Eruyt Village After Mjrn

Road of Verdant Praise

Tetran: Looking for something, kupo? [shop menu] I spoke with the viera elder about running my shop here. I was a little frightened at first, but she seems reasonable enough, kupo. Speaking of frightening, I have it on good authority that there are monsters which mimic crystals, and pounce when you touch them!

Fran: With Lente’s Tear we can pass the barriers of Golmore Jungle. The Gran Kiltias on Bur-Omisace waits beyond. Our business here is done.

The Spiritwood

Wood-dweller (viera with long hair looking out over edge): The Wood whispers with the winds of distant lands, bringing us tidings from afar. A tranquil heart and keen ear might learn much of the world beyond the Wood, never needing to forsake Her gentle bosom.

Wood-warder (viera at base of steps): Many of our sisters have we lost to the beguiling winds of the outside world. We must lose no more. Your coming holds no joy for us.

Wood-dweller (viera with shoulder-length hair sitting in center): This place is one of quiet contemplation. Your presence disturbs its tranquility more than I would expect… Nera alone seems cheered, but she has always been… unique. Do no look for such welcome from others.

Wood-dweller (long-haired viera looking up to the sky): Viera who leave the village are viera no more. Shadow and illusion make for fleet quarry, but there is little joy in their capture.

Wood-dweller (viera with bob staring down at flowers): The flower that blooms upon the water, the flower that blooms upon the land. How are they alike? How do they differ? Are they really different at all? Or does the difference lie in how we perceive them? It vexes me.

Nera: In truth I should not speak with you. But it is all right. The others do not concern themselves with my doings. Here I was born, and here I live. I do not think, though, that past and present need dictate the future.

Wood-dweller (walking up and down path to warders’ den and Fane): Our houses bear little likeness to those of humes. They are places where those of like calling, be they wood-warders or salve-makers, gather.

Wood-warder (near warders’ den): With Jote’s trust and blessing does Rael lead the house of the wood-warders. Our task of defending Wood and village is no small one. See that you do not disturb us.

Rena: Mjrn has returned, but still a weight presses upon my heart. Why is this so? Is she… different, somehow? Is there something I might do to help her?

Kjrs: Jote does not show favor to the sisters who share her blood. She is strict, yes. More so with her sisters, still more again with herself.

Rael: We have known of the humes in the magicite mines. They fear us, and have not disturbed the Wood. We keep watch on them, but we do not interfere. Mjrn knew of this, but this was not enough for her. She left the Wood.

Fane of the Path

Wood-dweller (viera sitting and talking to other viera): Jote leads with Hala ever at her side. Hala herself is a salve-maker of great renown who has served the village as long as the village has stood.

Alja: We discuss the effect different methods of storage have on herbal potency. Do matters so beyond your grasp nonetheless hold interest for you?

Wood-dweller (long-haired viera wandering up and down path): One who has left the Wood but once ought never be allowed to return. It is only natural that the children of the Wood should not traffic with the world beyond. It is our way. The elder is too forgiving of her sister.

Wood-dweller (viera with pixie cut behind the salve-makers’ den): Once more the village is quiet, still. All reason for your presence is now gone, is it not?

Wood-dweller (viera with pixie cut near Jote’s den): There are those who have raised their voices against Mjrn’s return, but I support the elder’s decision. Never in the past has she erred. I do not think she is like to start now.

Hala: Mjrn went against the Green Word. The decision to welcome her back has met with much discord. These foreign winds bring much trouble for us. You may rest here if you like, but do not interfere with the doings of the village.

Jote: Mjrn is yet in her spring. Trouble her no more. She would shake and scatter before the rough winds that blow beyond the Wood.

Mjrn: An indescribable sensation overtook me within the mine. It reached out, closed about my heart… then all was darkness. This loathsome shadow… ageless and ancient beyond any viera or hume… what was it?

Eruyt Village

[The scene changes again. The party walks back into Eruyt, Fran and Mjrn side-by-side, chatting with each other. Jote is waiting for them.]

Jote: I heard the Wood’s whispers. Take it.

[One of the viera beside her approaches the party, presenting them with a glowing pendant, which Vaan takes.]

Jote: Lente’s Tear is a permission. Pass through the Wood and leave. To other places go.

Mjrn: That cannot be all! I saw it when I left the village! Ivalice is changing! How can the viera stand and do nothing at all?

Jote: Ivalice is for the humes. The Wood alone is for us.

Mjrn: But that is wrong! How can we just hide here in the trees when all the world outside is on the move! I, too, wish to live freely - to leave this Wood!

Fran: Do not do this. You must remain away from the humes. Stay with the Wood. Live together with the Wood. This is your way.

Mjrn: But Fran - my sister!

Fran: I am no longer of you. I have discarded Wood and village. I won my freedom. Yet my past has been cut away forever. No longer can my ears hear the Green Word. This… solitude, you want, Mjrn?

