Bethany Plays: PoR Chapter 25: Eat rock

With ease, I might add, Lucia.

Technically true, but I wonder how large this is comparatively. Then again, writers and their numbers.

And we're still getting reinforcements!

Well, we've gotta get to them first.

Remember when I told you to think about the title of Chapter 12? This is when that comes into play. Strange Lands has almost nothing to do with the content of this chapter, or the Japanese title (山岳を越えて, "beyond the mountains"). I wonder why it's so close to Chapter 12's title, though.

We'll be starting in Phoenicis Hall, with Leanne. Lots of translations to do!

[King Tibarn!]

[Today I am feeling most splendid.]

Bit of a way of phrasing that, but Leanne really does feel like the sort of character to say that.

[I am growing used to the smell of the sea.]

She apparently spent lots of time with Naesala in the past... maybe that was just in Serenes, with Naesala visiting her?

I was about to say something about my feelings on the ocean breeze, before realising how close I live to the ocean (not, like, that close) and that I don't have a sense of smell to even tell if I'm close enough.

Oh yeah, dad is still alive.

[...Unchanged......]

Well, unchanged from how Leanne knows him. So much for seeing his precious daughter helping him. Again, this man survives to see the ending of Radiant Dawn. It's like he's so forgettable the plot forgets to kill him.

[...Yes!]

Of course, the point of this conversation is to flex on the new guy. This is Lotz. Don't get attached, he's not playable.

Apparently Reyson was just like this too. I'm not entirely sure why the herons speak nothing but.

I am not figuring out how to type Ancient to make the joke I want to make here.

Reyson has learned to write in modern, too! How helpful.

...Wait, what letter?

How is Tibarn holding it that this is doable?

[A letter?]

Tibarn took Reyson sneaking out and joining our army in good humour. I'd think the game has stopped caring about whether or not we ditched him, but they do have another check later.

This letter is to inform Tibarn of this, since 99% of playthroughs have deprived Tibarn of his usual way of finding this information out.

[What good news! So he's doing well, isn't he?]

One other thing about this letter: it's slightly ambiguous whether or not Reyson sent this letter. Not hleping matters is that I don't know for what reason Reyson wants to make this request.

Because, well, this.

Please can you teach Leanne Canto and bring her along? You don't even need to spring for an Occult to teach Blessing!

[I'll go with you!]

(But what about Lorazieh?)

[But...!]

But what about Leanne's feelings, Tibarn?

[...Big meanie!!]

Yep, sounds like Tibarn.

This comes after a dialogue sequence about Tibarn putting his "plan" into action. I have no idea what this plan does entail.

Lotz is on packing duty with the woman he can't understand a word out of. Sounds like a recipe for comedy!

[Please put that cloth in here.]

Why is "she is speaking another language, talk louder" a universal idea?

[Tee hee! You're not very smart! I wasnt you to take this. and put it in here.]

Savage.

Not that he didn't deserve it, a little.

[Yes, yes.]

Leanne: Pats head condescendingly.

[Ah! Aaaaahhhh!!!]

Good grief, Leanne even screams in another language. If this wasn't a text-based medium, we, the audience, would have no problem identifying this as a sound of terror.

[Who's there!?]

You know that horror movie cliche where you just want to scream out "look behind you?" Imagine if it was about ten times dumber. In what universe is looking behind you of your own accord not your first instinct?

Lotz gets stabbed by sound effect. ~~Honestly, he had it coming.~~

[Lotz! No! Let him go!]

...He is still alive, to tell Tibarn what happened in dramatic fashion, but this is an odd choice of words.

Hey, do you reckon Ulki heard this? (Where is Ulki if we didn't recruit him anyway?)

This is also, by a large margin, the biggest impact Lorazieh's existence makes on the plot. Of both games.

[...Brother...]

Leanne is definitely talking about Reyson here, although "Oh brother" works just as well in this situation. I wonder if the Japanese have the same pun.

