They always seem to have enormous amounts of treasure. Oh, and also, there is a Reunion
◊ happening here soon.
Preparation time! Currently just keeping everyone equipped with a decent set of weapons, my arena winnings giving me a healthy stock of cash to buy stuff with. a couple of notable things; Roy gets his new Rapier, Clarine gets an Unlock staff to open doors for Chad, so that his Lockpick can be spared a couple uses until I get to the next chapter with Cath and steal a fresh one from her, gave Ellen Barrier just in case, gave Sue a Longbow to hopefully let her snipe some people from across the walls, and handed off an Armorslayer to Dieck, since I'm expecting a lot knights, and Lugh and Roy can only do so much. Also, because I forgot last chapter, I will provide the little unit review for the Ilian mercenaries. Zealot is essentially a second Marcus, with low bases given his level, but high stats for this point. Noah is pretty well balanced, and has some all around good stats, but he, as well as Treck, are outmatched by my units since they didn't get trained. Treck himself has got some decent bases as well, especially for a level 4 cavalier, but he isn't quite as good as Noah, although he has more growth room. I find his zero resilience funny, I must say.
After starting, Leygance learns of our entry and thinks on the situation, and the possible threat we pose. He gives the order to strengthen defenses around the castle, and then tells his soldiers to kill Lilina in the chaos of the battle. He believes using her as a hostage would cause rebels who still have faith in her to turn against them, and so wants her gone so she can't cause any trouble in the future, and tells the soldier to do it discreetly, and then blame us.
After he's done, Roy is greeted by an unknown man who calls himself Astol. After being questioned by Merlinus, he explains that he is one of Ostia's infamous spies (which means he's a thief, and thus has a Lockpick!), and that after Hector's death, he rushes back to find the rebellion has happened. Astol has some decent bases, with passable attack, skill, and defense, and good speed, but as a thief, he can't promote and is thus mostly only usable for utility. I think I'll have him replace Chad, since he happens to be quite a bit sturdier though. Since we can see her, trapped in her little cell in the center of the castle, Lilina is a level 1 mage (goddammit, why must so many units come at level 1?) with some decent bases, although she is a tad slow. I won't be using her since I've got Lugh and don't want to overload on units, but I hear she's pretty good.
I have Lilina run to the only safe space in her cell, and have Chad pass his Lockpick off to Astol. Sue and Lance rush forward to push through the initial forces, and the others trail behind, with Astol closing the whole ensemble. Lilina makes a comment about the commotion, and then it cuts to enemy phase, where the archer runs around to try to get a shot at her. Thankfully, there's only one archer, so there will always be a safe space for her to hide. Meanwhile, the enemies just pour forward, and the party is going to need to rush through them if they want to reach Lilina and the treasure before a thief arrives to take it away. The archer then just leaves Lilina be to go after the main group, so she can sit there safely for now. More enemy advancing, and Sue and Lance yet again charge in with reckless abandon, leaving the others to catch up as they take on the small groups of foes currently attacking them. Once the foes are drawn in, they attack Sue due to her wielding a bow, but she dodges and leaves the enemies wide open to get mauled by the rest of the party, while the horse riders can charge forward again and do their thing.
After a couple of turns, we see a mercenary and a pair of knights charging in from a "dead end" passageway. A mohawked knight says they can bust through the cracked wall, and a female knight wonders on Lilina's whereabouts. They talk for a bit, and comment on the noise, thinking that the Lycian Alliance army has come. They speak a bit more, showing some character for them, and then it returns to us. The mercenary, Oujay, is level 3 with pretty good stats for his level, and also comes with an Armorslayer, although he lacks Dieck's absolutely beastly Con. Barth is a level 9 knight, with decent hp, defense, and strength but bad everything else. Wendy is a level 1 knight with some pretty poor bases, although her defense is solid, and I'd say she could be used if one had the patience.
Sue and Lance continue their charge, with the others trailing behind. After they reach where the new guys came rushing in, they let the others catch up and let them deal with the horde of foes, while Sue snipes the mage in the central treasure room with her Longbow. Chad goes to hang out with Oujay and pals, while Lot leads the way through the enemies in the hallway between the treasure rooms. Speaking of Cath (and thieves coming to take my stuff), here she is! I'll got take her Lockpick, talk to her with Roy, and then let her be on her merry way, but I've first got to reach her, and she happens to have an accomplice (who won't be getting off so easily). Once the hallway is taken, Lance, Roy, Astol, and Dieck make their way to where Lilina is, and where Cath is going to be, only for the other thief to open Lilina's cell. Lance rushes over there, since I've got a bad feeling about this, and Sue, Dieck and Lot join him in their charge, with the others going into the treasure room with Roy. Thankfully, thief dude was just setting her free (I'll do my best not to kill him now), and then he heads towards the treasure room himself. Roy and pals sit down on the chests so they aren't taken, and Astol prepares to take their Lockpicks, while Lance's group goes to take the throne room. The thieves, unable to reach their prizes, start to leave, and I have Lilina and Lance block their exit, and have Astol move off a chest, so they can try again.
Roy talks to Cath, and they converse for a bit, only for Cath to get all indignant about her Robin-hoodery when Roy tries to convince her that what she is doing is wrong. After we learn a bit of her backstory, she decides thieving stops being fun once that topic was broached, and is about to make her exit. Clarine then pulls Roy out of the way, and Astol takes her Lockpick before she goes. Dieck lures out a knight, who I just now notice has a killer lance, and could very well have ripped Dieck a new one, but luckily he just got away with a small wound and finished off the knight soon enough. Lance's group now faces some reinforcements, and is able to take them down easily enough, while Astol steals the other thief's lockpick, hopefully making him leave, while the rest of Roy's group goes to join up with Lance's group. As more reinforcements appear, Sue shoots the archer and Dieck awaits the next one, trapping him against the stairs while Lance goes to hold of the mercenaries and Lot blocks off the soldiers. I have Lilina talk with Roy to allow for the eponymous reunion and he gives her a thunder tome which is quite nice, as Astol takes the treasure (currently a knights crest and an elfire tome) with his ludicrous amount of lockpicks. Lot stems the tide of lance wielders near the throne room, while everyone regroups and gets healed, Astol nabs a killer bow, and the other thieves run off. Sue joins Lot in taking on the soldiers and knights, where she picks off javelin users from across the wall, while the rest of the party recuperates, and Astol helps himself to the final bit of treasure in the central room, a light brand.
Lot and the others make it past the wall of lancemen, and make their way into the throne room. Lugh takes out the knight near Leygance, and everyone waits while Astol goes to take the last treasure. He lays claim to a guiding ring, a secret book, a silver axe, and an elysian whip, and then Dieck goes after Leygance.
Leygance himself is yet another douche on a throne, making his already impressive bulk just plain annoying, and giving him a lot of avoid. He also has some pretty high strength, so his attacks will hurt. With support bonuses from Clarine and Lot, Dieck just reaches 48 hit with the armorslayer, and lowers Leygances hit to 36. This fight is going to take a while...
After about 5 turns, Dieck hits him, and then on the next turn he hits him twice and rips him in half with the armorslayer.
Dieck wins! FATALITY. FLAWLESS VICTORY.
Roy then conquers the castle, and finishes the chapter.
Roy and Lilina begin talking, and after Lilina thanks Roy for taking back Ostia so that her father needn't distract himself from the war, things take a depressing turn. Roy explains what happens and apologizes, but Lilina says that it'll be okay, and that she must stay strong. They talk a bit more, and the chapter ends.
I'm going to be adding an interlude chapter to show how my units are doing, and then next will come the Gaiden chapter!
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