R’nyath and Chuchupa: Nice.
Chapter 69: Hinganisme
Achiyo took Chuchupa and Tam, and set out to track down Yllamse to invite her to join the Scions. “She is a flighty wanderer, is she not?” Achiyo said to Tam, who almost certainly knew her best.
“Yes, but less so than you might think,” Tam said. “The first place to ask is Ala Mhigo.”
Achiyo blinked at him even as he began a group Teleport. “Do you not have her linkpearl?”
“No,” Tam said, and the Teleport went off. Continue reading
The poem Achiyo recites part of is (called in this English translation) “Looking at the Moon and Thinking of One Far Away” by Zhang Jiuling, which I found on this page.
Yllamse’s player (also named Yllamse) was recently really inspired by my personal FFXIV world, and is writing a fic about her character in my world?! This feels like fanfic for me teehee. It’s pretty helpful for me in writing her character, too!
I still feel kinda bad for the time I was in voice chat with some FC members and 4.1 had just dropped and I was grumbling about, idk, crafting or something and one of the other members was getting sniffly over Nanamo and Raubahn saying goodbye. I didn’t realize she was at the emotional part or I would have shut up. D:
Chapter 67: Salt and Suffering
Chapter 68: Raubahn’s Return
“And this is my new boyfriend, Oremont,” R’lhifre said, gesturing at the gangly, awkward-looking light-pink-haired Elezen trailing behind her. Either he was short for an Elezen, or he hadn’t finished his growth spurt yet – he was just taller than R’mon Nunh. Probably about the same age as R’lhifre. “He’ll be staying for dinner.” Continue reading
Oops, extra long chapter! Well, it’s the season finale. I adjusted the gatecracker battle, because the Garleans would be rank fools not to put cannons on top of their walls, just letting the Alliance waltz up unopposed except for a paltry handful of flying machines. (I’m sure part of that is game render limitations, so I’m just breaking the limit.)
Tidbit that didn’t make it into the story: I headcanon the Temple Knights were training with the Immortal Flames in Thanalan for a few months to acclimatize to the arid environment. Also they’re on double water rations so no one sweats to death. Even if Coerthas used to be warmer, it’s not like it was hot. It’s like Scandinavians going to the Mediterranean – you can’t just throw them in there and expect them to operate as normal.
For Zenos fight I had to rely on an old standby boss-fight-inspo song: Blue Skies and a Battle from FE3H (which I haven’t played because I don’t want to play such a sad game).
I would really love for Ala Mhigo to have a hub city zone (like Ul’dah or Kugane) using the dungeon tileset, those textures are PRETTY.
Chapter 64: For Ala Mhigo
Tam tried to take stock of the last hour. Fordola was in Alliance custody. Krile was safely behind friendly lines, with Urianger. Urianger speculated that Fordola had been given an artificial Echo through those experiments on Krile, and his device, inspired by Alisaie’s testimony, had been to disrupt it. Rinala had arrived and Raubahn sent her to give his sword Tizona to Pipin, and Tam had gone along to hang out. Now how did Tam get from Pipin to… wolfmen, again? Continue reading
Yesssssss the return of the king, as the memes say!
I’d kind of hoped to put in Raubahn’s flashbacks in the previous chapter, to pair up his memories of Lyse’s father with Achiyo’s last Echo involving her ‘father’, but eh the pacing ended up not really working out.
Thancred’s line about leather waistcoats… research tells me is a Monkey Island reference (to go with the ridiculous breath holding). (I’ve played several of the Monkey Island games, but it’s been quite a while. That sort of puzzle game isn’t really my cup of tea.)
Chapter 63: Reunion
The first thing to do was to warn the army of the experiments they’d encountered. The Empire did like building sinister laboratories everywhere they could – they’d built one beneath Doma Castle, for kami’s sake – and if they were creating machines that were part-beast, or worse, part-Spoken in one place, they could be creating them elsewhere. Or who knew which of their experiments had been approved and put into production. Their very horror would grant them an edge, let alone their combat capabilities. Everyone needed to know. Continue reading
I forgot how long the Radiata bit was, and I couldn’t figure out how to abridge the WHM quest, so this is likely the third-last chapter of 4.0.
TIL that ‘cermet‘ is a real thing?? Man I know a little bit about a lot of things but I didn’t know that. I thought FFXIV made it up for the Garleans to use.
