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Story Thread 2: Electric Boogaloo!

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Lieutenant
May 21, 2009
113
Well, this is all fine and dandy, but more questions await, if it is not a bother...

1. Why does Old Scratch refer to himself as 'I an' I' or the PC as 'Captain my captain'? Is this some kind of Witchdoctor vernacular?
2. Can you tell us which Map Keeper we'll be after next? Or at least a horribly oblique hint.....
3. I presume as with Monkey King, Hawkules's eventual promotion quest can give you a chance to go cosmic, as you once stated on the OLD story thread?
4. I'm surprised the Armada didn't follow us to Aquila - they've been in every world so far. Is the Armada break intentional?
5. Is it just me, or does it seem like every SINGLE world (not book) starting with Cool Ranch provides the PC with a side-companion attained through the storyline, a universal side-companion (Rooster Cogburn, Shiruku Neko, Ju Hao), and a universal storyline companion (Hawkules, Monkey King, El Toro)? Is this the formula from now on?
6. I love the comment the Presidio Five make when we charge into the Executioner in Trafalgar Vortex. I believe Dead Mike's is 'Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die...or both....' a la Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Lucky Jack Russell's is 'Once more through the breach, dear friends, once more!' a la Shakespeare. What do the other Presidio companions say? Are they all witty/epic literary quotes?
7. Ummm...what purpose does Lunden's Bridge have, since it kinda hangs out there in the skyway? It doesn't appear to bridge anything...and I believe it should actually be Tower Bridge since the idea that it's 'London Bridge' is an American anachronism.... I would have thought it would have been where we had our final battle with Rooke (HOW EPIC WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN?!)
8. Speaking of unused places, are there any places in Marleybone and Aquila that were intended to be used but weren't in the main storyline? (Armada station in the White Cliffs of Rover, anyone?) and what would their purpose would have been?

Thanks!
Dread Pirate
Jun 13, 2011
2037
Blind Mew, now that the new Transportalors are up and running, I must ask you this intriguing question...

The Transportalors are all Kroks from Krokotopia, is that correct? I had a huge notice that these Transportalors' portals are of ancient Krokotopian technology from back in the Spiral's youthful eras, perhaps after the creation of the legendary Windstones. Is there a backstory to this? Please provide the history behind the Krokotopians' innovations of their transportation technology and how they got to use powerful energies to power them up. It would be quite illuminating to know of the backstory behind it for all to know.
Gunner's Mate
May 02, 2009
253
At the request of p101c member Jason's request, here's some questions for you.

1. Hawkules seems to somehow match the arrogance of El Toro, back when we first met him in Cool Ranch. Will we see further interactions with these two companions in the future? It doesn't necessarily seem that the rest of the crew gets along with Hawkules so well, but El Toro seems interesting to compare him to since they're so similar yet have completely different backgrounds. And, without a doubt, it would be absolutely hilarious.

2. Speaking of El Toro... it seems that, throughout the progression of the
game, some of main companions have matured a bit and changed throughout our adventures. Ratbeard's a no-brainer, but Bonnie Anne seemed to have noticeable growth, definitely seen through her promotion quest. El Toro, as ridiculously obsessed with himself as he may be, seemed to have grown too (obviously a lot less than others lol).
When your companions are talking about the consequences of the War in the Isle of Fetch, he notes that there must have been a better way than to have caused this. Can't really tell much from Old Scratch and most of the Starters, Kraken Skulls, and Presidio guys, but I was just wondering if this was intended - to have companions "grow" over the course of the story. Maybe I'm just overthinking this... lol.

3. Will the backgrounds of the Kraken Skulls companions be dug into more? I haven't played a Buccaneer yet, so I can't speak for Barnabus, but it seems like we know very little about most of them, maybe Sarah Steele as a slight exception. I feel like their pasts are very vague, and it would be awesome to learn more about their stories before we recruited them. I can already see some great stories forming... now that we have access to Marleybone, Emmett's next promotion will surely be interesting. Loius' too, maybe, if we end up traveling back to Valencia...

The other 2 questions shall be in a new post due to the character limit, so stay tuned for that.
Gunner's Mate
May 02, 2009
253
Continued from my last post in this thread (remember that these questions were at p101c member Jason's request since he's a crowns player & thus doesn't have access to post on these message boards, so there's that at least)...

4. I really love Gracie Conrad as a companion!! I do have a question, though, about her, or really the development behind her... how did you write all the things that she says? I barely understand half of it, lol. Was that your doing, or another writer? Sounds like she's almost talking gibberish sometimes... of course that just makes her all the better companion.

