Part 26: Ilia's Salvation or, A Castle Staffed By Assholes

Chapter 20: Ilia's Salvation or, A Castle Staffed By Assholes

It's still snowing, but we're out of the fog, at least for now. Let's get cracking on cracking heads before it returns.






once served as headquarters of the pegasus knight mercenaries as well. However, with Jerrot's absence, Bern saw its chance and attacked the castle, forcing the mercenaries and pegasus knights into submission.


High Chancellor Roartz was put in charge.


Roartz hurriedly contacts the various Ilian mercenary groups for aid. Unfortunately for him, however, their replies are not promising...

Aww, poor little Roartz, all alone and undefended and stuff. Let's make sure he doesn't suffer long.

Actually never mind that, I'm okay with him suffering.



Naturally, he's the fancy looking sprite on the throne, just under the C.



Actually, sire... we've requested aid from Ilia's knights, but all but those directly under Sir Murdock seem reluctant to help.

"Something about how this Roy character keeps slaughtering them by the boatload and they don't want to depopulate their entire country."

Curses! Things couldn't possibly get any worse...



Ah, but we did capture Jerrot's wife. What is the word on Jerrot's troop? Have they responded?

No, sire... They are traveling mercenary knights, so we do not know their location.

Blast it...

Ever since Sigune's defeat, Ilia's militia has been hesitant to attack the Eturian Army.

As well they should.


The great High Chancellor Roartz will not die in this miserable wasteland!

Spoiler: wrong



Speaking of hostages, we have a bunch.



Both generic,



...and not so generic.

I couldn't. You'll freeze...

I can handle it. I'm used to these temperatures. This is nothing compared to flying through a blizzard.

...Thank you. Cough... cough...



...I don't know. But we must stay hopeful. The enemy may retreat, or perhaps Jerrot might return. This isn't the end.

...Where is Lord Jerrot now?

His last letter said he planned to join the Lycian Army, but after that... Well, he may be closer than we realize.

I hope you're right.

I don't think the game will do anything if you don't deploy Jerrot here, that sounds like effort. But I'm bringing him because it's his damn castle, he might as well make himself useful.



And then our party arrives, same as always.

Yes, we must. Once we take this castle, it will be our new base before we enter Bern.

...I see.

Princess... May I ask why your father tried to murder King Zephiel?

...Zephiel and I have different mothers. In actuality, I am his half sister.

I heard that Zephiel's mother was an Eturian moblewoman.

That's correct. They were arranged to be wed for political reasons. However, our father was already in love with another woman. That was my mother.

......

The marriage between the king and Zephiel's mother was forced. Our father didn't love Zephiel's mother and always resented their son.

Was that the cause of all the troubles that happened?

No... I remember Zephiel working hard, vying for our father's affection. He was a brilliant scholar and a prodigy in combat. He grew to become a fine heir to Bern's throne.





Understood. I only need a moment!
Princess Guinivere, I am sorry, but I...

No, I understand. Go. Please be careful.

Pfft. Careful, us? Clearly you don't know Roy's Boys.

(we will actually be quite careful)



Anyway, customary overview map. Notably: The two enemies in the inaccessible areas are both manning ballistae, and so is the lower of the two on the far right. The leftmost one has an elysian whip we could steal, but I've no one left to use it on and have stopped caring. The other enemies are outfitted with a variety of rare and/or effective weapons like longbows, horseslayers, and so on, but for the most part they'll be using them on entirely the wrong people for that to matter. There are several long-distance spells and staves as well, just to make things even more fun.



The guy to the left of Roartz in particular is a pain; he has a berserk staff.


The former High Chancellor of Eturia.

Roartz himself is nothing special, just another spear-wielding general. He has a red gem we can steal, as does at least one of the mooks, but again, caring.

Then there are the green units. All the generics have 10 hp and no stats; they'll die if someone looks at them funny. And then...


A retired squad leader of the Ilian pegasus knights. Jerrot's wife.

He sure as hell didn't marry her for her stats, or her growths (HP 50, Str 20, Skl 35, Spd 30, Lck 45, Def 10, Res 10) for that matter. To no one's surprise, she is recruitable while the generics are not.

