So Roy now must pass into Ostian territory in an attempt to lead the Lycian alliance, but to do so, he must first pass through Laus, which is under the command of Lord Erik, a truly upstanding and trustworthy fellow, I'm sure.
Oh who am I kidding, I'm going to get attacked by him and his respectable 'stache, which is likely going to lead to The Collapse of the Alliance!
◊
Now at Laus castle, we get to see Narshen and Erik chat about his skulduggery, as well as the girl that Narshen mentioned previously. The girl is brought forth, asking where her brother Klein is. Narshen introduces her as Clarine, and mentions that he is going to "play" with her, before she starts laughing at him. Narshen, dumbfounded, asks what she finds so funny, where she says he completely lacks finesse and shouldn't be compared to her brother. After he responds in outrage, she burns him yet again by saying that comparing him to Klein is like comparing a turkey to a peacock (I really like her right now). Before he can get angrier at her, a soldier tells him Slater was beaten and Araphen retaken by Roy. Narshen tells Erik to imprison Clarine, and then lock down the path to Ostia, before it cuts to Narshen leaving, and a bunch of cavaliers coming out.
Now with Roy, I have Lance, Lot and Dieck guard the bridges, while Marcus visits the nearby village to get a door key and everyone else hangs out. Next turn, the first wave of foes arrive, and the main group picks them off without much trouble, although Wolt takes care of the enemy who went for Lance, so that he could go for the northern village. Come enemy phase, we cut to a dungeon, where Clarine meets a mercenary who attempts to take her to Eric. The next wave comes, and while Lance visits a village to get a steel blade, the others head back to the bridges to defend, with Ellen healing Dieck. Cut back to Clarine, where the merc has dragged her into the castle proper, to her protests, only for him to reveal that he is helping her escape. She asks why, he says he hates Bern, she asks why, and he tells her to just leave quickly. She escapes (and is now surrounded by enemies), and contemplates the situation with a bit of snark. Thankfully, Lance should be able to smack down the enemies near her, and Roy can recruit her.
Clarine is a troubadour at level 1 with some decent bases, and a mobile healer is quite nice, so I think I'll replace Ellen with her now.
Lance attacks the enemies near him, while the others finish off the wave and let Roy through to go recruit her, only for pirates to show up. Lance is now taking on a crapton of mooks (and winning, mind you), but he isn't killing them all, and is now kind of hurt. Clarine then recruits herself onto my team (how convenient), claiming that Roy must now protect her since he is the groups leader. Merlinus calls her impudent, she sasses him back, and after Roy accepts her she shows her Tsundere side to Roy.
Afterwards, Dieck and Lugh go to intercept the bandits while Roy and Lot go to help Lance, who has parked himself on a tree for some cover. Erik then talks with the mercenary, telling him to join them along with some reinforcements. He says he'll do it when he is ready to, and then people begin attacking lance, though he dodges them all and counters with his javelin, missing a kill on an archer. Lance picks off an Archer, Roy and Lot are joined by Clarine as they near the castle, and Dieck takes out a pirate while Lugh waits for the second one to reach them. the merc, who I see is named Rutger and is a Myrmidon shows up, and is now bumrushing Lance with extreme prejudice. Roy and Clarine approach the castle more, while Lot heads down to the village, and Dieck and Lugh still fight off the pirates. Lot then goes shopping and buys a couple of fire tomes and a heal staff, while Clarine goes to recruit Rutger, who asks why she is still here, only for her to verbally smack him about abandoning her in a battlefield, along with a spiel about what a gentlemen would do (she even calls him a "barf of a man". I really like her right now, she reminds me of a less flighty L'arachel). She mentions we're fighting Bern, and then he joins us happily, demonstrating his new loyalty by eviscerating the archer next to him.
Rutger himself is a level 4 myrmidon with decent bases (he's fast, skilled, and strong, but his defense is pretty low). I may use him, although I already have a decent amount of swordsmen, as well as people who would need a Hero Crest to class change, so I'm debating about him.
Regardless, he assists Lance in taking out the enemies and covering Clarine, and Roy stabs an archer. Rutger then gets killed by two fighters and a cavalier, forcing me to restart.
So yeah, here is a feature for this run. Reset counter: 1. Be right back...
God damn it. I took the offensive this time, and while the details are unimportant thanks to the outcome, Rutger showed up and shivved Roy. Reset Counter: 2. Let's try this again.
Fuck me. So hard. Lance this time, getting offed by Rutgers archer buddy after taking a few too many axes to the face. Reset counter: 3.
ARGH. Now Lot got smashed by Rutger and his band of asses after I misjudged where they came out, and he was in range. Reset Counter: 4
GOD. DAMNIT. Rutger yet again causes my death, and this time he goes off and murders Dieck with a critical before I could recruit him since his group kept Clarine from reaching him. Reset Counter: 5
Alright then. Back to where I left off, I basically pulled an offensive rush to take out as many foes as possible, and then pulled back before Rutger and his pack of douches showed up. I then had Clarine recruit the far more reachable Rutger, and everyone teamed up and killed the enemies, with Marcus waiting in case of any problems. Roy is now the pirate hunter for now. Dieck is so clutch, since I mostly used him to take out the main cavaliers with his iron blade until Rutger arrived.
Now there aren't too many foes left, and Clarine is healing people while Roy kills more pirates. After being healed, Lot goes shopping and also visits the southern village, getting an Angelic Robe while Lugh goes after the last archer. Now that all the enemies are dead, all that leaves is Erik.
Erik is a fair bit less intimidating now that he doesn't move and lacks his silver lance, but the gate space he's on means he's pretty damn bulky. Lugh blasts him with fire, gets attacked and then blasts him again on the enemy phase, and finishes off Erik come next turn. Roy then conquers the castle, finishing the chapter.
Merlinus says the Laus soldiers have surrendered, and Guinevere asks Roy if he is okay. Roy laments Erik's betrayal, and curses Bern, but then remembers present company and apologizes. She agrees with his sentiment, and then he decides to head to Ostia regardless, while Guinevere decides to stay with the group. She also gives us a look into Zephiel's motives for starting this war, but she doesn't know for sure why he has done so.
Damn, that was a hard chapter! Gave me one hell of a time, all because of Rutger either dying, killing me personally, or inadvertently getting me killed in some way.
...I don't think I'll be using Rutger this time around...
Also, does this game use a single RN system, as opposed to the double RN system of Blazing Sword and onwards? I got hit by lord knows how many 30s, and missed my fair share of 60s and 70s.
Reset Counter: 5
Comments
- 8X: Lilina survives Chapter 8
- 12X: Complete Chapter 12 in 20 turns. Bard must be alive if you went B route for 10 and 11
- 14X: Complete Chapter 14 in 25 turns. Sophia must survive
- 16X: Douglas (enemy) must survive Chapter 16
- 20X Ilia: Complete Chapter 20 in 25 turns. Yuno and Zealot must be alive
- 20X Sacae: Same as Ilia, but all Nomads must be alive
- 21X: Complete Chapter 21 in 30 turns. Miledy and Zeiss must be alive
- 23 on: Complete Chapter 22. All Divine Weapons must have been recovered and still intact
