[RotD | B3] 25 & 26 — Exploration

Double chapters!

***

The Drakonias adventurer guild embraced their draconian identity, as Noah saw the large dragon depiction built upon the entrance, and other draconic symbols covering every part of the architecture. Much like the rest of the city, the building was made of stone, but the guild was structured more like a spire, with multiple floors and levels, alongside entrances that were clearly meant to be flown into. In some ways, it was quite similar to the Windrest guild and extremely different in other ways.

Noah walked behind Aurelia as the two walked through the giant wooden gates to step inside the guild. The guild on the inside was tall, with armor sets, stands carrying spears, and different trophies of monsters hanging on the walls as decorations. A bunch of adventurers were lounging around a table nearby, playing cards with pictures Noah didn’t recognize, while others inspected the quest board with a frown.

Instead of the magical board, this one was classy, with paper scrolls hung onto them with pins. But even these weren’t meant to be removed, as Noah realized when an armored woman pulled out her own scroll, touching one of the listed quests and the writing was copied over.

The two of them walked up to the reception desk, a jubilant draconian woman wearing two pink ribbons on her horns that did not go very well with her dark green scales sitting there. Noah used Identify.

[Draconian Manager - ??]

Noah wanted to roll his eyes at the question mark. He wondered how long it’d be before half the people he met would stop being too high leveled for his Identify perk. I’ll probably just go to some even higher grade before that can happen.

The woman, unaware of Noah’s thoughts, greeted the two of them. “Welcome. Those are some new faces. First time here?”

“Yup. We’d like to register and check out the quest board,” Aurelia replied, extending her adventuring plate. Noah followed, taking his own out from his inventory as well.

The woman quickly grabbed the plates, touching them to an orb that lit up on contact, showing words that displayed their general information. After both of them were registered, the receptionist handed them their plates back, and Noah grabbed his.

“We’re looking for a simple quest, something that could be done in a few hours if possible. Is there something like that available right now?” Aurelia asked.

The receptionist frowned, cupping her chin as she hummed to herself. Glancing at her orb, she looked towards Aurelia. “Since both of you seem to have status ailment resistances, I think I do have one,” she said, bending down to grab a scroll from a drawer which she pulled out and placed on the table.

“It’s a quest to catch an escaped cat. A dragon blood cat from the family of a wealthy Merchant, who’s put out a rather large reward compared to the difficulty of the quest,” the woman replied.

Noah wanted to snort. Did they really have people catching runaway cats? He certainly wasn’t interested in spending his evening walking around trying to lure a pet cat for some rich lady.

Aurelia raised an eyebrow. “I’m surprised this hasn’t been taken already. That’s a classic golden quest if I’ve ever seen one.”

“Golden quest? Catching a cat?” Noah asked.

“Golden quest- it’s an easy quest that pays well. Typically because it’s a personal quest from some rich person or family. You can almost never catch one unless you get really lucky. The moment one arrives they get snatched up. And unlike you, most adventurers don’t enjoy throwing themselves into danger recklessly,” Aurelia replied.

“Well, there’s a few problems. The cat in question, Draco, has wings, so he can fly. The second is that, he seems to have been hit with a [Madness] spell, though thankfully only a minor one. But it makes him erratic, and difficult to catch. He’s...quite fast,” the receptionist said.

“Madness? That’s… a cultist spell,” Aurelia said.

The receptionist nodded, before bending down and picking out another sheet. “This is a quest we’ve issued. There have been disturbances with madness inflicted creatures and we want to find the source.”

At the woman’s words, a quest prompt popped up in front of Noah.

Sub-quest updated!

Sub-Quest: Feline Madness

Catch Draco the cat, and find out what’s been inflicting madness on the nearby creatures.

Time: 6 hours

Difficulty: Medium

Reward: Given upon main quest completion.

