[F05-PP] - Echoes of the Desert <<The Traveller>>

[Jae 0]

The market buzzed with life, a symphony of voices blending into the metallic chime of goods exchanged and the shuffle of feet on worn cobblestones. Jae moved through the chaos like a shadow, her hood drawn low, emerald eyes sharp beneath the brim. The air carried the mingled scents of dried herbs, leather, and sweat—a far cry from the cool, resinous calm of her forest home. It was then, as she waited for the vendor to count her coins, that she caught it: the faint murmur of something unusual, a thread of gossip woven into the noise. "Fool’s errand," one voice scoffed, muffled by distance. Another answered in a hushed, almost reverent tone, the words trailing through the din like smoke on the wind.

“...old man... buried treasure... desert sands...”

The vendor's hands paused as he handed her a bundle of rations. His eyes darted toward a nearby group of NPCs, then back to her, a flicker of unease crossing his face. The dusk-bound wanderer didn’t press him. She turned and melted into the crowd, the words she’d overheard lingering like grains of sand caught in her boots. A treasure hidden in the wasteland of Floor 05. An old man in need. The tale was as faint as a mirage, its edges blurred by disbelief, yet it nagged at her thoughts. The desert—harsh, relentless, and unkind—was no place for hesitation. She’d heard the stories: shifting sands that swallowed paths whole, bandits lurking among jagged rocks, storms that erased even the strongest of footprints. But still, her steps slowed as she neared the path leading out of the settlement. What if? What if, buried beneath that endless expanse of sun-scorched gold, there was something worth finding? Something that made all this survival mean more than just another day of hunger and breath.

The wind stirred, carrying the faint scent of dust and sun-baked stone. Jaelynn exhaled, low and deliberate. “Worth a look,” the heroine muttered, adjusting the strap of Veilpiercer against her back.

By morning, her course was set.

---

The journey to Floor 05 began beneath the canopy of the woods, the familiar tranquility of Floor 02 a sharp contrast to the unknown that awaited her. The princess of dusk moved swiftly through the trees, her boots crunching softly against the underbrush. Her home, a hollow tucked within the branches of a towering tree, disappeared behind her as she made her way toward the Floor Gate. There, the polished stone shimmered faintly with the promise of transition. She hesitated for only a moment before stepping through, the air around her shifting in a rush of heat and grit.

Floor 05 greeted her with a wave of scorching air, the kind that clung to her skin and made her wish she’d packed twice the water. Sand stretched out in every direction, broken only by jagged formations of stone and the distant shimmer of a settlement’s walls. Fortaleza loomed on the horizon, its sandstone bricks glowing faintly under the relentless sun. She adjusted Veilpiercer against her back, the weight of the longsword a grounding presence, and set off toward the gates. The market inside was a frenzy of voices and movement, stalls draped in colorful cloth casting sparse shadows against the heat. It didn’t take long to spot him—Zamek. The old man was a fragile silhouette against the chaos, hunched beneath a heavy wool cloak that seemed entirely out of place in the blazing desert. His white beard framed a face weathered by time and illness, and his shaking hands clutched the edges of his garment as though warding off an unseen chill.

Jae approached cautiously, her emerald eyes narrowing as she studied him. Up close, his frailty was even more apparent; his breaths came shallow and uneven, interrupted by the occasional cough that racked his thin frame. He looked up as she neared, and their eyes met. His were tired, but there was something else there too—determination, or perhaps desperation. Either way, she didn’t speak right away, allowing the silence to stretch as she gauged his intent.

Finally, she nodded. “I’ll hear what you have to say,” she said, her voice quiet but firm. By the time she’d agreed to the quest, Zamek’s gratitude was evident, though he seemed too exhausted to express it fully. Jae didn’t linger long. There were preparations to make, and she knew better than to head into the desert unarmed or ill-equipped. The quest seemed straight forward enough, escort mission, she just hoped the NPC didn't move as slow as he looked.

