Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions script comprises the full verbal and text transcript of The War of the Lions release of Final Fantasy Tactics.
- Notes
- § Story dialogue encompasses all dialogue given in the main story of the game. It is based on the Events list for the game.
- All other dialogue, including notifications, sidequests, and NPC dialogue, is listed under the § Optional dialogue section.
- Dialogue is ordered by the earliest possible place it can be triggered, but events are listed by the order of the chronicle.
- Dialogue will be listed by the speaker's name if present, even if the speaker is named differently later (for example, "Man's Voice" will be used if matching the game script, even if the speaker is later named). If not present, it will denote by the job of the speaker.
Story dialogue[]
Prologue[]
On-screen:
Sword in hand, a warrior clutches stone to breast
In sword etched he his fading memories
In stone, his tempered skill
By sword attested, by stone revealed
Their tale can now be told.
I am Arazlam, student of Ivalice's Middle Age. You are familiar with the War of the Lions, no?
It was a bitter war of succession that rent the land of Ivalice in two. Here we first find mention of Delita Heiral, a hithertofore unknown young man, the hero who would draw the curtain of this dark act of our history.
His is a heroism of great renown - a story familiar to all who dwell within our land.
Ah, but what the eye sees is oftentimes a mere fragment of the truth.
There was another young man, the youngest of House Beoulve, long famed for producing leaders of knights and men.
There is no official record of the role he played on history's stage.
However, according to the Durai Papers, the existence of which became known to the public only this last year - they had long lain concealed in Church archives - this forgotten young man is in fact the true hero.
The Church maintains he was a heretic, an inciter of unrest and disturber of the peace.
Which accounts is to be believed?
Join me in my search to uncover the answer.
Ah, but before we begin, might I ask you to share with me your name and the date of your birth?
(Upon entering name and date of birth.)
On-screen: The Zodiac Brave Story
Ovelia's Prayer[]
(In the cathedral.)
Knight (Agrias): Lady Ovelia, it is time.
Ovelia: I'll not be much longer, Agrias.
Agrias: Your escort has already arrived, Majesty.
Priest: Please, heed the good lady's words, Highness. You must hurry.
Swordsman (Gaffgarion): Still in here, are you? It's been the better part of an hour!
Agrias: Gaffgarion, you forget yourself, ser! You are in the presence of the princess!
Gaffgarion: Mayhap bowed heads would less offend. You would do well to waste less time on idle pleasantries.
Agrias: I see even the noble Order of the Northern Sky cannot rid itself of vulgar knaves.
Gaffgarion: A guard captain in these rain-sodden hinterlands ought not expect chivalry. We are in employ of the Order, not of it. Our pay does not cover trite courtesies to the likes of you.
Agrias: Govern your tongue!
Ovelia: Enough. Let us be on our way.
Priest: The Father watch over you, child.
Ovelia: And you, Elder.
Knight: Milady! The enemy is upon us!
Priest: Duke Goltanna's men?
Gaffgarion: We are paid for this. Time to earn our keep. What is it, Ramza? You above getting paid to do a job?
Ramza: I'm a knight no longer. Just another sellsword.
Gaffgarion: Right then. To battle!
Ovelia: Deliver us, O Lord...
(Outside the cathedral.)
Agrias: They bear the crest of the Black Lion... Duke Goltanna must be mad! Does he mean to start a war?
Knight: You there, wench! You cannot hope to defeat us! You will surrender the princess! If not... Well, I would hate to see anything happen to that pretty face of yours.
Gaffgarion: A head-on assault. These swords of Goltanna...lackwits one and all.
Agrias: In that case, we should be able to handle this without you, Gaffgarion.
Gaffgarion: Mayhap you could, but there's no money to be made in that! Ladd! Ramza! With me!
(When the battle begins.)
Gaffgarion: Kill them all! Leave no man standing!
Agrias: You would have us slaughter them? Are you mad? Kill them here and you'll have played into Duke Goltanna's hands! We need only put them to rout!
Gaffgarion: I find dead men rout more easily.
Ovelia's Kidnapping[]
Ovelia: Unhand me!
Agrias: The princess!
Delita: This way. Be quick! And try making a little less noise.
Ovelia: I'll not take orders from you!
Delita: You've quite a mouth on you, princess.
Delita: Forgive me. 'Tis your birth and faith that wrong you, not I.
Agrias: Hold, there!
Agrias: Damn!
Ramza: Is it truly him?
Agrias: It cannot be...
Ramza: Delita. He lives? But why does he fight under the banner of Duke Goltanna?
Chapter 1: The Meager[]
The Knights Apprentice[]
On-screen:
Records of the hero Delita first appear one year before the outbreak of the War of the Lions. The loss of the Fifty Years' War saw knights returning from the front stripped of livelihood, their fealty to the Crown and nobility abandoned. Many became rogues and traitors, men donning the thief's cloak and plotting treason against the Crown. It was a time of great unrest for Ivalice - murder and theft were commonplace. Many were the young adventurer and mage who stepped forward to counter this threat. Of such, the city of Gariland, too, saw its share...
On-screen: CHAPTER 1 THE MEAGER
On-screen: The Royal Military Akademy at Gariland
Apprentice (1): Another wain was struck last night on its way to Eagrose.
Apprentice (2): The Corpse Brigade again?
Ramza: I wonder where all this leads... Delita, what do you make of this?
Delita: I'm not sure. I have my guesses, but...
Ramza: I'm listening.
Delita: I think Duke Larg is coming to Gariland.
Ramza: Duke Larg? Why?
Delita: Not just the duke. The Marquis Elmdore de Limberry, too.
Ramza: That's the first I've heard of it. This has not the sound of a state visit.
Delita: All of Ivalice is in turmoil. The Order's supposed to be keeping things under control, but the fact is, they number too few.
Ramza: And they mean to bolster their numbers with us?
Knight of the Order: All right, everybody, form up!
Knight of the Order: The Order of the Northern Sky has an assignment for its knights apprentice. As I'm sure you're already aware, the number of brigands roaming Gallionne is on the rise. Among them, the Corpse Brigade...a seditious lot with a grudge against the Crown. Rogues such as they must be dealt with. The Order has been commanded to undertake an operation to eliminate the Brigade—and operation of a grand scale. We will not be acting alone. The Order will be joined by, among others, His Excellency Duke Larg's royal guard, stationed at Eagrose. This will leave Eagrose Castle undermanned. Your task will be to proceed there, and support us from the rear by bolstering its defenses.
Knight of the Order: The time to take up arms is upon you, young apprentices! I've just received word that a band of thieves routed by our knights flees here to Gariland, seeking refuge. We will move to stop them, and finish the task of our brothers. You, young apprentices, will accompany us. This is but a squall before the storm of battle. Prepare yourselves at once! Dismissed!
(Upon entering the Magick City of Gariland.)
On-screen: Gariland
Rogue: What have we here... Wee moppets, is it? Our luck's went and turned for the better! Aw'right, lads! Cut through these ones and we're as good as fled! We'll make quick work of them! And don't be leaving no squealers behind, neither!
(During battle.)
Delita: Careful, Ramza! Remember: The well-aimed thrust pierces the mail.
Ramza: Don't patronize me, Delita! We Beoulves know our way around a battlefield.
Rogue: Beoulve, was it? Heir to the noble House Beoulve, I'd wager. Looks like we have ourselves some apprentices from the Akademy! Well, highborn moppets is still moppets!
Ramza: Lay down your arms or die clutching them! None will mourn your passing.
Rogue: And you mean to make us do that, then? You're in far over your little heads!
(After battle ends.)
Ramza: Honest work would see them die old in bed, yet they choose instead this early grave. Why persist in such folly?
Father's Passing[]
On-screen:
On-screen:
In the waning days of the Fifty Years' War...
Knight Gallant Barbaneth Beoulve: What news of... of the war?
Knight Devout Zalbaag Beoulve: The Order has struck a great blow. Limberry is ours once more. We will be able to recall our forces in Zeltennia anon. All goes as planned, Lord Father. Be not troubled.
Lord Dycedarg Beoulve: The envoy dispatched to Advocate Lenarrio has returned. He has agreed to your proposal, Lord Father.
Barbaneth: Good. Very... good. Then the war will die with me.
Alma: Father...
Barbaneth: There now, Alma. Do you want my... my last memory to be of your tears?
Zalbaag: Where is that Ramza? He should be here at your side!
Barbaneth: Dycedarg. Zalbaag. You are dear to me. But Ramza is no less so. Though he be not the issue of the womb that bore you, my sons, still my blood courses his veins. Watch after him.
Ramza: Lord Father!
Dycedarg: You forget yourself, Ramza.
Barbaneth: You have come. Good. Let me... let me look once more on your face.
Ramza: Lord Father...
Barbaneth: How long has it been? You've grown into a... a fine young man. I would hear of your studies. You've been at the Akademy since... since spring, is it?
Ramza: ...
Barbaneth: Hear me, Ramza. For generations, we Beoulves have stood foremost of those who serve the Crown. Ours is the soul of a knight. Become a knight worthy of your name. Tolerate no injustice. Stray not from the true path. You will know the path you must walk. A Beoulve can... can walk no other...
Ramza: I will not fail you, Father.
Barbaneth: Your friend, Delita. He is a good boy. He is lowborn, but he can serve you well. I've made arrangements for him to enter the Akademy. *chuckle* You should have seen the look on the headmaster's face. In the years ahead you will need someone whom you can trust. You could do far worse than Delita.
Ramza: As... as you say, Father.
Barbaneth: Take care of your sister. And show these brothers of yours what it is...what it is to be a knight...
Argath's Rescue[]
(Upon beginning battle in Mangalia Plains.)
On-screen: Mangalia Plains
Highwayman 1: Looks like this one's still alive. What do we do with him?
Highwayman 2: What do you -think- we do with him?
Highwayman 1: Right, then. Your luck's run out, knave, if you ever had any.
Highwayman 2: Blast! One of the Order's patrols.
Delita: The Corpse Brigade... And they've a hostage in their midst.
- (Upon selecting "1. Our first duty is to defeat the Brigade.")
Ramza: Our first duty is to defeat the Brigade. The enemy stands before us—attack!
Delita: You would stand by and watch as they kill an innocent?
Ramza: I hadn't planned on giving them the chance. Had you?
Delita: I would save him myself, if it came to that. - (Upon selecting "2. We must rescue their captive!")
Ramza: We must rescue their captive! To do less would be unbecoming of men of the Order.
(When battle begins.)
Argath: Reinforcements... and none too soon.
(After all enemies are defeated.)
- (If Argath survived.)
Ramza: Are you harmed?
Argath: I'll be fine. It is for the marquis's safety I fear.
Ramza: The marquis? The Marquis Elmdore de Limberry was here?
Argath: The very same. And to whom do I owe my gratitude?
Ramza: We are knights apprentice from the Akademy at Gariland. We may be able to help you. But first I would hear more. - (If Argath was KO'd.)
Ramza: He yet draws breath. Let us go to his aid!
(After the battle ends.)
Argath: My name is Argath, a knight in His Excellency the Marquis Elmdore de Limberry's household.
Delita: A knight, you say?
Argath: Well, truth be told, I am a knight apprentice... as are you, if I'm not mistaken.
Ramza: A fellow knight in training, then. I am Ramza Beoulve, and this is Delita Heiral, my trusted friend.
Argath: Beoulve? You're not of the Beoulves of the Order of the Northern Sky, are you? What fantastic luck! A blessing in the midst of disaster!
Ramza: What—?
Argath: The Order can help me rescue the marquis! It must!
Delita: The marquis is held captive?
Argath: They took him hostage, yes, but he still lives!
Argath: We must act quickly if he is to remain so. Should he be killed, I will lose everything...
Argath: You simply -must- help me! Please! I beg you!
Delita: Calm yourself. Who's to say your marquis is to be killed, anyway? The Corpse Brigade would not take a man alive save there were value in keeping him so. Of that you can be sure.
Ramza: There's little the three of us can do to help, in any case. If the marquis was taken hostage, Eagrose will be in an uproar. You can be sure of that, too.
Delita: Then before all else we will report in to Eagrose. Are we agreed?
Argath: Agreed. We'll start there.
Reunion with Dycedarg[]
(Upon reaching Eagrose Castle.)
Lord Dycedarg Beoulve: I hear you were decorated for your first victory, Ramza. They sing your praise from on high. You do honor to our name, my brother—and to me.
Ramza: I am glad.
Dycedarg: Oh? You would not seem it.
Ramza: I am—forgive me. Your words do me far more honor than I have done you. No doubt word has already reached you, but the Marquis de Limberry's carriage was waylaid, and the marquis taken. What have you a mind to do?
Dycedarg: I have already asked Zalbaag to dispatch a squad in pursuit. These brigands must eventually come forth to demand ransom—that is, assuming the marquis yet lives.
Argath: I beg of you, Lord Beoulve! Lend me a hundred men that I might hunt the whoresons down!
Dycedarg: ...
Argath: Please, my lord—grant me means to avenge my fallen friends!
Dycedarg: Mayhap your ears fail you. I said that a squad is to be dispatched. You are not a man of Gallionne. Leave her affairs to those of us who are.
Argath: B-but... my lord!
Dycedarg: Do not assume to beg favors of me! Let me remind you, Argath, lest you forget your place. You are but another sword, not yet even knighted.
Argath: ...
Dycedarg: The two of you will remain here at Eagrose, and serve among the castle guard. You needn't worry. Danger is not like to visit these walls.
At Eagrose Castle[]
Argath: My own house was once respected as highly as House Beoulve, you know. At least, until my grandfather was captured during the war. He turned traitor, thinking to buy his freedom with the lives of his friends. But his freedom scarce outlived his honor. He was not a dozen paces out their gate when the dagger found his back. Killed by some common squire, no more a knight than I. One of the men he betrayed later escaped and spread word of his misdeeds. My lord father would have none of it, of course. But he was the only one. Our bannermen deserted us, our reputation ruined.
Argath: I suppose I had best remember my place. Your lord brother has no reason to lend ear to pleas from the likes of me.
Tietra: Delita!
Delita: Tietra!
Ramza: Alma! Zalbaag!
Alma: Ramza, you've come home!
Ramza: It's been some time, hasn't it, Zalbaag?
Zalbaag: I heard about Gariland. They say you made short work of those brigands. Now you've truly the right to call yourself a Beoulve. Father would be proud.
Ramza: Thank you, Lord Brother.
Zalbaag: Ha! You certainly haven't changed. Gods forbid you show a bit of cheer on being praised! And you, Delita! Do not think word of your deeds escapes our ears. Your sister's been so full of pride I quite feared she might burst!
Tietra: Worry not, my seams have held. I'm glad to see you looking so well, Delita.
Delita: And I you. Have you settled in at school?
Tietra: Yes, the others have all been quite kind to me.
Zalbaag: Would that we could speak at greater leisure, but there are duties that require my attendance. Rogues do not catch themselves.
Ramza: I understand. Good luck.
Zalbaag: We received a note of ransom from the Corpse Brigade.
Argath: What!?
Zalbaag: Something about it sits unwell with me. They are anarchists to be sure, bent on bringing down the aristocracy. But they fancy themselves righteous, and prey only on the nobility and those in our employ. Would such as they truly kidnap the marquis for want of coin?
Argath: Why wouldn't they? They're naught but common footpads!
Zalbaag: One of the men I planted among them has not returned. I worry he may be caught up in something serious, but there are those who do not think some mere spy worth a search party's efforts.
Ramza: Where was he last known to be?
Zalbaag: A merchant city named Dorter in eastern Gallionne. Guarding a castle grows dreadfully dull. ...Wouldn't you agree?
Delita: Forgive us, Tietra. It seems we must be leaving sooner than we had planned.
Tietra: Don't worry about me—just take care of yourself.
Delita: I will. Mind your studies! I'll be back before you've even noticed I'm gone.
Delita: Let's be on our way.
Alma: Tietra puts on a brave face, but the truth is not as honeyed as her words.
Ramza: What do you mean?
Alma: She has a hard time of it at school. The others tease her for being lowborn.
Ramza: ...
Alma: Forgive me. I shouldn't have said anything. I'm sure you have worries enough of your own. Tietra will be all right. I'm here to look after her.
Ramza: Then there is naught to worry about. But mind your own limits. You can't be responsible for everything.
Alma: Says the brother who never fails to do any and all that is expected of him. Don't lose sight of yourself, Ramza. You needn't let your life be ruled by the fact you were born a Beoulve.
Ramza: Now you're starting to sound like Mother. Ha ha ha!
Alma: Ramza...
(Upon reaching the monster encounter in The Siedge Weald.)
On-screen: The Siedge Weald
Argath: Our luck is ill, that we should chance upon fiends such as these in the wood.
Delita: Some of us prefer fiends in a wood to a dull watch in castle garrets, Argath.
Argath: And some of us are not so quick to jape in danger's face.
Ramza: Enough talk. They come!
(After the battle ends.)
Ramza: Once we are clear of the weald, we should soon reach Dorter.
In Pursuit of Gustav[]
(Upon arriving at Dorter and beginning battle.)
On-screen: Dorter Slums
Swordsman: I said I know naught of it!
Knight: Do not speak false to me! I know what you've done! Where is Gustav? I will have it from you, one way or another!
Swordsman: I-I don't know.
Knight: What of the marquis? Where have you hidden him? Tell me!
Knight: I will not ask again. Where are they?
Swordsman: The desert! Th-they're in the desert!
Knight: The Sand Rat's Sietch.
Ramza: Hold!
Knight: The Order's swords. My luck turns foul with the weather.
Argath: It seems we did well to come here.
Delita: Have I not seen that man before?
Ramza: You know him, Delita?
Delita: I have seen his face. I'm sure of it. It was at Eagrose, just after the war's end...
Ramza: You'll pardon me my misgivings, but this has not the look of any joyous reunion. To arms!
(Upon Delita's first action in battle.)
Delita: I've just remembered! That man—his name is Wiegraf! He commanded the Dead Men during the war—a company of volunteers assembled from the peasantry.
Argath: What? But that would make him—
Delita: Aye. The commander of the Corpse Brigade.
(After the battle.)
Argath: We know you're of the Brigade. There's no use hiding it. Out with it! What have you done with the marquis? Where are you holding him? You were with your commander, Wiegraf, when we came upon you. Where has he gone? Mayhap a beating would loosen your tongue!
Ramza: Enough, Argath!
Argath: Hmph.
Argath: Listen well. A great host, with the Order at its van, prepares a sweeping campaign that will bring to book your turncloak Brigade. You will die. You will be hunted down to the last and slaughtered like the swine you are, for such is brigandry's reward. But you, pig, are a lucky one. Tell us what we wish to know, and you may yet keep your bacon. So, where is Wiegraf?
Swordsman: How the bloody hell should I know?
Argath: I'll not bear your ribald tongue, rogue! Learn to guard it, if you'd not have it cut from your throat!
Swordsman: I am no...no rogue.
Argath: Tell that to the men you've robbed!
Swordsman: You nobles are...all the same. You think every man...born outside a castle's walls...less than human. We fought for this kingdom at peril of our very lives. Yet the moment the war was ended...you turned us out into the streets. What do you think makes you so special? Birth? Blood? What difference does it make?
Argath: You kidnap men for ransom, then dare ask the difference between us!?
Swordsman: No...the marquis's kidnapping was...no plan of Wiegraf's.
Argath: ...?
Swordsman: He would never...hold a man for ransom.
Ramza: Then who? Someone kidnapped the Marquis Elmdore de Limberry.
Swordsman: ...
Argath: Speak! If not you, then on whom would you pin the deed?
Swordsman: ...It was Gustav.
Argath: Who is Gustav?
Delita: Gustav Margriff—lieutenant commander of the Dead Men.
Argath: So the Corpse Brigade -was- behind the kidnapping!
Swordsman: No! We're not like Gustav! We fight to end the aristocracy, not to become it! To be treated as equals—as the men of honor we are!
Argath: What do maggots know of honor?
Ramza: That's enough, Argath!
Argath: So where is this "Gustav"?
Swordsman: In...in the Sand Rat's Sietch.
Argath: Sand rat?
Delita: You are not of Gallionne—small wonder you've not heard of them. Sand rats are unique to the Zeklaus Desert, north of Dorter.
Argath: ...?
Ramza: Do any villages lie between here and the desert?
Delita: Villages? No. At least, not anymore. But the desertmen once had a settlement on the outskirts, and its ruins remain.
Ramza: Then that's where we'll find Gustav and the marquis.
Delita: Aye, like as not.
Argath: How can you be so certain?
Ramza: A "sietch" is a sand rat's burrow—his home.
Argath: ...?
Marquis Elmdore's Rescue[]
(Upon reaching the Zeklaus Desert.)
On-screen: The Sand Rat's Sietch
Knight (1): Then you've heard? About the Order? They mean to strike us for true.
Archer: Aye, I've heard. So... what's to become of us?
Knight (1): I say we forget this business and run. There's naught for it.
Knight (2): Agreed. If we follow Wiegraf, he will lead us only to our graves.
Knight (1): Aye, that much is plain. Gods be good, Gustav's ransom of the marquis will fatten our purses enough that we can quit this life for good and all.
Watchman: The Order... they're here!
Ramza: We must silence this watch before they can raise the alarm!
(When all enemies are defeated.)
Ramza: These sand rats are long in the slaying. It is well no others have found us while we tarried here.
(After the battle ends.)
Wiegraf: You've taken leave of your senses, Gustav.
Gustav: Have I? What hope does your fool revoultion hold? Dreams do not fill a man's stomach or make soft the packed earth on which he beds!
Wiegraf: You see naught beyond the end of your own nose. The Crown strays, Gustav. It must be led back onto the path.
Gustav: And you think yourself the man to do this? More the fool you, Wiegraf.
Wiegraf: You have spoken your fill? Then we are done.
Gustav: Auh...ghh...
Ramza: Wiegraf!
Argath: The marquis!
Wiegraf: No further!
Argath: How dare you threaten me!
Delita: Stay yourself, Argath.
Wiegraf: The marquis is unharmed. You are free to return him to Eagrose.
Ramza: Why release him?
Wiegraf: The marquis's abduction was ill done. Such craven methods serve not our ends. Let me walk free, and I will release the marquis to your care. A fair bargain.
Argath: You mock us! You are in no position to bargain!
Delita: Enough, Argath! He speaks the truth.
Marquis Elmdore: Ahh...Unh...
Delita: Let him go, Argath!
Argath: Why do you stay me?
Delita: The Corpse Brigade is finished in any case. There is naught to be gained by a quarrel here.
Argath: ...
Ramza: The marquis is well. He is weak, but he would seem unharmed.
Delita: We must see him back to Eagrose.
Liege Lord of Gallionne[]
(Upon returning to Eagrose Castle.)
Lord Dycedarg Beoulve: What madness possessed you that you would abandon your posts to traipse about the desert?
Ramza: ...
Dycedarg: Silence is not the answer I seek. Speak, and be quick about it.
Delita: 'Twas I forced Ramza to go.
Dycedarg: Was that the way of it, Ramza? Delita led your better judgment astray?
Ramza: No...I went of my own choosing. The fault lies not with him.
Delita: 'Tis Ramza's noble disposition that guides his tongue, my lord. It is not as he—
Ramza: You needn't be false on my behalf, Delita. It was I who chose to disregard orders.
Dycedarg: Might I pose a question, Ramza? What purpose do laws serve when even those who would enforce them choose not to pay them heed? Adherence to the rule of law is a knight's solemn duty. It falls upon us, as Beoulves, to bear the burden of example. Is your intent to live up to your name—or to drag it with you through the mire?
Ramza: ...Forgive me, Lord Brother.
Man's Voice: I belive the point is made, is it not, Dycedarg?
Duke Larg: You must not let the how of it steal your eyes away from the what. Their rescue of the marquis was no small feat. It is the way of young men to be impetuous in their haste to do great things. We were not unlike them once.
Dycedarg: To coddle them is to do them disservice, Your Grace. They need to learn integrity.
Duke Larg: So, you are Lord Dycedarg's younger brother. Rise, son of Gallionne. Indeed, you are the very ghost of Barbaneth. His fire burns in your eyes, I can see it. Such strength and vitality would be wasted atop castle walls.
Dycedarg: Our campaign against the Corpse Brigade draws near its end. I will permit you to join in the final stage. Coordinated strikes are to be made on a number of their dens ere long. You will lead one of those assaults.
Ramza: Very well, Lord Brother.
Dycedarg: My apologies, Your Grace.
Duke Larg: It was not of your doing, Dycedarg. In truth, it serves only to show the caliber of man we were dealing with in Gustav. A change in plans was inevitable, once the fool went and staged the kidnapping within our very borders. And let us not forget—they did save the marquis's life. He will now be honor-bound to acquiesce. In the end, your brother's deeds have placed us in quite the favorable position.
Dycedarg: The king's life hangs by a thread. We must move quickly now.
Duke Larg: Indeed, my dear friend. I trust you will not fail me.
Swordmaiden of the Corpse Brigade[]
(Upon reaching Brigands' Den.)
On-screen: Brigands' Den
Milleuda: Our contact with the Brigade is lost. And I fear we may be lost as well.
White Mage (1): How could you say such a thing? The battle is not yet even fought!
White Mage (2): We mustn't give in to despair! Not until the nobles answer for all they've wrought!
Milleuda: It ought not have been like this. My brother was too soft. Too indecisive.
Lookout: The enemy!
Argath: I owe you a debt of gratitude for rescuing the marquis. I pray I am able to repay it—even a little—by aiding you in this!
(During battle.)
Milleuda: How can you nobles live as you do and yet hold your heads so high? We are not chattel! We are humans, no less than you! What flaw do you hold there to be in us? That we were born between a different set of walls? Do you know what it means to hunger? To sup for months on naught but broth of bean? Why must we be made to starve that you might grow fat? You call us thieves, but it is you who steal from us the right to live!
Argath: You, no less human than we? Ha! Now there's a beastly thought. You've been less than we from the moment your baseborn father fell upon your mother in whatever gutter saw you sired! You've been chattel since you came into the world drenched in common blood!
Milleuda: By whose decree!? Who decides such foul and absurd things?
Argath: 'Tis heaven's will!
Milleuda: Heaven's will? You would pin your bigotry on the gods? No god would fain forgive such sin, much less embrace it! All men are equal in the eyes of the gods!
Argath: Men, yes. But the gods have no eyes for chattel.
Milleuda: You speak of devils, not gods!
Delita: Ramza, is this woman truly our enemy?
