Saturday 20 July 2013

A Tactician's Journal 20 - Battle in the Harbour

Last time, Red and the Shepherds had a battle at sea. That pretty much sums things up, so I guess we can get straight in to today's entry into the tactician's journal.

Chapter 15 - Smouldering Resistance
After our victory at sea, we arrived at Valm Harbour. Noting that the harbour was well fortified, Chrom ordered for the troops to be prepared, before something caught his attention. It appeared that a lone woman was being run down by a group of "Valmese dogs", as Frederick put it. Of course, as Shepherd's we immediately ran to her aid.

The woman had noticed our arrival, although she was cornered by a pair of knights. Chrom told us to make saving the woman a priority, and recommended visiting the few homes at the harbour to see how the people were faring. We started the battle on a beach, with some cavalry and knights to our west. Fortunately, the sandy beach slowed their advance.
As for our other enemies, they were mostly cavalry and knights, and not on any sand. There were a couple of mages present as well. To get to the woman, we needed to fight our way through and around a partition. Tharja and I were first to move it, using our magic to make light work of a couple of cavaliers.
A general was easily taken down by Cherche, who was partnered with Virion for back up. Everyone else advanced after the first few enemies were cleared out; the foes on the beach weren't worth bothering with until they had drawn closer.
The woman being attacked by the Valmese knights didn't have a weapon of her own, although she was to dodge their attacks until the Shepherds were able to kill the knights that had her cornered. Despite not having a weapon, she was carrying a concoction, which allowed her to deal with any wounds she may have received.
During the battle, I managed to become experienced enough to use a skill called Ignis. It allowed me to combine half my magic strength with my physical strength, or half my physical strength with my magical strength. Either way, it allowed me to perform stronger attacks, which would be a boon in this battle and all the ones we had waiting for us.
Thanks to Minerva (her wyvern), Cherche was first to reach the knights who had cornered the woman. Once the knights had been defeated, Chrom spoke with the woman. At this point, the enemies on the beach were now close enough to defeat. Sumia, Ricken, Miriel, Tharja and I were waiting for them at the harbour's beach entrance, with Lissa nearby in case of any injuries.
When Chrom spoke to the woman, she knew him straight away. Apparently she knew of our cause, although she suggested discussing it after the battle. Regardless, Say'ri the swordmaster added her strength to ours.
Shortly after that, Lucina managed to acquire a steel sword from an enemy, which she handed over to Say'ri. Being a swordmaster, Say'ri was a welcome addition to our side for her swift attacks.
The enemy's commander was a dark knight named Farber. He possessed an Arcfire tome, fairly powerful fire magic. Tharja and I inflicted quite a bit of damage upon him, allowing Say'ri to strike the final blow.

Once the enemy had been routed, Say'ri thanked us for the help, said how the tales of our strength had not been exaggerations. Say'ri officially introduced herself, and told us that she fought with the resistance. Chrom asked about the resistance; Say'ri revealed that several groups had formed to seek liberty for the states of Valm.
Despite what Chrom thought, the emperor hadn't been able to rid himself of dissenters. Say'ri had been struggling to bring all the rebels together, in order to put an end to the Conqueror's reign. However, things weren't going smoothly; some dynasts refused to take up arms unless their territory was threatened, whilst others only sought profit.
Say'ri then told us that her brother was fighting for Walhart, although she didn't know the reason why. This was another factor that was preventing her from having any great success in creating a resistance. Say'ri told us that if she met her brother, Yen'fay, on the battlefield, she would not hesitate to cut him down.
The news that Walhart had more than a million soldiers was quite a shock to Lissa. Say'ri, however, didn't think that a million would be enough to go against the "Ylissean dogs of war", who were able to stop one thousand of Walhart's ships. Say'ri then begged for Chrom's help.
Chrom acknowledged that it what Say'ri asked was no easy task, and he knew of a great battle to come. However, he didn't know if it would be the one against Walhart. Even with his own mission in mind, Chrom agreed to join our cause to hers.
Of course, we would need something to get the people united, and Say'ri seemed to have something in mind...

Getting into a fight not even five minutes after arriving on Valm... I get the feeling that our journey on this continent is going to be a difficult one. Still, I hope that Say'ri is able to pull through with her plan. Naturally we'll be backing her every step of the way, but it seems that this Walhart will prove to be an extremely formidable foe.

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