Part 6: BF6 - Phelinas Lakeside

The Royal Army battled Ishiene's solders to save a human settlement, but the mystery remained: what had happened in Embellia to destroy the relations with the Kingdom so thoroughly?

To find the truth and restore the alliance, the Royal Army headed for the Water Capital, Elise.

On the way there, the Royal Army discovered a Phelinas Lakeside settlement in danger, as the citizens were under assault from both Undines and looting bandits...








No...! This is worse than the Lorca Lakeside...!

Looks like the Undines aren't the only ones making trouble...




Alright, let's show 'em the power of the Ortega Brigands!

Yeah!

Are those... bandits!?

...Looks to me like the Lenessey Mountains crowd. It's just like them to take advantage of chaos like this. If we want to restore order, we'll have to beat them first!



Let's go!



Taking a quick look around the map first, the Assassins are 1,1,3,3. The Bandits are 1,2,1,2, and the Undines are 1,2,3,2.



And here's the big man, Ortega. He's not very strong, 1,3,1,2, but carries a really interesting weapon – the Kill Blade. You can see his weapon attribute is 1 on 1 = win, and it does exactly that. Whenever the clash is down to the head vs head, Ortega automatically wins. Thankfully he has a low Gen, and low Tec, so we should be able to build the needed advantage on him on our charge and counterattack.



I run Milanor into the fray, and Yggdra is in a nice position diagonal from him. I send Durant to the empty square in the South.



It opens up a new area, and I use the remaining movement to move to a newly discovered town.



Is someone there?

Sorry to startle you! I'm Nietzsche. I was hoping you'd show up.

You were waiting for us?

Do you know the Transmigragem? It's why everyone's fighting...

The Transmigragem?

It's an important treasure for us Undines. Nietzsche's older sister stole it, though. A human man tricked her with promises of his love. So... She stole it from its secret hiding place. But all he cared about was the Transmigragem. When she found that out... she kept crying, “I'm sorry...” And she... killed herself...

…...!

That's why I... I have to get that gem back! For my sister, and everyone... Please! Take Nietzsche with you! Because of what my sister did... Nietzsche... can't go back home now...

…I understand.

But, Princess! She's too young for the battlefield...

I'm sure she'll be okay. She looks like a tough cookie. And you know, we can't afford to turn down help of any age.

Thank you! Nietzsche will do her best!



And here's Nietzsche. She's not a bad character, but I think her uses are pretty limited. Her Swim movement is like the regular Walk movement, with the added addition of moving and stopping in water tiles. However, water is dismally absent from most of the game, and it's really crucial in making her shine. And while desert is rare, mitigating her weakness, Fire is not. Decent stats though, but she's hard to pick over Durant if you want a spear user. She's still useful for the next while, regardless, because of her stats, Water , and Ice Immunity. I dig her battle theme, though.



Meanwhile, in the North, Milanor stats up an attack. He still has the Silver Moon, so he won't face a battle penalty. Yggdra will be one member down when she reaches her second attack, but it's no big deal. The Assassins aren't much to worry about right now, in the middle of the day. I'm trying to go for broke with Revolution, 1705 Pow, and kill the Assassins off before they can attack, and before night falls.



This Bandit will pose no threat at the best of times. I do the rest of the fight in Passive, just to boost Yggdra's skill up. The Bandit barely survives, with 62 morale.



Again, the Assassins can't counterattack. Yggdra still has her Silk Corset, so it works out either way. Assassins deal Dark damage while in Rage, however, and Yggdra is weak against Dark. I'll need the full skill bar to stay ahead.



It's fairly close, but the Assassin remains with 230 morale.



Next up is Milanor vs. an Undine. She's in the water, so she's not in too much trouble.



Finally, Yggdra is up against the second Assassin. They don't have the benefit of their Dark damage, but I don't have much skill to use against them. It's a little uncomfortable, but the Assassin ends with 342 morale.



I don't finish anyone off unfortunately, but they should be easy pickings when they attack me.



The Bandit heads straight up to the village.

Don't blame me if life's not fair!



And he wipes the village off the map. A few units are capable of destroying towns, but it's not usually anything to worry about.



There's a slight rearrangement in the enemy battle formation, but overall my encounters look favourable. Milanor has no trouble in taking the first Bandit down to 496 morale. The one edge of town tile is keeping them alive.



Yggdra can't quite deal with this Assassin though. Because of the Assassins' high Luk, they deal a large number of flash attacks, which were the tipping point in this battle. Yggdra doesn't take too much damage thankfully, due to her 3 Gen. She's at 2217.



Milanor deals with that Undine again. That 50% GEO is hard to break, so she's still in this.