(Upon defeating Milleuda.)
Ramza: Lay down your sword. Resist us not, and your life will yet be spared.
(After battle ends.)
Milleuda: I'm no more than chattel to you, am I? So have my head and be done with it!
Ramza: Do you truly hold us to be so foul?
Argath: Do it, Ramza! She fights as a Corpse. Let her become one for true! She's a foe and a traitor—an enemy of House Beoulve! The world has no place for such wretches. Her claim to life is forfeit! Spare her now, and you place your seal on the warrants for our own deaths! It's her or us, Ramza! Strike her down!
Delita: Try as I might, Ramza, I cannot think this woman our enemy.
Argath: Have you lost your wits?
Delita: This woman is no more chattel than you or I.
Argath: You would turn against our cause, Delita? I ought have expected as much!
Milleuda: You deny me even the mercy of an honorable death. A pox on you and your pity! So long as you bear the name Beoulve, you will ever remain an enemy to me. You'd do well to remember that.
Ramza: Delita... What have we done?
Argath: Hmph. A pox on your pity indeed.
Corpse Brigade Assault[]
On-screen: Eagrose, High Seat of Gallionne
Tietra: No, I won't go! Release me!
Gragoroth: Be quick about it!
Alma: Y-you're hurting me! Let go! Zalbaag!
Gragoroth: Hmph. Time to cut losses.
Zalbaag: Alma, are you unhurt?
Alma: Yes, I'm fine. But Tietra—!
Zalbaag: Yes, I know.
Zalbaag: Lord Brother!
Dycedarg: W-worry not, I am fine. Alma, are...are you all right?
Alma: They did not harm me. But you—you're bleeding badly!
Dycedarg: In no fevered dream would I have thought the Brigade so bold to strike us here...They must have come for me.
Zalbaag: Five among our guard are slain, and Tietra taken.
Dycedarg: Find them...Search every den and dovecote if you must.
Alma: Please, Brother, you mustn't speak!
Dycedarg: Bloody...rebels...
Alma: Dycedarg!
Zalbaag: Someone! Anyone!
Delita's Fury[]
(Upon entering Eagrose Castle.)
Lord Dycedarg: I'm told you handled your duties most efficiently. Leave the cleanup work in our brother's capable hands, and take a well-earned rest. You've done well. Fear not for me... My wounds are not as grave as they might seem.
Ramza: Lord Brother, what...what of Tietra?
Dycedarg: Zalbaag will lead a full-scale assault on the Brigade as soon as their garrison is found.
Ramza: But—!
Dycedarg: The enemy is routed. Less than a score of their number remain. Their leader yet eludes us, but time grows short for Wiegraf Folles.
Ramza: And for Tietra as well. You would leave her to her fate?
Dycedarg: I have taken measures to ensure Tietra's well-being. The attack waits upon her safe return—such time as that may require. Tietra is as a sister to me. I would never turn my back on her.
(Outside the castle.)
Ramza: Think matters through, Delita. Where would you even go? You must calm yourself!
Delita: Calm myself? My only sister is taken by cutthroats, and you would have me calm?
Ramza: I would have you obey reason! We know not where to begin. To search now would be fruitless.
Delita: Fruitless!? You speak of my sister's life!
Ramza: You heard...my lord brother. He said he would not...abandon her. But there's little...we can do—Delita, I...cannot...breathe.
Delita: Forgive me, Ramza. Are you all right?
Ramza: I...I'll be fine...*cough*
Argath: I'd not believe a word of that fairy tale if I were you.
Ramza: You call my brother a liar?
Argath: I do. I would not go out of -my- way to rescue some common maid.
Delita: What did you say?
Argath: I said he would be a fool to hold back an army for fear of spilling a few drops of your common blood!
Delita: As I thought.
Ramza: Stop this, Delita!
Delita: Release me! Damn you, Ramza, release me!
Argath: Hmph. It's as I've always said: Common blood, common man. You'll never be more than you were born, Delita! You don't belong in our world. You ought be licking our boots with the rest of your ilk, churl!
Delita: That does it—!
Ramza: Enough, Delita! And you as well, Argath!
Argath: Open your eyes, Ramza! Delita is not one of us! It isn't proper that you should mix with such as he. Surely you see that?
Ramza: Delita is my friend, and a dear one. We've been as brothers all our lives!
Argath: And that blinds you from the truth! You're a man grown, Ramza. It's time you left the playthings of your boyhood behind. You are a son of House Beoulve, a birth high even among the highborn. Such company ill suits you. Your brothers see this, I am sure. Even if you choose not to.
Delita: Not everyone of high birth is as ill-bred as you. I'll trust to Ramza's judgment.
Ramza: Begone from my sight! And do not think to return!
Argath: Your words cut deep, Ramza. Are we not friends?
Ramza: Remove yourself! I'll not ask again!
Argath: The Brigade makes its base at Ziekden. Your lord brother told me himself. You've no hope of breaching the fortress from the fore. Their defenses are too strong. A rear assault is your only chance. Best of luck, my soft-hearted friend. You'll need it.
Ramza: Begone!
Blades of Grass[]
(Upon entering Mandalia Plains.)
Delita: It's beautiful, isn't it? Do you think—do you think Tietra might be watching the same sunset?
Ramza: Don't worry, Delita. I am sure she is well.
Delita: Something's been bothering me, Ramza. For some time now.
Ramza: Argath's words trouble you. Am I not right?
Delita: There are things beyond the power of our changing, Ramza, try though we might.
Ramza: Do not say that. If a thing can be endeavored, it—
Delita: Will endeavor grant me an army?
Delita: I would save Tietra with these hands, if aught were in my power to do. But I cannot. Tis my meager lot in life.
Delita: Do you remember, Ramza?
Delita: When your father showed us how to make a whistle of a blade of grass?
Delita: (whistles)
Ramza: (whistles)
(Upon entering Lenalian Plateau.)
On-screen: Lenalian Plateau
Milleuda: They guard this way as well. No route is left to us out of these highlands.
Knight: Then let us lower our weapons and raise the white banner. We gain naught by—
Milleuda: If I'm to die, I'd sooner do so swinging a sword than swinging from the gallows! I'll not be led away in chains!
(Upon Delita's first turn in battle.)
Delita: Where is Wiegraf? What have you done with Tietra!?
Milleuda: Tietra? That Beoulve girl Gragoroth took hostage?
Delita: Tietra is my sister, no more a Beoulve than you! Please, she's no value as a hostage! Return her, I beg you!
Milleuda: As you nobles return what you take from us? Our lives, our dignity, and all else that you have claimed as your own? We ask nothing more than that you return to us what is ours by right. But you deny us even that! You take and take, until there is naught left. Save your highborn breath. Your words are wind, and no amount of howling will see your sister free!
Delita: But I...I'm not—!
(Upon Milleuda's tenth turn.)
Milleuda: I mustn't fall! Our struggle is not yet won!
(Upon Ramza's following turn.)
Ramza: Why this struggle? To what purpose do you fight? Have we wronged you? Have we somehow made you to suffer? I do not understand what fuels your hatred.
Milleuda: It is enough that you can stand before me in ignorance of the misdeeds done us. You may not see the world beyond your high walls, but that does not mean they mark its boundaries. It may well be you've done no wrong. It is your place in the world that drives my hatred on. You bear the name Beoulve, and that name is my enemy.
(Upon Milleuda's fifteenth turn.)
Milleuda: I am a soldier of the Corpse Brigade! I will not turn and run!
Ramza: Lay down your weapon, Milleuda! The battle is lost! Sheathe your blade, and let us talk! Surely we can find some common ground! I will speak to my brother—even Duke Larg himself! You must trust me!
Milleuda: False words sound ever sweet, but they are a siren song. I've heard my share of noble lies. I'll hear no more!
Ramza: My words are not false!
(After Milleuda is defeated.)
Milleuda: F-forgive me...Brother...
Ramza: Why? Why must it end like this?
Delita: What am I doing? What have I become?
Grief and Hatred[]
Wiegraf: Why have you kidnapped this girl?
Gragoroth: We had to take a hostage—there was no other way to escape.
Wiegraf: Then why not release her once you were clear of your pursuers? Do not tell me this madness has taken even you!
Gragoroth: I am no Gustav, if that is your fear! Think, Wiegraf. We've lost the greater part of our number, and the Northern order draws upon us from all sides. She is of Beoulve blood. A hundred swords—a thousand!—could not buy our freedom with such ease!
Wiegraf: So we fly—what then? Know you some happy haven in which we may alight? If we flee, they win once more. As they have always won. We must make for our children a fairer future than the past you and I have known. They must not suffer as we do! The stone we cast might raise only the smallest of waves, but see how they crash upon the shore! Waves rich with our blood...
Gragoroth: Then you order us to our deaths!?
Wiegraf: If by our deaths a single drop of noble blood should water the earth, they shall not be in vain.
Gragoroth: Foolishness! The only blood the earth will drink will be our own.
Wiegraf: The remainder of our forces should yet be safe in our fastness at Ziekden. We must rejoin them—together we have the strength to strike!
Gragoroth: And if they are already dead?
Wiegraf: Milleuda? Slain? Impossible...
Monk: The company which slew her must approach even now. Your orders, Commander?
Wiegraf: We quit this place at once! We shall make for our fastness at Ziekden. The girl will be left here, Gragoroth.
Lookout: The Northern Sky is upon us! They attack!
Wiegraf: They waste little time. I shall hold them off here! Gragoroth, you will take the others and make for Ziekden!
Gragoroth: I will run, yes. But I do not mean to die!
(Outside the mill.)
Wiegraf: Your faces are known to me. But I did not know that you would one day kill my sister. Milleuda deserved a better death—they did not even send proper knights to kill her!
Ramza: She was your sister... I am sorry.
Wiegraf: I will not flee before her murderers. I'll venge Milleuda's death or die in the trying!
(Upon Delita's first turn.)
Delita: My sister, Tietra—you will set her free!
Wiegraf: Your sister? Then you are a Beoulve, yes?
Ramza: He is not. If it is a Beoulve you seek, address yourself to me!
Wiegraf: So, Gragoroth has erred. But surely the girl must hold some connection with House Beoulve?
Ramza: You draw no distinction between our house and those who deal with us?
Wiegraf: Should I? Well, it matters not. There was no question as to her release. We make no habit of holding hostages. But first we've a score to settle. You will see her free—if you live to see aught at all!
(Upon Wiegraf's 10th turn.)
Ramza: Lay down your arms, Wiegraf! What end will more deaths serve?
Wiegraf: What end did my sister's death serve?
Ramza: We did not set out to kill her! This quarrel need not be settled by the sword. Let us treat, and persist not in this bloodshed!
Wiegraf: You see it not—the reason we hold fast to our steel! What advantage might I hope to enjoy at the treaty table? And who would set a seat for me there? You? Even were it in your power, your brothers would never heed any agreement we might reach!
Ramza: My brothers do not want this fight! Set down your sword, Wiegraf, and my brothers will treat with you!
Wiegraf: Ha! No spoony bard could spin a sweeter tale! You say your brothers do not want this fight? Tears, then, for the world you see is one beyond my weary sight.
(Upon Ramza's following turn.)
Ramza: You would have me believe my brothers plot at war?
Wiegraf: Callow child. The hands that guide history's reins are ever black with blood. Think you Dycedarg's hand more just? A new justice is born and dies on the lips of each man who would pronounce it.
Ramza: Do not mock my brothers!
(When Wiegraf is at critical health.)
Wiegraf: You fight well, boy. Forgive me, Milleuda! But there is too much left undone for me to lay down my life now.
Ramza: Wiegraf, wait!
Wiegraf: Who do you think sent Gustav to kidnap the Marquis Elmdore? It was none other than your lord brother, Dycedarg. With Lord Zalbaag's approval, to be sure.
Ramza: Absurd! Why would Dycedarg do such a thing?
Wiegraf: The Lions vie for power in the void left by the king's death. I speak, of course, of Larg, the White Lion, and Goltanna, the Black. Each hopes to learn who may be counted as friend, and who as foe. But such things are not so easily read. Easier to rid yourself of those whose loyalty is uncertain, and install others to rule in their stead. I fear Gustav, fool that he was, tired of our rebellion, and was taken in by the silver tongue of your dear brother, Dycedarg.
Ramza: Lies! No Beoulve would do a thing so craven as this!
Wiegraf: Do not take my word for it. Judge their actions for yourself. Farewell, young Beoulve.
Ramza: Wiegraf! Coward! You insult my name, and flee in the same breath!
(After battle ends.)
Delita: Tietra! Tietra, where are you!?
Delita: She's not here. Where have they taken her!?
Ramza: Wiegraf has lied to us! Come, Delita! We must hurry to Ziekden. Tietra is there, I'm certain of it.
Delita: Why? Why is this happening? Why, Ramza? Why Tietra?
Ramza: I'm sorry, Delita...
Partings[]
(Upon entering Ziekden Fortress.)
On-screen: Zeikden Fortress
Gragoroth: Back whence you came! Quick as shadows, or this one's blood makes crimson snow! Do not think to try my patience! This keep packs such a store of powder as you could scarce imagine! More than enough to deliver the lot of you to the Father's keeping, should your feet lack proper haste!
Zalbaag: The Order of the Northern Sky yields not before the braying of rogues!
Ramza: Lord Brother! Argath!
Delita: Tietra!
Tietra: Delita—!
Gragoroth: Withdraw at once! I'll not warn you again!
Zalbaag: This changes nothing, Argath. Loose your attack!
Argath: Yes, my lord!
Gragoroth: Gods have mercy...
Tietra: D-Delita...I'm...sorry...
Delita: Tietra—!
Northern Sky Knight: Lord Commander! More enemies scale the pass. Two score, mayhap three. A man of Wiegraf's look moves among them!
Zalbaag: Very well. We go to greet them at once. I leave the rest to you, Argath.
Gragoroth: Curse the lot of you...
Delita: Tietra!
Argath: And where do you presume to go, Delita?
Delita: You whoreson dog!
Argath: It is to be a fight, then? I'm only too happy to oblige!
Ramza: Zalbaag...Dycedarg...How could you?
Argath: Come! I will show you that common blood makes naught but a common man!
(Upon Ramza's first turn.)
Ramza: Why did you do it, Argath? What moved your hand?
Argath: Your lord brother's orders, Ramza. What else? Would you have had us kneel before them, and offer up the Order's honor in exchange for the life of some common wench?
Ramza: She was Delita's sister!
Argath: Is it not time you awoke to the fact that we are different from them? They are of lesser birth, and so meant to play lesser roles in life! Such is the nature of fate, Ramza! That commoner and his sister ought never have been here at all! Had they been mongering flowers on some street corner, she would yet live.
(Upon Argath's following turn.)
Argath: What of you, Ramza? Why do you now raise arms against us? To turn your blade on us is treason! You would turn your cloak and name yourself a traitor to the Order of the Northern Sky?
Ramza: But—the Order would never forgive what you've done!
Argath: Does your naivety know no end? How ironic is fate, that one such as you would be born a Beoulve!
(Upon Delita's first turn.)
Delita: Make your peace with the gods, Argath! You die by my hand!
(Upon Ramza's turn after Argath's speech.)
Ramza: My birth was not of my choosing!
Argath: Spare me the bleating, you are no sheep! You are a Beoulve, self-chosen or not! Yours is a line of champions, of lords among men! To do great deeds is your destiny, and your duty as well. Much is there that cannot be done, save by your hand. It falls to you to see it so—to act where we cannot.
Ramza: I will not be made a puppet!
Argath: You? A puppet? Don't be absurd! The puppets stand before you, Ramza! Long have we danced for House Beoulve, that it might reign on history's stage. A dance that serves our ends, to be sure. The Beoulve name is our shield, behind whose aegis we've long thrived. It is the way of things! People are used, and use others in turn. How do you think you came to be where you are? You are loath to be used, yet you fain use others. Even your so-called friend Delita!
Ramza: What do you mean?
(Upon Argath's next turn, if the player chose "Our first duty is to defeat the Brigade" in "Argath's Rescue".)
Argath: Do not pretend at ignorance. You know what must be done for name's sake. You made that much clear on Mandalia Plain, when you put orders ahead of aiding me!
Ramza: I—
(If Delita is wounded but not KO'd.)
Ramza: Delita, you're hurt!
Delita: Speak not to me! When Argath falls, my vengeance turns on you, Ramza!
Ramza: Delita...
(On Argath's next turn.)
Argath: Does it grieve you, Delita, to see the depths of your own weakness laid bare? No mere commoner can leave his mark on history! You've not the power! Be glad you know enough to lament it. 'Tis all you can do, and more than you deserve!
Delita: Is your forked tongue done flitting? What I'd hear from your lips are not words!
Argath: Laughter, then? Be not so hasty, Delita! You'll hear that soon enough, when you are on your way to your dear sister's side!
Delita: I'll not be told what I will do, or when! Not by you, nor by any other!
(Upon defeating Argath.)
Argath: N-no... Not at... the hands of... milksop rabble...
(After battle ends.)
Ramza: I'm sorry, Delita.
Ramza: What was that?
Ramza: The powder!
Ramza: Delita! We must away!
Ramza: Delita. Delita!
Ramza: I had lived my life the only way that I had known. But when the pillars of that life came crashing down, I did not stand and watch them fall. I turned, and walked away.
Chapter 2: The Manipulative and the Subservient[]
In Pursuit of the Princess[]
Gaffgarion: What's this, Ramza? Do you know him?
Ramza: ...
Agrias: He carries the princess with him. They'll not be able to travel far.
Gaffgarion: You mean to give chase?
Agrias: What else? I will not return to the Crown in shame!
Gaffgarion: Well, you'll have no help from us! Our agreement said naught of this.
Agrias: I would not accept your help if you offered it! A true knight is all too eager to set right what he has let go amiss. The Lionsguard will serve the king's justice. Lavian, Alicia. We leave at once!
Agrias: Elder Simon! You are unharmed?
Elder Simon: The princess...! What of the princess?
Agrias: She is taken. I am sorry. But you may put your fears to rest. We go to rescue her!
Simon: No. No, milady, you mustn't! You would only throw your own life away.
Agrias: Your worry will find no purchase with me. A knight is oathbound to render aid!
Ramza: I want to go with you! I'll be no trouble to you, I swear it!
Gaffgarion: Nonsense, Ramza! This is no concern of ours!
Ramza: I must go! I must know if it's truly him!
Gaffgarion: The boy, eh?
Gaffgarion: Well, there it is. Gods know where this path leads us.
On-screen: CHAPTER 2 THE MANIPULATIVE & THE SUBSERVIENT
(Upon entering The Merchant City of Dorter.)
On-screen: Dorter
Knight: A purse of five hundred gil per head.
Sellsword: 'Tis coin I lack, not wits. Two thousand, or you can stick them yourself.
Knight: Mayhap you forget the ease with which men are branded heretics.
Sellsword: Threats, is it? A thousand, then.
Knight: Seven hundred. I can offer no more.
Sellsword: Done. Let it never be said that I was aught but a pious man.
Knight: I pray your newfound piety lends not itself to mercy. They will be here soon, and I shudder to think of your fate should any of them survive.
Knight: Hmph. No sooner speak the devil's name, than he doth appear. You've work to do. Best be about it.
Sellsword: Gods be good, that's Ser Gaffgarion! Seven hundred a head for this!?
Gaffgarion: An ambush! This day grows lovelier by the hour.
Agrias: If you'd not fight, the road home lies behind you.
Gaffgarion: While I make no habit of charity, I could not well abandon so goodly a wench to rogues.
Agrias: Do not patronize me, -ser-!
(After defeating all enemies.)
Agrias: We cannot linger. We must find Lady Ovelia!
Gaffgarion: And how shall we do that? Call out her name and hope she comes running?
Agrias: Her captors have but one place to go. The impenetrable walls of Fort Besselat.
Ramza: Then we must lose no time.
(Upon entering Araguay Woods.)
On-screen: Araguay Woods
Black Goblin: Hob, gob. Gob-bob!
Chocobo: W-wark!
Goblin: Gob!? Gob!
Agrias: I've not seen a chocobo so deep in the woods.
Gaffgarion: An addle-pated bird, to wander in this goblin-ridden place.
- (Upon selecting "1. We should be on our way through the wood...")
Ramza: We've little enough time as it is. We should pass through the wood and be on our way.
Gaffgarion: You have the right of it, lad. A fight with no coin at the end of it is no fight for me!
Agrias: I feel for the creature, but we must place the princess's rescue before all else. Poor dear. - (Upon selecting "2. Perhaps we could use him?")
Ramza: Delita once mentioned that wild chocobos were hardier than domesticated breeds. Perhaps we could use him.
Gaffgarion: You intend to save the creature? I had rather line my purse with gil than feathers.
Agrias: Still, it may help us save the princess.
(After defeating all enemies.)
Chocobo: Wa...wark...?
Ramza: He seems well enough.
Gaffgarion: A lucky one, this. Let's hope he's got a sense of gratitude, eh?
Reunion with Delita[]
(Upon reaching Zeirchele Falls.)
On-screen: Zeirchele Falls
Northern Sky Knight: Stand aside, ser! You are defeated! Surrender the princess, and no more blood must needs be spilt!
Delita: Do you so enjoy the taste of lies? Your orders are to see the princess dead! And once I've watched you feed the falls her blood, I'm to believe you'd let me live, a witness to your crime?
Knight: What foolishness is this? We came to save the princess, not kill her! What could we possibly gain by Lady Ovelia's death? We wish only to see her freed from the Black Lion's claws!
Agrias: Your Highness!
Ovelia: Agrias!
Knight: Hmm. It seems we are no longer alone. Gaffgarion! Kill them all!
Gaffgarion: A change of plans...but a contract is a contract, after all!
Agrias: You would now betray us!?
Gaffgarion: Betray you? You have a viper's tongue, milady. I betray no one. I am in the Order's employ, and they are of it. My task was to see the princess safely abducted. And theirs, to see the one responsible silenced.
Agrias: You mean to say the kidnapping was a ruse?
Gaffgarion: The princess is an obstacle to the throne. So long as she lives, the threat remains that someone could assert her claim above Prince Orinus's. Two heirs are one too many!
Delita: If her death is certain, then let it least not be in vain. Kill her if you must, but let it be held she was taken by Goltanna's men. Do that, and the stroke that fells a problem princess at once brings down a rival Lion. That was no doubt Larg's plan all along. ...Or was it his? Such a plot has more the feel of Dycedarg's thinking. Would you not agree, Ramza?
Gaffgarion: That one has the right of it, Ramza. Come, let us earn our pay!
Ramza: No...not again. I will not watch as sacrifices are made of the weak and innocent. She will not be another Tietra!
(Upon Ramza's first turn.)
Ramza: Delita! You live!
Delita: So I do. And you, ever your lord brothers' faithful hound?
Ramza: Are you mad? I knew naught of any of this! What of you, Delita? You now play party to their plot?
Delita: Surely you jape! I came to rescue the princess! I would not see her made a tool for others to use to their own ends!
Gaffgarion: If you would lie, boy, at least lie well! You are no knight errant! You were paid to take the princess. Do not play the fool with me! Name the man who bought your sword!
Delita: I sell my sword to no one! Do not count me among your lot!
Gaffgarion: Spare me the lecture, I ask for a name! You'd have me believe some bright-eyed pup caught wind of this plan and rescued the princess in the name of justice!? Who gives you your orders? Who told you of this plot!?
Delita: That is not for you to know!
(Upon Ovelia's first turn.)
Ovelia: Tell me, ser—are you friend or foe?
Delita: I am a human being, no different from you.
(Upon Agrias's first turn.)
Agrias: Hold on, Your Highness! I am coming to help!
Gaffgarion: Do not be so sure of that!
Agrias: Have you any idea what you do? The path you tread leads only to perdition! An adopted daughter she may be, but a daughter of kings no less! To lay a finger on her is treason!
Gaffgarion: Of that, I am well aware. But your daughter of kings stands in the way of kings-to-be! Princess or no, her worth is spent. And those born of kings do not outlive their worth.
Agrias: Do you mean to mock her!?
Gaffgarion: No more than we are mocked. Have you once seen a man of royal blood stay his hand when a commoner blocked his way? The only difference is that those of royal blood are protected by lackwits like you, who swear fealty without even a thought! Even should the princess live, it would be only as a pawn in another's game. To kill her now is a mercy!
Agrias: Then it is a mercy I will not see her done!
(Upon Ramza's second turn.)
Ramza: You knew of this from the start! How could you dirty your hands with such tainted coin?
Gaffgarion: Dirty? A man cannot sell his blade and think to keep it clean! I do what I am paid to do, and question not the details! That is the way of a sellsword.
Ramza: Why did you not tell me!?
Gaffgarion: What would you have done if I had? Stopped me? The job would have been done, by our hands or no! It makes no difference in the end! Lives end every day with you none the wiser. You cannot save them all! Or are you so foolish as to believe you can?
Ramza: But...but this isn't right!
Gaffgarion: What of it? You are still a child—a child who will not see the world for what it is. A man does not turn his eyes from truth. A man accepts it, and walks the path he must. Do not chide me, when you cannot even choose a path for yourself!
(After Gaffgarion is KO'd.)
Gaffgarion: Damn it...
(After the battle ends.)
Delita: Let the princess with me. She will be safer in my care.
Ramza: What is this game you play with us, Delita?
Delita: Game? I do no more than speak the truth. You've made an enemy of the entire Order of the Northern Sky. Where would you now take her?
Delita: Think, Ramza. This was Duke Larg's plan—and he would not act without counsel of the queen. You cannot trust the Crown. Would you then turn to Goltanna? No, that would be folly. He would only offer up your heads in hopes of keeping his own.
Agrias: And what, ser, would you propose to do?
Delita: I would do only that which you, my lady, cannot.
Ramza: You speak in nothings.
Delita: So I do. But pay it no mind. I shall leave her with you for yet a while longer.
Ramza: Delita. I did not think we would meet again but...I'm glad we have.
Delita: It was Tietra. She watched over me then—as she does now.
Ovelia: Know that you go with my thanks, Ser Delita.
Delita: Ramza. I hope this meeting is not our last.
Agrias: I owe you my thanks as well. But he's right. The Northern Sky will not be long in falling on us now.
Ramza: This is the path I've chosen.
Ramza: But what now? Delita spoke true. We've no allies to hom we can turn.
Agrias: We could entreat Cardinal Delacroix for aid. The Church of Glabados rules in Lionel. Surely they would not refuse us.
Ramza: We'd be beyond reach of the Northern Order there as well. Very well. We make for Lionel.
