The next morning had been a blur of activity—as Roll rocked Azlyn from a lack of nightmare-fueled sleep—to find bands of adventurer's setting up camp and chatting amongst themselves.
Azlyn rubbed the sleep from her eyes, as she noted their own group had been out mingling with the others.
"—How long was I asleep for?"
Roll looked up to the sun. "It's a little past eleven."
"Breakfast?" She looked to their camp to see no food.
Her cousin presented her with a granola bar to snack on.
Azlyn left the tent following her cousin—the camp surrounding their own had suddenly grown as more adventurers settled in. Their groups were already mingling with one another. Kida had been bouncing between a few people she knew, while Koroko spoke with a band of foreigners. They didn't appear Eorzean, but it was hard to tell from this distance.
"How'd you get so many adventurers in just a night?" She asked her question curiously.
Roll shrugged. "Had to dig into our Free Companies coffers, but it's worth it."
"…oh?" Azlyn hadn't realized she had done that. "How much, maybe I can try to earn some of it…"
Her cousin stopped her with a hand. "Don't worry about it. Kida and I have a good handle of our finances."
Azlyn pouted, but she decided to leave it there.
"We're going to be heading into the Labyrinth soon." Roll pointed over to Rammbroes as he started shuffling to the milling adventurers.
"It's nice to meet you all! Oh, hey!" Kida's voice echoed in their camp across the way. She had gone over to Koroko's group, happily bouncing in their conversations. "Come on over to meet our new friends!"
There had been a group of nine adventurers milling about. A few of them were setting up their camps. A Roegabyn woman with a spear had been assisting another Xaela Au Ra with a tent, meanwhile a Miqo'te with feathered blue hair had been drinking water. A pink haired Raen Au Ra interacted bubbly, bouncing around the camp fire to pass out snacks. Another male Miqo'te sat with a male Lalafellin—they both were laughing about something. The last three members of their group, a young Hyuran girl with blue hair had been writing in her book—while another female Miqo'te with white hair had been studying beside her. A Viera… a male Viera had been tending to another tent, his ears perked as newcomers came and gone.
"Hi." Roll approached the group that Kida had been speaking with.
One of the leads, a Hyuran girl with blue hair waved to them. "We were in Ul'dah looking for work when we came across your friend." She motioned to Koroko beside her. "She posted this job and we were like: we had to take this job."
Kida perked up, "Glad you could join us in this possible death trap!"
One of the girls beamed excitedly. "But it'll be fun! We'll traveled quite a ways and faced much worse, I'm sure!"
Azlyn quirked her head. "Traveling? Where from?"
The Hyuran girl with blue hair stood up. "We all met up at different locations within Othard and the outskirts of Ilsabard. Along the way, we just grew into what our group is now."
"Couldn't be helped when Doma went to shit." A black haired Miqo'te with a katana shook his head. "We had no choice but to escape the Empire."
"Or be conscripted." Their lancer Roegabyn shook her head. "Luckily getting across the Ruby Sea wasn't so bad this time around."
"Well Fraegeim, you did all the negotiating with your friends at the pass so…" The female Miqo'te with short white hair answered.
Their group seemed to be fairly close knit—as they jumped back and forth with ease. Their banter and chatter reminded Azlyn of what their group's chemistry had. Lots of energy and back and forth—however recently it had been strained due to all the chaos. It was difficult to figure out everyone's names though.
"It must have been a long journey over—did you travel through Kugane?" Azlyn asked curiously, typically one wouldn't cross the Ruby Sea if they weren't planning on going through Kugane.
"That we did." The Viera male nodded, letting his ears bounce. "There were several times I thought our ship would get wrecked."
"Do you remember the giant sea serpent that tried to take out the ship?" The Xaela Au Ra laughed. "Fuckin' roasted that guy."
Her previous comment made Azlyn blink several times. "Giant… sea serpent?"
And the blue frosted Miqo'te with the spear nodded. She sloshed her cup of water slowly. "Some people were screaming that it was a Primal—Leviathan?"
"Yeah, I remember the Captain said that was its name." Another nonchalantly spoke. She flicked a bit of fluff from under her nail. "It's dead though, so not too big a deal."
"Are you all blessed by the echo?" Roll asked curiously, wondering how they didn't get tempered.