5. Lastly, Catbeard. Reminds me of Hawkules vs. El Toro... him and Ratbeard are so similar yet so different. To me, it seems like Catbeard's been almost EVERYWHERE in the Spiral. From what he's said, he's been to Aquila, he has knowledge of the Aquila stormgate in Monquista, so maybe there, El Dorado with Marco Pollo, and he's mentioned that he's been to Polaris around the time where he gives his puppet show. Will he seem to serve as a "guide" of sorts as we continue to visit worlds, as he knows so much about them? Might be just a simple word of advice like how (I think) he gave us with Aquila, but I just think that it would be cool having a companion that knows much more than us, for once (besides Gracie, of course, lol).

Thanks!!
Captain
Jan 26, 2012
646
Cunning Finnigan S... on May 25, 2013 wrote:
Ah! Blind Mew, this is a wonderful way to start things fresh from all the clutter that was piling up on the other, popular post! Though I think you're a tad bit late on spring cleaning. No, only I kid! But I do have some questions cluttering my mind that I'm hoping you can clear out:

1. Marleybone has many colonies and stations around the Spiral: Krokotopia, Darkmoor, Rajah, Zafaria, Skull Island, and a Research Center in Celestia (I can already tell Marleybone and Spiral Geographic Society will be involve when we go to...er...if we go to this world). My questions centers on Darkmoor. Rajah boosts spices and military arms for Marleybone. Zafaria provides trade for Zafarite (mentioned in Wizard's Zafaria) and I pray nothing more. Krokotopia has ancient artifacts and materials for amunitions. But Darkmoor? What do they need a morbid world like that for? Are the Queens for both worlds "friends" or something?

2. I'm confused on the Spiral Geographic Society's residence. They have another location in Marleybone City used as Wizard's dungeon and sneak peek to Celestia. Is it possible the one here is their main work place and Wizard's is either a way of communication or there old station now that is been run over by thugs?

3. Why were no Cat Burglars from Wizard included? They'd make fine Swashbucklers with Hurl Knife! Will we ever see a Snake Archer and Swordsmen companion? They're sooo cool!

4. It seems I have a very good eye, Blind Mew. I found that in Beachhead, you reused parts of Newgate Prision. I love all the graphics there [Beachhead]! But I thought you said it wasn't as time saving as just going custom. Why try it again?

5. Could Rajah be used as a means to reveal backstory for our PC, based off of what Jabal said? I think that could reference something...Johnny Quest maybe? I dunno but it came into my head lol.

6. IF we went to Grizzlehiem, would Wintertusk somehow fit in?

7. Since we go Catbeard and Argos, shouldn't we get Egg Foo Young and Christopher?
1. There are lots of reasons to build colonies, you know - maintaining a strong naval presence to control Stormgates, keep an eye on rival nations, a convenient place to exile convicts or dissidents, and many more. But there's always economics - Darkmoor may be morbid, but that's no reason it can't have valuable natural resources worth exploiting...

2. I'm presuming the SGS has branches and institutes all over the place. The Isle of Dogs in a perfect place to stage and outfit expeditions, and a good spot to examine any relics as soon as they're brought home. But there's plenty of room for libraries, schools, meeting spaces, and administrative offices all over the place.

3. The Cats with the knives were essentially an upgraded version of the Wizard Cat Burglars. Sadly, the budget didn't allow us to have a melee and missile variant. I have high hopes for the future, though.

4. Exteriors and interiors are different, in terms of re-use and reutilization. And I'm not sure if it's a true one to one re-use under the textures - we used the old Wiz environment as a jumping off point, because I loved the verticality of the space and how it fit Beachhead, and the flow suited our gameplay really well.

5. Perhaps. I'm fond of leaving big things out there in the ether, barely alluded to. More fun that way!

6. Were a trip to Grizzleheim in the cards, I expect we'll do what we always do - build our own corner of Grizzleheim, figure out cool ways to allude to GZ and Wintertusk, possibly have a few Wizard characters visit, and then build our own story. We'd look at Grizzleheim and Wintertusk both for elements to mine.

7. As I stated above in a previous answer, all of Pollo's crew are not created equal (in story terms, that is). Christopher Clark wasn't even on Pollo's crew (his dad was), and he doesn't really seem cut out for high adventure. As for Egg Foo Young, his current gig as underworld crime boss suits him just fine. Your pirate's going to El Dorado, not putting the band back together.
Captain
Jan 26, 2012
646
Trimond297 on May 28, 2013 wrote:
I wasn't pinning names on mysteries, just theorizing.

Since you have a main story crew that continues the game's main story arcs including yourself, Blind Mew, why not have a side story crew that's in charge of creating side story arcs for Pirate101 in cooperation with the main story crew someday? I'm not talking about side quests forming as mini-arcs in current worlds by the main story arc crew, I was talking about actual side story arcs taking place in different worlds made by the side story arc crew, and much like the main arc quests, side story arcs should also have Puppet Shows in them. Pirates may need to have adventures outside of the Armada Arc and beyond, just like Wizard101 has got it's side story arcs and it's arcs' worlds just to keep Wizards busy while the W101 team made new major story arc worlds. I understand that you and the crew want to get the main arcs going, but Pirates may need to have something to keep themselves busy while more new main story Books are made in the works. Hey, there's always got to be other treasures found besides El Dorado, right? Think about this.
With respect, that's not how it works - Pirate101 has one team, and it takes that whole team to do an update. Also, we have only so many updates a year. And the story updates need to share the schedule with systems updates - every update won't be a story update. So, making a side world at this point could mean waiting up to twice as long as you otherwise would have for more main story. I'm pretty sure that's not what you want.

