[SP-F13] The Stygian Library

[Morningstar 0]

Morningstar formed the Trackers Alliance so that rumors and information could be gathered, maintained, and stored in one single place. Scouts affiliated with the guild could use that information as they wished, exploring to their heart's content. Even so, there were certain rumors that Morningstar withheld from his group--rumors that he deemed too dark and too dangerous to rank at all. The Stygian Library was one of these rumors.

He first encountered it as a myth in the Grand Library of Ronbaru. A short and seemingly unremarkable book titled "Callow's Mythology" detailed the author's discovery of the Stygian Library, recounting his experience using journal entries and impressive drawings.

Callow described the library as a pocket realm, existing separately from Aincrad's hundred floors. From the way it was written, Morningstar imagined it as a side road, jetting off from the castle's otherwise straight path. Supposedly, a skilled archivist could find just about anything in the library, if they knew what they were doing and had a bit of luck on their side. Callow seemed to think it was an amassment of the universe's knowledge archived in a single place. Morningstar was skeptical.

The library was supposedly accessible if two conditions were met. Firstly, to open an entrance required a significant collection of books to be present. Morningstar first considered his own shop, Honeydew & Hushwind, but decided that his collection wasn't vast enough for the system to consider it a suitable location. The few dozen books on his shelves weren't much of a library. A thousand or more ought to do it.

The second condition was death. At whatever location he chose, someone had to have died there. This narrowed his options further. Bookstores, player-owned or otherwise, were entirely out of the question--as was Ronbaru's library. Anywhere confined in a safe zone was immediately snatched off the table.

His research brought him to the Cathedral of Man. On the edge of Floor 13 for the first time, Morningstar had the cathedral to himself. Players, who normally used the area to grind monsters, were nowhere to be seen. Alongside him was an NPC called Florick.

It took a lot of convincing for Morningstar to find a guide out of Angel's Point. The Corrupted Lands were dangerous for numerous reasons, and villagers were understandably wary of leaving the safety of the last stronghold of Floor 13. But promises of unimaginable payment did the trick, and he was able to coerce Florick into joining him on his expedition.

Florick was a tall fellow with a scarred face. While he wasn't much older than Star, he certainly looked it. Life on 13 had done numbers on him. He was a tailor's assistant, which meant he spent more time selling stock at the front counter or running errands than actually tailoring. He was meek, only speaking when spoken to or when giving directions.

He wasn't much help in combat, so Morningstar took to defending him from the skeleton knights that guarded the cathedral. Two by the entrance, clad in suits of steel and wielding long spears, attacked as soon as Star and Florick approached. In as few strikes as possible, Morningstar cut them down, clearing the way inside.

#stats

[Morningstar 0]

Winding halls made the cathedral a labyrinth. It took two hours for Morningstar and Florick to find a suitable library. Florick only stayed because he was unfit to take the path home alone, and he figured Morningstar would need help on the return trip as well.

Of course, that wasn't the case. Morningstar didn't need a guide at all. He had a map, and he had teleport crystals. It wouldn't take much for him to get back to Angel's Point.

Morningstar explored the library, looking for something that resembled a door. All the while, he tried not to interact with the NPC unless absolutely necessary. Sometimes, they felt like humans to him. The way they interacted with their environments and with players had evolved since the beginning. The line between real and artificial was blurring.

So, when Morningstar found the door buried behind stacks of old tomes, he was dismayed. With a frown, he tried the latch. As expected, it was locked. He turned to Florick, who was eyeing a book he pulled a book from a neighboring shelf, and apologized.

He was sure to make it quick--for his own sanity, mostly. He drew his sword, striking the NPC through the head. Florick was no more.

Morningstar's cursor flushed orange, a temporary brand he would carry for his crime. The lock clicked, and the door to the Stygian Labyrinth creaked open.

[Morningstar 0]

He entered to a room that looked unfitting for a library. The roof was high, domed, and starry. Lanterns flickered above, replicating constellations that Morningstar could not name. In the center was an orrery. He moved closer to get a better look. The solar system was propped up in what he could only assume was an accurate representation (he knew nothing about space, really). The sun in the middle was a golden orb, about the size of a golf ball. The planets were still, but cranking the orrery caused them to rotate around the sun. The planets on the far end of the solar system moved slower than those closest to the sun. It was an interesting little toy, but he couldn't figure out what it was used for.

He moved on to the bookshelves that lined the round walls and was shocked to find the variety of subjects in the collection. It seemed random to him, but there must have been a logical sorting system the library used. One shelf lacked books entirely. Instead, it held plain vases. Morningstar lifted one. Each vase was labeled with a name, but he didn't recognize any of them. He unscrewed the lid and peered inside, finding ashes.

It was a hoax, he believed. Players didn't leave behind ashes when they died; nor did anything else in the game. It was only logical to think that the system was messing with him. He put the vase back on the shelf and let it be.

Across the planetarium, Morningstar found a set of notes left behind by previous library explorers. They detailed the layout of the library, including the room next door.

 

LOCATION -> ID243700 LD18 | Morningstar enters the Planetarium

DETAIL -> ID243701 LD15 | Funeral Urns

RANDOM EVENT -> ID243702 LD16 | Old Notes

PROGRESS -> 1/40 (i rolled a d4)

[Morningstar 0]

According to his newfound notes, Morningstar was headed for the Mausoleum next. 

He was cautious when moving between rooms. The silence of the library was eerie; he never really felt alone, despite not seeing anyone else around. 

The books in this room were unreadable, bound in thick chains that Morningstar could not break through. He hadn't opened a single book in the previous room, but now that they were locked up, he found himself curious. What secrets did the library want to keep from nosy parties like himself?

At the back of the room, a sarcophagus lay where a bookshelf might have been. The library had a knack for keeping the deceased around. Morningstar thought it would be silly to ignore it and pushed open the sarcophagus.

To his surprise, there was no corpse. Instead, a short staircase led into the darkness beyond the mausoleum. Morningstar dove deeper.

 

LOCATION -> ID243704 LD15+1 | Morningstar enters Mausoleum

DETAIL -> ID243705 LD17+1 | Chained Books

RANDOM EVENT -> ID243706 LD12 | Empty Home/Office

TREASURE -> ID243707 LD16+1 | No Treasure

EXTRAORDINARY BOOK -> ID243708 LD9+1 | Book of Prophecies

ENCOUNTER -> | ID243709 LD10+1 | 2 Yellow Librarians

PROGRESS -> 1/40