The Masked Woman's Request

Mirai's eyes would narrow as she observed the newcomer, but no words passed from her. She slowly followed, walking as she used her parasol like a fancy walking stick. When Goibniu introduced himself, Mirai regarded him with a nod, and with her lower part of her face still behind her fan, she replied "A pleasure. Mirai Cinq."

As they continued and reached the door, she'd look at Goibniu again.

"So, Herr McCrae," she said, almost completely disregarding the guide. After all, he didn't introduce himself, and she felt their time with him would be brief. The same could not be said about her temporary partner. "What brings a person like you on a quest like this? You don't seem much like the typical rouge adventuring type. And just to be clear, I do not mean that as insult."

"Right. Now, lets get mo-" He started, when suddenly a man came through the door, and went straight towards them. Given all the gear he was wearing, the stranger looked like someone well acquainted with the desert. He even offered to take them to the temple! Which was definitely a very helpful offer. "Ah, thank you kindly good sir! Do take us there." Goibniu said, as the three made their way out of the tavern.

"Ah, none taken lass, and truth be told, I am not sure myself! Perhaps my reputation as being a fine researched and connoisseur of weapons in Leiger reached the ears of the masked lady, and needed someone of my intellect to brave the trials ahead of us. Or perhaps she needed someone with contacts to help her in this endeavor, after all, I am also part of the Expiate." He said, his voice having a prideful tone. "What about you, Miss Cinq?"

The man took no interest in the talk of the two behind him; he wasn't being paid enough for small talk. Instead, he led them to the edge of town, where it appeared he had a small hut set up. He quickly went inside, grabbing two sacks of gear, and tossed one to each of them. Inside were a heavy cloak and pair of goggles like his own, as well as a compass, a notepad, and pencils. "Keeps the sand out of your eyes. Don't have to wear the cloak for now, but if a storm does pick up, put that thing on or you'll be feeling it in the morning. Compass is for getting home; I was told this was a one way trip. The other two were her idea, so don't ask me. Let's get going," he said, turning towards the open desert and adjusting his goggles before setting off.

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Thankfully, the man's paranoid nature turned out to be wrong. The journey was rather uneventful, their destination marked by what appeared to be some collapsed rubble and a small pedestal that poked its way out of the sand. On top were what appeared to be five small blank pressure plates, all in a straight line. There also appeared to be some writing, most of it eroded away, but the last of it was still legible.

"-vance you must reverse your steps."

At this the guide would look once more at the two before shaking his head and walking back to town; Mirai and Goibniu were now on their own.

Upon hearing that Goibniu was part of the Expiate, Mirai arched an eyebrow. Since when did Expiate officers go about doing solo missions outside of their duties? Weren't they all just hound dogs following whatever the Chief Commander's whim was? When Goibniu asked about her own reasons, Mirai just yawned.

"I was bored and needed something to stave off the tedium that is life," she said. "Besides, what harm is there in helping an odd woman with her requests?"

Of course, most of that wasn't true. Mirai was, after all, here on recon.

She decided to keep the subject off of her, however.

"So, an Expiate officer, eh?" Mirai said. "Though, I find it odd that you are not currently on duty. Do you always go on adventures on your day off?"

Mirai would then see the pedestal in front of them. After the man bade them farewell, she waved goodbye and examined the pedestal closely. There were five blank pressure plates.

"Hm, I'm going to assume this says to advance we have to reverse our steps," she said. "Now, we could do the silly thing of trial and error and press them one way or the other, but I suppose we should try and gather more clues."

With regards to tracing their steps, Mirai looked around at the sandy ground. She'd get down on her knees and begin brushing the sand away at the ground in surrounding the pedestal and a little from where they came.

The girl's reason was actually quite particular. So she just wanted to adventure? Given her appearance, he was rather surprised to see that she just doing this out of boredom. He couldn't help but wonder if there's some high class family somewhere that is desperately looking for her as they spoke. "Ho ho, so you have the spirit of an adventurer? Fascinating!" Why was that fascinating? Perhaps because she looked like a porcelain doll.

"Actually, not all the time. While I would rather spend the day reading a good book, this time around this task was dropped on my lap, and I thought that inspecting it would be an interesting endeavor." Of course, he did hope that the Expiate wouldn't jump him with some unexpected task, but he was sure if that were to be the case, someone qualified would be able to tackle it. Like Claes!

