Quest: Quelling the Storm (Wings of the Goddess)
-I return to Bastok. I stumble onto the aftermath of a murder.
-It’s gruesome. One slash severed the spinal cord, and there’s a pattern carved into the victim’s forehead. The trademarks of an old Galka assassin, Darksteel Hurricane. Time for the Mythril Musketeers to investigate.
-Why would he return now? Darksteel Hurricane wasn’t caught and has been inactive for years. Rumor is that he used a military connection to evade capture.
-The Musketeers talk with Bartholomaus, leader of the First Brigade. He offers to help. The Mythril Musketeers are like the local cops trying to solve the case, while the First Brigade are the feds saying “We’ll take it from here.”
-Captain Klara still gets those bouts of dizziness, like Sir Ragelise.
-Nicolaus brings up a great point. The real Darksteel Hurricane targeted high-ranking officials. Recent victims though are low-level government officers and even their family. This may be a copycat.
-Throughout this conversation, Zeid is silent. Not just that – we get several zoom-ins on his face being silent. He knows something.
-I walk around the city, gathering information from townsfolk about Darksteel Hurricane. He used a massive greatsword. He got his name by his ability to melt into shadows, and by his suit of darksteel armor…
OH SHIT, THE REAL DARKSTEEL HURRICANE WAS ZEID!!!!! THAT’S WHY HE WAS SILENT!
If I’m right, this would also explain why he was so gung-ho against Five Moons back during the Galka Uprising. He felt guilty. He HATED that his previous actions “inspired” Five Moons.
-A random woman says Darksteel Hurricane has a menacing scar on his forehead.
“I don’t intend to linger in the presence of a Galka whose forehead I cannot see. I advise you to do the same!”
Zeid always wears a helmet.
-The next step is to check in with Goblin informants in the city. And let me tell you: this next quest SUCKS.
A local goblin, Blatherix, tells me of a meeting of the goblin information network. Only goblins can attend, but Blatherix can make me a potion to disguise me as a goblin.
The key item to get is a Goblin Mess Tin. It is a rare drop from a few specific goblins. I spent the next hour running between three spawn points in North Gustaberg and eventually one dropped the item.
BUT HOW THE FUCK DID ANYONE EVER DO THIS QUEST WITHOUT A GUIDE?
-Blatherix mixes the items and sings the magic words:
“Ooh Gobbie I love your way, every day~
I wanna be with you night and day…”
…A goblin is singing Peter Frampton. I need a minute.
-I drink the potion and boom, I’m a goblin.
-The meeting starts. One of the goblins has seen someone matching Darksteel Hurricane’s description, but smells me out as an Elvaan before spilling the beans.
Instead of attacking, they smell a chance to gain a new client: the Mythril Musketeers.
-The goblin and I meet with the Mythril Musketeers. He tells Captain Klara that the Galka in question was spotted by a waterfall on Vunkerl Inlet.
-The Mythril Musketeers roll out to Vunkerl Inlet, along with the First Brigade. Shit. When they see it’s Zeid, this is going to backfire.
-A Galka walks across a bridge. I can’t quite tell who it is, and I don’t think it’s Zeid. We surround him on a bridge.
-Bartholomaus wants to attack, but Captain Klara decides to try negotiation.
-She lowers her weapon, and the Galka lowers his. Time passes as they talk. More than 20 minutes.
-Bartholomaus gets impatient. He orders a First Brigade soldier to sneak up and listen in. This goes… badly. The Galka notices and panics, drawing his sword.
-The Galka attacks Klara, and Klara defeats him because she’s a BADASS.
The Galka falls into the water below.
-I feel like I’m missing something. That was WAAAAY too easy. What did he talk about with Klara? What’s going on?
---
Quest: Honor Under Fire (Wings of the Goddess)
-News has spread that Darksteel Hurricane is dead. Things in town are calmer.
-The Mythril Musketeers’ reputation is restored. We’ve been given back our old post guarding President Prien.
-Five Moons is troubled. It wasn’t too long ago that he idolized Darksteel Hurricane. He wants to check that he’s really dead.
“As both Galka and Mythril Musketeer, I must confirm with my own eyes the death of a man who had once ruled my existence. Or else I fear there will be no closure for me in this lifetime.”
-Nicolaus and I will join him.