Wizard101 didn't get side worlds until after Dragonspyre was released and it's first main arc ended. I'm not going to absolutely rule a pre El Dorado side world out, but it'd take a lot to convince me that it's a better use of our time and budget.
Captain
Jan 26, 2012
646
Merciless Morgrim on May 28, 2013 wrote:
Are you sure Argos is in this update? I know Privateers who finished the main story and did not recruit Argos. And I finished on a Musketeer and did not unlock him in the Crown Shop
Something may be amiss - we're looking into it.
Captain
Jan 26, 2012
646
Merciless Martin on May 26, 2013 wrote:
i was a little confused about catbeard saying we had the piece of map the whole time. we were supposed to get it from him but since we never did. does that mean that there wasnt one to begin with and that he just lied. so we did all that work basically for nothing? just wondering

merciless martin roland
Captain Gunn wasn't on Marco Pollo's crew. Many people have asked where Gunn got his piece of the map - we won it from Catbeard on a bet. So, the first piece of the Map you got was actually Catbeard's.
Captain
Jan 26, 2012
646
CaptainFlint193 on May 28, 2013 wrote:
Well, this is all fine and dandy, but more questions await, if it is not a bother...

1. Why does Old Scratch refer to himself as 'I an' I' or the PC as 'Captain my captain'? Is this some kind of Witchdoctor vernacular?
2. Can you tell us which Map Keeper we'll be after next? Or at least a horribly oblique hint.....
3. I presume as with Monkey King, Hawkules's eventual promotion quest can give you a chance to go cosmic, as you once stated on the OLD story thread?
4. I'm surprised the Armada didn't follow us to Aquila - they've been in every world so far. Is the Armada break intentional?
5. Is it just me, or does it seem like every SINGLE world (not book) starting with Cool Ranch provides the PC with a side-companion attained through the storyline, a universal side-companion (Rooster Cogburn, Shiruku Neko, Ju Hao), and a universal storyline companion (Hawkules, Monkey King, El Toro)? Is this the formula from now on?
6. I love the comment the Presidio Five make when we charge into the Executioner in Trafalgar Vortex. I believe Dead Mike's is 'Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die...or both....' a la Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Lucky Jack Russell's is 'Once more through the breach, dear friends, once more!' a la Shakespeare. What do the other Presidio companions say? Are they all witty/epic literary quotes?
7. Ummm...what purpose does Lunden's Bridge have, since it kinda hangs out there in the skyway? It doesn't appear to bridge anything...and I believe it should actually be Tower Bridge since the idea that it's 'London Bridge' is an American anachronism.... I would have thought it would have been where we had our final battle with Rooke (HOW EPIC WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN?!)
8. Speaking of unused places, are there any places in Marleybone and Aquila that were intended to be used but weren't in the main storyline? (Armada station in the White Cliffs of Rover, anyone?) and what would their purpose would have been?

Thanks!
1. "I and I" is actually Rastafarian vernacular, as is always saying "I" instead of "me".

2. Here's an oblique hint: if you think about it, there are only two option left, aren't there?

3. Definitely. Already have his promo quest conceived of. More fun with mythology...

4. Well, there was so much Armada in MB that a little break seemed in order. Also, you just dealt them a heck of a setback - hanging back and regrouping is a sound strategic move.

5. I don't think Marleybone fits that pattern, but we do kind of like how it works. Incidentally, we may not have so many universal grants in the future, to help make each class's play experience more distinct.

6. Glad you like 'em! The other lines, as i recall, weren't nearly as literary. Lucky Jack, btw, uses the same line on Bounty Ilse as "Once more onto the beach, dear friends!" - and I think that may be my favorite pun in the game.

7. Lunden's Bridge is a bit of a joke. It's meant to link Marleybone City to the Isle of Dogs, and be this huge, tremendous, ostentatious triumph of Marleybonean engineering... that is utterly unnecessary. A bit of uniquely Marleybonean hubris. We'd originally planned for a trip to the bridge, but fate did not allow - this time. Tower bridge would indeed have been a sweet place to battle Rooke. But, we can always battle somebody else there...

8. See above. Lunden's Bridge was the biggest cut this time around. Aquila came through pretty intact. There was one other bit we lost in MB, but I dare not mention it - if we're able to bring it back, I;d hate to spoil the surprise.
Captain
Jan 26, 2012
646
Trimond297 on May 29, 2013 wrote:
Blind Mew, now that the new Transportalors are up and running, I must ask you this intriguing question...

