[Celestial Arms Quest] The Search for Answers [Solo]

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    Before she tried to make her way to the Isle of Thune, Sayha had to prepare herself which mostly including getting some food since she hadn’t eaten since the previous day. Since the Isle had been constantly hit by storms, she figured the best thing to eat would be apples and crackers since she didn’t know how her stomach would react.

    After she finished eating, she made her way the Thames Coastline where the land bridge was. Since the tide was lower than before, she was actually able to walk across. The land bridge did not go to the Isle of Thune but rather the Isle of Grain. The Isle of Grain was best-known to be a harbor and shipping market. It would be the easiest place to find a ship that would take Sayha to the Isle of Thune.

    When she arrived, Sayha headed directly to the harbor area. There were quite a few ships in port, but what caught her eye was a group of adventurers huddling near one of the ships. She had no interest in finding out what they were up to, but she saw that there was a Lander near the group that looked like a captain.

    Sayha began walking over to the Lander when one of the adventurers waved at me, “Are you hear for the hunt?”

    “What hunt?” Sayha asked, slightly confused.

    “We’re getting ready to go for a treasure hunt in the Graveyard of Ships near the Isle of Thune,” the adventurer explained, “We posted a bulletin earlier today and are getting ready to ship off. Are you interested in joining us?”

    “Where would you be landing?” Sayha asked.

    “We’d be landing on the Isle itself. Our Cap issued us a quest to find some of his lost gear, and he says he can get us to the Isle. And since we’re going to the Graveyard anyway, we might as well find other treasure. Whoever finds the treasure minus the quest gear gets to keep it. We’d be on our own once we landed.”

    “To be completely honest, I have my own quest that I need to take care of, and it’s on the Isle of Thune. I have no interest in treasure of the less-fortunate,” Sayha explained, “If you have room on your boat, I’d love to grab a spot.”

    “If that’s the case, I’ll say no,” the adventurer scoffed, “Of course if the captain overrides me, I have no choice.” Then, the group of adventured left and headed onto the ship.

    I turned to the Captain, “Did you overhear the conversation?”

    “Aye, I did,” the Captain nodded, “And why do you need to go to the Wicked Isle for a quest?”

    “It was issued to me by the Messier Sage.”

    “If you are helping the Sage Order, then I cannot turn you away. You are welcome aboard.”

    “Thank you, Captain,” Sayha nodded, “Though I do have a question. Why are the Messier Sages so well-regarded? I don’t know that much about them.”

    “Every time they predict something, it happens,” he explained, “They’re very important to us People of the Land. If they request assistance, no one would ever turn away. If you are working for them, then helping you is helping them. I can’t turn you away.”


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Word Count: 547

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    When Sayha boarded the ship, the other adventurers were slightly shocked to see her, but they chose to say nothing to her. Instead, they stuck to talking among themselves, purposefully making Sayha feel like an outsider.

    “You know, it’s kind of cute, you guys gossiping like some love-sick high school teenage girls,” Sayha rolled her eyes, “Are you planning on getting a dual mani-pedi once you’re done bathing yourself in other’s misfortune?”

    “You’re one to talk, assassin,” one of them said, “For all we know, you’re looking for treasure as well.”

    “Not interested in treasure,” Sayha scoffed, “Besides, shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, braiding each other’s hair or something like that.” She had enough of the idiots and made her way to the front of the ship, opposite of where group was. “Why are people such idiots,” she muttered quietly to herself.

    After a few moments, she heard the Captain yell he was getting ready to set sail. She watched as the ship’s sails unfurled, and the wind picked them up easily. She heard the other adventurers go below deck, but Sayha decided to stick around and see what awaited her.

    It didn’t take long for the Isle of Thule to come into view, and it was hard to miss. It was shrouded in perpetual mist, and there were storm clouds shooting lightning overhead. Once they got close enough to the Isle, it was as if they hit a wall. A huge gust of wind blew and nearly knocked Sayha over, and thunder rolled with lightning flashes. In the background, she could hear the Captain laughing.

