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Beyond the Beyond: Update 51: The Second Blitzkrieg of Marion (reclamation of Marion pt. 1)
The last time we saw the team they were killing the Bandore garrison posted at the bridge between Marion and Zalagoon. With the floodgates opened and Zalagoon troops pouring into Marion the team heads out to join the offensive.
Which means they head first to Isla Village.
I'm worried about my mom, okay? I really hope she's ok.
Hey I'm not arguing. 
I meant no disrespect. I was just wondering what the intended goal was.
And if her mom's not okay then Annie's going to need some backup when she starts her rampage. I'm not arguing about that either!
The first thing the kids see is a distinct lack of soldiers milling about the entrance.
Mr. Nelson! What happened?
I guess Zalagoon's soldiers crossed the bridge to come here. Bandore troops left in a hurry for Marion Castle. What makes you say that? Was there fighting here in the village?
No. Suddenly all the soldiers in the village were called to the gate. They looked worried and I overheard them talking about soldiers from Zalagoon being seen to the north of here. A little while later all the Bandore soldiers left.
I guess news really does travel fast.
Does that mean that Zalagoon has come to our aid? Just sit tight here, ok? Things might get a little messy.
What constitutes the center of the village is calm.
Oh, Finn, Annie! I should have guessed I'd see you again. I assume you've heard the news. At last! Zalagoon's army is here to save Marion!
We don't just hear the news. We make news, OH YEAH!
Prraa. Tont's about ready to jump for joy.
So, Finn, you're the one who brought the troops here. Hurray!
Well the troops aren't literally here and even if they were I didn't bring them here or anywhere for that matter. They kind of go wherever they feel like going.
Close enough!
With equal parts worry and trepidation the team approaches Sonya's house. There are no soldiers out front and the house looks to still be in good condition.
It's so quiet. Do you think my mom is here?
I think I can see someone moving around inside through the window here. Okay, Finn why don't you knock? Uh, why do I have to?
Come on, don't argue with me here!
Okay, okay, hold your horses. I'm knocking.
After knocking on the door Finn and Annie take a step back. There is silence as no one answers.
Mom! It's me. Open the door.
Annie...
Mom what's wrong? All the soldiers are gone. It's safe to come outside.
The Bandore troops have not been defeated yet. Your father went to Marion Castle. You must cooperate with Finn and save Marion. Until then, I cannot see you.
(Why hello there clunky script. Good to see you again I guess.)
...Mom!
Steiner turns to Annie.
Annie, I'm sure your mom actually wants to see you. But, at the same time, she wants you to do well. Now, we must go to Marion Castle. But, I... I don't understand... Yes, you should go...
Upset, Annie turns away from the house.
Damnit this isn't making any sense! Why? Why Mom?
Hey there I'm sure she's got her reasons. It can't have been easy for her these last few months. You know she cares about you, right? I'd still feel better about this if she wasn't literally locking me out of my own house. Hey I'm locked out too. That's got to count for something, right?
*smiles* You silly jerk. Gotta always be about you, right?
I'm looking forward to things going back to normal around here. What kind of normal is it going to be though? That's the question.
Whatever we want it to be.
...I can get behind that.
The door to the house really is locked and the kids cannot enter. This is your regularly scheduled reminder that the only place to store items and money is in the basement of this very house and we still can't get to it. Thanks, game!
Isla was pretty deserted before but with the Bandore soldiers gone it's practically a ghost town.
I wonder where everyone went?
Surely most of the village wasn't arrested. They must have fled to somewhere safer.
Even people who were in Isla Village just days prior have vanished.
Sir Samson! It's good to see you again.
Who...? Oh, I remember you now. It's been a long time.
It has but this confirms the rumors. At last! Zalagoon's army is here to save Marion! I knew they would come to help! Hurray!
My being here confirms Zalagoon has come to help Marion?
Bandore has fled ahead of your might. What other reason would they have to do so?
You always knew how to flatter people.
With nothing more to do in Isla the team heads towards Marion Town and the castle. Things seem to be calm and the castle doesn't appear to be on fire. I'm sure we can fix both of those things if we feel like it though.
The moment they cross the bridge the team sees a dead Zalagoon soldier. The two Bandore soldiers who were previously standing watch by the bridge are gone so it's pretty easy to figure out Zalagoon has been busy fighting for Marion.
They didn't waste any time did they?
We should check around town and make sure the enemy isn't holed up anywhere. Sounds like a plan to me.
To their west the team sees a woman standing by the river.
Weren't you kids here a few days ago? Maybe. What's going on?