The Transportalors are all Kroks from Krokotopia, is that correct? I had a huge notice that these Transportalors' portals are of ancient Krokotopian technology from back in the Spiral's youthful eras, perhaps after the creation of the legendary Windstones. Is there a backstory to this? Please provide the history behind the Krokotopians' innovations of their transportation technology and how they got to use powerful energies to power them up. It would be quite illuminating to know of the backstory behind it for all to know.
There is a backstory here, and we will address it, all in good time.
Captain
Jan 26, 2012
646
flash33 on May 29, 2013 wrote:
At the request of p101c member Jason's request, here's some questions for you.

1. Hawkules seems to somehow match the arrogance of El Toro, back when we first met him in Cool Ranch. Will we see further interactions with these two companions in the future? It doesn't necessarily seem that the rest of the crew gets along with Hawkules so well, but El Toro seems interesting to compare him to since they're so similar yet have completely different backgrounds. And, without a doubt, it would be absolutely hilarious.

2. Speaking of El Toro... it seems that, throughout the progression of the
game, some of main companions have matured a bit and changed throughout our adventures. Ratbeard's a no-brainer, but Bonnie Anne seemed to have noticeable growth, definitely seen through her promotion quest. El Toro, as ridiculously obsessed with himself as he may be, seemed to have grown too (obviously a lot less than others lol).
When your companions are talking about the consequences of the War in the Isle of Fetch, he notes that there must have been a better way than to have caused this. Can't really tell much from Old Scratch and most of the Starters, Kraken Skulls, and Presidio guys, but I was just wondering if this was intended - to have companions "grow" over the course of the story. Maybe I'm just overthinking this... lol.

3. Will the backgrounds of the Kraken Skulls companions be dug into more? I haven't played a Buccaneer yet, so I can't speak for Barnabus, but it seems like we know very little about most of them, maybe Sarah Steele as a slight exception. I feel like their pasts are very vague, and it would be awesome to learn more about their stories before we recruited them. I can already see some great stories forming... now that we have access to Marleybone, Emmett's next promotion will surely be interesting. Loius' too, maybe, if we end up traveling back to Valencia...

The other 2 questions shall be in a new post due to the character limit, so stay tuned for that.
1. Hawkules, I expect, will be a bit of an acquired taste - I think the rest of the crew will get used to him, and he in turn will need to figure out how to be part of a team. He's too fun of a character to shut him up now - don't worry, the bantering will definitely continue.

2. The character development and growth is absolutely intended, and it's one of the things I'm proudest of in the entire game. Old Scratch has had a bit of an arc too, you know - he went from evil mastermind to crew member, then he abandoned his original patron for a new one, and dealt with the fallout from that decision.

3. Many of the crew's pasts are a bit vague, but I like having a good list of vague things that we can dip into later, if the need arises. Sarah's probably the only one whose past has really been explored, but you're absolutely right: with MB under our belt, Emmett and Jack are now ripe for new stories. Valenica would impact quite a few - Birgus Latro, Gaspard DeVole, Louis LeBisque...
Captain
Jan 26, 2012
646
flash33 on May 29, 2013 wrote:
Continued from my last post in this thread (remember that these questions were at p101c member Jason's request since he's a crowns player & thus doesn't have access to post on these message boards, so there's that at least)...

4. I really love Gracie Conrad as a companion!! I do have a question, though, about her, or really the development behind her... how did you write all the things that she says? I barely understand half of it, lol. Was that your doing, or another writer? Sounds like she's almost talking gibberish sometimes... of course that just makes her all the better companion.

5. Lastly, Catbeard. Reminds me of Hawkules vs. El Toro... him and Ratbeard are so similar yet so different. To me, it seems like Catbeard's been almost EVERYWHERE in the Spiral. From what he's said, he's been to Aquila, he has knowledge of the Aquila stormgate in Monquista, so maybe there, El Dorado with Marco Pollo, and he's mentioned that he's been to Polaris around the time where he gives his puppet show. Will he seem to serve as a "guide" of sorts as we continue to visit worlds, as he knows so much about them? Might be just a simple word of advice like how (I think) he gave us with Aquila, but I just think that it would be cool having a companion that knows much more than us, for once (besides Gracie, of course, lol).

Thanks!!
4. There are two of us that do the writing for the mainline quests (and I polish it all, so my fingerprints are on it even if I didn't do the first draft) - so I wrote most of her dialogue, and approved the rest. She's fun - the closest we get to Star Trek technobabble (and that's very deliberate). As to how her lines were wordsmithed, I came up with the basic gist of her plan to destroy Beachhead: we wanted you go to both the top guns and the engineering core, so we needed something that could account for the side trip. Once I figure the basic trick out, it's just a matter of making sure she uses big words. That's going to be Gracie's role, going forward: she'll figure out how machines work and how to break them - and i expect her ideas will always be met with a little "huh?" from the crew.

