Why can't I just keep my units together for once? This might be slow going, which isn't good, because there is going to be an Escape to Freedom!
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Elphin is now the army's tactician, and we head south to Caledonia, to reach castle Idina. There, men are sent to Mt. Ebrakhm, the mines of death. Upon arrival, the situation was already looking dire.
I'm just going to bring the party along, since I don't think I need anything special in this chapter. Alright then, here are the reviews for Gonzales, Klein, and Tate. Gonzales is a level 11 brigand, so he has a unique class, and some decent bases. He's got good health, high strength, low skill, decent speed, okay luck, decent defense, and no resilience (is that a trend? I've seen, like, 3 people with 0 resilience, and I'm wondering why). Klein is okay. His bases are solid for this point in the game, but seem kind of low for a level 1 sniper. If his growths are good, he could still be useful, but first impressions make him seem a bit subpar in the long-term. Tate is a level 8 pegasus knight, and is pretty much what you'd expect. Average strength and skill, good speed, low health, although she does have passable defense and resilience, and her luck is kind of bad. I won't be using any of these guys, but I've heard Gonzales is pretty good, I know nothing of Tate, and Klein looks like a jeigen kinda dude. And with that (and a bit of inventory management, since I'm a bit of a packrat and already need to clear out some stuff), we begin!
After starting, we see a bunch of civilians running away, with the leader of the bunch saying that even if they stay, they will all be worked to death. Thus, they escape to try to reach assistance. Now with an angry general, who is asking how they escaped. Once told that the guards food was drugged, he decides that someone must be helping them to escape. He asks Leygance Morgan to capture the escapees. Roy and Elphin speak, and Roy is told that the castle to the southwest is indeed castle Idina, where workers are sent before being ported to Mt. Ebrakhm. Elphins mentions that he's had spies help the workers escape, and thus the party should focus on rescuing them before attacking the castle. Let's go!
I send Dieck, Rutger, Clarine and Sue down the southern path, while Lance, Roy, Lot, Ellen, Lugh, and Elphin head east. Elphin is a level 1 bard, with good speed and luck, which much like Nils and Ninian, are basically the only stats he needs besides hp, since he can't fight. He focuses on dodging and can rejuvenate units to let them move again, so he has some pretty nice utility, even if he can't class change. Elphin plays for Lugh to let him reach a bandit (his animation is pretty cool, especially since he apparently always has a little bird resting on his shoulder), and everyone begins their charge forward.
After the enemies move, I notice the ballistas in the map, and how one of them did a lot of damage to Lugh. The normal ballista isn't much trouble, but the long ballista is hidden in the mountains, so I'm going to need to exhaust its shots before I can pass safely. The ballistas take more shots as Dieck cuts his way across the southern bridge, and Lance prepares to do the same through a random berserker and his lackeys. Roy, Lance and Lot act as draws for the fire of the long ballista, while Elphin, Ellen and Lugh stay hidden, although that things absurd range seems to be focused on Clarine, who is hopefully going to dodge tank it until it runs out of shots. Lot and Lance take down the berserker, while the others slowly advance, the more frail members of the party mindful of the ballista. Sue and Rutger quickly demolish the normal ballista, and Dieck and Clarine advance a bit further, nearing the village. Come enemy phase, and a bunch of mooks pop out of the castle, and begin heading after the escapees. Lance picks up Roy and carries him over to the incoming foes, so that they can stop them before they kill and of the civilians, while the rest of the group just sort of waits for the ballista to shoot its final shot. Dieck's group heads towards the castle, and are going to meet with Roy's group after they visit the village. I just then notice the forts out in the sea, because a pair of pirates run out of them. Suddenly, in the village, I see a man named Geese saying that he is going to avenge his dead friends who were taken to the mines, thinking they were going to be given work, but were then worked like slaves until they died. He then walks out of the village and takes a potshot at a pirate with his hand axe. Clarine grabs him so he can be brought to Roy, while Sue and Rutger deal with the pirate problem, and Dieck visits the village and gets a red gem. Roy and Lance now confront the enemies tailing the people they plan on guarding. Led by a druid, these guys are pretty dangerous, so I have Roy hold them back (I had Ellen use barrier on him earlier for some extra experience, and it is now coming in handy) while Lance heals himself. Dieck meanwhile heads towards the castle to help Clarine bring Geese to Roy, and Rutger and Sue continue to smash pirates. Roy meanwhile eats a heavy hit from the druid, and Lance runs out to take down the powerful mage, while Roy finishes off the fighter.
