Abyss of the Shrine Maiden

Searching For Keys, Part Two

“No signs of that key around here, either.”

“Looks like we’ll have to widen our search area.”

“Oh joy…” Lisbeth lets her arms hang loose as she spins around, then stops suddenly. “Hey! Guys! Look at the gate!” Koharu looks over her shoulder in the direction of the sealed gate, seeing a familiar set of armor and longsword walking right through.

“Hey, that was the masked NPC, wasn’t it? But I thought the gate was locked.”

“That NPC must have found the key! You did say the chest wasn’t locked to an instance, right Jaymes.”

“Right, Ko. We’re still on the floor’s map where everyone in the game can see us, so… It seems likely she got to the key first, and it was in that chest.”

Philia frowns. “So she is playing through this area… She has to be after something.”

“An NPC playing the game?”

Sinon shrugs. “I mean, it’s possible. Strea, Rei, Premiere, Tia.”

“Right.”

“Tia did end up playing through Premiere’s quest and even getting ahead of us. But that was because Genesis ordered her, not because she wanted to.”

“No, she was definitely doing it out of her own free will, Philia.”

Silica gasps at Jaymes’ declaration. “What? Then was that…”

He nods. “Remember the NPCs here are influenced by the players as designed. Both Premiere and Tia would have triggered the same questline to the very end, but Tia got dealt with the ‘bad ending’ of events. Her experiences lead her to the creation of Aincrad of her own free will, not Genesis. We don’t know how much influence Genesis had on her to begin with.”

Koharu bows her head. “There’s no mistake. Tia prayed to destroy the world because she wanted to.”

Sinon agrees. “So for an NPC to have her own goals or desires isn’t completely out of the question. No different from Rei wanting to return to her mother in our quest in GGO.”

“Then something must have happened to that masked NPC to make her want to come here. I mean, Premiere has her own reasons for being here, after all. Right?”

“To find Tia, she has said.”

“Now I’m even more curious about what that masked NPC is after.”

“Well, we know what Premiere wants at least, so let’s keep working towards that!”

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Eventually, the seven get through the labyrinth that is the Blazerock Outer Wall, coming to the lingering flame of the captain of the fort, Milleus. “An eruption? Monsters? Fah! We would have been fine if my soldiers had just followed orders. But the fools insisted on saving those trapped on the other side. They rebelled and came after my key! They turned their swords on me, and I barely managed to escape. But I dropped my key...where? That key is the last vestige of my power and influence! I must reclaim it! But…”

“So his soldiers turned on him and he fled here to escape them. Things got pretty crazy on this side of the gate too. We should locate the key.” Jaymes leads the girls back out of the captain’s chambers, and once more they’re exploring the map. Half an hour later, they find the key near the entrance to the map behind a formerly sealed iron door.