Bird in Hand

Central Shroud Quest Template:Quest

Walkthrough

Unlocks Chocobo Raising

Steps

• Collect vegetable scraps in the stables.

• Speak with Luquelot.

• Speak with Margault and acquire some feed.

• Show the gigantic krakka root to Luquelot.

• Speak with Keitha.

• Train Little Leia.

• Speak with Keitha.

• Report to Luquelot.

Journal

• The chocobokeep Luquelot may be far from home, but has some matters close to his heart that he would discuss with you.

• Ishgardians are great believers in knacks, and Luquelot is eager to impart to you the knack for chocobo raising. Cleanliness is the first lesson; gather up all five piles of vegetable scrap from the stables.

• The stables are now free of moldering vegetable scraps. Luquelot will be glad to hear of it.

• It pleases Luquelot that you were both willing and thorough. The birds' dislike of slovenliness is matched, if not exceeded, by their passion for fresh feed-- especially the exceptional vegetables cultivated by the ranch botanist Margault.

• Margault is as generous as she is knowledgeable. The gigantic krakka root she gives you has a distractingly pungent smell that reminds you alternatively of warm cheese and iced maple sap. Whether this is normal or not, Luquelot shall be the judge.

• Luquelot is fulsome in his praise of the krakka root, and makes no mention of the maddening scent. Perhaps Keitha, the head wrangler of the Bentbranch Meadows, will teach you what to do with this fascinating vegetable.

• Keitha is a woman of action, and prefers to put Little Leia and you through your paces forthwith. Today is a good day to begin training a chocobo.

• Little Leia quite enjoyed her training, and the succulent meal of a gigantic krakka root even more. Does Margault speak true when she says chocobos are what they eat? This train of thought must cease, for Keitha awaits your report.

• Keitha commends you on a job well done; plain-spoken folk are a relief, for there is never a need to guess what thoughts are entwined in their words. She has taught you all you can learn today. It is time to take yourself-- scent and all-- back to Luquelot.

• Luquelot is assured that you have the knack for chocobo raising. The time has come for you to build a stable on the patch of ground you call home, and there, raise a magnificent bird who will accompany you on your adventures. If love and skill are indeed what make a knack, you have the one and can win the other.

Dialogue

Luquelot: Greetings, [GENDER]/madam. Tell me, how goes the training for your avian mount? I could not help but notice that there is some...bias towards real-life combat. All battle and no bonding makes for a less noble bird.

Luquelot: I see that you already have a fine residence of your own. Why not build a stable for your chocobo? Closeness leads to fondness, and there are other perks...

Luquelot: Indeed, I could tell you of those and more, if you wish. We of Ishgard have a knack for chocobo husbandry─we have forgotten more than Gridania will ever know, I fear.

Luquelot: One Ishgardian knack is to stable chocobos at one's residence. That makes it possible to train and feed the birds.

Luquelot: The second knack is to keep the stable meticulously clean and picked up.

Luquelot: Chocobos are cleanly creatures and easily distressed by slovenly housekeeping. Shall we get straight to it? Pick up every vegetable scrap littering the stable, if you please.

Luquelot: Have you collected all the vegetable scraps? Very good, I will take those.

Luquelot: The place is as fresh as cream! How well the chocobos look, fluffing their feathers in contentment.

Luquelot: You would do well to lay in a magicked broom. You shall need to use those for a proper cleaning. But that is for another time! There is more to stable care than simple cleaning.

Luquelot: And that brings us to the third Ishgardian knack─fresh feed! I am not the aptest tutor for this craft, however. There is one that has the knack right here in Bentbranch.

Luquelot: That would be Mistress Margault, the resident botanist. She is in charge of all cultivars maintained here for the chocobos. Go to her and beg a few greens and information from her; she will not stint you on either.

Luquelot: Go to the yonder field and speak with Margault, she who grows the feed for our fine birds. She will share what she has, greens and knowledge alike.

Margault: Some feed for your chocobo? Aye, you've come to the right place for it. It has been a warm spring─try the krakka root. Many birds who would otherwise go off their feed cannot resist these luscious roots.

