Having learned all the knowledge and skills we need for our upcoming adventure at the Novice Academy, we changed into our First Job. One of the instructors had suggested we find and join the Eden Group, their headquarters located in the city of Prontera, and even wrote a letter of recommendation for us.
We have been teleported to Prontera South Gate through the Warp Portal Scroll which was given to us as a farewell gift by one of the instructors from our chosen Job Guild. New to the area, we decide to approach the guard we find standing next to a bridge.
He tells us that the gates to Prontera–the capital city of Rune-Midgarts–will be closing in a few minutes due to a curfew. This sounds like bad news, considering we’ve just arrived here and we have nowhere else to go.
A Chance Encounter
On our way to enter the majestic city through the south gate, we are stopped dead on our tracks by an encounter. We hear noises to the north and bear witness to a strange event.
A young lady, dressed in purple Assassin’s garments, is trying to fend off her unknown assailants–a group of men dressed in white. One of the attackers managed to sneak behind her and injure her. We figure she needs our help, so we face their Mysterious Leader with our limited combat skills.
Fresh off the Novice Academy, we try our best to land a few strikes with our Novice Knife and, at the same time, dodge his incoming AoE skills. The mysterious female Assassin calls out to us to hang on, as she is still recovering from the heavy blow. Left with no other choice, he casts an occult skill called “Shadow Transform” to summon two clones in order to confuse us. Once recovered, the Assassin helps us finish off the Mysterious Leader.
The Young Assassin, Lucy
The purple-caped lady thanks us for coming to her rescue and asks us to a get a hemostaticus plant to help heal her wounds. We walk a little ways to the west and find the plant. After having collected the hemostaticus, we head back to her to hand over the herb. Having expressed her gratitude, she introduces herself as “Lucy” and asks for our name. She then asks us to find anything of significance that can point us to the identity of her unknown assailants.
Checking the man’s body, we find a white mask. We give it to Lucy who is relieved to know that her suspicions were right: these assailants were from Arunafeltz States. Unfamiliar with Midgard’s geography, we ask her what the “Arunafeltz States” are. She explains that they are a group of towns that form a country in which the citizens worship the goddess Freya, as opposed to Odin, the chief god in Rune-Midgarts. Lucy also mentions that these “White Masks” have been spotted in Prontera lately, and warns us to avoid them.
Our new acquaintance Lucy tells us that she has an urgent mission to deliver a few items to Prontera, and we offer her our help. She hands us two letters, one labeled “To. B” while the other “To. K”. She strictly instructed that we give the former, along with the white mask we have picked up, to a “Father Bamph” in Prontera Cathedral.
After bidding each other farewell, we turn our back on our newfound friend Lucy only to ask ourselves who the letter that’s labeled “To. K” is for. We then remember what the guard told us earlier–that Prontera will close its gates in a short while. We have to hurry if we want to reach the city before the curfew starts!
The Capital City of Rune-Midgarts
Luckily, the gates were still open and the guards let us through. We are now at the famed city of Prontera… Since it’s our first time here, we feel a little anxious and intimidated. We don’t want to get lost in the big city! We look around us, searching for any signs or any friendly face whom we can ask for directions when….
A young man just bumps into us… and steals our backpack!
We try to chase after him… only to find he with his friends rummaging through our belongings. Then…. a woman in white robes suddenly appears.
She sounds irritated for some reason. Using wind magic, she takes the mask that was previously inside our bag, but has since then dropped to the ground by those thieves. With a blink of an eye, the woman disappears.
Knight Captain Gunnr and Her Cendrawasih
We hear hurried footsteps approaching from behind us. When we look behind, we find Prontera’s guards and knights, led by a woman with grey hair. She apologizes for the theft and introduces herself as Knight Captain Gunnr. We ask her who the thieves were, and she informs us that they were members the Z-Gang.
We let her know that something has been stolen from our bag–a white mask. Gunnr thinks that it’s been taken by the Z-Gang, but we correct her by saying that it was a female wizard in white robes that stole it. She dismisses us, saying that the female wizard could have been employed by a noble to protect them from the rising dangers in the city,
When asked by Gunnr about the white mask, we choose not to reveal that we got it from an Assassin named Lucy, taking in consideration the fact that she has just survived an attack, so we don’t know who to trust just yet. Instead, we tell her that we were on our way to the Prontera Cathedral when the theft occurred. Since the Cathedral is situated on the opposite side of where we currently are, Gunnr advises us to take her Cendrawasih to get there.
Those who have played Ragnarok Online may be familiar with the Cendrawasih, a bird found in Dewata field. Dewata itself is an island based on the country of Indonesia.
