Private - Tablet of Mir [Q]

Ouch!

It was so mysterious and pretty here but...

Magi had to be careful here. Nearly everything had a sharp edge, the flowers, tall grass, rocks, and so on. The ground was not slippery though for some reason so that was good. Magi Heart had been slowly expanding where she ventured lately. The quest to find a mysterious tablet way out here caught the young girls attention very fast. Magi loved stories, the more fantastical and wonderful the tale the better. Her mom used to read them to her all the time. Fairy tales, myths, folk tales, nursery rhymes, all kinds of things. It had been maybe a year or two since her last one. Magi quietly progressed deeper into the crystallized landscape. Still no signs of the crystal spirit monsters the quest and rumors mentioned.

"......Phew."

Magi was relieved. Whenever she fought it became weird for her lately. It was hard to explain but she felt less in touch with why she was fighting and more about the fight itself. That was not how a magical girl operated. There needed to be more evil villains to fight so that she could be a hero and stuff. The problem was that many times it seemed like the villains were just other players fighting on the other side of some conflict. That was not really something she enjoyed partaking in.

"Maybe I should just focus on removing the world of monsters and stuff."

The girl readied her bow and kept on going.

73/400
53 + 20 = 73

Thrown die:

59

@Eldhi @Ashiore Evretto

 

This place was... quite something alright, the townspeople weren't kidding when they said Zalra was full of crystals. The region had nothing but crystals! The ground, grasses, trees, rocks, and mountains were all crystallized! Rumors said it wasn't always like this, that Zalra was once a lush green forest. Something, or someone, caused the transformation, no one was sure on the details. The phenomenon was so bizarre, terrible yet beautiful, Eldhi wasn't sure if this was the work of nature or foul sorcery. Well, she was here to find out. As a Paladin of Tyl! It was her duty to root out evil wherever they might be!

So far, the white-haired Paladin haven't found another living creature. Even with two fingers on her temple, a mark of a player engaging Investigation Mode, she still couldn't detect anything from her surroundings except for crystals, crystals, and more crystals. She scratched the back of her head, contemplating to return some other time with better leads and maybe a companion or two, going at this alone would be boring it seemed.

"Hmm...?" It was then she noticed movements out at the corner of her eyes, among a cluster of pink crystals, was a small figure clad in matching colors wandering about. Judging by her attire, weapon, and overall demeanor, Eldhi deducted that she was most likely a fellow player, her experience of playing Terrasphere gave her the nuances to differentiate between NPCs and Players. She could be wrong still, but seriously, a pink-clad girl who looked like she was straight out of a magical girl show? Definitely a player.

This meant Eldhi didn't have to go back for a companion, there was one right there, might as well form a party with her. "Yahooooo!" Her loud voice echoed against the crystals as she waved her hand, lightly jumping up and down to attract the smaller girl's attention. She'd make a sign of 'Investigation Mode' pose to show that she was a player too.

"Hey there! Yes, you with the frilly pink clothes!" Eldhi grinned, "You're a 'Hawkeye', hmm?" Carrying a bow, dressed like a magical girl which meant arcane powers... duh, hence the assumption, "Wonderful, for I am a Paladin! ...of Tyl! I can take care of the front while you stay back and shoot!" She winked, "I'm Eldhi by the way, want to form a party together?"

85/400
2 + 10 = 12​

Thrown die:

2

 

Here she was, back again in Crystallized Zalra. It seemed as if she never learned. Okay sure, she wasn't planning on going into monster-infested ruins this time, but one would think that Ash would have been slightly less eager to return to a place that she had nearly died.

But Zalra was gorgeous! And it was still so shiny and new, and she barely knew anything at all about it! What if there was something amazing hidden there? Like, say, rumors of a tablet that showed you your deepest desires. Who knew if it really existed, but it wasn't like she would really be missing out if she didn't find it. Zalra surely held more secrets than that.

So, yes, Ash was back in Zalra and simply wandering around with Naixi. The lioness had been quite interested at first, going over to lick at a few of the glittering crystals jutting from the ground, but when it became clear that Ash had... you know, pretty much no idea whatsoever where she was going, Naixi had grown rather petulant. She was sending the mental equivalent of disgruntled grumbling through their empathy link.

"Come on! Don't be so whiny," she chided. The grumbling only intensified.

Well, Naixi had a point. Zalra was pretty and all, but she was getting a bit bored. Just as she was contemplating logging out and returning later, she saw two humanoid figures in the distance and perked up. Naixi also grew more alert. Ooh! People! At last!

