We're back to work, it seems. Zezah was fit and ready to go the morning after her fainting spell, and she was quite flustered that so many people saw her sign of weakness. I didn't tell her that Raubahn himself was the one that conveyed her to bed, and thankfully the Bull was no more interested in divesting that embarrassing little tidbit when we met with him this morning to discuss everything that'd happened.
Thankfully, it seemed that Raubahn had little interest in probing the exact nature of the incident and after confirming that Zezah was in good health instead he offered us another job, one that would considerably widen our horizons for work. He required a messenger capable of visiting the capitals of the three members of the Eorzean Alliance and not wanting the delivery to take in the neighborhood of six weeks he'd pulled some strings to offer us a permanent access pass to the Airship services in exchange for the delivery.
Thankfully, the itinerary set by our employer didn't immediately take us to Gridania, and my darling wife was given some time to come to terms with the distant notion of once more visiting her homeland. (The shroud itself, not necessarily the state of Gridania.)
I found Limsa Lominsa to be a lively place if somewhat rough around the edges, the sea air was refreshing, and the food was quite good. Though we were rather focused on business. After arriving we quickly made ourselves known at the Adventurers guild introducing ourself to Baderon Tenfingers, the local head of the adventurer's guild. Then we were directed to the Bulwark Hall and then up a lift to the Bridge where we met with the Gread Admiral of Limsa Lominsa.
Merlwyb Bloefhiswy is an intimidating figure in person, an especially entertaining fact considering how recently I'd been standing and speaking with Raubahn in person a man that truly dwarfs her. Everything from her speaking voice to how she writes is rather... powerful. The admiral received us warmly enough, with equal parts grace and diplomacy, though I found mysef once more noticing that familiar look of intrigue and curiousity as the woman's gaze drifted over Zezah.
The Letter was delivered and Zezah and I were free to explore Limsa Lominsa at our liesure for a couple hours before we were to put back to sky atop another airship headed for Gridania. We attuned ourselves to the Aetheryte, explored the various guilds and also acclimated ourselves with the Aethernet before making our way up to the Bismarck for a meal before we moved on.
The food was excellent though Zezah was distracted by the upcoming trip and only picked at her food which impacted my own enjoyment of the meal. I think we'll need to make another visit in less tense times to truly make a decision about the quality of the restaurant itself. Regardless, it wasn't long before our departure time loomed and we set off.
Gridania was surprisingly lovely after the arid heat and damp humidity of Uldah and Lomisa and we spent a bit of time wandering under the shaded boughs. Zezah told me a bit more about growing up in the shroud, and we tried to stay on positive memories. We visited the Elder Seed Seer, delivered our letter and made the acquaintance of Baderon and Momodi's counterpart here, Mother Miounne, but I could tell that the area itself was weighing quite heavily on my wife and we opted to just find a quite area near the Carline Canopy to await the next ship heading back out.
Mother Miounne had informed us that there we a job waiting back in Limsa that was right up our Alley, and we figured that it'd be better to get back to work after so long.
In the wake of everything that happened yesterday, we were much too spent to do anything once we'd arrived back at the quicksand, and the Sultansworn themselves were several hours behind us because they had to clean up the mess (so to speak), so our debrief was put off until the next day. It was at this point that we were struck several rather sudden reveals in short order.
Firstly, it was revealed that the 'diminutive daughter of a local merchant lord' that we'd met Papashan through, was in fact the Sultana herself, Nanamo Ul Namo and that's who greeted us not long after our arrival at the Heart of the Sword that the Sultana herself entered and greeted us.
Though, perhaps of more interest to Zezah in the moment was the arrival of Raubahn, especially when he confessed to a minor interest in Zezah's career. This was less of a surprise though, considering how the two of them are members of a rather exclusive class of Pit Fighters, namely those that earned their freedom without the sponsorship or influence of a wealthy Monetarist.
After the pleasantries were exchanged, we found out that thankfully Owyne wouldn't be punished too harshly for his multiple lapses in judgement (Seemingly, this is mostly due to incident itself leading to what everyone suspects is the routing of the final sizeable collection of Alacran cultists remaining in Ul'dah.)
As for us, we were paid for our time, including a sizeable bonus to keep the exact nature of our work to ourselves, and beyond than that we were invited by the Sultana herself to attend a Banquet that'd be held later that day.
