Daedric Puppet: Well…I'm back. I guess.
After exiting Migelo's Sundries, Natalia and I went to the Bazaar to grab some provisions for the road ahead. I asked Natalia during our walk if she had any teleport stones,
"Every self respecting Hunter that's even remotely worth his salt would have more than one at all times."
Guess I was worth three times my salt, but I didn't say so, I merely agreed.
The barrage of aromas that, almost at all hours of the day and night, seemed to encase the Muthru Bazaar in a positive environment, danced in the air relentlessly. Very rarely did anyone suffer buyer's remorse, at least now that Ashelia, the once thought to be dead Princess of Dalmasca was on the throne, as she should be. And we've prospered.
"Hey! You gonna buy your food?! We'll be here all day with your daydreaming!" Natalia complained, pressing me into buying a marinated roast of a Behemoth for a whopping deal of 900 Gil!
"You're gonna like it Shaylum, I added some lemon pepper and sprayed it with essence of mint!" Gastly said in his usual proud-of-himself manner, smirking all the while.
"Eww…" Natalia cringed, obviously skeptical to the man's methods as a cook. But I could definitely vouch for him.
"He knows what's he's doing. You can try it later, if you dare." I said playfully, earning an annoyed headshake.
"Whatever…"
I paid Gastly what I owed him and Natalia and I utilized the Moogling Service. I was transported to the East Gate, the golden sands of the Estersands desert seemed the piece itself together across my vision while I was in the Muthru Bazaar and…suddenly i'm there. I looked around briefly, seeing Natalia SCARILY materialize into view.
"That's fucking scary. Seeing people appear from nowhere like that." I said, shaking my head with a half fake haunted expression.
"I'll pay for the Chocobos since you paid for all the items."
"Sounds good." I replied, not really caring if she didn't acknowledge what I just said or if she even heard it at all. We strolled over to Gurdy, the Chocobo handling Moogle, in professional manner, the dragon-winged rabbit meeting our gazes and nodding pre-emptively to the transaction about to take place.
"Two?" Gurdy asked to he sure, raising her eyebrows in wait for an answer. She received a positive nod from Natalia, turned her head to the left and whistling twice, two strong Chocobos emerged from the stable, strutting up to the gate of the fence, calm and confident, both with idenitical saddles and equipment, but different colors.
"Dibsonblue." I said quickly.
"Red's more my color anyway." Natalia shrugged. I honestly agreed. Most of her attire had red on it. Black boots with red toe cover and laces…with red dice on the ends, a loose white and red, knee high skirt that had face cards from playing cards spread out around the whole piece of fabric and white tank top with a red cardigan with a slogan,
"Fate is lie."
"Yes it is. I'm glad we agree." Natalia said as she mounted herself on her red dyed poultry as I did the same with my blue one. Carefully, we maneuvered our mounts through the light crowd and once the majority of the civilians were behind us, we kicked up some dust, heading North East.
Approximately an hour passed in relative silence, the heavy steps of our Chocobos and the blowing of the wind growing more monotonous as Natalia and I passed the Outpost at the entrance of the Yardang Labyrinth, making very good time. We'd be in Nalbina in no time.
"What the fuck?" Natalia was on my right at the time when she said this.
" What?" I looked at her, seeing her facing to her right, so I stopped my chocobo. In the mouth of a Dead end path that happened to be next to the entrance of the Outpost, I saw what she had she had made notice of. A giant Mandragora, twice the size of a normal man in terms of physical attributes. The signature sprout upon the Mandragora was even matured into a large, four leafed shamrock, barely affected by the wind at all.
"Oh wow! That's so cool!" I exclaimed, never before having seen such a colossal plant-man. It's typical brown coat that usually stretched from a Mandragora's mid section to its chin in a strangely coordinated fashion, was replaced with a black coat that, very much like a hoodie, wrapped around it's head , only leaving a decent strip of the vegetation off around it's eyes. And it's eyes, rather than the generic yellow, seemed to glowed golden. The obviously rare Mandragora still seemed to act like a regular garden variety one, walking around like a humanoid and flapping its arms in the hilarious way that all Mandragora's are known for.
"Hehehehe…" I giggled as the plant-man continued flapping his 'wings'.
"In three generations, this species will learn to fly." Natalia joked in a deadpan tone, making me start laughing. "OH! He sees us!"
