Summary: The miner/botanist Shadowbringers quests to track down a legendary beast. Valentine’s Day returns to Eorzea.
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-Time to start the crafting/gathering stuff in the First! It focuses on the Crystarium, at a section called the Crystalline Mean. Whereas pre-Shadowbringers, each job had its own questline, Shadowbringers divides things up into five groups:
1) Facet of Forging: armorsmith, blacksmith, goldsmith
2) Facet of Crafting: leatherworker, weaver, carpenter
3) Facet of Nourishing: culinarian, alchemist
4) Facet of Gathering: miner, botanist
5) Facet of Fishing: fisher
I first complete the Facet of Gathering quests, though I’m working on them all semi-simultaneously.
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On the Trail of a Myth
-A Mithra named Qeshi-Rei leads the Facet of Gathering. She’s obsessed with a thing called a samiel, to the frustration of other gatherers such as Yalana of the Hortorium.
-The Hortorium – the Crystarium’s botany facility – is BEAUTIFUL! A botanistic lab. They provide food for the Crystarium, as well as analyzing resources across Norvrandt.
-Chief Qeshi-Rei sounds wonderfully bizarre. Skilled, but recently obsessed with finding a nigh-mythical creature called a samiel. An ancient and enormous beast of Mord legend.
-She thinks she has a lead on this mythical creature, from a Hortorium researcher.
QESHI-REI: “I hereby name you Captain Qushu of the Samiel Search Squad!” This is a delight already.
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-I collect some animal specimens, and then get to talk to the researcher who saw the samiel. He specifically saw a giant shadow flying overhead.
They looked up and saw only empty sky. IT VANISHED OoOoOOooooO!
RESEARCHER: “It could only be the ghost of the samiel whispered in Mord legend!” That’s clearly the only possible explanation.
-Qeshi-Rei’s still convinced it’s the real samiel. I’m certain there’s something else going on.
-The Hortorium’s research shows the creature has moved on, but that it is samiel-sized at least.
-And we have another lead. A guard who felt tremors. Let’s look for its droppings.
QESHI-REI: “A steaming, fly-ridden pile of excrement is a veritable repository of knowledge. We just need to be willing to go elbow deep to extract it.” Science is glamorous.
-So a-digging I go. The Hortorium reviews it, and finds the droppings really belong to no currently-recorded beast. Are they really gonna make the samiel real?
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Shedding Light on the Myth
-More analysis shows that the beast has consumed vegetation across Norvrandt, especially Il Mheg.
-Hm. Evidence is everywhere, but can’t find the actual thing.
---
-Time to start the crafting/gathering stuff in the First! It focuses on the Crystarium, at a section called the Crystalline Mean. Whereas pre-Shadowbringers, each job had its own questline, Shadowbringers divides things up into five groups:
1) Facet of Forging: armorsmith, blacksmith, goldsmith
2) Facet of Crafting: leatherworker, weaver, carpenter
3) Facet of Nourishing: culinarian, alchemist
4) Facet of Gathering: miner, botanist
5) Facet of Fishing: fisher
I first complete the Facet of Gathering quests, though I’m working on them all semi-simultaneously.
===============
On the Trail of a Myth
-A Mithra named Qeshi-Rei leads the Facet of Gathering. She’s obsessed with a thing called a samiel, to the frustration of other gatherers such as Yalana of the Hortorium.
-The Hortorium – the Crystarium’s botany facility – is BEAUTIFUL! A botanistic lab. They provide food for the Crystarium, as well as analyzing resources across Norvrandt.
-Chief Qeshi-Rei sounds wonderfully bizarre. Skilled, but recently obsessed with finding a nigh-mythical creature called a samiel. An ancient and enormous beast of Mord legend.
-She thinks she has a lead on this mythical creature, from a Hortorium researcher.
QESHI-REI: “I hereby name you Captain Qushu of the Samiel Search Squad!” This is a delight already.
---
-I collect some animal specimens, and then get to talk to the researcher who saw the samiel. He specifically saw a giant shadow flying overhead.
They looked up and saw only empty sky. IT VANISHED OoOoOOooooO!
RESEARCHER: “It could only be the ghost of the samiel whispered in Mord legend!” That’s clearly the only possible explanation.
-Qeshi-Rei’s still convinced it’s the real samiel. I’m certain there’s something else going on.
