Thoughts from the Otherworld

It has been almost a full week since my last journal entry, and I think we have learned a lot here. The Yuhtunga Jungle spreading right outside Kazham is indeed a dangerous place, and was much more dangerous before I and Kii Kalira became a little used to life here. This jungle is no easy place to navigate, and wiill make you lose your bearings should your concentration slip even for a moment. A good many of the beasts here even are different from the ones on Quon and Mindartia, the majority of them being opo-opos, which can be quite dangerous when annoyed as we discovered. Of more familiar beasts there are bees and a type of crawlers, aside from the ever-present goblins. To think that they have adapted to live prosperously even in this dreadfully hot environment.
And speaking of the hot weather, I have never experienced such scorching heat as the heatwaves in this jungle. There are better days, ones with rain that nevertheless makes the air so humid that it is a chore to breathe, but the days of heatwave are the worst. The air shimmers with heat everywhere, and at times it looks as if the whole jungle burns with it.

There are some things that make wondering about the jungle worthwhile though. There are lush flowers everywhere you happen to look, and at times you can come across ones that while nothing too special during daytime, upon nightfall glow with a blue and purple light and spread their almost overwhelming scent to the winds... The first time we came across one we spent many an hour beside it, just wondering about the beauty of nature.

Kii Kalira has adapted well to life here I think. The only thing that gives her trouble are the confounding directions here in the jungles, where to get forward you must sometimes pass through several underground caves leading to entirely different directions before you reach a path that takes you where you want to go. These caves also bring other kinds of troubles. They tend to be a bit hidden, and sometimes when she isn't paying attention, or when she is merely feeling curious about where the cave below leads, she will suddenly drop down one... Thankfully she hasn't gotten hurt yet, but it gives me a scare every time it happens. There are dangerous goblins there, those beastmen like the relative coolness of the air underground.
Although I must admit, this behavior of hers led us to a wondrous place once. Near the newly constructed outpost in the southern parts of Yuhtunga Jungle, there is a high cliff that looks over a valley with several waterfalls. It is a beautiful place, but we hadn't managed to find a way down there yet. Then she dropped down one of those holes, and the tunnel she ended up in led all the way down to the valley. It was even more wondrous up close, although I must admit that at first, getting there was more of a shock than I thought it would be. It appears to be an area frequented by sahagins, the beastman race native to this island. Their skills in battle are nothing to be trifled with.

I believe we have now gotten our fill of the jungle for the time being. It is time to catch an airship back to Jeuno.

I think all that researching and synthesis I did in Bastok left Kii Kalira slightly bored. Hardly had I finished my business as she insisted we go hunt for treasures. I did not know what exactly she had in mind, though, and I think I mgiht not have agreed to this had I known beforehands where we were heading to. She had heard somewhere that the tomb of King Ranperre had treasures for the taking to anyone who happened to wander by. I do admit that the tomb has a bit of a monster problem these days, but to go there in search of treasure! Unimaginable.

Nevertheless, I did not discover her intentions until we were already at the entrance of the tomb, and it was too late to protest her intentions at that point. At least we managed to exterminate quite a few monsters from the tomb. Previously I had only gone a little ways in, but this time we ventured much further. I did not know the situation had gotten quite so bad in there. Goblins, skeletons, even some ghosts, and this in addition to the expected bats and worms that are more every-place pests than anything.
We did not discover anything too valuable, thank Altana for that. Although while wondering around by herself, trying out her new dancing techniques on anything that came too close, she somehow managed to acquire a cloak with some relatively weak enchantment in it. It is slightly worrying, but I do not think the tomb would have originally included an item of that quality, and must deduce from this that it is a spoil of battle some monster had brought to its nest in the tomb. And I do have to admit, the loot we gathered from these monsters, while cheap by themselves, when sold in volume were very helpful in making a little gil to help fund traveling.

It has been a long time, but I visited the Cathedral with Kii Kalira today. One of the friars there had heard of our achievements - from where, I do not know - and had a request for us. We are to replace a seal of banishing deep in the Gusgen Mines. I remember the last time we went there, the place was full of undead of all kinds. They must have pushed off replacing it for some reason. We will head out towards Gusgen in the morrow.

