Fall of the Crags

The scholar of many years had given up. The so-called comrades had abandoned him, and Eorzea had forgotten him. This was his rationale going into the territory of the kobolds to submit to their twisted ritual. There was nowhere else to go now if the Light was truly gone from him.
The skies were the blue-black of a foreboding night, clouds obscuring the moon and ample speckling stars. On the ground was a bonfire encircled and ensorcelled by praying kobolds. Pacing about the ten-foot tall flames was Dalrog of the 92nd order, newly risen to power due to his kin falling at the hands of other adventurers. Then there was Shane Farlander and his allies: Urumi Kanzaki, Garflex the Conjurer, and Sean Shyan, all standing in front of the great flames with wariness in their eyes. They had no idea what to expect.

All this took place on the outskirts of Camp Overlook, just outside the kobold cave, where the bombs freely floated in harmony with the shifting earth. Eerily enough, none of the three factions had stirred to stop what could have been another blatant summoning of the Lord of the Crags, Titan. While unlikely, any visibly sacred gathering of kobolds was better left to the sword than the wind.

"I come for your proposal," said the scholar, Shane, pacing back and forth before his comrades. "Power and understanding, and in limitless form. You said this ritual would provide such for me and my comrades."

Dalrog's hands shifted in what should've been nervousness, but the look of glee in his eyes spoke otherwise of his intentions. His snout fumed a feverish steam, his teeth clicked and clacked, and the audible sound of his nails scratching one another was a subtle annoyance to those not tainted by the indoctrinating aura of Titan.

"These things Titan gives in plenty to the overdwellers," came the scratchy little voice tinged with acrid breath devoid of hygiene. "Overdwellers must kneel to be enlightened by father of the crags."

Shane's comrades took to a knee without question, though the looks they exchanged exhibited worry, apprehension. Was this really any better than blindly following Haedelyn? How much farther would Titan bring us to a common purpose? At least if we chose a primal, we could have a common purpose.

Shane himself, however, stopped mid-kneel and gave the kobold a sudden scowl, a shift in his otherwise even demeanor. He stood straight up and paced closer to the conductor of the ritual, eyeing every praying kobold with scrupulous abandon. "And what, Dalrog, must me and my comrades give in return for this 'enlightenment'?"

The kobold's gleeful grin full of teeth turned to a grave frown, suddenly devoid of the skittishness of any other kobold. He stared pointedly at the scholar and licked his teeth before uttering the warning. "Overdweller must give all of overdweller."

The look on the scholar darkened into a chilling glare that set into the blood of the kobold's veins. Wearing the same expression, he peered at his comrades with a nod, a motion meant for them to stand in adversity to the madness they were taking part in.

Garflex stood plainly, unmoved by the turn of events, a plain, harmless smile about his lips characteristic of lalafell heritage. Urumi went to his full height as a hyur, dusting off the holy steel about his person, then brandishing his sword and shield. Sean Shyan blithely took his axe from his back holster and kneeled on it for support to stand, a statement of the coming force punctuated by the challenging grin on his face.

Defied and now easily outmatched, the kobolds all shifted nervously, faltering in their prayers. A silence fell over the scene, the champions of the light against Titan's dwindling followers.

It was all cut short by an aetheric rumble. It started out as subtle, rolling thunder, but soon became audible enough to distinguish as one very familiar set of sounds: stone and raw hatred given form and life. Once the congealment was complete, a set of large, lumbering steps began to close in on the bonfire.

From the shadows of the night, it was easy to see that Titan had emerged to answer the plight of his children once again. The kobolds broke their formation to allow the primal a wide berth to travel.

Shane could make out the yellow eyes made of aetheric stone and the whisk of white hair atop a jagged expression of malice. Titan paced the length of the circle until he was a rough ten yards from the scholar. Back and forth he went for several seconds, eyeing his prey with something of a familiarity.

