With two chapters today! Having just rescued Lachesis and gotten everyone fixed back up into tip top shape, I prepare for the long haul of taking two castles. I notice that Lachesis's knights will follow her away from the castle, so I will have a bit of extra firepower for taking down Heirhein and the other areas. I have Dierdre speak with Ethlin while everyone is forming up, and after the two chat for a bit, Dierdre gives a Light Sword to Ethlin. Anphony's bandits have also reached some towns, and are wreaking havoc. Gonna need to take down Heirhein soon so I can go for them next.
After drawing nearer to them, Philip's men begin to move upon my position. The two groups clash, and thanks to Nodion's knights, much of the heat was drawn to them come the enemy phase, so no one was put in any serious danger. After the main force is weakened, Jamka and Dierdre take down Philip, the latter receiving the Return Ring he drops, so she can warp away from trouble, should it come. Soon, all of the enemies are dealt with, so all the mounted units save for Fin head for Heirhein, while everyone else moves towards Anphony, ready to charge forth once Heirhein is taken. As the foot units travel, I have Dew talk with Lachesis, where he gives her a thief sword, allowing her to take peoples money while cutting them.
The horsemen reach Heirhein, and take down the guards, while Midir, Cuan, and Ethlin strike down the castles owner, Boldo. When the pair stand next to each other before a fight, a little heart appears between them! It's so adorable, and then Cuan leaps in and wrecks Boldo with a critical hit. He then steps aside and lets Sigurd seize Heirhein.
He and Oifaye decide to unknowingly take on Anphony because they decide to stop the bandits attacking the villages in the central forest. Shagaal then complains at Macbeth, yelling at him for letting his greed lead to the loss of Heirhein, and Macbeth tries to make up for it, dispatching Voltz and his mercenaries. Said mercenaries then walk out of the castle, and Voltz speaks with another man, named Beowulf. They discuss the situation, Beowulf mentioning that he is just about ready to walk out on Macbeth (ain't that convenient?).
After a group of more knights step out of the castle, and the bandits continue burning the cities, a man speaks with a villager, asking what all the commotion is about. The villager refers to him as a bard, and tells him that bandits are coming this way, to the bards disbelief. When he asks why the army isn't doing anything, the villager tells him that there's currently a war going on, and thus the royals have no time to worry about villagers. The "bard" claims he's going to go whoop Macbeth for all of his crap, and the villager laughs off his claim. Suddenly, a girl named Sylvia appears and accuses the bard (named Levin), that he was going to abandon her. Levin claims that they only went out a couple times, but she persists. Eventually Levin caves and lets her join, warning her it may get a bit rough, to which she responds, and I quote, "I like it rough". I love you, Serenes translators. Levin is the coolest bard ever at level 6, wielding an elwind tome, and having 8000 gold, the adept and critical skills, and major Holsety blood. Sylvia is a level 1 dancer with a slim sword, the adept, miracle, and dance (refreshes an adjacent unit) skills, and minor Blagi blood.
Thanks to his sudden appearance, I may be able to save the villages, and I have him begin to eviscerate the bandits, Sylvia dancing to let him move towards bandits from further away, though he won't be able to save one of the villages. Everyone else heads towards Anphony, preparing to match a horde of mercenary knights and the castles main guard. A group of pegasus knights fly in near Agusty castle, aiming to rest there while they look for prince Levin (that explains so much).
As the group advances, I have Cuan speak with Fin, and he gives him a brave lance, since he's likely going to need better weapons to face these foes with. The main group continues forward a bit, but lets most of the group catch up, preparing to hold of Voltz and his lackeys first, by waiting within the canyon south of Anphony. Sylvia and Levin take on some bandits (Sylvia gets funny music when she fights people) in the meantime.
