Summary: Resolve to save Estinien. A plea for Hraesvelgr’s aid. Hraesvelgr tests us.
Causes and Costs
-Alphinaud wants to speak with me - as a friend, rather than as the Warrior of Light or a fellow Scion.
-He’s thinking about all the deaths, all the sacrifices. What have they been for? His old answer (“For the future of Eorzea!”) no longer satisfies.
“I do not want to be a man who sacrifices his friends and family for a cause. I want to fight for Estinien – and I want to save him.”
-Aymeric and the Ishgardians would kill Estinien!Nidhogg without hesitation. Alphinaud doesn’t want to.
-Oh boy. I know this is an MMO and my choice won’t likely impact what comes next, but still. I’m presented with a choice. I can either respond that we’ll save him, that we’ll aid those in need, or “…”
I legit don’t know.
Like… I want to help him! I do! But If the moment came to either kill Nidhoggstinien or talk to him and try to save him, I’d kill him. How many other precious individuals would I be sacrificing just cause I know this one guy?
-Still, I go with: “We will find a way to save him.” I’d probably say that just to comfort Alphinaud. And if the moment presents itself to save Estinien? Sure, why not.
-Later, we see Krile speaking with Y’shtola about the shock of Estinien’s transformation.
And the cost of sacrifice for “the truth at the heart of this world.”
-The Warrior of Darkness watches them from afar.
-Narration appears over scenes of Aymeric. How change will wash over the world at a heavy price.
-AH! The omniscient narrator this whole expansion was Count Edmond de Fortemps, from a book he wrote called “The Gears of Change.”
-Scene change to Yda and Papalymo.
Still plotting something, somewhere.
-Scene change to an unseen person picking up a mask that looks like Vega’s from Street Fighter II.
Almost no clue who it could be. Someone a bit bulky it looked like, but that could’ve just been the clothes.
[Later edit: I don’t think it’s an Ascian mask, but maybe? If so, my money would be on Urianger. He’s been oddly close with the Ascians, though I still would be shocked if he’s evil.]
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The Man Within
-Something about Nidhogg’s appearance as Estinien makes Alphinaud think Estinien can still be saved.
-Krile and Y’shtola sensed some of Estinien remaining there. A bare trace of his aura.
-I worry that Alphinaud will do something foolish and drastic to try saving Estinien, and that he’s gonna be the sacrifice we’re hearing about.
Causes and Costs
-Alphinaud wants to speak with me - as a friend, rather than as the Warrior of Light or a fellow Scion.
-He’s thinking about all the deaths, all the sacrifices. What have they been for? His old answer (“For the future of Eorzea!”) no longer satisfies.
“I do not want to be a man who sacrifices his friends and family for a cause. I want to fight for Estinien – and I want to save him.”
-Aymeric and the Ishgardians would kill Estinien!Nidhogg without hesitation. Alphinaud doesn’t want to.
-Oh boy. I know this is an MMO and my choice won’t likely impact what comes next, but still. I’m presented with a choice. I can either respond that we’ll save him, that we’ll aid those in need, or “…”
I legit don’t know.
Like… I want to help him! I do! But If the moment came to either kill Nidhoggstinien or talk to him and try to save him, I’d kill him. How many other precious individuals would I be sacrificing just cause I know this one guy?
-Still, I go with: “We will find a way to save him.” I’d probably say that just to comfort Alphinaud. And if the moment presents itself to save Estinien? Sure, why not.
-Later, we see Krile speaking with Y’shtola about the shock of Estinien’s transformation.
And the cost of sacrifice for “the truth at the heart of this world.”
-The Warrior of Darkness watches them from afar.
-Narration appears over scenes of Aymeric. How change will wash over the world at a heavy price.
-AH! The omniscient narrator this whole expansion was Count Edmond de Fortemps, from a book he wrote called “The Gears of Change.”
-Scene change to Yda and Papalymo.
Still plotting something, somewhere.
-Scene change to an unseen person picking up a mask that looks like Vega’s from Street Fighter II.