Isn't it obvious? Troops from Zalagoon suddenly poured into town and started attacking Bandore. You seem pretty happy about that.
I am! Who started the rumor that Zalagoon will surrender to Bandore? That was totally untrue! Zalagoon would never abandon us!
Inside the inn the old woman and her daughter are hunkered down waiting for the battle to end.
Now that Zalagoon troops have arrived, does it mean we can finally cross to Zalagoon?
It's probably best if you sit tight for awhile. It's kind of chaotic out there and if Bandore tries to retake the bridge you definitely don't want to be there.
Ok. Hopefully this will be over quickly.
Thanks to those Bandore jerks on the bridge the team's MP supply is badly depleted. Fortunately despite the fact that there's a battle raging in Marion Castle at this very moment the game has no problem calling a time out and letting to team go take a nap.
Don't worry we're on RPG time here! Nothing of any significance will happen until we get there to witness it.
Upstairs the poet is still at his table. How does this guy afford spending months at this inn?
I should have you known you guys would turn up.
What makes you say that?
Looks like Zalagoon troops are here. I'm not skilled enough to take part, but I can encourage them with words! I don't know why but I can't shake the feeling you all are somehow responsible for this. What? 'Cause we wander around the country at historically significant moments?
That coincidence had crossed my mind.
I'm using this particular screenshot in order to point out a certain awkwardness about English. The way these two sentences are phrased the statement "Their soldiers are running away" could be read to apply to the Zalagoon soldiers because the 'their' can easily be seen as referring to the object of the previous statement, which in this case would be 'Zalagoon soldiers'. One humurous way of reading this would be to say that Zalagoon soldiers surprised Bandore (the nation, since the original statement doesn't specify who in Bandore) by appearing and then turning around and running away. That certainly would be surprising!
The context of the situation makes it clear that what these two lines mean is that the Bandore soldiers are the ones running away. I actually had to read this a few times to make sure I understood what this guy was saying. Both sentences are grammatically correct but should have been edited a bit. You could even combine the two into something like "Zalagoon soldiers surprised Bandore and now Bandore's soldiers are running away!"
Anyway, I digress, let's return to the search of Marion Town.
I never thought I'd live to see this day! Zalagoon soldiers surprised Bandore. Their soldiers are running away!
Where did they go?
Into the castle, no doubt to protect the emperor.
Heading towards the church the kids notice more dead bodies and also the fact that all the signs have been ripped out of the ground and are missing. It's hard to think that the Zalagoon soldiers would bother to stop and do that so I assume some of the local townsfolk decided to join the fray via vandalism.
Thank you, great Arawn, for sending Zalagoon to our aid!
Well someone's happy.
We're both happy. It was another quiet day then [s]uddenly, Zalagoon soldiers arrived! What a surprise! But, Bandore's soldiers were more surprised than I was! From the look of things it seems to be mostly over already.
The soldiers rushed towards the castle. Do you think there's still fighting going on inside?
I kind of dread to think of what the Vicious Ones might be doing right now.
Hey if Zalagoon takes care of that Shutat guy we won't have to worry about it.
The streets of Marion are littered with the corpses of the dead. It's like we just missed a tsunami of violence rolling on through towards the castle.
The old man is still in his house.
It sounds like there's a battle going on outside. What's happening?
It's sounds like a battle because it is a battle. Zalagoon's here to save the day!
You said Zalagoon has come?
That's right. We've got this under control. No need to worry. Sure we do.
Hey at the moment it's totally true. Do you see any Bandore troops around? I don't.
I have a feeling you're soon going to be eating those words.
The house next door however is locked showing that at least one person in town has some sense in them.
Just to the south is the same man who was pretty bummed out the last time we saw him.
Everyone really is happier now. Even that guy.
I'm pretty sure the Bandore soldiers aren't happy right now.
They don't count. I'm not arguing with you. I'm looking forward to ruining their days some more.
You kids came back at a good time. Just look at what's happened! I'll bite. What has happened, human? Help from Zalagoon! Looks like the hero Samson didn't forsake his kingdom after all!
You realize I'm standing right here don't you?
EEP! Um, of course. We all knew you were doing the best you could for Marion.
Sure you did. I think the town is secure. How about checking the castle now?
Yes, please do.
The team approaches the castle but aside from another pair of corpses (there's one just barely visible on the left) there are no signs of damage. Just once I'd like to see a fortress actually sustain battle damage in one of these games. A lone surviving Zalagoon soldiers stands by the door into the keep.
What are you doing here?
