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.
”Well that was...different. But useful, thank you.”
Cecil couldn’t tell exactly what Vincent was thinking. The mystery held a kind of curiosity all to itself. Just like Kain. No matter how he tried, Cecil would never rid himself of the association. Vincent looked closer at their surroundings and Cecil followed suit. To him, it looked like nothing more than a maze of metal and foul-smelling stone. How could anyone choose to live like this? Perhaps he would ask Vincent at a more convenient time.
”Out that way. That’s another exit gate.” Vincent pointed, and Cecil followed his gaze, frowning. ”I’m sorry, but I don’t think you’ll be able to find who you’re looking for here.”
Cecil’s heart sank. He’d hardly set foot in the city before it had all fallen apart. He was no stranger to failure, but this time felt particularly disheartening. He had failed before he had even truly begun. Cecil sighed.
”I know,” he said. There was no use fighting what had already been done. ”Their exits won’t be unguarded. I don’t know if I can cast that spell again.”
He didn’t want to. The effects were too unpredictable. The magical cost was too high. If they were to be outnumbered then Cecil would reserve his Paladin’s light for healing and protection. He paused and then looked at Vincent seriously.
”You’re a white mage,” he said. ”That slow spell saved us. If we’re confronted again, I’ll rely on your support.”
Like Rosa. Why was it that this man reminded him so much of his old companions? They were on his mind, he knew, but it struck him all the same.
Rosa, standing stalwart behind his shield. Rosa with her gentle magic and her arrows shot with righteous conviction. Cecil shook his head.
”This place is foreign to me,” he said. ”I’ll follow your lead.”
[attr="class","vvoverlap"]Too much hope is the opposite of despair.
[attr="class","vvbody"] “Their exits won’t be unguarded.” Vincent knew Cecil spoke the truth. The Sonoran guard was highly regimented and disciplined. Even with the disturbance they caused, there would certainly still be at least two guards on each exit gate. Maybe more. He wasn’t surprised to learn that the knight would be unable to cast the teleportation spell again. He had to imagine that a spell of such magnitude took a great deal of magical strength and power. He nodded sharply in response and narrowed his eyes, peering down the alleyways and streets around them. There were people, Sonoran citizens, running from them or pointing and exclaiming. They certainly wouldn’t be able to stay here for long, not after they appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The guard would find the new disturbance just as easily. [break][break]
“You’re a white mage,” Cecil said in a serious voice and thanked him for his use of slow. Vincent didn’t really know what he meant by that, not exactly. Maybe only certain people could use magic wherever Cecil had come from? “It’s just materia. Nothing special.” Aerith had been special with her magical talents, maybe that was what Cecil meant. But Vincent knew he was nothing like her, not nearly as skilled. And now he no longer had access to Chaos’ power. “But I can do a bit more, if we need.” He mentally ran through his materia. In addition to Time he had Fire (All), Gravity, and Shield. Fire would obviously help them get out of the city, but it wasn’t something Vincent wanted to use unless the situation became dire. [break][break]
He didn’t have a good answer of how they were going to get out. He knew Cecil was looking to him for guidance and Vincent wished he could provide a better answer. “We’re probably going to have to fight our way past the guards at the gate. All we can hope is that there are only a few. And they don’t get reinforcements before we can escape.” Vincent started heading purposefully in the direction of the gate. “We just need to incapacitate them as quickly as possible and get out of here. They’re unlikely to follow us far from Sonora.” He scoffed softly, thinking of why they wouldn’t follow. The wilds around Sonora were unforgiving and harsh, and crawling with monsters. [break][break]
Vincent cursed himself once more for getting involved. But he was far past the point of no return, so he merely led Cecil to the gate. There really was no point in attempts at stealth, not with Cecil’s armor clinking and grinding with every step. But he tried to make haste and avoid the main streets, taking alleys and winding pathways through the twisting metal. The fewer people that saw them, the better. [break][break]
The two men encountered no more guards on their short journey to the gate. Vincent wasn’t entirely sure if that was a good sign, or a bad one. Were they lucky, or had they all amassed at the gate? “Stop,” he said and he held a hand out, cautioning Cecil. They’d nearly reached the gate. Vincent peered around the corner, down towards the gate. “Shit,” he swore softly and turned back to Cecil. “I see at least five of them. No heavy weapons.” That was a small mercy. But there was no guarantee they wouldn’t arrive later.[break][break]
“Ready to fight our way out?” He loaded his gun and looked expectantly at the knight. Just before heading into the fray, he cast Shield on himself. Cecil had an actual shield and plate armor. Vincent only hoped it would be enough to stop their weapons.
