[F17-SP] Needle in a Haystack <Challenge of Olympus: Forager>

[Rebekah 0]

It was a brand new day for Rebekah. There was nothing for her to do as she had finished all of her work early this week. She had already gone crafted her daily order of food consumables for her shop. She saw that her owl Snowball was still sleeping. Rebekah was careful not to disturb it. Therefore, she decided to flip through the list of quests that she had not yet attempted yet. There was one, the Challenge of the Olympus for her forager profession. She had thought about doing this but she had not had the time yet. She checked her calendar and today was empty. "I will do this today." Rebekah said.

She knew that she had already schedule tomorrow for a meeting with Nicklaus, her older brother to handle a few things tomorrow. He wanted to do another quest, and she knew that this quest was easy enough. The last time she did this for her cooking skill, she had a cooking competition. How hard could the forager aspect of the challenge be?

Rebekah did not know but she was not going to wait to find out. There was only one thing she had to consider, and this was what she was going to wear today. She knew that she was likely going to have to get on her hands and search for something so she wore something that allowed her to get her hands dirty. She ended up wearing boots and jeans, which she would not have to care as much getting dirty.

Spoiler

Rebekah
Level 32 | P 16 | HP 760/760 | EN 88/88 | DMG: 23 | MIT: 98 | ACC: 4 | EVA: 1 | LD: 5
BH 41 | Survival +10% | Thorns 36 | EN -2

Tier 5 – Paragon Bonuses
Laurel Wreath
+ 1 LD for Looting, Searching and Opening Treasure Chests

Equipment:
Laevateinn II (T4 RAPIER) 3 [DMG]
 Silver Necklace (T4 Trinket) 3 [ACC]
Frozen Dress (T4 HA) 2 [MIT] 1 [Throns]

Skills:
Weapon Skill (R5) | 7 [DMG]
Battle Healing (R5) | 5% (38 HP)
Heavy Armour (R5) | 35 [MIT]
Searching (R5) | 5 [LD] 5 [SD]

Combat Masteries:
Evasion (R1) | 1 [EVA]

Add-ons:
Ferocity | 2 [DMG]
Precision | 1 [ACC]
Stamina | 2 [EN]
Iron Skin | 15 [MIT] 60 [HP]

Mods:
Impetus | 1 [DMG]

Extra:
Survival
Disguise
Meditation

Profession:
Forager (R3)  - 256/299 EXP

Familiar:
Snowball – Rending Familiar

Items:
Unbroken (T4 Shield) 2 [MIT] [Anti-freeze]
5 Golden Keys | + 2 [LD] on Chests

Guild:
Trading Hall
Treasury | + 5% mobs + 10% treasure chest

 

Edited April 17, 2022 by Rebekah

[Rebekah 0]

Rebekah's next challenge was to get to the seventeenth floor. The only way she was going to get there was if she was going to leave her room that she was renting and head towards the teleportation gate. However, before she could reach there, she knew she needed to pick up something to eat. From her experience last time, the trek to the sacred city of Olympus from Athenaia had taken a while. In addition, it did not help that the escort was not very talkative and was in a rush. Therefore, she decided to take her time now, so that once she got there, she could get started right away.

Therefore, Rebekah decided to enter into a local bakery on the fourth floor, and order some breakfast food to eat. She had chosen to eat a breakfast sandwich containing a classic english muffin, sausage, egg and cheese. This came with the classic drink of an english breakfast tea, which Rebekah could taste was a little too bitter and resembled black tea. Black tea was not her favourite but she will have to make do with what she had. She rather drink coffee today but that was not sold at this boutique shop selling food in the morning.

After this, Rebekah finally made it to the teleportation gate on the fourth floor. She was lucky it was not cold this morning, or else she would have been freezing wearing something that was meant for warm weather such as where she was going next.

[Rebekah 0]

Rebekah's next step was in the warm, ancient greek city of Athenaia. She was always amazed at the local architecture, but today she was not here to visit as a tourist. She had an important job to do, which was to find her escort that will take her to Olympus. Normally, nymphs stand out quite a bit, especially with their white and plain clothing. However, that was not the case on this floor, where everyone else was wearing ancient greek attire. This made Rebekah stand out immensely with her pink hair. Nobody has pink hair back in the day in ancient greece.

As she began reading her quest and accepting it, she knew the nymph would be around here somewhere. Hopefully, she would be a lot more friendly than the guard who showed her around last time. It was a miserable time talking to a Satyr guard and she was happy that this time someone else was going to be her escort. She did not need the guard to protect her, she was strong enough herself.

