#astral agent

 Louma'li Jinjahl looked sheepish. "Also brought out a few...undesirable qualities in a few."

 Milo North: "Ick."

 Berrod Armstrong eyed Lou for a moment and inclined his head slightly.

 Louma'li Jinjahl: "You're really lucky ya didn't end up lickin' it."

 Berrod Armstrong: "At -first-, we decided to let the La Noscean an' Lominsan authorities handle it. We arranged for the crystal -- the Prism, we called it, to be collected by the Yellowjackets an' taken back to the city proper for the Arcanist's guild to keep in their custody." He rubbed his face then, "Really wished it all stayed there, but the Gods had different plans it seemed. They cordoned off the streaked area, but a couple of our people got samples of the dead white rocks. They were harmless if you didn't let it touch flesh."

 N'hara Tia: "Also got samples of some of the sea creatures it killed. Not the prettiest sight."

 Orion Llewelyn stroked the lizard in his lap, attempting to lull the creature to sleep. It was having none of it with all the people around and hissed.

 Soyer Perera entered and remained silent. No greeting and not motions beyond walking and picking a spot.

 Berrod Armstrong made a face at the mention of the dead sea creatures, but nodded to acknowledge it. "Least chalky fish don't stink..."

Berrod Armstrong: "Anyroad, a couple weeks later the Arcanist's guild called us up for our help with a matter involvin' the crystal. Apparently since we were the once who had 'experience'--" He made quotation marks with his fingers then, "--with it, we were the ones they wanted. Turned out they tried to cast some standard protective stuff around it for safe keepin', but the crystals amplified the magic to the point that it got a bit -too- well shielded. We were hired to work with a fella named Hartsald to  break that shield. From the reports it seemed like one hell of a job, but nothin' catastrophic, an' nothin' the team that went couldn't handle."

 Berrod Armstrong turned to offer a tip of his chin to Soyer by way of greeting.

 Soyer Perera nodded but made no sound.

 Berrod Armstrong: "We used the success of that job to curry some favour with the Arcanist's guild, to the point where we managed to get a sample of the crystal for the company for our own to study. Unfortunately, a couple weeks after -that-, we got another missive from the guild. Hartsald had gone missin', an' from the investigation we launched into it, he'd gone barkin' mad before he vanished. He'd been drawin' nonsense on maps, rippin' up books, writin' over an' over again about somethin' called -blàths bloigh-. No language I'd ever heard of. With the help of those of us gifted in understandin' such things, we learned that it means 'blooming essence'. An' so the hunt for Hartsald began."

 Natja Bafsk breezes on in like she was here all along, peering around and filing her nails into even pointier points.

 N'hara Tia brought a hand to the bridge of his nose. Not a fun assignment…

 Milo North: "Baths Bentlow, yeah."

Milo North: "... Blowfly."

Milo North: "... Blarfs."

 Orion Llewelyn: "Spoilers: He was found."

 Natja Bafsk nods her head agreeably at Milo's valiant effort, knowing damn well she can't do anything better.

 Berrod Armstrong: "The hunt led us to the Blac--" He quickly and apologetically eyed Jancis in the distance, "Uh, the Twelveswood, where the search team encountered all sorts of mischievous magics. Weird plants, floaty-stuff. The reports were...wild. Even though that was dealt with, apparently the team came into contact with an anomaly that caused the same whitenin' effect from the cliffs in Costa. I still...don't really understand what I read about what the team there saw, but everyone came outta it okay."

 Berrod Armstrong: "Mostly, anyroad."

 Louma'li Jinjahl: "And one overly animated annoyin' blue...person."

 Berrod Armstrong: "Ah, aye. Jock whatsisballs."

Louma'li Jinjahl couldn't remmeber how many Jock-Jocks it was.

 Zachary Evans mouthed the phrase 'blue person' in absolute confusion.

 Louma'li Jinjahl: "Jock-Jock somethin' Jock, covered in woad an' crazy, aye."

 Milo North: "Somethin' made outta Light."

 Bayan Dataq cracked a small smile. This was getting good. Now there were blue people. He wondered what strange Eorzean people that was.

 Milo North shivers at the memory.

 Berrod Armstrong: "He'd been hired to find Hartsald too -- an' now we know by who. But I'll get to that in time."

