Part 51: (Part Four, Prologue) More like "Disciple ordered an asswhuppin'?"
Ashera, the Goddess of Order, has awakened. Her righteous fury has turned nearly all of the warring soldiers to stone.Yune, the Goddess of Chaos, has also awakened.
Micaiah is joined by her constant, companion, Sothe. General Skrimir also accompanies her, along with Naesala and Princess Leanne.
Micaiah's company decides on a southern route and sets out for Begnion. Save for the sounds of the local wildlife, their path is eerily silent and empty. It's as though they have stepped into a vast and desolate monument to the war.
And of course Lekain is still alive.
The dark god has awakened and made its wrath manifest in stone. All of us were turned to hard rock by its evil power, yet we stand here today, made flesh again by the power of the goddess! Why is that? It is because we are the chosen ones! Go forth, Disciples of Order! Deliver her divine judgment upon the dark god and those who worship it!---
---
("What did you say, Naesala?")
Nothing, Leanne. Just talking to myself.
Nealuchi, I've told you, don't call me "nestling." I'm not the child you used to take care of. Just look after Leanne. I don't need babysitting anymore.
Welp, this is about to get uncivil.
You're right, of course. Go ahead and tear me apart. I deserve it.
Do you think I won't? I will make you pay for the suffering of my comrades!
Bully?! This worm has brought ruin on the Laguz Alliance!
But... Naesala suffers, too. Very, very much... He-- Leanne, I wish you would stop looking into my soul. It's very rude of you. Naesala's suffering?! He hasn't suffered nearly enough yet! I can fix that, though!
Get out of my way, old crow, or you'll die like your master! Wait, Skrimir! Nealuchi! Leanne! Get out of the way, now! Blast it all!
You run?! You are both a traitor and a coward, Naesala! Sorry, but I changed my mind. Someone else wants my head even more than you do. If I let you kill me, he might never find an outlet for all of his anger.
Standing down? I'm a little surprised. Are you tiring of your role as the hotheaded lion prince, Skrimir? Don't push me, Raven King.
Is-is he gone? Goodness! From the look in his eyes, I thought he would eat us all!
("That was very brave, Naesala.")
Wonderful. The prologue hasn't even started and already our guys are trying to kill eachother.
---
Well, let's see what everyone's up to. Y'know, besides trying to kill eachother.
Oh, it's you.
I saw you having an argument with General Skrimir. Oh, that? Yeah. That happens sometimes. I know you had no choice but to betray the Laguz Alliance. If you wish, I can speak to him about it. No. Stay out of it. Whatever the circumstances, what I did was unacceptable. The pieces can fall where they may. You'd carry the burden of your crime alone to protect your people? That's very selfless of you. Of course I'd take the blame! My first priority is my people. As long as they're safe, it doesn't matter one whit what the rest of the world thinks of me. You indeed are a good king to your people. I have no doubts of that. I wonder, will the history say I was a good empress for Begnion? The people of Begnion rose up and overthrew the senate for you. Isn't that proof enough that you're a good empress? That's only because they thought that I was the apostle. But now... You're worried over the galdr of release? Yes. That song... It can only be sung by the direct descendants of Altina--the first settlers of Begnion. Why was that girl able to sing it? Moreover, why couldn't I? You know, you could just ask her directly. I can't work up the courage. It doesn't matter who she is. All I know is that she possesses all the powers which I lack. I'm... I'm frightened of the truth.I sense a dramatic origin revelation on the horizon!
---
What's wrong, Micaiah? Are you still tired?
No, I'm fine. The air is nice out here. It's calm, quiet even. I don't remember the last time it was quiet. It's almost relaxing, isn't it? I hate to say it, but I feel like the world is back to the way it ought to be, finally. I know that sounds horrible. But that's how I honestly feel. Like all debts have been settled, and everything is properly arranged. Hmm. I think I understand what you're trying to say. Sothe... I'm scared. I don't want to get used to this. It's too comfortable. Like our mother's come home. A mother who'd smother her children in order to protect them.The conversation ends on this somewhat unsettling note. This is one of the few examples of you missing content due to saving Pelleas. If he's dead, the conversation goes on...
... Micaiah? Yes? Do you remember what Pelleas said when he asked you to kill him? How could I forget it? Oh, Pelleas... He... He said he admired my caring soul... that's why he wanted it to be me. That's right. I thought Pelleas to be a coward. I thought that was the reason why he preferred to die instead of fighting to save Daein. But now... Now I understand why you believed in him. Really? Why? As you can use the gift of Sacrifice to save the dying, so Pelleas wanted to give his life to save his people. He wanted to be... just like you. Sothe... I've always fought just for myself and my loved ones... and no one else. When you saved Nico in Nevassa, I admired your courage, but I also thought that you acted foolishly. Now I understand what it means to feel responsible for the lives of so many innnocents. Thanks to you... and Pelleas. Oh Sothe... my dear Sothe...Personally, I don't see why they bothered. This conversation still makes sense if Pelleas is alive, because the fact remains that he did ask Micaiah to kill him.
Oh well.
---
Ah, Micaiah! Good timing. You have something for me, then? Indeed I do, missy. Look at this! That's a thunder tome. The most powerful of its kind, too! How did you get it? That's a trade secret! But it's the best thing I ever acquired for sale, and that's a fact. How much are you asking for it? You want it? Yes. Yune told me that the goddess Ashera would do everything in her power to stop us. I have no idea what to expect, but I'm certain the battle ahead won't be easy. We have to be prepared. For anything. I know. You can have it for free. What? But why? It's not like we have any other customers. Everyone else has been turned to stone. Listen, Micaiah. I still have hope. We have your goddess and an army of heroes on our side. I believe in you--all of you. You'll put the world right again, I'm sure of it. I believe that, too. Thank you, Muston. With your tome in my hand and your hope in my heart, I'm sure we'll succeed. Good luck, Maiden of Dawn."Wait a minute..."
"What?"
"I can't even use this. In fact, no one in this army can use this."
"But I thought-"
"-that 'Lightning' related magic falls under Light magic? Yeah, for some reason, that's a really common error."
"Well... sorry."
"It's OK. We'll find a use for it. I know! We'll sell it back to you for profit!"
"I hate you so much."
[Received a Rexbolt!]
Rexbolt is the SS-rank Thunder tome, and unless you've been training Ilyana, it is completely, entirely useless to you. Ilyana is literally the only character in the entire game who is even capable of using it. So you might as well sell it. We won't be selling it just yet but we'll be hanging onto it, with intent to sell.
---
Here, look at this! It's a satori sign. What about it? I found a patch of ground that was emitting light, so I started digging. This was what I found. Oh, so that's it... You buried it? No, but I saw a vision in a dream. Rays of light fell from the sky, wriggling into the ground and burying themselves. Ah. So maybe there are more? Yes... I think so. Somewhere...[Received a Satori Sign!]
For no adequately explained reason, the game starts literally throwing Satori Signs at you in Part 4. I'm pretty sure you end up with more of the damn things than you have laguz to use them on, but that may just be what it feels like due to all the useless laguz units you can get and never use.
---
We've got nothing better to do with Jill than continue raising her support with Edward. We'll be able to start building new supports later. One of the factors in your team makeup should be who you want your Endgame supports to be, and you should try to have them as strong as possible by the time it rolls around. There are opportunities to raise supports in the Endgame itself, but you won't have much time for grinding relationship points.
For no real reason besides shits and giggles, I pair up a couple of units.
Now, there's a new unit in our team! Well, I say "new" unit...
