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May you ever walk in the Light of the Crystal! Let's Play Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
Welcome back, all! Satznswys and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn are settling in to their new digs at Revenant's Toll, and there's some work here in town!

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Namely, that big tower made of crystal in the distance is in dire need of exploring. And an organization of archaeologists is gearing up to do just that!

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And this oddly-masked fellow is just the guy who can put Satznswys in touch with them.

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Yep, that's her! This fellow says that he's investigating the knowledge of a fallen civilization, and that there is some severe risk involved, but the greater the risk, the greater the prize.

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Flattery, sir, will get you everywhere. He tells Satznswys to find a man named Rammbroes out east, toward the great tower, at a base camp called Saint Coinach's Find.

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Her reputation preceeds her. Apparently, this endeavor has been limited just to the organization he represents. However, he dismisses it, because Satznswys is there now, and she's one of the best in Eorzea for this kind of work. He warns, just like the fellow in town, that this is super-dangerous.

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Oh, hello, Cid. Rammbroes is working with Cid on this project as well, so it'll be nice to have some reliable help along as well, but nobody's really told her what she's going to be doing out here.

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Allagan archaeology wasn't an elective she picked at college, though, so Cid is only too happy to elaborate, using the Ultima Weapon as an example. It wasn't constructed by the Garleans, but merely repaired, restored, and modified by Gaius's engineering expert, Nero tol Scaeva.

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After the explosion of Ultima wiped out the Praetorium completely, as well as Dalamud's fall, Cid feels it prudent to treat all Allagan artifacts with extreme care. Analysis, and protection, to keep their power from falling into hands with fell purpose. So that's what brings Cid and the Sons of Saint Coinach here: to explore and catalog the Crystal Tower.

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The stone Cid throws is obliterated completely by the barrier that stands in between the two statues. And eagle-eyed viewers will note that there are three others behind the red one just like it.

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So, flying at the thing is a non-starter, meaning they've got to take down these barriers somehow.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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Well, she's your Roegadame, Rammbroes!

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The barriers are aspected to the four classical elements: fire, water, wind, and earth. Cid's been running the numbers, and thinks that with crystals of the corresponding elements, they can take the lethal barriers down.

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Only the purest will do. So he suggests infiltrating the lairs of the tribes for highly pure crystals.

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So, long-time Final Fantasy fans will likely recognize this barrier as being quite similar to the barrier that blocked the way to the Crystal Tower of Final Fantasy III for the Famicom, and this is no coincidence. Naoki Yoshida has said that Final Fantasy III was his favorite when he was a child, and it's no surprise that this whole raid series would pay homage to that. In that game, you had to find four artifacts to break the guardian statues, as it is here. I personally remember trying to walk past one without the artifacts, and it kills you instantly, outright, causing a game over.

Furthermore, these quest objectives are changed significantly from when they were first released. Previously, there were FATEs that spawned infrequently in the related zones that were required to complete the objectives. About a year or so ago as of this writing, the developers changed it so that those FATEs were no longer required. And, now, as of the 5.3 patch to Shadowbringers, the Crystal Tower story is required to proceed with the Main Scenario Quest. The FATEs still exist, but are totally optional.

Satznswys switches to Paladin temporarily for the added defense, as she's going deep into tribal territory. First up is a water crystal from the Sahagin, and an Earth crystal from the kobolds.

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Rammbroes is impressed at the crystals' quality, and sends Satznswys to get the other two they need: Fire from the Amalj'aa, and Wind from the Ixal in Coerthas.

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Done and dusted!

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Checking back in with Rammbroes, he says that the crystals are all well and good, but they need some further refinement to be useful for their purposes.

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He sends her out to find a very rare and expensive material: aethersand. He asked the goldsmith's guild in Ul'dah, but they're fresh out.

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Rammbroes is worried that other unscrupulous sorts might have their eyes on the Crystal Tower, so he wants to keep things on the down-low for now. Satznswys heads off to Ul'dah to check in with the goldsmith's guild.

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What luck!

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Oh, hello, Biggs! Jemime is apologetic that the aethersand Satznswys just paid for is spoken for.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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Seems he doesn't have enough gil to even afford the full supply.

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Biggs ain't stupid.

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Hmm. Sounds fascinating! I'm sure Cid would be interested.

