Part 50: (Interlude) Wallowing in indecision

Pictured: Everyone.



Strange. I guess only the strongest of us didn't wind up as statues.

Anyone who was in the building with us was safe, too. But everyone else was petrified...

Wow! There are quite a few more of you flesh creatures left than I imagined. That's good. Maybe that means we'll stand a chance against her.



I'm not Micaiah! How many times do I have to tell you that?!

If you're not Micaiah, then who are you?





...you are kidding me.

Yune?! What did you do to Micaiah?!

Micaiah is here with me now. She knows that you'll never save the petrified ones without me. So, she let me use her body to talk to you.

All right. Let me ask you this, Yune. If you don't have a body of your own, what the heck are you?

I've been asleep inside the medallion for a long, long time. Longer than any of you can imagine. But the galdr woke me up.

Lehran's Medallion? Are you the dark god who was sealed inside it?





I don't care what you're called. Was it you who turned everyone into stone?

No, that wasn't me. I haven't done much of anything. I just woke up, so I don't have that kind of power just yet.





You've got it all wrong, little meatling. Ashera is neither kind nor loving to the beings of this world. Neither is she holy nor base, angel nor devil.



I don't understand... Why would the goddess Ashera try to destroy us? If anyone's going to kill us all, shouldn't it be you, the dark god who was sealed inside the medallion?

You called me a dark god again! How would you like it if I called you a dark bag of organs? I don't want to talk to you anymore!

What?

---

So Micaiah is now channelling a petulant demi-goddess. Wonderful.

Personally, I think it's an improvement.



Me?

Ashera has always hated me, but I like her. You've got some of her in you. So, I'll talk to you.

Oh, OK... So... You're Yune?

That's right. I'm Yune. Ashera is order. I am chaos. We are sisters, but opposite in all things. We're linked to one another, though. When I sleep, Ashera sleeps. When I wake, Ashera wakes.

Oh, then you're... a... a goddess? I-I'm so sorry! Please forgive my insolence! I've been talking down to you like you're a little kid!

No, no, it's fine. Talk to me however you like. You don't have to stand on ceremony with me.

Well... All right. If you insist... So, you were sealed inside the medallion, but now you're inside Micaiah?

That's right.

...And the goddess Ashera was the one who turned all the beorc and laguz into stone. Oh! Are you here to tell us how to save them? Wait, I get it! You were the one who spoke to me! You said, "Wake me with the galdr of release, not with the spirit of war."

Yes, I did! I'm so glad you understood! You're so very clever! Of course, I was hoping, by sending you that message, I would stop all of this from happening.

What do you mean?



Long, long ago, your ancestors made a promise to Ashera. They promised they would start no wars among all the nations for at least one thousand years. If this promise was broken, then Ashera would destroy the world and try again with a new one. Despite this promise, you bone-cages kept fighting each other. Eventually, war and conflict spread throughout the world. When Ashera woke up, she cast down her judgment upon those who failed to keep her promise.

I still don't understand. Why would it make a difference whether you were woken up by the galdr or by the spirit of chaos? How were you planning to stop Ashera from passing down her judgment?

I'm not talking to you!



This is not an accident of screenshot timing. Ike really is making that face.

Please forgive my brother, Yune. We want to save the people who were turned to stone. We need you to tell us how. It did matter that we woke you with the galdr of release, right?

First of all, you should understand that, because of our link, waking me is the same as waking Ashera. Now, if Ashera had been awakened by the spirit of chaos, none of us would be standing here right now.



Just wonderful.

But if she was awakened by the galdr of release, she was supposed to consult with me first. She wasn't supposed to pass down her judgment until she heard from me. Ashera went ahead and turned everyone into stone without asking me. That's so unfair! I'll show her, though. I'll turn them all back somehow! The problem is that I can't do this by myself. I need your help. Will you help me?

Of course we'll help! It's strange, but I trust you, Yune. And we all want to save the people who got turned to stone!

Yes. We'll do whatever it takes.

That's right! We will allow nothing to stand in our way! We will fight!

It's all so confusing... But we must do everything in our power to save the people.

...To be honest, I've spent my life teaching that the goddess Ashera watches over and protects us. This is all a little hard to accept.

You don't have to believe me. You could just let her destroy the world...

No, I will do whatever it takes to save the people who were turned to stone. I will join the others in helping you.



Sothe, open your eyes and look around. There aren't that many people left to fix this mess. If you don't help, we can't do it. Besides, I would think saving the world is something we could all agree on.

You're right, Commander. All of this is the result of our war. I guess there's not much reason for flag-waving on either side. First thing we have to do is...unpetrify everyone. And, well...



And by "fighting", he of course means "getting the ever loving shit kicked out of me by".

I wasn't looking forward to that matchup, either.

It's settled, then! How should we begin? I know! Let's divide the army into three teams. I'm pretty sure that Ashera is going to notice what we're up to...

Dividing us up is smart. It reduces the risk of everyone getting killed at once.

We have to hurry. I can feel Ashera's power building.

It's all over if we get turned to stone, too. All right, everyone, it's up to us!

What's your name?

I'm Ike.



Not if you don't like it. Can I call you Yune?

I would like that. I guess I forgive you, then. Oh, I know! As a sign of my forgiveness, I'll make sure that you can get to your destination safely. I can't do it for everyone because it's a bit exhausting for me, but... Hold still and close your eyes.

Erm.







The spirit of chaos grants Ike a much more billowy cape and some extra armour.



