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Vestaria Saga 1 IRONMAN attempt


Is this the END?  

4 members have voted

  1. 1. Should this continue as a Soft Ironman, or end as a Hard Ironman

    • Hard Ironman, Zade is dead, the run is done
      0
    • Soft Ironman, reset for the Game Over


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9 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Seems Kaga is starting things off with even more social commentary on capitalist democracies.

It sure is nice that a creator from the NES age is still making games like in the good old days before video games were "ruined by politics™". :D:
 

Spoiler


16 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

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Its funny to start with taking an unassailable city, as the first we take, but I guess the taking of Ostia in FE6 was a kinda similar situation...actually those are very similar from a story perspective.

It does feel like it's overselling it a bit. Although I suppose it might help getting the point across that a direct assault may backfire spectacularly.
 

18 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

It grants you immunity to crits.

Too bad you have no way of knowing that you only get the ring if you pick her up with a female character.

Not a fan of that, I gotta say.
 

19 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

these 6 doors in the north, which has lots of ranged defenders to pepper anyone trying to work through it. And some of those guys are more trouble than this scrub here, and while I consider making this attack, I am not entirely certain if all these guys are stationary, so I hold off. Now you could just brute force your way through these door, but you would have to deal with things like

The Bow Knight is not stationary. The other 3 are.
 

20 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

On an enemy that has a 25% chance of attacking first. Now truth be told, Theodel can take that fairly well with Prody support. but

Well, if you have Prody support Theo, he is just gonna attack Prody instead.

Also keep in mind that Dark magic has Weapon Triangle advantage against the Spirit magic that Theodel is currently restricted too.

When I use the front door, I have Zayid take this guy down with a counter attack. Even if he fails to kill, he survives easily and you can just keep trying until he does. But his odds are fairly good. He gets +20% hit from Sheela and Zade with proper setup.
 

25 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

There is also a 2-3 range bow with a crit rate in there as well. If you can get into the ramparts with all those ranged units, you can trigger a switch that opens the whole way through, and get the drop on all of those enemies with Bows.

Thank god for that Ring of Bliss.

It's kinda funny how the Ring of Bliss also gives +5 Luck. Considering the only thing Luck does is negate crits in the first place.
 

31 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

While our pre-promote grabs our first promotion item. It is only for non-magic infantry units, and none of my non-magic infantry are quite ready for it, as they either aren't close to even level 10, and/or are waiting for a few skills from level-up first.

There is no level requirement for promotion.

A fun thing you can do here is to buy items at the nearby shop, then pick up the Champion Mark so you can send it to the convoy and use it immediately.
The Eagles' starting equipment is overkill anyway and rather wasteful to use on these guys. So a shopping trip is most certainly in order either way.
 

35 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I do find it really funny that a unit with a generic portrait has a battle and death quote.

Might be the only one in this game.

Probably just an oversight. Not like there is a lack of portraits for generic soldiers.
 

37 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

On the flier front, they are doing fine. Actually this is a little bit of a misplay, as I meant to put Yaeri on the "entrance" for her to get healed, but I think it is actually the other space that looks like an entrance that the game meant.

Yeah, this could be communicated better.

You can tell by the tile description, if nothing else.
 

39 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

This is another little stumbling block for Merida's advance. If this guy moves, he can use that high damage brave effect (plus a crit rate) to possibly even one-round her. I have a plan to deal with him, but it is going to cost a turn or two to pull this off.

Yeah, but critical hit immunity is one of the many perks of the Wargoddess Sword. So she is fine on that front at least.
 

42 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

That Thracia crit skill of hers is very potent, and removes this future obstacle.

Critical Reprisal + build in crit immunity + Commander. Aslanne is pretty amazing.

She is pretty much the key for removing Beorn and Marlena.
 

47 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

As you can see, Nim has no innate crit, he has none of the crit skills, he doesn't have a bond, he doesn't even have a displayed crit rate on his stats screen from the start of the map here...is this some kind of bug, or display glitch, or something?

Weapon Triangle.

 

 

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On 7/22/2022 at 5:16 AM, BrightBow said:

 

It's kinda funny how the Ring of Bliss also gives +5 Luck. Considering the only thing Luck does is negate crits in the first place.

The Benison skill procs off of luck, so you could add 10% to avoiding a fatal blow skill with it as well...

 

On 7/22/2022 at 5:16 AM, BrightBow said:

There is no level requirement for promotion.

Huh, I guess Fire Emblem has really ingrained in me that you need to reach level 10 to promote, that I didn't even think about it otherwise.

 

On 7/22/2022 at 5:16 AM, BrightBow said:

She is pretty much the key for removing Beorn and Marlena.

Murdering them with Aslanne was how you played when you just broke through the front door, isn't it. I guess it is the only way to get them gone before turn...15ish

 

On 7/22/2022 at 5:16 AM, BrightBow said:

Weapon Triangle.

Weapon Triangle gives crit? Weird.

 

Spoiler

When last we left off

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Rubina died...you also might notice that we have a new unit over there as well, little Nina, another healer who is going to leave like Alysia. In fact she is only available on this chapter, so don't get used to her. I then get revenge on the archer that killed Rubina. Really the only area left with much action is

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with the infiltrators, and with all the fluff over here dealt with, we can finally turn our attention to the terrifying

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Matagroth with that double pilum. With the crit immunity item, he can safely take a round of combat with him, but

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This is definitely an enemy phase thing. Speaking of which

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Come enemy phase, Dolge Ritton has surrendered to our enemy

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Although he is still too defiant to hand over the keys to the kingdom to the traitorous Dulles.

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He is even willing to let himself, and his wife, die which is going to put a serious roadblock in Dulles whole rebellion plan.

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And now Ritton and Beatrice are added to the prisoners, and they are both putting a lot faith in our little army. Probably more than we deserve...

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As it turns out, I will end up proving that it is both by the fights I have with you, but for now

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The answer is clearly stupid, as I almost got a gameover right there, by not noticing that there was still an Arbalest in range. Orison skill from Edelstern almost certainly saved him here, but that was still almost a 30% chance of a gameover.

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And I really thought I had better healing items in the stockpile, as I only have herbs in there...this isn't going well

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I can finish him off with Merida, but

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Thanks to this little skill here, she basically has an 18% chance of dying...I don't want to risk Merida, at least not now...

Its unfortunate that Zade didn't get one more crit, as that would leave him at 6 HP, which would be an incredibly reliable kill for Cezar with the Starfall Dagger.

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Instead Merida will kill this fellow. Hopefully after we wipe that Arbalest we can try this again, but at this rate, I will probably have to run through his entire Tisane before we can safely kill Matagroth.

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And that is an excellent level for Merida.

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I also have Troy draw the the mounted archer in.

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I have Yaeri get herself a cutlass, as I have gone overboard with the Doyenne already, although it will be a while before she has anything to use it on.

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...hmm...the fact that Matagroth moves is a bit of a mixed bag. Hopefully this is just part of the healing AI or something.

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In the meantime, Troy wipes out that mounted archer.

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And Cantos him in a way to deal with that Arbalest.

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And this jerk has moved into some obnoxious terrain, while healing all the way up.

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And now that Arbalest will never bother me again.

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Now its just the Matagroth beast I awakened in here, and in the North Nina is about one turn away from accomplishing her main objective for the map.

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Which is to deal with those scary mercenaries up there.

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I am preparing for my cavs to break into the ramparts there, while I am going to try get Matagroth to burn through that last Tisane use

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Fortunately these two aren't monsterous enough to murder a child in cold blood, so

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she has some scripted misses here

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This is a terrifying event the first time you try it.

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That is the breaking point for these two, they become green units, and hint at their own history with a mysterious child.

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I guess she also has a talk with Zade to do at some point.

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And he will put this promise to test

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Immediately. Back with our little group of infiltrators

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Troy is opening up that bridge for Merida

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And part of his dialogue references the dialogue of his daughter from before, which makes me wonder if this is alternate dialogue, or if that talk is required for this event.

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Although that is some dark commentary about the price these common folks will pay for helping us...unless we succeed.

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Now Merida can deal with the last real guard of the ramparts

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And the poor fool acted like he was invincible.

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And I am sure you can see how I proved the half of Matagroth's about me being stupid here

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As he can definitely move, and avoid Zade being able to hit this guy on enemy phase, which means killing this guy, no matter how I do it will be a risky maneuver...

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Well, I am going to have Cezar open the bridge into the city, as my horsies start flanking those ranged defenders, and the army in the north prepared for the flood gates to open.

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And I utterly waste a turn being overly cautious.

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Lets start by  t-

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I guess try to take out the Scorpion user. And my over-abundance of caution means Troy can't finish the job this turn...

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Although Merida does tank the Nim hit like a champ.

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And that Magic level changes the scales a little, as now

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Merida has the damage to kill Jimsund, while keeping the massive Resistance boost of the Wargoddess Sword.

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Although the miss isn't that surprising...

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Although at this point, the guys on the other side of the wall should be able to crush these crippled foes.

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Goodbye August

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~

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Eh...its a levelup I guess.

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Yeah, this is kinda reckless, but the odds of him missing twice are less than 1%, and I am tired of being as cautious as I have been.

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Never punished it seems.

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We still have 10 turns before the situation worsens, and we are in the city. OK, I could have taken a few turns making that safer, but the stupidly reckless moves don't stop there...

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We have a few turns of moving ahead of us, and one turn of absolute stupid, but first

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Nina needs to talk with her uncle

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And he makes some bold promises to his little niece.

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And gets her to promise to stay safely beside him, although its hard not to question Zade's logic here. He hasn't seen Batrice in about 10 years before this little trip, so he can't have made too many promises to the kid before this little trip, which he has spent a lot of in the field.

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I also have my fliers visit one of the houses as people are making the slow march to the palace.

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Also, the two green unit mercenaries leave the map. I hope I live long enough to see you latter Beorn and Marlena. Also, I think you can see where that crowning turn of stupid is coming...

AM-JKLXtQfj40aN3cvJybH_fVSQpVbJ5d-FZyLn-

I really shouldn't be doing this, but I want this guy dead, and after having lost one of my flyers to a moment of absolute stupid, I am tilting a bit. Plus Zade needs to get over to the other island to trigger a key event before turn 30, which is giving me an extra time constraint to further addle my tired mind, as I only have a turn or two left to think about this, or miss the opportunity entirely.

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And I even got the extra crit here, but dumb-dumb that I am, Cezar isn't close enough to take advantage of it to go for the ~95% odds of the kill before Matagroth's murderous counter

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so I have to go for the 82% chance instead. Well I guess its a bit better than that, as she could proc Mutlichance to force him to get two Great Shield procs to ruin everythi-

AM-JKLWtE1zjVIRixfrg3u0GCIrjosLiiYhczDgb

And I see that great shield symbol appear alone at the start...sigh there goes Merida too...worse yet, I could have waited a single turn for Cezar...oh well, this is probably game over, as Zade will probably die one enemy pha-

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SHE DODGED ONE OF THEM....I didn't even think about that as one of my outs here.

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Alright, that was overly reckless...I promise, no more trying to throwing over Rubina's death.

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Also, I get the other house visit out of the way as people are shuffling around.

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I also collect another Cezar's Lucre while we are getting into position... yeah lets just jump to

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Just before Zade crosses the bridge here at the end of turn

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So with 2 turns to spare, Zade enters that last section of the city

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To trigger the event where Dulles to realize how dire things are.

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Making the path to the palace open up, and getting them to start killing the prisoners before turn 30

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And Dulles continues to be the cowardly fool that he is, hiding beneath his bed as his little rebellion crumbles around him.

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And the first thing I do is take down Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Yaeri

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And the flirtatious fool dies before his 4 attack brave effect bow can cause any chaos in our ranks. She even has enough move to get out of range while she is at it. Also that brings the Doyenne to exact 1 use left...

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What a goddess.

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I have fond memories of this little bow utterly carrying Sheela through the majority of the game on my last run.

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Next Troy destroys this mage before it can even attack, so I don't even have to think about that effective damage it has.

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This is just the palace of excellent levels isn't it.

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This even takes care of the merely two hit brave bow that was there as well. This starting assault is going rather well

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Honestly, this is a bit overkill, but I needed to clear out some space.

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The island's levelup luck continues.

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Eh...honestly, this is the only thing Ash can reach this turn, and in my original plan

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Theo was going to finish off the sword guy, but it wasn't til after I made the Ash attack that I realized

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This guy had a Cavalry effective weapon, and I wasn't willing to risk Merida having to take that much chip damage, so I had to change my plans a bit.

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This funny little death quote is referencing the fact that he drops 750 Denarii on death. Poor guy died thinking about the money he lost.

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Seems the magic of the palace level-ups is starting to cool off.

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Unfortunately, this is the last thing I have the room to kill this turn, but I think its enough.

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One cowardly archer fails to kill one of the prisoners

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And Harald here kills himself on Merida on enemy phase

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Never mind, seems the palace tier levels are back baby.

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And the return of those reinforcements was almost disastrous thanks to how far Nina fell behind in the march to the palace. Both of them appeared uncomfortably close to my slow moving healers...

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That deals with the coward that was trying to kill the helpless prisoners.

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This is a bit of revenge for him getting a free hit on her on enemy phase

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And that deals with all of the enemies around the palace, except for the boss sitting on the seize point, Vilweiss himself.

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Yaeri is doing her job now, moving on an intercept course with the soldier making ground against the defenseless Nina, while Prody and Troy killed the one that spawned next to Athol. Next turn its time to start looking at Vilweiss

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And he has some dangerous weaponry. For now he is rather vulnerable to range attacks, as he has a sword equipped, but it is a rather power brave weapon, and he has that 18% chance of ignoring attack skill on him too. Also the better version of the command skill Zade has, which was helping most of the enemies we killed before hit things.

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And if he changes to his 1-2 range weapon, it has the obnoxious ability to disable our troops with Paralysis status effect. I want to take this guy out before he can switch weapons, and I both need some maneuvering of my troops to prepare for that, and I kinda want to get Zade's talk with Ritton before dealing with him as well (just in case that does anything).

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Prody also gets the double hit, so he doesn't even need Troy's help to kill the reinforcement this turn

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Next turn,

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...uh, these new reinforcements complicate things a little bit, but

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taking one out, making sure the Cav can't mess up any troops I have in the palace district, and hitting it as hard as I can will probably work...I really hope this cav doesn't try to threaten Nina for some reason, because Yaeri is going to have an uncomfortable dance in the sky to deal with what is heading for Nina already.

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Nice level-ups in the palace distrct continue as Ash finishes the cav on enemy phase. When we get back to player phase

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Zade finally reaches his brother-in-law, and there is a touching little reunion

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And Ritton is insistent that Dulles be spared, which is probably important.

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Back with the desperate defense of Nina, Yaeri gets this kill, but has to canto to the south to use the houses to avoid the archer

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which means Nina needs to move back a little. Prody also gets some chip in, and Ash gets healed a bit.

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Seems that little fly trick got the other archer to head south around the houses, instead of keeping up the pressure on Yaeri and Nina, so this is an easy kill. Although the reinforcements have changed up again.

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Prody lucks into this kill here, which makes thing a little easier to deal with this turn.

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Although at this point, Zade is close enough that I can try dealing with the boss next turn. I am going to want his command boost, and

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He is not the worst option to start chipping (which also ensures all my ranged attacks get the command boost) . Now Athol can take the ranged hit here, so this isn't quite the point of no return, but eventually I will fill that space with ranged attacks

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Unfortunately he got one great shield proc, but

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He didn't great shield this hit, so he is past half health. In fact he is to the point where Theo can finish him, if any of my other range attack hits...

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Although this missed one missed, she actually levels off it

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Heh, figures another prepromoted gets another blank level-up for me.

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Not the best odds, and another failure

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And with this critting, I can fairly safely use the Starfall dagger as a worst case scenario.

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But it proves unnecessary as

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Theo killed this power hungry fool.

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With this after that blank level-up, it seems that the luck of the palace district level-ups have run dry.

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Now we aren't quite done with this map yet, there are still those reinforcements to deal with, and I want them gone so I can shop in peace. Prody, and Ash together kill the archer, while Yaeri is getting ready for an enemy phase kill that is close enough that she can then jump the archer, which will in turn be in range to enemy phase the last of the Cavalry. Fortunately, killing the boss has ended the stream of reinforcements, and just as Yaeri is killing the last of them

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Is the moment she both gets this defensive level, and

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it is exactly her last use of her cutlass. Now it does take me a few turns waiting here as

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I have a lot of shopping to do, and a little bit of item management, as

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Zade repairs his Edelstern, and

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I end up giving Theodel the Agility stat booster I had gathering dust in the stockpile.

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It took a little while to get to all the shops I wanted to, and while I might regret it, I did spend the big bucks for an extra Siurian Thaumite while I was at it.

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Alas, the weasel Dulles is captured, and continues to embarrass himself with his attempts to avoid the consequences of his actions, but Ritton is insistent on him facing justice

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Ritton might have faith in these values, but we are seeing first hand in the US, how few consequences exist for the political leaders that organize coups.

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We also get a nice little talk with the flier.

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And she reveals that poor Nina is to be one of the circlet maidens.

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And then poor Yaeri alone joins us in order to protect Athol...yeah this is obviously a minor change from the last time I got this scene thanks to Rubina's death.

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...Well one flier, is better than no fliers. In an odd way, there being a second flier makes her one of the more expendable units, but they had a bond together, so Rubina's death has diminished the power of Yaeri in turn.

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Then poor Theo reveals he had a crush on his best friends much older big sister...

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Its interesting how they reveal that Nina is a bit empathic here with her knowing not to ask Athol about being a circlet maiden. It puts some of the way Athol talked about Alysia into a slightly different context with this somewhat mystical reveal.

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Also, it seems Theo has rebelled against church precepts by taking up arms in this conflict.

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Ah, a "Black Death" plague hit the world of Vestaria saga as well. I bet this is the illness that killed Athol's mother way back when as well.

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Poor Theo has had a harsh life to live through thanks to his monster of a step-mother.

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Unfortunately she hasn't gotten what she deserves yet. Hopefully I can follow in the footsteps of my last run and give Theo the kill me most righteously deserves.

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It is kinda interesting how they write around this scene that must have occurred in the background, where Aslanne said everything in her power to try and get Athol to return to the circlet tower.

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Alas poor Nina is about to be taken from her family to the circlet tower, and become the earth maiden. I do like how they lean into the emotions of this departure through out this little ending scene.

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I guess it has tripled hasn't it, we went from 5 (Zade, Prody, Bonacel, Troy, and Athol) to...well we could deploy 11 this map, and had to leave 3 behind (so 14 at map start) and with me only getting Yaeri, we are at exact triple, with 15. Really this is signaling that we are wrapping up the Venecia arc, with the next map as part of the transition into the next little arc in the steppes.

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Given the conflict we are about to walk into, it makes you wonder what chaos is happening in Sphire at this point doesn't it.

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How could things be going so badly in Sphire that crossing the Vestaria equivalent of the alps, into a war torn steppe, and then through a Vesta forsaken desert map is a better option...

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Seems we go full circle here, and return to the first object of chapter one for answer...actually I kinda like how the game uses this to prop of the relevance of the Lucca militia a little more in the story.

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And this is a bit of serendipity, as the Lucca elder didn't have an answer, but the guest there happen to have just the answers we need.

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And we have another bandit map to deal with to end this little arc off

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And it is an escort mission. At least most of the characters with events on the map tell us to bring them along, like Dune here. The only that didn't is Troy, but I guess Troy wouldn't know ahead of time about his event, as he is more of a passive participant in it.

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It is also the first map where we can not deploy our lord, which is a fun little difference.

Well, I probably should have split this update in two, but here we are. Next time we start an escort quest, and in the meantime, I hope you all have fun, and stay safe out there.

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59 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The Benison skill procs off of luck, so you could add 10% to avoiding a fatal blow skill with it as well...

Yeah, but only Athol has that skill. Also Cromwell, but you can't give him any items, so it's a moot point.
 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Murdering them with Aslanne was how you played when you just broke through the front door, isn't it. I guess it is the only way to get them gone before turn...15ish

It's more a matter of whether or not I want to fight Ashuram and Sujata in chapter 18.
 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Weapon Triangle gives crit? Weird.

It's nice. Doesn't make the damage calculation needlessly complicated.

Spoiler

 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

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AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

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I also have my fliers visit one of the houses as people are making the slow march to the palace.

Okay good, it's like I remember. He moves but he doesn't chase if you step out of his attack range. Crisis resolved.
 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

And he has some dangerous weaponry. For now he is rather vulnerable to range attacks, as he has a sword equipped, but it is a rather power brave weapon, and he has that 18% chance of ignoring attack skill on him too. Also the better version of the command skill Zade has, which was helping most of the enemies we killed before hit things.

I usually have Aslanne with the Doyenne destroy him with Critical Reprisal. All that's needed is for the 18% Stun chance to not trigger. So at worst, I risk a few turns.

 

Edited by BrightBow
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Losing half your combat fliers really sucks but it's probably better to lose Rubina, since you can still recruit Maya at least.

You probably should turn on the option that ends your turn when you have moved all your units so that doesn't happen again.

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On 7/24/2022 at 5:57 AM, BrightBow said:

Yeah, but only Athol has that skill. Also Cromwell, but you can't give him any items, so it's a moot point.

Technically Lyttia too, but that is even less significant than Athol having it. Mostly I was noting that the bonus luck does something, even if its effect is rather minor.

 

On 7/24/2022 at 5:57 AM, BrightBow said:

It's more a matter of whether or not I want to fight Ashuram and Sujata in chapter 18.

Are those replacement enemies, for that chapter?

 

On 7/24/2022 at 5:57 AM, BrightBow said:

I usually have Aslanne with the Doyenne destroy him with Critical Reprisal. All that's needed is for the 18% Stun chance to not trigger. So at worst, I risk a few turns.

Does that kill him outright or just cripple him for someone else to grab the kill?

 

On 7/25/2022 at 9:43 AM, Pépito said:

 

You probably should turn on the option that ends your turn when you have moved all your units so that doesn't happen again.

It probably wouldn't have helped in that case, I wasn't moving most of the units waiting for the doors to open, so I would have had to end phase manually anyway. Plus I like being able to get screenshots of where my units all are at the end of the turn, so people can follow the moves I am making overall, and notice what has been done to prepare for enemy phase, etc.

 

Time for another short chapter here...

Spoiler

On this update we have

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A little escort mission.

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I think Kaga is emphasizing the difference between videogame, and actual violence with this interaction between these two. Ash is coming in with the very videogame violence mentality here, why are you worried it is just a bandit map, and Lilia responds with a starkly real response about the sort of brutal consequences real violence can have. It kinda reminds me of something Jim Sterling did a long time ago, using some footage of a politician killing himself to emphasize how ludicrous it is to act like videogame violence is similar enough to real violence to desensitize people to it.

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Poor girl is suffering from survivor's guilt over this last round of bandit attacks

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Its kinda adorable, how the two of them are so mutually worried about each-other.

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Alright this is just silly, but the game is giving some clear childhood-friends to lovers cliche with these two, even with this goofy little secret, just between the two of them.

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We also get a little tool tip about the new Sutler feature.

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Now this has the tightest deployment so far, and both Zade and Athol aren't available. Lilia is mandatory, Jean, Dune, and Troy are all needed for event reasons, Ash makes sense for bond bonuses, Yaeri makes getting some of the loot much easier, leaving one slot open, which I give to Haldyn, as I have ignored him unfairly. In fact, I put off talking about him as a unit, until I first used him, so I guess I can do that now, and talk about the other new unit, Lilia as well

Spoiler

Haldyn is fairly good, and his main issue is that he naturally draws a comparison to Troy. Haldyn mainly uses swords (and has no 1-2 range), and multi-chance at base, making for the similarities to Troy, but there are a lot of obvious differences. First, Haldyn is a light infantry, which generally makes Troy better, but Haldyn can climb crags, so he has his moments. Haldyn also has Mettle (the increase crit at low health skill), and Critical Edge, so Haldyn has some crit, although Troy unlocks the far better Triple Threat skill rather soon, and Haldyn learns no new skills. Haldyn also gets access to Great Swords, which is probably a bit better than the Standard Spears Troy gets. All this comes together to make Haldyn come across as an unmounted Troy...

Lilia fares far better in comparison to her competition. She is a healer just like Athol, but has the massive advantage of being the only healer able to promote. Skillwise she gets the Industry skill, which is the equivalent of 3 Thracia movement stars, which helps to mitigate her aweful 4 move, and also the Herb Forager skill, which gives her a 15% chance of getting an herb at the start of every turn (SF main site says that stops at turn 23, which seems kinda random...), which is useful for either gaining money, or simply increasing your supply of healing items. To be fair, Athol is a better healer at base, with skills that match a healer a bit better, but if you bother to train and promote Lilia, she turns out far better, and her skills tend to support people in a different way....

 

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Ah, a bit more of Vestaria Saga humor here, as that is clearly said wrong. I wonder if this from Kaga, or the translation team...

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Also, these are apparently still the Gallachian Bandits. Or at least this group is trying to claim the reputation of the Gallachian Bandits. I thought we were done with those guys, but I guess this is one of those hydra things...alright enough story, onto the map

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With Yaeri immediately wiping out one of the archers, and cantoing out of range of the other

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While Dune draws in a 1-2 range axe thrower, and we learn this is apparently 50 miles in universe, and 1/2 a days ride.

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Yaeri continues to jump these archers before they can become a nuisance, but I make a bit of a boo-boo here

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As I didn't notice this Arbalest here. I keep overlooking these red-hatted arbalests, but this isn't the biggest deal in the world, as Yaeri lives the hit just fine. Although I jumped ahead a little here.

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Haldyn finished the brigand Dune chipped enemy phase

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And his mounted counterpart wipes out another all on his lonesome. We are doing a solid job wiping things out, but I can't actually ignore that archer in the south there, as I need to rout the map before we are done for one of the events here, so I lure him in with Dune.

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Come enemy phase, Libbon the Arbalest manages to miss Yaeri, which makes it fairly safe to

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Wipe out another archer, which happens to be

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inside the Arbalest's range. In fact she is outside all enemy ranges, so I don't think the dodge actually mattered that much. It seems not noticing the Arbalest was a happy little accident.

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Now Jean tries to finish off the one he chipped on enemy phase, but he isn't as lucky here, so

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Dune has to clean it up for him

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This lets Haldyn deal with the other Bandit clogging up the road, so Troy can

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kill this bandit blocking the bridge ahead.

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Finally, this little archer gets to die by Ash's Hurlbrat, as otherwise he could get a free shot on Haldyn. With that done we have cleared out this bottom section of the map, and if I were going to split this map into parts, this would be one of better options, although I decided it is a bit too early into the update for that. The simplicity of this map makes it difficult to split in the same way I did most of the previous maps, as there is one single object, which doesn't change. Basically all of the side objectives come at the very end, and this here is the best physical split of the map, which comes far too early, so I think we will go all the way to the end of the map this time.

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Now the Libbon gets to die by flyer

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Don't sell yourself short Libbon, your bow did a lot better than the other archers she killed before they could even fire off a shot.

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Huh, you know, the flyers in this game don't get the kinda resistance the peg knights do in Fire Emblem, so getting some resistance is kinda interesting in this game.

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Now I didn't Canto her, as she is both out of range here, and can jump that archer in the forest in the north from here. Troy also wipes one Bandit on player phase, and stares into the face of the last one blocking the road. He is also

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drawing the archer into leaving the high ground, letting Haldyn dice him up.

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Now I don't want to wait for the healer to catch up, so he just chugs an herb, as he moves ahead. I also decide not to jump the archer to the north for two reason, first the space she would end up would leave her open to enough attacks she could die, and second with the extra evasion from the forest, I don't even like my odds of killing the archer, so instead I turn my sights towards a different archer

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And I finally have the spare turn to repair the Doyenne.

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Troy continues to dominate, as my infantry very slowly march behind him...Move really is the best stat...

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I also use the high exp gains of the staff of Beatitude to give Lilia a level. There is a bit of a lull here, so I think I will jump to what little action there is

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Like Yaeri taking two turns to take out that archer near the mountains (although she can safely canto back out of range)

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And the Strength levelup she gets when it finally dies.

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And just when I try to draw in this trio of 1-2 range bandits with Troy, we have an event where some enemies appear, so the infantry actually have something to do.

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But with the 1-2 range bandits proving to be rather passive, Troy can still jump the archer.

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Ok, the infantry are still mostly out of range, but the one attack they are close enough to make

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Did manage to get the unlikely kill.

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Although it seems all the luck for the levelup was wasted on the kill.

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Yaeri's simple strength level-up made this little kill far more reliable, and with it she can again

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Canto back into a safe space that is in range of hitting that archer in the woods. With that Hurlbat dead, it makes it far safer to go for that kill next turn.

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At least the infantry saw some solid action on enemy phase. Although that really is a terrible level for Haldyn.

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This is the first time Lilia procced...any of her skills. Actually, I am unlucky enough to not see Industry proc this whole map....

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Now Dune finished off the last of the bandits that spawned directly by the last event, but this also triggered some reinforcements to spawn in the cave in the center, and we need to rout this map to accomplish a side object I want to complete, so I am going to find a way of dealing with these reinforcements. Although there is something that has been turns into the making to deal with first

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Killing this archer, whom drew my ire just after the death of Libbon. The use of Doyenne makes this slightly more reliable, so she should be fine if she kills this guy (although this is also dependent on the AI of those three Hurlbats in the path not suddenly changing their AI as well, as Troy showed them to be passive...)

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Now I am going to have Haldyn sit here, and kill all the reinforcements. A bit wasteful, but somebody has to do it, and he really is the best option. Dune can't counter on enemy phase so he is a bad option; Lilia can;t even attack; Troy and Yaeri would be wasting their move by sitting around dealing with this; Jean has to reach the end of this map for a side objective, so he can't spare the time, and Ash's bond helps Jean along.

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Oddly enough, nothing moved in to attack Yaeri, so she can easily wipe out another archer, and just in case this triggers the hurlbats next to him to move

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Troy can wipe one of them out as well. Although that proved entirely unneccessary, as none of these guys move, and instead just sit there while we kill them

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And Haldyn is advancing a little on the reinforcements. Odd as this sounds, its a bit unfortunate that these aren't ambush spawns, as it means Haldyn can never block up this cave, and prevent reinforcements from coming from it.

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I guess the axe bros can work on killing one of these passive fools

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Although Ash missed the kill

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While Yaeri deals with the other.

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Such a random little sign here, but after the fact, I think its to show the trigger to a very minor event that occurs when that green unit wagon we are supposed to be guarding (but have basically left in our wake) reaches it.

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I guess this is the first time I really noticed, but reinforcements are also coming out of that cave in the north as well, and those seem to be the only enemies in this area that actually move. Although the injured bandit is willing to sit there and kill himself on our axebros come enemy phase.

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And Troy breaks another cutlass, which gives Dune the kill on player phase instead, while

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Yaeri flies up to grab one of the two examinable spots on this map...sigh, now its time to look at the thing that worries me most about the end section of this map.

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This promoted enemy with a 1-2 weapon with a crit rate. I didn't bring the anti-crit ring with me (it was on Zade at the end of last map, and I don't know if I could even access it in the preps screen of this map), so I have to face a small crit chance.

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Troy can take a crit, although not well, but at least that is the only enemy that can target him from here...but continuing a trend of the latter half of this map, he doesn't move.

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Yaeri gets this stat booster from the other examinable object on this map. Also of note, Haldyn has finally exhausted the reinforcements on the central cave, but I don't think he has to move to be relevant for the rest of the map. Well Jean misses the enemy Ash chipped enemy phase, and missed, so Dune cleans it up instead

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Which clears the way for Troy to deal with this immobile Battleaxe that made Yaeri so afraid to attack the archer in the woods.

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Ash also gets some free ranged chip on the mobile enemy, but misses all his hits enemy phase, so Dune cleans up again

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And Troy kills another Battleaxe

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This is a bit awkward, but Troy doesn't actually have enough weapons uses left to kill this guy on enemy phase, so I kinda need some of this Ash chip to kill this guy. Now next turn Yaeri can pass what is left of her cutlass over to him, which will hopefully last the rest of the map...

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...I am keeping Jean out of range for now, but I am starting to feel a bit of a time pressure

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Which wasn't helped by little event as the wagon passes that signpost.

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The new dusk coloring of map helped even less...hopefully enemies stop spawning from the northern cave so that Ash and Dune can support my mounted force.

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OH...I wonder if it was the color change that made them mobile, or if they have a linked AI.

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As it could be either.

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Fortunately this mockery of Amundsen isn't something I will have to deal with on player phase, and with him dead I can reach the far scarier Lubboch

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...he needs to die, but I don't like those odds

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...the worst part about this was having Troy trigger Multichance, and miss the kill three times in a row...oh please die...

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Phew...well that is one problem dealt with, but with the wagon right on my heels, I might have run out of time to access some of the excellent loot hiding at the very end of the map

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This will hurt, but he should be able to li-

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That was kinda lucky.

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And some Agility is a nice enough thing to get on my Axeyboy

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I wonder if that Agility levelup made the difference between doubling, or not here. And to then take all the pressure of time off of me, the bandits must have blocked the path enough that the wagon thought going around was its only option, so it moved backwards.

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In fact, I think I can rout this map this turn, with Troy finishing this one off

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Dune and Ash then work together to wipe out that other named enemy, so that Jean can use his movement after we have routed the map.

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Don't worry, they are already there waiting for you.

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...that is not the kind of levelup you need Ash

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Although I guess this makes it a move levelup for him.

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And like that, the map is routed, causing

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The Hulking man to appear. Getting this hulking man to appear, was why it was so important to rout this map, as he is going to give us a personal weapon. Although routing the map also increases the wagon's move, so you have even less time to get the last minute loot from the map.

AM-JKLXJv47gw9R09SHQ_nruDFHak8AYF610xcem

Thanks to him moving backwards last turn, this is kinda unnecessary, but blocking his movement like this does give me an extra turn to finish things off. Lets start

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by visiting Tasha

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with a certain "Ravishing" gold haired knight

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Who interrupts the poor girl mid fantasy.

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And the poor girl becomes awkwardly tongue tied by his handsomeness.

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The girl is so desperate to give Troy some of her cake...is that innuendo...yes, yes it is.

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And that water cake is a stat booster only Troy can use, and give him +5 max HP.

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Now its time for Jean to earn his personal weapon, with his amazing tree chopping skills.

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It really is a beauty of a weapon. When Jean has it equipped he gets the Industy skill, which gives him a 15% chance of taking another turn, plus he gets a +2 to both defenses. All of this is on top of the 14 might, and 15 crit on it.

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I will also note, this village can't actually be visited, its just where the wagon has to reach to finish the map.

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Despite how horny the dialogue here is, the actual loot is nowhere near as good as Tasha's

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as its just an herb.

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And on the NPC's turn 20

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We finish the map as Maechen reaches the village of Folley.

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And thanks to us bringing Dune, he gets to ask about his past

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Especially the fate of his mother.

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Poor Dune's mother, a refugee to the village of Folley, who died with an infant child, before she could reveal anything about the boy's past.

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Although the Elder Cornelius did take him in, and had his raised as his own in Lucca village, where we met Dune.

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Dune is still trying to unravel the secret of his parentage, and hoping to find the fate of his father as well.

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At least there is one hint towards his past, and as luck would have it, our ridiculous path back to Redessa leads through Solis, for him to investigate further.

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Although Andrew is hinting that his father might be an important Solisian, as one further clue...

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And he even has something Dune can use to prove his parentage, a keepsake from the dead mother he never knew.

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And when Dune finally meets his father, he gets his excellent personal bow, which is a part of what makes Dune so good into the late game.

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Back with the main plot, we have found a map through the impassible mountains

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and its sounds beyond perilous...

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We will see if it happens this run. Last run I didn't end up promoting her to high priestess, but I might this time.

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Now Garlan is promising to get Lilia the future she has dreamed of...

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after we have completed the game of course, which conveniently means we get her as a permanent addition to our army.

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Although I skipped over it, she took Garlan aside before, to ensure this would happen, it was all a part of her plan.

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We have a far happier family departure to Vesta for Lilia, than was had for poor Nina's family...

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Also its funny to see Tasha mentioned...speaking of which, if Lilia visits the house with Tasha before, there is a unique scene, with much worse loot. Admittedly I haven't seen it myself, and with Lilia's 4 move it is kinda difficult to get to it in time, even if you wanted to see it...

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And we finally get the recruitment box for Lilia.

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The contrast between how Lilia's, and Nina's family are taking their daughter going to the island of Vesta is stark...

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And now we hear about how impassible the desert is, after all that talk about the Krall's being impassible...The decision to take this path, instead of the Sphire route just makes less sense, the more you hear about it.

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Think about how much of a reversal it is to have that"foreign" influence saving the sanctity of their republic from an authoritarian local...

