Part 54: Complete and total genocide

Last time, we had reason to suspect, but not really care, that someone set fire to Beaver Lodge.



...what, I'm going to have to deal with this no matter what? Fine. Let's go, then.


Please be careful, though. We have no idea what we're up against.

I'll give them props for this: the castle is dark, most of the NPCs aren't in place, and the ones who are up have different things to say. But all in all I don't like this much. I was never very fond of the beavers to begin with and pulling this doesn't make anything better. I'm sure you can tell where it's going already.


But I'll be happy if it turns out that those preparations were unnecessary. You take care of yourself, too.

First you have the beavers, and they're like "okay so you're going to fight the guys who used us as slave labour, but we're not gonna help because it's not as if they'll do it again if you lose or anything, so good luck with that!"



Very well. But make it quick, okay? Tee-hee!

And then you have the Godwins who are like "so the beavers aren't siding with the rebels? It's time to kill them all." Because, you know, I haven't been making all those cracks for just no reason. They're actually trying to genocide the beaver race out of Falena.


Well... unless you plan to buy a lotta stuff! Then I'm open for business!

And then we're going to go in there and put a stop to it and the beavers will be like "okay fine we'll join you" and Marscal will be all "curses foiled again" and absolutely no one will be surprised.



Anyway. We got new people last time. Sagiri is as you saw the first time she joined the party. She's one of two ranged attackers with multiple attacks and has two free rune slots, so she's pretty good. But if you bring her along after what you saw last time you are literally Göring. Nakula gets to come instead. I'm pretty sure he'll be happy to help.


Um... Sure... I'll get you there...

It's not a lot of work, but I do appreciate the sleepy portrait. Viki will teleport us (to one location only) but can't join the group at this time.

Wait, hold on.

Okay... I'll just be taking a little nap, then...

But what we're actually looking for is the other option.

Thanks!

Alrighty... Here we go...



We're teleported to... the path to Yashuna? I'm pretty sure walking directly from the castle would've been faster.



The enemies are now zombies. They're the same as they were in the Big Hole. Let's talk about Nakula instead.

Having introduced himself as a lancer, it's no surprise that he comes with a spear, and the Pierce skill, sadly, permanently attached. He's mostly notable for his Fury Rune, the first one we get. Unlike previous games it doesn't keep you permanently Furied, but will wear off after a few turns. 'course, much like Boost, that is not a problem if you've killed everything by the time it becomes an issue.

Fury is 1.5x damage with no drawbacks; it's a reasonably attractive alternative to Power. There are other means of inflicting the status, like the Shield Rune and getting a buddy knocked out in battle, but none of them are as quick and certain as the Fury Rune. Quite nice, although Nakula only has one slot to begin with and should probably be using Boost/Double-Edged instead.



Oh yeah, to no one's surprise Beaver Lodge really was on fire.



A brief cutscene plays as we enter.


Prince! Watch out!



An assassin comes walking in from the left. Circle Formation, go! Lorelai in the back takes an accuracy penalty (well, so does Jeane but she shouldn't be attacking much) but once unbalanced, the enemy can't dodge anyway. Circle Formation is really good.


It can't be... I don't understand... Why would they be...?

???: Prince?! Is that you?!



Maroon! You're okay!

When I woke up, the whole village was in flames! I can't believe it! How could this have happened?! Who could have done this?!

This was all Godwin's doing. Nether Gate... his assassins.

Nether... Gate?

...But why would they do this to Beaver Lodge?
Prince! I'm worried about Fuwalafuwalu! I'm gonna go take a look! You and Maroon should find somewhere safe to--



Don't make that face at me! There might be more of them around! You're in real danger! You have to leave!

What are you talking about?! We're not going anywhere! Besides, if there are more of 'em around, we'd better stick together!

Okay, then... But those assassins are deadly! VERY deadly! You must stay absolutely alert!

Gotcha!

Maroon joins the party and promptly gets shoved in the reserves where he can't get in the way.



Although I don't like the event as a whole, this part with Frey going at Lyon is pretty good. You don't get a dialogue option or anything. Just a stare.



Beaveristan is overrun by assassins. They are pretty tough, with upwards a couple of thousand hit points, and I'm pretty sure they're both hard-hitting and evasive. Even so, they can't stand up to a full party beating on them, and since I'm fully prepared to abuse the Circle Formation, they don't even get a hit in.



We find our objective in Fuwala's house.

Maroon?! Lady Lyon?! And his Highness the Prince?!

