Quest: Forge Your Destiny (Samurai Unlock)
-I decided to try this new quest. The job didn’t interest me to a tremendous degree, but it does interest me a bit to get a job that would give me an offensive wyvern rather than the healing wyvern, and samurai is one of those.
-Also, I’m in a “Unity Concord” led by Ayame, a sort of NPC-guild with its own series of quests and achievements. The first achievement requires a great katana, which I see on samurais. So why not!
-Oh, and one more thing: I want to unlock and try the summoner. Doing so requires an item that is an incredibly rare drop from leeches, and I’d rather kill leeches while leveling up something new rather than just farming them on my 99 dragoon.
-The questgiver is an Elvaan in Norg named Jaucribaix who tells me he’ll forge me a katana if I go get him the materials. Bomb steel and a sacred branch.
-Yet another quest in the annals of “FFXI shit I’d never figure out without a guide.” I know I have to get one of the elements for this – a Sacred Branch – in the Sanctuary of Zi’Tah.
What I wouldn’t have gotten is that the tree is hidden in an unmapped path by clicking an invisible “???” that I have to first trade a Hatchet to, kill the creepy tree guardian, and then trade a quest item to.
-The second thing I need is a lump of bomb steel. Not just a drop from any bomb, but from a specific bomb I spawn in Konschtat Highlands called “Forger.”
-I return the items to Jaucribaux, and… I have to wait. Three days. Three days in game (three hours irl) for him to forge the weapon.
Y’know what though? For all the stuff I dislike about older MMOs, this is something I kind of like. Gives the feel of a legit sword being forged, even a little bit.
-I’ll return to the Chains of Promathia quest and come back to finish this later.
*the next day*
-I return for my blade, and Gilgamesh himself comes out to thank me for getting his smith the materials.
“Listen carefully, Detolilla. Within a katana, the soul of its maker and the soul of its wielder are intertwined... That’s why we make adventurers like you go on quests like that last one. We want you t’know the true meanin’ of wieldin’ a blade like this.”
Well said, Gil.
“Know the meaning of the power you hold, and only then… Yer adventures have already trained you t’become a samurai. Now all that’s left is for ya t’pledge your faith t’this blade. Yer power will do the rest.”
-Went out and leveled up to the high 20s on this, mostly fighting leeches. I’d love to try out summoner, and the quest to start the summoner job unlock requires me to get a super rare item first that drops from leeches around the world.
lol look at me i’m tom cruise
-It’s a fun job. Some neat melee tools, more defensive than the dragoon.
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Mission: The Call of the Wyrmking (Chains of Promathia, ch.3)
-Last time, after that whole episode with Bahamut, Prishe and I got teleported away to South Gustaberg, by Bastok. Prishe ran off, and I get the sense this is her first time out of the isolated Tavnazian region.
-The mission description here says that Prishe “begins her search for the father of airships, Cid.” I guess I have a destination.
-Nothing happens. The guide tells me I have to first go to the departures door of Port Bastok, so I head there.
-LOLOL PRISHE IS HERE YELLING AT THE AIRSHIP PORT GUARDS. She thinks the airship she tracked down here was the Zilart airship that attacked Bahamut, and now she’s demanding answers.
Poor guards.
-Prishe eventually scares the name “Cid” out of the guard, sprints off to the Metalworks. She only has one speed: RAGE. I could easily see her as Fujin’s imperious little sister.
-I find Cid: “Hm? You’re looking for that rude and crude little girl?” HDU SPEAK THAT (truthful) WAY ABOUT PRISHE
-Naji and Ayame threw her into a holding cell to let her cool down. Honestly, I’m impressed. I assumed that Naji trying to arrest Prishe would be like that scene from the “Logan” trailer where the big dude tries to take the little Wolverine girl into custody.
-I report everything to Cid, about the armored airships and hooded scientists attacking Bahamut and everything. He can provide some context.
The only armored airships he knows were modified for battle during the war against the Shadow Lord’s armies, and the scientists were likely Jeunoan.
