85
Mummy Dearest
Side quest, level 15. 85th of 102 in play order.
Quest giver: Ahldfoet, Western La Noscea (X 27.6, Y 28.5).
Steps
- Deliver the
letter to Wiltswys.
Journal
- The bashful air ill suits a Roegadyn but Ahldfoet has it nevertheless, wearing the sheepishness like an incommodious singlet.
- Ahldfoet has promised a favor to a mother he met at a port of call, one whose entreaties seem to stir the poet in him. Take her letter to Wiltswys at Camp Skull Valley.
- Expecting a heartwarming scene, you hand Wiltswys
the letter from her mother. Alas, you are sent away with a flea in your ear instead. Ah, family matters.
Hidden
is amazed at herself. As a girl, she didn't have two leather soles to slap together. She was too poor for shoes. Who would have thought she would make a fair quartermaster? makes a sailor's joke about himself. He is steady on the water, but on land he is 'at sea'. That saying means being lost and confused. is shy for a reason. He has fallen for the person who wrote the letter. He carries the letter so gently. Yet Wiltswys angrily says that it turns out to ask for gil. mother writes to ask for money, not to make peace.Characters 4
Ahldfoet the sailor seems oddly shy. He has a new favor to ask, one he forgot last time.
What you know from earlier quests 1
- #84 On a Wing and a Prayer: Ahldfoet wants exactly five
dusk bat wings as a lucky charm, kept secret from his superstitious crew. As a boy, trapped atop an old watchtower, he lived two weeks on three bats and ate one wing. He carries five wings on every voyage.
- #84 On a Wing and a Prayer: Ahldfoet wants exactly five
What you know from earlier quests 3
- #80 Keep Your Day Job: S'nairoh talks herself through arming the cannon while you fight; her partner C'mell is missing. The 'enemy' is only newborn puks, flying beasts that never threatened Aleport. She is let down: she joined the Maelstrom to fight, not to break up brawls.
- #81 Mountains out of Molehills: S'nairoh mistakes harmless hedgemoles for an attack of adamantoises (giant tortoises) and must stand down again. She hopes to become an officer, but fears losing pay she spends on ale. Blaming too much ale-fed blood, she rushes off to be treated with leeches.
- #82 Walk of Shame: S'nairoh asks you to carry her report to Commander Falkbryda
at Camp Skull Valley. Too weak from leechings to go, she fears jail. Falkbryda says S'nairoh was once among the first promoted, but slipped at Aleport. Her pay is cut, without formal blame.
What you know from earlier quests 3
- #81 Mountains out of Molehills: S'nairoh says Commander Falkbryda threatened to cut her pay if she caused another false alarm. After the hedgemole mix-up, S'nairoh expects the commander to cut it.
- #82 Walk of Shame: Falkbryda has heard of your help to the Maelstrom. She dislikes that S'nairoh did not come herself, but notes her report is honest. She calls boredom a soldier's worst enemy. She cuts S'nairoh's pay but writes no formal blame. Her name means 'Falcon Bride'.
- #83 Nest We Forget: Dodos nest even inside the barracks, and she wants the nest gone before it draws dangerous beasts. She praises your speed. The camp guards against the kobolds of O'Ghomoro to the north; kobold skulls once lined the valley floor, giving its name.
- #81 Mountains out of Molehills: S'nairoh
What happens in this quest spoilers for this quest
- Ahldfoet promised a mother he met at a port to get her letter to her daughter, Wiltswys, at Camp Skull Valley. He speaks warmly of her tearful, tawny eyes and seems taken with her. He jokes that on land he is 'at sea'.
- Wiltswys is thrilled by her mother's letter, then furious: the mother who let her leave with nothing now wants money. She left her island for something better than farming and fishing, and refuses to reply. As a girl she was too poor for shoes.
What the Japanese, French and German versions say 8
Japanese
EN 'It clean slipped my mind the last time, but I've another thing to ask of ye.'