Michafute...

Who are you?! Get away from the Elder!

No, Maroon! Take His Highness and get out of here while you both still can!

So, we meet again... Mismar.

I told you never to call me that again!



Why?! Why have you done this?! Just because the beavers cooperated with us?! Godwin is a sick, sick man! And so are you!

Oh, nothing as involved as that. His Excellency and Gizel simply feel that Falena no longer... needs the beavers.

"No longer needs" us...?

When different peoples and different cultures collide, a nation suffers. And yours is the most vile of cultures.





You're crazy! Godwin's crazy!

Even so, it's still a dumb scene. I can laugh at Lyon calling them "sick, sick men" but I can't really add anything more than what I've already said.

This is our home! This is where we live!

The cartoonishly evil villains are by far Suikoden V's most glaring weak spot.

How surprising. I thought that you beavers would find His Excellency's thinking quite reasonable.

It's not the only one, but none of the others, not even the load times, are this bad.

Of course we don't! You're insane!

Really? Then why do you beavers live here, only among your own kind, avoiding all contact with humans?

You... really can't be comparing--

It's because you think you don't need humans, isn't it?

No, that's not true!

We've never tried to kill humans! We only wish to live in peace!

...So does His Excellency. And come tomorrow, he will have that peace. There will be no beavers left in Falena.

I won't let you get away with this! I won't let you kill the beavers on my watch!

Have you forgotten our battle in the Sun Palace? You cannot beat me. Nor can you, Prince.



And naturally, Dolph is full of shit.



For one, even bosses are vulnerable to unbalance.



And although he does have more HP than his minions, enough to survive a full round, Lorelai whips him in the balls a second time and he goes down before taking a single action.

If I had brought someone with an actual attack stat instead of Jeane, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have lasted a round.

The Twin Tactic is a two-person formation. It gives a decent stat boost, but you... only have... two people.



Like before, if you do let him attack, Dolph will go after Lyon first and foremost.

I... think so.



But of course Dolph isn't done yet.

Is this guy some kind of monster?!

You are even more powerful than me. What a waste.

At least he acknowledges it.

It's not a waste! I've dedicated my life to protecting the Prince!

Hmph!



And then he ninja vanishes.

*deep sigh*
Boy, that was scary! I'm not really scared of humans anymore, but that guy...!

You make me proud, Maroon! If not for you, who knows what fate would have befallen me? ...Or the beavers! But our work's not done yet! We have to help the women and children escape! We must put out the fires!

I find it somewhat interesting that the beavers don't have a matriarchal society. The "women and children" speech looks a bit out of place in Falena.

You got it!

In the human regions, it'd be more like "stow all our useless male heirs on a ship so they don't get themselves killed" or something.

We'll help, too!

Thank you... You humans have already done so much for us.

???: Prince! Maroon! Where are you?! Are you guys okay?! Yell if you guys can hear me!

That voice...

It's coming from outside!



Ya think?



I expected more.

Toma! You came to help, too?

Of course I did! You think I'd let your village burn down?!

Get everyone at Salzburg Castle who can help! We'll need everything we've got to put out the fire!

But you're from Lordlake... Why would you want to help us?

Whaddaya mean?! The beavers helped Lordlake, so we're gonna help the beavers!

And if anyone knows about their hometown being reduced to ruins, it's us!

Thank you! Thank you so much!

No need to thank us! Let's get to work!





They play sad music here so you know it's an emotional moment but it's not as if we lost anything of value.

Beaver: Who did this?! I knew we shouldn't have gotten involved in the disputes of men!

Beaver: Yeah, it was working with the humans that caused this!

No, no, no, no, no! Don't you see? It was keeping to ourselves and pretending to ignore the outside world that caused this whole thing!

...Indeed.

I heard it with my own two furry ears. The Godwins wish to exterminate us beavers.

Beaver: Exterminate us...?!

So take heed, beavers! We can no longer say that the disputes of men are none of our concern. We have but three choices: We can wait quietly until we're exterminated. We can flee to a strange land. Or we can fight!

I'm gonna fight! Right alongside the Prince and Toma! They helped us out! They helped us out even though we've always run from danger! They helped us out even after we built that stupid fortress! Now it's our turn to help them! And us! We have to stop running!

Beaver: He... has a point.

Beaver: Yeah! If we wanna stay in Beaver Lodge, we've gotta make a stand! Let's join 'em! Let's join the humans!



*nod*

Are you kidding?! We'd be glad to have ya!

