Mission: Finders Keepers (Treasures of Aht Urhgan)
-I return to HQ. Naja is talking to Shantotto/“Lady Karababa,” apologizing for my actions.
“It’s unforgivable that one of my mercenaries was bested by a bunch of Qiqirin and then prrroceeded to take a nap, abandoning a valued client in the depths of the Aydeewa Subterrane!”
SHANTOTTO IS A FUCKING LIAR ughhh. I get that she's on my side... but does she have to make me look like such a shit mercenary?
-I’m off Naja’s “useful mercenaries list.” Eventually Naja presents a new guardian for Karababa, an Elvaan named Falzum the Fearless to guide her to the “Navukgo Execution Chamber.”
-The scene changes to inside the palace. Aphmau looking for the kidnapped Ovjang, and the Grand Vizier walks by.
RAZFAHD: “You are almost sixteen. Isn’t it about time you stopped playing with dolls?”
He tries to tell her Ovjang is just one puppet among many, which predictably pisses Aphmau off. She leaves.
RAZFAHD, to an Immortal: “She is much like her mother in her stubbornness. A firm hand will do her good.” Oh fuck off dude.
-The Immortal reports that the ghost ship has been docking in the Troll city of Halvung.
-Cerberus (PUPPY!) has been seen in Halvung too. He’s the underworld guardian who hunts down the dead who flee the underworld.
-We swap back to Salaheem’s Sentinels HQ, where “Falzum the Fearless” is prostrate on the ground, begging to be taken off the case because it’s too scary. XD
-Naja pulls me in as a replacement.
“I have decided to change my stance
And give this mercenary one more chance.”
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Mission: Shield of Diplomacy (Treasures of Aht Urhgan)
-Went through the volcanos of Halvun to the Execution Chamber. The imp who stole Ovjang is here, with a tall person we can’t see. Those two are meeting with a Moblin and troll.
???: “Who woulda thought we’d find someone tough enough to make that hellhound fetch and roll over… Right, Boss?”
LUZAF: “You have my thanks. My crew can rest easy for a time.”
So that’s why the Black Coffin is here. The Trolls help stave off Cerberus.
-The imp is named Flit. Luzaf and the Troll, Gurfurlur, both want revenge against the Empire. The Trolls specifically want the Astral Candescence, and Admiral Luzaf wants the Empire’s destruction.
LUZAF: “You will have both the candescence and the ‘treasure.’” The ‘treasure’ is something different from the Candescence.
-The Moblin is named Megomak. Megomak offers Luzaf “Khimaira 13” to help. There is a secret laboratory called the Hazhalm Testing Grounds where lots of new monsters were created, and Megomak is offering Khimaira #13.
-Khimaira 13 looks like a manticore. Luzaf leaves. He doesn’t want any part of it.
-So Admiral Luzaf wants revenge, but it doesn’t seem unjustified. I think we’ll end up on his side in the end.
-King of Hearts, Doctor Shantotto, and I approach Gurfurlur, Megomak, and the khimaira. Shantotto is here as Megomak’s guest, to buy one of his khimaira eggs in a black market deal in exchange for a chest of gil.
-She provides the chest, and Megomak… sics Khimaira 13 on us!
“Ho-hum. Such a typical scene.
These betrayals have become so routine.”
-We charge in and take down the khimaira.
-Karababa got a khimaira wing, and apparently no longer needs the egg. This is enough for her research.
-Surprisingly, she’s still going to leave the chest of gil with the betraying Moblin. That’s how unthreatened she felt.
-LOLOL NM. She starts counting down. 3, 2, 1. Then the chest explodes, knocking out the Moblin.
Note to self: do not fuck with Doctor Shantotto. Brilliant, devious, unscrupulous, joyfully sadistic, and powerful as hell.
http://i.imgur.com/CbNMxOr.png
-Luzaf’s imp, Flit, watched all of that go down from a distance.
---
Mission: Social Graces (Treasures of Aht Urhgan)
-I return to Sentinels HQ. Naja Salaheem is delighted – Shantotto will allow her to open a branch office in the west. The question is who will run it.
-Shantotto says she can help, using an ancient Windurst divining technique. “Eenie, meenie, minie, moe. Catch a tiger by the toe. If he hollers, let him go. Cast the spell and you will know!” XD XD XD
-The registration number she came up with through her mystical ancient Tarutaru secret magic is mine. Of course.
-The scene switches over to the palace. Aphmau has her head in her lap, weeping for her lost Ovjang.
Mnejing misses her too.
-Back to Sentinels HQ, Lady Karababa learns that I had an audience with the Empress, and this changes her mind about sending me to the west to open a new Salaheem’s Sentinels office.
-In fact, Lady Karababa changes her mind about everything. Totally backs off the idea and leaves. Naja Salaheem’s dreams of expansion snatched away. Poor Naja. She doesn’t know that “Lady Karababa” is a world-class troll.
