FFXIV – Part 232: Clutchfather of the Year [Sahagin Beast Tribe]

Summary: A Sahagin dad tries to chart a new course for his spawn. New Year’s comes to Eorzea.

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Intro

I started these Sahagin quests a loooong time ago. Probably around when I first picked up XIV. No notes, so I’m piecing the background together from the completed quest log in-game.

Clutchfather Novv leads this group of friendly Sahagin. He just wants to secure a safe place for his group to spawn. Some nearby hostile Sahagin – the Coral Trident – make this especially tough.

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The Scarlet Bloodletter

-The Coral Trident are planning to assault a merchant vessel. Novv doesn’t like this, since it’s just going to stir up hostility against the Sahagin.

-I try to stop the attack as best I can, but alas. It’s all I can do to save some of the sailors.

-Sounds like the Sahagin leading the Coral Trident now is a legendary pirate thought dead, the Scarlet Sea Devil.

-I really like Clutchfather Novv and how much he cares for his spawn. Best dad.

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Watching the Spawn

-Novv has a task to take care of. He asks me to babysit.

-NOOO QUQUSHU!! Seww, one of the kids, wants to learn more about daddo. Sends me out to talk to other elders. BUT WHY AM I GOING? Clutchfather Novv entrusted me to watch over them. :(

-My betrayal of Novv’s trust is fruitful at least. He used to LEAD the Coral Tridents.

-I follow Novv and see him parleying with the new Coral Trident leader, Zugg. Zugg is the one taking on the mantle of the new Scarlet Sea Devil.

OH SHIT, NOVV WAS THE ORIGINAL SCARLET SEA DEVIL! How did I not see that coming?

NOVV: “What is needed right now is diplomacy – not war. Your hubrisss will doom our ssspawnlings to lives of violence and misery, with the edge of a sssoldier’s blade the only sssurcease.”

-Zugg moves to attack… but Novv glows with some kind of blue power that scares off his attackers (for now).

I love this. Similar to how the Vanu beast tribe aped birds in terms of dance battles, the Sahagin draw on actual aquatic life to scare away enemies.

-Back at HQ, Novv finally shares his dark past with his spawn. His history of piracy and raiding and destruction.

-Historically, the Sahagin queen – the Indigo Matriarch (I don’t know that I’ve heard that term before!) – gave a clutch of her eggs to a champion. His clutch grew with his bloody victories.

Then one day, when he returned from his raids, he found his clutch destroyed as revenge. Jesus. No wonder he changed his tune.

“I wept and howled until it ssseemed my sssanity had fled. And then all at once, I underssstood: the blame for my ssspawnlings’ grisly fate… it belonged with me.”

-There were a few unhatched eggs still left. He took those and dropped the Scarlet Sea Devil thing. 

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Like Clutchfather, Like Son

-While that last parley saved Novv, it also provoked Zugg to step up his attacks. The Coral Tridents attacked another ship and took a prisoner. Things are about to escalate.

-No luck toning it down with the Lominsan side. A key councilor was abducted and even the Admiral wants to go HAM on the sahagin.

Time for an aqauatic rescue.

-Novv and I board the Coral Trident ship and free the confused councilor. (Hopefully this’ll go a long way to restraining the Lominsan response.)

-SCARLET SEA DEVIL BATTLE! Novv and Zugg go into a full duel – albeit briefly, given how much Fish Daddy kicks ass.



It’s stylized like one of those anime battles where two swordsmen lunge at each other so fast that you only see who wins afterwards, when one person slumps as the wound catches up with them.

-Zugg begs for death. Feels dishonored. Novv won’t do it. Probably doesn’t want to hurt any sahagin.

NOVV: “Shhhow me a parent who can kill his own child. Sssahagin blood ties run deeper than the mossst abyssal sssea trench.”

…is Zugg his LITERAL KID, one of the remaining clutch? This is kind of fantastic. Zugg responded to his clutchbrothers’ death with revenge. Novv went a different route.


Dad of the Year.

-Novv is persuasive. He convinces Zugg to return the captive. Perhaps he’ll be an ally going forward.

This is a similar ending to what we saw in the 5.4 quests. An old hand helping an aggressive youngster channel their passion in more productive ways.


New Sahagin minion.


And a new Sahagin mount, one of their little crocoduck things.

This was a fun questline! Again, nothing near as intricate as the post-ARR quests, but a neat story with a fantastic protagonist in Clutchfather Novv.

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Steering Clear of Trouble [Heavensturn 2021]

-The New Year’s event! This is the year of the ox.

-THAT OX IS SO PRETTY, I WILL COMMIT SO MANY CRIMES IF YOU ASK ME TO



-Usually, there’s some mochi-pounding – they even got a big ol’ ox monster to do it! – but the mochi hasn’t arrived.

-Of course, the mochi has become a sentient monster, so I have to help the ox monster pound the shit out of it. Of course.



-…the achievement is “Happy Moo Year.” Bless this game.

-I also like the little afterward we get, delivering advent cakes around town. A nice way to reconnect with guildmasters and other main NPCs I’ve spent time with before.  

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Random Stuff Around Eorzea

-A bard playing “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher” in Quarrymill:

-The blacklit void that is the World of Darkness:


-The end boss of one of my favorite Heavensward bosses:


-The Atomos minion looks like a new Pokemon:


-I ship it these two random players on the basis of nothing more than this screenshot:


-Pink burrito:


-Golden Talos minion:


-I recently completed the main 30 floors of Heaven-on-High, the ROGUE-like deep dungeon from Stormblood. It’s pretty fun! Very similar to Palace of the Dead, with a much brighter aesthetic. My favorite part were the traps that turned you into an adorable otter:


-Some great names I’ve seen recently:

Alak Azam
Prismatic Goat
Dusty Muppet
Bizz Buzz
Orange Clock
Roffle Mao
Weebosuke Senpai
Angelo Cannon (the best limit break in FF history)
Squirrela Bear
Yoko Taro
Oberon Night
Duck You
Cheech Chongs
Bennett Foddy
Onion Horse
Sweetberrypie Forsale
Kaiser Wilhelm
Bjorn Bufferbeard
Leger Demain
Not Quack
Banana Snap
Shiny Espeon
Sara Shadows

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Next time: starting the rogue/ninja questline.