Thank you so much. The beavers are now officially allied with His Royal Highness the Prince!



Both named, faced beavers join up at this point.



And now on to less terrible things!



One nice thing about this mess is that Beaver Lodge is now a proper town. Well, "nice" might be a little exaggerated. But they do sell armour, items and provide a trade shop if you want to use them.


Nuoh, I wonder if Mor knows...

You sure picked the right time to come back.



Oh yeah, appraisal too. 'course, it's entirely pointless once you have Bastan in your basement.



Back home again.

Using assassins against the beavers instead of a proper army shows that they know the horror of what they do! And they know that the world would never forgive them for it!

I have a hard time staying angry. No one with a name was hurt, and I got more Stars of Destiny out of the deal. These things seem to keep happening whenever a town gets torched.


You have to reach my Lady quickly!

That sounds a lot more interesting.



I'm pretty sure she'd say the same thing even if we'd brought her along to meet the beaver in question.

We beavers would have been slaughtered if it wasn't for you, Prince! Thank you!!!

I hear fried tail of beaver is considered a delicacy in some parts.


Hmph. Don't I feel stupid for calling you pampered. Looks like I'm the one who's been a little baby...

You never know when someone might have something new to say. Roy seems to care about as much about beavers as I do.



Nikea felt the scent of burning beaver and got even hungrier.



Whatever.

What about Beaver Lodge? Does it still stand?

Does anyone still care?

What's going on? What's everyone doing up so early?

Well, you see...

...Early this morning, Rainwall fell.

Oh.

Oh. Could we return to the subject of Beaver Lodge? It was marginally more interesting.

Oh, no!

General Luger's fleet and General Novum's forces launched a surprise midnight attack.

According to our scouts, Rainwall could barely put up a fight. It was an almost bloodless surrender.

I... I can't believe it... Rainwall...

Perhaps that attack on Beaver Lodge was meant to distract us...

No doubt that was one of their intentions. Still, even without that diversion, it would've been too late. Rainwall was always Lord Barows' town. It was never really on the Prince's side. We were always on guard, and we couldn't really afford to stubbornly defend the place. We also didn't have enough troops to station there permanently.

Still, we can't just let Godwin take 'em over without a fight, right?! What do ya think, Prince?

We have a choice,



but I don't think it has any effect. It barely even altered the dialogue.

Prince, are you... sure?

???: No, I think His Highness is right!



The countless nefarious acts of the House of Barows have raised the people's ire in Rainwall. It would be no stretch to say we are hated even more than the House of Godwin. Even if we sent troops into Rainwall, I highly doubt the people there would back our cause. The blood of our brave soldiers must not be spilled for an uncertain ally.

I agree. We have more to lose by attempting to drive the Godwins out or Rainwall. We must stand by the Prince's decision.

Damn straight.

Luserina...

It's all right. I understand.



Meanwhile, in sunny Sol-Falena...

Rainwall has been occupied?

Yes.

And so what if it has? That hardly has anything to do with me...



Yes, well, I knew how crazy Euram Barows was about the Princess, so I thought she might be interested to know, that's all.

You thought wrong!

Hmph. To be honest, I'm not all very fond of him...



Have I told you lately how great Lym is? Because Lym is pretty great.



Oh, we wish.

You know, I wish I could tell you what Euram did to the Prince in Sable...

To Brother?! What did Euram do to my brother?!

Well, why don't you ask Euram yourself? I'm inviting him to your coronation ceremony.

Wh-What did you say? Coronation ceremony?!

Yes. The period of mourning for the late Queen is almost over. The time has come for the new Queen to be crowned. We, your loyal subjects, have all been eagerly awaiting...



Oh?

Yes, that's right! I refuse to be your puppet queen!!

How upsetting. Everyone is so looking forward to the Princess' coronation, but the Princess is being difficult...



No! You wouldn't dare...



Y-You...!! You are the most despicable--



Don't be ridiculous, Miakis!! I can't just sit back and let you be killed! I'll just have to go through with it.

But Princess!

It's fine!

Ever since the day I was born... I was destined to be Queen of Falena. I never thought it'd be under these kind of circumstances... but this is my destiny.

Princess...

Well, I'm certainly glad to see you've come around.



Once the Godwins have an actual queen in place, their rule will seem all the more legitimate. As incompetent as they are, that's not a good thing for us.

Someone is going to have to think of something.

Fast, preferably.



(While they do, have a load screen because I don't think I showed this off before.)