Margault: We raise them with love as well as skill. Master Luquelot likes to call that a knack; I've no quarrel with it. 'Tis a joy to grow─whether it be vegetables, chocobos, or the skill in one's hands.

Margault: Why not try your own hand at growing vegetables? You say you have a house, a house must have a field. Food grown with your love and care─how could your bird not thrive, eating feed such as that?

Margault: Mayhap we are not what we eat, elsewise my father would be a codfish aswim in butter─but the feed certainly makes chocobos, aye. So sensitive is their nature that you can see the effect of a particular feed as clear as day.

Margault: But I have yet to tell you about the main feeds. You are sure to be fascinated!

Margault: Shall we ever tire of speaking of the gysahl greens? Precious, luscious plants! You can summon and train your birds with these greens. But as wonderful as gysahl greens are, they are hardly unique in being attuned to specific areas of a chocobo's abilities!

Margault: The art of raising a chocobo involves choosing a balance of these vegetables to feed to your bird, thus creating a chocobo that is, well, just so!

Margault: The best-laid plans of wranglers are often frustrated by a picky eater, though! Do make sure you come to know each bird's likes and dislikes. They are no pieces of magitek to bend to your will. But when bird and woman grow together─why, you might discover something very special indeed.

Margault: Aye, and you would do well to grow your own feed! May as well fight with a pine sword, to raise a chocobo without a vegetable field of your own. Visit a store to buy the seeds, and remember, love and skill─there's the knack.

Margault: I do go on, don't I? You came for a handful of feed and got an earful, but that's the way of it with us botanists. Take this fine specimen of a krakka root to your sweet chocobo, and I wish you both the joy of it.

Luquelot: Ah, were you able to collect some chocobo feed? Margault is never stingy with her vegetables.

Luquelot: As fine a krakka root as ever I have seen. A magnificent specimen! This will make the training all the more effective, I believe.

Luquelot: We come to the fourth knack of chocobo husbandry, Halone. Training...

Luquelot: Hm, I hear head wrangler Keitha about her work. There's a thought. Go and speak with her─she will tell you much and more of training chocobos.

Speaking to Luquelot immediately after:

Luquelot: We have all we need to begin training the chocobo. I hear none other than Keitha in the stables, training a bird. Go and hear what she has to teach you.

Speaking to Keitha:

Keitha: Nice to see you, 'venturer. Here to learn about trainin' your bird, you say?

Keitha: Stable your chocobo and you'll be able to train the sweetheart. But you need to give him a treat straight after and not a moment later. What I do is to go pick up a choice bit o' feed before I get the bird into trainin'.

Keitha: The results vary, as that slick ruffian at the Ebony Stalls used to say. Around here, results depend on how clean the stables are, what treat you give. But long as you love your chocobo, it's hard to muck it up.

Keitha: Well now, got a fine root─a krakka root─on you already! That'll work a treat, no pun intended! Go on, start trainin' Little Leia, there.

Keitha: That was sweetly done, 'venturer. You've some skill at this, I reckon. Some are made to train just that one bird, but you can handle any chocobo.

Keitha: Some 'venturers share a stable, you know. Might be you could care for birds other than your own.

Keitha: You muck out the stables, that means you're helpin' raise the other 'venturers' birds as well as your own. Don't matter who did the muckin' out, really. Those birds've been cared for, you see.

Keitha: That ought to hold you for a while, aye. No use pourin' too much wine into a cup. You'd best return to Luquelot before his Ishgardian braincase starts imaginin' the worst.

Keitha: That's all I got for you today, 'venturer. Tell Luquelot he did right bringin' you to me.

Luquelot: Sweetly done? High praise indeed from Keitha! Excellent, excellent. I have now taught you all the knacks you must needs know at this time, I believe.

Luquelot: It is my hope that you will add a stable to your residence─and there raise a chocobo to serve as your brave mount and trusted companion. How I long to meet that bird someday! I trust you will not disappoint me.