Quest - On Becoming

Gwyn had accepted the rather interesting quest to seek out the crystal koi easily enough. It was of a lower level, but she didn't think herself below taking part. After all, even the most mundane of quests could be a new experience and traveling to and from them could always open doors you would have otherwise missed. The weather had taken a poor turn when she had first set out, thick fog obscuring much of the path she cut closer and closer to the general region in Zalra where the cliff was noted to be. It wouldn't stop her any or even hamper her travels. She was far enough along in developing her skills that mobility was becoming less and less of an issue. She had opted not to drag either of the dogs along for the quest and so Nathair joined her. It was there more for exercise, as the green anaconda wasn't much help scaling cliffs. It wasn't as powerful a climber as it was a swimmer, but Gwyn didn't need any aid in this particular fight.

As she neared the area marked in the GUI, she slowed her travel pace. The fog banks were beginning to fade away as clouds parted high above. The revealed sun cast down a light that the crystallized zone made art of. The foliage in the area, much of it entirely turned to crystal or getting closer and closer with every passing day, caught the sunlight and scattered it all around in a brilliant light show of sorts. Gwyn was quick to summon her newest pet from her inventory with a smile, the Diamond Hummingbird fluttering into sight. It was as beautiful as its home. She offered a finger for it to perch on for a moment before the little thing sped away to zip around her. Despite the diminutive size and lightning speed of it, it was easy to keep track of. It was hard to miss a miniature disco ball after all.

The steep cliffs came into sight just beyond the colorful kaleidoscope of Zalra, wisps of mist replacing where fog had been before from the roar of the waterfall crashing into the lake below. To the far sides and limit of her view she thought she could see rivers and streams branching off from the lake, but even her Hunting mastery could only do so much. Instead, she focused on the challenge of this particular quest. She had to climb this? The waterfall didn't fall straight down a smooth cliff, but instead tumbled down tiers of smaller cliffs like stairways to the heavens above. Large boulders and rubble from disturbances past littered the area as crystalline plants and insects defied the dangerous crashing waters of the falls and rapids.

Her hummingbird fluttered in front of her, curiously twisting every which way, before finally zipping over to her shoulder to perch and preen while she took in the sight before them. Nathair moved by without a glance or show of hesitation and slid into the waters with a hum of contentment thrumming through the tamer's bond to it. "Yes, yes. I know I don't take you swimming as much as you'd like. Apologies that I've been busy slaying beasts and saving babes." There was an immediate and distinct feeling of being mentally mocked. "Okay, okay... so I haven't really saved a lot of babes. I've fought with a lot of them though. Very busy and important work, you know. That counts, right?" She crossed her arms and peered down into the waters, walking closer to keep an eye on the tame's idle movements. Amusement. And then nothing as the snake ignored her entirely. Bastard. "You could at least try to be kind, Nathair," she scolded without heat. She was horribly endeared to the damn beast.

The archer twisted with a low hum and looked around for a moment as a thought struck her. "Wait, isn't there supposed to be someone else?" Gwyn brought her hand up to open the menu and check the quest log. "Where is- oh, there! @Verity?"

 

One thing about being a history professor was the long lectures that he has to organized just for his students. However, it did have a disadvantage since this made him late to log into the game for his scheduled quest. And since he hasn't had any mounts as a form of transportation, he had to rely on the quick travel feature in order to get to another country as well his Breeze Shourd spell to get him to the Crystallized Zalra faster.

When he arrived, he saw a woman waiting at the steep cliffs with a strange hummingbird on her shoulder. "At least I managed to make it before you left. Real life somehow delayed my arrival. You must be @Gwyn ap Herne, correct?" But as he raised his head to see the cliff, he became overwhelmed at the height of the waterfall. It didn't help that he was not a very good climber in real life, which may explain his low grades in PE during his middle school years. "So the scales are located there at the top of the waterfall, huh? It might not be easy for me to climb up there."

 

Gwyn turned to eye to newcomer as he spoke, expression brightening some as she realized her partner in this particular venture hadn't ended up abandoning the quest or beaten her to it. She followed his gaze up toward the cliff and put her hands on her hips as she grinned up and up and up toward the lip of the waterfall's top. "That I am and that they are," she said in confirmation. She watched him from the corner of her eye for a moment as he took in the climb awaiting them. "Not easy? Come on, this is easily a Grade 4? Maaaybe 5.4 in a few spots. You'll be fine, probably won't even need rope, but I brought some simple anchor and lines if we do."

