The Faeries' Ruin
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The Faeries' Ruin is a plot that started on 20 September, 2010 (publicly announced on the 21st) where during the Faerie Festival, all the Faeries in the world mysteriously turned to stone. It stars several characters who have appeared in previous plots, including Jazan of Lost Desert Plot fame and King Altador, as well as several new characters. During the course of the plot, all activities that involve faeries have been suspended - from the games and shops on Faerieland to the Neggery and the Cooking Pot, due to the faeries' condition.
Like The Cyodrake's Gaze plot, this plot makes use the the technique of unreliable narrators.
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Plot summary
At the Faerie Festival, Hanso the Ixi was looking for things to steal. Whatever jewellery the Faeries were wearing was turned to stone with them, but plenty of their possessions were not on their person and were left unaltered. Hanso was not the only visitor to the Festival - shortly after Hanso arrived, King Altador and his guards, and Brynn, who was sent by King Hagan, arrived on the scene to investigate the curse. Hanso revealed himself and tried to sell them information, closely followed by King Jazan, who revealed he had been tailing Hanso after he saw him stealing from the fossilised faeries. Jazan accused Hanso of being involved in the curse.
Altador asked if Jazan was there to free the faeries from the curse, to which hesitantly responded he was. Although Jazan did not trust him, Brynn reminded Altador that Hanso was their only lead, and they agreed to hear him out.
Hanso explained that 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 were stone. Although Jazan and Altador doubted Hubrid Nox would be powerful enough to affect 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.
The group headed in to Faerie City to see Xandra, a Xweetok who too was investigating the curse. On seeing Hanso, however, she became enraged - he had stolen several valuable artefacts from her hut earlier.
Hanso confessed that while he didn't lie about seeing Hubrid Nox, it wasn't the whole truth - he had broken into Xandra's hut, too. "It's a pretty good story, actually..."
Hanso explained that after he had stolen from Xandra, he put the word out that he had four magical artefacts to fence. He was contacted by a buyer who wanted to meet in Faerieland - Hubrid Nox. Nox was only interested in one of the artefacts, and Hanso tailed him to see what he would do with it: as Hanso had already explained, he chanted, there was a flash of light, and all the faeries turned to stone. Xandra still didn't trust Hanso's word, but Brynn and Altador were convinced, and went to recover the artefact from Nox before he could do any more damage with it.
The group - Hanso under guard - arrived at Castle Nox in the Haunted Woods. As they formed their plan to storm the stronghold, Hanso slipped away. Brynn went after him - as Nox could appear any second, they couldn't afford to delay their plan.
Brynn found Hanso climbing over the wall away from the front gates - he said that he would find his own way in.
“And how do I know you're not going in there to tip him off?”
“Well, if you don't trust me, you could always stop me.”
As soon as Hanso snuck in through one of the castle windows, he was spotted by Nox. Hanso asked Nox about the artefact - but Nox didn't seem to know what he was talking about. At that moment, an alarm went off, and Nox saw through his crystal ball Altador and the others storming the gates. Nox opened a secret passageway, threw the crystal ball, and made good his escape.
Brynn rushed in and the door sealed behind her - through the crystal ball, Hanso and Brynn could see the others were sealed in as well. The pair followed the secret passageway Nox escaped through - Brynn all the while berating Hanso for letting Nox escape - and found a strange wooden control board.
Meanwhile, out in the Haunted Woods, Hubrid Nox ran away from his castle, gloating over his escape - before running straight into another Hubrid Nox, who blasted him to the ground.
After Brynn and Hanso used the control panel to help the rest of the heroes escape, Jazan accused Brynn of letting Nox escape and blamed him for getting trapped in the castle. Although Hanso protested that he helped them get out of the castle, they overruled him, and decided to proceed without him. They argued over where Nox could have gone, when Faerieland, surrounded by sinister purple clouds and crackling lightning, appeared overhead. Altador suggested that the faerie's condition had adversely affected the city, when the group was attacked from all sides by shadowy monsters.
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 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.
Brynn and Hanso reminisced as to the first time they met, and after a while Xandra excused herself to go to her own books. When they reached Brightvale, they noticed the colour seemed to have gone from it. Brynn dutifully locked Hanso up, but promised she would return after going to the library.
