Drexxell's EQ "Am I one with the wall?" Page (6/13/2006)

Initial data collected June 2006

Explanation of this page

In recent raids to The Plane of Sky, I have begun asking myself "How is it that anyone figured out the right words ('?llaw eht htiw eno I ma') to say to Sirran the Lunatic on Wasp island?" It certainly didn't seem to flow logically from any hints Sirran gave (on that note, I was partially wrong.)

I was tipped off to the words "Am I one with the wall?" being part of a long-standing quest in Rivervale via email by Quigley who was giving feedback on the Plane of Sky guide. That quest was the Wall Squad Ring Quest. Thus began my own clarification of the relationship between the Halfling Sirran the Lunatic (in Plane of Sky) and the Halflings of Rivervale and their mighty wall in Misty Thicket.

Below, find first a complete quest-guide to the Wall Squad Ring quest, and then below that, my best guess as to what Sony expected people's thinking to be in order to figure out how to say "?llaw eht htiw eno I ma" to Sirran.

Corrections and additions are most welcome!

Questions/Comments: drexxell@ymail.com

The Wall Squad Ring Quest

This quest begins in Rivervale, at the Warrior's Guild. Find Marshal Ghobber in the back room....

• You say, 'Hail, Marshal Ghobber'
• Marshal Ghobber says 'Greetings! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Marshal Ghobber Truppack, Marshal of the Great Wall Patrol. Are you [new to the squad]?'

(If your faction is dubious):

• You say, 'I am new to the squad'
• Marshal Ghobber says 'How can you expect to just waltz into Guardian Stronghold and expect to gather information?! Consider yourself lucky I don't command the Guardian of the Vale deputies to show you the sharpness of their blades!'

(If your faction is amiably or better [indifferent may work - wasn't checked]):

• You say, 'I am new to the squad'
• Marshal Ghobber says 'Great!!! We require more deputies in this squad. We are suffering great losses to the [new threat]. Welcome to the Great Wall Patrol where our motto is, 'United we shall defend.' It will be some time before you can earn your squad ring - first you must prove your strength in battle. Report to the squad leader. He is Deputy Budo. You can find him at the Great Wall of Serilis in the Misty Thicket. Go to him at once and tell him you are reporting for duty.'
• You say, 'What new threat?'
• Marshal Ghobber says 'The new threat I refer to is the community of goblins which was found beyond the Great Wall of Serilis. They are called Clan Runnyeye. They have begun to sneak over the wall. The deputies have reported seeing them launch themselves up the wall in a matter of seconds using ornate grappling hooks. We have attempted to obtain one of these devices for further inspection, but we have yet to find one on any of the dead goblins. If you should ever find one, be sure to bring it to me immediately.'
• You say, 'what squad ring?' (No response)

Time to go find this Deputy Budo guy. I went out to the wall that divides Misty Thicket in two and found the Budo was always in the first tower south of the doorway in the wall. The problem is that he also always is stuck in the floor and generally not viewable, targetable or hailable that way. The best method of bringing him out of the floor is to go grab a small train of bixies, beetles, snakes, etc and bring them to the front of Budo's tower. He and his partner should come rushing out in a few moments to "save you". Once he's outside the tower, you can hail him and continue the quest.

• You say, 'Hail, Deputy Budo'
• Deputy Budo says 'Hail, Drexxell. I am Deputy Budo Bullnose, the squad leader of the Great Wall Patrol. Be very careful in the lands beyond the wall. They are filled with dangerous beasts, as well as [Clan Runnyeye].'
• You say, 'What about clan Runnyeye?'
• Deputy Budo says 'Beyond this wall lies Runnyeye, the lair of the goblins of Clan Runnyeye. They have been a nuisance to Rivervale for quite some time. If you wish to join the fight, go to Rivervale and ask Sheriff Roglio about Clan Runnyeye.'

(Only if you've been to Marshal Ghobber would you know to say this next:)

• You say, 'I am reporting for duty'
• Deputy Budo says 'Stand tall then, Deputy Drexxell. Your orders are to keep the creatures from venturing into the community of Rivervale and to kill many goblins. Check the goblin bodies, if you should find unbroken warrior beads on them, take them to Sheriff Roglio Bruth and should you be lucky enough to find a bizarre grappling device, you are to take it to Marshal Ghobber Truppack immediately! One more thing - should you defeat any orcs in battle, bring me their leather belts and I shall reward you for the great victory. May the power of Underfoot be with you!'

This obviously then leads to 3 sub-quests:

1. Turn in RunnyEye Warbeads to Sheriff Roglio (Warrior Guild, top floor)
2. Turn in DeathFist Slashed Belts to Budo (This guy)
3. Turn in some sort of grappling hook to Marshal Ghobber (Warrior Guild)
   • This hook is unidentified. Allakhazam has nothing. And for all my time clearing mobs in Misty Thicket and Runnyeye, I've never seen it.

You can now go kill goblins and orcs in the west half of Misty Thicket and collect RunnyEye Warbeads (not "Shattered Warbeads") and also DeathFist Slashed Belts. No clue about the grappling hook yet.

