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And we're back in the past. Now that Ginger's saved the Starlight Festival, it's time to go learn how to punch real good and how to jump and stuff.
First up is Ywain's quest, because we were already in Gridania.
Ah, I daresay you might just be the right woman for the job. The guild has urgent need of a capable lancer for a mission beyond our nation's borders. Hear me out, if you will. I've received word from an Ishgardian friend to the effect that he requires our aid. I would have you go and provide that aid.
As you may already know, due to her ongoing conflict with the dragons, Ishgard has kept her gates closed to outsiders for some time. The occasional dragoon on patrol duty is about all folk see these days. In spite of her self-imposed isolation, however, the Holy See has never failed to honor her obligations to her allies. It is only fitting that we answer the call and lend what assistance we can. To this end, we offered to dispatch a contingent of Wood Wailers with all haste-but were politely informed that they would not be welcome, much to our initial confusion.
It was later explained that we are dealing with a matter of some sensitivity, best handled by individuals who are capable and trustworthy, yet unbound by allegiance--and who fits that description save adventurers? Secrecy being paramount, I can provide no details as to the nature of the task. All you need to know will be revealed at the rendezvous point. Should you accept the mission, take yourself to the Observatorium. A knight by the name of Ser Alberic will receive you upon arrival.
The DRG job quests are a peek at Ishgardian politics before we go to Coerthas ourselves. So this is a peek of what our future holds!
To get to Coerthas Central Highlands, we need to head to the North Shroud and follow the road.
Just around the curve and up the hill!
Coerthas Field Theme (Fealty)
This is actually a mid-30s to upper-40s zone. The lower part is devoid of most monsters, so we can just head into the Observatorium real quick.
Ah, you must be the adventurer of whom Ywain sent word. Greetings and well met. I am Ser Alberic Bale, knight of Ishgard. The Holy See is much obliged to you for your aid. Time being of the essence, I shall proceed straight to the heart of the matter. The Eye, an Ishgardian relic of immeasurable worth, has been stolen, and we have reason to believe the culprit has come this way. So it is that we ask your assistance in its recovery. The thief has been identified as a man named Estinien, a dragoon sworn to the service of the Holy See. Aye, you heard true: the crime was perpetrated by one of our own; an individual in a position of trust and no little honor... You may be assured that a fate worse than death awaits him upon capture.
My duties to the See afford me little opportunity to travel far beyond the walls of Ishgard. I must confess to a grave ignorance of recent Gridanian affairs. I was told that a sentry by the name of Logedanrel might have knowledge of routes oft taken by Ishgardian fugitives. I would prefer to keep my identity a secret, and thus would have you gather what information you can from the man.
We must act quickly. For you see, Estinien is... But I have already said too much. What matters is that we find our thief and the Eye with all haste. When last sighted, Estinien was clad in black armor. Now go, and speak not a word of what I have told you to anyone.
Routes favored by Ishgardian fugitives? Now that's a question I don't hear every day. You aren't plotting some unsavory act yourself, are you? Even if you were, I doubt you'd make it far. Anyroad, we've caught a few fleeing to the North Shroud. What with Gridania being home to nearly as many Elezen as Ishgard, it is no easy task to identify outsiders. If you're on the hunt for someone, you could do worse than to visit Florentel's Spire in the North Shroud and speak with a man named Idristan. If any suspicious persons have crossed the border in recent days, he'd be the first to know.
Ishgardians have been notoriously unfriendly since the Calamity and no outsiders have been allowed in their city since. Just by virtue of being an outsider means everyone automatically suspects us of all the worst possible crimes. So get ready for every NPC in Coerthas to automatically assume we're Mega Satan for every interaction we ever have here.
There are several daily quests you can do where one NPC outright says "if I don't like the items you've brought me, I'll tell the guard you're a heretic and the guard will immediately kill you without a second thought."
Back in the North Shroud, we talk to this fellow.
Hail, adventurer. Yes, I am the one tasked with monitoring those who would enter our lands by way of Coerthas. Hm? An Ishgardian knight clad in black armor? No, I recall nothing of the sort-and such a striking visitor would be difficult to forget. My apologies, friend. I can only suggest that you return to Logedanrel and see if he has any other theories.
Back and forth back and forth.
No luck, you say? Most curious. Why, it is nigh impossible that a fugitive could make it this far without being espied from Florentel's Spire. Which leaves the possibility that your man is still in Ishgard. It runs counter to good sense--would the fugitive not want to put a distance of grounds between him and his pursuers?--but by the process of deduction, it is a possibility.
The climes of Ishgard are not kind to drifters and vagabonds. That said, there has been talk of curious smoke wafting from a cave east of here, at night. Were I you, I might begin my search there.
Gotta watch out for A-Ranks out in the world. Nothing like an aggressive level 50 monster in an area devoid of all other enemies.
