Castrum Fluminis (trial)

Castrum Fluminis is a from Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, taking place in Yanxia, where the Warrior of Light confronts Yotsuyu goe Brutus, who has fused with the primal Tsukuyomi. Later, the player can return to Castrum Fluminis on a higher difficulty, as The Minstrel's Ballad: Tsukuyomi's Pain.
==Story==
===Normal===
On the orders of his idol Zenos yae Galvus (actually Elidibus, the Emissary), Asahi sas Brutus resolves to orchestrate a summoning within the walls of Castrum Fluminis, the Imperial castrum in Yanxia, which had fallen to rebels in the liberation of Doma. To this end, he agrees to a prisoner exchange with Hien, lord of Doma, who holds his sister, the amnesiac Yotsuyu goe Brutus. Before the prisoner exchange, he arranges for Yotsuyu to meet with her parents, who sold her into slavery. As Asahi planned, Yotsuyu murders their parents and regains their memories. He then brings large quantities of crystals to the prisoner exchange.
During the attempted prisoner exchange, Yotsuyu proclaims herself the true viceroy of Doma and summons Tsukuyomi into herself, forcing the Warriors of Light to strike her down. During the battle, Tsukuyomi's power fades, and Yotsuyu realizes that the primal is fueled by her misery. She then awakens spirits of all those who have wronged her to torment her—Asahi and Zenos most of all. The Warriors of Light and a spirit of Gosetsu Everfall, however, are able to restrain her pain, thus limiting her power.
As Tsukuyomi's strength fades once again, Asahi shoots Yotsuyu and kicks her to the ground, bitter that Zenos rose her up to the title of viceroy of Doma rather than him. But this is just as Yotsuyu planned; she expends the last of her power to summon two blades which impale Asahi and kill him.
===Tsukuyomi's Pain===
===Circles of Answering===
==Progression==
===Normal===
The party faces off against Tsukuyomi.
===Tsukuyomi's Pain===
The battle begins with Tsukyuomi by herself in Castrum Fluminis, who begins by casting Reprimand, moderate raid-wide damage. She then casts Nightfall twice; this attack can have one of two effects, depending on which weapon she wields and what Yotsuyu says while casting it.
The "gun" Nightfall forces the party to stack to split damage, while the "spear" is a cone directed to one tank, one DPS, and one healer. To avoid overlapping spear damage, each role should have an assigned side of Tsukuyomi.
She casts Nightfall twice, once for each weapon, before once again casting Reprimand, and then Nightbloom, heavy raid-wide damage which inflicts Down for the Count and serves as a phase transition. The phase transition lasts for 16 seconds, so it is recommend to refresh over-time effects before Nightfall finishes casting.
After the phase transition completes, Tsukuyomi fades from the battlefield, which is now inside of Yotsuyu's memories. Throughout this phase, Yotsuyu will incur Suffering, and if she reaches 100 Suffering then the party will not be able to survive the next Nightbloom cast. However, having even 99 Suffering is harmless.
In the add phase, a Specter of the Matriarch and a Specter of the Patriarch spawn and tether to Yotsuyu, attacking her and increasing her Suffering, while three ranged and three melee Specters of the Homeland spawn and should be brought together by the tanks and slain. After the first wave of adds are dead, a Specter of Asahi tethers to Yotsuyu and three ranged and three melee Specters of the Empire spawn. These are essentially identical to the first wave of adds.
The final wave of adds begins with a Specter of Zenos, which casts Concentrativity on the party for moderate raid-wide damage and another Down for the Count. While the debuff wears off, the Specter is met by a Specter of Gosetsu, which attempts to hold him off. The party must slay the Specter of Zenos, which repeatedly casts Dispersivity, which does moderate raid-wide damage and increases Suffering by 6.
After the Specter of Zenos is slain, Tsukuyomi is reborn and again casts Nightbloom. This again transforms the battlefield, this time into Tsukuyomi's domain: a red wooden platform surrounded by trees and spider lilies, illuminated by moonlight. She then casts Supreme Selenomancy, one of the main mechanics of the third phase, and all of her attacks become magical.
