And so it was that these meddlesome busybodies and do-gooders founded a small hamlet in the middle of nowhere in Mor Dhona. The location had been mostly unoccupied since the Calamity of five years prior had upturned the land and a great monstrous creature razed the ground. Unoccupied save for, that is, adventurers who had set up camp here and there, adventurers who themselves owed allegiance to no country and offered their help to all. Unoccupied save for, that is, researchers who were studying the effects the Calamity had had on local concentrations of aether, studying the enormous magic crystals unearthed then, or the even more enormous crystal tower that had been dug up from the ground and erected into the sky.

It was, in a word, perfect.

The move wasn't instantaneous. Although the group probably boasted the highest concentration of people with the ability to teleport nearly at-will out of any groups one could care to name, it was still better, safer, and cheaper to bring their belongings by wagon. Less of a chance of losing things in the aether stream, trying to teleport while carrying five boxes of random stuff. They also had to set up their new headquarters, plus various local amenities for the people who would be living there: a marketplace, a forge, an inn and a tavern, all of that. It took a while.

Yakata no Otohiko, the vaunted Warrior of Light, savior of the realm yadda yadda, and possibly the single most famous member of the group, was helping with that as much as he could. As one of the people who did have the ability to teleport everywhere pretty much at-will, he could make sure everything was going smoothly and help with any crises that might crop up. He ran around so much people were sure he must have a secret twin working with him, or maybe he had figured out how to be in two places at once. Otohiko always found it kind of curious how many rumours people started about him even when he was right there, available for answering questions, but so it goes.

He has neither a twin nor the ability to be multiply located, though, and the place he's at right now is by their new headquarters in Mor Dhona. And that's where a masked stranger gets his attention and waves him over.

"Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to be Otohiko Yakata, the famous adventurer to bested the Garlean Empire's general, would you?" he says by way of introduction when Otohiko walks over to him.

...Otohiko's used to people singing his praises—well, perhaps used to is a strong phrase, the more accurate one would be resigned about—but something about this guy's manner feels off.

He has no idea what though and it has never been his forte to speculate so he just puts the thought aside and wears his Warrior of Light façade. "Yeah, that's me. Yourself?" Asking people their names is good, he thinks. And he often forgets so it's best to get it out of the way early.

"Splendid—ah, mind me not, let's just say I am an interested party. Now the thing I'm interested in is something that I believe will interest you as well."

Okay, this is getting to more familiar territory. People asking him to solve their problems is par for the course.

"Don't keep me in suspense, then."

"It is, I have to warn you, a rather unique opportunity both in its reward and its risk. A single misstep could cost you your life, but should you succeed you will help unearth the accumulated knowledge of a whole civilisation!

"But pardon me, I seem to forget who I am talking to. Of course you do three things that would risk another man's life every day before breakfast."

Stopppppppp praising himmmmmmmmmm it has in fact never helped to wish for this. Just ignore it.

"You flatter me," he replies with, because he does not know what else to say given that this guy is insisting on the theatrical declarations rather than getting to the point.

"Ah, but I shan't actually tell you, for I fear you would never believe the word of a stranger on such a fantastical matter. Rather I bid you seek a man by the name of Rammbroes at Saint Coinach's Find; he is the one leading this little expedition."

...huh. Rammbroes is a Sharlayan archaeologist, so whatever he's involved in won't really be... things most people would think to involve Otohiko in.

"We are acquainted," he says, because "I saved his life that one time" would sound like boasting even though it's true and strictly more informative about the kind of relationship they have. "Forgive me, but this is fairly atypical of requests people make of me. What is your relationship to this expedition?" Because Otohiko is pretty sure he's met everyone in Rammbroes's archaeological group and this man does not... look... like any of them.

"Worry not, I seek no reward. I merely happen to be aware that they have need of someone strong enough to deal with rather complex traps and protections, and I wish to see them succeed. But on this matter I shall speak no more; if it interests you, you know where to go. For now I take my leave."

He bows deeply and walks away.

What an... interesting fellow.

Well, nothing to it. He is in fact in the middle of a break of sorts—externally enforced, there just happens to be nothing needing his attention at the moment and he had in fact been hoping to run into something that would nevertheless benefit from it, and this sounds as good an opportunity as any.

Otohiko opens his book, always attached to his belt, and finds the page he's seeking with the ease of much practise. A surge of targeted will into the aether-conductive ink shapes the magic in a familiar format, and the surrounding water—and air-aspected aether mingle with his own to form a small golden cloud. Without preamble he jumps onto it and takes flight; Saint Coinach's Find is only a short distance to the east of Revenant's Toll.

There is one specific small encampment Otohiko makes for, sitting amidst the crystal-covered landscape, for that is where Rammbroes tends to spend most of his time when he is not out on some errand or expedition. He is lucky enough to find the roegadyn sitting by a tent, reading a book, so he need not wait for or chase after him.

    The man blinks up at his arrival—it is not always one witnesses someone riding a flying cloud—but smiles widely once he recognises the au ra. He puts his book down and gets to his feet, and opens his arms wide in an expansive welcoming gesture. "Otohiko! I haven't seen you in a while, though I suppose I have heard enough to know what has kept you busy."

Otohiko steps off his cloud, making it disperse into the air, and grins back. "'Tis good to see you too, Rammbroes."

