Welcome to Adventu, your final fantasy rp haven. adventu focuses on both canon and original characters from different worlds and timelines that have all been pulled to the world of zephon: a familiar final fantasy-styled land where all adventurers will fight, explore, and make new personal connections.
at adventu, we believe that colorful story and plots far outweigh the need for a battle system. rp should be about the writing, the fun, and the creativity. you will see that the only system on our site is the encouragement to create amazing adventures with other members. welcome to adventu... how will you arrive?
year 5, quarter 3
Welcome one and all to our beautiful new skin! This marks the visual era of Adventu 4.0, our 4th and by far best design we've had. 3.0 suited our needs for a very long time, but as things are evolving around the site (and all for the better thanks to all of you), it was time for a new, sleek change. The Resource Site celebrity Pharaoh Leep was the amazing mastermind behind this with minor collaborations from your resident moogle. It's one-of-a-kind and suited specifically for Adventu. Click the image for a super easy new skin guide for a visual tour!
Final Fantasy Adventu is a roleplaying forum inspired by the Final Fantasy series. Images on the site are edited by KUPO of FF:A with all source material belonging to their respective artists (i.e. Square Enix, Pixiv Fantasia, etc). The board lyrics are from the Final Fantasy song "Otherworld" composed by Nobuo Uematsu and arranged by The Black Mages II.
The current skin was made by Pharaoh Leap of Pixel Perfect. Outside of that, individual posts and characters belong to their creators, and we claim no ownership to what which is not ours. Thank you for stopping by.
[attr=class,punkisavelighttext] “I guess this is it, huh? The place where I was meant to deliver those reports. I thought it’d be easier to find than Celes’ office… but it was not. Thank the Founder for not getting me lost in this maze-like place.”
For the past half hour, Nerissa had been searching for her leader’s office, more precisely Caius’, as she had important documents to deliver to him following her team’s investigation in the northeastern ruins. There had been an unexpected rise of activity by monsters of all sorts in the fallen temples, small beasts that could pose a problem if not quickly dealt with by someone from their guild. She ought to tell Celes about this the moment she found out about it, but the lady at the reception desk told her she wouldn’t be at the guild for the next few days and that it’d be best to leave those reports at their other leader’s office since he was to come back at the guild later this week. She didn’t know when nor at what time he was to be there, so she took on the task of delivering the papers to his workroom by herself before she went on with her day.
Of course, it was easier said than done since she didn’t know where exactly his office was, having never been there in the whole month she had lived in Torensten. Moreover, she never met face-to-face with this man, primarily because he had other businesses to deal with outside of the city. Because of that, Nerissa had no clue as to what her new leader resembled like, and she kept imagining all sorts of things concerning this legendary hero until she had to put a stop to it once she reached his office.
Like any normal person would have done, Nerissa knocked twice on the door and waited for the owner’s permission to enter the place, but as expected, no one answered her since no one was there at the moment. Due to the lack of an answer, the young woman let herself in and straightly went to his desk, where she carefully put down the reports in a neat pile, stepping one or two steps away from the bureau to verify she had done the right thing until her attention was drawn by the peculiar room she was in.
“Looks like nobody has been in there for a while. Even the air has become cold for a second.”
Indeed, the place felt quite empty, to say the least. Only a few pieces of furniture, an old-fashioned rug, some books, and a light were decorating Caius’ office, making it look like a lonely and dull workroom in the eyes of the Nerissa. Fortunately enough, someone kept the place tidy regularly, but it was sufficient enough for the young woman to feel slightly destabilized by this almost bare room.
“At least he has a few books to keep him company.” She said, walking over to the small library to get to know a bit more about this leader she had rarely heard of. “Let’s see… History of Torensten, The Biomes of Zephon, Three Bards’ Old Tales, Philosophy of a World Traveler, Draconology… Wait, why does he even have a book about Draconology? I thought dragons had disappeared from this world…”
[attr=class,punkisavelightsecondarylyrics]
[attr=class,punkisavelighttopslant]
Perhaps a plant would add to the liveliness of this room.
Post by Caius Dragelion on Nov 2, 2023 9:36:18 GMT -6
The Dragonblade
In truth, Caius didn't put the rug, nor the bookshelf there. The books had just been laid out on the bed the last time he saw them. But Tomoe, for reasons unknown to him, had them put there after figuring out that was the room he had been using as a place to sleep when working late at the Rest, which had become his sort of "office". Which would probably explain it being hard to find because it definitely wasn't an office, and it looked the same as the other rooms the mercenaries slept in. Maybe even less furnished at that.
For one of the most famous establishments in Torensten, the Wyvern's Rest didn't exactly have "executive" functions like that. There were no offices, just rooms for mercenaries. The lounge for the mercenaries to relax. A kitchen, utilities, storage. And a front desk for the office work. Sure, they had talked about expanding, but Celes didn't find it would benefit their cause and had shot down most ideas Caius broached. Which was fine with him, he had no problem with keeping things simple. He only sought what was best for those that worked with them. An ideal shared by both leaders, seeing as the two of them continued sinking their own earnings into operations long after the need to do so had passed. Something that, if Nerissa had listened long enough, would pick up was beginning to infuriate the receptionist Tomoe. Whom had taken it upon herself to be "the mom friend" and adamantly lectured both for doing so.
Which was funny considering both of them were older than her. Not that Celes nor Caius were all that old to begin with...
Speaking of, it had indeed turned out that Caius would be returning from his trip to Sonora. It wouldn't be for a long period, he had informed the Dragonblades that he still had business in the region, as further issues had cropped up that needed to be handled. But he had returned for the time being to ensure that things were running fine and to provide updates on his current progress. Including bringing back a chip for STACEE to be updated on their Sonoran encounter, and informing Serah of where her sister had disappeared to. Not to mention reporting on dealing with the Alex Sorel issue to Celes. Unfortunately, he still hadn't had a chance to speak to his co-leader face to face. This was long overdue, but it would come in time.
"I understand why Mid would come in here. But I am unsure why you have taken station in my quarters, miss."
On the surface, Caius probably fit the bill of a guild later. Tall, well-built, a bit of a beard. But he spoke with a pure sense of calm, without that leader-like command in his tone. He could use it, sure, he just didn't feel the need to. And his garb wasn't armored at all as one would think a decorated mercenary would have been, in fact he had changed into a tunic before he got here. Better to deal with Torensten's heat.
Caius' gaze moved to the workbench at the quarter of the room, the only real unique piece of furniture there that wasn't already in the other rooms. He could definitely tell it had been used, and used quite recklessly, which matched Celes' assessment of Mid. Though he didn't recognize the bookcase or the rug. Had Tomoe put those in there? They weren't there the last time he was here.
Granted, he had been gone for months. So he could simply have forgotten. But his gaze then turned to the woman in the room, pouring over one of his books whom had been muttering to herself.
[attr=class,punkisavelighttext] Nerissa stopped reading the books on the shelf and immediately directed her attention to the voice that called her out. Her eyes crossed the figure of a charming man standing under the door as he waited for the woman to explain her unexpected presence in his private quarters. She laughed nervously at this weird situation and quickly bowed to the person she recognized as Caius Dragelion in an attempt to apologize for her audacious invasion of her leader’s dorm.
“I am terribly sorry for this intrusion, Lord Dragelion. Professor Fenwick had told me to deliver these reports to you concerning a monster increase in Torensten’s Western Temples, but I didn’t know where to go, so I asked Miss Tomoe for directions in hopes of finding your room more quickly. Although she told me this was your room, I was surprised to see a bit more furniture here than the rest of the guild’s bedrooms.” After all, Wyvern’s Rest was only known to have bedrooms rather than offices for their members to rest in between missions to regain their strength before going on with their everyday lives. It was a standard setting around this place, but Nerissa didn’t follow this rule like the rest of them. Instead, the young woman transformed her own little room into a cozy office that she regularly used as her workplace whenever she was not on a mission while living in an old house she bought a few weeks ago near the Dragonblades’ headquarters. It made the perfect separation between work and personal life, which helped the young woman adapt more rapidly to this new world without anybody else’s help.
Once Caius had forgiven her for this minor incident, Nerissa thanked him and carefully returned to her normal posture after bowing to him for the last few minutes. “Thank you, Lord Dragelion. I shall never forget your grand generosity towards a person like me.” She formally replied before smiling. “My name is Nerissa Muireach. I am a member of the Ruins Research Unit, which Professor Einar Fenwick currently leads in Wyvern’s Rest. Thanks to one of his disciples, I was able to join the Dragonblades and his team more than half a month ago. I mostly specialize in studying old ruins and magic artifacts, but I do love to go on other types of missions whenever that is possible. It seems I am more the traveller type than someone who loves working behind a desk.”
Post by Caius Dragelion on Nov 17, 2023 9:18:59 GMT -6
The Dragonblade
Did she call him... Lord Dragelion? That sounded ten kinds of wrong, and Caius didn't intend to suffer that for long. "Caius is fine" he nipped that in the bud right away. "I'm a mercenary, not a liege lord. And I held no notable military rank previously, unlike General Chere. My name will suffice."
Perhaps it would be strange that a mercenary used language like a lord, but Caius had far too much time on his hands to peruse the palace archives back in the day. Though when Nerissa would comment on the state of his room, noting that she was surprised it had more furniture than the other rooms, Caius looked around a moment longer before nodding his head in agreement.
"As am I."
Yeah, that was going to defy expectations right then and there. As blunt as a hammer, "Lord Dragelion" had revealed with no shame that the room's new furnishings were not his doing. In fact, he had no clue how some of these things had even gotten here. Had Tomoe done this out of care, or because she didn't want people to come in here and think less of the guild's leader for how bare it was?
Nerissa actually wasn't the first to just outright take a room for herself. Celes had done so herself, after all, as had Mid and Yuffie. So Caius didn't know how his was more furnished considering this was the first time it had even been furnished since the Rest was first building. But he decided not to comment on that.
"Towards a person like her" she claimed, and Caius raised a brow at that. "A person like you" he echoed, clearly not thrilled about that idea. "And what, pray tell, do you mean by that, Miss Nerissa Muireach? Because that sounds like self-degrading" he pointed out. She continued about being on a unit that he had no clue about, presumably something that Celes had set up while he was gone. He'd have to go over the paperwork later. What would Celes need a ruins research unit for? She was so profit-oriented that it sounded so unlike her. Or at least she seemed to be, considering she had sent him a letter telling him to cut costs by cutting underperforming mercenaries. Sure, Caius could be a little strict about ensuring that none damaged the guild's ability to allow its members to make a living. But Celes pulling that move had bypassed it by several miles.
"Interesting. Why don't you tell me a bit more about the work that you do?" he inquired then. "I wasn't aware we had a ruins research unit. We're mercenaries, we work for hire. Unless matters "hit the fan" as they say, then we become peacekeepers."
[attr=class,punkisavelighttext] Nerissa nodded in agreement to Caius’ words. “Right, I apologize for this overboard politeness. I’m still getting used to this ‘normalness’ in my life following what happened in my old world…”
In fact, the reason why she has been acting like this with the Dragelion man was in part because she was trying to adapt to this new universe with people she barely knew, which brought up her fear of making a mistake that would cause her to be shamed by someone. This fear had only been present when she was working at Rosalith castle under the duchess’ stern and judgy eyes that would look upon each one of the servants working under her to make them remember their place in the hierarchical system. Needless to say, she’d do this to assess her superiority over all of them, as a way to teach them a lesson that if they were to go against her orders or spoke impolitely to the owner of this castle by not referring to her full title, they’d be heavily punished for the sake of keeping a noble image in front of her supporters. How weak-minded of a child I was back then…, she thought, briefly sighing, before her attention went back to Caius’ next question.
“I didn't mean to offend you with my words, Lor- Caius. I simply said what I thought was right to say due to the fear of being reprimanded by you for not acknowledging your aristocratic title if it were found out that you were, indeed, a noble yourself.” She started to explain, her eyes never leaving for one second the serious face of the man who looked at her in curiosity. “Now, I know I shouldn’t be worrying about this in a warm and kind place such as the Wyvern’s rest, but old memories of this troubled time keep resurfacing in my mind, and I can’t help but consider myself an unworthy person each time I am in the presence of a higher ranking official like yourself.” Clearly, Anabella had traumatized the poor girl from an early age, enough so that she still continued seeing herself as a useless person that would never reach the rank she was at due to their difference in status, something Nerissa had never really cared about after joining the Cursebreakers who taught her the beauty of living the “real life” without the need of a noble title. And yet, when she was faced with an unknown reality without her dear friends, all those fears came back out in an instant, which greatly destabilized her while trying to regain composure to become her old self again.