At one point, the man they were followed stopped at a hut to give them equipment. "Ah, thank you kindly sir!" And their trip would continue. Which, after a few moments, would come to a stop, as they found what appears to be the ruins of whatever dungeon they needed to explore. His eyes went to the pedestal, which had the pressure plates and the eroded writing. Before he could say anything to the man, he was already gone, leaving him alone with Mirai. "Mmmmh... to advance, we must reverse our steps?" He said, repeating what Miari said while looking at the writing. "Huh, my first thought is that perhaps we should press the plates from one direction to another, but perhaps it was designed to be this easy on purpose?" He would then start looking at the pedestal, from every direction, trying to find another clue. "Madam Cinq, do you see anything eye catching?"

Mirai would find it a bit laborious and time consuming to clear the sand around the foot of the pedestal, as it was buried a few inches deep, but it wouldn't take too long to clear it out. As she continued back in the direction they came from, though, she would reveal that under the sand was what seemed to be a large stone floor, finding what appeared to be footprints engraved in the stone after clearing the area a few feet back the way they came. The appeared to come from the left side of the pedestal before turning towards it and stopping.

Goibniu, who stayed to examine the pedestal itself, found that Mirai's sand clearing had revealed a small letter on the bottom of each side of the pedestal. The letter on the side that one would stand at in order to properly read the writing was 'E', and continuing around the sides clockwise, they would continue 'S', 'W', and 'N'. The pressure plates on top were arranged so that they lined up between the sides bearing the 'S' and the 'N'.

The footprint markings Mirai discovered appeared to approach at first from the side with the 'S' before turning and stopping to face the side with the 'E'.

"Less an adventurer, and more a person that thirsts for more knowledge," she told Goibniu.

And she supposed that wasn't a lie. After all, she had come to Saadedge to learn more about the land as it was one of the places she had never gotten to frequent as a child. Still, that wasn't important for Goibniu to learn. She was surprised, though, to hear about how Goibniu came to the mission.

"Dropped in your lap, eh?" she said, referring to what he said when they were on their way here. It was a late response, but she was bored and clearing sand wasn't the most exciting of activities. "Perhaps this is your own call to true adventure then, dear sir."

As Mirai finished clearing the sand. She squinted her eyes as she saw the inscriptions near the pedestal, most likely meant to serve as a guide for direction.

"Direction marks," she answered to Goibniu's question. "And yes, it seems it's just a matter of pressing the pressure plates in the right direction. If we're following these footprints, they start from the South before turning and facing east. To reverse them might mean to press the pressure plates from where east is backwards to the south?"

As he examined the pedestal, he noticed that the area Mirai cleaned has something underneath. Upon closer examinations, they appeared to be letters which could be read by either of them, with said letters being an E, an S, a W and an N, the cardinal directions. "Ah, there appear to be directions at the base of this pedestal, Madam Cinq." He said, as he turned to her, with Mirai explaining her own findings. "Mmmh, 'from where the east is backwards to the south'?" He repeated, as he looked at the pressure plates in front of him.

"Oh wait! I have an idea." He said, as one finger pointed to the south sign. "You said that the footsteps begin south, and turn east towards the pedestal, right?" He said, as his finger pointed to the set of plates. "These plates seem to be aligned from North to South, which could mean that East and West should be disregard in terms of the path we took. So, doing that would leave us with South, and moved forward, then wouldn't that mean that we headed North?"

And then he moved to make a thoughtful pose. "If it means 'retrace your steps', and giving us only North and South to work with, considering the placement of the plates, then it could mean that we must press the plates from North to South. What do you think, Madam Cinq?"

Mirai pinched her chin.

"Yes...that is most plausible," she said. "I suppose there's only one way to find out. Be on your guard just in case we get this wrong."

Mirai herself had her parasol ready in her other hand and if something were to happen, she'd be ready to spring up. That said, Mirai pressed the buttons North to South as Goibniu suggested to see what would happen.

The moment Mirai pressed the last button, the pair would hear a loud mechanical clicking sound coming from the southern side of the pedestal. Shortly after, a few feet away, the sand would suddenly begin to shift as part of the ground slowly retracted, revealing itself to be a large cover for a hidden staircase. After a few moments, the mechanism would stop, the area becoming silent once more.

The newly revealed stairs appeared to lead quite far down; simply looking from the top wouldn't allow the pair to see the bottom. If one of them dared to count them on the way down, they'd count Seven hundred forty three steps. Most of the descent would be in darkness, once they had gotten too deep for the sun to reach, but at the bottom of the stairs there would be three things waiting for them: a burning torch that granted a small amount of light back, a stone plaque carved with words next to the torch, and an opening that led to a massive square shaped room, roughly thirty feet long, wide, and tall. The only thing inside the room was what appeared to be an old and worn stone chest sitting directly in the middle.

The words carved into the plaque read:

There is but one way to the treasure, you must open the door
But beware, for who knows what horrors lie in store
Hold strong, though, for all is not lost
Hope lies within, but it comes at a cost