Diamond In The Rough *

Having traveled to the desert regions recently, I found myself rummaging through the land in between villages. There was a section left out of my map and I wanted to make edits on the local maps I had of the region for my own purposes. In this meandering, I notice an area in the distance containing ancient structures. This came as a happy surprise to me given the fact that generally there were things of value near ancient ruins and where one adventurer may have missed there might be items of treasure that could be traded or bartered for other things.

In my approach of this area, I take notice of a figure that comes to stand on top of a dune seemingly looking at something. He seemed to be alone, and though I didn’t necessarily mean ill to this person, it couldn’t be assumed that the hooded figure would share my same intentions. Still, as a hooded figure I had to assure he wasn’t the hooded figure that I had been looking for all of this time. Wait, was he flying? Knowing that it was bad to sneak up on people or to not make your presence known, I take the initiative from about 20 yards or so away. Calling out to the person, I yell, “oy!” and lift my left hand as my right was at my shoulder holding onto the bag that was slung onto my back. I would be wearing white robes through my hood would be pulled back so that my head and face would be visible. I would see how he reacted as I walked towards the area where he had previously been standing.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 295

I judge the reaction that I get from the male and assume that he at least is communal enough to speak to as he returns my salutations with a greeting. I felt like it had been the best thing to make my presence known instead of approaching him from the rear; now that I saw where he was headed, I was a bit interested in exploring there as well. In my walking to him, I reach within a few yards of the male, not getting too close since I didn’t know him and he didn’t know me. Before moving on to talking about the obvious topic at hand, which was the place, I inquire, “do you mind if I ask you a question?” I figured that I might as well get it out of the way since I had a guy here who could fly. I motion down to the ground and squat making a circular symbol with ‘feet’ on it, otherwise known as an omega symbol before looking up to the male and pointing at it. “I’m looking for a man with this matching symbol on his right hand. Have you ever heard of or seen such a man? He’s supposed to be skilled in dark magics?” As always I knew I was almost guaranteed a no, but I did not want to pass up any opportunities that may arise in my travels.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 231 / 526

I rest my palms on my knees and press up as I give a slight grunt and stand to my feet from my crouching position. After becoming erect, I answer the man, “he helped kill my family, so I need to return the favor.” My voice would be calm in a matter of fact manner as if I were stating something about the weather. After all this time, it wasn’t something that I got emotional about, I could easily worry about emotions and all that when I actually came in contact with the person of interested if that stage ever progressed in my life. Since there was no point in talking about it anymore because this guy didn’t know the symbol, I move on in the conversation. Dusting off my hands, I make the comment, “but that’s for another time and place when I see him.” Looking over the area that he was heading to, I inquire, “are you about to explorer this area here, or is this a place familiar to you?” It kind of sucked that he had gotten here first; I would have loved to already been in by now and snooping around for any good gear.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 207 / 733

The guy didn’t seem to be that bad as I got an inquiry about my desire to search this ruin as well. With a nod, I answer with an affirmation, “As an adventurer, I think I have too.” I understood that if there was something of value here, then as the person who was here first, he may feel that he had claim to it. I didn’t really feel like fighting someone over the ruins at the moment since there was no guarantee that there was anything good in there. On top of that, if there was a butt load of stuff, then there would be no way he could carry it all. I figured the ruins were large enough for him to get bored before exploring it all, or the fact remained that he could possibly miss items based on how good of an explorer he was. Some good items could be left behind. I compromise, “since you found this place first, I’ll just set up a little camp and make me some grub and wait for you to finish.” Nodding towards the ruins, I comment, “when you’re done with her, then I’ll have a go. Sound good?”

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 202 / 935

I didn’t really mind the compromise on the account that the ruins had probably been pillaged many times over between the dawning of the world and now; I would basically just be picking up scraps. One more person wouldn’t make that much of an impact to me, but he seemed to have a good idea about me joining him. At least for him, it would help to have someone experienced moving with him. With a nod, I confirm, “I see no problem with that, but we’ll probably want to have an understandings before we go in there.” I begin to walk towards him and more to his side rather than in front of him. I continue, “if we both go in there and find something nice at the same time, we’ll obviously both want it. Since I’m assuming that I’m more skilled than you at pillaging and exploring. I’ll be showing you the ropes.” I think about something; I didn’t know why he was really here if he weren’t an adventurer. He might not know how rare various things were, so it may just be simple to take advantage of that. I inquire, “but answer this. You’re basically just here to look around or is there something you’re trying to find in specific?”