Plot participation
The player can 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.
The first puzzle was linked to at the bottom of the second chapter. The second puzzle, by contrast, had to be found in the Deserted Fairground of the Haunted Woods, like the puzzles in the Tale of Woe plot. The third step was a battle which took place in the Battledome, and had a dedicated page to keep track of its progress.
Xandra's Library
The first task the user is asked to do is to guide Hanso in a 'retelling' of his first encounter with Xandra. The player must move Hanso around Xandra's library and pick up the four artefacts - which are each glowing green - and then make it to the exit, without Xandra shooting Hanso with magic.
If Hanso is hit, or if he leaves the library without getting all the artefacts, it is presented as an error in the story - Xandra or Hanso will say that that wasn't how it happened, and the user can try again.
Also in the library are three items that are not glowing. These are bonus items, and can be collected in addition to the artefacts. If Hanso escapes with all the artefacts and with one or more of these bonus items, the bonus items will appear in the player's inventory.
The player moves Hanso by clicking a square adjacent to him that is not blocked by a table, a bookshelf, a wall, Xandra, or a pile of rubble. The player then clicks anywhere on the map to see what Xandra's move was - she may shout at the player, run after him, teleport to a random location in the library, or shoot a blast of magic across the map. Unlike Hanso, she does not run diagonally, and nor can she shoot her magic diagonally.
After Hanso has escaped, the library task may be replayed to obtain other achievements or the rest of the bonus items.
Fearless Deeds
- The Artefact Thief - Hanso, a well-known rogue and thief, breaks into an old library inhabited by Xandra, a renowned scholar, and steals several valuable artefacts.
- Complete the puzzle by escaping with all four artefacts.
- Ooh, Shiny! - Pick up the artefact that started this whole mess.
- Pick up the mirror artefact - the player doesn't need to escape with it.
- The Task at Hand - Avoid being distracted by irrelevant fripperies.
- Escape with all the glowing artefacts but without any bonus items - this is also earnt if the puzzle is completed after all the bonus items have been taken on previous play-throughs.
- Proximity Warning - Narrowly escape Xandra's scholarly wrath.
- Be at some point within one square of Xandra but still escape.
Castle Nox
The second task bridges chapter four and chapter five - the player is asked to solve a puzzle using Nox's control panel to allow the rest of the adventurers, who are locked in the castle, to escape. The other heroes are divided into three groups, distributed across the the four floors - second, first, ground, and basement - of the castle. They must be guided to the front door on the ground floor.
The layout of each of the floors is randomised each time the puzzle is played. The location of each group is denoted 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.
The player has to choose five colours at a time, which then open in sequence. The player chooses these colours by clicking the light bulbs at the bottom of the control panel. The brass arrow cycles through the three colour choices as the player clicks. Once all five colours have been assigned, the doors open sequential left to right. Only one set of coloured doors can be open at a time - opening the green doors after you've opened the red doors will shut all the red doors.
In certain room 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 Wadjets - "Why did it have to be Wadjets?" - to scarabs (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 Usukis, and one is a room full of ice cream.
If two or more pegs reach the same room, the groups will join up and be represented as only one peg. This new group will stay together from then on. The group who found the key - or whatever group they eventually joined up with - must reach the front door first to unlock it for themselves and the others.
If a group is in a room where more than one door opens, they may not necessarily go into the room the player intended. The decision appears to be arbitrary.
This puzzle can also be played more than once to achieve all the Fearless Deeds.
Fearless Deeds
- Nox's Locks - The heroes are trapped in Nox's castle! But Hanso and Brynn have found some kind of strange machine that might let them help the others escape.
- 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.
- We All Scream - Everyone loves an ice-cold bowl of Chintzy Mynci... even Hubrid Nox.
- Fort Nox - There's gold in them thar halls!
- One of the rooms with no more than two different coloured doors will trigger this when a group is in it and a colour not represented by the doors is selected - e.g. in a room with red and blue doors, choosing green causes a 'secret' door to open, visible to the group in the maze, with the treasure in. Which room it is, and which colour door must be opened, is random. This gives the player the toy item Hubrid Nox Treasure Chest, which can be opened to obtain a Spooky Petpet.
