[PP-F01] Intersection Point. <<Scents of the Wild: Keepers of Nature>>

[Pollux 0]

厌倦你浪潮般涨落地爱我 当作莫名靠岸惶惑地来过 再说了从未幻想过你爱我 天马行空都埋没

Spoiler LEVEL 24: HP: 480/480 | EN: 66/66 | DMG: 19 | ACC: 1 SKILLS Spoiler  | skills mod count: 3/5 STRAIGHT SWORD | RANK 5/5 [BASE: Proficiency] +7 DMG [ADDON: Ferocity] +2 DMG [ADDON: Precision] +1 ACC [ADDON: Stamina] Reduce EN of all attacks by 2. [SHIFT: TECH Specialist] For TECH Sword Arts, +4 to multipliers, +3 to EN cost. COMBAT MASTERY: DAMAGE | RANK 3/3 [BASE: Proficiency] +9 DMG | extra skills [2] FIRST AID | RANK 5/5 [BASE: Proficiency] [PA, 15 EN] Single target heal: 20% of target max HP. [MOD: Purify] [PA, 3 EN, 1 CD] Single target cleanse: Can target the user. [MOD: Energize] [PA, 10 EN] Single target restoration: +8 EN. [ADDON: Hyperactive] [PA, 5 EN, 3 CD] Single target buff: +3 Passive EN Regen for three turns. Can target the user. [MOD: Barrier] [PA, 15 EN, 2 CD] AoE buff: Reduce final damage from all sources by 15% for one turn. [ADDON: Field Medic] [PA, 15 EN, 3 CD] AoE heal: 25% of target(s) max HP. | expenditure Spoiler Total SP: 120 | Spent: 119 | Unspent: 1 SKILL: Axe (30) ADDON: Stamina (4) ADDON: Precision (2) ADDON: Ferocity (4) SHIFT: TECH Specialist (10) SKILL: Combat Mastery: Damage (13) EXTRA SKILL: First Aid (30) MOD: Purify (4) MOD: Energize (5) MOD ADDON: Hyperactive (5) MOD: Barrier (6) ADDON: Field Medic (6)   EQUIPMENT Spoiler Dull Blade DAMAGE II TIER 1 RARE STRAIGHT SWORD it's worn from use. but the swordswoman favors it anyway. it was her first blade. INVENTORY Spoiler (1) Teleport Crystal Use a post action to activate a teleport crystal. Teleports the player to the town or designated teleportation area they specify. SWORD ARTS Spoiler | ST [x12] ST-I (10 EN) | A single-target sword art. [x15] ST-II (13 EN) | A powerful single-target sword art. Only available for use when ST-I was used and successfully struck an enemy the previous turn or if ST-II had been used and had missed the previous turn. [x20] ST-B (18 EN) | A devastating single-target sword art. Can only be used if the sword art used the previous turn is not ST-B and had rolled a natural CD9+. When performing an AoE attack, use only the first roll. | AOE [x11] AOE-I (9 + [2 * targets] EN) | AOE | A sword art that strikes multiple targets at once. [x14] AOE-II (12 + [2 * targets] EN) | AOE | A powerful sword art that strikes multiple targets at once. Only available for use when AOE-I was used and successfully struck an enemy the previous turn or if AOE-II had been used and had missed all intended targets the previous turn. | TECH [x16] TECH-A (14 EN) | STUN | A single-target sword art that stuns an enemy. [x16] TECH-B (13 EN) | DELAY | A single-target sword art that, on a successful strike, applies [Delay] on the enemy. [Delay] is a debuff that reduces the enemy’s ACC by 1 for one turn.

Four weeks after the founding of the Trackers Alliance, on the fourth day of the frontline's raid preparations, autumn's hand was picking the leaves off birch trees and great piles of drained orange and brown were gathering at every inch of their territory. The morn was peaceful and cold and the bartender had long concluded his shift. Soft rapid footfalls, the pace of a brisk walk, sounded down the main hall and the door to Morningstar's office slammed open with vigor.