Owyne saw us on our way back to Quicksand, and we were very quickly educated on a number of matters of protocol, and then quickly hurried about the city to acquire a number of things that'd make our attendance smoother. We'd need a pair of special and unique ear-rings which would allow us entry to the event itself, and we had to update our wardrobes a bit to appear as more then dirt stained adventurers, naturally.
Momodi initially attempted to supply us with finery of Ul'dahn make, but Zezah and myself protested for different reasons and acquired our own accoutrements, myself a dress that was of Thavnairian make, and my lovely wife opted for a more traditional suit that was typically reserved for more... auspicious occasions. Regardless, we did cut quite the distinctive silhouette when we arrived at the venue fashionably late.
The banquet itself was rather subdued as far as parties went, mostly people standing around speaking of business matters and attempting to act mysterious and aloof while subtly maneuvering themselves politically and financially, things didn't get interesting until the Sultana herself and Raubahn took to the floor. It's always something of a spectacle when the Sultana arrives to hold court whilst perched atop the shoulder of the Iron Bull of Ala Mhigo.
Nanamo set to attending to her guests after greeting us, but I was surprised when Raubahn pulled as aside to discuss the event from yesterday. It was an odd choice of Venue, and I suspect that the many barely concealed ears turned in our direction was the point as Zezah and Raubahn discussed the Mage that we fought, and Zezah even showed off the strange crystal that she'd found.
Thinks took a turn for the terrifying though when in the midst of their discussion my wife's expression seemed to turn from thoughtful to confused and then to outright pain. I barely managed to get there in time to catch her when she collapsed while staring at Raubahn, and then...
When I caught Zezah in the midst of what appeared to be a seizure I was terrified that whatever had been happening to her since she'd collected the crystal was growing worse. I'd entertained a number of private theories about what was going on, and naturally I'd included the idea that what she was experiencing was magical in some way, perhaps even true, but I don't think I'd seriously thought that she was honestly being allowed to peer past the veil into the hearts and minds of the people that we'd encountered until I caught her.
Because in that moment, as I caught her, I'd been stepping into Zezah's side, my arms coming around her and the next I found myself cradling my wife on the precipice of a steppe. We were standing high above a battle field the entire sky awash with flames as a great beast exploded from a distant red star. I watched with awe and silence, Zezah still cradled in my arms as Dalamud broke open to reveal that elder god and watched it raze and army to ashes.
Zezah, for whatever reason was for more affected by the Vision then I, and I suspect it was due to how distant and fuzzy it was to me, but once the 'memories' had played out I came out of the vision to see that mere moments had passed in the banquet and people had only just reacted to Zezah's collapse. Raubahn himself helped me convey my wife back to our quarters at the Quicksand and I spent several hours watching her rest.
The confirmation that this wasn't simply some curse or brain damage should have been reassuring but something about it was instead terrifying. As was the thoughtful looks in the eyes of so many people recently whenever Zezah's new gifts are brought to light. I'm very concerned, but at this point there's little to do but press on.
Our reprieve was, sadly, rather short lived, less than two full days and we found ourself tucked around one of the many tables of Momodi's fine establishment listening to the job offer that Papashan had for us. It turns out that before the old man found himself escorting around the wayward daughters of aristocrats or tending to the yards of the Ul'dahn dispatch yards he was once a high ranked member of the Sultansworn.
I've heard rumblings among the local denizens of both steps that Papashan and his former mentor/leader both left their posts under... less then stellar circumstances, but everyone I spoke to that wasn't themselves a monetarist had nothing but kind things to say for the elderly man.
As to the the offer of work, it turns out that a very rare artifact under the care of the Sultansworn had gone missing and that the entire order was in an uproar. Papashan had apparently been keeping an eye on our efforts since we'd aided his former charge, and after getting an idea of our character from watching us and speaking with Momodi he tapped us to assist in the investigation.
Naturally, Zezah was all to quick to agree and I figured that it couldn't hurt to earn a bit of good will with the higher ups in Ul'dah considering the number of high placed enemies we'd been making lately.
Once we'd agreed to help Papashan provided us with a letter that was confiscated from the belongings of Baldewyn, the former captain of the brass blades that we'd crossed blades with a few days ago. The Letter was addressed to a fresh faced member of the Sultansworn and seemed to be a ransom letter for the misplaced artifact, now revealed to the the crown of the Sultana herself.
More surprisingly was that Zezah seemed to have some familiarity with the band of cut-throats and rogues that took possession of the crown, though she did seemed especially surprised that the organization, called 'The Alacran' even still existed.