- And One For All - "After you." "No, after you." "No, I insist! After you."
- Exit through the gold doors with all three characters together.
Shadow Wraiths
The third step involves players' Neopets reinforcing the heroes in battle, joining one-player fights in the Battledome against three types of ghostly Shadow Wraiths - Shadow Wraith Minion, Shadow Wraith Brute, and Shadow Wraith Fury. The different types of wraiths were released over the weekend of 8-10 October, one per day, with increasing difficulty (beginning at 8, 25, and 40 hit points respectively).
Wraiths are released in waves, and all of the wraiths must be defeated before new waves of any type arrive. No other one-player Battledome opponents are available during this time except for Punchbag Bob. This step is collaborative - the totally statistics take into account all the players who have participated across the site, and the number of wraith a player can fight in any wave is reduced by how many wraith have being beaten by other players.
A kill cap was introduced - 50, 40, and 30 wins for the minion, brute, and fury respectively. A wraith defeated through a win or a draw counts towards this cap. While a player can continue to fight beyond this cap so as to get to speed up the next wave or to participate in higher tiers (see below), those kills will not count towards their plot score. After all the win caps have been reached, if a player continues to fight wraith, they have the chance of winning a bonus item after each win.
Battling these Wraiths can decrease the fighting Neopet's happiness.
Battle page
| Mass Destruction Prize Tiers | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tier # | Total kills | Prize |
| 1 | 750,000 | Bubbling Healing Goo |
| 2 | 1,500,000 | Essence of Everlasting Apple |
| 3 | 2,250,000 | Sparkle Potion |
| 4 | 3,000,000 | Super Icy Negg |
| 5 | 3,750,000 | Downsize! |
| 6 | 4,500,000 | Ornate Fighting Fan |
| 7 | 5,250,000 | Ultra Icy Negg |
| 8 | 6,000,000 | Thick Smoke Bomb |
This step introduced a battle page that keeps track of the progress of the total battle. It records when each opponent was released and lists the total numbers of each opponent that have been defeated. It also records progress to each of the tiers.
The total hoard is divided up into tiers of 750,000 kills totalled across every participant on the site. Participating in a tier - by defeating a wraith during it - qualifies the player for a prize when that tier is defeated. even if they have already reached the kill cap. The prize is not unveiled until the end of the tier. On 13 October at 22:36 NST, the waves stopped coming, and tier 9 was left incomplete.
The page also gives updates on the battle from the principle cast:
- During waves:
- Brynn: There's no time to waste! We've got to defeat these... whatever they are... before they wear us down!
- Hanso: Well, hand-to-hand combat isn't my best skill, honestly, but if any of those creatures slip past the others, I suppose I'll have to make short work of 'em.
- Altador: We are under attack, my friends! Get yourself into the battle at once. There's not a moment to lose!
- Xandra: Ugh! I should have stayed in my library. At least I can do some damage to these... these... whatever they are!
- Jazan: These foul spirits are no match for our strength! They'll have felt our wrath before the day is through!
- Ogrin: An enemy's greatest strength is also his greatest weakness. We must use these creatures' power to our advantage.
- Between waves:
- Brynn: It's going to be tough if this keeps up. Those monsters give me the creeps.
- Hanso: That was pretty easy. Sure, I didn't do much actual damage, but I'm worth any three of the others.
- Altador: Rest while you can, my friends. We've defeated this wave, but we may be attacked again.
- Xandra: That was a tough fight. I'm glad we were able to hold out, but... what about next time?
- Jazan: Such weak enemies. They will be no match for our might, should they rise against us again.
- Ogrin: The warrior who waits until the most opportune moment has the greatest victory. Now is the time to rest.
While the Skeith soldier provides comic relief:
- I'll go back to the battle, just as soon as I find my contact lense.
- Every time I look at one of those wraiths, I see my life pass before my eyes. Hey, there's the time I ate fifty doughnuts on a dare!
- Wow, Jazan sure can be a vicious fighter! I'm glad he's on our side.
- I'll guard Hanso. Got to make sure that clever thief doesn't escape!
