Conquering the Lobby [Solo]

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested
Lv. 24 Swashbuckler / Lv. 21 Pharmacist / Lv. 1 Animal Trainer

~

It was during a very dark night that a lone Human Swashbuckler stepped up to the strange mansion. He knew not what he was doing here, for this was his first time exploring Avon, and no reports had mentioned of this queer building before. As he approached the building, he swore that the trees grew silent, the howling wind stopped, and all that was left to accompany him was the light of the moon, which was greatly weakened by a veil of darkness which threatened to swallow the moon whole. He was afraid; afraid he had finally gone too far, afraid of the unknown mansion. It was with these feelings that the Adventurer stepped up to the mansion. Now would be a good time to mention that I was never good with spooky stuff, he thought to no one in particular.

Why had he chosen to come out at night? There were often few people around at night. While that also meant monsters were hard to see, that was little of a problem to the Pharmacist who had stocked up on Potions of Nighteye to use, if necessary. With his recent abandonment of the way of the Pathfinder to embrace the way of the Animal Tamer, there was little else he could depend on to help him spot things he needed to spot. He should have been back in the safety of a small town or village at least an hour ago.

Yet, misfortune crept up in the form of an extremely strong monster which he knew he could not defeat. Running for his life, he seemed to have lost his pursuer, yet he was running late, and worst of all, lost.

The only thing that stood out in the midst of all this was the mansion. It was a strange thing indeed; what was a mansion doing all this way from town? Perhaps it was a retreat for some noble in the past? He guessed he would never know if he did not check it out. In any case, with the failing light, it was unlikely that he could find his way back to a village, and he did not want to use Call of Home, for he was too lazy to cover the massive distance to get back to where he was now. Of course, mounts were becoming more and more popular, but he blew all his money on purchasing a house, so he would need to save up first.

From the outside, there appeared to be nothing visibly wrong with the mansion, save for the fact that it was too quiet. It was either abandoned, or it was a dungeon. He did not like the second option.

The door to mansion was, at a glance, old. Dust gathered on the handle of the door to the mansion, clearly unused for a very long time. Perhaps this was not such a good idea after all. Walking up to a random, unused building in the middle of nowhere was not on his wants list.

As he turned, he noticed a pair of eyes on him. Crap! That monster was still following him! It stayed on the fringe of the woods, glaring at him. He gulped, cold sweat running down his neck.

Damned if I do, damned if I don't. Defeated, he swung open the doors to the mansion, totally unprepared for what was to come as he exchanged the cold evening air for the musty smell of the interior of the mansion.

~

Word count: 583
Total word count after bonuses (Animal Tamer): 874.5

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested
Lv. 24 Swashbuckler / Lv. 21 Pharmacist / Lv. 1 Animal Trainer

~

The door creaked open, as he would have expected from an aged door such as this one. It would be too good to be true if it were somehow oiled. Actually, he would be suspicious if it were. Leaving the unknown monster behind, he stepped into the darkness. Somehow or another, light streamed in from the dirty windows, which, of course, provided only a weak source of light. It would be all he needed, hopefully.

He breathed in a sigh of relief that, thankful that this was not some dungeon since he would have received a notification before entering. However, that happiness was short and bitter.

Down one of the corridors, he heard the ever so slight sounds of a whisper. A whisper beckoning him forward. That was his first indication that things were not quite what they seemed.

The second indication came in the form of him noticing his surroundings. As expected of a mansion, there was a table situated at the entrance of the place, and a couple of corridors leading off to other rooms. However, he could not see into these corridors, as if he was being prevented from doing so by some invisible force. A shelf full of books was behind the reception table thingy, and a single guest book lay on the table next to a quill... pen... writing apparatus, whatever it was called by the People of the Land. A big oaken door stood behind the table, but his eyes were on the guest book. The guest book was open, and as he approached it, he noticed that it was flipped to a page with a single line written on it.

'To advance, you must cross the Five Twilights into the final area.'

That did NOT bode well, this was clearly the right set-up for a dungeon. As he turned to leave, a loud CRRREEEAK came from the door as it suddenly swung shut, trapping him in the mansion. Almost immediately, a pop-up appeared in front of him.

"Crap, this really was a Dungeon Raid." Could he do this Raid alone...?

The whispers grew louder and louder, and seemed to come down from every hallway. Drawing his swords, he readied himself into a combat stance, the occasional spark flying off his electric blade the only bright source of light in the room. Where was this noise coming from?

The answer to his question came, but only after a full minute of whispering, giggling and rustling. All of a sudden, he was swarmed by balls of light as two dozen jack-o-lanterns converged on his position, whispering to each other.

Fortunately, they were a bunch of low levelled beings. Relaxing, he lowered his swords, shealthing one of the them, as for the other, since he knew not what they could do, he was unwilling to completely drop his guard. Who knows? They might have an attack that deals damage based on percentages.

Yet as afraid as he was about what had happened in the span of five minutes, he knew that he needed to act, lest he wished to remain in this dusty area forever. He inched towards one of the lanterns, which fortunately did not decide he was a threat and stared at him curiously.