Apparently in her early days with the Sands, while she was still being trained as a Gladiator following her arrest, she found herself tangled up with a more experienced Gladiator and the guild itself in a protracted campaign against the Alacran after it fell under the auspices of a former member of the guild and Zezah had been convinced that they'd wiped out a majority of the members.
Regardless, the group wanted to offer an exchange, the crown itself for a different relic from the vaults of the Sultansworn. Zezah attempted to caution restraint, as did and it seemed that Owyne had seen reason, but when we arrived at the meeting place, we found that Owyne had lied about the meeting time and was already in the midst of the exchange.
It turns out that the 'minor artifact' that the Alacrans wanted was one of the final doses of 'The Trader's Spurn,' which I had been convinced up to that moment was merely an old wives tale told by refugees in the more decrepit parts of the city of scare their children into not stealing from the kinds of gilded pockets that came with armed body guards.
Turns out that spurn is real, and is in fact a potent weapon capable of, with enough supply, turning an entire city into the restless dead. Naturally we couldn't allow this transaction to continue, especially since it seemed that the Alacran and their leader were intent on double-crossing young Owyne anyway.
Thankfully we were not forced to battle the knaves alone, and a number of Sultansworn joined the fray in our wake. The Battle was hard pressed but we were successful, though it was then that the most troubling of things occurred.
A voice began speaking in a tongue that I couldn't understand, though something about the words seemed to catch in the back of my mind, like I could have understand them even if the meaning wouldn't materialize. Whatever the voice was saying seemed to disturb her quite greatly and I was surprised when she tossed me aside, and leapt away both of us just managing to dodge a massive blade that emerged from a great void tear along with a behemoth of a gargoyle that followed.
Once more Thancred appeared and I was forced to watch and offer what healing I could in the moment as they worked together to down the beast, at least until the summoner appeared once more speaking in that dreadful, familiar voice.
Shockingly Zezah replied and launched herself at the man and he seemed initially haughty until her first strike sent him staggering then he became more and more deranged as he attempted to strike her down with magic while Thancred occupied and eventually dispatched the injured Gargoyle.
Despite his proficient use of magic, and the sheer power of his spells, the masked man was stymied by Zezah's ongoing overpowered intuition, my wife actively dancing around his spells at he cast them while striking greater and greater blows upon his more and more beleaguered body.
It very quickly became apparent that this fight would only end one way, though I found myself even more concerned about the recent changes in my wife as I loomed over the broken body of that eldritch mage. Her powers continue to grow by leaps and bounds and she seems more and more involved in matters of growing import and I'm worried about what this means for her.
I haven't taken quite as many photos this time, though I did find time to snap a few in between everything that's been going on. Things with Zezah have taken a turn. Initially, in the wake of her... incident, with the crystal she seemed to recover quickly, seemed to have fully bounced back even, but... something was odd.
We'd taken to resuming our work in the local area, we'd ended up getting in contact with the local mining concern, and whilst it felt like a bit of a step back in regards to the 'working with the more scummy local elements' that we'd managed to move away from by heading out of the city itself to find work, the pay was better, and I felt a bit better about avoiding overtaxing Zezah too much.
Thankfully for our conflicted morals we eventually made the contact of a trio of local children that were friends with a local merchant that they'd taken quite a shine too. The children seemed to have a similar opinion of the local brass blades as we did, and after assuring themselves that we were no friends of the local hired thugs they requested that we assist a friend of theirs.
The friend in question was a merchant named Wystan. He was something of a self made man that often made time to 'play' with the local starveling children and refugees, using games and exercises to ensure that they were fed and well cared for.
Wystan, it turns out, didn't need help from us, as he claimed, but he did request that we handle a few errands around the local settlements that he'd been unable to do himself due to his recent 'profitable ventures' I could tell that Zezah wasn't as on board with the busy work, but the young man offered to pay and we went off to handle his errands helping where we could. It wasn't until we'd finished our tasks and returned to the Coffin that Zezah's newfound intuition was once more proved correct.
We overheard a group of local blades laughing at Wystan's gullibility and misfortune as his guards had planned to cut him down in a local ruin, intending to use the dark deed to curry favor with one of the local monetarists that apparently didn't look too kindly on the young man's aspirations, both the entrepreneurial and the altruistic, and after a very bit of minor cajoling on mine and the children's part Zezah set off to intercept them. It was once we were there that we ran into a familiar face.