"Leader," Yue Hua declared. Her coat was worn all the way up for the weather and half the remaining length of her tail trailed out the hall past her entry. "I have reacquired half my levels, putting me back at Tier 3, and I can now safely assume a combat role. Please tell me if there are any harder tasks you need help with so that I may repay your endless kindness."

[Morningstar 0]

| MORNINGSTAR  | Lv. 73 >> P. 34, Lv. 33  | Status: [ // ]  Notes:  //

Hide contents Morningstar | HP: 840/840 | EN: 120/120 | DMG: 22 | EVA: 4 | ACC: 5 | BH: 43 | LD: 8 | REC: 8 | FLN: 16 | AA | PARA-V equipped Dying Sun FLN II, AA, PAR VEN Inner Focus EVA II, REC II Sapphire ACC III, EVA I battle-ready inventory Magdalyn's Cuckoo skills   Hide contents mod count: 4/5 STRAIGHT SWORD | RANK 5/5 precision, stamina, ferocity shift: tech MARTIAL ARTS | RANK 5/5 precision COMBAT MASTERY: DMG | RANK 3/3 SEARCHING | RANK 4/5 (5) night vision, detect, tracking, reveal BATTLE HEALING | RANK 5/5 UNHINDERED ENERGIST CHARGE extra (active) SURVIVAL FORGOTTEN KING'S AUTHORITY LADY LUCK DISGUISE data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== buffs   Hide contents statue # | # consumables grumbleberries | +2 LD # paragon Lv. 5 | Gain additional col equivalent to 15% of EXP earned in that thread. Lv. 10 | +1 LD to looting. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== sword 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 TECH-F | x12 | AOE STUN TECH-G | x16 | BURN data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== misc/housing buffs   Hide contents Dimensional Backpack | +2 Battle-Ready Inventory Slots. Well Rested | -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat. Squeaky Clean | The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (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. Multipurpose | Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll. Skylight (Searching) | +1 Expertise to declared utility skill.  fishing # data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==   data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==

 

Morningstar's office was a formality. Leaders had offices, he thought, and so he had one built. There were a few others throughout the guildhall, predominantly unused aside from the Treasury Room upstairs. Truthfully, he could have done his work anywhere. Even more truthful—he was growing tired of his work altogether. When Yue Hua barged in, he was busy staring at the wall, thinking.

"Oh, Yue Hua," he acknowledged her, quickly put on pause while she spoke her mind.

He pulled a fraying leather journal from his desk drawer and searched through its contents for a while. Eventually, he came to a short list of names, one each connected to a unique number. He tapped a few times on the beige paper before looking up at the tracker. "I spend too much time in here and not enough time in the field."

"I've got something for you. For both of us, actually, if you don't mind me tagging along. It might take a few days, though." Star slid the journal across the desk for Hua to look at. Above the contents was the title, "Scents of the Wild."

[Pollux 0]

Yue Hua gracefully sank into an empty chair. Appeased, she looked out the window, appreciating the wide view of their lands afforded by Morningstar's office. Some way down the hill, she had put up a shed for her alchemy with an open-fronted attachment where she liked to relax after a day of crafting. She had foregone that today, eager to test herself elsewhere after her and Wulfrin's trip to the desert.

It was quiet, save for the rustling of pages.

When the sound stopped, Yue Hua went over and slid the journal closer to herself. She skimmed through its contents, finding a few key parts of it familiar. Scents of the Wild was a quest chain she had heard spoken of at least once in her aimless travels but it wasn't one she attempted herself. Players liked to complete the entire chain with the same partner they started with and Yue Hua had lacked that consistency. Funny that it was barely a consideration now.

"I had never had a place for this quest's rewards before. Perhaps it's also time to change that," Yue Hua mused out loud, half for Morningstar's benefit, before she responded to him more directly, "But of course. Your company would be appreciated. After all this talk about my previous abilities, I am obliged to at least demonstrate them to you now personally. In fact..."

