Base Note: Auguste

Base Note: Auguste is the third part of .
==Steps==
# Pursue Kirya
# Question the witness (0/2)
# Pursue Kirya
# Enter the secret garden
# Go further in
# Leave the secret garden
# Go to the secret garden's entrance
# Keep your appointment on the 2nd floor of the Hotel Debord
==Gameplay Notes==
* During step 5, a trial Emilie joins the party.
==Trial Character==
==Dialogue==
: Innam: The shadow-like figure ran in the direction of the elevator, and my partner immediately chased after them...
: Emilie: ...We should hurry, before they're forced to confront each other.
;(Try to enter any hotel room)
:: (We need to hurry. Now is not the time to wander.)
;(While chasing)
: Paimon: Where in the world did he go... Oh, let's ask the merchants nearby!
;(Talk to Berbere)
: Berbere: G—Ghost! It's a ghost!
: Emilie: It's alright, please calm down and take a deep breath... Can you tell us what you saw?
: Berbere: *panting* I saw a black shadow... It ran right past me...
: Berbere: How could... How could something like that happen in broad daylight...
;(Talk to Berbere again, optional)
: Berbere: How could something like that happen in broad daylight...
;(Use Nahida's All Schemes to Know on Berbere, optional)
: Berbere: (What was that thing...)
;(Talk to Babak)
: Babak: A shadow-like figure with an ominous aura?
: Babak: Sorry, I didn't see anything. I was busy taking inventory...
;(Use Nahida's All Schemes to Know on Babak, optional)
: Babak: (...I hope nothing bad happened.)
;(On the way to the marker)
: Crowd in Spirited Discussion: This is terrifying...
: Crowd in Spirited Discussion: No! Don't come any closer!
;(Approach the marker)
: Paimon: *sigh*... If we go any further, we'll be out of Port Ormos! They'll be hardly any witnesses...
: Emilie: It's alright. I can detect a faint whiff of the scent from here. I would say he passed by this location not too long ago.
: Emilie: ...Hm, it's this way. Please, follow me.
;(Approach the cliffside)
: Emilie: The scent is getting stronger. This must be the place.
----
;(Enter the domain)
: Innam: Ah! Oguz!
: Innam: Are you alright? W—Were you attacked?
: Oguz: Argh... No, no... I'm alright. I was just chasing after that figure, and then, all of a sudden, I didn't feel so hot...
: Emilie: Let me take a look.
: Paimon: The air definitely feels heavy... It smells nice, but for some reason, it's hard to breathe...
: Collei: This feeling... I've encountered it before...
: Emilie: Everything looks alright. It was probably just the stress of the chase combined with the impact of the environment. A bit of rest would do you some good.
: Oguz: I can't rest! Mr. Edgar is still in there! He taught my sister how to make perfume...
: Oguz: He's a good man... I can't just abandon him to die by Kirya's hand!
: Shyam: Oguz... You need to calm down and listen to me. Edgar is the one we're after. He and Kirya are the same person.
: Oguz: But... How is that possible!? I thought you said Kirya was in his thirties?
: Oguz: Mr. Edgar is seventy something... Changing your appearance to look decades older... That doesn't seem possible!
: Emilie: That's precisely why he had to resort to extraordinary measures to age himself.
: ...A Delusion.
: Emilie: Kirya used a Delusion to bring back the Auguste flower, corroding his body in the process... just like his older sister.
: Oguz: No... He couldn't have. Mr. Edgar has been in Port Ormos for years! If someone started impersonating him all of a sudden, we would have noticed!
: Emilie: And what if the impersonation started before he ever set foot in Sumeru?
: Oguz: I... Uh...
: Emilie: ...I've yet to confirm it, but I suspect Kirya killed the real Edgar in Fontaine not long after his release from prison.
: Emilie: While Edgar was incarcerated, Kirya started making preparations to replace him, including forcefully aging his body, studying perfumery... and planning the real Edgar's demise.
: Emilie: The new "Edgar" then decided to relocate to Sumeru, seemingly out of an innocuous desire to let go of the past. He even left perfume-making in favor of mentoring students... But, these decisions were all for a specific purpose... the need to distance himself from anyone who might see through the facade.
