Atomos: The Beginning Part 1

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The aerodome is uncommonly quiet this evening. Most ships have already left for the day or docked to stay over the night. Three ships appear ready to leave, a bright white ship with a giant red dot at the front, a dark grey one, and another white one with blue stripes and highlights. An aegyl wearing a light brown leather jacket, a leather fedora, and a whip at his side waits by the blue and white ship dock. The Aegyl is currently reading some paperwork and muttering to himself.

A pair of Viera walk through the Aerodrome, their destination apparent as the Aegyl comes into view. The male is rifling through a satchel that hangs from his shoulder. "I think I have what we need in here, besides copious amounts of food. I will miss the Porchlight, my Hunter.", the male says to the female Viera. "Perhaps it is a good thing though." "Attention, shaman," Alba murmurs through her mask, ears bobbing toward the Aegyl at the desk. "The time for packing is done, the time for speaking begun. What we have not, we shall see to upon the journey."

Walking along the deck comes a barefoot woman with green hair, rough leather clothing, and a mask pulled down over her face. Tristania's visage is replaced by that of a carved hummingbird, behind which her eyes gaze disapprovingly at most of what she sees. The dryad comes to a halt near to where the Aegyl is busy... doing... whatever it is that he is doing. She gazes at him, watching and waiting.

Every now and then, a paper leaves the desk, and is replaced with another. By a very crafty looking hand. Everyone else could see the shrouded figure beneath the desk doing that; though in a passing, the dark shape looked like an obscure chair. Mostly because of all the limbs sticking out, as the arachnid continues to do his very silent job of reshuffling the Aegyl's papers for him.

The Aegyl reaches over and taps Zhgir's hand as he switches out a paper, "The others are here, you arewelcome to come out now." The aegyle then stands up and offers a wave to everybody else. "Welcome everybody, I am pleased to have you join us. I am Professor Cecil Baltemore and you are all here hopefully to join me down to Gran Ferra. I will explain the details of the mission once we are on the ship, Enterprise, behind me. Kain." At the mention of the name Kain, a man suddenly jumps off the ship thirtyfeet into the air and lands on the dock. "Ship is ready, all aboard." A side glance to Cecil as if to question his selection of help. Then Kain turns around and jumps back onto the ship. Before the party can be shown onto the ship a sudden crowd burst into the aerodome. Dozens of moggles come flying in and kupoing among themselves. A group of them fly over towards the party and ask, "Is this the Moogle Express kupo?" Before another one of the moogle pokes the moogle asking the question and points over to the white ship with the big red dot at the front. The group of moogles all fly off towards the other ship.

Talen raises an eyebrow at the Aegyl's rather abrupt introduction, and the Tigger-like crewman, and slowly rolls his shoulders in an extended shrug. "Er, this is the rescue mission, yes?" His ears twitch at the arrival of the moogle horde, and he can't help but smile as they fly off towards the other ship. "I guess we should board then, yes?", he asks of the Aegyl, before looking at Alba, "Heh, was your Captain ever like that bunch of mogs who just flew by?"

"I would not know," Alba replies, bemused at the crowd of fluff and kupo passing by, "for I knew not my Captain until he was much older than they." Nodding to the sillent dryad, the Viera turns to Zhgir, both ears pointing towards the gangplank. "Come, Zhgir. I think that this journey shall not be the boring one, much longer."

Tristania rests one hand on her knobkerrie, and waits stoicly while the moogles charge past. Fortunately they make their way sufficiently around her that none of them are impaled on her mask. Once that is done, she returns the nod from the female of the two Viera, and glances up at the Aegyl. Rescue mission? She knew of no rescue mission. Rescue is an alien concept. The strong survive and the weak die. "Yes, I am here for the rescue mission," she answers at last, and boards the ship, all with absolutely no idea of what she is getting herself into.

The spider's fingers claw at the paper he was holding, and he looks around in brief alarm. After a moment, he carefully siddles out, then smooths out the paper out on the desk. "Zhgir was... Zhgir was just looking for worms, yes." He mutters, coughs, adjusts his raggedy hood over his face. It looked definitely moth eaten. "Zhgir." He then meekly adds, as he falls in line after the vieras.

