Summary: The strange and often hostile romance of Curious Gorge and Dorgono. Ringing in the year of the pig.
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Curious Gorge Meets His Match
-Curious Gorge and his brother, Broken Mountain, have been training hard with the new contingent of Lominsan warrior. They invite me to skirmish.
-One of the skirmishers is a badly-masked Wyrnzoen, my first marauder trainer. That feels so long ago.
-Another skirmisher though is an Au’Ra woman named Dorgono. She roars with rage in defeat, showing her inner beast. She even bashes Curious Gorge into the distance.
LOLOL HE IMMEDIATLEY FALLS FOR THIS RAMPAGING AU’RA
-My fight to quell Dorgono’s inner beast is legit tough. Not sure how to dodge the fire she tosses out.
-She’s from the Azim Steppe. Some of her people can use the inner beast too, though they call it “the will of Karash.”
DORGONO: “We are the Taken, cursed with an insatiable thirst for violence.”
-She’s excited to hear that it’s even possible to control this. Her village exiled the Taken.
New trainee! The 50-60 dragoon and red mage quests used the “new trainee” thing too iirc
-Curious doesn’t feel himself a fit teacher since she defeated him. He leaves. See ya. I’m okay with this, since we’ve spent a lot of time on Curious Gorge losing his groove and getting it back already.
-Broken Mountain and I will train Dorgono.
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Field Training
-Curious has lost touch with his inner beast since encountering Dorgono.
-Meanwhile, Dorgono has been undergoing basic training herself to help control her inner beast.I join her in a fight against some beastmen.
-She isn’t overcome by the beast, but only because she wasn’t pushing herself. Curious Gorge came out of NOWHERE to tell her this. He was watching.
CURIOUS GORGE: “I couldn’t help but notice your form, Dorgono. Your battle form, that is.” Love blooms.
-She snaps back furiously at Curious, angry at his reasonable (if creepy?) observation.
I’ve seen enough fiction to know there’s a 99% chance that this anger will turn to love by level 70.
I kind of hope it doesn’t go there. It’d be a nice subversion if she rejected Curious and he just had to deal.
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When Push Comes to Shove
-The Mamool Ja strike back. Our task force – warrior trainees plus Dorgono, led by Broken Mountain – re-enters the fray.
-And of course, Curious joins in his weird antagonistic crush, to prove himself.
-Combat gets dicey… and her inner beast comes out. Rematch time?
-lol never mind! She masters it on her own. No fight with me needed. Brava, Dorgono!
”I-I did it! I’ve suppressed the will of Karash!”
---
Curious Gorge Meets His Match
-Curious Gorge and his brother, Broken Mountain, have been training hard with the new contingent of Lominsan warrior. They invite me to skirmish.
-One of the skirmishers is a badly-masked Wyrnzoen, my first marauder trainer. That feels so long ago.
-Another skirmisher though is an Au’Ra woman named Dorgono. She roars with rage in defeat, showing her inner beast. She even bashes Curious Gorge into the distance.
LOLOL HE IMMEDIATLEY FALLS FOR THIS RAMPAGING AU’RA
-My fight to quell Dorgono’s inner beast is legit tough. Not sure how to dodge the fire she tosses out.
-She’s from the Azim Steppe. Some of her people can use the inner beast too, though they call it “the will of Karash.”
DORGONO: “We are the Taken, cursed with an insatiable thirst for violence.”
-She’s excited to hear that it’s even possible to control this. Her village exiled the Taken.
New trainee! The 50-60 dragoon and red mage quests used the “new trainee” thing too iirc
-Curious doesn’t feel himself a fit teacher since she defeated him. He leaves. See ya. I’m okay with this, since we’ve spent a lot of time on Curious Gorge losing his groove and getting it back already.
-Broken Mountain and I will train Dorgono.
---
Field Training
-Curious has lost touch with his inner beast since encountering Dorgono.
-Meanwhile, Dorgono has been undergoing basic training herself to help control her inner beast.I join her in a fight against some beastmen.
-She isn’t overcome by the beast, but only because she wasn’t pushing herself. Curious Gorge came out of NOWHERE to tell her this. He was watching.
CURIOUS GORGE: “I couldn’t help but notice your form, Dorgono. Your battle form, that is.” Love blooms.
-She snaps back furiously at Curious, angry at his reasonable (if creepy?) observation.
I’ve seen enough fiction to know there’s a 99% chance that this anger will turn to love by level 70.
I kind of hope it doesn’t go there. It’d be a nice subversion if she rejected Curious and he just had to deal.
---
When Push Comes to Shove
-The Mamool Ja strike back. Our task force – warrior trainees plus Dorgono, led by Broken Mountain – re-enters the fray.
-And of course, Curious joins in his weird antagonistic crush, to prove himself.
