Shortstories collection

The Heavenly Hellebore

[Loading Heavens above]

[Welcome TurtleMan]

[Main Quest: Completed

Side Quests: 355/356

Current Quest: The Heavenly Hellebore]

Each time I see my status window, I rage.

I finished the main game months ago. Since then, I've been farming side quests to complete the game and get the full lore. But this damn quest...! My LAST quest...! I just can't seem to progress. And it's been days already! In despair, I've searched and searched on every little corner of the web for hints but nothing is what I found. People are complaining about the lack of intel for this damn quest. If someone has completed it, they kept quiet. So I'm left to find the answer by myself.

It's a solo-player RPG where your goal is to enter Heaven and help the mighty heavenly generals in defeating the Greatest Evil during an all-out war. You begin your journey choosing your birth and then you walk the path of Dao. You forge your reputation, help inhabitants of the country, join a sect or stay a wanderer, and finally you ascend. There you start again until the war begins. Well, expect if you unlocked the secret route of the Evil Taoist that is. In that case, you do not join Heaven but you also don't fight the heavenly generals. You only fight against the mobs, the Greatest Evil taking care of them.

Anyway, during these last days, I've gathered a maximum of Intel on Lady Yue, also known as the Heavenly Hellebore. I've done so using my relations with the other generals and the common folk living in Heaven. In the end, I've learned they know nothing of her past, before she ascended. They only have rumours.

First, she's considered to be as beautiful as the full moon yet as cold as the star itself. I cannot deny that fact as I look at her: the devs have truly put their all in her art. I'm currently sitting atop a tree overlooking the garden of the Moonlight palace, watching the lady.

Even if it's a game, I can see there is grace in her every movement. She has long hair as black as the ink she uses to write her calligraphy on her balcony. They swiftly fall on her straight back, covering the soft fabric of her magnificent outfit. Her light purple dress embroidered with silver flutters with each step she takes in an enticing manner. She closes the distance separating her from the roses and carefully bends to scent the delicate fragrance of the red flowers. The colour of the petals she gently caresses is the same as her lipstick, a far stronger shade than the balsam colouring her fingernails. In contrast, her skin appear a pearl white despite the scarce traces of whitening powder. Her discreetly eye-lined dark brown eyes reinforce this feeling of whiteness. However, her tall and slender figure is surrounded by a light blue aura reminding me of frost. Truthfully, looking at her like this, you wouldn't believe she is one of the most powerful character in the game.

The lady has earned herself the nickname of Heavenly Hellebore, a celestial flower thriving in the cold known for her beauty but possessing a potent poison. As for the many rumours... The main one tells the tale of a courtesan selling her art in the red district until she killed one of her client who wanted more. Another one, less popular among Heaven's residents, claims she used to be an assassin hiding among the most prestigious nobles of the Imperial court. In short, she is a woman cloaked in mystery.

So, here I am, watching her from a tree, while scrolling though comments found on the quest. A player says he bothered her in the hope she would answer. Apparently, the only thing he got is a flick on the forehead sending him flying away to his death. Another brags he heard her voice. However he destroyed his game to do so for she forcefully expelled him from Heaven with the single word "Leave." How can this man consider this order, equivalent to a death penalty, the best thing he ever heard? I wonder...