Cecil chuckles and smiles to Zhgir, "It is all right, you proved your skills rather well with that. Very stealthy, I did not notice you at first until my papers shifted." Then he leads the way onto the white ship. The white ship with blue highlights and stripes, Enterprise, turns out to be a war ship. The Enterprise is a heavier ship not built for speed and lined on port and starboard sides with cannons. The crew of the ship is only slightly more than a minimal skeleton crew, but they all appear to be expertly skilled. The adventurers are shown to their own personal quarters. The quarters explains the reason for the smaller crew. The ship has been converted from a mass barracks style common on war ships to a series of small personal quarters. Each of the rooms is the length of a bed on one side and a storage chest on the other. Above the chest and bed reside shelves for more storage space with railing to keep things from falling over. At the far end of the small room resides a desk. The adventurers will be given a hour to settle in before they are called up to the captains dining room. During this hour the ship will take off to the sky and begin its slow journey southward. The captain's dining room is moderately sized and doubles as a conference room. A series of three rectangular tables forms a U around the center. The captain, Kain, sits in the middle, with Cecil on one side. Appetizers have been set out and drinks are available.

Talen peeks into the Captain's mess before stepping in proper, looking around at the room. "I still think the T-rexaur head makes for a classier place to sleep.", he says quietly. He offers Kain a polite bow, "Good evening, Captain." Talen moves to one side of the table, pulling back a chair for Alba, before slipping into the one next to it. "I see that you have Tristania and Zhgir on board as well, are there any others on this trip, or are we it, sir?"

Alba takes her chair, slipping off her mask and stowing it into her hip pouch. As Talen handles the job of talking to the Captain, she makes her selections from among the appetizers, portioning out for two. Among the drinks, she seems to prefer the water, but a small measure of red wine is poured into a glass for Talen, to taste. One ear remains oriented on Kain and Cecil, the other, Zhgir and Tristania.

Tristania follows the others, and after a moment, takes a seat. She eyes the appetizers and drinks suspiciously, and surrepticiously watches what Alba takes. The dryad mimics what the viera takes, putting appetiezers onto a plate and placing them in front of her. She tries one, and eats it; then she claims a glass of water, and as Alba has done while Talen is speaking, she pouts a little bit of wine. She eyes it with no reduction in suspicion, before deigning to put it to her lips beneath her mask, and have a sip; no sooner does she do so, than she spits it back into the glass. She glares at it for a moment, before putting it back down, and reaching for the water, instead.

Zhgir, meanwhile, straddles a nearby chair, standing on its back, while reaching forward to loop a bottle of wine with a string of webs. It seems that is the only thing he craves for, beyond a glass, as he more than lessly discreetly pours himself glassful after a glassful, sipping it all in while trying to be inconspicous as possible. Seeing the ear pointed at him, he waves at Alba. "Very good, yes. Zhgir is well poisoned." He slurps down another mouthful, palps twitching as he peers around the room restlessly.

"Well, I was warned you were a interesting mix of people in Emberstrand. I admit, you are beyond my expectations." Cecil offers his voice friendly as he sips a bit of wine. "Oh it is, but this ship is designed for battle. It has been altered a bit, but not much. As for others, I belive we have a lizard, Ainsley who will be meeting us there. As for the rest of.." stopping as he watches Tristania and then offers a smile, "Not a fan of wine are you now?" A glance to Zhgir, "Try not to get to drunk. The crew will lock you in the quarters if they have to." A jest but also a warning. Cecil then leans back, "A rescue mission is correct. We are looking for a Moogle, Edward Songkupo. He was last seen in the the Rossarian city of Gran Fera. Little else is known, other then a Archadian special forces team has already gotten what they want from him. We are hoping, he will have a good enough memory to direct us. Tell me, who here is familiar with the Artfact of Atomos legends?" (Int+Knowledge)

Talen brings the glass poured by Alba to his nose, sniffs curiously, and sips down the wine. He wrinkles his nose, and follows the wine with water. After rearranging some of the food on the shared plate, he nibbles at one choice piece before replying to the Captain. "What I remember of my studies, Atomos is a great spirit, and the Artefact was a rumour, a means to bring him into the world and use him as a weapon." He leans forwards slightly, a frown working its way onto his lips. "Something a spirit would not take likely, even great summoners take care in bringing them into the world. But, they are rumours. And now I fear that you might now shatter such hopes that they are rumours, and instead, you will say such a thing exists...?"

"Of course it is a thing," Alba mutters sourly. "No sane thing would allow such a weapon to be, yet few thinking things upon this world are sane. But why does Archades place this bard within a Rozarrian town? I did not know such friendship lay between them, to allow this."