5. Catbeard is very cosmopolitan, isn't he? Even if he hasn't been there, he's heard all the gossip about the place. All the core companions are ideally there to give you insights into something, and they have pretty defined roles - Catbeard as travel guide for local color is a pretty cool fit. And I figure there are few places you could go where he doesn't have an old friend or business associate.
Captain
May 02, 2009
525
After pondering about the Armada I have some questions:
1) We've taken down Kane's 2 most important pieces to his 'Grand Design' and have delayed him by a lot. We are much more than a nuisance to the Armada. Wouldn't it be smarter of Kane to deal with us personally? Because if he let's us roam free, we'll eventually grow strong enough to foil the Grand Design. Yes, he's busy elsewhere, but if he deals with us, we can no longer delay him and his plans.
2) The Armada are soulless and made of inanimate objects, which should mean that they are golems. If they are golems, that means that they cannot think for themselves and gets orders from someone else. The Armada Troops get their orders from Kane's Court, Kane's Court gets their orders from Kane, who does Kane get his orders from? Isn't he also a golem?
Dead-Eye Phillip Laveer
Vice Admiral
Gunner's Mate
Nov 01, 2012
220
I have a few more questions I would like t get answered by blind new or anyone who can answer tem

1. Do swashbucklers get any Aquila companions because I have heard they don't get any

2. What is the background of Rajah the only place it has been mentioned was in marleybone which makes it very mysterious and interesting to me. Also is there any other type of creature that lives in rajah we know there are tigers but what else

3. On my last question about more familiar people as companions jack and blind mew were out of the question but you sounded like calico jake was a possibility does that mean he will join us or will we ever see him again his relation to Bonnie Anne and working with mister m seems like he could be important since mister m now has a bigger role in the storyline

4. In book 15 it is pretty obvious now that we will be going back to Valencia and last time we encountered phule will we be encountering another armada elite I don't want to spoil anything I prefer it to be a surprise so I'm not asking the specific armada elite but will it be someone we don't expect?

5. Now that the war in monquista ended where is napoleguin did he go back to Polaris?

Slick Cofy Jones privateer lvl 50
Merciless Ethan Jenkins swashbuckler lvl 63
Dread Pirate
Jun 13, 2011
2037
Blind Mew on May 29, 2013 wrote:
With respect, that's not how it works - Pirate101 has one team, and it takes that whole team to do an update. Also, we have only so many updates a year. And the story updates need to share the schedule with systems updates - every update won't be a story update. So, making a side world at this point could mean waiting up to twice as long as you otherwise would have for more main story. I'm pretty sure that's not what you want.

Wizard101 didn't get side worlds until after Dragonspyre was released and it's first main arc ended. I'm not going to absolutely rule a pre El Dorado side world out, but it'd take a lot to convince me that it's a better use of our time and budget.
Since you put it that way... you're right. That would take much more waiting that any of us had thought. Well, maybe someday, a side story arc may be made. It was worth my time asking you that question, anyway.
Lieutenant
May 21, 2009
113
Thank you for the answers, but as always, there are more...I an' I got plenty a 'comin....

1. Is there any way to get to Marleybone City from the Isle of Dogs/Westminster Skyway? There seems to be an impenetrable fog and some kind of wall blocking the way...
2. Umm...who is the hippo I've seen in the Aquila pics on the main website? I mean, come on...a hippo? THAT...IS...AWESOME.
3. What would happen if Marleybone found out we actually started this war?
4. The Kurgha captain that knew our parents - will he and/or Rajah play a significant role in the plot at any point? I thought it was kinda neat we were somehow connected to the India analogue...albeit him knowing us was slightly deus ex machina...
5. Will there ever be a Singapore analogue? Hamamitsu seems to remind me of Nagasaki (Japan's only port open to foreigners pre-Meiji Restoration) and Port Regal reeks of Port Royal. A fully-fledged MooShu colony owned by Marleybone would be cool quest fodder...
6. Your oblique hint...wow, Blind Mew. You got me there.... Ok...let me rephrase that - any less than oblique hints?
7. Valencia seems to have Stormgates EVERYWHERE. Any chance you can tell us which stormgate we may go through to find Caligostro?
8. Speaking of Caligostro, there was an occultist and adventurer by that name (in the vein of the Comte de St. Germain) in the 18th century. Am I getting close?
9. Any chance we could get a Comte de St. Germain analogue...or is that more Wizard material?
10. Napoleguin - now that Gortez won his war, where has he gone now? Back to Polaris or off to take over Krokotopia...?
11. What makes you guys choose which animals become the races of Pirate101?
12. Our mother has a piece of the Map - will we have to traverse an entire world to find her grave and get the map? And, if so, how will this affect the Presidio Five's storyline?
Dread Pirate
Jun 13, 2011
2037
Blind Mew on May 29, 2013 wrote:
1. There are lots of reasons to build colonies, you know - maintaining a strong naval presence to control Stormgates, keep an eye on rival nations, a convenient place to exile convicts or dissidents, and many more. But there's always economics - Darkmoor may be morbid, but that's no reason it can't have valuable natural resources worth exploiting...

