Summary: Corruption in Ul’dah. A legendary gladiator. A demonic Lalafell. (More demonic than most I mean.)
Miscellaneous
-I like XIV’s variation of the chocobo theme song!
I don’t have a chocobo mount, but I can use chocobos for cheap and fast travel between hubs.
-My Free Company’s (guild’s) home is SO COOL. It’s both functional with all sorts of crafting resources available, and beautiful. My favorite part are the cherry trees outside.
The only downside is the goobue rug that will stalk my nightmares for years to come.
-Did a few “guildhests.” These are four-person instanced group stuff. They’re short and a good variety of tasks.
-Yay, I can dye items!
-I can access the Hall of the Novice, a series of quests designed to train me in my role. Currently DPS.
-OMG THE BATTLE MUSIC!!!! It’s a wonderful and jazzy remix!
-The exercise itself is really helpful. I get to practice attacking while dodging fire, focusing on the same targets as my party, picking up new enemies, pulling levers on the battlefield… all in an escalating series of quests that lets me practice each individually before building up.
-The final exercise is a practice dungeon where I put all these skill into practice. I was already pretty familiar with DPS from prior MMOs, but I’m really happy this exists for me to learn the basics of tanking and healing before I dive into group content.
-Materia! I can break down items I’ve used and reforge them into crystallized energy that upgrades my gear.
-Eastern Thanalan is different from Western and Central Thanalan. A creepier feel, with heavy rain, graveyards, an old church.
---
Main Story
-A supply of gems called Nashacite has been lost. I have to track it down.
-The gems are Nashacite, named for a former sultana. I’ll bet that’s a reference to FFXI’s Empress Nashmeira.
-In the next batch of quests, I recover some nashacite and track down bandits across the desert. Most see the people of Thanalan as easy prey. What’s worse, the city guards (Brass Blades) don’t give a shit.
-Strike that. I learn that the respected Captain Baldewyn of the Brass Blades is actively helping the bandits to steal and smuggle nashacite.
-Some Brass Blades are good and noble. A Lalafell named Fufulupa is shocked that his captain betrayed the city!
-Baldewyn claims his orders come from Lord Lolorito, who we’ve heard about before.
-Or not. Upon defeat, he admits that he was just using the name of Lord Lolorito to help his smuggling goes easier. Lolorito sounds evil, but not this small time. Baldewyn gets carted off to jail, and Fufulupa takes his place as acting captain.
Miscellaneous
-I like XIV’s variation of the chocobo theme song!
I don’t have a chocobo mount, but I can use chocobos for cheap and fast travel between hubs.
-My Free Company’s (guild’s) home is SO COOL. It’s both functional with all sorts of crafting resources available, and beautiful. My favorite part are the cherry trees outside.
The only downside is the goobue rug that will stalk my nightmares for years to come.
-Did a few “guildhests.” These are four-person instanced group stuff. They’re short and a good variety of tasks.
-Yay, I can dye items!
-I can access the Hall of the Novice, a series of quests designed to train me in my role. Currently DPS.
-OMG THE BATTLE MUSIC!!!! It’s a wonderful and jazzy remix!
-The exercise itself is really helpful. I get to practice attacking while dodging fire, focusing on the same targets as my party, picking up new enemies, pulling levers on the battlefield… all in an escalating series of quests that lets me practice each individually before building up.
-The final exercise is a practice dungeon where I put all these skill into practice. I was already pretty familiar with DPS from prior MMOs, but I’m really happy this exists for me to learn the basics of tanking and healing before I dive into group content.
-Materia! I can break down items I’ve used and reforge them into crystallized energy that upgrades my gear.
-Eastern Thanalan is different from Western and Central Thanalan. A creepier feel, with heavy rain, graveyards, an old church.
---
Main Story
-A supply of gems called Nashacite has been lost. I have to track it down.
-The gems are Nashacite, named for a former sultana. I’ll bet that’s a reference to FFXI’s Empress Nashmeira.
-In the next batch of quests, I recover some nashacite and track down bandits across the desert. Most see the people of Thanalan as easy prey. What’s worse, the city guards (Brass Blades) don’t give a shit.
-Strike that. I learn that the respected Captain Baldewyn of the Brass Blades is actively helping the bandits to steal and smuggle nashacite.
-Some Brass Blades are good and noble. A Lalafell named Fufulupa is shocked that his captain betrayed the city!
-Baldewyn claims his orders come from Lord Lolorito, who we’ve heard about before.
-Or not. Upon defeat, he admits that he was just using the name of Lord Lolorito to help his smuggling goes easier. Lolorito sounds evil, but not this small time. Baldewyn gets carted off to jail, and Fufulupa takes his place as acting captain.
-Lulufupa finds a letter from Baldewyn to a Sultansworn named Owyne, and asks me to investigate.
-Momodi, the Ul’dah barkeep, fills me on on some backstory. Sultana Nanamo Ul Namo rules Ul’dah, but the six wealthiest citizens (“The Syndicate”) really call the shots. She’s popular, but her crown was stolen from under Owyne’s nose.