Anyway.



I used up my fourth warp charge last map, so...



Time to use the hammerninny! Happily, it works even on staves. And with that...



Candygram! And once the archer is dead, he's dropping Dorothy on the long ballista.



Ehhhhhh.



There are two paths into the castle; Shrub and Shrub-Dad take the left.



Bartre gets a pretty good level axing a guy.



Shanna has the silver card, so she'll be taking a look at the stores.



Goddammit Fir.



Goddammit sleep-staffing asshole.







Oh and of course there are Physic staves.



If only I had some kind of AoE attacks...



Well, this is pretty good.



Get up!



He is certainly doing well despite being benched for the last several maps.







That's one sleep staff gone.



Bartre can dodge these guys in his sleep. It's kinda sad.



That wasn't supposed to happen! Attack my dudes!

...Well, Juno can survive one hit from this guy, so it shouldn't be too bad.



For a given definition of "too bad" I guess.



UP.



Here, have a nice squishy flying unit to pick on.



...

WELP. I think that was . Excellent job using those hostages as, you know, hostages, people!



I will end you.



New plan.



yes thank you very much saul I am sure to find that useful



Sleep staff dealt with.



I was going to drop Dorothy on that ballista but I guess killing everything normally works too.



It is my punishment for restarting, I guess.



Let's see if Bartre does any better...



...I can't say no to strength, but I'd rather have the speed.



The ballisticians somehow think the Delphi shield-wielding Zeiss is a more tempting target than his squishier sister.



Fir still can't dodge horseslayers.



Chad is still the biggest sleep magnet on the planet.



That's another long-range annoyance dealt with.



Yes, you really needed that crit.



Up!



And no NPC-killing shenanigans out of you this time.



Bartre doesn't like the idea of having his blood sucked so he just crits this motherfucker at 12% like it ain't no thang.



And on the next turn, he just murders this bishop, and that's another long-range attacker down.



Fir breaks her killing edge getting rid of the last enemy in this corner. The NPCs are safe, for now.



And then Zeiss lifts Bartre out of the 'Zerk Zone. He's standing just at edge of the druid's range.



Somehow we haven't killed everything here yet.



Let's get to that.



Jerrot will help take back what's his!



Sadly not so much anything else.



Fliers can circle around the whole building on the right side. Unfortunately for this guy, they can also equip javelins.



And suddenly a support! A-support, even!

Fiii-



Ah, Fir. You are unharmed...

Father! Enough is enough! I'm quite fine on my own! I don't need you to protect me!

......
...I'm sorry. I was wrong...

......

Forgive me, my daughter... I just wanted to make up for lost time.

Lost... time?

Yes... When you were still young, your mother and I were always training. I regret now that I didn't give you the attention you needed. You never knew the warmth and protection a parent can give...

......

You've grown into such a strong and confident young woman. You did that all on your own. I just wanted to help you in any way I could...

Father... You were always kind and loving. Whenever I was down, you held me in your strong arms and comforted me...

......

Father... I've always loved you.

Fir... Oh, my daughter!

F-Father! This isn't the place to break down and cry!

Aw, I think I got some dust in my eye here, too.



archers.



That's two stats Schwarth has capped.



Chad opens the door on the far right, and it's about time to get started on wearing down the Zerkerstaff.

...except I put Shanna right here and he doesn't do anything. Maybe he doesn't move?



This is close enough to get hit even by a stationary druid. It is also close enough to get hit by the western ballista.



Bartre eats a skill book while he waits.



Oh shit, it was a killer ballista. Maybe I should use some kind of bait that's a little less likely to instantly fucking die if it actually hits...



But at least the druid also goes for her.



This should be safer.



And once the druid hits...



...we can just undo it and carry Saul out of ballista range. I have a lot more restores than this guy does berserks.



Meanwhile, just out of staff range, we start looting. The rest of this room has a Wyrmslayer, Nosferatu, and a Sleep staff.



Apparently I've filled up my inventory... Well, I still have a bunch of low-level weapons with single digit uses left, no big.



