Part 10: Ep 10: Dance in the Blizzard

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies Part 1



Time to begin Chapter 4. As we're getting close to the end of gen 1, we're treated with a bit of a breather before the brutality of Chapter 5.



Nothing really important happens in the pre-chapter events except for this. Farewell, Leonster knights. May the plot keep you safe on your travels.



: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +2 HP, +2 Str, +2 Skl, +2 Spd, +1 Lck, +1 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 3 levels, +2 HP, +3 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 Lck, +2 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 3 levels, +1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Skl, +2 Spd, +2 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +4 HP, +3 Str, +2 Skl, +1 Spd

Finally getting some Skill... also, no Defense gains, so he's probably capped it already.

: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +2 HP, +2 Mgc, +2 Skl, +2 Spd, +2 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 3 levels, +2 HP, +1 Str, +2 Spd, +1 Lck, +1 Res

: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +4 HP, +3 Str, +2 Skl, +3 Spd, +1 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 3 levels, +2 HP, +1 Str, +1 Mgc, +2 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 Lck, +3 Def

And now that Adean doesn't need more strength, she's focusing entirely on defense. I'll take it.

: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +2 HP, +3 Spd, +4 Lck, +4 Def, +1 Res

: Arena up to rank 3, Gained 1 level, No stats at all.

Dew, you're a disgrace to this army and your 40ish growths.

: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +4 HP, +1 Mgc, +2 Lck, +2 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 2 levels, +1 HP, +2 Str, +1 Spd, +1 Def

A shame he didn't have enough money to get the Paragon Ring this time. He completely destroyed the Arena with nothing but a Handaxe.

: Arena Completed, Gained 2 levels, +1 Spd, +1 Lck, +2 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +2 HP, +2 Skl, +3 Spd, +2 Lck, +2 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +2 HP, +2 Str, +1 Mgc, +2 Skl, +2 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 2 levels, +2 HP, +1 Mgc, +1 Skl, +1 Lck, +1 Def, +1 Res

: Arena Completed, Gained 6 levels, +2 HP, +2 Str, +3 Skl, +1 Spd, +2 Lck, +2 Def, +2 Res

She's still rocking that Arena and getting great levels from it. Apparently, she's learning much more from fighting against gladiators than from dancing on the battlefield.

: Arena Completed, Gained 5 levels, +4 HP, +4 Str, +3 Skl, +2 Spd, +2 Lck, +3 Def, +1 Res

: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +2 HP, +2 Str, +2 Mgc, +3 Skl, +1 Spd, +2 Lck, +2 Res

Dayum. Nice going, Claud.



: Arena Completed, Gained 7 levels, +6 HP, +2 Str, +3 Skl, +1 Spd, +2 Lck, +2 Def, +2 Res

Tailto was the one who reaped the most benefits out of the Arena, and is now just about ready to promote.



Her promotion options aren't all that surprising. The default choice is still to become a Mage Fighter. Strong gains, +1 Mov, weapons ranks go up especially in Staves, she gains access to C Light and the Adept Skill to go along with that wonderful +6 Spd.



Her second choice is to become a Mage Knight. By sacrificing stat gains and Adept for 3 more Move, she can become pretty mobile and have access to better swords.

Tinny as a mounted unit is pretty neat if you want to do some hit-and-run with her... she's pretty frail after all. Still, I'd rather go for the default option, since Adept will give her more chances to activate Sol and Wrath, anyways. I also don't really like how her Mage Knight hair looks.



While going through the Arena, I also noticed more changes to the enemy roster. Kemal the Wind Mage became a regular Mage, with a Bard sprite for some reason. Feather in the hair and everything.



The rank 2 enemies traded their Steel weapons for Silver ones, and Senghor hereabove was completely changed. From a Forrest Knight with a Steel Blade & Flame Sword, he became an Iron Mage with Elwind & Speed Ring. He was pretty difficult for everyone to overcome, actually.



Nikita the Pegasus Knight got a new Shield Ring to go along with her Brave Lance, and her partner Nene hereabove traded her Silver Bow for a matching Brave Bow + Shield Ring.



Finally, Nikias traded his Brave Axe/Bow for a Killer Axe and Pugi. Scary...



