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[Other FULL] Final Fantasy: Alternate [M][IC]

gimmepie

gimmepie

25,488
Posts
11
Years
Ekha Pellere
Human | Male | 18 | Blue Mage

Skills

1. Capture: Ekha attempts to catch an enemies attack or spell in his Djinn Bottle. If it is successful, he can then increase its quantity by pushing his own mana into the bottle and then release that spell from the bottle indefinitely.
2. Aero: Releases a damaging gale of wind magic.
3. Aqua Breath: Releases a torrent of water from the bottle.
4. White Wind: A magical wind that is laced with healing energy. It affects Ekha and his allies but its effectiveness is based on Ekha's own potential vitality.

Inventory (Currently Missing)

300G
Djinn Bottle
Potion X2
Antidote​

















Chapter Two - Welcome to Titan Shrooms

Ekha's eyes slowly fluttered open and he rolled onto his back to find himself looking up at a rapidly darkening sky, bathed in ribbons of purple and orange as the sun began to set in the west. It was late afternoon when the ship started to explode, so he'd probably been out for several hours.

He laid still for several more minutes, his body heavy with exhaustion and aching all over. It was a miracle that he was still alive, something he suspected had a lot to do with the ship's descent before it fully exploded. Still, he had no idea where he was. His sense of confusion only made greater by the strange rubbery feeling underneath him.

With a groan from the exertion, Ekha forced himself up into a sitting position and almost immediately nearly fell back down as the shock of his predicament hit him. He was surrounded by the tops of gigantic mushrooms, he himself apparently having been laying on top of the cap of another. The forest of gigantic fungi stretched almost all the way to the ocean in the east, and was just about all he could see in every other direction. It was a lot to take in for all kinds of reasons.

"There's no mushroom forests in Kestria," he said out loud to himself, hearing the strain in his voice. That meant that the ship had veered so far to the right that they had ended up in Othon, the last place on Midiri that they wanted to be. The first question this raised for Ekha, was if he was in Tower Shrooms or if they had, by some awful twist of fate, veered so far to the north that they had ended up crashing in Titan Shrooms. The second was the question of what had happened to his fellow escapees. The third was how he was going to get down.

Ekha checked to make sure his stuff had survived the explosion. His Djinn bottle and coin pouch were still at his side, but his bag was nowhere to be seen. That meant he had no access to his camping gear or his medicinal supplies. If he was lucky, they'd have survived the crash.

With no small effort, Ekha crawled to the edge of the mushroom's cap and looked down. He was incredibly high above the ground, only the caps of a few shorter mushrooms between him at hard earth. "I guess just jumping straight down isn't an option then."

Ekha rolled onto his back again with a sigh and shut his eyes. Another wave of pain washed over him as he did so. He grit his teeth and waited for the throbbing and burning to subside a little, holding his breath as he did so. Only when the pain had dulled did he exhale.

"How did you even end up in this situation?" Ekha said to himself, "You were just in Estryn to see some people give some speeches. Next thing you know, you're getting into fights with thieves, witnessing a terror attack, mistaken for one of the terrorists and then fleeing, with the earlier thief, on an airship that then explodes. Who has days like that?!"

Ekha let out a wordless, frustrated growl at his situation. Then, abruptly, shot back up into a sitting position, swaying heavily as his body regretted that action long before his mind did. Slower, he then pushed himself into a standing position. "Well, you're here now, aren't you?"

He uncorked his Djinn Bottle, the glittering breeze of his White Wind spell flowing over him, its healing magic lessening the aches he felt. It wasn't a huge amount, not nearly as good as a healing potion would have been, but it did the job well enough. The next part was going be more problematic.

Ekha steeled himself and several slow, deep breaths. Then he took a run up and leapt off the cap of his mushroom, aiming for one of the shorter ones below. He plummeted through the air for several nerve-wracking seconds, then landed hard on the rubbery surface of the next mushroom, rolling to reduce his momentum.

"Ow," he commented, climbing back up to his feet. The mushroom was a softer landing than he'd been expecting, but a cushion it was not. He walked over to the edge of the mushroom and looked down, it was going to take a few more mushrooms before he could reach the ground. "Wonderful."

Ekha took several steps back and then made another running leap for the next mushroom down. Then, everything went wrong. He was suddenly deafened by then a loud buzzing sound anda second later he felt something large slam into his side, knocking the air from his lungs. It took a moment to process what was going on, but it became clear as his head stopped swimming that he'd just been rammed into by a large flying insect and was now gripped between its legs.

"Really?!" Ekha yelled, struggling against the monstrous bug.
​
 
Eleanor

Eleanor

Princess Era 🎀
6,560
Posts
7
Years

Rayen Blackthorn
Ranger • Demi-human • 26 • ♀ • Joint post with Gimmepie (as Ekha)

    [tab=default]❌[/tab] // [tab=music]🎼[/tab] // [tab=inventory]💼[/tab] // [tab=skills]🏹[/tab]
// Gil: 650 (Rayen), 300 (Ekha)
‌‌

Inventory
Rayen:
• Rayen's Shortbow
• 2 Eye Drops
• 1 Potion

Ekha (currently missing):
• Djinn Bottle
• 2 Potions
• Antidote
​


Skills
Rayen:
➵ Analyze: using her demi-human abilities, Rayen focuses on her enemy to gain knowledge on its weak points, mana and overall strength.
➵ Barrage: Rayen hits her enemy several times in a row, using mana to improve her own reload and aiming speed.
➵ Nettle Sting: Rayen's next shot will poison the target, dealing damage over time.
➵ Critical Shot: Rayen concentrates, in order to hit her enemy in its weak point with a powered up shot. This attack will be less affected (if compared to a normal shot) by the enemy's armor and magic defenses.

Ekha:
🟄 Capture: Ekha attempts to catch an enemies attack or spell in his Djinn Bottle. If it is successful, he can then increase its quantity by pushing his own mana into the bottle and then release that spell from the bottle indefinitely.
🟄 Aero: Releases a damaging gale of wind magic.
🟄 Aqua Breath: Releases a torrent of water from the bottle.
🟄 White Wind: A magical wind that is laced with healing energy. It affects Ekha and his allies but its effectiveness is based on Ekha's own potential vitality.

​
​
Ekha struggled against the grip of the insect, the sound of its wingbeats deafening as it droned in his ears. He had given up yelling and was now focused entirely on escaping the creature, feeling himself slipping slightly from its grip only to have it latch on tighter a moment later. He was vaguely aware of the bug's flight getting more erratic, but this was hardly his focus. At least, not until they slammed into the stalk of a mushroom and he was thrown from its grasp, dropping several feet to the ground and tumbling through the dirt.

Rayen was just close enough to hear the sound of the impact, and that definitely caught her off guard. But, at the same time, it made her at least a bit curious. Now that she was essentially on the hunt of her "companions", her mind would just immediately jump back to them, and blame even the smallest thing on their presence.

It still was a surprise for her to see, however, that her mind actually didn't fail her. On the ground, next to her, stood… a somewhat familiar face. "Uhm, you ok? What's going on here?" she looked around nervously, her antennas twitching. She still hadn't fully realized who else was there, other than Ekha.

"Oh, fantastic." Ekha groaned, stumbling back to his feet for what felt like the fiftieth time that day. "I'm wanted for terrorism, we crashed in the wrong country and a giant bug is trying to eat me. Couldn't possibly want more. It's nice to see at least one more of us made it though."

"I know rii-" Rayen replied immediately, only to stop just as abruptly. "What kinda bug? Where is it? I thought they wouldn't bother but…" she asked hastily, looking even more nervous. Sadly, the low light and the large amount of spores raining down on her didn't help her eyes or her antennas to do their job.

At this moment, an enormous, orange wasp-like creature with a sting almost half as long as Ekha was tall rocketed out of the cloud of spores, swooping over the pair and forcing them to dive out the way in opposite directions.

"That kind!" Ekha yelled over the sound of the wasp's wings.

Rayen, driven by instinct at that point, quickly picked up her bow and loaded the first arrow, fiddling with her weapon to get the best tension even if it still had not dried up. "Why'd you do this…" she muttered, just slightly disappointed that a wasp would attack her, a hornet girl, like that. She then tried to Analyze her new enemy, fixing her aim one more time and bracing for a new attack.
What was the wasp's weak point, she would have tried to find out very soon.

The wasp swung back around, aiming to spear Ekha with its stinger. Ekha uncorked his bottle as the wasp shot toward him, releasing a powerful gust of wind with his Aero spell. The attack kept the wasp at bay as it continued to struggle towards him.

It was at that point that Rayen shot her first arrow, and hit somewhere in the abdomen of the monster. While it wasn't exactly the point Rayen had aimed for, it still seemed to be quite effective… but of course, that hit also drew the wasp's attention.

The hornet girl knew that, no matter how hidden she stayed, shooting an arrow always acted as a give away… but even knowing that, she wasn't fast enough to get another arrow ready. Wet feathers or whatever, things had just gone wrong. She had to once again jump aside, and was now relatively defenseless, with her back against a giant mushroom stem.

The wasp, making an unpleasant, pained shrieking noise now, wheeled around in the air. Once again it launched itself at Rayen, now deeming the demi-human the bigger threat.

Ekha took this chance to attack it again, shooting a torrent of water from his bottle that slammed into the Wasp's back with enough force to send its flight out of control. He watched as the wasp spiralled past Rayen, missing her widely as it righted itself and turned towards them again.

"T-thanks!" Rayen yelled, noticing how they were already doing alright as a team. Yes, the cold water coming from the mage's spell wasn't that pleasant to get hit with, but it was for a better good! This was also a great moment to finally get a second arrow onto the wasp's abdomen - something that she did as soon as she got back up on her feet.

The creature was clearly wounded, bleeding an awful blue-green goo from its abdomen where Rayen's arrows had pierced it. Its flight had grown erratic and unsteady, but it almost seemed more dangerous in its agony and rage. It dove for Rayen again, stinger pushed forward with the intent to run it through her like a javelin.

Ekha moved forward slightly, calling forth another Aero from his bottle. The gust he released buffeted the wasp, knocking it off-kilter and forcing it back so Rayen could get another shot in.

And this time, she didn't fail. She did just what she was supposed to, and landed another arrow in the wasp's… abdomen, again. Yes, the wet bowstring hampered the reach of the arrows, but it still seemed to work! And that was what Rayen wanted to see: a monster she could finally measure up against - a good change of pace from the nearly invincible Ifrit she'd met that very morning.

"That looks like poison…" Rayen warned Ekha after her attack. "But we'll still manage, 'cause I'm the better wasp!"

The wasp was sagging in the air now, struggling to stay in the air after the damage it had sustained. Ekha was glad for this, because he was sore, thoroughly exhausted and his pool of mana was pretty much empty. "I'm inclined to agree with you. Time to put it out of its misery I think."

Rayen didn't waste any more time and shot the last arrow of the fight into the target, this time finally succeeding to aim just a bit higher, and knocking down the wasp for good.

"Yes!" she rejoiced, getting maybe a bit too close to her enemy. The wasp was nearly defenseless by then, but still alive.

"Yay," Ekha agreed dryly, not able to muster the enthusiasm. He trudged over to the nearest mushroom stalk and slumped against it, sliding down into a seated position. "I need to rest for a minute. I've been doing a lot of casting without much down time today. After that, we should see if we can find the others. If we made it, I don't see why they couldn't have. It'd be nice if we could find my stuff along the way too. I have medical supplies in my bag wherever it is."

Rayen didn't really pay attention to the boy's words though, as she was slowly approaching the wasp, this time with her dagger out. All she said was: "Ok, ok, just give me a minute here."

As the wasp was still fighting death, Rayen sealed the deal with a stab on the point where the abdomen and the thorax joined. From there, it was relatively easy to basically cut the creature in half. Being part wasp myself, I'd know what your weak point is! Rayen thought.

After dying, it was only a matter of time before the wasp's body would stop moving, and Rayen could get close once more to retrieve her arrows: a resource-saving tactic she'd learned at a young age, but that could have been quite difficult here because of the poison. The hornet girl, in the meantime, just got close to Ekha.

"We made it because we found each other… we can only hope the others grouped up as well. But…" she whispered, "I'm not going anywhere either without some rest." In the background, the wasp's wings were still providing a weird, unpleasant background noise.

"Sure, but I was alone for a while before we ran into each other. I had the bad luck of landing on top of one of the taller mushrooms. I hope the others were spared that misfortune at least." Ekha replied, shifting his weight to get a bit more comfortable.

"If you couldn't see it already, I just fell into the sea. But I didn't find anyone's traces near me! If I had to guess, we should keep going further away from the coast to find someone else." Rayen explained, before noticing that the wasp's body wasn't moving anymore. "Time to scavenge…"

The hornet girl got close to her monster omologue once again, jumping all around it to locate her arrows before carefully pulling them out. One was broken and unusable, but the other three were still in passable conditions - if not for the fact that they were drenched in poison. This could be hard to deal with but I need these arrows! she thought, already expecting not to leave the forest for a long time. She then proceeded to harvest some more materials from the wasp's body parts.

