I'll be recruiting one of two brothers who are apparently mutually exclusive, which means I'm likely gonna have to kill the other one.
Dannan is angered by Harold's failure, and sends out his own forces, while also ordering his sons to attack. Both brothers are rather conflicted about this, since they don't want to have to fight Lakche. All the brigands also begin moving to attack the villages. A Pegasus knight lands in Isaacian territory, putting down a mage and apologizing to her pegasus, Mahnya (awww, that's cool), for forcing her to carry the likely heavy load. A silver haired mage named Arthur quips about her mounts name, and she tells him to put a lid on it. The pegasus knight, who Arthur calls Fee (yay, two easy names!) asks where her passenger is heading for, and he tells her he's heading to Alster. She's surprised, and after he says he's going to walk, she's flabbergasted, stating that Alster is way down south of here, and across the sea. He doesn't mind, since he's in no hurry, and when asked why he's going there, he says he's heard his sister might be there, since they were separated a long time ago. His mom and sister were taken from him when he was young, and he grew up in Silesia's backwoods. Once he heard she may be in Alster, he set off, and Fee comments that she's in a similar situation, looking for her brother. Arthur asks if they were separated too, and she says that he went to look for their father, who's gone missing. Her mom was waiting for him for a long time, but she got sick and passed away. Arthur asks why she's here right now, and she says she wants to join the liberation army, since her mother always told her of Sigurd and his battles, and now that she knows his son is leading a liberation front in Isaac, she wishes to help them.
Introductions for Fee and Arthur, the former is a level 2 Pegasus Knight with nice bases, a slim lance and sword, a berserk sword (oooooh that looks like it'll be fun, though it's kind of weighty), a wing clipper and a power ring (obviously Fury's daughter), 8534 gold, minor Holsety blood, and the pursuit, adept and critical skills (she got the best of both worlds from her parents I see), and the latter is level 2 mage with decent bases, elfire, wind, and thunder tomes, a speed ring (Azel and Tiltyu's kid I see), 8075 gold, minor Fala and Tordo blood, and the pursuit and wrath skills. The two of them busy themselves dealing with the bandits attacking the villages in the area.
The party, led by Lakche, heads towards Isaac, since I will be trying to recruit Johalva. They march in a block of sorts, Serlis, Lakche, and Scathach in front to cover the middle, Lana behind Serlis, Julia behind Lakche, and Lester behind Scathach, while Oifaye and Delmud cover the sides. It appears that Johan's group is heading towards me, while Johalva's is running away, towards Fee and Arthur (not good). Figures the one I want to recruit actively avoids me. I prepare to face Johan's forces, the block preventing them from reaching the vulnerable back of the group, and hope the swordsman can outlast them. Arthur finishes off the bandit, and Fee visits the village, receiving 4000 gold. The two then prepare to escape into the mountains to evade the horde of axemen approaching them.
Johan's men are defeated, and Johan himself falls to Scathach's hands, Lana taking the time to heal the wounded before we set off for Isaac castle. Arthur and Fee begin their escape, Arthur planning to slowly cross the mountains while Fee flies over them with ease and aims to take down a couple bandits. The party keeps formation and moves forward (although I turn them sideways to face Isaac castle), Arthur continuing to escape through the mountains while Fee heads for the second of her targeted bandits. I have Oifaye abandon his position for a bit to go finish off the bandit attacking a village northeast of Isaac, while the rest of the party treks on, hoping to intercept Johalva and his men before they catch up to Arthur.
Now that I have a free moment, I let Lana speak with Julia. She basically just tells Julia that if there are any issues she has, she can come to her. She also gives Julia a Mend staff (why do these healers always seem to carry random items on them? And in this case, why wasn't Lana using that staff?), and the party continues onwards. The Sopharan soldiers begin to catch up to Arthur in the mountains, and I have Delmud break away from the group as well, to try to lure them back over here. Arthur runs, but it's mostly to keep Johalva away, because fighters have three movement on mountains, so they will easily catch up to him. Once she finishes off her bandits, Fee also flies back, hoping to draw Johalva and his guys away from Arthur (who has since been hit once and has activated Wrath).
Ah crap, Arthur got smashed. Reset Counter: 12. Hopefully I won't get myself in such an ass backwards situation this time.