Their Raen bobbed her head in a bubbly way, her puffy pink hair bounced. "Yup! Quite a small world, isn't it?"
"Indeed." Their samurai tacked on. "Well, when are we getting this show on the road? Camp almost done?"
Their healer, the eastern conjurer Xaela, saluted "Just about! We have a few tents left." She then turned to their Lalafellin teammate. "Nura, why don't you get off your ass to help—"
Azlyn let their group finish their last minute preparations, as Roll, Kida, and Koroko rejoined her. "They're quite the interesting group."
"Heh."
"I foresee us succeeding in this operation Master Roll and Master Kida." Koroko openly smiled. "We have more opportunities to gain allies for future events."
Kida smiled widely. "More friends is more like!"
"I believe the other team has started to come as well." Roll gestured to a new group of eight coming in. "I see a few familiar faces."
Some happened to be a part of the Archer's and Lancer's guild in Gridania—while a few others seemed sporadically from Limsa. Their insignia from the Grand Companies set them apart. Given the diversity of their groups, it was good to know there was an even balance for each group.
"All those heading for the Labyrinth should follow the Sons' researcher!" Professor Rammbroes approached the growing crowds. He already wanted to get the groups going and settle the dilemma of the CrystalTower. "Cid of the Garland Ironworks will be there to lead you beyond the gateway."
Soon their group started to merge together, as seven familiar faces reunited. Then an eighth arrived—standing by Koroko Koko. Azlyn remembered that she was the white haired Miqo'te who used arcanima. She greeted them with a wave.
"This our group?" Ozwin noted the new person. "Cool. I'm Ozwin, this is Thuzu. He's our van for this operation."
N'thuzu Tia lofted his axe up to his shoulders.
"Roll and Richiro will be our support and healing. So if you need any healing, go to them."
The girl noted Richiro as she hadn't met him yet. "I see, and what is everyone's roles for damage?"
"I'll be using a lance. Azlyn will martial arts such as her knives, fists, and feet. Kida's our resident bard. She'll be singing constantly, so sorry if you hate that. And Koroko will be blasting things with fire and ice. Any questions?"
"Nope." She shrugged.
"I have a question!" Richiro perked up once their strategic meeting ended. "What's your name?" He asked the girl.
"My name is Bella. Thank you for having me." She gave them a greeting with the wave of her hand.
"Glad to have you onboard. If you need anything, feel free to ask any of us. I'm sure one of us will have an answer."
Bella nodded. "I've done a few large scale operations before. This should be no problem. I'll follow your lead."
Ozwin gave a cocked grin, before gesturing for the group to fall out to follow the rest of the teams. They had been the last team to head out from the campsite.
Azlyn didn't mind Ozwin stepping up, as he was definitely the better strategist between them. She stayed in the middle of their group, walking the earthen pathways to the Crystal Tower. There had been a few Gigas giants along the way, but with twenty four adventurers, they didn't stand a chance.
When they finally arrived to the first gate, they saw Cid, Biggs, Wedge, and G'raha as a group. They were discussing something prior to their arrival, but stopped when their parties arrived.
"When you said a large operation, you meant one." Cid remarked to Roll. He clapped his hands together before he raised his voice for all to hear. "Morning everyone! My name is Cid Garland of the Garland Ironworks. Since we're working together, I would like to take a moment and distribute to you a fresh set of linkshells designed for communication in combat situations."
He detailed how it would work, as well as the length of which one could be from any of the parties. The link itself would hold strong, even if the parties were somehow separated. And they wouldn't have a disruption due to the aetherial energies of the nearby structure.
"Any questions on these linkshells?" Cid asked at the end.
Only quiet rabble from within small cliques, specifically from the middle group.
"Perfect. Come collect one from each of us, and we'll head inside." Cid, Biggs, and Wedge lined up, where they all lined up. Azlyn's group lined up with Wedge, as the Lalafellin smiled widely to them.
"Good luck in there!" He cheered.
"We'll see you soon Wedge." Azlyn promised, as she configured the new linkshell with her current one. The small attachment made the communication link beep for several seconds, until finally synchronizing as one.
Again a brief detailed explanation ensued about entering the gates, and once all were aware of the process to get inside—they all one group at a time—teleported beyond to the first step. The Eight Sentinels were a mess, the parts of rubble spread out more evenly and across the bridge. The few researchers, G'raha Tia, and Cid must have done a great deal of work while they gathered the necessary forces to enter the Labyrinth.
