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Part XII: The Mysteries of a Country
It certainly came in handy. I totally forgot, but I was reminded by the thread, you can make anyone immune to Petrification by having six stacks of a single skill. These are the individual normin skills like Shokk or Atakk, by the way. I think it entirely possible Medusa's not the only one with Petrification abilities out there. Hey, it's a big world out there. Who's to say there aren't others like her?
Once outside... Debriefing
No more.
I see.
You?
We were able to convince the emperor to believe us. But he wants to believe the cardinal as well. To that end, he wanted an opportunity for both of us to have our say before him.
The cardinal's not gonna show.
Let's just say there's a good reason I currently have Rose switched to her Asuka Langley Shikinami outfit from the Rebuild of Evangelion movies that she appears on, for the day I recorded this video in particular. As for what that reason is...well, as Rose might say, a girl is entitled to a few secrets.
There's a chance the knights might be labeled as assassins.
Sorry.
Why, there's no need for you to apologize. I'll take all the blame for it.
Sorey wasn't the one who killed the cardinal. A professional assassin showed up. They whispered thusly: "May these weary bones find peaceful rest".
But that's the calling card of the Scattered Bones assassins' guild leaves at the scene of their... Their doings! Is this true?
It is. Right?
*hops out* The hell's wrong with you? Just say it.
Yeah.
I see. I shall report to my superiors about the assassins guild. But to think they could carry out an assassination right under the Shepherd's nose... The Scattered Bones certainly exceed their reputation!
Oh yeah, I'm sure quite sure they'll be pleased to hear it.
I couldn't save the cardinal. I couldn't save anyone.
*hops out* It stopped raining. How about we take a walk around town?
This certainly does look a lot nicer than it did. We should only pray that the connection between the rains ending and the cardinal's death never gets connected. After the battle
There are people you were able to save, Sorey.
And you got to see the shrinechurch, right?
*begins spinning her parasol* here's our Touchy-Feely Mikleo. Touchleo.
Hey! Hey! Gahhh, knock it off!
How long is this funk of yours gonna last?
Rose...
Nuh-uh, no sorrys and no thank-yous! You and I both just did what we could. Let's both of us keep doing our very best. Okay?
Okay.
Okay is okay! And on that note, let's go rest up. I'm beat!
There's that girl again... If she's hanging around with Heldalf, it would certainly seem she's no friend of ours.
*looks over to Sorey* You're awake.
Sorry. Overslept.
*speaking to his men* The emperor seeks to rule directly. However, the diehard followers of the cardinal have begun to act in very suspicious ways.
So they're looking for a war, huh.
And without their leader, there will be no one left to keep them in check.
And so more will die...
Not on my watch! I promise I can stop this war! So that your efforts will not have been in vain!
Thank you, Sergei.
*shakes head, marches off with his men*
*stretches* Now then! I dunno about you guys, but I'm starving!
Let's see what the inn is serving.
*leaves*
Of course he's hungry. He's done nothing but sleep!
A lot has happened.
For Sorey.
Guess his spirit needed the sleep.
Will he be all right? I doubt this is the last time this kinda thing happens.
True.
You coming?
Well, since we're treating Rose to a drago stew, first thing in the morning, even, how can say no? Along the way, you'll notice that the good citizens of Pendrago have become a lot chattier. In particular, some curious folks might make mention of a "howling season". Well, it's nothing that can't wait until after breakfast, hopefully. The mysterious lord
We haven't seen Mayvin up close very much until now, but see that patch on his right sleeve? That's a reference to Repede from Tales of Vesperia. Repede was indeed a dog who could be frequently found smoking a pipe.
Mayvin!
I heard about the church.
Word travels fast.
It must be difficult being the Shepherd.
Yeah, in more than a few ways, but...I'm good.
I'll make sure of it.
I see. So did you find anything out?
Yes. Maotelus was not there.
*pained expression*
*looks at her*
No?
It's true. We went all the way to the back of the shrine. No dice.
The seraph Maotelus is shrouded in mystery. Some doubt whether or not he even exists.
*hangs head*
The shrinechurch has been able to promote faith in Maotelus all the way back to the Era of Asgard. That wouldn't be possible without the blessing of an extremely powerful seraph, don't you think?
I believe that Maotelus really did exist and was supported by the people's worship.
But then in that case, the problem is when did he disappear?
Well, he's a crazy-powerful seraph, with a blessing that covers the whole continent, right? When did he vanish? Same time his blessing went poof, I assume.
Well, we DO know Maotelus existed, and a power such as Laphicet's doesn't easily disappear. So it does raise a good question: where the hell DID he go?
You mean the beginning of the Age of Chaos?
Wait, if Maotelus' disappearance was in fact the cause of the Age of Chaos...
Then if his blessing returns, that might put an end to it.
*nods*
Let's search for Maotelus. Hey, pops, got any ideas?
Well, aside from Maotelus' shrinechurch, there are four other shrines where the power of the Five Lords is said to reside.
The trial shrines! We were gonna check those out anyway!
Heh. Excellent!
If you learn anything on your journeys, let us know!
*stands up* Sounds good. I'll try to trace the old legends as well.
*nods*
*moves toward the exit* Farewell! Stay healthy!
Thanks!
Yep!
I'll be sure to inform Eguille and the rest of the guild that you are doing well, milady.
I'm hungry.
Classic Edna. So seeing that scene means Zestiria is going non-linear for a bit. How exciting. Now, I didn't test it exactly, but I'm pretty sure there's still an overwhelming malevolent domain over Westronbolt Gorge, which we briefly saw the first time we arrived in Pearlots Pasture. Back in Tintagel, we heard talk that the trial of Wind was located in the direction of Westronbolt, so we'll save that for later. The next two trial shrines will be Earth and Water, but I believe it's entirely up to you which one to tackle first. Based on the Tintagel mural, the Earth shrine is closer to Pendrago, whereas Water is back in the Lakehaven Heights. If you're going by the landmarks listing, the Water shrine is actually meant to be first, but we'll be talking care of lots of business in Rolance first.
