Summary: Mt. Gulg and Lord Vauthry. The final Lightwarden. The Crystal Exarch uncloaked, along with Emet-Selch’s plans.
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Extinguishing the Last Light
-The time has come to empower the giant Talos, grab onto the floating Mt. Gulg, and deal with Vauthry.
-OKAY THIS IS FLIPPING COOL! Its scale is reminiscent of XIII’s Titan.
-Sin eaters start attacking it. Gotta draw their fire somehow.
WAIT NO WE DON’T CAUSE HERE COMES TITANIA, KING OF THE FAERIES
TITANIA: “Yes, yes, we may also have said that we fae folk have no interest in the struggles of men – but if our adorable sapling had come crying to us for help, we would of course have flown to her aid! Of course we would! What are we to do with her?” ILU SO MUCH
Just like when they were Feo Ul/pre-Titania, they’re SO ANNOYED that I didn’t reach out for help.
“We are so very, very sad. You will play with us. Cheer us up again!”
An army of sin eaters is but a candle in the wind compared to the power of a bored faerie.
-The Talos grabs onto Mt. Gulg successfully. We have our bridge.
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Mt. Gulg (dungeon)
-Going in with Thancred tanking, Alphinaud healing, and Ryne helping me on DPS.
-What a great dungeon! There were two mechanics I couldn’t understand while in the dungeon, but rewatching cleared things up:
1) The Ozma-style block boss: when it put out four orbs with overlapping danger zones, I now realize that I ALSO had to watch where its faces were. The corresponding squares did damage.
2) The final boss had some donut/ring area effect zones. One reliable safe zone was right outside her hit box, while the other was hard to tell.
-Huh. The final boss wasn’t Vauthry or a Lightwarden.
-Vauthry babbles about us dooming ourselves to struggle. Peace only comes through following him, etc.
-Alphinaud’s given up hope of a redemption arc for Vauthry. Me too.
-As Ryne rebuts, we get a nice image of all the assembled peoples of the First below.
None of whom wants to follow Vauthry.
-A swarm of sin eaters gathers around us.
VAUTHRY: “I am the zenith of man kind and sin eater both, chosen to rule over creation by right of transcendence! My very existence is virtuous! I am perfect! Immaculate!”
-The rest of the party “distracts” the sin eaters. I’ll head to Vauthry.
AH! He’s a trial.
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Crown of the Immaculate (Lord Vauthry trial)
-WOOHOO!! Innocence goes down. I didn’t find him as tough a fight as Titania. Simpler, too.
-I don’t know what to say about that phase transition. Seeing Vauthry transform from the man he was into that knight-pop idol-thing was… unexpected lol.
I wonder if the Lightwarden within him was represented by that armpit baby face.
-I’m really nervous now, getting ready to take in Innocence’s light. ALL Lightwarden essences will be in Ququshu. Something awful is about to happen.
-Innocence is still somehow alive.
“Why am I cast down… when it is you whoa re the villains? Father told me… that I am hope. I am righteousness. That I am… a god…”
That brings up a good question. How did he get his powers? How did he get control over the sin eaters? His father told him?
“That is why I was born… as man and sin eater both…” UHHHHH WHAT
-Innocence fades and I absorb his light.
-Night falls over Kholusia… but a pulsing pounds in my head.
-Echo flashback. A memory of Eulmore’s Former Mayor dealing with civil unrest.
-Then a voice chimes in, egging him on: “To be subjected to such deplorable treatment… Such ingratitude!” I’d know that voice anywhere. Emet-Selch.
-He offers his “help” to the former mayor. Emet will imbue his son (currently in utero) with a Lightwarden’s essence. It’ll bring a peace to the city and give the mayor’s family enormous power.
Jesus. This was basically cause the former mayor was afraid of losing his office.
-Flash forward, to baby Vauthry. The lion sin eater is lying tame in the throne room, subservient already.
-Back to the present. White clouds Ququshu’s vision. She can’t contain it, and the sky reverts.
-The Crystal Exarch approaches. Is it time for you to reveal your plans?