"All done!" she then declared, walking back to Ekha and sitting down beside him.

"Lovely," Ekha commented, "Well, just a bit longer and then let's get looking for the others before it's impossible to see anything that's not within a foot of a glowing mushroom."

"I second that, I just need some time to recover…" Rayen sighed. While she wasn't heavily wounded, she couldn't deny she was tired after so many sleepless days - the last of which being so damn wild - and her mind needed to regain focus.

"I wanted to believe otherwise but…" she continued, almost talking to herself, "Just like being part human doesn't stop humans from looking down on you, being part insect doesn't stop insect monsters from attacking you. I'll just have to stay aware, even here…"

"Well," Ekha replied, "Insects have never been above eating other bugs."

"What did I expect, right?" Rayen immediately answered, shrugging. "That's what I get for being who I am… that's what I get for being the better wasp, uh?" she continued, reminiscing what she said before - her face looking half smiling, half pensive.

"Honestly, I don't think it much cared what you are," Ekha said, "Other than a potential dinner anyway." He laughed a little at that end comment.

Rayen chuckled as well, releasing tension. "Yeah, you're right! And to make things worse, it could have actually happened. Well, the same can be said about you I suppose…"

"I don't make a habit of eating sapient beings," Ekha responded, climbing back up to his feet. "So shall we get a move on uh… I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, I-"

My name uh? What else do you know about me… Rayen thought, trying to buy some time with some heavy breathing and intercalary. I guess I saved you and fought by your side, so might as well risk it.

"My name's Rayen."

"Nice name," Ekha said, "Hopefully neither it nor mine will end up on tombstones in the near future."

"Thanks! And you… Ekha, right?" the young woman brushed the tip of her antenna.

"Right."

"Ok, then, shall we?" Rayen stood up as well. "Let's just be careful not to run in circles. Actually…" she kneeled for a moment. "Isn't there a way to mark where we've been? Maybe we can pick up these mushrooms."

"Good idea, but why not just carve something into a stalk instead?"

"Oh, well, we can do both." Rayen laughed, pulling out her dagger.
 
PastelPhoenix

PastelPhoenix

How did this even happen?
453
Posts
8
Years
  • Age 29
  • Seen Nov 20, 2022

9gWPXnb.png
Adair / Cho / Vidar
A JP with Sephear and Groc

Adair's Song of the Day
​
​


The sky was a beautiful shade of blue, the towering mushrooms above him kept the sun from his eyes, and every muscle in Vidar's body ached like hell. As his eyes began to focus, he could notice several signs of something heavy impacting the tree-like mushrooms, leaving several craters and ruptured areas where various insects now gathered to take advantage of the exposed softer flesh. A few seconds later, Vidar realized that it was probably him who did that. Or at least his body in free fall.

Exactly how he came to crash into these mushrooms began to come to him in bits and pieces. There was an airship he was on. That airship later exploded for reasons not entirely clear to him. Whether those reasons are unknown to him because he is not an airship mechanic or because he has a serious concussion is also unclear. He was also probably a wanted criminal in at least one country because he has no idea who that airship belongs (well, belonged) to. There's also a war probably reigniting at this very second too. Yesterday was… eventful.

I should probably make sure everyone is okay after that. His mind suggested, although his body had other thoughts. He didn't have any broken bones, at least from what he could tell, but the stinging pain that accompanied movement caused difficulty in even sitting up. He surveyed his surroundings while waiting for his body to acclimate to the pain; his armor bag wasn't that far from him and his halberd was thankfully intact, just wedged in the ground. With the shaking in his arms gone, he grit his teeth and pushed himself back onto his feet.

The ringing in Vidar's ears redoubled and his vision blurred as he took his first few, cautious steps. His knee buckled for a second and sent him stumbling before he was able to catch himself with one of the massive mushroom stalks. A plume of smoke caught his attention while resting to catch his breath, the first sign of someone else from the airship being nearby.

The halberd made for a passable walking stick, especially when faced with carrying it and the armor across the entire forest with no support. He was prepared to head towards the source of the smoke before he noticed a small outcropping of white, slightly luminescent mushrooms. If he was not mistaken, and Shermos help him he hoped he was not, then these mushrooms were edible. He ignored the protest in his leg muscles as he gathered them in the hopes that whoever he would meet at that fire would be able to confirm what they were.

Stuffing his newfound bounty in his helmet for safe keeping, Vidar set off down the forest path towards the smoke.

Cho bolted upright with a startled snort. He looked around in panic, not sure where he was, exactly. The last thing he remembered was the airship, an explosion, casting Protect on himself as he fell…

And now he was in a forest? No… these were no trees, but massive mushrooms. He sniffed at the air, but all he could smell was more fungus and a faint whiff of smoke. He plucked a white mushroom from the dirt beside him, giving it a wary smell, but he didn't detect any poison. He popped it into his mouth, and it was good.

He slowly got to his hooves, finding that everything hurt. But it was a good hurt, meant he was still alive. He bowed his head and placed a hand to his chest. "Lady Kush, Provider and Protector, heal my body and rest my soul so I may continue to do my work. Cure." His hand glowed momentarily green, and he sighed as the healing warmth spread through his body.

Walking around was simpler after healing himself, so he slowly turned in a circle, smelling the air. He caught a faint whiff of something… not smoke, or the giant mushrooms around him, but something else. He dropped to his knees, following the scent, and rooted around with his hands before digging up some much smaller brown mushrooms. He gasped in delight at his discovery. "Truffles! Definitely keeping some of you for later…"

Part of him considered searching for the others, but he sullenly doubted any of them were looking for him. So, he decided to follow his nose, see what else he could dig up. Maybe a friendly face, or maybe something else tasty. It was better than just sitting around…


"No, no, I couldn't possibly have another roasted cheese curd! Hey, keep it away from Bubbers, he's lactose-intolerant!" Adair shouted desperately at his father only for the dream to be interrupted by a loud crash. His eyes shot open just in time to see a silhouette blur past his vision. He shot upright and looked around himself, quirking an eyebrow. A forest? Not one I've ever passed through. Just where did we - Crash! That's right! His scanning stopped when he found what must have been the thing he saw upon awakening, a wasp almost the size of a man, slammed into a tree so hard it was stuck there.

A loud squawk brought Adair's attention to the void of companionship he was currently experiencing and he immediately ran in the direction of the noise. "Bub! Where are you, buddy?!" Another squawk, another crash. After a short sprint the Bard finally broke through a dense thicket and into a large clearing, only to gasp in horror. Backing up to the center of the clearing was the prized chocobo of Windrunner Ranch, surrounded by monstrous wasps! Birds tend to do well against bugs and Bub is no different, he'd already taken down several of the pests but there were so many more, Adair felt his knees wobble just looking at them.

When the gap from the last felled foe closed the Bard was forced to gulp down his fear and step forward. Adair held his mandolin like a club and the instrument became coated in a wispy magenta energy. A few of the wasps broke off from the main group upon noticing the interloper and flew his way. The mandolin waved in the air frantically, trying to keep up with the trio of bugs. It was all Adair could do just to keep them away, but finally he got a solid hit on one, then the other, and finally the third. They were far from down and out, but they began to buzz in strange, confused patterns.

Just like Adair hoped, the wasps he'd hit flew back towards the main pack and crashed into some of their fellows, starting a gaggle of infighting within the swarm. Adair ran through the path made by the confusion and caught Bub's attention, swinging onto his back and locking into the stirrups of his saddle all in one fluid motion with the grace of a prime coward. "Run!" And so Bub did.

Vidar trudged on through eerily smooth ground. The sheer height of the mushroom stalks reminded him so much of trees, but the "forest" floor lacked the tangle of roots and fallen branches that made travelling through forests of similar density such a pain. Not that he was complaining; it was less to trip over.

The local fauna didn't seem to mind him too much either. A beetle with a dangerous looking horn and a tough, blue-tinted carapace the size of a large dog lazily crawled across the forest floor feeding on small plants, but paid no mind to him. That had been the story of his entire hike so far; giant insect after giant insect, but none seemed to really care about the human crossing their territory.

The pain had subsided somewhat, but that would probably only last until he stopped moving. Perhaps more worrying, his hunger was starting to grow and compound the feeling of weakness in his legs. The mushrooms he had gathered tempted him with some form of relief, but he did not fancy having to purge his body of poison should he have been mistaken.

Still, he pushed towards the smoke with a singular determination. If he was going to collapse and become bug food, he at least wanted to see what the smoke was about first.

A distant sound drew his attention. It didn't sound anything like the sounds he heard from these insects (the few sounds they did make), nor did it really sound like conversation. He cautiously moved his halberd in front of him, slowly walking towards the sound of the noise. It might not be friendly, but it was something, and that was more than he was finding out here on his own.
As he drew closer the sound became more familiar. He heard it all the time around pig farms and when hunting wild boars… something was sniffing about very loudly. Shermos, there aren't any boars here… He silently prayed. A boar could very well kill him in his state should he intrude on their territory. It's not like there were any pig farms around either… Unless...

"Hey, Big Guy?" He shouted through the "treeline", tightening the grip on his weapon.

There was a sharp squeal, like a surprised pig, followed by a very human voice. "Who's there?!" Something came blundering and crashing through the undergrowth, revealing itself to be a slightly dirty and very surprised Cho.

"Hey!" The big orc rushed over to Vidar, grinning happily and opening his arms for a hug. "You're not dead! I was worried for everyone. You're not hurt, are you?"

"Nothing too serious," he understated, "I'm going to have some pretty bad bruises, but nothing broken or missing." He dropped his bag, creating a loud, metallic clang, and slowly lowered himself to sit on it. The dragoon reached inside and retrieved his helmet, partially wrapped in a cloth to keep his recent find safe.

"Saying that, I think I'll need some rest and food before I'm going to be too useful." Vidar undid the simple knot on the cloth and withdrew one of the small, white mushrooms inside and held it up for the orc to see. "Long shot, but I found these and think they might be edible. You know anything about them?"

Cho took the mushroom, sniffing it delicately. "Very subtle aroma… firm, so it's in good shape…" Without asking, he popped the whole thing into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "Mild flavor, just a hint of a peppery aftertaste… these should be just fine!" He gave the tired dragoon a grin and a thumbs up.

He placed a hand on Vidar's shoulder, muttering a quick spell under his breath. His hand glowed green and Vidar felt warmth spread through his body, soothing his aches and leaving him feeling better. "That should do for a quick pick-me-up. An airship crash is nothing to just shrug off."

"How the hell," Vidar muttered, stretching his previously battered muscles. The pain wasn't entirely gone, but he was feeling more like he had a rough workout and less like walking death. "I'm going to guess that whatever you just did was not an orc thing. I think that was magic? No offense, but I didn't take you as the magical sort."

Loud rustles followed by a crashing noise in some nearby foliage signaled that the travelers may not be ready to have a restful snack just yet. After a tense moment they heard a loud Kweh! and knew at least it was no monster just before Adair and Bub shot out from a dense clump of trees. The bard was looking behind him and didn't even notice the pair until Bub came to such a sudden stop in front of them that Adair tumbled to the ground in a heap. "Don't tell me they somehow managed to cut us off?! There's no way they're fast enough - tell me it isn't so!" His panicked words were accompanied by equally frantic swinging of his head until his eyes met those of the dragoon and the orc priest. He froze, blinked a few times, then let out a huge breath and allowed himself to slump flat against the ground.

"Oh thank every sort of divine entity and benevolent shepherd of travelers and their fates! Finally a friendly face. Two, even!" Bub nudged Adair with his beak, then gave up when he didn't immediately move and stared at Cho and Vidar with his head cocked.

"Hey, you made it!" Cho made sure to keep away from Bub's claws and beak as he leaned in to check on Adair. "You okay, buddy? Need a hand?"
"Just taking a moment to breathe." Adair assured the orc with a wave. "A horde of nasty bugs were attacking Bub when I woke up. I believe they may have spotted me when I was unconscious and forced him to protect me. He's of a much more...fortified constitution than I."

Vidar pushed himself off his armor bag with his weapon before bending over to retrieve his helmet again. He dumped the small pile of glowing mushrooms on the ground next to his bag, moving a couple wayward members closer to the pile with his foot. Donning his helmet, he rolled his shoulder to loosen it up before walking to the front of the newly formed group. "They weren't still following you," he said, moving his hands to a fighting grip and watching the tree line, "were they?"

Adair sat up and twisted his back to look nervously from whence he came, then breathed a sigh of relief. "I don't think so, I stopped hearing their buzzing a while ago and I never heard about giant wasps being good trackers...But I can't be certain so we shouldn't drag our feet. If they showed up now Bub wouldn't be able to carry all three of us, he's far too tired, more than we could make up for with just a few Gysahl Greens."

"Well, I can't do much about that." Cho snorted, but placed a hand on Bub's neck regardless, casting Cure again. "But this should help you feel a little better. Maybe it's better if we move on, though. We could try to find the others, or I could keep following that delicious mushroom scent…" The chocobo kweh'd happily and gave Cho's shoulder a friendly headbutt.

"Probably best we keep searching for the others." Vidar relaxed, walking back to his pack and crouching down to pick up the mushrooms again. "If we waste too much time, they might leave the area. Who knows if we can find them if that happens."

