Spoiler Warning
This page contains the full text transcription of the story from Arachnobot's Tale quest. If you do not wish to be spoiled, please do not continue reading.
Arachnobot's Tale: Part 1[]
This is a story of a Machine.
“Machines are going haywire in the city of Agra.”
Someone shared this rumor over the dinner table.
You've been to Agra before and knew bits and
pieces about the place. To top it all off, you've
also had to face off against Machine foes in many
a past battle.
It didn't sound particularly interesting, but would
provide a distraction from the tedium that's been
creeping in lately. You swallow down the last chunk
of bread and set course for Agra.
- [Battles 1-3]
“Swarms of Arachnobots were sighted
by the mechanical walls as well.”
You exchanged looks with your companions,
all equally fed up with these Arachnobots.
What a nuisance, but you can't walk away now.
You reluctantly headed to the mechanical walls.
“Hold on, there's one more left.”
The last Arachnobot was tiny and, unlike
the others, wasn't going berserk. Neither
you nor any of your party felt particularly
compelled to slaughter this weakling, so
you let it be and moved on.
- [Battles 4-6]
My name is... Tarantulia. The smallest and
weakest of all Arachnobots.
My kind never wanted to bother anyone.
We kept out of the way, scavenging for
tiny pieces of iron to eat, searching for
drops of grease to drink.
We came to Agra looking for high-quality
machine oil. But, as soon as we set foot
in the city, my friends started to lose their
minds...
“What's gotten into you?! Stop!”
They were killing each other! And I, the
pitiful weakling, could do nothing but scream.
One of my friends screeched like a crazed
beast and rushed at me. There was...murder
in her eyes. That's when they appeared...
These adventurers, as they called
themselves, killed all of my crazed,
broken friends...saving my life.
In the confusion of battle, I didn't
know whether to despise them as
killers of my fellow Arachnobots,
or to feel grateful for rescuing me
in the process.
I chose to follow them. I had nowhere
left to go anyway.
- [Battle 7]
“Brothers, why did you have to do this?!”
The attackers were Tarantulia's brothers.
They had always been so kind to her. She
stood by their corpses, wailing in anguish.
“Why did it come to this...!”
She noticed a sudden commotion among the
adventurers. Looking up, she saw countless
Arachnobots creeping down the mechanical
walls, surrounding them. These adventurers
may be strong, but they were hopelessly
outnumbered.
Tarantulia was in despair. Her friends had all
turned into mindless killing machines. What
was the point of only her remaining sane when
her world was turning to nightmare?
“Breaking down like the others would've
been less painful than this...”
Overwhelming sadness blurred her vision,
and she was startled when someone stood
right in front of her. It was a girl...but her
head looked like an Arachnobot!
“Wh-who are you?”
The strange girl did not answer the question.
Instead, she delicately stroked Tarantulia's
mechanical body. Tarantulia felt dizzy and
nauseous.
And then her conscience faded and she fell
into a dark slumber.
This is a story of a Machine.
An Arachnobot toyed with by Fate.
Arachnobot's Tale: Part 2[]
“It was no big deal after all.”
The troublemaking Machines turned out to be
just Arachnobots, opponents considered nothing
more than cannon fodder. Defeating even vast
hordes of these would bring you no glory.
Hearing people talking, Tarantulia slowly
opened her eyes and pressed her front limbs
to her aching head.
Where is this? Oh, it's the city of Agra.
But now its streets are littered with piles
of dead Arachnobots.
“Swarms of Arachnobots were sighted
by the mechanical walls as well.”
You exchanged looks with your companions,
all equally fed up with these Arachnobots.
What a nuisance, but you can't walk away now.
You reluctantly headed to the mechanical walls.
I heard these words before... Now I remember.
My Arachnobot friends went insane and then I...
I failed to save my siblings.
“Hold on, there's one more left.”
The last Arachnobot was tiny and, unlike
the others, wasn't going berserk. Neither
you nor any of your party felt particularly
compelled to slaughter this weakling, so
you let it be and moved on.
This too sounded familiar. This sense of
deja vu...as if time had been rewound.
If that is really the case, then it's clear
what I must do.
