Part 13: (Part One, Chapter 7) They'll get their Daein court

The Liberation Army's sweeping victory seems to signal a turn in the war for Daein.



Begnion has fortified its army with weapons and supplies bought with funds stolen from Daein. Begnion has also purchased the swords of a vast number of mercenaries from these same stolen funds.

The Liberation Army does not want for willing fighters of its own. However, most are old men and inexperienced boys whose passion far outstrips their skill.



Its only hope lies locked in Begnion's prison camps, where Daein's former soldiers await their rescue.



See, this one's funny because hope is gathering and also the liberation army hopes for gathering.





Excuse me, but shouldn't Prince Pelleas be here?

There's no need to distract the prince with the war's petty details. He won't be coming to any more meetings. From now on, consider my words the prince's own.

I'm not sure that's--

Enough idle chatter. Come have a glance, my pretties.

He actually referred to us as "my pretties". Goddamnit Izuka.



Conditions within the prison camp are harsh. If we are to save the prisoners, every moment matters.

One of the largest work camps... Can our forces handle that?

...Suck a trivial concern, and one my profound genius has already addressed! Behold this lake next to the camp that provides fresh water to all there. Into this lake, we shall dump a deadly toxin of my own devising! Then we'll sit back...as the enemy slowly dies.

What are you saying?! Poison is inexcusably vile! I will agree to no such plan.

"Yeah, even if you were a villain, you'd have to be completely batshit insane to even consider poisoning an entire town's water supply."

Wha-wha-what was that?!



No matter how misguided the enemy may be, we must fight with compassion and consideration for the innocent.

She's right. Poison doesn't discriminate. Prisoners would die too. And any nearby villages would be affected. And then what would happen? People would doubt us, question our cause, maybe even side against us. And it would cast a stain on Prince Pelleas's name, don't you think?

Errrrrgh... Fine then! Do as you like! And when you find yourselves utterly defeated, you can come crawling back to me!



My apologies to both of you. When Lord Izuka gets excited, he can lose all sight of reason.

"And this doesn't at all strike you as a terrible quality for a strategist?"

I apologize too, General Tauroneo. He stormed out because I--

You needn't apologize. You are in the right. I would never condone the use of poison. However, this does mean we must devise another plan if we are to have any hope of victory.

Yes, you're right. In that case, what do you think of this strategy?

"Okay, let's hear your strategy then."

"Micaiah?"

"What strategy?!"



"Helloooo?"

Well, I guess this genius strategy is going to be as surprising for us as it is for the enemy. That's something, I guess.

Since we're here, let's admin!



+15% Avoid, from a C-rank support. When we're done, this will be +45%. On the whole, these two will be unstoppable.

We strengthen Laura and Aran's support to B-Rank.

We remove Discipline from Micaiah and replace it with Paragon. Discipline goes to Aran. Resolve is removed from Zihark.

We buy Jill an Iron Axe since she needs an axe she can use, and Democracy is almost broken.

The matter of the divvying of the Bonus EXP was put to you, the readers, and you did declare with most of one voice that it should be given in a way that produced the following gains:


Jill: Lv +1
Str +1
Spd +1
Lck +1

Edward: Lv +4
HP +1 (cap!)
Str +4
Skl +1 (cap!)
Lck +3
Def +3

Aran: Lv +2
Str +2
Skl +1 (cap!)
Lck +1
Def +2 (and +2 from Dracoshield) (cap!)

…all of which has leveled Edward up to 20 - one more level and he'll promote!





It's also looking awfully close to Edward being stat-for-stat with Zihark… it looks like it might literally come down to luck as to which wins out in the end.

Now, we could promote him by letting him soak up some more combat EXP, or bench him for a while and use bonus EXP, but we have a perfectly good Master Seal just lying around…







There are angelic rays of light, a very long camera pan…

(note the background; like the base, it varies depending on the mission)



A flash of light!



There's… clouds, I guess? Sure, why not!



