Part 28: (Part Three, Prologue) And now for the REAL main character

Three years ago, Crimea freed itself from Daein tyranny. Its nobles used that freedom to berate the queen and scrabble for power.



Thanks to their efforts and to Queen Elincia's even-handed rule, Crimea has avoided a bloody civil war.



The Black Knight, the man who murdered Ike's father, has once again been seen in Daein. The queen's words hang heavy over Ike as he leads the mercenary group back to their headquarters.





Yeah, we've been away for too long... Dealing with Crimean nobles always seems to take longer than it should. At least now we can finally get some rest.

Still, it was nice to be needed, don't you think? Especially for a band of mercenaries as poor as we are.

You know, Ike, if you hadn't renounced your lordship, we wouldn't have to run around like this to support ourselves.

Mist, I...

Oh, I know. I'm just teasing you, silly. Besides, I'd rather spend my time helping people. Who wants to live like some overstuffed noble, anyway? Definitely not me! We have Father's legacy to look after, as well: the Greil Mercenaries.



A visitor? Who is it?



Ranulf! How are you, my old friend? How's everyone in Gallia? Is Caineghis well?

Everyone's doing great. We laguz don't take ill too easily, so it's hard not to be "well."

Seeing you again brings back memories. We couldn't have won the war if not for Gallia's aid...and yours especially.

Well, same goes for you. Who knows where Gallia would be if not for Ike and the Greil Mercenaries!

Speaking of old friends... I saw Princess Leanne in the Crimean royal court. Apparently, she'd been looking for me, too. She said, "Please save my brothers." Do you know what she's talking about?

So, she's heard. Let me get straight to the point, Ike. I have some bad news. War has come to us once again.

What?!

The Laguz Alliance, which is made up of Gallia, Phoenicis, and Kilvas, is setting out against Begnion. The situation has escalated very quickly.

"Escalated" seems a bit soft. I know there are problems between the laguz and Begnion, but I thought things were getting better.

Rafiel, the eldest son of the herons, brought back some disturbing news from Daein. He'd learned that Begnion senators ordered the herons' extermination. This spurred the laguz to strike against Begnion. That's why I came looking for you, Ike. We need your help.

---



The shocking story he relates ignites a terrible fury in the hearts of the laguz. The assassination of the previous Begnion apostle sparked the massacre of the heron clan, as well as the burning of their home, the Serenes Forest.



Now, however, Prince Rafiel, a survivor of the massacre, reveals that those directly responsible...







Together with the heron royal family, they send messengers to the leadership of Begnion, demanding an explanation from the senators.



As if to emphasize their decision to silence the laguz inquiries, the empire goes so far as to murder an alliance messenger. This callous act of arrogant defiance pushes the alliance into declaring war upon the Begnion Empire.

Gallia's sub-commander, Ranulf, considers the merits of attempting to simply overpower Begnion. He recognizes, however, that pitting brute force against Begnion's magic and tactical prowess will result in massive alliance casualties.



Ike is an acquaintance of Begnion's apostle, however, and is at first reluctant to become involved in the conflict. Yet, when he considers the senators' cold-blooded murder of the alliance messenger, he can feel the anger that burns in the laguz's hearts. Determined to force the senators to answer for their crimes, he agrees to help the Laguz Alliance.



So. Begnion Senators. Total assholes, huh?

Welcome to Part 3. Part 3 is driven by the sudden revelation that the Begnion Senators are even bigger assholes than first thought - and now they've provoked the laguz into open warfare, and Ike and co with them. Just what in the hell is going on in Begnion?



Flaguerre is close now. It's a fortress city near the Begnion border. We'll storm the city at night and hit them fast enough that the troops inside the fortress won't have time to take their positions.



Oh boy. This is going to be one of those wars, isn't it?

But I would rather have a head-on fight. Why do we wait until nightfall, like a pack of cowards?

...



I want the Greil Mercenaries to act as a guerrilla force. Take out their fire mages and ballistae. They're really bad news for us laguz.



No, Skrimir. This isn't the kind of fight where a general takes the field. You should stay behi--

Are you insane?! Oh, I'll fight! A general of Gallia does not hide behind his men! Leave this "tactics" garbage to the beorc. We need only our claws and teeth! I call an end to this meeting! Time to kill!