Determined, she scurried ahead. She
can save them. She will save her tribe,
her siblings!
- [Battles 1-3]
These battles with rampaging machines
made me realize my purpose here: I must
determine the cause of this insanity.
This insanity that has filled my friends
with an insatiable bloodlust, as if some
evil force possessed them.
It is no coincidence that I crossed paths
with these adventurers and gained the
ability to rewind time.
Now, if events follow the same route as
before, I will soon meet my brothers.
“Just hold on. This time I will save you!”
- [Battle 4]
“It's me, brothers, I'm here!”
“Urghhh... Tarantulia...”
Her wounded brothers told her that they
lost control after an abrupt spell of dizziness.
What could it be? An electromagnetic wave?
Or were the sensors interfered with directly?
Tarantulia snapped out of her thoughts
when another wave of machines emerged
from the shadows cast by the mechanical
walls. They advanced quickly, motivated
by their lust for violence. How could she
forget that other machines besides her
siblings had gone haywire too?
- [Battle 5-7]
Just as she thought she made it, another wave
of enemies appeared behind her. She fought back
fiercely, but there was seemingly no end to the
onslaught. Her brothers had all been killed, their
bodies strewn about the battlefield, turned into
nothing more but unmoving chunks of metal.
There was no escape, and even the adventurers
were falling in battle, one after another.
“Everyone's going to be killed again...”
“This is too much...”
The wounded Tarantulia's eyes were wet with
oil...she was crying. She was about to be crushed
beneath the feet of countless enemies rushing in,
when she heard a strange voice.
“It's your own fault for getting in the way.”
She looked up and saw the tronic girl from before,
but this time the girl's appearance was different.
Before she could ask the girl who she was,
Tarantulia instinctively rewound time once again.
Arachnobot's Tale: Part 3[]
Tarantulia opened her eyes and saw she was
by the mechanical walls. She had returned to
the moment in time just before setting out to
save her brothers. The time loop had shifted
forward.
“I can still make it.”
This time she must not fail. She will go ahead
of the adventurers and point out the enemies
to them in advance. She will be their vanguard!
Although puzzled by the small Arachnobot's
behavior, the adventurers sensed urgency in
the signs she was giving and decided to trust her.
...
Together, we can change the future.
“This time I will succeed!”
Tarantulia's eyes shone with determination.
- [Battle 1]
“It's me, brothers, I'm here!”
“Urghhh... Tarantulia...”
Her wounded brothers told her that they
lost control after an abrupt spell of dizziness.
They were trying to tell her about something
else, but she interrupted, warning them that
more foes were coming. She gestured to the
adventurers, too, so that they would be
prepared for the next attack.
She already knew that staying in one place
would end with them coming under a focused
attack, and the best strategy was to keep
moving. It was no easy task explaining this to
the adventurers through body language alone,
but she tugged at their clothes and pointed
until they understood.
“This time we will set a trap!”
- [Battles 2-4]
The wave of enemies has been dealt with.
Tarantulia was struggling to catch her breath
after the intense battle. Her brothers were
unharmed, and so were the adventurers.
She shouted in a strained voice:
“Come out, I know you're there!”
A figure peeled off from the dark mechanical
wall. It was the tronic girl. Their gazes met.
“You want to keep fighting?”
“I don't know who or what you are.
But to win this battle once and for all,
we need to work together!”
Tarantulia's tactics were risky. An all-out
counter attack by the whole Arachnobot tribe
could well end in them all being destroyed.
But it was the only plan offering a glimpse
of hope.
- [Battles 5-7]
They finally defeated all of the attacking
machines, with no losses on their side.
Tarantulia turned to face the tronic girl,
whose appearance changed yet again so
that now she looked human.
“Tell me, what are you?”
The girl glanced at Tarantulia, then
looked away again.
“Well then, I'll tell you the truth.
The truth about the time loop
you've created, and about my curse.”
Arachnobot's Tale: Part 4[]
“I've lost my memories.”
The tronic girl slowly began her story, of how
she suffered from amnesia, and then got caught
up in the incident with crazed machines. Then
she gained the ability to rewind time.
“I wanted to use this new power to save my
fellow machines.”