On sale today are a Recover staff and a Strength Ring. The latter is here to replace the one that the Master Axe boss was supposed to drop last chapter. All in all, we get screwed out of buying a Return Ring and a Wind tome. While I don't really care about having two Return Rings, I'd certainly have appreciated the Wind tome. Right now, we barely have enough tomes to outfit our 5 magic users.



There are also some other items that need to go at the Pawn Shop. Dew doesn't have any holy blood, so he's selling the Blagi Sword to someone competent. Someone like Aira.

The Heal staff goes to Claud, but the Aura / Sleep will remain there, for now.



The Strength Ring goes to Beowolf, for Patty. He also grabs Raquesis' Shield Ring, so she can buy the Magic Ring for her own daughter. The Recover goes to Lewyn so he can catch up a bit on experience.



Azel trades his Fire for Tailto's Bolting. That should give her something light to attack with, and that way I won't have to go through the nightmare of recruiting a Tinny with an infinite Bolting tome in gen 2. _{Never again.}



Ferry bought Noish's Killer Lance so she could kill a few more things than just fliers and brigands, and Dew will keep the Paragon Ring on for this chapter. He's pretty close to promotion, after all.



Time to begin the chapter proper, now. We'll just need to stride alongside the northern part of the mountains, gleefully murdering the troops blocking our way, and the pirates burning the villages. No big hurry overall, but Sigurd's army has enough lasting power to just blast through easily, anyways. Easy EXP and easy money, what's there not to like?



These guys can be a bit dangerous if you aren't prepared, though. All the Wind Mages were turned into Mages , which is also the name for dismounted Mage Knights, and thus a more threatening class than actual Mages. The one that was close to the Bishop also became a High Priest.



Those guys over there are also a bit beefier, with two of Deet'var's Pegasus Knights now promoted, and the Wind Mages around Maios are now Iron Mages. Maios himself became one as well.

What was I saying last chapter about armored bosses...? Meh, it probably wasn't very important.



First off, we get Tailto to talk with Azel for some easy 100 Love points and a much-needed stat-up for her.



Adean also gets a conversation with her lover. In this case, Jamke gets the mighty Brave Bow. Just like the other Brave weapons, it's been nerfed a little, but not enough to make it unusable.



Like with Aira's conversations, the weapon you get depends on the lover. If Adean were still in love with Midayle, she would give him the Master Bow. It's quite more powerful and has a neat critical boost, but weighs more and is less accurate. It helps with Midayle's weaknesses just as much as the Brave Bow helps with Jamke's.



If you made Azel and Adean fall in love instead, then she receives the Rescue staff, just like in the original game. Now it has a larger range (15 instead of 10), but only half the uses.



Yes, I am using my Recover for a conversation-induced 5 HP. Every little bit helps.



That was totally worth it.



First blood! That village barely started burning and the Pirate is already dead.



Careful with those guys, though. They have some nasty Killer Axes.



We're getting close to these "Mages", now. Let's see what they've got in store for us.



Surprise! All these guys now have a Blizzard tome. Sure, they have awful hit rates, but if they gang up on more fragile units, they can become very annoying.



Of course, that won't happen if their small AI brains prioritize our dodgier units.



One funny thing about Blizzard is that little squiggly inscription at the bottom. It means that Blizzard can induce Sleep on hit. Yes, just like in Thracia 776. Fun, huh?



Also, good luck trying to gauge their range if the game decides to not display it properly.



Well, let's get these small talks out of the way for now and start charging in.



Holyn still loves his Handaxe, of course.



Let this be a proof that you don't need a high magic stat when you have someone dear to help you out. For Love is the greatest Magic of all!



Sigurd immediately goes for the High Priest, but gets fooled by his doppelgänger and misses a 72%.



I guess I'll have to skip on getting rid of the Fortify user for this turn.



... Really now? You genuinely thought that was a good idea?



That could have been mildly embarrassing, but the Sleep effect didn't even kick in, so whatever. It's just 8 damage.



And with that, all chipping done during the previous turn has been nullified.



Man, these guys really hate Briggid. Maybe they're just afraid of the Yewfelle?



