Part 30: (Part Three, Chapter 2) In which we go on a shopping spree, then a killing spree
The tactics used by the Gallian army prove effective, and like Flaguerre before it, Mugill falls to claw and steel.
With both defense keeps overrun, Telgam falls like ripe fruit at the feet of the Laguz Alliance. Inspired by their success, the alliance takes advantage of this momentum to strike toward the very heart of the Begnion Empire.
Banding together with the landowning nobles of the northern territories, they mass their armies in Seliora to oppose the Gallian assault. Using the Ribahn River, a tributary of the might Miscale, as a defensive front...
But this war has just started. The enemy's main force is in Sienne, the capital. The real fight starts now.
Ah, now we fight the big battle! My claws itch for beorc flesh. Hey, Ranulf! Are there strong enemies in the capital? There will be plenty. Before we go, we must fight the northern nobles. Their collective army is massive.
By now, I imagine the Begnion Central Army is heading our way. They're going to be our real problem.
So, if we're too slow, we get caught in the middle.
I don't like the sound of this. Soren, do you have a deployment plan worked out? Actually, why don't you all just relax? You might not believe it, but WE have a plan this time!Oh really?
---
I see.Yes, the game completely skips over the part where Ranulf tells us what his genius plan actually involves.
An army of that size would require a massive amount of supplies to be able to sustain itself. So the bird tribes will hit the Central Army's supply unit and slow their advance. Exactly. The empire fears the bird tribes. The Shipless Pirates, they're called. They specialize in surprise attacks and have been raiding Begnion merchant ships for years. After they hit the supply unit, the bird tribes will head north. We'll meet up with them after we finish off the nobles' forces. Then when the Central Army arrives, we'll attack them together. Does that pretty much sum it up? I'm surprised. As laguz strategies go, it's not bad at all. We might even win, provided everything goes as planned.We "might even win", he says. This is the best army ever.
---
Yeah... Let's land on one of those islands and get some rest.---
Meet Tibarn, king of the hawk tribe of Phoenecis and all around total badass. He's pretty awesome. Of all the collective bird tribes, Tibarn was among the first to come down from his militant anti-beorc crusade. Said turnaround took, coincidentally, exactly the same amount of time as he spent conversing with Ike.
And here's Naesala, king of the raven tribe of Kilvas. While Tibarn and Caineghis specialise in murdering people's faces off, Naesala is more practiced at backstabbing. He'll betray pretty much anyone for the monetary benefit of his kingdom. Most notably, there was that one time when he cooperated with a hideously fat specimen named Duke Oliver and sold the heron Reyson - whom he and Tibarn had previously been protecting after that whole Serenes massacre thing - into slavery. Somehow, circumstances contrived to prevent Tibarn having him flayed for this betrayal, and in the end he came around, but... there's still no adequate explanation for his motives. No one knows what he's really playing at.
The hawk tribe and the raven tribe used to live together in Phoenicis. Our tribes were like brothers! Maybe if you fess up about some of your secrets, I might consider helping you out in the future.
That doesn't really narrow it down, Tibarn. Which secrets are you talking about? How about the secret of how you suddenly became first in line to succeed the throne of Kilvas? Oh, THAT secret. Sure, no problem... I'll tell you if we live through this war. Sound all right to you? Sounds fine to me. You know, this war is going to be vicious, but at least our tribes will grow close again. Do you actually trust me? You might live to regret it. You're trying to protect Reyson, Leanne, Rafiel, and their father, King Lorazieh. Isn't that so? As long as they're on our side, you won't betray us. I think that's enough rest and small talk, though. Let's go!
Not at all ominous.
---
And now we get to look in on the enemy.
Wow, the generic Begnion soldiers are finally moving up in the world.
The nobles are too busy competing with one another for rewards and status to realize the danger to their lands.
Rewards? Are they crazy? The sub-humans are at their doors, and all they care about is some reward?! They only listen to each other. No one wants to listen to me. General Levail, how are we going to survive this?Signs of competence? Healthy disdain for nobility? Could this be a slightly sympathetic antagonist?