Skrimir finally decides to start accepting orders from people. As you can see, he is ungodly powerful, and he still has room to go - plenty of space to cap stats and a rank in strike. Lions are pretty amazing like that. Of course, he's kinda a crutch character, and, believe it or not, he can quickly get outclassed if his laguz-like growths (i.e. low everything save HP and luck) fail him. He brings us a free Laguz Stone in any case, so that's welcome. Also, he's not strictly speaking a royal, so he doesn't have Formshift, so you'll have to manage his transformation just like everyone else. We won't be using him.
His innate Resolve and Provoke are great together if you're using him, and they're also great if you're not using him since you now have an extra Resolve and Provoke to play with.
See? Isn't it a beautiful sight? This mission will aptly demonstrate exactly the kind of awesome you can accomplish with Resolve.
Marcia's Paragon is removed and sent to the Convoy so that Ike's team can pick it up.
We feed Jill a Dracoshield...
And then BEXP, until this happens. Isn't it beautiful?
We're going to take a chance on Ulki getting some good levels. He gets Paragon. Other skills are thrown about to other units in an uncaring fashion.
Here's today's riveting Bargain selection.
Also, the Armoury is now selling Arc-tomes.
Time to head out.
Wha--huh? All right, I'm on it.---
Not yet. But they're coming. I'm sure of it. I can't smell troops or weapons. How can you be certain? I don't know who they are or their exact numbers, but the enemy army is massive! Hmm... l know it sounds strange, but I swear it's true! You must believe me! No one doubts your gift, Micaiah. I will not ignore the words of one who has spoken with the voice of a goddess. Oh... Micaiah, it looks like you were right. We have guests.
Those are certainly guests. Are they wearing gold armour? You guys do know that doesn't actually work very well, right?
Leave them to me! The weak among you should hide, for the battle will be fierce!
Empress Sanaki. We should leave the fighting to General Skrimir. I will take you someplace safe. No. I will stay and fight with the others. With all due respect, Empress, I cannot allow it! What if you are injured?! If Micaiah, an untrained girl from the streets of Daein, is fighting, then I shall stand my ground as well. Empress... You can't win an argument with royalty. But don't worry about her. I'll look after the apostle. That is a kind offer, but I must decline. It is the first and most sacred duty of the Holy Knights to protect the apostle. It looks like the enemy is about to take this argument out of our hands. They're here. Do you beorc ever stop talking? Take your positions! Now!Signs the world has ended: We sympathise with Skrimir.
Well, then.
In the time it took us to have that argument, two new units joined our team!
Naesala is certainly the Raven King. He's really goddamn fast, and quite powerful, being as he is quite high level and already in possession of an S-rank in Strike. In keeping with his reputation as a shady cheating fuck, he has his mastery skill despite only being Lv 27. He's generally considered to be the worst of the "royals", although that doesn't make him a slouch by any means. He could solo this chapter in his sleep, and although archers are a threat to him, they'd have to hit him first.
He has innate Maelstrom, which is basically the bird tribe's equivalent of Quickclaw; it has a [skill]% chance of dealing [strength] damage to any enemy who attacks the bearer directly. The rest of this stuff is old news, really.
Also, Empress Sanaki has joined our team! Despite everything we know or have been told about her, Sanaki is quite capable of throwing down. She has plentiful magic, luck, and resistance, high starting ranks in four orders of magic, and comes with a unique, personalised and absurdly powerful fire tome, Cymbeline.
If Radiant Dawn does in fact have a "theme" for new recruits in each chapter, then the theme of Part 4 is, without a doubt, "capable, but flawed". Sanaki, for example, has two things holding her otherwise awesome self back; her singularly low HP, and her abysmal strength. Holy shitting fuck. Micaiah started with two strength, and she was level one of first tier. She's guaranteed to be at least 10 strength by the time she hits third tier (oh, right, spoilers, Micaiah eventually promotes again). Sanaki, on the other hand, has only two strength despite being a third tier unit. It's a good thing, then, that she comes with Cymbeline, because it's a good deal lighter than Arcfire, but even that digs into her only-barely-adequate speed. Sanaki urgently needs strength in order to compete. And get this - Sanaki is mandatory to bring to the Endgame, so you'd better damn well hope she can pull her weight. Fortunately, she's plenty survivable so long as you keep her away from martial units, and she has the versatility to respond to just about any magic threat she encounters. Slowly.
