Part 9: The Blazing Blade or, The Thong of Roland

Chapter 8x: The Blazing Blade or, The Thong of Roland


With Bern coming full force however, Roy's army is no equal. Therefore, he decides to try and obtain a legendary weapon. He thinks it best to obtain it before Bern manages to get their hands on it.
Lilina shows them to a cave on the outskirts of Ostia, where a legendary weapon is hidden. The cave, located at the foot of a volcano, will be no small obstacle for Roy...

Lies and slander, this will be the chillest map yet, and it's taking place in a volcano so you know it's chill.



Not small, but chill. (Don't ask me about the green stuff, it's, like, holes or something.)



The boss is some random schlub -



- sitting on a fucking throne right in the middle of a fucking volcano because that makes fucking sense you fucking fuckburgling fuckers



Also Wendy is actually a general now, what the fuck even.



Along with a line of codebreaker crap to reset her to knight so she can gain some experience, I decide on this party. Since we don't have any especially pressing matters to attend to this time around, I'm okay with leaving all the horses behind, and we have quite a few people on foot who need experience.

Also, Roy has a killing edge and will not crit once.



What?! How many of them are there?

Dunno, Boss. Not too many, I hope...

It's strange, though... The lords of Lycia have bigger fish to fry than bandits like us.

Well? What do we do?

I don't expect they know much about this cave. Just lure them onto the lava geysers and get rid of 'em.

Spoiler: Lava geysers will not prove very effective in getting rid of us.



Nor will Henning's men. Henning himself is a bit of an issue because he's a fucking bastard Hero on a fucking bastard throne, but I still don't hate him as much as that creep Legance.

The legendary weapon is on the other side of this flaming crevice.



Well... maybe not just yet. But I can't afford to be in sorrow. Ostia needs me to protect it, just as it needed my father before me.

I'm just glad you're all right, Lilina.





No, nothing. Let me tell you what I know about the weapon. The sword here was used by Roland himself, one of the Eight Legends.

So surprise surprise, the weapon sitting around Hector's castle is not Hector's big-ass axe.

Roland... The first marquess of Ostia?

Exactly. He's my ancestor. This sword is called Durandal, the Blazing Blade.

Then why is the Sword of Seals the one that's on fire? I've seen your promoted sprite, Roy...

Durandal... The name has a strange echo to it.

Almost as if it were one of those generic overused and over-abused fantasy names that pop up in everything. Though, FE6 actually has it used by a guy named Roland, so I guess I should give them props for that.

So Roland used Durandal to fight the dragons during the Scouring?

That's how the legend goes. They also say that after the war ended, Roland returned to his home of Ostia. He raised Durandal high above his head, and the hearth scorched by the flames of war suddenly blossomed with life again.

Wow... That sword has quite the story to it.

It is possible it has been a tiny bit distorted over time.

It's a weapon that can defeat dragons, so it must have some exceptional powers.

Such as the power to be used exactly 19 times before the next swing makes it crumble to dust and disappear forever.

...Oh, yes. I heard that a group of bandits has made its base here. Will the sword be all right? Might the bandits have taken Durandal?

Oh, no, don't worry yourself about that. Only descendants of Roland know how to remove Durandal from its sheath.

That's reassuring.

That's confusing. I thought Eliwood was supposed to be Roland's descendant and you know what never mind I'm just going to accept that FE7 retcons the shit out of this game and be done with it.

All that's left then is to rid this cave of the bandits and take Durandal.

This will not be tremendously difficult.



There's a couple of dudes conveniently within reach from the starting position, so...



Time to get Dorothy some levels.



There's a couple of others waiting up top. Lilina can take one axe hit. She makes for excellent bait, and also staff practice for Saul.



...



After the enemy's turn, flames spout from some of the glowing tiles on the floor. It seems to be random which ones. They don't hit anyone this round.



The enemies on the left will chase after you, so...



Wolt has an easy time finishing this guy. He's one-shotting dudes with the steel bow! Our little is all grown up.



And Dorothy gets the merc on the right. I'd have preferred if you put that other point in strength like your much-better colleague, but I'll take speed.

Noah finishes the mage, but doesn't get much for it.



Wendy needs exp, but she can't finish this guy on her own and anyone else will kill him.



