Melkire

Well, this was fun.

...optional payment through Mog Station was already confirmed for alternative dresses, a slightly different ceremony, and a two-mount chocobo for the couple, people. It was in the Live Letter a week or two ago.

kek. It writes itself. Looking forward to this!

Too busy mudra'ing the floor amirite? ((gawd im so sorry I meant to hit send tell but it hit send trade and I was like FAWK)) It was Gorgimera and no one was silencing. I had completely forgotten that NIN has a silence on Jugulate while in Wasp. I love Viper's stun too much. ((that makes for such an exploitable trolling method. Follow someone around and open trade every time they try to teleport))

Nope, too busy tanking the floor. #drglyfe

Dude, in FFT the strongest creature in all the land is someone with a Ph.D in Math. Speaking of that, when's Calculator job lol? Too strong. You'd pop all your off-GCDs only to kill the PCs farming that fate all the way over at the other end of the zone.

I forgot about these >< What I REALLY want is access to the castrum that's visible from the southern edge of East Shroud (I forget the name). It has these giant generators... it's so tempting....

Doesn't even have to be Centri or Meridianum, mind you.There's also Cape Westwind (overworld, not the trial) and Castrum Occidens available in Western Thanalan and Eastern La Noscea, respectively.

The same IC dragoon I mentioned earlier later threw his spear through another dragon's throat in an IC invocation of Piercing Talon. No one present for that had any problems with that person exhibiting enough strength and skill to pierce dragon hide/scales with a thrown lance. In fact, I get the feeling that any and all people who are questioning a dragoon's capabilities in this thread would totally be chill with most if not all of what a dragoon is supposed to be capable of being used ICly. Willing suspension of disbelief, you know. It's a thing.

...that's actually a great angle. Thank you for that. Well...she's basically a sellsword/ronin of a sort. She's always willing to learn more about her burgeoning martial skill with the axe and the means of its use. Also, she has same axe to grind against Garleans for the death of her husband at Carteneau, so anyone willing to chop Castrum faces should look her up. Otherwise, any odd jobs needed...that don't require a great deal of finesse and caution. She's bad at cloak and dagger stuff. Being about 8 fulms tall makes that hard. Potential angle: sellsword character is down on her luck after a long drought of work, and hangs around the Quicksand drunkly pestering anyone and everyone she can for any jobs that need doing that would pay gil. Character gets loud, folks chime in trying to get her to calm down, someone eventually starts a one-on-one with her, etc. Another possibility: you roll into town on the backend of a job, looking to make a delivery. You're tired, dirty, and exasperated because all you have is a name and no face, no means of contact for finding this person you're supposed to deliver the goods to because the gods-damned bastard didn't show up at the Coffer & Coffin or the Missing Member or w/e. So you start walking the streets yelling at the top of your lungs. A third: you overhear folks talking, and it turns out so-and-so is a Garlean expatriate. You run into so-and-so later and decide that if you can't get at the Garlean soldiers, you might as well pick a fight with so-and-so. idk, just throwing ideas out there. The best place to start, imo, is always, "What kind of character is my character? What would they be doing on a normal, average day for them that would catch someone else's interest? How can I shoulder my way into someone else's business in a perfectly natural way?"

...I roleplayed a dragon for an event a few weeks (maybe a month?) back. Anyone who was there to see an IC dragoon ground an already-crippled-in-one-wing dragon by jumping up and coming down on its spine with his lance to drive the thing into the earth would not question a jump's effectiveness, I would think. :thumbsup:

Looks more like a racetrack for Nutkins. ...where is this house? This needs to happen now.

Personally, it's nowhere near the forefront of my mind whether I'm "in" or "out" or if I'm part of a "clique" until I see/overhear discussions such as these. Then I start examining where I'm at in terms of contacts, potential sources of RP, etc., and how often I'm in touch or out of touch with strangers, and it's only then that I go "oh, I'm probably in a clique... well shit, now I feel bad" despite there being no rational reason for getting down on myself. Until someone cries "clique!", the only distinction in the forefront of my mind is, "how much roleplaying have I been doing lately?" To be brutally honest, yes, cliques and cliquish behavior can be a problem, but the whole concept of "cliques" can also be an awful excuse for one's own inability to break out of their comfort zone and into a larger community. Case in point, I'm not as comfortable hanging around the Quicksand as I once was, mainly because I don't recognize most of the people I see in there these days. That's an example of my personal "comfort zone" keeping me from interacting with folks I don't know. I'm not going to blame that on the "clique" I'm in, or the "cliques" of the folks that hang in the Quicksand. I'm going to blame that on myself and my refusal to actually go chat with other folks.