Sub-Quest #1: RunnyEye Warbeads to Sheriff Roglio

Find Sheriff Roglio in the top floor of the Rivervale Warrior's Guild...

• You say, 'Hail, Sheriff Roglio'
• Sheriff Roglio says 'Hail, Drexxell! Stand tall whenever you are speaking to the Sheriff of Rivervale. I command the warriors of this vale. You must be new to the ranks of the Guardians of the Vale, so be sure to report to your squad at once. We must protect our people. The [danger] has come closer to home. If you are not a deputy, then please leave these halls.'
• You say, 'What danger?'
• Sheriff Roglio says 'What danger?!! You must be new to the community. The goblins of Clan Runnyeye have been scaling our wall somehow. You must join our forces in exterminating every one of those beasts. Your wages are earned with every four bloody goblin warbead necklaces you return to me. Now be off and fight the good fight.'

Although Deputy Budo asked me to ask the Sheriff about Clan Runnyeye, he has nothing to say about it:

• You say, 'What about Clan Runnyeye?' (No response)

So, now that we're done talking to this guy, let's do the turn in that both he himself, and Deputy Budo told me to do....

• You turn in 4 RunnyEye Warbeads to Sheriff Roglio
• Sheriff Roglio says 'Good work, Deputy Drexxell! We shall soon rid our countryside of the goblin threat. Here are your wages. Eat well tonight!'
  • Your faction standing with Guardians of the Vale got better.
  • Your faction standing with Mayor Gubbin got better.
  • Your faction standing with Storm Reapers got better.
  • Your faction standing with Merchants of Rivervale got better.
  • Your faction standing with Dreadguard Outer could not possibly get any worse.
  • You gain experience!!
  • You receive 9 silver from Sheriff Roglio.

Note: I did this turn in 5 different times, and it always ended the same except one time, when he gave me the money and one "Tagglefoot Tingle Drink" (which seems to be little more than just a drink).

Sub-Quest #2: DeathFist Slashed Belts to Deputy Budo

Find Deputy Budo where he usually is: stuck in the floor of his tower (see above)...

• You turn in a DeathFisth Slashed Belt to Deputy Budo
• Deputy Budo says 'Grand work, Deputy Drexxell! You will become a full-fledged deputy in no time. You should check in with Marshal Ghobber from time to time to see if you have earned your squad ring. Just go up to him and ask, 'Am I one with the Wall?' (emphasis Drexxell's) He will know, but you must first show your bravery in many battles against the goblins.'
  • Your faction standing with Guardians of the Vale got better.
  • Your faction standing with Mayor Gubbin got better.
  • Your faction standing with Storm Reapers got better.
  • Your faction standing with Merchants of Rivervale got better.
  • Your faction standing with Dreadguard Outer got worse.
  • You gain experience!!
  • You receive 4 copper from Deputy Budo.

Sub-Quest #3: Ornate Grappling Hook? Bizarre Grappling Device? to Marshal Ghobber

Currently unsolved.

I wonder...Am I one with the wall?

Now that you've done 2 of the quests, you can see that #2 (Belts to Budo) gives you a prompt to go ask "Am I one with the wall?" of Marshal Ghobber. So, back to the Marshal and ask....

(If your faction is anything except maximum ally for "Guardians of the Vale"):

• You say, 'Am I one with the wall?'
• Marshal Ghobber says 'You are in good standing with the Guardians of the Vale. Continue with your good work and then we may speak.'

(If your faction maximum ally for "Guardians of the Vale"):

• You say, 'Am I one with the wall?'
• Marshal Ghobber says 'Yes!! Welcome, Deputy Drexxell! You are now an elite member of the Great Wall Division. Wear this ring with pride. You may take it to Hendi Mrubble of the Clerics of Mischief for healing at any time. Wear it with pride.'

At this point, I received "Squad Ring"!

But then, the kicker...

• Your faction standing with Guardians of the Vale got worse.

Here are a few more tidbits, associated with this quest...

Raising faction with "Guardians of the Vale"

I used the "Bandages for Joogl Honeybugger" quest (hand him 4 bandages at a time) to raise my Rivervale factions. I began as "dubious". After the following number of stacks of bandages, my faction rating was:

0	Dubious
??	Indifferent
20	Amiably
32	Kindly
45	Warmly
62	Ally
72	Max Ally*

*Your faction standing with Guardians of the Vale could not possibly get any better.

I checked every possible faction standing of Guardians of the Vale, and only when I had reached maximum ally, did this quest work.

Interesting Final Note

Although not directly part of this quest, the quest itself is referenced in "zone spam" when you go deep into RunnyEye Citadel. Try it yourself sometime, and look for this spam:

• If the people of Rivervale hate goblins so much, why do they not simply root this place out? Probably because they are not that foolish. "One with the Wall" indeed!

Sirran the Lunatic is a mob found in the Plane of Sky. Anyone who has raided there up to Wasp Island (#6) or beyond, must have dealt with one of the more strange in-game prompts that Sirran gives. Most of his prompts at least make a little sense, but I (like many others before me) "cheated" and looked up what to say to Sirran on Island #6 on the web. "If I have seen farther than other men, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants."

