Sorry for the delay, but I've been
getting my rear kicked around in playing Demon Souls, and I am having trouble putting the game down. Here is the final post. I'm also going to be doing a review on the game soon for Tacticular Cancer.
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We attack, and our ally comes to support in the battle. “Count Tribunis, true to his word, has sent troops to Tetrada. There are 1000 infantry and 300 bowmen in addition to your army. Scouts report that Tetrada is defended by about 1000 infantry, 300 cavalry, and 300 bowmen.”
Of course I don’t quite trust the Count, especially since he is related to the Emperor we are fighting against. Because of that, the army is split up in a sort of turtle formation with some two companies of bowmen in the center and another two companies of bowmen and all four mages just south of that. In the center we have our more experienced heroes such as Eryfkrad and Irenaeus, while the knights and rangers lead the cavalry off on our left flank. This precaution doesn’t seem to be necessary as I watch Tribunus’ army appear in the east and charge westbound for the enemy, instead of southbound for our own forces.
Since the betrayal doesn’t appear to come, and as the mages fire Pyro spell after Pyro spell into the entrenched Imperial forces, Tribunus and his men can be seen coming from the east and merging into the center of the city. I start getting concerned, because I can only see flashes of these moves. When I try to send scouts up north to see what is happening within the city walls I expose them to enemy magic and arrows and they are forced to retreat.
As we lay waste to the Emperor’s forces (brown) and as Tribunus forces (purple) continue to push in from the east, we start hitting more and more of our ally’s own troops. Since he is our ally, this is something of a disaster. If we continue to blindly lay down Pyros, we are going to lay waste to friendly forces, and Tribunus is in the field with the lesser army both in number of men and in the amount of hits he can take. On the other hand, Tribunus should be attracting the enemy’s fire now, so we can afford to come closer in order to see inside the city walls and lay down some more accurate magic and archery. TigerKnee moves north along with two companies of archers and casts a Pyro on the very western suburbs of the city. This mostly harms the emperor’s forces, but he can’t help to smack down a couple of Tribunus’ own units.
On the computer’s turn, TigerKnee and the two bow companies take volley after volley of hostile magic and enemy arrows. In fact, TigerKnee takes so many that I at first can’t understand where all the firepower is coming from since Tribunus’ forces are predominantly in the south and east now. That’s when I take a closer look and notice that Tribunus and Lucinian have their forces together in the same stack. Tribunus has betrayed as after all. There is no text message that tells us this, and for all intents and purposes his forces moved as if they were invading the city, and Lucinian’s forces pulled back from them to the west and north. But this was a ruse as they joined forces and began to hammer our forces that came too close.
TigerKnee is mortally wounded, but not yet dying. In fact the game highlights his name in white instead of red, which usually indicates that his morale is holding despite his injuries. If I move Irenaeus or Kashmir Slippers up to heal him, Lucinian and Tribunus will bombard the priest on their next turn, so I try to move TigerKnee south towards them. TigerKnee’s morale breaks as I make this attempt, and he retreats off screen to the south, then dies of his wounds.
The remaining mages continue firing into the city while the cavalry and infantry begin to make wide semi-circles to the east and west in preparation of a final pincer movement. But the city surprisingly gives up on Turn 11 after I wipe out nearly half their forces. We get a new mage to join us and I welcome in Kipeci to the team.
“You have defeated the forces of Lucinian IV and captured Tetrada! You get 40 points. Tribunus of Estallah has been removed from his position with the fall of his army in Tetrada. Estallah surrenders to Deuce! You get 10 points.”
Let’s face it, I should never have trusted the bastard at all. If I was just a little more patient I could have taken down Estallah and the Emperor would have had to face me with much fewer troops.
With the fall of the eastern Empire and the reuniting of the human cities under our combined forces, we are blessed with great weather in all of our cities. “The climate has been wonderful this month for agriculture. Fresh produce is plentiful!”
Also, I am officially coronated. “You have been proclaimed Emperor of Aragon by the people of the East and West realms! The celebration of the ‘New Age’ begins! Long Live Deuce, the True Heir to the throne of Aragon! You get 25 points, and have united the lands of Aragon!”
“Your crusade to unite the lands of Aragon has been successful. You may continue to adventure if you wish, but your quest for the throne of Aragon is complete. Long Life to Deuce, The Sword of Aragon!”
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Irenaeus decided to stay along the eastern part of the Empire and expand the official Church to the many foreign unbelievers. He was quite effective, using reason at first to attract the potential faithful, but never failing to employ a mace to the face when met with hostility.