2. I'm presuming the SGS has branches and institutes all over the place. The Isle of Dogs in a perfect place to stage and outfit expeditions, and a good spot to examine any relics as soon as they're brought home. But there's plenty of room for libraries, schools, meeting spaces, and administrative offices all over the place.

3. The Cats with the knives were essentially an upgraded version of the Wizard Cat Burglars. Sadly, the budget didn't allow us to have a melee and missile variant. I have high hopes for the future, though.

4. Exteriors and interiors are different, in terms of re-use and reutilization. And I'm not sure if it's a true one to one re-use under the textures - we used the old Wiz environment as a jumping off point, because I loved the verticality of the space and how it fit Beachhead, and the flow suited our gameplay really well.

5. Perhaps. I'm fond of leaving big things out there in the ether, barely alluded to. More fun that way!

6. Were a trip to Grizzleheim in the cards, I expect we'll do what we always do - build our own corner of Grizzleheim, figure out cool ways to allude to GZ and Wintertusk, possibly have a few Wizard characters visit, and then build our own story. We'd look at Grizzleheim and Wintertusk both for elements to mine.

7. As I stated above in a previous answer, all of Pollo's crew are not created equal (in story terms, that is). Christopher Clark wasn't even on Pollo's crew (his dad was), and he doesn't really seem cut out for high adventure. As for Egg Foo Young, his current gig as underworld crime boss suits him just fine. Your pirate's going to El Dorado, not putting the band back together.
I enjoyed the Invader Fortress and Beachhead and loved them, albeit Invader's reuse of interior designs as the previous Armada Fortresses in Valencia's and Port Regal's, and Beachhead's interior designs mostly similar to Wizard101's Newgate Prison's design. I was expecting much different layouts in new Armada fortresses than using the same layouts. Well, I hope I get to see more new Armada Fortresses in Book 15, will I? I hope they're more of the customly designed fortresses made from the ground up, both exterior and interior, because I would like to see those happen, and way much less reusing of the same past fortress designs and a might more complex than the previous ones, including Invader's. These fortresses were fun, but the next few fortresses I hope to see needs to be much more different and complex than the previous.

If we can't see Kane in person yet, then can you at least have Kane slightly as a static sillhouette image seen via video monitor communication in the next story update? It would bring suspense to see the main arc's villain at least slightly for the first time and the many times to come in certain parts of the story before actually seeing him in his own massive lair, prior to the upcoming final battle with him.

Lunden's bridge would have been the perfect place to face off Rooke for good, but I'm sure that battle's already been made, but takes place in someplace else instead, right? That decision was probably the best, anyway, instead of delaying it.

I enjoyed defeating Bishop twice, but will we ever get a chance to finally destroy Bishop for real later on? His past defeats in Beachhead were great, but I think he's withstanding them, and it slowly looks like he's falling apart. Figures that it would take much more firepower than what we've got to bring down Bishop completely.
Dread Pirate
Jun 13, 2011
2037
Blind Mew on May 29, 2013 wrote:
Something may be amiss - we're looking into it.
Do Swashbucklers recurit him, too? I hope that's so!
Captain
Oct 15, 2012
538
i thought of one question per chapter or well what i count as a chapter
1.how did sarah/the other tavern cellar compainions get the will?

2.why did gortez build that kingdom for himself? did he really go crazy? or was it part of a plan?

3.why only the monkey's iCOUGH*hateCOUGH*(which is ironic because irl i am spanish)get to wish and not all the other guy's in the spiral get to wish...even if their soul's arent "pure"
4.ok technically this is not in chap.4 but it is in the puppet show,am i the only one that thought that catbeard actually lost the map one day while sailing on marco or as i will call him mark for short's ship one day and accidently lost it and it blew to capn.guun's hideout while he was eating people from cool ranch...specifically tumbleweed.before it was proven that was not the case?
5.are we gonna see anymore new armada troops after battle angel's and dragoon's?
6.is one of the things we did already in p101 the storm friar cluck mentioned? or is it something else completley?
7.will we ever see napouleguin again?
8.EPIC DOUBLE QUESTION TIME.why does in the puppet show(probally missaid that) bill has el toro's sounds and did wyatt chirp die the same way wyatt earp died due to the fact he is based of him
9.uhh,AHAH uh no,you know what blind mew i dont have anything to question about ch.9
10.if a few other ships can go to the other parts of mooshu(specifically marleybone and the armada)WHY CANT WE?!?!(without breaking mooshu law of course)
11.same thing with 9
12.can you give us a hint to when the next time bishop will be in pirate101 as a npc/boss
13.i like snakes,i kinda dont like hurting snakes even though they think the snake egg is from He-double hockey sticks or as the greece called it the underworld,and i kinda want one as a companion once i get to aquila so how many crowns does the compainions from aquila that are snakes cost?
Petty Officer
Jun 06, 2009
82
I've noticed that if you look closely enough the windstone container in the my windstones section looks a lot like the Armada machine (that huge island in Valencia). Is there any connection between the two? I haven't gotten to Marleybone yet, I've finished Mooshu, so if there's something that's revealed about the machine after that don't tell me!
Petty Officer
Jan 10, 2013
58
Thank you. As a CS Major, I absolutely enjoyed Gracie's "gibberish". :)