: Emilie: And Sumeru fit the bill to a tee. With no one around to question his identity, all he had to do was grow a beard, don a pair of glasses, make a few minor alterations to his appearance... and everyone would believe he was exactly who he claimed — Edgar, a perfumer from Fontaine.
: Emilie: As the years went by, he removed his disguise little by little and continued to refine his skills... It would have been a gradual process, one that ensured no one around him would notice anything unusual.
: Paimon: That explains why Sylvain said he barely recognized Edgar back at the hotel...
: Paimon: He aged himself decades beyond his years just so he could accomplish his revenge... Is that even worth it?
: Oguz: I... I need to find Mr. Edgar... He's not that kind of person, he can't be... *coughing*
: Shyam: What you really need is to get out of here and rest!
: Oguz: No, I... I can keep going!
: Collei: Wait... This environment is likely being influenced by the Delusion. Any discomfort, no matter how slight, should not be treated lightly.
: Collei: I know how to relieve your symptoms, Mr. Oguz... Please, come with me and rest.
: Collei: I'm sure Kirya... No, Edgar wouldn't want any more innocent people implicated in all this.
: Emilie: Collei's right. and I will take things from here. From our brief exposure to "Auguste," it would seem the substance has little effect on us...
: Emilie: This leads me to believe those blessed with a Vision or capable of wielding elemental power are more resistant to the effects of abnormal elemental energy. In other words, this environment doesn't pose as much of a risk to us.
: Emilie: Actually, now that I think about it, this stronghold likely has multiple points of entry. If the target were to escape from a different point of entry, that might allow him to evade capture...
: Emilie: ...I hate to trouble you, but we need people to survey the perimeter...
: Oguz: I...
: Shyam: Heh... Thanks.
: Shyam: ...Hear that? We're heading out! There's work to be done! Oguz, head back to Port Ormos and start gathering reinforcements!
: Oguz: Got it...
: Collei: , Emilie, Paimon... Please, be careful.
: Collei: For someone whose only purpose in life is revenge, there's no telling what they'll do when there's no reason to move forward.
: Emilie: Don't worry. This isn't the end, not for us... or for Kirya.
: Emilie: ...We're not going to let "Auguste" kill anyone else. It's time for the mythos to fade into obscurity.
;(Inside the domain)
: Emilie: Monsters? Perhaps they were attracted here by the increased level of elemental energy...
: Emilie: I've never seen these seeds before... They must also have been created with the power of a Delusion.
: Emilie: Hm, it seems to be avoiding us, and there's no other way forward... Perhaps we could try luring it to the edge of the cliff.
;(Approach the flower beds)
: Paimon: Woah... Look at all the Auguste flowers...
: Paimon: There are so many of them... Paimon can't believe a single person did all this! It must've taken a lot of time...
: Emilie: I fear that statement is truer than you know, Paimon. Using a Delusion comes at a cost... not just time, but the time you have left to live...
: Paimon: But, why would Kirya need this many Auguste flowers?
: Paimon: He only needed a few bottles of "Auguste" to carry out his plan, right?
: Emilie: ...Perhaps hatred wasn't the only emotion fueling his obsession with "Auguste."
: ...What do you mean?
: Emilie: Not long ago, he told me he didn't want all the flowers transported to Sumeru to whither away in a foreign land.
: Emilie: But, Kirya betrayed Snezhnaya, abandoned Fontaine, and lived his entire life in Sumeru under the guise of someone else...
: Emilie: For someone with nowhere to call home... Perhaps dying among a bed of Auguste flowers, just like his sister, is the best homecoming he could ask for.
;(If the seed gets destroyed by the purple light)
: Emilie: A plant that destroys seeds... Huh, quite the ecological marvel. Let's head back to the place where the seeds first appeared.
;(After second dendro seed bridge)
: Emilie: The scent of flowers is getting stronger... We're almost at the end.
;(Approach the end of the tunnel)
: Kirya: *panting*... *coughing*...
: Emilie: The scent... getting stronger... almost at the...
: Kirya: ...Did they catch up that fast?
: Kirya: No... my strength is just waning...
:
: Kirya: ...But, it doesn't matter... This is far enough.
: Kirya: Hmph...
:
: Kirya: Ahh!
:
: Kirya: This is... A garden of Auguste flowers?
