Despairing is Caring

"**Despairing is Caring**" is a Mainline Quest in *Wizard101* and the 39th Mainline Quest for the Wallaru storyline. It was released on live servers with the rest of the Wallaru expansion on November 27, 2023. The Quest continues from "Collie Collared" and leads to "Judging Judges."

## Characters

*In order of appearance:*

* **Judge Veg** (Judge\_Veg\_WL-WOBB) — J.M. Specht
* **Sandiago** (Sandiago\_WL-WOBB) — Scott Jones
* **Ned Collie** (Ned\_Collie\_WL-WOBB) — Jason Liebrecht
* **Sybil** (Sybil\_WL-WOBB) — Valerie Redd
* **Dasein** (Dasein\_Ned\_WL-WOBB) — Mike MacRae
* **Freddie Kroaker** (pretending to be Dasein) (Freddie\_Kroaker\_WL-WOBB) — Alexander Brandon
* **Wombat** (Wombat\_WL-WOBB) — Unknown

## Dialogue

Previous: "Collie Collared"
(*Talking to Judge Veg in the Wobbegong Territory*)

 **Judge Veg:** We should just take him to the local Judge. Maybe they can get the hostages' location out of him.
 **Sandiago:** Why did you take those hostages anyway? Surely you knew it would only invite further pressure.
 **Ned Collie:** Now ain't that a sensible question. I needed leverage. We're gettin' squeezed out here. The Drovers harangue us, the Townies walk all over us.
 **Ned Collie:** I want this territory to be ours, right and proper, but ain't no one coming to the table unless they're dragged there.
 **Judge Veg:** Drovers have little interest in anyone who doesn't follow their ways. They're very protective.
 **Ned Collie:** Of their precious Dreaming. I ain't interested in that, got no time for Dreams out here. Too much reality to deal with.
 **Sandiago:** I fear dealing with reality must wait a spell. Let us rest and make for the ranch tomorrow.
(*After resting at the Campfire and entering a dream*)

 **Sybil:** What are you?
 **Dasein:** I am tired and afraid and unwanted. The Spiral wants me gone. They rage about it on my surface even now.
 **Sybil:** That is what you feel. What are you?
 **Dasein:** I am Nothing? No, that's not true anymore. I am something now. I am Novus.
 **Sybil:** What is Novus?
 **Dasein:** I had thought... a gift. But to them, it is an intrusion. To me, an anchor, a shackle holding me to a place I am not welcome.
 **Dasein:** Novus is... a curse.
(*After defeating Despair*)

 **Sybil:** Novus need not remain a curse. What should it become?
 **Dasein:** Novus should be...
 **Dasein:** ...DOOMED!
(*After exiting the dream*)

 **Sandiago:** No, no, I'm sure they're fine. It's just that Dasein fellow I told you about.
 **Wombat:** \*Wombat Noises\*
 **Sandiago:** Oh, Wizard, you wake at last. You slept all day. I was just passing the time with our Wombat friend.
 **Sandiago:** What? Did you think she sits here waiting for us all the time. No! She has a rich social life, Wizard. Now, come, let's discuss the Dingoes.
 **Sandiago:** As Mr. Collie tells it, his family are descendants of early settlers from back when Townies were courting the Spiral Powers.
 **Ned Collie:** Course Spiral Powers had long lost interest. The Dreaming was sealed beyond the Great Barrier and the lakes hadn't been mapped yet.
 **Ned Collie:** So Wallaru was essentially a desert that ate a king one time. The only people Marleybone was willing to let come were... the unwanteds.
 **Ned Collie:** We leased some land and made do. But the Townies never embraced us, the Drovers kept trying to drive us off, and no one let us near the Dream Water.
 **Ned Collie:** Best we can manage is to just sleepwalk through an endless routine. We are the Dreamless Ones, left to rot, while the rest of the world gets to hope.
 **Judge Veg:** Uh-huh. Sad story, yo. But when the Emu Riders stormed through, the Townies did deploy Judges to help.
 **Ned Collie:** Did they now? We ain't allowed to work, can't deliver goods. All because the "Emus" are about. Soon, we won't make rent. 'Cause the land ain't ours.
 **Ned Collie:** When we can't pay, it defaults back to the Prime Minister's office... something they've been angling at a while now.
 **Judge Veg:** So you say. Fine. Wizard, let's look into it. Sandiago can watch Ned. But if he's lying... he's compost. Let's go to the Collie Ranch.
(*Talking to Judge Veg in Collie Ranch*)

 **Judge Veg:** Huh. Judges really fortified this place in the last day. Doesn't make Collie right. Just means they really want to catch him.
Next: "Judging Judges"