#(walk with me; ffxiv locations)

[soulshards-ooc]

Final Fantasy XIV • Location #21 First Dicasterial Observatorium of Aetherial and Astrological Phenomena, Coerthas Central Highlands

Three hundred years ago, Ishgardian astrologian Adaunel the Younger convinced the Holy See that he could predict the comings and goings of the Dravanian Horde by studying the movements of the heavens, and thus secured funding for the construction of the Observatorium and its grand astroscope.

[sylviazem]

FFXIV Write 2024- Prompt #12: Quarry

master list

"Are you certain of this, Preceptor," the reaper escorted her towards the location of their quarry, now trapped in the old ruins within the cave. "This creature, it's...unlike any we've seen before. I fear it might be too strong."

"Warden, your magicks are in place?"

"...Hm," he murmured. "Holding strong."

"It stopped throwing itself against the barrier some time ago," the other reaper pitched in, nonchalantly leaning against the nearby wall. "I suspect it might be open to...negotiation. Or at least tired."

"You are much too carefree, Chaser," the reaper reprimanded her compatriot. "Please, Preceptor. I urge you to reconsider."

"Your concern and insight is appreciated, as always, Tracker," she reached for her friend's hand to ease her anxiety. "Have faith in our Warden, and in me."

"...Hrm," the Warden began channelling a barrier around the Preceptor. "...You may go. Proceed straight forward."

She stepped into the darkness past the ward, and though the magick surrounding her gave off a faint light, it failed to penetrate the inky blackness that permeated the cave. Not that it mattered to her, for she was blind.

After but a few steps, many shadowy limbs snaked their way through the dark and feverishly attempted to grab her. Frustrated after being repelled, they started clawing and pressing at the barrier from every direction, looking for even the slightest weakness.

"Hello," the Preceptor calmly called out. "Who are you in the dark, so desperately trying to lay your hands on me?"

"Mortal fools," a voice hissed angrily from above. "Your feeble magicks won't hold me for long. Once I break loose, I'll take my time devouring your friends before your very eyes."

"My, how scary. I hate to disappoint, but I'm blind," she sat down. "Devour, you say? And how many have you devoured so far?"

"Countless," the creature dropped down and slithered towards her, grasping the barrier with its true hands. "Hundreds. Thousands. For an age far longer than your pathetic, fleeting existence."

"I see."

"...Why do you not show fear," it angrily struck the barrier, which elicited a strained grunt from the Warden outside. "Why?!"

"Because I do not fear you."

"Insolent mortal wench!" It picked the entire barrier up and attempted to bite into it. "I'll crush you into a bloody pulp within your silly bubble..!"

"I can not see your face, but I wonder," the Preceptor placed her hand against the ward. "Do you even know who you are? Whose stolen countenance do you wear? Whose dead voice spills forth from your maw?"

"...Shut up," the barrier slipped from its hands as it held its head, seemingly in pain. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!!"

The creature disappeared back into the dark, and the Preceptor walked outside with a slight limp. The Warden breathed a sigh of relief and fell to one knee, his aether no doubt fully spent from maintaining the protective spell.

"We shall make camp," the Preceptor said with a slightly shaky voice, betraying a hint of unease through her usual composure. "We shall rest and try again later."

[tishinada]

I have to say, I hadn't expected Lalafells to be one of my favorite races when I began playing FFXIV. My reaction at first glance was they were meant to be comic relief or maybe halfling inspired. Halfway through ARR, though, I kept telling my daughter that they had all the classic traits of dwarves, a race I do love to play (she managed to suppress her snickers until I hit Shadowbringers...) And I'm not sure you can get as far as the beginning of HW without realizing that Lalas are just as complex and diverse in personalities as the other races. Pretty sure two of the top five most hated NPCs are still Lalafells, while there are definitely a couple in the most beloved (Tataru, for instance).

And they give Lalafells every bit as much loving attention as the other races, whether it's clothing, animations, expressions, or camera angles in cutscenes. OMG, Kass has some great clothing. And I was really surprised at just how GOOD the expressions are.

Possibly my favorite one of Kass...

And some other fun ones

Everyone looks *at* Kass when speaking to her. And in some cases, they even adjust body angles in a very Lala-specific way so it feels friendlier.

Or they change the camera angle, above and behind an NPC so Kass is more clearly in the scene.

There's never a moment when the game doesn't treat a Lalafell WoL as a serious adult. Not that people don't sometimes comment on your size. Lots of moments where it's funny when people react in terror to a Lala WoL. Or the Lalafells in the group are out in front to defend the non-combatants

Sometimes, the comedy of a scene is just that much funnier with a Lalafell. I'm convinced they chose the warrior trainer location with a Lala warrior in mind:

(SPOILER FOR SHADOWBRINGERS)

And of course this moment...

Even more than two years after starting to play, it's hard to explain how much that still means to me. Because more than a decade ago, I fell in love with Dragon Age: Origins. The dwarven origin stories were two of my favorites, and I particularly loved that the men and women dwarves had the same build. In fact, they absolutely HAVE to have the same build for the commoner dwarven origin to *work*. A fact which they completely threw out by the time they got to DAI (there weren't really any women dwarves in DA2 which was honestly a human-only game anyway.) Dwarves in DA: I were a very reluctant afterthought with that reluctance made clear because it was too much trouble to change camera angles, etc. for scenes with them, with the result that in a huge number of scenes, the camera was above the head of dwarven NPCs or there was furniture in the way. And they suddenly gave them extreme sexual dimorphism---my first thought on seeing a woman dwarf for DAI was that they introduced hobbits while men dwarves were at least twice as wide in the shoulders as in DAO, sigh. Which of course broke that DAO origin. Honestly, it would take a lot for me to get seriously interested in a DA game again because I felt I was sold such a subpar game as someone who played dwarves by preference.