And from the light emerges…



Edward, with a Trenchcoat of Power! That's right, classing up isn't just about the stats, you also get a change of clothes! There's also a triumphant fanfare to match.

Oh, and speaking of stats…



Are those some stat gains or what? Promotion provides a whole host of (fixed) gains; you can expect to see +1 to everything except luck, and +2 to HP and a class's "lesser" stats (like magic and res for Edward). You also get +1 to Cn and a bonus to Move. Not bad at all. And, let's not forget, you get 20 more levels to gain and all your stat caps go up too!

But there's more!



Promotion also provides 15 additional skill points to play with, and unlike the first 15, none of them are forced on things like Shove!

We immediately put Resolve on Edward. Just because Zihark is our favoured swordmaster doesn't mean we're not going to have as much fun with Edward as we can. In this case, Resolve will work concurrently with Wrath to make Edward into an emergency crit machine, and Shade, along with his now not-terrible defense, will help him maintain his state-of-not-being-dead while on the defensive - hopefully. We don't want to have to actually rely on Shade, but it's still nice to have. We want to be getting crits on our turns, on command, thank you very much.

Well, now that we're done admiring our better characters, it's time to take a look at our new recruit.





Fiona is a joke. A cruel, cruel, joke.

Most of the Dawn Brigade characters are… characterized… by having oddly weighted stat growths that are at odds with their class. Fiona is a cavalier - in the lance-using subcategory - and cavaliers are supposed to be good all-rounders, being good at everything but not exceptional at anything, like a soldier, but with generally lower stat growths balanced by the property of being-on-a-horse. Fiona differs from most cavaliers by having really good stat growths across the board - greater than 40% in everything except magic - and nice high caps to match. In fact, if you run the numbers, Fiona is technically the best cavalier in the game, particularly by virtue of having the highest speed of any cavalier (she is, in fact, the only cavalier to reach 34 speed; the "magic" number for endgame combat units).

The problem, however, is that Fiona's base stats are garbage, and all of her opportunities for growth come in the worst possible circumstances - missions that actively cripple the effectiveness of cavaliers, or missions that require you to be throwing the best offense you have at the enemy with no scope for feeding kills to trainees. Fiona would've been great to have in some of the earlier missions - especially the mission where we met her - but instead she joins us at the worst possible time for her. Making Fiona useful requires a monumental investment of time, effort, and Bonus EXP, and 99% of players just cannot be bothered. About the only thing Fiona has going for her is her Earth affinity, making her a valuable support partner, but bringing her into battle is a liability as is. You can make her great, but she'll probably get you killed along the way.



If you *do* try to raise her, however, you'll find her innate skills to be pretty dang awesome. Imbue will restore health equivalent to the user's magic stat every turn (and, naturally can't be equipped on mages), and works nicely on Fiona because her magic is about the only stat that starts out above average. On other units it'll cost 15 skill points, and is only worth it if one of your frontline fighters has uncommonly lucky growth in magic (martial units generally don't), or has received a couple bags of spirit dust.

She also has Saviour, a skill that negates the penalties usually associated with rescuing a unit - which, when you think about it, makes perfect sense for a cavalier. You'd think they'd have something like this innately, but no… The thing with Saviour is that rescuing happens so rarely that paying 10 SP to put this on a unit is often a waste, but since Fiona gets it for free…

In summary. Good growths, great caps, amazing innate skills… and completely unusable. That's Fiona.

Against all of my better judgement, I am going to bring her on the next mission and see if I can get a support between her and Volug - another Earth Pair support. If it works, Fiona will at least be able to dodge easily, as will Volug.



She's too weak to be able to wield an Iron Lance without taking a speed penalty, so we buy her a Bronze Lance. Not a good sign. The Javelin and Steel Lance that she starts with are going to the convoy.



Aimee's Bargains. I'd like to buy the Secret Book - the stat-up for Skill - because I like hoarding stat-ups and using them at opportune moments, but there's just no reasonable way to afford it right now.

