Part 35: Night of Farewells
Befriended by Eliwood, they've now joined his group. That night…
: It's very late. Where are you going?
: …Jaffar.: To Sonia?: …Unh.: Do you know her whereabouts?: The mountain fortress has been discovered, so… I think she's in the other place.: The Water Temple? …What about them?: I haven't told them. They're all good people, so they would know I'm not lying. And yet… I want to see Mother. I want to hear the truth from her. So…
: I know that! But she's my mother! I'm her flesh and blood. She's the only mother I have!: …That is something I cannot understand…: Ah! I'm sorry… I didn't mean…: It's nothing.: Jaffar, I truly am sorry.: I will not let you go alone. If you go, I go with you. OK?Why would you go back when she explicitly tried to kill you goddammit Nino
: …
: I agree with Jaffar. There's no way Sonia will be moved by Nino's feelings.
: Are we just going to let them go?: No, we're going to follow them right away.: …: What are you doing, Hector? Hurry!
: I can't forgive him. Eliwood, is all this necessary? Do we need his strength so much that we now must rescue him?: No, that's not it. I wanted those two to live on. Their lives… They've been so hard. That's why I said what I did. My feelings were confirmed in Bern. The Black Fang is not all evil. They're being manipulated by Nergal. Some of them must be fighting against their better judgment. : Is that what you believe about Jaffar?: I don't know. But you've seen how he behaves around Nino… He seems like a completely different person than the man we fought at the Dragon's Gate.: I feel the same way. Hector, how about you?: He has killed my friends. He is my enemy. No matter what happens, that will never change.: So you'll let them die?: That's not what I said! I want him to stay alive. He must live…so that he can suffer for all he's done! There! Satisfied?: Hector…: I've said my peace. I'm done. I won't do any more ranting. …Sorry about that. Now, let's go! Hurry up, you two!: Wha- Wai-Wait up!
: Pah. Take heed how casually you call a human by name, you puppet. …Now what do you want?
: Eliwood is still alive. Lord Nergal's orders have not yet been fulfilled.: Silence, you abomination! I know that. Though the Four Fangs are gone, I'm still here… I will finish Eliwood and his friends with my own two hands!
: …Sonia! Where are you, Sonia?! 
: Hm? Who's that?: Oh, well… I suppose it's best I was done with you anyway. Hee hee… Those annoying brothers were all that prevented me from acting sooner.: Sonia…you…: I got close to you so that I could take control of the Black Fang. Take a look around you. Not a familiar face to be seen, is there? I've been replacing them one by one… Hee hee. They're all Lord Nergal's puppets. His morphs!: So…you've betrayed me.: You've finally noticed… You're a fool, Brendan Reed! Your own sons suspected me right from the beginning. Every minute I spent with you, every caress… It was loathsome! It was all for Lord Nergal. All to control the Four Fangs. Now it's over. Die for me now, will you? Die for your beloved wife!: Sonia! You inhuman monster!
: Forgive your… foolish…father…: Ow… He can't just die… Has to be the Black Fang leader even to the bitter end.: Brendan Reed… What magnificent essence. I will deliver it to Lord Nergal at once.: Be sure to tell him that it was I who killed Brendan! …Ooh!: You appear to be injured. Shall I take over your duties?: Don't be ridiculous! I will never let a creature like you seize the glory that is mine! I was chosen by Lord Nergal himself! I'm a perfect being!: …: I will take care of Eliwood and his companions. I! Sonia!Welp, there goes the Black Fang. Brendan's dead, the Four Fangs are either dead (Ursula, Lloyd), AWOL (Linus), or in our party (Jaffar), and Sonia's going to be dead at the end of the chapter.
: They… They're monsters…
: Nino!? Why have you come back?: I…wanted to speak with Mother.: Flee this place!: Uncle?: The commander is dead! That woman--
: Mother!: Aaaah… Soniaaaa! Uwaa… Aaaaaaaa! *Jan runs*: Wretch! I'll smoke you out later. First, Nino… You failed again, and you've tarnished my reputation.: Um… Mother…: Shut up! A thoroughly and utterly useless little girl. If only I'd known, I would've sent you off to your true parents!: My true…parents?
