melodiesoflife | We are off to see the Crystal Tree!

[It will take at least two days to cross the pains where Behemoth, Long Gui, and Malboro have been known to roam. Through their time across the plans the Crystal Tree is visible above the forest so they aren’t able to get lost on their way. They are however traveling in the open with nothing in the way of cover or shelter.

As they set up camp people are assigned to guard duty through the night; always in pairs due to the strength of the beasts that roam the dead waste lands. Others are tasked with getting everyone situated and camped close together so that they are able to stay safe.

ooc: Feel free to make any posts and top levels that occur on the Plains here!]

[As they approach the forest Terra calls the group to stop so that a few people can scout ahead. The trees are dense and there is no way to know what’s inside. As the group slips through the trees they are greeted by a large vibrant green dragon. Its eyes lock on each one of them as a low voice rumbles in response to their presences.

Long dagger like claws dig into a hardened tree as it perches above them.]

Did you bring Crystals for me?

[Narrow dark pupils flick around the group waiting for someone to speak or step forward.]

[The creatures here were peaceful and happy to have visitors in their town however they seem weary of the Crystal Forest itself. It’s easy to get lost however the Shumi will give hints and clues that will help the heroes through the Crystal maze. It’s a small village with a sparkling stream cutting through its center as well as basic shops.

The town has been built with the trees and terrain instead of merely sitting on top of the landscape and together it’s a beautiful sight to see.

ooc: Feel free to make any posts and top levels that occur on in the village here!]

[Groups are split among the horribly confusing maze of the trees. Dragon, Tonberry, Skeleton, Mandragora wait to attack those within the labyrinth. There are crystals growing on the trees so it might be too difficult to mark a trail and every glimmering trunk looks like the last. Here the heroes might get lost, turned around or end up at the beginning of their trail.

ooc: Groups are smaller: feel free to make posts for the adventure through the Crystal Forest here!]

[When the heroes arrive at the base of the tree they will find many powerful monsters surrounding it and then a series of caves at the tree's roots. These caves can be explored further at a later date however it might be good to survey the area.

The group will head back together and cut a path making travel to the Crystal Tree now easily marked so that other explorers don't have to fear getting lost.

Feel free to mingle and meet up here!]

Edited 2016-02-05 14:40 (UTC)

Jack has not stopped staring wide-eyed like an excited five year-old at everything since this trip began, but it's even worse here, once he sees the village. He knew there had to be people living here, but the sight of how they've integrated themselves into the forest is amazing, even for the things he's seen before.

They have time to resupply here, right? And meet the locals? And try all the food? As soon as he's got his chocobo stabled, Jack is looking around at the nearest person who doesn't seem dog-tired. "Come on! Have you ever seen anything like this?"

[Duster steps lightly around the fallen leaves, lifting each foot high up and searching for steady ground. The world of Crystallis is unknown, and if the monsters from the Plains of Sorrow were of any indication, it would be dangerous to alert any monsters in the forest of their presence. Plus, it's a Crystal Forest: the trees here must be delicate.

The shimmering scales of the dragon keeps it hidden among the trees until it speaks. Duster looks up and stares at it. His instinct is to run and attack it, but he's weaker in this world, and the dragon isn't immediately causing them harm. It would be best to stay far from those claws for the moment.

He hopes this is the right thing to do, he sighs and steps forward.]

...What kind of crystals are you looking for?

As they roam/travel

Not so different, aside from numbers, than when he'd traveled with Avalanche. Vincent kept himself in position to offer support to others, given his maxed-Gunner job. A long-range fighter by nature, he wore his gauntlet over his left-arm, and with his secondary job as Ninja, he could support in close if needed. Careful of his Ammo, making every shot count. Otherwise he's often taking a position in the group that allows him to keep an eye on his surroundings.

Night-Guard

Night-guard was also not so different from Avalanche. Vincent kept himself quiet, senses alert--not quite as heightened as back home, but that wasn't a problem. Trying hard to stay paired with a close-range fighter for his shifts, or someone he had experience working with. Providing support as needed.

[Rialynn's jaw drops at the sight of the dragon looming above them. That's a dragon. That's an actual living dragon. And it can speak?! She takes a step back, and another. The other monsters they saw on the plains? Not dragons. Intimidating and huge and scary, but because she didn't really know what they were, they weren't scary. But everyone knows what dragons are.]

[And Duster is stepping forward. Her eyes follow him in disbelief.]

Duster! What are you doing?!

[She says it in a harsh and panicked whisper, even making a grab for his sleeve as if she might haul him back, but her fingertips miss. So she takes another step back, leaning toward the person nearest her while never taking her eyes off of the enormous scaled beast.]

It lives in a forest of crystals...why would it want more?

[Should they just...break off a branch and hold it up? Would that work?]

