Sastasha

Sastasha is a location in Final Fantasy XIV. Located in western La Noscea, it is a series of sea caverns that has housed both Sahagin and pirates since its discovery.
==History==
===Before Final Fantasy XIV===
The caverns of Sastasha were naturally carved out by the thrashing waters of the Indigo Deep on the western shores of Vylbrand, extending hundreds of yalms inland from the rocky cliffsides of Mistbeard Cove. It was initially claimed by the Sahagin, its name meaning "many shells" in their native tongue, who used the shelter it provided from the sea as spawning pools.
The caves were later rumored to play host the the dread pirate Mistbeard, who was said to have driven the Sahagin out of the area some 50 years prior to the Seventh Umbral Calamity. There he and his crew built docks for their fleet, in addition to private quarters and even an extensive tavern. The port would thrive until the year 1555 of the Sixth Astral Era when Mistbeard abruptly vanished, leaving the facilities untended and in disrepair.
===Final Fantasy XIV===
In the days prior to the Calamity, a man named Addison would begin appearing in the city states, claiming that the Lambs of Dalamud had kidnapped his daughter Milburh and fled through a nearby aetherial node. Pleading with adventurers go through the node and rescue his daughter, they would routinely find that it was all a ruse to lure in the adventurers as sacrifices, as Addison and Milburh were themselves members of the cult. One of the locations to which the nodes would connect was the Slophouse in Mistbeard Cove.
===Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn===
Following the destruction of their spawning grounds in the Calamity, the Sahagin began aggressively seizing territory on the island of Vylbrand. To this end they bid their land-dwelling minions, the Serpent Reavers, reclaim the caverns of Sastasha, combining its prior roles as spawning ground and pirate hideout both. Under the command of Serpent Reaver Captain Madison and the watchful eye of Denn the Orcatoothed, the repopulation of the caverns would remain hidden for years. To this end the Reavers employed a family of coeurls, both to safeguard the inland entrance and fool the locals into thinking the caves were nothing more than a coeurl den.
Despite the Reavers' efforts, the caverns eventually began drawing attention as locals began reporting sightings of suspicious men and an unfamiliar ship in the area. With the Yellowjackets stretched thin, Commodore Reyner Hansred began recruiting adventurers to investigate the seagrot, the future Warrior of Light among them. The Warrior's party would discover a hidden door behind the coeurl den and stumbled upon Captain Madison, who fled to the spawning grounds. Enraged by the intrusion onto the spawning grounds, Denn struck down Madison before himself being defeated by the Warrior of Light's party. After receiving the Warrior's report, the Yellowjackets secured the caverns.
For their failure to defend Sastasha, the surviving Madison and his crew were dragged before the Sahagins' primal Leviathan. As punishment, the Lord of the Whorl subjected the Reavers to a torrent of water-aspected aether, mutating them into cephalopod-like humanoids. Tasked with once again retaking Sastasha, Madison was granted the services of a kraken to accomplish this. When the Warrior of Light also returned to the seagrot investigating reports of monsters rising from its depths, Madison immediately recognized the adventurer whom he blamed for his transformation. Once again fleeing, Madison attempted to unleash the kraken on them, only for the kraken to turn on him, swatting him into the ocean with one of its massive tentacles. The kraken was then slain by the Warrior.
After defeating the creature, the Warrior of Light met with Reyner at Aleport. To help verify the claims of monsters, Yellowjackets appeared bearing Madison's corpse, which was promptly examined by one of Professor Lamberteint assistants, Ceana. She postulated that if the corruption of a man's mind through tempering could occur with the use of a small amount of a primal's aether, then the corruption of his body might occur with a greater application. Ceana's theory would later be reaffirmed in the findings of Allagan researcher Owen.
===Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker===
With the advent of the Final Days, people who succumbed to despair began transforming into beasts. While the worst of its effects were concentrated in Ilsabard, particularly strong beasts called blasphemies began appearing the world over, and by the very nature of their creation would create more beasts like a disease. One such blasphemy was the Indigo Beast, a massive monster sighted in the Indigo Deep around Vylbrand, and already many Sahagin had begun succumbing and turning into beasts. To make matters worse, a faction of Sahagin called the Crushing Tide were rejecting the new peace brokered between the Sahagin and Limsa Lominsa, with their fanatical leader Doww believing the transformations to be blessings from Leviathan.
In their efforts to hunt the Indigo Beast and deal with the Crushing Tide, the Warrior of Light found that the faction had been protecting the monster, though it did not distinguish between friend or foe. The Warrior had an Echo of its past revealing that it was once the Indigo Matriarch, queen and broodmother of the Sahagin, driven to despair by Doww's lies and doomsaying regarding the peace deal. The Warrior and their allies pursued the Beast to Sastasha, believing that perhaps its motherly instincts had drawn it to the spawning grounds. There they and other members of the Crushing Tide witnessed the Beast killing Doww. The surviving members of the Crushing Tide finally saw that the beasts were not a blessing but a curse, and sided with the Warrior in putting down their former broodmother.
==Geography==
Sastasha is a natural cave network eroded out by sea waters. Some sections are overgrown with coral, while others have been cleared out into habitable areas by the pirates that have called the caves home over the years. An inland entrance to the caverns can be found in Skull Valley in north-central Western La Noscea.
