Tipping the Scale

Tipping the Scale

Quest giver

Zeynuha

Location

Thavnair (X:19.6, Y:8.6)

Quest line

Endwalker Main Scenario Quests

Level

80

Required items

1   Sack of Giantsgall

Experience

 448,800

Gil

 1,415

Previous quest

A Boy's Errand

Next quest

The Satrap of Radz-at-Han

Patch

6.0

Links

EDB GT TC

---

Main Scenario Progress: 708 / 978 (72.4%)

   

Endwalker Progress: 10 / 155 (6.5%)

   

“

Zeynuha has a sack of giantsgall for you.

— In-game description

Steps

• Deliver the sack of giantsgall to Nidhana.
• Speak with Nidhana.
• Speak with the Radiant Host Soldier.
• Speak with Thancred.

Note
This quest contains a cutscene with length ~15 minutes.

Journal

• Zeynuha has a sack of giantsgall for you.

Dialogue

Accepting the Quest

Zeynuha: Here you are ─ a sack of the purest giantsgall. We always set some aside for our alchemist friends.
Zeynuha: When you deliver it, let the good folk of the Great Work know that we're grateful for their efforts. If they need more, they need but ask.

Optional dialogue

Zeynuha: Payment? You needn't worry ─ the satrap will see us compensated. But even if he did not, we wouldn't hesitate to provide what we can. We're in this fight together, after all.

Deliver the sack of giantsgall to Nidhana.

Nidhana: Ah, welcome back, [Forename]. Dare I hope you have the giantsgall? [Item Request: Sack of Giantsgall]
Nidhana: Oh my, such fine specimens! Thank you so much for bringing these!
Nidhana: We now have everything we need to make our next prototype ─ one that should be capable of passing our most rigorous tests.
Nidhana: When it is ready, it will be time for the true test, so please take your ease while you can!

| Voiced Cutscene |
Thancred: I see our taskmasters have allowed you a moment's respite as well.
Thancred: You have to hand it to these alchemists ─ they are determined to see this endeavor of theirs succeed.
Thancred: I've never been one for blind optimism, but I sincerely get the sense they're close to a breakthrough.
Estinien: They had better be, or all this effort was for naught...
Urianger: The peoples of Eorzea, of the Far East, of Thavnair... Children of this star united in common cause against a dire threat.
Urianger: Yet ere they succumbed to suicidal madness, were not the Telophoroi born of Her body, as were we?
Urianger: They who cling to life and the promise of the morrow's dawn, 'gainst they who desire death and an ending of their own orchestration.
Urianger: The victors of this war alone will hold the right to answer the question of existence. Of its meaning, and its worth.
Thancred: Poetic and ominous to a fault. That said, if it's an existential debate in nature, then our arguments might not be as persuasive as you'd think.
Thancred: Fandaniel wants to die, and take everyone with him in an orgy of pain and suffering. An utterly vile and unforgivable idea.
Thancred: And yet, when spat upon by fate and wailing in the deepest pit of despair, who among us can say they have not entertained similar thoughts?
Thancred: There are nights black as pitch. Bereft of hope. When no words of comfort can reach you, and it's all you can do to grit your teeth and choke back the bile.
Estinien: The more you see and suffer life's injustices, the more difficult they become to bear.
Estinien: Vengeance is nurtured in similar soil. Though your anger has a broader focus, the sentiment is much the same: a fervent desire to destroy others; to see them drown in torment, as you have.
Thancred: That about sums it up. The will to endure is not always as strong as the urge to burn it all down and salt the earth, survival be damned. It's a struggle ─ often close and brutal.
Urianger: Indeed... Well. I, for one, shall pray survival proveth more appealing in the end.
Thancred: As will I. Besides, our chances are much improved when we've the company of others committed to the cause of life. Our vengeful dragoon here is proof of that.
WOL catches sight of Fandaniel, and runs towards him. 
Thancred: What is it? What did you see?
Thancred: Fandaniel? Are you sure? If he knows we've been working on a countermeasure...
Accomplished Alchemist: It holds...the vessel holds! This is the one.
Spirited Alchemist: At long last!
Nidhana: Look! We have finally created a talisman strong enough to withstand our experiments!
Nidhana: We've named it a “warding scale” ─ for the time being. With this in your possession, your soul should be completely shielded from corruptive aether.
Urianger: Afforded such protection, any one of us may approach the towers without fear. Thou hast mine admiration ─ 'tis an invention of historical significance.
Nidhana: I thank you for your kind words! But I would prefer you keep them unsaid until we test the talisman's efficacy in the field.
Nidhana: It is for the next stage of our plan that we summoned you in the first place: to accompany me to the Tower of Zot.
Nidhana: Should the scale prove effective─as I very much hope it will ─ then you'll have little to do. But should the effect be weaker than anticipated, I must ask that you restrain me. Or knock me senseless.

