Part 28: Chapter 16 - Mission

Let's give a big hand to Volke, Nephenee, Mia, Muarim, Jill, and Soren, who we'll be bringing along on this mission.



Here's the actual stats Muarim will be contributing. Not unreasonably, the game won't let you mess around with the Demi Band mid-mission; so we equip it at the Base.



What you see here is a Steel Lance with +5 Mt, -3 Wt and +20 Hit, and it's still cheaper than either of our previous Steel forges. That's something of a problem with the system this game uses for pricing Forges; due to the way the Numbers™ in Fire Emblem work, adding +5 Mt to a weapon with 1 Mt gives you just as much advantage as adding +5 Mt to a weapon with 10 Mt, even though one is a 500% increase and one is a 50% increase. Oh well!



We're calling it What? Since Oscar isn't coming on this mission, Nephenee's going to hold onto it for now... and make pretty excellent use of it, too, since it just so happens to be light enough for her to wield without penalty.



Makalov's getting the Knight Ward this mission, and he can also use Rhys! since he arguably needs it. Also, I buy a couple of Pure Waters. They may come in handy. Oh, and Astrid gets to use 1000 Needles since Rolf's not coming.

Some BEXP before we go!



Quite acceptable!



Pretty reasonable!



Alright, let's do this.





Jill leads the charge. She's not going to get a peaceful turn in a while, so she uses a Pure Water incase the enemy Mages decide to move.

It's not immediately obvious, but we have a tiny little bit of a time constraint on us. More on that later.



We move up, and end turn.



In a continuation of a theme mentioned earlier, since Nephenee's already using What? and Marcia isn't coming, Jill takes up Gandhichan. I find this a tad amusing since Jill didn't turn out very well for gandhichan, and yet... for that matter, she's not doing so great for me, either, but... well...



...she does seem to be performing awfully competently.



Makalov, on the other hand, is getting doubled.



Of all the enemies, only the two Fighters and one Myrmidon make any kind of move towards us at all. This is annoying.



Jill finishes off one Myrmidon and moves ahead to bait the next two enemies. Mia weakens the Fighter who rushed us so Astrid can kill him.



Meanwhile, Tormod further weakens the second Myrmidon...



So Makalov can take the kill.



Volke is surprisingly good at finishing off weakened Myrmidons. Their low defence means that Volke with his decent Strength can actually damage them, and he's got enough speed to keep up with them.



Onward!



Times Jill has been hit this mission: 0



The fourth Myrmidon is using an Armorslayer, which kills his AS so dead that Makalov doubles him. And still the enemy mages don't move.



So, Makalov cleans up...



I'm not actually doing this, but I just wanted to show you what Muarim's capable of right now.



What Muarim actually does is wait here, to bait the enemy Mage.



Astrid uses her shiny borrowed toy to almost kill the Fighter (and, despite the odds, gets hit in return). Nephenee takes the kill.



Hmm. I wonder. Volke has been strengthened with Ward, so will the Mage go for him or for Muarim?



Muarim wins! He's not that great at dealing with mages, but he has so much HP that he can eat a few attacks without much worry. The other enemies continue to remain stationary, to my annoyance. What was all this about being ordered to kill us, anyway?



As you can see, Tormod is not yet much good at dealing with enemy Mages.



So we have Nephenee weaken him first, THEN Tormod kills him. For some reason, he drops a Gamble scroll. Sure.



Now it's Jill vs Volke in the "who's a more tempting target" test.



Jill wins with a distinction, since she managed to tempt the enemy mage despite having both a Resistance buff and a ranged weapon. She takes her first hit this mission. Good thing we had that Pure Water!

Guess what the other enemies didn't do this turn?



Makalov moves in to take out th-



Goddamnit Makalov.



Astrid cleans up his mess for him.



Looks unassuming, but I'll take it!



Continuing our mad rush against what the game still hasn't told us is our time constraint, Volke and Jill decide to bait an enemy Knight. What can go wrong?



Fortunately, said Knight isn't very strong, and...



...Gandhichan gives Jill enough Atk to not be completely wasting her time counterattacking.



And here we go. An enemy Thief.

This is the big change (beside the marginal enemy stat boosts) that Hard Mode implements. Normally, this Thief won't show up until the end of turn 8. Here, however, he shows up after turn 5, long before we have any hope of reaching him (save for sending a unit charging ahead through the boss area (god help you)). So now we know what we're up against.

