Crystal Continuation, Chapter one: Of Crystals and Caravans

[Lohti]

Legend has it that, once upon a time, the four tribes of the world, the Clavats, the Selkies, the Lilties, and the Yukes lived together in peace, in an ancient citadel known as Rebena Te Ra, far to the north of our world. There, a great king ruled justly over his many subjects, and life was prosperous.

One day, a great meteor fell from the night sky, red and awful to behold, it flew straight towards the earth, it's blue spikes glistening with insane beauty.

The world was in tumult as the meteor crashed, sending the great blue shards over the land that once knew peace and, after this, would not see anything but misery for years to come.

The world began to change, the air becoming poison, and the King sent emissaries to the blue shards and the meteor to try to discern what had become of their world.

The Selkies had, for the most part, chosen a perilous path that seemed to take them through the swamps to the south of the Citadel. Why they chose to do this, nobody knows, but they were never heard from again.

their way blocked by the mysterious gas they labeled "Miasma", they just made it to the shards, some dying of poisoning, to find that the air was cleaner near the blue shards. They began building settlements immediately, for they did not have the numbers to return to their king, and soon all but forgot their royal duty, for the chance to live peacefully once again shone before them.

What became of Rebena Te Ra, you say? It slowly died, having no crystal of its own, it's occupants dying much like Tida did, many years later, full of hope that their people would soon return with some cure for the air of death -- the miasma.

Soon, The villagers began to see that their crystal's shine was fading. Taking small pieces of it with them, they scoured the land for a possible answer.

A small boy came back with a bucket filled with a strange liquid. He said that this could be used to restore the crystal. the villagers, at this time willing to believe anything to save themselves, applied the liquid -- they were the first to call it "Myrrh" -- and the crystal shone brightly once again. Thus the ritual of the caravan was born, set to recover and return with enough Myrrh for the crystal to shine another year.

Such had it been for decades, when a caravan from this very town, Anxious to provide for their village, traveled the world for the miracle liquid, and found a path to the very meteor itself, snowed over from the ages and no longer itself a threat, but miasma issued forth from its crevices. Venturing inside, the Caravan encountered a great and monstrous parasite, terrible in its power and horrid in nature.

It was an epic clash between heroes and monster, good and evil, worthy of song and dance even nowadays, as you may have heard. The battle itself is unclear from the history books, but the result we do know: The heroes overcame the great beast, clearing the land of the awful miasma and bringing peace once more....

...or so they thought.

Though the parasite was indeed no more, the Miasma returned, greater and thicker than ever before, a few months later. Fortunately, the villages still had the crystal's blessing, and were spared still from the miasma's wrath. Thusly we live to this day, still encased by the prison our ancestors fell victim to.....


"And that's the reason why miasma still coats the world outside our towns today, kupo." Ari explained, her pompom bobbing slightly as she hopped about somewhat.

"Well, that's what I know.. Sadly, that's only what us moogles told each other, kupo." She admitted, looking a bit downcast from her perch on the stump in the town center of the village, lit by the firelight of the torches... and the otherworldly glow of the crystal. Tonight was the last day of the old caravanners, and tomorrow, the new caravan would be assembled and set upon their first journey.

"Ahh, it reminds me of when I went with this caravan on their first journey, kupo." She sighed, then seemed to snap herself out of her reverie.

"So, do any of you have questions, kupo?" she asked those who were sitting around her, mostly children who had wanted to hear the tale she told, but a few had wandered over during the course of it from curiosity.

[CMB]

"Yeah, how in the world are we supposed to get the Myyrth anyways...it's not like it grows on trees ya know? " Baroque said as he looked at the odd litte white puffball

Sophia looked into the campfire and smiled, waiting in anticipation for tomorrow " and what happens if we take the miasma...will it grow back?"

[Lohti]

"Well, I'm not sure why you'd want miasma, but those questions might be better asked of one of the old caravanners, kupo... they normally left me to guard the Caravan while they went for the Myyrh." She said to the two who spoke up, wagging her pompom in the direction of a Clavat who, by the looks of him, had seen his fair share of combat. He sat haphazardly in a chair behind a table, a mug of ale in his hand left untouched as he gazed into the fire.

[CMB]

she blushes as she realizes her mistake "whoops...sorry for that..I guess I was too entranced by the campfire.." Sophie giggles sheepishly as Baroque shook her head

[Lohti]

"It's allright, kupo.. I do it myself sometimes" The moogle said, hopping from one foot to the other in an effort to display her regret for having brought up the error.

[Luca]

Dekku stood by listening to the moogle, not speaking not asking. He knew. *Time and time again have I heard this story from books of old and moogles...* The Yuke turned to survey the surrounding *but will ther ever be a happy ending to it?* the Yuke grunted and turned back to the campfire.

[Optix]

Chris stood with Kat by his side, listening from the shadows to Ari tell her story, both knowing the story and that they were part of the new caravan. The two didn't speak, deciding it better to remain hidden for now.

[Lohti]

"Well, I think it'd be best to get some sleep. Big day tomorrow, kupo." Ari said, hopping off of the stump and waddling toward the moogle house.


((ok, start wrapping it up so we can timeskip to the next day. Any questions about the caravan can be addressed to the rough-n'-tumble caravanner Ari suggested.))

