Trinity Center Request (Dungeon)

Leon tried to stave off his disgust at the barrels and bottles of wine and various forms of liquid alcohol. He had a bad experience with it not too long ago and he'd rather not relive the experience. Shivering, he opted to ignore it as he walked forward, his teammate beside him. They were supposed to find some old recipe or something that their quest-giver had lost in the warehouse. He wondered why they would hire a completely new team when the previous expedition team had studiously covered two floors and had generously mapped it out for them.

He walked past, paying not much attention to the decor other than the occasional glance to dispel the awkwardness lingering in the air. The other team, considering their devotion to fill up this map, must've searched every nook and cranny before escaping the building. The only place that must've not been searched would be the basement and, by that logic, the own remaining place the recipe could be was down there. Unless their employer had instead lost it somewhere else and failed to retrace their steps properly, leaving Leon and this woman in a hopeless quest. But he didn't really expect so, considering this was a game with (to the best of his knowledge) clear-cut directions.

He sighed. Hopefully they'd find a way to open the locked door. Considering the effort the other team put into, Leon was certain that they must've tried to knock the door down with violent measures at least once or twice. A key would be their best chance to finishing this quest, but where could it be? He pondered in thought before fixing his stare at his companion. While he might muse in his thoughts, he wasn't the type to go sharing everything in his head nor was he the one to take the lead. He'd wait for the green-clothed woman to lead them.

He stood silent and patient.

@Sera Phim @Pandora

 

Sera frowned as she examined the area that she had found herself in. She wasn't really the hugest fan of basements - too many memories she'd rather repress taking place in more than one of them. She sighed heavily. That was a joke, she'd never really had any bad experiences in a basement. But still, the idea of a whole section of a building being hidden by the rest of the building? It seemed weird to her.

"So I suppose first we should start going through these crates and barrels?" she asked her companion. He hadn't spoken much so far. "I mean, from everything I understand, the previous party didn't even make their way into the basement down here, right? So we're already farther than they were, so it could literally be on the ground sitting out, I suppose."

She began to shift some of the barrels around, attempting to discern if they were just full of liquid and not possibly used for storage of anything else, such as something a recipe would get put in. "I'll handle these if you search through those crates," she told the boy. She wasn't even really sure if she had gotten his name yet. "I'm Sera, by the way."

 

Leon shook his head at the woman's (Sera's) offer as she began to search the barrels and crates for their objective. There would be no search item on this floor and they'd have to go in further to do actually find something of value. He clenched his fist and quickly opened, the game interface blooming above his palm. He quickly selected the communication feature and searched for the woman's name and likeness. After a few seconds of walking and scrolling, he selected and highlighted it. Almost immediately, he was redirected to the texting application.

Leon Captor

I don't think there's anything here. We should try the door.

He hit send on the simple message and pointed straight at the object in question. Upon reaching there, he waited for Sera.

@Sera Phim @Trinity

 

Sera blinked as she saw that the man chose to message her instead of just talking to her. However, at least that way she was able to get his name. She frowned. "Are you unable to speak, or something?" she asked him. She'd worked a bit with another person who couldn't mute. That kid was because he had a faulty headset. What was this guy's excuse, she wondered?

He had a valid point though. It would be stupid to expect that anything would be in the very first room they had come to. She spoke her contact word to summon the rainbow prism that seemed to fuel her Astramancy into being beside her. "Right then, Roy. I figure there's likely not going to be anything too dangerous down here, but on the off chance that there is, I want to have you out and ready so that, you know, I don't die a gruesome and terrible death," she said to the prism. It didn't seem to give any indication that it had heard her, or cared. Maybe it was moody today. Or it just didn't feel like responding, she barely understood the thing, beyond that it allowed her to speak to the seven spirits that lent her their powers for her magic.

With a shrug, Sera made her way to the door and put her hand on the handle. "Well, here goes nothing," she said, and would try to twist the handle in an attempt to open the door.

 

Leon detested uncleanliness. He didn't know why but it seemed like a fact of his life; an essential part of his character. Dust and cobwebs were like little pet peeves and pesky things that drew part of his ire. He mushed the feelings down, however, and the disgust at the fact that he would most likely have to search through all of this. He was nothing if not a resilient man, so he gulped all his feelings down and turned right upon entering the basement hallway.

The room far northeast wasn't easily visible from the spot he had been in but, as he wandered, he found the doorknob and opened it with a clack. Sighing, he closed his eyes for a moment before opening them to see what sights awaited him. He really hoped that it wasn't more general dirtiness.

Before he searched, he made sure to look at Sera. The woman was an oddity to him and, whilst he could sense a powerful magic on her (how he did so, he did not know; he theorized it might be because of his own innate magical ability in the game), he didn't know why the woman chose to speak to herself. He hoped she'd be alright if he left her alone for a few minutes. She looked capable enough but he wasn't certain about her mental stability.

Thrown die:

80

 

Sera frowned when it seemed like her companion had no interest in speaking to her, or even sticking together for their own mutual safety. What was wrong with him? She huffed. "We really shouldn't split up," she called out to him, following him to the north east. It meant she wouldn't be able to do as much searching, herself, but that was fine.

"Right, here's what I propose. No offense, but you seem a bit scrawny. I'll handle guard duty, you handle searching. Does that sound good to you?" Sera asked the boy. She clenched her fist in preparation as they approached the door. "And it sucks to be you if it doesn't. Listen here, this is a two person job, minimum. So if you go off, and get yourself in a fight you can't handle, and get yourself killed, I don't know if I'll be able to finish this up by myself. You are not causing me trouble because of you dying, got it?" She asked. She let out an audible and heavy sigh of annoyance. "Why can't you boys every work as a goddess damn team with people, always having to go off and do everything yourselves?"