Like the Desert mission, there are basically three goals you can go for.

1) Get all the treasure
2) Recruit this Devdan character
3) Finish in 8 turns and get 400 BEXP

Due to the way the map is laid out, it might not be feasible to do all three (especially if certain members of your team aren't godly). In this case, it's all I can do to do 1 and 2; a few BEXP doesn't matter that much in the face of loot and MUST GET EVERYONE and all that.



Well, whaddya know, there's another foolish Myrmidon with a sword that's too heavy for him. Volke takes advantage!



Thief animations are, as you can probably imagine, fast, and god damn that "dagger" is large. Seriously, that's a shortsword at a minimum.



Jill continues pushing ahead...



While Tormod deals with his best kind of target; a slow-ass low-Res Knight. The reason he's attacking at melee range is because he wants to stay out of range of that knight to the north - you know, the one that's going to end this turn alive.



While this mad rush to intercept the enemy Thief is going down, we have a sidequest for the rest of the gang.



Thieves aren't the only people who can open doors, you see.



The alternative is to take a nice strong weapon and just break it the fuck down.

Of course, the problem with doors is...



You don't know what surprises are lurking beyond them. For this reason, the best approach to doors is to only open them with survivable units who can deal with anything that might be behind them. Alternatively, you can do what I did...



Which is to keep a nuclear option standing by. Ours is Muarim.

Helpfully, Killer Lance Guy drops a Chest Key, so we don't even need to wait on Volke in order to loot this room.



The other occupants of this room are this Myrmidon and a Sniper. Astrid'll be fine in here, especially since the Sniper will try and hit Muarim.



While everyone busies about, let's have Makalov try and bait one of the Knights.



As I thought. (He deals 1 damage)



No problem. Astrid actually has Defence now, remember?



This time, Makalov actually succeeds in dealing damage.



Seriously, Jill's been quite ably dodging stuff this mission.



Meanwhile, tick tock.



Also, these two assholes show up. It's a bad idea to leave people hanging around the starting areas in Fire Emblem games.



When you think about it, what Astrid's doing here isn't too different to how you have to play bow-users in Elder Scrolls games. _zing



I think Astrid's turning out pretty well! Don't you?



Nephenee breaks out her new toy to demolish the Sniper, while Muarim gets looting. This is funny because we originally thought he was a bandit, you see?



Lovely.



Makalov picks another fight with the Knight, all for...



Not a lot. Thin ice, mate.





You, too.



Ike comes over to help Jill and Volke push ahead.



While Ike and Jill kill stuff, Volke stops briefly to open this door. We won't be looting this room, though, since it represents our solitary hope of maybe not having to employ a Stupid Strategy™ to stop the enemy Thief. Maybe.



End of turn.



Jill is still being competent.



She sure is. (She also gets a rank up in Lances)



Holy shit, woman!



The Thief is through the door. We're not going to stop him from looting the two chests in there; we'll just have to deal with him afterwards. The annoying part is that now that the door is open, the three guys in there will gleefully rush us. Y'know, rather than try to defend the treasure from the thief.



Oh, and two more assholes. Whatev's.



Mist heals, and holy shit. She has the highest base Avoid of anyone on our team .



This Priest doesn't seem to want to run away, so Volke nabs us a free Mend staff. Mist says thanks!



This'll be handy... later.



End of turn. Note Tormod approaching the front lines. Tormod is essential to my plans.



Ahaha.



It begins. Believe it or not, nothing else happens this Enemy Phase.



We move Tormod very exactly to this spot.



Volke passes the time with some Priest-murdering.



Right. Here goes.



Devdan moves on up, but doesn't attack us. If you don't know who Devdan will and won't attack, this mission gets a lot scarier than it has to be.



There's the second treasure.



And there're some enemies moving up.



First thing we want is to have Tormod talk to Devdan.



Wha-what are you doing, old man? Don't startle me like that.

Devdan is no old man. Devdan was imprisoned for looking at the lovely flower garden. The punishment for trespassing is to work here for a single year... without pay, unfortunately.

For free? Oh, I know all about that! Well, it's time to fight back! C'mon! We came here to help you out! Fight with us! Get your freedom back!

You speak oddly, but if you help me, then Devdan says thank you. Devdan is polite and well mannered!

