[F17-SP] Worth is to the beholder (Challenge of Olympus)

[Simmone 0]

Simmone spent her morning doing the usual. Collecting her items and gathering her gear to head to the Guildhall to clean the place up. Doing what she could to help keep everything organized for Raidou. Finishing up what little she had to do she looks to her girls saying “Please look after my shop, and place those materials where they belong for a later time please” with a smile as Simmone starts to head toward the exit of her shop. Both the girls laugh and look at Simmone with a nod saying in unison “Yes mistress” as they start moving each material in order onto the desk with giggles and small pushes between the two of them. Simmone heads out of her shop and proceeds toward the guildhall on floor 22. After some time she arrives at the building where she walks in and sees Raidou grabbing his robe from the back of the chair.

Spoiler

 

Simmone, The Black Lotus
Level: 17
HP: 340/340
EN: 34/34

Stats:
Damage: 2
Evasion: 1
Accuracy: 3
BLD:12
KEEN
REC:2

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Ornate Quicksilver Rapier [T1/Rare/Rapier] (Bleed 1 [9-10{12 Dmg over 2}], 1 Keen)
Armor: Embrace of the Lotus [T1/Perfect/LA] (2 Recovery, 1 Eva)
Misc: Cat's Gaze [T1/Perfect/Trinket] (3 Accuracy)

Skills:
One Handed Rapier [Rank 1]
First Aid (Rank 2) [Rank 2]
Energize [Obtained]

Mods:
Hyperactive

Extra Skills:
Concentration

Battle Ready Inventory:
Gilded Lotus [T1/Perfect/Trinket] (+3 Loot Dice)
Teleport Crystal*1
Empty Slot
Empty Slot
Empty Slot

 

 

[Simmone 0]

Simmone simply nods toward Raidou and catches eyes on Eruda who is sitting at the table who seems to be focused reading all the papers, the notes that Raidou had placed. Simmone makes her way to the vault and starts digging through the boxes, checking information and placing them in the respected area that they would belong. A chime of her HUD with a message pops up. 

[Quest Available!]
The goddess Hermes wishes to test your skills as a Merchant. Simply prove that you understand the values of identified items that you would stumble upon. With that, your prize will be well worth your time. Will you fail or accept my challenge? 
[Quest Location: Floor 17]
[Do you accept?]
[Yes/No]

“Well it’s about time that I got this quest. I’ve only been waiting forever,” Simmone burst out as she accepted the quest. “Well it looks like I have other plans to attend to. I will be back to organize what is left in this mess later tonight,” she says to Raidou who calls her to the side "Before you go." and hands her something before he heads out who nods in her direction and leaves himself to start his day. Simmone looks to Eruda who is focused on nothing but the papers in front of her.  
 

[Simmone 0]

With a smile she turns to the door as Eruda speaks without looking up “Good luck Simmone,” and she looks back to Eruda meeting her eyes. “Thank you my dear” Simmone replies before walking out the door. Simmone starts heading to the warp gate closest to the guild hall. Opening her HUD saying “Now what floor was this latent quest on” as she looks at the information that it gave. Figuring out the floor and getting to the warp circle, stepping onto it and saying “Floor 17” as she vanishes and lands on solid ground again. “Okay now where??” she starts to glance around in awe at the large red buildings and the pearl like ground under her feet. “Marvelous” Simmone says as she watches the light reflect off the buildings around her. Now looking at her map she found where she was heading. Walking outside of the walls of the amazing looking town she starts looking for where the Nav marker would take her.

[Simmone 0]

Looking to the large mountains in the distance was a small green pointer. “You’ve got to be kidding me” she says with a sigh rubbing her eyes with two fingers. “This is going to be a very long day,” Simmone says as she begins walking toward the mountains. The heat was blaring against her pale skin. Even though the day was still young, giving the formatting of this floor with hardly anything in the fields around her, the sun was only hitting down on her. After a long walk with a decent pace, Simmone finds herself standing at the bottom of the mountain. With a few quick glances she finds a trail leading up in a zigzag pattern. With a small tilt of her head, her eyes follow up the path seeing nothing at the end. “There is nothing up there, but this is where the marker is leading,” Simmone said, very confused as she glanced at her map again making sure that this was where she was supposed to be heading.

[Simmone 0]

With a sigh as a few hours have already passed and wasted her day away she starts to walk up the beaten path up the mountain trail. “I will need to bathe after this for sure, This heat is exhausting” saying as she finds her feet drag just a bit before suddenly a large figure forms in front of her with large horns and darken brown fur. He was wearing some form of light armor with a medallion hanging from his neck. Simmone just looks up with confusion at the large beast that didn’t seem aggressive given how he arrived. “Who might you be?” Simmone says after clearing her throat to sound more adequate. “Who I am doesn’t concern you. All you need to know that I am here on behalf of my god Hermes. He wants me to make sure that you get up the rest of the way safely.”

