Chapter 1: Defending the Defender's Heart

[Shikotei-kun]

So I did a bunch of research on this event and it seems either you "roll through it like a baller", or get too frustrated at the chaos of it all and wipe once the boss shows up and turns into a blender.

I've played this particular event at least a few times now on Unfair, and beat it almost every time. The related trophy is piss-easy on Story difficulty, but I'm not here for that. I'm here to lay down a strategy that can be used by all main characters (so no specially MC-only stuff required!) and one that works on Unfair difficulty. I noticed a few things in the enemy behavior and the timings of reinforcements. Though I only made notes the last time I played it.

 

Just knowing when new baddies show up, where, and which ones can make all the difference! The biggest bad-decision I found is not being able to see them coming from the streets (they're always empty, save for the two cut-scenes), so providing insight should be a big help.

 

About the Minotaur

Don't bother with fire-based spells. It has 10 resistance and a reflex will almost always negate your fireballs. Rolled 20 damage? Aww, it made its save, that's now 10 damage, of which nothing survives the resistance. It only has 22 AC, so straight up smacking it will bring far more pain than magic. Beef up your defenses and use the wall of guards to spank this big boy with a glaive, longspear, or pelt it with arrows. If you want to use magic, get Magic Missile: 3d4+3 beats missing.

 

Stat block

110 HP

22 AC, 18 Flatfooted, 17 Touch

+14 fortitude, 12 reflex, 9 will

11 spell resistance

DR 5/Good

Resistance: 10 fire and 10 cold

 

Feel free to add your own observations or try out the method described below. May it help other Crusader Commanders preserve the Defender's Heart.

 

Preparations
Unlike every encounter so far (except the random encounters) you've been able to cast buffs, drink potions, and read scrolls to beef up the party before entering combat. Most likely you've started each one with a surprise round by firing off a spell/arrow/throwable.
The Tavern Defense event doesn't allow for any of that. What it does allow, is that you can cast spells while in the tavern itself! Yes, you can buff the party almost fully before speaking with Irabeth and starting the massive fight.
Navigate to the spellbook with R2, then select a spellcaster with L2. Now use the arrow keys to hightlight a prepared buff spell, then hit [] for a small submenu. Select "Cast spell". Now you've got the spell selected as normal and can choose a target. Mage Armor is best (or any Touch Range spell) to make the caster walk over to the target. By using this system you can gather your party in the inn, and apply the 30-foot-radius spells like Bless, Angel's Light, etc. The only spells you can't cast are those with a secondary option (like Protection from Alignment's choice: Evil/Good/Law/Chaos).

 

Assuming you have Nenio, Woljif, Ember, Camellia, Seelah, Daeran and Wenduag (I don't know where Lann is in the inn, I've picked Wenduag over him so far for Unfair).
Walk over to between Wenduag (near the hearth) and Seelah (near Irabeth), then have Ember cast Mage Armor on Seelah's mount (or you). Then have Camellia cast Barkskin. Now add Nenio's Mage Armor. And Daeran with Shield of Faith.

 

Highly recommended spells setup (assumed level 5):
Nenio: 1x Mage Armor, 4x Magic Missile, Web, Fireball
Woljif: 1x Mage Armor, 4x Grease, Cat's Grace
Camellia: Bless, Barkskin, Eagle's Splendor, Bull's Strength, Enlarge Person, Magical Vestment
Seelah: Magic Weapon
Daeran: Shield of Faith

 

Buff the hell out of everyone, make your tankiest character untouchable (in case the Minotaur gets any funny ideas).

Give Ember the Eagle's Splendor to increase the DC of her hexes. Enlarge Wenduag (for bigger damage)
Don't forget to pile on the AC for the mount: Mage Armor, Cat's Grace, Shield of Faith, Magical Vestment, Barkskin. Equip everyone with ranged weapons.
Save the Magic Weapon for when the Minotaur shows up.

I brought Nenio, Woljif, Seelah (mounted), Wenduag, and Ember with me. Camellia was emptied of buffs, Daeran's not necessary (don't plan on getting hurt, Shield of Faith for everyone).

