Part 56: Episode LVI: Identity

Episode LVI: Identity


Music: Atmosphere - Blow Up



We've got a bit of a strange chapter on our hands. Our only active party member is Alice Elliot and our only available location is going straight back to Rouen.



It turns out Dehuai is slightly more powerful that Arcane Olga but they both rank behind Dr. Jack's undercooked homunculus mother on the power level scale.



In any event, since there are literally no other options let's head back to France.


Music: But-Dad-Dead-Bed



Our destination is the church where Father Doyle revealed we're actually in a sequel to Koudelka and then got smoked for his troubles. Unfortunately, the front door has been barred up. I guess it's technically a crime scene even if the only cop we've seen in this entire game has been undead. Plus the body was Raptured immediately. Honestly, it must be really easy to get away with murder in a world where bodies instantly despawn upon death. Nobody would have known Father Elliot had been murdered if Bacon hadn't gone whole hog and gibbed him all over that street.





The back door has since been locked up again following our party's early intrusion. Alice needs to perform a Push Ring in order to make her way inside. Unfortunately, she just seems to pick the lock instead of kicking it open like Yuri. I'm sure she has a spare bobby pin in that huge bun of hair she has held together with an unwieldy bow. How long is Alice's hair if you undid that thing, anyway? And how frizzy would it be after being kept up for that long? Trick question. You saw Alice with her hair down in the art at the end of the Asia section. It's like down past her waist length.

Alice picks the lock and enters the church.



<looks around>
That day, I was praying here myself and then I went outside the back way.
<shakes head> Father went to call on Father Doyle who was closed up in the confessional…



We can enter the back room where Father Doyle was camped out earlier before the gang confronted him. We could actually come back here right after the scene where we met him/he died. There was a free Jasper Cape armor in one of the rooms but little else of note. This time, however...



<looks around> Why didn’t he go with us to see the Cardinal…
He never seemed eager to meet most people. Nor were most people eager to see him, really. Myself included. But...
<nods> Maybe he didn’t want to meet Cardinal Simon?! Cardinal Simon?



Alice needs to complete a Spin Ring 3 (the one where the Judgment Ring spins three times in succession and we need to tag every Hit Area as it does) in order to yank out...



Doyle Letter

I have committed a terrible, heinous act…
I sold my best friend, Elliot, and his daughter to demons to protect my own life…
I will never be able to purge this sin, no matter if I burn myself a thousand times…
All I can do now is repent my sins alone to God every day…
But I know who Roger Bacon really is. How long is he going to leave me alone?
I’m going to be next…
Next…

There's a photograph between the papers.


Music: NDE - Near Death Experience



"1888 Revival Festival. With Father Hans Doyle and Cardinal Albert Simon.”



Aww heck!
We met him that night… Cardinal Albert Simon!!
Father Doyle did describe him as an older, tall English gentleman. In retrospect... I am feeling a touch dumb right now...

Alice exits the confessional.



Heh heh heh… Looks like you’re onto us…
...

Roger Bacon Albert Simon walks out to the main area of the church. Alice follows him.



Please set your mind at ease, Sister Alice. I have no intention of harming you. I just wish to speak with you a little.
I won't try anything else. My hands are rather full with Ms. Iasant at the moment. Quite the lively one, that girl. The Welsh are quite temperamental, as you well know.
<shakes head> Oh is that so… Roger Bacon. Or should I say…
<steps forward> Cardinal Albert Simon.
<nods> That’s right. That’s my true name--though you may call me whichever pleases you.
You may drop the Cardinal part, though. I fear I am not on the best of terms with the Vatican these days.



That Cardinal Simon and the dark warlock, Roger Bacon, were one and the same. That’s why you concealed your identity from us by using Olga, to kill my father…
<nods> Exactly so. You see… I just had to have your powers. Only one person every hundred years or so is born with powers like yours.
Though sometimes there might be an extra one or two people as well. It's not an exact science, you see...
<shakes head and shrugs> But now I have obtained a different key.
You mean Koudelka?
Soon I will begin final preparations. With her help. And I’d prefer that nothing stands in our way. Neither you nor any of your friends.
<shakes head> That’s impossible. As long as you continue in your wicked ways.
<sighs and shakes head> I assumed as much. Well, there's no harm in asking politely, is there?
But… why are you so insistent in using magic you know is forbidden? Why is it that you want to destroy the world?
Alice… Do you think things are right in the world?
Huh?

