An imposing stone structure, the castle shows no signs of significant damage, though some rubble has fallen off the outer wall here and there. The Imperial commander seen in the previous scene approaches with a squad of troops.

The soldiers begin a variety of what appear to be idiotic attacks on the castle, such as running into the wall.

Scene change to inside the castle. Though just as stone as the outside, the interior is intricately decorated and even cheery. The soldiers talking amongst themselves, on the other hand, are far more pessimistic, for whatever reason.

The music stops, as someone yells:

1-13 "Cyan" begins playing as a third man enters through a door to the rear. Clad in navy blue armor, with his longish black hair pulled back, he has the look of a warrior, and talks in a way that sounds centuries out of date.

Classical English note: "an", a shortening of "and", equates to modern "if".

Cayenne and the two soldiers walk out into the midst of the chaos. The Doma soldiers distract some Imperial soldiers.

From what I understand, this sounds like something out of a samurai movie. For that matter, Cayenne is sort of a samurai stereotype in general.

Cayenne's special skill allows him to use an assortment of sword-based strikes with various effects. Unfortunately, all but the first require increasing amounts of lead-in charge time that limit their—and thus also his—usefulness. Refer to his character entry for details.

The enemy Commander is no match for Cayenne's superior skill. The remaining Imperial soldiers look shocked.

For once, the common drop is the good one. Consider yourself unlucky if you get a Phoenix Tail instead of the more useful Black Belt.

Back to "Troops March On" for the music.

With the enemy's ranks reduced, Shadow (if present) takes the lead, perhaps to use his ninja skills to aid sneaking deeper into the base with Mash.

There's a treasure chest in a nearby tent that won't open. You can choose to kick it, hit it, or leave it. Kick it for a battle with a few of the Doberman enemy. They only appear here, so go for the kick. Hitting it just results in pretending to be a cat. Either option will get you the Star Pendant inside.

Before long, the party spots a generic soldier talking to the other man who was in Tina's flashback of Gastra's speech. The man wears a sea-green uniform and has light brown hair in sort of a short mohawk that looks almost dignified, if that's even possible for a mohawk. The party hides nearby and listens in.

The soldier, likely in better spirits than he has been in a while, walks off. Another one runs up.

Leo heads into his tent, presumably to prepare for the journey.

Cefca walks into the area as Shadow and Mash are about to continue.

Leo walks back out, and approaches Cefca immediately.

Leo leaves.

By now, Mash is sick of listening, and confronts Cefca heedless of the danger.

They fight, but Cefca is rather pathetic and gets beaten badly.

While the party is free to roam the base, make sure to open all the chests, especially the one with the Satellite inside. Note that it counters Mash's techniques by hitting him with 'berserk' status, and that soldiers will arrive to back it up if the battle drags on too long:

Anyway, it appears on the Beast Plain later if beaten, making for a source of unlimited Green Berets, as well as providing Gau with a Rage that's immune to nearly every status effect. There's also a Mithril Bracer in the same tent, and you can hop down behind this tent to find a Barrier Ring in another, which I never would have known if not for Djibriel's walkthrough.

The brief battle sequence repeats a few times, with brief dialogue between encounters.

One of which is unused.

This time, Cefca ducks behind a nearby group of soldiers after running away.

The Imperial Soldiers and Heavy Infantry aren't much trouble, but they buy Cefca time to act. "Kefka" plays.

And Cefca poisons the river.