Part 26: The Shield of Canaan’s last stand

Chapter 18 - The Shield of Canaan’s last stand



Welcome back. Before we storm Balt Fortress we’ve got some dialogue waiting for us on the way so strap in. We start in Erial.





: Her Ladyship went with her subordinates to Istria. She was so enthusiatic to get revenge twice over.

: Then Istria has finally...

: Yes, it seems the royal palace has surrendered. The Leda Alliance, no, the Utna Alliance, Prince Richard and Princess Tia destroyed them.

: Tia... Did she return?

: Lady Katina said that she is wating in Istria’s royal palace and that you should hurry there once you returned.

: She wants me to go to Istria? What is wrong?

: I also don’t know the details, but it seems that innummerable demons have appeared on the western front. Maybe her ladyship wants your help in subjugating them...

: I understand. I will get the details from Katina. In addition I haven’t seen Tia in quite a while anyhow. Hey, you agree, right?



This is Neyfa, who would have shown up in her dragon form if we had wasted time in the last chapter.





Next stop on the trip is Salia town.



Meet Sasha’s father, the King of Wellt.



: My wounds are mostly healed, thanks to you, Lady Claris. In fact, all the health I’ve recovered so far has been due to your power. I’d expect nothing less from the daugther of Lord Octobas. You have my deepest gratitude.

: Well, it’s all thanks to General Barbarossa’s goodwill. Once he discovered that you were the King of Wellt, he entrusted me with tending your wounds.

: So is having my life saved by my sister-in-law proof of Utna’s divine protection?

: That reminds me. Have you heard of the Utna Alliance, Lord Loffaru?

: No, but I've only just regained consciousness. So I haven’t got a clue as to what is going on in the outside world.

: The truth is, a group led by the Wellt Army is pushing further east on the Senay Way, and they should reach Senay City soon.

: W-What!? You can’t be serious! Who on earth is leading the Wellt Army, then? It’s not Sasha, is it?

: It’s Young Master Runan of Lazeria...

: Young Master Runan?! I can’t believe it... He is only a lad...



After that interesting tidbit, we have some inner party talk for a change.





: I was just a kid back then, so I’ve only heard that she died suddenly. But I never once though she was murdered...It’s also the first I’ve heard about her two children having gone missing.

: That would have made you her cousin, huh. I guess it’s alright for you to be so lax about it all, but...

: What does it matter to you, Lord Runan? It doesn’t even concern you.

: Oh, but it does. Prince Ares and my father were sworn friends. So you can’t really say that the safety of his two children doesn’t concern me.

: Is that so... so your father and Prince Ares were both burned to death by Muses’ breath in Norzeria, huh...

: Yes.

: My father was the same. While fighting Garzel, he was attacked by the dragon Kranion and killed in battle. That was 13 years ago, but...

: You don’t remember your father, do you, Maharaj?

: I was still quite young at the time, so I have no recollection whatsoever. Even if I were to run into him now, I wouldn’t know.

: Really...

: All I know is that he came from a family of Earth Priests and hated Gazel with a passion.

: The family of Earth Priests protected the Shrine of Leda. It’s only natural that they’d hate Gazel after they took over the Shrine.

: Ahh... There you are, Maharaj... Did I interrupt your conversation with Master Runan?

: What’s wrong, Enteh?

: I’ve been meaning to give this to you, Maharaj... I should have handed it over earlier but I didn’t have a chance.

: You’re giving this to me? It seems to be an ancient text, but what exactly is it?

: It seems to be a holy book from the Royal Family of Lieve. I don’t know more than that though...

: Hmm...

: The sage said that it would prove invaluable to a mage. So rather than keeping it to myself, I thought you ought to have it, Maharaj.

: No, I couldn’t.... It’s too valuable.... I can’t accept it.

: I want you to keep it precisely because it’s invaluable. Please, Maharaj, I want to be helpful to you. So please take it...

: Fine. If you insist…



The tome of Lieve raises HP, Luk, Mag, and Wlv growths by 10%. Anyway we haven’t heard of Kate and Zieg’s romantic adventures for some time. Time to remedy that.







: I couldn’t see you anywhere, so I was just wandering. Lately you’re kind of weird, Zieg. Always lost in thought so I was worried. Ouch!

: What the! Don’t move, Kate! It’s a poisonous spider!

: Eh!?

: I killed the spider but it looks like it bit your leg. If the poison isn’t sucked out, you will die. Stay still, it’ll be over quick!

: Ahhh...

: Now it’s okay. Have the sister take a look at it later and it should heal quickly. I’ll take you to the city, take a hold of my shoulders.

: O-Ok...Thanks....Zieg....

After this it’s time to cleanse our palette and indulge in wanton murder. Time to start the chapter.





The Chapter is called The Black Forest.







: It’s still quite the stronghold and makes excellent use of the terrain surrounding it. You can’t move well in the forest and if you get too close, you’ll get targeted by the ballistas and catapults. This will be a tough fight...

: True. However, Eugen, I heard that most of Balt’s army has fallen back. Is that true?

: Yes, the empire has been fighting fiercely. Their forces are spread too thin and they have started to regroup themselves. Thus now is the best time to recapture Balt.

