Part 6: Disturbance in Agustris Part 1: Disturbance in Agustria: Evans-Heirhein

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria: Evans-Heirhein

Welcome back to Let's Play Fire Emblem 4. Previously we subjugated Verdane, rescued Aideen, and met a young girl named Deirdre whom Sigurd fell in love with. What awaits us in this episode? Kind of a lot, actually, so let's get started!





Barhara to preside over Evans Castle along the border. He soon thereafter took Deirdre to be his wife.



Agustria. The lords of Agustria expressed strong anti-Grandbell sentiment. The great King Imuka, who prized peace more than anything, was killed by an assassin.



Grandbell's military was still far away to the east in Isaac.





Under orders to hold Evans Castle, Sigurd once again found himself in the midst of conflict.





Chapter 2: Disturbance in Augustria





You're putting your life in peril!

Nonsense. Look... I've heard all about Shagaal supposedly killing his father. But there's no proof! If I can just speak with him, I know I'll get through to him.

But...

Lachesis, enough already. I'm leaving three of my best men behind for your protection just to be on the safe side. Lachesis, don't be so down! I promise I'll make it back. I've no intention of dying out there!

Eltshan...











Your father always strived for a peaceful coexistence with Grandbell. Besides, war is very hard on the people. You're risking your reputation with these actions. You must not let this war happen!

My father always had a soft spot for you, Eltshan. And all the while you had it in for me. Well, he's gone... and now I rule Agustria! You're going to pay fully for making me the fool. Throw this trash in the dungeon!

Wait, Your Majesty... NO!!!





Once we're through there, I'm taking the whole show to Grandbell!



There's no going back. I just wonder if we really have a chance here...


Well, Grandbell still honors the Anti-War Pact with Agustria.
Their entire military is still in Isaac. If we strike now we cannot lose!

Hmm... If we can just overthrow Grandbell, Agustria will become the new world leader. And I'll be emperor of the world!

Hmhm... Yes, consider that a possibility.[/i]







There's more. We'll need to keep a close eye on Heirhein. If they learn of the king's disappearance, they'll attack without a moment's notice. I'm sure they're not pleased with what happened in Verdane, especially Prince Elliot.

That Elliot just can't handle the fact that I'll have nothing to do with him. God, I can't stand conceited men like him. I need a man the caliber of my dear brother. That's why I'll never marry.

His Majesty's Cross Knights are stationed well north at Fort Silvail. There are just the few of us soldiers left here. But my brothers and I will do our best to hold the castle. Just be ready for the worst.

Understood. Eve, thank you so much. Now don't you overdo it, or worse, get yourself killed! Please let Eva and Alva know how sorry I am for all this.

Uh, no need to apologize, Your Highness. King Eltshan left us behind for your protection in good conscious. We, as Holy Knights of Nodion, shall protect you to our dying breath!







Brilliant! Elliot, here's your chance to even the score. Go take Nodion by storm!

Yes, father.









We've received a request for backup from Princess Lachesis.

Why would they seize Eltshan of all people!? Well, let's gear up. We're heading for Nodion. I'd put my life on the line for Lachesis if it came to it. Eltshan would never admit it, but he cares for that sister of his more than anything. If he ever lost her, there's no telling what he'd do.



Lachesis must be pretty shook up as well. I've got to help her out if I can.

I understand. It looks like I'll be joining you then, Sigurd.

What? Forget it, Deirdre! I can't get you involved it this.

Sigurd, you promised you'd never leave my side. I'm... I'm scared. If you leave me now, I... I fear I'll never see you again. Please... let me go with you.

Er... I did say that, didn't I... Alright, we'll go together, but don't you dare leave my side!

You can count on that!

Now as always let's start out with an overview of the map and map theme.






That's us in Evans at the bottom right. The green castle in the bottom middle is Nodion, Eltshan's castle. If you recall from Chapter 1, that's where he came from when he saved us from Elliot's attack and that's where his sister Lachesis is now. Our first target in the middle left is Heirhein and north of that is Anphony. The middle right one is Mackily and north of that is Agusty, capital of Augustria and home of the new king Shagaal. Then we have a giant forest in the middle of the country where all the villages are. This chapter certainly has an interesting structure. No matter how you look at it there will be a good amount of backtracking, and getting to those villages might be difficult.

