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.
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year 5, quarter 3
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Aera had once more found herself walking the Pale Coast. This time, bright and early in the morning a few hours after dawn. A woman from Torensten had commissioned her to find a lost necklace--a wedding gift, it had been, and it was held very dear. This was not the type of work Aera typically took on, but the woman's plight had moved her. Something as precious as a necklace from her dearest friend, well...she had to try.
Though a large party and more eyes might have made the search go more quickly, Aera was confident that her natural luck would avail her. After all, she had a keen eye, and she had gotten this far in Zephon on her own, so surely finding a ruby-inlaid silverwork among the sand would be a simple thing in comparison?
Aera knew the general area of where the woman had last seen the item, but she was now approaching a sharp curve in the shore. There was a large bluff up ahead and a small cove where the shore dipped inward, the land beyond hidden by rock. Aera made her way around the corner and saw a flash of red in the sunlight. Even from afar, there was no mistaking it.
A beautiful set of red gems. Had it really worked out so eas--
Aera was three steps from snatching up the keepsake when she noticed a set of eyes staring at her from beneath the water. The creature's exact size was hidden beneath the waves, but the huge dark pool spread out over the shallows was definitely not inviting.
An angry wave rolled in, and the mass grew darker and larger as it crept closer to the sand--and to the necklace. Aera stared, already tense and ready to move at a moment's notice. She wanted to snatch up her find and leave, but the sight of slowly spreading arms (or perhaps tails?) beneath the waves made her pause.
What were the odds this creature's attention was on the necklace too? Oh, she hoped it didn't have friends out there...
[attr=class,bulk] ”For the record, I still think that this is a bad idea.”
Kalim, the ship’s quartermaster, frowned his disapproval from Faris’ side. The first time he’d said it, Faris had nodded sympathetically. The second had lost a tad bit of that sympathy. This was the third time now, and Faris scowled his frustration. As the navigator, he couldn’t blame Kalim for his reservations in sailing so close to the coastline, but that didn’t mean he wanted to hear it again. And again. And again until their business was finished.
”I told you the first time. I saw something lurking in these waters. I’d not worry myself about it, but it’s a tad too close to the beaches for comfort, and I know for a fact that these beaches are populated. I wouldn’t want some poor lad’s life on my conscience. Not if I’m in a place to stop it.”
Kalim frowned even harder. ”We can’t fight effectively in these depths,” he argued again. ”And if the ship ends up in shallower water than we’d expected…”
Faris shook his head. ”I’ll not have their lives on my hands,” he said even harder this time. ”If we don’t catch up to them before we make port then that’s that. But if we get the chance…”
Faris frowned as he gazed out at the sandy shoreline. He was standing on the end of the bow, arms crossed, eyes sharp for trouble. He saw a human shape stooping down into the lapping waves. A woman? She wore what looked like a white dress, and something in her hand glinted red in the sunlight. It wasn’t the woman that concerned him, however, but a shadow he caught in the water, lurking on the waves right before they broke onto shore. He saw tentacles and lots of them with a cone-shaped head.
Faris cursed. Finally, they’d found their quarry. Right as it was about to throw itself ashore and kill a woman.
”Haul anchor,” he said, ”And ready the cannons. Only shoot if you see more of them coming in. I don’t want to take a shot to the back!”
”You’re going to handle this alone again, aren’t you?” Kalim sighed only to be answered immediately by Faris’ transformation. In a flash of light, his usual blue tunic was gone, replaced instead by his crimson red dragoon’s armor. The familiar weight of a spear fell into his hand, and he glanced at Kalim through the opening of his dragon’s helm.
”Not if there’s a colony of them like I expect. Keep the cannons on the water and be ready for a fight.”
With that said, he launched himself into the air in a way that only a dragoon could. He loved the feeling of it – the force of the launch, the adrenaline coursing through him as he reached the apex of his height, and then the sheer thrill of the fall as he angled himself in just the right direction, hoping he hadn’t undershot his target as he prepared himself for landing.
From this distance, he had no hope of lancing the monster straight through the heart, but instead shot for a general target. The sandy beach would do, and he ended up landing behind the woman with a loud, half-muffled thump that stirred up the sand like a whirlwind around him. He didn’t have time for introductions or even a warning before the monster had launched itself from the waves, hoping to catch its prey unawares.
It was a terrible thing up close. Half its mass was made up of probing, pink tentacles, eager for their mark. A longer pair of two primary tentacles reached eagerly for the woman, its suckers like the teeth of a lamprey. The other half of the monster was made up a conical, gelatinous braincase, and Faris could see straight through the foul thing’s head as clear as glass.