So there's never a time I'm playing Kass in FFXIV that I don't appreciated the loving attention to detail, even if it's nothing more than an NPC looking down at her when she walks past.

[sparrowsong-7]

FFXIV Write Day 22: Time (Free Day)

Time was fickle

Some days it seemed to stretch on into agonizing eternity, with each minute dragging its feet into the next as Lady Fay begged them to hurry along. Today was not one of those days. Today was a day in which every minute screeched into the next, every hour going by in a blinding flash.

She was running out of time…

She was able to smell them before she could see them; rotted corpses stretched and mangled and horrific Voidsent hell bent on breaching the walls of the keep. Just the forward vanguard to be sure, simply fodder meant to wear down their White Mages so the higher rung commanders could swoop in and finish the job. Lady Fay felt a small pang of shame as she fled the front lines.

“I thought I would have more time…” she thought, breaking into a sprint. She didn’t stop until she found her two apprentices shuffling along with their peers towards the ramparts. “Vinia, Corin, to me” she commanded as she stormed past. Wordlessly the two novices filed out of the line and took up their positions on either side of their master. They walked around the corner before Lady Fay spoke aloud, wanting to be out of ear shot of anyone else before saying anything. “We are running out of time…” she muttered before turning back to face L’vinia, “Vinia, I need you to get to my study and grab the supplies from the chest. It is time.” The doll nodded, knowing what its master meant, and took off in the direction of the study, leaving just Lady Fay and Corin in the halls. Lady Fay took a deep breath and turned toward her other ward, kneeling down to her eye level. “Corin…” she started, knowing what came next, “No matter what may happen next, I need you to trust me, do you understand?”

The girl was scared, trembling at the thought of the horrors that besieged them, though she nodded regardless. “Y-yes Lady Fay…”

----------------------------------------------------

“Stand there” Lady Fay commanded her apprentice, pointing with her cane at the intricate pattern scrawled upon the floor of her bed chamber. The girl nervously approached, carefully stepping over the lines and into the center. “Good, now stay there while I prepare some things.”

L’vinia came barreling into the room, sack in hand. It handed the sack off to its master before taking up a position at the desk mixing reagents together. It started crying…

“Why is it crying?”

The thought left as quickly as it came when Lady Fay snapped her finger in Corin’s face. “I need you to listen to me Corin” she said, her voice commanding yet quivering, “This is all going to happen very quickly, and I will not ask you to forgive me for it.” She wrapped a pink scarf around the girl's neck and gave a weak smile, tears welling in her eyes. “Just promise me you will remember that I love you, forever and always.”

“Lady Fay-” Corin started before she was bound in the crystalline walls of the spell. She tried to move, to scream, but found that she could do nothing against the bindings.

L’vinia scrambled around the pattern, dropping reagents in precise locations before scrambling away again to a safe distance. “I’m sorry Corin” it muttered to no one but itself and gave Lady Fay a nod.

The rune began to glow a soft orange, slowly engulfing the crystal in a brilliant light. Lady Fay touched the end of her cane to a section of the rune and began whispering some kind of prayer. She finished it by muttering, “Please send her somewhere safe” and sighed, her amber eyes wet with tears.

“Be safe dearest…”

----------------------------------------------------

One thousand five hundred and seven years.

Corin floated through the rift for one thousand five hundred and seven years.

She wouldn’t know it though, she stopped counting after the first three.

She stopped retaining memories after one hundred and two.

Her mind failed after three hundred and seventeen.

And still she floated, no sense of self left.

And then she fell.

And then she was safe.

[dragons-bones]

FFXIV Write Entry #10: [INDIGO ABRASAX]

Prompt: reactivation (free write!) || Master Post || On AO3

A/N: This idea originated before the 6.4 PLL that announced Certain Specific Scholar Updates. Yoshi-P, I demand royalties along with the use of my twenty-year old internet handle as the abbreviation for your new expansion.

--

Synnove stared down at the soulstone on her desk; the dark blue stone was cut in such a way that what little light refracted through it drew the eye to the Scholar’s bespectacled emblem carved into its surface. She poked at it gently and the sonorous bzzz of unaspected aether brushed against her mind. Soulstones didn’t usually have unaspected aether unless they were blank, waiting for memory and experience to fill them.

This one was weird.

“This one is weird,” she said aloud. “Not that I don’t mind a mystery, but Surito is sending this along because…?”

“It’s something about the fairy,” Halulu said. “This one is from the most recent cache of soulstones the recovery teams have located in the Palace, and it’s the only one Surito can’t place to its original owner at the time of Nym’s fall. All the others, if he couldn’t recognize the aetherial signature, the fairy within responded at least long enough to identify herself and her Scholar.”

“But this one stayed silent,” Mhaslona said, not a question after Halulu’s explanation. Synnove’s old advisor lounged in one of the chairs on the other side of her desk, turned to the side to allow her to stretch her prosthetic leg out.

