Part 34: (Part Three, Chapter 6) Today's the Daein, we're the dogs
During the war between Begnion and the Laguz Alliance...
In Daein, the war for independence is over, and Prince Pelleas has been crowned king. Daein is now free from Begnion's rule and is once again universally recognized as a sovereign nation.
Most of her companions remain by her side, helping to restore their beloved country. It is their hope that Daein will recover soon, both politically and socially. Focused as they are, they realize that they can spare no time on outside concerns, including the current war in Begnion.
However, King Pelleas has a mysterious change of heart...
Fire Emblem's "revelations" aren't always the shock they're made out to be, but I have to hand it to them, this was not something I could claim to have seen coming.
Well, until they basically up and spoiled it in the Part 3 Preview.
Sothe gets straight to the point.
The Daein Royal Army will answer Begnion's request and attack the Laguz Alliance at the Ribahn River. Those are our orders from King Pelleas. As his subjects, we will obey him.
Without even asking why? Daein is finally on its own. Why are we even speaking to Begnion, let alone fighting for them?! I don't know. I do know that King Pelleas wants what's best for Daein...just like us. He must know something we don't. I trust him.
This again?
Who cares about Pelleas smiling or laughing? We have no quarrels with the Laguz Alliance! Why are we targeting them? Well, with a few exceptions, the soldiers are excited about hunting down the laguz... They've been promised a large bounty for each one they kill. It's certainly raised morale.
I can't believe you'd go along with such a murderous plan. How do you feel about this, Micaiah? Tell me the truth. ...I don't want to fight. Then why ar-- What choice do I have?! I'm the general of this army. It doesn't matter how I feel. Besides, I can't let the king or the soldiers down. My duty ultimately lies with them... I'm sorry. Following Pelleas's orders is the same as approving of them.
So the word has got out.
Go, fight with them. Or don't fight at all. But don't let me force you into anything. I'm not leaving your side.
I like to think that Sothe alone comprehends the enormity of this promise.
Sothe... But we'd better prepare ourselves. This fight will be harder than any we've had before. Thank you. I know this isn't easy. But if one side must fall, I will do all I can to make sure it is not Daein. I have no other choice.
Well, here we are again. We have rather a lot of conversations to get through... although they're all quite short and all basically the same.
Let me see. Ah, that's a master crown. King Pelleas got one especially for you. How do you use it? He said that a beorc who honed their combat skills could use it to gain further power. Someone who has refined their skills. I see. So, not everyone can use it. Sounds like it. It's a very precious item, so choose the recipient with care. All right.[Received a Master Crown!]
'K then.
...Thank you. Um... Lady Micaiah, I have to ask. What is the purpose of this war? King Pelleas has decided to come to the aid of Begnion. Has he deigned to share his reasoning with you? Micaiah, this war is madness! Why would he ask us to aid Begnion!? ...I don't know. Wonderful. I believe in our king. That's all I can say. At least someone does.Jill with the burn.
[Received a Brave Axe!]
Sweet! This will remain with Jill for the time being - she's arguably the one who needs it the most.
Really? What is it? It's a gift from King Pelleas. One of Daein's national treasures, the blade Caladbolg. What? Whoa, this thing is amazing! I've never seen a blade so sharp! Is it really for me? That means the king's counting on me, right? Well, Caladbolg and I won't let him down! Um... Listen, Edward, this war... Daein really shouldn't be... Huh? Shouldn't be what? Oh, never mind. It's nothing. Forget I said anything. OK, sure. Um, Micaiah? Look, I don't know anything about kings, or nobles, or anything else like that. But you're fighting because you believe it's what's best for Daein, right? And, well, that's good enough for me. I'm with you, no matter what. Oh, Edward... Now, I want to use this sword! They're going to write song about me after this, I just know it!Goddamnit, Edward.
[Received the Caladbolg!]
Caladbolg is a pretty awesome sword that is held back only by the fact that only Edward can use it. It can't cut through mountains, but it can cut through people, and it's high Mt and Hit make it invaluable against competent foes. It also boosts Edward's luck by 7 when equipped, which helps with his dodging problem. It's a pretty good sword overall, although it's not quite as outstanding among swords as certain other weapons we're about to get are amongst their kind.