Almost no clue who it could be. Someone a bit bulky it looked like, but that could’ve just been the clothes.
[Later edit: I don’t think it’s an Ascian mask, but maybe? If so, my money would be on Urianger. He’s been oddly close with the Ascians, though I still would be shocked if he’s evil.]
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The Man Within
-Something about Nidhogg’s appearance as Estinien makes Alphinaud think Estinien can still be saved.
-Krile and Y’shtola sensed some of Estinien remaining there. A bare trace of his aura.
-I worry that Alphinaud will do something foolish and drastic to try saving Estinien, and that he’s gonna be the sacrifice we’re hearing about.
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An Ally for Ishgard
-Aymeric worries that even with our full forces, we won’t be able to fight a Nidhogg with two eyes. He wants us to recruit an equal opposition: Hraesvelgr.
-Whew. Big ask. No chance he would’ve joined us before. Is Nidhogg assaulting Vidofnir enough?
-Aymeric, Alphinaud and I will go make the ask. Lucia will stay behind to guard Ishgard.
-We’ll first go see Vidofnir, to check on her recovery and get her advice.
-She herself is doing okay. No worries about her death. But she doesn’t think Hraesvelgr will join.
-Something about our foolish hope reminds her of a knight from long ago. I’m sure I’ll kick myself when I learn who, but I can’t right now remember the names of the old Ishgardians enough to remember which knight would’ve been her buddy.
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Winning Over the Wyrm
-Our old moogle friend Moghan greets us on our trek. He alerts Chieftan Moglin to our presence.
-Hraesvelgr is unreceptive. He’d be at Nidhogg’s side if he hadn’t consumed Shiva’s spirit and temper.
-And yet, he clearly knows something’s fucked up in Nidhogg’s actions. He’s come to a point where he might be willing to accept that Ishgard as a whole is atoning for its past.
-Aymeric makes an especially persuasive case: sure, we’re asking Nidhogg to go against his kin, but that’s what Aymeric himself did. He had us slay his father because it was right.
-Mini-Midgardsormr – Hraesvelgr’s father iirc – even appears, to counsel Hraesvelgr to shut down Nidhogg’s raging spirit.
…it works. Whew. Hraesvelgr will give us a test. He’s sending us against a different enraged dragon spirit, the slain Ratatoskr.
-The camera pans out and we see a little moogle watching over this. He flies off to report into his chief. I’m not sure on the details, but the moogles will definitely play some role.
I could see us fighting Nidhogg, losing, and then the moogles kupoing in for a last second save.
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Sohr Khai
-Sohr Khai is a series of floating islands.
-It’s a beautiful and sad place. A memorial to Ratatoskr, the first dragon killed by the Ishgardians. The different parts of the dungeon are named in memorial, like “Answer to Shame.”
-Chieftan Moglin is the first boss. I know the moogles are allied with Hraesvelgr, so he must be part of the test. This fight is similar to Good King Moggle Mog, where the challenge is dealing with the moogle adds he summons throughout.
It takes our party a couple of tries to get it. (Same with the next boss.) The biggest trick was that when we killed some moogle adds, he’d cast a resurrect circle around them. We had to knock the corpses out of the circles or else they’d come back stronger.
-The second boss is a Pegasus type with tricky positioning, forcing us to direct where it charges.
Poqhiraj the Pegasus.
-The final boss is Hraesvelgr himself. Not to kill him – we probably couldn’t - but for him to test our resolve and will and skill.
This fight is all about positioning. He floats around a series of small, circular platforms.
We hop between them ourselves, spreading out damage to the party and killing adds while he slowly destroys the platforms. A soft enrage.
-We pass his test.
-GOD this final boss area is gorgeous!
The coloring and golden sun rays remind me of the area where we fought Kefka’s final form in FFVI.
-Alphinaud and Aymeric were also tested in their own way by Hraesvelgr’s brood.
-WOohooo!! Hraesvelgr is on our side now, against Team Nidhogg.
-As we rejoice in our victory, Nidhogg roars in the distance and takes flight.
It begins.
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Next time: Nidhogg attacks.