 

The strategy (works on Unfair):
Set up the auto-pauze to trigger when spotting a new enemy. Switch to RTWP combat (just hear me out).
When the battle starts, don't skip the cut-scene. Once you get control of your people, have Seelah mount up, make Woljif cast Grease on the north gate (with the effect triggering just inside the gate), and make Nenio cast Web with the edge of the effect slightly outside the gate.
This way Grease will hit enemies when they enter, but Web won't trigger on Woljif (the range of casting Grease would put him inside the initial danger zone).
Unpauze a few times until you see both spells active on the ground (even the initial outburst is enough). Now switch back to turn-based.

Have Woljif cast an extra Grease at the north gate (slightly closer than the first one) and Nenio an extra Web. This will lock down any incoming enemies into four reflex-save traps. They'll take a while to progress giving you ample time to shoot them.
Once the 2x Web / 2x Grease combo is down, have Nenio and Woljif lay down 1x Web and 2x Grease at the south gate. Somewhat spread out, but in a way that the grease covers the ground between the gate and Irabeth's wall. This is the path the Minotaur will take. Being level 5 means these will stay for 50 rounds, which is long enough.
Meanwhile, shoot/kill the 2 fighters on the rooftops to save the two archers on the Forge (nearest the north gate).
I found it easiest to equip Seelah with the Terror March to do massive damage to humans, and a Cold Iron weapon (like Radiance) to deal with a stray Dretch. Being mounted means she can move 80ft and still have a full-round action.
Either move your casters to the tavern's rooftop (the one way, way up there) and snipe people, or in the small barricaded corner (where the only access is through Irabeth's wall of death).
You don't want any of them on the front lines; that's for your tankier party members. Keep shooting the grunts, including the first reinforcement (barbarian/cultists/Dretches) that shows up at the north gate.

 

When the first two arsonists finally show up, hit them with Ember's Evil Eye to make them slip on the Grease, neutralizing their firebombs. Place your tanks on the top of the stairs: once one arsonist dies, another will spawn right here. Kill him quickly.

 

Once all three arsonists are dead, it's time to get off the outer rooftops: it will crawl with demons soon, and the archers will die at this point, so unless you feel beefy enough to beat the Schir, don't stay here. The Schir team (2 Dretches, 2 cultists, and the Schir) will make short work of the archers and then go for Irabeth. Kill them here with her help. Two rounds after the Schir spawns, your casters have a new priority target: two more arsonists at the north gate. If you've dealt with the Schir and co, feel free to ride up the rooftops to shoot some arsonists. The fighters that spawn at the rooftops all go for Irabeth. If they don't, there's usually just one, maybe two. Nothing your tanks can't handle.

The third batch of arsonists indicates that the Minotaur is going to show up very soon (in two rounds) so get your guys safe and move Ember to the south gate ASAP. Nenio should now use her two fireballs to deal massive damage to the two Arsonists, and clean up with Magic Missiles.
If you have the time, buff Wenduag (assuming she shoots twice per round) with Bless Weapon and move her behind the barricade. Her main target is about to show up.

Once the Minotaur shows up with the last two arsonists at the south gate, have Ember decrease the big guy's saves (Evil Eye) to increase the chance it slips and falls prone. Once it gets past the Web and two Grease, reduce its AC (Evil Eye) to make it easier to hit him. If he fails this save, have her concentrate on the Arsonists with Burning Arc. If he gets close enough to Irabeth's team, hit him with Slumber. The chances of him failing the save are not that bad and it'll open up a coup-de-grace and even an instant-kill. If he survives, there will be plenty of attacks-of-opportunity to deal another round of massive damage.

 

Loot-wise, you can use Seelah to loot the archers on top of the Forge to maybe get the goodies in the grease/web combo without having to get into that zone. Same goes for the loot on the other rooftops and any in the courtyard. If need be, have Woljif and Nenio dispel these. The only things spawning in at this point are fighters with an INT dump stat.