 What will you say?
> Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
> Oh, you needn't ask. 

Nidhana: Either way, we are fortunate to have you with us.
Exuberant Alchemist: Nidhana, I... Are you certain you wish to do this?
Nidhana: If others are to trust our creations, then we must have faith in them first. And as the senior researcher, it falls to me to lead by example.
Nidhana: But...should I fail to return, then learn what you can from this attempt and apply it to the next. Our work must continue. Is that clear?
Thancred: We'll keep an eye on the place while you're away.
Thancred: Assuming Fandaniel is lurking about, there's no telling what mischief he has in mind for us ─ or you. Be on your guard.
Nidhana: Shall we be on our way? I'll have one of the soldiers at the hatchery prepare us a boat, and we can set out from the northern shore. I'll see you there.
| Voiced cutscene end. |

Optional dialogue

Thancred: Nothing unusual so far. Don't worry about us─think only of your own task.

Urianger: The warding scale doth promise to alter the course of conflict. Yet even as it giveth us cause to rejoice, we must needs brace ourselves for the Telophoroi's response.

Estinien: What of that boy... Varshahn, was it?
Estinien: Running this and that errand for the satrap, you say...
...Hm? Why do I ask? 'Tis nothing. Curiosity.

Optional dialogue, by the boat on the northern shore

Radiant Soldier: The satrap has granted you the use of this boat. May it serve you well!

Speak with Nidhana.

Nidhana: This is a rather finer boat than I had expected, but I won't complain.
Nidhana: All that remains is to board and be on our way. Oh, and if I should become corrupted, do not stay your hand. Of course I pray it does not come to that, but you must protect yourself.
Nidhana: Other alchemists can fulfill my role, but you and your blessing are one of a kind...and perhaps our only hope for toppling this tower. For all our sakes, do not hesitate to do what must be done. Whatever that may be.
Nidhana: ...Well, the longer I draw this out, the more nervous I become. Let's be off!

---> Head to the Tower of Zot with Nidhana.
| Voiced cutscene |
Nidhana: We should soon cross the threshold of the tower's influence...
Nidhana: Any moment now...
Nidhana: It's working!
Nidhana: And you ─ you are still yourself? Then I'd like to see how it fares closer to the tower, if we could.
Nidhana: So far, so good. The scale's protection appears to be holding. If we can just make it to the tower's entrance...
Nidhana: A few more steps!
Nidhana: Praise be to the Sisters! We made it! And the scale has proven itself to be everything we hoped it would be.
Nidhana: Now we can focus on production. Once we've equipped and returned with an entire survey team, this menace will soon give up its secrets!

Nidhana: What─!?
Nidhana: Aaah!
Nidhana: Let me go! ...Let me go! Rrrgh!
Fandaniel: Oh, do calm down. You'll only hurt yourself thrashing about like that.
Nidhana: Stop! You can't do this! Please!
Fandaniel: A little late for heroics, I'm afraid.
Fandaniel: Hmm...the similarities are striking.
Fandaniel: My, my, such hostility. Never before has my artistry so displeased.
Fandaniel: My patrons of old would've positively squealed in delight! Though, between you and me, I find gushing praise exhausting.

 What will you say?
> Patrons of old?
> What are you talking about?