"That," Tristania intones, pointing at the wine, "Has the flavor of rotted berries. It is poison upon the tongue and that bodes ill for the body, should you deign to swallow it." She glances about, looking at the vieras who are drinking wine, the spider who is drinking wine, and then Cecil. "I do not understand how you drink it. ...The Archadians and Rozarrians are like packs of wolves that have grown too large and do not have the sense to split into smaller packs." She draws herself up to her full height, as she picks up one of the appetiezers in front of her. "The artifact I have heard of, but have never had interest in."

Zhgir grins widely at Tristania's words. "It is very fine poison, yes? Should Zhgir save up a bottle for the queen? " He gurgles more of the liquid down, before twisting his palps at the direction of Cecil. "Zhgir thinks it's not very wise to try find something that's been long destroyed, yes? It's very unlikely you'll succeed, he's found. Does the bard play nice music? Zhgir's met many bards, maybe he knows his music?"

Cecil offers a sad smile, "Miss I did not mean to offend, it you wish another drink bought I can. Though our selection is limited, this is admitedly a cheap wine." Cecil leans back and sighs again, "No mere legends I am afraid. The grand Summoner Lother of Andromeda predicted the return of the artifact. The legends say it cannot be destroyed, Zhgir right?" Glancing to the spider then a glance to Talen, "The moogle discovered a key to its whereabouts, a secret buried in some ancient library in Rossaria. Where it is or what we do not know, we are hoping the Moogle can point us in the direction. The Archadians, have already stolen the one book he has." A glance to Alba, "They are not friends, this was done without their knowledge. As for the moogles playing ability." A smirk at that, "I hear he is actually pretty terrible. He only got noticed because he was claiming to know where to look for the artifact."

Talen sighs, his ears wobbling ever so slightly at the news, his eyes shifting to Alba. "It is far too often people think if a thing can be done, my Hunter, before thinking if it should be done, with expected consequences. And it is left for people like us.. ", he gestures to those seated at the table, "To make things right." He looks over at Tristania and shrugs, "Poison it may be, but in small quantities it is good. It becomes poison when drank to excess." He looked pointedly at Zhgir before looking back to the Captain. "Does anyone else know of these events, Captain? Are we merely in a race against time with the Archadians, or do we need to be ever mindful of who may be behind us, catching up under cover of cloud and darkness?"

Alba's eyes drift to Tristania as she extolls the evils of wine, and pointedly picks up her glass of water and takes a token sip. "I shall then assume, Captain, that in secrecy this bard will need to be taken from Gran Ferra? Shall there be a place within the desert, that we are to meet this ship?"

Tristania glances back and forth between Alba, Talen, Zhgir, and the Captain. She sips her wine, and eats one of the appetizers. "Water is fine, thank you," she replies to the offer of something else to drink. "I am used to eating what I can catch, cooked over a fire until it glistens with fat and tastes of charcoal. I need nothing else." She eats another morsel, and makes no further comment, evidently content to leaving the mission specifics to others to discuss and for her to merely listen to, for the time being.

Zhgir's palps fold tightly against his chin as fire is mentioned, and he drowns his worries into the wine. Talen gets a hurried headshake, as if to try and divert attention away from him, before he turns to look at the captain once more, the glass still held against his lips. "Why is the winged captain interested in the atomic bard?" He asks then, voice burbling away at the red liquid in his drink.

Cecil hmmms a moment and shakes his head, "At the moment probably just us, but word is spreading. I would not be surprised if we had every faction you could think of after this eventually." Cecil frowns again at the next question, "Edward doesn't even know we are coming. He was attacked and has been hiding out since. We need to find him, save him, and get him out of town before anybody the Archadians hire find him first. We will have no problems getting into Gran Fera. We have a pass and will simply land at the aerodome there." Cecil glances to Zhgir thoughtfully, "Edward may have they information needed to save the world. Find the moogle, save the world basically."

"I think what he is suggesting is that we walk into Gran Ferra, find the wee mog, and walk out with him, my Hunter." Talen's eyes narrow slightly. "It is never as simple as that, when Archades is involved, as we have learned the hard way. I assume the Captain has some knowledge, a clue or small secret he has not let on... as to where in Gran Ferra the bard in question is hiding?" The male Viera's eyes peer questioningly at the Captain. "And I assume that you have a means to convince him to leave with us, let alone divulge the secret he claims to have? I know that moogles are small folk, but I would scarely dare to stick my face near a cornered weasel or badger in their dens... a cornered Moogle is considerably more dangerous, yes?"

