I sincerely hope this isn't a bait-and-switch, because while Retaking the Capital
◊, we should finally get our chance to put that greasy bastard Narshen down!
Roy heads towards Aquleia. The coup d'etat forces meanwhile are gathering their army there in preparation for the Lycian Alliance Army's arrival. They had hoped to use the city garrison, but due to the Elimine Church's support of the attack on the captured Aquleia, they had to retreat into the castle and hold position in there. However, despite the support, a tough fight was yet to come, for Narshen and his elite troops were awaiting within the castle...
Alright then, in the preparation screen, I notice Fa, sitting there at the bottom and being adorable. She's a level 1 manakete with a 30 use Divine Dragon stone, severely limiting her usefulness. The boosts are cool though, and I'm sure if you devoted the hammerne to repairing her stone (assuming it can), then she could seriously trounce some people. Alright then, I gave Clarine the warp staff, and I made sure Astol has a free space in his inventory for Narshen's Delphi shield. Looking at the rest of the map, I notice no sleep casters, but a couple siege users, namely a mage with bolting and a bishop with purge. There are a couple manaketes, including one guarding the northeastern treasury, and one near the collection of dudes in the northwestern area. Said collection include coup d'etat leaders Arcard and Roartz, and the Great General of Etruria, Douglas, whom I'm guessing needs to be recruited with Percival, Cecilia, or possibly Elphin. Character placement (due to the path split) is Roy, Dieck, Rutger, Clarine, Geese, Sue, Elphin and Cath on the left, and Miledy, Lance, Percival, Lugh, Ellen, and Astol on the right. Let's go!
Narshen currently curses his fate as he sees our army approaching, only for General Murdock to appear as well. Murdock demands an explanation, for Flaer's failure to control the western isles, for Guinevere's second disappearance, and for the failure to capture the hidden village in Nabata. Murdock then brings his order from Zephiel; Narshen is demoted from his Dragon General status, with Gale taking his place. Narshen begs for his position back, and Murdock tells him to repel the alliance army, and he may then negotiate with the king. Narshen then rants about his misfortune, and after being informed that we are approaching, comes up with a dastardly plan. He will use Miledy's younger brother as a scapegoat, saying that he was leaking information to the enemy and then kill him. Immediately after saying this, he enacts the plan, telling a soldier to bring the suspected Zeiss to him.
Now with Douglas and the imbeciles, Arcard and Roartz are fearing what might happen, while the latter shifts blame onto the former, and the former then decides now is not the time for argument. They decide to escape, and Douglas states that he will not leave with them, since he only joined because the king's safety was at stake. Douglas curses those two as they run and hide, and states that once the prince has returned, Etruria will prosper again, but until that time he shall carry out his duty as an Etrurian general.
Roy now speaks with an old bishop named Yodel, who explains the situation of the enemy forces to Roy. Yodel also shares that the Fire Emblem is likely connected to the summoning of the dragons. He gives me one final bit of cryptic advice, warning "not to do any unnecessary killing" stating that some people may have joined the coup d'etat forces for personal reasons not relating to the upheaval of Etruria. I don't think I can recruit Douglas right now, if that is the case... Whatever, I'll bring Elphin just in case, and he provides some decent utility.
The eastern group begins entering the castle, Ellen casting a barrier on Astol to divert attention from him while the bolting mage is still active, and I think over how to approach the western group... For now, I simply begin their advance into the castle, Clarine and her two support buddies leading the way with Sue, Roy, and Geese following closely, and Cath and Elphin trailing behind them. After the enemies move (which included Douglas, which doesn't bode well for the whole "don't kill him" thing, given that he might actively attack me), Gale flies in, and talks with Zeiss, and Gale warns Zeiss of Narshen's plan to scapegoat him, telling him to hide for now, until the smoke clears. Gale tells Zeiss to go find Miledy when he gets the chance, and get her side of the story, stating that he won't act until he hears what she is thinking. Both groups advance and take out a couple of mooks, Percival facing some deja vu with a killing edge merc, while they await incoming forces as well.
Now we see a purple haired (why does his hair color look familiar to me?) young man noting that the Etrurian nobles have run off, lamenting his lost payment. Come my turn and I check his items and see a member card! Both groups continue moving forward down their path, the western group reaching the curving hallway while the eastern group gets hung up by a couple of enemies blocking their way, while Astol continues dodging lightning. Come next turn, I have Clarine warp Sue over the two walls in front of the group, right in front of the purge bishop. After she gives him a closer look at her sword, she will then go and join the eastern group. The rest of the western group continues rounding through the hallways, while the eastern group pushes forward through the enemies in their way, but staying a bit further away to avoid killing Hugh before I can recruit him.
