Part 17: Battle: The Man Who Would Be Dord

Update 12: The Man Who Would Be Dord (Battle)

Welcome back. Last time, we went to Macedon to rescue Princess Minerva from her wall-less prison. That sounds like a metaphor but it's not. The Macedonians just have shitty architecture.



The "How's Everyone" meter has filled up! What idiocy will we encounter today?





Arran has never washed anything. Thus the cowlick. This is the Joke Lance.





The Magic doesn't do anything for Draug, but more Skill is always a nice bonus.





The Defense (Defence? Is that a British thing or a typo?) Stave lets us temporarily boost a unit's Defense. Good in a pinch.





Gordin's endless desire to be Captain Falcon has increased his stats.

So, we kept Ryan as an Archer, but I couldn't resist this.





JACK'S BACK

As the map starts, a familiar Pegasus Knight rides in...





: Yes, I'm fine. My older sister Palla and I managed to escape somehow. But Princess Minerva was captured by the rebels. Prince Marth, please... You have to rescue Princess Minerva! At this rate, her life will be in danger!

"I just now think her life might be in danger! I wasn't worried before, but now, SHIT."

: Of course I will help her. Catria, please take us to where she is.

: Yes, my lord! But first we have to break through these woods. General Rumel's dragon knight squad is lurking within this area. If we approach from the front, we'll be easy pickings for them.

It's...really not that dangerous.

: I see... So you're suggesting we flank them from the left or the right. Thank you, Catria. Leave it to us!

I'm not going to do that :shh:



Catria has joined us, and she's flat out one of the best characters in the game. She joins at a high level with good stats, and she keeps them.



Two things to note here. I'm marking the Hunters because they'll one shot our flier (Catria), and this Thief has the Lady Sword. This is a weapon only usable by female characters. It's really good, especially at this stage of the game. This Thief will make a beeline for the top left corner and try to escape the map, so you'll need to kill him quick if you want it. We have no female sword users right now (Except Cecille, but eh), but I'll grab it anyway.



I hope you like Recruiting characters, because here's another!



Oh my god, finally the dumb thread title starts to come into play.

: You're... Cord! What are you doing so far from Talys?

I like that it takes Marth a second to remember Cord. Like everyone.

: I couldn't sit still when I heard you's fighting again, so I came to join in. We're Talys's mercenaries, right? If ya died, Princess Caeda'd cry. Prince Marth, lemme fight too. I'll join you's army.

Talys is on an island way northeast of here. Cord moves fast.



Cord is a Fighter, which means we finally have an axe wielder. Cord is...well, okay, I guess. He's just average in about everything. He has a 100% HP growth, which is good, but he's not super impressive otherwise. Solid enough, though.



I'm going to wholeheartedly ignore Catria's advice and just run everyone through the middle.



The enemies advance to meet us, so I'll deal with them accordingly. It's worth mentioning that these forest tiles seriously hamper our movement, though. They provide extra defense and evade, but are hard as hell to wade through.



But, remember that named Hunter? Let's chat him up. You have to use Catria for this, which the game doesn't really tell you. This is one of the few characters you don't use Marth to recruit.





: You know I'm just a common hunter. If they pay me enough, I'll do anything.

Most hunters don't kill people.

: Warren, listen to me! Princess Minerva endeavored to create a country where its people could live at ease. She exiled soldiers and generals of ill repute to accomplish that goal. But General Rucke, despite knowing this, roused the soldiers into a coup d'etat. Can't you see? He's just trying to make this country into his own! And you can honestly say you're okay with that?

Catria delivers a rousing speech.

: ...I see. Well, I don't like the military acting as if they owned the place... Alright then. If you're going to help the princess, then so will I.

Warren's pretty good. He's got a really high Strength stat, so he'll put the hurt on a lot of enemies, but sadly his Resistance is 0. And the Growth Rate is 0% (Before class rates). So mages will slaughter him.



