A Realm Reborn: Chapter 5 - Flibbertigibbet
Welcome back, everyone! Last time we were about to make the decision as to which of the three Grand Companies of Eorzea Satznswys was going to join, and I'll get to that eventually! But first, let's talk about the elephant in the room.
Yes, that is Lightning's hairstyle you saw on both Satznswys, and Jandelaine's customer when we unlocked access to the Aesthetician's services. However, this is not an item that comes stock with the game; it is purchaseable for real-world money on Square Enix's FFXIV storefront, Mogstation.
Unlike a lot of real-money stores in MMOs, Mogstation has no "pay-to-win" items to buy on the store. Instead, it's all cosmetic items that you can purchase such as mounts, minions, clothing items, hairstyles, rare dye that is still obtainable in-game, items from previous holiday events, and so forth.
Some other items that are available that don't fall into that category are the Main Scenario Progression books and the level boost books.
The first books will skip you to the beginning of any of the expansions' main story quest. These were created to give new players an option to get straight to the new content, or to allow players with an alternate character to get caught up quicker for raid content purposes.
The level boost books allow you to boost the experience level of one class to level 70, 10 levels below the current level cap. These are updated periodically as the level cap increases with each expansion.
The other thing I would be remiss in noting is Fantasia, a super special magical potion capable of changing a character's appearance completely.
The aesthetician's options for changing your appearance are robust, but still limited. You cannot change your race, gender, voice options, and a few others.
Fantasia allows you to change your appearance completely, as though you were making a completely new character. The properties of this potion are reality-warping, as none of the characters will notice this change. For them, Satznswys would always have been a Viera or a Lalafell. We're not doing that, obviously, but Square Enix is nice, and realizes that people may tire of the appearance they started with. One of the rewards for completing the ARR 2.0 storyline is a fantasia potion, which will sit in Satznswys's inventory forever.
We're returning to the Gold Saucer today, because there are some attractions I failed to show you the last time, and not just because I forgot to hit the aethernet shards and main aetheryte, no sir.
This mysterious masked man, The Masked Rose, has sponsored a weekly challenge to glam up Eorzea.
Satznswys sees through the disguise.
Here's how the Fashion Report works: Every week, starting on Tuesday, Masked Rose will release this week's theme, with descriptions of several gear pieces, and it's up to the players to come up with what he's going for. Then, on Friday, he becomes open for judging.
I'm not the most experienced at parsing the Fashion Report's clues, but I could hazard a guess that the earrings he's looking for need to be red in some way.
A member of the Sargatanas community,
Kaiyoko Star, has taken it upon herself to catalogue the Fashion Report for every week, and gives helpful infographics on how to obtain pieces to get the full 100 points.
A middling score, and we earn 10000 MGP just for participating. If you score above the 80-point threshold, you earn another 50000.
Here's another GATE, the Slice is Right, featuring the one and only Yojimbo, of Final Fantasy X fame.
The idea is that he will summon giant pillars of bamboo from the floor, and slice them. They'll fall over, knocking anyone hit by them off the stage and out of the contest. I've never actually done this GATE before, as it was added recently, so I'm knocked out almost immediately.
Daigoro, his faithful hound shows up as well!
On the upper level of the Wonder Square near Masked Rose are the Manderville Tables, where this lady is teaching people how to play Doman Mahjong.
Near as I can tell, it's played similar to real-world Mahjong, in that you have to build a hand of fourteen tiles, consisting of four sets of three, called triplets, and a pair of identical tiles. The triplets can be either sequential tiles from a suit (4-5-6, 2-3-4), or three of a kind. You draw a tile, then discard a tile. You can draw from either the draw pile, or take the tile that the previous player discarded. That's the basics, but there's a whole lot more to the game.
And there's a whole upper level that we didn't go to last time!
These two arcade machines are actually a repurposing of the original Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 mining and botany "minigames"
Further in, we arrive at the Lord of Verminion plaza, and I realize I've never really explained what minions are!
Minions are miniature pets that follow you around. They have no effect on combat or crafting or anything like that, and serve as a fashion item. But they also have another use, in this Lord of Verminion minigame. It's a real-time strategy game, akin to the Fort Condor defense game in Final Fantasy VII. You deploy your minions to destroy the opponent's armies and their crystal bases. The first one to destroy all three is the winner.
And up here, we have the Chocobo Square, where you can raise and race chocobos!
One quick trip to Bentbranch Meadows, and we have a racing Chocobo!