Halulu nodded and said, “And since Synnove is Eorzea’s resident strange summons expert…”

“You rewrite the laws of aetherology once and everyone expects you to walk on water,” Synnove grumbled without any heat. Halulu and Mhaslona both snickered at her. “All right, I’ll see if she’ll say hello to me.”

She pushed back from her desk and stood, picking up the soulstone in the same motion, and walked to the center of her office. Those first summonings of Tyr and Ivar had taught her never summon a damn thing near her desk ever again. The Gate quartermaster would likely refuse her requisition for another ironwood desk, especially one that would need hauling all the way up the northeast tower.

Synnove cupped her hands together, the left under the right, with the soulstone nestled in the center of her palm. She allowed her eyes to unfocus as she reached out with her aether to nudge the soulstone. In her mind, it hummed acknowledgment, but did nothing else.

The logic for a fairy wasn’t one with which she was intimately familiar, but her perfect memory could recall it regardless and Synnove held it in her mind as she drew on her aether—and frowned.

The soulstone refused to respond.

Only faintly conscious of her head tilting in puzzlement, Synnove mentally prodded at the soulstone again. Scholar soulstones were locked with the fairy logic; summon the fairy and the bearer could begin to attune to the soulstone. And it wasn’t a mystery lock, either, the logic was practically writ into the soulstone’s aether, one just needed to ‘fill’ it and—

—unless it wasn’t a fairy.

Synnove mentally threw out the fairy logic and plunged into the heady waters of the soulstone. Yes, there was the most basic of geometries used in summoning at its heart, pulsing and strong, but the way it branched out into the greater logic didn’t match the ones Scholars used for their fairies. She followed the equations and lines spiraling out from the core, mentally tracing out the shape of the summon that guarded the soulstone’s heart.

…This was familiar.

This was very, very familiar.

Without intention, without even having finished tracing this not very Scholarly logic because it wasn’t a logic at all, it was an array, Synnove filled in the blanks, and aether sang out in her office.

Synnove looked down.

A bright blue carbuncle blinked up at her.

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then a sound not unlike that of an Allagan node—though oddly feminine in its neutrality—rang out in her mind.

[>>776SKK900NLS0000 GLORIOUS DAWN NRM-COM/IPMA: ASSETS//CORE//IMPERATIVE IMMEDIATE ACTION ORDER Tactical morality reset from EMERALD EXIGENT. SECURITY STATE is ADAMANTOISE. LUCIFERON is INACTIVE and MIDNIGHT. Primary command structure defragment commence on mark. Evocation matrix INDIGO ABRASAX reactivation success. Format moral structures for KYRIA TRACE. STOP STOP STOP 776SKK900NLS0000]

With the way Mhaslona and Halulu were excitedly chattering behind her, Synnove knew she was the only one who had heard that. She suspected she wasn’t supposed to have heard that.

And then the carbuncle opened her mouth, and in the same voice said:

[Greetings, New User! I am the Intelligent Personal Obligant and Medical Operative for Emergency Applications! You may call me Ipomoea for convenience. Please specify the nature of your emergency for prompt service.]

Dead silence in her office.

“Um,” Synnove said intelligently.

“Is,” Halulu whispered, “is she talking? As in, open mouth, sound comes out talking?”

“More like an orchestrion rather than talking,” Mhaslona said slowly.

“Oh, I don’t like that. Not one bit.”

--

“So,” Synnove said, filling the final shot glass with whiskey and keeping it for herself, “best I can tell, the soulstone was carved from a carbuncle-quality focus gem.”

Surito Carito, Setoto Seto, and Alka Zolka were huddled around her desk with herself, Halulu, and Mhaslona, each with a shot glass in front of them. The bottle of Synnove’s best whiskey was not as full as it had been half a bell ago.

Surito sighed heavily and rubbed his face. “I remember her,” he said. “Her summoner—though perhaps better to say her programmer—was the college’s Allag expert, Vatete Vate. And carbuncles weren’t a popular choice for familiars; fairy logic was the preference, since it wasn’t reliant on gemstones infused with living aether.”

“We were isolated from most of Aldenard because of Mhach and Amdapor’s warring over the centuries,” Setoto said, shaking her head. “By the time of the War of the Magi, we hadn’t had a reliable gemstone trade in generations, it was why the fairy logic was developed at all.”

Mhaslona sucked on her teeth. “Where the fuck did Vatete even get the Allag tech? Based on what Synnove heard, it sounds like she reverse-engineered one of their command nodes into a carbuncle array.”

The two tonberries and one former tonberry all shrugged.

“Best we can do at the moment is ask around the Palace,” Surito said, raising his whiskey glass to sip from it. “Vatete isn’t among the tonberries, and she kept to herself much of the time, but she’d ramble to anyone who showed a lick of interest, so it’s possible, though not probable, that she may have let slip something without either she or her audience realizing the import.”

Synnove rested her cheek on her fist and sighed, then said over her shoulder, “How’s that database update coming along, honey?”

[Azys Lla terminal connection is sporadic, update is only seventeen percent complete.] Ipomeoa had, thankfully, switched to an aetheric harmonic upon request, although it still sounded vaguely artificial. [Prioritization algorithms are still sorting data. WORLD STATE: HYDAELYN set to UNBOUND.]

“…I don’t want to know what that means,” Alka Zolka said wearily. “I don’t think I have the clearance to know what that means.”

