Komoreby

16 | A Puzzling Oddity

As the system initiated a roll, the healer spoke up, "Oh, made for auctioning."

Croizar let out a colorful expletive, which appeared as censored text on the chat bubble above his head. "It's made for me! I'm the tank! I mean, please, guys. Don't roll for it. I need it."

Santuin grinned. "I might go for Need."

"C'mon, man!"

Serafina and Artemisia laughed, their melodious voices carrying in the silence. The item was finally passed to Croizar.

"Well, I'm off then, GG." The healer waved and faded away, followed by the mage.

Santuin sighed. "Once upon a time, we didn't have to hunt for healers..."

"You guys played healers before?" Serafina asked, swigging down a potion to get her mana back up.

"Nah. Friends. They haven't played for a while."

"Good times." Croizar sat cross-legged while he waited to exit the instance. "You ladies going back to Anda Molad?"

"Yep," Artemisia replied. "By the way, what do your names mean? You use Croiz and Sant on Fizzy too."

"It's a secret!" Santuin winked. "Guess."

Before the two lunar elves could voice their guesses, however, they were teleported back to Sevanalla Inn. Noise and activity engulfed them, and they burst into laughter.

"That was fun," Serafina said.

"Yep!" Artemisia let out another laugh when she saw a drunken player passed out on the floor. "Must be the new lunar palm toddy."

"Probably."

"You still want to do the daily quest?" she asked, leading the way upstairs where there were less people. "I can't play much longer though."

"Not really. What were you going to tell me? You mentioned something in the message."

"Well, I sort of have a game I'm trying to figure out." Artemisia sat down in an alcove. "I'm supposed to find the whereabouts of this missing character. I went to his house and snooped around for clues—but I've made no progress."

"Oh?" Serafina sat down beside her. "What is this—some kind of first-person horror game?"

She brought up the needleworking tab. "Yeah, it's this indie game I'm playing."

"Is it any good? What's it called? Not a fan of first-person horror though."

"I'll let you know if it's good. I'm just stuck. You only get one shot at finding clues. And the house is, like, randomly generated, so online walkthroughs won't help."

"Sounds like a punishing game. What did you find in the house?"

Artemisia started making a tunic. "Well, inside the bedroom, there was what appeared to be a blood stain on the floor. I checked some papers and books scattered on a table, but those weren't helpful. I found random stuff in the nightstand. But there was no clue where he could've gone."

"Some clue must've been there. The blood stain suggests he might've been removed by force, and you're supposed to hunt down the perps, which would lead you to him. Did you get, like, screenshots?"

How come it never occurred to you to get photos, Ev? Artemisia stared at the other elf's face, delicate features outlined in the lamplight. She wanted to facepalm. It wasn't an ideal situation to think straight, but still...And this is pointless! Sef is only thinking in game terms—it's some crime, and I play cop.

"You didn't?" Serafina's head tilted—an automatic motion when idle. "It's not like I can help you without looking at it."

She sighed. I can't share the photos with you even if I had them, Sef—unless I tell you the whole insane story. And I can't send images in game. "Why are you not on Fizzy! I'm chatting with Croizar and Santuin on it now too."