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

• 
  Poieten Oikos

Steps

• Speak with Hythlodaeus
• Speak with Hythlodaeus again.
• Speak with Venat.
• Search for the concept crystal.
• Deliver the concept crystal to Venat.

Journal

• After a brief discussion with Hythlodaeus and Emet-Selch, it is decided that you will move on to visit a new part of Elpis. Hythlodaeus asks that you follow him back towards Anagnorisis.
• The next stop on your journey is Notoneus, where a teleporter awaits to send you to another of Elpis's floating islands. It seems, however, that permission to use the device freely will only be granted in the presence of Hythlodaeus.
• After using the teleporter, you find yourself whisked upwards to Kallimelios Zephyros, where a close encounter with an ambulatory shark leads to a chance meeting with an eerily familiar woman. Venat, as she is called, recognizes the mark of her own magick upon you, and quickly deduces your origin as a traveler from the future. Intrigued by the possibilities, the former Azem asks that you favor her with the details of your quest, while Emet-Selch vows to ascertain your identity and purpose.
• Before continuing the conversation begun near the teleporter, Venat requests that you aid her in tracking down a concept crystal that was spirited away by an oreias. Suspecting the creature may have dropped it somewhere in the forest, she directs you to search the southern reaches of Kallimelios Zephyros.
• You come across a crystal on the ground, seemingly discarded without a care for its condition. This is alsmost certainly the object Venat was searching for.
• You deliver the crystal to Venat, who applauds your knack for finding lost items. Even though she no longer holds the seat of Azem, it seems she shares your passion for travel, as well as helping those in need. You wonder, as Venat clearly suspects, if this meeting was more fate than chance...

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?