[Rialynn doesn't mind keeping watch. In fact, she kind of prefers it, because who can sleep with malboros just walking/slithering/whatevering along? She'd be quite happy not to come within shouting distance of any of the monstrous denizens of these plans, honestly. The closest thing she's seen to monsters before showing up here were bears. And even then, she only ever saw one of those, and it was at a considerable distance.]

[Her rapier isn't going to be much good against one of these abominations. But at least it's easy to move around them in the daylight, since the flatness of the plains doesn't exactly allow creatures THAT BIG to go unnoticed.]

[But at night, they can only see so far, so it makes her nervous. She'd brought her lute in hopes of playing a few songs at night to relax her fellow adventurers, but now that's not going to happen. Not if the sounds draw monster attention.]

[Instead she sits close to the fire, knees drawn up, journal propped up against her legs as she writes quietly and keeps to herself.]

[But if anyone moves to sit close to her, it's enough to pull her attention away from the book. After a moment of hesitation, she kicks off the conversation.]

So... What's your name?

[Unless it's Duster or Terra, since she already knows who they are. They'll get a much different easygoing question like 'How's your leg holding up?' or 'Good thing it's not raining, huh?']

A. Entrance

[Rialynn takes slow, reverent steps into the village, her head tipped back, hazel eyes dancing with delight. She revolves in place as if she can't possibly see enough of this place before hurrying to catch up with the rest of the group.]

Have you ever seen anything so beautiful in all your life...?

[She has to make a story out of this. Somehow, someway, it's got to happen. Maybe she could even try poetry. It's never been her strongest talent as a bard, but it feels like the sheer beauty of this place deserves to be put down on paper and memorialized.]

B. Near the Stream

[Rialynn's curious about the Shumi and the Moombas, enchanted by both races. They're strange looking, but kind and welcoming. She's a little shy about the attention at first, until one of the Moombas asks her what she's carrying on her back. That's all it takes to get her to open up.]

[It isn't long before she's gathered a little audience near the stream where she sits on a crystal root, lute held in her hands, her fingers plucking out a gentle melody.]

Listen to the sound, the sound of silence roaring
You can hear it in the waves, I know your heart remembers
Everything it needs to know, awakened from its slumber
Everything it needs to know right...now.

[Her voice is a clear and bright soprano, softened so as not to disrupt the quiet peace of the village.]

"Not even in my dreams," Rialynn laughed, ready to race along behind him. She wants to see it all. Supplies are nice, and her stomach is growling, but she's far more interested in meeting the inhabitants and exploring the village from border to border. So if Jack needed a tagalong, he definitely had one champing at the bit.

At least, for a whole five feet before she stopped and stared at multiple buildings and the river and the treetops and the villagers.

"...I don't...where do we even start?"

[As they travel along the branching trails, Rialynn keeps a rough sketch of their passage in her journal, marking which way they chose to go, and making notes of what unusual points of interest stand out to ensure they don't get too lost.]

[On a long stretch that doesn't appear to have any diverging paths or hidden trails, she refers to the monsters that the Shumi warned them they might see along their way. Skeletons are pretty scary, she supposes. But the mandragoras and tonberries don't seem too deadly-looking. At the advice of the shopkeep, she'd stocked up on potions and antidotes, just in case, as she knows the plant monsters can poison people.]

[Really, the only monster she's worried about are the dragons. If they run into one of those, she isn't going to be of any use at all, unless 'being an unwilling snack that gets stuck in the dragon's teeth' counts as a use. She'd rather that didn't happen.]

[The tonberries were supposed to be very dangerous, but...well, look at the thing. It looks like a child's doll in the picture! Maybe that's just the artist's rendition. She'll take the precautions she should, but she can't make herself feel afraid of such a goofy monster.]

[She closes the book and tucks it into the leather pouch hanging from her hip. Her rapier is loosened in its sheath, ready to be drawn at the first sign of danger.]

I hope the others are all right.

[She's still not completely at ease, being split up like this, but they can definitely explore more of the area this way.]

Rialynn is probably not paired with Vincent, then. She's a close-range fighter, but she doesn't have an actual Job that would make her as competent or experienced as the others.

But she could bring him his share of supper from the pot.

She walked carefully so as not to spill, the tin bowl heaped with hot boiled root vegetables in a rich brown thickened broth. "Here," she said, holding it out for him to take. "It's a little light on the salt, since people's tastes vary, so if you'd like more, I can take care of that."

[Fai enjoyed guard duty. Sure in the past it wouldn't have been something he would do willingly, but this time he was sure he wanted to and could. Even if at times he felt like closing his eyes. Shaking his head, he kept the guns close to his person for just in case. Who ever was still up would see him walk around, always on alert and on the odd occasion glancing over to everyone else, just in case.]

Traveling
The usual leather-and-silver get up had been abandoned back on the Enterprise days ago. Sephiroth, along with the other 16 or-so soldiers he'd brought with him, are clad in appropriate field attire of the same sort that patrols out into the Roalian desert would be clothed. Albeit with a few more layers underneath, and significantly heavier-loaded rucksacks containing all that they might need in terms of supplies and equipment for the excursion out into an unknown corner of the Continent.

