Volume 1, Chapter 2: Ancient Rules

I wasn't surprised when I learned that Ratbeard had poisoned his crew. There is no honor amongst scalawags like his ilk. (Yes, we were pirates too, but we are the more honorable kind that follow a code of honor - these scum have no honor.) Lasko told us that he would help us locate that fiend if I aided him in putting his cabin mates to rest in peace. Since there was no other option than scouring the skyways - and getting worn down by cutthroats and batacuda attacks - I agreed to this accord.

(Blogger here: I did not do these in the order you'll see here - I actually alternated between Moe's and Jack's quest lines as they both have fights in a part of the game called Devilfish's Landing. Agnes actually did the two dungeon areas simultaneously and didn't go back to do the second. I'm only doing it like this so that all the quest lines can be shown properly. Also, the update changed the three ghost rats' requests around so they are expanded on and, for Manny, changed. Manny's request is actually free to play - and I think Traitor's Cave is now free too, but I can't tell, I had to pay crowns last time I played it - because there is a new area that Wizard101 players who have reached Azteca might find FAMILIAR... ^_^)

(Also, this post is very long - I have played far ahead in the game, and Agnes is in Jonah Town right now, but I had to put these up. I had to split the parts up, so this part is mainly about Manny's request, and the next post or two will cover the other requests as they are long too.)

I spoke with each of the rat ghosts and each had their own tale of woe:

1. Manny had locked his former captain, Zadok, behind a strange terrifying door. It looked pretty ancient to my eyes.
2. Jack had been giving intel to some sharks beyond a pool in the cave.
3. Moe's girlfriend had gone off with another and he stole the wedding ring he had given her and locked it in an upper cave.

"So captain," said Bonnie Anne. "What should we do?"

"Well," I mused. "I think we should try to locate Zadok first and see if he's alive - who knows if there was any food or water behind that door. The others aren't as important right now. We will get back to them, no doubt, but we need to ensure that Zadok is either dead or alive. Let's go."

 

Turned out, Zadok WAS alive, but sadly the imprisonment had left him barmy and absent-minded. Being locked in a cave for years could do that to you. He went babbling about a City of Gold, so we agreed to look for the jade plate that gave power to the elevator so we can see what lay beyond the hole in the ceiling.

 

The Jade Plate was in the lair of some ancient-looking lizard creatures which had to be put down. Luckily, some fellow pirates kept the large body of the lizards occupied while we swiped the plate. We did have to take down some but they were no threat to us, especially now that I could hide into the shadows and then backstab them to death.

(I am beginning to enjoy Swashbucklers - the Hide in Shadows / Sneak attack combo is OP. It took out a lizard in one shot. The good news: You can only do it once.)

Zadok made an excuse about having to stay behind to run the elevator, but I knew he was afraid. My curiosity was peaked - what would be so scary up there? Time to find out.

 

I was stunned by the creature that assailed us with words. An Aztecosaur! But I thought Azteca was destroyed long ago by the comet Xilbalba! How could they survive?

I learned that a small group of Aztecosaurs had survived the cataclysm that wiped Azteca off of the Spiral, but now they were being cursed by some dark magic and anyone who went out of their village went insane. I agreed to help locate the meat that the hunters who went crazy were carrying and we did the thankless job of putting down the loons.

(Welcome to Xol Akmul, a completely new area in Pirate101! I'm sure you high-level wizards who faced off against Morganthe are spasming in glee to revisit a place like Azteca here. This sets the timelime of Pirate101 firmly around the end of the questlines in Azteca in Wizard101. Also, the update made Traitor's Cave and this place free-to-play, which is great as paying 375 Crowns for what is just a cave really sucks.)

 

I and my crew carried the parcels of meat - which were thankfully still freshly killed - to the village and I got immediately insulted by the Tritops warrior. Luckily, a Ptera who introduced himself as Itzam Halach, the leader of the village, settled things down and told us their sad tale - a curse was covering their home land and they needed to set up a counter-spell to prevent the village from falling into madness. Sadly, the warriors who had gone to get the crystal skull that was a key part of the spell had gone missing. I promised to locate the warriors...

Sadly, I did not take any screenshots of battle with the Pteras

Sadly, we found them gripped in chaos and madness. We put them down and liberated their amulets which I used to handle the crystal skull; those amulets protected me from the dangerous magic it had.