As for the music, it's very mellow and has a mysterious vibe to it. It's not the most fitting theme, but it's good. There's not much to say about it, but I really don't like how the orchestral arrangement begins with that… oboe? Whatever instrument that is.



Now then, we have our Deidre sitting in that little mini-throne next to Sigurd and our base is starting to fill up with people.



Now in the shop we have some Steel weapons and a Thunder tome. In general Steel weapons are more powerful than Iron ones, but they're also heavier. Thunder has the same Mt as Fire but is lighter, so it's basically a straight upgrade. Azel will be taking that since nobody else can use it at this point. I end up rearranging a people's items a bit. Noish ends up with a Steel Sword and an Iron Lance, Alec gets an Iron and Steel Sword and an Iron Lance, Fin now has an Iron and Steel Lance and a Javelin, Cuan has a Steel Lance and a Javelin, Midir has the Iron and Killer Bow (note the Killer Bow is just a lighter Steel Bow with the Critical skill), Jamka has the Steel Bow, Aira has the Iron and Steel Blade, and Aideen and Ethlin swap staves (Aideen has Live and Ethlin takes Relive due to her lower Magic). Now then, let's do the arena!





Eventually Fin ends up fighting the final opponent, a Sword Fighter named Holyn. No I'm not sure how Fin managed to be the first one to make it this far, it just kind of happened through blind luck. Anyway, Fin defeats him and…





You've got some serious spirit in your attack. Obviously you're not here for the money. Cash has been my motivator all these years... But after seeing you it kinda loses its meaning. You mind if I tag along? It'd be nice to fight for something real for a change.

Yes, by beating the arena we've now recruited their top fighter! Let's take a look:







Holyn is stronger and more durable than Aira, but he's also slower and has less Skl. Of course having Odo blood he'll have more than enough Skl anyway, and he'll never really fail to double anything that Aira would. However instead of Meteor Holyn has Lunar which negates the enemy's defense for an attack. This difference makes Holyn overall better at killing high Defense enemies while Aira is better at killing low Def high HP enemies. For now his higher HP and Def will make him more useful than Aira. Oh and now that he's with us a new challenger will take his place in the arena:



Someone much harder. He has a Steel Blade instead of an Iron one and is 11 levels higher. He's still beatable, but a lot of units will have a tougher time now (which is why it's lucky that Fin got to take down Holyn, because he probably can't beat Keimos). Of course I'm not going to show the rest of the arena, but I feel I should mention one thing before getting to deployment and such. Deirdre has a tough time getting EXP due to low movement and lack of pursuit, so I had her get the Magic Ring in the last chapter to help her get some EXP in the arena. This lets her get a few kills that she ordinarily wouldn't be able to do. After she gets as far as she can I have her sell the ring and give it to Azel to help him out. Now that that's out of the way, let's jump right into deployment and a conversation between Ethlin and Deirdre!





I'll be fine... as long as I have Sigurd at my side.

I still can't get over how much he's changed since meeting you, Deirdre.

Ethlin... I have something I'd like you to have.

Isn't this... the Light Sword!? You sure you want me to have this?

Yes. I know you'll put it to good use.

Thank you so much, Deirdre! I'll treasure it!



The Light Sword is our first magic sword. Magic swords all have 12 Mt and can attack from 1-2 range. At 1 range they attack using that 12 Mt and the user's Str against the enemy's Def, while at 2 range they attack using a spell (in this case Lightning which has 14 Mt) and the user's Mag against the enemy's Res. This is great for units like Ethlin who have more Mag than Str.



Aaaaaand we deploy everyone, including Ardan this time. He'll be useful for something a bit later in the chapter. Let's switch over to enemy phase now.





Her days of jerking me around are over. Just wait and see! What could she possibly do surrounded by a military of this force!? She's coming back to Heirhein with me whether she likes it OR NOT!



