Tacha Macha stayed for a bit near the sealed entrance, in hope of someone coming back, or at least to hear some noises coming from the other side. But it was all for nothing.

Nothing could be heard aside from her own breathing. Letting out an heavy sigh, Tacha decided to go back to the chamber. If she had time to waste, she might as well use it to find another exit.

With a hand on the wall, she carefully went back down the stairs. She didn’t need to be careful in the virtual reality, but habits were hard to get rid of. As a weak old lady, unfortunate accidents could aways happen in moments of carelessness. Breaking a bone or two wouldn’t be weird.

As the granny went down the last step, she collided with something in front of her and fell on her butt.

“Ack! What the-”

“Ghak! What the-”

Both fell down at the same time. Even the voices were synchronized, both stopping at the same time. Tacha was the first one to open her mouth “That voice… You’re the rude punk that tried to slice me up!” Even though she couldn’t see it, she could feel the young man giving her the side eye “...Who else would be here?”

Not wasting even a moment, she jumped back on her feet, ready to have a scuffle “F*ck! Why are you still alive!?” Frӧst glared in her direction “What do you mean why!? Did you want me dead that much!?” just after that Tacha barely picked up the young guy mutters “You evil granny, I knew you did it on purpose...”

Feigning ignorance, she looked away, her guilty conscience making an useless effort to appeal to her “At least I can exclude you from the list of suspects…” Frӧst however, having already seen her tricks, wasn’t so easily distracted “Hey, don’t change the subje-… Wait. What do you mean?”

“Oh, we’re just trapped in this stinky basement” Stated Tacha plainly.

“…” Frӧst stared at her with a blank look. The words she said, slowly registering in his head. Then his face contorted into a frown as he sprinted up the stairs.

The granny looked with pity at the exhausted lamp in her inventory. It would’ve been much more convenient if she still had a source of light. Was she supposed to search the placewith only her hands? She wasn’t old enough to feel that being blind was an improvement of the situation.

Tacha ignored the desperate cries coming from behind and opened up her quests.

Tears of the Moon

You found a well preserved skeleton in the depths of the Amber Jackal ruins. As soon as you took posession of the pendant it held, the skeleton turned into dust, as if it was the pendant itself that kept it togheter.

What mysteries does the pendant hold?

Completion percentage: 0%

Corruption Runs Deep

You found Kirio’s mother, Layla, in the hidden depths of the Amber Jackal ruins. However she was far beyond saving, her body and mind already lost to the Corruption.

You wonder, how did she get trapped down there?

Completion percentage: 3%

Quest rewards: The penalty for failing the previous chain quest will be removed.

They were both the same type of Investigation quest, that meant that she needed to find more clues to complete both of them. One of the earlier notifications stated that the quests would be considered complete as long as they would reach at least 20% completion.

Tacha’s eyes stopped at the 3% of the chain quest, why did it start from there and not from 0 like the other quest? Maybe she was already in possession of a clue?

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Frӧst rushed back, he took a few moments to recover from his panting “How did that happen?” Tacha didn’t even turn into his direction, too engrossed going through the deceased Layla’s spoils “Someone took the sword out of the statue upstairs, blocking the passage”

Frӧst put a hand on his face “Do you know who took it?” The granny closed the inventory “If I knew it, I wouldn’t have suspected you to begin with” The icy blue eyes of the young man glanced deeply in Tacha’s direction “I’m not surprised you have that many enemies” Tacha felt as if someone had hit her with a hammer “What enemies, I’m an upstanding old lady. I have done nothing but good things since I started playing the game!”

Frӧst just looked at her stunned. The audacity of this granny after she had left him at the boss’ mercy!

He massaged his temples in attempt to calm himself down. “We should try to find another exit. Even if we log out now, we’ll still be inside here next time we come back in” Tacha nodded “Exactly my thinking. I doubt the game developers would trap the players with no way out, or else they would receive too many complaints from the playerbase”

Frӧst thought for a bit “We should search one side each to find something faster” “Alright. You should go that way. I’ll search the area around here” There was some akward silence hanging around “...Which way?” Tacha rolled her eyes “Just pick a direction. If you hit the wall too early, it’s the wrong direction”

Frӧst hesitated for a bit before walking off “It’s my fault for expecting an actual answer” he grumbled reluctantly. It wasn’t worth picking a fight with that bold faced old lady, he would be the one losing in a contest of shamelessness. He might as well use his energies to find another exit, or he would find himself stuck here again at his next login.

Meanwhile granny Tacha looked at the new items she had collected from the boss. There wasn’t much, but each of them could be the clue she was searching for.

Cracked Amulet

A silver medallion with an intricate design, detailing a tree with countless branches.

On the front four spherical carvings adorn the tree canopy, one is on the trunk and two further down on the sides.

Both sides are covered in cracks. It looks fragile enough for a single glare to break it in countless pieces.

What remains in this lightless realm? Even the oldest of trees wil wither in complete darkness.

Midnight Eye

A dark blue tanzanite gem with violet hues. If it’s put in backlight you can faintly see a crescent moon reflection.

A few marks on one side of the gem indicates that it used to be inlaid somewhere else.

The reflection of the moon shines brightly even while shrouded in darkness.

Worn Down Ruler

A dark bronze metallic slat with multiple straight incisions on one side. Every ten incisions there’s a bigger one marked with a symbol you’ve never seen before. Each symbol is different from the others.

One of the ends is circular with a hole as big as a finger, while the other end is as sharp as a blade.

One needs a compass to not lose the Lodestar.

Tacha stared at the Cracked Amulet for a bit. She felt that there was something familiar about it. Was it the tree depicted in it? As for the blue gem… it didn’t tell her anything. It might just as bell be a pretty decoration for now.

Among all of the items, the ruler was the weirdest one. It obviously looked like was a part of some bigger contraption, but where said thing would be?

Still, it wouldn’t be weird if it was something like a handle for the hidden exit. Isn’t it common for games to have similar puzzles? It seemed reasonable too for the key item to be held by the boss, so the players could only get out after defeating it.

Granny Tacha was satisfied by her deduction. Didn’t it mean that she only needed to find a weird and elaborated surface to find the exit?

Tacha stretched her body lazily. She had spent a lot of time inside the game and she was already starting to think what to cook for dinner. Then, a dreadful thought passed through her mind: did she water the plants before logging in?

She was pretty sure she didn’t.

Granny Ariel was in such a rush to go back to play the game that she had neglected her usual routine. If those plants were to suffer, or even worse, to die because of her she would never forgive herself.

In a flash she opened up the game interface and choose to log out. However the next notification made her stop from confirming her choice.

Warning!

You have accepted one or more special quests.

Logging out now will mark them as complete. Further progression in the quests will be impossible at the next login.

Tacha was conflicted. Taking care of the garden was important, but she couldn’t bear to abbandon a quest. Not to mention that the said quest was the one that was going to determine her relationship with the beginner village.

What if the villagers were going to greet her with happy smiles and pitchforks next time she showed her face? She didn’t want to have another forced time off for a couple of days.

Then the only solution was to finish the quest as fast as possible. She didn’t believe that she was going to use more than four in real life hours to find enough clues!

Her determination skyrocketed as she carpeted the whole floor and each crevice she could feel as if she was being possessed.

Meanwhile in another section of the chamber, Frӧst, that heard the fuss coming from the granny side, was wondering what came to her. She was being so silent just a few moments before...