The Machinist[]
(Upon entering The Castled City of Zaland.)
On-screen: Zaland
Swordsman: You've nowhere left to run! All we want is the stone—we needn't take your life.
Young Man: What stone? I have no stone!
Swordsman: Do not play the fool with me, Mustadio! Do you forget that we hold your father? It's simple. Give us the auracite, and your father lives. Right, then. Seize him!
Mustadio: I have a message for your keeper, Ludovich! Tell him that if he lays so much as a finger on my father, he'll never see the auracite again!
Agrias: What trouble is this? I think that man is being chased.
- (Upon selecting "1. I'd sooner avoid trouble, but we've no choice.")
Ramza: I'd sooner avoid trouble, but we've no choice. We must help him! - (Upon selecting "2. We cannot stand by and watch!")
Ramza: If we do nothing, they will kill him. We cannot stand by and watch! We must help him!
(If Mustadio is KO'd.)
Mustadio: The auracite—they must never...hold it...
(After all enemies are defeated and Mustadio is not KO'd.)
Ramza: Are you all right?
Mustadio: I should be, yes. Thank you. You saved my life.
(After the battle ends.)
Mustadio: Street dogs running for the Baert Trading Company.
Agrias: -The- Baert Trading Company?
Mustadio: Ah, then you've heard of them. But they're no ordinary traders. That business is only a front for more...lucrative pursuits. Opium smuggling, slave trading—all manner of vile thing, on a grand scale.
Ramza: What did you do to draw the attention of such as these?
Mustadio: I'm a machinist. Do you know the history of my trade?
Agrias: They say the ruins of a lost civilization lie buried beneath the streets of Goug, the Clockwork City. Relics from the age of Saint Ajora, when airships numerous beyond counting filled the skies, and men of iron walked city streets. But the art of crafting such things was lost—if it ever truly existed at all.
Mustadio: But it -did- exist. The ground beneath Goug holds the hulks of airships, and a thousand fragments of machines the gods alone know the workings of. A machinist toils to restore this lost legacy—to see these works brought to life again.
Ramza: The device you used during the battle—is that one of those machines?
Mustadio: What, this?
Mustadio: This is a weapon called a "pistol." It uses an explosive powder to propel a metal projectile toward its target. This one is of simple make. There were once pistols said to fire projectiles infused with magicks.
Ramza: Hmm.
Agrias: So why do these hounds of the Baert Trading Company chase after you?
Mustadio: You said you were going to see Cardinal Delacroix, yes? The cardinal is a hero who fought in the Fifty Years' War. To this day the people of Lionel honor him as such. As does my father. He believes that the cardinal is the only man who can keep the realm from descending into chaos. The cardinal will receive you, hear your plea. And the princess will be safe.
Agrias: And what is it -you- want?
Mustadio: To go with you. I have my own reason for wanting to speak with the cardinal.
Agrias: That being?
Mustadio: To save my father! He is held prisoner. The cardinal is my only hope to free him! Alone, I am just another machinist—the cardinal would never see me. That's why I would join you.
Agrias: You still haven't answered my question. Why is the Baert Trading Company so interested in you?
Mustadio: I...I cannot tell you. Not now.
Agrias: Then you remain here.
Mustadio: No! I must see the cardinal! You must trust me, please!
Ovelia: Very well, then. You will come with us.
Mustadio: You mean it? Thank you, my lady. Thank you!
Agrias: You stand before the princess!
Ovelia: There is no need. You may rise.
Agrias: Then it's settled. We will trust to your word.
Ovelia's Misgivings[]
(Upon leaving The Castled City of Zaland.)
Agrias: Lionel Castle, Highness. Do you see it? Just beyond those mountains.
Ovelia: We still have a long journey ahead. Do you think Cardinal Delacroix will aid us?
Agrias: The cardinal is said to be a man with utmost devotion to the Crown, Highness. Even amid this turmoil he has held the middle ground, siding with neither Duke Larg, nor Duke Goltanna. I do not think him a man to sully his honor by handing you over to either side.
Ovelia: I pray you are right.
Agrias: He has influence with the Church of Glabados. A word from him, and the Church itself will take you under its protection.
Ovelia: Would that I were born no princess.
Agrias: My lady...
Ovelia: My entire life has been spent behind sacred walls. The only sky I've known, hemmed in by slate and stone. Did you know, before I was sent to Orbonne, I was in another monastery?
Ovelia: When I heard I was to be the adopted daughter of the late king, and after—ever in a monastery. It's not been such a bad life, I suppose. Only...Only, knowing that men die, for no more reason than that I am the princess—it's almost more than I can bear.
Agrias: Highness, you must not blame yourself. The fault lies with those who would use you for their own ends.
Ovelia: There was another girl at Orbonne. She told me she, too, had lived her entire life within monastery halls. We joked that we two should share so strange a fate. *sigh* A funny thing to laugh at, don't you think?
Agrias: You speak of Lady Alma, of House Beoulve.
Ovelia: My only true friend. What if Cardinal Delacroix makes to use me, like all the rest?
Agrias: ...
Mustadio: Ramza! Where have you gotten off to? It's almost time to leave!
Mustadio: I didn't think to find you here. What are you doing?
Agrias: What news have you?
Mustadio: All is quiet. It would seem the Northern Order hasn't reached Zaland, for the time.
Ovelia: A friend once showed me how to do this. But I'm afraid I've never quite gotten it right.
Ramza: Just like that—it's simple, you see?
Ovelia: Like this?
Ovelia: It's really not so hard, is it?
(Upon entering Balias Tor.)
On-screen: Balias Tor
Sellsword: You there! We've no quarrel with you—leastwise not yet! Our quarrel lies with Mustadio. Give him over, and be on your way!
Agrias: Our way is his! If you wish no quarrel, I advise you withdraw! And when you next see Ludovich, remind him that those who live by deceit are first to die by it.
Sellsword: Pity. We'll have the boy by force, then!
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Ramza: Why do they pursue you? Will you not tell us even now?
Mustadio: Pray understand—I cannot tell you. Not yet.
Dycedarg's Scheming[]
On-screen: Eagrose Castle Solar
Dycedarg: Our little mockingbird is taken wing, Gaffgarion, and it leaves me wroth. We cannot have her free. Catch her, crush her, and make silent her song. Lady Agrias's and the others' as well.
Gaffgarion: And Ramza?
Dycedarg: The fool. He soils our name, dogs my every move. I thought this a chance to let him learn the harsh truths of the world. But the boy is too stubborn.
Gaffgarion: Too much of his father's penchant for justice, that one.
Dycedarg: Father coddled the boy too much. If he stands aside, more the better. Should he interfere, there's naught can be done.
Gaffgarion: And you his brother. The blood curdles. If the cardinal moves to defend the mockingbird, what then? Duke Larg himself could not reach them in umbrage of the Church's wing.
Dycedarg: Worry not. That potentiality has been addressed.
Gaffgarion: Ever three steps ahead. You are a frightening man, Dycedarg Beoulve.
Dycedarg: Truly? Would it not be prudent, then, to better guard your tongue? There are so many frightening ways to silence a bothersome one.
Gaffgarion: Come now, my lord, I am your ever-faithful man! And not near so stubborn as a particular Knight Devout—if I might be so bold.
Dycedarg: Be bold. But let there be no more missteps.
Gaffgarion: On the matter of missteps, what buffoon did you charge with the princess's kidnapping? We were beset in Dorter as we gave chase. Not quite how we'd discussed, I'm sure you'd agree.
Dycedarg: The men I sent were found dead in the woods near the monastery. Someone has caught wind of our plan, and seems intent on disrupting it. No matter. As long as Ovelia remains with Lady Agrias, we will have chance enough to steal back our prize.
Gaffgarion: I pray you're right, for both our sakes.
The Cardinal and the Stone[]
(Upon entering Lionel Castle.)
Lionel Guardsman: What errand brings you to Lionel?
Agrias: I am Agrias Oaks, a knight of the Lionsguard. My companions and I have journeyed from Orbonne Monastery seeking sanctuary. By the grace of Saint Ajora, I beg you, lay open your gate!
Lionel Guardsman: The graces of Saint Ajora are in the keeping of His Eminence here. All who seek those graces are given like treatment—the gates of Lionel stand open to them. Raise the gate!
Cardinal Delacroix: I see, Lady Agrias. In such circumstance as this, I am fain to lend you whatever help I can. I shall dispatch a courier to Mullonde at once. High Confessor Marcel will have this news from my own hand. We will expose Duke Larg's misdeeds, and ensure that no harm befall you, Princess.
Agrias: Your Eminence, think you the High Confessor will hear our plea?
Delacroix: Fear not, dear lady. You are in my care now. Princess Ovelia can scarce feel at ease while those tasked with her safety are vexed with such worriment. You may enjoy the comforts of the castle—wanting though they are—while we await a reply from Mullonde.
Ovelia: You are most gracious, Eminence. Thank you.
Delacroix: So long as Saint Ajora is our guide, we have naught to fear, child. As for you, my young machinist, I have given consideration to your troubles as well. I will send a hand-picked company of my finest men to Goug to put an end to this Baert Trading Company.
Mustadio: Thank you, Your Eminence.
Delacroix: Conditioned upon this: I would hear the reason they choose to pursue you and your father.
Mustadio: That is—I mean to say it's not—
Delacroix: Come, come. Mayhap this will give voice to your words.
Agrias: A crystal?
Delacroix: You are familiar with the legend of the Zodiac Braves?
Agrias: In my youth, I often heard a fanciful tale of that name at mass.
Delacroix: What's this? Surely, Lady Agrias, you do not aver that the Church would mislead its flock?
Agrias: No—no, of course not, Your Eminence.
Ovelia: Long ago, before the mountains had ceased their wandering and struck their roots into the earth, the Lucavi held dominion over the world. Twelve heroes there were, who came forward to challenge these Lucavi. In a long and bitter struggle, they succeeded in driving the Lucavi to the spirit world, and Ivalice again knew peace. The Twelve each bore an auracite crystal emblazoned with a house of the night sky. And so in time, they became known as the Zodiac Braves. Ever after, when discord and strife paid visit to the halls of men, they would return to save us once more.
Delacroix: You have clearly been a most apt pupil, Princess.
Ovelia: Elder Simon himself instructed me at Orbonne—which reminds me of another thing he said. Saint Ajora walked with the Twelve, and together they saved Ivalice from ruin.
Delacroix: We call the crystals of the Twelve the "Zodiac Stones." The stone you see before you now is a stone from that very legend.
Ovelia: Auracite—it exists? I did not think it possible.
Delacroix: Or that it held the scred power to keep the Lucavi at bay, eh? I confess, I feel some power deep within, but my eyes see only a common crystal.
Ramza: Mustadio, are you well? The color has left your face.
Delacroix: You have seen a stone like this one beneath Goug, have you not?
Mustadio: Machines whose fires have long since guttered out lie strewn in the tunnels beneath the city. But pass that Stone near them, and you can hear them stir.
Delacroix: Then Baert seeks the auracite, eh?
Mustadio: I do not know what power these Zodiac Stones hold. I know only that Ludovich Baert hopes to find some way to harness this power, and make a fearsome weapon. My father would not give them the Stone, so they took him instead.
Delacroix: Put your worries from your mind, my young machinist. The Church will see this matter is dealt with. Our forces will strike, and wrest the Stone from their hands.
Mustadio: Of...of course, Your Eminence.
Ramza: I will join the company that makes for Goug.
Mustadio: Thank you, Ramza.
Agrias: We would never have succeeded in reaching His Eminence the Cardinal without you, Ramza. You have my thanks, as well.
Ovelia: I can only wish you well—small aid, I know.
Ramza: Your words are all the aid I could ever ask.
(Upon entering Tchigolith Fenlands.)
On-screen: Tchigolith Fenlands
Ramza: Just when I thought this fen could grow no fouler...
Mustadio: Solid footing scarce enough, and rain to rob us of that. Be careful!
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Ramza: Mustadio! Are you hurt?
Mustadio: No worse for the wear. The channel shore lies just beyond the fen. Goug is not far now.
Seekers of the Stone[]
Besrudio: Take this. Take it and run!
Mustadio: Run? Run where?
Ludovich's Henchman: No use hiding, we know you're in there!
Mustadio: I'll not leave you here. Come on!
Besrudio: I can't run, not with this leg. Heed me, and go!
Mustadio: Do you really think I could leave you here?
Besrudio: That stone has the power to destroy entire kingdoms! We can't let a man like Ludovich have it! You must take it somewhere safe! Go to Cardinal Delacroix. He'll help you, I'm sure of it!
Ludovich Baert: No one answered, so we let ourselves in. Now, if you'll kindly hand me the auracite—
Besrudio: Go, Mustadio!
Besrudio: Hurry!
Ludovich: Don't just stand there! After him!
(Upon entering Clockwork City of Goug.)
Mustadio: Baert's curs are nowhere to be seen. Yet there's no sign of a battle with Lionel's Gryphons. Something's amiss. I'm going to see what I can find out. We'll meet afterward.
Ramza: Where will I find you?
Mustadio: The Goug lowtown is just down this road. We're not like to draw much attention there.
Ramza: All right. Watch yourself.
Mustadio: Don't worry. I can take care of myself.
Besrudio's Rescue[]
(Upon moving while in Clockwork City of Goug.)
On-screen: Goug Lowtown
Ramza: Where are you, Mustadio? You should've been here by now.
Ramza: Could he have been captured?
Man's Voice: A friend of Mustadio's eh?
Ramza: Who's there?
Ludovich: Bring him out!
Mustadio: I-I'm sorry, Ramza.
Ramza: Have they hurt you?
Ludovich: Not a step further. Prefer to keep a little distance, if you don't mind.
Ramza: You must be Ludovich. Let Mustadio go. Now!
Ludovich: I'm a reasonable man. I just want the auracite. Once I have it, I'll loose him soon enough.
Ludovich: So, where have you hidden it? Tell me!
Mustadio: ...
Ludovich: Is that how you want to play it? Maybe this will hasten your speech. You there! Out with the other one!
Mustadio: Father! What have they done to you?
Besrudio: I'm...I'm fine, Son. Don't tell them where it is.
Ludovich: Show him inside.
Ludovich: Well? Feeling a bit more game now?
Mustadio: There's a chimney just behind Ramza. You'll find it there.
Ludovich: Bring that to us, would you? Small enough work to spare your friend's life.
Ramza: This must be it.
Ramza: Let them go!
Ludovich: Give me the stone!
Ramza: Release them first!
Ludovich: Toss me the Stone—then they go free!
Ludovich: A true Zodiac Stone...At last! This should bring a smile to the cardinal's face.
Ludovich: You've been most helpful, must helpful! Pity you've outlived your usefulness. Kill them.
Ramza: The cardinal was with them from the start!
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Mustadio: My father...I hope we're in time.
(After the battle ends.)
Mustadio: Are you all right?
Besrudio: My wounds will heal. But the auracite—they have it. Ludovich will use it to wake the machines beneath the city. In time, he may even learn to harness the sacred power of the Stone itself. *sigh* I never thought the man we'd turn to for help would turn on us. There's naught we could do to foresee such treachery.
Mustadio: Ha. Are you sure?
Besrudio: What do you mean?
Mustadio: I thought something of the sort might happen, so I took the precaution of readying a false stone.
Ramza: And that's the one I gave Ludovich!
Mustadio: The same. By now they've probably realized. Ah, to see the looks on their faces.
Ramza: Then Princess Ovelia and Lady Agrias are in danger!
Mustadio: Danger? How?
Ramza: The cardinal was working with Ludovich to get the Stone. His gambit failed, but he may try to ransom the princess and Lady Agrias for it now instead.
Mustadio: That's ridiculous! He would only make an enemy of the Crown!
Ramza: Why do you think he wants the auracite in the first place? The people tire of war. They tire of these endless struggles for power. They are afraid, and they seek salvation. The cardinal means to use the legend of the Zodiac Braves to bring it to them. Only once he's gathered the Stones, he'll summon the Zodiac Braves and use their power to rule.
Besrudio: Just so. We cannot give the Stone to the cardinal.
Ramza: Then we must rescue the princess and Lady Agrias!
Mustadio: And we will. But the roads leading to Lionel Castle will surely be blockaded. We'll never be able to approach from the fore. We go by ship, to take them unawares.
Delita's Warning[]
(Upon entering The Port City of Warjilis.)
Ramza: Cogs and gulls. No hint of Lionel's Gryphons.
Ramza: Delita!
Ramza: What brings you to Warjilis?
Delita: We have ears in many places. Few things escape our hearing.
Ramza: "Our"?
Delita: I say this for your sake, Ramza. Return to Eagrose. Delve no deeper into matters of royal maidens...or those of sacred stones.
Ramza: What have these ears of yours been telling you?
Delita: You think to save a princess from a burning tower. In truth you would but set her on a higher floor. There is only one person who can truly save her. And that is what I mean to do.
Ramza: Just what do you imply?
Delita: It's simple, really. Noble endeavors do not always reach the end that we desire. You cannot save the princess. However hard you endeavor to save her. You would do well to remember that.
Ramza: What then is your end in all of this, Delita? I fear I do not know.
Delita: The Dukes Larg and Goltanna, your brothers, and all the rest...They are all of them swept up in a mighty current—a current they cannot see or feel. I simply swim against it. Nothing more.
Delita: We'll meet again—I should hope.
The Cardinal's Wrath[]
(Upon leaving The Port City of Warjilis.)
Gaffgarion: You would use the princess as bait to regain the Stone? I would not expect such cunning of a man of the cloth.
Ludovich: You've some gall to speak, sellsword! It was you who let them escape!
Gaffgarion: That I don't deny, but it was not my task to stop them!
Cardinal Delacroix: Still your tongue, Ludovich. We will hand Princess Ovelia over to Lord Dycedarg as promised. That much serves us both. But it is no concern of mine if those who know the truth of her kidnapping live. I had no hand in it. Be that as it may, the thieves who stole the gem are now with them. If we use the princess to lure them out, we get two birds—and one Stone.
Gaffgarion: I won't deny the truth of it. But such a plan has risks.
Delacroix: Your reputation would not cast you so craven.
Gaffgarion: I am -cautious-, Your Holiness. A soldier does not live to become old and gray charging onto the field of battle unawares.
Delacroix: Very well. I will see that every possible precaution is taken. And let us sprinkle a trail of crumbs to ensure they find our snare.
Gaffgarion: A prudent move. The maid's the perfect bait to lure them to us. I'll assume responsibility for the rest. Far better me than -him-.
Ludovich: How -dare- you!
Delacroix: Very well. I shall leave the matter to you, Gaffgarion.
Ludovich: Your Eminence, you jape, surely!
Delacroix: Go with my blessing.
Gaffgarion: The Stone is as good as yours.
Ludovich: Your Eminence, you cannot mean to trust this to a man like -that-!
Delacroix: I trust things to those who can be trusted. Men who fail me time and again are rewarded in another way.
Ludovich: Y-Your Eminence, w-what are you doing!?
(Upon entering Balias Swale.)
On-screen: Balias Swale
Man's Voice: Where've you got off to, gosling? Won't do to hide!—
Gryphon Knight of Lionel: There you are!
Knight: Come along quietly now, what do you say?
Knight: Hrm?
Ramza: Protect Lady Agrias! Be quick!
(Upon Agrias's first turn.)
Agrias: Ramza!? What are you doing here?
Ramza: We've come to rescue you. We thought to breach the castle from its postern. But why are you here?
Agrias: The cardinal betrayed us—was betraying us all along! He plots with Duke Larg! We escaped the castle, but the princess was retaken. I was returning to save her—and here you find me. We must hurry, Ramza! They are to execute her!
Ramza: First these. Then the princess.
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Ramza: Lady Agrias, are you all right?
Agrias: I'm fine, but there's no time for that. We must hurry to the princess! They're taking her to the Golgollada gallows. It's not far, but we've little time!
Ramza: Of course. With all haste!
(Upon entering Golgollada Gallows.)
On-screen: Golgollada Gallows
Executioner: Got any words t' leave behin', puppet?
Executioner: None, then? Just as well, I s'pose.
Gryphon Knight of Lionel: Is that—? The enemy!
Ramza: We are come for the princess! Stand down, or taker her place on the gallows!
Executioner: Ha ha ha! And the trap is sprung!
Ramza: Trap?
Gaffgarion: Ramza, ever the gallant fool!
Ramza: What have you done with Lady Ovelia!?
Gaffgarion: I've done naught with her, she's at Lionel. What of the gem?
Ramza: Gem?
Gaffgarion: Might we spare ourselves these tiresome feints? I speak of the cardinal's gemstone. The one who stole it travels with you, does he not? I would have it surrendered.
Ramza: If you want it, come and get it.
Gaffgarion: So the boy now thinks himself a man! Very well. Let us finish this like men!
(Upon Gaffgarion's first turn.)
Gaffgarion: It is not too late to change your mind, Ramza! Return with me to Eagrose! Your brother Dycedarg would fain forgive what's done. He said as much himself!
Ramza: Then let him forgive this as well, for I'll play no part in his foul plots!
Gaffgarion: Foul!? You would paint your brother's deeds as -foul-? A Beoulve must uphold the duties of his station! You of all people should know that!
Ramza: My lord brother seeks to ignite war to further his own ends! If such a thing is not foul, ser, then pray tell what is!
Gaffgarion: A man does not eat an omelette without breaking eggs! Blood is the price of progress! It is the ink in which history's pages are writ! Look around you, boy! Ivalice rots from within! Your brother would carve out the root of its decay, even if it means his hands must needs be soiled!
(Upon Agrias' next turn.)
Agrias: Ramza, you are a Beoulve?
Gaffgarion: You didn't know? Aye, this little whelp is a son of the great House Beoulve.
Ramza: I am my father's son, but that does not make me the same as my brothers! I knew naught of the plot to kidnap the princess! I swear it!
Agrias: Do you truly think I would doubt you now? You have more than proven yourself!
(Upon Ramza's next turn.)
Ramza: I will not stand and watch as Lady Ovelia is made to be another Tietra!
Gaffgarion: Forget Ziekden! There was no avoiding that. You are an heir of House Beoulve, Ramza, and you have a duty as such! It is your fate to see that duty fulfilled!
Ramza: As it was my fate to let Tietra die? No, fate had no hand in that. Tietra died because I could not be bothered to save her. I've lied to myself all this time. It was my own inaction that killed her!
(Upon Gaffgarion's next turn.)
Gaffgarion: You truly are a fool! What is the life of one girl, when weighed against the greater good?
Ramza: I see no -good- in using people! Only deception, and death! I will not stand by any longer as innocents fall prey to your -good-! I will not let you harm the princess!
Gaffgarion: Then you seal your fate, you stubborn fool!
(When Gaffgarion is critical.)
Gaffgarion: Curse me for a fool, I'd not thought you'd grown so strong! I'd best retreat for now.
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Ramza: The castle—we must make haste!
The Manipulative and the Subservient[]
Delita: You've not touched your supper. A princess cannot live on pride alone.
Ovelia: ...
Delita: Do you think to starve yourself? None would weep, you know. There are many who would be gladdened by your passing. Stop being stubborn and eat.
Ovelia: You were in league with the cardinal all along, weren't you? What do you mean to do with me? If you'd not give me over to Larg, then what is your intent?
Delita: To put you where you truly ought to be.
Ovelia: So, you would manipulate me as well. I'll not do it, you know. I'll not bend to your whims.
Delita: You will. If you wish to survive, you have no other choice.
Ovelia: What do you mean?
Delita: I mean—
Folmarv: So, this is Lady Ovelia...
Cardinal Delacroix: Do your spirits find you well, Your Highness? If you would be but a tad more tame, there would be no reason to keep you in so cheerless a place as this.
Folmarv: These seem lavish enough quarters for a false princess.
Delacroix: Ho ho ho... The girl does not yet know, Lord Folmarv.
Folmarv: Truly? How pitiable.
Ovelia: Tell me of what it is you speak!
Folmarv: Very well. You are not Ovelia Atkascha.
Ovelia: What...?
Folmarv: The true princess died years ago. You are her double.
Ovelia: That's absurd!
Folmarv: It is neither absurd nor untrue. You are -not- Ovelia. You are a straw doll placed in an empty crib by Council members who bear no love for the queen. It was their intent that you would someday succeed the throne and relieve Queen Louveria of her power. They placed you in the royal family after assassinating the queen's two eldest sons, attributing their deaths to malady. The deception was complete, and your ascent all but sealed. King Ondoria was sickly, and seemed unlike to father another son. But against all odds, another prince was born. Whether he is in truth of Ondoria's seed is highly suspect, of course. Like as not, Duke Larg found some other sire to ensure his sister's place as mother to the king. Regardless, all of the Council's work was made for naught the moment Prince Orinus drew his first breath.
Ovelia: You speak false! I'll not believe you!
Folmarv: Believe what you like, child. It is of little enough consequence. You may be born a butcher's daughter for all it concerns us. We hold a trump card in our hands. The stock from which it was cut matters not.
Ovelia: What is it you wish of me, then? What would you have me do?
Folmarv: Naught at all, sweet child. We only wish that you be our princess, as you always have.
Ovelia: I am a daughter of House Atkascha! I'll take no orders from you!
Folmarv: Oh? Then what will you do? Let yourself fall into Duke Larg's hands, and you'll have a noose in place of a crown. We only wish to help you claim the throne that is yours by right.
Ovelia: ...Who -are- you?
Folmarv: We are no friends of Duke Larg, nor do we sit in Goltanna's camp. Think of us simply as... allies.
Delacroix: Lord Folmarv, let us leave our princess to collect her thoughts. When she comes to see the reality of her situation, she will doubtless wish to be our ally as well.
Folmarv: Indeed, let us give her time to stew.
Folmarv: Come, Delita!
Vow for Vengeance[]
(Upon entering Balias Swale.)
On-screen: Lenalian Plateau
Wiegraf: Milleuda...pray forgive me. I thought to deliver swift vengeance, yet here I am before you, my own blade sheathed beside me as yours lies sheathed within the earth. I have failed at much, but I shall not fail you. Your killers will know vengeance! In this, at least, I shall not be disgraced.
Man's Voice: You speak of a thing beyond your doing.
Wiegraf: Show yourself!
Knight: Put aside your sword.
Knight: I've no wish to cross blades with the leader ofthe Corpse Brigade, even if the Brigade itself is no more. ...My apologies. My words salt wounds still fresh, and that was not my intent. Your men died valiantly.