Well, if we want to take a look at the Dragoon class quests... Jump is technically rewarded as a class skill for completing the level 30 class quest. I haven't done that in a while, but reviewing the steps and dialogue (http://xivdb.com/?quest/66603/Eye-of-the-Dragon) shows that... well... all the Main Character does to be acknowledged as a dragoon is that the Eye of Nidhogg that Estinien carries "rouses" for him/her. This seemingly grants "the power of the dragon" to the MC (or rather renders the MC into a "vessel" for it), and from then on Alberic takes it upon himself to impart instruction. It's said that the Eye only "chooses" the "strongest and wisest dragoon" as the Azure Dragoon, yet Alberic doesn't acknowledge the MC as the Azure Dragoon until much, much later. That sounds like, "oh, well, you can be a dragoon now, but you still need training and you don't know how to harness or use that power so you aren't the Azure YET". I'd say there's definitely some magical component to it that probably comes from exposure to either draconic artifacts or dragons themselves. It certainly SOUNDS like a prerequisite for dragoon techniques, since it's only afterward that Alberic takes on the MC as a student. That said, if you fulfill that prerequisite and you have a mentor capable of instructing you in "jumping", well, there you go. (PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EXCEPTION OF THE MC'S INDICATES THAT YOU DON'T ACTUALLY NEED TO KILL A DRAGON TO BE A DRAGOON) As for the explanation (EDIT: as to how jumping actually works)... SHRUG. I'm going to chalk it down to "cuz dragons, bitches" as I've always done.

I think the reason warriors have somehow not gotten nailed with similar stigma is that they're more or less berserkers, and for some reason berserkers are seen as something more plausible, and therefore less likely to break willing suspension of disbelief, than lancers who fly dozens if not hundreds of feet through the air. Berserkers are also more common in fantasy than high-jumpers, and since their handwaves don't typically require magic they get a pass. Seriously, everything a warrior does is typical 'zerker. I rage hard and therefore hit harder, check. Bloodlust overtakes me and suddenly I've healthier, more robust, and can live through near-death, check. Spilling others' blood keeps me going, check. Yadda yadda yadda. But a man takes off into the air and suddenly the question becomes, "how did he DO that" because leaping tall buildings in a single bound is Superman territory and therefore needs an explanation more than 'zerking, but when you offer "magic" as an explanation people freak out because the lore doesn't explicitly mention magic in a dragoon's case (same way I flip out about warriors potentially using aether when the lore says nothing of the sort). EDIT: I just realized that I just said the same exact thing that Warren said on page 3. Goddamnit.

You think a wind-up toy modeled after the most terrifying creature to ever crit with a knife for absurd amounts of damage across multiple games in this series is cute. Judging you.

Off-topic... I had this happen last night when Aetheric Manipulation was invoked ICly. It was worth a good laugh.

As an avid RC glider enthusiast of some years and an on-again-off-again initiate of aerodynamics, I feel morally obligated to chime in on this thread long enough to point out that, from a "realism" standpoint, dragoons using the spikes/fins/blades on their drachen/wyrm armor to help control their descent through the skies is absolutely ridiculous. Ignoring the fact that most of said protrusions are on their backs (there's an argument to be made there for increased air resistance and drag that insures that a dragoon will always descend face-down with their backs to the sky), those that aren't are nowhere near large enough nor positioned well enough to act as ailerons, elevons, flaps, air-brakes, or anything of the sort. To affect a change in course, you need a sufficiently large enough surface area with enough fine motor control over it to affect the right change in airfoil and/or cause enough deflection. Dragoon armor simply doesn't have that. Any change in vector on their way down will owe more to skydiving practices than those too-large-for-ornamentation-and-too-small-for-practical-use protrusions. I posit that the spikes are there in case, oh, a dragon tries to eat the dragoon and finds that the little man or woman makes too painful a meal to be bothered with, thereby saving the person's life. Let's not try to further justify the ridiculous drachen and wyrm armors by dragging the principles of flight through the mud, shall we? (inb4 a wizard did it AETHER)

Oh, understood, Warren. I'm just saying, it sounds a little odd to go "well, tank LB isn't useful... except in all these cases where it is!" I was all "...wat." One day I will understand why Shadow Fang doesn't cost the 80 TP that is standard for most DoW DoTs, especially seeing as how it gets a combo potency of 200. One day.... EDIT: Figures that my 1000th post would be about ninjas instead of monks or warriors. *facedesks*

