melodiesoflife | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Characters: OPEN (Ramza and whoever wishes to join)
Where/When: Starting with the Mognet bulletin boards, then branching out around the city, Oct 18th-the end of the event?
Summary: Something is attacking moogles and making Heroes sick. In an effort to find out what is going on and prevent further damage, Ramza is trying to set up some patrols around the city.
Warnings: Injured Moogles, possibly people dying.

A. At the Mognet Bulletin Boards in your District

The skies around Aqures Ixen seemed unnaturally quiet as Heroes stopped sending their moogles out to deliver messages. Ramza did not know what manner of person or creature was attacking their white winged allies, but he did not wish to allow it to roam the streets freely. With communications down and some Heroes bedridden with various illnesses, it seemed the best way to proceed is to set up a patrol.

Ramza refused to endanger Simon by asking the moogle to deliver the message to the other Heroes. Instead, he wrote out the message on a sheet of parchment and attached it to the bulletin board in the middle of the district. Hopefully, the Heroes who were still well enough to aid in the patrol would see it.

[The message Ramza leaves has a brief explanation of the patrols, a few routes sketched out, and a series of days and times that a hero can sign up for. Most of the routes circle past houses, so that, if a Hero falls ill, help will not be too far away.]

B. On your Patrol Route

Darkness had fallen. The streets were quiet, with the lights from the Moogle's decorations casting a eerie glow. Not knowing what enemy they faced, Ramza tried to coordinate each patrol so that no hero went unaccompanied. There was strength in numbers...he hoped.

[Note: The heroes on patrol will not be able to locate whatever it is attacking the moogles. If any moogles are sent out.away from their heroes during patrols, they will most likely be injured, and if a moogle actively attempts to guide the heroes to the attacker, they will be wounded.]

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Ramza had figured the only way to monitor the patrol sign-ups was to periodically check back at the bulletin boards throughout the day. He hoped to get enough volunteers to spread the load equally, but if not, he was prepared to take whatever shifts were left open.

He shook his head to wake himself up as he walked to the board. He had been feeling off for a few days now, much more tired than he had any right to feel, although he did not think it anything serious. Simon had been pressing him to visit the hospital, but there was just no time. Between work at the weapon's shop and setting up patrols, he kept himself busy, and he'd not distract the limited healers from those sicker than himself.

He smiled when he saw Ales at the bulletin board, signing up for shifts. "Good day, Sir Ales," he greeted.

Ales turned to face the voice that had just addressed him.

"Good day, Mr. Ramza! I just noticed your suggested plans for patrolling the area, and it's a very good idea! I thought about signing up for this, seeing that most of those more qualified than me are unable to do so."

Ales wasn't completely inexperienced in keeping guard, he was never was the one doing the actual patrolling. But until he spent more time in his makeshift workshop, he was stuck without any fighting ability of his own.

But he knew he was smart, and that was important in finding the Moogle attacker.

"Are we going to have some sort of meeting with everyone who signed up to decide who patrols where?"

Ramza sighed. "If I thought I could gather everyone together, a meeting would be best to determine routes. But with the moogles unable to deliver messages, I do not know if we would be able to. For now, I merely hope to get enough volunteers to cover the shifts I laid out."

He turned to look at the sign-up sheet he'd left earlier. It did not cheer him.
"Ideally, we will have at least two Heroes to each route, those with combat experience paired with those whose strengths lie elsewhere," he told Ales. "I plan to fill in what shifts I can. If you are able, any patrol you can take will be a great service to Aqures Ixen." He tried to sound confident when he said it, but to his ears, his voice just came out sounding tired.

Ales rested his cheek on a hand. "It's that bad, huh?" This illness was getting worse and worse. Where were all of the doctors looking into this?

"I'll have to team up with someone else, then. I have several items I'm working on in my room that could potentially be used as weapons, but I've no experience with doing the fighting myself."

"It seems to be getting worse by the day," he told Ales. "Have you felt any ill effects? Whatever it is, it seems to be spreading."

He took a closer look at the sign-ups, trying to find a warrior available to accompany Ales on his watch. "Do you know any warriors that might be convinced to join you? If not, I will go." It would be good to have a second set of eyes on his own patrol, Ramza thought, and another Hero would keep him awake, even if he did nothing else.

Ales shook his head. "No, not too much. A bit tired, but nothing like what most of anyone here is experiencing." He wondered whether his lack of severe symptoms and due to his holing up in his room when he wasn't out. "I am curious to why it only seems to affect those with crystals. I might plan a research get-together if this continues."

Ales followed Ramza to the board and glanced over the list. Well, he certainly wasn't going to travel with Yuffie if he wanted to remain calm and alert during his patrol, but there was another warrior who he recognized.