Noah felt surprised that he wasn’t given a prompt to accept as the quest had simply been updated. He felt a little peeved about that. He’d been thinking of looking into it, but now he felt like he was being told to, and somehow that made him want to not do it anymore.

Grumbling to himself, he picked up the quest sheet. “We might as well check it out,” Noah said.

Aurelia looked at him, before giving a nod. A moment later, he heard a telepathic message from her. “The guild did tell us there has been lunar cultist movement here. Technically that’s why we’re here, and not the trial. This might give us some more insight into that.”

“Very well, in that case please take this and feed it to Draco. It will cure any status affliction he has,” the receptionist said, before handing a pellet that Aurelia took.

Noah inspected the item.

[White Herb Pellet (Uncommon, Rank F)]

A pellet made from purifying white herbs mixed with cat food. The pellet can cure [Frost], [Toxin], [Poison], [Burn], [Paralysis], [Bleed], [Madness], and [Terror] up to a single rank.

“Draco was last seen near the forest, just outside the city,” the receptionist said.

“Thanks,” Aurelia replied with a light nod.

Together, both of them walked out of the guild, and Noah opened his mini map, noticing a new quest marker with a cat icon being shown on his map telling him the general area he needed to look in.

“I have the location,” Noah said.

“Yeah, I see it too,” Aurelia said, glancing at a similar tab open in front of her. “Your astral script is so strange. I never get used to seeing it.”

“Now imagine having to get used to an entirely new world,” Noah replied.

“Touché.”

“Let’s go find this cat,” Noah said, and the two of them head out towards the forest.

***

At the edge of the city, the tropical forest landscape expanded in all directions, covering the bright blue skies with deep green foliage that was filled to the brim with life.

Noah checked the map and noted he was in the right area, and looked around himself. This was an awful far place for a pet cat to come to. The chittering of creatures around them abated whenever Noah looked towards the source, and he could tell it was his Abyssal Predator path that the effect was coming from, telling the creatures to avoid his attention.

Add his new draconian aura and that only made finding a cat difficult.

“So, how are we looking? Should we split up?” Aurelia asked.

“I have a better idea,” Noah replied, and reached into his Astral Vault, summoning Bun Bun.

The dragonspawn appeared nearby, stretching his limbs before yawning loudly. Its eyes looking at Noah expectantly.

“We’ll be needing you buddy,” Noah said.

Bun Bun didn’t move an inch, still looking at him expectantly.

“Payment first huh?” he muttered to himself.

Reaching down, Noah let the dragon spawn bite his finger and greedily lick his blood. After he was satisfied, Bun Bun sniffed the air, moving through the forest as the two of them followed behind.

After a few moments of following Bun Bun, the dragonspawn paused, eyes turning focused. A second later, Bun Bun’s wings unfurled, lightning crackling around him as he shot forward in a blur.

Noah and Aurelia glanced at each other in surprise, before the two of them rushed behind Bun Bun. Running through the forest and using Arcane Step, the two followed behind.

In the distance, Noah spotted a creature moving rapidly, wings furled as Bun Bun gave chase. Reaching out to his predator’s mark he focused on his target, as the mark was applied on the rapidly moving cat.

Reaching through the mark, Noah let out a guttural growl, as his aura flowed over to the creature. Just for good measure, Noah summoned bloodwyrm swarm, as blood wyrms rose from the ground, wrapping around the creature. Bun Bun grabbed the cat as well, pressing a foot down onto it, as he looked up at Noah, feeling like a proud child showing off a successful hunt.

“Good job Bun Bun,” Noah said, brushing the dragonspawn’s head, before he called him back to his Astral Vault. On the ground, the cat continued to hiss and howl, claws trying to cut through Noah’s bloodwyrms. Noah noted the cat’s eyes were red, clearly taken by madness.

He used identify on it.

[Draconian Feline (Draco) - lvl 103]

[Status: Madness - I]

Aurelia knelt near the cat, and the creature thrashed even more, hissing loudly at her. “Calm down, we’re trying to help you,” she said, trying to show the pill but the cat didn’t seem in any mood to be reasonable. A moment later, growing frustrated, Aurelia shoved the pill into the cat’s mouth.