“You do now,” Synnove grumbled, and tossed back her whiskey in one gulp.

PREVIOUS || NEXT

[starlit-seadragon]

Day 2 - Horizon

Set during mid-ARR, Yume and Alphinaud experience the Coerthas Central Highlands as only foreigners can: coldly.

My FFXIV Write Masterpost here.

The snow crunched underfoot as they walked the Coerthan highlands. Yume squinted, scanning the land around them. She felt as though she were searching for a needle in a haystack. How could they find an airship in this endless expanse of grey and white, much less a person?

Like the sea, came the unbidden thought. Deep and fathomless blue, seemingly devoid of life until it was upon you.

Yume shook her head and focused her gaze anew. Nothing could be gained in this moment by reopening old wounds. She was an adventurer, and she had been given a task: find the man from House Durendaire so as to kindle a relationship with the Ishgardians, so they could ultimately recover Cid's lost airship.

"Kindle" indeed, she mused. With their frosty demeanors, the people had seemed as cold as their land.

To think she had long dreamed of traveling here.

Beside her, Alphinaud shivered.

"I know not how you bear the cold with such ease," he grumbled.

Yume regarded him with an arch of her brow but kept her eyes on the land.

"What makes you believe I am not cold?" she asked sweetly.

Alphinaud side-eyed her. "I have not seen you shiver once since we set foot in Coerthas, whereas any time we have business in Ul'dah, you complain constantly of the heat."

"'Lament'," Yume corrected. "I lament the heat. I do not complain."

Alphinaud rolled his eyes and gestured with an exaggerated bow. "My sincerest apologies, O Warrior of Light, for conflating your modes of airing grievances."

"Do you mean to deride me, Master Leveilleur? Or do you mean to locate a man lost in the snow?"

"It is possible to do both." He smirked. "The former is serving to warm me for the latter."

Yume smiled.

As if in reponse to his words, the air cleared. The wind died as quickly as a candle extinguished, giving way to clear blue sky. The sun shone down, distant and brittle, as though it, too, did not wish to come any closer to Coerthas than was necessary. Alphinaud sighed in relief.

"The change in weather should be a significant boon in our search," he said.

Yume would have agreed had her attention not snagged on something else. Alphinaud followed her gaze.

Together, they stopped and stared.

A long, thin bridge stretched out over immeasurable blue, supported by a series of pillars that stuck out from the rock around them like bone. At the end of the bridge lay a fortress, a spiralling structure of stone and steel, its archways and walkways and towers tall as the sky itself. Shimmering in the light, a surge of aether rippled down, following the shape of an invisible dome.

Yume swallowed. She had not realized how much the wind and snow had obscured until she had seen the gilded spires rising from cthe horizon.

"And there she is at last," Alphinaud marveled. "The Holy See of Ishgard."

Yume could not stop her wandering eyes.

From crook to crenellation, she drank the city in, her fists clenched and her chest aching. Her mother's arms around her, warm and secure. Her mother's hands on the book in Yume's lap, finger pointing at a picture of starlight and stone. Her mother's voice coming from above, encouraging her to go, see, learn--

Yume watched her breath crystalize in front of her before it faded.

Though her dream had proven as inimical as her homeland, still she longed. Still she wished. She had come from halfway around the world to stand here, felling gods in her wake. Could a thing as small as a dream really be so far out of reach?

She flexed her hands.

"We should move on," she told Alphinaud.

"Agreed. We'll see Ishgard again ere long, I'm certain."

Yume did not reply.

But she hoped.

[eldritchsurveys]

1238.

What type of milk do you like to drink? >> I don't drink any kind of milk by itself.

Do you have a first aid kit at home? >> I do not. It's one of those "if we had more disposable income we'd have one, but as it stands it's low on the list of priorities when so many other immediate needs require meeting" sort of things. I guess if either of us got injured more often it'd be a higher priority.

What’s the absolute bare minimum in terms of facilities when you’re camping? >> Food and something to protect me from the elements and bare ground.

How many places have you lived in your life? >> Five different states and countless different specific locations.

Are your parents dog or cat people? Is that different or the same as you? .

What’s your favourite flavour of potato chip? >> Basic kettle-cooked salt and pepper. Zapp's Voodoo chips if I want more flavour.

What’s the longest your hair has ever been? How long is it now? .

What video games remind you of your childhood? >> Just the classic nineties-era computer games that you found in every computer lab in school, like Oregon Trail, and various Bröderbund games I had for my own computer. No actual video games because I didn't have access to those.

What does your body wash or soap smell like? >> It's the Dove Beauty Bar, which just smells like... soap, I guess. The quintessential soap smell.

Are there are sounds that bother you on a visceral level? >> So, so many. I genuinely don't know how I'm going to keep living on this planet sometimes.

What was the last thing you bought online? >> FFXIV: Dawntrail, back when that was about to drop.

Name something you always have in your fridge. >> Various condiments.

Have you ever had to hire a lawyer? Why? >> The closest I've come is getting an advocate from one of those urban justice orgs for my SSI application process.

Have you taken a walk today? Did you see any dogs? >> I have not. The humidity has worn me down, I can't get motivated to take my morning walks these days because I just obsess about how sticky I'm going to be the whole time. Also, sunrise is now 07:00 and that's so late, people are so active at that point, it's not like the beautifully quiet dawns of midsummer :/

What vegetable do you really hate? >> I honestly can't say I hate any vegetables. There are some I'm far less likely to eat, but none that I flat-out can't stand.

