Retainer Ad-Venture Contest (EU) - Entry Thread

[Gaignen]

Full Party
or Why You Should Be Happy With Your Seven Tin Pieces and an Abalathian Smelt.

It had been a long time since me and the others had met up. Several months in fact. The mistress had hired all eight of us, some time ago, starting out with just two of us, on her seemingly unending mission to solve all the world's problems on her own or, at the very least, with a group of friends no larger than those who sat with me now, at a table in a cut-stone pub in the desolate, but central, Revenant's Toll.
"So she's shelling out for all of us at once now?" Toumlona was as rough-edged a Sea Wolf as you could expect, which didn't fit at all with her profession of sitting around all day waiting for something to bite. We called her Tommy.
"Guess you could put it that way," said Galelma, Au Ra like our mistress, and bearing a striking resemblance to the woman herself. Thanks to our lady's tendency to have Galelma model clothes for her on the go, we took to calling her Glam. By we, I mean me. I love nicknames.
"We get to go on an adventure together? Hurray!" Nobody was surprised by Memelo's happy outbursts. Her pink hair was always in view to keep us well aware of how upbeat such a not-tall person could be, which was why her surprising tendency to be mean in a scrap always came as the bigger surprise.
"We should have a plan, I don't want anyone getting unnecessarily hurt," muttered Enya. Shorter only than Tommy, Enya, a Highlander, was our resident worrywart, taking after mistress studies in arcanima to better control a situation and, more importantly to her, protect her friends. "What has mistress contracted us for in any case?"
"In truest terms, mistress has contracted us each individually. Her terms were not particularly clear." Quipette, consummate Elezen noble wannabe, had been brought up in the butt end of Limsa, but then, with Mealvaan's Gate just around the corner, she picked up a book and soon was more travelled - and better spoken - than any of us. Don't let her bookishness fool you, she's no arcanist, she liked getting her hands dirty. The dusty, mud-coated pickaxe leaning against the table told the truth of that. I called her Pet.
Ikyutsuu, our quiet, newest member, immigrant with the Doman population just last year, gave an agreeing nod. We would give her a nickname, but we're not sure if she knew how to use that hatchet for more than logging, or what her temperament was like. Honestly we knew very little about her. She was a short, braided red-haired Hyur, that much we did know.
"We can pool our skills though, right? You don't think mistress would be upset? Maybe we're overstepping... what do you think, T'kni?" Flo was Flo, I wanted to give her a nickname too but Twelve help me I couldn't think of one that didn't make her name longer. She's a Midlander with a taste in dark clothes, dark makeup, and she would apologise for the weather if it rained.
"No worries!" I chipped in, my ears and tail standing to attention. "We'll just team up, split the spoils and report back separately!" I grinned. "Aint a reason mistress has to know we teamed up."

So that was how I, a marauder and our resident token happy kitty, teamed up with a tiny pugilist, a huge fisher, a lanky arcanist, a bored bard, a thaumaturge who apologised for every spell, a super-polite rockbreaker and a woodswoman who barely ever spoke. We set out North, donning warmer clothes and passing through the Doman refugee camp toward Coerthas. Glam was picking at her bowstring in a tune to make the malms go faster, she learned every song she knew from mistress, which wasn't many, because mistress didn't often play for our kind of crowd. Honestly, we all learned from mistress, she was a woman of many talents.
Snowcloak is a series of caverns in a mind-boggling arrangement, and it has only recently been claimed and held by the city-state of Ishgard. With all those thousand-thousand passageways, it wasn't a surprise that the local town of Whitebrim was hiring any capable looking sorts to start work on mapping the cave system. It was perfect - I could help Enya keep everyone safe, Memelo, Flo and Glam could deal with threats in the rear, and we could rely on our gatherer's knowledge of water (frozen or otherwise) stone and vegetation to keep a good track of where we were going. We set out into the caves through the entrance and into the network, branching off far before the place where, once, in one of her more giving moods, mistress had told us the story of her journey through - that night was one of the ones where she plucked at a harp and sat with us, and Glam had plucked at her bow in tune, learning by ear.
Exploration is long, and tedious, so it was just as well something interesting happened not twenty minutes after we got in. It started with a cave in.
"Everyone please, remain calm," Pet said to us, surveying the way back.
Okay, so when I said interesting I might have meant terrifying. The ice was on all sides of us, and Pet and Tommy were giving both ice-falls a once over. Tommy was the first to speak.
"Hey ho, check this one out," she smirked. "You hear the water? We're under a glacial melt - you know there are fish that love this stuff."
"A melt?" Pet sighed. "We can't mine ahead then, back is the only way. It could take us hours to get through ahead and we may well find ourselves under a river when we do."
"Umm," Flo raised her hand nervously. "Sorry if this is a dumb idea," see? Apologising. "but ice melts, right? I could melt through it."
"We're on a downward slope," said Tommy, "it's a solid plan if we go forward, follow the flow of the melt."
"Alright," Enya announced, putting on her leader voice. I love it when she does that. "We keep close and Flo, you take the lead, T'kni," she looked to me, my ear twitched. Sorry, but she once told me off in that voice and it still stings. "be ready to pull Flo out of the way if things go south."
"Got'cha," I gave Enya a thumbs up, and winked at Flo. "I got you Floflo." Nope, still sounds dumb. Better luck next time.
"Quipette, you bring up the rear make sure the heat isn't going to bring the rest caving in behind us."