Black Knight: "I'm a prodigy!"

...The Cambridge dictionary's definition of "the prodigal son returns" implies the Black Knight left in some kind of disgrace. That... does not fit this. At all.

"You all look the same to me", except Leanne and Lillia probably did look exceptionally similar.

The Black Knight knows about Lillia. I'm not sure how long the Black Knight is supposed to have worked for Ashnard, but sure.

"Pah", he says. Ashnard is probably exerting enough Chaos to sicken a heron just by existing.

He really does not think herons are worth the time.

The Black Knight requests that he not get sent to capture Reyson because Ashnard got Leanne killed.

Because it's not like the Black Knight just waltzed in.

Did the Black Knight have a hand in the Reyson letter? It's the main reason Tibarn wasn't there in Phoenicis when the Black Knight moved.

The Black Knight could and would be making this crap up, but other characters later do mention that Warp Powder is indeed very draining. Probably why it isn't everywhere, other than perhaps rarity. Though that does mean that after the Black Knight's impressive exits, he is probably panting like mad in some other part of the continent.

Where does the Black Knight get this junk, anyhoo?

Not that Ashnard is complaining.

Rajaion was not procured by the Black Knight, to be clear. Also... yeah. Ashnard has the same deal as the Black Knight. Trust me, this file is capable of seeing the credits roll. The game is not that mechanically cruel.

Ashnard wants everything! Everything to further his lofty ambition!

"Do I need to reschedule your 4 o'clock?"

"...That is not an answer, sir."

I dunno, I think "Lotz is stabbed and Leanne is missing" makes things pretty obvious.

Is either kidnapped or hiding in some closet.

Better question.

The game is in the kind of odd position of this describing both the Black Knight and Daein generics. I think the JP could do something slightly better about this, but I honestly don't know for sure.

...They just did. (And Lotz is now dead.)

No better way to introduce a new female character quite like the MVP being the other character of the same class.

Not only do Lucia and Bastian start with their Support at the ready, but Bastian can Support Volke right off the bat too. Bastian/Volke is a good one to do for lore. It's also Volke's only Support.

In terms of Supports I'll be bothering to show off, Nephenee and Calill hit A.

Nephenee went off to gather something.

Beedle nuts, specifically. These do not appear to be a real crop, to my disappointment. I tried looking up what ロシュ is, but I got a lot of results for a pharmaceutical company and few for an actual plant.

So now that we've established what it ain't, let's talk about what it am.

If the JP name was intentionally based on the pharmaceutical company, it is a fitting name. ~~And makes it that much more difficult to narrow my search~~.

I was about to ask what trees do you have, but deforestation hasn't hit these people as badly as it's hit us yet.

Calill would like to eat one.

There's a trick to it, though, that if you're not aware of it, will catch you unawares.

...Um...

Surprise!

"Why can't it be both?"

Same general statement, but two very different ways of going about it.

...I wouldn't say that.

As long as Nephenee's OK with it, I guess.

That is completely the wrong reaction.

Three Info conversations today, in a random order of importance. Admittedly, the 3 star conversation with "Man" is technically missable.

Who is this sassy lost child, and how did he get here?

Another point for the "Daein is evil" bingo card.

It'd be endearing if it weren't so horrifying.

Headpats.

Oh yeah, we were supposed to be learning something from this kid.

This hint is both more and less useful than it appears.

...Can we please talk to somebody else?

Ah, yes, Bastian, that will help soothe the nerves. It's possible that Bastian might be the last "Ike talks to a recruited character" conversation. Shame some of the later characters seem to have missed out.

Ike must be running out of minutes.

Bastian spends most of this conversation in iambic pentameter, which honestly kind of usually makes my eyes glaze over. I'm going to do my best to translate each line he has this time, though, to understand what he's actually saying here.

Translation: "Some generals just expect their soldiers to be ready at all times. Your approach is better!"

"Only when things go badly for our uncaring generals do the consequences of their poor choice come to haunt them."

