72 Open Sesame
"What? That's it?" Kretea asks.
"Yeah, I got nothing on this door. I can try and blow it up though," Astur says.
"I don't think using explosives here is a good idea. Perhaps a drill, a shovel, or other small excavation tools. Explosives might cause the ceiling to collapse on us," Kretea says.
Taken aback by Astur's 'big' reveal and Kretea's nonchalant responses, Ystur remains silent for a few moments before asking, "Are you serious? The both of you."
The other two only give Ystur a look of confusion, "You really had all that build-up, for nothing," Ystur says to Astur before turning towards Kretea, "And you're going along with it as if it's nothing and even giving suggestions on how to proceed. But those ideas might actually work."
"Father and the older members of the Warband used to tell me stories when I was younger, and when big doors like this appeared they could usually be open with a magical phrase," Kretea walks closer to the door.
"But don't those only happen in stories. I've never heard of doors actually being opened with a magical phrase," Ystur says, expecting Kretea's efforts to be fruitless.
"Such a mechanism exists, but those kinds of things are rare and usually have various magical engravings that would tell people that there's some sort of magic based lock," Astur explains, "But I can't sense any mana from the door. We already tried to push and pull the thing and that didn't work, so we know there's some kind of locking mechanism, but it probably isn't based on magic. That's why it might be better to dig around the door or plough right through it."
Ignoring the conversation of the two wolves behind her, Kretea tries saying all the various phrases she heard in her childhood bedtime stories. But after thirty seconds of trying, the door naturally shows no signs of budging.
"C'mon, let's head back and grab some people and some shovels," Astur says.
"Yeah, this probably isn't gonna go anywhere," Ystur says.
"Fine, but let me try one more time," Kretea says before announcing the last phrase she could think of, "Open sesame!"
Seeing how nothing happened, Astur and Ystur shrug, "Figured nothing would come of it, I already said that there probably isn't a magic-based lock on the door, especially one that used a magical… phrase…"
Astur's words begin to trail off towards the end as she sees the door begins to tremble slightly for a few seconds before it is pushed open. Behind the door is a short well-decorated hallway, lavish pottery lines the sides on stone pedestals.
"What the fuck! That worked!?" Ystur yells, being the first to break the silence.
"Huh, neat," Kretea says before turning to the canid duo, "I told you a magical phrase would work."
"No, no, no, no, no. This doesn't make sense. There aren't any mana signatures on the door, how the bloody hell does that even work!" Astur runs up to the door to inspect it again.
Going over the front part of the door she already looked over once more in addition to the backside and even the part in the middle when the door splits, Astur makes sure to leave no part unchecked while also making sure the other two don't go exploring the hallway without her. But after wasting half an hour investigating every nook and cranny of the door, she wasn't able to find even the smallest hint of there being a magical phrase lock.
"I give up. To begin with, magic isn't even my forte. Alright, let's take a closer look at where this leads," Astur says, completely putting the matter of the door out of her head.
Taking a closer look at the decorations that line the hallway, the pottery has the same symbols on them as the figures on the door. Some are engraved with the image of a flame, others an anvil, as well as the other symbols. The only one missing was the image of the sun that was on the seventh figure facing away from the others on the door. But beyond the obvious engravings and generally looking nice, the various pottery isn't anything special.
While walking through the hallway, Astur finally gets around to turning in the quest that both she and Ystur completed upon opening the door, awarding each of them with a not so small amount of EXP for completing the first part, a quarter of the final reward. Ystur had already done so while Astur was busy with the door. But to both their surprise, the next part of the quest doesn't trigger immediately. Ystur was a little confused over this, but Astur came to the conclusion that it would probably be triggered as they progressed with their exploration of the area, with the main importance being what lies at the end of the hallway. Opening up to a medium-sized room with six pedestals with a small base but a large top. These pedestals are surrounding a small elevated, but empty, platform in the centre. Upon closer inspection of the six pedestals, the top of them has a specific shape dug out of them. One pedestal has what looks to be a pair of hands dug out of them, another is a trident, followed by a bow, a hammer, a shield, and an axe. On the far wall is a mural, depicted on it is what appears to be a map of the world with seven large dots scattered around, with one of them being depicted with what appears to be horns.
Having fully looked around the room, the second part of Astur's and Ystur's quest triggers.
[Quest: The Forgotten History of Antiquity - The Divine Banquet - 2 (Rank S)]
[Description]: Find the six tools of the Gods of old and uncover what lays hidden within the shrine.
[Rewards]: +500,000 EXP (Quest is only completed once all parts are completed)
[Failure Penalty]: The secrets of the past will forever remain buried.
The quest is similar to the previous one, while also providing an answer as to what the carved out areas of the pedestals are probably for. Astur quickly comes to the conclusion that they were meant to hold the so-called tools of the Gods. Basing it on the previous quest, she also concludes that there are likely to be some unlisted hidden rewards as well.
"I think these areas on the pedestals are meant to hold something and finding the right items might reveal more of this place's secrets," Ystur says.
Astur gives Ystur a quick glance. She has had a general idea as to what Ystur's actual origins are and that she likely has the same System Interface that she as well as the other five relatives that came to this world have. But Astur doesn't believe Ystur to be stupid and her previous opinion is reasonable to make considering the magic phrase lock on the door and the obvious empty holdings on the pedestals. Astur thinks she could probably confront Ystur about it at some point but ultimately decides against it, seeing it both as a waste of time and generally of little importance.
Moving her thoughts back to the matter at hand, Astur says, "And these dots on the map are probably the location of where they are or at least the general location. The items in question might have been moved since this place was created. Taking the engravings on the initial door into consideration, there was likely a group fighting against some large foe. The pedestals here are obviously in the shape of various weapons, likely the same ones that this group used. More importantly, unlike the previous door, I can feel the presence of mana emanating from this whole room. If we find the weapons, it will probably unlock something."
"Makes sense. From the map on the wall, only one of the dots is located on our continent, Aiolos. If I'm not mistaken, it should be around Mt. Luna-Luceat, the tallest mountain on Vopal, it's said that on the nights of the full moon the mountain peak shines brightly," Kretea says.
"Which is easier to get to?" Astur asks.
"How about we try another continent?" Kretea replies.
"Is it really that difficult?" Ystur asks.
Kretea nods, "Mt. Luna-Luceat is located in the wasteland and stands so high up that it's nearly impossible to breathe past a certain point. Excluding outliers like rocketships meant for space, there currently isn't any vehicle that can fly that high to bring people to the peak. Its actual height is unclear because no one is able to climb the mountain all the way to the top, but rough estimates are between 15,000 and 18,000 metres. The peak is essentially in outer space."
"But what if it's not even at the peak or summit?" Ystur asks.
"Regardless, the mountain's location in the wasteland is problematic, Storms of all kinds ravage the area constantly and earthquakes are frequent. It's not a place that people can survive," Kretea explains.
Seeing how there isn't really a chance to finish the quest anytime soon, Astur decides to move on, "We can put this matter aside for now and deal with it when it's appropriate. I worked hard for the past while and I want to sleep, so let's head back."