The ranger cast one last look at Nathair and headed around the pool toward an easy slope leading up to the first couple of boulders and eroded sides. The only portions of their climb that would be actual cliff climbing would be hauling themselves up and over ledges and a short climb straight up at the very end it looked like. Despite the water nearby, it was all fairly dry and Gwyn eyed the face of the cliff looking for good holds and the best ways to get to them. "She's pretty, but I'm thinking 5.3 at best. Good warm up at least. I hope you got some upper arm strength?" She didn't bother looking behind her and instead focused on rolling up her own sleeves. Back in the real world, as Sabine rather than Gwyn, she'd lost a lot of the muscle she had built up over the years climbing, but here? Here she was in damn fine form. It turned out that despite archery using a different muscle group, it all worked together seamlessly. If anything, she was better at her overhangs because of it.

As she hauled herself up onto the first ledge and turned around to keep an eye on @Verity's own progress, she caught sight of something in the fight rapids. The waterfall was broken up into many tiers of different sizes as a full one no fish could hope to jump. From their growing height they could finally get closer to the waters without the spray from the falls blocking their view. The first glimpse of fish showed. A beautiful glint of light and a sheen of colors cast off like a rainbow on water vapor. The powerful little fish had begun their journey and she wished them well on it. After all, some had to make it to the top if they expected to fetch any scales.

 

Verity's first impression on his quest partner was complete confusion. Being a non-physical kind of guy in real life, he had no idea what @Gwyn ap Herne just explained to him. He even wondered what "Grades" meant. However, he was more worried that they would be climbing up there without any rope as there would be a high chance for him to slip and fall to his virtual death. "I really don't know what you just said, but I don't know if I have an upper arm strength." Yet as he glanced up at the top of the cliff, he felt that worrying about his physical strength was the same as running away from a duty. "But, if it helps with our current quest, then I have no complaints."

Breathing in and out from his mouth, he then pulled himself up from the floor when he grabbed the highest ledge he could reach as he started climbing up to the cliff with Gwyn by his side. Though unlike her, his climbing pace was somehow slow as he tried to tighten his grip on the stone to avoid slipping. And with his muscles began to feel the pain from this strenuous activity, he was taking a few deep breaths in order to continue.

Thankfully, he managed to pick up the pace as he continued to grit his teeth as climbed up the cliff. He eventually reached Gwyn's side in order to see the light above them. And upon he saw the fish, he was amazed at the beauty of its scales as it swam away from the pond. He could have wished to keep it and make it as an accessory to give someone as a gift. But since the scales are part of the quest, he felt that he might obtain them next time. "Okay, I might try to grab those scales with my own hand. But can you make sure that nothing pops out behind us?"

 

Her reedy little companion seemed to hold his own fairly well at they began their ascent in full. It was more than likely that her companion was some form of mage or the like, or simply so new that he had yet to put on much muscle in using his weaponry should he have any that required a bit more oomph behind it. Gwyn was almost tempted to try her hand at other forms of combat, knowing she had more than enough might to handle near anything at this point. The problem was developing muscle memory for a new style of fighting like she had to do when training up her archery skill. A lot of time had gone into sitting back to camp a herd of something or setting up a distance away from nonliving targets to practice without the game's aid in completing skills and aiming properly. She had learned that she favored strikes set to the left naturally and had to painstakingly rework her aim to be dead center.

Climbing, however, was muscle memory she never had to learn in game. That? That was all Sabine. The gentle challenge offered by these particular cliffs and ledges were a basic warm up compared to the faces of mountains she had scaled before. @Verity was lucky this was something truly formidable. Like an inverted cliff. Overhangs and roofs were a might monster to face on the climb. Leaving the relative safety of a perfect ninety degree angle's cinches to haul yourself out over nothing at all? Entirely dependent on the strength of arms along to pull her toward the lip of the overhang without falling because of a loose grip or a violent swing? Terrifying. Exhilarating. She hungered in that moment for it, but they had a quest. Scales. Fish scales. Focus, Gwyn.

She took a steadying breath to anchor herself back into the current and turned to eye Verity as he hauled himself up and over the flanks of a few more ledges. Soon they both stood at the top to marvel at the beauty of the massive fish leaping their way to the next phase of their lives. He had been slow to reach her, but not without potential. So long as you didn't burn your stamina reserves, going slow wasn't a damning trait to have in climbing. Better safe than sorry after all. The ranger nodded with a smile as he joined her at least, "Not bad." Her mini-pet zipped by to hover over a more tame portion of water, the delicate diamond beak dipping to skim it for a drink. The pets didn't need to eat or drink, much less one entirely turned to crystal. Still, it was likely an instinctive reaction to the water. Poor thing, she would have to take it to a flowering field one day to let it have its fill of playing at drinking nectar.

