Suikoden V Part #40 - I'll get you there! Probably!

Part 40: I'll get you there! Probably!

The last time we saw Frey, he was being whisked off to who-knows-where by a strange girl who sneezed herself into existence right in front of him.

We join him like, half a second later. (music)

We're in... Raftfleet! But how'd we get there so quickly?!

This is scaaaaaaaaary!

Beavers.

That was... a bit of a rush. Did you use some kind of Rune, young lady?

So, is this where you wanted to go?

*nod nod!*

...it is? Oh, thank goodness! I was worried I was a little rusty there, but it looks like all your body par--

Hey!
That crazy lady's gone! ...Or, one of 'em's gone, anyway!

Hey, you're right!

Uh? What?! Oops! Did I do it again?!

Ah, Lorelai? Don't worry. She hasn't been with us since we left the ruins. She probably wanted to examine the ruins some more on her own. I don't know why she's so interested in the Sindar race.

Me neither. They built terrible dungeons.

Oh, okay! ...Not that I'll miss her TOO much!

I didn't see you taking a whip to the groin.

*deep sigh*
Oh, thank goodness! I was worried her head and her body got separated!

Then again I suppose some people are into that kind of thing.

Excuse me, I'm very interested in your Rune, young lady. ...But I suppose there are other things to take care of first.
I have to talk to Lucretia. Take me to her.

*nod*

To hell with all your Richards and Jeanes and Georgs, this is the best character in the game.

Aside from her tremendous utility as a teleporter, Viki is a strong contender for the title of best mage in the game. Her stats aren't the greatest and she comes with the near-useless Blinking Rune permanently attached to her right hand, but the Chain Magic skill more than makes up for all that.

We've seen physical attackers land multiple hits in a round, but this skill is the only way to do the same thing with magic. When it activates, you get an immediate re-cast of the spell you just used, free of charge. It's probably the single most powerful skill in the game, and it's unique to Viki.

Of course, until we get it up a few levels, it's not going to activate too often.

Also, while we're on the subject.

Blinking Rune
1: Ready! - Teleports one enemy out of battle.
2: Set! - 200 typeless damage, cluster of enemies.
3: Go! - Teleports all enemies out of battle.

Aside from the fact that it only has three spells which aren't all that great, Viki has a tendency to fuck it up occasionally and while it won't separate your head from your body, you may find yourself applying the spell you were trying to use to your party instead of the enemy.

...At least she doesn't have a failure rate with normal magic this time around. In II, she had a chance to make any spell blow up in your face. That was fun.

Having her along also gets us a new load screen where she'll teleport around to random locations. I like it; variety is nice.

Another baffling mystery... Uh, or should I say, another baffling person...?

I think I can safely say you'll never meet anyone more baffling, but that's part of the charm.

Speaking of baffling, Oboro has finished his second investigation of Shigure and refuses to do another until we advance the plot some, so naturally...

...well, what did you think I'd do? If he can make any kind of sense of her, it'd be worth every last potch.

Wouldn't hold my breath, though.

It's because she's ~*~perfect~*~ you see.

My Lady also has connections with people like Zweig... She's even got an inventor from Estrise working on something for her.
Perhaps a truly great tactician needs to understand and connect with civilians as well as the military.

Yak.

Speak of the devil.

Greetings, Lucretia.

And greetings to you, Zweig. How did it go?

My hypothesis has been proven almost entirely correct. Ceras Lake is a man-made lake created by damming up the river. And those ruins themselves are a giant sluice gate.

Really?! You mean the ancients used it to control water flow?!

Precisely. So, Zweig, are the ruins still in working order?

Yes. Well, I didn't actually try using them, but I foresee no difficulties.

I see.
Prince, I apologize for being so evasive up until now. But now that everything is in order, let me explain my plan for destroying Hatred Fortress.

It's about fucking time. (music)

The plan actually isn't very complicated. We simply open the sluice gate in those ruins. That's it.

If we release the water in Ceras Lake into the Feitas River all at once, the ensuing force will be like a tsunami. The torrent of water will crash directly into Hatred Fortress. No matter how well the beavers built it, that fortress won't stand a chance.

