Just before the sun graces the horizon, you are violently shaken awake by Mina. By the look on her face, you can tell she was too excited to sleep. Luckily, your recent stays with your mother have caused you to slip into a morning-friendly sleep schedule, so you aren’t too tired. The same can not be said for Vincent, who seems a bit comatose. You end up needing to call his name four times before he registers your question-- do you want some coffee? He pauses and nods his head.
The air has a certain chill to it. A sentiment you would have voiced, were you not surrounded by the realm’s biggest know-it-alls, who would smugly inform you that it is due to the bank of corrupted wind crystals nearby.
The two sellswords are a curious lot, and seem to be having a brooding contest with one another. The ninja is a Viera woman-- When you ask for her name, she has something of a what's-it-to-you look on her face before answering with ‘Kuromi.’ The daggers on her hips remind you of the Limsan rogues, which mostly just makes you on edge. You yourself have, of course, done your own fair share of contracting business, but you can usually tell when someone’s doing it for a quick buck and when someone has done it their whole life.
The samurai, a Hyur man, more readily offers his name to you. Fordwin Obinata. Merely writing his name down will cause many a lightbulb to go off in readers’ minds, but in case you’ve never been anywhere or done anything in your entire life-- Fordwin Obinata is one of the six classical Warriors of Light upon Hydaleyn, though perhaps the most well-known of the ones we’ve met so far. For the less studious readers, those are Phekda Minoris and Lakiki Laki-- but we’ve gotten a bit off topic. Of course, neither he nor any others had earned their title just yet. For now, he was but any other adventurer.
Getting into the palace is no easy feat. As said before, most of the lower floors were or still are flooded, so the safest way to get in would be from the top, which had been exposed to the sun for several months now and was almost certainly dry. From there, slow and methodical descent would be the safest way to investigate. Fortunately, you are a group of intelligent arcanists, and have no intention of just barreling through the front door like any random adventuring party might be tempted to do.
Mina puts together a grappling hook and hands it to our marauder, who gives it his best launch, aiming to land it through the aforementioned open roof. He finds his mark, and after a moment of rigorous pulling to check its stability, it is greenlit by Mina as a ‘probably safe’ means of entry. Fordwin goes first, and Mina reminds everyone that if they fall, activating the lodestone she gave them will save them from certain death.
As exciting as it would have been to write about a dramatic scene where someone nearly died, real life is not so whimsical-- in fact, the entire ordeal is just dreadfully boring and slow. Not wanting to risk anyone’s safety, no more than two climb the rope at once, and make no mistake; it is terribly tall.
When you reach the top, the rooms are mostly empty-- devoid of any signs of life, be they past or present. Moss covers the masonry, and small puddles of water occupy divets in the floor. Mina helpfully informs you that these sections have already been looted-- though she doesn’t say looted. ‘Their useful components have been salvaged.’ Anything for research, you suppose.
Every step you take in this place feels you with a deep unease, but there’s also something familiar about it. It’s hard to place, but the entire city distinctly reminds you of Mizu-- not that you think she’d particularly like it here. Most of the stairwell is out of commission, but previous expeditions have left ropes to navigate between the levels, still tightly secured and safe, leading through large holes in the floor that have been left by the ravages of time.
You send Brick down a floor, who sticks the landing like a pro before hissing wildly. His topaz glow illuminates the room around him faintly as he backs up toward a corner, and through this luminescence you can see the faint outlines of Tonberries; sickly green creatures that wander the halls of the city with knives and lanterns. Upon seeing your carbuncle, lanterns begin to light up quickly.
An inexperienced adventurer might see the fact that these small, vaguely humanoid creatures can move no faster than a waddle and assess that they are of little threat since their only means of attack is a very short range stab. This would be the last error they could ever make, as these monsters stab hard, very hard, and will not patiently wait for your healer to patch you up before twisting the blade in your stomach. Good luck working through that pain and maintaining enough focus to fight back.
Anyway, to nobody’s surprise, you do not wish to see Brick become roadkill, and quickly unleash a cast of holy spirit on the tonberry closest to him. This works much better than you ever assumed it would, knocking the creature unconscious in one strike. Vincent is quick on the upkeep, directing his carbuncle to hold a torrent of wind to keep the enemies at bay, if just for a little while.
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Seizing the new opportunity, your party’s frontliners quickly descend down the rope and secure some space for each of you. One at a time, you watch them go, until it is Kuromi’s turn, and you realize she has vanished altogether. You, and everyone else here, will come to learn that this is normal and should not be given much presence of mind.