Well, here we are in the Base again. Now that Muston & co have joined up, we have access to the Market again! But before that, it's time for a very special conversation.
Are you sure about this? You're always exaggerating stories to make them more impressive.
No, I'm deadly serious! Trust me, you'd have done exactly the same thing if you were there!
Oh... I finally found you!
Oh. Oh.
Eep! How did you find us? She's in here!
Let go!
No, please! I'm not done yet! Sigh... Please let her go. She's a friend of ours.
She is? You should have said something!
Why did you come here? Please. You have to let me see him. I do? He's here with you, right!? Let me see Rolf!
What!? You abandoned him! You left me, Dad, and Rolf for some guy! What kind of mom does that, huh!? I was different back then! I was so young... I didn't know how to raise two kids while looking after your bedridden father. Believe me, I tried! I tried... But it was too difficult. At least you and I aren't related. But, Rolf... That's different. He's your son! Yours! And you left him behind because it was "too hard"!? I'm sorry... I've regretted my decision since the day I made it. I thought of you each and every day. My father died not too long after you left him. We'd have followed him, too, if my brother hadn't abandoned his knighthood in Crimea to take care of us! I... I had no idea...
Leave. Now. You've got no right to see Rolf. Boyd! Please, I'm begging you!
Lady, you've got some serious nerve. He's our brother! You're not gonna take him away from us! ...Just...wait here. I'll go get Rolf.
Oscar! Thank you! Don't get the wrong idea. I haven't suddenly forgiven you. Then why...? Because you are still Rolf's mother. Nothing in the world will change that. We'll leave it up to Rolf to decide.
---
Yeah. I don't even remember her face. She's just another stranger to me. Rolf... I have my family, Oscar. You, Boyd...everyone in the Greil Mercenaries. I don't need anyone else. Why should I let her try and change that? ... Don't look at me like that. Why do you look so sad? I'm not sad. Then I'll ask her to go home.
Damn, son.
...Fine.
I... I do love you, Boyd. We fight all the time, and we might not be related, but you're my real brother.
You little idiot. Of course you can stay! We raised you, remember? You're not some...thing, to give away to a crazy woman! You're one of us. ...Thanks....and who said returning characters get no development?
Well, let's balance all this character development out with a revisitation of our favourite single-gimmick character...
(Heather's here too!)
I'd never have guessed there'd be such a pretty girl around all these laguz! What a lucky day!
Sigh... Is something wrong, Ilyana? Are you feeling sick? You look weak. I'm... so hungry...Yes, we're doing the "returning single-gimmick character still has single-gimmick" dance again.
Oh, no! That's no good. Hold on. I'll bring some food for you right away. Really? Oh, that would be wonderful... Oh, look at that smile! So, what do you like? Something delicious. I don't particularly care what it is. I just want loads of it. Um, all right. I guess that means you eat pretty much anything? I'll go find some dupe who thinks I'm cute, and I'll con him into cooking something! You stay put! How interesting...
...right down to the "hey I remember your single gimmick!" observation. Christ.
Ah... Hello, Ike. I haven't seen you in a long time. Glad to see you remember me. Of course. I remember all of the mercenaries. Well, most of you, anyway. Oscar prepares such delicious meals. I remember that well enough. Oh, I can't wait to eat his food again. Well, I can see you haven't changed a bit.Yes, laugh it up. I'll be over here. Not laughing. As I haven't been since Chapter 9 of Path of Radiance, the point at which her single gimmick stopped being funny. Argh.
Well, that conversation certainly succeeds in distracting you from the awesomeness of the preceding one. There's one more conversation though, and it's a good one...
At long long last, Aimee is reunited with Ike.
