thistlechaser | FFXI spoiler info for aelice

aelice asked me to explain the mannequin storyline, but I didn't want to do it in the comments of my last post because someone might stumble over it and get spoiled.

Do Not Look Behind The Cut Unless You Don't Mind Being Spoiled! If there's any chance at all of you getting a mannequin in the game, do yourself a favor and don't click!

This is the storyline as I remember it. Draque went through it as well, so he might be able to add anything I've left out or forgotten.

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In the first step of the mannequin quest (when you get it) you learn that the mannequins are considered "cursed". Mobs used to throw the pieces over the city walls to scare the residents. No one wanted them. Everyone tells you not to get one for yourself. (And know the "mob radar" that some jobs have? The mannequins actually show up as red (mobs) for a second when the room loads. I believe that that is on purpose. Even after having the mannequins for so long, those "false positives" on my radar still make my stomach jump a little.)

The second quest starts with a male elf NPC who wears goldsmithing shades (the darkest sunglasses). He currently lives in Tavnazian Safehold (a place full of sad stories, loss, and outcasts like him). Because he's a mannequin crafter no one wanted him around, so finally he had to move to the Safehold. It was there he met a beautiful elf woman, and the two fell in love.

One day while they were outside together, a bright light fell from the sky -- so bright it hurt even through his closed eyes. When it faded and he could finally open them and see, he watched the woman he loved fade away before his eyes.

He continued making mannequins since then, but now is working on something special: His masterpiece, a mannequin that looked like her (in a wedding dress, even). It's not finished yet, he's still working on it... but he's racing blindness to do it. That flash of light was so bright it not only robbed him of the woman he loved, it's stealing away the sight he needs to do the art he loves.

That's as far as I've gotten. I know the fight in the last quest is against a mannequin, and people call it "her", so I believe we're going to be fighting his masterpiece. (Don't correct me if I'm wrong!) I hope the story will explain what that flash of light was, and I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of outcome the crafter gets. (I assume he's either going to end up alone, end up alone and blind, or perhaps die. Stories of Tavnazian Safehold tend not to have happy endings.)

*rereads* I don't think I've done the storyline justice. The artist has a really bad stutter, which somehow makes it even easier to feel for him. He's a quiet, (understandably) withdrawn man who lost the love he probably never thought he would have, as well as the the one sense he needs to do the art he's been punished all his life for. It's a tragic, wonderful story.