Only places I've seen Tank LB used are... 1) Ultima HM 2) Titan Hard/EX ...and with the echoness it isn't even done anymore. 3) Central Decks (SCoB Turn 3 /Turn 8) when someone gets hit with 4k or less damage while afflicted with Allagan field (it saves parties, but gosh the healers have stress afterward MANTRA MANTRA MANTRA) 4) When the team is going to win something anyway and the tank uses it because it looks cool ...it really does look cool But meh, there aren't many situations where it would SAVE a party. Damage and healing level threes are so valuable in its place. Collision from Gilgamesh apparently used Tank LB on Turn 13's Teraflare and nabbed a World Second. It has its uses.

Because it needed an Extreme mode. Scenario: Backdraft (Extreme), 8 Party Members Only Osric Melkire has escaped further into Halatali. Rumor has it that the sergeant is now accompanied by three others of his ilk, Flames who have disobeyed orders and taken the burden upon themselves to mete out justice. The tattered remnants of whatever slave ring now operates in the depths have been making their way to the surface, where the shaken criminals are taken into custody and the malnourished victims given succor. Fafajoni has assured you that his superiors will see to it that the corruption in Halatali is routed out... but for now, the vigilantes must be stopped. Phase 1 - (100%-66%) Melkire: "You again? I ain't leavin' 'til the job's done. Damn them to the seven hells!" In this phase, Melkire ignores the aggro table and instead fixates on one party member at a time. After every ten auto-attacks, Melkire will transition to the next nearest party member. [Auto-Attack] Melkire's auto-attacks now cleave. Standard rogue animation. [Throwing Knives] Ranged attack, Instant. Targets the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth party member on the aggro list. Deals damage and applies Heavy (duration: 5 seconds). [Rock Breaker] 5 second channel, cannot be interrupted. Melkire strikes the stone beneath him five times in rapid succession, once per second, dealing AoE damage to those within a 10 yalm radius. The final strike knocks back all targets within range by 15 yalms. [shoulder Tackle] Instant. Melkire closes the distance with a random target chosen from those outside of a 10 yalm radius, interrupting casts/channels and stunning the target for 2 seconds. Will always be followed up by either [Howling Fist] or [Work Over]. [Howling Fist] 2 second cast, channel can be interrupted by a silence. Target is dealt damage, knocked back 15 yalms, and silenced for 20 seconds. Not necessarily preceded by [shoulder Tackle]. [Work Over] 2 second cast, channel can be interrupted by a stun. Melkire unleashes a whirlwind of steel. Target is dealt 50% of their max HP as damage and stunned for 10 seconds. Not necessarily preceded by [shoulder Tackle]. Phase 2 - (66%) Melkire: "Thal take you all... Gregson, Lancaster!" Gregson the Strategist: "On it, ser." Lancaster the Muscle: "Good as dead." Upon reaching 66%, Melkire will jump out, retreating into the shadows. Gregson the Strategist and Lancaster the Muscle will appear. Gregson the Strategist circles around the outer edge of the arena and fixates on whoever is at the top of Lancaster the Muscle's aggro list. Lancaster the Muscle fixates on whoever is at the top of Gregson the Strategist's aggro list. Once one of them has been downed, the other will fixate on the top of their own aggro list. Phase lasts until both enemies have been defeated. Gregson the Strategist [Auto-Attack] Standard archer animation. [Heavy Shot] Instant. Deals 25% of fixated target's max HP. [Aim: Leg] Instant. Deals damage and applies Bind (duration: 10 seconds) to randomly selected target. [Aim: Arm] Instant. Deals damage to randomly selected target. Target cannot cast weaponskills for 10 seconds. [smoke Bomb] Instant. Randomly selected target is afflicted by Blind and Silence for 10 seconds. [Caltrops] Instant. Drops three sets of caltrops behind Gregson the Strategist as he moves. Party members inside the AoE of any of these circles are Leadened. Lancaster the Muscle [Auto-Attack] Each auto-attack applies/refreshes Fracture. Standard marauder animation. [Overwhelm] 1 second channel, can be interrupted by a stun. AoE cone. Deals damage and applies Fracture to all damaged party members. [Holmgang] Instant. Binds both caster and randomly selected target and draws target in (duration: 6 seconds). [Raging Tempest] 3 second channel, can be interrupted by a stun. Deals massive AoE damage to all party members within a 5 yalm radius. Melkire [Venom of Volkov] 5 second cast, cannot be interrupted. Melkire will reappear and channel this ability once Gregson the Strategist and Lancaster the Muscle have been downed. Upon completion, the fight transitions into Phase 3. Animation is of Melkire uncorking a glass vial, coating his knives with the contents, and dashing the vial to the ground. Phase 3 - (66%-33%) Melkire: "How does it feel, bastards, knowin' you're raising steel