Part 23: World's Best Disguised Paladin

Update 15: World's Best Disguised Paladin (Battle)

Welcome back. Last time Marth rescued his best pal Wrys from some really flaky assassins, and set out to undo all the shit he accidentally caused in Chapter 1.

Starting things out with How's Everyone, as usual.













I still hate you.





I like this a lot better.

Anyway, we get a cutscene as soon as this one starts:

: Yumina, Yubello. This place is notorious for the Macedonian Vikings. If we could, we'd stay the hell away, but the village where Lord Wendell resides is just past this area.

Still not vikings.

: Mister Ogma, I'm scared...

This kid's name is Yubello. I would understand if you don't remember, because it's been about 8 updates since we last saw him and he had so few lines I didn't even upload him a portrait.

: Yubello! Get a hold of yourself! You're a man, are you not? Show some spine! You can use a Fire tome, can't you? So... fight with it!

: But Master Wendell said that we mustn't fight... Besides, I don't like fighting.

: Ugh, stop complaining! It's just you and me now. You have to stay strong, because I...sniff... I don't know what we're supposed to do...

: Oh... I'm sorry, Yumina... I'll do my best, so... please don't cry!

: Damn... This can't be good... We've been spotted. Kids, we've got no choice; we're going to have to cut through. Do not leave my side!

And with that, we actually get to start the map. With three new units!



Ogma here could be at a higher level if he joined you in the prologue instead of Draug. Ogma is good. He can take a few hits, do damage, and is one of the most all around powerful units in the game. If you want to use a Mercenary, it is hard to go wrong with Ogma.



Yumina is alright. She won't ever be great for much but healing, but she does that competently enough. C rank in Staves is nice. However, by now you've had Malicia for a while, and I personally don't see the point in using Yumina over her.



Yeah. You're seeing that right. A mage with 1 Mag. Poor Yubello is just pretty bad. His only real asset is a decent Luck growth, but he doesn't do much else. I think literally every enemy on this map can one round him, so he's more of an escort quest than a character. Horrible bases and below average growths make Yubello pop up pretty often on those "Worst Character" lists.

But, there is good news! Due to this nice starting position...



We can reach Sirius on our first turn with Ogma.



: I am Sirius, a mere traveler.

I love how Sirius' portrait makes him stare directly at the player. At all times.

: Oh, I see. I'm a little bit worked up right now. Sorry about the mix-up.

Ogma makes it sound like he's just gotten a flat tire instead of spending the last few days sheltering two defenseless (Yubello doesn't count as having defense) children from vikingpirates.

: Those children...

: I'm taking care of them. Do you know them?

: No, I don't... But I do know that, as things stand, you won't escape with them. As I understand it, the Altean army should arrive here, provided you reach the southern village. Please, allow me to distract the bandits, while you make your escape to safety.

: I see. So Prince Marth is here, eh? Got it, thanks. I've got to ask though. Why help a group of complete strangers like us?

It's almost like he might be somebody you knew/murdered a few years ago, Ogma.

: I want to save the children. That is... all.

: I see... Sirius... You said your name was Sirius, right? Let's meet again after we both get out of here! There's someone I need to take care of... The guy in charge of Grust's occupation, Commander Lang. I want to avenge a man named Lorenz... You–join me...! If I've got you on my side, then I'll be that much stronger.

: Yes... That would be interesting. But first, you have to survive. Hurry and go!

And thus we get the "mysterious" paladin, Sirius. Sirius is mostly a better version of Arran, with pretty solid base stats and actual decent growths compared to Arran's bottom of the barrel percentages. He does start to fall off compared to a properly trained Cavalier like Luke or a Rody with good stats, but he's a pretty hasslefree unit for most of the game, and he has some special utility come endgame that I'm not going to spoil. Although it seems many of you have already played this game, but eh.



Even without sullying his more powerful Silver weapon, Sirius makes short work of these Hunters. I suppose it's possible to not recruit Sirius just by never speaking to him. I don't think he attacks you either, but I could be wrong. Regardless, he's probably the easiest non mandatory character to get in the game.



In a sneaky display of "fuck you", Intelligent Systems has hidden a village behind Marth's starting point, being menaced by this asshole. If you don't down him on the first turn, he will destroy it.



It shouldn't be a problem.



This is disappointing in many ways.



