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Dangerous Petpet Situations


by fippinator

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Petpets are totally cute and widely adored little creatures that we attach to our Neopet so they can have a pet of their own. They are generally jolly creatures, featuring large smiles like on Slorgs or curious eyes like on Walking Carpets. They love adventure and exploration and satisfying their Neopet owners, but at what point does it become exploitation?

That's right! Not many people think about this, but we put our Petpets through some pretty rigorous and dangerous things every day in exchange for what usually amounts to junk we throw in our safety deposit boxes. Is this unfair of us to do to them? Are we doing more harm to them than the good they do for us? Or is this all fun for them and I'm overreacting?

Turmaculus

Turmaculus is a massive petpet, larger than most Neopets, that resides in Meridell and sleeps all day. He is only awake for one hour each day and during that hour you can send your petpet in to visit him. Your petpet will nudge, poke, and scream his way into waking up the goliath in hopes of receiving a great prize. Err, not that great actually, but better than nothing. Unfortunately, there is a risk for your petpet. Did you really think you can wake up this starving giant by screaming in his ear and not face any consequence? Sometimes he will wake up quite grumpy and actually devour your petpet. That's right, DEVOUR, he will eat your petpet. Once your petpet has been eaten it is gone forever. That's right, you'll have to go out and buy a brand new petpet, so let's hope you didn't have a Bartamus or something equally as rare!

It's a bit sad though, you sent your petpet in to try to get an item worth a few hundred Neopoints at best and he was eaten alive. Not the nicest thing to do to the eager little guy...

The Mysterious Symol Hole

Also in Meridell, not far from Turmaculus, is a tiny little hole dug by a group of Symol. This hole is dark and mysterious and a bit too small for your Neopet to crawl in...but it is the PERFECT size for your petpet!

Your petpet has a few choices on how to get into the dirt hole, he could cannonball in or take a more cautious approach and climb slowly. Why are you sending him in there though? Symol are excellent hoarders and thieves, they steal items from around Neopia and hide them in their hole. It is possible for your petpet to stumble across one of these items and bring it back up for you! A lot of them are dirt themed, like a creepy homage to a petpetpet in the Dirt Friend. There are some cool items down there though, a range of plushies and weapons, a background and a whole vile of swamp water. It's quite a collection.

There doesn't seem to be anything overtly bad that will happen to your petpet but it still seems very dangerous. There haven't been any reports of petpets going missing or getting kidnapped by Symol, but that doesn't mean the risk doesn't exist. For now, this seems like a safe way to use your petpet for profit.

Petpet Battles

The Petpet Arena is like a miniature Battledome except for petpets instead of your Neopet. It operates on a much smaller scale and is much less involved. Petpets aren't as sophisticated as Neopets so they don't have weapons, faerie abilities, or a whole bunch of stats to improve at a training academy. The only thing that really affects the battle is their level and your choice of moves. Instead of having to fuss around with icons and whatnot, you just have to choose either Body Blow, Head Shot or Shield. A lot of this has to do with luck and hoping your opponent doesn't get luckier than you. You start at level one and increase level for every 10 arena points you earn. Every battle you win you'll earn one point, and when you lose a battle you will lose one point. This arena takes a lot of patience to level up. There are other places you can level your petpet up but those all include the risk of your petpet being morphed or eaten so the safest way is in the Petpet Arena.

There aren't really prizes you can win from this, and many people skip this activity because of this. It is possible to win a trophy so it might be worth it to spend some time if you are really hoping to win some more trophies for your lookup. Above all, there really is no risk for your petpet. They have some magical self-healing abilities so you don't need to visit the Healing Springs when they lose, they just kind of bounce back to life. Battle away!

Grave Danger

Really, it's in the name. Grave Danger. Below Neovia sits a series of dangerous catacombs full of curses and spells that could knock any Neopet on it's tail. In some twist of fate, petpets are completely immune to these curses and are able to venture freely. Your petpet will disappear for hours at a time while you worry constantly if he's doing alright down there. Even your Neopets lookup will display your petpet is in Grave Danger and will show a puff of smoke instead of their image.

But down in the catacombs there are a variety of prizes. I guess the curse wanted to keep you away from the treasure! Medicine, Battledome items, petpetpets, plushies, perfume, it's all down there and much more. And as of now, due to your petpets immunity to the curses, the grave danger only seems to come from sending a Neopet down. Your petpet will return safe and sound after a few hours, acting like nothing ever happened and possibly with a new morphing potion for you to have.

Petpet Lab Ray

That insane Scorchio scientist in the secret lab has an equally insane Kookith petpet who has created his own miniature lab ray, designed exclusively for petpets. You are able to collect map pieces and zap your petpet, which can do everything from a color and species change to raising your petpets level. But this comes at a cost. Where the Neopet Laboratory Ray has become safe enough to use for everyone, the petpet version still has a few kooks...your petpet can be permanently zapped out of existence!

Petpet Protection League

The Petpet Protection League is an organization that has come together to protect petpets and act in their better interest. They are against the zapping and Turmaculus feeding due to the extreme danger of these events causing irreversible damage to petpets everywhere. However, it seems that as of now they approve of the other events.

Proceed with caution when trying to use your petpet to gain profit. They are sensitive creatures with good hearts, they want to make everyone happy, which makes them exceptionally exploitable. If you have any concerns, it's best to look towards the Petpet Protection League for how to behave. And maybe instead of doing all these potentially dangerous dailies, enter your buddy into the Petpet Spotlight. It's much safer.

 
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