Norg
-Someone here said that the tonberries are all over a temple in Yhoator Jungle. Good to know. I’ll avoid tf out of that for now.
-Poked my head into Sea Serpent Grotto, but the floating tomes here offer stuff for mid-30s and up. I’ll come back.
-I head to the exit and take a ship to Mhaura.
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Mhaura
-Another port town, one with a focus on fishing and ceramics.
-A vendor here sells stealth spells. Two are open to me – Sneak (which muffles my sound) and Deodorize (which muffles my smell), but I don’t really want to spend the gil on those two.
-So many of the maps on the map vendor are expensive as hell. Maybe I just have to get used to finding my way around places without a map unless it’s really labyrinthine.
-A ship here goes to Al Zahbi, a city in Aht Urhgan.
-THE MAYOR IS AN ADORABLE TARUTARU NAMED EKOKOKO
Most huggable politician y/y?
-Lots of players here btw, the highest concentration I’ve seen yet
-lolol two players are wearing moogle costumes
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To Windurst
-Windurst looks to be a few zones away. Time to walk.
-First zone is a stormy desert called the Buburimu Peninsula.
-There are some adorably goofy looking camel beasts here called dhalmels.
-Quick combat note: I don’t find myself using direct damage spells like Aero or Stone often. They feel like a waste of mana since so much of my damage comes from melee. My main spells I use are Dia (debuffs defense) and Blind (debuffs accuracy).
-I go west from here to Tahrongi Canyon. Enemy levels are much lower here. Approaching the newbie zones for those who start in Windurst I think.
-South then to East Sarutabaruta. (Love these tarutaru names. )
-Found my first Yagudo here. It’s a type of beastman I’ve heard about before.
They’re bird-man type enemies, similar to aviaks in the EverQuest world.
-On westward to West Sarutabaruta, and south into Windurst.
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Windurst
-This city has a beautifully sylvan, hobbity feel to it.
-But the guards are creepy af automatons.
-I finally – FINALLY – arrive at the Bastok consulate. I’m greeted with a familiar face; or, at least, a familiar name. Josef.
-Nice blast from the FFII past, manning the reception desk.
-Melek is the Bastok consul here. I love her garb.
-Her Galka companion tells me the mission. We’re supposed to do something with magic weapons in Giddeus, where the Yagudo live. I have to go to Heavens Tower in Windurst to get that weapon and then bring it to the Yagudo treasure chamber beneath Giddeus.
-AH! I see. We’re supposed to bring the magic weapons to the Yagudo as tribute, since Windurst wants friendlier relations with them, but Bastok wants me to swap the weapons out here at the consulate with other weapons to save Windurst from itself.
-I head to the Windurst Walls section of the city. This is where Heaven’s Tower is located.
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A Shantotto Ascension – Introduction
-As I move in, I get a cutscene of two tarutaru, one using magic to write.
-I get the sense that the Tarutaru are cute, but only in small doses. It’s like they heard Flanders speak on an episode of the Simpsons and just ran with it. For example:
KORU-MORU: “Let me cut right-aroo to the chase. Loath as I am to alarm-a-dilly you, I must confess-doodley-ess my concern over Doctor Shantotto’s recent ding-dang-doodley behavior.”
See what I mean?
-I know the name Shantotto from one of the FFXi expansions. Koru-Moru is worried that Doctor Shantotto is dabbling in something unworldly and twisted… ahem, “twisted-aroo.”
-The screen fades to black. One of those Tarutaru, speaking from the future it seems, says that they were wrong. Shantotto done fucked up.
-The scene swaps to Doctor Shantotto herself: “Wrap your minds around a picture of perfection, surpassed only by me and my immaculate complexion.”
Lolol I don’t care if you do summon twisted and otherworldly monsters, I like you.
-She’s standing over a bubbling purple cauldron, and promises to bring about a new golden era.
-She opens up a portal. A purple/black portal that’s crackling with lightning and she IMMEDIATELY knows she fucked up lol.
-Doctor Shantotto gets sucked in, and the portal closes.
-But only after a giant flash of bright light in the middle of the city.
-“Some time later…”
-We’re back in the present time. That was all a flashback.
-YIKES WHAT’S HAPPENING
-HAHAHAH IT’S AN ARMY OF EVIL TARUTARU IN MASKS
???: “The time has come for us to make our meteoric rise.
All who oppose will be dealt an ample serving of demise!
We venture forth to conquer Vana’diel and claim our birthright.
Now and forever more, the fire of the Shantotto Empire shall burn bright!”
-We now see who was speaking. Doctor Shantotto, a blaze of fire behind her.
-Her army in front of her begins to cheer: “Domina Shantotto! Domina Shantotto!” Doctor no more.