Another poor encounter with Yggdra. It probably would have been smart to see the battle results before recruiting Nietzsche, so I'd have the chance to move Yggdra out of the defensive union beforehand.



The enemy Undines have a turn, but they don't perform any offensive actions. Right now they only join the Brigand's unions.



Nietzsche's Coral Spear restores some morale every one of our turns while she's on water. She's full now, but it allows her to perform some risky attacks without taking permanent harm.



*sniff* It smells good, too!



Why are you siding with the humans against your own kind!?

I'm fighting for my sister and everyone else! Move aside!



I shuffle Nietzsche and Yggdra around a little bit. Yggdra is going up against Ortega, and she shouldn't have any trouble getting past the Kill Blade. Nietzsche spear-heading the assaults on the lake is one of the better ways of making a large union. Durant won't do well against most anyone here, so I can leave him out for a while. I want to kill as many of the units up top as I can, but with Milanor in a union alone on the defense, I'm sure he can handle it on the enemy turn. On the bottom front, I can start breaking down the Undines and Ortega.



Nietzsche's first clash is close, but she voids the enemy's ice damage from this point on. She clears nearly a third of the enemy's morale, so she's down to 1065.



Yggdra doesn't hold back, and easily redeems herself from losing to the Assassins.



Undines in the water with Max are quite powerful, but Mind Change's low Mov keeps my skill bar high, and Milanor's extra Atk tips the balance more.



And Nietzsche finishes off the Bandit.



...Agh!



The Brigand group attacks Milanor again, and without Yggdra getting in the way, we have three easy victories. The Assassins pose the most trouble since we can't counterattack, but Milanor's 3 Star Atk overpowers the Assassins' 1 Atk.





Nietzsche leads this attack again. She'll have a close battle against Ortega, but with Ace Guard (Mov 4) we'll have a nearly full skill bar. The enemy Undine probably won't be taken out by Milanor, but Ortega's my main target here. Nietzsche and Yggdra should give me two solid victories against him.





Nietzsche's encounter was a little too close for comfort, keeping in mind Ortega's Kill Blade. Yggdra provides a solid win, but losses were still high due to Ortega's 3 Atk.



Why, you...! I've had enough!



We should move Yggdra out of the way again, for two reasons. Ortega with Max mode would put up a decent fight against Yggdra (he only needs to bring her down to Yggdra alone) and we don't want Yggdra to kill Ortega, since her Luk is too low to make him drop his Axe. Both Nietzsche and Milanor have 3 Luk, which is more than adequate.



What starts off an easy fight for Nietzsche goes sour when her last Undine falls. I love some of the effect descriptions in battle, like Must Die. It's so simple, and lacking any compromise.

Thankfully Milanor wipes out that first Undine, so we're making progress.



You'll fetch a good price.

Say that again, and I shall strike you down!

*whistle* A feisty one, huh?

Nietzsche's out of this round. Yggdra will win easily against Ortega, and Steal's low power will keep him alive for Milanor. He'll have a battle penalty by then, so Milanor should have a safe victory.



Safe enough, anyways. Ortega goes down and drops his Kill Blade.






I use some Mov to bring Durant up a little, and the remaining two is used to get Milanor to liberate the town. Day's a good time to start the next phase of the battlefield.



Why are the Undines attacking humans now...?



Town Chief: Our town is safe, thanks to you.

Why are the Undines attacking you?

Town Chief: Well, what I hear is that they need human blood...

Huh? Why would they need that?

Town Chief: Those Undines are all women. They survive through rebirth. That Transmigrage, of theirs lets them do it, but... Someone made off with it not too long ago. Without that thing, they can't be reborn anymore. So they want human blood to make an eternal youth potion.

Human blood...?

What a load of bull! What kind of ass told them that one!?

Town Chief: I don't rightly know. Craziest thing I ever heard of...

….........

Town Chief: By the way... Have you heard? Imperial Army goons are mixed in with the attackers.

The Imperial Army?

Town Chief: Yep. Their clothes made them stand out a mile away. I don't know what they're up to, but be careful.

...Did he say the Imperial Army is mixed up in this?

If that's true, then this mess could be the Empire's doing...

To ruin our long-held peace... This is unforgivable.



Waiting for inevitable death... That is your peace?

Well, well, look who dropped in.

That's... the Empire's assassin squad!

We haven't got time to waste here! Let's finish this!



Elena... Sympathy has no place in war. Our duty is to carry out our missions perfectly.

….........



The Imperial Army... They've spread all the way out here...

Two Fencers, and two Assassins during the day. No problem.



Fuck you.



… This is my duty.



Elena moves down beside Nietzsche, but the two Fencers attack alone. Yggdra's looking good, but I'm not going to hold my breath for Milanor.



