[F17-SP] hesperides. <<Challenge of Olympus: Gatherer>>

[NIGHT 0]

<<Challenge of Olympus: Gatherer>>

for some reason, she'd received another spam mail dignified invitation from the group up on the seventeenth. and she swore she'd selected the 'unsubscribe from mount olympus' button her first time receiving the message -- ugh, but what did whats-his-face know about privacy or personal space, right? the myths were true, even in aincrad.

she'd discarded even considering the contents of its message this time, choosing instead to head directly to the floor on her own -- there would be a satyr looking to escort her, anyway. why should she have bothered with formalities?

except, before she left, there was a lingering problem with her visit. she was certain it was due to the new profession; a guess the new gatherer had hazard, without the help of bistro looking over her shoulder. and if this was an excursion of the sort, she'd need the help of her trusty familiar to guide her where the pickings were ripe.

	| NIGHT  | Status: [looking to filter spam mail.] Notes: //
	Spoiler NIGHT | HP: 840/840 | EN: 142/142 | DMG: 24 | ACC: 2 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 44 | LM: 2 | BLI: 32 | BLD: 48 | FB: 40 | STC: 40 | LD: 5 | BH: 25 | Stealth Rating: 5  equipment Jack's Executioner  | BLIGHT (32, -20MIT)  | BLEED (48)  | FROSTBITE (40, -1ACC)  | STATIC (40, 24 SPLASH) Tracksuit of Unfathomable Fashionability  | MITIGATION (24)  | LIGHT MOMENTUM II  Silver Crescent Necklace  | ACCURACY II  | EVASION II  battle-ready inventory - - - - - - - - -  skills Spoiler mod count: 7/7 2HSS | RANK 5/5 ferocity, stamina CLOTH ARMOR | RANK 5/5 athletics, nimble COMBAT MASTERY: DMG | RANK 3/3 SEARCHING | RANK 3+1/5 tracking BATTLE HEALING | RANK 3/5 EXTENDED MOD LIMIT ENERGIST FAMILIAR: PROFESSION extra SURVIVAL CONCENTRATION HIDING blindside, vanish, surprise attack-t [CS] METAMORPHOSES  consumed buffs Spoiler statue KUMATETSU | +1 DMG consumables - - - - - -  misc buffs Spoiler housing Dimensional Backpack, Item Stash | +2 Battle-Ready Inventory Slots. Well Rested | -1 EN for the first three expenditures of each combat.  Relaxed | +(5 * Tier) HP per out-of-combat post. Full energy restoration occurs after two turns out of combat. Squeaky Clean | -25% DoT damage taken from the first DoT applied to this player in a thread. Skylight: Searching | +1 Expertise to declared utility skill. Cooldown of 30 days to reassign. Multipurpose | +1 LD/Prosperity/Stealth/Detection to one post per thread. Can be applied after a roll. Filling | +1 T1 slot to a food consumed by this player in a thread. Can exceed Cook enhancement caps. Col Deposit | +5% col from loot-minimum mobs, +10% col from treasure chests. paragon Lv. 5 | Gain additional col equivalent to 10% of EXP earned in that thread. Lv. 10 | +3% EXP Gain. gathering Greenhouse | +2 G.EXP, +1 CD&LD to gathering attempts. Familiar: Profession | +2 G.EXP

[NIGHT 0]

"mew!"

her trusty familiar... and his pet gemini.

day had ended up in a tiny nest in the middle of the living room, built out of blankets specially for nyanko. they were cozy, the former drinking some hot cocoa (which night had prepared at the entity's request). on the floor, the duet were examining a picture book, the sort meant for children, and the humanoid was pointing out elements on their double-paged spread, trying to get the kitten to comprehend.

"that's why i have problems with this book, nyanko! the first floor doesn't even have that many hills to begin with! not towards the north, anyway! and they're so tall! i don't get it. how exactly are players seeing the world? nyanko, don't you think there's something wrong about this?"

nyanko, ever trusty kitten, sat with his front paws set together, only staring blankly at the gemini and tilting his head once in a while. he stayed silent even at day's prompting, only opting to topple over as a response, starting to lick at his front pelt. his lecturer huffed at his ignorance.

[NIGHT 0]

night wondered why she even bothered conversing with the kitten. similarly, she wondered how someone so oblivious yet specific could be so damned cute.

also, she was looking because there had been no better way to interrupt their conversation, and also because she needed to somehow stow nyanko away alongside her without day noticing that he was gone. obviously, seeing how engaged the gemini was with the cat, she doubted that there would be an occasion for that to occur.

so instead, night chose to perform the next best thing as she strode up to approach day.