Defend to the death!







Brilliant, we're right on schedule. Let the bandits loose on the villages. We pretty much have free reign now that Shagaal has taken the throne. Strip the villages of all valuables and return them to the castle!



So Macbeth deploys some bandits to attack the villages in the forest. However since they're yellow units we can't actually attack them yet, so naturally we'll have to piss him off enough to attack us so that we can attack him. Remember, Sigurd's no aggressor. He fight purely out of self defense and defense of others.





I’m not lifting a finger till the dust settles. Keep our soldiers put for the moment.

So Elliot's attacking Nodion and Lachesis. Unfortunately for us, they can actually get to Nodion before we can, so she and her guards will take some damage before we can get there to back them up. Even more unfortunately, when we do get there we'll only have our mounted units to fight because the foot soldiers are too slow to get there until a full turn or two later. And those bandits won't wait for us before they start attacking the villages, so we need to get this all done ASAP. In short, our foot soldiers won't be seeing much combat for a while.



So a few turns later we get up there to see Eve taking some damage





And Sigurd talks to Lachesis.





No, he's still being held in Agusty. It seems all of Agustria has turned against us. Sir Sigurd, please... I need your help. I must free my brother!

I usually try to keep our troops off foreign soil, but this time it's unavoidable. I've already received King Azmur's approval to engage the enemy. His Majesty is aware of King Imuka's assassination by Shagaal's hand, as well as Shagaal's plans to invade Grandbell. His Majesty has also stressed the importance of Eltshan's rescue for future peace negotiations. Don't worry, Lachesis. I promise we'll get Eltshan out.

Aaaand Lachesis joins us.







Lachesis, like Dew, is sort of an Est. Only she fits the archetype better because she actually ends up being good. Actually in retrospect, Dew is probably more of a Julian than an Est (an early joining thief who never has good combat). Anyway… Her Prayer Sword is a decently strong, light sword that grants Prayer and can only be used by females. Charisma, Lachesis' only skill, gives allies within three squares of her additional hit and avoid. She has her own unique class, Princess, that much like Troubadour has access to Swords and Staves. While her Str is low now, her minor Hezul blood will help it grow fairly quickly. I'm not going to spoil the specifics, but she has the best promotion bonuses out of any FE character ever (to my knowledge) so our priority will be on promoting her ASAP. This generally means I'll try to weaken enemies to the point where she can snag an easy kill when possible. Now let's take a look at her guards:







I'm not sure if they're supposed to be related or something, but they sure do bear a resemblance to one another. They have pretty good stats compared to most of our troops, especially HP. Their duty is to guard Lachesis, so if there are no enemies around they'll just sort of group around her in a triangle formation. Of course if there are enemies nearby they tend to get "guard Lachesis" confused with "charge at the enemy with no regard for self preservation." Now this wouldn't be so much of a problem, but if all three manage to stay alive through the entire chapter we'll get a pretty nice reward.



The rest of the troops do what damage they can to the attacking army, though nobody can reach those guys at the far left. Oh and Lachesis can't actually leave the castle this turn because Sigurd is blocking the gate. Now bear in mind that at this paint Fin isn't too durable (especially against the axe users who will have good hit against him) right now, and he's also near the front lines. Not a great situation, right?



As luck my brilliant planning would have it the enemy bring Fin down to 1 HP. If you don't remember what this means, Fin has Prayer so him being at 1 HP will give him an additional 100 Avoid (for the rest of the turn). Of course the enemies are too dumb to realize this (even on this supposed "Hard" AI setting) and continue to suicide onto him.



Let's finish this and wipe 'em out!

Including Elliot. Fin manages to wound him for someone else to take the kill. Ordinarily I'd try to give Lachesis this kill, but…



He drops a Silver Lance on death. Now the only one who can actually use that Silver Lance at this point is Cuan, so he'll be getting this kill.







Now the immediate threat is taken care of, but there's still a sizable army between us and Heirhein. And a durable one at that. They also have two ballistae which are immobile units that can attack at 3-10 range. It's gonna be pretty tough pushing through here in a timely manner, but I think we can manage.



