Part 70: Chapter 28 - Mission
We are coming up on the End
Pictured: Ike's inventory from here til the end of the LP. I mean, come on. Think about it. Ike has defeated The Black Knight in single combat. There's not really much left for the guy to aspire to, is there? From here on out, it's gonna be one-stat levels and the same weapon for all eternity, but let's face it: Ike is pretty much invincible and self sufficient.
Some of our other units still have some upward mobility left in them, however.
Janaff's kinda fallen behind a bit. But here's a boost.
Now, remember Fun With Skills? Well, it's back.
Mia's two greatest shortcomings are her low-ish strength and her general lack of survivability. Well, from here on out, both of these things are only going to be problems when she's on more than half health. And, for this mission, we're giving her the Laguzguard, so she'll be even safer while she soaks up some EXP and hopefully gains some decent levels.
I had no idea what to do with Corrosion and Counter so I gave them to Rolf. I don't really plan on Rolf ever getting hit that much, but hey, I guess if he does, there's a tiny chance that it'll be awesome.
Well, let's get this going.
Did you notice the Meteor Asshole hiding out in the trees? Even with the red circles marking enemy units, he's kinda difficult to see.
Mia's going to show off her new skills by handling the first wave of enemies alone. She does, however, swig some Pure Water to take the bite off the inevitable Meteor.
Tibarn is promptly directed to Get The Fuck Out Of Our Way and stay there. He's awesome, it's true, but he's an EXP hog (as in, he doesn't even get the EXP to waste).
A very obliging Warrior comes along and immediately removes half of Mia's health.
So much for worrying about Meteor.
And so we begin the familiar dance. Tiger appears, Vantage pops, and... it's a crit!
And another!
And a third!
Jesus Christ, Mia, you are not Largo, you are not under the influence of Wrath, and that is not a Killer weapon. Resolve should only be boosting her Crit by 6 points or so.
Oh, of course, silly me. We were just burning through all the good random numbers in the pile, weren't we?
Well, we finally get a not-crit, and that's still pretty respectable for one hit.
Sadly, being on like 98 avoid still leaves the door open for bad luck.
...I...
Some other enemies shuffle around and it's our turn again.
Unlike Wrath, Resolve actually affects the numbers you see pre-battle. That's pretty neat, I guess.
Janaff's job is going to be to keep this raven busy until it's dead.
We send some backup to take the heat off of Mia (and also heal her). Said backup includes Rolf, who overkills the shit out of a raven.
Right. Looks like the enemy's "in between" waves right now, so let's enjoy a quiet phase, shall we?
Largo quietly dodges a Meteor...
Rolf quietly gets hit...
Mia quietly slaughters a hawk...
And...
And this little dance continues.
...?
(I hate this!)
Hm? Oh, you don't like this, eh? Neither do I. This helmet and armor are horribly restrictive, you know?
...what.
(You're very handsome, Naesala.)
Yeah, I haven't changed much, eh? And you knew it was me back there right away, didn't you? Ah, I'm glad you survived. It's very good to see you again. (Yes..I am also pleased.) Now, on to the problem at hand. We went to the trouble of escaping that tower, so I'd hate to end up a meal for one of our insane cousins. Our objective is to rendezvous with Nealuchi. Here we go, Leanne. Hold on tight. (Yes I will!).........
Time to finish this guy. Good work there, Janaff.
I could go through the finer details of what happened between this screenshot and the last, but I get the impression you can probably figure out the gist of it. The giveaway is the marked decrease in enemy presence.
There goes Meteor #3. Some enemies scurry towards us, and...
(Naesala! Over there!) Tibarn and friends, eh? Oh, very good. This will work out nicely...
Nealuchi! You're here sooner than expected. You pushed your old wings to the limit, didn't you?
I couldn't be late to the rescue of the dear lady Leanne, now could I? (Nealuchi! You came for me, too?) Oh! What a glorious sight... You look so much like your dear, departed mother... Sniff... (Don't cry, Nealuchi!) Hey, save your tears for later. While Tibarn and the others take care of the enemy, we mustescape.
Y-yes, of course! This way!
Oh, hey, look. Nasir's transformed. I guess we'd better shift him to the front, then.
Mia, Rolf and Nephenee clean up the remnants of what I'm pretty sure is the remnants of the first wave, and Rolf gets this wonderful level here.
Let's push our luck: Resolve vs Dragon.
Well, at least we open on a stro-
-nnnn. Fuck.
