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.
Post by Garnet Til Alexandros XVII on Sept 8, 2020 15:55:55 GMT -6
[attr="class,beacont"]
[attr="class,beatext"]
Quistis's climbing was impressive, even if Garnet fretted the entire time, and by the time the ladder was up, she was feeling much more confident about proceeding. She noticed that both Bartz and Tellah went with the toad plan, despite Garnet's misgivings, but she made a point to ascend the ladder alone. It was slippery and wet and more difficult than she might have expected, but she'd climbed a rope ladder similar to that to board the airship all the way back in Dali, and she could do it now, even if this one was slicker and caught in a storm. Float helped, of course. She did, however, gratefully accept the hand offered from Aerith. She may have not needed it if she'd tried the final climb up on her own, but it stopped her from having to try and risk falling, and even if she had succeeded, it probably wouldn't have looked dignified, so the help was nice.
The symbols at the cave entrance were a mystery to her, but she wasn't surprised. She felt oddly like she did whenever they had found a Terran artefact back on Gaia, like some aspect of her knew that she was catching a glimpse of a world she could never understand, that there was an entire civilisation, an entire planet, with its own culture, history, language and art, and she had no idea what any of it was. Was it the same thing here? Were those symbols part of yet another world? It was possible. There had been Terran markings in the Water Shrine on Gaia, hadn't there? Or had she imagined those?
The thoughts lingered as they descended into the darkness. Garnet longed for a torch or light of some kind. She wished Vivi was there, with his fire magic, and even his glowing eyes to light the way. She'd never said what a comfort it was to have him along for the ride in the dark, you always could follow the light of his eyes. She'd never asked how he saw. Did he have night vision? It was too late to ask now. Vivi was gone. There had been no saving him. Nothing she could do it. It seemed so unfair, Vivi died and Kuja lived...
Maybe it was the oppressive darkness, with nothing but the repeated clicking of boot heels to keep her occupied, or perhaps it was just her realising how alone she was. Here she was, another adventure, another hole in the ground, another water shrine, but this time, there were no friends. No, more than friends, they had become her family. But these people? They were strangers to her. She didn't feel that special connection. Even if they were friendly enough, it just didn't... seem the same.
The room they found at the bottom immediately returned Terra to her mind. Blue and humming, with channels for energy and pulsating, crystalline light. She almost said something. It couldn't be a coincidence, could it? Maybe the technology wasn't Terran, it wasn't identical, but it was similar enough. Some kind of magic had brought them to this world, and Terran technology could breach between worlds. Maybe the same thing was happening here? Slowly, her gaze went to the crystal, embedded in the far wall. It was clear that they would need to get it down.
"I don't... understand. These... channels, appear to be leading to something, but how do we fill them? A spell? Water, perhaps?" she speculated, but that wouldn't explain the ones on the wall or how to impact them in any way.
Don’t know why there’s no sun [break]up in the sky. Stormy weather.
