CYOA - Seasons of Sorrow

"Cut between them!" you shout.  You push Marth harder, tracing a wide arc.  You rush down the north road, hugging the buildings on the left.  You can hear the others following close behind.  Just as the first member of the reinforcing group comes around the corner, you're in position to swing Armads.  He reacts much too slowly, and is sent sprawling from the force of the impact alone.

You slow Marth as you clear the enemies, considering your next move - you'll likely need to duck down a small street, or turn around.  One after the other, your troops fly through the gap between the two groups.  The soldiers leading the reinforcements respond much too slowly, being struck time and again.  The group they were attempting to join tries to reposition, but the warrior on its flank is struck down.  One of their halberdiers lashes out, raking across Wendy's arm, but not doing any serious damage.  Cecil swings his blade at an archer, but his attack falls just short.  The archer retaliates, but the arrow deflects off Cecil's plate.

Saul and Harrow bring up the rear.  The enemy reinforcements, finally realizing what's going on, surge forward.  Harrow is able to weave through them, but a hero lands a solid hit on Saul.  You can see some blood across the hero's sword as it's pulled back.  Saul winces, but manages to keep his seat and force his way through the rest of the enemies.  "I'm fine!" he calls as he slows to join the rest of your group.  Rain swoops down, a healing staff in her hand.

You slow to a stop, huddling together while you think for a moment.  The two groups have joined together, and are repositioning their warriors and halberdiers in front, moving their sages and snipers to the new rear.  Two warriors, three heros, and a sage lie dead, and a pair of halberdiers are wounded.  Eighteen remain, taking a defensive position, waiting for you to make your next move.

(A) Charge back the way you came, passing to the plain
(B) Attempt to rout the outer north enemy group
(C) Head through the side roads back to the plain
(D) Go for another group's rear (choose center or south)
(E) Attack the enemy generals

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You are now Zephyr, a few minutes earlier
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You really can't decide if you like this whole flying thing or not.  On the one hand, you can see for miles - and you don't really have to worry about predators up here anyway.  On the other hand, there's nothing quite like stretching your own legs, and the monster you're riding would eat you given half a chance.  You try not to think about it too much.  Dan seems to have a good handle on the beast.  It wouldn't mess with you while he's around.  Plus, it'd be hard for it to eat you off its back.  You keep telling yourself that, anyway.  Really, it could just roll over and over.  You could hold on for a while, sure, but eventually it'd be able to throw you, and then you-

Right, looking for horses.  Enemy cavalry.  Scanning the horizon's almost a waste of time with all the hills, even from this height.  But you figure you'd be able to glimpse at least a few troops on the edges of the formation, unless the enemy knew you were looking for them.  As you soar high above hill after hill, the landscape blending into one giant mesh, you start to become convinced that the enemy's not around.  Guess they went for help after all.

You let yourself look away from the ground for a minute, partially to keep from getting sick.  You search the clouds for for any sign of those two dragons from before - that would be all you need, one of them suddenly coming out of nowhere.  There hasn't been any sign of them since they disappeared several minutes ago.

You finish looping around the outskirts of the plain, and Claudia looks at you expectantly.  You shake your head, and she seems satisfied.  She banks back towards your infantry's base came, and Dan follows suit.  You're excited to see the ground slowly coming closer.  You're tempted to leap off as Shard glides the last couple of yards, landing with a thud on the edge of the hill.  You force yourself to wait patiently, jumping off when Dan gives you the go-ahead.  You make a beeline for Doran, not wanting to spend any more time with these Wyverns than necessary.

You don't have far to go, much to your dismay.  Doran saw you coming, and eagerly awaits your report.  You start before he can speak.  "Nothing," you answer the unasked question.  "There's nothing out there for a few miles, at least."

"Reinforcements are coming, then.  Cynbel said we'd have until sometime around sunset, so we've got about two hours, by my reckoning..."

"We're ready to march!" Paen announces.  "The only question is where?"

"June's group looked like they were about to attack the north," Claudia announces.  "But would she want us to link up with her and push in together, or attack from the south to prevent the enemy from joining together?"

"If we're trying to pin the enemy down, it's not like we need a full commitment.  A few troops at each entrance will make them think twice about making a move," Doran suggests.  "Though we'd be stretching ourselves a bit thin."

You sit back and let them debate.  This was never really your strong suit.

"Let's just let her tell us, then," Paen says.  "She has a better handle on the situation than us.  In the meantime, we'll advance to the edge of the plain, far enough to respond a bit quicker."