for the corrupt, takin' their coin and condemnin' the innocent? How does it feel?!" In this phase, Melkire ignores the aggro table and instead fixates on one party member at a time. After every five auto-attacks, Melkire will transition to the next nearest party member. [Auto-Attack] Melkire's auto-attacks now cleave and apply Concoction (40 potency, 18 second duration). Concoction does not stack and does not refresh. Concoction cannot be cleansed, and can only be reapplied once the previous application falls off. Standard rogue animation. [Rain of Steel] Ranged attack, Instant. Targets all party members but the first on the aggro list. Deals damage, applies Bind (duration: 5 seconds) and Concoction. [bring Down the Mountain] 10 second channel, cannot be interrupted. Melkire strikes the stone beneath him ten times in rapid succession, once per second, dealing global AoE damage. The final strike knocks back all targets by 15 yalms and applies Bind for 5 seconds. [Good Hunting] Instant. Will randomly follow either [Rain of Steel] or [bring Down the Mountain]. A random target is chosen from those outside of a 10 yalm radius and tethered for 10 seconds. Tethered target is afflicted by Heavy. Tether cannot be broken, but may be passed to another party member. Melkire will run towards the tethered target; upon reaching them, the target's is dealt 9999 damage unmitigated. [Demon Within] 3 second cast, channel can be interrupted by a stun. Target is dealt 75% of their max HP as damage and stunned for 15 seconds. Phase 4 - (33%) ???: "No! You cannot have them!" Upon reaching 33%, Melkire will fall to his knees and a wall of Protection will go up around him, rendering him invulnerable for the duration of this phase. A blue-white flash of conjury will illuminate the field, and Kokojo the Conflicted will appear, along with a revived Gregson the Strategist and Lancaster the Muscle. Gregson and Lancaster behave just as they did before in Phase 2. Phase 4 ends after 240 seconds or when Kokojo, Gregson, and Lancaster are all defeated. If Kokojo falls before Gregson or Lancaster, the remaining enemies will be enraged, dealing twice as much damage with all auto-attacks and skills as they did before. Kokojo the Conflicted [Auto-Attack] Standard gladiator animation. [shield Bash] Instant. Deals damage and stuns the target for 6 seconds. [Flash] Instant. Blinds all nearby party members for 12 seconds. [Cover] Instant. Takes all physical damage for target. Can only be used when target is closer than 10 yalms. [Cure] 2 second cast, can be interrupted by a stun or a silence. Restores target's HP. [stoneskin] 3 second cast, can be interrupted by a stun or a silence. Creates a barrier around target that absorbs damage totaling 18% of the target's maximum HP. [Fira] 5 second cast, cannot be interrupted. Randomly selected target is dealt 5000 damage unmitigated. Damage is split between party members within a two-yalm radius. Phase 5 - (33%-0%) Melkire: "Enough is enough." Once the 240 seconds of Phase 4 transpire (or when Kokojo, Gregson, and Lancaster are all defeated), the fight transitions into Phase 5, the wall of Protection falls, and Melkire rejoins the fight alongside his allies. In this phase, Melkire ignores the aggro table and instead fixates on one party member at a time. After every five auto-attacks, Melkire will transition to the next nearest party member. [Auto-Attack] Melkire's auto-attacks now cleave and apply Concoction (40 potency, 18 second duration). Concoction does not stack and does not refresh. Concoction cannot be cleansed, and can only be reapplied once the previous application falls off. Standard rogue animation. [Rain of Steel] Ranged attack, Instant. Targets all party members but the first on the aggro list. Deals damage, applies Bind (duration: 5 seconds) and Concoction. [bring Down the Mountain] 10 second channel, cannot be interrupted. Melkire strikes the stone beneath him ten times in rapid succession, once per second, dealing global AoE damage. The final strike knocks back all targets by 15 yalms and applies Bind for 5 seconds. [Good Hunting] Instant. Will randomly follow either [Rain of Steel] or [bring Down the Mountain]. A random target is chosen from those outside of a 10 yalm radius and tethered for 10 seconds. Tethered target is afflicted by Heavy. Tether cannot be broken, but may be passed to another party member. Melkire will run towards the tethered target; upon reaching them, the target's is dealt 9999 damage unmitigated. [Demon Within] 3 second cast, channel can be interrupted by a stun. Target is dealt 75% of their max HP as damage and stunned for 15 seconds. [Mergrey's Munitions] Melkire: "I borrowed these from a friend of mine. Have a taste, eh?" Instant. 6 large AoEs appear at random locations throughout the arena. 1 seconds later, any party member inside is dealt 33% of their current HP. Then 12 small AoEs appear at random locations throughout the arena. 0.5 seconds later, any party member inside is dealt 66% of their current HP.