-Twenty years ago, Cid himself got an invitation to work on a project for Jeuno. An invitation directly from Duke Kam’lanaut, who we now know to be Zilart.
“Minus myself and a few other scientists from Windurst, all the rest of the people assigned to the project are these creepy, pale-faced men in dark, hooded robes.”
-They have incredibly advanced technology – and now that we know they are Zilart, that makes sense.
-They developed a “crystal propulsion unit,” but it required an energy source more powerful than what the eight elemental crystals on Vana’diel could provide. But he never found out what they were trying to use that propulsion unit to power. Though he knew they were working around the Crag of Holla.
-At this moment, Prishe strides in, accompanied by Cornelia. “To catch Bahamut, that’s why [the pale scientists flew to Tavnazia]!”
Like everything else, Prish describing the last chapter’s encounter with Bahamut is the literal BEST.
“Well, everything was all find and dandy until one day, all of a sudden, this huge dragon appears over my hometown. We were going to meet this dragon and try to knock some sense into him when out of nowhere, a huge airship contraption with all these guns and cannons flies up. We were right in the middle of giving the guys from that ship a sound beating until poof, I’m warped to this hellhole.“
-Cornelia is surprised that Prishe fought the Duchy of Jeuno, but it wasn’t about that. Prishe just wanted to protect Bahamut. And she also wanted some more time to find out what Bahamut the Wyrmking meant about the Keeper of the Apocalypse.
I like that these characters are about as lost as I am regarding the story.
-Cid tells Prishe about the dragon that flew out when the Telepoint at the Crag of Dem shattered (also Bahamut), and Prishe wants to head to Jeuno and Riverne for answers. And to meet with the Wyrmking.
-Prishe has a friend in Jeuno within the Tenshodo.
And she just runs off lolol even though it’s a long ass way from here to Jeuno I LOVE HER SO MUCH.
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Mission: A Vessel Without a Captain (Chains of Promathia, ch.3)
-Time to follow Prishe to Jeuno.
-I reach the Tenshodo headquarters in Jeuno, and… oh crap. Wolfgang and the Jeuno guard are here. I forgot that I basically left with them assuming I conspired with the Pale Kid who evaded them and wrecked their shit.
Oops.
WOLFGANG: “We just received final authorization from your home nation. You are under arrest. The charge is treason.”
WHAT THE FUCK. I spent all that time reaching rank 10 with Bastok and they have me arrested for treason??!?!!
-Aldo, the Tenshodo leader who I worked with in Rise of the Zilart, pops out of the HQ doors to see what’s up. And Prishe peeks around the corner at me: “Ah! It’s the dead lady!” XD
-Aldo sticks up for me. Saying I’m a guest of his. This works to make Wolfgang back off for now, but he still asks me to turn myself into the Duchy’s palace ASAP since there’s a warrant for my arrest.
-Aldo, Prishe and I head into the HQ. I confirm for Aldo that yes, Prishe is really part of a group of Tavnazian survivors.
-Apparently, Prishe’s contact in the Tenshodo was a man named Grezzo. Aldo’s now dead father. Someone Prishe trusted, which sounds like a pretty rare thing.
-Aldo now wants to help Prishe get back to Tavnazia. He got another such request recently too for help getting to Tavnazia. I’m betting the customer was Nag’molada. We’ll see soon enough though, since we’ll be sailing with that customer on the same ship.
-Aldo brings up the possibility of Detolilla (me) fleeing for Tavnazia until the heat dies down, but Prishe is having none of that.
“No way! Detolilla, if you’re a real woman, you’ll march your butt right over to the Grand Duke Palace and face your crime!”
-Prishe leaves to explore and enjoy Jeuno while the ship gets ready for departure. I leave to face whatever the Jeunoan justice system is in the Duke’s Palace and clear my name.
-I arrive. The “duke vicarious” is the new leader of Jeuno, and she’s the one who will hear my case.