I have been honored with a proper audience with the Chieftainness of the mithra in Windurst, Perih Vashai. Kii Kalira, after hearing tales of her accomplishments in the Great War from the mithra in Kazham, became excited and wanted to visit Windurst. Upon our arrival she wasted no time to lead us to the Chieftainness, very excited about Perih Vashai's mastery of the bow. I did not know she was interested in archery. She has always been more of a healer type in my mind. Maybe this is a recent thing. She sure has changed a lot. Not that I would mind, it merely strikes me as a quick change.
Where was I. Ah, yes, the Chieftainness. When Kii Kalira insisted on talking to her that day she listened patiently and then sent us on a strange quest. It involved tracking down what I think was a kind of a sabertooth tiger graveyard in Meriphataud Mountains. I still do not quite understand her insistence on us seeing this, but we concealed ourselves and waited patiently, and in the end witnessed the last moments of an old sabertooth tiger.
Upon our return to Windurst the Chieftainness listened to our reactions to this event and taught us about the mithra way of living off nature while respecting it. It was a true eye-opener, and I think it affected Kii Kalira even more than she cares to admit. She signed up with the mithran rangers afterwards.
 
Something else happened too, on our journey to find this dying place of sabertooth tigers. Witnessing that event left us both thoughtful, and since night had not yet fallen we made our way to Jeuno, to spend the night much more comfortably before heading back to Windurst to report to the Chieftainness. As we had time left over before night fell even after arriving to Jeuno, we went to spend a pleasant evening in the Merry Minstrel in lower Jeuno. The evening turned out not so pleasant, as the bard was more interested in his own sorrow than entertaining the customers. As Kii Kalira remarked on it the mithra behind the counter told us about some old song that supposedly mends broken hearts. It was most curious. It only struck me afterwards, but that bard seemed very broken-hearted. If it could be healed with a simple song, would that not be nice? I think we should head to Buburimu Peninsula and try to find this song, apparently it is carved to some stone there.

Jeuno has strange people indeed. I have written before about the adventurer discount of offering a Kazham-Jeuno airship pass in exchange for keys from the three beastman forts. It turns out it was not mere joke, but a real promotion of the airline company. I and Kii Kalira are now in possession of Kazham passes, that enable us to use that particular route. While it is that route only, it is still quite an expensive item that they offer in exchange for some trivialities. What can they possibly achieve by gathering those keys?

I suppose one should not complain when luck shines one's way. Kii Kalira was most excited about this opportunity, so hardly had we reached Jeuno that we set out again, this time on board an airship. It has been a long time since I was aboard one, and I do believe it was Kii Kalira's first time. And neither did her excitement diminish on reaching Kazham, quite the contrary. I think only a faint memory of such a thing as decorum kept her back from talking to everyone we came across and snooping around every corner, into every house. Not too long ago I wouldn't have believed her to be capable of such excitement, but experience has taught me better. Sometimes after we set out from Windurst that spring a year ago, it seems like she is a different person entirely.
The air here is hot and humid, this climate hardly seems fit to live in for longer periods of time. I suppose it is all about what you're used to though, as the native mithra do not seem to have any issue with it. For that matter, neither does Kii Kalira, really. We've dared to walk around the outskirts of the village, right where village turns into jungle, but did not venture out into jungle proper yet. Listening to the locals, you hear many stories about the dangerous beasts that roam these jungles.

I have discovered that there is such a thing as being too courteous. Or maybe that there is a limit to where being courteous becomes something else. There is another elvaan guest at the inn we're staying at, and I could swear I overheard him flirting with Kii Kalira yesterday. It was cleverly disguised for sure, but... and it's not like it's any concern of mine. Concealing his behavior behind courteousness merely annoys me somewhat. That is all.

It is good to spend some time in one's home nation every now and then. At least, this was the thought in the back of my head when I and Kii Kalira headed to San d'Oria after making our aqcuaintance with the goblin Guttrix. But as an adventurer of some name I suppose one should not expect too much time to rest. Hardly had we entered within the walls of the city that we came across Balasiel who had previously awared both of us with the rank of a San d'Orian squire. He had one more test for our skills it seems, for he read us a riddle from the Book of Tasks. While somewhat tired, I did not hesitate to start unraveling this riddle. The first part of it was much more easily solved than the second, but I must admit to being almost defeated by the next two riddles. As Kii Kalira claimed to not be interested in riddles it is entirely possible they would have remained unsolved but for a chance happening - an official mission from San d'Oria. And not just any mission, a mission that enabled me to meet Prince Trion! It was a great honor to meet His Highness once again. To have word of my accomplishments reach the ears of one of the princes, it is almost unimaginable.

