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thecat-inthehat · 3 years

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One thing I’m really thankful for is that the 5.3 trim of ARR didn’t cut out Meffrid and the Ala Mhigan quests, or really do much of anything to change it. I kept having this lingering fear that it would be cut down into almost nothing, and that’s probably the Ala Mhigan stan in me who’s still disappointed over AM’s treatment in SB.

The Little Ala Mhigo quests are a bit of a long haul tbh, with characters sending you on the run around a couple of times. Most notably, in order to even talk to Gundobald, you have to gain the trust of another faction of the Resistance, which won’t talk to you until a man in the Waking Sands gives you an in by penning a letter of introduction to his former lover. Who is very mad at him. It’s a pretty damn good sense of just how insular Ala Mhigans are, and for pretty good reason. With the occupation of Ala Mhigo some 20 years ago, they tend to band together to keep from outside threats. (I’m reminded of a starting quest in Ul’dah --starting quest has you give some “questionable medicine” to Ala Mhigan refugees on Pearl Lane, who cant afford to do anything but take it. They know they’re essentially being experimented on, but they have no other medicine to take. It’s pretty bleak).

That being said, there’s a lot of character to these quests, and with Meffrid in particular. More than once I remember being surprised by him on my first playthrough, and that extends to this one as well. That bit where he fully admits to being too angry to properly convince anyone always strikes me as a good character tic -- it’s not often that you see characters know their own flaws and readily admit them, especially when a person’s life is on the line.

Anyways, Quarrymill is also your introduction to Gridanian ... ethics? Politics? If you didn’t start there, or you haven’t spent much time in the city proper doing quests. You’re told, repeatedly, that absolutely no help can be given to the refugees because the Elementals Will Not Allow It, and to defy them would bring down the anger of them on the entire forest. It’s um. Well. Christ I do not like Gridania at all. It fucking sucks tbh, between Albreda’s insistence that she’s one of the “lucky ones” who were permitted to live inside the Twelveswood, and her refusal to help her kinsman, and the amount of loops you have to go through in order to help heal Gallien. Like-- they literally haven’t done anything wrong, they need help and yet you’re the only person who’s willing to give it to them.

In one fell swoop, it paints a damning picture of Gridania, as well as works to give you some sympathy for the Ala Mhigan cause themselves, before you interact with Little Ala Mhigo proper.

#msq rerun #Meffrid Noward #Ala Mhigo #Gridania #The Elementals

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onwesterlywinds · 2 years

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FEBHYURARY 8TH - FAITH @FEBHYURARY

"Meffrid."

The captain halted his steps and turned back to face her, and she held out the token he'd dropped: a charm made out of wood, the leather cord snapped from age or strain.

His friendly but questioning smile faltered as he stared down, then he breathed out a sigh of relief. "My thanks," he murmured. "If I'd lost it here-" He gave a vague gesture to their surroundings, to the dense undergrowth reaching up to their knees. "Well. It doesn't bear thinking about." He clasped the charm tight in his hand as he accepted it from her; in the moment before she fully turned away, she saw him raise his knuckles to his lips.

In that moment, her religious knowledge failed her: it had been years since she had attended a proper veneration of Rhalgr, and the Corpse Brigade's devotion to Nymeia was more a matter of principle than abiding faith. "Which saint does it depict?" she asked, before she could think better of it. "A woman and a child."

Meffrid kept his voice low, though his company were already so far ahead of them as to be nearly out of sight. "Not a saint," he replied. "Just an old token to remember Ala Ghiri." He returned her own line of questioning with a deftness that took her by surprise. "I've not seen any emblems on your person."

He spoke with well-placed certainty, as her leather protectorates left little room for tokens of any sort. "If I had one," she said, letting the bitterness seep into her words for the moment, "I'd have had to barter it away long ago."

He gave a bitter, humorless laugh. "And if you did have one? Something that was yours alone?"

Gisfrid had told her that the old Riskbreakers had had a dragon for their sigil, shown only on the rare occasions their sigil had been left out for lesser knights to find - but the notion of carrying a dragon into battle, of perhaps being buried with it, felt a few steps too removed from her own ambitions. "If you laugh-"

"I wouldn't dare."

"There was a type of lily that only grew in the shadow of Cotter Tor. Galbanas. ...I'd carry a token of one if I could."

Meffrid nodded. "Why would I laugh? It seems perfectly fitting."

She did not know how to respond, unless it was to say that she had grown used to the older fighters painting her desires as invariably selfish. "I suppose," she muttered, and fell back into silence as they reached the border of the desert.

#Febhyurary #Ashelia Riot #Meffrid Noward

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fistfuloflightning · 2 years

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In a world where the Calamity doesn’t happen, but the Garlean invasion does, things go a little different for the Hext sisters.

20 years before HW, Garlemald invades Ala Mhigo and the Hext sisters (Yda 10, Lyse 4-5) flee to Sharlayan after their father is killed. Yda is trained by Louisoix and paired up with Papalymo to balance out their temperaments/fighting styles. Lyse is also trained, but she’s mostly known as the younger sister and soon she gives up on the Scion training and goes her own separate way.

There they stay until the beginning of ARR (15 years later) when the Scions are summoned to fight Primals. Each has been sent to a city-state to combat the problem.

Yda has been sent to Gridania, saving the world one Primal at a time and working against the Garlean influence alongside her partner/husband/boss/personal nag Papalymo. After 5 years (bringing it up to HW) they manage to purge Gridania and the Shroud. Eventually they decide to settle there, becoming the guardians of Nophica’s stone.

Lyse leaves as well shortly after her sister and returns to Rhalgr’s Reach, where she meets Meffrid and they’re paired up for missions/scouting, since Conrad’s hoping to groom her into the leader her father had been before his death. She’s trained by a silent monk, finally reaching her potential as a fighter in her own merit and no longer in the shadow of her sister.

Conrad dies early in the campaign, leaving her in charge of an organization that still doesn’t trust her. But Meffrid steps in as a co-leader and the two firebrands drive out Garlemald, finally freeing Ala Mhigo and achieving their dream.

#ffxiv #yda hext #lyse hext #yda x papalymo #lyse x meffrid #meffrid noward #papalymo totolymo #alternate timeline #no calamity #no wols #(except for the odd silent monk/paladin/mage/bard)#so there’s that #everyone gets a happy ending #and no one dies #*looks at the guys*

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tarajenkins · 7 years

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When I’m trying to warm back up to drawing and drawing fanart, I really shouldn’t pick the most pure and perfect subject in this game to test doodle, I can only fail

#FFXIV #Stormblood #Balmung #Meffrid #Meffrid Noward

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livvyplaysfinalfantasy · 5 years

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The second M’naago turn-in quest! She introduces you to Germainne, one of the regulars around Rhalgr’s Reach. The fact that Germainne lost her father in the Garlean attack on the Reach has always been apparent - but only here does M’naago tell us that Zenos himself cut her father down.

That revelation prompts M’naago to reflect on the others who died that day - including Meffrid Noward.

Meffrid, M’naago explains, had a family who he left behind. He never mentioned them to M’naago or, presumably, to anyone else in the Resistance. Tracking them down has been difficult, but that hasn’t dissuaded M’naago from ensuring that they receive the same aid as other families of the Ala Mhigan Resistance.

#LPFFXIV:S

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wisteriafield · 5 years

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I wish images weren’t fucked reading in a read more but that’s probably bc of my blog theme

“They will tell you you are one and you are two. You can choose.”

After sparing a few moments to chat about your extraordinary adventures in the First, Sidurgu informs you that he has come into possession of an anonymous letter addressed to you. Out of respect for your privacy, he has refrained from opening it, and after he takes his leave to chase after a rather annoyed Rielle, you are left alone to read it.

But if you’re reading this, then you know how the story goes, don’t you? So now comes the choice: hold the crystal close that we may enjoy these moments together. Or put it away and pretend I was never a part of it. That I was never really here.

“Ciel Myste, You’ll forgive me for the sudden correspondence, and the secrecy. You helped me, in a way. Once upon a time. It’s past time I said as much, and so... here we are. Feels like a lifetime ago, now that I think on it. You’ve been through quite a lot since then--accomplished incredible things. I’d like to think that, in some way, I was a part of your journey... Far from the best, no doubt. But for me and my own journey, I think it’s safe to say that you’ve been...well. There’s no suitable words to describe it, really. I’ve done things. Made decisions. Looking back, I can’t help but feel more than a little foolish. But such is life, and we have to seize what few opportunities we have for closure...even if it’s through the written word and not face-to-face. So wherever you are, I hope you’re still happy. Still fighting, still adventuring--still doing what you love. Be well.”

The cryptic letter speaks for itself. Perhaps Lunnie, the woman who delivered it to Sidurgu, might be able to shed light on this mystery...

Lunnie, as it turns out, is the girl you rescued from the clutches of corrupt Temple Knights a lifetime ago. She is not, however, the author of the letter, and explains that she received it from one Ser Patrounade, who stated it was to be delivered to the hero of the Scions. It would seem a visit to the Congregation is in order.

[She didn’t know, of course. How could she? She’s not even sure how many of you there were that day. Are you? But never you mind that, you have a search to continue.]

Ser Patrounade was no more than another link in the chain, having received the letter from Orella of Rhalgr’s Reach. He, like you, had been injured at the Ghimlyt Dark, and so he spent some nights convalescing in her care. If further answers are to be found, it will be at the Barber.

[Do you remember Ser Patrounade? I do. Not by name of course--he didn’t have one when the tower fell. That’s how these things so often go--you do your bit, only to later fill in the gaps, to piece together the picture of distant hindsight. What will your legacy be tomorrow, and the day after, and in the days after that...?]

After clarifying that you are come not in search of a lost child yet again, Orella explains to you that the letter came with a shipment of medical supplies from Little Ala Mhigo. She can only assume that the author intended for Commander Hext to take charge of it and deliver it to you personally. And so you depart for southern Thanalan to retrace another leg of the letter's journey.

[And Orella’s just another step in your own journey. Will you remember her? What about the names in her ledger--Conrad Kemp, Meffrid Noward? “Ah, but they were doomed from the first,” a part of you whispers. “Inevitable deaths on the road to a forgone conclusion,” sayeth the hardened heart, in retrospect. You’d be wrong, of course. It never had to be this way. This world is exactly as we choose to make it.]

Gundobald regards you thoughtfully and states that the letter speaks for itself, which is why he agreed to send it on the author's behalf. However, if you are unwilling to let it lie─if you still seek answers and closure, he will not deny you. There is a man at the Red Rooster Stead in lower La Noscea that may be able to help you find a measure of peace.

[Now Gundobald, he’s seen you at your best and at your worst. He’s seen you when you were one and when you were two. He could tell you someone else wrote the letter, if that’s what you’d like to believe. It’d be a turn, sure, but we’ve seen stranger things. Or he could continue to regard you with that same mixture of concern and fear whenever the topic of us comes up, and say nothing of the sort. And you--you could go to the Red Rooster Stead, with the answer of your choosing. See if it’s all to your satisfaction.]

The man at the Red Rooster Stead turns out to be yet another figure from your past, a former merchant who bade you retrieve his stolen wares and berated you for the condition in which you returned them to him. Ever since that fateful day, his life has been a succession of failures...until, while going through his meager possessions, he chanced to find a bloodstained package of flower bulbs from once upon a time. Thereafter he resolved to become a botanist and start anew, and as a humble token of his appreciation, long overdue, he offers a flower. But it is not for you.

[Another nameless face, now named. Then conniving, now humbled--as he well should be, no? I gave him a right talking to--or you did. Your choice. And after a string of bad luck, he’s since turned over a new leaf...and found a flower. Suitable for funerals and farewells. I told you before you know how the story goes, didn’t I? Come and see, Ciel. Come and see.]

You say a few words, and offer a flower in memory of...a memory. Now go, and don’t look back.

[It’s been a long, strange journey, filled with all kinds of ups and downs. Your journey, to be sure, but like I wrote before, I’d like to pretend I was an important part of it. Vanity, aye--but how can I not think of legacy, now, when we’ve been to the First and witnessed firsthand the lengths to which a man will go to be remembered? I want to believe--I need to believe that this was not for nothing. That I changed you for the better, as you changed me...]

Sidurgu is waiting for you with Rielle in the Forgotten Knight when you return. He asks you what you found, what it was all for, and you reply--

[Time to go. I don’t know when we’ll do this again--if we’ll ever do this again. The little trick you’ve learned (Living Shadow) doesn’t count, you know. But even if this is our end, it won’t change what we had. I love you more than you’ll ever know. Be well.]

#fav #reference

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tarajenkins · 7 years

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@kasunshine @knumara

I need an adult

and some sweet and sour sauce

and some fries

#Balmung #FFXIV #Meffrid Noward #Meffrid #Non-Playable Company

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onwesterlywinds · 5 years

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i've been thinking about it the last few days for my own characters and now curious for my mutuals? does your characters have any npc crushes, small or large?

Wow, this is such a good question! I’ll break it down by my two main ladies, because Rosenheim and Ingvald have each had minimal contact with NPCs and are both too self-absorbed to really care. Hrjt probably hasn’t met any story NPCs yet.

Livvy Ahtynwyb, lesbian paladin extraordinaire:

Lucia the Radiant. Not only is she a lady-knight, she’s tall by most Eorzeans’ standards. Big crush.

Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn. I mean, have you seen her. Small crush, lots of intimidation.

Lyse Hext. Their friendship took on a different level of trust during their adventures together in Gyr Abania. Moderate crush, but lots of confusing emotional intimacy.

Definitely not Nero tol Scaeva.

Ashelia Riot, happily married bisexual Ala Mhigan:

Widargelt Beake. And this was before she learned of his heritage. Big crush.

Meffrid Noward. He was a kind face to her at a time when she felt she least deserved kindness. Small crush.

Lyse Hext. She’s wondered more than once what her life would have been like if her family’s flight from Ala Mhigo had not ended in tragedy. Small crush.

She’s also more than willing to encourage whatever feelings she suspects her husband has for Hien Rijin.

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onwesterlywinds · 5 years

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Passages

Ashe had tried to engage Lyse in what she had hoped would be a private stroll through the Ala Mhigan palace, only there were Resistance soldiers everywhere. Some worked at disassembling what remained of the magitek barriers littering the walls and floor; others adhered to sweeping patrols; one or two looked to be skulking about or otherwise off-duty but snapped into salutes as she and Lyse strode past.

Briefly, Ashe thought of Meffrid Noward - what he might have thought of these ragged young recruits, their force bearing the name of all those who had borne Ala Mhigo to its present freedom.

For all their earnestness, she did not trust one of them not to eavesdrop if given a chance.

It was a greater trial than it was worth to disrupt her conversation with the turn of each corner, too pressing a matter to delegate her speech to whispers; and so Ashe escorted the commander down a tight passage lying in wait behind a shadowed enclave. Lyse's gape widened as they slipped through the unlocked door at the end, emerging into what had once been the office of the Dangerous Criminal Task Force - the old Riskbreakers.

Just as Ashe opened her mouth to apologize for all of the secrecy, Lyse said, "I'm amazed at how much you remember of all this." She gestured around at the interior of the room, long since emptied of any valuables and lit only by a thin skylight. "Did you visit the palace often as a girl?"

"No," Ashe admitted. "Not very often."

Before the liberation, she had been to the palace only once, when she was too young to remember: her mother had been sick and her father had needed to stop into this very office, even while on leave, to pick up some paperwork. Outside of that, her father had told her recently, he had encouraged a separation of his personal life from Riskbreaker business - particularly as the shadow of Theodoric's madness grew ever larger throughout the palace.

Still, Ashelia Riot patrolled the halls with the memory of one who had walked them for years - so long as she concentrated on her connection to her father through the Echo. Once, she had closed herself off while in the middle of what had once been a servants' tunnel and had struggled to find her way back to familiar territory. The connection worked at its best when she did not have to contemplate it at all - when she treated it as muscle memory. Yet accessing the knowledge had had its benefits. Already she had overheard conversations she otherwise would not have: guards discussing Fordola rem Lupis in captivity, guesses at Raubahn Aldynn's political future, relatives returning and dead, even a plan to destroy Zenos' gravesite.

And since she had offered to inform Lyse of anything that might be of use in shoring up the city's defenses, the Grand Steward had become nothing less than invaluable to the interim government.

"It seems as if you know all sorts of things about this place that I never could," Lyse mused. "I wish I remembered Ala Gannha half as well as you know Ala Mhigo."

But it did not feel right to divulge her secrets here of all places - here, where so many horrific plans had lain undisturbed, so many misdeeds plotted for the means of preserving a mad monarch's rule. She had taken up the office's name, and its double-edged legacy, and the weight of its past still discomfited her at times such as these.

And so she continued onward, through yet another door and into a thin stairwell, cool but humid. She did not turn back for Lyse but could hear the woman's footsteps fall in line with her own upon the damp stone. Dark and desolate as it was, even for a span of no more than several seconds, she might have imagined them both in the underground passages where she and Edge had spent so much time as children. At the top of the stairs, she pushed upon the barren wall and emerged at the far end of the palace's empty throne room.

As Lyse stared around in wonder at the change to their surroundings, Ashe said, "I think it's time for me to be entirely honest with you, Lyse."

Lyse opened her mouth as though to reply, then closed it abruptly. Her brow furrowed in an expression of confusion that reminded Ashe a little of Ahtynwyb. "What do you mean?"

She took in a deep breath. Now or never. "Before I begin, this is a topic that is rarely, if ever, spoken of freely. Can I trust you to ensure my words remain between us?"

"Of course."

Even as her father's warnings rang through her head - fractured and contentious and bloodthirsty - a far greater urgency for her people's future drove her on.

"If you are to lead Ala Mhigo, or even to help implement its new government, there's something you first need to know. About Ala Mhigo, and about me." She sighed. "To that end... it's time I told you of the Undercity."

"The... the what?"

"The Undercity. More or less, it's precisely what it sounds like: an entire society far beneath our feet, connected by a sprawling network of underground tunnels. It exists separately from the city above and comprises thousands of souls, each with their own motives and allegiances. Some shun the topside at all costs. Others participate in it where and when they can. Others have a foot in each world." Like me, perhaps. "But the Undercity has been privy to some of Ala Mhigo's deepest secrets. It's where my father honed his skills before joining the Riskbreakers - and it was the city's final line of defense when the Garleans invaded."

Lyse pursed her lips, laying a single hand to rest against the side of her face in a contemplative gesture. "But I don't understand. If this 'Undercity' exists-" Ashe whirled around to check again for any listeners-in, and Lyse seemed to take the hint as she lowered her voice. "If that many people make their living beneath Ala Mhigo - how is none of this common knowledge?"

"Mostly because the people of the Undercity prefer it that way," she replied. "Though to be fair, plenty do know of the Undercity, even if not by name. They know of the beggars, and the highwaymen, and the orphaned children; they simply don't know where those people go once they're gone from the public eye. I believe that by advocating for these people, we will be better served to defend the city as a whole."

"And you're telling me you're... from the Undercity."

"Not precisely; I merely spent much of my youth there. As did Edge."

"Is there any way I could see it?"

"I believe you already have. You and the Scions first entered Ala Mhigo through an underground well system, didn't you?"

The young commander nodded as understanding dawned upon her face. "Well, I trust you. If you say that this Undercity can help keep Ala Mhigo safe, then I have no problem with you devoting time and resources to-"

"Not only me, Lyse. I'm honored that you're considering me for the proposed council of leaders. Yet I ask that you admit me not only as Grand Steward of the Riskbreakers, but also as a representative for the myriad factions within the Undercity." She breathed a deep sigh. "If we could work in tandem with the rest of Ala Mhigo's leaders to offer aid to those who need and want it while minimizing the crime coming out of the Undercity... such a plan could change an entire generation."

"It's all a little strange to me," Lyse admitted after a second. "But I don't see why not. Regardless, you'll be at the council meeting?"

"I certainly will."

"We can talk more about it then. In the meantime, I'll ask that you do what all the other leaders are doing: gather some of your constituents' opinions on the reconstruction efforts. Ask if there's anything they need, or what we can do to help them."

Ashe nodded. "Thank you, Lyse."

"Don't thank me yet." The young woman made to approach the double doors, then thought better of exiting into the hall beyond; instead, she retraced her steps toward the hidden tunnel so etched into the Riskbreakers' previous histories. "This leadership thing is proving to be a much bigger ordeal than I'd ever imagined."

#Ashelia Riot #Understory

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