    "Come, come, sit," says the archaeologist, gesturing at a nearby chair. "To what do we owe the honour of this visit?"

"Well..." Actually it's kinda awkward to explain. Just get it out of the way, he supposes, as he takes the offered seat. "I was approached by a hyur wearing a mask who very cryptically suggested you needed my help with something that would risk my life every step of the way towards unearthing all the accumulated knowledge of an ancient civilisation."

    Rammbroes blinks a couple of time in bewilderment. "A masked hyur? I—he was correct that we do have a little anthropogeographical project going on that would benefit from someone with your kinds of experience, but I cannot think of anyone in this expedition that would do such a thing and the expedition was meant to be a secret." Confirming Otohiko's vague suspicions that the hyur was probably sketch. The roegadyn shakes his head. "But that is something for me to ponder in private at some later point. I would explain what it is we are looking to do, here, before counting on your help; I suspect this endeavour will be rather amongst the more dangerous ones you have undertaken.

    "Let's go inside; everyone in the camp knows about it, but it would not do to be too free with our tongues."

Otohiko follows Rammbroes into one of the tents, and it is immediate that it was not chosen at random, for Cid Garlond is sitting there peering at various papers strewn about on a table. He looks up at the two of them and his eyes immediately land on the au ra. "Otohiko? I had thought I heard your voice but figured it must have been my tired imagination. What brings you here?"

    "Of course you two are already acquainted, I should have known," says Rammbroes. "It seems word of our expedition has leaked somehow and reached the ears of someone who decided to tell our Warrior of Light about it so that he could help."

"—I was thinking of inviting him here, myself, but he has been so busy with the move I didn't really want to impose... Well, nothing to it."

"I still don't actually know what exactly it is you are planning, here," Otohiko says, apologetically.

Cid nods and folds his arms. "You know that the Sons of Saint Coinach's main goal is unearthing the secrets of the Allagans, yes? This would be their most daring expedition yet. I trust you have seen the tower of crystal to the east of here, unearthed five years ago; it is an Allagan structure that has somehow remained intact under the earth for the past five millennia. We mean to investigate it."

Something clicks. "And this is a secret because the last two times anyone tried to mess with poorly-understood Allagan tech..."

"Rather a lot of destruction unfolded, yes," he says, nodding. "It was in fact your recent encounter with the Ultima Weapon that spurred me to start this project. That is twice already that the Garlean Empire got its hands on Allagan technology and wreaked untold destruction with it; I would not have it happen a third time."

Otohiko shudders. "You expect things like it to be in there?"

"Perhaps not, but I would rather err in the direction of being overly cautious."

    "We haven't managed to even get past its outer gate, though," says Rammbroes, scratching the back of his head. "The tower's magical defences seem to have survived just as intact as the tower itself."

"Just so," nods Cid. "A forcefield surrounds the tower, not even airships can get past, so we will need to be clever instead."

"But the tower's unlikely to have as its only defence this forcefield," reasons the au ra, "and we may have to deal with many unknown unknowns in terms of what we might find."

"And you, in particular, are a rather great fit for the job. Your martial prowess aside, I have watched some of your lectures to the Lominsan arcanists; they were inspiring. Your knowledge of magic may well be as crucial as your ability in battle to ensure our success. More, even."

See, this kind of thing Otohiko is way more okay with. Being good at magic is an actual achievement. Being good at fighting is just a gift from above.

"Well, are you going to tell me more about this magic forcefield, then?"

"I'll do you one better: I'll take you there."

Otohiko doesn't use his cloud, this time, to be considerate of his comrades who don't have clouds. Besides, he doesn't really know the way and doesn't want to accidentally cross the invisible threshold and be fried by the forcefield. Chocoboback riding it is.

Because of that, he can't go immediately; he has to clear his schedule a bit. Before he can even realise he's feeling a little bit guilty about it Y'shtola tells him off and says that they're just moving, they can very well lug boxes around without his help, and this Crystal Tower business is right up his alley and actually needs him in particular. He can't argue with the logic (nor with the glare she gives him) so he does in fact do it.

Along some treacherous crystal-covered terrain, through twisting caves, and out past a bridge of Allagan make, they stop at an arbitrary point and Cid nods in the direction of the Tower. Otohiko frowns and folds his arms, staring. He can't... feel much of anything, there. Is Cid testing him? Or were the Allagans just that good at defence magicks?

No matter. He shuts his eyes and sends out a soft hum of aether in the relevant direction, feeling out the echoes in response—or their lack. Yes, there is a barrier there alright; even air echoes more than the absolute blank space in front of him.

He sits down, cross-legged, and opens his book. Not to find any existing arcane diagram; what he's going to do instead is draw exploratory patterns and channel his aether through them and at the forcefield. First an ambient omnidirectional emanation, then short staccato spatially-localised bursts, then thin streams from various angles, then finally elemental filters—his Summoning experience helps a lot, there, as he's channeled elemental energies countless times and got a good feel for them.

It's the elemental filters that give the clue that fits the puzzle together. This aetherial barrier is elemental, and from surrounding cues it is fourfold, for each of the classic elements: fire, wind, water, earth. Further examination reveals that they are astral-, astral-, umbral-, and umbral-aspected, respectively, which is the opposite of what people usually go with.

"It can't... be this simple, can it?" he asks, opening his eyes to notice that he's been there for over four hours now.