As the cat bit onto the pill, it paused, the thrashing fading. Another bite, as the pill broke down and the cat ate the pill, and magic flowed through its body, its eyes turning normal.

After a few moments when the cat finally calmed down, Noah let the bloodwyrm swarm fade, and Aurelia picked him up, brushing its fur.

“Well, guess we have him,” Aurelia said.

Noah nodded, before glancing at his mini map. “It’s a little strange that a pet cat was all the way out here. Do you want to search a little?”

Aurelia nodded, and Noah continued looking around. There was a strange feeling he was getting but he couldn’t quite pinpoint it. After walking around through the forest, he finally noticed it.

It was the noise in the background. It was too quiet here, like there was something wrong with the forest itself in the area. Little eyeballs rose from Noah’s body as Tony began to quickly scout the area.

Within a minute, the symbiote had found the source of the problem, returning with a flutter.

“Found it,” Noah said, following behind Tony as the symbiote led the two of them to a ruin. Walking inside, Noah stepped back when a powerful growl came from inside and he saw a bunch of creatures with glowing eyes. Large rats, a fox, some bats, and everything in between here seemed to have been inflicted with madness. Before the creatures could strike, Noah summoned bloodwyrm swarm to restrain them.

A burst of flames took out the few that he hadn’t been able to trap. Noah let his aura surge outwards, marking them one after the next with Predator’s mark as the Terror effect froze them in place.

Stepping into the ruin, Noah pushed aside vines leading inside, and saw an azure orb with an eye carved into it glowing with magic as a beam of sunlight poured onto it from the top of the ruin.

[Cosmic Lunar Eye] has inflicted [Madness].

You have resisted [Madness].

Noah raised an eyebrow, walking closer as he picked up the orb, using identify on it.

[Cosmic Lunar Eye (Uncommon/Cursed, Rank D)]

An azure orb holding a crescent moon emblem. Gazing into its glowing surface is known to induce vertigo and unease. Crafted by an ancient cult who worshipped the primordial Watcher, using concentrated pale moonlight to empower their rituals, often driving them mad.

A chime played as Noah read through the description.

“That’s a lunar cultist item. But why out here?” Aurelia said, avoiding looking directly at the orb. Noah put it into his Astral Vault to avoid risking accidentally inflicting madness onto anything nearby.

“Not sure. This doesn’t look like a cultist hideout. Too small and unkept,” Noah said, before sniffing the air. “No smell for any people having been here in a long time beside us.”

“Let’s go back for now,” Aurelia said, and Noah nodded.

Together the two of them stepped back out, and Noah looked at the creatures writhing against his restraints.

“What are we going to do about them?” He asked.

“Curing them… will be too expensive. Without the orb, there’s nothing keeping them here and if we leave them, they’ll kill the wildlife till some other adventurer has to come kill them. It’s best if we took care of it,” Aurelia said.

Noah nodded, and Aurelia handed him the cat. Noah looked at Draco, the draconian cat looking at him with an annoyed expression and he put the creature in his Astral Vault. He stepped outside as Aurelia remained inside. A moment later a blinding flash of fire shook the ruins and notifications flashed through Noah’s vision. He didn’t read them. Killing helpless creatures gave him no joy.

Aurelia stepped out a moment later, the ruins collapsing behind her and kicking up dust.

“No one should be able to go inside and stir things up anymore,” Aurelia said.

“Good work,” Noah said, extending a hand towards her.

Aurelia looked at him, raising an eyebrow in question.

“I set a marker. We can teleport back,” he said, smiling.

“Remind me to get teleportation abilities in my next life,” Aurelia said, grabbing Noah’s hand as he activated Arcane Step.

***

Quest completed!

