The Let's Play Archive

Fire Emblem: Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light

by DKII

Part 11: Princesses

Time to rescue Minerva's sister, recruit ourselves a Dragon Knight, and wipe out a bunch of assorted enemy units in between.



A straightforward little indoor/outdoor map. Maria is being held captive by a handful of units inside, with a more intimidating group of enemies to the northwest.



For some reason we get the disembodied narrator treatment to start this chapter. Let's get started, then.



Our regular starting lineup, minus Banutu who is sitting out to make room for our ritual sacrifice, Biraku the personality-less Social Knight friend of Hardin.



We start out in the northeast. We'll need to make our way south and enter the prison there to get the treasure, clear out the enemies, and free the Cleric. The funky-looking terrain to our northwest is cliffs, which are just like hills in every way except that Clerics can cross them for some reason (cliffs also don't give any avoidance bonuses). Rather than split the army we'll just send everyone south.



Minerva's sister is Maria. She's pretty defenseless but fortunately since she starts off as an enemy unit, we won't have to worry about her safety.



Minerva herself is the northernmost Dragon Knight of the northwest group. She's got the same stats as in Chapter 7 but has been downgraded from a Silver Lance to a Javelin. We can actually damage her this time around, but she won't attack us unless we ruthlessly murder her sister for some reason.




We have another General boss but he's slow and only has a Steel Sword so no big deal there.



The Hero here is the promoted form of the Mercenary. So basically a glimpse into Navarre's future.



Finally the Sniper waiting in the prison comes with a nice little Silver Bow surprise. He also has 14 Speed.



Also this Thief will reach the treasure in just four turns, so there's that little extra challenge, too.


Turn 1:



Basically just a mad rush to try and cut off the Thief.



Minerva and the other fliers start to circle around to the north.


Turn 2:



Another turn of rushing forward.



The fliers continue to chase us down from behind, and the asshole Thief makes it into the prison first.


Turn 3:



Sheeda catches the Thief for 20 damage with the Silver Sword. Wolf follows up and finishes it off. First objective accomplished!



All my bow-users suck but Wolf gets a free pass for killing the Thief. High Movement can make up for deficiencies elsewhere...



And everyone else fills in behind.



The fliers get a little closer, and a couple Social Knights approach from the west.


Turn 4:



Barts equips the Hammer and takes point on the prison break. Hardin and Navarre move west to stop the Social Knights. Meanwhile the anti-flier squad forms up to the east.



The closest Armor Knight attacks Barts, with disastrous results (for the Armor Knight).



And still off to a fantastic start for the chapter.



The first Social Knight attacks Hardin with similar results.



Really, Hardin even got the same shitty level.



The other Social Knight attacks Navarre and manages to survive.



And the flying squad keeps doing their thing.


Turn 5:



Navarre starts off by finishing off the Social Knight.



Can't go wrong with more Power. Navarre is a bit behind in Speed but his 11 base is still holding up fine. His Defense is obviously low but there's only so far you can go with a 10% growth.



The vanguard tries to draw out the Armor Knight without getting in range of the enemy bow-users. Marth straps on the Dragon Killer and goes out to face the Dragon Knights alone rather than let them take a shot at one of our own bow-users.



I worry so much about keeping Sheeda away from the Sniper that I leave her in range of the Armor Knight instead. She takes 8 damage and only does 4 in return even with the Silver Sword.



Both generic Dragon Knights suicide on Marth.



Marth is pretty solid all-around and will probably cap Luck.

Also I double-screwed up the positioning because Barts is actually in range of the Sniper but one of the Archers moves first and takes the spot instead, firing for just 1 damage.


Turn 6:



Minerva is still all depressed 'cause we haven't saved her sister yet so she just hangs out by Marth and gives him puppy-dog eyes or something.



Biraku heroically blocks off the Sniper from the rest of the army. Daros moves up, hefts his Hammer, and knocks out the Armor Knight with a mighty crit.



Sheeda and Hardin team up to take out the Archer.



Julian gets a Thunder Sword from the first chest. The Thunder Sword has an interesting twist - it's not very strong, but it counts as a magic attack. Power isn't added and the target's Resist is used instead of Defense, and it can attack from 1 or 2 tiles away.



The rest of the front group gathers together inside, with Rena healing up Navarre.