[Simmone 0]

The large figure pauses for only a moment before continuing “I will allow you safe passage to Mt. Olympus so that you shall take the challenge that you seek. Come, follow me.” The beast turns and starts walking further up the mountainside with a hand waving back and forth to assure Simmone that it was safe. Impressed by the way he spoke, Simmone says “Lead the way,” as she starts to follow behind him in silence but watching his every movement preparing for the worst to happen. After some time of walking up the side of the mountain, the large figure turns toward Simmone saying “Watch your step around these parts. It can get a little bumpy near the end of this path.” He pushes a large boulder out of the walking path. They arrive shortly at the cathedral-like building and he says “Welcome to Mt. Olympus, mind your tongue” back at her.

[Simmone 0]

The large horned figure walks up the little bit of stair leading up to the metal doors taller than him. Pushing those doors open slow due to the weight, inside it reveals a very large bright inning. Simmone slides past the figure that led her this far into the area. She smiles a bit seeing large windows surrounding the interior of the walls. A huge rectangle table was placed in the middle of this wide space and the sun reflexes against the white tiled floor. With a better look at the deep oak colored table, there were chairs little all around it. In those chairs sat shadow-like figures but only one stood out. A fair-skinned male with a golden shining armor built perfectly against his body. With an eyebrow slightly raised in interest toward him, he begins to speak. “I am the God known as Hermes. I expect great things from you Simmone,” Hermes sits up in his chair as he speaks.

[Simmone 0]

“Prove to me that you know what you're doing and I will grant you great deals of money in the near future,” Continuing with a smile. Simmone smiles back saying “Well get on with it then. What will this challenge be? The treasure awaits for me to collect,” she says in a smirky tone. With a grin, he nods with approval as he starts to explain the details. “Show me that you know the difference between bad, good, and unique equipment. Divide each piece by it’s values and weigh the total making them even on both sides of this scale right here.” Getting up from his seat, he presented a large 2 sided scale. “One might say it has magical properties to it. See this light here, this will let you know if what you place on each side is correct. You may think this is easy but think again.”

[Simmone 0]

Hermes points toward a table to the side full of armor, weapons, and trinkets. Some had a small glow to them and others seemed to be dull with light. Simmone walks up to the table looking over each piece of equipment with a keen eye. “So let me get this straight so I may understand better what you ask of me. You want me to decipher the value of each piece and weigh the price of this scale, making each side of even proportion.” Hermes reacts with a small chuckle. “Yea I guess that sums it up. Prove that your rank in Merchant isn’t just a number and you will be greatly rewarded.” He turns and heads to his chair to see what Simmone will do with all the toys he set out for her. Simmone starts to intently pick each one up, using her skills of a rank 5 merchant to determine what the quality of everyone was.

[Simmone 0]

It took her some time to figure this out because there were a large number of them. As she goes through the equipment she divides each by its own category. Perfect crafted identified, perfect unidentified, rare identified, rare unidentified, uncommon identified, uncommon unidentified, and basic equipment was the categories that she came up with. After a while, all the pieces were laying in their piles and she looked closer at each one saying “Do I use all of these?” The answer came clear and quick “Yes!” Simmone simple nods and glances to the large scale. “Hmm” saying as she looks at the piles that she created. “There is not an even amount in any of these stacks. I will need to improvise to get the best results,” Simmone comments as she picks up one of the perfect identified weapons. Placing it on the right side of the scale, the other side lifts up slightly.

[Simmone 0]

“I think I understand this now. I do wish that I had my twins for this though,” said with a small scoff in her voice. Walking back to the table she glances down at the table's legs and they didn’t look attached to the ground. Simmone takes the edge of the table and drags it across the floor moving it closer to the scale so she didn’t have to walk so far. “Better” she says with a grin as she starts to place the rest of the identified perfects on either side making them as even as she could. There seemed to be an odd number of them so there were 3 on one side of the scale and 4 on the other. She looks at her options on the table and decides to place an identified rare and an identified uncommon on the side that has 3 on it to see if it became even.

[Simmone 0]

Upon placement, each side of the scale raised and became even with each other. “Okay then, only,” she starts to say as she counts what was left on the table. “Jeez, 31 left. Well, I better get to work then. Now let's see, the identified perfects are gone. I’ll put two of these rare identified on either side which should keep the scale even,” saying as she picks them up and places one on both sides. It seemed to stay even and with a nod, she walked back to the table. Taking into hand the 2 identified uncommons and the last rare in the pile. Placing the uncommons on one side and the rare on the other makes the scale stay evened out. Smiling, Simmone turns back to the table. The piles were thinning out and it seemed a bit easier than the god was making it out to be.