We'll start by leading the charge with Sigurd to distract a few enemies, then position the rest of our troops in a little wall to try and last through the next enemy phase. Cuan and Ethlin are, as usual, adjacent to one another so they get their lover's critical bonus.



This isn't really important, but I thought it was noteworthy that Alec manage to dodge a 98% hit. Maybe it's my bias against him, but this is one of the best things he's done all playthrough. Now then, the wall works nicely so it's time to go on the offensive!



Cuan and Fin attack Phillip and Lex finishes him off (all three level up in the process).





Here Lex picks up the Return Ring which lets him instantly return to the home castle at any time. This will come in handy a looooooong way down the road. Like we won't be using this for anything big until second generation.



The rest of the team finishes off a few of the remaining armors and pushes forward. Sigurd manages to kill the northern ballista and head towards Heirhein. We're actually trying to push forward as quickly as possible even if we end up leaving enemies behind. Our foot units can finish off whoever is left after our mounted units move through.



Speaking of which, our foot units are finally catching up. Well sort of catching up. They might see some combat next turn.





Lex and Alec finish off the southern ballista…



and the rest of our units move forward.



Lachesis then scores a kill to level up, then talks to Dew (well technically Dew talks to her, but that doesn't flow as nicely).





It's a Thief Sword. Now you can tear into them bad guys!

Er... thanks, Dew. But don't you want it for yourself?

Nah, go ahead. No point in me keepin' it. Let's just say it does more than cuts and dices, heheh. See ya, Lachesis!

So Lachesis gets a Thief Sword. As you can probably guess, wielding the Thief Sword gives the user the Thief skill (they're really not too creative with the names of these things). While it seems nice, the sword itself is too weak to do decent damage so it won't get much use. Let's cut back to the mounted units real quick.



Sigurd is now attacking Heirhein on his own (it's not like he'd need much help) with Ethlin backing him up with some heals. Now we could take out the remaining two guards, but as I've said a few times we're in a bit of a rush so we'll go straight for Boldo.





Bah! You're all useless!! I'll do this myself!







Midir snags a much needed kill and a less needed Barrier Ring which gives him +5 Res. I suppose every bit of durability helps, but it's really not that useful most of the time. Back to our foot units now.







The remaining armors have done a nice job of lining up against Lachesis' paladin guards, but unfortunately we still don't have many units close enough to actually hit them. I was really hoping for either Aira or Holyn to activate their skill, but no such luck. At least Lachesis gets another kill.



The paladin clones finish off the two weakened armors and attack the final one without killing him.



The last armor attacks Aira on enemy phase, then gets finished off by Deirdre. Again, it would've been nice to give that kill to Lachesis but I couldn't reliably manage it since the Sword Fighters have the chance to kill him with their skills. I figured Deirdre could use the EXP because she really won't get much after this chapter.



Aideen also gets her first bit of EXP for this chapter by healing Lachesis' wounds.



Back to Sigurd's group: Midir finishes off one of the two remaining armors. I then proceed to do a move I'm sure I'll regret in the next part.



Now I could just have Sigurd seize the castle, but I want to squeeze as much EXP as possible out of these enemies, especially for Ethlin. Hoping for Critical to activate I have her attack with her Light Sword from a range. The reason I'll regret this move is because I really should've had her heal someone. See because I've been rushing I've been using Ethlin to attack more often than not, and since I've been playing aggressively most of my units are on death's door at this point (Most if not all characters are at half health or less, and a few are in single digits). I'm hoping I'll have time to heal before the next big battle, but that'll wait until the next part.





Anyway, Sigurd finishes off that last guy and seizes.





But Eltshan is still being held in Agusty. And that's not all...

Yes?

Bandits are laying siege to the pioneer villages in the central forest. We've got to intervene.

Agreed. That'll help convince the citizens of Agustria that we are not the aggressor here. If that's your decision, then we'd better get moving. We've no time to waste!