She turned the journal back around and tapped a finger to the first name.

"We can take this one today without any need for preparations. I hope cryptography is better than paperwork for you, Leader."

[Morningstar 0]

"As a matter of fact, it is."

 

Morningstar's wallet ached. It was hard to avoid spending in a world where potions and equipment upkeep were a requirement, and he hadn't stepped foot in a dungeon for quite some time. Even so, he paid for both of their mounts on their way out of Tolbana. "I hope you like horses."

He had done the questline before—at least, he had started it once. He and a fresh level one had, at some point or another, spent a full day and night hunting the first of seven monsters living throughout the floors. He recalled that he had done the majority of the heavy lifting, and had long since forgotten what the words on the tablet translated to. They had a long day (week? month?) ahead of them.

He straddled his steed and rode at a steady pace towards the edge of town.

"You've been busy," he commented. "Over twenty levels in just a few weeks. Not bad at all."

Experience taught Star that early grinding was a hassle. He did not look back fondly on the low hit point, low damage days. The more numbers he had on his side, the easier life was.

[Pollux 0]

Yue Hua had enough experience with mysteries to know that she wasn't an easy hand at it. Lucky that she was shadowing her bored guild leader, if one could equate enjoyment with some level of skill.

"Usually, they don't like me," she said, dead serious. But in contradiction, her horse was happily nuzzling her hand after she had compulsively showered it with pets and hugs as soon as Morningstar had led it to her. She added, "It's the tail. Apparently it's heavy and I set them off balance with it."

So, after a quick traversal through her menus, Yue Hua waved it off.

From Tolbana they rode side by side. They followed the main road for a time, passing by players and NPCs traveling by cart or foot. Floor 1 never lacked for these things. Then turning onto a lesser used trail with the markings of the comings and goings of players who had undertaken the same venture they were about to, the corners of Yue Hua's lips quirked up at Morningstar's observation. "Hehe. You know how it is with New Game+'s, if you've ever played games with that sort of mechanic? Even starting from zero, you've got all the info from the previous playthrough to build a better optimized strategy, and in the case of this game, a few ready contacts to exploit."

She fell silent for a minute as she considered what more to say.

"It was Diwali, Leader," Yue Hua was almost apologetic. "The crafting board. Had I known the turnout would be that big, I might have pulled everyone else into it. Excluding the newer folk like Firefly, maybe. Leveling is tedious but it is a vital learning experience, I find."

---

-> GATHERING: 239328: LD 4; Fail.

Edited December 30, 2024 by Pollux

[Morningstar 0]

New Game+ was not a term Morningstar was familiar with. Despite living in a video game, he was shockingly inept at them and had played very few growing up. It wasn't particularly relevant, nor did he feel like derailing their conversation, so he simply nodded and let her speak.

Her admission that Diwali was the cause of her level explosion was a surprise, for certain. He thought back to his own experience at the event. What was a crafting board? He remembered a board game. A couple, actually—and food, and horses. He supposed he hadn't missed much. The levels were more valuable to her than they were to him.

Star agreed with her final comment, but added that he wouldn't have restarted the leveling process for anything. "The game's a lot more constricting when numbers aren't on your side. I guess you understand that better than most, though."

They arrived at the cave by noon. They led their horses to the entrance and tied them to an old tree. "Do you have night vision?" He asked before withdrawing a Glowstone from his vast inventory. It looked like a plain rock beneath the sunlight, but in the dark, it was stronger than any torch. He fiddled with it while Yue Hua prepared herself, and they went on their way.

The Glowstone burned white the moment they stepped foot in the cave. Vines—maybe they were tree roots, covered with light moss—ingrained in the walls and the floor made for tedious hiking. One, he nearly had to climb over; it was about a foot from growing to his torso in height, and as thick as a small bear.

"I think there were less of these the last time I was here."

[Pollux 0]

"Not yet."