- I never like to fight on an empty stomach.
- I could help fight, but I think Altador has things under control.
- Why spooky wraiths? Couldn't we get attacked by some fluffy Babaas?
- Why couldn't I have gone to culinary school like my mother said I should?
- Does anyone else feel cold? I should have brought my coat.
- Did someone say ice cream?
- This is the most excitement I've had all year!
Fearless Deeds
- Into the Fray - Ambushed in the woods by strange, ethereal wraiths, the heroes find themselves surrounded and outnumbered. Get to the Battledome and help them!
- Defeat a wraith.
- Shadow Wraith Minion - kill counter, but points are capped after 50 kills.
- Shadow Wraith Brute - kill counter, but points are capped after 40 kills.
- Shadow Wraith Fury - kill counter, but points are capped after 30 kills.
- A Winner Is You! - Good, you managed to avoid stabbing yourself. Now get back into the fight!
- Defeat any wraith once.
- Stand Your Ground - A good defense is the best... defense.
- Use the defend stance for three rounds in one battle. They do not have to be consecutive.
- Five of a Kind - If this keeps up, we'll win this battle in no time.
- Defeat at least five of each wraith.
The Finneus J. Scrollbottom Auxiliary Surplus Archives
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 Adblock or NoScript off in their browsers before it would appear. The link leads to the Brightvale archives, where a relative of the grumpy Yurble 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.
The user must access the archives by clicking on the link beneath the Brightvale map first before they will be able to use the direct link above to get there. After it has been accessed, the link will appear above the Brightvale map, reading "Visit the Finneus J. Scrollbottom Auxiliary Surplus Archives".
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Clicking on the archway in the staircase will take the player to one of several thousand rooms. In each room is a bookcase with four shelves, each shelf is labelled a different topic. The player must put the correct topic of books onto each shelf, and order each shelf correctly. Amongst the books will be several that do not belong, and these may be thrown into adjacent rooms. Each incorrect topic will only belong in one of the two rooms - if it is sent to the wrong one, or if books that belong on the players shelf are thrown away, they will be thrown back.
The spine of each book has a coloured head, a symbol, a number, and a geometric shape. There are thirty different symbols (see right), each of which corresponds to a different subject - i.e. a different shelf. For example, the pod of peas (second column, bottom row) corresponds to the shelf Inedible Legumes of Brightvale, and the exclamation mark to Help! I'm Trapped in a Bookshelf Factory.
There should be ten books per shelf for a completed bookcase.
The other features of the spine correspond to the order within a shelf the book must be placed. The order is different for different shelves, but is either:
- Numeric:
- The numbers on the spines are arranged in ascending order, left to right;
- The numbers on the spines are reversed (e.g. "123" becomes "321") and then sorted in ascending order, left to right.
- The sum of the digits on the spines are arranged in ascending order, left to right (e.g. "234" = 2 + 3 + 4 = 9, "413" = 4 + 1 + 3 = 8, "234" follows "413");
- The number each geometric shape represents arranged in ascending order, left to right (i.e. a dot is 1, a line is 2, a triangle is 3, a square is 4...).
- By colour:
- The colours of the top of the spines are arranged as in a spectrum or rainbow (ROYGBIV - Maroon, red, orange, yellow, green, teal, light blue, dark blue, purple, black);
- The colours of the geometric shape arranged as in a spectrum or rainbow.
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There is a bell on the desk: when rung, the Yurble will arrive and berate the player if there are any books in the wrong place. These will be removed from the shelves and strewn on the desk. Books that are correctly ordered and on the right shelf will be left on the shelves. This refers to the books relative order - if two books are left on a shelf by the Yurble, they are meant to be to be next to each other, and there shouldn't be any books placed in between them. There may be books before and after the pair, however.
When the Yurble removes books from the shelves, there is a chance it may dislodge a bonus item the player wins: "While knocking books off the shelf, the librarian dislodges an item! You pick it up before he notices it."
If all the books are in the right order, and all are on the right shelves, when the bell is rang the Yurble will instead berate the player for taking too long, and the player can return to the front of the library and receive a new room to organise, for example to get any achievements they may have missed.