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 229 / 1164

I give him an odd look as I comment, “this world isn’t convenient enough for you to be that honest. Here I was thinking about taking advantage of that fact, but you had to go and admit it.” I give a shrug and sigh as I rub the back of my neck, now morally vexed. Every once and a while, the Kami in me would want to help people who were honest. Since he seemed like a pretty cool guy, I advise, “whatever, we’ll see what we find first and then after that we’ll figure out what to do with it. One plunder won’t make or break me. The world is a big enough place to have more than one area like this, and you seem interesting enough to spend some time showing the ropes.” With that, if there were no issues I would proceed in walking towards the ruins as I would motion towards it, “onward, friend. Now the first thing to realize when going into a ruin is that it’s been ruined for a long time; meaning that there’s been plenty of time for sand to cover up anything that may have been on the ground. Treasure items won’t just be standing on top of the ground in a chest or something; you’ll have to do a little digging to get to things. I normally look for corners in old building structures and dig a few feet under the sand. A lot of time, things are randomly scattered around too, so that adds extra fun to things.” The actual ‘ruins’ themselves would be much different from those near Medius; it would be the remains of a village abandoned long ago which consisted mostly of sand stone and brick. While walking around it, I would look around for signs of other explorers having been here.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 321 / 1485

I saw a few signs here and there of a recent presence, but it was hard to tell at first glance over the area. It didn’t seem as if there were treasure hunters here due to the lack of freshly over turned soil and such, but it did look like someone may have passed through recently. “Ah,” I say as I turn around to face the man, walking backwards into the interior of the area of the ruins. He had pointed out something good; in my haste to move into the ruins, I totally forgot about formalities. I has no problem in giving someone my name, so as such, I stop for a moment, remembering my manners and step forwards extending a hand to the male as I inform and offer, “my name is Jyn’Rai. I’m originally from the north eastern coastal regions though I’ve been traveling for quite some time now. Nice to meet you.” I figured a firm handshake between men was in order since we did seem to pal up quite well in a short amount of time. I would let him fill in with his own counter greeting instead of inquiring his name with my giving.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 208 / 1693

The hand shake is released and my hand returns to my side as I repeat Yuki’s name back once so that it could stay in my memory. It would make sense that a lot of the people I were meeting lately would be from the desert regions. I supposed I would be the only nut traveling all the way from the north eastern coasts to this area; it was a rather arduous journey. With a nod, I accept him answer seeing him as kind of like me but still slightly different in his role in life. With the question he poses, as if on cue, there is the sound of shuffling that comes from all around us. The sound causes me to turn my head as I look towards the edges of the ruins area. Suddenly from out of the sand, six deformed creatures that seemed to be a sandy mix between zombies and minotaurs leap up and land, standing on all sides of us looking in. As if activating a seal, web like bandages rise up all around the ruins area as if this had been a trap that we had walked into. The monsters keep a distance of about 15 yards or so from us, looking inward with us at the center. With an affirmation, I confirm, “yes.” Since this was a good time, I ask, “can you defend yourself, or will I have to protect you?”

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 241 / 1934

I am reassured by the fact that my new friend would be able to take care of himself; from what he was saying, I might even peg him to be a badass. A grin comes across my lips due to this. Looking forwards, I hoped that these guys that we were fighting were within out range of being able to defeat; we wouldn’t know until we tried, since it didn’t seem like escaping was an option. When Yuki made the jest about offering his services to me, I commented, "I would be much obliged; it would lessen the amount of work I'd have to do." That way I could just sit back and watch him do all the work; I would see in this if he were just that powerful, still I would fight for now, since that was the best course of action… or rather Battousai would fight now. With Yuki’s growl and my attention returned to the creatures around us, I counted a fair split to be three for him and three for me. The time for talking had come to an end and the time for battle had begun.