: Kirya: ...But, it's not mine... It's the one that was set on fire all those years ago in Fontaine...
: Kirya: ...Yelena?
:
: Kirya: Yelena!
: Kirya: You tried to hide it from me, but I... I always understood!
: Kirya: The reason why you continued to use the Delusion... The reason why you set your garden on fire... It was all because of me!
: Kirya: ...I shouldn't have listened to you that day. I shouldn't have taken the Mora and ran...
: Kirya: But, by the time I realized something wasn't right... there was nothing left. The flowers were gone... and so were you...
: Kirya: ...I know I'm almost twenty years too late... I should have come looking for you earlier...
: Kirya: I should have... I should have died with you that day...
:Yelena: ...
: Kirya: ...Yelena?
: Kirya: —!
:
:
: Kirya: Yelena!?
:Yelena: ...
: Kirya: No... Don't leave me... Please...
: Kirya: Yelena!
: Kirya: Uhhh...
:
: Kirya: ...Emilie?
: Kirya: I... I'm alive? No, that's not possible. I saw her... Yelena... We were together...
: Emilie: ... No. That was an illusion, likely brought about by the residual toxin in your body coupled with the pollen in the air, neither of which are fatal.
: Kirya: No, the amount of "Auguste" I drank... It should've been enough...
: I'm sorry to say this, but...
: That was a fake.
: Kirya: ...A fake? But, how...
: Emilie: ...We started making the preparations last night with one goal in mind.
: Emilie: ...To create a perfect accord.
:
:
:
;(A cinematic plays)
::Emilie and Kirya: The accord is the basis of perfume-making
::Emilie and Kirya: The product in its most primitive form
:;(Flashback to Emilie's childhood begins)
::Kirya: Ambergris mixed with cedarwood
::Kirya: Rounded out with a base note of agarwood...
::Emilie: ...This is... the scent of leather?
::Kirya: Exactly. We're unable to extract essential oils from leather
::Kirya: But by combining other raw materials, we can recreate its essence
::Kirya: That is the purpose of an accord
::Emilie: Does that mean, you can recreate any scent in the whole world?
::Kirya: Haha, I'm afraid not
::Kirya: Certain fragrances in this world
::Kirya: Are simply one of a kind
::Kirya: That quality is what draws people in
::Kirya: And fuels their obsessions...
:;(Flashback changes)
::Fontainian Woman A: If I wear "Auguste" to the ball, I'll also be "one of a kind"!
::Fontainian Woman B: Our competitor already got their hands on it? We're falling behind!
::Various Fontainians: It doesn't matter how much it costs. I have to buy something better!Perfume is all anyone's talking about. I have to buy some soon...Who cares about the message? Fork over the Mora and it's yours, am I right?
:;(Flashback ends)
::Emilie: This fragrance... will be "one of a kind" no more
::Emilie: "Myths" can be deconstructed
::Emilie: "Miracles" can be recreated
::Emilie: All it takes is skill, experience
::Emilie: Limitless exploration, and a little patience
:;(Emilie swirls a concoction and holds it up)
::Emilie: ...The only thing left is determining where the real "Auguste" is hidden
:;(Scene changes to show Kirya in his room)
::Emilie: ...Pretending to be attacked means he's not free to move around
::Emilie: "Auguste" must be hidden within reach...
:;(Flashbacks to the beginning of Floral Debt, Blood Due begin)
::Paimon: ...Paimon took a peek through the window earlier
::Paimon: And his house was packed with flowers...
::Tighnari: The curator commissioned a flower pot from Kshahrewar
::Tighnari: Capable of retaining heat and moisture...
:;(Flashback to Emilie's childhood begins)
::Kirya: ...Perfumes are as beautiful as flowers, and equally as delicate
::Kirya: When stored
::Kirya: You must take care to control the temperature
::Kirya: And keep them away from direct sunlight...
::Kirya: Did you get all that, Emilie?
:;(Scene transitions from young Emilie taking notes to present day Emilie looking into a flower pot)
::Young and Present Day Emilie: ...Mhm, I got it
:;(Emilie, holding a bottle of perfume, reaches into the flower pot and takes out an identical bottle of perfume)
:;(Scene changes to Kirya coughing in his room)
::Crowd in Spirited Discussion Outside: Did you hear? Someone was attacked again last night!