: Your true family for generations was the most famed house of magic wielders in all Lycia. They alone guarded the secret of the dragons. Thirteen years ago, Lord Nergal and I stole that secret.: My…family?: Ha ha ha! No matter how wise they were, they were only human. I held a child before me as a shield, and they were powerless to act! The father, the mother, and then the child I carried… After they revealed all of their secrets… And I slaughtered them with these very hands!: I… I… I'm not your daughter?: There were two children, a boy and a girl. One, the mother fought fiercely to save. She held her daughter tight as I killed her. That girl, Nino, was you!: No!: You were still a mewling little whelp, but we took you with us. Lord Nergal thought you might be useful, so he let you live. I hated the very thought of it, but it was Lord Nergal's wish that I raise you as my daughter. We were so wrong about you! Stupid and useless beyond all reason! A worthless piece of offal! All you were was in the way!: …: So that's why you wanted her dead.
: I never expected to hear such things from you, Jaffar! Once, you killed without hesitation at Lord Nergal's command. What happened to the man all feared, my Angel of Death?: Nino has changed me. I am no longer Nergal's killing engine. For Nino's sake… Sonia, you must die. And I will kill you!: Jaffar!: Stay back. I will take care of this woman.: Aha ha ha ha ha ha! "Stay back"! How rich! How noble! So, shall I pass judgment on you, as the Black Fang must with traitors? Ha ha ha! I sentence you to death! Prepare to be punished!???: I won't allow that!
: Bah. Look at the trouble you've caused!: We're companions now. You mustn't forget that!: Everyone…: …: Ha ha ha ha ha! Such sweet friends, Nino… Sorry to cut short your little reunion. Ha ha… I won't let you get away. To a man, you will all die!: Hm? Wha--!? Eeek!: Lyndis! Look out! This way!
: I will not let you die swiftly.: Whoa! This place is filling with water!: The path vanished… This water prevents us from moving forward or back.: Nino! Jaffar! Are you all right?: Yeah! We're fine!: …: I'll create some paths for you, so please keep coming. Of course, you can stay where you are if you like. I care not, so long as you die in pain and fear. You can't escape from the grave that's waiting for you, though.: I'm sorry, everyone! All of this, it's… It's all…my…: Nino! Calm down. I told you, didn't I? We came because we're friends. There's no need to apologize.: Lyn…: Pathways and courtesies? I guess she's being gracious, right?: Let's defeat Sonia and sever the connection between Nergal and the Black Fang! For a better future!And now, Night of Farewells. First of all, yes, this is a very purple map if you couldn't tell from the background. Now then, preparations. First things first, we picked up a Heaven Seal last chapter, and we know what those are for.
God knows she could use the defensive stats. She also picks up bows, which is significantly less useful than Hector's swords, but it works.
Also, since flight is invaluable for this chapter, we're going to give Fiora another chance.
Also a nice bonus where she could use it. Like Heath, she gets swords on promotion.
This map is fairly annoying due to the bridge mechanics. Every couple of turns a set of bridges either appears or disappears. If you have a unit on the bridge at that point, they're stuck where they are until it A) comes back (and there's no guarantee it will) or B) You rescue said unit with Dart/Hawkeye/flyer.
Most of the usual group is here: Hector, Lyn, Erk, Heath, Dart, Ninian, Rebecca, Matthew, Lucius and Raven. Harken's had a chance to demonstrate how awesome he is, now we can see if Raven can show that he's still worth using.
The far northeast corner has treasure, but the bridge takes fucking forever to appear so it's usually easier to just fly a thief in. Of course, there's a sniper waiting for you to do so, which isn't a problem now that we have the Delphi Shield. ...You know, if I had remembered to give it to either Heath or Fiora.
This nomad trooper is also sitting on top of a chest.
Also, this guy. Fuck this guy.
This asshole is sitting on a Angelic Robe that we'll need to steal from him, but the asshole also has a berserk staff. Should a unit be hit by this, it's in your best interests to immediately bust out the Restore staff and fix it, because a berserked unit will start attacking the closest unit, regardless of if they're a friend or foe (and almost always with their best weapon). Due to the way this map is set up, this will always be a friendly unit, and he loves to go after big units like Hector, Dart, Oswin, etc. You can probably guess how this generally turns out.