“"Took you long enough! I guess you got this shelf organized, though... *grumble* All right, off with you then. Captain Brynn needs to search this room, and I don't want you getting in her way!"”
Subjects
The complete list of subjects and how they are organised is as follows:
| Symbol | Subject | Order |
|---|---|---|
| Saxaphone | History of Jazzmosis | Ascending order by number. |
| π | π | |
| Mountain | Terror Mountain Vacation Journals | |
| Battleaxe | Theory of Warfare | |
| Bread | Things a Skeith Won't Eat | |
| Wand | Ineffective Teleportation Spells | Ascending order by reversed number (123 becomes 321). |
| ? | Miscellaneous | |
| Test tube | Potent Potables | |
| Orange goo | Rhymes with 'Jurple' | |
| Diagonal sword | 'S' words | |
| @#!$ | Ancient Shenkuuvian Curses | Ascending order by sum of digits (123 = 1 + 2 + 3 = 5). |
| Orange cat | Forbidden Lasagne Recipes | |
| Horizontal dagger | Implausible Revenge Scenarios | |
| Tooth | Korbat Psychology | |
| Orange leaf | Potpourri | |
| Fountain pen | Incorrectly Labeled Books | Ascending order by number of sides of the polygons. |
| Pea pod | Inedible Legumes of Brightvale | |
| Skull | Mortog Toxicology Reports | |
| Shard of Glass | Stained Glass | |
| Potion | Transmogrification | |
| Bomb | Doomsday Weapons | Rainbow order of spines. |
| Xandra's mirror | Harmful Faerie Artefacts | |
| ! | Help! I'm Trapped in a Bookshelf Factory | |
| Eye | Look Behind You! | |
| Spatula | Things You Find in the Kitchen | |
| Cake | Cakes and Pastries | Rainbow order of geometric shapes. |
| ☺ | Harmless Faerie Artefacts | |
| Mynci pointing left | Histories | |
| Mynci pointing right | Prophecies | |
| Pincers | Unnecessarily Slow-Moving Dipping Mechanisms |
Fearless Deeds
- Shhhhhhh! - Brightvale's store of knowledge is unrivaled, and Brynn knows there must be something helpful in the castle library's archives... but first there's a little cleaning to do.
- Correctly organise a bookshelf.
- They're Flying Off the Shelves! - Go home, book! Are you too good for your home?!
- Throw away all the books that don't belong on a bookcase.
- Son, I Am Disappoint - You literally could not be any more wrong.
- Call the Yurble with all the books in the wrong order, so that all the books are knocked off, including the all books that do not belong on the bookcase.
- First Time's the Charm - You blinded him with library science.
- Don't call the Yurble until all the shelves are correctly organised and the surplus books removed - i.e. the puzzle is complete the first time the Yurble is called.
Neocash component
The Faeries' Ruin is the first plot to include an additional Neocash element. However, The Neopets Team reported that "[i]t in no way affects your plot score" [1].
Users can buy Key Packs for Neocash that supply keys used to enter the Corridor of Chance in Castle Nox. Each key purchased allows one use of the Transfabulator found there. The Transfabulator returns an item the user's Neopet is wearing to the Closet and replaces it with an exclusive wearable. It may also grant the Neopet an effect, which lasts for five days.
Once the lever on the Transfabulator is pulled, the key used to enter the Corridor is used up.
Trivia
- During the plot, 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 Into the Fray, it generated one of the Water Faerie's item events - either a low level snowball or a healing potion.
- The Soup Kitchen was still usable during the plot, as the Soup Faerie had made an extra large cauldron of soup.
- The shops both at the Healing Springs and the Hidden Tower remained open without their owners present, presumably relying on an honesty-box system.
- Reference was made in the plot to the fate of The Darkest Faerie.
- The Commonwealth English spelling of artefact is used throughout the plot, although artifact is used elsewhere on the site.
- After the release of the first chapter, a meme began on the Neoboards as to the fate of a pie, which had also been petrified along with the faeries. This was referenced in Lenny Conundrum round 375, and Random Contest number 201.
- Kanrik made a cameo in chapter 7 in a flashback as one of the people Hanso robbed.