The Butcher's Blood
The Butcher's Blood
- Quest giver
- Arenvald
- Location
- The Lochs (X:32.1, Y:33.0)
- Quest line
- Post-Stormblood Main Scenario Quests
- Level
- 70
- Experience
10,800- Gil
1,189- Previous quest
The Mad King's Trove- Next quest
- Echoes of an Echo
- Patch
- 4.1
Main Scenario Progress: 505 / 960 (52.6%)
Stormblood Progress: 126 / 162 (77.8%)
“— In-game description
Rewards
Steps
- Speak with Lyse.
- Speak with Lyse.
- Speak with the prison guard.
Journal
There are no journal entries for this quest.
Dialogue
Quest Acceptance
Arenvald: All jesting aside, we must tell people the good news. And I think Lyse should be the first. Alphinaud: Seconded. She is bound to be delighted. J'moldva: If I am no longer needed, then I shall take my leave. Arenvald: Of course, don't let us keep you. Thanks again, and say hello to V'mah for me. Alphinaud: Now then, there is sure to be a meeting of representatives from across Ala Mhigo, so Lyse is sure to be in the city. Shall we seek her out?
Speak with Lyse
Lyse: Oh? you three look pleased with yourselves. What've you been up to? Arenvald: I'm glad you asked, Lyse. And I'm pretty sure you're going to like the answer... Lyse: You're joking...The mad king's trove? I thought it was a myth! Arenvald: So did plenty of people. But they didn't have [Forename] and Alphinaud in their party. The credit for finding it should really go to them. As far what to do with it all...I vote that it go towards alleviating the suffering of Ala Mhigo's poor. Lyse: Gods...If there's as much as you say... Alphinaud: Arenvald did not exaggerate, I assure you. We could not hope to carry even a fraction of it out on our own. I have taken the liberty of sketching out a rough map of the ruins - if you will assemble a squad of your most trusted freedom fighters, they should be able to follow the route to where the treasure lies. Lyse: Understood. I'll make sure every coin is accounted for, and that goes for the spending of it as well! Arenvald: Thank you. Oh, there is one other thing: when the time comes to draw up a plan for distributing the spoils, I would ask that you consult Alphinaud. I don't have a head for details. I'm not...educated. I see that simply handling out sacks of gil won't solve everything, but I couldn't rightly tell you what to do instead. Lyse: Oh, I know the feeling! I'd welcome any advice you could give us, Alphinaud. Alphinaud: Of course. I shall be at your disposal. Resistance Fighter: Commander! We've got a problem! Lyse: Deep breaths. Tell me what's happened. Resistance Fighter: A mob's gathered outside headquarters, and they've started making demands. You'd best come and see for yourself!
Cutscene=
M'naago: Step back, all of you! Tattooed Troublemaker: Like hells we will! We know who you've got in there! Wrathful Resident: We're not leaving till you hand her over! Raging Resident: Bring her out! Bring her out! Lyse: What's going on!? M'naago: Someone let slip about Fordola... Tattooed Troublemaker: It's true then! The bitch really is in there! I knew it! I bloody knew it! (shouting) We demand vengeance! Bring her out! Today we butcher the Butcher! Lyse: Butcher the...? Come on, you don't mean that. We'd be no better than the imperials! If you'd all just calm down - Wrathful Resident: (shouting) Calm down!? That monster and her thrice-damned Skulls dragged my man from our home and beat him to death in the street! Raging Resident: (shouting) Aye! And my dad! That bitch has split enough blood to fill a loch! Tattooed Troublemaker: We all know her crimes! She's a traitor and a murderer! How many of your Resistance friends have died at her hands, eh? And here you are protecting her! Raubahn: so that's what the fuss is about...(yelling) Hearken to me, brothers and sisters of Ala Mhigo! Tattooed Troublemaker: Aye, who's this? Raubahn: My friends - you are not alone in your anger, your grief, your despair, for it is mine as well! That gnawing pain in your breast...it is enough to bring an old bull to his knees. But I ask you, brothers and sisters, to think not only of the family and friends who were cut down before your very eyes, but to think also of the ones who were abducted - the ones who may yet live! Where were they taken? What became of them? These questions demand answers! I share your thirst for justice. For vengeance. But we will gain only fleeting satisfaction if we give in to our base appetites - we will never know the truth! Now is the time that we, the people of Ala Mhigo, must decide what manner of nation we will build for ourselves, and for generations yet unborn. When they look to our example, will they see a people who held fast to their principles, or one who cast them aside when tried? I say to you, it is our responsibilities to give these prisoners a fair trial, that they might answer to all of Ala Mhigo! The Garleans called us savages, and I'll be damned if we prove them right! (people start clapping). Tattooed Troublemaker: I know you're right, I do, but...I can't... (Raubahn nods to the troublemaker, who looks down).