In real life, “cendrawasih” is the Indonesian word for “birds-of-paradise”, a species of birds found in South East Asia and Oceania, particularly in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Eastern Australia. Similarly, there exists a dance called “cendrawasih” in Bali which portrays the mating rituals of these birds-of-paradise.
Having fed the bird to lure it, we grab onto the string tied to its leg and it takes us up to the sky. As we fly to our destination, we admire the beauty of the night sky and look down to see lights emanating from the various buildings below us.
The Cendrawasih gently drops us right in front of the Prontera Cathedral. Before we can reach the entrance, we are stopped by a priest with red hair who calls himself “Biscuss”. Thinking he wants some bribe money, we offer a few Zennies… but this just angers him. We engage in a fight wherein he attempts to deceive us by playing weak, only for us to defeat him in the end. Injured, he runs into the cathedral.
The Old Priest, Bamph
Arriving at the cathedral in one piece, we let out a sigh of relief. We make our way deeper into the cathedral and find an old priest clad in brown robes with golden embroideries. He apologizes for the younger priest’s insolence, and we give him the letter addressed to him.
We tell Father Bamph that we’ve unfortunately lost the white mask that’s supposed to come with the letter. He then refers us to a “Knight Captain Seyren” who leads an investigation related to the White Masks. Bamph advises we go look for him near the cathedral, one of the areas where Prontera Knights often patrol around.
The name “Seyren” might ring a few bells if you’ve played Ragnarok Online, especially if you’ve been to a certain dungeon…
The Loyal Knight Captain, Seyren
We find a white-haired Lord Knight wearing heavy armor a few steps west of the cathedral, next to a mage. Upon telling him about the white mask we’ve lost, he shares a relevant information with us: that the increasing number of people found wearing a white mask coincide with the increase in the number of missing Prontera residents.
Seyren sends us on a secret mission to the Indigo Parrot bar, where foreigners from the Arunafeltz States and the Schwarzwald Republic frequently go. He gives us a disguise and asks us to meet his informant who works as a waiter there. Whispering, he states the codeword for this operation: Sword of Justice.
The Indigo Parrot
Upon arriving at the bar, we immediately change our outfit using a Magical Makeup. We walk up to waiter and casually mention “Sword of Justice”. Recognizing the password, he tells us that we should focus our attention on a woman who doesn’t seem to be from Prontera and often orders foreign cocktails.
Making our way to the bar area, we find a lady donning what seems to be a royal outfit. She is quite flirty, but this doesn’t stop us from pressing on, for the sake of Prontera’s peace and safety, the determined Seyren, and our new friend Lucy. She eventually tells us that she is from Arunafeltz and that in her country, the white mask symbolizes devotion to the goddess Freya.
We inquire about the recent influx of white masked people into Prontera. Unfortunately, she asks us to do a couple of things before she’s willing to tell us what she knows about the matter. Having no other choice, we reluctantly agree to do a romantic pose with her and to get a cocktail called “Pink Lady” for her. After doing as we’re told, she tells us that the White Masks operate at the Underground Bazaar of Prontera.
The lively dance floor of the Indigo Parrot, the exotic aroma from the foreign woman, and the hypnotic music have left us in a trance–we’ve completely forgotten what we came here for. As we dance to our heart’s content, the woman from Arunafeltz whispers the information about the White Masks, reminding us of our mission.
The Crimson Flower
Hurriedly, we make our way out of the bar…. only to find that a big fire has broken out at the Underground Bazaar. The Prontera guards help evacuate some of the residents, while Frost Mages try to stop the fire from spreading.
We run toward Seyren who is visibly shaken by what has just occurred. We tell him what we’ve learned from the foreign lady regarding the White Masks’ connection with the Underground Bazaar. However, Seyren thinks otherwise. He fears that the Assassin Guild may be involved, since he is aware that the market also serves as a secret base for the guild. Still, he considers the possibility that the clue we have just found out about the White Masks may be tied to the incident.
Seyren bids us farewell and tells us that he’ll notify us as soon as he and his knights have looked into the fire incident at the bazaar. He advises us to ask one of his knights to help us get to the Eden Group, as we had earlier planned.
Is it all a coincidence? Our main goal in Prontera had been to join the Eden Group, but we’re now a part of this mystery… A young assassin, the white-masked men, a wizard in white robes, and an unexpected fire… What will become of us? Of Lucy? Of the city of Prontera and its residents?
We’ll have to wait for Seyren’s correspondence in order to continue this investigation. For now, let’s head to the Eden Group Headquarters!
Stay tuned for the next episode in our brand new Ragnarok Origin Main Story Lore series! Let us know your thoughts about Ragnarok Origin‘s main story quests so far!