Let me introduce Grace Stormsong. She was chosen to be part of the School of Storm, a Diviner. After being greeted and trained a bit by Merle Ambrose, The Headmaster, in a few beginning lessons, he ported her to his office in Ravenwood. Headmaster Ambrose suggested that some real-life lessons rather than classes would be of some benefit first of all and asked Grace to go help on the streets of Unicorn Way. This very young wizard traveled to Unicorn Way with her pet, a Peace Dove named Deputy Cleo.
Going through the tunnel into Unicorn Way, the first thing she saw was the wondrous Unicorn Park straight ahead. There were the Mistborn brothers, Jordo and Brandon on the sidewalk. They seemed to be a jewel vendor (Jordo) and a clothing vendor (Brandon). When Grace is a little bit older and has more gold, she would be able to buy goodies from them both. Around the area to the right, The Duelmaster, Diego was waiting patiently for higher level (Level 5) wizards to teach them how to use Advanced Combat and the Player versus Player arena.
Strolling on to speak to Private Connelly, the guard that Headmaster Ambrose recommended seeing, she encountered a beautiful unicorn statue surrounded by a moat and grassy paths with two wooden bridges paving the way around the statue. As she turned north, up the path, to a quiet gazebo, the young diviner caught a glimpse of the private. She wandered up to speak to him and Private Connelly asked her for help with the lost souls that were haunting the street. Grace uttered, “That is what the Headmaster sent me to do! I will help any way I can.”
Grace Stormsong was very anxious on her first quest to defeat the Lost Souls. (Quest: Ghost Hunters) The streets were alarmingly dark and quiet with faint moaning in the background. The atmosphere gave the new student shivers up her spine. After going into a skirmish with the first lost soul, Grace used her Thunder Snake and the Lost Soul melted away. Her second Lost Soul, she set a dark sprite out and the lost soul got scared and warned the others to leave the area.
This young Diviner ran back to Private Connelly, excited to tell him she succeeded in scaring them away. Not knowing why they were attacking them, Private Connelly recommended that Grace talks to a student named Ceren Nightchant. He knew a lot of information about this area.
Ceren welcomed Grace to the neighborhood and explained that he watched her take care of the Lost Souls and was impressed by her Spell-Slinging Skills. “Do you think you could battle a few Skeletal Pirates to see how tough they are?” he asked. The young diviner of course said, “Yes. I will help.” After getting up the confidence with the Lost Souls, she felt like it couldn’t be that hard to take on some Skeletal Pirates! (Quest: Skeleton Crew) Ceren marked the spot on her map so she knew where to go. Gama, her tutor, then explained how to use the map.
On her way out Olivia Dawnwillow called Grace over after overhearing her conversation with Ceren Nightchant. She added, “I’m glad I overheard you two wizards talk about those pesky Skeletal Pirates. They’re looting the street and making such a mess!” She was very worried that they would be forced to leave the city. The young wizard calmed Olivia down and told her they would look into the situation. (side quest: Pesky Pirates)
The wizard went to find the Skeletal Pirates and met up with Antonio. He had the same quest, so they worked together on the first set of pirates. Antonio and Grace both used their Thunder Snakes, taking the foe out rather quickly. At that point, Antonio had to leave and she went back in to fight one more pirate with no problem using her fire cat spell. The Skeletal pirate said, “..Ye got guts, little Wizard, more’n us to be sure, but ye be no match for that which rattles in the Darkness! Bwaharhar!” A clue for them to figure out. When she went back to see Ceren guess who was there? Yup, Antonio! They became friends so they could help each other along the way.
On the way to talk to Lady Oriel in the Hedge Maze, Grace was looking for chests on the street to help with her funds for school tuition. Behind the big building to the north of Unicorn Park, She found her first chest and earned 14 more gold! Meandering down the street on the sidewalk to be safe, Grace went to the Hedge Maze.
Lady Oriel yelled, “Halt! What purpose brings you into our Hedge Maze?” When she realized it was young Grace, she summoned her over to discuss the situation. She went on to explain that Evil forces that sent the Undead to pillage Unicorn Way had also corrupted the Fairies!. Lady Oriel pleaded with Grace to help them. “How do I help them?” said the young wizard.
Lady Oriel continued to explain that there are Vile Bone Cages out along Unicorn Way. They were filled with Mysterious dark magic that corrupts the fairies. She asked, “Grace would you open the cages and then obtain the fairy dust from the Dark Fairies in combat, but please be gentle?” (Quest: Finding Out Why)
After talking to Lady Oriel, Grace went around the maze and found a chest in the southwest corner by the pink flowers that encased 15 gold. She thanked the fairies for letting her have the treasures and went off to open bone cages and collect fairy dust for the Lady. Grace opened a total of 4 cages and fought 4 fairies to get the dust, then took it back to Lady Oriel. She was gentle with the Dark Fairies and they thanked her for lifting the “Terrible Cloud of Darkness.”