Well, that wasn't much use.
Ranulf, despite not really combatting, is still being useful by distracting the Meteor Asshole with the promise of effective damage.
More reinforcements!
Let's send Mia to deal with something a little more in line with her damage output.
There are a variety of tried and tested strategies to prevail against dragons, but thunder magic is probably the most straightforward. A fortuitous Adept activation leaves the dragon a few HP from death, on which Nephenee promptly capitalizes.
Rolf hits S-Rank in bows while helping deal with the incoming cats.
The Black Knight fight is so focused on in-your-face meleeness that it's easy to forget that Ragnell can work at range. We remind ourselves of such presently.
Being the only ranged sword in the game to operate off of strength instead of magic, Ragnell is basically... well, broken. It is absurdly powerful, and Ike is absurdly powerful.
Yeah, yeah, don't care.
Oh, look. You've made Mia mad again.
Alright, this has been very amusing, but Largo is taking the front lines now.
He's going to distract the dragon while Ike draws some of those halberdiers over.
Remember when this strategy was the only way to safely deal with Ike?
Yeah, that's not the case anymore.
They just keep walking into it.
Again and again.
There goes Meteor #5 (thank you Muarim). So much for Meteor Asshole.
Hi dragon.
That was a tactical error.
Bye, dragon.
A swordmaster comes over to-
-nevermind.
Looks like we're gearing up for another push.
And yet more of them!
Injured-Mia is really being a credit to the team here.
It's happening slower and more piecemeal than I'd like, but her stats are slowly ticking on up.
Now, it's time to deal with the asshole formerly known as Meteor Asshole. To accomplish such, Rolf will now demonstrate his shiny new Double Bow. Unlike every other S-Rank weapon, it's markedly less powerful than its generic Silver variant. To compensate for such power, however...
It can attack at a range of four squares. Sweet.
Redundant Crit Corrosion.
I guess we could charge, but they just keep dying to our counterattacks, so let's just sit here and let them do all the work.
This would've been fatal... if it had connected on its ~15% chance (before True Hit).
This... not so much. Also, this is followed by Ike dispatching the mage in a single hit.
Never discount the strength boost from Resolve. It is literally doubling the amount of damage Mia is doing.
And now we're pulling out the crits again.
We sure are.
...
More! More!
Hey there, Spear Asshole.
There are still birds up here, so Rolf remains put.
Let's draw a few more out, shall we?
Oh. Right. Sleep Asshole.
Pah. Longbows. Longbows.
Surprise Runesword Paladin! Unlike Bertram, however, this one has like six magic, and thus deals zero damage to Ike. Ike deals basically the opposite of zero damage to him.
Of course, Ragnell can crit at range.
Somewhat oddly, however, it lacks a unique animation for this, instead just adding a shockwave to Ike's regular crit.
Ike has attracted a dragon.
That's alright, though.
Ike just takes that health right back and kills the asshole.
Still don't care.
Now here's a rumour-smash. Sleeping target.
Vantage activates...
...but does nothing, and Largo still gets hit. I've heard it said that when a sleeping unit activates Vantage it glitches out and immediately ends the fight, but... well, that doesn't seem to have been the case, now, does it?
Yet more units!
Wake up, Largo. You're needed.
Well, look who's finally lumbered into action!
So, yeah. Nasir is not even slightly a slouch in combat. He's got 40 Atk straight out the box, he's a wall of defence and HP, and he's even respectably fast. And he's presently scoring a critical hit.
The usual procedure of cleaning up enemies from the last charge runs its course, and Nephenee gets a few stats from it all.
So does Soren.
That's for Sleeping Largo.
Now, this here asshole as boxed Rolf in to a corner.
So Muarim shoves him out of the way. I'm somewhat saddened by the lack of action our laguz friends have seen this mission, but... well, they're kinda not really keeping up in numbers and there never really seemed to be a good chance to use 'em.
...
I foresee counterkilling in the very near future.
You'll do.
Oh, goody. The boss has noticed Ike.
Very well put, my friend.
We are not, in fact, hit.
A dragon attacks Largo, who proceeds to cap HP. Then a hawk (who survives the experience, sadly).
Yeah good luck with that.
There is a poignancy here... somewhere.
Oh for fuck's sake they never end.
Reyson hangs back and levels while Mia and Soren something something cleanup.
By my reckoning, everyone except one dragon and one hawk will suicide on Ike, Mia or Largo by the end of this turn.