"Is a general who does not care for his men fit to lead at all?"

I feel comforted by the fact Ike is just as confused.

"Good work, Ike, for being approachable and enjoyable to talk to!"

"I wasn't sure what to expect from you when I first heard a mercenary found Elincia, so I resolved to carefully study your actions."

"You could've been some nasty monster ready to abuse Elincia to claim her wealth and power!"

"And if that was the sort of man you were, I would have you 'disappeared'."

Keep this in mind if Bastian and Volke having a Support piques your interest.

"But look at the man who stands before me! A mercenary that is almost as noble, if not more so, than the nobles I am surrounded by!"

Ike is a master of sleeping with his eyes open.

The game is not encouraging people to listen to what Bastian just said, is it?

"You have worked yourself so hard, you don't even know how tired you are."

"I was thinking of having some tea, and you might benefit from a cup yourself."

It's like he's talking to someone speaking another language!

"I'm happy to hear it. I've also got some stories to help pass the time and make you feel more at ease."

Is... is Bastian sassing Ike?

Here's our mysterious "Man" with something to give us. Well, give to the general. ~~Who is us.~~

Does this sound familiar? It sounds a little familiar to me.

No idea what "world-class berserker" means, especially since Berserkers are promoted... Bandits.

Tiger or tiger laguz? Does Tellius even have the former?

...Bit of an odd line, but we need to keep the joke going.

Especially when you follow up with this.

Don't worry, he won't run away with our money.

Ike's starting to realise he remembers having this conversation.

Hey, did you just break one of our lances, or did you bring your own?

...So what happens if we don't hire him?

Ike: Sorry, but I'm not going to be able to hire you. We've got more than enough axe- wielders already.

Largo: That so? That's all right, I can handle it. I'm a man. I can take rejection. Well, good luck out there, little man. No regrets, right? Save those for when you're dead.

Ike: Yeah... right.

Well, I both respect and am utterly horrified by that line. But well, we have three axe wielders. I think.

Not that we'll be using this one.

Believe it or not, that's Ike.

Largo seems to be in "not".

A bit more than Calill was, at any rate.

Oh hey, they know each other! Calill is a requirement to recruit Largo. Although I think you do still get the conversation, you just get locked on "don't pick up Largo".

Calill will be staying with us for a little longer, I'm afraid.

Largo decided he'd better join in and help out. Which is odd, because we found Calill shopping in Begnion, recruited her in Daein, and now got Largo in Crimea. Were they just following us or something? For what it's worth, the artbook (and actually one of Largo's Supports!) confirms these two to be Begnion by birth.

Apparently.

Largo, like in his unrecruited branch, takes things in good stride. Overall, I like Largo.

If you are interested in using him, even if it is kind of late to get a new character in your ranks, he is very usable. He has a bit of a bulk issue- his HP is massive, but his defence is bad and his avoid is moderate- but he hits and he hits hard. Give him a bit of speed and you have a worthy contender for that last team slot you may or may not have been worried about.

If they're talking about the laguz, this is easier to wrap my head around (tigers are so big I still doubt Largo's ability to even have hands big enough to do the job), but it does raise the question of why.

Undoubtedly.

...If it happened.

Even if we're not using him, he does come with some nice axes.

I want to give Lucia more than a quick "you're benched", against my better judgement, so I forge her a sword to help her overcome her "15 strength" woes.

The Crimeans have a little in common with the French, so a name that used a French loanword seemed fitting.

Level ups for all! Tanith capped Speed.

We will not be using Parity on a Swordmaster with an Earth affinity.

Mist gets sick of her brother sitting out every battle and resolves to carry him around.

Not a lot of characters still had 15 Capacity left. The Nihil scroll is honestly kind of meh in this game- only two bosses from here on out really have skills worth Nihil-ing (if you didn't give Ike Aether, it's a skill worth considering for him, but you'd need to have his other skill be Adept or perhaps Wrath instead).

Anyway, onwards to actually using this prep.