Oh, come on! Leonardo gets one?
This is Lughnasadh. It's been stored away in the vaults of Daein, waiting for someone worthy enough. It's more powerful than the purest silver bow.
It's beautiful... Honestly, this bow is beyond my skill. It was crafted for better hands than mine.See? Even Leonardo himself is aware of how much he sucks.
I guess... I guess we really have to win now, don't we? Yes, I suppose we do. Don't look so sad, Micaiah. You're not responsible for this war. We're doing the best we can hope to do. But I'm fighting for Daein. The circumstances may change, but my feelings never will.[Received the Lughnasadh!]
Lughnasadh (pronounced "Loon - a - sah") is, depending on who you ask, either an Irish harvest festival or an extremely powerful bow that would be one of the most awesome weapons in the game were it not completely crippled by the fact that only Leonardo can use the damn thing. It's equal to the Silencer in both power and accuracy. This alone would make it the second best bow in the game (if you discount the Silver Longbow because it's next to impossible to hit with), but what really kicks it into ridiculous territory is the fact that it gives the bearer (so, Leonardo) +5 speed. This boost is sufficient to compensate for Leonardo's relative slowness (BEXP notwithstanding), and will allow him to double pretty much any enemy he'd otherwise just barely be on par with (and gives him 10 extra avoid to boot). Can you imagine what this would do for Astrid or Shinon or *shudder* Rolf? That said, if you have been training Leonardo and he's at or just below promotion, then this is where all your suffering pays off big time. Lughnasadh is a potential endgame quality weapon for Leonardo (and if you have a second archer, you can give them the SS-Rank bow). It's that good. For us, though, it's nothing but a waste of a good bow.
Nolan gets a goodie too.
You're kidding me... it can't be! That's Tarvos, isn't it? That's one wicked-looking axe. I'd heard stories about the fabled axe of Daein, but to actually feel the heft... King Pelleas wants me to have it? I always did like that man. I'll take good care of it, don't you worry. I know you will, Nolan. King Pelleas does too. That's why he's chosen to give it to you. Micaiah, look... I know how hard it is to be a commander, especially with all of this confusion and doubt flying around. Fighting a war you don't believe in is a bitter pill to swallow. Nolan, I-- Just remember something, will you? We're still the Dawn Brigade. Lots of us aren't your "comrades," we're your family. If you need anything, we're with you, no matter what. Nothing's going to change that. Oh, Nolan... Thank you so much.[Received the Tarvos!]
Man, what is it with Daein and Celtic mythology? Named for some three-horned-bull thing, Tarvos is, in fact, a strong contender for the best axe in the game, and its standing is helped considerably by the fact that we're sufficiently invested in Nolan that he can make really, really good use of it. It's as powerful as a Silver Poleaxe but waaaaaaay more accurate and, in fact, a bit lighter (and with a 5% base crit chance), so already it's de facto the second best axe in the game. That's not the good part, though - the good part is that it boosts Nolan's defence by 4; a useful boost in an area in which Nolan could really use a boost. If Nolan features at all in your playthrough, you're going to really like this axe.
Well, those were some profitable conversations! Let's upgrade our supports;
This is some pretty good stuff. With Nolan and Zihark's progress, we now have our first fully powered-up Earth Pair with a batshit ridiculous +45% boost to avoid each when they're within three squares. God. Damn. Fiona and Volug are working on that too. Laura and Aran have also reached A-Rank and as such Aran can now benefit from a pretty useful +2 defence and +15% avoid.
Now that it's Part 3, we're finally allowed to remove the Wildheart skill from Volug. Note that Wildheart can't be used on Herons, which is kinda a shame, because Herons are the only kind of laguz that might actually benefit from half shifting.
Fiona has waited, like, eleven chapters for these ten experience points.
That... isn't really much of a change, there, is it?
This is, though. I'm starting to regret not keeping Imbue on her.
Instead, she gets Paragon because she's still the lowest level unit on our team right now.
In other Skill Management news, Zihark gets Vantage and Cancel (as well as Adept, which he of course already has), Volug gets Beastfoe and Resolve, and Edward gets Shade and Discipline because I didn't really know who else to put those on.
