Bingo Challenge: Jellyfish. The caravan from Tipa makes its way through Selepation Cave for its final drop of myrrh in the midst of a summer heat wave, and Anais Nin has a way of making this last leg of the journey extremely profitable.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles or any characters or locations within, only my motley caravan from the tiny village of Tipa.
Bountiful Harvest
Summer had come to a world clouded in miasma, with long bright days and roasting heat. West of the Jegon River, in the fields of Fum, resident farmers were making frequent trips to the many streams that flowed through and around their fields, and to the windmill-powered pumps that drew water from beneath the ground, in order to ensure that their crops were properly watered and their livestock had plenty of water to drink.
For one group of travelers, the motley caravan from Tipa, the midst of the heat wave marked the perfect time to get their last drop of myrrh from Selepation Cave. It was said that all winds were born in this cold cave, and to here they all returned when they were done blowing all over the land.
"I understand there's a lot of jellyfish-like creatures in this cave that yield thunderballs when they get killed," remarked Anaïs Nin, a Selkie who had been through two crystal caravans prior to this one, as she tucked a sharp stone knife into a sheath on her belt and shouldered her racket with the leather strap attached to it. Because she knew that they would be helpful, she also filled a pouch on her belt with sharp-tipped throwing darts. "And according to the caravan from Marr's Pass, there's a major demand for thunderballs both there and in Alfitaria—we'd do well to scare some up while we're here."
Dimo Nor, a Lilty who had become a caravanner at the same time as Anaïs Nin, geared up in a suit of lightning-resistant armor forged from iron and thunderball. "I hope we get to pick a fight with a cockatrice, too," he added, "because my father wants to make me a pair of golden gauntlets for my next birthday, but he says he needs a cockatrice scale for those."
The Yukish leader of the caravan, Khetala, had just finished equipping a suit of crystal-inlaid mythril armor that would lend her some miasma resistance and was now tucking a talisman under her helm. "As always, the cave is home to more monsters than just those," she warned. "Lizardmen and killer bees aren't just found in Daemon's Court; there are plenty of both here as well. There are bats and sahagins, and very large hard-shelled insects known as blazer beetles. We might even find gigases in some parts of the cave—not as strong as old Jack Moschet, of course, but still not to be taken lightly. David, Lydia—do you two have the chalice and the spoils bag?"
"Yes, we've got everything we need." A brown-eyed and fair-haired Clavat gathered the crystal chalice up into her arms while her blond-haired and battle-scarred older brother secured a shield to his left arm and slung the well-worn leather spoils bag over his right shoulder. A heavy sword hung in a scabbard at his waist, and a lighter sword hung at hers.
Dimo Nor seized his newly-forged spear, and once he secured the caravan's wagon beneath a steep cliff where the papaopamus would be sheltered from most of the winds, the caravanners entered the windy cave.
Exactly as predicted, Selepation Cave was swarming with floating electric jellyfish. "Wow, there's a lot of them over there," Lydia murmured. "How do we lure one away without stirring up a whole bloody hornet's nest?"
The caravanners inched closer. "Have that Blizzard ring ready for when I peg one, Khetala," Anaïs Nin bade her Yuke friend in a whisper as she produced a dart from her pouch, ready to throw it, racket held at stand-by in her left hand. Turning to Dimo Nor, she added, "And when I hit the frozen one real hard, you finish it off with the spear if it's still moving."
While the others lingered close together behind a smallish pile of rocks against the cave wall, Dimo Nor and Anaïs Nin took several steps forward, until at last the Selkie threw her dart at a jellyfish in one swift move. She aimed true, and the provoked jellyfish turned to the caravanners at once, preparing to cast a Thunder spell. Khetala, however, was quicker, and with the jellyfish frozen in place, Anaïs Nin was able to make short work of it. "That's how we catch ourselves some jellyfish," she declared with a smirk, proceeding to remove her dart from the jellyfish's corpse and carefully cut away the sought-after thunderball.
"How did you get your hands around those darts, anyway?" David questioned.
"I bought them from a fletcher in Alfitaria when we were on our way south early this spring," Anaïs Nin replied. "His name's Arju Sol, and he says that most of his customers are patrons of the tavern next door and like the target-hitting games there. Me, I prefer using them to single out one monster from a group like we're doing with these jellyfish, since darts tend to sting worse than rocks do."
