Main Story - Lahabrea in Little Ala Mhigo
-Post-Ramuh, I check in at Scion HQ. The sahagin lack the crystals to summon Leviathan, Titan’s kobolds are in check, and Garuda isn’t an imminent threat.
-I tell leader Minfilia about my encounter with Lahabrea of the Ascians. She’s familiar with the Ascians. They used to be secretive and have grown bold. Let’s investigate.
-A sylph suddenly arrives! She’s thankful for our help against the Empire, and joins Team Scions.
-Lahabrea is elusive. Lots of false leads until I arrive in South Thanalan.
-There’s a village here called Little Ala Mhigo. The Empire decimated and conquered Ala Mhigo. Refugees in the Ala Mhigan Resistance live here.
-They don’t trust outsiders. It takes some side quests to get a foot in the door with them.
-Younger Ala Mhigans have met secretly with Lahabrea. He promises vengeance against the Empire.
-One of the youth: “O mighty Rhalgr, Lord of Destruction… we implore You, lend us Your strength and put an end to the suffering of Your people…” Maybe Rhalgr is Lahabrea’s “one true god.”
-Lahabrea told the youth to steal crystals from the Amal’jaa to summon Rhalgr for power.
-Bad idea. The Amal’jaa they tried robbing kick their ass.
-Lahabrea’s gone now. He tempted the Ala Mhigans with a quick fix, fucked them over, and disappeared.
WHY? Just to kill refugees? To summon Rhalgr? I doubt it. If he wanted to summon Rhalgr, he’s powerful enough to get the crystals himself.
The next quest is (appropriately) called “Back to Square One.”
---
Main Story – Haukke’s Manor
-The next “sighting” takes me outside Gridania. Specifically, some locals saw this masked dude with a huge Ahriman, accompanying a spate of killings.
-One of the victims has a lily sigil. This clue leads me to a Gridanian who used to serve a Lady Amandine.
-The Calamity changed her. It physically disfigured her, and she shut herself away. She changed.
Eventually, Amandine began receiving shady visitors to help her with “rites of rejuvenation.” These grew more and more grotesque, eventually leading to murder. Somehow, this is tied to Lahabrea.
-Her home, Haukke’s Manor, is a dungeon. It reminds me of the Shinra Manor from FFVII, a huge haunted manor. Though more demons than ghosts.
-Lady Amandine herself is the final boss. All those rites and demonic pacts turned her into a succubus demon. It seems implied strongly that Lahabrea “helped” her.
-Two Ascians appear after I beat her. Lahabrea sent them to check on me, ascertain my strength.
That’s all for now. No doubt they’ll make a move against me soon.
---
Main Story – A Feast of Lies
-A tribe of kobolds managed to reawaken Titan near Limsa Lominsa. Let PrimalFest 2017 resume.
-Not much info on Titan. A “Company of Heroes” defeated him years ago but have since disbanded.
-I find someone who claims to have been in the Company of Heroes. He forces me to “prove myself” by performing menial chores around town.
-The fact that he didn’t know Titan’s name (he kept calling him “Tidus” lol) should have clued me in. The dude was full of shit. He was never really part of the Company of Heroes.
-The lying liar still tries to prove himself better than me. I get a ridiculous contest to see who can break a boulder the fastest, but even here he cheats like hell. Makes me break a bigger boulder, attacks me while I break my boulder, and even throws a bomb at his own boulder. XD
-Ultimately, he confessed that he got the idea to pose as a Company of Heroes veteran from a real member of the group. Wheiskaet, in the seaside town of Costa del Sol.
COSTA DEL SOL!! I need to give FFVII a replay. XD
-HAHAHA THIS IS AMAZING. Wheiskaet hears my plea for help with Titan, and he starts to do EXACTLY what the conman did. “I don’t want you to throw your lives away. First, prove to me you’re worthy by killing these small enemies…”
The Scion who accompanied me interrupts him angrily: “Ye gods, man – have you heard nothing? We have not the TIME to perform trivial tasks. The enemy is at the gates!” THANK YOU.
-This doesn’t sway Wheiskaet. He still tests me. But I adore that FFXIV at least acknowledged this.
