Summary: A save from the Tarutaru. Esha’ntarl’s plans revealed. Preparing to resurrect the Twilight God.
Mission: A Place to Return (Chains of Promathia, ch.6)
-Back to the Jeuno palace. Captain Wolfgang finds me, says the attack on Bahamut will begin soon, but Lady Esha’ntarl and Lord Nag’molada have disappeared.
-Some guards tell Wolfgang the the Tarutaru trio helped hijack a warship, taking it to “the fated land.” Frigging Tarutaru.
-I head to Misaraux Coast on Tavnazia. Esha’ntarl is here, where Ulmia used to play the harp.
ESHA’NTARL: “You did well to find this place. I assume you were led here by the memories of the mothercrystal?”
I had no frigging clue where to go for this quest part so I checked a guide. But sure. Let’s go with “memories of the mothercrystal.”
“We are all born from the light of the crystal, and we return to that luminescence when we die…”
At this moment, another voice seems to burst in from nowhere: “(People are also born from the darkness and return to the darkness. The opposites of light and dark… Both are held within you… This is the cycle begun by the Goddess of the Dawn. The cycle created for the sake of the Twilight God, Promathia…)”
-It’s Selh’teus. Esha’ntarl addresses him. His pact with the avatars still holds. If we stop the Keeper, Bahamut won’t kill us. We must “free [the Keeper] from the cycle of the mothercrystal.” This sounds like more than just killing the Keeper.
-Selh’teus can’t speak, so Esha’ntarl holds out her amulet for him. They briefly communicate, though we can’t listen in.
Until that asshole NAG’MOLADA arrives and breaks it up.
-Nag’molada is well-intentioned but confused. He mistrusts Esha’ntarl, thinks she’s against him.
-Not without reason. Nag’molada learned that Esha’ntarl was born a Kuluu, not a Zilart, and was cured of the Kuluu lack of whisper of the soul somehow. The Chamber of Eventide was created by Dawnmaiden Yve’noile to heal the Kuluu and restore the whispers. He thinks this is a miracle cure she’s been hiding from him.
-Nag’molada thinks the Chamber of Eventide still exists, that Al’Taieu still exists. Esha’ntarl denies it.
But Diabolos told Nag’molada differently, that Al’Taieu still exists and Zilart live there, alive and well. Nag’molada plans to find the Chamber of Eventide and regain immortality, regain the whisper of the soul. Become a Zilart again.
-Esha’ntarl seems genuinely concerned at this. Something in her brief communication with Selh’teus. Selh’teus warned her that Nag’molada shouldn’t go to the capital. I trust her on this.
“Al’Taieu is no longer the homeland that we once knew. It has become a tainted place. A forbidden place.”
[Later edit: It hits me in hindsight that, if Diabolos said Zilart are alive and well in Al’Taieu when in reality Al’Taieu is corrupted, Diabolos lied. Not sure why. Perhaps Diabolos is no longer protecting Vana’diel, and instead wants to... do a thing? Help Promathia? I really don’t know. But Diabolos is now on my “suspicious list.”]
Mission: A Place to Return (Chains of Promathia, ch.6)
-Back to the Jeuno palace. Captain Wolfgang finds me, says the attack on Bahamut will begin soon, but Lady Esha’ntarl and Lord Nag’molada have disappeared.
-Some guards tell Wolfgang the the Tarutaru trio helped hijack a warship, taking it to “the fated land.” Frigging Tarutaru.
-I head to Misaraux Coast on Tavnazia. Esha’ntarl is here, where Ulmia used to play the harp.
ESHA’NTARL: “You did well to find this place. I assume you were led here by the memories of the mothercrystal?”
I had no frigging clue where to go for this quest part so I checked a guide. But sure. Let’s go with “memories of the mothercrystal.”
