Since it would have taken days to get the Crowns from free crowns offers for one area of Azteca(which costs 1999 Crowns!), I wouldn't have been able to play Wizard101 until everyone else ended up as Free-to-Play, so sadly Sierra was stuck in FreeToPlay Limbo and Grace, whose paid time ended at the same time as Katie, had to carry our heroine. Since I had already established Grace as MIA in this story, I have to take creative liberties. *sigh* At least Sierra didn't lose everything in her backpack thanks to the increase of backpack space by 100 in the last update or I'd get real salty. X(
As such, there won't be very many combat shots because Grace will be fighting here and thus I have to show Katie casting spells without showing Grace. *groan* Lesson Learned: I will be careful about extending times from now on. I could just not show combats but that would make the story less interesting and I want you to know that Katie DOES fight from time to time.
Acosta Hanging Moss was at the very top of the pyramid. I swear, if I have to climb up one more freaking step... !!! X(
I was, of course, notably mad after this dino dised me so I dised him right back. "I don't give a rat tail to you, you---!!!"
Sierra luckily intervened. "Where is your king? We need to get in here quick."
Acosta thumbed a building we had seen earlier, a large ziggurat. "Go speak with Yacate FarWalker first. He is the King's aide and will help you get in to see our King."
We guessed it was the red scaled dino at the steps so we flew back down the dang steps. (Later I realized I was on a mount so I had no complaint on climbing the steps. :p)
This guy was not any nicer, he was even worse.
"Look, you big-tooth freakazoid!" I shouted. "We're here to see your dang king!"
He laughed. "You wish to see King Axaya Knifemoon, the new king, first of his name, the Young Ruler, the untested and the desperate?"
"Well---" I began, but he didn't let me get a word in edgewise.
"Axaya, son of Tezazomak, he who never ruled but was married to the Princess Atatazil, last and only child of Ilhuicomima..."
"Uh..."
"...the Great King Ilhuicomima, the sky archer, the thunder lizzard, the ruler of the triple alliance, the Tyrant of Azteca?"
"We didn't need a full 10-page biography of your royal lineage, sir," sighed Sierra. "But YES, we wish to see King Axaya Knifemoon. We desperately need his permission to enter the pyramids in order to possibly divert the threat of Xilbalba."
FarWalker snorted loudly, as if in dissonance. My step-dad told me never to hate anyone, but I had no choice - I loathed this guy instantly. "You need a gift of Xachiya Flowers for the King. Find them by the Hot Pools." He sniffed us rudely. "Then go for a drip. You have an Outside scent."
"Rude," I hissed under my breath, but Sierra nodded and dragged me off.
The flowers weren't too hard to find and we harvested them gently. "Time to bathe," said Sierra with a mischevious grin. "I'll wash your back."
I blushed deeply. "I... uh, is there a place there I can bathe privately? I don't like public baths much."
"Oh come on!" laughed Sierra as we reached the hot pools - there were was a black-skinned dino soldier but he (or she, it was hard to tell the sex of these reptiles) wasn't really looking in our direction, more like guarding the pools from any peepers - and began to undo her coat. "We're both the same gender, you shouldn't be embarassed to see me naked."
"You've... done this before, haven't you?" I asked, blushing hotter.
"Yeah, back in Zafaria," said Sierra. "Me, Grace and Christy had to skinnydip in the pools in the Elephant Graveyard to purify our bodies for Elesa so she could help us break into her own tomb to rescue the Prince." She was already mostly undressed and I turned my back to avoid looking at her as she uncovered her breasts. She frowned. "Uh, I guess you are a bit shy. Come on, open up."
"I... no, I'm sorry. Please don't do this to me."
She paused and touched my shoulder as I heard the last of her clothing fall away. "Okay. I fully understand. If Grace and Christy were here we'd force you to undress, but I'm okay with it. Go ahead, I think there's a smaller pool underneath here, you won't see me bathe and I can't see you."