Fortaleza rose out of the wasteland like a mirage solidified—sandstone walls weathered by time and storms, standing defiant against the elements. The gates groaned open, revealing a chaotic sprawl of tents and awnings, their bright fabrics snapping in the breeze. The rest of the market thrummed with life, a gritty contrast to the lifeless desert surrounding it. Merchants shouted their wares, their voices hoarse from heat and repetition, while others bartered in hushed tones under the shade of woven tarps. The scent of sun-warmed spices mixed with the acrid tang of sweat and dust, forming a cocktail both intoxicating and suffocating.

The cat-eyed princess wove through the crowd, her steps light but deliberate. Her gaze flicked over rows of goods laid bare on rough-hewn tables: clay jugs filled with brackish water, bundles of sun-dried meat, and stacks of scavenged trinkets. Each item told a story of survival—a life pieced together from the bones of a hostile land. She stopped at a stall manned by a wiry NPC, his face shaded by a wide-brimmed hat. Wordlessly, she exchanged coin for several battered water canisters, her gloved hands testing their weight before securing them alongside her rations.

Veilpiercer gleamed faintly at her back, its polished blade catching slivers of sunlight that danced across the market’s dusty floor. The silver haired nomad drew it for a moment, the familiar weight grounding her against the alien vastness of this floor. The blade whispered its quiet promise of protection, but even that couldn’t banish the unease curling at the edges of her mind. It wasn’t fear—no, fear was too personal. This was something else, something colder: the awareness of just how indifferent the desert could be. She slid the blade back into its sheath and adjusted the strap across her chest, her movements precise and measured. Around her, the noise of the market ebbed and flowed like the tide, but Jae had already turned her thoughts inward, steeling herself for what lay ahead before making her way back.

Quote

***
[Jae] | Lv. 4 | HP: 80/80 | EN: 26/26 | DMG: 5 | ACC: III | EV: - |
***
Skills: Straight Swords (Rank 3)
***
Sword Arts:

• [x8] ST-I (8 EN) | A single-target sword art.
• [x11] ST-II (11 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.
• [x7] AOE-I (7 + [2 * targets] EN) | AOE | A sword art that strikes multiple targets at once.
• [x8] TECH-A (9 EN) | STUN | A single-target sword art that stuns an enemy.

***
Battle Equipment:
Veilpiercer (ACC III) (Equipped)
Rare Longsword (Paralyze/ACC)
(3) Starter Healing Potions (Heals 50 HP)
(3) Water Cannisters (Grants +(5 *Tier) health regeneration while out of combat.)
Black Cloak w/ Hood (Vanity Item | No Benefit)

 

Edited January 28 by Jae
I'm stuck on dumb. The Title~

[Ryo 0]

Ryo shook the sand from his boot as he sat on the edge of the cart. How he detested this floor. He always hated the sand. It was coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it got everywhere. But this was the floor that his girlfriend lived on and if she wanted to live here, well he would have to visit from time to time. The easiest way to travel was to pick up a quest, and walk with the NPC. It cleared the way of random spawns, and made the journey quite easy. Slow, but easy. Ryo placed his boot back on his foot before stepping off the cart and back into the hot desert sun.

If he wanted to get there before this floors nightfall, he'd have to get stepping. "Well, time to hit the ol' sandy trail." Looking over to the quest start Ryo eyed a particular sight. Someone else going to do the quest. They had to have been new, right? No one was actually doing the quest or partially repeating it like him. Or at the least, it was incredibly unlikely. Either way, it would be a nice change of pace to have company for the walk that didn't just repeat the same NPC lines.

As Ryo approached Ryo could already feel the aura of how, serious that person was. Almost making him have second thoughts about approaching them. Regardless, he would need to use that quest to get to Teion and helping someone through it seemed like the right thing to do. Ryo approached, holding up a single hand in greeting. "Yo." He said. "If you're doing this quest, I highly recommend having a partner. It'll help make the time go by faster." Ryo said, holding out a hand. "Ryo. Pleasure to meet you." He said, introducing himself.