Itzam told me that an ancient Aztecosaur called... uh, I can't remember, but the name was weird so I'll call him Abidos - was responsible for the curse of madness. I made a promise to find and locate that jerk but then the Tritops threatened me, saying that if I failed, the village would invade Skull Island! Itzam luckily forced a settlement before I gutted that jerk. It seems he was way too eager to kill stuff and offend people. I doubted anyone in the village would listen to him but I was glad cooler heads prevailed - I had to remember that these Aztecosaurs were well armored and my dagger would have shattered on that thick hide of theirs.

 

The Pyramid of Fire was not a friendly place and Subodai got wounded in one battle, which sucked. In the final chamber I went about smashing the statues but then Abidos appeared and guarded the last statue with his life. Sarah quickly found that trying to kill him was futile; when he got badly hurt, he would cast a dark spell that healed his wounds completely! She and Subodai went down in the fight.

(Yeesh, first dungeon is tough already! I lost half of the crew in that fight because I had foolishly tried to take down the boss, but his epic heal cheat makes him impossible to kill. Luckily, you only need to destroy the statue to end the fight. The Aztecosaur Mummies took down Subodai and the boss took out Sarah. If I didn't have the pet, it would have been a massacre. Luckily, the enemies don't do a lot of damage, even the boss guy. And yes, I forgot his name. EDIT: It's Ch'k Ak'ab.)

But me and Fan worked together and destroyed the crystal statue, making Abidos and his undead minions melt into dust. I was glad that Admiral Harry was there... oh yes, I forgot him...

 

Before I headed to the Blood Shoals, I took the time to refresh my supplies and I met the town crier, who sent me on a few quests. However, one thing of note was that Skull Island was taking part in The Games on a place called Bestia and the Water Moles who lived on Skull Island had a pet egg that Avery's team was asking for. Luckily, I traded a Water Mole totem that my parents had given me on my eighth birthday to the chief and he accepted the trade.

(The town crier got a decent update in this update - he not only has the cursed statue side-quest where you go and collect tin coins to fool a ghost, but he also has the Bestia quest and a side-quest which nets you a reward of a free candlestick for your house! This update makes Pirate101 a lot better and rivals Wizard101's content. ^_^)

 

 

Bestia was an arena town that was crafted by a group from Aquila - I heard much about that ancient place from travels with my parents and I was eager to revisit that Carpathian place, but for now I was intrigued to learn the backstory of Bestia; how a mighty Aquilan warrior and his pet owl traveled the Spiral and were inspired by the wizard students of Wizard City and their Pet Pavilion, and how he went back to Aquila and they created Bestia, a place for pets to spar. There were people from all over who had services to train a pet; people from Marleybone, Krokotopia and even Grizzleheim were there! This really made my day, but I had to find Avery's team and I didn't have a pet.

(This is also what the update brought - a complete overhaul of the pets! Now you can train them like you could in Wizard101, only it's a LOT more easier to train these pets and it doesn't really matter what powers you give them. It also gave some neat characters - Krok and Grizz don't get their own worlds in this game so it's nice to see cameos from them.)

However, two birds were slain with one stone - I found the team, but they already got a replacement and dumped the egg on me... or what was the egg. The thing had already hatched by the time I got to the team and I was now the proud 'momma' of a baby ostrich. Well, at least it wasn't a piggle! I decided to keep him around for a while, and he was pretty good in combat once I started training him. I tried to do a sparring match but the baby buffaloon who he faced against was too tough. (sigh)

(It's not the Pet Derby but hey, the more the merrier. Sadly, I can't seem to get pet snacks as often as I do in Wizard101. Oh well, Admiral Harry is now at Stage 2 in his life and pretty strong, he does some nice damage when he shows up.)

Now that I have explained Admiral Harry's origins, I can go back to the main story. We reported our success to Itzam and he rewarded us with lots of gold! We gave some of it to Zadok as thanks for his help, and he forgave Manny, who was pleased to hear this as he departed to the hereafter. Lasko was also pleased but told us that we needed to release all of his shipmates before he would help us locate Ratbeard. Well, the next parts were a little more dangerous but after what I had gone through, I wasn't too concerned... or was I?

I decided to kit out in new gear as I was getting stronger and I also stopped by LaFitte's place to get in some needed training for the trials ahead. (Agnes reached Level 7 by this time so it was time for some new gear and new skills!)

{To be continued...}