-Scene change to Zeid and Klara. Zeid doesn’t buy that bridge scene for a second.
“Spare me the deception, Captain! Who was it that you crossed swords with on the bridge? That Galka was not Darksteel Hurricane. You know this to be true above any other.”
I FUCKING KNEW IT. Zeid MUST have been the real Darksteel Hurricane, and Klara must have known.
-She doesn’t answer him. Just turns around and continues onto the President’s Office.
-Nicolaus, Five Moons and I return to Vunkerl Inlet. Down below the bridge, we see… Volker? He’s got doubts too, is also searching for “Darksteel Hurricane’s” body.
-Volker didn’t find a body. Instead, he found the Galka’s discarded armor. Seems likely that the suspect survived, even though he was slashed by Captain Klara and fell from a great height. Not sure how.
-At this moment, we see… MOTHERFUCKER I SHOULD HAVE GUESSED. It’s an Ahriman, floating away. That’s the creature that a few sessions ago tried infiltrating San d’Oria, transformed to an Elvaan guard.
-But why? Just to kill some Bastokans, sow some fear? He could’ve done that as any random murderer.
-We pursue the Ahriman into a cave. I go back to Bastok for a flare grenade, return, and toss the grenade in to flush the Ahriman out.
-It works – too well. The Ahriman emerges, along with some buddies. They attack.
-We take them out. The Arch Ahriman’s death throes are incredibly creepy. It loses control of its form, morphing into different Mythril Musketeers before it passes.
-So it disguised itself as Darksteel Hurricane to cause panic in the city. But it didn’t need to pose as Darksteel Hurricane for that…
Oh shit. New theory: what if it posed as Darksteel Hurricane to draw attention to Zeid, the real Darksteel Hurricane, and further tarnish the reputation of the Mythril Musketeers?
-Even worse: fighting the Ahriman in illusion form feels different from fighting a real person. Captain Klara MUST have known she wasn’t killing a real Galka.
-Nicolaus draws the conclusion that Captain Klara and Zeid are actually Ahrimans in disguise. He thinks that they put on this show to regain the president’s trust and get close enough to assassinate President Prien.
I doubt it. I still think Captain Klara went along with the Ahriman to take the heat off Zeid.
On the other hand, this could explain why Captain Klara has been feeling dizzy/sick of late. Maybe she’s an Ahriman who’s kept her disguise too long.
-Just now, a squadron of demons attacks. Volker and I run back to Bastok to save President Prien from Ahriman!Klara and Ahriman!Zeid. (I still doubt it.)
-Scene change to Klara and Zeid before the meeting. She reminds him of the importance of following her, living resolutely. It sounds like she might have redeemed Zeid in some way. He owes her a lot.
KLARA: “Then swear me this, Zeid. That whatever you may witness from this point onwards, you will never cease to believe in me.”Oh God. Klara, what are you about to do?
They meet with the president alone. Klara rises. “I too have waited for this moment. For today… is the day I bathe my blade in your blood!”
HOLY SHIT KLARA!!
-Zeid is shocked. If Klara is an Ahriman, then Zeid is not. Klara reminds him of his oath and he backs down, trusts her. (To be honest, I trust her too. More likely that President Prien is an Ahriman than her.)
-Volker rushes in now and tries to stop her.
-KLARA SLASHES VOLKER ACROSS HIS FACE AND KNOCKS HIM OUT! Maybe Klara IS an Ahriman.
-President Prien starts to draw his sword in defense, but he has no chance. Klara slaps the blade out of his hand.
KLARA: “Farewell, President Prien of the Republic of Bastok.” She slashes.
Zeid catches the blade. GO ZEID!! I think?
Look. This is confusing. If Klara is an Ahriman, then YAY! If President Prien is an Ahriman, then BOO! Idk.
-Five Moons and Volker arrive, and Zeid continues protecting Prien.
KLARA: “Listen well, Zeid. The next time we meet, it will not be me who stands before you!”
She leaves. What. The. Fuck. Just. Happened.
[Later edit: that whole “it will not be me who stands before you” thing sticks with me. What if that wasn’t Klara or an Ahriman, but Lilith herself possessing Klara? I really have no idea.]
-The city guards charge in, seeing the President on his knees, all of us with swords drawn. I thought this was wrapping up, and instead shit gets even more bizarre.
---
Next time: I have no flipping idea.
