It was a warm morning with fair weather in the small region of Shirogane. Located near the Eastern trade city of Kugane, the massive housing area was used by adventurers from Eorzea as a residential area for both Free Companies and private houses alike. At the top of a large hill sat a beautiful white castle with blue tiled roofs and golden trim on the outside. Its name was Tsuki Hashi Castle. A castle so tall that it was a bridge to the moon itself, so they say. The grounds of the castle had been decorated with cherry blossoms and was the current base of operations for the Free Company known as Lunar Haven. The castle, so grand it could be seen from anywhere in the housing area, was a promise kept from Nobutaka to give his small Free Company a grand castle of value equal to what his friends meant to him. Every member of the Free Company had worked themselves to the bone to be able to afford both the castle, and the land it stood on. Yet, not a single member would say it wasn't worth the cost.
Down the large hill from the castle sat various houses of different shapes and sizes belonging to Lunar Haven's individual members. One of these was a gray house with a beautiful blue fence and front red front doors had been ornately carved with a swirling design and the inside had been decorated with wood cabinets and various furnishings acquired from adventures across the realm. It belonged to a married couple named Ritsuko Nekomata and Dartmoor Vashta. The pair had been together a long time and would rarely be seen apart.
This morning the tall miqo'te with long, white hair and the build of a warrior, who sat in a chair on the first floor of the home, cards in hand, was the one who went by the name of Dartmoor. Across from him sat a close friend of the couple, Melkaili Redtail, with her beautiful dark red hair and cunning blue eyes she held her own hand of cards. The two had been playing for over an hour without a clear winner. As Dartmoor played a card Melkaili's eyes became sharp as her ears perked up. Her plan was finally ready as she quickly raised a card from her hand with a triumphant look on her face, until the calm morning suddenly came to a screeching halt. A blood curdling scream from downstairs forced both Melkaili and Dartmoor to drop their cards.
Ritsuko, a Doman looking black haired cat girl known for her accuracy with her bow had woken up in a cold sweat. The normally composed look on her face gone as she screamed at the top of her lungs. Both Dartmoor and Melkaili rushed downstairs to find the newly awoken Ritsuko breathing heavy, tears welling up in her eyes as she stared at Dartmoor. Her skin was cold and pale as Dartmoor rushed to her side.
"What's wrong? Are you okay? Do we need to call someone," he asked as his wife just shook her head, while the tears streamed down her face.
"I-I saw Nobu. I had a dream he was dead. Someone hurt him and he was on the ground, cut open and burning!" She yelled, recalling the dream as the thought was all too painful to relive again. Both Dartmoor and Melkaili sat next to her in bed as Dartmoor held her close, only for her to push him away, grabbing some cotton clothing from her otherwise regal looking wardrobe. At a half march she moved out of the house whilst Dartmoor tried to stop her, trying his best to keep pace as Ritsuko broke into a jog.
"Hey, hey, it was just a dream. I'm sure Nobu is fine. We aren't at war right now so he is probably in the castle waking up. Here, I'll message him." Dartmoor said, trying to comfort her. He then pulled out a small pearl from his pocket. The magical items known as linkshells helped adventurers communicate with one another even across long distances. Saying the guild leader's name in the pearl Dartmoor waited for the usual glow of an answered ping. However, even as he said Nobu's name multiple times not only would he get no response, but the linkshell pearl didn't even flicker to acknowledge the message was sent. Fearing it broken Dartmoor tried to communicate with Melkaili's linkpearl that glowed and recited his message right away. The lack of reply causing Ritsuko to look even more afraid as she broke into a full sprint to the house closest to the guild's castle.
The large house looked like it could have been a guild hall of its own for a smaller guild. A large white building with a deep red tiled roof, belonged to the Free Company's second in command. Upon reaching the front door, Dartmoor and Melkaili behind her, she began slamming her first as hard as she could into the twin red doors of the building. Screaming as loud as she could in panic she shouted the name of the Free Company's commander, Xerelia Shoken, over and over.
On the top floor of the large building in a double bed, a young looking miqo'te with short red hair, large eyes, and intricate red facial tattoos covering her cheeks and forehead, shot up. The knocking all the way downstairs sounded like a pounding headache to her sensitive ears. Sitting up, red lingerie covering her body she tried to move so as to not disturb her currently resting lover. An Au'Ra with light blue skin and dark blue horns named Alagh Dotharl. Her blue skin completely exposed in the bed and her short blue hair resting near Xere's pillow. Half asleep the miqo'te rushed downstairs. Opening the front door to see three of her friends waiting for her, one of them in an obvious panic.
