Carlyle being the far more reasonable one of the two, although he's only more reasonable in the fact that he's saner than the competition.
Chapter 14 - Queen of White Dunes
◊: Finished.
Base: Promoted Amelia into a General with the Knight Crest Aias dropped, and refurbished everyones inventories with new weapons, replacing their special weapons with more mundane ones for the chapter. Josh was then given a silver sword for the upcoming fight, and we set off into Jehanna Castle. L'Arachel will also be joining us for this chapter, to help recruit the rather slippery Rennac for free.
Eirika: Hid on the western path until the enemy reinforcements appeared and were defeated. She then followed Franz, Amelia, and Neimi as they progressed through their area, and seized once all the treasure had been snatched up.
Rennac: After he was recruited, he grabbed all the treasure once the rooms containing them were emptied of mooks, the spoils coming out to a spear, a hammerne, a guiding ring, a dragonspear, an energy ring, and 10,000 gold.
Joshua, Natasha, & Garcia (feat. L'Arachel): Garcia joins those two in heading through the northernmost hallway, Natasha unlocking the door to allow Josh and Garcia to open the path to Rennac. L'Arachel recruits him, and then he rescues her to save her from imminent axe death, though he takes a hit instead. The main group cleans up the mooks, and then they begin advancing, Natasha trading a heal staff to L'Arachel to let her take over healing duty while Natasha fights. Natasha lures out a couple archers from beyond the walls before they open the door to the first of the treasuries. They pushed their way through, Joshua killing the myrmidon who carried the hero crest, which Garcia gladly took. Promoting into a warrior, Garcia enjoys the ability to grow again, and the group slaughters their way through the remaining goons. Natasha and Josh then head around the corner and take down the guards down the narrow hall, while Rennac opens up the throne room corridor for them, and Garcia steps forward to begin the advance. He leads the group into the area and they clear out the enemy knights who came to meet them. They then lure out the remaining foes, and finish them off.
Franz, Neimi, & Amelia: Amelia headed west early on to kill the enemies guarding that door, so that Eirika had a place to hide. Franz meanwhile opened the door to the northwestern treasury and cleared that room, taking an unfortunately high amount of damage from the shaman within and clearing away the other foes with ease. He then joined with Neimi and Amelia at the start as they fought off the enemy cavalier reinforcements, slowly but surely taking them down. Once that was done, they headed west, opening the way into the western treasury, and finishing off the mages and shamans within it in a couple of turns, though Franz is dangerously close to dying at the end of it all. Franz searches the convoy for a vulnerary, and Amelia and Neimi defeat a couple knights who appear. Afterwards, Rennac opens another door, they defeat the enemies inside the room, and then continue onwards. Amelia defeats the door guard, and Rennac opens the door leading into the thin hallway that circles around the throne room. Neimi grabs Eirika and gives her a quick ride over, while Rennac follows. After they pass the staircase at the western corner, a few shaman appear, and Neimi drops off Eirika, taking down the shaman with her sword, before rejoining the other two to await the seizing of the castle.
Supports: Joshua and Natasha reach A support in this chapter, cementing the first A support of the run!
- Joshua: Ouch...
- Natasha: Joshua, are you all right? Do you need medical atten—
- Joshua: Natasha, how did you get here so quickly?
- Natasha: ...... I just...happened to be in the neighborhood. Are you hurt?
- Joshua: Ugh. Yeah... But it's only a scratch. Still, if you could...take care of it. Please?
- Natasha: Yes... ......
- Joshua: ......
- Natasha: ...... ...All done.
- Joshua: Thanks. ...... Say, Natasha. Want to make a bet?
- Natasha: On what? If this is another of your little jokes, I—
- Joshua: Will I make you happy? That's what we'll bet on. Are you in, or what?
- Natasha: What?
- Joshua: That's everything I've got. I can't up the ante any more. So how about it? Are you in?
- Natasha: Are you...serious?
- Joshua: Look into my eyes, and decide for yourself.
- Natasha: ...... I...
- Joshua: "I serve the people," is that it? Listen, does it make any difference if you serve them in Grado or Renais? You can come with me. It'll work out, you'll see. I'll make it work.
