The Banner Saga 2 created by Stoic.
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Chapter Thirteen

Main Walkthrough

- Back to Rook / Alette and the main caravan, minus Iver. You start off conversing with Hakon, then move to the camp. If you have Nid in your party you can chat with her for a bit, as well. Otherwise, shove off and continue the road to Arberrang. Though before you can leave...

- .... Rugga shows up, and challenges you on your decisions up to this point. What happens here changes depending on how you've acted up to this point:
  • If you've disappointed Rugga in some way you'll get into a battle. Not a difficult fight, really - you've fought guys like these before. Even poor Dagr doesn't put up much of a struggle above and beyond the nameless combatants. You can lose this battle if your main character (Rook or Alette) is defeated, in which case 24 Fighters, 131 Clansmen, and 15 Varl will take off alongside Rugga and Dagr.
  • If you've pleased Rugga, however, he will offer your character an alliance instead. You can get this outcome by making the following decisions:
    • Don't pick up any extra people in Chapter Eight, when prompted. This happens shortly before the waterfall event.
    • During Chapter Ten, attack one of the two forces in Lundar, rather than splitting up your troops. Lend support to Dagr if it's offered. (Though bear in mind that this can get Ludin killed, if he's in your party.)
    • Move in to save Ettingbekr during Chapter Twelve, rather than ignoring the situation.
          Pleasing Rugga will earn you the Alliance of Convenience achievement.

- DECISION. After the fight Rugga will run off, assuming you won (and assuming you fought at all), but Dagr is your prisoner. You can:
  • Kill Dagr. Fair enough. Gain 5 Renown.
  • Let Hakon decide. He kills Dagr.
  • Show Dagr mercy. You'll lose 40 Clansmen, 10 Fighters, and some Morale if you press the issue and keep him alive.

RANDOM EVENTS

- DECISION. The caravan comes across a patch of water amid the mire that appears to be clear, though the varl of the caravan seem to think it's fishy. You can:
  • Let the caravan drink. Morale improves.
  • Try it yourself first. You gain 15 Renown and Morale improves.
  • Fill a few barrels and boil it first. Nothing happens.
  • Leave the water alone. Lose 51 Clansmen and 15 Fighters, and Morale declines.

- DECISION. Your main character gets into a battle with two Dredge Slingers. So long as you've been putting even token amounts of effort into levelling Rook or Alette this fight should be pretty easy. In the aftermath some of the Clansmen run up and kick the bodies. You can:
  • Tell them to leave the dredge alone. Gain 5 Supplies.
  • Wonder if there are more dredge to kill nearby. If you go looking you'll find a small group of them, protecting supplies, and you can fight them, drive them off, or leave them alone. If you fight you'll wind up attacking a looooot of dredge, though they're fairly basic models, so it's a relatively easy fight. You'll gain 12 Supplies.
  • Walk away. Gain 5 Supplies and Morale improves.

- DECISION. A varl is celebrating his two-hundredth year of life, and the other varl offer a toast. You can:
  • Break out mead and celebrate. Morale improves, but lose a day.
  • Raise a toast. Gain 10 Renown, and Morale improves.
  • Congratulate him, but insist the caravan keep moving. Morale declines.


- Not long after the celebration you'll run into a battle with some horseborn. This battle can be a bit of a pain because a number of the horseborn will likely be ranged fighters, and there's enough melee combatants that you're going to get pegged from behind enemy lines for a while. Hold back, wait for a few horseborn to come forward and get slaughtered, then begin moving up the bridge and killing as you go. To end the battle you need to take out their leader, Canary. They'll join your ranks after the battle.

- There's a godstone ahead. If you're playing as Rook, he has the chance to finally cement things with Oddleif. Took long enough. Nothing seems to happen whether you take her up on the offer or not, though. If you're playing as Alette and Egil is in your party you'll get a similar scene.


Arberrang

 Not long after the godstone you'll finally reach Arberrang, and if Ludin is with you he'll leave the party along with five Fighters and Yrsa. People from your caravan will also start to drift off towards their own clans, which are also settled here. You can:
  • Try to keep everyone together until they're in Arberrang. Gain 20 Renown.
  • Ask them to bring everyone they're looking for to the caravan. You gain plenty more people, along with 10 Renown.
  • Let them choose for themselves.
  • Tell everyone that they're banished if they leave. Lose 63 Clansmen and 22 Fighters.
If you spared Dagr he'll also kill some of your Fighters at this point and flee. Great.