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Sorry, buddy. I'm sure she can find something for you to work at with this Crystal Tower project.

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Biggs suggests hunting down the other types of aethersand herself.

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Seems Wedge is stepping up and taking charge more and more, at Satznswys's example. Good for him! Let's go see how he's faring.

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Not good, it seems.

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Hi.

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Oops! He dropped the aethersand, boss!
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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Uh, EXCUSE you.

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Yeah, we're half-way there. But we'll need more than a prayer to live through getting through the rest of the guardian statues.

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Cid's cantankerously proud of his apprentices, that he can't rest on his laurels when they're out there innovating.

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As for the other two aethersand types they need, Rammbroes has a lead. He has a friend from Sharlayan he asked to check in Gridania, and he hasn't gotten word back. While it's not unusual for him to go silent, he's still concerned. Nevertheless, they don't have the time to wait for him to track everything down, and so Rammbroes sends Satznswys to pick up where he left off, at the marketplace in Gridania.

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Well, bummer. He says that he knows where to mine the ore for some water aethersand, but only a desperate fool would go there willingly: Urth's Gift, in South Shroud.

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This mysterious person says they already got the minerals. At least he's kind enough to drop a line on some wind aethersand.

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Well, hello, again. Wanna stop being so mysterious?

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Guess not! Off we go.

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Oh, how nice.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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Rammbroes is pleasantly surprised, and gets it to Cid to work on.

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...yeah, the artifacts to break the barrier statues in Final Fantasy III were fangs as well.

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So the whole Ironworks gang is along for the ride, it seems. Cid says that twice in the last decade, the promise of unimaginable power has prompted men to meddle with technology beyond their ken, dragging the realm to the jaws of oblivion. He's going to be responsible with this.

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Cid reminds that Allag fell, despite all their fancy technology.

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So that mysterious voice's owner reveals himself: Rammbroes' companion.

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This is G'raha Tia, a member of the Students of Baldesion. That organization sent him out here, likely before it vanished, to work on this Crystal Tower project in their stead.

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NOAH? Cid is puzzled.

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So Raha is pretty extra, if eloquent.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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Enough of this, let's get going!

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The Eight Sentinels guarding the Crystal Tower are southeast of the Coinach Camp.

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Through the gate, they approach the Eight Sentinels.

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Raha is a bit overwhelmed at the energy they're giving off. Cid says that it's lucky that they do, otherwise one might blunder past them and be annihilated.

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Raha makes a quick test.

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Biggs is concerned for Cid's safety.

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Nicely done!

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Two by two, the Sentinels fall.

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Cid suggests that Satznswys build a squad to enter.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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He's got a very high opinion of Satznswys's ability, and trusts her to start cleaning the interior while they analyze the Sentinels, now that they are no longer a threat.

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He asks her to give them a call once the coast is clear.

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The Labyrinth of the Ancients is the first Alliance Raid in the game. Alliance Raids are 24 player dungeons that present their own unique challenges, dangers, and rewards. The group of 24 players, matched via the Alliance Raid Duty Roulette, consists of three separate Full Parties of one tank, two healers, and five DPS each. There are three such raids in an expansion, scheduled to be released on the X.1, X.3, and X.5 major patches, alternating with the raid tiers.


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In the aftermath of defeating Phlegethon, NOAH comes up.

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G'Raha seems fairly impressed.

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Yeah, this place does seem very...lorge. G'raha says that his colleagues discovered that the Crystal Tower was a solar collector. Satznswys talks about the Labyrinth's defenses.

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Care to elaborate?
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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What's up, Biggs?

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Cid's thankful for Satznswys's presence here. G'raha suggests pulling back to review their discoveries thus far, and their plan for actually breaching the Crystal Tower itself.

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Rammbroes begins by pointing out that the labyrinth's defenses were very much active, and that the last guardian she faced, Phlegethon, was augmented with Allagan technology.

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Cid surmises that if the tower's secrets are too dangerous to share with the world, then containment is the likely outcome. Leveling it is likely to be difficult with its defenses active, so they should return them to dormancy. To do that, they have to figure out how they work, so exploration and discovery will need to be the way of things for now.

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A real catch-22, eh. Rammbroes asks Cid to analyze what they've discovered so far, while they take a pause to consider what to do next.

