Summary: Journey to San d’Oria. The Orcish fort, Ghelsba. A boss fight forces me to make friends. Rank 3. Ayame.
-A brief catch-up. The mission I’m right now to (hopefully) finish rank 2 with Bastok is called “Emissary.” I have to go to the Bastok consulates in the other two main cities for missions to be seen.
-Also in the back of my mind is the “Moogle Kupo d’Etat” mission. I have to get supplies for my moogle to repair a leak in my mog house’s roof. This requires items looted from a Quadav, a Yagudo, and an Orc. I’ve encountered Quadavs in Bastok and Yagudos in Windurst, so I assume I’ll see Orcs near San d’Oria. However, I haven’t yet found the items off Quadavs or Yagudos, so they might be rarer.
---
The Path to San d’Oria
-My Windurst mission is complete, so next up is to head back to the main continent of Quon and travel north to the Kingdom of San d’Oria.
-Used the crystal teleport to hop back to Selbina.
-While here, I bought up the rest of the 600 gil maps, including Giddeus, Maze of Shakhrami, King Ranperre’s Tomb, Gusgen Mines, Al Zahbi, and the Horutoto Ruins. A lot, but I want to be prepared.
-From Selbina went north to Valkurn Dunes, northeast to La Theine Plateau. The Plateau is a green and rainy zone, and I encounter my first orcs here.
-Long trip across La Theine Plateau, but the next zone north is West Ronfaure, which borders San d’Oria. The music is classically medieval sounding.
-I run north, and the city walls are what the music led me to expect. San d’Oria’s city is enclosed by awesome looking stone walls.
---
San d’Oria
-Look. Detolilla, my character, is a loyal Bastokan who would never betray her city. But me, Coldrun? I think the RNG gave me the raw end of the three starting cities.
-Bastok is nice and all, in a gray and industrial sense, but it’s got nothing on either the sylvan hobbity beauty of Windurst or the Ren-Fest glory of San d’Oria.
-I like that the cities in FFXI aren’t just divided by race. There are members of all races in most cities. But this city is definitely the most Elvaan-centric.
-I quickly find the Bastokan consul, Helaku. San d’Oria is currently fighting the Orcish horde, but hampered by royal internal politics.
-Unlike Windurst, this consul isn’t the main go-to. He redirects me for my assignment to a San d’Orian noble, a “monarlais” named Lord Halver.
-Lord Halver is in a castle structure, Chateau d’Oraguille. He says that orcs have set up in a place called Ghelsba Outpost, and have started using improved armaments. I have to find Yughott Grotto, a cavern deep in Ghelsba Outpost, and provide them with useful information about who’s supplying the Orcs.
---
Mission into Ghelsba Outpost
-I head northwest out of San d’Oria, and already feeling better about this mission than the last one? Why? I HAVE A MAP!
-Makes such a huge difference.
-A brief catch-up. The mission I’m right now to (hopefully) finish rank 2 with Bastok is called “Emissary.” I have to go to the Bastok consulates in the other two main cities for missions to be seen.
-Also in the back of my mind is the “Moogle Kupo d’Etat” mission. I have to get supplies for my moogle to repair a leak in my mog house’s roof. This requires items looted from a Quadav, a Yagudo, and an Orc. I’ve encountered Quadavs in Bastok and Yagudos in Windurst, so I assume I’ll see Orcs near San d’Oria. However, I haven’t yet found the items off Quadavs or Yagudos, so they might be rarer.
---
The Path to San d’Oria
-My Windurst mission is complete, so next up is to head back to the main continent of Quon and travel north to the Kingdom of San d’Oria.
-Used the crystal teleport to hop back to Selbina.
-While here, I bought up the rest of the 600 gil maps, including Giddeus, Maze of Shakhrami, King Ranperre’s Tomb, Gusgen Mines, Al Zahbi, and the Horutoto Ruins. A lot, but I want to be prepared.
-From Selbina went north to Valkurn Dunes, northeast to La Theine Plateau. The Plateau is a green and rainy zone, and I encounter my first orcs here.
-Long trip across La Theine Plateau, but the next zone north is West Ronfaure, which borders San d’Oria. The music is classically medieval sounding.
-I run north, and the city walls are what the music led me to expect. San d’Oria’s city is enclosed by awesome looking stone walls.
---
San d’Oria
-Look. Detolilla, my character, is a loyal Bastokan who would never betray her city. But me, Coldrun? I think the RNG gave me the raw end of the three starting cities.
-Bastok is nice and all, in a gray and industrial sense, but it’s got nothing on either the sylvan hobbity beauty of Windurst or the Ren-Fest glory of San d’Oria.
-I like that the cities in FFXI aren’t just divided by race. There are members of all races in most cities. But this city is definitely the most Elvaan-centric.
-I quickly find the Bastokan consul, Helaku. San d’Oria is currently fighting the Orcish horde, but hampered by royal internal politics.
