Chapter 5: Discovery
Disclaimer: I do not own Ragnarok Online or anything associated with it.
Dungeons. The name "dungeon" is given to any place around Rune-Midgard which is famous for being completely overrun by monsters. Though the ruined keep of Glast Heim is the kingdom's most famous dungeon, there are numerous others located throughout the kingdom. Most towns have at least one dungeon located either within or very close to the city, such as the labyrinth of ancient ruins beneath the Geffen Wizard Tower or the deep caves in Payon's Archer Village. Many adventurers fight monsters in the dungeon to hone their skills, knowing that more will crawl out of the darkness to replace the fallen. Rumors suggest that there may be monsters of incredible power lurking in the lowest levels of many dungeons, but so far none of the "boss monster" rumors have been proven to be true.
Stepping out of the portal into the city of Juno, Sigma immediately began walking toward the northeast corner of the floating city. Suspended in the air by magic and connected to the mainland of Rune-Midgard by a single bridge, the ancient city has been home to the Sages' Guild since as long as anyone can remember. Long ago, when the city was the capital of its own small kingdom, Juno was raised into the sky by a powerful combination of magic and technology, and to this day the powerful spell engine keeps the city aloft. Sigma's destination was none other than the city's famous Sage Guild, located in the northeast corner of the city. Not wasting any time, the wizard entered the Guild building and sought out a sage.
"Excuse me, but where can I find a sage specializing in monster myths?" the wizard asked the sage.
"Ah, you'll want to look for Revaine. Those old legends are her specialty," the sage replied. "You'll find her in her workroom one floor down."
"Thank you," the wizard said as he hurried off to find Revaine. Upon reaching her room, located next to a small library, he knocked on the door and waited. A few moments later, the door opened and a woman with fiery red hair stuck her head out to see who had knocked. As soon as she saw the wizard she grinned and swung the door fully open.
"Sigma! It's been a long time since I last saw you. How have you been?" Revaine said as she led her old companion into the workshop. The two of them had met when they were both Mages traveling the world in search of power, in the wizard's case, or knowledge, in the sage's. They became good friends and traveled together until they had become wizard and sage. After that they parted ways while staying friends. Sigma joined a group of adventurers and became somewhat famous across the kingdom while Revaine stayed in Yuno and continued her studies of mythical beasts. The wizard had visited his sage friend several times seeking advice, but after his adventuring group parted ways Sigma returned to Geffen to teach at the Guild and had stayed there.
"I'd love to stay and tell you, but I have pressing business. The lives of one of my former students and her friend, as well as those of many adventurers in Prontera may be in danger."
"Is this about the thief bug problem in the city's culverts? Someone told me about the legend of the Golden Thief Bug a few days ago, and I started to research it to see if there was any basis for the legend. I haven't found anything so far, though."
"Maybe I could help you. Looks like you have a lot of books to go through..." said Sigma as he looked around the room. Piles of books littered the workroom, covering the floor, desk, and bookshelves completely. The center of the desk held a single open book and enough space for a pile of papers that were obviously notes, but ancient books were stacked three or four high on every other available space on the desk.
"Sure, that would be great. I've been through most of the books in here already, so why don't you try looking in the library. I have a couple of magically sealed books that you may want to look at in there too," Revaine replied. She carefully picked her way through the piles of books littering the floor, sat down at her desk, and began poring over the book there.
Sigma grinned as he exited the workroom and went next door to the library. He'd always admired Revaine's complete dedication to her work. There had been a time when his friends had jokingly accused him of being romantically involved with the sage, but they had been wrong and had known it. Revaine was dedicated to her work, and Sigma knew that no matter happy she was in a relationship, it would interfere with her work somewhat and she wouldn't want that. Reminiscing, he proceeded into the small library and looked around. The library was much more organized than Revaine's workroom, and he had no trouble finding the magic tomes that the sage had spoken of. He quickly identified two of the books as being magically enchanted weapons. He'd seen sages and some priests fight with books, and he'd even seen a few sages who were so well trained with the book as a weapon that they were deadlier with it than with their magic.
Setting aside the weapons on a corner of the small table he'd found in the corner of the room, Sigma turned his attention to the other two magic books. These were not weapons, but were sealed with powerful magic to prevent their being opened. Sigma knew of some wizards back in Geffen who knew how to open magic locks without any effort at all, but he was not one of them. He could, with time, break almost any magical seal, but Sigma was in a hurry and didn't want to waste the time needed to open the books if they weren't going to help him. The wizard picked up one of the books and set about trying to identify it. He quickly realized that the runes on the book were ancient Elvish, and from the limited amount of runes his Guild had deciphered he discerned that he was holding a history of the Elf kingdoms. Setting that book aside, Sigma began to identify the final magically sealed book.
