Parley on the Front Lines

Quest giver: Hien
Location: Kienkan (X:6.1, Y:6.0)
Quest line: Post-Stormblood
Level: 70

Experience: 10,800
Gil: 2,298
Previous quest: Seiryu's Wall
Next quest: The Face of War
Patch: 4.5

“

Hien stands ready to depart for Ala Mhigo.

— In-game description

Rewards

Choose one of the following options:

Steps

Speak with the Resistance fighter in Porta Praetoria.
Speak with Lyse.
Speak with Alisaie.
Speak with Alliance leaders. 0/3
Report to Alisaie.
Speak with Lyse.

Journal

Hien gives orders in preparation for his departure to Ala Mhigo, and Alisaie shares the instructions she received from Lyse. You are to head to Porta Praetoria, where a Resistance fighter will escort you to Alliance Headquarters on Ala Mhigo's northeastern border.

You locate the Resistance fighter ordered to await your arrival in the Lochs. Without further ado, you follow your guide to the Alliance's newly constructed field camp.

After listening to your various reports concerning Alphinaud, Gaius, and the lethal Black Rose, Lyse shares her own piece of news: it seems that Emperor Varis himself will be taking a chair at the negotiation table on the condition that you and another member of the Scions are present. Lyse bids you let her know when you are prepared to attend the parley.

You attend the first round of parley only to witness Emperor Varis dismantle every argument the Alliance leaders bring against him. Rather than let the opportunity for peace slip away, Alisaie begs the Empire's ruler to consider alternatives to war. The Emperor grudgingly agrees to a short recess, granting you time to convert with your comrades.

Alisaie suspects Emperor Varis has attended the parley for reasons other than brokering a peace. She suggests you speak with the Alliance leaders, and formulate a strategy for learning the Emperor's true purpose.

You speak with each of the Alliance leaders in turn, and discuss a number of potential tactics. It is time to report to Alisaie with the insights you have gained.

The parley reconvenes, and the Alliance leaders at last elicit a blunt answer from Emperor Varis. But the revelation is hardly a welcome one. He explains how the Empire is a creation of the Ascians, and that to reclaim the world for the races of man, all nations must join together as one. The assembled dignitaries balk at his ultimatum-that in order to win their freedom, they must allow the Rejoining to proceed. Unable to countenance a sacrifice of that scale, you, too, add your voice to the chorus of defiance, and the talks rapidly disintegrate. With the Emperor's hostile farewell still ringing in the air, your party withdraws to Alliance Headquarters.

Though peace was never a likely outcome, it seems the parley was successful in its primary purpose: the delay has allowed the vanguard from Doma time to arrive before hostilities begin in earnest...

Dialogue

Accepting the Quest

Hien: We must leave now to convene with Eorzea’s leaders, and it may be some time before I return to Doma.

Hien: Hakuro – I leave you in command.

Hakuro: My lord!

Yugiri: I shall assemble an advance party with all haste, and join you in Ala Mhigo forthwith.

Alisaie: I’ve just received word from Lyse. The Alliance has established a base camp near Ala Mhigo’s northeastern border.

Alisaie: Once we’ve arrived in the Lochs, we’re to report to a Resistance officer station in Porta Praetoria who will point us in the right direction. Let’s not keep them waiting.

At Porta Praetoria

Resistance Fighter: Ah, you must be the Scion party I was told to look out for! If you'll follow me, I'll take you directly to Alliance Headquarters.

At Alliance Headquarters

Lyse: Welcome back, you two. Greetings, Lord Hien! Glad you could join us!

Hien: Glad to be here. I would have come sooner, were our own defenses not in question. But I am pleased to report that our soldiers are assembling for deployment to Ala Mhigo as we speak.

Raubahn: We are grateful for your support. Thanks to the efforts of our allies, it won't be long before we've established defensive positions on this front as well.

Alisaie: Ahem, we have some good news too... Alphinaud has come back to us. As for the bad news...