I skimmed over the basic "they're on the other side of the mountains". We will need to be prepared for Ashnard, though.

Well, we heard that from the kid, remember?

At least we gave "go around" a few seconds thought.

I mean, going around is still a choice. A bad one, but...

We'll be going through them, of course.

Not that Ranulf feels adequately informed.

Here is the enemy's preparations.

Here's the boss. Gromell is a bit of a meme in the Japanese community for one very specific reason. I actually got it to (sorta) happen in the other file, so I'll show that off.

We get a title card on the pan back. Were those Ferals always there?

...Rolling rocks down? Really?

Crude, but effective.

This is Ranulf's suggestion.

I think he is sassing Ike and his inability to come up with any other plan here.

Soren agrees with it.

Just ignore the trap as best you can and don't let the problem get worse.

We get enough people to only vote one out, and since I'm using Lucia at least this once, Astrid gets dropped again. I'll be entirely honest, it's not that much of a loss.

The enemy only outnumbers us 2-1, definitely a jobber map.

Here's the boss, and that's the first skill worth Nihil-ing. If Gromell is brought to half health or less, he will double his Strength, Skill and Speed. Thankfully, he brought a Bolt Axe, so we don't have to worry about that first bit. The Speed will make it awkward to fight him if we leave him in Resolve range... wait, hold on, that's 16 speed in Resolve, never mind. Calill was designed to chew this man up, though.

These two ballistae to either side are Stones, to continue the theming, I guess.

This one up here is proper Iron. Don't expect to fly up unmolested.

Speaking of magic weapons, I sort my units by Magic score (you can do this automatically by clicking the "Magic" tab on the table, it won't even ruin your unit order) to find out which character should be the one using the Flame Lance I got from Petrine.

Tanith could use another ranged weapon, considering she still has that battered Short Spear.

The Iron Ballista can shoot two squares further than Gromell can fly.

Gromell also can't quite reach you at the bottom of the mountain, he only becomes your problem once you've climbed up a significant distance. (This is currently showing Gromell's range.)

The Flame Lance is Effective against beast tribe laguz.

This is not the move I make, though, instead opting to lure this other Feral over while calling for help.

I will never not be annoyed you can't set the Holy Guard onto non-infantry tiles.

Go here, I guess.

Mist Saviors Ike.

Calill sets this Feral on fire.

And Lucia and Nephenee draw the battle lines.

Annoyingly, Ilyana can't quite take out this Feral in one go.

Lethe, Mia and Jill are going this way.

Titania would, but this is actually not Plains we're walking on today, but Trail. This whole map (except the pedestals the ballistae and rocks are set on) is covered in Trail, and Trail slows horses down by half. Astrid may not be as useful as Lucia after all.

Trail also gives 1 Def and 10 Avoid, as shown in the terrain marker up in the top left. This could technically be a nuisance, I guess.

The Holy Guard make their way up the moutain. Say, is that one in the front getting close?

This Stone Ballista fires at Nephenee. This might seem inconsequential, but now that I am reminded of it happening, this actually turns out to be really important later.

Gromell throws hands with this member of the Holy Guard. One thing I find interesting is that Gromell does have unique dialogue for engaging with Marcia and Tanith that I feel would be just as appropriate to use on the generic Holy Guard spawns.

Gromell: A Begnion pegasus knight, eh? I’ll prove that Daein’s aerial prowess is more than equal to yours!

Some work, Mr Magic Axe.

The Iron Ballista covers this one.

Oh yeah, the rocks. They roll down the hill and deal 10 damage to whatever they pass. Yes, this counts enemy units.

They do try and make sure they hit us when they Push, though. The boulders travel in fixed positions (this boulder will always take this path), but I'll be honest, trying to draw a map of it just becomes a mess, especially on this east side.

Nephenee gets hit by a rock too. That Stone Ballista got her for one HP, you might notice.

Calill is more concerned about being hit.

Lucia scored a crit on this cat.

