Part 16: (Part One, Chapter 8) Sad that we should Daein to come here
Its victories at Talrega and other locations have strengthened its position. The army rides across the land, liberating prisoners from Begnion encampments. The Daein ranks swell with the influx of veteran soldiers, and the men begin to dream of the day when they may retake the capital.
You summoned me, Your Grace?
Oh-ho...
I've arranged to meet with the senate's vice-minister, Duke Gaddos. If we ask him the favor... I imagine he could discreetly sweep their findings under the rug. But in the meantime, you MUST obliterate the insurgents! Once that is done, we'll devise excuses. Understood, sir.
If the inspection team and the rebel army ever cross paths... even the senate won't be able to hide the truth. We'll lure the rebels to Shifu Swamp. We'll plant tales of a mass execution there, and they'll be sure to come. Then, we'll trap the malcontents and wipe them from the face of the land.
…nice hat.
I give you thanks. I never thought I'd see the Silver-Haired Maiden work miracles before my very eyes.
Help who? What's going on? Calm down and tell me.
They're killing our men! I beg you, please, save them!
Not only Joad. There's reportedly a plan to exterminate all prisoners in every camp and let the swamp conceal the remains.
It may indeed be a trap. But if we don't investigate, we risk a mass execution!
And what if it is a trap and they vanquish the Liberation Army? The dream of restoring Daein to glory will die instantly! For the good of Daein's future, we must ignore this threat. ...I understand. And that's why I won't take any troops. Only myself...and my old friends will go.
Mi-Micaiah! If you refuse them your permission, I will go alone. Stop right there, little lady!! I will not authorize this action without the prince's full approval!
Please. She hasn't disappointed us yet. My prince... Hrrgh! Fine. But I can't help but feel as if these children are running your army."And what does that say about you, Mr. Exalted Strategist?"
And with that, we head to the Base.
Time for conversations! First up, Sothe.
...
Micaiah? Oh, sorry. Hey, remember our promise from three years ago? There are no secrets between us. Sothe, Muarim knows that I'm older than I look. I see. Well, don't worry too much about it. You can trust him. Yes, I'm sure of that. Muarim seems very trustworthy. But, what about everyone else? What would they think if they knew all of my abilities came from the mixed blood running through my veins? Blood they consider cursed! Micaiah, stop... Right now, when they look at me, they have love and affection in their eyes, but would they look at me the same way if they knew? I don't want to find out, Sothe. I don't think I could bear the truth. You know, we can stop. What do you mean? Look, this was an impossible situation to begin with. You've always led such a secluded life... Ever since you were thrust into this position, I worried that the pressure might get to you. You're right. I knew it would turn out like this. Despite that, I accepted the job. I can't stop now. But, Micaiah... Listen, Sothe. I realized something after Daein lost the war. What's that? I realized how much I loved my country. And? During the war, I spent a lot of time with the people of Daein while I was waiting for you to return. After we lost the war, all our cities and towns had been reduced to ruins. We had to help each other to cope. We supported and comforted each other. That's how we survived. You never mentioned this before. I've been secluded so long, I had no idea people were so strong... and kind. No one knew who I was, but they helped me because I was from Daein. They were so... loving. They were my friends. And now you won't leave them. I was touched by their kindness. Now, I'm scared to lose it. Very scared. Micaiah... I suppose this isn't the time to worry about such things. If my power is needed to liberate Daein, I will stand my ground and fight. Well, not to spoil your resolve... But if things get too hot, I'm just going to grab you and run. Sothe... Friends and Daein are important, but not as important as you are to me. Remember that. ...All right. Thank you, Sothe.I'm not really sure if that comes across as Sothe being protective or being a complete dick. I guess the two aren't mutually exclusive…
Tauroneo also wants to chat.