(it occurs to me, in retrospect, that I probably should've put it on Micaiah so she can level up staves faster)
We have shop access, and that means Bargains! There are a lot today! There's one of each Silver weapon and one of each middle tier ranged weapon, but none of that stuff really interests us right now. What we do unquestioningly snap up is the Physic staff. There's also a Torch staff (not an actual Torch, mind, those are available in the regular shop). Torch staves are the same as regular torches - they provide a temporary boost to one unit's vision.
Well, that's about all we can do here.
When we first crossed this river, it was in triumph, thanks to that tiny strategist...
C'mon, Skrimir... You're hurting morale. I was defeated. By a beorc. How can I return to Gallia with this shame? If only I had died, I wouldn't have to suffer this humiliation! Skrimir, stop. If you had died, Gallia would have lost a brave soldier. Brave? I am a failure... Please. Leave me alone. ...Never thought we'd see the day, did you?
---
I can't smell anything. What is it?
Hm. Maybe it's just my imagination.
Hello, Captain Ranulf! Um, well... Let's see. What IS that smell? Oh, I know! It smells like one of those torches that the beorc use! What?! Are we being pursued? I don't smell any beorc. That's because the wind is blowing from the other side. Oh no... I have a bad feeling about this. Call a halt on the river crossing! Kysha, Lyre! Go tell everyone else. I'll make a run for the lead force and let them know! I just hope it's not too late!
Lyre, run to the left wing and inform them of the situation. Lyre!---
Everyone! Take your positions! Attack!
Hey, HEY, who said you two could come back? Get out.
This mission introduces a new objective - the murder quota. The mission ends when we have killed 46 enemies, regardless of how long it takes. Why 46? Who the hell knows, man. We are provided with five Daein generics - four soldiers and a priest - who are surprisingly competent and will of course be getting in our way and stealing our experience.
The really annoying thing is that the priest will heal your guys if the partner army AI is set to "Roam", in which case the generics will also get in your way and steal kills. If you want them out of the way, you basically have to set them to Target some out of the way area (Avoid doesn't seem to work that well in this fight), but then the priest won't do anything other than move, even though he has a Physic staff and should still be able to heal you while running away. Goddamn Fire Emblem AI.
This chapter is something of a psychological bucket of ice cold water to the face to a lot of players. We just spent the last six chapters in the shoes of Ike and his badass friends, most of whom are nigh-untouchable, bulk-asskicking heroes who generally exude an aura of battle-readiness. Then we get shoved back into the shoes of the Dawn Brigade, who are markedly less awesome and 15 or more levels lower. It's quite a shock to the system to have to transition from having Haar as your team dragonmaster to having Jill. As shown here.
To drive this point home, Jill's first attack misses and she winds up taking more damage than she dealt.
And then you see this.
Welcome back to the Dawn Brigade.
Fortunately, we do have some awesomely competent people on this team.
Bear in mind, this enemy would ordinarily have 70% chance to hit. Earth Pairs, ladies and gents.
Fiona is finally allowed to take up the lance that was made for her way back in Part 1. She attacks this target in particular because he's standing right in one of the map's important strategic points. Also because he's untransformed.
By the end of the first turn, Edward, Volug and Fiona have formed a defensive line on the east of our formation, and Nolan and Aran on the north.
For their part, the Daein Generics charge bravely forward and deal a fair bit of damage.
...if only because they're targeting untransformed opponents.
The priest even heals Micaiah - which was unnecessary, since she's holding a Physic staff that would have healed her to full health at the cart of next turn anyway. But whatever. Free heals!
Lethe is actually on the map, way over there, and it's entirely possible to go over there and murder her (though she won't "die" for real, she'll be just fine when she next appears in battle). We won't be doing this, however, because it's more trouble than it's worth to get over there in one piece, and there's plenty of experience to be gotten just by holding our little island here.
Never!
What did you just say?! We're the beast tribe! I'd rather die than be a coward! ...Fine. No pulling back. We stay here and fight to the last. All forces, attack!
Well, this is what we came to see.