Yes, business in Rolance. What I said above just applies to the main quest; there are *lots* of sidequests you can progress now that you have all four map actions and the reach of unpassable terrain has been reduced significantly. As for the Great Camelot Bridge, well, that bridge leads to a large chunk of the world map, but it's not anything that you should be concerning yourself with until we complete the Wind trial and the second act. The far side of Camelot is mostly reserved for third act business. But let it never be said that we just have sidequesting business in the empire. Hyland also has a bunch of sidequests available, but Hyland is a bit more tricky. Volgran Forest leads to the Glaivend Basin, but both the Rolance and Hyland armies have locked down their camps and there's no way to travel to the kingdom via that warzone. If you ask around, you might find mention of hidden paths in Lamorak Cave, which we explored shortly after we finished Tintagel. Whenever it be your pleasure to return to Hyland, you'll have to use that route.
We also have a few skits to take care of before we leave. Lailah's in top form as always here.
...I think Lailah may be taking some pointers from this guy. Maxwell's *Temporal* Blade was a big plot token in Xillia 2, but here, yeah...
But as for the skits, the first one requires Dezel's Luring skill to be at 12 or higher, in which he allegedly teaches Rose the same ability. This one is also important for us to get because this should be the last time we have to grind out Support Talents for acquisitions like these. I actually kept the recording for last update running for 30 minutes after Forton, running around the Shrinechurch hoping I could get it to level 12 before I stopped that video. Didn't want to record for very long in case it was another hours and hours affair. It wasn't, but it still took a while.
Second one's about this new exploration goal we have. Well, it's certainly better than bumbling at leads, hoping something turns out to be promising, right? Third one is Dezel talking about his eyes, or lack thereof. The guy is absolutely unforgiving toward the one who caused this to him, and brought misfortune to his previous merry band, but it doesn't seem to have slowed him down a bit. In the final skit between Dezel and Rose, he manages to spill a few more beans about his backstory and his even wilder days. He definitely seems to be getting more comfortable with us, but there's definitely a distance there as long as he's still hung up on his vengeance.
Once you get all those skits, there's a guy in the corner of the inn (marked by a cyan dot on the map), that indicates he's of relevance to a sidequest. He mentions this "howling season" again, and apparently Pendrago gets dangerous at night. Of relevance to the Shepherd? Well, we'll just have to see, won't we?
Well, Mayvin wasn't lying. What's shakin'? Working people
Eguille, are you working?
Yeah, data gathering. I need to meet with five informants by the end of the day.
Sounds like a lotta work.
Eguille is like the eyes, ears, and brains for us Scattered Bones.
So then, what are you, Rose?
I'm the... The head! I'm the boss, at any rate.
A head, but not the brains... So you're the skull?
Shut up! You're ruining my metaphor!
Hahah! Well, our boss is more like a goddess of victory. Used to be Little Miss Goddess, of course.
Little Miss Goddess?
Back when our bold boss was around. He used to carry her on his back all the time.
Those were good times, weren't they.
Yep. Help our comrades and defeat our enemies. It was simple back then.
But things have changed. In the underworld, information is king.
Did you find any good leads?
A couple. The one they call Shepherd Malfore was originally a priest in the Church of Rolance. It seems he's still angling to fill the power vacuum caused by the death of Cardinal Forton.
Figures.
And then there's the business with the fake Elixir. The church can no longer ignore the situation, and they've started investigating the source.
Then does that mean that the village chief of Gododdin will--
Gododdin?
Um... Let me explain. *does so*
I see. So that's what was going on.
Eguille, do you think the decision I made--
The boss' judgment is the Scattered Bones' judgment. But it might require a bit of following up.
Yeah. You're right.
See, Sorey? That's Rose's role in this organization. Eguille can gather all the intel and marshal all the informants in the world; Rose decides on what to do with them.
Let's head over to Gododdin and see how things stand.
Thanks.
And that's that. We do have a few other things to follow-up on in Pendrago, this is one of them, in the Eastern Quarter (the more residential part of the city).
Alrighty, I'll go ask.
Will you be all right? They look pretty sketchy.
Leave it to me. All merchants are like family. Money keeps us together!
Are you sure about this?
Let's just leave it to Rose.
We're not savvy enough to know when we're being tricked.
Yeah, speak for yourself.
*runs up to talk to them, runs back* I got it! They said they saw an iris gem in the ruins north of here.
A ruin in the north?
Weird... Why do they keep laughing?
Are they laughing at me?
They think you're a phony-Shepherd and that I'm a victim of your con-artistry.
They've got it wrong!
It can't be helped. There are many who claim to be the Shepherd.
But still, to be treated like a con artist...
No point in arguing with them.
Yeah. It's way better to be laughed at than to be frightened of.
A fair point. This scene causes an iris gem to spawn in the abyssal depths of the Gaferis Ruins. Now, we've collected a number of these things as of yet, and we'll collect many more, but I haven't told you *why* they're important, have I? Let's just say...you can't finish the game without them. Yes, the big road block to potentially finishing act 3 of the story (my determinations, of course, but I think fairly well-reasoned) is these iris gems. You either have to collect all of them or the vast majority of them, but you do need them to finish the game. Neither iris gems nor iris gems sidequests disappear, but if you're waiting until that far point in the game to start collecting them, there are a looot of places to backtrack to to get them all. Better to just pick 'em up on the way, but you usually need to initiate some conversation to make them show up. They're very rarely just like, *there*, like the one we found in the shrinechurch.
Another curious sight in Pendrago is someone giving a speech at the amphitheater. That guy in the back looks familiar... A second Shepherd
Hey, tell me, Shepherd! Is it really true that you saved the plagued city?
...Sergei?
What about the Battle of Glaivend? Did you really stop the war?
Why, it was easy! All I did was tell them that this isn't the time to be quarreling with one another! It was a hard battle, but I was able to gain support from the Rolance Knight Squad.
isn't that Captain Sergei from the Platinum Knights?
