Traveler

After a quick trip to the marketplace in the Sapphire Avenue, they made their way to eastern Thanalan, traveling from the city gates by foot. Roll had suggested they travel by aetheryte, but had been immediately shut down by Koroko Koko who stated that Azlyn should avoid unnecessary use of aether unless absolutely necessary. 

Thus did they travel by foot, summoning their mounts to help the distance. Roll brought forth her unicorn, Azlyn her palanquin, Kida brought out her two wheeled magitek contraption, and Koroko Koko brought forth a floating broom that had a lantern tied to the front of it. She sat sidesaddle as they travelled southeast, past Camp Drybone and further in the barren desert. 

The trip only took forty minutes from their morning, as they arrived to a split path behind the mountains. If they had gone on the northern side of the mountain, Azlyn knew of an encampment belonging to the Amal’jaa—and had no desire to go near that area. The last thing she wanted to chance was another encounter with Ifrit’s zealots. 

They arrived at a small outpost, a small group of soldiers were assigned at the entrance to an area beyond a locked gate. They straightened up as the four of them approached, drawing their arms from their pockets. 

Koroko Koko drew forth the paperwork assigned to her for Halatali. “Good morning, we’ve come at the behest of the Immortal Flames.” The Lalafell guard stepped up, reading the paper with earnest before nodding his head. 

“Welcome. Permit me to tell you something of this place. The name comes from an ancient tongue, Halatali meaning ‘the land of many shadows’. It was here that our distant ancestors first settled, and—“ The Lalafell stopped, catching sight of Azlyn by Kida’s side. They were preparing potions and getting their packs set up for the journey inside. “Is that her? The mighty Slayer of Ifrit? The Bloody Princess of the Sea?!” His exclamation drew the whole unit’s attention, as Azlyn froze at the mention of her nickname. 

“N-no, no, I’m n—“

Kida nudged her. “There’s no point in pretending.” 

“Might as well accept it.” Roll said, bringing out her astronometer. “Can we head inside now gentlemen?” She smiled to them. 

Two guards ran over to the locked gate, opening it for them. “Of course!” They were watching them walk by in pure astonishment before they started their gossip of excitement. Koroko Koko chuckled as they were out of earshot. 

“I must say, being with you has its advantages.” 

Azlyn sighed, “You want all this fame?” 

Koroko Koko shook her head. “I dare say not, as I prefer to work from the shadows. Fame and fortune are not my cup of tea.” 

Roll looked around the infrastructure of the dungeon they walked in. The expansive halls, that led through multiple passageways filled with crazy creatures and exploding bombs. The ground was littered with broken swords, shields, and lances—weapons of previous would be warriors who failed during the Calamity to save this place from the demise it faced. The brick walls rebounded the echoes of the numerous monsters within. The howling wind cried, the further they went inside. Azlyn readied her sword and shield, waving her sword arm to relieve the ache in her arm. 

They travelled in a close-knit group, weaving down the winding coliseum paths into larger spaces filled with basilisks, grenades, and lightning sprites. Azlyn took point, dragging most of the monsters to her and away from her ranged party members, making sure to keep the enemies on her. It was hard dodging most of the attacks, as she only had a shield and sword to deal with a pack of seven to nine enemies at once. She ignored the faint trickles of electricity coursing through her nerves, while her cousin soothed her wounds with healing words of the celestial stars and constellations from her astronometer. Azlyn relied heavily upon Kida and Koroko Koko to deal the massive area effects, through barrages of arrows and elemental magic bursts that crippled the monsters into submission.

With one group down, they pressed forward using the same tactics. Azlyn drew in the enemies, Roll would focus upon healing her wounds, and their ranged fighters and mage casters would take care of the large groups. Simple rinse and repeat.

The first major room they were able to enter had an enormous fire sprite by an equally large bon fire that raged in flames. There were several open alcoves with lit torches behind iron grates. Stepping inside, they found that the fire sprite was indeed hostile—as it shot fire spells to them. Azlyn took it’s attention from the group, using her shield as it started to blow fire bursts into her side. Her shield started to glow a slight red from the intensity of the heat, while she slashed and hacked what she could. At some point her sword started to turn a crimson red from the heat.

“We’re going to have to take it down with magic. Physical damage is only doing so much.” Roll called out, as she casted several offensive spells at the massive sprite. The flames in the bon fire started to roar with life, at the iron grates of the smaller alcoves started to open. Little tiny fires started to inch slowly toward the bon fire.

Koroko Koko started to turn her attention to these small creatures. “Don’t let these elemental wisps reach the fire—it might blow up!”

They had to deal with the onstream of the tiny flames, Azlyn did the best she could by distracting the main sprite. By the time they had dealt with the streams of fire sprites, Kida yelled to Koroko Koko.

“Think you can slam it with a large block of ice? Or several blocks of ice?”

Koroko Koko nodded, “I believe I can—keep it steady while I’m casting. These spells take quite the time to set up.” She lifted her arcane staff; the top of the purple orb began glowing an azure blue. Ten seconds after the first casting, a huge chunk of ice slammed into the sprite, causing it to lose a bit of it’s edge.

“Do that again!” Roll called over the roaring of the flames.

Koroko Koko had already released a second ice blast, as the fire sprite started to lose its energy. The ice absorbing the heat and extinguishing the flames into steamy torrents. This continued for another five minutes, while the three others kept the stream of tiny fires from reaching the center of the room. One point an obnoxious sprite had made it to the bon fire, where an elemental blast of heat burst from the room, hitting each of them in the process. They learned not to let that happen again.

As the ice slammed into the fire sprite for the ninth time, it sizzled into a steamy fog. The steam floated up into the open cavernous area and was absorbed into the large cackling fire in the mortar-brick center. What had been red-orange flames changed into a rich purple flame and what looked to be arcanic symbols appearing on the wood.

Koroko Koko was the first to approach, before nodding in understanding. “It seems the energy from the Fire Sprite opened a portal for us to use. It should bring us to another section of Halatali.”

Roll wiped the sweat from her brow, feeling the heat of battle rush over her. Kida fanned the front of her face with her hands.

“Is it safe to touch?” Azlyn asked, reaching out to the flames. What should have burnt her fingertips felt like a cool wash of energy.

Koroko Koko smiled under her. “I’ll go first if you don’t believe me.” She stepped into the flames, before her Lalafellin body disappeared in an aethereal current. The trio left behind blinked slowly, before shrugging.

“We should follow.” Kida rushed into the fire, letting herself get pulled away. Roll and Azlyn stepped in together, wondering how such a strange portal could exist in a place like this.

What greeted Azlyn after the teleport was indeed as Koroko Koko speculated in the previous room. This was another part of Halatali, as the iron grate behind her had been the first room they’d explored with the locked halls. She turned to the path before them, and noticed it was riddled with more monsters and strange chain winches that they’d need to pull. She pointed out the devices.

“Look how it connects together at the top.” Azlyn stared up to the ceiling.

Roll crossed her arms. “We’ll need to open the winches as we go down. Perhaps it’ll open that gate there.” She gestured to the large gate on the bottom floor, but also didn’t miss the large basilisk slowly meandering the center of the room. “We’ll need to take care of that beast first though.”

Kida readied her arrows. “I could shoot them ahead of time.”

Koroko Koko nodded, “Let’s see how much we can handle from up here, and Azlyn will take care of the ones who run up the hill. It’ll be easier to pick them off instead of large groups.”

The four of them agreed, deciding to pick off the monsters. It took some time, but they’d managed. The only monsters that reached them were mostly from pity, as Azlyn was waving her sword in boredom after five minutes. Kida and Koroko Koko excelled with range, same with their healer Roll. When all was cleared, they slowly made their way down, activating the winches. Some had traps, where bombs dropped from the ceiling. Azlyn was able to deflect most of the debris that blew up around the chains, protecting her friends. When the last chain winch had been activated, they could hear the whirring mechanism activate, raising the large gate into another area of the dungeon.

“Nice.” Roll complimented, smiling to the group.

Kida smirked, rubbing a thumb under her nose. She looked energized and ready for the next leg of the journey.

They walked into the next area, where it opened into an outdoors area, with water at the bottom of the reservoir. Another creature, a four-legged reptilian patrolled the territory. Azlyn regarded it with a keen eye.

“Do you see anything that would make it seem dangerous?”

Koroko Koko shook her head. “No, it looks like another monster to me.”

Kida agreed. “Yeah, but we can go down either of the downhill paths. It looks like this room is a dead-end.”

Roll pointed to the left path. “Let’s just take care of the creature and see if we can backtrack to the first part of Halatali.”

Azlyn stepped ahead of the group, lifting her sword and shield up. Her friend edged the outer perimeter of the water while Azlyn brazenly walked up to the creature. It noticed her sloshing around in the water, its maw widened showing her a sharp array of teeth. She blocked the bite with her shield, striking its scaly flesh with her sword. Then with precise footsteps, she directed it to face away from her ranged party members. The fight seemed to go well, as she was focusing on attacking the one tender spot she’d cracked into its skin.

That was until it started to spark purple lightning in its tall horns. She felt the jolt of electricity from the water, as she was unable to move, the monster continued to shock.

“Get out from the water!” Koroko Koko shouted, noticing the lightning started to intensify. Kida jumped out, running up the path and away from the water front. She then started to cast several fire balls and ice blasts into the creature, but it was duly intent on Azlyn’s shocked form.

Roll widened her eyes. “Azlyn!” She started to cast a rescue spell, while Kida tried to draw the beast’s attention.

There was a pull of energy, wrapping it around her as it dragged her from the electrified water to Roll’s side. As the Rescue spell fizzled away Azlyn felt her body crumple into an unconscious state. Her vision blackened as a pair of arms caught her. Koroko Koko and Roll had to drag her back from the water and up the path where Kida tried to contend with the creature from afar.

“Azlyn! Wake up!” Roll was shaking her shoulders.

Koroko Koko popped a potion out from her own bag, letting the liquid pour past her open lips.

The young Au Ra groaned in their arms slowly rousing. She could smell the burnt flesh of her skin under her boots as a wave of healing energy washed over her. Koroko Koko reached over to pat her head, before running to the edge of the path.

“Looks like we’ll need to eliminate the water for her to be useful.” Koroko Koko started to cast a huge-scale ice spell, before she sent it spiraling into the water. It created a large ice rink forming around a fifteen to twenty-foot diameter circle. She smirked. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that.”

Azlyn coughed, as Roll supported her from behind. “I resent that.” Her voice weak from being electrocuted. Her limbs felt heavy, almost numb as she tried to flex her feet. It almost was terrifying not being able to work her limbs the way she wanted them to move.

Roll looked up to Kida who had shot the creature in its sore spot Azlyn created. It roared in anger, its horns sparking and electrifying the water. Azlyn watched at the ice rinks Koroko Koko created had prevented the water near it to dance atop.

“Are you alright?” Kida yelled back to Azlyn and Roll.

“Tingly.” Azlyn responded back, hoping her voice wouldn’t crack. Unfortunately, it did, to which her cousin gave her usual one-laugh chortle in reaction. “But I can go back in there.” She tried to move her legs once more, feeling the dead weight of them begin to pull her up.

Roll cast several healing spells over her, as Kida danced up on the top of the path, dodging the lightning blasts the creature was hurtling at her. “Don’t overdo it.” She warned.

Koroko Koko continued to focus on the water, creating an ice path for Azlyn to run on top of. Azlyn moved unsteadily, past Koroko Koko and back into the fight. She raised her shield and sword, tapping it as she remembered Arenvald did back in the Copperbell Mines. She roared. “Come at me you two-pronged socket.”

Hissing, it turned back to her—its eyes finding a more suitable target to assault. Azlyn followed the path, only for the monster to crash its tail into the ice in front of her. The ice broke, shattering it back into small water chunks as it tried to bite and thrash against her. Azlyn raised her shield up, deflecting its mouth as it tried to chomp down. She could feel the weight of it trying to buckle her from underneath.

A large ice pillar came crashing down from above, into the creature’s monstrous head, as the weight brought it down. When the ice disappeared, the creature looked ready to strike, however Azlyn was ready. Given ample time, she flipped her sword down, and stabbed the creature square in the center of its forehead, driving the metal of her blade with as much power that she could. 

She panted, “Just—die—already!”

Her attack wasn’t enough, but a celestial power surged through her as a blanket of stars formed around them. Azlyn looked over her shoulder to see her cousin frantically casting a large scale offensive spell. The spell exploded on the Reptilian thunder creature, as the horns lost all of it’s remaining power. 

It’s body collapsed in front of Azlyn, as the ice broke beneath her feet she felt a similar flow of energy as a water spout appeared just north of her. She sheathed her sword, looking over to the current. “I think we found the next area’s entry.” 

Kida ran down the path, already pulling out a potion for her to take. Koroko Koko slowly walked over, the water had soaked through all of their lower clothing as they stared at the portal. Roll tapped on her shoulder. 

“I thought you were as good as dead then.” 

Azlyn flexed her fingers and then she started to mess around with her legs. The numbing feeling had slowly gone away, but it took a bit of time. “Yeah, I thought so too.” 

Kida shook her head, her blue hair losing a bit of curl from all the recent activity. “Well that didn’t happen. Koroko Koko, let’s hope there’s no more surprises like that.” 

The mage in their group nodded. “Yes, I’d hate to see our leader getting offed by a lesser creature. Hmmm hmm. Alright, we’ll have to observe the monsters closely before getting within melee with them. It seems this area will require more ranged than up close.” 

Roll crossed her arms, looking to the portal once more. “Are we going?” 

Kida smacked her fist into her palm. 

