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The Lost Story of Dragonspyre Academy: Sung Beneath the Sun

Written by Chariity

Lost Stories of the Spiral 1st Place Winner

The heat was sweltering.

The battered wizard could see the usurper silhouetted against the brilliant sun. In one hand, he held an iron veil, and in the other, a blade rippling with blue and gold. A stolen helmet and a stolen weapon.

The wizard’s voice rasped as she called out to him. “Brother,” she said. “Look away from the glare of the sun and let the light of the moon cool this madness.” But the sun only flared more intensely than ever before.

“The greatest treachery occurs when the sun shines,” Iona Pyrelance muttered to herself, her back resting against the flame-tinged trunk of a tree. She looked into the wide blue sky and shielded her eyes.

“What’s that?” came a musical voice from above.

“Hardly anything of note, Ashley,” Iona shrugged. “A quote I read in a book.”

“Ohhh, you read too many books, Iona… And I’d never say such a thing to any other student!” Dancing sparks shot from the tree’s flaming branches as she chuckled to herself.

Iona could not help but crack a laugh too. However, she soon fell silent.

An unnatural quiet descended between the two friends. Iona had been deliberately vague about the book she had quoted from — none other than the famed Principles of War (2nd Edition), a tome that spoke of the mysteries of light and its intertwining connections with the intricacies of battle. It was a challenging read and a challenging fight to overcome to obtain it in the first place, though nowhere near as arduous a task as winning her trusty Legendary Mythic Songblade from the darkest pits of the Atheneum.

“Sooo, what does that quote of yours mean?” Ashley asked her timidly.

Iona closed her eyes, let the bright sunlight lap at her toes.

“The sun is shining,” she said softly, stroking the songblade at her side. “There must be trouble stirring.”

“But it’s so nice out…”

Indeed, it was nice out. Students crowded the sunlit plaza, brandishing blades that glimmered with magic. Duels broke out at every corner — practice only, but from the intense expressions upon the duelers’ faces, you could hardly tell the difference. Everyone appeared to be aggressively preparing for some great battle off in the distant future.

Yet there was a creeping sense of… comfort. Ease. After all, the hardest battle had already been won. Iona was the big-shot hero who had selflessly shared the secrets of the Knowledge Crystals with all, when the kings would only hoard it like so many shiny baubles.

She had done the right thing. A happy ending well deserved. Wasn’t it?

The guards had fought dirty. This battle was a far cry from the orderly practice fights at the academy, where each would cast in turn like clockwork. Here, it was blow after blow of stormy torrents and icy barriers.

            A sudden hiss, and Iona was crippled for two ticks of the battle. A pounding of drums, and she felt her powers weakened for another tick. Spitting snakes, cantering centaurs, even one of her own merciful minotaurs mercilessly turned upon her.

            Where is he? Iona thought wildly, as her songblade sang with each spell she swung into the battlefield. I haven’t seen him since we entered the castle. I hope he isn’t hurt… At her side, Nikol fought bravely. With a final charge and swing of her axe, the minotaur brought the last of the dragon guards to their knees, where they vanished in a burst of flame.

            “Where is that scoundrel friend of yours?” Nikol grumbled between gasps for breath.

A stillness now thickened upon the king’s hall. The silence was shattered by a clatter from the throne as a golden crown tumbled down the steps leading up to it. At the top of the steps stood Al, her friend and fellow classmate, gazing at the empty seat. He spun around, eyes wide in surprise. Quickly he held out a handful of glowing crystals.

“I’ve done it,” he said breathlessly. “I mean to say, we have done it. This power belongs to the people now.”

Nikol snorted humorlessly, but Iona approached her loyal friend and pried the crystals from his hands. She held them up to the sunlight shining through a breach in the castle’s ceiling and watched the reflections dance upon the throne.

            They used to call her Iona Pyremask for the veil of iron she wore in her early years attending Dragonspyre Academy. This helmet was a gift specially crafted by ironsmiths of the generous nobles she was indebted to. For in those days, only the sons and daughters of nobles and soldiers could attend the hallowed halls of the academy, and Iona had inherited the round, squashed face and dirty-blonde hair of her peasant class. But her noble patrons believed in something more for her when she’d thought herself a nobody, and under the light of the moon, she’d been welcomed into the grandeur of Dragonspyre Academy.

            Iona found few friends in her classmates. This was the unfortunate side effect of the secrecy she maintained. But she felt welcomed by the drakes she studied and the creatures she conjured, and she did manage to befriend one of the students.

            She learned quickly and absorbed information in an almost desperate fashion. She was eager, willing, hardy. Professors generally doted on her and encouraged her never-ending curiosity. She was happy enough, but her heart twisted with irrational guilt at her own deceit.

            The greatest of magical knowledge is not for the likes of you. The moon had never shone more brightly.

            “Iona!”

            Nikol’s voice jolted the wizard out of her thoughts. Iona leaned over her drake’s long neck and peered down at the minotaur who’d called out to her.

            “We’re here!” Nikol pointed a hoof at the stone façade of the Atheneum library. “He said it’s somewhere down below?”

            Iona nodded and gently steered her drake to an arched arcade, where they landed. She slid off the drake’s back gracefully and cupped her hand to the side of its kind face in a thankful gesture. Nikol crossed her hooves and flicked at her nose ring impatiently.

            The windows of the library were shuttered in the night. Iona unsheathed her novice’s blade. She concentrated on a sense of loss and void, and when she opened her eyes, the window she was standing before had vanished. A simple cleansing charm.

            She clambered through the opening and heard the clicks of Nikol’s hooves pattering after her.

            “The blade is just down these steps,” Iona whispered after they’d crept along several confusing corridors. Both looked into the depths that the endless, winding stairs plunged into. Iona could hear a snort from her side.

            Quickly, the two descended into the darkness. Round and round they twisted, until at last they emerged onto what seemed to be a deserted landing.

            Iona took a step forward.

            “You seek a knowledge forbidden to you. Or perhaps you mislike the glare of the sun in your eyes.”

            A fiery dragon slithered out of the shadows.

            “What trickery is this?” Nikol hissed, as Iona again unsheathed her blade.

            “Al warned me it may be guarded,” Iona said swiftly, her mind racing to conjure up the spirits she was psychically linked to.

            Waves of bats, frogs, and minotaurs spun out of her blade as she wove passageways for her friends to cross from the spirit world. Magic and mythic songs rang in her ears.

She had to focus, had to recall the long hours training under practice duels. But it had ceased to be another academic exercise. These were very real, tactical decisions she had to make, and with each new spell cast, her doubt in her abilities only grew.

Somewhere, a distant voice called out to her: “Do not trust my brother’s lies! He never intended for you to live!”

            “Hello,” said an oddly familiar boy sitting one desk over in history class. “I am called Aldared.”

            Iona turned to stare at him. From the scarlet of his robes and the glowing blade at his side, she presumed him to be a wizard with a focus in fire magic.

“Hello,” she returned cautiously. At the front of the classroom, the professor hissed loudly, and she swiftly turned her attention back to the lesson.

            “Pyremask,” the professor growled. “Did you have more input regarding the possession of the Knowledge Crystals you would care to share with the entire class?”

            The professor was, in truth, a draconian warrior who had all the appearance and attitude of not wanting to teach this class to begin with. As such, he had a short temper and a liking for nasty punishments if crossed.

            “I apologize, Professor Lorestriker. I stand by my opposition of the possession of the crystals in the hands of the kings and no others. It is not right for them to have sole access to the knowledge we deserve.”

            “Agreed. We warriors are the only ones worthy to control all the knowledge and magic,” the draconian said heatedly. “And perhaps you wizards could stand to absorb some of that into your minds as well,” he conceded as an afterthought. He returned to his class notes and continued to drone on about the powers within the crystals, ignoring the rising hubbub of the rest of the class.

            As a duel erupted in the back of the classroom, many heads turned to watch the dance of lightning strikes and fireballs. Aldared took the opportunity to again speak to her.

            “Yes, I agree with you on that matter as well,” he said. “Why should the kings have all the fun? Power alone should satisfy their greed — but what do you intend to do about it?”

            Iona hesitated, saying nothing.