-OH GODDAMMIT
The scene changes to the inside of the throne room. The “Duke Vicarious” is that blond woman who gave Prishe her amulet. She’s working with Nag’molada. She’s the Zilart woman who led the attack on Bahamut.
Her name is Esha’ntarl.
-The person she’s meeting right now is Tenzen, the samurai.
-Interesting. Apparently Duke Kam’lanaut’s demise is not common knowledge. Esha’ntarl just says that the reason Tenzen is meeting her instead of the grand duke is that “the grand duke has been overwhelmed with his duties to the people of this land.” Right.
-Tenzen is here to ask for help with the Emptiness. It’s closing in on the far reaches of his Eastern Empire, and probably elsewhere.
TENZEN: “Like sap oozes slowly from a tree, the Emptiness spreads across my country, swallowing whole the hills and forests. As it approaches, the children begin to dream. When it arrives, it is not long before the adults too begin to dream.”
Interesting. I know the name of this chapter is a “A Lucid Dream,” and this likely relates.
-The dream is always about the Keeper of the Apocalypse. That he’ll soon appear and bring the end of Vana’diel.
-Esha’ntarl says she already knew about the Emptiness, but doesn’t know much about why it’s spreading. Tenzen thinks this is bullshit. “Do not tell me that you are unaware that the five shards of legend rest here!”
Uhh… five shards of legend? More crystal stuff?
TENZEN: “Do not tell me that you are unaware that it is the power of the five shards that protects Vana’diel from the Emptiness!”
At first, I was freaked out to see Esha’ntarl here. I assumed she was a villain, since she was a Zilart, but maybe that was too quick.
On the “Maybe She’s Good” side: she and her scientists seem determined to protect Vana’diel, to stop that Pale Kid from spreading darkness, and protect the crystals.
On the “Maybe She’s Bad” side: She attacked Bahamut, which Prishe didn’t want, and I trust Prishe. Any enemy of Prishe’s is an enemy of mine.
-Tenzen is on the “maybe she’s bad” train. He thinks Jeuno is the cause of the Emptiness’s growth and that Jeuno’s attempts to harness the power of the crystals have resulted in the spread of the darkness. Oh, and a big one: she seems like she was on Team Kam’lanaut, which was an apocalyptic team.
(This is a VERY FFV plotline btw.)
-Esha’ntarl denies the accusations. She says that Jeuno sees the five shards – the mothercrystals [aha!] – as protectors of the world, and wants to protect them in turn.
I believe her.
-She also says she has kept the truth about the mothercrystals from Bastok, Windurst, and San d’Oria for fear that people there would try to wrongly use the power for personal gain.
I believe her on this too.
-Some heated words between Esha’ntarl and Tenzen, who now distrust each other, but nothing more than mistrust yet.
-She shares that the Duchy is searching for a boy. The one I’ve been referring to as the Pale Kid. He’s thought to be connected to the Emptiness.
-Oh. And she thinks the Pale Kid IS the Keeper of the Apocalypse.
-At this revelation, Esha’ntarl sends for me. I enter.
-Y’know, the more I hear, the more I think Esha’ntarl is basically above board, basically on Team Good. I don’t blame her for mistrusting me and arresting me. She saw me with the Keeper of the Apocalypse three times, at three mothercrystals. It makes sense that she’d think I was in league.
-Esha’ntarl lays her uncertainty out to me. She doesn’t know whether I’m with her or against her. And if I’m against her, she’ll make war on Bastok, assuming they’re also against her.
-She gives me my trial. To prove my innocence, I have to join the search for this boy, the potential Keeper of the Apocalypse, capture him, and bring him back here.
-So there are five crystals. The first three I’ve seen, at the Crags of Dem, Holla, and Mea. The fourth is beneath the glaciers of the Northlands. I have to find that one.
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Next time: into the Beaucedine Glacier to search for the Keeper of the Apocalypse, and dipping back into Rhapsodies of Vana’diel.