We made our way out of Snowcloak the fast way. It took us about the same time to get out, but that was because as much as Pet might know about rocks and preventing cave-ins once we were well past the first obstacle she wouldn't have been able to do anything unless she stayed behind, and Enya wasn't letting that happen. We had just broken out into a wide, white landscape that looked nothing like the Central Highlands when we heard a familiar roar behind us. Tommy started laughing from the middle of the pack.
"Saddle up kiddies, we're going for a ride!" I grabbed Flo immediately, and I saw Memelo do some kind of Ala Mhigan martial somersault onto Tommy's shoulders. Just as the water hit I saw Glam drawing her bow and aiming, and then the world was a churning mess. Has anyone ever told you how difficult it is to swim in heavy armour? Difficult! Mostly I was scrambling sideways to try and get out of the melt. When I finally burst out, Flo sputtering in my arms, I could see Glam holding a rope attached to the side of a cliff by an arrow, still in the tide of the raging water but in control, looking about for others. I saw a pink blur come sailing out of the murk and Glam grabbed at Memelo's hand and threw her my way, to the bank of what looked like a new river. Memelo landed gracefully, then struck a pose, grinning.
"Best. Adventure. Ever!" She was laughing, rolling around next to Flo, who was still coughing up water, like me, but I still managed a laugh between coughs. I saw Tommy clambering along Glam's rope toward shore, Glam was holding on to a shivering Pet.
"Where's," I coughed, "where's Enya and Ikyu?!" Glam gave me a look, something that seemed to scream 'calm down'. Weird how well it works when your eyes literally glow with that amazing ring around them. Glam set Pet to clambering up the rope, which she did in good time by using her pick as an extra handhold in the ice below.
Then I saw the surging shape - red hair and a green hooded robe, plowing downstream. I ignored the water in my lungs and started running. Memelo and Tommy joined me, but we weren't catching up, and I could see a drop ahead, where water had only just started surging over into whatever land was far below it.
The shape came to a stop smack bang in the middle of the melt, practically on the precepice. It took a good few minutes for the water to slow, and by that time the others had joined us. Memelo donated one of her heavy Horas to Glam, who was about to swing the rope with the weight attached when Tommy stopped her.
"What, stealing my thunder? Fishing's my gig, twinkly eyes, move over." Glam nodded with a small smile, knowing that in spite of Tommy's boistrous argument, she wanted to make sure there was the best chance of casting this very important line the right distance.