Wiegraf: Make your purpose plain!
Knight: My name is Loffrey, and I come at another's behest. My purpose is a simple one: to find you. We'd hoped you might be persuaded to work with us toward our common goal.
Wiegraf: Common goal? Ha! What jest, this? Claiming the bounty on my head is no goal of mine! But that is what you seek, am I not mistaken?
Loffrey: Pardon my presumption, but I do not think the tears upon your cheek those born of laughter.
Wiegraf: ...
Loffrey: It is not coin that we desire. It is our wish to rebuild Ivalice—to uproot her foundations, and see that she is not twice made slave to nobility. And that -is- what you seek, is it not?
Wiegraf: You have my ears.
Loffrey: Our ideals are not so very different. A fire burns in you, as it burns in us. Your strength, your passion—your spirit! We would welcome these to our cause.
Wiegraf: You mean to use me.
Loffrey: To every coin there are two faces. Do you not consider the other? Join us, and our power becomes yours to wield. Have you, alone, the strength to venge Milleuda? Have you, alone, the power to grasp the reins of Ivalice?
(Upon entering Lionel Castle Gate.)
On-screen: Lionel Castle Gate
Ramza: Wait there. I'll open the gate.
Familiar Voice: Rather let it remain shut!
Gaffgarion: You made your way into the castle well enough, but you overlooked the ambush.
Ramza: We're surrounded!
Gaffgarion: It's you and I now, Ramza! Shall we be about it, then?
(After Gaffgarion is KO'd.)
Gaffgarion: I feel...cold.
Ramza: Good-bye, Gaffgarion.
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Ramza: We must reach the princess before reinforcements arrive!
(In Zeirchele Falls.)
On-screen: Zeirchele Falls
Delita: Your pace has slowed. Are you weary? We'll never make Zeltennia at this rate.
Ovelia: Arriving sooner will no more make me a princess than arriving later.
Ovelia: That day you saved me at these falls seems so distant now. Your promise to cut me free from the strings of those who manipulate me—it was an empty one, wasn't it?
Delita: Empty or no, you've no choice but to follow me. The hounds are loosed. No bolt-hole is left to you. Run, and you'll still be hunted down as the princess who stands in the way of the throne.
Ovelia: Why must you say such things!?
Ovelia: Ah—!
Northern Sky Scout: Hmph. I'd not thought to find the lady princess here. That thrice-be-damned Gaffgarion must have failed yet again. The man is naught but boasts and swagger. Our orders are to kill on sight. The princess does not leave this place!
Delita: Fools! If it is your wish to die here, then so be it!
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Delita: Was that enough to lift the gauze from your eyes? Bathe the earth in bitter tears, and it will still be all too content to drink your blood. Bemoan your fate and wait for it to claim you, or take my hand and live. The choice is yours.
Ovelia: It appears...I have no choice.
(Upon entering Lionel Castle Oratory.)
On-screen: Lionel Castle Oratory
Cardinal Delacroix: I see Gaffgarion's sword was no match for his words. Then again, perhaps the fault lies with his adversary. Beoulve blood is not given to spill easily. Even when thinned with that of a courtesan, it would seem.
Delacroix: But enough is enough. Your intrusions overstay their welcome. Leave the auracite, and then leave Lionel. A generous offer, and my last.
Ramza: Where is Lady Ovelia?
Delacroix: You mean to free her? What then? You've turned your back on your house. A man cannot prosecute a war alone. Forget this bootless struggle. Think you mere -will- enough to see you victorious? Even will needs force, and you have none.
Ramza: Tell me where the princess is!
Delacroix: Gone to Zeltennia. Her Highness has chosen to accept our hand in aid over yours.
Ramza: You lie!
Delacroix: Her Highness has taken her first step toward the throne. But she will need a steady hand to guide her, and yours falters. Who better, then, than us to stand at her side? She saw this—why not you? There's no reason you should not join us as well. The thought of besting your brothers holds no allure? We care no less for this world's fate than you. Together we can change Ivalice for the better.
Ramza: I have no wish to change the world. But nor can I stand by while men suffer and die on the whim of some select few. Do you truly believe you can change the world? Not even I am so naive as that.
Delacroix: Ha ha! Nescient humility from one possessed of such an artefact. That Stone you hold can twist the very weave of nature, to say nothing of the world. Yet I fear my words are wasted on you. Actions speak louder, yes?
Cúchulainn, the Impure: You take no pains to hide your wonderment. How I shall delight to watch you die. Each excruciation ecstasy!
(After Cúchulainn, the Impure is defeated.)
Cúchulainn, the Impure: How strange that I, the Undying, here should die. A death come early, ere my master could return...
The War of the Lions[]
On-screen: Zeltennia Castle Keep
Duke Goltanna: My advisors tell me you are the one who rescued Princess Ovelia. I would have you tell me more.
Delita: I am Delita Heiral, a Blackram lieutenant in the service of His Excellency the Baron Grimms. His Excellency dispatched me to rescue the princess. And so I did, disguised as one of your own—a sheep in Lion's clothing. Now I have returned.
Chancellor Glevanne: Heiral, you say? That is a name I've not heard before.
Duke Goltanna: I thought Baron Grimms and his Blackrams felled in battle against the Eye a fortnight past.
Delita: Indeed. That dark news spurred me to return with all the greater haste.
Duke Goltanna: How fares the princess?
Bishop Canne-Beurich: She is weary yet from her long journey. She sleeps as if among the dead.
Count Cidolfus Orlandeau: Is it not true you brought a prisoner?
Delita: It is. Bring the prisoner forth!
Delita: Let us hear the reason for your attempt on the princess.
Prisoner: 'Twas to stain Duke Goltanna's name, and keep him from Lesalia. We thought to deny him the regent's seat.
Delita: Who gave you the order? Duke Larg?
Prisoner: No...a close adviser of Duke Goltanna's seeking to curry Duke Larg's favor.
Chancellor Glevanne: Madness! None among us would fain betray our duke! Silence this man, he knows not of what he speaks!
Duke Goltanna: I would hear it nonetheless.
Delita: Who was it?
Prisoner: ...
Delita: Name the one who gave the order!
Prisoner: I'd have your protection?
Delita: On my honor as a knight. Speak!
Prisoner: 'Twas the man who stands before me. Chancellor Glevanne.
Chancellor Glevanne: What!? How dare you! I do not even know you, knave!
Delita: Who put you to it? The queen?
Chancellor Glevanne: Stop this mummer's farce, I've naught to do with this!
Delita: To betray your liege lord is an unpardonable crime, Chancellor.
Chancellor Glevanne: It was not I! I know naught of it!
Delita: Forgive me if I presume overmuch, Your Grace, but now is not the time for bandied words. The Order of the Southern Sky must march on Lesalia at once, and you with it! Give your enemies but a moment to collect themselves, and they will pin the chancellor's sedition on his lord. Your Grace must strike before they are given the chance! Deny the prince's claim, and set the princess on the throne!
On-screen:
Following his sack of the royal capital of Lesalia, Duke Goltanna banished Queen Louveria to Besselat for her hand in the conspiracy and crowned Princess Ovelia queen.
But Duke Larg, insisting that Prince Orinus was the true and rightful heir, at once crowned the child-prince and declared himself regent.
Moving then to free the queen, Duke Larg dispatched the Order of the Northern Sky to Besselat in the name of the new-crowned king. Duke Goltanna in turn set the Southern Sky to march in Ovelia's name.
The curtain had risen on what history would one day record as the War of the Lions.
Chapter 3: The Valiant[]
The Thunder God[]
On-screen: Fort Besselat
The Baron of Bolmina: This past evenfall, the count stood at twenty thousand—forty, if both sides be counted. Alone, we've sustained, ah, two hundred thousand wounded, as well.
Marquis Elmdore de Limberry: The number of casualties does not concern me. Nor does the depletion of our stores—these were to be expected. No, it is this drought that threatens us. The markets are empty and tax collections fall short. With prices as they are, we can lay in supplies for another half year, at best.
Viscount Blanche: Duke Larg must surely face like difficulties. It rained unceasingly in Gallionne this season. The grain rotted in the fields before it could be harvested.
Count Cidolfus Orlandeau: The real trouble lies in war's wake. There is no work. Whole villages have been displaced. Orran tells me over one hundred thousand have already fled to Lesalia, and more pour in by the day.
Viscount Blanche: Ha! I see no trouble in this! Let Larg struggle to feed the mewling maids and his soldiers both!
Count Cidolfus Orlandeau: It is no laughing matter! Should the conflict spread, we may find ourselves no better off. Think you Zeltennia proof against such fate? I assure you, we are not! Has not the time come to chart a course to peace?
Duke Goltanna: Your fears are well founded. But we cannot yet end this war. We shall treble the rate of tax, and keep a close watch on those who hope to profiteer in these trying times. As for those seeking refuge outside the castle walls, we shall tighten our patrols at the Limberry border to see they are turned back.
Count Cidolfus Orlandeau: Duke Larg suffers, as do we. What better time to treat for peace?
Duke Goltanna: You talk in circles, Orlandeau. There can be no peaceful end to this.
Count Cidolfus Orlandeau: The kingdom cannot exist without her people, Excellency! No more than can we. In the Fifty Years' War, who bore a greater burden than they? Would you thank them now with higher taxes? And it is not only the people. Our soldiers are made to fight on rations that would scarce feed a child at his mother's skirts. We cannot long sustain this war. It is a matter of resources and resolve.
Duke Goltanna: Resolve? Have you any? These are the words of a coward.
Count Cidolfus Orlandeau: The Fifty Years' War was fought to drive back an invasion of our sovereign soil. We were honorbound to fight!
Duke Goltanna: And in -this- war you do not feel so bound? You were never one given to hypocrisy, Orlandeau. Show leniency now, and they will only strike the harder. This fight is not only for ourselves, but for our people in equal measure. The Crown cumbers them with its every act. We fight to free them of such tyrannies.
Viscount Blanche: His Grace has the right of it. Besides, why lay down the sword with victory so near? Your title is ill earned, "Thunder God" Cid. Your gentle words would sooner stir a breeze.
Count Cidolfus Orlandeau: Is victory so near? My ears are deaf to its approach. What see you in our plight that portends victory? Or have you forsworn the use of your eyes?
Viscount Blanche: I will not sit here and tolerate such insults!
Duke Goltanna: Enough of this! You disappoint me, Orlandeau. Pray you do not disappoint me further.
Count Cidolfus Orlandeau: ...
Duke Goltanna: I will say this but once. Any man who cares not for the course I've chosen had best remove himself now. I will brook no further doubt, Orlandeau!
On-screen: CHAPTER 3 THE VALIANT
On-screen:
Delita once told me he was swimming against some unseen current.
If this current rushed towards war, and the world with it, what hope did I have to fight it?
I made for Lesalia to tell my Lord Brother someone dictated this war from the shadows—and to test my legs against the current.
Orran[]
(Upon entering The Mining Town of Gollund.)
On-screen: Gollund
Angry Voice: Where is he? Where'd the shuffler steal off to?
Angry Voice: Hear that? He's on the roof!
Orran: I'm trapped...
Rogue: It don't do to have strangers sticking their noses in our little hideaway.
Orran: Then mayhap you might hang a signboard above the door, so we would know this place for a den of thieves!
Rogue: Ha! The cull's got brass. Too bad it's steel he'll be wanting.
Ramza: Something's amiss here.
Rogue: A lot of visitors today. Small matter. Stick 'em all and be done with it!
(After the battle ends.)
Ramza: Are you hurt?
Orran: I am fine, thank you. My name is Orran Durai. And yours?
Ramza: I am Ramza. Ramza Beoulve.
Orran: Ramza Beoulve!?
Ramza: What of it?
Orran: 'Tis naught. Forgive me. Might I inquire as to the direction of your travels?
Ramza: We make for the royal capital. And you? You are welcome to accompany us if our paths are the same.
Orran: A gracious offer, but I fear my road leads away from Lesalia.
Ramza: I see. Fortune be with you, then.
Orran: And with you as well.
Orran: Gods willing, we may meet again. Try to keep yourself alive in the meantime.
Ramza: I will do the best I can.
Reunion with Zalbaag[]
(Upon entering The Royal City of Lesalia.)
Zalbaag: Sit, won't you?
Zalbaag: You surprise me, Ramza. I did not think to see you in Lesalia. Alma is here, you know. I'm sure she'd be delighted to see you.
Ramza: Zalbaag...I—
Zalbaag: Yes?
Ramza: Can you not end this fighting?
Zalbaag: What nonsense is this?
Ramza: What purpose can it serve? We Beoulves have ever fought to defend the people—not simply the Crown. And now we fight for no more than our own glory.
Zalbaag: You speak of things you do not understand, Ramza!
Ramza: It is you who do not understand, Brother! All of this, this...war, has been plotted to some unseen purpose. Dukes Larg and Goltanna only puppets in some shadow play.
Zalbaag: A shadow play? Pray tell how it ends.
Ramza: I...I do not know. Our lord brother planned the princess's abduction to prevent Duke Goltanna from becoming regent. But someone intervened. Princess Ovelia lives, and is now in Goltanna's care. Had the assassination succeeded, the Crown would surely have named Duke Goltanna a traitor and rallied its banners against him.
Zalbaag: Do you stand here accusing our brother of having some hand in this business with the princess? You think a man of your own blood capable of such a thing?
Ramza: So you knew naught of this, Zalbaag?
Zalbaag: Enough! Who have you become, that you do not trust your own family? Begone from my sight! Return to Eagrose and trouble me no more!
Ramza: You speak of trust, Zalbaag, yet you show me none in kind!
Zalbaag: What have you ever done to inspire my trust? The mistake was my own. Until today I had looked on you as a true brother. But your mother's common blood forever stains you common. You are not fit to bear the Beoulve name!
Ramza: You cannot mean that.
Northern Sky Knight: Forive me, Lord commander, but I've urgent news. The Thunder God has broken through our lines at Dugeura Pass.
Zalbaag: Impossible! He was supposed to be at Besselat! Summon the War Council—all of them! I go at once!
Knight: Milord!
The Heretic's Brand[]
On-screen: Lesalia Castle Postern
Alma: Ramza, wait!
Ramza: I'm sorry, Alma.
Alma: Did you think to leave without so much as a word?
Ramza: I...I've never been good at good-byes.
Alma: You won't be coming back, will you.
Ramza: Delita lives, Alma.
Alma: What? But how?
Ramza: He helped them kidnap the princess.
Alma: Helped who?
Ramza: At first I thought it Duke Goltanna—that Delita had sided with him to spite us. But now I fear he may be working with people far more dangerous still. It is they who wanted to thwart the plot to assassinate Princess Ovelia.
Alma: Is it true that Dycedarg planned her abduction?
Ramza: It is. I am sure he had his reasons, but I cannot see them for the blood.
Alma: Then Tietra—?
Ramza: —did not share her brother's luck.
Ramza: Listen to me, Alma. I know not who guides Delita's actions, only that they are to be feared. I know not what evil lies at the end of this plot.
Alma: And Delita serves these people?
Ramza: I cannot be sure. I am sure only that Delita has his reasons as well. If only I could know them.
Alma: You mean to fight them, don't you.
Ramza: ...
Alma: I'm coming with you.
Ramza: Are you mad? That's out of the question!
Alma: I want to help you prove the truth of your words!
Ramza: No. Not like this.
Alma: I would not want my daughter to meet the same fate Tietra has.
Ramza: Alma, please...
Man's Voice: Ramza Beoulve, if I am not mistaken.
Zalmour: Ah, but I have you at a disadvantage. I am Confessor Zalmour Lucianada of the Holy Office of Inquisition. I come to bring you before the Office on charges of the murder of Cardinal Delacroix and suspicion of heresy. You will come with us. Should you resist, you admit your guilt, and will be executed as a heretic.
Ramza: If I go with you, I only prolong my death!
Alma: You must run, Ramza! Quickly!
Zalmour: Then your choice is made! Put this heretic to the sword!
(Upon Zalmour's third turn.)
Zalmour: Your violence against us is as violence against the gods! But it is not too late! Repent of your sins! Repent, and be spared!
Ramza: You name me a heretic, but why? What have I done?
Zalmour: So you pretend ignorance? You slew Cardinal Delacroix to gain the auracite he held and offer it to whatever hellspawn you profane to call a god!
Ramza: You could not be more wrong! The legends of your holy auracite are lies! The Stones are magicite—they hold in them power for evil. The cardinal used this power, and it perverted him into one of the Lucavi!
Zalmour: Is it not enough that you murdered Cardinal Delacroix? Must you now slander his name as well? More's the pity. You will only see the name Beoulve washed away in tears.
(Upon Alma's next turn.)
Alma: Flee, Ramza! You must! Those summoned before the Office do not return!
Ramza: I will not flee while you remain, Alma! I would not see them name you traitor with me! In staying you risk your own life!
Alma: I will not leave you to fight this battle alone!
(When Zalmour is HP critical.)
Zalmour: Heretics who profane the gods must still face their justice! You will yet meet yours!
(After the battle ends.)
Alma: Ramza, you're all right!
Ramza: As are you. I'm glad. *sigh* None of this makes sense. How could the Office of Inquisition have learned of the auracite? Could the Church of Glabados be the ones supporting Delita? What do they hope to gain?
Alma: Ramza? You mentioned auracite. Have you truly seen the Stones from the legend? If auracite is real, then—I think I may have seen it once, too.
Ramza: What? Where!?
Alma: First you have to promise that you'll take me with you!
Ramza: You persist in this? Do you think I would risk putting you in such peril again? I will not take you with me!
Alma: Then I have nothing more to say.
Ramza: Do not act the child! Your very life is in danger!
Alma: I should think it is. I've acted against the Office of Inquisition. Surely I am a heretic in their eyes. They will come for me as they do you. And when they do, do you think Dycedarg will protect me? He would never do anything that might endanger House Beoulve.
Ramza: No, I'm sure our dear brother would not. But you cannot come with me. The danger is too great! You must explain everything to Zalbaag and beg the forgiveness of the Church.
Alma: The one I saw—it was in Orbonne. A crystal, engraved with the likeness of a virgin maid.
Ramza: Virgo...I must reach it before they do. Thank you, Alma. Now go to Zalbaag, and do as I have said.
Alma: And just how do you think to enter the monastery? You're a heretic, remember? Do you think you will be welcome at Orbonne?
Ramza: Ah...
Alma: So, you need me after all.
Ramza: Fine, but only until we reach Orbonne. When it is done, you will come home.
Alma: I promise.
Ramza: I will hold you to it.
Elder's Confession[]
(Upon reaching Orbonne Monastery and entering Monastery Vaults - First Level.)
Alma: Elder Simon!
Alma: Elder, speak to me!
Simon: Uhhn...Lady Alma...? What...what are you doing here?
Alma: Never mind that. What happened here?
Simon: You...you must leave this place at once, child. It is not safe. Men have come...come seeking the Stone.
Ramza: A Zodiac Stone? Then it is as Alma said!
Simon: The Virgo Stone is one of...one of the crown jewels of Ivalice. It was given into our keeping when Lady Ovelia was brought here for her fosterage...as proof of her royalty.
Ramza: And the ones come to take it—who are they?
Simon: You are...Alma's elder brother? Ramza, was it not? I beg you, my son—leave them be. Block their way, and they will only cut you down.
Man's Voice: Where's the bloody Stone!?
Second Man's Voice: Patience! It's here somewhere. We need only look harder!
Third Man's Voice: Come, this leads to the lower vaults!
Ramza: I am branded a heretic and hunted by the Church. Am I to assume the Stones I now possess are the reason? Who are these men? Please, I must know!
Simon: ...Very well. High Confessor Marcel and his followers seek to restore the Church to prominence. As a first step, they have set Dukes Larg and Goltanna against one another to whittle down their military might. The longer the fighting lasts, the weaker the dukes become—and the more the people lose their faith in the Crown.
Ramza: And by gathering the Stones, and reviving the Zodiac Braves? What do they hope to gain from such a show?
Simon: The support of the people, of course.
Ramza: Truly? The cardinal used his Stone to infuse himself with the strength of the Lucavi. If such is the power of the Zodiac Stones, it is a power to rival that of any army. Is that strength not what the High Confessor seeks?
Simon: You are unlike your brothers. You remind me a great deal more of your late lord father. You—you may well have what is needed to put a stop to their ambitions.
Ramza: Wait here. I am going after them.
Alma: And I with you!
Ramza: We cannot leave Elder Simon here alone. Find a safe place to hide. Wait there with him until I return!
Alma: Very well.
Ramza: I shall leave the auracite with you, lest the worst befall me. If I fail to return, cast it into the Bugross Sea.
Alma: It pains me that I can do no more at times like this. How I wish I'd been born a man like you.
Ramza: Don't be ridiculous! Who would I ever turn to if I didn't have my little sister?
Alma: Ramza...
Ramza: Take Elder Simon to safety!
(Upon entering Monastery Vaults Second Level.)
On-screen: Monastery Vaults Second Level
Knight Templar Isilud: Hold this passage until our return!
Templarate Mage: Ser!
Ramza: We must put them to rout! They cannot be allowed to take the Stone!
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Isilud: So, this is Virgo! And what a beautiful maiden she is!
Ramza: To the lower vaults! Quickly!
(Upon entering Monastery Vaults Third Level.)
On-screen: Monastery Vaults Third Level
Isilud: The mongrel follows our scent! Mayhap it is for the best. Heretic! I shall have the Stones you carry!
Ramza: You will have an offer of mercy, and naught more. Lay down the Stone you've taken and you may flee with your lives.
Isilud: I've no more need for your mercy than for you. If you want the Stone, come and claim it!
(Upon Isilud's fifth turn.)
Isilud: Why do you persist in this fool resistance, Ramza? You are a Beoulve! Why do you not heed your brothers' counsel? Why!?
Ramza: It is -because- I am a Beoulve I do not heed them! The Beoulve name stands for truth and justice! It is not a tool to be used for selfish gain! My lord father fought and died defending our people against Ordallia in the Fifty Years' War. House Beoulve cannot now turn on its purpose and fight for the interests of a corrupt Crown and self-serving aristocracy!
Isilud: Then let it fight for ours! What we wish for is the same! Hear me, Ramza! The Church of Glabados envisions a world devoid of class divides—a world where all men can live as equals! Saint Ajora spoke of such a utopia. It is the Promised Land he foretold! Fear and doubt worry the hearts of the people, leaving small room for fealty. You see this! Ivalice lists, Ramza, and threatens to founder! Should we fail to right her course, this storm -will- claim her!
Ramza: It is you who churn the waves! You orchestrate this entire conflict! You claim -war- to be the proper course for Ivalice!?
Isilud: Change does not come without cost! Revolution requires martyrs, and we require revolution! The Crown is rotten, the nobility corrupt. They must be made to pay! The people deserve their justice! Help us deliver it to them, Ramza! Join us, as your once friend Delita has!
(Upon Ramza's next turn.)
Ramza: Were it justice you desired, I would gladly help you see it done. But what you truly want is power. Power beyond that of any army. You would free the people only to enslave them anew with the demonic power of the Stones!
Isilud: -Demonic- power? The Zodiac Stones are vessels for the -gods-! We would use their divine miracles to guide the people to greater glory! There is nothing -demonic- in that!
Ramza: Few would consider it divine miracle when a man is made a demon. Or do you pretend not to know that their power transformed the cardinal into a Lucavi?
Isilud: What nonsense is that? The only demon I see stands before me! Was it not you who murdered the cardinal for the Stone he possessed? Not that he would have long lived gathering the Stones behind our backs as he was!
(When Isilund is critical.)
Isilud: I will not be bested by this heretic! But nor will I risk death for honor here. Delivering the Stone is of far greater import. Know this, Ramza: The day of our next meeting will be your last!
Ramza: Isilud, wait!
(Upon entering Monastery Vaults First Level.)
On-screen: Monastery Vaults First Level
Alma: Let me go!
Wiegraf: Isilud, I will secure the monastery. Take the girl and go.
Isilud: C'mon, no need to struggle!
Alma: Ramza! Help me!
Wiegraf: So, Ramza Beoulve is here. Do not be deceived by his youth. He is a worthy foe. Gird yourselves well for battle!
(Upon Wiegraf's first turn.)
Wiegraf: Milleuda, you will soon be avenged.
(Upon Ramza's next turn.)
Ramza: Wiegraf! You live?
Wiegraf: I have lived for this, Ramza. How long has it been since last we met?
Ramza: Then you were a warrior who fought to make your dream reality. Now you are only a thrall of the Church.
Wiegraf: What troubled sleep have you known, to speak of my dreams? No matter how sweet, a dream left unrealized must fade into day. Only with power can dreams be made real! I see the truth of it now. What good, dreams, without that power? You think me a thrall? So be it! Your envenomed words succor me, for when at last you yield—as you must—their poison will consume you!
(Several turns later.)
Ramza: I pity you, Wiegraf! Even if you couldn't fulfill your dream, your people wouldn’t have forgotten you. Your ideals and actions inspired your people and even stirred up the old Noble customs! Your actions have meaning only if they hold true to your ideals. Milleuda and your old comrades would be disappointed with your current choice of actions. If you need someone else to fulfill your dreams, it loses its value. Wouldn't you agree?
Wiegraf: You say you are different? You say you depend on no one? You'll never know the feeling of the "Meager"! You may think you know it, but you’ve never lived it! You’d never know! "Reality" is far harsher than you can possibly imagine. Why do you blame me? You have no right to blame me!
(When Wiegraf is KO'd.)
Wiegraf: Do not think you've...won! I hold the Zodiac Stone...Aries. I will not...fall so...easily!
Ramza: Damn you, Wiegraf!
Belias, the Gigas[]
Isilud: Wiegraf, you're wounded!
Wiegraf: Go! Do not...tarry here for me.
Ramza: Alma!
Wiegraf: Go...Isilud...
Isilud: Forgive me, Wiegraf.
Ramza: Isilud, wait!
Wiegraf: *cough* Is this...how it ends...? I have...failed Milleuda. Failed them all. A bitter draught...So much left...undone...
On-screen: God Stone bearer, with me now do treat.
Ramza: The auracite...it speaks?
On-screen: God Stone bearer, with me now do treat. Your spirit and my flesh as one shall merge. Life undying yours forever more.
Wiegraf: Is this the Stones' great secret?
On-screen: Your ire and despair, their call I heed. And so once more I ask: With me do treat.
Ramza: Wiegraf, no! It means to deceive you!
Wiegraf: Help me...I beg you...