[attr=class,text] Blue eyes squinting, she could not tell much of what was going on down below. She saw movement from a pink blob and maybe the faint sound of cheering. But it was hard to say. The most important thing was she secured a slightly safer passageway. She remembered her final effort to get into the cavern. Boots tried to dig into the wet rock of the cliff while her fingers grasped at some of the dryer ground inside. No. Climbing that wet rock was far too dangerous. She picked a few feathers off herself and let them float out into the open air as she waited. [break][break] She took a firm stance near the entrance to help out when the others began to ascend. She kept the ladder as stable as she could and helped the others over the ledge. When she saw that it was only the two ladies, she wondered if the other two gentlemen had lost their nerve. “Where are Bartz and Tellah?” She asked softly. Noticing Aerith’s pockets wriggling, she looked at them curiously. A smirk crossed her lips, “Brought a surprise with you?” [break][break] Turning, she summoned a fire to her palm to light their way. The luminescence of the flames flickered off the walls as she leaned in closer. A gentle hand delicately touched the patterns. She was very interested in them. Unfortunately, she was sure her new journal was soaked through. She would have to commit to memory the patterns on the walls. Perhaps she would sketch them later for the academy. [break][break] She followed the passageway, a sense of excitement enveloped her as she came to the spiral staircase. She almost could feel the old stone crumble beneath her feet. “Watch your step.” The excitement was replaced with the magic in the air. It almost felt much like a draw point - a well of magic SeeD were trained to pull from to fill their ethereal reserves. But it also had the awareness of a guardian force. [break][break] The silence and presence gave her chills. She felt the tension building in her. [break][break] She breathed into her solar plexus. She was eager to meet whoever was watching, she tried to project that calm friendliness. Much like one would do a scared creature who you mean no harm. [break][break] The main chamber was breathtaking. So much so, Quistis found herself holding her breath, lest she spoil even the stale air here. Oh, how she wished she had a much better way to document these findings. Once more, she would have to rely on her photogenic memory. Boots clicking against the stone, she dropped her fire spell as she neared the glowing runes of the tumbled obelisk to see if she could make much sense in them. Beautiful. Were they instructions? Perhaps activation opened the passage way ahead? Or maybe a way to get the presence to make itself known? [break][break] Then, there. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the light. The same glowing runes behind the ivy. She moved herself from the obelisk she had been observing the crystal on the wall instead. It was expecting something out of them. [break][break] Garnet spoke, but Quistis did not take her eyes off the crystal. The light sparkled the intrigue in her eyes. “I can cast water, if we want to try.” She told Garnet lightly, but she wanted to cast another spell instead. She reached out to the crystal, “What do you wish us to do?” She wondered and magic swept around her feet in soft green light as she cast a scan spell on it. She hoped to learn its elemental affinity at least.
[attr="class","tlbody"]Aerith didn’t seem perturbed by grabbing two toads and stuffing them in her pockets. That was good. Tellah settled calmly into the folds of her jacket pocket. The boy seemed less calm about his predicament but oh well. It ensured he’d get up the ladder safely, not that Tellah was sure they really needed his help. Why was he here anyway? [break][break] The jacket swayed and bumped against the girl’s side as she climbed the ladder but thankfully all three of them arrived on the other side without issue. The second the pocket was unzipped, he jumped out with all the force his toad legs could muster. He landed between the three women on the wet stone floor with a soft croak of discomfort. Tellah swiftly cast Esuna on both himself and the boy, freeing them from their toad forms. The magic was a bit discombobulating as he suddenly grew in height and his staff rematerialized in his hand. He shook himself and straightened his many-layered robes before looking around the cave. Silently, the sage moved through the passageways, looking at the symbols and runes on the walls. The others were walking past as he inspected the hollow recess. Something belonged here. But what? [break][break] A glance around the passageway revealed nothing immediately obvious. And he didn’t recognize any of the symbols carved into the walls. Tellah made a mental note of the hollow and the symbols before trailing behind the rest of the group down the twisting spiral stair. He was glad he went last. His progress was slow as his knees groaned and creaked with the effort. The stairs seemed to go on forever, down into the pitch darkness illuminated only by Quistis’ fire spell. When Tellah finally arrived at the bottom he felt the pull of magic all around them. The feeling wasn’t completely ominous or dangerous, just omnipresent and watchful. He felt drawn to the power, his own magic wanting to reach out to it. [break][break] He joined the others eventually, moving past the walls glowing blue-green, to look at the glowing crystal embedded in the wall. It seemed to call to them, beckoning them forward. Garnet and Quistis were both looking closely at it. The former noted the channels cut through the glowing walls and suggested a water spell to run through them. That wasn’t a terrible suggestion, they certainly were made to conduct something. Meanwhile, Quistis stepped forward and cast a spell on the sphere that he didn’t recognize. [break][break] Tellah left the two to their own studies and moved away, peering at the runic writing. He touched the wall lightly with one hand, feeling the thrum of magic under his fingertips. “There were symbols upstairs as well,” he commented to the rest of the group. “Not dissimilar to these. And there was a sphere-shaped hollow there as well. Perhaps they are related?” He groaned inwardly, even as he spoke the words. The last thing he wanted to do was climb back up that seemingly endless stair.