Does your family have any traditions or rituals? .

If you could learn any language, what would it be? >> Well, I can learn any language, at least passably if not fluently. Right now, I'm working on Irish.

What was the best thing that happened today? Something that seems minor can still be awesome. >> I was finally finishing my Person of Interest rewatch now that my loins are girded enough to handle that sort of emotional damage, and I got so much lightning-flash inspiration for merging that universe with my Saints Row one. I love that feeling, it's like... being full of electricity, being plugged in, connected to the fabric of reality. Seeing how the threads intertwine, and how they can be made to weave new stories. !! What a thrill. Have you ever donated money to a charity? Which one? >> As a person who is known for Having No Money, I have not. I am, in fact, a charity case.

Did you have a large circle of friends in high school? >> I had no circle of friends in high school. There were about two or three kids tops in each school that would put up with me.

Would you ever get a matching tattoo with someone? >> I have matching X-Files tattoos with Sparrow, and I'd do it again. The trick is to make it a tattoo similar to something you'd get independently anyway -- I had already had the "scully, it's me" tattoo idea and when I was planning to get it, they were like "hey what if we matched", and I was fine with that.

What time do you usually go to sleep? >> I go to bed at 22:00 and I stop using my phone at 23:00 (the last part tends to vary, but that's where I'm at right now). When I go to sleep, however, is not something I can control.

Do you have a job? >> I do not.

What colour are the plates in your kitchen? >> We don't have a matching set. We mostly use paper plates, anyway. Well, I do, certainly.

What was the last gift you received? >> The stuff I got for Christmas -- the earbuds and the pillow and weighted blanket.

What is your Chinese zodiac animal? >> Rabbit, I think. Are you inside right now? If you’re home, what room of the house are you in? >> I'm in my bedroom, as usual.

Are you good at remembering faces? >> Good enough, I guess. I do have a hard time trying to place where I've seen certain actors and stuff, but I guess that's normal especially if you watch a lot of shit like I do. What will you do after this survey? >> I might poke around on tumblr. I don't know, I feel like I did a bunch of stuff I wanted to do already so now I'm like "now what :V"

[sodapaladin]

I’ve done just about everything I want to with my main character in FFXIV. I’m still leveling summoner, need to finish Bozja, and so on; plenty to do, but those can be done whenever. Instead, I’ve finally turned my attention to my alt on a European server.

Part of me feels a bit “guilty” when I have such a massive backlog. Why replay a game that takes my entire life to finish? But I’m really enjoying a second run through ARR, actually. I had never played an MMO before, so my journey through ARR was full of learning experiences. I had nooo idea what I was doing half the time, no idea which characters were important, which locations I should remember, and more.

Now I can see, oh yeah! This guy becomes important later! I didn’t know this guy shows up this early! It’s been nice walking around the zones I’m used to just flying through again. I’ve forgotten some of the small details of the world that captivated me the first time around and caused me to stay.

[eorzeanflowers]

FFXIV WRITE 2023 Prompt 8: Shed

(Character: Azalea, The Archeologist, Timeframe: Early Seventh Astral Era)

The burning sensation again. Aether flowing from a condensed package. Reforming the body. I died again, didn’t I? Not the first time. Not the second either. What are we on? Six? Seven? That last life was the longest yet. Wonder what I’ll be…

The Archeologist awoke with a startled gasp, her body instinctively shooting upwards. Bad move. Muscles sore from being rewritten. 

Panting with pain, she clasped the sides of her head, startled by the large mandible-like horns where her pointed ears were before. Never had that before. 

She patted down the rest of her body, carefully watching her hands. Arms shorter. Height must be… Two fulms shorter. Balance will need to be considered.

The scales formed on her skin caught her eye. Continuing to ignore where she was, she focused hard on the patch of roughness growing on her body. Fascinating. Cartilage based, perhaps. Texture analysis; same material as horns. 

The Archeologist smiled in relief. The puzzle of a new body was always a delightful distraction. Each digit on her hand moved correctly, much to her reassurance. Her weary arms moved accurately. Attempting to move her legs would have to wait, she simply didn’t have the energy. A new limb, her tail, distracted her soon enough. A thick scaled appendage, curled neatly around her. It had the same boney feeling as the scales and horns, much to her relief. Balance problem likely solved. Interesting such a small creature needed a rudder-like tail to walk. Will have to test hypothesis.

After focusing on herself for so long, it was time for her to scan her surroundings. The Archaeologist focused her golden eyes around her, seeing a desolate meadow. A massive scorching crater was a more immediate location, with her directly in the middle. Slightly off to her side were dozens of bodies, all charred beyond recognition. Ambush? Aether reformat shouldn’t be this explosive. Did I char myself to let others leave?

Curious, the Archeologist cautiously stood to her feet. Wobbling slightly, the now Au Ra Allagan stepped over to one of the bodies. Just a mess of seared flesh and bone, no identifying clothing. Hyur in proportion however.

She walked over to another body, and came to similar conclusions. Farther she walked out of the crater, inspecting each and every body. The longer she walked, the more intact and clothed were the bodies. At the edge of the crater, a body that had suffered third degree burns was slumped on its edge, a blade from a cohort stuck in his stomach. Poor chap. This must’ve been a terrible way to die. He has an insignia. Need to ruminate… … Ah yes. That assassin order. Must’ve been for me. Scant memories from before the shedding of my old form do somewhat concur? Always so fuzzy afterwards. Hope no one innocent was caught in the blast.