But I am okay with this. The Armorslayer automatically does triple damage to armored knights and generals. This will come in handy soon, and is good to stick on someone who does low damage but is pretty dodgy, like Julian.



Don't want to forget the village either.



Luke is still great against these enemies. I know this is kind of a weird screenshot for showing these guys' position, that's my bad. Fire Emblem Fatigue was setting in while I screencapped this.



I won't bore you all too much with every move here, just know I'm skirting the lines here to try and get in a good position.

Oh, another "fuck you" from IS!



This thief is only a few moves away from destroying this village. Don't think you can block him with Yubello either, he'll one round the kid. You have to divert either Ogma or Sirius up here, which isn't a big deal, but it can be obnoxious if you forget.

Oh, and see where Yumina is? Move her. Move her or this happens.



PIRATES CAN WALK ON WATER!

If you can't tell I had a lot of false starts on this map. Rewind.



The fearsome Little Girl Slayer does not fare nearly as well against Ogma.



Nor do his pals against Sirius. The biggest issue here is that there are a lot of enemies here, and they'll sorta suicide into Ogma/Sirius while chipping their HP away. Yumina is nice here for keeping them alive.



Back in the main action, the pirates are now close enough to get carved up by Palla.



Draug isn't as good at the carving, but he's not too shabby.



And now, a Village.



: I heard Lord Wendell was living here.

Generic Villager: Yes, that, er... was correct... Yesterday, a group of Archanean soldiers suddenly came and took the pontifex away. Although, Prince... He did leave this magic tome behind. I believe it's wind magic. Please, take it with you.

So Wendell just kinda tosses magic books out like candy.



Shaver is a slightly worse version of Merric's specialty, Excalibur. It has a high crit rate in addition to that bonus damage against fliers, and in a game that loves flying enemies as much as FE12 does, it's useful.

Regardless, Warren snipes Draug's injured pirate and gets this:




Not bad. I like all those stats.



Our other resident bowman will not be outdone, though.








Ryan holds the archer crown with an iron fist.





Draug cleans up the last enemy here while Steve embraces her new duty, healing people who don't really need it.



This is a lot of trouble for one dumb village. Haar had better be hanging out in there taking a nap or something.





Luckily, Ogma can hold the line.



FUCK YOU, THIEF



And now Marth begins his long trek to catch up with the others.



Keep it up, Steve!



So, now it's just a matter of crossing over to meet up with Ogma.



Here's probably the only thing Yubello will ever do. Drink it in.





Pretty unremarkable level, but it could be worse.



...oh.

You.

Devil Swords/Axes have been a series staple for a while. These weapons are ridiculously powerful...but come with a secondary chance to hit yourself. Many promising characters have met their unfortunate ends by swinging one of these. Because of this, I never, ever use them. I mean, I guess save states could alleviate most of the issues here...but that's cheating.

Edit: Turns out these weapons' chance to do the self damage is actually effected by your Luck stat.



That clears up these enemies, but we aren't done with this map yet.



Throughout just about this whole map Steve and Yumina are doing this. I'm not going to screenshot every time it happens so you don't all die of critical boredom, but just trust me, it happens.

At the end of this turn, though.



I love this guy's portrait.





Also wait for me to forget this later.



There are a couple enemies down by Guile, but they aren't a huge deal.



I'm moving pretty much everyone over here to wait for Marth to catchup.



Sirius will make fine bait for the last few enemies.

Oh, and remember what I said earlier? About me forgetting Guile's line about the reinforcements? Well, I'm sure they would come out of the forts we're near and not



The ones at the start of the map where I left Arran. Welp. He'll be fine!

Three attacks later...



ABORT ABORT





SOUND THE REINFORCEMENT ALARM.



Now Catria's just showing off :/



I'll take this, though.



This is a really good level for Yumina.

And wait, she gained HP?



Steve clears that right up.

We are now split into two teams:



Team Save Arran's Ass



Team Kill Fat Pirate

One of the generic axe goons charges Luke.



It was a bad idea.





Run, you cowlicked bastard, run!



Steve.png



This looks a lot scarier than it is with the units we have to handle it.



Case in point, Palla.



Steve heal! Moment of truth!



i have no more tears to shed. It wasn't the hair.



Fuck you Draug, I'm not in the mood.