Three berserk uses!



Might as well let this guy waste his arrows, too. Two more now.



Zeiss also caps strength...



...after javelining this knight through a door.



And a couple of thieves spawn in.

Well, sure, open the doors for me, I don't mind.



Then, axe dudes.



It seems unlikely this will kill him, so I'll take a pot shot at the boss.


All is lost if I fall!

No one does any falling.



Roy is maybe not the best person to kill generals...



More dudes!



Wolt crits when Roartz attacks him, but misses his second shot. Roartz is at 8 HP. Of course, he'll be nearly back to full once I actually want to kill him thanks to throne regen... but hey, it's experience points.



One more, then you can both die.



More?!



That's far enough.



Killy time! Also goddammit stupid NPCs just stay in that room where it's safe



Flux off.



More!



Guess we'll have to kill them so they don't start molesting NPCs.



Fir's killing edge is still broken, so she does this instead. It worked!



Hmmmm...



See how you like it!



...damn it Saul



Meanwhile, Zeiss kidnaps small children.



Also: Axereaver, Speedwings, and another Wo Dao to make Fir extra ridiculous.



Roy can't do much against Roartz, but this guy really had it coming so...



Numbers! And then Wolt carries him out of Roartz's spear range.



Ugh.



Our berserked buddy tries his best. He doesn't do very well, but the important thing is he tried.



While he does that, Jerrot finally speaks to his wife.

Jerrot!

Are you all right? You're not hurt? If any of them laid a finger on you, I'll-

Oh, Jerrot, I'm not a child. I used to be a captain, you know.

I know, but...

I'm fine. They didn't do anything.

Good...

Why are you in the Eturian Army? I thought you were with Lycia.

Well, it's a long story... What it comes down to is that this is the Eturian Army only in name. It's actually made up primarily of soldiers from the Lycian Army.

Oh... Interesting.

I'm sorry I wasn't here when you needed me the most...

There is no use for regret at this point.

But you were forced to fight...

Oh? I thought you liked my combat uniform.

I do! But...

Then what's the problem? You'll be seeing a lot more of it from now on...

What?! Do you mean...

I do. I will fight alongside you.

No! I can't accept that. You retired years ago. Leave the fighting to us...

I may have retired, but I still had to take up arms to defend the castle. Jerrot, this world isn't safe anymore.

Well...

I will fight. I want to bring peace back to this land.

And after that maybe a little too personal look into Jerrot's married life, Juno joins us and doesn't get any better in the process, so when she says "fight" she actually means "warm the bench next to our other awful pegasus person Tate".

For now though, we have a use for her as she can fill her empty inventory with some crap from Chad's overfilled one so he can pick up more treasure without me having to throw away that 3-use hand axe because I might really need it!



More dudes.



Who are you and what have you done with Shanna?!



0 hit? Okay let's just have Fir handle the rest.



...That's Fir, all right.



Roy and Wolt will be killing all these guys without a scratch off screen.



And all the civvies run off north.



But as for the real reason I brought Jerrot...



This wasn't it, but it's okay. Not a single point of magic since promotion, though!



Jerrot is... not very good. I'm sorry if this comes as a shock to anyone. But he gets by with a little help from his friends.

W-wait... Serve me! It is not too late... I shall... absolve you of your crimes... Guh...!

And how do we celebrate?



Why, in true Jeigan fashion.



There was nothing else worthy of note.


Many of Bern's troops have been spotted in the ruins outside Edessa!

Ruins?

Reports say the ruins are home to a lance that was used in the Scouring.



It is most probably a legendary weapon.

Then we must hurry to the ruins!

And so we shall! But not before...



...these two make a re-appearance.

Yes...?

Are you the one who saved us?

No, that was me, check your goddamn useless NPC eyes.

Er, well, I...

Thank you! It's only thanks to you that we're alive and have our freedom. Please accept this token of our gratitude.

Thank you again!


I'll give this to Roy.

It was an angelic robe. Okay I guess, but no one really needs it at this stage. Maybe I'll put it on Bartre so he doesn't fall too far behind Fir...



And that was it! Next time, sidequest.