I sighed and smiled. "Thanks."
I walked over to the pool, looked around to make sure no dino or human was watching, and stripped to my birthday suit, carefully testing the water. It was a bit hot for my tastes but not broiling hot as I had expected. I slipped into the water and scrubbed every inch of my body with a pumice stone, being gentle in the under regions. I had to admit that despite Yacate being rude in his assumptions, his advice to bathe was a good one - I had been traveling every world in the Spiral with Grace as tutor to gain the power over the realm of Ice and Cold that I had today. Even though I was tough physically, inside I was a wreck and a nice hot bath(which I could have done in one of my houses, but doing it in a new foreign world gave a sort of a raunchy thrill I had not expected, though I wasn't telling Sierra that!) was just the ticket.
After what seemed like forever, I reluctantly stepped out of the hot pool, used a fastidiousness spell to dry off my body, and got dressed - the spell had cleaned out my robes as well, how else do you think us wizards ever avoided reeking of B.O.? ;) - just as Sierra came in.
"Aw, you got your clothes on too fast," she moaned, giggling.
"You were spying on me, weren't you?" I gasped, turning beet red again.
"Naw, I dressed a bit faster, that's all. Come on, sit here." She patted a rock and sat down on one side of it. "We need to talk."
I obeyed.
"So... any reason you were conscious of bathing with another girl?"
I sighed. She had to go there. "Well, I... when I was a little girl, I saw my mom and dad naked in bed by accident. It was really dark and I heard my mom moaning. I thought she was in pain and peeked."
"Oh my!" gasped Sierra, who blushed as well. "That must have scarred you for life! Did they freak?"
"They didn't know I was watching. I was lucky enough to have the family cat slip by and mewl to distract me and I hadn't seen too much flesh but I had seen enough to see that mom and dad were naked as jaybirds and grinding their bodies together. Just before I went to Ravenwood, my mom cornered me and admitted that our family cat had scolded her for not locking the door and what I had seen as a kid and she gave me The Talk."
"Whoa," said Sierra. "Mom gave me The Talk at the age of ten, three years before I entered Ravenwood. So that's why you are a bit scared of being naked around others? I'd understand if we were traveling with a boy, since it's not polite to strip before a boy, but..."
"And the worst part is..." I began to say, but then I stopped speaking. Should I trust this Myth Wizard with my confidence about the man my mom was making love to when I spotted them doing it in bed?
Sierra didn't hear me or chose not to. "C'mon, let's go present ourselves to the King." She held up the bouquet of Xachiya Flowers. "These things won't last forever."
Yacate thumbed towards the door and nodded, letting us pass...
...and instantly things got ugly.
"W-W-War challenge?" I gasped. "N-No, we don't want to..."
He sniffed us. "Why do you smell so pretty? Do you wish to formally declare a challenge for the throne of Azteca?"
I am going to kill that son of a Jabberwock, I thought darkly as I realized Yacate gave us false info.
He interrupted my thoughts. "Although you initiated a war challenge that could only result in your deaths, I will ignore it as you are Outsiders. Perhaps next time, you will take the time to learn about a new culture before you accidentally offend someone!"
"Phew, thank you," said Sierra. She jabbed my chest. "We apologize deeply, we are indeed Outsiders and are new to your culture. We were ill-informed about the presentation of the Flowers and will not make that mistake in the future."
I growled under my breath angrily.
"Well, you are just in time," said King Axaya. "I can see from your companion's face that you are ruthless people, those who are not afraid to get their hands dirty in battle and enter strange and possibly hostile areas. I have need of people such as yourselves."
"Indeed, we are high-rank wizards," said Sierra. "What is your situation?"
He rubbed his chin in thought. "The royal Badge of Leadership was lost in the Cenote when the Hungry Dead arose. Can you help us find it?"
"We would be happy to," I said, recovering from my fit of rage."We were there recently."