: I see. Then this is the decisive battle.... Order the whole army to make an all-out attack! Launch the attack on Balt Fortress!









: No, father said to avoid unnecessary risks. “If the battle should turn against you, you must wihdraw to the Lieve Line immediately”. I was given this message for you. General, this is also my request. Please, I beg you don’t do anything rash.

: You haven’t changed at all. From the time you were a baby, I have served you. You’re so gentle, just like your late mother. To be able to see you one last time before this last battle... I don't have any regrets.

: Barbarossa! Don’t say such sad things! I don’t want that! I can’t stand the thought of losing you!

: Lady Est, don’t ruin your beautiful face with tears. Wipe your tears. You’ve grown up but you’re still the same inside that you’ve always been.

: Whenever I had a nightmare, you were always the first one to confort me and hold me tight. When I was in your arms I was able to sleep at ease. I don’t want this war to...

: You shouldn’t say things like that. Now Lady Est, the battle will be starting soon. Please return to your fathers side. Someone! Escort Princess Est to Zemsellia...

: Barbarossa....





: The demon summoners of Garzel, I don’t have any use for you, get out of my sight!

: Your daugther, Lady Silva, was a hero who once served as the commander of the black knight corp... however after Norzelia, she defected to the enemy and her whereabouts are still unknown. Are you not ashamed of her?

: ...

: Heh.. well that’s fine anyhow. A heretic’s flesh and blood are a demon beast favorite dish. I will give them a feast...



This is the typical Fire Emblem fight were you take on the sympathatic commander of the opposing forces that is just too damn loyal to come over to your side. Barbarossa is shown as a caring person who nursed the King of Wellt back to health and was against the invasion as a whole. Now he stands in our way.

There are two ways to win this map. You can take the cowards way out and wait for 30 turns, battling only the summoned demons from Mahova and his two buddies in the northeastern and southeastern corner of the map, or you take down Barbarossa and capture the fortress.

Out of respect for Barbarossa and because the chapter would be boring otherwise we are going to give him a fighting death like he deserves. Now let’s have a look at the opposition. The catapults and ballistas have 7 range and even most archers have bows with 4 range. As such keep you fliers away from the fortress until you cleared them. As for the rest...





Mahova’s buddies will be summoning Ogres and Zombies to swarm you.



An enemy Rider in the fortress has a swordbreaker to take notice of.



A Physic asshole



Mahova who is going to summon harpies armed with bows that are going to annoy Sasha and Raffin.



And lastly we have Barbarossa in all his glory. He got huge defenses (especially coupled with the building bonus) and a huge avoid in the 70s. He is also capable of doubling almost your entire team and killing them since he most likely won’t miss. Luckily he has no means of range attacks so magic is the way to go against him. Still his magic shield and avoid make this harder than one would expect.



Zieg start Operation Frontal Assault and Bait together with Narron following on his tail. Runan, Rennie, Kate and Maharaj are following Sasha to the north for some Ogre fighting. Meriah, Sharon, Shirou, and Raquel go to the south with Raffin to stop the zombie apocalypse. Enteh stays behing as combat support with her Physic staff with Mintz as her protection should something go awry.



the summoning starts…



Zieg gets a level from getting shot at.





He takes down the gate in return and gets healed by Enteh.



All three mages summon a bunch of harpies, ogres and zombies.





Zieg starts murdering the castle guard and receives an empty level from it…



He also dodges and kills the mage with the Blizzard tome which prevents counter attacks.





The Zieg show continues as he takes out the first archer.



Narron meanwhile takes out the first catapult. Operation Frontal Assault and Bait works like a charm.



Thriller!





Zieg continues to get nice levels.







I need 3 people to take out a Harpy here because hitting isn’t a strength of my squad apparently



Enteh repairs some damage Sasha got from getting too close to a Harpy’s bow.





Narron clears the southern route for Raffin and his squad and gets a most unusual level from it.





More harpies and ogres blocking Sasha’s path to silence the wizard.





This is not how you make an impact, Rennie…



The southern squad starts to engage the zombies.





Zieg takes out the northern catapult for another level. I love Elite.



The tanks fail to scratch Narron.





Mintz is not to be underestimated (if you ignore him missing the harpy again…)





Empty level the second.





Two in a row



More zombies





Not the level I want from a mage but at least it’s not empty. I take the small victories.







Sasha busts out the Flute and promotes again: +3 Str, +1Skill, -1 Speed (still capped though), +4 Def, -6 Magic, +2 Wlvl, +5 HP





A nice level for Kate although she needs strength if she wants to stay viable since her promotion sucks.





I always like strength.





Raffin ends the Zombie summoning with a crit (which he needed).



Raquel enjoys murdering some zombies.



Ogre boy doesn’t want to stop though, so Raffin got a new target.





Zieg shrugs off an arrow and gets a strength level from it.



Rennie kills a harpy with effective damage. Strength and Speed please _{and movement} you have the Salia tome for a reason.







Sasha has seen enough harpies for a lifetime and ends the summoning together with her new dragon.



Zieg is not amused by the antics of the Physic priest.