Estinien’s cannon-slaying is probably the best moment in all of Stormblood. He’s the Azure Dragoon, after all. (Jocat guitar sting)
Chapter 62: Legacies
Rinala walked through the forest of the Fringes, head down, tail low, lost in thought. Trying to figure out how her life had fallen down around her. How she had lost herself to the point that she couldn’t do her job anymore. That the Scions didn’t want her around anymore. Continue reading
I know people have complained that several characters post-ARR are basically whole new characters, and I think it’s true. I feel Lyse got the better end of the deal in the character development hand-outs; she went from ‘bubble-brained comic relief’ to ‘oh crap I have to adult now, it’s scary but I’ll do my best’. Maybe it’s a bit too drastic, but you know what ARR was a bit cartoony overall so I don’t think it’s out of step with the general tone shift. But Thancred went from ‘mischievous perv with an angsty side’ to ‘Batman’, and not even a fun Batman like Estinien. And just to reiterate… I really don’t like his haircut and chin scruff. (Alphinaud’s character development is, of course, perfect, so needs no discussion.)
Chapter 60: The Fall of Doma Castle
Chapter 61: Bitter Dreams
R’nyath ducked through the press of soldiers, looking for his fearless leader. “Achiyo! Hey, hey, over here!”
She turned, startled, from where she had been talking to Raubahn. “R’nyath? What is it?” Continue reading
this is horribly self-indulgent (7,000 words of fluff, most of it written literal years ago) and yet it’s what we’ve been waiting for, please enjoy : D
Chapter 51: When the War is Over
The wounded were borne away in wains to Castrum Oriens, Y’shtola among them, with Lyse and Pipin to guard. Gradually, those left took stock of their situation. Rhalgr’s Reach was in shambles. The tents were charred tatters; the cannons were in pieces. Holes had been blown in the cliffs, including those that contained historic chambers now laid bare to the elements. And there were so many bodies, hundreds of casualties, many of them unarmed; people lined them up in neat rows to prepare for burial, weeping and cursing the Imperials. The ground was covered in scattered dark patches of dried blood. Continue reading
Whoooo Stormblood!!! Y’know, once upon a time I thought I’d never make it here, even though I’ve had tons of notes for it for a long while. And I know, with it being the most political expansion, it’s a little more difficult than the others to get emotionally invested in – but I have some story threads that I think will be pretty interesting. And of course, this is a fanfic, I can skip the worst of the politics if I want! You’ve already all played the game anyway.
That being said, I personally found 4.0’s opening to be one of those spots that’s hard to get emotionally invested in. So we’ll be moving fast for a bit.
Thanks, Cider Spider, for forever implanting Lyse puns into my brain.
Also oops I spent the past three months in 1) year-end work crunch/recovery, 2) writing out Achiyo’s entire backstory (will post after I finish posting 4.0), and 3) playing Honkai Star Rail.
Chapter 48: The Battle in the Sky
Chapter 49: Into the Fringes
Rinala looked around at the Alliance camp within Castrum Oriens, the fortification on Baelsar’s Wall that was now the Alliance headquarters in Gyr Abania. It was already more arid on this side of the Wall than the Shroud, the trees thinner and less leafy, reminding her of the southern border of the Shroud where the forest met her own Thanalan. This part of the castrum was largely built of stone, with metal on top, which surprised her after seeing the grand metal intricacy of Baelsar’s Wall itself – were the Garleans taking advantage of older structures as the basis for their own fortifications? Continue reading
I feel like Nero’s English VA isn’t smug enough. He needs to sound punchable. His dialogue shows him to be at least purporting to be utterly full of himself, and I feel the VA plays it a bit flat; he sounds almost normal despite the dramatic dialogue. BRING ME SASS
Chapter 47: The Edge of Gyr Abania
Chapter 48: The Battle in the Sky
Achiyo, Kekeniro, Vivienne, Alphinaud, and Alisaie were the last to arrive at the council at the Lotus Stand. Besides the four Alliance leaders and their retinues, Cid and Yugiri were there. Alisaie did not actually have to be there, but Achiyo guessed she was curious enough to put up with politics. Continue reading
Is it just me or have interpersonal relationships suddenly become easier between my characters starting last chapter? Like they actually like each other? Y’know, only an expansion and a half late. : P
I took out the cyclops because I don’t think it really adds anything except make Thancred miss the climax of the fight for no reason. : P
Chapter 36: Rousing Spirits
Achiyo, Rinala, R’nyath, and Vivienne went down for breakfast in Fortemps Manor several days later and found Count Edmont reading a notice as he ate. “Ah, good morning to you all. Ser Aymeric has news for us. I shall call upon him after I have breakfasted, would you care to join me?” Continue reading