Speak with Lyse
Lyse:My thanks, Raubahn. Listening to their anger, I could feel myself being swept away... Raubahn: 'Tis a difficult tide to stem. 'Twas the same rage which brought us to our feet, and carried us to victory. But now the war is over, all the unspent fury is being channeled into vengeance. M'naago: Aye, and it's not just here - we've reports of mobs forming all over. They've been targeting folk known to have cooperated with the Garleans. It starts with insults most often, then someone picks up a stone...Some industrious souls even thought to seek out the graves of Zenos and his officers. It was...grim. Lyse: I want to build a country where everyone, regardless of race or origin, can live side by side in peace. But maybe the time isn't right. Maybe people just aren't ready... But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try. The representatives will be here soon, and I'll be damned if I'm going to give up before I've even begun. Arenvald: who are these representatives exactly? Lyse: Oh, village elders, refugee leaders and the like. It wouldn't be right for us to dictate the nation's future on our own, so we planned a summit of sorts. We've even invited the Ananta and the Qiqirn to participate. Raubahn: Ala Mhigo stands at a crossroads, and this meeting will decide which path it takes. The matter of Fordola's sentence cannot be suffered to disrupt proceedings. M'naago: then let's execute her and be done with it. She herself asked to be put to death. Lyse: Naago! I already explained why we wouldn't do that! Sending her to the gallows might satisfy people right now, but where would it end? Should we round up everyone who collaborated? And everyone who didn't resist? There would be no one left! And we've be no better than Theodoric and Zenos! Arenvald: Begging your pardon, but...might I be allowed to speak with Fordola? Only, I caught a glimpse of her past. A moment of it, anyway - during the fight. She's done terrible things, aye...unforgivable things...But...in some ways, she's a victim of the circumstances in which she was born. And that's something I can understand... Lyse: All right. Speak with the prison guard when you're ready, and I'll come and join you. I want to talk to her too. Raubahn: I'll return to my other duties, then - we've barely begun to investigate the facility where they gave Fordola her powers. Be fairly warned, friends : she will test you. Don't let your emotions color your judgment when she does.
Speak with the prison guard
Prison Guard: You've the commander's permission to enter, then?
Inside the prison
The door is opened to Fordola's cell, and she is sitting on a bed. Lyse, Arenvald, Alphinaud and the Warrior of Light enter Fordola: Well, well, well...So many visitors. Come to have a good laugh, have you? Or do you mean to put me out of my misery? To finish what you started? It's about bloody time. Lyse: That's not why we're here, no. Do you remember what I said? How I promised you you'd live long enough to see us win our freedom? Well, I meant it. And not to mock you, either. Fordola: You're wasting your time. All of this is pointless. There's no reason to keep me alive, and you know it! I killed your men - I killed my men! And you know what my only regret is? That I didn't kill you when I had the chance! Arenvald: (shouting). That's a lie, and you know it! You think we can't tell what you're trying to do? That we're blind? (talking normally). You're a fool, but you're not stupid. You're ruthless. Relentless. You'd give up anything and everything to get what you want. You didn't come this far, climbing over the bodies of your own brothers and sisters, just to piss it all away! I see you, Fordola! I see you for what you are!
