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.

Eruyt Village After Jote

Fane of the Path

Wood-dweller (viera with pixie cut hair standing in front of elder’s den): To be viera is to abide by the Green Word. It is only natural that Jote’s will and the will of the village be as one. If the Green Word forbids contact with the world outside, then so it must be.

Salve-maker/Hala: We have heard the whisper of the Wood. It tells us to deny passage to the humes. So have we summoned the barriers in Golmore. Those to whom Jote gives her leave, who bear Lente’s Tear, may pass - no other.

Wood-dweller (long haired viera walking up and down path): Even should you find Mjrn, to us she is forever lost. Once a viera has forsaken the Wood, return is forbidden. Besides, I would not think a hume’s dull senses able to find her. You will be lucky if your flesh does not soon feed the feybeasts.

Wood-dweller (viera with pixie cut walking behind salve-makers’ den): Are you lost? Or do you trespass here willingly? Either way, the presence of humes disrupts the harmony of our village… you must realize this.

Wood-dweller (sitting and talking to another viera): The salve-makers of our village gather at this house. A salve-maker must have knowledge not only of herbs, but of the Wood as a whole. With our knowledge of medicine and our healing hymns do we support and sustain the village as our elder, Jote, bids us.

Alja: Golmore Jungle has blessed us with a new herb, and we must decide how best it might be used to enrich our medicines. It is a matter beyond your understanding. I would thank you to interrupt us no further.

The Spiritwood

Wood-dweller (viera with long hair walking up and down path near exit to Fane of the Path): You flaunt our laws, abandon our village… does returning here not shame you? Did you think a mere fifty years would find you forgiven?

Rena: I would join my fellow warriors, but apprentices are not permitted outside the village. It is a hardship for me. What has become of Mjrn…?

Kjrs: You come with traitors who abandon the Wood… The blades of the wood-warders are sharp. Stay, if you would learn this for yourself.

Rael: You have spoken with Jote. The wood-warders brook no trespass within the village. Leave now, and do not look back.

Nera: To show interest in the world outside is forbidden by our laws, but a mind once open to the unknown will not be denied. Is this not what has brought you to us?

Wood-dweller (viera staring down at flowers): The flower that blooms upon the water may take root upon the land, but is it then the same flower?

Wood-dweller (long-haired viera staring up at sky): Did our laws not exist, I would still not consort with a hume.

Wood-dweller (viera sitting in center area): Mjrn, you seek? You seek in vain.

Road of Verdant Praise

Balthier: Not bad, Vaan. Didn’t think we’d get any information out of that one. So then, what was she saying about men in a warren?

Larsa: The Henne Magicite Mines - maybe that’s what she meant. They lie in Bancour, south of the Ozmone Plain. The entire region is a colony of the Archadian Empire. There would be soldiers.

Balthier: Is that a problem? Let’s move.

[Balthier and Fran turn to leave, when Vaan stops them.]

Vaan: Fran!

Fran: Yes?

Vaan: I was wondering - what Jote said, you know? About how you said the same thing 50 years ago?

Fran: Your point?

[Vaan makes an exaggeratedly thoughtful face and taps his finger on his chin.]

Vaan: How old were you again?

[A deathly silence as Fran stares him down, then turns and walks sharply away. Balthier turns his hands up resignedly.]

Balthier: Nice, Vaan.

[Ashe sighs pointedly and the rest of the party makes remarks to Vaan as they pass him by.]

Larsa: Surprisingly rude.

Penelo: Try to grow up, please.

Fran: I would avoid unnecessary… confrontation. Do what you must, and let us be off. When you are ready, we should return to Ozmone Plain in the west. The Henne Mines are then only a short distance south.

Golmore Jungle - The Needlebrake

[The party stands at the magical blue crest over the path.]

Vaan: What is it?

Fran: The jungle denies us our passage.

Ashe: What have we done?

Fran: We? No. I.

[Fran turns and walk away.]

Vaan: What’s that mean? How’re we supposed to get through that?

[Balthier, some distance away, falls into step with her as she passes. You can hear Vaan indignantly shouting in the background.]

Balthier: Making an appearance?

Fran: I am.

Balthier: I thought you’d left for good.

Fran: Our choices are few. This is as much for you as it is me.

[They stop on the steps. Fran turns to Balthier.]

Fran: You are ill at ease. The nethicite troubles you?

[Balthier is silent.]

Fran: You’ve let your eyes betray your heart.

Balthier: Right.

[Balthier shrugs it off. Fran stands before what seems to be nothingness, tracing the air with her index finger, glowing green with magicks. Vaan, who has followed them, watches.]

Vaan: What are you doing?

[Fran blows a soft breath with a gesture of her hand, almost as if blowing a kiss.]

Fran: Soon you will learn.

[A grassy path suddenly opens before them. Vaan looks stunned.]

Fran: We go to seek aid of the viera who dwell ahead.

Penelo: [stepping in beside Vaan] I bet they’ll be glad to see you after so long.