Pictures unrelated.
Hmm....
Now we get to name our racing chocobo, by picking from a list of pre-selected words.
Chocobo Racing runs similarly to how it works in Final Fantasy VII, where you guide your chocobo around the track. Holding up on the stick causes the chocobo to run faster, but will cause a lathered status, and their stamina to drain faster. Pull back on the stick to slow down and clear this status. There's also a little bit of Mario Kart, or the PS1 Chocobo Racing game in it as well, with panels on the ground that can (usually) cause you to speed up, but there are bad panels as well.
In addition, there are treasure coffers that appear on the track that will give you items that you can use to turn the tide of the race. In the tutorial, it only gives you Sprint Shoes, like a Mario Kart mushroom, but there are others as well.
And that's the basics of Chocobo racing, and with it, the rest of the Gold Saucer stuff I didn't cover!
So, tabulating the votes, and Maelstrom is the winner, Until Sea Swallows All! Satznswys heads back to the Waking Sands to give Minfilia her decision.
Meanwhile...
Alphinaud and Alisaie are hanging out in the Quicksand.
Alisaie is bugged that the speeches and ceremonies of the three nations were little more than "rah-rah" speeches, giving little mind to the Calamity and Seventh Umbral Era.
Alphinaud suspects that the people have forgotten the Warriors of Light who stopped awful things other than the Calamity.
I disagree with Alphinaud's scathing comments and tone here. We don't really know why nobody can recall the faces or names of the Warriors of Light, but it's no reason to hold it against the people. Besides, one of the first things Satznswys was told about when she got her start in adventuring from Momodi was about the Warriors of Light and how try as they might, nobody can remember them.
This sets Alisaie off, and she's out.
Alphinaud is a smug little bastard.
Honestly, Alphinaud leaves a lot to be desired from his first impression. He's cocky, smug, and a little too sure of himself. As you might guess, since we've been seeing these two since the beginning of the game, he and Alisaie are focal characters in the story of Final Fantasy XIV, and we will be seeing these characters evolve significantly over the course of A Realm Reborn, and the three expansions to date.
Alphinaud muses that only by working together, probably with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, will Eorzea be healed of its wounds, and preventing older ones from being torn open.
Back at the Waking Sands, Satznswys gives the recruiters her answer: Maelstrom it is. The recruiter sends her off to Limsa Lominsa to fill out her enlistment papers.
The other two recruiters are disappointed, but leave the door open if she ever changes her mind.
Here at Maelstrom Command, Satznswys introduces herself to the personnel officer, but just as they are about to administer the oath...
Seems there's a bit of trouble regarding Imperials shooting down an airship in lower La Noscea. There's very few able bodies to spare in the area, having deployed their troops to handling the sahagin threat elsewhere, so Satznswys is tasked with handling this in sort of a trial-by-fire basis.
Satznswys finds the downed airship, and a squad of Imperials.
They're a jumpy bunch. But this Roegadyn crewman and our heroine avoid detection.
He's still a little skittish after they get away from the wreckage.
A Storm officer comes along to check up on things, and smoothing things over quickly with the jumpy Roegadyn.
The Imperials look over the wreckage. One comments that magitek does not belong in the hands of "Eorzean savages". Great bunch, these guys. They mean to take the engineer, hiding aboard the wreckage, back to Castrum Occidens.
The Roegadyn gives the Lalafell engineer a name: Wedge. And the name of their ship is the Tiny Bronco. Very cute, Square Enix.
This Master Garlond seems like a handy guy to have around. Too bad he's missing, presuming he's not dead... Wedge and this guy, Biggs, were taking the Tiny Bronco out on a test flight when they were fired upon by the Imperials. So the officer says to the hells with the lot of the Imperials, and to protect Wedge.
The soldiers have a trick up their sleeve: a Magitek automaton weapons platform, with drill cannon arms!
Wedge comes out of hiding after the fight is over, and Biggs chides him for staying with the ship. Luckily, Wedge had the time to take a damage assessment, and determined that they can at least get the Bronco airborne long enough to get the ship back home. Biggs is grateful for Maelstrom stepping in when they did. And so they set to work repairing the ship while Satznswys goes to report back at Maelstrom HQ.
Before asking for the oath, the personnel officer gives us what the enlistment entails: meeting the Garlean and primal threats to Limsa Lominsa. They see joining this military force as joining the crew of a ship, that ship being the city-state itself.
Satznswys is assigned the rank of Private Third Class, and that's it.
