Summary:
The new 5.4 dungeon, Matoya’s Relict. Admiral Merlwyb’s deft handling of
beast tribe politics in Limsa Lominsa. Fandaniel sets up his move.
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Like Master, Like Pupil
-Time to visit the original (XIV) Master Matoya to help build an army of magic porxies.
-I
like Y’shtola’s and Matoya’s relationship. Y’shtola tries to play it
cool (because Y’shtola) and Alphinaud BULLDOZES IN by sharing how
Y’shtola took on the name Matoya in the First.
It’s an injection of sweet sincerity that embarrasses tf out of Y’shtola AND I’M HERE FOR IT.
-G’raha
also gets to introduce himself to Matoya. Galuf and Krile both told
Matoya about him. Galuf is dead at this point, right? I’m not sure. I
still haven’t done much Eureka if it’s answered there.
MATOYA: “If I could get a familiar to create the familiars – a mother porxie, as it were…” I love where this is going.
-She sends us to what sounds like a dungeon, her old workshop. “Matoya’s Relict.”
-What
a delightful place! I love the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” music, the
rainbow magma feel, the mechanics, and that ridiculous final battle
against the mother porxie.
---
The Admiral’s Resolve
-I bring the good news to Limsa Lominsa. A tempering cure may help her deal with the beast tribes.
-Still,
it’s only part of the answer. The conflict and mistrust are deep –
iirc, because of how our cities betrayed their word. Plus, a major
pirate faction in Limsa is against peace.
-The Bloody Executioners’ main leader is sick. His second, Sicard, is being antagonistic.
-Sicard
has led his group to recent success, though nobody’s exactly sure how.
The suspicion is that he’s been raiding beast tribes directly to steal
and resell their crystals.
---
The Search for Sicard
-Via
a hilariously half-assed sting, G’raha manages to sneak us into their
crystal-selling warehouse. Too bad Sicard catches us like ten seconds
later. XD
-Interesting. He’s not doing anything illegal. The
civil war means there are no more Garlean ships to raid, so they turned
on the beast tribes. Peace would cut off their current prosperity.
-Sicard wants to meet Merlwyb on his ship to negotiate. I’m 85% sure this is a trap.
---
On Rough Seas
-The Bloody Executioners are acting like GoT Iron Islands cosplayers, dead set on their right to be looting marauders.
But
this is Merlwyb they’re up against. She stands firm that piracy is just
one part of their history. It doesn’t have to be their future.
-She’s SO BADASS. Passionately defends the idea that Limsa adapts to each new era.
MERLWYB:
“If we are to prosper in the coming age, the whole of Vylbrand must
become our ship, and the kobold and Sahagin our crewmates!”
-Lots of his crewmates seem swayed, but not Sicard. He demands a duel with Merlwyb.
HOW FOOLISH ARE YOU??? A duel with Merlwyb? Like, on purpose? Brb, grabbing my popcorn.
-It’s one of those duels where they start back-to-back and pace before turning and firing.
LOL, the bullets bounce off each other. Sicard fires again, misses, and Merlwyb shoots him in the leg.
Sicard is about to try again when his captain, Hyllfyr, emerges to shoot the gun out of Sicard’s hand.
Hyllfyr
is fantastic too. “[Piratin’ and loot] ain’t our first love. Our first
love is the sea, the sea an’ what she brings us – freedom.” Urges them
to become a new type of pirate.
-He started out hostile, but I
can imagine Sicard becoming a staunch ally in the future. I’m thinking
of a particular scene in “Mad Men”:
“I’d keep an eye on him. One never knows how loyalty is born.”
---
The Great Ship Vylbrand
-Our next task is to free the kobold leader of Titan’s influence. Bloodlessly, lest we scuttle peace.
-The
plan: return the stolen crystals as a gesture of peace. The tempered
kobolds act open, but when they suddenly and inevitably betray us to try
summoning Titan, we subdue and cure the leader.
-The fight itself is intense af. I was briefly afraid Merlwyb died before remembering this is FFXIV.
