Seeds of Rebellion

“

The Tiny Trader would ask you to save the realm from a vegetal scourge.

— In-game description

Steps

The tiny trader tells the fearsome tale of the Mandragoras, a band of rogue vegetables who will stop at nothing to overthrow their plant-eating oppressors. Upon learning that you are the adventurer who bested the duelist Gilgamesh, he becomes convinced that you are the only one who can quash the vegetable insurrection. This might also afford you the perfect opportunity to reclaim the shipment of vegetables intended for Costa del Sol. Make for the Isles of Umbra, where a tyrannical vegetocracy rules with an iron fist, and pluck mandragora buds to ensure that their numbers do not grow.

Angry screechings and squeakings in the distance give you the sense that someone is ill pleased with your plucking of the sproutlings, but the Mandragoras─and the foodstuffs they stole from Costa del Sol─are nowhere to be found. Perhaps Inspector Hildibrand has had more success in ascertaining their whereabouts.

You find Hildibrand buried arse-up in the ground after a one-sided skirmish with the Mandragoras, and in the next instant, the rogue vegetables are upon you. With the inspector unable to extricate himself in time, you single-handedly depose the vegetocracy and reclaim the pilfered foodstuffs. Return to Costa del Sol and deliver the goods to Lewenhart.

Lewenhart welcomes the return of the stolen foodstuffs, relieved that your efforts have spared him Guguremu's wrath. Confusion ensues upon inspecting the crate's contents, however, as the prized purple dragon peppers sought by Lewenhart are nowhere to be found, with peppers of a vivid blue in their place. Inspector Briardien quickly deduces that Lewenhart is none other than the phantom thief─he saw the peppers through red goggles while still in disguise as a Brass Blade. Before you can apprehend him, the fiend sprints off in the direction of north Bloodshore. Pursue him with all haste.

Your search of the shoreline turns up the true Lewenhart, incapacitated and left for dead by the thief days ago. Though your quarry has eluded you and likely assumed another identity, the maiden's virtue may yet be saved. Upon learning that the fiend suffered a wound to his right hand, Inspector Briardien sets off for Costa del Sol to inspect the hands of the banquet guests. While he investigates, accompany Hildibrand and Lewenhart to Wineport and see to Miss Arabella's safety.

You find Arabella safe and sound, admiring the flowers in the gardens of Wineport. She explains that her betrothal to Vannes was arranged by their families years ago, and that she will be meeting her husband-to-be for the first time at the banquet. Though her heart is conflicted─and notwithstanding Inspector Hildibrand's not-so-subtle advances─she has nevertheless decided to honor the commitment in gratitude to her adoptive father, Guguremu, who took her in from the streets when she was but a babe.

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