Onwards to Fortifel and chapter 3.

Wait, those landmasses are true continents? I always got the impression they were significantly smaller. What kind of continent has nothing but two city-states? Unless Poacher’s Roost is a full-fledged city, there are literally just five cities in the entire world (six if you count Sanctifel), plus the shra lowlands, which don’t seem very big. There is zero mention of other cities or even countries, though I suppose Wadassia and Nal could have large land boundaries we’re just not seeing. Still, the entire world together is probably smaller than Europe. Perhaps they’re only referring to Fortifel as a “continent” because they’ve never seen true continents before?

Well, anyway, Zargos gives the rundown. The city’s built on the mountainside, and is pretty cold due to the altitude. Of course, because the mountain is a volcano, there are a bunch of heat vents and lava streams people can use to keep warm. Still sounds pretty unpleasant to me, like a burned in front and frozen behind sort of deal.

Tehgonan: “The what now?”
Qualstio: “I told ya before, kid! It’s the rocks! They melt underground for some reason.”

2000+ years of research and they haven’t figured out why rock melts? They must be the most incompetent or laziest scientists ever. Possibly both.

Santes says she heard there are actually two cities. Qualstio explains that yes, there’s sister city called Sanctifel on the other side of the mountain that’s basically an insane asylum.

Zargos: “Qualstio, can ye tell us ’bout this fried o’ yours that’ll be puttin us up in Fortifel?”
Qualstio: “Sure. His name’s Metzino. He’s a bit… eccentric, but really not that bad a guy.”

Sorry, Qualstio, but you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t trust you to accurately judge whether or not someone’s “that bad of a guy”.

Ques asks what his rank is to give Qualstio an opportunity to exposit about Fortian ranks a bit but it’s not really important. Although I have to wonder why Metzino has such a high rank if the council hates him? Don’t they oversee promotions?

Santes: “Oooh, it sounds so complicated!” It’s really not but sure Santes is dumb so sure, she needs to be confounded by this. “Would ya tell me if I mess up and do something’ dumb?”

Qualstio: “Sure, babe.”

…

And while Santes flips out at Kidra for being flirty in the general vicinity of her husband, Zargos doesn’t smack Qualstio for directly hitting on his wife because as we all know, women are crazy but men are so rational and laid-back about this sort of thing.

“Although I don’t think anyone will care, unless you really get in their way.”

So yeah it doesn’t even really matter. The Fortians hold themselves to extremely high standards but don’t seem to demand the same dedication from everyone else.

Sirush and Kidra chime in with minor additions. Sirush advises they travel carefully and surreptitiously to avoid the assassins that are totally on their tail. Qualstio dismisses his concerns even though they should really be doing that anyway seeing as they’re fugitives.

Qualstio: “All right, cut the act. What’s the real reason you’re still following us, ya nutjob?”
Sirush: “Concern, I express, in a mutual manner. No more losses! And, come, they SHALL!”

Aw, Sirush really does care. For some reason his snippet just ends there with no further objections from Qualstio and we skip straight to Kidra’s. It’s stupid so I’m not going to talk about it.

Oh wait, except for this:

Qualstio: “Don’t worry, Kidra. The Fortians can use all the help they can get.”

I, uh, what? Just what is he referring to here? Does he really think she’s a prostitute or is he referring to what he thinks her real occupation is and this is an “I’m on to you” sort of deal? Somehow I can’t imagine Fortians being very interested in prostitutes so either he’s sarcastic or it’s the latter.

They depart. The arrow actually follows their travels faithfully instead of just skipping to Fortifel: it goes east and stops at Poacher’s Roost (the one place we never learn anything about, hm) before crossing the Bridge of Foyonder.

I get a save prompt and another interlude.

“The Tipped Scale” – Tavern of Nal

Taru: “I like this place. Nice and quiet, compared to that last bar you dragged us to, Captain.”
Vasra: “Well, this bar is run by a Shra, rather than a Human. A freed slave. Runs it himself.”