"Ah! Lady Ashe has also signed up!" He loved over her patrol route. "I'll see if I can meet up with her and work together. Besides, I'd also like to take a look at the large Crystal sometime."

Ramza frowned. "The most recent arrivals did not receive crystals. Are we to be spared this blight?" He did not feel sick like some of the others, but there was the pervasive exhaustion to consider. But maybe it was just weariness, blown out of proportion by the suggestion of a greater illness. He had been quite active lately.

"If you are able to coordinate with the Lady Ashelia, she would be a good companion for your route." He trusted that the lady could protect herself and Ales from any possible threat.

"I don't know," Ales confessed. "Though you don't have your Crystals, you are also connected with that large one where you appeared, and that's what the illness seems to be focused on. I've heard of others that arrived this month that also have fallen ill." He wasn't close to most of the new arrivals, but he was told that the some of them, including a beautiful woman, were also confined to their houses.

"I don't get it. Why are some of them so sick, but others get their old powers back? And he's us, with nothing changed." He would have to talk with Ashe if he would meet her.

"I partnered with Ashe before, so I trust her to watch my back."

Ramza's brow wrinkled as he frowned. "You believe that crystal has something to do with it?" Perhaps that was why he had been spared, then. Since the day he had arrived, Ramza had not gone anywhere near the Fire Crystal.

He thought for a moment. "I am not sure I am entirely unaffected. If powers and skills are returning, I have something I would like to test." He had been so busy focusing on the problem of the moogle attacks that he honestly had not put much thought to illnesses or powers returning. But now that he thought about it, he did realize he felt a little like he had back in Ivalice.

[With Ales' consent, Ramza has a chant he would like to test out. If it works, it slightly increases an ally's speed, allowing them to move faster and attack/cast magic more quickly. He is not sure how effective, if at all, it will be.]

"Possibly. It's the only thing I know we all have in common." He leaned against a leg of the bulletin board. "It's possibly connected to our home worlds, as that's where we all showed up, and some have been getting their original powers back."

He regretted not investigating the Fire Crystal instead of tinkering around with his new tools. If he met up with Ashe, he'd need to look into it during patrol.

As Ramza spoke, he brought out of his train of thought. "By all means, try it!"

[He might complain about it, but he's fine if he knows the effects will wear off soon.]

Ramza stretched out a hand toward Ales and murmured the words to a chant his father had taught him. He felt energy build, then leave him as he spoke the final words.

He looked at Ales expectantly. "Did you feel anything?" he pressed.

[If the chant did not fail, Ales now has +1 Speed stat for a few turns. It is still in the early days of power regains, so it could very well miss.]

Ales closed his eyes as Ramza chanted, mostly out of habit. He was unused to others casting benevolent spells on his, and the tingle that came from it kept unnerving him.

When he open his eyes, he took a look at his hands and touched his face, checking if anything transformed it.

"I felt something happen, for sue. What did you do?"

"It is a simple agility charm. It enables you to move more quickly for a short time. It has not worked properly since I was brought here." Ramza explained. If Ales indeed felt it working, that meant something had indeed changed in Ramza's abilities.

"If the great crystal is granting back powers, do you think that means we will soon have need of them?" He felt better about confronting the Moogle's attacker with his skills functioning properly again, but he wondered if the access to greater powers meant a more powerful enemy would come into play.

Ales took a few sidesteps to test it out. Sure enough, he could feel himself having an easier time with move around quickly. This would come in handy if he ever needed to run away again.

He paused again. "But if it's giving us our powers back, why make us sick?" Was it the most powerful ones that were ill? Ramza's spell seemed to be something simple to him, and he looked fine, as did Ales. "And it's not like all of us had powers to begin with. I believe some of us were just excellent soldiers."

"Perhaps the sickness and the powers have not sprung from the same source?" Ramza theorized. "Some dark power is targeting the Heroes, and thus the crystal is granting back powers so that the Heroes will be armed against this threat?"

He was not sure if that was a sound theory or not. He supposed it was as likely that some enemy of their possessed great magic and could do such a thing as it was that both sickness and power came from the same place.

"That's another possibility. It would be more convenient if we had our powers all of the time, but what am I to question how magic works?" This was why he would have never used magic even if he had the opportunity: it's always breaking some set of rules.

"Then would this chaotic force be the one making us sick? All the reason to find the perpetrator even sooner!"

"Indeed," Ramza agreed. "I hope that we will uncover some sort of clue while on patrol. We can do little to arm ourselves against an enemy we know nothing about."

He offered a hand to Ales. "Thank you for your aid in this, Sir Ales. Keep a careful watch as you patrol with Lady Ashelia."

"No problem!" He offered his hand back. "I'll be sure to keep an eye out for any suspicious types!"

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