Volug, even in his untransformed state, has enough HP to last out a few attacks, and the fact that he's against a cat here is a plus too. More importantly, the Beastfoe skill we put on him makes his attacks hit damn hard.
Here's the other thing. Fighting a transformed laguz will give you way more EXP as fighting an untransformed one. Further, fighting as an untransformed laguz will also give you way more EXP than fighting while transformed. So when Volug gets to kicking cats to death... he levels up hella fast.
Some other beasts suicide on the generics.
And generally there's a lot of moving around in the shadows. Our turn comes again.
Sure, someone just left a one-of-a-kind bow just lying here. Fine by me.
Jill and Nolan clear out another foe and Nolan gets a level in general toughness.
Zihark takes up a position next to him. Nolan and Zihark are going to spend most of the mission on these two squares, generally acting as an impenetrable murderwall against which foe after foe will crash in vain. They are going to gain hells of levels.
Erm.
Aran and Micaiah have both previously attacked this guy and now he's untransformed. Fiona was going to reap a sizeable EXP bounty (she has paragon, remember?) but now she's only going to get a moderate windfall.
Through healing Volug, Laura gets a very useless level.
End of turn 2. We should probably call back the generics after this, they're going to intercept all the bad guys before they reach us...
...and generally steal our kills.
The worst part is that they're actually fairly survivable, so it'll take an annoyingly long time for them to get killed fighting. This one's even healing himself!
Though I will be said to lose the free Physic.
At last, an enemy has the good grace to attack us instead of the generics. He loses most of his health in the attempt. Note the pathetic amount of damage Nolan stands to take from this guy - that's Tarvos' +4 defence paying off.
The laguz generally advance on us, though most don't actually get around to attacking. Most of the terrain besides our starting island is bog, which slows everyone right down.
The soldiers think that if we retreat any longer, we'd be throwing away our pride. You're following the lead of some blood-crazed soldiers? You're supposed to be in charge! I know that retreat is the sane course of action, Ranulf. But if we run now, we'd lose the values we hold dearest in our hearts! ...Fine, Lethe. As long as it's your decision, not someone else's. I'll join the others in the back and watch over Skrimir. We're counting on you!
Nolan gets tougher and faster. But I wish he'd get stronger - Steel Poleaxes are heavy (20 Wt, and Nolan is still at 18 strength and not fast enough to eat the difference)
So here's an ironic thing. Swordmasters are, simply by association of archetypes, supposed to evoke discipline and perfectly formed swordplay, instead of brute force. You'd think they'd be all about control.
The irony is, swordmasters are, even before you consider mastery skills, pretty much the worst class for controlled amounts of damage.
Even back in the very first updates, it was Edward, and not Nolan, who wound up accidentally killing people instead of just weakening them.
I just thought it was funny.
Jill takes her new axe for a spin and finds it quite adequate.
Edward goes after an easy target...
And Fiona finishes it, gaining some helpful stats.
Aran charges east, hoping to hold off some invaders for just long enough for the point to be secured.
End of the third turn. The partner army has been ordered to withdraw. So long, free heals man.
The usual mess of enemies emerges from the black. Nolan doubles this one.
This one goes after Volug.
So Volug kicks him to death.
This one goes after Volug too.
Every. Single. Time. I see Resolve activating it takes me about half a second to realise it's not a crit. It never gets less disappointing.
We're beginning to get results.
Edward gets what is basically a perfect level up for a swordmaster.
Lyre! What are you doing here?! Lethe! Oh, Lethe! You're safe! I'm so glad you're all right! Why are you sneaking around?! Get back into position! What?! How dare you! I was just... Oh, forget it! I don't care what happens to you anyway! I'm sorry, Lyre. It's much too dangerous here. Get back in position. Now.Man, what is it with these two?
("All right. I don't care.")
And to think, of the two of them, Volug is the one with the cavalier attitude.
Edward gets to play with his new toy. It's quite a nice weapon.
This helps.
Aran has so much defence that, when in support range of Laura, he can attack cats with complete impunity. Which is great, because they can double him more often than not.
("Do you want to join forces? I promise I'll talk occasionally.")
Acceptable.
End of turn 4. Basically, we spent this turn softening up enemies (especially enemies just about to transform) so we can counter-kill them next turn.
