A Sultana's Strings

Quest giver: Alphinaud
Location: The Lochs (X:36.6, Y:30.3)
Quest line: Post-Stormblood Main Scenario Quests
Level: 70

Experience: 10,800
Gil: 1,875
Previous quest: Echoes of an Echo
Next quest: A Sultana's Duty
Patch: 4.1

Main Scenario Progress: 507 / 960 (52.8%)

Stormblood Progress: 128 / 162 (79%)

“

Alphinaud's thoughts appear to have turned from adventure to administration.

— In-game description

Rewards

Choose one of the following options:

Steps

Speak with Bartholomew in Ul'dah.

Speak with Nanamo outside the Quicksand.

Speak with Nanamo near Stonesthrow.

Speak with Nanamo at the Unholy Heir.

Speak with Nanamo in the Coliseum.

Speak with Nanamo.

Journal

There are no journal entries for this quest.

Dialogue

Optional

Arenvald: In case you're wondering, I'm not planning on staying in Ala Mhigo. Too many bad memories. And besides, I like my new life.

Lyse: I know I could learn so much from Raubahn if he decided to stay. But it's his choice, and I'm not about to try and persuade him. Ul'dah needs him too.

Accepting the Quest

Alphinaud: Well, the question of how to put the mad king's treasures to good use shows no sign of answering itself. Shall we be about it, Arenvald?

Arenvald: I am at your beck and call!

Lyse: ...And I should be getting back to my own tasks. I'll organize a squad to head down into the ruins, and then start preparing for the big meeting...
Oh, send Nanamo my regards, [Forename]!

Alphinaud: And ours too, if you please. We shall see you on your return.

Speaking with Bartholomew in Ul'dah

(If completed Paladin job quests)
Bartholomew: My [lady/lord]! It was an honor to face you in the tournament. Since that day, I have spent my every spare moment in the practice yard, striving to attain some fraction of your skill with the blade.
Bertholomew: Ah! Forgive me! You are here for your audience with the sultana! Please proceed.

(If not completed Paladin job quests)
Bartholomew: You are expected, my [lady/lord]. Please proceed.

Cutscene

Nanamo Ul Namo: I thank you for answering my summons in these most interesting times. You have been busy. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: The liberation of Ala Mhigo will have far-reaching consequences, and there is a matter upon which I would seek your counsel. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: I speak of Raubahn, and his future. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: All know the tale of his rise from penniless refugee to member of the Syndicate, and General of the Immortal Flames...Yet though he has come to call Ul'dah home, it will never be his homeland. He is a son of Ala Mhigo. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: And now that she is free, I thought it only a matter of time before he sought my leave to return to her. Indeed, I had resigned myself to his loss. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: Suffice it to say, I was...greatly surprised to hear him speak so lightly of handing over the reins in Ala Mhigo, and retaking his place at my side. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: I will welcome him with open arms, of course—he is my most trusted advisor...and my dearest friend. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: But I have known the man a long time, and beneath that steely gaze, I spied a flicker of doubt.  
Nanamo Ul Namo: Whether Raubahn chooses to remain in Ul'dah or return to Ala Mhigo, I only wish that he do so with a heart unburdened by guilt or regret. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: Yet how can he freely make such a choice knowing how much I depend on him? 
Nanamo Ul Namo: It is past time that I learned to discharge my duties as a sultana alone. I must go forth and see the realm with my own eyes, and hear the wind with my own ears. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: Might I have your company for a brief adventure? 
Nanamo Ul Namo: Wonderful. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: Allow me a moment to change into something a touch less conspicuous, and I will join you outside.

(Optional)
Bartholomew: Your audience with Her Grace is concluded, then? Safe travels, my lady.

Speaking with Nanamo outside the Quicksand

(If began in Ul'dah)
Nanamo Ul Namo: Perchance you remember “Lilira, the merchant's daughter”? This is the persona I assume when I venture beyond the palace walls to observe my subjects unnoticed.

(If did not begin in Ul'dah)
 Nanamo Ul Namo: What do you think of "Lilira, the merchant's daughter"? This is the disguise I don when I wish to leave the palace and observe my subjects unnoticed.

(Both)
Nanamo Ul Namo: Ordinarily, Papashan would accompany me, but for this particular outing I need an advisor—not a minder.  
Nanamo Ul Namo: And that is why I requested your company. Over the course of many adventures, you have met people from all walks of life, in every corner of Eorzea, and I would make use of your worldly experience. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: Now, let us be on our way. Our first destination is Stonesthrow, just beyond the Gate of Nald.