Why in the world would a freed slave stay in Nal? I thought freedmen were in danger of being recaptured? I guess he just doesn’t have enough money to travel to Wadassia.

And speaking of which, why do they even allow shra to open businesses? I know in the US at least, there were all sorts of customs if not outright laws prohibiting blacks from owning businesses or property or anything that could give them real power or financial stability. The north was slightly more forgiving than the south, but Nal really seems like it’s more analogous to the south anyway.

“Not a lot of folks would trust a Shra to pour their drinks. This is as crowded as it gets.”

Hm. At first I thought that yeah, he should be poisoning everything, but he can’t, can he? It’ll be incredibly obvious he did it and he’ll get lynched or worse. If he was still a slave then he’d have nothing to lose, but if he’s a business-owning freedman then he’s probably saving up for a future. He might still poison everyone as a last sendoff before he skips town, though.

Vasra talks about how Taru’s become tougher – “A year ago you wouldn’t go near a place like this.” More evidence that he’s supposed to be a prissy aristocrat, I suppose? Taru jokes that if his folks find out he’s been drinking they’ll disown him so I’ll take that as a yes.

Anyway, they’ve apparently fixed the ship, as Rehm says they’re going to head back to sea soon. For some reason he says “Things’re gonna start getting’ tougher out there,” but I have no idea what he means. Why would it be any different than before? Has sea travel become exponentially more dangerous in the span of 3 years, somehow?

This guy walks in, but they don’t notice him and keep chatting. He stops near their table, but faces away from them.

Really, what is he even doing there? Lost in thought? Does no one look over and wonder why there’s a guy standing stock-still in the middle of the bar?

Anyway, they get up and Rehm explains that they’re making a delivery to Fortifel. The cargo is paper. “No trees there, ya see, so they can’t make their own. Kinda funny, considering how big on scholar work they are there, ya know?” It seems really weird that a culture that necessitates lots of paper would evolve in a place with none. It’d make more sense if they used rock tablets or vellum or, you know, magic. If a Fortian kid can mimic an electronic calculator, a word processor can’t be too difficult. But then again, everyone already imports everything from Wadassia so I guess it makes about as much sense as the rest of this world’s nonsense economy. (Although in this case Fortifel is the one place with leverage over Wadassia, since they have a monopoly on everything Wadassia doesn’t.)

…But that’s leaving aside that none of this makes sense in the first place. Volcanic islands are usually really fertile. I suppose you could handwave this away since it’s terraformed, but I still don’t see how it benefits EROS for the most magical area to be a basalt wasteland.

The weird guy is jolted out of his trance and he walks over.

The man introduces himself as Padrinio. He needs passage to Fortifel, and he needs it fast. (Why was he even in Nal to begin with?) Vasra objects, saying they’re not a “taxi service”. Agh more anachronisms. Though the existence of public transport vehicles for hire goes back a long way, the word “taxi” being used to refer to public transport wasn’t coined until nearly the turn of the twentieth century. But maybe Fortians created taximeters way earlier than we did, I don’t know.

Vasra adds that she is extra opposed to taking on people from Nal. He says he’s not from Nal, though.

Vasra: “Uh uh, no way. You don’t even look Fortian. You’re just a regular Human with an eyepiece.”

And here’s where the fun, fun question of whether Fortians are just a race or a different species comes up! People apparently distinguish “pure” Fortians from humans, implying that it’s more than just a cultural difference even though according to word of God and The Drop they’re biologically human and the differences are just cultural. And all three of the species are free to convert and become Fortians yet are separate from native Fortians somehow so how does that work? Would shra and fih’jik converts start exhibiting similar racial differences after enough generations, I wonder? Does the high concentration of magic in Fortifel cause weird mutations for people growing up there, and if so, is it so extreme they can be counted as a separate species? Gods this is all so confusing.

