Summary: A grab bag session. The level 80 red mage quest. Two new dungeons, one with an XIII theme and one with a VIII guardian force. Halloween returns to Eorzea.
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Succession of Steel (Red Mage level 80)
-I had to look up where to find this since it’s marked as just a side quest.
-It’s been over a year since I last did the red mage story quests: http://coldrungaming.blogspot.com/2018/09/ffxiv-p...
-Arya is a fellow red mage who lost her access to red magic. She’s been gradually relearning.
-Our teacher, X’rhun Tia, summons us to Ala Mhigo…wait, X’rhun Tia? Any relation to G’raha Tia, or just a common miqo’te name?
-X’rhun was once part of a brotherhood of Crimson Duelists. He buried their swords in a tomb, and graverobbers (former imperial collaborators) have recently ransacked them.
-We take them out easily. I mean, I just beat Hades and the sin eaters. These are bandits.
-We rebury most of the swords, save one. A sword from one of X’rhun’s close comrades.
“The man who wielded this sword suffered from shallow reserves of aether, and so he commissioned a weapon capable of channeling his energies in a more efficient manner.”
That’s so cool! That person had something at least akin to a magical disability and found an accessibility tool. Now X’rhun is passing that onto Arya.
-That’s it. A nice little check-in to confirm that red mage stuff is still going on even if the role quests largely replaced them in Shadowbringers.
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By the Time You Hear This (new dungeon)
-The Crystarium guard ask my help clearing out some aethereal disturbance in the tower guarded by monsters and mechs.
-Ah, this is a max level dungeon. The Twinning.
-I can’t use trusts here, so I check Mizzteq’s guide to avoid burdening three randos with my ignorance.
-What a cool dungeon! It had a definite XIII tint to it with enemies like the zaghnals and flanborgs, and that Cie’th modeled boss Mithridates.
-The final boss though was a variant of Alexander Prime called “Artificial Enigma: the Tycoon.”
Uses variants of its attacks, though it seemed less finished in design.
All around the boss room were images. One of Biggs and Wedge, one of the Crystal Tower. Couldn’t see them all in the chaos of the fight itself, and they disappeared after beating Tycoon.
-The Crystarium Guard discovered a strange urn with a keypad on it. Ququshu enters the passcode [non-rhetorical question for y’all: how does she know it?] and it activates.
-It’s a final recording.
“…Our only hope. Your gift will allow you to become one with the tower and survive the journey through time and space… Just promise me you’ll spare a thought for those you leave behind. And we’ll be thinking of you too, for as long as this world last, though I fear it will not be for much longer.”
FHDJKLSFHDSJKLFHDJKLSF RIGHHHHT, I FORGOT! This isn’t our Crystal Tower. This is G’raha Tia’s Crystal Tower from the post-apocalyptic future.
Biggs was at that point president. This was their last attempt. Alexander was timey-wimey, so maybe this pseudo-Alexander served a similar role, somehow powering it up to put G’raha in stasis.
-I wonder how much more we’ll see of that alternative future.
[Later edit: I went back through my recording and read the Ironworks Datalog tomes in the Twinning. The future Ironworks busted into the Crystal Tower as a last resort. “And there at its center, we found him.” G’raha?
-Their research helped them understand how the Allagans accessed the World of Darkness, “otherwise known as the Thirteenth…”
WAIT HOLY SHIT, THE WORLD OF DARKNESS IS THE THIRTEENTH!!! That makes so much sense.
-They explored here to stop the Eighth Umbral Calamity by moving to the First AND going back in time.
-They learned they’d have to navigate “the interdimensional rift.” Only Omega really mastered that, but we killed Omega last expansion. No way for them to draw on that well of knowledge.]
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Akadaemia Anyder (new dungeon)
-An Ondo alerts me that a great beast has been stalking their home ever since we relit Amaurot.
“It thrashes and gnashes with its cavernous maw, leaving nothing but tattered flesh in its wake.” WOOHOO SEA MONSTER!