Then it might not completely be a lie...
Haha! Luckily I managed to do it without getting caught!
I suppose the knights wouldn't just let some mere imposter do as he pleases.
So you mean to say this bloke must be...
An actual Shepherd?!
It matters not what I am! But please! No matter what, believe in the blessing of the seraphim! That is the only way to bring salvation to this world! If the people desire it so, I, the Shepherd Malfore, shall put my life on the line to deliver their prayers!
Shepherd Malfore!
Shepherd Malfore!
May the seraphim's blessing cover the world!
*begins leaving*
This is ridiculous! Sorey's the one who did those things!
And I'm sure Sergei knows that too.
There must be a reason.
Probably.
This guy seems to know a fair bit of terminology related to the Shepherd, but I can't say this talk is much becoming of one... Although you can talk to Sergei now, all he has to say is an apology to Sorey for his presence here. Let's just go before this gets more complicated.
I'm sure. I trust Sergei.
We're quite unsure how he worked his way in, but Malfore has been a favorite of General Tuller.
And so, the general has ordered the knight squad to protect the Shepherd, Malfore.
That's the reason?
They are just pawns of the empire, after all.
General Tuller also has a close relationship with the Imperial Majesty, and--
No more excuses! Whatever the reason, it is clear I have sullied your honor. I can only apologize.
Haha, not sure I had honor to start with! Anyway, it was nice to see that people expect so much from the Shepherd. It's a good sign.
What a gentleman...
Gentleman shmentleman! What were you doing just standing around?
*turns around* I'm afraid I could do naught. Knowing all the while who the true Shepherd was...
Looks like they took advantage of just how earnest you are.
It's pretty ironic. The less affected by malevolence you are, the harder it is to live an honest life.
Such is the human condition, I suppose.
Even so, that is how humans live.
It's tough.
Yeah, all those pages should tell you there's a lot of sidequests available now, in addition to the main quest stuff. As for business in Pendrago, Rose suggests checking out the shrinechurch as well as investigating the "howling season". Somehow I doubt that's referring to Rose's stomach growls. If you click on the Hyland one, Rose will mention what I talked about above: Glaivend Basin is currently blocked by both armies, so the overland route to Hyland is not an option, but she's heard talk of hidden paths that connect the countries, specifically around Volgran Forest.
Then what's with that response? You guys are family!
He's doing such a good job of proving her wrong, isn't he? To continue investigating the howling season, just sleep at an inn. You'll get a skit between Sorey and Mikleo as the former struggles to get to sleep, finding it overwhelming to be in such a historical city. Sorey's attempt at poetry is interrupted by, well, a howl, coming from the direction of the amphitheater.
Well, the fact we can still move okay should mean Sorey is right. Heldalf usually does not make himself known in such a way, either, but we have only run into the guy twice once, so who's to say on that point? We'll know soon enough. Cat in the city
Not kittybeard. Kittytiger!
Yes, thank you, you two. This is a pretty tough fight because Kittytiger is very powerful, but very slow, but more to the point, the stage is an awfully cramped arena to be fighting in. He also has a lot of annoying elemental resistances. Dezel is the best to armatize with her, since Wind form's neutral combo will quickly create a Power Combo to begin piling on the damage. Here, I was just watching Sorey and Dezel with *very* much the expectation they'd soon be defeated and I could just retry. Surprisingly, they survived until I remembered Mikleo could come out and buy some time.
Its added attacks when it gets low on health just have faster punches that come out at greater range, but it's still fairly predictable stuff.
Well, after that performance, we could all use some beefing up. Don't take it too hard, Meebo.
It's a fat cat?!
Is that...
S-Sorry.
Damn. Another dead lead.
Are you perhaps Morgrim?
Indeed I am.
Dang, so she's still around too? I actually totally forgot Shigure's faithful cat malak reoccurred in Berseria, but she does. Unfortunately, she doesn't have any yarns to spin about her old traveling companions, which is a shame. She probably has more and better stories to tell than Lailah.
Is she famous?
She's a high-ranking seraph who's a lone wolf--er, cat--and is imbued with a powerful blessing.
Whoa.
Alas, how shameful that you had to see that side of me...
This city is filled with the desires of greedy humans. I don't think you should feel responsible for it.
No, I must atone for it. Shepherd, you are looking for a seraph to bring the blessing to this city, are you not?
Um, well...this city is...
Pendrago is a big city. It's impossible to eliminate all the malevolence, and the church still holds the power.
But that means all the more that there are those who would cry out for salvation.
They're just turning to seraphim out of desperation.
Yet are the people's wishes not genuine? I can still maintain the blessing with them.
But still, you could become a hellion again.
I've got an idea. Why not use the church's authority against them?
Wait. Do you intend to filter human prayers?
Pretty sneaky.
I've been pondering over the role of the blessing in human society.
Any conclusion?
It doesn't really do anyone any favors if I just take their prayers and give them the blessing in return.
Hmph. Quite a lot of stress for nothing.
To coexist with humans in peace, there many things that seraphim must be conscious of.
I see. I hope the seraphim you're thinking of will notice as well.
Oh, what a quick-witted lass.
Huh? You're not talking about yourself?
You mean another seraph, yeah?
I truly hope they notice me and my efforts.
We understand your idea. We'll try and find an appropriate vessel for you.
Is the inscription of the shrinechurch still there? If we use that, I should be able to maintain a good distance with the believers.
It's still there. Please, Morgrim.
Shepherd, I know I have said much. But remember that I do not distrust humans.
It's just that humans and seraphim need to know where they stand on the issues.
Yes, indeed. Both parties shall.
Look, the cat puns are forgivable here. No man or seraph could resist. By getting Morgrim to ally herself once again with humans (remember, Shigure never sealed her personality or anything), you'll get Dezel's alternate haircut and outfit. Morgrim is a pretty powerful seraph, you know. The Pendrago region covers quite a lot of the overall world map, even extending as far out as the Earth shrine.