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G'raha tries to duck out of the boring work.

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And with that, the meeting as adjourned.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
MEANWHILE...

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GASP! Nero!

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Is that a cliffhanger for you? But how did he know about this expedition in the first place? Will G'raha Tia actually help out analyze their findings? And just what is at the top of the Crystal Tower? Tune in next time for the next exciting episode of Crystal Tower Z!

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...or, whatever.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
Just as a reminder, I am taking votes for the job that Satznswys carries in to Heavensward, which is still quite a ways away, 4 MSQ patches, but I'll be taking votes until I post the final update.

Currently, Summoner leads the pack, with 3.5 votes, then Dark Knight with 3 votes, and then Ninja, with 2.5 votes.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Add another point to Summoner's tally!

Gosh it's been awhile since I played this myself, I should give some of those cutscenes a re-watch. I don't remember half of them characters.

Like seriously, what's with that random catboy?!
 

Juno

The DRKest Roe
(He, Him)
Add another point to Summoner's tally!

Gosh it's been awhile since I played this myself, I should give some of those cutscenes a re-watch. I don't remember half of them characters.

Like seriously, what's with that random catboy?!
He's a shifty one, I say


Anyway it was fun talking about Labyrinth so thanks again for having me on McDohl.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
Hello, everyone! Today's likely to be a short and sweet update, because it's more informative, and Satznswys won't be getting into much combat outside of the rematches we have on tap against the primals!

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But first, let's talk about the minstrel in the corner of the Seventh Heaven!

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Hmm. Interesting. How canny of you.

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He asks, rhetorically, if it was Satznswys who faced Gaius van Baelsar and the Ultima Weapon. He insists on sparing not a detail.

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He repeats his poem. "The Black Wolf was a conquerer who aspired to rule through might, and the weapon was key to his ambition. Yet, in the end, the people of Eorzea entrusted their fates to a brilliant blade--the Warrior of Light."

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He thanks Satznswys for the story, and says he's found the inspiration he's been looking for.

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So this unlocks the first of many difficult trials. Every trial battle comes with it a remixed version of the battle, with more difficult mechanics, and higher skill and execution required. These aren't required to complete, but they do come with greater and more valuable rewards beyond just tomestones. Ultima's Bane is the battle against the Ultima Weapon from Praetorium, and is classified as an "Extreme" difficulty fight, but not named as such. The final bosses of an expansion (the trial battles you fight at the end of the MSQ for X.0 and X.3 patches) will generally have an eloquent name for their Extreme Difficulty duty. You'll find yourself talking with the Wandering Minstrel throughout your Final Fantasy XIV career, telling him your stories, and listening to them being turned into songs for the ages. When you go into one of these Extreme-difficulty fights, you're not actually going into there, you're listening to the Minstrel's songs and thinking back on that day, and all of the embellishment and exaggeration in his song is translated into harder fights, bigger DPS checks, more esoteric mechanics that require coordination with your party, and more!

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That's not all, though. Returning to the Waking Sands, accept this quest from Urianger, the Scions' resident expert on primal lore.

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Garuda's back, and meaner than ever.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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Commander Heuloix says that the Ixal have tweaked their aetheryte after Satznswys went in and did her thing before.

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Uh oh, she's being watched.

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I'll be doing this unsynced with Satznswys and some friends from the Talking Tyrants FC.

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Oooh! I had hoped that RNG would allow for this as well! This is one of the things that I alluded to with Extreme difficulty fights: special mounts!

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Most of the Extreme fights in the game have a special mount associated with them, themed within the expansion. For A Realm Reborn, these are elementally-themed horses, and instead of the regular mount music, they play music from their primal fight, so when Satznswys hops on Xanthos here, you can hear Garuda's theme.

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Satznswys turns in the shiny she found at the Howling Eye to Commander Heuloix. He says that Urianger would be better suited to taking a look at it.

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Gee. I wonder if those two Ascians are involved...
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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...Twelve damn it, now that song is stuck in my head.

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Yep, Titan's doing Titan things.

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Yeah, the damage is a little wild for a party with no healers.

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Ascians gonna Ascian.

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Just like before, Commander Rhiki is baffled by the fetish, and sends Satznswys back to Urianger to confer with the expert.

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And Urianger thinks that someone is doing this to draw Satznswys out.