            “You know what I think?” he continued. “We have got to take the battle to them. We march in like an army — we’ve got the manpower and magic anyhow — and we force them to give up the goods. Listen—” He dropped his voice. Iona had to lean in to hear him over the din of shouts as her classmates took sides and egged on their respective champion in the impromptu duel. “Listen, I’ve got something better, too. A secret weapon, one to make King Betrin’s head spin. Only catch is, it’s hidden under the library at the Atheneum, and due to an unfortunate misunderstanding, I am forbidden from setting foot there.”

            A cry of victory burst out from the back, where the distinct stench of singed books and cloth wafted from. The pyromancer had apparently won.

            Iona nodded. Perhaps this boy could be of use to her cause. He didn’t even seemed bothered by the veil that obscured her face as so many others were. He had a strange gleam in his eyes, one with a mixture of excitement and, oddly enough, pity.

            At the front of the class, Professor Lorestriker droned on, “…and can even function as a vessel for a person’s soul, though crystalline entrapment is not enough to contain the will and spirit of a powerful mind, just as the moon can never truly eclipse the light of the sun.”

            On her first official day as a Dragonspyre student, Iona swung by the Atheneum’s library during her mid-morning break. She clambered up the stone steps and eagerly pushed aside the heavy doors.

            Within, she found a treasure trove of knowledge that she in her prior years could only have dreamed of. She stacked book after book and enchanted them to float at her side — several aisles later, and her blade-hand was shaking from the weight. She used her left hand to grip her right, and stumbled into the nearest reading chamber.

            It was deserted.

            Excellent, she thought. Not a soul to disturb me.

            She curled into a high-backed armchair — in truth, more like a steel-cold throne than the squashy comforter she had hoped for — and began flipping through the first of the books.

            The Unabridged History of Dragonspyre, Volume 1: The Creation of the Knowledge Crystals as Rightfully Belonging to the Kings and No Others, read the cover. Fascinating. She was lost within its pages in mere seconds.

Within minutes, she was far too entranced with its contents to notice the gradual but alarming shift in the temperature of the room, as it slowly became more stifling — and her breathing slowed to a hollow crawl — and her arms no longer had the will to flip the page — and her eyesight blurred — and her focus wavered — and the heat in the room made the walls shimmer like white crystals…

Suddenly, arms were wrenching her from her spot, and her body could not even protest this intrusion. Someone was dragging her to safety, though she’d long since failed to recognize the danger.

Iona closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she was greeted with a scene so odd, she wondered if she was dreaming.

There was a boy, who looked at her with pity in his eyes. Dotting the spacious room were all manners of fiery creatures, who were rapidly vanishing in puffs of smoke one by one. The boy was being dragged away himself, by some invisible pairs of hands from the look of it — few in the room, which was filled with stern-looking figures, seemed to dare to approach him.

There was a young girl about Iona’s age hovering close by, gesturing wildly at the figures. “My brother,” she kept saying over and over again in some strange apology. Then she turned to give Iona an apologetic glance as well. “My brother,” she repeated, as if that explained everything.

            Iona tried to respond but was ushered out by a team of medical attendants who had abruptly materialized.

Outside, the midday sun shone down forcefully. The light was ever so bright, and the heat made her forget, and when her mind wandered, wanting to daydream of her remaining years at Dragonspyre Academy and not try to remember, she was filled with hope.

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The Lost Story Of Dragonspyre Academy: Life in the Dark

Written by Taryn Spiritsmith

Lost Stories of the Spiral 2nd Place Winner

 

Diana, of all the choices that she had regretted over the years—taking Mark Lionshield’s ice cream cone, riding her brother’s bike down the stairs and breaking her arm, her decision not to study for the exams following her first and subsequently only year at Ravenwood—wholeheartedly did not regret becoming a Theurgist in the instant that she stepped through the doors to Dragonspyre Academy’s Necromancy classroom.

The room was brimming over with shadows; the walls were an overwhelming black, and the granite floors she’d come to learn were rather common in Dragonspyre were astonishingly dark as well. Desks sat in neat rows leading up to a much larger desk at the head of the classroom, each made of polished black wood that gleamed in the dim green candlelight flickering from sconces that hung on the walls. It seemed that this same wood was used in making the picture frames that sat between the sconces, bordering portraits of what she could only guess were previous Death professors. Diana flinched at their cold, stony stares and black silk robes, and as she glanced down at the few students that had strayed behind from the previous class period, she noted a sort of resemblance. Thick, leather-bound books were stacked in tidy, albeit dusty piles around the desk at the front of the room, and the round wax candles seated above them dripped steadily as the same emerald flames burning from the sconces engulfed each wick. Not surprisingly, there weren’t any windows—she supposed that in accordance with their chosen school they would rather work by candlelight than the odd crimson daylight streaming from the swirling sky outside—and she nearly felt trapped, despite the fact that she was standing in an open doorway.

Biting the inside of her cheek, a habit of hers, she made her way to a seat at the back of the room, hoping no one noticed the sudden flair of color in a room lacking it, and quietly drew her spell deck from her uniform pocket and began shuffling through the cards. Maybe if anyone did notice her, she thought, they would see that she was distracted and decide not to say anything to her. If there had been anything she’d learned about kids her age during her spell at Ravenwood, it was that attention wasn’t typically a good thing.

Diana had already been to her first Theurgy class at the academy that morning, which she found to be a rather interesting experience as the professor here was much different than the one she had had at her previous school. At Ravenwood, Professor Earthsong was a patient, older man with a long graying beard and mushrooms growing between his fingers, who preferred to teach outside on the grass rather than in the Life classroom. At the academy, Professor Greenglade, a thin woman permanently scarred with a frown, was very no-nonsense and had a voice like a whip, and by the end of the class, Diana had resolved not to be caught on the receiving end of it.

Now, she was sitting in Potions 1, waiting for the professor and the rest of the class to stream in. A clock rested on the wall at the front of the room, and the Theurgist squinted to read the time—8:47—and wondered why nearly half of the seats were empty only three minutes to the start of class. If she went with what she had already seen from the tour guide and her Theurgy professor, she would guess that Dragonspyre Academy was much stricter than Ravenwood and that the students would feel pressured to arrive at class even just a little early.

Suddenly, something dropped into the seat to her right; she was forced to sneak a glance out of the corner of her eye at the boy in the black academy uniform sitting beside her. Hard features decorated his gaunt face, with edged cheekbones and an oddly square jawline as though it had been chiseled from stone. As per Dragonspyre custom, his jet black hair was cropped close to his head and combed neatly so that even if she tried she wouldn’t be able to find a hair out of place. The boy’s eyes were dark, trained on the front of the room without wavering so much as an inch in any direction, and reminded her of the professors in the portraits. It wasn’t terribly hard to guess what sort of magic he was focused on.

Diana was a bit disappointed that she seemed to be the only student in the room who studied something other than Necromancy. She knew it had been a fairly popular choice at Ravenwood, and didn’t imagine it to be much different here. It wouldn’t do her any good to complain about it, though—rather, she brought her cards closer to her face and flipped through them casually, pretending to pay close attention to the emerald borders and casting costs.

Moments later, something buzzed in her ears. Diana blinked and glanced around as the other students seemed to react to the same thing. She assumed it must have been a bell of some sort: she had heard it at the beginning and end of her Theurgy class. With a small sigh, she slid her deck back into its sleeve and slipped the whole thing into her pocket.

Diana lifted her pale green eyes to the walkway running through the center of the Necromancy classroom, where she found the remainder of the class shuffling in, a mess of colors that meant that there was hope yet for the other schools of magic, and as a girl in bright orange and another boy in bright, frosty blue found their respective seats around her, the corner of her mouth twitched. She could almost smile; the bleakness of the room and the knowledge that if she smiled, some comments would be made about her kept her from completing the action.

A light, amicable chatter settled over the room, primarily among those not dressed in black, she noticed, but it was over as quickly as it had begun as a tall figure strode at a fast pace down the freshly empty walkway, footsteps muffled on the thin carpet, head held high with a short curtain of dark, slightly greasy hair falling around—shocker—his colorless robes, outfit brightened only by the Dragonspyre Academy badge ironed onto the breast pocket and the thin stripe of red circling his pointed hat. Diana found it strange that this man was part of the academy yet void of the uniform, wearing instead a thick cloak that met the floor at his feet, and a hat like Professor Earthsong might have worn.

The man made his way to the front of the room and turned to face the students, leaning on the desk as he did so, and Diana couldn’t help but wince and wonder what had happened as she took in the eyepatch clinging tightly to the skin surrounding his left eye.

