Last time, I got a new party member. Today, I’ll finally move on with the plot.

The officer notices Dehl and asks if he’s a “sympathizer”. Dehl is confused.

Dehl: “M-me? I sympathize with many, but—”
Fero: “Say ‘No’, Shra-friend. Trust me on this.”
Nalian Officer: “Cuh. This one your slave, Fih’Jik?”

You’d think that the Nalian officers of all people would know that fih’jik don’t approve of slavery. Bit of a setting inconsistency, that.

They do the we’re-a-guild-tell-us-of-your-troubles routine. In an odd bout of generosity, the officer warns Dehl he wants no part in it. Guess even they have some standards. Dehl is undeterred by this, obviously.

Nalian Officer: “Fine, it’s your funeral. Or burning, or whatever it is that happens to dead Shra. Damn scaley monsters. Worst thing to happen to us in a long time.”

More burial practice talk. So they know cremation exists; does anyone practice it regularly? And just what does happen to dead shra? Kulkumatz implies they just lie down and die in a spiritually relevant place, so I guess they don’t have an organized burial practice the way we think of it, just personal rites.

Anyway, point is, some slaves have escaped. We finally, finally get some actual evidence of an abolitionist movement:

“Ya see, every once in a while, a so-called Shra ‘sympathizer’ will turn up. Someone’ll bust in to one of the pens and free a buncha Shra. And they run off.”

…However, I’m pretty sure this is the only time they’re mentioned and is the full scope of their involvement. Why do we never see any espousing their beliefs in a non-combat setting? Why are they just trying to free slaves instead of working towards an organized, political goal? Is the world so morally bankrupt that there are too few abolitionists to actually congregate and accomplish more than hit-and-run tactics? They should have safe haven in Do’Ssha at least. According to The Drop, most fih’jik were abolitionists and sympathizers, yet for some reason they don’t seem to factor into this at all. And this particular break was organized by a shra, so it looks like there are no significant abolitionists other than a member of the species being enslaved.

Anyway, the officer starts ranting about how the shra join up with the bandits and become criminals themselves, which makes more work for the officers. Aw, so the bandits are equal-opportunity! Maybe some of them are abolitionists.

Dehl decides that if the escapees are attacking innocents, they must be apprehended, and pledges to assist the officers with roundup. Fero is shocked and asks if he’s the least bit concerned about re-enslaving his own kind.

Dehl: “Absolutely not. These are criminals. I’ve no other concerns about their situation.”

On the one hand, I can appreciate someone being able to look past their own biases and connections to uphold law and order. On the other hand, the law here is horribly, horribly unjust and people do not deserve to be forced into slavery, even if they are criminals. What is Dehl even trying to accomplish here? Does he think that he can only atone by aiding authority, and is thus willing to throw the oppressed and dissenters under the bus? Has he just never developed postconventional morality due to his troubled upbringing?

Fero relents and agrees to assist, even though he’s obviously not pleased by it. You know what might have been really interesting? What if Fero (and maybe Lani too) flat-out refused to participate and you had to make do without them? Party limitation mechanics may be too difficult for such an early quest, but story-wise I think it’d make more sense and would really underline just how messed up Dehl’s methodology is.

Hello, green. Haven’t seen you in a while.

The officer in front of me says “There are two major camps in the forest to the west of here. Both are active. When your party engages one, there is a chance you’ll scare off some stragglers. When that happens, they’ll high-tail it to the other camp to warn the others. If they all escape, well that’s no good to us. We need ’em all captured, at the least. You can try to rush one camp, then beat the runners to the other in time…or you can split into two groups and hit both camps at once. If you can find ’em.”

The time limit is pretty generous; it’s usually no trouble to get to both camps with a single group. I’ll throw the game a bone and split up like it so desperately wants me to, though. It’s the most strategic plan, anyway.

I group based on damage types. Dehl, Santes, and Lani in group 1, Qualstio, Sirush, and Fero in group 2.

