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Speaking with Serah (continued)
-This new area is Taejin’s Tower. It looms ahead, cracked in half. Oerba’s lies beyond.
-The tower looks to be Dahaka’s lair.
-Cie’th stone #20, “Words Unspoken.” This Cie’th’s father was also a l’Cie. The kid has to follow in his footsteps. Fucking fal’Cie.
[Non-rhetorical question: after I complete a Cie’th teleport stone mission, do I have to return to it once to activate the teleport?]
-Large horned knight statues guard the front, with more inside.
-We hear voices, telepathic communication from the statues.
“Your presence here draws the tyrant’s gaze. Leave this place at once.” That must be Dahaka.
-They agree to help us open the path through here. So they’re not against us. Seems like they might even be imprisoned by Dahaka.
-I take the elevator up to the second tier. The statues are marked as points of interest on the map on the ground tier, but I can’t interact with them.
-HI DAHAKA I LOVE YOUR FACE! A sort of creepy, smiling mask.
-He strafes us with fire and flies away.
-The statues (“Menhirrim”) will help me ascend if I aid them.
-#21, “A Tremulous Terror.” Not sure if the Menhirrim are Cie’th. They at least use that mission mechanic.
-First mark down, the Gelatitan. Doing so gave that first Menhirrim their power back.
-#22 goes down too, an Ambling Bellows.
-Stone #23, “Natural Defenses,” targets one of those hedgehogs. They look like sad, naked moles when staggered.
-WOOHOO! Dahaka comes around for another swipe when the Menhirrim arrive to fight him off.
-Up to tier 3.
-The tower unlocks by through spinning, like a giant tumbler. Up to a fourth and then fifth tier.
-I really like the cadence of this place. FF towers can get repetitive, and I don’t feel that way here.
-Stone #24, “A Potent Sting.” My first B-class mark. A wasp type.
-Rewarded with Moonblossom Seeds, and I reeeeally have to read component descriptions. These can be “sold at a premium.” How many like this have I used for minimal item experience instead of selling?
-I rarely use my resistance accessories (e.g. 30% daze resistance), but won’t sell them in case I eventually need them on specific bosses.
-Stuck on the fifth floor, so I loop down to the fourth and up to the sixth. But there was unexplored territory on five – gotta remember to check back there.
-#25, “Spectral Haunt.” A Vetala, a Cie’th with two brands.
-A centurion, “Tyrant,” sits there randomly.
It goes down quick since I get a pre-emptive strike – no way that was the “Tyrant” the Menhirrim warned me about. Still thinking that’s Dahaka.
-Stone #26, “So Shrill, the Cry.” One of those little penguin things stole the Menhirrim’s power.
-HOLY CRAP! I bought the 50k upgrade component from the R&D store. It gave Lightning’s Helter-skelter weapon 120k experience, raising it from level 30 to 46. That’s the way to go for gil.
-Clearing #26 got me rank of “Monumental Ally.”
-Dahaka swoops down once more. Two Menhirrim die protecting us, cutting more of his tail first.
-Elevator now takes us to the “Apex.” The tower’s broken in half though, so maybe this is just the half way point and we’ll have to climb down another 6 towers. (I kind of hope not.)
-Dahaka is up here. Only part of him – the Menhirrim cut off lots of his tail – but he’s still ready to fight.
-Slow, but hits very hard and debuffs us. Glad to have Lightning’s Esuna.
-Got him!
-The Menhirrim appears in front of us once more. “At last, we are free. We go now, to hunt down evil where it hides.”
Was Dahaka evil? I thought of him more as a wild beast protecting his lair. In any case, it sounds like we’ll see those Menhirrim down the line..
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Dust to Dust
-Oerba’s in view. Vanille and Fang have pleasant memories of it, but that was long ago.
All we can see is a bland, smoking crater. No choice but to press on and explore.
-The next mark is a regular Cie’th stone again. #27, “Mithridates, the Lone.” An Undying.
-I backtrack to the ground tier of the tower. Hm. He’s in the middle of the four Menhirrim statues. Can’t seem to reach him.
-The mission log says I have to descend from the apex. Currently I can only descend from the sixth floor. Maybe I have to find a new elevator to activate.
AHA! The Menhirrim at the tower’s top is now active. (He was dormant before the Dahaka fight.) He activates a side elevators that takes me down to tier 7, which fully repairs the central elevator.
-Back to the Apex, then down to the ground floor in one shot. It wakes Mithridates.
-The Undying design is so creepy. A very human face, and a twisted and animalistic body/wings. They strongly remind me of the Cenobites in the “Hellraiser” series.
-Got him! A toughie, who debuffed, evaded, and used big lightning attacks. Rank of Grudge Settler.
-No new Cie’th stones in sight, so time to progress. We hop an elevator that takes us all the way from the apex to the other side. No need to descend floor by floor.
-The “elevator” isn’t just an elevator.
It rolls along the sand or snow, whatever is in this new region.
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Next time: the Ashensand, towards Oerba.
