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The Man with Too Many Scars
-Doing the Shadowbringers tank role quests on my warrior. I pick it up from a guy named Granson.
-He’s hunting down another of the Cardinal Virtues, named Dikaiosyne. Formerly Branden, the tank from Ardbert’s old party now turned into a top-ranked sin eater.
(We’ve already done one Cardinal Virtue hunt, for the mage: http://coldrungaming.blogspot.com/2019/10/ffxiv-p...
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Shaped by Tragedy
-Dikaiosyne was last seen in Kholusia, in the village of Wright. We’ll start there.
-The townsfolk are scared to death. Sounds like his last attack was pure carnage.
-Granson is from this village. He used to be a hunter, and engaged. One day, he returned from a hunt to find the warrior having wreaked havoc. Death, and lots of new sin eaters created. Including his fiancée, turned right before his eyes.
-He stole an antique bracelet from her, the Fangs of Orthus. She was commissioned to restore it.
-Jesus. It hurts even more that Milinda didn’t fight him. She just stood there, as if begging Granson to kill her. And so he did.
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Defined by Loss
-We track down the merchant who commissioned the bracelet’s restoration. He purchased it from someone who claimed it was a relic of the pre-Flood kingdom of Voeburt.
-A choker of similar design was spotted in Amh Araeng, so off we go.
Okay, initial guess: these items actually belonged to the Cardinal Virtue in life, and he’s drawn to them.
-…too late. We come upon the scavenger as the Virtue kills him, departing with the choker.
-This is so dang frustrating for Granson, and I don’t blame him! It’s like watching his wife die all over again, and he feels powerless to stop it.
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The Princess and Her Knight
-The Voeburtite treasures came from a ruin in Il Mheg, a cache that included three sacred royal treasures. One more is out there, the Claws of Orthus.
-We meet a Nu Mou – Sul Oul - who used to know Branden. At the time, they were investigating a series of murder-transformations wracking Voeburt.
-Branden was a knight who served the Princess Sauldia. I like her immediately, as this flashback shows how fiercely devoted she was to protecting her citizens even at risk to herself.
BRANDEN: “Lady Sauldia, forgive my hesitation. My life and my sword are yours to command.”
-The princess strikes me as a teenager, and Branden is a young recruit at the time.
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The Hardened Heart
-Sul Oul finds Granson’s quest for vengeance misplaced. (So do I.) Dikaiosyne is not Branden. He’s just a sin eater, albeit one with certain inclinations leftover from Branden’s life.
-Sul Oul tells a story. When Branden was still new. Sauldia set him to uncover the truth behind the transformations. He failed, and was stripped of his knighthood.
One day, he returned with Team Ardbert, investigating those same transformations.He grew closer with Sauldia… and then one day, they learned the court mage, Tadric, was behind the transformations.
Echo flashback time.
-We see Branden confronting Tadric. Tadric who engineered Branden’s departure, and Branden still determined to persevere.
-Okay, this is cool af. I get to play AS Branden, alongside Team Ardbert, fighting the traitorous mage.
-With his dying breath, Tadric blasts Princess Sauldia.
SAULDIA: “Branden. My dear, brave Branden… Am I… your princess still? Would you honor your vows even now?”
BRANDEN: “Now and ever after, my lady. My sword is yours to command.”
Then she begins to transform into one of those monsters, commanding him to kill her. Dfhajklsfhdslfahl this is BRUTAL.
-Ardbert offers to do the deed. Branden says no. Cuts her down.
Striking down his transformed princess.
I’ve seen this scene in any number of zombie movies, where someone has to kill their recently transformed mother/brother/daughter, and it’s not any easier to watch here.
-She dissipates, turns into crystal. He takes this and vows to do better. Which he did, given his work to help stop the Flood.
-Back to reality. I share what I saw with Granson, and the symmetry hits him hard. He had to strike down his loved one as she transformed, just as Granson did.
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To Have Loved and Lost
-Granson realizes now that his quest for vengeance was a misplaced way of mourning his lost love.
“I wanted to hollow myself out… and fill that hole with hate. Forget who I was. And irony of ironies, that’s just what the poor bastard tried to do to himself a century ago, too, isn’t it?”
-Killing Dikaiosyne is still worthwhile, but let it be driven by love of Milinda and respect for Branden. I believe that intention here matters. Maybe not in the fight itself, but for who Granson will be after.
-Sul Oul shares that the relics were passed down through the royal family, signifying the right to rule. Princess Sauldia was the last of that line.
Bandits stole the relics from their safe place. Dikaiosyne pursued them out of instinctive loyalty.
-The final relic is still in the cache. We grab it and lure the Cardinal Virtue.
-The fight against Dikaiosyne takes me a couple of tries. Lots of holy aoe attacks to dodge.
-In the end, we free Branden’s shade. I like how even at the last, we see Branden himself – not the sin eater – struggling with whether to give up his own hatred and vengeance and let go.
-Gransen will turn from his quest to help others. As Milinda and Branden would want. A tank’s duty.
Again, a solid quest! Glad I’m doing these role quests. Though unless friends need a tank, I doubt I’ll play my warrior much more. It’s fine enough, just not my cup of tea the way red mage is.
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Once, Twice, Three Times a Warrior
-If it’s anything like red mage, this’ll be a chance to check in on my old warrior friend, Curious Gorge. It’s been over a year since my last time playing the warrior questline, so I gotta brush up:
https://coldrungaming.blogspot.com/2019/02/ffxiv-...
The last quest focused on Curious Gorge helping an Au’Ra warrior, Dorgono, contain her inner beast. Definite mutual attraction between the two by the end.
-I share my story from the tank role quest with Curious Gorge. It reassures him that the thing he needs to really step up his warrior game is L O V E.
-Like ships in the night. Just as Gorge runs off, Dorgono arrives. She’s come to Eorzea with her father to thank the warriors for their help.
-In a really nice twist, they’re able to help Gorge’s brother, Broken Mountain, regain control of his inner beast! He’s able to fight as a warrior once more.
-But by FAR the best part here is the goofy slapstick romance shenanigans. Her father first tries to set Ququshu up with Dorgono, and then Curious Gorge comes in all jealous and assumes that Dorgono and I have been having a secret romance this whole time.
Curious Gorge, imagining the torrid and fiery love of Ququshu and Dorgono.
(It gets cleared up, but I appreciate the game being inclusive of the idea of a queer relationship, even so briefly.)
-I wonder in the next expansion whether we’ll return to job-specific stories from role-specific ones.
If so, I look forward to seeing the future training of Dorgono and Curious Gorge.
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Random Stuff Around Eorzea
-A black-and-white aesthetic:
-A dark knight with a badass relic weapon, preparing to tank for us against an FFXIII-themed boss:
-Some great player names seen:
Moose Soup
The’holy Aspirin
Sausage Mountain
Conrad Twiggly
Cloud Twirl
Frosted Flakess
Rofl Lmao
Overkill Funtime
Pop Eyez
Sparrow Song
Fbi Mostwanted
Gary Lovebuckets
Zero Oneone
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Next time: Gradually working on my scholar and dancer to get to the healer and physical DPS role quests in Shadowbringers. But they’re in the 50s/60s respectively, so it may be a while.