-So yes, she clearly turned evil or was possessed or something, but even as an evil lord, she speaks in adorable rhymes! *hugs the Tarutaru villainess*
-The title screen appears.
This is the story intro for the expansion, “A Shantotto Ascension.” The Adventurer’s Primer tells me it’s level 75+ content, so not there yet.
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Windurst
-I have control of my character again. I see Heavens Tower in front of me, a giant tree. I go in.
-HI LION YOU LOOK FUCKING AWESOME!!!
I see her inside. Li’l Gilgamesh.
-She came here for the same reason as me – to pick up an offering to the Yagudo.
-She’s angry at the Beastmen, at the Yagudo. Thinks they’re taking advantage of Windurst.
-Aha! I don’t need to wait for more Rhapsodies of Vana’diel missions. This is the continuation, right here. I tell her about my meeting with Gilgamesh.
-Lion says she’s been trying to understand “the strange portals that link our Vana’diel to another dimension.” Is this about those Atomos’s all around?
-Oh, nope, I still need to finish my Rank 2 missions before. I met her now, and will meet her at one of the crags afterwards.
-I get the sword offering from the clerics in heavens tower (which reminds me a lot of the Mysidian tower of prayer in FFIV). But then something unexpected: an Elvaan ranger named Semih Lafihna offers me their alter ego to help on this mission. Hm. Permanent or temporary?
-I was about to head over to the Bastok consulate, but just saw on the map: “Shantotto’s Manor.” Can I go there?
-Yes! And… Doctor Shantotto herself is here. She seems fine. I guess what I saw happens later.
-I head back to the Bastok Consulate, and get the replacement sword, and am ready to leave the city for Gideon on this delivery mission.
-I barely set foot outside the Windurst walls when my moogle helper rushes out to me, saying I just got an urgent letter sent to my mog house.
-She opens the letter, and… oh shit. It’s a holographic message, like Leia’s in Star Wars. It’s Shantotto.
SHANTOTTO: “You are hereby appointed Special Unit Operative of the Shantotto Empire, immediately effective.” It orders me to go to a headquarters at Qufim Island’s frozen pond for further orders. So… are you good? Evil?
-The letter floats to the ground, before springing back to life. I need to bring an “enfeeblement kit of silence” with me. I have to speak to an Orastery (?) employee, a tanner, and an alchemist about that.
-The moogle is pretty freaked out at this.
She prays for safety from the evil magic, and a beam of holy light envelops her during her prayer. Aw.
-Again, I’m not gonna worry about this content now or going to Qufim Island just yet. I think it’s higher end content.
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The Emissary – Sabotage Mission for Bastok
-Found the entrance to the Horutoru Ruins, but I don’t feel the need to investigate. Going to make for Gideon.
-Takes some wandering, but I eventually find it. (Oops – Giddeus, not Gideon.) Aaand… fuck. No map.
-Starts out as a canyon, similar to Dangruf Wadi but not nearly so twisty.
-Found a cave area. I want to go down, since I remember hearing that the treasure room was low.
-A lot of the Yagudo seem to be bards.
Makes sense. Birds can sing and all.
*a long-ass time wandering the caverns and canyons later*
-FDHSJLFDHSFKLDS YESSSSS – Found a Yagudo named Uu Zhoumo at a door. He says our blade is useless.
-I have to go find someone named Eyy Mon the Ironbreaker, kill him and take his blade for Uu Zhoumo.
-This scared me at first since I thought I’d have to hunt all around the zone for a named enemy, but then I saw him like the next room over. Whew.
-Killed that dude, got his knife, and gave it to Uu Zhoumo. Deal done. Now it’s time to find my way back. I know generally that the exit is north…
-Whelp. I fucked up lol.
Attacked a Yagudo named “Quu Xijo the Illusory,” and died quickly. I have to be more careful around named enemies.
-It’s not the worst thing. My homepoint is nearby, and I was done with the main quest, but I wanted to find that yagudo caulk for the moogle quest. I killed a ton of these Yagudo with no success, so I imagine I have to fight in higher end parts of the zone. I’ll come back later when I have a map.
-Mission complete! The Bastok consulate is pretty happy with how things turned out, and sent the real magic sword back to Bastok to help against the Quadav.
-We’re… we’re kind of dicks for doing this to Windurst, aren’t we?
-So I’m ready to move on now. I could stay here in Windurst for a bunch more sessions, talking to everyone in the city and doing nearby quests, but it feels unnecessary. My character isn’t going to do every quest in the world. She has her own story going on, a story centered in Bastok. This is just a side-trip. I want to stick to the primary storylines.
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Next time: to the Bastok Consulate in San d’Oria.