As you're probably now figuring out (or maybe sooner if you thought to check the Conversation section of the unit list and figure out the link between the people who can talk to Devdan), Devdan doesn't fight children, so any of the younger members of our team can recruit him. I'll tack the other conversations onto the end of this update.



Devdan is presented as an alternate take on Nephenee; stronger, but slower. He's certainly got a Strength advantage, but sadly, Neph's got him bet in everything else except luck. Topping this all off is that Devdan is 4 levels past promotion and Nephenee is 4 levels before promotion, so make of this what you will.

He brings us a Heavy Spear (which is basically an Armorslayer, except it's a lance), and he's got the Serenity skill for suppression of Biorhythm effects.



Our next intermediate problem on the way to dealing with the Thief is this guy, who used to be in the treasure room but is now loose. With some creative movements, we can deal with him, however.



Step one: get Devdan a weapon that doesn't neutralize his AS.



Jill pokes a Myrmidon and flies away. Jill's had great luck dodging so far, but I don't feel like relying on it in order to deal with Archers.



Devdan finishes said Myrmidon.



Finally, Ike moves up.



Then, for good measure, Volke and Mia shove Soren into support range.



End of turn. That thief is going to do one of two things; he's either going to run towards us (and the treasure), which is good, or towards the exit, which is very very bad, and might not have involved almost getting Tormod killed if I'd considered the possibility earlier.



Like there was any doubt; he's going for the exit. Fuck.



Meanwhile, Nephenee, Astrid and Makalov are dealing with the asshole Soldiers.



By which I of course mean "the Soldiers are attacking Makalov".



Devdan eats a hit from Killer Bow man. He would've survived a crit, in any case. Devdan is, at least, useful for stuffing Killer weapons due to his high-ish Luck, so that's something.



And the Myrmidon goes for Ike. Riiiiight.



Now, it's our turn, and we've got some careful moves to make, but first, let's go back to this corner.



Bow Knight crits would have been much more awesome if IntSys had figured out how to get the camera to pan up slightly so the Flash Of Awesomeness could've been framed appropriately.



It's a solid level and I approve.



Neph gets a second Soldier and Makalov moves forward to tank the next two.



Now, over here, we employ Ike to kill Killer Bow guy...



Volke to kill the Myrmidon...



...Thank you, Volke...



...Soren to kill the Soldier...



...and Jill for the remaining Archer.



And now it's time for the AI's lopsided priorities to save our asses from resetting. Devdan moves over here and unequips his weapon.



Tormod moves beside him.

The Soldier by the exit and the Thief, between them, have exactly enough Atk to kill Tormod. However, the Soldier won't be able to resist attacking Devdan, who won't counterattack, so when the Thief moves, Tormod won't register as an OHKO possibility. Short version, we've managed to pen the Thief in so we can stop him escaping with our loot.

Enemy turn:



Ike dodges arrows.



Makalov takes hits.



Makalov FUCKS UP MY PLANS.





FUCKING FUCK



Played like a fool.

For some reason, the Thief didn't even attack anyone; he just stood there. Not gonna complain.



Jill weakens the Soldier and Tormod takes the kill.



Ike makes a start on the push towards the boss. He misses the second hit, though, so we send Soren to clean up.

Here's a demonstration of Crit-Protection Bonds.



Here's Soren attacking this Sniper from Not-Standing-Next-To-Ike. Note the Crit chance.



And here's the same attack from next to Ike. That's seriously handy!



So is this!



Next turn, mister Enemy Thief. Next. Turn.



Alright, Makalov. Here's your chance to be forgiven.





That's it. You're fired.



Once again, Astrid cleans up Makalov's mess for him.



Enemy turn, and a very silly Myrmidon challenges Ike to an Iron Blade fight. He loses.



Right. Let's finally deal with this fucker.



Enemy Thieves will always drop the first item they steal, so if you want to recover more than one thing from them you have to steal it back yourself. Also, fortunately, this isn't the old Fire Emblem Stealing System, so you can steal weapons, etc, just as long as your Thief has enough Strength.



Congratulations, I now have no further need to keep you alive!





Nice!



Also nice! Bolting is our first Siege Tome; they're very powerful, very heavy, and, oh, yeah, they have 3-10 range. That's pretty awesome! Sadly, they only have five uses, so you'd better use them well.



Neph gets this meh level from killing the last Asshole Reinforcement.



While Jill picks up Volke and carries him back to the last treasure room, Soren and Muarim prepare to lure out some enemies from the boss room.



It works.



