Verdigourd: The Mana Sword Song

Chapter 2 | Verdigourd: The Mana Sword Song is a story segment in Echoes of Mana.

Storyline
After harvesting their second fruit, the protagonist and Baashear find themselves into a lush forest, from whence a bellowing ruckus is heard nearby. The main character is then hit by a small sprite who introduces themselves as Popoi. The small creature tells the protagonist they fell down the sky thanks to the Cannon Man messing up the controls on its apparatus. Seems that Popoi is searching for their companions and is frustrated at the fact they can't find them. The little sprite immediately entrusts the protagonist as their new lackey after learning their name, ordering them to follow their track. Baashear, who has been hiding inside the main character's mind, objects to this reckless decision, as they are supposed to be searching for the Mana Sword. The team nonetheless venture deeper into the forest in search of the other two lackeys.

While still trying to find their lackeys, Popoi tries to make the protagonist into a real underling by getting them to show some enthusiast.

Popoi asks the protagonist while still looking for their underlings if they have friends here or if they are all alone. The little sprite promises to introduce their lackeys to them, still insisting on roping the main character into finding them. Popoi describes their male underling as sporting hair looking like pineapple while their female one dons a full pink attire, which puzzles Baashear greatly.

Popoi and the crew finally meet with Primm, one of the sprite's lackeys. She seems surprised that Randi is not with them, instead being greeted by strangers. Popoi proudly announces that the main protagonist is lackey number 3, with Primm realizing that the main character has been forced to do their bidding. While the party is still looking for the boy, Primm comments on them being close to Potos Village, the same place Randi was kicked out for pulling out the Mana Sword when he was younger. The protagonist reveals that their are looking for the fabled sword, which the girl reacts enthusiastically since they are going to the same direction. She briefly hesistates to tag along the main character upon thinking that they might be some bad guy plotting to steal the legendary weapon, but declares that they don't look the type.

Popoi and Primm start to banter about which one should be the leader of the expedition, all the while starting like they are going to the opposite direction of the aformentioned village.

Primm suggests that the group should take it easy and is glad that the protagonist aknowledges her leadership.

The party finally reaches Potos Village, but Randi is still nowhere to be found. Primm recalls the boy telling them about a waterfall behind the village where he freed the Mana Sword. The sprite gladly espouses the idea and the team moves on to their next destination. They are quickly ambushed by two ill-natured locals named Elliott and Timothy, telling they have no business going to the waterfalls as the access are forbidden by a village decree. Popoi immediately starts getting annoyed by the duo, calling them 'brats'. Primm tries to stop the argument to escalate any further, but the young punks start calling her a brat, immediately sparking the girl's anger. Visibly frightened by her reaction, the duo tries to apologize. The protagonist ultimately decides to spare any further confrontation by pull the group away from the young boys. Primm seems defeated by guessing that there is no other way to reach Potos waterfalls, but Popoi replies that he might not have taken that path. A sudden ghostly apparition cut their conversation short. The group then agrees to follow it.

The group enventually lost the ghost track while trying to follow it, but Primm notices that the party must have been led to an alternate path leading to Poto falls. The team is met moments after by apparitions of the two village brats from earlier, which makes Baashear appears out of thin air guessing that it must be another timeline anomaly caused by the echoes. Popoi notices that the boys are afraid of something, with Timothy claiming that Randi fell down the waterfall. Primm tells the team to hurry to the falls before anything worse happen to Randi.

As the party reaches Potos Waterfall, Primm complains that they have yet to reunite with Randi, getting increasingly worried about him still being alive. The protagonist ponders on the scenery looking strange with the geometric patterns laid haphazardly on the ground, but is interrupted by an earthquake. A giant Mantis Ant emerges from a gap in the ground, forcing the party to take care of the threat.

Amidst the commotion, Primm spots the legendary blade stuck in a rock surrounded by a pool of shallow water. Popoi is confused by the fact that Randi should have already pulled it off, but is even more astonished to see him standing behind them. The boys seems unresponsive to the girl's signals as he nonchalantly crosses his path with his companions', only stopping near the sword. An eerie voice orders the boy to take the sword which he does instinctively. A radiant beam of light spawns from the blade, blinding the whole area, with only the resounding words of the voice telling they're entrusting the weapon to Randi. With the flash gone, the boy seems perplex as to why he's standing in the middle of Potos Waterfall surrounded by his trusty friends and a lone stranger. Seeing that Randi haven't met with the protagonist yet reminds Primm about them wanting to inspect the blade. The boy gives the blade to the main character, making Baashear appear and claiming that they have found the Mana Sword, only for the weapon to magically return back to Randi's side. The fluff ball seems dispirited learning that the Mana Sword they seek isn't in this echo after all, but is nonetheless ecstatic at the fact they can look at a genuine legendary weapon. Popoi and Primm are stumped by Baashear's sudden entrance, and force him to disclose his identity. After some explaining, the group understands that the protagonist is from another world and on a mission to seek the Mana Sword. Randi admits that while he genuinely wants to believes their story and give them the fabled weapon, he comments on the blade's tie to him, making it impossible to part with. Seeing that the protagonist is heading to a new world, Randi gives them some words of wisdom about never giving up even if the road is tough. Popoi bids farewell to his new lacjey and Primm hopes to see their legendary blade one they have found it.

Objectives
Note: All stats are under normal difficulty.

Trivia

 * Verdigourd could be a portmanteau of Verdant and Gourd. The majority of the chapter takes place in the grassy clearing of Potos Village Outskirts.