Part 17: Chapter 2, Part 5: Pirate Fort

Time to storm the pirate fort.



Our ship has docked directly at the fort, where an army of thieves awaits us. There's also a small knot of other units to the northwest....



Looks like they're here to help, at least. And by 'help', I really mean 'steal Exp from us' since this battle wouldn't be all that hard without them. If you're really into a min-max style of play, you can retreat from the battle and re-enter it, and the allied units will be gone.



The seven thieves closest to us are level 1 fodder. All but one of the rest are level 5, a little tougher but nothing we can't handle at this point.



The thief just below the healing tile is Dahha, the boss of the pirates. At level 10 he might actually be threatening if he attacked with the rest of his troops, but he's going to park himself on the healing tile until someone gets in his attack range.



Kamui starts off at the same level as Saber and with a portrait that's missing an eyepatch and has some different colors but is otherwise identical. Since Saber's first couple of levels have been great, Kamui's actually behind in both Power and Speed and tied on Defense. Leo is built like an Archer with a high-reaching Power and not much else.



Valbo is the leader of the allied group, a pre-promoted Knight with high Power and Defense and worse Speed than Boey.


Turn 1



Celica, with the Leather Shield boosting her Defense, moves to the west, while Saber leads to the east.



Most of the thieves go after Saber, with most of the rest headed for Valbo and friends. Only one thief headed down the western bridge towards Celica.



The ally phase is technically at the start of the player phase, but since they don't move on the first turn it's effectively at the end of the first full round of actions. Here Valbo takes out a chunk of a thief and laughs off the counterattack, then Kamui moves in to finish it off and steal the first kill of the fight.



Leo takes a couple shots at another thief to wrap things up for the turn.


Turn 2



We have our own problems to take care of here. Celica starts with a couple fireballs over the ship railing, and actually hits both of them for once, too. Still not quite enough for the kill, though.



It is enough for a rather odd but welcome level.



Boey moves up to attack the one thief on the boat, because why not. Saber stays where he is to protect May and Jenny.



Boey is attacked in turn on the enemy phase - double-attacked, even - but he actually lands his second straight fireball to send the thief back into retreat mode.





Saber fends off a few attacks, dishing out major counterattacks to each thief.



Another thief attacks Leo, who dodges and then counters for 7 damage.



Valbo and Kamui tag-team another thief, but this one is level 5 so survives the dual attack.



Leo moves over to steal another kill.


Turn 3



Our allies can handle themselves, they'll just steal as much Exp from us as they can. Time to start a bit of a break-out here. Celica kills off one thief, but Jenny misses the other.



Boey pulls off the impossible and lands his third straight attack to finish off another thief.



May isn't fast enough to double so can't kill off her target, but Saber does get in the kill on his opponent.



Four thieves left on each side, now.



Kamui dodges an attack and gets a critical on the counter but doesn't get the kill.



Saber gets enough Exp from more counterattacks to get another great level.



Another thief attacks Leo, who gets another critical but not a kill.



Saber dodges another thief, getting in two more attacks of his own.



Volba steals another kill, finishing off Leo's attacker.



Kamui gets another kill as well.



Leo looks to make it 3-for-3 in the kill-steal department, but fortunately misses.


Turn 4



Still four targets near us, so let's see how much damage we can do. Saber starts off by rushing forward to finish off the thief that Leo just missed.



Celica and Jenny attack together again, with Celica getting the kill and Jenny landing a weak single attack.



More healing fuel I guess.



May finishes off Jenny's target.



This thief had 2 HP left and was making a run for the healing tile on our ship. Boey turns him to ash. After all the trouble last battle, every single spell has found its target this time around.



Just two thieves left, including the boss, Dahha.



Leo wounds the remaining wandering thief further but can't finish it off just yet.


Turn 5



Movin' on up.



Leo takes a shot at Dahha this time, but it's tough for an archer to hit an enemy hiding on a healing tile - look at that low hit rate.


Turn 6



Still can't reach anyone just yet.



Dahha finally moves off the healing tile to attack Kamui.



Kamui's Speed limits the damage, fortunately.



The other thief retreats to the healing tile, but Valbo chases him down and connects for the killing blow.



Kamui rather cleverly steps onto the healing tile to attack Dahha. I have to say, the friendly AI has been more competent than I would have expected for an NES game. Or any Fire Emblem game, really.


Turn 7



Saber finally arrives to help out our allies, though he misses his first attack somehow.



Dahha was put below 50% HP so didn't attack anyone on the enemy phase. Valbo and Kamui together bring Dahha down to just 1 HP remaining.



And Leo steals the boss-kill, immediately ending the battle.



With the pirates cleared out, it's time to explore the fort.



Not much for decoration, but we have a treasure and a few people to chat with.



Where ya go, I'll follow you!

Our allies from the battle are here in the fort, waiting to be recruited.



...Unless you're gonna fight the Dragon Zombie. There's no way to defeat that thing without Angel magic.

Kamui's a real downer, and really just a worse version of Saber. He doesn't even have an eyepatch.



I'll show you my marksmanship!

Leo is at least cheerful.



The treasure is probably the best thing here. The Steel Sword gives +4 to Power at a cost of 10% less Accuracy and 1 more Weight over the basic Sword. It's going straight to Celica, since the boost to Power also helps out her spellcasting without any of the drawbacks. I give the Leather Shield to Saber instead.


Current Roster




New Characters

Valbo is our first pre-promoted unit. He starts off with great Power and Defense and makes for a pretty good wall, but his tiny base Speed really limits his utility in the long-term.
Kamui starts with lower bases than Saber, thanks to a few great levels from Saber, but he can be a pretty good complementary piece with a good Speed growth.
Leo's the archer for Celica's group, starting with a solid base Power but not much Speed and just terrible growths in everything but HP and Defense, which really shouldn't matter much for an archer.
Next time:



Another sea battle against what appears to be a very strong single opponent.