From all sides, the six run in at us. As fiends, they did not have weapons in their hands, but they did seem to be physically strong by their physique. Our movement speeds would be comparable across the board. With the onset of battle, my body shifts as my muscle tone lightens and becomes less pronounced. My hair goes straight, lengthens slightly and sways more easily. Coming into a new form of consciousness, I look forwards with dull crimson eyes as I understand and access the situation that I had been swapped into. The mentality of Jyn’Rai would now be gone and replaced with the persona of Battousai.

My right hand shifts around my torso and comes to rest on the hilt of the Claw-Blade, or Katana, that was sheathed there. Making my move, my body shoots forwards, my overall speed increased slightly as I dash in a gliding rush to meet the large sandy creatures bounding towards us. Targeting the creatures to take them out one at a time, I focus for the one in the center first with many of my actions in mind head of time. Rushing at the center sand demon, my body gets in close, coaxing a strike before my body immediately shifts out of the way of the attack with both anticipation and increased agility for that moment. I evade diagonally and to his other side; the blade on my back is pulled from its sheath and dragged outwardly through the mid torso of the creature as I proceed to pass it. With the slash made, my footing is caught firmly on the ground as I am to his rear. In that fluid movement, my left hand comes around grabbing the top of the creatures head as the blade in my opposite hand is pulled back. Holding the sand creature, my body turns with it, using it as a shield as I place its body between me and the closer of the other 2 sand zombataurs. The blade is thrust through the center of the captive creature in a normal physical thrust where after the thrust, I focus the essence of my strength into it in a form of weapon channeling. There is a short burst as a thin arrow like beam of force shoots through the blade that was thrust through the body of the held sand creature to the approaching creature on the opposite side. The attack is enough to catch it off guard and push it back slightly. Immediately after that, in turning, I slash the impaled creature off of my blade and sling it into the other creature that would be approaching from behind my current position. The slung creature is pushed into the incoming sand demon, causing them to clash into one other, giving me enough room to compose and plan out the rest of my attack in a short instance.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 717 / 2651

I am able to hear the sound of chains clinging in the background. For that moment I am curious to the type of person Jyn managed to befriend or at least become comrades with, in this short span of time. Still, there is no delay in my attack after I have a grasp on the situation. The one I had thrust my blade through was the least of my worried as the second and third creatures were not a priority. Given the most time to recover and the least amount of force applied to it, the second creature that had initial rushed in to receive a sonic arrow to the chest reaches down and slams its fist into the ground. This kicks up sand into the air that spreads over the field of battle. I give a light curse as my arm comes to cover over my eyes. I knew that they would be coming since they were probably used to using this technique strategically against their victims. Unnaturally, almost as if magically, the sand lingers and stays in the air like a light sand storm. Squinting, I see dark images shift though the sand here and there as if positioning themselves to attack. The miniature sand storm would eventually make its way over to the chain wielding Yuki as well.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 235 / 2886

Luckily, in the sand storm there only seemed to be two shadows instead of one. I would assume that I had taken out one of the beasts in my initial attack. I would wait until I saw one of the shadows pass by me and then I would immediately rush and thrust my blade towards it. I would hit nothing but air and sand as it would seem I didn’t judge the creature’s position right. I am punished as I feel a harsh impact from the side and them I feel a sense of weightlessness. The strike carries my body to the side where I land on the ground and then roll into a defensive crouch. I compose myself and carry my blade in front of me defensively in my right arm as my left attempt to continue to shield my eyes. I make an assumption on their battle strategy which I test by thrusting towards another shadow and slashing at it. I miss and a strike comes from the back. Having hardened my body, I am pushed a little by the attack, but manage to keep standing as I turn around and slash again. I do not hit anything, but in anticipating a counter attack, I channel strength into my sword and then grunt slightly as I exert strength from it in all directions. The exertion pushes the sand away from my general area long enough for me to catch a glimpse of the creature that was attacking me. With my target locked on, my blade swiftly turns with my body as I shoot past the sand demon sliding to a stop a few feet behind him. His head falls to one side and his body to the other and the sand storm starts to fade away.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 304 / 3190

