Thursday, June 1, 2017

FFXI – Part 82: Burden of Suspicion

Summary: Switching my allegiance to Bastok. Diving into the city’s politics and the mystery of a senator’s assassination. Scholar Adelheid.




The Trek to Bastok (Wings of the Goddess)

-So I have to find a way to Bastok. I have to start out near Jeuno in my world, enter the [S] world, and run to Bastok. It’s a long run that takes literally takes 30-40 minutes of running.

-Finally arrived. I speak to Adelbrecht, a soldier recruiting for the Fourth Legion of Bastok, and join up.



Hell. Yes. It warms my cold Bastokan heart to be here.

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Quest: Better Part of Valor (Wings of the Goddess)

-Outside the city gates, a dying soldier stumbles towards me, asking me to find Engelhart.

-I find Engelhart in town, who apparently works for a “client” he sends me to meet. I head out to North Gustaberg and the “client” is Werner, Senator of Defense.



Werner wants a “xhifhut,” a goblin type of instrument. Idk why.

-A Galka spy followed them, one of “Chairman Pale Eagle’s men.” There are competing factions within Bastok.

-A goblin named Leadavox has my xhifhut but wants a gnole claw in exchange. It takes me TWO. FREAKING. HOURS. to farm that claw. Two hours of killing these gnole enemies in the area. UGHHH.

-The xhifhut an instrument used for communication with the Antica, the murderous ant-like race.

-I give Engelhart the xhifhut. As I walk away from Engelhart, a Galka runs by me and slams a letter into my hand. This must be Chairman Pale Eagle’s spy. The letter is short: “Stay out of this.”

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Mission: Fires of Discontent (Wings of the Goddess)

-Engelhart gives me a new task from the senator. The Galkans are planning to rise up, Werner thinks Chairman Pale Eagle is behind it, and I have to find out more.

-The current leader, President Prien, was elected based on his promises to improve living conditions for all. He hasn’t followed through, and the Galka who supported him are turning.

-Two Galka I remember from the present, Galkan Elder Werei and Gumbah, might be involved.



They’re rumored to be hoarding weapons for the uprising, even training kids to fight as soldiers.

-Werei and Gumbah find me, insisting they have no interest in a civil war. Elder Werei wants to calm anger, not stoke it. Even the Galka kid they’re teaching to fight just wants to become one of the city’s elite Mythril Musketeers, not some anti-Hume rebel.

-OH SHIT!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA THIS KID, PAGDAKO, BECOMES THE MYTHRIL MUSKETEER “IRON EATER” IN THE PRESENT/FUTURE




-I go back to the present and talk to Iron Eater. He givesme the answer I needed, says Gumbah and Werei used to travel to Grauberg. That must be where the weapons cache is, if it exists.

-Holy shit. I followed them to Grauberg, and there actually are weapons stockpiled here. Senator Werner’s soldiers followed me and arrest the Galka.

-I feel like trash. There’s no way this is what it looks like. I know Elder Werei in the present. He’s peaceful.

-Back in Bastok, Senator Werner was assassinated!!! Dang, this is like an intense political thriller.

-A young Volker (future captain of the Mythril Musketeers) leads the investigation. DARK KNIGHT ZEID IS HERE TOO!! I love that I get to see young versions of all these characters!



-President Prien and the current Mythril Musketeers captain, Klara, arrive.

-Zeid is currently a Mythril Musketeer. This is before he helped take down the Shadowlord and then went AWOL.

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Quest: Light in the Darkness (Wings of the Goddess)

-OMG I LOVE THIS CHARACTER’S DESIGN



-A scholar named Adelheid, wants to solve the murder mystery.

-The scene switches to Volker and Zeid, and a Mythril Musketeer named Nicolaus, discussing this crime. One mystery: the senator was found dead in the room with no light on. Why was he in the dark?

-Adelheid overheard that conversation. Nicolaus was renowned for his detective skills, and if this crime has stumped even him, she’s super excited to help.

-Scene change. The Galka kid, Pagdako, is at the murder scene. Captain Klara catches him and shoos him out. Strangely enough, the door guard, Gentle Tiger, didn’t see Pagdako go in. Pagdako must know another way… which could have been the same way the murderer used!

-Pagdako crawled through the ventilation shaft into the Metalworks. He wanted to clear Werei and Gumbah of any blame.

-Suddenly Volker emerges with Gumbah and Elder Werei. They’ve been freed, and charges of inciting unrest dropped. Hm.