And failed to finish it off. Say, didn't I forge her a special weapon to avoid this sort of thing? I'm bad at resource management.

Nephenee handles her opponent much more skillfully.

I forgot this Warrior had a bow. That slightly stings.

Lethe, of course, has Renewal. Reminder that I gave up Reyson for this.

The Sniper Jill was actually in range of decided not to shoot at Jill because the Warrior took the spot he needed in order to try.

Here's an opponent Lucia couldn't stuff up killing.

Mist, with her shortened movement, handles this cat. I think she can't actually go any further from here.

Jill handles this guy. Jill's high Atk makes her good at dealing with these high HP axemen.

She's going up the mountain along the east.

Lethe, since she has the highest Move, deals with the enemies on this side.

So Mia can walk further up taking out the other one. But, say, she's one Atk off from a oneshot. I do not yet commit to this attack.

Ilyana walks up and deletes this ballistician before he becomes a problem to Jill. Stones aren't effective on fliers, but he still has a bow.

Now Mia can oneshot, because their Support gives +1 Atk!

Calill walks up over here, in range of Nephenee's Support too, and sets her eyes on a different target.

What's that? Something about Resolve? Calill can't hear you, she has the Nihil skill.

Calill, with her high-ish strength lending her well to siege tomes, default B rank in all schools of magic, and her innate Nihil, definitely feels like a hard counter to Gromell.

And some glory to King Daein speech on the way down. Gromell has some decent quotes- he has a line for Jill and Haar (that is, a custom line for both, not just them collectively) as well as the usual suite- but that's not what made him famous to the Japanese. No, he's famous for this:

...Oh dear, that image does not show it well. Enlarge it, it's more visible like that. But basically, the AI for whether the enemy will push rocks down the cliff does not account for whether the boss is underneath. I didn't get it to happen, but I am told that Gromell can be killed this way. You know you've made it when you get a Cipher card.

To make him feel better about himself, my favourite Gromell quotes:

Gromell: You knew we were here, but still you charged our positions? I’ll teach you to regret your impudence!

Ike: Sorry, but at this point, I don’t think you’re in a position to teach me anything.

Ike may be the only person to sass the generic bosses, but at least his quips are always enjoyable.

Gromell: Hmph! So you’re Shiharam’s daughter? You may ride a wyvern like your father, but you know nothing of a true knight’s faithfulness!

I take it as a compliment.

Gromell: Here comes another bird… Oh… it’s so beautiful… It cannot be of our world… That’s it! It must be a sub-human! Die, half-breed! Die!

Whatever you say.

Gromell: Sub-humans? Have they already joined with the Gallian army? No, it’s not possible. My chance is now! I won’t let it pass!

Poor Gromell.

Calill manages to scoop up the Bolt Axe as Gromell dropped it. This'll come in handy much later, if Jill or Astrid has the magic to swing it.

This is a rout map, by the way, I haven't hit the wincon. That would be a terrible wincon.

Tanith assassinates this ballistician the usual way.

And with Gromell gone, Marcia is going to harass these guys.

Titania continues to go nowhere. Look at how badly Trail massacres horses. And the game expects this to be Geoffrey's first go!

Oh yeah, this guy up here has a Purge tome. Purge is the siege Light magic spell, so no points for guessing what we'll be doing with any copy we happen to acquire.

This other Holy Guard is now dead.

This halberdier embarasses himself.

Another rock comes down to meet Nephenee. I think. Sometimes they just randomly swerve to the next tile over and how do mountains work and arrrrgh-

I have Mist use a Physic staff while she's busy not being in range of enemies.

Although my choice in timing could've been better.

These mountains are two tiles wide, so you can't have Calill magic up them. If you had a Longbow, though...

Lucia stays just behind Nephenee.

The fact that Tanith is standing in the exact middle of an enemy readout range makes this feel intentional, but why is she avoiding a warrior? Maybe it's just to make sure Nephenee fights it.