Gordon takes out the near Pegasus Knight with a massive critical. The other Pegasus Knight is out of range but only has a Javelin so isn't much threat.



We didn't end up needing most of the anti-flier unit so they head into the prison.



The last Pegasus Knight attacks Gordon but can't double attack so he's safe.



The same can't be said for poor Biraku, who gets ripped apart by the Sniper and like the other bland generics we have has no death message for us. Well, at least you were effective bait, Biraku!


Turn 7:



Minerva is still following Marth around like some kind of creepy stalker. Also, the
Sniper is now in range so let's take care of him.



Navarre does most of the heavy lifting and Sheeda finishes him off. Sheeda picks up the Sniper's Silver Bow for the trouble.



Holy shit, Power and Defense?! Also, her Speed is capped with 30 levels to go. (Thanks, Biraku! )



Hardin calmly takes out the last Archer.



And Gordon shoots down the last Pegasus Knight.



Hey I don't care what you say that's actually a great level by his standards.



Julian picks up another Reblow Wand (the Physic Staff for you young'uns with your fancy newer Fire Emblem games). Handy since Rena's is about to run out of uses but for now it's auto-sent to Storage.



Not much to do now but break Maria out of prison and recruit Minerva before heading for the boss.



There's another Social Knight pair coming down the west side, and one somehow throws a Javelin through the wall. Sheeda's still riding an RNG high and dodges.


Turn 8:



Minerva couldn't get to Marth so she just sat there and pouted.



We start moving through the prison.


Turn 9:



Doga and Gordon prepare to meet the next pair of Social Knights.



Almost made it to Maria's cell, though no one nearby can unlock the doors yet.



Gordon would've died here if both hits had landed. I derp'ed again and forgot that Minerva wouldn't actually block off that corner tile. I probably should've just kept Gordon off to the east. Anyway Biraku gets credit for this lucky break, too! Way to go, Biraku.


Turn 10:



Gordon runs the hell away and Doga plugs the gap, armed with a Knight Killer.



Gordon lived and I didn't have to reset and lose Sheeda's great level so I'm not even going to complain about this one.



Going to jam up a bit here until I can get a couple keys to open those doors.



The injured Social Knight heads for the fort to try and heal up, while the other one attacks Doga from afar with the Javelin for just 2 damage.


Turn 11:



Getting closer...



Doga takes another 4 damage from the one Social Knight, while the other parks itself on the fort.


Turn 12:



Marich picked up a Door Key at some point (last chapter I think?) so I figure he might as well use it here. Maria is free but Marth still needs to talk to her to make it official:



Thanks for rescuing me. Please tell big sister I'm safe.

Also... I will help you from now on, okay?

And Maria joins the team. She looks pretty much like Rena and every other Cleric we've seen so not much to see there.



Doga attacks the Social Knight but can't kill him. He can still hold out a few more turns though if needed.



Julian will be able to open the back door to the prison next turn.



Doga takes another couple damage, and the other Social Knight finishes healing up and heads back into the fight. If we can clear up a path Minerva will head back over to Marth to recruit herself, too.


Turn 13:



First order of business - Julian opens the door. Wolf and Marich soften up the Hero, which leaves Navarre to take out his counterpart:



Navarre gets the job done and receives the Hero's Proof as a reward - the special item will allow Navarre to promote into a Hero at any time. Navarre is already above the Hero base stats in everything except one point short on Defense, so won't really gain anything by promoting early. That said he's going to easily cap Power, Skill, and Speed anyway so there's not much to gain besides a few points of Luck for waiting to promote either. I'll put it up for vote later.



Doga kills off the pesky Social Knight with the Javelin. He also counter-kills the other Social Knight on the enemy phase. Free and clear path to the boss, now.


Turns 14-15:



Just a couple of turns moving in on the boss. Minerva's chasing after Marth again too. I put Maria back in her cell to keep her safe. Oh and Wolf and Hardin took out the enemy Cleric that was roaming around.



And thus did the ritual sacrifice to the RNG gods wear off. That's ok though 'cause it probably took a lot of mystical energy to give Sheeda an actual good level.


Turn 16:



The Armor Knight lackey moved for some reason. He didn't even come closer or run away, just kind of slid sideways.



