Final Fantasy XI Playdiary
Entry 15 - Dark Dragon
I had just about lost hope of ever completing Mission 6 in the mines on my own, and resigned myself to levelling until I was mighty enough to finish it solo. At this point, someone started talking about the mission on the linkshell chat - they were planning to do it a different way to me since their home nation was different, otherwise it would have been perfect to join up and pass it together. I asked if there was anyone available to do it my way and was surprised when I was immediately offered help from Farplaner, a level 60 Bard. I was to meet him later in the day back in Bastok and together we would travel back into Parlborough to defeat the monster that lurked deep inside. As you can imagine, I was very excited for the rest of the day in anticipation.
As I ran around fidgeting before the planned meeting time I bumped into Farplaner in person outside the auction house. We went to hire chocobos to speed things up, as the mines are quite a way from Bastok itself. I should note that he walks extremely fast, so I didn't take many pictures because I wanted to keep up. You'll have to use your imagination. When I ride a chocobo I hunch over and look like I'm racing, but when he did he only used one hand on the reins. Elvaans impress me.
Since I already talked about travelling through these mines in the past, I won't ramble about them again (in other words, I have no pictures, and it was quite uneventful since I cast Sneak magic which stopped the Quadavs being able to hear I was there so there were no battles on the way). In the farthest corner of the maze-like mines was an unfamiliar sight - a Burning Circle. Cautiously I stepped inside and examined it and was treated to some dramatic cutscenes, which I won't spoil. Things didn't go too smoothly in them and soon it was time to fight...
Running through to the next room we were faced with Bastok's Dark Dragon, and a floating eyeball-type enemy called a Seeker. I stood well back and cast my low level magic on it, doing no real damage whatsoever. Farplaner ran right up and smacked it. The dragon hardly scratched him and didn't even get a chance to get close to me.
It wasn't long before the dragon buckled and fell. Mission complete! But we weren't quite done yet...
Feeling a little more confident now that the big dragon was dead, I let loose on the Seeker with my puny attacks...before Farplaner mutilated it for me ^^. Now I had to head back to Bastok with proof of "my" kill for the mission to progress. I noticed my title in game had changed from something mundane (I believe it was something like "Vegetable Courier" from a quest I had done) to the more impressive "Dark Dragon Slayer".
My new hero had to leave, so I said goodbye and watched him warp away dramatically. Sigh.
After being praised at the Windurst Consulate in Bastok, it was time for a very long run back to Windurst, including a boat ride to the other continent. Once home, I received my reward - after over a month of struggling and with a lot of help I had achieved Rank 3!
Inspired by my good fortune, I took the small test at the culinary guild whilst in Windurst and managed to improve my rank in the cooking skill too. I headed back to Jeuno happily with nothing more standing between me and some serious levelling. Here are two members of the extremely professional party I was invited into first. Maguna was another white mage and he taught me a system of taking in turns to rest throughout and each casting specific spells during battle, so there were minimal breaks in between monsters. Experience was very fast with this strategy.
A lot of people hunt in Qufim island, the snowy region. It's where the giants I have mentioned in a previous journal dwell, and superb experience for levels 20-25. As soon as twilight descends, ghosts come out, and everyone hunting rushes back to the entrance tunnel to take cover. We left it a little late this time and were running back with several other groups. My party joked that it was like a marathon as we stampeded across the rocks to get to safety before a roaming skeleton or ghost found us. The second picture is the area just outside the tunnel to Qufim where parties gather once formed. It gets very busy at peak times, as you can see.
A Galka thief called Wolverine - he even used claws as his primary weapon.
One of the stronger enemies in the first part of the island - a Dancing Weapon. A blade levitates above its head. When one of these things hears you and gives chase, it's best to run at my level. Since we were in a good party we fought a few for some wind crystals and nice experience.
Later on, Hopkins mentioned that he was working on Mission 6 too (only in Sand'Oria), so I invited myself along. Nobody was around to help him besides his friend Cphoenix, a level 30 black mage Tarutaru, and we were concerned we might not have the firepower to defeat a dragon on our own. Needless to say, that didn't deter us. We headed through the Orcish stronghold at Ghelsba - unfortunately Orcish have keen sight and constantly attacked us all the way through. Cphoenix was very powerful despite his diminutive stature and toasted them for us. After a long walk we arrived at the Burning Circle here. Things were beginning to get scary.
This time the dragon we faced was the Dread Dragon, accompanied by a Spotter floating eyeball. Things were going quite well at first and we finished off the Spotter thanks to Cphoenix's magic. Unfortunately when it came to the dragon itself our reserves had been drained and although we fought to the last breath we were killed. Not a happy ending to a journal and a rather sour note to end a day on, especially since we were within a few hits of finishing the beast off when we died. As a healer I always blame myself for any deaths too. One thing's for sure, the next time I see that Dread Dragon he will live to regret it...
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Date entered: 28th January 2003