A Night to Remember
Contains Patch 2.55 Spoilers
“You’re late, Kishaâ€
Kisha glanced up at the large Roegadyn who stared down upon her with a face that was entirely too serious for her own good. Being reinforced with another Highlander, the two of them guarded the door that lead into Ul’dah’s palace.
“I had to convince the Emperor he’s a bad man, Svava.â€
The Roegadyn kept staring at Kisha for a few moments until her face cracked into a smile and chuckled. Kisha herself just sighed and moved her right hand over her face as she facepalmed.
“Sorry Kisha, y’know the rules. Code sentence required. Especially with half of Eorzea’s politicians around tonight.â€
“Who makes up these intelligent code sentences these days I wonder. They are truly the epiphany of witty.†Kisha sighed as she looked forward into the palace’s main hall which was already filled with the brim before she looked up at the Roegadyn again and continued. “Seems rather busy. Didn’t know we had such a large number of members by now in the Braves.â€
The Roegadyn followed Kisha’s glance and placed her hands on her hips, shrugging slightly. “Does’ surprise me as well, bu’ I guess we just reeled in a lot of members from Doma or Mor Dhona while we were busy in The Shroud.â€
Kisha nodded slightly and sighed. “Anyway, I am required to be social tonight, so I shall follow my orders. Take care Svava, and keep the Garleans out.â€
As Kisha walked into the main hall of the palace, she was met with a wave of warm air coming from various furnaces and fireplaces. The hall was filled with at least a hundred people, many of them sitting at bars or benches talking to each other and most, if not all, had their blue Crystal Braves Barret on. She felt anxious and uneasy being in a place with so many people, luckily not all of them were looking at her. Deciding to fulfil her duty however, she decided to sit at a bar where her superior was sitting at so he could at least see her ‘being there’. He was a gruff old pirate from Limsa Lominsa, not exactly the type Kisha expected to join the Braves but he was there nonetheless…along with two Miqo’te Courtesans in their underwear who appeared to keep him company, one each on his lap.
Grumbling below her breath, Kisha sat down in the sitting corner where a number of his old ‘pirate friends’ where sitting as well. “Fair day, Trevelâ€.
Trevel turned his head towards Kisha, his left hand on one of the Miqo’te Seeker’s right breast and his other hand holding a mug of ale. “Hah, it’s you! Decided to come after all did ye’?â€
Kisha gave Trevel and the Miqo’te Courtesan a stern look before replying. “Indeed. I have to follow orders, do I not? And I intend to do so, without exploiting the local fauna that is.â€
Trevel let out a chuckling laugh along with his pirate friends, during which Kisha noticed he also had an eyepatch on his right eye, which was there just for show since Kisha knew his right eyeb was working correctly just a day ago. The Miqo’te Courtesans laughed along with him, but mostly just to please their ‘customer’.
“Ye should enjoy the ‘fruits’ of your labour a bit more often ‘brains’, I dunnae’ know what side ye fancy but there’s plenty of men and women around who would take ye for a ‘ride’. All thanks to our benefactor Lord Adeledji and the Brass Blades!â€
Rubbing her chin, Kisha was somewhat startled by such a revelation and glanced around the room. She noticed some familiar faces but many unfamiliar ones. The antecedent and his enjoy were nowhere to be seen, most likely in the palace dining room upstairs where only the ‘politicians’ were allowed to be.
“And here I thought we were working independent and not for a city state.†Kisha replied to Trevel, crossing her arms over her chest.
The man chuckled again, along with his friends. Kisha felt her stomach turn. She wasn’t a fan of her superior in the slightest but the behaviour he was showing now was truly below any level she had imagined from him.
“Enjoy your…fruit, take care.†Kisha said as she rose from her seat and quickly made her way to ‘elsewhere’ in the room without exactly knowing where to. She sighed as she ended up in a corner of the main hall with people she never saw before and her anxiety was keeping her from speaking to them.
“Coming here was a mistake.†she mumbled to herself. “Better to just leave.â€
As Kisha made her way back to the entrance, she could hear yelling from the palace dining hall which was located above the main hall.
“This will be a night to remember lads!â€
Kisha recognized the voice, that being of Ilberd, one of the Braves’ leaders. She thought nothing of it but was soon frozen in place as she start to hear yelling of pain and the clashing of swords from the dining hall above. Kisha increased her pace towards the exit but was met with a crowd of at least twenty people wanting to do the same.
“Oi lemme through ye sea bastard!†a Lalafel yelled, looking up against the thighs of the Sea Dogs.
Several people were trying to push their way outside but several Sea Dogs, along with Svala, were keeping them from accomplishing this.
“Ye lot are not allowed outside on order of the Brass Blades!â€
Kisha’s heart started pounding as she heard this and tried to look around herself for another way out but she was quickly surrounded by other Braves who also wanted to flee towards the entrance. Finally, she pushes her way past several Braves and fell with her face down through a door into another room: The toilet. She could hear another yell from Ilberd as she shut the door behind her violently and put the lock in place: “Ye bastards are all accused of treason! Now don’t try anything sloppy!â€
“Gods…treason. How?†she thought. Before she could think about anything else, Kisha could hear the rattle of firearms being fired in the room she had just left. The door pushed against her back violently as someone attempted to kick it in.
“Lemme’ in! They’re shooting at-“
The yell was interrupted by a loud bang from a musket, the round flying over Kisha’s shoulder through the wooden door and bouncing off against the tiles on the wall. She could hear a low and pained groan coming from the other side of the door, and the feeling of a lifeless body slumping down against the door she held shut with her weight and the lock. Her heart was now pounding, fear overtook her but did not paralyze Kisha. Looking forward, the only way out appeared to be through the latrine itself. The thought sickened her, but the other choice was a metal slug to the head.
“Anyone in there! A rat ain’tcha?!â€
Hearing orders from the other side of the door of ‘traitors’ that were obviously aware of her presence, Kisha quickly and sloppily casted a spell to crush the wooden latrine which exposed a thick pipe leading down into the sewer of Ul’dah. The smell coming from the pipe was something she would never forget. As she doubted if her new existence as a sewer rat would be better than a metal slug to the head, she could hear the pin of a musket echoing through the toilet room. Better to be a sewer rate than dead.
Leaping down through the hole, Kisha fell for several meters until she hit the main pipe of the Ul’dah sewer, splashing down into a sickening mixture of shit, pee and other nasty fluids. She could barely breath as both the air felt toxic as well as the current of the sewer canals was too fast for her to fight against. Struggling to keep herself afloat above the fluids, Kisha’s clothes dragged herself down further and further as the linen and leather created a lead weight around her feet. The canals were pitch black with the occasional
For what appeared to be minutes, she struggled to keep her head above the shit mixture until the strong current of the sewers increased even further towards a bright light at the end of the tunnel. As she reached the light, she felt as if she was being flown out of the end of a musket herself before she started falling for several seconds until falling into a small river. The current was much less strong now and Kisha slowly crept towards a river bank and fell onto it, completely exhausted.
“Fuck..fuck..â€she muttered softly as the aroma of shit and pee filled her nostrils once again. Her body felt as a lead weight with all the lovely fluids which had nestled in her clothes. Groaning from exhaustion, she started the painful and slow process of removing her clothes on the riverbank. Luckily, the riverbank offered plenty of long leaves and small branches which she fashioned into a skirt and bra. As she did this, she could see the city of Ul’dah in the distance. As she sat there, cold and filthy but comfortable in the light of the Moon, Kisha sighed as she pondered about what had just happened. The Braves were betrayed, but by whom? Where was the Antecedent? Were the Brass Blades truly against them? What of Eorzea?
These thoughts created a headache as she wiped some of the filth from her hair. Or was it the smell that caused a headache? Regardless, it didn’t matter much at this point in time. She rose up from the riverbank and glanced around the vale. Leading out of it was a small path that appeared to be going north. Kisha grabbed a short stick for support and started walking, back towards the Shroud and hopefully back to safety and the Adders. And hopefully to become less smelly.
