The Pumpkin Mandomizer is a fun little set of rules I’ve made for myself in order to make my Hard Mode True Ending playthrough more interesting.
Basically, while I am free to use any unit I want at any time during the playthrough, I’ve randomly selected the above team, and am required to bring them into the final battle.
I hope you enjoy coming along with me for the ride, and feel free to give strategy suggestions in the comments below!
Chapter 6: The Set Trap
Roy and company are welcomed into Thria Manor by Marquess Orun’s assistant, Wagner. They’re told that the Marquess is ill, and needs to be left alone to rest. Roy finds this odd, and while bringing it up to Merlinus, a young thief by the name of Cath appears, informing him that she overheard that Wagner assassinated Orun and is planning to capture Roy to sell him to Bern.
Merlinus objects to Roy trusting this random girl, so Roy devises a plan–he tells Wagner that they have to be going to get to Ostia ASAP, which prompts Wagner to claim that he couldn’t possibly let them go without so much as a single night of accommodation–after all, the Marquess would scold him so!
Roy offered to explain the situation directly to Orun… and the jig was up from there. Wagner admitted to his sins, and ordered everyone to kill the army and kidnap Princess Guinivere.
Seeing a battle beginning to form, Dorothy and Saul mention that there are soldiers stationed outside the manor. Hoping to avoid getting surrounded or chased down, Roy chooses to battle his way through the manor in the hopes of seizing it.
Ahh, to finally have access to Battle Preparations! I can bench the dead weight, focus on my good units, and get to shuffle my items around. It’s a godsend to not have to engage in a trading sequence rivaling that of an optional Zelda sidequest to make sure everyone has what I want them to have every single time I restart a map.
However, not coincidentally, I was able to beat this first try. I took it really slow–I have a lot of babying to do in a unit like Dorothy, so I made sure to try and let her take the final blow on as many enemies as I could. While I wouldn’t dare make the claim that she’s anything approaching good, I can say with some surprise that she seems a fair bit better than Wolt (which isn’t saying much, but still). She seemed to be dealing relatively consistent damage while also doubling and having accuracy above the low 50s. So hopefully, if I can consistently set up kills for her and get some decent levelups, she’ll not be total dead weight… on Player Phase, at least. I also took a lot of time to clean out reinforcements and such, just to maximize the experience I get.
I got Sue, but denied her request for a bow and promptly sat her on the bench. I 100% want to go to Ilia on this playthrough, so Nomads are a No-No! I’m also glad to get Saul and Dorothy, so I have a decent amount of characters that I will be consistently using throughout the entire run. I’m also looking forward to snagging Zelot next chapter! I think I’ll give him the Goddess Icon I found in this one. I did the math, and if you level up every character in the game the maximum amount of times you can, the character with the expected lowest Luck (in the game, not on my team) is Saul with 7.1, and then Zelot at 7.85. Considering Saul won’t be seeing as much combat as Zelot, I think he could use it a lot more.
Overall, I’m glad I got a relatively lax chapter, but… yeah. Ostia’s next, so…
Upon killing Wagner and overcoming his trap, the party receives a message from Ostia. With news of Marquess Hector’s death, a faction of the Ostian army betrayed the country, intending to escape Bern’s wrath by doing so. They’ve overtaken the castle and its surrounding city, and have taken Hector’s daughter Lilina hostage.
Upon hearing this news, Roy and company hurry to Ostia to see what’s become of the biggest city in their country.
Chapter 7: The Ostian Rebellion (beginning)
Castle Ostia has fallen. General Leganse of Ostia and his subordinate, Debias, are having trouble with the mercenary knight troop of Ilia, whom Hector had contracted to aid them against Bern before his death. Their loyalty as mercenaries, however, have caused them to recognize the Ostian rebels as the enemy of their contractor, so they continue to fight on.
Further complicating the rebellion’s plans, however, is the arrival of Roy’s army. Leganse tells Debias to take care of the armies outside, and that he’ll hold the castle should Debias fail. General Narcian of the Bern will be arriving shortly, and they want to make sure to have the city ready to hand directly over to Bern’s control.
Upon arriving, Roy sizes up the situation. With information from Merlinus’ scouts, he decides the best course of action is to attempt to meet up with the Ilian mercenaries and enlist their help against a common enemy. But even their combined efforts would probably be no match for the main Bern army, so Roy drafts a letter to the neighboring country of Etruria.
One of their generals, Cecilia, was one of Roy’s teachers at his time studying abroad in Ostia. He hopes to appeal to her for aid. Merlinus objects to giving a foreign country such diplomatic leverage over Lycia, but Roy argues that a Lycia indebted to Etruria is better than a Lycia conquered by Bern.
With the letter sent and battle preparations begun, the army sets out to take back Ostia.
I didn’t get far into this chapter at all; Diecke unfortunately lost his life on turn two or three, so I reset. I’m excited that Zelot is here, but unfortunately it seems that getting both him and Trec over to safety is going to be interesting. Hopefully they don’t go too crazy and start running off to get themselves killed on the enemies. Who knows!
We’ll have to wait until next week.
And of course, here’s how it all went.