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Well, whatever, Ifrit Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It. If they're gonna keep baiting Satznswys out with stronger primals, then Urianger and she might be able to get to the bottom of this.

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Yep, same as before, aetheryte in Zahar'ak is jacked up, gotta go boop it again.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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Yeah, a little batty for Satznswys at her current level.

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Back to Commander Swift, then back to Urianger.

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The nice thing about working on all these EX fights is the first-time bonuses for clearing the fights, meaning there's a lot of tomestones in it, and with them comes more and more ironworks gear!

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And the Kingly Whisker Satznswys got from the Moggle Mog fight can be put to use.

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YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

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The Extreme fights also can rarely drop materials that are used in crafting weapons themed after the fights, barding for your chocobo companions, or trophies to be used as housing decorations.



This is a silly little April Fools' Day video that Square Enix made that sort of illustrates what the primal grind is like, and can be relevant even to current content. You're grinding the Extreme fight, and finally, after like 10 or 12 clears, the mount drops, and it goes to the guy who died all through the fight. Then they loot and scoot, and the party crumbles.

And that's a good place to leave things off. Next time, Alisaie's got a lead on her investigation into the Binding Coils of Bahamut, so stay tuned for that!
 
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TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
Vote tally update for the beginning of Heavensward!

1 - Summoner, 5 votes
2 - Dark Knight, 3 votes
3 - Ninja, 2.5 votes

I'll be tallying this up during the whole of the patch content, and the job with the most votes will be the one that we do for the content released in the initial Heavensward patch! Don't worry about making me level up a new job from scratch! It goes by really quick, and you'll get a meaty job story post update! I accept split votes, and when a job gets picked, its votes are eliminated, and all other votes are retained. I'm tracking everyone's votes by name, and partial votes will become full votes if they are eliminated this way.
 

Büge

Arm Candy
(she/her)
Oh boy. Hopefully you won't have to level Summoner beyond Heavensward. Apparently there's a bug in one of the Stormblood Summoner quests that makes it extremely difficult to beat.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
Welcome back to the LP! Previously, Satznswys got carried through a bunch of extremely difficult primal fights I didn't want to have to deal with Duty Finder random players, and aren't required to progress in the game! Just doing it for the Poetics, mostly.

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And there'll be more of that today, as we pick things back up in the Waking Sands. Urianger has received word from Alisaie, that she's found a lead to follow up on in the Bahamut investigation!

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Alisaie reviews the story so far, in case it's been 7 months or so since you looked at the story related to Binding Coil of Bahamut.

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In the developments to this point, Urianger has been conferring with Rammbroes, Satznswys's ally in investigating the Crystal Tower. Apparently, Dalamud was a great solar energy collector, which channeled its energy into the Crystal Tower.

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Analyzing tomestone records recovered from the Crystal Tower refers to the devices sealing Bahamut as "Ragnarok-class Internment Hulks". They surmise that they exist for two reasons: first, to bind Bahamut to prevent him from escaping Dalamud. Second, the hulks feed him energy. The same kind of energy that sustains all primals. Bahamut is not permitted to live or die with these devices binding him as such. They keep him manifested, but unable to act. At least, until the moon crashed. But it seems that, after smashing deep underground, the coils have continued to operate, maintaining the elder primal's form, and keeping it imprisoned.

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Kind of a fucked up way to imprison someone, eh? Alisaie wonders what is supplying all this energy to Bahamut, and that the Allagans found a way to simulate prayer and fervent belief.

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So she thinks, if they shut down the internment hulks, then Bahamut should be able to dissolve back into the aether that surrounds and permeates the planet. Her emphasis on the word 'should'.

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And so they've found the location of the next internment hulk: North Shroud.

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Heading over to Alisaie's point of contact in Fallgourd Float, Anaelle says that her preliminary investigation reveals that the structures below are very similar to the ones discovered near Wineport.

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Heading down into the ravine, this private gives a little more information on the Dalamud fragment.

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Waiting for Alisaie to arrive back at Fallgourd Float...
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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Oh, Alphinaud!

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He says that despite her protestations if she were here, Alisaie's affection and admiration for their grandfather greatly exceeds his own. So, she is wont to go above and beyond to carry on their grandfather's work, and made Eorzea's salvation her personal crusade. He's not worried about her dedication to her cause, but her fixation with Louisoix's shade. She can't let her affection for him to come before the mission.

