[PP-F27] The Mysterious Divide, Part I: Dagan

[Morningstar 0]

"I'm not sure about the details, the whole thing seems pretty—not "hushed up", what's the saying I'm thinking of—"like unbroken ground", I think. Anyways, the whole thing seems like unbroken ground. I'm not even sure if anyone has attempted the quest, let alone complete it."

Morningstar sipped his tea. He found that Asphodel was a bit of an odd character. The broker knew a lot, more than the blonde was comfortable with, and yet he had never once used it to take advantage of him. In fact, he acted as if he were a private investigator for Morningstar and never took a dime. It was bizarre, really. If he tried to offer, the hairless man would say "Not today, Lightbringer," and then disappear without a trace. The only thing that Asphodel asked of him was that he kept their meetings a secret. He obliged, seeing no reason to ruin his relationship with someone willing to go as high as the Twenty-Seventh Floor to collect information for him. They met infrequently, about once or twice per month, and rarely spoke of anything outside of business. Asphodel remained an enigma; Morningstar tried and failed to dig up even a crumb of his history and there was no record of raid or guild participation whatsoever. Not a soul knew who the man was.

And yet, he knew who everyone was. Morningstar could bring up a name he had only heard in passing and Asphodel would return with pages detailing their time in Aincrad, their skill as a player, their friends, their enemies, and even their current whereabouts. Only God knew how but the man had mastered his craft.

Asphodel continued. "It's a long one—the quest, I mean. This is only a rumor but supposedly, it takes you through each region of Floor Twenty-Seven. Think you're up for something like that? Could take weeks to complete."

"If that's true then the rewards must match the difficulty, right?" Morningstar asked.

"Hard to say. It's like I said, I'm not sure if this has ever been done before. For all we know, you would be the first to accept this quest," Asphodel trailed off, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat.

Something had diverted the broker's attention but Morningstar did not pick up on it. He tapped gently against his floral teacup, considering whether or not to take on the quest. It would be a blind run and that could be dangerous. There was no telling what he would run into on his journey through the territories. He begged another question.

"Do you know where the quest begins?"

"Yes, actually. Here, in town, at the Grand Library of Ronbaru," Asphodel's reply was followed by a slow sip from his own cup.

Morningstar had yet to visit the Grand Library, much to his dismay. There was always something else to do, something more important than wandering the halls of an information bank as legendary as Ronbaru's. He had always been a sucker for a good book; however, since being trapped in the game he had lost the habit of reading. Perhaps this was the perfect excuse—er, opportunity—to start over.

"I've got a few other things for you to chase if this isn't to your liking," the broker offered.

Morningstar's brows furrowed. "You say that like this isn't the greatest quest available to us."

Asphodel shrugged. "Yada yada, different tastes. So, you in or out?"

He had already made up his mind and yet, he hesitated. Could he afford to spend so much time on a quest with a boss raid on the horizon? And the players—why were they not flocking to it? He weighed the pros and cons in his mind, keeping eye contact with the broker the entire time, until he finally chose to provide an answer.

"Yeah," Morningstar finished off his tea, "I'm in."

 

[ lv. 32  ->   l. 32 / p. 0 ] MORNINGSTAR | HP: 700/700 | EN: 102/102 | DMG: 23 | ACC: 4 | MIT: 122 | LD: 5 | Stealth Rating: -5 | EN Cost: +1 (+0 on first 2 turns)   Hide contents notes. activating (1) yui's grace: 200*tier EXP boost   Hide contents equipped royal greatsword DMG III armor of fallen radiance  MIT III lexa's light ACC III battle-ready inventory n/a skills.   Hide contents mod count: 3/5 2HSS | RANK 5/5 precision, stamina, ferocity shift: tech HEAVY ARMOR | RANK 5/5 impetus, iron skin COMBAT MASTERY: DMG | RANK 3/3 SEARCHING | RANK 5/5 night vision, detect ENERGIST CHARGE extra SURVIVAL buffs.   Hide contents statue n/a consumables  n/a paragon n/a arts.   Hide contents en cost matches multiplier unless stated otherwise. shift underlined. ST | x12 -> x15 | x20 AOE | x11 -> x14 TECH-A | x16 | STUN | 13EN TECH-B | x16 | DELAY TECH-D | x16 | SHATTER misc.   Hide contents Rested | -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat. Clean | The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 20% (rounded down). Filling | Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. This can exceed normal Cook enhancement caps. Ex: A perfect T2 MIT food gives 35 MIT instead of 30. Tasty | Turn 2 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Lesser Feast. A Lesser Feast contains 4 portions of the food items sacrificed. Lesser Feasts created this way cannot be used outside of the thread they are created. Limit 1 item created per thread. Relaxed | Increases out-of-combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts. Basic Training | +5% EXP to a thread. Limit one use per month. Must be used on a player's first post in a thread. Cooldown begins counting down when used in a post. gathering n/a

Edited July 22, 2023 by Morningstar

[NIGHT 0]

where the player base's information fell short, perhaps something within the game itself would hold its secrets.

night was back, but only because she'd had the raid's puzzles at the forefront of her mind. and this time, in ronbaru, she was here for nothing more than its library... and maybe a short visit at a local restaurant, if only to mull over things, a compulsive urge to tear at mental scabs.

her entry into the building itself was proper, and quiet. it had to be, of course – she barely remembered to respect the books after her time away from such areas, and only held back on being brash at the last second, her usual behaviour with the rest of the realm. her next quandry, however, was in searching for the right book amongst the many others unwanted – and to seek out a librarian in this massive hoard meant she'd be lost in here for a long time.

so she paused, in her activities, as the door shut behind her. night folded her arms as she contemplated. how best should she approach her search...?