"hey." night set her hands in her front pockets. 

day turned upwards to look at the player. her two arms were folded in front of her chest. "yeah?"

night tore her eyes away from the gemini before she could think about her other, under the sheets, in her bed. her gaze instead fell to the cat, who'd righted himself into laying proper, as though complimenting day's posture. did the kitten know what he was doing?

[NIGHT 0]

"i need to borrow my familiar for something."

the entity blinked, surprised, before looking over to the kitten. he stared back, blank, before closing his eyes. comfortable.

day turned her nose up at the cat, the wave of her hand to push the feline towards his owner almost a half-hearted attempt. nevertheless, nyanko scrambled across his cloth mat, kicked out of the nest. "take him," she pouted, and night squatted down to pick up her familiar, stowing him away into her tracksuit's inner pockets. "i have no need for one of my kind who wouldn't listen to me, anyway. hmph! though, even he should've known what i was talking about."

if night erred in some way, it was taking the moment to pause and ensure that nyanko was comfortable, giving him a tiny scritch upon his forehead once he was settled in. for when she turned to take her leave from her double, day had leaned in close -- "night," she whispered with a sly grin, "you'd hear me out sometime, wouldn't you?"

the tips of their noses were almost touching.

[NIGHT 0]

night let herself fall backwards, hands finding the floor and carrying her away as her counterpart watched in amusement. day was laughing. night was not.

the player couldn't help but scowl, trying to prop herself off the ground. burning up before she even left. "stop that."

"i'm just playing around!" day settled back into her makeshift fort, getting comfortable with the book once again. "no need to be so uptight all the time."

all night could respond with was a roll of her eyes, frustrated, as she started out towards the door. her sole consolation was in turning towards nyanko, the tiny kitten wide awake and concerned about his owner's fall. "bet you didn't like being explained to about semantics, did you?"

not like the familiar could comprehend much of what the player was saying, either. nyanko simply yawned, unable to give any other response. night sighed before exiting the house.

"i'll be back in a bit."

"okay~"

[NIGHT 0]

 | floor 17

huh.

there were no signs of a mythical creature in her sights anywhere. she'd imagine one corner in the square where the satyrs might've lounged around, awaiting and yelling at players that had decided to show up (against their best instincts, night guessed; it was still spam mail after all). but the plaza was completely devoid of strange anomalies.

night took three steps away from the teleporter before being ambushed by a figure in the crowd. dark brown hair, a tall stature -- the only telling sign the player realized some random beauty hadn't just grabbed her out of nowhere was the yellow crystal above their head, and a quest registration at the corner of her interface that explained their presence to her.

(how was this fair to her? either cardinal must've decided to play tricks on her again, or it had somehow decided satyrs weren't in fashion anymore. as much as night hated them, she prayed for the system to have changed it back. because--)

[NIGHT 0]

"hey," they asked of her for her attention, which night wasn't able to give. "you're here for the gathering challenge, aren't you?"

a hand gripped her forearm. night was trying to reel herself back to reality. bright brown eyes that burned with answers, another sight she could've gotten lost in -- the woman tugged her hand away when she realized she was being waited upon for a response. she clutched the spot she was held at.

"y-yeah, i am." night was squeaking, in contrast to the bassy tones of the woman. their skin was darker than most of the citizens of the settlement; a subtle sign that the player hadn't even noticed to signify them being out of place. at first glance, she thought them to be a visiting field hand, none out of the ordinary than a quest guide.

though she figured, now up close, her silks were much more fanciful than the common folks'. embroidered with gold at its edges. 

"and you are..."

"ione." the lady turned around, beckoning night to follow from over her shoulder. "come, follow me. we're not going to the mountains this time. i'll take you somewhere new."

[NIGHT 0]

it took all of night's willpower to push the thought out that it might've been a date.

so they walked, their route deviating at a crossroads where the trees of their surroundings blocked out the sight of mt olympus from view. ione spoke quietly, formal but not authoritative, urging night to hasten her steps. so the woman nodded, complied. 

what was once greenery was soon to give way to lowland, and the sounds of the ocean crashing upon the shore. gravel under their feet turned to sand, a path split open as soon as they met the coast, and night looked around, blankly, trying to find their destination in the vicinity of barren rock and the sea.

she couldn't find anything other than the muted sky covered in clouds. but ione called for her approach by a corner of the water's edge, and night followed.

how'd she get a boat? a rowboat at that. weren't those things the rather unreliable force?

