The Sochen Cave Palace
138. Sochen Cave Palace: Abysteel
GENUS: Undead
CLASSIFICATION: Steeling
[1/2] Observations
Being a variety of bat with wings of surpassing beauty, preferring to make their abodes in magicite mines and underground chambers. Their wings are composed of a tough metallic substance, and by their patterns can males and females be distinguished.
It is generally held that the patterning of the female is the more beautiful, lending the wings much popularity as ornamentation on airships, the male's, meanwhile, being considered illl-favored, and shunned as a sign of bad luck.
[2/2] Tips for the Adventurer
Few things bring to mind 'ill luck' so readily as a vampyr fang. Yet the things are famous among apothecaries and their ilk as a vital ingredient in wards and charms against curses!
And, apparently, not just any fang will do the trick. I'd have no idea how to tell a vampyr fang from a regular, pointy one, if I had to look into such a mouth, and I do hope I never have the pleasure. If you want one, you'd best be ready to grope around in some pretty nasty places.
Maybe you'll get your fang yet. Maybe you'll lose a few fingers in the process. Either way, count me out!
139. Sochen Cave Palace: Imp
GENUS: Fiend
CLASSIFICATION: Gargoyle
[1/2] Observations
Being a creature known for its lusterless yellow body and full, rounded wings.
It is given to waving its long tail like a Rozarrian dancer might wave her sixth veil, this to maintain balance as it flies. The name of the imp derives from an ancient word "impet," meaning the "child broken from the devil," and befitting their name, they delight in mischief and small acts of evil.
[2/2] Sage Knowledge (60 of 70)
Sochen Cave Palace
A giant underground complex in Archadia, consisting of natural caverns and the abandoned ruins of an ancient palace. Many of its ways and passages remain uncharted on current maps. From the style of the carvings adorning some of the walls, it is thought that the complex was built at some point during the Galtean Alliance, though no records of its construction remain.
A survey mission was initiated to chart the many corridors here, but a particularly nasty infestation of creatures has significantly hampered progress.
140. Sochen Cave Palace: Striker
GENUS: Giant
CLASSIFICATION: Headless
[1/2] Observations
Being a condemned man, his blood turned by torture into pure venom, searing his veins.
Attacks witout restraint or mercy, for only in the moment when he severs victim's head from torso does he know relief from agony.
The necklace he wears is shaped like the flower whose poison courses through his tortured soul, and is set with magicks to prevent any serum from easing his suffering.
[2/2] Sage Knowledge (31 of 78)
Valendia
Continent lying to the northeast of Ordalia. The climate is overall quite clement, and levels of Mist are far more stable than on the other two large continents.
Many towns and villages dot the hilly region stretching from the continent's interior to the shores of the Inner Naldoan Sea, most under the direct control of Archadia.
The Kingdom of Nabradia, lying on the Phon Straits in western Valendia, prospered here until its destruction in the Archadian invasion of two years past, its capital of Nabudis becoming a deserted wasteland.
141. Sochen Cave Palace: Pit Fiend
GENUS: Fiend
CLASSIFICATION: Gargoyle
[1/2] Observations
Being a dull-hued creature, with translucent wings resembling those of an insect.
It does not fly by the beating of its wings, but eather by the levitating magicks it casts. Its wings are not without use, however, being essential to managing the wind and aiding balance, permitting uninterrupted flight even in the most adverse conditions.
A myth counts this being as one of the warriors set to defend the Jade Passage to the Devil's Palace.
[2/2] Talk About Town
Mud shot and icecloud arrows--both fine projectiles, to be sure, but both requiring crystals to make.
This, I can undersand... but imagine what it would take to make even better ammunition? A scary thought, eh?
Junro, Poet
142. Sochen Cave Palace: Wendigo
GENUS: Giant
CLASSIFICATION: Headless
[1/2] Observations
In ancient times, certain tribes would sever the heads of the fallen, and commit the body to a watery burial. By eating the heads of lost family, it was believed that one could bind their souls as protective spirits. Such practices have long been abandoned, but its legacy may be seen in the sodden corpses since risen to gouge the earth in search of buried kin.
[2/2] Sage Knowledge (55 of 78)
Archades
The capital of the Archadian Empire. Still small when it first formed as a city-state, it grew tremendously during the long peace fosterd by the Galtean Alliance. When the Empire was formed, the city center was re-located, forming the Archades we know today.
Though poor in both natural resources and land, Archades came to prominence as a city of innovation and learning. All information and technology gathers here, and the famed mages and artificers born within her walls are legion. Knowledge, then, is the true strength of the Archadian Empire.
The city of Archades forms an octagon with the Imperial Palace at its center. Around the Palace sit the Senate Chambers and other administrative quarters, beyond which lies a booming mercantile district. The buildings in the city center are quite tall, with the lower floors being used mainly as residences. The difference in heights between the various buildings makes this a city of small airships, that being the most efficient means of accessing all levels of the metropolis.
More than half the population of Archades is hume, and while at one time all lived near the ground, of late, those of power or particular wealth have taken to living in the higher appartments and travelling exclusively by private airship.
143. Sochen Cave Palace: Zombie Knight
GENUS: Undead
CLASSIFICATION: Zombie
[1/2] Observations
Being knights of tragic bearing, with oath-magicks scriven on their flesh.
Many are indeed deserters, who received the oaths as punishment and warning to others, robbing their bodies of freedom.
These oath-magicks shall not be broken until the vessels of their souls are wholly decayed and worn away to nothing, and so they wander, and kill, and await that day.
[2/2] Street Corner Musings
You've heard of the halcyons--greatest among the magicites, bearing the likeness of entites, no?
They must be powerful, to be named after such beings as the salamand entite, or the undin entite!
'Course, I've no idea how one would go about getting such a beauty, 'cept stealing it straight from an entite itself! Hah!
Pemain, Appraiser
144. Sochen Cave Palace: Gorgimera
GENUS: Fiend
CLASSIFICATION: Cockatrice
[1/2] Observations
Being a man who, consumed by magicks, discarded the worn husk of his body and took refuse in the body of a cockatrice, thereby forming the fell creature known as the gorgimera.
Living in dim, dry underground caverns, corridors, and the like. Their distinctive, scaly visage is horrifying to look upon, and their wings, which spread to reveal mesmerizing eye-patterns, draw others into the twisted world of their wholly corrupted minds.
[2/2] Sage Knowledge (26 of 78)
The Hunter Camp
Of the many hunters roaming Ivalice, the best of the best, seeking out the rarest of marks, are known to gather in a camp along the Phon Coast.
Unlike clans, the hunters that collect here have no leader, and all information exchanges, activities to support the camp, and payments for such, are handled on an individual basis.
145. Sochen Cave Palace: Focalor
GENUS: Ichthian
CLASSIFICATION: Piranha
[1/2] Observations
Being a flesh-eating ichton, easily identified by its brown-striped hide.
The fish-fiend's jaws gape open like a crescent moon, revealing row upon row of razor-sharp, wedge-shaped teeth. Its scales are made of a metallic substance, and are extremely hard.
Known for its aggressive nature, and sensitivity to the scent of blood.
[2/2] The Town Crier
Hear ye, hear ye!
The taster's guild of legendary chefs known as the Iron Stomach have announced a change in pricing on a previously announced special ingredient, the dorsal fin. The repricing will finally bring this long-favored delicacy of the Iron Stomach within reach of the average household budget.