"Farlander... and his tainted Vagrants." The primal's voice was just coherent enough to make out words. "I should have known you would reject my gift."

Shane looked at the countenance of his group, knowing they did not come prepared for a full conflict with the lord of the crags himself. All of them were apprehensive, but prepared for anything. They knew what was at stake, and knew doubly well that they were outmatched. It would have to be enough comfort to know also that Titan could not possibly be at his full strength since their last encounter.

"Thou has wasted my time, and the efforts of my children." The beast reared his great fist back, a feint yellow glow emanating from its knuckles.
Scholar, warrior, white mage, and paladin knew what was coming.

"Let your death serve as a warning to all overdwellers, that my hatred is eternal!"

The fist slammed into the ground, sending the earth howling upward in response, augmented by a dire hatred and the power of tainted aether. Kobolds scattered upward, merely grazed by the blow, whilst the four blessed by Haedelyn dispersed in different directions, narrowly escaping the blow.

Shane would have taken the worst of it had it not been for Urumi's shoving him out of the way. Sean had managed to snatch up Garflex by the collar of his white mage attire, much to Garflex's discomfort.

With their bearings only barely grasped, all four immediately looked to the ground, knowing what was coming next as the pressure of gravity fulminated upon them.

"Unyielding! Unending!"

With no small effort, they dodged the snap in the land which created deep craters in their wake. Titan was able to control the gravitational pull of any patch of earth and crush anything standing upon it with only a thought.

Prepared for another set of attacks, Sean and Urumi took formation in front of Garflex and Shane. Whatever they had to offer in terms of a fight would have to be enough.

But instead of a fight, all of them heard a boisterous cacophony of laughter come from none other than Titan himself, mocking their efforts to sustain life. In a only a few moments, it seemed as though the primal had decided the outcome of this battle. It was not as if he was ill-founded in his assumption either. Shane and Garflex could sustain the efforts of Urumi and Sean for only so long. Now, with the kobolds closing ranks around their master, the odds were tilting more and more in the favor of an unchecked primal.

"Tell me, Farlander of the Light," said Titan, taking two brazen steps forward. "Did you bring these other little overdwellers with you..." he made indication to the others with a brief, mocking nod of his head. "... just to watch as my hatred crushes them beneath my lands? I have seen your skills in service to the Light and wonder still how it is you come to my children for succor, if not only be rejected and reduced to the oblivion you deserve." The yellow aether fluttered from his mouth at the last utterance, giving his words a curt appeal, though it was hard to tell what glee was on an expression locked in hatred.

The scholar, book of many colors in his hand, had just cast a shield upon himself. He walked passed the protective armor of Urumi and Sean to stare his opponent down.

Garflex looked up and over his shoulder at the skies, feeling an imbalance in the elements. "Um... Shane?"

All but Shane and Titan's eyes moved to the sky then.

"I take succor from no one."

Dalrog's cries of pain shot into everyone's ears as he was ignited by potent fire and instantly reduced to a cinder of ash and bone. In the same twinkling of an eye, the sound died away when the hold of the afterlife came.

Fire rained upon the kobolds from every direction above then. Titan was hit most abundantly, but took the least damage due to the density of his solid form. Hands up to cover his eyes and face, he gave a roar of defiance and staggered backward, barraged by a firestorm coming from the south.

Shane set a shell of sacred soil about the area his comrades stood as Garflex cast protective magic upon them to avoid any damage that might come.

Those kobolds that were not struck by fire were caught in vital areas by arrows of every variety, usually the head or neck. They fell unceremoniously to the ground with an awkward thud.

Then there was the sudden plague that took hold of the stragglers who had seemed to make it out of the arena of madness. They hacked up blood and green liquid, and were suddenly oozing form every orifice with bodily fluids. These were the ones who had experienced the most unsightly deaths, taken by a potent disease meant to kill with pure pain and suffering.

"Miserable overdwellers! What trickery do you play at this time?"