Lyse: So, Alphinaud won't wake up, Gaius van Baelsar is alive and hunting Ascians, and the Empire is planning to poison us all with toxic gas. Does that sound about right?

Lyse: Ordinarily, any one of those things would have left me in shock, but the way things have been lately, it's all starting to seem pretty normal.

Lyse: Getting back to your report, are we sure this "Black Rose" is the weapon Maxima was talking about?

Raubahn: It fits the description. And it seems we have Alphinaud to thank for sparing us an early demonstration of its effectiveness. I've a feeling this won't be the last time his bravery in the Empire will serve us here in Eorzea.

Raubahn: The threat of an unknown weapon has had us all on edge... But now that we know what we're dealing with, we can take steps to defend against it.

Raubahn: As for Gaius... I'm not sure what to think. Am I happy he's alive? Not in the slightest. Am I happy he's hunting Ascians? Aye. I'd have to say I am.

Lyse: Oh, speaking of Garleans-you-didn't-expect-to-see, we have a tale of our own, as it happens. When we sent envoys to the imperial army to request talks, they returned with the message that "Varis zos Galvus" would be attending.

Hien: The Emperor himself? Well, Varis did sanction the Populares' peace mission...

Hien: ...But knowing that an Ascian walks in his son's skin, I do not see how we can trust him or anyone from that nest of vipers.

Raubahn: The Alliance would proceed with negotiations regardless, if only to give ourselves more time to prepare. We do, however, require your cooperation...

Lyse: Ah, right, yes... So... as a condition for the talks to go forward, the Empire has requested that a member of the Scions be present. There'll be a representative from each Alliance nation, of course, but I'm afraid we have to ask that you come along too.

Alisaie: Gods, Lyse... you know how much I hate politics. But then what choice do I have? Alphinaud and the others aren't going to do it...

Alisaie: Very well. I shall attend as the Scion's representative.

Lyse: In case you're wondering why I didn't ask you, the Empire also requested the presence of "Eorzea's champion"...

Adventurer: I'll be there. OR I'm not fond of politics either...

Lyse: That's settled, then. We don't know what Varis means to bring to the table, or why he wants you there, but having you close at hand will make all the difference.

Raubahn: The meeting will take place on the border. Anticipating an early assault, we man to position the bulk of our forces nearby.

Lyse: The Alliance leaders should already be on their way. Once you're ready, we can head out and join them.

Speaking to Lyse

Lyse: Well, I don't suppose it's polite to keep an emperor waiting too long. Shall we?

