Korabric will talk to you more about the history behind the jungle ruins.
Korabric can be found at the top of the Jungle Ruins Tower.
Dialogue:
Korabric says, "Unbelievable! I had never expected anyone to reach me. I've been locked up here for ages."
"Who are you?"
Korabric says, "My name is... is... Korabric. I had to remember, it's been so, so long since I even thought about it..."
"What are you doing here?"
Korabric says, "I... I was once the master of this place. Ages ago. Ages... it has been a long, long time. We did... research, here. Studying. Learning, about life, the world... but we made a mistake."
"What mistake?"
Korabric says, "We... well, we had a practice of bringing foreign plants and animals here for study and understanding... we found some native pygmy tribes in the jungles to the distant south, and brought them here. They were peaceful, at first. They built a few small villages in the jungle we had grown here. But over time, they became aggressive and hostile. We were able to deal with them, as we were vastly more powerful... until one of our researchers went mad and started helping them."
"How did he help them?"
Korabric says, "He... it was horrible. He created all sorts of terrible, violent monsters and let them loose down in the caverns. You see, the bottom level of this place was still being built when he went mad. We were expanding to make room for more students, more researchers, more equipment. We had excavated caves and had discovered a huge underground lake."
"I saw the lake. The whole area was infested with giant lizards and lizard-men."
Korabric says, "Yes, that makes sense. The researcher was obsessed with snakes and lizards and other reptiles. Normally we would use small pools of water, no bigger than a pond, to grow and give life to our creations. But he used the entire lake, and was able to create hundreds of monsters at a time. At first he experimented with insects and arthropods, like buzzes and scorpions, breeding them bigger and bigger. Later he mutated his precious lizards and turned them into giant monsters."
"There was a giant lizard-man on an island in the center of the lake."
Korabric says, "A... a lizardman? What was his name?"
"His name was Rollay Scaleback."
Korabric says, "Rollay! Amazing! That was the name of the researcher... well, he wasn't Scaleback before, he was just Rollay. A lizard-man... yes, that was his goal, to make himself into a lizard. I only found out about it by accident, after he went mad and the giant lizards started crawling out of the lake. I suppose he eventually succeeded in turning himself into one."
"What about the pygmies in the jungle?"
Korabric says, "Oh, right, the pygmies. Some of them volunteered to be turned into armour-clad warriors, and Rollay did so... in exchange for them serving as soldiers to help him take over the rest of the facility. You see, we fought back; Rollay was only a minor researcher at first, not very powerful in the ways of magic. The other senior researchers and I easily outmatched him... but we were hampered by our desire to see a peaceful resolution, and by the time we realized that Rollay was bent on destroying us all, he had grown in power immensely, and had already created hundreds of giant lizards to do his bidding, as well as begun his process of empowering the pygmies."
"By the time he began to take over the facility, I realized we couldn't fight him any more, so I magically locked myself here in my study, and placed two more magic locks on doors farther down the tower. Rollay had the key to my study but he couldn't get past the other two doors, and the keys to those doors were stolen by a pygmy chief named Kreai who rebelled against Rollay, and a mutated giant pygmy named Gors."
"I fought and defeated Kreai. He had the first key.[1]"
Korabric says, "Ah... you are indeed powerful. Kreai was the pygmy chief who struck the deal with Rollay, but later betrayed him and took over the upper dungeon level."
"I fought and defeated Gors. He had the second key[2]."
Korabric says, "Gors was a mighty foe, and a vicious one. I'm glad you defeated him. Did he still have the Staff of Ni-tas with him?"
"Yes. What is the Staff of Ni-tas?[2]"
Korabric says, "The Staff of Ni-tas was a powerful magical artifact, controlled by the Great Empire. It was a focus point for magical energy, tremendously powerful. For some unknown reason, the Circle of Twelve brought it here right after Rollay went mad, but instead of using it against him, somehow Rollay ended up possessing the staff and using it against us! I still don't know why the Circle would have done that to us. But they're all long since dead, I imagine."
"I have fought and defeated one of the Circle members, a wizard named Xantan[2]"
Korabric says, "You defeated Xantan?! Not likely! Unless... unless he had lost his powers. Xantan used to be the leader of the Circle of Twelve, but rumor had it that he was betrayed and deposed by the other Circle members shortly after Rollay took over here. So if that is the case, then I suppose he might have been weakened enough for the likes of you to defeat him."
"It's been hard for me to get information; I've been locked up here for years, though once I did venture down past the monsters in the tower. I ran into Pomanna -- she used to be the chief cook here, though she was always a little crazy -- and tried to get some information from her, but she was out of her mind."
"Pomanna wants you to help her escape[2]"
Korabric says, "She does? Well... now that Kreai, Gors, and Rollay have been defeated, I should easily be able to make my way past the remaining monsters. Perhaps I will go help her. But I must also thank you for rescuing me from this horrible place. Perhaps it can once again be turned into an institution of learning and science. That may take some time, though; there are still many monsters here."
"Rollay was carrying this medallion when I defeated him[3]"
Korabric says, "That is a strange-looking thing... it's a bit rusty, isn't it? I suppose it could be some kind of magic item, although I don't recognize it. Perhaps there are other scholars who might know what it is. My specialty was, obviously, biology, not other kinds of magic."
"What are you going to do now?[3]"
Korabric says, "I'll have to get started flushing all the monsters out of here, now that you've destroyed the three most powerful. I can't thank you enough for your help."
ategory:Jungle_Ruins