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Ritton also fills our coffers with 7000 Denari, which is a nice little chunk of change for us. An excellent little parting gift for our army

 

That was another full chapter done, but it was another little side chapter anyway. I get the funny feeling the next update will be just after Vestaria Saga 2 is out, so have fun with that, and stay safe everyone.

 

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44 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I think Kaga is emphasizing the difference between videogame, and actual violence with this interaction between these two. Ash is coming in with the very videogame violence mentality here, why are you worried it is just a bandit map, and Lilia responds with a starkly real response about the sort of brutal consequences real violence can have.

He probably forgot how scary it is for normal people too after successfully fighting so many of them and just having conquered an impregnable city.

 

44 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Also its funny to see Tasha mentioned...speaking of which, if Lilia visits the house with Tasha before, there is a unique scene, with much worse loot. Admittedly I haven't seen it myself, and with Lilia's 4 move it is kinda difficult to get to it in time, even if you wanted to see it...

You can just block the village with one of your units to get as much time as you want. And if you visit with Troy and then with Lilia you can get both items.

 

44 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

And now we hear about how impassible the desert is, after all that talk about the Krall's being impassible...The decision to take this path, instead of the Sphire route just makes less sense, the more you hear about it.

I don't know, I'd rather deal with small mountains passes and rough deserts than berserk siege tomes and 1-3 range 3x brave tomes when no one has RES other than Merida. Also, having Zade's army march through Sphire when they don't want anyone to cross their borders right now could be considered an act of war. But even if they wanted to let us pass, the empire could see that as support for the Meledans. So the tough route might be a lot less bothersome overall.

Edited by Pépito
Adding the bit about Shire not wanting us.
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On 7/27/2022 at 4:26 AM, Pépito said:

And if you visit with Troy and then with Lilia you can get both items.

You know, I am just so used to villages closing up after you get something from them, I don't think it even crossed my mind that you could get both.

 

On 7/27/2022 at 4:26 AM, Pépito said:

Also, having Zade's army march through Sphire when they don't want anyone to cross their borders right now could be considered an act of war. But even if they wanted to let us pass, the empire could see that as support for the Meledans. So the tough route might be a lot less bothersome overall.

You could probably say the same thing about their little trip through Solis as well. This sort of problem crops up, no matter which nation they pass through.

 

It has been a bit longer than I expected, as I got invited to a surprise camping trip that took up the entire weekend (and the latter half of Friday) but here is the first part of chapter 7

Spoiler

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Now this justification for why we have to take the overland route, I kinda buy, but

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Its the choice of this overland route which I find rather suspect, as they not only had to cross a mountain range, that they were not even certain of there being a pass through, but at the end of it

AL9nZEUZLTHqLOCZoZ189-Rq4T9hBN72BG7PJ6G2

We are going to have to deal with the tortures of a desert map. Further more, storywise they face the same issue as with the Kralls, this is nightmarish terrain to bring an army through, and they don't even know how it will be possible to cross yet...

AL9nZEVooPDLNPHdZyuaZoRVhYcqZvsJ4IHtBMJt

Furthermore, the region between these two bits of nightmare terrain is embroiled in a civil war, which will be the focus of this next arc of the game. Seeing how political turmoil in Sphire is why we aren't passing through there, it seems strange that the political turmoil in Solis doesn't provoke the same response from Garlan, although I suppose a land route around Solis would be a long one...

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It seems this kingdom was never very stable, even before the civil war...

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I rather like this little turn of phrase.

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Now we have the major players of this little civil war so far, the young naive (and questionably competent) rightful heir, his too competent (but also too honorable to claim the throne from his incompetent relatives) uncle intent on pressing his claim, and the usurper.

AL9nZEW0F0iuoQLqnz6s--U38QgOvNnaIPOETSus

Now this was a serious gamble on Gyskhal's part, that probably contributed to the bad position he is in right now. Honoring his commitments to the Vestaria alliance after most of the island abandoned Meleda, almost certainly contributed to his poor situation militarily at the moment, but it is about to pay off thanks to our little army's arrival, and it will pay off even more if we can retake Meleda, as it is bound to strengthen the bonds between Solis and Meleda.

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Now for a map that is half filler, and I am sorry to say it, but this update will just be the filler half.

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...I know they are trying to reference the famously impossible act of Hannibal taking his army over the alps, but this just doesn't land as well without something in the gameplay to emphasize that difficulty, like they do with the desert.

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The first little hint about how sketchy this "revenant" attack is, has got to be this garbage bag cultist here.

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Said with all of the sensationalist energy as "think of the children".

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Alas, Zade is eating this con-mans words up.

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As for my deployment, I end up leaving the Axe bros behind. I did consider bringing them along to trade chain some Morning Star effective damage, but I just couldn't decide on who I should leave behind instead.

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I guess the first half of this map gives us a little taste of what the Sphire route might have been like.

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Interesting that Hedonism has been tied to the land of mages, and lies in such stark contrast to the other branch of magic being a religious order (or I guess two orders, if we add in the Margulites). Then again, I guess the other male Vestal mages don't indicate that chastity is a major virtue to the holy order of mages either.

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I don't think we see any of the vestal magic users follow this creed (other than the Circlet Maidens I guess). I am a bit surprised Kaga didn't try to give us a unit that does follow this sort of creed, like a unit that can't attack on player phase, and only in self-defense on enemy phase.

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This seems like a rather practical, and logical.

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Now I miss the exact line, but Garlan adds more hints that something is off, when he mentions that some think necromancy is done with illusions. Although what most sells the idea that something is simply Wrong with the start of this map is

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The visitable houses.

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They all give this impression that something else is going on here, and

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that we are in the wrong somehow

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I mean this woman just paid us off in fear that we would kill her child. We are being treated like some invading aggressor.

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We also get a major hint that the Revenant Witch in particular is an important part of what is going on here. Also another trash-bag cultist cutting the young Sestra off makes it clear that these guys are covering something up here

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And them giving you an item that makes your units berserk like that is a good thing makes it extra clear that these guys do not have your best interest in mind. I guess I am building up to a little quirk of this map. You don't want to hurt the revenants.

AL9nZEW6b5fCTJcx1bDfQyZb0q-UfUqOONCcgnij

These five at the front are the little formation I have setup to deal with that. Bonacel at the top, then Zayid, Troy and Sheela supported by Prody's Good Neighbor skill, with all of them unequipped but Sheela (that is using the Defense bonus on her personal weapon to reach a defense threshold). You might also note that Dune has hit up the strange shop called the Devotionist. Most of what is there is garbage, and to further hit home that something is off, the trash-bag cultist shop-keeper is perfectly happy to sell you a Ghoul Spear, which is a weapon only demonic units can use, but the one exception to the trash is the Thief's Repeater, which Dune bought a few of. Also, I am actually using the Staff of Beatitude for its effects, instead of for its massive exp gains.

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Zade has to travel over to the other side of this little valley while unequipped to not kill any of the revenats here, and progress the map.

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Although our issue with the Sphire necromancer isn't the only thing going on, as one of our timers for this map is we have to complete it before Thamthir's army can wipe out all of the yurts.

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Although this does emphasize how dire Cyltan/Gyskhal's situation is. We are about to arrive at their last little supply point, as it is being destroyed.

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Also, Cyltan could even be killed here, and these vultures will have no mercy on him.

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Although Tamthir's daughter is a lot less bloodthirsty.

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And there is some clear romantic tension between Jamulan and Neira, despite the clear age difference.

AL9nZEWLP6oCH81zhUEaBWAOUnkl1y4epxiLyzVX

...You know, when I set this whole plan up, I did not notice that this was a magical weapon. It is fine, I have two healers that were just sitting on their thumbs before.

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For now, it is just 2 axemen attacking the yurt, so we have a fair bit of time to work with

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This is a bit of a side effect of how high the defense of my line is, that the ones that hit the physical side of things are chasing Zade, as he has the lowest defense of those within reach.

AL9nZEUukzntWtMR1Jj7rEayW7PmXQQbMAX5FvTV

Meanwhile, with the far more plot relevant half of the map, we are introduced to Aynellia, a secretly more important character than she seems. 

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As she is more than simply Gyskhal's effective (but technically not) wife...

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Honestly, I kinda see both sides of this. Cyltan fighting for his people in these desperate straits will improve his position with his people, strengthening moral, and his legitimacy as a ruler, but if he dies, everything is lost.

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And Aynellia is probably right, he isn't strong enough to solo this kind of force yet, at least not without some creative canto positioning.

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Also, it is a little odd how motherly Aynellia seems in her relation with Cyltan, as I don't think they have that large of an age gap between them...well maybe its just anime face, as I don't remember if they address how old Aynellia is. I will keep an eye out for that.

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Although she did talk Cyltan into hiding...for now.

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Not much happening on this front. When doing this the proper way, its mostly just Zade walking...

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And we have another little event, as the destroyed yurt timer ticks closer to defeat

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And we get a taste of how awful this slaughter is.

AL9nZEWiuqo6bvdy1qIGpZRZO2nl9AqyUqv4Tika

Its things like this that emphasize why simply following orders, isn't a defense against war crimes. Both of these people know exactly how monstrous this act is...

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Neira at least is opposed to the Ordum being monsters

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And takes advantage of her noble privilege to save this child at least

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Although the blondie is rather slow on the uptake.

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The sadness of this little white lie.

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Unfortunately she will spare the children from this conflict no longer

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But at least she takes Jamulan with her.

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It seems that once Zade gets far enough, the revenants start backing off, which gives me a bit of times before the next stage of this conflict, by which I mean, trade everyone that was unequipped their weapons back.

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Huh...this pile of bones was a house before. It almost feels like we raided this house...

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Finally Zade can talk to this Diabolist, and reveal the truth of this map

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It is kinda funny seeing Zade make all these accusations, while the "Diabolist" just makes these muffled noises, until

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The illusion is broken. Although is kinda odd that Zade just assumes someone pretty like Roland can't be a Warlock.

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And he reveals that all the red units were secretly green units

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Although the "self-defense" claim is rather suspect given our unequipped tactics this map.

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Making this "self-defense" claim even more suspect, we aren't the first crew they tried to butcher after falling for the same trap.

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Although perhaps the illusion was influencing the green unit's behavior as well, as Accorte seems to indicate that it did...Something to her...

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And she gets all angry at Zade for walking past her...

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As she was the Revenant Witch this entire time, so sparing her has earned us a new recruit.

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People never seem satisfied with apologies...although to be fair, there are a lot of very insincere apologies out there too.

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Yes, this little section of the map actually was part of Sphire the entire time. Seems we couldn't avoid passing through it, even with this route. Also the way this is phrased makes it sound like the troubles in Sphire have kinda resolved themselves by the time we get here. Seems Garlan's worries may have been a bit outdated.

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And we hear about the atrocities of the Margulites. There is no ambiguity like what Thracia gives to the child hunts, the Margulites just sacrifice maiden, and children like monsters. I guess this is why that lady who gives us the money was so worried about her daughter.

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Yep, they are the classic Kaga cultist, but much more demon based, and what little sympathy/ambiguity about them is removed this time around, as they are super evil.

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Given that the demonic Margulites can just come back to life with enough human sacrifice, it is hard to sympathize with their slaughter much.

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...Ok, dealing with some Margulite demons really would be annoying if we had to take the Spire path.

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And now for the meat of this half of the map, killing the Margulite cultists near the monastery.

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And we even get Accorte right now, although I will wait till next update to talk about her, as she is too far away from the action to do much at this point.

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This dialogue seems to assume we dragged the whole army with us to talk to Roland...I guess I probably could have done that given my setup, but now I can steamroll the Monastary enemies, before doing the same to Tamthir's in the next update.

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It did take Zade a while....

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I don't really see how, as we never killed any of the secret "green" units, or helped with the human sacrifice stuff.

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Now I start by securing the droppable weapon before moving on to the boss, whose death poofs all the Revenants.

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This both kills one of the mages, and gets Sheela in position to support Zayid's effect Morning Star hit

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And I will gladly take a magic level on her.

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The boss has a damage halfing effect, so I will need quite a few people to work on chipping, and its best to start with those that can canto away...

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Sure it is, you crazy culti-

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...Oops. I guess this is a bit a weakness of giving her the Multichance skill, as it kinda slipped my mind that the +6 Agl gave her such a good chance of proccing it on every hit she makes (which is what she needed to do to break it like this, as it was at 7 uses...). In retrospect, I should have chipped him with Zayid's Morning Star first, that way he didn't have enough health for her to break the Dandelion, but hindsight is 20-20

Well now that he is almost dead I can

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Give this kill to Haldyn with perfect accuracy

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And he is probably right, as the Margulite's demon forms can revive when given enough human sacrifices (although I don't remember this one specifically reappearing in this game).

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Those really aren't the kind of stats he needs.

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And I am glad we don't have to fight his demon version now, as they are obnoxious to deal with.

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Since I didn't need this to chip I boss, I can instead wipe out the one effective against cavs,

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And Troy can do the same to the one that is effective against infantry

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And there goes the last of the combat units. The two mages in burgundy are healer, and becuase they will never reach the rest of the map in time, Prody and Bonacel will spend the rest of the map chipping these two, and letting them heal themselves to earn more exp. A little gimmicky I know, but they need something to do for the rest of the map.

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Accorte also has alternate dialogue with all these houses, which I might as well get while we pass through. Thanks to us not killing any of the "Revenants" at the beginning, he will, and we will get some minor loot thanks to that.

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The houses at the start also have new dialogue for us, which I have the time to get, although its mostly just people being glad

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we saw through the illusion, and plan on dealing with these monsters

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and concern over the REAL abbot. Also note that the house that turned into bones, is back to being a house again. Although we don't get any more loot from any of these houses, just the well wishing.

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The villagers really care for their lord's daughter it seems.

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At least they acknowledge how we held back on killing those deceptive revenants here.

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...Ok this feels a little like stealing, especially with it being such a mundane item.

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Its interesting to note that the massive volcano/mountains block our flyer from crossing over to the other front all that easily. Probably done for timing reasons, and to make sure we don't break any story based events up there using them.

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Yeah, there is still a lot of walking ahead of us to deal with the other half of the map

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And we are still on that dead yurt timer, but

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For once I have learned my lesson. Things started going horribly after I thought 10 turns wasn't enough map for an update, even though I reached the natural break point in the map I was striving for, and we are in the exact same position here. I took a break in the map here while playing, and it only makes sense to do so with the update as well. See you all next time for when we finish off this little map here.

Whew, that took longer to write out than I expected, as I guess I am still a bit fatigued from the camping trip. Have fun, and stay safe everyone, and soon enough I will have the next update for you all.

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3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

You could probably say the same thing about their little trip through Solis as well. This sort of problem crops up, no matter which nation they pass through.

Yeah but Meleda has better relations with some influential people in Solis like Gyskhal.

 

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Now for a map that is half filler, and I am sorry to say it, but this update will just be the filler half.

Well, it does give us a proper introduction to the margulites.

 

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I don't think we see any of the vestal magic users follow this creed (other than the Circlet Maidens I guess). I am a bit surprised Kaga didn't try to give us a unit that does follow this sort of creed, like a unit that can't attack on player phase, and only in self-defense on enemy phase.

It is supposed to be represented by holy magic cutting damage in half and granting defensive skills (regenesis, first blood) as well as being extremely rare, so not a good offensive mainstay. But having some sort of pacifist unit would be nice.

 

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Also, it is a little odd how motherly Aynellia seems in her relation with Cyltan, as I don't think they have that large of an age gap between them...well maybe its just anime face, as I don't remember if they address how old Aynellia is. I will keep an eye out for that.

I think we learn later that she is in her thirties or something, so over twice Cyltan's age.

 

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Huh...this pile of bones was a house before. It almost feels like we raided this house...

If you let the skeletons get to the houses, they get destroyed.

 

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The illusion is broken. Although is kinda odd that Zade just assumes someone pretty like Roland can't be a Warlock.

If you look good you must be good. We play by disney rules here.

 

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

...Oops. I guess this is a bit a weakness of giving her the Multichance skill, as it kinda slipped my mind that the +6 Agl gave her such a good chance of proccing it on every hit she makes (which is what she needed to do to break it like this, as it was at 7 uses...). In retrospect, I should have chipped him with Zayid's Morning Star first, that way he didn't have enough health for her to break the Dandelion, but hindsight is 20-20

She still has the magic swords but this is really bad. Losing an amazing weapon that also helps her grow better that soon will definitely make the game harder. Better pray she gets strength blessed.

 

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

And he is probably right, as the Margulite's demon forms can revive when given enough human sacrifices (although I don't remember this one specifically reappearing in this game).

I don't think we see him again. The one we see again and again is the one from chapter 11.

 

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Also note that the house that turned into bones, is back to being a house again. Although we don't get any more loot from any of these houses, just the well wishing.

That's weird. I guess having the skeletons destroy the houses is just part of the illusion.

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19 hours ago, Pépito said:

If you let the skeletons get to the houses, they get destroyed.

I didn't let them reach the houses, Troy was sitting on that space since he visited it, specifically so they couldn't reach it.

 

19 hours ago, Pépito said:

If you look good you must be good. We play by disney rules here.

I don't know, Valerius is a bit too pretty to be a villain by Disney logic, and he is the worst guy of all.

 

19 hours ago, Pépito said:

I don't think we see him again. The one we see again and again is the one from chapter 11.

I remember him showing up twice, but there are a couple other demon form enemies that show up, and I will keep an eye out to see if any have a familiar name.

 

On 8/3/2022 at 7:20 AM, Pépito said:

She still has the magic swords but this is really bad. Losing an amazing weapon that also helps her grow better that soon will definitely make the game harder. Better pray she gets strength blessed.

Eh, the growth rate bonus is kinda minor, only a point or two on average in the long run, Although that is a really nice weapon to loss thanks to that AGL bonus on it, and the brave effect (although I find the effective damage bonus is usually worse than just using a magic weapon).

 

Spoiler

When last we left off, I had completed the mandatory half of this map, with an optional half left to complete.

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I will do my best to keep her alive generic Girl, but this is an ironman, so who knows.

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Funnily enough, I think it will serve him well, as a high use generic sword. Although this is the last one I will have Zade grab, the rest of the army can grab the last one on the way through. Now lets jump past a bit of walking, to the next notable thing,

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the special powers of the scale house, which give the character that visits it an extra turn afterward, which slightly mitigates how difficult it is to cross the bridge.

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Its ironic how he says this to the only character that didn't actually cross those mountains

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Really this is just the turn for house visits it seems, as we reach the last of those houses in the Sphire half of the map with a Lilia that has procced a few extra turns of industry to reach here.

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Prody also gets his first level grinding against the healers, with some nice defense on there. All of this tiny amount of excitement on the same turn. Also the Axemen have been really splitting their attacks on the yurts, as the keep moving on before finishing the job on any of them.

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Just wanted to emphasize that the girl with the scales has different dialogue for the ladies.

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My first troops are getting close to the axemen. They are usually too distracted by the yurts to attack anyone, so I still have time to get more of my other troops in position first.

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Honestly, this is probably about one turn too early to start chipping, but this has been a lot of walking around, and I want a little action. This should trigger the enemies to rush in the enemy turn after this one (unless he double crits I guess), as they only start moving after I kill one of these guys, and they have already shown they wont attack Zade over the yurts, so I can have him chip the other to make easier kills for the two ladies next turn.

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Given what we learn about the old Khar latter on, I am not surprised there was an uprising.

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This is a bit of a biased source, but I wonder how Thamthir justifies him claiming the throne. She makes it sounds like he is just a usurper, claiming the authority of an unjust conqueror, but even William the Conqueror started with a claim to his own to the English throne.

AL9nZEXDjy9BCbPPkV29mKxlwKHhMszOvyDsK4DZ

In a way you can see this as both a weakness, and strength to Gyskhal's character. Gyskhal shows himself to be more competent than the brother that was overthrown, and Cyltan at the start of this whole civil war. If Gyskhal had claimed throne for himself, I think she is right, he would have an easier time claiming it, as he can rely on his own reputation to unite more tribes than Cyltan can, and reduce the misery of this war by shortening it, or if he had claimed the throne from his brother instead of Thamthir, thing may not have spiraled into civil war to begin with.

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Meow indeed.

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Yeah I should have waited another turn to get more troops into position, but Merida should be in abo-

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Well that is a valuable bit of AI behavior to learn with just a single axemen in range that can't actually kill Accorte. I remember these guys being so obsessed with killing yurts, that I didn't really expect this, especially after seeing them ignoring both Zade and Yaeri last turn. I guess I didn't check the yurt's stats, perhaps they have a higher defense than her or something, but this does mean

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that these enemies start moving a turn earlier than I expected, and I was already starting this a turn earlier than I should have...sigh whelp, this could have gone worse, but it isn't a great position to be in, all thanks my own haste.

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Glad I bought these on the siege map.

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I probably should feed this kill to her, but

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Zade might need that health latter in the map, as there are a lot of cavs coming there way, and my units are not in a great position to distract them.

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On a lighter note, Bonacel gets a kinda disappointing levelup, but I need to do something in the steppes...

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She should be able to cross the river next round if things go poorly here, but

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I kinda expected this, but I was hoping I was wrong about enemy turn order, and that the yurt would die before all of the ones in melee range of her attacked it.

AL9nZEXjpwxT2S-PiXNPqwH-zA_i1VuGjE3mILsu

Sigh, it had to be a cutlass and composite bow group that pulled ahead like this didn't it. This might be a mistake, as if they focus on Merida she has a chance of death, but I am hoping that effective damage will draw the archer into attacking Yaeri, and I need to deal with some of these guys, so the group as a whole is more manageable, but

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she ends up getting one of the three dodged she needed instead (saved if for the last one too just to make it tense).

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Technically this yurt dies before that, but it worked better narratively this way. Also of note, the boss has put himself exactly one space out of Zade's deletion range. I am a bit glad he didn't tempt me to try that.

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Fortunately an extra archer got within kill range, which helps a fair bit, and

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There go three of them in that little dangerous maneuver.

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Well I moved Zade out of the bosses range not to tempt fate, and Accorte can take the one coming his way (the ranged cavs have one less move than the melee ones). On the other side Troy

AL9nZEVJOXXoRKMNbF0wDG6LsJ9nX8LHtylFVHCA

Enemy phases one of the cutlasses easily, and can live the boss's hit (if he went for it). He even gets extra survivability just in case.

AL9nZEWmyusLTacHIuGfSBuq5pwy0cbGv2vtfVOeAL9nZEV3QVK2F5lOTvJqYK8VKQqnbq-ml1cLPZ9P

Not sure why he got a battle quote for killing this yurt, and not the last one, but he has utterly wasted his action

AL9nZEVZ94IX8joek2eWywclEiJD1J6GT69iS3IN

Then Accorte dodged an 80 from the scimitar cav. The scimitar cavs are utterly embarrassing when their weapon is inferior in every single way to the cutlass ones that ride right beside them.

AL9nZEWQxTobyxc8q0aLySh2H-l6tauacRWH9tSX

...of course she gets a blank levelup. I guess she wasted all her luck on that dodge she didn't need.

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Second turn in a row this boss has stayed one space outside of Zade's range of wrath... oh well, I have a much more interesting plan for him, which you might have noticed from last turn.

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Unless he wants to die by Zade like this poor fool

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This is what I meant, I can put Sheela into the edge of his range, while chipping this guy just enough to

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Let Merida go for the 100 accurate kill

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After trade-switching Sheela to a weapon that can better deal with the boss on enemy phase.

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Meanwhile my armor knights have been grinding up on the healers this entire time, and Prody gets an excellent level off of this.

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I also finally find the time to visit this last house for this cougar of a comment.

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And she is clearly a fan of growth units. Nice to get this warning now, before we get him.

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Too bad she doesn't mean dancer in the fire emblem way, but I guess she is a fairly useful unit when you finally do get her.

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Time for the boss, last enemy on the map (other than those healer I guess), to pick who will kill him, and he chose

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He has chose a quick enemy phase death.

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But I guess he enjoyed toying with me this map.

AL9nZEVvWoTZfJQHDa3WIZ3QeM3FdGz3eKntDI-Z

...Shrug, crit avoid is underappreciated, but a bit of extra Str, Mag, or Def would be nice for her.

AL9nZEWQh4GlAoGAWnS4VgKxxOeEpuCs-o1eFO0u

Well one turn before 20, and all that is left is a long walk ahead of us. Well there is a little bit of stuff before we are done, like

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A Lilia levelup

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grabbing this status healing leaf

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Getting another repair stone from a chest, and of course

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more defense levels on my armored knights.

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I could technically clear now, but those healers are technically still alive (I have let them heal each-other up till their staves broke, and missed a few times)

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And killing them gets Prody a nice Str levelup

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And Bonacel some spare change.

AL9nZEVqoCW6i0LjhHmmvuKNsq0c-b7pIqAWJrKq

So we seize on turn 31. Honestly, I didn't handle this map very well, breaking the Dandellion by accident in the first half, and playing way too dangerously in the second. Perhaps I should have just taken the earlier seize instead of fighting the other half of the map, but that would have certainly lost me the Siurian Thaumite at least...

AL9nZEWVj9_a6HfGNrj6Seb5x8KYyKWOZ1bQcK7I

Perhaps I shouldn't have left them trapped there for an extra half of a map like this for story reasons as well...

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Now to meet the real abbot, instead of the illusory Margulite

AL9nZEWh6NL6nVBnuRCI6T-b1QSo5ybEpq8h7Wp_

...Oof, that is a nasty bit of punishment there. Also Garland pointing out that the monsters that did this probably thought it was karmic justice is extra nasty.

AL9nZEXTqGQCACXqBH5jy5LdSGRkoqXoVwkSfCzn

Thankfully this is a magical world where such disfiguring injuries aren't as permanent as they are in our world.

AL9nZEWCw9jRVLjOzlZMXNCWJPDOYFqcMijTIZLw

Tamthir's raiding party was routed by us this time, and Cyltan didn't even take the field...

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At least this scene acknowledges our deeds there.

AL9nZEXg1oA9LwV4CSkNwbWkPOyDzBsAopXPOV-g

Ouch, harsh words from Hoelun there.

AL9nZEXDY0tHAi_VhasztOKM3h0ch74n80k7wdEM

Hearing about Zech talking well of Zade reminds me of one of that little conversation between Prody, and Bonacel on the very first map of this game. Zech seems so certain that Zade would be a success in military matters, and hopefully I can help see him fulfill that hope.

AL9nZEXMzTdAlC7xAZQJFQMznOQnkdzyWPhfqea7

Shots fired, from the coward who sat in his great yurt during that last attack.

AL9nZEVnJIjzjAAvhrVDN9UUBOyB9rUVWg2z61wb

You shut that embarrassing gossip down Gyskhal.

AL9nZEWLnu5Fp6vVJFrPINHqVF2YN6GJN40NQHSk

You would think Cyltan would see the similarity between Zade's position, and the one Aynellia put him in this chapter...

AL9nZEUK--fR8DHXtS81jVWYQANwEzh9E7nyltcD

Gyskhal is really playing up his relationship with Zech for Zade. I wonder how performative it might be...

AL9nZEWI0LYoZiEPJDkc2qwGRxIVdjt3tE89xNy8

At least he knows to apologize when he is in the wrong, instead of trying to double down like an idiot.

AL9nZEWmPwmnGZoVSO9Un541o9bW6Nzx9ZWXG-fg

It is interesting to see this brought up now, as they state a few times latter on that this was part of the problem with the poor rule of the older kings of both Solis, and Meleda, that they didn't know enough of the world to form an opinion of their own, and ended up believing poor council. I guess they are priming Cyltan for becoming a better ruler, by following us whole game long.

AL9nZEWefKJDeT_DRVXj-WM-SvCJjReT-dAbn-h6

Sadly, Hoelun doesn't earn her spot in these council meeting until her solo map.

AL9nZEVyjyDLRNxAYqvs_miXNMjVv-Lpae_0H6CO

Ah yes, taking a Ward as a hostage. That is a heavy handed way to try and maintain control, and really shows how little trust the old Khar had for the ~

AL9nZEVWigO55vL-XH8uRy8yqszbIlT9S_mdSSJI

And it seems that the old Khar was a garbage parent to her (and lets be honest, probably both of them). Gyskhal really did just try to clean up after his incompetent brother's messes, instead fixing the problem at the source...

AL9nZEV97xpLh9tiKdYvfcwvWBXaY43owWkuJ29S

Cyltan really is a kid isn't he...

AL9nZEWqgIixwKVRmza5NL4ltJSqi5L-eF9olYkc

This is a small detail, but having her dialogue move closer to his implies them coming physically closer together, similar to some of the things they did with the old head sprites on the GBA, which I kinda appreciate.

AL9nZEWXgiDFOjYqds2uccMtUybx0N18Za3SYLIk

Don't worry Gyskhal, as soon as I get ahold of it, I will use it plenty.

AL9nZEU7h8pRlONrZ_JEMmgr_dxWXltmV-1QBLuO

They really had Hoelun awkwardly staring Athol...

AL9nZEXcBuz4h9GkUrYU22tDc4nBn_evVJWQDULC

They really are cementing Cyltan as a gossip (especially of things he shouldn't talk about) as one of his key character traits.

AL9nZEUkTx9UUhCurysCGFVRwCaXACIKeKIjsi2G

Arranged marriages in media always come across especially weird after the story of a friend from college, whose family come from Sri Lanka. He ended up walking in on his parents discussing the marriage they arranged for his brother, and was too afraid to ask about if they had arranged one for him as well.

AL9nZEXSIIvEH_I0SSWHtVzTUqdWm1ig8zYTn-6J

Poor Cyltan, having to deal with that half-best friend, half-worst enemy relationship of siblings, with the person everyone expected you to marry...

AL9nZEWtzq67lMIWgqK2kBSe10I0_yHb-2i02LPX

He has had a few levels to gain some iron abs for defense 😛

AL9nZEWneRgdgE8jMBVqXkD3bnzq0iZzOgcV7njr

I have skipped past most of it, but Athol and Zade have been forming a very awkward relationship between them, that Zade is extremely (probably willfully) oblivious to...

AL9nZEVjTuqUsoGmlmENzH6QPrSQD8ATjwEtuARe

But these two do manage to start forming a friendship, which Athol in particular almost certainly needed. Poor girl has been desperately lonely this whole game through.

AL9nZEU6mK_4VaYb-7laOI7qccpTRuWajGptAkY-

What is this scenery? There are like 4 moons, and extremely scifi partially seen structures...Also it is fitting she describes it as past tense, as quite a few of the circlet maidens are wandering around right now (herself included).

AL9nZEXXdRMEWEFUvdYeaUXUdevb8_WZD36naaVr

Hmm, I guess that is a good explanation for why so many magic rings are around in this game.

AL9nZEVNCrsPEEheJbZpGwziAVqbQQxT4s-ELGAu

Did she listen to Athol's story about how they are all SUPPOSED to be living in the circlet tower. It didn't really sound like a way to be free.

AL9nZEX9ZRvFbF6h1C1Bl_JUAzVmLVDsVFL_5oq0

Also Accorte and Zade apologize to eachother for real, and

AL9nZEUS3u6Qx135mzpOSAMxwkYbF7_Hwnp1aYZM

This is just the chapter for young ladies to fawn over Zade and his iron abs.

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Of course we have the worst possible path through this conflict possible...

AL9nZEVg9MPTZYs3RBRVQxPbDPovJwYAEg3bSFEw

...sigh, I guess if we took a logical path to Meleda, there wouldn't be a game.

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Plus stabilizing Meleda's neighbor, and the close ties this mutual military aid will certainly forge will have some long term benefits for the kingdom anyway.

AL9nZEUDrDTf-4wclb29qkjrZ3PMs6ewghfVrQUx

And we have another map full of those cavs and axemen to deal with next map, with us still on the defensive

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They really are bickering like siblings, but Gyskhal is right, quiet you two, I need to rap this up.

AL9nZEXRTl9DLaA3mixGZIUpDglbMlcgZMpKBl21

Of course we will be taking the lead, as Gyshkal's forces are far more depleted by this conflict than our own. Plus we are the player controlled units

AL9nZEW1Vnv7z1GrKjHTY8grdphLkhg0uaFPuTDM

Although trying for the optional boss kill ending sounds like a good idea to me,

AL9nZEVc7Ow0isu0cS0tNPzFMDZ3_9meuKVP2wLy

And we have to babysit a moronically green Cyltan next map as well.

AL9nZEWOWYSwT72R0WzOl-LUYkxmEE7HaR0eZSaA

Fortunately she will abandon this duty to join our forces instead next map, but I think most of these allies will end up doing that next map, just as useless green units instead

 

Well that was a bit short, but this month has proved more busy than last month. I will try to get at least one chapter out a week, but int the meantime, take care, and stay safe everyone.

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49 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I didn't let them reach the houses, Troy was sitting on that space since he visited it, specifically so they couldn't reach it.

That's weird...

 

50 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I don't know, Valerius is a bit too pretty to be a villain by Disney logic, and he is the worst guy of all.

Nah, there is way worse than him in this game. But he does look pretty good.

 

51 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I remember him showing up twice, but there are a couple other demon form enemies that show up, and I will keep an eye out to see if any have a familiar name.

He shows up three times and another one shows up twice but I think that's it.

 

54 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

This is a bit of a biased source, but I wonder how Thamthir justifies him claiming the throne. She makes it sounds like he is just a usurper, claiming the authority of an unjust conqueror, but even William the Conqueror started with a claim to his own to the English throne.

I think he just says that Halym was a tyrant and that he overthrew him to better the lives of the people. And from what we hear of Halym, he may actually be better than him.

 

57 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

ell that is a valuable bit of AI behavior to learn with just a single axemen in range that can't actually kill Accorte. I remember these guys being so obsessed with killing yurts, that I didn't really expect this, especially after seeing them ignoring both Zade and Yaeri last turn. I guess I didn't check the yurt's stats, perhaps they have a higher defense than her or something, but this does mean

They attack the yurts over your units only as long as you don't attack them I think.

 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

So we seize on turn 31. Honestly, I didn't handle this map very well, breaking the Dandellion by accident in the first half, and playing way too dangerously in the second. Perhaps I should have just taken the earlier seize instead of fighting the other half of the map, but that would have certainly lost me the Siurian Thaumite at least...

If you seize before clearing the top part of the map, I'm pretty sure it just sends you there anyways. It isn't actually optional.

 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Thankfully this is a magical world where such disfiguring injuries aren't as permanent as they are in our world.

If a powerful mage like Roland only "may" restore his eyesight then these injuries are permanent for 99,99% of people.

 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Shots fired, from the coward who sat in his great yurt during that last attack.

To be fair, he wanted to ride out.

 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

You would think Cyltan would see the similarity between Zade's position, and the one Aynellia put him in this chapter...

Cyltan will learn self-reflection in a few chapters thankfully.

 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Ah yes, taking a Ward as a hostage. That is a heavy handed way to try and maintain control, and really shows how little trust the old Khar had for the

While it is horrible for the ward, it is also a pretty bloodless way to ensure no more rebellions spring up. Definitely better than razing villages to the ground and the like.

 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Poor Cyltan, having to deal with that half-best friend, half-worst enemy relationship of siblings, with the person everyone expected you to marry...

Having to marry a bratty younger sibling sounds worse than hell...

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Although trying for the optional boss kill ending sounds like a good idea to me,

Don't mess this up like I did.

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On 8/6/2022 at 6:24 AM, Pépito said:

They attack the yurts over your units only as long as you don't attack them I think.

I am not so sure, those enemies seem really attracted to yurts, unless you lure them with particularly squishy units, which makes me think it is a defensive threshold thing going on...

 

On 8/6/2022 at 6:24 AM, Pépito said:

If you seize before clearing the top part of the map, I'm pretty sure it just sends you there anyways. It isn't actually optional.

Ah, I seem to remember hearing about there being alternative ending dialogue if you haven't wiped out the enemies up there, although I haven't ever tried to go for it myself. Honestly it sounds difficult to get, if you have to trek up in that direction with Zade anyway.

 

Spoiler

AL9nZEXxwUyYwnuCBOCrecWylOtghgGzehlk4tmz

Stubborn fool is going to insist on being a green unit...

AL9nZEWYPvGkPFH0UP1S9sQkwE86Xk5s7qQNDSxx

And the fool thinks he is ready to solo this map, by just sitting on a tree. Now if he has a 1-2 range weapon that wouldn't be an impossible task for him, but he is stuck with 2 range. At least he isn't suicidally charging in, and instead is ready to let us protect him.

AL9nZEVlHEfUb0sKzOnSzFHC6kdngsPP8SYhdOCv

Hoelun on the other hand, is perfectly happy to become a blue unit right now, and actually will get to practically solo a map for her people...

AL9nZEVCzZNxB17Aqp71LLmeyn6E3F_M_fGC_Sqh

I do appreciate this little warning about the ambush spawns. I wonder if people would hate ambush spawns less if they got this kinda warning about them in Fire Emblem games.