Sadly, there's an enemy priest here.



So we maul him a second time, then send in Astrid.



Blah.



We put Ward on Soren before sending him in here. It's beautiful.



So is this timely crit.



This awesome accessory will nullify any bonus damage that may have been done to its user. It can most commonly be found equipped on Jill or Marcia, although some laguz can make good use of it too.



Soren's rampage continues.



Makalov: can't even double a Priest.



Mia (with Pure Water) comes in to help.



Goddamnit, Makalov, you're infecting my team.



Very soon...



Only the boss and one mage is left.



Meh.



The one remaining mage picks a fight with Soren. He does.



Last item! Let's finish this damn mission.

The boss:



Moderately dangerous, but nothing we can't handle. That Spear (B-Rank) is the next step up from the Short Spear, so, 1-2 range, and a good bit of damage.



We open with Muarim...





And close with Soren.



Bit late for that, buddy. By way of recompense, he drops his Spear along with his worthless life.



And this, I guess.



We are so done here.







Stay away from me, you filthy fat man!

... Urgh!



I will not give you up. No one shall take you from me...

Though the price may be my life, I will never cooperate with you!



... Are you in here?







Ah! You... You're the Serenes--Are you unharmed? We have come to help you. Your injury... Did that man do that to you?



Stay back!

But...

Do not approach me! Cursed human!

---







Ah, Master Ike. It is good to see you well. How went the mission? Did you unearth any meaningful proof?

Where is the apostle?

Master Ike?

I must speak with the apostle. Where is she?

Apostle Sanaki is in the garden, having a pleasant conversation with Princess Elincia. I will go directly and see if she will meet with you. Please wait here.

In the garden? Great.



---







All of it. I want to hear all of it... Now!

What are you talking about?





What?

Master Ike?

W-what happened twenty years ago?

---



But that... such a thing...

Apostle Sanaki...

Tell me.

That is a very... difficult problem... Hmm... How to impart this tale...



That being so, I would open with what is commonly known of the matter. Do you find this acceptable?

And you are?

He is a friend of mine. Nasir, if you know something, I would hear it. When you are done, the apostle can clarify. Agreed?

Hmmm...



It was twenty years ago... One year after the declaration of emancipation was made. The leader at the time was the Apostle Misaha, who was more adored by the public than any apostle before... or since. When she was assassinated, the citizenry was wracked with grief. All of Begnion despaired.



In the twinkling of an eye, the rumor spread throughout the Begnion capital. One night shortly thereafter, it happened. The citizens grew violent. They massed at the edge of Serenes Forest, home of their supposed enemy, and set it to burn. The crowd raged on for three nights, and in the end, the heron clan was lost.

But their involvement was just a rumor... Wasn't it? Why, why did they...

Oh, the shame of it...

Apostle? The remainder of the tale is yours. You stand as the empress of Begnion. You are responsible for the acts of your citizens, are you not?



The assassination of the apostle was not the work of the Serenes clan?

That is correct.

The heron clan possess no fighting skills. Their tribe survived by living a life of peace and piety within their forest. Unlike other laguz, they never focused on developing their strength for the purposes of combat. Anyone with any knowledge of laguz would have known such a thing. At the very least, the citizens of Begnion would have known this. However, they had lost their leader, and in their grief, they cared little for the truth. They were merely looking for some way to vent their rage and despair. Isn't that true... Apostle?



It's all right, Princess Elincia. He speaks the truth, be it with a sharpened tongue or no.

Ike, the bird tribes of Phoenicis target only Begnion ships with their piracy. The ravens of Kilvas are after cargo, and so they attack everyone with equal vigor. The hawk clans, however, hold the heron clan as brethren... and still remember the false accusations. And their brutal murder.

The heron at Oliver's mansion... He slapped my hand away when I tried to help him. He had such hatred in his eyes. When he leapt from the window, he spoke to me.



Such needless pain... It may sound like utter hypocrisy, but my people regret deeply the actions of that horrific night. We stole the heron clan from this world... Every time we see the blackened forest, our grave sin comes back to haunt us.

Apostle... You are honorable. The majority of the senators have done their best to banish all memory of the Serenes and that night. Yet you have resisted. That is your intent, is it not? You are not like them... You are attempting to take responsibility for the actions of the people. To undo the wrongs of the past, you launched your own investigation into the laguz emancipation issue. You've even gone so far as to hire outsiders like Ike and his mercenaries to expose the problem, haven't you?