She didn't have a good feeling about the scratch marks and holes in this room. How cliche would it be if they were to get attacked by rats right now? She hated rats. Of course, that might just motivate her more to blast the little bastards. She frowned again. Goddess, she hoped they weren't about to be attacked by rats...

 

Leon sighed, rummaging through the storage facility bit by bit. The hallway had garnered him nothing but the feces of rats and mice that skittered across the dirty, dusted floor. It seemed like a layer of grime had permanently defaced and flooded the steps; a mess that had caused an internal struggle within himself on whether to clean or ignore it. He took several deep breaths and, upon his third or fourth one, he spluttered and gave a hacking cough, choking on some dust that seemed to filter through the air and hug his lungs tight. He waved his hand, clearing the dust away, while he looked through the rows of boxes and forgotten inventory.

The room seemed abandoned and Leon refused to look behind and see if Sera had abandoned him as well. He had a job to do without his own insecurities actively plotting against him. He got up for a second, from his crouching position, and patted his pants try. He grabbed the hem of his shirt and shook it a few times, clearing off all the dust mites and bunnies that tried to hitch a ride on the perfectly straight uniform. Even wearing beginner's clothing, Leon felt the incessant need to keep himself clean and tidy. After another sigh, he used his two fingers to pinch the bridge of his nose, refusing to inhale the scent of rat dung and the stench of mold and rot. He could do this, he told himself.

Despite the fact that he was searching for an object, he shut his eyes tight and went down.

Thrown die:

91

 

Sera grimaced when the boy found rat droppings rather than anything useful. "Ew, that's disgusting," she muttered. Why would the game do something like that to them? She shook her head and shivered, and her prism glowed yellow for a second in response to her fear of that happening to her. "That's why I'm letting you do all the searching," she whispered under her breath. But the fact that there were rat droppings meant that there were probably rats somewhere. As such, Sera scanned the room, not looking particularly hard for anything, but keeping an open eye and ear for any rats that might try to attack them. This did, after all, seem very much like a beginner quest, and many beginner quests involved rats attacking at some point or another.

She turned and watched as the boy cleaned himself before getting back to searching. Why did he close his eyes, that was a good way to run into something dangerous, and not see what you were looking for. She sighed heavily, but kept her distance. That part of the room did seem to stink worse, but the whole place stunk. "So, Leon," she said finally. "Which room do you think we should search after this one, if we don't find it? Do you think we can only search so long before the quest ends automatically, or something?" She asked. She hoped not - she very much wanted to find this recipe, whatever it might be for. She just hoped it was more likely to be sitting out someplace stupid, rather than hiding underneath something.

 

After his latest victory, Leon felt quite tempted to log off. His eye twitched as he checked his inventory: a pile of rat dung and a single gold nugget. He then shut the screen to observe his surroundings. Dirt, grime, and the general repulsive state of the warehouse left Leon struggling not to gag and wince. Games had always been fun for him and a place of recluse and protection from the outside world. Looking at what was in front of him, however, he couldn't help but feel betrayed. It wasn't a big deal either; the game was supposedly underground so he could just shrug it off and never tell a soul. He could go on with mediocre life without experiencing this travesty of a game. Still, his pride as a gamer wouldn't allow him to do that and he swallowed his doubts with a frown.

Eventually, after some searching, he had wound up in the far-back of the room. Something glinted far in the distance and, without even thinking, Leon sped up. Could it be something important to this quest? Something that'll finish everything so he could just leave already? Although he felt an inkling of disappointment upon seeing a chest, his lungs and mind gave a sigh in relief. This was, perhaps, the most valuable thing he had found so far. He reached for, ready to fiddle with it, when he realized that it wasn't easily opening.

The frown placed itself on his face yet again. It was locked.

It seemed like the pent-up frustration from the agonizingly long and mussy search had been let loose; Leon angrily swiped his screen up without a second word, glaring daggers at that god-forbidden chest. Flames burned in his typically impassive eyes.

"War is my master, death is my mistress!"

Thrown die:

43

 

Sera shrieked in shock when the boy began attacking the chest they had found instead of waiting, looking around for a key, and then coming back only after they had done all they could to find a key first. "What the hell are you doing?" She shouted at him. "Have you never played a goddess damn video game before? If there is a chest, there's going to be a damn key! All you're doing is risking damaging whatever is inside! Be fucking patient!"

Sera growled in anger, crossed her arms, and stomped her foot. She wanted to storm off, but on the off chance the boy did succeed in opening the chest by attacking it and hadn't completely damaged anything of value, she wanted some of it. "Just so you know," she said. "If there are two things in there, and one's broken, I get the one that isn't broken, since you broke it." She huffed, letting go of some of her anger but certainly not all of it. Men! No, boys! Why couldn't they just be patient, and use their goddess damn heads?

"You also better not have just destroyed the recipe we're supposed to be looking for," she said. "Otherwise you owe me whatever our reward was supposed to be, or at least the gold portion of it. Goddess, I don't know which is worse, lawful dumbass types, or chaotic stupids..." she rubbed her head. If the chest wasn't completely destroyed, she would speak again. "Look, obviously, the key isn't in here. So let's head to one of the other three rooms, and see if we can find anything in there, okay?"