 

[ lv. 142  ->   l. 32 / p. 110 ] NIGHT | HP: 1080/1080 | EN: 146/146 | DMG: 21 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 4 | MIT: 44 | LD: 3 | BH: 59 | Stealth Rating: 6 Spoiler   Spoiler equipment. Silver Crescent Necklace ACC II, EVA II pretense.  VAMP-D II, HB II armilla. LD III, EVA   skills. Spoiler mod count: 5/7 2HSS | RANK 5/5 focus, stamina, precision shift: aoe CLOTH ARMOR | RANK 5/5 athletics, nimble COMBAT MASTERY: DMG | RANK 3/3 BATTLE HEALING | RANK 5/5 emergency recovery ENERGIST QUICK CHANGE SCOUTING FAMILIAR CHARGE EXTENDED MOD LIMIT extra SURVIVAL CONCENTRATION HIDING untraceable, vanish, surprise attack-t buffs. Spoiler paragon Lv. 5 | Gain additional col equivalent to 15% of EXP earned in that thread. Lv. 10 | +1 LD to looting.

Edited July 22, 2023 by NIGHT

[Morningstar 0]

Morningstar wasted no time in parting ways with Asphodel. When the last of his tea had been emptied from his cup, he stood up and headed for the exit. The broker called after him.

"Same time next month, Lightbringer. I'll make sure to bring something a little more juicy," he chuckled.

Stepping out into the sunlight, Morningstar glanced around. The Grand Library stuck out like a sore thumb, towering above the rest of the buildings, which were meager in comparison. He moved in strides and when he eventually arrived at his destination, he gazed up at it in awe. The architecture was magnificent. One foot after another, he made his way up the steps and entered.

If he had to guess how many books the library owned, he would pick a number in the ten to fifteen thousand range. There were a lot of books, which was fitting considering the name. Despite the number of reading materials available, there were no players in his immediate field of view. He thought, perhaps, they were hidden behind the many, many shelves that took up much of the library's space.

He was not sure where to begin. Considering there were no librarians or staff to be found, he thought it best if he simply wandered around and explored the nooks and crannies of the library. He was bound to find something that hinted towards the quest if he searched hard enough.

Slowly, he snaked from aisle to aisle, picking through books as he passed and silently praying that a librarian would pop out from nearby and send him on his way. It was hard to enjoy his time there when he was on a mission. As he turned the next corner in his path, he finally came across another person. Not a librarian, a player.

"NIGHT?"

[NIGHT 0]

when star had found her, night was already rooting through several books, realizing that most of them were either blank or lacking in organizational order. she'd made a mess around her, enough to have had drawn attention were there patrolling librarians nearby – but if no one had come forth to stop her, then perhaps her guess to find one was simply correct; a waste of her time.

the woman was surprised to see someone else in the grand library, however, especially if it was a player she'd recognized. arms stuck in between shelves, night pulled herself away from the gap, releasing the books she'd wanted to grab with her hands, and backing away carefully. "star," she'd started, wanting to follow up with a "what are you doing here?" but ultimately failing as she tripped over a stack of books, stumbling around before she found her grip on one of the pillars they were compacted between.

not a good start for an introduction.

"sorry," was all night had to say for herself. "uh, i'm here in search of information about the floor itself. but nothing much is turning up." she quickly brushed the awkwardness off herself with two hands, patting down her tracksuit and folding her arms. "forget what happened earlier. anyway... what about you? not everyone has a reason to visit the grand library... especially when some of these books have completely empty pages..."

[Morningstar 0]

He almost moved to catch her but stopped when he realized she had found her footing. "It's okay," he stifled a chuckle, agreeing to put what had happened out of his mind. Picking a book from the shelf, he confirmed that it was a wordless husk.

"I was partially here for the reading but I guess that's out of the question," a disappointed frown formed on his face as he returned the book to its spot and tried another. "I'm also looking for a quest, though."

Morningstar glanced about for a librarian. Still, nobody was around to act as his guide. He gently leaned against the sturdy bookshelf, his knit sweater a matching shade of brown. His grown-out hair was tied back comfortably. Not even his sword sat at his waist, which was unusual. The second book was full of writing but the majority of it was meaningless to him. He was not sure whether it was a history book or a cook book; it was written in some language he had never seen. Frankly, it looked made up.

It was a long shot but he decided to take it, his gaze leaving the gibberish on the page and returning to NIGHT's. "Any chance you've heard of the Mysterious Divide?"

[NIGHT 0]

she'd peered over his shoulder just to catch the letters on the page. undecipherable. just their luck.

but a quest? that was easier to pin point, night believed. "heard of it? try 'have i completed it?', because i have. it's the same series that handed out those words of power that i'd gotten leading up to the raid meeting."

the player took a step back, folding her arms. she hadn't exactly a reason to revisit the quest line, but given her lack of information from rummaging through the grand library, it would make for better sense to head down, physically, to the floor's individual environments and pick apart the clues as needed directly.

maybe there was something she'd missed.

"i'll admit, the broker i was talking to had already gotten the pointer towards dagan. wouldn't tell me where she got the tip from, but i heard it may have been in this library." night waved around, wondering if star would be interested in tracking down the employees not-present. "if you're starting on it, maybe we could head out together." she eyed the pile of empty books. "not like i had anything better to do, anyway."