Ryo | HP: 625/625 | EN: 91/91 | DMG: 18 | MIT:91 | ACC:3 | BH:21 | REC: 3 | LD:2 [TIER LOCK] PARTY STATS Spoiler Ryo | HP: 625/625 | EN: 91/91 | DMG: 18 | MIT:91 | ACC:3 | BH:21 | REC: 3 | LD:2 THREAD INFO Spoiler equipped »Gin Kin (+9 DMG) »Fierce Deities Coat (+36 MIT, +3EN Recovery) »Accuracy Charm (+3 Accuracy) battle-ready inventory » » » » » skills »Katana R5 (+7 DMG) »Heavy Armor R5 (+40 MIT, -5 Stealth) »Battle Healing R3 (18 healing per turn) »Searching R2 (+2 LD, +2 Stealth Detection) » extra skills »Survival (Healing effects 10% more, immune to environmental effects) »Leadership R1 (Grants access to Leadership Arts, takes 2 Extra Slots) »Leadership R1 » » addons »[Katana] Focus (Minor Crit on BD 8, reduce DoT threshold by 1) »[Katana] Stamina (-2 EN) »[Heavy Armor] Iron Skin (+15 MIT, +45 HP) mods »Impetus (+1 DMG) »Emergency Recovery (Heal 62 when brought below 156 | Once per thread | 10EN) »Night Vision (No penalties from low light/darkness) buffs » Yui's Grace Used (+ 600% EXP for this thread) » Dining Room: "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. » Basic Kitchen: "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.) » Living Room: "Relaxed" - Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.

[Jae 0]

Jae’s cat-eyes flicked toward the voice, sharp and unyielding as a blade catching the sun. She had been mid-motion, tightening the worn strap of her pack, when the stranger’s casual “Yo” threaded its way through the market’s hum. Her movements stilled, emerald eyes glinting beneath the low shadow of her hood, catching on the figure weaving toward her. He wasn’t an NPC—his gait was too easy, his grin too unburdened by the heavy heat pressing down on Fortaleza’s sandstone walls. Another player, then.

The faintest twitch of her eyebrow betrayed her interest as she studied him. Sunlight danced off the polished edge of Veilpiercer where it rested at her side, its weight grounding her against the shifting currents of the unknown. She straightened slowly, brushing a strand of silver hair back beneath her hood with a deliberate motion, her expression unreadable. The air between them was taut with unspoken curiosity. “Ryo, huh?” Her voice was low and even, cool as the breeze that occasionally whispered through the market to carry with it the scent of spices and scorched sand.

She clasped his hand briefly, the touch firm but fleeting, her own fingers roughened by countless hours spent carving a life out of the game’s relentless edges. “Jae,” she offered simply, her words economical, stripped of ornamentation. Her gaze swept over him, not with distrust, but with the practiced eye of a survivor assessing another. His equipment was solid, his stance relaxed yet purposeful. There was something in his demeanor that reminded her of the desert wind—casual, but capable of shifting to something fierce and unrelenting at a moment’s notice. If anything what was most surprising was that he wasn't much taller than her.

Her attention drifted toward Zamek, the frail figure huddled in his heavy wool cloak despite the blistering heat. His form seemed almost swallowed by the chaos of the market, his presence as fragile as a mirage. She adjusted her stance, her posture speaking of readiness, her voice steady but edged with intent. “If you’ve done this quest before, then you know what to expect. No keeping secrets that’ll get me killed,” she said, the faintest glint of wry humor flashing behind her words.

Her gaze brushed against Veilpiercer’s hilt, a fleeting motion followed that steadied her thoughts rather than issued a threat. “I won’t argue if you want to tag along,” she added, the edges of her voice softening ever so slightly. The faintest smirk touched her lips—quick and subtle, a momentary crack in her otherwise stoic facade.

The marketplace swelled with noise around them—vendors shouting their wares, the occasional bray of a pack animal, the clatter of goods shifting under careless hands—but Jae’s focus remained fixed. A lone falcon spiraled high above the sandstone walls, its cry lost in the chaos below. For a moment, she wondered if Ryo might be useful, if his presence could prove more than a distraction. The thought felt foreign, but the desert was not a place for stubborn independence; survival sometimes demanded unlikely alliances. He didn't seem weak, not by a longshot, not like her.