Out of the corner of Rebekah's eye, she noticed someone walking by, it looked like exactly what she thought her escort would look like. She was wearing simple loose fitting clothing akin to a cloth with minimal design or flashy patterns. This had got to be person she was looking for, but did she know Rebekah was right there. She decided to follow the NPC to her designated spot around the town centre of Athenaia to find out.

[Rebekah 0]

Once the NPC arrived at her designated spot in the town centre of Athenaia, Rebekah decided to walk up to the nymph, who was waiting for someone. She decided she should make the first move and introduce herself, "Hello, I am Rebekah. I am here to take the challenge by Demeter. Are you my escort to Olympia today?" Rebekah asked.

The young lady in the white clothing replied, "Hello, yes, I am your escort today. Are you ready to head towards Olympia?" She asked. The young lady was ready to leave at any moment, and Rebekah had nothing else to do in this city. She knew that this challenge could potentially take quite a bit of time so she rather leave early and return sooner. There was nothing else to prepare for before she left.

Therefore, Rebekah responded to the young lady who was there with her, "I am ready to leave now. Let's head out now." Rebekah responded to the question. Then, the two of them began their trek out of the town centre of Athenaia. She knew that hopefully she can return on time to do some sightseeing in this settlement. After all, she had not spent much time here at all since the floor was open.

[Rebekah 0]

As they quickly made their way through the long and winding streets of Athenaia to exit the settlement, Rebekah thought this would be a good time to try to get a conversation going, or at least try to find out more about the task at hand today. Rebekah knew that she would partake in some sort of a challenge today, so she would like some additional information that would be able to help her figure out what is correct.

As they were still the streets, Rebekah asked the young lady that was her guide today, "Can you tell me more about Demeter?" Rebekah did not want to start off the conversation by asking a direct awkward question such as what is the task she would have to preform today. Therefore the first thing in her mind was to try to understand more about the personality of the NPC she would have to perform the task for.

"Demeter is one of the goddess on Olympia." The nymph said. That gave her no information at all, as that could be found directly in her quest log. Rebekah would have to try a lot harder to get a proper answer.

[Rebekah 0]

Rebekah decided to be a lot more direct to the Nympth who did not understand her original question. "Can you try to tell me more about Demeter? I suppose she was the one who had sent you to pick me up." Rebekah asked. "Can you tell me more about the challenge that she has planned for me?" Rebekah continued as they slowly hiked up the long path towards Olympia.

The Nympth took a second before responding to Rebekah's question, "Demeter is the one in charge of all agriculture in Olympia. In particular, she is in charge of blessing each and every single harvest. The mortals also give her an offering before every harvest." The Nympth responded. "Unfortunately, I am unable to tell you what the challenge is, as I do not know about it myself. It is a closely kept secret and only Demeter will be able to tell you what you are responsible to do."

That was not any help for Rebekah as she was still trying to find some more information about what she was going to do today. The last time she was in Olympia, she had a surprise cooking challenge against one of the goddess, and won by creating an amazing beef wellington from scratch. Does Rebekah need to pull another miracle out of nothing to succeed today's challenge? She was still wondering what she would have to do today.

[Rebekah 0]

The pair of them had continue walking. They were still hiking up the trail leading up to Olympia. She wondered why the city of the gods and goddess was so far away to travel to, and then realized the city was only available by invitation only. It would not make sense for the city to be close enough that anyone can go. In other words, there must be reason why this city was available.

Therefore, Rebekah knew that this was going to a long journey, so she started to ask more questions about Demeter. Rebekah was hoping that the young nympth may slip up and say something that she was not suppose to say. "Can you tell me more about the object that I will need to find or collect?" Rebekah asked.

The Nympth asked, "Well, she lost an important piece of jewelry several weeks ago and have been looking for someone to help her look for." She immediately cut off her sentence and decided to change the conversation, "It is such a beautiful day today."

That was what Rebekah was waiting for, it was a slight moment of hesitation that gave her all the information she needed about today's quest. Who would have thought, Rebekah was smart enough to try to convince someone to say something that she did not want to say at all. She noticed something in front of them as they were walking so Rebekah walked over to pick it up.

ID = 208800 | LD = 19 | CD = 7
Foraging (R3) - 264/299 EXP (+8)
+ 1 Mat + 1 Mat (CD)

Edited April 18, 2022 by Rebekah

[Rebekah 0]

After finding two valuable materials seemingly out of nowhere but on their journey towards Olympia, Rebekah decided to press her luck even more by continuing to see if the Nympth would say anything more in this conversation. "You are right, it is such a beautiful day today to be outside. Is this a special piece of jewelry we are talking about?" Rebekah tried to sneakily add the second question. She had fallen for it once again.