Those that are here let out a round of applause.
Minfilia calls to congratulate her on her enlistment. Geez, news travels fast in Eorzea. She asks that Satznswys not forget that she is a part of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn as well. Then bids her to return to the Waking Sands (COUNT: 5) to meet some new people.
But first, Commander Rhiki here has some work for her.
Oh yeah, she's been schlepping around Eorzea on foot, mostly. The occasional airship trip or chocobo porter here or there, but Commander Rhiki has a better idea: her very own chocobo! Satznswys just needs to get 200 of a new currency: Storm Seals.
By doing work under the colors of a Grand Company, you'll earn Grand Company Seals for your GC of choice, which you can exchange for supplies, gear, and the requisition papers we need to get our own Chocobo. Luckily, one source of GC seals is a new page added to the Hunting Log, whose rewards are GC seals. Clearing any one of these hunts will be enough to get what we need to proceed. For Maelstrom, there's a particular type of kobold in Upper La Noscea which should be within Satznswys's strength to take.
Alternatively, Leveling Roulette rewards now include Grand Company seals as well, and the rewards for filling the role in need will be more than enough as well!
Having taken care of the work for Maelstrom, Satznswys has enough seals to get the issuance she needs, and then meets her new steed.
We can, of course, name him.
I choose a lore-compliant name.
And with that, Satznswys can now call her very own chocobo as a mount!
From the Mount Guide, you can select any mount to ride around on. There are hundreds of them, and some players like to collect as many as they can. There are mounts that can be crafted, for beating hard-difficulty fights, rewards from the Gold Saucer, and many more. Some are even Mogstation-exclusive.
Some are absolutely ridiculous, like this Strife Delivery Service Fenrir bike, from the Final Fantasy motion picture, Advent Children. This one in particular was given to everyone who attended the Square Enix convention "Final Fantasy Fanfest" prior to the release of Shadowbringers, and then was later released on Mogstation. It even plays the music "Crazy Motorcycle Chase" from Final Fantasy VII.
We'll stick with good ol' Boco for now, though. You can ride in any open world zone, except for cities. In addition, mounts start out a little bit faster than a permanent Sprint effect, and their speed can be increased by obtaining riding maps, and for story completion.
There's one more thing that can be done with our new friend Boco, in South Shroud.
She sends us to introduce Satznswys to another chocobo fan at Bentbranch Meadows. This has pretty much turned out to be the Chocobo Update for Final Fantasy XIV so far.
Luqulot tells Satznswys that she can summon her chocobo to fight on her side!
All we need are a bit of Gysahl Greens, a series-staple chocobo feed.
You might not have noticed, unless you were carefully watching the screenshots of each of these updates for the various interstitial quest names, but Koji Fox and the other localizers were given a lot of liberty to crack jokes in this game, for example, the quest that we just did to unlock our Chocobo mount is named "My Little Chocobo". Later on, we will get a quest to fight a harder version of Ifrit, and that quest's name is "Ifrit Bleeds, We Can Kill It". Koji Fox is a madman.
When using Gysahl greens, you get a 30 minute timer to call out your Chocobo friend, and he or she will fight on your side as a simplified pet. You can give them general commands to attack, hang back, or fight only when you're attacked. You can use a second green to extend this clock up to 60 minutes. Note that when you're in a city or residential zone, or when you are mounted, this clock is paused. You can easily see how much time you have left in the party list.
Your chocobo gains experience as you and they kill enemies in the field, and each time they level up, you earn a stipend of skill points to allocate into one of the three roles: Defender gives the Chocobo skills with increased emnity generation, allowing it to hold a little bit of threat off you, but not enough to hold a candle to a real tank's threat. Healer gives your Chocobo direct healing abilities, and a decent heal-over-time. Attacker gives them stronger auto-attacks, a DoT skill, and AOE damage skills.
Generally speaking, you'll want to focus your SP growth into Healer, unless you yourself are a healer, in which case you want to put points into either Attacker or Defender. A fully maxed out Chocobo will have all skills learned, though, and will be a beast to contend with. These can be re-specced at any time by feeding your chocobo some Reagan Greens.
Having negotiated that, Luquelot also hands over some saddlebags for the Chocobo. This is additional storage space that you can keep items in, but you cannot access them while in a duty or combat. Please note that you only get 70 inventory spaces as a part of the base game. To get the expanded Chocobo Saddlebag, you will have to have purchased a subscription to the FFXIV companion app on your phone, which lets you manage your retainers and buy and sell items on the market board from your Android or Apple smartphone. This service also gives you one additional retainer you can hire.