“We are all born from the light of the crystal, and we return to that luminescence when we die…”
At this moment, another voice seems to burst in from nowhere: “(People are also born from the darkness and return to the darkness. The opposites of light and dark… Both are held within you… This is the cycle begun by the Goddess of the Dawn. The cycle created for the sake of the Twilight God, Promathia…)”
-It’s Selh’teus. Esha’ntarl addresses him. His pact with the avatars still holds. If we stop the Keeper, Bahamut won’t kill us. We must “free [the Keeper] from the cycle of the mothercrystal.” This sounds like more than just killing the Keeper.
-Selh’teus can’t speak, so Esha’ntarl holds out her amulet for him. They briefly communicate, though we can’t listen in.
Until that asshole NAG’MOLADA arrives and breaks it up.
-Nag’molada is well-intentioned but confused. He mistrusts Esha’ntarl, thinks she’s against him.
-Not without reason. Nag’molada learned that Esha’ntarl was born a Kuluu, not a Zilart, and was cured of the Kuluu lack of whisper of the soul somehow. The Chamber of Eventide was created by Dawnmaiden Yve’noile to heal the Kuluu and restore the whispers. He thinks this is a miracle cure she’s been hiding from him.
-Nag’molada thinks the Chamber of Eventide still exists, that Al’Taieu still exists. Esha’ntarl denies it.
But Diabolos told Nag’molada differently, that Al’Taieu still exists and Zilart live there, alive and well. Nag’molada plans to find the Chamber of Eventide and regain immortality, regain the whisper of the soul. Become a Zilart again.
-Esha’ntarl seems genuinely concerned at this. Something in her brief communication with Selh’teus. Selh’teus warned her that Nag’molada shouldn’t go to the capital. I trust her on this.
“Al’Taieu is no longer the homeland that we once knew. It has become a tainted place. A forbidden place.”
[Later edit: It hits me in hindsight that, if Diabolos said Zilart are alive and well in Al’Taieu when in reality Al’Taieu is corrupted, Diabolos lied. Not sure why. Perhaps Diabolos is no longer protecting Vana’diel, and instead wants to... do a thing? Help Promathia? I really don’t know. But Diabolos is now on my “suspicious list.”]
-She offers him the amulet that Selh’teus touched. If Nag’molada touches it, he’ll be able to see in to the soul of Selh’teus. Selh’teus will explain everything.
-FUCKING NAG’MOLADA DOESN’T DO IT. He thinks the amulet would corrupt or mind-control him. That Esha’ntarl is already corrupted, and he must kill her.
-oh shit oh shit Nag’molada is about to kill her with some blast of magic. She offers him anything he wants to spare her, but he says no.
“And sold!” “To the young lady!” “Home delivery guaranteed!”
-HAFJKLHFDKLSFHDJKLSFHDKLS THE TARUTARU TRIO BETRAYED NAG’MOLADA AND WARPED HIM AWAY AT THE LAST MINUTE BACKT O JEUNO LOLOLOL!! I FORGIVE YOU ALL!! Nag’molada didn’t take her up on the offer to save her. The Tarutaru trio did. Those kids have initiative.
-A blast of red streaks across the sky. The fight with the wyrms is about to start.
---
Mission: More Questions Than Answers (Chains of Promathia, ch.6)
-Esha’ntarl returned to the Jeuno palace and is preparing to fight Bahamut. She knows its futile, but wants to fight for humanity anyway. I respect that.
-Back in the jeuno palace, the Tarutaru trio walks by crying. They were apparently punished for the crime of stealing a warship. They only got off so light because it was under Nag’molada’s orders. He’s also awaiting punishment.
-Ulmia and I catch up with them.
“We used the right blend of deceit and betrayal, honey and vinegar…”
“We bribed the townsfolk, and avoided the authorities…”
“We’ve groomed ourselves into the perfect candidates to become bureaucrats of the future…”
Okay, I’m crying with laughter at this, but why are they crying if they accomplished their goals?
“They have to run off because I showed up.”
HI PRISHE!!!
