Adventurer’s Log,
Well I’m off on another adventure! This time I decided to go to China! It’s an absolutely gorgeous country and my breath was taken away as I flew over it on my way to the base camp where I would be staying for six whole days. That’s right, you heard me, six days! I had impressed someone or something because even though my visa is level zero here (I guess it’s different for every country), they offered me a special where I can stay longer than normal. I think they know that I want to become a famous explorer and some higher ups just wanted to help me out with it. That’s fine by me, as my experience in France taught me, I could never have too long of a trip.
I wasted no time here. As soon as I landed I looked through the adventure board to find an adventure that talked about exploring something. I found one that seemed like it might be an exploration quest so I ran off to find the lady who had posted it. She seems really nice, but I didn’t want to waste time just talking to her, so I brought up the fact that I was there for the adventure right away. She said that I needed to go to the Forbidden City and explore the palace there. She wouldn’t say exactly what I was looking for, but said that I’d know once I found it.
I ran to the palace, barely noticing the landscape and architecture. It was really pretty in China, but in a different way from the aesthetic of France. France was more of a graceful, classic beauty, while China was more of a fierce, fighting beauty.
It took me a while, but I was able to find the hidden stairs on the ground floor of the palace and they led me down to a locked door. Luckily, when I was given this quest, the lady also gave me the keystone that unlocks the door. It’s a good thing these aren’t too heavy, I had to keep it in my pocket and I don’t want them weighing me down.
When I got in I instantly remembered just how much I enjoyed this. Time had dulled my memories slightly. I wish that I could just live in another country and spend my whole life exploring everywhere, but I know that I cannot. Dad has been feeling more and more alienated from us, but was getting better, and Mom hasn’t been helping much. I think that if I left, the whole family would fall apart.
This tomb was a little more complicated then the one in France. There were plenty of puzzles that I didn’t need to solve, but doing so would lead me to lots of treasure. I wanted to make sure that this trip was worthwhile not just in completing my dream, but also for bringing money back to my family so that we can expand our house, it’s getting very crowded with eight of us there.
There were also a lot more dive wells here. I remember having only one in France, but here they were everywhere. It was so much fun exploring them. Sometimes when I got to the bottom I’d find treasure, keystones, or even a tunnel that would lead me to secret rooms that could only be gotten to by the tunnel. The only downside to the dive wells was that I’d be soaked for hours after diving into one of them. It’s hard to get dry when you’re underground.
Sure enough, once I got to almost the last room in the tomb I found a chest that was glowing. I guess she was right that I’d know what I was looking for when I found it. I almost wish that the chest wasn’t glowing, it would have made the experience just a little harder, which would have been fantastic!
Anyway, when I left I had to grab my bicycle again, they don’t have mopeds in China, and race back to the lady I had talked to. This time I was underground only until mid afternoon, which is awesome because that means that I can start another adventure right away.
When I gave her what she wanted she informed that she had another adventure for me. Once again I needed to explore a tomb. I listened to her carefully as she explained that I needed to find some papers or something like that for her.
The tomb I had to explore looked very imposing at first. It was called the Dragon’s Maw and it really looked like it’s namesake, with smoke spewing out of it and everything. It’s a good thing that I don’t believe in superstitions. I know that it’s just a hunk of rock and can’t hurt me in the slightest.
While I was down there I found a library, but it was no ordinary library. The bookshelves were all neat and orderly except in one corner. I immediately was drawn to that corner and started looking for a hidden door.
Eventually I found it and discovered a whole room filled with treasure! This was probably my greatest find so far, even though I haven’t had many yet. However, this room was not all that I found following the path.
I also found a room full of sarcophagi that were made of a strange wood material. I couldn’t resist, I had to search them all to see if they had hidden treasures. Unfortunately was not as lucky as I had hoped to be. A few of them grabbed a hold of me and tried to lock me inside. Thankfully I was able to escape with few scratches from my close encounter.