Doran nods.  "Dan and Claudia can join her group and deliver the message at the same time."

"There were a lot of archers still around," Dan informs him.  "If June's pushed into the city, we may not be able to reach her safely."

You step forward to volunteer.  "I'll go!" you say, before realizing a second voice was echoing your own.  Sherry.

Doran whirls around, noticing Sherry for the first time.  She crosses her arms.  "I would have joined the cavalry team earlier, but my mount was busy."

You sigh.  Mount?  I have a name, you know.  Really, carting her around wouldn't be so bad - she's light enough, even with that armor, that it just adds a bit of a challenge.  You just wish she'd show a bit more gratitude about it.  Too late to un-volunteer now, though.

Doran whips a pen, ink, and parchment from compartments tucked into his outfit.  He quickly jots down a few lines.  Glancing at the paper, you realize it's a list of potential plans, signals, and alternatives.  He writes almost faster than you can track.  After a few seconds, Doran produces a small essay, rolls it, and hands it to you.  You start to slip it into your belt, then notice the subtle look of envy on Sherry's face.  With a shrug, you toss it to her.  In her surprise, she barely manages to catch it.  She looks at you, confused for a second.  With a small smile and a nod, she slides the message into her armor.

You stretch a bit while the rest of the infantry makes preparations to move up.  Sherry stands by, patiently waiting for you to finish.  "Race you to the bottom of the hill!" you blurt out.

"Wha-?" she starts to ask, but you're already gone.  You observe in amusement as she stumbles down after you, more concerned with speed than balance, even though you outpace her by several yards.  "Not... fair," she accuses once she catches up to you.

"Just a bit of harmless fun," you tell her.  With that, you clutch your beaststone.  A familiar heat flows from it through your hand.  You let it build until it permeates your entire body, then hunch over.  The heat explodes out of you in a brilliant flash of light, and you feel yourself changed.  You feel more agile, your senses are sharper, you feel stronger.  Your entire body feels more response, sharper, more... right.  If it weren't so tiring, you'd stay like this all the time.  Or, maybe not - a lot of people don't react so well to a giant, talking rabbit.  Well, the kids seem to love it but their parents aren't usually so enthusiastic.  Sometimes people give you carrots, though.

Your internal debate's cut off by Sherry climbing onto your back.  You can tell she's being careful, but she still pulls out a bit of fur.  You try not to react, but she seems to notice you tense a bit.  "Sorry," she mutters.  She grabs onto the makeshift harness you threw together, and you wait for her to signal you.  You watch out of the corner of your eye as she breathes deep, tests the weight of her lance, then pumps her fist to psych herself up.  "Alright," she starts.  "Let's g-"

You take off, cutting her off mid-word.  The plains looked a lot smaller from the sky.  Making a direct line for the northeast corner it still takes you several minutes.  A group of enemies watch you from the center road, but they don't move to stop you.  A few loose arrows in your general direction, but you're far enough away that you easily weave through them.

You see Rain dive down between two buildings, somewhere along the northern road.  A small alleyway between the center and north roads looks promising - if you follow it, you should have no problem finding a way to June's group.  You steer towards it.  A stretching sound catches your ear, and you realize what it is just as the follow-up twang echoes from the alley.  You have just enough time to lunge to one side, nearly throwing Sherry, as an arrow flies past.

Subtle movement gives the shooter's position away as he reaches for another arrow.  A rogue, tucked into the alleyway behind some barrels.  Sherry notices him as well, and hurls a javelin in his direction.  He ducks and it sails over his head.  Sherry quickly readies another javelin as the rogue, his cover blown, drops any pretense of stealth.  You quickly look for another way into the town, but realize there's no guarantee that all the alleys aren't being watched.  Probably better to fight through a seen enemy than deal with an unseen foe, you reason to yourself.

You size up your opponent - that seems to be where your leaders always seem to start, gathering information.  His armor's not much, you and Sherry could both easily shred it.  But he's pretty agile for a beorc, though not quite to your level.  The barrels he's using for cover offer him a pretty good advantage on that front, though.  His weapons...  The bow looks pretty un-exciting.  Smells silver-y.  The sword on his hip, on the other hand, is unfamiliar to you.  It's long, with a vicious-looking curved edge.  Something tells you that if he manages to land a hit, it's going to hurt.