Back to questions: Is Dragonspyre seeing an update anytime soon? One measly skyway doesn't quite cut it. :P
Bosun
May 06, 2009
371
Blind Mew on May 29, 2013 wrote:
1. There are lots of reasons to build colonies, you know - maintaining a strong naval presence to control Stormgates, keep an eye on rival nations, a convenient place to exile convicts or dissidents, and many more. But there's always economics - Darkmoor may be morbid, but that's no reason it can't have valuable natural resources worth exploiting...

2. I'm presuming the SGS has branches and institutes all over the place. The Isle of Dogs in a perfect place to stage and outfit expeditions, and a good spot to examine any relics as soon as they're brought home. But there's plenty of room for libraries, schools, meeting spaces, and administrative offices all over the place.

3. The Cats with the knives were essentially an upgraded version of the Wizard Cat Burglars. Sadly, the budget didn't allow us to have a melee and missile variant. I have high hopes for the future, though.

4. Exteriors and interiors are different, in terms of re-use and reutilization. And I'm not sure if it's a true one to one re-use under the textures - we used the old Wiz environment as a jumping off point, because I loved the verticality of the space and how it fit Beachhead, and the flow suited our gameplay really well.

5. Perhaps. I'm fond of leaving big things out there in the ether, barely alluded to. More fun that way!

6. Were a trip to Grizzleheim in the cards, I expect we'll do what we always do - build our own corner of Grizzleheim, figure out cool ways to allude to GZ and Wintertusk, possibly have a few Wizard characters visit, and then build our own story. We'd look at Grizzleheim and Wintertusk both for elements to mine.

7. As I stated above in a previous answer, all of Pollo's crew are not created equal (in story terms, that is). Christopher Clark wasn't even on Pollo's crew (his dad was), and he doesn't really seem cut out for high adventure. As for Egg Foo Young, his current gig as underworld crime boss suits him just fine. Your pirate's going to El Dorado, not putting the band back together.
Thanks once again for the answers, Blind Mew! Not to confuse you, I had my Message Board name changed from it's previous name. Aparrently, you guys are doing this change for security reasons? I'm not sure but I took the change anyway. It said you guys recommended not leaving the account name as is. But, that aside, more questions!:

1. Based off of your 3-5 Books promotion layout for Companions, when I do the math, it seems as though all our main line companions are going to promote at Books 19-20 (21-ish). I'm guessing that's around the point of El Dorado and the end of our story. Isn't that a lot for your team? With promo quests getting longer, I feel this might pose...er..."problems" (of some extent) in the future.

2. If it's not too much telling, will Book 15 deal only with Valencia or will we see a possible half of Valencia, half of another world *cough* Krokotopia *cough*?

3. Based off of Beachhead and the inclusion of Gracie (who just became mega critical to the story), is this how we might take down the Armada's "big trophy" The Machine in Valencia? I'm sure Gracie will have much fun with that and leaving us in more dumbfounded positions and Bonnie Anne in more irritated moods.

4. Why the double Sacrates pun with Hippocrates and Hawkrates? I like both of them, but I'm just curious. Also with Hippocrates there (and his all time epic fidgit), would that mean the Hippos are from Aquila? I would have thought Hippos came from Zafaria.

5. Could I take a guess and say we might see Darkmoor around Book 17-18?

6. Just curious, our Windstone Carriers, are they like supposed to be Astrolabes or something? I know they sure the purpose of holding our Windstones but it seems so...interesting and kinda unknown in a way.

7. With Aquila out and all, shouldn't there be a Mine of Windstones? More importantly, how does one end up getting a Windstone? Not by our quests, but like where can Worlds get their Windstones to travel to other places? The Marleyboneans had their Yellow and, I think, Violet Windstone, but how did they get it in the first place?

8. Polaris- where does it stand in our present story? I know it was the cause of the Pirate outbreak and gave way to our El Dorado story and villian, but how could it fit in with us? I'm assuming Polaris took an economic downfall after the war and is pretty much like Aquila, a husk of its former self. So its army must be in shambles and it probably is kinda "useless" right now. Unless we're planning to summon a frontal assualt on the Armada before they get to El Dorado, I can't see much use of Polaris. ...and I just said how it could play a role didn't I?...

