Chapel Challenge: Winner Take All!

[Hirosame]

Hiro walked into an old chapel-looking building on the Windsor Castle Grounds. He looked all around, up and down, observing the entire place. It was wide open, sure, and had an upper level, but the pews and other religious items had been taken out, probably due to the fact that this would endorse religion in a rather religiously-ambiguous game. However, there was still a large cross on the top of the steeple, though it was decaying and decrepit. This probably showed that it was rather old, and kept some of the old-timely feel to it. This was, after all, a rather large influential battlement in England, all things considered. And now, it was a summoning ground for Hiro, as well as a few other players, he assumed.

The entirety of Hiro's being in the old chapel was simple: He was summoned here. There was an open quest to many of the players in London, and only a few could get in. There was promise of a large reward in gold and AP for those who finish the goal, whatever that meant. But, whatever it was, was certainly worth looking into. Hiro, being the higher-leveled Monk that he is, knew that if it were some kind of a monster attacking challenge, that he would probably come out on top. His strength, agility, and overall health total would carry him to victory in most situations. However, he had no idea who else would be on this quest, since the quest information never specified who, or what, would also be along for this quest.

Even still, it looked like he was there first. He took a moment to look all around the area, and see what it was that he could see. He walked around on the lower floor, looking up to the upper floor, before finding a stairwell that went up. He proceeded up the narrow passageway, and came up onto the second floor. While the first floor covered the ground, obviously, the upper floor did not. The upper floor wrapped around the center, in a half-square around the entire chapel. This made a bit of a square-like arch to the chapel, which was the second floor. There was no third floor, but there was at least 15 feet of room from the second floor to the ceiling. And, since the floor to the second floor was another 15 feet, the entire height of the large room was 30 feet.

This place was incredibly spacious, now that he thought about it. With the pews and such gone, there was only stone flooring, and a large organ in the wall, with the keyboard and peddles still intact. Hiro observed the old organ, and walked over to it. It was on the second floor, with the pipes extending up to the ceiling. He was about to go ahead and play it, but figured that he shouldn't, since he knew next to nothing about how an organ is played. He only looked at it for a moment, before heading back downstairs. He figured that it'd probably be best if he waited for more people to show up, since this place was a bit creepy, being all silent as it was. He looked over to the door, waiting expectantly, for someone else to show up soon. There weren't any monsters in here, nor spawning in here. This gave him a bit of a mixed feeling, as he waited. Was this supposed to happen? Or were the AI's keeping away for some unexplained reason? Feeling uneasy, he crossed his arms, and squinted, watching the doors.

[Renai]

Renai stepped lightly into the area, hands folded in front of him in the manner one would expect of an old shopkeeper or a store owner. Someone with refined and dignified tastes, or perhaps something like that. He had been invited to this particular quest and had been somehow coerced into going. By whom was his little secret that he'd keep locked away forever, but he did end up making an appearance. Even if it was partially to appease the screaming voice in his head that reminded him elegance was key. So he slowly moved into the chapel, intending to keep some degree of elegance as best as he could. As long as Ruemia didn't show up, he'd probably be able to maintain his composure. Renai didn't like that woman. He got the distinct impression that she saw right through him and, for someone like him, it was infuriating. It wasn't as though he was going to do anything about it, but the more time he had to spend in her presence, the more annoyed he'd probably end up getting.

Still, whatever he might have thought about any particular ojousama was irrelevant in the face of the rather lovely chapel that was nested into the woods. He was more or less familiar with random buildings appearing out of nowhere where people thought nothing existed, so he wasn't particularly taken aback. Oh well. As he stuck to the walls and kept out of the way of others, his gaze turned skyward. If his guess was right, this place was at least twenty-five, maybe even thirty feet in height. Somewhat impressive, he supposed, but his eyes were indicating spots of disrepair and dirt. His cleaner's blood bubbled at the sight, but he held himself back. There wasn't any specific reason that he had shown up here, other than being invited, and he somehow doubted this unlisted reason was to request he clean up the chapel. He was proven right when he noted Hiro step down from the stairs. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about meeting a familiar face quite so often, but it was nice to see someone he knew nevertheless. It appeared the mechanic had arrived first, probably heading up to the second floor while Renai stepped inside. The two had been on their separate floors and probably hadn't ended up noticing each other. It was a reasonable enough claim. Well, it would be rude of him not to point out he was here, but Renai somehow got the feeling that Hiro would know the woodcrafter was here even if he didn't say anything. "Hiro."