…Anyway, uh, that last part. Is it common for regular humans to steal eyepieces as masquerade as Fortians? Fortians seem to be highly respected so there’d be incentive. If you were a reasonably skilled mage you could probably even pull it off – maybe that’s why Fortifel wants to keep a monopoly on magic? Although without the magnet implantation it’d be pretty easy to expose people – here, Vasra could just tell him to kindly tilt his head forward a bit and if the eyepiece falls off, he’s a fraud. There might be back-alley doctors willing to do the implantation, though.

Padrinio says he’s a convert, but understands their suspicion. Out of the blue, Rehm agrees to take him.

Vasra: “Captain, are you crazy? We don’t take people! That’s a rule! You said so yourself.”

So he’s breaking his own rules, wow. How did he become a captain if he’s so irresponsible? It’s fitting with the carefree action hero persona I suppose, but after falling on hard times like this he should be a bit more grounded. I guess it’s just a character flaw, given that he doesn’t become any less wild and carefree even after…this.

Captain S: “Oh I don’t know. I’m in a good mood. We’ve had a few good runs recently, ya know.”

Agh Rehm you idiot you’re an action hero you should know not to tempt fate.

Vasra: “You’re just gonna trust him like that? Fine. Don’t cry to me when the Vigil is up in flames.”

The feels. :(

I think what makes the tragedy even more awful is that it’s not even the person responsible for the mess who pays the price. Vasra knows this is a bad idea and doesn’t want to go along with it, but she still dies while Rehm gets to live. But more on that later.

Captain S: “Don’t worry, Vasra. Worst case, it’ll be three against one, ya know?”

And yet.

Shouldn’t people be more wary of Fortians? I mean yeah, they should be safe since Rehm has magic of his own (that he…doesn’t use in the cutscene where they’d actually be useful for some reason), but a powerful battlemage is basically a walking tank. The entire Wadassian guard force was helpless before a handful of magic-using bugs, real mages could probably take over (or destroy) a ship without breaking a sweat.

Padrinio: “I do truly appreciate your assistance. You shall be fully rewarded upon my safe arrival.”

And that’s it. He doesn’t mention that he has an almighty god-mage on his tail who can easily annihilate the crew. What a dick.

Shouldn’t he be looking for a group who can stand up to his pursuer, for his own safety if nothing else? If it wasn’t for Taru’s lucky throw he’d have killed everyone, Padrinio included.

…So, that was a pretty short interlude. I guess it has to be, though, to save the grand finale for next time.

The game doesn’t do the greyscale fade-in thing here for some reason.

…And huh, that shra has the exact same outfit as the dominators. Kinda weird to be seeing it here. Guess the developer really liked the outfit and decided to reuse it for them? Don’t know why this one would be wearing a sleeveless shirt in a place as cold as Fortifel, though – all the other shra we see are dressed warmly.

The screen continues panning down.

Dehl suddenly flips out and collapses to his knees, babbling about the snow. Yay foreshadowing and accurately-represented PTSD! It’s really amazing how there are so many little bits like this that subtly show how he was affected. This isn’t even proper foreshadowing, really – it won’t help you predict the reveal at all. It’s a minor, incidental detail, but it’s still nice to have.

Santes asks what’s the big deal, hasn’t he seen snow before? Zargos says maybe he hasn’t, since “it never snows in Wadassia.” Wait, what? It looks like a temperate area to me. And they have apple trees! Although…they might not have seasons. If the planet isn’t tilted, then temperatures will remain mostly constant. It’s entirely possible that it never gets below freezing in Wadassia in that case. (But then how did it start snowing on the island? Dehl implies that’s the first time he saw it if I recall correctly. Bah, complications.)

Dehl manages to compose himself and they head onwards. A shra approaches as they pass through the gates of Metzino’s estate.

Ques: “Scribe Alito? Is that you?”
Alito: “Master Ques! I did not know that you were among the visitors the Master is expecting!”
Ques: “You’ve not aged a day, Scribe Alito.”