I completely understand. This is my fight, and mine alone. Please keep the prince safe, General Tauroneo. I'll protect Micaiah. I've enlisted extra help, too. We'll make it back in one piece. I place my trust in you, Sothe. Best of luck. Oh, I nearly forgot. You should take this. What a peculiar staff... What power does it possess? It is a restore staff. It will help you recover from poison, sleep, and paralysis. Enemies will use every method they possess to destroy you. It is best that you be prepared for every eventuality. Thank you, General Tauroneo. We will return safely. I know. And I know you'll save the hostages, too.[Received a Restore!]
Restore staves are, as Tauroneo explained, used to cure negative conditions that may or may not be plaguing your units. What Tauroneo didn't explain, possibly because he doesn't know on account of it being largely unmentioned in game, is that Restore staves are completely redundant when Micaiah is around, because her Sacrifice skill not only restores HP but also cures conditions for free. That said, they're handy to have around as a backup, and especially handy to have equipped on your healer, because Restore staves will cure the bearer's conditions for free every turn while equipped. So that's something.
Finally, we wander around and bump into Vika…
Hello, Vika. Can I help you?
Meep!"Meep?"
Vika! ... You always run away from me... Did I do something to offend you? No, I'm so sorry. I can't explain why this happens. I get so jumpy around you. There's just... something about you. Oh... Oh, but please don't be sad! It's not you. It's me. I get... confused... sometimes. I really admire you, and then I get a bizarre feeling, and...(protip: Laguz can sense Branded, though most of them aren't aware that that's what they're sensing.)
It's all right. Sorry to bother you. ...No. Wait. Hm? I want to overcome this. I don't like that I feel I must avoid you for some inexplicable reason. But... I know how painful it is to be... feared. I'm really, really sorry. Let's be friends, OK? If you can forgive me, that is... Of course I forgive you! Thank you, Vika. I'd be honored to have your friendship. Here. Take this as a token of that friendship. Please, take it. I'd like you to have it. What a beautiful figurine. The goddess looks so serene. Carry it with you. It'll bring you good luck. I met my boss and Muarim thanks to that figurine. Thank you, Vika. I'll cherish it. I'm glad you like it.[Received an Ashera Icon!]
As Vika quite successfully implied, Ashera Icons are the stat-up item for luck.
Well, time for Admin!
Yes please, +30% avoid. In related news,
Fiona and Volug are supporting, though it was difficult enough to use Fiona last chapter that I'm reconsidering this strategy. The support can stay, though, until I come up with a better idea. I'd consider putting Fiona down for some serious training this chapter, but for some reason she's forced to sit it out.
We also put Jill and Edward in a support because they're the leftovers and I don't want them left out. It works out pretty well, actually, since both Jill and Edward could really use extra defense, and that's something they both get out of this support.
In Skill Rearrangement news:
- Fiona is stripped of her innate skills
- Zihark gets Paragon and Cancel
- Muraim gets Renewal, since he has enough HP to make it actually useful
- Nolan gets Saviour, because I want someone in this mission to have it
- Sothe gets Imbue because enemy damage is just barely starting to catch up with him and Sothe has reasonable magic
Today's bargains. The Wyrmslayer is a sword that's effective against Dragonkind, by which we of course mean Dracoknights. Olivi Grass is an absurdly useful item that adds 15 points to a laguz unit's transform gauge. They can be used whether or not currently transformed, either to speed the waiting process along or to stay transformed for longer. We buy one right now and hand it to Vika.
You may remember Olivi Grass as being the "medicine" that the kindly and totally mysterious stranger Kurth gave to Micaiah during their brief stint in jail. Now that we know what it does, it seems somewhat… alarming… that Micaiah used it.
Over in the Armory, the next tier of weapons - Iron Blades, Iron Poleaxes and Iron Greatlances - as well as Elwind, Elfire, Elthunder and Ellight tomes are now available. We buy an Iron Blade for Zihark and an Iron Poleax for Nolan. I'm of a mind to buy one for Jill, too, since she's now strong enough to wield them properly. Amazing the difference a few levels makes! We also sell some stuff we don't need anymore, like our basic Fire and Thunder tomes and a Herb. Nolan's old axe, Democracy, has one use left, but instead of selling it for 4 Gold I hang onto it, because I'm a sentimental fool.