Noah dismissed the notification as he returned the cat, and put the lunar eye, with a cloth draped over it. The receptionist looked at the item varily, putting it away. Taking their plates, she touched the orb, and the crystals were transferred over.

“The reward is 10 D-grade crystals for the cat, and 20 D-grade crystals for the orb, for a total of 30, I’ve added 15 each to both of your plates,” the receptionist said, handing the plates back.

Aurelia whistled. Noah was impressed as well. That was quite good pay for such a short quest.

“Do you know how that orb got there?” Noah asked.

“Oh, if I had to guess, it’s likely an old artifact that got awakened when someone interacted with it. We had a big lunar cultist presence back in the day before we exterminated the cult and banished the cultists. But every now and then some items still get unearthed,” she said.

Noah nodded. Well, that was that for now.

“What do you plan to do now?” Aurelia asked. “We have some time.”

Noah thought over the question. He looked at his exploration quest, and saw the guild quest crossed out. The two of them still two hours left before they had to meet for dinner. Noah looked through his list of quests, opening the map.

The temple of Septah was nearby.

“Think I’ll be heading to the temples,” Noah said.

“Surprising. I got a message from Snow, so I’ll be meeting up with her and Seraphina,” Aurelia said, raising her bracelet to show the blinking light indicating a message. Looking at it, Noah had to wonder if Zax was taking note of the off handed mentions Noah had made of phones and what not as he made these.

He certainly kept adding new features all the time to the bracelets.

“Sounds good,” he replied at last to Aurelia.

“See you at the tavern then,” Aurelia said, stepping away as she headed out of the guild.

Noah made his way out of the guild as well a moment later. Looking at the location he needed to go, Noah channeled Arcane Step and began to teleport across the city.

He’d gotten tired of walking.

***

Noah teleported to the steps of the temple, drawing a couple of surprised glances from nearby. The surroundings had a more fifty-fifty ratio of humans and draconian, a bunch wearing different symbols and emblems of their respective gods. White marbled stones formed the temple, a common theme that Noah had begun noticing across the many temples and churches to the gods. Did they all just prefer white? He’d expected a bit more variance across locations, but given that the gods could just talk to their followers, perhaps it wasn’t quite like that.

Noah made his way up the step, deciding not to teleport or otherwise use his abilities too much. The last time he’d done that around a space for a god had resulted with him in handcuffs.

Not that they can really stop me with those anymore.

The thought amused him. Continuing on his way, Noah began to take note of the depictions on the temple. Oddly enough, the construction reminded him of roman buildings from back in his world. The entrance had distinctive pillars built high and tall with three giant entrances into the structure. Each gate had a sculpture of the respective gods carved at the top, depicting which one was dedicated to which.

The left most one had Hellion standing with a sword in her hand, wings flared behind her back, looking poised and determined, as she always did. At the right side was a man, he had scars on his body, and flowing hair that ran like a mane behind his back, with a square jaw and sharp eyes. A war axe rested on his shoulder with casual grace. Rutha.

In the centermost gate was a woman, wearing flowing robes, and her hand to her chest, a motherly expression of love and concern on her face. She looked different now, but Noah could see the resemblance to the Septah he had met in his dream.

Would she remember? It didn’t exactly happen, it was just a dream trial. And yet… I have a feeling that she will remember anyway.

Noah could see Ernest’s location on his mini-map, marked there. He was inside Hellion’s church, and Noah decided not to disturb the paladin. He often went to pray and did not appreciate being intruded on. Not to mention, it would likely be best if he did this on his own.

He walked into the central chamber, going through the door as he marveled at the inside of the temple. Different sculptures depicted various depictions of Septah. The goddess stood in one, gingerly covering the eyes of a child and with another hand she banished cosmic abominations.

In others, she could be seen at the bedside of an old woman, her hands giving comfort to her in her last moments.

Dozens of other depictions were present inside, showing all sorts of different stories. Noah continued to watch them all with fascination as he made his way inside. The temple itself was rather small and straight forward, without too many people inside.