Hey, if you don't let go of my hand, I can't pay you for anything.Of course, Aimee's single character gimmick is much less annoying than Ilyana's, for the simple reason that Ike is having none of it, and it results in funny. Look, just watch:
No! My darling... Let us not spoil our time together with talk of money! Speak sweetly to me, handsome. Listen, lady. This is a shop, and I'm a customer. What's so sweet about that? Oh, such cold words... My hero plays hard to get! You're only making me more interested. Will you let go of my hand? Please? Then tell me I'm beautiful! Tell me I'm more beautiful than any woman in this camp! ...And then you'll let go of my hand? Of course. I'll even give you everything you want for free. Oh! All right, then... No, Ike! Don't say another word! That voice! It's--
Nothing in life is free, Ike. Suppose you said what she asked you to say, hmm? What then? You'd hear it all over the camp. In nearby villages. Eventually, the entire country would be saying it! "Ike, hero of the Mad King's War, is in love with Aimee the shopgirl." Rumors can quickly spin out of control. Come off it. You're exaggerating. Ooh, don't be so sure. With my network of merchants, I'll spread the word to the four corners of Tellius! Within half a year, everyone will know! Then you will be mine forever, Ike! You'll have no choice at all! Man, you go right for the neck, don't you? All right, Soren. She's all yours.
Oh, Soren.
You're looking more beautiful than ever, Miss Aimee. A true delight for the eyes. Ooo... Now you're talking, you little lady-killer! I know you won't discount the goods to nothing, since it's coming from me. So... How about you cut your prices down by three-quarters? Ooh... Decisions, decisions. You're a diamond, and other beorc only glass beads, Miss Aimee. I'll buy more than enough to justify the discount. Half price, maybe. A touch less than three-quarters, then. What do you say, rose of Tellius? O goddess of desire? All right, you win! Just this time, mind you. Take this. Ah, a Silver Card. I can buy everything for half price at all of the shops? That's right. Remember what I said, though. It's a limited-time deal. I'll have to take it away soon. Oh, and while you own this card, you won't be able to sell your weapons as raw material. Got that?
[Received a Silver Card!]
Sweet.
The Silver Card, as Soren seems to already know, allows us to buy Items, Weapons and even Forges at half price for the duration of this chapter (i.e., until we leave the Base). That makes the Silver Card awesome. We won't get credit towards unlocking the next tier of Forges, while we own it, however.
Time for an actual Admin phase! It's been a while!
Let's go shopp- oh, wait, we don't have any money.
Hey, does anyone happen to be carrying a small fortune in valuables perchance given to them by the last group they fought with?
Who said that?
Ah, Ilyana! You're up!
Beeeautiful. Ilyana is loaded down with 12000G worth of stuff: a Blue Gem, a Red Gem, Fortune, and Shriek. She also has an Arms Scroll (which we keep in inventory for now). Between that and the Blue Gem we got in the last mission, and the 5000G Ike starts with, we increase our funds to 22000G. Not bad.
Shop means Bargains, and here's todays. We pick up a Wyrmslayer that will undoubtedly be given to Mia, and an Arms Scroll. The reason for buying the Arms Scroll is because it may or may not be required, and if it isn't, we can sell it at no loss because we bought it for half price.
We take the chance to stock up on cheap Mend staves...
And we get to equipping. Charley, the sword we had forged so long ago, goes of course to Mia, that she might have a bit more damage output.
And look who else has joined us! It's Nephenee and Haar! A more welcome sight we're not likely to see.
Of course, Nephenee will see only sparing combat use, because she's capped three of her stats already and we're grooming her for some serious BEXP abuse. She will come to combat and gain juuust enough EXP to minimise the amount of BEXP we need to give her, and then she can get ludicrous stat gains between fights until she's needed at full power.
Haar, Nephenee, Heather and Brom have bought some of the contents of Elincia's convoy with them, such as the Nullify skill. It goes straight onto Haar because Haar really doesn't like thunder mages.
Discipline goes on Soren because he's the only one with any real point to grinding weapon ranks right now - everyone else is either already capped for now or will only be using one weapon type ever (and thus in no danger of not being SS-rank by endgame).