"Yes, this makes it a lot easier to search. This is the special ring that Demeter wears which helps bless all the harvests in Olympia. Without this magical ring, we cannot harvest any of our crops. It is almost the end of harvest season, which is why we need your help." The young attendant responded.

Now, Rebekah finally understood why she was called in to help out a goddess on Olympia today. It was a special request that only she could do, or well any player with a foraging level two skill which showed their dedication to this craft of foraging. However, Rebekah knew that time was of the essence. Once it is harvest season, it is go time. There was no time to waste and they had spent time already looking for this ring that had gone missing for Demeter.

ID = 208801 | LD = 7 | CD = 9
Foraging (R3) - 267/299 EXP (+3)
(failed) / 2 Mat Total

Edited April 18, 2022 by Rebekah

[Rebekah 0]

They were almost there at Olympia. Rebekah could make out the outline of the special city up above in the mountains at the end of the path. This was not stopping her from taking a quick detour to try to collect another material on this path. She had already found out a lot about this quest, and was excited to get started. She knew that this will be a fun experience, but she was going to keep talking and continue to gather information. Perhaps she could potentially break a speed record at finding the missing item as soon as possible.

Rebekah asked the Nympth once again, "Can you tell me the type of crops that are grown up in Olympia?". She wanted to know the type of crops that she may have to look for. Judging from the words that were spoken so far, it appears that the ring might have been lost in the fields.

"The type of produce grown in Olympia includes wheat and barley which makes up the bulk of the fields in Olympia. In addition, there are also a lot of olives, grapes and common fruits and vegetables from the garden."

This was not a surprise for Rebekah as she was good at history and had remember the type of cuisine that the people in ancient greece had eaten on a regular basis. Rebekah knew that she would likely have to go scour the fields at this point in time.

ID = 208815 | LD = 13 | CD = 8
Foraging (R3) - 275/299 EXP (+8)
+1 Mat + 1 Mat (CD) / 4 Mat Total

Edited April 19, 2022 by Rebekah

[Rebekah 0]

They were finally at the gates that guarded the special city of Olympia. Rebekah was following the Nympth very closely. As soon as they got up to the gate, the guard began to question their reasoning into the city. It was akin to crossing the border into another country. Rebekah did not recall there was tight security last time she had visited.

The Nympth was trying to reassure the guard that Rebekah meant no harm towards the residents of the city. She was here as part of orders from Demeter who needed a mortal's help as part of a challenge. However, the guard was refusing to budge as regular players were not allowed into Olympia without permission.

It had taken a few minutes of arguing between the Nympth and the guard before the Nympth was able to pull out an official piece of paper, showing the documentation for a Rebekah to enter into the city. The guard finally relented but as Rebekah walked passed, the guard said, "I am watching you."

This made Rebekah feel very uncomfortable. However, the Nympth quickly spoke, "We have to hurry. Demeter does not like it when we are late, and we are now running behind due to that guard. He has been trying to get us in trouble since he knows Demeter will punish anyone who is late."

[Rebekah 0]

After entering the city of Olympia, Rebekah hurried after the Nympth eager to get to the exact place where Demeter was waiting for them. As they snaked through the busy and bustling streets as well as going around buildings, they had finally entered the building. As soon as they entered the first room, the Nympth turned to Rebekah, "Demeter is waiting in the next room, I will be waiting for you here."

Therefore, Rebekah took a deep breath before entering the next room. "Welcome dear Mortal. I am in need of so help. It appears I have lost the ring that I used to bless the beginning of harvest season. As a result, we cannot begin our harvest right now of our crops." The pretty and stunning goddess spoke to Rebekah.

Rebekah quickly bowed in front of the goddess showing her respects before responding, "And you would like me to help you find your missing ring?" Rebekah asked.

Demeter spoke, "Yes, we would like to enlist your help. In exchange for your help, we have a special reward for you when you find my ring. However, if you were to fail, the consequences will be severe. You have to the end of the day to find it."

The timeline was fine by Rebekah. She did not want to spend the entire day stuck at Olympia and would rather return home to do something in the afternoon such as attending to her shop. Therefore, this time limit would not put pressure on her.

[Rebekah 0]

It was now time for Rebekah to attempt to pry more information out of the goddess Demeter to potentially cut down on the amount of work she would have to do to search for this mysterious but special ring. Rebekah decided to fire off the first of her multiple questions before she got kicked out of this room, "Do you remember when was the last time you had worn or used the ring?" Rebekah asked.