The mushrooms secured in his helmet once more, Vidar stashed said helmet and wandered over to the stalk of a particularly large mushroom. He ran a hand along it's surface and shook his head. "This thing would be a pain to climb, I don't think we're going to get a good point to try and navigate here. I think we should just look at leaving the forest entirely, too easy to get lost here. Not to mention the giant wasps." He turned to Cho, struck by a sudden idea. "Can you smell anything that doesn't smell like the forest?"

Cho sniffed at the air, slowly turning in a circle. "There's a bit of smoke coming from that direction, but other than that it's just mushrooms."

"I'm just a simple bard, no mechanic or engineer, but I do believe things like crashed airships tend to make a lot of smoke." Adair pointed out rhetorically with a big sigh of relief. "Shall we see to our companions? We could even forage some more food along the way." Bub kweh'd his agreement.

"I'm all for foraging more food." Cho heartily agreed, leading the way. "And the others might need our help."

Vidar, now with his bag packed and ready to go, nodded in agreement. "Just lead the way, I'll keep an eye behind us for any bug that might follow."

"I'll stay in the middle and keep our spirits and energy up!" Adair announced, readying his lute while Bubbers fell in line beside him.
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gimmepie

gimmepie

25,488
Posts
11
Years
Ekha, Rayen, Cho, Adair & Vidar

Reunion

Spoiler:
Ekha bent down and opened the pack, looking inside to see that, remarkably, almost none of his supplies had been particularly badly damaged. Incredibly miraculously, the potions he'd bought earlier were still within their bottles, the glass unshattered.

He immediately downed one of his healing potions, putting the empty bottle back in the bag for later use. He turned back to Rayen. "I've got one more of those if you want to heal up before we keep looking for the others… not that we have much more time left for that. It's getting pretty late."

The sun's light was almost completely gone now, only the faintest traces of colour remaining in the sky. At this point, most of their search was being conducted using the light put out by some of the mushrooms.

"Hm, I'd appreciate the Potion, thanks." Rayen muttered, reaching out for the glass bottle despite having one of her own. "Makes it easier to keep going, at least."

Ekha passed her the bottle. "No worries. Don't want you dying on me now."

The demihuman quickly drank the Potion before giving back the empty bottle to her companion. "These empty flasks are useful, we can store various stuff in there. Like…" She kneeled down to pick up a small glowing mushroom. "Doesn't this one heal you a bit? Should be helpful."

"Maybe. I think so. I don't know much about mushrooms," Ekha replied, putting the empty bottle back in his pack before he shouldered it.

Off in the distance the pair heard the sound of music. A lively, lilting melody that brought to mind a long, relaxing walk through idyllic scenery drifted towards them through the trees. As the sounds drew closer they began to feel their fatigue and aches fade away even further, Ekha could clearly feel the flow of magic in the music.

"Who's there?" Rayen whispered to Ekha, gesturing to keep quiet and hear the music more clearly as her antennas twitched as well, sensing some more magic nearby. "That sounds oddly familiar."

"It's probably the guy with the Chocobo… Adair, I think he said. He was playing music as we ran away from the Aeon too. Let's head in that direction." Ekha began making his way toward the music, one hand on his bottle, just in case.


Vidar yawned from the back of the group, shifting his pack and rolling his sore shoulders. He occasionally looked around the mushroom treeline, but the bugs had given up the chase long ago and there was no sign of anything else coming to antagonize them. Thanks to this lull he was free to focus his eyes more on the sky for the past hour or so, watching clouds or the more the more docile wildlife buzzing through the air.

"It'll be getting pitch black soon," He said, having to speak up a little to be heard over Adair's song. "We'll get to the crash before dark, but we should probably start looking for a safe place to sleep."

"If we're lucky, we can take shelter inside the airship." Cho rose after gathering some more mushrooms and putting them in his bag. "Otherwise we'll have to try and make something out of mud and fungus."

"We could have eaten like lords if I still had my wagon." Adair complained without pausing his song, sounding like he was holding back tears just thinking about it.

"At least food is taken care of, so long as Cho's nose still works," Vidar shifted his bag again. "Wild mushroom stew isn't bad. Not having transport is the hard part. May not have liked it, but the ship beat walking."


As they approached the sound of the music, Ekha and Rayen found that they could hear familiar voices undercut by the rousing tone's of Adair's music. Although, they were still far enough away and in enough darkness that Ekha was unable to see the other fugitives yet, nor could he quite make out what they were saying.

"That's definitely them," he said, "I can't see them or make out what they're saying, but we must be pretty close now. Should we risk calling out to them, do you think?"

Rayen had just introduced herself… properly to Ekha, but she didn't feel quite ready to do the same with Adair, Cho and Vidar, even if their magic abilities (and Vidar's prowess with weapons) definitely enticed her. Was it really needed to reveal herself? "And then what? No need to call them out, but I'll keep an antenna on them." She muttered, trying to buy some time more than anything.

"Why wouldn't we?" Ekha asked, "We're wanted in the middle of dangerous territory. The more allies we have the better."

His companion just shrugged at his words. "Just a bit more time, alright?"


Cho brought up a hand to stall the group. "Hang on… I smell something different…" He sniffed cautiously at the air, although the ever-present fungus scent threw him off a little. "It's probably one of the others… smells kinda human, but also… a little buggy?"

"One of the people who escaped with us was part-bestial, of the insect variety, right?" Adair questioned.

"Yeah," Vidar answered, moving his weapon to a fighting position and walking closer to Adair and Cho. He shifted, ready to throw his pack to the ground at a moment's notice while eyeing the treeline suspiciously. "Can you tell if it's a different kind of bug or anything? Not ready to rule out smart bug-people in this forest."

"Please let them be nice, if they are."


"That doesn't make any sense," Ekha objected, slowing his pace but continuing to walk forward towards the sound of the other survivors. "They're on the run with us, it's not like they're about to attack us. Right now, we need all the help we can get. Come on."

"You know… fine." Rayen nodded, somewhat unsettled by Vidar's reaction, but also by the thought of losing him and the others once again. "Let's do this."

"Hey there, it's Hornet-Girl from the airship." She announced herself once she walked a bit closer, waving her hand in which she held a glowing mushroom. Ekha followed behind.

"Hey! You guys made it!" Cho gently pushed past Vidar to run over to Ekha and Rayen and pull them into a hug. "How are you guys holding up? Not too hurt, I hope?"

Rayen still looked at Cho warily, not because of his appearance but simply because of everything that happened in Ascana. And still, everyone really seemed to have put it all aside. The orc even hugged her! She smiled and breathed in. "So we fought this enormous poisonous wasp with a stinger this long and somehow still managed to kill it, but it left us wounded and desperate and in apprehension for what's to come."

"I can take care of wounded, and you should be less desperate with all of us here." Cho put a hand on Rayen and Ekha's shoulders, casting Cure on both of them. "Maybe the apprehension is smart, though."

"More importantly, there aren't any more of those wasps around here, right?" Vidar stared at the magic coming from the orc's hand for a moment, before he went back to watching the treeline. "We had our own run in with some, and I don't want to stumble into any more."

"I don't sense any nearby! Don't know about further away though." Rayen replied with a dry smile.

Vidar visibly relaxed after hearing that, his shoulders dropping and his weapon returned to an upright position. He turned to face the group properly, cracking a small smile in return. "That works for me. Save for some very angry wildlife, I don't suppose you guys have found anything noteworthy out here?"

"Do glowing mushrooms count as noteworthy?" Ekha asked, gesturing at the fungus still in Rayen's hand. "We thought these ones might be medicinal but we're not sure."

All at once Adair perked up and zoomed straight up to Rayen, looking closely at her hand. "Hold on, now that I look at it up close...that's a cure shroom… and it's the same kind we've been finding! Oh what luck! We should gather each one we can, we could sell these to any apothecary, and even some general stores and vegetable mongers!" He truly seemed to have come back to life. "Once we find civilization we can be more than poor vagabonds! We won't even need to eat them to help with any wounds we sustain thanks to our priest's and - to a lesser extent- my magic! As long as they aren't the only edible thing we find out here, I suppose. They may have to do. For tonight, at least."

Bubbers was listening acutely to his rider's words. Though, instead of following Adair, he began to nudge Vidar's helmet with his beak, hoping to knock a morsel loose so he could eat it. Feeling the motion of his bag, Vidar pulled out one of the mushrooms he gathered and quietly offered it to the chocobo. Bubbers happily snapped up the treat and rubbed his head against Vidar's shoulder with a kweh of thanks.

Rayen giggled at that. "There's got to be more than just mushrooms… but it won't be as easy to find now that it's dark. Tomorrow though… it's doable. Let's just find a shelter while we still can, what do you say?"

"As far as shelter goes," Ekha said, "I don't think we're going to get much better than crowding under some big mushrooms."

"I could have provided tents for us, but all my camping supplies were in my wagon." Adair complained. "Still, we're not in too dire of straits to make due for a night. What about the airship? Is it possible there's enough of it left to help?"

"I imagine there's wood spread out over the entire forest from the explosion." Vidar said, eyeing the tops of the mushrooms disapprovingly. He was obviously not a fan of the thought of sleeping under them. "We can probably find enough to get something over our heads. I didn't see rain clouds, but we're so close to the ocean that I'm not going to rule it out. Not to mention something like that wasp finding us while we sleep."

"We should get to searching soon then," Ekha said, "Which way?"

"Uhm, I barely know where I am going! I don't know where anything is anymore, especially after that one fight. But in case you do…" Rayen started placing a few pieces of the puzzle together, trying to recall the moments after the explosion. She was probably closer to the back of the ship, so she fell right in the ocean, but everyone else apparently did not, meaning… the front of the ship probably fell much further away from the coast, and was easier to retrieve bits and pieces from, too. "Maybe away from the coast? Do you remember which way that is?"

"Yeah," Ekha replied, "Pretty sure that means the opposite way than we were just heading."
​
 
gimmepie

gimmepie

25,488
Posts
11
Years
Ekha, Rayen, Cho, Adair & Vidar

Fear the Shroom

The group, having turned away from the coast, headed deeper into the forest again as the sun continued to fade from view, soon leaving the scene illuminated by nothing but the faint glowing of some of the more conspicuous mushrooms.

As they walked, it was true that they managed to find small chunks of wood that had been flung from the airship, or the occasional metal bar or gear. Every now and then, the destroyed remains of meagre cabin furnishings showed up instead.

They collected what they could as they walked, but it was getting progressively harder to find anything of note. As it were, they soon found themselves in another clearing where a few wooden beams and scraps of cabin linen had been scattered.

"Honestly," Ekha spoke up, "I feel like this is as good a place as any to put what we have to use and set up some sort of camp. It's pitch black anywhere those weird glowing mushrooms aren't glowing and I doubt we're going to find much more… and frankly I'm exhausted."

"Same…" Cho dropped the pile of wood he'd been carrying. "And I'm sick of the mushroom smell. Almost. Still makes me hungry, though…"

Vidar looked over the wreckage and nodded to himself. "It'll work. We can plant the beams and lean them against one of the mushrooms. We then hopefully have enough cloth to form some kind of covering. Like a big tent."

Rayen walked closer as well, bringing her own - admittedly much smaller - pile of wreckage. "Seems like a good plan!" She nodded, trying to hide her frustration for ending up in that situation to begin with.

Cho picked up a beam, looking around for a mushroom to lean it against. A faint smell caught his attention, and he set the beam back down, getting closer to the ground. "Truffles…"

"What?" Ekha asked, in the process of trying to jam an awkwardly damaged plank of wood into the ground at a good angle. "Uh… Cho? What are you doing?"

The big orc slowly crawled away from the others, fervently sniffing at the ground. "I'm gathering food. I can smell 'em, it's getting stronger! Means I'm getting closer…"

"Uhm…?" Rayen questioned, looking at the Bestial. "We have a shelter to build first!"

Without further ado, Bubbers followed the orc, sniffing alongside him, though the Chocobo's nose was more attuned to a different delicacy. Adair sighed at the pair's one-track minds but shook his head at Rayen. "Leave them to it, they've both spent a lot of energy making sure others were okay since we crashed. Let them take a bit of a break, we'll need something to eat after some work anyways." His smile returned quickly enough when he caught up to Bubbers and pulled off the big bundle of salvage he'd been hauling before he got too far. "If we set a good pace we'll have ourselves a proper camp in no time!"

"Maybe you could set up a fire while we finish setting up this shelter?" Ekha added, looking over his shoulder at Rayen as he returned to his work. "Might have been hard if we hadn't picked up any smaller lumber since there's not really a lot of wood around."

Fire, uh? Rayen shuddered as the memory of Ifrit came back to haunt her, but still complied, and slowly created a little pile of sticks and wooden scrap to use as fuel. "Alright, this should work!"

Vidar hummed to himself as he worked, tying the pieces of wood meant to hold the canvas to those meant for support. He gave the beam a small shove to make sure it was in place after completing the knot before stepping back to wipe his face. "So… uh…" He started, unsure quite how to broach the subject. "You think the other two are okay? The night has me admittedly a little concerned for them."