He clasped his hands together behind his back and cleared his throat, a low sort of growl that set the Theurgist on edge, and addressed the class in a gravelly, weathered tone: “Good morning, students.” He didn’t bother to wait for the chorus of good mornings that tended to follow and didn’t seem to want one. “My name is Octavius Shadowhand if you haven’t already heard, but as you are my students, and I your professor, I think it would be fitting that you refer to me as Professor Shadowhand, would it not?” If Professor Shadowhand expected an answer, this time, he didn’t get one. “I’m to be your Potions instructor during your remaining time at Dragonspyre Academy. Seeing as this is your Adept year, I have no doubt that most of you will excel in my class. However, as always, if you should encounter troubles along the way, you are welcome to see me if I happen to be available.”

Diana doubted that anyone was going to accept this invitation.
She looked again at the Necromancer beside her, admittedly curious, and frowned at the boy’s unchanged grim expression and the dead gaze in his eyes. His hands rested atop his desk, folded and free of motion without so much as a twitch to break their bond. He himself was stiff, back straight and head lifted in a similar manner to Professor Shadowhand. The Necromancer reminded Diana of her brother’s toys, in a way: lifeless, fixed in a single pose indefinitely.

She frowned. Was it just something about Dragonspyre that made wizards carry themselves the way they did, with such regality and poise? That made them hostile towards each other? Or was it something else?

Admittedly, she didn’t know much about the academy or the world on which it sat. The Wizard City library, despite its numerous books and scrolls, didn’t have nearly so much on Dragonspyre as it did on the other worlds of the Spiral. The few books that she had managed to find mentioned that many of the world’s inhabitants took to learning the art of dragon-riding, and went into a long, detailed history that Diana possessed neither the patience nor the willingness to venture through. She had doubted that knowledge about dragon-riding would be of much use to her at a school focused on magical arts.

She certainly didn’t think it could be just Necromancers, though. Her Life professor had proven someone not to be trifled with within the first five minutes of class, and Diana knew most of the Theurgists at Ravenwood to be passive, definitely not like they mentally wanted to wage war with the world.

Suddenly, the boy’s eyes flicked over in her direction, and she quickly looked away, only to glance back a moment later and find him glaring at her. Diana blinked, and parted her lips to mouth something to him before realizing that firstly, she didn’t know what to tell him and that secondly, she didn’t think that Professor Shadowhand was the type not to notice. She would have preferred not to get on the professor’s bad side on her first day, and could definitely live without the attention it would bring her.

She pursed her lips and set her gaze back to the professor, and bit the inside of her cheek.

The rest of class flew by, with Professor Shadowhand informing the students of his plans for the year and handing out a few helpful tips, one of them being that he did not take kindly to students mentioning his eye, and soon enough the buzz rang again through Diana’s ears and the room became a quiet kind of chaos as students rose from their seats and mumbled to each other on their way to exit the classroom.

The Theurgist allowed herself to stretch her arms just a little as she slipped out of her seat, and shouldered her backpack as she began moving slowly toward the small herd of students occupying the walkway, feeling her boots drag against the stone floor. She had to put some effort into keeping herself from looking back at the black-robed boy or saying something to him. Her strange curiosity in someone from her counter-school already wasn’t welcome, and, as she reminded herself for the umpteenth time, she didn’t need the attention it had the potential to bring her.

At any rate, if her grandmother had anything to say about it, curiosity, in general, wasn’t something to be encouraged: curiosity had gotten Diana’s aunt Catherine blown up, in the form of a potion gone wrong.
It would be better for everyone, she thought, if she kept quiet and put up with her lack of knowledge.

Suddenly, she heard something crash onto the floor, and momentarily she forgot to keep her eyes up as she allowed herself a sideways glance. Diana found the Necromancer grumbling and bending over to pick his backpack up from the ground, and as he crouched to retrieve it his spell deck wriggled free of his pocket and fell down as well, the cards scattering across the stones in a jumble of ebony borders and spell descriptions. He swore under his breath.

Instinctively the Theurgist dropped her backpack onto a desk beside her and got down onto her hands and knees to help the black-robed boy gather all of his spells. It didn’t take long; but to her dismay, when she handed the stack of cards that she had picked up back to the Necromancer, he was glaring again, and snatched the cards away only to shove them on top of his deck with a sort of calm rage that she hardly knew was possible.

“Sorry,” Diana mumbled, and stood up, backing away a pace or two as she slung her backpack over her shoulder again.

The boy slid his deck into his pocket and rose, dusting off his uniform and regarding her as if she were a bug. He didn’t say anything directly to her, but after a brief second muttered something under his breath.
Was that an insult? she wondered. Did he actually—does he really think he’s going to get away with that? “Excuse me?” she asked, setting her jaw. She wasn’t looking for a fight. She definitely wasn’t looking for attention. If he thought he could glare at her, fine. She probably deserved it, anyway. But if he thought he could make some snide remark about her, she wasn’t just going to let that go. “What was that?”
He sighed, but his expression remained stony, his eyes blank but radiating obvious irritation. “I said, all you Theurgists are much too nosy.”

“Yes, well, all you Necromancers are much too irritable,” she replied in a similar tone. “I suppose the first thing was my fault, but helping out is more or less second-nature. You can’t exactly fault me for trying to help you.” Diana felt her face redden and resisted the urge to bring a hand to her cheek.

“Is that so?” The boy, arching an eyebrow, took a step closer, and as the class filed messily from the building, several of the students turned their heads to look at them. She flinched, feeling their stares like they were needles piercing her skin. “Well, I could go on and on about what Theurgists are, but seeing as I’ve only got so much time to go to my next class, and I’d rather not stoop to name-calling, I won’t. I’d rather you not speak to me again, or I might not be so forgiving.” Spinning almost gracefully on his heel, the Necromancer merged into the thinning crowd of students and vanished. A few of the kids snickered, and as they left, the crowd had been reduced to one.

Diana’s jaw dropped. Who did he think he was, to tell her she was beneath him?

She started after him, but before she reached the door she stopped. Was it really worth it? Was she actually going to march up to him and—what would she say? ‘I realize you think you’re above name-calling, but I’m not and here’re a few things that describe you’? Surely there had to be a more—what was the word?—diplomatic approach to this? Diana wouldn’t stand by and let people pelt her with insults, but she wasn’t going to be a jerk about it.

Taking a deep breath, knowing she would need it, she exited the classroom and found herself standing on the pastel road that connected the classrooms, pale orange granite that echoed beneath her feet as she walked quickly to catch up with the black-robed boy, who thankfully hadn’t made it that far. The air was instantly hot on her skin, thickened by the smoky heat that rose from the volcano looming at the center of Dragonspyre, and she was ashamed to say that by the time she had caught up to her target she could feel the heat sinking through her emerald uniform.

Once she was only a few paces away, she reached out and tapped him on the shoulder, which was nearly level with her forehead. The boy froze, and turned slowly to face her. He was at least a head taller than her, and as though he didn’t feel that she was worth tilting his head down to look at her, it seemed that he was making it a point to glare down his hooked nose at the Theurgist, and scowled. “What… exactly… do you think you’re doing?”

“Well,” Diana started, “I think I’m asking you—politely, I hope—not to treat me like I’m something you scraped off your shoe. I don’t know whether it’s just the academy, because really, just about everyone I’ve run into today seemed to be having a bad day, or if—“

“Let me stop you there,” he interrupted. “Have you considered that it might not be the academy, or the people, or whatever else and that it might be you?”

“Well, no—“

 

“The better question might be,” he went on, “instead of asking me not to treat you with anything other than respect, who do you think

you are, to pretend that we’re on the same level and that you can speak to me?”
Any respect that Diana might have had for the Necromancer was lost in that instant and replaced with annoyance. She folded her arms. “I’m Diana Dreamcatcher,” she informed him, “and last I checked, the only difference between us, level-wise, is your apparently belittling mannerism.”

His eyes narrowed. “I’m Malistaire Drake, and I suggest you get accustomed to being looked down on,” he sneered, “as I think you’ll find that those of us from Dragonspyre are not rather fond of being—“
The buzzing of the bell thrummed through Diana’s ears again, and she cursed silently with the realization that she was late for class.
“Being disrespected,” the Necromancer finished. “And here—I’m going to assume this is your first year at the academy, possibly at the result of a transfer from, say, Ravenwood?—here at Dragonspyre Academy, we especially don’t take kindly to it. So I advise that you run along to your little Theurgist friends, and stay away from me.” Malistaire turned away, and continued slowly but surely to class.