Fran: [looking down] I am unwelcome. An unsought guest in their wood.

The Elderknoll

Garif Elder (sitting on ground talking to Sugumu and another garif): There is a rich magicite vein near this village, did you know? It is an important and very holy place to us. Yet, in recent years, humes have spoiled the land. They use machines to mine more and more of the Stones. They steal power from the earth at their own peril, for the earth will surely take it back.

Garif Elder/Low-chief Sugumu: Ah… a hume-child. It is unusual for your kind to visit us here on our knoll. Have you come to speak with the Great-chief? He is in the meeting place before the bridge. You will know it by the guards standing at the entrance.

Garif Elder (talking to another garif): Oh? A hume-child? This is most unusual. You seem quite burly for one so young. We are old here, and you may find our village lacks the excitement you crave, but sometimes it is better to move slowly.

Garif Youth: Ah, a hume-child. I am surprised to see you here. This hill is called the elderknoll. Here does the Great-chief hold counsel with the other elders. We garif welcome outsiders to our village, but few are they who are allowed here. You must be on important business indeed.

Garif Warrior: The Great-chief is ahead. Will you meet with him?

>Meet with the Great-chief.

[move on to next scene in green]

>Turn back.

    [end conversation]

(The party, with Ashe and her Dawn Shard at the fore, approach the fire where the garif’s Great-chief sits. Of all his tribesman, his mask and horns are most elaborate, and and his beard long and white. Shortly, we see him turning over the Dawn Shard in his hand.)

Great-chief: This nethicite - you have used it.

Ashe: It was not I who used it. Indeed I had hoped you could show me how. Thus I’ve come.

Great-chief: You do not know the workings of the Stone. Then we are no different.

Ashe: What?

Great-chief: In ages past, the gods made a gift of nethicite to my people. But the manner of its use eluded us. Displeased by our failure, the gods took back their Stones. They chose instead to give them to a hume-king. Called the Dynast-King, he used the nethicite’s power to bring peace to a troubled time. It is a curious thing. Though the blood of King Raithwall flow through your veins, you cannot wield nethicite.

Ashe: Cannot wield it? So then, am I to understand you can’t tell me how to use the Stone?

Great-chief: Though it shame me so to admit. Here before me stands a descendant of the Dynast-King himself… and I can accord her no help at all. Still, even if you knew how to use the nethicite, you would find it of small avail. The Mist collected in the Stone over ages past is lost, and with it the Stone’s power. It will be your posterity who wield the Stone in ages yet to come.

[Ashe sighs frustratedly.]

Great-chief: This Stone is devoid of power. Empty, yet full of thirst. A terrible longing to drink the world dry. (the point of view changes to someone approaching the Great-chief’s fire) The power of men, and of magick. Of good, and of evil. It is often those who desire nethicite whom the nethicite itself desires.

[Just then, a familiar face appears at the meeting place.]

Penelo: Larsa?

The Dreadnought Leviathan & The Shiva

[On the bridge of the Leviathan, Ghis awaits them.]

Ghis: Such a tremendous honor to again be graced with your presence, Majesty. You left us with such great dispatch upon our last encounter that I must confess… I had begun to worry that we may have given some cause for offense.

Ashe: Such a heartfelt display of remorse. Now what is it you want?

Ghis: I want you to give me the nethicite.

Penelo: The nethicite?

[Penelo protectively grasps the nethicite from Larsa in her hands, behind her back.]

Ghis: That is a base imitation! We seek Raithwall’s legacy… the ancient relics of the Dynast-King: deifacted nethicite. [pause] Did you not tell them, Captain Azelas?

Vossler: Majesty, he speaks of the Dawn Shard. That is the nethicite.

Basch: Are you mad, Vossler?

Vossler: If we are to save Dalmasca, we must accept the truth. I will fight this profitless battle no more!

Ghis: Captain Azelas has struck a wise bargain. In return for the Dawn Shard the Empire will permit Lady Ashe to reclaim her throne, and the Kingdom of Dalmasca will be restored. Think on it. An entire kingdom for a stone. You must admit, ‘tis more than a fair exchange.

Balthier: And when all is said and done, your master will have another pet.

Ghis: Lady Ashe, let us take him for the people of Dalmasca. Your Majesty wallows in indecision on peril of their heads! [Ghis draws his sword and holds it to Balthier’s neck] And his shall be the first to fall.

Balthier: Well, at least your sword is to the point.

[Ashe hesitantly steps forward with the Dawn Shard in hand. Ghis lowers his sword and takes it from her; she sighs frustratedly as she lets it go.]

Ghis: To think the relics of the Dynast-King were deifacted nethicite. Doctor Cid will be beside himself.

Balthier: What did you say?

Ghis: Captain Azelas, take them to Shiva. They should have leave to return to Rabanastre soon.

[The party is escorted out. Ghis turns to one of the ship crew with the magicite.]

Ghis: I want you to assess its power.

Researcher: Did our orders not specify that we return the stone for testing?

Ghis: I will not chance returning with a Stone that is yet unproven.

