How the West Was Sung

See also: Wandering Minstrel Quests

Quest giver: Wandering Minstrel
Location: Tuliyollal (X:11.2, Y:14.7)
Level: 100
Required quest: Dawntrail
Patch: 7.0

“

No description available.

— In-game description

How the West Was Sung is a level 100 quasi-quest that serves as an unlock method for extreme-difficulty trials and chaotic and ultimate-difficulty raids in Dawntrail. There are no steps to this quest: talking to the questgiver both accepts and completes the quest.

Though the quest is "completed" upon talking to the Wandering Minstrel, players must go back and talk to him again each time they complete the necessary prerequisites in order to unlock the associated extreme, chaotic, or ultimate-difficulty encounter.

Unlocks

Dialogue

Wandering Minstrel: My word─is that you, Forename!? I am overjoyed that fate would arrange this meeting, though I am not surprised. When I heard tell of your journey with Wuk Lamat, I had a feeling it would only be a matter of time until we crossed paths.
Wandering Minstrel: What am I doing in Tural, you ask? Why, I am come in search of unusual and fantastic stories that I may weave into songs, to spin tales that will enchant crowds the world over.
Wandering Minstrel: And this land has proven to be a treasure trove of folktales and legends unlike any that can be found across the sea. I have set each and every one to memory, and my head is swimming with new verses...
Wandering Minstrel: Yet for all the myths newly added to my repertoire, I still yearn for tales of newfound adventure. Tales involving parties that yet live─preferably recounted by someone with firsthand experience!
Wandering Minstrel: ...And you are just such a man/woman! Pray share with me everything that happened since you set foot in Tural, and I shall set it to song.
Wandering Minstrel: Every trial you endured during the rite of succession, every blood-curdling moment of your assault upon the levin-shrouded dome─I beg you spare no detail.
Wandering Minstrel: Your words will lend texture to my melodies and substance to my lyrics! Oh, I have a feeling my most memorable work is soon to come!
Wandering Minstrel: Of course, I understand you may not have the time at present. I shall be here for a while yet, polishing my prose to a mirror sheen. Simply come to me when you have a story to share, and I shall listen in rapt attention.

Valigarmanda. [Worqor Lar Dor (Extreme)]

Wandering Minstrel: So, what have you brought for me today?
Wandering Minstrel: You did battle with Valigarmanda!? The tural vidraal of legend, dubbed the Skyruin, who ruled the heavens by beak and talon. Many are the legend of this beast among beasts, but I would wager the telling of your battle is more thrilling than the most harrowing tales!
Wandering Minstrel: By the hands of a devious scoundrel was the seal put in place by Gulool Ja Ja broken, and thus was the living calamity unleashed again upon the world...only to be struck down by Wuk Lamat and her mighty companion!
Wandering Minstrel: This glimpse into the events of the rite of succession shall provide me with more than enough inspiration for my next song. Thank you for sharing it with me, Forename.
Wandering Minstrel: By the by, do you know the meaning of the term “tural vidraal”?
Wandering Minstrel: In the language of the Mamool Ja, it means “that which clings to the earth.” A fitting description for beings powerful enough to claim an entire continent as their territory. And Valigarmanda was said to be the most formidable among them.
Wandering Minstrel: Though you emerged victorious, the fiend was but recently roused from slumber. What do you suppose would have happened had Valigarmanda been given sufficient time to regain its strength?
Wandering Minstrel: Hah, such questions are why we have imaginations, yes? And imagine I shall... The mightiest heroes of Etheirys matched against the full fury of Valigarmanda. A story for the ages!

Zoraal Ja. [Everkeep (Extreme)]

Wandering Minstrel: So, what have you brought for me today?
Wandering Minstrel: Ah, the final moments of the former Dawnservant's firstborn. His story gives rise to a complex mixture of emotions, and it would be insulting to call it something so trite as an adventurous tale.
Wandering Minstrel: As the only true son of Gulool Ja Ja, he doubtless felt a heavy burden of responsibility to be deemed worthy of succeeding his father. This weight was likely made all the more stifling by the fact he had but one head.
Wandering Minstrel: And so he sought great power to make up for his perceived shortcomings. Yet he could never quite live up to the expectations he set for himself, and in his blind pursuit, he stepped upon a crooked path...
Wandering Minstrel: For thirty long years did he keep company with anger in that dome... Yet no amount of anguish can justify the countless lives he stole.
Wandering Minstrel: You know what I believe, Forename? I believe the moment Zoraal Ja killed his own father, whose admiration he fought so hard to win, his life lost all meaning.
Wandering Minstrel: His sins cannot be forgiven, 'tis true. Yet his story is a tragic one, and I suspect each of us can see parts of ourselves reflected within it.
Wandering Minstrel: Thank you for sharing it with me. A dark shadow loomed over the rite of succession, and we would do best not to forget he who cast it.
Wandering Minstrel: While many will view Zoraal Ja as a murderer and tyrant, reducing him to a mindless villain will blunt the impact of the lessons we can learn from his fate. This is a tale that must be told with great care...