"There's not much we can do about it now either way," Ekha replied, "If we try and search for them in the darkness like this, we're just going to be making ourselves fodder too. For what it's worth though, that Azure girl can handle herself. I can personally vouch for that."

"Agreed, they're both quite capable." Rayen chimed in. Leaving the camp now to look for Lumi of all people didn't really sound enticing, and even while her safety wasn't guaranteed, the thought of having her stay with Azure somehow dampened her worries.

The conversation was interrupted by a porcine squeal of surprise and an alarmed "WARK!" from Bubbers. Cho's search for food had led him toward mushrooms of a different calibre. This one towered over even the big orc, with massive arms and stumpy legs. It was currently trying to drag Cho into the gaping maw below its cap, utterly silent and taciturn in this endeavor.

"Guys!" Rayen quickly called out, her antennas twitching frantically as she finally realized what was happening. She ran towards her bow and quiver, which she left on the ground as she tried to start the campfire, and loaded an arrow, ready to shoot. But even after locating the enemy, she hesitated.

Not being in a close-knit team of other hunters was probably what made her less focused. She had to keep an eye on all the others, and this time they were four people - not just Ekha - whose minds she couldn't really get inside. And so, she just walked close enough to Scan the sentient mushroom with her antennas, hoping that they'd do their job without her getting hurt.

Vidar had no such hesitation, and after a quick scramble to grab his weapon charged the fungus before he could make a meal of the orc. Using the full force of his charge, the dragoon shoved the spearpoint of his halberd into the creature, pushing the weapon with all his might to shove the creature away from Cho. The gambit worked in clearing about a foot and a half for Cho to escape, while Vidar kept the speartip aimed at his foe, watching like a coiled snake.

The enormous fungal creature was held back, but only briefly. It shunted Vidar out the way with a swipe of one of its appendages and began to move towards Rayen, its movements strange and alien as all of its various mushroom-like stalks beyond the central one with its ravenous mouth seemed to be usable for the purpose of locomotion.

"What is that?!" Ekha shouted, opening his Djinn Bottle and blasting the mushroom creature with an Aero. The monster was pushed back again but seemed unperturbed, continuing its crawl towards Rayen.

In the meantime, the hornet girl caught onto Ekha's antics and shot her arrow, hoping that the strategy that worked so well against the big wasp would prove effective again. She then backpedaled quickly, almost stumbling onto the roots and twigs on the ground, as she tried to make her way back to the campfire. "Near the fire!" She called out, hoping that the monster would at least think twice before getting too close to it.

A certain Ascanian Mandolin thunked off of the mushbeast's hide, pummelling it with magical impacts until it turned its attention from Rayen. As soon as it did, it laid eyes on an Adair who shrank back, desperately wishing to be anywhere else. A stray stalk swung down towards him, but he sidestepped it and began to pluck at his instrument. As more and more attacks came, the Bard's frantic dodging became more like a defensive dance, and his music picked up in pitch as well as tempo. The song filled his allies with a battle fervor and despite his fear, he even looked like he was having fun playing and prancing around the strikes.

With the creature more or less held in place by the bard's dance, Vidar saw a perfect opportunity to land a solid hit on the beast. He ran a large circle around the bizarre duel, lining the fungoid beast up with the campfire behind it. Comfortable with his angle of attack, he charged the creature to try and knock it into the fire.

At least that's what he hoped Rayen was signalling. With no time to think, lest the bard's luck finally run out, he slammed the butt of his halberd into the ground and hauled himself into the air. It wasn't a particularly high jump, more a low and fast angle for a bit of last minute momentum. The dragoon straightened out his body as he jumped, going full horizontal for a powerful kick to the creature's shoulder. Vidar crashed unceremoniously onto his side as the creature stumbled back towards the campfire, its stumpy legs struggling to get footing.

I meant us, not… it! Rayen yelled… in her head. She had to stay focused on the group's common enemy and, really, she couldn't really blame her companions for not understanding. It would've been a while before she'd get used to them and vice versa. All she could do was strafe around the Mushroom and shoot another arrow, this time focusing enough so that it could become a Critical Shot.

The mushroom monster, surprisingly, roared in fury at the hefty impact from behind it, a sound that only grew in intensity as the arrow pierced deep into its rubbery flesh. Whatever this creature was, it evidently felt pain.

It took several more swiped at random around it in a blind rage, forcing all nearby to duck and dive around the attacks.

Cho approached Rayen from the side, staying out of her line of fire. "Your arrows are hurting it! Keep it up!" He put a hand on her shoulder, casting Haste on her. From her perspective, everything seemed to slow down except herself.

From behind the creature, having positioned himself during the commotion, Ekha unleashed an Aero from his bottle, the torrent of compressed air slamming into the monster and pushing it ever closer towards the fire, although it still wasn't enough to move the powerful creature the whole way.

The creature retaliated again, an explosion of yellow-grey spores rushing out from its body in all directions.

Cho was helping Vidar back to his feet when the spores burst. He pulled the armored man closer to himself, using his large porcine body as a shield. He cast Protect on Vidar, mystical armor layering itself upon his regular armor.

Rayen nodded appreciatively, thanking Cho for the pleasant yet unexpected boost, but kept her eyes - and antennas - on the mushroom creature. She waited until Ekha's Aero was done before shooting again, and had to wait even more because of all the spores that forced her to backpedal. Luckily, the added speed made it much easier to reposition herself and made her feel much safer and in control.

And so, once she was ready, she cast out Barrage, using her mana to shoot faster than she could ever do normally. Combined with the effect of Haste, the galvanized hornet girl fired off nearly all of her arrows at a speed that made them almost invisible. Maybe a single hit wasn't that effective, but more of them all in the same place were surely going to hurt… and while she definitely couldn't defeat the mushroom by herself, she was still happy that she could contribute. As long as she could retrieve her arrows, obviously.

"Thank you," Vidar said to his protector once he was solidly on his feet. He looked over the creature, which seemed furious at the rangers prodding of the same point. He prepared his weapon for a second charge. "If he's hurt, then I'm going to really piss it off."

He advanced cautiously, fast enough to close the gap but with enough accuracy to weave between the gaps in the spores. It wasn't fast enough to Jump, but he did manage to get within striking distance of the enraged creature. The creature noticed his approach, turning to face the Dragoon and shield its wounded back. Regardless, Vidar pressed on with the attack, converting the last of his momentum into an explosive Lancet aimed at the creature's center of gravity. The spear-point of the halberd pierced the mush-beast's stomach, continuing its loss of ground towards the fire as it stumbled from the effects of the blow. Vidar did not pursue, falling back to Arm's Length as his muscles felt surprisingly refreshed from the motion.

Ekha followed up on the offense, blasting the creature with another Aero, the powerful gust pushing the creature back even further as the cloud of spores around it was blown away from the general direction of the group.

The creature roared as more arrows buried themselves in its body and it swung wildly again, but it was now clear that the wounds were taking a toll and it was right by the fire now. All they had to do was give it one more push and then keep it in place.

"Nearly there!" Ekha called to the others.

Cho rushed forward as the mush-beast was distracted by his companions. Forgoing weapons of any kind, he simply threw himself forward, putting all of his weight on the creature and knocking it into the fire.

The mushroom monster roared in pain, swinging about wildly as, now completely on fire, it slowly moved back out, setting its sights on Cho. The flames were clearly killing it, but it seemed determined to fight until it had been burned down to cinders.

A shadow crossed over several of the fighters alongside the sound of an uproarious squawk and none other than Sir Reginald Bubbers Windrunner came crashing down from on high, slamming both of his massive feet claws-first into the mushroom monster.

Cho barely had time to cast Protect on himself before one if the wild swings smacked him aside. His spell cushioned him from the impact, but the beast was still deceptively strong for a fungus. "Careful, Bubbers! Now it's on fire, too!"

Rayen looked from afar as her companions kept fighting, trying to find better chances to attack but also afraid to end up with no more arrows left - the ones she was able to find after the airship's explosion were no more than two dozens, barely sufficient for one or two battles such as this one. The fire didn't help her with that, and so her only option was to watch the Mushroom slowly burn to death. At least dodging was made easier by Haste, though.

Bub leaped away from each attack of the beast gracefully, darting back in each time he saw an opening to deliver another sharp kick, squawking trashtalk only he understood the entire time.

Eventually, Rayen decided to act again. It was time to end this - she just had enough of having that thing around, and one more arrow was definitely worth it. She gathered all the energy she had left to land another Critical Shot, right in the center of the monster's stalk.

The monster continued struggling forward, burned and still-burning chunks of its body sloughing off of it as it did so. It's movements got slower and slower, to the point that nobody was even bothering to flee anymore. It rounded on Bubbers, stretching out an appendage that then also fell from its body. Then the rest of it crumpled into a heap in the middle of the camp.

"I think we got it," Ekha said.

Thanks to Haste's effects still lingering, Rayen was the first to get close to what was left of the monster. Disappointed, for the fire made scavenging the body essentially impossible, she recovered no more than two arrows and looked at her surroundings. "Are you all good?" She called out then. "We couldn't have asked for a better campfire."

"Yeah, all good," Ekha replied, "But I'd very much like to go to sleep."
​
 
Juno

Juno

4,683
Posts
10
Years
  • Age 29
  • Seen Mar 22, 2024

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LOST (AND FOUND?)

🍄 Titan Shrooms ft. Azure​

Lumi felt a gentle poking and prodding in her midsection. She squeezed her eyes together tighter, trying to ignore the disturbance and shifting groggily in her sleep. Ow, my neck. Did I fall asleep weirdly…?

"Mmmfive more minutes, Grandpa."

As she spoke, she felt something else strange. Her mouth was dry. And gritty. Really gritty. For that matter, instead of hearing her Grandpa's voice in response, a chittering noise greeted her. What… where am I?

She finally opened her eyes. Or at least tried to, but found herself face-down in some sand. Sitting up spluttering and trying to get the sand out of her mouth, she looked around and quickly returned to reality. The airship! Oh- She glanced around quickly for the others, but all she could see was yellow sand around her, and something like a forest in the distance.

The prodding sensation had gone away when she sat up, but in her periphery, she saw something move. Her heart leapt. Was it someone from the airship? As she rubbed her eyes and struggled to get a closer look, she saw that it was… her bag. It was moving away from her. Quickly.

"What!" she exclaimed in surprise. Standing up and fully alert now, she ran after it. As she ran down the narrow stretch of beach towards the forest, she saw something else familiar. Her long, white hair was obscuring her face as she slumped against a tree, but it was unmistakably the pilot-thief girl.

"H-hey! Stop my bag!" Lumi called out to her. The girl stirred from the noise, but did not react quickly enough to Lumi's confusing demand, and the bag quickly slipped into the forest behind her. "Oh-!" The Moogle stopped next to the tree. For a split-second she considered running into the forest after it, but she had to check on the girl. "Hey, are you alright?"

Azure's eyes fluttered open, a pained groan slipping out of her lips as she slowly lifted her head. "What… who…?"

Her vision slowly began to come back to her. In particular, the sight of the small moogle looking up at her with concern brought back memories of everything that had happened. The shaking and rocking of the airship was now fresh in her minds as she slowly pulled herself up to her feet, legs shaking all the while.

"Well… At least we're alive…" Azure finally said. She took a look around, noticing a distinct lack of the boy with the bottle, the big orc, the man in the armor, and all the others. "Well… at least we are, anyways."

"Yeah, I didn't see anyone else on my way here. I mean, I've only been up for a few minutes myself, but- ah!" Not that finding the others wasn't important, but Lumi didn't want her current task at hand to slip away. Literally. "My bag- kind of… ran into the forest," she tried her best to explain without sounding like she hit her head when she landed. "You mind helping me…?" she gestured towards the dark forest behind them.

Azure glanced in the direction Lumi pointed. It was very dark inside… definitely not somewhere the thief really wanted to go wandering around aimlessly in. Then again, there wasn't much the duo had going for them outside for that matter.

"Yeah… Yeah, let's try and make it quick though," Azure replied. She gazed up towards the sky, quickly taking in the sight of the setting sun. "It's gonna be dark soon, so I really don't wanna be wandering around in there at night."

"Of course, thank you!" The moogle had already taken several steps into the forest as soon as Azure had said 'yeah'. "It'll be alright, I'm sure - tons of forests where I'm from, my sister and I go exploring in 'em all the time, I'm sure this is no different…" she shivered a little as she said that, though, a light breeze gently swaying the foliage around them. "And I've been told I'm pretty good at magic, so I'm sure everything will be fine."

"A mage, huh? Well, then lead on Miss Wizard. I'm right behind ya," Azure confirmed as she drew her rapier in the event of someone or something decided to try and get the drop on the duo.

The forest was unlike any that Lumi had ever seen near her home; there was some foliage she was familiar with, but mostly, instead of tall trees, canopies of giant mushrooms shielded them from any sunlight that may have still peeked through at this hour, as they moved further in. Not that she would have been afraid to be alone in here, Lumi still glanced back periodically to see if the strange girl was still nearby.