It was decided by a (very quick) vote that Jill will be the beneficiary of the Master Seal we picked up - Aran can promote the old fashioned way if he can murder enough guys.
Couldn't've picked a prettier backdrop.
Same clouds though. Lazy animators.
Scales! Claws! Horns! Teeth!
The rider's got an upgrade, too! That's a lot of +2s! HP, Strength and Defense is exactly what Jill needs to stay competitive, and now she's got it. Besides this, and the other promotion bonuses, Dragonmasters also get to wield lances - though why would we bother when we're already well trained in axes?
After making sure everyone's got working weapons and a Vulnerary, we pack up and leave the Base.
Radmin. His name's "Radmin". Right. Sure.
Didn't we kill this guy? No, wait, it's just a generic bandit sprite. Are we supposed to infer that Begnion is employing bandits as mercenaries or that their soldiers are thugs?
That's way more than one square.
Stop!
We are the Daein Liberation Army! Everyone, hold tight! You'll be safe soon!
Whether they suspected a trap or not, they're here. Brazen fools! All hands, take battle positions!
That is rather a lot of guys.
Silver-haired wench! I'm going to drown you and all of Daein's hopes in these filthy waters! You've no escape! So...it's a trap after all. Don't get too smug, you cruel cowards! We have a little something up our sleeves too. Tormod! Here's your chance!
Lady Nailah! Volug!
Su-sub-humans! They're everywhere! How? Rafiel, even you came to help?
Oh boy! It looks like our requisite second-turn-giving guy is here! There's one in every Fire Emblem game, or at least there has been for a good long while.
…as is now about to be exposited to us.
That was Vigor, a heron galdr that can reenergize our allies in a fight. Don't be distracted, Micaiah! Let's set our formation while we can.Yes, let's.
There are a lot of forced units in this fight.
Tauroneo is once again absent, because he's needed to run the Liberation Army proper. Fiona's out as well for some inadequately explained reason - I imagine that, since she's representing Marado she's probably taking orders directly from Tauroneo and hence not up for wandering off on a trap-springing mission with Micaiah. Not fussed; we won't be missing her here. More worryingly, Jill can't come either, probably because she used to be with the Daein army or some such; it's probably a good reason but I'm a lot angrier about her than Fiona because we could really use Jill here.
All these extras means one of our regulars has to sit out, and it's Edward this time. Zihark borrows his Killing Edge.
All in all, we don't really have much in the way of formation options.
So. Our goal here is to rout all the enemies, while also protecting the prisoners in the swamp. They're defenseless and can't move, and if all of them die, we lose. We get some Bonus EXP for each one we rescue.
These guys are part of the problem with this mission. Bandits can walk (slowly) over water, and they'll target the prisoners unless we give them something else to think about. Note also their weapons - all the bandits in this map have these. They're quite weak but will poison anyone they hit. Poison makes a unit take a few points of damage at the start of each turn - not a problem by itself but that damage can add up.
But this guy right here is the real dick move. He's an enemy dracoknight. The swamp is nothing to him. He'll be making a beeline directly for the prisoners and we won't be able to stop him, because we won't be able to reach him, because the one unit we have that's capable of matching his mobility is sitting the damn mission out.
A few more of these guys show up as reinforcements, too. You want to finish this map quickly - not because of the bonus, er, Bonus EXP you get for doing so but because two more dracoknights show up if you take too long. You're forced to use every character at your disposal - especially the broken ones. You can't really train people on this mission. By now, you'll want to have settled on which characters from the Dawn Brigade you like, which you want to make good for later, and which, if any, you want to raise for Endgame. You should have two or three promotions at this stage.
Rafiel has a Seraph Robe on him - we put it in the pile with our other stat-ups.
