October 21st, 2023
11:56 PM EST
Alastar
Minutes blurred into hours as Alastar stared at the odd glow. He wondered what it was, what it could possibly be. It was one of the elephants, and not one of the more impressive specimens. It wasn’t the biggest bull trumpeting alarm. It wasn’t one of the calves being protected. It wasn’t even one of the younger bulls with their sharp ivory tusks. Instead, it was just one of the more average elephants, the one that was situated to the farthest north, one of the cows.
With a frown, Alastar paced back and forth. “Something has to be different about this one, right?” He asked, wanting to reach up and touch the taxidermied elephant but refraining. “And of course, in a world like this these specimens may become even more valuable. Who knows what mana will do to the common elephantine form.”
Perhaps elephants would mutate, becoming stronger than the average. Perhaps they would gain sapience and walk on two legs like some Mad Max version of Babar. Perhaps they would even discover a powerful and wise strength that comes from ancient religious beliefs. Maybe, just maybe, he was only thinking about this to try and distract himself from his clear and obvious inability to figure this stupid thing out.
As he paced, a sound came from his radio. Picking it up, Alastar was quickly able to pick up the conversation. “Hey, Alastar.” The radio crackled as Dale spoke. “Bro, listen, we’ve gotta go.”
Alastar stared off into the darkness, sighing heavily before clicking the send button on his radio. “Both of you?” He tried to revel in the silence, but the air conditioning was far from silent and the sounds of the world around him continued as he sat back on a bench.
“Yeah. We both have quests that take us out of here.” Singh said, sounding sad. “I just thought it would be best to let you know. My quest, it says that it’s timed… If I don’t take care of something now, my family… It won’t be good.”
“I see.” Alastar said, doing his best to sound calm. It was weird, there was a sense of hollowness in his heart when he spoke. Even though he barely knew these two, even though this was working out fine. A part of him was sad to see them go.
“I’m going to help Singh, and then I’m going to go to my house. I’ve got a feeling somethings going on. Trust me bro,this is important.”
“This whole magiquest thing is your wheelhouse, right Alastar? You get it, right, I have to go home.”
“Yeah, alright guys. I’ll… I’ll keep the place locked up until morning.” Alastar said, sighing. “But don’t blame me if some asshole breaks in here. I don’t have security skills.”
“It’s fine, The windows and walls are all reinforced. There are very few ways to get in, and they all trip alarms.” Dale said. “See ya bro.”
Silence. For minutes, Alastar lay down on the bench in silence. Minutes turned into long amounts of time, until he was sitting there for nearly an hour. “I have to figure this out.” He said to himself, sighing.
Climbing to his feet, Alastar walked over to read the sign. It was worn down, and not all of it could be read. However, there were sections of it that he could read.
This model was made by Carl Akeley. This model, along with many others in this room, are considered the greatest works of Akeley, the father of modern Taxidermy. Before Akeley, many specimens in Taxidermy were treated as models, and would end up looking unnatural. Akeley always made sure to simulate the natural mussels and bones to create a natural looking body, as well as innovating the dioramas that you see around you. Each of which placing animals into their natural habitats.
This particular model is designed to be the beginning of a stampede. The leader, trumpeting alarm, is telling the others that the area is not safe. For many on safari, this was the last sight that they ever saw. It was far too dangerous, and European explorers were often not listening to local guides about the dangers surrounding these mighty creatures.
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Akeley himself went on safari several times. While the majority of these specimens were donated to the museum for Akeley’s use, some of the specimens all around this hall were acquired by Akeley on Safari, along with out very own future president and former governor Roosevelt!
“Huh.” Alastar said, frowning to himself. “Is it that simple?” He tried to remember, this had been mentioned in some article or other he read back when he was studying museum procedures. One of these elephants was a personal acquisition by Roosevelt. If this was it, then perhaps the tusk was representative of that.
“But if that’s the case.” He said, frowning. “Then why does this glow like this? Is it some magical artifact? Is it some kind of beast core like in cultivation books? That shouldn’t be right, there wasn’t mana here at the time… was there?” He frowned. “Well, maybe it is a core. But I don’t know what kind. Whatever it is, I swear, this is the most valuable thing around.”
As he muttered those words he stared intently at the thing. Suddenly, his vision was entirely covered by multiple notification windows.
> Quest Completed!
>
> Reward:
>
> Resolving
>
> . . .
>
> Reward Recalculated!
>
> Reward: Identify subskill - Appraise
“Overflow? What in the world does that mean?” Alastar asked himself as he dismissed the window. This was some weirdly robotic talk coming from a clearly much more living universal machine.
> Skill Discovered!
>
> Name: Identify
>
> Type: Analysis
>
> Rank: F
>
> Rarity: Rare
>
> Description: Use mana in your eyes to gain surface level information about a person, place, or thing. Can be upgraded with subskills.
Well that explained one thing, he supposed that was probably what made the quest go glitchy. So the next prompt would be the quest skill? With a shrug he waved his hand and dismissed the skill window. These prompts were getting silly.
> Object Identified!
>
> Name: Dungeon Core (AMNH)
>
> Type: Core
>
> Rank: G-F
>
> Rarity: Exotic
>
> Description: This dungeon core is the center of your location, and unless claimed will create a dungeon in your area.
“Oh shit.” Alastar said, stumbling back. He’d read enough novels about dungeon cores to know this wasn’t great. “Hey uh, dungeon core. You don’t need to, like, eat me. I’d rather not be dungeon born, I don’t want to just stay in one place.” The Tusk, apparently a core, did not respond in any way. So he dismissed this window as well.
> Skill Acquired!
>
> Name: Appraise
>
> Type: Identify Subskill
>
> Rank: F
>
> Rarity: Uncommon
>
> Description: Identify is the most simple skill in the multiverse, utilized by many people.
> Identify only gives surface level information, but can be upgraded with extra information from subskills.
> Appraise gives extra information about the value of objects, and certain other traits.
So the new skill built upon the other one. He supposed that was good. Dismissing that window gave him yet another one. “This is getting tiring.” he muttered.
> New Quest!
>
> Tutorial (3/10): Caster’s Pollux (Gemini)
>
> Difficulty: Rare
>
> Description: Your friends have abandoned you and now you are all alone. Make sure that you’ll never be alone again!
> Create a ritual circle and ritual based on your deepest desires.
>
> Reward: Familiar