Well, besides these Ixali. They're here pretty much just so DRG can have something to fight for this quest. I think there may be one whole other sidequest that comes in here. I could be misremembering. I haven't actually done Coerthan sidequests since 2016.
A couple things spawn when we enter the purple field. They're not even worth showing off.
Ginger's looking around to see whose campfire this is.
Dragoons gotta make that flashy as fuck entrance.
That Ishgard would resort to sending coin-starved adventurers after me... I know not whether to laugh or feel insulted.
Estinien's chest glows here.
Th-The Eye! It rouses...for another!? Preposterous...
Tellingly, he was about to attack and then he stopped when that happened.
Compare and contrast these images to the ones from the previous two updates. You can feel the difference. Estinien is practically T-posing here, and in the Starlight updates, NPCs were dynamically posing.
Our paths shall cross again. You can be sure of it.
Time to tell Alberic that Estinien glowed at us.
A dragoon clad in black, you say!? Tell me all that transpired! By the Fury... That the Eye would choose another...
I had not thought it possible. In light of recent events, it would seem an explanation is in order. The Eye is no ordinary relic. It harbors the power of the dragon, which it bestows upon a single chosen soul--the strongest and wisest dragoon. He who is chosen is possessed of the power to fight our mortal foes, the dragons of Dravania, on equal footing, soaring the firmament as if it were an extension of the land. That man is known as the Azure Dragoon.
The Azure Dragoon is the light of hope for all Ishgardians, and the paragon of all dragoons. ...For this reason, you may imagine how it pains me to have to confess that the man you encountered, the thief, is none other than the Azure Dragoon... and that I was once his teacher. Needless to say, I acknowledge myself accountable for Estinien's misdeeds, and mean to do all in my power to find him and recover the Eye. But I cannot do this alone.
I require your help, Ginger--you, who have received the power of the dragon. You may labor to believe it, but there can be no mistake. The Soul of the Dragoon I bear glows in your presence--irrefutable proof that you are chosen. What I can ill explain, however, is the why of it. Never before in Ishgard's long history has the Eye roused to more than one individual in a single generation. But it avails us naught to cudgel our brains about it.
The fact of the matter is that you are now a vessel for the power of the dragon. That dragon lies yet in slumber, however, and you must needs possess the means to wake it: the Soul of the Dragoon. I would entrust you with mine, Ginger. Like Estinien, I once ruled the skies as the Azure Dragoon, although that power has since become lost to me. It was simply by force of habit that I have hitherto kept the soul upon my person.
I have no inkling as to why the Eye has seen fit to choose a second, and an outsider at that. Yet one thing is clear: none can challenge the Azure Dragoon and conceivably prevail save another Azure Dragoon. You are our only hope of bringing Estinien to justice and reclaiming the Eye. Of course, I do not ask that you do this unaided. I may be a dragoon no more, but what knowledge I have, I shall gladly impart to you.
For indeed, when the time comes that you must face the Azure Dragoon, naught less than complete mastery over the power of the dragon will avail you. That a perilous road lies ahead of you, I shall not deny. Knowing this, if you would still lend me your lance, I will teach you to harness the power that has chosen you. Go forth, my young dragoon, and rouse the dragon within. I look forward to your return.
Like every NPC in A Realm Reborn, Alberic will never stop talking once he starts. But there's some important information found there. Estinien is the chosen protector of Ishgard, and he's apparently stolen the Eye... that's rightfully his by dint of "it literally chose me to bear it."
:thunk:
There's more going on here than it seems. Why would the Ishgardians hunt their sworn protector as they would a common thief? Well regardless, we got some goodies from that!
Ginger is now a Dragoon-in-training! She can even do a cute little jump.
This here is a job stone. If Ginger equips it, she will change from a LNC to a DRG. Dragoons have all the skills that Lancers did, but they also learn a lot more. I'm also pretty sure the soul crystal (same thing as job stone) gives a small buff to all stats while equipped.
The in-universe explanation is that job crystals teach trainees like Ginger by giving them the knowledge of all the, in this case, dragoons that came before her. They let their bearer do the job's actions until they actually learn them. Particularly skilled bearers will also start imprinting their own experiences into the crystals as well!
Also there's many different things to call soul crystals and I use them all interchangably. At this point I couldn't stop if I tried.
The next DRG quest is available at 35. There's only five of the job quests for ARR. And in case you're wondering, the reason my bars are fully set up is before I even started the LP back up, I copied my main's bars over to Ginger. So whenever she equips a job stone, she'll actually have all the skills up to level 80 already laid out on her bars. They may not always be especially well-laid-out bars... doubly so for jobs I don't actively play. You can tell I don't play DRG on my main because Arm's Length is on the bottom row instead of on a useful keybind.
