Shockwing

Welcome, stranger, to the Lost Desert. I'm Shockwing, or Shock if you like." The Desert Draik looks at you closely. She is dressed in flowing white robes that look as though they keep out the heat, and a lightweight tunic. "Oh dear. You look thirsty. How long have you been out here?
She waits for your answer, then says, "That's much too long without water. Here, come drink.
She leads you across a rise, then reach a dune and begin to climb over it. When you reach the top, your eyes widen. Here is a small oasis in the middle of the Desert! As you continue down the dune, you notice the harsh desert wind ease, and the sand blowing around you falls to the ground. and your eyes widen. Here is a small oasis in the middle of the desert! A small Baby Fireball appears. "Hi, Hopian. This is guest. I permit him to drink from the Pool of Spirit.
The little fireball looks pacified by these words and sinks down. Soon, the lake bubbles and froths, and ghostly mists rise from it.
Drink," the draik urges you, and you do. The water is sweet and cool, refreshing after your days-long walk across the sandy dunes. It makes you FEEL. You suddenly want to laugh, cry, and hit someone, all at the same time.
Then the feeling subsides. and Shock looks at you. "Is there anything you wanted to know?

Tell me about you.
Tell me about your tavern.
Tell me about this Oasis.
Why are you here?
How do you defend yourself?
Who is your pet?
Do you know any interesting people?
Where can I go from here?
I should probably be going.



Story
To begin my story, you need to know some history.
Long before I was born, a prophecy was made: "The three kings must choose an heir of equal years if one is to rule the Olde Kingdom. To these heirs they must each give their Crown Jewel, else each will pay the price. When war cometh to Neopia the lesser two kindoms shall be wiped out of memory.
The three kingdoms spoken of were Brightvale, Magine, and Meridell.

I was born in the beautiful land of Magine, the adopted daughter of its king: Morin, who was also brother to both Hagan and Skarl. One day, the three brothers were holding a conference, and then...they vanished... When they came back, they each had VERY different personalities. Hagan was the wisest in the land, Skarl was moody, and Morin was...well...evil. He began to have thoughts of dominating Neopia and took a new name: Doctor Frank Sloth.
He began to try to cheat the prophecy, doing everything he could to keep Magine alive. He even went to such lengths as to experiment on me. Due to him I have a photographic memory, increased mental capacity, and...well...some other things.
He didn't want to take TOO much of a risk with the prophecy, though, so he DID give me his Crown Jewel." She holds up a beautiful blue pendant made of a gigantic Star Sapphire.

Anyway, he began experimenting on me, and...after a few months... I ran away. I couldn't take the pain...it hurt...so much..." She looks like she's about to cry, but she wipes her eyes, and continues. "I ran away to...this place, hoping that my father wouldn't find me. I nearly died of thirst, but the previous keeper of this Oasis, Sydney, found me, and helped me hide. She somehow acquired a Desert Paint Brush and painted me. I don't think my dad would recognize me now...I used to be Electric. Sydney taught me the ways of a Keeper, and when she died, well, she left it to me." She looks up at you. "Sometimes I miss the outside world, but here is really the best place for me.

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The White Diamond
The White Diamond? Oh, I run it, sure enough. I'm out here in the Desert for most of my time, but when I'm needed, or on the weeks when the other two Oases take my place, that's where I hang out. We try to take the strain off of each others' back as much as possilbe, so we each end up with plenty of free time. I have a private portal there, if you'd like to use it..." She leads you further into the Oasis, and you see, on a Pedestal, a beautiful diamond. You reach out to touch it:


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The Oasis
Ah. So you're wondering about the place you're now in... now that is an interesting story...
Once, there were many Oases throughout Neopia. Then, with the disappearance of Sakhmet, they all vanished. Somehow, something in that Alternate Dimension changed them, and when Sakhmet was brought back, they stayed...all but three...

Three Oases are all that is left of refreshment for travelers. And with them, three Keepers. While in this Alternate Dimension, the Oases were given certain Otherworldly powers. For one, they only appear to those who are in dire need of them. They are everywhere in the Desert, and nowhere, all at once. They solidify to those who call."
She sees you looking confused.
Not with your mouth, silly, with this:" She lays a hand on your chest. Your heart.