-Combat gets dicey… and her inner beast comes out. Rematch time?
-lol never mind! She masters it on her own. No fight with me needed. Brava, Dorgono!
”I-I did it! I’ve suppressed the will of Karash!”
-She feels ready to head home. Wants me to even join her in the Azim Steppe, join her clan.
PLEASE LET ME SAY YES
-No luck. We see her off at the port. Hope all goes well for her back in the Steppe. Curious is nowhere to be seen.
-Broken Mountain spells out his brother’s current issue. Curious only ever loved fighting. He doesn’t know how to deal with these new feelings, couple with having lost to her and partly hating her. He lost his access to the inner beast.
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Going the Distance
-Does Curious Gorge sit back and deal with the absence of his crush calmly and measuredly? No. He takes a ship to the Far East to find Dorgono. I follow.
-Dorgono’s village in the Azim Steppe has been attacked.
It was those like her, those exiled with the will of Karash/inner beast.
That group of exiles formed their own clan, the Chaghan. They see the will of Karash as a blessing and embrace the inner beast in all its destructiveness, not even trying to master it.
-lol she keeps dismissing Curious’ attempts to help as the wrigglings of a lowly worm. This only pushes his urge to prove himself.
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The Heart of the Problem
-Curious’ travel here has shown him a world he never expected or knew. A beauty beyond simple strength and slashing. So much of his time has been spent simply fighting and wrestling with himself, and now he’s trying to build a connection outside of that context.
CURIOUS: “I love her, Ququshu. From the moment I laid eyes on her, she had holmganged my heart.”
Hee! “Holmgang” is a warrior ability that pulls the target near you and roots both parties in place.
-He concludes that the only way to regain his inner beast is to confess his love, rid himself of doubts.
-I like this, but again, I hope the game focuses on his feelings and how he deals with them. He doesn’t need Dorgono to reciprocate for Curious to grow.
-We meet up with Dorgono to fight the Chaghan, and Curious immediately tries to confess his love.
BAD TIMING DUDE! Dorgono is dealing with her village’s destruction, her own exile, and combat for her life and honor. I seriously doubt she’s got time here.
-And RIGHT NOW, before the battle, Curious blurts out his love. Loudly. With enemy combatants nearby.
”What are you doing, you witless worm? Keep your voice down!”
They hear and charge, all in the throes of their inner beasts.
-They look fucking cool!
-Their leader is especially tough. It takes the combined strength of Dorgono and Curious Gorge to bring him down.
It’s hilarious how this combined strength manifests. Each of them channels their energy together. Dorgono’s manifests as balls of fire. Curious’ manifests as little pink and red hearts. XD
-Victory! Dorgono has gained some real respect for him.
PLEASE LET ME SAY YES
-No luck. We see her off at the port. Hope all goes well for her back in the Steppe. Curious is nowhere to be seen.
-Broken Mountain spells out his brother’s current issue. Curious only ever loved fighting. He doesn’t know how to deal with these new feelings, couple with having lost to her and partly hating her. He lost his access to the inner beast.
---
Going the Distance
-Does Curious Gorge sit back and deal with the absence of his crush calmly and measuredly? No. He takes a ship to the Far East to find Dorgono. I follow.
-Dorgono’s village in the Azim Steppe has been attacked.
It was those like her, those exiled with the will of Karash/inner beast.
That group of exiles formed their own clan, the Chaghan. They see the will of Karash as a blessing and embrace the inner beast in all its destructiveness, not even trying to master it.
-lol she keeps dismissing Curious’ attempts to help as the wrigglings of a lowly worm. This only pushes his urge to prove himself.
---
The Heart of the Problem
-Curious’ travel here has shown him a world he never expected or knew. A beauty beyond simple strength and slashing. So much of his time has been spent simply fighting and wrestling with himself, and now he’s trying to build a connection outside of that context.
CURIOUS: “I love her, Ququshu. From the moment I laid eyes on her, she had holmganged my heart.”
Hee! “Holmgang” is a warrior ability that pulls the target near you and roots both parties in place.
-He concludes that the only way to regain his inner beast is to confess his love, rid himself of doubts.
-I like this, but again, I hope the game focuses on his feelings and how he deals with them. He doesn’t need Dorgono to reciprocate for Curious to grow.
-We meet up with Dorgono to fight the Chaghan, and Curious immediately tries to confess his love.
BAD TIMING DUDE! Dorgono is dealing with her village’s destruction, her own exile, and combat for her life and honor. I seriously doubt she’s got time here.
-And RIGHT NOW, before the battle, Curious blurts out his love. Loudly. With enemy combatants nearby.
”What are you doing, you witless worm? Keep your voice down!”
They hear and charge, all in the throes of their inner beasts.
-They look fucking cool!
