Part 31: Chapter 17 - Part 2
Our first round of reinforcements will consist of Volke and Rolf.
You can Outfit your reinforcements the same way you can before every battle, but your guys in the field are not able to reequip themselves in between missions, so your reinforcements are the only way you have of bringing in fresh weapons if you need them. That said, though, Volke here has need of space (you can't steal with a full inventory), so it's not a good idea to load him down with stuff.
Listen, everyone! We must make our way to the ruins in the northeast. Fight if you must, but keep up!
Ike! What about the reinforcements? They'll have to catch up. We can't wait any longer! Understood.
Our objective is to have someone - anyone - arrive at the objective in the northeast. Our opposition is broadly divided into two units, each with a healthy smattering of Cavaliers (with at least one Bow Knight), one Wyvern Rider, one Paladin, and one Priest. One of those Priests has a Physic staff, which we want.
As for our route, we can either go west and round the outside - and through all the enemies - or we can go east and cross the swamp. The correct option is to do both, of course; keep the enemy distracted (or dead) while someone takes the quick path to the objective.
With help from Ike and Muarim, Nephenee is able to charge right into battle.
Lovely. She also picks this moment to reach rank C in lances. Maybe we should bring her a new one next mission...
Everyone else moves up, and we end turn.
The Cavalier Vanguard waltzes right into our range.
These two fools both attack Nephenee. One is left dead, the other on basically no health.
There's also this. This is even more disappointing when you remember she's using the Knight Ward.
The first Cavalier Troop closes in.
Astrid rides out to clear the way for them. Sadly, she still does not produce a crit.
Marcia cleans up instead, and Soren breaks out his latest toy for the first time.
Neph also cleans up, and Oscar advances into the swamp.
Finally, Jill hurts one of the Cavaliers a little. We don't want to leave her too near them, though; Bow Knights, remember?
I... what. I mean, seriously.
Compare Mist's stats with Mia's. What the hell.
Speaking of Mia, she's going to stand over here holding a Longsword. The Longsword actually isn't even that great against Cavaliers - its base Mt is 6, so it's only a bit more powerful than a Steel Sword, but much much heavier. I'm just using it for the sake of using it, really.
Mia is obligingly attacked, and it hurts.
The rest of the troop all move up too.
Over eastward, Oscar is busy entertaining the enemy.
Enemy gets some reinforcements...
And so do we!
That's nice, Rolf.
Say "What?" again. Say "What?" one more god damn time. I dare you.
Since the enemy Bow Knight was nice enough to trot into our range, Jill has a go at Killer Lancing him. She is successful.
This isn't funny anymore.
Anyway, Marcia, Soren and Astrid all chip in with kills, leaving only the enemy Paladin (who has a Short Spear) and a Javlineer in any position to really threaten anyone.
Mia gets healed, of course. We end turn.
Ow.
Less Ow but still ow.
Not Really Ow. This is a pretty beefy iteration of Astrid here.
Rolf catches up to the group and lends a hand with the murder.
Soren moves to weaken the Paladin that he might be fed to Astrid. Naturally, he dodges the counterattack.
Whoa. The lack of important stats lately is a bit annoying, but I'm liking all this defence. Anyone would think the RNG Gods were trying to make something up to me... wonder what, though?
While Mia and Jill mop up, Marcia carries Volke north.
Nephenee moves ahead to draw out some guys from the objective. The reason we don't send Oscar yet is...
...This guy. Poleaxes, unlike Longswords, actually somewhat resemble trouble for Cavaliers. Don't worry though, he'll charge like an idiot into our range before long. They do that once you cross the line Neph has just crossed.
End of turn 4.
I keep being disappointed that we've yet to see a proper Wrath rampage yet. One day. One day.
The enemy decides to split, with half heading towards Marcia and half heading towards Oscar and Neph.
Poleax guy duly charges right at us, though. Hmm... this isn't quite preferable enough...
Ah. Now we're fighting on my terms.
I love Earth Pairs. To make things better, he drops his Poleax when we kill him.
End of turn 5. Note Astrid volunteering to bait the enemies up north.
I like how Astrid has turned out.
They still haven't twigged that Oscar isn't going to get hit right now.
This will be a bit problematic to clear quickly and safely, but we should just about be good...
...if Astrid can just manage to produce a Crit. This Paladin and his Silver Lance is the most dangerous enemy on the map - that weapon gives him a high Atk and he's got the Strength to carry it, too.
That's not a crit.
That's a crit.
Lovely.
...not lovely.
Jill is being her usual dodgy self.
Oh, hey, a good level! I've missed those.
Volke isn't dragging his feet either.
There's one soldier who can attack Volke, but Volke can take one hit.
Meanwhile, Nephenee and Oscar reduce a guy each to 1HP. But there's a Wyvern Rider hanging around there too... hmm...
Hey, look! A defenceless little girl!
Surely an instant KO!
Haha, Mist me! no wait I already used that one He's damn lucky she's technically unable to use weapons.
Similar story over here, only Ike's out of range instead of unarmed.
Oh, don't be annoying.
Astrid is still taking hits like a champ. Both Cavaliers go for her, despite Volke.
Next turn, we take them out.
Nice! Mist is no longer the leader in Speed, though.
While Jill, Marcia, Mia and Astrid clean up the enemies, Volke relieves the Priest of his Physic staff.
Rolf gladly obliterates the silly Wyvern Rider who thought he could take Mist.
Neph, Ike and Oscar move forward too.
It's funny because I've gone from getting two-stat levels in Strength and Speed/Defence to getting five-stat levels in things that aren't Strength or Defence.
Whatever. It's the end of turn 7 and the only opposition still capable of violence is a 1HP Cavalier on the objective.
Oh, fine, a 3HP Cavalier. Remember, kids, Objective squares heal.
We grab a Mend staff to compliment our Physic one, and finish off the enemies.
This is really just a formality at this point.
---
The duke's army seems nearly limitless, and I'm worried about our weapon situation. Let's do it.---
Look here. This is the only place in these ruins where I've seen healthy grass growing.
You're right. And I found this.
Where what? This way. Come with me. What now? Nasir! What have you found? ... A heron.
("Whatever is this?")
... Um... That's a girl. Nasir, you said that the male heron we met was the only surviving member of the race. I believed it to be true. To find another survivor... It's a miracle.
(Who are you?) Hey, wait, please! I must speak-- (Yaaaa...!Stay away, human!)
...... She's lost consciousness. I guess there's nothing I can do but wait for her to come around. I wasn't trying to frighten her.
I've found you at last! My beautiful treasure! It's about time you showed your bloated face, Duke Tanas! Oh! Oh... No mistake about it. That is the spectacular work of art I paid so much to obtain... You still claim ownership, do you? No, wait... Something's different... This is... a female!? You mean to tell me that yet another lives? How spectacular! Men! Bring me that heron! But do her no harm! You'll never have her!
...fuck.
Form up, troops! We must protect the heron!
Yep, it turns out we can do the "soldiers from nowhere!" act, too!
It looks like we've found those mages that guy warned us about.
Well, kids, it's time for Additional Voting Time!
We can call in another two reinforcements to help us survive the next ten turns. They'll arrive at the start of the third turn. Choose from Boyd, Titania, Rhys, Ilyana, Lethe, Mordecai, Kieran, Brom, Zihark, Sothe, Gatrie, Makalov, Stefan, Tormod, Devdan.
You've got, er, 72 hours this time!