There’s another officer in the bottom-left. He says “I’m keeping watch for anything suspicious. And right now, you’re really fitting the bill. So would you kindly get out there and finish your job?” So grouchy!

One of the special objectives is to avoid springing any of these traps. I’ll do my best to comply.

You can get a detailed explanation on the exact mechanics of the traps but I’ll skip it. It’s surprisingly in-depth for something that only appears in one mission: high-agility characters have a chance of dodging the trap, and Fero is immune to them entirely.

To the right is the main area. I have Qualstio’s group head to the south. There’s a lot of vegetation further in, but there isn’t anything there except lots of traps.

Before I barge in, I have Dehl’s group move into position on the northern path.

These guys actually put up quite a fight, and I realize too late that no one here has any useful healing skills. The shra have a powerful soul attack that really hurts Qualstio and Sirush, and Sirush’s light armor makes him weak against their slashing attacks. I also got pretty unlucky with a noxious-elemental shra; Bloodburn Shot won’t be very effective against that one.

I start playing conservatively to get Qualstio and Sirush out of danger, and manage to make it through with no casualties. Fero actually gets to take the role of my tank here.

Unarmored shra count as having heavy armor, which is interesting. Hard scales make me think more of medium armor in the context of the game mechanics – in folklore, dragons tend to killed by piercing weapons that slip through the gaps in their scales. And as natural armor, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that it’d be particularly vulnerable to crushing damage – the soft flesh underneath might actually absorb most of the shock.

After the battle, some of the shra run off.

Some of the bandits Aren’t they just escaped slaves? I killed/subdued the one bandit. got away! They’re likely running toward the other bandit camp to warn their fellows to escape. We don’t have much time to strike the other camp before they get away and escape into the deeper woods.

I get a four-minute countdown, but Dehl’s group is already poised to strike at the other end. I can examine the tents to learn These tents reek of Shra musk. No way anything else would even think of sleeping in one of these. Then where were the human bandits sleeping?

I can also examine the campfire: A roaring campfire left behind by the bandits when they fled. That’s not safe for the woods at all. Also I can calibrate the last stone here.

Back to Dehl for the final battle. This one goes much more smoothly. The heat-elemental spellcaster falls quickly to Dehl’s Spirit Crush, and Santes can tank the soul damage from the shra.

Despite having few body points, she takes virtually no damage from their regular attack. This tends to be an emergent feature in this game – spellcasters are often physically frail, but because they have no abilities that use body offense, you’re free to pump all their points into defense until they’re virtually untouchable. I find it to be a pretty cool idea, given that this is the norm for RPGs.

Lani finishes them all off with an epic Phalanx Charge that I forgot to screencap.

The escaped thralls will think twice before setting up their camps here again. For now, anyway. Time to return to Nal.

Ques: “Rank 9 acquired. I am certain you are just as excited as I.”

Yikes, I’m really plowing through. Maybe I should stop doing special objectives.

Cutscene now.

They stop and talk a bit. Apparently they’re taking a shortcut, but Lani’s confused and isn’t sure it’s the right way. Apparently this is an empty area that was intended to contain new houses, but then the Blue Plague happened.

Dehl: “Is it safe to pass through here?”
Ques: “Of course, Squire Sikohlon. The derelicts will not stray this far from the wells.”

Hmm. I get the feeling Dehl is referring to catching the Blue Plague due to how traumatized by it he is. But obviously the plague died out years ago, so Ques assumes he must be talking about something else. This is a neat exchange if that’s intended.

Suddenly, a bunch of shra rush in from the east!

Ques asks if Dehl wants to pursue.

Dehl: “I…ah… No, it is not our business at this time.”

Huh. Is he just tired and doesn’t want to chase them down again? That’d be pretty out of character – I think it’s safe to say he’d work himself to death if he believed it would give him even a faint hope of salvation. Is he having second thoughts about this whole sordid affiar, perhaps? Maybe now that he’s not contractually obligated to consign these people to a life of suffering he’s willing to let it go.