 Louma'li Jinjahl had a sneaking suspicion of the 'who' but he'd be happy if fate decided to surprise him. Lou just nodded along with Berrod's assertion that they'd get to it, in time.

 Berrod Armstrong: "Arcanist's guild hadn't made any headway either, an' so as more time went on, the more everyone feared Hartsald was dead. You know how it goes with missin' persons. Anyroad, -another- issue popped up in Mor Dhona that we went to investigate. After what happened in the Shr...er -- -Twelveswood-, we were expectin' to find Hartsald. Instead, we found a Hyuran fella with an axe an' way, -way- too much power. The team went in, accompanied by one Grave Shadow as an observer, the reports said. The Hyur -- Breaker, or Baby or whatever -- was subdued an' separated from a prismatic crystal that he'd been given with the promise of power. It was there that the monk twin ladies some of y'all came to know were sighted for the first time."

 Orion Llewelyn leaned over to Bayan with a hushed voice, "That's where I came in." A thumb was jerked in Berrod's general direction.

 Bayan Dataq nodded. The cast of characters was getting a bit much for him to keep track of, but he was doing his best.

 Jancis Milburga looks thoughtful, "And that odd sludge that came off of him."

 Soyer Perera || It occured to Soyer that it was around this time he had joined the Company too...He had a faint smile at the thought.

 Berrod Armstrong: "Breaker was pretty badly affected by what had happened to him. He wasn't an enemy, not really. Just someone who'd gotten a raw deal. We took care of his recovery an' such,an' in doing so, found out he had a connection to those twins...like -- a thread. Oh--" He consulted his book then, "I shouldn't forget the group out in the ruins of Nym either. After the Hartsald incident, we went to investigate some aetherial spikes there an' did battle with an entire group enhanced with shards of prismatic crystal. It wasn't enough to make 'em -crazy- powerful, so they got taken down smoothly enough. One of 'em was above the rest though...Astrologian gal with a -weapon- made with one of the crystals in it. Our first encounter with a prismatic weapon."

 Milo North: "Someone had fun lickin' crystals."

 Zachary Evans shifted from foot to foot before finally deciding on doing squats. The whole chain of events had given the young man a surge of nervous energy.

 Louma'li Jinjahl: "An' she up an' ran before we could finish kickin' her arse. Seems Shadow got to her though an' finished things."

 Natja Bafsk 's expression slowly takes a turn for the morose, more and more.

 Bayan Dataq 's face gave away he didn't really approve of leaving a mark alive in a hunt, but didn't say anything.

 Zachary Evans: "I'm not exactly sure of -how- comfortable I am working with Shadow again...wherever the Shadows are, things go from worse to catastrophic."

 Sarij Rahzersyn: "Alright, focus folks."

 Zachary Evans: "Sorry, chief."

 Sarij Rahzersyn: "And listen tah what Berrod has tah say, ya can ask shite after."

 Natja Bafsk nods to Sarij Rahzersyn.

 Berrod Armstrong: "It turns out that the Astrologian gal didn't quite get away -- so proven by a box sent to us by a -mysterious benefactor- at the time. It contained the prismatic weapon...broken, though that didn't make the crystal itself any less potent. The box itself was made with...arcane stuff written on it that turned it into a kind of compass that pointed us north, to Coerthas. Again, we decided to investigate, an' the team sent met -- another arcanist? Nah -- a uh, a--" He checked his notes, "Nymian-styled Scholar. He didn't quite have a prismatic weapon, but his -faerie- was made of the stuff. From what I read, his spellwork was...damn powerful."

 Tiergan Vashir blinked at that. "His /faerie/ was made of /crystal/?"

 Berrod Armstrong: "Aye. Bright an' colourful an' glitterin'...an' -potent-."

 Autgar Bloode: "Yes, his fairy was a crystal. He was very strong."

 Orion Llewelyn looked away to take a swig of his drink.

 Tiergan Vashir frowns deeply, brow furrowing.

 Berrod Armstrong: "Was around that time that our study into the crystal itself showed us some of what it was capable of. Like allowin' me to conjure as if it was nothin', for example. Healed a gash on my own arm with a twig an' it didn't even leave a scar." He offered his arm as proof.

Berrod Armstrong: "I should note that the crystal samples in our possession went up to two. The weapon, an' the sample we got from the Arcanist's guild."

