Halloween Event
-There’s an FFXIV Halloween event, All Saints’ Wake! The towns are decorated with pumpkins, bats, cobwebs.
-The primary quest is about a wolfman named Soga. I’m supposed to keep an eye on him for fear of his demonic nature.
-Turns out Soga is a good guy! An FFV-style wolfman. The world fears him without reason. He wants to join the circus where he won’t be shunned.
-Eeeee! I’m helping him join and get a werewolf costume.
CUTE LALAFELL WOLFY
It makes me look like an adorable wolfy little potato.
-The circus’ “Impresario” is a creepy dude. Tall, thin, with a pumpkin head. He has me and Soga go around town drumming up business. He’s giving out free werewolf costumes to everyone to get people into the spirit of the season.
-I’m getting MAJOR Buffy “Halloween” vibes. The Impresario is super shady.
Will these costumes turn people into real murderous wolves?
-Soga is delighted seeing so many townspeople dressed as wolf people like him. He’s hopeful it will make them empathetic, less afraid of him. See through his eyes.
-Huh. Looks like I was wrong. The wolf costume distribution seems benign.
-There’s a haunted house in town that functions as a dungeon, and I do it with my friends. It’s really cool and unique – no combat at all! Instead, we’re given puzzles to accomplish as a group through exploration and communication.
Like, we have to stay out of monsters’ lines of sight lest we get turned into pumpkins, we search the house for pumpkin chests, and all this amidst silly Halloween decorations and music.
-Bravo! Beautifully done event. And thankfully, it was a short, bite-size event, unlike the Yo-kai event.
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Traitor Brave
-Back to the main story. Amazingly, I’m STILL not at Heavensward content (the next expansion)! There’s just a tremendous amount of post-ARR patch content.
-We have a ton of problems. The Ascians, the primals, the Garlean Empire and their new emperor, Ishgard’s reticence, the Ul’dahn monetarists stirring up shit. At least the Scions have the Crystal Braves to help.
-Right now, Teledji Adeledji’s Monetarists are pushing hard against Raubahn’s Immortal Flames. That’s where my focus will be.
-Ul’dah’s refugees were given weapons to instigate a riot. I’m going to try chasing down the backtrail along with the Crystal Brave captain, Ilberd.
-Oh shit. Shit shit shit. As the quest goes on, I suspect Ilberd is a traitor in the pockets of the Monetarists. The box of weapons he “confiscated” from some black marketeers is light.
We got a mole.
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The Rising Chorus
-Lucia, templar of Ishgard, meets us. Ishgard’s astrologians saw the dragon star last night.
“The northern sky doth burn full bright upon the wyrm lord’s call. The red behemoth beckoneth, and flame consumeth all.”
It’s a portent. The great wyrm Midgardsormr will rise soon.
-About fifteen years ago, the Empire was campaigning here. Then Midgardsormr, guardian of Silvertear Falls, burst forth. He led a host of dragons against the Garleans.
Now, the crashed Garlean flagship – the Agrius – is in the lake with the dead Midgardsormr wrapped around it. Let’s check it out.
-Up next is a dungeon to look into the crashed ship. “Keeper of the Lake.”
-In the dungeon, we climb the airship wreck. The music here is one of my favorite tracks in the game. Not quite up there with some of the primal themes, but pretty close.
-We reach the top, where Midgardsormr’s skeletal head looms above. It’s alive. At least, it’s spirit is still alive.
-The boss fight against Midgardsormr is tough and really, really fun. There are multiple add phases, fire/lightning to dodge in and out of, and keeps me on my toes. It takes our party a couple of tries.
-We win. We survive.
MIDGARDSORMR: “By her gifts hast thou earned a moment’s reprieve.”
This wyrm god deigns to speak with me.
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Audience with Midgardsormr
MID: “My people have heard the song. Ishgard shall burn. Sons must answer for their fathers’ misdeeds.”
Btw, Midgardsormr’s voice acting is ON POINT. It’s deep, rich, terrifying and awe-inspiring.
-He sired seven children. One wants vengeance.
“Hearken to me, Hydaelyn! I remember… and I consent.”
-Some kind of laser blasts through me from Midgardsormr. And… I’m elsewhere. In that great crystal circle.
-One by one, black power envelops the crystals and their lights go out.
-The circle beneath me shatters. I wake.
MIDGARDSORMR: “I did but strip thee of thy mistress’s feeble blessing. Thou didst profit much by her grace, but no more.” THAT ASSHOLE. I think he took away my Echo. This makes me susceptible to all the different primals.
-“The covenant binds me to thee.” AND THEN HE BECOMES ADORABLE LITTLE DRAKE THAT FLITS OVER TO ME!! It reminds me strongly of Lady, my dragoon wyvern pet from FFXI.
“I drink of her body, and thence doth mine own find new life. When it hath grown whole, the loyal and penitent shall rejoice. The Dragonsong heraldeth a beginning and an end.”
The tiny wyrm disappears. Midgardsormr’s corpse goes quiet.
WAIT WHAT. The game gives me a message, that I can summon Midgardsormr as a minion!!!
Mini-gardsormr is SO CUTE. One of my favorite parts is that when I have him out as a pet, he flits around and does his own thing. And sometimes he’ll just perch on my head for a while.
-A lot of this conversation is over my head. I have a feeling it’ll make sense later. The gist I’m taking away from it is that Midgardsormr had some bargain with Hydaelyn, that he’s going to help me in order to fulfill it, and that he took away the Echo (or some other gift of Hydaelyn’s) from me.
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Random Stuff
-Unlocked the access to sahagin and kobold beastman quests. Basically, these are friendly groups of those beastman with repeatable quests I can do to rank up. Not sure yet what rewards are there.
A dude in a moogle hat chilling out.
A musical group of moogles
A swordsperson looking especially intimidating in their fat chocobo head.
My ghosty pet has a creepy smile.
I got a log-in reward of some FFIX garb!
A player wearing the best costume ever. Not sure if it’s a reference to something.
A fishy pet that looks like it swam right out of Tim Burton’s brain.
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Crafting!
-A prime reason I’ve slowed down my FFXIV posting pace is because I’ve gotten really into crafting. There are 11 different crafting jobs, and I want to max them out to 50 before moving onto the first expansion.
They are a TON of fun, super satisfying. It’s just that there’s not a lot to write about with them. The quests are fun but in an individual way, not something deeply tied to a main storyline. So I’m limited in how much I want to post about it.
There are some random notes and images from my recent batch of crafting.
Fishing with my new Midgardsormr buddy.
-Picked up a cool new fishing ability: “Mooch.” When I catch a small fish, I’ll have the chance to “mooch” it, to throw it back and give me a chance at catching a bigger fish.
[Non-rhetorical question: I’m no fisherman. Is “mooching” a real thing in fishing?]
-The quest names continue to be great, like the leatherworker quest “Aldgoat Everything.” XD
A weaver quest to make awesome booties.
-Dialogue around a carpentry quest makes me both laugh and realize that I’m basically 12 years old.
The blacksmith trainer has a rough time.
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Next time: More crafting, and following-up on the strange and ominous audience with Midgardsormr.
