Part 21 - Cardinal Forton

Welcome back, everyone! You’ve probably noticed a couple changes to the page layout, namely links to buy the game. Yep, I’m officially enjoying Zestiria enough to recommend it!

But if you’re still ready to follow my playthrough, prepare yourselves, because this part (episode?) is a long one.

Here we are, the capital of the Rolance Empire, Pendrago.

It’s a pretty dreary place, actually. Not impressive so much as oppressive, with constant rain the NPC chatter says has troubled them for a while.

We check out the “Fountain of Wrath,” which Edna dismisses as a worthless, impractical human invention to be scorned.

It’s called the Fountain of Wrath because sometimes it…

…I think it heard her.

Moving on… uh-oh, Sergei is fighting someone!

The person leaps into the air many times his own height and escapes.

He sure looked human to me, but that definitely seemed like a hellion power. Was he strong enough to mask his true nature from even the Shepherd? And if that’s the case, what must his boss be like?

The knights are unable to catch him.

The “shrinechurch.”

We agree to discuss the situation with Sergei in the Knights’ Tower. I also find a monolith that explains the benefits of not armatizing.

I’m also faithfully buying all the Turtlez adventure maps I find, even though I don’t know what they do. The Turtlez, meanwhile have problems of their own.

Side quest once I get all the maps, maybe?

We meet with Sergei, and he’s truly thankful for our help. In fact, he says Sorey’s self-sacrificing, good-hearted nature reminds him of the pope.

He invites us to rest a while before investigating the shrinechurch, although one of his knights objects.

Sergei tries to ignore him.

Ohh.

So Sergei’s brother, Boris, attempted to learn the truth about Cardinal Forton, and they haven’t heard from him. Sergei is uncomfortable talking about it and doesn’t want to push his problems on us.

He orders dinner, the famous Drago Stew, for us at the inn. First, though, I look around the room… and find a skit prompt near a painting on the wall!

(No Discovery Point?)

Not the author, but the one who looked like a general?

Okay, Zestiria, we need to have a talk. This should have been a startling moment. Except the name of the skit is “Georg Heldalf.”

Couldn’t the title have been something more vague, like First Captain of the Platinum Knights, instead of flashing the surprise as a prompt in the corner of the screen??

(Despite my gripes with its presentation, I do like the revelation and want to learn more about Heldalf.)

You know, his human appearance could be more threatening than his hellion appearance, if only because his hellion look is so generically monstrous.

Anyway, we go to the inn. Rose eats a ton of food, as usual, and said eating when you can is a part of her soldier training.

So the assassins were once mercenaries. I wonder if they trusted people who paid them, like Lucas’s mercenaries.

Rose yawns and says she’s going to get some sleep.

That leaves the others free to talk about the aspects of Dezel’s story Rose doesn’t know.

Nah, Sorey, I’m sure the seraph that follows an assassin whose assassins’ guild once was a mercenary band has emotional ties to a different assassins’ guild that was once a mercenary band. *throws hands in air*

(Seriously, when Dezel first said the mercenaries were forced to become assassins, did anyone doubt it was Rose’s group?)

These mercenaries, the Windriders, were famous for their skill.

Hmm, so although they were mercenaries, they mainly worked for the Rolance Empire.

The imperial family and a hellion betrayed the Windriders and forced them to become assassins?

Sorey is disturbed by the implication that the imperial family would work with a hellion (never mind that the hellion would probably look like a normal person to them; did you forget that already, Sorey?), but their discussion of the relationship between humans and hellions is cut short when Dezel realizes Rose has snuck out of the inn.

We chase after her, and Sorey worries she’s left for an assassination.

However, she says she just went for a walk. Dezel is furious she went out alone. Given the situation, he might be afraid someone in Rolance could recognize her as a former Windrider, but I’m not positive.

She says she does have a new contract, even if the assassination isn’t tonight.

Pope Masedra started the war?? Did I speak too soon about this game having a good pope?