AL9nZEU2HW5_4yM7JW0iJUky7-kLMHwqrwOo4Ykd

And I literally have more deployment slots than I do units, so everyone gets to join in on the fun.

AL9nZEVgEjSNXYmcTfBdYbTOm49TvYr3YO3wYLWw

The only big thing deployment wise, is I make sure my cavs are to the front and south, and my armor knights are as close to Cyltan as they can be (as they will be his primary guardians).

AL9nZEWFtpg51T0Q7zD4ApaWHePiKGVUbyEfUqlH

Good luck dealing with Gyskhal, as he is a beast, but if you could actually reach Cyltan he would be in trouble. Too bad both of you are stationary.

AL9nZEWUdrBQQLadBV-wGlAzgQRaPKQzBPoxMdjL

Most of the visitable yurts give you nothing, but failed offers of tea. As a fan of tea, I will visit them all, and be sorely disappointed.

AL9nZEWt_dhvypvMG-g4y1-klcJJM7y_2ZWauVia

Although this one is spilling the tea with some hot gossip.

AL9nZEVHqqdQjrL68kRL1MZ1OGwmfhSU1ZG2-j-I

How bi of you to say so old man.

AL9nZEVGIM88ygUmP4BrisC2S1pVKtcwrmkEFOUY

Yeah, this is the only one to give us an actual item for our trouble.

AL9nZEVa3TQg05zGGbA7fBqWDPK4DbSfMkyy-sMq

The most interesting thing on this first turn is getting Troy in position to enemy phase one of them.

AL9nZEV17ccYaGnAJh3ZK_tvnu9XKtzjpxKIQuS4

It is nice how accurate this is, and now

AL9nZEVQPfPFEureytGqY6X1aGuqwutMJ_acWDWG

In a bit of poor planning, I needed to grab the Phalanx spear over. Then again the difference between some enemies being able to do 1 damage to Prody, and all of them doing 0 is kinda minor.

AL9nZEVSGOpqhJ3FgWZQJtiDcHfh5CGpDktUQEaf

...seems it is the wrong time for tea from these houses. The other one is just for an event with Zade, which I don't plan on using.

AL9nZEXsQVJaRwymtJyNX-vH2p2lALGJ8Xznval0

Now with the group that is going to press forward, Zade chips one for

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The Dune kill, and

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Sheela kills another

AL9nZEXdNiVJtH1y6bk8bOAzuXUH5CJjyMRv465h

With Merida leveling while killing the last, for a nice defense levelup she could use. But I did make a tiny bit of a goof here, as

AL9nZEXSs93MKC8weXTEWdalT6R3NgKD3G-J_Rc2

I forgot to account for the ones I was expecting to attack the armored knights being in range of Sheela

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So I had Troy spending his action to grab

AL9nZEUi6ONYKqTbNggwbL693OOlL5VNR3xtWfVG

and repair the 1 use Soaring Flame, before it can break on enemy phase. Too bad I can't trade it back onto her yet. Now Sheela did take a hard hit while killing the one with a ranged attack

AL9nZEVNAl--BqOKXIazH-R8kOJM7kl07zIBBOox

So Lilia gets this level while healing her from range.

AL9nZEU7yHcQVQ7AI7lJcYBcg4YbW6HThmNPG35A

Bonacel also gets a kill on his front, but the horses charging make me feel uncomfortable enough

AL9nZEUOOHEvnPZwKi4ZrQHv_3HNYk5LeQD_LVSR

That I only leave my high defense units in range, and most of them on a forest for some dodge tanking potential as well. I think we will have enough fire power to wipe these guys out on player phase, although that plan gets a little complicated by the yurts drawing some of these guys instead of my units...

AL9nZEWeL9Gs-DVcAgHyST28u21jHoo_6eor7UuP

And we get another blue unit, and a powerful green unit to help out.

AL9nZEVotHE4PUGWPTQ9fOrCSTv1oBpNP8TOYM_S

Given this game making it clear that each unit is implied to be the leader of an unseen larger force, I wonder how many fighters Roland represents.

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Seeing as it was us that helped him out, its appro-

AL9nZEVnszu33hhaZBYslZ6aH4tklBIfOBuSpQ39

Huh, so he is here to help us out. How nice. Although he isn't close enough to help with our very immediate problem

AL9nZEVBG9RArEvYlx8SSjQHmPL9v-EgYkP7L5k3

So Prody finishes the one that pointlessly attacked him last turn. Ash misses one

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Jean uses his awsome personal weapon to wipe another, and

AL9nZEVlPeA3SapiMY_4qc3BaMw2H2iV_56ks_H5

Haldyn crushes the one Ash missed.

AL9nZEXmq5RgwfJDk4SzN8AuMZUgcvCAnvS_yr5C

Merida uses her high movement to reach one of the ones further back,

AL9nZEVdaSvx6uKJV6k6qK3ocF7bIWMwQvxs50gt

Theo gets halfway to clearing the path for Troy to reach the one furthest back

AL9nZEUBMt2wOV-oc9yO7GGQkmjPE7A951MSAegX

Honestly, some of these guys are a bit hard to reach, so Yaeri Doyenne's this one at the edge of her range.

AL9nZEV7ZwYRvkePdlIOUjuAhD0OYV-tb_RA3CIb

Then Cezar manages to contribute thanks to the ludicrous number of attacks of the Starfall dagger, which clears the way for

AL9nZEVBYeuJR_8Kd1jJYBysIIoqD4UmDVcgSedg

Troy to wipe out the furthest one.

AL9nZEUX0uLxuPC04ehwJyfZJYx2HnLE42q3zfdp

I should have given another ranged axed, but this will do in a pinch.

AL9nZEUQqryisxA2_HU-QO0hayXu6YASUfTvTQul

This feels kinda wasteful, but I wanted the accuracy on this kill, as he can threaten some of my troops attacking the cavalry.

AL9nZEVhQTNkuQkj5sYijgKltDzj0b-sCXUiqRRK

Hard to complain about that kind of levelup

AL9nZEW4G68bSMgL84KU1q_3PFFuVvT5u7eqBFPr

That deals with another, but it is kinda clear that I am going to have to leave one of these guys alive as

AL9nZEV3_-iR3zNCkqMpkpA8eSITO4GP0qmatEnn

Sheela can't get the one-shot here,

AL9nZEUyOIGFNoB6BCCJKwrjz8u8bkIkLx-2tFnW

so Dune has to cleanup

AL9nZEXjauXF3eEINjPYl6zrUrd-eGlUpisy_A3a

For a level

AL9nZEXxivZP0DP5aPUTeL_9CzvzzrFVYjnYbC3J

I also pass Accorte another tome, in case I can afford to spare the Nashorne on this map. I had planned on Hoelun passing this off, as I was not expecting Accorte to catch up to the convoy, with her late arrival here, and I wasn't sure if her temporary disappearance would mess with her inventory, if I left it with Accorte at the end of last map.

AL9nZEVoX491uh3OXDYU4v5vWlVvbk8u4ftqAHOs

Unfortunately one of the cav has kinda free reign to attack most of my units, but alone it can't do much, and the invincible armors are distracting all the axemen.

AL9nZEW268nMDQY81os8_kLCBM2Hi0n7g8M7nhm7

And Prody even manages to level form this distracting action. As for the cav, he attacked the yurt behind Cyltan

AL9nZEULJQXNpCFdT7JV9iM3kHB5-yjM1J6aOywh

Which lets him waste some of the Am Solim chipping this guy down

AL9nZEV22XUxVhPZEb8EjN0f9DjALfLN9uEiUJYM

for an easy Haldyn kill.

AL9nZEXD6Y_9_xZVNoIzuZ331XM5Wa-NyzIQo8XB

Time to wipe out the rest of the starter enemies

AL9nZEWbHqE0a2bE7LP2L0prpt3jwtVYtUig_jlU

This is a little risky, but Prody just missed this kill, and I have enough units that I can still wipe these guys out, but it will delay the main press if I have to resort to bringing one of my mounted units into this.

AL9nZEXjRBjadkdvFeeH0coRj96SVOBiGOEfLphv

But neither of these miss...although I guess Dune is going to have to play a little catchup, as I planned on him being one of the ones in the main press.

AL9nZEVgjGUAKfLWIJM2jX3Qu6c_6gsmf-2qpe4Q

Although I wasn't planning on sending Houlen that direction, so she has the time to awkwardly flirt with the worst possible partner for her. Such the teenager move.

AL9nZEVXcNWzyp52X0mqNRGSgtwZPTfoz9hADhM_

Back at the battle, I lead with my defensive units again, to draw in the first wave of reinforcements heading our way.

AL9nZEUo65n7h4pHCdu9qdf0lJn9e1ExaCkYbuRp

Zade also grows more aggressive on this enemy phase levelup. I also get a little luck on the industry proc from Lilia, so Zade gets a real heal, instead of chugging another herb.

AL9nZEWUdy8txUBlvVIJxVWdvXsEGRttlDaXrwDL

I then let Theo chip one to

AL9nZEXiith3l_qGfNrKID8TXhvGD1rRYCNNjMC1

So Sheela can get a Rambling Rose kill

AL9nZEUJsaz8slHcZj-9GjEEMjERTmZoakorzVX8

I was kinda hoping she would get some HP with the bonus growth rate, but I can't seriously complain about this levelup, especially when

AL9nZEVtCs7Ja7G22sLd71rzByGilkqacAHJw8Iu

It earned her the Flurry skill.

AL9nZEWi5yzQRbjvYxwblGj5DXcDh9fc5bFrA1LZ

There goes the last of those enemies, and we can start pressing forward.

AL9nZEWxgajTo7wNqOx_w74dRMhjpb4epzm-7FyK

Although Troy needed an herb popping session first. You also might notice that he is holding the damage halving Iron Duke, I plan on using that to help him survive certain encounters ahead of us...

AL9nZEXN_cmt_lPaaqwrMsfexI4hfamJp-NZAniu

I think you can see my army split fairly well here, although poor Dune is struggling to keep up after helping out the other Lucca troops from before.

AL9nZEUi5rDUmjpR0kzgpUPMrfMK5a1PZLvLHy6i

Although here comes the next round of reinforcements

AL9nZEUbDw_JTJC1Uua70NfutsP3cxMqXyQYwukL

And they make a bit of an awkward split for my amry to deal with, but first I grab what is probably the best stat booster in the game.

AL9nZEWQd5sdkhKUP-0Cbkmr3lVWdJOljCZsmZBl

As for the split, I have Zade choke one point, while Troy does what he can to block the others, and I am going to try and get him to kill as many as he can on enemy phase as well.

AL9nZEXmwQH5kEDZHfpUeE0BQZR5k9u3Yki8W1Pr

Merida having to do some item management with Zade unfortunately leaves her in range of a ranged attack, but oh well.

AL9nZEXluQgSyb0ckolVBU3V6mTyM23VLPMxN9aA

Aynellia is shown to be right for the rather practical reason that Gyskhal is too far away to seriously help Zade, but is definitely in range to help Cyltan...

AL9nZEWX6CrNcd3ytRP9VzWvVBI3oPkw7kHvx4_T

And Aynellia immediately abandons her duty to defend the great yurt to become a temporary unit for us, who comes far too late, and too far away to see any real combat...

AL9nZEU0bDiJHeGpnUU_C-fQbsC_zcpQnMfvox3o

Back at the actual battle, the ones heading around the top of the plateau killed themselves on Zade and Sheela enemy phase, so I only have to deal with the ones around the bottom. So Cezar again gets to pretend he is a real combat unit with the Starfall Dagger finishing off the one Troy managed to miss.

AL9nZEUW4YY_gFVzbsPUckCpLezlqDfvaik6g5JX

The blank levelup is not helping his case here...

AL9nZEVBDmNVqJguvpC8aR-KpYsWBaIXvhfqYoEG

Theo then pops one with magic, while the cavs

AL9nZEUtvDh-i_cYTdVqfGq57RB7YZ0uxbSNmrd1AL9nZEVD_uwM78wClZkWQxCwt8cGcbJfipV69hsK

Wipe out the others, so I don't waste too much time on these guys.

AL9nZEWnNnAnx-hpYOeNluVmCNI6wc7nFwsd9OBD

Although the forces around the boss are kinda dangerous to deal with, so it will take a bit to dismantle them. Then there comes the army that required me to leave some of my troops behind, as

AL9nZEW9GxDoZkTvMvDmU1Ipm-hnk-dGxDa0oo1l

One even spawns close enough to attack Cyltan as he spawns, even with my little armored wall.

AL9nZEVSmeJvDq3mZYlLTO9QV4HKvsXdIcxUFwj1

Although Rolad does also use his siege magic to kill this swordsman that chipped itself on the armors, before I can even look at him.

AL9nZEXve3s3P65DPju5xt1nLV0XemFMIbTS4PFx

Bonecel then wipes out one of the ranged ones before it can waste more Am Solim uses with its death

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For a sold level to boot.

AL9nZEXop4tO4eymX8r6L0T72n0kXsQRiG1Z2-9fAL9nZEWqAueMpq7OSMOR6655ylIZ42NNJzudJYvy

This is a bit of overkill defensively for the mounted archers here, but this is another trio with mutual supports, and I don't want to risk it.

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I also grab the item from the other plateau while I am maneuvering.

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On the other front, I have set things up, so that Accorte should kill one of the swordsmen on enemy phase, and the only 1-2 axe in range of Cyltan should target Ash instead.

AL9nZEXKjBqzcNkr3kX_AEzevSf5wNwrRyDH2D_SAL9nZEX_uUn87Ib5Zc2CzjMfosIx-IotOCUdN-R4

And only two of the three brothers actually attack him, and one of them even missed...

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Two of the red goons pick a fight with someone way out of their pay grade, and both miss wildly.

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His daughter on the other hand kills the one attacking her, and its a good thing she was using the Nashorne, as she missed the first shot...

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Gyskhal also overkills one of the many that chipped itself on the armored wall.

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Time to wipe this little group here out, but things don't start out great, as he manages to miss this shot.

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It prompts me to go with the overly reliable Harpoon with Bonacel's attack.

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Fortunately Accorte fixes Prody's little mess.

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Haldyn easily solos one on his own

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For a nice strength levelup on him.

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Then Hoelun gets her one moment of combat for the map, killing this injured axethrower. Back on the other front

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I open with Zade for better future accuracy, and he gets the kill here anyway

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His Raecryst is getting low on uses, but its things like this that it was made for.

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...sigh

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It would have been nice to have one more strength to save a cutlass use, but this is a clean kill.

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Although I don't press in more on that front, as I know another round of reinforcements are about to show up, and the next stage of this assault is by far the most dangerous. I did also lure in one of the last axemen with Ash

AL9nZEWcezKu3BJJ-DVYekj6NLDxJoz9ouA-V98u

But I am not sure why I bothered, as its minimal chip exp

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And the green units finish both of them off before I claim the kill on any of them

AL9nZEXW2i7SonlyC55t-PWTYyqxddZr3mtxprmG

On the only remaining front, Troy enemy phased one of the ambush spawns, but we have to be a little careful here, as there is a particularly dangerous enemy whose range is going to make wiping this group out a little awkward. This Sheela kill on the most distant archer is a solid start though.

AL9nZEVAOVVUzBOIbLiDaWp-GlXF6riMov5ccKFq

This image is from a little earlier, but I figured I would point it out, but the two different flower types here are giving you a visual indicator for the two most dangerous ranges on this map, the yellow one my cursor is on is the edge of Baymonk's range, and the pink flowers inside of that are marking the berserk mage's range. The yellow and pink flowers above the tree are doing the same...

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I then fully heal Troy, kill the other archer, and leave him in range of the dangerous foe, as I am going to use the Iron Duke, and crit immunity ring to survive a round of combat with a monster...

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The reliability of Theo one rounding these guys is nice

AL9nZEVio7CCRi2D2Er2q4gTI8F2UTD3WXfw71BnAL9nZEUP1MvSrk_FogLtB_eZcLemkpmYJevnM5zX

A little greedy here, but if one of them missed I could have fixed it with Yaeri

AL9nZEU1vEwnvHgnc-fnTLWsonff7tPjepIzZubr

This is a little uncomfortable to do, as I kinda need this kill, and she is the only one who can canto to safety, and I kinds need the spa-

...oh...well hindsight is 20/20 I suppose. I was going to say I needed the space Zade could use to give her his accuracy boost to reach 100% to canto back tosafety , but looking at it now, I could have also

AL9nZEXDAEmnBScLpdNcXlGCD4t-FksftzrKf1pV

Cantoed back to the space behind Troy as well. I got the kill anyway, so no harm done, even if it was a slight misplay.

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On the other front I have the time for Hoelun to talk to Cyltan, as she is worried about his incompetence,

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And given how incompetent he is talking to women, and following orders, I don't think I blame her.

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Sorry, Baymonk, I haven't gotten around to playing Vestaria Saga 2 yet

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Look, I am in the middle of this ironman right here, as soon as I am done with it, I will probably start VS2...

AL9nZEXoyWb0GIpXefdFslWgCSUtxK5-fMbcLZkL

...ouch.

AL9nZEXUyNc8Y1_bmEavtGG_aBvTYfQ-3vbd73LH

Seems I wasn't the only one worried about his safety.

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So dies Baymonk...non-canonically at least. Actually, I think Baymonk may have been nerfed in the English version, as the Aggro Incarnate info, that was made for the Japanese version originally, list him as having a "Bowbreaker" skill which supposedly caps bow accuracy against him at 33%. Then again, I think Kaga did update the game once or twice, so perhaps the English version is just based on a latter build of the game than that info is from...

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Hopefully I get to see your legend unfold in the next game.

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...Eh I will take it. Its a good stat, but not really a stat she needs right now.

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I also luck into another timely industry proc, as Lilia manages to double heal up Troy. Although there really isn't enough map left for him to burn through that health, as I am drawing in the rest of the mobile enemies this turn

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And she gets an Agility levelup, which is nice for her.

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This guy gives me a bit of a fright when he procced Multichance, but with 13 Resistance, and crit immunity

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Even if all of his attacks hit, she still would have survived this just fine. I am just glad he procced it to get me to take a second look at this guy's stat screen.

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A large group of fliers has arrived, the last of the reinforcements, but if I have my way, this will be the last turn, and killing

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The siege weapons with my Cavalry is the first step to that plan

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Not really the kinda stats she wants right now, but at least it is something.

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This is only about ~85% chance to kill, but

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he gets it. Also I cheated  bit Sarajevo, the only reason Dune doubled is because of the brave effect of the bow.

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And that is an excellent levelup for him, strength, agility, and getting just enough profficiency to use the Seriatim Bow...what a level.

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...24% chance of multichance proc, and a 20% chance of ignoring an attack...this guy is rather scary to deal with...

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I think this is my safest option. She has a roughly ~80% chance to kill, and only a ~2% chance to die from this

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A well earned level.

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With that kill gotten, I can go after a couple of drops from the fliers. I can't reach the one that drops its generic spear, but this one drops

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A nice sack of coins

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Unfortunately this is my best shotting of killing this pinata, that drops both a basic healing staff, and a far range healing staff,

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And she both procs Flurry, and hits with every attack, just to mock my worry. Alas there is just one last piece of loot I can grab before I end things

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And this little bit of funny chipping

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Makes for a more reliable kill on the bird carrying the other bag of coins.

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That is a levelup I will take, but it is now time to end thi-

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You know, I almost forgot to get thins conversation before we end thing. I do end up forgetting to check the shop, but it looks like the shops in the next chapter are similar enough that I wont worry about it.

AL9nZEUGpfBIq4CzPdJU24a1Ho7JtizxcB_l_o1V

Her healing capabilities are limited enough that it only happens with minor events like this. I think she also acts as a back seat healer for him in another chapter, but by the time we get to use her for real, the healing is all gone...

 

On 8/6/2022 at 6:24 AM, Pépito said:

Don't mess this up like I did.

I don't, because I have already shown

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that I would much rather face a brave weapon than the terrifying uncertainty of a Stun Pilum.

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Even if you are, you aren't better than Zadrian.

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Nicely done you powerful liege, keep growing strong off the blood of our enemies.

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Good thing too, as that hoard of fliers would probably mess us up if they got another turn to.

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More than held our ground, we took that army out, and captured what remained.

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And Cyltan's petty insubordination gets briefly hidden from Gyskhal.

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Although Cyltan is giving some sound military advice here. Staying on the defensive like this is going to lead to a slow defeat, but that can wait til after

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some gossip,

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and far more importantly tea. Really this is just showing that the two of them are fast friends, who will do reckless teenager antics together in the future.

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We also get a bunch of free money to spend on Cutlasses next chapter.

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Although we have one last little discussion with Roland before we get there

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As we need to justify getting Accorte to join us on our adventures for the rest of this game, and the next one

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As she is crushing hard on Zade, and even her dad is acting as a wingman. He also talks a little about the troubles in Sphire

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And it seems plagues are very common in this world...

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I really hope this isn't saying that this mother-son pair were intimate...

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Ah yes the Red Wedding Night.

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That is not the kind of "scandal" that it is physically possible to keep secret...

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...really Roland, you think the death of her father, mother, and last remaining brother all in the course of two years wasn't going to have a negative impact on her. Death, especially of close family, is a rather traumatizing event for most people.

AL9nZEV0w5Dy6kkxdjFr8gr3BGlB2Sy7uVbXWo-2

Poor guy is afraid he is about to fall upon his own sword in a desperate, low odds attempt to save his pupil, and nation; and he don't want his daughter to face the consequences for the failure he anticipates.

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Even now he is trying to set her up with Zade...

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Alas the poor girl finds his heavy handed attempt to hook her up with her crush utterly embarrassing, but at least we officially get Accorte to join our army.

 

I might get part of next chapter up by the end of the week, we will see. In the meantime, have fun, and take care everyone.

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I almost got this out earlier, but it took a while to finish the write-up. Now for the start of chapter 9

Spoiler

Time for us to move to the offensive, but we have a bit of a problem with that

AL9nZEVy-kQbBvJAyNYcolA-1E6A1zBI8WfXIO1r

Which this independent kingdom to the south can help with. Although its an interesting contrast between the Aragoths, and the Ordoms, while the Ordoms would rebel and usurp the kingdom of Solis, the Aragoths achieved independence instead. Depending on how long Halym was king for, these actions may have been in response to the same tyranny...

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Although the narrator seems extremely dismissive of Aragoth king's achievements.

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I mean look at that snide qualification, "by Solissian standards"... The narrator is doing its best to insist this whole land is barbarous.

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The issue we are having with moving onto the offensive come from these guys here, the Shyft Clan

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Which means we must deal with the Shyft in some way first, but if we strike at them now, it leaves us open to Tamthir doing the same thing to us. We need some way to distract one of them while we wipe the other out

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So if we can just get the Aragoths to join our side...

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Conveniently they are coming to us for the alliance we need. What a convenient stroke of luck.

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Don't worry Helme, most of the people here are warriors, and not diplomats either.

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Seems the Aragoths need our help, as our enemies have made a move against them already.

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She definitely does have feeling for him, she is just a bit of a sadist about it...

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That poor guy takes a lot of punishment throughout this game. I kinda pity the poor kid.

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It is amusing to see people use Helme's nickname...Lion of the Steppe.

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The Shyft leader is not subtle about them having kidnapped Lyttia. They really seem to think the Aragoths are harmless. Also, Lyttia is a rather creative swearer.

AL9nZEVDukek3yYSmi9tZOwpB0zj4yUM4-9KXA_c

Although this is really the plan of Tamthir, trying to get the Aragoths to join their side of the conflict. It seems he hasn't been idle, but again these heavy handed hostage tactics are backfiring. You would think he would know how dangerous this can be, given these kind of tactics were exactly what he was rebelling against before.

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That is a clear diplomatic NO, Tamthir. Take the hint...

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In what should be a surprise to no one, this plan is an utter failure, and did far more harm to his cause than good. You just can't negotiate with people using these kind of tactics.

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Although I am guessing its this perceived pacifism is why the Shfyt felt safe kidnapping Lyttia. I am reminded of that classic quote of Theodore Roosevelt, walk softly, and carry a big stick, and the Ordom and Shyft are about to learn the sting of that stick, despite the Aragoth walking softly before.

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And that is where we come in,

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Gyskhal will attack the Shyfts as a distraction

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As we rescue the princess while their army is distracted.

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The actions of Tamthir have backfired dramatically here, as he has given me exactly what we wanted on a silver platter.

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...Given how she acts now, that sounds miserable for Cyltan, but she is still a teenager, and many people go through an asshole phase in their teen years, so hopefully she mellows out into a less awful person by the time she is his queen.

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Zade entering this little conflict has really turned the tide; before his arrival Tamthir had the Malayas on the ropes, on the brink of wiping them out, but now the conflict is at a stand still again. Just like we are, he is trying to gain the advantage, and the Aragoths are in a clear kingmaker position, as whomever they side with will turn the tides in this war.

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Zade is so considerate here, but given the clear political situation here making Cyltan's answer clear. If he want to he Khar, he is going to have to accept this marriage, and his betrothal to Hoelun broken.

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Zade is also insistent on including Cyltan in the rescue mission.

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And Garlan is rather right here, Cyltan needs to learn from experience how to lead troops, and joining our little mission here is exactly the kind of experience he needs.

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Fortunately he is willing to be a blue unit this time...

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Dune also informs us that he is part of a vital event this map, which will get him his personal bow, by the end of it.

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As he is about to find his Solissian father.

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And so our mission begins...

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Fortunately Hoelun is defiant enough to help us anyway.

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Although Tallan is not a green or Blue unit this map, just a background NPC.

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As for our deployment this map, Prody and Bonacel are left behind, as this map ends with an escape, where I don't want to worry about their low move. I ended up leaving Theo behind to train up Accorte a little instead. As for the Axey boys, I might regret it, as crag climbers do well in this map, but I had to leave some people behind.

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Cyltan is far too impatient for his own good, at the start of this map

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As our guide warns us of an obvious trap,

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And the fool walks right into it.

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literally

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It helps that the player gets to experience the frustration of Cyltan's stubborn ignorance first hand, so we can really relate to Hoelun now.

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And she then has to double crit to save Cyltan.

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Fortunately her stubborn disobedience constantly makes our lives easier.

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And much to everyone's surprise, he actually does, and starts turning into a far less obnoxious fool from here on out.

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I do love the imagery here, and fortunately for them, our moppet and wet nurse are far more mobile than this crew of bandits.

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Stones for brains really, but storywise that means these two are in trouble.

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As they now have massive targets painted on their backs, although fortunately for us, they are all too cowardly to approach enemies they aren't in range of attacking.

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Seizing is the first main objective of the map, but for this update, our objective is just to save Cyltan and Hoelun. The first step in that process

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is having them save themselves. Its a shame he doesn't start with one more strength, but oh well he gets this kill

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And Hoelun gets some minor chip and the closest thing this area has to a boss, but I did make a small error in my placement of Cyltan. I played it too safe, and while I was fairly certain the yellow full enemy range indicator doesn't update until after you are done cantoing, I didn't want to get an embarrassing gameover here if I was wrong, so he is not in range to attack and Canto back next turn

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This is kinda minor, but a nice little bit of world building, that this reminds of the physical relations of the clans to the Shyft lands.

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It is also now time to talk about this bit of Kaga shenanigans, Assassins, which all have a skill that make them invisible on the map. There are a couple of ways to spot these guys before they can get the drop on us; the most reliable way is to look at an enemy's stats, and then cycle through enemy stats until you find an assassin, and back out, which will show you their location (I believe this even works on the old Japanese version); the other is to notice discrepancies in the yellow full enemy attack range like this, and look for the assassin that is causing it.

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So it is time to prepare my favorite Assassin counter. With +1 Mobility Zade can move in to get the first strike, and the reliability of the Edelstern deals with their otherwise very high avoid.

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Although the only thing I aggro with the main army is the axeman with the 1-3 range axe on the cliff there

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We also get an enemy phase events where we meet Ma'aya, one of our future recruits, and Ke'mar her father, whom has a particularly important event that will make this map far more manageable if we can trigger it.

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And her love of the Doyenne makes it clear that she will be a flyer like her mother (and father) before her.

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And she also reveals the main thing people tend to use her for, her superior bargaining skills, that lets her buy things for far cheaper. I was a bit of a goof on my first run (and love dragons) so I ended up doing the secret event where she trades that skill to immediately promote to a Dragon knight, but I doubt I will end up doing that this play-through, oh no, I have a far stupider plan for her this run...

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We also get some clear evidence that Ke'mar is a nice guy that you should probably talk to instead of killing.

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I did have Hoelun and Cyltan end their turn adjacent last turn, so they can start triggering an event which gives them a bond support with eachother. I need to make sure they end turn adjacent until they get their bond on turn five, which is going to restrict how much they can do for these first few turns...

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Her little speech about how his normal royal bloodline gives him a greater opportunity to become a legend on his own merits, instead of those of his royal ancestors does fall a a little flat here. I guess they just did a better job of it with the similar speech Ced has with Lief in Thracia 776, where the mechanical benefits of people's lineage is far more apparent from Genealogy of the Holy War, whereas here they game isn't as explicit about what magical benefits being of Udagal descent has for characters.

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It is really easy for a modern audience to see things from Hoelun's perspective here. Although Cyltan just talking shallowly about Lyttia's beauty makes you think he might deserve her personality.

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The thing is, Cyltan is kinda right. She is the bride that shall give him his Kharate, and brings the kingdom of Aragoth back into fold. Political marriages like this are the kind of price people pay for power.

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Although thanks to my poor placement last turn, I just have these two reposition. The important thing is to make sure these two stay adjacent for the bond.

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Far more importantly for their survival Yaeri jumps the three range Axe, and cantos in the directs of those eagle knights on the cliffs.

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Having a mage that can double with basic spells is such a nice feeling.

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And that is the kind of levelup I would want to see her doubling more often.

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Seems the Shyft leadership isn't exactly popular, even amongst his own people...

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Don't worry old man, I already cover the ways you can see them, although that Assassin I pointed out before is making thins a little more complicated by moving around...

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...Oops. I had her visit that yurt, and forgot she gets moved off after visiting it on this map. See this map gives us the option to attack the yurts for some raiding loot, and that yurt becomes on of those enemies after visiting it, which displaces the unit (onto the rocks you otherwise can't move onto...). Although attacking the yurts will antagonize Ke'mar, which is a very bad idea.

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This should give her the defense to make sure her accidentally entering Arablest range isn't a disaster.

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The original plan was to have Zade start just out of range of the Assassin, and have Sheela just out of range of the Arbalest, and jump both next turn, but that just wasn't going to happen thanks to Sheela's surprise forced move, and the assassin continuing to move around aimlessly.

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Again Ke'mar is introducing us to the important players here, as Tamberg is a shadowy sack of shit Assassin boss that we will have to defeat, with obnoxiously high avoid (that the Ke'mar event really helps with).

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At least Lyttia isn't likely to be hurt during her kidnapping incident

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As long as we rescue her before "tomorrow", whatever turn that means. Also Ke'mar is right with his assessment of the situation, and Tamberg knows it too (even if he is willing to follow his stupid orders).

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Although Ke'mar can be a bit naive as well. Does he not know what the word assassin means?

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And Tamberg does lay out how the very gangster like Waguri Assassin organization works.

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It also gets revealed that Ke'mar is the goody two-shoes brother of the evil Shyft clan chief, who would be perfectly happy to use Tamberg to assist in fratricide

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Back at the battle, Cyltan is chipping the "boss" of his attackers, as he can't get the kill with his personal weapon yet.

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On the other front Sheela wipes away the Arbalest

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I have Zade buy a bunch of Cutlasses on his action. I have Zade do the shopping in the event I wanted to sell anything from the convoy, but we were sitting on enough money that I didn't feel the need to. Meanwhile Troy triggers a weird little event in this yurt, while baiting in the rather sizable force around the village

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As the owner of this yurt is a bit of a psycho.

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He gives us a free sword, and

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attacks us anyway

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with a goldne Axe. This technically kills the yurt, but it doesn't count as us attacking any of the yurts for Ke'mar's event, as he attacked us, not the other way around...

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It is also time to start baiting in the eagle knights, as I want to get Yaeri in a position to safely wipe out all the reinforcements from that cave, as those guys are aggressive, and have 1-2 range weapons, making them the most dangerous threats to Hoelun and Cyltan's safety, and to safely attack those reinforcements I need the eagle knights out of the way.

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...The position Lyttia would have to get into to bite off somebody's tongue is odd to think about. Also Ke'mar makes it extra clear he wants to help in her escape...

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Also, we get a nice bit of confirmation that Ke'mar and the eagle knights at the end of the map wont attack us.

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The way I am doing this, they wont face any arrows til the end, but at least it was timed for the first time they are anything resembling danger.

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Although the women in his life seem to know this is what his uncle wants. Aynellia said something similar about the importance of Cyltan's survival, although was less morbid about the means of his survival. Now lets put her sentiment to the test, as she helps to protect Cyltan

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If it hit that would have been a lot of damage, but I think health on Cyltan is more valuable at this stage, and she dodged anyway

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Which gives Cyltan the no damage kill. The reinforcements from the cave are actually willing to move, and attack, and with 1-2 range are by far the biggest threats to these two's survival.

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...sigh.

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This should take more of the pressure off of those two. They will have to deal with one more of those tomahawk clansmen, but she unfortunately needs all 4 hits, and is starting to run low on cutlass uses...

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As for the large group of enemies I aggroed, I start by moving in Zade, as he was one of the further away, and I want his high defense on the front lines here, as I don't think I can wipe all of them out.

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Merida grabs some fresh cutlasses, and immediately kills an archer with it, which clears the way

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For Sheela to get a kill,

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and still have the room for her defender to body block any melee attackers from her.

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The Assassin made his presence obvious, as he took up space others should have inhabited. Fortunately this is a surprisingly reliable kill for how dodgy these guys can be, and with him being the only one of my front liners in range of an extra enemy, it will help him survive.

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I also far-healed the two font liners that took damage getting their kills.

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Athol also levels for a tiny bit more survivablility.

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I also have Haldyn draw in the last eagle. Everyone should be able to survive enemy phase, but if they focus on one of my front liners, it will hurt them a lot.

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Haldyn gets a nice strength levelup while breaking his cutlass. Now for how well the front-liners do.

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There goes the extra attack on Troy.

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And the rest of them all focused on Zayid.

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It is an interesting contrast between the two, Cyltan being a more realist (in universe) and practical person, while Hoelun is more adventurous, and fantasy focused (which is more similar to the role the player is in when they play this game).

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And then Cyltan's more realist approach lets him save Hoelun, although in reality they aren't in that much danger at the moment.

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And like that, they have strengthened their bond with eachother.

Which reminds me, I haven't actually talked about these two units yet...in fact I think I forgot to talk about Accorte too, so I guess I will include her in this little unit review

Spoiler

Lets start with the one who has been around the longest, Accorte. As a mage who has a bond with Zade, it is hard not to compare her to Theo, and it really is a toss up. You get Theo earlier, but Accorte gets her personal weapon sooner; Theo is more accurate, and Accorte is faster. Accorte gets access to Dark magic which you can get earlier, and is more offensive, but Theo gets Divine magic, which is far more defensive. While most of these are arguable wins for Accorte, Theo does have the advantage of his bond being mutual, and having slightly better skills. Both of them are really good, so if you only want to use one mage, it is all down to personal preference, but having a second good mage I can use is rather nice. Although there is the argument to be made that the promotion item for mages is rather rare, so you should use one, but I doubt that will end up being a big deal, 15x isn't that late to promote...

Next lets talk about Hoelun, whom isn't a great combat unit, but does have some utility as a mounted lockpick user, and as a potential replacement unit. One problem she has is her story based promotion/class change doesn't reset her levels, so she can only get to level 20, and she doesn't have the kind of bases (even with promotion bonuses) for her stats to ever be good. They aren't even great right now, and she doesn't have the levels to gain to make them good later in the game. Admittedly she does get a rather good personal bow that she can lean on to act like a real combat unit, but that isn't til late into next chapter. She also has access to quite a few really good skills, like Multichance and Lockpick at base, with the potential for Critical Edge, or Flurry depending on the oddities of the chapter 12 choice. The chapter 12 choice is an odd one, as it gives her the option of change her class to either a promoted version of what she is now, to a swordswoman, to a mage, or to a healer. This is a nice option for creating a replacement unit for any of those niches, but she can't promote after those class changes, so she will be worse than any living alternative to those classes in the long run. It is also important to note that there are a few chapters where she is a game over condition, which is kinda unfortunate.

Cyltan is rather good, but a bit of a growth unit. He already has his solid brave personal bow, which helps him in combat, and despite acting like a second lord, he promotes exactly like a normal unit. Right now, he has Lightfoot,for +1 Mobility, which is excellent on a canto unit like him (and is what is letting him safely kill/chip all the enemies he has been facing so far), and he eventually gets the Commander skill just like Zade, to support allies. He tends to be a game over unit, but he has a lot of potential.