Are you OK?

Yeah. That thickheaded fool... This'll be his first major battle. Hopefully, he won't get his teeth kicked out. How about you, Ike? Are you sure about this?

Sure about what?

Well, you know.. You're beorc. I'm laguz. You sure you want to take our side?

The Laguz Alliance is in the right, Ranulf. The senate is actively ignoring you, and worse, they're murdering your messengers. Why shouldn't we help you get the senate's attention? I'm sure my people understand. Besides, I would never abandon a friend in need.

Thanks, Ike.



And with that, we're sent to the Base. We are once again denied access to the Market, and none of our units can support yet, so really all we can do is have some conversations.



Are you all right? You look distracted.

Hmm? Oh, it's nothing. Don't worry about me.

Ranulf, you know you can talk to me.

Sigh. It's just... I feel bad about this whole thing, you know?

I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

I've pulled you beorc into laguz affairs. It's not exactly your problem, you know?

Listen. You offered me a job, and I decided to take the contract. It's as simple as that. I told the others they could leave if they didn't want to work with laguz, but everybody decided they'd rather stay. Don't worry about it, Ranulf.

What about the Black Knight? Are you going to abandon your search?

Yeah, at least for now. I figure that if he's still alive, our paths will cross again. There's no rush.

Hmm... Yeah, I guess you're right. No point in dwelling on things I can't change, right? Thanks, Ike.

Hey, no problem. Anything to keep you from moping around like a sullen kid!

Fair enough. Besides, I've had this nagging headache ever since I left Gallia with that hotheaded lion...

Do you mean General Skrimir?

That's the one. Skrimir is King Caineghis's nephew, and is on track to become the next king of Gallia.

He's the successor to Caineghis? He must be an absolute terror in battle.

Absolutely. He's so powerful, I think he's gonna get himself in trouble. And... He's the reason for my headache.

You need a sympathetic ear about that, too?

Thanks, Ike. But I'll tell you about it some other time. Let's eat and catch some shut-eye before we set off for battle tonight.

All right.

See you at dinner.



Yeah?

You can come talk to me anytime you want. Don't think you're alone in all this.

Heh... What are you, an inquisitor?

A guy's got to do something between battles. Talk to you later.

...

Poor Ranulf. He seems to be the only Gallian in this army still capable of rational thought. Next up, Mist:



Really? Well, it's not like you could have stopped me, even if you wanted to. Ranulf is my friend too, you know!

Come on, Mist. I--

Ike! I'm not going to repeat the same mistake I made with Dad! I don't want you to die while I... while I'm somewhere else. It was horrible... It ate me up from the inside. I'm never going through something like that ever again.

Mist...

Everyone in the Greil Mercenaries is part of a family. We all follow the commander, no matter what. We'll live together, fight together, and die together. Right, Ike?

...All right. But promise me this. When we're out on the battlefield, stay where I can see you. It'll put my mind at ease.

I promise, Ike.

D'awww.



Pretty good.

Giffca and Ranulf told me about you. You are a skilled warrior, right?

Well... I don't think I'm a pushover. I'll say that much.

Don't be humble! My uncle... Er, my king also told me about you. "Observe Ike and learn his skills. Then you shall become even stronger."

King Caineghis said that?

He did. I am eager to watch you in battle. You can learn from me, as well.

I intend to.

Lions are the strongest of the beast tribe, and I have been trained to fight by the king himself. I was going to fight in the Mad King's War, but my uncle forbade it. He said I still had much to learn. But now my time has come, and you will see the true might of the beasts!

Point to take away from all this: Even the goddamn King of Lions knows not to fuck with Ike.

One more:



Oh, hey, Mordecai and Lethe are back.

Ahh! These are all the favorite foods of the beast tribe. They will be happy.

Oscar, you're a chef?

That's right.

Hah! Great! I can't wait to see the looks on all their faces when they learn that a beorc made all this delicious food!

Aww, stop it. You're embarrassing me!

But it's true! Where did you learn all this, Oscar? You should start teaching classes.

Yes, your food very good! So good, it will be eaten very quickly.

Really? Hmm. Do you think I should make more?

