"Now Fall!" With the order declared a howling gale tore through the forest. The Ixal, a bird like race that live in the frozen North of Eorzea known as Coerthas, often ventured South into the mystic woods of the Black Shroud. The beastmen typically ventured South in order to gather aether crystals to summon their goddess Garuda. A tall woman that looked like an angel with white and green feathers and eyes blacker than midnight, she demanded sacrifice from all who followed her. Using her massive wings she was able to decimate armies with gale force winds.
The summoning of Garuda was a frequent blight upon the land, and it fell upon the adventurers and their Free Companies to put down the Ixal's god. This time it fell upon four members of the Free Company Lunar Haven to lay the scourge low. The quartet had been on the hunt for days in order to find the Ixali summoning grounds. However, by the time they had arrived the crafty beastmen had already brought their goddess to bear. All around them, not only did Garuda's winds hurl large stones at them but Garuda herself threw razor sharp feathers while creating decimating wind bursts under their feet. As Garuda moved towards the quartet, preparing to slice them to ribbons with her razor like talons, her attack was intercepted by a large war axe. The small Miqo'te behind the axe was being gradually pushed back by her opponent's strength but none the less stood her ground as best she could.
Luna Astra was a rather cute girl. She was small and often chose to dress not in the traditional battle armor of a warrior but instead in the beautiful outfits used by the maidens of Shisui. Due to her fashion sense one could easily mistake her for a dancer rather than a fighter. Yet her resilient posture and mighty war axe made her role quite clear. As Garuda rapidly jabbed at her she did her best to parry the strikes, and found those that struck true quickly healed. Behind her stood a tall Hyur, Pharais Hunt. A taller man with dark, majestic, well kept facial hair and large, ruby lensed spectacles to hide his eyes. He was well known as a healer and seemed to be the first choice when the Free Company had sent a strike team against Garuda. In his hands a beautiful bronze planisphere whirled to life, casting spells of shielding as well as healing while Luna fought on.
While Pharais and Luna kept Garuda at bay the other two members of the quartet, the two strikers prepared to take the Goddess down. A well known couple, and senior members of Lunar Haven along with Pharais. The Au Ra pair jumped out from behind a recently thrown boulder and began the attack. The first to strike was Valindra Winterflower. A skilled Bard with beautiful maroon hair and pale skin whom, much like Luna, prefered the shisui gear over battle armor, knocked a purple tipped arrow and let it fly into the back shoulder of her foe. As Garuda screamed and turned towards her Luna let out a mighty battle cry.
"Don't turn away!" She yelled as she began speeding up her attacks.
The insane Goddess of the Ixal turned back and forth between the two, rapidly shooting feathers at them both as a blade suddenly dug deep into one of the wounds created by Valindra's arrow.
"Nothing personal kid." The other half of the couple said quietly, driving his blade deeper. The ninja's name was Crow Shroudwalker. A tall, dark skinned Au Ra known for his purple combat robes and deadly battle focus. As he kicked off of Garuda's back and lept away two after images of him remained on her back, soon dissolving away. It was a special skilled used by trained assassins known as Dream Within a Dream. It created two clones, for a total of three daggers striking instead of one. The damage to Garuda's back had caused her to fall as the wound festered from the poison coating Crow's blades, as well as the Caustic Bite technique Valindra had unleashed.
As Garuda fell Valindra unleashed a second, more devastating attack. A beautiful stream of arrows, made of pure energy, rained down upon Garuda, dissolving her body and forcing the whirlwind around the party to cease. While Luna sat down to rest Pharais breathed a much needed sigh of relief. The fight itself hadn't been particularly difficult, however the three days of tracking had drained a lot of the group's energy. With their foe gone Valindra smiled and moved to the rest of her group.
"Don't worry, I brought hot cocoa!" She said, happily pouring the drink into four cups. Luna let out a cheer and opened her own pack.
"I brought meat buns!" And so the two women cheered as they began divvying out the snacks. Both Pharais and Crow looked at one another, giving silent nods while smiling. Neither talked overly much but both appreciated one another's company and understood what a job well done felt like. As Pharais prepped a stack of firewood Crow made a series of hand seals, summoning a large frog he had befriend to set the wood ablaze, bringing the group's new campfire to life while the others sat around it.
"I'll report back," Pharais offered, raising his hand to his ear in order to use his linkpearl. Though as he prepared to send a message back to Nobu his pearl went off with a new message from Xerelia instead. Not only his but Valindra's, Crow's, and Luna's as well.
"Hello. I know you are busy tracking Garuda but is Nobu with you? Have you seen him?" The group looked at one another, confused, then looked around.
"Um, nope. No Nobu here," Valindra responded, "Why? What's wrong?"
Xere then explained what had happened to the group, all four of the quartet quickly looking concerned after hearing of Ritsuko's strange dream. As Xere then asked the group to return to the guild hall Pharais nodded along.
"We just completed the Garuda mission. We'll come back right away," he said as Luna pouted a bit.
"So much for our rest time." And with that the group packed up and made their way back to their guild hall.
Meanwhile, in another part of the Black Shroud, one of Lunar Haven's members sat clapping. Nyssa Shylah, a Miqo'te with dark skin well known for her fake rabbit ears and dark purple hair, as well as her expert use of guns, currently sat in a beautiful purple dress with straight combed hair. In the midst of the Black Shroud was a large cathedral used for wedding ceremonies by adventurers. As Nyssa clapped for the two young men in front of her, gazing happily into one another's eyes, she heard the familiar sounds of her linkpearl going off in her ear. Raising her hand to her ear as discreetly as possible she responded to Xere's summon with a polite, "Hello?"
As Xere asked if she had seen Nobu, Nyssa gave a slightly confused side eye.