My Pool revitalizes your spirit, and allows the Keeper to commune with those long since passed. The Pool of the Mind, quenches your thirst for knowledge, or increases it, depending on how you look at it. It also allows its Keeper to read the minds of those within her Oasis. And the Pool of the Body does nothing more than lets you drink and feel content. But its Keeper can change forms.
These abilities can be extended to any who drink from our Pools, but we only gift Drinkers if they prove to meet...certain qualifications...

How did Draiks come to Keep the pool, you ask? Well, that's an easy question to answer...although not very happy... if you REALLY want to know, I'd suggest going to see my sister, Sea. She was the one who started it all...or rather her ancestor...and the Pool of the Mind...
But I'll give you the basics: We were a race of Draiks at war with some Grarrls. We won with a single spear dipped in Oasis water, but the Grarrls decided THEY wanted the power and tried to steal it. We weren't ready for battle, so we jumped into the water to protect ourselves, and the Grarrls dipped their weapons in it. By doing so, they gave us control of their weapons, and we killed them all. Our leader decided that one Oasis wasn't safe, so he split it up into hundreds of smaller Pools with one Draik per Pool. Then came the Sakhmet disaster, and...well, you know the story...

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The Desert
Why am I here? I assume you don't mean that philosophically." She grins at her own joke.
I think I came here because of the Desert's great beauty. The Desert changes every day, growing cold at night, and warm during the day. The winds that blow at night shift the dunes, so the entire landscape looks different every time you wake up. I don't know how anyone could be bored out here.
In the Desert is hope, and opportunity. And not just for me. See?" She points at your feet. You bend over, and see what you didn't see before: a small gold coin. "There are thousands of them. See that dune?" She brings a dune to your left to your attention.
You look closely, and see one of the hidden treasures of the Desert: a golden dune. It's not made of gold, or gold dust, but it's so peppered with tiny gold coins, that the sun's reflection makes it radiate a beautiful aura.
Shock smiles. "Now you see why I spend my time here: there's beauty in everything around here, even in the mirages that play havoc with the minds of the thirsty.
The Oases come to wherever they're needed, and I'm here to make sure that it's not needed for evil intentions.
The Heart meanders its way over to those whose belief in the power of life needs revivifying." She glances at you. Are you one of those people?

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Weapons
Oh, I defend myself easily enough." She smiles slightly: a wry grin. "It's not too hard with THIS pool here. But outside of this Oasis...well...with all kinds of things abroad in the world..." She shudders. "I use a variety of weapons:

Two Maractite Swords. Thse are nice because they have no wind or water resistance. Scale got them for me when he was Maraquan.
Draik Magic. Oh, all draiks have at least a small amount. I'm not QUITE as good as the average draik, but I get by. Fire Breath is really all you need to intimidate weak-hearted enemies, and the stronger ones won't be felled by a little magic anyway.
Golden Bow of Qasala.I've been getting quite good with this. I got it as a present from my sister on the day I was painted Desert.
Draik Archer Quiver. I make the Arrows in this myself. They're pretty good, as such things go...
Crown Jewel of Magine. aka The Gem of Lightning. This is in fact a Star Sapphire. If I concentrate hard enough, this gem shoots out HUGE bolts of chain lightning. I can't use it very much without tiring myself out, though.
Hopian. Ah yes, this little guy may not look like much, but...

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Hopian
This little guy?" She hugs Hopian, a blue baby fireball. "He's my pet. Just don't look at him to closely when he's angry or scared." Seeing your quizzical glance, she continues. "He glows." Hearing your guffaw, she looks at you disapprovingly. "How would you like looking directly at the sun?" that quiets you a little. "He glows nearly as brightly, when he wants to, and also gives off heat. Either one to any extent...nearly...
And, in the worst of circumstances, he makes a great distraction." The little Baby Fireball smiles and says something unintelligible. Shock smiles too. "He only speaks Draik," she says, as if that explained EVERYTHING. "But he understands nearly any language. I've always wondered if he COULD speak other languages, and just CHOOSES not to...

Oh! You want to know how I FOUND him! Ah. Well... it was a bright, sunny day, when I was flying through Meridell, and a bunch of Crokabeks were attacking him. He tried glowing, but they have such bad eyesight that it didn't help. I was distracted from my flight by this beacon, however, and flew down to help. A little fire-breathing did the trick nicely, and the Crokabeks flew off, leaving behind a Baby Fireball who followed me EVERYWHERE. I sort of adopted him and asked him his name. "Hopian." That's the first word he ever said to me. "Hopian." Hope, in the Draik Tongue.

