Yep, my short breaks during chapters are never going to last, I get way too hyped up to keep playing.
Chapter 2 continued
Moving forward, and more importantly, Cuan gives Fin the Hero Lance. Fin has just upgraded from decent to KILL. Then it's time to advance and prepare to fight Voltz, get his Elite Ring on someone who can benefit from it, recruit Beowulf with someone rich (ie Sigurd, since he has two rings he doesn't need that he could sell sometime, on top of 30,000 gold on hand), and laugh at the fact that Voltz's squad are complete pushovers. Then Beowulf can give Lachesis some stats and then avoid the hell out of her because I don't want them paired, but the conversation is too good for her to pass up. Oh, and Dew talks to her too to give her the Thief Sword, which is a nice utility tool. Man, Lachesis is a popular lady.
So Ardan gets his Pursuit Ring, Ethlin kills Voltz to get Elite, which she'll use for a little while and then sell off to someone, probably Lachesis (who I want to have promoted by the start of chapter 4 at the latest). Everyone in the north forms a wall to wait for the legion of Voltz's buddies to swarm on into us, along with the much more dangerous armors from Anphony. Beowulf is stumbling around too, I wanted to recruit him a turn earlier than ended up being possible. Oh well, he's not even getting paired this time so I don't need to care too much. Things go smoothly, Sigurd kills Macbeth (and gets yet another ring, dude is getting rich) and we get told some plot stuff. The EEEEVVIIILLL Dukes Reptor (REPTOR best name ever) and Langbart are spreading rumours that Sigurd is a traitor (nothing will come of that, right?) and we hear about the backstory of the royal family and an affair between the prince and a woman named Sigyn (hey, that's the person whose children Manfloy is looking for), who is also the mother of Alvis. This seemingly innocuous little conversation gives us some pretty crucial details to understanding the story and why later events happen the way they do.
The foot units who gathered on the path to Mackily now might get to actually achieve something! Yay! And Ethlin runs off to Return Levin home so he can recruit Fury in a few turns. Alec follows because he wants to collect one of the villages (the one with the Cutter). Lex and Lachesis meet up for the first of many, MANY turns they'll be spending standing around together before they finally get the hint and start banging.
The canyon leading to Mackily is one of those cluster****s I "love" so much. Ballista covering the approach, lots of fairly dangerous enemies, including your first encounter with enemy mages, and Clement protecting himself with a Sleep Staff. Not an easy place to get through. But get through I do. Diedre breaks her Silence staff against Clement because...EXP. It's not like she'll ever have a chance to use it again, and I doubt anyone else will care about using it unless I feel like using it on Reptor in chapter 5. Everyone clears a path for Sigurd to go seize. Yay.
Another "break", who knows for how long. Before I do though, I'll mention that the Duke Knight boss that will be approaching me with a Horseslayer is Zyne. His portrait is awesome, because it gets used for like six different enemies throughout the game. Collectively, people refer to them as the Harolds, after the first boss of chapter 6, Harold. Zyne comes first, but his name isn't as catchy. ALL HAIL HAROLDS! WE SHALL HERALD THE COMING OF THE HAROLDS
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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny