The Man Within

Quest giver: House Fortemps Knight
Location: The Pillars (X:11, Y:11)
Quest line: Post-Heavensward
Level: 60

Experience: 5,000
Gil: 713
Previous quest: Causes and Costs
Next quest: An Ally for Ishgard
Patch: 3.3

Main Scenario Progress: 355 / 853 (41.6%)

Heavensward Progress: 114 / 138 (82.6%)

“

The House Fortemps knight has a message for you.

— In-game description

Rewards

Choose one of the following options:

Steps

Speak with Alphinaud at Fortemps Manor.
Speak with Krile at the Forgotten Knight.
Speak with Alphinaud at the Congregation of Our Knights Most Heavenly.

Journal

The House Fortemps knight has a message for you.

According to the knight, Alphinaud wishes to speak with you. Enter Fortemps Manor and find out what young Master Leveilleur has to say.

Alphinaud bids you recall the events which unfolded at the peace conference -- specifically, the moment when Nidhogg appeared in the guise of Estinien. Believing that the preservation of your friend's corporeal form may offer hope for the dragoon's salvation, he has sought the opinion of Y'shtola and Krile. In response to his request, it appears that they have already journeyed to Ishgard to share their observations. Make your way to the Forgotten Knight and speak with Krile.

At the tavern, Y'shtola and Krile relate their experiences at the conference, concluding at last that Estinien's spirit may indeed have survived, having apparently been enveloped but not consumed by Nidhogg's vengeful will. Heartened, Alphinaud speculates that removing the great wyrm's eyes from the dragoon's armor could potentially free him. Waving away Krile's concerns regarding this dubious proposition, the young Scion declares that he will do whatever it takes to save his friend. In the wake of this impassioned oath, Honoroit appears and announces that Ser Aymeric has requested your presence. Rendezvous with Alphinaud at the Congregation of Our Knights Most Heavenly in readiness for your audience.

You join Alphinaud outside the Seat of the Lord Commander. Alphinaud's musings echo your own as you ponder the reason behind Ser Aymeric's summons...

Dialogue

Speak with Alphinaud at Fortemps Manor

Alphinaud: Ah, [Forename], there you are. Have you a moment? There is something I would fain discuss. I must ask you to recall the events which unfolded at the peace conference, though I daresay you would sooner forget them. My mind returns again and again to the moment when Nidhogg appeared before the crowd in the guise of Estinien. It was a sight to chill the soul - but one which gave me reason to hope that our friend might not be beyond salvation. When you described his fateful transformation at Azys Lla, I feared him lost forever, but the mere fact that some semblance of his former self endures must surely count for something. Alas, I have no evidence to support this impression... Thus did I turn to Y'shtola and Krile for a more empirical appraisal - and full glad am I that I did, for it would seem they have some observations of their own to share. 
Tataru: The ladies have saved us a table at the Forgotten Knight. Shall we go? 
Alphinaud: Excellent. Let us not keep our honored colleagues waiting.

Speak with Krile at the Forgotten Knight

Alphinaud: We have kept you waiting overlong, I fear...
Krile: Not to worry, Alphinaud. We had some rather fine mulled wine to keep us company. Truth be told, you could have delayed your arrival a few moments more...
Tataru: Gibrillont got the spicing just right this time. His latest batch is not only delicious and warming, but soothing to the humours!
Y'shtola: Indeed. But 'twas not to soothe our humors that we gathered here.
Krile: Ah, no- quite right. The matter of that poor dragoon...
Alphinaud: You have discovered something - a means to save him?
Krile: Let us not jump to conclusions, shall we? Assess the facts presented, then make an educated analysis, as you were taught.
Y'shtola: Pray cast your mind back to the moment of Estinien's transformation. do you recall how you described it to us? You spoke of the sudden pangs which racked his body when he took up both of Nidhogg's eyes - and of how his form was twisted thereafter into a shadowy semblance of the great wyrm.
Alphinaud: When he appeared at the Falcon's Nest, the wyrm's eyes were fused to his mail.
Y'shtola: Would that only his armor had been corrupted...Snaking forth from the eyes, I described dark tendrils which entangled his very being. His aether has been all but smothered.
Alphinaud: Then he is lost to us forever?
Krile: What did I just say about jumping to conclusions? Y'shtola clearly stated "all but smothered." As I later discovered, her impression matched my own. Though Nidhogg's presence filled my mind's eye, beneath his seething aura, I sensed the merest hint of something else. And after listening to Y'shtola's observations, I became more certain of my suspicion: that the "something else" I had sensed was, in fact, the trace of a different will, submerged in the sea of Nidhogg's rage.
Alphinaud: You mean...
Y'shtola: Yes. 'Tis like that Estinien's spirit yet lingers.
Alphinaud: Can we not wrest him from Nidhogg's grasp, then!? Tear the eyes from the armor!?
Y'shtola: We know not if that would serve to separate wyrm's soul from man's. None have ever attempted such a feat.
Alphinaud: Should it offer even the faintest hope of success, then by the gods, I shall be the first to try.
Krile: Alphinaud... By all means, hold fast to your hope. But be mindful of the dangers. Even should you succeed in excising the eyes from the dragoon's mail, we have no way of knowing if your friend's soul would survive so violent of a separation. And that is to say nothing of the possibility that his would-be savior might become Nidhogg's next host.
Alphinaud: But what other choice remains to us? Should the opportunity present itself, I will tear those foul orbs from Estinien's armor and trust in the resilience of his soul - even at the risk of mine own!
Honoroit: Ah! I've found you at last! A messenger of the Temple Knights came to the manor some few hours past. The lord commander humbly requests the company of the Warrior of Light and Master Alphinaud.
Alphinaud: Ser Aymeric would speak with us? Very well. Thank you, Honoroit.
Y'shtola: 'Twould seem duty calls. Pray see to yours, and we shall return to ours.
Alphinaud: Thank you, Y'shtola, Krile. Your words have given me hope where there was none. Come then. Ser Aymeric awaits.
Krile: Alphinaud is allowing his feelings for this dragoon to cloud his thoughts. I worry he may do something rash. Keep an eye on him, would you?
'Midgardsormr: They think more of their friend's deliverance than their foe's defeat....But will history commend their fealty or condemn their folly?

Narrator Cutscene

Narrator: The conference held at Falcton's nest was to be a celebration of the reconciliation 'twixt man and dragon. But the lingering shade of Nidhogg, clad in the flesh of the Azure Dragoon, did mark the occasion by spilling the blood of his own kind.

A timely atrocity to remind the children of Ishgard that the Dragonsong War was far from over... And when fear gave way to fury, the call to arms rang out anew: "Death to Nidhogg! Death to Nidhogg!"

Speak with Alphinaud at the Congregation of Our Knights Most Heavenly

Alphinaud: What news has Ser Aymeric to share with us, I wonder...?