He didn’t have time to try anything fancy. Instead, he readied his spear and swung it like a bat at the thing as it was midair. His spear hit, and the thing got tangled up on the shaft, its tentacles wrapping around it almost instinctively. Faris grimaced in disgust as he smashed his spear against the sand, trying to dislodge the beast so he could stab it where it hurt most.
”Stay back, lass!” he shouted at the woman without really looking at her. ”These things aren’t to be trifled with and they rarely hunt alone!”
[attr=class,ooc-notes]
[attr=class,tagline]@aerafleuret
I took some liberties and made it a devourer from FF5
Maybe, if she was very slow and very careful about it, she could juuuuust get her fingers around the silver and snatch it away before the sea beast got to it--or to her. With her heart pounding in her chest, she coiled one hand around the necklace and pulled back her hand, but that seemed to give the beast the motivation it needed to move closer, and--
The impact in the sand behind her made her jump. Aera spun herself halfway around and snapped her head up. Some kind of warrior garbed in red armor? The swing of the warrior's spear was enough to surprise her into reflexively bringing both hands up as a shield, but that same spear flew toward the sea beast instead. Aera turned back to see the thing latched onto the weapon, a few tentacles now wildly flailing in her direction.
Horrified, she scooted backward as quickly as she could, one hand grasping the necklace and the other fisted into the sand as she tried to avoid the beast's many arms. But she'd been so close to the water, and one of them brushed her shoe. Aera kicked at it and frantically moved back and up to her feet, stumbling some with the quickness but now at a safer distance.
The warrior spoke, urging her to keep away and noting that the beast was not the type to hunt alone. It was now that she noticed the ship, but... There were other masses among the waves, all floating closer to shore. And they shared the same size and shape of the beast now grappling with the warrior's spear.
"I'd sooner keep your company than theirs," she said, gesturing to the small swarm headed for the beach. One among them launched from a rolling wave with surprising speed, and while Aera saw its movement soon enough to back away, she had not accounted for the reach of its arms. A particularly long tentacle rocketed forth and secured around her ankle, tugging her forward. The beast made a strange gurgling noise that was entirely unpleasant.
Summoning her trident to her free hand, Aera began stabbing at the arm, hoping to free herself before its sucking bite left her injured. She also didn't know this ilk well enough to rule out toxins, and that would be a problem all its own if the beast happened to be venomous.
[attr=class,bulk] Faris growled a curse as the beast simply refused to dislodge itself from his spear. The damned thing! He tugged and pulled and picked up the spear, smashing the squid-like devil against the sand, but its own confusion seemed to be working against him. He then tried stomping on the thing with his armored boots. That worked a little better, and he sent the thing reeling long enough to pull his spear from its grasp and shove the sharp point of it directly into its brain case. It gave a strange, gurgling cry as its tentacles flailed about so he stabbed it again before hopping backwards in the sand to join the poor girl who’d almost become its lunch.
”Aye. Theirs is a foul company. I can tell you that much.” Faris glared at the waves. The girl was a sharp one. She’d seen the swarm of them in the swelling water before he had, and he was grateful for it even as he felt his heart drop. He’d been hunting this quarry for some hours along the coastline, but he’d really hoped to fight them aboard his ship where he’d have the help of some cannons and a well-armed crew. Instead, he was on his own with a woman’s life at stake on a beach where his ship couldn’t dock if it had wanted to. He hoped Kalim spread the message to ready those cannons – and quickly. He didn’t know how good it would do if the swarm had already reached the shore, but it’d be nice to have some artillery support if they could manage it.
For not the first time, Faris wished he’d been fighting alongside his friends on this lonesome beach. Bartz, Lenna, Krile. If they’d all worked together, there wouldn’t have been a force from here to the Rift that could have stopped them. But for now, it was only Faris. Faris, the pirate captain. Faris, the dragoon. He hoped it would be enough.
Before they could say another word to each other, the devils attacked.
Faris tried his best to keep the bulk of them away from her. He tried his best, but it wasn’t enough. He was armed for a fight as a dragoon, which given the circumstances wasn’t exactly the best choice. If he took full advantage of his power and jumped like he was supposed to, he’d leave the poor woman alone to deal with the things until he landed. Instead, he had to simply stab and swipe at the devils from the ground, hoping that his armor would be enough to take the brunt of their hits while she kept well enough away from the bulk of them. He couldn’t look back at her. Just a second’s loss of concentration, and he’d take a sucker to the face for his effort. So he fought. And fought. Hoping that she’d taken his advice and put some distance between herself and the swarm until, finally, he heard a familiar sound on the horizon.
It felt like he’d been fighting for ages, but it must have actually been minutes. From the direction of his ship, he heard a distant boom followed by the whistling of a cannonball through the air. It landed with a heavy splash in the surf, smashing one of the devils to pieces and whipping up a mist of guts, saltwater, and brain goo. That was enough to give the monsters pause, and Faris took that opportunity to hop back away from their grasp and make a split second decision.