CRYSTAL EXARCH: “The combined essence of every Lightwarden is too much for any one soul to bear. And so I shall relieve you of it!”
THEN HE SMILES WTFFF. HEEL TURN??
-He begins draining the Light from Ququshu.
“I will channel this profusion of power to the Crystal Tower and use it to travel to other world. As I have dreamed of doing ever since I first learned of their existence. Who would choose to remain here, in this dying realm, when they might go elsewhere and begin anew?
“Not I. And thus… thus did I use you!”
-So he’s not an Ascian at least. He was born in the First.
-The gathered Scions start to get angry, but Urianger holds them back. What do you know?
-Y’shtola pieces it together. Apparently, the Exarch’s professed plan – use the Light to travel to another world – is bound to end in death. He’ll end up just in the vacuum of space. Does he want that?
Y’SHTOLA: “He means to take the Light with him into the rift… where he will die.” A sacrifice, then. Not a heel turn.
-His hood blasts back. A red-headed Miqo’te appears.
YUP IT’S THE GUY FROM THE CRYSTAL TOWER RAID BACK IN ARR, G’RAHA TIA
[Later edit: We last saw him in part 109, about one calendar year ago. It was the conclusion of the World of Darkness raid. He locked himself in the Crystal Tower, his power over it rediscovered.
http://coldrungaming.blogspot.com/2018/09/ffxiv-p...
In that post, I wrote: “The tower doors slam shut. See ya. I wonder if G’raha will return in a future XIV expansion.” That answer turned out to be yes.
Which I REALLY LIKE. Bad twists feel like they came out of nowhere. Good twists aren’t obvious, but there are enough clues that you can piece the puzzle together yourself and feel good when you got it right.]
-Good Guy G’raha. Farewell.
WAIT NEVER MIND LOLOL, EMET SELCH SHOOTS HIM IN THE BACK WITH A FRIGGING GUN
I did NOT see that coming.
EMET: “Alas, it is not your grand scheme that will succeed, but ours.”
-This is really interesting. Emet-Selch wasn’t playing us, not exactly. He’s DISAPPOINTED. He thought I could contain all the Light, and I clearly can’t.
“You are unworthy of my patronage.”
-100 years ago, he entrusted the Ascian Loghrif here with increasing Light’s sway over the world by manipulating heroes. It failed, and so he created Vauthry. That plan fell through too.
-He’s been helping us to see whether mortals’ potential as it stands is up to the task. He legitimately wanted us as allies. But we didn’t prove strong enough, in (what he’d call) our reduced state.
-And he had a back-up plan. If we proved ourselves strong enough and still didn’t want to help with his Rejoining, he’d just kill us, restoring the world to pre-us status. Lightwardens and all.
I LOVE THIS. He’s crafty, a plotter, but he told us a LOT of truth along the way.
-While Emet yammers, Ququshu’s here coughing up Light. Fighting hard to not go full sin eater.
EMET: “Whether you will it or no, your mere existence will serve to engulf the world in Light.” I mean, it sure looks that way.
-I’m on track to become a mega-Lightwarden that finishes destroying the world.
[Later edit: See my earlier note about how I like twists you can sort of see coming.]
-Emet-Selch snaps his fingers and poofs the Exarch’s body away.
EMET: “When it all becomes too much to bear, seek me out at my abode, in the dark depths of the Tempest. There, you may complete your descent into madness with some dignity, far from prying eyes.”
Is that kindness? I think it might be.
“Till then, I bid you farewell… eater.” Ququshu collapses.
-Later, I awaken in the Crystarium inn. No Light engulfing me. Ardbert is nearby.
-Ryne used her talent to (briefly) delay the Light taking me over. I’m on borrowed time.
-The Light sky has returned to all of Norvrandt.
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Random Stuff Around Eorzea
Overlooking Eulmore from the peaks of Kholusia:
Some players:
Nuzzles Karen
Booti Full
Keaneo Reeves, of the free company “Daddy”:
Next time: Figuring out how tf I don’t inadvertently destroy the world.