Sue runs from the group of foes nearby as Douglas draws near, while Clarine now warps Roy over to the eastern group and he runs up to go recruit Hugh. Hugh is a level 15 mage with all around decent bases. His magic is solid, his skill and speed are okay (though at this point in the game, his speed is kind of low), his luck, defense, and resilience are all pretty good for his class, and his health is solid enough. He has a pretty funny recruitment conversation, I must say. The western group continues down the winding hallway, in the meantime, making slow progress, while the eastern group advances quickly, going to help Sue. Miledy spears a bishop from across the wall, mindful of the aircalibur mages right out of range, and making sure the others can keep up. Lance narrowly avoids a near lethal blow from a horseslayer, and Sue is now being hounded by about half a dozen mooks. Astol isn't going to be getting any thieving done anytime soon, because the eastern group is going to haul ass out of there once they rejoin Sue, and they're going to go meet up with and help the western group. Miledy grabs Sue and carries her to the rest of the group, while Lance picks up Roy, Percival grabs Hugh, Lugh grabs Ellen, Astol following closely, and they run out of there to avoid having to possibly fight Douglas (his strength and defense mixed in with the power of his silver axe makes him a scary opponent). The western group moves a bit more slowly, so as to prevent Douglas from correcting himself on his wild goose chase and turning around to attack them.
The bolting mage wastes his last shot, and the eastern group charges out of the castle, Douglas and his men giving chase. The western group finally reaches the door, although Cath hasn't quite caught up yet, so Dieck just tosses his hand axe at people of the other side. The eastern group is now turning into the outer courtyard, preparing to get in from the other entrance and regroup with the western group, who are currently engaging a large number of enemies.
And more enemies come in the way of reinforcements, nearly causing a reset by attacking Elphin, but he dodged. More reinforcements, including reinforcements for the bolting guy in the form of a second bolting guy. Cath and Geese plug up the nearest reinforcement points, as the eastern group finally reaches the western group and rejoins them, minus Lugh, who fell behind in the rush. Both groups team up to hold off the enemy reinforcements for now. As I wait for the reinforcements to stop coming and also to finish them off as they approach, I get Clarine and Rutger to A support. After Lugh catches up to the group, Percival, Lance, Dieck, and Sue have set themselves up as a wall inside the hall between the western treasury and the curved hallway, and they fight off the mage and mercenary reinforcements with ranged weapons, Douglas drawing ever nearer. Cath goes to help herself to the treasure in the meantime, while Lugh takes down a manakete nearby (with some help from Lance) after the reinforcements are finished with. Miledy flies over to where Zeiss is watching the battle from, and prepares to go speak with him. Everyone begins moving forward towards Narshen's chamber, preparing to unseat him before Douglas forces them to escape. Miledy begins trying to break down the wall to where Zeiss is, while Cath picks up a Berserk staff from one chest, and a knights crest from another.
Alright then, now to kill Narshen. As much as he annoys me, I will admit he's no easy foe, with good strength, skill, and speed, surprisingly high defense, solid enough resilience, and a runesword that compliments his high health by restoring it every time he hits an enemy. First things first, Astol makes off with his Delphi shield, and then Lance pulls him to safety. Next, Percival and Clarine both take a round with him, though the latter can't actually hurt him, and is only going for the conversation. He recognizes Clarine as the girl who verbally smacked him and then escaped, while she has completely forgotten who he is. He's rather angry about this, but then, what is he gonna do about it? She hits him twice for no damage, and he misses her. Then Percival attacks him, where Narshen acts all smug and calls him a traitor, while Percival curses the time he spent working for Narshen, and plans to repent for it by defeating him. They both hit each other, Narshen healing his wounds while Percival gets hit fairly hard. Sue runs over, eliciting his generic quote, while popping two arrows into him and dodging his counterattack. Lugh then puts an end to him with an Aircalibur burst.
After Narshen is killed, Cath snags a hero crest (sweet) from a chest, and hopes to god that Douglas and his mercenary buddy don't take notice of her. The rest of the party heads towards the eastern entrance, preparing to go in a large circle again so as to avoid Douglas (I'd rather just stay out of his way then try to tank him and risk someone), who is tailing the main group it seems, while Miledy shatters the wall that Zeiss is behind. Miledy recruits Zeiss on the next turn, where they argue about their mutual loyalties, before Zeiss joins to learn of Guinevere's beliefs, which had moved his sister so.
Ah dammit, Douglas turns towards where Miledy and Zeiss are, while his mercenary friend run off after the main group. Cath meanwhile snags a silver bow and Rescue staff, and the party decides they now have the time to raid the northeastern treasury, and hopefully also get Roy to the throne, so long as Miledy can avoid and distract Douglas long enough. Lugh takes out the manakete guarding the treasury, and Miledy leads Douglas down the hallway near where Zeiss was (Miledy rescuing him so he isn't accidentally killed), allowing Cath to meet with Sue, Roy, and Geese, who went back to the throne room to take it once Astol stole everything. Astol steals 5000 gold, while Miledy hides in a corner, waiting for Douglas to come. Once he does, she dodges his attack, hitting him weakly in return, before flying off just out of reach. Astol now steals a bolting while Cath goes to meet with Geese and give him his hero crest. Geese gets his long awaited crest, and promotes to a Berserker while Miledy's escape from Douglas draws him nearer to them. Astol finishes his job, stealing a brave lance, Restore, and Recover staff, while Roy conquers the throne.
Roy talks with Mordred, who asks him to stop the Bern troops that have taken over the Tower of the Saint. Roy accepts his request, and notices how sad the man is, as he still mourns the loss of his son. Elphin meanwhile laments that he must stay hidden, but swears he will return soon.
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