Oh, and she counts as a mage, so she gets Flare as her mastery skill. That's nice.
Here's our crack team for this mission.
And here's the battlefield (note that the formation pictured isn't our actual starting formation, I just got sloppy with screenshotting).
Haar and Nephenee are going north and are going to basically
Here's the boss, and yes, that's a Brave Sword, as in, a Brave Sword. Tragically, even if we had Disarm, we can't steal that - you only get one Brave Sword. The good news is that the Brave Sword is comparatively weak when compared to some of the weapons we could be seeing at this point, so that's something.
Let's do this thing.
You! All of you. You are all Begnion citizens! I'm so relieved you are all safe. Sanaki, be careful! I don't know that they're going to be pleased to see you. What do you--
We have been charged by the goddess Ashera to cleanse your taint from the world! Death to the tainted souls! Let none escape! Empress Sanaki, please stay back. These traitors must have sided with the senate during the coup. Apostle Sanaki is a fraud! Any apostle who defies the edicts of the goddess is an enemy to the people! What?! No, I-- Silence, betrayers of the empire! How dare you accuse the empress! Treason can only be punished by death!We're all such reasonable people. On this note, the action begins.
Oh, how that action begins.
Up close, we can kinda see the awful truth; these enemies are recolours - not even pallet swaps - of regular enemies. No care or detail, just a gold filter over everything. It's kinda sad.
Part 4 features this somewhat overbearing though pretty awesome map music.
Haar's first action in this battle is, of course, a redundant Stun-Cancel.
And a typical Haar level.
Jill's recent rush of levels has turned her into something quite usable.
Marcia's first action in this battle is, of course, a redundant Stun-Corrosion.
Sanaki steps up to bat. All her robes are much swishier than her map model would lead you to believe.
Cymbeline (and the rest of the top tier spells) all have lengthy, overblown animations.
They kinda reach the point of disbelief-breaking that JRPG magic is sometimes prone to. You know the one. The one where an attack depicts a planet being shattered and yet it barely scratches the enemy - and also the planet is still there. It's just hard to picture people surviving.
But there you go.
Micaiah finishes the job and everyone moves forward. Ulki is going to spend a turn untransformed to gain some extra EXP.
Alright, Ulki, this had better be good...
Meanwhile, the enemy sends wave after wave of their own men into Haar and Nephenee. They don't realize that every point of damage inflicted on Nephenee brings her closer to invincibility.
Also the laziness of the recolouring of the enemies here is particularly evident when you look at their paladins. Why is the horse gold? Horses aren't gold!
This isn't a great day for levels, is it?
No, it really isn't.
So many enemies fall to Haar and Nephenee that reinforcements are sent for. The Disciples of Order all teleport into battle, like so.
A couple of guys appear to the east, as well. It's our turn again.
Haar and Nephenee immediately clear up the remaining guys in their vicinity.
Now we're talking.
Micaiah selflessly gives almost her entire HP collection to Ulki.
Her selflessness leads to great profit.
It's been a long time since we heard from Shinon! Well, in any case, he's here to help out and maybe puncture some guys.
Micaiah gets a second turn from Leanne, which she uses to have some fun.
Critical Purge, bitch.
Micaiah is one of the easiest characters to reliably get below 33% health without putting them in actual danger, thanks mostly to her Sacrifice skill. As a result, you can trigger Wrath crits very easily with her.
Anyway, this has been turn 2.
Pictured: An enemy with a Killer Lance having a 0% crit chance against Ulki. People forget that his Vigilance skill is also good for +20 Dodge in all the fuss over the +20 Avoid, and thus they forget that Ulki is really good at stuffing enemy crits.