All that done, and now that we are established in a Grand Company, Satznswys has a couple of dungeons on the docket that you might've noticed in the Quest Log on the right side of the screen for a while.
The one we'll be tackling today is near Camp Drybone: Halatali. This place was built by Ul'Dah to house monsters for bloodsports. The place was abandoned after the Calamity, and the beasts bred into feral creatures, and so Satznswys has to go clean 'em out.
Another job well done. Satznswys feels refreshed and invigorated, and ready to take on the next job Minfilia has for her.
Back in the Waking Sands, Papalymo and Yda are talking things over.
Thancred reflects on Raubahn taking the news that one of his own could turn coat.
Back in the Solar, the Scions convene, and the topic of conversation are Satznswys's deeds rescuing Biggs and Wedge from the wreckage of the Tiny Bronco.
Minfilia has some guests, but is unable to introduce us, as Satznswys has already met them.
Yep, Biggs and Wedge show up, and make formal introductions. Seems they'll be joining the crew for the time being, as their expertise in Magitek-driven technology, especially airships, will be quite useful. And so Garlond Ironworks sent the two of them to the Waking Sands at Minfilia's request.
The Students of Baldesion have another report to deliver, commissioned by the Twin Adder. Minfilia asks Yda and Papalymo to break it down.
The sylphs are relatively benign, unlike the war-prone Amalj'aa. Minfilia means to use this non-agressive posture to maybe get in good with the sylphs and see just what makes the primals tick. They still worship Ramuh, but are either incapable of or unwilling to summon Him. But better safe than sorry, so the Scions are tasked with finding this out, as a neutral party would be better suited, rather than Gridania herself. After all, they have their hands full against the Ixal and their primal, Garuda.
Minfilia drills down to the point. By using the connection of souls inherent in the Echo, the sylphs could be convinced by more than just mere words.
Thancred says he's out, but nominates Yda and Papalymo to guide Satznswys. They agree, and they're off to the Twelveswood.
Before we go, we check in with the others. Seems Wedge has a bit of a crush on Tataru!
Urianger has a bit of lore on Ramuh: that he appears as an elderly sage, and that histories refer to him as "the old man of the woods."
The Waking Sands has gotten more lively, and the Scions' ranks have swollen a bit with Satznswys's newfound fame. Tataru keeps things in check, though.
Liavinne was one of the adventurers with Avere, Edda, and Paiyo Reiyo before Avere was killed. Seems she's tapped out of the adventuring gig and is helping out at the Waking Sands as unskilled labor. Good for her. At least she's keeping busy.
Hopping the ferry from Vesper Bay, and then an airship from Limsa Lominsa, Satznswys arrives in Gridania to check in with the Twin Adders.
While in Limsa Lominsa, Satznswys drops by Maelstrom Command, and her performance has been noticed by the brass, and she is promoted to Storm Private Second Class! Huzzah! This will allow her to stock up more Grand Company seals, and purchase new items with those seals.
Now, having completed this quest in particular, Sylph-management, something very important has just opened up. Once you've completed this quest, and you're level 30 or higher, you can take the next step in advancing your combat training! Finally, Satznswys can accept her Job Quest! Off to Ul'dah with her!
But first, Satznswys finds another Quest Plus, this time involving a woman who left behind a book that seemed important to her. A nearby archer says that she was talking about Apkallu Falls, in the northern end of the city.
Millith is grateful to have her journal back, and explains that she is stricken with wanderlust, wanting to see the most beautiful sights all over Eorzea. She invites Satznswys to explore the splendor of the Realm Reborn as well.
The Sightseeing Log allows you to find hidden vistas and points of interest all over Eorzea and beyond. Doing so will net you a small stipend of experience points, and there are achievements for discovering them as well.
But we have things to do! To the Gladiator's Guild!
Lulutsu's got the line on the Sultansworn, that they are sharing their secrets! Apparently, in the past, they were very secretive and reluctant to share their secrets except to the best of the very best. As is implied by the name, the Sultansworn are Ul'dah's palace guard, charged with protecting the Sultan or Sultana and their house. But why would they open up their book of secrets now? Curious to be sure, but Satznswys sees it as an opportunity to expand her skills in swordplay.
Satznswys introduces herself to Jenlyns, the captain of the Sultansworn. Jenlyns is keen to accept new recruits, because the glory days of the Sultansworn are behind them: the royal house turns to sellswords to protect the Sultana. Uh...awkward.
