Part 61: Kinship's Bond
Kinship's Bond, a very fun map for once, with minimal bullshit.
Did you ever dream it was possible?
This is a pretty easy chapter, so we can afford to bring units like Florina here. Canas, Fiora, Eliwood, and Legault are going to head west, to recruit Heath and grab the treasure. Afterwards, we'll be leaving the entire side to Canas, because he's that damn good. Lyn, of course, has to go east to meet Rath, and Kent is going with her to cut down the right side. The rest of the group is going plow straight through to the south.
The relative ease of this chapter, of course, has nothing to do with anyone's arena training. I'm only half joking here; this chapter is pretty OK in the greater scheme of things, but the sudden burst of stats for our guys doesn't exactly hurt.
Eubans has relocated to the southeast corner, but unlike Eliwood's story, he's more than happy to come to you if you enter his range.
4 HP, 2 Str, 1 Skl, 1 Spd, 1 Def, 1 Res. He's also stolen that poor cavalier's Knight Crest as his drop. The cavalier from before now gives us an Armorslayer.
That's a plus overall, in my book.
Eh, I'd rather have the Spear and the Knight's Crest than an Armorslayer and a Knight's Crest.
You do have to be quick for the treasure. The fighter above the thief has a door key, and his first action will be unlock the treasure room for the thief. Fortunately, Fiora can easily reach the left door, and she's carrying a door key herself.
Now, what really makes this chapter fun (like, legit fun, not bullshit):
Almost every enemy has a reaver weapon. The fighters are a bit more annoying given that our troop is pretty sword-heavy, but it's a fun gimmick for the chapter.
Another possibly overlooked consequence of this is that some enemies will be a bit faster than normal, since reaver weapons are generally lighter than their steel counterparts, and thus less obstructing to enemies with lower Con.
Of course, given that almost all of the physical enemies in this chapter are knights, fighters, and wyverns, low-Con enemies aren't really here to benefit from that.
Isadora has returned with free shit, and but we don't need her, so she'll be on guard duty.
And Heath is here to reap the benefits of HHM bonuses. 4 HP, 2 Str, 2 Skl, 2 Spd, 1 Def, 1 Res, which is a pretty fantastic set of bonuses.
But we can't forget our neutral friends, who will be doing their best to fuck us over at inopportune times and steal our kills.
I could make my "AI hates the player rather than the friendly units" anecdote for the kajillionth time but I won't.
Rath rides in on turn 2, as usual.
As part of our grand strategy, Kent is pretty much going to sit here for 4 or 5 turns, slowly working his way in to the right. As usual, rather than open the door directly above them, they try to fight their way through Kent instead.
Heath wastes no time getting friendly with the knights, something that sets things up quite nicely for us. Eliwood can jump right in and talk to him next turn.
If cards are played right, it'll also prevent the Ostia knight from charging through and stealing more kills. Maybe. (it depends if his AI is set to chase enemies or wait for them to get in range)
Our first level of the chapter is a pretty good one.
Stop Press: Raven Still Amazing
The other Ostian knight tries to help, but Heath's not having any of his shit. Fine by me, because I was worried I would have to figure out how the hell to get rid of him anyway.
Oh. Never mind, then.
Dammit, stop helping Isadora! You're about as useful as those green fellows.
Stop Press: Isadora Still Useless
Lyn takes care of Rath, who moves south to shoot a wyvern with Kent.
And Eliwood gets Heath, who grabs the Silver and Member Cards from Legault to go shopping.
A little shifting of positions, and we've got control of the center. Now, we push south.
Note Kent continuing to be a wall.
It's pretty magic-heavy through the center, but Fiora and Florina will be by to help, and Raven and Guy are pretty dodgy so we should be okay.
I find it funny that the one time the AI thieves follow the "proper" order of stealing treasure, it's the time where the other chest is a straight 10,000 Gold which can't be stolen back anyway. We could take it for ourselves, but...
Why treat the symptom when you can cure the disease?
I always found it something of an oversight that gold doesn't register in inventory, or at least thieves' inventories. I mean, surely 10,000G is heavier than a White Gem? Oh well. Videogames.
I don't know why they didn't just stuff a White Gem in there in the first place. At least it would give you a chance to steal it back if the thief got to it first.
Not going to be using him going forward, but might as well put him to work for this chapter.
We don't have an ideal formation for the center yet, but that can't be helped when we have that knight who doesn't know what's good for him. Fortunately, with this many mages around he can't last that long.
Don't tempt fate. Friendly AIs are always survivable just when you need them dead the most.
Not against that many mages. Even with the full force of AI bullshit on his side, he's not going to be surviving that many monks. Shine is too accurate for a low-leveled knight to consistently dodge.
Have I mentioned I love the Silver Card? We pick up an extra Barrier staff and a couple Physic staves.
Another turn gone by, and we're just going to leave the entire west side to Canas now. He'll make his way down to the forest, and all of the reinforcements from that side will gladly suicide right into him.
Legault lines our pockets with a little more gold.
Oh for fuck's sake, Guy!
Hey, if he doesn't work on his luck, his great stats will become paradoxical and disappear.
Then it's not luck for him to turn out so well, it's innate skill...or something. What I'm getting at is that maybe he just didn't need to be lucky to turn out so well. Yes, I'm completely ignoring Eliwood's story in this explanation, why do you ask?
It's amazing what a single turn of Raven defending with a hand axe can do.
With Raven above for healing, Hector has to take his place for the moment. Unfortunately, this means Florina's open to the nomad by Kent, so Lyn and Eliwood pull her aside.
Kent gets a pretty good level trading blows with a wyvern.
This is incredibly fortunate for me, because Lyn got hit by a shaman and has all of 10 HP at the moment. But the AI just can't resist a sweet, sweet neutral kill.
My god, Florina actually got a kill.
Well, we sure cleaned up nicely there.
And then the game dumps another 10 or so units onto the map. Look at all that free experience for Canas.
Asshole Reinforcements: The Subversion®
My god, another kill for Florina and an excellent level? She may be worth it yet.
Turn 9, and we're getting close.
Fiora finally gets down to the ballista asshole right after he runs out of shots. Oh well, he's out of the picture either way now.
And here comes Eubans to play.
Fiora misses her first shot, but criticals on the second.
FFFFFF-
It's all coming back, isn't it?
A sparse, but useful level for Fiora.
It cements her status as strength-blessed. She's doing quite well.
Turn 10, and this is it. Time to clean house and get the hell out of here. Guy takes one wyvern, and Florina takes the other leaving us with Eubans.
Kent sets up for the kill...
And Fiora delivers.
From here, we go on to talk to Uther, but afterwards, he and Hector have a chat.
: …Hm, take care of yourself. And Marquess Pherae, too. You must be Eliwood's support and strength.
: I know. This has all gotten so out of hand. Still, it's not entirely hopeless. Lord Elbert's death need not be in vain. We won't lose.: You're beginning to sound reasonable…: Hey!: What is it?: Your coloring. You don't look so good. Is something wrong?: …I just heard a tale that would frighten anyone. When I think that the future rests on the shoulders of a man like you, who lives so haphazardly, I realize that my life's been too short.: Bah! Is that any way to be? And I was worried about you, too!: You should get going. Your friends are waiting.: Ha ha… Pardon my overlong visit. I will take my leave of you then! Most honored elder brother!: Hector!: What is it?
: Heed the orders of your marquess and return to me alive.: Mm. I'll bring you a tale you won't believe. Mark my words, Brother. I shall return!-----
Resets this chapter: 1
Total resets: 30