We found Wystan and his crew battered and bleeding, but largely un damaged beyond that. When we stepped in the blades attempted to turn on us, but the ambush was interrupted by the summoning of a golem of some sort. The Blades panicked and fled at the sight of the beast and Zezah and I were forced to interpose ourselves between the animated stone and Wystan and his workers.
Thankfully, despite it's fearsome appearance, the crumbling nature of it's stone made it not overtly dangerous, though the process of whittling it down was going very slowly until Zezah's companion from the voidborn assault on the young merchantess arrived to assist.
The man, who's name we later learned was Thancred, assisted us in fully dispatching the monster, and we were able to reconvene with Wystan and his companions. Though as I was checking them over I couldn't help but notice that Zezah seemed distracted and distant, and she was clearly struggling with... something.
It wasn't until later that night when we were alone in our room back at the Quicksand that Zezah confirmed that she'd been having strange flashes of insight since our encounter with Thancred and the demon. When she picked up that Crystal. But she admitted that whatever had been happening up till that point went into overdrive after the incident with the golem and she saw vast swaths of Thancred's history.
Part of me suspected that it was one knock to the head too many, but the problem came when we started to ask around. Thancred is something of a local celebrity, and his exploits are well known. When we'd begun subtly asking around to confirm things, we ended up being invited to tea with Momodi who was surprisingly forthright in confirming what we knew, though she kept giving Zezah these searching looks that she wouldn't explain.
Whatever the case, we got a reward from Wystan, despite us having assured him that no such recompense was necessary, especially considering his failed venture and the work he did, it seems that he intended to go a bit further afield and out from under the auspicious gazes of the local monetarists to rebuild his coffers but that he promised to look us up once he was in a stronger financial position upon his return.
For our part, we outfit Zezah in some improved gear that actually had some armor, and set back off to work. We also headed back out into the Western shores of Thanalan as work started to dry up around Black Brush, the local brass blades seeming to have taken a bit of a dark eye to our lingering presence in the wake of our interactions with their plot to slaughter innocent merchants in a gully.
Surprisingly our first friendly contact in Horizon was a member of the local Blades garrison, but young Lieutenant Fufulupa actually seemed surprisingly gregarious and noble considering the companions he was keeping. He offered us a number of small jobs and even introduced us to a few of the local merchants who were at first a bit leery but we made a decent amount of coin.
Zezah, however, continued to have her bouts of intuition and while the details were hazy, she was quite certain that this interaction with the blades would go no better than our previous one. In truth, considering how profoundly accurate they'd been up to this point I should have had a bit more faith in my wife's abilities, newly awakened as they were or not, but I unfortunately did not.
Fufulupa put us in contact with his former commander and we returned to Blackbrush and and assisted him and a few local less savory elements of the blades that nonetheless seemed to have at least turned their selfish motivations against the enemies of the refugees and the locals. Though, such minor concerns fell tot he wayside when Leoforic, Fufulupa's former commander revealed that the lord that the blades we'd interrupted with Wystan and the man that had replaced him were both working directly for Lord Lolorito of the East Eldenard Trading company.
And that Leoforic's newly acquire 'promotion' tending to a camp of refugees in the boondocks of eastern Thanalan, was given to him due to his refusal to engage properly with the sorts of backroom deals that would have put him at the other end of the swords that were pointed at Wystan. Naturally, considering Fufulupa's nature, we knew that it was only a matter of time before he managed to walk directly into a sticky situation of his own making and we made haste back to Horizon.
We arrived to see Fufulupa setting off to investigate a series of local shady meetings and despite Zezah attempting to talk the young man out of it, and even offering to do the digging around herself, we found ourselves escorting the boy over to crescent cove, the sister location to the Silver Bazaar we were so familiar with.
After asking around we found out about a number of sketchy meetings that were being held semi-frequently in the area north of the settlement and Fufulupa once more refused to back off and immediately set forth to put a stop to the shadiness. Zezah and I were left with no choice to go with him.
What followed could have been a very dire situation indeed, had it not been for the timely arrival of Leoforic and a friend of his, Papashan, a close companion of Lady Liliara who we'd met previously and a former member of the Sultansworn.
Their timely intervantion prevented the encounter from becoming a blood bath, but it was a close thing. Also Papashan's insistence that we speak with Momodi in the coming days to assist him with a small matter that'd been troubling him dripped of ominous warning, and I found myself once more struggling to contain my concern at how eager Zezah was to assist.