Before we begin, let's take a look at our two newcomers:
Meet Nailah. Nailah is a laguz royal and an endgame crutch character. Obviously, she won't be on our team for very long, but while she's here, she's completely unstoppable. We'll be seeing fights where her foes' numbers are 0% and 0 Dmg.
It's never really stated why, but laguz royals have the ability to remain transformed and at full strength (as opposed to halfshifting) indefinitely. In Path of Radiance, this is because they wore special bands or somesuch, but in Radiant Dawn, they just… have the ability innately, in the form of the Formshift skill. Nailah has other skills too, though; Glare is unique to her, and has a small chance of petrifying one enemy for the remainder of a chapter - it's completely useless and a total waste, because why would you choose a <25% chance of petrifying when you have a 100% chance of dealing three times as much damage as the enemy has health? She also has Savage - the wolf tribe mastery skill - which has a chance ([skill stat]%) of tripling attack damage and cutting an opponent's skill in half. It's total overkill. We'll discuss mastery skills at a more appropriate time.
This is Rafiel. As you can see, he's not really a combat unit, and he'll go down quickly in a fight, though he at least has some resistance. His entire purpose, being a Heron, is to help your party out with his songs.
Galdrar is, of course, unique to Herons. The songs available are limited by level, but it's unlikely that you'll ever have a use for any of them besides Vigor, the "basic" one. We'll cover the others as/if we get to them. Vigor - when used by Rafiel - can grant another turn to up to four adjacent units. It's as useful as it sounds - although the facts of unit placement mean we won't be getting much use out of it on this map. He also has Blessing - which despite being unequippable can also only be used on Herons - which will restore HP equal to Rafiel's magic at the start of each turn.
Well, enough talk. Have at you!
Priority One: deal with this dracoknight. Vika wanders into the edge of his range and takes a helping of Olivi Grass. We're going to want her ready to transform in a little while. Tormod deals with the bandit to the north of him.
The battle environments here really are pretty.
Did you know you can shove enemies too? You definitely did if you played Path of Radiance up to the bit where it was hinted at really unsubtly in a pre-mission conversation! Anyway, Muarim isn't transformed, so he can't do anything other than shove this guy.
Let's see what Nailah's all about.
This mission, for all its annoyance, is basically a toybox of absurd power. "Here", the game says, "have a mission where you have to frantically kill enemies, and have a bunch of absurdly powerful characters to play with now, since you're not going to want to use them later".
So yeah, this mage dies.
Volug, however, isn't going down there, because not only is he not needed, but he also won't survive; the enemy isn't stupid enough to attack Nailah over Volug, and he'll just take too many hits. So he goes east instead.
And then, with a little help from Rafiel…
…he goes even further east and attacks this mage here.
Our main force of dudes on the center "island" take care of the mage's friends; Micaiah and Sothe deal with the first, Zihark crits a second, and Aran punctures the last.
Laura chats with Aran but has no one to heal, so she does nothing, and Nolan wanders into the swamp. Nolan is going to spend most of this mission in the swamp - he's my backup plan in case a dracoknight manages to avoid Vika.
End of Turn 1. The guys to the north are toast; the guys to the west will mostly kill themselves on Nailah, and the guys to the west will advance north. If there is any justice in the world, the dracoknight will attack Vika.
The western enemies obligingly throw themselves against Nailah; two of them die and the three who are at least smart enough to use throwing weapons manage to survive - though they don't really do any damage to her.
Yesss! The dracoknight takes the bait!
Unlike Muarim, Vika is quite, quite weak when untransformed, though she's still fast enough to double this guy. She divekicks him twice in the face for good measure.
A bandit makes the foolish mistake of challenging Muarim to a roaring contest.
He loses, so Muarim gets to punch him in the face as a forfeit.
A lone reinforcement arrives in Nailah's vicinity. We don't care.
Turn two, and we're not going to get another chance to take out this dracoknight if we don't kill him right now…
So Tormod does the honours. One Elthunder is all it takes. I love weapon effectiveness. Vika takes another dose of Olivi Grass, and flies among the prisoners, waiting.
