With Kyrie now a Marked Arbiter, we march on to whatever we want to do. Fortunately, we’re the good guys!
Our first stop on the way to Alphonse is The Highlands. The fight, therein, is a fight against wild animals. However, there is an interesting aside. We’ve stumbled across two insect looking dudes. The taller one is named Bzaro, and I’ve forgotten who the smaller one was, but he talks in broken English and is a merchant. They’ve gotten themselves surrounded by animals, and we have to save them. Bzaro, a fellow Arbiter, thinks he can protect them both, but Kyrie believes we should help anyway. It’s the nice thing to do. Ultimately, it’s not that hard. There’s water in this level, and beasts can’t swim, so get that Sinking Feeling Steam achievement. After the fight, the merchant sees himself off, promising to stick to the human paths, and Bzaro tells us why he’s here. He’s searching for the murderer of another Marked. Initial thoughts lead to Alphonse, so he joins us as a guest for the next few fights. We can’t control him, so he’s our Delita. He makes a few bug puns, as he’s a bug, so there’s that. And he likes to heal. There is an optional scene here, where the party camps out. Kyrie has been mulling over the information and concluded that Alph couldn’t have killed the other Marked. This is mildly upsetting to everyone, especially Bzaro, as he wanted revenge on Alph, as well. The guy he killed at the start of the game was an associate of Bzaro. They both worked under an Immortal and were investigating Alph for reasons.
Our next location is outside the Highlands Temple, Scarred Summit We see the last of Alph’s mercenaries and take care of them. This is the hardest fight in the game! We’re met with some high level jobs that I don’t understand yet. I’ve unlocked them but haven’t switched yet, wanting to master my current jobs. I’m also affected with poison a few times. They have two healers, two more mages, and two well armored knights. It’s a good thing I’m not on hard mode because only three people survived. Long live Kyrie, Lucy, and Bzaro.
Once inside, the plot takes a turn. We see Alphonse holding a staff up to a swirling relic that looks like a tiny Zarathustra from Xenosaga III. Alph turns around and begins to threaten us with the power he’s gained. Bzaro wonders if this is apart of the pilgrimage. Alphonse says he’ll kill us before he crumbles to the ground. He begins to cry in pain, floats into the air, blinks in and out of existence, and returns as an unknown being. He is now some lizard space creature. In a battle reminiscent of FFT’s Cú Chulainn, it’s a one-on-five fight. Despite him having nearly 600 HP, it’s oddly easy. He does a lot of debuffs, so bring some Panacea IIs along. Try to avoid stacking around each other, and don’t use root, or maybe any debuffs. The one time I did, he countered and rooted Riener. And then he put him to sleep. No one died, but only Kyrie, Anadine, and Lucy were around at the end.
When the dust settles, we all wonder about the pilgrimage and the strange staff Alphonse used to suck up the power with. Kyrie walked over to the barely powered relic and did whatever she was supposed to. She said she felt more power, and that is a bit scary. Anadine walks over to the staff, and a sudden bang is heard. She collapses to the ground, and no one knows what's going on. We go outside and come to the decision that she’s been infected with a dark power. Kyrie asks Bzaro to inform Quintus of what happened here and only him. He’s the only Immortal we can trust. Kyrie decides to see an old enemy of Riener, Yates. He’s the nearest, and best, healer around, but he has a history with us. Bzaro leaves, and we carry on.
North of Centina is Yates' house, where we confront the eccentric doctor. Yates and Reiner argue about someone. Yates is a stuck up, self aggrandizing doctor. Kyrie tries to calm them down, but Yates sneaks away into his house. Suddenly, several zombies and griffin looking things come out to join us, and we fight. But this isn’t a normal fight. We don’t have to kill everyone, which is impossible here. Zombies come from the sides of the map whenever we kill an older one. The griffins don’t, though. One does take Reiner away from the core of the group, but we can somehow still place a unit next to him. The goal here is to survive and keep Reiner alive. Every turn, he and Yates argue until the two calm down and, momentarily, settle their feud. I think it was seven rounds. I thought it was fun and glad this game already has more special win conditions than FFT or Disgaea.
After the fight, Yates says he’ll help Anadine. He can’t properly cure her now, but he can buy time before she dies and awaken her. If not treated in a year, she’s likely to perish. He sends us to a graveyard to pick up an item...
...Which we’ll do tomorrow.
So, we’re working for a necromancer? Hmm...I hope we’ll kill him, too.
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