Summary: Progress in “Rhapsodies of Vana’diel.” Limit break #1. Preparing to trek out to the Northlands against the Shadow Lord.
Mission: The Lion’s Roar (Rhapsodies of Vana’diel)
-I head back to Qufim. I was last here around level 37 or so, when I clicked on an “undulating confluence,” a swirly void thing that might have been the source of some future “Emptiness.” It sucked in Lion and spat out Ophiotaurus, a huge bull that kicked my ass. Now I’m level 50 and ready to go again.
-WOOHOO!! Beat Ophiotaurus. 15 levels later, it was just enough to get past him, even if some of my trust egos dropped in the battle.
-So Iroha is here.
-We head into this portal, whatever it is, where Lion got sucked into.
---
Mission: Eddies of Despair (Rhapsodies of Vana’diel)
-HOLY SHIT WHO IS THAT??? Whoever he is, he revived Ophiotaurus.
Sweet mask.
-I’m in a new area. “Escha – Zi’Tah.” I haven’t been to Zi’Tah, but I recognize it from the map. “Escha” is unfamiliar though.
-This is a rocky, grey land.
-Lion is here, safe. She’s with Zeid, the Dark Knight guy who gave me that shit quest.
ZEID: “This may look like the Sanctuary of Zi’Tah, but it is not the one we know.” So yes, this is an alternate dimension.
-lol Zeid is so EDGYYYY “The only color here is the color of death.”
-Apparently, our dimension’s version of Zi’Tah is a lot brighter and more beautiful than this. Is this another dimension, or perhaps even Iroha’s empty future?
-A bell starts to chime. It knocks Lion into nausea, and Zeid gets temporarily possessed, slashing wildly.
-Iroha calls this world Escha. “When the darkness came, the Middle Lands were the first to be assaulted. Swaths of land were consumed, leaving a colorless landscape where life once thrived.”
-But this wasn’t supposed to happen for a while. (Still a bit confused, but rolling with it.) Apparently, Iroha’s time travel has shifted history a bit. Iroha might have brought some of the Emptiness with her, inadvertently.
-We all head back to the undulating confluence. Lion wants to speak with the mothercrystal about this.
---
Mission: A Land After Time (Rhapsodies of Vana’diel)
-I head to the Crag of Dem in the Konschtat Highlands to meet up with Lion.
-Lion, Zeid, and Iroha are all here at the mothercrystal.
-Lion gets hit again with a vision. She’s now convinced that the orb Iroha gave me is a relic from the future.
-She’s worried that in her vision, I wasn’t there trying to stop the Emptiness. Iroha thinks that’s just because this future orb “is not yet fully illuminated.” Not quite sure what this means.
-Lion then tells of another vision: me conquering the Shadow Lord. So my first step in making sure history goes as well as possible is stopping the beastmen and the Shadow Lord (that dude who the beastmen are resurrecting, who was the Big Bad 20 years ago.)
-And Lion will be with me all the way. AWWWW
-A flash of light hits. Not sure what that’s… OH SHIT HAHAHA YES!!!! I THINK I’M GETTING LION AS A TRUST ALLY.
-So next steps:
1)Lion will continue searching for info on the Shadow Lord.
2)Zeid will report back to Gilgamesh in Norg.
3)Iroha will learn all she can about that bell that chimed in Escha and seemed to possess Zeid briefly. I’ll bet it’s related to the mask guy.
-GoooooOOO TEAM!!!
We break off.
---
Mission: Fate’s Call (Rhapsodies of Vana’diel)
-This mission is to “vanquish the Shadow Lord.” Uh. Ok. How? Where?
-Oh, right! I think it’s related to my Bastok missions, since those had me on track to go against the Shadow Lord. I’ll return to this later.
-I really love the Rhapsodies of Vana’diel missions. They’re paced perfectly to go alongside the other story missions I’ve had so far.
---
Mission: In Defiant Challenge! (Limit Break #1, Level 50)
-I’m at level 50, max experience for the level, and can’t get to 51 before I do something called a “Limit Break” quest. That will let me push higher.
-I head to a guy named Ma’at in Jeuno.
-He’s a teacher. Wants to test me, and I have to bring him a piece of ancient papyrus, a clump of exoray mold, and a chunk of bomb coal.
-And does Ma’at give any hints about where to find these three items? Guess.
-If your answer was “lol of course not why would he, you should just go to every zone and kill everything until these three items drop” you’d be right! So instead, I look it up where to go.
-My first stop is the Eldieme Necropolis. I have to kill a Lich for apiece of ancient papyrus.