Taking advantage of your allies’ protection, you follow suit and rush to your carbuncle’s side, commanding him to shield your marauder. He nods attentively, waiting for enemies to advance closer. Vincent slides down the rope and wastes no time before channeling wind through openings in the building to lacerate your foes.
After enough focus, Brick does a leaping front flip in place, sending a torrent of aether around your tank, surrounding him in an orange hexagonal-grid barrier, protecting your marauder from his would-be killers. Mina makes her presence known by creating a wave of arcane energy that harmlessly sweeps through each of you and decimates the tonberries as it collides with them, providing you all an opportunity to push forward.
Kuromi reappears from the shadows with a raging inferno erupting from her daggers. As she cleaves a tonberry, the fires lunge from target to target, setting their ragged clothes ablaze. In mere moments, the fighting is over-- the empty halls echo the sound of broken glass as lanterns slip from dying hands and clash upon the brick floor.
You notice as the frightening little creatures collapse, puffs of astral aether pulse out from their body and form a flicker of flame, eventually growing into a wisp-like creature. As the flame forms, their previous bodies dissipate into aether, leaving behind only the clothes they wore and the lanterns they held.
As one of them fades into oblivion, your ears twitch to the distinct sound of crystal hitting the ground. In the corner of your eye, you notice a dark blue crystal seems to have been left behind, and its design reminds you somewhat of your mother’s soul crystal, the symbol which represents her appointment to the Sultana. Seeing a crystal of similar design here more than simply piques your interest, so you instruct Brick to grab it as quickly as he can.
You try your best to use your holy magic to dispel the wisps that are taking form before each of you, but to no avail. Any and all effort expended on destroying them, be it magical or physical, have no influence at all. Once they begin raining fire upon the group, Mina calls for a retreat, prompting each of you to awkwardly scurry up the rope one at a time.
One of the dastardly little flames sets your means of egress ablaze, so you have no choice but to begin using your Lodestones. You dismiss carbuncle and stuff his gem into your pocket before activating yours, causing all of your vision to be blurred over. When you come to, you’ve safely arrived at the Aetheryte along with everyone else. The gap in consciousness unnerves you somewhat, but you try not to let that fact show.
Mina seems equal parts confused and frustrated by the immortal wisps, insisting that they most certainly didn’t form the last time they were killing tonberries. Before she can finish collecting her thoughts, you hand over the crystal that Brick picked up for you-- it was her expedition, after all.
The moment the crystal touches her palm, it sparks to life, trailing pure light aether into the space between each of you. After a moment of coalescing, a fairy-like creature springs into being, harmlessly fluttering in place. Before you can say or do anything, they begin to teleport about the area, looking through windows and examining rocks.
“S-S’anah’to, where on earth did you find this crystal?” Mina asks you, trying her best to keep an eye on the faerie.
“One of those tonberries dropped it when it died.” You explain. “I had Brick pick it up before we bailed.”
“Hmmm…” She ponders. “If only I knew more of this creature…” As she finishes her sentiment, the faerie seems to respond to the...request? And moves over to each of you. They are a bright red faerie wearing what could be described as an almost floral-esque dress with a bright white design. Their shoulder-length hair hangs loosely in curls, and they stand attentively, but seem to be distracted by any sudden noise.
Your operation is called short...for now. Mina is clearly desperate to investigate the ruins further, but until more is known about the wisps and how to defeat them, there is little that can be done. Mina tries to compensate you for your time, but you leave before she can actually give you any Gil, which makes her fume with anger. The experience was enough, and always will be.
Taking the break away from your studies unfortunately did not magically provide you with a solution to your problems, but your mind is caught up thinking of Mina’s new...pet? Companion? So you try your best to doodle them from memory, and while the rendition does come out looking fairly cute, it isn’t terribly accurate.
After a few hours toiling away in your tome, Brick paws at your leg, wishing to go for a walk. You let out an exaggerated sigh, because he always does this when you feel like you’re about to make a breakthrough, but really you’re grateful because otherwise you’d never remember things like how long it's been since you’ve eaten.
Whenever Brick wants to go for a walk, you usually go from Limsa to the Summerford Farms and back, making sure to grab an orange from the nearby orchard on your way through. This time, as you’re fumbling to grab one, you hear a rustling from nearby, and quickly draw your grimoire in defense.
“Who’s there?!” You say in your best ‘commanding paladin’ voice, channeling a modest amount of aether.
“...H...Help…” A familiar voice begs, as Erden limps through the trees with a deeply red-stained coat. Before you can ask any questions, he collapses-- his blood dripping from fresh wounds into the soil below.