Written by BHart
January 21, 2008

click for map

Act LXXVII
The Forest Sanctuary

Allen led them to an alternate exit from Alexandria's tomb. He opened up the secret passage, taking a peek outside to make sure no one was nearby. There was a traliz warrior wandering about, standing no more than 15 feet away from them. His left side was exposed to them.

Allen threw an object at the traliz soldier, striking him in the left side of the head, killing him instantly. There was a black, fine pointed pen stuck in the soldier's head. There was a name on the pen which read, "Isaran."

He retrieved his pen from the fallen soldier, wiping the blood from it.

"Was the soldier looking for the underground tomb?" asked Feral Heart.

"I doubt it. He was probably wandering around here on his break. That occasionally happens. But you can never be too safe."

"We will make sure the council pays for its evil deeds," assured Vasteel.

"Good luck to you all," said Allen, waving goodbye.

They were at a small hill, just north of an island with a stone monument. They went through Rolanberry Fields, to Sauromugue Champaign.

"It will be difficult getting through here. There are a lot of predatory creatures." warned Vasteel.

"Our chocobos and your tiger are fast on their feet," mentioned Mia.

"Yes, but we still need to be careful," replied Vasteel.

They headed south east. Carnivorous beasts began chasing them.

"They're pretty fast," noticed Mia.

"Let's just stop somewhere and fry them all," suggested Rie.

"There are too many of them and we'd make a scene. When we get to the mountains down here, have your chocobos fly over the tops of them and land in a secluded area," ordered Vasteel.

"What about you?" asked Nami.

"This old tiger of mine is an excellent mountain climber. Don't worry about us."

They reached the Gausebit Mountains, flying and climbing as fast as they could, leaving their pursuers behind. They arrived at a small, grassy area surrounded by the mountains. There was a cave entrance.

"What were those things chasing us?" asked Kousagi.

"The three predators native to this area are coeurl, tabar beak, and sauromugue skink," informed Vasteel.

"Good thing they're slower," said Nami.

"Even though they're poor climbers, they're probably still after us," warned Vasteel.

Rie made a fire to keep everyone warm inside the cave. Night was approaching.

"You always did have a thing for elves, didn't you? You always seemed to go both ways with them," said Rie.

"Yeah, there's something about those pointy ears that's irresistible," replied Kousagi.

"I prefer galkas and humes, myself," mentioned Vasteel.

"Eww! Galkas? They're like evolved apes with long rat's tails," said Nami.

"That is rather strange taste," agreed Mia.

The chocobos began squawking and seemed a little restless. "The chocobo's food supply is getting low," noticed Feral Heart.

"There's a place nearby where we can restock their food," replied Vasteel.

"I think I hear something outside," said Feral Heart.

Vasteel walked to the entrance of the cave, seeing shadowed figures walking about. "We've got some hungry visitors. Get ready to implement the plan we talked about earlier. We're getting out of here," said Vasteel.

The tabar beaks, sauromugue skinks and coeurls followed the scent of the chocobos to the cave. A blast of fire came out of the cave, engulfing a few beasts in flames, while surrounding the rest of them in a large circle of fire.

They flew off on their chocobos, flying over the flames and over the mountains. Vasteel climbed the rough terrain with her tiger. They continued heading southeast until reaching the Meriphataud Mountains.

Vasteel stopped, looking behind for a moment.

"Is anything wrong?" asked Mia.

"I thought we were being followed."

"Wait behind those small mountains to the southwest while I get the chocobo food," ordered Vasteel. "I'll be going to the outpost. I'll steal what we need."

Vasteel's tiger was growling at something behind some boulders. The chocobos were getting flustered.

The tiger pounced on something behind the boulders.

They found themselves surrounded by a group of Boggarts. "Where did they come from so suddenly?" asked Nami.

"I don't know. It's as if they appeared out of nowhere," commented Feral Heart.

While they were busy fighting off the Boggarts, the chocobos got scared and ran off.

Some arrows flew through the air, striking some of the Boggarts in the head. Vasteel was helping them until they killed them.

"Sasha!" Vasteel ran to her pet tiger that was lying down in a pool of blood. She knelt down by it, weeping. "What happened?" cried out Vasteel.