But that quest was short enough that I feel we could squeeze a second one in. So... from one extreme to the next!
Been a hot minute since we've been to the pugilist's guild!
Naturally we're not dealing with Hamon.
Tell me, do you know of Professor Erik? He is a scholar of Eorzean military history whose genius is second to none! And he is among our most valued clients. Some find him to be...verbose. Tedious. Haughty. But never mind all that! The man spends more gil on a moon's research than most people see in a lifetime! Hence our amicable relations! His latest work has him visiting the sites of ancient battlefields. He insists on surveying lands plagued by savage beasts.
Erik is the NPC I was talking about several updates back, during the LNC quests. He talks down to you and insults you. Constantly.
According to him, the beasts keep man away, and less intrusion by man means greater preservation. Whatever his reasons, should the professor meet an untimely fate, we will be unable to collect the gil he has borrowed, much less the interest! Oh, and it would be a terrible loss for the academic community and so on and so forth, yes, yes. The point is the man must needs be guarded. To that end, I sent a monk of Ala Mhigo to see to his safety, but it turns out the bloody oaf has no work ethic about him--just like an Ala Mhigan.
I don't think you grasp what I mean. When I say constantly... I don't mean oh only occasionally. No. Erik can't go three sentences without calling the person he's talking to a moron. He insults you c o n s t a n t l y.
The professor cannot focus on his work if he feels endangered, and so has demanded we assign him a new bodyguard. That's why I'm so glad to see you, Ginger. The professor is awaiting his new escort as we speak, and I'd like for it to be you. You are yet a mere pugilist. Perhaps this task would provide some insight into what it is the monkhood does around here.
Make for the Goldsmiths' Guild, and there seek out our good Professor Erik. The professor claims he will pay his debt and the fees for his protection once his research is complete. See to it our investment doesn't end up under the paw or in the maw of some nasty beast.
Fun fact: despite what this lalafell whose name I can't be bothered to look up says, most monks don't actually get trained from the ranks of the pugilists. It's actually a plot point in the Stormblood monk quests that you're special because you have pugilism training. I'd say "spoiler warning" but let's be honest, the Stormblood LP is still literal years away... if we're even still around by then!
Erik is the gentleman on the right.
Ah, my punch-prone maidservant, I presume? You may and shall call me Erik. You are to guard my life, even at the cost of your own, and aid in my revolutionary research whenever and however asked. Know that my primary endeavor is to reconstruct the military histories of old through the aetherial analysis of ancient battlegrounds. I assume the words conjure in your simple mind romantic images of vast plains and open valleys, with armies charging blindly at one another. False!
I seek to know where the armies of old were deployed. Where they made camp and marched. No doubt you think such lands to be those sung of in the songs of bards. False! They are here, beneath our very feet! And to find them and determine precisely how events unfolded upon them is my purpose. No doubt you jumped at the chance to aid in my work. Tell me, which of my treatises have you read? All of th-none!? Gods, I knew you adventurers had a reputation for being unlettered. I didn't know you actually made efforts to remain so. <sigh> It matters not.
I require only that you work with diligence-unlike that Widargelt buffoon. The man proved to be sloth itself. Alas, he is a monk of Ala Mhigo. I suppose the fool was too busy opening his chakra or whatever it is those barbarians do all day. I admit, he seemed keenly interested in my research, but now he's gone off to Twelve know where and has yet to return. Do you understand the sheer magnitude of this inconvenience?
*nods*
Erik is Ala Mhigan himself. So he's just being a regular asshole instead of a racist one.
Good, good. You show that much promise, at least. But let us speak more of my work. Our first destination is the Sil'dih excavation site in central Thanalan. I believe events of great import to the history of Sil'dih transpired there. Hm? Surely if you have ears you have heard of Sil'dih? Or are you deaf as well as dull? <sigh> Very well. I see you require some instruction. It would be remiss of me as an academic to allow you to wallow in such ignorance.
Sil'dih was plunged into chaos in the wake of King Lalawefu's demise-or the King of Springs, as he was known. Despite the success of economic reforms...<babble>...fomented unrest among the people...<babble>...resulting in violent outbreaks throughout the kingdom. Sil'dih was...<babble>...sultan at the time...<babble>...distant descendant...<babble>...attack was ordered... <babble> And so...<babble>...irony of ironies...<babble>...hadn't been for that horse... <babble>
I wouldn't have spent that year in college. I want you to know that I have not abridged this in any way, shape, or form. The game actually has Erik go <babble> and, yes, it references a Lewis Black standup routine. Koji Fox is a menace. 
Fascinating, is it not? It is enough to convince one things could not have happened any other way, no? False! One among my colleagues disagreed with this interpretation of events. He claimed to have evidence suggesting otherwise, but all trace of it disappeared before it was published. Mine own research shall unearth any such evidence should it truly exist! I shall know the truth! Granted, you are not the brightest coal in the brazier, but surely such a prospect entices even you.