Us beasts have a healthy appetite, of course. On top of that, we have General Skrimir and Ike. ...Yeah. I'd be surprised if what's here lasted past those two, much less a whole pack of laguz.

Tsk, you're exaggerating! Ike is a beorc. He couldn't possibly eat as much as someone from the beast tribe. Well, maybe he would. Actually... He most definitely would.

Yeah. Especially the ribs and steaks.

Mordecai. How about we go hunt for more game?

Right!

There probably aren't enough herbs to flavor everything. I'll go get more.

My. We might need to harvest an entire mountain.

Right! We have a lot of new people to meet. Well, I say "new"...





It's Ike! He's back! And holy fuck can he tear up a place. Look at those numbers. He's already capped skill, and he'll cap strength and defense in no time at all. His speed growth isn't spectacular but his base is sky high. The only thing he's lacking is resistance, so unless you leave him in range of a mage, Ike is pretty much invincible. Ike also comes with a unique sword, Ettard, which is as powerful as a Silver Sword but more accurate, durable and crittable.

If the theme of Part 1 was having weird growths for your class, and the theme of Part 2 was terrible availability, then the theme of Part 3 is most assuredly being completely awesome to a ridiculous extent. In this respect, Ike certainly leads by example.

Did you know? In the Japanese versions of both Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, Ettard was the Black Knight's sword, and the sword Ike suddenly starts using in Radiant Dawn is Alondite. Just a little curiosity.

For all his other awesomeness, Ike has no innate skills. Aww.



He does, however, come with three authority stars, which is handy. On top of that, he has the Earth Affinity, so once he gets a support going he'll be untouchable as well as invincible.





Titania was the Jeigan of Path of Radiance, but here, she's just a straight up awesome Paladin. The only reason you shouldn't use her yet is because she has the highest starting level of all the Greil Mercenaries. She's got strength and defense aplenty, and a fair amount of speed, though it's not really her specialty. You can't really go wrong with her, and she's not an uncommon endgame pick either.



Titania comes with the Counter skill. When you take damage, Counter has a [skill stat]% chance of damaging your attacker for half as much damage as they just dealt you. It's pretty hilarious when enemies kill themselves because of it. It's generally not worth the SP it costs to equip it over other skills, but since Titania gets it for free, it just makes her a little more awesome.





Soren is our first proper wind magic user, and he's pretty good at what he does. His magic and resistance growths are through the goddamn roof, and his starting strength alone ensures he'll never really be burdened by magic tomes. His speed is merely "OK", though, so it might be tricky to make him double things, although his sheer damage output means he'll never be useless.



Soren comes with the Adept skill innately, although it's kinda wasted on him with his comparatively low speed.





Mist is a bit of an odd one. She's a cleric - a class unique to her - and she can wield both staves and swords. She therefore has a little bit of everything growth-wise, but neither her strength nor magic growths are spectacular. She at least has enough speed to give her a modicum of evasion and stop foes from doubling her, so that's something. She comes with a unique sword, Florete, a surprisingly powerful blade (it's actually stronger than Ettard!) with the ability to attack at range, like a Wind Edge.



Mist has the Miracle skill. Miracle has a [luck stat]% chance to halve the damage of any hit that would otherwise kill you. It sounds handy, but if you ever see Miracle activating then you have already failed at the game by most standards. It's something to consider if you ever have 5 spare SP though.





Rolf is something of a divisive character. He's essentially another Astrid - low level, but with good growths, and therefore somewhat difficult to train but potentially extremely powerful once raised. His growths combined with the growing room combined with his not-unreasonable bases mean Rolf can be a powerhouse - if you're willing to invest.



Snipers are the promoted form of archers. Snipers get auto Critical +10, though Rolf has no innate skills besides that.





Boyd is - at long last - a fighter with a strength growth higher than his speed growth. Truth be told, Boyd is something of a glass cannon. He hits hard, but his defense is lacking to begin with, and his speed isn't spectacular. Give him some levels, though, and his defense will recover, and his obscene HP growth is a bonus. I'm a little reluctant to raise Boyd for endgame because of how invested we already are in Nolan (and Zihark), but we have a lot of battles between now and the time where Boyd might be ditched, and it won't hurt to have him around. Boyd has no innate skills.