Quickly making her way over to them, Ash raised her hand and waved. "Ah, hello!" she called, maneuvering around a few large crystal spires to reach them. Looked like two young girls, one of them in pink and the other in heavy armor. Ash smiled. "Hi! Sorry, you were just the first two people I've seen in a while. What are you two doing in Zalra?"

164/400
59 + 20 = 79​

Thrown die:

59

 

Silence.

It was creepy to say the least. Magi was enjoying some of peaceful atmosphere and pretty shiny crystals, but really, she preferred being in a place with more... life. Whoever or whatever did this to this place was must be really weird. Magi shivered a little at the thought. It was just that kind of enemy that she wanted to save the world from someday. Just like her anime heroines. The story on that tablet might help inspire her. She definitely needed more inspiration after some of the stuff that's been going on.

Tap, tap, tap....

Magi's shoes hit the smooth crystal as she walked. She reached what looked like a arching bridge. A river ran under it and everything... of course... it was all crystal. Magi walked over to a nearby flower and touched it. Maybe she could cure this place? What a awesome thing that would be if she could! She focused and tried to use a cure ability. No effect. One more try! ....Nope. Awwww....

Magi stood up and made her towards the bridge. If she could not cure this place... did that mean she failed the nature here? This was how Magi tended to be. Wanting to solve things and make everyone and everything good but it was so hard and confusing in actual practice.

"Yahooooo!"

Magi Heart turned just as she was about to cross. She looked stunned and almost jumped out of her skin with her twin tails stiffening straight out. She calmed down when she saw it was just a person. A person! Yay! Magi was not liking the loneliness of this area. Not one bit.

"H-hello!"

She waved her whole arm up high to the armored girl. The lady was really up beat and looked like they were having fun with the game. That was kinda how Wendy felt going into this too. Now she did not know how she felt about all of it.

"Nice to meet you... I'm Magi Heart. Yeah... I'm the bringer of love and justice to everyone! I am happy to help!"

Magi Heart used her self made pose and smiled like she knew she should. Another person came over right as she was doing this. Wow, cool beans! Magi Heart might have a party now! She had to not let them down. Magi saw the second new person had a pet too. Magi wanted one... but not right now. Right now she wanted to read that tablet.

"Are you guys here to find the tablet too?"

278/400
94 + 20 = 114

Thrown die:

94

@Eldhi @Ashiore Evretto

 

Magi Heart, such a cute name for a cute girl, it rolled off the tongue nicely and fit with the whole magical girl theme. "An honor, Magi!" Eldhi put one arm diagonally across her chest, bowing in a knightly manner. The shorter girl was doing her best to play her part, Eldhi must respect her efforts with her own! "It is always a pleasure to meet a fellow purveyor of justice." The white-haired Paladin nodded, "Love is good, with love and justice, the world will be a better place!" She was liking her new party member already! Now... if only an additional player could turn this dynamic duo into a triple threat!

"Oh?" As it turned out, Eldhi got more than she wished as she turned to the druid with long flowing brown hair wearing earth-tone clothes and her lion companion! No kidding, there was a literal lion obediently following her! "W... woah..." The Paladin blinked, red eyes roaming over Naixi's large form then to the woman, back and forth, "Hello, Miss! you and uh... Miss Lion there! Well, ahem!" She cleared her throat, a faithful of Tyl must keep composed at all times, "I am Eldhi and this is Magi, we are exploring Zalra, but so far... we've seen nothing but crystals, is there really anything here?"

Then, Magi mentioned something about a tablet, "Ooooh... they have tablets here? I wonder what kind of games it has, crystal shooter? Hehe~" It was quite obvious the rather naive girl imagined an entirely different kind of tablet, "Sure! Let's go find this tablet! Maybe it's called iCrystal, hahaha!"

---

Meanwhile, as the girls talked, a certain lioness would notice something at the corner of her eyes, her keen feline senses picking an unknown presence and her gut warning her that a threat was looming on them.

True enough, not a few moments later, a crystalline creature in the shape of a juvenile Gryphon leapt out from the behind the cover of literal crystal trees. The creature, a hodgepodge of Naixi's feline breed and an eagle, cried in a mixed voice of both a roar and a shriek. It went charging straight at the all-female party...

"Hmmm?! Gah!!" Making direct contact with Eldhi's armored form before she could properly stand her ground, flinging the Paladin a few feet away as her back landed on a bunch of crystals, thank Tyl she wore armor... and that this was a game, but damn, it still hurt. "Nngh... a monster...?" Disoriented, Eldhi was getting herself back up.

Meanwhile, the crystal gryphon wasted no time to spot its next target, this time leering at Naixi dangerously, it'd prove to the lioness just who was the superior beast!