Ah, yes, the riddles. As my mission orders I was instructed to head to Davoi to retreave a report on the moves of the orcs there. Upon researching my destination - mainly its map - I had the most enlightening idea. The clues, while for certain could point to just any place with a river, could very well coincide with the layout of Davoi as well. I wasted no time picking up Kii Kalira before we headed to Davoi. I have been there on a mission before as well, but that time did not require me to head as deep in as this time.

Once I had successfully retrieved the report from a knight on duty in the area, we started searching the area. While it might not have been too good to dally around like that while on an official mission, I justify this to myself as having been a ssemi-official mission from a high-ranking San d'Orian official.

...I cannot deny that it was somewhat difficult to sneak around Davoi. There were orcs everywhere, ones far more skilled than what we have previously encountered. But once again, our spells came to our aid, and we managed to retrieve a peculiarly disfigured sword from a disused well at the very edges of Davoi. Upon returning to San d'Oria, not was I only congratulated on the completion of my mission by Prince Trion himself, but by presenting the disfigured sword to Balasiel as proof of solving the riddles I and Kii Kalira were awarded the title of honorary San d'Orian knights. I cannot help but feel that my heart is about to burst with pride. I must attempt to bring myself to ground somehow soon, becoming proud over these recent events would not be a very good way to pay back all this honor I have been awarded as of late.

Maybe the way to achieve this lies with Kii Kalira. She does not seem too affected by becoming a knight, but instead grumbles about everything. I wonder what is wrong with her. Maybe she did not agree with coming to San d'Oria after all.

Somewhere along the way, a whole year has passed since I set out on my adventure. Certainly many things have happened, too many to conveniently downsize to a simple sentence. May the next year bring as much excitement, and avoid the sorrows and worries that plagued parts of the last.

Goblins are a surprisingly crafty lot. At the moment I cannot remember if I mentioned this before, but Jeuno has many of them. They are treated with some suspicion, but mostly as regular merchants. When I first arrived in Jeuno it worried me more than it does these days. I had heard of this behavior, but I could not quite grasp it. Now, I think it may be a good thing, that some people live in such close proximity with these peculiar beastmen. It gives the opportunity to learn much from each other, if we are only open-minded enough to put aside our differences for a moment.

There is a certain establishment in Lower Jeuno called Muckvix's Junkshop, that sports a small goblin eatery in the back. It was almost by accident that I and Kii Kalira entered the place, but there we encountered this goblin called Guttrix who started talking to us. She is apparently a tailor out to practice her skills on making garments in other than goblin sizes. I was dubious as to this endeavor at first but we decided to give it a try. After all, she only required some magical patterns that for some reason were hidden away inside the Maze of Shakhrami. Since we were familiar with the place and knew going in would net us some more gil if we sold the spoils of battle we obtained in there, it made the decision to go on a wild-goose chase after these purported magical patterns that much easier. Gil is never easy to come by, and one must eat too.

It took some time to find the goblin coffers in that place, let alone obtain keys to open said coffers as the both of us quite spectacularly fail in any lock-picking of any kind. We were just about ready to give up when - surprise of all surprises, we actually managed to find one, and not too long after another one. Armed with our strange finds we made our way back to Jeuno and handed them over to Guttrix. When we returned athe the specified time for our finished garments she held up to her word and gave them to us. I can honestly say I have never been quite so surprised in my life. Not only did this goblin offer to do something for us without being asked to, she actually held up to her word. I may have to revise my opinions on the goblin-kind.

The clothes we received are surprisingly durable and enhanced with quite potent magics. I do not think we could have afforded anything even approaching this quality by ourselves. We truly are in her debt.

Although I must say, Kii Kalira in these new clothes of hers is... well, they are red mithra tribal-type clothes. That shall be enough mention of that.

This world holds many secrets indeed. Some of them are secrets that could not hurt anyone, while others are dangerous, and can bring harm to many people. I do believe we have come across one of the latter secrets, that of the art of summoning. To think I would one day be capable of casting that forbidden magic, it chills me just thinking about it.