-What follows is a long attempt to help Wheiskaet prepare a feast for his town. He sends me off on a series of mini-quests to collect rare food and wine from across the world.
This even involves me going through a full dungeon (Brayflox’s Longstop) and destroying a giant dragon at the end. Why? Cheese. We had to retrieve some rare goblin cheese.
”Who moved my cheese? SHOW YOURSELF, FOR I SHALL ROAST YOU IN THE FIRES OF VENGEANCE.”
-And again, I like that the game kind of mocks this. The final quest in the chain, to lay out the food on the table, is called “The Final Ignominy.”
-OHH!!! This is one massive troll job. Every questgiver along the way – the one who had me get wine, the one who had me get cheese, the one who had me pick herbs – ALL of them were in the Company of Heroes.
All of these crappy chores were honest, sincere tests. And now? The feast I’ve been preparing is in my own honor to send me off well to fight Titan.
Me eating cheese sticks irl.
---
Black Mage – You Never Go Back
-I’m ready to start the path they talked about in the job intro quest, to find the keys to seal the voidgate. Whatever tf that means.
-I head into the desert and find a void portal. Killed some imps that spawned from it, poured ritual blood into the portal, and it disappeared.
-And… that’s it. Not quite the flavor and story I got in the thaumaturge quest line, but it’s still early.
---
Black Mage – International Relations
-This hidden Ul’dah library, the Sacrarium, holds black mage secrets.
-Ququruka is the master black mage, with his apprentice Lalai the questgiver here. He learned over a hundred years ago (wow – old!) that the black mages were entrusted with sealing the voidgate.
“Of the disappearance of the black mages from Eorzea, Master says only: ‘We must not repeat the errors of the past.’”
-There are three souls, three keepers, that will help me. The first is Kazagg Chah, the Amal’jaa. I remember him from the first black mage quest.
-I meet this trio. Kazagg Chah, Dozol Meloc, and 269th Order Mendicant Da Za. Three beastmen – respectively, an Amal’jaa (lizard-man), Ixal (bird-man), and a kobold.
My favorite is the Dozol Meloc, the walking Pride flag.
-Yet again, I have to find these black holes popping up around the world, kill the voidspawned monsters that spill out, and pour voidsent blood into the hole to shut it.
Still not quite sure why I’m doing this. Something about strengthening my connection with black magic.
---
Random Mechanics
-I got access to a Sightseeing Log. It’s a new set of challenges/stuff to do, all focused on following clues to /lookout at certain places. Like, I might fill one entry by finding a certain spot overlooking ships at sunset and doing an emote.
I doubt I’ll spend much time on it now, but I adore that it’s in the game. A whole series of challenges based on appreciating the beauty of the environment and solving puzzles around this.
-I CAN PLAY TRIPLE TRIAD WITH FRIENDS!!!
Watching my friends playing some Triple Triad in the inn with each other.
-HOLY SHIT I GET A BATTLE CHOCOBO!!! I completed a series of quests that trained my chocobo to fight.
How to Train Your Chocobo.
He has a whole set of skills – I can level him up with defensive skills, offensive skills, set him to either tank or DPS.
It’s amazing in terms of having a pet who can tank, and also just in terms of the feel of having my chocobo fight alongside me.
---
Random Images
Just some cool stuff I want to share from my last session in Eorzea. :)
The Puff of Darkness minion, a tiny adorbs version of the FF3 final boss. (Minions = small non-combat pets, purely cosmetic.)
Hola, Gracialsgc! A cactuar minion.
My friend’s love dungeon in the Free Company house.
A Rikku minion.
An interestingly-named character.
An Ahriman. I love how terrifying some enemies are designed in FFXIV.
Ququshu riding her favorite mount.
Gross/awesome sandworms.
http://i.imgur.com/5TTNi03.png
A random player sporting some NSFW style.
My black mage friend black mage dressed like a chocobo. LOOKIT THOSE TAIL FEATHERS.
An imp in the Gold Saucer.
A chicobo with a pope hat.
A wind-up Firion, protagonist from FFII.
---
Next time: Taking on Titan, Lord of Crags.