…How would he notice? Fih’jik age ten times as fast as shra. Of course from his perspective Alito wouldn’t have aged a day, he’d only age the equivalent of ten years in Ques’ entire lifetime!

Alito: “And time has worn you gently, as well.”

Hm, I have to wonder if Ques feels a bit patronized by this? Fih’jik age so fast that it’s an obvious lie, especially coming from a shra.

Alito addresses Qualstio next and gives more polite servant talk about making their stay as comfortable as possible etc. He invites them into the lobby, then leaves.

However, they don’t advance because Dehl’s befuddled by something. “Something about that young Shra did not feel normal to me. I cannot explain it. It was a feeling that I could not sense his presence, despite seeing him before me.”

Ques explains that Alito has been “de-scented”. Shra produce some kind of strong body odor, and some people (especially Fortians) find it “offensive”. There’s a surgical procedure to remove the scent glands, but since shra use scent to identify other shra, it leads to weird stuff like what Dehl just experienced. Dehl, being Dehl, does not take this explanation well.

Dehl: “Do you all… find me offensive, then?”

The guild shuffles and mutters awkwardly.

Qualstio: “Naaah. …. Well, maybe just a little. Like when it’s raining. And when it’s not raining.”

Qualstio’s a dick. Dehl considers taking the treatment as well even though he finds it “barbaric”, but Qualstio quickly tells him not to worry about it, canceling out his prior dickishness I suppose.

The group makes small talk. Qualstio apparently hasn’t seen him since before he met Dehl, which, wow that is a long time. Why was he so certain Metzino would be willing to help him if they hadn’t seen each other since they were teenagers? A lot can change in, you know, a decade.

Just why is Metzino so willing to help Qualstio? He’s harboring an enemy of the state when the council already hates his guts. He may have managed to scrape by so far because the council technically doesn’t have anything they can use to arrest him, but this is giving them exactly the excuse they need. I guess he doesn’t care since he plans to murder Pazzato anyway, but still, he’s taking an awfully big risk here.

Metzino eventually appears.

They chat a bit, but neither of them seems to bring up what I discussed in the paragraphs above. Qualstio’s grateful but not nearly grateful enough considering everything Metzino’s risking. For Metzino’s part, he only frames the council problem as a risk on Qualstio‘s part. Seriously, harboring a traitor. Do they not have treason laws or something?

Qualstio: “Yeah, I bet they pissed themselves when your devices started showing up on the streets.”
[…]
Metzion: “Give it a few days. It’ll sink in. Then, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it.”

Wait, days? They’ve literally only been in use for a few days? Is he speaking figuratively? I just…what?

Anyway, he advises the guild that if they want work, they should talk to the city guards, since the populace doesn’t take kindly to interruptions. Ques explains that Fortians are really, really ordered and schedule their days down to the second, a trait which he finds “admirable” apparently.

Metzino departs, and Alito explains that he’ll be cooking for them. Tehgonan does not like this one bit: “In my house, we never let Shra near the food! It’s just nasty.” Alito assures him that he is a professional cook, but Tehgonan just tells him to scram.

Qualstio: “Man, you’re a real little prick sometimes.”

I’m just going to leave this here so you can appreciate the irony.

Lani starts arguing with him as well (for some reason neither her nor Fero point out the racism factor even though that should be a big deal to them). Dehl has to step in and tell everyone to calm down. Qualstio also threatens to send Tehgonan back to Wadassia if he doesn’t behave, which shuts him up in a hurry. Just how dysfunctional is this family, seriously?

Tehgonan: “You gonna make me go apologize to him or somethin’ now, Dehl?”
Dehl: “I shan’t make you do anything. Such an act would be of your own accord. I would like to see more positive aspects of this upbringing you seem to cling to, however.”

Aw, Dehl’s trying to be nice. Pity there aren’t any positive aspects of his upbringing to show.

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