-Their leader is especially tough. It takes the combined strength of Dorgono and Curious Gorge to bring him down.
It’s hilarious how this combined strength manifests. Each of them channels their energy together. Dorgono’s manifests as balls of fire. Curious’ manifests as little pink and red hearts. XD
-Victory! Dorgono has gained some real respect for him.
-Ruh oh. The fight brought out Curious’ inner beast.
LOLOL AND NOW, MIRRORING THE FIRST MEETING, SHE SEES LITTLE PINK SPARKLIES AROUND HIS RAGING INNER BEAST SELF
-She roars out her own love for him. His inner beast chills out. Okay, I like this.
I still would’ve preferred this to end with rejection, but this is okay too. Isn’t there a trope in old theater that comedies end in marriage? This quest was definitely a comedy.
-She thinks now she’ll be allowed back to her old clan, the Qerel. Even invites him to join her.
-Curious says no. He needs to train more to master his inner beast. BOOOO, train with her! You just saw Dorgono – can you imagine anyone better suited to helping raise your game?
-They part ways amicably. I’m very optimistic we’ll get more Dorgono in the 70-80 quests next expansion.
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So that’s it! A solid ending to the warrior questline. As I wrote often, I’m delighted we continued with Curious Gorge. Didn’t like every single beat in the story, but that’s a ridiculously high bar. I loved the comedy, LOVED Dorgono.
The only real negative for me is that they went back to the well of Curious Gorge losing his mojo a few too many times.
Level 70 warrior Ququshu.
Mechanically, this was my first tank. I grew to enjoy it way more than I expected in group settings. Pulling aggro in this game and keeping it is pretty easy. The biggest challenge is that tanks are expected to be the leaders. My successful strategy was to tell everyone at the start of a dungeon I didn’t know well that I’m new, and to let me know if they had any suggestions.
it worked wonders. It eased my own nerves, set low expectations, and people were universally chill. Literally zero group members I tanked for were annoyed or angry or rude, even when I fucked up.
LOLOL AND NOW, MIRRORING THE FIRST MEETING, SHE SEES LITTLE PINK SPARKLIES AROUND HIS RAGING INNER BEAST SELF
-She roars out her own love for him. His inner beast chills out. Okay, I like this.
I still would’ve preferred this to end with rejection, but this is okay too. Isn’t there a trope in old theater that comedies end in marriage? This quest was definitely a comedy.
-She thinks now she’ll be allowed back to her old clan, the Qerel. Even invites him to join her.
-Curious says no. He needs to train more to master his inner beast. BOOOO, train with her! You just saw Dorgono – can you imagine anyone better suited to helping raise your game?
-They part ways amicably. I’m very optimistic we’ll get more Dorgono in the 70-80 quests next expansion.
---
So that’s it! A solid ending to the warrior questline. As I wrote often, I’m delighted we continued with Curious Gorge. Didn’t like every single beat in the story, but that’s a ridiculously high bar. I loved the comedy, LOVED Dorgono.
The only real negative for me is that they went back to the well of Curious Gorge losing his mojo a few too many times.
Level 70 warrior Ququshu.
Mechanically, this was my first tank. I grew to enjoy it way more than I expected in group settings. Pulling aggro in this game and keeping it is pretty easy. The biggest challenge is that tanks are expected to be the leaders. My successful strategy was to tell everyone at the start of a dungeon I didn’t know well that I’m new, and to let me know if they had any suggestions.
it worked wonders. It eased my own nerves, set low expectations, and people were universally chill. Literally zero group members I tanked for were annoyed or angry or rude, even when I fucked up.
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Hogging the Spotlight (Chinese New Year’s Seasonal Event)
-Time for Heavensturn, the New Year’s event. I think it’s related to the Chinese New Year, or whatever similar system is used in Japan. Year of the boar.
-The questgiver is the inoshishi bugyo. He was here last year too.
-He and his group are from “the Far East,” where totem animals herald the coming year. He’s pumped for the year of the boar, “this most majestic and jovial of creatures.”
Are they? I heard they’re kind of deadly and gruff.
-My job is to prep some mochi and help spread the word.
-Some troublemaker spread rumors that the celebration’s cancelled. What boar-hater is this?
-oh my GOD this is amazing – the culprit is someone who wants it to be the Year of the Cat.
LOOKIT HIS HAT!
-There is no Year of the Cat, and the guy is pissed. I don’t blame him at all. He’s the “neko bugyo.”
I’m so sorry, friend. Cats forever.
Most relatable villain ever.
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Random Stuff Around Eorzea
A carbuncle superfan:
An FFXI superfan:
Cupcake Bandit:
My friend in her amazing vanu vanu beast tribe gear:
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Next time in XIV: back to my main job, the red mage, to gear up for and start the patch 4.5 content and raids.