-The Hortorium’s research shows the creature has moved on, but that it is samiel-sized at least.
-And we have another lead. A guard who felt tremors. Let’s look for its droppings.
QESHI-REI: “A steaming, fly-ridden pile of excrement is a veritable repository of knowledge. We just need to be willing to go elbow deep to extract it.” Science is glamorous.
-So a-digging I go. The Hortorium reviews it, and finds the droppings really belong to no currently-recorded beast. Are they really gonna make the samiel real?
---
Shedding Light on the Myth
-More analysis shows that the beast has consumed vegetation across Norvrandt, especially Il Mheg.
-Hm. Evidence is everywhere, but can’t find the actual thing.
-One of our companions, Mao, has apparently gotten so into this
adventure that he’s gone off to Il Mheg to continue the hunt himself.
Pixie-land is not a great place for most.
-Ooh, theory: what if some pixies saw Qeshi-Rei’s obsession and decided to prank her with hoax samiel clues? ….nah. The pixies are isolated to Il Mheg, and evidence is all over.
-Found Mao unharmed. He came here because others were insulting Qeshi’s quest as foolish and he wanted to prove them wrong.
-While we’re here, we find some molted skin that may be from this creature.
-THERE IT IS!!! IT’S… like a brachiosaur?
Idk; I trust literally nothing in this zone. Could be pixie pranks.
-The creature vanishes. It doesn’t hide; it vanishes, as if it were never there.
-Or maybe it is a magical creature that turned invisible. It’s not a carnivore, so maybe it can’t fight and just evolved the ability to hide.
I love Qeshi-Rae’s passion.
-So it’s a lizard that molts, then gorges to regain its strength. It eats vegetables, so off to Rak’tika to find molted samiel skin.
(Collecting these items is always very quick, especially compared to crafting deliveries.)
-One of the researchers thinks these samples all come from the same samiel. A lone hunter, or last of its kind?
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The Myth Takes Form
-The resarchers have learned that the samiel is from Kholusia. Its skin is made of crystals similar to glamour prisms. THAT’s how they stay hidden!
-I gather some magic sand to dispel the glamour. I’m really curious if there’s gonna be some final twist where this is not real, but at this point I’m leaning towards it being a real thing.
-AWWWW THE GLAMOUR DISPELLER REVEALS A WHOLE FAMILY OF THE CUTIES
-Why did the one in Il Mheg reveal itself? Qeshi-Rae thinks it’s a courtship thing, showing itself to show how strong it is.
-But that’s just a guess. She’s got a whole field of samiel research ahead of her.
-Ooh, theory: what if some pixies saw Qeshi-Rei’s obsession and decided to prank her with hoax samiel clues? ….nah. The pixies are isolated to Il Mheg, and evidence is all over.
-Found Mao unharmed. He came here because others were insulting Qeshi’s quest as foolish and he wanted to prove them wrong.
-While we’re here, we find some molted skin that may be from this creature.
-THERE IT IS!!! IT’S… like a brachiosaur?
Idk; I trust literally nothing in this zone. Could be pixie pranks.
-The creature vanishes. It doesn’t hide; it vanishes, as if it were never there.
-Or maybe it is a magical creature that turned invisible. It’s not a carnivore, so maybe it can’t fight and just evolved the ability to hide.
I love Qeshi-Rae’s passion.
-So it’s a lizard that molts, then gorges to regain its strength. It eats vegetables, so off to Rak’tika to find molted samiel skin.
(Collecting these items is always very quick, especially compared to crafting deliveries.)
-One of the researchers thinks these samples all come from the same samiel. A lone hunter, or last of its kind?
---
The Myth Takes Form
-The resarchers have learned that the samiel is from Kholusia. Its skin is made of crystals similar to glamour prisms. THAT’s how they stay hidden!
-I gather some magic sand to dispel the glamour. I’m really curious if there’s gonna be some final twist where this is not real, but at this point I’m leaning towards it being a real thing.
-AWWWW THE GLAMOUR DISPELLER REVEALS A WHOLE FAMILY OF THE CUTIES
-Why did the one in Il Mheg reveal itself? Qeshi-Rae thinks it’s a courtship thing, showing itself to show how strong it is.
-But that’s just a guess. She’s got a whole field of samiel research ahead of her.