As she tripped over another raised root, the Moogle let out a frustrated sigh. "Okay, I think we need a little bit of light in here. Give me a second," stooping down, Lumi picked up a small, deadened log of some sort, and held it upright, with her left hand at the base. She clasped her right hand over the top of the branch and let the Black magic flow through her. Within a few seconds, a bright burst of flame ignited the top half of the log and bathed the area in a warm, golden light. She held it out like a torch between them.

"Not too shabby," Azure replied as a look of relief seemed to overtake her features. "You're much more handy with that fire magic than another Moogle I know…"

"Sounds like there's a story to tell there-" Lumi began, but her eyes, now adjusting to the newly-lit forest around them, shifted to something behind Azure. "but that's gonna have to wait. Looks like we have company!"

The sudden brightness seemed to have upset some of the residents of the forest, and what appeared to be just a cluster of vegetation in low lighting was now wriggling to life.

"Watch out, Mralbro!" Lumi called out. "M-Marlboro? I can never pronounce it but, oh, this is not the time for-" without further hesitation, she hurled the flaming log in her hand at the appendage reaching for her companion. The beast let out an echoing shriek, as the fire spreaded up its limb. It was enough to injure the creature, but not defeat it. And it was angry now.

Azure gripped her rapier tightly, her eyes widening as she watched the plant-like creature take a swing at Lumi with its vine-like arms. Quickly, the white-haired thief dashed forward and jabbed her rapier into Malboro.

"What in the world is a Malboro doing here? We aren't that far away from the city, right?!" the thief questioned.

"Does it look like there's any civilization nearby?!" Lumi yelped and jumped away as a viney limb smacked the ground near her. Too close. "Alright, okay. This is fine. We can do this. It's two against one, we're gonna be fine."

As soon as she saw an opening, the Moogle conjured a small flame in the palms of each hand, hurling them towards the giant creature.

The Malboro let out a deep roar. While Azure's rapier stabs seemed to be doing little more than making the creature angry, the fire from the tiny Moogle mage was having a great deal stronger effect. The gigantic, green creature slammed its tentacles into the ground, before whipping them around and thrashing one right into Azure. The white-haired girl let out a surprised grunt before flying back, just barely managing to land on her feet.

"Looks like he's a mad boy now," she taunted, before glancing over at her companion. She readied her rapier and charged in again. "Keep up the fire, Lumi!"

"R-right, on it!" The glow of the fire danced in her eyes as Lumi summoned a larger ball of flame. She released it just before it got big enough to burn herself, throwing it at the aggravated monster in front of them. The fire caught on to one of its smaller appendages, and it let out another horrible cry as the tentacle burned off. "Do you think we can actually kill it, or…?" The Moogle shouted out over the shrieking Malboro.

"No idea," Azure replied, smiling as she hopped back in an attempt to dodge another swing of the tentacle. "I've heard these things are supposed to be super tough to handle. Like, deadly even! Something about…"

As if it had been rehearsed, the Malboro let out one more roar before suddenly taking in a deep breath. Azure took a slow step back, watching as the putrid creature's cheeks (if it really even had those) suddenly began to puff out. It began to grunt and groan, before its monstrous lips suddenly opened wide. A deep, echoing belch rang out through the air, causing the leaves of the nearby trees to rustle, with cawing and squawking of nesting birds to follow up in a chorus of sorts before taking off in fear and surprise. Azure froze on the spot, the white-haired thief's brain racing to process what she had just witnessed. She didn't have much of a chance to put it all together, however. A foul stench began to fill the air around her, one that made her feel sick to her stomach. The forest surrounding her and Lumi began to spin, making her feel dizzy as she stumbled over, just barely managing to catch her balance before falling right down to her knees.

"I… I think I'm gonna…" she gagged, trying her best to keep from losing whatever contents were in her stomach.

"Oh, g- what in Shermos' name is that?" The moogle exclaimed, as she put an arm over her nose and reached out for Azure's shoulder with the other. "Hey, are you okay?"

Azure slowly looked up towards Lumi, her eyes looking glazed over before she narrowed in an attempt to focus on the Moogle speaking to her. Suddenly she gasped and fell onto her backside, grip on rapier tightening before she pointed it out in fear at Lumi.

"A g-goblin?! Double teaming me! Not on your life, pal!" Azure declared, quickly jumping up and thrusting her blade in the Moogle mage's direction.

"Goblin? What are you talking about, where?" Lumi sprang to the side, narrowly avoiding the jab. Her eyes darted around suspiciously, before realizing where the girl was pointing. "Well, that's not very nice. I smell a lot better than- oh." Arm still over her face, she suddenly figured out what the awful stench was. "No, no, no, we don't have time for this! Come-"

She let out a sharp squeal and jumped back as a tentacle suddenly slammed down between them. "Azure, let's go!"

"Not on your life, you lanky-armed goon!" she took another stab towards Lumi, barely missing before stumbling over her own feet. The girl began to giggle as she fell face down in the dirt, before turning back to the Malboro with a goofy grin. "A bit tipsy, your highness! But I'll save you from this menace!"

"Alright, come on, you crazy oaf." Lumi removed her arm from her face as the smell subsided and grabbed the girl by her ankle, as she tugged her out of the way of another attack. She sighed. "Oh, why didn't I learn any White Magic? You better get up - I'm doing my best, but I'm not dying here because of you."

Just then, a loud "WARK!" startled Lumi into dropping Azure's ankle. It was… "A Chocobo…?" She looked around. This sure didn't look like the kind of forest they would be native to. It sounded fairly close by, though. Could it be…?

"I-I'm going to get help, wait right here! You just… try to stay alive." Distracted by the antics of the confused Azure, the Malboro did not notice as Lumi quietly slipped through the tall, mushroom trees, moving towards the sound of the squawking.

Inventory (currently missing)

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650 Gil​

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Ezra's Tome: An old, worn tome given to Lumi by the old mage in the woods that taught her Black Magic. It is a beginner's spell tome and contains a few basic elemental spells. Scribbles and notes made by Lumi fill the margins.

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Foot Wart Potion: A potion brewed by Mercer for a patient in Saltstone Town and handed to Lumi for delivery. She seems to have forgotten to deliver it.

Skills​

Lumi does not have a staff or weapon yet, but she can cast spells without the use of one, just rather weakly. She uses these spells regularly for fun with no real intent to harm, as she has not had the need to use them offensively yet.

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Thunder: A small jolt of lightning is conjured and shot through a target.

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Blizzard: Conjures a storm within a small radius where the target is pelted with bits of hail. Can be used to freeze small amounts of water.

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Water: Conjures a wave of water that rushes towards target(s).

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Fira: Intermediate fire magic. Conjures flames to engulf target(s), or can be thrown at a target. Lumi is able to control the size of her flames within her power, ie. she can still cast minor fire magic.


 
gimmepie

gimmepie

25,488
Posts
11
Years
Full Party

Confusion

The gang was not going to be able to rest. Not yet, at least.

Before they caught their breaths from the battle, a rustling noise alerted them to another possible danger. A small, pale creature ran into the campsite before falling to her knees, panting. Her light-colored fur was a little matted, and there were a few rips in her tunic, but otherwise, she looked unharmed.

It was Lumi.

"Oh, what is that?" When she collected herself, she looked up at the felled Mushbeast and scrambled backwards, poking it with her foot to confirm it was not getting back up, before continuing. "Nevermind, we need help!"

"LUMI!" Cho charged in, scooping up the little Moogle and pulling her into a big hug. "I wasn't sure if you'd made it out okay! I'm so glad you're safe! Are you hurt? Wait… what do you mean, you 'need help'?"

She managed to get out a muffled "I'm fine," from Cho's arms, hugging the large orc back as best as she could. She hadn't known these people long, but boy, was it good to see them again. And Bubbers.

"Not sure how much good I'll be," Ekha replied, "But I guess this is just what our lives are now. Lead the way."

"Thank you!" Lumi breathed out as Cho gently set her back down. "It's uh, it's this way." She spun around, finding her bearings again. "We ran into a Malboro, of all things…" The Moogle launched into a breakdown of events as she led the group back to where the confused Azure was. "Hope she's still alive. Let's hurry."

"Can this forest stop trying to kill us for a few hours?" Vidar grumbled, fastening the last few latches on his armor for the third time today. He followed Lumi closely, but watched the mushrooms around them more than the path ahead. "I don't think I've ever actually ran into one, anyone know what to expect?"

"Big, ugly smelly monster that's annoyingly hard to kill," Ekkha responded, following along with Lumi and Vidar. "Pretty much on par with the rest of our luck lately."

"Pretty much." Lumi nodded, wading deeper into the forest. "Oh, speaking of smelly - it does this... this thing where it opens its mouth and it smells so bad you think you're gonna die. I covered my face to shield from it but I think that's what's got Azure. Something's not right with her right now, you'll see..."

Rayen kept quiet the whole time, annoyed at Lumi's presence but not enough to wish for more harm coming her way. One more time, thoughts of leaving the group behind started to come up again, especially because if she didn't, one more monster to fight was waiting for her. But of course, it also didn't take long for her to realize that she needed the group's protection more than ever, now that she used up most of her arrows for the Mushroom creature. A couple sighs were the only indication of her mental state though - she didn't say anything else.

The party pressed onward, coming to a small clearing that Lumi had fled from not long ago. The sight that befell them was one that would raise several eyebrows, whether full context was given or not. The giant and putrid Malboro that Lumi had described stood in the middle of the clearing. A foul stench emanated from the beast, one that would cause even the strongest of stomachs to churn in repulsion. A feral and slobbery growl echoed out from the creature, the monster blind to the oncomers for something much more tantalizing.

A single tentacle was currently wrapped around the ankle of Azure. The white-haired thief was hanging upside down in the creature's grasp, seemingly oblivious to the peril she was currently in. Swinging back and forth, a faint giggle could be heard from the girl. It seemed as though she was actually enjoying her current plight.

"M-My my, princess… You're too kind!" Azure exclaimed, hiccuping and slurring her speech as if she was intoxicated on some very strong liquor. "But you n-needn't be so jolly… I was just doing my duty!"

The Malboro brought the thief closer to its presence. A massive, slimy tongue slipping out of its grotesque mouth, dripping with drool and other substances that no one would dare want to diagnose. Without warning, the giant tongue slurped up the hanging thief's form, causing her body to shiver and squirm, despite her obvious delusions to the situation she found herself in.

"P-Princess! Not before the royal court! People will talk!" Azure exclaimed and pointed to the rest of her party. All the while, a deep, crimson blush worked its way to her cheeks as she spoke.

"Great. Was hoping it would have worn off by now, but at least she's alive, I guess," Lumi muttered under her breath. Her voice was muffled as she buried her face in her arms again to avoid the stench. "What do we do? Do we… shoot her down? Can we shoot her down?"

Cho ran forward, knowing his plan was bad, but it was the first thought he had. He cast Haste, upon himself this time, charging in and smacking the Malboro with his hammer. "Hey, ugly!" He taunted the tentacled beast, slapping his own rump mockingly. "Why go for a scrawny girl like her when you could have some plump, juicy orc?"

Rayen nodded in approval at Cho's move, but still remained in the back of the group and tried to find a safe spot to perch herself onto. Possibly away from that stench…

She still did not forget about that other way she could make herself useful, though. With her antennas, she Scanned the enemy, ready to report their findings to the rest of the group… and watch them do nearly all the work.

Vidar took off after the orc once he realized that was the full extent of Cho's plan, his armor clanking with each step. "Like the enthusiasm," he shouted as he approached, "we need to talk about the follow up though." The dragoon fell in line next to the orc, threatening the monster with the spear end of his weapon.

He changed his grip to one more suited for rapid thrusts and accurate strikes to better keep the Marlboro at bay. It wasn't much of a deterrent, but it was better than offering up the only one of them who appeared to have competency with White Magic as bait. His stomach didn't appreciate his proximity to the creature though, and he felt it churn just standing next to it.

"Someone please just shoot our paramour down and let Cho catch her before we start puking please!"

Ekha watched on with concern as the monstrosity smacked Cho and Vidar away with its writhing tentacles as though they were made of paper, dangling Azure towards its cavernous mouth with another. He was painfully aware at that moment that there was little he could do to act on Vidar's suggestion, so he settled for drawing its attention with a feeble blast of water from his bottle. "Rayen, sounds like a job for you!"

She was late, but at least she still acted on Ekha's suggestion. Once her bow was ready, she let go a Critical Shot one more time, trying to hit the one tentacle that was holding Azure. In between the heavy breaths that followed, she tried to count the arrows that were still left in her quiver - really not many - and ran her fingers through the sheath of her dagger, before finally letting the group know about the scan. "We need fire again! And Haste too…"

Even as the words left Rayen's lips, the arrow struck home. The Marllboro's tendril was pierced and it dropped Azure with a gurgling scream. In a fury, it started to crawl towards Rayen, swatting aside those foolish enough to get in its way.

In his Hasted state, Cho managed to catch Azure before she hit the ground. He swiftly retreated from the foul-smelling beast, carrying Azure over one shoulder to free up his hand as he approached Lumi. "Fire's your thing, right? I've got the Haste!" He lightly touched Lumi's head as he cast Haste upon her. She perked up, giddy from the spell. "Right!" Without another word, she zipped away from the group, looking for an opening to attack.