Back in Prontera City, Aya awoke in the inn to discover that Jela was not there. Upon asking the bartender where he had gone, she learned that he had left earlier that morning and had yet to return. After having a quick breakfast, Aya returned to her room wondering where Jela could have gone so early, and soon after she had gone upstairs Jela returned.
"Where did you go?" asked the mage.
"I... went weapon shopping. I figured that since you don't really fight with your staff anyway you wouldn't want to look for a better weapon, so I went when you were asleep," Jela told her. He pulled a new dagger out of its sheathe at his side and showed it to her briefly before putting it away. Aya didn't recognize the dagger as anything she'd ever seen in a store before, and it looked very sharp.
"Have you already had breakfast? If you have, we should get going to the Crusader headquarters," Aya said to Jela.
"Ok, let's get going."
The two checked out of the inn and then made their way to the northeast corner of the city. Though it was fairly early in the morning, many people were already out on the streets bustling about. Since adventurers could pass through at any time, many merchants selling weapons, armor, or other items that could spark a traveler's interest opened up shop early in the morning. As Aya and Jela passed through town they stopped briefly at several of these stores to browse, but made steady progress toward the Crusader building. The pair also noticed blacksmiths sitting in out-of-the-way alleys crafting weapons and armor to sell later that day. Adventurers milled about the streets, but overall the crowds were much thinner than when the thief and the mage had arrived in the middle of the day after their journey from Geffen. It didn't take them long to reach the Crusader building. They were greeted at the door by a slightly bored-looking crusader.
"Are you two with the Culvert squad?" he asked them.
"Yeah. We were told to come here to find Captain Hero and Lieutenant Davon," replied Aya.
"Go ahead inside," the crusader said as he waved them inside. The two walked in and, after asking another crusader, found the Captain and the Lieutenant in a storage room with a whole group of other adventurers. The group consisted of a wide range of adventurers. An assassin, her long black hair hanging loose, leaned against one of the walls. Two swordsmen were practicing their sword fighting techniques with each other. A second black-haired woman, wearing blue-white wizard's robes, stood conversing with a young woman in acolyte robes. Several of the people in the room glanced their way when Aya and Jela walked in, but they returned to what they were doing almost immediately. Hero, however, cleared his throat and addressed the group.
"Now that this group is all here, we can get going. Your mission is simple," the crusader said. "We're going to go into the Prontera Culverts and kill as many thief bugs as possible in the hopes that we'll find the source of the infestation. We know that the bugs are more numerous on the lower levels, and that's also where we've seen the larger bugs. You're not required to go down there, though, as it's somewhat dangerous." As Hero spoke, Davon walked among the group and handed out a pouch to each person. "Inside the pouch," continued Hero, "you will find several potions which will heal you when you drink them. These are free, but they're the only ones we're providing. Now, if you're all ready, let's get going."
The two crusaders led the group out of the Crusader building and toward Prontera's West Gate. As they walked, the blue-robed wizard approached Aya.
"It's nice to see another guild member out here. Are you new as a mage or have you been out of Geffen for a while?" the wizard asked her.
"I just finished my exam yesterday," Aya told her.
"You are new. Who was your teacher?"
"Sigma taught me. Do you know him?" responded Aya. The wizard thought for a moment.
"Sigma... Hmm... Does he have black robes?" she asked.
"Yeah! You know him?"
"I know of him. A lot of the stronger wizards in the guild have uniquely-colored robes. I think I was a student at the same time as your teacher..." the wizard mused. "Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Tsunami."
"I'm Aya, and this is my friend Jela," Aya said, grabbing the thief and pulling him over as a way of indication. Jela gave a halfhearted wave and then returned his attention forward. Aya thought about looking to see what he was so focused on, but decided she'd rather just not know. Instead she turned back to Tsunami. "How could you have trained with Sigma? You don't look that old, but his hair..."
"Oh! I remember Sigma! He's the one with the silver hair, isn't he?" she exclaimed. When Aya nodded, the wizard continued. "He's not actually that old. As far as I can remember, his hair has always been like that."
At this point, the group passed under the West Gate and proceeded out into the West Fields. The crusaders paused for a moment to inform them they had about 15 minutes of walking left until they reached the Culvert and then resumed walking. Along the way, the black-haired assassin woman slowed her pace somewhat and handed a small Butterfly Wing to each member of the group.
"Crush this if you get in trouble or need to get back to the city fast," she said before resuming her silent walk. When the group reached the Culverts, the crusaders stopped them once more.
"Welcome to the Culverts," said Davon. "It may look dark from here, but there are a lot of torches down there, so it's relatively well lit."
With this, the group of adventurers descended the stairs into the Culverts.
In a library beneath Yuno, the wizard Sigma sat bolt upright at the table he was working at. He had finally forced the sealed book open and begun reading. One particular page caught his eye, and after quickly looking at it once, he leapt from his chair, grabbed the book, and almost ran next door to Revaine's workroom.