Our pursuit of the Black Fang takes us almost directly west (so much for the directions in the last chapter) to an abandoned castle where they meet with a new woman who chastises their leader for losing the kids. She demands a new plan for capturing the pair, to which the leader responds that the entire group, my group, is headed their way now to retrieve the ring they took from her. The woman agrees to let him try, but will be absent for the battle. She gives the leader until tomorrow morning to capture the siblings, Or Else.
Our army pulls up outside the castle and Nils asks Lyn if she knows what she's up against. Isn't that your job, Nils? Lyn puts her faith in my decision to have undertaken this mission, since I obviously wouldn't have accepted the sidequest if I had any doubts.
Sain reports greater numbers inside than expected, and Kent explains how to use the hallways to break up groups of enemies, or we can simply rush them if we're tough enough. Lyn leaves the decision up to me.
I'm allowed 10 units this time, so even gaining two new units in the last mission I only have to leave two behind on this one. I went with Wil and Florina again, taking Nils along despite my earlier reservations. The enemy this time has some decent numbers and a good class mix, boasting Brigands, Mercenaries, and Soldiers primarily, but with a Mage, Archer, Thief, and even Cavalier thrown in. The boss is a Mercenary named Beyard.
Starting the mission off, I suddenly realize that this level has no scripting! Unfortunately, that's pretty much the high point of this level, as the enemies are pretty easy to overwhelm. I'm starting to wonder though whether the game is really this easy, or if I'm Completely Missing The Point and setting myself up for failure later down the line by bulking up only a few characters now to the point that they can sweep the current maps, when later levels will require a larger army of capable units that I won't have. Hmm.
After defeating Beyard, Lyn demands that he hand over the ring and swear an oath to cease his pursuit of Ninian and Nils, to which he responds by finishing himself off. Alright, I'm a bit more impressed with these Black Fang guys now. Kent's on the same page, noting that these aren't any common thugs. Ninian and Nils remain tight-lipped as to why the Black Fang are after them, but Lyn doesn't seem to mind, and swears again to protect them as long as they travel with us before returning their ring.
Well, at least I got some exp, a second set of lockpicks for Matthew, and a Hammer (the axe equivalent of an Armorslayer, according to the tooltip) out of it.
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