[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Warning: Due to my question, potential spoilers may ensue, avert your eyes if you don't wish to see them

I don't have any plans to level SMN, but I've been helping a couple friends get Fenrir and the other avatars, with additional runs for the Evoker's Ring and the AF quests. While I have no interest in levelling the job CoPs, Windurst Missions and other stories surrounding the job interest me greatly. I'm even intruiged by the allianced avatar battles and may persue them.

Are there any links to movies of the AF quests?

[Eiyoko]

You can go to my account on filefront. My username is HeaMaxwell. My Summoner Tribute gives a bit of a look into the plot.

I can go into detail if you'd like.

[Eiyoko]

Okay, here's the gist of the story. I don't remember some bits, but I'll try.

You go to the house of the hero in Windurst and Carby tells you, "Have you noticed, (player)? The energy within you is being stolen." So Carby directs you to Bastok where you meet the taru that gives you the Titan quest. You talk to him to see that he's quite forgetful, and it is then that you meet Ildy-Goldy. Off you go to Quicksand Caves and the Cloister of Tremors. You and Ildy-Goldy enter the protocrystal, and Ildy-Goldy notices his sister, Rukususu.

But then she fades and is revealed to be a quite familiar-looking doll.

Ildy-Goldy disappears, yelling, "Wait! Come back here, Uran-Mafran!" and you're left to deal with a hecteyes that the stranger summons.

After the fight you return to Bastok and Ildy-Goldy meets you in the same place as before. He suspects that Uran-Mafran is definitely up to no good, and is somehow connected with everyone's recent memory loss. He then sends you to the principal at Windurst, Koru-Moru (I think). The Principal can't remember for the life of him who Uran-Mafran is, so he gives you a staff in return for you leaving him alone for a while.

~*~*~End AF1~*~*~

You visit the House of the Hero again, and this time Carbuncle seems more urgent. He gives you a "Carbuncle's Tear" and you visit Koru-Moru again. Koru-Moru has a moment of brilliance and asks you to bring him 4 Astra...Astro...Those throwing stones that begin with "A", lol. He uses them to make something, but there is a slight explosion and it seems to fail. As he stands back up, however, he remembers that Uran-Mafran was a student of his long ago whom wanted to become head of the Ministry. One of Shantotto's underlings might know more.

Off you go to San d'Oria, where you are told that the said person went to Fei'Yin with an improved tuning fork. There's only one thing that could mean. To Shiva!

You meet the fool there, and he makes you stand aside as he enters the crystal. Of course, you end up going into the battlefield as well, and you get to face 6 saplings known as druids.

After defeating the dryads, the underling gives you the information you want. Uran-Mafran chose his sole competition, Ildy-Goldy, to go into some ruins with him. Something went wrong and Ildy-Goldy was drained of his magical power, yet Uran-Mafran emerged unaffected, and most likely had fiddled with people's memory since then. He suddenly realizes that Shantotto might need his assistance, and he races off, leaving you behind.

You return to Windurst and meet with Koru-Moru, and it is agreed that Uran-Mafran is definitely up to something dangerous beyond memory-tampering. He's been to cloisters, but not much else is known. For your help, Koru-Moru gives you the Evoker's Spats.

~*~*~End AF2~*~*~

Not long after you visit the House of the Hero once more, but this time Carbuncle is not there. Instead, you hear his voice cry out in your mind.

...Help me....

You race to Principal Koru-Moru for any information. He sends you to Mhaura immediately, where the Ramuh quest taru is panicing about a collapsed adventurer in the Cloister of Storms. You make haste for the Boyahda Tree.

You enter the crystal and again you hear Carbuncle's plea, calling to you by name. You run up the pathway to the main platform to see Carbuncle under a binding spell, cast by a Tarutaru in a black cloak.

The Tarutaru seems upset with Carbuncle, but before long he notices you've come, and sets you up to fight a pair of Evil Weapons.

Just as you defeat them, Ildy-Goldy arrives on the scene. "Uran-Mafran! Enough!"

Uran Mafran reveals all [that he had done] to you and Ildy-Goldy. In the Dark Dungeon, he had set up a doll with an illusion of himself to escourt Ildy-Goldy instead. When Uran-Mafran became minister, he studied forbidden magicks and then slipped away, erasing any memories anyone had of him.