355/400
67 + 10 = 77​

Thrown die:

67

 

Ash nodded as the two introduced themselves, smiling. "Pleasure to meet you both! My name is Ashiore, but you can call me Ash. And this is Naixi," she added, giving said lion a quick pat between the ears. "I did hear about the tablet, yes. So you're looking for it? Mind if I join you? We might have better luck working together. So far I've found nothing but crystal, crystal, and more crystal."

It wasn't any good for her feet, Ash could tell you that. All those tiny little geodes and pebbles that her feet seemed magnetically drawn to... And she still didn't have a pair of shoes. She was going to have calluses worthy of a marathon runner at this rate.

Ash gestured in the direction she came from. "I was looking around over there and it didn't seem like there was much around. So I guess we should go on ahead?"

Any other suggestion that she or anyone else was going to make was cut off by a growl from Naixi, seconds before an ear-piercing shriek filled the air. A large crystalline form leapt out from behind a grove of (literally) emerald-leafed trees, slamming into Eldhi and sending the heavily-armored girl flying back.

Eyes widening, Ash immediately began tracing a healing spell in the air. It seemed to take more energy here; though Ash was surrounded by emerald trees bearing opal fruits, it looked like that wasn't considered enough like natural wilderness to aid her naturamancy spells. But she ignored the extra strain for now and finished her Healing Pollen spell, causing a large stalk to sprout from the ground and an enormous flower to open at the top, showering Eldhi in regenerative pollen.

Naixi, meanwhile, looked to be the next target of the beast, which Ash could now see resembled a gryphon. A small mental nudge to Naixi reminded the lion to try not to bite, despite it being her usual method of attack. Ash didn't know exactly how hard that crystal was, and both she and Naixi probably wouldn't like it if the lion ended up with a jaw full of cracked and chipped teeth.

"Eldhi, Magi, are you both okay?" Ash called, risking a glance behind her as Naixi pounced at the gryphon.

412/400
37 + 20 = 57​

Thrown die:

37

 

Magi laughed for the first time in a bit. She loved laughter, it made her feel better to just have fun with everyone instead of stressing about things. It is one of the reasons Wendy was not thrilled about growing up, because it looked really depressing. The war and horrible monsters out there were only proving that adult sensibilities were not for her. She just wanted to be a super hero. Magi could tell these girls were good people right away! Eldhi was the name it read when Magi used her party checker. Ashiore was pretty cool too. She had a pet after all! Eldhi said she was a follower of love and justice though! Nothing beats that, never ever!

"Wowie cool beans! Do you lik-"

Any chance to talk more ended because a very large crystallized monster, it was one of those weird bird dog/lion thingies, and it came at them! Wait.... how is this even possible? Oh boy, crystal monsters. This was not the weird crystalites she had heard about either. Then all this time she thought she was alone out here... she might have been being hunted by this thing? Gee whiz. Magi quickly brought her hand to her chest and thrust out her other hand at her new friends while jumping back some. This was hopefully not going to be really super tough. If it was, it could drain them too much to reach the tablet and Magi really wanted to read her story!

"Yellow Heart Power! Protect our pure hearts!"

There, that barrier will do the trick.... oops! Magi's foot hit the crystal ground and slipped right after the spell activated. Falling onto her face hard. She pulled herself up with a very blushed and flustered look. Hopefully no one saw that...

DC ACCOMPLISHED​

@Eldhi @Ashiore Evretto

 

The sheer power and surprise factor of the crystal Gryphon's attack cut down Eldhi's hit points significantly. Sure, it wasn't enough to bring her down for good but as a Paladin, as someone who should be able to tank hits, getting down to half health just from one strike was worrying. "Ha..." Fortunately, the brunette of the group possessed restorative druidic magic, conjuring an oversized flower with healing pollens. Eldhi could feel her wounds mended and bruises fading as she cracked her neck.

"Thanks, Ashy!" The Paladin gave a thumbs up to the taller girl then brandished her longsword, the edge shone a dim golden glow as she buffed the blade with Illuminance. "Umu!" Buffed by the pink-haired magical girl's barrier, the Paladin was prepared for battle.

Hidden: Music

"In the name of Tyl! I shall smite you!" With an excited battlecry the Paladin charged into the fray, facing the half-lion half-eagle creature head on! During her excitement, she (fortunately) saved Magi from the embarrassment of her blunder being witnessed, the same might not be said for Ashiore.

Eldhi closed the distance with the Gryphon, it was currently wrestling with the druid's lioness, crystal against claws, beak against fangs, the two beasts were locked in primal combat. Time for her to assist Naixi, yes, they shall stand together so Magi could line up a good shot and Ashiore would make sure they'd all get out of this in one piece.