JA 「オジサンは恥ずかしながら、陸の上は不案内でさ。」, 'Embarrassing as it is, this old guy doesn't know his way around on land.'
Ahldfoet uses it for himself, in the third person, like an easygoing middle-aged man. The English gives him a salty sailor's 'ye'.
EN 'She'll receive no reply from me.'
JA 「はぁ、何もかも、貧乏が悪いの？まったく、心がすさむわ……。いっそのこと、縁切っちゃおうかしら。」, 'Sigh... Is poverty to blame for everything? Honestly, it's enough to make me bitter... Maybe I should just cut ties with her once and for all.'
Wiltswys sighs and thinks of cutting ties with her mother. In English she just refuses to reply.
EN Wiltswys
JA 「ウィルトスィス甲曹長」, 'Storm Sergeant First Class Wiltswys'
So the daughter who left her poor island is now an NCO, a non-commissioned officer of the Maelstrom. The English name carries no rank.
EN Wiltswys
JA 「甲曹長」, 'Storm Sergeant First Class'
Only the Japanese puts the rank in her name. English and French show it apart from her name, and German shows none.
French
EN 'The bashful air ill suits a Roegadyn but Ahldfoet has it nevertheless, wearing the sheepishness like an incommodious singlet.'
FR «Les Roegadyns arborent rarement un air timide, mais Ahldfoet est l'exception qui confirme la règle. Son air penaud lui va comme un gant.», 'Roegadyns rarely look shy, but Ahldfoet is the exception that proves the rule. His sheepish look fits him like a glove.'
The two say the opposite. The French shy look suits Ahldfoet well, but the English one sits badly on him, like a tight undershirt.
German
EN Mummy Dearest · 'You think me cold?'
DE „Vergissmeinnicht“, 'forget-me-not' · „Es stimmt, ich habe sie schon seit einer Ewigkeit nicht mehr besucht.“, 'It's true, I haven't visited her in ages.'
The title names a flower of loving remembrance. It fits, since here Wiltswys admits she has neglected her lonely mother.
EN 'Wouldn't let me take so much as a hunk of 
dried fish when I left the island, and now she wants gil?'
DE „Sie hat mein Zimmer leer geräumt! Und meine Puppensammlung weggegeben! Weil ich ja ohnehin nicht mehr nach Hause komme! Weil ich jetzt ja ein großes Mädchen bin!“, 'She cleared out my room! And gave away my doll collection! Because I don't come home anymore anyway! Because I'm a big girl now, after all!'
Here the letter asks for no gil. Wiltswys is furious about her room and her dolls instead.
EN 'She'll receive no reply from me.' · 'Alas, you are sent away with a flea in your ear instead.'
DE „Aber Familie ist Familie und auch wenn meine Mutter etwas übertrieben gehandelt hat, tut es ihr wahrscheinlich inzwischen schon wieder leid.“, 'But family is family, and even if my mother went a bit far, she's probably sorry by now.' · „Wiltswys wird ihre einsame Mutter bald wieder besuchen.“, 'Wiltswys will soon visit her lonely mother again.'
Wiltswys softens at once, and the journal says she will go home soon. In English she stays angry.
Dialogue 7 lines
Accepting the quest
Ahldfoet
Ahoy, [name]. It clean slipped my mind the last time, but I've another thing to ask of ye. My bearings are lively on the water, but on land─well, I'm what you landlubbers call at sea. Got a letter that needs delivering and you're the maid/man for it.
- JA オジサンは恥ずかしながら、陸の上は不案内でさ。 ‘Embarrassing as it is, this old guy doesn't know his way around on land.’ Ahldfoet uses it for himself, in the third person, like an easygoing middle-aged man. The English gives him a salty sailor's 'ye'.
I went ashore on some rock on the voyage in, and a faded petticoat comes up to me, says she got a daughter in Camp Skull Valley what she hadn't seen in years. Had tears in her eyes─pretty eyes too, for a woman past her childin' years. She must've been a real beauty in her day.