Diana bit the inside of her cheek. “You know,” she called after him, “I was so sure that this place might be a nice change of pace from my last school, and I was actually excited to move out of—“ she stopped herself, not entirely sure she wanted to finish her sentence and say ‘Wizard City.’ “Anyway, I thought I was right, for the first week. Our neighbors were friendly, the buildings were pretty, but at the academy, it’s like the balance changed somehow. The buildings are much prettier, and nearly look new, but the people—no one that I’ve met today has been pleasant to me or anyone else.

“I like to think, to a degree, that the people that make up a place have quite the effect on the overall feel to it, don’t you? Are you really going to ruin my image of the academy two hours into my first day?”
Malistaire looked back with a sigh. “Hrmph. Diana, is it?” he questioned. “Though I might be tearing apart whatever fantasy you’re living in, where the sun shines and the people radiate cheeriness, I’m not ruining your vision. I’m opening your eyes.”

And with that, the Necromancer shuffled to his next class, and Diana was left to scurry back to hers.

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The Lost Story of The Manders: Pip’s Tale

Written by Mander Lover

Lost Stories of the Spiral 3rd Place Winner!

Harsh and desolate, Krokotopia was a land locked in time. The hot sun would pierce the morning sky, burning away the purple light of dawn to give way to cloudless blue skies. Timidly, the cold comfort of night quickly slithered back into the shadows of overarching rocks. The sun was brutal; any moisture caught in the open was immediately vaporized into thin air. Only the winds dared to move, mercilessly sweeping over sand dunes into sprays of sand and rocks. A new day began and another ended, but nothing changed. The desert ruled eternal.

High up above, sheltered from buffeting sandstorms, a civilization of manders thrived above the desert floor on floating islands. Centered around a vast oasis, a city bustled with life as manders of all walks wandered to and fro skittling over hot sand. Where the scorching sand would scald the skin beneath hurried feet, the oasis provided sanctuary for thirsty mouths and hot bodies. The oasis was a marvel in itself: years of collection and percolation of scarce groundwater, sprouting triumphantly at the center in voluptuous feats. Luscious vegetation sprinkled with colorful berries and ripe fruits surrounded its perimeter, a barrier protecting the heart of the dessert. This ring of life provided no shortage of food for the manders – breakfast, lunch, and dinner, families would huddle around patted-down leaves extravagantly plucking off fruits from overhanging tendrils. In the height of noon, when the extreme heat seemed to melt meat off bone, scores of manders would dive into the water splashing and laughing. Only at night, when the waters of the oasis neared freezing, would the manders retreat back into the warm comfort of their stone homes; the commotion that overflowed the city replaced by the sound snores of sleeping manders. Back then, the land wasn’t yet known as Krokotopia. It was simply known as Manzil – “home” in the language of the manders. The history of Manzil is unclear, but it is said that the manders were not the first settlers there.

 

Living near the edge of the oasis, Pip was a young mander who dreamed of being a daring explorer. He was ambitious, but his figure was short and skinny, unheard of for his kind. Despite his size, he was forthcoming in his actions and adamant in his beliefs. He found life in the oasis to be very peaceful, but he wanted to live for more. He wanted to do something no one else has ever done before.

When he was a little nymph, his great-grandfather, one of the Forefathers known as the Al’Ajdad, told Pip the story of the manders: according to the Al’Ajdad, the first manders emerged out of the waters of the oasis to walk on land. When they surfaced the boundless fruits and trees that bordered the oasis gave them the strength to build homes and support the communities, until eventually, an entire civilization prevailed. The oasis symbolized purity and charity – 2 fundamental characteristics that are at the core of every manders’ way of life. The story had always inspired Pip. This is perhaps why all the manders he knew regarded giving as the best gift anyone can receive. But what struck Pip the most was the apparent age of the of the trees. If the trees had already been there since the beginning, then who planted them? He tried asking his grandfather but was always on the receiving end of a shrug. And if Pip tried to ask any more questions, his grandfather would already be drifting into sleep.

Pip contemplated the story of the manders once more. He sat still on his bed with outstretched hands and counted the number of dust-speckled rays passing between his thin fingers. Six altogether. Where the rays would land, the dust in the air appeared to dance. He loved the fact that even in stillness, nothing stopped moving. His pale-blue skin glistened under the soft sunlight and in that fleeting moment of aloofness, a sudden thought had struck him: if someone had planted the trees, then there must still be a body, a sign, or something left behind in Manzil! In the 13 years he has lived, never had he ever felt so brilliant.

Pip quickly darted out of his room and started for the oasis. As he ran, clouds of dust trailed behind him in billowing succession. The hot sand singed his feet, but he didn’t mind. He is on the tip of discovering something bigger than himself. Bigger than any mander alive. In various locations near the oasis, Pip began frantically digging up sand with his bare hands. Worried eyes darted back and forth but Pip was determined in his discovery. Nothing could stop him. After what was his fourth or fifth hole, alas Pip’s fingers grasped something cold and smooth to the touch. With the raw feeling of rough sand under his fingernails, Pip pulled out of the ground a shiny, black stone the size of his palm. He pocketed the neat rock, but an ordinary rock was not what he was looking for. He willed himself to keep digging elsewhere but found nothing worth noting. Perhaps he was thinking too small. What if the Seed of Life were amongst one of the plant seeds in the oasis? Pip was riled up again. He looked through shrubs and beneath large palm trees, under rocks and between roots. There were too many seeds to choose from – anyone of them could’ve been the Seed of Life. But Pip is an efficient mander. Instead of fussing, he grabbed a handful of seeds and dropped them into a small pouch he brought from home. Upon closer inspection, what he discovered when he came home did not impress him at all. All of the seeds he picked up were ordinary seeds. None of them looked special or any more magical than the last. He looked at his blistered fingers and cursed for having such a stubborn curiosity.

Years later, Pip took an interest in reading history books and archaeological journals. The manders didn’t possess sophisticated digging tools, but they always seemed to know where to dig. Pip learned that in recent years an ancient tablet was found in the center of the oasis, deep below the silty surface of the bottom. A number of educated linguists have tried to decipher its inscriptions and have roughly extracted that it was a mantra of sorts. Pip was fascinated. This was the first real credible proof that there is more to the origin of the oasis.

When Pip turned 18, his mother passed away. Her body was cremated and the ashes placed in a potted urn. Pip kept some in a small
vial, which he hung around his neck endearingly. He wasn’t sad; like all manders, he understood that death was not the end of life. It was only the transition from one form of life to another. Like the dust particles that danced in his room, he always imagined life to be something similar – they disappeared come the night, but only temporarily, because when the sun returned in the morning, they wildly frolicked again. As if the light never went out of them.

This time, Pip was determined. In the dead of night, when all curious eyes were tightly shut behind heavy eyelids, Pip dragged the longest and sturdiest rope he could find to the edge of the floating island. The boundary of the island was girded with a thick rope fence, but Pip didn’t care. He secured one end of the rope to a sturdy post and threw the other over the edge. He tied his satchel around his torso, carefully making sure it wouldn’t get in the way of his arms. No mander has ever dared travel beyond Manzil. To traverse the desert below was regarded as instant death. The manders called it La Rujue – the place of “no return”. Slowly, Pip began his long descent to the bottom.

It had taken Pip all of the strength in his fingers to rappel down safely. By the time he reached the bottom, his sore hands trembled with exhaustion. He knew the desert climate was harsh, but when he reached the bottom he was not prepared to be blinded by sand and bruised by hurling rocks. The wind was never like anything he’s ever felt before. Whistling and howling, it felt like the whole world was a vacuum. He stumbled to pull out his goggles and struggled to wrap himself in protective drabs of cloth. As best he could, he clutched his satchel around his chest for safety and braved the storm. Sitting, waiting. He felt like the dessert was going to pick him up and swallow him.

When morning came, it was hot. Hot as Heck Hounds. But the winds have died down so it was time to move. He saluted the floating islands a final goodbye and marched on. As far as the eyes could see, sand dunes stretched snake-like into the horizon.