Lethe continues to lag behind to give out boosts.

To be fair, this guy is holding a Laguzslayer. Not that Lethe cares, doesn't she still have the Beorcguard? I don't know if she could reach him anyway.

Ilyana goes past where he was standing and Physics.

Huh. Exactly half health.

Let's heal Marcia instead.

Jill kills this guy and this side is now pretty much free from enemies. It's just the ones at the top now.

(Side note, Halberdiers with Knight Killers, look at that weapon.)

Marcia takes out the Iron Ballistician.

There are still people throwing hands with our Holy Guard down here.

And plenty to say hi to Marcia, since she's in range now. Also, a Fighter and not a Warrior?

Marcia makes him regret choosing to show up here. This guy may also have had the option of Pushing a rock.

So, yeah, I bet you were wondering if "exactly half health" counts for Wrath.

It does.

...What is that still frame? What is Nephenee doing when she performs her crit animation?

This Warrior has a lot of HP, it's possible Marcia could have not killed it without a crit.

This halberdier embarasses himself again. He does not survive this time.

This Warrior does survive. Yeah, that other one probably would have too.

A wyvern finally lands another hit on our Holy Guard.

Still wanna Physic her? Nah, we've got plenty of enemies to Wrath.

Not that Nephenee is getting in range of them.

Here's some Physic EXP, though.

Dear me, Jill.

Dear me, Jill. (Strength cap).

Tanith kills this guy that's about to be standing next to the Holy Guard's new destination.

And stands where the melee characters have to stand to attack her. I don't want any more errant kills.

Oh, this guy would drop his Purge if we killed him. Shrug.

Let's deal with this guy. I don't want him flying everywhere.

And Marcia stands here, because I guess I don't want the enemy having any funny ideas about pushing down rocks.

Now Lethe can climb up... now that she's so far behind.

Oh hey, this guy can also use his Mend staff if the enemy walks up.

I feel like these guys don't bother to push rocks other than the one they start next to.

Once again, a Warrior survives a Pegasus. ~~Might be the same warrior, honestly~~.

Lethe gives Ilyana a bump, because clearly that's all she should be doing.

I suppose this was the best idea I had. Note that Ilyana can Push down the rock herself if she was so inclined. I think this is just limited to infantry (no mounted units).

And Nephenee gets this guy and his Purge tome.

And another Halberdier crit still that makes me wonder how this movement is performed.

For some reason, walking over the Ballsita pedestal doesn't grant Mist any extra movement. I think it's a quirk of how many movement spaces she's allowed to move compared to a Paladin.

She Physics Nephenee, because we're about to wrap up.

...And Mist can move back onto the pedestal anyway! I guess it's proof that horse movement is normal on ballista pedestals as compared to Trail?

Jill finishes.

And we move on to another part of the map with our main characters, and... wait a second...

...Ike, where's your promoted sprite? This map and the next two in a row have a glitch where a map event directly following the chapter has an incorrect model. One presumes the playtesters let these slip through the cracks due to their late appearance in the story.

Well, you were looking up a mountain.

Eat rock guy has made pretty well for himself on the memorability scale.

One might assume this is talking about the rocks...

But something else is also above us right now.

"Somebody call for reinforcements?"

Now, this is where the matter of Reyson's letter gets confusing. So... did Reyson send the letter or did the Black Knight? With a cursory look at the machine translated lines, I'm going Reyson.

[漆黒の騎士]
やはり、タカ王の目を
盗むのが難しく……
何度も往復するはめになりました。

Black Knight's quote about outwitting the Hawk King.

[リュシオン]
私が頼んだのだ。▼
…デイン王を
確実に倒すためにも……
頼れる戦力は多いほうがいいだろう？▼

And Reyson's about asking for help.

Tibarn still winds up asking if we'd like to bust some beorc head.

(To be more specific, this is the line shown above where Reyson's hand in writing the letter occurred.)

Me: Hems, haws

Oh, right, yes, Tibarn is vitally important to the war effort on a casual run.