Scenario: Backdraft (Hard), 8 Party Members Only Osric Melkire has gone rogue. The sergeant was last seen at the outer gates of Halatali, where he left behind half a dozen wounded men and women, Brass Blades all. Reports indicate that Melkire has an intimate history with those caverns, one that goes beyond the usual familiarity of pugilists with their forming training grounds. Fafajoni has requested your assistance, asking that you delve into the depths of the labyrinth after the man to learn more... and to bring him back in shackles, if possible. Phase 1 - (100%-66%) Melkire: "So they sent someone after all. I have my reasons, adventurers. Leave me be." [Auto-Attack] Standard pugilist animation. [Throwing Knife] Ranged attack, Instant. Targets a party member low on the aggro list at random. Deals damage and applies Heavy (duration: 5 seconds). [shoulder Tackle] Instant. Melkire closes the distance with a random target chosen from those outside of a 10 yalm radius, interrupting casts/channels and stunning the target for 2 seconds. Will always be followed up by either [Howling Fist] or [beatdown]. [Howling Fist] 2 second channel, can interrupted by a silence. Target is dealt damage, knocked back 15 yalms, and silenced for 20 seconds. Not necessarily preceded by [shoulder Tackle]. [beatdown] 1 second channel, can be interrupted by a stun. Melkire unleashes a barrage of strikes and blows. Target is dealt 25% of their max HP as damage and stunned for 5 seconds. Not necessarily preceded by [shoulder Tackle]. [Gaining An Edge] 5 second channel, cannot be interrupted. Melkire will channel this ability upon reaching 66%. Upon completion, the fight transitions into Phase 2. Animation is of Melkire drawing a pair of Flame Sergeant's Knives. Phase 2 - (66%-33%) Melkire: "Ruttin' dogs. Always coin with you. Fine! If it's a fight you want...." In this phase, Melkire ignores the aggro table and instead fixates on one party member at a time. After every ten auto-attacks, Melkire will transition to the next nearest party member. [Auto-Attack] Melkire's auto-attacks now cleave. Standard rogue animation. [Throwing Knives] Ranged attack, Instant. Targets the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth party member on the aggro list. Deals damage and applies Heavy (duration: 5 seconds). [Rock Breaker] 5 second channel, cannot be interrupted. Melkire strikes the stone beneath him five times in rapid succession, once per second, dealing AoE damage to those within a 10 yalm radius. The final strike knocks back all targets within range by 15 yalms. [shoulder Tackle] Instant. Melkire closes the distance with a random target chosen from those outside of a 10 yalm radius, interrupting casts/channels and stunning the target for 2 seconds. Will always be followed up by either [Howling Fist] or [Work Over]. [Howling Fist] 2 second cast, channel can be interrupted by a silence. Target is dealt damage, knocked back 15 yalms, and silenced for 20 seconds. Not necessarily preceded by [shoulder Tackle]. [Work Over] 2 second cast, channel can be interrupted by a stun. Melkire unleashes a whirlwind of steel. Target is dealt 50% of their max HP as damage and stunned for 10 seconds. Not necessarily preceded by [shoulder Tackle]. [Venom of Volkov] 5 second cast, cannot be interrupted. Melkire will channel this ability upon reaching 33%. Upon completion, the fight transitions into Phase 3. Animation is of Melkire uncorking a glass vial, coating his knives with the contents, and dashing the vial to the ground. Phase 3 - (33%-0%) Melkire:"You don't know, do you?! You don't know what they've done here! What they're STILL doin' here! Came t'pray for the souls what passed on, and what do I find? Slavers! MONETARIST SCUM!" In this phase, Melkire ignores the aggro table and instead fixates on one party member at a time. After every five auto-attacks, Melkire will transition to the next nearest party member. [Auto-Attack] Melkire's auto-attacks now cleave and apply Concoction (40 potency, 18 second duration). Concoction does not stack and does not refresh. Concoction cannot be cleansed, and can only be reapplied once the previous application falls off. Standard rogue animation. [Rain of Steel] Ranged attack, Instant. Targets all party members but the first on the aggro list. Deals damage, applies Bind (duration: 5 seconds) and Concoction. [bring Down the Mountain] 10 second channel, cannot be interrupted. Melkire strikes the stone beneath him ten times in rapid succession, once per second, dealing global AoE damage. The final strike knocks back all targets by 15 yalms and applies Bind for 5 seconds. [Good Hunting] Instant. Will randomly follow either [Rain of Steel] or [bring Down the Mountain]. A random target is chosen from those outside of a 10 yalm radius and tethered for 10 seconds. Tethered target is afflicted by Heavy. Tether cannot be broken, but may be passed to another party member. Melkire will run towards the tethered target; upon reaching them, the target's is dealt 9999 damage unmitigated. [Demon Within] 3 second cast, channel can be interrupted by a stun. Target is dealt 75% of their max HP as damage and stunned for 15 seconds.