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He asks both Satznswys and Anaelle to keep his presence here from Alisaie. Uh, sure, I guess, buddy?

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Arriving near the site, things get weird, and Alisaie and Satznswys can now see the strange wing-shaped crystal formations. Alisaie thinks the shard of Dalamud goes hundreds of yalms deep beneath the surface, and the leakage of aether must be what's causing the visual distortion. She suggests treading lightly.

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She's already thinking about how to help her grandfather. She puts it aside for the moment, as they need to get in to this thing first.

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And their first trial: an aether-corrupted plant monster!

They enter the hulk.

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And find someone standing in their way: the Garlean commander in charge of Project Meteor: the White Raven, Nael van Darnus. Something doesn't seem right, here, though.

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VERY not right. "Nael deus Darnus" indeed.

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Well, that was...weird. They're gone.

Alisaie is likely just as confused as the audience. She advises even more caution than before, and that there can be no reasoning with the slaves of a primal.

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They hop down on to the lift, which takes them down into an area with storage containers of some kind. This part is an elevator fight with a series of trash monsters.

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This lamia creature, Melusine, does a lot of mean things with petrification and gaze attacks, which you can avoid by not looking at her when you see the eye indicator on her.

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Heading deeper into the structure, Alisaie is taken aback at the depth to this place. She says that the Allagans excelled in the creation of chimerical beasts, and that Dalamud once teemed with all kinds of monstrosities designed to prevent Allag's enemies from releasing Bahamut from His prison. In a lot of ways, the Allagan aesthetic is reminiscent of the world of Final Fantasy XIII, but there are nods to Final Fantasy VIII as well. The moon of FF8's world teemed with all kinds of horrible monsters, and every so often, the monsters would sort of build up on the moon over time, and then get expelled from it on to the planet in a phenomenon called the Lunar Cry. I can imagine something similar happening here, just as Dalamud was approaching the planet, the aetherytes going haywire, monsters appearing all over the place, even in the cities...

You want to get to the central bow of the structure.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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The Avatar can be tricky, as it gets buffs from the terminals at the sides of the arena, but since you'll likely be doing this stuff unsynced, it isn't too dangerous.

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Deep beneath the structure, our heroes come to a really strange scene. This Nael deus Darnus is here, as seems appropriate. They call it a grave for the undeserving. And for approaching this sacred realm to their god, they're gonna kill Satznswys and the others.

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Gasp! They're a woman?

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Alisaie theorizes that whatever was left of Nael after he died was cobbled together by Bahamut's will into the form that they see now, and she channels the Elder Primal's rage. The reason why Nael's gender is confused is, according to FFXIV Lore Nerd Mightyblue, that lore hadn't been completely written yet, and there was no voice acting in 1.x to go off of. As Japanese has a lot of gender-neutral pronoun structure in the language that doesn't cleanly translate over to English, the localization team made Nael male, thinking there wouldn't be an issue, as she was previously always going to be in full legatus armor...until Alisaie just blew her helmet off with an Arcanist's Ruin spell. So the localizers were stuck between a rock and a hard place. What they came up with to spackle over the issue was thus: the Nael we see here is actually the original Nael's sister, who had taken the former's name and worked her way up the Garlean heirarchy.

It's definitely not a clean patch job, to be sure.

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TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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Standing victorious, Nael has reverted to her not-scary dragon form.

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Ooof, cold Alisaie. But in all fairness, this person WAS responsible for destroying Eorzea five years ago. Alisaie taunts her further, saying that Bahamut, her primal deity, is abandoning His servant.

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Huh?

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She's...come to her senses? Alisaie says what we're all thinking: once enslaved by a primal, a mortal mind cannot be freed. This has been the truth we've been told since the beginning of the game.

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Unless, that, yeah? It does stand to reason that why would a primal relinquish its tempered slave when, just for living, it fuels the primal's existence through their belief. So if Bahamut didn't need Nael's fervent faith, then He could just give her up for dead.

Nael does not try to shift blame though. Project Meteor was her doing, and she did all of that of sound mind.

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Alisaie asks her to spill the beans before she...dies or whatever's about to happen to her? What happened on that day of the Calamity? What happened to her grandfather?