Titan was unperturbed, which suited his stance at having an unending hatred, but he was clearly disoriented. He looked to the distance where the attacks had come from and saw four standing upon the ridge that separated Camp Overlook from the Kobolds' mining camp. Two lalafells, and a mi'qote.

Limgas, the mage from the black itself.

Lulu, follower of the moon.

And Xillian of the fallen Sovereign clan.

Just as he looked, however, he noticed too late that one of the lalas was casting the same fire spell that had assailed his many children. The ball of flame came directly for Titan, and he was only grazed by the attack. Still, in its wake was a cloud of smoke too thick to see in front of. He staggered backward, still gathering his bearings, still making sense of what to kill, what to avoid, how to maintain his presence in the mortal plane.

Then a jolt of anguish assailed his left and right shin. After a howl of fury he looked down and saw the two hyurs, Sean and Urumi with their blades firmly planted home in the rocky demon's legs.

"Now," said Sean, wrenching his axe free with intentionally dogged effort.

Urumi pulled his sword free and swung it downward to knock the aetheric grime from it. "You will kneel."

Succumbing the pain, the beast fell to his knees, his legs no longer able to support his massive bulk.

And then, from the dust uplifted by Limgas's flames came a shadow. Slow at first, then deadly quick with purpose. Its hands were overhead, its ears were lowered with fierce intent, and its body was outlined in the spiked regalia of the dragoon.

The shadow fell upon Titan as Rha'qa Panipahrn, the brawler of many shades, his dragoon's spear plunging straight for the primal's heart with a sickening, wrenching thud.

Titan's monstrous bellowing heralded the end of the fighting completely. The mi'qote dragoon hopped off of his target's chest as the massive cretin of the crags disintegrated into his lesser forms of rock until there was naught left but lofting aether in the stilled air. If not for the smell of death plainly hanging about, it would have been a serene environment.

An incorrigible grin went over Rha'qa's eyes as he took in the kill. "It's always fun to kill a god."

Shane approached him, holstering his book at his hip. "Or at least something that thinks it's a god." He motioned to the other three in the distance with a wave of his hand so that they would join in the reverie. "I didn't even have to call in Selene or Eos. Very good work." His eyes went from Urumi to Sean with meaning.

"Where's Garflex?" Asked Sean, his axe slung on his shoulder, unintentionally imposing as usual.

The white mage had wandered off again, but not far. He called out to them, having found a very curious corpse. "Over here. This one's still breathing."

Dalrog, the scholar though knowingly. Though hardly recognizable in his current state, the former kobold leader still drew breath from charred lungs. Shane gave his fellow healer a reprimanding stare. "You healed him. Why?"

Unperturbed, the lalafell shrugged. "Information."

Sean and Urumi looked away in disgust at what was left of Dalrog. Kobolds were already unsightly creatures to begin with, but seeing one reduced to something just slightly more than muscle sinew and bone made even the most tried adventurer's stomach turn.
That was why all of them stifled a breath when Dalrog spoke.

The elezen scholar lifted a hand up for further silence. "Say that again, kobold. Slowly."

"Th-this... was not... m-meant... to... to be. Lord of Crags... father..."

As the other three vagrants joined the huddle around the dying kobold, Shane took up his codex one last time and began the subtle casting of the final spell Dalrog would ever see. "I do not believe in fate or destiny." As he thumbed through the ample pages his eyes found what they sought with a slight glimmer between inner distaste and malicious triumph. From two of his fingers, a miasma flitted about the air and made its way downward to the dying kobold. Its death would not be without its share of pain. "I believe in a choice made free of fear, desperation, or hatred. You offered me none of this, and your lord of the crags will not save you or your kind from the coming retribution."

A slow agony took hold of Dalrog then, as he convulsed and foamed at the mouth like the dying rodent he was meant to be.

"I hope what is left of your corpses will be a warning message to those who stand against Haedelyn and the Light..." His two fingers went back his fist, and the codex shut just in time with the kobold's final breath. "Don't."

