Part 29: Dragon Knights of Thracia Part 1: Alster-Conote

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia Part 1: Alster-Conote







an enormous fertile savannah home to several small kingdoms.





Knights.



the northern fertile land.



and ended in defeat. After the massacre of Lenster's army in the Yied Desert, Thracia's perseverance finally seemed to have paid off.



subdued the area. Thereafter the empire appointed the region as the Northern Kingdom of Thracia under King Blume. During the ten-odd years that followed, not even the brazen King Trabant dared challenge the empire's military power. And thus a precarious balance persisted. But the fall of the capitol in Alster to the liberation army presented a new twist to the delicate balance of power in the region.





military force.



fortified Manster Castle's defense in case of a Thracian attack.



officer General Maikov maintained an ominous silence. The people had only one wish, and that was for Lenster's Royal House to return to power. And thus another battle commenced.





Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

I'm really sick of Enemy Message 2 by this point in the game.







Vampa, I never imagined they'd pose a threat to the three of you.

Forgive us, sir... but we have the situation under control now. General Muhammad's squad have already reached Alster. And General Ovo's knights will soon advance on Lenster. We, too, shall go back in.

Alright, I'm counting on you. Now what's taking King Trabant so long to provide backup?

We've sent several requests for reinforcements, but he has yet to respond.

Grr! What's holding him back!?

I recommend keeping an eye on King Trabant, sir. They say he's not to be trusted.

Hrmph... Well, we'll handle the rebel army with or without him. Vampa, Fetra, Eliu... move out. This time, no survivors!

Without fail!







: We've had just about all we can take of King Blume's rule!

You mustn't lose hope! Sir Celice's liberation army is just to the west of us. Go... tell everyone it will only be a matter of time before they reach us. Believe me! Freedom is just on the horizon!







He claims the empire has lost both Lenster and Alster to the rebels.

That's Sigurd's boy, right? Blume must be getting pretty old to let some kid walk all over him. Arion, don't worry about Blume. Let the empire and the rebel army fight it out. I'll strike when they're both too tired to fight back.

I knew it. You've been holding out all this time, haven't you father...

You're damn straight! The peninsula was finally within my grasp after disposing of Lenster's knights in Yied. Then that Blume slipped in and stole it right from under me... He's gonna pay with blood!

Father, I know how you must feel. If only we could take on Grandbell outright...

Everything rests on the unification of the peninsula. The fertile lands to the north hold the key to eliminating poverty within our kingdom. Arion, our ways have often been likened to that of hyenas... Yet our mercenary work for foreign lands has meant the kingdom's survival. However... I've had enough. It's time we move up in this world. Arion, the rivalry before us will determine the fate of Thracia.

Understood, father.








Yeah, I do. I can bet you King Blume isn't wasting any time over at Conote. The citizens of Manster have also requested your help. We need to move... fast!

Alright. We'll set out at once!










Alright, Chapter 8. This is a very good one. Hell from here on out, all the chapters are good. Good pacing, good amount of strategy needed in combat, a few different strategies that the enemy will use at different points, and fantastic music. Speaking of which, this chapter has one of my favorite tracks. It hits on a lot of the theme's that Chapter 6's theme had: Hopeful, energetic, triumphant, really it's just a great track. It also has the same clapping sound effect that other Thracia-centric tracks use. Not quite my favorite, but it's up there. We'll also get a few great units this chapter, which is quite exciting (if you've read the recently finished FE5 LP, you'll recognize Sety already, if not, we'll see him again later).

Visually it sticks with the darker colors that Chapter 6 used (as a whole, Generation 2 tends to do that). We start out with most of our army at Alster, and Fin, Leaf, and Nanna at Lenster. Since Lenster isn't our home castle, it follows the rule of only one unit can be in it at a time, which makes getting through the arena a bit harder for the units up there. This is our first linear map in a while, so no pointless backtracking this chapter (thank god). As immediate threats, we have Conote's army coming from the east of Lenster, and a small army to the northeast of Alster (which we'll see in a moment).



After doing the arena off-screen, Fin can talk to Leaf.





So buckle down. Things are bound to get rough.

You think I don't know that? I've been praying for this day to come, you know... My father's dying wish was to return peace to the Thracian Peninsula. And I'll do whatever is necessary to end King Blume's reign. Even if it takes my life...

...Your Highness! What a careless thing to say! Anyone who's in position to become king must stay alive for the people at any cost!

You're right... Sorry. I know you went through a lot to keep the empire from finding me. You often went without food while we were in hiding, but you never once let me go without... I finally realize all the sacrifices you had to make for me, Fin. Thank you so much.

Your father's life-long dream was to see the war torn Thracia Peninsula united. You must keep his dream alive, for you are the only one who can pull it off now.