Time for conversations! Zihark appears to have been cornered by Meg…



Oh, hello there.

H-h-hello.

Yes... hello. Now that we have that established, what can I do for you?

Um... Uh... I... I'm... Meg.

Yes, I know. It's nice to meet you, Meg. That's a very nice name.

And, uh... I'm from Crimea.

Yep, I'm one step ahead of you! Heard that too. You're far away from home now, aren't you? Quite an independent girl, eh?

Um, and, my village... It's called Ohma.

Oh! You're from Ohma? Now that's something I did not know.

Yes.

Then you must know Brom... Hold on a second... You look exactly like him. Are you two related?

We sure are! I'm his daughter. His... youngest daughter.

Oh, I've heard stories! He loves to tell stories about his kids. He said that you could lift a full-grown cow! It's nice to meet the person I've heard so much about! How is Brom? Doing well?

Yes! Yes, he is! He works ALL the time. I do wish he would slow down...

Ah, yes. Well, it's good to hear he's staying busy. Brom, huh? Wow, brings back memories... Well, if you're his daughter, I'll do whatever I can to help you. You said you were looking for somebody? who is this person?

Well... He's my... He's my fiance.

How could any guy leave a girl like you? What's this lucky guy's name? What's he like?

Well... he's standing right in front of me.

I'm sorry, I'm sure I misheard you. Can you repeat that? ...Slowly?

My daddy told us years ago that he was going to marry one of us to a really nice friend of his, a mercenary named Zihark.

Whoa, hey now... I don't, uh...

But my older sister got married last year, and so I came instead! Oh, it's so nice to finally meet my husband!

Meg, look, this is kind of crazy...

Zihark... I'm sure I still have a lot to learn... But after meeting you, I just know we'll live happily ever after!

Meg, I need you to listen very closely...

Oh, don't worry! I'll work hard every waking moment to become a good wife! Even during a fight! See you later, pookums!

Meg, wait! Wow, she's downright pushy. She must get that from her old man. ...And did she just call me "pookums"?

…well, that just happened.

Pelleas wants to see us;



It's quite all right.

Can I pour you some tea? Or is there something else you would prefer?

I'm fine, thank you. What did you want to speak with me about?

I know you are angry with me. Please, forgive me.

Can you tell me why you stopped showing up at our meetings?

It was at Izuka's request.

You are the leader of this army! You cannot simply leave all the decisions to someone else!

...I'm sorry. I'll ask Izuka before the next meeting. I need his permission to attend.

Why? You're the prince. Why should you need any man's permission, much less your own advisor's?

Yes, I am the prince, but... I owe much to Izuka. He taught me everything I needed to know to become a proper member of the royal family. He contacted Tauroneo and the other senators from Daein for help. Without his power and influence, I would never have mustered an army--or met my own mother.

Wow. When you put it like that, it kinda sounds like Izuka is responsible for the entire resistance effort.

I see. You were alone...

Pardon?

And then Izuka reunited you with your mother, gave you a place to stay, and provided you with a reason to live. And you feel you owe him a debt of gratitude for ending your loneliness. That is why you try to do as you are told--as Izuka wishes.

Micaiah, you're--

I'm sorry! I didn't mean to--That was inappropriate.

You're amazing!

Amazing?

You really can read minds! I'm simply amazed! You saw right through me!

...

Sorry, I got too excited. Look at me, I'm sweating.

Prince Pelleas!

What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?

That mark...

Oh... that.

What is it?

It's called the Spirit's Protection. The source of all magic in this world is tied to the power of the spirits. When you make a pact with such a spirit, its power manifests on your body like this.

I... see.

Strange. I get the feeling I've read this exact conversation before…

What am I saying? You already know all of this, of course. You have the Spirit's Protection, too.

What?

I saw you washing your hands the other day. When I walked up to say hello, I saw the mark on your right hand.

You saw...