After all the excitement of the sarcophagi, I realized that I was thoroughly exhausted and needed to sleep. I had not yet had time to purchase a tent, so I had to run back to the base camp to get some sleep. When I emerged from the stairs I was surprised to see that it was light out, and very sunny. At first I thought that exploring just made me more tired more quickly, but then I found out that I had actually been down there for an entire night and day. When I got to my bed, I collapsed from exhaustion, with plans forming in my mind for when I returned to the cave.
I ended up sleeping through the rest of the day and leaving the base camp in the early evening. This suited me just fine because I was sure that I would spend the whole night exploring the cave and could report back to the lady in the morning once she had gotten up.
However, I found the chest soon after re-entering the cave. I guess that the library was really close to the end of it. Actually, there was still more of the tomb to explore, but I was not able to because the way was blocked by a locked door that I needed a special keystone for. Disgruntled, I returned to the lady and gave her the papers she was looking for.
I decided to take a quick nap to catch me back up the normal sleep schedule and continue my adventuring in the morning. As the morning sun rose, so did I. I rushed to the adventure board and looked for something to do with tombs. Nothing jumped out at me at first, but then I noticed a post talking about a statue, with out looking at it too closely, I ran to meet the lady in question. She was at the local martial arts dojo. There, she explained that she needed me to fetch her some stones so that she could build a statue. I was disappointed that it wasn’t finding a statue, but I guess that’s what I get for not reading what I’m getting into.
It took me a long time to find everything that I needed to bring back to her and before I knew it, it was getting dark. The twilight air reminded me of home and I got an unusual feeling of slight homesickness. I tried calling my family, to check up on them, but of course no one answered. They are all just too busy doing their own thing or are too young to even answer the phone. I started to get sad, but then remembered a guy in my class who told me that if I ever needed anything, I should just give him a call. So I entered Jose’s, that’s his name by the way, number into the cell phone and heard it ring a few times, I almost hung up strangely sad that he hadn’t answered, but then I heard his voice on the other end. We ended up just talking for an hour or two and I had to walk back to the dojo in the full dark.
When I gave the lady the stones, she said that she wanted me to do something more for her, learn the martial arts skill, but I politely declined, saying that I would like to help later, but right now I wanted to do something else first. She was very understanding and even directed me to the local market so that I could get some food and souvenirs for my family.
After buying some books, both for skills and pleasure, I went to the relic shop. It’s not as exciting buying your relics as finding them yourself, but Dad had asked me to look for some very specific parts that might be here in China for him, and how could I resist? Unfortunately, she did not have any of the things that he wanted at this time. I’m not sure why he even wanted the stuff. When I talked to him last, he said that he had given up on the idea of leaving us, but maybe part of him still wants to rebuild the airship, just to see if he could do it.
I spent the next few days on various collecting quests where I was asked to bring someone some metals, or rocks in exchange for some visa points. None of these quests led to me exploring a tomb, which was rather disappointing, but they did lead me to gaining a visa level two here. So it was not all for naught. I only had a little time left here, so I approached the lady with the statue again and said that I was interested in continuing in her adventure, after all it was the closest to exploring as I could find, not that I told her that.
She recommended that I leach myself the skill at the dojo because then I’d be able to use the real equipment rather than just reading a book about. I took her advice, which may not have the smartest thing to do. Those practice dummies are really hard! It was really difficult to get started and then once I thought I was getting the hang of it, I would get whacked in the face. But I couldn’t just let some piece of wood get in my way so I kept at it until I earned my first point in the skill and a really cool belt to go with it.
I went back to her to let her know and she said that she was amazed that I had gotten the first skill so fast. She thought that I might not have learned everything that I should have and wanted me to go spar with some guy. I accepted the quest, but decided that since I only had about a day left of my vacation, to just try and randomly explore a few tombs of my own instead of waiting for the quests to do them.
However I soon discovered that it was all for naught. The places I visited had keystone locks on the entrances and I was unable to gain entry to them. I will have to return at some later date and explore these places, but my time here is up and I have to return home. I love it here in China and hope to be able to return here soon so that I can crack these tombs open and explore every nook and cranny of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment