As they reached the study, the baron led the group to a bookshelf and kicked down a rack. As the rack fell down, a few buttons with a bunch of symbols was seen on the wooden shelf. It was something like a safe but instead of the standard number, a bunch of symbols were there.
This was a commonly seen thing in the game when Balthazar had joined it in his previous life. There were quite a few languages created for the game and the players needed to use the proper key to be able to open the safe.
As soon as Balthazar saw the arrangement he cringed in fear as he knew that to open such safes, a player would usually need to know the right password. But he knew no key or password nor any clue for the safe that he has seen. He thought that he had faced another dead end and might need to start searching for clues again. Luckily, the baron himself set the password.
A long chamber made of stone slid out from the wall. He took out a small pouch, the size of a person's fist from it. The pouch was made from some beast's skin having an intricate blue colored design painted on it and as he opened it a red crystalline metal box was in it.
"Don't touch the box. It would harm you, if you don't possess our bloodline. Without my bloodline, it can only be opened on use of a specific ritual which temple already knows. This belongs to my family and it is used to seal items of important value in it," said the baron.
"This was the thing that the demon desired. Though I never knew of its contents, the box is of equal importance to me. I hope you can use this to lure the demon and kill it. But I want the box after you are done," said the baron handing over the pouch to Shadow.
"Received Quest Item: Red box"
Quest Updated: Help deacon Faroon at the Jarko town. (Difficulty: High)
Description: Use the box to lure the demon and kill it.
Progress: Convinced the baron to assist you. Lure the demon and kill it.
"I will try my best to get rid of the demon that had been after you baron," said Shadow as he took the pouch from him. "I will make my way out of the mansion and I request that the guards don't follow me. The demon clearly has the capability to survey and evade the guards and it would be hard to lure it with the guards with me."
"You intend to face it alone?" asked the baron. "It is quite strong and capable of fighting my guards."
"It is the best option to lure the demon," said Shadow without denying the baron's words.
"That is true, but I suggest you make ample preparations. My family were all killed for the same thing that it would believe you have," said the baron as he began moving out of the study. "I will let you handle the rest. I need to take a reprieve to heal my injuries."
"You don't need to be worried. I will help you with your task," said Faroon.
"Are you sure you can provide help? You were caught by the demon previously and I doubt you are a good fighter," asked Shadow skeptically. Though Faroon was the deacon, he had been captured by the demon and the demon had previously managed to impersonate another deacon. So, Balthazar was naturally wary of the NPC. The story could change suddenly in a lot of quests in the game and Shadow didn't want to lose the quest just because he was careless.
"It is the temple's responsibility to begin with and I intend to help you. Though I am not a good fighter, I have some things which I specialize in. A deacon would have his own ways of safeguarding himself against demons," said Faroon.
Shadow simply raised his eyebrows to that answer. "If that were true, how the fuck were you captured?" he thought.
"I understand your apprehension," said Faroon as he saw Shadows expression. "I was only caught because I never thought that it would be a demon disguised as Bistam. Moreover, you intend to lay a trap for the demon. I believe strongly that I could help you with that. The temple is the best place for it and we still have some means to capture it if not kill it," said Faroon.
"Quest Update: Capture the demon with the help of deacon Faroon - Yes/No" came an option on his dashboard. It was an optional part of the quest as it allowed him to choose. Balthazar knew that choosing such optional parts in a quest would make the quest much harder, but the rewards would improve too. Even if he failed the optional part, the original quest could still be completed. He quickly accepted the optional quest.
"I am willing to accept your help. Tell me what contingency you have against the demon," said Shadow as he began to move towards the exit of the mansion.
"I am willing to but, I suggest you hide that pouch in your bag before we make move," said the deacon.
"No. Let it be. I want to make sure that the demon is aware that I have the artifact," said Shadow as he held the pouch in a hand and walked out of the mansion. He was aware Captain Sandy would still follow him to the temple. She was not a part of the guards of the baron's mansion and was responsible for the case in the first place. So, with her guard, he was confident of going to the temple securely.
As he had expected, the captain and her men followed Faroon and him to the temple. "My men will stay guard at the temple," said Sandy as they went stationed themselves at the exits of the temple. "Please call us, if you require anything," she said and join her men.
After they went into the temple, Shadow finally decided to find out what Faroon's plan was. "So, could you please explain in detail what we are planning to do?" asked Shadow.
"It started with the previous deacon of the temple, deacon Lockhart. The baron's uncle. I was his student. Most know him as just a deacon of the town, but he was a powerful paladin who once participated in wars against the demons," said Faron.