He liked his power as a dragoon. It fit him perfectly, but it wasn’t the only one he’d put some time and work into as a Warrior of Light, and it wasn’t the one he wanted now. He called on the crystal and felt its fire run through his veins. With a flash of light, his armor retracted into a long-sleeved, violet leotard with a belt attached. His draconic helm morphed into a purple helmet to match, and his spiked pauldrons softened into a lavender scarf that hung loosely about about his shoulders, chest, and up to the bridge of his nose.
The whole costume was all a little more bare than he would have liked, what with his exposed thighs and the tight cut of the fabric around his waist, but it couldn’t be helped. He’d traded in the strength of a dragoon for the dexterity of a ninja. And his first order of business was to save the girl.
Faris took one of the smoke bombs from his belt and threw it into the swarm. On impact, it started spewing its dull gray haze, and Faris ran to the girl, taking her by the wrist and tugging her along. ”We need to get moving! My crew will deal with the rest of them!” He hoped. It didn’t matter. Perhaps he’d come with the intention of hunting them all down, but now it was far more important to get this woman to safety.
He ran up the sand dunes, hand still clamped on the woman’s wrist to force her to follow along. He hadn’t checked her for injuries. He hoped they weren’t serious because he was far from the best at white magic, but if he could only save her life then it would be enough.
Once they were safe among the dunes, far enough from the water that Faris was sure they wouldn’t be followed, he stopped and let out a long breath, looking back at all the smoke and confusion they’d left in their wake. ”I think we’ve lost them,” he said before finally turning to truly look at the woman beside him. She was blonde and clad in a simple white dress adorned with all sorts of golden jewelry. In one hand, she carried a trident which seemed a strange fit, but he wasn’t about to question it. Not now, anyway.
”Are you hurt, lass? I hope those devils didn’t take a bite out of you.”
[attr=class,ooc-notes]
[attr=class,tagline]@aerafleuret
Let me know if I need to back up to give Aera more agency!
The creature's latch upon her ankle was only tightening with each moment. It prickled like thorns. Perhaps it had meant to firmly bite her but her thrashing about had made it difficult? Between the kicks of her ensnared leg and the stabs of her trident, the beast was wholeheartedly struggling to do real damage. But it was doing enough, since it'd effectively rooted the woman in place, at the mercy of its kin arriving from the depths.
Many more stabs later, Aera finally got just the right angle to force the pronged spear through the apparant brain of the creature. It released its tentacle from around her ankle and recoiled harshly, spewing strangely colored liquid from its many wounds and shrinking back as it quivered in death.
She didn't have time to inspect her ankle, as there came a loud explosion followed by a small tremor and a warm spray of water and blood. Now coated in monster viscera and saltwater, Aera felt her adrenaline spike at the desire to prevent being surrounded. Despite the added firepower of the ship--the warrior's ship, she presumed--there were still more creatures encroaching from the waves and she did not fancy any further contact with them.
Stepping back and eyeing one of the beasts pulling itself to dry land nearby, Aera readied her trident again and braced herself to move. Instead, she felt the warrior's hand around her wrist and was pulled away to flee. Peripherally she noted the cloud of smoke, but they were already moving--and quickly--and Aera decided that perhaps it really was best to leave the creatures to the ship's cannons.
As they ran, Aera noted the warrior was now garbed in...something else. It certainly wasn't the armor he'd had on a minute ago. It looked ill suited to the thick of combat, but she could not too strongly judge him. He had rescued her.
They reached a higher sand dune far from shore and finally stopped running. Aera turned to observe the beach they'd left behind, making double sure they hadn't been followed. Thankfully, the sea beasts were busy scattering among their own to avoid the cannon balls, some hopelessly flailing about, and others making for the water.
Still catching her breath, Aera shook her head at the warrior's question. "I'll be fine," she assured, though she had not yet looked down at her ankle to see the small trickle of blood from the creature's earlier bite. She dismissed her trident, the weapon fading from existence in a faint glow of blue light. She looked down at the necklace in her other hand. In their rush to leave the beach, she'd grasped it so tightly that one of the red gems had come loose and been lost in the sands. She felt her heart sink at that. The whole reason she'd come out here was to retrieve this necklace, and she'd somehow damaged it.
Still, her client would be happy to get it back at all, as opposed to it being lost forever...
Turning to face the warrior proper, now, Aera forced a smile. "Thank you kindly. Were it not for your intervention, I may have been dragged off into the sea." Her smiled faltered as she glanced back at the beach. "I did not know there were so many..." Surely, one beast alone she may have handled and escaped. But an entire swarm? She was not suited to those odds.
"That is your ship out there, yes?" An obvious deduction, maybe, but she hoped it would suffice in prompting the warrior for his name or affiliation.