[The 8th Fleet of the Archadian Imperial Army – Light Cruiser Class Ship Shiva]

Vossler: When we return to Dalmasca, we can announce that you are alive and well. I will then continue our negotiations with the Empire. I believe Larsa is the key. He’ll listen to us. We should trust him.

Ashe: Who are you, Vossler, to talk of trust?

Vossler: A son of Dalmasca.

[On the Leviathan, the researchers place the Dawn Shard inside a glass capsule; the instant the lid shuts over it, Fran perks up as if she can hear it. The researcher explains to Ghis as the capsule locks into place.]

Researcher: Our equipment here is limited, so we’ll be using the ship’s drive to make our assessment. Once we’ve connected the Stone, the reaction should be easily measured –

Ghis: Methods do not interest me. Only results.

[On the Shiva, the party hears Fran begin to pant, and turn to her, concerned. She is doubled over, seething.]

Vaan: Fran?

Fran: Such heat. The Mist – it’s burning!

[Back on the bridge of the Leviathan…]

Researcher: Sixty-eight hundred, sixty-nine hundred, seven thousand! This must be deifacted nethicite! The count still climbs!

Ghis: We’ve found it at last: true deifacted nethicite. The power of the Dynast-King in my hands. Blood alone does not an emperor make, Vayne.

[A red light starts flashing; alarms go off.]

Researcher: What is this? Something’s wrong!

Ghis: What is it?

[Back to the prisoners - Vaan and Penelo stand over Fran, who is slumped over on the ground as if in pain.]

Imperial: You! Stand!

[The Imperial is knocked back. Vaan and Penelo move away. Vossler makes a command to the other Imperials.]

Vossler: Hold her down!

[Fran scrapes her claws against the floor, then jumps up with a scream and starts taking down the guards. The rest of the party is fiddling with their cuffs while the Imperials fall around them.]]

Penelo: What’s wrong with her?

Balthier: I always knew Fran didn’t take well to being tied up. I just never knew how much. [to Ashe] How about you?

Ashe: I like Fran’s idea. Let’s get out of here!

Vossler: No farther! Sky pirates! The future of Dalmasca will not be stolen! [pause, as Vossler raises his sword] Why do this, Basch? This struggle is futile. You must know where it leads!

Basch: I do know. All too well.

[After defeating Vossler…]

[Vossler falls before Basch. Ashe looks on sadly from a distance. Back on the bridge of the Leviathan, all hell is breaking loose.]

Researcher 2: Engine power falling rapidly. It’s… negative? Impossible! We cannot maintain hover!

Ghis: I want to know what’s happened!

Researcher 1: The nethicite’s draining the ship’s power!

Ghis: Disengage it at once!

Researcher 1: We’re trying. It’s no good!

Researcher 2: It’s inflected! She’ll reach critical in three hundred! Cascade failure!

[Back to the party, who is scrambling to escape as the ship begins to shudder forebodingly.]

Vaan: Ashe, let’s go.

Vossler: All I have done – I’ve ever thought of Dalmasca first.

Basch: I know you do. I would ne’er gainsay your loyalty.

Vossler: Look on what my haste has wrought. Did I act too quick? Or was your return too late? [pause] I can serve her no more. You must take up my charge.

[Basch finally leaves him. On the Leviathan, flames break out. Vossler, alone, looks up as a bright light erupts.]

Balthier: This might get a little dicey.

Fran. The Mist. It manifests now.

Vaan: Is that what you call this?

Penelo: What’s that?

Ashe: I think it’s the Dawn Shard.

Balthier: Then what are we waiting for?

Cloister of Flame

[In the next chamber, the air seems to be distorted somehow, almost discolored.]

Penelo: Fog? Underground?

Fran: Not fog – Mist.

Penelo: You can see the Mist? With your eyes?

Fran: Where it is thick enough, you may. The nether runs deep in this place.

Penelo: So, is the Mist dangerous?

Fran: Yes, but it is also an aid. A dense Mist allows the workings of powerful magicks.

Penelo: I’ll keep that in mind. [looking to Vaan a short distance away with Balthier and Ashe] Can’t count on Vaan to keep track of these things. That’s for sure.

[After defeating Belias, the Gigas…]

[You obtained the Esper Belias, the Gigas]

Fran: In vainglory they arose, shouting challenges at the gods. But prevail they did not. Their doom it was to walk the Mist until Time’s end. A legend of the nu mou.

Ashe: My family tells a story of the Dynast-King and an Esper. The story goes that in his youth, the Dynast-King defeated a mighty gigas… for which the gods took heed of him. Thereafter, it was bound to him in thralldom.

Balthier: So all this time it’s been here guarding the Dynast-King’s treasure.

Ashe: Not so. The Esper is the Dynast-King’s treasure.

Balthier: [surprised, and dismayed] That’s your treasure?

Ashe: In this Esper we now command rests a power whose worth is beyond any measure.

Balthier: Is that so? Call me old-fashioned, but I was hoping for a treasure whose worth we could measure.