Riddle of Blue

With the second artifact almost in their grasp, they decided to mark down the place to come back later after they have fulfilled the requirement.

As they made the decision, Marie decided to do something just in case and cast a smaller version of her earlier construct. This time, instead of humanoid, it looked more like a tower or a slab made of metal and rocks, with its singular eye trained over the not yet materialized artifact. She explained that it was meant as a watcher and alarm system, able to alert them should anything around the artifact changes.

Then, they returned to the lab, where Nora was waiting for them. At first, Charles and Dylan was a bit wary, with the latter's hand hovering on the sword handle as they opened the door.

To their surprise and relief, nothing has happened.

At the sound of the now-repaired door opening, Nora looked at them and smiled. Her posture was still a bit rigid, but she seemed content to let down her guard a bit, while the kobold was busy tinkering with its machine to notice them.

Seeing that their teammate was not in any significant danger, they lowered their guard a bit.

A click and a whirr could be heard, and then, the kobold turned to look at them. It let out a series of noises, and as if on cue, the notifications appeared right after.

[Red artifact there? No problems?]

"Yes, the artifacts are there," Charles answered first, then he turned to look at Nora, "You can give the hourglass back, Nora."

"Sure thing," she nodded. The moment she stopped holding the artifact, it floated away from her, levitating in the air for just a moment.

"Get ready,"

Marie was about to take her battling stance, but as the hourglass stopped in front of the kobold, nothing happened. The green glow from the artifact illuminated the dog-like face of the kobold for a moment, before it placed the item into the glass that once held Marie hostage.

[Confused?]

It suddenly asked in a flash of red notification.

"I remember you attacking me, you know."

[This place and world is false. Different attempt, different maybes, different ends. For this attempt, you and other one factored in. If no new people, same outcomes. If you and other person gets out, no more strange factors. If another try, all back to start, we would have fought.]

"… That is quite the explanation…" Marie shook her head, "As long as it ends well, really, I won't fuss too much. Anyway, Nora, I couldn't say this properly before, but I'm glad you're here. As for you…"

Marie turned to look at Dylan, Henrietta, and Charles.

"You're all not bad. Thanks for helping Nora get here by the way. Could feel she's just a tad bit stronger, too."

"You're welcome. If anything, you've been a great help," Charles admitted. "Speaking of help, though, I've heard Nora mention more than one person…"

"There is still someone, yes, but I thought you were with him," Marie replied. "I had to hold the fort, hoping Nora here could escape with him, but considering your question…"

"I don't know where he is, either. I would have told you if I did." Nora replied. "We ran to the stairs, but when I reached the first floor, he's nowhere. I couldn't find him on the first floor, and when everything disappeared after the floor boss, there were no signs of him. I thought he was still on the second floor,"

"This is bad, we don't really know the floor boss or the last artifact holder either," Marie rubbed the back of her head. "So we are facing an unknown here. In the worst case, he may be…"

Without finishing her sentence, she shook her head.

"Anyway, let's go do the objective for the red artifact. We don't have time to waste."

--

True to its name, the Everlasting Party floor still has at least one more room where crowds of kobolds gather to have fun.

Just like before, some of the kobolds held better weapons and seemed to be capable at some sort of higher conversation if the noises were anything to go by, while others sounded rowdy. Quick glances at them revealed the smarter ones seemed to be dubbed the [Kobold Underling], a special form of [Kobold Grunt] that was achieved after surviving enough battles.

In that first room, the team employed a similar strategy, distracting the room guests with physical attacks and decoys, while Nora and Marie rained down destruction after charging their attacks.

[Defeated Kobold Grunt: 245/1000]

However, the ambush served as a double edged sword. The previously empty halls began to be filled with patrolling kobolds. Charles deduced that the floor's vigilance has finally been raised after their attempts; presumably the system for the quest catching up or it was simply time for the difficulty to be raised.

After almost punching a hole on the floor with her construct, the team decided to ask Marie to refrain from too much participation unless absolutely needed. Dylan and Charles did the bulk of the fighting, clearing waves upon waves of kobolds seemingly coming out of nowhere even though only one kobold spotted them at first.

[Defeated Kobold Grunt: 623/1000]

While they went around, they looked for any signs of blue artifact, yet found nothing even after they reached the end of the halls, in front of the last room. They were still no closer to the truth. In fact, other than the kobold grunts and underlings, the rooms they looked into were mostly empty.

"It should be on the second floor…" Charles mumbled to himself, after yet another door was revealed to be empty. "There is no hint of any riddles being here, either."

"Maybe one of the rooms holds a riddle or something?" Dylan suggested.

"Probably, but that also means we have to search one by one in places we have searched. That is not time we could afford to waste," Charles replied.

"What does the quest hint say?" Henrietta asked.

[Solve the riddle and obtain the Blue Feather]

"Q is usually pretty straightforward, so if they say riddle, it is going to be something we have seen," Henrietta said. "Say, do you all notice something about the rooms we passed before? Anything will help."