The goddess thought for a few minutes before responding to her question, "We had done a harvest ceremony and harvest sacrifice a few weeks ago to commence the start of the grape and olive harvest season. That was the last time I saw my ring." Demeter responded.

Their conversation was going somewhere, so Rebekah decided to ask another question. "Can you tell me more about what the ring looks like?" Rebekah asked.

"This is a golden ring with a small gemstone in the middle." Demeter said. "I do not have all day, do you have any more questions?" Demeter asked as she started to get impatient as this foraging was clearly the girl's job and not something befitting of a goddess.

"Can I borrow someone to lead me around so I do not get lost?" Rebekah asked the goddess.

The goddess thought for a second and called for the Nympth who had took Rebekah to Olympia. "Can you escort this mortal around Olympia?"

The Nympth nodded, and Demeter quickly left the room.

[Rebekah 0]

Now that there were only the two of them left in the room, Rebekah decided to ask the Nympth to bring her to the harvest fields. That was the first place she should look given that was the last time the goddess had remembered that she was wearing the ring. "Can you take me directly to the grape field?" Rebekah asked.

This was the first place she wanted to inspect given that grapes were used in everyday cuisine in Ancient Greece given that alcohol but in particularly wine was a common drink that many gods and goddess would drink to help wash down their meal. Therefore, a good grape harvest is paramount to the survival and morale of the settlement of Olympia. She needed to get directly to the source of where the drink was coming from.

There was no disagreement and Rebekah was soon in the fields once again. As they began to walk through every little piece of land in this field, Rebekah was keeping her eyes wide open for the golden ring. It had to be here somewhere. But there was nothing golden in the ground. For as far as she could see, she could only spot vines of grapes in this vineyard. This search was going nowhere for the two of them as they had traversed a long distance throughout the field. Rebekah decided to ask some of the workers if they had seen any jewelry around but they all had told her they have not seen anything for weeks. Perhaps, Rebekah would have to move to a different field to continue searching.

[Rebekah 0]

Since Rebekah's attempt at searching in the grape field had failed, Rebekah decided to head over to the other field that the goddess had recently visited a few weeks ago. This was the olive field. There was no other places Demeter would have gone with the ring. That was the goal. As they made their way over to the next field, Rebekah continued to keep her eyes out looking for a golden piece of jewelry. However, there was nothing shiny out in the field.

Deep down, Rebekah knew this was always going to be a long shot given that it had been a few weeks since she had visited both fields prior to the harvest. This was going to be a problem. Rebekah needed a new location to search and she needed to come up with the idea rather quickly. She decided to ask the Nympth, "Can you also take me to the places where Demeter would frequently visit on a regular day?"

This was a new plan since her currently strategy was not working. She was hoping that this would work given that she had no other ideas at the moment. Rebekah was stuck thinking about what she should do next.

[Rebekah 0]

Just like that, Rebekah party have left both the grape and the olive field. The Nympth have responded, "We cannot visit the private quarters of Demeter but she does like to visit the other fields on the farm as well. I will lead you to the farm."

Rebekah realized that the ring was likely lost recently. After all, Demeter did have her special ring a few weeks ago when those vineyard produce were being harvested by the servants of Olympia. Therefore, a lot of individuals must have walked those paths and they would have noticed the golden ring during the harvest since everything was done manually in Aincrad. There were no machines to prepare the harvests well in advance.

Everything was now making sense, Rebekah knew that she will have to keep trying. It should not be this hard but her first ideas had failed so it was now time to move on. She decided to visit the wheat field which was an important party of their diet in Olympia. Therefore, it was a good idea for Rebekah to visit these fields as she would have walked up and down the field prior to planning when the harvest ceremony and sacrifice would take place.

[Rebekah 0]

Now that they had arrived in the wheat field, Rebekah continue to search for the ring using the same method she had done in the other two fields. However, nothing shiny or golden was sticking out anywhere in this field. There were also a lot of farmers around, so Rebekah tried asking them if they had saw anything. However, nobody had seen anything.

This is strange, the goddess Demeter had lost something but nobody had seen the ring in this field. Therefore, it must be hidden somewhere and not out in the open. If it was that easy to spot, anyone would have seen it already. This meant Rebekah would have to physically work a lot harder to look for the missing object. This was getting difficult. Rebekah was starting to lose patience and knew that she would have to clear her head and use her brain once again.

She had already searched all these fields looking in places that were out in the open, but nothing had worked. Therefore, Rebekah would have to start looking for some common hiding spots that were in these fields. This was going to be tough, what is one area that she had not looked. Then, an idea had popped up in her head. Why did she not think about this a lot earlier. Perhaps, this could work, it sounds too crazy but it was the best idea that she had at the moment.