"Ah," Alba says, settling back in her chair and rearranging the food between her plate and Talen's. "So it is an adventurer's errand as any other. Much unexpected to go disastrously, much panic to be had, possibly a great fire at our heels as we run into the sands. Hn."

Tristania coughs softly, clearing her throat. "It sounds as though you are asking four wolves to march into the cave bear's den in order to rescue another pack's pup," she observes. "Much will go wrong if we do not tred very carefully. Much will likely go wrong anyway. ...And as we are going to a city, I am rather under the impression that your impressive warship's cannons will be of little use. Please, tell us what advantages we have upon our side?"

Zhgir continues to sip his drink in silence, which wasn't really about silence, but then he begins to slowly sink into the chair, and partly under the table as Alba speaks. "... she shouldn't sound so happy about that fire part, Zhgir thinks." He mutters underneath his breath, before he waves his hand at Cecil. "It is fine. Zhgir is very good at finding things. A moogle's pom is a key like any other." He grins at no one particular, before he quickly swallows another mouthful of the wine.

Cecil at this point just offers a forwn, "Honestly, nope. We have no clue where in the city is. Just the prediction he would be found there. We have no idea how to get him to help us, nor do we know what dangers the Archadians are sending our way. We are rather blind in all of this, but that is why we are hiring help. We just needed more hands, more eyes, more ideas of where to look. he is a bard, figured the taverns and related buildings would be a good place to start. As for adventages, we have the element of the first start. We are the first group after the Archadians to try to start on this path. We also have a ship most others would not attack."

Talen rubs at his cheeks and frowns a bit more. "I was afraid of that. Well.. while my experience with hunting is rather recent, Alba is quite experienced. Zhgir can climb very well, and he has more eyes than the rest of your hired help put together. I am afraid I do not know Tristrania very well so I cannot attest to her skills, but she did join up so that is something to consider there. If you think he may be staying at places bards may... wait." He leans forwards, "Does Gran Ferra have a temple dedicated to Mog, or Fafnir? Archades might not violate their neutrality, and I think moogles in danger just might seek solace there."

"If this bard is as poor of talent as it is said, Captain," Alba murmurs, "then it may be that to find him, should he not be seeking sanctuary among the temples, it is simply that we must find the place which I wish to be, the least. At any rate, Captain, it would seem that you have your hunters. All that remains, is to discuss price."

Zhgir waves his bottle from under the table. "Zhgir's key-rates are very reasonable! World saving reduces the amount of keys!" He cheerfully yells out, before rattling under the tables to find a conveniently dark corner - one that is conveniently on the opposite side from Alba. "Zhgir misses his old keys." He mutters by himself.

Cecil nods slowly, "Yes price. What would your asking price be?" His voice slow and words careful in this matter, but his lack of experiance at negotiating such things is quickly clear. Yet, Kain the captain of the ship speaks up, "Prices are set. Assistance in the search and rescue is 500 gil each, with a extra 1000 gil bonus to be split. Any procurement off defeated Archadian or other factions seeking the moogle will be yours to keep and claim as you see fit, provided the items do not pertain or contain clues to the whereabouts of the artifact or insight into enemy movements." Kain appears to be more experianced in the negotiation area.

Talen's ears wiggle at that, and stand up straighter. "While I am not one to argue over price, considering the nature of the task we are set upon, it is a bit much to expect people to risk life and limb for five hundred gil. I think a thousand gil each, plus a bonus of two thousand gil, is more in line." He looks to Alba for a moment before looking back to the Captain. "Riding herd on a convoy for a weeks time will earn you a thousand gil, and though you might still die, the world does not end if you fail."

Alba picks the last of her food from her plate, transferring the rest to Talen's. At the summoner's bargaining, an ear flicks, an eyebrow rising, but it seems that of the pair of them, she feels the negotiations to be his task, not hers.

Zhgir peeks his head out from under the table. "If Zhgir finds pretty keys, he can give his pay to long ears? Yes? Acceptable? Acceptable." He nods his head, then withdraws under the table, the audible sound of another bottle being opened briefly filling the room.

Kain humpfs at that, "They why are you not working at a caravan? You said weeks, what I said was per day. 500 gil per day of work, to a max of three days to find the moogle. I will offer a bonus on finding at a max of 1200 to be split. If you do not like it, we can set down and find you a caravan to go working. I doubt you will find another job offering you 1500 gil in three days." Kain seems far less friendly then Cecil as he leans back and crosses his arms. Kain glances to Zhgir, "You can do what you want with your share there, doesn't bother me."

