiting for her, but she blasted away all of them except Mayor Thumburt, who told her to go home and pretend nothing happened, sparing herself the heartache she would feel if the cure failed. Saying she would take her chances, she blasted the Mayor with her magic, who easily deflected it and hit her to the ground. Bruno pounced upon Mayor Thumburt and pulled him off her, realizing he was much stronger than he appeared. All three of them gathered together and fought against Mayor Thumburt, who began to mutate and become more powerful, until he was turned into a Moquot by Sophie.

With the Mayor finally defeated, Sophie urged Bruno to drink the potion, who instead told her to pour the contents into the well to cure Neovia. Returning the next day after all the residents had a drink from the well, they were greeted warmly by everyone, including Sophie and Bruno's family. Returning to the well, Bruno quickly drank from its waters, only to realize he was cursed too long. This didn't bother him, however, as he was used to his form now. Edmund rejoiced in having the family together again, but Sophie said she didn't feel home in Neovia anymore, and was used to being alone. As she bid them goodbye, Gilly saw Mr. Krawley smiling as he watched from a dark alley, who then disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

The end

With the Tale of Woe finished, the Pink Elephante bid the children who were listening good night, and said it was best not to wander into the woods after dark, as you never knew what would swallow the unwary. Later, when users and their Neopets came to visit the Elephante again, they find he had disappeared, and when they asked a Red Wocky gypsy where the Elephante who told The Tale of Woe was, she said there was never an Elephante in their camp.

Plot participation

Plot participation put the user in the role of the lead characters of the plot, helping them in certain situations as the plot progressed.

For an in-depth look at what users needed to do to complete the plot, see The Tale of Woe plot completion.

Quest inventory

This plot brought in a feature called the Quest Inventory, where items discovered in the plot are stored. Items in this inventory cannot be used, traded, or stolen in the way items in the Inventory can, like previous plot quest items in the past.

Prizes

Task Trophies
Trophy	Criteria	Ranks
	Individual Digs	Spoon Scraper 1 - 77 - ? Shovel Flailer ? - 89 - 370 - ? Digmaster ? - 425 - 1805 - ?
	Completed Graves	Grave Digger 1 - 4 Bone Thief 5 - 21 - ? Mortician ? - 25 - 110 - ?
	Potion Fetching	Gopher 1 - 2 Stuffbringer 3 - 10 - ? Spirit of Carrying Things ? - 12 - 47 - ?
	Name Elimination	I Can Read™ 1 - 3 Bookworm 4 - 25 - ? Head Librarian ? - 32 - 204 - ?

On the January 4, 2007, The Neopets Team released the user statistics page which marked each step of the plot the user had completed. Additionally, the statistics for the user's fights in the Battledome opponents were included along with minor trophies and ranks associated with other tasks during the plot.

At the same time, the official plot solution was released.

Overall plot points were not given until March 2, 2007, when a new trophy for a User Lookup was given showing the total number of points given based on the overall participation in the plot. Visiting Sophie's Shack awarded the user with the Tale of Woe sidebar theme and the Tale of Woe - Krawley avatar, providing the user had participated in the plot.

Additionally, a selection of 32 prizes was provided for users to 'purchase' with their plot points. 'Spending' the points did not result in the player using the points that had earned them their rank. Most of the plot prizes were references to the activities of or user responses to the plot.

The complete list of plot prizes stands as follows:

Hissi Oil Keychain - 25 points Guaranteed to solve all your key-storage problems, or your money back. Package of Assorted Vines - 50 points Ooh! Its got a yellow one! Titanium Grave-Digging Spork - 75 points It will never rust, which is good because it will take you ages just to dig a single grave with it. Surplus Bone-Testing Kit - 100 points If only there were any bones left to test. Talking Tombstone Alarm Clock - 500 points Mostly it just talks to itself. Haunted Woods Graveyard Reference, 57N1064 through R51-8AHS - 500 points Alphabetical order? What does that mean? Eau de Esophagor - 750 points Contains hints of refuse, muck, and bile! Gluten-Free Potion Composites Cookbook - 800 points For witches and wizards with sensitive digestive systems. E-Z® Brand Chemistry for Beginners® Cross-Promotional Play Set™ - 999 points Sophie heartily endorses this event and/or product. Two-Bobbleheaded Hissi - 1,000 points They bob to avoid being poked with a stick again. Open Grave - 1,000 points A perfect place to take a nap. Graveyard Reference Book Plushie - 1,000 points Some of the least fun bedtime reading in history. Neovian Genealogy - 1,000 points Skeith plus Zafara equals... Ixi?? Ghost Meepit Dance Party Ultra Remix - 1,200 points Features the Hokey Pokey and other spin-around-in-a-circle favourites. Villager Pitchfork - 1,500 points Wait a minute, Neovians arent farmers... Haunted Chess Set - 2,000 points Sometimes, the pawns move THREE spaces when you arent looking! Damp Cave Feng Shui - 2,000 points How to best arrange the furniture you have scavenged over the years.