I thought of confiding in you right away, but my mother called for me. I didn't get a chance to tell you until now.

Do you think this mark is really the Spirit's Protection?

Oh! You didn't enter into the pact yourself?

No.

I see. So, it must have been the spirit who wished to make a pact with you.

Pardon?

It's a very rare phenomenon among newborns. Usually it happens to infants who have an exceptional talent for magic. You truly are amazing, Micaiah.

I don't know about that...

Let's keep this among ourselves... We don't want people to confuse us with the Branded.

What are the "Branded"?

I'm pretty sure it refers to beorc who have laguz blood in their veins. I know, it's hard to imagine someone with the blood of a sub-human running through their veins. Anyway, I've been terribly mistreated by people who thought I was one of the Branded.

...

Micaiah?

Oh... sorry. I think I understand more about you now, and about the marks we share...

I'm glad I was able to tell you. I'm surprised you didn't know. Come talk to me again sometime.

Certainly.

Oh, I almost forgot. Here. I wanted to give you this.

What is it?

It's this splendid sword I recently acquired. It gives its wielder the upper hand in battle. Keep it or give it to whomever you like.

Shouldn't you give it to the soldier you deem most worthy?

No, I wouldn't want the soldiers thinking I'm giving anyone special treatment. It would be inappropriate. That's what Izuka says, anyway. So I think you should do it.

I understand. You must have so much on your mind.

Indeed. I long for the old days when I was poor, but had few worries.

Prince Pelleas...

But I'll keep fighting. I won't stop until Daein is free once more.

Hear, hear!

[Received a Brave Sword]

"The upper hand in battle" is a tiny bit of an understatement. The Brave Sword allows you to attack twice whenever you would normally attack once, meaning that if you are fast enough to be able to double an enemy, you can now quadruple them - instead of attack, counterattack, attack, you can attack, attack, counterattack, attack, attack. The downside is that the Brave Sword is a tad weaker than normal swords, and each individual hit will take a point off of the Brave Sword's remaining uses, and this is the only one you get in the entire game. So there's that to consider.





The Brave Sword goes to Zihark, because he might just be able to get in the odd triple hit (with Adept) before an enemy can counter him. Edward gets the Killing Edge, which, under the right circumstances, can combine with Resolve and Wrath to produce a guaranteed crit.

Alright. Time to find out what Micaiah's brilliant plan is.





There are a lot of enemies in here, oddly enough.



Yes, sir! The Liberation Army has mounted an assault on the gate! We require reinforcements!

Hmph. They seek to free their men? My elite guard shall stay here with me. Take the rest to squash these "rebels"!

But, sir, if your guard remains here, we'll have barely enough men to--

Who do you think you're talking to, soldier? With my guard and me at the ready, this camp need fear no attack. Understood? Now go! You have your orders!

---



Perfect. That should make it easier for us to eliminate their defenses, seize the camp, and free the prisoners.

Huh. That was a pretty good plan. I'm sure the dialog is supposed to be suggesting that Tauroneo is leading a detachment of soldiers to distract the prison guards, but we all know that he's actually just standing outside by himself and laughing maniacally while arrows and javelins bounce harmlessly off of his armour.

Well, let's get this show on the road.



Again, against every better instinct I possess, I'm bringing Fiona along on this mission, despite it being uniquely unsuited to her (that is to say, beyond even the degree to which all missions are unsuited to her because she's so bad) for reason's we'll see soon. We're allowed nine characters, so Aran will be sitting this mission out - which actually works out well for him, since he'll be going the rest of the way to promotion on Bonus EXP - joining bench veterans Meg and Leonardo, as well as bench newcomer (but soon to be veteran) Ilyana. And, of course, we can't bring Tauroneo because he's busy being a total badass.

The plan: Sothe and Micaiah go east, everyone else north, at which point Zihark and Nolan take the hallway and Edward, Jill and Laura take the stairs. Volug and Fiona will stand around building up support points and can run away when necessary.

FIGHT!