And of course, the queen bitch herself is sitting on the throne.
Sonia isn't quite as strong as Ursula and Kenneth, but she's invested those points into her defense and she's much more sturdy, so it's much harder to go in and deal with her up close and personal. Combined with her sitting on the throne, she's actually very tough to damage. Luna is incredibly useful here, but Canas would get his shit wrecked in response. Also, she drops a Fell Contract, which promotes one of our thieves. This is actually a questionable benefit, because assassins can't steal, and it puts them in competition with Jaffar. But that's discussion for another day, let's get started.
Oh yeah, Jaffar has officially joined us now. He's also capable of using Lockpicks, so Matthew tosses him a spare one.
This guy directly to the south of our position has a Bolting tome. Might as well knock him out right away.
Erk has reached the point where he's starting to not take damage from weapons. Shine on, you crazy motherfucker.
And then he gets the first level on the map. Wonderful. He does reach S-rank Anima, which is something I guess.
Raven follows up with some much-needed defense, but not much else. This is also D-rank Axes for him, so he's still stuck with Steel for now.
An interesting level for Hector follows. Continuing the trend here, this is C-rank Swords, letting him wave around Killing Edges and Lancereavers. The only thing we really care about are the Killing Edges though.
Priscilla picks off a pirate in the water. This is more like what we're talking about. Lucius does a little healing maintennance, and gets up to B-rank Staves. Another Physic user is never a bad thing.
Berserkes are hilarious. Even with shit like a hand axe, they have a 1 in 4 chance of criticalling. Dart pulls one out on a hero with a Light Brand.
New bridges; time to head south.
It's always important to check this guy's range when you start heading through the middle. The far left edge of the platform is safe, though he's a little tempermental on whether or not he'll go after someone in the middle. He completely ignored Lucius when I put him out there to bait him, but had no objections to going ater Hector with a 23% hit rate.
Heath and Fiora play "Bait the general." Fiora makes out alright.
Heath, not quite as well. He does have S-rank Lances now, though.
It's almost like they're trying to guide us along or something.
A wyvern lord comes to play with Fiora, and Lyn shoots him down with her Short bow. More defense!
In dealing with those reinforcements from the southwest, Lucius get this. It might as well be an empty level, but he does get S-rank Light.
Reinforcements from above mark our chance to relieve the bishop of his Angelic Robe. Plus, Hector is going to get to murder almost every enemy on the screen right now, which is another plus for the whole situation.
Healing levels are the best levels. Especially when they come with rank-ups. Erk gets Staves-D and access to Mend staves.
Priscilla is basically single-handedly cleaning out the southwest corner reinforcements. Also, with Anima-D she can finally use something more threatening than a Fire tome.
Raven duels with the nomad trooper, and feeds a kill to Rebecca. This is quite acceptable.
A pirate, pegasus, and cavalier have struggled together to bring us this sacrifice. Let us honor them for giving us a terribly mediocre level. Or not.
If it wasn't for the fact that I wanted this, I would have just sent Fiora over to kill the fucker about 5 turns ago. Asshole gets what he deserves.
That is to say, an axe to the face.
Now we can finally make our way over to Sonia.
But first, treasure! A second set of speedwings for us.
Jaffar is awesome. It's not often you get to see 3 zeroes on the enemy side.
A lone pirate spawns next to us. It doesn't go so well for him (or Fiora, for that matter).
Task number two: Dealing with Sonia. Hector is just inside her range and he's going sit there and drain her Bolting uses. Erk is there to help heal him up, but Hector dodges all but two of them anyway.
Lyn gets up close and personal to a shaman. Very personal. A shame about the level.
: Only the chosen few will live to see the new world. Perfect people! People like me!Perfect people miss with Bolting, apparently. Repeatedly.
Raven takes out a pirate for this. Still no fucking strength, but speed is capped now.
Hector is not in the mood to deal with wvyerns while dodging Bolting. So he does this instead. Those Afa's drops might have been worth it after all.
The main bulk of the forces are stuck here until Bolting runs out. Fortunately she only has two or three casts left at this point.