"Oh my… what's a tall drink of water like yourself doing in a place like this…?" Azure suddenly inquired. She shifted in Cho's grasp, leaning forward with squinted eyes as the whole forest seemed to be spinning. "You fancy a drink, handsome? I know a good place by the docks."

Vidar rolled after getting shoved over by the Marlboro, managing to land on one knee. He pushed himself back to his feet and sprinted after the creature. He started to catch up to the creature and pulled his arms back and prepared a swing of his weapon. "Don't take your eyes off me," he shouted as he slammed the axe-head into the creature's side, throwing all his weight into the strike. The axe didn't pierce particularly far into the creature's main body, but it gouged deep cuts in several of the smaller tentacles across it's rounded body. "Is there anything in this forest that actually bleeds? Would be a little helpful to me."

"Just the bugs," Ekha replied, ducking under a whipping tendril as the Marlboro roared and flailed in response to Vidar's attack. That earned him a pout from Rayen, who was further away from the enemy already.

Suddenly, the roar turned into an ugly, much louder shriek as a ball of flame hit the creature in the back of its head. Lumi must have found the opening she was looking for, as the beast was pelted with a well-timed Fira that glowed especially bright in the shrouded, night forest. The power of her spell was still the same as before, but bolstered by Cho's Haste, she was able to cast it two more times in quick succession before the Malboro could turn around. It swatted at the flames with its own burning appendages, spreading the fire around more. Lumi gazed up at the angry beast, whose attention was now solely on her. It was in pretty bad condition now, but that didn't make it any less terrifying.

The screaming of the Malboro alerted Azure. The white-haired thief shot up in Cho's grasp, staring in a mix of shock and horror at the sight of the burning Malboro.

"My queen!" Azure cried out, starting to flail and squirm in the orc's grasp. "What are you beasts doing?! Fear not, your highness! I'm coming!" The thief made an attempt to pry herself further out of Cho's grasp. Her hand quickly dropping to the hilt of her rapier in the process. "Release me, scoundrel! Are you with these vile fiends?!"

Cho had to adjust Azure in his grip, hugging the squirming thief tightly to his chest. "Easy, Azure, easy! Let's keep this friendly, now!"

Ekha looked between Lumi and Cho, deciding quickly that the moogle was in the most danger. He made a dash towards Lumi and the screaming Marlboro inhaled deeply and started spewing out a noxious yellow-green cloud.

Holding his breath and pushing himself to his limits, Ekha placed himself between the Marlboro and Lumi, raising his open Djinn Bottle and channeling what was left of his mana into it. The fumes of the monster's bad breath started flowing into the open receptacle, leaving Ekha and Lumi unharmed.

"Hit it again!" Ekha shouted over the monster's growls.

"On it!" With the threat of its poison bottled, Lumi sprang up. She clambered onto Ekha's shoulders for a bit of extra height, before jumping and aiming her Fira into the beast's gaping maw. A sizzling noise could be heard from within as she dropped back down onto the loamy soil. The creature slumped backward, and it finally went silent.

"N-No!" Azure cried out. The white-haired thief finally managed to pry herself free from Cho's grasp. She scrambled to the burning carcass of the defeated Marlboro, eyes wide with horror. "Your highness… I failed you…" Azure sniffled, her body shaking as she felt her anger flaring up. She grabbed the hilt of her blade, quickly jumping to her feet and drawing the rapier to point at Lumi and the rest of the party. "I'll slay you all! On my dying breath, I will not stop until you monsters are nothing more than corpses, long forgotten in these woods!"

Lumi took a step back from the weapon, moving behind the large orc. "Cho, you're a White Mage, right? Do something." She whispered.

"Uh…" Cho slowly approached Azure, hands up in a placating gesture. "Easy, girl. We're all friends, right? Put the sword down…"

"Not like that! I meant something… White Mage-y. Do you know Esuna?"

While Azure is distracted, Cho quickly brought his oversized fist down on her head, knocking the poor girl silly. He quickly caught her, casting a Cure spell out of pity. "No… I know Cure, though."

Lumi poked the unconscious Azure. She gently checked for a pulse and shrugged. "...Well, she's not dead. I'm sure she'll be fine."
​
 
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gimmepie

gimmepie

25,488
Posts
11
Years
Chapter Three
Putting the nightmare of Titan Shrooms behind you, you manage to exit the fungal forest and enter Othon beyond. Over the next several days, you travel over grassy plains until eventually you see the first sight of civilization in the distance.

Rising up from the grasslands are numerous enormous cylindrical structures pressed up against one another. This is the city of Delice.

Delice is often regarded as the world capital for bestials and part-bestials. Those of bestial blood make up the vast majority of this city's population and each of its large cylinders contains a specially maintained biome for the comfort of those within. Each is linked to the city's main entrance via a portal, making the entrance a very busy location.

The people here primarily worship Kush, the goddess of food and shelter, and Aeis, the god of prosperity. Due to the tenements of these deities, the people of Delice have a reputation for being very friendly, welcoming and peaceful - although following these gods is not mandatory. Strangely though, people seem to be looking upon the group with distrust and even fear - especially Cho.

Chapter Objective: Gather information and supplies.

Loot:
Potion (100G)
Antidote (100G)
Eye Drops (100G)
Knuckles (300G)
Arrows (2G each or 15G for 20)
Rod (350G)
Fork (300G)
Flamberge Rapier (450G)
Ring (300G)
Bronze Plate Armour (400G)
Memory Sphere - Poisona (2000G)
Memory Sphere - Thundara (2500G)
Memory Sphere - Sinewy Etude (2000G)

​
 
Juno

Juno

4,683
Posts
10
Years
  • Age 29
  • Seen Mar 22, 2024

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    [/tab] [tab=inventory2]
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    [/tab] [tab=skills2]
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    [/tab]
​

STOWAWAY

🍄 Titan Shrooms​

Lumi couldn't sleep.

No one else was awake to talk to her—the events of the last day must have had them all pretty pooped. She was kind of sleepy, too, but her mind was racing and she just could not rest yet, so she grabbed a small log from the firepit and decided to go for a little walk. Yes, in the death forest. What was the worst that could happen?

She didn't venture far from where the group was camping; at this distance, if another murderous Malboro or mushroom monster were about to attack them, they were going to make it into their campsite anyway. So she was kind of acting as a lookout, if anything. Lumi hummed quietly to herself as she looked around. She held up her light to the different flora in the vicinity; it was actually kind of a cool forest, when they weren't being chased down by grotesque creatures with foul breath. She walked up to a pretty, purple mushroom tree. It glowed faintly—not enough to light up the area around it, but it definitely caught her attention. On one of the smaller, fungal branches hung a dark lump that looked strangely familiar.

It was...

Her bag?

Oh, right! Her bag. No wonder it felt like she had been travelling lighter. With everything that had happened, she'd completely forgotten about that. Now that she recalled her and Azure's initial mission and why they stepped foot in here in the first place, Lumi also remembered the bizarre sight of the bag scurrying off without her when they first crash-landed. She approached it vigilantly, glancing around. It might be bewitched or something.

It did not move at all this time, as she inched closer. That was a good sign. She finally reached out with her free hand and snatched it up, and... nothing out of the ordinary happened. With a sigh of relief, she quickly threw the strap over her shoulder and hurried back to the relative safety of their campsite.

The fire crackled as she threw the log she borrowed back into the pit. Sitting near the warm flames, she opened her bag to check if all her stuff were still there. It was mostly Ezra's tome that she really cared about. What else did she have on her? Clothes? Money? That was all replaceable. Oh, right, and that accursed potion. She thought, as the sickly green bottle rolled into view to remind her what a terrible granddaughter she was. She pulled it out and set it aside with the rest of her belongings. As she felt around the bottom, she also pulled out some... leaves? Lumi didn't keep her bag super tidy, but there was more random debris in here than she remembered. Her fingers wrapped around something warm and wriggly, and then—

"Ow. Ow! What the—?" Something bit her. Lumi withdrew her hand and stuck her face closer to the opening of the bag. What she had grabbed appeared to be a long, bushy, grey tail. Beady, black eyes peered back up at her.

"Nutkin!" She hissed. "So you're the culprit!"

Squeaking angrily, the Nutkin made a grab for the bag's flap, in an attempt to close the door to its new "home", but Lumi held the bag open and tried to shake it out. It gripped onto the fabric tightly, and all she was able to throw out were some leaves and a few acorn caps.

"No, this is my bag! You get out!"

With a final shake, Lumi stood triumphantly over the small creature, who tumbled onto the ground. Now that it was out in the open, it looked... really scared and lost, actually. She felt a little bad. Holding on to the last of its acorn, it trembled slightly as it peered into the cold, dark forest. It turned back to Lumi and stared up with pleading eyes. Lumi sighed, opening her bag back up and shaping it into a bed-like form as best as she could.

"Fine. You can stay in here for the night. We're leaving this forest first thing tomorrow, though. So we are parting ways..." The Nutkin's eyes shone as she mentioned 'leaving'. She supposed this kind of forest didn't really look like a place Nutkins would be native to.

"...This isn't your home, is it?" The Nutkin shook its head. "Okay, you can come along with me. Until we get somewhere safer." She pulled another stray leaf out of her bag. "You can't keep garbage in here, though."



Art by chiizuki

Nutkin has joined the party!​


Inventory

HJeTKgz.png
650 Gil​

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Ezra's Tome: An old, worn tome given to Lumi by the old mage in the woods that taught her Black Magic. It is a beginner's spell tome and contains a few basic elemental spells. Scribbles and notes made by Lumi fill the margins.

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Foot Wart Potion: A potion brewed by Mercer for a patient in Saltstone Town and handed to Lumi for delivery. She seems to have forgotten to deliver it.

Skills​

Lumi does not have a staff or weapon yet, but she can cast spells without the use of one, just rather weakly. She uses these spells regularly for fun with no real intent to harm, as she has not had the need to use them offensively yet.

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Thunder: A small jolt of lightning is conjured and shot through a target.

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Blizzard: Conjures a storm within a small radius where the target is pelted with bits of hail. Can be used to freeze small amounts of water.

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Water: Conjures a wave of water that rushes towards target(s).

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Fira: Intermediate fire magic. Conjures flames to engulf target(s), or can be thrown at a target. Lumi is able to control the size of her flames within her power, ie. she can still cast minor fire magic.


 
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gimmepie

gimmepie

25,488
Posts
11
Years
Full Party

Welcome to Delice

​
The group of fugitives approached Delice, entering the centremost of its cylinders through a large gate. They found themselves inside a surprisingly grand hall with an intricate marble floor depicting symbolism of Kush and Aeis. Above them, the midday sunlight filtered down from a stained glass ceiling of similar design, painting the room in shades of red, yellow and green. Around them, the walls of the room were covered with two rows of swirling portals contained within something resembling door frames. Each was large enough for a cart to pass through with ease. A curved ramp with an ornate rail led up to the second row. Upon closer inspection, those who moved closer to a portal could see each frame had the portal's destination carved into it repeatedly in pretty cursive text.

Still, as awe-inspiring as the sight was to some, there was something wrong with the atmosphere. The hall was filled with bestials, part-bestials and the occasional human, passing through as they made their way from one of Delice's biomes to the next via portals. A large number of them seemed to be eyeing the new arrivals with distrust and whispering under their breath to each other as they went about their business. A handful even stopped and stared. Stranger still, Cho seemed to be the one who was drawing most of their ire, even though by rights he should have been one of the least conspicuous of them in a city of bestials.

"Ugh… I'm so glad to finally be out of that forest. My feet feel like they're about ready to fall off if I don't get a chance to sit down and pry out of these boots soon..." Azure groaned as she trudged along with the rest of the party. Her snowy-white hair was currently sticking up in various directions. Dirt and mud covering her clothing and skin, which produced a rather unique odor that only seemed to amplify when mixing in with the rest of the group's… musty odor they were carrying themselves. She cast an annoyed glare towards Ekha. "This is all your fault, Bottle-Boy. If you and the rest hadn't gotten lost and left me and Lumi behind, we'd have gotten here so much sooner!"

"You're right," Ekha replied with a roll of his eyes, "Clearly I should have predicted that the airship would explode and dump us all over a forest."

"You were the one who picked out that piece of junk…" Azure retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "The important thing is we learned who not to let make the final call on important decisions like that."

"To be fair, that aeon did a number on the poor ship." Cho put himself between the two. "Don't matter how quality it was, a fireball is still a fireball."

Lumi hummed in agreement, bouncing along next to Cho. She hadn't gotten out of her tattered tunic yet, but aside from that, she did not seem too bothered by recent events. "Oh, it's been days, let it go." She said airily, not fully paying attention to the content of their argument, but sensing one nonetheless.