After what seemed like days of traveling without stop and without shelter, Pip stumbled an ominous lump in the dessert. It had the same golden-brown tint of the dessert, but also the shiny and smooth exterior of an eggshell. Strangely, the lump glinted in the light as Pip walked closer and closer. As Pip leaned in for the touch, four eyes, as black as coal and as big as his face protruded from the sand shortly behind the lump. The sand rumbled beneath his feet as a humongous scorpion erupted from its sandy slumber. What Pip was about to touch was one of its building-sized claws! Evading under and jumping over the scorpion’s snapping claws, Pip was glad for his short stature – he only nearly evaded its vicious attacks. Pip’s curiosity had a funny way of working. While popping in and out between the scorpion’s towering legs, he wondered if he could ride on the scorpion’s hide for the remainder of his journey.

Pip considered the act of giving to be most virtuous, so he was thankful for the scorpion’s transportation services – even if it wasn’t given to him willingly. He didn’t exactly ask for permission either. If memory served him right and the stories he read were true, then together they were headed towards a cave lying beyond the horizon. Pip clutched on to the pendant of his mother tightly. He wished for hope and he wished for strength. But most of all, he desperately wished for it to be true.

It is said that Pip lost his way in the dessert. That is what pessimists would like to believe, so to discourage fellow manders from perishing. Meanwhile, optimists know that Pip found the Cave of Dreams. He found the Seed of Life and has never returned, vowed for life to protect the long lost secrets of the Desert.

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Duelist 101’s Lost Story Contest has come to a close and boy was it a blast. We received over 3 dozen entries, many so good it made the selection process very difficult. However after the dust cleared we were left with 10 Loremasters(pun intended), whose stories would make fine additions to Wizard 101’s expansive universe.

Honorable Mentions

This Contest saw us nominating 7 contestants for Honorable Mention(s). Each of these contestants’ stories were extremely well written and as such they were awarded 2500 crowns and a dragonclaw blade. Without further ado, here are our Honorable Mentions:

–John for his version of The Lost Story of Mindy Pixiecrown

–Autumn Skyflame for her version of The Lost Story of Mindy Pixiecrown

–Alex Fireblade for his version of The Lost Story of Mindy Pixiecrown

–Alexis Hunter for her version of The Lost Story of the Manders

–H. Dragonblossom for his version The Lost Story of the Manders

–Merciless Jean Percy for his version of The Lost Story of Dragonspyre Academy

–Ethan Ravencaller for his version of The Lost Story of Dragonspyre Academy

 

Top Three

The Top Three submissions were exquisitely written fictions that perfectly encompassed the spirit of their respective scenarios. Congrats to the writers and to the victors….go the spoils. The 1st place winner received both the witchhunter’s and clockwork bundle, 5000 crowns and the dragonclaw blade. The 2nd place winner received their choice of the 2 bundles, 5000 crowns and a dragonclaw blade. Finally the 3rd place winner received 10,000 crowns and a dragonclaw blade. In addition, each of the top three stories will be featured on the main site on upcoming days so stay tuned! Meet the winners of Duelist 101’s Lost Stories Contest!

3rd Place– Mander Lover for his version of The Lost Story of the Manders

2nd Place– Taryn Spiritsmith for her version of the Lost Story of Dragonspyre Academy

1st Place– Chariity for her version of The Lost Story of Dragonspyre Academy

 

 

 

 

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Immortal Lore’s Pack

Wizard101’s Summer Update comes with a new Aquila-themed pack! The new Immortal’s Lore Pack gives a chance at brand new items. The pack also offers three sets of gear. 

Special Items you can find in Immortal’s Lore Packs

 

New Spells!

In addition to interesting new gear and treasure cards, this pack includes a chance to drop one of the new Hephaestus, Queen Calypso and Athena Battlesight lore spells. These spells are now available in the live game as a drop from Loremaster or can be crafted from recipes found at the Avalon Spell Vendor. 

 

 

Animated Statues

There are also new ANIMATED STATUES for your castles (or dorm room xD). Take a look!

 

 

New Treasure Cards

Take a look at some of the new treasure cards available in this pack, and let us know in the Comments if you think any of these will see use in PvP!

 

 

Mechanical Owl Pet

 

 

New Aquilan Gear Sets

 

 

Gear Set 1 – Aquilan Charioteer Set

 

Gear Set 2 – Aquilan Velite Set

 

Gear Set 3 – Aquilan Secutor Set

 

Weapons – One from Each Set

 

Have you opened any Immortal’s Lore Packs?

Enjoy the Summer Update!

 

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Sarah Steele

Popular, Beautiful, Graceful, Fierce… what more could you want from this Swashbuckling Sword Master?

Type: Specialist (Counter)

Base Stats
(Level 70)

Weapon Power- 323

Health 2097

Accuracy 118

Dodge 139

Overview

Sarah Steele, in my opinion, is one the best examples of a “specialist” companion.

Specialist (counter) companions, in general, tend excel in 1-on-1 combat with an epic build that allows them to score their most damage on the “off” turns (opponents move).

In Ms.Steele’s case, she is equipped to be any melee unit’s worst nightmare if underestimated.

Base Talents/Epics

Shadowdance– Perhaps the glue of this entire build with an increased critical chance for an entire 10 rounds.

Walk in Darkness– A 5 round hide that doubles damage when you attack, we’ll take it!

Swashbuckler’s Stab– A guaranteed mega hit that halves the target’s strength and armor for 3 rounds.

Super Strike– Guaranteed super hit!

Repel Boarders– Bonus attack when an enemy approaches (Does this really hinder our dear Sarah???)

Alert– Half damage taken from traps.

Recommended Epics

Sarah Steele is often frowned upon because of her starting epic, Repel Boarders. When she is hidden, any unit can simply approach her to trigger the talent, most of the time “wasting” the hide damage that could have been used more efficiently (such as with one of her guaranteed critical hits). Instead of sending her to join your scavengers and pet wranglers right away, how about we build on her pros?

First Strike 3– Not only do we stop hidden melee attackers being a threat, we can hit before them and possibly start a blade storm chain with the help of shadowdance.

Blade Storm 2– The true backbone of this build. With guaranteed critical hits and an improved critical chance from shadowdance-this talent can really shine.

Riposte– Riposte is never a bad epic for a swashbuckler with their high base dodge. It’s increased damage compared to other epic talents makes it all the more worthwhile.

 

Recommended Talents

 

Accurate x4

Tough x4

Rough x4

Dodgy x4

*1 extra talent* (Agile/Armored 1)

 

 

Accuracy is hands down the most important talent any companion can train. Every time you miss is a significant chunk of damage lost. You can’t deal damage if you can’t hit!

Tough 4 is another staple for most companions; the more health they have, the longer they can survive.

Rough 4 adds a total of 40 base damage. If you have a weapon power of 300, it will go up to 340! Every bit of damage counts, best to take all that you can get!

Dodgy 4 allows Sarah, already with a high dodge stat being a swashbuckler, to dodge that many more hits! Have to keep her around as long as we can after all, right?

Now I’m sure at this point you might be wondering “Hey Wolfy, why dodgy and not agile?”. To me, the answer is simple…

Dodging those 3-4 extra hits and living to fight another round will do you more good in the long run than tacking on a bit damage per attack. (That’s what our offensive companions are for!)

Usage Tips

 As we know, Sarah Steele is exclusive to the swashbuckler class. When she is used with her partner in crime, Fan Flanders, exchanges on the battlefield can get rather “epic” (haha, get it?), especially with shadowdance in play.

Our furious fencer shines her true colors when approached by a vengeance strike 3 unit. In a 100% perfect scenario, Sarah will always defeat a full health Peter Quint after exchanging attacks.

Because of her own hide and that pesky Repel Boarders talent, Sarah can be used for an early game win/win situation. If you use her hide, shadowdance, and move in range of  your opponent, they will be stuck with a tough decision;

A) Shield a valuable unit that will be the most efficient throughout the match (usually their pirate) while Sarah goes all out on another unit

OR

B) Approach her to remove her hidden and likely get chained.

If you are remotely experienced with pvp then you’ll know that B is the better choice in this specific 1 vs 4 scenario.

If you hide her with black fog instead of her own hide, you can make her even more dangerous. With black fog, if you let your other companions attack first, your opponent is even worse off. They will have the freedom to go offensive or hold their defense up, though with proper spacing, your opponent can;

• use option B from above, while one unit wastes a turn because Sarah can hide again right after

• take out one of your threats, though Sarah will get to severely crush any companion she desires

OR

• Shield themself, only to allow all of their units to be picked off one by one very soon afterwards. Good luck fighting a swashbuckler with an early advantage!

“What if there is a scent pet Wolfy?”