And so now, Jenlyns seeks to swell the Paladins' ranks by being a little more open with their recruiting process. However, one still has to know someone who knows someone to get a shot at this, and Mylla and the rest of the Gladiator's Guild can vouch for Satznswys's valor and prowess with a blade.
Seems she won't be taking an oath to Ul'dah, though. Perhaps they're just looking to spread their battle techniques further? Who knows?
He gives Satznswys her task: travel to Little Ala Mhigo. South of that settlement is an iron brazier. She is to light that flame to draw in the walking dead nearby, slay them, and deliver their ashes to Jenlyns as proof.
This mysterious Roegadyn tells her that there's more to being a paladin than just taking the oath, wearing the armor, and swinging the blade.
A little awkward, but he bids farewell, and Satznswys returns to Jenlyns.
Here's the crystal he gave Satznswys.
A free paladin has no master. Instead, they travel all lands and take up the cause of the unarmed and defenseless. Sounds great!
Seems like the crystal is from that traitor he mentioned before. An oathbreaker who turned his back on the Sultansworn.
So the arc for the Paladin story will be bringing this traitor to justice.
The crystal that Satznswys now bears is a Job Crystal, containing the memories of heroes past, just like Final Fantasy V. By equipping the Job Crystal...
Just like that, Satznswys is now a Paladin! And her hotbars are all jacked up! Luckily, there's a pretty easy fix for that, using command line control.
Every thing in the game, from activating things to using attacks tells the game, in shorthand, to execute a particular slash command like
would tell the game to perform the Fast Blade action on the target. The command I'm going to use will copy the positions and actions of a hotbar over from one class to another.
For controller users, the command line is similar, but with a different command.
Code:
/chotbar copy GLA 1 PLD 1
The syntax for these commands is the same: "copy" duplicates the hotbar from one class to another, in this case, Hotbar 1 for Gladiator to Hotbar 1 for Paladin. For crafters and gatherers, this can be especially helpful when setting up all eight of your class's hotbars. Just repeat this for all the hotbars you want to copy, and everything will be set up just as you left it as Gladiator.
Also, now that we the job class, we have a ton of new actions to plan for!
There, all my paladin actions are set and ready to go for when I unlock them. For now, we'll talk about the one that we just unlocked with the Job: Spirits Within. It's a 30 second OGCD attack that you weave in between GCDs, that deals more damage the more health you have. The way the cooldowns line up is that you'll get one Spirits Within with Fight or Flight up, and another while Fight or Flight is on cooldown. We'll get another quest for Paladin at 35 and every 5 levels until we hit 50.
But for now, Vorsaile Heuloix, the Serpent Commander, is left wondering why Satznswys bolted so soon after saying hello.
Vorsaile says that they are currently looking into the sylphs and their ties to the primal Ramuh.
Papalymo puts it best: "Better to be safe than sorry."
Ultimately, the job the three Scions have here is to answer that very question. He directs Satznswys, Yda, and Papalymo to speak with the untempered sylphs of Little Solace in East Shroud, near Hawthorne Hut.
The ferry down the hill from the Lancer's Guild travels between the city and near to Hawthorne Hut.
Between the hut itself and the ferry dock is an apiary, which Satznswys is directed to introduce herself to Rosa, one of the Hawthorne family, and, predictably, there's a crisis to avert: hornets are menacing the beehives.
Here's Spirits Within in action.
Rosa is pleased at Satznswys's work, and gives her a jar of honey to gift to the reticent Serpent guard at Hawthorne Hut, Amelain.
Amelain attacks the honey with Winnie the Pooh-like abandon, and then gets down to the business she's here for: the sylphs. Seems that the Empire is in the neighborhood, and that has made them a little skittish.
Satznswys pokes around the village for some more information. They're very prone to pranks and mischief. They have a very odd sense of formality and decorum, utterly alien to the taller folk.
This info jogs the memory of the patriarch, Rolfe, that the sylphs are very fond of dance, so dance she shall! He also advises a gift, but he can't remember what kind of gift the sylphs like, so he sends Satznswys back to the apiary, because maybe his wife, Rosa, knows.
So Satznswys gonna get the sylphs either drunk or high. Sounds like fun, let's do it.
Making quick work of a nearby ochu, Satznswys is up one milkroot and heads back to Rolfe.