Muarim shoves the bandit again, Nailah continues her casual murder streak.
Over by the main force, Micaiah and Laura heal Volug up, and we move east. Zihark equips his Iron Blade in anticipation.
Volug warms up this bandit for us. Incredibly, his first attack misses, though the rest all land.
For want of anything better to do, Nolan rescues a prisoner. At the very least, if you put them on land, they can move - though they won't. But it's the thought that counts.
As good as Nailah is, we're going to want Sothe over here too if we want to deal with later reinforcements quickly. With Rafiel's help, he makes it the whole way over to Nailah's position.
End of the second turn. The main army is moving east towards the boss. Nailah and Sothe will take care of the west and spawncamp any reinforcements, as will Tormod and Muarim in the south. If anyone comes near the prisoners, Vika will take care of them too.
The enemy phase kicks off with another glorious Fire Emblem "miss".
Aw, dang. Though he missed his attack, Muarim is still building up transform points, and that bandit will be due for a Surprise Tiger™ before long.
And that's about it. There's a bandit getting close to the prisoners, though. We should fix that.
In the course of her usual murder, Nailah triggers her overkill skill, Savage.
She basically just attacks them a bunch of times. Sothe helps out by murdering the defenseless priest.
Vika moves to intercept the bandit in the water. She's still weakened from the dracoknight, but fortunately she dodges the bandit's counterattack and is guaranteed to kill him next turn.
Nolan deposits the rescued prisoner on dry land. If only anyone cared.
The nice thing about swordmasters is that their crit rate gets so high that if you're fast enough to double an enemy with a Killing Edge, you can basically guarantee a crit. Zihark also triggers cancel with this hit. Of course.
I'll take it.
Aran dispatches the remaining bandit, we move up, we heal.
Two reinforcements have shown up to the south just as Muarim's transform gauge fills up. So the bandit in the swamp is left to Tormod…
(the funny thing about magic crits is that they're all glyphs and flourishes and such, but the actual spell animation - the bit that does the damage - is unchanged.)
…while Muarim has his way with the reinforcements.
…er… right.
End of turn three. The reeds to the north are slowing us down - we'll be pressed to reach the boss before the dracoknights show up…
Funfact™: Muarim's been getting hit by poisoned axes every turn since this mission began. It's just, he has Renewal, and so much health that his healing is keeping up with both the poison and the incoming damage.
The bandit in the swamp attacks Vika, who's in no mood for anything other than murdering people who try to attack her.
Turn 4, and this guy just shows up as though his first act in this mission will be something besides dying. To drive this home, Nailah Savages him.
The advance east continues, slowly, and there's some healing and such. I don't want to send Volug down there because he'll get destroyed.
Nolan goes swimming again. The enemy wastes their turn doing nothing.
Turn 5.
Well, this could be trouble. Muarim has shifted back to human form again and Tormod's out of range. This guy can't reach any prisoners this turn, but he could fly out of our reach and we might never catch him in time.
Micaiah chats with Rafiel.
Wherever the queen goes, I follow. I practice seid magic... Even if I cannot fight, I can lend strength to my friends and companions. Yes, I heard you singing to Queen Nailah and Volug earlier. We are blessed to have you at our side. And if I sing to you, I can restore your spirits as well, so that you might attack your foes swiftly. So you will help us? Helping you would give me great joy. You have my thanks.I'm not really sure if Rafiel is being admirable for not pushing his own values on others or hypocritical when he claims to abhor violence but busies himself helping others perpetrate it while keeping his own hands clean. You might say the same of other herons, but their circumstances are… different, let's just say.
Vika finally gets someone to heal her. Aran charges ahead, but trips over an Arms Scroll that someone just threw on the ground. Nolan wades around in the swamp.
End of turn 5. That dracoknight could be the end of all my plans… besides that, next turn is an all out charge at the boss. Very least, we'll be done by turn 7 - 6, if we're lucky.