She had her reservations about the current location they found themselves in, but at least she was surrounded by her companions. And her new friendship with the gentle beastman next to her had changed her opinion ever so slightly on bestials. Despite that, she couldn't help feeling something was off here. Lumi lowered her voice as she looked around. "Glad we finally found a city, but what's with the glares? And especially at you, Cho. Did you desecrate their temples in a past life or something?" She dropped her voice to a whisper as they continued to draw in hostile stares. "Or this one?"

A small, mischievous glint comes to Azure's eyes. "Maybe Cho is a bigtime wanted murderer… He lures people in with that friendly and easygoing attitude… and then when they least suspect it… He snaps into a bloody rage!"

"Currently we're all wanted for murder," Ekha added, also with a hushed voice. "Let's just hope the looks don't have anything to do with that."

"I've never killed anyone!" Cho quietly complained. He was used to the odd looks and the general air of mistrust, but this was a step beyond the norm. "And I've never desecrated anything, neither! I actually worship Kush. Maybe I should get a pendant or something…"

"Didn't expect Cho to be the one everyone is wary of…" Rayen whispered quietly, trying to stay under the radar of both the citizens of the city and the rest of her group. In her mind, it was a miracle that a certain member still hadn't asked her some awkward questions after all those days. She took a good look around the city as she walked. One eye to find and remember the location of any shop that could've been useful, and the other on everyone else around her… for good measure.

Adair had been very quiet since the band of fugitives had regrouped, doing little more than following along and occasionally petting Bubbers. Since they entered Delice, however, he'd come back to life. The spritely sylvan was scanning all the people they passed, standing straight and proud as if he had a backbone and ready for the next opportunity to cross his path. "We should be on the lookout for any adventurer's guilds, specialized equipment shops or niche restaurants." He reminded them, patting one of the many bundles tied to the chocobo walking beside him. "We haven't nearly burned through all the mushrooms we found yet and even if we had, there are people who'd pay for Marlboro and mush-monster bits."

The merchant, in his dedication to recouping his losses, hadn't allowed the group to move on after their big fight without collecting everything that might be of value and would not miss an opportunity to start selling them. Unfortunately, the spoils of war didn't help with the party's...less than fresh odor.

"Honestly," Ekha said, "If you're wanting to do that, that could be a good place to pick up some information. We've been out of the loop for the past few days and don't really know what's been said about what happened at Estryn. Maybe we should split up and try to piece together what's been happening in that time. We could meet back here in a few hours?"

Vidar snapped out of his daze at the mention of an actual plan. He'd mostly been following the group, letting his guard down and just taking in the sights. His village had exactly one temple for Shermos and approximately zero beastfolk. Even when traveling they were rare in his corner of Kestria.

"I can hunt around for a smith geared towards the adventuring and mercenary type." He suggested, secretly excited at the proposition of looking at weapons created for bestials. "I should probably have my stuff checked out after falling out of an airship. 'Sides, in my experience the customers there like to talk about work on top of the weapons. Not the most reliable sort, but gives us an idea of what's around."

"Actually, that sounds good. Someone needs arrows, you know." Rayen made herself heard for a brief moment, with one eye always fixed on Lumi.

Azure's ears perked up at the mention of Vidar's plan. An afternoon of browsing new things to outfit herself with? It was an ideal situation that she'd love to participate in.

"Oh, I'll come too!" Azure chimed in, a broad smile suddenly gracing her lips as she turned to face the dragoon. "I've got a keen eye on spotting good equipment and know how to make sure we get the best deals!"

"Is that what you call it? Finding a good deal?" Ekha remarked, keenly aware of the circumstances he'd first encountered Azure in and not entirely able to shake the old merchant-family distaste for thievery. "At least Vidar will be there to keep an eye on you I suppose."

"Keep an eye on me?!" Azure exclaimed. The white-haired thief huffed, sending a glare at Ekha. "I'm handily capable of taking care of myself!"

"That is precisely what worries me," Ekha replied. "Shall we head out then?"

"Probably should. I'll go find a temple, see what I can find out from one of them." Cho looked around the area. Some people stared at him, but immediately started moving when he made eye contact. "Maybe… I should go alone. Might cause you guys trouble if you're seen with me."

"I'll come with you," Ekha said, "I don't mind being stared at, and I don't like how these people keep looking at you."

"Well, Ekha, you don't have to if you conceal your appearance… a disguise would be cool, but a hood could do just fine." Rayen chimes in from the back of the group. "Best of both worlds, right?" She can't help but giggle slightly.

"I'm not sure how helpful that will be for hiding Cho once we get into areas with less bestials, but honestly grabbing some hoods if we see them isn't a bad idea," Ekha replied.

Lumi stopped looking around as she noticed the group starting to split off. She was a little worried about Cho too, but he should be fine with Ekha. And she just really wanted to find a weapon for herself, as well—she'd been practicing with no staff or rod for long enough, and was excited to see how one would take her skills to a new level. "Okay, so, buddy system. I wanna check out the shops, too—who does that leave me with?"

That was not the best move in hindsight. Actually, how did she screw up this bad? From the back of the group, Rayen tried to walk away unnoticed, just like the rest of her companions were doing but with one key difference - by herself: all in order to avoid any direct confrontation with Lumi, and having to fulfill the promise she made to her. But that would've been much easier by sticking with literally anyone else, and her last chance to do so was already slipping away.

"Adair's going to be tied up doing his negotiations, so maybe you can stick with Rayen, Lumi." Ekha had considered the idea of the young moogle running off on her own and while that seemed safer than Azure doing the same… it didn't fill him with confidence.

Of course that was going to happen. Rayen rolled her eyes, but at least understood Ekha's point.

Rayen, Rayen... Lumi studied the bug-lady's face and was sure the last time they'd spoken, she went by a different name. And she was distinct-looking enough that the moogle was pretty sure Rayen was, in fact, Bryony, though this bestial had been largely keeping to herself the whole time they were all traveling together, so they did not have much of a chance to interact. Maybe bestials of her kind have more than one name, maybe Lumi was being racist and this is a different person entirely, but either way, she supposed it was a good time to clear things up.

"Okay! Well, let's see…" Lumi eagerly leaned in to inspect one of the portal frames. "Let's go find some shops, too - I wanna buy a rod or a staff or something. And we can look at bows and stuff after as well, of course." She quickly added.

With that, the group began to split off, finding their way through different portals and into Delice proper.
​
 
gimmepie

gimmepie

25,488
Posts
11
Years
Ekha and Cho

Orc in a Hard Place

Cho and Ekha passed through a portal on the far side of the main chamber and found themselves in a wide open space with very few buildings. The exception to this was a large stone chapel-like structure with an ornate symbol of Kush laid into the stonework. Extending outward from the church building were numerous shallow pools of slightly murky water, vibrant green stalks growing from them identifying them as rice paddies.

While some of the rice fields were left alone, several of them were being tended to by a mix of bestials and part-bestials. This resulted in a never-ending cycle of rice being carted into the church building as more farmers filed out to return to the harvest.

As the unlikely pair approached, several of the workers stopped and stared or started whispering harshly under their breaths to each other. It was eerily like what had happened in the main chamber and, again, their attention seemed to be strangely focused on Cho.

"So, what's the plan?" Ekha asked his companion, "And what are all the dirty looks and whispering about? Are you sure you've never been here."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Look, it's not me, it's… well, it's not who I am, it's what I am." Cho gestured to a farmer in the rice fields. "You see that? Orcs don't do that. Orcs don't farm. They just eat."

He sighed, looking up at the symbol of Kush on the church. "You've heard the stories, right? Orcs are nothing but marauders, raiding and pillaging everywhere they go? That's not entirely correct, but it's not far off. Orcs are nomads, we don't stay in one place. We come to a place, hunt what we want, eat what we can, and move on when pickings get slim. Don't usually leave much for the people left in our wake."

"Sure," Ekha replied, "I'm originally from the Sprawl in the west. We didn't see a lot of orcs there since there's not a lot of raw resources for the taking in the desert, but everyone in Othon has heard how orcs refuse to abandon the old tribal systems. I don't know if that's enough reason for this though, especially here of all places. You're a single orc in the presence of some very not-Orc looking people. That's not much of a raiding party."

Cho paused on the steps. "Yeah, that's true… Maybe there's more to it?"

"Has to be, right?" Ekha said, "Maybe we can ask about it while we're here. It could be relevant to what happened in Estryn."

Ekha and Cho walked into the chapel building, finding that the inside looked more like a storehouse than a church. Instead of pews, most of the structure was full of containers and bags full of food. Only a small area was left empty for actual prayer.

There wasn't much time to take all that in though, because the second their presence was noted an elderly part-bestial man screamed at them with a mix of anger and fear. "No! It's too soon! You just came! What are you doing back here?"

"I've never been here before! Honest!" Cho raised his hands, looking between Ekha and the old man. "I haven't done anything…"

"We just g-" Ekha started, but the man cut him off, the furred ears on top of his head bristling.

"I don't want to hear it!" He continued glaring at Cho, "We like to think we're a pretty accepting people here, but even Kush herself wouldn't greet you with open arms! You and your kind have been taking our food and goods for over a month and every time you come back it's sooner than before! You were just here the day before yesterday! I'm not standing for this damnit! We'll have nothing left!"

"What are you talking about?! We've never been here!" Ekha interjected again, louder this time.

The part-bestial turned to see Ekha, apparently for the first time. "And just who in Kush's name are you?!"

"My name's Ekha, and I can vouch for Cho. He was definitely not here the day before yesterday. He was with me and the rest of our… group."

"He was?! The Orc?!" Even when he'd calmed down a bit, it seemed yelling was the elder's only volume setting.

"Yes, I was." Cho didn't want to threaten the old priest, but he was aware of how intimidating he could be simply by virtue of being three times the man's size. So he didn't raise his voice, he simply loomed over the priest and explained himself calmly. "We're traveling together, mostly been moving goods. We had a bit of trouble with our ship recently, and had to walk to this fine city. And for the record, I'm not part of any Orc tribe. Haven't been for years. So I'd appreciate if you'd check your assumptions and tell my friend here whatever he wants to know!"

The part-human man gulped and took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Sorry! I'll explain. For about a month-and-a-half now, an Orc tribe has been coming into the city and demanding supplies. At first, it was fine, we helped them out in accordance with the teachings but they kept coming back and the demands keep getting greater. If we don't give them enough they start destroying everything and the few guards we have can't handle them! We've petitioned the capital for aid but we haven't got any. We're at our wits end!"

To Ekha's amazement, some of the demi-bestial's sentences had been at an almost normal volume. What he was saying was concerning though. If the orcs came from the south, they could present a problem with their attempts to reach Kestria. "Where do they come from?"

"They have a camp to the south of here." The elder replied.

That was not what Ekha wanted to hear. He looked up at Cho. "What do you think?"

Cho stepped back from the priest with a disgruntled snort. "I don't like it. They won't move on until they stop getting what they want. Town like this, that could take a while, and they'll make life hell for the people living here the whole time. That, and they're sitting right in our path."

He sighed, his shoulders slumped with resignation. "This ain't our fight, and I don't wanna start one, but I don't like the thought of leaving these people like this. One way or another, we gotta deal with this problem."

"Yeah, I was thinking more or less the same." Ekha sighed, "I guess nothing gets to be easy anymore. Should we go meetup with the others?"

"Yeah, probably should. Least we know a little more now. Have a direction to go in, know why I'm getting the evil eye. Actually…" He looked back over to the old demihuman priest.

"Sorry for being so short with you, Elder. I'm used to a certain degree of hostility on account of my species, but it's been a little extra since I arrived. Actually, the reason I came here is because I myself follow the Lady Kush. Could I borrow an amulet or an emblem, perhaps? Some kind of symbol to show I'm associated with the faith, and not just a hungry raider looking for a handout?"

"Oh uh…" He thought for a moment before pulling off his own amulet and handing it to Cho. "That should do it, and if anyone complains tell them A'nuz can vouch for you. Now it sounds like you're going to do something about this problem of ours… if you do we might be able to arrange some sort of reward."

"Thank you kindly, Elder." Cho accepted the holy symbol, pinning it to the front of his vest as it wouldn't fit around his thick porcine neck. "And yes, I think we'll have to deal with these Orcs. I can't in good conscience allow them to harass you folks, and it looks like we're headed that direction anyway. As for a reward… uh…" Lost, he looked to Ekha for help. "What exactly do we need, Ekha?"

"It sounds terrible," Ekha replied, "But we're going to need money and provisions after the… ship incident since our current occupation won't allow us to take on much in the way of official extra work."

A'nuz grinned at the fugitives. "Well, you deal with the raiders and I'll see what I can wrangle up in the meantime. I'm sure plenty will be willing to make donations."

"Sounds like a plan." Cho bowed to A'nuz, cupping his hands in the traditional Kush prayer gesture. "Good day and good rest to you, Elder."
The elder bowed back, reciprocating the gesture. "To you also!"
​
 
Juno

Juno

4,683
Posts
10
Years
  • Age 29
  • Seen Mar 22, 2024

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​

SINCERITY & SUPPLIES

🌀 Delice ft. Briony Rayen​

Lumi peeked into her bag. Nestled next to her coin purse was a small, grey lump, fast asleep. She tried to withdraw her money without disturbing it. Slow, steady...

