An Unwanted Proposal

An Unwanted Proposal

Quest giver

Y'shtola

Location

The Rak'tika Greatwood (X:11.0, Y:20.7)

Quest line

Shadowbringers Main Scenario Quests

Level

74

Experience

 221,760

Gil

 1,144

Previous quest

A Beeautiful Plan

Next quest

Put to the Proof
The Great Deceiver

Patch

5.0

---

Main Scenario Progress: 594 / 960 (61.9%)

   

Shadowbringers Progress: 53 / 157 (33.8%)

   

“

Y'shtola's thirst for knowledge sated, she seems content to return to Slitherbough.

— In-game description

Steps

• Speak to Runar.
• Wait by the fire.
• Speak with Urianger.

Journal

• Y'shtola's thirst for knowledge sated, she seems content to return to Slitherbough.

• Y'shtola thanks you and Thancred for your help in infiltrating Woven Oath, bidding you rest when you return to Slitherbough.

• You arrive back at Slitherbough and speak with Runar, who has been beside himself with worry over Y'shtola's absence from the village. Relieved to know you are all safe and sound, he suggests taking a seat by the fire to relax while he finishes preparations for your meal.

• Runar's stew is nearly ready, and though the guards on patrol have yet to return, he asks you to inform Y'shtola it is time to eat. You approach the door to her chambers, but the sound of arguing from within stops you from knocking. It would seem she has grown exasperated with Urianger's penchant for secrets. Before their talks can reach a satisfying conclusion, however, a shrill cry for help distracts you─Eulmoran soldiers have arrived, and one of the Blessed's guards has been felled by poison.

• The Night's Blessed have been given a choice: join the Children of the Everlasting Dark and swear allegiance to Eulmore, or face their retribution. The Scions must move quickly if they are to save the Night's Blessed and deny Vauthry his foothold in the Rak'tika Greatwood.

Dialogue

Quest Acceptance

Y'shtola: Let us hurry to Slitherbough. The others are waiting. After we've returned, the two of you should rest a while. No doubt Runar will be eager to have you sample his cooking. As soon as I discover anything of import, you will be the first to know.

Minfilia: Welcome back, [Forename]. Now that you're here, there's something I want to ask you. Urianger told me that Thancred was something of a rogue in the past. “As a wolf among sheep,” he said. What did he mean by that? Do you know?
Thancred: Urianger has tended to Minfilia's wounds, but I fear his garrulous nature has gotten the better of him.

Speak to Runar

Runar: [Forename]! The guard told me you left with Master Matoya to Woven Oath. And no sooner do you return than she locks herself away in her chambers without so much as a word. She knows how I worry when she leaves without telling me. <sigh> But she is safe, and that is all that matters. You must be hungry after such a journey. Why not have a seat there by the fire? The stew will soon be ready.

Runar: I confess I am not the greatest of cooks, but I have yet to hear any complaints.

Wait by the fire

Runar: Strange...
Runar: The others on patrol should have returned by now. Our food will be overcooked if we wait any longer. We will just have to start without them. Would you call Master Matoya and the others

Warrior of Light walks to retrieve Y'shtola and Urianger, but overhears their discussion
Y'shtola: I tire of these games, Urianger. Why do you pretend you cannot see it!? The blessing may spare her the fate of becoming a Lightwarden...
Y'shtola: But you cannot be blind to the nascent corruption! She is not as she was in the Source. Though I have no proof, I fear that the light which poured forth from the Wardens was not negated at all. I fear it was absorbed─that she has been suffused with their light.
Urianger: Though I have given thought to this possibility, I dare not speak until more is known.
Y'shtola: (sighs) By the time you deign to enlighten us, it may be too late─if it is not already.  Urianger─I know full well, after all these years, that you have only the best of intentions. But that does not make it any easier to put my faith in a man so infatuated with secrecy.  I have had my suspicions ever since the Exarch bade you speak that day, but now I must ask. The Eighth Umbral Calamity and all that followed; everything you claimed to have seen─did you?

Blessed Man: Help! Someone help! The Eulmorans have come for us! We're under attack!

Meanwhile, in Eulmore...

Exarch is walking to Vauthry, escorted by the Jesters.
Crystal Exarch: Lord Vauthry, how good it is to see you. How long has it been? Not since your inauguration, unless I am mistaken? Too long, at any rate. May I say how humbled I am to be invited not only into your city, but your home. You are as generous as ever.
Vauthry: And you as disingenuous. Let us dispense with the pleasantries. This merry band of dissidents people are calling “Warriors of Darkness”... They have slain sin eaters, and by all accounts the Crystarium is complicit in their villainy.  And now I hear reports of your people obstructing my soldiers. So I must ask: what exactly do you think you are doing?
Crystal Exarch: I might ask you the same thing. It should be clear even to you that defeating the Lightwardens represents the world's only hope of survival. Even now, the people of Lakeland and Il Mheg rejoice in the return of night. For a hundred years, they yearned for a means to fight back against the sin eaters and at last they have found one. Yet you choose to stand idly by and do nothing. Why?