The reason Morgrim's blessing level is so high already is largely because of all that grinding I did in the shrinechurch for Luring. Thankfully, all Grade acquired in an area counts, not just the Grade acquired after you've restored an area's blessing.
With her being at level 5, we have access to Sanctification. This is a very important boon that allows a seraph to transform a piece of equipment offered to them (for Grade) into something else, once it's reached +10 Enhancement. This is how you get to the good stuff, by the way. We have a decent number of normin by this point but unless you are really struggling with the combat, you can probably get by with random drops / stuff you pick up in treasure chests.
So speaking of the church...
Huh? Wasn't that Mayvin?
Someone you know?
Uh, kinda. He's family to me, in a way.
How marvelous. Mayvin has been a great help to all of us.
To the church? How so?
It's a bit embarrassing, but he has been teaching us many of the ancient legends that were once lost to the church. Literature, legends, ruins... It is quite humbling to realize the true breadth of his knowledge.
Yup, that sounds like Mayvin.
I guess he wasn't faking the whole "explorer" thing after all.
Oh no! I forgot to give him a thank-you gift!
Aw, don't worry about it. Trust me, he won't mind.
No, I really must. Oh! But I am already running late for my church duties...
We could bring it to him, if you like.
*hands something over* I'm dreadfully sorry. Would you be able to? He said he was heading to the Gaferis ruins to meet with some old acquaintances.
I believe we can accommodate that. Also, if she's fine with cat puns, we all should be.
Let's just say they're connected, but *probably* not in the way you think.
That strange girl hanging out with Heldalf? Probably connected. Probably.
Huh? About as long as you I guess?
You don't sound too sure. Did you just meet him recently?
Well, I guess... Kind of recently!
I can't stand to watch this... But I'm not sure I wanna join in.
Given what he said to Sorey earlier about keeping his actual history with Rose secret...probably better to *not* get involved. But as for now, we're headed to Gododdin to see if this Fake Elixir business...resolved itself, or something.
Great... Man on a mission
Are you looking for Chief Slenge?
Yes, I'm an acquaintance of the chief, and--
I'm sorry, but the chief is indisposed right now due to illness and will not be taking visitors.
What?! He is?
But be of good cheer! In the name of the Shepherd, I vow to heal this noble servant of the people!
Oh, so you're the Shepherd, are you?
Hah hah hah! Nothing escapes your eye, my lady! *Edna and Mikleo pop out in front of him* Indeed! I am the renowned, the incomparable, Shepherd Malfore!
...Who can't see us in the slightest!
All hail the mighty Shepherd.
I can tell from your unique accoutrements that you wish you were a Shepherd as well. Eminently understandable... But I cannot recommend it. The Shepherd's life is one of solitude; he spends his days in constant battle, unappreciated by the world he cherishes.
Uh..okay.
In any case! Rest assured that the village chief is in the caring hands of Shepherd Malfore!
Sorey with the right reaction there, but we have more business.
Do you think it's malevolence that's causing his illness?
Is the chief even sick? I don't trust that guy.
But we do know that the amount of malevolence in this village is increasing.
Let's start by reviving the blessing of Gododdin. We can worry about the chief after that.
Makes sense. That's the REAL Shepherd's job, after all.
That it is...but where to start?
If you go near the caves to Igraine, you'll get this neat little shootdown of an idea. That's a nice little detail, them thinking to put that in. But it doesn't help us find out what we're doing about the blessing. If you poke around enough, you'll find some munchkins talking about a Dirt Leech in Yder Cave. According to Lailah, this particular hellion is extremely difficult to catch, which...should make it worthy of investigation. Let us do just that.
Hey, it wasn't that easy!
That was a cinch!
It was a little easier than that!
Then what was it?
A piece of cinch?
Everyone's a critic these days.
The easiest way to find this special Dirt Leech is to return to the second area of Yder Cave. From this first large initial area, Wind Rush over to the other large cavern here.
See that vaguely-misshapen brown smudge a few steps in front of Sorey? That's it. You also need Rose's Stealth Feet Support Talent equipped, or it'll run away as soon as you get close. This is one of the very few times a Support Talent will actually incorporate itself into a puzzle solution, but to be fair, Lailah does warn you about this after you overhear those kids talking about this thing back in Gododdin, which makes this thing spawn in. Cave diving
It IS easy to lose track of, to be fair. As you might guess, this is a very unusual enemy whose most distinguishing feature is it is incredibly tiny, and also very fast. In spite of this, it's also fairly powerful, so don't underestimate the amount of damage it can do. It's also resistant to every element (including Void) except Fire, so make sure you have either Rose or Sorey switch to Fire form to start doing decent damage.
That IS that, indeed.
Did I... Did I become a hellion? I'm sorry, I must have caused you all great trouble.
No. We're just glad you're all right.
*stands up* My name is Forsea. Oh my. There's an iris gem here.
An Earthen Historia! Could we have that?
But of course. This is nowhere near enough to show my gratitude, however.
No, it's perfect. Thank you.
Dear me, what an honorable Shepherd you are.
If you'd like to thank us... Could you maybe give your blessing to a village? It's called Gododdin, and it's very close by.
Gododdin... That's the village outside the shrine of the fire trial, correct? Do you have a vessel lined up?
We'll, uh, we'll find one for you.
All right. I'll head over to the village for now.
As for the Earthen Historia...
I'm just glad Dezel's here to make sure we know that just because Heldalf's machinations are clearly behind a lot of this world's strife, we can't go around blaming even a character like that for *everything* that happens.
As for the rest of Yder, well, with Edna's map action, we do have some minor treasures to pick up behind boulders we couldn't break, like in that small cavern below the "de" in the area name on the map here. There's nothing too amazing, it's mostly like gald and consumables. In the cavern in the southwest, there are a couple gold chests, but yeah. Not till later. The other treasure worthy of note is in that two-pronged passageway to the southwest of that aforementioned small cavern. There's a Hat fashion accessory in the northern prong.