This sounded all too familiar. Just like Tarantulia,
she wanted to rewind time to save her friends
from death.
“But you got trapped in my time loop.”
Tarantulia raised her head.
“Let's fight together, until peace returns to
our kind.”
- [Battles 1-3]
With no warning, the tronic girl
attacked her companions.
Tarantulia narrowly escaped a blow.
“N-no... Run away from me!" cried out
the girl as, in tears, she fell on her hands
and knees, and bared her fangs like a wild
beast gone amok.
- [Battle 4]
It was agonizing for Tarantulia, but they
defeated the tronic girl. Her death scream
still rang in their ears...
“Why did she do that, wasn't she a friend?"
Suddenly, Tarantulia noticed her body was
changing.
“What's going on?"
There were new metal parts stuck to her legs,
while other parts began to come off.
“What is this? I'm scared!"
New parts shot out of Tarantulia's body,
and she lost balance. Terrified of the
changes she had no control over, she
cried out.
“Nooo, I don't want this! Stop!"
She cowered on the floor, screaming.
When her voice was about to give out,
the transformation finally stopped.
Tarantulia raised her head, filled with
dread. The adventurers were looking
at her, astonished.
She walked over to a puddle of water
to see her reflection.
Long hair, slender arms, big eyes...
Staring back at her from the puddle was
the tronic girl.
“Impossible...”
She understood it all now.
The tronic girl who lost her memories
was no one other than Tarantulia herself,
transformed by the time loop.
But that also meant that she, Tarantulia,
had killed her future self.
- [Battles 5-7]
Tarantulia's headache did not pass
even after defeating the tronic girl.
Harrowing thoughts accompanied
the pain and seeped into her head
with every painful, pulsing throb.
I'm in so much pain...
I alone suffer like this...
I fought and fought, so many battles...
No one could possibly understand...
Prayers upon deaf ears do fall.
Souls forever adrift, abandoned.
Wishes and desires twisted and
distorted.
I will show them what it's like...
All shall taste my anguish!
“Nooo!”
Tarantulia cried out, realizing what
drove the machines insane. All the
evil began with her, Tarantulia,
rewinding time again and again.
Arachnobot's Tale: Part 5[]
This is a story of a Machine.
A machine girl trapped in a time loop.
She got it all wrong.
She didn't create the time loop because
the machines went berserk. It was her
time loop that caused them to go haywire.
Every time she met the tronic girl, her
future self, every time she rewound time,
more machines were affected. Rewinding
time goes against the laws of the universe,
and there are consequences, which
manifested themselves in Tarantulia's
fellow machines.
Gradually losing memories in the distorted
time, she killed her future self, she killed
her past self, and her present self was only
spreading the curse.
She could think of only one way to break
the time loop and put a stop to this madness.
- [Between battles 1 and 2 (Endings B, C, and D)]
You defeated all of the tronic girls.
The last one did not put up a fight,
as if she accepted her fate.
You stood over her remains for a while,
in silence. Then you heard a noise,
gradually growing into a loud rumble.
“What is it?”
Before you could react, you were
surrounded by a multitude of machines.
You could sense their killing intent.
- [Between battles 1 and 2 (Endings E, F, and G)]
You deal the finishing blow to Tarantulia.
The tronic girl, Tarantulia's future self,
falls to the ground, a faint smile on her face.
“Was this the right thing to do?”
You felt a pang of guilt over having killed
this girl who did not put up any resistance,
when an unsettling noise started to come
from her body.
Creak, clack, creak, clack, click, cackle...
The mechanical sounds began to sound like
eerie laughter. And then, the tronic girl rose
from the ground.
With a manic, broad smile, she attacked.
Ending A[]
- [Note: Shown after battle 1. There is no battle 2.]
A split second before the final blow which
was to kill her, Tarantulia saw a dream.
A dream of her parents and siblings, living
happily at some point in the future, in a
world freed of her curse.
They worry when they notice Tarantulia's
absence.
"I'm sorry I left you... But I fought bravely,
you'd be proud..."
Her memories began to fade. The last
sensations she felt were happiness at having
saved the world, and sadness at having been
erased from it.
“What's going on here?”
You're confused by the Arachnobots'
unexpected mutation and sudden
proliferation of the creatures. The last
tronic girl did not put up a fight, as if
she accepted her fate.
This string of events begs for an explanation,
yet there is no one who could offer one.
Something touches your foot.
It's a small flower, swaying gently in the wind.
A white blossom surrounded by nothing but
machinery.
This is a story of a Machine.
A machine girl who gave up
everything to save the world.
Arachnobot's Tale: Ending A
Ending B[]
You thought you had dealt with all the
machines when you sensed something
creeping on your from behind.
It was the tronic girl, who was supposed
to be dead... And not one of them, but
dozens, maybe even hundreds!
The tronic girls burst into laughter. There
was not a trace of sanity in their eyes.
The laughter turned into a scream which
shook the ground.
So destroying her only led to more copies
being made.
The wailing of the army of tronic girls
reverberated with despair and a terrifying
sense of the world ending.
Arachnobot's Tale: Ending B
Ending C[]
You dealt with all the crazed machines.
“Is everyone all right?”
Exhausted after the ordeal, you check on
your party members. This was one tough
battle, but now that it is over, peace should
return to this underground world. One of
your companions smiles and cracks a joke:
“These machines had a few screws loose, huh?”
In the overwhelming sense of relief after
the victory, you don't notice the small
mechanical parts stuck in your necks.
These parts began to degenerate, corrosion
spreading into your and your party's bodies,
taking control over your mind and making
you no more than living corpses.
The world was being taken over by machines
and pervaded by death.
Arachnobot's Tale: Ending C
Ending D[]
“That should have been the last one.”
All the machines have been destroyed.
You pause to catch your breath by the
piles of their remains.
Among all the broken and twisted parts
lies the head of the tronic girl. Her eyes
seem to hold you in their piercing, still
gaze, as if to say “Don't forget that this
peace is built upon the death of us,
machines. We were never given a choice.”
The shrill screech of machines you
smashed to bits still rings in your ears…
Arachnobot's Tale: Ending D
Ending E[]
The tronic girls keep laughing even
as you destroy one after another.
With the last one defeated, you can
finally take a deep breath of relief,
in silence. The broken bodies have
a certain sad beauty to them, like
pieces of shattered works of art.
You're about to leave when one of
the disembodied heads starts to speak.
“We are one, but we can fight any
number of battles. We will have
our revenge on this world. We will
have revenge. Revenge...”
You smash the talking head to bits,
but that baleful voice seems to linger.
Arachnobot's Tale: Ending E
Ending F[]
The last blow destroys Tarantulia's
motor center. The excruciating pain
brings her back to her senses.
“Th-thank you for...stopping us.”
She uses the last of her strength to
express her gratitude for breaking
the cursed time loop, and to tell you
of her hope for peaceful coexistence
between machines and other races.
Her last words are inaudible, but
she is certain you understood her.
She is positive that a future will
come when all races will be able
to live together without aggression
and violence.
Arachnobot's Tale: Ending F
Ending G[]
The last blow destroys Tarantulia's
motor center. The excruciating pain
brings her back to her senses.
“Th-thank you for...stopping us.”
She uses the last of her strength to
express her gratitude for breaking
the cursed time loop, and to tell you
of her hope for peaceful coexistence
between machines and other races.
“Stealing all the spotlight, huh!”
shouts one of your companions,
immediately proceeding to repair
Tarantulia.
“Thinking yourself some sort of
martyr? You forgot you've got us,
and we're not going to stand by
and let you die, silly.”
The rest of your group stared on for a while
not sure what to do, but then others joined
in to help with repairs.
“Who with a heart could leave a poor girl
to die like this?”
These words become a catalyst for action.
One person focused on restoring her memory
units, another on energy supply, yet another
casts a magic spell to prevent her from going
berserk again.
Fading in and out of consciousness,
Tarantulia registers what is being done for
her with amazement.
“I may lose control again. I may yet bring on
the end of the world,” she thinks to herself.
“But somehow, I feel it will be okay. The world
is not entirely logical, and its inhabitants are
terrible at knowing when to give up.”
This is a story of a Machine.
A machine girl trapped in a time loop.
Arachnobot's Tale: Ending G