Observations:
Unless provoked (or you're the nearest person) all enemy units ignore you and beeline to Irabeth. Most get AoO'd to death by her guards, the rest she mauls herself.
The demon reinforcement on the roofs (Schir) initially target the remaining archers.
The batch of 4 fighters respawn indefinitely after some point, often after being dead for two rounds (so killed in round 5 means they show up at the start of round 7). They have individual timers.
Initially, they don't respawn that fast. Probably only after the north gate cultist reinforcement (round 3) or the first arsonists showing up (round 8).

Round numbers are meaningless, really; I've gotten to round 40 without seeing the Minotaur. Progress is determined by the deaths of enemy units. Killing the fighters (I killed 6/8 at the end of round 2) triggers the north gate reinforcements.
Killing the barbarian, two Dretches, and at least one cultist (so the majority of that batch) triggers the first 2 arsonists at the north gate.
Killing one arsonist will instantly spawn the one at the stairs. If it rolls a high enough initiative, it'll get its turn immediately (often targeting the Forge).
Two rounds after all three arsonists (2 north gate, 1 stairs) are dead, the Schir reinforcement triggers.
It's probably then that the rooftop fighters start spawning indefinitely, two rounds after they're killed.
It's unclear what triggers the second set of arsonists at the north gate, either three rounds after the Schir spawned in, or the round after killing enough of that batch.
The third set of arsonists may spawn quite a few rounds after the last reinforcement. Either you need to kill a lot of the enemies, or there's a grace period of 5-6 rounds after the previous set died.
The Minotaur shows up two rounds after the last two arsonists spawned at the north gate.

 

Raw notes, though I missed a lot of the single reinforcements, so there are gaps.
Round 1 (initial situation):
- 4 fighters on the rooftops: 1 stairs, 2 east ladder, 1 south ladder
- 4 fighters at the north gate
End round 2: 4 north gate fighters dead, 2 rooftops fighters dead.
Round 3: north gate reinforcement: 2 Dretch, 2 fighter, 1 barbarian, 1 Baphomet cultist, 1 Deskari cultist
Round 8?: 2 fighters east ladder.
Round 8: Dretches dead (new batch of enemies spawned in): 2 arsonists north gate
Round 13: Death of one arsonist spawns a new one on stairs (mid-round)
Round 17: all 3 arsonists dead
Round 19: demon reinforcements: Dretch + Baphomet cultist stairs, Dretch + Baphomet cultist east ladder, Schir south ladder
Round 21: 2 fighters at rooftops (1 east ladder, 1 stairs)
Round 22: 2 arsonists at north gate
Round 23: Schir dead
Round 25: both north gate arsonists dead
Round 29: east ladder 1 fighter
Round 31: 2 arsonists north gate
Round 31: east ladder 1 fighter
Round 33: Minotaur + 2 arsonists south gate

 

Loot:
The Minotaur has 2x M Handaxe (only lootable if arsonist dies last). Each arsonist has 5x Alchemist’s Fire (possible 45 if minotaur dies last, 40 otherwise). The numbers between () assume the Minotaur dies last, otherwise the arsonist dies last. The fight end as soon as all nine arsonists are dead and the minotaur is dead, so you want to scoot over to all piles before that happens.

Total loot possible (rooftop archers and mobile guards presumed dead, Irabeth's line fully intact).

Arsonists, fighters, barbarian
40 (45) Alchemist’s Fire
8 (9) Leather Armor
8 (9) Heavy Crossbow
12 (13) Dagger
4 Shortsword
4 Studded Leather
4 Composite Longbow
1 Greatclub
1 Hide armor

 

Cultists and demons
4 Breastplate
1 Masterwork Scythe
3 Masterwork Glaive
Scroll Resist Electricity (random?)
Scroll Summon Small Fire Elemental (random?)
Scroll Inflict Light Wounds (random?)
Scroll Delay Poison (random?)
2 (0) Masterwork Handaxe (Minotaur)
1 Masterwork Bardiche (Schir)

 

Allies (archers/guards)
6 Chainmail
6 Heavy Shield
6 Longsword
6 Light crossbow

12 Potion of Cure Light Wounds

 

Total value is about 2000 gold, 2300 if you sell the scrolls, potions, and Alchemist's Fire. The Heavy Flail Of Weakness you get from Irabeth as a reward is worth about the same (1850).

Don't forget to loot the wagon positioned outside for some more goodies.