[Simmone 0]

Looking at the 5 unidentified perfects she takes two in each hand and places them to the scale with 2 on each side, keeping the scales matched. Picking up the last perfect in one hand and a rare in the other, she sets the perfect on one side and a rare on the other. The scale tips to one side as she says “Yeah I know you need another to be balanced,” as she picks up an uncommon and places it on the side with the rare. The scale evens out again and with a grin, she turns to the table looking at what she had left. Seeing a few small stacks and then a large one full of base objects. “Ugg what in the bloody heck am I going to do with those,” said with a confused expression painted across her face. “Hmm, well I know what to do with these ones.”

[Simmone 0]

Simmone picks up 2 rares in each hand and begins to place them on the device designed to test her ability to appraise them. This entity was not giving her the credit she deserved, as she began to pile them up on the scales. It wobbles for a moment before leveling out. “Perfect as intended.” Simmone expressed with the reading of their values being equivalent in number. It wouldn’t be long now before she finished this ordeal, her skill was refined to a point already due to the growth of the guild. A stare back to what remained showed the pile was dwindling with each addition to the object. She looked to the altar to a rather cocky looking god staring back to her, for he would feel what she was capable of before the day was through, and she could return to the black odyssey and see how the girls were fairing in her absence.

[Simmone 0]

To one of the unidentified pieces, a flare of her iris in a golden hue as her appraisal skill activates with a snap of her fingers. It flashes for a moment as the value of the piece becomes apparent with its completion, and once again it works and pulls another section of equipment to offset it on the large gilded scales. “You're doing well it seems, but we will see once there are no items left. If your truly good at your craft it will not sway.” Simmone would make him eat those words with her abilities that were sharpened to the status of Grandmaster. There were still a number of objects to move, some of them she had not seen prior to this encounter. But she would press on through the trial, for this was her game and she would not be bested by the likes of a gaudy buffoon.

[Simmone 0]

A few more are quickly retrieved and identified with a burn of more of her available energy, she was only able to use it so many times in a day before tapped. She struggled to see how this would be possible for those who had less energy to spend on such actions. Placed to the large scales Hermes still had that miserable grin on his face as if he expected Simmone to fail, and she could not understand why he was still as smug as he was. She began to suspect something was amiss and made a note to keep an eye out for something that would prove such a thought. She began to scan her surroundings while emulating that she was not convinced something was not right. The satyr was not doing anything strange. The gold trimmed ivory walls proved little either. She could not place what was causing her distrust.

[Simmone 0]

She proceeded with caution with the task, keeping her eyes in a heavy focus on every statistic in hopes to catch something amiss. Two more units, one in each hand with a sway of her hips as the platform was becoming rather empty. With a goading word to the god, it was to gauge his response "It looks like it won't be long now. Are you ready to give me what is mine?" she spoke to Hermes. "I am not worried, I want to see you fail." his grin was still plastered to his mouth, seemingly unphased and without a care. She turns and begins to think and a look back to the table showed only five objects remained. Four pieces of gear and a sphere that were unidentified still. Removing a vial of light blue liquid, thanks to the guild master who assumed such a quest may have shown.

[Simmone 0]

Drinking the vial it refuels her identifications to which the god raises an eyebrow. "You are not allowed..." Simmone smiles and looks back "You made no mention of such a rule, I will use all at my disposal. What's the matter? You look troubled." she barked back at Hermes with a toothed grin. She picked up a piece of gear and a flash of her skill instantly identified it before she added it to the pile. "It won't be long now, I can see you sweat." Simmone cackled as she moved on to the next piece. A long sword still littered with question marks over its information, quality showed as a rare only. It was a trivial task with the consumable at her disposal. Surely this God expected her to guess after running out of energy, he must have not understood she had an alchemist to aid her in her actions today.

[Simmone 0]

She grabs the final few pieces from the table and quickly activates appraisal on them. She notices the sphere as a cost of 1 col which would surely offset the balance. Looking up to Hermes she comments "I see your game. The values cannot be fully balanced." But she pays him no despair. "However..." She places the empty bottle down on the platform. "There is no rule stating that only objects placed here by you alone can be used." She then picks the vial back up and adds it as a counterbalance. Hermes expression fowls "You filthy cheat!" Simmone looks at him with a twisted face "Your one to speak, look the scales are balanced. I will take that reward now." Hermes drops from his altar and with a sour look on his face as he had been bested manifests a glowing scale. She rips it out of his hands, "Thank you for your patronage."

[Simmone 0]

It was a rather smooth exit from the confines of the cathedral on Mount Olympus, taking the beaten trail back toward Athenia to travel back to the black odyssey. A flash of blue light as she enters the warp pad, a quickened return to floor 1. "Did you miss me, girls?" Simmone remarks upon entering the threshold to which they scattered up to greet her clutching to her side. She then breaks loose from the embrace and places the gilded scale in her threshold, behind the sofa, and quickly changes to her merchant attire. A sway around the seat while dragging her fingers along it, she takes her place on her throne and a long drag on a cigarette that Moro lights for her mistress. "Now bring in the haul, let's give this another try." she responds with a slight grin claiming the corner of her mouth with emboldened eyes.