-Baldewyn’s letter to Owyne is a random note. They want something specific from the coffers in exchange for the crown back, and the crown is important. It symbolizes the Sultana’s power.
-Owyne and I meet the thieves for the exchange. We hand over the treasure, and of COURSE they betray us. What’s interesting though is that they didn’t ask for gil – instead, they got some kind of treasure that they wanted to use with the crown to create an undead army? It went quickly and I missed the details.
-Thieves swarm us, but then Sultansworn back us up! A huge battle.
-At the end of it, the Masked Mage who summoned the golem last time emerges to take me out. He summons a massive gargoyle.
“Your very being imperils the plan. You cannot be suffered to live.”
-I take out the golem, then take him out – and Thancred swoops in at the last second to help finish off the Masked Mage!
THANCRED: “We had long suspected the involvement of the Bringers of Chaos – Ascians, to give them their true name.” So we have a name for the Big Bad Faction. (I also no longer think Thancred is the Big Bad in disguise.)
-We return to Ul’dah, where the Sultana herself appears to thank us. She’s a Lalafell, and her dress is… unique?
It looks like a bell. [Non-rhetorical question: I don’t know a lot about fashion – is this a style in real life?]
-She and her right-hand man, Raubahn Aldynn, invite me to a celebratory banquet.
---
Thaumaturge – Threat of Superiority
-My level 15 quest, “The Threat of Superiority,” warns me against fighting enemies too strong for me. Wise advice.
-lolol I thought he was warning against soloing tough enemies, but no. Our guild used too many potions and can’t afford to pay the alchemists.
“Thus I pass onto you the secret of my last and most potent defense: shameless weeping.”
THAT’S MY QUEST. I have to emote /cry at the thaumaturge guild’s creditors to win their sympathy.
-I’m then sent to shatter a stolen and cursed urn. Like so many of this game’s quest, it serves a teaching purpose. The enemies on the way are high level, so I use sleep on them to sneak past to the urn.
-Cocobusi finds me. He’s the Lalafell without any power who dreams of being a thaumaturge. He followed me in hopes of proving himself.
-He walks up to the cursed Mormo Urn to break it. It… talks to him.
THE URN: “Hee hee, well, yes, I AM Mormo, but I’m one of the NICE voidsent.” He offers to grant Cocobusi a wish if he’ll open the urn rather than breaking it.
Dude. Cocobusi. I feel for you – I do! It SUCKS to not get that invitation to Hogwarts. But you know nothing good will happen from opening that urn, right? Right?
-Momodi, the Ul’dah barkeep, fills me on on some backstory. Sultana Nanamo Ul Namo rules Ul’dah, but the six wealthiest citizens (“The Syndicate”) really call the shots. She’s popular, but her crown was stolen from under Owyne’s nose.
-Baldewyn’s letter to Owyne is a random note. They want something specific from the coffers in exchange for the crown back, and the crown is important. It symbolizes the Sultana’s power.
-Owyne and I meet the thieves for the exchange. We hand over the treasure, and of COURSE they betray us. What’s interesting though is that they didn’t ask for gil – instead, they got some kind of treasure that they wanted to use with the crown to create an undead army? It went quickly and I missed the details.
-Thieves swarm us, but then Sultansworn back us up! A huge battle.
-At the end of it, the Masked Mage who summoned the golem last time emerges to take me out. He summons a massive gargoyle.
“Your very being imperils the plan. You cannot be suffered to live.”
-I take out the golem, then take him out – and Thancred swoops in at the last second to help finish off the Masked Mage!
THANCRED: “We had long suspected the involvement of the Bringers of Chaos – Ascians, to give them their true name.” So we have a name for the Big Bad Faction. (I also no longer think Thancred is the Big Bad in disguise.)
-We return to Ul’dah, where the Sultana herself appears to thank us. She’s a Lalafell, and her dress is… unique?
It looks like a bell. [Non-rhetorical question: I don’t know a lot about fashion – is this a style in real life?]
-She and her right-hand man, Raubahn Aldynn, invite me to a celebratory banquet.
---
Thaumaturge – Threat of Superiority
-My level 15 quest, “The Threat of Superiority,” warns me against fighting enemies too strong for me. Wise advice.
-lolol I thought he was warning against soloing tough enemies, but no. Our guild used too many potions and can’t afford to pay the alchemists.
“Thus I pass onto you the secret of my last and most potent defense: shameless weeping.”
THAT’S MY QUEST. I have to emote /cry at the thaumaturge guild’s creditors to win their sympathy.
-I’m then sent to shatter a stolen and cursed urn. Like so many of this game’s quest, it serves a teaching purpose. The enemies on the way are high level, so I use sleep on them to sneak past to the urn.
-Cocobusi finds me. He’s the Lalafell without any power who dreams of being a thaumaturge. He followed me in hopes of proving himself.
-He walks up to the cursed Mormo Urn to break it. It… talks to him.