[break]
[attr="class","vvinfo"]I AM BAD AT FIGHT SCENES / @cecil
Cecil's basically a white mage tank who can swing a sword pretty good
I will turn darkness into hallowed light
Materia? Cecil tilted his head, frowning slightly. It was magic that he’d seen, and a white mage’s spell at that. He didn’t know what Vincent had meant, but he didn’t have time to dwell on questions. The city would soon be their battlefield, and it was best that they keep moving. He would have to trust that Vincent knew his power and would use it well. There was nothing else to be done.
”Right.” Cecil nodded. A knot had formed in his throat, but he tried to swallow it back for now. There would be a fight. He knew it was inevitable, but that didn’t make the truth any easier. He had chosen resistance, and now others would pay the price. Be it Vincent, nation’s knights, or the townspeople they guarded, blood would be spilled because of his actions. The arrow had already been loosed from its bow.
Vincent led them forward, and Cecil blindly followed. He had no point of reference in their labyrinthine maze of bricks and strange machines. His boots clacked against the stone pavement, wet against the grayed and melted snow. Cecil shivered, looking up at the rising walls and the clouded sky beyond them. From here, the sky felt strangely empty and bright. The moons were lost to him.
Vincent held out a hand. ”Stop.”
Cecil came to a halt, frowning as he peered around the corner over Vincent’s shoulder. There was the gate just as promised. Cecil looked to him for guidance, frowning as Vincent cursed.
”Five?” Cecil touched at his sword, brow furrowed. Five men. Cecil knew that he could likely take them if he needed to -- particularly with an ally such as Vincent at his side. But it would mean a ruthless fight and one afforded no mercy. Were the costs worth the reward? Cecil didn’t have long to consider it before Vincent pulled his weapon, looking at him expectantly.
”Ready to fight our way out?”
Cecil paused before nodding, sending the man a weak smile. ”We’ll stand together.” Vincent cast some manner of protective magic, and Cecil raised his shield.
Right or wrong, he couldn’t know, but now was the time for action. Hesitation would lead him nowhere.
Cecil led the charge. He was used to providing cover, and taking damage for the back lines where it was needed. For his part, the element of surprise got him far. The guards hadn’t been expecting an attack from behind, and they certainly hadn’t expected a well-trained paladin charging at them with a flourished blade. He struck one down before he could so much as raise his weapon. The others retreated, shouting as they returned fire.
Cecil winced as the force of their shots rang hollow against his shield. He stepped back, grounding his stance as he drew their attacks. They were ranged fighters. That was obvious from their weapons and insistence on retreat. If he could edge his way closer...If he could refuse them the distance they needed…
”Vincent!” He glanced over his shoulder for the mage. ”I need an opening!”
[attr="class","vvoverlap"]Too much hope is the opposite of despair.
[attr="class","vvbody"]Cecil raised his sword and shield. He didn’t look pleased, but he was ready to face what came. He led the charge, surprising the gathered guards. They seemed entirely unsure what to do about the sword cleaving towards them. Vincent followed at a safe distance and watched as one man fell almost immediately to Cecil’s weapon. Chaos struck. The entire gate became a mess of bullets and yells, loud sounds and bright noises. Vincent returned fire, but the guardsmen were well-guarded and well-protected by the metal walls of the gate. He knew he made contact once or twice, but none of them dropped. He’d hit arms or legs, nothing vital. Nothing that stopped the onslaught. [break][break] “I need an opening!” Cecil clearly couldn’t get close enough, not with the hail of bullets raining down on his shield. Vincent knew he needed to help and he just hoped that his shield spell held up. He emerged from his partial cover behind a parked car and strode confidently up behind Cecil. A bullet ricocheted off his magical shield harmlessly but he knew it wouldn’t last for long. He only had enough time to get off one more spell. Hopefully that was all Cecil needed. “Firaga!” Vincent yelled, using his most powerful materia. And the one that would definitely make sure he was never allowed back inside Sonora. The powerful elemental spell affected all four remaining guards. But two must have had some sort of magical protection. While two of the guards screamed and cried out as flames engulfed them, the other two seemed to merely suffer singed eyebrows and sizzling clothes. But it was enough to distract them all and hopefully give Cecil plenty of an opportunity to run up into melee range. [break][break] The two guards fully affected by Firaga’s strength fell to the ground. They looked almost blackened, completely unrecognizable. Their comrades managed to put out the little fires on their clothing and merely gritted their teeth through the pain. But they looked completely horrified at the corpses of their fallen friends. In the midst of the chaos and death, they seemed to momentarily forget about shooting at the two men trying to escape.