Her gaze shifted back to Zamek, her nod silent but resolute, a signal that she was ready. Yet, as she turned to move, she cast a glance over her shoulder at Ryo, the smirk lingering faintly. “Let’s see if you’re as helpful as you think you are,” she murmured, her tone light but edged with a challenge.

[Ryo 0]

Ryo matched the strength of the handshake. "Jae. Nice." Ryo said, repeating the as she had repeated his. Making sure he had pronounced it correctly. After not being corrected, Ryo assumed he was correct. Ryo nodded, as he thought back on the quest. "Well, Zamek moves really slowly. So we'll have plenty of time for conversation." He said. "Then there's the sandstorm that hits, then a few bandits attack, and that's basically the quest." He said going over the quest synopsis. He didn't go into much detail mostly because he couldn't remember, that and he didn't want to spoil everything that happened. Ryo smiled as he noticed her gaze drift to her weapon. "Tagging along is the least I could do. After all, this is on the way to my girlfriend after all." He said taking a few steps past the woman.

Taking the first steps outside of the settlement was always the easy part. This quest made it so the random mobs moved away and left you and Zamek alone. Ryo turned his head to her as she teased him about being helpful. "Oh ho ho." He chuckled. "I'll make sure you don't die. But don't expect me to carry you through this desert. I see you have a weapon you can use that." He said, casting his gaze back across the desert. It wasn't common, hell it was practically never, but Ryo wanted to make sure that no player bandits were out hiding in the sands before them. They never jumped him, but he had heard stories. Regardless, he looked over to his new compatriot. "He follows you, you started the quest. Lead the way." He said.

<Quest Info>

Ryo | HP: 625/625 | EN: 91/91 | DMG: 18 | MIT:91 | ACC:3 | BH:21 | REC: 3 | LD:2 [TIER LOCK] PARTY STATS Spoiler Ryo | HP: 625/625 | EN: 91/91 | DMG: 18 | MIT:91 | ACC:3 | BH:21 | REC: 3 | LD:2 THREAD INFO Spoiler equipped »Gin Kin (+9 DMG) »Fierce Deities Coat (+36 MIT, +3EN Recovery) »Accuracy Charm (+3 Accuracy) battle-ready inventory » » » » » skills »Katana R5 (+7 DMG) »Heavy Armor R5 (+40 MIT, -5 Stealth) »Battle Healing R3 (18 healing per turn) »Searching R2 (+2 LD, +2 Stealth Detection) » extra skills »Survival (Healing effects 10% more, immune to environmental effects) »Leadership R1 (Grants access to Leadership Arts, takes 2 Extra Slots) »Leadership R1 » » addons »[Katana] Focus (Minor Crit on BD 8, reduce DoT threshold by 1) »[Katana] Stamina (-2 EN) »[Heavy Armor] Iron Skin (+15 MIT, +45 HP) mods »Impetus (+1 DMG) »Emergency Recovery (Heal 62 when brought below 156 | Once per thread | 10EN) »Night Vision (No penalties from low light/darkness) buffs » Yui's Grace Used (+ 600% EXP for this thread) » Dining Room: "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. » Basic Kitchen: "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.) » Living Room: "Relaxed" - Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.

[Jae 0]

Ryo’s assurance drifted through the desert heat, casual, self-assured. "I'll make sure you don't die."

Jae’s lips twitched—not quite a smirk, not quite amusement. A breath of laughter, dry as the dust beneath their boots, slipped past her lips before vanishing beneath the murmur of the market. She adjusted the strap of her gear, fingers deft and unhurried, before casting him a sidelong glance. “The ones who say that usually go first.” Her tone was light, almost absent, but there was a weight behind it, a certainty etched into the space between her words. She brushed a stray wisp of silver hair back beneath her hood, her movements deliberate, methodical. “But don’t worry—I have no intention of dying.”