With the sand storm fading away, there was only one more target in sight for me. The glare of my red eyes shifts to the last sand creature on my side. Showing its ability to manipulate sand, it holds its hands out, pulling sand from the ground and thrusting a beam of it towards me. Setting my stance, I hold up my sword to block the rush of element. The momentum of the running sand is caught on m sword, but it pushes me back several feet before it finished. Pressing forth after the rush, I run towards the creature yet again. He projects another horizontal column of sand towards me, which I duck and side step to the side. After missing, the attempts another beam of sand to which I dodge to the other side in a zig zag manner. Reaching him, I give a final burst of speed and thrust my blade into the creature gut. My body spins around it and then lowers as I sleep it off of its feet and then completing the turn, I thrust the blade down, pinning the sand demon to the ground. With that, I channel energy into my blade and perform another exert. The exert occurs within the sand creature and presses out on all sides, causing critical internal damage to it and flinging sand and demon blood in various directions.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 246 / 3436

Standing above the last fallen sand demon on my side, I place my foot on its chest and pull my blade free from of. I flick the blade to the side and then look up and walk over to the other two. One was without a head but the only only had a chest thrust wound. Walking up to that one, I discover it was still squirming, so I thrust the blade down and into the head of it before lifting it back to and flicking the blade to the side. Looking over my handiwork almost causes a sinister smile to grace my lips. Remembering the other male that I had come here, with my body shifts and I turn to see how he was fairing in his battle so far. As previously mentioned, he did seem able to defend himself pretty well with his chains. They seemed to be a good weapon of choice for him, they had range and mobility that my blades didn’t have. In my opinion, the chains would work very well with a brawling type style of combat as chains wrapped about the arm could probably serve as a gauntlets used for both defending and attacking. Along with that, pulling your enemy to you and punching the shit out of them seemed to be very effective as well.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 229 / 3665

With the creatures destroyed, the web like spell that had been caste around the area fades away and we are no longer trapped in this area. The FFVII fanfare plays in the background and our experience is rung up. Seeing that Yuki was able to defeat his opponents, I would accept that and leave for now, phasing into Jyn’Rai. With that, my hair would lift back up becoming a little spikier and my body mass would grow slightly as I return to my previously non weapon wielding form. The sword would be sheathed behind my back and I would dust my hands off with a cocky grin stating, “I guess that’s that.” Answering his question, I would turn and look back to the fallen creatures and answer, “yes, fun indeed. Hey, check their bodies to see if they have any jewelry or anything of value on them?” With that, I would look down at the creature beneath me and check to see if he had anything on him before moving to the decapitated one and the other dead sand zombataur. After examining the last of the zombataurs, I would proceed to examine anything that I may have found on their personages.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 220 / 3885

I would be in luck in looking over the three bodies as I would find they all had about three things of bartering usage each. Unfortunately, everything was pretty much common. There were a couple bangles that adorned the zombataur’s wrists as well as small colored rocks and bandages that could be used to as tie. After gathering the things together, I pocket the loot on my end before lifting up and turning to where Yuki was. Walking over to him after I was done, I look over the things that he found and confirmed, “it looks like you found two very common objects. They won’t really be useful to you, but if you get enough of them, the right person will cut you a package deal and take them off your hands.” From there I look around the area we were in wondering if there was anything of value here. Before moving onto that, I comment, “so you’re pretty handy with those chains. How long have you been using them? Are they your primary weapon?” Most mercenaries that I knew of had bladed instruments of death; it was interesting to find someone with a bit more variety than that.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 218 / 4103

I would be paused from my visually searching around the ruins with my gaze towards Yuki as he answers about the weapon of choice he used. With a nod, I would take his words. The comment comes in about my blade and I grin a bit, not really able to take credit for using them since it was Battousai that was doing the leg work. Still, I accept, “thanks, they come in handy from time to time.” I cross my arms at my chest and explain, “I don’t like killing unless I have to, but I guess that’s a little different between people and the things we just fought.” Since he seemed to be interested in my blades, I comment, “if you ever get a sword, I can show you how to use it.” Or at least Battousai could. I continue, “but aside from that, I feel it’s better to have a good foundation on the basics. That’s why I consider my fists my favorite weapon of choice. I think martial arts fighting would go well with your chains as well.” Inquiring on the topic, I ask, “are you able to fight with your hands pretty well?”