(X) Stay back, have Sherry keep throwing javelins while you dodge
(Y) Charge in together from the front
(Z) Have Sherry dismount and distract him while you maneuver to get behind him

I don't think we need to heal, really. Let's just be a bit more careful with those characters. Besides... We don't have the time. If the reinforcements arrive and we haven't finished, and we're caught in between the two enemy forces with no defensive position, it's over. We've lost. So we need to take the town ASAP.

I vote E, which is basically A with some tweaks. Our infantry is at full strength, so they can best handle the west group. We need to finish clearing the inside of the town. Head in through the north, and towards the West. Take out any and all enemies on the way. We'll catch the west group in a pincer, and finish them. Our forces will then regroup and charge towards the south, confronting the Generals.

Our formation will need to be perfect when confronting the Generals; We charge in a square formation, with our bulkiest units out front, our mages and weaker units in the center, and our mounted units in the rear. Cecil will also stay in the center, just out of reach, but within bowshot of the enemy Generals. Any mage with healing capabilities will prioritize healing the front and rear units.

Once the Generals are defeated, we send Claudia and Dan to secure the rest of the town by air, to make sure there aren't any stragglers. If there are, and it's not too dangerous, they take them out. If not, Claudia and Dan will remain in the sky and keep a lookout for the enemy reinforcements. The rest of our forces will engage the southern group. Once they are dealt with, we immediately begin fortifying our position and healing any injured units. If Drake returns, he is to guard the Citadel. If Horatio, or, Arceus forbid, Bune himself decides to step in, then Drake is likely the one who could survive a surprise blow.

Is all that acceptable, CDM?

Ah okay. Misunderstood the choices. I still stick by my custom strat.

You settle on catching the enemy's center group in a pincer strike.  You glance over Doran's note and find it as the first option - it looks like Doran was expecting you to go with that.  You ask Rain and Saul to both shoot up a fireball to signal, then you start to lead your troops from the north road.  With Rain guiding you from above, you weave through a few smaller roads and easily find it.

You wait for a few moments until Rain signals that the infantry has arrived.  Your cavalry pours out onto the western street and charges at the enemy's rear.  Your timing is perfect.  Their front is just charging to meet your infantry when your calvalry appears from nowhere.  A few enemies raise warning alarms, but there's nothing they can do.  You cut through the enemy's rear lines with no resistance, their healers and archers falling before your onslaught.  The enemy front line soon finds itself surrounded.  They put up a hard fight, out of spite if nothing else, but they are routed with no serious injuries on your end.  A few troops took some hits, but nothing life-threatening.

"Looks like you've been busy, Girly," Paen announces.  "Routed an enemy team and no one hurt?  Nice work."

You cross your arms and smirk.  "That's two down, and one injured."

Doran nods, then orders a few troops to watch the alleys for rogues.  "What's our next move?  Hit the last enemy patrol, or move in on the generals?"

You glance at the sun, just now dipping below the roof of the enemy headquarters.  "We need to move in.  Fresh troops at the front, support in the middle.  My group'll bring up the rear, watch for enemies and take a few minutes to breath."

"Right, then," Doran agrees, calling the troops to order and establishing a simple square.  "Let's move!"

The enemy generals hold position as you approach, forming a solid wall in front of you.  As you approach, a chill runs down your spine.  You aren't sure why.  You tell yourself it's just a case of the nerves and shrug it off.  Your fliers patrol the south end of your group, waiting for the last enemy outer group to make their move.  With the living barrier in front of you but just out of reach, you take a moment to go over everyone's conditions.

Wendy, Saul, Sherry, Fumiko, and Ferris are lightly wounded. (>80% HP)

Cecil and Bud are moderately wounded. (60-80% HP)

(A) Stop to heal
(B) Press the attack
(C) "Something's wrong..." (identify what)

Damn... What did I overlook? Is it that the reinforcements are too close? Is it the Dracozombie...? Bune...? The Risen?

Wait... Did we burn the bodies? We didn't, did we. So now all the enemies we just defeated are going to be resurrected by Bune, and we're going to be stuck in the city with no escape, fending off Risen, Generals, and fresh reinforcements.

......... I just sent everyone into a death trap. Our only hope is to charge the cathedral and eliminate Bune as quickly as possible.

CDM, just gonna let you know now, if we lose someone because of this, I may be too devastated to vote again.

D. Maybe that might work.

Standing our ground is certain death. Trying to take either side risks the one from behind or the front backing us up into a tight knit square or circle. Easy kill. Splitting up is death also.

I think that's our only option...

The buildings are well-maintained.  They've got a stone foundation, and the rest is wood.  Two are larger (a shop and an inn) and three are houses.