Chapter 20 - Volume 1

TL: So I played the Game of Thrones from Telltale recently to see if it can aid with the narrative of this series. But if this series is to get any better in quality, it will need an editor or someone to teach me what areas I can improve on.

Now in regards to the Game of Thrones game itself, if anyone is curious, the narrative was mostly okay but there were moments of facepalm (in a bad way). As a game, imo, it wasn’t great. Every time I played each episode, I felt like I was being handed out cards that were increasingly worse with no way to win at it.

In short, I was playing to lose. The game is rigged.

In a game where I’m participating as a participant in the Game of Thrones, there should be at least one way where I can prevail and win against my enemies, but there was never one in sight and simply ended just like how I thought it would be, simply because there was never a way to win. This became an un-fun game, to say the least.

At the end of the game I received my rating of “Player played the game with Cunning Strategy.”, which makes me feel like it was sort of a joke.

Chapter 20 – The one who persuades

Bretton stiffly sat down and cast a sneering look at Brendel. He was certain in his heart that Brendel was definitely lying. They had trained together in the same military batch in Anchorite, and even though he did not see him after they went back to Bruglas, he had continued to receive news about him and knew about his background.

His father was just a miller, his mother had some noble blood in her and his grandfather a knight who survived the November war. But what sort of extraordinary experiences would he have?

After Bretton was recruited into the guards, it was said that Brendel had decided to follow his father’s footsteps. The only thing that he did not know was why he went to Bucce and stayed there for a year.

It was highly unlikely that he had learned so much about Madara within a year. And if this bastard wanted to lie, he would have to face Marden’s scrutiny.

Bretton peeked sideways at his captain. Even though this old man’s temper was incredibly bad and a stubborn person as well, he was exceedingly sharp. Anyone who tried lying to him would easily be exposed.

Another young man from the guards picked up the conversation after Bretton sat down to stop the awkward silence. He spoke about the battle in detail, with the occasional nods from the others or additional lines from them added to his description. Bretton and Marden were the only two people who kept their silence.

Brendel noted Marden’s eyebrows trembling from time to time which showed off his anxiety in his heart. Bretton on the other hand, decided to simply watch everything in silence and ignore Brendel.

As Brendel continued to listen to them, and he soon figured who they had encountered. The leader of the army who continued to pursue them from Bucce should be the ‘Corpse Wizard’ Rothko. He was a brilliant undead wizard in the game and given the nickname of ‘Corpse Wizard’ by the players. His talent was to easily convert the undead spirits into necromancers, and thus his army was replenished very quickly. Even though he did not have a high offensive stat, he was cunning, patient and made use of his army as cannon fodder to exhaust the enemy and deal a blow to their morale.

Right now, he should only be at an apprentice level. Therefore, under Tarkus’s tactics he would only be a leader of a middle sized army. Brendel wondered briefly if he encountered each other when he escaped from Bucce.

And he did not need to guess about the second army’s identity. The one who razed the Green village to the ground was Kabias. The skeleton warrior was not famous in Madara’s history, but was considered as a veteran and definitely one of Tarkus’s generals in this battle.

A middle sized undead army would have the numbers of over two hundred and at least twenty necromancers in them. Kabias’s army, as one of the main forces sent as a vanguard, had at least one fifth of Tarkus’ left wing’s army. His large forces definitely had more than just skeleton soldiers and necromancers. It was highly likely that there were pale knights and dark warriors in the army too.

Brendel omitted many details to the Guards. He quoted legends and rumors to briefly describe their ranks, but stating their numbers was certainly out of the question. Even though he knew about the future, he had to tread carefully.

“I am not sure if you have heard of this location called Ansel. It’s the main region where the undead wizards are living in. Madara is split into three factions. One faction is the vampires, one is the undead wizards. I’m going to skip the description of these two factions, as you should have heard about them before.”

“The last faction is one that also holds considerable might. These dark lords in this faction are comprised of holy knights that committed crimes, nobles that were exiled, pirates and undead wanderers. They worship the black bible, and are rulers that believe in the Madara traditional ways.”

“All these stories are very interesting, but they are just stories.” One of the guards retorted.

“No, just think if there is one person who could unify them, then Madara will return as the blight from the darkness. And right now, the current events match a certain prophecy.”

“You just said that this kingdom has never been unified before.”

“It has never been unified in the past, but their chance to do so is approaching before our very eyes.”

“What does this ‘unification’ has to do with our situation?”

“Of course there is, have you heard about the legend of the Mercury Staff?” Brendel suddenly changed to another topic.

