Talk:The Tale of Woe

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"The Tale of Woe" - Main Plot Title

I think we can presume that the plot is indeed called 'The Tale of Woe', and the name does not just refer to the story the gypsy tells, based on the name of the new plot board and how the comic doesn't just show this story, but intersperses it with Gilly's travels... --Macbeth 10:22, 7 Oct 2006 (CDT)

That's what i thought as well, which is why i created it as such. If this should change in the future, it can always be editted. And thank you for the heads up on the title of the new plot board. will edit the Neoboard article accordingly. --Jacob 10:25, 7 Oct 2006 (CDT)

Images of the Plot

The following is a list of images used in the plot. add to as needed for speculation of future archiving of images (place in order they appear in the plot). Note: The cave images and the item images are all separate (linking an image of a cave will give a blank cave room, with or without light)...

plot opponents

Should there be information about the associated War opponnents? It seems reasonable. --69.61.170.209 19:48, 7 Nov 2006 (CST)

Yes, there should and will be lists of the opponents in the plot, as there are in the other plot articles of the NeoDex...they just haven't been made yet. *sigh* --Jacob 19:51, 7 Nov 2006 (CST)

Journal Page Entries

Don't know if all of the pages are needed to complete the plot, or if they are different, so i'm posting what i get here for now...--Jacob 23:11, 14 Nov 2006 (CST)

Journal Page 1

Lucy's journal, 31st day of Collecting:

Tonight is Halloween. Most of the staff have gone home to Neovia, leaving only myself, Dr. Valus, and the janitor, Miles, overseeing the patients for the night. I hope that all goes well, and I think between the three of us, we can manage.

The inmates are quiet at the moment, as it is late. I have drawn the first shift; Dr. Valus and Miles are resting, but of course I can rouse them should I need assistance. Miles's pet Zomutt has been snuffling around, making a minor nuisance of himself; earlier today, I found him burying a bone in the courtyard -- goodness knows where he found it -- and chased him away. I don't know why Miles keeps that horrid creature around, but it seems to obey him, and the doctors tolerate it, so I must as well, even though I am head nurse.

The most exciting news of late is that I had dinner with Dr. Valus earlier tonight. It wasn't a date, exactly, but I feel and hope that things are headed in that direction. He is quite charming when he's not distracted with diagnosing the insane.

One last thing: the asylum newsletter contained a devilishly difficult anagram puzzle this week. I can't solve it, but I've written it down here for future reference.

SQTRXEOIDXTGAHHEDAETAXHGHANAXBEYRGIEOTAFMQSRAEQCANAHLAHQRS

EORNHQNEAGXXYFGOTQEUXQNNQAOEXRPCAIAASAAIHNNADSQMMURAALRRQX

Journal Page 2

Lucy's journal, 1st day of Storing:

It is late afternoon, and we are all quite worried. None of the other staff have returned from Neovia this day. Dr. Kirkbride and Dr. Heeler should both have been here by noon at the latest, not to mention some of the other nurses and orderlies.

I only find time to write now because Miles and I have just finished feeding lunch to the inmates. Dr. Valus has set off for Neovia to see if he can find any of the other staff; he should be back by nightfall.

Miles's pet Zomutt has been staring out the windows all day, growling quietly. He even barked at Miles and tried to bite him once when the janitor approached the beast, but Miles was able to calm him down. I don't know what's gotten into him.

For my part, I am very worried. What could have happened to the rest of the staff? If we do not receive relief soon, we may be overwhelmed.

Journal Page 3

Lucy's journal, 8th day of Storing:

I have not had time to write in a while, for we have been extraordinarily busy. Dr. Valus returned on the evening of the first, as promised, to report that Neovia was entirely deserted. It was as if the entire town had simply vanished into thin air. One house, he said, had been ransacked and burned, but the rest were untouched.

As a result, for the last week, Dr. Valus, Miles, and I have represented the entire staff of Meepit Oaks. We are exhausted beyond belief; we barely have time to feed and wash the inmates, and there has been no time for any form of psychiatric treatment. We have had to dragoon Miles into working as an orderly, keeping the inmates physically restrained while we feed them or change their clothing. Due to his lack of experience, on several occasions an inmate has almost broken loose; only Miles's brute strength (for he is rather large) has kept them in check.