Nephenee continues having her fun.
And yet more guys come in from the east.
Our turn kicks of with a pretty great Micaiah level. Micaiah is able to get lots of levels in part 4, mostly because she's still on a much lower level than everyone else and thus gets boatloads of EXP from each kill.
Yep.
After helping Ulki and Marcia clean out the nearby enemies, Jill gets a second turn from Leanne and charges East. She's going to deal with the archers (and anyone else who cares to have a go) so that Marcia and Ulki can head over there.
But before that, the attack she launches on the paladin over there, while not lethal, is nevertheless sufficient for...
Promotion! And without making the game crash this time!
And that's the story of how Jill will never worry about not being combat viable again.
End of turn 3.
Almost... almost...
Lots and lots of archers come after Jill, but her newfound defensive capabilities and her not trivial evasion boost render the effort mostly irrelevant.
One thing Jill has never wanted for is luck. This guy is attacking her with a Killing Edge and only getting 4% crit chance. Jill's not even using an arbitrary boost like Ulki is - she's just that lucky.
So very close...
Haar becomes more Haar.
The horde moves on up and more reinforcements spawn.
Our turn again. Jill continues dispatching archers...
And Micaiah uses her last Purge to wipe out a leftover paladin.
Ulki positions himself on the edge of an archer's range, to see if he can draw them out towards the group.
Marcia takes up a spot from which she can attack more or less any enemy she pleases, and we end turn 4.
The bait is taken. I love that the AI has no grasp on odds of success.
Marcia dissolves the axe right out of this guy's hand.
Jill is now starting to pull ahead of Haar in speed. He's got the edge on her in strength and defence, but this matchup is becoming closer and closer each chapter.
Hah! You fell for it, fools!
We are in business.
And we stand to make a killing.
Last time we were able to play with Resolve, we were dealing with characters with most stats in the 10-15 range. Now, we're dealing with 20s and 30s. Remembering our formulae, Avoid is based on (AS * 2), while Hit is based on (Skill * 2). Therefore, Resolve, which boosts speed and skill by 1.5x, will literally add your skill and speed again to your hit and avoid, respectively - as well as boosting AS to ridiculous levels. So if both speed and skill are 30 (as is the case with Nephenee), then we're looking at +30% avoid, +30% hit, and being able to double everything, ever. There's also the nice (skill / 4) boost to crit, which probably won't turn the tides of a given fight but over time will lend itself to lots of crits.
Funfact: Nephenee will not be hit by any attacks for the rest of this mission.
And now she's stronger and tougher, too.
Jill fails to eliminate an archer, so we have to scramble a little to make up.
This involves judicious application of Cymbeline. There's something inherently hilarious about attacks with such overblown animations doing so little damage - and it's a little pleasure that's unique to Fire Emblem (because Fire Emblem caps damage done to the enemy's current HP).
Marcia does her bit to help out, killing a guy and getting a handy level.
Ulki dives in, attacks an archer...
Dives out...
And, thanks to Leanne, dives right back in to finish the job.
Ulki and Naesala are going to form some kind of bird-wall to keep the archers away from Leanne.
Meanwhile...
Reslove also boosts the activation rate of skills based on speed and skill! Like, for example, Impale! It's activation rate is [skill]%, so Resolve is giving a +15% activation chance! That's just great!
Haar probably isn't going to compete with Jill in speed, so instead he's going for brute strength.
Anyway, that's turn 5.
Haar and Nephenee seem to have gotten Yuma's attention. How nice for them.
Naesala is, true to his raven heritage, very difficult to hit.
As the Disciples of Order learn to their chagrin.
Otherwise... some guys attack Jill, die, etc...