[NIGHT 0]

"climb aboard," the woman ordered.

and night chose this moment to second guess her options, the moments in the day that had somehow lead to her following another person around with no sign that she was headed in the right direction. heading up a mountain with a clarified goat-person was one thing; at least she knew there was something afoot that she would inevitably watch out for when scaling mount olympus. but here, leaving the land that had her teleporter in tact?

night wondered if she was getting kidnapped, stolen away because she hadn't thought twice about one of cardinal's pawns turned seductresses having impure intentions sending her out to sea. all she was questioned about was a quest she was about to take, and all she answered was an affirmation. surely, cardinal could've done a lot with that small piece of information alone.

 

 

she got into the boat, anyway. her precaution was the single teleport crystal she'd kept away in her pocket for situations that might seem unsavoury when she was out on an excursion alone. plus, nyanko was there to sound the alarm when things got rough, right?

night just hoped she wasn't going to fall into the water on their journey... wherever they were going.

[NIGHT 0]

into the fog. the player hadn't even noticed the clouds were reaching down towards the ocean until she got close enough to have her vision obscured by them. she never did like not being able to see through the mist; none of the system's skills offered anything in lieu of such things, so even as night spent the time distracting herself from her racing heart and rapid movements of her eyes to pierce through the thick, she concluded that there was nothing to have aided her in regaining her sights in such a scenario.

pity. her hands found comfort in the side of the boat instead. she couldn't see ione, from three feet ahead of her, and neither did she wish to look down and notice the wash of water that had started to accumulate in their boat's hold. sea water, frigid cold that lapped at her fingers, soaked the sleeves of her coat even more than the fog already did.

[NIGHT 0]

she held no guild to herself for calling out for her guide. "ione? are you still there...?"

"we're getting close now," she answered. night felt the rotations of the oars on her fingers, senses refined after finding comfort. "i can see the edge of hesperides."

hesperi... wha?

past the grey haze, the world opened to a calm ocean, and just a short distance away was a beach of white sand, bordered by a forest of varying shades. the water was beaming; azure blue, unlike the skies that were once above them, now glowing instead, as though the heavens itself shone only upon this one isle. ione docked upon the beach, ferrying them until the waves no longer struck the sides of the boat, and once the oars had sufficiently sunken into sand, the woman started to hop out of it.

night realized that she still had not figured out if her companion was a mythical creature -- or otherwise.

[NIGHT 0]

but night continued to follow anyway. ione needed not beckon her, and yet she did so -- cardinal's precautionary measure should its players start to stray from their escort. it was her eyes that wandered, instead of her figure; all around her was lush botany, an intricate labyrinth of woodland and flora. some of the flowers seemed not to match the climate on the seventeenth as the woman knew them, because she knew of the flowers, from the few occasions she'd visited the gardens back home. an attraction for tourists -- and yet she too had been there.

ione stopped at a gathering of ivy. night slowed herself, careful not to run into the stranger. the light from beyond the curtain told her that there was hollow space behind it, though she was not certain who was there to greet her.

"lady demeter wants to see you," ione said. night couldn't recall a demeter in the greek pantheon. "you are a gatherer, are you not?"

"i am." her voice was small at the idea of a god.

"then please proceed."

the woman bowed and pulled aside the vine cluster. night made her way through, ducking under its mess of leaves.

[NIGHT 0]

demeter was a tall woman; tall, even for her stature as a god. back on olympus, night might've felt like a beetle to athena -- now, she felt more like an ant in comparison. there were tiny plots, small batches of wheat grown and strewn about what looked to be her greeting room as night entered it, the rays of sunlight pouring down intercepted by large palm leaves, larger than simply a handful stitched together could appear. demeter sat on a throne woven out of bamboo and decorated with various other flowers besides; lavender, delphinium, amaryllis, orchids. 

it was a wonder how cardinal had decorated it without the ensemble looking chaotic. only elegance was fit for divine.

"ah, my good subject," the goddess spoke in a warm, calming voice. yet something behind her emotions; her eyes, her speech, felt frigid in distance. night turned her attention to her immediately. "here for a challenge, are we?"

[NIGHT 0]

night didn't know how else to disagree. the quest was true; the nature of said challenge was... otherwise. she nodded instead.

"very well." if demeter's hands weren't already set in a steeple, elbows on the rests of her throne, they would be, now. "one of my nymphs brought you to me, did they not?"

so ione was a nymph?

"i think so." night wondered if the deity could hear her at all.

"ask her to bring you about the grove. you are to deweed the fields in sector three before sundown. and before any of my workers get any ideas; no, they are not allowed to aid you in your trial. they each have their own tasks to turn to."

to say that the player understood anything that was being said was an overstatement. deweeding? sectors? how was she supposed to know when the sun was going down in the middle of a forest?

"that will be all," demeter ruled. a gust of wind came from somewhere in the space, nearly pushing night back out the way she came from. it was all the player could do to grunt in acknowledgement and turn back.