On-screen: The gigas Belias have I been named. Your plea to answer now my only wish.
Belias, the Gigas: Is this the wonder of the auracite?
Ramza: Wiegraf!?
Belias, the Gigas: Magnificent, the pow'r of the gods! Nay, not only pow'r—so much more. Sights unknown I see. My mind a vessel filled with wisdom of a thousand years.
Belias, the Gigas: Ha! You hurry towards your end, alas too soon. Such power...Such power!
Ramza: Elder! What—what are you doing?
Simon: I...I had to bring you this.
Ramza: A book?
Simon: Written by a man named Germonique...one of Saint Ajora's disciples. It was lost for a great many years. Only recently did I discover it among the stacks of our reliquary beneath the monastery. It chronicles the true tale of the Zodiac Braves—no detail is omitted.
Ramza: Please, Elder, you'll tire yourself.
Simon: I am already...so very tired...I have lived a life of sin. All these years I have turned a blind eye as the Church rotted with corruption. With this book, you can expose their misdeeds! You can win...Alma's freedom...
Ramza: Please, Elder!
Simon: Ahh. It is done. My mind is now at ease. The rest, Ramza...depends on you. You...you really are the very image of Barbaneth in his youth...you know...
Ramza: Elder Simon, no!
(Upon entering The Merchant City of Dorter.)
Outland Mage: You are the heretic Ramza, yes?
Ramza: What have you done with Alma?
Outland Mage: If you want your sister back, you will come to Riovanes Castle. And you will bring the Scriptures of Germonique with you.
Ramza: What importance is the book?
Outland Mage: Surely you have read the Scriptures?
- (Upon selecting "1. I've read them.")
Ramza: I have, and if you would keep the Church's secrets, you will give me my sister!
Outland Mage: You are not in a position to make demands. This is a luxury you do not have. So we have an understanding, yes? - (Upon selecting "2. No, I haven't.")
Ramza: No, I haven't read them yet. I assume they contain something of importance?
Outland Mage: A blithe response. There are many who would kill you for that book, and you do not even know what it is you carry. Well, we have an understanding, then?
Ovelia and Delita[]
(Upon attempting to leave The Merchant City of Dorter.)
Delita: So here you are. They've been searching high and low for you.
Delita: I do hope this day finds Your Royal Highness in better spirits than those past.
Ovelia: Do not mock me! Please. I could not bear it.
Delita: That was cruel of me. I am sorry.
Ovelia: What do you mean to do with me? I am not Ovelia! There can be no value in holding me. No value even in my living.
Delita: You're right. You are not the Princess Ovelia. We do not even know your rightful name. Whether even you be highborn, or low.
Ovelia: I had often wondered. Of the royal family, why must I alone be confined to a remote monastery, so far removed from the seat of our Crown? Even this I thought a burden light enough, if it meant the kingdom would know peace. I played my part, yet still Ivalice runs red with blood. All this suffering and solitude. For what?
Delita: It has been the same for me. I was given the wardrobe of a nobleman, and so I played the part. A puppet, ever dancing for the amusement of patrons unseen. This wretched world does not reward endeavor. It is the patron and his troupe who are receipt—maggots grown fat on endeavor's corse. Most men but play the part they're given. Most live and die not knowing they play a part at all. But I am past all that now. I am their unwitting puppet no more. No more...I will exact from them the price of their gluttonous feast!
Ovelia: And just what is it you plan to do to them?
Delita: I will burn down this kingdom, and from its ashes build for you a new one—a kingdom worthy of you. I will show you a world where your light will outshine the sun! A world that will know no darkness. And you will have no more need of tears.
Ovelia: Such a world...is it possible?
Delita: I will not fail you in this. On Tietra's soul, I swear to you.
Delita: Dry your tears.
The Thunder God's Son[]
(Upon entering Grogh Heights.)
On-screen: Grogh Heights
Southern Sky Deserter (1): Pursued even yet, when we are fled so far? Have the gods no mercy?
Ramza: Is that a scouting party from the Order of the Southern Sky?
Southern Sky Deserter (1): We're through fighting! You will not force us to return! We're going home! Better to live in the streets than to die in them! We've had our fill of blood and death!
Ramza: We do not pursue you! Pray heed my words! It is not our wish to fight!
Southern Sky Deserter (1): Aye, that much I'll believe. Better to strike us down cleanly when our backs are turned! Do not think us so green as to fall for your tricks! We've seen our share of those as well!
Southern Sky Deserter (2): That man...Does he not have the look of the one on the handbill?
Southern Sky Deserter (1): What of it?
Southern Sky Deserter (2): It's him—the heretic! I'm certain of it! If we returned with him, might they not pardon our desertion?
Southern Sky Deserter (1): You'd return to camp?
Southern Sky Deserter (2): Consider it! The capture of a heretic is near as grand a feat as the capture of an enemy commander! If we delivered them his head, do you not think they would reward us with leave to return home?
Southern Sky Deserter (1): The men who captured that general -were- dismissed honorably...
Southern Sky Deserter (2): If we are to return to our homes, let us do so with our heads held high! Were we to return now, it would be to a life of skulking in the shadows.
Southern Sky Deserter (1): You speak true. Let us return with him! Or at least with his head. It's not long for those shoulders anyway. He is a heretic, after all! Come, let this be our final battle! Our freedom is bought with this godless man's blood!
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Ramza: I understand the need to hold one's own life dear. But to hold it so far above all others...
(After the battle ends.)
Ramza: Father...What would you have done?
Ramza: Is that...?
Orran: We meet again.
Ramza: I see the Black Lion sits upon your breast. You are of the Order of the Southern Sky, then?
Orran: I am. And it would seem we have you to thank for dealing with our deserters. Ha! I must admit, I'd never thought I'd see the day a Beoulve lent his aid to -our- order!
Ramza: The fight was not of my choosing.
Orran: I know. You do not wish to shed blood, but it cannot always be avoided. We're no different. Do you think we hunt these men down out of enmity? Craven they may be, but they've not wronged us.
Ramza: You knew who I was all along, didn't you?
Orran: I did. I'd seen your name and face upon a bill. Inexpiable heresy, was it not? My mind reels at the thought of what you must have done!
Ramza: Have you a mind to turn me in?
Orran: Why would I do that? Our orders are to capture deserters. They say nothing of heretics already hunted mercilessly by their own. If I were one of those, I think I'd get moving before the lions at my heels thought to feast upon me as well.
Ramza: Why do you still fight?
Orran: So long as your brothers point their swords at our throats, we must.
Ramza: If the White Lion lowered his claws, the Black would follow suit?
Orran: No, I do not think it like he would.
Ramza: Could you deliver a message to Count Orlandeau, if you should chance to meet him? There are men behind the curtain who goad the dukes for their own gain. We are all but puppets, dancing as they pull our strings. It is those men we ought be fighting.
Orran: I can deliver the message. But why to the count?
Ramza: My father once told me Count Orlandeau was the only man he could truly call friend.
Orran: I am the count's adopted son. I will tell him what you've told me.
Ramza: Then you believe me?
Orran: I do not know the reason these men seek the Zodiac Stones. If it is for the benefit of the people, I see no reason to raise protest. But if they seek to use the legend for their own gain, I can assure you my stepfather will not sit idly by. It was not for quiet complacence he was given the name "Thunder God".
Ramza: You know of the High Confessor's plot?
Orran: Of it, yes. But we have no hard evidence. Our spies are working tirelessly, but I suspect you know more than they.
Ramza: If you did have evidence of the plot, would you then be willing to lay down your swords?
Orran: Such evidence exists?
Ramza: The Scriptures—no, it matters not. I simply wish to know.
Orran: Whether or not it would mean the end of this conflict, I cannot say. But my father, for one, would surely sheathe his blade.
Southern Sky Knight: Lord Orran! We must press onward!
Orran: Very well. Let us resume our march! Farewell, Ramza. See that you keep your head about your shoulders.
Orran: Never think yourself without allies! You -do- have friends—friends who would gladly lay down their lives fighting beside you! And I count myself among them!
Ramza: Thank you, Orran.
Rapha[]
(Upon entering The Walled City of Yardrow.)
On-screen: Yardrow
Outland Mage: Are you blind to the treason of your words, Rapha!?
Rapha: Me? It is you who cannot see! He uses us, Marach! We are instruments of murder to him, naught more! To stay would be to live out our days as the grand duke's cat's-paws, killing so he might keep his own hands clean! Come, let us run away together while we yet can!
Marach: Have you forgotten who it was who saved us when we had lost our parents to the war? Grand Duke Barrington opened his heart and home to the both of us. You would repay that kindness now with treachery? We owe him a debt of allegiance. We'd have died a beggar's death were it not for him!
Rapha: Feed us he did, Marach, but we were supped on lies! I know the truth of it now. It was the grand duke himself who set fire to our village, his hand hidden by the smoke of war! And do you know why—why he killed everyone we ever knew? It was for our gifts! You and I possess power, and power is all he craves. He burnt down our entire village that he might claim the sacred power of our mantras for his own! Opened his heart, you say? The man is not possessed of one! It is -you- who need open your -eyes-, Marach!
Marach: I'll not abide your ill-mannered tongue!
Rapha: You know, don't you? You know of the...the thing he did to me. You are my brother, you know of this, and even yet you—
Marach: Speak not another word! You stir a rage in me, Rapha. I am your brother and your elder, and I will not have you question me!
Riovanesian Ninja: There you are, Marach. The heretic Ramza draws nigh.
Marach: I am well aware, and long since made prepared.
Rapha: Marach...
Riovanesian Ninja: That's him!
Rapha: Pray lend me your aid!
(When Marach is KO'd.)
Marach: Damn it! Do the gods favor a heretic over me?
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Ramza: Are you all right?
Rapha: Y-yes, I'm fine. Thank you. I—
Ramza: We will not be safe here should they return. Let us find a quiet place to hide!
(After the battle ends.)
Rapha: Grand Duke Barrington has eyes for one thing: the throne of Ivalice. They call him King already—King of the Forge. He fashions ever more and stronger arms, and trains mages enough for all the realm.
Ramza: His actions are guided from the shadows. There are others—men who promise to eliminate the dukes Larg and Goltanna, and dub the grand duke regent.
Rapha: And you fight these men, when fighting them means you must be labeled a heretic? Why would you do such a thing? No, that is a silly question. I know the answer. But surely you must realize your efforts will earn you no thanks.
Ramza: I do not fight for the gratitude. I am a Beoulve. I fight for the honor of my name.
Rapha: I'd not believe that for a moment. You strike me not as the sort of man to fight for things so trite. No, you see evil and injustice before your eyes and cannot turn away. You do not even think to seek reward.
Ramza: You mistake me for a better man. But we have spoken enough of me. What will you do now? I must make for Riovanes. They hold my sister there. What of you, now that you've escaped?
Rapha: I cannot leave. Not without my brother.
Ramza: There's a quarrel between the two of you, is there not?
Rapha: He refuses to accept the truth. We were orphaned in the war, you see. We lost our parents, our home—all but our lives. The memories haunt me even now. Climbing mounds of rubble in search of any scrap of food, the air ever thick with death's foul stench...That was the life from which the grand duke spared us. At the time, I thought it sure the gods had sent him.
Ramza: You were not alone. He erected a great many orphanages in the war's wake. It was a noble gesture of less than noble intent. He wanted assassins. The orphanages gave him a pool of willing young minds, allowing him to select the very best to groom and train. He must have seen some promise in you and your brother.
Rapha: We Galtheans are keepers of a sacred art, passed down through the generations. My brother and I are conduits, I of the heavens and he of the nether. We channel their power through mantra. Grand Duke Barrington desired that power for his own. When our elder refused him, the grand duke put our entire village to the torch. All is grist that comes to that man's mill. If there is a thing he cannot have, he thinks it better that it not exist at all. To imagine the joy he must have felt when he discovered the two of us among the other orphans—it turns my stomach.
Ramza: So when you learned of all this, you tried to flee...
Rapha: My brother and I loved the man as though he were our father. But even that did not stop him from...from—!
Ramza: For a man of his high station to so prey upon the weak—it is not meet.
Marach: I would have thought you fled farther.
Rapha: Marach!
Marach: Heed my words, heretic! Spare no haste on your way to Riovanes! Tarry here, and you next meet your sister in the afterlife!
Ramza: Harm a hair on her head, and I'll have you there for company!
Marach: Rapha! You will accompany Ramza. Run, and the death of his sister hangs on your shoulders.
Rapha: You play a craven game, Marach! This has naught to do with them!
Marach: I play no -game-! I trust you know what awaits should you try my patience any longer!
Rapha: Come, Ramza. Let us make for Riovanes.
Ramza: Forgive me. I did not mean to draw you into this.
Rapha: You didn't. This madness is none of your doing.
(Upon leaving Yardrow.)
On-screen: Zeltennia Castle Chapel Ruins
Ovelia: O Father, grant unto us, your children of Ivalice, salvation. Allow not this war to consume our realm, but set us swiftly on the proper course, that we might know true peace.
Delita: I thought I might find you here again.
Delita: This night carries with it a chill wind. You'd best return to your chambers before the sun—
Ovelia: Delita!
Delita: I am all right. It only grazed me. Run. Quickly!
Delita: Pawns of Larg, are you not, sent by Lord Dycedarg? They must be grown rife with fear, to employ such open measures.
Assassin (1): Hmph. Our quarry is well-guarded. Strike down her shield as well.
Assassin (2): As you will.
Delita: I bear you naught save pity, but my hand is forced. I will take your lives.
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Ovelia: Thank you, Delita. Are you hurt?
Delita: It's no cause for concern. You are quite the troublesome princess, aren't you?
Ovelia: I'm sorry, I did not mean to—
Delita: I'm glad you're safe.
Ovelia: Delita...
(Upon entering The Yuguewood.)
On-screen: The Yuguewood
Rapha: Those who fell in the Fifty Years' War still linger in this wood. You will find no release here! Return with your remorse to the land of the dead!
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Ramza: Let us put some distance between us and this haunted wood.
The Grand Duke's Ambitions[]
(Upon entering Riovanes Castle.)
Grand Duke Barrington: Ah, a warmest welcome to you both. I do hope you've found my halls to your pleasure. They may lack the grandeur of Lesalia's, but I find they make up for it in other ways. Castles built as seats of governance are so dreadfully plain. Would you not agree? There is such greater beauty in a fortress built for war. Ivalice herself would seem to be in agreement. Ever has she been ruled by men with power. Some might take this latest upheaval as a sign that the Crown—in its austere seat—has lost the strength to keep her under rein.
Folmarv: Your summons spoke of matters more pressing than the style of Lesalia's keep.
Barrington: Must everyone be in such haste?
Barrington: Very well, I shall ask you outright. Will you not join your strength with mine?
Folmarv: I am afraid your meaning escapes me, Your Grace.
Barrington: As I said a moment ago, it is -power- that rules Ivalice. Who do you think now holds power? Duke Larg, and the Order of the Northern Sky? Duke Goltanna, mayhap, with the Southern Sky's swords at his beck and call? No, I can assure you it is not they. The ones who hold true power are the ones who hold the Zodiac Stones—the Knights Templar.
Folmarv: You think us the greatest power in Ivalice?
Barrington: The Stones are said to possess phenomenal magick. If legend is to be believed, they were responsible for the cataclysm that laid waste to Mullonde in bygone days.
Folmarv: Ah ha ha! Oh, forgive me. I forget myself. It's just—I would never have expected a man like yourself to believe in such utter fantasy.
Barrington: You mean to tell me that you do not? Curious. I had heard that the cardinal's death was somehow connected to the Stones.
Folmarv: Truly? As I had it, the cardinal had taken ill.
Barrington: Is that so? Might I ask, then, the reason you seek that young Beoulve? I can only imagine what he must have done to earn the label of heretic.
Folmarv: The inquisitors do not share with us the reasons for their decisions.
Barrington: So, you know nothing at all. How terribly inconvenient! Still, I wonder if there could not be some detail you are simply forgetting. Marach!
Isilud: Father...F-forgive me.
Folmarv: Hmph. Your meaning becomes clearer.
Barrington: I've taken Scorpio and Taurus for safekeeping.
Folmarv: You worthless fool of a son!
Riovanesian Guard: Pardon my intrusion, Your Grace, but your long-awaited guests are at our gate.
Barrington: Marach, would you kindly see to them?
Folmarv: What is it you wish, Barrington?
Barrington: Cooperation. I said as much a few moments ago. It would be a mutually beneficial arrangement, I assure you.
Folmarv: And if we were to refuse?
Barrington: Then I suppose I'd be forced to unmask the Church's plot for what it is.
Folmarv: Stones alone prove naught.
Barrington: In that you are correct, ser. But it would be hard to say the same of the Scriptures of Germonique. I dare contend they might generate something more of a stir. Duke Larg, Duke Goltanna—even the Council is like to raise an eye at those.
Folmarv: Where are they?
Barrington: Oh, who could say? You of all people must know how easily such details can elude the mind's grasp.
Folmarv: Wiegraf, see to the mage who left a moment ago. I shall attend to matters here.
Barrington: Do not think to threaten me! This is a battle you cannot hope to win.
Folmarv: No, it is one we cannot hope to lose. Who is there to oppose us, save you feeble-bodied humans?
Isilud: Father...?
Folmarv: You misjudge the strength of your enemy, Grand Duke Barrington. There will be no sport in killing you.
Barrington: You would raise arms against your host under his own roof!?
Folmarv: The hospitality of your hall grows cold. I fear I shall have to take my leave, once I've shown you the power of the Stones!
(Upon entering Riovanes Castle Gate.)
On-screen: Riovanes Castle Gate
Rapha: Please, Marach, heed my words! We can leave this place together!
Marach: Death is the price for disloyalty. You know this as well as I. The grand duke sees all debts paid in kind. Turncloaks are set upon by their once friends, hunted relentlessly until the end. To flee this day is to live your rest in fear, ever wondering when the knife will find its mark. Such is not a life I choose to lead. If we but finish this one last task for him, the grand duke will release us both from his service. He swore as much to me!
Rapha: Swore it on what? His -honor-? Do not tell me you believed him! The man's words are honeyed poison. I'd sooner deal with a devil. They make not such effort to conceal their lies!
Marach: The grand duke would not lie to me! We need only kill that man and take the Scriptures from his corpse, and then our chains are cut!
(Upon Ramza's first turn.)
Ramza: What have you done with Alma?
Marach: You fear for the life of your sweet sister, Ramza? Hand over the Scriptures of Germonique, and you both may yet live.
Rapha: His words are false, Ramza! Do not be taken by them! He will tell you whatever you wish to hear, and kill you both when he has what he desires! Surrender the Scriptures, and you forfeit your only leverage. So long as you hold that book, your sister's life is guaranteed!
(If Marach is critical.)
Marach: Twice fought and twice defeated. I am no match for this one.
Rapha: You cannot run from me, Marach!
(If Rapha is critical.)
Rapha: What you say is true, Marach. There is no point in simply running. These chains that bind us must be cut by our own hands!
Marach: Rapha, wait! Do not be foolish!
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Riovanesian Guard: Claws...and fangs...Gods have mercy...
Ramza: Pray let them be safe. Alma...and Rapha too.
Alma's Escape[]
Alma: Ramza...
Alma: What is happening?
Alma: Those wounds are terrible! What...what did this to you?
Riovanesian Guard: A beast...beast with—oh gods, my limbs grow cold!
Alma: Be strong, ser!
Guard: B-begone...from here, my lady. There is...only death here...
(Upon entering Riovanes Castle Keep.)
On-screen: Riovanes Castle Keep
Ramza: By the gods...
Wiegraf: So, you've come. Draw your sword, Ramza.
Wiegraf: Not in the mood? I hope you will not object to me drawing mine.
Ramza: I pity you, Wiegraf. More than you can know. What must Milleuda think, to see you now? You would sell your soul to the Lucavi to slake your thirst for revenge.
Wiegraf: Revenge? You think that is what drives me? I have no such petty concerns. I do not fight to avenge Milleuda's death. I sow the seeds of chaos in the world of men, and reap the anguished cries of the weak. But worry not, Ramza. Yours is a special case. I shall kill -you- myself!
(Upon Ramza's second turn.)
Ramza: Auracite is the work of demons, not gods—the Zodiac Braves, their unholy knights. Heroes of a false legend!
Wiegraf: *chuckle* All such tales of gods and their miracles are false. Those who would lead prefer that history suit their needs, and rewrite it to see that it does. And why shouldn't they? The fault lies not with them. The reeking masses yearn for gods and miracles. It is their opiate, and they consume it greedily. The people do not endeavor towards greatness, but rather mire themselves in their petty strifes—shackles on the feet of man. Their leaders give them no more than that for which they clamor. It is history's oldest and most oft-repeated tale. Do men exploit this weakness to dominate their fellows? Mayhap they do. But they succeed only because the people are eager to know such dominion. Gods are only illusions born of man's fear. It is they who see this charade for what it is and join in the pageantry who are to blame.
Ramza: And you? You did not conquer your fear. You turned to the auracite to find your miracle.
Wiegraf: It is -because- I am weak, -because- I fear, that I turn to the gods. Can you claim to be free of weakness and fear?
Ramza: No, but I endeavor to be so!
Wiegraf: Your endeavors are soon ended!
(When Wiegraf is critical.)
Wiegraf: You are...stronger than I had thought...
Ramza: You cannot run, Wiegraf!
Ramza: Show yourself!
Wiegraf: This has gone on long enough.
Belias, the Gigas: I am come.
Belias, the Gigas: You fight alone no more? Then nor shall I. Here join me, followers loyal and true.
Belias, the Gigas: The battle now is joined, Ramza Beoulve! Behold for true fell pow'r of the Dark!
(After Belias is defeated.)
Belias, the Gigas: Unnngaahhh! Brought down by hand of mortal man!
Ramza: Alma!
Tragedy's Mark[]
Isilud: Ungh...ahhh...
Alma: You're going to be all right.
Isilud: My...my sword. Where is...my sword? I must stop him. Stop -it-...Won't you fetch...a taper, to kindle some light? It is so dark here...
Alma: It's all right. You needn't fight any longer. Rest yourself.
Isilud: Your brother...tell him for me. The auracite...a foul work. Evil...My father...nay, that was no longer...my father. Transformed by the...auracite. One of the Lucavi! *cough*
Alma: You should not speak.
Isilud: Ramza was right...It must be stopped. It could destroy...all of Ivalice. Such power...You must tell them. Tell them all. They must cease their fighting. Together they must face a...greater threat. Where is my sword? My arm does not heed me...
Alma: Be still now. I saw...its body in the hall. My brother slew it. It is done.
Isilud: It is dead? Slain? Then I might rest...In my doublet. There is a piece of auracite. You must give it to your...your brother for me.
Alma: I will.
Isilud: Thank you. My eyes are weary...heavy with sleep. Let me rest them for...for a little while...
Man's Voice: Whose voice is that?
Folmarv: Ah, so here you are. I shall speed you to join the others.
Folmarv: You needn't fear. Your death shall be quick.
Folmarv: Belias? They've defeated him. Your brother is ill luck for us.
Folmarv: Come, we're leaving.
Folmarv: What's this? Virgo stirs. You? Could it really be?
Folmarv: Mayhap our luck turns! I should not have thought to find our quarry here! I had feared we might search another century or more and still not find you!
Alma: What are you talking about? Release me!
Folmarv: Do not worry, your life is safe. Now, come!
(Upon entering Riovanes Castle Roof.)
On-screen: Riovanes Castle Roof
Grand Duke Barrington: After all I've done for you, you now repay me with betrayal? You owe me your life, you ungrateful wretch! You would not stand here today were it not for me! Did you prefer digging through sordid heaps of rubble? Or have you already forgotten that?
Rapha: Oh, I recall that quite clearly. It was after you burnt our village, was it not? Shortly after you murdered my mother and father and everybody else! It is not with -betrayal- I repay your deeds! It is with -vengeance-!
Grand Duke Barrington: Vengeance? You truly believe that you are capable of exacting vengeance on me? I am your father, Rapha—the man who raised you from a girl! You cannot kill your own father. Though you are welcome to try!
Grand Duke Barrington: *chuckle* You cannot do it. Do you know why? The flesh remembers, Rapha. It remembers fear, cold and trembling. But it will not always be so. In time, your fear will blossom into another flower—and I shall have that one as well.
Marach: It's true, isn't it?
Marach: You meant the words you spoke just now!
Grand Duke Barrington: You turn on me as well, Marach? You truly are an ungrateful lot.
Rapha: I'll kill him, I will!
Marach: Rapha, no!
Rapha: Marach! Speak to me, Marach! Oh, Father, no!
Ramza: Rapha! Marach!
Grand Duke Barrington: You must be Ramza. Move no further! If you wish to help your brother, Rapha, bring me the auracite he carries. It should be on his person. Check his robes.
Grand Duke Barrington: Yes, that is it! Bring it to me! Quickly now! I grow impatient!
Grand Duke Barrington: Urg!
Man's Voice: I wonder if you would not relinquish it to me instead.
Ramza: Marquis Elmdore? I thought you—
Elmdore: No, dear. This is not a game of hide-the-Stone. Bring it here.
Ramza: Guard yourself, Rapha! Those are no humans!
Elmdore: You must be the heretic, Ramza. I suppose I owe you my thanks. Forgive me for not expressing my gratitude sooner. I would have you know I am not a violent man like Folmarv. Will you not yield the Stone of your own accord? I do so hate to see blood spilt needlessly. Spare me the struggle, and I shall be glad to ask Folmarv to return your young sister.
Ramza: What have you done with her!?
Elmdore: Mayhap I did not make myself clear. I would have the Stone, if you would speak more of that.
Ramza: I cannot let worry sway me. It must not go to him.
Elmdore: An adoring brother you must be, to trade your sister for a stone! After all you've faced in coming here, you leave her to her fate?
Ramza: I have no words for you.
Elmdore: Indeed, it seems the time for words is past. Celia, Lettie! The girl carries the auracite. Take it from her corpse!
(When one of Elmdore, Celia, or Lettie is KO'd.)
Elmdore: So... this is the strength that felled the Gigas—and Cúchulainn as well. Celia! Lettie! Come, this night is lost. If you wish to claim the auracite I hold, Ramza, you had best make your way to Limberry. I shall await your coming there with bated breath.
Rapha: Oh, Marach...
A Different Power[]
Rapha: Look, Marach! A new dawn is risen! Can... can you see it? So often we sat together talking, waiting for the coming of first light. We'd talk of the journeys we wanted to make together, wouldn't we? How when the war ended, we would go back and visit our old village. You remember, Marach, don't you? Don't you? Tell me you do! Tell... tell me you'll still go!