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Friends
If you're not here, it means that you probably haven't shared in my adventures. (i.e. Roleplayed with me.) If you would like to, please contact Nico.

Sealikeie (Sea)
Sea is my adopted sister, but she's more like my best friend. We're the same age...to within hours of each other. She's the adopted daughter of Hagan, and is one of the three draiks mentioned in the Prophecy. Ceb is the third. With her, I have been able to explore the mysteries of both of our pasts, rescue Ceb from an underground prison, and convince Hagan NOT to kill us. Without her healing stone, I'd be dead right now, so I thank her.
She's also Keeper of the Mind Oasis, and with this link, you can travel to her:


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Links
Shock leads you further into the Oasis, and you see, on several Pedestals, a variety of gemstones...and a silver sphere. Shock speaks, gesturing to each gem.
The Ruby is to my brother, Ceb.
The emerald is my adopted sister, Sea. She runs the Pool of the Mind.
The Amethyst is for my "owner", Nico.
The Opal is to my brother, Treko.
The Silver Orb is my brother, Scale.
The Topaz is the Keeper of the Pool of the Body.
The Sapphire leads back to me.

The Diamond, of course, leads to my tavern, the White Diamond.


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Leave
Is that all?" she asks.
When you nod your assent, she leads you back over the dune, and points out the way to Sakhmet. Then she goes over the dune and vanishes. You want to thank her, and so follow her back over the sand hill.
Nothing. Where an oasis once was, there is only a valley among the sand. You turn, and head in the direction she pointed out. (Click Here to continue.)



Credits:
Thanks to Erin (cinderkitty17) for the Oasis idea. And thanks for allowing me to expand upon it.
Thanks to Palagems for the Star Sapphire Image.
Thanks YET AGAIN to Erin for fixing the background image... it was pretty pixelly before, but now it's perfect :D

Scale

Welcome to Meridell. I'm Scale, owner of this Tavern." The Shoyru looking at you is covered in a reflective metal material. He seems to be…a robot.
The Scale smiles, if a robot can be said to smile. "Yes, I'm a Robot." He says, in a voice that doesn't sound at all like how you'd imagine a robot to sound. "It's a nice outfit, and it means I don't need much to survive. Here have a drink." He brings over two mugs of Strawberry Juice, and sits down across from you, handing one of the mugs to you. "Can I help you?"

Tell me about you.
Tell me about your tavern.
What's it like, being a robot?
How do you defend yourself?
Who is your pet?
Do you know any interesting people?
Where can I go from here?
I should probably be going.



Story
To begin my story, as any story, you have to start with the beginning. The very beginning.
I was born a Blue Shoyru many years ago. Unlike some of my brothers and sisters, I knew my owner from the very start. It was he who, upon learning of Paint Brushes sought to paint me a color. But it was not to be." He shook his head.
It was not to be, because the Fountain Faerie reached me first. After great deliberation, Nico painted me Maraquan, and I was able to visit the place I had always wanted to see.
I lived there, for many years. Grew up there, I guess you could say. It's a wonderful thing to be able to swim. I luxuriated in it. Thinking back, those were the best days of my life. I was determined to bring back Old Maraqua, and made repeated requests to King Kelpbeard about it. At first he declined to see me, I being a commoner and all, but eventually, he agreed.
I began excavating the ruins… but then catastrophe struck.

I was visiting Nico on a break from my archaeology, when I accidentally stepped in front of the lab ray. The zap meant for Treko, instead captured me, changing me into a Cybunny.
The ensuing months were a harsh contrast against the bliss of being underwater. The lab ray was fired at me every day for two months, and I eventually turned Cloud. This enraged Nico, for he wanted a Maraquan Shoyru, not a silly Cloud Cybunny. Nevertheless, he kept me that way, for he had made a bargain with a friend of his: his gift war would end IF she sent him a Shoyru Morphing Potion.
To my relief, she did so, and gave it to Nico, and so I became a Silver Shoyru, a far cry from Maraquan, but better than a Cybunny.
It wasn't until Doctor Sloth returned that I was able to become something better. I had so far outshone anything Nico had seen against the Battledome Competitors, that Nico wanted to get me something. And because of my prowess, he had enough points to do so. He offered me anything I wanted in the entire shop, and I decided I wanted to become Robot.
Nico wasn't sure he liked the look, but I was able to convince him that it would be a good decision…and, lo and behold: I am what I am.