Wolf breaks out the Silver Bow for 12 damage. Sheeda barely finishes it off with the Silver Lance. Not the most efficient way to deal with armored units, but it works.



Some more final positioning for the boss assault next turn.



Oh hey, it's the Asshole Reinforcements brigade. They even cheat and show up in a block of eight units far away from any of the two forts on the map. We're nowhere near any of them though so it'll take awhile for them to find us. They're also all low level with standard cheap weapons. If you left anyone behind or have your Cleric straggling behind or something I guess they could be a problem? (I actually thought these guys were going to show up on the west side and, you know, actually be a threat and a legitimate surprise. Oops.)



Turn 17:



Daros takes the first shot at Zhukov but misses both attacks and takes 12 damage on the counterattack.



Marich is a bit more reliable, landing two hits for 26 damage. Now we just need someone to finish up...



Navarre takes care of business and grabs a Speed Ring from Zhukov's body. The Speed Ring, as you might expect, is another stat-boosting item and gives an amazing +6 to a unit's Speed. It's probably the most powerful item in the game in terms of its long-term effects - it can turn a strong, slow powerhouse into a god unit.



No Luck for Navarre but he's 3 ahead in Power. On a side note, Luck is actually a problem stat for pretty much every recruited unit that starts off as an enemy, since the enemy units all start with very little Luck (in Navarre's case, just 1). Minerva suffers from the same problem with a 0 base Luck. Fortunately, () Luck isn't a very important stat.

I actually let Zhukov attack me rather than killing him first but he didn't say anything, so I guess the boss dialogue is only for special bosses?

Anyway nothing left to do here until those reinforcements make their way all the way around the entire map, so I'll skip ahead.

Somewhere along the way, Minerva finally catches up to Marth:



Thanks for rescuing Maria.

The situation made your army my enemy. I'm very sorry. My older brother Misheil, and many Macedonian people, sided with Durhua.

He killed my father. I want to defeat him by my hands if possible.

Whoa, messed up family there.

If you could, please help White Knights Katua, Paola, and Est.

"Help" is relative to us. Does it count as helping if they're rescued only to be later sacrificed upon the RNG altar?

They were separated from me when Durhua thought I'd rebel.

Sounds like they were right.

I'm sure they will join. So will I now!

So we finally get Minerva. Unfortunately even though she has pretty good growths, her bases being equal to the Dragon Knight class bases mean that literally any Pegasus Knight that promotes will have the same or higher base stats - and all of the Pegasus Knights we can get will have the same or higher growths, too. With that said, Minerva's great to use in a normal run, but she loses out to the Pegasus Knights in our restricted condition.

Minerva does pull a Thunder Sword from somewhere when she joins, though, so she promptly gives it up to Sheeda. Also Maria and Minerva can't have any conversations with each other (in fact, I don't think there are any ally-to-ally conversations in the game outside of the scripted pre- and post-chapter ones).


Turn 21:



The mounted reinforcements are chasing Doga and Gordon through the prison, but they should make it back to the main army in plenty of time.


Turn 23:



One of the enemy Social Knights circled around the prison to cut off Doga and Gordon, so Rena heals up Doga from afar.



Doga dishes out the punishment on the counter-attack. He can't manage the kill but does get a level:



You are one weird Armor Knight, Doga.

Gordon finishes off the Social Knight on the next turn and the wait resumes.


Turn 25:



They'll catch Gordon this turn, but I have a secret weapon. Minerva's Defense is so high that neither Social Knight can damage her, and even with effective damage and a crit the Bow Knight wouldn't kill her, so I strip her of her weapons and have her plug the gap in a spot where only one Bow Knight will be able to get off a shot.


Turn 26:



Minerva retreats, leaving Navarre to hold the bridge.





He counter-kills two of the Social Knights (the third couldn't reach him). One of the Bow Knights also sneaks in a shot for 3 damage, while the other moves onto the bridge to trade blows with Wolf (who still has the Silver Bow so comes out way ahead in the exchange).



Still no Luck but Navarre becomes more deadly and more accurate anyway.


Turn 27:



Gordon finishes off the first Bow Knight and Navarre takes out the other. Kashim and Marich take potshots at the last Social Knight so that Doga can take the kill. Just the two Armor Knights left, finally making it into the picture.