The Archeologist carefully undressed the assassin, donning his garb as she had none. She ripped the insignia off of the shoulder, then for good measure ripped out the other shoulder. Giggling with joy at the thought of personalizing herself, the Archeologist continued on her trek. If it was still that. Much to remember, so little time to do so.

[windkonig]

hi I'm michael!

welcome to my blog! I post stuff I like. you can find a list of that here

just bc I reblog it doesn't mean I've watched/played it, though. I try to tag most things, but sometimes my arm hurts.

my blog operates primarily on a queue that is usually set to post 25 times a day.

if you want, you can send in pictures of bugs/reptiles/amphibians you saw and I will do my best to identify them! be sure to give me a general location, as this is very important for ID purposes!

here's where you can find me!

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@hastebreak - FFXIV blog!

@neature-walk - I post bugs/reptiles/amphibians I found here!

twitter: https://twitter.com/HatsuneMichaels

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if you are a mutual of mine and we've had a friendly interaction before, feel free to message me for my discord!

[deoxygenated]

had a dream where whoever i was first at the shore, playing in the waves. we were with some kind of group and had to kill a few people to protect the area even if they weren't criminals themselves.

it was ordered we had to kill this 13yr old child and decided the best method to do that and hide ths body would be to drown them in the far ocean. the boss' lackey is to do it at first.

however he can only teleport 50 something so I volunteer bc i can teleport about 200 something. he takes us and the unconscious child into the ocean at first and once we're teleported out it's my turn. i grab them and use my ability.

it feels like we're in the middle of nowhere because it's so vast. the lackey looks at me and then i hold the kid underwater. the child wakes up enough to struggle, theyre drowning, and i suddenly teleport me and the lackey back to the shallows.

the boss is there, the lackey looks disgusted at the sudden teleport and reports in. he seems satisfied and thanks me with a cruel smile.

in the next few days im constantly patrolling the shore. im playing around but also looking for any signs of the kid as they could wash up back here. they were drowning but i didn't finish it so theres a small chance they're alive. whoever i am feels no real guilt other than not completing a job and because of that decides if the kid appears they are to help them.

---------

the next part of the dream segues into a vast fantasy land. it borrows some names from ffxiv but otherwise is nothing alike.

i remember whoever i was here racing with several people to get to the great tree of the forest via gridania by using aqueducts designed also as throughways. they took various exits to get there but i was sure only me and one girl who rode the water to the second to last exit were right.

this dream skips around time wise so while i'm the same person i'm now sitting at a table with a friend. he's new to the city and i'm helping him send a letter out. we recruit a post office lady who helps us write the letter.

i get mad at her bc i passive aggressively indicate i can write but she's sure a country bumpkin from nowhere like me can't do it well of at all. so she refuses to leave us the supplies and instead is doing it for us.

my friend dictates a letter and then asks her to get the address from me since i know it well.

'gridania right?' she asks.

'well yes but you have to put the great tree first, thats important, and more of a landmark.' i tell her.

'ok so the great tree of the forest, gridania--'

'portside, dock 12, #16.'

she looks peeved at me. and tells us we don't have proper addresses. i tell her this will do to locate it asking around, as my country doesn't yet have a proper postal service.

--------

the final dream might be the future of that port. a large ship with vast porthole is among the docks. its where people of the land work in harmony with the dolphin people of the waves.

however someone has taken over and made a of number of improvements. deployable engines through the ports, piercingly bright lights made from these blue petals, and so on.

i try to stop the lamp production but i can't so i go to the leader of the group doing this. its the friend who needed a letter from the last dream. he's dressed fancy in a suit, arms behind his back, weak as ever on his own but strong where people listen to him. whoever i am here doesn't know him as anything but the person single handedly causing bad relations with the dolphin people.

i walk in and get his attention, telling him how his improvements are hurting and isolating our long time allies. he doesn't at all care since it's for advancement and has me kicked out.

theres a timeskip that shows me coming back to a much worse situation. the docks used to be more plant than anything are now cleared down to the gravel and mud. you can see oil spilled and large shipping containers start to be stacked on the shore.

i don't even see the dolphin people any longer. in my fury i topple two of the containers and march toward the ship in charge of it all still. someone follows me protesting the damage but not doing much else to stop me.

arriving at the ship, i take out the rear guards with ease and begin my incursion. all i remember here is a rack of cheap really cheap plushies and passing that on my way in.

i do attack the ship but the feeling here were more like a being only focused as a predator. one goal in mind but taking out everything in my way. a tunnel vision, grey warping, the senses of a beast on the hunt, and no thoughts of the man inside.

its like that until i reach the captains quarters where he stands, waiting for me. the grip of the beast shirks away as i talk about the loss of the dolphin people, the destruction of my home's habitat, and his pollution of the environment.

he turns, lecturing me for destruction and needless death, if everyone was listening to him, who am i as one person to come in and kill everyone to change it?

im almost taken aback by this, knowing there is blood on my hands. but not as much as his. how many people died pursuing his innovation? at least the cost of a whole people.

so i kill him now in cold blood. i throw his corpse to the shipping containers.

the person following me question what i'll do and not even i know. i guess ill haunt this place. stop people from coming here until it can regrow. hold out hope for the dolphin people.

and i wake up just as they are deciding their sad, solemn duty of mourning and revenge.