At the center, beneath colored glass panes was the statue of Septah, words to a prayer to the goddess carved onto the pedestal she stood on. But before he could read the words, a woman caught his eye. She remained kneeling near the statue, wearing white robes that seemed to indicate she was a priestess of sorts, but the thing that caught his attention was the white blindfold the woman wore on her eyes. Noah used Identify.

[Priestess of Septah - lvl 147]

Noah was surprised when the woman turned towards him, including her head in question. “Is there something wrong, faithful one?”

Noah realized he’d been staring. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said reflexively. “I just- err, I was surprised by your blindfold, but didn’t want to be rude. Is that some kind of practice?”

The priestess rose to her feet. “You must not have seen a priestess of Septah before. Eyes are that with which we watch the sins of the world and let the evils seep into us. To avoid being tainted by such things, we give our sight to the goddess, and in return, obtain her eternal light, letting us see things from within our souls and avoid the madness of the Watcher,” the priestess replied.

Noah felt fascinated at that. A skill that let you see from the soul- sounded awfully similar to his Abyssal Awareness ability. He wondered how different the ability the priestess had was from his own.

“But I am surprised,” the priestess continued, looking at him. “You have the goddess’ blessing on you, indicating you have encountered her… not just in prayer, but in spirit. Yet you were surprised by me,” the priestess said.

Noah scratched his cheek. “I’ve encountered the goddess in a dream before. This is my first time to her temple. She’d told me she would remember me if I visited her.”

He could see the priestess’ eyes widen in surprise even through the blindfold covering her eyes. “Is that truly so? Well, why don’t you send a prayer to the mother. Perhaps she will commune with you,” the priestess said.

Noah gave her a nod. “Alright. Although… I have no idea how to do that.”

The priestess smiled. “Do not worry. The goddess does not take offense easily. Simply read the prayer and call to her with a genuine heart. I will show you.”

Nodding once more, Noah walked right up to the statue, behind a hand railing preventing people from directly touching the statue or dirtying it.

“Kneel here. I will read the prayer, simply follow me,” the priestess guided, kneeling in front of the stature.

Noah kneeled next to her on one knee, feeling a little awkward at the motion. He looked up at the statue and the words written on it, before he joined his hands together. The priestess began and Noah closed his eyes, trying to recall the image of Septah in his mind.

“Goddess Septah, cloak our minds,

Shield us from the Watcher’s spell that blinds.

Save us from the moonlit sky,

In your grace let sanity abide.”

Noah waited for a moment for something to happen. A few breaths passed, and he was about to open his eye, giving up on the task, when something bright manifested somewhere in front of him.

You’ve invoked Septah’s name.

A gasp came from next to him and Noah opened his eyes and saw the goddess’s statue glowing with light. He could see everyone in the temple bowing their head from his periphery vision, even as his eyes remained affixed on the goddess’s statue.

“Close your eyes, the goddess is speaking with you!” The priestess quickly spoke and Noah closed his eyes. The light began to grow around him, and a moment later, the world changed. He opened his eyes once again, and found himself standing in cloudy expanse, with the goddess in front of him, standing with a smile.

This wasn’t his first time meeting a goddess by any means — he absent mindedly noted that he’d not met a single god besides the void god, if he could even give that eldritch abomination a gender — but with his senses grown, he could see… a lot more. And what he saw felt a little like trying to stare at the sun. The presence the goddess had was overpowering, it wasn’t oppressive and it didn’t freeze him in place, yet he could feel her power in a deep part of his soul that told him this woman was beyond mortal understanding.

“It is good to see you again, Noah. Thank you for saving me back then,” Septah said.

Noah blinked, taking a moment to respond. “Uh- you’re welcome.”

The goddess’ smile widened at his response.

He tried to close his eyes and pull himself together for a moment. “Sorry, and hold on— you do remember that?”

