Difference between revisions of "The Tale of Woe"

From NeoDex
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(→‎Summary: began rewrite)
Line 7: Line 7:
==Story==
==Story==
[[Image:TOW launch06.gif|frame|right|Gilly at the Gypsy Camp.]]  
[[Image:TOW launch06.gif|frame|right|Gilly at the Gypsy Camp.]]  
Gilly was lost in the Haunted Woods. As night drew in, she found shelter at a [[Gypsy Camp]]. There, she met a mysterious Pink Elephante with glitering, golden eyes. He offered to read her a story before she went to sleep.  
Gilly was lost in the Haunted Woods. As night drew in, she found shelter at a [[Gypsy Camp]]. There, she met a mysterious Pink Elephante with glittering, golden eyes. He offered to read her a story before she went to sleep.  


Somewhere in the Haunted Woods was a quiet town called Neovia. A [[Gelert]] named [[Bruno]] lived there, who was was besotted by [[Lily]], a local [[Pink]] [[Aisha]]. Bruno wasn't strong enough or charming enough to win Lily's affections from her boyfriend [[Oscar]], and thought that he would always be lonely.  
Somewhere in the Haunted Woods was a quiet town called Neovia. A [[Gelert]] named [[Bruno]] lived there, who was was besotted by [[Lily]], a local [[Pink]] [[Aisha]]. Bruno wasn't strong enough or charming enough to win Lily's affections from her boyfriend [[Oscar]], and thought that he would always be lonely.  
Line 22: Line 22:


The story at an end, Gilly went off to sleep. The next day, she left the camp and ventured back into the woods.  
The story at an end, Gilly went off to sleep. The next day, she left the camp and ventured back into the woods.  
[[Image:Sophies shack.gif|frame|right|Sophie's Shack.]]
Following a path out of the camp, Gilly found herself at the town from the story, Neovia. It was deserted, and in a burnt down house, she found a silver locket. She wanted to return it to its owner. She found a shack in the Woods, and asked the witch who lived there if she knew anything about the locket or Neovia. The witch snatched the locket and shooed Gilly away, threatening to turn her into a stink beetle.


===The ruins of Neovia===
It started raining and Gilly took shelter in a cave. Inside, a monstrous Gelert was frightened by its own reflection and chased Gilly from the cave. She ran back to the witches shack, and made a shock discovery: the Gelert was Bruno from the story, and the witch was Sophie, his little sister. The siblings were amazed to see each other again.  
[[Image:Tow locket1.gif|frame|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.
They swapped stories - Bruno had hidden in a cave to escape the townspeople and had lived there ever since, while Ilere took Sophie to the shack and gave her a magical chest of supplies to live off. Sophie had discovered that since that final night, the Neovians had disappeared from the town. They only appeared on [[Halloween]] as intangible, ghost-like beings. "Their faces were entirely blank, and their bodies looked like they were only going through the motions."
[[Image:Ileres tree.gif|frame|left|Ilere's residence, deep in the Haunted Woods.]]
Sophie had spent the last ten years trying to devise a cure, but had had no success. Gilly remembered the Elephante's story and realised that this must have been what the Spirit of Slumber did. Sophie decided to ask Ilere if she knew anything about Spirit of Slumber - and at Bruno's insistence, Gilly was allowed to come along too.  


[[Image:Sophies shack.gif|frame|left|Sophie's Shack.]]
After navigating the swamp, climbing down a cliff face, and encountering some [[Ghost]] [[Meepit]]s, they finally came to Ilere's tree. They explained that they wanted to find the Spirit of Slumber to cure Neovia, but Ilere didn't want to help at first. Sophie had to break up a fight between Ilere and Bruno, and she saw how strong her charge had become. The Spirit, she said, had once been a Neopet, but he became a powerful spirit of the Haunted Woods when he died.  
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.
They went in search of more information from other denizens of the Haunted Woods. The [[Brain Tree]] agreed to tell them the Spirit's real name if they told him when he died, but the Eosphagor could only tell them when someone died if they told him their real name. Sophie came up with another solution - they had to dig up every grave in the Haunted Woods. She had a potion that would tell her when they found the right bones.
 
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===
[[Image:Ileres tree.gif|frame|right|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]] [[Meepit]]s. 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."
 
{|align=left
|http://images.neopets.com/images/frontpage/towchapter5_jf78siR7ks.gif
|}
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===
===Seeking the Spirit's name===

Revision as of 00:56, 12 November 2014

Retrieved from "https://pinkpt.com//neodex/index.php?title=The_Tale_of_Woe&oldid=85588"