When she went back to the Hedge Maze, a fairy buzzed up to Grace calling her name. The fairy rejoiced and said, “Thank you for helping us, kind Wizard. Your courage and benevolence will not soon be forgotten by the Fairy Folk.” Now Lady Oriel examined the Fairy Dust, “Is that? But how? The Fairy Dust displays scars of dark magic banished from this world long ago. Could it be.. ‘Rattle in the Darkness’… Rattlebones!” He was banished to the underworld for his crimes. Lady tried to sense his location but couldn’t and told Grace to go back to Ceren, maybe he could help. She gave Grace a broom to hurry her along. (Quest Who Could It Be Now?)
Before leaving the maze, Grace found another chest sitting next to a hedge. She thought, “It only takes me 2 seconds to open that chest, but I need to hurry!” After collecting the goodies, she rode her broom back to let Ceren know what Lady Oriel said.
Grace rushed to see Ceren and tell him what Lady Oriel sensed. He became worried because the young wizard was gone for so long. He teased her saying, “You were gone for so long I was beginning to worry you’d run off and joined a Skeletal Pirate crew.” When Grace told Ceren about Rattlebones and asked if he would have any ideas where to find the pirate, he thought, “He’s in a Tower Ringed in bones? Well, the Skeletal Pirates do seem to be concentrated around the old Archives. Try looking there!” and marked the Archives on Grace’s map. (Quest: Sinister Skeleton)
Off she went to the Archives to find Rattlebones. Grace snuck into the Archives and there he was looking for a Tome that Malistaire was seeking. The Skeletal Pirate saw the young wizard and said, “What’s this, a Wizard? Excellent. I could use a combat break. Let’s Play!” She used two spells one after the other, her Thunder Snake first on Rattlebones and then Fire Cat on the Dark Fairy. Rattlebones upset declared, “Argh! The day is yours, young one. But the Dark Master’s plan is already in motion. You haven’t heard the last rattle in the Darkness!
Rattlebones left so quickly he dropped the Tome he was holding. Grace decided to take it back to Ceren because he would know what to do with it. As she moved out to the streets, the young wizard noticed the Dark Magic dwindled and it was a nice ride back to Ceren.
The Wizard, Ceren, was excited to hear that Grace was able to beat Rattlebones, “The Darkness plaguing Unicorn Way is lifting. Look! With Rattlebones defeated, the Guards should be able to drive away the rest of the Undead horde.”
Grace gave him the Tome and he suggested taking it to the Library in the Commons. Harold Argleston would know what to do with it. (Quest: Grim Tales)
As Grace went to leave Unicorn Way, Private Connelly needed help. She told him that she had to take the Tome over to Harold Argleston before she assisted him, promising she would be back.
The library was really awesome looking! There were four waterfalls that flowed into catch-basins. Harold was pretty busy, so Grace waited her turn to talk to him.
Once Harold was free, Grace interacted with him. He introduced himself as the master librarian extraordinaire. Grace brought him the Tome and he questioned her, “You say you recovered this Tome from an Underworld tyrant who was going to give it to his Dark Master, Malistaire?” Harold told the young wizard to go Headmaster Ambrose and take the tome to him, “Ehh, but before you go, allow me to reward you for your heroics. Please accept this Treasure Card on behalf of the denizens of Wizard City.” He went on to explain that these Treasure Cards can also be purchased from vendors or Grace could learn how to craft them. Gamma, her tutor, popped in to explain where to find the Treasure Cards in her book and how to use the cards in battle. She said, ”During combat, right-click a regular card to discard it, then select DRAW to bring out a Treasure Card from your Sideboard… Remember, unlike regular Spell Cards, Treasure Cards can only be used once. So use them wisely!” This was all great information for this new diviner.
After all the wonderful information at the library, Miss Stormsong was off to the Headmaster’s House to share what she had learned. When Merle Ambrose learned about the Evil Darkness that was summoned from the Underworld he continued with, “Oh my! Rattlebones, you say? But he was banished centuries ago! How could – Malistaire. Of Course. But why?” When Grace told him that Rattlebones was searching the Unicorn Archive for the tome, handing it to Ambrose, it said ‘On the Trail of the Order of the Fang’. The Head Master exclaimed that he would look into the situation and apologized for her long-delayed enrollment. “If you are to truly master your magical talents, we must induct you officially into our Academy.” He suggested she go see Mr. Lincoln, their Registrar, in Ravenwood. He would introduce her to the professors and help Grace begin her studies. Grace added, “I need to go help Private Connelly first because of a promise I made him earlier.” The Head Master agreed with her and praised her for being true to her promises.
Grace Stormsong’s day was full of excitement and mayhem. The sun was setting, young wizards were running back to their dorms, so she went back to Private Connelly to let him know she would be back tomorrow to help him find Private Ryan and whatever other things he had for her to do. “I’m sure Private Ryan was in a safe place and will be ok until tomorrow,” Grace encouraged.
The story will continue next time. Wonder what other things Private Connelly has in store for the young wizard? Stay Tuned!
Join Grace Stormsong in Wizard101!
Humble Misty (aka @GmaFoley)
