Mission: Headstone Pilgrimage (Rise of the Zilart)
-Last time on this storyline, the Tonberry queen told me my next step in stopping the Zilart (the Archduke of Jeuno and his brother). I have to go around Vana’diel collecting eight “fragments.” Not sure what they’ll do, but this is an FF game, so collecting eight elemental fragments is probably good.
-I have no earthly idea where these crystals are, and checking a guide basically confirms that. They’re obtained from hidden places in dungeons all around the world, some of which I didn’t even know existed.
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Water Fragment
-I have to go to a new dungeon off La Theine Plateau. Ordelle’s Caves.
-Holy twisted paths, Batman. The path I had to take through Ordelle’s cave was super convoluted. Down here, and up here, and west here, and invis/sneak to drop down into the high-level area, then climb the secret road up to the west, loop back south and exit the dungeon to a previously inaccessible part of La Theine Plateau.
-Finally, at the end of this path, is a headstone with a blue stone sparkling in it.
“A water fragment.. a single fragment of light. The way in which it shines suggests that it is resonating with something.” With what? The mothercrystal?
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Ice Fragment
-This is located in the old keep of Fei’Yin, in a section I didn’t even know existed below this dungeon: the Cloister of Frost.
-HOLY SHIT THAT’S BEAUTIFUL!
-The Cloister of Frost isn’t large. It’s really just a hallway with a room at the end of it. The headstone with the ice fragment is here, but so is a spinning, shimmering crystal. An Ice Protocrystal. This has gotta come into play in some later part of FFXI.
-Heh. Right now, when I try to interact with it, it just says: “It’s a giant crystal.” Thanks, game.
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Fire Fragment
-No surprise here. This one is in Ifrit’s Cauldron.
-Last time I was here, I got blocked in my exploration by some spouts of fire. I learn now that I can make the spouts of fire by trading ice crystals to them. That’s really cool!
-Home stretch… OH GOD THAT IS TERRIFYING. A giant Ash Dragon is blocking the final path, and it’s way higher level.
This is another version of the stealth game where I have to wait until it looks away and then run past it for dear life.
-I finally reach the headstone with the fire fragment in it. And let me yet again reiterate that if I hadn’t decided to be okay with using guides, I would NEVER have found this. Never. Never ever.
-Or maybe I would have eventually, but before I reached it I no doubt would’ve broken my keyboard in frustration.
-So I got to it, and two named Opo-Opos (monkeys) spawned to attack me. We take care of them – sadly, because they’re really frigging cute – and I get the fire fragment.
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Wind Fragment
-The next fragment is off the Altepa Desert, a new zone called Cape Terrigan.
-Pretty uneventful run here, through a mix of on-level and higher-level enemies. A pretty beach.
-At the end of the path is Cloister of Gales. Another of these elemental cloisters.
-Oops, too far. The headstone with the fragment isn’t here, but nearby.
-An enemy spawns here, a tough shade named Axesarion the Wanderer.
-He doesn’t hit too hard, but has a ton of durability.
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Lightning Fragment
-For this one, I have to go to “Behemoth’s Dominion.” WILL I HAVE TO FIGHT A BEHEMOTH??
-This seems to be a small zone.
-HI IFRIT!
Not as an enemy, but as a party member! Must be from a summoner. Fighting some giant roboty thing named Pil.
-Got to the headstone and two named enemies spawned. Both are of an enemy type that looks like an imp/goblin with a weapon over their heads. Ancient Weapon and Legendary Weapon.
A good fight, but not too bad.
-After I get the lightning fragment, I head in a bit further. I really want to see a behemoth!
-No dice. At the end of Behemoth’s Dominion is a huge open area. If this isn’t a boss arena, I’ve never played video games before. But Behemoth isn’t home.
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Light Fragment
-Good progress on this “pilgrimage” so far. Light is next, and this is hidden in Sanctuary of Zi’Tah.
