Tales under the New Moon #6- Footprints of a Traveler

https://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/10th_.../#sidestory_06

A Deryk story and how he met his opo-opo pal, among other things.

While not a wealth of new information, I do like how it leans into the "apart but still a part" nature of the Twelve and makes it feel a little more real.

I'm starting to suspect that the theme of this batch of stories is to be close enough to the Ancients to get my guard and frustrations up, but then not actually about them to a meaningful enough degree to actually make me upset. An entire batch of stories designed to modestly irritate me!

This one's pretty inoffensive and kinda uninteresting, honestly; I was sorta hoping when the vibe changed that the story was going to actually be 'Deryk faces down Odin', but no luck there, although I did kinda like the description of the wrecked-up North Shroud. I bet someone can figure out exactly the anonymous NPC that Deryk talked to on the way out, but I'm not that specific on my nerdery, I can't do it myself.

The key thing this story did was remind me of the part where the Twelve and the Watcher all had Ancient personas that Venat essentially recreated to perform their roles for the Source. Which makes me really interested in knowing more about those Ancient personas, being essentially the prototype of the Zodiac Braves as "twelve legendary heroes who band together to save the world" that's echoed as a monomyth throughout a bunch of different cultures on the Source. In a sense it's similar to the Warriors of the First (aka Team Ardbert) who have a whole FF of their own in the margins of Shadowbringers.

The sentiment that's on display from the Twelve about what they intend to do, and how this is effectively their last ride before doing the Ancient tradition of returning to the star, adds a dimension that I think the raid itself couldn't really take the time to communicate. Yeah, we see the gods go around in disguise as animals, but since they're being cagey about what they're up to, we're never given the impression that they're taking in the sights of the mortal world that they are about to exit entirely.

The main thing this story does is plant the seed for Oschon's decision to delay his return. Now, because the part where Deryk is Oschon is revealed in the third part of the raid series, along with the Twelve choosing to return to the star, and is capped off by Deryk deciding NOT to, folks could be forgiven for not really thinking that his decision was momentous because we kinda speedrun through that whole arc. Which makes me think that this story, with the benefit of hindsight on Myths of the Realm on the whole, is there to communicate that Deryk had a meaningful amount of hesitation about what they were going to do. And I think that's cool, but I can appreciate why folks might not feel too plussed about it if they didn't feel like they had a good reason to care about Deryk in the first place.

... I'm willing to predict that if the first story was a companion to the Normal Raid series, and the second story was a companion to the Alliance Raid series, then I feel like there's a good chance that one of the two remaining stories is going to be a companion to the MSQ Trial series of the Zero saga. And given the other element of this being "reflections on stuff from the Ancient world echoing into the present" then I feel like something reflecting on Igeyorhm watching the collapse of the Thirteenth unfold in front of her, setting the stage for the arcs of Golbez and Zero, would feel in line with the first two stories.

We'll see in a week, I suppose.

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I liked their first parts and with the title I somewhat foolishly thought it could have been about Azem. I don't feel as though I needed to know exactly how Oschon met the baby opo opo. For me the interesting bits is them knowing we "broke up" as an organization. How they were happy about Veant's plan had been pulled off. The intrepidation of how to contact the WoL who wasn't given gender markers this time. That Oschon didn't enjoy just manifesting out of nowhere when he would pick back up their travels.

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Originally Posted by SannaR

I don't feel as though I needed to know exactly how Oschon met the baby opo opo. For me the interesting bits is them knowing we "broke up" as an organization. How they were happy about Veant's plan had been pulled off. The intrepidation of how to contact the WoL who wasn't given gender markers this time. That Oschon didn't enjoy just manifesting out of nowhere when he would pick back up their travels.

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I think that's sort of the idea; we're exploring this moment not because it's necessarily a big or important moment but just because it gives us a window into the focus character. We see a 'Stuff That Must Have Happened' moment, but it's not really about that moment.

Last week's was similar, albeit with a bit of a more impactful central event; it wasn't really about showing us the moment Lahabrea gave the Heart of Sabik to Gaius, it was more about giving us a window into these two characters' minds.

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Originally Posted by Cleretic

I bet someone can figure out exactly the anonymous NPC that Deryk talked to on the way out, but I'm not that specific on my nerdery, I can't do it myself.

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Is it supposed to be Venat? Apparently she met the ancient who would later become Oschon at a campfire in the wilderness but I don't remember where this info was revealed.

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Originally Posted by axemtitanium

Is it supposed to be Venat? Apparently she met the ancient who would later become Oschon at a campfire in the wilderness but I don't remember where this info was revealed.

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If it's the woman in his faded memory we are talking about then most likely. I want to say we learn it from Deryk himself when he's telling us a little bit about each of the twelve back when they were ancients.

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Originally Posted by axemtitanium

Is it supposed to be Venat? Apparently she met the ancient who would later become Oschon at a campfire in the wilderness but I don't remember where this info was revealed.

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I have no idea what line you're talking about, but I'm talking about this guy.

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"Here, you're not headin' out now, are you?"

He turned towards the voice to see a man sitting on a bench, likely a resident of the Float.

"Only, it gets dangerous after dark. You'd be better off stayin' the night at the Bobbin' Cork, if you ask me."

Somewhat bemused, he glanced up to see that night had indeed begun to fall, and that the lampposts were already aglow throughout the village.

"Thank you for your concern," he replied, eventually finding his words, "but I must press on. I am in some haste, you see."

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Oh I misread sorry. Probably some NPC in Fallgourd. I was talking about the unnamed woman at the end that he decides to tell a story about at the campfire.