Her companion surprised her some by offering to fetch the scales himself and she laughed lightly at it. "By all means, have at it. Take care those strong currents don't pull you over the edge though. Lucky for you I have a grappling hook skill should things go south. No worries." With that she mocked a play bow, sweeping an arm out toward the waters to him to go ahead. The fish drew her eye once more at the beautiful gems of their scales flashed in a dizzying array of colors, now boasting gorgeously carved patterns to mark their victory in the climb. Gwyn wondered in passing if she could convince Nathair to haul its ass up the falls to see if it would get a makeover too. Probably not. She'd never hear the end of it though and it'd likely start leaving dead things in her boots or equipment just to make a point. For now, however, she had a watch to keep.

The archer would amuse herself for now taking in the surrounding landscape, beautiful and dangerous that it was, both to enjoy the view and keep an eye for anything of any danger. She didn't turn her back on the water, however. There was still a chance those waters held dangerous beyond their swift currents as well. And a chance Verity might stray a little too close the edge. Here's to hoping not.

 

Well, at least that lessen his worries about slipping. Climbing up without any real-life experience and the lack of physical strength can be tricky for Verity, but if he wanted to finish this quest, he might as well take that risk. With a big deep breath, he used all of his strength to raise his body to allow him to move closer, which allowed him to see the shed scales up close to the pond. However, this caused him to feel through the wet rock he was holding on as he felt it slipping out of his grip.

Once he got close to the pond, he dipped his dominant hand into it and slowly grabbed the scales as he pulled them out of it. He then checked the number of scales that he obtained before he turned to his quest partner. "Alright. I think this should be enough to complete our quest."

But just as he put the scales into his inventory, he finally felt nothing as he quickly lost his footing and was about to slip through the falls. Screaming, he fell through a few meters until he grabbed a rock to stop his descent. But with one hand on it, he was still panicking because of the high chances of falling into the ground once more.

 

The ranger hissed through her teeth slightly the first time she saw the jerk of his hand slipping on whatever handhold he had found by or in the water. He seemed to manage though and corrected, fishing in for the scales. Gwyn's eyes switched to the eerie white of the Investigation Mode as she scanned around them, gaze skimming over crystal forests, open fields of glassy stalks, and the glittering waters around them full of the flashes of the massive fish on their way further and further upstream to spawn. All was quiet, though she could see far into the distance where a pollen storm was drifting from Esuilius into Zalra's territory. She figured the only things that had stopped the mushroom infection from spreading was likely the crystal infection's inorganic nature. And of course a common northerly wind keeping the spores headed toward Zalra rather than south toward Adec- Astorea.

It wasn't of any danger to them, however, and so she turned back easily enough when @Verity began to make his way back over. "Nice, glad that didn't take to long. Hands'd get all weird and pruney." She lifted her hands to wiggle her fingers as she mentioned the last bit, mouth twisted up in half a smile. Said expression dropped as soon as his eyes went wide. This time when he slipped? There was no catching himself.

Immediately she darted toward the edge as he toppled over, knowing she was already too far to grab him and instead reaching for her longbow instead. She fit one boot against an outcropping on the ledge and leaned over, knees bent to keep her center of gravity low. Her height certainly didn't help in doing something as stupid as leaning over a cliff's edge. The arrow drawn leered down at Verity as he snatched onto an exposed rock. Gwyn winced slightly at that. Someone that weak and soft-handed? The stop of momentum to grab that rock must have snatched painfully at the joints of his arms and the muscles of his shoulders. Catching a person's entire own bodyweight in mid fall without a harness wasn't high on the list of "Pleasant Things I'd Like to do Today."

However, he wouldn't be able to hold onto the slippery point forever. The arrow she had pulled back to full draw could have killed him, oneshot him or done enough that hitting the water below would have shattered him apart. She let it go sailing downward like a single lethal judgement before she activated the skill to change it.

Grappling Shot

The arrowhead warped and twisted into a far larger forged creation, a multi-tiered grappling hook shot down at an angle, glanced off the rock he held on, bounced off, and proceeded to fall and spin about the hold. The sound of it gripping the rock and the rope that had materialized as it fell was awful. Like nails on chalkboard. It was, however, more than enough to get Verity back up. On the other end of the rope, high enough above him that it'd be a shitty climb to make but low enough it wasn't impossible with his musculature, Gwyn held the other end. Her bow was tucked away and she was quick to wind the end of the rope around and around the outcropping she had used to anchor herself. A quick knot was tied courtesy of years of rock climbing for the fun and the work of it.

