2012 NC Challenge
The NC Adventure Challenge for the 2012 Daily Dare is titled "The Case of the Missing King". In it, Lulu is attempting to find the missing King Roo, along with missing pieces of the new Games Room. You can help her on her adventure by voting for where she should look next, and receiving a prize the following day based on the community result.
Unlike previous years, you can play the Adventure Challenge on your side account(s), since it does not require sending any game scores.
Ticket Packs
This event requires you to purchase a special Adventure Book pack from the NC Mall. You can purchase Adventure Book packs in increments of 5 or 13; these are only valid for the 2012 Daily Dare. In order to complete the entire NC challenge, you must buy the 13-pack. If you have more than 13 plays, the extras cannot be applied for extra game challenge plays. You can trade unactivated book packs as well.
Upon activating one of your book parks, you'll receive the following bonus item:
After you have purchased an Adventure Book, you'll need to go to your inventory to activate it, and then head to the main page for The Case of the Missing King. You'll be able to cast your vote for the current day, and return the next day to receive your prize.
The F.A.Q. is a bit confusing on this point, but it sounds like you'll need to select "Claim Prize" at the same time as you vote if you want to receive that day's prize. You can only claim one prize per day, and each prize can only be claimed once—so unlike previous challenges, once an item has been released, it's no longer available. If this changes with the official release, we'll be sure to let you know!
Adventure Prizes
Day 1
So AAA's running the Games Room in King Roo's absence, which sounds hilarious. But Abigail asked me to help her by finding King Roo, so I decided to use my journal to record the search, like a proper detective. Game scores aren't really my thing anyway, and how hard can it be to find one Blumaroo?
Now, King Roo left days ago; maybe Advisor Broo knows where he went. He's a grumpy old coot, but I bet he knows everything that goes on in the Rooish royal court. Then again, he kind of intimidates me...
Options:
- Find out what Advisor Broo knows about the missing king.
- Sneak into the Roo Island throne room and look for clues. Winner!
Day 2
Those Rooish royal guards are totally unobservant. I just sneaked into the throne room, found what appears to be King Roo's diary key, and sneaked out without them noticing. Just as well. From what I hear, if you're caught breaking the law, you have to play bingo. The risks I take for my cousins!
Ugh! There's another one! What's with these strange bugs I keep finding? If this is AAA's fault, I'm totally giving away his game controller when he's not looking.
Anyway, in his diary, King Roo said he wanted to visit a doctor in Neopia Central about the Games Room. Naturally, I concluded that he meant Dr. Clodbottle. So I went to his office, but it looks like the good doctor is away on business. Figures...
Options:
- Sneak in and page through Dr. Clodbottle's notes. Winner!
- Ask Dr. Clodbottle's assistant about King Roo's visit.
Day 3
Are we sure Dr. Clodbottle isn't a mad scientist? Some of his notes were a little... worrying. But the good news is King Roo WAS here and did consult with the doctor. Apparently, King Roo showed him one of the Games Room bugs. Dr. Clodbottle didn't recognize it, but he still refused to help King Roo do any harm to what he called "potential recruits for the Habitarium".
So Dr. Clodbottle was no help. And King Roo is long gone again. Argh! I guess the bugs aren't any known kind of Petpetpet, after all. Dr. Clodbottle didn't recognise them, and he's an expert. If King Roo can't solve the bug end of the problem, what's his next move? I'm thinking that maybe he'll try to fix the Games Room not to attract pests. I'd better track him down soon.
Options:
- Stop by the Food Shop for a bite to eat.
- Inquire about King Roo at the Bookshop. Winner!
Day 4
Never visit the Magical Bookshop during rush hour. You'll just be run over by restockers. When I finally could talk to the shopkeeper, he told me that King Roo bought a repair manual a few days ago. I gather that King Roo tried to just read it in the store, but the shopkeeper yelled at him, and even then our good king left a Jelly Dice snack bag on the floor. The bookseller is pretty annoyed.
So King Roo has a repair manual now. I don't know that the new Games Room machine is really going to be listed in a repair manual anyone can buy at the Bookshop, though. Hmm. I'm going to ask where King Roo went next. But first, what's that noise outside?
Wow, it's a bunch of Neopets holding a pillow fight. Feathers are flying everywhere! Oh no, the're coming this way!
Options:
- Flee from the attacking pillow mob; there are too many!