Disarm goes on Mia because her skill is batshit right now. Mia now has rather a lot of ways to stop people from killing her.
Ike and Soren is a required support for this playthrough and is not up for negotiation. It will work out nicely for both of them; they each get a small boost to Atk and a reasonable jump in evasion - not as absurd as an Earth Pair but it'll do.
We forge a somewhat tricked out Steel Bow for Rolf, and fittingly, we draw the Arrow card for a bonus of +10 hit (for a total of 95 base hit - not bad!).
It is named appropriately.
Finally, we buy a small stockpile of Steel Blades, Steel Greatlances, and Steel Poleaxes because they're so wondrously cheap right now and we're going to need some later.
And when we're done, we sell the Silver Card for an easy 2000G. We don't tell Jorge that it'll expire about a minute after we give it to him. Sucker.
Oh, and on a complete whim, Heather gets a level of BEXP, and, praise the goddess, she finally gets some strength. She needs more - a lot more - but we have ways of contriving those gains if necessary. At the very least, one more natural point of strength for her will mean a massive reduction in the effort it will take for Heather to fulfil her destiny.
We're done here.
Yeah. Ready when you are. We'll leave the troops on the left to you beorc. Sound good? Fine by me. We'll teach these nobles a thing or two. All right! Move out!"We still don't know exactly what our strategy is, but I think I've got the basics worked out from contextual clues. The good news is that all we have to do is murder some guys."
Been a while since we've seen this menu!
This battlefield is rather large, and the terrain somewhat on the complicated side, but it's nothing we can't handle. The dracoknight in the very bottom right corner of the screenshot is the boss - our objective is to kill him. We could rush it - but of course, we'd miss out on all the lovely experience.
Pictured: people who would only slow us down. Titania's out too.
Here's the boss. Note the padlock symbol on his weapon - that means the item is locked in his inventory, and even if we were to disarm him, we wouldn't be able to steal it. That Elixir, on the other hand...
Our formation has Mia, Gatrie, Oscar, Haar and Ike front and centre, with Soren and Rolf nearby for ranged support. With his fantastic levels and customised bow, Rolf is now in the big leagues. And he's still got levels and levels to go!
Let's get this battle on the road.
Mia is off to a flying start.
With a little bit of shove-aid, Heather pinches his weapon right off the ground. Because she can.
Gatrie softens up one of his friends, and Rolf moves in for the kill.
Haar's first attack is a redundant Cancel. Oh, Haar.
Oscar finishes the job and gets what must be the world's least useful level for a paladin.
...
Well, here's to the end of the first turn.
The mages in the south immediately advance on Gatrie, accomplishing little.
Another has the great idea of attacking Oscar, who promptly doubles him to death.
Haar takes a minor beating here, but it's nothing compared to the fate of the foolish mage.
These guys in the north also advance on us. There'll be trouble if we don't sort them out pronto.
It's our turn again, so it's time for more gleeful murder:
Like this!
The weakened, unarmed guy is left to Heather.
Rolf has arrived.
Mia's here, too!
Gatrie will distract any northern enemies that survive this turn.
Nephenee's still only at middling strength and defence - we're going to be changing that before long, of course - so she's still not at frontline fighter levels. That said, she can hold her own for a while, and she is facing an enemy general, so let's be fair here...
Boyd, Oscar and Ike form a defensive line to protect Soren.
End of turn 2. There are two cavaliers in the south we can feed to one or two of our guys, but everyone else is going to push northeast after this.
Our distraction is successful. All nearby enemies go after Gatrie. Sadly, they all survive due to being ranged or fast.
Our turn comes.
Can Rolf continue his crit-chain?
Aww.
Plan B.
Aww yeah.
Heather gets some more helpless leftovers...
Oscar looks to be taking a risk here, being left on low health and all, but after this action he uses Canto to head to where Mist is, and is healed back up to full there and then.