We have sent for help, but have no idea if or when it will arrive. The sooner, the better, for we are bound to make a mistake sooner or later and let one of the inmates free. If that happens, I fear for our lives.

Journal Page 4

The journal page reads...

Lucy's journal, 11th day of Storing:

Good news, these last few days! On the evening of the eighth, we received a knock on our door. We opened it to find one Dr. Edward Alexander, sent from Neopia Central, to aid us. He gave his regrets that no more assistance could be sent, but he has done us wonders.

In the days before he arrived, the inmates became even more violent and aggressive than usual. Miles suffered several cuts when a mad Skeith managed to claw his arm, and I myself had been bruised several times when one inmate or another managed to break free of his restraints and knock me aside. Thankfully, Dr. Valus and Miles managed to restrain the inmates each time.

Nonetheless, we were on the edge of exhaustion when Dr. Alexander arrived. He brought with him an elixir, so he called it, that had been recently developed and would help to calm our inmates. It worked like a miracle; we mixed it with the inmates' food, and within a day, they had all become subdued and peaceable. We have spent the last two days resting as much as possible, to restore our energies, now that the inmates do not take so much of our energy to manage.

Dr. Alexander is a remarkable man. Handsome, and with the most striking yellow eyes. He is every bit as charming as Dr. Valus; even more so, I suppose, for he has not spent the last eleven days wearing himself out. I find myself drawn to him, and I think Dr. Valus may be getting a little bit jealous.

This morning, in fact, Dr. Alexander told me that he was very impressed with how I had held up during this crisis, and said that most nurses he knew would never have been able to hold out so long. He presented me with a beautiful violet flower that seems to glow even when not in sunlight, and is positively radiant when it is so illuminated. I don't know where he found it, but he assures me that it is a magic flower and will never need water or sunlight in order to thrive. I suspect it is a bit of poetic license on his part, but I cannot say that I mind.

Despite Dr. Alexander's presence having saved us from disaster, we certainly cannot continue on with only four staff -- and who knows how long Dr. Alexander will be able to stay? Soon we must find new orderlies and nurses to replace our missing staff, who are clearly not returning.

Journal Page 5

Lucy's journal, 13th day of Storing:

Disaster has struck. I write this from within one of our very own cells, having been locked here by the inmates. I only pray that someone will release me before it is too late.

On the afternoon of the eleventh, Dr. Valus saw the flower that Dr. Alexander had given me. He asked where I had gotten it, and I told him. This seemed to infuriate him, and he would not speak to me except in short, clipped tones the rest of the day. He was very agitated every time I saw him.

The next morning, I was awoken by Miles, the janitor, who told me to come quick. It seemed that one of the inmates had escaped from his cell. Dr. Valus had, apparently, gone to feed the inmates alone, and said that this particular inmate had broken from his restraints, attacked him, and fled into the asylum. Despite myself, I suspect that Dr. Valus may have still been upset about the flower Dr. Alexander gave me, and made an error in judgment when setting the inmate's restraints.

Dr. Valus insists, of course, that he made no mistake, and that the inmate simply broke free. I doubted this, for the inmates had all been calm and passive ever since Dr. Alexander began feeding them his elixir; but Dr. Valus said that he had not seen Dr. Alexander since the previous morning, and so the inmates had not received the elixir in almost a full day.

Dr. Alexander was still nowhere to be found, and I feared something terrible had happened to him, especially if the escaped inmate came upon him alone in the asylum. Dr. Valus, Miles, and myself searched the asylum as a single party, trying to find the escaped inmate. However, our doom was already sealed. Upon our third circuit of the cellblock, we discovered the several more cells had been opened, and the inmates escaped. Dr. Valus decided that it was time to flee the asylum, but it was too late.

A dozen or more inmates descended upon us in a fury. They dragged us away from one another, describing the horrible things they would do to us. I feel lucky, at least, that they only threw me in a cell and locked the door. For a while I feared they would return to torment me, but after a while, the asylum grew silent, and it seemed they had escaped into the Haunted Woods.