Brilliant!

Hey! Wait just one second!
Lordlake's gonna be in the path of that tsunami, too! You're gonna wipe out our town along with Hatred Fortress???!!!

No. I asked Muroon and the others to take care of that. I'm having them construct a barrier so that the wreckage of the fortress doesn't get swept down to Lordlake.

Oh... Well, that's g--

But you're sure it's gonna hold???!!!
It's not gonna break???!!!
Lordlake'll be all right???!!!

Now, now, calm down. We're talking about the beavers, after all. If they can't do it, no one can.
So, Prince, what do you think of the plan?

I think you have more than enough people kissing your butt already.

Speaking of which, goddamit Lelei we're right in the middle of a meeting here! You can do that in your own time!

The Prince is right! The soldiers at Hatred Fortress are Falenans, just like us! They don't deserve to die like that!

Yes, you're right, of course. And I've heard a lot of the soldiers who were just recently conscripted are assigned to Hatred Fortress.

If we wiped them all out like that...

...we'd no longer be able to say we were fighting to stop the Godwins' tyranny, would we?

Wait, are you saying that killing in war is acceptable, but drowning isn't? You baffle me, Lucretia, as usual.

No. Neither of them is ever okay. But if our hand is forced, the fewer casualties the better, right?
Prince, I've already come up with a plan to lure those soldiers out of the fortress, so don't worry.

...of course you have.

Ah, I should've known you'd have a plan!

To get the soldiers out of the way, we'll attack the fortress. Just give the word, Prince, and we can get started right away.

Did you say right away?

Because I'm all for right away.

All right, then. It's time to get started. Admiral, is Raftfleet ready to do battle?

You bet! Leave it to us.

Hold on! I'm gonna bring some people from Lordlake! We wanna attack the fortress, too!

...People from Lordlake? But...

After all Lordlake's been through, I used to think people SHOULD help us, that they OWED it to us! But now I've seen that lots of bad things happened to the Prince, too! But the Prince never complains! He keeps on fighting, and he even helps out other people! Maroon and the beavers are the same way!

I'm not gonna let you guys be the only heroes, no! It's time for Lordlake to be heroes, too!

He runs off without waiting for an answer.

I think that boy is starting to grow up. And it's all thanks to you, Your Highness!

Okay, Kisara! Ready some space for everyone from Lordlake!

Yes, Admiral!

We're off, then!

Good. I thought I was going to throw up there for a while.

Lucretia and Kisara have attached themselves to the Dahak this time because they're morons, but at least that means I have room for one more dude in Frey's unit. And what a dude it is!

A brief look at our newest recruits. Oboro and Fuyo's Rumours skill gives the enemy -10 defence; Zweig's Weakness is the same, but at half strength. Goesch comes with Survival which increases DEF as HP goes down. And Viki (

) adds another two Cyclones to Sialeeds' already impressive arsenal.

BRING IT.

All right, everyone!

Toma's gang in the ship on the far right.

Let's show 'em what the men of Lordlake can do!

Damn straight! I always knew I'd get a chance to destroy that damned fortress someday!
Here we go, men! This is payback for everything we've been through! Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarge!

That's a lot of charging.

Well, anyway, the goal is to destroy all enemies, or at least that's what they say but it's a big fat lie, and as usual we lose if Frey or the Dahak goes down. I'm kinda tired of the regular old war theme so feel free to listen to something else, like oh, say, maybe this.

These two are the only really bothersome enemies. Both have a single shot of Barrage, which is the AI's way of saying "Hey! Watch me yank your cursor across the entire fucking map!"

It's not terribly threatening since A, these two suck, and B, you were probably approaching them with a ram anyway, which shouldn't take much damage. And, although I say "AI," that doesn't mean there's much of one. It would be a hassle if they used those intelligently, like picking off your damaged units, but they'll mostly just shoot whatever happens to come close to them.

Onward, to death and glory! We'll be getting the glory! You have one guess as to who gets the death! I'll even give you a hint: it's not us!