Generic Bishop Guy #20 Cuvuli didn't forget to bring a weapon this time. Elwind instead of a Physic, which now allows him to use his Sleep on every single turn. He got stat boosts mostly in magic, for more sleeps, and defensive stats, so he could be even harder to get rid of. Renewal does that too, and the +1 Leadership stars make his troops a bit dodgier than I would like.

In case it wasn't obvious by now, Cuvuli's troops are designed just so they can stall Sigurd's army. At least long enough for Deet'var to catch them in the middle of the forest, where the limited mobility would make dealing with Pegasus Knights quite difficult.



Well, since we have siege tomes as well, might as well make use of them.



Dammit. That guy is really lucky for having 0 Luck.



Fun fact: This is the FE4 engine, so even magic tomes do not get depleted if you miss. That makes siege tomes way better than they should be, to be honest. Especially since they're rather cheap to repair in the first place.



They said that mages with swords were good anti-mage units. Claud takes no damage from mages and crits them back in return. I'll stick to using him for that.



Another good strategy to take no damage from mages: kill them before they even have time to react.



And then, we get rid of their bothersome leader.



Not using his Handaxe this time, but that will do.



Now that the sandman has been eliminated, Adean wakes Briggid up. The first of many Restore uses...



This is going to be a thing for this chapter, isn't it?



Broken Master Axe of brokenness, goooo!



Without his Killer Lance, Noish isn't really in top shape to fight those mages with just Iron weapons, but he can still take on Pirates pretty easily.



Then we take care of the healer...



Only four mages left and still a Dance to go. This fight wasn't so bad.



But that was.



Oh hey, and Claud/Sylvia are now paired. What an appropriate way for me to find out.



That's really not funny, game.



And bam! No more mages. Stalling tactics fail pretty hard when faced with such a steamroller of an army.



Next up is Deet'var's squad, who's reached us right on time, although I do wish they had flown south a bit more.



Claud's Renewal ability in action. Always incredibly useful after being hit for 1 damage.



Ferry quickly reaches the next village on the map. You all know what happens next.



We then move everyone forward, just outside of Deet'var squad's range, and Lewyn steals some money from a crazy old man, since he's a bit low on cash right now.



And somewhere in there, Tailto fell in love with Azel. Great, that only leaves Ferry and Lewyn, now.



One of Deet'var's Pegasus is lured to attack Arden. She's got a Knight Killer, but can't even double him, so that's fine.



Deet'var unfortunately ended up at the very top, where she's the hardest to reach. The Falcon Knights accompanying her are also in the middle... that's a bit tricky, but we'll manage.



All the Pegasus are equipped with Knight Killers and Pursuit Rings instead of Slim Lances, which makes them incredibly dangerous on the offensive. The Falcon Knights have Mend and a Sleep Sword, just because... you know, status effects.

Thankfully, both weapons are pretty heavy, so they should all drop like flies on our turn.



Deet'var herself may be a little more problematic. She's 1 level higher than her vanilla version, received +4 in all stats, and has one more Leadership star. She traded her Prayer Ring for a Knight Killer, and made Prayer her personal skill instead. As well as Continue and Critical for good measure.

She is also cheating on her weapon ranks. My Falcon Knights have a B in Swords, so I don't see why she should be an exception.



Well, let's start with the killing. That's what you get for using weapons too heavy for you: you get doubled without Pursuit.



It may look like I'm getting really lucky with all those lover criticals, but you need to consider this: in FE4, having two lover units close boosts their critical by 20%, but the game will show the "Lovers Critical" animation regardless of whether the crit was caused by that 20% boost or not.

In other words, since I always position my lovers close to each other, every common critical I would get is declared a "Lover Critical" by the game. It's technically a lie, but hey, it does make the player feel better about himself.



Well, time to start chipping Deet'var. Using the Brave Bow is tempting, but that can put her in 3HP-Prayer range, which would be quite disastrous.



Those odds aren't great, but if he can hit her at least once out of 2~3 shots, it would help considerably.



Or he could shoot her down immediately. It seems Jamke doesn't take low Skill stats as a handicap, but as a challenge! It's also the second time that's happened.



Now that we've murdered Misha's mom in cold blood, let's finish her squad. I love how the game has the good taste of giving the player a legendary bow right before Pegasus Land.



I also managed to grab a shot of one of the most elusive battle backgrounds in the game. You can only get it on this map, when an enemy is standing/flying over a river.



