6
Encounter:
Min the Benevolent
Summer time in Vana 'diel, a peaceful time of the year, it was this summer in which dear Sogre met an invaluable ally: Elmini aka Min the Benevolent
It was a quiet day in Jeuno, the usual hustle and bustle of the city and the plethora of adventurers passing in and out. Sogre exited his mog house and took a stroll down the street to the local café for a quick lunch before he set off on an adventure of some sort. "I'd like a fried Popoto please and a glass of Pear au lait." Sogre asked the Elvaan that was at the counter. "Ok sir that will be 200 gil." Sogre's last job paid well so he was able to afford the meal not that 200 gil was a lot of money, due to the recent inflation 200 gil was easy to come by. Sogre sat down at a table in the corner of the café and waited for his meal to arrive. While he waited he read the Tribune.
The Tribune is Vana 'diel's most popular news magazine, it was made strictly for adventurers so they can keep up with what faction found what treasure and what faction discovered a secret area.
Sogre flipped through the paper and noticed that it was Hume female week at the tailor's. The local tailor shop has a contest every week in which they hide somewhere deep in a cavern a magical pattern that fits whomever finds it and this week they hid a Hume female pattern in Ordelles Cavern located in the La Theine Plateau. After a couple of minutes the Elvaan brought him his food and drink, Sogre put away his copy of the Tribune he thought he might look at it later but in all probability he wouldn't. Sogre ate his food and as he was leaving the café his bum started to ring. Sogre answered his cell phone, on the other end was his friend Prestlisev; Prest for short. "Hey Sogre what's up mate?" Prest said, he sounded like he was in a cheerful mood this morning. "Oh nothing, I was actually about to look for a job to do, what are you up to today?" Sogre responded as he walked back to his mog house in Lower Jeuno. "Well you see I just met two lovely ladies Ty and her sister Elmini, they asked me if I could help them with that magical pattern in Ordelles would you care to help?" Sogre thought about this for a moment, he could either go earn some spare gil or help some girls his friend just met. Seeing as he would rather go help a friend he told Prest that he would help out with the pattern and that he would see them shortly. "Thanks mate!" Prest said as he hung up. Sogre began to ask around to see if anyone was running a taxi service that day and sure enough he found someone who was rather famous for "tele-taxing" adventurers around. Sogre found Jellsica in her usual spot; standing outside the mog house area. "Bonjour monsieur! Where to zis lovely day?" she asked smiling as Sogre. "La Theine Plateau please." Sogre said hanging her 500 gil. "Ok! Stand close to me please." She said through her thick accent. Sogre stood next to her as she began to chant a teleportation spell that would warp them to La Theine Plateau. When she cast the spell the area around them that was Lower Jeuno started to melt away and Sogre felt as if he was suddenly jerked backwards very quickly. It was a rather unpleasant feeling but it was a quick form of travel even if it did leave the caster and the traveler a little drained. Within seconds the grasslands of the Plateau materialized in front of Sogre. They had landed in the center of the Plateau at the Crag of Holla. Sogre said his thanks as he walked down the stone steps of the altar as Jellsica waved good bye and chanted another spell that would return her back to Jeuno.
For a change the weather in the Plateau was actually stable, usually it's either very windy or raining but today it was nice and sunny. Sogre made his way to the north western area of the Plateau; he passed many flowers and rarabs along his way.
When he was very young Sogre had a pet rarab he named it Rara but one day it got out of its cage and ran away on him. Sogre cried for a week until a Mithra named Mixo found him in the ruins outside of Windurst, they had been friends ever since that moment until they were separated many months ago.
Shortly after his arrival at the crag Sogre called Prest and told him that he was on his way and that it would be nice of them to wait at the entrance to the cave. Prest agreed and said that they would wait at the beginning of the cave for Sogre. The cave itself was created in a crack in the Plateau, so in order to enter the cave Sogre had to climb down the rock formation that was near the cave. Sogre approached the crack in the ground carefully, if he stepped on a loose rock he would go for one hell of a ride down the small cliff.
Sogre climbed down the ledge carefully going very slowly and ultimately getting down the cliff in one piece. Sogre approached the cave and a few bats flew out of the darkness which, seemed to snuff out life and envelop the entire area into complete and total darkness. Sogre cast Dia and his hand began to glow so he could see two inches in front of him, as he entered the cave the light from his spell molested the bats that were sleeping in the cave and they began to attack him. Sogre was swatting the bats away while praying to his guardian to come and save him. Then, the bats stopped. Sogre opened his eyes and saw his guardian Carbuncle, embodiment of light, standing in front of him looking at him caringly as the corpses of the bats lined the floor. "Thanks Carby." Sogre said as he patted Carbuncle on the head relieved that he came when he was needed.
"As long as you need me I will be there to protect you master."
"Sogre! You alright mate?" Prest came running up to Sogre from inside the cave. "Yeah I'm fine." Sogre said he then did a quick prayer for Carbuncle to leave and in a flash of white light Carbuncle was gone. "Where are the two ladies you talked about earlier?" Sogre inquired. "Over there, they're shy." Prest said nudging Sogre in the side. Out of the darkness emerged two beautiful Hume women. Both had jet black hair, one had hers pulled into a pony tail and the other had her hair cut short so it hung a little below her jaw line. The one with the pony tail took a step forward. "Hello Sogre, I'm Ty and this is my sister Elmini." Ty said motioning to the girl standing next to her. "Hi there, you can call me Min." Min said smiling at Sogre. "Ok then ladies, this is the name of the game, there is a treasure chest around here somewhere with that pattern in it but to open it we need to kill a fiend that has a key around its neck so lets split up and go get em!" Prest said. Ty and Prest went to the northern end of the cave where as Sogre and Min went towards the south. If anyone found anything they would call each other via cell phone.