This strategy devised for jellyfish-hunting worked incredibly well; so far the caravanners had thus gained nine thunderballs from targeting the electric jellyfish (and Dimo Nor got the cockatrice scale that he had wanted; in fact, he had gotten several), and only three times had the commotion drawn the attention of such powerful foes as blazer beetles and gigases. Even these fights were profitable, however, for Anaïs Nin was diligent and harvested gigas claws and two hard beetle-shells without fail. "Someone sure does pay attention whenever we meet the Marr's Pass caravan," remarked Dimo Nor with a slight note of sarcasm.
"I like to think it's because I both have a merchant for a father and used to have an uncle who was a caravanner that I know how to make a myrrh-seeking journey profitable," came the Selkie's smug reply.
"Save your debate for later, you two," David began to admonish his comrades, "because if memory serves me, we're approaching some sahagin-infested watering holes. Fen Del once told us that a sahagin is born whenever a Selkie meets an untimely death before he or she can see a cherished dream fulfilled; that's why sahagins are wickedly fast on their feet. Anaïs Nin, if you don't mind, I'd like you to carry the spoils bag until we meet the myrrh-tree-guarding cave worm and need to fight it."
Carrying the spoils bag was not nearly as enjoyable as killing a monster and therefore being there instantly to harvest something valuable from its corpse, but Anaïs Nin was unable to complain, as whoever did carry the bag was, of course, allowed to drop it whenever there was immediate need to fight. Not that David had any trouble fighting the sahagins that leapt out of water-filled holes; those creatures were weaklings (and besides which, unlike electric jellyfish or lizardmen, they never had anything of value on them except magicite or phoenix down).
Finally the caravanners approached the chamber that Khetala and David both remembered as the lair of the cave worm. "You say a giant cave worm is gonna try and block our path to the myrrh tree?" Dimo Nor inquired. "How do we fight it?"
"Hopefully we don't. Hopefully it's sleeping and we manage to slip past it like shadows in the night," Lydia stated in a rather deadpanned manner.
Khetala adjusted the ring on her finger to which the power of a Blizzard magicite was bound and palmed a stone of Life magicite in the same hand. "We need to be particularly wary of the cave worm's sand-spewing breath and the beam of energy that it uses to slow down its foes, as well as the ground-shaking body slam that it performs when it grows frantic," she explained, as she frequently did before a fight with a guardian monster. "Since there is the need to move swiftly, Anaïs Nin, we will need you to bear the chalice. I will do my best to weaken the beast with Holy magic, as it is the only type of magic to which the worm is vulnerable. David, you and Dimo Nor will attack the worm and any supporting monsters—electric jellyfish seem to be the worm's henchmen of choice—with your weapons. Lydia, your primary duty is to cast Cure spells on those who are wounded and Clear on those who become slowed or paralyzed. Is everything understood?"
No sooner had all the caravanners indicated their agreement with Khetala's strategy than they all entered the inner chamber. Unfortunately, the cave worm was not asleep as Lydia had hoped; it immediately saw the caravanners, and battle ensued. Still, however, the plan worked well; apart from David being briefly paralyzed by the lash of an electric jellyfish and Khetala and Anaïs Nin both suffering severe sand burn from the cave worm's breath, the caravanners made it through the battle fairly easily.
Anaïs Nin was positively bursting with pleasure once she was healed of her sand burn and the caravan was on its way back to the wagon, full chalice and full spoils bag in tow. One of the many treasure chests that the caravanners had discovered contained a design for a suit of diamond armor—a type of armor that promised both to be beautiful to wear and to serve extremely well in battle. It called for orichalcum, diamond ore, and the hard shell of a blazer beetle; the caravan had not yet happened upon orichalcum, but there was diamond ore and two beetle-shells now in reserve—the lavender-haired Selkie felt certain that once she did have orichalcum, she would be the proud owner of a battle-ready suit of diamond armor within weeks. Not to mention the gigas-claws and all the thunderballs, and even some mythril and cockatrice scales from the monster hunt…when the caravan stopped in Marr's Pass on the way home, they would have one full chalice and five full wallets!