But wait!





She doesn't level up, though.



There are three fighters left in the passage to the left. Imagine all three of them being about this useful.



Next round, Wendy finds something she can kill on her own. (It was an archer, which explains everything.) Certainly an armour knight level.



And Roy could double and one-round this guy, but then he'd be in range of a caster and another jerk hanging around just off screen. So he doesn't. But he could. And that is cool. Roy is cool. Even in the middle of a volcano.



Properly weakened, this guy poses no threat to Dorothy.





She doesn't quite get enough to level again, though.



Wolt and Dorothy are starting to fall behind, so I'm having them kite this idiot back to the main group. He gets barbecued.



It's enough to let Dorothy finish him.



???

Well, if he doesn't want to come to us...







Bors still doesn't get a level, though. Also ignore poor Wendy and her weird general sprite, she appears to be under the delusion that she's a Jeigan.



Mercs can double Barth. Barth cares not.



He kinda has to care when he gets cooked in his own armour, though.



Wendy, too. More staff EXP.



...

More staff EXP.



More mag is more healy.



I'm only including this because I like the impending doom kind of look it has.



If you're going to get HP and one other stat, strength is probably the best for Bors.



Roy stabs this archer.



And does not let me down.



The guys in the corner apparently need a written invitation. I send Ogier.

By the way, the archer next to Roy is Wolt, taking the place of the enemy one Roy stabbed.



I was hoping he'd draw out all of them, but only this idiot takes the bait.







Look what we have here!



Lord Roy, is something wrong?

...Just call me Roy. I've known you all my life.

I appreciate your kindness, but rules are rules.

"Your father would have me drawn and quartered if I spoke disrespectfully. ...I guess."

Do you really think so? You suddenly feel so distant to me.

"It's your stats, bro. I'll never be able to catch up no matter what I do."

What are you saying? I'm right here in front of you.

That's not what I meant.

Ha ha, I know. But enough talk. We haven't time to laze about here.

......

Let's go! The battle awaits us, Lord Roy.



That's kind of depressing.



So's the fact that I actually have to give these assholes a written invitation.



are you fucking kidding me



Fine. Be that way.



These ones are that way, too. I put a nice, juicy archer right in this guy's attack range, and he didn't even blink. Well, if the mage won't come to the archer...



The others are a little more cooperative.



Wendy gets another Armour Knight Level^TM out of this. At this point, she's the same level as and almost as good as Bors.



The knights can only weaken the fighters,



...so Dorothy gets her kill on.



Nice!



Lilina gets the second one.



don't you fucking start



They won't budge.



Fine. We'll oblige them.



Lilina may well overtake Noah in raw power, but she is never going to catch up in terms of speed.



A killing edge isn't that big a threat when your base damage is 2.



And an armorslayer isn't that big a threat when you have no armor to slay.



Ehhh...



The dudes up there are also hard to draw out, so I'm letting Noah... uh... not do this because I don't need that much staff EXP.



Flier or not.



The axe dude can't resist a poor, helpless archer.



Sadly for him, said archer is Wolt and he can take care of himself.



Noah gets nuked by the mage and can't even finish the job. Weak. Roy will have to break out the killing edge.

He does not crit, but he doesn't need to. And since we're now in range to attack him...


The leader of a group of bandits that roams around Ostia.

"Roamed", game. "Roamed".

Henning is a boring boss with a boring face and I couldn't think of anything interesting to replace it with. He has hella speed and a steel blade, so he could be kinda dangerous.



Yeah, I don't fancy Ogier's chances against this throne-squatter. I'm parking Roy with the killing edge in front of him and Wolt to the side. Henning has a hand axe, but he never ends up switching to it.



While I wait for him to attack, Lilina finishes the last axe bandit for are you fucking kidding me



(Unlike last time, we couldn't Jet Stream Attack this guy even if we wanted to because these are walls. Argh.)


How did you find yourselves in here? I'm afraid I can't let you go.



Good job on that.

Though Roy also misses, so ehhh. Looks like it's time for another drawn-out slugfest.



Well, she did get Mag, so I might as well put it to use. (Barth and Wendy rescuedrop her out of there as soon as she's done, though.)



Speaking of!



O-oh! Hello, Wendy. What a... uh... coincidence!