"Uh... hey." How was he even supposed to start a conversation with the thing? He activated the Animal Trainer's starting skill, [Scout], and hoped for the best.

The thing looked at him for a moment, then floated up and made itself comfortable on its head. Oh well. At least he had some better lighting for the time being.

~

Word count: 598
Total word count after bonuses (Animal Tamer): 874.5 + 897 = 1771.5

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested
Lv. 24 Swashbuckler / Lv. 21 Pharmacist / Lv. 1 Animal Trainer

~

"I Pocky."

Subtitles appeared on the bottom of his screen. It was his first time seeing them.

"Ahh, I am Icyferno. It is a pleasure to meet you." Came his reply in a somewhat awkward tone. It was strange talking to a mob.

The lantern merely bounced on his head joyfully several times, seemingly joyful at the fact that it had made a new friend. Could he consider himself a friend of the lantern, though?

"Pocky lonely, Pocky never meet humans." The subtitles were strange. Could it not just write itself in proper sentences? Or perhaps this was how the blob of light was speaking?

He hoped the 「Mini Jack」, as was its name when the status screen appeared, could give him some hints as to where he was, what he was supposed to do here, how to get pass the door and so. But first, the questions. "Pocky, what am I supposed to do?"

The core of the 「Mini Jack」 lit a few times in reply, as though it were speaking to him as he read the subtitles. "Write answer. Door Open."

Hmm. So he needed to find an answer. An answer to open the door that stood before him and proceed with the rest of the dungeon. He might have already known that had he actually read the Raid description though. But in his panic earlier, he had closed the window, and -

Wait a sec, he can still check it, right? The spooky nature of the mansion was obviously getting to him. Opening his menu, he read the Raid introduction. It was unlike any he had ever read before, seeming to be a letter more than a description.

"The rule of this mansion is to find the master.
To advance, you must cross the Five Twilights into the final area.
The Mastermind awaits at the end.
Welcome to the Mansion of the Purple Mirror"

Well, that solved a few things, for a moment, he tried to reason everything out rationally while surrounded by floating lanterns and another one resting precariously on his head.

Firstly, he needed to get through five areas. From what the 「Mini Jack」 said, he needed to write the answer which would open the door in the guest book. It was open for a reason, right?

It was simple, yet the challenge lay in finding the clue. He had no desire to leave the comforting lights of the other 「Mini Jack」, so he decided he would start with where he was right now. Since it was the first round, he hoped that the answer would not be lying too far away. With some trepidation, he began digging around the area, carefully brushing aside cobwebs and prodding the area for anything useful.

~

Word count: 456
Total word count after bonuses (Animal Tamer): 874.5 + 897 + 684 = 2455.5

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested
Lv. 24 Swashbuckler / Lv. 21 Pharmacist / Lv. 1 Animal Trainer

~

As he was hunting for clues, a sudden breeze, or rather a strong gust of wind, blasted through the lobby, making the lanterns scatter as they sought shelter from the strong wind. As he held onto the table so as to avoid flying off into one of the many dark rooms which were so murky he could not see into them, he heard another soft whisper. It sounded like it was right next to his ear, yet he could not make out what the voice was saying. He could not even tell if the voice belonged to a male or a female. What was going on? This was the strangest place he had ever seen.

The howling winds disappeared as soon as it began, and the Swashbuckler found himself in a messy room. Glancing about, the lobby was in a terrible state; books were strewn all over the floor, and cobwebs floated around, ripped from their resting places. The lanterns themselves were slightly dazed.

Looking up, he was pleased to find that his companion Pocky was still on his head, though it seems a little rattled.

As he stood, he noticed that the guest book and the writing instrument were surprisingly unaffected by the winds, as though they were held down by some mysterious paperweight. But that would not work for the writing instrument. Perhaps it was just stupidly heavy, or enchanted against winds. He hoped it was the latter.

There was one thing he did notice, though. The winds had blown the guest book to a new page, and on it was another sentence. Upon reading the sentence, something clicked into his mind. He reached for the writing instrument.

It was light, as he had expected it to be. He flipped the guest book to a blank page and scribbled the answer he believed was correct.

A loud rumbling sounded, and the door which stood before him opened to admit him further into the strange mansion. The jack on his head made a happy noise, or at least he thought it was a happy noise. It glowed brightly a few times and bounced on his head several times. Thankfully, since it was floating, he did not feel its weight upon its head.

He stepped towards the dark yawning hole that was the doorway, the light from the 「Mini Jack」 doing little to shine through the darkness.

As he moved forward, he noticed that the lobby behind him was rearranging itself. The books flew back into the shelves, the answer he wrote on the guest book burned and left a blank page as it flipped itself to the original page he had first saw. The lanterns dispersed, perhaps to meet the next Adventurer who dared to challenge the mansion. That is, all except the one on his shoulder. It made a sad sound, as if saying goodbye to its friends, but otherwise made no attempt to leave the Swashbuckler.

"Thank you, Pocky. Let us move forward."

The swashbuckler stepped forward, and the doors closed shut, the lobby ready for the next challenger.

~

Word count: 512
Total word count after bonuses (Animal Tamer): 874.5 + 897 + 684 + 768 = 3223.5