The air is charged with a sense of magic, of power, and of mystery. The runic sigils set the scene in an ethereal blue-green haze. Between the darkness and the silence, it feels almost as though you have entered another world -- a sacred world lost to time. And yet time has ravaged it all the same.
On further inspection, the crystal sphere in the wall is curved outwards. The edges around it are cracked into hairline grooves. It seems, perhaps, that there is space behind it that might allow it to be moved inwards. The crystal glints without light, dispassionate and waiting about seven feet above the ground.
The channel runs up one wall into darkness. Though the top is impossible to make out, you can see the shadows of flat panels running horizontally across the channel like miniature water wheels. They are unmoving -- the spokes burdened with cobwebs.
The channel leads to the opposite wall where more subtle lines frame a rectangle around it. This section, however, remains steadfast under pressure, and is too heavy to be pushed by human strength.
Post by Garnet Til Alexandros XVII on Sept 19, 2020 14:26:26 GMT -6
[attr="class,beacont"]
[attr="class,beatext"]
Garnet felt like she was on the cusp of understanding, but somehow, still missing the obvious. The sphere of the crystal looked as if it could be removed, and other inverted spherical grooves suggested that such crystals could be inserted in them. But the crystal was seven feet up in the air, beyond the grasp of any of them. If only Zidane was there, with his climbing skills...
For a moment, the image of one of them sitting on the shoulders of another to try and reach the crystal flashed across her mind, and she dismissed it as ridiculous. She sighed, leaning back, peering up into the dark, watching the trail of the grooves in the wall and how they lead to what looked like disused water wheels of some description. She paused, squinting a little, trying to take it in. "There's something up there. I'm sure... water is somehow related to this solution," she speculated, but she was aware that it was utterly aimless. Who would have thought that water was the solution to a puzzle within the Water Temple?
"Can any of us climb up there to try and remove the crystal? Perhaps it unblocks a flow of water. That, or we should cast our own spells on the water wheels..." Again, she wished Vivi was there. She knew that the others could likely cast such a spell, but she felt so unsure when she didn't know who any of them were. She supposed she had to learn to rely on their abilities.
She turned to them, feeling confused and lost. She wasn't sure why Quistis had asked her what to do; she might have been a Queen back home, but here she felt like the least experienced adventurer, despite everything she had been through. At least to lead the party. Usually when Garnet made decisions on her own, disaster followed, and she wasn't sure it was an experience she wanted to replicate...
Don’t know why there’s no sun [break]up in the sky. Stormy weather.
[attr=class,text] Tellah suggested the symbols and hollows above may be related to what was down here. It certainly was a possibility. Perhaps it was a language that they did not speak. Or it was simply art to decorate the walls. Maybe even both. Quistis could get lost in the ideas of runic languages, but it would not help now. Right now it seemed they needed to activate something in the room to open the wall. Or at least to begin figuring out opening something to progress. Perhaps, it was as Garnet said, water was the key. [break][break]
Even the scan spell seemed to chime information clearly in her head that the crystal had an affinity for water, as if to echo a confirmation to Garnet’s theory. However, it also chimed that it should not be pulled, as the party suggested, but pushed. Quistis could also see that there was space behind the crystal to be pushed inward. If she was wrong, then Quistis was sure she could use a gravity spell to pull it back out. [break][break]
The room lit up with renewed light, as Quistis weaved a water spell about her person. The materialized water formed out of magic’s dew and even the rainy moisture in her clothing. The watered swirled about her, glinting in the blue-green light. Then, she directed the spell with a sharp gesture of her arm and straightened her wrist toward the crystal high up on the wall. [break][break]
The crystal swirled with light and came to life, runes of blue-green magic pulsing out of it as it clicks into place. A rush of water splashes across the channels and spins the water wheels with their pressure. The panel on the wall slides up with the sound of grinding stone and a gentle rumble. Alas! The hidden door lifts open. The water converges into the channel that leads through the now exposed passageway. The sudden flood of water calms as it flows into the darkness, as if to lead the way into the descending hallway. [break][break] Quistis turned to look at the now opened door, then gave a satisfied smile at making some progress here. “Seems we can continue.” Walking toward the new hallway, there was fire in her palm to light the way. [break][break]
((Ooops. Quistis had been asking the crystal what to do, not Garnet. XD This is what happens when Quistis half-talks to herself))
Water engulfs the crystal sphere, and the crystal responds to the pressure. It’s pressed inward, and with the sound of grinding stone, it stops -- inset into the wall. The crystal glints a bright blue, and there’s the distant sounds of rushing water. It streams down the wall channel like a waterfall, turning the water wheels as it goes and spraying the adventurers in a light mist that smells like rain.