It looks very pretty.



Yyyep, that sure is another Lover Critical all right. That's also the last of Deet'var's squad.



The Wind Mage around here was replaced by a Killer Ballista, making it a bit riskier to send Ferry against him. He's barely got any on-land range, so I guess I could just as easily ignore him.



Four Pirates down, only one left.



Up next we have two rows of three mooks blocking our path. The second row has Blizzard users and their range is displayed correctly, but not their movement. Weird.



I'm so proud of how Adean has turned out. Who would have thought she'd be able to tank Killing Edge Myrmidons like that?



Anyways, despite how harmless the Ballista guy is, I want to kill him regardless. Ferry moves into his range and Sylvia dances...



... and now she's in the safe zone. He should be dead by next turn.



And now, time for a little magic trick from our host tonight, Grand Master Wizard Maios!



Poof! No more bridge. Good luck trying to invade Silesse or even our own castle now, genius.



The Blizzard guys finally decide to wake up, taking somewhat clever targets this time, but still barely accomplishing anything of value.



A bit more killing, and we're almost done with this portion of the chapter. Only the last-ditch troops remain.



And these guys seem to be holding a contest on who can hit with the lowest hit rates.



This contest is now closed, good sir.



: I AM THE SUN GOD!! Beg for my radiant forgiveness, and I might spare your mortal existence!



: Hahah, that joke never gets old.



One thing I love about Fire Emblem AI is how easily units are distracted from their intended goal.

: Okay guys, we have a good tactical formation there. The long-range tome will be hurting them from afar while we protect the healers. With our good ruler's leadership and the river to slow them down, we shall prevail in the long run. Any questions, soldiers?

: Captain, there's someone standing on the other side of the river. She's calling us armored chickens.

: After her!!



: What about our healers?

: Get them as close to the action as you can!



At least Maios had the good sense of holding a Blizzard tome, just in case his troops would do something stupid like leave him on his own.



Oh my, I am so very scared by these odds.



Ah? We might have a winner for the low hit rates contest! He even managed to put Sleep on him.



Which resulted in the spell being cast... twice? For no damage? Oookay, game. Whatever you say.



Maios's class was changed from Baron to Iron Mage, finally fixing his ridiculous 9 Mag from before. He's one level higher, has +3 in Skl/Spd and +9 in Res. He gained Adept, Critical and a Blizzard on top of his usual Tornado.

The only thing remarkable about him is that he drops a Blizzard for us to use and abuse. And I guess he's got minor Holsety too.



First, Lex will need to be awake to be of any use to us.



More Defense is nice, I suppose.



Well, I guess it's time to get working on those armors, now.



But first, we repair that bridge. Don't worry, Dew, you'll get your experience to reach level 20... eventually.



And no, I'm not even going to leave Maios a chance to defend himself.



So close to the Luck cap... Still a fantastic job, though. I can't wait to see how Lana will turn out.



Let's get this party started with the overwhelming power of Iron weaponry.



Finally we're starting to get some good levels again.



Surprise attack, coming from the south!



Oh right... Pegasus don't like bows. Whoops.



HP, Def synchronization seems to be the newest trend in our army. Lewyn and Jamke did the exact same on the previous chapter.



And the very last Armor went down with a bang. Awesome.



Well, that wasn't too difficult. We have 4 turns to wreck Maios before he can even start counter-attacking.



I guess I could start sending Lewyn or Ferry after him, since it's their country and all that, then slowly chip him out.



But sadly for him, I do not have that kind of patience. Say hello to our shiny new semi-legendary sword.



The first of many bosses to be felled by the Blagi Sword.



No doubt Lewyn will really enjoy this new Blizzard tome.



I guess all that's left now is to visit the villages. Sylvia visits Gamefreeze Pueblo to obtain the Defense Sword, that I'm probably not going to keep on her for very long.



Claud also got a very impressive level from healing 1HP here and there. I'm sure Pent would be proud.



And Lewyn fell in love with Ferry! That wraps up all the couples, now.



Now, all the other villages only give money that I'll spread around my poorest units in-between updates. Everyone is also going to back up to the beginning of the map.

I'll conquer Thove Castle once we get there. See you then!