WEREI: “(This Volker is a man to be watched. He may one day be a leader that both Hume and Galka can follow… so unlike his uncle Ulrich.)” Ulrich is the asshole who tried to kill Cornelia and Raogrimm, effectively turning Raogrimm into the Shadow Lord.

-Volker released the Galka because the “weapons cache” was old, unusable. It’s merely a tribute to the Galka who died trying to reach Bastok.

-News arrives: A San d’Orian diplomat on his way to Bastok was attacked by Quadav. He’s been taken to a mine shaft in Pashhow Marshlands, where I now head with Volker and Zeid.

-We get to the mine shaft. Quadav surround us. I know they’re a threat, but they’re so adorable and goofy!



-I take out a bunch of the Quadav, but more keep coming.

-CAPTAIN KLARA OF THE MYTHRIL MUSKETEERS TO THE RESCUE!! With one mighty sweep of her blade, she slays the arrayed Quadav. What a badass.


Perfect form.

-The ambassador is safe and we leave for Bastok.

-The camera lingers here on an Elvaan soldier with a demon. The soldier morphs into an imp.

MARQUIS AMON: “My next plan already approaches fruition.”



-This demon plans to destroy the alliance of Bastok, Windurst, and San d’Oria from within.

-I return to Bastok to see Captain Klara. lolol Adelheid the Scholar is eavesdropping again. She’s great.

-There has been a recent rash of assassinations in San d’Oria, some by Tonberry agents.

-Now we can start to solve the mystery of the senator’s assassination. The Galka kid snuck in through the ventilation shafts. A Tonberry would be small enough to do the same. And the reason no light was lit was that the Tonberry used his lantern to distract the senator while he snuck up for the kill.



Fucking Tonberries.

-But what do the Tonberries have against us? Were they working at the behest of the Beastman Confederate? The investigation continues.

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Quest: Burden of Suspicion (Wings of the Goddess)

-Captain Klara pulls me in for some questioning. She thinks my work for the Senator is connected to his assassination. Chairman Pale Eagle’s “Stay out of this” note too.

-I head back to Engelhart, the mercenary who set me working for the senator in the first place. He’s freaked out about the Mythril Musketeers investigation and runs of to a fellow mercenary, Ernestine. They run off to protect -something- in the Eldieme Necropolis and I follow.

-Wended my way to the base of the Necropolis. Ernestine and two of her soldiers are here, but they’re the least of my problems. Something is coming up from beneath the ground…

-Shit. It’s an Antican. A brutal one too – it pulled off some brutal combo moves on Ernestine before Zeid swoops in with the save.



Ernestine and Engelhart – both the Senator’s mercenaries – were keeping this Antican here. The Senator thought to harness the Anticans for the war. That’s what the xhifhut was for – to communicate with Anticans.

-Wait, not to communicate with them – to CONTROL them. Damn. The senator SUCKED.

-The Antican gets up and Zeid slays it.



ZEID: “Do not underestimate the Antica. They are bred to be killing machines. Your precious ethics and morals do not exist for Antican soldiers. One tiny slip, and they would turn on us without the slightest hesitation.”

The Anticans are like xenomorphs and the senator was like Weyland-Yutani. President Prien and Chairman Pale Eagle actively opposed the senator’s plan.

-We all head back to Bastok. Klara thanks Volker, Zeid, and myself for solving this case.

-President Prien and Chairman Pale Eagle join us, and tell of Senator Werner’s plan with the Anticans following the assault on Port Bastok. We see this conversation in flashback.

-The President has more concerns than just that it wouldn’t work. He also worries about the Galkan outcry if they ever heard of the plan. After all, the Galkan were slaughtered by the Anticans, hounded into exile.

SENATOR WERNER: “Are we really in a position to plan around the delicate feelings of the Galka?”



Fuck this guy. Like, I get that the war is going badly for them, but Jesus dude.

-Just now, “Hrichter Karst” charges in to voice some concerns to the President… oh right! This is the young President Karst.



-Karst wants Chairman Pale Eagle dismissed for making threats against Senator Werner. The threat letter’s handwriting matches Pale Eagle’s secretary’s handwriting.

-Right now, I’m a bit confused, but on principle I trust the Galka here over the Humes. I think Chairman Pale Eagle is being set up.

-OH SHIT what if the Tonberry assassin was hired by Chairman Pale Eagle?

-Camera switches to outside where the scholar is eavesdropping on this YET AGAIN.



-lololol the door opens and she’s caught red-handed. She flees.

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Next time: uncovering the mystery further.