Eryfkrad became the Imperial ambassador to the horse nomads of the south and was embraced with open arms as a brother when he successfully answered the Khali’s question: “Eryfkrad, what is good in life?” Even in his later years he prefers the frontiers over the cities.
Overboard started a brotherhood of knights called the Order of the Dex. The knighthood headquarters was placed at Tentula, where Overboard and his fellow cavalrymen could find warm drink and women during the winter season, and hostile giants to battle come spring.
Elfberserker became the Imperial ambassador to the elven lands after he revealed a mixed human and elf heritage. Unlike his elven cousins he continued to be only adequate when it came to archery, however his power over nature rivalled all but the greatest elven druids and earned him much respect.
Ulminati settled down into retirement and opened an arcane magic school at Aladda. He took on a handful of apprentices at a time and earned a reputation as an effective instructor. His students were told to find and harness the power of the angry old man inside each of them.
Monstrous Bat became the Chief of Staff for the Imperial army and made several reforms in order to better incorporate cavalry, bowmen, and infantry as a combined force. In his middle years he fought one more major campaign when the eastern Three Kingdoms were discovered, but that is another story.
Desktop Commander became Captain of the Horse, and incorporated a much needed change into the Aladdan forces. With help from officers of the horse nomad clans he created the first horse archers of the Imperial military, which would be used to great effect against frontier raiders.
Azira became the court wizard. Although he was seen publicly performing parlor tricks and festival conjurations, rumors persisted that his antics actually hid his true duties as head of counter-espionage. Several assassination plots were discovered and prevented during his long tenure.
Kashmir Slippers insisted on travelling wherever natural disasters or civil unrest had broken out. In his twilight years he was killed when he sided with the people of Brocada against the city’s corrupt elites, which led to Brocada’s incorporation into the Empire. A statue of him can be found in the city square.
Octavius became renowned for his tactical skills in battle and established a military academy in the capital of Aladda. The school established the first set of codified turn-based, wargaming rules called kriegspiel, with matches that were often set-up and refereed by Octavius himself.
SCO suffered the rest of the soldier’s life due to the many injuries that were inflicted during the course of the Aragon campaign. SCO never left the military, however, and continued to impart wisdom upon new recruits: “Don’t try to be a hero out there. Make the guy on the other side a martyr.”
TigerKnee had been drafted into service at the time of his death. He was buried in a place of honor near the victory monument just outside of Tetrada. Out of respect for his involuntary status his gravestone read “I never asked for this.”
Jester was able to direct his destiny and became the Bishop of Pudawala, more out of a desire to live along a beautiful beach and in a silly-sounding city rather than out of a specific calling. His easy manner and attention to his duties resulted in large popularity among the people of that city.
Dayyalu semi-retired from his duties with the infantry in order to pursue studies on feudal law. He published several treatise on the subject which became influential, most of which dealt in issues of dynastic inheritance. His views led directly to the decision of who would succeed Deuce Traveler.
RK47 was released from his draft obligations upon the defeat of the eastern emperor. He became a vocal critic of the new Empire and although his rabble-rousing often created powerful enemies, his veteran service and tales of derring-do just as quickly got him out of the trouble he got himself in.
Crooked Bee was also released from her draft status and soon after established a respected printing press. She would go on to help publish and mass distribute dozens of important works, but her passion was always for the editorial and review sections of her hobbyist gazette.
Even though Jaesun was also drafted, he volunteered to stay with the Aladdan military as an instructor of young men. He stressed a physically intensive regimen and was sometimes criticized for having his students practice oiled wrestling much more often than military armaments.
Unkillable Cat became a lordless knight, preferring to roam the land on his faithful steed given to him by the Emperor as a parting gift. He became the icon of chivalric virtue as he righted wrongs, rescued the weak from the abuses of the powerful, and eventually passed into legend.
Felipepe left drafted service to pursue his lifelong dream of establishing an encyclopedia of natural science. He incorporated the writings of the most respected minds of the time in order to create the Ultimate Codex Encyclopedie. The alphabetically organized work spanned 28 volumes.
Kipeci was the last and final officer to volunteer for the army before the conclusion of the Aragon Campaign. This put him in a unique position as he witnessed, but did not participate in, the final battle. His book, Battle for Tetrada, became the seminal work on the subject.
Deuce Traveler found ruling a peaceful nation much less to his liking than fighting against the odds for his city’s survival. After ten prosperous years, he abdicated the throne to a successor and entered a pocket dimension called dosbox. Legends say he will return upon the discovery of the Lost Grimoire.
Time to suit up and pick up some LADIESSSS. Life is good, still if our liege just left the building time for his knight to step up their game. Enjoy you stay into pocket dimension Deuce and send a word if you will need 