Luckily, Catria is in just the right position to spear some hunter. She can double and kill these guys in one round.



THE SPOILS OF WAR





Warren and Cord team up to finish off the remaining Hunter.





Just showing how I've got my units set up, and also how damn slow the forest makes you. Arran's 10 Movement is down to 3.



Catria decides to prove she owns by critting this poor bastard dumb enough to attack her.







His buddies don't fare much better.



The next wave of enemies are these Cavaliers coming in from the north.



I'm having Catria disengage from the main group to chase down the Lady Sword thief.



Movement's not so bad when we aren't in the DAMN WOODS.



Behold, the exciting action of slowly moving everyone forward!



Luke's damage is still pretty impressive.



Luckily he's also pretty survivable, so I can keep this up.



After him, Catria!



I didn't want to leave poor Steve out.



Warren!



Thanks, Gordin.



Malicia patches up Luke, mostly for the experience, and I move Draug in to do a little damage.



This Cavalier can do some decent damage, even to Draug, thanks to his silver sword.



Thanks for catching up, Marth.



I move Cord up onto the Fort to try and lure some enemies from a safe position.



Probably shouldn't be using Arran, but eh. This turned out to be a bad idea as the turn ended because...



I pulled the damn boss. He does some decent damage, but luckily it was Arran, who is still beefy right now.



A few other enemies got pulled in on Cord, but thankfully he dodges one of their hits, keeping him alive. Thanks, Fort!



Catria finally catches up with that Thief. Remember him?





A good level up and free loot is what you should expect of Catria.

Remember how someone said bow users were awesome in this chapter?



Here's why. PEEP THAT DAMAGE.





Warren gets a solid level. Might want to use him, even though I usually don't.



This will be nice when we get the good axe wielder. (Soon)



Luke sets 'em up...



Steve burns 'em down.



Malicia gets some easy free EXP. It's worth noting that there's only one enemy left, so the map is just about over.



As Arran runs for his life, let's see how our old pal Rody is doing.



Keep guarding that start point, Rody!



Draug is getting into Lure position.



You might say this Dracoknight doesn't know the rules.



OF NATURE!



DEAD ON!

(A waste of a use, but I promised there would be dumb MGR jokes, and there are, dammit.)



Some free XP for Malicia.








Here's Linde! She was a mage in the previous game, and her dad was Gharnef's rival. He's dead now. Both of them are.



Steve hears unfamiliar voice. Steve smells unfamiliar smell. Intruder detected.



: I desperately needed to see you again, so I set out to find you. But the Macedonian soldiers found me suspicious and they dragged me to this fortress...

: Is that so? I'm glad you're safe. But, why were you looking for me? Shouldn't you be by Princess Nyna's side?

: I was requested by Princess Nyna to deliver you this.



The H?
(Probably just needed the bottom screen there...whoops)

: Huh? This...! This is the Fire Emblem! The royal heirloom of Archanea: the Emblem Shield!

It's a shield? I thought it opened chests.

: The Fire Emblem... I heard that in the last war, Princess Nyna entrusted you with it, sire...

: Indeed. I looked after this as Archanea's representative in the last war. But why give this to me now? Especially at a time when Archanea has so much influence under Emperor Hardin's reign?



Marth, you have stumbled into two civil wars in the past day. What is a non-peaceful age for you?

: I don't understand either. Princess Nyna didn't explain why, just that I had to give it to you... I remember her eyes seemed so sad... I think she may have been crying...



"Two rebellions, my friend committing suicide, my other friend kidnapped, eh. NYNA CRYING HOLY SHIT SOMETHING IS UP!"

: Linde, after this battle ends, I will go see Princess Nyna. Until then, I want you to remain with us.

: Yes, Prince Marth!



A triumphant theme plays and...



Oh. That's anticlimactic. Just send back one of these Vulnerarys and...



Yeah!

That's the end of this map. Join Marth as he remembers he was actually looking for Minerva in...

Part 13: Old And Senile