“That’s also described in the prophecy right? It’s said that when someone possesses it, they will rule the darkness in the world?” Someone asked.

Brendel nodded.

“The full name is ‘The Mercury Staff of Loptr’. Loptr is an undead wizard genius and he nearly unified the Madara kingdom. Fortunately, he failed at the end and his staff went missing, and this legend was left behind. When someone possesses the staff, he would become the king of darkness.”

“And just this year of spring, someone had witnessed the appearance of the staff in Ansel.”

“Hold on,” Bretton’s expression suddenly changed. “The rumor a few months ago was real?”

“A few months ago?”

“Wait, I remember hearing about this. It’s some merchant who brought this news here, saying that someone opened a huge door using a strange staff.”

“‘The Door of Lament’.” Brendel added. “That door leads to Loptr’s treasury and his throne.”

The old captain frowned: “Young man, even though I don’t understand the fights between these powerful people, you mean to say there has been a great change in Madara? This is certainly terrible news, and at the very least, it would mean that Madara is completely prepared for this invasion. Even though I don’t know what their goals are, they wouldn’t just invade us on a small scale right? What you said sounds too ridiculous to be true, but that does not mean it is not possible.”

His hand that was full of calluses was placed on his knee, and it was near enough to draw his sword anytime: “Bretton. Do you know this young man?”

Bretton was startled. If he said that he was suspicious of Brendel, even though the captain would not immediately strike at him with the sword, he would at least tie him up and question him.

He looked at Brendel without hiding the ridicule in his eyes. But he thought for a while and did not choose to do something like that: “I know him and I think he’s lying to us. But if I think about it rationally… He has no reason to lie to us.”

“What if he has been bribed by Madara?” Marden asked again.

“I have also thought about that, but that’s unlikely considering what he and the third militia squadron had been through. If this Madara commander had prepared things in advance, then I think our defeat was justifiable.”

“Very good, Bretton.” Marden patted his vice-captain.

[Eh?]

Not only Marden, even Brendel looked differently at the young vice captain. It seemed that this fellow had a pretty good head on him. He had the impression that he was too narrow minded and could not become a true leader. He started to mull over on his assessment on him again.

But even if Bretton had denied knowing him or accused him of something, Brendel had the confidence to persuade Marden due to his knowledge of the future. However, that might have led to a situation that he might expose himself as a different person.

“Alright, then we’re going back to the real topic,” Marden said. “Kid, then you believe that the Madara’s goal is Fortress Riedon?”

“In the Grinoires region, Aouine’s defensive line is Stronghold Vermiere. Fortress Riedon protects the flank of that defensive line, so Madara’s goal can only be Fortress Riedon.” Brendel nodded.

Marden rubbed his nose and cursed: “Then the Madara forces that kept biting on our tails are their bigwigs? Fuck, why did we have to encounter this pile of pigshit trouble!”

“I don’t know the exact details,” Brendel said while obviously knowing that he knew everything: “But based on your description, there’s an undead wizard in the first army that pursued you, and one of the Dark lord’s army that came as reinforcements.”

“The undead wizard’s army formation is comprised of necromancers as a platoon leader. It’s easy to recognize them. I believe the size is half a company of one hundred to two hundred undead. The Dark Lord’s army formation is more chaotic, but there should be at least the size of two companies, based on the size that invaded the Green village.”

“It sounds about right.” Marden nodded.

What he did not know was Brendel actually reduced the number by half. Even so, that number made everyone worried. The size of the undead army vastly outnumbered their thirty guard members who even brought a group of weak villagers with them. How were they supposed to break the siege?

The old captain also sighed.

“Alright, Brendel. Since you came to tell us all these things, would it be right for me to think that you have your own solution? I can tell you right now, if the situation is as you have reported, then I have no confidence to bring these men out of this siege.”

Freya bleated with surprise.

But Brendel nodded: “I do.”

Everyone’s gaze suddenly focused on him, and even Bretton looked at him with shock and disbelief.

Brendel wiped his sweaty palms on his shirt and took a breath. He was a little tense. Even though he had a plan, he only had a little confidence in it, and to receive the attention of everyone made him feel pressured. The next few sentences he was going to say concerned many lives. He wondered if he needed to be more careful in his choice of words to convince them.

He reminded himself to think calmly and not leave out something behind.

“Everyone can travel to the north and cross the River of Daggers.” He said.

“The River of Daggers?”

“Where is that place? Why do we need to go there?”

Brendel hesitated for a while. How was he going to explain that the ‘White Knight’ Ebdon and the ‘Undead Ghost’ Vlad will be late for nearly two days before surrouding that area?