“So how can I help you Weed?” Asked Rodriguez.
“I need to solve Theodores riddle. It’s just not about being his apprentice but about being the best apprentice that there has ever been.”
“Could you please repeat the quest?”
“The foundations of blacksmithing are dexterity with our hands, creativity of our minds, and perseverance of our souls. We prize our creations more than gold and cherish our skills more than our lives. Elves are creatures of poor and weakness in soul. They lack love and compassion. Thus, my test for you is Weed, forge yourself anew and show to me that you are indeed worthy of learning the sacred skills of blacksmithing.” Weed finished reciting the lines, he had them completely memorized by now and didn’t even have to open the quest window to see it.
“Well the first obvious trap is that you just need to change the configuration of your stats by mindlessly investing points anywhere you felt like.” Rodriguez immediately answered upon hearing the lines.
Weed smiled, it didn’t matter which game it was Rodriguez the Wise truly lived up to his name. He reached the same conclusion instantaneously as he did. However, this was where the more challenging part lay if it did not mean that, then did it mean one needed to invest heavily in the three attributes described? Or was that also a trap?
“I do not believe that the first line is a trap. Theodore is a straightforward dwarf however that does not mean we ourselves could misunderstand what he says…..This truly is a challenging riddle worth solving.”
After writing it down on paper, Rodriguez started analyzing the lines in every manner possible. He first considered Versailles history and everything about the Dwarves race. He tried thinking of references of these lines in context with stories or legends related to crafting skills.
Weed frowned, even Rodriguez was struggling.
An hour or so passed, when Rodriguez got up angrily. “Confound it! Whatever does it possibly mean! This is just an incomplete riddle! Did he say anything more or before which isn’t mentioned in the quest?”
Weed thought about it for a while and then repeated the two codes.
“No, that has nothing to do with the quest. Anything to do with the quest?”
Weed strained his memory, there was one thing that did stick out but he had dismissed it later… “Theodore did say it would be challenging for me to finish the quest since I would be starting a week later…he said that this quest had to be completed before the full moon. Does that mean anything to you?”
Rodriguez’s eyes gleamed. “Yes it does! The full moon has played a pivotal role in dwarves history, it is said that the light of the moon is bestowed with strange magical properties. Though the dwarves have always claimed so, the elves dismissed this claim as they could never feel any such magical properties from it. Maybe it is something restricted to the dwarf’s race but this is the clue that will solve the riddle.”
Rodriguez walked towards one of the many doors in his house and unlocked it with a key that hung around his neck. “Weed this way.”
Weed followed him, the door led to an underground passage which opened up to the basement.
“Holy …..!” Weed exclaimed in shock. In front of him was the largest library he had ever seen, the basement stretched endlessly, there were maybe thousands of book shelves with millions of books stacked on them.
“You are the first I am showing this place to Weed, it is not often am I presented with a challenge that requires me to come down here. I must say if Theodore gives each of his student’s such a puzzle then there is no chance of him ever finding an apprentice. Now I am sure, we just need to find the relation between the coming of age ceremony and the moonlight and when we do the answer would present itself before us.”
“But where will we begin?” Asked Weed as he tried to absorb the ostentatious size of the hidden library.
“Begin? Why we are already there.” Rodriguez replied calmly as if he had done this a million times before. He simply went up to a bookshelf and randomly picked up a book.
“Hmmm…yes there it is….The Moonlight….
The moon is bright, silver and white
It lights the path that many seek, Yet we dwarves are meek
Too frightened are we, To seek the joyful light of thee
Savage beasts and monstrous birds, Haunt those who dare to seek the absurd
Yet only at night, the frightful night
you reveal yourself only to those who dare, Lucky are they for they get to stare
At the white light, the enticing silver moonlight.
The winds are laid, and the river is roaring by; We pray as we face the eastern sky;
Content are we to take a chance and glance
Through scrolls rather than through holes
The bright refreshing light, the enticing silver moonlight.
The sky has fallen, great fortune has befallen
There’s many a dwarves who will toil to-night. For every night is a full moon night.