Ramza: Wait for me, Alma.
Rapha: What's this?
Ramza: The auracite cries with her. It resonates with the grief in her heart. Wiegraf's heart was full of sorrow as well...and despair. And those feelings summoned forth—!
Rapha: You grieve for him as well? Thank you.
Ramza: No, Rapha! You must not listen to that voice!
Ramza: Do my eyes deceive me?
Marach: Uh...uhn...
Rapha: Marach!
Marach: Rapha...? Wh-where are we? Why...why am I here?
Rapha: Oh, Marach! Thank the gods, you're alive!
Marach: Ow! Do you mean to suffocate me? Ha ha ha...
A Pure Heart[]
Marach (narration):
Ramza: Another Zodiac Stone? But why would it be here?
Ramza (narration):
Marach (narration):
Ramza: I shall save you, Alma. Come what may.
On-screen:
Frustration with the stalemate growing, the Order of the Northern Sky recalled its full force from the war's now expansive front. They marched on Fort Besselat, with plans to turn the tide of the war.
Chapter 4: In the Name of Love[]
In the Shadows[]
Marach: I have not seen such slaughter. There are corpses at every turn.
Rapha: But your sister was not among them, was she?
Ramza: No, she's not here.
Marach: They had her in the castle, I'm sure of it. They must have taken her elsewhere during the fighting. Three men from the templarate arrived not long before you. Three and no more.
Ramza: One became a Lucavi. I killed him myself. Another, Isilud, was slain in the melee. This third must have taken Alma.
Marach: No doubt he means to bring her to Mullonde. Mullonde is the seat of the Church's power, and they act in High Confessor Marcel's name. Where else would he go?
Ramza: I wonder. I do not think their High Confessor knows the true power of the Stones. Consider this. Wiegraf did not know their secret until he had struck his bargain with Belias. And by the look of things, Isilud died fighting the Lucavi.
Marach: What are you getting at?
Ramza: By inciting this war, the Church hopes to broaden its power. Clearly this is the High Confessor's ambition. But he only wants the Zodiac Stones for their symbolic power. To sway the minds of the people.
Marach: Do you imply that someone is using the High Confessor's ambition to some other purpose?
Rapha: This third man in the templarate's party. Who is he?
Marach: I cannot say for sure, but I believe it was Lord Folmarv, commander of the Knights Templar.
Ramza: He is the key.
Marach: What will you do?
Ramza: I travel to Zeltennia. Delita is there, and I must see him.
Marach: He succeeded Baron Grimms in leading the Blackram Knights, did he not?
Ramza: The Church and the Knights Templar manipulate Delita from behind the scenes. With luck, he can shed some light on who this Lord Folmarv is, and what he wants.
On-screen: CHAPTER 4 IN THE NAME OF LOVE
Keeper of the Stone[]
On-screen: Zeltennia Castle
Orran: Welcome home, my lord.
Orlandeau: Yes...home. You are well?
Orran: I am, thank you. What news of the war?
Orlandeau: None good, as you know well enough. War is a dirty enough affair when you know who your enemies are, but this...ha! Would my good name were our only casualty.
Orran: I should think Duke Goltanna's name in greater peril. They say his other lords bannermen remain here only because you do.
Orlandeau: Leave such foolish talk to fools. When a member of House Orlandeau pledges his lord fealty, he honors that oath, though it cost him his life.
Orran: I'm sorry. I spoke overmuch.
Orlandeau: Words are wind. Now, this errand I set you to. I would hear of it.
Orran: The reports are true, my lord. The crystal discovered beneath Goug, the Stone the late cardinal found in the ruins at Zelmonia—both auracite for true, by all accounts. The Knights Templar, too, are passing busy, though the object of their labors I cannot say.
Orlandeau: Do our ears in Mullonde hear nothing?
Orran: Hear, perhaps, but dead men tell no tales. If only we had some evidence of the High Confessor's plot, we might use it to compel a peace.
Orlandeau: This shall not long remain hidden from their gaze. And then the storm will be upon us.
(Upon entering Dugeura Pass.)
On-screen: Dugeura Pass
Southern Sky Guardsman: So long as we draw breath, you will find no passage through these lands.
(Upon entering The Free City of Bervenia.)
On-screen: Bervenia
Knight Templar: You slew my brother, and I will have satisfaction of you!
Ramza: Your brother? Who are you?
Knight Templar: Do not play games with me! I am Meliadoul Tengille. You killed my brother Isilud at Riovanes! And now you will die! Not by any order of His Holiness. I do this for Isilud!
(Upon Ramza's second turn.)
Ramza: You say Isilud was your brother. But I am not your brother's killer! Do you not know what happened at Riovanes? The murder done there was not done by the hand of any man. An abomination—a Lucavi killed your brother!
Meliadoul: A Lucavi? So the Lucavi again walk among us, killing for their own delight? Ha! A splendid tale! But a lie less fanciful might better persuade.
Ramza: They keep the truth from you as they did your brother. You are puppets, dancing on strings you can or will not see! The Zodiac Stones are much more than holy crystals to be revered. They hold real power, the power to work wonders. A power in itself neither good nor evil, but the purpose your masters would put it to is plain enough. Open your eyes, Meliadoul! Let Folmarv deceive you no longer!
Meliadoul: Do you think to convince me with this prattle? You are a fool indeed! My father would never deceive me so.
Ramza: Lord Folmarv is your father!?
(When Meliadoul is critical.)
Meliadoul: You fight well. Small wonder Wiegraf fell to you. Hear me, Ramza. When next we meet, your blood will soak the earth!
A Common Chord[]
(Upon attempting to leave The Free City of Bervenia.)
On-screen: Zeltennia Castle Keep
Delita: Tietra...
Delita: You know that trick, too—making a whistle of a blade of grass?
Ovelia: A friend taught me, when I was living at the monastery. I can never seem to make it work, though.
Delita: Here—like this.
Ovelia: I did it!
Ovelia: What is that?
Delita: Oh, this?
Ovelia: A pendant?
Delita: I keep it as a remembrance of my sister, Tietra. She...she was caught up in this fighting and died.
Ovelia: I'm sorry.
Delita: She died for the nobility's convenience. They used her and cast her away, and for that I cannot forgive them. I shall not let them deal to you the same fate they dealt to her. I will protect you from aught and all who would use you.
Ovelia: Delita... Thank you.
(Upon entering Finnath Creek.)
On-screen: Finnath Creek
Ramza: These waters are deeper than I'd thought. A single misstep could spell disaster.
Delita's Will[]
(Upon entering Zeltennia Castle.)
Delita: A heretic at prayer in a church. Passing bold, Ramza.
Ramza: I shall ask it plain. Why has the High Confessor planted you amongst Goltanna's men?
Delita: I see no harm in telling you. Duke Goltanna and Count Orlandeau. I am to assassinate them. Groups such as the Corpse Brigade, ill-contented with the Crown and the nobility, are in no short supply. The Church only fans rebellion's flame. The people tire of war, and their disdain for the Crown waxes with each passing day. Of course, Goltanna and Larg want to put down the rebellions at home, only they lack the troops to do so. To break the impasse, they seek to bring an end to the conflict for good and all. Even as we speak, their armies mass at Fort Besselat to that purpose.
Ramza: Then these months of rebellion and unrest—it all goes as the High Confessor had planned.
Delita: Yes. But it will not end as they have hoped. Larg and Goltanna will be assassinated once the battle begins. Cut off one head, and two more spring forth, so naturally their closest allies must die with them. Count Orlandeau of the Order of the Southern Sky, Zalbaag of the Northern. And of course, Lord Dycedarg. With their leaders gone, the fighting will cease, and they will have no choice but to embrace the peace we offer.
Ramza: A peace? Or surrender on the Church's terms?
Delita: The people will proffer the the Church the role of mediator with hands upraised. What's more, the Church will have the Zodiac Braves. But there's the rub. One thing yet remains between the Church and the auracite. The heretic. Ramza Beoulve.
Ramza: Is that it? You've come to fetch the auracite for your masters?
Delita: I am no hound heeling at the Church's skirts. I answer to no one but myself.
Ramza: Meaning what?
Delita: Meaning I would not think twice of killing you, Ramza, should the hour come. But not this day. Though our methods be different, our goals are not. As long as they remain so, you are no enemy of mine.
Ramza: Delita. Let us fight this together.
Delita: I cannot join you. She needs me—far too much to leave her now.
Ramza: The princess?
Delita: Prince or princess, the Church cares not. It craves only power. A puppet state, with the High Confessor at its strings. This is their grand plan for Ivalice.
Ramza: And you? Do you not use Ovelia to fullfill your own ambitions?
Delita: I cannot say. I am sure only of this. To save her life, I would gladly give my own.
Delita: You must think this strange.
Ramza: No. I understand only too well.
Voice: I address the heretic, Ramza Beoulve! You are beseiged! You will surrender yourself up to us at once!
Ramza: I know that voice. Confessor Zalmour!
Gears in Motion[]
On-screen: Outlying Church
Confessor Zalmour: The Blackram Knights' Delita Heiral? Yours is an unexpected sight!
Delita: He has seen me. He must not live to tell of it! We must fight them, Ramza!
Ramza: They know nothing of the High Confessor's plot. They serve him blindly. If we explain what has happened, they may well listen.
Delita: Hear your words, Ramza! Reasoning with their ilk is folly, even you must see this. But you have leave to try!
(Upon Zalmour's first turn.)
Confessor Zalmour: You realize what it is you do? This man is a heretic! You that do abet him shall share his fate! I did not think to find the commander of the Blackram Knights a traitor to our cause!
Delita: My choice is made. If it means I must slay each of you to the man, so be it!
Confessor Zalmour: You should tremble with fear to mock the Heavens so! To slay a man of the cloth is to wound this fair land's peace, and turn your back on the natural order the Father has bestowed on us! It is to turn your back on the gods!
Delita: Wound the peace? Ha! You hide behind this peace only as it suits you! You invoke the name of the gods to subjugate the weak. This peace you hail is a vile farce! Men such as you profane the gods to speak their names!
(After Zalmour is KO'd.)
Confessor Zalmour: Great Father, strike these sinners, that they... may feel your wrath...
(After the battle ends.)
Delita: Where will you go now, Ramza?
Ramza: Two errands brought me to Zeltennia. The first was to meet with you. The second is to speak with Count Orlandeau.
Delita: The Thunder God?
Ramza: I mean to enlist his aid in exposing the Church's intrigues.
Delita: How?
Ramza: I have powerful evidence of the Church's misdeeds.
Delita: The Scriptures of Germonique!
Ramza: I spoke with the count's adopted son, Orran, not long past. He pledged their aid should I bring hard evidence against the Church.
Delita: Orran, eh?
Delita: It's all right. She's with me. Mullonde has provided several others to help me carry out my task. She is but one.
Valmafra: Help you? I was sent to keep -watch- on you.
Delita: And a fine job you're doing of it. Only she knows our plans in full. I trust no other in Goltanna's army more.
Valmafra: You're the youngest Beoulve, Ramza, am I right? My name is Valmafra.
Delita: I take it you did not come for idle chat?
Valmafra: The Northern Order moves.
Delita: They make for Besselat?
Valmafra: Count Orlandeau himself has departed for the same only just now. Duke Goltanna is like to join them soon. At the head of your Blackram Knights, no less.
Delita: Then we're too late. The fighting will continue.
Ramza: Do not give up yet. I might still convince the count to avoid this needless bloodshed.
Delita: Then our paths part once again.
Ramza: Be safe, Delita.
Delita: And you, Ramza.
Valmafra: You mean to let him go?
Delita: He acts as I expected he would.
Valmafra: Even your friends are only pieces to be played.
Delita: Mind your words! You know not what you say!
Valmafra: Such outbursts ill become a man.
Delita: Haven't you somewhere else to be?
(Upon entering Beddha Sandwaste.)
On-screen: Beddha Sandwaste
Knight Templar Barich: That's the last of it. The winds bear it onward now. And fair winds they are. They should keep it airborne for a half-day if they hold—more than time enough.
Barich: Now there is a creature I had not thought to find in these wastes!
Ramza: One might say the same of a Knight Templar so far form the Church. What is it you scatter to the wind?
Barich: Oh, that? I suppose there's no harm in your knowing. There's naught you can do to stop it now.
Ramza: Stop what!?
Barich: This.
Ramza: Poison!
Knight Templar Barich: Yes. Ground into a fine powder and cast upon the winds toward the Northern Sky. The toxin will not kill the men who breathe it—but it will wither their constitution, rendering them unable to fight.
Ramza: But why? The High Confessor stands to gain naught by handing victory to Goltanna!
Barich: Nor does he think to. The moment Goltanna hears of the Northern Order's plight, he will send his armies against them. With his own stronghold unguarded, Goltanna will be an easy target for assassination, and Count Orlandeau with him. But do not think Duke Larg will escape this scourge—his is the easy death to achieve. Amidst the coming chaos, who could say how Duke Larg might meet his end?
Ramza: You're inhuman!
Barich: You ought rejoice! This will mean an end to war and bloodshed. And with that end, a new beginning. The Church's hand shall rule. Such is the will of the people. They clamor for change—an end to groveling at highborn heels.
Ramza: The war will end, but not like this. There is another way!
Barich: I expected you'd say as much—no matter!
(When Barich is KO'd.)
Barich: No! I was not... not to die like this...
Ramza: Gods give us haste.
Thunder God in Chains[]
Orlandeau: I, plotting against the duke? Are you mad?
Southern Sky Knight: Please, my lord. Do not make this harder than it must be. We have our orders.
Orlandeau: Why in the name of all that's good would I wish to unseat my liege lord?
Duke Goltanna: You ask the very question that vexes me. I am gravely disappointed in you, Cid.
Orlanedau: Surely you cannot mean that, Your Grace! I am no turncloak! I am your most loyal man!
Duke Goltanna: The proof speaks otherwise. It seems you have been in league with members of the Church, working secretly to see me ousted from my rightful seat.
Orlanedau: That is absurd! From what lying blackguard did you hear such reverie!?
Duke Goltanna: Even yet you deny it? My information comes from the High Confessor himself. You can imagine his distress upon learning of the plot.
Orlandeau: Your Grace, the High Confessor deceives you! It is he who schemes in the shadows!
Duke Goltanna: The High Confessor? Now there is an august claim! Have you any evidence of this?
Orlandeau: Twenty and more years of loyal service, and still you require evidence? Words fail me, Your Grace.
Duke Goltanna: As you fail me. I cannot hope to fight a war without your Order's forces. Still, it seems I am left no choice. A lamentable situation for us both. Take him from my sight!
Delita: You summoned, Your Grace?
Duke Goltanna: I want you to maintain your contact with Mullonde. Once the Confessional rescript is in my hands, Larg is as good as defeated.
Delita: Fear not, Your Grace. The High Confessor's mind is most firm on that account.
Duke Goltanna: Hmm. He had seemed somewhat indifferent to me. There is another matter as well. I am placing the Order of the Southern Sky under your leadership. Henceforth, you are a Knight Devout.
Delita: You grant me honor far beyond my due.
Duke Goltanna: I expect I shall not regret it. I place my full and utter confidence in you, Delita—you, and you alone.
Delita: Your Grace.
(Upon entering Fort Besselat.)
- (Upon entering through Fort Besselat - South Wall.)
On-screen: Fort Besselat South Wall
Southern Sky Knight: Who are you? How did you breach the fortress?
Ramza: We are not of the Northern Sky! We come under white banner to meet with Count Orlandeau. We must see him at once!
Southern Sky Knight: So, the count has visitors. I wager you're the rabble he found to assassinate the duke. You fools! We hold Orlandeau in a cell behind these very walls! Not to worry. There's room enough in the dungeons for you and the count both! - (Upon entering through Fort Besselat - North Wall.)
On-screen: Fort Besselat North Wall
Southern Sky Archer: I did not know the Northern Sky had men brave enough to mount a frontal assault. Just as well. We'll kill them and be done with it.
(After all enemies are defeated, regardless of which path was chosen.)
Ramza: We must act quickly if we are to stop this battle.
Duke Larg's Assassination[]
Zalbaag: What's happened here?
Zalbaag: You are unwell. What's wrong?
Northern Sky Knight: It's only my...my head. I'll be...fine.
Zalbaag: Can you hear me? What ill magick is this?
Dycedarg: They have befouled the air. A poison extracted from mossfungus spores.
Zalbaag: Lord Brother!
Dycedarg: I will be well. I worry only for the duke. Where is he?
Zalbaag: Would that I knew. My search has yielded naught.
Duke Larg: Zalbaag...Dycedarg. I am here.
Zalbaag: Excellency, are you harmed?
Zalbaag: Someone! Summon an apothecary at once!
Dycedarg: How do you feel, Your Excellency?
Duke Larg: My head...it is as though it were split in twain. But I do not think it serious. I just need...some time.
Dycedarg: Most unfortunate.
Duke Larg: What?
Duke Larg: Urgh...What...have you done?
Zalbaag: Dycedarg!?
Dycedarg: Be silent, Brother!
Duke Larg: You...you've betrayed me? You killed your father to...to gain control of your house. And now you have killed me.
Zalbaag: Is this poison your work as well?
Dycedarg: No...No. It is a gift of those who would see House Beoulve take center stage.
Zalbaag: Why do this?
Dycedarg: Duke Larg was slain in battle. It is now left to House Beoulve to carry out his wishes.
Zalbaag: This—you go too far.
Dycedarg: This dagger. Place it among the corpses. They were assassins. Sent by the Southern Order. You understand me...yes?
Zalbaag: Dycedarg!?
(Upon entering Fort Besselat Sluice.)
On-screen: Fort Besselat Sluice
Ramza: Of course! The sluice! With the sluice open, the lake's waters will flood everything downstream. Battle will be impossible.
(Upon Ramza's first turn.)
Ramza: There should be a lever at either end of the sluice. Pull both levers, and the sluice will open. Now to reach them without getting killed.
(After the battle ends.)
Ramza: This should do it!
Freeing the Count[]
Orran: Count Orlandeau, we've come!
Orran: I pray you've been kept well, my lord.
Orlandeau: Well enough, as you can see. And this must be Ramza. How you've grown, boy! Still, I recognized you at once.
Ramza: Have we met, Excellency?
Orlandeau: Yes, though I can't say I'm surprised you've forgotten. You were only a child of some three or four years at the time. You gave us all quite a fright, trying to lift my sword. Your father gave you a scolding that left you in tears, but at least you weren't hurt. Ha ha ha. And now here you've come to rescue me. I thank you. There's no need to kneel.
Orran: The battle is ended, with only light casualties on either side. This, too, thanks to the help of Ramza and his companions. We've managed to hold the fires of war at bay, for a time.
Orlandeau: I see. You are a worthy son of Barbaneth, young Ramza. There are many who owe you their thanks, and I give it now in their stead. And mine with it, to be sure.
Ramza: I do only what must needs be done.
Orlandeau: I see your likeness to Barbaneth is more than skin deep. Your deeds honor him, boy.
Valmafra: Pray forgive my interruption. But Duke Goltanna means to execute Your Excellency on the morrow. We should waste no time in fleeing.
Orran: It is as she says, my lord. We should continue this elsewhere.
Orlandeau: Yes, yes. It won't do for me to remain here with Goltanna in this ill temper. Orran, the hour of this war's end will not be long in coming. Until it does, I mean to travel with Ramza. We must put a stop to the High Confessor's plans.
Orran: Then I will go with you, my lord!
Orlandeau: No. You will return to Zeltennia and see to the safety of Lady Ovelia. She alone is the rightful heir to the throne. You must see that she comes to no harm.
Orran: I understand.
Orlandeau: Well, Ramza, you've no objections, I trust?
Ramza: None at all, my lord.
Orlandeau: Then let's away before we're found.
The Black Lion Slain[]
Duke Goltanna: How has the sluice been opened? I suffer a plague of fools!
Delita: You called for me, Excellency.
Duke Goltanna: You are to gather a company of soldiers and move against the Northern Sky at once!
Delita: The water from the sluice makes movement difficult enough, let alone fighting.
Duke Goltanna: What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. This is an opportunity we cannot let pass! They will not be expecting an attack. If they slip away now, who can say how long this war may drag on?
Delita: I must refuse.
Duke Goltanna: Refuse!?
Duke Goltanna: How...how dare you!
Delita: No man would wish to see you king!
Delita: Come!
Delita: Know that your death is not in vain.
Glabados Devout: The vanity would be in living, when St. Ajora calls me to His side.
Valmafra: The real Count Orlandeau has escaped with Ramza.
Delita: Then we can but hope that Ramza does not fail us.
On-screen:
High Confessor Marcel came forward with his offer to mediate a peace between the camps, but though their leaders had been lost, their capacity to make war had not. The High Confessor's offer fell on deaf ears. I made for Limberry. For Alma...
(Upon entering The Trade City of Sal Ghidos.)
Flower Peddler: A flower for a gil, ser?
Ramza: A flower?
Flower Peddler: Yes, a flower—a blossomed bud. You've seen one, I'm sure.
Ramza: Of course I have!
Flower Peddler: Well, then, surely you could spare a gil for one of mine. They're quite pretty.
- (Upon selecting "1. I've no need of flowers.")
Ramza: I'm afraid I've no need of flowers.
Flower Peddler: I see. Good day to you, then.
Ramza: Was I wrong to say no? - (Upon selecting "2. A gil seems a fair price.")
Ramza: A gil seems a fair price.
Flower Peddler: Then you'll buy one? Truly? Oh, thank you, kind ser!
Flower Peddler: Few stop these days, and even fewer buy. It is a harder life than you might know. I always dream some charming knight will come galloping through and sweep me away from all this. Beg pardons, ser. I know there's naught that you can do. I thank you again! May that flower bring you good fortune.
Ramza: These times are hard for all.
Pay the Toll in Blood[]
(Upon entering Mount Germinas.)
On-screen: Mount Germinas
Highwayman (1): Want to pass, pay the toll. Just tip us yer gil and be on yer way. And those swords won't be helpin' ye here. Less'n ye wish to pay the toll in blood.
Highwayman (2): Do you flash that, Cap? This cull's the heretic they're all on about! A bounty on his head so high we're like to need a ladder to reach the top. Why stop with the gelt they have on 'em? Nim the head on his shoulders and we'll have drink and morts enough for months!
Highwayman (1): His clock is the one from the bills, and no mistake. I'm not much for head huntin', but gil is gil. Mill 'em, lads!
Ghosts of the Lake[]
(Upon entering Lake Poescas.)
On-screen: Lake Poescas
Ghost of the Lake: What men of flesh and blood dare disturb the slumber of the dead? Men with... auracite!? We will have it from you! Then at last will our souls ascend to that lofty plane, as yours rot here in their stead!
Dycedarg's Ambition[]
Knight Templar Loffrey: So, you are unwilling to compromise on your position.
Dycedarg: Ivalice's reunification under its rightful king was His Grace's most fervent wish. We've no intention of laying down arms until Prince Orinus sits the throne that is his birthright. You will not steer the helm of Ivalice at your own pleasure. Not so long as this house stands.
Knight Templar Loffrey: Do you not know who made your assassination of the duke possible?
Dycedarg: I mislike the question. Larg was felled by a Southern Sky assassin. Or do you mean to say that you were the ones who sent him?
Knight Templar Loffrey: I'll not play at this fool's game. There is to be no convincing you, then?
Dycedarg: Were it our desire, we could crush the templarate like an overripe grape. Of that I am quite convinced.
Knight Templar Loffrey: Pray remove that fine white cloak beforehand. Burst grapes oft leave a fearsome stain. Tell me, this poison employed at Besselat—do you know what it was?
Dycedarg: I believe it was an extract of mossfungus spores.
Knight Templar Loffrey: So it was. An insidious thing, mossfungus. It takes a great quantity to kill a man, but the toxin never leaves the blood. The smallest, most undetectable of doses will prove lethal, if repeated oft enough.
Dycedarg: ...
Knight Templar Loffrey: Even a learned eye might confuse the symptoms with those of common affliction. Oft as not, the person being poisoned is never even aware. And should they become so, it is almost invariably too late.
Dycedarg: ...
Knight Templar Loffrey: Your late lord father was taken by malady, was he not?
Dycedarg: Do you make some implication?
Knight Templar Loffrey: I'm told you yourself have some knowledge in poisoncraft.
Dycedarg: What of it?
Knight Templar Loffrey: I recently learned an interesting fact. I had wondered if you might be aware of it. Mossfungus poisoning leaves spores in the body. When a victim is buried, they say toadstools sprout above the grave.
Dycedarg: ...
Knight Templar Loffrey: Forgive me, I digress. Ah, yes, there was another matter—a gift from High Confessor Marcel.
Dycedarg: A gemstone?
Knight Templar Loffrey: It is a Zodiac Stone—a blessed crystal from Mullonde. The High Confessor wished for you to have it. Please accept it as a symbol of the Church's good faith.
Earthly Vessels[]
(Upon entering Limberry Castle.)
On-screen: Limberry Castle Gate
Ramza: Not a soul to be found. Could the castle truly be abandoned? The door stands open...
Ramza: I mislike this. There is something familiar—yes. The battle with Cúchulainn, with Belias...
Woman's Voice: Guests! Guests come to Limberry!
Celia: I'd begun to think you'd never arrive.
Second Woman's Voice: Such a waste that would have been. We've such a warm welcome planned.
Lettie: A kiss, to see you to your grave.
Ramza: We've walked into a trap!
(When one of the assassins is critical.)
Celia: If you would see your sister again, you must fight your way to her!
Lettie: I await within. But I've so little patience... Best be quick!
Ramza: I am coming, Alma!
(Upon entering Limberry Castle Meeting Hall.)
Elmdore: Belias and Cúchulainn... defeated. We are all that's left—we and Adrammelech, who waits trapped in the Rift.
Folmarv: Do not worry over Adrammelech. He will join us ere long.
Elmdore: You've found a host?
Folmarv: Not I. The Stone. The Stone chooses the flesh, as it was with us.
Elmdore: Of course. Then all that remains is the revival of the master. Once that is done, we will have no need of auracite—nore of these vessels. We will come and go as we please. Do we have a host for the High Seraph? Do not tell me it is that girl.
Folmarv: There is but one host fit for the High Seraph. The girl is the chosen. Now we need only find the way to the necrohol, and the High Seraph's soul.
Celia: He is here.