::Kirya: So... Sylvain is dead, is that right?
::Emilie: ...Yes, Master
:;(Cinematic ends)
: Kirya: ...So, you switched the bottles of "Auguste" and then lied to me about Sylvain's death...
: Emilie: Convincing you that your revenge had been completed... was the easiest way to get you to let down your guard.
: Kirya: Impossible... even if you found a way to switch out the bottles, there's no way you could have made an accord!
: Kirya: If "Auguste" was so easy to replicate, Yelena wouldn't have...
: Emilie: It was a combination of Rainbow Roses, Glaze Lilies, and Cecilias... Those ingredients would have conflicted with each other if you tried to combine them in the past.
: Emilie: But recently, we found a way for them to work together.
: Kirya: ...Rainbow Roses... Glaze Lilies... and Cecilias?
: Emilie: ..."Auguste" was created over ten years ago. All this time, people never stopped analyzing it, never stopped trying to recreate it.
: Emilie: Perfumery techniques are advancing day by day. We've found better ways to extract essential oils, separate oils and fats... we even discovered new ways to combine fragrances together.
: Emilie: The mythos surrounding "Auguste" may have been untouchable almost twenty years ago... But, now, it's time for it to become a thing of the past.
: Kirya: The past...
: Emilie: You've been working as a perfumer for all these years... You should have always known that it is possible to make an accord, even if only in theory.
: Emilie: But, the meaning you assigned to "Auguste" became so inflated, you allowed yourself to get lost in it... just like the "Perfume Mania" that captivated the public all those years ago.
: Emilie: You believed in its "divinity" and "grandeur"... You believed it was entirely "one of a kind."
: And, in the process, you forgot...
: That it was a bottle of perfume, nothing more.
: Emilie: Your obsession with "Auguste" is also what allowed us to predict how you intended your plan to end... and to make preparations in advance.
: Paimon: We just didn't expect it to happen so fast...
: Or that you would activate the Delusion.
: Kirya: Ha... Haha...
: Kirya: Well... you hit the nail on the head, now didn't you?
: Kirya: So... Sylvain isn't dead...
: Kirya: Since you've been preparing your accord since last night... I assume you've also figured out my method, then?
: Kirya: That means the news of Sylvain's death, the crowd gathered outside the hotel this morning... It was all an act you put on with the Sheriff?
: Emilie: ...Yes. If we hadn't, you might have resorted to the Delusion out of desperation, or continued to use your "Spirit Borneol" and "Auguste" combination to wreak havoc...
: Kirya: Who knows... Maybe I would have just offed myself then and there.
: Emilie: I know if you had things your way, you would carry the truth of "Edgar's" demise and the secrets of this garden to the grave, but I'm sorry, Master... I don't want to see any more death.
: Emilie: Sylvain only inhaled a small amount of poison. He's being detained as we speak.
: Emilie: All the crimes he concealed back then will be exposed in a court of law for everyone to see, and all his secrets will be revealed... The same goes for you as well.
: Kirya: Is that so... Well, I suppose I'll be spending the rest of my days in a prison cell, then.
: Paimon: Woah... He accepted that kinda fast...
: Kirya: ...I don't feel the need to justify my actions, nor do I intend to repent for them.
: Kirya: I did what I set out to do. I may have lost in the end, but it was my choice every step of the way. And if I could do it all over again...
: Kirya: Hah... But, there's no going back, is there?
:
: Collei: Be careful, everyone. This environment is dangerous, I'll lead the way...
: Shyam: ...Stick close... We can't let Edgar die...
: Kirya: Looks like I'm almost out of time... Although, I do have one final question, Emilie.
: Emilie: ...Of course, Master.
: Kirya: The combination you used to make your accord... How did you figure it out?
: Emilie: ...The scent of "Auguste" is complex and varied, yet the main ingredient consists of a single variety of flower.
: Emilie: So, as I was analyzing the sample yesterday, I got to thinking... What if the scent of the Auguste flower was already imbued with that complexity during its cultivation?
: Kirya: You're saying... Yelena designed "Auguste" to have the scent of multiple flowers?
: Emilie: Rainbow Roses, Glaze Lilies, Cecilias... The perfumers of the past knew that if you combined their essential oils directly, they would just cancel each other out. It was a conundrum they could never solve.