Sogre and Min walked together and the two started to talk. "Where are you from Min?" Sogre asked. "I'm from Bastok." She replied. "Ahh, are you a master healer yet?" Sogre asked judging from her white robes. Min laughed a little bit. "No, I'm only an apprentice." "Hey look over there!" Sogre said pointing at a jelly monster. The jelly was a gelatin type monster, black in color that was squirming around and in the center of its body was a chest key. "Oh lets go get it!" Min said running towards the jelly as she drew her hammer. Sogre took out his staff and called out to his guardian for his aid. Carbuncle appeared in a flash of white light and began to attack the jelly. The jelly was immune to physical attacks Sogre realized. He realized this because when ever Min struck the fiend with her weapon it only left an impression but not a wound. "Hey Min watch this." Sogre said. "Carbuncle charge your poison nail attack." Carbuncle did as his master commanded, he leapt into the air and bared his claws then he came down and struck the monster's core, the jelly deflated and began to decompose rapidly. "Wow that was amazing!" Mn said astonished. "I wish I could do that." Sogre chuckled "Well maybe someday you can if you pass the trials, they aren't that easy mind you but if you're diligent and dedicated then I'm sure you can do it." He said as he reached for the key, then as he picked the key up the ground crumbled under their weight and he and Min fell into the depths of the cave.
Sogre got up, his body aching from the fall. They had fallen at least twelve feet. He tasted blood, when he fell Sogre busted his lip on a jagged rock. Sogre quickly forgot about his problems when he saw Min lying on the ground unconscious, he rushed to her side. "Min, are you ok? Please wake up." Sogre said with a hint of nervousness in his voice. Min stirred in his arms. "Uhh…Sogre what happened?" Sogre breathed a sigh of relief and he explained to her how the ground crumbled under their weight. "How are we going to get out of here?" Min asked looking around. They certainly were in a dilemma; the cave was dark, dank and full of fiends. The fiends on the upper level were not even a challenge to Sogre but he had never been to the bottom level before so the fiends down there could have been super powered for all he knew. "Sogre you're bleeding!" Min said when she noticed his lip bleeding. "Oh don't worry about it, its nothing." Sogre said wiping the blood off with the sleeve of his doublet. Min approached Sogre and put her hands on his face, her hands were warm and delicate, they were white like the purest porcelain no her hands were finer than porcelain, she was perfect. Min chanted a spell and the cut on Sogre's lip vanished. "Thanks Min." Sogre said blushing a little bit.
Sogre cast Dia and once more and light illuminated from his hand. They walked around examining their surrounding, Sogre and Min each tried to call Ty and Prest but to no avail, they were too deep in the cave. "Hmm I guess we just sit here and wait for someone to come find us." Sogre said as he sat down. Min reluctantly agreed, she did not like the darkness very much and it was becoming increasingly colder in the cave, Min cast an aura that would ward off the cold but that would only last for so long. Just as Min sat down Sogre got up excitedly and pointed to the corner of the cave. A treasure chest had appeared there. Min walked over to it excitedly and inside was two things: a magical pattern for Min and a letter addressed to Sogre. "This is very strange." Min said as she handed the envelope to Sogre. Sogre opened up the letter and read it, the color drained from his face instantly. Min asked him what was wrong and he showed her the letter it read:
'Sogre I will ruin your life as you ruined mine that fateful day. You will rue the day that you killed me, I will not stop until I find and kill you and your friends. You will pay for what you did to me.'
Min was horrified when she finished. "What does this mean?" Min asked. "I don't know, its signed "Heg" I don't know a Heg but he sure enough does not like me." Sogre said sounding troubled. Min saw that he was obviously disturbed by this threat and tried to comfort him. "Don't worry its probably just a really bad joke or something don't pay attention to it." She said patting him on the back. "Yeah you're right I'm not going to pay attention to a piece of paper." Sogre crumbled the letter up and flung it into the corner of the cave. Min and Sogre sat in the cold cave for what seemed like hours until Sogre heard someone calling out to him. "Hey! Sogre you down there?" It was Prest! Ty and Prest must have spent the entire day looking for them. "Yeah! Mins here as well, do you have rope or something to help us get out of here?" Sogre shouted. "One second." Prest replied. A couple minutes later a rope was thrown down and Sogre and Min climbed up it and soon enough all four of them were reunited. "Did you find your pattern Ty?" Min asked showing her pattern to her sister. "No, we found the chest but some stupid arse face pushed her down and opened it before she did." Prest said angrily. "Oh no." Min said, "Here Ty, take my pattern its ok." Min offered her magical pattern to her younger sister. "Thanks Min!" Ty said and the two sisters embraced one other.
The four friends began walking back to La Theine Plateau and on their way out they saw a chest materialize right in front of their faces. Ty walked over to the chest and opened it and inside was another pattern! Min claimed this pattern this chest only contained a pattern no threatening note addressed to Sogre or anything else out of the ordinary. They exited the cave and to their surprise the weather did not change at all, it was still nice and sunny out although the sun was starting to sink away. The two sisters thanked Prest and Sogre and each gave them a hug. "Hey Sogre thank you for helping us with this, I know it must have been a great inconvenience and I just want to say…I appreciate it a lot. I'm going to be studying in Jeuno for a while so if you're in the area please stop by the Bastokan Consulate and visit me." Min said then she gave Sogre a quick kiss on the cheek then the two sisters chanted the same spell Jellsica did earlier that day and in an instant the two benevolent angels were gone.
Final Fantasy XI: Sogre's Story 2003-2006
--Argos of Bahamut