Cid directed them all to the stairs leading beneath the structure—and finally the entry to their first obstacle. "Good luck."
The adventurers strolled downward, the lights dimmed from the natural lighting as a flash of heat welcomed them within. Lava rolled down the sides of some areas to the east and west. And as they walked further down, the giant door behind them opened—and shut after they entered. It was beyond these doors that they noticed three large barrier walls circling around what seemed to be a central platform.
Along their choices to proceed, they had three paths before them. One that led west, one that led north, and one that led east.
Azlyn tapped her linkshell live to speak with all. "In order for us to proceed, we may need to disable the barriers around this central platform. Given the format of the paths before us, there may be switches or levers that need to be pulled at the end of each path to open up our next destination."
A new voice, one she hadn't known of, spoke with clarity. "I see. Well we have three groups. Shall one group each go down the paths and tackle that set of obstacles?"
"Then guys, we'll take the right!" The energetic Lalafellin from the group on the left shouted exuberantly.
"We'll take the left then." The one who spoke with no name said. "I trust there are no complaints from you all to take center then?"
Azlyn chimed in for their group. "We'll take care of the center path."
"Should we be splitting up this soon?" Richiro watched as the groups split off. "You think it'll be okay?"
"Don't fret Master Richiro." Koroko Koko smiled. "All will work out. Come, let us not dawdle and make the others wait."
They pressed forward, beyond the giant central doors they followed the flow of lava to a set of stairs that led down to another long walkway. It didn't take much longer before they found themselves in an open chamber where all the lava started to pour from. There were also accompanied with three enemies and a giant bomb tethered to all.
It didn't take long for them to deal with the small puzzle like situation—as all three enemies tethered to the bomb needed to be killed at the same time in order to stop the bomb from igniting. They were quickly able to handle the situation, leaving the support to Roll and Richiro's discretion—while all five of them and Thuzu started to pick off the monsters at the same time. Ozwin and N'thuzu Tia were on one to the north. Azlyn and Bella took the one on the west side, and Kida and Koroko worked on the east side. There was a fine line of balance to keep all three enemies split at even distances and away from the bomb.
Azlyn weaved between the martial strikes of the monstrosities sword, flipping to the side and lunging back in to strike vital points. They all had an idea to position the enemies so that they're backs would be to the lava, and when it looked weakened, they would push them back into the lava to melt it.
Needless to say… it sort of worked out. Although Ozwin and Thuzu were scrambling to kill their monster off when Kida and Azlyn knocked theirs off in sync last second. The bomb started to tick down, before Ozwin shoulder bashed the monster with his spear at the ready and hoped it would be enough to knock it over.
They watched, hearing the clicking of the bomb—before silence. The monster melted down into the lava—the arms outstretched to the ceiling—and getting consumed.
Azlyn rubbed to sweat from her eyes. "It's so hot."
"Lava will do that." Bella commented. "I believe a path opened up further north." She gestured to the path that emerged up from the lava—a mechanism that triggered when the trap had been cleared.
They waited for the lava to disperse, and continued on—and upward. Azlyn could see etchings upon the ground, and noticed a crystal aetheryte dimmed to the side. She examined it, only to see it light up upon her touch.
Withdrawing her hand, she wondered what that meant.
"Uh… guys?" Richiro had been at front, before running back to them. "IT'S A BEHEMOTH!"
"A what?!" Ozwin sprinted up, seeing a giant Behemoth getting materialized by the aetheric compounds within the space. Four control panels with spires pointing up to the ceiling, and sent pulses of electrical energy into the ground.
They heard it's mighty roar, as it climbed to both of it's hind legs. The aetheric energy pulsed all around it as a giant meteor started to manifest over him.
Azlyn started to sprint to one of the consoles, her eyes scanning through anything that she could find. Roll soon joined her, looking at the keys presented.
One Minute to Self Destruction
The Ancient Allag tongue of a computerized voice echoed in the hall.
"What was that!?" Kida shouted to the voice.
"One minute til self destruction." Azlyn's hands were already pounding into the keys, trying to disable the device.
"AZLYN DO SOMETHING!" Ozwin shouted as tiny meteors started to bombard on them.
