Everything about the cutscenes in this chapter always makes me lol. "My heart, it is breaking." Also, Hector/Lyn C support! Yay! Also also, I need to stop using Legault for a while after this.
- Tactics — 4 stars
- Survival — 5 stars
- Funds — 4 stars
- Exp — 1 star
- Combat — 5 stars
Magic flares in the distance, and a far-off bandit screams as he spontaneously ignites.
Is this really necessary? Does this wizard even need our help?
More importantly, what are we doing travelling in the exact opposite direction of Bern, where the Black Fang is headquartered and Nils says Nergal the Not-Dead is regaining his strength?
...The answer to the first two questions appears to be no, but Legault tells me the Nabata desert is a treasure-hunter's paradise. Move fast enough and we can take some fine prizes for ourselves while the other two parties settle their spat.
In the blazing heat and shifting sands, mounted units have trouble walking, let alone fighting, so we'll leave the paladins and other slow movers out of it; Rath's horse is a bit tougher.
Bartre: Neutralized the entire section of bandits on the scrub grass with the brave axe.
Serra: Was going to run vulneraries out to anybody who needed more—she's quite speedy on the dunes—but none of us required it.
Rath: Followed Bartre in case he got into trouble, but was never needed.
Matthew: Dug up a wave-patterned bit of pottery that looks quite valuable, then another magical artifact, some kind of belt, to the west. He didn't get much of a chance to examine it, thanks to an ambush by a couple of shamans. Fortunately, Lyn stepped in to One-Hit KO each with her silver sword.
Lyn: Took care of a mage, talked to Hector, then finished the remaining two archers. To the west, she killed the shamans pursuing Matthew.
Guy: After assisting the others with some archers, he took off after Jasmine and Paul, the bandit chieftains. Pent criticalled Paul and dealt heavy damage to Jasmine, but Guy landed the killing blow. Going south to help deal with shamans, his foot brushed a ring similar to the one Ninian wears.
Hector: During a break in the action, shared some friendly banter with Lyn, who wants to spar with him. A mage dared to interrupt and Hector broke a hand axe on him. Tired from his exertions in the hot sun, he found shade...that turned out to be our guide, a berserker named Hawkeye. Cooled off, he followed Lyn to rescue Matthew from a shaman.
Legault: Thanks to some pure water, shrugged off a blast from a nearby mage as he took the lead with Guy. The two of them, Lyn, and Hector cleared out the nearby mages and archers so Heath could ferry people around to likely treasure sites. Upon encountering Jasmine, he stole the bandit's ring. While fleeing the bandits' reinforcements, he picked up a powerful sword partially uncovered in the sand. It is imbued with light magic—this should be very useful indeed. When Pent wandered in his direction to kill a wyvern, he felt confident enough to attack a mage and shaman, still under the effects of the pure water. Using the Light Brand, he attacked a second shaman from range, unearthing a Hero Crest in the scuffle.
Heath: Once Legault, Guy, and Lyn had cleared his path, he picked up Legault to fly close to Pent's location. He dropped Legault off to the north of Jasmine to distract him, since Pent had moved between the bandit pair and even he might not survive a combined attack.
Hawkeye: Did nothing, all bandits in the vicinity already dead. He did visit a nearby house to check that its occupant, a young girl named Fae, was safe. "Is that so?"
Pent: Vaporized all who opposed him, criticalling Paul and helpfully killing a few wyverns threatening Legault.
10 turns base, +4 penalty for Legault, and it would have been over on...I think the 5th or 6th turn...if shamans hadn't kept spawning in the southwest. That was seriously irritating. I thought about sending Heath, but he didn't have a lance, and besides, if I used two characters I haven't drafted I would feel incredibly lame.
MVP: Either Pent or Legault.
MVW: Special award for this map only goes to the brave axe, for helping Bartre ORKO everyone in the northern platoon; he might have been shot to death over the few turns it took if he couldn't kill at least one thing per attack. Runner-up is the Light Brand for letting Legault counterattack a shaman. Huzzah for 1-2 range!
Comments