Look at that smug motherfucker. While Titania and Kieran vie for the Red Knight position, Oscar has the Green all to himself. In other words, Oscar is a slightly speedier and more skillful but less powerful Paladin. That's it, really. Oscar has no innate skills.





Shinon is like Rolf, only different. Shinon starts off at a higher level and his bases are accordingly higher, and his growths are slightly worse than Rolf's, but Shinon is generally more RNG-proofed and requires less effort to use. Further, Shinon is likely to end up with less strength and more defense than Rolf. Neither is an objectively better pick than the other, and either can shine.



Shinon has the Provoke skill, which will dramatically increase the likelihood that enemies will choose to attack him over anyone else who may be in range. This will most likely be taken off him at some point.





Gatrie is a general with 60% growths and amazing bases in strength, defense, and speed. We like Gatrie.





Rhys is our other healer. His magic is a bit higher than Mist's but, even for a light magic user, he's useless in combat solely on account of his terrible speed. He or Mist could make quite an acceptable healer, in any case.





Don't be fooled by her low bases in strength and defense - after a few levels, Mia will be a god and won't stop there. Her speed is stupid high, and once it caps and you BEXP up her strength and defense she will be literally unstoppable. Like, map-solo good (don't actually do that though). She can double anything and practically nothing can hit her. She does need a few levels first, though, as her strength is a bit of an issue right now, but she's amazing once she gets started. She's one of the most common endgame picks, and not without reason.



As if this weren't enough, she also has innate Vantage, and with her insane speed, she will eventually be able to activate it in 50% of fights. You can't not love Mia.

Wow! That's a lot of units, and almost all of them are amazing units. There's only one thing we can really do in the Base menu with no Market...



And that's take Soren's Adept skill and put it on Mia, because, y'know, she's not going to be broken enough as it is.



Let's do this thing.





General Septimus, sir, we're only making the rounds this evening. We don't need a bigger force.

No, you're wrong! Even now, those bloodthirsty beasts are stalking us. I just know it! Believe me!

General, p-please calm yourself. You say this every evening, and yet we've never had any--



What?!

See? See?! Now do you see, fool?! I was right! Hah, I told you...um... N-now what do we do?





Er...

OK, so it turns out that attempting to depict ~15 or so laguz transforming all at once causes a fatal crash 90% of the time.



That's better.





Well, here we are. This map is another one of those interesting, gimmicky maps that the game loves to throw at us. The map is divided into two channels. The laguz are going to charge down the middle side and murder the shit out of anyone in their path. The Greil Mercenaries are going to take the other channel and make sure the enemy doesn't get to the ballistae covering the middle. And also murder people. Victory is achieved when Skrimir arrives on the square currently occupied by the boss.



Boyd scouts out our first group of enemies.

Now, who should have first honours?

Don't ask stupid questions.



He's back.



By the way, the Greil Mercenaries have bitchin' awesome battle music.









Yeeeah.



Rolf gets to softening the next guy...



Mist helps...



And Mia finishes.



Gatrie moves to form a defensive line with Ike, and we end turn.



A few intrepid enemies charge the Gallian army. This generally doesn't end well for them. The Gallian army contains mostly tigers with a few cats, of whom the cats are likeliest to die, but the army is virtually inexhaustible and gets constant reinforcements. There's really no worry here.



Against all odds, Ike takes a bit of damage.



This fight ends as you'd expect it to. Gatrie may have a speed growth on par with most swordmasters but his base is still low-ish, so no doubles yet.



The Gallian army gets its own phase. As a green "other" army, they can't even be given general orders, so they do their own thing. Their own thing being, in this case, wanton slaughter. Skrimir is an absolute... well... beast in combat, and can one or two shot everything on this map while taking zero damage in return. The only way he can die (which will fail you the mission, by the way) is if three fire mages all attack him at once. Of course, even if that happened, the chances of all three hitting are nil.



The beasts tear through the few soldiers in their path, and their first wave of reinforcements arrive.

Our turn again.



"I'm helping!"



For the time being, Mia's low-ish strength and bad defense belie her immense usefulness. Give her time...



