Draco: Each chapter of this fic will detail one Champion job quest, and as such, they may be rather shorter chapters than my usual fare. I might make an exception for Lv45, considering that an Artifact Armor hunt isn't much of a quest. I will also be doing A Relic Reborn, given that each of the base Relic Weapons has a bit of story behind it (unlike later weapon quests, where they're all newly forged as part of the same quest).

I would also like to try and implement a bit of the 'choose a response' dialogue that you see in i.e. the Dark Knight quests. Whenever you see a line of dialogue preceded by this (→) arrow, that is a player choice; the paragraph that follows corresponds to that choice. I don't recall any branch-of-conversation that involves more than one person talking before it converges, so I think one paragraph should be enough to cover that. I can recall a couple times when your choice of response doesn't actually change the dialogue that follows; in the event I write one of those, I'll have the 'choices' clustered together.

Final Fantasy and all related properties © Square Enix


Lv. 35: Blades in Motion

Zyaire seemed impressed with Ayleth when she next returned to Camp Bluefog.

"Look at you," he praised. "Seems like you've gotten comfortable on the offensive. I'm glad to see it. There are a lot of dangers in forcing yourself to fight in a way you're not comfortable with." He nodded his head with a smile. "With this, I think it's time we begin training together. But not here - there's an Imperial presence, and a lot of people working with ceruleum besides. What say you meet me at Camp Tranquil, in the South Shroud?"

Ayleth nodded, and Zyaire started off ahead of her as she made to visit the nearby mender.

QUEST ACCEPTED

+x+x+x+

When she arrived at Camp Tranquil, she found Zyaire standing at the top of the east walkway, looking out over the marshland with his arms crossed.

"There's something about a forest that's just makes one relax," he mused. "It feels welcoming, it feels... peaceful. And Gridania does its damnedest to keep it that way." His gaze fell. "But it's dangerous, all the same. A different kind of danger than the desert. And it's a fool who thinks otherwise."

He turned to Ayleth. "I asked around to see what sort of beasts might pose a challenge to us - and wouldn't get us in trouble for striking them down. And wouldn't you know it, a Wood Wailer here told me they're having some trouble with stropers starting to migrate north through Snakemolt. A morbol's breath is trouble at the best of times - trouble enough to challenge us, I reckon. What say you, Ayleth? Shall we go cut down some seedkin, you and I?"

With a grin, Ayleth pounded her fist into her palm.

"That's what I like to see," Zyaire praised. "The Wailer said to leave the ones in the water alone; let's start at the edge of Rootslake and work our way north."

The starting point was as much for their own benefit as it was for the Shroud's; getting through the marshland was annoying enough with their hands free. Once they'd reached the edge of Snakemolt, they could see the cluster of migrating stropers, and swords were drawn as they started to advance.

"Come on, Ayleth!" Zyaire instructed. "Let's cut these flowers down to size!"

The two charged forward, blades swinging at the nearest seedkin; as it started lashing its vines at Ayleth, Zyaire called to her. "Remember, you're not a defender! Don't try endure, but evade whenever possible!" The first stroper was swiftly cut down, and the advanced on the next one, which had noticed the scuffle; it started to inhale, and the two swordfighters made sure they were behind it when it loosed its bad breath, carving it up even as it spewed poison.

The stroper was felled in short order, earning a cheer of approval from Zyaire. "Keep it up! We'll make short work of them yet!" Two more had been drawn to the clash and were undulating towards them, and Zyaire led the charge to meet them. "Faster, Ayleth! Keep your blades moving!" The third and then the fourth seedkin was toppled, and they were coming up on a branch in the path; Ayleth knew the north path was the one leading to Quarrymill, but it seemed the stropers were continuing east towards an old ruin.

Zyaire looked concerned. "That's...?" Then, with a displeased grunt; "Nevermind. Let's keep going!"

The last of the migrant stropers was notably larger than the others... but it wasn't enough of a threat to the two swordbearers. In short order, the beast was struck down, leaving Ayleth and Zyaire standing victorious in the shredded vines and fallen morbols. As Ayleth sheathed her swords and turned to face Zyaire, she was concerned to find him staring up at the body of the ruins, swords limp in his hands.

"...Amdapor Keep." He scoffed. "Guess I had that coming when I said we should train in the Shroud."

Ayleth angled her head in confusion.

Zyaire let his gaze fall. "I told you earlier that it's dangerous to force yourself to fight in a way you're not comfortable with. I was speaking from experience." He held one sword before him. "I fell in with a group of adventurers, a while back. They wanted to take on bigger challenges, because a greater risk often means a greater reward. One of them fought with sword and shield, like the gladiators... and she hated it. She would've been happy as a healer, but she was scared of disappointing her friends. So she carried that sword and shield, all the way into Amdapor... where she died, with the rest of them."

He sheathed his swords. "I was the only one who survived. I kept telling myself I should have stopped them. Stopped her. Should've told her to put the shield down and do what she wanted to do." Turning to Ayleth; "That's why I told you to make sure you're comfortable with two swords, before we start training together. I don't want to watch someone die again because they're holding a weapon they hate."

→"Don't worry. I chose to become a champion."

Zyaire smiled in response. "And I'll do my best to make sure that you do. I owe you as much for helping me get stronger."

→"I've no regrets about blades for the offensive."

Zyaire sighed. "I'm glad to hear it. There's something... satisfying about training someone else in the sword arts. I wasn't expecting it."

After a moment, he glanced up and down Snakemolt. "Looks like we cleaned up the migrating stropers. Let's head back to Camp Bluefog."

+x+x+x+

Somehow, the lingering haze of ceruleum in Northern Thanalan was welcome after the stench of morbol breath.

"You're coming along well, Ayleth," Zyaire praised. "It's nice to see someone growing strong so quickly. Keep at it, and we'll train again sometime."

QUEST COMPLETE


Draco: Ayleth's actions on the line before "Quest Accepted" are just me writing a story, not indicative of any character animations as the quest starts.

Hmm... I know all the job questlines have two Lv45 quests, but are all the Artifact Armor quests first, or do some of them hunt the armor afterwards? If that's a strict formula, I'd rather not be the one to break it.