7.0 What if WoL rode the train?

[Cleretic]

First off, I think this is a good read. ^^ That said, a few points:

Even if we can't get to the Golden City, we can get to Living Memory through the giant sky vortex that Sphene uses to get there. We have flying mounts, and if for whatever reason those don't work because of wind currents or whatever, the Warrior of Light would be able to make new friends who construct something that can go up a lot (like a simple rocket, Electrope lift, etc) in the same way that we repeatedly demonstrated during Shadowbringers.

But that said, I don't even think that would be necessary. Because when we beat up Zoraal Ja, he drops the device that's necessary for dimensional fusion. And without Scions or Wuk Lamat there to paralyze us with a monologue, we would simply go pick it up, meaning that Sphene doesn't get it.

So, I think your problem here is that you're writing for 'the WoL as played by a player with absolutely no respect for the writing around them'. But if anything, the WoL is just as weak to 'listening to heartfelt/informative monologues' as anyone else in this universe; the moment Sphene starts talking about her ultimate plan, they're glaring along and unwilling to do anything. (Not that it's easy to stop Sphene, given that she's every single sentry.) In fact I'd argue that the WoL is below average in this field; at least Y'shtola took some shots. Not that I even think this is a viable angle in this context anyway, because we weren't 'paralyzed by speeches' in that scene; there's literally one line between when Zoraal Ja drops the key and when Sphene turns up to take it, and she takes it via telepathy.

But it's not like the road is clear if you do get to Living Memory, I actually think there's an insurmountible barrier that I just didn't bring up because my hypothetical didn't even get to that point: Cahciua's not there, so we have no plan of attack. Sphene's plan is going to be much the same as it was in the game itself, but without Cahciua to give us any direction at all--especially not the way to get into the Meso Terminal--we just can't actually stop Sphene once we're there. Your best hope is that maybe Robor and Alayla have an idea, but because this hypothetical actually means we never learn Krile's backstory, we don't know who they are either, and they're probably not opening up to us without a Krile to pour her heart out.