Mind, the topics are still usually about bloodthirst and the eating of man, as similarly unpleasant topics, but he's surprisingly eloquent.
Chapter 17 - River of Regrets
◊: Finished.
Base: Sold a lot of excess stuff (mostly promotional items and some keys), and reequipped the party for the coming chapter, including handing Natasha a Warp staff (which she ended up not using). I also gave an energy ring to Amelia, to buff up her lagging strength, and bring Innes along to recruit Syrene before beginning the chapter.
Eirika, Innes, & Syrene: Eirika and Innes slipped forward behind Natasha, Garcia, and Neimi, and recruited Syrene, who then helped them rescue the river folk in the most vulnerable positions and retreat near the mountains. Eirika also handed a Physic to Natasha after grabbing her charge, and then joined the others in hiding. Once all the enemies and reinforcements were dealt with, Eirika seized upon Lyon's defeat.
Natasha, Garcia, & Neimi: They all started by crossing the bridge, with Natasha heading north to Syrene's position at the northernmost bridge, and the other two climbing the mountains near the eastern snag, intercepting a few mages and drawing the fire of the druids who began spawning. They joined up with Natasha again around the bend, cleaning up the druids who spawned, though Natasha brushed with death when a killing edge swordmaster attacked her (55 hit and lethal damage off of an 18 crit chance are not a safe bet in my book), but Garcia picked him off afterwards, and they returned to cleanup duty. With that done, Natasha switched gears and began healing, first fixing up the severely messed up Joshua, and then returning to heal Neimi and Garcia.
Amelia & Franz: Destroyed the snag to the west and engaged the forces across from it, always staying within support range to avoid any sudden danger. They dealt with the wyvern knight and cavalry reinforcements after all of the initial foes in the area fell, keeping busy as these were the last two reinforcement groups to finish.
Joshua: Crossed the river on the eastern bank, intercepting the heroes that were going to try to flank the party. He faced some serious danger though, as the heroes with silver swords had solid hit chances, and he was dropped to eight health before he was finished, having embedded a nearly empty killing edge in one of their skulls to prevent death. He then fought the thankfully inaccurate warriors, hiding on the trees just to be sure, and after Natasha healed him, he simply picked away at them until they ran out.
Lyon: Natasha picked up a Divine tome from Eirika, and then battled Lyon for two rounds. On player phase, she blasted him twice and dodged his attack. On Enemy Phase he hit her and she blasted him, then finished him off with a critical.
Vs Lyon: "Prince Lyon..."
"Do you challenge me? You humans are so inconstant. You’ve forgotten what it is to fear me."
"I pray that your soul can find the peace in heaven that your body has been denied on earth. I hope those prayers reach you, and bring the knowledge that this demon who defiles your mortal body has been exorcised."
Quickly, she began incanting the divine tome, summoning forth two charges as the demon called forth black flames all around her. She launched one charge into the sky, and pointed the other directly behind her, pulling back on the reins as the flames converged upon her, using the opening she had made to escape the strike. She then called down her skyward spell, a spear of light falling upon her foe, who stepped to the side, leaving the ray to impale its arm, though it did not seem to react to the pain as a human would. The creature simply flexed the arm, shattering the spear of light, and began casting another spell. Before she could create a counterspell, the flames began sprouting around her, and she braced for the inferno. It engulfed her, but she pushed her own magical power outwards against it, and was able to prevent any lasting harm. She summoned forth two more spears of light, and launched both into the air. She noticed more flames sprouting up around her, and brought down the first spear diagonally through the stolen body, locking one of the legs in place. She then pulled a spear down in front of the demon, but before it struck the ground, she redirected it into the beasts heart, witnessing the body shudder and fall and the flames fade into nothing before turning to assure the others were unharmed.
Afterwards: The Demon King curses the frailty of his current body, and warps away, much to Ephraim's rage. Innes insures them that his trackers are hunting Lyon as they speak, and also gifts us with Vidofnir and Nidhogg, the winged lance and serpent bow of Frelia. The river folk thank us and Syrene for saving them, and give us a Rescue staff for the effort.
Up Next: Two Faces of Evil, where we face the fiercest monsters under the Demon King's command save for one kind, and deal with the obligatory fire trap level.
