The assignment given by the Sanguine Eye saw the group venturing in a sea-side location, where once upon a time there was a resort place which had gotten close due to mysterious circumstances. The reason soon became clear as the group was forced to deal with extremely strong currents, sharks and multi-tentacled marine monsters to find what they were looking for on the depths of the sea. A shells-covered crusty chest, presumably containing a precious locket.

Much to everybody's disappointment, inside the chest there was not the yearned-for locket, but a bottle containing a letter. The message was a clear refusal of the Sanguine Eye to collaborate in any way with the Black Hand, and such constituted the final and ultimate insult to be endured.

Seeing as they had been toyed around by the Sanguine Eye one last time, Dwassyith swore vengeance towards the elusive organization and headed to his superior in the chain of command, Vincent Aurora. It took only a few days to organize a big strike of retaliation, which started by divdiing into three groups who paid visit to three different targets. Said targets presumably knew about a slave warehouse, possession of the Sanguine Eye. They  got visited, interrogated and brutalized, but only one out of three yielded the wanted location. The three groups were also efficient in silencing every witness, after learning that the place they were looking for matched the 'Serpent's Tongue' hidden cave.

The day after, the Hand gathered its forces at Serpent's Tongue bay and commenced its attack by having a mercantile ship crashing on the shore. The impact of tremendous force caused the first victims in the enemy ranks, and what followed brought a wrecking destruction all over the bay. The sand got stained with red, and the Rootless fought bravely and with valiant coordination, up until when catapults located above a tower began tossing projectiles of incendiary oil on the battlefield.

Dwassyith ordered to make the catapults everybody's next priority and Xihsa'li, due to his newly acquired powers wielded through Nicky's cane, successfully managed to annihilate them by causing a portion of the above cliff to crumble down on their heads. The Black Hand ultimately came out victorious, decimated the Sanguine Eye's forces and destroyed the remaining slave stock in the bay. A dire consequence, however, hadn't been foreseen: Dwassyith was caught under the rubble of the collapsed cliff. Found teetering between life and death, the Seeker group leader was urgently brought to Limsa Lominsa hospital, along with the injured new recruit Crimson Dawn.

The Sanguine Eye was no more, but the victory had a bitter taste of concern and sacrifice from the side of those who were left behind and living.
As if that hadn't been enough, the same night Naelia learned of the grave accident that happened to her brother, and looked for explanations. As Nanami stated that she hadn't manage to be there in time for offering him healing services, Naelia unleashed an onslaught of incommensurable violence on the Auri girl, and left her bleeding on the ground with a broken face that could hardly be recognized.

Tension was in the air, and times were tough for the Rootless group, despite the achieved supremacy over the rival gang. It was then only a matter of visiting the hospital everyday, to check on their mangled companions while waiting for updates.