Upon returning to Gododdin... A cunning mind
Worry not, excitable youngster! Everything has been taken care of. *begins walking off* Thanks to the selfless heroism of Shepherd Malfore! HA HA HA!
Shepherd. I must apologize for causing you concern. However, I am afraid I still feel unwell. Please excuse me... *leaves*
He's acting strange. Did something happen?
*appears* That man named Malfore was threatening the chief. "I'll expose your misdeeds, you fallen pope!" he said.
What?! How did he know?
Malfore used to be a priest. And we already know the church is investigating the fake Elixir.
Could you explain to me the details of what's going on?
*the two do so*
I see... So the missing pope was the one producing the fake Elixir.
Yeah. But it was for the sake of the villagers.
Slenge told Malfore the distribution route and formula for making this fake Elixir... On the condition that the church will continue to buy vermillion ore.
What do you mean?
So you're saying he didn't come to intimidate but to negotiate?
Yes. The church will overlook the former pope's crime. In exchange, it will gain control of the distribution channel for the fake Elixir. And, as the mediator, Malfore will gain prestige and credibility.
So Gododdin will finally get legitimate revenue.
But they're covering up a crime! And now the church itself is going to be selling fake Elixir? That's just insane!
...
Unfortunately, these things happen.
Humans need money to live. That's what it comes down to.
I don't suppose you're still open to blessing this village...
I was thinking that the school building might work as a vessel. What do you think?
Are you sure?
The pope... I mean, the village chief seems to have recognized that his time is drawing near. Even my blessing cannot forestall the inevitable.
Is that why he's trying to secure a revenue stream for the village?!
I would like to stay a while longer and see what results his determination brings.
Thank you, Forsea.
You're quite welcome. *teleports away*
The results his determination brings...
Two blessings restored in one update, eh? Not too shabby. This also unlocks Lailah's alternate haircut and costume color. This pretty much wraps up our work in the Gododdin area...kinda.
Yes, in front of Lailah's Malevolent Crucible, we can find the Millionpede. In Berseria, we fought this thing on our first trip to the Baird Marsh before we fought with Oscar and Teresa. This is our first Code Red Daemon equivalent in Zestiria. Millionpede is...well, probably one of the harder ones we can fight right now, for one particular reason.
This unpleasant creature has this ability, Millionaire, where it'll jump up and down, crashing down with the force of meteor several times on the field. You can stop this animation from playing with anti-air abilities, like Wind form has. If you stop it does any damage, congrats. This attack doesn't do any damage as Millionpede rises into the air. If you can shoot him down, go for it.
Coulda been worse. I figure we're strong enough that we can begin hunting down these types. These enemies don't technically count as boss fights, so if you Game Over, you'll have to reload your last save. Thankfully, most of these enemies are fairly close to save points, anyway.
I actually totally forgot about this skit that's triggered by restoring the blessing for this region and heading to the inn's save point. NOW we're done in the Gododdin region until I feel comfortable taking on Lailah's crucible. I have a feeling we'll cross paths with Malfore again. Despite how he talks...he may be quite the character at the end of the day.
The next powerful daemon is Behemoth, in the center of the Meadow of Triumph near Sorey's crucible. Can we triumph against such a beast?
Edna actually gives you some pretty good advice for this fight in the opening conversation. She says that it's better to dodge than try to block Behemoth's attacks, which I would entirely agree with. This foe is quite powerful and even blocking will very quickly melt your HP. One thing you should really watch out for is when it stops to charge for a moment. It's highly likely, but certainly not guaranteed, it'll immediately attack afterwards with its most common attack, a short hop forwards.
Its unique arte is Impact, where it'll rear back, then quickly slam down with an impact that does quite a bit of AOE damage around it. This attack, you're much safer jumping backwards to potentially get the SC refund than dodging around the side, since most of this attack's damage is done around the side. It also has Chain Tackle, where it'll tackle several times in a row. Staggering Behemoth at any point in the attack will interrupt it. You can take advantage of both techniques just by being aggressive. The attack only starts doing damage when Behemoth actually starts throwing its weight around.
Another pretty convincing win. After a few attempts, of course.
Back in Lastonbell, we have a couple more sidequests to get on top of. First, this is that old guy who was hanging out in the park, mumbling about valkyries. Maybe he's gotten a bit more lucid since. The valkyrie
What, you know about Maltran?
Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me.
My name's Sorey.
He's the Shepherd.
The Shepherd? Truly, I do feel something special about you...
I believe this man possesses some resonance, however slight it may be.
But Shepherd or no... No one has yet to believe a word I say.
It hurts when people don't believe you. I understand how that feels. But I found people who would listen to me and believe in me, and that saved me from the pain.
My word!
So please, tell us your story
Ten years ago or so, I served as a knight of Rolance in a conflict against the kingdom of Hyland. That is where I encountered her. Maltran, famed as the Blue Valkyrie. Before we could even react, in the blink of an eye, that lone woman had wiped out our entire unit. I turned tail and fled. I had no pride. I simply didn't want to die. As my cowardly legs carried me away, I glanced back at her... But she was being attacked by monsters! Great lizards the size of men, wearing the armor of Hyland!
Hellions!
I swear that I saw them... I saw those beasts swarm over her as she fell... And yet...Maltran is still alive.
I believe your story.
Thank you. You do have the way of the Shepherd about you.
Sho 'nuff!
Please, take this, and continue to care for the people, especially poor lost souls such as me.
I will. Thank you.
He handed over a...Rose Corsage. Well, I don't see how that'll help watch over the people, but we might as well look good doing whatever we plan on doing.
Over near the sanctuary, a skit about what we just heard. That all must have seemed terribly baffling to Maltran. She probably has a lot of old war stories, but probably nothing as strange as this...
Uh-oh...probably referring to those brigands from the start of this arc of the story. Those kids were hanging out in the forest, so we might as well stop by before we return to Hyland.
