#npc: ardbert

[ishgard]

dog - for the single word drabble prompt!

"A drabble is 100 words, a drabble is a hundred words" I chant to myself as I go over 500.

Thank you so much though!! As soon as I saw it I knew exactly what old scene to finally write that's been in my head since grinding Holminster Switch and getting the Black Hayate. 😂

"Can't imagine why you'd want to come back here already." Ardbert's voice emerged from the silence, a frown etched into his features as he surveyed the smoldering ruins of Holminster Switch. It was a town of ghosts now, naught but a few embers still glistening under the blanket of night. 

She can never quite know when her favorite ghost is going to chime in, but it is a surprise tonight. 

"I'm not sure, either." She replied, nudging over a broken piece of fence before continuing along the winding road. "There's so little civilization left here, I suppose I just..." Lips pursed, her brow furrowed as her gaze swept over the wreckage. "Wanted to get an idea of what it was like. Without all the fighting and screaming." 

Ardbert said nothing, but his silence was so heavy it could have been worth a thousand words. 

What broke the silence was not either of their voices but instead a tiny, distinct whimpering. Frowning, Ahru’s hand went for the hilt of her rapier, gaze scanning around her. 

“…Do sineaters typically make sounds like that?” She asked in a whisper. 

“Far be it from me to assume they couldn’t… But not any that I’m aware of.” 

The sound came again, this time accompanied by the shifting of shadows from beneath one of the half-toppled buildings. Her fingers gripped the handle as her eyes made out the form of-

Oh. A dog. A puppy, to be exact; black and white with the cutest ears and -less cute- a limp in its front paw. It gave a pathetic little wag of it’s tail, clearly exhausted but happy to see people. 

“Aww, you poor thing!” Ahru cooed, taking only a few steps forward before crouching down with her hands held out - she didn’t want to scare it. “Come here, sweetie.”

It’s tail wagged again and it limped forward, sniffing at her fingertips and licking them feebly. Grabbing some dried meat from her satchel she held it out to him and he ate it up eagerly, visibly perking up. 

“Can’t believe the little guy survived all that.” Ardbert mused, crouching down beside her. As calm and stoic as he acted, she was pretty sure from the smile on his face and the glint in his eye he very much wanted to scoop the creature up and give it a good thorough petting.

“You must be pretty clever, huh?” She asked to a response of eager yips. After a testing scratch behind his ears, she gingerly touched her hand to his injured leg, infusing it with healing magicks. Fortunately the wound wasn’t too bad, and within seconds he was bouncing around, yipping and wagging his tail like wild, licking at her hands. 

“Doesn’t look like he has a collar…”Ardbert murmured, clearly far more interested than she imagined he’d ever admit to. “He’ll need a name.”

Just as amusing was the fact they were, despite saying nothing of it, on the same page. Evidently being a Warrior of Light also indicated a habit of picking up strays, at least where they were concerned. Laughing she gave the dog ‘a good thorough petting’, before plucking him up into her arms. 

“I’ve got it. I’ll call you Ardbert!”

“What?”

The pup yipped and howled, wiggling in her arms as its tail practically spun in happy circles. 

“See? He likes it!”

[windupiceheart]

A ghost

[magellanica]

Ardbert in my WoL's warrior glam because he deserves to play endgame ffxiv and do a little glamour.

[berryzawati]

Wolbert Week 2024 Day 1: A New Life

[spadegeistalt]

G'estalt during Shadowbringers be like-- (Sometime post-Titania) I just wanted an excuse to draw the Krile cookie

[skeleboy13]

compilation of various drawings i've done of my haha silly wol (ref for 2nd image under cut)

[mymarfeus]

"Need some help?"

[asuka-ff14ss]

[impossible-rat-babies]

love the gameplay trailer bc the lady is like: “could you have held fast that which is dear? without sacrifice?” and my brain just jump cuts to eyrie family guy death pose at the end of EW

[displaykitkats]

Some of my fave guys in level 100 crafter gear - but opted out of the giant mittens for Estinien. Should I complete this set with level 100 gatherer gear? MAYBEEeeE. See below the cut on who is wearing which gear.

Update: I posted the gatherer gear sets here. Enjoy!

Thancred - Carpenter

Estinien - Blacksmith

Ardbert - Armourer

Erenville - Goldsmith

Koana - Leatherworker

Emet-selch - Weaver

Aymeric - Alchemist

G’raha - Culinarian

[velnica]

Midlander Hyurs who are shorter than Sanson Smyth: A post

My friend was commenting how the Bard quest NPCs are mostly Elezens so Sanson who's 5'11 always look like a short twink next to them, so I got curious and compiled this list lol.

Ardbert / Meteor / Hien / Thancred (yes Sanson is taller than Meteor but twice the twink)

Bonus: Guydelot is a complete giraffe next to Meteor lmao

Jacke / Oboro / Bartholomew / Hancock

Alberic / Ywain / Riol / Asahi

[ramyeonguksu]

Shadowbringers NPC charms with Ryne, Gaia, and their third-wheel Ardbert!