"Good," he said, grinning toothily. "I'd search the Trias Palace, witnesses said that that was the last place it was seen."
We dismissed ourselves from his presence and returned to those blasted burial caverns, looking for this place. The directions we got were accurate and we found... something interesting.
"That dino isn't undead," I said. "She's very much alive."
The dino spotted us and called us forward. "Please, can you help me?"
"Of course," said Sierra. "We were just in the neighborhood looking for..."
Obviously this female dino interrupted. "If you can't drive out the Hungry Dead, I'll never make it. The Thunder Horn Zombies and Moon Skull Zombies are both hungry!"
"We'll be done with them in a sec," I said, sighing.
Sometimes life just wants to kick you in the teeth. :(
"Really?" I asked. "Funny you should mention that. We..."
"You bought me a little time," our damsel in distress interrupted. Sheesh, wait to speak, will ya? "Can you find me some of the glowing Izar Mushrooms? You can find them near the dwellings."
"People live here?"
Obviously they do. It wasn't too hard to collect the mushrooms we needed.
"Excuse us, miss uhm..." Sierra began to say.
"Oh, forgive my rudeness," said the Aztecosaur. "I am Ixtli Black-Eyed Flower."
"Greetings," I said. "I'm Kate, this is Sierra, we're here on a mission of political import." We quickly explained the situation to Ixtli.
She nodded. "You were sent here to look for the Badge of Leadership? Of course! King Axaya's rule is imperiled without it. Our last king, Acampi Reedfist, still wore the badge when he was dragged off by the Hungry Dead into the mines."
"So Axaya hasn't been ruling for very long," I bemused. "Maybe a week at most."
"You'll need to delve into the deepest mines to find Acampi Reedfist, or his remains, and recover the Badge of Leadership."
"Did you see where he was dragged to?" asked Sierra. "We can get started right away."
"Of course," she said, pointing to a tunnel. "That tunnel will lead you to the Deepest Mine. I am sure that is where they took King Acampi Reedfist."
Unfortunately for us, or expected, was that Hungry Dead lurked in said mine. Our work was cut out for us, sadly.
You'll have to fight a group of two Thunder Horn Zombies, and then a group of two Moon Skull Zombies. This isn't hard at all as you only have to fight two instead of the three you'd get with an ally in the battle areas.
We found a miner who gave us some helpful advice on removing the barrier to the deepest part of this area, it involved crystals infused with elemental magic.
Of course, even a Newbie Wizard could figure out this puzzle. ;)
And every time you use the wrong crystal on the barrier, you can expect to be pulled into battle with a Moon Skull Zombie and Thunder Horn Zombie. Of course this is really a no-brainer - use the Fire Crystal first, then the Death Crystal, and finally the Ice Crystal.
"Wow, Grace taught you well!" said Sierra.
"Yeah, I wish she was here," I said. "Where is she, anyways?"
Sierra fidgeted. "She had to go back to Skull Island to help her pirate friend, Agnes. I'll send her a memo after we get the Badge back."
Something was fishy about Sierra suddenly, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
And I didn't have time to think about it, as we came into the heart of the mine... and confronted a very undead Acampi Reedfist.
"You're hungry for us, huh?" I mocked.
"Take a cold shower, courtesy of the Mammoth Brothers!" ;p
This was truly a cakewalk fight for Kate and Grace - both Acampi and his Smoking Mirror Zombie are both Fire-school. Acampi has 10,550 HP and the Smoking Mirror Zombie has 2550 HP.
"Bah!" groaned Acampi as he fell to his knees. "You'll only take this Badge from my cold dead hands... oh wait..."
And with that, he gave up the ghost and I yanked the badge from his cold, dead hands, and cringed.
"Ew," I said. "This badge stinks like death."
Sierra touched it and flew back in horror. "I used to have a Life Wizard for a boyfriend and he trained me to sense Death Magic, and this badge... it's saturated with it!"