So true story, while I was grinding out Rose's Item Ordering, I must have accidentally sold my Void Slasher to this shop in Lastonbell, thinking that a higher level shop level might make orders come in more frequently. Does it? I have no idea, but I do know that if you sell these unique items, you can purchase them back from the shop you sold them to.
Well, the army has definitely made more of a presence here since the last time we were around. That star is currently hanging over Tintagel, so let's go check it out. Tragedy in the forest
It's the kids... The ones hurting soldiers!
They're dead.
Did the army do it?
Doubtful. They wouldn't leave corpses in the open like this, nor would they go to such extremes.
Who else could it be?
...
Thank goodness! One's still alive!
We did... What they asked... Why...
Sorey! Watch out!
Why did you kill them?! *stands up*
In spite of getting my best combo in this game so far right off the bat, Dryad is no pushover. First up, most importantly, Dryad is strong against every element, but weak against Void attack. So you'll definitely want either Rose or Sorey to stay unarmatized if the other is. This enemy also has a lot of HP, so be prepared for a long fight. Fire form makes for a decent substitute, though, since its neutral combo will exploit Dryad's Apodous vulnerability.
Not a master of subtlety, this thing. This attack can be dangerous because it can hit numerous times before it's done dealing damage, but it's not that hard to see coming and run in the opposite direction of.
But...she was the only one we could save...
*sighs*
Hey, over there!
Whoa there, mister Shepherd! What's goin' on?
Oysh! Perfect timing!
The dog seraph we met here, if you forgot.
We need help.
Let's start with the treatment. Just leave the youngins' to me!
Returning to the Scattered Bones' old base...
Neither have them have mortal injuries. But they're not waking up yet.
*groans*
Did our purification fail?
No, it's more a psychological kinda deal.
What on earth could have happened to them?
He... He beat us... We did...what we were told...and lived as bandits...
"He"? So you guys were hired by someone?
Yeah... We weren't sure we wanted to keep hunting lone soldiers...then he told us there was an easier way to make money. We did what we were told and attacked the carrier. And he bought all the stolen freight for a high price. He even promised us...that he'd hook us up with legit jobs soon after.
So who is this guy?
I dunno... Our leader was the only one who talked to him, and I'm not that smart... But...we believed in him. Because we always wanted to have...honest jobs. But then he said he was gonna destroy all the evidence...and sent a bunch of soldiers and...killed everybody...
Destroy all the evidence?
We...we were so foolish. I've never been smart, but I'm so disappointed in myself... Please... Avenge them... They took all our money too...we only have this, but...please...
An Earthen Historia!
Don't worry. The Scattered Bones will see your request through.
Rose...
Lotta dead kids in this game, eh... Anyway, yeah, this is the real reward for this sidequest for now, another entry in the Earthen Historia. Another thing I should mention about the iris gems is you'll always get the orbs in the same order in terms of the story sequences they reveal, even if the order you get the gems themselves is completely non-linear.
That, uh...yeah. I'll just...leave this particular skit at what they just say here, and move on, yeah... You can tell this is a particularly big one because Lailah is very mum about it, but is none too pleased by what she saw.
On the way out, you'll get a skit about this whole sidequest, but I'm not quite sure when it'll be resolved... But it would be weird if it wasn't, wouldn't it? This skit also gets you a Scattered Bones mask.
This southwest portion of the opening area I actually meant to go back to before we even went into Lastonbell for the first time, but I forgot this was here. Good we can wrap this up. Silver chest has a Raider Blade for Rose.
Someone seems to have went through a lot of trouble to make these things. Sorey and Mikleo have got some big dreams, that's for sure.
Back in the Gaferis Ruins, we get a point on where we can catch up to Mayvin. Who knows if that nut will even be at Camelot by the time arrive? I don't know about you, but he seems like the "Don't find me, I'll find you" type. We can wait on giving him the church's compliments.
We had to skip over this passageway because the last time we were here, we didn't have Edna's map action. Now we do. This one is quite a bit more elaborate than you might think.
Looking bigger already. The right dead-end leads to some minor treasure. Southwest room also has minor treasures, but the road goes ever deeper here.
Past another Earth door, we can find an easily-found Mirag, but we still have the lowest level to check out.
Northern room, accessed by Wind Rushing through bars, has a Sharpened Needle for Rose and a gold chest we'll have to remember. Southern room has Glacial Earrings for Sorey. But the true prize is past a save point.
So notice something? How there's no Earthen Historia here? Well, maybe it'll pop up when we triumph over Serket here. I actually only checked this out recently, but Serket is the Ancient Egyptian goddess of, in so many words, protecting people from deadly scorpion bites and stings. She both was kind of a scorpion woman and a protector from scorpions. Complicated, I'm sure.
Serket is definitely a formidable enemy, with powerful stings and spells that make it a danger at any range. Earth form will really be able to pound this thing effectively, and it doesn't have much HP. Overall, don't try to dodge those stings, because its attacks really do a lot of damage, but take advantage of the spells and don't drag this one out.
Nope...not here...
But now it is! Huzzah. Well, the reason for this is that I have been deceptive. Remember going after the Dirt Leech? Well, when I was recording this update, I had recorded up to that part but, unfortunately, got into a Dangerous Encounter with a bunch of annoying spellcasters in Yder Cave and got wiped. Unfortunately, my most recent save was just after we talked with Mayvin about Maotelus. So, lots and lots of things not related to cutscenes or skits I could just skip. Now, I remembered Kittytiger, Eguille, and the church, but not those dudes in the alley who were yucking it up at our expense. As I mentioned, that scene makes this Earthen Historia spawn in. Before I looked up what the issue was, I spent like 15 minutes looking around Gaferis, thinking I had missed some obscure passage or needed to defeat some specific enemy, but no. It was really that simple.
Very curious...lots of Shepherds around, and as the skit points out, this appears to have taken place in the shrine of Maotelus back in Pendrago, where we defeated Forton. So being a Shepherd isn't just a necessarily one-at-a-time deal, huh?