At the Meeting

Varis zos Galvus: Esteemed representatives of the Eorzean Alliance─on behalf of the Garlean Empire, I thank you for inviting me here today.
Varis zos Galvus: As this parley was convened at your request, I invite you to speak first.
Nanamo Ul Namo: Very well, Your Radiance. I, Nanamo Ul Namo, seventeenth in the line of Ul, should be pleased to oblige you.
Nanamo Ul Namo: As recent events in Ala Mhigo and Doma have made plain, the subjugation and exploitation of neighboring nations is not a sustainable policy.
Nanamo Ul Namo: Should this day end in war, you may very well defeat us, but you will never extinguish the people's desire for freedom. Though it may not be in our lifetime, there will be another revolution, another war, and the cycle will continue.
Nanamo Ul Namo: Doma has entered into a concord with the nations of Eorzea. A partnership wherein we recognize one another as equals.
Nanamo Ul Namo: Garlemald could be afforded similar treatment. You need only set aside your ambitions and join us in paving a path towards peace.
Varis zos Galvus: Hmph! You will not win me over with sophistry, Your Grace.
Varis zos Galvus: As you know only too well, this alliance lacks the strength to keep the peace within its own borders. Even now, your struggles with the beastmen continue unabated.
Varis zos Galvus: Divided, you sow this fertile soil with the seeds of your differences and reap naught but discord and chaos for your trouble. Eorzea must be united under one leader, one purpose. I would offer you both and bring an end to your strife.
Lyse: With all due respect, Your Radiance, the only thing that you offered the people of Ala Mhigo was fear and hopelessness.
Hien: The citizens of Doma can also attest to the meager alms of imperial rule. There is no purpose to be found in a life of oppression, each day more uncertain than the last.
Lyse: Our people are willing to die for their freedom. A great many already have. And countless more will, if we don't put an end to this madness here and now.
Varis zos Galvus: We brought order and stability to your lives. This madness and bloodshed is of your own making. You broke the peace, not Garlemald.
Raubahn: Peace? Order? You kill our peoples, despoil our lands, take everything that is ours. And what? You expect us to lick the boot that grinds our faces into the dirt?
Varis zos Galvus: I expect you to weigh the costs. To recognize that countless lives have been lost on both sides in pursuit of a greater good─and to not squander all we have achieved in a fit of petulance.
Aymeric: Your Radiance, I fear I can personally attest to the dangers of pursuing one's vision with such righteous fervor.
Aymeric: For a thousand years, the Holy See of Ishgard waged war with dragons.
Aymeric: A thousand years of sacrifice, of sorrow and hate, in which we bathed in the blood of friend and foe alike. Had it gone on any longer, we may well have drowned.
Aymeric: Yet we have chosen to raise ourselves out of this bloody spiral, and have since made peace with our former enemy.
Varis zos Galvus: So I understand. No doubt the dragons were more receptive to your overtures in the wake of their leader's demise.
Varis zos Galvus: You speak of peace, yet use war to achieve it. Your father would not have bothered to obscure his intent with honeyed words. He understood that strength is all that matters in the end.
Varis zos Galvus: Without his clarity of vision, I can but wonder what will become of Ishgard and her people.
Varis zos Galvus: There was a time when Garlemald too lacked a leader of conviction. Weak and unable to wield magic, we were at the mercy of the strong, from whom we sought refuge in the bitter cold of the north.
Varis zos Galvus: Were it not for the discovery of ceruleum, and the subsequent development of magitek, we might never have gained the power to take back that which was rightfully ours.
Merlwyb: You speak as if your people were the first to have been driven from their homes. Limsa Lominsa was built by wayward souls in search of a place to call their own.
Merlwyb: On the shores of Vylbrand we found it, and from those humble beginnings did we grow and flourish. And all without robbing our neighbors of their liberty.
Varis zos Galvus: So sayeth the pirate. Am I to believe that you simply asked the kobolds to yield up their lands, and that they were happy to oblige you? That you did not drive them out like rats in the hold of one of the many ships seized by your “privateers”?
Varis zos Galvus: I will concede that, after centuries of exile, reclamation may be mistaken for invasion. Nevertheless, it is not─and those who till stolen soil have no right to object when cast out in turn.
Kan-E-Senna: Your uncompromising nature rivals that of the Ixal.
Kan-E-Senna: They too lament circumstances which they themselves perpetuate. Were they but to embrace peace, we would welcome them with open arms. Indeed, some few have done just that, and now receive of the Twelveswood's bounty.
Kan-E-Senna: Would that your people might learn from their example.
Varis zos Galvus: You would dare compare us to the birdmen? You who thought to invoke the Twelve and threaten all of creation?
Varis zos Galvus: I came here in the hope of finding some speck of common ground, but I see now these discussions will accomplish nothing.
Varis zos Galvus: Despite what you people may believe, I am not wont to choose the sword over the olive branch. 'Tis but a pity men are loath to accept one without first being shown the other.
Alisaie: Wait, I beg you! This meeting was supposed to be a chance to find a way forward together, not to bemoan the missteps which brought us here.
Alisaie: Please─if you truly consider violence a last resort, there must be a way we can come to an agreement.
Nanamo Ul Namo: As Mistress Alisaie says, we did not come here to bicker over the past, but to discuss how we might strive towards a brighter future.
Nanamo Ul Namo: Emperor Varis, may I suggest a short recess, that all present might compose themselves prior to beginning anew?
Varis zos Galvus: Very well. I pray this intermission will suffice to move these talks in a more constructive direction