The generics finally get out of our way.
Volug has quite passable speed, and that support with Fiona to help him out in combat. It's quite fortunate, since tigers can seriously wreck his shit.
Another very Aran level. With surprise magic!
This guy was weakened last turn. This turn he's killed.
Sweet.
It's our turn again, and the right defensive line shuffles around a little so Fiona can get some actual attacks in.
It doesn't seem like there are any transformed or transformable enemies in Volug's range this turn, so he takes a turn being the aggressor. That's a transformed laguz, with beastfoe, against an untransformed one. It's murder.
This would be extremely helpful if we were trying to maintain Volug's transformation. One more for the pile, I guess.
Jill pops in to help. Infuriatingly, her first attack here misses.
End of turn 5. We're pretty much just going to continue holding the positions like this until we hit the murder quota.
This silly cat decides to pursue Jill rather than do something sensible, like, survive.
Nolan keeps up his tactic of not being hit.
Oh shi-
Sir Knight! You're safe! But where have you been?
My maiden. I shall not ask why you choose to engage in this battle. For that, you have my thanks. I am here to protect you. There need be no other reason. Do not leave my side. I understand. Then I shall not ask you why you have been absent. I want you to know, I'm happy to see you again. I am very glad you're safe. ...Well, this is a nice surprise. The Black Knight is a great fallback option if your Dawn Brigadiers aren't up to snuff and are getting steamrolled. If you want, you can easily have him solo the rest of the map while your dudes hide and cower (or, more realistically, have him cover one of the two entry points to the island). Buf if we did that, all this lovely EXP would go to waste. So let's not do that.
I still can't quite believe I'm saying it, but Fiona is shaping up into an excellent unit.
Aran is becoming... well, Aran. (but with more speed)
Even if it is a typically slow enemy, it still warms my heart to see Nolan double things. I mean, it's not surprising, given that Nolan is basically a swordmaster trapped in the body of a warrior, but that doesn't make it any less pleasing to behold.
End of turn 6. The Black Knight is going to mill around looking intimidating or something.
Volug's training continues.
Zihark finally gets an opportunity to shine. For some reason, the laguz really like attacking Nolan.
"Shine" is certainly a word that could be used to describe what Zihark does here.
Nolan finally gets a chance to use his newest toy for a purpose that isn't absolute overkill-
-nevermind.
More skill! More speed! You can't not love Nolan.
Micaiah gets a level too. Kinda sparse, although the extra point of magic is always handy.
Fiona brings the speed.
End of turn 7.
Aran takes a worrying amount of beating.
welp
And that's the story of how I only survived this mission because I'm a lucky motherfucker.
As if to drive the point home, this happens immediately afterward.
As if to mock my lucky streak, this happened immediately after that.
I planned on maximising the efficiency of my healing operation by allowing Aran to be taken to 1 HP and then healing him...
But this turned out to be a nonissue.
End of turn 8.
Despite his mad EXP gains lately, this is only the second enemy Volug has actually killed with his kickboxing skills.
Aran continues his overkilling streak.
Aran continues continuing his overkilling streak.
More! More! More!
Zihark and a tiger get into a missing competition.
Zihark loses.
Zihark is not a good loser.
Aaaaand the good mood ends. At least he got speed.
When our turn comes again, Nolan deliberately uses the weakest axe he owns to cripple an approaching enemy...
...and that's it for turn 9. Our position here is too good to give up.
The tiger Nolan weakened transforms and attacks. Silly tiger.
Know what Nolan doesn't have enough of? Speed and skill.
This enemy phase is mostly filled with enemies attacking us and not dying.
On our turn, Jill pokes an enemy for fun and profit and speed and defence.
Nolan pokes one for murder. So does Zihark.
Beautiful.
End of turn 10. Turn 10 is, in fact, the deadline at which the turn bonus available in this mission starts disappearing quickly. Thing is, though, it's not all that great compared to the levels you can gain by patiently waiting for transformed laguz to come to you.
You might notice that Nolan has moved forward a tad. Don't worry, though - the swamp water still prevents any laguz from being in range of Sothe or Micaiah. The fact that Nolan and Zihark murder any who get close also helps.
