Quest 2020

E

EquinoxSol

Guest
Original poster
Based loosely off of the Cicada 3301 phenomenon.

On January 14, 2020, Nicolas Ashton found an encrypted cipher on the famous forum LinkIt. After solving the cipher, Ashton found that it read, "We are looking for highly intelligent people. To accomplish this, we are sending everyone on a quest. Complete the quest and receive further instruction." The message spread, and soon, millions of people were participating. Ashton dropped out soon after the race began. Now, you have ccompleted the quest, and have received the email. It told you to meet in New York, New York, in an obscure used book store. You may not be from America, you may not even speak English, but you are going to get to the bottom of the phenomenon now called, Quest 2020

After a long flight, Oscar had finally landed in New York from Ireland. Hardly forty eight hours ago, he had received the email. It had been a surprise, really, finding the darknet site which only had an input bar that was labeled, 'Email'. Then, he had gotten the email.

And now, he was to be given new instructions, and maybe meet the others, if there were any. After grabbing his luggage, he went out to the front, hailing a taxi and telling him the address of the book store. As they drove, he tried to speak without his Irish accent coming through, though he was constantly raking his fingers through his red hair.

Eventually, he made it to the bookstore, which at first appeared to be closed. However, once he tried the door, found it was unlocked. Stepping inside, he was greeted with the smell of incense and what smelled suspiciously like weed.

There was no one at the front desk, but the email said that there would be a dark green door in the back. It had also said to use your handle name instead of your real one, so he was going to say that he was Tekk. He wandered through the bookstore, pretending to browse through the books, wanting to see if anyone else was going to come in, not wanting to be the first one to get the next instructions.

OOC-https://www.iwakuroleplay.com/threads/quest-2020-ooc.36684/
 
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Liz shoved some money into the taxi driver's hands. She was so nervous she forgot to count it, and the driver yelled at her as she walked up to the store. Her face turned bright red as she ran back to give him the rest of the money. "Sorry!" she laughed nervously and waited for him to leave before she returned to the store, which looked like it was closed. She hadn't been to this store before, which was strange, because she'd been to almost every store in New York. Liz wasn't used to not being used to something. She's made it her business to know every single secret about her city and its people, which often angered people.

She looked into one of the store's windows and saw a redhead scanning the books. Perhaps she'd gotten sloppy with her investigations. Or, she thought, he has traveled here from another country for the next instructions for that mission thingy. That made sense. That was what she was there for, right? Liz bopped herself on the side of her head. What a blonde moment.

She took a deep breath and pushed open the door. She nodded to the man, trying to seem on top of things, and headed toward the green door. As she passed him, her only thought was that he smelled good and that his red hair was totally awesome.

Liz started as her face collided with the green door. She blushed again. She'd been too preoccupied to notice how close she was to the door. Gosh, she could be so absent-minded. She forced a laugh and turned the knob on the door.
 
Hearing the door open, Oscar glanced up, seeing a girl walking in, appearing flustered. As she nodded at him, he gave an unsure one back, he turned back to the books, wondering if she was going to go through the green door. She didn't. Rather, she ran right into it. Catching this out of the corner of his eye, Oscar winced a bit before watching her turning the knob on the door.

After she disappeared behind the green door, Oscar brushed his hair with his fingers and gathered his strength and bravery before moving to the door and opening it.

Inside was a plastic table, with chairs lined around it on one side. On the other was a slender man in a chair. The lighting made it so that one couldn't see his face at all. All Oscar could think was, 'Someone spends a lot of time of theatrics.' Slowly, he took a seat across from the man, noticing the girl was there too.

"Welcome," the man said, his accent barely discernable, neither low or high. It was an entirely forgettable voice, and Oscar wasn't sure if it was fake or not.

"You're...um, our guy, correct?" Oscar asked, tilting his head a bit as he tried to see his face better.

For some reason, Oscar got the feeling that the man was smiling. "If you are indeed the people we sent the emails to, then yes. I had thought we sent more, but I suppose that the others are late...or chose not to come. But if it is only you two, then that is less work. Please. Introduce yourselves."

"I'm Tekk," Oscar said, trying to keep the accent out of his voice.
 
"And I'm GraceFace," Liz said, looking at her lap. Still embarrassed, she tried to avoid making eye contact with anyone.

Her shyness didn't last long. Liz just wasn't a shy person. She brushed her cinnamon brown hair out of her bright green eyes and look up. She couldn't make out a face in the shadows. Narrowing her eyes at the darkness, she got up, pushed in her chair, and walked closer to the strange man.

"Hey, mister. You gonna give us instructions or sit there examining us forever? 'Cause I cleared my calendar for this, and I don't want it to be in vain." she said. She blinked. "Seriously, dude, what's up with the lighting in this place? Are you, like, blind or something? Or are you just wanting to keep us blind to the truth?"
 
"If and when you complete your next instructions will you see my face. This is for security purposes, and I assure you, I am not hiding anything. Now, please, sit down." Oscar felt the man's gaze shift to him and shuddered. "Today, you are simply meeting. You and the others will live and work together for the next few months. During that time, you will accomplish tasks I set for you, which will be sent via email. If I believe that your completion of the tasks is sufficient, you will be notified."

A paper was slid across the table towards Oscar. This is the address you will be living at. It is a penthouse apartment downtown, with accommodations for you and the others, if they choose to go to the next step. There will be the base of operations." Oscar memorized the address before handing the paper to the girl...er, GraceFace.

An envelope was produced by the man and given to Oscar. "Five keys are kept there, all of which go to the apartment. And if you need anything or the apartment isn't to the group's liking, simply email me, although I think you will be pleased with it. We will be giving you new instructions tomorrow."

