Mission: Garden of Antiquity (Chains of Promathia, ch.8)
-I’m in Al’Taieu. It’s like being in a surreal painting, with the color palette and bizarre enemies - part demon, part angel, part aquatic.
-Glowing orbs called Quasilumins exist throughout Al’Taieu. Not enemies. They all talk about their master. The master is unharmed, hasn’t returned, and is “within the palace for prayers.” Is their master Dawn Maiden Yve’noile?
-The Quasilumins seem to be fading. Some lost their memory altogether, and some expect to lose it soon. Current guess: these Quasilumins are spiritual remnants of the Zilart that used to live here.
-I meet up with the rest of the party at the locked gates of the palace. Everyone hears a voice calling from inside.
-The Quasilumins say the Zilartian king lies beyond here. How do we get inside?
-Nobody is sure exactly where this is. Beyond the Gate of the Gods? Maybe. Maybe not.
-Ulmia is hesitant. It’s beautiful, but we’ve already been attacked by weird sea beasts. How is this possibly the Paradise of peace and love we’ve heard about? Anyway, we have to get inside to find the Keeper.
-I go to three towers on the palace outskirts with buttons to let me into the palace.
-Three of those fish angels attack me at the towers. Guardians.
-The green-haired Tarutaru finds me and apologizes for helping Tenzen try to kill me. What is this, the 73rd time one of the Tarutaru Trio has apologized for trying to fuck me over this expansion?
-On my way to the second tower I met one of the rudest monsters, Ul’yovra.
It used an ability that unequipped all my armor and weapons, WTF!
-Kukki-Chebukki meets me at the next tower. He tells me that the Zilartian king used to have two sons and a daughter, and he and the Tarutaru trio intend to take their place. Of course. XD
-wait. A daughter? I knew about the two Zilartian princes, since they were the main antagonists in Rise of the Zilart, but I didn’t know about a Zilartian princess. Could be Esha’ntarl/Mildaurion, or Dawn Maiden Yve’noile. My money is on Yve’noile.
-Reached the final crystal. Cherukiki, the blue-haired Tarutaru, is here.
-omg she’s referring to her brother as “Prince Kukki” and saying I have her “royal gratitude” and I love these kids.
-All the tower buttons must be pushed simultaneously. The Tarutaru trio help me, and the gate to the palace opens.
TARUTARU TRIO: “Here we come, Royal Daddy!”
-I mean, I think the chances that a Zilart king will accept you as his surrogate kids is less than zero, but you keep on trying, kids.
-I pass through the gate, into the Grand Palace of Hu’Xzoi.
-The door in front of me is the “Gate of the Gods.” The Royal Trio (lol) stands outside the Gate of the Gods, demanding entrance. And food.
-Shikaree Z, Jabbos, Ulmia, and Louverance arrive. They can hear an ethereal voice from beyond the door. Jesus, I’m getting goosebumps.
-The voice is beckoning us. Urging us to come through the door. And yet, the door is closed.
-Found Prishe behind a side door. She was trying to chase down “that two-faced Orc-kisser, Nag’molada.” PRISHE YOU ARE THE BEST NEVER CHANGE
-He’s heading for the Chamber of Eventide, somewhere that’s supposed to suck the Emptiness out of you and purify you.
-Okay, this may be nothing, but it just occurred to me: we learned that Selh’teus was draining the light from the mothercrystals to charge up the final mothercrystal. What if this Chamber drains your Emptiness and channels it into something evil?
-We have to stop Nag’molada from using the Chamber. Again, I respect that he misses having the whisper of the soul, and he thinks if the chamber purifies him he’ll be fully Zilart again, but everyone has warned that the Chamber is unstable.
---
Mission: A Fate Decided (Chains of Promathia, ch.8)
-Starting to explore the palace, and the enemies get even weirded. I think they might be machines.
A Quasilumin: “Grand Palce of Hu’xzoi and Garden of Ru’Hmet portals under celestial defense mechanism control. Access restricted to security personnel.”
-Hm. Stuck.
-Okay. The next 45-60 minutes involve what I like to call “Old School MMO Fuckery.” The worst kind of MMO quest. The escort quest. I have to chart a specific path around this two-tiered maze, protecting a series of about 5-6 escorts along the way as they open up locked doors for me.
It’s not that hard for me since I’m high level, but this seems like it would’ve been a nightmare to do on-level.
-I finally make my way successfully through the gauntlet of escort quests and into the heart of the palace.
-Nag’molada is here. He’s frustrated.
“Why? Why would she be in the chamber…?”
He must see some indication that Dawn Maiden Yve’noile is using the Chamber of Eventide. Why?