 

Back with the other front for now,

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Accorte gets this excellent level killing one of the bowriders. She is doing her best to try and usurp Theo's space on the team, but I rather like mages, so fielding both may be in the cards on a few maps.

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Yaeri gets close to capping her strength on the levelup she gets killing the cave reinforcement, although I canto her back a bit differently this turn

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As Zade spent his action to load Haldyn up with some spare Cutlasses so he can cross the crag

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and resupply Yaeri next turn. Cezar also does a minor amount of chip

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So that Merida can break a 3 use Cutlass with this kill.

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I also give Sheela a chip level with the Rambling Rose

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I guess I was hoping for HP, bit something else along with it would have been nice...eh

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It lets Troy get a defense levelup with the kill, so not the biggest deal.

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This has just been the turn for levels, as Lilia gets anive little avoid + crit avoid levelup

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And even Hoelun gets one doing the same sort of chipping maneuver (even dodging when she does it) she did last turn. Admittedly it is a terrible levelup given how few she can even get...

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Although Cyltan doesn't levelup off of the kill.

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Not sure why I bothered to keep the two bow knights adjacent for another turn, I think I just fell into the habit after so many turns triggering their bond.

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This is such a random event. Koguro has been their invisibly guarding that treasure the whole time...

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While Haldyn did manage to resupply Yaeri in time,

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that Strength levelup last turn meant she actually had another turn before that resupply was strictly necessary...

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Now that the reinforcements aren't breathing down their necks, Cyltan can finally get the kill on that bossish baddie

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If you were only less...or more I suppose, bloodthirsty, things might have went differently fo-

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What a level. Now if only Hoelun could get three or four (lets be honest, probably more) levels like that...

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With the rest of the army I am being a bit cautious as I want

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Zade to ensure this bad boy doesn't hurt any of my troops.

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For a bad level for him. Although I am getting a little ahead of myself

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As Yaeri got her reinforcement killl

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And Cyltan is careful to chip one without dropping it into herb healing range before Zade makes that attack.

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We are getting close to saving the bow-knights, our first objective for the map. You might notice I am having a smaller force break up to start probing the defenses of the other side. Sheela is in range of exactly one archer where she is, but I have the faint memory that a lot of guys over here are not mobile...

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For those paying attention to Yaeri's health, she has the regeneration ring on her, so even though a lot of these 30ish accuracy attacks keep hitting, she is regenerating enough to keep going...

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Don't complain too much Zade, her disobedience saved Cyltan's life.

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Don't worry, the only thing that could kill them now is my own stupidity...

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Which might be this turn, as I am Very tempted to have Hoelun finish this off with imperf-

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Or Cyltan can crit, and kill it all on his own. Didn't even need to chip him with a crit like that...

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But it might happen any way, as I have done something a little foolish, as while Hoelun can survive an enemy phase hit from the only archer that can attack her

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If she had double crit, double Multichance procced, or a mix of both she could have actually killed something, which would then leave her vulnerable to another attack, which had a much higher chance of happening than I feel comfortable admitting. Fortunately she was as useless as she normally is, and thus is fine, as my position makes it easy to wipe out the rest of the enemies around there.

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Although in a far more sensibly cautious move I let Dune hit this on enemy phase, that way this guy couldn't kill (even if he did manage to hit).

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Well Hoelun perfectly chipped this guy into basic bow kill range for Cyltan

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And more strength on Cyltan is something I will gladly take.

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Haldyn then kills the archer he lured in by slowly going down the long side of the cliff. If reinforcements were still coming from this cave, that maneuver also tricked the enemy into blocking their own reinforcements for us, and this is an easy kill for him

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Merida takes out the one that was drawn in by Troy

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And Yaeri kills the last of the axemen, and like that the bowknights are safe.

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I also give this kill to Cezar for funsies

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and that is a second blank levelup on him in a row...not sure why I bothered to even train him at all. Oh who am I kidding, a second blank level on him is just hilarious.

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I also have the time to visit another yurt on the other side of the map, who lays out the dichotomy we have already seen, clan chief Ku'than is the evil brother, and Ke'mar is the good brother.

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Our army is extremely spread out right now, but

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We have hit our first object, saving Cyltan and Hoelun, by almost exactly turn 10, which seems to be a perfect stopping place for this update.

Didn't quite get this out last week, but I should be able to finish this chapter up this week easily.In the meantime, stay safe, and take care everyone.

 

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Time to finish this little rescue mission.

Spoiler

Time to start this update up with a little action, as

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Zade jumps another assassin,

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For an underwhelming level.

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Athol also uncovers a magic stat booster

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That I have Accorte immediately chug.

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I can just barely show my whole army with a single screenshot (although Athol, Zade, and Accorte are slightly cut-off). Of particular note is Sheela (who is unfortunately difficult to see under the terrain box, who is in range of the Arbalest, if it moves. If it doesn't

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she gets an easy reliable kill on the thing without taking a hit.

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There is a lot of small plans in the work for the end of this turn. Sheela is in range of an archer, whom she can safely enemy phase thanks to her personal's Defense bonus, and Troy is testing the AI of one with the scary quad-hit brave bow, and

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Yaeri does unfortunately have to dodge (or take and wait adjacent I suppose) to

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Kill the siege mage. Unfortunately the rest of those plans have underwhelming results, as none of the units want to move.

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Although that kill did cap her Strength.

AL9nZEXaAAOkQfCu_7C4QujOQmhzOlXGp--UNCjJ

I guess Sheela can just go for the kill she would have enemy phased before, but I do want Zayid in bond support range, just in case the scary quad-hit bow starts moving. Although I do end up messing up my placement for Cyltan, and Hoelun here, as if Hoelun could occupy the space Cyltan is in right now, her bond support bonus to hit would ensure he hits 100% hit kill on the three-hit brave tome sitting on that cliff side there (and then he could canto out of the archer's range just in case).

AL9nZEVdUjuJiyeKdF8OUI9mhwhyuktSmY6vn9kQ

So the next turn is a rather boring one. Main thing is switching Hoelun and Cyltan's positions, although I am pressing in from the other side with Haldyn and Zade, as there are some assassins up here for Za-

AL9nZEWVCuzONjVEhOCojwmbFsGMEciYX8SU-VE1

...uh oh. I might have goofed a little here,

AL9nZEWQJd0YKlBBTHWMJfX21o5xS8nrws6YyQFm

as all those stationary units start moving....

AL9nZEXAahwBPtYG8yRLkJS8prWThKgAILqy1X6T

Fortunately I made all of my actions expecting them to move at some point, so it isn't disastrous, just viscerally scary. Fun fact, when I was planning I thought she was in more danger here than she was, as I forgot about her bow adding +5 Luck as well, so I was worried an all hit, double single digit crit might kill her, but figured the odds were low enough to risk it.

AL9nZEWEh3HuPLHYDABbGUPCXqTfpxSouCRa6Vyi

That extra defense is honestly really nice on her.

AL9nZEX7bcQEqOIs1KPOtjNF0G7GQgRBRazsPSTK

Well this goof just walked out to his death thanks to no one being in their range, but the Nim wielder moving away is a bit irritating, the bow knights were going to kill him this turn, and thanks to the +20 evasion skill

AL9nZEWOOIgKFsJY4NTUYn44aWc5RyTGpLPBG_DB

A lot of otherwise reliable kills (like this one here, or Cyltan just using his personal bow with no bonuses) aren't. I don't risk this here, but if he keeps moving this direction, the plan is for Zade to get close enough to make this kill 100% reliable.

AL9nZEUK49XGPJO4_aqMXlekJQri_qSGbTqPiuYR

Although I did make a bit of a mistake here, as

AL9nZEWPO9mwSBBN0cur2Av0jeg917e4K2EImFxn

While Haldyn did herb up enough to survive this hit, I did not notice until he attacked me that he had a crit rate. He did live though it, but that was an entirely unnecessary risk.

AL9nZEXOHuO9X97ZFEzgT_7sBcOAXwKRewoinhhB

And then that Nim wielding goober just walked back to his original position, so Cyltan can get the easy kill I originally planned for. Although things are getting a little boring for a little bit here, as before I can start break that rock with my main force, Zade and Yaeri are going to have to deal with the assassin and internal siege mage, as there is a deadly knife assassin (with a droppable jeweled knife, so it can secure a kill if it has to) has a lot of overlapping attack range with the seige tome that can easily finish off whomever the assassin attacks...

AL9nZEX6jAJFEJ9EYN5lXhA9Z9eR6g3yYnKgcJyh

Although there is a less dangerous assassin to deal with before that. Unfortunately his extra range means Zade can't do the move from outside range to kill maneuver I have been having him do do far...

AL9nZEWqEJu6kMKacaTXsFI5j965TudeyXOb3otb

but the Edelstern kills him all the same. Although I don't want to waste too many turns, so

AL9nZEXgKWwRg1_Ej0kCOZ4v-h8N-4b68PIbpiVk

Yaeri hands over her healing ring so he can get back to full health next turn with an herb, as

AL9nZEUi6hIqVNZxHnbc616LOl1r23J0A8K3VZ8H

This position, while in range of the siege tome, is the ideal position to deal with these two next turn, as

AL9nZEW4DSxvUDqMkkEaM0nVNPAN_2skjPYMmlmO

Zade can kill this terrifying beast with extreme prejudice

AL9nZEWXf2s9ph8FJV6GnrM0RFe6KvR1rP5VP0KM

For an excellent levelup.

AL9nZEVMfqUmAn2N8QQD1YU-G7uhOGy7VA4_dv-b

Then Yaeri can kill the siege tome while avoiding

AL9nZEWaFFBQWXr6U4OhkaZb7n3KtqN6UJ5zir6j

The attack range of the last assassin.

AL9nZEXZ3aO6LwjVMD9bNAPvY9FWgVsLODeBkGOT

And I made dumb decision with regard to attacking the rock, especially when

AL9nZEVtw3WWRHPkM9XfjMFcYo3bqLHhFJkpZ2z_

The enemy healer will use its far healing staff on the rock...

AL9nZEXitJpR3UIDJFcohPFJNy-QhqZoTSiDRZwj

Although Cyltan does get another strength level when he finally gets the kill on the rock.

AL9nZEW-KjZRRnIEHkodky1QnKykb_viOxeUuZCz

And Merida gets an excellent survivability levelup from killing the healer that is willing to "heal" a rock.

AL9nZEWY6Tz0RXDNVo0o8cVSVkcs1ROuqdUw0CaI

We are getting close to the end of this thing, as you want to ignore the three eagle riders, so there is just

AL9nZEWyUpvbTA_I5egNnsPPyPt937dcWsK8hJwT

This assassin here to kill

AL9nZEXm_hiFuMkrdCZRnhj3cv4WZQNyRTufce75

There is the Arbalest in the bottom

AL9nZEVdxcpklNfHNcevSOTy4EEs3xm21EfSIQ87

That Cyltan can easily kill

AL9nZEXIVp85xiBMDsmYF0XqsVp1I00O6zQI2tnB

...Man he is rather strength blessed this run. I think he has missed a strength level-up once so far.

AL9nZEUiU0iFndx2MhkPXZVix_A0XAPxD8YjIn7o

Next we need Cyltan to

AL9nZEXONDkoGrMHvgESPwYerzxO8kZYR8ekn6X8

Trigger the Ke'mar event, where he helps us deal with that slippery son of a bi-

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As he gives us the Seeker Bow, which grants it's wielder the Deadeye skill

AL9nZEU1TjAorEeuIUddUq4HZ7lrPnQe1tRKNa3U

Which makes the attack hit, no matter what the accuracy says, which is a good thing, as he has 128 Avoid...

AL9nZEV-67W9baMWkJv5joRyO9mYDctyWAmkf_Qn

...sigh. Why would I think she could do anything. Oh well, she waste's the use anyway just in case, but

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Dune shows it was rather unnecessary,

AL9nZEX2YkueDfmZiOBrZN7U-gPMyPGJ3psAyeC4

And gets an underwhelming levelup on the kill. On the same turn

AL9nZEUp4z-KuXiPoI-mhfCgZtaL47ejb787O39T

Yaeri attacks the last real threat on the map. She could have cantoed back out of range, but

AL9nZEX0KMbw_3D9msMM-Tqp6ywtk9bzvVOV06dy

She procced multichance to secure the kill despite misses. This guy can be kinda annoying to deal with as he has the sleep strike skill, so anyone he hits will be put to sleep...

AL9nZEXjpn97PP8on62Xh3OFzCrHZxoEOIvjpMdh

I guess she did already cap strength, but it would be nice to get some other stats when she levels. Like that we can seize next turn

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On turn 24. Although

AL9nZEVp1p6NPFKQgWoDrhzzicBNmO1uFTo0zGCM

I do open that chest before we

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Which lets us

AL9nZEXB5Gebf8ZTl7IB5yo5UTdN7YQvikJbhubS

Rescue the princess.

AL9nZEX_ieSsgjiKfoYMrgt-4wdHMiLofe8sstES

Seeing Tallan ::grovel grovel:: is walking into these two's fetish play...

AL9nZEXwg--22UEdnDKaBbyrCxILA-Df7IFbHsca

Read the room Garlan...

AL9nZEVyTqq0bUjNNWiKc5ZYkeBM26PubYNOrmwG

Lyttia is incredibly clueless about affairs of state that she should understand...

AL9nZEV5LjO2ZacaJ2wkH4xktfJKN3dOyGTG9fGr

And she even mistakes Zadrian for Cyltan. Honestly, this sounds like the kinda thing Cyltan would say in the same position, so they might be a better match than most people think.

AL9nZEV6m1j7bP3R0Pg7TUc4OpWifRue5yKd-gZl

Although that is just an embarrassing lack of world knowledge. It is very clear that despite being the heir to Aragoth, she was not prepared to become the queen of Arargoth...

AL9nZEUjEqT5KmTSW_lVBtDD30W3gem8iEUAwR6Y

I do kinda like how she is clearly saying this to Tallan because she cares enough about him that she doesn't want him to die...

AL9nZEUT8JuwbkgRLMY6j4F4ZizeK3iDrCPkjQHG

Although this map isn't quite over yet, as we need our entire army to

AL9nZEUgFEg3EKpXpF3tno_UXQ733R2sa6tBzbZ2

Arrive at this little wooded signpost here. I kinda knew this was happening beforehand, so I have been moving the troops in that direction for a little bit now, but there isn't any real danger here. We have a few free turn to move as far as we can,

AL9nZEUYzsELs_F2n7WzbMUOZ_PF2hzIxvM8g9TK

And we get people a fair distance before

AL9nZEVQOKKGIQ96SgEhSUvHI4XWpm0jnWyxbhje

Ku'than returns to threaten us.

AL9nZEXgA12jDow00Lv3gWX1f10Ha9HAYxeK3dwE

And he starts to figure out what went wrong with their little kidnapping plan

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As it has backfired, and given Cyltan a secret alliance instead.

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Although there really isn't much to indicate Aragoth involvement, for whatever that is worth.

AL9nZEXq3fj4il85-Nkg-Ic-WUz37CnSXBw_7r-a

The thing is, these aren't ambush spawns, so we still have plenty of time. Just in case I am wrong about that, I have been letting Troy man that choke point, but

AL9nZEXrQCmYzIOgzsEcy3LJGnf0kEpis-KFjU_I

Even with an entirely mounted force, we still have time to escape. Although sending Zade down the ladder is a bit annoying, as he can only move down it one, space, at, a, time.

AL9nZEVzuzETmDfXAeJKQfYt4anaxHhDKKd07MZS

Although seeing as Dune went around, and is still two turn behind him, it is probably still faster overall.

AL9nZEW1DQ5YCPlypxCN5oArBLvM1RsqQlBfuX9c

But this is as close as they really get, as I can fully flee with everyone next turn.

AL9nZEVtm4L9jpigTPHmXoPaxl63q1LTtUWWGcxg

 Theoretically I could stick around and get some exp, and a few dropped items, but I would rather take the safer option, and skedaddle.

AL9nZEWEZzqdASEd5Jl00Ij5M09kHWxJ61QZEoCL

I will note that all of these units have escape quotes to them, but I will only highlight the ones I find kinda interesting, like poor Accorte, still building up the nerves to confess to Zadrian.

AL9nZEWqHaaPmS9lXJMeDnbxFr0J4HlVT6S8HAHw

And a reminder that Dune is still looking for his father. Don't worry, we will find out the truth by the end of this update.

AL9nZEW0rwCUvVk_UwuP1SynHuRbtiOEwNcxTL_X

That he will, but your disobedience saved Cyltans life from his own stubborn disobedience.

AL9nZEUBdP0jF-54pWWhvwKS8AhdtHU1wBZK7njb

What a curious statement to make. What are the other 35 strategem? Whose strategems are these? Why is Merida the one who mentions them?

AL9nZEUGo693RmMmRAc_6bFzgCNjBGO5fUpgkS2B

She was the first (after I had Haldyn be my example) to leave, so leaving will bring you to the starmaiden's side.

AL9nZEVHcpXOxZmqeNLaFrd2jSLZsWCaN_gLicFc

Wanting the best advisors, and being able to recognize their competence is a critical skill for a ruler to have

AL9nZEXbJ815IZiYSb6yveG4Xd84twD3f_gcrAI7

So we end on turn 32 with Zadrian's escape.

AL9nZEVkQJ5INEFsj9UujV6RAW-e3KUONihhyPRe

Now to fail to hastily get through the story content at the end here.

AL9nZEVF7jeGjg-Fd2nOv1zMdoHz14XcFmPGGL_W

Seems we got everything we wanted, although it is interesting that the Aragoths are specifically going to war with the Shyfts, and not the Ordoms as well.

AL9nZEVrvS-Pbv8sdo_d4vJzacoe8Ab1BuNdyCLh

Poor Cyltan, his dom of a future wife already having a sub lover...

AL9nZEUuSbmnnInm3nMkOHrEyQCZOPdjbf5ZQpZ7

Poor Lyttia knows she is getting into a situation similar to Hoelun, due to the cruelties of politics...

AL9nZEUnFNNbmmV6myQjBNsiPw-_GUQ06CkX2wEN

Although she is rather vocal, and willful in her dislike of this political situation.

AL9nZEUUaVfqEYvkFL3USeITSaYtvkyzZrJ4TRDu

If she does have a good heart, it is hiding under the angst of being a teenager.

AL9nZEVJJFD6CXuXK2tqgmCbLUcO9vegbZvGryoY

That is a promise to drink lots if I ever saw one. Makes me think of @Sidereal Wraith

AL9nZEU_WPwXbFtWTemMhzSQfI-A23QaIeXzcZW7

I do like how awkwardly he has to name Cyltan's former fiance here.

AL9nZEW9PTGi7uWJR9nIWKPK0WgJG5PiEUlyMY2r

Now for the Dune event, as thanks to him visiting Folley village, he has the bracelet that his father recognizes.

AL9nZEUyPl2AnthxqT5SWh_4sY_aF-1qf81VdVd8

And Dune has to break the unfortunate news that Naccara's former wife is dead.

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Although Dune didn't figure that out until this admission here.

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And he is so shocked that he tries to deny his royal lineage.

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Again, I wonder if this was Cyltan's father that the Aragoth's rebelled against, or one of his earlier relatives...

AL9nZEVBGHa98dWtjEFB5FqosSUaHCFmWQkPLrUh

Three years of conflict seems brutal, but is kinda short compared to a lot of wars...

AL9nZEWuvabppFuXyMRC6glQqekWOniqjyWOkEUNAL9nZEVjqeyKUPaYozQzno0gQ4YfM7pbnGkdYz8Z

A brutal practicality of war, but also explains Dune's separation from his father.

AL9nZEVTzI76uFGy7aqfg_0xJsaqohcbICXTaKdG

It is hard not to look at this a bit askew, as we just crossed those with an army just fine. It also makes me wonder how the Aragoth's might have fixed their clear gender imbalance this would cause, did the Aragoth just start raiding local areas to replace their greatly reduced female population, or did they have a more diplomatic approach, perhaps aiding their small people in arranging far off marriages...

AL9nZEVItrHXCp0tFVt98XzIGJ0dU4ixmrmkDpeK

I guess Lyttia's mother was one of the lucky survivors...for a brief time at least. Also interesting to see that the Aragoth (and presumably other tribes of the Solis) customarily take consorts as well as their wives...

AL9nZEWeHe2MmXqR_OXRT4XvcZhTpBTqBZ5X1kU2AL9nZEVgCnRb5AG-IYVsfxZBGHHo4JiiyqKrWSzV

It is such a convenient coincidence. I guess Dune gets to be a king, should have known Kaga would make the blue haired kid a royal.

AL9nZEVxM0EsqBwA83_gxxzZb7Bh9fmsVW1zRz3f

I respect this refusal of the call, and his admission that it is probably temporary

AL9nZEXwARyyV4gTqbGtqY8Bev4P93Za5xydzuiR

Seeing as they don't rescue Sestra Alysia in this game, I am guessing he will return in Vestaria Saga 2...which I will probably get to after this Ironamn, and assuming I keep this more relaxed pace, and reach the end, that wont be til early November...

AL9nZEVI6VqyM0pDF1jL9J6P3Hr-6GYTiybXww9Z

And now he gets his amazing personal bow

AL9nZEXpfWWeSzfc5lEKr82LMf2eay4vJ89AyCi_

The simply named Bow of Aragoth, which have preposterously good stated two-hit brave bow that gives him canto when used.

AL9nZEVKi3oO6r_Q1rgNmvbUeDqNEjvFmWytDadH

Hoelun sees the tragic similarity between their two fates, although the girl ends up a little too abrasive for this to blossom into a friendship.

AL9nZEWQlGH1xx6IiFUKUEokETNjW-jahuPK5eRK

Hoelun striking at the miserable reality of their situation, much like someone with a modern perspective would.

AL9nZEVSYP6sKw51CdUF-stAVaACNEQajy_PRKNx

And Cyltan is to busy trying to mansplain the situation away to get it. The Solissian not inventing it, and other places doing it doesn't make it a good thing for the Solissian to do. This is an obviously rotten thing that these young girls are put through for the sake of cruel politics.

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Although the willful princess is going to try and change her fate, by her own hands

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Only to fail miserably

AL9nZEU6cqZGuPal2AI_R5sGXivmIpBmAKfTulSK

And poor Tallan has to take the bullet of punishment for her...

AL9nZEUIalJdW0vl2RxwiSVUoLCrfSGWX9PDy0qO

Oof...this kinda makes me think of

especially with Garlan hinting that the princess will confess while Tallan is being whipped. He has already keyed into her loving Tallan, and he knows she was behind the escape attempt.

AL9nZEUMgKu4llkcDS7Ihtp2eU4wL7cNTB8-MRJ5

But she passes out before then...

AL9nZEUgcfQWsDov5464lHUu2b5zk-IkPX6yKFM1

I do appreciate that they have this small snippet to explain how Gyskal knows what was happening in places he wasn't.

AL9nZEXF3o8bUg15Lk5d7nRR7TiCA8N9GFJOfajp

And that we get the credit for securing this alliance.

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She is a piece of work right now.

AL9nZEVDtRpdh2R3OW6_yQmNxN7HpW59DEnt0Tm-

Don't worry about her, she is free and going to make her place in the world real soon.

AL9nZEVSDDEvCOIZOfk8ViKWBG5UxaSPqwihLmlbAL9nZEWr6mrowKPtRfN1SV8CaTkmDg5xS4-TSRT6

It is interesting to see them considering Lyttia's feeling, considering how little they cared about Hoelun's feelings all these years. Then again, it sounds like Cyltan's feelings were an important part of both of these considerations...

AL9nZEXqRDd5paxvaBNz4uF70ytDHOYizxCH5Ev_

I mean she probably would prefer kidnapping at this rate.

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You don't need to rub it in Hoelun...

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Too bad you couldn't use that common ground of experiences to make friends here, but Lyttia is particularly abrasive.

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That really was unfair of them, as she basically is a princess...or was at least, as will be explained soon.

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Poor Tallan is suffering, but at least Lyttia is showing how much she cares by going to take care of him

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She had to learn that from Zadrian...Naccara has really done nothing to prepare this girl to rule has he. I bet he is glad to be rid of her as an heir, and has Dune back.

AL9nZEWEN5zhXbvcKG-lMhpdwVW4KVByIG-kWhTe

Athol has clearly picked up on how much she loves her little subby love slave.

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A bit more evidence that Garlan know he is not really at fault here.

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Oh Tallan, I know you want the best for you dommy master, but saying this will just end up hurting her, as

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You are the one she loves...

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Cousins are they? It is a little suspicious that the only way for us to permanently recruit this cousin is to make sure Hoelun doesn't marry...

AL9nZEUOeAvex2kH9-ahvJC8X-q8-6xIzGBhZU7H

...hmm...

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I mostly took a pic of this comment, as Hoelun is going to admit this is a lie very early on into next chapter

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As he is going to talk her into going on a solo mission to claim her birthright. Also I do love how he is just admitting that they are going to go out and cause trouble in the homeland

AL9nZEW4TlzJKvCAh7DR3-jasFHDRsN-EXAvgvkf

And she gets the chance to avenge the murder of her father too. Seems Tamthir's murderous revolt, also inspired a murderous revolt of the Nymans people as well.

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Which means they need to unite multiple of these minor tribes together

AL9nZEUOSsYyX1HGJ8Y-tnZChkIj8yx59X6FmQku

Under an ambitious young princess, like you Hoelun. You are the heir to the dynasty which once led the lot of these people, ironically protected by your own effective kidnapping as ward to house Solim.

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Who could ask for a better reason to leave on an adventure?

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Honestly the girl has been practically begging for an excuse to leave this place, and this is a perfect excuse.

AL9nZEV1g5GtZatoEslTEvsl3oqcxOJYzum3YdsL

Although the petty motivation of shoving this achievement in her younger brother's face is an iconic sibling moment between those two...

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Although Athol surprises her just as she is leaving, for one final scene.

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As she was apparently eavesdropping on that whole conversation (same as us). Also, what was Hoelun expecting, Athol to cover her ears? Honetly, the whole eavesdropping is rude idea has always been kinda dumb, as you can't point your ears away to control what you hear.

AL9nZEUfa-1JCAbE6msdZ5OonbCIOpXcr5pzJn9l

Of course she understands, heck she is about to offer to join you.

AL9nZEUJI4hep0Py8vhCjEj5uHbmxV8mJs0s4Kva

It is hard not to read into this the dark undertones of suicide here, that she is so excited to risk her life to find meaning. It reminds me of a comment about a character that noticeably never buckles their seat-belt, as they don't have the guts to commit suicide, but still are so depressed that they want to die.

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Hoelun really brings out the worst in Athol, as this is the first kinda stupid decision that Hoelun inspires her to make.

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But her help auto-healing Hoelun will be much appreciated on this near solo mission of hers, that we will play-through in the next update.

 

Yeah, having a rough schedule now has inspired me to put this update off til late into the week, but here it is. Next time we start Hoelun, and Urven's solo mission. In the meantime, take care, and stay safe everyone.

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Now for Hoelun and Urven to take on the world.

Spoiler

Hoelun must now reclaim her former home

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Held by the kinslayer Gansuk. Also him having half of the league's total forces, makes a bit of sense for why none of the other clans risked going to war with them, they would all have to actually work together to match his force.

AL9nZEWJIF_mA-hw4rGUyF502DSZNspORiJ7eHOLAL9nZEWMXSwTkqhgrqmU094hmgR1Z3CLSdRmZRm_AL9nZEWnhg0SYTNY7JMU00lKvzhWLtPW75tQ1_heAL9nZEUC0fIx5IT7Rx8BnW6KD-goL8B_dg6RlYMt

Which Urven then introduces us to. The idea is to try and get each of the clans join your little revolt, so you have an army of green units to match our foe's force when we do face them. This process is the map so I plan on visiting them all.

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I think I will even follow the order you gave for them.

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Also to make things less obnoxious, Athol isn't a unit on this map. At the start of every turn she fully heals Hoelun, and Urven if he is adjacent to Hoelun.

AL9nZEVj1sYSpEHeNrmlWWSdv5tj3twG-cghbLgt

Hoelun has a talk with Urven, which strengthens their bond, and there is no reason not to do so immediately. And she immediately admits that she lied about not remembering Urven.

AL9nZEUBa_NwSRSEVVtu_Kz_tBLQaQUatmB5UVtzAL9nZEX7ve7MtaAdzQYiy37LiqMZHsq-esv06unF

The poor girl is a bit haunted by how traumatic being a hostage was, especially when it feels like the father she thought loved her, betrayed her by so willingly giving her away. Never having the chance to confront him about it didn't help either. That must make the revenge aspect of this very complicated.

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I guess it would be more accurate to say, that she didn't want to remember. I wish I could find a clip for it, but it reminds me of scene from Full Metal Alchemist, where they "burned down the family home, and all the familiar things inside, because some memories aren't meant to leave traces".

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Honestly a kinda touching scene. Despite her attempt to forget, confronting this part of her past is the best thing for her, and Urven's comment...I guess Kaga has had incest pairings before, although mere cousins is tame compared to some FE incest-y pairing.

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Hoelun also has a comment upon entering Ulavs lands, and the handful of green units milling about...

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And when she does talk to the chief, he is a leering creep

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Who wants to force a girl at least half his age to marry him.

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Although she does try to be more diplomatic with the man than he deserves, and has the awkward realization that one of the constants in her life, her betrothal to Cyltan is no more...

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Ugh...he really is a slimeball thinking he can buy her hand.

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This is especially the case, as accepting this marriage also ensures that Urven leaves after this map. A bit more evidence that he is in love with his cousin...

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She finally tells the little creep how she feels, although that does mean that we wont have the Ulvas help in the end

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And have to fight those green units, as he shows he is cut of the same cloth as Gansuk. Also it is a bit deceptive showing her greyed out like that, as she gets immediately refreshed, so she has a chance to react to the impending violence

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And I will try to feed her this kil-

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...uh-oh, he missed that 94. For a bit I think I might have just earned myself an embarrassing gameover from this attempt to feed her a kill, but

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Thanks to how I cantoed Urven, I could canto her into a position that only one of these guys could attack her.

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I also wanted to emphasize that Athol can heal both of them on the same turn, so expect me to position them adjacent a lot on this map, just in case. Well I can feed Hoelun her kill this turn and

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Given how frail she has shown herself, I will gladly take a defense levelup.

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Urven also gets a kill for himself while I am at it, and thankfully

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The crags on the entrance to this place means I have a chokepoint I can use to keep Hoelun alive from this little onslaught.

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And there will be a few turns of reinforcement I will have to deal with.

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I can even get Hoelun another easy kill before this group even reaches us.

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Some of the swordsman also drop some free loot that Urven easily claims.

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Unfortunately Hoelun doesn't have quite enough defense, or move to risk getting this chip on player phase...

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Urven does get his first levelup here, and I will certainly take that. I have already seen his accuracy be a slight issue, and he I think that AGL would let him double (and thus enemy phase this guy).

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Although the levelup Hoelun gets on player phase is less impressive, as neither of those are the kinda stats she needs. With Urven killing the other, and now enemy phasing the other Axe, that just leaves

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This last little swordsman, whome I can feed the kill to Hoelun

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Plus having him attack from range preserves more uses on the Cutlass Hoelun claims from his corpse. Whelp our diplomatic effort in the Ulvas failed utterly, so

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We console ourselves with a little shopping. Despite how many turns of walking...well riding I guess, but I digress, point is I will spare you that and jump straight to

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Negotiations with the Finns, and it seems there are some problems we will have to fix in the Finn lands first.

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As their are raiders in their woods we will have to deal with alone, as

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Gansuk's little scum spawn means the Finns fear the consequences of killing the lad. The dangers of criminal nepotism.

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...that is a darker way of putting it, but she is kinda right, given what we plan on doing, its not like a little murder is worse than the treasonous rebellion we are about to enact. Now we just have to wipe out the Finnwood bandits, and as it turns out some of them are heading our way

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Some of which have some dangerous brave effect weapons, but thanks to that one defense levelup

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Hoelun can actually take a hit from him

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And thanks to a multichance proc, she even manages to enemy-phase kill him for a levelup, although with how few of those are available to her, this is a bit underwhelming.

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She even gets to kill the other on player phase too.

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Now it is just Urven drawing in the first of these thieves with this positioning.

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And as luck would have it, he chipped the guy enough that I can continue my attempts to turn Hoelun into an actual combat unit with lots of levels.

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This time Urven draws in the thief, and Hoelun chips the mounted archer

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What an excellent levelup he gets on the chip too.

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...Come one Hoelun, I went through all that effort to feed you the thief kill, and this is how you repay me? You do not get enough level-ups to afford blank ones like this...

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Well, Urven gets the bow knight kill Hoelun teed up for him, and we prepare for the next onslaught of reinforcement bow knights

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First Hoelun grabs this kill, and then I get a bit of an idea

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To then feed her two kills on enemy phase, as her one defense, and one HP level ups are just enough to survive enemy phase with both of them, and as luck would have it,

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That ungrateful little monster insists on being a garbage unit the whole game through it seems. Two blank levelups in a row...sigh. This is a terrible sign.

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This next round of reinforcements is actually kinda dangerous, as both have brave effect weapons, but

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We have just enough fire power to kill one right now, and thus even Hoelun can survive enemy phase.

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I guess I will take that over the blanks she has been getting, but a little bit of strength, or heck even some Agility, or even another defense would be so much better on her....

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Well that is the last of the reinforcements, now its just the boss to deal with, and

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Sadly enough, the extra weight of the pilum is the only way he doesn't one round this guy, which he does two turns in a row, as

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Our garbage Hoelun would be easily slaughtered by this guy otherwise, and I want her to get the kill, and

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Their battle quote, as Kukuma is a creepy mofo

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That deserves to die at Hoelun's hands. Now that him and his bandits are dead we need to return to the Finns

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To tell them about our success,

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for a little bonus prize, on top of

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A small green army to help deal with the endgame of this chapter.

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Who are preparing in secret

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For us to announce our final assault by reaching that little signpost. Now my original plan was to end it off here, with half of the clans visited, with me finishing the chapter next time, but I realize

AL9nZEW_3smNY1Nu-2EhHB5US5PwnyRnuVRRBt2x

I forgot about this little flower up here, and I was waffling a little as to whether or not I wanted to do one more of these, as the final assault is a bit intense, and one of these negotiation sessions is actually kinda minor.

AL9nZEUIWR2sDDQQSD5wQQj8dBthQkTB6hsjKkAK

So I end up skipping past the turn 25 save point, so I wont forget

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To pick this up next time, and the talk Hoelun has when she enters Houras lands convinced me to do one more

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The free heal every turn is the only reason this girl even resembles OK...

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...feeling her breath on her neck, yeah that is kinda creepy thing to say.

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Alright game, I will take the hint, lets hit up the very minor event with the Gallians before the Houras. It is rather small event, so it shouldn't overburden me too much, and there is still close to half the map left for next time.

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Plus Urven was still trying to catch up anyway. A few things to note is first the small green army sitting there, and the second is that Hoelun will have to use her lockpicking skills to lower the bridge first.

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This scarecrow is another small hint about Urven's attraction to Hoelun, as he is violently opposed

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As it is acting as his rival in love (at least as he probably sees it) Cyltan.

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Seems your son has help see that wish come true. At least Hoelun hasn't lost all of her relatives in the Nymans league at least.

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After two blank level-ups, and 0 strength or agility gains, I kinda agree with him. On this run you are way too terrible to lead anything, and that is with a fair bit of favoritism on this map.

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...Good luck with that one Hoelun, usually those thing are tough in general, let alone being embarrassing enough that you could deal with one.

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Fortunately this fire wyrm must be dying of cancer, as it is designed to be fought be a Hoelun, although by one this bad...

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Unfortunately I need her to get that personal bow of hers. It is going to have to carry her even harder than normal on this run.

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Unfortunately this one gets the drop on her for free.

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Although for reasons I cannot comprehend it decided to voluntarily attack the person with 1-2 range instead of the free hit on the far squishier unit at one range. Did that one Resistance levelup really make the difference here?

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Just look at this sad creature, although even then

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My sad excuse of a Hoelun can't even double it, and takes enough damage that she can't risk attacking it on player phase unless she kills.

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I guess that deals enough that she can kill it next turn.

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Although it takes the opportunity to attack her in melee this time. I do not understand this things AI at all, it must be kinda random...

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Not with the levelup you have been getting Hoelun. Feel glad you even get this kill.

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I guess that probably is her best levelup yet, and now she can even

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Double the beast, although she didn't need it for the kill

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And she gets more defense on the kill. At least she is less likely to die randomly now.

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I wouldn't believe it either.

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A lack of fire and courage have never been her problem, its her terrible stats that are holding her back, like her base 2 strength...