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The White Diamond
The White Diamond? Oh, I own it, sure enough. I'm the Secretary, Treasurer, and general Caretaker. Actually, Shockwing owns it, but she's out in the Desert most of the time, so I caretake. What is it? Well, if you want to know more, I can take you to our official webpage. Here:" Out of his "stomach" pops a small drawer that looks something like a CD-ROM drive, except that the CD-ROM has a picture of a diamond on it.

You reach out to touch it:


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Being Robotic
It's…interesting. Much more different than one would expect. I have access to a HUGE database, and can alter my senses to fit any function." His eyes glow green, then fade back to red. "For example, at the moment, I altered my vision to see in infra-red." His eyes glow green again, then return to their normal color. "And now I can see normally again.
I can change colors, too." His body slowly darkens to black. "See, shadow!" Then it lightens to white, and begins to vanish, leaving only an outline behind. "And Sketch!" He fades slowly back to metallic. "I can't do Baby, Mutant, or…" he pauses, then says, in a much quieter voice: "Maraquan.
The shape change doesn't work for some reason, but I get by…
The weird thing about being Robot is that you don't need any natural processes. I don't need to eat, or eliminate, or drink. I need some oil every now and then, but that's different. The most interesting one of all, is sleep. I don't NEED it, but if I don't get a certain amount, I overheat and shut down for a little while. I need probably only an hour or two every night, though, so I spend a lot of the night expanding my database." At your blank look, he restates his point: "reading.


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Weapons
It's oddly easy to defend yourself nowadays, which is good, given the number of monsters and the like. I use only a couple things:

Glowing Sword. This…is interesting. It vibrates faster than the speed of sound. He pushes the emerald on the hilt, and a tiny buzzing sound fills the air a few seconds later. He stands up and flies over to the kitchen, grabbing a steel bar. He brings it back to the table and slices it easily in half…top to bottom. Two identical semi-circular halves fall away from the cut. He stops the sword's vibrations and sits down.

Robotics This is just random stuff I can do because I'm a robot… laser eyes, spikes, that sort of thing.

Jaerez. This little guy is a constant amazement to me…

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Jaerez
You want to know about this little guy? Well, he's interesting, let me tell you. As a robot, he does the same thing I do, which is to change colors. Anubis have a huge number of colors that they can be painted, and so…
Here, show guest some of the things you can do.
If I'm cold, he turns fire." You are astounded, as the Anubis does exactly that. "Of course, I could too, so that's beside the point… Also beside the point is the fact that I don't get cold… Anyway, he can go through walls, as a ghost, blend in with his surroundings as invisible, make a very comfy pillow as plushie..." Scale laughs, obviously intending the last as a joke, but the Anubis goes through with it anyway, showing off each color as Scale lists them.
And he and I can speak privately through electrical transfer." He reaches out to touch Jaerez, and concentrates. An electrical current passes from Scale to his petpet, and dies when Scale takes his hand away.
The best part about him is that he's constantly surprising me. I'm still relatively new to this Robot thing, and he's been in this state for…a long time…"

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Friends
If you're not here, it means that you probably haven't shared in my adventures. (i.e. Roleplayed with me.) If you would like to, please contact Nico.

None yet…I haven't RPed at all…

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Links
I can take you to more or less anywhere important. Here:" Out of his "stomach" pops a small drawer that looks something like a CD-ROM drive. He pulls out a handful of discs from a cupboard.
The one with the Amethyst will take you to Nico, my owner.
The Opal will take you to Treko, my brother.
The Sapphire will take you to Shockwing, my sister.
The Diamond will take you to the White Diamond.

Just put one on this tray, and place your hand on it, and you'll be teleported there via the electronics system that spreads throughout Neopia.

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Leave
Is that all?" he asks.
When you nod your assent, he leads you back to the door and bows you out. "Enjoy the rest of your day!" the Robot calls, and you nod. He walks back inside, closing the door firmly behind him(Click here to continue.)