Once Bolting is gone we move forward, and kill the two wyverns flanking Sonia. Just for the hell of it, I feed a kill to Nino and see what happens. Nothing extraordinary.
As I mentioned earlier, Sonia on the throne is a pain in the ass to fight. Admittedly, this is only a hand axe, but Dart's doing less than double-digit damage with a barely better than 50% hit rate. Needless to say, we let this one sit for a bit while we clean out the rest of the enemies first.
Erk is glad to help in this undertaking with a completely shit level.
Immediately afterwards, I realize that I am bad at positioning things. Fiora is now in the range of that Silver bow sniper. I was fully prepared to save-scum my way through this because fuck if I was redoing the entire chapter up to this point. Ordinarily, I'd just have Heath go and kill the sniper or something, but he's carrying Matthew and can only kill the shaman or monk, neither of whom is a threat.
The monk and shaman go after her first, but the resulting level doesn't do anything to help her chances.
Fortunately, she can take the blow. Which is good, because it does land. Heath kills him the next turn.
Back to Sonia, Rebecca takes a shot with her longbow, as per our usual "Cheese the boss" strategy. It does a whopping two damage, but does get her Bow-S.
So let's go with something that has a little more "oomph" to it.
She takes the bait. She gets a helping of
in response.
: Lord Nergal said…so…
She doesn't even give us a good level. A bitch to the end. At least we get the Fell Contract.
But we're not done yet, there's treasure to be had! Thor's Ire is Ninian's dance to raise our Critical rate by 10 for a turn. More or less completely useless.
Also on the menu, another Recover staff. Completely heals a unit, regardless of HP missing.
Finally, the A-rank Dark tome Fenrir. Now we can call it a day.
: Uncle Jan! I'm so glad you're safe!: Yes. I didn't even fight. I just hid… I… I… I'm just a cowardly old man… When that woman killed the commander, I could do nothing…: Father… He's dead, isn't he? Even though I wasn't his real daughter, he treated me kindly. And yet…Moth-- Sonia…: …You learned the truth?: Uh-huh.: I see… Let me return this to you, lass.: A…pendant?: It belonged to your real mother. The commander never fully trusted Sonia. He had his agents investigate her past. He uncovered much… Like where you'd come from. He was able to speak to a woman who worked in your house. When he told her about you, she wept with joy. She asked that you be given this.: …I loved the Black Fang. Nergal and Sonia have ruined it, but… The Black Fang that my father and brothers made… Everyone was so kind, I thought of them as my family…: Mmm…mmm. That was a good time.: Uncle Jan… Thank you. The pendant, I'll cherish it.: Take care, lass. …Be happy.: Goodbye, Uncle. See you again. Someday…
: Yes. Uh…thanks. You all came and…told me that we're friends. …It made me happy. Can I travel with you?: Of course! Right, Eliwood?: If that's what you'd like, we'd be happy to have you. Will you come and help us?: Yeah! I'll do my best! I promise! Jaffar, too!: …: We should be getting back to camp. We've an early start tomorrow.: You're right. We should head out as soon as it's light. The Shrine of Seals awaits!
: …Lea -- Leave me… …accursed puppet… Lord Nergal… …Aah…help…me.: Puppets have no essence to harvest. You no longer have any use to Lord Nergal…: What!? …What…did… What are you… I am human……: …: Wait! …Urrg! …I am… …hu…ma…And the high and mighty bitch was a morph all along. Funny how that all works out in the end.
Next time: The Shrine of Seals.
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HP: 65%
Strength: 15%
Skill: 40%
Speed: 35%
Luck: 20%
Defense: 30%
Resistance: 30%
Jaffar is pretty much the very definition of RNG-proof prepromote. His growths are questionable at best, but he's so damn close to capping stuff it probably won't matter. 15% for strength (for example) is terrible, but he's only one point off his cap with 7 levels to go. Furthermore, he's one of the rare cases where you're probably better off just using the prepromote instead of raising up your own. You can only promote one of Matthew or Legault, and they're still going to have a ways to go to compete with Jaffar on a good run. Assassins aren't the most useful class in the world, but they're a hell of a lot of fun to use, and Jaffar is almost always the best one.
Sonia official art.