As soon a scent pet spawns it becomes threat number 1.

I hope that was bold enough to get my point across. Even if a scent pet were to show up and ruin your original plan, taking out a scent pet and leaving Sarah an open target is a trade you should ALWAYS want to take. Scent is a mainsteam pvp pet talent because swashbucklers are indeed as dangerous as they seem. The only good scent pet in my book is a dead one.

Conclusion

Overall, I strongly believe that Sarah Steele is the full package you could ask for in a companion. She can play many different roles in combat, be it pressuring opponents or serving as a wall for opposing units to get past. Our fierce friend is also amazing at taking care of summons with her “counter”-ing epic talent set.

Instead of looking at what they don’t have, all swashbucklers should take a moment to observe what they DO have in the friendship of a mighty comrade, Sarah Steele.

(Relentless isn’t everything!)

 

Let us know how you trained your Sarah Steele in the comment section below!

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PvP Jewels : Overlords’ choices

Have you ever wondered what jewels you should be using for PvP? I know I have. Up to now, I haven’t even touched jewels, because I’ve just been confused with all the choices there are. PvP jewels should be chosen with care, because they do make a difference — at least at top level. As such, we’ll take a look at which PvP jewels are popular.

The Overlords

I have been collecting data on overlords in the Arena in the period between the 16th of June and the 10th of July. While collecting data, I haven’t discriminated against certain levels; I just printscreened whoever I ran into.

As you can see in the table, the largest group are the Prodigious overlords (100 wizards). The second largest group are the Grandmasters (88 overlords), closely followed by Legendaries (71 wizards). After that, the numbers start to dwindle.

This time, I will be mostly focusing on Prodigious wizards in this guide, and look at lower level’s PvP jewels in a different guide.

 

Boosters as Overlords

“So what about boosters,” I hear you ask. (For those of you blissfully unaware of boosting: it’s a fairly new occurance where wizards “boost” their rank without doing serious PvP. It’s a new way of cheating the system. We don’t approve of it, but Kingsisle hasn’t dealt with it as of yet).

First of all, yes, boosters are a common occurence these days, that’s for sure. The fact that they’re not “true PvPers” can skew my information. That said, can you always recognize a booster based on their record? I can’t. Of course, I have left out the most obvious boosters. Regardless of that, I can’t guarantee there are no boosters among my overlords. Therefore the information I provide may not be 100% accurate.

However, the PvP jewels used by those who probably boosted (for example level 110s with 2k+ rank) don’t really differ from those who seem to have earned their rank legitimately. Since our focus is on jewels only, I personally don’t think it matters all that much.

Jewels

Gear jewels come in four shapes: square, round, triangle and tear. Star jewels only occur on pets, so they’re of no importance for this article. You can read more about pet jewels in this article.

Some gear items only have one socket (e.g. decks), some have more sockets. For Baba Yaga, for example, the best athames she drops have 4 sockets, while the Tier 2 amulets have 3, and the lowest tier only 2 sockets. Currently, you can get a socket on your amulet, athame, deck, ring, pet and on the newest wands. Some items don’t have sockets at all, like your boots and hat. 

 

The Values of the Jewels

Jewels also come in different “levels”. These levels are important because they influence the strength of the jewel. Here’s an example of accuracy jewels:

• Cracked Accurate Jewels: +1 % to +2 % accuracy
• Chipped Accurate Jewels: +3 % accuracy
• Flawed Accurate Jewels: +4% accuracy
• Blemished Accurate Jewels: +5 % accuracy
• Dull Accurate Jewels: +6 % accuracy
• Plain Accurate Jewels: +7 % accuracy
• Opaque Accurate Jewels: +8 % accuracy
• Clear Accurate Jewel: +9 % accuracy
• Polished Accurate Jewel: +10 % accuracy
• Lustrous Accurate Jewel: +11 % accuracy

For any jewel available, the jewel marked as “lustrous” will be the best available at this point of time. This will most likely change with future updates. Not all jewels have a Lustrous option: for example stun resist jewels and healing boost jewels only go up the Polished at the moment.

It’s important to realize that for resist, damage, accuracy, crit and block, you can pick between a school specific jewel and a universal one. Because of that, going for the universal one will mean lower values. If you, for example, go for a school specific resist jewel (let’s say the Lustrous Defense Citrine), you will at most get 48 flat resist against Balance attacks. If you decide to choose a universal resist jewel (the Lustrous Defense Opal), your maximum value of resist will be lower: only 24 flat resist. As such, you have to weigh out which is more important to you: the strength of the jewel, or the universality of it.

 

Tear PvP jewels

Tear-shaped sockets are the most common. They occur on most Amulets, Athames and Rings Prodigious overlords use. The average overlord has 3 tear sockets on his gear.

You can fill these tear sockets with:

• Health Opals,
• Mana Opals,
• Fishing Luck Opals and
• Energy Opals

Of these, the only viable option for PvP is Health. Hence, max level wizards (97 % of them) do fill their tear sockets with Health Opals. The other 3 % of tear sockets were just left open.

Lustrous Health Opals are the most common: the highest value of 105 health appears in 56 % of the tear sockets. You can find this jewel in jewel packs in the Crowns Shop, but you can also buy them from Jordo Mistborn in Unicorn Way for 275 Arena tickets. Some of the overlords (39 %), however, are happy enough with a lower value than 105, with several jewels between +94 and +104 being common.

Of the lower value health jewels, the Polished Health Opal which gives 95 hp is the most common (with 39 % of the sockets filled with one). In addition to jewel packs and from Jordo Mistborn, you can also get this jewel as a drop in Khrysalis. The White Razors in Crescent Beach, Khrysalis drop it. These mobs drop a lot of other good jewels as well, so I suspect people have been farming them. 

 

Circle PvP Jewels

Circle-shaped sockets are the second most common. They occur on most Athames and Rings.

You can fill circle sockets with jewels that give:

• Flat damage,
• Critical,
• Pierce or
• A boost for outgoing heals.

Firstly, many of our overlords (88 %) fill their circle sockets with a pierce jewel. The rest of the circle sockets are outgoing healing jewels (6 %) and critical jewels (3 %). This makes sense in today’s meta, which is very much focused on pierce. Flat damage doesn’t make an appearance at all at max level, while you do see these flat damage jewels at lower levels.

Of all the pierce jewels, the Polished (6 % pierce) ones for a specific school are by far the most common (e.g. the Polished Piercing Citrine for Balance), since this version is used as 97 % of the pierce jewels. Universal pierce to all schools is not common at all. You can get these Polished Piercing jewels as a drop from the White Razors in Crescent Beach, Khrysalis. There are other drop locations as well of course, but these White Razors drop many useful jewels, so you might want to choose them.

 

Square PvP Jewels

You can fill square sockets with the following kinds of jewels:

• Flat resist (not percent!)
• Critical block
• Stun Resist
• A boost to incoming heals

Square sockets appear on amulets, decks and rings, as well as on the newest wands: the Warrior’s Hoard pack’s skull wands.

Critical Block jewels are the most common, with 68 % being universal block. When you go for universal block, the highest value you can get is 7 block (with a Lustrous Blocking Opal). If you go for critical block for a specific school, you can go up to 14 block (e.g. the Lustrous Blocking Sapphire against Ice attacks). Block against Balance is the most popular: 52 % of school specific block jewels are balance.

Flat resist jewels appear in 14 % of the square sockets. Of these, 18 are universal resist, with a max value of 8 resist. Of the other 11 flat resist jewels, 9 are against balance, with a highest value of 48. As such, both block and resist jewels reveal the tendency of overlords to defend themselves specifically against Balance when they choose to go for a school specific jewel.

Incoming healing boost jewels occur in 12 % of the square sockets. There apparently isn’t a Lustrous Healing Opal available at this time, as 85 % of the overlords go with a Polished Healing Opal instead, with the rest resorting to even lower level Healing Opals.

Stun resist jewels are equally common as healing boost jewels: they, too, occur in 12 % of the square sockets. This is pretty interesting, as I wouldn’t have guessed to see these jewels so much on max level wizards. Just like with the previous jewels, there is currently no Lustrous Resilient Opal available, so people mostly use the next best thing: Polished Resilient Opals.

 

Triangle PvP Jewels

First of all, I personally think triangle PvP jewels are the most interesting of all the jewels, because they solve problems I have had myself at max level. However, not many gear items come with a triangle slot. As a rule, only athames and decks come with a triangle socket at max level.