We reeled in Ikyutsuu and Enya and the Arcanist, after coughing up her body weight in fresh water, made sure everyone was okay. Ikyutsuu sat the whole time looking toward the newly formed waterfall, and Pet was whistling in amazement at something below.
"What's up?" I asked our quiet botanist.
"My axe," she said, and I could see what she meant. "Mistress gave it to me, but it dislodged just as the rope reached us." It was the most I had ever heard her say, and it was clear that it meant a lot to her.
"No problemo, we'll get down the bottom and fish it out, Tommy can fish up anything, even people, didn't you know?" I grinned at her. I was vaguely aware of Tommy saying that she wished I'd stop calling her that.
"Doesn't matter," Ikyutsuu said, "I'll get another, as long as it's the same." - She didn't say another word, but I found a letter from Ikyu the next day among my things, for the record, which quite elegantly (in brushed script) said that it didn't matter whether it was the exact axe - that axe had fueled her since she came to Eorzea, but losing it to keep other people alive was worth more than the coin it had cost mistress and more than what it had meant to her. Losing the axe - she said - was worth being given a thousand.

After a long trek, some interesting rope-shooting from Glam, and an encounter with a recently-roused Polar bear during which Memelo had decimated it with strength that I have no idea where it came from, we found ourselves clambering up into the area called Behemoth's Dominion, which, due to its unsettling rumours lead us to rush quickly toward Whitebrim. It was on this journey that Tommy noticed a fish had been caught in Enya's hood, and after about ten minutes of the arcanist curling into a ball and expressing her disgust, Tommy managed to tell us that we had, quite by accident, caught a rare variety of Abalathian Smelt called The Matriarch.
"We're selling it," Enya said immediately. "Ikyutsuu needs a new axe, we can't have her turning up to mistress asking for another, mistress does enough for us already."
"Unnecessary," Ikyu mumbled, but I thought I saw a glint in her eyes that told of her gratitude.

The fish sold for an amount of Gil that left most of us flabbergasted, and we discussed with great glee what we could buy for mistress that could appropriately demonstrate the majesty of the quest, the trial we had just undergone, we bought Ikyu a new axe, just as shiny as the one mistress had given her, and chattered all the way back to the square, but that was before we met with the levemete who had overseen the job we were given.
"You were hired to explore," he said, "not to adjust the landscape of the Western Highlands' lower reaches and cause irreparable property damage to an outpost of... of some importance." I almost argued, Pet had told us about the old wooden watchtower down in the valley that had been carried away by the melt. But Flo was already apologising profusely.

When it was over, and we had been suitably fined, we had just enough gil to buy another Smelt, and then we exchanged the rest with a local trader for some Allagan Tin and started back out for Vylbrand and mistress' home in Mist, Enya holding - in spite of her protests - the fish that she was going to present to the mistress.

How in the seven hells are we going to explain this?



Character: Phoenicia Malquir
World: Lich
Desired item: Scarf of Wondrous Wit

[Gaignen]

SNIPPITY

So I was evidently overexcited and missed the part about a word limit. Guess I'll write it again. Gah.

[-Krypyonite-]

Character name : Achalys Frostbolt
World : Lich
Prize wanted: Ahriman chocker
________________________________________-
Well, i'm not sure if rules allow it, but it said a ''short story''. Bards in taverns tell them all the time, so here it goes the tale of Miss Fortune, from the retainers prespective. (pun intended) (if i can't submit this, please say.)


For money and glory.
I bring Honey and story
No time to say sorry

Master wasn’t fond,
Of the fortune I’ve been had
The contract meant to end
In his eyes I saw mad

Stolen from his Neighbor
“Why a goddamn roof?!”
With sneaking and labor
From this crime was no proof!

For venture I travel
For venture I wander,
I entered the Navel
Then fled in a thunder

Redemption was possible,
I listen the whisper
A one last resolve:
A sole Kingly Whisker!

With Might but no Aim
I stay strong,
I take claim

I began to understand
Like a child with a toy,
With Gil in his hand
In his eyes I saw joy.

[FlourishOfSteel0]

An Hour Isn't Enough

Tick... Tick...

“Thall's balls!...” The woman's lips stirred vehemently into a stream of soft breath. Two sculpted white brows knotted together. A shroud of ashen debris crept upon the ground. Arachne dared not raise her breath from it's caught and exasperated state.
The pages of her grimoire were heavy. How many times had her ink ran, or her conviction wavered just enough to surrender her fortitude? Two white ears twitched atop her head, setting the ribbons of her snowy strands ajar with their movement. The beast still lived.