-I reach the headstone in Sanctuary of Zi’Tah, and this is one of those cases where not only is it tucked away on the map – the path to reach it was unmarked, hidden on the map altogether.
-WTF IS THAT
It’s like a gross frog flesh demon thingy.
-Another tough fight, but killed it and got the light fragment.
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Earth Fragment
-This is the last one for the mission. After I get earth I’ll have eight. (The Tonberry Queen, Gravi’ton Berisacci, gave me the first fragment, a shadow fragment, at the start.)
-This one is in the Quicksand Caves, those Antican- and cactuar-filled caves beneath the Altepa Desert.
-Took another windy path and reached the final headstone. Got the earth fragment.
“You now have all 8 fragments of light!”
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Mission: Through the Quicksand Caves (Rise of the Zilart)
-The description: “You must hurry to Zepwell Island’s ancient temple.”
-I head to a battlefield within the Quicksand Caves. Strangely enough, it’s the same battlefield where I fought Maat.
-Three named Anticans await me, so I buff up and get ready. Another multi-target fight.
-So… I’m a bit nervous? But at least if I fail hard, I have a clear next step: go on my red mage and level up Enfeebling magic so that I can land sleep and take one out early.
-Btw – I’m not really sure what I’m doing here. I know I have these 8 fragments of light that’ll help somehow against the Zilart, but I don’t know what these Anticans are for, why they’re blocking me. Whatever.
-YOLO HERE WE GO
-I got killed dead. I got one of them down before I bit it.
-One more try. A different order – I’ll go for the big guy rather than the mage this time.
-Nope. I’m still super dead. XD
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Training Montage
-First goal: set Red Mage as my main job and raise my enfeebling magic up. See if that’s enough.
*hours later*
-So I got my Red Mage job up, mostly in Sea Serpent Grotto. Went from level 35 to 50. Most importantly, raised my Enfeebling to near max for that level.
I don’t know if this will be enough. Currently, my Enfeebling is at 111. Before, it was at like 40. So… better!
-My Enhancing magic skill is also low. That’s what makes my buffs, like Protect and Shell, any good. So For about an hour, I stand in Jeuno just casting cheap buffs on myself over and over and OVER AND OVER to
-Is all this good enough? Let’s find out.
-Also, I tend to get easily angry at times like this, so I’m pre-emptively calming myself down. If I can’t get the Anticans down now, I’ll level up to around 80 and come back later.
-Dead. Dead dead dead.
Me, not them. Closer, but not close enough. My sleep still doesn’t stick.
-I’ll level up more, come back later. No more storylines to move onto though. Just gotta grind and try
this again.
-I hit level 74 on my dragoon, and want to change up locations a bit. Going to the Zeruhn Mines. It’s a newbie area, but has enemies in the mid-70s.
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Quest: New Worlds Await (Limit Break #6)
-Time for the next limit break quest, to increase my level cap from 75 to 80.”
-Maat is no longer the questgiver. Instead, it’s the Nomad Moogle standing next to Maat.
-It doesn’t require the same collection as most of the other limit break quests, and serves mostly as an introduction to the “Merit Points” system.
Merit Points are a way to buff my character beyond level. I can choose to put my experience points towards merit points instead of leveling, and every 10k experience I get a merit point. I can use those to get more max HP, MP, better job-specific abilities, etc. Very similar to the “Alternate Advancement” system in EverQuest.
-The quest is to give the Nomad Moogle three Kindred’s Seals (standard tokens I get from killing enemies – I have plenty) and to earn three Merit Points. Some more time killing bats in Zeruhn Mines and I complete this.
-I go to turn in the quest to the Nomad Moogle, and he calls over someone called a Magian Moogle, an elder-type moogle.
-The Magian Moogle performs some kind of moogle magic on me that knocks me unconscious before reviving me and pronouncing success.
“My friend, you’ve been the perfect test subject… <ahem>… I mean, you are clearly an ideal heir for the power of the moogle ancients!”
Lololol <3 moogles
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Next time: Continuing to level up to around 85, then back to the story.