Azlyn stepped into the portal, feeling her body get teleported to another portion of the dungeon. What welcomed her sight was another part they’d been barred to beforehand, the previous area was behind the bars that locked the path. She waited for her party to arrive, popping into existence beside her. 

“The path leads further into the cavernous area there.” Azlyn pointed. “Let’s head on in.” 

Moving through the unkempt battle halls of Halatali, the four found themselves at the end of this current zone, where a two-legged demon with dry-cracked flesh like heated lava tromped around the hall. Azlyn pointed to the sheer amount of javelins, swords, shields, and arrows that lay broken nearby. 

“Look at the sheer amount of broken arms.” 

Kida reached over to her face, turning it a degree to another sight. There were bones of unknown origin scattered around the hall. “And arms over there too.” 

Roll frowned. “I think this is who we really need to get rid of. Look at the hall—it kind of mimics the first hall with the fire elemental.” She was addressing the irony grates that blocked off the well-lit alcove with the fire torches. “Probably something that monster can control too.” 

Koroko Koko lifted her arcane staff. The large purple orb started to glow an ominous red. “If we see similar wisps or sprites come into the room, we should get rid of them first. Azlyn, you will have to keep our friend over there as busy as you can keep him.” 

Azlyn drew her sword, and lifted her shield off her back with ease. “I’ll do what I can—hope this guy doesn’t have any cards in his back pocket.” 

Kida notched her arrow. “What pockets? He’s practically nude.” 

Roll smirked. “Heh.” 

Kida lowered her bow set for a moment. “You know what, Triple Triad sounds like a pretty good game to play after this.” 

Koroko Koko laughed. “I didn’t know Master Kida played Triple Triad.” 

“You should see Azlyn play, she’s pretty good at it.” Roll answered, while looking over at her cousin. 

Azlyn let a long sigh escape her lips. “Really guys?” She moved into the hall. “I meant it was a metaphorical statement.” She swung her blade lithely at the side. “Hello there.” She called out to the monster. Azlyn didn’t know if it would react to her well, but when it’s charred flesh roared up in flames, it’s beady eyes turned to her with vicious intent. The roar of it’s bellow rocked the foundation as it charged to her. “My what sharp teeth you have.” 

She noted the fire that it sparked in its open mouth and clawed appendages—and sighed. She’d seen a more terrifying monstrosity that controlled fire compared to this whelp of a monster.

Kida ran to one of the sides, by one of the iron grates. Koroko Koko mirrored Kida’s place by another alcove. Roll kept near the center of their group as Azlyn positioned the creature’s back to them. It didn’t take long for them to overpower it. Even when it seemed to summon the wisps like Roll and Koroko Koko discussed about before, they managed to slay it without further issues. 

When the creature had been slammed into the ground with several large ice blocks from Koroko Koko did it stop moving for good. 

“We did it!” Kida celebrated, running over to Roll and jumping up and down by the Au Ra’s side. The healer smirked, reaching out a fist to bump Azlyn’s when she approached. 

Koroko Koko walked over to their celebratory cheer, smiling broadly. “I believe our work here is done! The Immortal Flames will be mighty pleased!” She also cheered. 

Azlyn smiled to their newest addition in their party. “We had quite a bit of an adventure today thanks to you Koroko Koko.” The Lalafellin lass blinked her one red eye at her compliment. Slowly, the mage nodded. 

“I’ve never been on an adventure before—I can see the allure of it.” Koroko Koko smiled. “Come, we should quit this place so that we can collect our bounty.”

Roll rolled her head on her neck in a slow rotation. “I guess since Azlyn’s well enough to run around I can finally go fishing.” 

They started to walk back the way they came in, undoing all of the traps and iron gates along the way. 

Azlyn chuckled. “Are you going Cloud Fishing again?” 

Her cousin raised an eyebrow to her. “Cloud fishing?” She pondered before thinking back. It took her a bit to realize what she actually meant. “Oh! You mean Sky Fishing! Maybe—who knows. Who said I went Cloud Fishing?” 

Kida whistled nonchalantly. “Whoops?” 

Azlyn shook her head with a chuckle. “Well I can see how they might be seen as the same.” 

Roll stopped in their walk, placing her both hands on her waist. She gave the group a long stern stare. “Now look here, Sky Fishing and Cloud Fishing are two completely different styles of fishing. That is an insult to say they are the same!” 

Koroko Koko chuckled. “Master Roll is upset! We should run!” 

The three ran ahead of their healer who had started to chase after them and yelling about how they were ignoring the rules of proper fishing etiquette. What had echoed through these halls before, from the wails and cries of monsters soon turned into caucus laughter as the girls ran back to the entrance.