The Mandragora's attention was now on us, seemingly very curious of the strangers in it's habitat. Not afraid, just curious. The plant-man very intently studied Natalia and myself, scratching it's chin
"Gimme a second." Natalia said, dismounting from her chocobo and retrieved her water canteen from her saddlebags.
"Aw, you got a soft spot for those guys too!" I smiled, also dismounting my chocobo and watching Natalia carefully approach the plant-man in a non-threatening manner. Unscrewing the cap on her canteen, she poured a small amount of water into her free hand, a little bit dripping to the sandy ground. The Mandragora seemed to take more interest, seemingly throwing caution to the wind and non-chalantly approaching Natalia, putting me slightly on edge. Typical Mandragora's were wary of humanoids, as there are people who hunt them for screamroots and four leafed clovers, but as long as you were chill and made no aggressive actions, they would tolerate you. Piss them off… well… have fun. This one was clearly different, having no issue with walking up to Natalia and TAKING HER HAND LIKE A GODDAMN GENTLEMAN!
What a legend.
The plant-man out Natalia's hand on it's face, water droplets dripping down it's enormous head as my Ally Pat the vegetable humanoid gently. The Mandragora seemed to bask in the attention and began flapping it's arms happily.
"I think he likes you." I said, my previous nerves settling themselves as the plant-man returned to his little spot, waving at Natalia as we mounted our chocobos once more.
About twenty five minutes later, Natalia and I strolled through the Nalbina Fortress Checkpoint, the Dalmascan and Arcadian guardsmen inspecting our credentials and our weapons licenses before sending us on our way.
"Arcadia shouldn't have possession of Nabradia. It's should be in Dalmasca's." I stated voicing my distaste with how the war of 704 ended.
"Prince Rasler and Princess Ashe were to be wed, so I agree, the Arcadian's have no right occupying this territory. It's a real highlight to how disgraceful they are. Vayne Solidor wanted a fucking war above Rabanastre, knowing the results would end up being catastrophic, just so he could say he was the new Dynast-King of Ivalice! Thanks the God's his brother is on the throne, that boy is so damn smart…" Natalia said, "The Arcadians have hope because of that kid, hopefully he can reverse the damage his elder brother wrought upon Ivalice." She sounded hopeful in a sad way.
"Sadly there's only so much a fourteen year old can do when he's surrounded on all sides by sixty to eighty year old geezers who are way the fuck out of touch with how the world works now. Hopefully he's able to replace that den of snakes soon enough. The Senate only exists to control an heir who doesn't know what he's doing. Larsa Solidor is far from someone who lacks understanding. Those poor fuckers won't even know what happened when he cans their sorry asses for being too far stuck in the past. And they'll deserve it." I said decisively.
"That they will." Natalia agreed in a hard tone, glaring forwards.
Another hour passed and Natalia and I trotted into the Mosphoran Trading Checkpoint.
Blood was everywhere, children were screaming, mother's running past us with their children and men and women were roaring in a mixture of rage and agony, tents were on fire, it was utter chaos! The ground rumbled slightly as Natalia and I quickly hitched our chocobos and over to the commotion that was coming from the other side of the camp. Elderly women and men limped and hobbled as quickly as they could away from the battle. Arcadian's guards, alongside caravan mercenaries fought back what appeared to be The Highwaste Marauder's, a group of deserter's that decided to form a bandit clan after the revolution of 706.
"Fuck…We gotta help…" I said, looking at Natalia seriously. She nodded.
"Of course. Let's teach them a lesson for harming civilians!" She said fiercely, drawing her bow.
"Go for higher ground, I'll stay on crowd control and help get the people outta here!"
"Be careful."
"Same to you."
I took a breath as I marched directly towards the skirmish, Drawing my Defender from its sheath. The new weapon felt right in my hands as I prepared myself mentally for the gruesome task ahead.
"I'm on your side!" I said to an Arcadian swordsman who raised his weapon to me.
"Good, go help them deal with those churls while we get the people to safety!"
"Right!"
I threw myself into the fray, clashing with a mad-eyed man,
"Montblanc still sending people to die?" The bandit spoke, somehow knowing that I was part of Clan Centurio. He broke the clash and swung his sword overhand, me bringing my weapon up and deflecting the blow to the side and countering with a overhand my own, cleaving through skin, flesh and bone from his left shoulder into it chest cavity, sending the highwayman to the ground, bleeding heavily.