She stood to look back over the edge, "If I were you? I'd get a good grip on that rope and start heading up it. Remember, use the inside curve of your feet too to grip it. When you get high enough for me, I'll grab you and help you up the last few feet. Sound good?" Regardless of his answer, his only other choice was to drop into the water below. From high up enough water felt like hitting cement and she was relatively sure he had no experience jumping from heights. She'd gone cliff jumping once. Good fun, minus all the salt water in her eyes and that one guy being nothing but terrified of sharks showing up the whole time. Ridiculous. Some people simply weren't meant for The Great Outdoors.

 

Hanging on the cliff on the verge of life and death wasn't on his to-do list today. The fact that this simple fetch quest turned into a dangerous rescue just made him more annoyed at this turn of events. It didn't help that he was starting to lose his strength from his hand as he slowly starting to lose his grip to the rock, which was now serving as his only lifeline. At this rate, he will obtain his first death in Terrasphere. This just made him groan that he will die during a fetch quest.

However, that wasn't the case anymore as he saw @Gwyn ap Herne launched the said grappling hook tied to a rope over to him. He turned his head up and right as he saw this, but he quickly took a deep breath once he heard her instructions. "It's not like I have a choice for this matter..."

Using his remaining right hand to grab the rope, Verity grunted as he jumped from his rocky grip to a secure grip of a rope. Because of this, he managed to release his other hand just to grab hold of the rope before he started to climb back up. Following Gwyn's instructions, he made sure that his inside curse of his feet to make sure he won't lose his footing once more. Thankfully with this, he managed to use his remaining strength to climb without any signs of problems or injuries.

Eventually, he managed to climb near Gwyn enough for her to pull him back up. Regardless, he will check on his palm menu that he lost a few HP due to a few scratches on his left hand. Still, it was better than drowning.

 

While her Diamond Hummingbird fluttered down to curiously fly in circles around @Verity, Gwyn kept her eye on his progress. Between the climb, fishing for scales, and this? She had a feeling he'd be tuckered out and sleep like a rock. It reminded her in some parts of her first week long and up hikes. Fucking awful. There was a point the body and mind got to where the body left the mind behind through pure stamina and human stubbornness to not only survive, but thrive. This was far less extreme of course, but climbing up a cliff only to near fall off a waterfall was still pretty up there in terms of shitty challenges to get thrown in your face. They really weren't even being paid much to do this.

Still, the man made it up fine and her upper body strength was more than sufficient to grab him by the back of his equipped armor and haul him up the last bit of the way. After that she tugged, pulled, and jerked at the line until the grappling hook came loose. She could have left it, but there was never any telling the impact a single trace left behind could have on an environment and she stood firmly with the better safe than sorry ideal.

Gwyn tucked the spent ammo away and turned to other inspecting his scraped hands. "Well, as exciting as all that was I think we're done here. Just an easy trip back to turn them in and all's well that ends well." She nodded to herself and glanced over the edge. "Also, getting down's going to be worlds easier." Whether he was ready or not, Gwyn began the descent back to where they had started and whistled shrilly over the sound of the falls to summon Nathair. As her boots touched the bottom, the snake finally pulled itself from the water with a smooth twist and flex of muscle. "You ready to head home, Nathair? I take it you enjoyed the swim," she cooed at the surly looking reptile before catching the glint of foreign scales stuck to its own, "and a snack apparently. Glad you left some of the fish for us."

The ranger pat the top of its head and contented herself to waiting. Once the other was down they'd make a quick heading back and call it a day. Another quest down and done!

 

As @Gwyn ap Herne pulled him up, Verity gasped as he tried to catch his breath from climbing up once more. Never in his life that he had to reach his limits to reach something and even his body was not real, he felt that it's starting to fall over. Guessed that virtual reality was much more than a simulation and a game for him.

Thankfully, with the scales still in his inventory, he sighed as Gwyn suggested to return back down, but not before he took a few minutes to recover his (real) energy. "I hope so. The next thing I would do after this is to go to bed and make sure my real body isn't hurt as hell like this one," he groaned as he massaged his back, now worried that this kind of VR would affect his real body when he logs out of the game.

Regardless, with Gwyn's advice on rock climbing still lingered in his mind, he carefully got down the cliff to return where they came from. Thankfully after his party mate got down to the ground first, he gasped again as he landed last after a surprisingly difficult quest behind him. At any case, once they turned in the scales to mark another quest's completion, he thanked the woman for the help before he logged out and make sure he was still in one piece.

-EXIT THREAD-