The wheels grind and click and slowly turn. As the water flows down the ground channels, the rectangular shape in the door slowly shudders open. The water streams past it into a narrow hallway that is quickly shrouded in darkness.
There is time to collect yourselves. The water seems endless and is in no hurry. And then the time comes to continue.
There is a narrow path on either side of the channel -- dusty and overgrown with moss and ivy. As you follow the channel, you feel yourself descend. This ramp is made of old and weathered stone, softened by time. Every few feet or so, runic stones light one by one to reveal your path. There is only the smell of fresh water, the rush of river streams, and that ever present blue glow.
The path levels and you find yourself in a vast room that seems to expand upwards with no end. Along the bank are towering statues of warriors and kings. A weathered mosaic tells of a great sea serpent breaking through the waves at the call of a woman in white. Following the channel brings you to a lake of still water, hardly breaking as the channel meets it. This underground lake continues far past your field of vision into the inky darkness beyond.
Floating by the lake’s edge are several boats carved into the shapes of dolphins, fish, turtles, and gulls. They are not tied, but simply wait there expectantly. Another sphere protrudes from the front of the boat inset with the same spiral pattern and a crystal at its center. Fashioned to the back of the boat is a rudder. Each of these five boats appear to be meant for two passengers -- no more and no less. When three enter, there is a feeling of magic, and it begins to sink.
Before the party enters the dark passage, you do a headcount. One, two, three, four. This seems puzzling for a moment before realization strikes. There were five of you to start with. Bartz, the loud and confused drifter, had been turned into a toad, thrust into Aerith’s pocket, and hasn’t been seen since.
As Aerith struggled up the ladder, she gave a sudden jerk. Gravity fell away for a moment, and then Bartz toppled out of her pocket into the sea.
He could give no cry of alarm. There was only a faint, echoing croak of terror as he fell ten, twenty, thirty feet into the crashing ocean waves below. The water strikes him like hard stone and then he was tossed about in the terrifying swell.
No one has noticed his fall. The ship looms above him, creaking and drifting and entirely oblivious to the desperate toad below. Though Bartz is regularly dunked underwater, he finds that holding his breath is no longer a problem in his amphibious form. His skin, however, feels dry and peeling. The salt is quickly getting to him, and he won’t last forever in the waves.
As he’s thrust under the waves, he sees an underwater cave. With no better options, he swims inside of it, through a short passage, and then resurfaces in a pocket of land and air. He finds himself in a small alcove of stone entirely hidden from the outside. It’s easy to breathe here and, strangely enough, to see. Something is giving off a strange green light, and then he sees the source.
Mermaids.
They lounge about on the rocks as though sunning themselves, their technicolor fins waving about lazily. They brush their hair and speak in strange languages amongst themselves. Attached to the walls are various charmed conch shells that give off that light. Some kind of magic, perhaps? They don’t notice the toad immediately, but as Bartz croaks instinctively, they look over.
”Oh,” the first one says. And then they’re cooing over him, pulling the toad into their arms and questioning how such a poor creature had been lost to the storm. The maids themselves had taken refuge here when the waters had grown too dangerous for them. Now they have a toad. A poor, lost toad that they fawn over like a puppy.