-She yells at them… to get their act together because SHE PLANS TO PUT THE TARUTARU TRIO IN CHARGE OF TAVNAZIA EVENTUALLY! THIS IS BRILLIANT!
-Well, at least Prishe doesn’t seem to be possessed by Promathia like I was afraid of
-We head to the Duke’s audience chamber. Esha’ntarl awaits us inside. Ulmia recognizes her as Cardinal Mildaurion.
-She comes clean to Ulmia. She was born 10,000 years ago in Al’Taieu. Nag’molada and the others of the “Armathrwn Society” (not a typo) that rule Jeuno are also members of the Zilart/Kuluu who recently awoke from a long sleep.
-Esha’ntarl is different. She was granted immortality, unlike the others, and pledged to use it to bring the pact between Selh’teus and the avatars to fruition. She spent all this time awake preparing to kill the Keeper of the Apocalypse when they showed up, but found out that it wouldn’t be enough.
“Destroying the Keeper of the Apocalypse will merely set the darkness free to reincarnate in another body.”
-Again, I was RIGHT!! Killing the Keeper (I assume Prishe) is not enough. She has to break the cycle by destroying the darkness itself.
“It must be erased from the place where all life originates and where all life eventually returns – the mothercrystal.”
So we have to go inside the mothercrystal and destroy the darkness. But in that case, especially if Selh’teus is on our side, what’s he doing SPREADING the darkness?
“To fully eradicate the darkness, the Keeper of the Apocalypse must not be destroyed in the form of a human, but in the form of a god.”
Double or nothing.
“That is why I conceived a plan to use the Lay of the Immortals to resurrect Promathia.”
AHA! She wanted to resurrect Promathia, but to kill him.
We learned before that the Dawnmaidens pray for the resurrection and subsequent death of Promathia. Now it makes sense. It’s not that the Dawnmaiden Yve’noile secretly worshipped Promathia. Rather, only when Promathia is raised and then killed can the darkness be defeated.
[Later edit: I’m on a mental Buffy kick, but this reminds me of how gur Znlbe pbhyq bayl or xvyyrq jura va tvnag jbez qrzba sbez.]
-Prishe says they tried this, at the “baptismal ceremony” that gave her her powers, but it didn’t work.
-We see a FUCKING AWESOME flashback to the moment Prishe got her powers.
Prishe in front of the box Nag’molada had, the Eye of Altana. It blasts into light and light erupts from Prishe.
-Prishe says she was being controlled by the Emptiness inside her. The Emptiness reacted to the baptismal vessel, the Eye of Altana, and was sealed within magicite.
ULMIA: “You were the Keeper of the Apocalypse… but things are different now. You are no longer the one, are you?”
HJDSKFHDSLFDHLSW
-Okay. Chill, Coldrun. Think.
So the goal of that “baptismal ceremony” was to resurrect Promathia. Prishe was the Keeper of the Apocalypse at that time, with Emptiness inside of her. But something went wrong. The ceremony didn’t raise Promathia. Instead, the Eye of Altana somehow crystallized the Emptiness inside her, crystallized the essence of Promathia, turning it into magicite.
-Someone else is the Keeper now. SOMEONE ELSE IS THE KEEPER OF THE APOCALYPSE. NOT PRISHE YAAAAAY
PRISHE: “Bahamut wishes to see me smashed to bits in the form of the Twilight God. It was Diabolos that let me in on my destiny as the Keeper of the Apocalypse.”
Prishe was fated to be destroyed along with this Promathian magicite and freed from the cycle of the mothercrystal.
-I misunderstood. So it sounds like Prishe isn’t currently the Keeper of the Apocalypse, but that status is only temporary. She has to offer her existence to Promathia, find a way to become Promathia’s avatar, and then die.
-Esha’ntarl says that the last verse of the Memoria de la Stona, the final verse of the song needed to summon Promathia, no longer exists, and there is no weapon left to fight Promathia. Huh?
