Chapter 3: Magical Technology

            Tariel returned to Altaria Palace, ready to share the news of his findings with the Prince. "You have completed the quest," the Prince said. "Congratulations."

"Good, now where's my reward?" Tariel replied. "And it better be a good one or I'm going to report you to the Better Business Bureau. You've fleeced me out of enough money already."

"You will certainly be pleased with my reward", Prince Arthanis replied. "It's a brand new crystal bill. The latest in magical technology."

Tariel looked at the crystal ball skeptically. It looked no different than an ordinary crystal ball, except for a small socket on one side. But Tariel had never seen anything that could possibly fit into that socket.

"Palantir Technologies, X1A prototype", Prince Arthanis explained. "According to the manufacturer, with this crystal ball you can just shout into it what you want to see, and then the crystal ball will automatically show you what you want to see."

"Well, then, let's solve the mystery of Carpathia once and for all." replied Tariel. He then spoke into the crystal ball.

"Show me Carpathia."

The material inside the crystal ball began to churn and swirl. It eventually coalesced into a few simple words:

404 ERROR – LOCATION NOT FOUND

Please try the following:

- Click the Refresh button, or try again later.

- If you said the name of the kingdom you are looking for into the crystal ball, make sure that it is pronounced correctly.

- To check your connection settings, click the MAGICAL TOOLS menu, and then click CLAIRVOYANCE OPTIONS. Under the CONNECTIONS tab, click PRAY DESPERATELY FOR HELP. The settings should match those provided by your local master wizard (LMW) or the ancient inscription scroll (AIS) that came with your crystal ball.

- If you are trying to reach a secure dungeon, make sure your party's abilities can support it. Click the PARTY TOOLS menu, and then click CHECK SKILLS. Check settings for lockpicking skills, trap disarmament, and swordfighting ability.

"This isn't as good as I thought it would be," said Tariel. He said something else into the crystal ball.

"Show me the Gate to Carpathia."

Same error message.

"Who knows, maybe Carpathia doesn't exist after all," thought Tariel. "Let's try someplace we know exists, to see if it's working."

"Show me Altaria Palace."

Still the same error message appeared.

"It doesn't look like this little crystal ball of yours is working, Prince Arthanis. Not that I'm surprised, since you haven't managed to give me a single good piece of equipment even after all the training and quests."

"I'm sorry you feel that way. But who knows, maybe you'll figure out how to get those things to work."

Tariel decided to go back to the tavern. Artalax, a powerful wizard friend of his, often hung out there. Hopefully Artalax would be able to fix the mysterious crystal ball."

"Hello, Artalax. How have things been going lately?"

"Not very good. I haven't gotten a single quest in almost two months now. There just isn't any work around anymore. What with the "decade of peace," it's so peaceful that there isn't much left for adventurers to do."

"Well, I just finished my first quest, and this is what I got as a reward," Tariel said, showing Artalax the crystal ball. "The Prince said this was the latest in magical technology, but it doesn't seem to work."

Artalax examined the ball. "This sure doesn't look very new, especially given that it probably isn't even 15 inches wide. The crystal ball I've got back at my house is really the latest. 42 inches wide, flat-panel high resolution display. It makes it a lot easier to spy on the forces of evil, if there were any. But maybe if you bring this crystal ball to my house tomorrow we can figure this out. I mean, that socket thing is really something new."

"Magical technology!"

"It doesn't work! You see? You see?"

But since Kalmeth, and Sherma too,

Are evil, there's no time to lose...