Always had a soft spot for tawny eyes...mayhap because the sea is a green-eyed virago and the skies, her sisters, have eyes blue and red, grey and black... Well, this daughter of hers goes by Wiltswys. You'll take the letter to her?
- FR Je pense qu'ils me rappellent le ciel et la mer... ‘I think they remind me of the sky and the sea...’ English likes tawny eyes because sea and skies have other colours; French says eyes remind him of sky and sea.
- DE Allerdings ... gibt es in Camp Schädeltal jemandem, dem ich lieber nicht begegnen würde ... ‘However ... there is someone in Camp Skull Valley I'd rather not run into ...’ English says he has a soft spot for tawny eyes; German says someone in Camp Skull Valley is best avoided.
Deliver the letter to Wiltswys
Wiltswys
Greetings, adventurer. They said you were looking for me?
A letter from Mama! I haven't heard from her in so long... She never answered my letters. No, stay, for I'll have a reply to send!
What the...! Oh, the stone-hearted, grasping hag! Wouldn't let me take so much as a hunk of dried fish when I left the island, and now she wants gil? That...that succubus!
- DE Sie hat mein Zimmer leer geräumt! Und meine Puppensammlung weggegeben! Weil ich ja ohnehin nicht mehr nach Hause komme! Weil ich jetzt ja ein großes Mädchen bin! ‘She cleared out my room! And gave away my doll collection! Because I don't come home anymore anyway! Because I'm a big girl now, after all!’ Here the letter asks for no gil. Wiltswys is furious about her room and her dolls instead.
- DE Weil ich ja ohnehin nicht mehr nach Hause komme! ‘Because I'm not coming home anymore anyway!’ English says her mother gave her nothing when she left the island; German says her mother thinks she won't come home.
- JA たまに手紙をよこせばこれなの！？ ‘She sends a letter once in a while, and it's this!?’ English says her mother gave her nothing when she left the island; Japanese says her mother's rare letter is just this.
You think me cold? Well, fie on what you think! I wanted something better than tilling salty fields and spilling small fry out the nets, and occasionally taking a passing sailor into my bed for more o' the same! She'll receive no reply from me. Thank you for your service, and good evening/day to you!
- JA はぁ、何もかも、貧乏が悪いの？まったく、心がすさむわ……。いっそのこと、縁切っちゃおうかしら。 ‘Sigh... Is poverty to blame for everything? Honestly, it's enough to make me bitter... Maybe I should just cut ties with her once and for all.’ Wiltswys sighs and thinks of cutting ties with her mother. In English she just refuses to reply.
- DE Es stimmt, ich habe sie schon seit einer Ewigkeit nicht mehr besucht. ‘It's true, I haven't visited her in ages.’ The title names a flower of loving remembrance. It fits, since here Wiltswys admits she has neglected her lonely mother.
- DE Aber Familie ist Familie und auch wenn meine Mutter etwas übertrieben gehandelt hat, tut es ihr wahrscheinlich inzwischen schon wieder leid. ‘But family is family, and even if my mother went a bit far, she's probably sorry by now.’ Wiltswys softens at once, and the journal says she will go home soon. In English she stays angry.
- DE Es ist immer ein bisschen langweilig auf ihrer kleinen Insel, deswegen fahre ich nicht gerne dorthin. ‘It's always a bit boring on her little island, so I don't like going there.’ English says she fled fields, nets and passing sailors; German says the island is just a bit boring.
- DE Ich sollte mich mehr um sie kümmern. ‘I should look after her more.’ English says she will not reply to her mother; German says she should take more care of her.
- JA はぁ、何もかも、貧乏が悪いの？ ‘Sigh, is poverty to blame for everything?’ English defies your opinion of her coldness; Japanese asks whether poverty is to blame for everything.
- JA いっそのこと、縁切っちゃおうかしら。 ‘Maybe I should just cut ties with her altogether.’ Japanese: she sighs that poverty is to blame and muses about cutting ties; no angry speech about island life.