Once you're settled around Arberrang you'll need to decide on a course of action, as you're basically at war with the city, trying to get inside. You can:
  • Join Hakon in setting up defences. Lose 18 Fighters and 2 Varl.
  • Investigate the trouble between the kingdom and the clans outside Arberrang. Lose 18 Clansmen and 2 Fighters.
  • Help Oddleif / Yrsa stop some troublemakers, who have taken ill to the horseborn and varl in your company. If you threaten them they'll run off, earning you 5 Renown. Ask what's wrong and you'll get into a battle instead.
After you're done looking around Rugga will show up, and you'll have a conversation about the sordid state of affairs. After it's done you can look around the outskirts of Arberrang, head to the Market, and speak to Tryggvi and Scathach (and, if you're Alette, Aleo). Load up your heroes with Promotions and buy any last-minute items, then head to the Meeting Tent.


The meeting doesn't go well, though you get a better reception if Ludin survived the trip here. It ultimately amounts to one decision: try to get into Arberrang, or side with Rugga. 
  • Siding with the king's forces will strip your side of many Clansmen, and you'll go to battle against Rugga's forces. You'll lose 27 Clansmen and 21 Fighters.
  • Siding with Rugga results in a battle against the king.
In addition to choosing the battle lines, whether or not Ludin made it here will affect the fate of the varl on your side. If Ludin survived the trip, Hakon and his men will all wind up on King Meinolf's side, and you'll have to fight them if you join Rugga. If Ludin did not survive the trip the varl will wind up with Rugga, and you'll fight them if you take on King Meinolf. 


FIGHT RUGGA

The first battle is nothing special unless you wind up facing the varl in combat. There are a bunch of ordinary units, and you need to take them down. You're in something of a disadvantageous spot at first, since you're surrounded on all sides, so pull together on one side, take out the nearest enemies, and establish a perimeter against the rest as they move in.

Be careful of Hakon in this fight, if he winds up against you. Whether you've been levelling him or not - which you probably have - he's a powerful opponent, and may be able to take out your units in a single hit, since you don't have any varl to form a wall in front of your lines.

After the battle you have some options:
  • Charge the enemy lines. No aid.
  • Put archers on support duty. You'll have a few Archers helping you.
  • Order the horseborn to take on a bear master who's sending War Bears at you. Scathach is a mandatory member of your party for the next battle, and he'll get a free hit.
The next battle puts you behind a barricading heap of detritus, and your task is to protect King Meinolf from harm. You have the help of a single Elite Guard, and you'll be facing off against more Kragsmen, a few War Bears, and, potentially, Griss. Have ranged characters fight from behind cover to keep your foes at bay. You can use Meinolf and his Guard, but Meinolf spends the battle poisoned, and you don't really need their help anyway. Better to keep at least the king away from harm.


FIGHT THE KING

This can wind up as a brutal battle. Not only have you lost a bunch of party members you may or may not have relied on, but several of them - Hakon, Ludin, and Yrsa, potentially - are arrayed against you. They still have their former levels and items, as well, so if you levelled them you're in for a rough show. As above, watch out for Hakon, as he can wreak bloody havoc on his foes.

Your primary target here is King Meinolf, and since his life is linked to his guards he won't start taking damage until they die. Target his Elite Guards - presumably there are more if fewer of your units defected - then go after the king himself. Defeating Meinolf will end the fight.

After the battle ends you'll have some decisions you can make:
  • Charge the gates. No aid.
  • Order Oddleif to take out the archers. Oddleif will not be available in the next fight, though she'll provide cover from the sides.
  • Order Canary to separate the king from his guards. Canary will be a forced part of the next battle, and gets an extra turn right at the beginning.
  • Order Hakon (if he's in your party) to smash down a barrier between you and the king's forces. There will be no obstruction in the middle of the field in the next battle.
Another fight waits. Here, if he's alive, you'll fight Griss, as well as the king and more of his entourage. The fight isn't significantly different from the last, though if Griss is around he provides a hefty meat shield. The king seems much more eager to rush your lines than his guards, and if you surround him and batter him with attacks you can kill the guards without having to touch them.

The chapter ends after you take either of these paths. As for the aftermath...


Chapter Fifteen

 Major spoiler territory, so I won't talk much about this. The essence of the battle that follows is that, as Iver, you need to try and direct your opponent into one of the bolts of lightning marked out on the map. Lead him around - minding that you can get cornered, be careful of that - and go for a bolt that has just appeared, as they seem to take two turns to descend. Iver's Battering Ram move is also useful for knocking Bolverk into lightning strikes. Zapping him and sapping his health, beating him up the old fashioned way, or getting knocked out will end the fight.

Hooray! You've completed The Banner Saga 2! Enjoy the ending, as well as the... several years... before the next one comes out. Sigh...

Main Walkthrough