"Alright," Oscar answered, standing up and taking the envelope. Feeling like he was being dismissed, he looked to the girl and walked out, the keys in the envelope jingling softly. Once in the main part of the bookstore, he thought, 'What an odd man...' before pretending to peruse the books, when he realized that he should be analyzing the man's words. During the first set of instructions, everything was a reference, which led to another clue. Maybe there was something in the man's words to lead to the next real clue!

Now excited, he itched to go to the apartment, wanting to see it and be able to gaze out to downtown New York from the penthouse window.
 
Liz practically jumped into the main room, and when she got there, she didn't stop bouncing. "What are we waiting for?" she asked giddily. Let's go-o-o!"

Liz then proceeded to bury Tekk in questions that he probably wouldnt feel terribly inclined to answer, and answers to questions he probably wasn't going to ask, at least not at the moment. "Hey, are we allowed to tell each other our real names? Cause my username's kinda silly. I mean, Grace isnt even my name. My name is Liz, in case you were wondering. Mind telling me your name? How old are you? I'm seventeen. My grandpa used to say I was growing up too fast and threaten to put books on my head to keep me from growing up. I almost took him up on his offer. My grandfather died in a war. Against taxis. He thought they were going to bring about the world's demise. He was ranting in the middle of the street when some taxi driver came around the corner and plowed him over. Now my only living relatives are my older sister and some uncle in a country whose name I can't remember. He's dirt poor, but he refuses to take any of the family fortune, no matter how many times I offer. Silly man. Do you have any family? Where do you come from, I dont think I've seen you around lately. Not that I know every citizen in New York; I only know, like, 93% of the population. Hmmm... Im rambling, aren't I? Gosh, I'm really sorry. You probably hate me now. You do, don't you! You think I'm totally annoying! Well, I have news for you! Mmm, actually, no I don't. But I'm not like this all the time. Just when I'm nervous. Do you ever- er, sorry. Really, I'll be quiet now! Marshmallow mouth, see?" Liz's cheeks burned with embarassment as she puffed up her cheeks like a kidnergartener. She smiled.
 
Oscar has hailed a taxi and had gotten in with the girl wgen she started talking. Telling the driver the address, he saw the man give him a pitying glance, and sighed a bit, forced to listen to the girl's ramblings. He could barely keep up with anything she was saying, and was getting flustered by it, occasionally trying to cut in with, "uh..." or "um...." but never getting another word in. When she had finished, he watched her to see if she would explode with words again before he spoke up.

"I'm Oscar. I'm nineteen," he continued, trying to answer her questions in order while keeping his accent down. I just have my ma and da, my older brothers, and my grandparents. I'm from a town outside Dublin. And...I don't hate you." He was quite for the rest if the trip, and soon they were pulling in front of a fancy high-rise apartment building. Paying the taxi, Oscar got out and gazed up to the sky, trying to see the top of the building.

Once they were both out of the taxi and it had driven off, a young man in a uniform walked up to them. "You are Tekk and GraceFace?" he asked. Once he had confirmation, he nodded, and said, "Follow me. I will take you to your home." Oscar followed, and was led into the building, to an elevator. Once inside, the man asked, "May I have your key?" Wordlessly, Oscar gave him the key, and the man put it into a keyhole in the panel of the elevator before pressing the button for the penthouse floor. They went up, and Oscar looked around the elevator silently, until they eventually made it to the top floor. Oscar was given the key back. "Have a nice day, sir and ma'am," the man said, leaving them in a hallway with a single door in it.

Oscar stepped forward, putting the same key into the hole. Opening the door, he stepped inside, his eyebrows rising as he took in the front room. "Lord..." he muttered.
 
Liz gasped. "Omigosh! I was so preoccupied with trying not to make your head explode with my talking that I didn't realize where we were going! Ha, I live right downstairs! So now, technically, I have two apartments in the same building. AND ONE IS A PENTHOUSE! A PENTHOUSE! " Liz smiled so wide her face hurt and started jumping around the apartment.

She stopped abruptly and turned to Oscar. "Hey, wait, how come you don't have an accent? I mean, if you're from Ireland, then..." She peeked into rooms while waiting for an answer.
 
Oscar watched Liz bounce around curiously, finding himself staring until she asked why he didn't have an accent. "I wante to sound American. I have a strong accent when I'm not checking myself, and people think I'm some strange foreigner when," he switched back to his accent, "I talk like this. It just bugs me, you know?"

He shrugged, before taking his bags and setting them next to the couch in the sitting room, wondering if anyone else would show up. He looked around, soon finding a wall of curtains. Pulling them back, he was greeted with a view of the New York skyline, his breath taken away as he stared. "Wow," he muttered. He had never been in a building this tall before, and he felt a little afraid as he looked out, wonderment filling his eyes.
 
"Strange foreigner? Some people are just crazy. I love the accent! It's totally awesome." Liz fell silent when Oscar opened the curtains. "Beautiful, isn't it?" she almost whispered. "It's amazing that we can build all this junk that's ruining the world and still make it look pretty. I mean, look how the windows on those apartments sparkle in the sun light . It's wonderful! But I'll bet you didn't know that the buildings in the U.S. are responsible for 38.9% of our carbon dioxide emissions. And all those delightful vehicles; they're all painted in colors that we love, they save us from having to walk every where, some say they're the best thing humans have ever thought of. But those cars can kill. They kill about 40,000 people in the United States every year. I'm so tired of the beauty covering the sad, sad truth. So tired of anything..." she blinked a few times and looked up at Oscar. "Heh, I mean, still beautiful... I'ma go find a room..."

She took off to explore the rest of the apartment.
 
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