Turn 29:



The two Armor Knights decide they don't want anything to do with Navarre and try to circle around to the east. I don't feel like waiting any longer, though.



Navarre is strong enough to take one of them down in one round with just a Steel Sword. Sheeda stays behind the cliff but attacks the other from range with the Thunder Sword for 14 damage. Navarre finishes it off on the enemy phase for the last level of the map:



Navarre is turning out just fantastic.

Just some housekeeping left to do.



Nothing of much interest in the shops, but we can replace some broken weapons at least.



One house gives a hint on the special properties of the Thunder Sword.



Archbishop Miroa, Darkness King Garnef and legendary Archsage Gato. But Miroa's dead now.

Gee, sure hope we don't run into that Garnef guy any time soon.

Anyway Marth eventually seizes the castle and chats with Princess Nina:



Yes. The great sage who protects Akaneia and uses the magic Aura, but who died after battling Garnef.

I knew Garnef was bad news.

Yes, he had a daughter named Linda who can also use the Aura spell.

But here whereabouts are unknown. She's said to be sold to slave traders...

She's probably suffering. Please, find Linda. I wish to protect here in place of Miroa.

So we'll be continuing the rescuing fair damsels theme next time.


New Characters

Maria - Cleric

Clerics are all pretty much the same since their growths are terrible and their stats don't matter, and Maria is no exception.

Growth Rates:

Minerva - Dragon Knight

Another pre-promte, Minerva is fun to mess around with since she flies around on a fucking dragon, and while she has good enough growths her base stats are still low enough that a raised-up Pegasus Knight will always be better off in the long run.

Growth Rates:


New Weapons:

Thunder Sword - Acts much like a Thunder Tome, but useable by anyone with sufficent Weapon Level who can wield a sword.


Our current roster, with the active units in bold. (Full stats in this post.) If you want to make a change, propose a recall motion and, if seconded, we'll have a recall vote and vote on a replacement. (Only applies if there is a replacement, of course.)

Lord: Marth
Pegasus Knight: Sheeda, Minerva [Dragon Knight]
Social Knight: Hardin, Abel, Kain, Machis, Biraku, Roshe, Jeigan [Paladin]
Armor Knight: Doga, Roger
Archer: Gordon, George [Sniper]
Cleric: Rena, Riff, Maria
Mercenary: Navarre, Oguma, Caesar, Raddy
Fighter: Barts, Maji, Saji
Hunter: Kashim
Pirate: Daros
Thief: Julian, Ricardo
Magician: Marich, Wendel [Priest]
Bow Knight: Wolf, Zagaro
Mamkute: Banutu

I need five votes this time around:

1) Biraku's ghost gave Sheeda a great level and then kept Gordon alive so that she could keep it. But the RNG gods are fickle and each sacrifice seems to last for only the one chapter (or less), so vote on another unit to slice open upon the RNG altar next chapter.

2) Similarly, we can bring Marth, the sacrifice, plus 12 other units next chapter, so choose one class to bench. Julian won't be needed to unlock anything but I'll try to get him more involved in the combat if he's brought along anyway.

3) We still have the Goddess Statue from last chapter, which gives +7 Luck. Pretty much everyone except Marth, Sheeda, and maybe Barts could make the most of it. Navarre's a good choice since it'll get him close to capping Luck long-term and add to his delicious crit rate. Doga could also use it for a little big of magic evade tanking, too. Hardin only has 4 Luck right now with just a 30% growth so he could use it to catch up. Plenty of options.

4) We also picked up a Speed Ring at the end of the chapter, which gives +6 Speed to whichever unit we want to make godly. Sheeda has already capped Speed and our other top-line promotable units (Navarre, Hardin, Marich) should get there easily as well, but every other unit would benefit greatly from it. Marth would go from 13 to 19 Speed and probably cap it overall, Doga would go from getting double-attacked to doing the doubling, etc.

5) Navarre can promote any time now. He's currently Level 17 and the only reason to wait until Level 20 is to try and get some more Luck out of his 40% growth rate. Not that waiting has worked out so far. Anyway vote to either promote Navarre immediately or rush him to Level 20 first.

Next time:



We take a side trip to slaughter some slavers before continuing our massacre of Grunia soldiers.