I have Delmud run over to distract the enemies, so that they don't go for Arthur, leaving the party time to face them and hopefully recruit Johalva. I have everyone break formation for now, so that Lakche, Serlis, and Scathach can move a bit faster and reach the axemen more easily. Johalva and his men reform their wall, and I decide to have Fee go for the northern Sophara (I've just noticed I've had my areas mixed up) bandit while Oifaye turns to take down the Isaac bandit. After I cut a quick path through them, Lakche speaks with Johalva, who says he's had it with the Lopt Sect, and will bring him and his squad with us if Lakche just says the magic word. Intro; Johalva is a level 12 Fighter with some pretty good bases, a steel axe, 5000 gold, minor Neir blood, and the duel skill. It's really too bad he lacks pursuit or adept, since his speed is pretty damn good.
After Johalva joins us, Dannan sends Schmidt to come get us and try to reclaim the castles. I have the party form up again, hoping to add Arthur and Fee to the ranks (Johalva fit himself in the side next to Lakche, and in front of Delmud) before Schmidt and his knights reach us. Fee and Arthur just turn to join with Serlis, since it appears Johalva's men are preparing to mob that poor unsuspecting bandit. After the party forms up in a nice area to hold off Schmidt (Arthur finds himself behind Johalva, Delmud moves himself next to Lester, Oifaye stands next to Scathach, and Fee waits on a nearby cliff to help with hit and run tactics)), the Sopharan troops head toward us to help with dealing with Schmidt (who carries a brave axe that Johalva will gladly take).
Gah, I'm a blind moron. I just notice they are all armed with hand axes, and so I move Lana and Julia out from behind the group, and move Delmud onto a nearby forest, so any fire he draws will easily miss. I let the party stay where they are, though Fee flies out and uses her Berserk sword to piss off one of the enemies. I let the Sopharan's lead the charge against them, softening up the enemies so I can finish them with little risk.
Ah dammit, the piece of Schmidt killed Delmud. Reset Counter: 13.
Alright then, Schmidt happened to place himself in a better position this time, and thanks to Lester and Arthur's ranged prowess, Johalva was able to strike him down and claim his brave axe, effectively removing the only real threat from the battlefield. I let the Sopharan and Rivough troops duke it out to whittle them both down, so that the latter wasn't a threat and the former wouldn't take anymore experience. While this goes on, I have Fee take down Isaac's guard, leaving the castle ripe for the taking once Serlis gets there. After the Sopharan troops fall, I have the rest of the party mop up the remaining Rivough soldiers, and it goes by without any issue. Afterwards, Fee flies back to Serlis, having taken down the guard of Isaac, and Arthur speaks with him. They just do some introductions and talk about Arthur's awesome mage powers, and Fee also speaks with Serlis, where she explains why she joined up with them, and that she feels she'll run into her brother is she sticks with Serlis.
Now, I have Serlis run down and take Isaac, where he and an elder speak. The elder states that Serlis has the support of the people, who believe he may just liberate the entire country. With that done, I have Serlis run back around, speak with Julia, where he gives her a Nosferatu tome. I then have Lana, Serlis and Julia head towards Rivough, where he will face Dannan and reclaim the country. Lana uses this chance to visit the village north of Rivough, so she may begin claiming the villages, while Sigurd and Julia begin taking on Dannan. Julia soon finishes him off, and that leaves only the capture of Rivough and the visiting of the villages left.
Lana begins the long walk throughout the continent to visit the towns, gaining a total of 9500 gold, and a skill ring. Serlis then claims Rivough. Levin congratulates him on capturing the castle, and then explains the volatility of the situation to Serlis. He explains that Alvis didn't always oppress the people of Jugdral, and previously applied constitutional law to the areas. Eventually, he did a complete turn-around of the laws he'd established, and switched to the regime we know of now. The Lopt Sect has also reappeared, and have begun sacrificing children to try to revive their lord. Anyone who attempts to rise up against them is either enslaved or executed, and it's obvious now that they are trying to restore the Lopt Empire. Levin says that the world is in desperate need of a savior, and he feels that Serlis may just be the one they're looking for. Serlis is surprised, saying that he has nowhere near what it takes, and Levin explains that it's his duty, as Dierdre's firstborn son, elder brother to prince Julius, to lead his crusaders and rid the world of this encroaching darkness. After some more motivation, Levin feels Lenster would be their best destination. The son of Cuan took a stand in Manster, but he's in desperate need of help.
That marks the end of the first chapter of the second generation. Next, we will be heading to Manster to help Cuan's son with his own rebellion.
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