Talen raises an eyebrow at the Captain's answer and leans forward. "You did not say it was per diem, sir, as I will respectfully point out. But I can accept the offer of five hundred per day, and your bonus is more pleasing than before. Indeed, I doubt I could find such an offer on such short notice." Talen gestures at the gathered group, "However, I submit to you that you would have trouble finding more of us on short notice either, and would have to pay even more for such notice. So let us agree on those points and move on to the matter at hand, yes?" The male Viera grins toothily, his ears turned sideways.

Alba reaches out a hand, resting it upon the summoner's arm. "Shaman, your teeth are sharp, but there will be little gain in bleeding this Captain and his ship, for goodwill shall flow away more freely than coin. His price is fair, and a ship of this size and crew has much need, to keep it flying."

Zhgir peeks his head out, and then waves his empty glass at the large tigger. "You may give Zhgir wings, but you shan't take the keys away from me. Zhgir means, that keys must be on table if he returns with moogle pom." He then gestures towards Talen. "Don't worry about him, he gets his strange moments." He adds in a lowered tone, before he rolls back under the table, clinking his glasses away.

"you are right, getting less adventurers would mean we could pay each one individually more. If any of you wish to leave so we can do that, please let us know when we land in the morning." Kain offers as he stands up, "As for now, yes let us agree to those points you made and get to the matter at hand. Which is that it is late, and I am going to bed." Kain turns to start leaving the room. Cecil just kinda stares at him and then turns towards the group, "Forgive my friend, he is a bit abrupt. I hope everything is agreeable? We are paying what I can, but it is coming out of my pocket directly. I can try to get something from the treasury at Kandala if you want more, but I cannot promise anything."

Talen's reaction changes the instant Alba's hand touches his arm, whatever angry response is forgotten. Though his eyes still narrow, and his grin is more teeth than is comfortable in a smile. "Pleasant dreams then, Captain. We can get to work in the morning." After the Captain is gone, his ears wilt noticeably. "We were to be hired, yes?", he asks of Cecil. "I can accept the terms, I am not trying to beggar anyone."

"I would believe," Alba says with a mild upturn of her lips, "that if the Captain meant not to hire, he would have thrown us over the railing. We are thankful for the hospitality of your ship," she says, bodding her ears toward Cecil, "and it shall be that your friend is found, however it must be done."

"Zhgir will accept Kandalan keys." A voice from below the desk says, along with a silent burp.

Cecil peers at under the table at Zhgir, "You want to be paid in keys? Well I think that can be arranged." Though still a bit confused. Cecil looks back to Talen and Alba, "Kain is the type to get a job done, not carring about the pay. He has little patience for those who appear to want to milk all the money they can get out of people. Still we are agreed. Let us get to bed." Cecil himself standing up and turning to make his way out.

Talen rubs his cheeks and shrugs, "I was only trying to get fair pay, that's all. And he really did not say it was per day, else I would not have gone as high as I did. I was assuming it was weekly, or for the entire job, since on the face of it... it should be quick, yes?" He leans back heavily in his chair. "Sleep well then, and see you tomorrow."

Alba pats Talen's arm, then leans over to peer under the table. "Zhgir," she says, "the business and meal are done. Sleep, now, for tomorrow we court danger. Come, shaman," she says, slippng out of her chair. "Let us sleep, and be ready."

There is a brief sound, perhaps of great things to come, or perhaps merely disappointment, and the arachnid starts to audibly rattle along under the table. "Zhgir doesn't court danger, he prefers his head in one place..." He mutters underneath his breath as he casually straightens out from under the desk, pulling on his vest with two hands whilst sneaking the bottle into the folds of his cloak. "Atomic moogles don't sound more dangerous than queens..."

The night goes smootly, the ship proving comfortable despite the warship class. The morning comes and breakfest is served to each room and a hour later everybody is called to the deck. The ship landing in the mining town of Gran Fera. The city is old style design, with short houses most nor more then a story high. They are tightly compacted with narrow allys and narrow streets. The aerodome is well sized, and has dozens of landing ships, many of them white ships with red dots on the front. Moogles pouring out of them and flooding the aerodome. A couple of moogles fly on by and wave, "Hey I reconize you! From emberstrand Kupo! you comeing to the annual Mog Mail seminar kupo to!?" (Cliffhanger!)

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