Quite often, the other soldiers march -or perhaps not so much, depending on the pace- in formation, around the perimeter of the Heroes of Light where they move as a group, with their Colonel most often towards the front of the party. Sephiroth's overlong silver hair was all bound up in a high braid which fell to one side of the rucksack he wore and it bobbed obediently along as he kept pace with the group. Sometimes he might pause for a few moments, to take a fresh survey of the surrounding landscape in case he might be able to detect a threat incoming, or to make sure those who might be lagging weren't about to keel over from dehydration.

Camp
It were certainly one of those times that Sephiroth were pleased he'd had the foresight to requisition some of his soldiers in to come along for the excursion. The extra arms, experienced no less, were a blessing in the way they'd help each late afternoon that the party might stop to make camp. How each one of them knew how to build and spark a fire that could last well past most bedtimes, and how even just an extra set of eyes at night could make all the difference.

"Kupo." Spencer need only mumble and nudge at his Hero, for Sephiroth's lighter sleep to be dismissed. "4th watch."

His moogle was handed a kupo nut a moment later as Sephiroth sat up, shifted his thick fatigue over-jacket back up over shoulders and slipped from the tent. It was pitch black outside; but that had been expected, given the timings of the other night watches. Securing his short katana to the side of his belt, he thumbed where hilt met scabbard with one hand while unhooking his hair from the inside of the jacket with the other, as Sephiroth strode across the camp to relieve whomever had held the 3rd shift tonight.

Pardon Jack his child-like wonder for a minute. In all his years, all his travels, he's never met a real-life no-not-an-alien-that-happens-to-look-like-that Dragon. So, at first he stares in amazement, with his whole face lit up, and then he laughs in delight. "Oh wow. Oh wow, it is very nice to meet you."

Rialynn makes a very good point, but Jack maybe thinks he knows the answer. "Dragons are hoarders. At least, that's always the story, right? A dragon in a cave sitting on a huge pile of gold and gems?" Hmm. "Maybe it wants one it can't get inside the forest? Something new?"

Jack pats down his pockets, then holds up a single finger and pulls off his pack and starts digging through it. "'s around here...somewhere. Was saving it for when I was gonna get some armor crafted..."

[During his time in Mysidia previously, Sephiroth has heard very little with regards to the Crystal Forest but to say words couldn't describe it is something of a understatement. Rialynn isn't the only one who has slowed her pace, eyes captured in awe of the beauty of this crystalline forest. It throws a cold, glittering and somewhat blue hue all around, and light fractures in the most peculiar ways. It's almost as if the crystals glisten all on their own.

To think there is a settlement built within this mysterious environment. It doesn't take much of a stretch of the imagination to wonder if the City of the Ancients, as he'd read of it in his file once, might well be a little similar. Words on a page though-]

It's really something, that's for sure.

[He can't make out if it's inhabited yet, though. They weren't running so low on supplies but he knew they'd have to start rationing soon unless they found something in the way of alternative sustenance.]

Jack didn't pay attention to when they got separated from some of the others, but he's pretty sure that Terra didn't mean to go the other way than Sephiroth did. So, he's been keeping close to their organizer and improptu leader to make sure that Terra still feels safe. He is geared up in heavy armor, and mentioned that his main job was Paladin, so he can function as heavy hitter, and do some healing.

More important, though, might be the weapon belted to his side. It had cost him an arm and only half a leg, because he'd supplied his own Light Crystal, but his brand new greatsword might be the most effective thing they have if they run into the undead monsters that people had warned about.

Jack gives Rialynn a reassuring smile. "They'll be fine. There's no one who came on this trip who wasn't pretty capable." Jack exaggeratedly looks at Terra, "And we're with one of the strongest Heroes in the city, so we'll be fine, too."

[Ramza made his way down one of the trails that branched away from the main path in the Crystal Forest. He was not sure what, precisely, he was looking for, but the Heroes on the expedition were determined to explore all the paths to discover the forest's secrets.]

Stay alert. We do not know what we may encounter here.

[The others that had chosen to follow the same path were reliable Heroes, but still it was best to be on guard.]

We are off to see the Crystal Tree!

Plains of Sorrow

Friendly Monster

Shumi/Moomba Village

Along the Crystal Trees

The Crystal Tree: OPEN

Re: Shumi/Moomba Village

Group I: K'pandolu, Ramza, Fai

Group II: Tazendra, Sheena, Vincent, Sephiroth

Group III: Jade, Albel, Bartz

Group IV: Terra, Riaylnn, Jack

Group V: Kidd, Tear, Duster

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Vincent Valentine--OTA

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Camp -- OTA

Re: Shumi/Moomba Village

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Night-Guard

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Sephiroth - Plains of Sorrow - OTA [& 4 squads of Esdham troops]

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Shumi/Moomba Village - A. Entrance

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