Travelers at the Crossroads
Travelers at the Crossroads
- Quest giver
- Hythlodaeus
- Location
- Elpis (X:8.7, Y:31.5)
- Quest line
- Endwalker Main Scenario Quests
- Level
- 87
- Experience
- 495,000
- Gil
- 1,152
- Previous quest
- Verdict and Execution
- Next quest
- A Past, Not Yet Come to Pass
- Patch
- 6.0
“Hythlodaeus wishes to discuss plans for the remainder of your visit.
— In-game description
Rewards
- Unlocks
Steps
- Speak with Hythlodaeus
- Speak with Hythlodaeus again.
- Speak with Venat.
- Search for the concept crystal.
- Deliver the concept crystal to Venat.
Journal
Walkthrough
Dialogue
Hythlodaeus:
- Where to now? If there is anywhere you would like to visit before we leave, I should be glad to show you the way...
Emet-Selch:
- Hermes has not yet outright refused his position with the Convocation─merely postponed the decision.
- As such, I may as well resume my assessment. If we cannot accompany him, then I will content myself with questioning his colleagues.
Hythlodaeus:
- Ever the pragmatist. Then allow me to remain your humble guide.
- And what of you, Player? Will you continue along with us?
- Wonderful! Our fellowship travels on unbroken. I say we explore another part of Elpis, and see what new encounters there are to be had.
- If you would follow me, we will first head back towards Anagnorisis.
- From here, we follow the path northwards to Notoneus.
- There we will find one of the teleporters which facilitate travel between the islands of Elpis.
- First-time travelers must be accompanied by someone with the requisite permission─which I have previously been granted. We only need use the device together once, and henceforth you will have leave to use it freely.
- Shall we?
- Here we are: Notoneus. This teleporter will take us to Kallimelios Zephyros, the western island.
- That's it right there, looming large over us.
- Step this way, and we can soon admire the view from above!
- I present to you Kallimelios Zephyros.
- Here you will find a number of testing facilities as well as the observation hub of Poieten Oikos.
- Right, then. Let's begin by ─ ...Hm?
- Well, well, an oreias. How delightful.
Emet-Selch:
- And what, pray tell, is that...?
Hythlodaeus:
- Ah, that's a new species of shark. We approved the concept but a few days ago.
- Sharks are among the most popular sea creatures. Rare is the day when someone does not submit a new concept.
Familiar Woman:
- That was too close... Are you unharmed?
- Well now, if it isn't a pair of familiar faces...
Hythlodaeus:
- Venat! That we should meet you here!
Emet-Selch:
- As I mentioned earlier, the better part of the Convocation holds that when we retire is when we return to the star.
- Well, she is not among said majority. Even after stepping down, she carries on with her work.
- Venat is her name, and she is the previous Azem.
Venat:
- It has been a while, Hythlodaeus. You look well.
- Less so, Emet-Selch. I daresay the lines upon your brow have both deepened and doubled in number.
- A shame for one so young. You must make an effort to frown less often.
Emet-Selch:
- Easier said than done thanks to your unruly successor.
Venat:
- How is she, if I may ask?
Hythlodaeus:
- Incorrigible as ever. Rushed headlong into a volcano on the brink of eruption just the other day. I should be glad to share the tale in its entirety later, if you are so inclined.
Venat:
- You know I am!
- Now then, you are...?
- I say...have you perchance come from the future?
- I do not believe we have ever met, yet I sense my magick upon you.
- Therefore if I wove the enchantment, I could only have done so at a later point in time.
Hythlodaeus:
- What manner of magick is this, if I may ask?
Venat:
- A traveler's ward, of course. It prevents the corruption of one's aether.
- ...Primals, you say? I'm not familiar with such beings, but if they “enthrall” by warping the balance of aether, then yes─the magick would afford you a measure of protection.
- I gather from your question that you are not ignorant to its presence.
Emet-Selch:
- Hold on─from the future? That's absurd.
Venat:
- What is it? Are you unable to speak of the matter?
- So, your actions here will not change your history...but they may yet affect the course of ours...
- How very exciting. I'm quite fond of delving into the unknown─and there's naught more unknown than the future.
- Until a moment finally arrives, we cannot know for certain what will come to pass─regardless of our supposed foreknowledge. So you needn't worry for us.
- More importantly, that you should go to such great lengths as to travel unto the past bespeaks the gravity of your quest.
- Will you not reveal it to us? Mayhap we can be of aid to your cause.
Emet-Selch:
- If this is true, then you've been keeping quite the secret to yourself.
- As a representative of the Convocation, I will hear it all. Your identity, purpose─everything.
Venat:
- Why don't we move to a place more conducive to calm conversation.
- I've been working here for some days now at an old friend's behest.
- If it is agreeable, we may make use of my accommodation at Poieten Oikos.
- We were meant to meet, I am certain of it.
- Else I wouldn't have marked you so clearly and sent you unto myself in the past.
- It's precisely the sort of mischief I would get up to─and quite inspired, if I do say so myself.
- My apologies, but before we move along, a colleague has tasked me with a matter which I'd rather not leave unresolved.
- It involves finding a certain concept-engraved crystal...and the quick-fingered oreias which made off with it.
Hythlodaeus:
- An oreias, you say? I think we might have seen the culprit before being distracted by that business with the shark. Would you like us to follow its aetherial trail?
- That would, of course, lead us only to the oreias─there is no guarantee that it hasn't dropped or stashed away the crystal you seek.
Venat:
- Please! Even that much would be enormously helpful. While you are hunting down the thief, I can follow behind and scour the forest floor just in case.
- Could I ask you to join the search? I would appreciate another pair of eyes to cover the land to the west of here...
- Many thanks! There's a small bridge leading into Poieten Oikos─let us meet up there once we've exhausted our efforts.
- Our last searcher returns. I am afraid the oreias no longer had the crystal, nor was I able to find it as I followed in its wake.
- I don't suppose you fared any better...?
- The crystal! Well done!
- Wonderful! Now I can focus on your tale without that missing concept nagging at my mind. Have you always had a knack for finding things?
- You travel often, then? It seems we have something in common.
- Long ago, when I held the seat of Azem, I was forever trekking back and forth across the star in search of answers to people's problems.
- Naturally, the need for such journeys has lessened considerably since I entrusted the position to my whimsical successor...
- Yet I am still eager to come running should an old acquaintance or new interest require my personal attention.
- That is what brings me to Elpis, in fact. Many times has my presence been requested; my opinions sought concerning the habitat of this or that creation.
- Agreeing to help locate that missing crystal was a minor distraction...which now promises to become a major revelation! How strange and wonderful it is the way one thing leads to another. Wouldn't you agree?