Chapter 28x:
The night before we set off to the Shrine of Seals, Lyn noticed that Nino had slipped off, with Jaffar soon following. She quickly got Eliwood, Hector, and I to follow her, where we found Nino at the edge of the village. She was telling Jaffar that she wanted to go see Sonia and learn the truth from her. Jaffar warned Nino that Sonia was not one who would show mercy at this point and that at the least, he should go with them. Eliwood and Lyn were both ready to follow both of them so nothing would happen, but Hector was hesitant. He again voiced his hostile feelings about Jaffar, and how he wasn't sure if the man deserved all of the help and shelter that we were providing for him. Eliwood stood firm in his beliefs that despite everything the assassin did, he wasn't a bad person and didn't deserve to go off on what's practically a death mission. Hector finally said how he truly felt, that he wants Jaffar to stay alive so he can suffer for what he's done. He then went from being angrier than I ever saw him, to looking very calm, saying that he's said his piece, and that he's also going to help make sure that Jaffar and Nino stay safe. Eventually we made it to the Water Shrine that Nino was talking about. We arrived at Nino's side just as Jaffar and Sonia were ready to duel. Sonia called out an order, and all of a sudden, most of the paths were lowered deep into the water, leaving us on a small island. She teleported away, taunting us and leaving us wondering how we'd get out of this one.
Hector: For the most part, I told Hector to continue to stay out of it whenever he could. That said, he still did take out a few soldiers when needed.
Serra: Serra tried to help out offensively, but unfortunately, her magic isn't strong enough to be effective against the enemies. It's nice to have a healer that can defend herself though.
Kent: Kent
took point on the northern path and was the first line of defense.
Lucius: Lucius
followed behind Kent and defeated the enemies that Kent couldn't get to.
Dart: Dart
went south to defeat the Pegasus Knights that were waiting to ambush them.
Fiora: Fiora
was sent to eliminate the first threat of the area, a Sniper that was waiting to pelt our trapped soldiers with Ballistae bolts. From there, she flew down the middle area, taking on the more troublesome foes. As she reached the western end, Sonia decided to follow in Ursula's shoes and blast her with Bolting spells. This only served to work in our favor in the end, because Fiora's high evasion and resistance meant that she was only wasting her shots. Just as the rest of the team had caught up to her by the paths moving into position, we were about to get pincered by reinforcements. Fiora was sent to take care of the majority of units that were arriving from near where we started. In the process, she grew much stronger. I think she's going to reach her limit very soon.
Hawkeye: Hawkeye
went with Dart to defeat the Pegasus Knights that are to the south of them. From there, they took a slower, but more direct path to Black Fang leader. Wyvern Knights tried to ambush the two of them from behind, but they were unable to slow down the two Berserkers.
Marcus: Marcus followed along, making sure his weaker charges stayed out of trouble. He was shot at by Sonia's Bolting, but it missed, and nothing eventful happened after this
Legault: He did nothing special
Matthew: Matthew relieved a Bishop of his Angel's Robe.
Louise: Just chilled with her husband
Pent: Just hung out with his wife
Nino: The two of them were really not in any state to fight, so they just stayed together away from the action. I did hear them talking about Jaffar's past
. He mentioned some things that almost had me feeling sorry about him, being raised by Nergal for the sole purpose of fulfilling his goals. I don't know how this makes me feel about Jaffar, but I do know that it makes me think even less about Nergal, if that's even possible at this point.
Jaffar: Jaffar wasn't able to help out much due to his earlier wounds, but at least he had a fresh Killing Edge and Elixir for us to use in his stead.
Sonia was furiously waiting for us on the other end of the shrine. She tried to strike down Fiora with her Bolting electricity, but it didn't work. Eventually, she was out of long range ammo, and despite her impressive strength with an icy new spell that I've never seen before, she was soon struck down
by Kent.
Near Sonia's body was the switch that activated the movable platforms. We were able to deactivate the trap so that we could escape. On our way out, we met up with Jan
, an older man who was once part of the Black Fang before Nergal mucked it up. We learned that Brendan Reed, the leader of the Black Fang, was killed just before we had arrived. He gave Nino a pendant that apparently belonged to her true mother. Nino was happy to now have a piece of the life that she could have had, but was still saddened by the loss of her foster father and the group that she once knew and loved.
Nino, happy about the way things turned out, decided that she still wanted to travel with us. She has nowhere to go, so we accepted. Jaffar silently agreed to follow Nino wherever she went. Lyn and Eliwood seemed fine with this arrangement, but I heard Hector confront
Jaffar before we went back to camp. Hector plans to keep a close eye on the man to make sure that nothing happens to Eliwood. While I sometimes wonder if Hector can be too harsh, I think he has a point about Eliwood being too softhearted sometimes. Hopefully this will all work out in the end.
Turns: 23 (not counted to the final total)
Character Stats:
Hector
Lord Level 20/0
HP: 34 (-2)
Str: 17 (-1)
Skill: 13
Speed: 12
Luck: 10 (+1)
Def: 20 (+3)
Res: 3 (-2)
Axes: A
Support: Eliwood C
Serra
Bishop Level 20/4
HP: 29 (-2)
Mag: 7 (-7) (So much for being a second magician in a fight)
Skill: 14
Speed: 17 (-1)
Luck: 18 (-1)
Def: 8 (+1)
Res: 20 (+1)
Light: D
Staffs: S
Kent
Paladin Level 20/16
HP: 53 (+2)
Str: 25 (+4) (WOW!)
Skill: 21 (-3)
Speed: 21 (-2)
Luck: 10 (+1)
Def: 16
Res: 7 (-4)
Swords: S
Lances: A
Axes: D
(Luck is 2 points higher due to a Goddess Statue)
Lucius
Bishop Level 20/9
HP: 35 (+1)
Magic: 22 (-2)
Skill: 17 (-3)
Speed: 19 (-1)
Luck: 9 (+2)
Def: 7
Res: 23
Light: S
Staff: B
(Luck is 2 Points Higher due to a Goddess Statue, he was also given the Afa Drop's, which increases all growth rates by 5%)
Dart
Beserker Level 20/8
HP: 50 (-1)
Str: 25
Skill: 15 (+3)
Speed: 21 (+1)
Luck: 13 (+3)
Def: 14 (+2)
Res: 4 (-2)
Axes: S
(Skill is 2 Points higher from due to a Secret Book)
Fiora
Falcoknight Level 20/18
HP: 50 (+3)
Str: 19 (-2)
Skill: 25
Speed: 28
Luck: 13 (-2)
Def: 12 (-2)
Res: 26 (+2)
Swords: B
Lances: S
(HP is 7 points higher due to an Angel Robe)
Hawkeye
Beserker Level 0/14
HP: 51 (-4)
Str: 24 (+2)
Skill: 18 (-1)
Speed: 16 (+2)
Luck: 16 (+1)
Def: 18 (+2)
Res: 12 (-2)
Axes: S
(Speed is 2 points higher due to Speedwings)