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Oh no Stoelan, frail is definitely an accurate description of her, although admittedly the last two levelups have been a serious improvement.

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And her personal bow is secretly her birthright.

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That is kinda tragic. Perhaps he was so willing to let her become a ward to protect her from his murderous kinslayer cousin. Then again that plan only came to fruition long after Hoelun's captivity.

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We also get the next group of green units to join our forces.

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Although it is time we ended this update for today.

Next time we take on the Houras's little problem, before we avenge the murder of Hoelun's parents. In the meantime I hope all of you take care, and stay safe.

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Lets finish off this walking heavy map.

Spoiler

We open on me skipping over more walking, and jumping straight to

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The Houra's tribes telling us the issue we have to fix for their aid in our little rebellion.

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And in one of the most classically Fire Emblem moments, once again greed in the hearts of men have awakened

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an ancient evil, requiring us plucky heroes to deal with it.

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By bravely returning a magical gem to a shield monument.

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Hard to argue with Hoelun's logic there, but she is still going to have to fight her way through a bunch of Wraiths to do so.

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As Hoelun has to walk up and interact with this monument here.

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And by far the most annoying part of that is dealing with this siege tome here, as when it hits, it causes paralysis, a lingering status effect which prevents people from using physical weapons, and items.

AL9nZEVQDpiLdyvSfCx0WJ1rkTydybY_oqbRf5qH

And some of them have droppable loot, so I hold back a little here to ensure he doesn't reduce its value by attacking us with it. The main value of this is to be sold, as we never get any zombies in our army that can wield this...probably. Depending on how my money situation turns out, I might just save one to test a theory I have heard about a certain event in chapter 19 (assuming I make it that far...)

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Funnily enough they all have this battle quote, to ensure you see the creepy vibes of this message.

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And I will gladly take an agility levelup on Urven.

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Meanwhile, Hoelun's personal weapons is utterly carrying her.

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Also of note, some of these jerks can cause paralysis with their swords alone, so even more reason to avoid some enemy phase with Urven.

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Hoelun can even kill some things on her own now thanks to the Ariadne.

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Which lets me take down two in a single turn.

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Now I am fairly certain the siege tome doesn't actually move, so I should be safe until I reach the diagonal of where I placed my cursor there.

AL9nZEU7Z3FIM7CVlrO3FqFS44c1PNR9QOp6U3LQ

...I sorta missed how this happened, but somehow this guy was teleported over here. Now it spent its whole action, but I am not entirely certain how it did that. Also, a bunch more reinforcements to deal with have arrived.

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While this is random, but it is kinda funny to see a skill that is so useless on an enemy like this. Just something I wanted to point out that I noticed while trying to figure out how the teleportation happened...

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This one was a fair bit faster than those last turn, so

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It takes a full turn to secure this burial blade loot from this one.

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Yeah, I have been playing this bit rather slow, but I do not want to deal with paralysis, but unfortunately

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I kinda have to. A lot of those brown spaces are waste tiles, that slow down cavalry, so I can't reach the siege tome, or the monument, without it getting some free shots on us.

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So Urven gets paralyzed

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At least Hoelun can deal with some of these guys while Urven is useless.

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But before he can fully recover, the crafty witch has crippled Hoelun as well. This slows this section down a fair bit, as we just have to wait for paralysis to recover (usually its in the 2-3 turn range per proc it seems)

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so one of my units can then kill whatever is clogging up the path.

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Although we do luck our way into a dodge with Urven there, but

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He can't secure the kill...

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so I wait a little, and Urven gets a mediocre level from being crippled, but

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Hoelun deals just enough to kill it. That way I don't have to think about its other tome at all.

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And Hoelun finally gets her first strength levelup. I think the 3 strength she has really emphasizes how much that bow of hers is carrying her in this fight.

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She also has to get another kill while Urven is recovering, but next turn

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We can finish our task

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While Urven kills the last of them. Now lets save us all the time of watching me walk back and

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We report back to Houras about our success,

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and get a stat booster for it as well. Now all that is left is to declare the opening of our assault

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Although there was one minor thing I wanted to point out first, a small detail that might have been missed while I was skipping all the walking, that the Green units actually have to move into position. This was the last chance to show that off before we

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Although the game is nice enough

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to make sure you are ready before it begins.

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Given how this game's narrator treats Solis as a barabarian backwater, I doubt many ever thought of the Nyman as a bastion of honor, or integrity.

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And this even moves Hoelun onto that tree, so that Gansuk gets a glimpse of Hoelun, and starts his assault.

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Unfortunately our bad relations with the Ulavs mean they

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Send the force that would be our green units out as enemy units instead. That will distract some of our allies, but

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We should be able to turn the tides with our units, especially with me being a bit aggressive with Urven's enemy phase. I might not be able to safely keep him next to Hoelun for healing, so I have him use this for some passive regeneration in the meantime.

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And Urven gets an excellent level while enemy phasing two of the melee enemies. Now a fair number of the enemies here can drop stuff, but by far the most notable is

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The first cavalry promotion item, on the cav that is staying back. Keeping the green units from getting all the drops is difficult to do safely, and

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I almost make a bit of a mistake in my placement here. I had this whole plan for cantoing back, and getting Hoelun behind him for a full heal, and even some safe enemy phase exp on Hoelun, but

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I missed the fact that Urven's original location was restricting this guys movements by being between the two trees...

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Which forces me to hold back, which is going to make it more difficult to secure that loot...

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As the green units really slaughtered thanks to getting the drop on the enemies (even stealing a gold drop from one of them). It is difficult to notice here, but only 4 of those in that cluster are red units, and this is about to kill one of them

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And there goes the melee one that survived the onslaught. Also of note, you can see some of the green units that headed of to intercept the Ulavs's force in the bottom left hand corner there.

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I guess more agility is nice to have. Its just hard to get excited about these small leveleups after the double blank...

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Perhaps I will regret this, but I did avoid aggroing the one with the good drops. I was kinda hoping I could send Urven and Hoelun around more to the right to draw him that direction, but Hoelun didn't have to move to safely head that direction last turn, and now I had to wipe out two of the green unit's distractions, just in case they focused on her frailty...

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Next turn, the healer body blocks most of the greens at this chokepoint, and they almost kill it after slaughtering the other two over here...I think I can get away with

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securing this drop...

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On the other front, the Ulvas managed to whittle their part of the fight down to their last unit, versus two of our greenies. The greens knew to outnumber these fools on the outset, so this was a bit of a foregone conclusion.

Unfortunately I miss the promotion item drop. The sad thing is if he didn't miss his initial hit with the Cavalry Lance, he would have one-shotted the first greenie immediately, would have avoided the 15 damage that one would deal to him over all, and would have survived with less than 5 hp, even if all of the greens that could attacked him...sigh...

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Well, I guess I can play it safe against the boss, get come chip enemy phase, and some greenie help to make it safe to see Hoelun's battle quote with him...

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And of course he switched to the droppable bow to kill all the ranged green units instead of attacking Urven...well at least this gets him low enough that

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Hoelun can personally kill the cousin (once removed) that killed her parents.

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How would you? She was already a ward of the Solim family by then. Plus you could have killed her now if you bothered to move...

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And that is blank levelup number 3...let that be a lesson to you all, revenge just leaves you feeling empty inside.

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Well here we are on turn 67, and

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We liberate the Nymen league, and end this map.

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It feels a little odd to mention Tamthir now, but I guess here ascension does break whatever ties the Nymans had with the Ordoms.

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Such a contrast of truth and fiction. Those green units helped too much, and Hoelun has gotten far too many blank levelups to ever call strong.

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It does seem kinda odd how secretive Hoelun is being about Atholphis. I kinda wonder why, is she worried about Athol's safety if her identity is revealed? Is she worried her presence will diminish Hoelun's accomplishments?

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If only she got over those nerves enough to become a better unit. Also it is easy to seem brave when you aren't on the map, and thus not risking death.

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You don't need to lie so much in your flirting Urven. You did a LOT of the heavy lifting there.

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It is interesting that concerns over the Nymans hadn't come up in Zade's strategy discussions yet, it was mostly the Shyft. I guess they were next on the priority list due to how far north (I think) they are.

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Hoelun, don't you dare try some Reese nonsense where you try and talk our recruits out of joining us.

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And we can see more of that jealousy from Urven, over the guy she little brother zoned over the years.

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I mean kinda. It wouldn't surprise me if Kaga was trying to write a romance between those two, but they really do have a brother-sister like relationship between them.

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I wonder if the thing that "will never be" is his chances with her, or Cyltan's chances with her...

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I do like how saucy she is being here, as it is just the right amount of sass for this moment.

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That sad face on Hoelun is a nice detail, and I do feel they did catch some aspect of that awkward aspect of being a teenager, where being overprotected feels more suffocating, and damaging than the danger could be.

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Seems Garlan has a rather utilitarian moral, unlike Gyskhal. This little exchange does make me think of little of the clashes in ideology of Augustus and Dorias in Thracia 776...

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Such a teenager exchange...

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Now for the slightly angry face on Hoelun...Also not seeing the concern behind people's action; they really are just hammering home how much of a teenager she is.

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Lioness is she...well I guess I did put a lot of work into making sure she got lots of kills, so I could see how she makes that mistake.

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To be fair, Athol really did help out, a LOT on that map. If she wasn't providing free heals every turn, Hoelun would be rather useless, and the little mission there would have been a lot more tedious.

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Athol does not appreciate the value her healing has provided. To be fair, while healing is an important aspect of most maps, it is very easy to skim over.

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And Athol is starting to swoon over Zade's muscles, like most of the ladies in this game.

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She definitely will, but it will be a little while before Hoelun talks her into doing something reckless like this again.

Well that wasn't a great end to that map. I guess I am still on schedule, but I meant to get this update out a bit earlier, but I was too exhausted to get the writing done on Thursday and Friday. Hopefully this coming week is less busy, and in the meantime, take care, stay safe, and sleep better than I have.

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2 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Now for the slightly angry face on Hoelun...Also not seeing the concern behind people's action; they really are just hammering home how much of a teenager she is.

I don't think it's quite as easy as that. Hoelun was most certainly able to recognize Gyskhal's tough love for Cyltan as just that:

"You're his sun, moon, and stars. You're the future. What am I but a burden to him? Dying here would give my life meaning."

I don't think Hoelun is meant to be unjustified in feeling like a piece of trash that no one has yet bothered to throw away.
Gyskhal obviously doesn't like doing that whole "show people that you care about them" thing. It's something that both Aynellia and Garlan called him out on. And if he doesn't show affection to Cyltan, what chance does Hoelun have? She is not related to Gyskhal and that whole political marriage thing was meaningless long before it was officially annulled. She has no reason to think he cares about her.
She most certainly didn't grow up with the luxury of being able to take love for granted. We know she felt loved by her father... until he just gave her away to an abusive monster. So yeah... would probably be crazy if she did feel like people's love for her extends beyond her use to them.

Edited by BrightBow
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On 8/27/2022 at 3:04 PM, BrightBow said:

It's something that both Aynellia and Garlan called him out on. And if he doesn't show affection to Cyltan, what chance does Hoelun have? She is not related to Gyskhal and that whole political marriage thing was meaningless long before it was officially annulled. She has no reason to think he cares about her.

Gyskhal shows his affection in that toxically masculine way, through unspoken deeds, rather than words, or physical affection. Hoelun shames Cyltan at one point for not trying to protect her from his father, as it was always Gyskhal that protected her from Holym. Just before that quote of Hoelun you use, she lies about Gyskhal telling her to sacrifice herself to save Cyltan, and Cyltan calls her out for lying, as they both know he would never say that, she claims Gyskhal thinks it, but I think she has misjudged the man here as well. When Garlan and Aynellia try to delay the reltionship between Cyltan and Lyttia, he lets slip half his motives for breaking the Hoelun and Cyltan betrothal was that he thought they both hated the relationship, and Hoelun made that far more apparant than Cyltan ever did, and the way she acts about her betrthal, her freedom from it is far more a gift to her than Cyltan's change of fiance is for him.

You point out that Hoelun can recognize Gyskhal's love for Cyltan, but by the same token Cyltan sees the ways Gyskhal show his love for Hoelun. When she makes claims about her "uncle" not caring about her, Cyltan is always the one to push back against it. In many ways her perception of Gyskhal not caring feels like an extension of a very teenage sense of self loathing, like she is something that is unlovable.

 

Spoiler

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Coincidentally it has been about 2 months since I started this. Although Zade really has helped turn this situation around. The Malaya, and by extension the Solim dynasty, were on the brink of defeat, but now

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They have an alliance with the kingdom of the Aragoths, which can deal with the Shyfts clans to the north, and has the added benefit of bringing this independent kingdom back into the Solisian kingdom it was once a part of.

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Huh, I forgot the Nymans were so close there. I guess Hoelun's little coup has given us a clear path to the capital, and given us a bit of an advantage clan-wise in this war.

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Another famously unassailable capital. I guess they can't make it seem any easier than the taking of Venecia. Also it is rather concerning that they out number us 3 to 1 still, even after all these clans started siding with us.

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Still being outnumbered makes this a bit of a pickle, as the power of those walls strengthens their forces further, although they also engender passivity. To put another way, the way for Tamthir to get the the Solim forces to loss their momentum, is to surrender their own momentum themselves. This change of pace probably would benefit the Ordoms here, but passivity has never been in Tamthir's nature

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As just like with the kidnapping of Lyttia, it is his own hasty actions that give us the opportunity to defeat him.

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Once again, a clan leader comes to Gyskhal for help, giving us an opportunity to turn the tides, although this time it is Hoelun's uncle.

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Tamthir keeps showing how heavy handed, and like his predecessor he is with how he rules...

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Now Gyskhal is obliged to aid his ally here, but instead of falling into Tamthir's pace, and simply responding to his attack

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We are going to try for the classic Ender's Game strategy of going straight for the goal.

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As he has to leave the capital far less defended to commit to this attack on the Nyman

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This is still a big gamble here. Even before splitting the army they are outnumbered, and a battle in which you plan on distracting an enemy, is a bit of an admission that it is a battle you will probably lose in the end (you just want to lose slowly, and without too disastrous of loses).

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I like this admission that this is about balancing the scales, that Gyskhal holding true to his alliance to Meleda in their most desperate hour, is why Zade's army is here for him in his.

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Gyskhal is finally including Hoelun, as she will be riding with him to help defend the Nyman (as well she should).

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He really has come a long way, he is even letting Cyltan endanger himself to secure his throne.

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Some kind of inspiring advice from Gyskhal about how to become a good leader here. It is all about humility, and serving the people is the best way to rule.

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Also accepting the sins of his father, and trying to make amends for them by being a better leader than he ever could be.

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Interesting to see them give a number to the size of our army.

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Although it looks like we got a little more than the 1/3 of the army we were promised. Unless the extra 200 is the knights of Redessa, who weren't included in Gykshal's count.

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..Getting over stat booster hoarding is so hard. I will use  some of these this map, I promise.

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As for deployment, I went back and forth a bit whether to leave the armor knights behind, or the axey boy. I might regret this, as their low move might bite me latter, but I liked the way the armors are growing.

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I wonder if one of the translators (or perhaps Kaga himself) is a Dark Souls fan, and named this Sphirian city Londor as a reference. Also of note that even the Solisians don't recognize the desert route we are about to take as a route worthy of a gate.

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That bodes ill, as I doubt we have that kind of numbers advantage here.

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I suppose that is how we took Venecia in a sense, a traitorous boatman sneaking us past their walls.

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Although perhaps we can get a larger scale rebellion like this, as Tamthir is not the most gentle of rulers...

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Yeah, I guess this is where we finally go all out on talking about how awful Cyltan's father was.

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I seem to remember her calling Cyltan a coward for not trying to protect her from his father, and always having to rely on Gyskhal for protection, so I am not surprised she talked about how much of a monster the old Khar is.

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I like that Cyltan does not accept Athol's easy out of a little white lie. Instead he embraces the uncomfortable truth.

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Seems Gyskhal fighting in Meleda literally lost the Solim's their throne, as he wasn't there to keep his lunatic brother in check.

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As he really leaned into the tyranny when he was off the leash. Yeah this talk of mass execution is the kind of thing which gets you righteously overthrown.

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Funnily enough, that banishment probably saved his life, as

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I am guessing Hoelun had to flee for her own safety from the mad king somewhere around then as well...

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Those poor kids were basically homeless and on the run for 6 months...

Bit of a tone shift here, but I also like how Zade is coming to the same sort of conclusions about how heavy the debt Meleda owes to the Solisians is

AL9nZEXGY1dVaXOI4AS6AkFXMH2xyyGHnIg0glTq

But as Cyltan points out, even if Gyskhal was around to prevent this disaster, some other straw would have broken the camel's back, as the problem was always with his father, and Gyskhal was never willing to do what was necessary to permanently fix that issue. Also, Zade is giving us the most important part of these brilliant Siege maps, asking around about all the events we can use to turn the tides...

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I do think this is an important part of the budding friendship between these two. Zade hands command over to Cyltan, as this is his battle. It puts them on more equal footing, after Zade was in command of their last few battles, now it is Cyltan's turn to lead.

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Also Aynellia is a "joining" us on this map. Not as an actual unit mind you

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But in the same way Athol joined Hoelun in the last map, with all of that vague ambiguous healing she does before joining us for real.

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He did, but I understand Tamthir's suprise. Splitting your army is an extremely dangerous maneuver, even when you outnumber you opponent. It opens you up to being taken out piecemeal, and destroyed in detail. If the full size army figures out what is going on (or just getting into a heated battle with one of the smaller armies) they can focus on one of those forces alone, destroy it far easier than if the two were together, and deal with the other. Being split up does open up opportunity like the one we are taking now, but it is still a massive risk.

AL9nZEUo5iV1qARw7kVjdstIK6nzoxhX9OXuUhaX

He really spent a fair bit of the treasury on mercenaries. Fortunately there are a few events on this map that let me deal with each of these threats, and I will be taking a fair number of those opportunity.

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5,000...That is more than our entire army if we were combined. Fortunately they are outside the walls, have questionable stats, and there is an event to help mitigate them, but I do remember them having some rather hard hitting weapons at their disposal... Well that is enough story for now, lets get to another excellent siege map, which are the best maps of Vestaria Saga 1.

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And this guy here is the first threat we have to deal with on this map. He has 1-2 range, a 13% chance of ignoring an attack, boosts his allies, has a situational crit rate, and always hits, no matter what that 68 accuracy on his stat sheet says.

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First I get Zade in there to buff people's accuracy, and chip him with Troy

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Oh no, I looked at your skill list, you Horrid beast, you are no easy kill...unless Troy procs Triple-Threat with the brave weapon and gets 6 hits immediately

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And if he didn't proc his axe-shield once he wouldn't have even gotten the opportunity to counter Troy.

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Yeah, it kinda was. I hyped you up a fair bit, and Troy just procced a skill and popped you like a bubble. I guess this means Merida doesn't have to pick up the kill

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As Sheela extremely reliably deals with the only other of these three we can even reach.

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We visit our first little yurt hear and learn about some indescribable Cthulian horror, he will now describe

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Pfeeehh, oh, I can't help it, the contrast between the dark idea of children...being...Eaten, and the silly onomatopoeia of this act, is just too funny.

AL9nZEW2irSbn7m6y47Rw8VK62CN7tB1s6SoaSmC

....This is the kind of monstrous act that will loss Tamthir his throne. Sacrificing their children to demons is the kind of thing that makes people want to kill you.

AL9nZEUL14M-OK-G1Jvy-iEqsdjC2OeotMQ9FreL

He just couldn't help doing it again could he. Well lets take a quick peek at that demon, shall we

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He has a 1-2 range weapon that sets people's HP to 1, heals all damage he deals, heals every turn, and while alive buffs every enemy on the map by giving +3 to both defenses. The astute amongst you might have noticed that on that Horrid guy I looked at before.

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Since Merida didn't have to finish anyone off, she can instead Visit Destroy this little supply depo. Next turn I should hit a yurt that explains why I am doing that, but it is one of many little objectives I want to accomplish this map.

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And I plan on moving my army around the west side this time (I went around the east side last time I did this map).

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Seems there is a contingent of eagle riders from the Shyfts here to tell us about how that Ke'mar guy who helped us out a few maps ago, is paying the price for his betrayal, and

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His daughter is being forced to fight, or else...

AL9nZEW0p5_abqgf1D92eKtcBJ1KrpV2coVfrfKS

What a judgemental ass this Your Mama joke is. Her frugal nature is going to help us a fair bit, and she is a lot less ugly than Your Mug.

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And he just wants her to die...Guess which on of these two characters we get to recruit 😛

AL9nZEVi_ybcOjnm3Vk2VNk_B_qwfhhMnkuhWRPW

...Yeah, I kinda missed that her and Troy were in Arbalest range here. They both live the enemy phase just fine, but I should be a bit more careful...kinda. This does give my healers something to do I guess, and with a lot of my units I am willing to take the damage to not have to slow down to avoid this range.

AL9nZEVB5c4oToROv4TiNwWY9YvuIdJKLn9lKd5y

Way ahead of you Aynellia, I already looked at that demon.

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And I want that defensive buff gone as soon as possible.

AL9nZEXAQwJN-HUUQRszujy-t0fVnmNZWa3voVyG

What a foolish idea. The cliche is that power corrupts, which would imply the crown would make him worse, although I have started to prefer an alternative version of the phrase, which rings more true. Power reveals. When someone is given power, they show what they always wanted to do with that power. Tamthir has never been a subtle man here, and I doubt he has changed all that much over the years.

AL9nZEVl1ThsXdKFzeWKndprnIO7LsXpol2xmBHd

Ah yes, he is going to tell us how to deal with the 5,000 conscript without killing them all.

AL9nZEWLt0liFsAJcUo-Jm_yBVvZ1gPUtpnAJpN-

It is always said that an army marches on its stomach. Keeping soldiers hungry is always a bad idea.

AL9nZEUT5cZ1ur_AUuBwNPpCh8QsVsMlOpJk-RQl

And now we only have to deal with two more of them to starve them out. Admittedly each of these stores are guarded by some scary enemies...

AL9nZEVTPyIU0w7lnkxbBoASMeSCtu0e47cQd723

My opening chip for the turn was an attempt to get a level, but alas, he is left at 99 exp at the end of this hit.

AL9nZEUwMV0qUrMgcP7OY1IqaQ9IywfBnTlzCckZ

Also, its time to use some of those stat-boosters. Her low HP has been a rather noticeable weakness of hers for a while, so this made sense to me.

AL9nZEUAvXU1LuyV367Alv5hct_jjKSEQ7CkBeoB

Accorte gets a kinda sad levelup getting the effective damage kill here. Although she has been growing well enough she can take a dud level like that.

AL9nZEXYtH6IC1Fw3ojOIWREpe6jMee9yRd-wOK7

My flyer is going around the other direction as the rest of my army, to trigger a few events in this direction, one of which requires flight.

AL9nZEWPvgmMRPZFQyD2AD4yeTWKFs2WOEwgRCiZ

Unfortunately those recruits are active enough that some will move without us even being in range, although that does let me get the drop on this first one

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but a fair bit of bad luck means Merida needs to pick up this kill (really Cyltan, missing 3 87s...)

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Dune is intentionally in Arbalest range here, as

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It gives him the kind of level he deserves.

AL9nZEUWo4hGHpBimb9W0cjIQut8zIBPjhO0ePZ7

Well that is kinda annoying, but not a big deal, as I have plenty of healer, and far-heals if I need them. At least he can only poison one unit.

AL9nZEUhjS535FB1nQ0Ege9SGNce4CH93WpwhysbAL9nZEUuKb4gKL7Dtw8kVfq5H1yRkVrXrHYhiEhz

Not regretting bringing those armored knights around yet, as they just one-shot both these recruits.

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And Athol gets a level while healing.

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And then I make a bit of a goof here. This is a simple act of charity, to save a life at the cost of a healing item, but

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I don't have one

AL9nZEWIfg_wMdeio8Xukd3EkH2PHjRgt0-Qye_L

Because I messed up my menuing. I meant to have him trade Cyltan's herb over before that visit, but accidentally mashed my way into visiting first.

AL9nZEXMvlGpsargIR8l-JXbl5NK7kooCg3Zt2vL

Time for anothe stat booster. He has not been getting the Dex to be as reliable as I would like him to be, and I will probably use the other Dex potion I have lying around eventually...once I get around to grabbing it from the convoy. He is also covering Athol by taking it slow, and using the item here (another accident there, I keep forgetting the melee horse classes have one higher move than the mounted archers).

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Circling around like this is taking a while, and the recruits are only really dangerous against our squishies...

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Although the poisoning is rather annoying.

AL9nZEXxTpOcZ5-qWaPZxb6KHM5nnyXwAR8Vqofe

But it is funny to have these unarmed goofs around afterwards.

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but some of these guys do have quality weapons, like this cutlass cav here.

AL9nZEXCmKc9EQ2NpOCI0bX--nnAyJuxtMDOuZhG

I guess Theo is going to be the tanky mage on this run. I just wish he would get a little Agility, as the only agility he has gain is from an agility potion. 

AL9nZEUjGIIIQHgvu2C5uTlg9CEu0yjqfOPFGuUX

I don't mess this up again, so I can get this little

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Cyltan PR going, to hopefully inspire some peasant revolt to open this place up for us.

AL9nZEWrgdUttZCNOrovWdyYcqQKp3fIuvwlpZUk

The people are starting to turn on Tamthir, and look favorably on our little Cyltan.

AL9nZEVmjLDzQFq7_uv3dEAFogYkgn62x5YXq67B

Eh, kinda meh level for Lilia given how many stats she got. Then again, I never saw what she is like as a combat unit.

AL9nZEVBYLJwg0xe7yko2RhL2etwwQ3egzAznfiq

On the other side of the map, we get to hear about how to deal with those mages in the castle. They aren't a big deal yet, but they do have siege tomes...

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And siege mages are an expensive type of mercenary, which gives us an opportunity to steal some gold directly from the Ordoms.

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And send the mages packing at the same time.

AL9nZEWDeraQDzNcyFfU9yle_iV2to-GUXwyP9Uz

I will try, but we have to fight our way past the demon to get there, as that was the direction I took this time.

AL9nZEVZi0BSZE6SPN1ARe20ls8N8eo7N-a7n9Da

I end things off by testing the AI of these terrifying three at the end of this turn. I can't believe I didn't screen-shot all three, as they all have supports with eachother (which give +10 hit and avoid each, so +20 to all for now...), and have skills of their own. Two of them have brave melee weapons, and the scariest has a 1-2 range weapon. One brave wielder has the simple +20 avoid skill, the other has the increase evasion at low health skill (and 1.5x terrain bonus from her weapons), and the scariest of all has the Axe-block skill (str% chance to avoid a hit), Ambush (AGLx5 % chance to attack first in any combat), and the Critical edge kill (and an uncomfortably high crit rate). I do no know how to deal with that 1-2 range monster, as she has an extremely high speed, such that she doubled uncomfortably many of my units, and she has a lot of skills to ensure she gets the first crack at criting one of my units. In retrospect, I should have had more confidence in their reluctance to move, and brought more units to bear against this monsterous group, but instead, like an idiot, I decide to reduce her support

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By working on removing the scariest of those brave weapons, but I have already messed up here, as Troy is occupying the space Cyltan needs to canto back to, to block him off with only two units...

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So after Zade finishes the job.

AL9nZEUj8WGj-TaPqWq15YYTE7QoeVH2BRyym1JE

And Zade does his best to prepare for the consequences of my reckless stupidness with an amazing level, but the reason this is so stupid is now I have to risk Merida, as I don't trust Cyltan to not gameover from these beasts.

AL9nZEWw8xp4iw7myLVP7q1QgvN9gE20GrDapY-U

On a less disastrous side of the map, my flier has reached another key objective, the outpost of the Waguri assassins, where we see how flexible that rule of theirs is, as

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They will definitely accept a bribe to abandon Tamthir. I don't want to deal with them, as at least one has a deadly edge, so I will gladly pay the price.

AL9nZEXnK-Abc7D1ggnlsgK6LDiqPk69FklIH1xV

Interesting to see that the Waguri Assassins see how the winds are shifting, and think we are about to crush the Ordoms, despite all the ways the story tells us they have the advantage.

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To be fair, all of them (but a boss one for some reason) were invisible on this map, so I can see why Tamthir would think that.

AL9nZEUuTWlLHydEhHSjLXMCXLdypswL7WE4uz67

Ah yes, Tamthir's mysterious strategy. Expect this to be a bit of a running gag.

Time for me to phase the music.

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To be fair, she is one of the units with enough speed not to be doubled, and has a lot of avoid, which is an alright chance of survival. Alss she would need is to dodging this hit (like she did), or even just avoiding the crit

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and instead dodging one of these brave hi-

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GAAAAHHHHAHAHHAA.....huh...huh..huh...

she is OK...she dodged two hits...so she can take a...a...

Phew...whelp that  was the most never punished of the run so far. That was so stupid, and by all rights, I should hav lost Merida here for my incredibly stupid actions. Although I still have no idea howto deal with Illisse

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I guess I have to start somewhere...

AL9nZEXUQkAsni9I_2zy5UqgEL4BlPtjQbGAJ_4E

...I do not deserve this luck. She procs nothing, and Troy not only gets a multichance proc, but crits her for the kill too. I guess the goddess of luck is smiling down on Troy's golden locks.

AL9nZEU0Tr-Lz8rMvbFjHgHBul41IxEuw5qXQla0

Sorry you met such a tragic end mysterious Axe trio, but I need to starve some conscripts...Don't judge me, the Ordoms are feeding children to demons.

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Well that makes things kinda easy then.

AL9nZEXdN-9EpwlXZko6CxBJnLSw7NBwxjNt7yxh

There goes supply cache number two, with just one more to go. Altthough we have a demon between us, and it.

AL9nZEVLaNhmR3G7RDFFhdhtPYt7Hgh9CaFxWI_N

I guess we could thread the needle of the seige tome ranges instead of passing through woods, but I want to kill that demon, with his +3 defenses buff. Plus I would want to test if they move with someone with solid resistance first...

AL9nZEXWlm04ybX3Qky3px7YieVp2XUmHcGVCdnR

These recruits are still rather aggressive.

AL9nZEVFF5zOONg5NkdEE1B110Jd3ZDrl5cKv6KM

 Now Cyltan could get the first shots on this demon here, but I know how he works. If he hits, he will heal 25, and gets two chance to do so.

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If I wait instead, he can get some solid chip on this thing for next turn (when I can bring more weapons to bear against it).

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Meanwhile, I let the mages wipe away the advancing recruits.

AL9nZEU3G2mxSXaHTKmRYDXVdOsh6Nb3i_WAiUZt

On the other side of the map, I actually have a bit of a problem here. I want to visit that yurt over there, but

AL9nZEUH7vAU8p1lt7PKlhpTxVErVK7c6sjpICss

It is covered by this heavy hitting conscript. It has a low chance to hit, and she can take that hit, but if it does, she can't take any other hit that turn, hence me trying to bait out, and kill those that could get the potential followup kill first. Note she has the healing ring to deal with any damage she picks up while doing so.

AL9nZEWeMJqx3YnGA4Dv_y9-hZlFJtFYeCFBDCxo

We have a fair number of heavy hitters in position to hit that demon next turn, but

AL9nZEV6iQjR_DC5deqPeDfYKupVkR1hNftAbhQ5

It is Cyltan who hears this ominous prophecy about Margul.

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And he unfortunately missed one of his hits.

AL9nZEUnvmt9-yqKSGJ_stqDwFFr117vY3lUzF2c

...Oh that is actually rather annoying, for this fight in particular. A trick to this is letting people that have been dropped  to 1 HP attack him so he doesn't heal, but Aynellia is preventing Cyltan from being as helpful as he could be in this fight.

AL9nZEXWobJIvt9UeyW2heFXvsxKPvMlswxB-3G3

This has a chance to kill

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but instead everything whiffs.

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Shame she can't double here, but that is some good chip on him

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But thanks to him hitting in return, he comes away healthier than he started.

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Yaeri in the meantime is still trying to make visiting that yurt perfectly safe for her.

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Hopefully this demon fight doesn't take too long, I have a gold caravan to catch on the other side.

AL9nZEVWeIpXvn0YOo6OYC3OBOM6l4jneXVW7rg9

In a way Voxevald getting the luck hit here is good, as Merida is no longer a source of healing for him, so

AL9nZEXiTPfOvhxO2CWGqTPLOM-jMWMnB_22sNo2

Sheela can setup the kill

AL9nZEWYY3ZTPDPlwUnikR6JpWFp3sWbr_y_SMBe

Or she can proc Flurry and solo him all on her own. Funny thing about Voxevald is that he is the Margulite demon that best shows the player their immortal nature. He returns in this very game, and his power is so prominent enough that you will recognize his presence on a map.

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What a beats, killing the demon, just taught her how better to kill.

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We also get an excellent sword for our trouble.

AL9nZEXMeJYGhfN9yktHC9eF5ggCl03SsDQ89tNi

In a way I kinda pity Tamthir for this. It is the most monsterous act we have seen from the Ordoms, and what I feel is what pushes the citizenry into being willing to betray him

AL9nZEUYld0x99n1Xrt-LAlnfdi3UNHPZXDKVhjl

And it was all that scumbag Valerius's fault.

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As he is as disgusted by the monstrous act as we all are.

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And it does rather cement that Valerius is an ally of the Margulite. Seeing as he captured one of the circlet maidens already, that is a very bad sign for the world of Vestaria Saga.

AL9nZEVKOF50emKSb1xFZwN0w_Bvs9FXmE1s70M_

Tamthir was always on for hasty, but decisive action. I do rather like this exchange

AL9nZEUjFkEuS6L2_i10brSRD5d4hf5pLs2lT_LY

And it shows that Tamthir has some serious convictions. Perhaps this is what the citizens saw that made them hope the throne would change him. Unfortunately for the world, Valerius is a cheating dastard with the ability to teleport away from his execution. I wonder if there is an alternate ending scene of him teleporting away if we leave Voxevald alive. Perhaps I will test that one of these days...

AL9nZEUAvaHpQb05XXVALvggdC9uGTAOa_Yx2gSM

I do end up repairing the Soaring Flame again. I am tempted to risk another attack with it, but if she procs Flurry at the wrong time, it could just shatter...

AL9nZEXRGIrIP2SE0LfylHzsWwp_VyXjgIIAkalv

Back on the flyer solo mission, she has finally made it safe to visit that other village, and

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It is another charity PR stunt for Cyltan's image, and come enemy phase

AL9nZEWIyohB14-HPf9ye0CJGydBPsMrAoy36Kw3

Word has gotten around that Cyltan isn't like his monster of a father, Halym. Plus Tamthir is looking more and more like the old Khar, with his unwitting child sacrifice, and everything.

AL9nZEUIZuEimqwYqh0-O4v8yfgYD7Cqmu8F3e0l

And they are about to open a pathway into the city for us. Truth be told, opening the door is kinda minor, given we brought Cezar, the bigger thing

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is killing the main defender of that gate, Pathram, the Arbalestier that wields the strongest, and most dangerous great bow in the game, the Penelope's Longbow. It has the highest might, highest accuracy, the most uses, and lowest weight of all of the great bows, and even has an innate crit rate just to add insult to injury.

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I missed an image of it, but the NPC actually crits this guy.

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You took advantage of that very same treasonous worms before to claim your throne.

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Things have been going bad for a while Tamthir. You started your reign with a slaughter, try to force diplomacy with kidnapping, you are literally sending your army away to punish another clan for disloyalty, and let your advisors sacrifice the children from the capital.

AL9nZEWmM6Wb7jVD7npdvGpvydfAx29C7UR7aJ_e

Although you are a slightly better ruler than Halym was. We got a glimpse of that with your announcement that there were lines you would not cross, even if it cost you your throne, and I think we have found another of those lines here.

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And then he almost lets slip the secret of Aynellia, but that will come back to that at the end of this map, and the heart of the next.

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And opening up a gateway into the city sounds like a perfect place to stop, but we have a few turns before we reach the next map save.

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It is mostly just trying to get by troops through these woods, and the single point of movement that my armored knight make through this quagmire is a bit torturous, but

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We have gotten most of our troops through by the time the savepoint comes.

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Here on turn 15. Not quite sure if I will finish this map off next time, or the update after, we will see. I wasn't sure where to end this update off when I started it, and not entirely sure of the next one either.

I had to rewrite part of this update after my browser crahed, but I don't think it will derail my loose schedule. Take better care than I have this map, and stay safer than my browser was.

 

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Sorry to drop a bit of a spoiler here, but this seems to be never punished the chapter

Spoiler

After my little break in the chapter

AL9nZEUgU_yVCUFeMi9olqXb46AWA_pRcRsPQAjU

I realize that moving Yaeri through the archer range should be safe, as they surly have the same AI behavior as the other food guards, and wont move until one of them is attacked. Still is a bit nerve wracking though. Otherwise not much activity, as I am preparing for a major event in the north that I do not want to miss.