Once her story was done and out of the way, Nerissa couldn’t help but smile at how similar Caius and Celes’s reactions were despite having called them by an aristocratic title on different occasions when only one of them was with her inside this room.
“Anyway, now that I’ve apologized to you concerning this ‘misunderstanding,’ I might tell you more about the Ruins Research Unit and its goal within the Dragonblades. To begin with, the Ruins Research Unit has been created by one of your newly recruited members, Professor Einar Fenwick. He came about two months and half ago, myself arriving into this world only two weeks after this unit was created. He wished to implement a research team within the Dragonblades in order to revolutionize Torensten’s technology while also protecting civilians who were going to visit the ruins on their own. Our tasks included visiting various ruins set around the city, taking out monsters from these places and preventing their reappearances in certain cases. We also researched artifacts to know their significance and powers, and sometimes, we’d even do rescue missions to save people stuck in the ruins, whether they are still alive or dead. So far, our team is composed of eight people in total, which includes Professor Fenwick and myself, although I do not think more people will join us since this team is still fairly new within our guild.”
Post by Caius Dragelion on Apr 17, 2024 11:57:50 GMT -6
The Dragonblade
“No need for "Lord", I grew up on a chocobo farm. Your formality is better saved for this Lord Crystal Smashy that I’ve been hearing about," Caius, after listening and watching her almost all him Lord again, did his best in to comfort Nerissa and get their roles straight. And even attempted a bit of dry humor to keep her nerves down. “And I want you to know that I understand," he promised her, smiling softly with a gentle and empathetic tone. She was nervous, clearly, and while Celes had always been better than him as a leader, he knew quicker when the stricter side needed to be set aside. "I served a king, once. There’s much to unlearn in your situation, especially if it was as bad as it sounds. But I don’t want you to look at me as some high-ranking official. At the end of the day, I am on the field for jobs just as you are. Or... I think you are, anyway?"
This ruins thing was something he was going to have to talk to Celes about. It had happened in his absence, so he needed to gain an understanding of why Celes, who was always the most fussy amongst them about their finances, would approve this. They did dip their hands in multiple hats, yes, but ruins exploration? A whole TEAM for it, within the Dragonblades? He was going to need more information from her, and then from Celes. But for now, getting this girl's nerves sorted was the priority.
"And I highly doubt I'm ever going to be found out to be a lord," Caius admitted with a small laugh, not even considering the possibility for a second. "And I'm fine with that. I'm happy leading the guild. And I'm happy being just as part of the Dragonblades as you are."
Was this how Garnet felt? When he kept using her royal title? What about Noctis, whom he technically didn't even serve anymore? Talk about having your own follies thrown right back in your face. At the least, he hoped he had been able to make her feel more comfortable. Royalty could be strict, so he wasn't that surprised she was stuck in her ways so much. Caius was still very much the same way. So hopefully he had set a healthy example to start with.
With that out of the way, it came time to learn more about this "team" Celes had apparently set up. Ok so not only had Celes set up some crazed inventor at his workbench, but also hired a ruins exploration professor and a team for him to run? Sure, she had looked fried at both ends when he had seen her, but this seemed like a lot to not bring up before. Granted, he had forgotten to mention the full extent of Yuffie -- so maybe he had this one coming. But seriously, eight people? For a team that while it sounded fantastic for what they wanted to do from a peacekeeping standpoint, was going to put a bit of strain on the budget. And they had already just put in quite the deposit to get Yuna's clinic up and running. Now granted, the clinic was worth it. It made them no money, but it benefited their overall goal, especially now that it was self-sufficient. Still...
Was this what Celes had felt like when he had suggested ambitious expansions that would be quite expensive? How much she fretted about how they were going to afford it all? The Dragonblades were changing, it seemed. And Caius would just have to figure out the best direction for adapting to that change.
"This is admittedly news to me, Miss Nerissa. I have been off on a trip, and Miss Chere has been in charge here while I have been gone," Caius admitted then, scratching his head as he tried to piece together how in the world he was to react to all this. "We're a mercenary guild that engages in peacekeeping operations on the side. So this is a little bit out of our usual scope. Have you and this Professor Fenwick discussed this "Ruins Research Unit" with Celes? What did she say about it, if you remember?"
