Now I am the first to admit that the GRIND in Destiny 2 is REAL. On any given day it is unlikely that most guardians will run out of things to do. Today, however, was different. Today I and another fellow trusted guardian are looking into the mysterious circumstances surrounding the fate of Master Ives. The difference today is that we are not going to grind. Oh no! We are going to investigate, we are going to deduce and suspect and accuse and we hope eventually solve the murder of a member of the Reef and someone who provided a very valuable service to all guardians. Master Ives would decrypt our precious engrams.

It should be said that I did have a beef with Ives. He would often rip me off and never gave exotic upgrades from legendaries like Rahool would. I eventually gave up visiting him and would always go to the tower for decryption. Let’s just say that maybe Master Ives Yelp page was not exactly a 5 star recommended cryptarchy. I wasn’t the one who wrote that over the top 1 star review… but let’s just say I know who did.

So, Ives may have rubbed some people the wrong way. That is neither here nor there. In the end, he was one of us and as such our job is to deliver justice or at the very least closure for our fallen friend and those grieving his loss. You know, I can’t help think of Eva Levante in this moment as well. Wondering where she is since the attack on the tower. My hope is that she is somewhere across the galaxy overcharging people for shaders and emblems like the old days and that she is enjoying all the fun of the Festival of the Lost.

Back to the investigation. We started with a visit to Amanda - I like to call her Hugnkiss - She gave us an empty journal from Ivie (that’s my affectionate name for Master Ives) and of course, all the pages are missing or encrypted or some such nonsense. But we are going to figure this out. Yes, we will dig deep and look everywhere and talk with everyone. We are going to search so hard and so completely in every corner of the galaxy (except the Moon and Venus and the Dreadnaught and the Reef). Wait, Hugnkiss is telling us we have to go GRIND for legendary and exotic engrams! And go GRIND for fallen bosses. WHAT?! GGGRIND!

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So we have no choice and go grind heroic public events in the EDZ and after about 22 minutes it seems we have discovered enough of the 10 missing pages to get an update from Amanda Hugnkiss. Now she tells us that we have done good work in recovering the missing pages, but the pages themselves hold some form of encryption that we cannot decrypt. Damn! Where’s a good cryptarch when you need one?

My first thought was to go see Rahool. But he is kinda losing his mind these days and always mutters about wanting the void to talk back to him. Sounds like some real Doctor Strange Dormammu insanity to me. So I figured maybe our long lost friend Tyra Karn out at The Farm would be able to give us a hand. When we arrived at The Farm, however, we found she had torn it down and paved over the whole thing. Now it’s called “Smokin Aces Used Sparrow Emporium.” I guess there wasn’t enough cryptarch business for old Tyra so she thought she would capitalize on the Cayde 6 hysteria and cash in on some gently used guardian scooters and accompanying merchandise. Watch out Eververse!

Just kidding, the farm is still there but it is about as useful as a used sparrow dealer.

So without any normal means of decryption, we headed for our new best buddy out on the Tangled Shore. Who better to complete decryption of journal pages (that cannot be decrypted by “conventional means”) than our new best/worst friend Spyder. However, old Spydie wasn’t givin it up. He literally had nothing new to offer. So at this point, and with no new leads or direction our thought was to try everything else. So after running from the Halloween Terror Knight in the Forest of Horrors, we went see what Petra Venge in the Dreaming City could tell us about the guy (Ivie) who literally stood 50 feet from her for almost a year. She had nothing for us. Finally, we just went back to the tower and slapped Amanda in her recently made up perfect face for getting us all amped up and into this murder mystery and then not giving us another quest step. Damn you, Amanda. I see why Cayde dumped you…

Too soon?

Until next lunar cycle guardians, watch your back. There’s a cryptarch killer on the loose.

P.S. Zavala is asking for Titans to work a personal security detail for both Rahoul and Tyra. I think it’s a good idea. It may also give us some leads if any attempt is made on their lives.

MickGee Out!