Yeah, that was all that Hiro was getting. Renai nodded his head briefly before stepping up into the second floor. Something about the whole set up was bothering the woodcrafter slightly. The lack of information and the rather spacious area somehow made the Enchanter a bit intimidated and he wasn't above guessing that this might be some sort of stupid quest where the doors close and suddenly 'Beliiiiiiiiiiiiiiishaaaaaaaaa' or something. He almost scoffed at that as he glanced around the second floor, noting its height from the first via his new perspective and staring up at the roof. The thing that caught his attention, however, was the organ. Renai's eyes gleamed and, had it not been beaten out of him years ago, his mouth would have watered at the sight. An organ. Oh how he was dying to play one of these. He'd definitely need to go ahead and do some research into making oversized instruments as a woodcrafter, because he was dying of a severe lack of music in his life. He briefly considered starting with something like Sleeping Terror, but decided against it. He'd only be able to play the organ part anyway, and it was a bit complex without some practice. There was something more suitable, he was sure. He even had a progression in mind. Sitting down and lightly pressing a single chord to test the pitch, Renai curled his lips upward. Perfect. Maybe this would activate something bad, but he wasn't really paying enough attention to care. Stuff like Enchanter stuff and fighting and teaming up with Hiro was already out the window, leaving Renai starting to play a certain dance of the moon rabbits song, bringing a fair bit of music and life to the otherwise silent chapel. Eventually, the song would run dry and Renai would be forced to switch, but there was little harm in having a few other songs in store. Perhaps something a bit more lively and somehow intimidating before transitioning into an organ-only arrange on a final song. He had more than enough songs to play while people showed up, though he'd be glancing over his shoulder every so often. He didn't need anyone sneaking up on him and if someone he particularly didn't want to let see him playing, he'd probably cease quickly and pretend the organ played itself.

[Kazuko]

Looking down once more at a crumpled sheet of paper in her hand a young girl had arrived at an abandoned chapel. Well to be fair in this world everything was abandoned, except for a few of the more important buildings back in town. This one, though, looked a lot simpler and like it belonged to the castle at one point that stood a short pace away outside the doors. Indeed Kazuko had to be careful just getting here since the enemies were over her level by a little bit, and without too much in the way of damage dealing it would’ve been difficult to remove a threat if it was attracted.



Standing in front of the large doors Kazuko reached her hand out to push it open when muffled music began to play from inside. Checking her note again the girl found it was only an invite to some kind of special quest, one that only a few could take part in and didn’t mention anything they would be doing. Who or whatever was playing inside was unable to be determined if it was the quest objective or maybe one of the other players who were invited. Pushing open the door softly Kazuko took one, then two careful steps inside.



She only looked around for a moment before remembering to politely excuse herself, hands clasped together as she bowed forward “Sorry for the intrusion. I’m here for the quest?" Her question rising slightly in pitch as the girl tilted her head. The room she found herself was fairly large, made seemingly larger by the fact of all of the religious furnishings have been removed, while from the second story organ music was heard by someone who was already there. Eyes dropping back down to the first floor she saw Hiro at the base of the stairs, a young man the girl had met back while trying to do research on a golem. Dropping her gaze to her feet when she saw him Kazuko’s face flushed slightly. “Oh, Hi Hiro, I didn’t expect you to be here too." She spoke quietly her voice starting to trail off. It wasn’t particularly like she liked this man or any guys really, after all boys were gross and had cooties, but still she had a kind of respect for this player as well as everyone else she met here in this real Elder Tale.



Taking care to remove the small sandals from her feet first Kazuko stepped deeper into the chapel and moving herself back to where the priest would stand at his podium to give sermons. Sitting down on her knees facing the front of the chapel Kazuko allowed the music from over her head to try to calm her mind. Listening to organ music seemed to have a relaxing and pleasant effect, as well as likewise producing a negative effect based on whatever the musician felt like playing. This current arrangement the girl liked though as she watched the front doors from her kneeling position, allowing her eyes to drift close and folding her small hands in her lap.

[Fernweh]

Fernweh’s ears twitched slightly, as the napping adventurer started to rise from his slumber. –Huh… Is that an organ…?- he pondered sleepily, his mind still clinging to the small threads of slumber in vain. He hadn’t heard an organ in years, not since he left for college. Fernweh’s parents had always been rather religious people, dragging him to church every weekend along with other similar events. While he hadn’t really minded the trips, Fernweh had found he was unable to draw forth any sort of resemblance of faith. Though that was something he would never tell his parents, it would bring up arguments about stuff he’d rather not debate. Not now, not ever.

Stretching slowly, the young man, or rather Fox Tail now, let out a loud yawn as he took in his surroundings. He was still on the second floor of a dilapidated building, across the street from the chapel that was set as the meeting point, where Fernweh had set up roughly an hour earlier to observe those who came in. It was a sort of security in the case that some Player Killer took the chance to eliminate someone for their slot in the quest. With Fernweh being the ‘squishiest’ class of all, despite its firepower, that would have made him an easy target. –Then again…- the Fox Tail thought, his ears drooping slightly lower and his tail giving a little irritated flick, -it would probably work better if I hadn’t slept through some of the people arriving…-

Sighing, he turned to peek out the window he had slept next to. No one outside. –Damnit, I really did miss some of them…- The organ playing was proof enough of that fact. That left only one real choice to go with, he realized scratching his head. Fernweh would have to head inside to see if they were hostile. If it was a yes… well… he didn’t particularly think he would live too long if it was a yes.

Dropping from the window to the ground, Fernweh landed with a dull thud as he made his way across the street and through the main doors of the chapel. “Hey, I take it you guys are also here for the quest?”