[autumnslance]

FFXIV Write 2024: 2 Horizon

(Endwalker 6.0, in a specific named place on the final zone map. Uses lines of NPC & player dialogue. 350ish words.)

She had given up everyone and everything to get here—and it still wasn’t enough.

The whispers of her family, friends, allies, swirled in her head, their hopes and prayers, encouragement and urging. She couldn’t disappoint them, even as tears stung her eyes.

She had thought herself drained of tears by this point.

She could almost imagine the steady presence of Ardbert at her back, the weight of his hands on her shoulders. That part of him inside her soul kept fighting, cheering, pushing her forward.

All she could see were stars.

Broken and burning, dimming and darkened, they filled the twisted skies and far distances of space.

And above the egg loomed. Just out of reach.

No one remained but her. The others' determined hopes swirled in the air around her, formed the very ground under her feet. What she could use was their council, their ideas.

Them.

But only Meteion waited, her slim form breaking the barren line of this absolute horizon.

“Come, let me relieve you of your burden. You have suffered enough.”

Azem’s crystal was in her hand. It was all she had left. Her ancestor’s magic, and what remained of Hydaelyn’s. Yet if she used it to call her friends back, then it would undo all their progress to even reach this point and they would be further away…

“...and another who may yet have a part to play. Though that will depend on you.”

Among the many words she recalled, Hydaelyn’s in Labyrinthos came, segueing into memories of Elpis itself, that first flower leading there, to the revelations of this beginning, to Kairos…

The thing about horizons was they only seemed to be a definitive line. But in the common language, the word also meant a range of perceptions and experiences, about attaining something previously thought to be out of reach.

“I won’t forsake our cause.”

She still had the crystal. She had her experiences, her knowledge, her memories of her comrades.

“I’ll reach you! I’ll find a way!”

She was not out of options.

Light rose over that final horizon.

[berryzawati]

Ardbert lives AU - part 1.

Pulled away from death's bitter embrace, a certain adventurer finds himself in a new yet strangely familiar environment...

To be continued.

[ishgard]

I am god awful at asking specific questions I'm sorry beloved mutual but please please please please please I want Aria trivia im on my hands and knees begging

omg hi yes absolutely thank you so much I frickin ADORE her and she always deserves more love than I give her (but hilariously that's kind of just canon for her, being overshadowed by Mana)

her ogverse she was a doppelganger made (By the Enemy) purely to take Mana's place as the crux of the world basically. which isn't super important but is a fundamental sort of building block about her in every setting on some level

WHERE ELSE TO START THO she's the bitter Thirteenth Shard of the Warrior of Light [this one] who was summoned as a Voidsent by Amon in one of his Kairos-Imprinted Fever Dream-inspired experiments and chimera-crafted into [will smith poses around her]. A poor imitation of the Meteia, she hears diluted echoes of her sisters' song giving her a -500 nihilism debuff

but. like. she wants to live. She (like Hermes) wants there to be a better reason for everything. She doesn't think there is, but she doesn't like the idea of anything dictating the course of her life and just accepting everything will succumb to despair, even if... she understands deep in the marrow of her being it will. She's a very conflicted person because I mean, she is an Azem shard at the end of the day. (She hates that too.)

The voidsent part of her and the meteia part of her make it 'tricky' navigating life in an aether-dense world, and (not unlike Mana) she really enjoys eating and making food! just... there tends to be a bit of eating people where she's concerned. :'D All that tasty aether 😌

Some other quick trivia about her:

Loves to sing, has a beautiful voice - but watch out!

Is a huge bookworm (or as I tag it on her blog, #bookwyrm)

Because oh yeah part of her chimera cocktail is some dragon! :D honestly that's probably what stabilizes her (aetherically) the most

Reveres Amon (+ Fandaniel by extension... Hermes, now... That might be looking a little TOO closely in the mirror. She gets the layers of fuckery, finds comfort in it, but the heart underneath is far too vulnerable to acknowledge.)

Teamed up with the Heavens Ward and the Warriors of Darkness to try to kill the Warrior of Light -teehee-

Probably works with Zenos and Fandaniel during EW, but not entirely sure how that'll pan out for her. (I need her to live and keep being a gorgeous cryptid though.)

On the NPC ship side of things I like her dynamic with Fandaniel and [tragically!] Ardbert. Like haha, watching the guy who kinda made her better get omnomed by the WoL the way she fears happening to herself sure is not great for her mental health.

She has laid claim to Haukke Manor. Don't ask how she did that. She just loved a lot of what the previous owner did with the place.

Did some redecorating though and added a huge library for all of her [definitely not cursed at all] tomes.

not trivia but i am constantly thinking about how she needs more girlfriends to make out with with blood all over their mouths 😌

[swoleas]

love when an npc says "you should get some rest. go to bed." bc I KNOW it means i get to hang out with ardbert <3