Quest: Welcome to Bastok
-Went back to Port Bastok. I have a few people marked on my map as quest givers. Gonna work through them one by one. First is someone named Powhatan.
-Powhatan has a friend coming in from Jeuno and told him he’d get the person a shell shield. I have to find one and bring it to the friend.
-Shouldn’t be a problem. I picked up a few (and sold them) from Quadavs, the turtle enemies.
-Hee! This restaurant that Powhatan is in is called the Steaming Sheep.
-Oh, even better. The quest text says I just have to wear a shell shield so the friend knows who I am. Already wearing one.
-I head over to the airport, and Evrain (the friend, a Hume white mage) sees my shell shield.
-As this happens, the camera zooms in and gives the feel of a cutscene. I’m really impressed that FFXI includes this.
-Well. That was straightforward. I returned to Powhatan, who gave me a sword (that’s not as good as the one I currently am using).
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Quest: Beauty and the Galka
-Next questgiver is a guy named Talib. He looks pretty awesome, almost like a special forces samurai.
-HI CORNELIA! That woman from the intro comes by.
-Cornelia’s look has been very familiar to me, and it just hit me why. Her garb looks a lot like a great robe back in EverQuest, a magician robe called Robe of the Elements.
CORNELIA: “Parraggoh’s already given you three out of the four you asked for! Why aren’t you giving him his reward?”
-Parraggoh is a Galka that Cornelia is helping. Parraggoh promised Talib four chunks of zinc, but only gave three. She wants me to get the last one. Why does Cornelia care about this? What’s her role?
-The quest calls Talib “Talib of the Tenshodo.” Perhaps the Tenshodo is his clan or mercenary crew or something.
-Went outside the city to South Gustaberg, killed some stuff until I got a chunk of zinc ore.
-The home points (those crystal teleport things) are really nice to speed up getting from place to place.
-Also, while outside, I found a new tunic.
-I head back to Talib. He tells me that Cornelia hangs out near the Mine District. Hm. I really got the sense from the intro that she was someone of high station, like a princess.
-lolol. I have to get used to this game’s quest turn-in method. In most games, once I get an item and talk to the questgiver again, that turns the quest in. Here, I have to open a trade window with the questgiver and trade him the quest item.
-In return, Talib gives me Palborough Mines logs for Parraggoh. What does Parraggoh want with those? Maybe he plans to wrest Palborough Mines back from the Quadav.
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Quest: Fallen Comrades
-I went to the Mines District to find this guy Parraggoh, but ended up talking to a differenet Gelka. Cornelia just then busts in. He gets annoyed at her, but not in a negative way. She seems to check in on him. She cares a lot for the Gelka.
A woman about town.
-This other Gelka, Pavvke, has been searching for silver tags of some sort by the Metalworks. From his friends, lost 15 years ago.
-I have to go to the Palborough Mines to find those silver nametags, memories of Pavvke’s fallen friends from when the Quadav took the mines.
-I don’t think I’m strong enough to go to the Palborough mines yet. I’ll keep this in mind and come back to it.
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Quest: Beauty and the Galka (continued)
-A Gelka named Echo Hawk tells me to find a bard at a tavern in the Port District. Something about a legendary gem. Ok.
-SO MANY QUESTS! Another Gelka named Black Mud asks me to fill a brass canteen with water from the North Gustaberg Drachenfall.
-Been wandering around the Mine District for a while now, looking for the house of Parraggoh. WHERE ARE YOU BUDDY.
*20 minutes later*
-FINALLY. Finally found him. Nowhere super hidden – just a door I forgot to check.
-Parraggoh thanks me for this, but mostly thanks Cornelia – in an odd way. He doesn’t want her to get caught up hanging around the Gelka too much helping them out. I wonder if this is a class thing, or if there are rebellious factions and he fears that she’ll put herself in danger by associating with them.
-Again, I’m absolutely shocked that there’s this whole city story unfolding around Cornelia and the Gelka. Wasn’t expecting this at all.
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Port Bastok
-So what next? I have started to get a bunch of quests, but worry about getting overwhelmed. Going to head back to Port Bastok and take this quest by quest.
-Oh. Just discovered a map option called “Wide Scan” that lets me track down individuals. That would have made finding Parraggoh MUCH easier.
-Checked back in with Talib. No new quests, but he does say if I find four more of those chunks of zinc ore, he’ll pay me. A repeatable.
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Quest: Lure of the Wildcat (Bastok)
-Talked to a Tarutaru named Alib-Mufalib. He gave me an emblem shaped like a wildcat’s head. It makes me join a company, “Salaheem’s Sentinels.” Company?
-Ah. Mercenaries. Sanctioned by the “mighty Empire of Aht Urhgan.” Good guys? Bad guys? Hm. Probably good, if I can help it out.
-The Blue Sentinel badge has a bunch of characters visible on it. They look like coordinates.
-I have to recruit new members.
-OF COURSE! I get it now. There are five coordinates per category on the Blue Sentinel badge, across four categories. “Mi, Ma, P, Me.” Mi = Mines District, Ma = Market District, P = Port Bastok, Me = Metalwork. I have to find and recruit people from the listed coordinates of those four districts.
-I show my badge to someone named Paujean. Says that the beastmen in Aht Urhgan have been causing havoc there. Interested in trade. But he doesn’t join.
-Someone hanging out at the docks is interested in becoming a mercenary and going to Aht Urhgan. He’s bored here.
-He also mentions “All routes lead to Jeuno.” That must be a major hub city.
-HILDA! Hello, FFII and FFIX reference. A woman named Hilda is my next contact.
-The last person I talk to is a little kid, Kaede. She says that apparently people from Aht Urhgan are “sneaky.”
-So it seems that this quest isn’t so much about hiring mercenaries as it is learning more about the Empire of Aht Urhgan.
-Aht Urhgan has advanced technology.
-It’s a place in the “Near East,” and has advanced alchemy.
-I keep coming upon new quests as I talk to people, but again, I plan to go one at a time here. (Like, a brother and sister, Ken and Marin, ask my help for Ken’s application to the military academy. I have to go to Dangruf Wadi and survey the area.
-Last place to head is the Metalworks.
-HI CID!!
He’s too busy for me now, but… yup, he looks like Cid. Just chilling in the Metalworks.
-Well, that’s it. Talked to everyone. Some interest, some people who’ll sign up, and some who just wanted me to leave them alone.
-I return to the splendidly-dressed Alib-Mufalib.
That’s a sharp outfit, Alib-Mufalib. Careful. You could puncture the hull of a battleship, leaving thousands to drown at sea. Because it’s so sharp.
He takes back the Blue Sentinel medallion, but in return gives me a Blue Invitation. If I head to Aht Urhgan at some point in the future, it sounds like this letter will grant me access to this mercenary group.
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Next time: continuing Bastok quests.