"We were waiting for you and before we knew it, we were ambushed," explained Kousagi.

"That's not possible. I didn't sense any enemies. Where are the chocobos?" asked Vasteel, looking around.

"They got scared and flew off," answered Rie.

"We'll continue our journey after I bury my tiger." Vasteel left the bags of chocobo food on the ground.

She had stolen some food for them to eat, too.

"I can't believe you stole all of this food without anyone noticing," said Kousagi.

"It's easy when you've done it for so long."

They made their way to the Sanctuary of Zi'tah.

"Keep quiet and follow me closely. It's easy to get lost in this forest and there are a lot of tough creatures out here," warned Vasteel.

She observed some small plants growing in the forest. "These are some of my children. I planted them as saplings; it's amazing how much they've grown."

She picked up a wandering sapling. "There you are, my little friend. I need your help." She entered the Boyahada tree, with the others following.

"We only have to worry about the non-plant type creatures here, since I am a friend to all plants."

She let the sapling out of her hands. It led them to their next destination. They entered a room with many Boyahada saplings wandering about. They lost track of the sapling they were following.

"Oh great, now what?" asked Feral Heart.

"I'm using my wide scan ability to find it," reassured Vasteel.

"Thank goodness you're an expert tracker," said Mia.

Vasteel found the sapling. "There you are. We lost you there for a minute."

They were facing a dirt wall to the west. Something emerged from the ground.

"The grass is moving," noticed Feral Heart.

An ancient gobbue arose from the ground.

"Things aren't always what they appear; that's why I needed this sapling to find this gobbue."

The sapling talked to the gobbue. The gobbue reached down into its large mouth with its long hands. It pulled out a brown colored glove with a turquoise jewel on it, handing it to Vasteel.

"It's an enchanted thief's glove. I had to keep it in a safe place," explained Vasteel.

They went to Dragon's Aery afterwards.

They heard a buzzing sound, becoming louder and louder with each step. There were many darter flies flying around.

"I've never seen mosquitoes that big," commented Kousagi.

There was a large nest of darter flies on a path leading east. "Stay here, I need to get something from that nest," ordered Vasteel.

"Are you serious? You'll be attacked by a swarm," worried Mia.

"This glove enhances my pilfering and stealth abilities."

Sailor Marina and Sailor Ares attacked the darters hovering above them with their ice water and flame torch attacks. Feral Heart was helping them out by casting thunder II. Sailor Magellan was attacking them with concentrated ultraviolet beams.

Vasteel ran back towards them, with her hands covered in clear goop. "There was an enchanted first class thief's tool that I needed. It was under some of those darter eggs covered in amniotic insect fluid." She flung it off her hands.

They entered the Sanctuary of Zi'tah once again, appearing east of the outpost.

Kousagi was worried about council goonies at the outpost.

"Don't worry about that. This is a sanctuary, no one from the council is here," assured Vasteel.

"So the outpost is abandoned?" asked Nami.

"Yeah; we occasionally use it to hold tree hugging meetings."

Continuing northwest, Vasteel stopped. A giant, stone hand swung down at her, barely missing. She quickly attacked it with a dagger. It broke, rather than hurting the golem.

"Stay back everyone, these things are tough," warned Vasteel.

It blocked Sailor Marina's icy water attack with its ice break technique. The rock golem caused crystal shards to fall upon them.

They destroyed the crystal shards before they landed. "Its crystal shield is protecting it from our attacks," said Vasteel.

Feral Heart cast thunder II on the golem, wounding it a little. "Let's get out of here before we attract anymore attention," said Vasteel.

"Uh, I think it's too late for that," said Kousagi. They were surrounded by more rock golems.

"Oh boy, this is going to be trouble," said Vasteel.

There were rustling sounds nearby. It looked as if some of the trees in the forest were moving.

The rock golems moved in closer. Some giant trees stood in their way, stopping them. The trees attacked the golems, giving them a chance to escape. "Thank you, my friends. I am forever indebted to you."

"Were those your nature tree hugging friends helping us out back there?" asked Rie.

"They are the Guardian Treants. We help each other out."

They reached the north end of the woods. Vasteel looked back.

"What is it?" asked Kousagi.

"I got the inkling that something was following us."

..to be continued..