Suddenly, a man with an awesome 'stache runs out, saying that he will help the people retake the castle and save those how are being imprisoned. Roy talks to the man named Bartre and recruits him. Bartre is in general pretty awesome as a level 2 warrior, and is returning from FE 7. He comes with a brave axe, an enormous 22 strength and 48 hp, okay speed and skill, good luck and defense, and a low 3 resilience. All around, a pretty cool dude, although I won't be using him since I've got Lot, and he seems to be turning out decently now that his skill is picking up. I'm also not so keen on Bartre's low speed and skill for his level, although it might be able to grow.
Anyway, Dieck and Clarine head towards the castle, and Rutger and Sue join them now that the pirates have stopped coming. Bartre and Lance pick up the two NPC fighters so they don't go and kill themselves, while Ellen fixes up Lance and Roy from their wounds against the druid's group of mooks. Morgan is then informed that the reinforcements are ready (not a good sign) and that he should send them from the back, so that they can immediately defend the castle (even worse of a sign). Dieck's group is held up at the bridge by a really stubborn mercenary, while Roy, Lugh and Lot prepare for whatever reinforcements Morgance can muster. Roy and Lot block the path while Lance, Ellen and Bartre stay behind them. Dieck's group finally pushes through the bridge in the meantime, and head towards Roy's group. Once the enemies attack Roy's group, Lot goes after the lancereaver mercenary, Lugh incinerates a second mercenary, Roy impales a third, and only a wounded merc and fighter are left.
More reinforcements run out, and this time one of them attacks Dieck's advancing group, namely Sue, while the other goes for Roy. The mercenary is struck down, and Roy's group finishes off the rest of the reinforcements without much trouble, though Elphin needs to play for Lugh to let him take out one of the enemies. A couple more units appear (I hate how all reinforcements in this game are ambush spawns), and one narrowly misses Elphin, while another goes for Clarine. The two groups finally meet up, both having dealt with their annoying foes. Clarine drops Geese, and Roy recruits him, and nearly gets an axe to the face a second time, the first being Bartre's recruitment. Geese is a level 10 pirate with slightly below average bases all around aside from decent strength and good hp. He reminds me of Dart, and I'm guessing he is going to grow pretty well. Still, those bases aren't the best, and while I like berserkers, I may not use him. I'm honestly on the edge, so I'll ask you guys if you think it would be worth it. He's about 7 levels below the rest of my team, for comparison.
Ambush spawns scare the hell out of me again, and an archer almost kills Ellen. And then next turn, another unit shows up and kills Elphin. Dammit. Reset Counter: 6. Be back in a little bit...
This time Lot got smashed while they were dealing with the berserker. Reset Counter: 7.
Alright then, back in business. The only changes were that I went about dealing with the druid a bit more slowly, so Bartre went out and smashed some people, and his NPC dudes got killed. I've dealt with all of the reinforcements, and am going about healing everyone for the fight with Morgan. Morgan is actually pretty tough. He's got well rounded stats, good strength and defense, and enough hp to take a heavy hit or two, as we as having a good weapon supply of a horseslayer, javelin, and a silver axe. Once everyone is prepared, Dieck pulls out his armorslayer, Rutger and Clarine get into position to support him, and Dieck waits in front of him.
He pulls out his Horseslayer so he can get weapon advantage, and Dieck misses his attack, but he isn't put into serious danger. Ellen runs to heal him, and is quickly pulled to safety while Dieck awaits another hit from Morgan. Dieck dodges the attack, but misses with his counter. Dieck attacks Morgan again, hits and dodges the counter attack. After a few more turns of these exchanges, Lugh runs in and blasts him with fire, killing him and reaching level 20. Roy then conquers the castle.
After the battle, Roy and Elphin discuss their next plan of action, and decide that they need to attack Djuto the capital of this area, if they want to free everyone. Roy then asks Elphin if he is of Etrurian nobility, and while it isn't confirmed, he simply tells Elphin to tell him whenever he is comfortable. He then turns his attention to Djuto, and freeing the western isle.
Merlinus is then met by the villagers, who wish to thank Roy for protecting them, and gives him an Energy Ring out of thanks.
Hate ambush spawns, I really do. I likely won't be using Elphin, not because I don't want to, but because I've already got Ellen, Clarine, and somewhat Lugh, as frail units, and I really don't want to worry about another one, regardless of how helpful the utility is. I'd use him if I had less frail units, but as it stands, he'd just be a hindrance since I've got to protect so many already.
As for the tenuous situation with the new pirate, do you guys think Geese would be worth it, or should I stick with Lot, and soon Dieck, as my axe units?
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