THE URN: “Hee hee, well, yes, I AM Mormo, but I’m one of the NICE voidsent.” He offers to grant Cocobusi a wish if he’ll open the urn rather than breaking it.
Dude. Cocobusi. I feel for you – I do! It SUCKS to not get that invitation to Hogwarts. But you know nothing good will happen from opening that urn, right? Right?
Guess not. He asks for the power to become a thaumaturge and opens the urn.
-Purple light flows out of the urn and into Cocobusi. He’s definitely possessed, though trying to hide it.
-When I return to the guild, everyone’s all “Huh, Cocobusi has been acting weird.” Ququshu may be a thaumaturge, a gladiator, a miner, and a goldsmith, but I fear “detective” is not in her future. My character apparently doesn’t realize that Cocobusi is possessed.
---
Thaumaturge – Threat of Perplexity
-The next chapter/quest in my textbook is “Threat of Perplexity,” about dealing with crowds of enemies.
-A serial killer has popped up and is attacking thaumaturges! He’s known as “Mageslayer.” Gee. I wonder what possessed Lalafell this could be.
-“Cocobusi” comes by, cackling and tee-heeing. He just wants to help me take out the Mageslayer, WHOEVER IT MAY BE!
-We head to the desert, where the last thaumaturges were killed, to investigate this baffling crime! I kinda like that Cocobusi isn’t even REMOTELY subtle.
-A hired warrior and I take out some demons in the area. Mission accomplished!! Right?
-ALAS! “Cocobusi” tells me a demons escaped into that abandoned cave over there. Quick, I have to run heedlessly in and find it!
-I do so, because Ququshu, much as I love her, is a bit of a dorkus malorcus. “Cocobusi” creeps up behind me.
-OKAY THAT LEGIT SCARED ME. He got this LOOK on his face as he hurled a knife my way.
-Cocobuki, my thaumaturge teacher, and Cocobusi’s brother, saves me by burning the knife out of the air. He suspected Cocobusi, which is more than I can say for Ququshu.
-And yet. Cocobuki can’t bring himself to kill possessed!Cocobusi. They’re brothers. “Cocobusi” takes this chance escape, disappearing in to the ceiling.
-Poor Cocobuki. He feels like shit. Now, possessed!Cocobusi will find new hunting grounds, kill against… but how can you blame Cocobuki for not killing his brother?
---
Gladiator – Aldis Returns
-My level 5 gladiator quest is to stop a barfight through intimidation. I approach the instigators, point to my chest, and basically gesture “YOU WANT A PIECE OF THIS?” while they flee. lolol
-I meet a man named Aldis in the bar. One of the instigators sees the sword he wears, “Frenzy,” and runs. Aldis is a legend of some kind. I like him.
-Momodi asks me to not tell Mylla, the First Sword (gladiator guildmaster) that Aldis is back. Did they have a thing?
-The next quest at level 10 is to track down some lancers who have been killing gladiators. (A theme of these guild quests seems to be “Someone has been killing us, please stop them!”)
-I track and kill them outside the city. They were searching for Aldis.
-I really like how these quests serve as class tutorials. Gladiator is a tank class. An NPC healer helps me against the lancers, as long as I keep their attention.
-I return to Mylla, and now I have to tell her about Aldis. (Sorry, Momodi.) She’s shocked that he’s around.
-Btw, my quest reward is the wooooorst. It’s a new sword and the stats are fine, but it basically looks like a cricket bat.
---
Next time: Continuing with the main story, thaumaturge, gladiator, and some crafting. I thought about picking up pugilist, but I want to focus on the thaumaturge and gladiator quests for now lest I get lost in too many storylines.
Oh, and apropos of nothing, here's a shot of Ququshu hanging with Team Thaumaturge:
Gladiator – Aldis Returns
-My level 5 gladiator quest is to stop a barfight through intimidation. I approach the instigators, point to my chest, and basically gesture “YOU WANT A PIECE OF THIS?” while they flee. lolol
-I meet a man named Aldis in the bar. One of the instigators sees the sword he wears, “Frenzy,” and runs. Aldis is a legend of some kind. I like him.
-Momodi asks me to not tell Mylla, the First Sword (gladiator guildmaster) that Aldis is back. Did they have a thing?
-The next quest at level 10 is to track down some lancers who have been killing gladiators. (A theme of these guild quests seems to be “Someone has been killing us, please stop them!”)
-I track and kill them outside the city. They were searching for Aldis.
-I really like how these quests serve as class tutorials. Gladiator is a tank class. An NPC healer helps me against the lancers, as long as I keep their attention.
-I return to Mylla, and now I have to tell her about Aldis. (Sorry, Momodi.) She’s shocked that he’s around.
-Btw, my quest reward is the wooooorst. It’s a new sword and the stats are fine, but it basically looks like a cricket bat.
---
Next time: Continuing with the main story, thaumaturge, gladiator, and some crafting. I thought about picking up pugilist, but I want to focus on the thaumaturge and gladiator quests for now lest I get lost in too many storylines.
Oh, and apropos of nothing, here's a shot of Ququshu hanging with Team Thaumaturge:
