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xiashtra 03d949abaf 7.45 follow-up (#99)
* Update cn

* 7.45 follow-up
2026-03-03 21:04:14 -06:00

19 KiB

10TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000010_CID...In summary, the isle owes its lofty position to the industry of the Allagans. And we can be all but certain that the archbishop and his cronies are enjoying the view from its top.
21TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000020_AYMERICI see.
32TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000030_CIDIf we are to join them, we will first need to pass through the isle's aetheric barrier─which is, alas, more powerful than most. Powerful enough to make a mess of a perfectly good airship, at any rate...
43TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000040_CIDAs far as I can gather, the barrier mechanism draws aether from the surrounding environment, and polarizes its elemental aspect to produce what is, in effect, a wall of lightning.
54TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000050_ALPHINAUDIt seems plain that without the Vanu's key, any attempt to reach the isle will end in failure.
65TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000060_CIDAlas, the key was careless enough to leave without us, and I don't think the Vanu keep a spare.
76TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000070_AYMERICMaster Garlond─based on your experience, is there no other way that we might breach the barrier?
87TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000080_CIDWell, in the past, we've beaten similar barriers by nullifying them with elemental converters.
98TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000090_CIDBut the one we're up against this time dwarfs aught we've encountered before. The *Enterprise* simply isn't large enough to bear the requisite amount of crystals.
109TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000100_ALPHINAUDI am reminded of the quantity needed to nullify Leviathan's command of the sea... A veritable mountain of crystals that could only be borne by lashing two galleons together to form a “twin vessel” scarcely able to propel itself, much less fly.
1110TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000110_CIDThat said, we're not without options. If it isn't feasible to nullify the barrier, we might try *piercing* it.
1211TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000120_AYMERICHow?
1312TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000130_CIDWe create a ram of condensed aether and mount it on my ship. There's just one problem─I don't have the faintest idea how to build one. It's going to take a true authority in the field, I reckon.
1413TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000140_ALPHINAUDWould that the Archons were still with us...
1514TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000150_EDMONTBut yesterday evening, I chanced to find Mistress Tataru in unusually high spirits. Assuming I understood her excited ramblings correctly, she has acquired a clue pointing to the whereabouts of one such individual.
1615TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000160_ALPHINAUDAn Archon!? Truly!?
1716TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000170_CIDHah, fortune favors the righteous, eh? Well then, let's not waste any time. While you go and look for our missing friend, I'll work on modifying the *Enterprise*. Her hull will need reinforcing to bear the punishment, not to mention a mount for the ram.
1817TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_000180_CIDJust you wait, my pretty─by the time I'm finished, you'll be an airship reborn!
1918TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_100010_KANESENNAIn requesting the elementals' assistance to find Y'shtola, you must needs be aware of one difficulty─a difficulty born of the fundamental difference between man and elemental.
2019TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_100020_ALPHINAUDThat being...?
2120TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_100030_KANESENNAIn perceiving the world around him, man relies upon senses such as sight and sound. For the sake of convenience, he gives names to such things as are near or dear to him.
2221TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_100040_KANESENNABeing formed of pure aether, however, such concepts are foreign to the elementals. Instead, they perceive by observing the ebb and flow of the energies of life.
2322TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_100050_KANESENNASo profound a division cannot be bridged with simple discourse. The elementals' voices stir not the air, and thus reach not our ears, while our words are but wind to them.
2423TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_100060_KANESENNAThough we seers can commune with them through feelings, naught that we can impart will serve to aid them in identifying Y'shtola. Nay, they must needs be presented with aether which is akin to hers. If you could but find a family member...
2524TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_100070_TATARUOh, I know just the person!
2625TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_100080_TATARUY'shtola has a sister who came to live in Gridania. She told me about her once.
2726TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_100090_KANESENNAThat is most fortunate indeed! Pray seek this sister out, then, and bring her to Everschade.
2827TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_100100_KANESENNAThere, we shall petition the great ones' aid in finding your lost companion.
2928TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_200010_KANESENNALet us begin.
3029TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_200020_KANESENNARaya-O, A-Ruhn─if you would.
3130TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_200030_KANESENNAHearken to me, O great ones. Pray give yourselves to the Lifestream, a drifting soul to find.
3231TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_200040_TATARUPlease, Y'shtola... Please come back to us...
3332TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_200050_KANESENNAThere!
3433TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_200060_KANESENNANow!
3534TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_200070_KANESENNAA room has been readied at the Roost. Pray bear her thither at once.
3635TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_200080_KANESENNAAll that remains is to pray, my friends.
3736TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300010_TATARUY'shtola! I'm so glad you're back!
3837TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300020_YSHTOLATataru...
3938TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300030_TATARUWeahhh! Weahhh!
4039TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300040_YSHTOLAYou are safe... Thank the Twelve.
4140TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300050_YSHTOLASomething has changed about you, Alphinaud. Or mayhap the change is with me? I seem to sense the aether around me more keenly than before.
4241TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300060_ALPHINAUDI am pleased to see you well again. Do you feel strong enough to talk?
4342TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300070_YSHTOLAWorry not. I am well enough.
4443TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300080_ALPHINAUDTell us, then─what befell you after you fled the feast? We were told that there had been a tunnel collapse.
4544TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300090_YSHTOLAThat was my doing. I brought the tunnel down that you and Minfilia might escape.
4645TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300100_YSHTOLAAt the last moment, I invoked a teleportation magick in hopes of spiriting Thancred away, at least. Needless to say, it did not go quite as planned, and I found myself adrift in the Lifestream.
4746TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300110_YSHTOLAThe others─where are they? Did they not escape?
4847TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300120_ALPHINAUDThey remain unaccounted for. You are the only one we have been able to find.
4948TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300130_ALPHINAUDI am truly sorry. It was the Crystal Braves who pursued you that day─my hubris that led to our undoing.
5049TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300140_YSHTOLANo apologies are necessary, Alphinaud─you are not to blame for what occurred. Know that were our comrades here, they would commend you for keeping the light of hope alive.
5150TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300150_TATARUDon't...don't worry! The others are alive and well, I'm sure of it! We just need to find them!
5251TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300160_ALPHINAUDIndeed, Tataru. Let us find our friends and rebuild the Scions.
5352TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300170_YSHTOLAHa! There is the Alphinaud I remember─and I feel much the better for his return! 'Tis time I arose!
5453TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300180_TATARUThat reminds me! I have a change of clothes for you! I don't like to boast, but I made them myself. I learned how to weave while we were in Ishgard, you see.
5554TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300190_YSHTOLATataru has apprised me of all that took place in the aftermath of the assassination plot. It would seem I have been away for some while.
5655TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300200_ALPHINAUDYes, much and more happened during your absence. At present, we seek to follow the archbishop to Azys Lla.
5756TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300210_YSHTOLAAnd you want for some manner of aetheric ram to pierce the floating isle's protective barrier.
5857TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300220_ALPHINAUDWe do. Might you be able to furnish us with one?
5958TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300230_YSHTOLAA means to prise open a hole in an Allagan barrier─and one large enough to admit an airship, no less... Hm... Nay. I lack the knowledge to devise such a weapon.
6059TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300240_YSHTOLA...But I know of one who could.
6160TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_300250_YSHTOLAA leading figure in the field of aetheric research, and one of the finest scholars ever to grace Sharlayan─Matoya, my former master.
6261TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_400010_EDMONTTo the Thaliak River, whereto the melted snows of Abalathia's Spine eventually find their way by means of a thousand silver streams...
6362TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_400020_EDMONTWhose waters have long nourished the Dravanian hinterlands, and so provided for a settlement of learned souls from across the northern seas...
6463TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_400030_EDMONTTo the city of Sharlayan, that great seat of knowledge, now abandoned by her keepers, they came.
6564TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500010_MATOYADon't you know it's rude to enter without knocking? Hmph, the youth of today─no manners at all...
6665TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500020_YSHTOLAThough we neglected to knock, we *did* create something of a commotion. I had hoped that would suffice.
6766TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500030_MATOYAHeavy-handed as ever, I see. And still not a hint of grace. Some things never change.
6867TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500040_YSHTOLATo give credit where credit is due─I learned from the best. It has been too long, Master Matoya.