-Let me tell you. This place is BRUTAL.
Tons of enemies packed together, tons of spells and damaging effects, and most of the enemies are higher level than I am. I die once working out my strategy.
-Whew. Found a room with Liches and killed them. Got the ancient papyrus. I was afraid I’d be here a while.
-My second stop is Garlaige Citadel, somewhere just off Sauromugue Champaign. I have to kill one of the Bomb type enemies for a chunk of bomb coal.
-A ruined castled type zone. ...crud, I don’t have a map for this place. If I can’t find the Bomb enemies soon, I’ll buy a map and return.
-Died again. I have to be careful to pull enemies back to me, lest they gather friends.
-This place is tense as hell. And because I’m capped at level 50 and not leveling up as I crawl through, it doesn’t get easier.
-Phew. Got the chunk of bomb coal from an Explosure.
-Though now I’m super deep into this place. The fastest way out is death. I’ll lose a bit of xp, but that’s okay.
-Third and final stop is Crawler’s Nest. A swarmy, bug ‘n’ worm-filled place. Ew.
-The Exoray is a funguar-type. This whole place gives me the willies, but it’s the easiest of the three items. Enemeis are less packed-in here. I can pull 1-2 at a time instead of needing to deal with 3. That helps.
-And I’m done!! Back to Ma’at to turn this in.
MA’AT: “Very good! You’ve taken your first step into a broader world.”
-I think 50 was the initial level cap, so this must’ve been a HUGE deal back in the day. I wonder when I can start on the limit break quest to pass level 55.
---
Mission: Darkness Rising (Bastok)
-Last time in this Bastok mission chain, I tried to stop the beastmen tribes from using magicite to resummons the Shadow Lord. I failed. He’s back.
-He was trapped somewhere still, but the talisman that kept him trapped was guarded in part by all three kingdom leaders, all of whom were attacked at the end of the last session. I’m heading back to Bastok to regroup.
-So I’m in Jeuno, and the fastest way to get to Bastok is to use a Home Point. These are instant portal crystals set-up all around the world, but I get the sense they were added later in FFXI’s life cycle.
-Screw that (for now). When I completed the last Bastok mission, I got an airship pass as a reward, and at least once in FFXI, I’m going to use it.
-I head to the airship port in Jeuno, and wait for about 10 minutes for the airship to pull in.
-WHEEEE!! AIRSHIP!!! I even get some sweet airship music.
-Back in Bastok, I head to the President’s Office.
-War council meeting. All the higher-ups are here, both from the Mythril Musketeers and the city bureaucracy.
-Cornelia rushes in, terrified that her dad (President Karst) was hurt, but her dad is okay. He’s kind of an asshole about it. “Go to your room, this isn’t your place,” etc.
-So someone’s familiar snuck past the magical defenses of this place and took the talisman. The key to the Shadow Lord’s seal.
-Twenty years ago, the allied kingdoms beat the Shadow Lord in the Northlands and sealed him away. Cid and Captain Volker were part of that group.
GOD KARST YOU’RE THE WORST. He’s trying to think of who might have done this, and can’t help but shit on the Galka just because he’s a bigoted fuck.
KARST: “But then again, those fools in the Senate are too busy squabbling each other, and the Galka rebels are too savage to possess any magic skills…”
He says this as one of the Mythril Musketeers, a Galka named Iron Eater, is RIGHT THERE.
IRON EATER: “…..”
Ugh. I hope you die, Karst.
-Anyway. They get me to help them go to the Northlands and check this out. To the ruins of Fei’Yin at the northeastern corner of the Beaucedine Glacier.
-The city of Fei’Yin was built by an ancient civilization called the Zilart. HEY!! I know that name. That’s an expansion name. Rise of the Zilart I think?
-Thirty years ago, a team was sent to the Northlands to try to uncover the secrets of the Zilart’s power, but they came back empty handed.
HEY HEY!!!!! THIS IS WHERE THE CUTSCENES COME IN!! Ulrich, Raogrimm, the whole group that we saw in the magicite cutscenes. They were in the ruins of Fei’Yin. It’s all coming together now!
-San d’Oria guards the road to Beaucedine Glacier now. I have to find a way in through them somehow.
-So my mission is to go to Fei’Yin, check if the seal is intact, and if it’s not, replace it with a “New Fei’Yin seal” they give me.
-About to call this session for now, but first… I gotta see Lion, my new trust NPC.
-Yes. All kinds of yes. I love Lion.
---
Next time: into the Northlands.