Speaking with Nanamo near Stonesthrow

Nanamo Ul Namo: Look upon this procession of tattered tents...
These refugees camp in squalor, at the mercy of the elements and Thanalan's predators both. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: The city's mighty walls offer safety, but the streets overflow with people as it is. And unless blessed by the hand of Nald Himself, no refugee could ever hope to afford a dwelling in Ul'dah. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: Twenty years have passed since the fall of Ala Mhigo and five since the Calamity, yet the plight of the poor has grown more desperate, not less. As sultana, the blame falls upon me.

< What will you say? >
< You have done your best, Your Grace. >
< Your hands have been tied, Your Grace... >

< You have done your best, Your Grace. >
Nanamo Ul Namo: ...Then my best has not been good enough.

< Your hands have been tied, Your Grace... > 
Nanamo Ul Namo: Yes, my authority is limited. And that is an obstacle I must work to overcome...

(Both)
Nanamo Ul Namo: Shall we press on? I would follow the road to the Unholy Heir.

Speaking with Nanamo at the Unholy Heir

Nanamo Ul Namo: It was here, in this wholly unremarkable place, that my mother and father met their doom. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: I was but a child at the time. My parents were returning from an inspection of our interests in eastern Thanalan when a untimely rockslide crushed their carriage. To this day, it is not certain if the incident was simple misfortune or an expertly planned assassination. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: Raubahn once offered to reopen the investigation and bring me the truth he assumed I must surely crave. But I refused. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: Even if my parents' deaths were orchestrated by the Monetarists, we could only have brought their hirelings to justice. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: The true villains—those who plotted to put me on the throne as a biddable puppet—were ever beyond our reach. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: Thus did I plan to strip the merchants of their power and place our nation in the hands of its citizens...quite unaware of the consequences of my actions would have for you and yours...I shudder to think how many goodly souls paid the price of my naivety... 
Nanamo Ul Namo: But I am no longer a child reciting words with witless obedience, and I will not be used as a pawn in the Monetarists' damnable games! 
Nanamo Ul Namo: <sigh> Forgive me my outburst. You are one of the few people to whom I feel I can speak my mind. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: Come. Let us return to Ul'dah and visit the Coliseum.

Speaking with Nanamo in the Coliseum

Nanamo Ul Namo: From the moment I became sultana, I found myself thrust into an endless parade of document signing and ceremonies.
Nanamo Ul Namo: For years, I simply signed where I was told to sign, and sat where I was told to sit, blissfully oblivious to what any of it meant. Yet one good thing did come from that ignominious chapter in my life. For it was during an "official" visit to the Coliseum that I first met Raubahn.
Nanamo Ul Namo: The match I had been invited to attend was not at all what I expected. They had pitted the Bull of Ala Mhigo against some dozen or so rival gladiators...
Nanamo Ul Namo: Blinkered though I was, I would not stand for so obvious an injustice, and demanded to see a fair fight, one man against another. And my royal wish was duly granted.
Nanamo Ul Namo: It was not until later that I learned of the gambling ring which had arranged for Raubahn to die on the sands that day.
Nanamo Ul Namo: Regardless, my intervention meant that Raubahn had but a single opponent to dispatch—which he duly did. And when he knelt before me to receive the winner's purse, he swore that he would one day offer me his blade in service.
Nanamo Ul Namo: Surrounded as I was by liars and manipulators, I confess I dismissed it as a pleasant piece of theater.
Nanamo Ul Namo: But as you know, Raubahn is a man of his word. Though it took him another five years of fighting on the bloodsands, he amassed a fortune so great as to buy not only his freedom but a seat on the Syndicate. And then I had my blade.

Echo Cutscene

Marcechamp: Your Grace, you mustn't! The danger is too great! 
Marcechamp: Please, your grace, come back! I beg of you!

Nanamo Ul Namo: It seems you're the one who needs looking after, Marcechamp! 
Nanamo Ul Namo: Raubahn!

Raubahn: Your Grace. 
Raubahn: I have kept the promise made.

Nanamo Ul Namo: So you have. And in turn, so too shall I keep mine. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: With your winnings, you have become one of the six most wealthy souls in all of Uldah. And so, as the tradition dictates, Raubahn Aldynn... 
Nanamo Ul Namo: ...You have earned yourself a seat on the Syndicate. May your new station garner you still greater glories!

Raubahn: I am honored, Your grace, and vow to serve with every fiber of my being, from this day till my last. 
Raubahn: Long live the sultana! And long live Ul'dah!

Speaking with Nanamo

Nanamo Ul Namo: Words cannot well express what that man means to me. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: There are others who care deeply for my well-being, of course—Papashan's love for me is as that of a grandsire for his grandchild. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: But upon matters of governance, I cannot turn to bodyguards and maidservants for counsel. 
Nanamo Ul Namo: Raubahn, with the authority of his Syndicate position, was the first sword I could wield. His was the only edge which could cut the strings that bound me...