[NIGHT 0]

it was on the way to the grove that night scoured cardinal's manual for any signs of gardening. sure; there was the odd profession note here and there, avenues less desired than the recommended picks for players, but still they were indoors. was the scale of these anomalies just amplified out in the outdoor space?

ione gestured over to the sole room labelled sector three. and night noted how overgrown the weeds had gotten; it seemed as though the room had been abandoned ages ago, left alone for the sole purpose of testing trial participants and would-be gatherers. the woman gulped -- some of these weeds were almost as tall as herself.

"well, you know what to do and how to get back," ione said, the nymph starting to be on her way. "if you need anything, there are some of us down the hall. tattle to one of us and we'll get you sorted."

was being left alone part of the test?

[NIGHT 0]

night hadn't known how to tackle the subject of weeds. or perhaps she did, but hadn't realized it was within the same avenue of what she was asked to perform today. the guide had mentioned to keep plants that players were set on growing in a proper pot, and if they were growing crops in a field, to mulch them properly.

sounded like a good idea, if only she could get rid of the unwanted plants first.

she walked around the field, rectangular in shape, following its length. performing the ruination by hand was a task that would take even a group of nymphs a few days, she bet, much less a few hours 'before sundown'. was there anything in her inventory that could help with the culling?

all she could find in her weapons list that fit the bill was jack's executioner. and she held the blade in her hand, brows furrowed for a moment.

[NIGHT 0]

demeter hadn't mentioned anything about the state of the gardens; to return it to a blank canvas, ready to be planted upon. neither did she mention that the soil had to avoid contamination, either. perhaps, for the lack of any blade that could summon fire... blight was an adequate choice in weed killing...?

as though to add onto her thoughts, nyanko peeped for his owner's attention. night stopped, looking to her kitten; she set him on the floor as per his orders of scrambling to leave. with the blade forged in her hand, she set its tip pointed to the ground, and her familiar darted forward to the edge of the field. old cylindrical wood posts were set at every interval, defining the edges of the garden.

he began to dig.

"nyanko, you'll get dirty that way." the player shuffled across soil to scoop her kitten up again, but stopped as she leaned down.

[NIGHT 0]

nyanko wasn't a fantastic digger, but the tiny ditch he'd managed to carve out gave her an idea.

quarantine.

--so she'd need a shovel. sure.

. . .

when she stepped out of the grove to check on the position of the sun, it was two thirds across the sky. 'sundown' was a relative hour to the land of hesperides; a good approximation was when it was past noon, and the star wasn't visible from the courtyard, the central gathering point for nymphs anymore. would they be out of the forest, it might've been easier and more accurate to gaze out at the ocean, but night had to work with what resources she was given.

right, the culling of weeds.

the player had dug out a trench around the plot. one meter deep; it was excessive, especially if this was real life, but thanks to cardinal granting faux strength, a feat like this was done in no time.

of course, her familiar had been a great help with the digging process too.

[NIGHT 0]

"holler if anything looks weird on your end," the player called from the other side of the field to her familiar.

he was isolated in a corner, paws stained with mud, set together as he watched the player wave to him with her sword. nyanko wasn't much for meowing after a tiring day, so he blinked instead.

that was all night needed to know that he was paying attention.

the gap between the weeds and herself wasn't too wide. all night needed was a decent space for herself to skip across onto, and she would've landed on the other side just fine. that just meant that, for the swing of her executioner, even a simple wave would've done the trick. jack's might be sleeping, but a few strokes would shake it awake.

after a minute of trying, it started to bleed poison for her.

and oh, the other effects along with it. as though blight, black bile wasn't enough to destroy the plants that stood in her way. now, not only did they eat a venom that none could compare to, neither would they withstand the biting frost of winter's chill, and a shock that rippled through and returned from the system of roots they sat within. the network that would literally tear them apart.

[NIGHT 0]

all that was left of the weeds by the swipe's end was but dissipating fractals, almost enough to have night turn her eyes way from the sudden flash of light. the dirt they had supported eventually caved in, and the player returned her blade to her inventory, switching out to her shovel. she prodded at the soil at the center, just to see if it looked strange or weird from jack's toil.

a quick surveillance told her nothing was out of the ordinary.

night let out a sigh of relief. her interface had also updated its requirements, and the player knew that her time on the isle was over. she stuck the shovel beside the pile of dirt she'd accumulated, uncertain if she'd be allowed to at least return the trench to its original state before leaving, but decided to save the question for the goddess herself once she came face to face with demeter again.

"nyanko," the player called to the kitten. into her jacket he went. and though he was far too stained, so was she after the day's work. both of them would need a bath once they got back home, either way.

night took one last look at their once-field, the strange cut out she'd inevitably leave behind, and started to make her way to her host's chamber.