6968TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500050_MATOYAIndeed it has. It's good to see you again, my girl, and with your fiery spirit unquenched. But look at you─all grown up and womanly.
7069TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500060_MATOYA...The one there in the fancy duds─that's Louisoix's granddaughter, I take it?
7170TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500070_ALPHINAUDAhem. Grandson, begging your pardons. You knew my grandfather, my lady?
7271TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500080_MATOYA...Knew him? We were constantly at each other's throats! Like rabid dogs, we were! He was a stubborn bugger, was your grandfather. Never a dull moment when he was around, though, I'll give him that. As for you, boy, I've known you since you were a rosy-cheeked babe at the teat.
7372TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500090_ALPHINAUDAnd my sister, too, I gather. May I say what an honor it is to meet you again, my lady.
7473TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500100_MATOYASpare me the hollow pleasantries, boy. I'll wager my remaining good teeth you didn't come to a forgotten corner of Eorzea to flirt with a wrinkly old woman. Now, out with it─what is it you need of me?
7574TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500110_MATOYAAzys Lla... I never thought I'd hear that name again...
7675TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500120_YSHTOLAYou are familiar with it?
7776TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500130_MATOYAAs familiar as one can get from poring over musty old tomes. The Allagans set the isle afloat not long before the sun set on their empire. Old Louisoix and I often talked about it.
7877TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500140_MATOYAThe place is home to a research facility dedicated to finding ways of mastering mighty beings such as primals and dragons. And find ways it did, too─*frightening* ones.
7978TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500150_MATOYASuch secrets as lie buried on Azys Lla aren't fit to see the light of day. And now you tell me a band of dragon-baiting primal-botherers are trying to dig them up!?
8079TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500160_ALPHINAUDIndeed. And to make matters worse, the Ascians have a hand in their plot. They must be stopped, no matter the cost.
8180TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500170_MATOYAI see. Very well.
8281TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500180_YSHTOLAYou will help us, then? Truly? I had not anticipated such an impassioned response. Could it be that the presence of young blood has stirred your own?
8382TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_500190_MATOYAAh, some things never change... One day, that pertness is going to cost you your tail, my girl. Don't say I didn't warn you.
8483TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_600010_MATOYA'Twas some fifty years ago, shortly after Garlemald had brought all of Ilsabard under its rule.
8584TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_600020_MATOYAFaced with the threat of invasion, the people of Sharlayan scrambled about for a means to resist the Empire. For my part, I was tasked with developing an aetheric converger.
8685TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_600030_YSHTOLAAh, yes, a device which draws in aether and concentrates it to produce a destructive force.
8786TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_600040_MATOYABut as my research neared its end, it was denounced by the Forum, who claimed that my device was more likely to destroy us than our enemies.
8887TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_600050_MATOYAAfter that, they and I had a little falling-out, and I decided to seal away all the fruits of my research, lest the dunderheaded ingrates reap any benefit. Petty, I know, but gods, it was satisfying!
8988TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_600060_YSHTOLADo mine ears deceive? 'Twas you, was it not, who was so fond of saying that all knowledge exists to advance mankind? That how it is used depends on us?
9089TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_600070_MATOYAI don't remember. Perhaps. All right, yes, that was a pet phrase of mine. And that should give you a notion of how sick and tired I was of those spineless wretches of the Forum. All talk and no trousers, that lot. That's why I decided to remain behind rather than join the exodus.
9190TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_600080_ALPHINAUDYou may have had your disagreements with my grandfather, but upon that point, your minds were as one.
9291TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_600090_YSHTOLAWith respect, Master─the fruits of your research should not be left to spoil. Will you share with us the secrets of the aetheric converger?
9392TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_600100_MATOYAAye, I will. All the information you need is contained in a tome I wrote on the subject. But you'll have to fetch it from the forbidden section of the Great Library.
9493TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_600110_YSHTOLAYou were not exaggerating when you said that you had sealed it away. Though the city is abandoned, the library's guardians are all but certain to remain. We must needs cut a path through them. Come─let us away.
9594TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_600120_MATOYANot so fast! You don't expect that you can just waltz on in, now, do you?
9695TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_600130_MATOYA
9796TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_610010_ALPHINAUDSo this is the tome. Excellent.
