Part 51: Day 118: Seige (Day 3)

"That stonesinger is going to wreak havoc on us if we don't take care of it," Iver tells you. "This will be a rough fight, but we've got to take it down. You ready?" You prepare yourself.



Let's go kill another Stonesinger.



In addition to our quarry, we've got a serious hard-hitting army here - two Scourge Warriors, two Stoneguard Defenders, one Enraged Grunt, and a new guy on the far left - a Scourge Destroyer.

The Destroyer is just like the warriors, except it has 22 Strength. Needless to say, it will be an absolute priority target, second only to the singer itself.



This formation is a gamble. If Destroyer is acting first, it will tear Krumr in half with a single blow. If not, I can put it out of commission.

Time to pray to some dead gods.



Success! The Destroyer isn't going until after Oddleif, giving us time to cope with it.

Also, it's time to show why I gave Iver so much Willpower.



Spending an insane six will in one turn, Iver runs all the way across the map to cut the Stonesinger's Strength in half on the first turn. He may pay for this dearly, but I daresay it might be worth it.

Confused by the aggressive rush, the Stonesinger hobbles away from Iver and doesn't cast any spells. So far, so good.



Next, Krumr bashes the Destroyer as hard as possible. No longer is it an unstoppable world-wrecker.



That doesn't mean I'm out of the fire yet, though. There are a lot of heavy-hitters on the enemy team, and even the weaker ones can put out some real damage, even without touching Armor.



We have a lot of Strength to burn out, so let's get busy. Rook is doing what Rook does best.

Next, the Stoneguard behind the Destroyer moves towards Iver but doesn't do anything significant.



Ekkil can't reach anything significant yet, but what he can do is form a shield wall with Krumr without putting himself in too much danger. He does this.

The other Stoneguard moves into position to threaten, but doesn't actually hit anyone.



Oddleif takes advantage of Ekkill's shield while putting up a trap for that second Warrior, should it try to advance on us.



This would have been 8 damage if Krumr hadn't hit it already.



None of the enemies are in proper arcing position, so Eyvind just zaps the baddest enemy he can reach from safety for as much damage as he can muster.



The warrior advances right into Oddleif's trap. Only one damage, but the important thing is that our stalling tactics have worked.



Iver kills the Stonesinger before it can weave a single spell against us.



Now, this is just a battle. We can win battles.



After taking a crippling blow from Krumr (thanks to his passive, it did a point of Strength damage to the three other dredge bordering him), the Warrior settles for trying to summon something. I doubt it will finish.



Let's talk priorities!

The most dangerous enemy left is the Warrior on the far right - it has 16 Strength. However, it can't reach any of us easily, due to its awful positioning.

Next is the Destroyer, with 13 Strength, but it can't reach anyone other than Krumr this turn. We still have time to deal with it.

That leaves the Stoneguard and Grunt on the front line. Both have 10-11 Strength and are in reach of Eyvind, making them potentially dangerous targets.

Of the two, the Grunt is much faster to wear down.



While I work on that, Iver, cut off from the rest of my army, becomes fodder for the second Stoneguard. He may be in serious trouble soon.



Ekkill is right after Rook so that they can combo together, Rook's armor piercing making up for his relatively weak Strength. The Grunt is down to 1 Strength.

His positioning here is part of a trap I'm building.



Oh, shit.

This is a devastating move - let's take a look at the aftermath to see exactly why.



Armor damage aside, right before Oddleif could lay down any traps, Ekkil was pushed far out of position. More importantly: There is no tile I can lay a trap on to block that warrior - the one with 16 Strength - from reaching Ekkill. It acts in 2 turns.

Even worse - I can't use Arc Lightning on it without hitting Ekkill, too. He is in mortal danger, and I have no means to pull him out of it.



So, instead I'll focus on those who remain. First, let's cut off that summoning.



Another 2 damage to Krumr, who is starting to wear out here.



I can't do any sort of useful Arc Lightning trickery to save him, so instead it's Mend to mitigate the impending damage. Let's see how bad it is!



It's... the one thing I hadn't even considered he might do. He ignores Ekkill completely to bash Krumr instead.

Ekkill is safe, but Krumr is not long for this world, with only 5 Strength remaining.



Elsewhere, Iver continues his duel with a Stoneguard. He might have the upper hand for now, but he can't keep this up forever.



Well, if he's going down, then he'll go down fighting!

Krumr bashes the mighty Warrior for as much Armor damage as he can possibly inflict, drinking from the Horn to boost it another point.



Ekkill successfully draws one attack from Iver. Mission accomplished?



Rook COULD do some decent damage to that Warrior now that Krumr has softened it up, but it's still a couple turns away, and he's much more useful on Break duty.



4 Strength left.



Besides, Ekkill's much better at doing Strength damage. That's another threat mitigated!



3 Strength left.



Following up on Rook's killer shot, Oddleif tears a Stoneguard a new asshole.



The Warrior is summoning now. He won't finish.



For how dense this battle is, the enemy has really been doing a great job of avoiding giving Eyvind any good lightning chain opportunities. Still, the highest enemy Strength on the map is now 10.



Lucky break!



The summon does not complete.



Yikes! Ekkill is starting to look pretty fragile here.

However, the enemy has made a fatal mistake, and I can only hope I have time to exploit it.



Krumr empties the horn in order to push Eyvind to the top of the initiative order. It's now or never!



The Stoneguard wastes a turn on a fumbled Kindle. Perfect... and then my moment of glory is ruined by me missing a screencap!



You'll have to reconstruct it from this screenshot and the one before it. The three biggest, baddest enemies on the field were in a perfect Arc Lightning chain, and now are all on the brink of death.



Now, top priority is dealing with this jerk before he can summon a fresh one. After that, it's open season.



Ekkill goes for broke, burning all of his remaining will to open this guy's armor up a little more.



That was a shitload of Armor damage, but we're deep enough into the mop-up that I don't even care.



Oddleif secures the kill.



Krumr has 2 Strength left. Iver kills the stronger Stoneguard, the splash damage from his passive killing the Grunt.



And that's how we end this with no casualties.



+9 Renown

However, our troubles are only beginning.



He's here.





This may be our last day alive. How will we spend it?