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Beyond the Great Wall
-No sign yet of Shinryu and Omega. Flame General Raubahn wants the Scions to investigate.
-The Alliance has secured the breach in Baelsar’s Wall, the wall separating Ala Mhigo and other Imperial territory from Eorzea. The Empire could interpret this as a prelude to invasion.
-The Alliance wants to secure Ala Mhigan support/consent before we officially join the fight for Ala Mhigo. Not a bad idea. The Scions will act as intermediaries.
-Lyse, Alphinaud, Krile, Y’shtola, Alisaie, and I will go. Urianger and Thancred will stay behind to watch for primals and Ascians.
-Yugiri and Gosetsu will head for Doma. I’m sure we’ll see them soon enough.
LYSE: “When all of this is over, we’re going to celebrate together!”
Stormblood prediction #1: Lyse will die in this expansion.
-HOHO! Tataru created a new outfit for Lyse.
It looks slick! It distinguishes her from her old Yda disguise. [Later edit: I also recognize her now as the title character from Stormblood.]
-Onward to Gyr Abania!
-Lyse narrates the brief cinematic (I think?). Our party power-walks through the breach.
“Behind us, Baelsar’s Wall, cutting the land in two. Freedom on one side, tyranny on the other. Tyranny, and the promise of a new beginning. But one that could only be bought with flames and blood.”
NEW EXPANSION HYYYYYYPE!
-Interesting! 100 years ago, Ala Mhigo invaded Eorzea. Now the Alliance works to save them.
-We check in with Raubahn. He leads the garrison at the Wall. Garlemald (the Empire) hasn’t tried to retake the Wall yet. That’ll no doubt happen sooner rather than later.
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Lyse Takes the Lead
-Lyse leads the party east from the Wall towards Rhalgr’s Reach, the home of the Resistance.
-The first zone here (“The Fringes”) has a beautiful early-autumn woodsy feel to it.
-Okay, this enemy is called a “Gazelle Hawk” and it is 0% gazelle and 0% hawk:
-An old fortified bridge called Castellum Velodyna watches everything.
-I like that the cinematics on our trek through the Fringes highlight how Lyse is taking the lead – lead of the party and lead of the expansion:
-We cross a river and the woods gives way to a dry, plateau-laden desert.
-And we arrive!
Rhalgr’s Reach’s defining characteristic is a titanic carving of Rhalgr, breaker of world and patron deity of Ala Mhigo.
(The place is magically hidden from Imperial sight, so it can afford to be a bit gaudy.)
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The Promise of a New Beginning
-An older guy named Conrad Kemp greets us.
-The place has a lot of color to it!
-Ilberd’s actions enrage Conrad. Even for Ala Mhigo, he doesn’t condone that sort of sacrifice. Good to know Conrad is on our side here.
-Alphinaud makes his formal offer of Eorzean military assistance.
-…OH! I misunderstood. The Eorzean Alliance isn’t offering to join so directly. They want to wage a proxy war, funneling resources through the Ala Mhigan Resistance.
Left to right: Meffrid, Conrad, M’naago.
-The Ala Mhigan leadership will confer. This isn’t risk-free for them.
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A Haven for the Bold
-Lyse will show me around Rhalgr’s Reach while their leadership decides.
-Different factions compose the Resistance, such as Hellsguard and Seekers of the Sun. There’s even a friendly beastwoman, an “Ananta.” Or maybe that’s her name.
-Lyse tells me the story of Rhalgr. After the Fifth Astral Era, the waters rose. A burning star in the east led some to safety in these mountains, those who would pledge to honor and revere Rhlagr.
“A storm of blood approaches fast,
Hell’s open, Heavens weep.
For no one soul doth lie beyond
The measure of His Reach.”
The image on the statue’s base reminds me of the thaumaturge icon.
-She mentions the Fist of Rhalgr a few times, an old order of monks.
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A Bargain Struck
-They accept our proposal, with the caveat that they only speak for Rhalgr’s Reach. There are many other Resistance factions.
-Many Resistance veterans died by Ilberd’s gambit. They need our help getting back on their feet.
-They have more tasks specifically for me, Lyse, and Alisaie. The other two leaders than Conrad will be our contacts. Meffrid and M’naago.
---
A Familiar Face Forgotten (Meffrid)
-Apparently I’ve met Meffrid before on some long-ago quest. (I don’t remember him.)
-We’re going to head east to the village of Ala Gannha for new recruits. Lyse’s hometown!
-The village is in a mountainous region, “The Peaks.”
A random giant grasshopper in the Peaks.
-We have to recruit carefully. The Empire has spies everywhere.
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The Prodigal Daughter (Meffrid)
-Meffrid trusts the village elder, Raganfrid. Let’s start with him.
-He’s no imperial, but he’s also hyper-suspicious.
Lots of villagers followed the Griffin. Now dead. Our protestations (“but we’re the Alliance! We’re better! This time is different!”) are not welcome.
RAGANFRID: “This time? This time!? Cold comfort to the dead and the ones they left behind! How much more must we give before you’ve had your fill?”
-But he notices Lyse. Even years later, he recognizes her as “one of Curtis’ girls.”
-She gives her full name: Lyse Hext.
-He won’t help us right now, but he lets us stay. We have some trust-building ahead of us.
---
Hard Country/Death by a Thousand Rocks (Meffrid)
-The first person we help is Griseldis. She wants a tea to help with her pain.
-Another, a Galka named Angry Coeurl, has a simple delivery quest.
(I like to imagine the dark knight inside me raging at this.)
-These small tasks are enough to prove that we have good intentions and are not imperials.
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A Life More Ordinary (Meffrid)
-Meffrid’s helps the villagers deal with a food shortage. The imperials keep seizing their supplies.
-Lyse is having a tougher time. One villager resents tf out of her. She hasn’t lived their struggled, hasn’t suffered with them, etc.
CYNICAL YOUTH: “And where were you these past twenty years!? Where were you when we were being ground under the Black Wolf’s boot!? On the other side of his bastard wall, living the high live, I’ll wager!”
-It hits her hard, despite her conviction even that she’s working for Ala Mhigo.
-A Flustered Woman interrupts this. She was taking the “tributum” (tribute I guess) to the Imperials when some Qiqirins robbed her and kidnapped her brother, Wercrata.
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Stormblood Intro Cinematic
[Note: I watched this after this session. Would it spoil too much? I basically decided “fuck it.” This is the current expansion, and the intro is part of the experience.
It’s a trade-off. It spoils some imagery (like the underwater temple), but mostly just built hype.]
-The video starts at the statue in Rhalgr’s Reach.
-Some random dude is sitting in his hand, meditating. Lyse is training in the palm and attacks the random dude. They spar.
-We pan out and see the new area on the map, Ala Mhigo.
-In the distance we see Garlemald, capitol of the Empire.
WILL WE GO THERE THIS XPAC? I hope so.
-Then the camera heads east to Doma.
-Ooh, underwater temple!
-A samurai in Doma is kicking ass, doing some real Matrix bullet-time shit.
-Yugiri and Gosetsu stand together and look down at the city.
-The logo for Stormblood finishes this off, a banner of war with Lyse at the head.
[Non-rhetorical question: was there a red mage in this trailer that I missed?]
-That was pretty sweet! A bit of a weird choice to have Lyse spar with some rando player character but okay. It cements that this will be the Imperial expansion. I’m super curious the cinematic focused on Garlemald to emphasize how it looms over Ala Mhigo and Doma, or because we’ll actually go there.
I also wonder what the pacing will be. Will we finish in Ala Mhigo then go to Doma, or bounce between the two on parallel courses? My money’s on the latter.
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Next time: Continuing in Ala Donnha.
