This is another episode with two Enneagram paths, one for Aang and one for Zuko. I’ll approach them in the order of the show.
Also, even though this is a part one, it is a complete story. It should have all the pieces of an Enneagram. Will the overarching “Winter Solstice” two-parter have an Enneagram? We’ll see!
ONE (AANG)
The gang rides high on a flying Appa, wondering what fluffy clouds feel like.
TWO (AANG)
Down below they see that the land has a burn scar and fly down to investigate.
THREE (AANG)
Aang is deeply saddened. As the Avatar he’s supposed to protect nature. But how? No one can train him. If only he could talk to Roku, the previous Avatar.
The second Wyrm Hunt quest involves helping The Faith survey an ancient ruin hidden behind a waterfall. Upon entering I am told by the pawns that this was once “a place of worship and training for clerics of the old gods.”
Apparently The Faith has supplanted or incorporated elements of an older religion? And this earlier, presumably more nature-based, worship knew about the dragon?
Don’t try to understand too much. Just go with it.
We find poor Brother Jean dead on the ground. And it becomes obvious what caused his demise.
The cyclops drops an orb (was it in his eye socket??) that unlocks a mysterious door. We drain the water in the lower levels, fight some skeletons, and recover five ancient texts.
These slates may have “revelations of vast importance”, which The Faith will decipher.
Remember when Mason asked us to shadow Salvation’s spy as he left the castle? Well, I was near the gate at night when a cut scene took over. I pursued the quest, following a manly man in a blue cape.
I hate following someone in a game.
He did pause and look back. Hah — missed me. I did not have to start all the way back at the beginning of the trail. Eventually he knocks at the door of an abandoned house and we peep through the window.
It’s a shop owned by Madeleine. She seems to be passing him a scrap of paper, although it ends up in her cleavage for a moment. He rebuffs her overt advances, leaves, and the sneaking is over. I report my finding to Mason’s agent — A Knight is the spy — and that’s it for now.
As always, Avatar sets the scene quickly. Where is our team now? They’re resting in a forested area. Sokka can only find nuts for dinner. They’re hungry, pickings are meager, and Sokka is the butt of the jokes. Remind me to look back sometime and see how many episodes begin with this formula!
TWO
The next thing that happens is Momo, who holds a rock that was mixed in with the bag of nuts, tries to break it open. Slam. Only the sound is a huge SLAM. The gang goes to see what’s making such a noise.
THREE
The next thing that happens is an earth bender, Haru, practices on the sly. When Katara says hello he runs away.
You probably have guessed I have a problem with these two beats.
We were given a mysterious slate to decipher for the Wyrm Hunt. I run around town looking for clues, but it’s not clear who I need to meet.
So I cheat.
I know where I need to go ultimately. Not too far north is a hillside with a large rock formation. I just jump to the end and go there. As we walk up, the game goes to a cut scene.
The “my heart has been ripped out” chest scar is a clue.
This guy and his weird young doppelgänger greet me.
We’ve been told to ask some thieves about the location of Salomet’s Grimoire, so off we go to the Ruins of Aernst Castle. The thief leader, Maul, won’t help, though. He confirms that he has the tome, that’s it.
How did I first discover the answer to this quest? I don’t remember. The book is up high on a broken parapet. I must — ugh, ack, geh — platform to get it. Afterwards, Maul has no idea we’ve taken it. It’s a weird fetch.
The team arrives at the city of Omashu. Later it will become clear that they’re only here for Aang to have fun on his way to the North Pole. They have no other agenda at this point.
TWO
Aang knows he wants to stop at Omashu because he’s been here before. His friend, Bumi, lived here. More memories come later, but this is the introduction of a character critical to the episode and to the Eight. Trouble.
THREE
The arrow tattoos will be recognized, so Aang must wear a disguise. Using Appa’s itchy fur, the team crafts a wig and mustache that turn Aang into an old man.
He’s a young man in our fishing village. I think he’s supposed to be sympathetic because of his yearning to explore. However, he ends up crashed out on the ground, depleted, in a rather pitiful display of ineptitude.
First he’s outside the village gates, nearby at the shore. After, he’s down the lane outside of the Encampment. Finally, he’s inside the Witchwood, barely across the threshold. Each time he says, “Sorry,” and then goes even further. It’s a very unheroic journey.
We chase him around, though, because it’s worth it later. We’re not done with Valmiro, the lad with a drop-shoulder peasant shirt and a fishing pole.
We’re wandering. I have a portcrystal, something I can drop at almost any location I find on the map, and thereafter I can fast travel to it. If I want I can pick it up and use it elsewhere. These things are the BEST.
On the town notice board are escort quests. Someone wants to go somewhere, usually someplace dangerously far away. The easiest way to do these quests is to have gone there by ourselves already and drop a portcrystal. Boom — take the quest, greet the traveller, zip to the location, and clock the completion.
This is why we’re wandering. I know that Quina will have an escort quest, and I know her travel isn’t random like most of these quests are. I’m headed to the Abbey to drop my purple stone.
Quina’s already there, dressed in nun robes. Dangit. Her escort request would’ve been on the village notice board, and I didn’t check there. At least, that’s what I think. We’ve missed whatever she would’ve said about her reasons to go to the Abbey.
Sorry.
She gives a “tee-hee” and says everyone’s talking about the Arisen.
Now that it’s too late for Quina, I go to the village. Valmiro, a local fishing lad, is missing. He is prone to mad quests, apparently, and we’re to find him.
Also, one last little surprise: as I manage inventory at the inn, Pablos chats about Gran Soren guards and how drunk they are. If the dragon brings trouble, he would “sooner turn to sisters of The Faith for protection”. Quina’s Abbey quest takes on more meaning. She’s in the robes, right? She’s become a postulate of some sort.
This game can be very particular about timing and order of quests. I’m sure it won’t be the first story moment I miss.
The French narrator establishes Mrs. Puff’s Boating School. Fish students drool and sleep while Spongebob takes diligent notes.
TWO
But, wait. It’s time to pick the Hall Monitor of the day. Spongebob looks up with wide eyes.
THREE
Mrs. Puff looks over her checklist. With a mark next to nearly every name, only one student hasn’t been Hall Monitor. Haha, you know whose name remains.