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We also hear about those bandits to the north east, whom are guarding that chest.

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Don't worry old man, we will deal with them soon enough

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That is a harsh criticism about the rule of the Khars. Saying the small folks care not who sits the throne is a bit of a cliche, but it is usually said from the opposite perspective, that expecting the small folk to resist a conqueror is foolish, but that mentality has been defied already this chapter. There is a sense here that him not caring is a failure of the ruler, not something universal. Now I will continue my habit of skipping the walking to

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When the gold caravan that we are ready to slaughter arrives.

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They will not get the chance, as we get the first shot.

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And I will gladly wipe out one with a crit rate without any chance for it to attack.

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And she gets an interesting levelup, as it is her first Res levelup.

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And there goes one of the few 1-2 range enemies.

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Despite their one move through the woods, one of the armor knights just barely gets the opportunity to contribute.

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There goes the last of these enemies with a crit rate

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and by a similar token, there goes the last one with any 2 range.

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Cyltan grows strong wiping out his target in the shooting of fish in a barrel this has become. He is turning out rather strength blessed this run, which is a good thing given how meh Dune is turning out.

AL9nZEXhlTcqRR5LkI1vCZ15JkjrqKQ-ef8jamNk

Merida on the meantime is getting the stats of a cliche FE lord from her kill (admittedly, she was just finishing off the one Prody chipped).

AL9nZEUjI8Og3rkXW3OvzG__onApW3bRDpXdk-q3

The level Accorte collects from her solo kill is great, extra defense and speed is nice (here is hoping Theo takes the hint about speed...)

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...sigh. Theo, a blank levelup on this chip is a bad look, after Accorte's level. Please just get some speed next time...

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Now this heal here is necessary to get

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This funny kill safely

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And there goes the last of the defenders, now all that is left

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is to claim our prize.

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You most certainly have Mr. Wagon.

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...At least its better than Theo's blank levelup.

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And that is a nice chunk of change for my trouble. That takes care of that, and we even did it

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without using Yaeri, so she can take out one of the Bandits, that drops his 1-2 range axe.

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With their pay captured by us, the Sphirian mercs decide to skedaddle

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And it gives Tamthir to discuss the robustness of his "strategy..."

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The next two objective we can work towards at the same time, taking out those bandits, and burning down the last of the food supplies.

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Theo easily one-shots the Vampire wannabe enemy phase with effective damage (even dodges the hit to save my healers some work)

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That just leaves the kinda scary bandit left, but I know how to deal with him, and I am dealing with the archers far better than I dealt with the axe-women, by pressing in a bit more with my army before jumping them.

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35 damage...Thank goodness Cezar has enough avoid that the terrifying Crooked Axe can't hit.

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That lets Sheela take him down with a basic Thief Repeater, so that Cezar can claim

AL9nZEV8tY5ymSa_KdcM3FVhGGJOxvq1_aLyACF-

The first mage/healer promotion item. All the candidates for its use have plenty of levels to gain, so I am not sure who will end up using this...

AL9nZEWrdbJXpxzHydyKCzLYwEXSDMDnisoRm8n-

Honestly, the bow group are by far the least dangerous of the bunch, mostly because all of them have 2 range, but also less dangerous skills than the axe ladies we faced in the last update (these are more on par with the first group we faced).

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Theo can rather reliably pop one of them

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So Zade can kill the named one

AL9nZEVeZ5BhCjYRD86whvXiZlCqpXXUSlL1PEJ7

...Props to Kaga on this little moment of morality. I can really empathize with this guy, he doesn't want to kill us, he just wants to keep his friends fed. He has a really relatable motive, whereas our motive, killing him so we can burn the food that is supplying the recruits, is a lot less so.

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There goes the last of them, so that

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Cyltan can destroy the last of the food supplies. Although he is going to pay for it, as

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One of the recruits has a Francisca, one of those 1-3 range axes, and burning these only prevents them from returning, not instantly removing them like the assassin, and mage event did.

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The one with the axe trio especially...honestly, I should have lost Merida there (if not someone else as well), but luck was really on my side there.

AL9nZEUoHyoCeMhgASdNAzo2Lr8XLVN7PGNx9ix5

Heh, I am more amused than I should be, by being called cheeky.

AL9nZEXvlvCwmq59GydFdfkNS2wKqO584q6hkIdk

What even was a part of this "strategy" of your Tamthir?

Well we now have quite a few turns of walking ahead of us, as I plan on taking the open door into the city instead of opening a new one myself.

AL9nZEWh4Tpv3CY0qQ9neSVM1cCjbSHbO8bqICgw

Although the mages being gone means it is a lot safe to go below the woods (I don't have to count out spaces to check siege tome ranges anymore), and there is the last of the recruits to deal with on enemy phase, and

AL9nZEX__BeHJHyBGdXaJe6CBmUrP-48z26V0b9p

Merida dodges, and kills easily for a surprise herb drop, which I guess refunds my charity in the other yurt.

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I also have a chance to check on the yurt which could deal with the Arbalestiers, but

AL9nZEVnjGh5QmeDcAfHdpbdbaMqdhb3uq2CA6nJ

I don't particularly want to poison the city's water supply to do it. That will deny me a valuable recruit I have been looking forward to.

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...Yeah, you aren't terribly convincing there you mysterious poisoner.

AL9nZEW52PiZObPJiI9vbU7PMW5feXE5vZNVMHNK

I should have gone back after entering the city to show you, but he gets really defensive if you talk to him after breaching the city, without doing his poisoning plan. Also, the bones between his yurt and the river, are an ominous detail...

AL9nZEUqqJlThQXn5rYfErCel_h-9pyFw2gOpPS7

Yeah, there is a lot of walking to do. Now the first thing that happens when someone enters the city limit, is those flyers try to jump us, and there are both kinda dangerous, and I have to talk to one of them, so I am going to try and lure the group in with my armors, who have the defense to take everything these guys can dish out

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After my flyer "breaches" the city

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I get the feeling the translators inverted their words here, as citadels were generally smaller, more defensive positions in, or near a city/castle. Also it is kinda funny that I can trigger these events with an errant flyer.

AL9nZEUHpdlY5jJFnzo9URqz9gF73lQTAylCT_tW

Yikes, offering a dead man the corpse of his child in "tribute" is such a dark sentiment. Shows how awful Halym was to Tamthir to inspire such vengeful malice, even long after his death.

AL9nZEVqn-rYnwzEZNgNF8WfxpNslvGxXJgUB3mr

'You heard it here folks, Yo'Mum is coming to crush us.

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Don't worry Ma'aya, I will find a way to help you.

AL9nZEXoBPBN4n4RkEdaBFpFnPLSHbvwWCD5jM7H

...and she immediately proced Industry to waste 4 Doyenne  on our lead armor. This puts me in a bit of a conundrum here. I could recruit her with Yaeri now, but she would have to weather the rest of the eagle-riders...and one of the arbalest hits. I just can't do that, so I think I am going to have to pull back, as I am either giving Ma'aya free rein to wreck one of my squishier units, or not have my troops really ready to wipe out the enemy flier

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This should work...unless...

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Oh wow, Ma'aya let us see a battle quote I didn't know about, which reveals how to recruit he-

AL9nZEXO3_E12Zu1k9W4xM7mQYksZmuOJIzCy_9V

OH GOD...SHE PROCCED INDUSTRY AGAIN...I am the worst Vestaria play, I should have anticipated th-

AL9nZEV9oU86mOpj00VlxdsCErcOrEFHs8Pz6S4e

Sorry for how bad this image is, but (depending on your contrast) you can just barely see that Ma'aya missed one. This is by far the most Never Punished map for me.

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This lets us have Yaeri talk her

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Into faking her own death. Unfortunately this means I don't get to use her until next map, as

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her fake death will let us help her father...

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As the Shyft have threatened to kill him if she doesn't cooperate with them by fighting us.

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Now my armors can switch to 1-2 range to get some enemy phase chip on the advancing group, and thanks to the double industry, I can delay the flyer fight for another turn

AL9nZEU5mNlrcdUkPcK_NjKwilz0vSNTB5T9yr_o

Against another target, that Double Pilum (with its brave effect) might seem dangerous, but Bonacel is taking literally 0 thanks to Prody's buff.

AL9nZEWsWKMMI0MRtZRwHXQU0qPNOCk5KiI5veLU

In retrospect, luring them in so close to the moat was a bad idea, but I think I can still wipe them out with my range options.

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Yo'Mum really gave us a blank levelup for our efforts...

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Unfortunately these guys are all promoted, so I have to pull out the big bows to deal with them

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I will gladly take a strength, and his first res levelup on this promoted kill

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Unfortunately Sheela misses two of these hits, so someone is going to have to clean that kill up later

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At least this one got some armor knight chip on him, so I only have to hit one of these

AL9nZEVyVhmBfJs8yY7YjK8HzisW8exTST_9rnax

Save some of that speed for Theo girl.

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Yaeri picks one of with some Doyenne uses

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For a kinda meh levelup (at least for her stat spread, Troys at the point where he would probably appreciate a levelup like that).

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Cyltan finishes the one Sheela missed off.

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Wow, Cyltan is turning out great this run. Just look at that levelup...

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Now I do spend a little bit of time maneuvering, as I have a plan to deal with the Arbalests, as from this position

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Troy can jump one

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While Sheela burns another across the wall

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While Cyltan jumps a third. I start that turn with all my units outside their range, and with only one left, they really aren't that dangerous. Truth be told, if I were more confident in the rest of the troops in here not moving I could have started Troy in range of a few, healed him on player phase of the assault, had him jump the furthest one, while Merida deals with the one he did, and wipe them all out this turn, but I don't trust my memory of the enemy AI

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Which is why I am testing it a bit more carefully then that.

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At least the swordies don't move, so I can wipe out the next Arbalest

AL9nZEWZQGEZD975vSw2PBfLbo0BBM3koyHMRJWC

For just the kind of levelup he needed, but thanks to missing the first cav promotion item, he is uncomfortably close to his level caps for now...

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This time I am testing the archer, and

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He actually does move, with his brave effect bow.

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And while I didn't notice before, that was also testing the 2-3 range bow wielder over here.

AL9nZEVI6hUUJGvMHAwYA4IESNNxddIjASdA4g9gAL9nZEWF_g2Hw0hW2l-jR_8t0ZTl7iK880ik73ly

That deals with the mobile one rather comfortably

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He is growing into a very potent player phase units, but with those defenses on him...

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I then spend two turns positioning myself to more certainly

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Wipe these two up here out

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It most certainly is . It was as soon as the eagles fell in a sense, thanks to how passive the rest of you are proving to be.

AL9nZEXNvsJ2FZT5YcyqUPXhpwZgMaPOTQR2ywgC

Still no defense Haldyn? I guess I can't complain too much about an Agility levelup, but that is still base defense you are sitting on there.

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This guy can take a fair bit of a hit

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Even from this strength blessed Cyltan.

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Then we double miss him, but

AL9nZEVYFOmIrNA6rFN6x2G0CUqq2hu0zkmVG9-M

The Harpoon's high accuracy finally does him in.

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I can also start wiping out these two immobile swordsmen as well

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Now you are just rubbing that higher speed in Theo's face.

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Poor guy just can't compete with that kind of speed, but I suppose he is more accurate with the one attack he does get

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Which sets up the kill for Dune nicely

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...Not the stats you need at all Dune.

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Although learning mutlichance is an excellent boon to him.

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Now it is time to test the AI of the last little group of them

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The most dangerous Sinnes doesn't move, and while approaching him with the fire power I need for that beast, I can also test this 1-3 range axe's AI as well.

AL9nZEXFV14QoTvQ8iBHlqn9EJ2uCMmGYTKy_Dsn

Ugh...physically tanky, a solid dodge rate, a crit rate, and passive healing if I can't wipe it out in one turn.

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That is a good start at least

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Don't be hulking out now Sinnes.

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...75 hit, not great, but this could kill

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Thanks for being so strength blessed Cyltan, this chip is going to help out a lot

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As it lets me finish him without risking him hitting back

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Zade then casually wipes out the 1-3 range Axe

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and I will gladly take more Agility on Zade.

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Troy also needs to move here, to block this guy from moving (just in case hitting one of those guys aggroed the group, like the food defenders), and gets some ch-

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or he can proc something for the kill. The last of them just took a hit on Troy before

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Accorte roasted him to cinders

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At this rate she is going to cap her speed...

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Now there is a few nice things to pickup before we leave, and this is probably the best of them.

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Now technically this image is from last turn, but it important to look at the boss for this last stretch. First he has the best version of the command skill, with a comically high 7 range. You might have seen that +20 accuracy a few times on enemy stats thanks to him. More importantly he has a full heal item ,and multichance, so any time he attacks he could double it

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Which is why this little moment here, where Prody's Good Neighbor skill

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Makes it safe for Cyltan to go for this narratively satisfying kill so amazing, and I feel fully justifies bringing those two over my little axey boys.

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Tamthir sure knows how to make the one liners.

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Sad to say, but his level has finally caught up to his strength. Although the perfect damage on him was down right beautiful.

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I joked about his not fall here moment, but

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it is really about giving him a story death a little later, that way even if I did not arrange for the Cyltan kill here, they will get their confrontation in the end.

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Now Cyltan has to seize this map, so we have one more turn, but truth be told we have a bit to do first anyway.

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Like collecting another item, and more importantly hitting up all of the shops here, as there is some excellent stuff. Mostly I buy some useful magic here, like another Raecryst, one of the armor effective magics, one of the triple brave dark tomes for Accorte. I also get a few other things as well, but

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I also have enough for a promotion item here (and I could probably sell a bit of treasure), and I think long and hard about this. Now doing this now will let me get another 1k over all from a Cezar Lucre this map, but what I really need is a horse promotion item, and I looked ahead, and I can buy one next chapter with this money instead. Now that does mean waiting for chapter 15 for the next chance to buy a lot of these promotion items, but by then I can use Ma'aya's 33% discount to get them for cheaper, and I have a handful of promotion items lying around for those that level cap before chapter 15. I might regret not buying one now, and seeing stuff for the discounted buy next chapter, we will see...

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So we manage the clear here on turn 43

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With our commander Cyltan's seize.

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It is interesting that Tamthir seems to be implying that he let Cyltan go back then, and then decided to wipe him out after the fact.

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Its a bit late for that now, and it seems like you were trying to very recently...Also odd to see Cyltan get so defensive about his father.

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Odd that the people were so trusting of Halym's right hand monster to be the one that replaced him. Although perhaps he let his distaste of his role be known

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Plus such a personal tragedy inflicted by the Khar probably earned his some sympathy

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Sorry, Tragedies, plural. Man Halym is both a monster, and clueless if he did this to one of his main advisors.

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And she is soon to make her appearance on this little tragedy.

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He was a far more patient man in his past it seems. Most of his problems in this campaign was him acting with haste, instead of waiting for his opponents mistakes like we are, and he clearly did in his first campaign.

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He was forced for 6 months to face a world which would throw him out into the cold. His own father banished him from his home. He had to face the fact that his father was a monster, and the grim thought that he might follow in that monster's footsteps. Smaller tragedies perhaps, but Cytlan has had no perfect life either. Had Tamthir faced such hardship when he was as young as Cyltan?

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No, I think Cyltan, my readers, and myself can empathize with your judgement against the monster that was Halym. It is the actions you did as Khar, and in the old Khar's name which are less defensible.

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It is interesting to see where Tamthir's ... I think I will describe it as code of ethics, arise. Like with his insistence that he would rather lose his throne then sacrifice children to a demon. Here that he is willing to die, if he finds that Cyltan has become a more noble man than his father.

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Then he asks his long lost daughter to be the judge of Cyltan's character. In some ways I find it odd that she mentions Cyltan, and not Gyskhal, but I think she both sees him as like a son, and understood what Tamthir was really asking.

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Although the tragedy of him sacrificing himself for that response, reminds me of the tragedy felt by Arione when he knew his words had killed Travant.

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Funnily enough this green Cyltan is a lot tankier, and a bit weaker than my own. Also it is odd that Tamthir gets a scripted crit, despite 0 displayed.

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Was courage really what that monster lacked?

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Interesting tree imagery here, and it reminds me of a habit of some trees, that when cut down at the trunk, clones sprout in a ring around the old stump (often going by the name of fairy ring).

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Look at that sad Aynellia face there. Flippant as that comment was, the poor girl is now having to bury a father, for which she might feel some guilt towards his death.

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Although I guess I am a bit of ahead of the story in recognizing their familiar relationship.

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Oddly enough, this is one of the few times I left some enemies alive at the end of this seize map. I wonder if this dialogue is different if I routed the enemy.

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Thanks to your strength blessed growth, you are forgiven for your stint as a green unit, and walking into an obvious trap.

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Yeah, you did have a cute little rivalry, although I don't think Zade really noticed, or reciprocated.

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...Really blushing with the feeling behind this bromance Zade?

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Ah yes, the love between "friends"...sigh, much as I find it funny (and so easy to find that it must be intentional) to point out the homosexual subtext to this, I do still appreciate them talking about the kind of love that blossoms between friends, although it is frustrating how encompassing the word love is in the English language. It is used in relationships as different and distinct of those between family, friends, and lovers, despite how fundamentally different these relationships tend to be.

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This humility in him, thanking those who aided him along the way is a change. It is nice to see him taking Gyskhal's advise about humbling himself to heart, as it is an improvement in the man.

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That is such a condemnation of Halym from his son, that he would rather give up his throne then turn out like his father.

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I wonder if he means that Zade was an attainable role model, or that he inspired Cyltan to take the scarier step of forging his own path.

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It is subtle, but Athol has changed faces here into one that I think I will describe as more piercing, to emphasize the more serious topic at hand. She is grappling with the issue at the heart of an inheritable rule. Why should she be seen as more important thanks to some nebulous heritage she had no part in building. It leads to an interesting contrast to the Udagal blood (that she has), which the story almost treats like it is special somehow, but it not appearing to be in the gameplay is very telling, especially in a Kaga game, as blending story and gameplay is not only one of his most notable stylistic preference, he has already shown us how he can show the power of bloodlines in the gameplay with Genealogy of the Holy War.

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Seems Athol is the one who would have best understood the tragedies Tamthir faced, although the difference in their character, and how they responded to their tragedies are so different.

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Athol pointing out that Zade isn't that into her (is that how he is so like Zach at times...), seeing it here, after his Cyltan blush...they really are emphasizing the homosexual subtext in this end scene here.

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Still trying to rub his successes in his "sister"'s face I see. I guess he has changed entirely here. Also, I wonder if it is just the context, or if it is slightly different from other Athol happy faces (like the slight difference I pointed out above), but this "happy" face seems a little forced...

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Don't worry Theo, after that blush, I am sure you can find plenty of fan fiction of that. And much more than that...

Next time Lyttia not only joins us, but ascends to new levels of brathood. In the meantime take better care than I did with this chapter, and stay as safe as my units managed to anyway.

 

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On 8/31/2022 at 6:39 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

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Also accepting the sins of his father, and trying to make amends for them by being a better leader than he ever could be.

Bare your heart to them, and they will see you are not the same man as your father
...the same way I do.

I suppose it's rather ironic for Gyskhal to be the one to advice someone to open themselves up towards others. I like to imagine that seeing the effect he had on Hoelun made him reconsider his style of "parenting".
 

Spoiler

 

On 8/31/2022 at 6:39 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

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Seems Gyskhal fighting in Meleda literally lost the Solim's their throne, as he wasn't there to keep his lunatic brother in check.

I have to imagine these days he deeply regrets not standing up to his brother and instead merely cleaning up after him. No wonder he is so harsh on Cyltan. He's probably afraid of repeating his old mistakes.
 

On 8/31/2022 at 6:39 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

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How did that go?
"Hey, Aynellia. Please help Cyltan kill your dad. Thank you."

I'm not entirely convinced she is not acting out of her own initiative here.
 

On 8/31/2022 at 6:39 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

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Oh no, I looked at your skill list, you Horrid beast, you are no easy kill...unless Troy procs Triple-Threat with the brave weapon and gets 6 hits immediately

Probably should have been given Critical Reprisal. There is a 75% chance that not reading his skill list and mistaking him for another witless peon will work out just fine for you.
 

On 8/31/2022 at 6:39 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

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What a foolish idea. The cliche is that power corrupts, which would imply the crown would make him worse, although I have started to prefer an alternative version of the phrase, which rings more true. Power reveals. When someone is given power, they show what they always wanted to do with that power. Tamthir has never been a subtle man here, and I doubt he has changed all that much over the years.

If power turns a good man evil then clearly power turns an evil man good. That's just math.
 

On 8/31/2022 at 6:39 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

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I don't know. We have one of those and I don't think we even pay her.
 

On 8/31/2022 at 6:39 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

And it shows that Tamthir has some serious convictions. Perhaps this is what the citizens saw that made them hope the throne would change him. Unfortunately for the world, Valerius is a cheating dastard with the ability to teleport away from his execution. I wonder if there is an alternate ending scene of him teleporting away if we leave Voxevald alive. Perhaps I will test that one of these days...

Probably not. I mean, he is not even on the map in the first place.
 

On 8/31/2022 at 6:39 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

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It is another charity PR stunt for Cyltan's image, and come enemy phase

I love her reaction to when you don't have the money and she starts shouting at the kids for complaining about their gruel when they are richer then a whole army.
 

4 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

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...Props to Kaga on this little moment of morality. I can really empathize with this guy, he doesn't want to kill us, he just wants to keep his friends fed. He has a really relatable motive, whereas our motive, killing him so we can burn the food that is supplying the recruits, is a lot less so.

On the bright side, you are reuniting him with his girlfriend that you killed to destroy the other supply depo.
So really, you are doing a good deed here.
 

4 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I don't particularly want to poison the city's water supply to do it. That will deny me a valuable recruit I have been looking forward to.

Yeah, but you can buy the poison and then sell it for a decent profit.
 

4 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Don't worry Ma'aya, I will find a way to help you.

I do like separating the Eagles by going in from both the North and South at the same time. With her crit chance and Industry Ma'aya can most certainly be a threat to a lot of squishes if you get unlucky. Not to mention to herself is she picks someone that can counter. So I'd say it's safer to separate her from the pack and make her chase after targets she can't actually threaten.
 

4 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

He was a far more patient man in his past it seems. Most of his problems in this campaign was him acting with haste, instead of waiting for his opponents mistakes like we are, and he clearly did in his first campaign.

True. Still, given how popular Gyskhal is, I can imagine Tamthir thought he needed to win quick and decisively, as an ongoing conflict would likely result in his opponent finding more and more allies.

Of course it's also quite possible that he was so devoted to revenge that he had no real plan for after Halym's head was rolling on the floor.

I do love how the game made it very clear that his attempt to blackmail the Aragoths into supporting him was doomed to backfire from the start. That without Helme's plan, they would have just attacked the Shyft anyway because the king was not going to sacrifice his country's independence that so many bleed and died for just to save someone he cares about personally.
In that case they might not have allied with Cyltan's faction immediately, but if they had declared war on the Shyft and their allies, it would not have made much difference in practice.
 

4 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Was courage really what that monster lacked?

Halym does seem to be handled somewhat inconsistently, doesn't he?

I get the idea of lacking a spine and convictions causing you to follow the advice of treacherous advisors. That was well executed with Volcens in Berwick Saga, 
But like... those advisors probably didn't tell Halym to force a 15-year old into his harem, strangle her into unconsciousness, then selling her to a brothel and threatening the owner to make sure she was kept busy.

I suppose in a wider sense courage factors into that. Because insecurity causes the need to constantly assert yourself and disproportionally retaliate against perceived humiliation.
But it still feels like a bit of a stretch. I don't see a lack of insecurity stopping him from raping and other acts that are just plain evil. He might have been a more competent ruler in that case, but it wouldn't change a thing about his main problem being his sense of morality or lack thereof.
 

4 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

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Still trying to rub his successes in his "sister"'s face I see. I guess he has changed entirely here. Also, I wonder if it is just the context, or if it is slightly different from other Athol happy faces (like the slight difference I pointed out above), but this "happy" face seems a little forced...

With the way Holeun and Athol were written, it does leave one wonder if Cyltan tries to make Hoelun jealous because he is dancing with someone else of because Athol is dancing with someone else.

It's a shame that there is already no ambiguity about the fact that these same-sex affections can't go anywhere. I mean, even if this old Japanese guy would be inclined to write one, in a setting like this that so heavily revolves around heirs and inheritance, this would open up a whole can of worms that would be a pain in the rear to deal with.

 

Edited by BrightBow
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On 9/3/2022 at 10:34 AM, BrightBow said:


I suppose it's rather ironic for Gyskhal to be the one to advice someone to open themselves up towards others. I like to imagine that seeing the effect he had on Hoelun made him reconsider his style of "parenting".

On the one hand I think Gyskhal has come a long way in a short time with how he treats his surrogate children, much as Cyltan has grown a lot in the same amount of time. On the other, I am reminded of something described long ago in a high school English class (so I apologize for the vaguery or inaccuracies in this), the Anna Karenina problem. In the book both Anna, and her brother have done things that leave their relationships a mess, and despite how their lives, and relationships are crumbling around them, it is Anna's advise and help that best gets her brother back onto the right path, and her brother's advice and help that gets Anna back onto the right path. They can recognize the issues with other, as it is the very issues they have, and are most experienced with, but when confronted with it in themselves, they are too close to it, it has grown too large to handle in its proximity...

 

On 9/3/2022 at 10:34 AM, BrightBow said:

I have to imagine these days he deeply regrets not standing up to his brother and instead merely cleaning up after him.

I don't think Gyskhal could have truly stopped Halym without killing him, and I don't think Gyskhal ever had it in him to go that far.

 

On 9/3/2022 at 10:34 AM, BrightBow said:

 

I'm not entirely convinced she is not acting out of her own initiative here.

That seems consistent with how she acts in some earlier chapters (like 8), and its how Hoelun deals with Gyskhal most of time, so perhaps Aynellia is a bad infulence on her.

 

On 9/3/2022 at 10:34 AM, BrightBow said:

Probably should have been given Critical Reprisal. There is a 75% chance that not reading his skill list and mistaking him for another witless peon will work out just fine for you.
 

That would have been more extreme, but I think not noticing the Axe shield, or Dead eye could also lead to some disastrous results, so it is a bit more than just 25% chance of things going wrong.

 

On 9/3/2022 at 10:34 AM, BrightBow said:

Probably not. I mean, he is not even on the map in the first place.

Probably true, but Kaga can sometimes include little details like this that others wouldn't in his stories, so I do wonder...

 

On 9/3/2022 at 10:34 AM, BrightBow said:

Yeah, but you can buy the poison and then sell it for a decent profit.

Huh, I did not know this event actually gave us an item to use on the water that we can sell...

 

On 9/3/2022 at 10:34 AM, BrightBow said:

I do like separating the Eagles by going in from both the North and South at the same time. With her crit chance and Industry Ma'aya can most certainly be a threat to a lot of squishes if you get unlucky. Not to mention to herself is she picks someone that can counter. So I'd say it's safer to separate her from the pack and make her chase after targets she can't actually threaten.

Given Ma'aya's luck with Industry, I can see why that would be the case, although I seem to remember from my last run that the enemies around the northern gate are well positioned to kill Cezar the turn he opens it, unless you commit a LOT of fire power given how little space you have, and a bit of luck into crushing them immediately, and I didn't want to risk that. I guess I could have used a Door Key on someone tankier instead, although I am not sure if I had one lying around the convoy...

 

On 9/3/2022 at 10:34 AM, BrightBow said:

With the way Holeun and Athol were written, it does leave one wonder if Cyltan tries to make Hoelun jealous because he is dancing with someone else of because Athol is dancing with someone else.

Huh, I didn't even think of that angle.

 

On 9/3/2022 at 10:34 AM, BrightBow said:

 

It's a shame that there is already no ambiguity about the fact that these same-sex affections can't go anywhere. I mean, even if this old Japanese guy would be inclined to write one, in a setting like this that so heavily revolves around heirs and inheritance, this would open up a whole can of worms that would be a pain in the rear to deal with.

This is a fantasy world with magic...writing around the conception/inheritance problem when there is literal magic in the world is a lot easier than a lot of people are willing to admit...(Just use the fertility staff...)

 

 

Now for a nice, and easy one and done map.

Spoiler

When last we left off

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Cyltan and Zade were deepening their bonds enough to inspire slash fics, while unbeknownst to us Gyskhal managed to win the losing battle he  started.

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And this is enough of an upset to require a sepia toned flashback.

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As this outcome was closer to what I expected, if Gyskhal made the mistake of over committing.

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Although he gets saved by the Aragoths, and their army roughly as large as our own overall

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Even after defeating Shyfts. The Solim dynasty has really been carried by its alliances, the Meleda alliance dragged them back from the brink of defeat, and now the Aragoths utterly stomping the Shyfts, so quickly and decisively that they can save Gyskhal here.

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To think that only even the sides. The Ordoms so thoroughly outnumber the other players in this conflict. I guess they did have the royal treasury to bluster their numbers with mercenaries, like the Wagiri assassins, and Sphiran mages...

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Although it was Cyltan's victory, which gave Gyskhal his.

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This is really showing how much better Jamulan is as a commander than Gyskhal, as maneuvers like this were what he needed for the battle he almost lost. Also, I rather like how they extend this conflict beyond the fall of the capital, as I feels like that is where a lot of Fire Emblem games tend to end their conflicts off. I also think they did this better than their attempt to do something similar with the Gallacian Bandits, as this gives us a solid explanation for why they both have enough forces left for another map, and some actual leaders still around to give the conflict a relatable face, who has been actually established in the narrative.

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At least they are including Hoelun in the war council. It was a little odd that she wasn't mentioned in the whole flashback scene despite being there.

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Interesting that they are so willing to acknowledge this is a war of conquest, done to force the Ordoms back under Solim rule in this moment of weakness.

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Although it sounds like Sphire is thinking the same as we are, so we can't really commit all of our forces to this assault on the Ordoms

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Although you would think that the numerous internal trouble Spire has been facing would keep them too off balance to mount an offensive war like this. Then again, trying to wage war to create a common enemy, to then unite her people behind her, might be what she is going for.

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Hoelun is pleasantly surprised by the new leaf Cyltan has turnover. He really has had a bit of an epiphany over the course of that last battle, where he started to act a bit more humble, and more importantly, is trying to forge his own path. Also Lyttia getting jealous/overprotective of the fiancee she doesn't even want, is down right silly.

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Fortunately that inspires her to join our little army, which is rather good as she is our dancer equivalent, but I will talk about her in far more detail soon, in my little unit review section.

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She really is motivated by this jealousy over Hoelun. Kinda sad actually as the two of them have this shared experience of being forced into an arranged marriage with Cyltan that might otherwise make them friends.

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That personal tome of hers really is the most powerful magic for self defense, so well worth the price on that one.

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In case it wasn't apparent, the game is setting up all the forced deployed units for this map...

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With Tallan mainly acting as a convoy unit. Technically he can also wield daggers, but it is a lot of effort to train him with his bases...

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Meanwhile, the Shyfts are under new management, and given our previous interactions with Ke'mar that is almost certainly an improvement

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Although it is Ma'aya whom we actually recruited, and can now use. An interesting unit, but like her father says, she doesn't start out great at combat...

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Although she aspires to be one of the defender of the peace, one of the Vestaria church's Knights Aquila (like all of the other recruitable Eagle Knights in our army)

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More accurate to say it was known as the Shadow Isles, as it is where Margul started his rule (and got all his super powered orbs that the circlet maidens suppress...)

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This feels like such an American sentiment, in the vein of the "give me liberty, or give me death" kinda way.

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Waging war to bring peace...the feeling of American aphorisms continue

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I guess that explains the Doyenne she starts with, she is following in the footsteps of her mothers abandoned dreams...

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Although Zade will not be a part of this chapter. In fact, we only get to chose three extra people to bring on this mission

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And its only specific groups of three. Given my choices, I thought this one is the best. All of three of these units are turning out rather well, and still have a fair number of levels they can gain. Although there really isn't going to be all that much combat on next map, unless I REALLY mess up.

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Poor Accorte getting her hopes up...

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It would have been nice to have this warning ahead of time, but its not the biggest of deals, as I haven't been stripping people of weapons, so everyone should have something they can use, and I still have a bit of stuff in the convoy if need be. The biggest issue is I forgot to put some of the new tomes I just bought into the convoy, so no triple brave tome for Accorte yet.

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It is cute that the game anticipates this complaint.

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Note that Aynellia isn't an actual unit this map. She doesn't even heal Cyltan like last map, she is just there for some talking (and moral support).

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Here is the next little group of forced deployed units for this map, all from the Nymans

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And the new recruits from the Aragoths.

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And last, but not least, our recruit from the Shyfts.

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Finally the trio we picked. That is the only preps we get as we start

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As Lyttia is about to mess up

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any chance we have of preparing for this map.

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Fortunately she bungled her attempts at glory enough

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To be on the least dangerous side of the river possible. We want to avoid a fair bit of the fighting this map in general, so we will come join her in a little bit.

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Her dommy habits are really cramping our style here, as there is one thing in particular I want from that convoy we are going to have to beg her to use...

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I guess me showing off this games equivalent to Fire Emblem's Dance/Sing command, the Taskmaster skill (where she whips people...they really lean into her being a dom...) is as good a reason as any to talk about our 4 new recruits in this map.

Spoiler

First we have Lyttia, whom is effectively our dancer, and thus excellent. On top of that, she has one of the most useful personal weapons possible for her, it is a 1-2 magic, that grants her the First Blood skill when equipped (which is basically Vantage+ from Fire Emblem), has 120 base hit, and when it does hit it causes Daze, which prevents enemies from using physical weapons. What this means is that you don't have to be all that careful with her, as she basically prevents most attacks from 1-2 range enemies. In the rare event that she does take a hit, she has the Luckx2 % chance of avoiding death skill, just in case...

Helme is simply a solid prepromote unit. Good enough bases to drop into almost any map and do well, some nice skills in multichance, and the basic crit skill, and a horse for good mobility. The most interetsing thing about him is access to Great Swords, which is kinda rare, and they tend to be fairly good. He comes with a brave effect Great Sword, which is usually good enough to make him one shot what you need to even very late into the game.

Next we have Ma'aya, and what most people use her for is her 33% discount on all shops. She does also have Industry, the 15% chance to act again, and she is a flier, but she comes at level 1, with the kind of base stats you expect from a level 1 unit. Fun fact, she has a special class change option this chapter, where she can trade that 33% discount away to become a Dragon Knight(and I did that on my last run, as I like Dragon Kinghts), which is a noticeable improvement in her stats (especially the +6 defense, and +12 health, not to mention +1 Mob...), but she doesn't reset her levels, and can't promote the normal way...

Tallan is a utility unit, which can be trained into the best knife wielder available to us with a lot of effort. For now he is our convoy, he has the Lockpick skill, and he has a skill which increases the durability of whichever weapon he has in the first slot by 1 a turn (I always forget about this skill...and did this map as well). He also has a +20 evasion skill, +50% terrain bonuses to avoid, and the multistrike skill, in case you actually want to use him in combat. He is also one of the few units that can increase Mobility. I didn't bother to train him last run, and I get the funny feeling I wont bother this run as well.

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A bit of a tepid warning given how this map plays out.

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It is interesting to see such a serious ethnic divide in a nation here, with the Ordoms as a conquered people to the Solisian Kingdom.

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The Ordoms have only been part of the kingdom since Cyltan's grandfather. That is more recent than I expected.

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Given what happened to Tamthir's family, the Ordoms were rather oppressed by the Solisian Kingdom since they were forced into it.

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The classic one man's villain is another man's hero trope. A classic, and I do think it kinda fits with how Tamthir has been portrayed.

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Also this is a bit of a trend for this map, but none of these talking yurts will give you anything, other than some insight into the Ordoms people, and their situation.

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And we have at least another turn before we see combat

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And before we get to that, Aynellia interrogates Cyltan about what he intends to do with her people,

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and it seems rather reasonable. Especially given the Ordoms treatment by the previous generations of Solims

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That she insists on asking what HE would do is both an interesting critique of Cyltan's over reliance on Gykshal as an advisor (no matter how good he is, he wont be around forever), and an important step in seeing him embrace the role of Khar.

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...Well I do have my army raid the Ordoms yurts a little, so I guess this promise didn't get fulfilled

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I bet Aynellia finds it very reassuring that you wont kill her, as long as she lays down arms...

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Although Cyltan has not figured out who Aynellia is yet...

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Even though the very next house is talking about her...

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...Ouch, tragedy begets tragedy it seems.

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This kinda makes me wish there was a Tamthir smile face, which he only shows during his brief conversation with Aynellia before his death...