A cloak of hot autumnal winds was enveloped the stretch of blackened earth, ungraciously intoxicating the air with the moisture and fumes erupting beneath like the drawing of moisture from a stone painted wharf rat. In a state of perpetual dawn a writhing structure palpitated above lavishing the ceiling in it's luminescence.
Not three yalms from her form the great bug lingered, writhing in the state of his perpetuated aether. Her breast was heavy so tightly woven into her Doman garb. She had asked for this.
“I have no idea why I'm here... She should have paid me more for this...” Linings of a smile twisted the edges of a softened feline smile. Staring down at this beast of bugs wrought nothing but a sour taste to her unbridled tongue. Soft skin, paled by the natural half light of the greatly illuminated cavern vibrating from the insects hum. Two bright blue eyes had grown milky at their outermost edges, stringing with dust along the twister lower lashes. One gloves hand ran the length of the tome's spine, spreading out her fingers and raising it upward. The primal was huge.

Tick... Tick...

“Thou art strong warrior. Accepting thy challenge was was not for nought! Bask in the frivolity of it!” A dense strong of shelled vocal chords irradiated outward, filling the plain of dusted rock, partially illuminated by pyres of the fallen, with the sound of his reverence.
She dashed forth. Surrounded by the fallen frame of discarded wooden planks each inhalation was splintering, every footfall was daunting. Ravana, clutching at the exoskeleton structure. The beast twisted himself back. Streams of hot air span around his shifting weight. The harshness of his blue hues so swiftly growing red rapidly altered the state of sight within the small, inept, arena.

Tick... Tick...

RING RING!

Barely capable of breath her tiny frame span in the air, falling with a thud to the ground. Her carefully smoothed features falling, as if unamused by her own blasphemes in the face of endangerment. “Curse the Twelve!” It seemed almost startling how such a small woman could bellow a shout so scorned.
One slender hand cupped at a patch of earth, twisting it within her grasp, feeling the moisture in it's texture. Her breath left her apathetically as she spoke.
“Ma'am, enjoy your handful of muddy water. I'm done with this, I'm becoming a fisher.”

Ravana was left dazed and confused.

~~

Words: 496
Character Name: Agynngoht Eidindynsyn
World: Zodiark
Prize of choice: Bluebird Earnings

[Aerinboy]

Final Fantasia

"Another Lightning Shard Venture..." Florelle sighed, looking over to Axon, "And I'm no closer to going on an Exploration Venture than the day I was hired!"
"It's what Boss needs, be lucky we're not sent out to East Shroud. Morbols Florelle, Morbols," Axon shivered.
"She doesn't even need any more of them! She comes back, uses the bell, takes her forty Lightning Shards, and then just sends us out again without a second thought! I've seen her inventory buddy, she's got hundreds, maybe thousands!"

Axon and Florelle walked along the Sapphire Avenue Exchange, dressed in basic gear and toting a basic hatchet and pickaxe respectively. They had long since surpassed the equipment they were wearing, their outfits were starting to smell.
"And why did she make you the Botanist? Look at me! How many Lalafell's you see mining? And you, a great hulking Roegadyn picking at blummin' flowers!" Florelle growled.
"I would like to be smaller," Axon admitted.
"That's the ticket buddy. And to that end, I have a plan!" Florelle snickered, "Follow me,"
Florelle led him to a Market Board, gil in hand.

"We're going on our own venture, to find a Retainer Fantasia. You can be the Lalafell you've always been destined to be, and I can be the Roegaydn you've always wanted to be!" she said.
"First to buy some Lightning Shards, so she doesn't suspect anything. I've got some gil saved from before I started taking Venture coins as payment. What about you?" Florelle asked.
"My Gil is gone, an addiction to Mashed Popotoes you see," Axon said, frowning.
"Jeez, aren't you helpful?" Florelle groaned.
Florelle took a look at the Market Board and searched it, her eyes darted across the prices.

"20,000 Gil for 80 Lightning Shards!? This is daylight robbery!" Florelle shouted, she looked around at the other adventurers around her accusingly, "Greedy good-for-nothing adventurers, they'd do just about anything for a rare item or gil! FINE!"
She tapped the market board and dropped in the Gil. A hatch opened and dropped the Lightning Shards into her hands.
"Now we search?" Axon smiled.