===Sastasha Seagrot===
The Sastasha Seagrot is the first section of the caverns encountered from its inland entrance, and is the most wild portion of the caves, being overgrown with coral and playing host to all manner of sea creatures. It is comprised primarily of two large caverns, and , both named for the family of coeurls rumored to call the caverns home.
Wauling Pond is a deep pit with a natural rock walkway hanging above it—if it once contained water as its name implies it has long since drained. Several large coral formations emit motes of light that keep the cavern well-lit. The shoots off from the walkway, and was used by the Serpent Reavers to hide a note hinting at the location of the correct switch to access Dead Man's Drink. The path to the Empty Room was later blocked off when the Reavers returned to Sastasha.
The Cattery is a large flooded cavern. Several shafts in the ceiling allow some sunlight to flow in. It could be crossed by means of a series of floating rocks that formed pathways between the various outcroppings in the room. The southwestern outcropping contained three red, blue, and green glowing coral formations , each of which hid a switch. One of the switches would reveal a different switch that opened the hidden door to Dead Man's Drink—the other switches would trigger a trap, poisoning whoever tripped it. Any attempt to open the door would also attract the attention of a large coeurl called Chopper.
When the Reavers returned to Sastasha, they abandoned the secrecy of their hideout and installed a fortified door to the Cattery while also removing or blocking off the natural walkways. The southwestern outcropping with the hidden door was also partially destroyed and is no longer accessible. Instead, a pump was installed that can drain the Cattery's waters, leaving behind a shallow pool called the in which a large sea scorpion called Karlabos dwelled, while also revealing a tunnel called . The Pull passes through a series of smaller caverns before emerging into a new entrance to Dead Man's Drink.
===Dead Man's Drink===
Dead Man's Drink is a sprawling living area said to have been built by the legendary pirate Mistbeard that now plays host to the Serpent Reavers. Its primary feature is the tavern built in the large central cavern, from which several smaller offshoot caverns have been converted into private quarters—the to the north, the to the west, the to the east, and the to the south.
Entrances to Dead Man's Drink can be found in the northeast and southwest, leading to the Cattery and the Sultana's Lap respectively. Both are protected by gatehouses called s, while the southwest had the additional protection of and a pack of rabid dogs. In the southeast can be found a prison called , where the Reavers kept the maidens they had kidnapped to serve them. An additional unnamed cavern can be found in the northwest.
When the Reavers returned to Sastasha they cleared out the central tavern, leaving a large empty platform. With the previous entrance to the northeast Rambade destroyed, a new entrance was constructed in the Rowers' Quarters, leading to the Pull. The other Quarters are still present, but access to them has been mostly blocked by the materials moved off of the central platform.
===Mistbeard Cove===
Mistbeard Cove is where the caverns finally open up to the seas which formed them. Like Dead Man's Drink, the cove has been converted for use by pirates to a landing called . While the outcroppings in the cove are too dangerous for larger ships to approach, several docks have been built for smaller vessels allowing the transfer of supplies and plunder. The large southern landing in the Sultana's Lap is also a historic spawning ground for the Sahagin, with several small pools dotting the platform that connect to the sea. When the Serpent Reavers moved in they set aside this area for the Sahagins' use.
When the Reavers returned to Sastasha they brought with them a kraken that laired in the Cove. The spawning grounds were overtaken and heavily damaged by the massive creature, which reached through the pools in order to snatch its prey. The damage to the pools was later repaired after the kraken's defeat.
Mistbeard Cove opened up into another set of caverns elsewhere on the coast that emerged in the Bald Knoll area, further north of Skull Valley. There another port called could be found, which similarly contained its own tavern called the , with its own Waverider Gate in addition to a and . The Slophouse connected to the caverns further inland through . Within these caverns could be found the , , and .
==Gameplay==
 is the first dungeon encountered in the main scenario as part of the quest . The optional was later released in patch 2.4 as part of . While both dungeons can be repeated endlessly via the duty finder, Sastasha is not canonically revisited again until in the Endwalker expansion as the finale of the melee DPS role quests.
Mistbeard Cove also appeared as a open world dungeon in the original release, connecting to the Bald Knoll area further north of Skull Valley.
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Sastasha map from FFXIV.png| map.
Sastasha (Hard) map from FFXIV.png| map.
Mistbeard Cove (1.0) map from FFXIV.jpg|Mistbeard Cove map in the original release.
==Musical themes==
"From the Depths" is the main theme that plays in the background of . For the theme is instead changed to "Riptide". Both themes can be obtained as orchestrion rolls from their respective dungeons.
==Other appearances==
===Final Fantasy Record Keeper===
The Sastasha Seagrot (Classic) can be unlocked upon completing Mako Reactor No. 5 (Classic). It sees players battle through Wauling Pond, Dead Man's Drink, and the Sultana's Lap to face off against a record of Denn the Orcatoothed. Completing the dungeon unlocks its Elite version.
==Notes==
===Annotations===
===Citations===
Category:Western La Noscea locations in Final Fantasy XIV
Category:Caves