Well, it would have been nice if we could have investigated before the place got ransacked, but it looks like it happened a long time ago.
There's actually something I've noticed about that. Don't you think that the stones and decorations looted from here may have been used in Pendrago's architecture?
It's possible, given the location and the era.
Right! And if we can find out where they've been used, we might be able to find the hidden history of Pendrago!
If we compare with Ladylake, which utilized the Vivia Subterranean Aqueduct, we might find people in that era were thinking!
Sounds awesome! Good thinking, Mikleo.
That's not all. If we build upon our current hypothesis--
Hang on, I don't get what's so awesome about this!
But they're so enthused!
Friggin' weirdos.
Guess I'm the clown again.
Viva the ruin geek Shepherd!
What kind of Shepherd is that?
I don't think I've ever heard of it.
Then that makes Sorey the first!
No objections?
I guess.
Truth be told, I have *no* idea why that scene pops up here, but hey. We got a Swordsman's Eyepatch, and a new epithet for Sorey, out of the deal, so why not?
So continuing cleaning up these dangerous hellions, we have this rather dangerous adversary. The first time we came to the Cambria Caverns, I mentioned trying to beat the Nine-headed Serpent and utterly failing, so let's see how we shake out this time?
Considering I had already been recording this *particular* video for 30 minutes, deleted a previous video of 30 minutes of just this fight, and in addition to that roughly 90-100 minutes of this fight I had to completely gloss over on our first trip to Cambria, yeah, this one gave me trouble. The problem is this enemy is *extremely* powerful and is excellent at fighting groups. Early on, it'll have two different attacks, both very powerful. The first is a swiping attack that's very hard to sidestep around. Its other is crouching down and spreading its tentacles around, hitting all around it. You need to sidestep this one twice or you'll get hit by the latter part of the attack. Yep, doesn't just hit once. It also has a spell called Mindflayer that's basically just a small explosion, but considering how spells work in this game, it's more dangerous than it sounds. Failing to dodge it means basically guaranteed to be KO'd.
As far as starting out, have your controlled human be paired with Lailah (who gains Power Combos with her neutral attack combo against Apodous enemies), and, right at the start of the fight, rush forward and armatize. The free usage of Divine Phoenix Blade will stagger Nine-headed Serpent out of whatever it's currently set on doing. If you get lucky, you'll Stun it, like here. Some nice free damage at the start is always worth it.
This is that swiping attack. It's way more dangerous and hard to dodge than I made it sound. Personally, I'd advise just straight-up blocking. Missing that crucial second when you can dodge it without taking damage means a lot of pain.
Having access to Flamberge is a *huge* boon for this fight, since, otherwise, all that BG with whoever's paired up with Lailah will all be just sitting there. And trust me, you basically always need someone paired up with Lailah to fight this effectively.
Incidentally, a "flamberge" is just a plain-old medieval sword, popular in heroic tales of the day. There's nothing particularly associating that name with fire swords, as Tales seems fond of doing, but hey. It's just a thing.
A lot is gonna come down to how cooperative the other guy's AI is. Water form, as always, is amazing, because a normal Water combo locks an enemy down for a very long time, more than enough for one combo that's closer to home to end and another to begin, without losing the combo. Very, very useful here. If Water here is not aggressive, this fight is going to be considerably harder.
Once it's very low on HP, it'll start adding in new artes, as usual. Beckoning is what I'm front-dodging from here. It's a very odd attack that involves Nine Heads flailing around harmlessly for a second, then a couple seconds later, a bit of purple flame will shoot up from the ground, and that's what does damage. A lot of damage, mind, but this attack is way less deadly than what Heads starts out with. It's also fairly easy to interrupt while it's flailing around.
It also has, but didn't demonstrate here, a spell called Final Embrace. It basically shoots up a huge glacier of ice around the target, doing a lot of area damage. This spell is very hard to dodge no matter what direction you go, but one time I was able to dodge it by dashing forward just before the glacier was about to form. But basically, you should consider whoever gets hit a lost cause.
I cannot *believe* how well this fight went on my success run. Just gobsmacked. Not only did I, as Rose, not get KO'd, I didn't even take damage! Or at least, not damage that the game counts. And slightly more than 250 Grade! I mean, I was very, very ready for this fight to be behind me, but sheesh. Never would have I imagined that very difficult fight would go that well on my success run.
Incidentally, all of my titles that I had been using were fully leveled up by this point, so it was time to switch. Not until after I fought Nine Heads, though. Weakening myself just for the sake of a little title EXP grinding? That's fool talk.
The next one we need to crush is Dangeroma, on the hill south of Mikleo's crucible in Pearlots Pasture.
While it has some of its skunk friends as backup, this is a much easier fight than Nine Heads.
One use of Flamberge at 1.50x was enough to wipe out nearly 60% of its HP, so yeah, this one's definitely not too bad. It does have some dangerous spell that can easily KO, but nothing special and again, not much HP.
For our final stop before new locations, return to Malory Forest. Or, more accurately, the save point in Meadow of Triumph (via save point warping), just outside the forest.
There are lots of boulders to break around here, hiding a Vellum and a pair of Resistance Shoes in the first area, but most importantly, this path in the second map.
Ah, a rare Peacock, hanging out in the forest.
Like Boss Peacock back in Berseria, this is a pretty damn simple enemy. Standard attacks and no particular need to open up Power Combos, even with its elemental resistances.
Nice to end the last three hunts on a nearly flawless note. Further down the path, you'll find a monolith. Also a silver chest with a Poison Ward in it and a gold chest. They're everywhere, I'm telling ya.
From Malory, now we're headed to the as-of-yet unexplored southwestern corner of Pearlots Pasture.
Does this look familiar? It shouldn't. We haven't been in this direction before, since we had no business here, but now, on the way to the Earth shrine, we do. Funny how that works out.
Oh hey, a lovely cliffside path, after a monolith and a few enemies in the previous area. And good ol' Aifread got to be remembered in his own way. How nice.
talesofzestiria.jpg
It's a Naga. Her main attack involves extending her nails.