... Princess Elincia?

Yes?

I would like once more to make use of your escorts. Would you grant me this boon?

Of course! Er, that is... If Ike and his group agree, I have no objection to your proposal.

Depends on what you want.

The member of the heron clan you met...



If that is your wish, we will do it. In any case, we let that monster Oliver slip through our grasp. We'll handle both tasks at the same time.



---



Goddamn Thief.

---



Lv 4 Halberdier
HP: 36 (75%) Spd: 13 (35%)
Str: 14 (60%) Lck: 16 (40%)
Mag: 7 (30%) Def: 11 (45%)
Skl: 15 (40%) Res: 10 (25%)

Move: 7 Con: 12 Wt: 16

Equip: Lances (B)
Skill: Serenity

He's like Nephenee, only not! His main and most obvious advantage is of course in Strength and Defence, in which he has quite acceptable bases and growths. He's also got quite a bit of Luck. Where he lacks is, of course, Speed, and growing room.

That said, though, his growths are pretty good! He's got 25% or more in every single one, although one might wonder if he really needs 30% Magic. There's an argument for Devdan being most correctly being considered not a slower version of Nephenee, but a faster version of Gatrie (plus with Resistance!), albeit one with a somewhat lower starting Defence.

I guess the biggest problem with Devdan is that no one ever seems quite sure where to place him or what to do with him. But I'm sure he'd turn out OK if you gave him a chance!

---

Devdan has five different recruitment conversations. We've seen Tormod's already; here are the other four:

Uh-oh. This won't do. Youngsters like you aren't supposed to be fighting, you know?

Who, who are you? Aren't you one of the guards?

Devdan is not a guard, little one. Devdan was looking at the pretty garden and was captured. The punishment for trespassing is to work for a year without pay... That makes Devdan upset!

Well, that doesn't seem fair. But there's no need for you to just accept such injustice. The owner of this place, Duke Tanas, is keeping innocent laguz as slaves. He's a very bad man.

Mmm... That is not acceptable. Devdan cannot forgive such callous and unjust actions.

So, why don't you come with us then? Let's go and teach the bad guys a lesson together!

That is a fine idea. Let us make this Duke Tanas pay!



Uh-oh. This won't do. Youngsters like you aren't supposed to be fighting, you know?

Huh? Uh, who are you, sir?

Sir? Ho! Devdan is no knight! Devdan is just a simple man who was imprisoned for looking at the flower garden. The punishment was to work here for an entire year...without pay, unfortunately.

Is that so? That doesn't seem fair.

This sad world knows little of "fair," does it? Now tell me, young one, what are you doing here?

Um, well...there's a laguz birdman being held captive here. I came to help him. Duke Tanas is a bad man who keeps laguz as slaves. That's why my friends and I are here to stop him!

Slaves? That is not acceptable! Devdan cannot forgive such callous and unjust actions!

In that case, you should join up and help us free them!

Mmm... A fine idea! Devdan is ever on the side of justice.



Uh-oh. This won't do. Youngsters like you aren't supposed to be fighting, you know?

What was that? And who are you supposed to be?

Devdan is not supposed to be anyone. Devdan was imprisoned for looking at the flower garden. The punishment for trespassing is to work here for an entire year... without pay, unfortunately.

And then? Are you telling me this so that I will let you go?

A moment! Wait a moment. Devdan does not fight children.

If that's true, then why not switch sides and join us? If you become a member of the Greil Mercenaries, we would pay you for your services.

That would be an honor! Please, allow Devdan to join you!

Our contract is complete then. I will pass along the terms of the agreement to our commander, Ike. Now then, I expect you to do your
best.

Understood. Devdan is a very hard worker.



Uh-oh. This won't do. Youngsters like you aren't supposed to be fighting, you know?

And you are?

Who is Devdan? Devdan is Devdan. Devdan was imprisoned for looking at the lovely flower garden. The punishment for trespassing is to work here for a single year... without pay, unfortunately.

Is that so... That's too bad, but I've got a job to do. A sad story won't make me stay my blade!

A moment! Wait a moment. Devdan does not fight children.

Hmm... In that case, you should join us. That way, we can take care of this without me killing you.

Understood. Devdan is a friend to young people everywhere.

Refreshingly, all these conversations are actually a bit different. You watching this, Gatrie?

---

Next Time: Do you like long missions?