-Yup. We zoom in on Yve’noile, inside the chamber. This makes Nag’molada despair – even Altana’s beloved Dawn Maiden is suffering from the Emptiness.
???: “No, Nag’molada. Lady Yve’noile has become the instrument of Altana’s will.”
Who is this?
-HOLY SHIT IS THAT SELH’TEUS??? HE LOOKS INCREDIBLE
-HE’S GOT LIKE A FIERY WING AND AN ICY WING – and he no longer needs to use the whisper of the soul. He can speak.
SELH’TEUS: “If the plans of the terrestrial avatars and the Kuluu were to fail, this was the last line of defense. She has attempted to absorb the Emptiness pervading the Chamber of Eventide and destroy it along with her own existence.”
Huh. So Dawn Maiden Yve’noile is good after all. I expected her to turn out to be a villain.
-She’s doing this to prevent the coming of the Keeper of the Apocalypse.
SELH’TEUS: “Promathia has been reborn.”
Well. Shit.
PRISHE: “What the hell? Promathia was only supposed to come back if Al’Taieu fell to Vana’diel! Bahamut himself said so!” Right??? And Al’Taieu is still in its own dimension for the moment.
SELH’TEUS: “Then allow me to correct the statement. The incarnation of the Twilight God has been resurrected.” Not the purest form.
-He’s been resurrected through the Keeper in some form.
“That incarnation sought to fill itself with Emptiness. And that Emptiness was found here – a source of darkness drained from many Kuluu during the perfection of the Chamber of Eventide. A darkness greater than that of the intended keeper was unwittingly focused in this place.”
I was (sort of) right. The Chamber itself was intended to drain Emptiness from the Kuluu, turning them back into Zilart. But the Emptiness didn’t disappear. It focused on the chamber, and that pooled Emptiness – a cloud of darkness if you will – creates a vessel for Promathia’s resurrection.
-Now the creator of the Chamber of Eventide, Dawn Maiden Yve’noile, is trying to sacrifice herself to take out this giant source of Emptiness.
-This is really sad. She created the Chamber of Eventide to cure the Kuluu, and it led to this.
SELH’TEUS: “That is why I absorbed the Emptiness from the chamber. I sealed it within me, and departed this life.”
10,000 years ago, Selh’teus sacrificed himself in the same way, but Phoenix brought him back to life.
PRISHE: “Miss Mildaurion came to the same conclusion. When the Emptiness dies with you, it will be born again in another form.”
-So they tried to stave off Promathia by separating Al’Taieu from Vana’diel. It was a risk.
SELH’TEUS: “With the creation of this new world, Bahamut lost his power and I could do nothing but flee the incarnation of the Twilight God. I was trapped here, unable to return to Vana’diel.”
-Flashback, to Dawn Maiden Yve’noile.
“It was then that Lady Yve’noile released the blinding light of her lifeforce to bind the incarnation within the audience chamber…”
Oh shit. So is the voice that called to us from beyond the Gate of the Gods actually Promathia, trapped?
-Nag’molada’s still in despair. “How could this have happened? Is not Paradise meant to be the realm of the gods, overflowing with the blessed light fo the crystals!?” I’ll bet Promathia’s presence tainted all of that.
-Selh’teus basically says that though this was a beautiful and great land, it’s not the Paradise of legend. It’s not perfect, not blessed by the original mothercrystal’s holy light.
-Okay. So what do we do now?
“You must pass through the Gate of the Gods and visit the five towers of the Garden of Ru’Hmet.
“Those towers are bathed in the light of the mothercrystals. They were built to cleanse the five forms of darkness from a person’s soul. If that light illuminates the darkness that lurks in the deepest corners of your soul, only then may you stand a chance against the incarnation of Promathia.”
We have to purify our original sins, our Emptiness, before taking on Promathia.
-Before we leave, Nag’molada throws the amulet back to Prishe. He’s lost all hope of regaining the whisper of the soul and becoming Zilart again.
NAG’MOLADA: “I must inter Lady Yve’noile within the Ou’Hpat Obelisk. She cannot return to the crystal from here…”
-So Nag’molada’s on our side now? I guess. He still called down Bahamut on us and did a whole bunch fo nasty shit though, and he doesn’t have the cuteness of the Tarutaru trio to protecting him from my wrath.
Lolol ilu prishe, she agrees
PRISHE: “Ah, hell! Don’t think this means I’ve forgotten anything! All your betrayals, the Moblin massacre—I’ll be waiting to make you pay!”
-I return to the start of the palace, to the Gate of the Gods. This time, it opens.
---
Next time: through the Gate of the Gods to purify the Emptiness within and then take on the incarnation of Promathia. Whew.