"Not for a few days. Why what's wrong?" Then as Xerelia explained what had happened Nyssa's eyes grew wide. She was about to yell but quickly remembered the setting she was in and instead nodded politely, still doing her best to smile and look happy for the couple on stage.
"Well, I'm at a wedding right now. When it's done I'll ask Claribel." She said, smirking a bit. The smirk not being due to the Free Company's missing leader, but instead about the person she had just mentioned. As Claribel noticed Nyssa looking at her the wedding planner smiled at Nyssa who then waved back. Claribel was an employee at the cathedral. A beautiful girl with long black hair who always dressed in a nice suit. She was in charge of helping adventures coordinate their weddings, and was not so well known for having more than one tryst with the Free Company's infamous leader.
It didn't take long for the happy couple, a pair of Roegadyn, to finish the ceremony, riding off with one another on the back of a large, well decorated white chocobo. As people began to scatter Nyssa approached Claribel with a kind smile. The air in the shroud was a bit cold in spite of it being mid day.
"Good afternoon Claribel," Nyssa said politely. The wedding planner smiled back before giving a polite bow.
"Good afternoon." She looked particularly happy, as per usual after helping adventurers complete a wedding ceremony. Though as Nyssa looked the girl up and down she noticed something different. On her wrist was a beautiful bracelet one didn't come by so easily. It was only obtainable from defeating enemies within The Swallow's Compass, an ancient temple in Doma. As Claribel followed Nyssa's eyes the wedding planner was quick to blush moving her sleeve down to cover the bracelet.
"Another gift from Nobu?," her tone decidedly teasing as Claribel blushed more.
"Um, well, yes." She then tried to avoid eye contact but to no avail.
"Speaking of which, have you seen Nobu?" At the question the wedding planner jumped a bit in surprise before her face turned a bit disheartened.
"No, actually, I haven't seen him for a while. He was suppose to come to the cathedral yesterday." Her eyes gazed straight down as Nyssa hugged her.
"Well, I doubt it's you. He talks about you a lot. Unfortunately, we can't find him right now. So I was wondering if you knew anything." Though as Claribel shook her head a bit, her expression still sad, it was clear the Free Company wouldn't be getting answers here.
Back at the group's castle Xere shook her head a bit as Nyssa and Pharais finished reporting in. Alagh gazed at her wife concerned.
"Maybe he is with the new members?" A few days earlier most of the guild's newer members had been sent to various parts of the Black Shroud, not only to track down Garuda but also to deal with another, but of no less import, issue. The Black Shroud was home to gruesome creatures known as Morbols. They looked like giant mouths with tentacles holding them up. They also had breath that could kill an entire group of adventurers in less than a minute if they came in direct contact with the fumes. This time of year the Morbol population boomed as the various seeds put underground during mating season finally hatched and invaded the area. Thus the Free Companies annually sent their newer members into the area known as The Aurum Vale in order to keep the morbol population down. Sadly, at the mention of hatching season, Xerelia just shook her head.
"He hates morbols with a passion. Though I do have one more idea. I'll be back soon." And with that, smiling at Ritsuko and Alagh in an attempt to help them relax, Xerelia vanished. As the world dissolved and reformed around her Xerelia stood in Mor Dhona. A small city in Eorzea's North, Mor Dhona was once a thriving city before the catastrophe. Now it was a hub for adventurers, as well as the home base of The Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Brave heroes who worked with the adventurers to help save Eorzea from ruin. As Xere moved inside The Rising Stones, a bar that also acted as the home base of the Scions, she was greeted by a familiar face. Alisaie Leveilleur was the granddaughter of the realm's most famous savior and was a skilled Red Mage. She gazed at Xerelia with a worrisome look. Things had been difficult for the scions as of late and it seemed Xere had arrived at a rough time.
Being the kind to put everyone ahead of herself Xerelia approached Alisaie with a warm smile. "You look troubled, what's wrong?" she asked. Alisaie gazed at her for a moment, trying to decide how to phrase her problems.
"I'm glad you have come. We have been receiving strange reports lately. Strange Aether flows have been recorded in the Southern Seas. We've detected unusually large amounts of aether spreading out, encompassing a wide area of ocean, then receding back to the same point before suddenly dying out. We don't have a reason for it." Her concern was clear as Xere crossed her arms. It was obviously a problem that needed investigating, but Xerelia had also come for her own reasons.
"The Southern Sea is full of small islands, and is stormy this time of year isn't it?" She questioned as Alisaie nodded in agreement
"Well yes, why?" Though as she asked Xere had been gazing off into the distance, attempting to put some ideas together.
"We can't find Nobutaka and I was wondering if you had seen or heard from him. We have reason to believe he may have gone to an island somewhere without telling anyone." Coincidences, at least in the lives of adventurers, rarely happened. Though the island Ritsuko imaged Nobu on could easily be any part of the sea. Which still meant the Free Company was left in the dark.
"No, I'm afraid not. Though, it isn't beyond him to investigate such things. Has he not researched aether flows for his summoning before?"
Giving a sigh Xerelia gazed at the ceiling, "Perhaps he did go South. Though why would he go alone? Where in the world are you Nobu?" She then shook her head a bit to clear her mind. "Once we finish with the annual morbol clearing we'll send a group South. For now I need to get back to the Free Company and figure out Nobu's whereabouts. My intuition is acting up, and none of this feels right." As Alisaie wished her luck Xerelia quickly warped back to the Free Company's estate to find Ritsuko, Dart, Alagh, and Melkaili waiting.
"No word on Nobu from the Scions. Though, I am concerned. They said a strange aether flow is gathering in the South Sea. Ritsuko's stormy island from her dream isn't uncharacteristic of the small island in the area. Something is bothering me, but I hope it's nothing."