All eight adventurers breathed easily after that, somehow at peace in a sea of indiscriminant death. Limgas surveyed the area with a keen eye, bewildered at his own handiwork and his comrades'. He merely wondered the same thing what was on everyone else's mind: what are we becoming, if not heartless murderers?

It was too early to give such thoughts voice, however.

Xillian stretched and yawned. "I could use a tavern after that, ya. Weren't expectin' the lord of crags to show."

"It worries me that he would be so brazen about it," said Garflex. "So... uncaring. He didn't wait until he was at full power to show himself."

"Indeed. It would've taken just weeks for the kobolds here to summon him at his full state. I didn't want to believe it but..." Shane started toward the ridge leading to Camp Overlook, then paused his pacing. "The primals have less and less to lose now and they know it."

The mi'qote dragoon had taken a seat upon the heated rock around him for respite. "S'okay with me. We can just take 'em down a notch each time."

Sean sat upon a nearby rock himself, his axe leaning upon his thigh, ever needlessly at the ready. "That may be true, but they'll never get tired so long as they've got followers."

Urumi nodded at the sentiment, regarding Shane in the process. "And there will always be followers. The Ascians have made this very clear."
Shane replied, "This night has given me much to think on."

"Ya sure do a lot of that thinkin'. Ever wonder if ya care too much what happens to those we're s'pose to be protectin'?"

There were rare occasions in which the seemingly unfeeling humor of Xillian proved outright cold and stark, yet helpful when reason was a necessity. This particular sentiment was one that caught everyone's attention. Eyes went to him, expecting an explanation for the sudden lack of conviction.

He chuckled and took out his lute to begin the soft, melodic version of the Army's Peon. "The Grand Companies don't like us much no more, even if we did join Free Companies and make nice with the brass. Even if we're heroes to the public, the big shots think us all a bunch of over-celebrated muscle-heads lookin' fer glory."

The hyur paladin approached Xillian with intent to reprimand, but stopped short of a full outburst. "Look around you. The Grand Companies claim this is what must be done and this is what they claim they want us to do. This look like glory to you?"

Lulu's usual silence in tense moments was broken at long last by the rise in tension. "We may have overdone it this time, actually."
Urumi's head whipped over to the lalafell summoner.

She did not falter. "To kill without mercy in such a way... I know the kobolds would've risen again and summoned their lord inevitably to wreak havoc on Eorzea, but does that really give us the right to turn into an extermination squad?"

"That gives us plenty of right in my book," said Limgas to his fellow lala. He was more of a pragmatic than anything, knowing the primal energies better than most to be dangerous, volatile things. "Where these corpses lie, more live followers will take their place, and with ever more devotion than before. Besides, there are pockets of known peaceful tribes of kobolds that do not seek to harm Eorzea. We have benefited more than once from their good faith."

"What will happen, then, when those peaceful ones are all that's left, eh?" said Rha'qa, musing about open conflict as usual. "We leave 'em be so they can eventually turn on us? Maybe summon ole "rock breath" all over again anyway?"

"We're all starting to sound like Shane, I think. Over-thinking as usual." Sean the warrior indicated Shane, who was blissfully looking to the sky.
Everyone waited for a word from their leader, and after a moment's pause they got it. "I think it's time we paid Alphinaud a visit. I received a curious letter from one of his correspondents. Something about a White Raven and ghosts of Dalamud."

"Hmph," said the bard. "Not so talkative when ya don't got the answers, eh Shaney?"

Urumi elbowed the bard, briefly interrupting the song being played.

The scholar did not seem altered by the comment. "On the contrary. I think the place the letter spoke of will have a destination worthy of our efforts." He started toward Camp Overlook again. "Leave the corpses and meet atop the ridge. It's time to make plans for another turn in the Coil."

The way to dawn emerged in the distance, heralding the beginning of yet another iconic endeavor of the Fabled Vagrants.