He wraps the milkroot, and we're off to Little Solace. Amelain mentions a sylph by the name of Komuxio, an emissary of sorts.
A dance gets a foot in the door, and her gift of milkroot seals the deal.
When the news is dropped by Yda and Papalymo, however, Komuxio is not amused.
Hey, Yda, the jig was extremely jiggy. The jiggiest jig that has ever been jigged.
Yda suggests getting in good with the locals, and busting a move for the others.
Each of the races has their own unique dance animation for the /dance emote. Also, the name of this quest is "Dance Dance Diplomacy".
She is the queen of the world, her dance will save us all.
Great, Yda. Nice of you to conveniently skip out on the dancing.
Papalymo has another idea: help people with their problems. That is what an adventurer does, after all.
Imedia's problem is short and to the point: this area is menaced by monsters. Thin their number.
Having knocked that out, it seems that Komuxio is a little more trusting. The last outsiders to come through were less friendly.
Yeah, bodies of steel does sound pretty Empire-y to Satznswys. Seems like they're doing their Empire thing and knocking down trees, burning, and generally making a nuisance of themselves. She decides to ask around for more information.
A trail of clues leads Satznswys in this direction.
The imperial soldiers are easily dispatched, what with Satznswys's high level.
A bill of lading of some kind. Containing food and rocks. All local to the area, so Komuxio thinks there might be some cooperation between the tempered sylphs and the Empire.
Satznswys also gains a level from completing this quest, putting her to level 35. Normally, I would put the next Job Quest on hold until we finish this arc, but there is a skill locked behind the next Job Quest. So I'm sure Yda and Papalymo can hold down the fort while Satznswys takes care of that.
Back in Ul'dah, Jenlyns begins telling Satznswys about how he first saw the Sultansworn: as a child, he and his father were in the streets for some celebration. The two took a wrong turn down an alley, and unfortunately, were caught in a riot that turned bloody. When everything seemed lost, the former captain of the order swept in and saved the boy and father. And so he became obsessed with the Sultansworn, and wanted to be a paladin above all else. He worked hard, and earned his commission, and eventually the captaincy. But it was all hollow, since the seat he now occupied was formerly held by what he saw as the symbol of everything he built himself up to be.
The traitor made off with this sacred blade, and the Sultansworn began its sharp decline, and thus we have our reason for why they were opening their ranks: fresh blood for those who might rally to the Sultansworn's cause to revitalize the order, and find this traitor and Oathkeeper.
Jenlyns sends her out to light another brazier and kill whatever comes along after her. This is a pretty long trek north through La Noscea. Satznswys starts from Aleport, heads north through Bronze Lake, all the way to the ancient Floating City of Nym.
All to kill a few lemurs.
Okay, buddy, that was kind of absurd. Why?
Oh, just to see that I've internalized what you've taught me so far. Okay, cool, buddy. Catch you on the flip side.
He did give us a new skill though, and also an expansion to the Oath gauge. Now we're gonna start building meter!
The new skill he taught Satznswys is Sheltron: an off-GCD that blocks incoming attacks for four seconds, at the cost of 50 oath gauge. Paladins generate 5 oath gauge points with every auto-attack, so every ten auto-attacks, you can use Sheltron to block attacks. Note that it doesn't mitigate all the damage incoming, but knocks off a huge chunk of it. It's used for attacks that would outright kill a healer or DPS, but only severely wound a tank. Common parlaiance names these attacks "tankbusters".
Also, at 35, better gear is available, so she calls up one of her friends in the Talking Tyrants, who happily gets working on the anvil for some fresh new gear.
It's. PERFECT.
This is the "Tin Can" phase of tank gear. You'll notice that she has no head piece or boots equipped, because the head and feet pieces are integrated in to the legs and body. So Satznswys is gonna be stuck looking like this for a while, at least until level 40.
Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled MSQ.
Hi Komuxio. Do you like my new armor? They are absolutely lathered about their friend, Claxio, who left the village, and is probably in danger of getting chewed on.
Claxio has had it with both the tempered sylphs and the untempered ones of Little Solace, because the latter relies on the walking ones, i.e. the Hyurs, Mi'qote, Roegadyn, etc. for too much.
Komuxio is displeased with this turn of events, as there are tempered sylphs all over this part of the wood, and in fact, there is a FATE in the area that describes the tempered ones periodically attempting to abduct the untempered and turn them.
Yeah, this seems about right.
Claxio gets about five feet away when...
Yep.
Luckily, Papalymo and Yda are not far behind!