[Later edit: I think this branch-office-in-the-west thing was initially a plan for Shantotto to extract me from the operation, but once she heard I was already getting in good with the Empress, she abandoned the plan so I could keep working on the inside.]
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Mission: Foiled Ambition (Treasures of Aht Urhgan)
-Naja is dejected as hell.
And on top of the Windurst ambassador pulling the deal out from under Naja, she didn’t even pay for my services in the Execution Chamber.
-She orders me to go collect the money. If I succeed, I can the cash. Wow.
“I don’t care how rrrough ya get, but don’t come back without that cash!”
FFXI – Part 76: Playing the Part (continued, 3/?)
-The ambassador is about to return to Windurst. She’s extremely perceptive, and seems to intuit that Aphmau may be the Empress.
-I approach, and Shantotto gives me some gil to continue my campaign here. She came here to disrupt Aht Urhgan’s politics and insert herself.
-Shantotto also attempted to get the Astral Candescece while here, but the Serpent Generals guarding it stopped her. That’s the main threat now she warns me of now - the Candescence.
-Flit again sees this whole exchange. He now knows I’m both a mercenary and a spy.
-Flit reports to Admiral Luzaf on his ghost ship. Luzaf stands in front of a mural: a black horse in the sky charging a burning city.
“Dark Rider… It seems I am not alone.”
-We’ve heard that name “Dark Rider” a few times, and still no clue what it’s about.
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Mission: Playing the Part (Treasures of Aht Urhgan)
-Naja Salaheem has been feeling calm recently. Company earnings are up!
“I can sense that the universe is rrrewardin’ me for my effort.”
-She’s been on the grind since Shantotto left. It’s weird to see her at peace.
-She gets a letter. A gilded envelope stamped with the seal of the two-headed serpent, from the Grand Vizier himself. Addressed to me.
---
Mission: Seal of the Serpent (Treasures of Aht Urhgan)
-I head to the palace and meet Grand Vizier Razfahd.
-This whole time, I’ve been carrying the astral compass on me as I travel around the continent. And yet no matter where I go, it hasn’t had any readings. Weird.
-Aphmau disappeared from the palace grounds a few days ago to search for Ovjang. My mission: return to the Aydeewa Subterrane and find her.
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Mission: Misplaced Nobility (Treasures of Aht Urhgan)
-I head back to the part of Aydeewa Subterrane where Ovjang was kidnapped.
-Wawaroon’s Qiqirin gang down here is standing over an unconscious Immortal. Someone who was also searching for Aphmau.
They scatter when I show up.
-Rishfree, the Immortal, wakes up. She doesn’t know what hit her.
-We get a flashback, where we see it was… GESSHO?
But why? I’m 100% sure Gessho is a good guy, and I don’t doubt that even now.
-Rishfree thinks Aphmau left by now, went back to the Temple of Walahra. But then she says something odd: “I... I have to see her before the other Immortals figure out where she is. No time to lose!” Is there a conspiracy within the Immortals?
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Mission: Bastion of Knowledge (Treasures of Aht Urhgan)
-I head into the Walahra Temple. Gessho comes in shortly after.
-Nadeey – a philosopher of the temple – admits to sheltering her.
-Aphmau was a member of the royal family. Her mom died when she was 6, and the Walahra Temple raised her. She learned to be a puppetmaster from street performers.
-She arrived at the temple carrying two puppets. Ovjang was from her mother and Mnejing from her older brother. They were silent at first, but began to speak more and more. Aphmau’s playfulness that left when her mother died slowly returned.
-One day, the Emperor passed away. The Grand Vizier came for her. I assume it was on that day that she became Empress.
-Aphmau is now in the Hall of Binding.
-She’s watching the Astral Candescence, remembering that Ovjang and Mnejing first spoke to her here. Their presence comforted her, told her she wasn’t really alone.
APHMAU: “If the other candescences are found and the colossus is completed just like the Grand Vizier says, there will come a day when everyone can be happy again. I’m sure of it.” Hm.
-I approach. Aphmau really doesn’t want to come back to the palace until she finds Ovjang.
-Rishfee the Immortal arrives, the one I saw in the Subterrane. She’s still feels something’s off..
-Gessho interrupts. He recently went to the Troll lands of Mount Zhayolm, and saw a red puppet. It might have been Ovjang. He leaves for a mission in Mamook.
-Rishfee is suspicious. She senses that Gessho was the one who attacked her – and when she checks, she finds that Gessho has no official mission to Mamook. He was lying. What are you doing, Gessho?
-Rishfee, Aphmau, Mnejing and I all are going to Mamook to follow. We leave.
-As we leave, there’s this weird palantir-eye-view from the thing spinning in the center of the Temple.
Someone is watching us.
---
Next time: Following Gessho.
