The Better Half

Walkthrough

???

While you are discussing where next to visit, a passerby jeers at Alphinaud, challenging him to visit the Forgotten Knight─a local tavern, by the sound of things─if he wishes to see how the “better half” live. His interest piqued, Alphinaud decides to accept the man's invitation, hoping to learn something of recent events. Speak with Gibrillont, the proprietor of the establishment, and see if there is merit to Alphinaud's plan.

The Forgotten Knight serves two very different classes of customer: the relatively affluent knights and merchants who frequent the upper floor, and the lowborn residents of the Brume who prefer the more affordable fare served downstairs. It would seem the stark division between these two clienteles reflects the divisions beyond the tavern's walls─as the differing experiences of the high and lowborn during the recent wyvern attack make plain. While the Pillars' defenses were fortified, the Brume and its residents were left to bear the brunt of the Dravanians' fury. A troubling thought indeed... Sensing that the tavern might be just the place to glean useful information─perhaps even some word of the missing Scions' whereabouts─Tataru proposes that she stay behind and ingratiate herself with the regulars. Leave your gregarious friend to her gossip, and return with Alphinaud to Fortemps Manor and the count, who is doubtless eager to hear your impressions of the city.

The scars left by the recent Dravanian attack have not escaped Alphinaud's notice, and Edmont admits that there is much work yet to be done. Sensing the implication, Alphinaud offers the Scions' services, and the count hesitantly but graciously accepts─unlike his two sons, who greet your proposal with a mixture of indignation and mirth. Scolding them for their impropriety, he turns to you once more, and asks that you lend them each a helping hand with their duties.

The count has taken a tremendous risk in granting the Scions his protection, and only by publicly serving Ishgard can you hope to silence his opponents' objections. However, Alphinaud believes that this arrangement may yet benefit the Scions in unexpected ways, such as inviting contact with people outside Ishgard who might feasibly know something of your missing comrades' whereabouts. While he and Tataru focus their efforts on that task, he implores you to see to the young lords' needs, reaffirming that your efforts to further the goals of others will inevitably further the goals of the Scions.