The front should defend and attack when it can. Its artes are powerful as well.
I mean, I wasn't kidding with that last caption. Naga groups are incredibly annoying and there is absolutely no reason to fight them, outside of hearing that little enemy commentary. Everyone's EXP bleeds the same, and there are way easier enemy groups hanging out in the Hunting Grounds. I mean, they're easier than the Pixies in Dumnonia Museum, but still, they're not fun. I did win this fight, though.
You'd been waiting to say that...
SOMEONE had to, don't you think? Wild Boars are still much funner to fight than Nagas.
Really, Dumpus should be *thanking* us for getting rid of them, really.
Sloe has to be one of the easiest normin to find, but at least he has good taste. First time Sorey has seen the ocean, probably.
Some nice-looking flowers, but let's take a closer look. They're...
Well, you heard the lady. Given this game actually does have a lot of real things as landmarks, I wouldn't be surprised if this was real, but I couldn't find it. This Edna and ours also have several important similarities, as the girl goes into here. There are also some nearby treasures to this lovely flower near the cliff edge.
You'll have to backtrack a couple times because those large, open areas near where we came in were up unpassable slops, so you have to approach from the opposite direction. The hill we're currently pointed towards has...
A lovely rainbow butterfly. Well, actually a moth, according to Dezel, but a probably rare species called a...Shae Monyuroze. There's no elaborate language trick here; just say it slowly to realize what Dezel is going for here. "Shame on you, Rose".
Rainbow Butterfly posted:
It certainly looks like a resplendent butterfly, its wings shimmering with every color of the rainbow. But it is a moth. The exceedingly common shae monyuroze moth. Certainly not worth a darn thing.
Wild Orchids posted:
A type of wild orchid known as edna, which calls to mind the image of a fair maiden. It wilts under directly sunlight in the summer. Perhaps a parasol would help.
These two are a couple of recurring NPCs. This is the first time you can encounter them, but hopefully, I'll remember to catch them again (talkable NPCs are marked with a green dot on the map). If you talk to the woman, she threatens us with seraphic artes unless we cease pestering her, which I think is rather uncalled for. Most of us in attendance *are* seraphim...
Straight in front of us leads to the Earth shrine, which we won't be getting to this time, but we will have time to check out the other three directions. To the east is Rose's Malevolent Crucible, which, considering she's the second-easiest character to play as well, should be not *that* big a challenge. Most of her enemies are taken from the Pendrago Shrinechurch and Aifread's Hunting Grounds, so a decent challenge to fight just by herself. Dream Slasher is so damn good. Oh, and I was wrong earlier. Losing in a crucible is a Game Over. Thankfully, again, all the Malevolent Crucibles are near save points.
"Raurava" refers to the hot naraka where attendees are constantly running around trying to escape the extremely hot ground. When you think you've found shelter, bam, the walls of your false paradise start roasting you all over again. Fun.
I'm sure Dezel is quite proud of how far Rose has come while he's known her. The equipment reward is a Hushed Sonance weapon for Rose.
This makes grinding sound so nice.
This newest powerful hellion is the Spider Queen, one of the few non-storyline bosses I remember for some reason before I even started replaying this game. Well, one reason I do remember is because this one is particularly powerful. I wouldn't fight it right now.
Well I do have plenty of gald kicking around.
Classic endlessly-sliding sand...slide thing. Taking that will just dump you off at the start of this area. Booooring. Let's go check out those ruins near where the Spider Queen was.
More lovely ruins. As for the name...I genuinely have no idea. Google search for "Weylish" only brings back results for this game or...The Sims, strangely, Wikipedia has nothing, not even any names vaguely similar to "Weylish". I mean, just based on the other ruins like this, stands to reason it would be a Round Table member, but Weylish or some alternate spelling thereof would have to be incredibly obscure even by the standards of obscure Arthurian characters. It was a lot easier to find out what "Arondight" was, and until this thread I wasn't even aware there was anything particularly special about Lancelot's sword that it deserved a name, just that he was damn good with one.
As you might guess, this is a pretty linear dungeon, whose only new enemy, aside from the "boss", are these boar men. Lotta boars were hunted in the making of this video, lemme tell you.
Orc Groomer? What does it groom?
You want to know? They take care of horses, and...
That'll do, thanks.
Aw, I would have wanted to hear more. I think they actually have a unique attack pattern, but they're pretty similar to the Orc Farmers in Pearlots Pasture. Pretty sure that's their closest relation.
Basically, I'd just keep a regular eye on the map to make sure you don't miss any passageways.
B3 has the most interest sight. First up, that large room to the north with that irregular hole in it. That's an...odd sight.
Now that's a landmark. And an...odd one. Rose has some good ideas about how this unusual rock found its way here. Frankly, I don't think Dezel gives Rose enough credit.
Monolith within the Ruins posted:
A gigantic stone found within the ruins, despite no obvious means of getting it in there. Perhaps the ruins were in fact built around this stone.
In spite of this being a Dangerous Encounter and some wild camera angles, I was able to win this fairly easily. But yeah, don't pick fights in environments like this if you can help it.
The southeast room has our newest powerful enemy. Like with the Spider Queen, I'd wait to fight this one. Soon enough we'll have more armatized Mystic Artes and levels and artes. Soon enough.
As opposed to this, the northeast room will soon lead you to a door that...surprisingly, you can't open. We'll need the Gold Key for that.
The large room in the northeast of B2 has a Demeter Harvest for...well, take a guess. From there, you'll want to take the northwestern stairs down to an isolated corner of B3 to find a number of treasure chests with accessories in 'em, and a Feldspar Sword for Sorey.
Lonely little guy. Probably just took a few wrong turns. As usual, once you pick up the normin and found the landmark, that's about all you really need to do here for now. Getting topside means we're headed for the Earth shrine, but I think we've had enough fun for today. And for the year, actually. This will be our last update for 2022, so see you bright and early in the new one. Hopefully, at least.