It is good to see you well. Do you need something, Brother?

No... I don't. I was just walking around and I ran into you. Yes.

OK...

Are you hurt? Your armor isn't too heavy?

No, I am fine, Brother. I must be off, though...

Leaving already? You could rest a bit longer...

Thank you for your consideration, but this is a battle.

Y-yes, of course... Take care.



Someone is concerned



I'm also concerned, concerned that this will take like 40 minutes unless someone gets their butt in gear.



...not you, Dorothy.



So about that killer bow...



Damn it Wolt!



Henning goes for Roy again. Roy swings his killing edge for the... fourth? time and doesn't crit.

Damn it Roy!



But Wolt makes up for it on the next turn.

Ah, blast... I knew this would happen...

Too late to surrender now, get your dead ass off that throne so I can seize it



Wolt.



That was more time consuming than challenging.


I don't think many of us will be able to swing it.

History has it that Roland was a small man. Any fighter skilled enough should be able to wield the sword.

By which she means it's no longer PRF-locked to a guy who's not in our party.

Sadly though, Durandal requires an S-rank in swords to wield, and the closest we have is a couple of dudes with C-ranks. It's a while off yet.

Then if I become better with the sword, I could use it as well?

Well... I don't know about that.

Oh, come now. Have SOME confidence in me, at least!



Roy needs some ointment for that first degree Bern.

Hee hee!







No rest for the wicked, though.



So they are!



And apparently we were at... the arena the whole time? ... I'm not going to try to make sense of this.



And of course Narcian is on the brightly coloured one in the middle.

I thank you for ridding me of that cretin Legance. Now, leave Ostia to me and we can all go home with our limbs attached.


I'll never hand Ostia over to the likes of you...!

Oho? You think you can best us with that sad little group of yours?



......



Suddenly,



...an army of NPCs!




Mage General Cecilia informed that the Lycian Army had requested Eturia's aid.

Damn, Merlinus must have sent that letter using some kind of express service.

...Express pigeon?

...

How does this work, again?

What...?!


Can those wyvern riders of yours stand against our might?

"I've got like eight mages with Aircalibur, just so you know. "

You...!

I am Cecilia, Mage General of Eturia! Ostia is now under our protection.




General Perceval is one of the most skilled knights in Eturia! Combined with General Cecilia, we haven't a chance!

I know that! We're leaving!

Well I wanted to introduce his face to our new sword, but since none of us can actually use it, a nice big helping of humiliation will be fine, too. Besides, we can always sword him later.


We'll see who has the last laugh!

Narcian flounces off and takes all his wyverns with him.



Y-yes, I am! I lead the Lycian Army in Lord Hector's place.

It's a pleasure. You have my sympathy for the current turmoil in Lycia. Our king also sends his condolences for Lord Hector.

Thank you. If you hadn't helped us... Ostia would be under Bern's control now.

You have no reason to thank me. I simply followed my king's orders. You should thank Cecilia. She defied the king until he agreed to help you.

She... opposed the king?

Yes, she put her neck on the line.
Well, I must be off. Eturia calls. As one of the three Generals of Eturia, it requires my presence.



Yes. Thank you, Perceval. Leave the rest to me.

Percy leaves.


Just his presence was intimidating.



General Cecilia! It is good to see you again.

How are you, Roy? You look a little tired.

I'm fine, thanks to you. It could have been a calamity.

I'm glad we made it in time.

I'm sorry I put you through so much trouble.

Don't be. It will benefit Eturia for Ostia to go under our protection.

Benefit Eturia? How?

Bern's been increasingly aggressive, as you know. If Bern gains any further strength, the balance of power will be shattered.
Still, we haven't been attacked, so we couldn't simply declare war.

So when we requested aid, it was justification to declare war on Bern?

Precisely. We only did what is best for our land. You needn't feel that you are in our debt.

If you insist. Regardless, please come in and meet the rest of the army.

Roy runs off.


He's maturing into a man.

"Maybe one day he'll even be able to grow a proper beard."



Cecilia follows Roy out north, and that's a wrap! Next... looks like we'll have a chance to cool down after the volcano, at least. I'm sure it will be great. They wouldn't throw thrones at me three maps in a row, would they...?