Part 12: A Grim Reunion

Lundgren has sent word to Caelin's neighbors warning them of Lyn's approach. He calls for reinforcements to put an end to the "imposters." If the other realms of Lycia choose to act, Lyn will never reach Caelin alive. Lyn places her faith in Eliwood and waits.





: Laus, Tuscana, Kathelet, Tania, and Santaruz. They will not interfere in Caelin's affairs. This they have promised.

: Eliwood, I don't know how to thank you.

: All I've done is convince them to remain neutral in this dispute. However, this means I cannot aid you in any way either. Will you be alright?

: I will win. I have to. It's the only way that I can help my grandfather.

: I understand. Although I cannot help you directly as a friend, I pray for your success.

: Thank you. I won't waste the opportunity you've given me.



: This is no good. If the fog thickens, we'll be blind in battle. It will be difficult to fight what we cannot see.

: We can't let it delay us, though. We must get closer to the castle. What's the best route?

: Let me think... Our best path is to the south, however that runs through General Eagler's estate. It looks like we still have one final obstacle to pass.

Okay then, Chapter 9. A Grim Reunion is the penultimate chapter in Lyn's Story, and it introduces us to a quite painful combination.





That's the bulk of the map there. Nothing too bad, right? In fact, this looks pathetically easy. Well, there's a catch. There are six fortresses scattered around the map: three in the corners, two in the center, one to the south. Every turn for the first four or five turns, a mix of reinforcements is going to spawn in those forts. Brigands come from the mountain ones, Cavaliers from the forest one, Archers from the northeast corner, and Soldiers from the northwest.



Eagler himself isn't particularly dangerous, but he is rather hardy and both of his weapons are ranged, so even if we tried to pick on his lower resistance, we're going to get killed in return. Axes are the safest route, since he likes to use his javelin when you're up in his face, even if it gives him a weapon disadvantage.



Upon starting the chapter, we have another visitor. And a friendly one at that.



: You! You're...Lord Wallace!

: Kent, who is this?

: He used to be the commander of the knights of Caelin.

: Aren't you supposed to be retired? I heard you were sowing fields now.

: I am, and I was. Then I recieved orders from Lord Lundgren. I was told to capture an imposter and a pair of rogue knights.

: Lord Wallace! Surely you don't believe us to be oathbreakers, do you?

: Bring me the girl that claims to be Madelyn's child.

: What are your intentions?

: If I don't like what I see, I will take her.

: We will prevent you.

: You? Prevent me? You must be-

: Enough! I'm right here! I am Lyndis. I'll understand if you don't believe me, but I've had enough of you and your foolish posturing!

: Hmm... Such beautiful eyes... I've been a knight for 30 years, and there is one thing I learned. A person with eyes as bright and true as yours is no deceiver.



: Why, I believe I'll even join your little band of mercenaries!

: Are... Are you serious?

: This old bull's pledged his loyalty to Caelin. I would never allow an usurper on the throne. Let's march!

: Lord Wallace! He... He hasn't changed at all.

: I like him. He's...honest.

: That he is. He derseves our respect.



: It looks as though it's time to take up arms once more. Art! You're the tactician of this group, correct? What are my orders?

Yes. Wallace is a monster. He's easily capable of soloing the entire rest of Lyn's Story, and he's mainly to make sure you don't get fucked over if your main group doesn't exactly turn out. He's also a L12 Knight, and holding a Knight Crest. Any unit over Level 10 is capable of promoting if you have their class's item. Let's take it for a spin.



: Ha ha ha haaaa! Look! A giant walks among you! My defense is impenetrable! Come, break your weapons against me!

Sure, he's not going anywhere in a hurry, but damn if he's not going to walk over anything that tries to stop him. Anyway, the main battle plan is to have Wallace lead the charge south to Eagler, with the main portion of the army behind him. Sain, Dorcas, Wil, and Lucius will be heading up and holding the north passage and clearing out the enemies there.

Lucius makes a pit stop at the village and has a conversation I skipped through by accident, but he ends up getting a Torch out of it. Torches will illuminate a large amount of space in darkness or fog so you can actually see what you're doing. Ideally, they're used by thieves, which combined with their already good eyesight, nets you something like a 12 tile radius you can see.

Serra goes ahead and heals up Wallace, netting herself a level.



Eh, could do with some magic, but I'm not going to complain about more speed. Florina parks on the bridge to bait the mercenary over, and the group starts east.

In the enemy phase, Florina nets a Lance level after the mercenary attacks her, and the reinforcements start their march on us.

Turn 2



To the north (not pictured here), Sain blocks up a passage. Wil kills the soldier, and nets himself a level.



This is certainly making my decision about who to bring in the final chapter easier.

Dorcas positions himself to wait for the brigand, seeing as he's not the most accurate and the peak avoid bonuses are ridiculous anyway. On the south side, Florina kills the mercenary, as Matthew and Rath move further east. Erk and Lyn hold up, as there are bandits coming in from the southwest corner.

A myrmidon tries his luck against Sain, but he does no damage, and Sain one-shots him in return. Erk dodges a brigand, as does Dorcas who nets a level in response.