- Grab a pillow from a clueless bystander and join in the fun! Winner!
Day 5
Aw, yeah. Pillow fight in Neopia Central, Year 14. This one's going down in the history books. Ahem. I grabbed a pillow and there was epic fun, until some Alien Aishas caught me whacking the Vending Machine... I mean, patting it gently. How much harm can a pillow do, I ask you?
But what I saw behind the Aishas made me drop my pillow. One of King Roo's Jelly Dice snack bags, burnt around the edges. The work of ray guns, no doubt!
This is bad. I've been mulling the facts, and there's only one logical conclusion. King Roo must have been kidnapped by Alien Aishas! He could be in outer space even as I write this! I'm thinking this was not part of his plan.
Options:
- Demand to know King Roo's whereabouts.
- Sneak into the Alien Aishas' teleporter. Winner!
Day 6
I'm in SPACE! The teleporter put me on the Alien Aisha mother ship. I wasn't expecting that. Anyway, a janitor spotted me peeking into storage rooms. He told me King Roo was caught snooping around the Vending Machine, so they interrogated him. Yikes!
Then the janitor gave me a brochure in case I want to come back and visit. The Splurgles are supposedly delicious. I'll take his word for it.
The Alien Aishas questioned King Roo and then released him at the Neolodge back in Neopia Central. I heard part of King Roo's interrogation: "Bugs! The horror! The Games Room was going to be my triumph, the tourist attraction that put Roo Island on the map, and now look at it -- it's ruined! It's... BUGGY!!" Poor King Roo.
On that note, I guess I'm off to the Neolodge.
Options:
- See if King Roo checked into the Neolodge. Winner!
- Order room service and get some sleep.
Day 7
The concierge didn't want to give out that kind of information at first, but he opened up when I gave him a token for the Qasalan Expellibox. Apparently, this little baby Kacheek made friends with King Roo in the lobby. To cheer him up, she told him Donny the Repair Bori could fix the Games Room. She has a plushie that Donny repaired for her, and of COURSE the Games Room won't be any more complicated to fix.
Then she insisted on sharing her spa coupons with King Roo, which he graciously accepted. I'm never that lucky.
So I guess King Roo went to the spa to recover from his ordeal with the Alien Aishas. Good for him. But it sounds like now he's off to Terror Mountain, so I'm heading there myself. Hold on, someone wants to talk to me.
Okay, back. Unbelievable! These two Acara girls wanted an autograph and would NOT take no for an answer. I finally had to lock them in a broom closet and sneak off. Sloth's bowtie, can't people see I'm busy?
Options:
- Purchase a hot air balloon ride heading north. Winner!
- Stow away on a fishing boat to Terror Mountain.
Day 8
I'd like to say that I arrived in Terror Mountain in style, but the truth is that hot air balloons are kind of slow, chilly, and windy. Great views, though. Anyway, I headed straight up to Donny's Toy Repair. Outside the door I found one of the dice from his crown. That was bad enough to make me worry.
But then, when I knocked, this army of clockwork toys attacked me! I dashed inside, hoping Donny was around to disable his security. Instead, who do I find looting the place? None other than the notorious thief, Valin the Quick! It was Valin who'd unleashed the clockwork toys on me. When he saw me, he locked me up in this broom closet. That fink!
It's pretty hard to read what I'm writing here in the dark. How am I going to get out of this so I can find King Roo? Must think.
Options:
- Unlock the door with a convenient hair pin. Winner!
- Pound on the closet door and yell for help.
Day 9
A fashionable Cybunny is never without her trusty hair pins! It only took half an hour of messing with the lock before I escaped. Valin was still there, filling his treasure bag, so I confronted him and demanded to know where King Roo was. Like any newbie villain, he told me his whole "clever" scheme.
Apparently, Valin had come to the shop while Donny was on vacation. He was in the middle of his heist when King Roo walked in and surprised him. Valin pretended to be Donny's assistant and sent King Roo to fetch a toy from the Snowager. King Roo soon returned victorious from a game of "Don't Blink" with the Snowager, alive and well. (Why does this not surprise me?)
Anyway, Valin was so surprised by King Roo's success that he gave the king a map to find a reputable mechanic. Of course, Valin doesn't have one for ME... so it's back to chasing after King Roo.
Options:
- Make inquiries at the Happy Valley port.
