The Parting Glass
-I enter the Sultana’s chambers. She steels herself for something.
-Scene change to the party. Ser Aymeric of Ishgard speaks:
“It is my hope that Ishgard will soon be reunited with her long-estranged sister nations – and that Eorzea shall once more be as one!” Is this how the expansion ends? Joining with Ishgard and getting access to whatever new jobs/races they have?
-A Crystal Brave walks in, whispers something to Alphinaud. He leaves the room. PLEEEEASE don’t be the traitor, Alphinaud!
-Alphinaud leaves the room. Four Crystal Braves await him outside.
-Scene change back to Sultana Nanamo Ul Namo’s room. Her lady-in-waiting leaves. (Ordinarily I wouldn’t mention that, but the camera lingers on her, and not for the first time. I’m suspicious of EVERYONE.)
-Oh, right! The Sultana intends to abdicate and dissolve the monarchy. She mentioned this before.
-It’s the right move, but she’s worried about the power grab as Ul’dah transitions to a republic. She asks me to help Flame General Raubahn to smooth that transition.
-Now they focus on her drinking a glass of wine. I’m TERRIFIED that she’s drinking poison.
-YUP IT’S POISON, IT WAS THE LADY-IN-WAITING (probably on behalf of Teledji Adeledji)
-Teledji Adeledji busts in surrounded by Brass Blades (the city guards widely known as being under the Monetarists’ control). He pretends to be shocked. He’s a shitty actor.
-He orders the Brass Blades to arrest me on charges of regicide.
-Scene change back to Alphinaud. One of the Crystal Braves puts a sword to his neck.
This is a full-on coup by Teledji Adeledji.
-The party continues. No sound, no words. It’s effective and haunting.
-Teledji enters with Ishgardian knights behind him. They came to take Aymeric home since another dragon attack started. (lol nope, not believing that for a second. The knights are going to kill him.)
-Aymeric sees what’s going on, as does his aide Lucia.
AYMERIC to ADELEDJI: “You have been a most gracious host. I hope that I might one day return the favor.” The tone makes it clear that Aymeric means this as brutally as possible.
-Scene change. Thancred is flirting on a balcony when the Brass Blades arrive. They’re arresting all the Scions as traitors on trumped-up charges of serving the Garlean Empire.
lolol I love thancred XD
-Scene change to the party. Teledji Adeledji announces the Sultana’s assassination and heaps scorn on Flame General Raubahn for poorly defending the nation.
-He names me as the assassin, the Immortal Flames as incompetent, and the Scions as traitors.
-The actually traitorous Crystal Braves bring me in, announcing my charges.
-Teledji continues to pile on nonsense charges. That they found a poisoning vial in my possession.
OH WAIT, THAT PART’S TRUE! That’s why they had me go out into the desert and stumble across the vial and pick it up. They set me up.
-To their credit, none of the Scions believe this for a second.
-Raubahn ignores most of this. He’s still stunned at the Sultana’s death. He was loyal to her, and was her close friend. Leo to her Bartlet.
-Teledji Adeledji ascends to full villain mode.
There’s either a boss fight coming shortly, or he’s being set up as the antagonist for the next expansion.
-HOLY SHIT NEVER MIND!!!!! RAUBAHN GOES INTO RAGE OVERDRAVE AND KILLS TELEDJI ADELEDJI RIGHT THEN AND THEREEEEEEE
Seriously, the physical transformation and lighting for Raubahn makes him terrifying.
-Lord Lolorito steps in. He’s now the head of the Monetarist faction, and likely a step higher than Teledji Adeledji in this plan.
-Raubahn charges Lolorito… and a Crystal Brave, Ilberd, stops him. BY HACKING OFF RAUBAHN’S MOTHERFUCKING ARM
-The other faction leaders leave before shit gets more out of hand.
-I remember now that Ilberd was Raubahn’s long-time friend. This makes his betrayal so much worse.
-Lolorito takes charge. He orders Raubahn’s arrest and the Scions’ arrest. He steps for Teledji Adeledji.
-Ilberd tears into Raubahn verbally. They both started as refugees from the Empire-destroyed Ala Mhigo, but Ilberd thinks Raubahn abandoned Ala Mhigo in his service to the Sultana.
