Part 12: Rule Three: No Disappearing

Rule Three: No Disappearing



Fighting Caneghor with our current army is asking for trouble, so our first stop is at Castle Maximus to fill up on archers, pikemen and cavalry.

"Hey, Max, can I have a promotion while I'm here? It'd really help against Caneghor."



"I'm about to fight the strongest villain on this continent by far, and you're going to make me defeat him before giving me the resources that would have helped me fight him. You are the worst king ever."

"I would not exactly call you the best hero ever to serve me, either."

... I think we'd better get going before Ignatia attacks the wrong castle.



PEASANTS AGAIN

Those cavalry are costing us a lot, but if you think our army's getting expensive now, you ain't seen nothing yet.



These are probably going to end up garrisoned after the battle, but against a foe like Caneghor we need a fifth unit that can actually fight.



And we can't forget to fill up on our precious, precious Elves.



"Ready, Caneghor? I've already captured your lackey Hack the Rogue, and now I'm coming for you!"



"Don't make me laugh. Hack was a small-time crook at best. Run away, girl, before I show you what a real wizard can do!"

"I didn't hear you very well, but I think you just said 'I want you to break into my castle and incinerate my army.'"



Two new enemies in this: Knights and Archmages. I'll leave you to guess which is which. Knights are slow-moving, but very strong and tough, like a much better version of Ogres. Archmages have a missile attack that acts like a Fireball spell, and under no circumstances should we let them use it on us. Fortunately, they're relatively weak in melee.

Also, that's a lot of sprites. Ignatia, do your thing.

"It's a Delayed Blast Fireball. I already cast it while you were talking. 3... 2..."



"My watch must be running slow."

Why are you wearing a sundial on your wrist? We're indoors!



Our archers make themselves useful...



... but are upstaged by the elves as usual.



We send in the Cavalry to block Caneghor's Archmages from fireballing us, and finish off the Sprites to stop them from making a nuisance of themselves. (Also, that is one badass pose that the Cavalry are in in that picture.)

"I'm not at all sure I like how this is going. Knights, charge!"

Ignatia, you know what to do.



That was just a Lightning spell, but even so, getting only one kill with it gives us an idea of what we're up against. Knights are bad news.



Our Archers are on a roll right now.



This round, they even did more damage than our Elves! Will wonders never cease?



Our Cavalry withdraw slightly to avoid being beaten to death by Caneghor's Knights, but the Knights decide to go left instead of following them.



We are now going to begin a protracted game of tag with those Knights.

"Cavalry, Dwarves, withdraw to the east. Pikemen, hold position. Archers, Elves, open fire."



When I say protracted, I mean it. The net result of thirty Archers and thirty Elves all shooting at the Knights is one death.



Oh no, the Knights have reached our Archers and Elves! Whatever shall we do?



"I'm on it. Believe it or not, I'm good for more than just setting things on fire."



"Sucks to have a movement rate of 1, doesn't it?"

"That's not fair! Take it back!"

"Sorry. I promise I won't use that spell again."



"I'll just kill your Knights with Fireball spells instead."



"If only this one knight could last forever!"



Well, so much for that.



Caneghor is defeated! Ignatia's ready for a promotion, and one step closer to finding the Sceptre. We also earned more money from the battle itself than from fulfilling the contract. This will probably happen with every villain we capture from now on.

I garrisoned our dwarves. If we ever desperately need 14 dwarves, I can always come back for them.

"How could this happen? I'm clearly the superior wizard! How could that... that novice defeat my mystical army with a few dozen archers and pikemen?"

"Maybe you should have boughppt some spells of your own inspptead of relying on your Archmages, boss."



Oh, King's Bounty. Not even constantly taunting me with the promise of Druids can ruin my good mood now.



We've cleared out almost the entire first continent in 65 days, of the 400 allotted before old Max carks it. On later continents the villains will get tougher, but so will Ignatia.

"Damn right I will, and there's no time like the present to start! Hey, Max, where's my promotion?"



"Cool! When can I get another one?"



"Six? For a final promotion that doesn't even let me recruit any new units, you're making me capture as many villains as my first two promotions put together? What devilry is this?"

"I am the king, you know. Nobody but I can give out promotions. My offer is six more villains: take it or leave it."

"Fine, I'll go to Forestria and capture some stupid villains."

Sounds like a plan, Ignatia. But first, let's check out what our promotion has earned us!



We can recruit Knights. We can, in fact, recruit more Knights than Caneghor had in his army. For only a little more gold than a Cavalry officer, a Knight has a higher skill level, a higher damage rating and almost twice the HP. They're slow, of course, but we can easily solve that when it matters by using Teleport to move them around.



Here's our army. If I want Knights, I'll have to kick out another unit, since I want to keep a space free for recruiting new units that I find on Forestria. Advice is, as always, appreciated.



Ignatia's leadership got a massive 180-point boost from that promotion, and her weekly commission isn't looking too shabby either. Her spell power and capacity were respectable even before promotion, and now she's a devastating magical powerhouse. And she's only going to get more powerful as the game goes on. I'm so glad you guys voted for the Sorceress.



We also got another map piece from Caneghor, revealing a square of grass to the northwest. Looks like that bit of coastline in the northeast doesn't extend horizontally across the whole map.

"Forget the Sceptre! Let's go to Forestria and test out my newfound power! I bet there are all sorts of new and flammable monsters there!"

"And she wonders why I might be reluctant to promote her..."