And Ulki gets an actually-decent level. That's something! I wonder if we should consider putting Blossom on him as well as Paragon. Blossom can do wonders for laguz. Or maybe just BEXP him up to 99 EXP and get one Blossom-fueled level per chapter. Always, there are options... And, of course, he's now on Lv 30, which means we can use a Satori Sign on him.
Yet more reinforcements appear. Haar and Nephenee are having fun, aren't they? This signals the start of another turn for us.
The one nice thing about Micaiah is that she's basically guaranteed to get luck and resistance until she caps - her growths are 90% and 80% respectively. Only five characters have 90% growths in anything - and three of those are laguz, and HP. The other two are Micaiah and Volug's luck.
Jill and Marcia collectively deal with the last remaining guy to the east, and the troops prepare to push north.
Nephenee turns her attention towards the reinforcements. See how that guy has a 55% hit chance? Yeah, that's now 25%. And he misses. Resolve, ladies and gents.
Sothe is still useful for one thing; scavenging. An Arms Scroll is lying in the very southeastern corner of this map.
End of turn 6. Looking pretty good!
Yuma reckons he can have a go at Haar.
Sure, whatev's. Sadly, Haar doesn't manage to hit him back. Accursed weapon triangle penalty.
Enemies fail to hit Nephenee.
She doesn't fail to hit them, however.
Nephenee just keeps getting better.
Ah. It begins.
This mission has Asshole Reinforcements™. First offender: this swordmaster who just casually drops into the starting zone. Hope you didn't leave anyone behind there!
Our turn.
Haar softens Yuma up a little. Note the rare non-redundant Cancel. The really nice thing here is that Cancel negates both counterattacks if your opponent is using a Brave Sword. (It might also be the case that it negates all counterattacks, but I've never seen at activate on someone who would naturally be able to double me, so... yeah.)
Another rare sight: double doubles. It can only happen if one party has a Brave weapon.
Resolve turns two 67% attacks into two misses. I love Resolve.
I'm pretty sure the Ninjutsu Conservation Law applies to the Goddess' Blessing. That might start explaining it.
Incidentally, Yuma has a few conversation options.
You are the dark god made flesh! The source of all evil! Don't speak that way about Yune! She is not a dark god!Alternatively...
Death to the false apostle! Show her the punishment for her wicked, deceitful acts! I...I have not deceived you! I am the true... I am the true apostle...So there.
Marcia gets to dealing with the guy in the southeast and... hmm? Something off here...
I fucking knew it! These guys are cheating! Swordmasters aren't supposed to get Critical +20. That's a trueblade thing!
The reason for all this is because, for some reason, the game is reluctant to throw enemies in third tier classes at you. For some reason, third tier classes are unique to the player army and maybe four bosses. The rest of the enemies are levelled to somewhere in second tier, given some arbitrary boosts, and some weapon ranks, and they call it a day. Instead of third tier, they're just second tier plus. The good news is that the EXP gained by killing these enemies is correspondingly higher, so you won't have to worry about technically out-levelling everyone on the field by 10-20 levels all the time.
Anyway, his inflated crit chance doesn't help him, since he's dealing zero damage to Marcia anyway.
End of turn 7.
Haar doesn't give two shits how accurate light magic is, he just dodges it anyway.
More people don't hit Nephenee.
Oh, come on. That's just wishful thinking.
These guys are also Asshole Reinforcements. They carry Purge tomes.
Two of them warp in.
Fortunately, Purge slows them down so much that Sanaki can double them.
What the shit, Leanne.
The priest who attacked Haar with light magic also happens to be carrying around a Physic stave. Sothe nabs it.
Then, Marcia.
There's a guy here with a Tempest Blade who's actually able to put up some resistance against Jill.
This happens, which is good.
Naesala and Ulki between them manage to Rescue/Drop Sothe out of range of the two enemy generals.
And that's the end of turn 8.
lol, etc.
Inevitably, Purge-man sets his sights directly on Leanne. Thing is, magic - particularly light magic - is the one thing that Herons are actually able to stand up to.