Uran-Mafran strides forward a few steps and casts a spell, sending Ildy-Goldy into a daze. Uran-Mafran then commands Ildy-Goldy to come with him, and Ildy-Goldy complies as if in a trance. Uran-Mafran has hypnotized him!

You make haste for Principal Koru-Moru, whom gives you a daze-breaker charm and sends you to Rabao, where the two tarutaru you are looking for have last been seen. You meet the taru from the Garuda quest, and he says that the adventurers made way for the Cloister of Gales in Cape Terrigan. Off you go again.

You enter the protocrystal too late - asuran fists fire off on Garuda, and she disappears in a shining, magical aura. Uran-Mafran thanks Ildy-Goldy, whom still seems to be under his control.

You run up the ramp desperately, and use the daze-breaker charm.

Nothing happens.

Uran-Mafran laughs at you and tells you of Karaha-Baruha, whom was studying how to take control over other forms of being. He then summons a manticore for you to battle with.

You defeat the manticore with ease, and Uran-Mafran sneers at you. He prepares to summon another monster for you to battle.

Suddenly, someone runs forth and slams into Uran-Mafran, then races to the edge of the platform. Uran-Mafran pushes himself to his feet just in time to see Ildy-Goldy catching his mana orb in one hand.

Ildy-Goldy explains that he was only pretending to be under Uran-Mafran's control in order to catch him off guard. Uran-Mafran offers to give Ildy-Goldy his magical powers back in the exchange for the return of his mana orb, but Ildy-Goldy refuses, saying he has the power to recall his school days with Uran-Mafran, and to him that is far more precious than magic.

Uran-Mafran states that Ildy-Goldy can keep the mana orb; it will only delay his plans for a while. Then he leaves.

Back in Windurst you meet with Koru-Moru, whom examines the orb. He states that it has enough power to revive the dead. It is hinted that Uran-Mafran intended to resurrect Karaha-Baruha, but no names are mentioned. Koru-Moru gives you the Evoker's Horn.

~*~*~End AF3~*~*~

Uran-Mafran still gathers the avatars' energy to this day, appearing at the reward selection screen at the end of most avatar quests. He talks through his doll, of course, but he can be seen at a certain angle in one part of the cutscene.

[Tirrock]

I've done SMN AF twice, and that's a lot more information than I could remember.
One thing I like about SMN AF quests is that it effects other quests slightly.

Small spoiler on avatar fights

After completing AF2, Uran-Mafran's doll reacts to you differently. He says "So we meet again" and also seems afraid of you, but then manages to talk you down and goes back to the usual reward choosing process.

[Eiyoko]

I remember that as well. Actually, I remember those cutscenes changing after only my first AF quest. That was just for me though.

They might be affected by doing the Windurst missions as well. I've heard that if you are rank 8 the Dragoon AF cutscenes change slightly, but I have yet to get past rank 6. I'll have to ask a friend of mine about it. In general alot of quests and missions in the game are affected by what other things you are doing.

For example, I had the normal Titan quest active. When I went to the Titan NPC he said he sent an adventurer (me, of course. I always get stuck doing these things.) to go check into the protocrystal problem in Quicksand Caves. Then he seemed a bit skeptical about it and wondered if he had even sent me yet, or at all. Ildy-Goldy rolled his eyes at him and told him to get more sleep from then on, hehehe.

[Tirrock]

Hmm, I don't think I did any avatar prime fights between level 40 and 50 on SMN, and when I redid the AF, I just blew through AF1 and AF2 quests. So it's very possible that it's just after completing the first AF, now that I think about it.

[Rakshaka]

Uran-Mafran isn't trying to ressurect Karah-Baruha, he's trying to ressurect someone known as the "Maelstrom Mage". This name is mentioned in the storyline.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Originally Posted by Eiyoko

They might be affected by doing the Windurst missions as well. I've heard that if you are rank 8 the Dragoon AF cutscenes change slightly, but I have yet to get past rank 6. I'll have to ask a friend of mine about it. In general alot of quests and missions in the game are affected by what other things you are doing.