It's been a while since we Iked anyone. We Ike someone now.
Then in comes Boyd. He's using the Killer Axe here for its extra accuracy over the Steel Poleaxe - I really don't want to miss this guy.
Nice. It's been a while since we've faced dracoknights - in fact, they're now all dragonmasters as a rule - so Elthunder now merely cripples them as opposed to one hit killing them.
A crippled enemy is an easy kill for Nephenee.
So, there's a lot of bad guys over to the east. It'll take time to power through them all. I have an idea that might speed this up...
Haar picks up Gatrie...
...and begins hauling him east. We are going to drop Gatrie and Haar right in the middle of the enemy and they're going to largely kill themselves on us.
End of turn 3. We're making remarkable progress, all things considered.
The enemy does... nothing. I love when that happens.
Pictured: the attack range of the boss and the attack range of a very pesky mage to the northeast who's carrying a Bolting tome - the thunder siege magic. This guy is a primary motivator for putting Nullify on Haar - he's also your first legitimate opportunity to get a Bolting tome for personal use, though it's pretty unlikely you'll have the stats on Heather to do it now unless you've been savescumming like a motherfucker. We haven't, so we don't - we'll just have to settle for killing the guy. We don't want to be in range of the boss, because he'll fly out to meet us, and he's dangerous, so we'll have to kill him there and then, and that'll be the end of the mission. So we fly to the location indicated, and set Gatrie down in the thickets.
Then we wait.
Ike moves forward, hoping to provoke some enemies into charging. The others will follow behind him.
Oscar, meanwhile, moves to draw out the two pesky paladins to the southwest.
May the enemies fourth turn be more interesting than their third.
Man, what is it with Ike and Horseslayers lately?
The Gatrie bait is also a success. Annoyingly, this guy dodges Gatrie's second attack and thus survives.
Then there's this guy.
The problem with fighting dracoknights with generals... well, not "problem" but more "minor annoyance"... is that when you get hit, your character gets pushed back slightly. If you then counter, your character moves back into range so they can attack. Thing is, though...
Generals can only walk.
Sloooooowly.
It feels like it takes forever.
That's for making me wait, bitch.
About six different guys in all attack Gatrie. Some die, most are left on low health. Eeexcellent. For Oscar's part, he dodges the hand axe of one of the two paladins...
And murders the shit out of the second.
(that's a 18 being overlapped by a 16, folks. We're not able to legitimately deal 168 damage yet)
For no adequately explained reason, Bolting-man didn't attack anyone. How odd. And fortunate!
Rolf has another go at the crit game. One crit here will be enough to kill this general.
Aww yeah.
Rolf is quickly becoming ridiculous. He's now stronger than Shinon, and only one point behind in speed - and Shinon is seven levels ahead. (Shinon does still have a six point lead in skill, and three extra defence, however.)
Oscar removes most of the health from the one remaining guy near him. The rest is left to Mia.
Mist's combat clinic is running, that sword of hers is still just for show, it seems.
This is what happens to people who stand near Haar without bringing defence.
Next turn, Bolting-man dies.
Since the enemies will attack and kill themselves in their own time, Gatrie is content to remain where he is and heal.
End of the fifth turn. We'll be getting ready for the big push shortly.
Bolting-man finally stirs into action. Needless to say, he accomplishes nothing.
Don't make me laugh.
I won't lie. I'm disappointed by the relatively little speed growth Gatrie's gotten. But there're still plenty of levels to go...
More and more enemies fall.
Once most of Gatrie's vicinity is emptied, a paladin goes for Boyd.
Sadly, he lives.
Two reinforcements show up in the north. They won't really register on our plans.
Here's a neat trick you can do with rescuing. Oscar has rescued Mia and is carting her north.
Of course, all Oscar can do when he arrives is Wait.
BUT!
Another unit standing next to Oscar when he arrives can use the Take command (assuming they have the necessary stats to rescue Mia, of course).