"Hey! Birdbrain!" The Paladin taunted, launching a golden crescent wave with a swing of her longsword, striking the Gryphon's crystalline body, "Face me!!" Her plan somewhat worked as the creature turned its attention away from the lioness, shrieked, then charged at the Paladin again. However, this time, she was ready!

"Hngh!" A loud grunt accompanied golden sparks flying from her blade as she braced against the creature's pounce, skidding her footing a few inches across the ground but standing her ground nonetheless, the barrier cast on her by Magi helped to mitigate the damage. "That all you got?!" Parrying the claw away, Eldhi struck her light-enchanted blade against one of its claws, shattering a crystal nail. "Yeah! Take that!"

As long as she could keep it locked down, Naixi should be able to mount its back and start thrashing its wings.

 

Naixi had leapt onto the gryphon's back and the two were wrestling in the ground, giving @Eldhi a chance to get back up. @Magi Heart also cast a barrier on Eldhi to help the paladin out.

Ash was doing her best to keep the gryphon pinned down, casting spells to try and restrain the gryphon's limbs so it couldn't struggle as much. Unfortunately, the gryphon was quite strong physically, as it had demonstrated when it threw Eldhi across the ground. It easily broke through, bucked Naixi off its back with a flap of crystal wings-

-and let out a sharp shriek as a crescent of light hit it. It snapped up to look at Eldhi, who had let loose a strike from her sword infused with holy magic. The girl was taunting the beast into attacking her, which looked to be working as the gryphon leapt at Eldhi, ignoring Naixi who had just got back to her feet.

Now that the gryphon was distracted by Eldhi, who was skillfully parrying its attacks and making quite a few of her own, Naixi took the chance to swipe at the gryphon from behind as well. Stuck between two attackers with a few additional strikes from both Ash and Magi, the gryphon quickly fell to the ground, defeated.

The tension in the air lingered for a few more minutes, as Ash waited to see if they were going to get jumped by another enemy. But it looked like the coast was clear now. Letting out a sigh of relief, Ash went to check on Naixi. She recast Healing Pollen, gesturing at it and saying, "If any of you have any injuries, just stand under the flower. It should take care of things that aren't too major." Pausing, she looked back up to the other two. "Nobody's too hurt, right?"

Didn't seem that way, but it never hurt to ask. Naixi had a few sore paws but was fine overall as well. As they all took a break after that fight, Ash looked to Magi and asked, "So, where to go from here?"

 

The Crystal Gryphon was defeated pretty fast! everyone was always so much better at this game than Magi was. Even now, after she spent so much time training. The girl let it slide. She just could not deal with the depression anymore. Magi Heart just had to keep trying. She did help with her protection spell, that was enough. What was it she exactly wanted to be able to do? This was not something Magi needed to be upset about. Anyway on to find that tablet! Ashiore had a nice healing plant thing. So Magi went to get whatever healing she could, it was nice to feel the warmth of healing sometimes. This place was not the warmest area one could be. The naturamancy user then asked what to do next. Um, how would Magi know? Oh boy.

"...Look for the tablet maybe... I don't know. I've been here for a long time and I have not seen the crystalites either."

Magi Heart hoped she was not chasing a rumor that was not true here. She looked around and just nodded.

"Yep, that's all I can think of unless we leave."

Hoping they would come with her. Magi continued on. All along the way, even on the other side of the bridge, was lands of crystal. Eventually the crystal became denser. More tall bluish trees and almost wall like paths of tall foilage surrounded the travelers. This must have once been a forest or a tall grass land. Magi shivered a bit. This was so... so cruel. Nothing escaped this. Magi wondered how Eldhi, a player who was really into hero knights would think of this. She was hoping for some inspiration...

"Hey... um Eldhi right? Is this place... weird isn't it? You want to be a good guy right? So how do you do that? Are you doing a good job bringing love and justice to everyone? Do you think we could... bring it to this place?"

Magi would have continued, but she stopped when before them was a slightly elevated area. Upon the plateau of crystal was a large tablet. The tablet shone brightly and it was impossible to make out what was on it from here but... they did it!

"The tablet, the tablet!"

Magi grabbed both of the other girls hands and tried to pull them along as she laughed excitedly. Magi had succeeded! It was not a false rumor. There were no signs of floating crystal monsters! This actually worked out! Woohoo!


