[centre][h2][color=00aeef]Artorigios[/color][/h2]
[i]Virtual Reality World: Homeworld[/i][/centre]

Julius had temporarily logged out of VR, taking a quick toilet break while the kettle boiled. It was pitch black outside the kitchen window and the street lights were all off, meaning no one had passed recently.  With the energy crisis at its current stage, new sensors and kinetic pads had been installed in most pavements which detected when someone was walking and used the pressure their weight exerted on the pavement to produce energy to activate the streetlights.  Some places didn't have this kind of technology installed and ended up with deactivated streetlamps, the residents forced to spend whatever little funds they had on torches or otherwise move about at night in pitch black.

A quick glance at his watch told him that there had been sufficient time for the tea to brew.  After adding a splash of milk and a stir, he took the mug, a large monstrosity of a mug depicting the human muscular and skeletal structures with every part labelled, up to his father's study.  It had been some time since his parents had both passed away and, after a time, he had found ways to make the house his own while keeping little mementos about.  For a while he had not entered his father's study, feeling like he was trespassing.  Once he found his way in, however, he found it to be a perfect place to conduct his research; surrounded by books on every topic possible with an old style laptop for online research on the large oak desk set against the wall by the window.  During the day, Julius could look out over the out of control garden (he couldn't afford the energy costs to power a lawn mower or even a strimmer so he would go out a few times a season with some hedge clippers and just hack the vegetation back a little), and appreciate some real nature for a change; it helped him concentrate while keeping an open mind.

It was in one of those moments, taking a small break from his research, that he had answered the first clue.  Of course, seasoned Adventurers had been all over the most likely location, but Julius started afresh with his research to ensure he was going to the right place.  He had been listening to his father's music collection, decades old albums by the likes of Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Status Quo and Rolling Stones; giants of the early music industry.  He'd listened to them all before, of course, but with the lines of the Quatrain fresh in his mind some of the lyrics had jumped out at him.

[i]Bruised and battered[/i] was definitely a reference to Bruce Springsteen's [i]Streets of Philadelphia[/i], while [i]I sailed there[/i] came from Mark Knopfler's folk style song telling the tale Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon's journey to the same place, [i]Sailing to Philadelphia.[/i]  When he'd realised that he cross-referenced his discovery with the second line and the evidence just mounted up further.

[i]To draw a line[/i] tied into the [i]Sailing to Philadelphia[/i] lyrics again, Mason and Dixon famous for drawing the Mason-Dixon line although it changed many times over the years afterwards.  Julius had long since suspected that the [i]Bell[/i], with its capital letter suggesting it was both a famous item and also had its own name, was a nod to the Liberty Bell and it only cemented his confidence in his decoding so far.  Of course, every famous bell in history had been scoured by Adventurers, especially the Liberty Bell, but nothing had been found so there must have been more to the clue.

For weeks, Julius had troubled over the final two lines.  He assumed that the [i]stately house[/i] referred to Independence Hall but it certainly wasn't lying bare in either the real world or on Homeworld, where he assumed the first clue led as any avatar could access it for free as in [i]Ready Player One[/i].  The final line truly stumped him, he had several theories but had decided that the only way to find out was to go to that location and look himself.  After a final look over his own, hand-written notes, he returned to his former bedroom now converted into his VR room.  While he couldn't afford top of the line equipment he had a haptic chair which could transform into a treadmill as well, a reasonable quality haptic suit and even an odour tower although he rarely used it.

He slipped back into the suit, careful not to damage the fine electrodes running through it, downed the last of his tea and then sat down on the chair and slid on his visor.  [color=00aeef]"If honour were profitable, everyone would be honourable."[/color] He intoned his log on password phrase and appeared in his Homeworld abode, a spacious flat that was a private space where he could set rules and only those he had invited could enter. It was modernly furnished but sparsely, an in-game study was locked to all but himself permanently and inside he had his safe containing items he used only on specific worlds and some notes for the Quest he didn't trust to keep saved to his profile.  No one had successfully hacked into a user's data, to anyone's knowledge, but he wasn't prepare to take the risk of being the first victim.

He changed his avatar's appearance, looking in a full length mirror as he 'disguised' his character.  Walking around in his very stylised full plate armour would only draw attention and he wanted to stay as incognito as possible when 'Questing'. Opting instead for a standard jeans and black t-shirt style, with large Ray-Ban sunglasses to hide some of his face and a cap denoting a false allegiance to a long-gone football team. After selecting the option to hide his avatar's name, he left his abode and headed to the nearest teleporter.  He could drive one of his several vehicles but the teleporter would save time and he wasn't short for cash at that moment.

Seconds later he was stepping out onto a street in Philadelphia, pulling up an on-screen map and setting course to Independence Hall.  He wasn't sure what he was looking for but today was a research today; there was little to no chance of accidentally stumbling upon the answer to the first clue after two years of the world searching.