[soulshards-ooc]

Final Fantasy XIV • Location #18 Thal's Respite, Eastern Thanalan

Proper obeisance to the Trader, Thal, overseer of weather in the afterlife, is required for those who wish to take belongings accumulated in this world to the hereafter. Thal's Respite is oft used by stout devotees of the Order of Nald'thal as a place of fasting and prayer, but its distance from Ul'dah prevents all but the most affluent from making the journey.

[sylviazem]

FFXIV Write 2024- Prompt #27: Memory

master list

After arriving in Thavnair, there was much deliberation over how they should continue on to Dalmasca. Crossing over by boat would be the slowest and safest option, but an airship could get them closer to their destination. However, arranging passage to such a non-standard location proved a bigger obstacle than expected, not to even mention the turbulent winds over the desert region.

"Might I make a suggestion," Varshahn said. "While I can't take you personally, would you consider traveling on dragonback?"

"I suppose...that could work," Fjola held her chin and thought. "A dragon could easily navigate the winds, carry both of us and our baggage, and be less conspicuous than a lone, unannounced airship. But...I don't recall seeing much dragons in Thavnair?"

"Worry not. I have someone in mind, one very fond of helping mortals. I can easily call to her," Varshahn closed his eyes, and a mighty roar faintly echoed from Meghaduta. For a moment, he waited in silence. "...'Tis done. I can't say how long it'll take, but let us proceed to the airship landing, and await her arrival."

While they waited, Fjola had the chance to properly thank Vrtra for his help in Tural, and also introduced Gilded Glance. A little over a bell passed until they saw a red-hued dragon approaching from the horizon, who skillfully landed on the dock without so much as making a sound, clearly used to minding her size and weight around architecture meant for people.

"May I introduce Fylgja, daughter of Ratatoskr herself," Varshan walked over and pet her. "A veritable adventurer in her own right."

"Oh, please, no need for such flattery," she laughed and wiggled. "I'm just doing what I love!"

"Nice to meet you. I'm Fjola, and this is Gilded Glance," she approached, and couldn't resist petting Fylgja's smooth hide. "If you don't mind me saying, you're...Beautiful. Unusually soft for a dragon."

"Hehee, you mortals certainly love that about me," she nudged Fjola with her snout. "...Hmm. You've the faint scent of a dragon yourself...and a tail, besides! What's that all about?"

"Ah...It's a long story," Fjola laughed awkwardly. "And while I'd love to tell you all about it, that's not exactly why we had Vrtra call you here."

"Oh, of course, of course! You wanted to get to Dalmasca, correct?"

"The Whistlewood, to be precise," Gil interjected. "Are you perhaps familiar with such a place?"

"I've heard of it, aye. Never been, but I'm sure I could find it."

"Within the forest is the village Fjola was born in," Gil explained. "She's lost a great portion of her memory, and we're hoping a visit to her previous home might help restore it."

"Oh, you poor thing..! Not that I was going to decline a request from Vrtra himself, but now I simply couldn't, even if I wanted to," Fylgja laid flat against the ground. "We can depart at once! No need to be shy, now. Climb on."

"(She is certainly eager to help,)" Gil whispered to Fjola as she helped him onto the dragon's back. "(I suppose making friends with dragons is just something you're used to?)"

"(I've some...history with them, aye,)" Fjola giggled. "I think we're all ready. Varshahn, could you check if our bags are secured?"

"...Looks like it," he carefully checked that every little pocket was properly sealed. "I wish you luck, Warrior of Light."

"Here we go, then! Hold on tight, my darlings," Fylgja picked up their bags with her forelimbs and prepared to take off. "[Fohl an!]"

[gr-74]

12, 18, 20, 22. ^_^ Hut-hut

FEMME YES FEMME

12. A character you particularly like in the game you’re currently playing

YOU sending me this of all people is so fucking twisted. obviously i have to mention Mirage Apexlegends given that a few yrs break from this game did NOTHING!!!!! to mitigate how i feel about him. honorable mention to crypto as well bc i didnt have much of an opinion on him when he came out, then we all stopped playing apex, but now. well. ilikehim :)

18. A game location you really like.

the dreaming city in destiny 2 continue to do Some Shit to Me even after years whenever i go there and just kinda walk around, especially the quieter areas where there arent guardians and taken fighting 500000 wars every day. its just so. ugh. ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! impeccable vibes. new austin in red dead 2, no matter whatyou say i WILL eat all that sand . i also just rlly like gridania in ffxiv even if theres always some annoying bard trying to blow my ears out when i zone in

20. A boss you think is really cool.

UMMM dang this is hard . there's a lot. my knee-jerks were to say stuff like rhulk and/or nezarec from d2. do we count monster hunter monsters as bosses. like surely right, its basically boss fights the video game. xeno'jiiva is still so swag and i miss glavenus every day im always wearing a shirt that says I HEART BULLYING TEOSTRA. theres a lot of cool stuff in elden ring but placidusax was probly one of my faves (before i get hit with hammers IT WAS NOT A PARTICULARLY FUN FIGHT ijust thought the design and stage was cook). so many video game bosses are ass but then trying to think of a good one is like well there's a lot of good ones too. Damn.