You can fill triangle sockets with the following kind of jewels:

• Card jewels.
• Accuracy boosting jewels
• Power pip chance boosting jewels

While card jewels are popular at lower levels, at max level there are exactly zero overlords using a card jewel. Of all triangle sockets available, 53 % have a power pip jewel, and the other 47 % with an accuracy jewel.

The Lustrous PIP Opal (+10 % power pip chance) is the most popular, with 88% of PIP jewels being of this variety. You can get this jewel in a variety of ways. First of all, you can buy this jewel from Jordo Mistborn in Unicorn way for 275 Arena tickets. Secondly, several of the jewel packs have it. Lastly, some bosses in Polaris drop them, though fairly rarely: if you want to go farm for them, try Baba Yaga, Ludus the Beastmaster or Mahon Starsearcher. Polished PIP Opals (+9 % power pip chance) form the remaining 22 % of PIP jewels. These are a little easier to get, because they’re dropped by mobs instead of bosses. If you’re interested in getting one of these, it seems the best mob to go farm would be the life school White Razors in Crescent Beach in Khrysalis.

Of the accuracy jewels, the school specific versions are the most popular. The Lustrous Accurate jewels (e.g. the Lustrous Accurate Citrine for Balance) add 11 % accuracy to a specific school. Of all the accurate jewels used, 59 % are Lustrous jewels. While you can farm some bosses for these, the wiki doesn’t have enough information yet about which bosses. As such, they must be very rare. The sure way to get one would be to buy a jewel pack from the Crowns Shop. Another 35 % of the accuracy boosting jewels are Polished Accurate jewels, which add 10 % to your school’s accuracy. The information about where to farm for these is incomplete at the moment, but you’d do well to check the wiki yourself. The places to farm these are diverse: you can get them from both bosses and mobs in Azteca and Khrysalis, depending on the jewel.

 

Conclusion

All in all, jewels don’t seem to be all that complicated at max level as I feared they might be. The majority of these overlords seem to agree on which jewels are the best. They also seem to agree on the importance of using the right jewels: very few sockets were left locked or empty at max level. For me, everything in this article was new information, because I haven’t bothered gearing up my Prodigious wizards — let alone add jewels to their less-than-perfect gear. I feel more confident about choosing the right jewels now, when I think about the possibility of one day (if they ever get decent gear) PvPing with my silly max level wizards. As always, I am the one to learn the most when I make these articles. I do hope you other nooby max levels find some of this information useful.

 

Happy dueling!

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Lost Stories of the Spiral

The Summer Update is in full swing with lots of long-awaited fixes and tons of changes to the PvP scene. However many players have been itching for a story update for a long time. Well not to fear! While Duelist 101 can’t expand the storyline content we do have a fun contest for our story starved fans. Can you tell us some of the lost stories of the spiral?

The Contest

I hope your creative juices have been flowing wizards! In this contest you will write a story using one of the given scenarios to be presented below. Your story must

-Be written in 12 font and double-spaced

-Be a minimum of 1 paragraph/maximum of 10 pages long typed

-Follow the scenario you choose from a list provided below

-Be original, No Plagiarizing!

-The story must be PG, anything above a PG rating will be disqualified. Use your best judgment!

The Scenarios

Scenario 1: The Lost Story of Mindy Pixiecrown

Set in Wizard City immediately after our wizards persuaded the Gobblers to stop eating the local infrastructure. Your job is to tell the story of Mindy after this incident.

Scenario 2: The Lost Story of Dragonspyre Academy

What was it like to be a student of Dragonspyre Academy? You tell us! Set in the time before the Dragon Titan’s Invasion.

Scenario 3: The Lost Story of The Land Before Time

Set in Azteca before the first world shattered. What was life like with the Titan’s constant Warfare?

Scenario 4: The Lost Story of the Manders

Set in Krokotopia before their enslavement by the Kroks. Tell us the story of a land where Manders lived free!

Scenario 5: The Lost Story of the Kings

Set in Zafaria after Morganthe’s ouster. Tell us the story of the various tribes as they try to reunite after the actions of Tse Tse Snaketail.

Contest Details

-The Contest will run for 5 days, from July 28th 2016 to August 2nd 2016 at midnight

– Winners will be announced on August 5th 2016.

– To enter the contest: email your entry to duelist101contests@gmail.com(ensure you have parent or guardian permission if you are <13 years old)

-Ask any questions you may have in the comment section below

Prizes

1st Place

The First Place Winner will Receive

-Their Story featured on the Duelist 101 main site

–The Witchhunter’s Bundle

–The Cuckoo Clock Gauntlet Bundle

-5,000 Crowns

 

2nd Place

The Second Place Winner will Receive

-Their Story Featured on the Duelist 101 main site

-Their Choice of the Witchunter’s Bundle OR Cuckoo Clock Gauntlet Bundle

-5,000 Crowns

 

 

3rd Place

The Third Place Winner will Receive

-Their Story Featured on the Duelist 101 main site

-10,000 Crowns

 

 

Honorable Mentions

Seven Honorable Mentions will receive 2,500 crowns.

 

Are you Ready to Tell us some Stories Wizards?

 

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Level 50 Elixir!

 

This most recent test realm for Wizard101 has indeed brought it’s fair share of changes! One of the most noteworthy ones however is the new level 50 elixir!

That’s right, just like the name suggests, when bought, this elixir boosts a single wizard from level 1-49 right on up to 50! Of course though, such an amazing feature, being able to skip all mainline quests (Wizard City through Dragonspyre, including Grizzleheim!) and receiving all of your school’s trainable spells through level 50, will have its drawbacks (perhaps a hefty crowns price).  Currently priced at 30k crowns in test.

In order to purchase this,  you must first have at least one Wizard at level 50 or higher on your account.   You may use this elixir as many times are you like.   Unlike other items in the crowns shop, these may not be gifted.

Should you ever consider purchasing this elixir, have no fear of doing so completely by accident. If you are not sure, you will have more than enough chances to opt out! If you do decide to go through with it however, below is the gear you can expect to start off with for each class!

 

Fire

Ice

Storm

Balance

Life

Death

Myth

 

 What do you think of this new feature?   Let us know in the Comments!

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Best Wands for Lower Level PvP

In my previous article, I talked about the best wands for max level wizards. So what are the best wands for lower level PvP, you might ask. Here’s some data that might help you decide just that.

The Overlords

I have been collecting data on overlords in the Arena in the period between the 16th of June and the 10th of July.

As you can see in the table, the largest group are the Prodigious overlords (100 wizards). The second largest group are the Grandmasters (88 overlords), closely followed by Legendaries (71 wizards). After that, the numbers start to dwindle.

I already wrote about the max level wizards’ wands in this article. In this guide, I will continue my observations for the other levels.

Please note that this information was collected before the July Test Realm, which might cause certain changes in people’s preferences.

 

 

Low level PvP (level 10-29)

As far as I can tell by my small amount of data, wands aren’t very complicated below level 30. I do however have only 27 overlords between level 10 and 19, and a measly amount of 6 between level 20 and 29. Any conclusions drawn based on this amount of data is bound to be skewed. Nevertheless, here’s what I’ve found! Maybe at some point of the future we can research this more thoroughly, if anyone is interested.

Below level 30, there is obviously a preference for wands that give an extra pip at the start of the battle. Of the 33 overlords between level 10 and 29, half (52%) use a non-crowns wand. First, most popular (with 6 users) is the Ascendant Staff. Even though this wand might look underwhelming, it used to be the only wand that gave an extra pip at the start of the battle.

The second most used wand (with 5 users) is the Duelist’s Dancing Blade, which is a very sensible choice if you’re serious about your low level PvP. Even at level 10, it gives one power pip at the start of the battle, plus 2% added accuracy, a outgoing healing boost of 3% and 6 wand hits. This is an expensive wand, however, costing 3000 Arena Tickets.

While there are not very many overlords using the exact same wand, pack wands are pretty popular. Of 33 low level overlords, 14 use a pack wand. The good thing about these wands, apart from the extra pip, is that they offer a boost in either healing, damage or pierce. The skull wands from the Warrior’s Hoard pack give a may cast attack as well, which I imagine is very useful at low level PvP.