In any case, Soren finishes off the long suffering General instead. Between Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, magic generally went through a lot of changes. Fire magic was nerfed slightly, and thunder magic was nerfed to hell, but wind magic remains unscathed, and Soren remains awesome. Good combination.



Boyd is pretty good at damaging things, yes. He does, however, kinda sorta need a few good defense gains soon, otherwise he can become a bit of a liability.



Pictured: why Rhys will never be a combat unit. His speed is a joke.



Gatrie goes for the comedy option...



But he runs into some guys and his turn is cancelled. Crap.



We Ike the first guy out of the way...



And Titania helps us form a defensive wall to protect our weaker units.



Amusingly, he dies due to counter damage from his attack on her. Fool.



Heal Boyd, end turn.



A scant few enemies crash against our wall, doing no real damage and almost getting killed in return. At least the guy who attacks Ike has the good sense to do so from range.



For their part, the beasts rip apart another small group of enemies, though they're slowed down by two generals standing in their way.



Well, since this is the first time we've had an actual non-mounted archer in our squad, let's hijack a ballista!



I like where this is going.

On top of that, ballistae, being as they are novelty-sized crossbows, have fixed Mt, so a relative weakling like Rolf can use them to totally clean house.



Like so.



Continuing the murder; Soren.



Gatrie may not be quite ready for double-time, but he'll still function very nicely as a wall. Since he's far ahead of the group, any enemies that are near him but not in range of Ike and co will happily focus entirely on dealing zero damage to him. For now, though, he's going to be surrounded by teammates, but it's something to keep in mind for later.



Shinon, for his part, is quite able to murder stuff on his own. This guy drops a coin.



There's a bit of Ike/Titania murder, and we end turn.



Continuing with the theme of this mission, a Begnion soldier immediately suicides on a tiger.



Oh, ouch. The fire mages have shown up. Any of these guys still alive at the end of this turn will be priority targets for Rolf.



Emphasis on "any still alive".



Oh. This is going to be fun to watch.



Rolf picks out a target to kill. Ballistae aren't great for one-shotting people, of course.



But Killer Balistae, on the other hand...



Ike, Gatrie and Titania murder their way through the enemy leftovers, and we end turn.



Gallia suffers its first casualty. Of course, it's a cat.



After some forceful retaliation, Skrimir gets a bit irritated.



This guy has the right idea, but seriously, how in the hell did he ever make general?

P-please be quiet, General! You'll hurt the troops' morale! Wait, where are you going?!

To safety! I must escape to Mugill. The beasts... The beasts wish to... CONSUME ME!

General Septimus! Gutless coward! Are you scared of these worthless sub-humans?!

Well, that just happened.



Ranulf is among the troops too, and he's also not allowed to die. Fortunately, while he may not have the sheer durability of Skrimir, he's practically impossible for the enemies to hit.



Anyway, the Gallians make a nice big advance. Our turn!



Ike softens a guy up...



And a nice big Ballista bolt finishes the job. Because Rolf is such a low level, his two kills this mission have given him a level.



Not bad! Strength and speed go a long way for Rolf. His deal, remember, is that he's basically going to be a glass cannon when properly leveled, so he's well on his way.



This guy presents something of a problem if he gets anywhere near Oscar or Titania. In theory.



In practice... it's not such a big problem. Though, of course, that 10% is a pain if it hits.



It doesn't, though.



Shinon mans the other Ballista and makes a dent in a fire mage. He doesn't crit, sadly.



One of the mages is distracted by Titania. This is good.



Because the others go after Skrimir. They hurt.



Otherwise, Begnion's attack is as ineffectual as ever.



This is what Skrimir does to fire mages.

Otherwise, the Gallians make a fine job of murdering everyone. And blocking my path.



There's really not much to do on our next turn besides charge Titania ahead at full speed and hope that Skrimir chooses to go the other way.



She at least finds a Coin lying around.



Shinon is also able to use his Ballista to help out. That's about all we can do this turn.



Begnion continues its token defense, claiming another Gallian casualty but not really doing much to prevent its inevitable demise.



By the time it's done, Gallia has almost completely taken over the boss area. It's also stupidly sent in a load of untransformed laguz, the geniuses.

Sadly, it looks like Skrimir is about to steal the boss kill from us. This means that not only will we not get the EXP, but also that we won't get the Crossbow that he drops.