Rose says she’ll wait to make sure he’s guilty before she kills him, because her assassins’ guild isn’t all “stabby stabby.” It still upsets Sorey, though.

It also prompts a discussion of Rose’s purity, with attention drawn to the fact that she’d never tell a lie.

Uh, guys? She lied to you literally five minutes ago! She said she was going to sleep, then snuck out for a walk!

Well, time to investigate the shrinechurch!

The architecture is impressive, but it could use more color.

…Why does Lailah compare it to an auditorium when she should be familiar with the concept of churches and cathedrals?

Up at the altar, a priest is quizzing three children about the Five Lords, most powerful of the seraphim.

Five Lords, eh? This is the first I’ve heard of these boss seraphim.

Musiphe, Eumacia, Hyanoa, and Amenoch? Man, we really lucked out, getting seraphim with names like “Lailah” and “Edna.”

Oh good, they at least still worship a seraph here!

Lailah’s sudden started gasp makes me wonder if we should be concerned about Maotelus… o_o

The entire continent? What about the Lastonbell Lord of the Land, though, who fled?

With the lesson over, the priest turns his attention to us. He’s surprisingly friendly. Maybe he doesn’t believe the “heresy” accusation.

He takes us to another chamber and shows us an inscription of great importance to Sorey.

Oh good! We were wondering about that Trial.

That’s going to be a problem. If we want to read that inscription, we need to find the missing pope.

I wonder where–

The room darkens. The seraphim disappear. And…

Agh!

Run! Just run!

Cut off from the seraphim like during the encounter with Heldalf, Sorey and Rose flee.

What kind of freaky domain turns people to stone?!

We run for the exit… but someone stands waiting.

Let me guess… Cardinal Forton?

Conversations with Sergei and in Pendrago implied Forton had powers similar to Sorey’s, but a domain like this suggests she’s on par with Heldalf!

She doesn’t attack us, though. Instead, she wants Sorey to work with (for) her.

He mentions Bartlow’s offer, and she dismisses the chancellor as a philistine. It seems she believes the Rolance Empire will benefit if it’s united under a strong rule.

She says patriotism isn’t enough to unite an entire empire, and Sorey guesses the answer is faith.

Which outsiders are those? We’ve seen two countries, and they share the same religion.

Your church, Forton?

Let’s think this through for a moment. She claims she’s doing this for the good of the people. But she can’t truly believe in her cause, or she wouldn’t be malevolent. Right, Zestiria?

“Even a villain might not bear any malevolence… Specifically BECAUSE they believe so thoroughly in their villainy.”

You said that earlier, Zestiria. Does this mean Cardinal Forton doesn’t really believe in her cause?

Sorey suggests she doesn’t really have the people’s best interests at heart.

I wonder what turns them away? Maybe it’s your “kill anyone who opposes me” style of ruling?

She then mocks the knights for being too weak to accept that Pope Masedra abandoned them.

I love how they immediately assume she’s telling the truth. Still, I guess she sounds genuine and she’d have no reason to bring the pope up in conversation if she was responsible for his disappearance.

Actually, she’s searching for him, too.

Punishment…?

Okay, let’s say it: Cardinal Forton is completely insane. Killing people who mistrust you isn’t going to foster trust!

Sorey objects the idea of killing the pope. Oh, not because murder is wrong (maybe he realizes Forton’s too far gone to accept that argument), but because he needs the pope to interpret that inscription!

Cardinal Forton says he won’t need the inscription if he works for her, but Sorey refuses.

And if he won’t join her, it can only mean…

I brace myself for a boss battle, but instead…

Guys! How did you get back?

Sorey’s sphere of water makes everyone vanish, and the cardinal’s blow strikes empty air.

That they could do so suggests she is weaker than Heldalf, so that’s a relief. Man, that was an intense scene!

As for Mikleo’s invisibility sphere, it’s a little trick he’s been practicing…

Aw yeah, this sounds fun!

Now we have the burst of fire (Lailah), the ability to cross gaps (Dezel), and invisibility (Mikleo). Guess all we need now is one from Edna… which I bet will let us smash those rocks!