And so, we make for the Sil'dih excavation site in central Thanalan. Travel the way before me to see that it is safe, and once there set up this aetherometer. And, should you ever care to know more of the Eorzean military history, do come and see me. It is a personal crusade of mine to guide the dullards of this realm towards some modicum of enlightenment.
The Sil'dih ruins are where we first saw an Ascian way back when.
Gonna be honest, if I could turn off notifications for FATEs that I'm not actively participating in, I would be so fucking happy. If you have sound on while you're traveling through the world, every time you pass through a FATE, the music will mute so you can hear the FATE music play instead. Also the center of your screen gets polluted with really obnoxious FATE JOINED FATE FAILED FATE BEAT ME WITH A WIFFLE BALL BAT FATE COMPLETED notifications.
God forbid you be traveling while using your map, becuase that shit overlays on top of everything so you can see it.
Well done! Now, we need only wait for the aetherometer to gauge the- Hm?
There are fiends about, Ginger. They are often drawn to the lingering scents of blood and death. Well, this is what you're here for. Have at it.
These imps go down fast.
Eventually a bigger one spawns, but Ginger is badass. So it goes down fast. But at 25% a cutscene triggers.
Our friend in yellow kicks the imp away...
Ah, I see Ginger has learned the Kaioken technique.
Widargelt! So good of you to drag yourself all this way, you purblind sluggard! Ah, and Ginger. You have far exceeded what admittedly low expectations I had of you. I suppose introductions are in order. Far be it from me to deny the realm's unread the comfort of one another's company. Widargelt, Ginger. Ginger, Widargelt--the monk I spoke of sent to me by Gagaruna. I tried to make a pupil of Widargelt as well, but he has little mind for history. His primitive beliefs in the witchcraft of chakra and spiritual energies have a tenacious hold on him.
Oh? Truly!? This is the area where there have been sightings of walking dead!? I have heard the tales. Some claim they've seen an apparition wearing the garb of an ancient commander!
Erik gets excited by the possibility of a ghost and wanders off. Good for him!
Careful. There are still dangers about.
His work is dear to him. That is good. He thirsts for knowledge. For truth. Discovery awakens him. You too have awoken, friend. Can you not feel it? Do not be frightened. Here was a battle. Long ago. Much energy remains. It has found you. It flows through you. Your chakra has been opened. This was the light that shone from you.
It is as Erik said. Widargelt is my name. I am a brother of the monkhood. My order is the Fist of Rhalgr. Our way is to train the body and mind. The fist is our weapon. With it, we put down our enemies. The energy within us moves the fist. The chakra is the seat of that energy. It is a sacred place. It can be opened, and the life force within controlled.
Chakra exist in all that lives-in all beings. Yet not all beings can open them. Much training is needed. And great discipline. With these, the life force be commanded. There are those who require no training. Their inner strength is such that it forces the chakra open. I have heard of this happening. But never have I seen it-until now. I see in you great conviction. You mean to walk the monk's path. And so I will give you this--a soul crystal. The mark of my order.
None but a monk may hold it. And only then with the order's leave. But your chakra is awakened. That is clear. And so you are worthy. Many bore that crystal before you. It remembers them. Their breath and their movement. They will one day be yours. But your chakra must open further. Only then can the crystal's memories enter you. This is no more than the beginning. Now you must train. Learn to control the life force within you. With time, you will master it.
We stand on an ancient battleground. A great war was waged here. The spirit of the fight lingers. The aether reaches for the chakra. It aids in their opening. That is why we monks seek such lands. Erik seeks these lands for reasons of his own. The fates favor you in this. Follow him. Your chakra will grow ever more.
Hm? Professor Erik is leaving. Fear not. I will see to his safety. Please, sister, the aetherometer. Gather it and bring it to the Goldsmiths' Guild.
Don't forget to pick it up, or you get to do the Walk Of Shame.
Well, look who has decided to grace us with her presence. Did you enjoy the saunter back? I was just about to begin my analysis, so if you've matters you wish to speak on, I'd ask that you save it for-
*hands back aetherometer*
You've brought the aetherometer! Excellent. I had a feeling you might not be entirely useless. Now, let us see what discoveries await. Hm? Widargelt passed along a soul crystal to you? Moved to join the monkhood by the bone-headed clod, were you? <sigh> Well, I suppose it is for the best that my pupils get along. But I do believe I will see to it you are sent to separate locations for the next round of measurements. And I daresay the land to which I intend to send you is fraught with dangers. You had best tread the monk's path quickly if you mean to defend yourself--and me, besides!
I think that's good enough for now!
NEXT TIME: Making nice with the cabbage people