I really hope this doesn't bit me in the ass later, but the Nodion knights go after the Anphony guard, while the mercenaries draw near as well. I get the feeling they are going to die pretty soon. This will hopefully buy me the time to set up a good wall against the enemies, and also heal everyone, cause I'm going to need it if I want to take on this many foes. I have everyone form up, while I wait to see what Voltz and Macbeth's collective forces will do, Levin and Sylvia taking out some bandits in the meantime. All of them appear to be congregating around Anphony castle, but Voltz and Beowulf seem to be approaching the party on their own. Ardan is very nearly destroyed by Voltz, and so he runs back to get healed, while Noish talks to Beowulf (who notably attacked Sigurd and survived since I forgot to reequip Sigurd's silver sword) and recruits him, paying him the 10000 gold he asks for. Beowulf is a pretty cool level 9 free knight, with decent stats, a steel sword, the pursuit and duel skills, and 12000 gold, 10000 of that being what Noish gave him. Dierdre, Sigurd, and Fin then team up and take down Voltz, Fin claiming the paragon ring to help him catch up in levels. Soon, everyone is out there fighting the gigantic group of knights, and even despite the party's best efforts, there are still a decent number of them left.
Dammit, I wasn't able to kill enough, and they struck down Midir by swarming him with weak hits. Reset Counter: 4.
Alright then, this time I was able to take down the mercenary knights with better positioning, so no one got swarmed. Holyn then prepares to draw out some knights, while some healing is done, and the remainder of Voltz's horsemen are finished off. The party then dispatches all of Anphony's guards with minimal trouble, and once everyone is healed, I have Dierdre, Azel, Dew, and Ethlin converge on the castle. Dew strikes first, taking Macbeth's 3000 gold, and then Azel blasts him twice with thunder, and finally Ethlin uses the Power of Love and her light sword to strike down Macbeth and claim his shield ring, so that I can have a frontline healer who can stand up to a decent amount of damage. As this happened, I had Jamka and Aideen standing together to build up some love points, and had Holyn and Aira sticking close as well, for the same reason. Sigurd then seizes Anphony.
Oifaye informs Sigurd that Lord Filat of Barhara is here, and first asks how the battle is going. Sigurd describes it accurately as challenging, but successful, and then Lord Filat shares some troublesome news. A rumor of Cuan, Sigurd, and Eltshan conspiring to kill the king has been circulating, which is also used to explain Sigurd's hiding of the Isaacian prince. Sigurd is outraged at this slander, and asks who begin the rumor. Filat states that Lords Langbert and Reptor started it, and Sigurd notes that they've had it out for his father for a while, but is surprised that they'd stoop to such a low. Filat explains that they fear that Kurth's reliance on Lord Byron will get them ousted from court once the prince succeeds the throne, and are thus trying to find some way around this, finishing by warning Sigurd to keep an eye out. Sigurd thanks him for the information, and asks how the conflict with Isaac is going. He is told that the prince and Lord Byron are expected to return any day now, and they discuss for a bit, when the subject of Kurth's marriage comes up. Many are trying to hasten Kurth's search for a bride, and Sigurd is curious as to why. Reluctantly, Filat explains that Kurth doesn't seem to have let go of a love of his from 20 years ago (mans devoted, I'll give him that, but how old is he? I didn't even think he was 20). Kurth had fallen in love with the wife of the duke of Velthomer, a woman married to a reputed womanizer. At first, he had simply sympathized with her, but one day (after they spent enough turns standing together), they fell deeply in love. After this, the duke of Velthomer lost his head, both figuratively and literally, since he wrote a letter denouncing the two, and then committed suicide. The duchess, named Sigyn (oh dear, the prince is in love with the woman carrying the blood of the dark lord. Not a good sign) disappeared without a trace afterwards. Sigurd presumes that the duchess was Lord Alvis's mother, and Filat confirms it, lamenting on the boys poor fortune at losing both his parents at age seven. Filat apologizes for carrying on, and leaves soon after, telling Sigurd that they anxiously await his return to Grandbell.
Whew, two castles down, and now I will see how Mackily responds, and will eventually head for Agusty. Gonna be a long trip back around, especially since I'm gonna need to wait for Levin and Sylvia to visit the towns and make their way out of the forest.
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