-It
works. We untemper the high priest. He now looks around and sees the
other kobolds he sacrificed to summon Titan and… it’s a lot to take in.
He’s devastated by what he did.
For “Jessica Jones” fans, it’s like when mind-controlled people awaken after murdering a loved one.
-Ga
Bu runs in to cement the victory: “The Great Father we have been
summoning is false. He only hurts us and those we love.” Words from one
former tempered to another.
-Unfortunately, even with the tempering lifted, the mistrust is still there.
PATRIARCH
ZA DA: “Men cannot be trusted! The bounty of the land was to be ours,
and yours the bounty of the sea! But you broke the pact! Violated,
breached, broke!”
…He’s not wrong. The Lominsans fucked up.
-Merlwyb
hears this. She offers a good deal, bringin the kobolds as partners,
but it’s not enough. (I don’t blame the kobold patriarch here.)
-But
she has one more offer: her life. She hands him her dueling pistol,
Death Penalty. Offers herself if that will atone for the past and clear
the way for future peace.
He takes the gun, and I’m honestly not really worried. He won’t kill her.
-Yeah,
he shoots into the air. Whew. He’ll give this a chance, on Ga Bu’s
word. (Go, Alisaie! This tentative peace is the result of your
cultivated kindness.)
---
Futures Rewritten
-Later, a sudden development. A tower has appeared in “the floating city” (?) blasting out purple light.
Towers like this have sprung up across Eorzea. They appear to be Garlean. This must be Fandaniel.
-Yup. I head to Ala Mhigo and Fandaniel himself soars in on a giant purple dragon.
FANDANIEL:
“It is my intention to recreate the Final Days, to which end I have
distributed a collection of rather ingenious devices which will, in
time, give rise to the grandest of spectacles.”
So… he wants to
recreate the apocalypse the Ascians strove to stop. He’s no longer
bounded by the guidance of the other Ascians, so he’s just going full
nihilistic burn-it-all-for-fun.
“Now, ladies and gentlemen! We,
the Telophoroi, shall be your performers, and this very star our
stage!” I checked Google Translate to see if that was a Greek word for
something, cause it sure looks like one, but nothing came up.
His dragon, which he calls “Lunar Bahamut,” blasts the ground with purple fire. [Later edit: the more I look at screenshots, the more it looks like FFX-2’s Dark Bahamut.]
Then a threat: unless I go give Zenos the epic fight he wants, Fandaniel will have Lunar Bahamut burn everything.
This sounds fishy af.
-We
regroup at Rising Stones. News is that Ul’dah’s negotiations with the
Amal’jaa were going fine until some men started abducting them. That
doesn’t sound like Fandaniel. Maybe some Ul’dah version of what Merlwyb
went through this session.
-Tataru and Krile will work to get Estinien’s help. He’s the dragon expert after all.
-Quick
cut then to a scout in Ala Mhigo returning from checking out
Fandaniel’s tower. They look hollow, tempered if I had to guess.
“GLORY BE TO GARLEMALD…”
It’s tres creepy. Is there some Garlemald primal in play?
---
Meanwhile, in the imperial palace…
-Zenos sits lazily on his throne as Fandaniel reports in.
What a strange relationship. What does Fandaniel get out of this?
-Zenos
tosses his old weapon aside, breaks it. He wants a new one for our
reunion. Hm. What would count as a worthy enough weapon now that he’s
basically an Ascian?
---
And… that’s it for 5.4! I
really like how they revisited the ARR beast tribe conflicts from a new
angle. And Merlwyb is just unrelentingly badass and fun to spend time
with. Hopefully we’ll keep getting more of those starting city internal
politics.
(I’ll never not be salty at how badly that coup plot was handled early in Heavensward.)
Not
sure what to make of Fandaniel. If all he is is some final Ascian
looking to burn things, he kinda bores me. But I don’t trust that’s all
he is.
If that’s all he is, why cooperate at all with Zenos? Why care at all about Ququshu fighting Zenos? Something doesn’t add up.
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Next time: the white mage quests. Then I’ll try the Bozjan stuff from 5.4.
