07/12/2025
Star and Scale ended up paying for the Chocobos they'd let loose in the wild, and made a deal that allowed for the debt collectors who had found them to lie about the fate of those chocobos to allow the group to stay in the good graces of the stables in Trine.
With that, the group left the Halfway There Inn and traveled through the Phantom Plains.
However, after a day or so of travel, they found that the area around them felt wrong somehow, and soon discovered they'd been engulfed in one of the massive crystals of the Phantom Plains, which they soon learned was drawn to powerful entities and meant to trap them within.
The group had Seed destroy the crystal from within, and Seed's demeanor drastically changed, though before they could spend more time with him to figure out what happened, more of the crystals begen closing in on them.
A tiefling monk named Sha'Va arrived, shattering the crystals with a powerful-looking sword, and beckoning the group to follow him.
Sha'Va took them to a campsite where he'd been living for the last few weeks. He claimed he was from east of the Dagmar mountains, near the Final Sea, and he'd left to escape the violence and war taking place there.
He'd been able to live in the Phantom Plains by masking his power, and he soon taught the group to do the same by helping them talk through the frustrations and responsibilities they carried, and the obstacles they faced.
After talking to each member, and having Eden help him through the more spiritually charged magics involved, the group learned the ability to augment their perceived power to stay better out of sight of those who would seek them.
Sha'Va claimed he'd been feeling a pull to Crooked Post, and Star and Scale's arrival helped him feel ready to go there for whatever reason.
The group realized the sword he carried was the second sword of Doomblade, and told him why he was feeling drawn to Crooked Post.
In an effort to ensure the sword never found its way there, Sha'Va wandered off into the Phantom Plains and buried the sword in his own body, to ensure no one could ever learn of its location, and it could never use him to deliver itself to its master.
The group left the Phantom Plains and made their way on towards Othrund.
LEVEL UP TO 11