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They have been trying to make Tamthir more sympathetic, after his death. Although I guess we saw a tiny bit of it before, the Ordoms lands is just where they lay it on thick.

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Thanks to a dance (I am just going to use that terminology out of FE habit..) Helme gets the first combat of the map, by setting up the kill

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And levelup for Urven

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And I will not complain over an Agility gain.

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While strength blessed Cyltan kills one all on his own.

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And is even getting an enemy phase kill on an archer as well.

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Meanwhile Tamthir's youngest daughter, and the military leader of the Ordoms are trying to decide the fate of the clan. Much like Gyskhal, Jamulan isn't willing to take control from what he views as the rightful heir, even in an emergency like this. Also, Neira clearly had a terrible relationship with her father, and after the talk about how he hardened (even though she was alive, and in need of more support than ever) that doesn't seem surprising.

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At least he is willing to take up the reins when she hands them to him

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And he advises she flees, as he is rather worried about the reprisal the Ordoms are about to receive for the reign of Tamthir. This is reminding me a fair bit about the talk Naccara had with Dune about them sending the women and children away as the Solim forces were invading their lands.

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Despite his concerns, both Cyltan, and Tamthir (if his implication that he just let Cyltan go at first was true) didn't follow this vengeful pattern.

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And while Neira is convinced her ideas were too naive (and if Cyltan was like his father, they probably would be), as is becoming more, and more clear, the end of this map is getting these people to actually talk with him. Also of note it is odd to see Lin still have the name Girl in the dialogue boxes (and also of note, she is the girl she saved back in Chapter 7)

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Fortunately for us, Neira is too invested in the fate of the Ordoms to simply run away, which gives us a chance to get that talk.

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...There are so many events in this little map. Now we have some rapey bandits ready to take on what are probably the most dangerous ladies in this game.

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Hilda has some of the best insults. Although Hamish really dropped the ball by going with a pig sound instead of having her get ready to bleat (thus continuing the goat motif)

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Given that she has the Thracia wrath skill, she could chop these guys to pieces, although admittedly she isn't really tanky enough to do that with more than one or two of them at this time. Her ward on the other hand is less dramatically deadly, but can better go the distance in killing these freaks. Although I will wait until their permanent recruitment is a bit more certain to talk about them in more detail.

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Don't make her stop Lianka, her language puts a smile on my face.

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Ah Hilda, using a swear while apologizing for your language...don't ever change.

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And I will break this advice almost immediately

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By having Lianka cover Hilda while she

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grabbed a stat booster.

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I have finally gotten Ma'aya close enough to Tallan to finally use that Diligence Tome I have been keeping. Probably kinda dumb, but she has a lot of levels to gain, and I like the fliers in this game, and I hope she can fill the empty shoes of Rubina...eventually. Plus I already shown my favoritism for her on the last run as well.

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Hoelun then manages to chip this guy. Yeah, I have avoided some high crits to "feed" kills to people this map, but in both cases, I wouldn't mind if the crits did happen.

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But after a dance, Ma'aya can land this kill. I will also note that despite her wasting a fair number of uses of the Doyenne as a red unit, she does come with a full one as a blue unit.

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And she has leveled already, getting some Agility, although given her hit rates so far, the Dexterity might be the better gain here.

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Time for another weighty vis-...Wait, is Am Solim just Cyltan's granfather? I kinda got the impression he was a more historic figure than that. I guess it could be the case that the Ordoms earned their freedom from the Solim dynasty at some point, like the Aragoths did, and the grandfather was the one that reclaimed it...

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I guess this confirms that the Aragoths broke off from Halym's kharate, and not one of the earlier Khars.

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It is interesting to see his interpretation of these events, while Tamthir saw it less as retaliation against him, and more as the petty whimsy of a monster.

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Interesting to see him describe us as dynasts, but I guess it is general enough to fit, if a bit archaic. Also this promise that some other will rise up to oppose the Solim oppressors, it reminds me of...of...hmm, the sentiment seems reminiscent of something, but I can't quite place it.

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And then the game makes a death sound, implying the man commits suicide.

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I also do my first bit of raiding this turn, as I am fairly certain there are no lasting consequences

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and a repair gem is just too good to pass up.

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And we get one more visit conversation, where we hear about the shrine in the center of the lake

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And he is so insistent, that it reveals the lie. We want to see the shrine event, but it contains a lot of choices, and it can only be visited once...

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And now Jamulan is going to start moving, and he acts as bit of a timer, as we don't want to fight him, until we can talk to Neira.

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And while I wish she could convince him here, there is another boss on the Great Yurt (and technically we do have to seize that eventually).

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This is also complicated by Neira following after Jamulan, although at a bit of a distance, but fortunately there is an event to help with that a bit latter on.

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...Knowing this ends in marriage makes me feel rather uncomfortable here, as she is clearly equating the kind of love she has for Jamulan is like that of a brother.

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Although it sounds like she plans on killing herself if he dies...

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...Yeah its best not to engage with Jamulan, as he is really out for blood, and has some solid stats on him.

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These bandits are really gross

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And the power couple does their thing, and splattered something on enemy phase.

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Ma'aya manages to get another kill

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And Agility level for her. She has a long way to go before she becomes a real combat unit.

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And with a dance, I prepare her to jump that Arbalester in the center. Cyltan also visits another of these yurts

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And don't worry lady, I know what this map is about.

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This kinda fits with Tamthir's reluctance to punish the citizen's of the Citadel that opened the gates. I wonder if he softened on that stance, or perhaps was happy to have the excuse to save those people, and save face by having Neira be the soft one.

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The game isn't subtle here, have Aynellia (who is following Cyltan, so really have Cyltan) talk to her sister Neira.

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This raid will cause both the archer, and axemen across the river to attack

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And given the meager reward, probably not worth it, but

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She can live the hits

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Even if they all hit (admittedly only by 1...) Although I have jumped ahead a little, as while Jamulan started moving last turn

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Neira starts moving this turn (hence the distance between them)

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And again the game explicitly names a character (like Lin/Girl), but uses a generic name below her face. Just a weird detail I noticed about this map. It bet its an odd quirk in translation, where the names were added to make some Japanese sentences where the subject was dropped less awkward in English, and the translation of the names below the faces was done at some other time, such that the invented names weren't added to it.

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On the next turn, Ma'aya once again kills

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And levels, although a very underwhelming one this time.

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Although things are slowing down a lot, as Urven gets a little action this turn

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and the next, really I am just waiting for

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The girls to arrive at his questionable refuge.

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As they get to meet another recruit, a priest

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of questionable repute. He kinda reminds me of Saul with the way he hits on Hilda.

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And she has a colorful way of calling out the creeper.

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And...I am not entirely sure which of Siegfried's statements here is a lie. The dude is shown to be surprisingly competent in the story, and flippant about that power, but his power is shown to be limited, and often about trickery.

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While Hilda is kinda right, they are both a part of this escape plan, with Siegfried the brains, and Hilda the brawn.

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TIMBER...this is making me strangely nostalgic for the fellable trees of FE7.

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I am amused by her snarling at his creeping.

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And Hilda has the comedic sense to continue the gag, by keeping the animal theming going, to critique his creeping.

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I know this map well enough to be all prepared to immediately have Cyltan visit this house to push these events along.

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the Solisian civil war has escalated very quickly, so I can understanding her surprise. Although the bandit problem they ran into seems separate from the Solis war at hand.

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Hilda is a gem. Her utter contempt for the pointlessness of war...

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Poor Cyltan can't keep up with discussion. To be fair, Lady Lianka could just introduce herself.

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But at least we get them back on the map. Although I can't really say we have recruited them til after the events of next map. Also, Siegfried is hinting that he has some major talking events

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One of which is with Aynellia AKA Cyltan. Also we are getting some of Lianka's story here, and hear about another notable NPC, who will become relevant on this map soon. Speaking of which, it is time for Siegfried to talk to Cyltan Aynellia

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Huh, goddess Rania. I don't think we learn much about this Rania, and other than maybe Vesta, I think this is the first character we see described as a deity. Vesta was one of the Udagal heroes, so perhaps they all were canonized...

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Honestly, his perviness is less amusing when we don't have Hilda to color it with language.

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Interesting to see Aynellia immediately recognize Siegfried's power. I am guessing this is related to her vaguely magical powers she shows in chapter 8.

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He has one of the cheesiest, and potent of powers, teleport powers.

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Although I like that they have to qualify it a bit, keep me from questioning why he doesn't pull this power out on an actual map, like a rescue staff mechanic.

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...ugh, pervert.

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This makes talking to Neira a lot easier. She is a lot closer, and we can approach her while fleeing Jamulan.

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And I am now making sure that the Great Yurt entrance is within Ma'aya's movement range. Admittedly, this is a precaution I am taking knowing how the events on this map can take place.

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We do have to fight our way past those bandits to reach Neira, so the map isn't quite over yet.

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And one of the major players has only just enters the map. Jemma, and his dragon knights are filling the opportunistic role of the Kingdom of Thracia, and I am fine with treading that ground again. What can I say, I like Dragon Knights, and liked how the Kingdom of Thracia was handled.

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Although they made sure to emphasize that these are Green units in the more modern FE sense, despite ostensibly being our enemy.

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And this is why I have Ma'aya in the position she is in, so she can jump in there and hold the Great Yurt, to prevent that gameover condition, just in case.

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And we even get the green unit explanation from our side of the conflict.

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And just like with Neira, we are going to need to talk to Jemma, to ultimately deal with the green enemies.

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And Lianka will end up being a major part of that.

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Siegfried can also creep on Hoelun, but like Hilda, she can clap back a bit.

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And this totem is the only way for someone other than Ma'aya can reach the alter, for the major event there. Fun fact, if Ma'aya had already did the alter event before this talk Hoelun trails off, talking about needing to wash her hair...

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I get it Siegfried, no cheesing this totem item...admittedly at the time I thought this was a case of it being far more context specific item, but given what it actually does, I understand this insistence.

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It is a shame he doesn't have the strength for the ones shot, but at least he gets the kill, and can canto back

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...Well I did wish to be able to one-shot there.

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I am staying out of the axe enemy ranges, that way I can break them on player phase, and not worry as much about enemy phase.

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And I start with some chip across the river (which is my way of saying that yes, she failed to crit

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So Haldyn gets the only kill he can reach. Now for the complication of Hamish

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His 1-2 range axe gives him the ambush skill, and he has a crit rate, and the cirt preventing ring is not in the convoy. Fortunately the War Goddess sword gives Merida crit immunity to make this chip safe, and there are a few units that can safely finish him off

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And this is the most reli-

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....aaaahh...he did proc the ambush

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...ooof....And got the crit, which complicates things a bit, as he can't survive a throwing knife hit anymore.

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Although I wanted to get rid of these axes first

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And a defense level is rather nice to get on a gameover unit like him. Plus he can canto closer to Neira.

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This is a good start for saving Helme's life, as he can canto away to leave more space for others to attack, and I get the hit

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And thanks to the Nashorne's brave effect Accorte manages to get the kill

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For some better accuracy on her, which is kinda nice, after such a shaky hit rate on her attack. Phew, that means Helme should survive.

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We can see Jamulan getting close, but we should be able to talk to Neira next turn

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Although the Dragon Knights have managed to take down some of the named defenders of the Great Yurt. Not the one directly sitting on it, but they are doing some serious damage.

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Haldyn does a good job of dealing with these thieves. Although this is just a distraction, as Cyltan is close enough to talk to Neira.

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And allows for these long lost sisters with a 9 year age gap to reconnect with each other

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It is a rather sweet reunion,  and of course Neira has changed plenty, but she wants to recapture the feelings they had from so long ago...

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It is a bit odd that she never tried to get back in contact with the rest of her family once she was safe. It is also kinda odd that word of the bachelor Gyskhal's consort "famed for her beauty" as Cyltan described her, hadn't revealed her presence to them either.

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And this feels hollow for a lot of reasons. A majority of her time with Gyskhal was under the reign of Halym, where their father wouldn't be that big of issue. Although it might hold some weight to the claim that Tamthir had let Cyltan go free for a while, and she didn't want to cause that, and when he finally did turn his attention towards ending Cyltan, she was too busy with the war. Although Neira has said she broke ties

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That is a quick conclusion to jump to, but Neira is kinda right...I think? Gyskhal is too toxically masculine to show affections to people, and I never got the impression Aynellia really broke past his comfort zone to display such affections to him either.

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Far more importantly, she is going to make the Ordoms no longer aggressive with us.

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While she is repeating what the prince told her

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She does also call him out for his eavesdropping, and get him to confirm it.

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Cyltan has really built a far better family for himself over the years, with Gyskhal as a far better father, Aynellia as a mother, and poor Hoelun as a sister.

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Although we still have to seize the Great Yurt, even if this event has practically finished the map.

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Please, having a family reunion in the middle of a battlefield is a common affair in these kind of games. Also, much to my disappointment, Aynellia doesn't have a happier face here. After seeing a few of these subtly different faces show up, I was kinda hoping they did something similar here.

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To be fair Cyltan, I can see why she would be uncomfortable telling you she is the daughter of the man whom killed your father, stole your karate, and is tried to kill you...

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Next Neira talks to Jamulan,

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And tells him about her discussion with her sister off screen in the "..." I know why that convention is around, but I do kinda like it when we see that kind of conversation occur, as it shows us something interesting about the character (and what they both find important) when someone explain events we have seen to a character that wasn't there.

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And this spreading the word, explains why the Ordoms are no longer aggressive, and start leaving the map.

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Although I do like how she gets some pushback with the defenders of the Yurt.

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But she can still call on her integrity, and the authority of Jamulan, to get her message across...although that does complicate things a little bit

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As he immediately moves off the seize point.

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Fortunately I had Ma'aya all ready to sit on the Great Yurt, that way the green units can't seize it for my loss, and they can't even kill me to get me off. Also of note, talking to Neira closes all of the yurts, so you can't betray her bu raiding them.

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I also finally have the time to use this little Totem for the alter event

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And I was honestly not expecting this. I was expecting it to be more context specific, like sending her specifically to the shrine...I guess I can see why they made sure this thing wouldn't leave this map...or Hoelun...

AL9nZEUH-S39lB5aUJLaUjeZoUg9RQOU8lVvnZNw

Poor 2 health Helme needs this heal, as I am going to do something a little silly. I can't quite remember if the bandits get included in the enemy de-aggroing, so I will ignore this thief for now, and just make sure everyone can survive the hit.

AL9nZEW_ef5afMT9ZVmJW0Qg3CFMRuqH0LIARMub

You might also notice one of the Green units has broken off, and is approaching us, fortunately we need to talk to him next.

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Helme lives, and while I want to complain about the blank levelup, getting hit by a knife isn't exactly the best way to learn is it.

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Haldyn gets a boring level popping the guy next turn. Now that Dragon Knight leader Jemma, is close enough to talk to him

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With Lianka first

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Seeing as she and Hilda described you like a stalker, a rejection was the right way to interpret that.

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"Sweet Muffin"...ick. Also, I get the funny feeling this isn't the first time she has been this explicit with Jemma.

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It is interesting how much of the nuance in the relationship between Eddard and Jemma is skipped over here. To be fair he does have a bit of a point, Eddard running away does come across as a rejection in the same way her flight from Norden is a rejection of Jemma.

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Jemma, don't be tipping your fedora to m'lady while you "well Actually" her.

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And then he gets a little rapey. Poor Lianka has been the target of a fair bit of that this map unfortunately. Fortunately the protection of Cyltan is enough to protect her.

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And now that the mask is off, he admits that she was entirely right about the opportunistic little sh-

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Lyttia gets her first levelup from dancing, but thanks to her personal weapon, her stats barely matter anyway.

Now for Cyltan's conversation with

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The opportunistic invader. At this rate, it looks like their concerns about opportunistic invasions should have been pointed north at Norden, and not west at Sphire.

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Seems this was more of Tamthir's plan for more troops, which Jemma conveniently waited long enough that they wouldn't have to actually help, just claim the spoils from the Ordoms' corpse. He really went all out with recruitment...

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This does remind me of an odd issues that comes up with modern states where the leaders change at a relatively quick rate, where they have to honor agreements made by political enemies with other nations. I seem to remember a few awkward instances of it during Trumps presidency for instance...

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Jemma really did break the naive Cyltan at the negotiating table

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Fortunately Aynellia is around to fix his diplomatic blunder. Also it is interesting to see such Lanna Neere depicted in a very Papal light. And I do mean Papal here, not like the eastern Orthodox church, which was far more ceasaropapism.

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And Jemma's little technicality is crushed by another technicality.

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And that gets rid of all the green units too. All that is left are the bandits, and admittedly, a fair number of the thieves clustered together to chip Jemma on his way to us.

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Although there is another major event to do, and it is interesting that the action is described as pray.

AL9nZEWDYi0Ff5r2mZ6f3pigR_4v7cVcqJeirX1l

What a strange little introduction. Is Elthos something they made up, or simply a mythological/cultural reference I am missing. Talk of a farplane hints at some kind of D&D like multi-planar system.

AL9nZEWlWD5oR_-lvcGzVgip_LP2QBWTke3calp1

This event is about to give us a choice of what Hoelun will become, but having Hoelun visit it at all was the first choice we made. Ma'aya can also visit it with her flight, and will face a set of questions that will either get a flyer promotion item, or trade her Master Haggler skill to class change directly to a Dragon Knight. Altough using this shrines power to class change directly like that comes with two small downside, it doesn't reset levels, and you can't class change after using it. Unfortunately Hoelun can only promote, through this shrine's class change powers.

Now we have a choice of making her a swordfighter, a Vestal Mage, a Sestra, a promotion to Tarkhan, or a cavalry promotion item to use on someone else. If I had lost one of my mages, or if Lilia hadn't dodged Ma'aya last chapter, I might have switched her over to one of those as a replacement, and I was very, very tampted to just grab the promotion item, but despite how garbage she has been growing

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the stat boosts on the Tarkhan change helps her out a fair bit. Plus I can buy a few of those cavalry promotion items this chapter.

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Thanks to Jemma clustering these guys together, we now have three to deal with. Haldyn does his thing against this one

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Meanwhile Accorte only gets one hit on her kill attempt, so

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Merida has to finish it off.

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Cyltan tries to chip (or possibly even kill) one on his way around to the throne, but misses both.

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But that is fine, as Lianka then procs a bunch of nonsense to get the kill

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And levels stuff that probably doesn't matter to her.

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There is not much left to this map. One bandit shows up a turn, and everything else is fleeing the map, we just have to wait for Cyltan to circle the lake to the great yurt.

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Although Jemma did convince the last thief to take a mountain to attack him, so I wait for a turn to lure him onto less awful terrain.

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Which lets Haldyn gets another easy kill.

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Accorte slaughters one of the axes

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And I go through more effort than I needed to for a Hilda enemy phase kill here.

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I also finally get around to having Ma'aya buying one of those Cavalry promotion items...and I am so close to getting a second one...In fact I think I will wait a turn for Cyltan to trade over some minor junk in his inventory to get a second one right here.

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And Jemma only barely gets off the map before we could seize.

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Also with a dance Accorte kill both bandits still on the map

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And I just barely manage to afford a second cavalry promtion item, but that means we linger here another tu-

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...sigh I forgot to grab this...eh, what is another turn or two when we just see a bandit a turn

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Accorte even manages to get a meh level while we wait (although I did end up wasting more tome uses than I probably should have doing so)

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There we go, now we can end it

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On turn 18, whole thing was done before turn 20, even with multiple wasted turns, and with very little combat.

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I guess they came back after fleeing the map to drop off their weapons, and surrender to Cyltan...

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We really played this map in the low combat, high event method. I wonder how different this ending would be if we just slaughtered our way to the Great Yurt.

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There is a somewhat sinister undertone to this, given the Solim's habit of taking "wards" to the capital

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But Cyltan isn't as cruel as his father, or practical as his uncle, so the kind sincerity of the offer shines through instead.

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Don't worry, we will be seeing you next chapter, although it will lead to one of the most stressful part of the map...

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See you next chapter in the same event as well you pervy priest.

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This does feel like an ending scroll...and I guess it is for the Solisian arc of the game.

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...sigh, I remember being able to save before the banquet. I guess I have to make this choice now, and in my post-map mood, I wanted to move on to the next map. If I got this choice after a save, I might have chosen differently, but I am skipping it.

 

This was an easy chapter, so I am ahead of schedule, but given the next one is the desert map, with a particularly dangerous event to deal with, I am glad for the extra time. Take care, and stay safe everyone.

 

 

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49 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Huh, I did not know this event actually gave us an item to use on the water that we can sell...

You only poison the river if you examine the skeleton next to the yurt with the poison in your inventory. So nothing is stopping you from taking it and selling it for a profit instead.

Spoiler

 


 

53 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

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Hoelun is pleasantly surprised by the new leaf Cyltan has turnover. He really has had a bit of an epiphany over the course of that last battle, where he started to act a bit more humble, and more importantly, is trying to forge his own path. Also Lyttia getting jealous/overprotective of the fiancee she doesn't even want, is down right silly.

It really just feels like a clumsy way to give Lyttia a reason to join.

From this point on the characters also become really confused about Cyltan's betrothal status.
 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

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Case in point.
 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

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The Ordoms have only been part of the kingdom since Cyltan's grandfather. That is more recent than I expected.

"Halym's predecessor's predecessor." So that would at least be Cyltan's great-grandfather.
 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

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Hoelun then manages to chip this guy. Yeah, I have avoided some high crits to "feed" kills to people this map, but in both cases, I wouldn't mind if the crits did happen.

Won't kill the old man even with her pref. Oof.

I feel like the Remaster might be overdoing it with buffing her, but I would be lying if I said I'm not looking forward to going to town with her.
 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

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And then the game makes a death sound, implying the man commits suicide.

You can also talk with him after meeting up with Neira, in which case he won't commit suicide and gives you a Claymore instead.
 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

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This makes talking to Neira a lot easier. She is a lot closer, and we can approach her while fleeing Jamulan.

Yeah. Without the teleport, she can't be reached from the West. The game actually cheats her by slightly changing the map layout after you talk to her, so you can actually circle this map clockwise.

It's one of the things that makes this map so unintuitive. Since circling around the map is not actually possible at first, you have no reason to try and reach Neira by going Southwest.
 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

And this is why I have Ma'aya in the position she is in, so she can jump in there and hold the Great Yurt, to prevent that gameover condition, just in case.

I suppose this is why you don't want to raid the yurts. The Dragonknights will always prioritize the weakest opponents, so if the yurts keep spawning weak enemies, the Norden won't get to strike at the Greatyurt. Only time I ever had them succeed in seizing the greatyurt by force was when I tried to Raid as many yurts as possible.
 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

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What a strange little introduction. Is Elthos something they made up, or simply a mythological/cultural reference I am missing. Talk of a farplane hints at some kind of D&D like multi-planar system.

Notably the game is also using an SRPG Studio stock portrait here. The stock portraits would clash horrible with Vestaria Saga's original portraits, but since it's just a skeleton, they can get away with it here.
 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

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The heck? Why is Jemma not closing the distance to Cyltan?

Guess it was always Lianka he was homing in on.
 

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

...sigh, I remember being able to save before the banquet. I guess I have to make this choice now, and in my post-map mood, I wanted to move on to the next map. If I got this choice after a save, I might have chosen differently, but I am skipping it.

You can save before the banquet. If you say Yes, the next thing you see will be the Save screen.

 

 

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On 9/8/2022 at 6:03 AM, BrightBow said:

 

From this point on the characters also become really confused about Cyltan's betrothal status.

I don't think any of the kids actually believed Gyskhal when he said they will have a choice in this matter.

 

On 9/8/2022 at 6:03 AM, BrightBow said:

"Halym's predecessor's predecessor." So that would at least be Cyltan's great-grandfather.

I saw the same word cross two line, and completely skipped over the second one in my mind...I guess that makes it slightly better.

 

On 9/8/2022 at 6:03 AM, BrightBow said:

Won't kill the old man even with her pref. Oof.

My Hoelun has been particularity stat cursed (I mean three blank levelups, and an embarassingly long time before any strength levelups...)

 

On 9/8/2022 at 6:03 AM, BrightBow said:

 

I feel like the Remaster might be overdoing it with buffing her, but I would be lying if I said I'm not looking forward to going to town with her.

Do you mean the re-balancing "VS2" saw in its English release, or is there a remaster (or plan for a remaster) of VS1 somewhere out there?

 

On 9/8/2022 at 6:03 AM, BrightBow said:

The game actually cheats her by slightly changing the map layout after you talk to her, so you can actually circle this map clockwise.

I almost commented on the way the map changes after you talk to her...

 

On 9/8/2022 at 6:03 AM, BrightBow said:

The heck? Why is Jemma not closing the distance to Cyltan?

That image is after Cyltan had his talk with Jemma, and thus his AI changes to have him head north to leave the map with the rest of the green units.

 

On 9/8/2022 at 6:03 AM, BrightBow said:

You can save before the banquet. If you say Yes, the next thing you see will be the Save screen.

Yeah, I kinda realized that after the fact, but if I got the save before having to make the decision, it may well have ended up making the other choice.

 

Spoiler

Now we have reached a transition map between the Solisian, and Maledean arc

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And we start by discussing the relatively dumb path we are taking home. To be fair, it sounds like crossing some kind of mountains were always necessary

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Although we really didn't have to cross the worst of them...

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Honestly, I am amazed we didn't have a "brush in the teeth" like joke, but I guess the Kralls map must have been cut for boredom

AL9nZEU2dcYp7msFob4IIxHhT9s9AnVuV3pzElCT

I do like how Kaga took the effort to explain why we have to cross a desert, by explaining the basic science of desert formation that created it.

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To be fair, we would have to go out of our way to avoid the desert, heading far to the north, or cross that bay to the south, but nobody want to deal with a desert map.

AL9nZEUYO9QSnxsSF3Wnr50_KnFKFkWQ58eMlH5I

Especially when it is considered impossible to have an army cross it. Then again, they said crossing the Kralls with an army, and taking Venecia were also impossible...

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Those do seem to save of from these quagmires a lot in this game

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What other option do you have Garlan? Don't get

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This is the start of Kaga giving a lot of nuance to this war, as the taxation issue is at the heart of the empires invasion, and the failure of the Vestarian alliance

AL9nZEX6qAekiHhErzcwUm-KcS8kUftvne1oLXPt

Two things come to mind here, first is a comment that laws restricting commerce create new markets for organized crime, the second is the very noble thief like act he is putting on, despite the profit margin.

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I also love how much contempt Masoud has for Meleda and its monarchy, despite working with us.

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Kaga does a good job of emphasizing the practical realities of why Meleda was in a position to gain a monopoly of trade with the main land

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and the human failing which made that a disaster for the rest of Vestaria.

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Heh, seeing as we can sell them for about 150, it is a fair bit more than 10x that 10 cost. A mixed bag there, as being able to buy healing items for 10 a pop would be impressive, but seeing as I just last map sold some to afford a promotion item, that would have a serious down side to it as well.

AL9nZEX5MR77s6Hj_LcbwylnSLrPJ-vOZIOPbEi4

I do appreciate how he addresses the theoretical benefit of taxation, before tearing into the corruption that undermines it. Plus his skepticism is palpable.

AL9nZEWXuZi9GDV3eflzkcPCyTRQqwFOJCx3mSiM

Hard not to read this as a bit of critique of the predatory nature of the pharmaceutical industry, that profits are often put above people's lives with regards to medicine.

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This really does reframe the failure of the Vestarian Alliance. Meleda started by wronging those alliance members

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and when the Solvian Empire tried to rectify this wrong

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Agents of Meleda killed the negotiator

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and lied about that wrongdoing so obviously that almost no one believed Meleda.

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The Empire's grievances not only seem rather valid, but they were working in the interests of most of the Vestaria Alliance while doing so.

AL9nZEVh3sZZi9MXjcgPrhAcNL80pMEBpSpKHrvA

In a sense it was as if Meleda had murdered the negotiator of its allies. The breakdown of the Vestaria Alliance makes a lot of sense, given the actions of Meleda.

AL9nZEXJEj5c0NEu4wD4zzhFaWiPexLIDp97FCaP

While Halym wasn't presented as a king following poor advice very well, Melces kinda has been. This whole disaster feels like him following the awful advise of greedy men, like the Duke of Frist. Also, Masoud is on the money here, the nobility are leeches...

AL9nZEV6xPB_JVTIX5lyq27eEyPRlBaF4ofFBAfM

Zade does do a good job of trying to make amends for the sins of his predecessor, and I get the feeling he is drawing inspiration from the plans of Duke Roland (Accorte's father), who as we speak is going on what he views as a doomed mission to try and get the Queen of Sphire back onto the right path.

AL9nZEVJOP7YC9PxDUKsxxLvAdnchrm0xT-2PrhiAL9nZEWbnbRfLWfQqDt908KF4bPa18Gwdvw-HRTV

I have some serious doubts about how happy the smugglers are about their business opportunities drying up in the law change, plus

AL9nZEUy4OpCHF7k2eBKkcZVDmXEz3nG5yuU6wPK

a corrupt Imperial has reinstated those high tariffs, for reasons just as corrupt as before anyway.

AL9nZEVfUdQrFJrCPQsHpxfjCGTl4HDlWu0woD0A

Really its the far more vicious prison camps that are driving the smugglers to aid Athol's rise to power, which is far more understandable.

AL9nZEW44Csa_FyL4C6tjMaH9SErDV1RXzi3zb4i

Garlan asked about what the bargain would be at the start of this, and we finally get it here. A fair bargain, if ever I heard one.

AL9nZEXyDSJSjtOYKyXMZE9MNC9FBUuSNpA6XcfK

I do appreciate how they are going over a bit of the logistics of how this desert travel will actually be done.

AL9nZEUj4CS96UN_Kiapwu7xR1E7imymGSAx0eYS

And I appreciate how they cover why traveling at night is out of the question

AL9nZEUS2HPaOyhPplN4o36c_bqfCB7MCt-GwFU7

and the hazards of simply camping out in the desert

AL9nZEW_VDVyYWt4jHWxUO8552cv_JL8NL60sLS_

Hence the plan to hop from small oasis village, to small oasis village the whole way through.

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First off, interesting to see that we still have 3000 troops, but also taking 20 days at 100 troops at a time is untenable for any campaign. 30 trips to get the whole force there is absurd.

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Even at 10 trips that isn't great, but that probably is a practical limit for the path we are taking.

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Fun fact, a Sennight is an archaic phrase for 1 week.

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And apparently a week to prepare was a part of that 20 day time frame Masoud was giving, as a fortnight is an extra 2 weeks of actual travel time. At three day intervals that takes rough a month after we first arrive before the whole force has crossed, which is a long time for things to go wrong after the crossing.

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Although its this leading force that will be doing the one desert map

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as the only trouble we have is at the very end of the desert. Thank goodness, as one desert map is more than enough to deal with.

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Especially when it has some Margulites demons to deal with, as that is exactly what this Zweiras is preparing to revive.

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Fun fact hecatomb is an archaic word for a public mass sacrifice. Also it is a bit odd that gender does seem to be an important part of this sacrifice, because they keep emphasizing that their "meate" is female.

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I like how confident Lianka is here. She understands the power of this little power couple, although Hilda will be proven right in this case.

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Although she has really forced Hilda's hand by running off on her own

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Given all the Nordens we see, probably.

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And Lianka goes after this monster in a heroic attack

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but he kinda cheats by statusing her to sleep.

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And credit where it is due, Kaga does kinda get how hostages work, as Hilda has to hold her axe, and bide her time to save Lianka.

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Now for my deployment choices. Fist off I bring all my mages, and fliers thanks to their better desert movement. Cezar is here as there are chests to grab, he has good desert move, and if I bring Athol, I can get a free 1k (and I want to bring a healer with far heal staff anyway, so she makes the list). I want my best Axe wielder for a morning star use later in the map, and it makes sense to bring his bond partner Sheela as well. The dancing power of Lyttia is also an obvious must for this awful desert. Next I want to bring Haldyn, as he has an interesting (if otherwise useless) talk, and in my last slot I go with Troy. I have a promotion item for him, he is close to lv 20, the bottom path isn't the absolute worst for cavs, and I need to send someone that direction...

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Although we start off running, as we hear the commotion ahead of us.

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Although we don't have the move to do more than listen to all the village gossip.

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I am definitely going to steal all of their treasure

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and there will be a point where their reinforcement will be the only enemies left on the map, to punish my hubris (or t least that is what I remember from the last time I did this map).

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Thanks to a turn 1 Industry proc we also get

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This goofball to start his trek across the desert

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Who just trust the first strangers he runs across to protect him...randomly.

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We also hear about some interesting loot

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that is found by search those tragically sand weathered bones...

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We also hear about the three paths we are going to end up taking

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And we will be riling up those barbarians by stealing their loot (and having my fliers attack them a little early)

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And that is why the vast majority of my troops will be headed in that direction...

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And this is the path Troy is simply going to solo.

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I do like that he has accurately anticipated what most players will actually think.

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Sorry man, I ended up leaving Dune behind this time. 😛

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Now with my dance, I could have had Accorte start attacking these things, but if they can move she would not live the enemies counter assault. If these guys are aggressive, she should be drawing in a number that she can survive, with some enemy phase kills to boot.

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And now we get to find out about those Dacoits on the southern route, and their boss's murderously delicate palate

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and I do mean murderous, as he just shanks that underling mid convo, just to emphasize how evil these guys are.

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How has this guy's underlings not rebelled against him after such outright callous disregard for their life.

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And they are going to start quite brutally raiding Eastkirk.

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I do like how people keep recognizing that Siegfried is a powerful mage...

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Fun fact, Warishing is an archaic work for recovering. Really he is admitting that things are a bit dire, as he has to act while they are still recovering.

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It does sound like it is possible to fully destroy a margulite, but that sounds incredibly difficult. Also I wonder if there is a clone-like situation where someone separates bone shards and tries reviving each piece independently, at the same time...

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And we now have this new key word attached to this revival as well, goetite shards...

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and it seems those northern barbarians, that defend their loot vigorously (and that we plan on looting ourselves), are hoarding the only goetite in reach...

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And Siegfried has caught the guy monologueing.

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Again, they emphasize only the women get to "meate"...

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Whereas he gets cut into gigots, which are apparently legs of mutton...WHAT HAPPENED TO DORCAS...sorry

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And this leads to one of the most dangerous little side objective we will be going for, but which is unfortunately necessary to permanently recruit Hilda, Lianka, and Siegfried.

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Funny to see the power couple called his "harem", but he at least temporarily gets Hilda her freedom as well.

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I really appreciate an explicit explanation of the timer for this as well, and I plan on waiting til the last turn for this trigger, for just a little extra time to prepare...

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I must admit, this "stop to talk to anyone" always worries me here. I think it is just a way to justify them not being able to talk to our units, but it gets me to avoid them visiting houses for instance, just in case...

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Yeah, joking about human sacrifice is in very bad taste Siegfried.

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Unfortunately that plan is just to let us deal with it...

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And of course Valerius is a part of this whole demon plot.

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Although he is hinting about him having a hand in whatever awfulness we are about to find in Meleda, by name dropping the capital.

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and that he has further plans in a part of Vestaria we don't get to see in this game. Perhaps we will see what is happening in Rivelle in Vestaria Saga 2 (out now on the Steam store !)

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And this is the main reason I brought our resident edge lord, as that is the missing sister he is so angsty about.

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And we also get some nice Cezar's Lucre for our money troubles.

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Sadly enough, even with effective damage, Theo can't kill one (although at least they are slow enough for him to double...)

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Thankfully he is finally getting some of that agility he so desperately needs.

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It was funny to give her the kill with a physical weapon here

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Magic, and Agility...what a great levelup!

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Accorte is really good against these armored knights...but

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it is too risky to let both the melee, and 1-2 range ones attack her, so my dance ends up being used to have Zade block that option off from my opponent. Meanwhile my fliers are heading north to clear the path for both Cezar, and Siegfried

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And the Dacoits are playing it a bit safe at the moment.

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Zade does nab an enemy phase kill as well

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We also finally get to meet Lianka's beloved...sleeping in another woman's bed...

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To be fair, when they were first mentioned in the intro, that was my first reaction as well.

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And them fleeing is probably a good idea given how harsh the dracoit raiding is described.

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He works fast it seems...poor Lianka, in love with such a philanderer

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So Eddard is going to work as a green unit, defending this little village.

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He really is a heart breaker...

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I actually had a bit of bad luck with him, even in this chapter...

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even with her constantly healing him.

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...contain your horniness Tifa, there is a battle going on.

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I will always remember you dying, and proving that you are full of shi-

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I start by killing this armored knight leader (with Zade moving just to increase accuracy)

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An easy kill for the girl

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and I do appreciate the accuracy there.

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Although we do have to visit the main village there to get the reward for this rescue.

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There goes the last of the armors.

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I don't end up using this feature this time, but the oasis spaces do heal you over time.