Lettie: I've drawn him into our web. What would you now have me do with him?
Elmdore: Ah, Ramza. So long you kept us waiting. We have a score to settle from Riovanes.
Folmarv: Do not make light of him. He is a worthy foe. Not even Belias could stand before him.
Elmdore: You needn't worry about me. I shall deal with him. You've matters of far greater import. You must find the gate to the necrohol.
Folmarv: Be at ease. I will not disappoint you.
Elmdore: See that you don't. Now fly!
(Upon entering Limberry Castle Keep.)
On-screen: Limberry Castle Keep
Marquis Elmdore: At last, the hour of my retribution is come.
Ramza: Where do you hide my sister!?
Marquis Elmdore: Questions are the right of a victor, Ramza—not that of a man about to meet his end!
(When Elmdore is defeated.)
Marquis Elmdore: You are strong. There... there is no denying that. It is more than I can overcome... so bound within this fragile shell of flesh.
Marquis Elmdore's Voice: I await you in the undercroft. It is there your darling sister sleeps.
Ramza: You will not escape me!
(Upon entering Limberry Castle Inner Court.)
On-screen: Limberry Castle Inner Court
Mysterious Voice: You'll not enter the undercroft on my watch. The way is shut.
Ramza: Who speaks? Reveal yourself!
Mysterious Voice: Naive as ever, I see.
Argath: Ha! To think my luck so fair that we would chance to meet again!
Ramza: Argath! How did—I thought you for dead!
Argath: Dead? Oh, Ramza... Your mind's as common as your friends! I did not -die-, I was reborn! Chosen by a greater power! I did not fall before, nor shall I here. That fate belongs to you!
Argath: You've no hope in this fight. Come! Let us kill these maggots!
(Upon Ramza's first turn.)
Ramza: So, your soul is bartered as well. Your grandsire would be proud.
Argath: How dare you! You, pampered and coddled from your earliest days! What do you know of our affairs? Of being made to toil for another's pleasure, near without reward? Being trod upon even by peasant filth, struggling endlessly to rise back to your feet—what do you know of this? I'll purge this kingdom of all who once dared look down on me! There is no place in the world for the meager!
Ramza: You'll do nothing of the sort!
(Upon Argath's next turn.)
Argath: How do you intend to stop me? You who cannot even defend his own sister! A son of House Beoulve, and meek as a butterfly all the same! Ha ha ha!
Ramza: Guard your tongue!
Argath: Worry not, I'll soon send your dear sister beyond the veil to be with you! Just as I did Delita's!
(When Argath is KO'd.)
Argath: M-Mother... Help...me...
Ramza: I'm on my way, Alma!
The Enigmatic Lucavi[]
On-screen: Limberry Castle Undercroft
Ramza: Elmdore! You fight a battle already lost! Release Alma, and end this vain struggle!
Marquis Elmdore: *chuckle* How could I release what I have never held? There are but ghosts within these walls.
Marquis Elmdore: But far be it from me to turn away the one Beoulve to grace us with his presence!
Zalera, the Death Seraph: Here dying, join my legion of undeath. Your blood, the roses on unhallow'd graves!
Meliadoul: The marquis is made a demon!? What devilry is this?
(Upon Meliadoul's first turn.)
Meliadoul: This...this is the work of the auracite?
Ramza: Do you now believe me? Your brother Isilud learned this foul truth, and died fighting it!
Meliadoul: You...you speak true? My father, Folmarv—does he know of this?
Ramza: I...I tried to—
Zalera, the Death Seraph: *cackle* Before me stands the seed of Folmarv's loins? So much alike with brother Isilud, both heirs of father's numen unpossess'd. The sire's flesh, a vessel without flaw!
Meliadoul: My father is host to a demon!?
Zalera, the Death Seraph: Truth dawns within this child's naivety. Who once was hers, now kin to naught but woe. Let not such trifles weigh upon you now. Ere long you shall know darkness deeper still!
(Upon Ramza's next turn.)
Meliadoul: Forgive me, Ramza. I took your words as false. I thought you for an enemy.
Ramza: I might have done the same in your place. But now let us avenge your brother's death!
(When Zalera is KO'd.)
Zalera, the Death Seraph: Hashmal...bring order here...where I have failed.
(After the battle ends.)
Meliadoul: My mind reels to think such evil power lay concealed within this tiny crystal. These holy relics of the Church...I'd thought them no more than strangely colored stones. I knew not that they sought to work true miracles through them.
Ramza: The truth was kept well guarded, from you and Isilud alike. Even Wiegraf knew naught of their true nature until he became a Lucavi. It is as I thought. Lord Folmarv guides even the High Confessor's scheming to their ends.
Meliadoul: What is it they wish?
Ramza: I cannot see their ends. If we are to judge from Riovanes, they possess power enough already to drive an army to its knees. Yet still they do not use it, or even flaunt it openly. There must be a reason, and that reason is our answer.
Meliadoul: Surely they stay their hands for something. The Lucavi are cruel and wicked, and cannot be felled by men. Every tale and legend paints them the same.
Ramza: So they do. But I have seen these monsters slain. They do not appear to be the undying demons of which the legends speak.
Meliadoul: Legends are but stories, embellished with each new telling. Mayhap the Lucavi are no more than ordinary fiends.
Ramza: Let us pray that you are right.
Meliadoul: I trust the auracite to you. But I ask a favor in return. Take me with you. I must know what made my father as he is. And... there is another thing I would know as well.
Ramza: What is that?
Meliadoul: My father did a puzzling thing. He gifted the Capricorn Stone to Lord Dycedarg. But I cannot begin to fathom why.
Ramza: He gave a Zodiac Stone to my brother?
Delita's Betrayal[]
(Upon attempting to leave Limberry Castle.)
Gruff Voice: He disappeared!
Second Voice: Search the eastern hall!
Third Voice: He was injured when he sprung his cell! He couldn't have run far!
Ovelia: Orran! What's happened!? You're bleeding!
Orran: Lady Ovelia...there is something...something I must tell you...
Ovelia: You mustn't speak!
Orran: I beg you...hear my words. The man who murdered Duke Goltanna was not...not my father, Count Orlandeau. My father, he...he was framed for treason. He escaped from Fort Besselat with...Ramza Beoulve. He fights now to frustrate the High Confessor's plot.
Ovelia: I did not think the count a man who would plot at rebellion.
Gruff Voice: The door won't open!
Second Voice: Lady Ovelia! Are you safe?
First Voice: Please open the door, my lady!
Ovelia: But if not your father, then who?
Orran: It—
Southern Sky Knight (1): Princess, has he harmed you!?
Southern Sky Knight (2): We found him! He's in here!
Delita: Leave us.
Southern Sky Knight (2): My lord?
Delita: Stand up, turn, and walk out the door behind you!
Southern Sky Knight (2): B-but, Lord Commander—!
Delita: It was not a request.
Southern Sky Knight (2): As...as you command, my lord.
Ovelia: I beg you, hurt him no further!
Delita: This is a foolish thing you've done, Orran.
Orran: Traitor... You have no right to speak to me.
Delita: You act as though you did not wish for what I did. Look around you. Do you see any earnest tears? You were not alone in praying for his fall. I even made your father out for dead. You should thank me. No one pursues a man known slain.
Orran: I am in no mood for japes!
Ovelia: Why would you do such a thing, Delita?
Delita: I told you, didn't I? I work to see you made a queen for true.
Ovelia: Naught you do is for true! You wish only to use me like the rest!
Delita: You do not trust me?
Ovelia: ...
Delita: You trust me or you don't, Ovelia. Which is it?
Ovelia: I...I want to trust you. I do. But...it is not such an easy thing.
Delita: Return to your chambers. I need have words with Orran.
Ovelia: Please, do not hurt him.
Delita: I won't. You have my word.
Orran: What I meant to do is done. I only sought to clear my father's name. Go on. I only ask you make it clean and quick.
Delita: Stop your whimpering. I do not mean to kill you. That would be a waste.
Orran: What use could you possibly see in me?
Delita: Your loyal service.
Orran: Ha! Again you jape! I would die before I bent my knee in your service!
Delita: No. No, you would not. I am going to bring down the Northern Sky. And when that Sky falls, the land of Ivalice will again be made level. Then I build a new kingdom for Ovelia. The High Confessor will face judgment as well, of course. I am not the Church's hound.
Orran: Are you mad?
Delita: You know what I do is right. It is undeniably so. A commonborn squire takes the reins of a knightly order, and leads a wayward kingdom from the midst of chaos. The masses yearn for a hero. I give them what they wish.
Orran: Using aught and all to forge your legend?
Delita: Is that so wrong?
Delita: What? Do you mean to kill me? I know full well the High Confessor sent you to keep watch on me. Your orders are to kill me at the first sign of betrayal, no?
Delita: Do it, then. Stab me with that dagger. I stand before you unarmed! Strike me down! If you will not, then do not blame me for this!
Mossfungus[]
Zalbaag: It's just over here.
Herbalist: Beg pardons, my lord! I cannot keep your pace!
Zalbaag: Lord Father...
Zalbaag: I need you to take a look at something over here.
Zalbaag: Catch.
Zalbaag: Can you tell me the name of that mushroom?
Herbalist: Of course. It's mossfungus, my lord. Not the deadliest of poisons, but not something you'd want in your stew, either. The stuff gets you in the end.
Zalbaag: So I hear.
Herbalist: I, uh—do you not think we should be getting back now, my lord?
Zalbaag: What has you so terrified?
Herbalist: Don't you know, my lord? Mossfungus grows only on corpses. And, well—they say it's a right bad omen to find it growing on a family grave. The house falls as the cap rises...or so they say.
Zalbaag: On your way, then.
Herbalist: Heh, Kind thanks, my lord.
Zalbaag: Your fee is as promised. The rest should help you forget what you've seen.
Herbalist: Forget what?
Zalbaag: Forgive me, Father...
(Upon entering The Merchant City of Dorter.)
On-screen: Dorter
Man's Voice: So, the marquis has fallen.
Ramza: And who might you be?
Man: My name is Cletienne. I come in Lord Folmarv's stead, to see his will made manifest.
Ramza: A knight of the templarate, then! Where is Alma!?
Ramza: My...my limbs are frozen! What foul trick is this!?
Cletienne: A time magick of my own fabrication, its might all but wasted on one such as you. I thought myself overcautious in readying a trap, but it appears that was not the case. You'll find no avail in a struggle. You've not the strength of will to break free. Make your peace. You go to the gods.
Cletienne: What!?
Woman's Voice: Ser Cletienne. How long has it been since last we met?
Cletienne: Yours is an unexpected sight. Tell me, when did you don the traitor's cloak?
Meliadoul: I was not aware I had. Is not that garment draped about your own shoulders? It is Isilud and I who were used, by you and all the others!
Cletienne: What of it, if you were?
Meliadoul: Those sins will be atoned for. There shall be no mercy—not even for you.
(Upon Meliadoul's first turn.)
Meliadoul: Know you the Stones' secret—what it is my father means to do?
Cletienne: He strives towards a grand and lofty goal. Of it, I will say no more. Such things exceed your feeble capacity for understanding.
Meliadoul: You know the truth, and yet you aid him!? But...but why?
Cletienne: *chuckle* My reasons, you've no need to know.
(When Cletienne is critical.)
Cletienne: This I did not foresee. But surely the time I've bought will suffice.
Meliadoul: Ser Cletienne, wait! Is...is it true? Is my father...a Lucavi?
Cletienne: You've eyes, have you not? Go and see for yourself.
Meliadoul: Could he... truly be?
Adrammelech, the Wroth[]
(Upon entering Eagrose Castle.)
Ramza: No guards. Passing strange.
Ramza: Zalbaag's mount.
Ramza: Now to get inside...
(In the castle.)
Dycedarg: Have you taken leave of your senses, Zalbaag? This is madness!
Zalbaag: After what you've done, you think yourself fit to lead our house?
Dycedarg: That business with the duke? Larg was long dead ere my dagger found its mark. Think, Brother. He was a weak man, who relied on others to fight where he could not. More fool he for starting a war he could not stomach.
Zalbaag: Our liege lord's murder bothers me not half so much as our father's! How could you dirty your hands with his blood? What manner of son are you?
Dycedarg: I am my father's son! I know naught of his murder!
Zalbaag: Duke Larg's dying words. I could scarce believe my ears, but there was no mistaking what he said. Why did you kill him, Dycedarg? Why!?
Northern Sky Knight: Lord Dycedarg!
Dycedarg: Zalbaag is taken with some madness!
Dycedarg: Seize him!
Zalbaag: Lord Brother!
Ramza: Stand your ground, Zalbaag!
(Upon Zalbaag's first turn.)
Zalbaag: Ramza! It is all as you've said! Dycedarg enkindled this war and slew the duke. All to feed his own ambition. He has sullied our name, brought scorn upon our house—he must be made to pay!
Ramza: He shall, Lord Brother!
(Upon Dycedarg's next turn.)
Dycedarg: You fools! Why will you not follow where I lead? Why do you turn against me? The powerful must rule the weak! It is our duty! The Crown once held such power, but no more! See how fate has brought it low? Why should we not rule in its stead? We must wield our power and seize the reins of Ivalice! Why will you not see this?
Zalbaag: You feast on power, Brother, but leave no place at table for justice. The name Beoulve befits brave men who raise their swords in justice's name. You are no Beoulve!
Dycedarg: Justice? I'd die of shame to hear the word from my own lips! Such lofty ideals cannot rule a people so common. Who has earned you the right to wield your sword of justice? To be hailed as hero? Is it not I? I, who have dirtied my hands to keep yours clean? All that you are you owe to me! You ought be on your knees thanking me, yet here you stand in judgment!
(When Dycedarg is KO'd.)
Dycedarg: You've ruined...everything. Ivalice was to be...to be ours. You fools...what have you done?
Adrammelech, the Wroth: So this is what it is to be a god.
Adrammelech, the Wroth: Fool of a brother! Heed well these words, the last your ears shall hear. Slain by my hand, our father, Barbaneth. This war had brought our house its chance to rule. He would but watch as hist'ry passed us by. His due I granted him, no more, no less. No sword yet wrought can parry poison's kiss.
Adrammelech, the Wroth: And so on you, Ramza, my gaze alights. Now know regret, a traitor's recompense!
(When Adrammelech, the Wroth is KO'd.)
Adrammelech, the Wroth: Too soon this mortal coil did I assume! Angel of Blood, High Seraph...come too late...
Ramza: House Beoulve is no more. But what does it matter? We are the sum of our deeds, not our names. Alma...I will find you, Alma.
The High Confessor's Demise[]
(Upon entering Mullonde.)
High Confessor Marcel: I did not...think you capable of such treachery.
Folmarv: Had you made your confession willingly your life might have been spared. I should have preferred to employ measures less...extreme, but there's no time for that now.
High Confessor Marcel: I don't...understand.
Folmarv: I had hoped to enlist your aid in gathering the auracite. But the boy holds most of the Stones now. Your aid is no longer required.
High Confessor Marcel: Help me...please...
Folmarv: Your wound is deep, but it is not mortal. Treated soon, you will live. But you must earn your life. Tell me: Where is the entrance to the necrohol?
High Confessor Marcel: Orbonne. The vaults beneath the monastery. In the lowest levels, there is a glyph bound by a magicked seal.
Folmarv: And how does one break this seal?
High Confessor Marcel: I know not. The Scriptures may hold some clue... I cannot say.
Folmarv: At every turn, the boy!
Folmarv: Good-bye, Funebris.
High Confessor Marcel: Do not...leave me like this. I beg you...
On-screen: Mullonde Cathedral
Templarate Mage: Halt! None save members of the clergy are premitted within these walls! State your name and title, and let your purpose in coming here be known!
Ramza: My name is Ramza Beoulve! I petition the release of Alma Beoulve, whose person is held unlawfully by the lord commander of the Knights Templar!
Templarate Mage: Ramza Beoulve!? You are fool enough to present yourself before us? We will carry out your sentence where you stand!
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Ramza: Be strong, Alma! It will not be long now!
(Upon entering Mullonde Cathedral Nave.)
On-screen: Mullonde Cathedral Nave
Folmarv: Ramza, at last we meet! Pray forgive me. I ought to have called upon you sooner, but I have been ever so busy of late. I fear I remain so even now, so let us make this brief. If you would see your sister returned alive, you will relinquish the Scriptures and all the auracite you possess. Refuse, and she dies ere the word leaves your lips. Are we of an understanding? My patience is grown thin.
Ramza: I have what you desire. Where is Alma? I surrender naught until she is brought before me.
Folmarv: Did you not hear a word I said? I offered no negotiable terms. Forfeit the Scriptures and the Stones, or forfeit your sister's life.
Ramza: Here are the Scriptures. The Stones I hold until I see that she is safe.
Folmarv: Well?
Loffrey: ...It is written here. A surprisingly simple incantation.
Folmarv: Excellent. Then we have all we need of them. Of course, I suppose propriety dictates that we venge Belias and the others while they're here.
Ramza: We are deceived!
(After a Knight Templar is KO'd.)
Folmarv: Hmph. We will serve our vengeance another day.
Ramza: They are even more craven than I'd thought!
(Upon entering Mullonde Cathedral Sanctuary.)
On-screen: Mullonde Cathedral Sanctuary
Folmarv: I fear I've no more time to waste on you. Would that I could bid you farewell here, but I suspect you'd not part ways so easily. I suppose you must be returned to the Father after all. My thralls will delight to guide you to His keeping. This sanctuary even holds a sarcophagus. It's as though Fate lends her hand!
Folmarv: Of course, death is sooner served by steel. I shall let this one be your foeman as well.
Ramza: Zalbaag!
Folmarv: Once he was your brother, but he is reborn unto us now. You're a heretic already. Why not a kinslayer? *chuckle*
Ramza: Ever the coward!
Folmarv: Zalbaag! Deliver me the head of that young man before you! He must not leave this cathedral alive!
(Upon Ramza's first turn.)
Ramza: Lord Brother, it's I! Do you not know your own blood?
Zalbaag: ...Ramza? Is that you? What...what is this place? It is so dark, and I...I cannot see. Am I—what am I doing? Do I stand? Sit? I have no...no sensation. It's as though I...had no limbs.
Ramza: You are being controlled by Lord Folmarv—by a Lucavi!
Zalbaag: Am I...fighting you? Why...why would I do such a thing? Ramza...flee. Flee, or...or I may strike you down.
Ramza: Lord Brother! Heed not the false feelings in your mind!
(After Zalbaag is KO'd.)
Zalbaag: F-forgive me, Ramza. I have...have caused you pain. Alma... Please...save Alma. You are her...only hope. F-farewell, my brother. And...thank you.
Ramza: Zalbaag—!
Requiem[]
Marcel: Someone... please... !
Ramza: Gods have mercy!
Marcel: Help me! Father help me... please!
Ramza: Be strong, Your Holiness!
Marcel: The knights...of th-the t-templarate...
Ramza: You know where they've gone? Tell me—you must tell me where!
Marcel: Or...Orbonne...
Ramza: Orbonne Monastery.
(Upon entering Monastery Vaults - Fourth Level of Orbonne Monastery.)
On-screen: Monastery Vaults Fourth Level
Loffrey: Keep watch here. I go to Lord Folmarv.
Templarate Knight: My lord!
Ramza: What secrets lie among these tomes?
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Loffrey: I will tend to matters here.
Folmarv: Very good.
Loffrey: Faol...cheo...de...anda! Zorda...mu...feo... ...mal, Reeve of...oath unto you...bound. Time...cross you...vastness...Throw... Her...that we... pass!
Ramza: Do they flee before us again?
(Upon entering Monastery Vaults Fifth Level.)
On-screen: Monastery Vaults Fifth Level
Loffrey: We've waited for you, Ramza. How very far you've come, but no farther! Your bones will rest here in the darkness. The stones of the monastery make an ironic cairn for a heretic such as you
(Upon Ramza's first turn.)
Ramza: There is something familiar in this. Something reminiscent of our battle with Celia and Lettie. You are no mortal man.
Loffrey: No, that I am not. I am something far greater. Folmarv has made it possible for me to leave behind ignorance, the frailty of the flesh. I am given the gift of life eternal. A joy you can never know.
Ramza: What drives you to do what you do? What is it you seek?
Loffrey: Questions... So many questions. But your search for answers is in vain. They wait beyond me, forever beyond your reach!
(After Loffrey is KO'd.)
Loffrey: It is not...my time. So much remains... to be done. For you, Ramza... I shall cast open the very gates of hell.
Loffrey: Faolos cheos de vanda! Zorda ramud feolio...Zomal, Reeve of Time, by oath unto you am I bound. Timeless, cross you now the vastness of Time's gulf. Throw wide Her gates that we may pass!
(After the battle ends.)
Ramza: What is this place?
Loffrey: The necrohol of Mullonde.
Loffrey: Never again will you see the skies of Ivalice. Without the glyph... the gate... there can be no return.
Loffrey: There is...no turning back now. Go. Your sister...awaits.
Ramza: Alma is near.
(Upon entering The Necrohol of Mullonde.)
On-screen: The Necrohol of Mullonde
Knight Templar Cletienne: So, Ser Loffrey is defeated. Then it falls on me to stop you, if I would do honor to his noble sacrifice!
(After Cletienne is KO'd.)
Cletienne: Loffrey... Forgive me...
Ramza: That flash of light—he must be there!
(Upon entering Lost Halidom.)
On-screen: Lost Halidom
Knight Templar Barich: Truly, it is a joy that we should chance to meet again. I once suffered defeat at your hands, but it will not happen twice. This dead city will be your final resting place!
(Upon Ramza's fifth turn.)
Ramza: So you've become a pawn of the Lucavi, too. Was such your fear of death, that you would sooner bend your knee to demons?
Barich: You are a naive child who speaks of things he does not understand. Only now am I made truly human!
Ramza: How does selling your soul to demons make you human?
Barich: I stand above all other men now. I have transcended death itself! No longer must I bow my head in coy attempts to curry favor with you highborn nobles! I've bought my freedom. I am a human at last—no longer something less!
Ramza: You think freedom a thing bought and sold? What value, a freedom you have not earned? A man who's lost his pride can never be free. You surrendered your own freedom the moment you bowed your head to someone undeserving! Freedom and equality cannot be bartered. They are rights—rights earned with sweat, and toil, and blood! Freedom is no raiment of Lucavi weave! They tell you you wear cloth of gold, but in truth you stand more naked as before!
(After Barich falls.)
Barich: How can I die...? I thought I had...transcended...
Ramza: The Stones resonate. We draw near.
(Upon entering Airship Graveyard.)
On-screen: Airship Graveyard
Folmarv: I do not understand. Why does Virgo not awaken?
Folmarv: The spirit of the High Seraph lingers in this place, I am sure. What could be amiss?
Folmarv: Mayhap you are not the vessel of Saint Ajora after all. No. No, it cannot be that. Virgo stirred at your presence. You must be the one.
Folmarv: They have come.
Ramza: It is over, Folmarv! You will not rouse Virgo! End this! Release my sister!
Folmarv: Of course... It is but a matter of blood! You see, do you not? She wants for blood. The Angel of Blood must slake her thirst ere she rise again. The land has drunk deep of blood in the chiliads since Saint Ajora's death. Yet still she covets more. So be it. Once more to world of light, there to steep the earth in blood's sweet rain. *chuckle* Worry not. You will not live to see the storm.
Hashmal, Bringer of Order: Angel of Blood, in all things you I serve. No wine more deep, no searing coal more hot than this, the crimson blood for you I spill!
(During the battle.)
Ramza: Alma, I'm coming! Wake! Cast off this sleep!
Hashmal, Bringer of Order: She will not waken to your vile speech.
Ramza: What have you done to her?
Hashmal, Bringer of Order: Her will intact, our plans come to naught. When next she wakes, her sacred task made clear. Unto this world our brethren must she call.
(After Hashmal, Brining of Order is KO'd.)
Hashmal, Bringer of Order: My lord and master...still you do not wake...
Alma: Wh-where...where am I?
Ramza: Alma!
Alma: Ramza? Is it...truly you?
Hashmal, Bringer of Order: Too far we've come...to taste now of defeat... Angel...of Blood. That you should rise...my life I gladly give!
Saint Ajora: I am come once more.
Ramza: Alma, no!
(After the previous scene ends.)
On-screen: Airship Graveyard
Saint Ajora: What...is this? What happens to me?
Saint Ajora: Unghhh... Ramza...please. Help me...
Ramza: Alma!
Saint Ajora: Ramza... No! You cannot—! You must not—! NO!
Ramza: Alma! Are you all right?
Alma: I...I will be. But Ajora—you must kill her...quickly...
Saint Ajora: To thwart my coming...you would dare assay? No. It shall not be. Loyal minions...heed my call—to me!
Saint Ajora: I suffer spite...from neither lord...nor serf!
Ultima, the High Seraph: Your defiance reaps you naught but death's embrace!
(When Ultima, the High Seraph is critical.)
Ultima, the High Seraph: Impossible...this end to meet...I see it now, too late. In you...his blood, my vanquisher in times...long past. But not so soon...shall I accept defeat...
Ultima, the Arch Seraph: Your soul itself shall not escape my wrath!
(When Ultima, the Arch Seraph is KO'd.)
Ultima, the Arch Seraph: Had I but...more power...
(After the previous scene ends.)
Priest: Blessings of the Great Father descend, and guide your body's return to the earth. May the grace of Saint Ajora lead Alma's soul to the eternal shores of Paradise. There she shall find peace. Faram.
Mourners: Faram.
Mourner (1): She was so young.
Mourner (2): For all the children of the house to be taken at once—the gods are cruel.
Mourner (3): And the youngest son, Ramza, denied even a burial—such tragedy.
Mourner (4): For three centuries House Beoulve stood, but no more.
Orran: Ramza, Alma...forgive me. I am late in paying my respects. I would have come sooner, were not so many eyes upon me.
Orran: Delita and Ovelia are wed now. A commonborn youth restores peace to the realm, and now together with a princess, he forges a new kingdom. A tale of heroism not like to be soon forgotten.
Orran: I believe Delita may be just the man you said—pure of heart, in the end. When Valmafra revealed herself for an agent of Mullonde, he made it appear as though he'd killed her, then let her run. I think he must have caught a glimpse of himself in her—a tool manipulated by Lord Folmarv.
Orran: My father... Did...did he die bravely?
Orran: I'll visit you again. Be at peace.
Orran: Are you truly dead? I still cannot believe you are gone. After so much... *sigh*
Orran: Could it be—? Ramza, Alma! Wait!