Rolf gets one more Ballista crit.



She won't reach the boss, but Titania can still murder his minions.

Enemy turn:





She's seen worse.

During Gallia's turn... Skrimir runs out of TP and reverts to human form.



He then stands right in front of the boss and uses a Laguz Gem to transform. Seriously.



On our turn, Titania thinks to at least do some damage to the guy.



Oh come on...

Good thing we healed!



In the enemy phase, Silvano attacks Skrimir and the inevitable finally happens.

Sub-humans... You dare to fight Begnion? There's no hope for you now. This will be your end. Mark...my words...



There is literally nothing left for us to do.



Finally.

Yeah. The guards are dead, and the rest of the troops fled to the east. We're in good shape.

Bah! Is that it? I still crave blood! Find me more humans to kill!

Seriously? This is the general we're sending to fight the most powerful country on Tellius? King Caineghis has a lot to answer for.

The civilians have no quarrel with us, and the soldiers who surrendered have handed over their weapons.

Grrrrr. If this is all the fight Begnion can give, this war will be over too soon!

I wouldn't be so sure. We won this fight, yes, but the empire has a massive army. Don't forget that there was a time when Begnion ruled over us.

Hmph. You forget...that was before my time.

Did you listen to a word I just said?



We are not done yet! We'll continue to fight, kill, and crush our enemies!

My... What a stupid speech.

Who doesn't love Soren?

Don't say things like that. I hear that King Caineghis of Gallia was not so different when he was young. So try not to judge so quickly.

I don't know. That's really hard to imagine.

I'm sure that Skrimir will settle down, given time. Well, I hope so, anyway...

Victory awaits us in Mugill! We shall attack, conquer, and celebrate our victory!

---



After all, we know about Lehran's Medallion...

Y'know, I was wondering when this was gonna be bought up (as were a million other people who played Path of Radiance first).



I think the writers missed a trick here. They referred to "the medallion" in the Part 3 Preview cutscene, and they're relying entirely on people having played Path of Radiance to know what it is. On the other hand, if they had referred to it by its other name - the Fire Emblem - even new players would have immediately inferred its significance, and having it explained here would be a bit more satisfying. Also, that sentence up there is the wrong way round. It should have been either "As long as the world shall not war, the dark god sleeps within the medallion" or "The dark god sleeps within the medallion only as long as the world shall not war". Otherwise the dark god's sleep is somehow causing world peace.

Yes, if you've not played Path of Radiance, this info dump is going to seem like it came completely out of nowhere.

That's right. Our ancestors made a vow, and it's our responsibility to prevent the horror they strove against.



"If the land is covered in war, the dark god will break free of the medallion and destroy the world." This war could easily spread across Tellius, and the dark god could be awakened. We were very fortunate during the Mad King's War, but it was a close call. Can we count on being lucky again? Already, we're talking about a war between Begnion, the largest nation on Tellius, and three laguz countries. That's half the known world, and it's not over yet. Have they all forgotten about the possibility of the dark god's rebirth?

Remember who our general is, Titania. I doubt he understands or cares much.



Lady Titania, Soren, you're both very perceptive. I'd expect nothing less from the deputy commander and the strategist of the Greil Mercenaries. You don't have to worry, though. The whole situation is under control.

Fortunately, someone in this army actually has a brain.



Even if the god escaped, the herons can control it with their galdrar.

Reyson, Leanne, and...Prince Rafiel, was it?

Ah. Ages ago, the heron leader Lehran sealed the dark god within the medallion. His descendants have therefore been taught how to subdue it with their seid magic.



Understood. We'll do our best to see this conflict finished as quickly as possible. Right, Ike?

Yes. Of course.

Well, I'm glad we cleared that up.



Oh, did I not mention that we get 200 BEXP for every Gallia soldier still alive? Since there's so many of them, and they're so collectively indestructible, you get a lot of free BEXP here. On top of that, because they killed so many guys (including the boss), the combat EXP they get is converted into BEXP for us. Of course, it's done on a 1:1 scale, which is stupid, because the amount we get is barely enough for a quarter-level. Stingy fuckers. And, of course, we don't get the Crossbow. We'll have to find another somewhere.

Next time: Surprise character development!