Ike, like Micaiah before him, gets an updated sprite to go along with his boatload of stat increases. You thought Ike was broken already? You ain't seen nothin' yet.



Somehow, being promoted grants Ike a "free" Nihil skill. Not really sure how that works, and it isn't even an innate skill, so it pushes Ike over his maximum skill capacity and we have to drop Smite. And, of course, he picks up his trademark mastery skill, Aether. Aether isn't quite as completely broken as it was in Path of Radiance but it's still fairly powerful and you'll be pressed to find an enemy who can survive it. It has an activation rate of [skill/2] and hits twice; the first hit is a regular hit but will heal Ike for the amount of damage inflicted, the second hit negates enemy defence. Sadly, it doesn't triple Ike's strength, but... well, come on. It negates defence. What more do you people want?



...Strong. Like I can take on anyone.

Wow, you're very confident for a being that can die! Let's see... You go with this team.

I'm going with you. I'm not leaving your--Micaiah's--side.

...Fine. Micaiah says that's what she wants, too.

Let me talk to her!

Not right now. You'll have plenty of time to talk on the road, all right? Hey, you're with this team over here.

...Damn it.

---



Welp. Here we are. This one screen is like a psychological wall. You pick and choose and shuffle and arrange and hesitate and hesitate and hesitate and then you click "end" and it's like "are you sure" and you're like "WAIT NO" and you go back and hesitate some more.

Seriously, the first time through I swear to god I spent three quarters of an hour staring at this screen. Not even pressing any buttons. Just staring. And thinking.

In any case, we have to divide all the characters we have into three groups of no more than 20. Each group is assigned a de-facto leader, a laguz royal, one heron, and a few hangers on. Everyone else is up to you. And, of course, each team will get a few new recruits in their own time. The laguz royals are there as an absolute last resort fallback plan; if you fuck up, you can just have them barge in and murder everyone. They're more than powerful enough to solo the entirety of their chapters. Of course, this will waste your training opportunities, and if there's one unwritten objective for Part 4, it's training. There is a whole bunch of EXP up for grabs, and you'll want to have a good idea of who you want on your endgame team and have them pushing Lv 20/20/20 by the time you get there.

Of course, our situation is compounded by the fact that I want some options kept open so we can actually have a vote, but I believe I can make do.

Sadly, you don't get an opportunity to reorganise items or anything before the teams split up, but all three teams will (somehow) share the same Convoy and the same pool of Bonus EXP, so that's something, and you can use this fact to send items between teams if you must.

I have heard suggestions from the floor, and I have taken note of my whims and ideas, and here is the result.



The Silver Army, led by Micaiah and Sothe, Leanne, Skrimir and Sigrun, is basically Team Flying. They've got Marcia, Ulki, Jill and Haar (yes, Jill and Haar), and also Nephenee, who doesn't really fit in with the flying theme but will still be kicking untold quantities of ass. Shinon is also coming along in case anyone really needs to shoot something, and Rhys will provide some emergency heals if we really, really need them and Micaiah is busy. Also, Edward is there because he's supporting Jill and I haven't got around to reassigning it yet.

The Greil Army, led by Ike, Mist, Nailah, Rafiel, Titania and Soren is appropriately packed full of badasses, by which I of course mean Gatrie, Rolf, Mia and Aran. Heather is there to open things, and Janaff goes with them because this will be the only time in literally the entire Tellius continuity that the character with the skill that grants +5 vision can actually take part in a Fog of War map. They also get Laura if they need her. They probably won't.

The Hawk Army, led by Elincia, Tibarn, Ranulf, Reyson and Lucia is getting a monopoly on Earth Pairs. Seriously, like, whoa. They've got Nolan and Zihark, as well as Fiona and Volug (soon to be Fiona and Oscar). They also get Astrid.

You may observe that the Silver Army has the flyers and the Hawk Army has all the Silver Knights. I am fine with this.



Deep breaths. Deep breaths.



It's the Tower of Guidance that stands in the middle of the land you named Begnion. Go there at once. ...I hope to see you all there. I'll be waiting.

Waiting? Aren't you coming with us?

I'll see you at the tower.



A bird?

Yune! Then she must be--



...Oh. Hello, Sothe.

You're back! I was so worried.

Hey, if that bird was Yune...where did she go?

I don't know where, exactly, but she said she must go look for...something.

Leaving us by ourselves? What's she thinking?

At least we know what we have to do. Let's move out for the tower.

May I have a moment before we leave? Prince Kurth has requested that I pass these out to the herons.



Correct. Fortunately for us, each heron has been assigned to a different team. King Tibarn, would you give this one to Prince Reyson?

That's ideal. We can each communicate with the other teams using the stones. Good idea.

Queen Nailah, please give this one to Prince Rafiel.

I will.

And the last one is for Princess Leanne.

She's on my team. I'll give it to her.



Yeah, see you at the tower... Hopefully.

---



Since we're on different teams, I need to tell you something before we go. Something important. It's General Zelgius. Next time you see him, Ike, use caution. He's your enemy.

What do you mean?





What?!

Zelgius is the Black Knight. I became certain of it when we crossed the river.

It can't be...

I wasn't going to tell you until I had hard proof, but it looks like we're out of time. Sorry I didn't tell you before.

General Zelgius is the one who killed my father?

I doubt that Zelgius has been turned to stone. Be careful, Ike. You might run into him. ...Good luck to you.



Next time: The case for illegalizing the Resolve skill