Beating up the tempered sylphs is a pretty simple ordeal. Part of the way through the fight, they summon a Final Fantasy staple enemy, a morbol. Like most Final Fantasy games, you don't want to be on the receiving end of its Bad Breath attack, or you'll get slapped with about a billion bad debuffs that make life absolutely miserable. And, of course, Papalymo and Yda run right into it.
Afterward, Komuxio comes up, relieved that Claxio is safe. Claxio was upset that the sylphs of Little Solace were becoming more friendly with the walking ones, and he was afraid that the untempered sylphs would possibly be lost in the same way the tempered sylphs are. Komuxio calls him a dummy, but nicely, and the two head back to Little Solace.
Back in the village, Komuxio is happy to introduce Satznswys to the elder. There's just a slight wrinkle though...
It seems the elder wandered off into the forest, toward South Shroud. The elder was last sighted near the home of a walking one named Buscarron, so that's a lead to follow.
Back in Gridania, Vorsaile is alarmed at the elder's disappearance, and directs Satznswys to inform a Wood Wailer officer, Giah Molkoh to search as well. He's directing all hands on deck to find the elder.
When Satznswys arrives at Buscarron's Druthers, she finds Papalymo and Yda already in the area.
For his part, Buscarron seems concerned, but unlikely to do much than be a waypoint for information. There's very little to do that isn't already being done by others, so he suggests cooling heels until something more tangible comes out.
Like breaking up bar fights. A drunkard is stirring up trouble, and Buscarron asks Satznswys to take a tub down to the river, fill it with water, and then douse the troublemaker.
Sploosh.
Buscarron is happy with her work, and has something else for her to do: Teteroon, a Qiqirn friend that he rescued after the Calamity, took off for Limsa Lominsa with a merchant, and after he left, Buscarron found an earring that belonged to the Qiqirn, and so, he asks Satznswys to return it.
Satznswys gets a bit of a runaround in Limsa Lominsa, and the trail heads to Aleport.
And further north, to Bronze Lake.
You're a tricky guy to find, Teteroon. He seems really down and misses Buscarron.
So he wants to make booze for him! What a good friend. Naturally, he asks us to find some supplies for him. Namely, fresh water and coeurl whiskers, both of which can be found at nearby Fool's Falls.
After setting up the firewater, he sends us back to Buscarron with the instructions to let it age for a year.
Buscarron is a little overcome with the memories of his friend. But this diversion wasn't all bad: he got word while Satznswys was away that Sylphs were seen in the area.
That's not all that's in the area though!
When Buscarron gets wind of it, he's very shocked: Imperials wouldn't have any business down this far south, and even if they did, the Wood Wailer patrols would put a stop to it...unless there were a traitor in their midst, the same as the Immortal Flames did?
Seems there's a bloke around who's come in to a lot of coin, and speaking as someone who had to look at PowerPoint slides about the warning signs of potential espionage insider sources, he fits the bill: he's a Wood Wailer, and he barely had two gil to rub together to afford a pint of gutrot and a bowl of thin soup, and now he's ordering Buscarron's finest.
He gives the name: Laurentius, and tells Satznswys to look in on him discreetly, and put a stop to him if he is in fact a turncoat.
He is, in fact, looking a little squirrely, and tells Satznswys to piss off before running away. To be fair, you try doing anything discreetly in The Tin Can.
And Satznswys still got the drop on him. Well, this ain't good for you, buddy.
A few swipes of the sword, and Laurentius's would-be Imperial rescuer is put on the ground. He legs it yet again. This is getting old.
Correction: it got old.
...Laurentius is really reminding Satznswys of that merchant jerk what got himself tempered by Ifrit.
Thankfully, we've got backup in the form of a few of the Redbelly bandits of the area.
And also the Coeurlclaws! This is turning out to be a mess. Just a few waves of Garlean soldiers, and Laurentius himself.
Laurentius realizes that the reason the bandits and the Wood Wailers would fight shoulder to shoulder is that Garlemald threatens all of them equally, and the inspiring words of men and women like Buscarron are what can drive those who would normally fight each other to stand shoulder to shoulder. Laurentius, unlike Ungust before him, sees his crimes laid bare, and swears to turn himself in.
Buscarron is pretty melancholy about the state of things. He hopes that the Adders will see his contrition and take that in to account. It's not all bad, though. Buscarron finally has a lead on the sylph elder!
Buscarron points the trio in the direction of a nearby abandoned dungeon called The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak.
