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"Catch a few chocobos, get reward, boost current fund levels. How hard can this be." It had been a couple of weeks now since meeting Adelina, the native of one of the many lands who's names currently slipped his mind. Their rather interesting conversation had really inspired him to travel the lands more, meet different people and of course, see what sights there were. One slight problem prevented him from completing his task at hand. Funds. He only had one hundred gill to his name, not much for a traveler to get by on.
Sitting in one of the many inns of Lindblum, he had noticed what might as well have been a bounty board with different flyers of varying age nailed to it with thumbtacks. One in particular had caught his eye.
Catching Chocobos in the Calm Lands
The job sounded easy enough, round up some strange birds known as chocobos for a ranch owner in the Calm Lands and receive a decent monetary reward. Of course, nothing was ever that simple. It had taken him the better part of three weeks to travel from Lindblum to the Calm Lands, forced to hike the entire way save for a couple ferries to travel to the different continents. Now in the Calm Lands, Iron-hand couldn't help but have second thoughts about the job he was about to take.
"Might have already been completed, might have been a hoax. Can't be certain though. Least the views make up for the trip." He took a couple of snapshots with his smart phone before scanning the horizon for some kind of settlement. It didn't take him long to find the ranch in the distance. With determination guiding him, he approached the ranch.
"Here goes. Better or worse. I'm here now. Least the trip wasn't an entire waste. Good views of plane lands here at least."
As you approach the ranch you see a slightly aging man. He was not that old, but, you could see greys starting to show in his long brown hair which was neatly combed under a ten gallon hat. His head suddenly turned to use and he smiled, a small amount of age lines showing around the eyes on his slightly tanned skin.
He turned around, his old duster jacket moving in the wind as he turned. When he had turned he walked towards you, the metal clanking of his spurs slightly resounding around the area until he reached the gate of the ranch. He placed his boot on the lower part of the fence and waited for you to come closer. When you had reached the ranch he spoke in a southern drawl,
“What can I do y’a for? I’m afraid the owner is away for the moment, so, I’m the only one in.”
"Uhh.... Hi. I was wondering if that job posted on the inn notice board in Lindblum is still needing completion." He walked right up to the rancher, his fingers tapping away on his smart phone as he searched for the relevant photo. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for. "This job" he said again as he let the rancher take a look at the photograph of the original paper containing the bare details of the job that was in need of completion.
Deep inside though, Iron-hand was still concerned about whether the job he had decided to take up was still available or not. "What am I even going to do if this job has already been done? Ugh, didn't think that one through entirely. Maybe I might have to take up hunting or something. Remember reading somewhere about how to skin animals and turn said skins into leather. Lets just hope it doesn't come to that. One step at a time though. Focus. Questions first then go from there."
As you approached with the smart phone the rancher looked at it with a mix of apprehension and distrust. If it was not clear to you, most Spirians, not including the Al Bhed, had a great dislike for machina, machines. However, as he glanced at it, it did not seem that bad from what he could gather, but, he knew nothing about technology.
He looked at the phone for a moment before looking at what was on the screen. He was a little surprised at first to see the photograph on it, and, even though he would not admit it, a little impressed. He read through the writing on the photogragh and smiled when he had finished reading. He then turned back to you,
“Oh yeah, that job is still open. We have this tricky little chocobo that’s running around, a great specimen, but me and the little lady are having a bit of trouble catching it, if you get it for us you will be well compensated.”
All that Iron-hand could feel was a massive sense of relief. His earlier fears about the job already been completed were completely unfounded. Without saying anything, he wiped his brow in sense of the feeling of relief. "I need to stop worrying about things. Wide new world this is. Can't be digging myself an early grave now can I?"
"Sounds easy enough.... I think. From what I read up before I lost the net signal in this area, the, what you call it? A chocobo is a large flightless bird. Kind of reminds me of something like a chicken here. Might be able to tempt it with some wheat......." He looked around before staring the man right in his eyes. "Why do I get the feeling that there might be something more to this. And anyway, how am I suppose to bring this chocobo back when I have it more or less settled down and used to my presence?"
The rancher stood there not hiding the fact he had not a clue what you were on about. He stood there with a confused look on his face and scratching the back his of his neck as you spoke about chickens and the internet, or, net as you called it.