Ominous Stone Plushie - 2,000 points Doubles as a handy, yet spooky pillow! Nurse Skeleton Bobblehead - 2,000 points What is she so happy about? Potion Cabinet - 2,500 points With pull-out shelves for storing extra-large bottles of mysterious goo! Ilere Plushie - 3,000 points Do not take this plushie lightly, for it is vastly more powerful than you can ever imagine! Accursed Mittens - 3,000 points They pack quite a punch, just dont try to pick anything up with them. Tale of Woe: The Untold Story - by Reginald (Autographed Copy) - 3,000 points To my biggest fan - Love, Reggie Rusty Asylum Cell Door - 3500 points Repeat after me: The red stuff is RUST. Behind the Rusted Door: The True Story of the Meepit Oaks Sanitorium - 4,000 points Madness! Madness, I tell you! No, seriously, the book is about madness. Enraged Mayor Thumburt Plushie 4,000 points MAYOR SMASH! Creeping Shadow Hammer - 4,500 points Your opponents may have trouble dodging it, as its hard to tell where the hammer is... Mysterious Potted Flower - 5,000 points That extra special final ingredient for making your garden look lovely! Spirit of Slumber Plushie - 6,500 points This plushie will keep you in a very, very deep sleep at night... heh heh... Ghost Paint Brush - 8,000 points This spooky looking paintbrush will give your Neopet a scary new look. Thumburts Cane - 10,000 points Wise politicians do not rule with an iron, er, cane. Rusty Lamppost - 12,000 points Walk softly and carry an absurdly large metal pole.

The complete list of overall trophies is below:

Overall Trophies
Trophy
Title	Honorary Mayor of Neovia	Master Chemist	Neovian Citizen	Meepit Wrangler	Vine Weaver	Asylum Inmate	Swamp Slorg
Point Range	? - 44,080 - 37,850 - ?	? - 36,735 - 29,290 - ?	? - 28,990 - 25,555 - ?	? - 21,920 - 16,090 - ?	? - 15,825 - 12,360 - ?	? - 11,000 - 3,000 - ?	? - 2,050 - 30 - ?

Trivia

The Neopets Team worked hard to combat the errors, requiring them to post a notice on the Neocam that they were on the problem.

• An Aisha resembling Megan can be seen in images of the Gypsy camp.
• The plot appears to be based off the book/movie Something Wicked This Way Comes.
• When part 3 of the plot was released on October 13, 2006, the new section of the plot came upon many database issues (such as Ghost Meepits appearing in the users plot inventory at random), requiring The Neopets Team to move the database, replacing all pages relating to the plot with the following texts (as the errors were happening more than once)
  • TEMPORARY DB MOVE - WILL BE BACK SHORTLY
  • MORE DATABASE ISSUES -- GEEZ THERE'S A LOT OF YOU GUYS -- DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH
• Sophie's saying of how she had a "bad experience" with the Brain Tree and Esophagor probably refers to the Brain Tree Quest, which a user must complete tasks for the Esophagor to fulfil the Brain Tree's request. The rewards for completing the quest are almost always lower in value than the cost it is to complete them, which is probably why Sophie is upset about them.
• On October 23, 2006 around 6:25 NST, the following message appeared when any user tried to access the graveyards or any other related pages along with an image of a glowing bone...

  heavenest found the Spirit of Slumber's bones!
  
  The bones glow with an unearthly silver light.

  It is currently believed the user heavenest found the bones, and as such there is no reason to continue searching graves. About 1 hour after this, users who roamed around the Haunted Woods received the following Random Events, with different Ghost Neopets:

Something has haunted!
	BOO! Uh oh! It looks like all that digging up of graves has disturbed some of the more... eerie denizens of the Haunted Woods. A peace offering would be nice... or perhaps you should just RUN!!

It's unknown what will come from this, and what the ghosts of the defiled graves will do in the Haunted Woods.

• There are considerable differences between the plot's information and the flavor text of the Haunted Woods Expansion Set for the Neopets TCG; while characters, names and settings remain constant, the "plague" mentioned on the card, "Curing the Plague" (which depicts a slightly-altered Spirit of Slumber, who appears to be a mutant Lupe with an earring) is nowhere to be found. Likewise, Ilere is a Villain in the TCG, but a reluctant aide in the plot. Also most notable is the lack of a TCG card of Gilly.
• The Caretaker in the plot bears a resemblance to The Foreman of the Lost Desert Plot and Altador Plot, the difference being The Caretaker is a blue Yurble, while the The Foreman is an Orange Yurble.
• Upon the closing of the name-finding activity, a dialogue appeared at the Caretaker's Shack in which Gilly revealed the name to Sophie: Jubart Igig. "Doesn't sound like most of the other names we found. Maybe it's an anagram of something...Nah." This is an inside joke reference to the game The Castle of Eliv Thade which Gilly originated from.
• The user marina_87 is credited to defeating the 3rd form of Mayor Thumburt, receiving 100,076 points to her battle score.
• Neopets like the Gnorbu and Bori are part of the inhabitants of Neovia, even though these Neopets weren't released until a few years ago.

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