[PP-F1] Colours of the skies (koumori)

[Miriko 0]

Miriko and Koumori traced after the man in the hat. They caught the man and Koumori threw him onto the ground. A crowd started to surround them and the shadowed man suggested that they go more private. Before they entered a deserted allyway, Koumori reassured the crowd. Koumori pushed the man againts the wall and demanded the location of the book. The man told them that he knew the books location but he would only speak to the lady. Miriko moved forward and whispered to Koumori. "Let me talk to him. I wont let him go anywhere and he cant hurt me, we are in a safe spot." Miriko grabbed the front of the mans shirt, "Tell me where the book is." Miriko growled. She put on a dont mess with me face. "The book is.... I sold the book back in a inn back north a bit." The man smirked. Miriko put an even more deadly look on her face. "If you are lying to us...." She pointed to herself and Koumori."We will hunt you down....again."

[Koumori 0]

I begrudgingly complied to the man's request after the reassurance of Miriko and relinquished him to her hands. She leaned in close so I could hear what she said but whatever it was it worked. He told us where he sold it. Well, generally. He didn't give us the name of the inn. But I was a little unsettled by the grin he spouted after relenting to Miriko. This time she spoke again, in a voice I'd never expect to come out of the mouth of a girl like her. I walked up to her and took the man by the collar. "You heard the lady, you can't run from us." And with that I threw him to the ground and led Miriko out the alley opposite the way we came in. We got out into the street and looked around, not many people, night had come. I still suspected the event was timed so we'd have to move quickly. I turned to my companion, "We should move quickly, but I think it would be bad to split up. Well have to check every street in the northern section together. Agree?" Before we'd move I'd hear what Miriko thought. After that I'd try and take the lead in the search. 

[Miriko 0]

Koumori threw the man on the ground, and moved quickly down the ally onto a main street. Miriko followed, The sun and gone down and night was apon them. Koumori told Miriko that they would have to move quickly. He suggested that they search every inn in the northen section. Miriko nodded her head. "Good plan." They started to search inns. They had probably searched around 10 inns without luck. "Lets keep going. We cant give up now." She kept walking and went into another inn.

[Koumori 0]

Miriko agreed and we set off to the northern part of town. She and I went down the streets one by one and entered every in we saw and every time we saw nothing out of the ordinary. All of the inns we entered we normal establishments, with NPCs behind the counter and players talking in the lobbies. It seemed like our search would be fruitless. The light of the sun was completely gone and was replaced by the pail glow of the moons. Our faces were illuminated in a strange glow which made us look like suspicious characters given the way we were walking around. After we searched our tenth inn my spirits sank even lower. Luckily, that was when Miriko decided we needed a little encouragement and told me not to give up. It wasn't anything big, something generic actually, but it helped nontheless. We walked out of the street of the tenth in and onto the next and immediately I could tell something wasn't light. The street was uncharacteristicly dark, without a light to be found, and no players graced the road. The pure emptiness flipped a switch in my head, this was it. We walked down the street, eyes in the backs of our heads, and approached what appeared to be an inn. When we entered we saw that there we at least lights on inside but again no people. Not even an NPC at the counter. Miriko and I began looking around the place. Checking everything we found until someone appeared behind the desk and spoke "is there anything I can help you with?" I quickly spun around to see that the NPC attendant had finally appeared, probably from the door behind him. I looked at him and decided immediately what I should do. I gestured for Miriko to come to my side and then without consulting with her I said "We're here to sell a valuable item, I was told you could help us with that." What I said was accompanied by the sly grin that was necessary in an interaction like this. The NPC eyed me up suspiciously and spoke again "Is that so? Then please show me the item." I was taken aback slightly, but I knew what I had to do. I was going to take a huge gamble and assume he wasn't the buyer. I leaned in closer to him "You think I'm stupid enough to show it anyone besides the buyer? Don't test me." The NPC glared at me and without saying a word pressed a button under his counter. Her raised his right arm and pointed to a secret door that was revealed in the wall. It appeared he wasn't going to say anything else and began walking to the door. I looked in and saw it was a dark set of stares. I began walking down, Miriko close behind me, and whispered to her "Sorry for being so reckless, but it looks like we might finally find it"

[Miriko 0]

Miriko Whispered back "I never knew you could say something like that. What do you think is down here, mabey a blackmarket. Did they even program a black market into the system???" Miriko asked. The hallway of stairs was very dark and she could barely see where she was going. "They seriously need to put a light here. I know they are trying to make it all secret but this is common sense." Miriko muttured as she continued to struggle with the darkness. They finally made it to the bottom of the steps which led to another door. "You open it Koumori." She gestured for him to open it.