"You know of the artifact that used to be with him?" asked Shadow in shock.
"Yes, he managed to get hold of it and he realized that he needed to safeguard it. It is because of the artifact that he joined the temple and became its deacon. He managed to send word to the great priest about it, but he realized that something was wrong. So, he hid it and told his nephew the baron to keep it a secret," said Faroon. "The excursion during which the deacon and the previous baron died was just a misdirection. It was their intention to kill the demons trailing the artifact, but despite their preparations, the deacon died."
"He never told his nephew about it?" asked Shadow.
"I think they knew it would be extremely dangerous and if they told the baron, he would try and follow them. So, they lied to him. But I was told the truth. He wanted me to safeguard the baron in case anything happens. The members of the temple that came to investigate also informed me that there were signs of a fight and death of few demons. Nothing happened for a long time and we assumed that the danger had passed."
"Well, now we know better. So, do you have any thing that could help us?" asked Shadow.
"There is a room which he has specifically prepared in case of such an event. It had been enchanted by deacon Lockhart and I have its control. He had thought me quite a few skills other than being a priest," said Faroon.
"Can it be used to capture the demon?" asked Shadow.
"It was meant to kill, but it can also be used to imprison the demon. For that I need you to hold it down in the room for at least ten minutes," said Faroon.
"I can try it out. No harm in that, but in case I fail could we kill it?" asked Shadow. His main priority was to kill the demon and get rid of it. Capturing it was just an optional quest. It wasn't necessary for him to do it. So, he wanted to make sure that they would be able to kill it.
"Killing it wouldn't be a problem. Even if you don't hold it in for 10 minutes, I have a method to deal a lot of damage to it, but that would also leave me vulnerable and we are not sure if he is the last one. So, I intend to capture it," said Faroon.
"Fine, we shall try it out," said Shadow. It was an hour left for the sundown and Balthazar knew that once it was night the demon would probably try to attempt to attack him after sundown. Roaming around the town and completing some other quest would be dangerous, but he couldn't do much staying at the temple either.
"Damn, the quest is going to make me waste a lot of time," he thought. "Could I browse the library of the temple till sundown," asked Shadow. Though the library or study of the barons or the temples in these towns wouldn't have any information about occupations or techniques that he didn't know due to his previous life, it would still help him to get to know about the town.
The Jarko town seemed to be quite well developed and had a river flowing through it. If he found out more about the town, it would help him understand it better and allow him to get more resources from the town. After all, he owned a guild and would want to gain power in the town to get a good share of its resources.
"Ah! Mr. Shadow. I can provide you access to most of the common books in the library, but the legacy of the deacons can't be touched. I hope that you wouldn't attempt to go through that section," said the deacon giving him a token.
He quickly took the token and made way to the library behind Faroon. "Do you know what kind of demon it is or anything about its origins?" asked Shadow. Though Faroon told him that all the knowledge that he had about this situation was from his predecessor, he hoped that some kind of information about it could be obtained. It would definitely improve his chances in getting another quest. As the artifact had been taken to the great priest before, he was sure that it was an important thing and there was a chance for him to get a continuation quest.
Continuation quests were what the players called the quests which had a big lore and the quests ended up being tool long that they were divided into multiple parts. The different parts of these quests could be done by the same player or most times multiple players get to do different parts of these quests. So, whenever a player had a doubt that it could be a continuation quest, he would try to get as much information from the NPCs as possible. It was a chance to get another strong quest.
"I was only told that the demons were remnants of a great war and had been in hiding for a long time. Deacon Lockhart had accidentally found their hiding place and found out about them and their plans. Though he was quite powerless alone, he couldn't simply not do anything about it. So, he stole that artifact and returned to his home to study it. When he couldn't do much, he informed the great priest, Luciophel who was an acquaintance of his," said Faroon.
"So, the name of the group or their origins?" asked Shadow trying to pry out more information.
"I have no idea. He refused to inform anyone of it. I doubt even his brother, the previous baron knew much about those details. He just told that this group wouldn't want to attack them openly as they intended to keep a low profile. The artifact was just a means for the demons to speed up their activities and grows stronger faster," said Faroon.
Balthazar was totally stumped. He knew nothing of such a quest from his previous life. He had read a lot of books and lore too, but none of it had anything similar to this quest. "I guess, I can't rely on my memories for this one," thought Balthazar as he followed Faroon to the first floor.