The weight of Fortaleza settled around them, not just in the sweltering heat, but in the very air itself—a breath heavy with spice and dust, thick enough to taste. It clung to the back of Jae’s throat, a dry, sunbaked oppression that not even the occasional gust of wind could shake. That wind came in fits and starts, rolling through the narrow streets, tugging at the loose fabric of awnings and stirring up spirals of golden dust that shimmered like embers in the light. They swirled and danced, only to settle once more, leaving behind a fine grit that worked its way into every crease of fabric, every crack in the worn stone beneath their boots. The pulse of the market thrummed around her, a cacophony of voices thick with barter and persuasion. Merchants perched beneath makeshift stalls, shaded by stretched tapestries in hues that might have once been vibrant—saffron, indigo, crimson—now muted and dulled by the relentless touch of the sun. 

Each stall was a miniature world unto itself, an explosion of goods arranged with careful disarray: weapons leaned in crude racks, their metal glinting beneath the sun; stacks of dried meats and flatbreads, darkened at the edges from exposure; earthenware bottles filled with oils and strange, viscous tinctures whose scents clawed at the senses. Jae moved through it all like a shadow, her steps fluid, slipping between bodies with an ease that spoke of experience. She absorbed Ryo’s words in silence, cataloging each piece of information without reaction. A sandstorm. Bandits. A slow-moving NPC. The last part was already apparent—the figure of Zamek shuffled along behind them, his heavy wool cloak dragging through the dust, the tattered hem collecting dirt like a sieve. If they outpaced him now, they’d only have to stop and wait. Inefficient. Wasteful. So instead, she matched her steps to the subtle, unspoken rhythm of the city itself.

Above them, the sandstone walls loomed, their weathered surfaces pockmarked by time, standing resilient against the shifting desert. Atop those walls, the guards patrolled, their figures stark against the sun-bleached sky. They moved with a languid sort of purpose, slow, deliberate. Watchful—but not always attentive. Some leaned lazily against their spears, their postures relaxed, their focus not so much on the streets below as on the weight of the coin purses tucked at their sides. Bribes. That was how Fortaleza truly ran. Not on laws, not on order, but on the unspoken agreements passed between knowing hands. A glance exchanged, a small pouch slipped beneath the folds of a robe, and suddenly, a watchful eye became blind, a rule ceased to apply. This city was not lawless, not truly—it simply had its own rules, ones not written down, ones that required a certain understanding to navigate.

Jae understood.

Her fingers brushed over the hilt of Veilpiercer in a quiet habit, more reassurance than caution. Fortaleza wasn’t dangerous in the obvious sense, but complacency was a slow poison. It seeped into the bones, made one forget the weight of vigilance. And vigilance was what separated those who survived from those who didn’t. Ryo spoke beside her, his words filtering through the din of the crowd, but she let them roll past her like the shifting sands. He was comfortable in the space he occupied, in the ease with which he filled the silence. That was fine. She preferred to listen. To observe.

The scents of the market shifted as they walked—the dry, bitter tang of sunbaked leather, the sharp bite of ground spices heaped in uneven piles atop canvas sheets, the underlying scent of something more human. Sweat, effort, the unrelenting toil of those who lived by the weight of their wares and the sharpness of their tongues. They wove past a caravan being loaded with goods, the donkeys restless beneath their burdens, their dark eyes ringed with dust and exhaustion. Nearby, a smith worked beneath the shade of a patched awning, his hammer striking metal in rhythmic bursts, each clang a heartbeat against the city’s pulse. Sparks spat from the anvil’s edge, fleeting, dying embers swallowed by the golden light. Jae’s gaze flicked forward, toward the great sandstone gate that stood ahead—a threshold carved into the very bones of Fortaleza. It stood unmoving, unyielding, a silent guardian between the civilization behind them and the shifting wilderness beyond. There was a certain finality to it, a weight that settled in the bones.

The desert waited on the other side.

She exhaled softly, slow and measured, as she turned her attention back to Ryo. He was still talking, still at ease in a way that was both foreign and familiar to her. She didn’t respond immediately, letting the weight of their surroundings press between them, settle into the quiet spaces of their conversation. Then, finally, she spoke.

“One step at a time, then.” as she glanced at the Old NPC behind them both.

The words were quieter now, almost lost beneath the ebb and flow of the market. But they carried their own weight, steady as the rhythm of her steps.