Warrior of Light flashback into Fordola's memories
Fordola, as a young child Fordola's Mother: Come along, Fordola! We mustn't be late! The imperial viceroy will be attending today's banquet! Fordola: All right... Father, what's Lord Gaius like? Is he nice? Are you friends? Fordola's Father: (laughing). There you go again with all your questions... Lord Gaius is a great and honorable man who looks after all of Ala Mhigo. He's very busy, and if we don't hurry, we'll miss our chance to see him. Ala Mhigan Malcontent: Filthy tinhead-lovers... Fordola: Father, what did that man call us? Ala Mhigan Malcontent: The little tinhead-lover doesn't know what she is, eh? A traitor, sweetheart. A backstabbing bitch who'd gladly betray her kith and kin to gnaw on what few scraps the imperials deign to toss her. like your bastard father and whore mother! Fordola: (tearing up) That's not true! My parents are good people! They've never done anything like that! (Fordola runs off) Ala Mhigan Malcontent: Oh but they were quick to help themselves and their bitch spawn, weren't they? You're just as guilty as them! A rock falls towards Fordola, and a woman throws another at her. Fordola's father shields her Fordola's Father: Fordola! Ala Mhigan Malcontent: Traitors! Fordola's Mother: (running to guards) Please! You have to do something! My husband and daughter are in danger! Imperial Pilus Prior: Soldiers of the imperial army are under no obligation to intervene in the disputes of Aan. Fordola's Mother: We're citizens! We have rights! (People continue to throw stones at Fordola and her father) Fordola: Father, I'm scared! Fordola: It's all right, it's all right. They don't understand. But they'll see in time. They'll see that this is the only way to survive. Crowd: (Traitor! Traitors!). (They throw a larger rock at Fordola's father that knocks him out and/or kills him. Fordola cries.) Imperial Pilus Prior: Let the savages have their fun. They'll be more compliant once they've tired themselves out.
Much Later, in the flashback with Fordola as an adult
Fordola's Mother: Fordola, please! You already have citizenship! Why would you want to become a soldier!? Oh gods, what have you done to your face!? Fordola: Forgotten it already, have you? I'm honoring Father's memory. Fordola: By telling the world that you're no better than a common savage!? Fordola: Am I, though, Mother? Are any of us? Can't you see? Citizenship means nothing to them. If you're not a pureblood Garlean, you're no different from any other savage. So I'll play the part. I'll join the legion and I'll make them respect me. And when the mob sees that, they'll think twice before throwing their stones. Asnfrid, Hrudolf, Emelin. It's time! It'll be hard. Humiliating. They'll try to break us - send us crawling back to our "own kind." But we won't, no matter what. We'll bleed for them - die for them if we have to. We'll do whatever it takes to be free! (Fordola's mother cries and Fordola walks on).
End of Flashback, return to the prison
Arenvald: So, you mean to play the part one last time, eh? The unrepentant traitor, whose death will serve to unite the people? Fordola: Shut up! Arenvald: You had every chance to kill yourself. Fashion a noose from your clothes, wait for the guards to leave you alone long enough to slip it over your neck - Fordola: (shouting, stands up)I said shut up! Arenvald: But then it would all have been for nothing, wouldn't it? Whatever it takes. That's what you said. Fordola: (Looking at the Warrior of Light)... Been in my head, have you? Had a little peek at my past? And what, a few stolen memories tell you everything you need to know, do they? (shouting): Don't you dare patronize me! You don't know a godsdamned thing about the life I've led! (Speaking normally): The bastards that killed him, the bastards that let it happen - my father deserved better! I swore I'd do whatever it took to make them pay! (Fordola has a flashback to everything the Warrior of Light has done). You...y-you....All that power...all that pain...It's too much...Too much for anyone! The things they've done to you. The lies, the betrayal, the endless fighting...yet there you stand, unbroken. How...? Why...? What will you say? You know why. You saw. / For those I have lost. For those I can yet save. / Because I choose to. -> For those I have lost. For those I can yet save. Fordola: Damn you...Damn you all... Lyse: You still have time, Fordola. Think about how you want to spend it. Let's go. (everyone leaves, Arenvald leaves last. The prison door closes.)