I'm here to make sure no one from Bandore escapes through this gate. What are you guys doing here?
Before much longer I'm going to be living here again. You're with the rebellion then? This door isn't locked so go on in any time. Has there been much fighting in the castle?
I think Bandore is in full retreat. I've been hearing fighting up on the battlements above but its been quiet for awhile now. Honestly there's been a lot less resistance then we expected.
Weird. So what happened to the Vicious Ones? Did they just cut and run? It wouldn't surprise me if they did.
I haven't seen anyone unusual and for that I'm grateful. It's getting cloudy... I think a storm is approaching. Let's end this battle.
Marion's always cloudy this time of year.
The first thing that happens as soon as the team walks in the door is that the game grabs the camera to focus on four soldiers squaring off, or about to do a square dance, one of the two.
The soldier in Marion's colors rushes forward only to get checked by the Bandore soldier on the left.
Then the Bandore soldier on the right joins in, juggling their helpless prey back into the air...
...where the third Bandore soldier finishes the job. It would be slapstick if it wasn't so deadly.
We should hurry to the back of the castle. We must guard the Emperor!
Then the Bandore stooges run over to the staircase up and hurry out of sight.
What just happened?
We watched someone rush into their own death.
The Bandore trio didn't pull any punches that's for sure.
Annie is there anything you can do?
No. He's gone.
From the look of things he's not the only one.
Uhhh, guys, more soldiers are coming!
Just because the Bandore trio has run off doesn't mean the front hall is safe. Far from it actually. Marion Castle is positively crawling with enemies at the moment with an encounter rate that is sky high.
Said soldiers are no pushovers, as the scene the team saw when they entered the castle hinted at.
Hey we've taken guys like these before. What's the problem?
You've killed soldiers of Bandore? Then I will avenge them!
Hey you assholes attacked us, remember? We're just here to kick you out.
They could always surrender. That's still an option.
Bandore surrender? Are you nuts kid?
No but I have a feeling that in a few minutes you're going to be dead. Probably. I might even contribute to that.
Don't underestimate us, Marion scum! We are some of the finest soldiers of Bandore and we will protect the emperor!
FOR THE EMPEROR! Urmph!
Finn!
So that's how the first turn went. Because consistency over a 10 minute span of game time is apparently hard these soldiers are a step up from their compatriots on the bridge. The hit points, attack, and defense are largely the same but these sword wielders get two turns each round and thus get to attack twice. It's not easy to kill them on that first turn so they often get both attacks in.
How dare you hurt my friend, DIE!
Magic is of course useful but still limited by MP caps so I've got to ration its use.
You scallywags have fouled the good name of Marion enough!
Scallywags?
It was the best I could think of on such short notice.
Still, magic isn't needed when critical hits and critical counter attacks can do the job.
Good thing we've got Healing Rain!
I seem I am going to be getting a workout today in more ways than one.
Oh and there's one more thing that has to be shown before the team goes any further.
Warning! Animated GIF!
I have Bandore soldiers raining down from the sky! This is the soldier's spawning animation. I don't even know what to make of this. Are they crawling around on the ceiling searching for someone to attack?
I will say this about magic: it doesn't get blocked by a random roll of the dice.
You guys aren't going to make this easy for us are you? Sorry, kid, can't hear you over the sound of you whiffing. Everyone's a comedian.
Tont doesn't just spam Firedrake. Because he's a stubborn kid at times he uses Summon 3 a lot.
Okay what do we have this time? Come on be something cool!
A Black Aerial appears.
Or be some sort of spirit. Okay, that's, uhm... Let's see what you can do.
The Black Aerial casts Wind level 2.
Ok that's kind of impressive.
It's like we're staring into our future.
Hey yeah but since we know what the future holds we can do something about it.
You mean train to improve my healing spells? Yeah I think I'm going to need to dedicate some time to that.
There sure are a lot of Dark Bishops with the soldier formations but said bishops are pretty weak compared to their allies, especially when said allies are hiding behind the bishop. It's like the developers knew they needed to throw another enemy into the formations here but didn't feel like coming up with another type of soldier so they just stuck the closest level priest in and called it a day.
One thing the bishops do well is soaking hits allowing archers to survive long enough to attack. I can't ignore them or they'll heal their allies so these battles always start by attacking the bishop. Although they don't attack twice archers are perfectly capable of critical hits with their arrows as Finn demonstrates by taking a hefty 26 damage.
Ugh, I'll be glad when this day is over.
I think you missed some splinters, Finn.
I'll worry about them later.