One stroke of luck - the dracoknight attacks Muarim, and his pet dragon is summarily punched in the face. Another stroke - instead of doing something tactically appropriate like using Canto to flee into the swamp where he can't be followed, he just… stays next to Muarim. K then…
This guy attacks Zihark, and Zihark embarrasses himself by attacking four times and missing three. It's a good thing that misses don't count as weapon uses, because that'd just be a waste of Killing Edge.
Volug has better luck with the guy who attacks him, however.
Much better luck.
Our turn, and it's turn 6! Time to charge!
Nailah and Sothe clean up the west, and Sothe gains a rank in Knives to boot.
Muarim makes the dracoknight regret not running away.
Micaiah begins the process of punching a hole in the enemy lines, and gains a level.
Micaiah can't promote in the normal manner, so this is her last level for a while - and it's a complete dud. Well, I guess it could've been just HP, but getting a point in luck as an unlucky thing happens is just insulting.
Vika takes out another…
Zihark moves in for the lackey nearest the boss and does his critical thing…
Volug-
-fuck. Instead, he kills the priest standing next to him.
Well, we didn't rout the enemy in six turns like we hoped, but come on, one unit remaining isn't bad. And besides, the dracoknights don't show up until the end of the next turn, so all we lose is 25 BEXP for 7 turns instead of 6, and a bit of pride.
On his turn, Radmin goes after Volug and accomplishes not very much.
Turn 7. Time to fin-
-wait, no, foraging first.
Now it's time to finish this.
Two seconds later…
The reflection of the setting sun adds a touch of poignancy, I think.
And the great level up adds a sense of catharsis.
That wench...her powers...much...too dangerous... She mustn't be allowed...to...If we had attacked him with Micaiah, we'd've gotten a pathetic attempt at what I think is some kind of pre-asskicking-speech;
Silver-Haired Maiden, or whoever you really are! I knew you'd come! I knew how your reputation would suffer if you abandoned these prisoners here. You had no choice but to come. How many innocent, defenseless people have you ordered killed...just to lure me here? Look who's passing judgment! Maiden of Miracles, Savior of Daein... You've spun quite a pack of lies to inspire your conquered people. But that ends here, wench! Let's show them how insignificant you really are!…he doesn't elaborate at all on what any of these lies might be, however. There's at least one good reason for that.
Well, mission accomplished!
---
I'm sure he'll be happy when he sees the prisoners are safe. Sothe...do you hear a noise coming from the canyon? Is it...people shouting?
She won another victory! She escaped their trap and destroyed the enemy...again! Radiant with divine protection, she truly has the goddess's blessing! The Silver-Haired Maiden! Our priestess!
…where are you people getting all this cool armour?
What could they be celebrating?
It seems the soldiers are celebrating your liberation of the prisoners. You should wave to them. People like their heroes to seem approachable. It would make them happy. I'm no hero... But I see what you mean.
---
Sothe, after all those soldiers cheering... I feel like I'm doing real good here... ...Micaiah?
---
That… is not normal.
Muarim, get ahold of yourself! Look at me!
...Gh... Li...ttle...one...
You can't see it in screenshots, but Muarim's model is actually pulsating slightly. Definitely not normal.
This happens over and over... Muarim suddenly transforms, and...he growls like he's losing his mind. And if I...if I grab him and yell his name again and again, he returns to himself, but...then it just starts over. And...and...when he's growling, his eyes, they look... It's as if, as if one of "them" is looking at me... "Them"? One of "them"? One of who? You can't mean... No! H-help him, please. I don't know what to do. The time between transformations is getting shorter and shorter... Agh... My body can't... ...No, no, no... Little one...get away... No, I won't let you! I'll die before I let you go feral! Muarim! Look at me!…
…
…
That song...
Wha--! Muarim! Muarim! ...The galdr of rebirth restores twisted bodies and souls to their proper states. He will be all right now. Th... thank you... Without Muarim... life would be... terrible...