"I take it you're not the sort who does well with snide comments, so I'll refrain from that in the future." The sergeant rolled his eyes derisively, then proceeded to deposit both glasses and the bottle on the table. He didn't miss the tension in the air or the taut look on Lazarov's face as he sat down in time for the smuggler to launch into his own monologue, this one full of mind-blowingly stupid assumptions, childish prejudices, and vain paranoia. Osric didn't forget, and he didn't forgive? Askier Mergrey wouldn't still number among the living if that had ever been the case. Stepping back out of his own boots, putting on someone else's, compromising, coordinating... that had always been how the sergeant preferred to operate. Grudges had no place in business, whether that business was in coin or in blood. Nero had nothing to gain from meeting him here? He had eyes and ears across the realm, Aldenard and Vylbrand both! The resources he could call on, the authority, the pull he had thanks to his position with the Red Wings... and he'd been instrumental in thwarting gods knew how many recent-- But Lazarov doesn't know any of that, does he? He thinks I'm just some lowly sergeant. "My answer?" He sighed as he shoved Nero's full glass gently towards the man. "Well, you're right and you're wrong. You're right in that I need you more than you need me. Won't deny that." He pushed his own empty glass aside and leaned forward, hands crossed, arms on the table. "But you're wrong in thinkin' y'know me, thinkin' you know what kind o' man I am, what I am, who I am. Truth is, you ain't bothered with your research. I have." He leaned back, just far enough to reach down and pull a rolled sheath of papers from a large belt pouch at his waist. A flick of his wrist sent the scroll tumbling across the table. "Frankly, we could be here all night, with you sittin' pretty and findin' all manner o' inventive ways to call me a squatter - that's everythin' the Maelstrom has on you, your crew, and your activities, by the by - and I'd find that less insultin' than your assumptions about me, and that'd go the same, I'm guessin', for you. So do us both a favor and stuff your idiocy somewhere that ain't this ruttin' room, eh? We both know you're capable o' better than that." He reached for the bottle of ale and refilled his glass, eyes on Nero the whole time, a polite smile on his lips. "Lominsan-bred thief-turned-assassin, which is how I can tell y'ain't native, gadabout. That and crossin' palms with enough ol' streetrunners, jacks, and serps to find out for sure. Anyroad... I chose family o'er everythin' else, had my tail chased out o' Limsa for that, and found refuge with the Jewel. Owe the sultanate my life. Radical Royalist, at your service... not that you seem inclined. Took up arms with the Flames, served as a soldier for five cycles, and then I was taken aside for... something else. Something better. For my connections. Connections enough to know the names and faces of most o' the players in this game o' yours and Jamesons'." Osric took up his tumbler and shrugged as he swirled the tumbler. "You and I wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't for Roen. I'd be back in Thanalan, and you'd already be in the gaols, if not six fulms under. We're here because I've learned over the past cycle, to my pleasant surprise, that those whom she trusts tend towards the sort o' honorable and noble rutters what mean well, and when they go sour, she can tell." One sip, two sips, three sips were taken in silence as he paused to collect his thoughts. "You know my interest already, more like than not, so you know how I'd like to use you. What I'd like to know is how you'd use me. Ain't a point in draggin' this out any longer if I've nothin' to offer you. Seein' as how you showed, though... I'm guessin' there is."

Version 4.4.2, and it's a connection problem (couldn't establish a secure connection) coupled with the standard "Webpage not available". Issue's recent and seems to have coincided with the upgrade to TLS.