Axon and Florelle searched all over Thanalan, they ducked across the dunes. Dodging Amal'jaa's and Peiste's, Imps and Buzzards they searched and searched, opened chests containing potions and ethers, and stopped to dine on the occasional dish of mashed popotoe. They stumbled into Fates and Dungeons, running from Primals that were summoned over and over again. Yet they found nothing, luck was not on their side.

They slumped against the Hall of Flames, watching the comers and goers.
"Sorry Florelle," Axon said earnestly, "Maybe we'll change classes one day,"
"Yeah...maybe," Florelle said, a single tear falling down her cheek.
The two Retainers sat there for a time, until eventually a shadow cast over them. They looked up to their Master standing before them, offering two items.
"For us?" Axon said.
"M-Master?" Florelle choked.
Their Master merely nodded, silently handing over the two Retainer Fantasia's whilst Florelle hugged her.
"Thank you Master!!!"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Character name: Lucina Firon
World name: Lich
In-game Prize: Scarf of Wondrous Wit

[Lunaak]

Character Name: Lunaak Firespring
World: Cerberus
Item Request: Mandragora Choker


He's here. Like always, he's here. Just when I think that maybe for a second I'll be able to rest a little... he's here. He's here ready to send me back out there. I punched Titan back into the aether stream before Master's fancy Scion friends even knew the beast had materialised again. I'm the real hero! But no. It's never enough. He's here again ready to accept the day's spoils and ship me out for another run. He's always here...

Time to go, Mikuru. Time to try something new.

Each and every day I board the ship back to Central Shroud from the home that never really feels like home; I'm greeted less and less by other 'retainers' going the same way. Each day they come home in a hurry with a couple of sardines in one hand and a basket in the other blurting out "I'm sure Master will love today's bounty!" For them their judgement seems just. For me? Only death would give me a day in bed...

With no Chocobo on hand it takes a long time to reach even South Shroud. Luckily, however, I've managed to save up enough to make a little stop off on the way! Buscarron's Druthers, they call it. I seem to remember Master telling tales of the barkeep he met here in his early days - not even staying mute on the details of the rare Bacchus wine Buscarron keeps under the decks for those after the good stuff. I'm not sure if Ianna counts as a 'friend in high places', but she's certainly helpful when it comes to convincing the old man to dust off the vintage!

14 hours left? That's enough. Calling time is easy when a band of drunken Roegadyn offer to buy you a candlelit dinner of 'Mashed Popotoes' from the wench waiting the tables. Their slow wink is enough for me to direct a nervous smile their way. Courtesy at its finest. Sorry, Gents, but I can't stay.

The long walk through Thanalan isn't without its burdens, but the blistering desert heat was enough to convince me that my plan was in the best interests of my aching body -- interests that were starting to materialise on the horizon. The Forgotten Springs were in sight and I knew U'rahtalo could smell the bottled vineyard I'd promised so long ago. A very long soak in Hamon-sensei's favorite spot was in order and all I had to do was scuff up my armour. Good plan!

Buscarron even had some fine Grilled Carp waiting on tap for my return trip. Master's present! I already knew the troubles of keeping it away from the pudgy cats snapping at my ankles wouldn't be worth the trip back to the Lavender Beds, but life isn't always easy!

Of course he's here.

He's always here...

[Ware]

Shala Finfright
Gilgamesh
Scarf of Wondrous Wit

The Miquo’te brushed the snow out of his dull blonde hair, and raised his gaze to the sky, where a flock of wyvern were circling. Slipping the map into his clothes, he placed the mask over his face, and removed his warmer, but weaker, gloves. Finally, he unclasped his book, and charged the spells to protect him, and bless his skin with stone-like strength. The Arcanist was ready.

Charging a spell, a circle of magic emerged on the ground, bathing the area in a purple light, and alerting the wyverns. Two dove, and he crouched in the center of the field. Diving to the side, an unaspected spell passed through his fingers from the letters on the page. The first wyvern flinched slightly, but continued its charge.

Avoiding an icy breath from one, he fired another bolt of magic off at the second wyvern as a yellow shape charged for the first one. Diving forward, he began to run around the second wyvern, dodging ice breath and tail swipes with practiced ease. Glancing to his yellow companion, he flipped the page, and fired off a spell toward the first wyvern.