At least Marth is finally at the village. This was definitely worth it to get Haar, or maybe Hector, or Titania, or the obvious punchline of-





: Well, if it isn't Castor! What brings you to a place like this?

: Ah, Prince Marth! Erm... Actually, I need money for medicine for me sick mother. But I couldn't find any work in Talys, so I moved here instead.

The most minor of returning minor characters, it's Castor!

: I see... That's terrible... I do hope your mother gets better. Well, goodbye then...

: ......... Wait!! Me mother, she's really sick... I need money, sir...

There's an Oliver Twist joke in here somewhere but I can't find it.

: Hm? Oh right, here. It's only a little, but I hope it helps.

Give him the Bridge Key!

: Uhm... Thank you, Prince Marth. You don't have to be so kind to a guy like me...

: Castor... That's a bit much... It's only natural to help someone in need.

Marth is not really catching on. (Castor is a con artist)

: No, Prince Marth! You've done so much for me. I want to help you. Please, let me fight alongside you. You have me life at your disposal!!

Evidently a pretty bad one though. You already got the money!



But he joins up anyway. That Killer Bow is nice. Castor himself is a decent character. He's a bit faster than Warren, but his defenses aren't as good. Speed generally beats Defense on bow users, though, so he's not a bad alternative.

Time to finish the job.



Oh. Well, sorry, man, it's okay, I've recruited people who have done worse.



Dick.



Guile here might be pretty threatening. He has a Silver Axe with his Hand Axe and boss stats, which can be an issue. I'm not sure though.



Because Warren critted him into next week.



But you're dead!







BUT SUDDENLY...

: Marth!!







: The Archanean League... Gra and Aurelis ambushed us. Our forces were annihilated and we lost the castle...

Motherfucker! This keeps happening!

: Wh-what did you say?! This can't be happening! Altea is...

: Damn! Our homeland has fallen to the enemy...

: This is terrible beyond words... That which I feared the most has come to pass. Emperor Hardin likely heard Lang's story, and had us branded traitors.

I guess he really did do "something bad".

: I refuse to believe it. Hardin would never attack Altea! You're telling me that he believed Lang and truly thought that I wished to instigate a rebellion? Never!

Hey, ready for Jagen to be the smartest person here yet again?

: No, I agree with you, sire. This attack was too soon. It happened far too quickly. For an attack of this scale, a great number of preparations had to have been in place. It is likely... that the Grust campaign was a setup. As was the situation in Macedon. It's quite simple, really. They had you leave Altea, with your elite knights in tow, and then proceeded to attack our weakened defenses. Hardin had this planned right from the start.

That's actually a really good plan as far as video game villain plots go. Props to Hardin, that's sneaky as hell.

: That's preposterous! Are you implying that Hardin–with no provocation whatsoever–decided to attack his fellow nation? Are you seriously suggesting this was all an elaborate trap? No! I won't accept it... Hardin... why?

Marth won't accept it though, because he really is pretty naiive about all of this, which is pretty sad. Elice was an asshole, but she had a point.

: Sire... Princess Caeda, what of the others? Is Princess Elice safe?

Oh, speaking of that...

: Elice, she... She gave herself up in order to let me escape with this message. Marth... I'm so sorry. She wanted me to warn you, no matter what... Sniff...

: Caeda... Don't cry. I understand. Just knowing you're safe makes me happy. I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn't have left... You needn't have to go through this. We will take back Altea. Even if we have to fight Hardin, we WILL reclaim our homeland!

What Marth lacks in logic though, he makes up in bravery and the sheer amount of people willing to help him.

But after all that silly plot garbage, we get back to the REAL story that matters...



: Have you decided to keep it that way?

: ...Do you think it looks funny? Well, it'll grow back eventually, if I leave it alone... Do you think I should return it to normal?

: Well, it's your decision to make. You should do as you please. So what will it be? Are you going to go back to the hairstyle you had before?

We get a decision here, but I just went ahead and reversed it. We'll get new hair options soon, and since this one didn't reverse the curse, I might end up reclassing Steve. That Levin Sword Myrm idea sounded nice.



: I believe that would be for the best.

Jagen didn't like it anyway.

Next time, after that plot bomb, we're finally going to take the fight to Lang on our way to Hardin. Hope you enjoyed this one, even though I missed a couple screenshots. Should not have played a bunch of Sacred Stones right before this. FE fatigue is a real thing.