This is just Aran all over. Starting to pine for speed, though...
Nolan is still overkilling everything.
Now he can wield Steel Poleaxes without penalty! Because he wasn't powerful enough already!
Our turn rolls around once more.
Meanwhile, Zihark is completely embarrassing himself.
Hey, that's bett-
Oh for fuck's sa-
-forgiven for everything.
There are a lot of laguz incoming, and lately they've developed a habit of ignoring Zihark completely, so Nolan brings out the big
Laura is now two for two on useless levels this chapter.
It's the end of turn 11 and we're six kills away from the quota. I don't see this battle lasting much longer.
I love Nolan.
I stand by the previous statement.
I can't help but notice that Zihark is kinda letting the team down a bit. The whole Earth Pair thing is currently a little one-sided in favour of Nolan, who, I can't help but notice, is now almost as fast as Zihark with a tad more strength and a lot more defence. The fact that they need eachother for their ridiculous evasion means that Zihark will probably be kept around regardless, but... he's got catching up to do if he doesn't want me to resent it.
Our last turn kicks off with some strategic foe-softening...
Also, for murder.
Then, we wait, for the last time, for the enemy to kill themselves against us. Four more is all we need.
One...
(...)
Two...
Three...
Damnit, just barely not enough d-
Nevermind.
Four.
There you go.
If we keep this up, both sides will take horrible casualties.
These guys are really clever. They must have a veteran commander to use a strategy like this. Ranulf! But, what about General Skrimir?! Isn't he supposed to be at the back of the army? You know how he is. I've got six strong men trying to keep Skrimir from coming out here. All right, then. We'll show these beorc a real fight. We should regroup, and... Wait. Look, over there.
Oh this can't possibly not go well.
Now, here's a weird thing. I'm pretty sure that Ranulf is referring here to the regular Daein soldiers, and not to the Black Knight, who is, let's be fair, the most immediately striking figure present. You'd think he'd notice the Black Knight, but he never makes reference to him specifically, nor does he seem as shocked as the average person discovering the long-thought-dead Black Knight to still be alive. All this makes this one line of dialogue a lot more confusing than it really needs to be.
Are you the general of this army? I am Micaiah, a general of the Daein Royal Army. Wait, you're the one in command?! My king, Pelleas, has decided to answer Begnion's request for help in fighting the Laguz Alliance. You have no chance for victory. Further bloodshed is meaningless. Please surrender while you can. Do not insult us, tiny beorc! We'd rather die than surrender! Behind you lies the Begnion army. In front of you is the Daein army. You've nowhere to run. Well, I guess we'll just have to chase you down like cattle and press on. Sound good to you, Skrimir?[a very loud and prolonged roar is heard]
What in the goddess's name was that?! Get back, Micaiah! That roar... That must be a lion! Lion laguz are stronger than the cat or tiger laguz we've been fighting. Hey... Is that you, Sothe? You look so much older now. Beorc grow up so fast... Just like Ike. Remember him, Sothe? What? So Commander Ike really IS fighting with you?! Let's just say you shouldn't assume that you can see all of our troops. Sothe, if you care for this girl at all, get her and her men out of here. That's my only warning to you.
Stop, Micaiah. If we chase them, they'll kill us for sure. ...---
No, I am here to deliver supplies. ...And to see how the battle fares. You made up a clever excuse and convinced the king to let you come here? I'm impressed. Thanks for coming, General Tauroneo. Don't worry about it. I trust that the fight is going well against the Laguz Alliance? Yes, but the enemy seems to have additional forces deployed in the area. I expect another battle to begin very soon, and I doubt it will be as easy as the last. So, we still remain on the brink of battle. I see. I shall do my best to defeat the Laguz Alliance quickly. When this battle is over, please persuade the king to negotiate a peace treaty as soon as possible. Would you do this for me? Would you please talk to the king and help to stop this pointless war?
Truly the words of a man with no doubt in his king.
What the hell is Pelleas thinking?
The Clear Bonus, combined with all the EXP we got from holding our position, more than makes up for the 1750 BEXP we lost out on.
Next time: The inevitable finally happens...