Queen Eternal. [The Minstrel's Ballad: Sphene's Burden]

Wandering Minstrel: So, what have you brought for me today?
Wandering Minstrel: The trials and tribulations of Queen Sphene, who was confronted with many a difficult decision as she sought to protect the citizens of her nation, Alexandria...
Wandering Minstrel: In that realm, people regard souls as merely a resource. And when they die, the aether of their memories is used to create the Endless, simulacra of the departed that can only be sustained with life force harvested from the living...
Wandering Minstrel: Being so very different from what we know, such a way of life is difficult for us to accept. Indeed, it seemed only inevitable that you should come into conflict with Sphene.
Wandering Minstrel: She herself was not among the living, but an entity brought forth to fulfill a certain objective. And therein, I believe, lay the root of this tale's tragedy.
Wandering Minstrel: Recreated from the noblest of souls though she was, she was helpless to defy the purpose to which she had been bound: protecting the Endless no matter the cost.
Wandering Minstrel: Thus did she continue on her destructive path, though she knew it led only to a dead end.
Wandering Minstrel: A question if you may, my friend. Deep in your heart, do you believe that the Sphene whom you met was alive?

What will you say?
> She was alive, in her own way. 
> Though she was many things, she wasn't alive. 
> I'm not sure...

< She was alive, in her own way. >
Wandering Minstrel: So you think that. Even with the knowledge that her existence differed from the living, you hold that she was alive...

< Though she was many things, she wasn't alive. >
< I'm not sure... >
Wandering Minstrel: I see. Though her existence differed much from the living, precisely what does it mean to be alive? 'Tis no easy thing to define.

Wandering Minstrel: I thank you for your honest answer. I shall take it to heart.
Wandering Minstrel: For my part, whether or not she was possessed of life, I believe that there existed an individual called Sphene, who cared deeply for her people. Who heard the voices of her people, felt as they did, and thought only for their welfare. 
Wandering Minstrel: That is why, at battle's end, she returned as the gentle soul you knew.
Wandering Minstrel: But here, a thought fills me with dread. What if that soul failed to return, and the fearsome entity she had become continued its relentless onslaught?
Wandering Minstrel: Might it have succeeded in its objective, and plundered life force from other realities at the cost of untold destruction...? Of such a possibility shall I sing, that we might give thanks for the path we were mercifully spared.
Wandering Minstrel: By golden light two rulers walked,
Their paths in conflict lying.♪
One bound to slay, one sworn to save,
They forged ahead untiring.♪

Wandering Minstrel: The mem'ries of departed days,
Endure as fate and fetters.♪
For keepers staunch a blessed warmth,
Oblivion for the breakers.♪

The Flood of Light. [Futures Rewritten (Ultimate)]

Wandering Minstrel: So, what have you brought for me today?
Wandering Minstrel: Well now, that is quite a tremendous tale... If I may, I shall attempt to recount it in my own words, the better to reflect upon the events for song.
Wandering Minstrel: A century past, the hero Ardbert fought and felled the Ascian Mitron. By the power of Light, the villain's body was transformed into Eden, the first sin eater, who unleashed the Flood of Light that engulfed the First.
Wandering Minstrel: Despite being locked in a stupor, Mitron mustered the strength to call from the prison that was his vessel, in the desperate hope of reaching his fallen comrade, Loghrif. And reach Loghrif he finally did, in her reincarnated form as the maiden Gaia.
Wandering Minstrel: From a young age, Gaia had heard Mitron's voice in her mind. She referred to it as “the faerie,” and there were times when it even took over her consciousness.
Wandering Minstrel: And be it by chance or by fate, Eden's subsequent awakening by Ryne, the Oracle of Light, led to Gaia's appearance in the Empty, where the two maidens first encountered each other.
Wandering Minstrel: At length, Mitron restored Loghrif's memories in Gaia, and the two Ascians returned once more. But in no small part due to your valor, the worst was prevented from coming to pass...
Wandering Minstrel: 'Tis truly a stirring tale, and no moment of it more so than when Gaia lay on the verge of being erased. How beautiful to imagine that her memories of Ryne served as an anchor that kept her from fading away.
Wandering Minstrel: Yet as perfectly as that unfolded, I cannot help but wonder what might have happened if something else had gone awry. For instance, in the moment that Ryne roused Eden, what if Mitron had likewise reached out and interfered...?
Wandering Minstrel: Yes, I believe I have the makings of a song. One that speaks of a future that was not, yet may very well have been...
Wandering Minstrel: A villain dark a gaol did break,
The Light to liberate.♪
A maiden pure her eyes unsure,
He sought to change her fate.♪
Wandering Minstrel: Undying soul a gaol did flee,
The Dark to stir awake.♪
A maiden lost to find once more,
And good a promise make.♪

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Wandering Minstrel: Have you come here to share a heroic yarn with me, Forename? Please, do go on─you have my rapt attention.
Wandering Minstrel: ...Ah, I understand. You have no tales worth telling─yet, that is. I know for certain 'tis but a matter of time until you are thrust into the heart of matters most dramatic.
Wandering Minstrel: Fortunately, the denizens of this city are great lovers of tall tales and thrilling verse. They simply cannot hear enough of your exploits, Forename! Thank you for being my ever-dependable muse.

How the West Was Sung

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