After giving her horse one last affectionate pat, Yue Hua followed a step behind Morningstar, her nacreous eyes tracing the movements of the shadows cast by Morningstar's glowstone on the cave walls. From the first cavern the ground sloped gently downwards, interrupted from place to place by overgrown roots. Small fissures. Then they came into a spacious cave where the cracks widened into a gap in the ceiling and rays of sunlight spilled inwards. Yue Hua detached herself from the circle of light cast by Morningstar's glowstone, surveying the area curiously.

There was a massive stone arch and a door at the opposite end. She knocked a closed fist against it and nothing happened. She turned her palm upwards, cradling the hanging vines that decorated it, but a brief activation of her focused sights revealed to her that there was nothing useful to be gathered in the vicinity -- or her own vision didn't reach the necessary threshold to notice them. She returned to Morningstar's side, now staring at the tablet and the dialogue window that hovered above it.

<<Scents of the Wild: Keepers of Nature>>
Decipher [Nature's Tablet].

Skimming through the text, Yue Hua brilliantly concluded that it was at least written in English characters. She rummaged about her pockets for a pen and paper. "First, let's write it down."

---

-> GATHERING: 239696: LD 2; Fail.

Edited January 4 by Pollux

[Morningstar 0]

Morningstar did the same. A journal materialized in his hands, along with two pens.

"Here. Special paper."

Star ripped a few pages out and handed them over. He took to translation immediately, scribbling messy letters into his journal. It was a shame the message had long since vanished from his memories. They could have been in and out of the cave in a minute.

"If you can decipher it before me, I'll buy you lunch," he said.

A few words came easy to him, but he wasn't sure if he was misleading himself. He was fitting letters together and the beginning of the first sentence made sense. The dozens of other letters in the box he had drawn to the side, however, made him rethink whether he was on the right track.

"Do you like puzzles?"

It was a bit of a random question, but it was the best he could do while simultaneously working.

---

-> DECIPHERING TABLET: 239741: LD 8+6; TOTAL 14/60

[Pollux 0]

Her eyes glinted at the challenge.

"Deal. And of course, I will be the one paying if you solve it instead. Where do you usually eat, Leader?"

She did not know where a movie star's tastes in food leaned but today she felt confident in her wallet. Not so much in her problem-solving abilities. Yue Hua was, in her humble and unbiased opinion, a force to be reckoned with in a physical bout, calm, collected, and efficient; but stacking a race on top of this uncommon task shot an excited, jittery feeling through her nerves that made her want to bounce on the heels of her feet. Wrestling back her composure, Yue Hua focused on scribbling down the encrypted text.

Morningstar had paused near the end of his note-taking to look at something else. Yue Hua followed. Oh. There was already a key.

"I suppose I like them a regular amount. I used to play mahjong. The solitaire, not the other one. It was useful for occupying my mind when I couldn't focus on other things," she responded distractedly as she worked. This had turned a little ways in her favor -- rather than trying to find a pattern, she was matching the words with something that was already provided. She felt more hopeful in her chances.

---

-> DECIPHERING TABLET: 239864: LD 20; TOTAL 34/60.

Edited January 8 by Pollux

[Morningstar 0]

Morningstar hummed. "There's a sushi place in Yomi that I like for special occasions. Taft has a Japanese grill that's pretty good too. To be honest, I usually eat at the guild hall though."

It struck him that he hadn't eaten out in months, not counting pre-quest consumables. He craved a professionally cooked meal. Their talk of food made him hungry, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. She was doing a great job at distracting him from their competition.

"Interesting. I like mahjong—but the other one, not the solitaire. Puzzles are fun though. Did you ever get stuck in that escape room on Floor 28? Took me hours to figure out how to leave."

He talked and worked simultaneously. Towards the end, he felt like something was wrong. Things were fitting together in ways that did not make sense. "Is the code in Spanish for you too?"

Maybe his translator was broken.

---

-> DECIPHERING TABLET: 240316: LD 20; TOTAL 54/60.