9. Why the name Beachhead? Before the updates came I was literally thinking of a night-skied resort with a fantastic beach. The name is kinda misleading to me.

10. Another curious if: If you wanted to allude to a Candian World like with the India analogue Rajah, how would you feel about calling it "Arboreus"? Just curious
Admiral
Jul 27, 2012
1196
Blind Mew on May 29, 2013 wrote:
4. There are two of us that do the writing for the mainline quests (and I polish it all, so my fingerprints are on it even if I didn't do the first draft) - so I wrote most of her dialogue, and approved the rest. She's fun - the closest we get to Star Trek technobabble (and that's very deliberate). As to how her lines were wordsmithed, I came up with the basic gist of her plan to destroy Beachhead: we wanted you go to both the top guns and the engineering core, so we needed something that could account for the side trip. Once I figure the basic trick out, it's just a matter of making sure she uses big words. That's going to be Gracie's role, going forward: she'll figure out how machines work and how to break them - and i expect her ideas will always be met with a little "huh?" from the crew.

5. Catbeard is very cosmopolitan, isn't he? Even if he hasn't been there, he's heard all the gossip about the place. All the core companions are ideally there to give you insights into something, and they have pretty defined roles - Catbeard as travel guide for local color is a pretty cool fit. And I figure there are few places you could go where he doesn't have an old friend or business associate.
Yes, I particularly love Gracie Conrad too (wonderful personality!), and I think you did a very fine job with her 'technobabble' -- she's really very clear in her language as well as specific (which of course leads to highly comic lines like: " Did you get all that?" -- "What's a piston?" and I laugh heartily), so it's not really babble at all, it makes good sense. Just rather 'technical' sense!

Virtuous Anne Radcliffe
Captain
Jan 26, 2012
646
coolster50 on May 29, 2013 wrote:
After pondering about the Armada I have some questions:
1) We've taken down Kane's 2 most important pieces to his 'Grand Design' and have delayed him by a lot. We are much more than a nuisance to the Armada. Wouldn't it be smarter of Kane to deal with us personally? Because if he let's us roam free, we'll eventually grow strong enough to foil the Grand Design. Yes, he's busy elsewhere, but if he deals with us, we can no longer delay him and his plans.
2) The Armada are soulless and made of inanimate objects, which should mean that they are golems. If they are golems, that means that they cannot think for themselves and gets orders from someone else. The Armada Troops get their orders from Kane's Court, Kane's Court gets their orders from Kane, who does Kane get his orders from? Isn't he also a golem?
Dead-Eye Phillip Laveer
Vice Admiral
1) Well, I must point out that while we've given more than a few mentions tot he Grand Design, we have yet to say what it actually is. Therefore, it's a little early to say what the pieces are, or which are the most important. Two of Kane's best agents are down, yes. But he plays a long game. If all goes according to his plan, you will no longer matter. Sounds like you want him to come scrapping for you - be careful what you wish for...

2) Kane is artificial, and so in theory has no soul. But he can certainly think for himself. There certainly doesn't seem to be anybody pulling his strings - indeed, it's usually the other way around.
Captain
Jan 26, 2012
646
Ethan the baron on May 29, 2013 wrote:
I have a few more questions I would like t get answered by blind new or anyone who can answer tem

1. Do swashbucklers get any Aquila companions because I have heard they don't get any

2. What is the background of Rajah the only place it has been mentioned was in marleybone which makes it very mysterious and interesting to me. Also is there any other type of creature that lives in rajah we know there are tigers but what else

3. On my last question about more familiar people as companions jack and blind mew were out of the question but you sounded like calico jake was a possibility does that mean he will join us or will we ever see him again his relation to Bonnie Anne and working with mister m seems like he could be important since mister m now has a bigger role in the storyline

4. In book 15 it is pretty obvious now that we will be going back to Valencia and last time we encountered phule will we be encountering another armada elite I don't want to spoil anything I prefer it to be a surprise so I'm not asking the specific armada elite but will it be someone we don't expect?

5. Now that the war in monquista ended where is napoleguin did he go back to Polaris?

Slick Cofy Jones privateer lvl 50
Merciless Ethan Jenkins swashbuckler lvl 63
1. They get at least one, as I recall.

2. It's colonial India, a mysterious, exotic land of ancient mystery and splendor ruled by the Marleybonean Empire. Think Kipling.

3. Of the three you mentioned, Jake's the only one that it would make sense to bring back in as a companion. I'm not yet prepared to say if we will do so.

4. Odds of an elite encounter are high. Which elite? That would be telling.

5. Yes - he needs to go home, reclaim his throne, and consolidate his power once again. It'll take him a little while to clean up, I suspect.
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