[Luca]

"Alrighty then." said the Yuke and went to a tree that a caravan was parked under and sat underneath it. He slowly closed his eyes. "Big day tomorrow people!" and went to sleep.

[Optix]

Kat and Chris waited until everybody else dispersed and went to sleep before emerging from the shadows and heading towards their small tent.
Once inside the tent Kat looked at Chris "So... what do you think it'll be like being part of the caravan?"
Chris shrugged his shoulders "I wouldn't have the faintest idea darl."
Kat perked up and stared at Chris "Did you call me 'darl'?"
Chris blushed slightly "Sorry Kat. That was an accident."
Kat smiled "Nah, that's cool. I liked it."
Chris then wiped his brow "Phew. I thought you were going to kill me."
Kat smiled larger "Don't worry about it. Now let's go to sleep."
Chris nodded "OK."
The two then hopped into their sleeping bags and went to sleep relatively quickly.

[CMB]

Baroque nodded and shifted down into his cloth sleeping bag and soon fell asleep.

Sophie, however, gazed at the fire for an hour or so, feeling a slight sense of nervousness before the wave of exhaustion hit her and she fell asleep in her sleeping bag.

[CMB]

[Sorry for Double Postin but]

Birds chirped around the trees in Tipa as Baroque rose up bright and early before the sun rose up. He yawned and quickly packed up his bag, throwing it unto the still caravan nearby. He glanced at the caravan and then out beyond the town borderlines, it was near time. He fastened his gauntlets, each with black and yellow stripes on them and a chain around them.

"Morning, kupo, I see that you are up and ready" the moggle said to Baroque as he readied the rest of his armor

"Yeah, but even though I wake early, I'm still not a morning person." He said as he laughed lightly as he flipped his helmet visor "I'll get the rest woken up" he said as he moved to wake Sophie

"hmm...whazza...." she muttered as Baroque tapped her

"Come on, wake up, you're a rancher dammit, you're supposed to wake up early" He said as he poked her again until she got up.

She looked at him with a slight dazed look on her face, and then yawned and stretched " I hear ya I'm awake, I'm awake" Sophie responded as she got up and started packing up her things.

Baroque smirked as he started to go wake up the others

[Kanako]

(sorry my post is kinda late.I posted but CMB bet me just as i posted)

As Cecille walked around her village, she noticed a sale on fruit.
" Hmm I am kinda hungry." Cecille said. She pulled out her pouch and looked how much money she had.
"Hmm 50 gold." She said walking over to the stand. Oranges, Bannanas and more.
"Can I take a whole watermelon?" Shae asked the keeper.
"Sure, that'll 35 gold" He replied smiling. Cecille paid the man and walked away to her little hiding spot. A place that only she knew of. She walked away past her house, located in the central region. After about a 10 minute walk, she grabbed a barrel and moved it a little. She crawled in a crawl space and kickewd the barrel over. She continued on a few more metres. Cecille stood up in the dark and moved her hand over the the right wall and moved a peice of cloth away and grabbed the lantern that aas way behind it.
She place the lantern on a little log she found. Cecille grabbed a knife from her bag and cut the watermelon open.
"Mmm, Watermelon tastes so good" she said shoving a peice in her mouth. It took her an hour to eat it. It was 3:30 in the after noon. She walked home and went to her room.
"Mummy, Im going out for the night, around the forest."
She heard a noise in the kitchen on the floor. She ran out to find her mother standing there with blood comming from her hand. Her mother turned around and grabbed a cloth and cover the cut.
"WHAT?!" She yelled.
"Is it okay if i go out and stay in the forest tonight?" She asked her mother.
Her mother walked slowly to her room. After 5 minutes of shuffling around in her room, she came out again, holding onto something. It was a pendant with a shiny stone inside.
"This was your fathers, when he worked as a solder, before he died from the mist. He gave me this before he left, as a memento. You take it, It will protect you from the dangers from the world." She began to cry, knowing that she wasn't just going around to the forest for a night.
"Thank you mother." She said runnong out the door with a cloth rapped around her so that bearly any of her face was able to be seen.
"Please be safe" Her mother whispered to herself when the door closed.
As her daughter walked out she put on the pendant under her clothes and walked out to the forest. About 6:30 at night she ate the rest of her watermleon, and comtinued on. It was dark and she was unable to see much. After hours walking she say something, a light, a fire. She ran over but the fire went out, she frowned, but still ran hoping to see something, someone. She got the where the fire was. She saw a tent but didn't intrude.
"Umm hello" she whispered.
"Any body here?" She said lonely.

[Lohti]

The moogle was, in the meantime, busy running to and fro from the caravan and the moogle house, doing some last-minute packing and refreshing items that had gone bad during the caravan's travel. One of the things taken out of the caravan was an old tome, cracked and beaten, and very obviously well-used. This was taken, or rather, dragged, by the moogle toward the elder of the last caravan, whom were now considered retired, and handed it to him.

"Here's your journal, kupo. Thanks for the memories!" she yipped, then hustled back, leaving the old caravanner to grab the new journal she made the previous night and begun dragging it to the caravan.

[Luca]

Dekku stretched as morning rose. He got up to see that people were packing ready to go. He adjusted his helmet and continued down to the others. "Morning."