The Syrcus Trench

Quest giver: Tataru
Location: The Rising Stones (X:6.0, Y:5.9)
Quest line: Shadowbringers Main Scenario Quests
Level: 70

Experience: 216,000
Gil: 1,299
Previous quest: A Requiem for Heroes
Next quest: City of the First
Patch: 5.0

Main Scenario Progress: 542 / 960 (56.5%)

Shadowbringers Progress: 1 / 157 (0.6%)

“

Tataru is itching to share what appears to be good news.

— In-game description

Rewards

Unlocks

Lakeland

Walkthrough

The coffer's contents are HQ . As this gear is worse than the level 70 Poetics gear, you might consider selling it on the Market Board to other players. Alternatively, it can be used while leveling secondary jobs.

Steps

Speak with the Saint Coinach ferryman in north Silvertear.
Speak with Tataru.
Head to the Crystarium
Speak with the Crystal Exarch

Journal

Tataru excitedly shares the latest development in the hunt for the beacon. Apparently, your colleagues have discovered a pathway leading to the bottom of the ravine in which the Crystal Tower stands, rendering its base accessible. Despite narrowing down the search area, however, it seems there is still a lot of ground to cover. According to Tataru, a boat waits on the northern edge of Silvertear Lake, ready to ferry helping hands over to the newly established survey site.

You cross over to the eastern shore, and enter the expansive hollow at the foot of the Crystal Tower. Tataru stands nearby, eager to make a start.

Though you have only the vaguest idea what it is that you are looking for, you join the search...

Having stumbled rather fortuitously on what turns out to be the beacon, you are subject to yet another visitation by the mysterious voice. This time, however, it rings triumphantly clear. Moments later, you find yourself transported to a distant and unfamiliar land. Could this truly be another world? Lost and confused, you happen upon a traveling peddler who sets you on the road to a city he calls the "Crystarium."
- ※In the event that you leave the area and wish to return, speak with the Ironworks technologist at the foot of the Crystal Tower.

As you approach the Crystarium, you come to what appears to be a fortified checkpoint. The guard stationed there duly interrogates you, and seems unimpressed by your responses. Even the brief intervention of a monstrous assailant cannot dissuade her from turning you away, but just as she moves to do so, she is interrupted by the arrival of a hooded man who smoothly declares you to be his guest. With affected ease, he bids you follow him into the city...quietly promising to answer your questions when you have some privacy.

You follow the Crystal Exarch towards the main gates of the Crystarium, before which he pauses, and turns with an expectant air.

The Exarch welcomes you to the Crystarium, and by extension, to the world of the First. You can only guess what fateful adventures await you upon this Light-beleaguered star...

Dialogue

Quest Acceptance

Tataru: Good news, [Forename]! We've had a stroke of luck in our search for that beacon!  Apparently, our colleagues have stumbled across a hidden path leading down into the hollows around the base of the Crystal Tower.  ...A path I doubt we'd ever have found had the Ironworks and the Sons not added their numbers to the party.  Thanks to them, we have eager eyes aplenty down there, checking under rocks and peering into every nook and cranny. Still, it sounds like there's a lot of ground to cover...
What will you say? Then we'd better go and give them a hand! / ...Sounds like tedious work. But not as tedious as waiting around, I suppose.  -> Then we'd better go and give them a hand!
Tataru: My thoughts exactly!  The sooner we find this beacon, the sooner you can travel to wherever it is this mysterious voice is coming from. And the sooner we can work out how to help our friends.  We have to find a way to wake them up─and before the Empire comes calling again! Meaning we have no time to lose! There's a boat in north Silvertear waiting to ferry people to the site, so let's be on our way!

Speak with the Saint Coinach ferryman in north Silvertear

Saint Coinach Ferryman: Heading to the survey site, madam? It's on the eastern shore of the lake, and the swiftest way to get there is by boat.

Ironworks Technologist: The Ironworks is out in force! Master Garlond's orders!
Aenor: The Archons need our help! Next to that, even matters of the heart don't seem to matter!
Clemence: I've detected no slavering beasts in the vicinity...my sister excepted.
Son of Saint Coinach: That towering edifice is the outer wall of the Crystal Tower's foundation─the Labyrinth of the Ancients to be precise.
Coultenet: The air here weighs heavily upon me. 'Tis little wonder, I suppose, when standing in the shadow of such an imposing structure.
Hoary Boulder: [Forename]! The search continues, but I have no doubt we shall find this beacon of yours!

Speak with Tataru

Tataru: Look how many people there are!  Should we get to it, then? Pick up anything that seems the least bit “device” like, and we'll make ourselves a pile.
Biggs: Well if it isn't the hero of the hour! Maybe you'll change our luck─we've found bugger all without you.
Tataru: Biggs! Wedge!
Biggs: Aye, aye, well we could hardly say no to a call for aid from the Scions.  Jessie collared the chief for some other business, so we'll be working twice as hard to make up for his not being here.
Wedge: Thrice as hard, even! 
Tataru: Thank you─both of you! I'm sure we'll find that beacon in no time!

Biggs: D'you reckon you could squeeze in there, Wedge?
Wedge: And get stuck halfway!? No thank you.
Tataru: I could try if you like!

Warrior of Light walks off and picks something up
Biggs: Sorry, I-I meant to say─the scholars haven't finished their preliminary assessment of the site yet, so we're not supposed to venture too far in.  ...Hm, what's that you got there? Now that looks promising!
Wedge: Uhh...isn't that the Ironworks' symbol? ...Counterfeiters?

