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Chapter 8: Victory In Reach



Took them long enough, eh?









- - -



: Milady Linoan! Lady Aranea! We can't be very far from the castle now!

Hear that? I'm a lady, now.

: By my reckoning, we can reach castle Caelin in two days if we hurry.

: Only two more days... We have no time to waste! We must hurry!



: I can't wait to rake my lance against Lundgren's goons.

: Mmm... I suppose you can say that. Lundgren's gone too far with his little tirade. Marcia, I'm counting on you.

: 'Course!

Tank Marcia shall devestate all!

- - -



: Hm? What did you say?



: I feel it too. I'm sure of it. Ah! Milady, don't move!

: Hm?



Whiff.



: They have a ballista!

: Lord Lundgren is getting serious. Deploying siege engines is no mean feat.



: It's a weapon designed for long-distance attacks. Only Archers can use them, but they can be devestating.

If they hit a level 1 unpromoted unit. Maybe.

: Wow! Sounds like it'll be tough to fight! Is there any way we can fight it?

: The safest course is to use someone with good defense as bait, so the enemy wastes arrows.

: Then you can walk up and knock the fool on the head.



Gahhhhh he's back.

: If it's anything like a catapult, then...

: It's just a really big bow, right? We should be able to figure it out.

: All we can ask is that you try... Let's see what we can do!

Hahaha, they're not even being deployed.

- - -



Matt's out as usual... fine by me. Onward!

- - -

Right. So. That ballista?







Tank Marcia does not care for its existance. She kills it with a Javelin, for reasons.



Sakura can go out-mage some more mages. Well, a mage and a shaman.



Kid (along with Linoan) will handle the entire rest of the level.



Falling annoyingly short of a kill.



The mage decides he's really had enough of living, plinks Marcia for zero damage and eats two Javelins through the face in return.



Irritatingly, this guy feels the same. Best laid plans...



Here's why we gave her the Javelin. Effective damage? Who caaaaares. That ballista is as pristine as the day it was manufactured, now, and will remain so for the rest of the map.



Marcia goes to get healed, and we're going to modify the plan to include sending Sakura off to throw fireballs or thunderbolts over Kid's shoulder.



There there, murderess. We'll get you your kill quota.



Kid pokes a Cavalier.



End of turn, 'stache here gets angry.

: Call up for reinforcements, and rush 'em!



The Cavalier Kid wounded tries for revenge; fails spectacularly. This is the result.



On our turn, Marcia buffs her kill count...



Sakura continues fireballing people...



And Linoan can have a kill for old times' sake. And because Kid couldn't kill him this turn.



Staff users are so hard to level.



Also, this.



Old Man: Axes over lances and whatnot? This is important, so pay attention. There are some weapons that don't follow the normal rules. This here lancereaver is one of those. It's a sword that reverses the triangle. So if you wield this blade, you can best a lance with it. Of course, there's a downside... Axes can best this sword. Take this as a gift. It's your reward for listening to an old man ramble. Don't be so shy. It's not like I can use the thing. Not everyone can wield a sword of this caliber. I'm sure you know someone who can use it, though.

Got a Lancereaver.



I like the new sprite, actually. Speaking of...



The pirate (yes, he's a pirate now) over by the boss has one of these...





And the boss himself (+3 HP, +2 STR, +1 SKL, +1 SPD, +1 LCK, +3 DEF +1 RES, and raised to level 10 from 6) has the Axereaver. I really like that one, too.

Advance Kid, end turn.



A soldier and a troubadour have answered the call for reinforcements, and the brigand, deprived of a village to destroy, has started to advance on us.



Kid gives him what for.



Marcia is never to be outdone, and gains a level with style.



Quite a nice level.



On the enemy phase, a reinforcement spawns and runs straight into her lance.



And then she gets Lancereave'd. That one actually hurt. And she missed the counter.



Burn for your sins against Tank Marcia!



There, there. All better.



I'm going to try and be clever and bait mister Axereaver out with a sword user.



Mua ha ha ha... dammit. One HP.



Dammit, troubadour. The other one mysteriously decides not to heal him also.



Apparently it annoyed Kid as much as it did me.



Sakura has to break out the thunder to deal with the staff assholes.



And I do mean both of them.



Marcia deals with mister Swordreaver. There's only one guy left!



Jesus christ, Linoan. But no!



Sakura can also one-round the guy without retribution. She's lower level, so I let her do the honours.



: What's going on here?!

We just sort of left it alone, really.



Dohohoho.



Sakura is a leading cause of death in Lycia. Get informed.





Yeah you just made that joke. We heard. It just wasn't funny, no need to repeat yourself.



Bah.

- - -



: Yes. I see no more enemy soldiers. However, something is bothering me.

: What is it?

: I noticed it during the fighting. Our opponents... They were soldiers of Caelin. I even recognised some of those we fought. I trained with many of them... And yet they attacked us without hesitation.

Bullshit, Kent, you were on the bench the whole time.



: Good riddance, I say. It also means less resistance at the castle.

: I only hope you're right.



: If that first shot had hit me, I might not have survived.

Bullcrap. That archer sucked.

: We are honoured to have served you well.

: We won't let you down!

: I know. We're relying on you.



: Matthew? Where were you during all this?

: I went to the village to sniff about for information. I got some interesting news for my trouble, too.

: What's going on?

: First, about Marquess Caelin's illness. He really is unwell. He's been abed for nigh on three months.

What kind of shitty poison are they even feeding him?

: Ah! This is horrible!!

: I heard an interesting rumour about his condition, though. The people believe that someone's been poisoning the marquess...

: It's Lord Lundgren, isn't it?!

: And this someone... well, everyone's too afraid to mention a name. However, they say that as soon as the marquess took ill, a certain noble took control of the castle as though it were his own. I fed a hungry innkeeper some coin, and he fed me a name. The marquess of Caelin's own brother, Lord Lundgren!

Matt... Linoan pre-empted this like six text boxes ago. Also it's obvious. Keep up.



Yes you did.

: And they didn't do anything to stop it! It's just as Kent and Sain told me before...



Oh, hello.

: That's the truth of it. And of the marquess's loyal retainers who might have lent credence to these rumours, there is no sign.

: Are you saying they've been silenced?

: It's a fair assumption.



Yes... thank you.

: The worst news is yet to come.



: Rumour has it Lord Lundgren's getting aid... from none other than the Grandbell Empire.

: !!

: You've got to be freaking kidding me!

: You mean to tell us they know we're here?!

: Oh!! I can't believe they found us!

You are making quite a stir.

: And they still want us dead, it seems!

: And... Lundgren's using them to get to me?

Other way around, surely.

: Precisely. Another rumour has it that if they kill you and Prince Leaf, he'll be granted a high ruling spot here.

: That power-hungry fool!! He goes so far as to try and kill us and his own brother?! Just so he can get a secure ruling?!

Namedrop of an FE9 song!



: Ah?! There's still more?

My words... you took them.

: They say he's trying to enlist help from all of Lycia.



: He just wants us dead!! That no-good son of a...

Language, Raymond! We say dastard around these here parts.

: What do we do? If he sways the Lycian League to their side, then we're doomed. Our journey will be for nothing!

: We cannot let them stop us! We did not come this far... just to be bested by some desperate power-hungry fool!

: But we must formulate some manner of plan! Even if we set out for the castle, the troops patrolling the area will cause no end of problems. You've all been targetted by a large empire, after all.



: He seemed sympathetic to our plight... He should still be in Khathelet. If we can talk to him, he can help us!

: Hey, that's a good idea! It'll help get some pressure off!

: It's better than doing nothing!