The group clusters together again.

Lani: “There’s that word again! Ques, why do ya keep callin’ him that?”

Ques called him “Sikohlon”. So yay, Lani gets to be the Watson again. At least we’ll get more information about the Sikohlon haha yeah right

Dehl: “Do you mean ‘Sikohlon?’ That is my family name, Lani. You have one as well, yes?”
Lani: “Is that right? Ain’t never heard of a Shra with a a last name. Didn’t think you did that.”
Ques: “Lady Derra, the Sikohlon are not ordinary Shra, in case the realization escaped you.”

Like he’s one to talk. He barely knew about the Sikohlon himself until Dehl told him.

Lani: “Yeah? Why’s that?”
Dehl: “We are given a different upbringing when our Sikohlon Fathers adopt us, for one.”
Tehgonan: “You’re adopted? Do you got real parents?”

See, Tehgonan works so much better as a Watson since it makes sense he wouldn’t be familiar with some basic setting information. I guess the problem is that he’s too aloof to care most of the time.

Dehl: “Almost all Shra are adopted. Some by tribes, some by slavers, some by us… Never mind. I’ve said too much as it is.”

??? Is there some kind of shra conspiracy going on here? He was fine divulging information to Ques.

“Just know that the Sikohlon stand aside.”

Mmh, so I suppose they’re so pacifistic they become impotent and unwilling to actually impact the world in any meaningful way. Although…maybe this is just something he made up? A personal philosophy to live by after seeing the tragedy that resulted when a Sikohlon did try to make a difference.

Dehl also claims that, according to his father, there were at least 2000 Sikohlon around when he was alive. He’s not sure how many there are now, though. Were they all horribly murdered or something? We see virtually no adult Sikohlon over the course of the game. Guess Dehl’s father was a lying liar who lied (not much of a stretch), or maybe Skint had the largest following and his fall made everything collapse.

A Nalian officer comes running in from the east and asks if they saw the slaves. Qualstio trolls him a bit.

Qualstio: “We’ve seen a lotta things. Might have seen them too, even.”
Nalian Officer: “Which way did they go?! Quickly!”

I have no idea what the game is trying to do here.

There’s nothing else like this in the entire game, and this choice doesn’t affect anything as far as I know. It’s possible that the developer was toying with the idea of a more interactive narrative and planned on having additional choices like this one (a model he later used in I Miss the Sunrise), but the concept petered out and this was left in as an artifact.

What’s weird, though, is that my mouthpiece here isn’t a blank-state avatar, it’s someone with an established personality. Regardless of what I’d choose myself, it makes no sense for the anti-authority Qualstio to comply with the law here (and Tehgonan even lampshades this if he does).

Nalian Officer: “North! Through the gate here? Hah, dumb savages are runnin’ right into the city!”

He races off.

Dehl: “Why did you say that, Qualstio? He’d never be able to catch them now.”
Qualstio: “That’s the idea. Look, you’re better off than those Shra, so you don’t care. But that’s not how I feel. ESPECIALLY after knowing you for so long, all right? Since you turned out all right, maybe there’s hope for all of ’em.”
Dehl: “Compassion and law are oft incompatible. But, so long as you believe in your choice.”
Qualstio: “Yeah, yeah, I’m a saint, I know. Let’s get outta here before the rain hits.”

I do like this quest and the story segments surrounding it. It is a little cliche, but it’s a good exploration of Dehl and Qualstio’s characters. We discover that Dehl is less than a saint, and at the same time get the shocking revelation that Qualstio has a functional sense of morality. It’s interesting from a roleplaying perspective as well – for the first time, players aren’t doing something that’s objectively right. You are preserving order, but you’re doing that by upholding slavery. It adds a lot more moral nuance to what has been the standard formula so far.

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