A series of blog posts that puts the "vent" in "adventure".<<< First | <<Previous | Next >>——————————————————————————————————————————————
The fundamental issue about wanting to drag in a friend to help you with Bahamut is that you need that friend not to be distracted by such quibbles as "work" or "dinner". Having not become so addicted to Final Fantasy XIV as to employ the time-tested method of manacles and the whip, I had to make my own fun until she became available.
Thus did Dominique Allard become a level 50 botanist and request of me that I do not spend more than a single paragraph on the regrettable process of getting there. I shall oblige. The usual noncombat class quest problem of nothing interesting happening before level 35 had somehow discovered the operation of addition with botany, attaining a near-total lack of interest until level 50. The pacifistic guildmaster Fufucha, whose name I can only recall because of the screenshot above, told Dominique a whole lot on how she felt regarding botany's lore in the Gridania-Ixal conflict. Even that ultimately led nowhere; she resigned from her position at level 50, but almost immediately recanted because the moral conflict was somehow resolved. You see, she saw one of her trees being used to give someone in an entirely unrelated war a roof over their heads.
Much more interesting than the botanist questline were all the diversions that took place during the path to level 50. The first one started with a lack of steel. See, the leatheworker's path had sapped all the steel right out of my pockets and I needed to make more for the botanist's tools. Previous experience with mining had shown me that the levequests give more XP if your equipment was not ordered from Temu. I'd need bomb ash, and while I could go mining, the wiki told me that this material could be bought from the kobolds with just a little bit of questing. The questgiver was right there at Limsa Lominsa too, and Dominique had run past him many times while turning in various crafting thingumabobs for the Tempest. It would have been too rude to ignore his pleas for the seventeenth time.
This diversion introduced me to the kobolds of the 789th Order, the "backside of kobold society" to hear them say and to see them in inaction. Indolent in their duties and fond of naps, this group of kobolds was getting menaced by a Zo Ga of the much-higher 13th Order, flanked with a pair of comely kobold lasses. Is this an injustice worthy of doing daily quests to sabotage other kobolds for their sin of industriousness? Probably not, but the 789th had endeared itself to Dominique, so this shall be our lot.
The second diversion was borne of a misclick. One of the botanist quests had me inquire with Gavin of the Twin Adders, but in a mistletoe-induced fit of altered consciousness, Dominique instead talked to Scarlet right next to him, who readily shanghaied our hero into investigating the crash of a Ixali war balloon. In my defence, both of them had blue quest icons. Too polite to abandon a quest, we just had to head into the North Shroud and see this to the end. This was a blessing in very shoddy disguise.
The Ehcatl Nine are another surprise Allied Society! They are a group of ixal on a mission of flight, beyond even the reach of Cid's Enterprise. They would touch the heavens and find the mythical lost continent of Ayatlan in the heavens above! Or perhaps, just to fly, as is any non-bird sapient creature's wont. The ixal could fly once, Dominique was told, but the beast tribe incurred the wrath of the elementals long ago and steadily lost their feathers until only trace down remained, with the current ixali form highlighting the fact that all birds are dinosaurs. A worthy goal, made juicier by the unique involvment of my Disciple of the Hand professions to help build the mighty airship Dezul Qualan. Much juicier than gathering twenty sprigs of mistletoe.
Speaking of reptilians, my thoughts had been of dragons, courtesy of Bahamut. I made a few observations regarding them in my globetrotting path of unplanned forestry. Only now did I identify that the massive dragon wrapped around a hunk of metal in Mor Dhona is Midgardsormr in his final act against the Garlean Agrius, which was quite a facepalm moment for yours truly. A more brainy observation was had when looking at the spiked roofs of Ishgardian architecture. I had dismissed them as a mere aesthetic choice meant to evoke
Anor Londo gothic cathedrals, but with time to ponder while scything through local flora, I saw a different purpose. It's the dragons: spiked roofs make it more difficult for a draconic attacker to land, and if the Ishgardians were to incapacitate a dragon in flight, say with one of their fancy cannons, the spikes provide a nice surprise for any beasts that might survive the fall.
The time for the big dragon's coil eventually came. I had helped my friend kill a man twenty one times (we got him down to a sub 1:00 run, although sub 0:50 eluded us), and in turn, she would help me go through a part of the raid by means of an unsynced party. Watching her cut through the bosses with her Red Mage put me in the mind of
a grunt of the Wizard War. The work was mercifully done before the trauma could set in, and thus goes the story: Louisoix lives.
At least, a version of the old man lives, still in the depths of Eorzea, where the true Bahamut lays dormant and barely contained. He seemed to be collaborating with Nael, who had also somehow survived the events of the Calamity. More questions than answers, as Alisaie had put it. Alphinaud is also a skeptic, and just like Dominique, doubts that Grandfather is anything but dead.
Urianger's comments after the raid also illuminate some interesting details. Dalamud would have been a solar plant in the Allag days. Later, it would have been somehow converted to contain Bahamut and keep him alive, siphoning his aether to create amazing amounts of power. How? He theorises that the Allagan peoples could somehow simulate prayer — a necessary macronutrient for the common primal, for Bahamut is indeed one such being. There are two other fragments of Dalamud that lead to two other coils and uncover more mysteries of old, but my friend needed her sleep and so did I. It might also be a good idea to continue my questing. The Second Coil of Bahamut was not introduced until patch 2.2, and I'm already doing plenty of time travel with Heavensward gear and Ixali assistance. Best not to mess with the space-time continuum too much.
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OPEN QUESTIONSI have decided to ponder on all of the remaining open questions and see what would it take for them to be closed.
WHY WERE THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT FORGOTTEN? The type of answer I need is simple, but whether or not I'll get it is another thing. For now, I am thinking that this might just be narrative convenience to justify both returning players and fresh adventurers in the realm of 2.0... but then again, the twins made light of it, and there are still coils to explore.
WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE ECHO? This one vexes me most of all. We have a functional understanding of the phenomenon and it as a blessing of Hydaleyn, but I feel like there is so much yet unsaid. It intertwines with questions on the nature of Primals (and their tempering), Hydaleyn (and how she fits into the whole divine paradigm), and why it may or may not be given. I don't think I will close this one until we at least get an answer on why Dominique and Minfillia, as opposed to others.
WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF ISHGARD AND THE DRAGONS? Likely a Heavensward-bound question, but one that weighs heavy on my mind. Midgardsormr helped the city states against the Garleans, but then, in the present day (and quite possibly for a longer while, judging by Ishgardian architecture) the northerners are in conflict with the dragons. Are these separate broods of dragons? Did the dragons come to the side of humans for only a short time for the sake of mutual survival? Was the death of Midgardsormr a catalyst to this conflict?
HOW DID I APPEAR TO GIVE CID HIS GOGGLES IN THE PAST? A simple question, but one without a single hint thus far. The closest I have are all the Hydaleyn-induced visions of floating Dominiques and such, but this was physical and very much real — Cid had to get those goggles somehow, and somehow it was Dominique.
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CRACKPOT THEORIESPrepare your pots to crack, for this is a big one.
The Twelve are a form of primal. I don't think Gaius has got it completely wrong, and that talk of faith being the sustenance of primals is what kicked my scattered thoughts into a solidified theory. Look, the whole primal/god/dragon/whatever Hydaleyn and Zodiark are situation is messy and I am making an executive decision to sort them all in one bucket for the sake of my sanity. I dare say you could make one of the Twelve manifest with enough aether and desperation... and that might have already happened once. The faith had to form somehow.
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Am I crazy? Possibly. Am I grateful for you reading this? Yes. I will link no socials. Don't want to
dragon too much.