[break]
[attr="class","vvinfo"]Fire spells IRL are kind of the worst. / @cecil
The words had hardly left his lips before fire erupted from the men, drowning them in flames. Cecil raised a hand against the heat as he stared at it, agape. This close, he could smell the charred flesh. He could taste bitter smoke on his tongue, could see their uniforms char and curl. Their flesh did no better, and as Cecil watched, they were slain before him. Terribly. Brutally. Cecil swallowed. He had known that this would be the price of their freedom, and yet it was still not easy to watch.
The others were unharmed, but thrown off guard. Cecil could not falter. No matter the horrors, there would be no peace until the last of their blood had been spilled. He took the opportunity to charge forward, shield raised and sword in hand. They were not quick enough to stop him.
His discipline was a strange thing. As soon as he swung his blade, it was like the world fell away. There was only his stance. His form. Breathe in. Breathe out. He was aware of the way the men moved around him, diving back and searching for cover that he would not allow them. He was hyper-aware, in fact, of every detail, every movement, every suggestion. It was how he had been trained since his induction into Baron’s service at his king’s request.
So many hours spent straining his body until his callouses had bled. So many mornings meeting with Kain at sunrise. There had been no room for mercy or distraction in the life of a dark knight. In that, he had not changed. His strikes were no different than the same, endless motions he had practiced with pinpoint precision. The blood did not faze him. He had lost that ability from the moment that his attack had begun.
He finished once the cries of pain and alarm had ended. It had not taken long. Two minutes perhaps. In battle, time had nearly stopped.
Cecil flicked the blood from his blade in a practiced flourish, but he did not sheathe it. ”Come on!” The gate was clear, but the sound of those explosive projectiles had doubtlessly caught unwanted attention. There would be reinforcements soon. Cecil ran through the gatehouse, shouldering the door until he stood in a wide metallic room.
His steps slowed. He had no idea what he was looking at.
Where there should have been some kind of cranking mechanism for the gate, there were only tables and buttons and what looked like clouded windows embedded in the walls. Cecil frowned, approaching them carefully. ”What is…?”
One of the windows showed the opposite side of the gate from an aerial view. Another showed the same scene of carnage and chaos that they had left. The two screens were beside each other. Inexplicably. Some magic was at play.
”The gate. Can you open it?” Cecil looked back at Vincent expectantly. ”I don’t understand these machines.” Or spells. Enchantments. Whatever it was, it was foreign to him. And he’d thought that Baron’s airships were impressive.
[attr="class","vvoverlap"]Too much hope is the opposite of despair.
[attr="class","vvbody"]Vincent watched, gun ready, as Cecil charged forward to dispatch the remaining two guards. The knight needed no help, easily taking out their remaining foes. All five were dead and quiet descended on the gate. He could hear no backup arriving, no nearby sirens. They might just manage this. They might make it out the gate into the wilds of Zephon alive. Vincent hurriedly followed Cecil. He kept his gun in one hand, safety off and ready to fire if the need arose. He stepped past the bloodied and burned corpses of the guards to slip into the small gatehouse behind the knight. [break][break] He found Cecil looking completely baffled, staring at the computer screens and dashboards with abject confusion. Right. Someone with his apparent level of technological knowledge would clearly have no idea what to do here. The screens showing the security footage probably seemed like pure sorcery to the knight. Cecil turned to Vincent, clearly pleading for help. He was far out of his depth and admitted as much. “Guard the entrance, keep an eye out,” he instructed and holstered his weapon. Reasonably certain Cecil could handle guard duty, Vincent turned away and stared at the flickering screens. [break][break] This probably wasn’t the time to admit he wasn’t the most technologically savvy person. Back in Midgar, he’d been mocked for not having a cellphone or using computers. He’d gotten better recently. But Vincent knew he was no genius when it came to the various machines surrounding them. He just hoped it would be simple enough to figure out. The center console seemed like his best bet. A quick glance around told Vincent that most of the other screens were connected to the security system. Another was a TV, currently tuned to a news network. Mercifully, the anchor seemed to be reporting on something happening on Velvet Street far away from their gate. He stepped up to the large central screen. It asked for a passcode the second Vincent touched it. Well, there was no way he’d manage to guess that. He flipped through the screens quickly, seeing if there was any sort of override. “Ah,” he said, finding something that would work. “Help me bring one of them in here. We can override the security with a fingerprint. Best get one of the non-burnt ones,” he added as an afterthought. Firaga certainly might have ruined any hope for identification from the two he killed. Hopefully it would be straightforward to open the gate once they used one of the men to get past the security system. If not, Vincent wasn’t sure what they were going to do short of trying to scale the damn thing.
