AEHU/Plot/Plot Sketch Chapter 22
"The Greatest of All Sins"
- Grishe wants to go to Algetty and evacuate his family before the offensive begins, but Dalton launches it early to deprive Po'hjol any more preparation time. Caught between warring Earthbound and proto-Mystics, Schala & co. usher out noncombatants and Earthbound rebels who throw down their arms when confronted by these new beasts from Zeal.
- During some downtime Raqh becomes interested in Demeria, asking how she came to be in Zeal. Demeria thinks he's crazy, and Raqh learns about her and her situation with Derben.
- While Earthbound refugees are moving across the plains to escape Algetty, Po'hjol's army is busy dragging Cassio to another hiding place. Po'hjol and Dalton wind up on opposite sides of the human mass streaming out of the Earthbound settlement. Dalton's Lasher corps and Po'hjol's rebels are sitting wide out in the open and thus both vulnerable, and Po'hjol arms Cassio because he worries that Dalton will unleash everything he has despite the possibility of harming refugees. Schala & co. split up into two parties to get both sides to stand down:
- Schala, Demeria, and Jaya head for Dalton, fighting their way through a beast incursion the imps have launched to pillage from the refugees. Dalton relents, believing that Po'hjol arming Cassio is just a bluff, and that Po'hjol wouldn't dare harm his own people. Even receiving radio communication that the Blackbird is in position to launch an air assault, Dalton rejects it when Schala tells him there's a ton of women and children among the refugees. The officer commanding the Blackbird is dismayed and Dalton knows that he risks possible court martial for his decision.
- Grishe, Derben and Raqh head for Po'hjol. Po'hjol sees the Blackbird flying overhead and freaks, unleashing Cassio. Grishe's party tries to stop it but it is completely invulnerable, quickly leveling the party. Raqh, not willing to die here, bails Grishe and Derben out.
- Schala, Demeria, and Jaya head for Dalton, fighting their way through a beast incursion the imps have launched to pillage from the refugees. Dalton relents, believing that Po'hjol arming Cassio is just a bluff, and that Po'hjol wouldn't dare harm his own people. Even receiving radio communication that the Blackbird is in position to launch an air assault, Dalton rejects it when Schala tells him there's a ton of women and children among the refugees. The officer commanding the Blackbird is dismayed and Dalton knows that he risks possible court martial for his decision.
- Cassio emits an energy pulse that vaporizes a swath of the Earthbound refugees and burns most of Dalton's Lasher corps to death; Dalton and Schala & co. were lucky that communicating with the Blackbird required Dalton to travel to a nearby skyway that sheltered them from the brunt of the blast.
- Grishe's party sifts through the Earthbound survivors and find the Earthbound Elder unscathed, but also learn that Masa, Mune, and Doreen were among those in the line of fire. Schala's group arrives on the scene to the vision of Grishe coming completely apart. Everyone mourns the children's deaths; Grishe, Beck, and Melchior give their singed clothing a makeshift burial. Schala finds Beck crying and they share a tender moment. Grishe shouts Po'hjol's name into the darkening sky, swearing revenge. Raqh is strangely emboldened by this episode, saying that it's more proof of his mission in life.
- Everyone goes back to Zeal palace to plan and recoup. Seith dismisses Dalton for negligence and takes personal command of the Zealian army, pushing off till later the task of developing an explanation for a ton of deaths among the Lasher corps. Seith prepares to unleash Pengalaan upon Algetty. Dalton is assigned to the palace guard and making sure word of the day's incidents does not spread.
- While Schala sleeps, Raqh wanders around the sky islands and the player controls him. He sees the following:
- Melchior forges the Masamune during a discussion of dreams with Beck; when Melchior notes that Seith has locked out his dreamstone engineering assistants to prevent word of Cassio from spreading, Raqh offers to help forge the Pendant. Melchior doubts Raqh's abilities seeing as Raqh is supposedly blind, but Raqh wows him by single-handedly forging the Pendant according to Melchior's design. Melchior puts the finishing touches on the pendant, and he wonders where Raqh acquired such engineering knowledge. Melchior makes a comment about imbuing his hopes and dreams within the solid dreamstone items and Beck happens to ask Raqh what his "dream" is. Raqh answers eerily that he no longer dreams; how can one dream in such a world after what they've just witnessed?
- Derben approaches Dalton. Now demoted and possibly facing court martial, Dalton is reduced to chasing shadowy figures reported in Zeal Palace; probably just people's imaginations running wild. Derben tells Dalton that he's proud of the decision Dalton made, and Dalton says that he still has no doubts. Queen Zeal meets with Dalton and they have a conversation about Po'hjol's actions; Queen Zeal is horrified at what Po'hjol has done, and wonders if the Earthbound really are lacking in humanity after all.
- Raqh encounters Magus, flanked by two Heroes of Time! Raqh asks Magus why he isn't keeping the gate open as he'd promised, and Magus has no idea what he's talking about. Raqh realizes that he may be speaking with a past Magus, and this Magus explains that they have arrived to scan some of Belthasar's notes for an important mission. Raqh agrees not to tell anyone that Magus and the Heroes of Time are here so long as they do the same for him.
- Raqh is the first to see Masa, Mune, and Doreen's dream forms wandering curiously through Zeal Palace. He wonders at them; they seem to exhibit the same behavior as Grishe's children, yet hold no awareness of the day's events. They can attribute their existence only to "Mr. Melchior," and they are able to recount Melchior's forging the dreamstone items and Raqh's participation.
- Raqh hitches a ride with Beck, who has promised to take Queen Zeal, Aias, Korrus, and Valna to his sky island laboratory. There he dictates how Anti-Annihilation Energy will be coaxed out of the Object in the presence of a Lavoid, and how it can be filtered to reverse damage to Creation Fibres, to which Beck attributes the phenomenon of aging. Raqh gets a peek at the Lavos Spawn now held in Beck's laboratory and realizes that he's acquired his target. Now he has only to strike.
- Melchior forges the Masamune during a discussion of dreams with Beck; when Melchior notes that Seith has locked out his dreamstone engineering assistants to prevent word of Cassio from spreading, Raqh offers to help forge the Pendant. Melchior doubts Raqh's abilities seeing as Raqh is supposedly blind, but Raqh wows him by single-handedly forging the Pendant according to Melchior's design. Melchior puts the finishing touches on the pendant, and he wonders where Raqh acquired such engineering knowledge. Melchior makes a comment about imbuing his hopes and dreams within the solid dreamstone items and Beck happens to ask Raqh what his "dream" is. Raqh answers eerily that he no longer dreams; how can one dream in such a world after what they've just witnessed?