Mjrn: Sister -

Fran: No, Mjrn. Only one sister remains to you now. You must forget my existence.

[Mjrn looks at Fran, hurt, and then runs away.]

Jote: I am sorry to make you do this.

Fran: She goes against the laws of the Wood. I threw down these laws. It is better that I do this. Better I than one who must uphold these laws herself.

[Jote nods to her two attendant viera to leave. She and Fran are left alone.]

Fran: I have a request: Listen to the Wood’s voice for me. I fear - I fear She hates.

[Jote takes a moment to commune with the Wood, then announces her findings.]

Jote: The Wood longs for you. For the child gone from under Her boughs.

Fran: A pleasant lie, that.

[Fran turns to walk away, but Jote’s next words stop her.]

Jote: Be cautious. The Wood is jealous of the humes who have taken you.

Fran: I am as them, now. Am I not? Good-bye, sister.

[You obtain Lente’s Tear!]

The Henne Mines

North Entrance

Gate Switchboard: This switchboard operates the mine gates.

>Press the switch.

>Do nothing.

Ore Separation: It’s locked from the other side.

Advisory, Gate Operation: “For immediate distribution and posting: The colour of the switchboard phosphor corresponds with gates currently closed. Accordingly, use of the switchboard opens gates of the colour presently illuminated. Note your desired route and open such gates as it requires. It follows that one cannot open red and blue gates simultaneously. As gates throughout the mine are linked, do verify your route in advance. Workers’ Weekly Wisdom: NO accidents. NO injuries. NO worries. -Imperial Army, Officiary of Resources”

Pithead Junction A

Wounded Imperial: I managed to escape… I don’t know how, but I did. You must be careful. The mines… they’re not safe. How could we have known…

Wounded Imperial (x2): (He’s unconscious.)

Advisory, the 1st: “Noxious fumes and vapors are an ever-present threat within the mine. Should you feel you’ve been affected, report at once to the infirmary. Workers’ Weekly Wisdom: Our workers are our greatest resource. -Imperial Army, Officiary of Resources”

Staging Shaft

Larsa: Look at the magicite. These mines much resemble the ones at Lhusu. Of course. Draklor must be searching for new sources of ore. Should the Resistance move, the magicite in Bhujerba will be forever beyond their grasp.

[The party notices another collapsed soldier some distance away. They run toward him. Fran gasps.]

Fran: Is it her? What is this Mist? [looking up] Mjrn!

[Vaan and Larsa look wonderingly at Fran, then turn in the direction she is looking. A viera comes stumbling around the corner.]

Mjrn: The stench of humes. The stench of power.

Ashe: What’s wrong with her?

[Mjrn hears her and turns, pointing a finger at her, and when she next speaks, it’s with an unearthly voice.]

Mjrn: Stay away! Power-needy hume!

[Mjrn goes frantically running back the way she came, still stumbling.]

Ore Separation

[They catch a glimpse of Mjrn before she disappears again, behind the hulking form of a great wyrm.]

[After defeating Tiamat…]

[Mjrn comes stumbling out of the shadows. Fran starts running toward her. We see Mjrn is holding a piece of manufacted nethicite in her hand; she drops it, and once it comes to rest on the ground, it shatters. A fearful, shadowy visage appears around Mjrn; frightened, Fran stops, but it disappears almost as quickly. Mjrn finally passes out and falls to the ground.]

Vaan: That thing inside her. What was it?

[No one answers. Fran cradles Mjrn in her arms, and Mjrn, though still drowsy, stirs.]

Mjrn: Is it you?

[Fran nods. Mjrn smiles, and with a sigh, falls back into unconsciousness.]

[In the next scene, we soon see Mjrn explaining to the others in a small room in the mine what happened.]

Mjrn: When the hume soldiers came to the Wood, the village took small heed of them. So long as the Wood Herself is safe, the viera give little care to goings on beyond. But in me an uneasiness stirred. I had to discover why they had come.

Balthier: So you came here hoping to find something out, and got yourself caught. You’re as foolhardy as your sister.

Mjrn: They took me then, and set close beside me a stone. They said its Mist would be drawn into me, that the viera well suited this end. I saw the light coming from the stone, and then -

Fran: We have seen this. On Leviathan, the Mist from the Dawn Shard drove me, too, into such a rage. She was taken not by the Dawn Shard.

Larsa: Manufacted nethicite.

[Fran nods.]

Larsa: Then that means - Penelo, the stone I gave you, do you still carry it with you?

Penelo: Sure, it’s right here.

[As she brings it out, Larsa snatches it from her hands.]

Larsa: This is more dangerous than I had imagined. I should never have given it to you. Forgive me. I did not know.

Penelo: I’d always thought of it as a sort of good luck charm. And even if it is dangerous, on Leviathan it kept us safe.

Ashe: There is a place for all things, even danger such as this.

Vaan: I hope you’re right about that.