[break]
[attr="class","vvinfo"]Vincent's...not the best for your technology needs. / @cecil
Vincent truly was an expert on this nation’s machinery. Cecil watched in both awe and appreciation as Vincent strode confidently towards the charmed screens, eyes tense with focus. ”Guard the entrance, keep an eye out,” he said, and Cecil nodded. He was useless here. He would do better at the door.
Cecil didn’t like stepping back to the doorway and the evidence of their destruction. The corpses were pale and cooling -- all but the ones felled by fire. He felt a bitter taste rise in his throat the longer he looked at them. It was like looking at a battlefield. Someday, he was sworn to rejoin that fight, but he hadn’t thought it would come so soon.
’This was not an act of a paladin.’
He heard the clicking of machinery inside and pictured gears. Quiet ones, perhaps, or were those button presses? Cecil’s mind spun as he struggled to comprehend it all. He knew airships. He knew how engines churned and cogs turned. But all of this was as foreign to him as the inner workings of the Lunar Whale. Even then, it had been crystal navigated.
After a short time, he heard Vincent hum to himself. ”Help me bring one of them in here,” he said. ”We can override the security with a fingerprint. Best get one of the non-burnt ones.”
”Fingerprint?” Cecil frowned. They needed...a finger? ”But why…?” His eyes wandered to the corpses. White. Cold. Crusted with a thick coat of blood. One was sliced open from the stomach, and Cecil saw his entrails bulging as the man curled on his side. The snow drifted over them like a thin layer of dust. ”I won’t defile the dead,” he said.
These had once been men. Soldiers under a different banner, perhaps, but soldiers nonetheless. Cecil felt bile rise to his tongue.
”You need a dead man?” This wasn’t right. He knew it. ”You won’t...dismantle him?”
Taking a dead man’s finger. That felt like a dark and forbidden magic. However the doors must be opened, such a sacrifice was not one that he was willing to make.
[attr="class","vvoverlap"]Too much hope is the opposite of despair.
[attr="class","vvbody"]Cecil seemed horrified at Vincent’s suggestion. A glance at the paladin showed that his pale face was screwed up in a frown as he looked at the corpses of the guards. “The security of the gate is tied to their biometrics,” he paused, realizing that word might not make sense to someone unused to technology. “To the guard’s, ahh, bodies? I won’t be able to force them open otherwise.” But then Cecil said, “I won’t defile the dead.” [break][break] Vincent was confused for a moment. Then he realized what Cecil must be thinking he was asking. Right. Plate-clad knights probably didn’t understand fingerprint security at all. Did he think Vincent was about to cast some terrible dark spell to open the doors? He groaned and struggled with how to explain. “I won’t defile or dismantle him,” he explained and moved to lift up one of the corpses by the shoulders. He hoped Cecil would help him move the body into the gatehouse as he grunted with the effort. [break][break] “See that screen?” Vincent gestured with a jerk of his head. “All we need to do is press one of his fingers on that green glowing part. No need to remove it or anything,” he promised. “We just need to do it before the body gets too cold. Then the gates should open and we can leave. We won’t desecrate the dead.” Vincent wasn’t sure he had the same qualms about the dead men as Cecil did. They’d already committed the worst crime against them by killing them. Who cared what happened to their bodies? [break][break] With or without Cecil’s help, Vincent hefted the corpse that was becoming steadily colder to the center console. He could only hope this worked. If it didn’t Vincent really had no idea what to do. He’d always relied on others for his technology needs and clearly that was working against him now. But as the finger lined up with the green icon, there was a comforting-sounding beep. The console flickered then changed to a diagram of the gate. [break][break] Vincent fiddled around with the screen for a minute longer before figuring out the command to open them. Relief rushed through him at the sound of creaking metal outside. But it was so loud. Anyone in the immediate area was sure to hear it even if they hadn’t heard the commotion Cecil and Vincent had already caused. “Let’s go.”