Eeeexcellent.

Well, that's what happens when scrubs pick a fight with pros.

The archers immediately prepare to make a pain of themselves...

...but they kind of suck, so it's okay.

Meanwhile, I ram my most important, game-over-if-they-die units straight into the middle of the enemy fleet.

Frey gets in on the action, too. Wait, why are we wielding a sword all of a sudden?

...so naturally, the enemy ship "runs" right up to the unit it can deal effective damage to.

Even though we have an overwhelming advantage, effective damage is nothing to take lightly.

As the Godwin troops are about to find out.

Goesch deals 92 damage and takes 12 in return.

Hey, you guys are looking uncomfortably close.

"This hand of mine-"

"No, Prince."

"but"

"No, Prince."

So Dawn deals 20% of MHP to all enemies within range.

Also, it heals 50% of MHP to all allies within range.

Which is probably why they only give you one use of it.

Which is why I will be taking every step to ensure I get more than that.

First kill!

First, but not last.

"Take this! Cyfl--"

So anyway, we sink a bunch of ships. Supposedly the two Barrage ships have a Cyclone and Rage piece, respectively, but it's kinda hard getting at the one in the back.

Especially since this will happen once you've sunk like half their fleet.

Godwin Soldier: Draw the enemy ships closer, then attack them with fire arrows and Runes!

Well, well! They're starting to withdraw!

There's no need to go after them. We'll retreat for now as well.

Fall back?! They've gotta be kidding! I've been waiting for this fight! I'm moving forward, full speed ahead!!!

Goesch, no! We have to be smart!

...Dammit. Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! I've been waiting so long for this, and now they want me to back off?!

Godwin Soldier: Huh? What the hell are they up to now?

In your face.

Here, have a victory theme.

Goesch got really mad! I didn't know what he was gonna do! Couldn't we have just gone ahead and attacked the fortress?

If we'd done that, we would've ended up sacrificing too many of our own. ...Not to mention theirs.

Bollocks to that! You told me I had to kill 1600 dudes to win, so I want to kill 1600 dudes!

We simply needed to clear out the ships defending the fortress. Anything else would have been excessive.
Prince, we'll start driving the soldiers out of Hatred Fortress now. Could you go back to the ruins at Ceras Lake for me again?

Ugh, fine. I suppose random enemies are all I'm getting today.

I'll give a signal that you're sure to see from Ceras Lake. And when you see the signal, open the sluice gate. And could you go with them, Zweig?

Hmph! Of course. They wouldn't know how to work the ruins without me.

I want to go, too!

Me, too! Me, too!

...sheesh, all right, just pack all the useless fucks into the entourage and let me grab some people who aren't terrible at everything.

All right, Your Highness. Good luck on your end.

Since when do I need luck?

The only ones up here who have anything important to add before we go are Raja...

Lucretia asked me for a boat and some oil. I wonder what she's up to...

...and Kisara, who has been tasked with obtaining the next prop for Lucretia's Zhuge Liang cosplay.

RAZE it to the ground, I say! BUTN it to ASH! Grind it TO DUST! AND SALT THE FILTHY EARTH!!! AH ha ha hah!

Egbert doesn't say anything important, as such. But we're talking to him anyway. Because Egbert.

And here we have little Ms. Sneezed Through Time And Space.

Viki has been a recurring character since the very first game, always occupying the same star, and always providing the same service: teleportation to any major location you can currently visit. Notably, we can now go to Beavertown or Dwarfville without having to walk... although we still have to walk back.

For now though, we'll just put her in our party and go do some fiddling. Playable characters who run facilities will have someone standing there in their stead when they're in your party, but they'll pop out to do whatever it is you need them to do.

Of course, we could also use Zegai's tutoring skill from the menu, but I should show this off at some point anyway.

YES

TAKE IT

TAKE ALL THE SP

Lelei, still Lelei.

With Lucretia planning everything, I'm sure casualties will be kept to an absolute minimum!

yak yak

And much as I suspected, Viki has even Oboro stumped. He's also refusing to do even a second report on her at this point. I'll just have to think of someone else...