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 204 / 4307

With a nod, I would accept that for now and comment, “then I shall take some time to show you some things. I’m currently traveling now, but it should only take me about a week or so to get you on the right path. The rest of what you do will be up to you; that way you can learn how I had to with a little bit of a head start.” Since I had been traveling for a while now since coming from Mare Maris, I figured it would be fine to stop here for a bit to rest. As a traveler, I had the luxury of setting my own schedule. I assumed that Yuki was from around here or at least had a place to stay in a nearby village. If that were the case then I could stay with him and rest up for the rest of my trip to Mare Maris. I go ahead and comment, “I’m very partial to my sword, so we’re going to want to try to barter to get you a sword starting off. Hopefully we can scrounge up enough items for this if you don’t already have items on you or stored somewhere. After that I can get to showing you the basics. Do you live in a village nearby here? Are there merchants that you know of around this area?”

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 221 / 4528

With those confirmations it seemed like everything was set. Smacking my fist into the palm of my opposite hand, I comment, “good. Then if it’s okay with you, I’ll be in your care until I’m done teaching you. You’re going to have to feed me for my services.” I give a cocky grin at the last part but I did expect to at least get a meal, room and board out of this deal. Looking around us, I comment, “now, for the adventuring… now that the baddies are dead we should be able to search around this area in piece. I doubt that we will be able to find something, but still you never know.” Looking around the area I comment, “the things that we just killed might have killed explorers in the past, so that means that not only are there probably skeletons under the sand, but there is also probably stuff as well. That sandstorm attack they did looks like it adds about an inch of sand on the ground when they use it.” Already I was moving around the around and crouching over a particular spot where I was brushing away sand much like a kid playing near the beach; it reminded me of how Meloli and I used to treasure hunt. I continue on in a reminiscent manner, thinking of her for a moment before advising, “just use your feet to brush through the sand and see if you feel anything hard. You may even be able to ‘rack’ the sand with your chains. If you find something hard, then dig…” Though I was talking, I wondered what Meloli was doing right now.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 292 / 4820

I take this time to look around the area on my own not really saying anything for the moment. I give him his time and space to examine a portion of the ruins on his own; I wanted him to be able to get a feel for exploring the area himself. I wouldn’t hover over him and tell him ‘brush this this way’ or ‘do that that way.’ I had been searching for treasure all my life and the best way I learned to learn was simply by doing the process and seeing what worked and what didn’t work. I felt it was something intuitive and not really learned by someone looking over your shoulder. While looking on my own, I keep low to the ground, sliding my hands through the sand near the edges of corners of ancient structures and near the center. Whenever I found something, I would pull it up or brush away anything around it. Sometimes it would be a rock, but every once and a while I would find something. I would spend about thirty minutes or so inspecting the area before I would look at what I had found in it. After accessing the value of my items, I would return my attention to him and ask, “alright, find anything?”

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 224 / 5044

Moving over to him, I would see him with a few things that he might be able to trade in. With a nod, I comment, “I think we might be able to barter you a sword with some of the things we’ve found. The good thing about swords is that they’re pretty common and everyone uses them, at least most adventurers, bandits and fighters.” Looking up towards the sky, I get a feel for what time it was due to the position of the sun. My arm is held across the top of my head to filter the amount of sunlight that shines into my eyes before I look back down to Yuki and lower my arm. I guess if we’ve got a journey ahead of us, then we should be on our way.” Since he had mentioned it would be a bit of a trek, I wanted to go ahead and get it under way since there didn’t seem to be anything else of interest here. “Since I don’t know the terrain well, I think that it will be better to travel during the day light just in case there are actual bandits in this area.” With that, I would inquire, “ready to set out?”

Persona: Jyn'Rai | EXP: 203 / 5247

-End-