Both wyverns roared, and the Arcanist glanced upward as a larger wyvern, dwarfing the size of the other two, slammed into the ground. Sliding on the snow, he gripped it with frostbitten fingers, and dove out of the way of a new breath; purple and black mist that seeped into the yellow companion’s mouth, poisoning it.

Gritting his teeth, the Arcanist turned the page, and quickly sent a healing spell toward his yellow companion. However, the two baby wyverns attacked, and he got assaulted by twice the amount of ice flame as a result. Chilled to below freezing, the Arcanist began to slow down, and the wyverns began to speed up. The yellow companion suffered immense damage, and vanished. Gritting his teeth, the Arcanist faced the three wyverns.

Rearing up, the three began to charge their breath attacks, and the Arcanist looked to the wings. With death fast approaching, he pulled out a potion, a rare potion of max potency, a gift from his client, and dove at the wyverns. The flame hit him, and he drunk the fluid, feeling it heal his insides seconds after they were burned away.

Diving behind the wyverns, the Arcanist slammed his book upon the ground, calling upon a dome of purple around all three wyverns. All three roared, and turned to face him. Focusing on a target, the Arcanist attacked the weakest wyvern, dodging and weaving through sub-zero ice breaths, and fogs of poison that were beginning to shroud the area.
________________________________

“Was it everything you hoped it would be?” Holding out six wyvern wings, the Arcanist watched his client take them, and then pull out one more coin. Giving a bow, the Arcanist took it, listening as, once more, she ordered more wyvern wings.

“You will be most pleased with the result. I guarantee it!”

[dgabrielm]

My name's Chamcham, I'm Rufus Mao's retainer. Lately my master's been transmogrifying my peers! I know how it sounds, but it's true.. he uses this otherworldly potion, Fantasia. It made me ponder my own existence, not to mention fear for my very life. One day he summoned me, "I was wondering when you'd get around to calling me", it may seem cold, but then his relentless mild expression has become somewhat disconcerting after all this time. He sent me on an ad-venture! I couldn't believe my luck. I packed my mining gear and headed to Drybone without delay. This was my chance, us retainers don't have a good lot in life but I'll be damned if some adventurer was going bend the very nature of my existence thank you very much!

Running out of the camp, I looked back at a group of adventurers, stood motionless, like empty shells. I ran as far as Highbridge. What was I doing? I didn't know where to go. I'd gone exactly where I was told, like a train, only where my tracks led me... But what if there were a lever and I could change the tracks? But what if on the first set of tracks there were three baby Lalafells, and on the other tracks there was one baby Lalafell? I'm pretty sure I've always been a Lalafell, these are my ken, could I really make that decision? This wasn't the time for morality discussions, I'd lost my train of thought, better keep moving.

The Burning Wall, a place of wondrous beauty, maybe I could find some answers there. I saw the group of adventurers from Drybone rush past like a Lominsan flagship. Their leader was a Hyur named Theseus, his party contained different adventurers than before. Imagine if you replaced every member of a party, would it still be the same party? I arrived at the heart of that mystical place. A wave of fear washed over me and I wasn't quite sure why. I stumbled upon a sealed box. Without a moment's hesitation to wonder about the mysteries inside I broke it open with my pickaxe and out sprang a grateful Miqo'te ranting and raving that her master (an Elezen named Schrödinger) had locked her in there for a cruel experiment. Before we could get about to pondering the meaning of it all, a group of Mirrorknights were on us, swarming around and displaying their wings threateningly. There was nothing else for it, we jumped into the box trembling like Lalafellian babies, not daring to peer out. I was going to die and it was all my fault. I thought about many things, my life, my master, how could I have forsaken him over a small matter like threatening my concept of existence?

There was silence, and then the voice of a Hyur spoke, it was the adventurer Theseus! I stared out thanking the Twelve and he said "Rufus sent me"... Good thing I'd grabbed that Alumen on the way...