Holy shit, is that a good level? Maybe things will start looking up a little. I can deal with Speed, Defense, and Resistance all in one level.

Turn 3



Welp, this isn't good.



: We can't hit an enemy we can't see. Keep your eyes open, everyone!

Well, this is where things start getting fun. As you can see, once the fog-of-war rolls in, we can only see units within a certain number of tiles of our units, and we can only attack what we can see. Matthew, being a thief, has a radius of 8 tiles as opposed to most units' 3 or 4, so he's a huge help.

Rath starts the turn by attacking a brigand to the south, and Wallace is quick to come and demonstrate his new toys.



Oh yeah. Let the murder train roll.

Lyn kills the southwest brigand, Erk moves east, and Matthew positions himself south of Wallace to bait the next brigand. In the north, Lucius kills the brigand weakened by Dorcas, and Wil eliminates the soldier again. Sain rides forward to a forest for cover, and Dorcas moves up to take his place.

Matthew trades blows with a brigand, and Dorcas is attacked by a cavalier, which he doesn't take very well.



Poor guy didn't even know what hit him. Sain is attacked by another cavalier and an archer, but neither do any significant damage.

Turn 4



Erk moves east, leaving the stream of brigands for Lyn. Serra heals up Matthew, who finishes the brigand off.



Wow, that uh... Damn. 4 levels with no speed, but 2 points of defense and 1 of strength? This is definitely one of the odder Matthews I've trained up.

Wallace continues the march east, and the crew continues mopping up enemies as they come in. Dorcas kills off the cavalier that attacked Sain, and Sain quickly deals with the archer. Rath is hit by a brigand, and Dorcas deals with a cavalier. An archer continues the token effort to kill Sain, and contributes 1 damage to the movement.

Turn 5



Wil starts by finishing the last of the soldiers, and Lucius starts moving east. Dorcas and Sain also finish their enemies and start moving south. Wallace continues his march to the castle, and Erk and Matthew kill the brigrand by Rath. Serra gets a Staff level by healing Rath, and Rath moves toward the castle as well.

A soldier rushes Wallace. A poor decision.



His buddy doesn't get the message, and is quick to meet a similar fate.

Turn 6



We've finally fought our way to Eagler, let's get this started.



: General Wallace... So you've sided with the girl too, have you?

: I fight for Caelin's honor, not for Lundgren's lies!

: Ah... Is that so? You are- Enough. There is nothing more to be said. I name you traitors all! Come! Do your worst!

: Fool... At the very least, let mine be the blow that finishes you!

That knocks off 12 of his 30 HP, so Lyn starts moving east, and Matthew takes her place to deal with the last bandit. Eagler switches to his hand axe, and both he and Wallace miss with their attacks.

Turn 7



Anyone not already there continues south/east, and Wallace lands again for 11 HP, bringing Eagler to 10. Eagler switches back to his javelin, so Wallace lands for 12 in the enemy phase, which brings him down to 1 HP.

Turn 8



Eagler's on the ropes, so Sain comes in for the hell of it.



: Sain... I never imagined you could turn traitor...

: Who's the traitor here? I am following the orders of my sworn liege lord. Not Lundgren, but the marquess himself!

: You speak with conviction. I think it's time to test the bounds of your loyalty!

Then, on a 44% chance of hitting, Sain's javelin lands for the kill. I actually did a double take when he hit.



: The marquess... He knows nothing of this... His life is... There's no illness. Only...poison... Please...for the marquess...for all of Caelin...



Skill and Resistance is pretty cool. Another very odd level though, all things considered. Lyn comes down to bring the chapter to a close.



: When Sain and I first became knights, he was our captain. Our teacher...

: I think he must have known we were telling the truth. Why did he force the fight?

: Something must have... Lord Lundgren was exerting some kind of hold on him... Eagler was trying to protect someone. A friend perhaps, or family.

: May Lundgren never know the peaceful embrace of Mother Earth! I care not what others do. I WILL stop that man! Art! The final battle is approaching!



One last cut to Caelin for the road.



: Lundgren... You... You fiend...

: Your granddaughter is dead by now. And soon, you will join her.

: Lyndis... Why did this happen? I... I only wanted to see her once.

: Have you lost all hope? Has your life lost all meaning? Then hurry up and die, you miserable old dotard! You and your precious granddaugther are in my way! I curse your name! I despise you! My worthless wretch of a brother!
------


HP: 70%
Strength: 45%
Skill: 40%
Speed: 20%
Luck: 30%
Defense: 35%
Resistance: 35%

Wallace is the first true prepromote of the game, and this is pretty much what you can expect with the ones to come. Their base stats are going to be good, and their growths not so much. Wallace's defense growth in particular is low enough to be on par with most of the cavaliers and fighters, but he does have a surprisingly high resistance growth. He also has the problem of showing up in the second to last chapter of Lyn's story, and then disappearing until a little past halfway through the main storyline, and it's not even a guarentee you'll get the map he's on. The other knight is much, much better, but Wallace is pretty solid for when you actually have him (and god knows we could use someone relatively RNG-proof right now). Fun note: In Lyn Hard Mode, you can take his Knight Crest and promote Sain or Kent instead if you really want to.