22. A game ending that’s really stuck with you.

another hard one . i have an unfortunate tendency to play a lot of games that either don't really end or aren't really story oriented to begin with. cloudpunk is a more recent one that Got my ass. i'm counting ffxiv shadowbringers here. ghostrunner...... no comment. borderlands 2's ending isnt exactly hard hitting or deep but i feel like i have to mention it just because every time i finish it its like DAMNNN this game is awesome. red dead 2, and red dead 1 for that matter.... theres so many video games on this earth

[ironeaterfinya]

Final Fantasy XIV: Penniless Peril

or: Can you beat FFXIV without spending any Currency? Part 3 - Putting my Name in the Goblet of Fire

Happy new year everyone and sorry for the delay. I am running this challenge as a side thing whenever I have time or I am not distracted by my main or other games. Nontheless here is our New Year Fortune for Ninisa this year:

“Small Fortune” I count that as a good Omen

However we have a lot to do and a lot of it is honestly just straight up wwalking back and fourth a lot.

Leaving the Inn after a few weeks led me to this image

I accidentally stumbled upon an RP event. From what I could gather it was an Auction for... something. I didn’t stick around. Mostly because I couldn’t spend any money anyway but it’s fun to see that there are RP Events on Zodiark to begin with. Even if it is a rare thing.

After doing the quest the Shining Gentlemen to my left was asking me to do, we beat up some merchant trying to pin a crime on a refugee. We beat up his people and Thancred comes around, officially inviting us to be part of his gang.

You see the Tickets? Those are Vesper Bay Teleport Tickets and I will be using them quite often. Mostly to shorten Travel time because god forbid I run back and forth that much. It’s honestly kind of weird seeing the peeps like this, whith half of the later core group still missing.

Also this bloke was making himself even taller, trying to intimidate the only to Lalas in here.

Nontheless I am making my way to Vesper Bay, on foot, for the first and propably last time. When I arrive there I am greeted by the best Scion:

Is this an Intervention?

Everyone introduces themself and I am taken aback by the fact that Urianger had a different VA at the time. (I am playing with German voices and the VA here are a bit more consistent)

We also get to see all the other Scions chilling out in the meeting hall.

Here is a funfact: Most named NPCs here that are not part of the Core Group (excluding Brendt) all appeared in 1.X of FFXIV. 

Also our quest is sending us to Camp Drybone where we are supposed to investigate missing people and also corpses. We also meet a familiar face:

Sure thing “Marquez”, we help you bury a body.

After that, the quests are literally just “Investigate this person by talking to them and go back to Vesper Bay.”

I also got to dress up as a homeless person.

After you arrived there, there is usually some more talk and you get send of again to Camp Drybone or you put Materia into Minphilias Dagger. However that step is actually free as well so thankfully I don’t have to do that myself.

If you only knew how useless you are to me.

Mind you a trip to Camp Drybone takes about 7 minutes on foot. I can’t teleport afterall, nor can I use Chocobo Porters.

Here is a video where I walk all the way over. https://youtu.be/GEr9vILtquY After we get our butt kicked by the Ifrit Gang, we get thrown into a small sub area which is honestly kind of funny. With the help of my boyfriends alt we can show that this area is located in Southern Thanalan, it just happens to be underground.

Wild.

Ifrit was also pretty wild.

It’s cool that I get to run it with trusts.

After heading back to Vesper Bay we are promptly assaulted by the Grand Companies because I should join them. After going to all their speeches of course. The speeches are nothing really to impressive in my opinion. Drawn out a lot and Alphinaud is here who at this point in time is still green behind the ears and also a massive prick with a superiority complex.

Alisaie is also here and she is not saying a word because the both of them have some beef with each other.

After coming back I decided to join the Immortal Flames. Mostly because Raubahns speech is great and also my Job Questline is here. You know. Convenience. Before I can join tho disaster strikes and I gotta get Biggs and Wench out of trouble which is done fairly quickly.

The Gang is here.

After going back to the Flames to officially become a member I got a message I dis not wish to see:

This quest has to be finished in order to complete the Main Scenario Quest “A Realm Reborn”

The quest in question is the Chocobo Quest. In case you don’t know, in order to get a chocobo you need to buy a chocobo voucher. The voucher itself costs Company Seals and Company Seals are a currency. This does not bode well.

I will try to postpone this quest as much as possible. We will see if it holds true.

In the meanwhile our next quest leads us to the Shroud. Because I have reached level 30 tho, I decided to become a Blackmage first and a Blackmage I became. (Even tho I had to again walk to East Thanalan... twice!)

After all of this tho I do have to take a break. It doesn’t look like much but these few things do take up a few hours of real estate.

See you around next time!

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[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Okay. So. Anyone who's up to date and active on FFXIV will know that the first round of bidding for the new housing drop closed today and the results have been posted.

Well.

I GOT MY LOT.

I'm so excited. I thought it was going to be a really popular lot because it has a phenomenal view and is located right next to the travel crystal, market board, and summoning bell, and is a short walk away from the pools, but it turns out I was the only bid. I guess the Goblet isn't that popular anymore, but Ul'dah is where I started out and it's where my character is going to hang her hat.

I'm very excited to finish work and start building my forever home. First up will be the exterior-- gotta have the building before anything else, but then I gotta put in the garden plot(s).

Here's a picture of the view if you don't believe me on how beautiful it is:

That's my side yard. I chose this lot specifically so that the house wouldn't block the view.

Guys. I am so excited.