"Yuck!" I said, dropping the thing on the ground. I quickly picked it up with a cloth and wrapped it. "We should report our success to Miss Black-Eyed Flower. What's that?"
We looked at the glowing orb of light suspended above a stone dias. Sierra stepped inside and vanished. I gasped and followed her... and we were outside!
"Well, looks like the teleporters on the other worlds," I said. "This will be handy."
"But it's tainted," I said, showing the badge to her.
Ixtli nodded. "Yes, it is steeped in Death Magic. Fitting for an undead king but not so much for a young and living ruler."
"Is there any way to consecrate it to get rid of the Death stink?" asked Sierra.
Ixtli mused. "There is a way to purify it. Go mine some gold down in the mines, then extract some venom from the Fire Quetzals in the dwellings, you should find them in cages. Also, you must recover the broken calendar pieces stolen by the Moon Skull zombies. When you have all of that, return to me and I will tell you where to go."
"Sounds simple enough," I said.
Note to self: Keep mouth shut. :(
Yep, you are now dealing with Rank 12 enemies, who won't hesitate to fire off the 9-pippers at you if you give them time to set up. Luckily Kate didn't have any of her Rebirth TCs on hand to get ruined.
"Well, it wasn't that fast," I mused.
"Now you must go to the Pyramid of White Fire, which you probably saw in your travels here in the Cenote, it is the large pyramid nearby." Ixtli sighed. "You must go to the inner chamber and repair the calendar, then place the Badge of Leadership on it, place the gold on the badge, and pour the Fire Quetzal venom to melt the gold and burn out the corruption. However... the Pyramid has recently been taken over by Skurkis Screaming Moon, a Black Sun Necromancer who has recently thrown her weight over to the Shadow."
"That's not good," said Sierra.
 |
| (Please ignore the Diviner in the corner.) |
We got to the top of the pyramid and I noted how the caves opened up to the surface. The place looked peaceful and would have been nice to visit, had it not been for all of the undead.
Inside we met no resistance, but I was creeped out by the cobwebs and pillars. This place looked like something you'd visit for Hallow'een.
And inside was someone not so nice.
"Skurkis Screaming Moon, I presume," I said. "Well, you'll be screaming for the moon when I am through with you, you cold-blood reptile. Oh wait, sorry, that was too close to home."
She was clearly not impressed by my wit. :p
Skurkis is not too difficult but if you are using a Life or Death hammer, make sure you Prism as she comes with a Moon Skull zombie lackey. She is Death-school, as expected, and has 13950 HP.
"Aaaah! Superstition, fear and jealousy! My undoing!!!!" screamed Skurkis.
"You're dang right," I said, prepping the killing blow. But then she vanished into a cocoon of darkness. "What the heck?!"
Sierra shuddered. "Morganthe pulled her. I think this Necromancer is the leader of those who are helping our archnemesis."
"Gah," I said. "I don't kill for the heck of it, but that dino's howling made my ears bleed! Come on, let's just repair this thing and get it over with."
It didn't take much to repair the calendar and use it to purify the Badge with the gold and venom. It stopped feeling gross when it set and cooled.
"Let's go report our success again," said Sierra.
Ixtli was pleased and said she would go back to the Zocolo and safety. We were relieved.
We immediately headed back to the palace to present our prize to King Axaya in exchange for his permission into the Pyramid of the Black Sun.
"What you wanted," I said, showing him the badge.
He laughed as he accepted the Badge and put it over his neck. "I am impressed, young Magicians. You still wish to investigate the Pyramid of the Black Sun?"
"We do," Sierra said. "It's very vital to the safety of Azteca."
"I see," said King Axaya, rubbing his chin. "I will let Acosta know you are allowed to pass, but be warned. That place has gotten very dangerous lately."
"No problem," I said. "What could be worse than the Hungry Dead?"
Just got my answer... :(
[To be continued...]
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