Character name: Rufus Mao
World Name: Cactuar
Choice: Scarf of Wondrous Wit

[Jaazu]

Character: Jaazu Astaroth
Server: Zodiark
DC: Chaos
Prize Choice: Mandragora Choker

Just another cycle....
It was 5:25am, I'd finally got done doing all the previous evening's tasks and was just laying down to get a couple hours of sleep before 'taskmaster' Azaroth returns. No such luck would be had on this day. Miss Azaroth showed up around 8am and handed me a piece of parchment with some rough notes scribbled on it and a scratched out map of the South Shroud with a little X in the middle. Next to the marking was written "Go here and await further instruction". She then stormed off mumbling about having to meet her group of friends at the pub in Idyllshire. I wasn't sure what even to do. I'd never been asked to leave the city before. I packed up a bag with some lunch, put on the "gear" that Miss Azaroth had donated to me and headed out. Two airships and a chocobo later I was nearing the location on the map. The area was heavily wooded and a bit creepy I must admit. There didn't seem to be anyone, or anything around. I arrived at where the marking was and took a seat on a large fallen tree.

Nearly an hour had passed when the tiniest lalafel I've ever seen walked up to me causally and said, "You're late, inadeqately garbed and a bit scrawny looking for the task at hand." I said nothing. He then handed me another map. A map unlike any I had ever seen before. It simply had a line with an arrowhead, and as I moved the paper the arrow pointed the way to go. Under his breath the miniature man said, "Good ridden" and scurried away. Something started to feel a bit off about this whole adventure. I couldn't quite understand why Miss Azaroth would send me out here like this. I was always her errand runner, but always in the city. The now distant, safe, warm, comforting city. It was about noon, so I figured I'd have my lunch prior to heading out following this odd map. An apple and a hard boiled chicken egg later I was ready to go.

I started following the arrow and it headed me north over some hills and large mounds. Onward it continued into a trench of sorts which ended at a large open portcullis in the side of a hill. Inside the maw of the mound was a room with many animated walking skeletons!! I was terrified. What was this place? Why have I been sent here? The arrow guided me onward into the room. The horrifying creatures seemed to ignore me as I walked among them and then slowly a large door on the west wall opened and the map began to glow brightly.
The next thing I recall is being in a long damp tunnel with sounds of screams and scurrying coming from all directions. I slowly continued to follow the map. It finally lead me to a room off the main hall and in the corner sat a small box and a scroll case. I walked up to the box and the arrow on the map disappear and the paper it was on disintegrated into dust. I opened the box slowly. Inside were about 10 to 20 receipts for purchases and services I had run for Miss Azaroth all with red marks and notes hastily written on each of them. The terror set in. I picked up the scroll case, opened the end of it and pulled out the piece of parchment.

YOUR EMBEZZLEMENT ENDS HERE.

The door of the room I was in swung closed with a thunderous bang and a magical seal barred it shut. This was the day I ended my employment, and became a full time resident in Toto-Rak.


-- From the journal of C'antha Deloria

[Luneth-San]

"Time to Mine!" Lulabelle squealed as she readies her Mammon Supra and Forager's Sledgehammer, giggling cheekily as she got to work. After counting the right amount of Wyvernskin Maps and Ice Crystals, Lulabelle couldn't help but immerse herself in the view of Coerthas Western Highlands."Ahh dreamy, I wish Phi-pai was here." Lulabelle gleefully said as she set off back to Falcon's Nest. SUDDENLY..... Lulabelle is knocked back by a torrent of fire, "AAAAAAHHH!" She screamed. Lulabelle is confronted by an obese, pink-colored wyrm called fluffy. Although she's the first cousin of Phi Luneth, The Warrior of Light, Lulabelle is only kind and charitable whilst Phi is strict and courageous. Consumed by tears and panic, Lulabelle toughens up and slaps the wyrm across the face. Fluffy lets out an agonizing roar and explodes into a mountain of Fat Cats. "NYYYAAAA!!" The Fat Cats meowed as Lulabelle is cheered on by the Temple Knights and Dragoons sent to rescue her. "Praise Halone! This is the best day of our lives you have our thanks young miss." The temple knight joyfully said as everyone was greeted by kisses, cuddles and purrs from the fat cats. "Wow. Am I dreaming?" Lulabelle questioned as she departed home. "Phi's gonna love this! hehehee bye-bye!" Lulabelle said ecstatically not knowing about the loot she forgot.

Character Name: Phi Luneth

World: Zodiark

Choice: Bluebird Earring