Fin's inspiring words cause Leaf's muscles to grow quite a bit.



Now over by Alster we have a group of lance armors and mages. I believe all the armors also have bows, making things a bit more tricky.



The miniboss here, Shagal Muhammed, sports both the Hero Lance and Hero Bow. If they weren't passed down from Generation 1, you can get them here.



Also he has some leadership stars. Nothing too bad, but his mastery of both range and close quarters will make dealing with him a priority.



Conote's army will probably be easier to deal with. They're about one third lance knights with Javelins, one third Troubadours with Slim Swords, and one third minibosses. The armor knights there won't move forward, they're dedicated to guarding that bridge.





Miniboss number one is Ovo He's nothing too impressive, but attacking with magic makes him a threat to a good number of our units. He'll also drop another Shield Ring for us, and he has two leadership stars.



The other three minibosses are Fetra, Vampa, and Eliu.



They're all the same as last chapter, except instead of Life Rings, they have Leg Rings. Fighting them is a good indication of how much the arena can help your units grow in power, since the main source of EXP between our last fight with them and this upcoming one is the Chapter 8 (and 7 for some units) arena.



Actually getting started now, we have some more conversations to go through.





...I'm scared. I sense something evil in this area.

Why's that?



This line from Julia crawls out extremely slowly, in a sort of ominous manner. I want you to keep in mind, by the way, that Ishtar is supposed to be hot shit in this chapter.

Julia? What's gotten into you!?

...Huh? W, what's going on!?

Julia!









Yeah... I guess you could say that.

Really... Hmph... And here I thought you could only think of yourself. It's nice to be proven wrong.

Yeah... Well, let's just say you're an exception.

How's that?

Look, just be careful, okay? I'll see you around.

Arthur...



Naturally this conversation gives the pair a love point boost, and the extra HP is actually quite useful on Fee. Now that that's done, let's start deploying our units.



The strategy for this section will be to have the mounted units (and Celice) rush to Lenster's aid, while the foot units take out Muhammed's force in the forest. Also to note, Celice has been given the Elite Ring to help him promote more quickly.



Patty passes off her money to Lana, who should be able to promote by next chapter and can use the money for some weapons.



Leen will dance-escort Celice up to the fight, since otherwise he won't make it to Lenster in time to fight anything. I also screw up and send Patty into the woods when she should go up to Lenster. Oh well.







I seriously can't believe they just reused Shagal's sprite. He was a major antagonist for two chapters, and they don't even give him a recolor? Ridiculousness.



As usual, the enemy moves towards us very slowly.





Like this guy. I don't remember his sprite being used more than once or twice in the entire game, and he's never more than a complete non-entity in the story.





Then again, I suppose next to these three and Pamela (and even more people we'll see later), it's not thaaaaat bad.



They'll make more of an attempt to move forward than the other armies here.



We just move forward this next turn and spend a while doing nothing.







Now that the enemies are starting to use lances more, the sword twins become noticeably more frail, but can still dodge a bit. By Lenster, I try to have Celice and Leaf as the main defensive force, trying to gain some hit EXP at least.







Since Tinny had the Elite Ring for the arena this chapter (and last chapter), she's about seven levels ahead of Arthur right now, so I'm trying to get him some EXP to catch up. If you remember, however, Arthur has a Speed, Skill, and Magic Ring, so he's still about on par with Tinny, maybe slightly worse. Meanwhile, at Conote…







Look, I'm busy, okay? So if you've got something for me, spit it out.

Grmph... I had you summoned because I have a favor to ask of you.

What kind of favor?

I need your help in bringing down the rebel army.

Not interested. Find another mercenary to do your dirty work.

I understand you have several orphans under your care. It seems you could use the money. I hear your younger sister has resorted to theft to make ends meet. That doesn't bother you?

Patty really goes out of her way for those kids... Hmph... we could use the cash.

Then we have an agreement? You finish off Celice and all the money you want is yours.

Agreed. I've a feeling I'm going to regret this... but I'll help you just this once.

Why are you so stupid, Faval? You don't attack the army capable of killing the oppressive, occupying army that you're trying to protect people from!



So this is why I should've sent Patty north. Faval will charge Lenster, and Patty needs to talk to him to stop him.







So quite a few enemies attack Skasaha here, and he takes quite a beating. Thankfully he wasn't in range of Muhammed.





All the knights here just attack with Javelins, but they pretty much all miss.





The remaining armies are still a bit behind.









Here I clear the way for Arthur to score a kill on Muhammed. A sibling crit activates, but it doesn't really matter.





He'd get the kill either way, thanks to Wrath.