Tibarn also has some other news.

He'd rather wait until we're all gathered first, to save some time.

We also need a rest.

Caineghis is here? A later point in PoR and a more significant plot point of RD implies that Caineghis really should not be leaving Gallia, owing to the whole "not being able to fly right back" that Tibarn can do. I guess this doesn't count (we are pretty close to Gallia and all...)

Killing Petrine, saving Geoffrey, and taking rocks to the face, that's Elincia's army.

And thank you, Gallia, for emboldening our morale as well as embiggening our army.

I feel bad for harping on how little Elincia has done for this... but yeah, I honestly feel that even by Fire Emblem standards, Elincia's been a little too unhelpful.

At least she recognises it.

Caineghis is more or less up-to-date on what we've been doing.

Which probably means he knows we arrested his spy.

So about that meeting Tibarn wanted?

Incorrect. It involves the usual suspects- aka the crew that doesn't die when killed in battle.

Soren is once again confused at being lumped in with the children. I still don't see it.

Mist wonders if she should really be here.

Ike explains who they are and why they should be here.

Because he's also going to talk about the medallion.

Mist hasn't heard this yet, and Ike figured this would be a good chance.

And we cut to black for the actual description.

That was a huge thing to drop on Mist.

Titania suggests she might be better off heading off now.

Mist stays strong. Or at least appears to.

This is of more relevance to the laguz kings. Daein's goal is multi-faceted in nature.

And that's honestly a little confusing. Just what is it that Ashnard considers a wincon, then? Honestly, even I'm not too sure, and I don't even feel confident Ashnard knows.

He was working on this before he became King, to boot!

Thank you, Mum and Dad.

"OK, so what is going to happen when we wake it up, so we know what to avoid?" Probably a good idea to prepare for the bad outcome- tell the difference between 'lose on sight' and 'can bunker down and salvage it'.

And the answer to that question is not fact, but theory.

Elincia, of course, is asking about the actual Great Flood being a fable.

Deghinsea was there, so he can vouch for the truth of this event.

And this would be where Deghinsea being one of the Three Heroes comes to light.

He's probably a thousand years old, and hasn't changed his opinion on anything since these historic events.

Can't even come up with new rhetoric.

We heard him say this back in Chapter 14, although perhaps in a very slightly different phrasing.

Soren has a theory.

Tibarn acknowledges it, but doesn't believe it to be fact.

After all, this exact moment should be living counterevidence, right?

Soren has cracked the case! ~~How fitting it's Soren.~~

They don't really confirm this as fact here, but the key wording is "entire continent".

This doesn't seem to imply any sort of effort on the part of the medallion bearer. We just have to war and it'll do its thing on its own.

This is an important but often unspoken step. This theory only holds any water if Ashnard believes that a continent-spanning war will affect the medallion in any way.

So how do you start a continent-spanning war?

Start some war somewhere.

And he kinda minimises Crimea in the phrasing. Elincia "..."s him.

This is almost kind of a verbal backspace for Soren, but this is an important part of Soren's theory.

Because this is how the war gets bigger.

Remember way back in Chapter 9, when I said (obliquely, since we hadn't met Begnion and Phoenicis at the time) that some of the countries were chomping at the bit for an excuse to exterminate the other? Yeah, uh, thank you, Ashnard.

Now we have the entire continent fighting each other for [insert reason here], like an elementary school food fight.

Which means awakening the dark god must be Ashnard's true goal.

Soren hedges his bets and says it's at least something he wants. A man can want more than one thing at a time.

This is a bit of an odd thought, but it does make sense. We're just giving him more war by not changing our plans.

But there's this thing called momentum in the military. We have to keep going.

The only plan we really have is to kill Daein and end the war before the chaos grows too grand.

Much like the start of the chapter with Ranulf, Ike's dumb idea of "just charge in and smash them" is discussed by the tacticians and agreed upon as the sensible plan. Twice in one day?