-Unlike Windurst, this consul isn’t the main go-to. He redirects me for my assignment to a San d’Orian noble, a “monarlais” named Lord Halver.
-Lord Halver is in a castle structure, Chateau d’Oraguille. He says that orcs have set up in a place called Ghelsba Outpost, and have started using improved armaments. I have to find Yughott Grotto, a cavern deep in Ghelsba Outpost, and provide them with useful information about who’s supplying the Orcs.
---
Mission into Ghelsba Outpost
-I head northwest out of San d’Oria, and already feeling better about this mission than the last one? Why? I HAVE A MAP!
-Makes such a huge difference.
-This place has the feel of a cobbled together fort.
-Deeper inside I come to another zone, Fort Ghelsba.
-Even further into Fort Ghelsba, I reach my target zone of Yughott Grotto.
-WOOHOO! The first enemy I kill in the Grotto drops “Orcish armor plate,” the item I needed for “A Moogle Kupo d’Etat.” Perhaps that’s the key to finding the similar items in Palborough Mines and Giddeus. I just have to go deep enough in.
-I’m fighting my way through this cave/grotto, and not sure what I’m looking for. I’m just supposed to “investigate.” If I can find machinery and get scraps of it, maybe that’ll be enough.
-Okay. I’ve been through this Grotto over and over, and no luck. Screw it. I’m looking up where to go. (And given how cryptic some of the quest descriptions seem, I don’t think this is the last time I’ll do it.)
-AHA! The trick is that the level of the Grotto wasn’t the only one to explore. I had to leave the Grotto, wind my way up the mountainous plateaus in Fort Ghelsba, then re-enter the Grotto at a different point higher up.
-Found a Hot Springs outside the upper Grotto, but nothing’s here.
-BLESS!!! There’s a Home Point up here. If I die, I am not totally and completely screwed.
-Went to another exit from the Grotto. Instead of hot springs, I’m faced with a platform that glows as if from embers.
-I click on it, “Burning Circle,” and get a message that I’m about to start “Rank 2 Final Mission.” Yikes.
-Two rando NPCs, Vauderame and Rochefogne, are looking for “the sword.”
Their vaguely French-sounding names suggest that they’re also soldiers from San d’Oria.
Then someone named “Spotter” who I can’t see summons “Wyrm of Darkness, Devourer of Light.” Probably bad for me.
-A Dread Dragon. Unfortunately, it’s not alone. Spotter appears, an Ahriman-esque floating eye.
These two are part of the power supplying the orcs.
-WAIT I CAN’T USE TRUST MAGIC? SHIT.
-I’m alone, and don’t seem to stand a chance against these two. The Dread Dragon hits hard as hell, Spotter adds his own magic, and I’m barely able to chip away at it before I die. It’s not even remotely close.
Splat.
-I don’t think this is meant to be soloed. So… am I fucked? Is that it until I grind to a higher level? God, I hope not.
-I backtrack. I head to the city of San d’Oria, and… well… I shout for help. I shout to the zone that I’m a newbie stuck on this mission, and can anyone help me.
-Deeper inside I come to another zone, Fort Ghelsba.
-Even further into Fort Ghelsba, I reach my target zone of Yughott Grotto.
-WOOHOO! The first enemy I kill in the Grotto drops “Orcish armor plate,” the item I needed for “A Moogle Kupo d’Etat.” Perhaps that’s the key to finding the similar items in Palborough Mines and Giddeus. I just have to go deep enough in.
-I’m fighting my way through this cave/grotto, and not sure what I’m looking for. I’m just supposed to “investigate.” If I can find machinery and get scraps of it, maybe that’ll be enough.
-Okay. I’ve been through this Grotto over and over, and no luck. Screw it. I’m looking up where to go. (And given how cryptic some of the quest descriptions seem, I don’t think this is the last time I’ll do it.)
-AHA! The trick is that the level of the Grotto wasn’t the only one to explore. I had to leave the Grotto, wind my way up the mountainous plateaus in Fort Ghelsba, then re-enter the Grotto at a different point higher up.
-Found a Hot Springs outside the upper Grotto, but nothing’s here.
-BLESS!!! There’s a Home Point up here. If I die, I am not totally and completely screwed.
-Went to another exit from the Grotto. Instead of hot springs, I’m faced with a platform that glows as if from embers.
-I click on it, “Burning Circle,” and get a message that I’m about to start “Rank 2 Final Mission.” Yikes.
-Two rando NPCs, Vauderame and Rochefogne, are looking for “the sword.”
Their vaguely French-sounding names suggest that they’re also soldiers from San d’Oria.
Then someone named “Spotter” who I can’t see summons “Wyrm of Darkness, Devourer of Light.” Probably bad for me.
-A Dread Dragon. Unfortunately, it’s not alone. Spotter appears, an Ahriman-esque floating eye.
