Summary: Qitana Ravel. Night returns to the Greatwood. The history of the Ascians. A glimpse of Garlemald.
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The Burden of Knowledge
-The newly flowing magic opens the Qitana Ravel, the way to Rak’tika Falls and the Lightwarden.
-Y’shtola promises Runar to return with a long-awaited gift for the Blessed. (Implied: the night itself.)
-Into the Qitana Ravel with trust NPCs. I recorded my run and clipped it into a 13 minute abridged vid.
-That was SO COOL! A few favorite parts:
-The whole “ancient temple” vibe and environment, leading to a final section in the open air.
-The bat puns. Acro Bats and the boss Batsquatch. XD
-Eros was my least favorite of the Lightwarden bosses thus far. (My ranking is Titania > Philia > Eros.) It was a neat mirror of Cerberus in the World of Darkness Raid, and the mechanics were great, but it felt the most like a generic big beasty.
That’s a high bar though. Philia had that fleshy cenobite horror thing going and Titania had literally everything going.
This is purely a personal flavor issue. And even THEN I like its design! Like so much Ronkan stuff, Eros seemed to draw on Aztec imagery and mythology. I know nothing about the culture or what counts as respectful use, but I personally enjoyed the feather and animal and mask motifs.
-As with the other Lightwardens, the light seeps into me. How much of this can I really take?
-The light cover dissipates over Rak’tika. Night falls.
Y’SHTOLA to URIANGER: “Though she shows no immediate signs of corruption, the danger remains. She must be told.”
-She then looks happily up at the night sky.
“Would you describe it to me, Urianger? Paint me a picture with your words.”
…wait, is Y’shtola blind? I had no idea (or forgot). I knew she could see people’s aether, but I thought that was just a supplement to regular vision.
[Later edit: I now think she can see but was just taking in the situation with the poetic Urianger, but idk. What do y’all think?]
-We depart back through the place. There are murals that predate the Ronkan Empire. They seem to depict first a strong being of darkness, then dark fighting light, then the light being stomping the dark.
-Emet-Selch meets us in the caves. He stares me down, pleased with things.
Y’SHTOLA: “You’re plotting something.”
EMET-SELCH: “Every hour of every day, but never you mind about that.”
Personally, I think he’s trying to turn me into a replacement Lightwarden. Helping me along in the hopes that I can gather the light quickly and burst, ending the First same as if I never came.
-He turns and sees the murals. Even gets emotional. They depict the sundering, how the world was split.
“And the worst part? No one could remember it. Not really. Just fragments and fleeting memories of an achingly familiar world. A vision shared of a paradise lost, preserved only in song and scripture and paint.”
Emet-Selch tells his story.
-Before the sundering was a world of peace and prosperity. Then it was faced with a crisis.
(He leaves the nature of this crisis out.)
“Through prayer and sacrifice, the will of the star was made manifest. Zodiark was His name, and by His grace was the calamity averted.”
So a happy world faced a crisis, people prayed for salvation, and Zodiark obliged.
-Some weren’t so happy with this. Their prayers brought forth Hydaelyn who shackled Zodiark.
Again, Emet-Selch is light on details. Doesn’t say what it was about Zodiark that so many people despised to the point that they prayed for a savior FROM Zodiark.
Hydaelyn defeated Zodiark, hitting him with a blow that split reality. Zodiark was banish, divided.
-That’s Emet-Selch’s side of things. “Though I imagine your Mother would offer a rather contradictory account. As is her wont.”
I actually believe him here, although I’m certain it’s an incomplete story.
-It hits Thancred that Emet-Selch isn’t describing Hydaelyn and Zodiark as gods.
EMET-SELCH: “[They are] the eldest and most powerful… of primals.”
This would be a jaw-dropping moment for me if the FUCKING TRAILER HADN’T SPOILED IT. I get showing off new races and jobs and zone, but why spoil such a big mid-expansion reveal?
-Y’shtola asks a great question: what’s the role of the Ascians in all this? How do they know all this?
“We Ascians know because it is our history. Our story.” Are they the themselves the shards of Zodiark?
Close. They were the ones who summoned Zodiark. They actually LIVED in the pre-sundering paradise he described. That’s why they want the rejoining.
“For our world. For our people. Wouldn’t you wish the same?”
I don’t think he’s lying about the Ascians as the original residents of paradise on Team Zodiark, looking to revive that past.
-But what happened to those who summoned Hydaelyn?
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Bearing With It
-The Viis of Fanow are delighted that their long watch has borne fruit.
-In Slitherbough, the Blessed are in good shape. Eulmore fled with the night’s return, and the Children of Everlasting Dark returned to their home.
-Ardbert watches this with a smile.
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Out of the Wood
-Y’shtola pulls me aside and shares Urianger’s theory: the Light of each dead Warden increases my risk.
“If you begin to feel anything strange – anything at all – pray inform me at once.” Chekhov’s Light.
-Team Scion leaves Rak’tika, and everyone regroups in the Crystarium.
-The Exarch is weary. His time away from the Crystal Tower saps him. He seems tied here magically.
-I need to rest too. Ardbert awaits in my room.
-He’s worried about the whole building Light thing. Idk what to do other than keep going.
-Emet’s talk of Hydaelyn as a primal hit Ardbert hard.
“What would that make her ‘blessing?’ Are we just slaves to Her will?” I doubt it. Our relationship feels significantly different than, say, the tempered to Shiva or Ravana.
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Meanwhile, in Garlemald…
-Estinien and Gaius meet, discussing the. It’s at a stalemate.
-At least, for now. Neither side has gone full bore. The Empire hasn’t used Black Rose. (Pretty sure they’re waiting for the First to fall.)
-An imperial general recently disappeared. Seems like a new Ascian will take their face.
GAIUS: “Elidibus plainly has no need of a new how [since he’s Zenos], so the question becomes, who?”
Will Emet-Selch take a new face? Or is it another Ascian?
OH WAIT, wasn’t there the dude who stole a gyrocopter at the end of Stormblood? I’ll bet that’s it.
-They depart, and the camera pans to a bored “Katana-bearing Centurion” watching.
“There is but one hand that can make me whole again. My enemy… my friend…” This must be the new/old Ascian. Still dunno who it is. Some past raid boss? Someone from pre-ARR?
He talks about “Father not recognizing him” so I’m gonna guess someone from pre-ARR. Maybe the dude we saw in flashbacks back in the Alexander raid.
-IT’S SO COOL THAT WE’RE SEEING GARLEMALD! I hope we go there this expansion.
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Next time: Probably start working on the Lightwardens of Kholusia or Amh Araeng.
Y’Shtola is blind ever since the first time she used Flow (which is also what caused Thancred to lose magic). Matoya scolded her about this in Heavensward (and also warned her that relying on aether-vision has limitations and possibly other detrimental effects, including shortened lifespan).
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