We've taken to plying our various skills in the lowlands outside the city walls, the pay isn't much better, (And some times it's worse, though we get by with our various skills.) But there's something to be said to slinging drinks for wandering merchants, healing refugees.
To be honest it wasn't really that much more exciting then just working in the city, or at least that wasn't the case until today. I was helping Zezah with some work she was doing for the Coffer, delivering meals and libations to the various workers at Ul'dah's train dispatch yard, and we'd decided to take the scenic route on our way back when we heard someone screaming.
Zezah reacted fairly quickly, and it was something of a struggle to keep up. I arrived after a void sent had arrived, and I managed to capture a number of images. Though, distracted as I was keeping Zezah and her new companions healed I lacked any of the Voidtouched they'd been battling, Zezah later explained that she'd met a young lady of some repute and her dashing rogue of a companion just as they were set upon by the foul beast.
Strangely, the most curious part isn't the fight itself. Even limited by her supbar equipment and weapon, Zezah isn't someone to be discounted in a battle, she's a veteran of the blood sands after all, same as General Aldynn, no the strange part was that Zezah discovered a large crystal.
When she touched it, Zezah fell unconscious and she says that she had a confusing vision of a great crystal floating in a void speaking to her with a woman's voice, the exact nature of the vision was apparently somewhat muddy, but she insisted that the woman felt familiar, and that the woman was begging for her to travel forth and discover more of the crystals. It was... somewhat concerning.
I'm not sure if we'll indulge Zezah's new quest just yet, in the moment we focused more on getting thing settled with the young lady (who was somewhat rude to both us and her protector.) and the gentleman escorting her before we made our excuses to make our exit and I took Zezah home to have a look over her.
She's sleeping now, as I write, and I spent over two hours examining her with my conjury and more homepathic skills that I learned back home but nothing seems to have come up amiss, it appears that whatever that vision was that it hasn't affected her negatively, but I can tell that we're in for an exciting time moving forward.
At least I can be assured that Zezah won't be attending this journey alone, naturally I will be at her shoulder as I've been since we met, so I'll do what I can to keep her safe.
So, things have been going great since we managed to buy Zezah's freedom. (We ended up having to sell most of our enchanted gear to afford to cover the 'taxes' that were levied against us, but beyond that, everything worked out splendidly.) We ended up setting shop for now at the Quicksand. It's meant to be a little spot for adventurers to rest and recuperate on the short term between jobs, but Momodi made an exception for us, considering how we've been such long standing customers and all.
The daily rent isn't too bad, and we've been able to easily make it up just doing work with the Leve mete. The work's not terribly hard, we're getting paid a fair bit less in gil then we did working in the sands, but even then it's enough for rent and food and we're treating it as a sort of vacation and belated honeymoon, for now, while we figure out our plan going forward.
That being said, Momodi's been talking to us about calling in the marker that she's owed for loaning us the services of her fine establishment, so I suspect we'll be heading out of the city before too long.
Someone left this tomestone unattended in the Gold Court, and no one came back to claim it. After fiddling with it for a bit, I figured out that it wasn't locked and that there was no data on it, so I rescued it from it's ignoble fate! I didn't realize that these things could take pictures. I've been meaning to start this journal for a few weeks now, and the photos that I had fun taking seems to have been the motivation that I've been missing. Anyway, good journal, allow me to introduce myself!
I am Y'Mahlia Ahnara. I am 28 years old, and currently I'm employed as a mercenary conjurer at the Bloodsands in Ul'dah. (For the moment, anyway, that's a bit of a story though.) I'm married to my delightful wife Zezah, who is a Noxius in the Sands, and we're something of a hot topic in the pit!
Today is actually an auspicious day for the two of us, and not because of this fancy little camera that I found. Today's the day where we've finally managed to scrape the small fortune together that we'd needed to fulfill Zezah's buy out marker. It's been a long three years in the making but I'm excited to get one with our lives without having to worry that they'll find something truly terrifying to pit Zezah against.
Now the only one that my darling wife belongs to, is me~
My name is Mahlia & I’m obsessed with everything I love~
I’m a Sagittarius rising with a Virgo sun & Gemini moon so I’m literally all over the place (but my dark side comes from Pluto being in my 1st house muahahahaha 😈) 😌🤪
Photography & writing are my main passions! I used to be an actor/model & one day I might go back to it, but as of right now I’m over that life
My favorite part of the day is dusk & my favorite day of the week is Sunday :)
You can always reach out to me about anything & I just might have an answer for you~