Bartz’ toad memory is fuzzy, but he remembers this strange event as though like a dream. When he awakens, he finds himself on a face-first in the sand of a beach on the Pale Coast. He’s groggy and wet and smells like seaweed. As he comes to, he realizes that the storm has ended. Was it a dream? Was it all a dream?
The only clue he has is a single conch shell beside him. When held to his ear, he can almost hear the sweet song of mermaids echoing from across the sea.
[attr="class","tlbody"]Tellah stood beside Quistis and watched with his brow knit in concentration as she used a spell to gently push the crystal into the hollow behind it. The entire cavern was illuminated in blue-green shimmering light as the magic of the crystal clicked into place. Water moved through the channels, just as Garnet had suggested and a heavy, slow grinding sound was all the sage could hear. The sound finally ceased and the flow of water ebbed as a dark passageway opened before them. [break][break] But as the group stood, about to venture forth into the darkened passage Tellah noticed something. He looked around at the three young women around him. Where was…? “The boy,” he grunted. “Where did he go now?” Hadn’t he cured toad on him? Or had he merely dreamed that? Maybe he had been too caught up in his own investigation of the cavern to even notice that the stowaway boy was nowhere to be found. He turned to Aerith, giving her a questioning raise of an eyebrow. Was the boy-toad still in her pocket? Or had he fallen into the raging sea beneath the ship? If it was the latter there was no helping it. Thankfully as a toad he had at least a chance of survival. [break][break] Realizing there was no way to help the boy now, Tellah turned back to the task at hand. They had a storm to stop, after all. As they stepped into the shadowy passage, runic stones shimmered underfoot to light their progression into the black unknown. Magic hummed all around them. The air was still thick with it, alongside the soothing scent of fresh water and the constant gentle sound of rippling water through the channels. [break][break] In the room beyond he was quickly distracted and intrigued by the weathered statues and mosaics depicting some great sea serpent rising from the depths. Could that be… it looked almost like the famed, near-mythical monster he was familiar with. ”Leviathan,” he didn’t realize he had muttered the name aloud until he heard the gentle echo of his voice bouncing off the smooth cavern walls. Could it be the very same? The mosaic was too weathered to tell for certain. [break][break] The boats on the placid lake surface drew his attention next. There was only one way forward. It was obvious what they had to do now, the crystals in the boats all but beckoned them onward. “It looks like we have no choice but to cross the lake.” He looked closely at the boats. “I assume the crystals will move them magically once we're ready.” He didn’t wait for further discussion before stepping carefully into a boat shaped like a dolphin. Tellah looked expectantly behind him for the women to board the boats so they could venture into the inky black beyond
Exit Aerith because...you know. Bartz is probably dying in the sea
Pray, Cleanse these waters and thy hearts
The weight of what happened sits heavy on the party (mostly), and there’s a distinct lack of presence that comes from the missing toad that had once been a boy. As the group enters the dark passage, it strikes one woman in particular -- the one who was arguably at fault for it all. Bartz fell out of Aerith’s pocket. She’d scooped him up and then dropped him into the ocean, maybe never to be seen again. As the darkened lake comes in view, she can’t shake that feeling of guilt.
This is wrong.
Aerith stops the party and explains that she has to go back. The water shrine is important -- the water crystal too -- but they’re the only ones that know that Bartz is in danger, and if she doesn’t go then who will? She promises to find him, and once she does, she’ll come back. So make sure to leave something for her, won't you?
With that, she’s gone. She heads up the darkened passage, back into the room with the waterfall, and up the endless spiral stairs. She calls down to the sailors, telling them to keep a lookout for a toad and then she climbs down herself. She spends a long time searching, even diving into the water and looking beneath the waves. She doesn’t find anything. Still, she searches, searches, searches for the life that slipped between her fingers.
She doesn’t return to the temple. How can she when that boy’s still in danger? She just has to trust the others to finish the job she’d started. And so the heroes are down to three.