"No, I volunteered to." The man breathed his last breath after my words. Two converged on me in retribution for their fallen comrade,
"Thunder!" I thrust my hand forward and a strong bolt of electricity leapt from my fingers, electrocuting the closest one and sending him in spasms on the ground. The second closed in, winding up for a large swing with a mace, but I was too quick, merely, leaning it the direction it was coming from and swiftly avoiding it, raising my weapon on running Marauder's through, stopping him Dead, literally. Throwing the Dead man aside and tearing my weapon from his body, just as his Ally recovered, scrambling to his feet and seeing his Dead friend.
"Y-YOU KILLED HIM!!" He shrieked,
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!! YOU'RE KILLING MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN FOR PROFIT YOU FUCKING HYPOCRITE!! PREPARE TO DIE FOR YOUR CRIMES!" I barked with rage, raising my weapon that was dripping with my current adversary's friends blood and rushing him.
He turned and ran.
Then he tripped.
I leapt on his back and drive my blade down to the cross guard.
A harsh shove sent me sprawling forwards, losing the grip on my weapon as I hit the ground face first, desperately rolling over and casting a blizzard spell as quick as I could. The shield bearer blocked the brunt of the magick, towering over me as he raised his sword arm to kill me. Blood spattered across my vision, seeing an arrow had punctured through his throat. The man fell over Dead, Natalia being revealed on her currently vantage point on top of one of the Water Shrines. She nodded at me and I gave her a thumbs up, quickly getting my shit together and retrieving my weapon from it's resting place.
Once more, I charged into the fray, catching two more off-guard as the the combination of Soldiers, Mercenaries, and Hunters held the line against The Highwaste Marauders, successfully allowing the rest of the civilians to flee to safety.
"REINFORCEMENTS INBOUND!!RETREEEEEAT! RETREE-CAKWKK!!!" The man, of which I assumed led the raid on the encampment, was shot mid-declaration by Natalia, meaning some of them didn't hear the order and we slaughtered them while their comrades fled into the hills, leaving them to die.
No Honor Among Thieves.
"START TAKING PRISONERS!!!" An Imperial Soldier barked ferociously, his helmet deepening his voice and making him almost sound like a monster, which I thought was pretty fucking cool if you ask me.
The next fool I came across swung wide and high, narrowly missing my head just barely, I lunged forward, grabbed his sword hand and kneed him in the nuts, hard. He crumbled, screaming with tears coming rolling down his face. I tore his weapon away and tossed it aside before restraining him by pin his arms behind his back and putting my knee on his back while I pinned him face down the ground.
"GO TO HELL! YOU WONT GET SHIT—" I fed him a right hook,
"FUCK YOU—" I fed him another,
"GODDAMM—" Another,
"YOU PIECE OF—" Another,
"I SWEAR I'LL—" Another.
"….." I knocked him out.
"I got one! Right here!" I called out to one of the Imperials assessing the situation.
The Soldier marched over with a pair of gauntlet cuffs, promising this guy and anyone else wearing them severe discomfort for a looong time.
"Sure laid a beating on this bloody degenerate eh?! You got some ferocity on the Battlefield! You have my respect, Dalmascan! What's your name young man, so you may be awarded for your bravery?" The Arcadian Soldier motioned for me to get off the prisoner, cuffing him while praising my fighting prowess.
"Shaylum Sapphire."
"Well Sir Shaylum Sapphire, I can tell you I will do my best to see that you are rewarded for your efforts! Good work!" Hauling the prisoner over his shoulder in cuffs, the Imperial marched off, seemingly proud of the victory we had won.
"You're pretty good at fighting." Natalia's voice spooked me. I turned to face her, shrugging.
"Same to you. Thanks for the save by the way." I said graciously, she as she was literally the reason why I was alive right now.
"No problem. Right place, right time." Natalia waved it off, but smiled at my thanks.
"So what should we do now?" She asked.
"You're asking me?"
"Well yeah, you're party leader." I looked at her with an eyebrow raised,
"I thought you were." I said skeptically,
"Are you for real?!" Natalia exclaimed, raising her own eyebrows in annoyance.
"What?! You asked me to join your party! I didn't know I got elected to party leader!" I responded in disbelief.
"Well now you know! So what do you think we should do?" She asked, making my brow furrow a little from the sudden responsibility.
"Rest up a few minutes, eat, help out a little, be on our way?" I offered.
"Reasonable." She agreed.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I've gotten better at writing over the last few years, so I hope I didn't break the lore of FFXII. Please tell me what you thought.
--Daedric Puppet