Wherever you go in Pentiment, you will uncover countless histories. Some are less compelling or, indeed, important to your main goals than others, yet all offer integral glimpses into the characters you come to know in Tassing. Forbidden loves, heretical beliefs and impostors — if you look a little harder, probe just a little more, you’ll find them.
That’s the true beauty of Pentiment — its robust, full world. The people of Tassing have lived almost tangible lives, their relationships intertwined. Still, with so many people to talk to, missing these plotlines is almost to be expected. Don't worry, we've got your back.
This article contains spoilers for Pentiment.
10/10 Veronica And Brigita Are (Probably) In A Relationship
Two young peasant women you meet are Veronica and Brigita. They don’t impact your investigations much — mostly, they’re in the background of group gossip sessions or dinners. Still, you know something is up with these two, especially when you hear subtle jabs at their close relationship.
All the context clues surrounding them make it easy to conclude that Brigita and Veronica are romantically entwined. Brigita will even admit to you, on your second visit to Tassing (provided you pass a speech check), that Martin lets her see Veronica as much as she wants. The mysterious way she says it tells you all you need to know.
9/10 Not Exactly Brotherly Love
Mathieu and Rudeger seem like pious, dutiful brothers of Kiersau. Rudeger sings beautifully, his voice echoing through sturdy stone. Nearby, Mathieu looks on, posted to Kiersau's sacristy. He likely has a different reason for liking this post, however.
If you discover the secret tunnel into the library while searching for a specific book, you may accidentally witness a liaison between the two monks. It’s charming, though you will feel a little awkward, as Andreas does, for seeing what is clearly a secret, stolen moment of intimacy.
8/10 Lenhardt Is Extorting Women
The local miller, Lenhardt, is a real piece of work. He considers himself above the peasants surrounding him and forces them to pay high prices to grind their wheat into flour. The kind of guy who talks about being a self-made man while neglecting to mention that he only has success because his father built it before him – thankfully, you can point this out instead.
If that’s not enough, he’ll tell you he’s slept “most” of Tassing’s women. It’s not difficult to connect the dots — he’s extorting them so they can afford to make flour. The town’s hatred for him makes all the more sense when you consider his atrocious deeds.
7/10 Endris' Marriage Woes
Endris, the local blacksmith, is a sweet guy. A little awkward, yet still charming. He believes that his chance at a family has passed him by. He’s always present but never in the thick of the investigation, so you’d be forgiven for passing him by. If you take the time, you will learn he harbors a crush on a woman from a nearby village. Encouraging him to shoot his shot is easy — he’s a lovely man, after all.
And then, twenty years later…he has a wife! Through her, you can learn their relationship’s backstory — she sold knick-knacks at a marketplace and was hesitant to come to Tassing with Endris but feels content with her choice. It’s nice to know that your actions so much earlier in the game ended up impacting two lives for the better.
6/10 Martin’s New Digs
Oh, Martin. The absolute terror of Tassing. When you meet Martin, he’s a mean teenager who hurls insults at you regardless of how polite you try to be. He’s also a thief and a slacker, abandoning his young wife and infant son at the drop of a hat. Saying he’s no good would be an understatement.
You meet him again seven years after your initial stay in Tassing; he looks the same but acts differently — he speaks with respect, works hard, and his wife does not seem run down and sad. However, his uncle tells you he believes Martin may be an imposter — and he’s right. Martin is not who he says he is, but a literal partner-in-crime to the original Martin. Brigita, his wife, confirms it, though she isn’t too bothered by the revelation.
5/10 Morally Justified Embezzlement
Brother Guy is not a pleasant man. He works in the scriptorium alongside Andreas and Piero, and is much more mean-spirited than you’d think a monk would be. How anyone could be cruel to Fabian or Piero is beyond us, yet Guy somehow finds a way.
If you didn’t like him in the first act, well, you’ll feel justified in your dislike come the second. Guy is a potential murder suspect, and he’s been embezzling funds from the struggling Abbey. Maybe you don’t pursue the matter further — this is as much a smoking musket as anything ever could be until you learn what he’s doing with the money. Namely, he’s donating it to help Jewish people. Who knew he had a heart under that prideful smirk?
4/10 Confessionals
The people of Tassing are dutiful in their religion, though they admit to faltering from time to time. You can eavesdrop on confessional (under the guise of confessing yourself) and learn some interesting tidbits about the people you’ve been getting to know. For example, the baker’s daughter, Clara, is as round-cheeked and sweet as you expect her to be, yet she reveals herself as an accomplished thief.
Johan, a peasant farmer, admits to having an affair. Not only having an affair but having an affair again. When even the priest seems annoyed by how often it happens, you know you’re dealing with a significant source of local drama. At the same time, you can’t claim the moral high ground — you did eavesdrop on confessional, after all!
3/10 Vacslav’s “Heresy”
Vacslav hangs out with Smokey in the forest. You rarely see him anywhere but his seat near the firepit as he sharpens knives or otherwise attends to tools. It’s easy to overlook Smokey and Vacslav during your daily rounds of the village — they’re the only people in the forest. But you’re lucky because Smokey is a gossip, and he’ll dish out all kinds of information if you join the two for a meal.
And Vacslav? He’s got some ideas on transubstantialism. Some extremely in-depth thoughts, which he is happy to explain to you if you care to listen. The views are fascinating, and Vacslav is an easy character to like, but, as your player character can say, his thoughts are heretical — for both Catholics and newly formed Protestant religions. How you choose to respond affects Vacslav’s future.
2/10 The Old Ways
The mythology of Tassing weaves between Christian and pagan, a dance of conflicting belief systems somehow molded into one. Their customs and traditions are heavily influenced by the pagan rituals that were once deeply rooted in their homeland. First, the Romans modified it, taking aspects of Perchta into their own worship of Diana and Mars. Then, the Christians changed it further, creating saints out of ruined Roman relics.
Not many speak of the old ways anymore. Still, if you dig ever so slightly, you can find people who still hold to the old gods, folding them into their Christian beliefs and creating something new. They keep the ways of their ancestors alive, even though it could, legitimately, get them killed. Ask them about it. They’ll reveal the deep, complex history of Tassing.
1/10 Wojslav And Matilda Are In Love
There are lots of secret relationships in the Abbey, if you care to look. Wojslav, a monk, takes care of the kitchen in the brother’s section of the Abbey. Matilda is a nun, kind but somewhat cold. You can learn from context clues and some good old-fashioned gossip that this nun and monk are in love, though they've had more than their fair share of tribulations, even outside of their forbidden romance.
In the third act, provided she wasn’t executed for the Baron’s murder, the two are officially a couple. They abandoned their lives of religion and instead decided to live as ordinary people. By all accounts, they seem extremely happy together.
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