These two are part of the power supplying the orcs.
-WAIT I CAN’T USE TRUST MAGIC? SHIT.
-I’m alone, and don’t seem to stand a chance against these two. The Dread Dragon hits hard as hell, Spotter adds his own magic, and I’m barely able to chip away at it before I die. It’s not even remotely close.
Splat.
-I don’t think this is meant to be soloed. So… am I fucked? Is that it until I grind to a higher level? God, I hope not.
-I backtrack. I head to the city of San d’Oria, and… well… I shout for help. I shout to the zone that I’m a newbie stuck on this mission, and can anyone help me.
Two friendly folks come to the rescue. Avarii [Later edit: who eventually invited me into their linkshell/guild] and Mrballoonhands. Love that name lol.
-Our party heads back to the dragon and eyeball, and they basically breathe on the enemies and kill them.
-HI LION!! Lion shows up, just having missed the action.
-Spotter does one of those “with my dying breath I’ll tell you my plans” things. He says that he’s trying to bring back the return of the Shadow Lord from 20 years ago, the guy who led the war against these three nation as the head of the Beastmen.
So that’s bad.
-I bid my newfound friends goodbye and head back to the Bastok consul in San d’Oria. The consul here congratulates/thanks me for my work (though it’s really Mrballoonhands and Avarii who deserve the thanks) and I’m sent off back to my home in Bastok to turn this in.
---
Bastok
-Naji escorts me in to see the president.
-Naji is feeling underutilized. He’s in the Mythril Musketeers, an elite group, but he mostly stands guard duty for the president.
-I report on Windurst and San d’Oria to President Karst. He’s incredibly dismissive. Thinks Windurst is cowardly, San d’Oria is brutish and foolish.
-The main thing that catches his ear is that someone new is leading the beastman hordes. The powers represented by the floating eye, the Shadow Lord.
-The president’s aide, Lucius, seems to be sharp and competent in a way the president isn’t. I fill him in on the details of my time in WIndurst and San d’Oria, and he grants me RANK 3 WOOHOOO!!!
-I head back to Ayame, the woman I’ve been trying to get trust with – AND VICTORY YES I GET HER ALTER EGO
-My main question: can I summon multiple alter-egos at once?
-HELL. FUCKING. YES. I can use both of them at once.
They also have dialogue:
NAJI: “All right! Let me at ‘em!”
AYAME: “I am interested to see how you spar, Naji. Just let your breath be used for exertion, not mindless chatter.”
-This is a shorter session than usual, but I don’t care. I’m ecstatic that I completed this mission, that I found friends to help me do so, and I’m going to call it here.
[Two non-rhetorical questions for y’all that have been bugging me a bit:
1)Was I doing something wrong in trying to call up my Trust NPCs for that mission? It kept saying that I was unable to summon them, but I can’t believe that just when a Trust NPC would be most useful, the game wouldn’t let me use it.
2)In Windurst and San d’Oria, I was given two scrolls by NPCs that should’ve allowed me to summon those characters as Trust NPCs. One for instance is called “Cipher: Halver.”
I tried using it a bunch of places but couldn’t do so. How can I access that magic?
Thank you for any help on these questions. :D ]
---
Next time: Three things, if time allows. First, I’m going to head back to Giddeus and Palborough Mines to get the items needed for progress in “A Moogle Kupo d’Etat.” Second I’m going to pick up the next mission in Bastok, something called “Four Musketeers.” Third, I’m going to meet Gilgamesh’s daughter Lion to continue the “Rhapsodies of Vana’diel” series.
They also have dialogue:
NAJI: “All right! Let me at ‘em!”
AYAME: “I am interested to see how you spar, Naji. Just let your breath be used for exertion, not mindless chatter.”
-This is a shorter session than usual, but I don’t care. I’m ecstatic that I completed this mission, that I found friends to help me do so, and I’m going to call it here.
[Two non-rhetorical questions for y’all that have been bugging me a bit:
1)Was I doing something wrong in trying to call up my Trust NPCs for that mission? It kept saying that I was unable to summon them, but I can’t believe that just when a Trust NPC would be most useful, the game wouldn’t let me use it.
2)In Windurst and San d’Oria, I was given two scrolls by NPCs that should’ve allowed me to summon those characters as Trust NPCs. One for instance is called “Cipher: Halver.”
I tried using it a bunch of places but couldn’t do so. How can I access that magic?
Thank you for any help on these questions. :D ]
---
Next time: Three things, if time allows. First, I’m going to head back to Giddeus and Palborough Mines to get the items needed for progress in “A Moogle Kupo d’Etat.” Second I’m going to pick up the next mission in Bastok, something called “Four Musketeers.” Third, I’m going to meet Gilgamesh’s daughter Lion to continue the “Rhapsodies of Vana’diel” series.