"Keep it busy, I'm working on it!" She shouted right back, not bothering to turn around. When it seemed like she completed the protocol, it blinked in success. Only for the voice to echo in Ancient Allag once more.
Forty five seconds to Self Destruction
"I have to do all four of them!?" She realized, and started sprinting to the one in the next corner. She could tell her friends were fighting as best as they could—meteors falling from the sky and a giant one looming overhead.
Thirty Seconds to Self Destruction
Azlyn sprinted to the next console, she could feel the soles of her feet burning as she slammed her fingers into the next console-the same sequence she used in the first and second.
Fifteen seconds to Self Destruction
"Come on…" Azlyn didn't wait for the console to beep it's confirmation, as she started to sprint to the last one in the other corner. She spotted several meteors where her friends started to dart behind. The giant meteor already getting close to the ground.
She frantically pounded the keys, inserted the proper chain of protocols in ancient allag before flipping away from the console. She felt a hand grab her arm, yanking her behind a meteor—and the whole room lit up to blind them all.
Azlyn had to cover her eyes, feeling the intensity of the heat and the mild shockwave hit the ground. The meteors collapsed—as everything in the room started to fizzle away. The behemoth roared, collapsing in a fit of Allagan ruination and disappeared into nothing.
She dropped to her knees, as she gulped down heavy doses of oxygen. Thuzu had been next to her, also falling to the ground.
"By the Twelve." He muttered.
"By the Twelve is right." Azlyn huffed.
Their linkshells all turned on, as someone from the other team announced their successful activation of their side. "—So anyways, we're done on the east side. We had an interesting puzzle that had us stand on these panels that opened up the barriers to attack these enemies." One voice explained with fluidity. "How's everyone's day going."
"Going well." Bella answered with a stressed tone.
The group on the west also reported success. "Poison traps, but easily manageable."
Ozwin, who sat on the ground to stare around at the others, tapped his link live. "Fuck this place."
His statement earned him quite a bit of laughter shortly after from the others who weren't currently with them.
Roll had been examining something at the far side of the room, and gestured for Azlyn to come over. Shakily, as her legs permitted her, she found a console had risen from the ground. There had been a button that appeared promising enough. She pressed it, hearing a large mechanical rupture throughout the hall heading back to that central platform.
"Let's regroup."
By the time their group reached the center area, they noticed the others had been waiting. They saw a console at the center glow brilliantly as the three barriers broke off, disabling itself and moving into place elsewhere.
There were a few things that Azlyn wanted to take time for, wanting to scour through all the space properly. However, she knew those in their vanguard, as well as those waiting for their call of success, were anxious to finish their work.
The three pathways had been successfully cleared, each group handled one path with relative ease. While she thought it had been with relative ease, the middle one her own group explored wound up being the worst—as a giant behemoth attempted to detonate the entire space with a spatially formed meteor from the four allagan controls.
Once all obstacles within the Labyrinth had been neutralized and clear—the mechanisms began to turn, clicking and churning until all of the barriers disappeared around the central platform. Azlyn recognized the console, as it was similar to the ones she'd handled back in the coils. And as she thought it had been in the ancient tongue.
It took some time to breach the controls, bypassing several protective walls and entering the proper commands to initialize the next process. All the adventurers had returned back to the central platform, where the Au Ra operated the lift upward to the higher sanctum. If she read the map correctly, there should have been one level left to clear—and that was the floor they were heading to.
The lift slowly rose, bringing them up beyond the heated lower sanctum where pools of lava exploded upward when agitated into the higher sanctum—where Lava surrounded the last arena like a moot would a castle. It appeared to her that the Lava had been recirculating, energetically flowing through Allagan mechanisms designed for that centigrade of heat.
An interesting schematic.
Azlyn scanned the area, before approaching the console. On the console it read: The Hall of the Inexoberable. They ascended from the labyrinth to the upper sanctum, where they all noticed the flowing lava blocking access to the next access.
The others joined on it, as she started clicking away. There was the constant chatter from the groups discussing what they were doing, but she was hyper-focused on this task before her.
It was after she began the protocol that they all felt a jolt, and the platform started to energize. As if something large had stirred, they could hear the heavy breakage of what seemed to be stone in the distance—they directed all their attention to the giant golden statue covered in silver, gold and black plated armor—it stood at the far end of the arena, a giant shimmering scimitar in one hand. Whatever kept it in place meant little to it, as the giant man stepped toward the center.
Azlyn felt all eyes on her. And soon a cacophony of voices rained down around them. She brought her fingers to her lips, curving them before a loud 'pshhh' blew through through groups. As everyone quieted, she pointed to the arena.
"This could be a guardian entity designed by the Allagan technology left behind to stop intruders from proceeding." She lowered her hands, as she prepared for a tough fight. "We all have to work together to take it down. Thuzu… and I'm sorry, what are the other two vanguard names?" She pointed to the other warrior in the other group.
"Seria." The Elezen nearby her replied. Azlyn recognized her as the one who took command of the left group.
"I'm Haru." The blue haired Hyuran from the second group rose her hand. She brought up her sword and shield with a nod.
"Seria, Haru—it's nice to meet you. Now, these three will take the van—supports will spread out to cover the whole field. I trust your judgments for space. As for everyone else, we're going to be dealing quite a bit of damage to our new giant friend. Be aware that we may have some things to handle, so an open mind and clear comms will get us through safe and sound."
Looking upon the golden warrior awaiting them—Azlyn couldn't help but wonder if it might have been Acheron… it seemed similar, but something struck her as off. She didn't recall him with so much gold. The shimmering scimitar was also the wrong weapon, but she didn't have time to think about it.
"Make sure to call out if you notice anything strange." The one who introduced herself as Seria began. "If we need to retreat and regroup, I'd rather that than die."
"We're only being paid thirty seven thousand gil per person. Covers possible death." The samurai from the eastern lands shrugged.
"True!" His Lalafellin buddy called up to him. He brought out his knives. "Let's kick some ass!"
"Let's go!" A few others joined the chaotic rabble, as everyone started to talk over one another.
Ozwin couldn't handle the bantering, as he shouted to Seria. "Take your team over there. Haru, take your team to the other side. We're going to center. For the love of Hydaelyn, stop talking, more action."
When everyone started to mobilize and get into positions, Azlyn noticed right away the distinctive lines that dug into the ground. She knelt, touching the line work. Her eyes trailed after the line work, noticing the perfect circle it took to wrap around the arena. She also noted the giant circular pad that they stood upon.
It was when everyone got these three pads spread out that they noticed a barrier had been erected around the boss.
"…Interesting." Azlyn noted as people started to step off the pad to allow them access back in. Surprisingly, the giant did not move from his spot at center. He stood as a silent vigil, awaiting them for their first move.
Seria's voice came through the linkshell. "If I'm not mistaken that was a barrier came around the platform."
Everyone in the area agreed unanimously.
Azlyn tapped her link. "If we notice a heavy spike in the aether change, or the atmosphere gets thick—we should retreat to these points. It could prevent us from getting any damage from within at any rate."
"Understood." Haru replied, her voice had been determined.
The only thing left for them to do was fight. Seria gave them a countdown over the comms, and once she finished, they all leapt into action. The Giant guardian roared, lifting his sword high in the air—before sweeping it across the space.
Those who were mobile enough dodged, rolled, or back flipped away—meanwhile casters had to interrupt their spells to avoid the hit. The swordsman had them evenly matched—the twenty four to one. He attacked with no real targets in mind—slashing the air causing slashes of aetheric winds to blast into some of them.
There were also times when heat started to rise in front of him, blasting outward like a bomb.
But after a constant barrage of assaults from all fronts—he changed tactics. He returned to center, bringing his sword in position in front of him as ancient Allag spilled forth from his lips.
Render my foes in fiery ash, for the Glory of Allag!
Azlyn yelled into the comms. She recognized why Acheron didn't seem right. It wasn't him at all. The person this was had been someone she had read about before in a few hero's tales—one story showcased his aetheric manipulation to cause a massive eruption to all those nearby. "Move back! He's casting a flare spell!"
She noted that everyone started to retreat back to the circular pads, and as she started to sprint back to her teams location, she noticed one of the girls tripped—crashing to the ground.
She changed her course, running straight to her fallen comrade. They didn't have much time, as the Au Ra grasped the back lapels of the Hyuran on Seria's team. She didn't know how much strength she had until she yanked her back up onto her feet, and together started sprinting to the outside lines. They both dove out just as the barriers erected themselves, and the whole arena within burst in a fiery plume of ash, fire, and aetheric combustion.
"Join your group." Azlyn wheezed. She'd been sprinting all morning. "Nice work with the lance by the way."
The Hyuran widened her eyes. "Y-yes, thank you."
They split off, Azlyn ran around the circle to center where Roll cast a quick heal over their party.
Kida clapped her on the back. "Way to go."
"Is it over?"
They turned their attention once more to inside the barrier. The man stood at center, his spell still igniting against the walls of the magical barrier.
"Good thing we figured out the barriers." Koroko pointed out.
"I'd rather not get fried by a golden boy." Ozwin took the time to rub his face with his shirt.
Three sets of Iron Giants materialized where the pads had been activated, causing all three teams to attack their targets while holding the barrier up. They'd faced giants like that before when they fought the Garleans within the Praetorium and the Castra's—so it was easy to dismantle it after a few seconds of instant bashing.
When the spell fizzled out within the central space, everyone charged once more. The fighting, a chaotic spin of adventurers and warriors testing their skills against this giant golden guardian. There were times when the aether charged the edge of his sword—which in turn knocked back several of their melee. Azlyn backflipped to recover, wiping the sweat from her stinging eyes.
The heat from the lava and the consistent movement of actions made it quite hot.
A heavy dosage of magic bursts imploded, as their casters let loose several spells at once into their foe. And as he buckled down to his knee, their own melee started to attack his upper body which had been out of reach for most of the fight. Some were able to leap upward but staying prolonged in the air proved difficult.
Azlyn ran over to Ozwin and Thuzu, working in tandem with the pair to do as much damage as possible. She could see the others using their spears, swords, arrows, magic… a surplus of power with only twenty-four of them.
She did note however that some of their foreign friends that joined used different techniques and styles.
The Miqo'te with black hair wielding a katana. He attacked fast with his attacks, slashing and craving, his steps were precise in their movements—almost as if she were watching an eastern dance.
Then another female Miqo'te with feathered, rich blue hair with icy colored tips attacked with an unusual zeal. Her movements pinpointed to all vitals at vulnerable locations upon their foe—and while her lance had been a common weapon used by lancers and dragoons, there was still a unique way that she moved.
A Xaela female with pale skin and dark colored spiraled horns used support magicks, almost like the astrologian arts originated from Sharlayan, yet there again had been something different in the way she used the elements to her favor. Talismans of paper were used with inscriptions, before she instilled the aether into her globe to distribute out to her own group.
Azlyn slid under Ozwin's outstretched arm to strike with a well-timed slash, her blade firmly connected with flesh—and slowly she started to see purple mist of the aether starting to ooze. All at once they knew this was the final strike, and together the lot put forth all their energy into dealing the final blow.
"Attack it now! Use everything you have!" Shouted one of the leads over the Alliance Linkshell.
In a collective and driven force of sheer power and magick ability, the foe they faced endured all of their hits—his hand firmly wrapped around the hilt of his broadsword. Even as the blood poured out from his lips, the man of ancient allag times began his cast—another flare spell.
It was do or die.
Everyone decided this was the moment to press on in their attack. Whether or not the shield existed didn't matter because they all knew this fight was over.
Azlyn recognized the final parts of the spell catch in the aether, as the room started to heat up in response.
"Give me your lance!" She yelled to Ozwin: "And send me flying up to his face!"
Ozwin didn't argue as time wasn't on their side. In a practiced movement, he tossed the spear her way, and she caught it mid run heading straight to him. He then interlaced his hands together, lowering himself to the ground. "You better know what you're doing!"
Azlyn adjusted the spear in hand, jumping up so her one foot stepped upon his hands and he hoisted her straight into the air. She felt the rush of wind as she went up ten feet—and then plunged the spear right into the guardian's face. A burst of purple aether came—as the spell interrupted at last—and collapsed into nothing before them.
Of course, Azlyn hadn't anticipated the fall back down, and the gravity that would take its course. She tumbled down, smacking hard into throngs of bodies that came to catch her from the nasty fall. While stars were common things to see all around Eorzea, Azlyn determined the ones she currently saw to be more along the lines of a possible concussion nearing. She wound up whacking her head against someone else's upon impact—so a few ensuing groans of pain emerged as their healers addressed their wounds.
Some carried burn wounds, others gashes and gouges from getting hit by wind slashes. The good news however had been that no one died—or was severely injured—so it wound up being a successful operation.