-Oh. I see. Esha’ntarl is giving up. She thinks it’s no longer possible to try the reincarnate-and-kill-Promathia method, so she’ll try option #2: save Vana’diel by fighting Bahamut and the wyrms.
So we have to go inside the mothercrystal and destroy the darkness. But in that case, especially if Selh’teus is on our side, what’s he doing SPREADING the darkness?
“To fully eradicate the darkness, the Keeper of the Apocalypse must not be destroyed in the form of a human, but in the form of a god.”
Double or nothing.
“That is why I conceived a plan to use the Lay of the Immortals to resurrect Promathia.”
AHA! She wanted to resurrect Promathia, but to kill him.
We learned before that the Dawnmaidens pray for the resurrection and subsequent death of Promathia. Now it makes sense. It’s not that the Dawnmaiden Yve’noile secretly worshipped Promathia. Rather, only when Promathia is raised and then killed can the darkness be defeated.
[Later edit: I’m on a mental Buffy kick, but this reminds me of how gur Znlbe pbhyq bayl or xvyyrq jura va tvnag jbez qrzba sbez.]
-Prishe says they tried this, at the “baptismal ceremony” that gave her her powers, but it didn’t work.
-We see a FUCKING AWESOME flashback to the moment Prishe got her powers.
Prishe in front of the box Nag’molada had, the Eye of Altana. It blasts into light and light erupts from Prishe.
-Prishe says she was being controlled by the Emptiness inside her. The Emptiness reacted to the baptismal vessel, the Eye of Altana, and was sealed within magicite.
ULMIA: “You were the Keeper of the Apocalypse… but things are different now. You are no longer the one, are you?”
HJDSKFHDSLFDHLSW
-Okay. Chill, Coldrun. Think.
So the goal of that “baptismal ceremony” was to resurrect Promathia. Prishe was the Keeper of the Apocalypse at that time, with Emptiness inside of her. But something went wrong. The ceremony didn’t raise Promathia. Instead, the Eye of Altana somehow crystallized the Emptiness inside her, crystallized the essence of Promathia, turning it into magicite.
-Someone else is the Keeper now. SOMEONE ELSE IS THE KEEPER OF THE APOCALYPSE. NOT PRISHE YAAAAAY
PRISHE: “Bahamut wishes to see me smashed to bits in the form of the Twilight God. It was Diabolos that let me in on my destiny as the Keeper of the Apocalypse.”
Prishe was fated to be destroyed along with this Promathian magicite and freed from the cycle of the mothercrystal.
-I misunderstood. So it sounds like Prishe isn’t currently the Keeper of the Apocalypse, but that status is only temporary. She has to offer her existence to Promathia, find a way to become Promathia’s avatar, and then die.
-Esha’ntarl says that the last verse of the Memoria de la Stona, the final verse of the song needed to summon Promathia, no longer exists, and there is no weapon left to fight Promathia. Huh?
-Oh. I see. Esha’ntarl is giving up. She thinks it’s no longer possible to try the reincarnate-and-kill-Promathia method, so she’ll try option #2: save Vana’diel by fighting Bahamut and the wyrms.
Prishe’s not giving up so easily.
PRISHE: “Detolilla! Ulmia! I know you guys can do it! You’re strong enough now to beat the hell out of me when I become Promathia…” She says someone in Selbina knows the fifth verse, even if that person’s memory is shoddy. Time for us to find it.
Jesus. I have chills. I legitimately think the final boss of this expansion will be killing Promathia himself – at least, the form of Promathia that will rise through Prishe.
-Before we can protest, Prishe runs off. We have a job to do.
-Sir Louverance overheard this. He knows the woman in Selbina Prishe was talking about, and says he also knows how to “revive her past.”
-I head to Selbina, talking to every woman in town until one – Emeline – gives me a cutscene with Louverance and Ulmia.
-Ulmia knows her. Emeline was in the Tavnazian choir with Ulmia.
-Emeline though claims she’s not Emeline. She’s Mathilde, not Emeline.
