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On the Road Again
-Jehantel is back in the game, training new archers in the Gods’ Quiver (archer guild). He invites me over to meet Sanson, a captain in the Twin Adder (Gridania’s Grand Company). A lancer and believer in the power of music. He wants to create a new order that incorporates bards.
-Not much support. Few others believe in music, tactically speaking.
-Sanson heard of a legendary Ballad of Oblivion that can end a battle instantly. He intends to find it.
Sanson.
-The Gods’ Quiver will send a young bard in training to help Sanson in a quick trial, to prove he’s ready. An arrogant, cocky type named Guydelot.
PUKNO POKI (our moogle friend): “I was present when [Guydelot] said, ‘What a bloody bother! I hope they botch the trial!’” The higher-ups want the bard unit experiment to fail.
GUYDELOT: “I don’t care for fame and fortune, and I couldn’t give two farts about this Dirge of Deathlike Doomness you’re after.” LOLOL
-Guydelot has a reputation as a dick/troublemaker, but that’s not always a bad thing in a music student.
-He and Sanson are gonna be at odds through the whole questline, no doubt. Sanson, the straight-laced due, and Guydelot the rebel.
-We all head to Ishgard. This is basically gonna be like a wacky band tour movie, isn’t it?
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The Stiff and the Spent
-Lol. Instead of helping with the search, Guydelot has just been drinking and getting laid.
Even worse, he got jealous on hearing that a woman he slept with had a boyfriend with a better voice.
-I head out toe the plains where Guydelot confronts the lover. And… just passes on the news that the guy’s lover is pregnant? Guydelot’s helping him out!
And the knight helps us in turn. “I have heard rumors of a woman who sends souls unto the heavens with a song. Perhaps this is the song you seek?”
-Back to town. Sanson is still annoyed at Guydelot and Guydelot is still busting his chops. Odd couple situation.
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Requiem on Ice
-The investigation turns up the woman who sends souls to the heavens with a song. She’s a soldier named Celaine.
-She admitted to knowing the song but won’t teach us. Guydelot can’t seduce it out of her either.
-Still, her squad is about to go out and fight some dragons. We go join them (hoping she has to use the song).
-…she doesn’t use it. But her team suffered heavy casualties in the fight.
-WAIT, WHAT IF HER SONG ISN’T A DESTRUCTIVE SONG, BUT A REQUIEM LIKE YUNA’S SENDING?
Yup, that’s it.
“Rest now, O valiant souls.
Lay down your weary heads.
Go unto the bosom of the Fury.
In Whose exalted name you bled.”
No wonder she didn’t randomly want to sing it for us.
-An Ishgardian scholar named Sylviel taught her this requiem. Maybe he’ll know about the Ballad.
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When Gnaths Cry
-A Prince reference. Solid start to the next quest.
-Sylviel went out with a troop of soldiers from this garrison, and they’re in trouble. We go save them from the Gnath.
-Afterwards, Sylviel shares the legend of a Coerthan saint who could bring battle to a close with a song.
They keep using that phrase, about ending a battle. Not defeating an enemy necessarily. I feel like this is gonna be close to FFVIII’s “The End” ability, that gave the enemy a happy ending to win the fight.
-Guydelot wants to give up and go home. Sanson acknowledges that he can do so, but that’s EXACTLY what the archery higher-ups were hoping for. They want to get rid of Guydelot, prove him a worthless deserter.
It’s kind of sweet that on top of the mission, Sanson legit cares about that not happening to Guydelot.
SANSON: “It isn’t so different for me! I was a thorn in their side, demanding cooperation when they were loath to give it! They were pleased to be rid of me as well, yet naught would please them more than for us to come back empty-handed. That is why we must find the Ballad of Oblivion.”
-This doesn’t sway Guydelot. He sees Sanson’s search for the ballad as insincere, a means to the end of personal advancement within the guild rather than a true desire for such a powerful piece of music.
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The Saint of Song
-Sylviel thinks “the heavens” refers to a voice from the sky. A metaphor for thunder and lightning? Or something more literal?
-Ah, Sanson thinks it refers to the high-altitude-dwelling Moogles. Make sense, with their love of song.
-Guydelot hasn’t fully left. He’s being a bit tsundere, just hanging out from afar, following us without letting Sanson know he’s still interested and involved.
-We head to Moghome, the… well, the home of the moogles. Chief Moglin knows of the song.
“It’s a terrible, terrible song, forbidden amongst mooglekind.”
-He tells of one young moogle who sought after it, Mogta. He’ll help us out.
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The Ballad of Oblivion
-I talk to Guydelot, sharing from Sanson’s journal how deeply and TRULY he believes in song.
-Guydelot is ashamed for ribbing Sanson about it. He leaves to do some soul-searching.
-I regroup with Sanson and we head to an island in the Sea of Clouds. This seems likely to be the final battle for the Song of Oblivion.
-There’s a stone here that looks sorta like a grumpy frog.
Sanson moves to touch it… and Mogta freaks out. He knows this as a “sealing stone.”
-A siren named Ligeia erupts out of the stone.
I love XIV’s sirens for their birdlike look. She begins to sing.
“The long cold night is ended, banished by the hand of a fool.
Your dreams are mine to see, and your heart is mine to rule.”
I sing a song of love, and such love I bear for you.
With all my heart I give it, and know my heart is true.
As I once loved the creatures who upon this land did dwell.
But they cast aside my love, so I sent them all to hell.”
-I’m not sure what to make of this song. She loved the inhabitants of this land. They shunned her, and she wreaked destruction. Perhaps she’s talking about the moogles.
-This song she’s begun is the actual Ballad of Oblivion! It’s the thing that destroyed an entire moogle tribe.
-WOOOHOOO GUYDELOT TO SAVE THE DAY! He interrupts her ballad with a light tune of his own.
GUYDELOT to Sanson: “Prick up your ears, because I’m not going to say this again: it’s the fervent desire to aid our comrades that bestows our songs with power.”
-Here we go. A quartet for the final battle. Sanson, Guydelot, Mogta, and Ququshu vs. the siren.
-Got her! Not a tough fight, though I’m probably a bit overgeared.
-So Sanson didn’t get the Song of Oblivion, but hopefully the progress I made as a bard on our journey will be enough for his superiors to start a bard corps.
-I imagine we’ll see the continuation of this story in the 60-70 quests, but that’s it for now. Not bad! A nice, tight story centered on the dynamic of Sanson and Guydelot.
Ququshu’s level 60 bard gear.
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Random Stuff Around Eorzea
-Notable names:
Popoto Masher
Toast Bits
Mew Purr (a miqo’te, of course)
Rand Al-thor
Ma’ Petite
Rebel Bulbasar
Acorn Junkie
A set of “Primogs”:
A sweet bard hat I got from Amon, the flamboyant FF3 boss in Syrcus Tower:
Bridesmoogle minion:
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Next time: the level 60-70 bard quests.
