The Soul of Temperance

Experience: 0
Gil: 2,830
Previous quest: Never to Return
Next quest: Whence the Healing Springs
True Beauty
Love, Astrologically
Shadow Walk with Me
Patch: 5.0

“

Giott... isn't drinking

— In-game description

Rewards

You snap Giott from a melancholy reverie, prompting the dwarf to remember that Sophrosyne recently paid visit to Tomra and may still be in the area. Giott theorizes, based upon your recent vision, that the Virtue reflexively heals those sin eaters it recognizes as helmless dwarves─those of Lamitt's people who joined her in exile─and concludes that adding a helm to any eaters you would prefer remain dead may be enough to deter it from doing so. Though this seems almost too easy, it is true that sin eaters are simple beings, with no real powers of cognition that might allow them to see through even rudimentary deception. In any case, there is only one way to find out.

You locate a pair of sin eaters, and summarily put them down as potential bait for Sophrosyne. As you well know by now, however, littering the entire area with corpses would be more likely to attract the Virtue's attention─and also somewhat cathartic.

Now that you have dispatched a multitude of sin eaters and given Giott ample time to do the same, the time has come to reunite. Hopefully the dwarf has been able to keep at least one kill reasonably intact.

As hoped, Sophrosyne appears to revive one of the sin eaters you left as lure. Upon engaging the newly risen eater in battle, Giott instructs you to use your spellcraft to put the thing to sleep, and unceremoniously crams its head into a helmet once you do. This does, in fact, prevent Sophrosyne from automatically healing the eater, and thankfully proceeds to work several more times as additional lesser eaters make themselves known. When, at last, all that remains is to defeat the Virtue itself, Giott raises the sole remaining spare helm brought for this purpose with a triumphant shout─and is promptly hurled backward by a sorcerous blow, the helm blasted to smithereens. With no other choice, she brazenly removes her own helm, revealing her face for the first time. Crowned with the helm of your courageous comrade, Sophrosyne is finally vulnerable, and the pair of you destroy it as one.

Sophrosyne leaves behind a damaged crystal, one which you recognize immediately. As you pick it up, it resonates, calling forth a manifestation of Lamitt's memories. Giott calls out to her, though she is long beyond hearing, desperate to assure her that her legacy is not forgotten. And while the real Lamitt may not have known that, someday, one amongst her kin would at last recognize her for the noble woman she had been, her shade's words make clear that she was, at least, at peace with her sacrifice in the end.

You speak to Giott, who confirms what you suspected─having broken her people's taboo by taking off her helm, she no longer feels as if she can return to Tomra. Having seen how inflexible dwarven traditions can be, and knowing how much they mean to Giott, you know it is not your place to disagree, and so follow her to the Crystarium instead.

When you join Giott at the Wandering Stairs, she appears to be faring better than one might have expected, given the circumstances, and is certainly cheered for your presence. She tells you that while she still values tradition, leaving her village has given her an appreciation for the wider world and all that is precious in it─an appreciation that Lamitt, too, once shared. As you trade fond farewells, it is clear that, much like the woman she has come to admire, she will bear her burdens without breaking under their weight.

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