 Jancis Milburga furrows her brow at Berrod's arm.

 Tiergan Vashir: "Did.... you have much conjurying ability before or did you go from none to suddenly proficient?"

 Berrod Armstrong: "I tried to learn once. They were nice about tellin' me I would never be able to do it."

 Aulen Mistbreaker was totally not taking a nap or anything as he showed up late.

 Berrod Armstrong: "I don't have a lick of castin' talent, sad to say."

 Orion Llewelyn: "Shame, that."

 Louma'li Jinjahl: "Ya punch things better anyways."

 Zachary Evans: "That's...disturbing. Granting that much power out of the blue is dangerous."

 Autgar Bloode: "You've got plenty of other talents chief."

 Tiergan Vashir: "So these crystals can turn anyone into a skilled mage."

 Berrod Armstrong: "Nnnh -- well, I knew the -motions-, I just never made anythin' happen, you know? But that crystal changed that."

 Milo North: "Or jus' let you throw enough power at a spell."

 Orion Llewelyn: "An' those of us already skilled t'start with, well..." Orion leaned back.

 Milo North: "That it makes it look like you can do it."

 Soyer Perera frowned at that--he hadn't been told they could do that too.

 Berrod Armstrong: "Go on," He urged Orion.

 Milo North: "Scarier thought is what happens when someone like fuckin' black mage casts one of their clever lil' spells with the power of one of these."

 Natja Bafsk nods to Milo North.

 Orion Llewelyn: "Huh?" He sputtered. "Oh I've got nothin'. Just sayin' I can imagine how it'd be like for those of us with a lick o' talent an' skill."

 Milo North: "Power and the nuance to properly use it."

 Berrod Armstrong nodded, "Aye."

 Tiergan Vashir: "Is that why Mountain's Shadow has an interest then?"

 Martin Adler: "Probably." Martin grunts.

 Autgar Bloode: "Save the questions folks."

 Aulen Mistbreaker spoke up. "Well... back on the beach. A simple spell I used turned a small flame into a massive pyre by just being near the damn thing."

 Berrod Armstrong: "Aye..."

 Berrod Armstrong: "Alright -- back to Breaker an' his ability to trace the twins...much like the box had become a compass that led us north, he led a team of us south into the Sagolii to follow the twins' trail. From what I read, the trip was an interestin' one. They utilised their crystals to their full potential and put up a hell of a fight. It was hard, but our team won out with Breaker's help. Poor bastard ended up abed again, an' we took the twins into our custody. Treated them well, mind you."

 Natja Bafsk smiles, but with a notable twinge of sadness.

 Jancis Milburga: "Had to, those crystals were embedded."

 Berrod Armstrong: "That fight was an' educational one, 'cause we learned about the flawed crystals. Turns out that they were not only different to the samples we had, but they had awful effects on the user. Uh --" He consulted his book again, and began to read directly off of it.

 Orion Llewelyn: "They amplified the user's flaws."

 Milo North: "They got real ugly?"

 Berrod Armstrong: "Our samples achieved perfect resonance with the user's aether. Perfect prisms. The flawed crystals however, sought to compensate for their imperfection by resonating oppressively and affecting the user's aether in a detrimental manner -- usually to the tune of illness or behavioural changes."

 Berrod Armstrong: "Aye, what Orion said."

 Louma'li Jinjahl: "Not ugly enough to not fluster Autgar."

 Autgar Bloode would remember that.

 Orion Llewelyn snorted, "Not that kinda flaw. Made angry people angrier an' that kinda thing."

 Bayan Dataq: "Weaknesses?" he asked softly.

Berrod Armstrong: "After some questionin' -- gentle, mind you, we never treated 'em badly," We learned that -Hartsald- was apparently creating the flawed crystals and temptin' people to power with 'em. First the twins, then he tried to get 'em to bring Breaker on board. S'what was happenin' when we met the lot of 'em in Mor Dhona. What was most interestin' is that they said that we couldn't just go -find- Hartsald. He had to be -summoned-. The ritual to do it was queer as all hells."

 Tiergan Vashir: "Summon. Like some sort of voidsent?" There was audible distaste in his tone.

 Milo North: "You can summon other stuff, too. Kinda."