Julia goes forward to try Resire takning more, and others form a defensive wall to guard the mages. You can also see that Patty starts heading north. I'll have Leen go back to help her catch up more quickly.





















Pretty self explanatory what happens here, though I should point out that I have Delmud use his Iron Sword to weaken enemies for Celice to kill. With his Silver Blade, he could take these guys out easily.







The Troubadours are no threat, which is fortunate because Fin and Oifey are too weak to kill them on their own.































Again, pretty self explanatory. Pretty much every enemy missed, though Lakche took a few hits. It seems that by weakening the two Troubadours, I wasted two of their turns by making them heal each other rather than attacking. So that was kinda cool. The mage trio is almost at our army by now. Faval moves a bit slowly, too.













We clear out the remaining enemies down south, keeping Arthur and Fee together for some love points.



Next stop: Rescuing that village.



Up north, I continue my strategy of having Leaf and Celice get as many kills as possible.







I had planned to have Leen dance for Celice to give him another attack at the boss, but he gets a crit and it ends up being unnecessary.





Celice doesn't really need the Shield Ring, but it helps, especially when I'm trying to have him in the fray so much.













Everyone else manages some cleanup, and I send Aless forward to tank some hits from the mage trio.



Also, Celice getting that crit leaves Leen free to help Patty catch up. On enemy phase…













Father, this so unlike you! How could a petty band of rebels get you so worked up?

They've already killed your brother, Ishtor, and we've lost Tinny as well. I can't rely on Vampa and her sisters either... You're all I have left!

I see... I'll need the Tor Hammer then. I can take care of the enemy blindfolded with that in my possession.

You want th... the Tor Hammer!? Hmph... Alright, take it. Just don't slip up!

I won't... I can handle this.



So she'll be coming at us now, too. Remember, we clearly can't take her because she's far too extremely powerful, like Julia said.



























I have no idea why they decide to attack Aless at melee range, but I'm not complainin'. No escaping this time, they're dead for good.





And we'll let Celice grab the last kill here.











Everyone moves forward now, and you can see that Patty has caught up with the group.



Here we have everyone just outside of Faval's range, ready to talk to him next turn.







That's right! We're here helping the people and we're gonna finish off Blume! It was the Imperial Guard that killed the parents of all the orphans. Remember!? And now YOU are fighting with the very same army! What's wrong with you!

You're right. Sorry... I don't know what got into me.

If you're really sorry about it, then join up with us. We gotta bring peace back to the people!

Alright, I'm in. Patty, you sure have grown up since I saw you last.

Who, me? Heehee!

So Patty talks some sense into Faval, who will now join us, so let's take a look.







Being Brigid's son, he inherits Ichival and her other bows. Now there's a few other reasons here why I like Lex to be his father. For one, Elite's EXP boost will be especially helpful for him since he's locked to bows and can't really get kills on Enemy Phase. The other reason, we'll get to in a minute. So Faval will have a strong growth spread, like Patty, and he'll always have Ichival, allowing him to always kick ass. His only predestined lover is Lana, who's already in love with Celice by this point. There's not really a lot to say about him, he's pretty much just Brigid 2.0. Now the other thing I love about having Lex as his father is the initial Strength boost when he joins.



It will allow him to kill Ishtar in a single hit. And while he does have iffy hit on her, in all the times I've played through with this pairing, he's never missed. So I guess I'm just extremely lucky.









I also really love that he shoots one arrow, then levels up immediately. Upon killing the oh-so-powerful Ishtar, we get a small cutscene.









I need you, Ishtar. Come join me...

Of course, anything!







If you've read the FE5 LP, you'll recognize these two characters as being mostly irrelevant side-characters. Well in this game, they're pretty major characters, to say the least. Meanwhile, the other group in the south reaches that village.











Fast forward a bit, we approach the enemy's defensive force. At this point I realize that those mages across the bridge have Storm tomes.







Luckily they get no kill since they have pretty terrible hit rates.



Delmud charges the village to the north while the rest of the army prepares to attack.









That ring probably could've been given more use on another person, but at this point I kinda stopped caring. I'll probably trade it over to Patty or someone through the pawn shop next chapter. Or maybe I'll forget and it'll be mostly inconsequential.



The southern army is starting to catch up to the main force, but is still a turn or two behind.



Meanwhile, Faval talks to Celice.





Don't worry about it. Patty told me about all the orphans you two are taking care of.

Yeah, I just can't believe I was stupid enough to work for the empire. I'm so ashamed... Prince Celice, I vow to make it up to you.

Well, thanks, Faval. It's good to have you aboard.

Not much of substance here, but I guess everyone needs their moment to chat with Celice.