(Voices): Now...now I have you! Stay with me! Focus on my voice! Let expanse contract, eon become instant... 
Tataru: ...Wait, this must be it! The device! This is supposed to happen!
(Voices): Throw wide the gates that we may pass! 
Tataru: Safe journey, Warrior of Light. Find our friends, and bring them home!

Floating in an unknown space

Warrior of Light is floating through the space, seeing crystals that contain people such as the Warrior of Darkness
Oracle of Light:Your time has not yet come.

Waking up somewhere unknown

(Voice) From endless dreams, I awake.  Something vague...yet urgent...calls me to action once more. (The warrior of light continues to walk). 
Traveling Merchant: Rare to meet someone out here who's not a peddler themself. What brings you into the wilds this time o'night? 
What will you say? What you do mean, "This time of night"? / But it's as bright as day... -> What you do mean, "This time of night"?
Traveling Merchant: Well, if it ain't the oldest joke in the book. Me grandad─gods rest his soul─used to tell that one to the barman at kickin'-out time. "An' when, pray tell, did we last have a dark night? Ye rotten old drunk ye!“ he'd reply. "Over a hundred bleedin' years ago, that's when!“ (The Merchant chuckles) Hm! You've got that look down to a tee. I'd almost think you meant it... Hm! You've got that look down to a tee. I'd almost think you meant it... (Merchant offers a wine, and takes a swing then the Warrior of Light shakes their head) Well, I've roads to travel and wares to sell, but you─you'd best hurry along to the town nearby. (Merchant kicks out his fire and gets up, and his chocobo approaches)  Just head east through the trees, and aim for the shining tower. You'll find the place soon enough. 'Tis the biggest settlement for malms around.  Go on, now, friend. They'll take good care of you in the Crystarium.

(Narration)To dizzying heights it rises, the gleaming spire, its tip threatening to pierce the blinding canopy.   There it will all begin anew. Between Dark and Light, the pure and the corrupt - the one true struggle...
Shadowbringers

Head to the Crystarium

???: Halt.
Curt Gateguard: Every face in this city I know. Yours I do not. This is the threshold of the Crystarium, stranger, and I am its gatekeeper. If you would enter, you will answer my questions.
Where are you from? Gridania. / The Source. / ... -> The Source/ ...
(The source): Curt Gateguard: Do you take me for a fool? No such place exists.
Curt Gateguard: (Warrior of Light: ...)You will not say? Then I have even less reason to trust you.
Curt Gateguard:Had you given me an honest answer, I would not have barred your way─we care little here for a person's place of origin. But instead you chose concealment, and I will not suffer you to pass...(Gateguard kills an imp nearby). That one had eaten. It must have gulped down the whole hand, ring and all... (Flashback to the ring on the Merchant)
???: Everything all right, Captain?
Curt Gateguard: Quite all right, my lord. Just a stray sin eater, and a weak one at that.
Crystal Exarch: I see. Weak or not, we should be on the lookout for more. (Exarch notices the Warrior of Light) But I see you've met my guest. I will escort [him/her] to the Crystarium myself...if you've no objections?
Curt Gateguard: Another of your mysterious friends, is it? I should have known. Very well. I'll inform the others your guest is to be given the run of the city. Pray forgive my less-than-cordial welcome. May the rest of your stay with us be a pleasant one.
Crystal Exarch: Come with me. I will answer whatever questions you have when we are somewhere more private.

Crystal Exarch: Right, then. Before we plunge into the wheres and wherefores, let me first thank you for answering my summons. (Exarch bows)
Crystal Exarch: I had intended to bring you directly to my personal quarters, but I fear my aim was...slightly off. That you were still able to make the crossing unharmed is...a great relief.  And so we come to the question of where. The realm in which you now find yourself belongs to one of the thirteen reflections or shards─the First, to be precise─even if its inhabitants are largely oblivious to the fact.  As to wherefore... Having been awarded the rather grandiose title of “Crystal Exarch,” I─in my capacity as caretaker of the Crystarium─thought to seek the aid of you and your companions.
What will you ask? Are the other Scions here? / Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused?  -> Are the other Scions here?
Crystal Exarch: Ah. That...is a question with no simple answer. But all shall be explained in due course, I promise you.  Let us begin with the glaring skies up above.

Crystal Exarch: Here in the First, the world has been all but consumed by primordial Light.  It began a century ago, by this realm's reckoning. A luminous flood swallowing everything in its path. More than nine-tenths of this star was lost.  And the fortunate few who survived are hounded by abominations born of that catastrophe even now.  "Sin eaters,“ we call them. The creature you saw earlier was one such monstrosity. It was to save the First from this menace that I learned to bridge the rift between worlds─that I might call upon the aid of the greatest of heroes.  Though it meant depriving a world of its champion, I had to try─for in saving the First, you would bring salvation to the Source as well. But what manner of host harangues his guest in the middle of the road? Let us continue our talk within the Crystarium.

Narrator: Such a proud and vibrant city...The sole sanctuary for the living in a world all but resigned to oblivion. Each stone was laid with hope; the town itself a symbol, a monument to defiance in the face of death. No would-be hero could fail to answer its call. For who among us does not yearn for salvation?

Speak with the Crystal Exarch

Crystal Exarch: And here we are. Welcome, my friend, to the Crystarium.