I've heard of such minor adjustments. There's actually supposed to be a different ending to the Star Onion Brigade quest line if you meet to conditions (1) Get Windurst Rank 10 and (2) beat Fenrir. You'll recieve a key item - a dark mana orb.

Why is this? Well, here's what I know, I haven't re-completed the Star Onion quests on Omgwtfbbqkitten, only Rank 10 and beat Fenrir. I never beat Fenrir on Foobar, so I never got to see the true ending of the SOB quests. But here's why you get a dark mana orb:

windy stuff and lots of other major spoilers

"Mr. Ghostie" aka Joker is actually a fragment of Fenrir and Fenrir is fully restored in the Rank 10 story. The other part of Fenrir is the "bearer of darkness" which you must lure to Full Moon Fountain to restore Fenrir to his former self. The children of the SOB never really come to realize that the Cardian, Joker, is actually Fenrir. But he does state that he will always be watching over them

At this point, Joker's departure can be assumed to take place before the final Windurst missions because the feral Cardians that lead him away had already declared him their king.

Fenrir says he'll be watching over the children because he's already set events in motion to have adventurers lure the bearer of darkness to Full Moon Fountain. Fenrir is restored and his pact with mankind is restored by the Star Sybil as well. And if you recall the CoP storyline Fenrir was no stranger to the ancient races, who are both shown in East Sarutabaruta ages before the Tarutaru populated the region.

Fenrir has always protected this region and came to do so again during the Great War, in which the "Great Hero" of Windurst used the forbiddin art of summoning to save Windurst from the attack by the Yagudo. It cost the SMN his life, however

Fenrir somehow fragmented in the process, somewhat bonding with the SMN to create the "bearer of darkness." But for all intents and purposes, that SMN really did die.

The "bearer of darkness" ties into RNG AF1 as well, which starts off a very mithra-centric storyline.

Off-shoot spoilers:

cat stuff

There are also a few interesting tidbits to be picked up about how the various mithra feel about each other in the RNG AF storyline, some of which are Windurst-related and might by overlooked by players of other nations. The mithra in windurst woods don't see the mithra raised in Heaven's Tower as the same, that they're not "real" mithra.

This is also where the first appearance of the mithra sin hunters takes place, who you will see again later in CoP missions. They don't care much for the factioning of other mithra, those that leave the homeland are all outcasts as far as they're concerned. And aren't the mithra of Kazham the exact same way?

[Eiyoko]

Even more spoilers, yay!

Fenrir's summoner Karaha-Baruha had heard about Star Sybil's reading of Windurst's doomed fate and went with her on a revisit. He wrongfully sapped all of Fenrir's energy from Full Moon Fountain and released it on that fateful day during the Crystal War. The power overload destroyed him ultimately, thus nowadays avatars only grant us a fragment of their power; Karaha-Baruha, driven by an insane lust for power, took too much, and proved it to be suicide. He didn't even succeed at changing Windurst's fate - he only twisted it. To this day, the Mindartia continent is being sapped of its life force in effort to refill the lost energies of Full Moon Fountain. You'll notice that the closer to Full Moon Fountain you get, the more life...and after-life...you will find.

Karaha-Baruha was no hero. He was a madman.

That is why summoning is now forbidden. Star Sybil says it herself that mortals were never meant to mingle with such great powers.

But a fragment...that is different entirely....

[Feba]

This thread is spoileriffic. Even I didn't know a lot of this (And i'm talking back when I was big on knowing nearly everything about XI, not now when I could barely tell you what arcana is)

[Eiyoko]

Originally Posted by Feba

This thread is spoileriffic. Even I didn't know a lot of this (And i'm talking back when I was big on knowing nearly everything about XI, not now when I could barely tell you what arcana is)

FFXI has plot oozing out of its skin. There's tons of it. Each tiny bit of plot will intertwine with other plots, changing dialogue and such. There are many, many stories in Vana'diel, from a simple, "Crap! I forgot to buy a moat carp at the market!" to "Please! Save my son!" and let's not forget saving the world...again. ^^

I've yet to find the epilogue CS for summoner. It's not listed on any database...