-This is nauseating. Raubahn is one of my favorite characters, and Ilberd won’t let up. Ilberd even admits that he himself is the Sultana’s killer.
-Hearing this gives Raubahn second wind. He picks up his weapon with his remaining arm and launches an attack.
Is there anyone you’d rather have as a blood enemy less than Raubahn? (Sorry, something about this session is putting me in a West Wing mindset.)
The Scions join in to defend him.
-Raubahn orders the Scions and me away. We have to discover who is behind this plot.
-We leave, but the fight between Ilberd and One-Armed Raubahn continues. Fade to white.
-Scene change to the Scions regrouping. We have to escape find refuge somewhere. Mor Dhona (our current HQ) won’t be safe. And we have to get out of Ul’dah right tf now.
-Yda and Papalymo will stay behind to cover our escape, fighting off the Brass Blades and Crystal Braves.
-Scene change to Lord Lolorito walking the darkened palace halls. The Lady-in-Waiting who poisoned the Sultana jumps out. Is… is she not on his side? I should remember that it’s not just Lord Lolorito who can pull puppet strings. I’ll bet the Ascians have some role in this coup, however indirectly.
-Scene change back to Yda and Papalymo, fighting off their pursuers with fire and punches. They’re exhausted.
-Papalymo summons some sort of blue light. Is he teleporting Yda out?
no. He’s turning her Super Saiyan.
I don’t know what job does that but I WANT IT.
-Scene change back to Thancred, Minfilia, Y’shtola and me. We found a secret passage beneath the palace leading us out of Ul’dah.
-We’re not alone. Pursuers close the distance. Y’shtola and Thancred will fight them off and guard our escape. Only Minfilia and I remain.
-I’m getting memories of the “Angel” finale. “You take the fifty thousand on the left...”
-Thancred takes an arrow to the knee but buys enough time for Y’shtola to cast some kind of magic that brings down the roof. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that they die here.
-Scene change to Minfilia and I making our escape. Minfilia hears the voice of Hydaelyn!
Whatever she hears is not good.
MINFILIA: “I must remain behind… but you cannot stay with me.” Did Hydaelyn, the Mothercrystal, just tell Minfilia to sacrifice herself? This is some Old Testament stuff going on.
-Stay safe, Minfilia. I safely escape into the Thanalan desert.
-Alphinaud runs up to meet me. He’s safe! And accompanied by an unknown Lalafell.
-A carriage pulls up alongside us. IT’S BRENDT!!!
He was the random merchant I met in the intro to the game, when my character first arrived in Ul’dah.
-Alphinaud, the Lalafell and I all hop aboard. The carriage takes us away.
-Brendt tells us he was in Vesper Bay on business Alphinaud’s sister, Alisaie, alerted him that we needed help. She’s perceptive.
-The lalafell with us removes his helmet, showing a magnificent flowing mane I didn’t think lalafells could have. Pipin Tarupin, Vice Marshal of the Immortal Flames.
-HAHA THIS IS GREAT, PIPIN IS RAUBAHN’S ADOPTED SON! He’ll help his father once we’re safe.
-The carriage drops us off at Black Brush Station in Thanalan… WHERE CID MEETS US! HI CID!
-Cid has the Enterprise stashed nearby. We need to find somewhere safely beyond the reach of the Brass Blades and the Crystal Braves.
What an odd sentence to write. The Brass Blades were always sketchy, but we MADE the Crystal Braves.
-We’ll head to Coerthas. It’s Ishgardian territory, and they won’t allow foreign incursions from Ul’dah.
-Pipin will stay behind. He’ll fight the Monetarists in Ul’dah, clear our names, and help his father.
-Cid drops us off in Coerthas, then takes off once again. We’ve made friends here with the Ishgardians. Hopefully they’ll help us out.
---
Before the Dawn
-One of the allies we’d helped out, Lord Haurchefant, welcomes us.
-Wow. There really was another dragon attack. Several broke through. The wards that Lady Iceheart destroyed were crucial, and these attacks are more painful now.
