Chapter XVIII, Part II: Bound by Sorrow is a chapter in Triangle Strategy.
Story[]
Roland makes way for the Grand Duchy of Aesfrost, knowing that they will need the Deathsknell if they are to succeed. He puts aside his personal grudges to negotiate with Gustadolph, but is refused. Just then, Svarog-who had promised House Wolffort his aid-rises up and helps Roland lay the archduke low.
Script[]
See: Chapter XVIII, Part II: Bound by Sorrow/Script
Battle[]
Roland must defeat Archduke Gustadolph, allowing Svarog to assume leadership of Aesfrost and aid him in their plan to defeat Hyzante.
Terrain and strategy[]
There are a lot of cliffs around the central area leading through the gate. The stairs next to each tower make for good bottlenecks to lure enemies into to thin out their ranks. Only Gustadolph needs to be defeated to win, though, and this is possible even if only a small number of his forces are defeated first. Hughette and Flanagan are both very useful as they can immediately fly up onto the gate and begin harassing enemies early on. Consider bringing Jens as well, as his ladders and spring traps can be very useful on this map.
One viable strategy is use unit placement to place Roland and his forces as far away from the fight as possible, and then go up the cliffs to take position to draw troops into the narrow stairs on the side of the tower opposite Svarog. Enemy troops can then gradually picked off as they come up with relatively low risk, and this also helps to spread them out, which ideally will make survivors less of a threat. When several of them have been culled, or when friendly units advance far enough, Gustadolph may start to attack.
Be warned Gustadolph is both a strong melee fighter and also has strong Blizzard magic that is similar to Icy Breath. At this point, it may be possible to focus on him, especially if he's close enough to position units to make follow-up attacks. It's even possible to out-damage the Refresh heals provided by the Elite Healers, though it may still be worth taking them out. Gustadolph is not immune to blindness or poison, the first of which can make him much less of a threat, though the odds of inflicting these conditions are a little low at about forty percent.