//------------------------------// // Precursor: Questing // Story: Sons of Damas // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// After a brief run through Sandover Village to collect the 50 scattered Precursor Orbs, free the seven Scout Flies to get the Power Cell they'd located, and talk to everyone in the village, the trio met back up on the village outskirts. "Alright," Jak began as the three pulled out their questing notebooks. "What's the report?" Shining nodded as he flipped through his. "We currently have 100 Precursor Orbs, and several leads on where to get more. I talked to the Oracle - that Precursor statue at the top of the cliff - and it has two Power Cells that it will let us have...if we make an offering to the Ancients of 120 Orbs each. Also, the farmer gave me a Power Cell for herding his Yakows back into their pen." "How'd you manage that?" Daxter asked. "Those things can be stubborn." "Few things resist an electric shock to the rump for long," Shining replied, making the tip of his horn spark. "Nice," Jak agreed. "Our Uncle will spare a Power Cell if we give him 90 Orbs." Shining shrugged. Unlike Jak, he didn't feel quite the same kinship with the man Samos had proclaimed their Uncle, as he still remembered arriving in Sandover with Samos, though Jak had apparently chosen to discard those memories. "Also," Jak continued, "the Mayor has two Power Cells for us. One if we contribute 90 Orbs to his re-election campaign, and one if we can fix the Eco beams in the temple in the Forbidden Jungle to give the village power again." "And the artist's Muse has run off to Misty Island," Daxter pointed out, "and he'll give us a Power Cell if we bring the critter back. However, the only way there is with the fisherman's boat, and we need his permission to use it...and he's in the Forbidden Jungle somewhere." "So we can either go to Sentinel Beach to do what Samos asked, or hit the Forbidden Jungle to see about getting more Power Cells," Shining summarized. "More Power Cells sooner sounds better," Jak decided. "Forbidden Jungle it is." "I have a question," Daxter pointed out. "Keira said the Lurkers locked the Scout Flies in the boxes, right?" "Yeah," Shining confirmed. "How'd they do that in the village without anyone noticing?" Daxter demanded. "I mean, some of the crates were in people's houses!" "Actually, that was my bad," Keira said from the communications device. "I looked over the coding of my Scout Flies, and where it's supposed to say 'return to your box for retrieval', it instead says 'reconstruct your box for retrieval'. So once one of the Flies in a given area finds a Power Cell, all of them lock themselves in crates, and none of them will give up the Power Cell unless all seven in that area have been retrieved. Sorry about that." "You're the first to work with tech like this," Jak pointed out. "Mistakes are bound to happen. The fact they work as well as they do is an achievement." "If you're done flirting," Shining drolled, rolling his eyes as he turned to lead the way towards the jungle. The Forbidden Jungle was lush and humid, filled with large trees, rivers, strange ground formations, and tons of hostile wildlife, both Lurker and ordinary animal. It also had a great deal of booby traps, including swinging logs covered in spikes hanging from the trees. As the trio progressed through, they eventually found the fisherman...who challenged them to use a tiny net to scoop 200 pounds of fish out of the river. He promised them both a power cell and the use of his speed boat to get to Misty Island if they succeeded. To up the challenge, they weren't allowed to miss 20 pounds of fish, and even one poisonous eel caught would poison the entire catch. Shining decided to try the challenge, holding the net in his magical aura. He also extended that aura slightly outward into the river, using it to angle good fish into the net and push the eels away. The fisherman didn't notice, but Jak did, and gave his equine brother a thumbs up. Another power cell and the keys to the speed boat in hand, the trio continued their exploration of the Forbidden Jungle. Along the way, they noticed several spiked vines coming out of the ground that hadn't been there when they'd come on the camping trip with Samos. After a brief detour in the water for another power cell, they found a lurker machine that was redirecting the Eco Beam the mayor had mentioned. Climbing to the top of it, they broke the Lurker mirror, which caused a Precursor mirror to rise out of the ground. Using the controls, they lined it up on the next mirror. Following the Eco Beams, they began climbing a Precursor tower to the next mirror, finding the seventh Scout Fly in the process. Reaching the top of the tower, they collected another Power Cell...as well as opening a pathway into the Forbidden Temple. After some carefully timed jumps across pits, the trio activated the Blue Eco controller in the depths of the temple, activating numerous Blue Eco vents scattered across the continent and gaining another Power Cell. Using the Blue Eco opened several new paths...leading them to a large plant with eyes on its flower and spiked vines waving about. Dark Eco could just barely be seen veining its body. Shining and Jak evaded the plant's movements, quickly realizing that the plant's bud was its vulnerable point. "How can we hit it to knock it out?" Daxter demanded. Shining looked up at Jak and winked. Grinning, Jak held Daxter up by his hands, while Shining pulled back on his tail with his magic. "What are you do-IIIIIINNNNGGGG!?" Daxter's question turned into a scream as he was propelled into the plant like he was launched from a slingshot. After three such hits, the plant died, dropping a Power Cell. After grabbing one other last Power Cell, the trio finished aligning the mirrors, restoring power to Sandover Village. They then turned to return to plot their next move.