-She had a brother and got separated from him during the war. Huh. The intro cinematic – not to this expansion, but to the game as a whole – featured a brother and sister who got separated in the war, but I assumed the sister died in that cinematic. Maybe this is her.
-Louverance is about to let her go in peace, but then mentioned a song. The Tavnazian choir. The Lay of the Immortals.
-Something on hearing this unlocks within Emeline/Mathilde. We see a flashback of a Kindred (demon) army surrounding a deep purple magicite pulsing with vapor and mist.
“And so the legend ends…
…began…crystal….”
She’s remembering that fifth verse. Pieces of it. How did Louverance do that? And why did she know the fifth verse at all?
LOUVERANCE: “The Mimeo Mirror is a device known by any self-respecting rogue. It was finally returned to me.”
Heeeee!!! Earlier in the expansion, when the Tarutaru trio were running around Windurst accusing random people of being their father, one of them had me go on a quest for this Mimeo Mirror which could show/retrieve memories. I love how that random and seemingly useless fetch quest comes back now.
-Ulmia heard that melody that Emeline sang. Now Ulmia knows it, and if need be, can sing it. We have the music. We can bring Promathia back.
-But Louverance isn’t ready for that yet. He thinks it might not be necessary. I don’t quite know what his plan is, but it’s something about showing Bahamut Prishe’s magicite.
-Louverance and Ulmia will meet Prishe about something in Jeuno, but he wants me to go on ahead to Bastok.
---
Next time: Progressing in our attempts to resurrect Promathia and break his chains for good.
PRISHE: “Detolilla! Ulmia! I know you guys can do it! You’re strong enough now to beat the hell out of me when I become Promathia…” She says someone in Selbina knows the fifth verse, even if that person’s memory is shoddy. Time for us to find it.
Jesus. I have chills. I legitimately think the final boss of this expansion will be killing Promathia himself – at least, the form of Promathia that will rise through Prishe.
-Before we can protest, Prishe runs off. We have a job to do.
-Sir Louverance overheard this. He knows the woman in Selbina Prishe was talking about, and says he also knows how to “revive her past.”
-I head to Selbina, talking to every woman in town until one – Emeline – gives me a cutscene with Louverance and Ulmia.
-Ulmia knows her. Emeline was in the Tavnazian choir with Ulmia.
-Emeline though claims she’s not Emeline. She’s Mathilde, not Emeline.
-She had a brother and got separated from him during the war. Huh. The intro cinematic – not to this expansion, but to the game as a whole – featured a brother and sister who got separated in the war, but I assumed the sister died in that cinematic. Maybe this is her.
-Louverance is about to let her go in peace, but then mentioned a song. The Tavnazian choir. The Lay of the Immortals.
-Something on hearing this unlocks within Emeline/Mathilde. We see a flashback of a Kindred (demon) army surrounding a deep purple magicite pulsing with vapor and mist.
“And so the legend ends…
…began…crystal….”
She’s remembering that fifth verse. Pieces of it. How did Louverance do that? And why did she know the fifth verse at all?
LOUVERANCE: “The Mimeo Mirror is a device known by any self-respecting rogue. It was finally returned to me.”
Heeeee!!! Earlier in the expansion, when the Tarutaru trio were running around Windurst accusing random people of being their father, one of them had me go on a quest for this Mimeo Mirror which could show/retrieve memories. I love how that random and seemingly useless fetch quest comes back now.
-Ulmia heard that melody that Emeline sang. Now Ulmia knows it, and if need be, can sing it. We have the music. We can bring Promathia back.
-But Louverance isn’t ready for that yet. He thinks it might not be necessary. I don’t quite know what his plan is, but it’s something about showing Bahamut Prishe’s magicite.
-Louverance and Ulmia will meet Prishe about something in Jeuno, but he wants me to go on ahead to Bastok.
---
Next time: Progressing in our attempts to resurrect Promathia and break his chains for good.