And you can Drop on the same turn on which you Take. Thus, Mia will be ready to move a whole turn earlier. Pretty nifty, though not always the easiest thing in the world to set up. If you've got two units with nothing else to do, though...
Bolting-man is history.
And Haar becomes even better at his job. His job being being better than other people.
Boyd takes another shot at that paladin. This one connects.
Goddamnit. Boyd badly needs some speed if he's to remain competitive.
Soren steals some of Gatrie's leftovers.
Huh.
End of the sixth turn.
Behold, a demonstration of Rolf's incredible progress.
He's gone from being a liability to being able to destroy other archers in the space of three chapters. Not at all bad.
Now this is a bit annoying. Five assholes ride in from the north, just when we're about to make a mad rush through to the swamp.
In the course of softening up an enemy, Mia gains a few points in general survivability.
Rolf finishes the guy off.
While everyone else gets in position to deal with the five assholes, Haar prepares to pester some enemies near the boss. He's just outside the boss's range.
End of turn seven.
Their "assault" begins.
Their plan isn't very good, though.
It's terrible, actually.
Also, some people attack Haar. Notably this dracoknight, who dies.
Finally, two more assholes ride in from the southwest. They'll probably ride across the bog and go after Gatrie, which suits me fine.
Our turn.
Thanks to us giving Ike a weakass sword, all of the Five Assholes are still alive. Let's fix that.
One...
Two...
Three...
Four...
And Ike's makes five for five. Note that the Steel Blade is actually a tad stronger than Ettard, though not as critty.
Haar is still doing his thing.
As is Gatrie.
End of turn eight. We just have to get everyone in position...
Nothing much happens in the enemy phase except a guy killing himself on Gatrie and two paladins showing up from the east.
This guy will probably kill himself next turn. The AI is sometimes stupid and forgets to move away to Hand Axe at range.
Haar won't kill this guy in one turn... and that actually plays into my plan perfectly. You'll see.
Everyone moves up, and that's turn nine.
An enemy priest with a Mend staff moves over to heal the injured general. Perfect...
Just as expected.
The paladins move in. They're as effective as the last lot were.
Turn 10. It's time to get everyone in position. We also take a moment to kill the two paladins.
Why yes, Rolf is getting 20% crit chance with a regular Steel Bow. That's because my imported Path of Radiance file had him on A-Support with Mist, so they have a Bond now, good for +10% crit on top of Rolf's natural bonus - which is not insignificant either.
Stronger, and stronger!
This... the game is fucking with me, isn't it?
That priest is in the perfect spot. If we injure this general again, he'll heal him again, and thus not move.
End of turn 10.
The enemy phase goes exactly as planned. These three guys arrive, though it's too late for them to really matter. This mission will be over on turn 12... and it's now turn 11.
I'll just slip down here, and...
Yoink! Statue Frags will raise a units constitution by 2. Of course, that's completely useless, so what you actually do with them is sell them for 4000G.
Haar rescues her the hell out of there.
Haar then lands on a spot that's just barely in boss range. Nephenee takes Heather from him and sets her down, so that Haar can be at full speed and skill.
In the course of being our backup healer, Rhys gets an amazing level.
Everyone's in position, and Gatrie's keeping us safe from the intruding paladin. Let's show this boss who's boss.
He does not disappoint, and chases right after Haar. But when he arrives, he attacks Mia, who happens to also be in range.
We cannot let other army take reward! Crush enemy and gain glory for Lord Seliora!Christ. Levail wasn't exaggerating.
Fortunately, his attack doesn't land anywhere near Mia.
This guy does get a hit on her, though.
He lives to regret it, though.
Oh, come on... now admittedly it's only a 20% chance, but it's not the greatest chance to be taking.
*phew*
Right. Last turn.
Gatrie goes for one last kill.
He gets it, and some more speed too! Not a whole lot else though.
Using her handy innate Pass skill, Heather worms her way next to the boss...
Score.
Above all other targets, Haar goes to murder this defenceless priest. Why?
