Note: I played these sessions way back in mid-2017. I'm collecting and re-posting in advance of my upcoming 50-70 black mage quests.
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Taking the Black [from Part 8]
-An Ul’dah prisoner claims to be a black mage, and that the god Nal’dthal demands I, Ququshu, obtain a Gem of Shatotto (hi FFXI!). Interestingly, the thaumaturges think black mages are long extinct.
-I go to the “testing site” and kill some dark magic beasts spilling out of a portal. A friendly Amal’jaa sees this, judges me worthy, and gives me the Gem of Shatotto.
-The thaumaturges react with shock. The Gem is legendary, only granted to those blessed by Nald’thal.
-AND THEN BLACK MAGES APPROACH HOLY! They look classically black magey, like Vivi.
-Ququruka is the master, Lalai the student. Ququruka claims Nald’thal declared to him that the “seal on the voidgate will be broken.” The bearer of the Gem of Shatotto can close it.
-A nearby thaumaturge hears this and interprets it as blasphemous somehow. I don’t quite understand the relationship between thaumaturgy and black magic, but it’s clearly hostile.
-This Gem of Shatotto is the first key required to seal the voidgate. Whatever that means.
QUQURUKA: “You have taken the black, but time is needed before the black takes you – before it permeates mind and body, and colors every fiber of your being dark as pitch.”
EEEE!!! I’M NOW A BLACK MAGE. My next class quest will be a job quest at level 35 for Black Mage.
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You Never Go Back [from Part 9]
-I’m ready to start the path they talked about in the job intro quest, to find the keys to seal the voidgate. Whatever tf that means.
-I head into the desert and find a void portal. Killed some imps that spawned from it, poured ritual blood into the portal, and it disappeared.
-And… that’s it. Not quite the flavor and story I got in the thaumaturge quest line, but it’s still early.
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International Relations [from Part 9]
-This hidden Ul’dah library, the Sacrarium, holds black mage secrets.
-Ququruka is the master black mage, with his apprentice Lalai the questgiver here. He learned over a hundred years ago (wow – old!) that the black mages were entrusted with sealing the voidgate.
“Of the disappearance of the black mages from Eorzea, Master says only: ‘We must not repeat the errors of the past.’”
-There are three souls, three keepers, that will help me. The first is Kazagg Chah, the Amal’jaa. I remember him from the first black mage quest.
-I meet this trio. Kazagg Chah, Dozol Meloc, and 269th Order Mendicant Da Za. Three beastmen – respectively, an Amal’jaa (lizard-man), Ixal (bird-man), and a kobold.
My favorite is Dozol Meloc, the walking Pride flag.
-Yet again, I have to find these black holes popping up around the world, kill the voidspawned monsters that spill out, and pour voidsent blood into the hole to shut it.
Still not quite sure why I’m doing this. Something about strengthening my connection with black magic.
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The Voidgate Breathes Gloomy [from Part 11]
-Level 45 quest time. The Beastman Trio tells me that the voidgate seeks to corrupt black magic.
-The next voidgate key is a secret spell ciphered by an ancient black mage.
-The quest itself is the most challenging I’ve faced in XIV. A slew of void portals open up. I kill as many as I can, and those remaining after a short amount of time spawn enemies, usually a few at a time. Thank Nald’thal for Sleep to control them.
This repeats a number of times. The waves are relentless, and if I didn’t have sleep I’d be overwhelmed.
-Woohoo! The quest reward upgraded my thunder ability.
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The Blood Must Flow [from Part 11]
-The Beastman Trio is convinced that I’m a legendary, prophesied black mage. *flexes casually*
-Words on the Gem of Shatotto (the black mage gem) now appear. Like the One Ring in fire.
“Know thee, brave keeper of Shatotto’s light,
As these very words wax plain to thy sight,
The seal what was cast doth shudder and sigh,
And the voidgate’s dread sundering draws nigh.
“To ward against the creeping of the Gloom,
Thou needest great garb to stay any doom,
To this sacred wear thy thoughts now must tend,
Unto thy black command darkness shall bend.”