 

Magus PvP Wands (lvl 30-39)
& Master PvP Wands (lvl 40-19)

Level 30 is an easy level when it comes to picking wands: it’s the level when Sky Iron Hasta from Mount Olympus becomes available. This wonderful wand gives a power pip at the start of the battle and 10% damage. That’s a huge amount! As such, it is used by nearly all level 30 overlords around. Of the 57 level 30-39s I ran into, 54 were using the Sky Iron Hasta wand.

Of the three Magus overlords not using the Hasta, two were in favor of the Mandolin of Evermore with its Guardian Spirit item card. You can get this wand from the Hoard of the Hydra pack. It’s pretty good for a slower playstyle.

I didn’t run into many Master overlords. Where are you, Master wizards? Come PvP against my lvl 41 Conjurer :). As such, I only have 4 wizards of level 40-49. All four of them were using the Sky Iron Hasta. I guess that makes 5, as I use one too. If you’re looking to go aggressive, this wand works wonders on low level wizards.

 

Grandmaster PvP Wands (lvl 50-59)

Grandmaster is where it gets interesting! Of the 88 level 50-59 overlords I ran across, 77 (that’s 87,5%) were using a Crowns wand. The other 11 either still used Sky Iron Hasta or had Duelist’s Dancing Blade. There are 4 packs that are especially common. Let’s look into those a little deeper.

Terror’s Hoard Pack

The Terror’s Hoard Pack comes with three different wands, all offering some critical and some block. Critical Block has been increasingly important for lower level overlords, because they face a lot of higher level opponents with lots of Critical. We’ll see if the test realm change to critical (critical hits will only do 1.25 times more damage in PvP) influences the need to have high Critical Block at lower level.

The most popular of the Terror’s Hoard wands is the Fortune Teller’s Peerless Eye, with 25 Grandmaster overlords using it. It gives 3% Power Pip chance, 40 critical and 40 critical block and 4% damage. This is one of the best wands available at this point in time, until you hit level 60 and can use the Staff of Flashing Blades.

Another 6 Grandmaster overlords used the Fortune Teller’s Eternal Gaze. The only difference between this wand and the previous is that the 4% damage is school specific (Fire, Ice and Storm) and that the wand hit is Fire instead of Balance. As such, it is mainly useful for Fire, Ice and Storm wizards.

The third wand from the pack is the Eye of the Soothsayer, used by 2 overlords, both Life wizards. This makes sense, because this wand is basically the same as the previous one, except the 5% damage is for Death, Life and Myth attacks and the Critical and Block is a little lower.

Keeper’s Lore Pack

The second most popular pack is Keeper’s Lore’s Order of High Glory Banner. A total of 20 Grandmaster overlords used this wand. Once again, this pack has three wands versions, but the only one popular is this one.

The reason is the card this wand gives: Mana Burn. Among the 20 overlords, there are 11 Balance wizards, and 9 Life wizards with a Balance mastery amulet. It seems this card alone is worth losing the critical, block and power pip chance from the Terror Hoard’s Pack.

Hoard of the Hydra Pack

This is the third most popular pack, with 10 Grandmaster overlords choosing to carry a wand from it. While this pack has three wands as well, the wand that overlords choose is called the Mandolin of Evermore (which already made a small appearance at level 30).

This wand’s success can be attributed to a single thing. Once again, Critical and Critical Block lose their importance because of an item card. The Mandolin comes with a Guardian Spirit item card, which revives you after you die for a fraction of your total health. This wand appears on 7 Life wizards, 2 Ice wizards and 1 Balance wizard.

Warrior’s Hoard Pack & Sky Iron Hasta

In fourth position come two wands: the Warrior’s Hoard Pack and the Sky Iron Hasta, with 7 uses each.

Of the three wands the Warrior’s Hoard Pack offers, 5 wizards use the Road Legend Skull and 2 the Deathmetal Skull. These wands are pretty similar to the Terror’s Hoard packs, but they offer Pierce, a little more damage and a may cast attack. The Road Legend Skull wand is used by 3 Ice wizards and 2 Myth wizards. The Deathmetal Skull wand is used by one Death wizard and one Balance wizard.

Fourth position also goes to the Sky Iron Hasta, which was extremely popular at levels 30 and 40. Even at level 50-59, no other wand offers 10% damage. Totally worth it if you’re planning to PvP with plain aggression.

 

The Rest

With only 4 people choosing it, it is clear that the Duelist’s Dancing Blade has not stayed very popular among Grandmaster overlords. Brandon Mistborn sells it for a staggering amount of tickets (5000 to be more specific, for level 50). While it offers only a fairly small amount of Critical and Critical block, it does grant 5% Pierce, which is a lot for level 50s. Perhaps that is why 4 overlords decided to pick this wand as their go-to weapon.

Another 4 Grandmaster overlords settled on a wand from the Islander’s Hoard Pack, more specifically 2 on the Frosty Stare Tiki Torch and 2 on the Shocking Truth Tiki Torch. Of these two, the first offers about the same Crit and Block rating as the more recently released Skull wands, without the damage offered by it. It seems a fairly outdated choice. The latter of the two offers the highest Critical rating currently available for level 50s, making it desirable if you’re trying to crit your way to overlord. However, the Shocking Truth Tiki Torch doesn’t offer any block, which can get problematic. Its 10% outgoing healing boost is a nice addition. All in all, I can’t say anything bad about this wand, as this is the one I personally used for a very long time XD

The last three wands are only used by one person each, so I will just give you the names and you can decide yourself whether they’re fit for PvP: the Charmer’s Mystical Flute, Jack Hallow’s Guitar and the Teeth of the Lords of Night.

 

Legendary PvP Wands (lvl 60-69)

It’s important to realize that PvP at level 50 is very different from PvP at level 60, at least up to a certain rank. While level 50s value wands that give a good card like Mana Burn or Guardian Spirit and Sky Iron Hasta, at level 60 Critical and Critical Block become fairly important.

Staff of Flashing Blades

First of all there is very little variation in Legendary PvP when it comes to wands. Of the 72 Legendary overlords I caught, 63 carried the Staff of Flashing Blades. You can buy this wand for 600 Arena tickets from Diego the Duelmaster.

Crowns wands

Crowns wands are much less popular at 60 than they were at 50, but still get used to some extent. The nine overlords not using the Staff of Flashing Blades, all reverted to a Crowns wand. These wands came from three different packs. As such, there is very little variation among these wands as well.

First, three overlords used the Mandolin of Evermore from the Hoard of the Hydra Pack. When you compare this wand to the Staff of Flashing Blades, it becomes clear that you lose a lot of block (you go from 55 critical block to 20) and all of your critical (the mandolin offers no critical at all). You also trade in the 10% accuracy and 15% power pip chance for 3% incoming and 5% outgoing healing.

Not a great deal perhaps? Still, the Mandolin has one advantage that’s very important for some strategies: the Guardian Spirit Item Card. Not surprisingly all three overlords carrying this wand belong to the Life school.

Second, there are three overlords using the Terror’s Hoard Pack’s Fortune Teller’s Peerless Eye. The thing you gain with this wand, compared to the Staff of Flashing Blades, is the 4% damage it gives. For some wizards, this is worth losing 11% power pip chance and 10% accuracy.

Third, there are the Warrior’s Hoard Pack wands. Two people sported the Deathmetal Skull and one favored the Rapturerider’s Skull. Both of these wands have decent critical and critical block. They give 6 damage for 2 schools, and have a may cast attack of those same school. They also offer a little bit of Pierce.

Conclusion

All in all, Legendary overlords strongly favor the Staff of Flashing Blades, and with reason: it is indeed a very good wand. Pack wands can’t compete with the Warlord wand at level 60.

 

Level 70-100 PvP wands

The odd levels between 60 and 110 don’t offer much information of interest. Among Trandescent (lvl 70-79) wizards the popular level 60 Staff of Flashing Blades is still prevailent, with 6 out of 9 overlords using it. In fact, there’s even a level 84 still using this wand. Perhaps he got his rank at level 60? We will never know.

All that’s left is 3 Trandescent, 11 Archmage, 1 Promethean and 1 Exalted wizard, who all used various pack wands of the appropriate level. Eight of these wizards picked an eye wand from the Terror’s Hoard Pack.

 

 

And as such, we have come to the end of this article. Hopefully you learned something! I know I did, as I usually don’t pay much attention to gear. I especially liked seeing what’s happening at level 50 and 60, as those are the levels I love to watch PvP the most. If you missed my article on which wands Prodigious wizards use, check it out here.

 

Happy dueling!

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