OOC: You may end the quest here and have what's on the tablet be left a mystery until you want to reveal it later for your character's individual stories. Or you can reveal it's words in your final posts. Congrats on quest complete! @Ashiore Evretto @Eldhi

 

With the combined efforts of Ashiore, Naixi, Magi, and Eldhi, the crystalline Gryphon was defeated at last. It let out a final high-pitched shriek before shattering away in million prismatic pieces. "Ha... fuh..." Now that the immediate danger was over, Eldhi could feel just how much damage the monster inflicted on her. If it wasn't for Ashiore's healing and Magi's support, she'd already be dead by now. It was pretty much clear that she was the least experienced player of the trio, she really ought to train more.

Limping back to take a short break near the giant healing flower, Eldhi wiped her forehead. "Yeah, I should be fine." It hurt like hell but her wounds were being mended by the restorative pollens so all's good. "Okay!" She stood up, wincing a bit as she pushed away the dull pain throbbing from her body. The next step was clear, they had to find the tablet, make the journey worthwhile. "Let's go then!"

---

Trudging through the field of gems, they came upon a bridge, one of the few man-made structure left in the transformed land. The congregation of crystals was even worse on the other side, hopefully that didn't correlate with the number of hostile creatures. Keeping herself on alert, Eldhi walked at the foremost alongside Naixi, just in case anything decided to spring upon them, she could be the one who tanked the first hit.

It was then that the pink-haired magical girl spoke up to her, "Ah yes, it's Eldhi. You can also call me Ellie if you like." Now those were curious questions, Magi seemed to have a lot in her mind, still, nothing she couldn't answer! "Yes! I want to be the brave heroine who protects the land from evil." The Paladin answered with utmost confidence, "So far, not much and that is because I am still new. Sooner or later, I will be a true Knight worthy of Tyl, God of Justice and Righteousness!" She pumped a fist into the air, "Yes! All that is good and right in the world deserve love! While evil shall be vanquished!"

She could go on and on for hours when talking about Knights and Chivalry but a more pressing matter grabbed the group's attention. There it was, not far from them, the thing they had been searching for, the tablet! It was the one... right? Most likely, it was the only tablet around and the way it glowed practically said, 'Quest Objective' in big bold letters.

"There it is! Hurray!" Her armor clinks as Eldhi sprinted along with Magi, their hands holding together. Euphoric curiosity gripped her mind as she closed the distance and then roamed her eyes on the tablet's surface, reading the content. "This is..." Safe to say, whatever information she gathered would indeed guide her journey into the future, for better or worse.

OOC: That should be my last post for the Quest! Awesome job, guys! @Magi Heart @Ashiore Evretto hope to see you two again in the future!

 

Well, Ash supposed that it was unfair to expect either of the girls to know where to find the tablet. It seemed they were all just as lost as the other two. But, they really didn't have much of a choice than to continue wandering about, looking for anywhere the tablet might be found.

Ash wandered with Naixi behind the two younger girls, smiling lightly as they talked. The whole love and justice thing was pretty cute. It looked like they were getting along marvelously so Ash was content to keep to herself. She had been pretty surprised to see kids so young playing the game, but she probably shouldn't have been. The whole 'live whatever life you want in a fantasy world with magic' thing probably would draw in a lot of younger children. And the whole VRMMO thing was pretty popular anyway.

But, well, back to the point. They wandered over a crystal bridge and made it to another part of Zalra, where the crystals grew in denser clusters, seemed to consume more of the landscape. Some parts of the crystal forest(?) they were in were almost labyrinthine, and it was easy to become confused when reflections were scattering this way and that. Eldhi seemed to be more alert, and Ash sent Naixi up to the front of their small group as well. Better safe than sorry.

Their persistence finally paid off. A bright glow appeared in the distance, too far away to make out what it was. Exchanging glances, they continued towards it. If it wasn't the tablet, then it was sure to be something important and interesting.

Getting closer revealed that it was something atop a raised platform, and Magi gasped in excitement. She snagged Eldhi's and Ash's hands and pulled them along. Trying not to stumble, Ash let out a small laugh at her and Eldhi's enthusiasm, trying to hide a bit of the anxiety that she had developed during their journey.

It wasn't like she was afraid, per se. But... Look. Two options: either the tablet was a fake, it just showed random generic words like astrologists and mediums and fortune tellers. Or, it really could tell what her deepest desires were.

But how would it know? She had read up on VR technology and though she didn't know much about neuroscience, she was aware that brainwaves and scans were used to verify their identity when logging in. Did the game... know who she was? In real life? And actually stored that information? Or was she just being paranoid about all this? Either way, it was a creepy thing to think about, but the thought remained in her head as they approached the tablet.

Ash let the two others go first, waiting until they were done. And then, taking a breath to steel herself, she stepped up, and began reading.