On the other hand the experience and gold rewards for these formations are very nice. An underleveled team would struggle to win battles but would level up pretty fast. With an inn in town and the high encounter rate it would be manageable, if tedious. Sneaking around, however, is pretty tough. The No Encounters code doesn't work (which isn't terribly surprising given this is a specially-tailored event) and my team of level 20 badasses can't ever seem to successfully run away. An underleveled team would have no choice but to stand their ground and fight every encounter to the death.
I didn't change my 'no run' policy I just wanted to poke around and check things so after everything was said and done I used savestates to revisit events. Getting around the castle was actually an annoying pain in the butt.
As-is Annie's struggling to keep up. Healing Rain is still her workhorse but now and then Finn needs to pitch in with Heal 1 or 2.
He needs to do that because between double attacks, critical hits, and plenty of enemies that get two turns damage adds up quick. Turns spent groggied are turns where Finn isn't attacking and we really need him to keep attacking! He and Annie just have to heal the team up between every fight.
It isn't long before the team needs a recharge. I didn't even get very far in the castle. I literally just walked around the first floor making sure I didn't miss anything getting attacked every few steps. I didn't want to go upstairs already down half the team's MP so it was off to the inn. It's right there so they might as well use it, right?
We are on RPG time after all.
As if they weren't doing well enough to survive my first turn onslaughts the sword soldiers can and will heal each other with Healing Herbs (which heal for 20-23~ish hit points). Since they get two turns they can even attack in the same round! Fortunately enemies only seem to be able to use items they carry once otherwise you could get some amusing healing loops.
The door to the treasure? Still locked.
Prrr. You're quite frustrated by this door, Finn. I really want to know what's on the other side.
What if it's just the bathroom?
I'd still want to be able to see for myself.
Somebody could be locked in there.
I don't hear anyone moving on the other side.
It's a storage room, Finn.
Soooo there might be treasure in there? I don't remember. It's been a long time since anyone went in there.
Wait, we're going upstairs? Yeah I want to know where those soldiers are running off to.
As the team reaches the top of the stairs the Bandore Stooges run off towards a staircase heading back downstairs. This is almost Scooby Doo level antics. There had better not be another kraken involved!
Did anyone else just hear running? Yeah, I did. They're going to the back gate. That's probably where the emperor is. Then shouldn't we follow them?
I want to know why we didn't just come in from that side.
It's... pretty dangerous actually. There's a drawbridge and well...
Well what, Sir Samson?
Things don't always turn out the way people plan them to.
The team steps out onto the battlements.
Finn far be it from me to question your sense of direction but this is the opposite direction that those soldiers went.
I know. I kinda want to flush out any Bandore troops still up here and look for prisoners.
Prisoners?
Yeah. The last time Annie and I were here they were holding someone in one of the towers.
Oh yeah...
It's quiet here. Yeah. Let's head upstairs, start from the top, and work our way down. I don't want any surprises.
Up on on the third floor there's still no sign of the Vicious Ones and a dead Zalagoon soldier. There are no random encounters on the exterior map so I am at a loss to explain how this particular soldier died.
Hmm, that reminds me. Finn you see that tower over there?
Yes. What about it? Follow me.
Ok. Should be... right here. *fiddles with a hidden switch*
Stepping into a hidden room in the tower the team finds a treasure chest.
This place is so tiny and cramped and TREASURE! Gimme, gimme! One track mind... I was pretty sure there was something hidden up here and if there was it would cheer him up.
Why yes there is a hidden room in Marion Castle and yes you do enter by walking behind a nondescript tower on the third floor and yes it is extremely easy to miss. How is the player supposed to know it exists? Well there is a hint in the game. Waaaay back in update six there was this fellow in Marion Castle:
(west 2) I was the one who found the Prince hiding in one of the castle turrets, but the Lieutenant took all the credit.
It is a tiny and obtuse hint and if you don't remember that far back take heart because the only reason I remember is because I've been transcribing all the dialogue and going over it with a fine-toothed comb. This is why I talk to absolutely everyone.
What does the Source of Courage do? Well we won't see for awhile. Until then it goes into the pack for a rainy day.
Oh and there is nothing in the other tower. Finn walks behind it and is obscured just like one would expect would happen with such a set piece further obfuscating the fact that one tower can be entered. Without some sort of guide a player pretty much has to blunder into the hidden room by accident. If you wander around the castle interior maps with a walk-through-walls code there's a chance you'll run across it since it shares a screen with other rooms. Otherwise it's just by accident or by using an FAQ.
Next time on Beyond the Beyond - we finish kicking Bandore out of OUR castle.