We return to Sergei to tell him what happened, but Rose leaves partway there.

Guild business, I assume?

Sergei is relieved we escaped, but disturbed by what Cardinal Forton said about Masedra.

Yeah, if not for Mikleo, we wouldn’t have gotten out of there.

I believe Sergei still can’t see seraphim, so he earns another point of respect for following Sorey’s body language well enough to look in Mikleo’s direction when thanking him.

We need to find the pope before Forton does, but how? Sergei’s knights haven’t had any luck, after all.

Just then, Rose returns and points out the knights were investigating under the assumption that Cardinal Forton caused the pope’s disappearance.

“Pope-a-dope,” really?

Sergei announces he’ll prepare the knights to march to Gododdin at once, but we stop him. A large force marching on Gododdin might give the cardinal an idea of where her target is.

The pope (and our plans) will be safest if we go alone, although the danger worries Sergei.

“Pope springs eternal”?

These pope puns are getting painful…

Sergei asks to speak to Sorey outside for a moment, but first I take another look around… and now the portrait of Heldalf is a Discovery Point?!

How can something become a Discovery Point later on? That’s… frustrating.

The skit deals with the general surprise of finding the Big Bad’s picture in the Knights’ Tower.

And yet, he must not thoroughly believe in his villainy, or he couldn’t be the source of malevolence…

Yes, I’m still hung up on this. Zestiria tries to separate pure/malevolent from good/evil, but I’m not convinced it works. And I can’t escape the implication that if Heldalf has doubts about his plan, it might lead to malevolence.

Let’s imagine a villain who is doing crazy evil things, but genuinely believes they’re right. By Zestiria’s rules, he would not be malevolent.

Suppose he notices the pain he’s causing. He feels doubt. Has second thoughts. Would that make him malevolent and thereby render it impossible for him to redeem himself unless aided by an outside force like the Shepherd?

We’ll see. Anyway, let’s go see what Sergei wants.

Right now, only Sergei and Boris know it.

Aww, Sergei likes us!

He teaches us the new arte, and we prepare to go our separate ways.

Yes, something must have prompted Masedra to leave… but what?

This is a beautiful way to end the scene.

Now that we’ve said goodbye to Sergei, we can… oh, Sergei has more to tell the group. Oops!

The normal path to Gododdin has been blocked off by a landslide, so we need to take an alternate route.

Oh good! That’s where the serial killer/Lastonbell Lord of the Land is supposed to be, the Cambria Caverns!

Back at the inn, we get a quick tutorial about how skills are applied during item fusion.

And if the same slot has two different skills?

Out of curiousity, I sleep at the inn for another skit. If you want to know what Lailah looks like with her hair completely down, here she is!

Then I sleep at the inn again and get yet another skit. This one is a “party member teaches other party member their support talent” skit!

…I sleep at the inn repeatedly until I run out of skits. Sure, it costs a lot of gald, but lots of support talents were shared! (Which gives you more flexibility in how you set them.)

This also raises my rank with the inn, and the innkeeper’s dialogue changes. He’s slowly trusting us enough to tell us about the secret Drago Stew recipe.

…There’s a vegetable named “Maxwell’s Tempura Blade”? And it’s called that because it goes well in fried dishes? What? Fried = sword???

Now I want to save up my gald to max out my relationship at every inn.

One more skit waits for us at the save point.

The massive domain of malevolence is a big clue. Though I actually think it would be more interesting if she was sort of an Evil Shepherd. Someone who can armatize, but for the forces of evil.

Hmm, possibly. Or maybe it went the other way. If my second-in-command started turning people to stone, I’d get the heck out of town too!

That reminds me, earlier Rose said the Scattered Bones tracked the pope by seeing where the church’s funds were going. Does that mean a church adminstrator 1) knows where Masedra is, and 2) isn’t loyal to Forton? Interesting…

Next time on Let’s Play Tales of Zestiria, we’ll head for Gododdin and maybe find a lost seraph along the way!