 Berrod Armstrong: "I would think that if the ritual wasn't...downright stupid."

 Orion Llewelyn wavered a hand before Bayan at his question. "Sorta like that."

 Berrod Armstrong: "Once again a team went out -- to the Cloud Sea up above the Spine. Aether's rich there an' it was far away from people just in case things got hairy...which they did. Still don't really understand what happened, but they called him. He was strange, with bright blue eyes with rings in 'em," He gestured at his own eyes, ever one to talk with his hands, "Talkin' funny too, not nearly the same as he was before. Borin' an' kinda stodgy."

 Bayan Dataq perked up a bit. Sounded like the red haired hyur was describing him. Badly, but still.

 Berrod Armstrong: "Seems like he tried somethin', but the team figured it out and put a stop to it before he finished. Unfortunately, one of the twins got turned into a plant -- or was it eaten by a plant...?" He checked his notes again, "Ah, she got turned into a bush. When they finally managed to put Hartsald down, a big ol' pair of flowers grew. One spat out the twin, the other...Hartsald's body. The -real- Hartsald. Poor bastard had been dead all along, an' somethin' was wearin' his face. Accordin' to what I read, he'd been killed long before, even though he wasn't rottin'."

 Milo North: "So.... Voidsent."

 Soyer Perera frowned a bit deeper. If he were the type to be ungrammatical, he'd say this entire thing was getting curiouser and curiouser.

 Jancis Milburga swears to Nald'thal quietly.

 Soyer Perera: "That doesn't sound like a voidsent."

 Berrod Armstrong shook his head. "Would be simple if it was. Read more like a ghost to me."

 Orion Llewelyn: "Aye, I'm inclined to agree with Berrod."

 Bayan Dataq shook his horned head. This is why he preferred sheep and horses. Less magic and spirits. More things that were simple to skewer with his lance.

N'hara Tia: "This whole fiasco gets worse and worse when you really stop and think about it..."

 Orion Llewelyn: "Like....another soul." He offered up.

 Tiergan Vashir: "A ghost that turns people into plants and grows flowers that hold bodies?"

 Milo North: "A ghost who makes people inta plants? Ashkin ain't that powerful. Or smart."

 Milo North: "Mosta the time they jus' moan about how much it hurts or whatever."

 Berrod Armstrong: "Team came back, though the affected twin hadn't regained consciousness. Reks examined her, an' it turned out there -- wasn't a soul in her body. I dunno how that was possible, or how it worked, but that's what happened. We decided to keep her safe, an' her sister didn't leave her side. Breaker was fully recovered an' decided to go out there an' try to make some headway."

 Berrod Armstrong: "Took a couple weeks, but he came back...different. He'd acquired a bit of prismatic crystal, which somehow -fused- with him while he slept. It...made him strong. Real strong. I dunno if he's immortal now, but I know it's real hard to hurt him. Or was. We had to press him for answers, but even when he finally caved an' tried to give 'em to us, he couldn't speak of it, or even write of it. He'd been hexed, and pretty badly."

 Berrod Armstrong: "The same night he came back to us, somethin' happened to the unconscious twin. Long story short, whatever had been masqueradin' around as Hartsald jumped into her, pulled a switch on us, an' ran off into the night. Was a damn mess, I'm told. Her sister an' Breaker went off to try an' find her."

 Natja Bafsk stares down at her lap, ears drooping backward.

 Berrod Armstrong: "'nother couple weeks went by. Breaker an' Rookmin -- ah aye, that was her name -- kept in contact, wrote to us an' stuff...an' then the contact stopped. Stopped for a worryin' while, with the last place they mentioned bein' Tailfeather up in the Dravanian lands. Of course, we sent a team up to find 'em..." He rubbed the back of his head then, "An' what a time that was."

 Berrod Armstrong: "There were so many things -- a cave full o'gold dust. Talkin' to dragons...followin' the trail on a whole. The trail led to a white, magical coffin' with the words 'Let sleeping beasts lie' on it. Anybody who tried to tamper with the coffin got...frozen? Stilled -- though it came at a cost to the coffin's aether. With enough people triggerin' it, it eventually ran out, an' broke open."

 Milo North: "W..."

 Orion Llewelyn: "Nothin' like brute forcin' some magic."