-The sea monster was an Amaurotine creation from their Akademia Anyder, a research/creation lab.
-The Akademia is a pretty sweet dungeon! It’s like an underwater greenhouse and research center.
-The twin shark boss was a great start. The Marquis Morbol though I never got comfortable with. And it’s so dang GROSS. (As it should be. FFXII is the only case where morbols can be cute.)
-Nice to see Quetzalcoatl again as a final boss. They even called him a Guardian Force, since the academics summoned him to stop protect them from the out of control research.
-I talk with the academic questgiver afterwards.
-Lahabrea was one of those scholars. A master of phantom creation.
“By combining the aether of many individuals, we can theoretically create entities of ever greater complexity and grandeur.” This research likely led directly to Hydaelyn and Zodiark.
-Something called Archaeotania may well have broken free. Maybe it’ll be a later trial. Some First version of Leviathan or an aquatic Twintania perhaps?
-The Ondo who set me on this path is actually relieved to hear my report. Sure, the beast is still out there, but at least it’s not some divine punishment intentionally set upon the Ondo.
-That’s the end of this questline.
[Later edit: I Googled if Archaeotania was in the game yet, and apparently she is… but as the end of a chain of FATEs that will take some active hunting with a group. Might deal with her down the line.]
I also rewatched my video to read the lore bits I didn’t have time to read mid-dungeon.
-The original Halmarult (perhaps a council member) was an accomplished botanist.
-Archaeotania spawned spontaneously from creation magic that their calamity drove wild. Lahabrea theorized that it’s not random, but rather a manifestation of their nightmares and fears.]
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Fear and Delight (All Saints’ Wake/Halloween event)
-The Continental Circus is back with their annual All Saints’ Wake fun times.
-Trouble! The circus’ Ahriman runs away. Let’s go find her. (I hope she’s not being mistreated.)
-Found her in the woods. SHE’S SO CUTE! A bright orange Ahriman with a witch’s hat.
-A pumpkin-headed woman found it and can communicate with it. The Ahriman is worried that she’s not living up to the expectations of the circus, not being scary enough.
”Oh, sweetheart, you’re not a disappointment. And your eye is charming. Yes, it is.”
-The woman is so supportive of the Ahriman, and I love them both.
-The circus’ pumpkin-headed impresario runs up to us… and the woman is gone. A ghost?
IMPRESARIO: “Why, you could only be speaking of the legendary leader of the armies of darkness – the Great Gourd herself!” lololol!
The Great Gourd has apparently been silent for years. I’ve been visited by a legend.
-Anyway, the Ahriman has been lacking in the “evil gaze” department. Won’t I help tutor it?
-I mount it and get a new action ability: “Sort-of Dread Gaze: Fix your enemies with a gaze that won’t quite strike fear into their hearts, but will certainly make them feel uncomfortable.” Bless this quest.
-We train by having the Ahriman do her best to be spooky. It doesn’t really work, but she’s game.
-Back to the Impresario. The Ahriman wants to leave the circus and spread her spooks by my side. Sounds good to me!
-The camera pans back at the end to show the Great Gourd herself looking upon all of us:
“My foolish children, ever eager to reclaim what was never truly lost. Its devilry takes a different form, but the night goes on – haunted by monster and mortal both.”
”So do have fun.”
I really like this group. The Circus is basically Halloweentown. The caretakers of a sweet version of “evil” and “darkness” that’s ultimately about fun and a particular kind of joy. As a horror fan, I appreciate this.
(Watch me eat my words in five years when we’re getting the expansion “Wrath of the Circus.”)
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Random Stuff Around Eorzea
-A lalafel dressed as a dwarf with a chubby kitty:
-A golden namazu minion:
-Some great player names:
Mara’ Jade
Pesky Wabbit and his minion, “Road Sparrow.”
Mighty Matt
Pepsi Habbit
Fey Tality
Macaroni Grill
Souless Endeavor
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Next time: The first part of the new Eden raid.