: Emilie: But, if you cultivate a new flower species that intrinsically carries the unique features of those three scents, you can bypass that issue entirely... It goes without saying, that for the time, this idea was a stroke of genius.
: Kirya: Rainbow Roses, Glaze Lilies, and Cecilias... Hah, those really do seem like flowers you would choose...
: Kirya: ...Yelena.
:
:
:
;(Leave the domain)
:
----
;(Approach the upper floor)
: Crowd in Spirited Discussion: ...Did you know? Miss Emilie's releasing a new perfume!
: Crowd in Spirited Discussion: Ah, right! I heard about that! I think it's called... "Yelena"...
: Paimon: ...Seems like everyone in Fontaine is talking about the new perfume you're releasing!
: Emilie: I was hoping to release it without such a fuss, but... the news spread way faster than I expected.
: Emilie: I just hope it won't become the source of some new "myth"... especially after all the work we did to demystify "Auguste."
: About this perfume...
: Did you use the accord from back in Sumeru?
: Emilie: I did! Although, I made a few modifications to the formula to make the scent more pleasant and long-lasting... I actually brought a few samples with me today. I hope they're to your liking.
: Emilie: Also... I was hoping you could try out the fragrance before I officially release it, and tell me your thoughts.
: Paimon: Of course! A good sense of taste and sense of smell go hand in hand, you know. Just leave it to Paimon!
: Paimon: ...*sniff* Ooh, it smells great!
: I'm not sure that's the kind of feedback she had in mind...
: Emilie: Haha, it's alright. All feedback is worth considering.
: Emilie: Besides, when it comes to perfume... commenting on whether it smells good is the most straightforward assessment you can ask for. There doesn't always have to be a deeper meaning.
: Speaking of deeper meanings... Kirya's final question...
: Paimon: Right... Do those flowers have some special meaning? Hearing their names seemed to have an effect on him...
: Emilie: Hm, if I had to guess... I'd say it probably has something to do with the language of flowers.
: Paimon: The language of flowers? Oh, we've heard of that before. Paimon remembers hearing something like... the "Cecilia" represents "the true feelings of the prodigal son"...
: Emilie: What each flower is said to represent varies by person and across different moments in history... the same is true for the flowers that make up the scent of Auguste.
: Emilie: After returning to Fontaine, I did some research... and it turns out, the meanings of those three flowers can be reassembled to form a single phrase...
: Emilie: "...Forget the past, and keep on living."
: Emilie: Perhaps that's the legacy Yelena always intended, not the nobility and grandeur most people associate with Auguste.
: Or maybe... That's what she hoped for her brother...
: Paimon: Do you think Kirya knew about that?
: Emilie: I paid him a visit before his trial and explained what I found... But, he didn't seem to care.
: Emilie: "Who knows? Maybe she didn't mean anything by it at all?" — that was his response.
: Emilie: "...Yelena is gone. We'll never know what she was thinking. We can look for meaning all we want, but it'll never be anything but conjecture."
:
Base Note Auguste Quest Still 1.png
: Emilie: "Even if that is what she was trying to say, I would never be able to forget her."
: Emilie: "...Avenging her death... That was the meaning I chose for my life."
: Emilie: ...Kirya cultivated his revenge like a flower. He was commited to making it bloom, even if, in the end, it didn't bear the fruit he was hoping for...
: ...Kirya.
: Emilie: In any case, he did want me to pass along his thanks.
: Emilie: "...Thank you for saving my life, for giving me the chance to learn that Auguste... could have carried a very different meaning."
: ...
: Emilie: Love and hatred are a privilege of the living.
: Emilie: When someone dies, their thoughts, feelings, and intentions die with them. In that sense, what Auguste truly represents in the language of flowers will forever remain a mystery.
: Emilie: But... even if it's only a conjecture, I would like to believe my own interpretation.
: Emilie: The meaning we give to flowers, the symbolism we assign to our perfumes... They're constantly twisted and exploited in our imperfect world...
: Emilie: And yet, at the very outset, they're born from the simplest and most beautiful desires we hold in our heart.
==Soundtracks==
==Other Languages==
==Change History==
vi:Làn Hương Cuối - Auguste