[Koumori 0]

"Call me crazy" I said with a laugh as we descended the dark stairwell. "I don't think so. This is probably just for the mission we're on." I didn't think there was an NPC black market in SAO that would be ridiculous. I was sure that this was something made just for this quest line, if you could call it a quest. As I continued contemplating Miriko made comments about the need for lights. For sure the tunnel was unnecessarily dark, but I didn't say anything return. After what seemed like minutes, we finally reached the bottom. We stepped off the bottom step and on to the landing and were then greeted by a single door. We both stood looking at it for a second before Miriko told me to open it. After giving her a "you little" kinda of look I reached forward and opened the door. I walked through and examined what lie on the other side. It was a small square room, totally dark except for one light in the center, with one square table...wait on the table! That was the book. The book that the NPC described was sitting right on the table. Before I ran forward to grab it my thoughts got the better of me. How could this not be a trap? I looked over at Miriko to see what she thought. 

(I hate looking back on my posts and seeing typos ahhhh)

Edited August 11, 2015 by Koumori

[Miriko 0]

Miriko walked through the door after Koumori reluctantly opened it. The room was very dark, with one light hanging from the ceiling above a table. On the table was the exact book they were looking for. This is too easy. something feels not right.  "Wait Koumori, this could be a trap." Miriko called, Koumori turned around. "This is way to obvious and easy. and this room is making me uneasy." She whispered. Miriko looked around the room, for something obvious, something out of place. There was nothing. Can you see anything Koumori?" Miriko asked. She placed her hands on her hips and squinted through the darkness of the room.

[Miriko 0]

Miriko walked through the door after Koumori reluctantly opened it. The room was very dark, with one light hanging from the ceiling above a table. On the table was the exact book they were looking for. This is too easy. something feels not right.  "Wait Koumori, this could be a trap." Miriko called, Koumori turned around. "This is way to obvious and easy. and this room is making me uneasy." She whispered. Miriko looked around the room, for something obvious, something out of place. There was nothing. Can you see anything Koumori?" Miriko asked. She placed her hands on her hips and squinted through the darkness of the room.

[Koumori 0]

"Yeah you're probably right." Upon Miriko's request I began searching around the room. Besides the light, table, and book nothing seemed to be inside. The floor was bare, the walls were empty, and the only entrance was the one we used to come in. I decided I'd walk around the edges of the room to examine the walls. I'd heard of hidden doors like that before so I wanted to check. When I got to the back of the room I found what I was looking for, a seem in the wall. But as I ran my fingers up it it opened, leaving me to fall to the ground in surprise. As I sat there, a figure emerged from the darkness. Once he began stepping closer I could tell who it was: the owner of the book. But what was he doing here? When I finally got back on my feet he spoke "So glad you could make it. Sorry I had to trick you like that, but you were so fun to watch." He said mockingly. What? He was the thief? He had clearly tricked us into doing something for him but what was it?

[Miriko 0]

Miriko watched Koumori search the walls however suddenly a secret door opened, causing Koumori to fall flat on his face. A figure emerged from the darkness. The owner of the book! "Wait this makes no sense. What was the point of this wild goose trace???" Miriko confronted the NPC.

"Well you see, I never lost the book in the first place. I set up this minor quest to check the intelligence levels of the Players." Miriko looked at Koumori, a bit annoyed. The NPC continued. "I go up to some random players and say that I have lost a book, I give them some information if they are looking for it, and let them see if they can find my book. You two players are the first to successfully past this test." The NPC clapped its hands.

Miriko, still unsatisfied, asked another question. "But why are you checking the intelligence levels of players?" She crossed her arms and lightly tapped her foot.

[Koumori 0]

Miriko began questioning the NPC. According to him, this was all a test to see how smart we were. And apparently we were the first to actually pass the test. While they were talking I brought myself back to my feet and walked around the table to take my place next to Miriko. The man began clapping his hands as if to congratulate us. But I still didn't understand, why was there a quest to see how smart players were? What could be the point beyond this? It's not like they were trying to hire us to do a job or something, everything would dissapear after we finished the quest. So what was it? Undoubtedly having the same thoughts as me, Miriko asked him what his aim was. I was curious to hear the answer so I stared at him intensely. He cracked his nuckles and put his hands on the table as he spoke "Well you see, you can only truly complete my quest if you're smart enough to make it to this point and seeing as you have, I'll explain the rest to you. You have proven that you are excellent at tracking people as well as locations down. So, I would like for you to find my son. He vanished three weeks ago and I haven't seen him since. All that was left behind was this note" He put the note on the table and slid it over to us. Before reading it I looked back up to him, he had a pleading look in his eyes. "Please, only you can help me" I looked back to Miriko and down at the note, it looked like a riddle. I read it quietly to myself, it said: If you wish to see him alive, you must tread in the footsteps of the devil. I was stumped. But it must be a place in SAO. 

(I know you can figure it out, I suck at writing riddles)

 

COMPLETE

Koumori +200 Col +1 SP

Miriko +200 Col +1 SP

Edited October 25, 2015 by Koumori