- Secretly follow Valin to the Thieves Guild. Winner!
Day 10
Heh. So the thieves caught me sneaking into their little hideout. Oops. They offered me membership for getting that far, but I turned them down. I'm not that kind of Cybunny, really. Anyway, their spies told me that King Roo had received word from someone in Shenkuu, inviting him to a game.
So it sounds like King Roo might visit a mechanic in Shenkuu. Either that, or King Roo forgot what he was doing and wandered off to play games. I hope not! I'd like the Games Room to be fixed, if only so Abigail and I don't have to listen to AAA complain about it. At any rate, since I don't have King Roo's map, I just have to keep following him and hope I can catch up.
At least Shenkuu is nice this time of year.
Options:
- See if King Roo is playing in the Kou-Jong tournament. Winner!
- Stake out the Shenkuu Tangrams fields for King Roo.
Day 11
I just spent four hours watching Kou-Jong players match up little tiles. Then Linae walks over and tells me how upset she is that her best player is busy serving tea to the emperor and King Roo and can't play in the Kou-Jong tournament. King Roo was playing Godori today, and I missed him!
So it sounds like King Roo was in the Imperial Gardens with the emperor today. I guess when the emperor of Shenkuu invites you to a game, you don't turn him down. By the time I got there, though, King Roo had already sailed west on a courier ship. He must be following the map!
Options:
- Research old maps at the Lunar Temple.
- Borrow a fishing boat and set sail in pursuit. Winner!
Day 12
On the docks, I found this torn off corner of a map, which I'm sure came from King Roo's map, and I saw his ship disappearing out to sea. There was no time to waste, so I sneaked aboard the Lazy Hegelob, a fishing boat, and pursued him through the night. Fishing boats need to come with hot cocoa. Just saying. Anyway, by morning it was pretty clear; King Roo was fast sailing for an island in the middle of nowhere.
What kind of mechanic lives in the middle of nowhere? But I finally spotted King Roo's ship moored at a jungle island. I followed his footprints to a cave. I'm no tracker, but these tracks look pretty fresh, which means I missed him by only a few minutes. It looks like the tunnel leads to a long drop into darkness, so I'm finishing up this entry while I can still see to write, and then I'm going in.
Options:
- King Roo is getting away! Leap off into the depths.
- Make a parachute out of jungle leaves, THEN leap off. Winner!
Day 13
Thank goodness I made that parachute, or I might have gone splat. After a long drop through complete darkness, the tunnel opened up into a big cavern. I landed on the roof of Tangor's Workshop, scaring off a flock of Albots. I can't believe it -- King Roo must have followed the tunnel to Moltara City!
Guess who found King Roo? Yup, I hopped down off the roof, knocked on the door of Tangor's Workshop, and there he was, having a meeting with Tangor himself. So I suppose there ARE reputable mechanics in the middle of nowhere... at least, UNDER the middle of nowhere.
They were pretty surprised to see me. When I explained my purpose in following King Roo, though, he commended my dedication to the Games Room. It turns out that King Roo was on a secret mission to save the new Games Room from the bugs before Roo Island was ruined. Me too, King Roo.
All those bugs were attracted by the machine noise, so Tangor made a gadget (he calls it his 'sonic wave inverter', but it looks like a screwdriver to me) to cancel out the machine noise and drive away the bugs. With luck, it might even work...
Options:
- Tell King Roo about the bugs taking over Roo Island. Winner!
- Let Abigail know King Roo (and a fix!) has been found.
Story Conclusion
King Roo looked grimmer than I've ever seen him when I told him about all of the bugs. It was like the whole world turned a little grey. But he soon cheered up; we have a gadget, after all. Gadgets make everything better. I was pretty glad to get home to Roo Island, even if there is still a lot of work to do.
Thank goodness the gadget started working! There are fewer bugs already. However, Tangor warned us that the sonic wave inverter needed power from the Games Room itself, which means everyone needs to play lots of games, or the bugs will just come right back. Somehow, I don't think AAA will be too upset about having to play more games.
AND... King Roo said I could have this dress! He's been carrying it around since he left Roo Island; he ordered a fancy dice-themed cape, but the tailors got the order all wrong and made a dress, and well, King Roo wasn't going to wear a dress. He'd been planning to exchange it, but since I was helpful, he's giving to me instead!