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Forgotten but Not Gone
-A well-read marauder and archaeologist named Alka Zolka recently requested an arcanist’s services.
-SHE’S SO CUTE
-Her “more muscular bretheren” rush ahead blindly. Alka prefers to strategize.
-She’s researching the military tactics of ancient Nym, and YESSSS. This is the shit I signed up for. Nym somehow tied to tonberries. They were one of my favorite parts of FFXI.
-Nym flourished about 1,500 years ago, during the Fifth Astral Era. The peace of that era gave way eventually to the War of the Magi and the next calamity.
-It interests her as a warrior that Nym – in an age of magic and with only a few mages on its side – managed to repel all invaders.
-Alka recently purchased Nymian tablets to learn more about their military tactics. Alas, they were stolen on the way to Limsa Lominsa. Let’s go get them back.
-We recover the tablet… and a fairy appears. Uhhhhhh. Hello?
-Alka finds something in the tablets about this:
“The sunlight of Eos doth soothe and shield. The moonlight of Selene doth silence and strengthen.”
[Later edit: I wonder if this is vestigial dialogue. Scholars start with two fairies, Eos and Selene. They used to have different roles but since Shadowbringers their differences are purely cosmetic.]
-The fairy flits in front of me, changes color, then everything goes sepia. I hear them call my name.
-They sprang forth from the “Soul of the Scholar.” Contains the wisdom of long-dead Nymerian mages. That’s my entrance to the scholar job.
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The Last Remnants
-Alka discovered a Nymerian treatise on supportive magic. We might access it if we can help the fairy remember her past.
-She’s been sealed away for 1,500 years. We take her to the ruins of Nym to help jog that memory.
-It’s a beautiful, smoky region. After some exploring, she hears whispers of the past.
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The Consequences of Anger
-Nymian scholars and marauders used to fight side by side. The guild is sending her to take out a tonberry spotted in Bronze Lake, so she wants to try out these tactics with me as the scholar.
I’m excited. I’ve been waiting to see how the tonberries get involved with the scholar questline.
-We spot the tonberry atop some ruins. Wielding a knife, with a scholar hat on her head.
-They turn around, ominous horror music playing… and see my fairy.
PECULIAR TONBERRY: “My sun! My dear sun! At long last, I… I…”
Purple smoke suddenly billows around them. “The… the rancor… It rises... it rises!”
-Combat time. Tough fight, keeping my marauder alive.
-Alka’s about to finish the tonberry when my fairy steps in. The fairy clearly remembers the tonberry.
-The tonberry recovers its senses and flees. Hm. How do they know each other?
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In the Image of the Ancients
-Alka has found several engravings that show, among other things, traditional Nymian scholar garb. That must be the graduation outfit (whatever it’s called) I see some scholars wearing!
-We embark on a tour of craftsmen, aiming to put together a set resembling what’s shown in the engravings. Everything but the robe, for now.
-I finish off this quest tier by going and healing some sick/wounded at an infirmary. This was the scholars’ role in ancient times, and it helps the faerie remember a bit more.
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The Beast Within
-The tonberry’s been spotted again near Wanderer’s Palace (a.k.a. tonberry central). We’re off! Alka’s all about the slaying, but I’m certain we’ll be able to communicate with this fellow.
-It’s the same one, in the scholar outfit. Keeps saying, “My sun, my dear sun… Stay away… I cannot…”
-We chase her into the dungeon. Tonberries we kill leave behind “flames of rancor.” The scholar tonberry eventually summons them all to attack us via Everyone’s Grudge.
-Defeated the tonberry, and healed it back up. It’s cogent again, the fury gone.
-Just like in FFXI, the tonberries were transformed into these creatures. Not sure how.
“I am… I was Surito Carito, before the sickness from the sea transformed me.”
-Those who transformed those 1,500 years ago were sealed within what’s now known as Wanderer’s Palace. They gained their legendary rancor not from the transformation itself, but from being shut away and essentially exiled for that transformation. Only seeing Lily again pulled Surito out of it.
-ADORABLE ECHO FLASHBACK TO HER OLD LALAFEL FORM
-I’ll carry on Surito’s legacy, and she’ll stay here, tending to her kin.
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Random Stuff Around Eorzea
-The scholar’s healing style seems more passive than the white mage, but I haven’t really dived into white mage. Scholar uses a fairy that helps with support healing.
It’s comforting as a new healer to know the fairy has my back if I’m a bit slow, a bit late.
-Ququshu in her level 50 scholar gear set:
-Some great player names:
Blorth Florth
Sofa Kitty
Crunchy Cornchips
Bonny Mcbunny
Lord Fluffynutts
Blorth Florth
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Next time: the 60-70 scholar quests.