9897TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_610020_ALPHINAUDLet us take it to Master Matoya at once.
9998TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700010_MATOYAI had not thought to behold this tome again...
10099TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700020_MATOYAThere. It is deciphered. Now your friend should be able to make sense of the contents.
101100TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700030_MATOYAThat said, it's one thing to understand the workings of the aetheric converger, and another to actually make it work. You do realize how much aether is required?
102101TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700040_ALPHINAUDCid is keenly aware of the energy dilemma. His airship is by no means large, and it can only bear a limited quantity of crystals.
103102TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700050_YSHTOLAIf only we had white auracite and the aetheric siphon...
104103TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700060_ALPHINAUDAlas, Minfilia is missing, along with both artifacts. And Moenbryda is gone...
105104TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700070_YSHTOLAWould that there were another ready wellspring of energy for us to draw upon...
106105TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700080_ALPHINAUDWhy did it not occur to us before?
107106TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700090_ALPHINAUDWe already have what we need: the Eye!
108107TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700100_ALPHINAUDIt has been drawing aether into itself for as long as the great wyrms have lived! It is a veritable wellspring of energy!
109108TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700110_MATOYAHm, it might just suit our needs. But is this energy something that can be harnessed at will?
110109TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700120_ALPHINAUDI believe so─with the aid of the Azure Dragoon of Ishgard.
111110TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700130_YSHTOLAThen it is settled. Let us return to the Holy See at once.
112111TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700140_MATOYAShtola, wait.
113112TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700150_MATOYAWhen did the light fade from your eyes?
114113TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700160_YSHTOLAI might have known that it would not escape your notice. It has been this way since I returned from the Lifestream. An aftereffect of the teleportation magick I invoked, most like.
115114TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700170_MATOYAThey are called “forbidden spells” for a reason. What were you thinking, girl?
116115TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700180_YSHTOLAI have no regrets. I but did what was necessary to preserve the light of hope─to keep my promise to Minfilia.
117116TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700190_YSHTOLABesides, it afforded me the rare opportunity to wander the aether─a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
118117TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700200_MATOYAI need not tell you that it consumes your very life force to see by sensing the aether around you. Take care of yourself, do you hear me?
119118TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_700210_YSHTOLAI will, Master Matoya. And thank you.
120119TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_800010_YSHTOLAUntil but recently, the Ishgardians had kept their doors firmly shut to outsiders.
121120TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_800020_YSHTOLABut thanks to you, we have found in them stout allies, with whom we may fight to secure the future of the realm. Truly, you are the beacon of hope towards which all men are drawn.
122121TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_800030_ESTINIENSpare us the hyperbole. 'Tis not for praise that we fight.
123122TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_800040_YSHTOLAOh? In light of all we have achieved, I felt it only meet to express my gratitude.
124123TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_800050_ESTINIENAll that we have achieved? Hmph. Spoken like a true outsider. Until the war is over, we have achieved nothing.
125124TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_800060_ESTINIENThe coming battle is a chance to excise the root of this conflict, and by my hand, it shall be done. *Then* you may speak of achievement.
126125TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_800070_YSHTOLA'Twas not mine intent to make light of your struggle. If I have given offense, then I apologize. But if I may speak freely, you would do well to be wary of the Eye. Even now, it burns with insatiable hatred, watching unblinking for a sign of weakness. Should you falter for so much as a moment, it will surely consume you.
127126TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_800080_ESTINIENSave your concern. I will consume the Eye ere I let it consume me.
128127TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_800090_URIANGERTwelve be praised, thou hast not yet set forth!
129128TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_800100_URIANGER'Cross sand and snow have I journeyed, that I might deliver this gift unto thee.
130129TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_800110_YSHTOLAWhite auracite... But whence did it come?
131130TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_800120_URIANGERTo mine amazement, it lay hid amongst Moenbryda's last effects. 'Twas but blind chance, or providence, that I did hap to spy it. Let no man claim that my late friend e'er erred for lack of foresight.
132131TEXT_VOICEMAN_03006_800130_URIANGERIn the place whither thou goest, servants of Darkness do lie in wait. Pray give unto me thy pledge that thou wilt strike them down and avenge our fallen comrade.