[Rebekah 0]

There was a giant haystack next to this field of grass. Rebekah knew that hay was created by cutting, drying and bailing together long cut grass. The hay would then be used for a variety of uses including feeding it to livestock. This hay has a colour of modest yellow. Perhaps the golden ring was hidden inside of this haystack? Rebekah thought about diving into it to find the missing ring. After all, this is the craziest thing she could think of, but it would make sense. If the ring was hidden inside accidentally, then nobody nearby would notice the golden yellow colour of Demeter's ring.

Rebekah was not allergic to hay, so she took a deep breath before she dived into the haystack. The neatly packed pile of hay was quickly knocked over as Rebekah began searching inside She was looking for something tiny, in a circle. There was a lot of hay to wade through and search but she reached and had felt something in front of her. She decided to grab it with her hand. It was round.

Rebekah got back up and out of the haystack, and took a look at her hand. It was a golden ring. She turned to the Nympth who was guiding her this entire time, "Is this Demeter's ring?" Rebekah asked.

The Nympth smiled and nodded. Rebekah had finally found the missing object. It was now time to return it to the goddess who was frantically looking for this.

[Rebekah 0]

Rebekah had made a giant mess. Therefore, Rebekah decided to go and help clean up the mess that she had made as a result of diving head first into the haystack. There was a hay everywhere. Luckily, everyone nearby was also helping pitch in in cleaning up the hay and stacking it back into the neat pile. She had wondered how the ring had gotten lost in the haystack but thought otherwise of asking about it.

After about 10 minutes of cleaning up, it was now finally time to leave the field and head back towards where Demeter was staying. It would take a short walk to head back so Rebekah decided to use his opportunity to get to know the Nympth who had accompanied her on this journey today. "What is your role in Olympia?" Rebekah asked.

The Nympth then explained that she was one Demeter most trusted servants who was there to help her out with all of her needs. This included what she had done today which was leading Rebekah on the journey from Athenaia to Olympia for this quest. It was a long journey and Rebekah would soon be making the return trek home. It was going to be a long day for her as she would have to make the journey back and forth between the two settlements four times in a single day.

[Rebekah 0]

Now that they had entered back into Demeter's quarters. Rebekah knew it was time to report the good news to Demeter. "Hello, goddess. We have found your ring." Rebekah said as she handed the ring back to Demeter.

Demeter quickly took the ring and put it back in her hand. "Thank you mortal for finding it today. As promised, for your reward, I have decided to gift you my cornucopia. It is an amazing item, and it will help you with all your future attempts at foraging." Demeter spoke.

With that, the quest notification had appeared in front of her letting Rebekah know that the quest had been successfully completed. Therefore, Rebekah did not want to spend any more time in Olympia than she wanted to. She said goodbye to Demeter and followed the Nympth out of the settlement. There was a short walk to the gates of Olympia where the same guard this morning was happy that she had finally left and there were no more players inside the settlement.

Truth be told, Rebekah did not enjoy the time in Olympia as much because everyone with power were gods and goddess. She felt like she was trapped as everyone was watching her every move, so she was relief to finally get out of there and return back to Athenaia where she knew she would feel a lot more at ease.

[Rebekah 0]

The journey home coming downhill down the trail was a lot easier than the initial walk uphill earlier this morning. Both the Nympth and Rebekah was quickly walking down to the long path towards Athenaia. The Nympth had promised her to return her back to the town centre where the teleportation gate was.

This time, Rebekah decided not to make any detours along the way to pick up additional materials as she wanted to head into Athenaia to get some food. She was starving from expanding all this energy today and would love to have some local cuisine of Athenaia since she had not spent anytime in this settlement.

Within another fifteen minutes, Rebekah had finally returned back to the main settlement of the floor, and quickly said goodbye to her escort for today. She would miss the NPC but knew that maybe she would revisit Olympia. That was still a very long time in the future. Rebekah was proud that she had successfully completed a quest that she wanted to do today so she could go foraging in the snow tomorrow. She had a lot of things planned and the special gift from Demeter would make it go a lot smoother.

Rebekah than decided to enter the first restaurant she could fine and decided to order some local greek cuisine. She was craving some fresh fish.

Thread Summary:

4,681 Words / 10 = 468

Rebekah:

468 x 5 = 2,340 EXP + 500 EXP = 2,840 EXP
2,840 x 15% = 426 Col + 400 Col (1 Page) = 826 Col
4 Materials
Demeter’s Cornucopia | Crafting Tool | Bountiful: +1 CD when using Foraging skill.

Edited April 22, 2022 by Rebekah