Simon walks down the aisle to deliver his villainous monologue.



In fact, the blood and tears of the poor are sacrificed daily by a handful of elite power-mongers. No matter how far science and technology advance, repression will never cease. We’re only human. Whenever the calls for revolution turn into concrete action… Instigators are met by the full resistance of the elite, who stop at nothing to keep their power.
Who knows what will happen the next time this cycle rears its ugly head. Why the whole world could be engulfed in war...

OK... I don't actually disagree with any of that...
But then… Then why do you…
<laughs> I am motivated by… revenge.
Revenge…?
<nods> Yes, revenge. Revenge against the dead who have lost their very souls.

Albert walks up to Alice again.



Unfortunately the next time we meet it will be as enemies. Please give my regards to the others.
Even that overly rude bore Yuri.
Well then…



Albert Simon OUT!



Alice is left with a conflicted feeling as to whether that Albert Simon is more or less a dweeb ass name than Roger Bacon. I'm of the opinion it is far more dweeby, personally.

Later that week, back in London.


Music: Babysitter is Old Nurse



Blech... I can't believe our enemy is actually a guy named "Albert." I mean Bacon sounded dumb, but Albert Simon sounds like... I dunno...
Some guy minding the register at a hardware store?
I mean... that's a weird pull. But, yeah...
So, he said he was beginning his final preparations, right?
<nods> Yes.
If he’s serious, then we don’t have much time to waste.
We’d better head to Wales too. I wonder what’s waiting for us there.
Err... some old man. That's the whole reason we're going there, ain't it?
Yes, obviously. But it's never that simple, you dunce.

Halley walks to the window.



What’s the matter?
My mom told me about an incident experienced in Wales… A scientist was trying to raise the dead in a monastery he bought. I heard that the dead turned into horrible monsters.
What the…?! It’s just like the orphanage!!
Well it ended with the place exploding and God helping out up to stop the creature created. So... it was a bit more involved...
Huh.
Also I guess I got conceived the morning after. I... dunno... why she felt it necessary to tell me that part.
I dunno why you felt it necessary to tell US that part, kid...
Maybe there’s some connection with Cardinal Albert Simon…
Well, I guess we’re off to Wales.



This time around Alice is the mandatory second party member. We'll just stick with Halley in slot three for now. There's something we need him in the active party for just downstairs. If we have Halley in the party and return to Joshua in the basement, then...



<hands Halley the Improved Slingshot>
It's so easy to use! Thanks, Joshua.
Hehe! Guess we got that kinda gift!



What the FUCK Joshua?! Whose soul did you stick into this slingshot, kid?! Where did you learn soul stealing from in the first place? We already killed Shang Tsung. Are all of these children practicing dark arts? Are we going to come back here late game and Chris is casually assembling an undead army with her latent necromancy skills? Are these orphans the fledgling villain team for an unseen JRPG 20 years in the future?

All that aside, this does provide +12 Physical and +7 Special Attack. So at least the tortured soul of a small child is being put to some good use.



There's nothing else of note left to do in London. So let's skip town. London was actually the final proper town left in the game. It's all dank dungeons and other foreboding locales from here on out.



Speaking of which, our next destination is Nemeton Monastery aka the setting of the previous title, Koudelka. At least, in that's our next story beat. Tune in next time as the gang backpacks across Europe to almost every location we've already visited to sort out some newly opened side quests. Don't worry, they're all VERY short diversions. We'll be done in a single update. Stay tuned and remember to pack some TP as Shadow Hearts continues!





It's TECHNICALLY the end of the chapter and nothing is going to be added by the upcoming side quests. So...

NPC:



Again, he gets a unique model and character portrait. That one flashback right before he exploded in that alley? That twenty-second flashback is literally the only time either gets used in the entire game.



This only happens once the entire game but the very first entry in the NPC Library, Roger Bacon, has been updated to Albert Simon and given a new bio.





Father Elliot Portrait - He probably should have had God tag in for an assist before he got popped like a water balloon.