It was the galdr of rebirth. I heard it once before, in the war. But... Micaiah, what's wrong? I feel...odd. Maybe it was the song... I'm shaking, for some reason... But I'm truly glad that Muarim will be all right...---
In the Mad King's War... Daein's military developed living weapons. They were called "Feral Ones"...laguz that had been warped and twisted by terrible experiments. "Terrible," you say?! Do you mean to refute the highly effective results of my brilliant research?! Then it was you! You secretly gave Muarim the drug to turn him into a Feral One! And what's wrong with that? Maintaining constant battle strength in beast state... How splendid! How dare you! Transforming laguz into Feral Ones dramatically shortens their life spans. It destroys their sense of self, and they do nothing but fight until they die! And you! You gave Muarim that drug! Pawns need no sense of self! It's only natural to sacrifice soldiers for victory in war! You twisted maniac! You are the lowest-- Everybody! Wait, please! Izuka clearly did a terrible thing to that sub-hum--that laguz, I apologize. Tormod... I'm truly sorry. He will not use the drug again. So, please... Try to forgive him...I don't know why Pelleas puts up with Izuka sometimes. It's not like he has any use for the guy anymore, and stuff like this can take a toll on even the deepest debt of gratitude...
Prince Pelleas... My prince! We must not have royalty bowing and scraping before swine like-- ...That's enough! Tormod! Let him go...Well. Does anyone get the impression they're trying to characterize Izuka as being a complete asshole?
---
Because it's not entirely obvious to anyone not in the know, here's a free factfile: The girl on the right is Sanaki, the Apostle and Empress of Begnion. The position of Apostle is passed down through family lines, which is why Sanaki has the position at such a young age. As for the rest of her family… well, it's a long story. Anyway, Begnion being a theocracy, the Apostle, being witness to the voice of the Goddess, is also the rightful Empress. Sanaki has, despite her age, proven to be a wise and just ruler, though she did have a bit of a petulant streak in Path of Radiance. The Senate is theoretically controlled by the Apostle, though the Senators are powerful and influential in their own right and, as we have been seeing recently, also huge assholes. To wit;
Our occupation forces have engaged in appalling and inhumane excesses in Daein. These excesses were perpetrated entirely outside the knowledge of the occupational governor, Duke Numida. I come to you penitent... Failing my duties as governor, I, Numida, share a measure of guilt for this disaster. I am prepared to take the appropriate punishment, Apostle Sanaki. However, I feel that freeing the people of Daein from the clutches of our oppression is our most urgent task...
Urgent, you say? Then we must make haste. We will forthwith convene an inspection team and request a meeting with the army led by the late King Ashnard's orphan. We will assure them of Begnion's intentions. Then, we will immediately address the occupation force's tyranny. Excellent! In that case, please deign to allow me, your humble servant Lekain, to lead the inspection team. The soldiers who have stained the empire's name will be toppled where they stand! I promise, they shall not live to return here. That is unacceptable. I will decide the soldiers' punishment only after hearing their side. And I have chosen to appoint Sephiran, Duke Persis, to lead the investigation team. Is that acceptable, Sephiran?
What?! But, but, Apostle Sanaki... This is a dire situation. Accordingly, I judge the prime minister, Duke Persis, to be more suited to the role than you, Vice-Minister Lekain. That is all. Hrrgh...
Duke Numida, my friend... I'm afraid you must sacrifice every last Begnion in the Imperial Occupation Army. What? Th-that's ridiculous! But...grrgh! Blast that spoiled brat and her cunning little schemes... You'll regret this, Apostle Sanaki!Yep. Assholes. In any case, though, it looks like Sanaki has been successfully informed of Daein's plight, and if even half of the things we've heard implied about Sephiran are true then Daein's troubles are officially over. But what are Lekain and Numida planning?
And that is what we call a result. Just barely one turn short of the maximum turn bonus, and not a single prisoner lost. The reward just for clearing the mission is pretty good!
Coming up next time: You thought Nailah was broken? Ooooh boy.