    “He’s mad,” she said to herself. After picking herself up, she crouched down, holding onto whatever she could to steady herself. Once she did get secure herself, she slowly stood up and looked around.

    In the water, there were dozens of broken, battered, and sunken ships. “Ship Graveyard, got it,” Sayha said to herself as the Captain carefully steered the ship though the carnage. Once the ship was through the graveyard, she heard the anchor splash down in the water.

    Sayha left her perch in the front and made her way back to the Captain, being careful as the wind was still whipping around.

    “Is this as far as you’re going to go?” she asked.

    “Aye, but there is a small boat that you can use to get ashore,” the Captain pointed at a small, wooden boat that had slots for two paddles that were laying on the bottom of the boat. In the bottom of the boat, there was also a net that looked like a bug-catching net. “I’ll drop you in the water then you can paddle ashore.”

    Sayha nodded and made her way into the small boat. Once she sat down, she could feel the boat being reeled down. Once she was in the water, she untied the ropes that were on the boat, grabbed the paddles, and made her way to shore.

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Word Count: 493

Total Count: 1040

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    When she had finally made it to shore, Sayha’s arms were screaming. It had been a while since she did any kind of physical activity such as rowing a boat. After she pulled the boat to shore, she began to stretch out not just her arms but her entire body just as she had done during her years of martial arts classes.

    Once she felt her muscles relax, she looked around. The shore appeared to be desolate except for some boulders that dotted the line. Just as she was about to leave, she thought about the net that was in the bottom of the boat. Against her better judgment, she decided to bring it with her just in case.

    She slowly made her way up the coastline to where she found a paved walkway. The walkway was made out of white-hued stones; from what Sayha could tell, it was well-worn and at once point traveled regularly by carts. Sayha followed the walkway to what looked like was once a town. All the buildings were nearly destroyed and corroded, but Sayha could tell it was made out of the same stone as the walkway.

    Keeping one hand on one of her katanas, Sayha carefully looked around to see what she could find. There was nothing of consequence in the buildings, but she came across a wall that was somehow still intact. On the wall, she could see inscriptions that reminded her of the Sage’s Tablet. Sayha followed this wall until she came upon an opening. Through the opening, she could see a gigantic room. Light filtered into the room as there was no ceiling. In the center of the gigantic room was a fountain; Sayha assumed it was the fountain on the Tablet. As she entered the room, Sayha noted the crumbled white pillars all around that probably held up the ceiling when there was one.

    When Sayha reached the fountain, she studied it carefully. It was somehow in pristine condition despite the rest of surroundings. On it were carved inscriptions in a language she didn’t understand. Sayha looked to see if there was anything in the water, and that’s when it caught her eye.

At the very bottom of the fountain, there was something about the size of a marble, and it was glowing blue, just like the crystal on the Divining Rod. When Sayha reached out her hand to bring it out of the water, she couldn’t reach it. At first, she thought it was just a regular fountain, but then she noticed the deep walls in the water.

    “The net,” Sayha said to herself, as she brought looked at the net she had brought with her. However, when she went to use it, it was not long enough as well. When she looked at the net, she saw some sort of trigger. When she touched the trigger, the net’s handle grew longer than she thought was possible. “Okay then.”

    Sayha hit the trigger again to make it smaller then put it back in the water, hitting the trigger a second time. It extended almost all the way to the bottom of the fountain; when Sayha tried to get the shiny object, it was just out of reach. Bending down and putting her arm in the water, she was able to touch it but not get it in the net.

    “<Accel Dance>” Sayha said. Using the speed of Accel Dance, she was able to quickly move the net just enough to get the object off the bottom of the fountain. When she got the object into the net, she hit the trigger and brought it up to the surface. Her interface said that the item was called <The Pebble of Philosophy>. Carefully she read the flavor text, “A lost artifact from a time long forgotten. Within the Pebble holds the memories of the ages and the strength of those who died defending it.”

    “That’s totally not creepy at all,” Sayha sighed sarcastically.


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Word Count: 663

Total Count: 1703