---
Of Ardor and Argument [Valentione’s Day]
Not the subtlest holiday.
-Valentine’s Day has come to Eorzea! Lisette de Valentione is in here from Ishgarde to spread love, and must pick a High Emissary of Ardor among three candidates.
-The three will compete to ease the worries of a love-lorn man. That’s a lot of pressure.
-The “Pining Gridanian” we speak to is cagy about sharing details of his life. It sounds like he’s heterosexual, but doesn’t speak to many women and doesn’t know what he’s looking for.
Each candidate has their own strategy.
Astrid thinks he should search for love among his clients. Bert thinks he should find a new pastime to meet someone new. And Rodrigault thinks he should commune with nature to build his sense of self.
All are reasonable, but from what I hear, Bert has the right idea. Get a hobby and put yourself out there. I’m most skeptical of Astrid’s “search for love among your clients.” Hitting on clients/coworkers seems like it has the highest chance to backfire.
Ququshu on Team Bert.
-I vote for Bert, but this is a community event. Astrid won the most player votes.)
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Astrid’s Acumen
-Okay, Astrid. Let’s search for love at work.
-Hey, the “Pining Gridanian” is Ywain, the lancers’ guild guildmaster! I met him while leveling up my dragoon. I love how these characters persist in different contexts.
-After an unusual attempt hitting on a married coworker, Ywain delivers some animal skins to Marcette, an acerbic professor who I IMMEDIATELY LOVE.
MARCETTE: “Is he talking again? Why, oh why do they insist on talking? As of today, you have the honor of joining Marcette, realm-renowned naturalist and esteemed authoress of the New Eorzean Geographic on her latest expedition in to the unknown!”
I assumed this was the similarly pompous naturalist we met in the Stormblood leatherworking quest, but no. Just a similar character.
-We only see the first chapter of this budding romance, as Marcette drags off poor Ywain to be her research assistant on some task.
Astrid’s done as much as she can. The rest is on these two. It’s either gonna lead to a fiery passion or an incredibly toxic relationship, and we don’t see any more for now. Fingers crossed.
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Next time: Either the Shadowbringers fisher quest or starting the 5.2 content that drops next week.
Of Ardor and Argument [Valentione’s Day]
Not the subtlest holiday.
-Valentine’s Day has come to Eorzea! Lisette de Valentione is in here from Ishgarde to spread love, and must pick a High Emissary of Ardor among three candidates.
-The three will compete to ease the worries of a love-lorn man. That’s a lot of pressure.
-The “Pining Gridanian” we speak to is cagy about sharing details of his life. It sounds like he’s heterosexual, but doesn’t speak to many women and doesn’t know what he’s looking for.
Each candidate has their own strategy.
Astrid thinks he should search for love among his clients. Bert thinks he should find a new pastime to meet someone new. And Rodrigault thinks he should commune with nature to build his sense of self.
All are reasonable, but from what I hear, Bert has the right idea. Get a hobby and put yourself out there. I’m most skeptical of Astrid’s “search for love among your clients.” Hitting on clients/coworkers seems like it has the highest chance to backfire.
Ququshu on Team Bert.
-I vote for Bert, but this is a community event. Astrid won the most player votes.)
---
Astrid’s Acumen
-Okay, Astrid. Let’s search for love at work.
-Hey, the “Pining Gridanian” is Ywain, the lancers’ guild guildmaster! I met him while leveling up my dragoon. I love how these characters persist in different contexts.
-After an unusual attempt hitting on a married coworker, Ywain delivers some animal skins to Marcette, an acerbic professor who I IMMEDIATELY LOVE.
MARCETTE: “Is he talking again? Why, oh why do they insist on talking? As of today, you have the honor of joining Marcette, realm-renowned naturalist and esteemed authoress of the New Eorzean Geographic on her latest expedition in to the unknown!”
I assumed this was the similarly pompous naturalist we met in the Stormblood leatherworking quest, but no. Just a similar character.
-We only see the first chapter of this budding romance, as Marcette drags off poor Ywain to be her research assistant on some task.
Astrid’s done as much as she can. The rest is on these two. It’s either gonna lead to a fiery passion or an incredibly toxic relationship, and we don’t see any more for now. Fingers crossed.
---
Next time: Either the Shadowbringers fisher quest or starting the 5.2 content that drops next week.