Noraxia is beside themself with worry, obviously. They tried to go in after the elder, Frixio, and got hurt. Papalymo stays at the Druthers to tend to Noraxia's wounds, and sends Yda to alert the Twin Adders. For Satznswys, her job is obvious: to head into the Thousand Maws and find the elder. The accord between Gridania and the sylphs is on the line!
The Thousand Maws is a short jog north of the Druthers. Let's do this!
With that work down, from the ceiling, a spider-silk cocoon drops, and out pops an old sylph. One might call them...ELDERly.
Oh boy, Echo time.
Seems Nero has been in the neighborhood, looking for the primal. The Garleans call the primals "eikons", to distance the beings from the idea that they are divine in any way. The lot of them are trying to keep a low profile to avoid confrontation with the Wood Wailers or the Adders.
Nero is annoyed by this lack of Ramuh's presence, and sarcastically tells the sylphs to pick a better god.
The Imperials took a number of sylphs captive, but, most likely, they were untempered, and did not seek succor from Ramuh, which appears to have been Nero's intent.
The Empire cannot abide the presence of the primals. So why are they trying to goad the tribes of Eorzea to summon them? Also, Nero continues to bare his obsession with finding this Master Garlond we've heard so much about.
"Ultimate weapon". That sounds like a bad thing.
Noraxia and Frixio observed this conversation, which is why Satznswys was privy to this.
Back in the present, Frixio is very keen to know why Satznswys and Juno came down here.
Frixio is more keen to get the hell out of this smelly dungeon and back home. I tend to agree.
Reporting back to Buscarron, he's very relieved to find out Frixio is safe, and bids Satznswys to follow back to Little Solace. He'll fill in Yda, Papalymo, and the Adders for her.
Back at Little Solace, Frixio greets Satznswys warmly, just as Yda and Papalymo arrive.
Turns out the misadventures came about due to the imperials in the neighborhood, as Satznswys saw in the Echo flashback. The soldiers found them, and gave chase. They followed Frixio all the way to Toto-Rak and inside, where they happened upon the Ascian, Lahabrea.
Papalymo gets back to the reason why they're out here in the first place: the message from Kan-E-Senna. Frixio tries to assuage the Gridanians' concerns: the reason Ramuh was summoned was to attempt to drive the imperials out of the Twelveswood, and there was no aggression intended toward Gridania. Frixio counseled against it, some of the sylphs attempted it, and they all became tempered.
So those that weren't touched by Ramuh fled to Little Solace to escape the Arbiter's influence and His now-tempered minions. Frixio explains that Ramuh is not callous and cruel, and wants to leave well enough alone. As long as the Gridanians stay out of Ramuh's domain, no harm will befall them.
For now, Papalymo, for now. The two of them make to head back to the Waking Sands, while Satznswys reports back to Gridania to deliver the good news.
Before she departs, Frixio gifts her a purple crystal!
Back in Gridania, Vorsaile is pleased to learn that Gridania need not fear Ramuh, as long as they steer clear of the tempered sylphs.
Hi, Minfilia. She's pleased to learn of Satznswys's work in the Twelveswood, as it removes a potential primal threat, though there is still another primal to deal with there, and this news of Garlean incursion into the Twelveswood is troubling. Minfilia bids Satznswys return to the Waking Sands (Count: 5).
Tataru happily welcomes Satznswys back. In the solar...
...You need to stop following Satznswys around, you creepy little stalker. Minfilia pushes back, saying that the situation has been turned down to a low simmer, rather than a boil threatening to make a huge mess of the stew.
Minfilia asks after Alphinaud's sister, and it seems she's out doing her own thing, but she seeks the same goal as the others.
Stop being so damn ambiguous, the both of you. WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE, ALPHINAUD?
Right off the bat, the Scions get to discussing where to focus their efforts next. Yda suggests the sahagin and the Lord of the Whorl, Leviathan. Papalymo advises against that, seeing as they lack crystals to perform the summoning.
Good work Yda.
The camera cuts meaningfully to Biggs and Wedge in the corner. Hmm...
After everyone leaves, Satznswys tells Minfilia about Lahabrea, the Ascian she met in Toto-Rak. Before the Calamity, they acted in secret, but now they're acting openly.
Uh oh.
Oh, hello, Noraxia. Seems Frixio sent Noraxia to the Scions to be of assistance.
Tataru is still very apprehensive.
And with that, this chapter comes to a close. Next time, we'll start off with some tomb raiding!