Y'know, this could be a lot worse. (hello speed cap)
Well. Almost. Looking a lot cleaner now.
This here dragon in front of the boss is particularly tough, even by dragon standards.
It's also the only enemy besides the boss left standing after this turn.
More futile Bolting.
Ike eats fire...
...and dragon.
There is literally no more point in levels.
Well, since he was kind enough to spend his last turn alive using Bolting, Heddwyn here is a sitting duck.
So, yeah, he dies.
At least someone's getting something out of all this EXP.
Oh, look, he was carrying something else. I didn't even notice. Well, this here is the most powerful thunder tome in the game, and it's unlikely we'll ever be able to actually use the damn thing, so that's a shame. Also a shame is the fact that we're not allowed to sell it because.
Well, we've got everything we're going to get out of this.
---
Naesala!
I believe I have what you seek right here.
(Brother! Oh, my brother!)
(Brother! Brother!)
It wasn't any sense of charity or anything. It was a sort of... payment for the debt I had incurred.
Flatter me all you like, hawk king. You'll get nothing in return. As promised, the Duke Tanas account has been completely settled.
Yes, as agreed. Well then, I take my leave of you. There's no need to rush off. Is there? Since you've come all this way, why not stay and help us with King Daein?
What a splendid idea. What? Enough of your nonsense. I prefer to keep my life intact, thank you.
(Naesala, are you leaving?) Listen to me, Leanne. I have no good reason to fight the king of Daein.
And what about your fellow Kilvans? King Daein has taken their natural identity and warped it beyond repair! They left Kilvas of their own accord. How far should my responsibility for them extend? You...
I have something I want to show you all. Will you please come below? This tower has a basement? We just discovered a hidden staircase. Let's go.---
It's too dark to see anything. We need light...
... What, what is this? Oh, by the goddess...
... W-what is this...?! Nasir! Answer me! Ranulf?
Laguz... At one time, they were... laguz...---
That dungeon was the most vile thing I have ever seen. I'm glad you weren't there.
Was it that bad? It was barbaric beyond description... There were more laguz corpses than we could count... They had been tortured. Twisted and warped beyond all recognition. Ah... such horrors... Why would Ashnard do such things? What could be his purpose here?
He would test them by pitting them against those laguz. Ashnard considers laguz to be tools in service to his own mad ends. Nothing more. They are instruments to be used as he sees fit. I heard that he ordered his scholars to perform all kinds of experiments... 
Their life spans were much shortened, but for a brief time, they became extremely powerful... they... ... ...Thank you for telling us. Thanks to you, we found Leanne. You're free now. You can do whatever you like.
You don't have to do that. Fighting against your former companions could prove difficult. Take me with you. There is something that I have to do. Please, Master Ike. I ask it of you as well. Please. ... Very well. Let's fight together.---
We await your deployment orders, sir. Very well. Tell the men to stand down and await my command.... At last, we face the king of Daein. Yes... The war is coming to an end. It appears so.
No, of course not. It's nothing like that. But... But what?
They want to continue fighting? Even though Crimea--and Daein, too-- have suffered so much? No, that's not what I mean... I apologize. I will go inform the men. ..."..." is right. What the hell was that about?
---
We're a turn outside the ten turn limit, boo hoo.
---
Lv 18 Dragon Tribe (White)
HP: 56 (150%) Spd: 22 (45%)
Str: 20 (50%) Lck: 17 (35%)
Mag: 11 (10%) Def: 24 (60%)
Skl: 23 (55%) Res: 27 (25%)
Move: 5 Con: 12 Wt: 17
Initial TP: 5
Transformation Bonus: Str +10, Skl +5, Spd +3, Def +5, Res +5, Wt +24, Mov +1
Equip: Breath (10 Mt, 75 Hit)
Skill: Boon, Nihil
You played previous Fire Emblems? Remember Manaketes? Well, fuck Manaketes. Dragon laguz maintain kickass stats all the god damn time, and don't have to mess about with arbitrarily finite dragonstones either. Untransformed, Nasir is a goddamn wall on par with Ike. Transformed, he can hit almost as hard as Ike, too, and he gets tougher. He's respectably fast and pretty accurate too. On top of that, he can nullify enemy skills and heal status conditions for free. Oh, and did you know his Breath can pierce the Goddess' Blessing? Because he sure kept that quiet.
OK, so Nasir lacks growing room, but who gives a shit? We're about to start the last mission. We're morally entitled to a dragon.
---
Next Time: It's the God Damn End Game.