[break]
[attr="class","vvinfo"]"I probably would desecrate the dead, but I'm not. Right now." / @cecil
Vincent gave his word. It was based on a foreign logic using words like ’biometrics, ’ and that gave Cecil some small amount of suspicion. Still, he trusted Vincent. Vincent had done no wrong by him since they’d met so he had no reason to suspect that he was lying. Cecil watched him carefully as he explained.
”All we need to do is press one of his fingers on that glowing green part. No need to remove it or anything.”
”Oh.” There was something about the way that Vincent said it that made Cecil feel simple. Stupid, perhaps, and ignorant certainly. This place was strange to him. He might as well have been on the moon.
He turned his attention back to the dead men. Surely, more would follow if they did not act quickly. It was a disrespect to heft the chosen man over his shoulder, dragging his full weight along the iron-hewn floor. It was something that a man with a heart still tainted by darkness would have done, but it was a greater disrespect, he thought, to be frozen by inaction. Inaction meant more violence. He had inflicted enough of that for a lifetime.
Vincent meddled with his machinery. The strange “screens” gave a soft beep, and the gates creaked open with a great metallic heave. Cecil winced as he heard the hinges scrape against each other and the massive weight struggle to give way. Perhaps this was not the smoothest method of opening a door after all.
”Let’s go.” Vincent glanced at him, and Cecil nodded. They left together.
There was shouting as they fled through the now open gate, but nothing else followed. Perhaps the sentries were taken by surprise. Perhaps they simply didn’t have the forces to confront them, but Cecil and Vincent met little resistance as they ran from the city gates, ducking behind cover at the first moment that they could. Cecil found a snowy ridge just off the main path, and he made for it with a fierce determination. Once he found the guards’ trajectory obscured, he sighed, leaning back into the snow. It chilled him through to his under armor, but he found he could no longer feel the bite of the cold.
He longed for the southern territories.
”Thank you,” he said again, turning to Vincent. ”I would rather it have not escalated that way, but I am grateful for your aid.”
Why? Why had Cecil’s life mattered so much more than those of the soldiers they’d slain? Why, to a stranger, did Cecil deserve to live while others died?
”Do you plan to leave this kingdom? I brought a chocobo here, but…” Cecil looked out at the howling, desolate landscape. Perhaps he could no longer feel the cold, but he would in time. The road was long and winding.
He shook his head. ”I’ll make do,” he said. ”I wouldn’t want to burden you further.”
[attr="class","vvoverlap"]Too much hope is the opposite of despair.
[attr="class","vvbody"]Cecil seemed to agree that using the man’s hand to activate the security was better than standing around and waiting for more violence. Thankfully, he helped Vincent drag the dead man over to the screen. The gate outside heaved open and the two men fled the city. Shouts followed them, but nothing more. In only a few moments, Vincent and Cecil were alone in the harsh, snowy landscape surrounding Sonora. As the wind howled around them Vincent wished he had a coat or a warmer cloak. But those items were in his room at the hotel he’d never return to. Oh well. No use dwelling on such problems. [break][break] “Don’t mention it,” he said in response to Cecil’s thanks. He still wasn’t entirely sure if he made the right choice in intervening. Maybe they would have just exiled Cecil from the city. Maybe they wouldn’t have escalated to violence. But Vincent doubted it. And it was done now. So again, no use dwelling on it. [break][break] “I’d been planning on going to Torensten sometime anyway. I suppose I’ll head there now. I don’t think either of us can return to Sonora for a long time.” Maybe ever. They would certainly be in all the computer systems as dangerous criminals now. “We can travel together to Provo, if you wish,” Vincent offered. The road was fraught with peril this far north and there was certainly safety in numbers.