Fandaniel throws the talisman behind him.
Fandaniel: Allow me to tell you a story. Surely you've yet to hear the one about Fandaniel, the sundered Ascian.
Fandaniel: I inherited the position─and the soul ─ of the Fandaniel who sat on the Convocation in the time of the Final Days. Theoretically speaking.
Fandaniel: Practically speaking, that fact is of no consequence! I was born and lived as...well. Me.
Fandaniel: Eventually I was recruited into the Ascians and imbued with the former Fandaniel's knowledge and memories, but I never felt that they were truly a part of who I am.
Fandaniel: How to explain? Perhaps if I told you who I was before my Ascian embrace. Although that chapter, too, is a past I've long since discarded.
Fandaniel: I have it on good authority you've poked your nose into an Allagan ruin or two, yes?
Fandaniel: Then I expect you've heard of me. The old me.
Fandaniel: Amon, at your service.

Imagine a nation of unbridled prosperity.
Every need, met; day after day of unbroken, unshakable peace.
Existence, fulfilled.
And ripe for decay.

Allagan Noble: You are a genius without peer, Amon. How ever do you conceive of such delightful experiments?
Allagan Noble: That fool was beside himself with panic when he awoke with the head of a bull! Even his cries for help emerged as so much guttural lowing!
Allagan Noble: Oh, the memory of it... Haha, my poor sides! My friends and I were so consumed by laughter we struggled to breathe!

No more than entertainment for bored wastrels ignorant of its worth. My all-consuming work...
But it was not their only indulgence.
For they were ever hungry for stimulation. Slaves to the slightest hint that amusement was afoot.
Our nation was ailing...but I would see the poison purged.
I resurrected a legend ─ our first and greatest emperor.
And just as I had planned, he set our wayward empire back on the path of conquest.
An inexhaustible ambition carried us onwards, always onwards.
Yet he who delivered to us such glory was not to be satisfied.

Xande: Heed me, Amon.
Xande: No matter how vast one's empire, or full one's treasure vault, all is rendered meaningless by death.
Xande: In the end, all is lost...

Emet-Selch: You know as well as I that the emperor stands to lose this war. And so I have come to claim you.
Emet-Selch: For while your methods leave something to be desired, we cannot deny the results of your work.
Emet-Selch: And as fortune would have it, the seat of Fandaniel ─ your rightful seat ─ lies vacant and waiting. Take your place amongst your peers, rather than die a pointless death amidst the ashes of your doomed nation.
Emet-Selch: Send one of your clones to the Crystal Tower that you might see for yourself.
Emet-Selch: See what lies ahead...

The fall of the empire affirmed the truth. Majestic and tragic...as the emperor foresaw.
Scheme as you like, build as you will. Nothing endures.
What is life, but a brief jaunt ending in emptiness?

Fandaniel: So easily distracted! Why, I almost left without saying farewell.
Fandaniel: As for your friend, you needn't worry ─ these pawns are far more useful to me alive as fuel for the primals.
Fandaniel: Ah ah ah! If you attempt to pull them free, they will die, so ─ enjoy tackling that conundrum with your comrades!
Fandaniel: We shall meet again! Not in one of these minor spires, oh no, but somewhere more suitably grandiose. Your favorite playmate is ever so eager to see you.
| Voiced cutscene end. |

Speak with Radiant Host soldier.

Radiant Solider: Ah, you are returned! But...where is Mistress Nidhana?
Radiant Solider: Manusya preserve... Just when we had succeeded in making the talisman...
Radiant Solider: I-I must report this at once! Meanwhile, please return to the Great Work!

Optional dialogue, back in Great Work

Urianger: Thy demeanor bespeaketh consternation, [Forename]...

Estinien: Hm... Bad tidings, I take it.

Speak with Thancred.

Thancred: ...Something's gone awry, hasn't it? What happened?
Thancred: So it was Fandaniel after all... Damn that bastard!
Thancred: I'm sure you wanted to do more...but you were right to return here first.
Thancred: We must tread warily lest we endanger Nidhana and the other captives.