Pretty simple stuff, killing and setting up a diamond for Leen to dance. Here I fail to notice that the miniboss has a Hero Bow.



Leaf doesn't quite die though, so everything is fine.



















So we dance and kill some more, once again letting Celice get a miniboss kill. Unfortunately, we don't manage to kill all three of the Storm mages, so Leaf will be taking another attack.



Good thing they still have terrible hit.









Blume also has Storm apparently. I really should pay more attention to what my enemies have equipped.





Celice is critting left and right here, which is really fantastic. It sure would be nice to have him promoted before the end of the map. Skipping over some less important stuff, Fin saves another village.







They do a pretty good job of showing the relationship between northern and southern Thracia in this chapter. It helps to humanize Trabant and show him as a sympathetic villain. FE5 does a great job of this as well in a few cutscenes, so if you're interested in that I'd recommend playing the game, or reading the LP. Anyway…







I swear I'm not manipulating the RNG for these crits, they just keep happening. In fact, I think in this one, Leaf crit, activated Continue, and then crit again.



While Blume no longer has Tor Hammer, he's still pretty powerful (he has the same stats as last chapter, just with Tron as his weapon). Aless is still probably the best way to take him down thanks to Mistoltin's extra resistance.











I deliberately weaken this guy into range for Celice to kill him…



And Celice hits level 20, ready to promote!





So we're still pretty scattered around, and it'll take a while for the foot units to catch up, but they will eventually get to see some combat.



Here I remember that since Blume is dead, the castle guards will start moving.



And Lester gets a fairly lucky dodge.







Leaf manages to get another Crit-Continue-Crit here. That kid is getting absurdly lucky, but again, I'm not complainin'.



Alright, so let's finish this.





Conote's fall.

Good. Manster shouldn't be too difficult to liberate then.

I wish it were that simple... The problem is Thracia.

But Thracia has remained neutral all this time. Why would they turn on us?

You don't know King Trabant. Just ask Prince Leaf. He lost his entire family to Trabant. And the way in which he took their lives was a disgrace to the knighthood... Keep an eye on him, Celice. He's up to something.





With Conote captured, I Return Celice to Alster to promote him. But we won't see that until next time.



Nanna and Aless also get a conversation at this point.





I heard you're King Eltshan's son. Is that true?

Yeah, so what about it?

It is you, after all! I am Nanna... I'm the daughter of King Eltshan's sister!

What? You're Lachesis' daughter!?

Yes! She was so worried about you for the longest time... That must have been why she came to Lenster. She was looking for you!

My father knew Agustria was about to be engulfed in war. So he sent me and my frail mother to her parent's residence in Lenster. But I lost my dear mother to the flames of war during the empire's invasion of Lenster.

And that's when you went with Jabarro?

Yeah, he took me in after that, and I traveled the world with his mercenary troops.

No wonder we never met... Aless, I have something for you.

What... Is that from my father!?

Yes. My mother passed it on to me. It's addressed to you, Aless.

...!!

See... Sir Sigurd never once betrayed King Eltshan's trust. I'm sure they were good friends till the very end.

Whoa... I've had it wrong all this time.

Aless, keep Sir Celice safe, okay? He needs you on his side more than anything!

Yeah... I'll do that, Nanna. Hey, I'll teach you some sword fighting tactics before you go. Now watch carefully...





So we don't actually get Aless' package, but that probably doesn't matter since he doesn't really need anything except Mistoltin. The stat boosts for Nanna are pretty great anyway.









We move forward, heal up a bit, and end our turn.







It's time to take action, and Manster is first on the list. Altenna, you're going to assist Coruta in seizing Manster. Kill anyone who offers resistance. Women... children... I don't care. Kill 'em all!

Father! If you want me to fight the empire, fine. But I'm not about to kill innocent people! We should be aligning with the liberation army, not against them!

Altenna! I don't have time for a lecture. You do as I've told you and you do it now!

But...



The front line is in your hands.

But Arion... Alright, I'll do it.







Her mother was real brazen, as well. Hmph... Like mother, like daughter.

Father, Altenna means no disrespect. Please give her the benefit of the doubt.

Why do I need you to tell me that!? In any case, let's head back to the capital. I'm going to round up the army and take this peninsula once and for all!











So that's why King Trabant has been so damn quiet all this time!

The liberation army has yet to cross the river. What in the world are we to do?

You take everybody and head for Conote. I'll hold off the enemy for as long as I can.



Look, there's no time to waste... Now get going!







So we once again have villagers that we can save to get some free levels. And this time they're in significantly less danger.



So Mease's Dragon Knights head out in three separate groups.



Also some enemies spawn near the eastern village to burn it down. We'll worry about them next time.




Once again, I'll leave you with some stats.