"Ow! You little- I just want to count my Gil!" She whined, as the startled nutkin chomped down on her fingers yet again. Unconcerned by the moogle's protests, the small creature yawned and curled back around her coin purse, as it tried to fall back asleep. Lumi snatched the cloth pouch back up before it could fully settle in. "It is not a pillow." She snapped.

She counted her coins as she turned to her bestial companion. "So... 80, 90, 100... which portal do you think we should try first?"

"Well… not the cold ones. That's all I ask for."

How did she not bring up the elephant in the room, or even look concerned about it? Humans were always ready to point out all of the fallacies in her lies and machinations, and did so mercilessly as soon as they had the occasion. But Lumi… well, she was a moogle, so there's that.

"Hm." The moogle looked around, trying to find the least hostile-looking person they could talk to. She ended up tugging on the sleeve of a young, bestial woman possessing similar qualities to herself, hoping the likeness would make her kinder. She, too, had long, fluffy ears, but was much, much taller, and her sinewy legs made her look like she could dropkick Lumi clean through one of these portals with ease. She did not look mean, though. "Excuse me! Do you know where I could find a shop that sells magical wares, like staves and wands?"

The woman spun around and looked down, clearly not used to being addressed by someone so small. "Oh. Ah, you can try the Aldergrove? Not a lot of magic users out here, but there's a small community of 'em through that portal and to the west, maybe they can help you." She pointed to a portal in the second row above them, and disappeared through a nearby frame without another word.

"Thank- oh. Well, wanna check that out, Br-ayen?" Lumi craned her neck to look at the upper portals. "Which name do you want to be called, by the way?"

Oh, so she did not forget. "What do you mean? I'm Rayen, that's… my name." And Briony was just… not yet.

"Oh. Okay," Lumi shrugged, when the girl did not elaborate. "So, Aldergrove then, Rayen?" Distracted by the prospect of magical goods past the portal she was pointed towards, she briskly started making her way up the steps before Rayen could respond.

The demihuman had no choice but to follow the Moogle, entering the portal right after her. She was quite puzzled by Lumi's behavior, but that was only one more reason to stick around her.

Past the ornate portal frame, they found themselves in a beautiful, lush green landscape. Enormous trees towered over them everywhere they looked, and all the shops, homes and any other structures were built right in them, nestling into the gigantic trunks.

"West, West…" Lumi repeated the directions she was given, trying to find her bearings. "I think we are going this way. Do you know where West is?"

"This way, surely!" Rayen attempted a smile.

"Alrighty!" They walked in silence for a few beats. Now that her initial excitement of finding their way to the shop was being satisfied, the question that had been floating in the back of her mind surfaced. "Oh yeah, so why did you lie about your name?"

"I did what? No!" Rayen replied instinctively, forcing her to wait a few seconds before continuing. "I have many… well… sisters that look all like me. Maybe you met one of them?"

Lumi looked up at her companion, scrutinizing her face. That was certainly... possible? She wasn't sure if she wanted to press on, lest her people do look this similar and she just couldn't tell them apart. And acted the same. And talked the same. But her eyes fell on the dagger attached to her belt, and she carried on without further thought. "But that's the same dagger from before. I remember you had it at the inn. And your bow..."

"They were all… uh, made by the same arti-artisans." Rayen has some trouble answering this time, and somehow stutters. Not one of her best performances! Is Lumi really giving her so much trouble?

Maybe telling the truth is a better idea - as long as her storytelling is on point, Lumi will surely understand all of her struggles and her difficulties, and will stop being a thorn in her side! She waits for a response as she tries to cook up a good story.

The Moogle's eyes flickered between the flustered bestial and her familiar equipment. This was weird. She felt like the more she explained, the less believable everything she said was. Lumi was not overly invested when she first asked about her name - it was more of a conversational point, but now she felt like she needed to find out. "I dunno, do you all wear the same clothes, too? Your voice is also very famil-"

"No, it's all wrong…" Rayen barked, interrupting Lumi, but that was the least convincing she's sounded in ages. "Well. You know what, guess I'll tell you. Do you still remember the day of the conference?"

"Um, yeah, of course." Lumi responded tentatively, a little thrown off by her sudden forcefulness, but eager to listen, nonetheless.

"Yeah, well. Whatever happened there was just me going undercover and acting sneaky. I kinda had to, if I wanted to get to Estryn safely and be there for the conference - plus what I did at the tavern was not something I'm proud of - but, given the situation…" Rayen took a heavy, long breath.

The skeptical look in Lumi's eyes lingered, but at least she admitted she and "Briony" were one and the same.

"Given the situation, it's useless to keep this up. We're all criminals now, but we're in it together."

Rayen's face looked like a weird mixture of hopeful and angry, ready to snap at any moment. She had always acted by the notion that, in doubt, she was better off lying… but now she'd gone way over the limit, and realizing that only now made her very scared. Especially now that she was part of this so-called group, who could have accepted her as a nice battle asset, just like Ekha did, or just thrown her aside only to blame everything that happened solely on her.

"I'm right, Lumi… am I not?" The demihuman looked intensely at the Moogle's eyes from above.

"Oh." That was still pretty foreign for Lumi to hear. They had talked about their status as 'criminals' earlier with the group, but something about the grave look on Rayen's face made her take the assertion a bit more seriously. Cool. She couldn't help thinking to herself.

...Just a bit more seriously.

"Um, yeah, I guess you're right." She responded, not really sure where Rayen was going with this, as she pondered her new status as a hardened criminal.

"I know neither of us meant for this to happen, in fact I still shudder about it to this day, but now… we got each other, right? And…" Rayen had to resort to that one word, even though it was pretty hard to say. "Sorry."

Lumi nodded. She was a little surprised by the apology, but appreciated it all the same - not that she felt like Rayen really owed her anything. But she was right, about her and everyone else they came with. They have to stick together. "Yeah! Don't worry about it, it really doesn't matter what I call you or what I called you, or why… we're in this together now, Rayen. If that's your real name," she added jokingly with a small nudge.

"Doesn't even matter anymore. Not like you needed to know it to find out it was me all along!" Rayen eventually smiled, trying to collect herself and relax a bit. "And now, let's go and find some weapons!"

🌲 Delice - Aldergrove​

As the lady they asked for directions mentioned earlier, tucked away in the western corner of the shopping district, was, indeed, a small community of magic users, and the few magical apparatus shops that existed in this biome were all here. It seemed only one of these shops specialized in weapons for mages, and as Rayen had her own supplies to gather, Lumi pushed open the heavy doors on her own.

The store was larger on the inside than it looked on the outside, but still had a cozy feel to it; the dark, wooden walls and cluttered shelves definitely made it more homey. She was the only one here at the moment, aside from the shopkeep - a hulking, bestial man with bear-like features sitting behind the counter, reading. He didn't look like he was built to be a magic user, and from physical appearance alone, Lumi could not begin to guess how old he was. From his mannerisms and how he moved, though, he reminded her of her Grandpa a bit. In a good way. His presence was comforting. She felt a slight pang of guilt thinking about her Grandpa, but quickly brushed it aside. Lumi stepped up and cleared her throat.

"Excuse me, sir! I am looking to purchase a staff or rod."

The old man peered over the counter and smiled kindly at her, before closing the tome in his hands.

"Why, of course, miss! We have a wide selection of magical weapons available - I am sure we will be able to find something for you today. We'll help you walk out of here with something suited to your needs and skills. Now, let me start with a simple question; what kind of spells do you know?"

"Thank you! Let's see, I am a big fan of fire. Not, like, generally, but I mean that Fira is my best spell. I can also cast Thunder, Blizzard, Water..." She ticked them off her fingers as she listed her proficiencies.

"Ah, a Black Mage, then! Give me one moment - I have just the rod for you."

Opening one of the wood and glass cases behind him, Lumi pressed herself up against the front counter as she eagerly watched his hands hover over a selection of ornate wands resting on red satin. He passed a silver and sapphire rod, reaching slightly towards a beautiful wand with a golden claw gripping a bright, red gem at the top - that one! - she privately thought to herself. But he reached past that and retrieved... a plain, wooden rod. It was also topped with a gem, but the stone at the top was anything but brilliant, with almost a yellowy-brown lustre to it.

"Here you are!" The old man turned back around, presenting the dingy, old rod as Lumi tried to hide her disappointment.

"Oh... thank you, but I'd like to... look around a bit more, if you don't mind. Um, what about that one?" Lumi asked, pointing to the pretty, gold wand she had her eyes on.

The shopkeep looked back, before turning to her with a knowing smile. "I think that one will be perfect for you... after a certain amount of training. But in the meantime..." He tapped the rod in front of them.

"I have money," Lumi countered stubbornly, pushing her coin purse onto the counter. She felt a kick coming from inside her bag.

"I understand, but Miss," He started, not unkindly, but definitely firmly. "I did say you will be walking out of here with something suited to your needs and skills. My shop would not be the oldest and most well-known seller of magical wares in Delice, had I let every young hopeful walk out with any staff or rod they like. People are not just paying for my wares, but also my expertise. So please, trust me on this one. I understand it is not the most beautiful rod, but at least give it a try before dismissing it."

Defeated, Lumi hesitantly reached out and took the rod from the shop owner's outstretched hands. The stone glowed dimly as she held it, and the rod felt pleasantly warm, in a way that she would not have expected plain wood to feel. Interesting. She turned it in her hands a few times, before brandishing it at the empty space around her.

"Now, this is a polished citrine stone, imbued with the power of Fire magic. You will find that it gives you an edge with spells of that element, but, of course, all of your other Black magic will be enhanced as w-"

A large jet of fire emerged from the wand, engulfing a small stool and knocking it back with so much force it crashed loudly into the shelf behind it.

"Oh, my- I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that - just wanted to get a feel for-"

"That's quite alright," The old man chuckled surprisingly calmly, as he reached into his robe and pulled out a solid silver wand. With a flick of his wrist, a stream of water emerged from the wand, putting out the fire and dissipating before it splashed onto the carpet below. Lumi watched in awe. It was a simple display of power, but his very controlled and precise use of magic was impressive. "But now I hope you see why it is important to match the rod with the user. You will adjust to this one fairly quickly, and as your skill increases, you will be able to hone your powers alongside rods and staves imbued with even stronger powers."

Lumi nodded. "I understand, thank you, sir." She beamed, looking at the rod in her hand in a new light. Her first use of magic with it was slightly disastrous, but also more powerful for the level of effort she had put into that than she'd ever felt. Lumi was excited to see what she could do in a real battle. "I think I will take it. How much do I owe you?"

"You are very welcome, dear." He checked the price tag on the empty spot the rod had previously sat on. Lumi could see it priced for 450 Gil, and began counting out her coins. "You can have this one for 350 Gil."

"A-are you sure?" She looked up mid-count, stunned by the kindness and generosity, especially after what she'd done.

"Uhhh… Lumi, what was that?" Rayen's voice was heard right at that moment, unceremoniously interrupting the transaction. "You alright? I was just buying arrows at the next stand over and…"

"Oh! Uh, yeah, all good. Just... trying out my new wand here." Lumi giggled, glancing at the singed stool. The man nodded at Rayen with a smile, but did not elaborate further on the accident, which Lumi appreciated. He turned back to the moogle.

"Yes, 350 Gil will do. I love helping young mages find their passion for magic, and I see a promising fire in you; excuse the pun." He chortled. "You have a talent, and I hope you will continue to hone and improve it with this."

They completed the transaction and Lumi thanked the kind man once more, before leaving with Rayen. Looking at her new weapon, the moogle hummed merrily as she skipped down the street. After a few paces, she glanced back at her companion, pointing to the arrows in her hand and quiver. "You still gotta pay for those?"

"Oh, I already did! It's a lot of arrows to carry but I don't wanna run out again." The moogle nodded absently in response, but those arrows were nothing out of the ordinary for Rayen to use - the rod that Lumi was holding, that was a different story. Despite what Rayen might have thought of her back at the inn in Estryn, her companion was gonna go places.

Inventory

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300 Gil (-350 Gil)​

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Ezra's Tome: An old, worn tome given to Lumi by the old mage in the woods that taught her Black Magic. It is a beginner's spell tome and contains a few basic elemental spells. Scribbles and notes made by Lumi fill the margins.

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Foot Wart Potion: A potion brewed by Mercer for a patient in Saltstone Town and handed to Lumi for delivery. She seems to have forgotten to deliver it.

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Rod: A plain-looking wooden rod set with a citrine stone. Not incredibly powerful, but substantially better than nothing.

Skills​

Lumi does not have a staff or weapon yet, but she can cast spells without the use of one, just rather weakly. She uses these spells regularly for fun with no real intent to harm, as she has not had the need to use them offensively yet.

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Thunder: A small jolt of lightning is conjured and shot through a target.

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Blizzard: Conjures a storm within a small radius where the target is pelted with bits of hail. Can be used to freeze small amounts of water.

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Water: Conjures a wave of water that rushes towards target(s).

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Fira: Intermediate fire magic. Conjures flames to engulf target(s), or can be thrown at a target. Lumi is able to control the size of her flames within her power, ie. she can still cast minor fire magic.


 
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