Now in another stupid move I have Lachesis stay back to heal foot units who will never catch up to get a little EXP. This may not end up being too detrimental, but for now it's very important to have Lachesis catch up to the mounted units before either their next big battle or the one after. On a different note, now that we've taken Heirhein some new conversations are available.



Now I've mentioned a few times in this LP that Fin will get something that puts him leagues ahead of Alec despite their similar growths and stats. The first part of that "something" was a small stat boost in Chapter 1 via a conversation between Cuan and Fin. Now we have another conversation between the two, let's see what the second part of that "something" is.





I'd say your weapon needs a little upgrading. Here, try using this lance.

A Hero Lance... Are you sure about this?

You're a valuable knight of the Lenster Kingdom, Fin. We can't afford to lose you. Giving you this lance is about all I can do to help you out now. Please have it.

Your Highness... thank you very much.



That's right, Fin gets a Hero Lance which, much like the Hero Axe Lex got, gives Fin twice as many attacks as usual. Ok maybe it seems like I'm overhyping this. I mean it's not anything majorly special, Lex already got one and he's not doing leagues better, right? But the thing is Fin has Pursuit on top of this, so he'll hit most enemies four times. This pretty much guarantees a kill on most enemies. He's now quite possibly our second best unit after Sigurd. His durability still isn't as good as Cuan's or Lex's, but he'll be killing a lot more.



Now we move our mounted units forward cautiously. I'm not sure if those three yellow guards will turn red and attack on enemy phase or not, but I don't want to take my chances. I put my more durable units up front while avoiding staying on the road to avoid suffering that Avoid penalty. Speaking of which, let's see what the enemy is up to.





How do you explain this carelessness, Macbeth!?

M... My humblest apologies, Your Majesty! I'll dispatch Voltz and his mercenaries immediately!



Hey! Why're we first to go in? I'm staying put. I wanna see how this unfolds first. Yo, Beowulf... Whaddya think?

I'm not buyin' any of this. I'm 'bout ready to walk on that Macbeth sleaze.

Well, do as you see fit. As a mercenary you're free to work for whomever you please. Strange how one day we're fighting side by side... the next day who knows.

Sure is. I just hope I don't gotta face you ever. I wouldn't stand a chance.

Heh heh heh... Ain't a soul alive who can take me!







So Voltz and Beowulf retreat, presumably to gather the rest of the mercenaries, and Macbeth deploys an army of armors. This might be a tough castle to take. Oh, but on the plus side…



Those guards ended up retreating for whatever reason. But hey, I'm not complaining.



Now by this point the bandits are really doing some damage to the villages. The lowest one will only last another five turns, and with all those forests blocking us we might not make it to him in time, especially considering the two armies we're about to fight. But wait, from a village in that forest…





Bandits? Where's the Agustrian army at a time like this?

There's mutiny in th' streets, m'boy. Ain't no-one got time t'worry about us! T'tell th' truth, there's a bit more to th' story... Rumor has it Lord Macbeth himself set them bandits loose on our villages.

Whoa... he's gotta go. Look, I'll see what I can do. I'll take care of that scumbag. And you can all whip up a nice reward for me when I get back.

There you go again with that big talk of yours. You best just get a move on. We ain't got time to be gettin' cozy with ya.





(crap..) Sylvia! Er... you found me, huh?


You've had your fun with me so you just up and leave, huh?

Hey now... Be nice. We've only been out like what... 2 or 3 times together!? I mean come on! Besides you're a traveling dancer, and I'm a bard.
Doesn't that about sum it up?

But you said you thought I was cute. That meant something to me.

Yeah, sometimes I say that. It don't mean anything. No no! Don't cry! I... I... Damn, now look. Everyone's starin' at us. Alright, you can come with me if you want. But things might get a little rough. You okay with that?



Yeah! I like it rough!

Sheesh... You were cryin' like a baby a minute ago, now you're all smiles.

What's that?

Nevermind! Let's go.



It looks like we've gained some new allies! Perhaps they can help us take care of these bandits… But that's for the next part! Until then! That music when Sylvia came in was called Supporting Dancer by the way, but more on that next time.