Supreme Selenomancy inflicts each party member with four stacks of either Moonlit or Moonshadowed. These debuffs cancel each other out, but inflict Bleed and Doom if allowed to reach five stacks. Moreover, Supreme Selenomancy divides the platform into white and dark halves, representing a quarter-moon. Every five seconds, anyone standing in the dark half gains a stack of Moonshadowed; similarly anyone standing in the white half gains a stack of Moonlit. Supreme Selenomancy also spawns two orbs in one side of the moon, which will pulse repeatedly in a "donut" area-of-effect that should be avoided.
After the orbs pulse, the moon will wax or wane, covering all but a crescent of the platform with light or darkness. Then the boss will cast Nightfall again (and the first time this rotation occurs, it will always be a gun; the second time, it will always be a spear) and Moonfall, which marks a tank, a healer, and a DPS for a meteor that will target where they are standing when the marker fades for a point-blank area-of-effect that leaves behind a meteor. Two meteors in each others' area-of-effects will destroy each other. The meteor will adopt the color of the platform it was dropped in, and at least one meteor must be dropped in the fading color.
The reason is that after Moonfall, Tsukuyomi will cast Midnight Rain, covering the platform in the dominant color (i.e. bringing about a new or full moon), except the meteors. Thus, the only way to survive Moonlit or Moonshadowed in this phase is to stand on the meteor of the opposite color of Midnight Rain. However, the party cannot move there yet; first they must wait for the area-of-effects of the orbs and the meteors to pulse once more.
After the areas-of-effect resolve, Tsukuyomi casts Antitwilight or Perilume, instantly killing anyone not in a meteor of the correct color but dealing light damage otherwise, and removing the moon colors. She will then cast Reprimand followed by Zashiki-asobi, spawning first six fans on one side of the platform and in the center, and then three more elsewhere on the platform. These fans will eventually explode, so the party must move to the last fans to spawn and then back into the center to avoid them. She casts a random Nightfall as the fans are exploding, followed by Torment Unto Death, a cleaving tank-buster which inflicts Magic Vulnerability Up, forcing a tank swap. Then mechanics repeat from Supreme Selenomancy.
After a repetition, Tsukuyomi casts Dance of the Dead, dealing major raid-wide damage. She then gains either the buff Full Moon or New Moon. This adds an additional effect to her attacks Dark Blade and Bright Blade: if she casts a Blade spell with Full Moon, anyone close to her hitbox will take damage; otherwise, anyone not close to her hitbox will take damage. Dark Blade deals damage to the right and front of Tsukuyomi; Bright Blade deals damage to the left and in front of Tsukuyomi.
Tsukuyomi will cast a random Blade spell with Full Moon, followed by a random Blade spell with New Moon; she will then Reprimand again, before casting Zashiki-asobi. However, this Zashiki-asobi spawns a center fan, followed by fans which spawn and explode in a circle pattern. The party must stack where the last fan is expected to spawn, and then run to the center, staying stacked for Lunacy, a stack-damage mechanic which hits several times. She will then cast a Blade spell under Full Moon, followed by Torment Unto Death and the linear Zashiki-asobi along with Hagestu, which targets one tank, one healer, and one DPS for splash damage. After a Blade under New Moon, she casts Reprimand twice and then repeats from Lunacy until she is killed. She has a soft enrage: if she is not killed fast enough she will repeatedly cast Lunacy until the party expends all their healing resources.
==Enemies==
===Normal===
===Tsukuyomi's Pain===
==Loot==
===Tsukuyomi's Pain===
==Quests==
==Achievements==
===Tsukuyomi's Pain===
==Musical themes==
"Nightbloom" plays during the first phase of the battle with Tsukuyomi. "Lunacy" plays during the second phase, while "Wayward Daughter" plays during the final phase.
==Behind the scenes==
Prior to the release of Patch 4.3, Under the Moonlight, all data related to the nature of Castrum Fluminis was kept secret by Square Enix. While Trials are usually announced long before the Patch is released and appear in the Patch trailer, Castrum Fluminis was only referred to as "???" prior to patch day, and Tsukuyomi does not appear in the patch trailer (though the battle between the specters of Zenos and Gosetsu does).
==Gallery==
FFXIV Castrum Fluminis Title.png