Eat shit.



Milanor manages to fight a close battle, but ends up losing. He drops to 2289 morale.




Zilva isn't too bad, with 2,2,2,3. Elena is weaker at 1,1,2,3. They'll have to be defeated with Milanor or Nietzsche again, so I can take their items. Night time will be a problem. I took the screen shot a little late; right now Elena has full morale.



The Fencer's are a solid 2,2,2,1, but shouldn't be a threat while we're on the offensive. With Mind Change's power, we should make short work of both of them, and the Undine.




The Undine goes down, as expected.



And Nietzsche wrecks her Fencer opponent.



Yggdra couldn't quite manage it. Her 2 Atk is really holding her back from decisive victories. Thankfully we're only 1 point away from 3 Atk.



Yggdra withdraws from the union again, and Nietzsche moves up, collecting a medallion. Durant uses up the rest of the Mov to get closer.



With the Imperial reinforcments here, the enemy Undines attack. Her and Elena go after Milanor, but we have the odds with us.





….........



This attack looks strongly in our favour. Zilva shouldn't be able to counter Nietzsche's weapon and water advantages, Elena has terrible stats vs Milanor, and that last Fencer won't do a thing against Nietzsche.



Not what I hoped. We held a strong advantage the entire fight, and Zilva's opening attack wasn't even that powerful. Oh well, it happens, and Nietzsche will recover this damage thanks to her spear.



Elena's taken down. Her stats are just too low to be much of a threat. The Fencer couldn't keep up against Nietzsche either, so he's gone.





...Don't make it worse for yourself.



Durant's Horse movement comes in handy again, and it allows me to get him formation beside Nietzsche by passing through Zilva. He grabs Elena's Gale Bow along the way. I picked this union formation because:
Nietzsche is up first, when Zilva has no penalty. Win or lose, Nietzsche will take basically no damage.
Durant attacks second, and even if he and Nietzsche win, Zilva will be alive. This is good, because Durant can't claim her item.
Milanor comes up third for the big damage hit, and goes against a battle penalty of 2.





Close, but not close enough.



The last Undine commits suicide.



Zilva will do a ton of damage though. I should have used Steal last turn. That extra two Mov would have allowed me to break up the union, so only one or two units would be attacked.





She claims three easy victories. Durant is down to 973 morale, and Milanor at 1827. Nietzsche is back to full at that start of our turn.



….........



I move Durant out of the way, so it's not possible he defeats Zilva.



It's unnecessary, as our Undine hero takes care of her.



Foul Imperials! What manner of scheme is this!?

Deceiving the Undines... Tormenting the innocent...

Scheme? You are mistaken. Tell me, what “scheme” do you have to help the Undines? Without the Transmigrage, their extinction is imminent...



...What did she mean...?





It's gonna get rough from here on out. With all the ruckus we made, they must have noticed.

Yes... I'm sure they're gathering troops to stop us.

But we can't simply leave things as they are. Let's go to Elise. I will speak with the queen of the Undines and end this war.

New Items

Healing Herb: Luk +2, Fragile - Cure Ailments - if this is equipped, and you gain a status ailment, the item will be destroyed and remove the status.

Kill Blade: Gen Down, Atk Up, 1 on 1 = win

Gale Bow: Tec +6, Instant Charge - Card skills will have 0 charge time, when they come up.

Steel Persona: Gen +4, Tec +2, Luk -2, Evade Panic

Closing Notes

If you don't find the village with Nietzsche in it, she'll join you after the battle but without her Coral Spear. She's handy to have since she can fight anything on the map, if she's on the lake.

I find the battle to be a bit of a clusterfuck. Against Ortega and his clowns it can be hard to predict the formation of their union when they attack, which is why I leave Durant out of it all together. He'll do poorly against the Undines, and lose vs the Bandits.

Undines: They take a while to kill, and it's hard to get a good position on them. For the most part, they just eat up turns, and I just squeaked the Quick Clear MVP in, since 18 turns is the limit.

Ortega: He can be annoying since you can't beat him one on one. Yggdra's Gen totally nullifies his Tec, so she's probably best to lead against him. The other characters do quite well when Ortega has a penalty. Nietzsche's good too, as we saw, if only because she can safely lose and she has a better position to fit Yggdra and Milanor into the union.

Part2: I always take a boat-load of damage here. It's hard to for a good defensive union ahead of time, because Assassins always suck to be on the receiving end of, and Milanor is in trouble with the Fencers there. Night is also a huge problem, but you can make one person take a loss for the team if you plan better than I did. Bringing Durant up earlier, so he can at least be available for part 2, should've been more of a priority when I think back.