The Story Thus Far: “Wings of the Goddess”
-About 60 sessions ago (http://tinyurl.com/y7n226vo), I got the introduction to “Wings of the Goddess.” I went through an Atomos portal.
The inside of the portal was an odd dimension, and after I left it Cait Sith appeared.
The other side of the portal was some war-torn version of Vana’diel. Jeuno was closed off, but soldiers told me to head for refuge to the nearby Crawlers’ Nest dungeon.
-“Treasures of Aht Urhgan” was fairly self-contained. Just based on the expansion’s name, I’ll predict “Wings of the Goddess” will return to the story of the base game and first two expansions, focusing on Altana/Promathia stuff.
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Mission: Back to the Beginning (Wings of the Goddess)
-I head back through the Cavernous Maw in Rolanberry Fields, to “Rolanberry Fields [S].” Not sure what the S is for yet.
-The music here is intense.
-The regular Crawler’s Nest is just a cave with enemies. Crawler’s Nest [S] has scaffolding and lights.
-A Tarutaru offers me a spot in the “Cobras” and sends me off to this world’s version of Windurst.
-On the run over, I notice all the ruins are full fortresses.
-I finally reach Windurst, and there’s the most ADORABLE TARUTARU WITH PINK SUNGLASSES AND A SWORD AND A GREEN CHOCOBO
“We’ll teach those Yagudo to fear the Libran War Warlock! No retreataru, no surrender!” She leads an army of green chocobo riders out to fight.
-A kid is in the middle of the road, Ajido-Marujido. He tells me that the War Warlocks are going out to investigate the Cavernous Maws. This world is just seeing them for the first time too.
-I meet my contact, a Mithra. Seems like I’ll have to join a mercenary unit again.
-My first task is just to prove myself by patching up some walls around town. I do so and return.
-I’m now a member of the Cobras. Their boss is a Mithra woman named Romaa Mihgo.
-We’re fighting against the “Beastman Confederate.” Okay… that’s the name of the enemy back in the huge war before the start of FFXI.
Theory: This is an alternate dimension where we didn’t win and the war is still going on.
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Mission: The Tigress Stirs (Wings of the Goddess)
-A new group of Mithra arrives to join the fight. The Terrible Tigresses. Their design is phenomenal. I like how so many fighting Mithra in this game are women.
-The kid from before, Ajido-Marujido, reports that Yagudo may be planning to attack nearby. The Tigresses move to fend them off.
-But not me. Before the kid is dragged back to class by his teacher, he asks me to get a starfruit he buried out in the fields back for him. Ok.
-I get it and bring it back to him. “Heehee. Now everything is falling into place…”Whenever a Tarutaru says “hee hee” I assume they’re about to start the clock on the apocalypse or something.
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Mission: The Tigress Strikes (Wings of the Goddess)
-The kid’s teacher thought he was still studying, but nope. He left an automaton in his place to make it seem like he was practicing and actually left to go help against the Yagudo. I have to go help him.
-I head to the nearby Fort Kaugo-Narugo. I see the kid outside the fort walls. A lynx attacks him. Dang trouble-finding Tarutaru kids.
-I go save him and kill the lynx.
AJIDO-MARUJIDO: “I-I would’ve been fine!” …sure.
-And just now, the Yagudo attack. Shit.
-hahahah the Tigresses save the day by launching an exploding arrow.
-More of the Yagudo join the fray, and yet ANOTHER Tarutaru joins in, a sorcerer named Robel-Akbel who blasts the crap out of the attackers.
-As we depart, the camera pans over to two Yagudo who were watching all this go down.
-Scene change again to a mystery person talking to Robel-Akbel. “’When the Harbinger cometh, the Champions of the Dawn shall descend…’ The prophecy. And what of the wings that illuminate the darkness…?” Uh...
-I return to Windurst. The Warlock Warlord Robel-Akbel is apparently a big deal.
The Cobra boss was summoned to Heaven’s Tower to talk about improved cooperation between the Tarutaru and Mithra combat units.
-There’s no hint of what to do next, so I check the Adventuring Primer. It only gives this one sentence description of “Wings of the Goddess:”
“Traverse time back to Vana’diel’s recent past and set history back on its proper course!”
AHA! That makes sense. So this isn’t an alternate timeline where we lost the war against the Shadowlord – this is the actual war itself! Hence the forts being built up instead of in ruins. Hence the fact that I’m getting to see the Tarutaru/Mithra alliance in its nascent stages.
This is cool. I wonder what’s throwing history off track. Some evil time god?
-This expansion so far is bad at telling me how to progress. One quest had me go to “a tree” in West Sarutabaruta. Which tree? I checked the guide. One quest finished and didn’t give me any hints at all about where to pick up the next quest. I had to go to a random door in Windurst. That sort of thing.
-I’m stuck again now, and the guide tells me to go back to one of those Cavernous Maws for the next part.
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Mission: Back to the Beginning (Wings of the Goddess)
-I return to a cavernous maw and get sucked in.
REGAL FELINE: “’When the Harbinger cometh, the Champions of the Dawn shall descend…’ Hm? Was that ‘descend’ or ‘fall’…?”
HI CAIT SITH
He’s a bit… odd.
“What does this mean? What indeed? Could it be? Could it be you possess the same power… the same power as me?”
He’s gonna be one of THOSE characters, who speaks constantly in riddles.
-He says I possess the power to bend time like him. My power is uncontrolled.
-Cait Sith wants to use his power to help end the war before history is screwed up. The allied forces are eating it against the Beastman Confederacy.
-Why is Cait Sith worrying? We won the war against the Beastmen.
Or maybe we only won it because he and I intervened, and so now we have to intervene so that the future stays won. Or something. Time travel makes my head hurt.
-I agree to help. Cait Sith starts to walk away, and then remembers something about prophecized saviors, the Champions of the Dawn.
“I am certain we shall meet again in the near future. Or would that be the near past?”
-He suggests we consult Atomos about this, and gives me an item to access Atomos’s lair, the “Walk of Echoes.”
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Next time: The FFXI wiki says that I can still change city allegiances in this expansion. I happened to get the starting quest for Windurst, but I’d prefer to do a Bastok story since I’m more familiar with the city. Will swap next time.