- Natasha: Joshua...
- Joshua: Natasha.
- Natasha: ...... ...... I will...
- Joshua: ......
- Natasha: ...... accept your wager.
- Joshua: You will?
- Natasha: What I'm betting is my future. My happiness.
- Joshua: Natasha... ... I can't afford to lose this one.
- Natasha: You're right... And I hope from the bottom of my heart that you win.
- Joshua: Don't worry. In a pinch, I never lose. Well, I mean, I lose sometimes. But not this time!
- Natasha: At least...you won our last bet.
- Joshua: Hm? Oh! Oh, yeah... That you'd fall for me.
- Natasha: ...
- Joshua: ...That was easy. This bet, this is going to be a tough one. I'm gonna have to work at it. But knowing that I've won one bet already, at least I've got that.
- Natasha: This war is terrible...but at least it brought us together.
Carlyle: Joshua fought him, though he used an iron sword for the greater hit chance. One the first round, they traded blows, on the next Josh dodged his attack and countered with his own, on the third round they again traded blows, and finally Josh finished off Carlyle with a critical on the fourth round after dodging his attack.
Vs Carlyle: Joshua readied his blade and approached the man who guarded the throne, only upon closer inspection realizing who he was. Judging from the man's reaction, it seems they both only now realized who they faced.
"You... Could it be?"
"Carlyle. How did this happen? You taught me how to wield a blade. You of all people..."
"You've returned. But now...It's too late. It's far too late..."
Joshua felt a slight tinge of guilt at Carlyle's remark, remembering how he had abandoned his home in his youth. Despite that, Joshua drew closer to his foe, sword at the ready. He lunged forward with a draw cut towards Carlyle's shoulder, but his blade caught only a glancing blow as Carlyle ducked low and over underneath Joshua's blade. He felt the air flee his lungs after a blade's pommel rammed into his stomach, and only an awkward backwards roll saved his life, as a decapitating strike caught empty air. As it was, he felt a slight dripping down his neck from the blow, and he saw Carlyle advancing upon him.
"I...I just wanted the two of us..."
Joshua had some inkling as to the meaning of Carlyle's mumblings, but focused more on the wavering in his opponents resolve. As he stood up from the crouch he'd entered at the end of the roll, he feigned a slightly limp, as though he had wounded his leg in the landing. Carlyle leaped at Joshua, and Josh noted the surprise on his face as he quickly sidestepped Carlyle's slash and retaliated with a horizontal cut in return. The blade struck Carlyle's torso, but again the slice only glanced at his foe, who quickly repositioned his blade to stop Joshua's strike. To prevent a fatal counterattack, Joshua pivoted to the side, avoiding a thrust to the throat, and countered with equal ferocity. His own thrust was off center, and could only dig into Carlyle's shoulders, but the blow was far more substantial than the others. Joshua felt cold steel in his side after his attack, and rolled with the attack, where he came up behind the now-turning Carlyle. Before his teacher had a chance to mount a defense, Joshua's blade had sheathed itself in his heart and concluded the battle.
Afterwards: Caellach kills Ismaire for her attempt to defend the Sacred Stone, and Lyon afterwards tries to speak with Eirika for a short time. L'Arachel appears to tell Eirika that they had found Ismaire, who is asking for Joshua at the time. She apologizes to Joshua for having neglected him for her duties, and Joshua appears to speak with her. He apologizes for having left so long ago, his desire to see the world outside of the comforts of his birthright outweighing his desire to rule. Ismaire explains what she knows of the Dark Stone's power, and then begs him to save their country. She grants him the Audhulma and the Excalibur, the former he keeps and the latter he sends away tot he convoy. Joshua explains how he came to be a mercenary, and laments the bad that came from his immaturity, but also feels that he benefited from having lived alongside the people for so long. Joshua swears to help us as Jehanna's last remaining heir, and Innes grants his letter to him, asking for his support in the coming campaign. Just as this goes on, a soldier reports a massive fire having broken out throughout the castle, and everyone evacuates. They wonder for a time what's going on, until news comes that two of Grado's generals are coming...
Up Next: We battle two of Grado's generals on Scorched Sands!
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