 Milo North places his face into his hands, "You opened the magic box sayin' please dun open."

 Jancis Milburga: "And good we did." Her tone is sadder after the mention of gold dust.

 Tiergan Vashir visibly tenses up at this portion of the tale, shoulders locking. He glances back towards Jancis once before his jaw sets and he looks to Berrod again.

 Louma'li Jinjahl: "To be fair, at least we did it an' didn't die. Can't say if someone else woulda lived if they did the same."

 Berrod Armstrong rubbed at his face with one hand. "I'm glad I can just give the facts here now, because at the time it was confusin' as all hells. Breaker, as it turned out, had been jumped into by the Hartsald-wearer. It was a bad combination, because Breaker himself was fused with a prismatic crystal an' powerful as all hells. Not only that, but in tryin' to resist the thing tryin' to ride him, he unleashed -- well, a beast, is the best way to put it. Y'all would be interested to know that one Mountain Shadow showed up, yellin' at the team for openin' the coffin. He looked pretty chewed up. Even lost consciousness, I think."

 Cerina Borlaaq gave a very audible grunt of pure /disgust/ at the mention of Mountain, however, she didn't say anything about it.

 Orion Llewelyn finished off what remained of his drink.

 Berrod Armstrong: "We know now that Rookmin and Breaker had found the other twin -- Sumintra, which is when the...thing...jumped from her to him. Apparently Mountain was on their trail an' used that coffin thing to subdue the thing -- which we opened. Ah well. Anyroad...there was a fight. Details...don't matter. There was a fight that we won. Autgar managed to kill the thing...for good. Breaker was safe, though the twins were missin' still. Both of 'em this time."

 Jancis Milburga glances back at Martin briefly before gazing at Tiergan for awhile, silently echoing Berrod's words.

 Milo North: "Course he put a cryptic phrase on the fuckin box instead of, I dunno, -something explainin' exactly what was inside-."

 Berrod Armstrong: "Mountain got extracted from the area an' we dealt with the fallout as we always do. Got some blessed quiet for a while after that. We needed it."

 Louma'li Jinjahl: "An' he wrote it in ways that only people versed in an arcane science could understand. Coulda gotten better results with a slab o' wood an' some paint."

 Orion Llewelyn: "That's got me wonderin' though. It /was/ quiet for a good bit. Us meetin' here though..."

 Orion Llewelyn: "does that mean somethin's happened?"

Berrod Armstrong: "Quiet couldn't last, I suppose, 'cause who else came marchin' up to our gates a few weeks later but Mountain himself, with the balls to ask us to -leave it all to him-. Didn't need to consult leadership to outright refuse that, no matter how much I'd like to wash my hands o'this stuff." He smiled at Orion then, "I'll get to that in a lil bit."

 Milo North: "Really. Is "There is an awful monster in here, this box is keeping it from killing you. No touch.' So hard? Fuckin' Mountain."

 Orion Llewelyn: "Wait, he came /here?/ What'd he want?"

 Orion Llewelyn: "Oh well, I guess you just said that." he leaned back again, slightly less agitated.

 Sarij Rahzersyn: "To be fair... even if he wrote that people would have opened it."

 Berrod Armstrong: "Aye. We said no an'...he was uh, awfully gracious an' decided that in the event of our refusal, -he- would leave it entirely to -us- instead. Apparently it'd be one or the other, so long as it meant we no longer clashed. So he officially withdrew from the matter, an' shared with us some information, includin' the whereabouts of some missin' people. The scholar, the twins, an' the Astrologian."

 Mholi'to Valrei offered the room a brief wave as he walked over to an open spot to stand. He was quiet for now as to catch up on the current conversation.

 Berrod Armstrong: "Apparently he'd convinced them all to withdraw from the whole ordeal, an' has managed to keep 'em safe in his own way." There was an unconvinced shrug from him, but he went on, "He also handed over his prismatic crystal -- the Scholar's faerie. We have three samples now."

 Cerina Borlaaq: "So it is only a matter of time before he tries to swoop in again." She huffed. "We should have just cut him down when he showed up at our doorstep."

 Orion Llewelyn: "He gave ya his faerie...?" Orion bunched up his brow.

 Berrod Armstrong: "Hmn. Oh -- aye, though it turned back into a chunk o'pretty crystal when it left his side."