“I do. I told you I would. I do not lie,” Septah replied, tilting her head. “Or are you implying that I would?”

“No, no, no, nothing like that, I was just surprised. Does that mean that the dream really happened?” Noah asked, finding his thoughts running. Somehow he hadn’t really expected to meet Septah just like that, and it’d thrown him off balance.

“Not quite. It was a dream, but dreams are part of reality too. Just not reality itself. I saw and experienced everything you saw and experienced, in much the same way. Just like how I am both here and not at the same time,” Septah replied.

“Right, aspects, I was told about it. Must be difficult being all over the world at the same time,” Noah said.

Septah giggled. “That is the first time someone has showed sympathy to me for my position. But no, it is not difficult. It would be harder to ignore my faithful and not respond.”

“Fair enough,” Noah replied.

He looked at the goddess in silence, not sure where to go from here.

“So… do you want something from me?” Noah asked.

“That should be my question, no? You’re the one who called me,” Septah said.

“Right, right I did.”

“You’re not used to interacting with deities when it’s not an antagonistic position, or when you aren’t willfully barging your way in, are you?” Septah said.

Noah scratched his cheek at that in embarrassment. For some reason the woman unsettled him, more so than Hellion, Avera or even the void god ever did. Noah didn’t understand why until he looked in the woman’s eyes and understood why.

Her eyes, the way she looked at him, it was filled with empathy and love.

It reminded him of his mother.

He stared at her, something twisting in his chest painfully.

“Let me help you remember what you wished to have me here. I believe there are some questions you wish to know the answers to,” Septah said.

“Right. I do, yeah. What… what was that dream all about?” Noah asked. “Why were you a child? And, why were those things after you?”

“It was the war against the Crimson Heart, led by the old goddess of war Raelinah. They were after me… because I was still in my nascent form, and they wished to sacrifice me to the heart, to give it power,” Septah said.

“Raelinah… do you know her then? And what happened afterwards? Who won?” Noah asked.

“I don’t know. Unlike the dream, I had died back then.”

“What?” Noah stared in shock. “I thought gods were immortal? And you- you’re still here?”

“Gods die too, Noah. Though not permanently. When one of us dies, our Aspects reform us, typically as younger forms of ourselves. We will know a lot of things, including who we are, from birth. But the memories of our past incarnations are lost. The memories of my time back then are anecdotal. Sources borne by others who carry the memories still,” Septah said with a sad look on her face.

“And to answer your other question. I do know Raelinah. Or did. After the war, she left our realm, through the Astral Rifts, a feat previously thought impossible, even for us, to somewhere beyond. To what purpose… I do not know,” Septah said.

Noah chewed over the words.

“Do you know what my connection to her is? And… if gods are immortal. How come one of them died and left behind shards?”

Again, Septah’s expression changed, that look of pity forming on her face.

“Your connection to Raelinah… it is difficult for me to speak of it. I cannot give you an answer to those questions Noah. But if you truly wish to know no matter what… seek the reaper,” Septah said.

The clouds began to swirl around the two of them.

“I’m afraid our time will have to end here, Noah. Thank you for coming to see me,” she said.

“Wait! I still haven’t—”

The world shot back into focus, as Noah opened his eyes, still kneeling in front of the statue in the temple. A jumble of emotions swirling in his chest, as his unsaid words swirled in his mind.

I still haven’t asked why you were looking at me like it hurt you to see me.

Noah stood back up on his feet, and found the priestess nearby, who bowed her head to Noah.

“May the goddess’s mercy heal your soul,” she said.

Noah nodded, making his way out. He didn’t want to stay here for much longer if he could.

His eyes went to the timer of his quest and he saw it tick down by the minute, before chiming with a ding.

Sub-quest completed.

Quest: Exploration, completed!

Noah dismissed the prompt. He would check the rewards later. Taking a deep breath, he channeled Arcane Step, as he teleported away.

Some food was exactly what he needed right now.