Just like the one that had ultimately led to Warrion’s death.
Next to the chest, a pathetic, leafless tree stood alone in the white sand with a note pinned to its trunk. The Party approached the chest on the sand cautiously, stopping a few feet away.
“So, we’re not going to do the cursed chest thing again. Are we?” Atlas asked as he approached the pathetic little tree. The Mage Smith bent to inspect the piece of paper pinned to its trunk.
“You should do the chest,” Alice told them seriously.
“You don’t get an opinion,” Athios replied coldly. “You told us to do the last cursed chest and now Warrion is dead.”
Alice turned slowly to look at Athios, regarding the Dimensionalist’s ire with an infuriating vacant expression. “The decision is yours.”
“I think she’s right, Athios. I know the last chest didn’t exactly have a happy ending, but we made it to the next Level of The Tower. It seems reasonable that these chests will lead us to the end,” Garath said. “Eventually.”
Athios glared daggers at the Necrologist.
“Let’s at least see what the note on the tree says,” Sharon suggested to ease the mounting tension. “We can make a decision after seeing what it has to say.”
Garath looked to Alice. “Have you seen anything like this in your other trips here?” he asked, pointing to the lonely tree sticking out of the sand.
“No,” Alice said. “But I can tell you for certain that it will not trigger any kind of Dungeon event like the chests do.”
“And how do you know that, if you haven’t seen anything like it before?” Athios demanded.
“My ability to ‘inspect’,” said Alice with air quotes, “is not as limited as yours is. I don’t sense any system presence in the tree or the note. The chest, however, will react to touch and trigger an event like the last one.”
Garath nodded. “Good enough.”
He approached the tree and bent to take a better look. It looked harmless enough, so he pulled the string looped through two holes in the paper to release the note. He unfolded the page and read its contents aloud.
Look to the mountain and you will see,
A world of brown that once was green.
It isn't hard to spot the trouble,
If you check the creek and puddle.
To earn the chest’s contents you'll need to find,
The lifeblood of the earth gone blind.
They used to climb their way to spawn,
But to the ocean they've all gone.
Direct their way back whence they came
Where death brings life like plague and flame
Last but not least, I gift admonition:
When your heart speaks to you, admit your omissions.
Garath frowned. "When your heart speaks to you, admit your omissions." He rolled the words around in his mind.
"Cryptic A.F.," Auto said.
Garath frowned, but he thought he understood. He'd been burned in the past by forcing a gut feeling to conveniently fit his desires, only realizing the 'omission' after the fact.
Garath turned to Alice. "What do you think it means?" he asked.
"Salmon," Alice replied.
"What?" Garath asked.
"Salmon," Alice repeated. “Creek and puddle, river and ocean, so marine creature. Climb their way to spawn, only salmon do that. Native Americans of this region worshipped salmon, the vile-tasting fish go spend their entire lives in the ocean only to come back to the place they were born, somewhere upriver, where they lay eggs and then die. On their way back to the place where they spawned, the salmon feed just about every carnivore in the entire ecosystem. After they lay their eggs, they die and their corpses feed just about everything else, from scavengers to the plants and trees. Trees near salmon runs grow exponentially faster and taller than other trees of the same species elsewhere. Essentially, the salmon bring the rich nutrients of the ocean to give life to the land. It all fits."
"What about the rest? Gone blind?" Garath asked.
"There are still missing pieces to this puzzle," the Lore Keeper replied, scratching her chin thoughtfully. "Theoretically, if the salmon stopped leaving the ocean to spawn and die in the rivers, the ecosystem would suffer greatly."
Garath nodded again. "A world of brown that once was green."
"That's great," Auto chimed in. "So we go find salmon in the ocean and direct them up the river?"
Alice nodded speculatively. "The note seems to suggest as much. Activating the chest may provide more information."
"So we open the chest," Garath agreed.
Athios huffed quietly to herself and rolled her eyes thinking about Garath’s new best friend, Alice. She briefly considered locking the Lore Keeper in a pocket dimension for a couple of hours, but decided against it.
After making sure everyone was ready in the case of another timed Quest, the Necrologist bent and placed his hand on the chest.
In the water you will find six white islands. Travel beneath the water’s surface, deep below to find an activation chamber near the ocean floor.
When all six chambers have been activated, the salmon will return to the place of their birth.
Once complete, return to this chest for your reward.
“Looks like we’re going swimming,” Garath said to the Party, each of whom was looking questioningly at him.
Garath shrugged and shared the quest details with his Raid Group. About an hour of scouting in his Sbearrow form later, Auto reported that he'd located all six islands and marked them on the Dungeon Map. The Map itself was still a blank canvas but, between the markers Auto had placed and the little green dots representing each member of the Raid, they were able to get a rough idea of what to do next. The closest was just offshore, and the other five seemed placed at random as far out as a few nautical miles. With the islands located and marked, Alice gained further insight to share with the Party.
“I cannot be certain,” the Lore Keeper said, “but I believe that, once we activate all