Some cleaning up results in a defensive level for Raquel.



Stop with the ogres already





Strength please. Otherwise continue.





We almost reduced the forces to just Barbarossa. Sasha gets an ok level.



Thats it. You’re dead.



Raffin gets a bad level from being attack by one of the newly summoned ogres.





At least the ogres give great levels to the other half of my units.









Narron and Zieg murder the zombies that try to flee and each get an amazing level from it.



This is going to be the most satisfying kill of this map.









Raquel, Shirou and Sharon are cleaning up while Maharaj and Meriah head back to the castle on boss killing duty. Also Raquel continues to be the best prepromote



While waiting for them to arrive, Mintz enters one of the houses in the city.





: C’mon, don’t get so angry. I’m a pretty busy guy.

: Bah! I bet you were chasing some girls behind! What do you want from me?

: That thing I entrusted you with... Mind if I have it back?

: That thing? You mean that...? Ok I don’t need this kind of stuff anyway.

We get another Re-Movement Book for the pile. I have no clue why we get so many of them seeing that basically every Horseback Unit learns it on its own...







Operation Wearing down that Magic Shield starts with Sasha and her Thunder Sword. I saw that dodge animation alot...



Zieg visits the other interesting house on this map. The other two are a secret shop without anything of worth and a skill trainer.



: This is an army warehouse, but nothing special remains. Here, I give you this “Hero’s Proof” so just get out, ok?



Another promotion item for the storage. We’re almost at a point to bust them out for non Elite units.













Maharaj and Meriah are finally in position. Both grab good levels from wearing Barbarossa down. Or at least from trying.



Several turns later I finally managed to hit him 4 times to burn through his shield. Now it's just a matter of time and luck to kill him.





Maharaj and Raquel fail at it though...









But finally Meriah brings the Shield of Canaan down.



He retreats inside the castle.





: Yes sir! The only ones left inside are youself and I.

: Good.. Now you retreat as well.

: ...I will not!

: Retreat now. That’s an order.

: I’m afraid I refuse, sir. As long as this fortress retains it’s function, I cannot hand Balt over to the enemy. General, you feel the same, don’t you? This is my first and last belaying of your command. Please forgive me.

: ...Do as you wish.

: Yes sir! Thank you, sir! Actually it was quite difficult to evacuate the soldiers. They all knew... their general’s decision. Each and every one of them desired to remain inside and share the fate of their general...

: ...Fools... Even though they have duty remaining to Canaan.... But I am so proud. To think that Gazel walks around Canaan as if they own it... They’re still soldiers of Canaan. It pleases me to hear this. Well shall we go?

: Yes sir!

: I think I’ve lived long enough... I have no lasting regrets. Although I would have loved to see Lady Est’s husband with my own eyes... Silva I know you’ve always been living for Canaan. I entrust its future to you. Ernst I leave the rest to you. It pains me to have to leave it up to you, but please support Lord Barca and Lord Julius. Lord Barca.. Please forgive what little this aged body could accomplish.







And so goes the Shield of Canaan from us. A proud soldier till the end.



Time to finish the map





: Is that so… I can’t believe someone like him did something so deplorable...

: My prince, that’s just your youth speaking. Old soldiers would rather scatter like a flower and die on the battlefield than suffer from age or sickness. He was surely happy to fight a commander as brave as you.

: Father said that people who hasten to their death are fools. If you’re lucky enough to be alive, you should live your life to it’s fullest. Eugen, don’t you agree?

: Ha... Not everyone is as strong as Archduke Glamdr. You have had exceptional talent since birth and have succeeded you father’s legacy. However not everyone is as blessed as you. The majority of people live lives of insecurity and despair, grow old and sick and die alone, without anyone having ever known their names.

: How pessimistic... Though I guess I understand what you are saying...

: Excuse me. Are you done talking?

: Who are you?

: I’m Claris of the Salia Forest. I am the daugther of High Priest Octobas.

: Lady Claris...? Ah, you...

: Do you know about me?

: I heard about you from Wellt’S Queen, Lady Liza. She said that after capturing Balt Fortress we should visit High Priest Claris of Salia Forest...

: I see, Liza... Then Lord Runan, let’s go to Salia Village. We will talk on the way.



Seems like somthing is happening in Salia village though...





: Very well, Then die old fool.

: Arghhhh....



What is that?

: It isn’t here. To think that it has evaded our grasp for so long even after our intensive searches must mean that Octobas’ daugther must have it after all.

: That may well be...

: She will return from the Balt Forest in due time, milord. Please leave this in my hands. I shall deliver the ring of Lieve to you without fail.

: Very well. I leave this matter in your hands. I have to turn my attention to Lakis now.

: Lakis?! Then the daugther of Ares is alive after all?

: Yes. She was sighted on the Selba Steppe. Now all four are accounted for.

: Yes sir! Then it is almost time...

: Indeed. The day of the ritual draws near. And the Muses now become... necessary. Do not fail us, Knud.

: My life is yours! Your Holiness, Pope Gwenchaos!



And that’s it for this chapter. Seems that we have to liberate a town of a creep next time.