I sit here, now, lucky that I carried a pen and a last sheet of paper with me, so that I can document what has happened. The flower that Dr. Alexander gave me shows no sign of wilting, and so I suppose it is as magical as he claimed. It is my only companion, now, and the only memory I have of any brief happiness I felt in these last two weeks.

The tale of Woe and other plots

The Tale of Woe in similiar to other plots in many ways, e.g. Sophie behaves like Caylis, the woods are like the temple of 1000 graves, Bruno accepts his destiny like the Nightsteed. I don't need to mention the angry Yurble. By the way, Krawley refers to Aleister Crowley. Sadly, my English is to bad to formulate such things properly, could please somebody add the info to the article in proper English?--Demon 04:07, 5 Jan 2007 (CST)

Lots of plots or stories for that matter have very similar characters, so much that many of them have become stereo typed. But you are right, there are plot elements in The Tale of Woe which have been shared before, especially the ending, which is almost word for word. This and other information on how people viewed the plot could be placed in a Reception section (which the current quest inventory would be part of).
Also, how is it that Mr. Krawley refers to Aleister Crowley? Is it just by the last name "Crowley" that you say this? *ponders the idea* --Jacob 09:19, 5 Jan 2007 (CST)

A hedon, mystic, occultist, drug experimenter... Yeah, I'd say there is a fair chance of him beings something of an inspiration to Mr Krawley's character... --Macbeth 10:29, 5 Jan 2007 (CST)

Yes. (The idea is not mine, it was suggested by one of our bureaucrats.) And the Mr. Alexander might also be inspired by the born name of Aleister Crowley. But I'm not sure about that one.--Demon
This is beginning to make more sense the more i think of it now. Thank you for bringing this to mind. Dr. Edward Alexander, aka the Pink Elephante gypsy, aka Mr. Krawley (Alexander Krawley = Aleister Crowley). :) in either case, this info isn't for "The Tale of Woe" article, but "Mr. Krawley", as it has to do with his character (and while on that note, it's important to make mention of his relation to Diablo, a Marvel Comics villain). To be done in due time.
Back to plot analysis. besides being similar to previous plots as you mentioned, editor of IP address 65.94.192.120 mentioned it was based off the book/movie Something Wicked This Way Comes. I think this is somewhat true as well, not just with the story implications but especially the villian Mr. Dark (note the bright yellow eyes). --Jacob 08:32, 7 Jan 2007 (CST)

Age appearance of Gilly

This was added by user of the IP 68.237.14.228 on 00:43, 14 Mar 2007 in the trivia section...

In the game The Castle of Eliv Thade, Gilly seems to be an old lady, but in the plot, Gilly is a young girl.

as the game takes place before the plot, Gilly is actually younger in that game, and older in the plot. there may be a difference in the design of Gilly, but she is indeed younger, just as hannah was in the pirate caves game before she had her own plot. --Jacob 19:19, 13 Mar 2007 (CST)

Separating the article

WARNING: This page is 54 kilobytes long; some browsers may have problems editing pages approaching or longer than 32kb. Please consider breaking the page into smaller sections.

Should this page be broken into smaller sections? For example, putting the plot solution in an extra article? --Demon 09:35, 21 Apr 2007 (CDT)

If we do break the article up into sections, I do think the "plot solution/participation" section would be the one to recieve its own article. it IS a fairly large section. and it's going to get all the larger when we should finally finish it. :S --Jacob 16:25, 21 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Today I finished merging the plot participation section back in to the main article (rewriting and finishing it as I went along). The page is now 67 kB, fourth longest page on the Neodex at the the time of writing, but I don't feel this makes it so big as to be unreadable (although I may toy around with more collapsed tables or something to improve readability).
It's worth noting that since the page was split, the long page warning has been deprecated and removed from the mediawiki code. I never encountered any problems editing pages longer than 32 kB anyway; I think it was a warning meant for very old browsers. To be honest, I didn't really agree with the split at the time (sorry Jacob!).
If anyone is interested, Wikipedia's current guidance on article size may be found here. --Macbeth (talk) 00:47, 15 November 2014 (UTC)
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