Orran: They're alive. They're both of them alive!
Orran: Thank you, Ramza...
On-screen:
Arazlam: Ramza and his sister were not seen again.
Orran Durai was left to ponder the mark they had left on history's page.
"I know not what brings men joy. Of what drives them to great deeds, of what legacies they hope to leave, I know less yet.
"But I do know this: The true hero of this tale was the man forgotten."
Orran would spend the next half-decade assembling an account of all to which he had borne witness.
His work complete, Orran presented this account, the Durai Papers, before the Clemensian Council, then convened for the selection of a new High Confessor.
Howerver the Church, fearing above all else the revelation of the truth, seized Orran as a heretic, and burnt him at the stake.
The pen that inked them forever stilled, the Papers then lay hidden for long centuries, forgotten even by the church that had concealed them.
But I have found the truth, and so lay it for all to see. That his deeds might guide generations to come that his name might receive the honor its due.
-Arazlam Durai
Author of the Zodiac Brave Story
On-screen: Zeltennia Castle Chapel Ruins
Delita: I thought I might find you here. Everyone has been looking for you.
Delita: Today's your birthday, is it not? I brought you—
Delita: O-Ovelia?
Queen Ovelia: How could you? You...you used them, and all the others! And someday you'll cast me aside, just as you did him!
Delita: Did you get your end in all of this, Ramza? I...I got this.
Optional dialogue[]
Secret events[]
Reunion with Ovelia[]
(Upon returning to Zeltennia Castle if Agrias is still in the party.)
Familiar Voice: My lady.
Ovelia: Agrias!?
Agrias: Pray forgive the late hour of our coming.
Ovelia: Oh, Agrias! Gods be praised, you're alive! I'd no way of reaching you, and I'd feared the worst. Such a weight is lifted! Please, rise.
Agrias: Forgive me. I gave cause for needless worry. Ser Ramza aided me. I travel with him even now.
Ovelia: Then I owe Ramza a great debt of gratitude. You'll return to me now, won't you, Agrias? I need your sword and shield now more than ever. Your counsel I sorely miss as well. Please, Agrias, you will stay, yes?
Agrias: My apologies, Your Majesty. I cannot tarry here, though it pains me to leave. There are nefarious forces afoot, who would take the helm of Ivalice and steer her to the doom of all. A darkness falls upon the realm, my lady, and it is but a matter of time before we are consumed by it. To turn a blind eye to this is to forsake the hallowed oath I swore: to defend this kingdom at the peril of my life. My sword is sworn to you as well, and I mean for it to serve. Your safety requires that this plot be stopped. It is not lightly that I abandon duty, but only for the love I bear you and our kingdom. I can but pray that you forgive me, Highness.
Ovelia: I...I see. But-
Delita's Voice: You're fond of this place, aren't you, Ovelia?
Ovelia: Delita...
Delita: Well met. Agrias, was it not?
Agrias: Unmannered dog! How dare you address Her Majesty by name!?
Ovelia: Agrias, it's all right.
Agrias: But, my lady-!
Ovelia: It's fine. Pay it no heed.
Agrias: If that is Your Majesty's wish...
Agrias: Would that I had not to beg favors of such as you, but fate is not so kind. Responsibility for the well-being of Her Majesty the Princess rests in my hands. But at present, my hands toil toward another purpose. It is not without reluctance that I put my faith in you, but the choice is made for me. Please, let no harm come to Lady Ovelia!
Delita: Put your mind at ease. I will keep her safe.
Agrias: I shall trust your words. Should aught befall Her Highness, know that my vengeance, and your death, will be swift.
Ovelia: Agrias!
Agrias: My lady. I want you to carry this, though I hope with all my heart you need not use it.
Delita: Having a knife for protection may not be a bad idea.
Ovelia: Thank you, Agrias.
Agrias: And now, I must take my leave.
Ovelia: Father watch over you.
Agrias: I promise this: When all is done, I shall return to you. Until such time, pray be safe.
Ovelia: I shall await your return.
Agrias: Fare-well, Majesty. And gods be with you.
(If Lavian and Alicia are in the party.)
Agrias: Lavian, Alicia! With me!
Quests[]
Melee and Rendezvous[]
Tavern Patron (1): Did you notice?
Tavern Patron (2): Notice what? How'm I s'posed to notice if ye don't tell me what it is I'm s'posed to look at?
Tavern Patron (1): The menu, you clod! Take a glimpse.
Tavern Patron (2): The menu? Oh, right. There's some new words on it. "Me-lee"...And, uh, "Ren-dez-vous." What do ye s'pose those are?
Tavern Patron (1): Some new manner of challenges, as I hear it. Melee battles are for sparring.
Tavern Patron (2): Sounds like a rum way to test your swordarm.
Tavern Patron (1): Friendly challenges, too - no worries of getting left to feed the worms.
Tavern Patron (2): What about that other one?
Tavern Patron (1): Rendezvous? Well, sometimes people look to hire two groups of adventurers for a job. That's how you meet up with t'other one.
Tavern Patron (2): Ah, so you've to work together with another cull, eh? Not so sure as I could do that.
Tavern Patron (1): Well, there aren't a lot of offers up yet either way. Sure there will be someday, though. Once more people catch wind of the idea, there will probably be some right interesting jobs.
Tavern Patron (2): I s'pose I could try it sometime.
Tavern Patron (1): There's more still. This is the good part. As I'm told, both participants get rewarded - with treasure!
Tavern Patron (2): Why didn't you say that from the start? Let's get going!
Tavern Patron (1): Well, first we need to find another group...
Tavernmaster (to Ramza): You might give it a try, too, my lord. If you ever have the interest, just say the word.
Gift of the Magi[]
Mustadio: Hmm...
Ramza: Well? Do you intend to give it to her or not?
Mustadio: Give... what? To whom? I've...I've no idea what you—
Ramza: Mustadio!
Mustadio: All right, all right...
Mustadio: Ah, Agrias! I, ah, I hope this is n-not...not a bad time.
Agrias: Hmm? Is something the matter?
Mustadio: N-no, it's just, I—here!
Agrias: What's this?
Mustadio: It's a, ah...um—a present! I heard today was your birthday, so I, well...
Agrias: Today -is- my birthday, isn't it? I'd near forgotten. Who told you? Lavian? Alicia? Those two cannot still their tongues, can they?
Mustadio: Um...Anyway, I, ah, wanted to...to give you this. It isn't much.
Agrias: May I open it?
Mustadio: Ah, yes, of course!
Agrias: Lip rouge?
Mustadio: Yes. Y-you're always busy fighting, and... and... Well, I know you've probably small time for such womanly things, but... I thought m-mayhap you might like to have that.
Agrias: I've small time, yes, but I chose this life for myself. It's not as though I regret it. Still, there are times... Are you sure it's all right for me to have this?
Mustadio: Of course! Why do you ask?
Agrias: It cost a goodly amount, did it not? Surely a gift like this is wasted on a knight such as I?
Mustadio: No, not at all! Please, accept it!
Agrias: Very well, then.
Mustadio: Oh!
Agrias: Well?
Mustadio: ...
Agrias: Do I look odd?
Mustadio: Wh-what? N-no! You look wonderful! Truly...truly so!
Agrias: Thank you, Mustadio. I will treasure it, as I do our friendship.
The Hunter[]
(Upon entering Zeklaus Desert during chapter 3 after the "Ovelia and Delita" event.)
On-screen: Zeklaus Desert
Ramza: He'll never be able to outrun them!
Luso: If it's dinner you're after, I'll feed you a length of iron.
Luso: Have it your way then.
Luso: Let's see how you swallow this!
(After the battle.)
Luso: Thanks, I owe you one. If you hadn't come along, I'd be making the rounds through that thing's innards. The name's Luso. I'm a game hunter, if you'll believe it. And you?
Ramza: I am Ramza. Are you not rather young to be a hunter?
Luso: Well, times are tough. It's a good life, though, all in all. Sure, I run into a little trouble every now and again, but so far so good!
Ramza: You travel alone?
Luso: I didn't used to. I sort of...got separated from my friends. I've been searching for them as I travel, but...no such luck. I don't suppose I could travel with you for a while? I mean, it's fine if you don't want me along.
Ramza: By all means!
Luso: Great! Then it's set!
Ramza: Is that a journal?
Luso: A travelogue of sorts. I keep a record of everything that happens on my journeys.
Ramza: Planning to become a writer someday?
Luso: Heh. Something like that.
Luso: Shall we be on our way, then? This desert sun is roasting me. I'd hate to escape the dinner plate only to end up back on it as jerky.
Ramza: Ha! No, that would not do, would it? Let us be on our way.
The Metallic Sphere[]
Mustadio: So, this is the device you'd mentioned?
Besrudio: The same, unearthed just as digging began on Tunnel 57. I'd thought to disassemble it, but I haven't the slightest inkling of how to begin.
Mustadio: An iron sphere... curious.
Mustadio: What just happened?
Ramza: Was it reacting to the auracite?
Besrudio: This is a most peculiar symbol.
Beowulf the Hunter[]
Tavernmaster: Good day to you. Might I interest you in a drink?
Ramza: Mayhap you might. Have you any milk?
Tavernmaster: Ha! I like you already! I've not had a customer order milk before. You've seen your share of battle, have you not? Most men as live that sort of life come wanting spirits.
Monk: You mean to say the stories were true? There are monsters in Gollund?
Squire: Hordes of them, causing all sorts of trouble. They had to close the mines.
Monk: Times as these, knights are too busy slaying each other to deal with beasts.
Squire: The town's raised a call for hunters.
Tavernmaster: You can swing a sword, aye? There's coin to be had in this.
Ramza: I care not for coin. I would go to aid the people in their plight.
Tavernmaster: A man of honor, are we? Few enough of those these days. If only Lord Barbaneth were still alive! He'd do something about it.
Squire: As I was meaning to say, though, there's one among 'em no hunter can best.
Monk: A keen one, eh? What manner of beast?
Squire: A beast of legend—the Holy Dragon.
Tavernmaster: You mean to go?
Ramza: Yes—at least to know if the talk is true.
Tavernmaster: Gods be with you, then.
Beowulf: If you leave for the mines of Gollund, would you not hire my sword to accompany you?
Ramza: I do not believe we've made acquaintance.
Beowulf: I am Beowulf—a hunter. I pursue the Holy Dragon of which they speak. It has been my purpose for many a year. My knowledge of her would surely be a boon. What say you?
- (Upon selecting "1. I've no need of hired steel.")
Ramza: My apologies, but I've no need of hired steel.
Beowulf: I see. Most unfortunate. Good-bye, then—and fare-well. - (Upon selecting "2. How much gil does your blade require?")
Ramza: Very well. How much gil does your blade require?
Beowulf: We can speak of coin when the job is done. Come, let us make for Gollund.
A Lesson in Chemistry[]
(Quest has no dialogue.)
Climbing the Slopes[]
(Quest has no dialogue.)
Not the Dragons You Are Looking For[]
(Quest has no dialogue.)
The Holy Dragon[]
Syneugh: What good to you, this Stone? Give it to me, and your life it may yet buy you.
Beowulf: Reis! At last I've found you! As I live and breathe, I will let no harm befall you!
(After the battle ends.)
Beowulf: My thanks, Ramza. I could not have saved Reis without you.
Ramza: Then we have found the dragon you sought.
Beowulf: A companion more dear to me than life itself. More words can be no fitting thanks.
Beowulf: And you. You have sought this stone, yes?
Ramza: But how—?
Beowulf: Let us just say I have my own debts to settle. As have you.
Ramza: Who are you?
Beowulf: No enemy of yours.
Ramza: I have enemies enough. I would be glad to count you a friend. Come. Let us quit these darkened halls.
The Automaton[]
Mustadio: Will the Stone truly bring the sphere to life?
Besrudio: You saw as much with your own eyes, did you not?
Mustadio: You were right! It stirs!
Mustadio: Is that all? It must no longer be operational.
Automaton: INITIALIZATION COMPLETE. ALL SYSTEMS NORMAL. WHAT IS YOUR COMMAND, MASTER?
Mustadio: By the gods! The machine speaks!
Automaton: AWAITING YOUR COMMAND, MASTER.
Mustadio: Give it a command, Ramza.
Ramza: M-me? Must I? Mayhap -you- could—
Mustadio: What are you talking about? You're the thing's master!
Automaton: REPEAT: AWAITING COMMAND.
Ramza: V-very well. Uhmm... Dance!
Mustadio: Oh, for—!
Ramza: Well, what would you have it do?
Mustadio: It...it's dancing.
Mustadio: I wonder how powerful this thing is.
Automaton: I AM VERY STRONG.
Ramza: Well, then... Dispose of Mustadio!
Mustadio: Oh, for—!
Ramza: Oh, no! Phoenix down—where is the phoenix down!?
The Orrery[]
Mustadio: Father, what is this monstrosity?
Besrudio: I'm not entirely sure. I've been assmebling it from pieces recovered in Tunnel 83.
Ramza: It has the look of an orrery.
Besrudio: To hear it said, it does. Hmm...
Mustadio: What was that?
Ramza: This device reacts to auracite as well?
Besrudio: Hmm—what's this? There's a mark inscribed upon the base. Indeed... another Stone appears to be required.
Ramza: Then I suppose we had best begin searching.
Nelveska's Guardian[]
Construct 7: WARNING! WARNING! HUMAN ENTRY PROHIBITIED! VACATE PREMISES WITHIN 30 SECONDS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. 30...29...28...27...26...25...24...23...22...SYSTEM ERROR. 3...2...1...ANNIHILATION MODE INITIATED. RESEARCH STAFF: EVACUATE TO SHELTERS IMMEDIATELY!
(After the enemy construct is defeated.)
Construct 7: SYSTEM FAILURE. UNABLE TO RECHARGE POWER. CONNECTING RESERVE CIRCUITS.
(When the enemy construct is defeated again.)
Construct 7: SELF-DESTRUCT MODE ENGAGED. INITIATING COUNTDOWN. 30...29...28...27...26...25...SYSTEM ERROR.
The Curse[]
Ramza: This dragon? In truth I find it difficult to believe.
Beowulf: If not my words, believe your eyes. The Stone we've won, Cancer—on it my hopes must rest.
Beowulf: Go now. Be not afraid.
Beowulf: Reis. Is it truly you?
Reis: Beowulf! I had thought the joy of your embrace forever lost.
Beowulf: Reis. My beloved...
Cloud[]
Mustadio: You don't suppose this one will metamorphose as well, do you?
Ramza: We'll soon know.
Mustadio: Father's mercy!
Cloud: What...is this place? Who...who am I? I remember being swallowed by a current—a great stream, and then...
Besrudio: I recall reading of something like this in a volume long ago: a transporter.
Mustadio: A transporter?
Besrudio: A device for teleportation across dimensions—across the very fabric of time and space.
Ramza: Then, the man before us hails from a world beyond our own?
Besrudio: Like as not. Behold his manner of dress.
Cloud: My name...is Cloud. Yes, that was it.
Ramza: I am Ramza, of House Beoulve. That man over there is—
Cloud: I couldn't care less what your names are. What I need is a battlefield. That's right. I was...I was a member of SOLDIER.
Mustadio: Has he no manners at all?
Cloud: Uhn...What is this...this feeling in my fingertips? The heat! Inside my skull...No, stop...Sephiroth—no!
Mustadio: Best keep your distance. That man is not stable.
Cloud: I have to get there...
Mustadio: What do you suppose that was all about?
Aerith[]
Flower Peddler: A flower for a gil, ser?
Cloud: ...
Flower Peddler: Is something the matter? Do I look like someone familiar?
Cloud: No. Never mind.
Flower Peddler: Well, then... Good-day to you, too.
Flower Peddler: Oh, no!
Ruffian: We've been searching for you, Aerith. Thought you'd kick'd away, eh? Hawking flowers for your mum again today, I see. Such a dear girl, always working so hard for your mum...
Aerith: Please, ten more days—even just a week is all I need!
Ruffian: We set the date, and the date's long passed, love. You'll make good on that gelt here and now—all thirty thousand as we lent you!
Aerith: Release me!
Ruffian: You know, now as I look at you, you're quite the rum-dutchess, aren't you? Seems to me as you'd earn a lot more selling that tinder-box o' yours than them flowers!
Cloud: Get your hands off her!
Ruffian: What did you say?
Cloud: I said get your filthy hands off her.
Ruffian: I'd not be talking to me like that. Might be as you get blood on them fancy riggings of yours.
Cloud: Run.
Ruffian: You looking for a good drubbing!?
Cloud: You want to fight? Uhnnn...
Ruffian: What's with this cull?
Ramza: Cloud! Are you all right?
Ruffian: Twice-be-damned luck! Come on, boys!
(After all enemies are defeated.)
Cloud: I've lost something...something very important.
Ramza: Cloud...?
Cloud: I've not been myself ever since. Who...who am I now? What should I do? How...how can I stop this pain?
Ramza: Cloud...There are people waiting for you back in your world, am I not right? With the power of another Stone, we may be able to return you there.
Cloud: Let's go, Ramza. I can't stay here. I have to get there—to the Promised Land.
A Voice from the Past[]
Reis: The fields of Lionel unfold on the horizon—the grass and soil of our homeland.
Reis: Forgive me, Beowulf. For me, you've forfeited so much. You now even bear the heretic's brand. We cannot return home.
Beowulf: There's naught to forgive. 'Twas Bremondt whose deeds were ill, and those I am not of a mind to pardon. I've grown accustomed to this vagrant life. It is not Lionel's fields I love. So long as you are with me, Reis, I am home.
Reis: My love...
Beowulf: We're like to be departing soon. I had best go and see if my help is needed.
Reis: What do you—? Release me!
Beowulf: Reis!
Beowulf: Ser Aliste!
Aliste: We meet again, Beowulf. I know not how you managed to free Reis of her curse, but Celebrant Bremondt bids me extend his deepest gratitude.
Beowulf: Where is she? What have you done with her!?
Aliste: Come now, there's no need to lose your composure. The girl sleeps peacefully. And when she awakens, she'll be safely within the keep of Lionel Castle, where Celebrant Bremondt awaits her.
Beowulf: Return her at once, ere I draw my blade!
Aliste: Are you sure you wish to do that? My men are loyal, yes, but I cannot say what they might do to your sweet Reis should I fail to return. If you would have her back, you'd best make for the castle.
Beowulf: Ser Aliste, wait! What has become of you? You were once my ally, and hers! Why now this?
Aliste: You know nothing, Beowulf. Have you no knowledge of the bounty on your own head? 'Tis sum enough to make a man forget allegiance. Add Bremondt's reward to that, and you've one enough to make a man forsake it altogether! I shall guarantee Reis's safety until such time as you arrive. If harm should befall her, we lose our only hold on you. In the meantime, take care to guard your own neck. That head of yours is worth more than most men can even dream of.
Beowulf: Reis... wait for me.
Aliste's Final Glory[]
Ramza: The gate stands open. I've not seen a trap so plain.
Beowulf: Nor I.
Aliste: Beowulf, at last! I'd near grown tired of waiting.
Beowulf: Aliste!
Aliste: I thought to ease your passage within, but I see my hospitality is met with scorn. No matter. I'd not planned to let you pass beyond here.
Aliste: The effects should have taken hold by now. Let us treat with steel!
(Upon Beowulf's first turn.)
Beowulf: Lay aside your sword! I've no wish to fight you!
Aliste: Ha! Have you lost your edge in all these years of chasing after that girl?
(Upon Aliste's next turn.)
Aliste: Are you truly the same knight once hailed as Lionel's finest? My contract ends with your last breath. Stay not your hand—I shall not stay mine.
Beowulf: Where gone is the noble Ser Aliste—the knight I once trusted with my life?
Aliste: That man has long since passed!
(When Aliste is critical.)
Aliste: Mayhap your edge is not lost after all.
Beowulf: We've fought enough, Aliste! Will you not end this madness?
Aliste: It's not over. Not yet...
(When Aliste is KO'd.)
Aliste: I am...defeated.
Beowulf: Aliste!
Aliste: Dwell not on this, Beowulf. My days were already at an end. *chuckle* Even the noble Ser Aliste cannot best malady.
Beowulf: What?
Aliste: I'd not die...in a sickbed, succumbed to weakness and...and infirmity. What...what are you doing? Go! Go...and save Reis! She awaits you within. Take her...and your freedom. I die now...fulfilled. Fare-well, Beowulf...my lord...
Beowulf: You fool!
The Unholy Dragon[]
Ninja: My lord, the gate is breached!
Celebrant Bremondt: What!?
Ninja: There's more. A great number of our troops have fallen comatose. We know not why. We fear them drugged.
Bremondt: Im...impossible! Who—?
Ninja: Our remaining numbers engage the enemy at the gate, but these are no common soldiers. I—forgive me, my lord, but I do not think they will be held for long.
Beowulf: Bremondt! I come for Reis. I shall have her relinquished at once!
Bremondt: B-Beowulf! N-no! C-come no closer!
Bremondt: K-kill them! Kill them all! You'll...you'll have whatever reward you wish! Gil—or...or jewels! Wealth enough to...to last you all your days!
Beowulf: Reis...you'll soon be safe.
(Upon Beowulf's first turn.)
Beowulf: Will you not accept the truth, Bremondt!? Reis does not love you, nor ever will she!
Bremondt: N-no! That's...that's not true! Reis is but deceived! It is you...your lies that blind her heart! When you are gone, it will all be different! There's...there's naught you can do that I cannot. I can buy her aught and all she wishes. She'll want for nothing!
(Upon Bremondt's next turn.)
Beowulf: 'Tis your mind that is deceived, you who deceive it! Love is not a thing for goods or gil exchanged! Reis would never open her heart to a man such as you! My living or dying plays no part in it!
Bremondt: You...you cannot fool me! You do not...You do not know her as I do! Reis is mine! My own! I will not surrender her to you!
Beowulf: Your notion of love is one of control and possession. Such a thing is not love! Reis freely took the curse you meant for me, though she knew what it might entail. For her, I would fain do the same. That is what it means to love. And it is something you will never know.
Bremondt: No! It is you—you and that vile tongue! I need only silence it, and we can live together in bliss!
(When Bremondt is critical.)
Bremondt: P-power...of the Dark...Heed my call!
Bremondt: Denied earthly pleasure, surely Paradise as well...But vengeance I shall know!
(When the dragon is KO'd.)
Bremondt: Ungaaah!
Bremondt: Reis...is...mine...
Beowulf: Reis belongs to no one.
Reis's Rescue[]
Man's Voice: Nor here. She's nowhere to be found.
Second Man's Voice: Only this room remains, then.
Beowulf: Reis!
Reis: Beowulf! I knew you'd come!
Beowulf: It's over now, my love. It's over, for good and all. No one will chase us any longer.
Beowulf: Thank you, Ramza. You are the reason she is safe. We've brought naught but trouble upon you, yet you have never failed to aid us in our plight.
Ramza: Think naught of it. What sort of man would I be to ignore those in need of my aid?
Beowulf: I owe you a debt of steel. I shall repay it in kind.
The Sky Pirate[]
Ramza: A godless thief with designs upon the Church vaults. Could it be he seeks the stones? The road to auracite is barred by Templar swords. But it is the same road that leads to Alma.
Ramza: I will walk whatever road I must to see you free.
Ramza: Even if it means walking headlong into a trap!
Brigand #1: He took the bait! I told you he would!
Brigand #2: We've got the wrong man. This one's not the thief! But he's still a heretic!
Balthier: Your mistakes were twofold, I'm afraid.
Balthier: You sprung your trap without looking to see if the game you hunted was the one you'd snare. And you sold me short. I'm no thief.
Balthier: I'm a sky pirate.
Brigand #2: It's him!
Balthier: Now that we've dispensed with the pleasantries. Tell me where I'll find the Cache of Glabados.
Ramza: The Cache of Glabados?
Brigand #1: Two heretics instead of one. Rum luck, I say! We'll claim the bounty for them both!
Balthier: Oh, you'll have your reward for finding me.
Balthier: And don't think about running off without collecting. My shot is faster.
Balthier: Or my name's not Balthier.
(Upon Balthier's first turn.)
Balthier: They've numbers, if nothing else. Perhaps a brief alliance is in order? One hand washes the other and all that.
Ramza: I'll certainly not object!
(After the battle ends.)
Balthier: Such a warm welcome. I see my reputation precedes me.
Ramza: You are branded a heretic as well?
Balthier: Religion and I don't mix, I'm afraid. *sigh* Another false lead.
Ramza: Why do you seek this...Cache of Glabados?
Balthier: Women, treasure—does a man need reason to pursue beauty?
Ramza: The Church's treasure—it is not the prize you think it.
Balthier: Then you know it?
Ramza: No, it's only—you're better off not searching. The road is fraught with dangers you cannot know.
Balthier: Who do you think you're talking to? The leading man never balks at a little danger.
Balthier: Though this does have more the feel of a cameo role...Nonetheless, I have my reasons for seeking that particular treasure. I found it once—laid my hands on it, and look where it's gotten me. If I find it again, I can put things back as they were. And since you seem to know something of it, you've gained yourself another traveling companion.
Ramza: Oh?
Balthier: Not to worry. I've some experience in the chaperoning of children.
Ramza: I'm no child!
Balthier: Yes, they all say that, don't they?
Ramza: And -you- say you are a sky pirate. Would you have me believe you can fly? I see no wings.
Balthier: I seem to always find myself a pirate without a sky. At this rate, I'm like to forget how to fly altogether.
Midlight's Deep[]
Knight: 'Twas a greater success than could have been foreseen!
White Mage: I mean not to boast, but I daresay our success owed itself to me.
Tavernmaster: Even Count Minimas has fallen on hard times, eh?
Patron (1): Then the legends speak true! Treasure sleeps on that island.
Patron (2): Aye, that it does. Treasure beyond worth—down in the depths, out of sight and reach.
Patron (1): It's bound to be guarded by traps, no? Else it would sleep in some noble's vaults by now.
Patron (2): More than traps—a wizard, if talk be true. Soul as dark as the caverns he calls home...
Patron (1): No thank you is what I say to that, then! A man would have to be a fool to go there!
Patron (2): 'Tis no place for the craven, that much be true. To enter is to bid good-bye to the light of day.
Patron (1): What did they call the place again?
Patron (2): Midlight's Deep—and rightly so.
Knight: How so? 'Twas I who saw the task completed!
White Mage: You? What did you do, but almost get us—
White Mage: What are you looking at? Be on your way, this is no show!