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Nael says that all will be revealed at the end of this place, and that fate is indeed cruel.

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Oh. Well. So much for that.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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Alisaie is unsettled by that voice...that voice from her youth.

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Finally, they arrive at the coil. Bahamut's regeneration is moving distressingly quickly.

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Alisaie apologizes for faltering. She feared losing Satznswys, just as she lost her grandfather.

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She is heartened that they've come so far.

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Shut down, good to go.

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Oh.

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Oh, no, Alisaie!

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Louisoix orders her to stop this quest, that he shall not abide any more sabotage of the coils.

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This...is very not good.

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Satznswys steps in front of Louisoix to protect Alisaie.

Louisoix wonders how Nael could have fallen to these weaklings.

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Uh...yeah, Louisoix is looking more and more tempered all the time.

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He vanishes.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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Alisaie shouts defiantly at Bahamut's regenerating body.

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Alisaie asks Satznswys to head back and check in with Urianger. She has a lot to think about.

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Urianger calls it an aetherial shadow made in Louisoix's image, in thrall to the elder primal. He thinks that this is all too much for her to bear, and she should step away from this mission.

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And in she walks. If nothing, this encounter has strengthened her resolve. Urianger considers this, agrees, and says nothing further on the matter, moving on to the other distressing entity down there, Nael.

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Alisaie proves her resolve, as Urianger questions that removing the elder primal's thralls means expunging Louisoix as well.

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And, with that, Alisaie heads off to continue her investigation.

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Urianger is struggling with all this.

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Alphinaud clearly knows more than he's letting on. Is it to spare his sister's feelings?


Alright! Thanks for reading! Next time, we check back in with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, now firmly settled in their new home at Revenant's Toll!

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Checking in with Satznswys's Heavensward job poll, standings are unchanged so far from the last post:

1 - Summoner, 5 votes
2 - Dark Knight, 3 votes
3 - Ninja, 2.5 votes

Taking votes up until I post the last update for A Realm Reborn, and, as always, I take partial votes, split evenly!
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
Hello everyone! Welcome back! Last time, Satznswys and Alisaie made a terrible discovery deep within the Second Coil of Bahamut: her grandfather, Louisoix, is potentially being manifested in his form as a thrall of the elder primal. Unfortunately, there is little that can be done on that front until Alisaie locates the final coil, so we'll just have to leave that be for the time being.

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Minfilia's got work for Satznswys, though, so let's see what's up.

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Their storehouse has been the target of robberies, as of late. Nickel and dime stuff that slowly added up over time. But it was all crystals. Wuh-oh. Are the tribes at it again to summon their gods?

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If it had just been normal trade goods, Minfilia wouldn't have taken this job, but since it's crystals, and there's a chance the thief wanted to either summon a primal themself, or sell the crystals to one of the tribes, they can't afford to waste any time.

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Y'shtola and Thancred are already on the case? Score!

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Tataru has been overwhelmed by all the extra reading Y'shtola has asked her to do.

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Y'shtola suggests getting the story straight from the Brass Blade in charge: our old friend Fufulupa!

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Not long ago, a heavily-loaded carriage rushed an inspection checkpoint on the Royal Allagan Sunway. With no mounts, his people couldn't give chase. They were spotted heading for eastern Thanalan.

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Y'shtola tells Thancred to meet Satznswys near the Amalj'aa's encampment in the area.

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...nice coat, buddy.

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Thancred says the carriage was carrying somnus? The drug that Satznswys stopped that one jerkbag from dealing in during the Pugilist story? But we're chasing after crystal theft.

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Yep, seems like a bust. Back to Horizon with them!

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Back in the Waking Sands, Urianger says he'll be more vigilant.
 

TyrMcDohl

The Goofiest Hrothgar
(He/him)
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Mysterious!

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They arrive from the land of Doma, far to the east.

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Better than anything else, suppose.

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A traitor would explain as to why these micro-thefts would go without notice for so long.

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Catching flies with honey, rather than vinegar, sure. I'm sure the three of them can handle it.

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And away!

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She's fine. Nice threads, by the way.

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Interesting...but what does it mean?

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Back in Horizon, Fufulupa is pleased to inform Thancred and Satznswys that he's sniffed out the traitor in their midst.

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...and let him bugger off. Great.
 
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