 Orion Llewelyn ran a hand along his jaw, pensively, saying nothing further.

 Sarij Rahzersyn: "Kindly keep murder plans to yerself. Mountain is a company owner of a known company and on the level in the terms of the governing bodies."

 Sarij Rahzersyn: "I don't feel like going infront of a judge again."

 Milo North: "I ain't sayin' anything about killin'. I'm thinkin' it real loudly though."

 Cerina Borlaaq: "I did not ask for your assistance, Sarij. But do not make this company bend to him again."

Berrod Armstrong: "Speakin' of which, couple folks from here parleyed with 'im an' made some requests, one o'which he granted." Very carefully did he pull an envelope from between the pages of the book he'd been reading his notes from. The envelope was handed across to Autgar, though in stretching to do so, Berrod held it dangerously close to the candle's flame. "Ah -- shite, whoops. There y'go."

 Bayan Dataq was starting to wonder why everyone was talking about some mountain. And why everyone hated a geographical feature.

 Natja Bafsk peers over at the envelope questioningly.

 Autgar Bloode plucked up the letter and held it infront of him on the table without a word.

 Dylan Skye: "...What is that, Autgar?"

 Orion Llewelyn leaned back forward, eyes shifting toward the envelope as well and then to Autgar.

 Orion Llewelyn: "Aye, what he said."

 Mholi'to Valrei took a few steps closer to Autgar to peek over the man's large shoulders out of curiosity.

 Sarij Rahzersyn: "I am saying.... stay the hells away from 'em and not deal wtih em, so if as ya think he tries tah get his fingers involved wit us... we got solid feet undah us rather than having the Immortal Flames kicking in the door again to arrest folks."

 Autgar Bloode elbowed Oli. "We can talk about it when were all caught up."

 Bayan Dataq 's eyes shot open, and then he looked to Orion for clarification. “What kind of company was this anyroad?"

 Mholi'to Valrei frowned as he was lightly jabbed. "Fine, fine," he grumbled. His curiosity still burned bright, but his eyes were forced back towards Sarij. "Honestly, the best thing to do in my opinion would be whatever the hells we intended to do before he showed up. Regardless of what he's offerin'. He smells like trouble."

 Louma'li Jinjahl looked on skeptically as this was unfolding. He didn't have history with Shadow, but at this rate, he was hating him just out of spite.

 Cerina Borlaaq: "That has certainly worked for us in the past when it comes to dealing with him, yes? Because he has not managed to weasel himself into the company, and out of what ever--" she waved her hand in front of her in frustration, "solid ground you are talking about. Figured you would know that better than anyone else."

 Sarij Rahzersyn: "This company is not a wetworks." Sarij replied simply. "Berrod feel free tah continue."

 Cerina Borlaaq scoffed loudly, but decided not to press on.

 Autgar Bloode was scanning over the letter before he returned it to the envelope and rested it on the table infront of him.

 Berrod Armstrong nodded at Autgar, then at Sarij. "I agree that we have to be careful. He's got a legitimate thing going an' -if- he means us ill, which I'll never rule out, he's gonna get us tangled up in a lotta legal shite before the final blow. Either way -- if he says he's out, I agree with Oli there...we press on like he's not around. Granted...it might mean followin' some of his...advice."

 Soyer Perera: "And what's wrong with that?"

 Jancis Milburga nods in agreement. "Coincidence."

 Berrod Armstrong: "Or rather, followin' his methods. He said that he wanted to dissipate the crystals by givin' their aether to the land -- it's why Breaker was put in that coffin, to drain him of the prismatic aether he'd been fused with -- and contain that thing inside him too."

 Soyer Perera: "Provided it doesn't harm anyone or the land itself--we have enough mages here to confirm if the method would actually put it back into the land, right?"

Mholi'to Valrei: "Then make sure that information is verified independently somewhere else. Facts are facts, regardless of who's sayin' it. Are you sure that it's the best method, all things considered?"

 Berrod Armstrong: "So we have three samples. I want us to begin lookin' into ways to gettin' these crystals smelted down into the land, for lack of a better term. Once we find a way to do it safely, that's how we'll handle any o' the prisms we come into contact with goin' forward."

 Berrod Armstrong: "Aye, those things are a menace in man's hands."