Xerelia didn't bother to cover herself as she looked at them, causing Dartmoor to blush a bit as a sleepy Xerelia spoke, "What is it? What's wrong?," she asked. Ritsuko then recited her entire dream about Nobutaka on a strange island, going up a hill, and seeing two of the guild's members not only attacking Nobutaka but directly causing his death.
The frantic yelling and reciting of the tale had caused the Au Ra upstairs to stir from her sleep. Hearing voices yelling downstairs Alagh was quick to put on a lightly armored shirt before picking up her massive, ornate axe covered in beautiful crimson feathers she had won from defeating the phoenix Suzaku in combat. Alagh was one of the guild's premier frontline fighters and wasted no time in preparing for a fight. Seeing her guild mates chatting with no obvious sign of attack Alagh lowered her guard and looked at Xerelia confused. "What is going on?," she asked simply.
Xerelia shook her head a bit, "Nobu is missing, apparently no one can reach him and Ritsuko had a dream that he was murdered."
To which Alagh just looked at the group and shrugged, "It is is probably just off chasing miqo'te in Kugane." The words forcing Mekaili to quickly perk up her ears and tail.
"See! Exactly what I said!" she added.
"That or writing more of his hingan cooperative plays." Xerelia remarked before looking at Ritsuko. Ritsuko shook her head with a concerned expression.
"Guys I'm serious, I'm really worried. Please help," she pleaded. Alagh and Xerelia looked at one another before both pulling out their own linkshell pearls, neither of which seemed to be able to reach Nobutaka.
"Let us get dressed and we'll go to the castle." Xere said, politely closing the door as the two went to change. Eventually coming out of the house in proper attire.
Together, the group of five approached the large castle on top of the hill. The yard of the castle was decorated by a beautiful koi pond and garden, as well as a stable in which held the members' various chocobo mounts. The wooden doors of the castle would give way to a large first floor that was a beautiful sight to behold, complete with a dining hall on the right and to the left, a small alcove that was home to the various merchants that provided the guild with goods and services. In front of the group, in the middle of the castle, was a long red carpet leading to a grand staircase that would take one to the second floor which held the group's meeting hall and library. The bottom of the staircase itself was also flanked on both sides by beautiful cherry blossom trees. The Hingan style mansion looked as though it had been built with a classical Doman fashion in mind.
In the first floor's merchant nook stood former adventurers turned merchants. The group of four did various tasks such as supply the guild with crafting materials, or repairing and upgrading their armor and weaponry for them. Every member of the quartet had been with the guild even before they had purchased the large castle.
Their leader was a large hyur with a salt and pepper beard and bulging muscles. The man was simply referred to as "Old Man" by the members of the Free Company and, as the blacksmith, was in charge of repairing the group's armor and weapons after adventures. In front of him stood two young lalafell named Tick and Tock who served as the guild's merchants. They sold various wares to the guild members and traded whatever they brought back from questing for a bit of gill. When the group had put out wanted posters for help, the two lalafell merchants from the city state of Ul'dah seemed more than eager to answer the call. Both females, Tick was very pale with black hair and rather simple clothing while Tock, on the other hand, was very dark skinned with brown hair and preferred nicer clothing. The two matched so well it was easy to see why they worked together as best friends. Also living in the guild hall was a rather quiet male Au'ra with white hair, and off white scales who served as the guild's materia mender. He rarely talked so no one had ever quite been sure what his name was or his origins. This however was all made up for simply by how skilled he was at his job of course.
Seeing the familiar faces of the guild merchants Ritsuko rushed over to them. "Have you seen Nobu?," she asked hurriedly. Tick and Tock both looked at one another, one of them shrugging and looking at the other as the other shrugged and looked back. Finally the both just shook their heads. With the quiet Au Ra also shaking his head, the blacksmith, per usual, spoke for the group.
"We haven't seen him in at least three days." He said, a bit of a questioning look on his face as Ritsuko explained the reason for the sudden question. The two lalafell soon had shocked expressions upon their faces.
"Nobu? No way he would die that easily!" Tock said confidently.
"Yeah, he is a master summoner after all!" Tick chimed in.
"Listen lass, I don't think you need to worry about Nobutaka. He hired me when his group was still five people in a house no bigger than a shoebox. I've watched that boy grow from barely being able to take on a goblin to taking on gods incarnate. Though that dream does seem peculiar." The old blacksmith said in a deep, raspy voice.
Crossing her arms Xerelia looked around. The large building didn't even have a scent of the group's leader, causing her face to wrinkle a bit with worry. "We should get the guild members together and see if any of them know. I'll put out a summons to everyone and get them to start searching." She said with a nod while raising her hand to the linkpearl in her ear.