The real question, in my mind is: "How did anyone figure out how to deal with Sirran at all on Island 6?". The answer, it turns out, has everything to do with the Squad Ring quest, above.

Let us pretend, for a moment, that we're raiding in Plane of Sky and do not have the benefit of the WWW to help us cheat our way past Sirran. Ignoring (for now) all interaction with Sirran from Islands 1 through 4, let's begin with Island 5.

Island 5, after killing The Spiroc Lord:

• You say, 'Hail, Sirran the Lunatic'
• Sirran the Lunatic says 'Children, run to the wall and give the deputies some miIk. Oh, I almost forgot. Give me your trinkets, or give me death!'

Now, while the entire Wall Squad Ring Quest above makes no mention of "milk", it is pretty clear that "deputies" and "wall" might be referring to the Halfling Deputies at the Wall in Misty Thicket. Since Sirran is a Halfling, perhaps this makes even more sense. But, at this point, the reference means nothing to Plane of Sky. It does, however, get us thinking about Misty Thicket and the Wall so that on Island 6, we can stay focused on that.

With that in mind, let's see what happens when we try to deal with Sirran on Island 6.

Island 6, after killing Bazzt Zzzt:

• You say, 'Hail, Sirran the Lunatic' (No Response!)

What to do!? Sirran has never failed to respond to a hail yet!. It is at this point that the very first person to deal with Sirran had to put on their thinking caps. At first, a variety of prompts, hails, etc would be tried (none of them work). However, the person might remember one very important thing about Sirran -- In addition to speaking in resonse to hails he also speaks when you hand him the key loot to trade for the key to the next island. Maybe we need to trade in key loot, see what he says, and then figure out how to proceed....

Island 6, after turning in Noise Maker for Key of the Swarm:

• Sirran the Lunatic says 'Dnib a ni era uoy ro esarhp eht yas dna yrruh!! Sruoy era syek eht dna romra em evig. Erom on gnits seixib eht ahahahahah!'

"What the heck?", you think to yourself. Then it hits you...he's speaking backwards! What he said was:

• 'Hahahahaha the bixies sting no more. Give me armor and the keys are yours. Hurry and say the phrase or you are in a bind!!'

Ok, we know that "give me armor" means to give him the "Dull Dragon Scale" and that "the keys are yours" means he'll give you the "Key of Scale". (Since that is just what we did to get him to say this.) What about the "say the phrase or you are in a bind" though? That's sure puzzling. However someone very smart long ago must have had an idea -- since Sirran is now speaking backwards, what would happen if I hail him backwards? And it went like this:

• You say, 'citanuL eht narriS, liaH'
• Sirran the Lunatic says 'Lortap llaw taerg eht fo lahsram, Narris lahsram ma I. Flesym ecudortni ot em wolla. Sgniteerg.'

Hey, it worked! So what did Sirran say?

• Greetings. Allow me to introduce myself. I am marshal Sirran, Marshal of the great wall patrol.

Hmmmm, this is interesting. There are not [bracketed phrases] to lead us down a path of conversation. What now? Again, the first smart person to figure this out probably realized a few things:

1. Sirran is a Halfling
2. On Island 5, Sirran mentions deptuties and a wall (focusing us on the Misty Thicket wall)
3. Sirran's words match those of Marshal Ghobber perfectly:
   • Sirran (backwards): "Greetings. Allow me to introduce myself. I am marshal Sirran, Marshal of the great wall patrol."
   • Marshal Ghobber: "Greetings! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Marshal Ghobber Truppack, Marshal of the Great Wall Patrol"
4. Sirran is speaking backwards
5. Sirran has asked for "the phrase"
6. Marshal Ghobber has "a phrase" that you're expected to say to him: "Am I one with the wall?"

Putting all this together, someone, sometime way back in history figured out the next step:

• You say, '?llaw eht htiw eno I ma'
• Sirran the Lunatic says 'Kcul doog! Ouy rof ydaer si erips eht fo retsis eht won, sdik boj doog.'

Success again! What did Sirran say though?

• 'Good job kids, now the sister of the spire is ready for you. Good luck!'

And with that, the riddle was solved. Someone figured out that the Sister of the Spire is the boss of Island 7, and therefore required to get to Island 8. Just imagine, if you will, the frustration of the first few people, just dying to get to Island 8, and never ever seeing the boss of Island 7 up, and not realizing that Sirran on Island 6 was the key to it the whole time.

That's it folks. That's my theory on how Sony expected us to think with regard to Sirran. We are expected to take the clue from Island 5, sniff around Misty Thicket and Rivervale, deal with both Marshal Ghobber and Deputy Budo. Then we need to figure out how to get Sirran to speak at all on Island 6, and when he does, to realize that we must deal in backwards speak with him. Then we are to put together that the words of Marshal Ghobber and Sirran are identical, and then use the phrase, given to us by Deputy Budo for use on Marshal Ghobber, on Sirran (in backwards form).

Piece of cake, right?

Drexxell, 6/13/2006