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Meanwhile in the north, Yaeri kills one, while

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Ma'aya sets herself up for a safe enemy phase kill for herself.

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You can see our army split fairly comfortably here, although I do plan on having Yaeri return to the central battle eventually...

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Not the kind of levelup you needed girl, but at least it was something.

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We get another dancing level as well, but in some ways it is a bit of a mixed bag, as thanks to her weapon's power, I often want her to be the obvious target, and while that defense theoretically helps her survivability, it also makes it less likely for enemies to target her.

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Although the dance does let Zade immediately grab our prize

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a promotion item for some physical infantry units.

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We also get an Athol levelup, which is a normal enough Athol levelup.

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Ma'aya also get some chip in, but she fares far worse against this one...

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So much of this desert maps is just slowly walking our troops into position...

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Eh, I guess that chipping from Ma'aya wasn't all that useful. I kinda thought Siegfried's strength buff would let Ma'aya get the kill here, but I kinda misread it as first, thinking it gave a +3 boost instead of +1 at three range.

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And I will gladly take an agility levelup.

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Next Siegfried sets up the kill for -

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...and now I must pay for my hubris, as she misses one of these hit, which puts me in a rather awkward position, as I am fairly certain if both those enemies hit either of these two, it will kill, so I have the choice of either protecting Ma'aya, or protecting Siegfried...and Siegfried's mission means he is the linchpin in 3 units survival, whereas Ma'aya...

I am sorry girl...

AL9nZEXRy8mJWPWTQyKRGh9s7lbVq6FYtDIDltFw

I am playing things a bit cautious here with Ravinia, as I remember her not trying to attack anyone...after her brother talks to her that is, as I never tested her AI before that point...

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And of course this she gets none of the stats that might help her survive...I can't look...

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Meanwhile, Eddard is doing poorly enough to need healing mid enemy phase

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and this little lying shit has first blood, so this little trick always gives him the first hit. Fun fact, that skill was instrumental on me seeing him die here on my first run...

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Although this time Eddard crits him for the kill

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but still took over half health in that one hit, hence requiring a second heal in one turn.

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I held off on the reveal a little til I could show her, but in a continuation of all of my never punished on last map, she dodged the killing blow. Now I don't want to risk any less accurate kill here, plus this conveniently get this Doyenne to exactly 1 use...

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Troy is also finally close enough to get some action, killing one of the poison hurlbats that are being thrown at Eddard as he is stationary.

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Not much more action this turn, of note Haldyn is just outside his sister's range, the looters are getting close to the chests, and Yaeri is heading back in the direction of the central castle.

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huh, I kinda forgot there was a talk option with Eddard here. In fact I kinda remember him leaving the turn this first wave is wiped out...

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In a slightly less moronic talk decision, Haldyn finally reaches his sister

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and she is about ready to give him the classic priest robe cut.

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As she is way too brainwashed/mind controlled to recognize her brother

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Although she can't break free from it (in this game at least, feel free to purchase VS2 on Steam now to see this saga continue)

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Sorry to tell you Haldyn, but you aren't ready to face him yet, no matter how much you want to.

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Meanwhile Cezar grabs his first bit of loot, a sellable gem.

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Meanwhile, my rather dumb move of talking to Eddard got Eastkirk burned all the way to the ground. Ironically the normally worse FE GBA canto would have let me save it from my own stupidity. Troy then immediately kills that last one out of vengeance.

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This is probably unnecessary, but Cezar will see a little combat while fleeing, so this might end up saving him (and I almost never ended up using this staff on my last run). Plus I don't want to open this red chest til the last possible second to give Yaeri more time to get back towards the center.

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And Cezar ends up looting a nice tome while I am up there.

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Yaeri is still heading back...

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In retrospect, I should have used this much earlier, as the extra accuracy may well have saved me from that sticky situation from before. It is just in my nature to hoard stat boosters, even when I give them to people specifically to be used on a map.

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Troy is drawing dome of the dracoits in

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...wait, the Margulites were worried about the dragons attacking them enmasse? That seems so random.

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Fun fact, last time I did this map, I used Hilda (with some flier support) to kill one of these dragons before seeing this advice, and had an uncomfortable moment where I then had one turn before she disappeared to kill the second. On this run, I think I will try taking his advice, and avoid them this time...assuming that green unit has the common sense to avoid them.

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And Cezar loots the last of the chests up here, before the barbarians even start spawning from those caves.

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Troy meanwhile is still comfortably soloing his section of the map.

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And he cantos back to the edge of enemy melee range.

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Which nets him a drop that is more interesting than you would expect, although its true value wont be revealed until next map.

Although then we reach turn 10, and that is where I will end things off today, as that was always my plan for a clear stopping point, and while it will be where I end this update off

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In actuality, I just can't help myself, and end up taking this action here before remembering to save, so I end up doing this whole map in one sitting.

See you all next time, when this map gets kinda terrifying thanks to demons. In the meantime stay as safe as my units manage to, and take better care than I do while playing.

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6 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Do you mean the re-balancing "VS2" saw in its English release, or is there a remaster (or plan for a remaster) of VS1 somewhere out there?

The Vestaria team is currently working on one.

As for Hoelun, she is slated to get a whole bunch of buffs. The biggest one is that her pref has 60 uses now and fires 3 shots.

But there seem to be a whole bunch of other buffs as well. If I understand it correctly, she now has Diligence, can promote normally and has an alternate class change option that allows her to attack with extra range if she doesn't move.

 

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On 9/13/2022 at 5:51 AM, BrightBow said:

The Vestaria team is currently working on one.

Fascinating, hopefully it also gets an English release.

 

Now it is time to finish off our suffering through this desert map.

Spoiler

When last we left off

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Siegfried has helping in the revival of a demon

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Theoretically for the freedom of him, and his firends

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Instead he gets a just reward for the hassle he is about to put me through

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It is also interesting that Zweiras takes the extra precaution of having his body burned...I guess he kinda suspected the trick Siegfried is going to try and pull...

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Despite that claim of waiting til the new moon for resurrections, we will still have demons to deal with soon. Also seeing that lost Goetite Shard message makes me wonder what would happen if you had full inventory with Siegfried to send it to convoy. It probably results in you failing the event (as you failed to have it in his inventory) although they might even not allow you to send it to convoy with some no-trad flag. You don't ever get a chance to even look at its description it is around for so short of a time....

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And Valerius is leaving to make room for those demons, plus he has to be an awful somewhere else.

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Like this Rivelle place we never visit in this game (perhaps in VS2...)

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I am going to do everything in my power to accomplish this. Hilda and Lianka are an awesome power couple that I like to use, and losing them by failing this event will also impact Eddard's arrival later (as far as I know...). Althogh that does mean we have to deal with

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This beast. Of particular note his tome halves damage, he heals 30 a turn, and has a 10% chance of ignoring an attack. His demon defenders make thing a lot more difficult as well, plus his ability to summon troops, and warping mages. Speaking of those demons

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First we have Voxevald back to be a pain in the....Well he is similar to his last appearance, but with a lance which deals normal damage, which is a double edged sword as it means he doesn't heal as stupidly much from attack, but he also can kill things now. He is the easiest to kill, in part thanks to his +3 defense buff he gives everyone else, but also he has a low resistance....compared to the stupidly high defenses of all these other Margulites.

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Like this jackass whom has 18/20, ignores effective damage (not to mention the high evasion skill, and the healing on hit, and healing per turn...)

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And the boringest of the three...still a pain in the but to kill. Also of note, it seems Grevandel from chapter 7 hasn't made his promised return yet (will it wait til VS2...we will see...)

In a more serious note, I have a bit of a problem. I was kinda hoping Zayid could do some serious damage with the morning star, but he can't double, and would need to be danced and crit twice to outpace his healing (and with Voxevald's buff, that wouldn't even kill...). Unfortunately he tanks magic too well, and most of my physical damage in the area is 1 range only, so I need to deal with some of these demons first

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And for now, Voxeveld is the only one of these that seems reasonable to actually kill at the moment. Heck if she Furys he dies right now

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She doesn't, but it is still nice damage, and Theo's effective damage helps as well (no crit unfortunately), but that is the only safe attack worth doing against those demons. I did also make a bit of a mistake last turn, as I should have

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repaired Yaeri's Doyenne last turn instead of visiting the yurt there. No biggy, hopefully after the demons move my flier can finish things with the Masudian Brand, and I should be able to neutralize the demons on enemy phase

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By very intentionally leaving Lyttia in their attack ranges.

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Also of note Troy's solo mission gets a bit of complicated

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As he got crit claiming that kill. He can still take something like that, but it does make things a bit hairier for me.

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Meanwhile in the north, Cezar is making his escape, and he should only have to face one attack, with a lot of avoid to do so, and Ma'aya starts chipping his kinda scary pursuer

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And canto to safety.

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And the enemies that the Margulite spawn in are basically ambush spawns. Somehow he isn't doubled despite his speed issues, so this is fine

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Cezar also has enough evade that he manages to stay safe

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And gets another hilariously bad levelup for his artful dodging.

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Lyttia successfully proves how broken her personal tome is, which safely gets us to next player phase

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Which starts out great with

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A crit, and amazing levelup

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I know this is entirely superstitious, but I always found the last use of a weapon to be lucky with crits, and he had both a fresh one, and his old 1 use one (which breaks here...)

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I also need to clear this guy away real quick,

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And better survival is exactly the kind of levelup he needed.

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I also kill Voxevald...for now. I seem to remember the ability that spawned swordsman also lets him revive these demons as well, so I need to make the most of this time without Voxevald's buff

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Although the luck with my levelups has been rather promising.

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...sigh. I was kinda hoping the spaces that those demons started in were valid spaces for my flyer to enter, so she could shred that boss with the Masudian Brand, but I do have a chance here

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As this deals a lot of damage to this boss...I have a chance of taking him out this turn, but I think I will take the pressure off a little by dealing with some of the other fronts first.

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Like Ma'aya missing this kill here (and cantoing away)

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And Troy removing this frightening mage that spend its turn warping into our rather injured Troy's face

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but he safely gets the kill, and caps level for the trouble. Back at the more serious front

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I was really hoping Zayid would do better with the morning star against this guy. If he can manage the hit here (better yet a crit...) I have a chance of finishing him with a dance.

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And he gets a basic hit, which prompts Lyttia to get this dancer levelup

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Which gives Yaeri the chance for the kill, but we aren't out of woods yet as he could proc Aegis

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TO BLOCK AN ATTACK...but we had an equally high chance of Yaeri critting

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Which she did on the first hit...

Phew...That  could have gone VERY, VERY badly. Honestly that went better than my last run. Last time I didn't have a morning star in the area for help, and had to rely entirely on Yaeri and Rubina Doyenne-ing him, although in that run I had a Rubina that already capped her strength in her promoted class, which made it a lot about fishing for enough crits with her for the kill, and I only barely managed it by rerolling a few times at the level 15 save...

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After all the luck with my other levelups, let alone getting this kill to begin with, I am fine with this. Our luck was spent, and spent well, as his death will send the other demons away

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Which lets Zade seize this demon fortress. That went rather well, all things considered, although having to kill Voxevald to get the damage needed for the kill did complicate things a bit...although being able to hit that kill threashold at all was rather fortunate.

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And that lets us save, and permanently recruit Lianka, and Hilda.

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Poor Hilda is kinda broken up about the perverted priest's seeming death

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She is even on the verge of tears, and both giving him a cutesy nickname, and noting his more noble qualities

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Until the jerk interrupts his own eulogy by being alive.

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What a cheater, having a death immunity talisman. Although it seems the Margulite anticipated some BS like that with his plan to burn his body

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Although the crafty little con man of a priest managed to avoid that part of the Margulites plan.

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Although it is nice of him to recognize us as his actual savior, even if the way he was toying with Hilda's emotions was kinda cruel.

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How silly to think that a combat monster like her or Hilda (...or even Siegfried) could ever get in our way.

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I don't think we got that information as Cyltan, but it is nice that he did end up recognizing her noble position, as the daughter of a rather important Norden duke.

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It is official, we recruited Lianka, Hilda, and Siegfried permanently, which means it is time to talk about them a bit as units, and spoiler alert, they are all GREAT.

Spoiler

Lets start with Hilda, who has one of the most powerful, and dangerous skills in the game. She has Critical Reprisal, basically the Thracia Wrath skill, which means she crits on enemy phase, which makes her very powerful, but it does also leave her very vulnerable to killing herself into an early grave by doing too well on enemy phase. She also gets the Axe defend, the STR% chance of blocking an attack, which helps slightly with her survivabilty, but tends to be kinda minor. She also starts with an amazing personal axe with great stats, a brave effect, and effective damage against the scariest kinds of enemies like dragons and demons. Also she has a nice mutual (kinda, the buffs are different on both sides) support with Lianka, which usually makes me keep them together (and call them the power couple).

Lianka is great as well, but in very different ways. Her personal weapon makes her always attack first, lets her ignore defense, has a brave x2 effect, which becomes a brave x4 effect thanks to a personal skill of her that always makes her attack twice, and she has basically all the skills (that players get...) that imporve evasion, so the +20 evade skill, the 1.5x terrain bonus skill, and the below half health increases evasion sills. I almost forgot this, but she also has the lockpick skill for some extra utility, on top of being absurdly good at combat. Also, to top this all off, her mutual bond with Hilda is the kind that gives her even more evasion....

Siegfried is a solid prepromoted mage with some solid buffing abilities on him. First off, he has a skill which gives units +1 Attack to every ally within 3 spaces, and he has a personal staff that can increase an allies stats by 3 (STR, MAG, AGL, DEX, DEF, and RES). He also start with a personal divine magic, which has great stats, and the normal damage halving of divine magic, plus the basic heal 5 a turn skill to make he tank better. Honestly, I didn't appreciate him anywhere near as much as I should have on the last run, and plan to use him a bit more on this one.

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That gets rid of most of thee threats on this map. I have pulled Troy back enough to be close enough

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To get a ranged heal from Athol (just in case), while she approaches one of the lootable spaces on the map, plus it gives him

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the time to promote without wasting any kill exp

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Accore also got close enough to grab this healing item from the cactus.

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Although I also did make a bit of an error with how I moved Hilda, which is unfortunate, as the moronic Green unit has decided to aggro one of the dragons, and while Hilda's prof makes her excellent against them, she is never going to reach them in time to help, even if I give her all of the dances.

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And the last really notable thing for the turn, is grabbing the other cactus juice with Yaeri.

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The rest of the turn is just positioning...here is hoping that moron of a green unit can take a single hit from the dragon...

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And he does, but I think I will strat with Ma'aya finally getting this kill

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For an Agility levelup, and Prof levelup, and her prof is low enough that I can't even complain about getting that stat. She still has such a long way to go...

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But now it is time to deal with that first dragon, and this is an excellent start

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And Theo gets it even closer to death,

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Although Yaeri has to finish it

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which caps her level, and that is a little awkward as I do not have a promotion item for her at the moment...

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Also of note (and slightly before the kill) Athol loots us another repair stone.

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Things are going well, Troy should be able to finish off his solo mission, the ones left behind to grab loot can move well through the desert, we have just one more dragon to clear out before the main force can reach the escape point, and there is only one of the barbarians alive have good desert move.

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Although dealing with this second dragon is going to be a little awkward, as he is just a little out of reach of most of my troops, but this is a start

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And Sheela could proc Fury for the kill...

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But funnily enough, this is my only chance to get the kill on him this turn

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And the Agility levelup helps with avoid, and he still needs a little more prof for one of the daggers we get a bit later, so I guess I can work with this level.

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And Zade should easily bee able to enemy phase the only of the norther barbarians with good desert move, so the only part of this map left is the end of Troy's solo mission, and walking everyone over to the escape point...unless I want to fight endless barbarians.

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Not a great levelup from the enemy phase kill, but Dex is fitting given the avoid thieves tend to have. Also he is uncomfortably close to capping, given I have to finish two more chapter before I get his story promotion items...

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Now with Troy, I very intentionally do not go for the attack here, as that boss has a crit rate when I attack him, and healing items he can use

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And a full round of combat deals exaclty half his health (with this weapon at least)

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Unless he procs something of course. Also, a lame first levelup after his promotion...

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That is the last of the cactus looted,

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And there goes Yamil. Troy procing something before was rather nice, as it means I don't have to worry about playing around a potential crit death going for this kill (realistically speaking, I would have just had to waste an extra turn having Athol go for another ranged heal...)

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That just leaves the Arbalest to deal with...and a lot of walking

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Troy does get a solid levelup from the kill on that last little enemy.

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On the walking front, I have left the mages and flyers a bit further back, to act as a defensive line that can out maneuver the things advancing on us, while the infantry make their slow march towards the exit to this map (as this is an escape with all map).

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Hmmm..it seems losing the village means I can't burn this fortress down, which means I don't get the free 1-3 range axe from it. Not the biggest deal, as you can buy one in 15-x if I need it, but kinda unfortunate.

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I almost forgot about this, but there is one other major bit of loot to grab before we skedaddle

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The bones of some sad adventurer that

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Talked so bravely of his Zaphyr Sword from before, which is another nice little magic sword for Merida (or possibly Yaeri, as she has OK magic too). But at this ponit all that is left is walking, so lets jump a few turns in

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When that green merchant escapes

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And the dancer levelup Lyttia gets while helping the infantry through this mess.

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Next turn we should be able to escape with everyone, before we see any more combat with the barbarians, so that merchant had good timing with his escape, and I think I will jump straight to

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The escape quotes I thought were interesting enough to screen shot. Poor girl just missed him, as he was on this map for a while. It would be interesting if Hilda could reach him for a talk, but alas I am fairly certain that is impossible given the map design of this desert.

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Hilda is telling it like it is. Deserts and demons are both miserable to deal with, but we all made it out of this just fine.

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We also get a glimpse at how important Siegfried is as we hear part of his report to the Vestaria Pope, the Lanna Neere.

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..hmmm...I wonder what he is talking about here...

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You still aren't ready for that match-up Haldyn, and unfortunately, we wont see Ravinia again this game (Perhaps VS2?). Also its interesting that he has the intense looking to the side face of his for this declaration.

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I guess she finally is, as we are crossing into Meleda now.

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At least I noticed. Plus you get to be together with the oblivious fool most of next game (as far as I know), so you will have plenty of time to attract his attention then.

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Theo is speaking the plain truth. Mage are one of the few things that do well with a desert map.

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God Lyttia, you would have really made people carry a palanquin for you in a desert. Nothing but spoiled, this girl is.

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More truth from the troops. Those poor armors at the map start were so pityingly out of their element, it wasn't even fair.

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And like that, the desert map is over.

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Although in the story, we have a long wait ahead of us for next map.

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Although I guess that gives us some time where we have to cool our heels, and get some relaxation in...

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Ah yes, this goofball, who couldn't even wait for us to agree to help before he started off...although I guess he know the kind of player we are.

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And we get a nice 3k for our efforts, but that is it for this map.

That turned out rather well, all things considered. Next time we get ambushed in a defense map. In the meantime, take care, and stay safe everyone/

 

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Hopefully I can finish this chapter this week, as it will be rather busy...

Spoiler

When last we left off Athol

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And more so Zade have returned to their ancestral homes.

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A very descriptive name, slightly veiled by the archaic language. I would not be surprised if this was simply the Spirit Forest in Japanese (just like the one in Genealogy of the Holy War's Verdane), but with English translators who were more willing to localize it by being less on the nose than the project Naga team were.

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It is interesting to see these more fairy-tale elements being introduced a bit here, although they only have a minor impact on the map itself.

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...well that got sad real quick.

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I kinda respect that this game was willing to talk about a male main character crying, especially about something so...contemplative.

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I guess these are more Grimms's fairy tales...

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Makes me think of a similar memory I have of my grandfather before he died, but I should be too young to remember it...

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Interesting how they are implying Zade's mind is being manipulated by these fae creatures. I kind wish they found some way to incorporate these darker fae elements to the map.

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But onto more credible events, we are setting up a camp in theses woods for our army.

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Although we also have some critiques about the nobility's "ownership" of lands they know nothing about, made more striking as it is a direct critique of Zade, and his family.

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And while his critique continues, Zade does try to present himself (and his family) as not like other nobles, one of the good ones. It does come across as a bit defensive, and insecure.

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I guess that would be around the same time (or at least the same generation) as when the Ordoms joined the Solisian Kingdom, which may well have been the age of Am Solim. A bit of interesting coincidental timing.

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Take talk of barbarism with a grain of salt, as it is a highly subjective term, often applied to peoples out of ignorance, or as an excuse to do inexcusable things to said barbarians. Fun fact the term comes from ancient Greek's ignorant belief that those speaking languages other than Greek sounded like they were just saying "bar bar bar...". In that sense, almost all of us are barbarians.

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Although this seems a more practical, and clear reason for the conquest, than them simply being "barbarians"

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Seems Zade's family was important enough for a marriage with a princess even before they became Dukes...

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I think this is the first time they have addressed how the Dukes of Redessa are up and coming social climbers. I guess Zade knows personally how fluid their rigid class structure can be...

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Seeing as we have 3 times that number now, that is an interesting comparison. In context it kinda sounds like this might have been for the entire kingdom, although they might have simply meant the Duchy of Redessa. Alternatively this might more be a commentary on how much smaller standing armies tend to be, as opposed to the number of soldiers that can be drafted up in times of war.

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An interesting admission that Masoud was right, most of what the Dukes of Redessa "own" is just lines on a page.

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Although I do rather respect the reasoning here, that the peoples actually living there don't have to be slaughtered, and can instead be incorporated into the duchy proper peacefully, given enough time.

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I think it is to Zade's credit that he is willing to allow talk that is critiquing the authority of his family. Although given how indebted they are to Masoud from the desert crossing (which isn't fully complete at this point), the man has kinda earned that.

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Interesting to see them talk about the building of siege weapons, even if I don't think we end up seeing them in gameplay, but now we have a bit of a time skip

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As we build our little defenses, and wait the month for the rest of the troops to arrive.

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I just like that they emphasize that we are housing a hoard of riding eagles in our army, and I do kinda wonder what is entailed by that more addition. Are there more exotic riding animals we simply never see? Is it to account for Dragons in the event Ma'aya promoted to one in chapter 12?

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It is interesting that the game is explaining the starting position of some of our main players here, like Garlan being on the eastern side

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Cyltan in the western side of the lake

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Zade exploring the woods to the south...but enough of that, it is time to talk about deployment.

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This was a tough decision, especially leaving behind Cezar, and the armor bros. Admittedly, only having Hoelun for opening the chest in the corner might bite me in the end, but I want a lot of combat for this defense chapter, as we are split into small groups that each need good combat. The astute might also notice three units that I got at the start of last map, but haven't actually talked about, as I haven't wanted to deploy them on either of these maps...but I think I will put off talking about them til next map, as there is a chance I will deploy one of them there.

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Technically Athol and Hoelun are force deployed at the top, but the decision of who goes where was a key one for this map. I want the flier in the east, both so they can easily get to the north to help out, but I also have a fair bit of confidence that I can hold that front with the other three I put there, although I want to make a quick trip to stock up on Cutlasses with Ma'aya, so she is positioned closer to the west. Having a healer, and the power couple in the south should be enough there, I hope. As for the west my plan is to send the infantry and Cyltan around the woodsy bit to the north, while the cavs stay around to hold that territory.

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Now this is a defend chapter, and protecting green units is a part of that, like

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This Abbot Melvon fellow here

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Who was instrumental in raising Theo in the ways of the church.

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And who tried to warn of the impending attack, that almost beat him here...

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He will fortunately retreat to a safer position soon.

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There it is, an official message that this green unit is a defeat condition.

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Seems the reason our forces are separated is thanks to the bridges being sabotaged just prior to this attack by a traitor in our midst. This is a bit of a spoiler, but I like that the traitor is a named character who existed for longer than one map. Also this is the big weakness of this whole building the base on a lake plan.

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My plan is to take advantage of this a bit latter into the map, so we wont be seeing that on this update. Speaking of which, my plan is to take a break in the very middle of this map, seeing as it is defend for 20 turns, this update ends on turn 10.

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Also, the green unit Garlan is another a defeat condition, although as far as I know he just stays put.

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Hoelun and Athol decided to wander off out into the woods

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without any extra protection...on the day we are attacked. Those two just bring out a recklessness in eachother.

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::Cringe::

Also don't worry Cyltan, I already talked a little about my plan for splitting our forces there.

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Although it seems the girls are still oblivious to the danger they are now in.

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And she has now injured herself too much to walk...

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The main times Athol has acted irresponsible is when she wanders off with Hoelun...like right now.

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...Yeah the lesbian subtext is rather strong throughout this scene, even if Hoelun is almost negging Athol with that backhanded compliment there.

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Although its playful enough that

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And here the game confirms she is unable to move this entire chapter, and this sitting duck is almost always a game over condition. Now that we are done with all that pre-map talking

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time for some more talking

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With Theo getting a chance to talk with the man who helped raise him. It is kinda touching really.

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Theo really has endured a lot of awfulness in his life, although the game gets into that a lot more latter on.

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Although this hardships making people stronger talk is a questionable sentiment, despite how popular the sentiment is. The lingering trauma of hardships (especially the kinds he faced) can last long after their cause.

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It has been a little while since it came up, but him using his magic violently outside of self defense is against religious vows he has took. Although how does Siegfried gets away with his shenanigans despite this precept...I guess there was that hint last chapter of him being a kind of secret agent for the church...

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Although it seems the Lanna had forseen him betraying this precept...I wonder if she was preparing Theo for being an agent like Siegfried.

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He did kind of need some comforting reassurance...and more importantly we finally get his personal tome. I has fairly solid stats, the normal damage halving of divine tomes, and gives him some regen when equipped.

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I also finally got around to using that strength stat booster I have been sitting on for a while. Figured Lianka was an interesting choice for its use since I kept it for so long.

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Also forgot to eat the cake after his promotion last chapter, so more stat booster used.

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We also talk to some unsavory characters in a yurt over there. Although I wonder how the Dracoits related tot their work

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As they are mercenaries, so I wonder if they worked for or against the Dracoits back in the day.

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Although despite all this killing talk, their main value is that hulking physique of theirs , and

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Its why I spend the 800 to hire them

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As that is 152 HP worth of distractions(helped all the more by their massive defensive bond) on a defense map. Also with their crooked axes, they can just luck into random kills at times.

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Biggest thing of note on the first turn is dancing Urven in a position to enemy phase two of the cavs with his effective weapon.

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Now we get to meet the enemy commander, and her loyal subordinate (who isn't actually on the map, although we will see him on a map a bit latter into the game...).

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I do kinda like this back and forth between the advantages, and disadvantages of the enemy's startegy being touched on here. We are surrounded, by the difficult terrain of the woods keeps them from overwhelming us with their numbers, and while he is right this staggered assault is very reckless, and dangerous, if she can keep the pressure up long enough we will fracture somewhere.

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Although what makes it so time sensitive is the incompetence of the leadership above Calliera. Poor girl is the Reese to Therenius's Volcens.

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I didn't mention it before, but they are using very Roman descriptions of troop distributions here (Legions, and Centuries...). Also they are discussing all the enemy reinforcements here, one for each of the four isolated parts of our army, complicated by one of those parts just being the questionably competent Hoelun (to be fair, with the promotion bonuses she is almost on par with a normal unit of her level), and the immobile Athol.

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I also appreciate that our enemy respects our prowess, and accomplishments here. I mean we have accomplish around 3-4 "impossible" military feats already this game.

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I appreciate this warning, and the ambush spawns are part of the reason I went with a lot of combat capabilities this map. Also the warning about Calliera is one I had rather mixed feeling about this map, as in my first run I deployed with the expectation that I could assassinate her, so finding out enemy phase one was a bit irritating, although finding out after trying to kill her would have been worse. And I wanted to kill her

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Thanks to her global +20 accuracy boost she gives to all enemies, thanks to her tactical prowess.

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Urven also manages to get a ...magic... levelup on enemy phase. I doubt I will ever use a magic weapon on him, so this is kinda useless.

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I also let Urven finish off the last of the cavs on this front.

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Speaking of cavs, Theo slaughters one

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And Hilda another, but I want to hold off a little bit on capping Zade's level, so

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I will enemy phase the last of those. I am also drawing in some enemy phase action with Accorte and Zayid as well, and Ma'aya has finished buying cutlasses.

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And Athol is surprised by our newest recruit, Slayne (and no Slayne you aren't ugly, just kinda scary looking)

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And talking about a girl you frightened like she is a animal you are hunting is a creepy form of innuendo. Also saying you almost put an arrow in her isn't helping this situation at all.

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But he is an Arbalest user, which makes him incredibly valuable.

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And despite how creepy he came across, he isn't actually that bad of guy

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And the big mouth on little Emma here, means the truth about Athol is out of the bag.

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Shame he only heard about the prologue, and not any of our escapades in the latter chapters.

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Fortunately he is going to help protect Athol, which is what I really needed on this map.

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Although the poor fool is going to join up thanks to a sense of patriotism...

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and a sense of childish romanticism.

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Meanwhile Zayid gets an excellent levelup on enemy phase

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An Accorte manages to enemy phase an evasive thief by rolling a lot of dice with her 3x hit brave tome. That gets us through enemy phase, so I start on my most beleaguered front

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With Hoelun grabbing a kill with her personal

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And things are dire enough that I feed Yaeri a kill despite her capped level.

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On the eastern front, Zayid is about to enemy phase a lot of them...

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It is going to take a little while for the crew trying to save Athol to reach her, so the number of troops coming in from that direction makes things a bit hairy. Partially this is due to a small mistake I made with preps, I had the plan to give one of those crew the rusty axe that dropped last chapter to one of my infantry, for an event which can teleport one of my troops over to Athol, but I ended up leaving it in the convoy like a goofball...and in a similar misstep in preps, I planned on letting Athol hold onto the Arbalest +1 I have in the convoy to hand it off to Slayne, but forgetting about that is far less dire.

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Meanwhile in the south, I think I will let my spongy NPCs take the enemy phase hits for me.

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Onto the next player phase, Yaeri jumps in for another kill,

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Hoelun grabs one for herself as well

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While our new friend Slayde prepares to enemy phase the incoming archer, which will just leave one of those slow sentry left.

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I should probably heal Urven up, but in another ill conceived moment of preping, while I made sure all the cavs have healing items, I gave all of them Tisane, and Urven is more in the basic herb healing range. It doesn't matter for now, as he can safely get this kill with the pilum.

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Merida grabs one for herself as well

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and Troy wipes out one of the archers that spawned in last turn

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Which does mean we can't wipe this group out yet, even with the dance for this extra kill

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Looking more at the enemies along this path, this may be more complicated than I first expected, but thanks to Cyltan having 8 mobility, I should be able

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Attack this enemy with a deadly edge, and canto out of reach of any enemy that deals normal damage

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Although he lucks into the kill anyway, so I don't even have to risk dropping Cyltan to 1 HP.

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Meanwhile in the lower fronts, Zayid pulled back for some healing (and because the promoted enemy there is a fair bit tougher), Troy is the only one in range of the surviving archer (and I expect them to hit the green units anyway)

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and I left Hilda way to close to the southern spawn point, and she gets a meh levelup from her enemy phase critical kills.

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Funnily enough, the green HP sacks actually managed to kill the archer, so I have Troy examine the lone cactus for even more Tisanes.

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Up in the north, Slayne can finish off this last one that is close...but another squad is just a bit behind them,

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And Sheela can get this promoted kill for a le-

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...or she can be 1 exp away from capping.

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I wish I could safely pull back, but the survivor using 1-2 range to do so, I can't really get Hilda the heal she needs safely, so I am grabbing this kill, and hoping the next round of reinforcements are such that I can pull back next turn instead.

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And she ends up getting a level on the kill. Her weapon is so potent, that it is hard for her levelups to feel all that relevant.

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And Lilia gets a healing level. I would say it is underwhelming, but her Dex is so low that she will need that if she every promotes to be able to attack.

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Back in Cyltan's crew, this is putting a real delay on my advance. I don't want to deal with my troops being put to sleep,

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Especially with this terror just behind, so going for a bow kill seems too risky, and given my options, I think my best bet is to try to avoid it with Haldyn, but he has a fair bit of forest to walk through before he can get there...

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To try and help mitigate that delay, I am drawing the furthest thief out into the open for a kill.

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Unfortunately Hoelun can't do it alone

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and Ma'aya managed two misses on enemy phase, and two more here, so

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I try for the Arbalest kill instead...and he actually gets it.

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Sheela is also prepared to cap level by enemy phasing an enemy archer, and Athol heals up Ma'aya. Things in the south are fairly well in hand, but the north has been a real pickle for me this time around.

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And Sheela gets a nice enough final unpromoted level, with some spare speed and HP which she has been having problems with

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Now to start dealing with this advance in the north, with Hoelun getting a crit for the kill here. I was kinda hoping to feed this kill to Ma'aya, but that is fine, as

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Slayne gets a solid levelup chipping the next one down for her instead

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And she gets a fantastic levelup on the kill as well. Good Job Ma'aya

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Back in the east

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The two prepromotes deal with the othere archer, so that

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Sheela can get her promotion. Shame she doesn't get any magic from it, but otherwise an excellent improvement.

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Haldyn is finally in place to draw in the Lullaby Knife, and Ma'aya is going to have to take an enemy phase hit herself.

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Meanwhile on the southern front, Zades group had a lull in the enemies to retreat a bit, and in the west, I expect these enemies to hit our green punching bags, but gave one the option of dying enemy phase if it wanted to.

Now there is some good news on enemy phase, as Haldyn dodges the sleep

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but gets hit by the poison bow in the back instead.

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And Ma'aya got a nice enemy phase levelup as well. Onto player phase, and

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Siegfried get a healing levelup, healing Sheela back up.

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Ma'aya thins more of the enemy numbers

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And Hoelun gets another, but might face an enemy phase attack here as well.

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Now to try dealing with that Lullaby Knife. While Haldyn dodged it, he also missed, so i have my work cut out for me, but it starts alright as Dune gets one of the hits here

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But Cyltan just missed both his chances to kill, so I have to canto back and

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Try for the triple at roughly 50-50

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Of all the stats for her to be strangely obsessed with, Agility is one of the better ones.

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This does let Haldyn get revenge on the archer that poisoned him.

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In the west, the green units took all the enemy phased hits, so Merida then grabs this kill

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For a stellar levelup on her (despite taking a heavy hit in return)

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Next Troy chi-

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Or he can proc an extra hit for the kill and defense levelup instead. Should have expected that at this point.

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That does let me use my dance to have Merida quaff a well deserved Tisane. Now for Zade's front

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I am going to use a 1-2 range axe to let her enemy phase some of the bow knights coming in, but seeing as she can't hit

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And I do play things a little conservatively here, as if she took on all three her only chance of death would be getting hit by everything, and missing the last one specifically. In a similar vein, I noticed that

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one of those armors in the center not only have a crit rate, but thanks Zayid being 1 below max health, a crit will actually kill him, so I don't risk him doing any enemy phasing. (note this image is technically from the next player phase)

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I also decide to give the enemy archer in the north a choice of who will kill him on enemy phase,

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And given the reinforcements that showed up in the south, I kinda regret playing as conservatively as I did (especially when she dodged one of the hits on enemy phase, and would have certainly survived). I think I will deal with the east front first, while I ponder how I want to deal with this front.

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So I have Sheela kill the one with a crit rate, but Siegfried is unfortunately too slow to kill the other

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So Zayid has to finish him off.

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And he gets a defense levelup, which is nice for the little bits of enemy phasing I have been letting him do.

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Unfortunately I am going to have to press in enough to kill this guy, as pulling back doesn't improve my position here, and likely give the archer a free hit, further degrading my current position, which means I have to entire enemy phase the next group of cavs. Lianka can probably pull that off, so she is the one to get the kill (and thus has to be in range of all three)

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...and she blank levelups. Honestly her combo of skills and weapon are so brokent it probably doesn't matter, but the bad luck is a damper on my spirits.

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Now in the west, Troy kills one of the reinforcements

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Merida kills another

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And I decide to take a little potential pressure off Lianka, by range healing Hilda, and leaving her in range of two enemies, and leaving Theo in range of one, and have Zade close enough to boost everyone's hit.

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Meanwhile in the north I pull the archers back for some Athol heals, I push the relief force in a little more, and I make the decision to send Yaeri down towards the south. My plan is to have her trigger an event (or possibly two) as she heads towards an enemy that I know drops the flying promotion item she needs (or more accurately, to where I anticipate I will kill said enemy).

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Seemed my taking the pressure off Lianka plan worked a little, as Theo levels on his kill, and gets some of that speed he so desperately needs.

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And Lianka gets a much more useful levelup for her on her kills as well.

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And like that we have reached turn 10, midpoint of the map, and perfect place to end off.

I am not sure if I will get the next update out before Sunday (if so it will probably be late Thursday...), but in the meantime take care, and stay safe.

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