I suppose one should not be so curious if one were to avoid finding out these secrets. What is done is done though.

The ruby I mentioned before was a peculiar one indeed. It did not take us long to figure out the meaning behind the mysterious words referring to the colors of the sky. Right as we left Windurst for the sunny region of Sarutabaruta and were pondering on the mystery of this ruby as we went it shone brightly, confirming one fo the colors. Final confirmation came soon in the form of a dust storm - these colors of the sky were indeed different kinds of weather. Nevertheless, gathering them was no easy matter. I am especially referring to the matter of snowing.

It is spring already in most areas of the world, so finding snow proved problematic indeed. It wasn't until we decided to make it all the way to the Beaucedine Glacier that we managed to gather this color that was indeed the last one. Indigo completed the colors of the rainbow within the ruby, and one of the avatars graced us with his presence, telling us to hurry to a certain place in La Theine Plateau. I recall passing this place before, idly wondering what its meaning was. Even now, I wonder..were those stones erected in that location simply for the purpose of communicating with avatars?

When we reached the circle of stones the ruby called forth Carbuncle before us once again. And thus we now hold the power to call forth avatars, should we first have made a pact with one.

Carbuncle's departure displayed for us a magnificent rainbow. I have never seen one quite like it. It lasted for so long I was starting to think it would not disappear at all.

It seems to me that Kii Kalira is not very used to colder climates. Not only did she not prepare for the cold weather even though we discussed thoroughly where we would be going, she...started clinging to me the moment it started getting a bit chilly. It was most confusing. Even that isn't enough however. Upon reaching Beaucedine she somehow decided to attempt climbing a snow drift, this much I gathered from her words. As was to be expected, the snow did not hold her weight and she ended up falling in head-first. It gave me quite a fright before I managed to get her on her feet again.

I think I must speak with her about survival in snowy areas before we next head out to one. Thank Altana we did not have to go further in, with her like that.

Windurst is surely home to many wondrous things. Some of these things - rather, persons - are also somewhat amusing. Kii Kalira made friends with a group of children in Windurst before, they call themselves the Star Onion Brigade. I had the honor of being accepted as a member to this selective group today. They have their hideout behind some warehouses in the port district.

Apparently the last time she went to play with these children they retrieved a stray mana orb - one of those round devices used to power Cardians. I had no idea she had been playing with children like this. Not that I'd have to know everything she does, it merely seems..amusing to me. Charming for certain. I hear they played a prank on the famous mithra thief Nanaa Mihgo.

This time, the Brigade was in confusion as the mana orb they'd found last time had gone missing. After several mishaps we managed to get ourselves made fake moustaches - for what purpose, I could not really understand, this being a detective game of some kind - but it turned out to be for naught as one of the Brigade members themselves confessed to having this orb. I wouldn't begrudge time spent on playing with children, but seeing her wearing a fake moustache made it seem all that more worthwhile...

She seems to have cheered up somewhat after this ordeal. That is good.

Kii Kalira has been down recently. I've tried talking to her about it, and it turns out yesterday it had been exactly a year since her sister's death. It took a while for her to admit even that much. It must hurt her dearly still, to have lost her sister. I am not even certain how she died. I do wish I could pay my respects at her grave, but I am not too eager to bring up the issue with Kii Kalira again. She doesn't seem willing to talk about it much.

Nevertheless, we are now in Windurst, spurned on by the promise of handing out a Kazham airship pass to any adventurer who brings them a set of keys, one from each of the beastman strongholds of Ghelsba, Giddeus and Palborough. It is a good thing we chose Giddeus as the first one, I do think. The memories of her sister attached to this city must be painful for Kii Kalira, but I think it does her well too, to be here at this time.

Giddeus...it is a truly formidable place. We have visited there briefly before, but did not venture in too deep. While there exists a tentative peace between Windurst and the yagudo in Giddeus, trifling with beastmen is something that should not be done. Nevertheless, we ventured in. I suppose it was inevitable that we would end up defeating several yagudo in battle. I wonder how the peace can hold when yagudo keep attacking people, and adventurers can sneak in to that place with nary a thought and kill some of their own? I would not presume to know the thoughts of the Windurstian leaders, but looking from the outside, it seems a a facade, a farce even. I have to admit to not liking it here. Windurst seems such a peaceful place from the surface, but beneath that surface lies turmoil.