Because he drops a Recover staff, that's why.
Rolf and Oscar clean up the dracoknights who almost killed Mia. Mia herself is restored to full. Now for the boss.
Hmm...
Didn't we buy something rather apropos for exactly this situation earlier?
Why yes! Yes we did!
Before we kill him, here's Istvan's
I am Istvan, general of Lord Seliora's royal army! You, leader of sub-human filth! State your name! I'm Ike of the Greil Mercenaries. Greil Mercenaries? Hm. Never heard of them! You are just small-time bandits, yes? Argh! If we had left behind dead bodies of sub-humans, our reward would have been bigger! My lord is not being pleased with heads of bandits! Oh, I wouldn't worry about our heads. You have no chance to win this fight. Leave while you can.
Well, that's quite enough of that.
Goodbye, Istvan.
And that's that.
The enemy general is down! Let the fleeing soldiers go. Everyone, fall back!---
Yeah, it was easy work. They retreated pretty quickly. Their soldiers were well equipped and well trained, but their commanders were terrible.
No, don't say it, you fool!
What?!Ranulf!
Holy shitting fuck that is a lot of guys.
Doubtful. I don't think there was even a battle. The Central Army has arrived too quickly. Grrrr... We only know one thing for sure. The enemy now has the advantage. There are still enemies to the north. This is quickly turning into our worst-case scenario.What the hell happened?
Show my back to beorc? Never! We will fight on like the Gallians we are! Skrimir, listen to me! We must retreat. This is the Central Army we're talking about! Ah, finally! Finally, we get to fight the Begnion Central Army! I have been waiting for this!Run, you idiot...
I can see you won't change your mind, Skrimir. All right, if it has to come to this...
Oh, this is just great.
Are you joking? You can't beat me, Ranulf. You know that.
(a curiosity of these games is that laguz can talk while in animal form (despite the biological unlikelihood of that being possible) and don't change their portrait while transformed. It's odd.)
If I have to knock you out to keep you out of this battle, then that's what I'll do. Fine. Try.
Ike! Stop them! No. They need to do this.
welp
...
Do not worry about him. I might have broken some bones, but he will heal quickly.
We will return and regroup. It pains me, but we must. Damn it, Ranulf... He...got my leg. But you're still willing to carry him? If he doesn't rest and heal, all his little chores fall on me. I can't have that.---
Let's check in with the enemy again.
Reporting, sir! The Laguz Alliance is retreating!
Believe it or not, we have actually met General Zelgius before - he had a very brief conversation with Ike in Path of Radiance. He was the commander who led the Central Army into Daein when Begnion allied itself with Crimea and Gallia. He spent almost the entirety of the Mad King's War off-camera, but it is heavily implied that he and the Central Army did a great amount of legwork in Daein after Ike and friends stormed Daein Keep. He was competent and courteous - almost forgettably so.
Shall we pursue them?
No, first we will join our allies to the north. I hear they've taken heavy losses.---
General Levail of Duke Gaddos's northern force, is it? Are you in command here? No, not I. Rather... The northern force lacks any order. We do not have a central commander to direct us in battle. So, each force was fighting the enemy on its own? Quite so. Taking orders from others is beneath the nobles, I suppose. How pitiful. A sad state of affairs, yes. But now that you are here, General, the situation will be rectified. Yes, one can hope. ...So, are the rumors true?
Of the senators pictured here, we already know Lekain and Hetzel, but we haven't met that... person... pictured at top right yet.
True, they do not agree on how to deal with the Laguz Alliance. However...
...Indeed. Then do not trouble your mind with politics. Let the nobles worry about their games. We should focus on this war.On the whole, Zelgius is, and is reputed to be, a model commander; loyal, clever, able, trustworthy, and exactly the kind of man we are in no shape to be dealing with.
Ayup. 15 turns is the cutoff for the maximum bonus here. We did it in 12.
Next time: It turns out that Ranulf's brilliant plan had a small flaw...