-At least the Ishgardian knights who took Ser Aymeric away from the party were on the up-and-up. Aymeric returned safely to Ishgard from Ul’dah. Phew!
I still believe that Teledji Adeledji helped orchestrate this to get him to leave Ul’dah, but not by so direct a method as bribing Ishgardian knights to kill him. Perhaps he was somehow associated with the dragon attack and the Dravanians.
-Ishgard won’t grant us asylum in Ishgard proper while they’re under attack, but Lord Haurchefant will let us stay here in Coerthas (an Ishgardian territory) as a temporary headquarters.
https://i.imgur.com/5dfQ32P.png
-I’m taking the random Ishgardians doing squats in Haurchefant’s room as a homage to Zack.
-I head to a nearby room… and there’s Tataru!
AWWW SHE GETS TEARY-EYED TO SEE US
-Yugiri is here too! I haven’t thought about her in while. She lost her mask. We now see her horns and scales.
Perhaps she’s one of the newer races I’ve seen around, the Au’Ra. The Domans stand with us.
-Urianger survived too! We’re not alone. *cue FFIX music*
-Alphinaud is taking these events hard, personally. He used his power to manipulate governments and people, so he feels this is punishment for his arrogance.
“Oh yes, I was so very clever. ‘Become a guardian of Eorzea,’ I implored, and sat back to watch my perfect army cleanse the land of chaos. ‘Twas all but a means to feed my own vanity.”
-Tataru steps in to bring him up.
She’s just a steadfast beacon of hope. I love her so much.
-It works. He still feels like shit, but he’s ready to move on and try again, with us, his friends, by his side.
---
Credits
-Credits roll! Makes sense. This is the end of the base game, “A Realm Reborn.”
-A montage of ARR scenes rolls in the background. Leviathan, the Ascians, Kan-e-Senna, and more.
-We see the voice actors too. Japanese, English, French, German.
-A VA that jumps out to me is Urianger. His Japanese VA is listed as “KENN.” [Later edit: looked it up, and he seems to be a famous VA in stuff I haven’t heard of like “Prince of Tennis.”]
-This was great. It’s also one of the bleakest game endings I remember. The FFXI expansions usually ended in victory over that expansion’s “Big Bad.” This is a major departure, and it works. It hits home.
-Ooh, a new image on the credits: art of Mother Hydaelyn herself.
Wings from her back and her head, behind a crystal.
---
Post-Credits
-Afterward. The Lady-in-waiting doesn’t attack Lord Lolorito. She kneels.
-Zoom-in to Lord Lolorito. He’s definitely the mastermind. [Later edit: again, barring any higher-up Ascian stuff.]
-Scene change to Raubahn sitting in prison. One arm short. I’m glad I’m not on his bad side.
-Scene change to Lahabrea the Ascian, with Elidibus the Emissary behind him.
-They’re worried that we killed an Ascian. That’s gotta be scary for a race that had thought itself eternal.
-Elidibus and Lahabrea will speed up their plans.
ELIDIBUS: “The northern lands, then?”
LAHABREA: “The earth is fertile, and the seeds well sown. By my will, they shall reap salvation unlike any the world has known.”
Yeah. The next expansion has got to focus heavily on Ishgard.
Both: “By His will.” Zodiark. He’ll make an appearance at some point, but I’m not convinced it’s necessarily in Heavensward. He seems like someone who could even have his own expansion.
-AH FUCKING DAMMIT – WE SEE URIANGER ANSWERING ELIDIBUS’S SUMMONS. URIANGER IS A TRAITOR.
Dude. If you had any hand, any finger, in Moenbryda’s death… the special hell.
[Later edit: I’m no longer so sure. It’s entirely possible that Elidibus summoned Urianger for a meeting of some kind to discuss a deal, not that he’s a secret Ascian agent. We’ll see.]
¬-Scene change to the high walls of Ishgard. I stand outside it, with Mini-gardsormr chirping to me of the horrors that await me within.
-Narration appears:
“To preserve the dawn’s light,
The hereoes journeyed north.
Their hearts filled with hope
And eyes fixed Heavensward.”
Expansion, here we come.
---
Next time: Heavensward.