-Before I close the voidgate, I have to find and don sacred black mage garb. I’ll have to pour blood into three void portals to procure it.
-All three of the Beastman trio offer their blood to me for this ritual. Ququshu approves.
-The resultant gear is pretty sweet. All black classic mage hat, pants, a mask. All but a robe.
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Always Bet on Black [from Part 13]
-The time to close the voidgate draws nigh, but I’m short on details. Time to see the black mage prophet who started me on this path, Ququruka.
-He’s not around? Oh shit, he was conning us the whole time!
-After he disappeared, Lalai searched his chambers and found that he was actually the greatest criminal in his day. 100 years ago, he conspired with Beastmen to summon some apocalyptic monster, Barbatos. The Order of Nald’thal stopped him and closed the Voidgate before Barbatos could emerge.
Ququruka claimed to be a black mage prophet of Nald’thal, but no. He tricked his way out of what was intended to be eternal prison and wants to open the Voidgate once more.
LALAI: “Four is the answer. Four spells of black. Four artifacts of eld. The blood of four races. By four alone shall the true power of destruction be woken from the voidgate.” All these things I’ve been working on – the blood, the spells, the artifacts – all were designed to OPEN the Voidgate.
-The Beastman Trio and I head to Southern Thanalan to stop Ququruka. Hopefully it’s not too late.
-His summoning is underway. He calls forth a titanic demon. Barbatos.
-WHEW – that was an AWESOME fight! I had to take on both Barbatos and hordes of voidspawn from the gates that opened up in the area. Lots of area damage, target-swapping, crowd-control, the works.
-The defeated Ququruka looks at us. He’s familiar with the Beastman trio, with their ancestors.
QUQURUKA: “And the black mage Ququshu. Splendidly done. Few could have vanquished Barbatos as you have.”
….wtf is going on. Is Ququruka doing a face-turn? Is he a good guy? He’s happy we stopped Barbatos.
-In his youth, Ququruka studied the arcane and uncovered black magic. It intrigued him, that something so powerful was left alone.
He met the ancestors of the Beastman trio. They accelerated his studies. They helped him gather relic garb, the Gem of Shatotto, the magic.
-Together, they uncovered a ritual they hoped would restore black magic. It did got go as planned.
“Our command over the ancient powers we summoned was lost. I watched as the chaotic aether washed over my friends, ripping them apart, only to fuse them together into an… abomination.”
The dude we just vanquished, a.k.a. Barbatos, a.k.a. all of the Beastman Trio’s ancestors stiched together.
JESUS. BARBATOS WASN’T SOME RANDOM DEMON – HE WAS THE HORRIFYING RESULT OF QUQURUKA’S RITUAL, AN AMALGAMATION FUSED OF THE BEASTMAN TRIO’S ANCESTORS
-Ququruka sealed Barbatos away. He was afraid he’d been corrupted, and manufactured the whole “I summoned ancient horrors, lock me away” story so that the Order of Nald’Thal would imprison him.
Until me. He taught me black magic in order to redeem his mistakes. We’ve dealt with the voidgate now, and put his old friends to rest.
-Ququruka is dying. He sees me as a successor in keeping black magic safe.
"My time to join Thal… has come. May He greet me as a friend.”
He vanishes in a puff of void magic. RIP Ququruka.
-The Beastman Trio and I regroup. There’s a sense of both sadness and satisfaction. The Beastmen Trio carried out the legacy of their ancestors well, and in doing so saved those same ancestors.
-I’ve taken the black fully and been taken in turn. I unlock the (as-of-pre-expansion FFXIV) ultimate black magic: Flare.
I immediately went back to a starting zone and tested Flare.
Casting Flare on a poor, defenseless level one marmot. FOR SCIENCE!
Ququshu strutting around in her new black mage garb.
-And that’s the base game’s black mage storyline. A message tells me the story continues when I get the first expansion.
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Next time: onto the actual new stuff I’ve done, the 50-60 black mage storyline.