The stars are bright, and the night is still, and dwarves singing by,
And many a face is upward turned to gaze at the fallen moon’s bright eye…”
“Sounds like gibberish.” Commented Weed when it finally finished.
“Yes, you shouldn’t be surprised most dwarf poems are like that.” Rodriguez said as he put away the book.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Well did we find our answer?” Asked Weed impatiently.
“What do you think of the poem, Weed?”
“Well if the poem is the final clue, then it is pretty obvious. I am looking for a moonstone.” Weed replied.
Rodriguez dropped the book he was holding, he had read this verse a great many number of times and even then it had escaped him, only when Weed brought the riddle could he even begin imagining there was meaning behind this poem. Many of the great scholars would have failed to see this answer. One needed familiarity with the poem, Versailles history and so many other references to conclude that the answer was the moonstone, yet here stood an elf who replied instantly that it was a moonstone that too after hearing the poems verse only once! Rodriguez slowly picked up the book and asked, “And what makes you say that?” Rodriguez wanted to test the elf to see the logical reasoning the elf had employed.
“Well it is not just that from what I understand, you may have read out an extract of the poem, only the relevant portion.”
“Correctly assumed so.”
“Well, isn’t it straight forward then? It does say that the heavens have fallen and it is a great fortune. I assumed the analogy of heavens was connected with the moon. Now the dwarves who love the moon wouldn’t be happy if it fell. They love the moon too much for that but here they are more than gleeful. So it must be that a rock that fell from the heavens which they assumed to be part of the moon. And it goes on to say that they are going to toil harder at night for there is a full moon every night. Clearly that’s not possible. So they must have used the moonstone as a decoration piece or something.”
Rodriguez mouth was left wide open. ‘Brilliant!’
Weed continued, “If you think about this poem only as a clue, then you can also conclude that there is a moonstone somewhere where monstrous animals roam. So monstrous that the dwarves are too frightened to go there. If I had to guess it would be the eastern side of a mountain, possibly where there is a river crossing by…”
“Yes, you are indeed correct Weed. There are two such dwarf towns that I can think of where the river is close by, one is in Fire Kingdom, which is too far from here, and the other is very near Lavias.”
“The Northern Mountain pass range?” Weed asked excitedly, all though this was a D level quest, it was turning out to be exceedingly difficult given the added dimension of a hidden riddle.
Rodriguez nodded gesturing a yes.
“Then it would be right to assume, that the moonstone has mystical properties which will enable me to forge myself a new?”
“Correctly guessed again Weed. I should start calling you Weed the Wise.” Rodriguez joked but he was truly amazed at the elf’s ability to solve the riddle. “Long long ago, the heavens did fall on earth, they were dangerous times as many powerful beasts roamed the Versailles continent then. A famous elvish astronomer said that two fiery tadpoles in the heavens crashed into the moon and the moon cried silver tears. Thousands of years later, an adventurous dwarf, quite a bit of an oddity, found one of the moonstones and brought it back to his brethren. The moonstone became the centre jewel stone of their ceiling. Or at least that’s what I have read, how true is it, I am not sure myself. Well, Weed, I can guide you no further, the answer lies near the city of the northern mountain range.”
“I had one question, how long do dwarves live for?” Weed asked curiously.
The question surprised Rodriguez, “I guess no more than 200 years. Why do you ask so?”
“I was just wondering whether Theodore was the one who found the moonstone to begin with, as he dares to live out in the open.”
Rodriguez smiled, ‘Close Weed, he did not find it but it was his great ancestors who did.’
Weed thanked Rodriguez for the clue and hastily made his way outside.
Rodriguez locked the library door and went back to his armchair smiling. ‘Weed the Wise, not a bad title, a bit rough around the edges but a gem in the making.’
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Authors Note:
1. Editing Credits Knaivvs.
2. So part of the crossing 100 pages celebration, I decided to go for the completion of Vol 2 and release of Vol 3. Have fun with the extra postings.
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Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo
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