However, when you spoke about it might being be harder than it seems. With that he could not help back smile. He tipped his hat before reaching into his duster jacket and pulled out a small green vegetable. He then threw it to you and looked around a second before speaking,
“Chocobos love this vegetable, give him this, and, it should subdue him enough to mount and ride him back. However, Chocobos are easy prey for some fiends, so, be careful, if you try and take the bird, fiends may attack you.”
"Fiends?" Without to much trouble, Iron-hand caught the strange vegetable, even as his brain translated the word fiend into wild beast or enemy. "Didn't see anything on the way in here. Seems pretty quiet out there." He shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well, I'll get on with it. See you in a while, hopefully, with one Chocobo in tow."
As soon as he was out of sight, he gave that strange vegetable a quick glance and sniff. "Looks like a cross between a tomato and a carrot. Don't smell anything either. Maybe that chicken has better senses that me here." He shrugged his shoulders again as he set his mind to the task to chasing down a large, flightless bird.
As you walked around the Calm Lands the air seemed peaceful, the area seemed like a great place to come and relax in. The sun was shining and the wind blew a nice cool breeze. It was hard to believe there were creatures out in there that not only hurt people, but wanted to.
Suddenly there was a sound, a large sound, almost like a caw. If you looked around you could not quite see anything, but, from the sounds of things, it was coming from right of your direction. The caw sound was pleasant, like everything seemed to be in the Calm Lands, like the owner of the call was having a good time.
Iron-hand yawned as he stretched, feeling a couple of his bones pop in the process. While it had been a fairly pleasant day, so far, there hadn't been a single sign of any chocobos in the Calm Lands. He was starting to feel a little disheartened at the lack of progress he was making. "Haven't seen anything out here since leaving the farm. No birds, no tracks, not even any wild beasts." The last part left him scratching his head, why would the ranch keeper warn him about wild beasts when there were clearly none.
"Guess I can't blame him for being cautious." He slipped his hands into his pockets as he thought about the deceptively quiet farmlands of Crescent, his time spent helping the farmers with their fiend problems had taught him that looks could be deceiving. With a shrug of his shoulders, Iron-hand was about to continue when he herd an odd cry being carried over the gentle breeze. Not a cry of help, but a cry of something having a good time in the Calm Lands.
"Maybe that's a chocobo. Could be anything really though. Not seen one of these things before." Without saying anything more, Iron-hand started to slowly move, stopping every now and then to listen for the call of what he assumed to be a chocobo.
As you travelled through the Calm Lands, following the calls of the Chocobo you notices, well, felt something strange, like a presence watching you. However, there was nothing to be seen. If you looked down you could finally notice massive three toes tracks similar to a chicken’s feet but like ten times bigger, if it was a Chocobo the creature must be massive, like a horse sized chicken.
Making your way further into the Calm Lands the caws seemed to be getting louder and louder, but not because they were, it was a sign that you were getting closer to the source of the target. Looking at the tracks you see the bank right a little bit, about thirty degrees to the right. Along with that, the sense of that presence was still there, maybe even a little stronger, but still, nothing to be seen.
Iron-hand stopped in his tracks for a moment as an uneasy feeling swept over him. Was he alone out here in the Calm Lands or was there some sinister force watching him. He couldn't tell right now though he was certain he was being followed and watched. Slowly, his hand reached for one of his knives on his belt, the wooden handle and metal pommel comfortably reassuring in his hands. "Need to keep my eyes open." He looked around once more, still feeling like he was being followed. "If I'm not careful, I'm going to start talking to myself here."
He shook his head, as he continued to follow the sounds of that happy squawking. It didn't take him long to pick up the fresh tracks left behind by the chocobo. "There be chickens here. Very large chickens." He couldn't help but look around again, that feeling of being followed slowly getting stronger now. "I'm starting to get paranoid here" he said, slowly drawing the knife he had his hand on. It felt light in his armoured hands yet somehow, reassuring at the same time. Slowly, he pressed on, stopping every now and then to look around him in vain hopes of finding the source of his discomfort.
As you push forward the feeling of being watched seemed to grow stronger and stronger as the sounds of the creature whose tracks you were following got louder and louder. From the footprints they seemed to grow slightly fresher which confirmed the fact you were close.
All of a sudden if you looked to the right which the tracks made a sharp turn towards you saw a yellow bird. It looked a little like a chicken but it was closer to the size of a horse. You could tell it was happen. However, if you did not play this the right way it could scare the Chocobo and it would run away.