Vauthry: Why? Because this “hope” you cling to is nothing more than a fever dream. An exercise in futility. Even should you slay the sin eaters, the world as we know it is beyond salvation. With what little land and resources remain, the people would be free only to starve. Before long they would turn to violence, then to war, and ultimately usher themselves unto oblivion. (Vauthry leans forward)   They require a firm hand to shepherd them from the edge. The hand of a king─nay, a god! I will see their dreams fulfilled, their wishes granted. I will give them peace, order─and they shall never want for bliss. Men are fickle creatures who entertain vague ideals without the faintest notion what they cost. But a little fear can go a long way towards helping them realize what it is they truly need.
Vauthry: Sanctuary. And they shall find none in this world, save that which I afford them. That is why the sin eaters exist. To unite the world under my dominion!
Crystal Exarch: (Exarch whispers) A paradise fit to grace the Eighth Umbral Era.
Vauthry: What was that?
Crystal Exarch: A minor epiphany, nothing more.

Crystal Exarch: You have always held sway over those around you. Those who defy you must submit or die. What sits before me is the inevitable result of bloated privilege and unchecked power. But man is more resilient than you think. His achievements are not the product of violence and bloodshed but compassion and understanding. This calamity is but another crisis to be overcome. And we will─once we eliminate the sin eaters. (Vauthry raises his arm again)
Vauthry: You poor, deluded fool. These people care not for the morrow. They care only for the now, and the contentment they lack. What good is a paradise to them if it is a thousand years in the making? Or even a hundred!?
Crystal Exarch: You underestimate them, Lord Vauthry. They see further than you think. I have beheld it in the blood and sweat and tears of those who would sacrifice everything for a future they may never know. That their children may never know. I have beheld it in the hopes and dreams of those who came before, which we bequeath to those who come after, that they might in turn build upon the foundations laid by our forebears. These are the bonds which hold man and his world together, not your gilded chains─and I will resist your every effort to shackle him.

Vauthry: In summary, you will continue to support the villains hunting my sin eaters?
Crystal Exarch: With tremendous enthusiasm, for I have faith in the future they would build.
Vauthry: Why do I even bother? Fools, the lot of you! So naive! So painfully predictable! Did you imagine I did not know your mind? That I would wait until after this meeting to dispatch my forces!? Even as we speak, they march to the sin eaters' defense! Insurrection will not be tolerated!
Vauthry's hand begins to glow dark colors
Vauthry: The people of this world are mine to rule, mine to command...
Vauthry: And you are no exception!
Vauthry tries to attack the Exarch, who disappears and is not impacted
Vauthry: What!? How did he─
Vauthry: Insolent swine! I will not stand for this. Do you hear me!?

With Y'shtola

Ran'jit: You speak for the Night's Blessed?
Y'shtola: I do.
Y'shtola: I presume that is your doing. (Y'shtola takes notice of someone knocked to the ground, unconscious) If you have come to parley, I must insist that you first return him to us.
Ran'jit: You are in no position to make demands. By Lord Vauthry's decree, Rak'tika now falls under the governance of Eulmore. You will henceforth answer to us. (Y'shtola crosses her arms)
Y'shtola: Is that so...
Y'shtola: And the Children of the Everlasting Dark have acquiesced to this madness?
Ran'jit: We have reached an accord, yes.  Too many times have the Night's Blessed shunned Eulmore's overtures of friendship. The risk that you harbor hostile intentions has grown too great to ignore. Therefore his lordship has claimed dominion over this forest, and bestowed executive authority upon the Children of the Everlasting Dark.

Voice of the Everlasting Dark: In his wisdom, Lord Vauthry has agreed to recognize ours as the only permissible expression of Dark worship─its one true faith. You and your false creed are a blight on these woods! A foul, unholy corruption that must be cleansed. Little wonder the Warrior of Darkness visits both Lakeland and Il Mheg, yet shuns Rak'tika. Your perverted teachings hold blessed shadow at bay!
Y'shtola: You have accepted the yoke of Eulmore to spite us, then? Fools. Darkness will never return to these skies while they hold sway.
Ran'jit: Those of you minded to obey his lordship are to make for Woven Oath with all haste. We will leave you, that you may have time to prepare.

Runar: Woven Oath!? Are you suggesting we abandon our faith to join those zealots!?
Voice of the Everlasting Dark: (shouting) What has your “faith” afforded you thus far? Nothing! We will guide you along the righteous path.
Y'shtola: And should we refuse? (Ran'jit motions towards the person on the ground, injured/unconscious)
Ran'jit: Anyone found here upon our return will be considered a traitor to Eulmore, and dealt with as such.
Ran'jit leaves along with the Voice of the Everlasting Dark, and the Warrior of Light arrives
Y'shtola: We will discuss these developments after I have tended to our casualty.

Thancred: That Eulmore has gained a foothold here in these woods bodes ill for the Night's Blessed.
Minfilia: Surely there's something we can do to help the Night's Blessed... Isn't there?

Speak with Urianger

Urianger: The guard hath been afflicted with a most terrible and efficacious poison. We have attempted all manner of healing incantations. Alas, his condition remains unchanged. At present, we can but slow the poison's advance. I pray it will afford us sufficient time to find a cure.