Which is fortunate because Leanne is so slow that, even with Purge, the guy can double her.
It's a shame, because I could've made good use out of another Purge tome.
The priest is dealt with.
This is a roundly great thing right here.
End of turn 9. Leanne has disappeared because Naesala has rescued her.
The enemy generals waste their time trying to hit Nephenee.
And three paladins appear from the northeast.
The Asshole swordmaster from way back when has finally caught up with the group. Sadly for him, the group includes Shinon and Sanaki.
Sanaki actually looks kinda freaky when casting. And her eyes just do not look normal.
She gets a pretty great level though. No magic is sad (and unusual), but the extra strength and speed is a godsend. She can now wield a generic Fire tome without penalty!
Haar keeps on being Haar.
End of turn 10, and we've just got these three assholes left to deal with. Ulki is going to go for some untransformed action again.
He succeeds.
And more assholes. These guys are bow paladins, so we've gotta be a tad careful.
Micaiah, Jill and Shinon clear up the two guys who went south.
Micaiah profits.
End of turn 11.
I was hoping this guy would go west towards our badass alliance, but instead he goes after Sigrun. He misses.
A bow paladin goes for Ulki.
No dice.
A second bow paladin goes for Ulki too. Similar quantity of dice.
Next turn, Shinon and Micaiah strike again.
And Haar, Marcia and Ulki finish the last two guys.
No, I knew a few of them by face. Some of these soldiers were new recruits. I can't imagine how they could have fought against us so fiercely.
Simple. They were protected by Ashera.
Ashera freed the petrified soldiers who would pledge loyalty to her. By themselves, they weren't a threat to skin puppets as strong as you, so she blessed their armor and weapons. Now they are worthy to be her true disciples, and their power will be stronger as we get closer to her. The battle will only get more difficult from here. Their weapons and armor are blessed by the goddess herself? Is that similar to the Black Knight's armor, or Ike's sword Ragnell? It's the same idea, yes. The Disciples' blessings were much weaker, because there were a lot of them. Still, it makes them a lot more powerful than they originally were. I'd like to bless you all with protection, too, but I haven't been awake long enough to wield that kind of power. Sorry about that. Ahhh...that was how they were able to stand against us. Poor souls... When they were turned back from stone, they probably thought they were the chosen ones or something. No one is good enough for her, though. When she's done using them against us, they'll all be stone creatures again.
Oh, it's her shadow again! I should go. All right, everyone. I'll see you later. Good luck! Micaiah?
Hey, glad to have you back. We should tell the other teams what happened here. Hm?
---
Please don't say mean things about her. She's like an older sister to me. Your older sister is a dark god? I finally understand now. Remember the voice that used to warn me about impending danger? That was Yune's voice. I finally realized it this morning. Even as she slept, she watched over us. Yune loves beorc and laguz with all her heart. I can feel it when she speaks through me. Then why do people call her the dark god? I don't know... But she doesn't like that name. It hurts her when you call her that. Sorry... I won't call her that again.
Okay, that is slightly creepy.
...Hey! Is that you, Yune? "Sorry... I won't call her that again." Why can't you be that nice with me? To be honest, it makes me a little jealous. But that's all right, I guess. I know that Micaiah needs you. That's why I can't let you die. Here, come closer to me. Hey, what are you doing? Don't be so jumpy. I'm giving you the power to protect Micaiah.
At some point, the writers must have suddenly remembered "Hey, aren't we supposed to be pretending Sothe is a main character too?", so they wrote in a plot promotion. And thats the story of how Sothe promoted at level three.
I'm not really sure what to make of this look. And what is it with this game and longcoats?
Can't complain about the stat-ups, though. Sothe, too, gets a sprite change. He's a main character, right? Right?
Good... Always stay by Micaiah's side.
Yune?
Never. But I do wish she had at least let me thank her. It just would have embarrassed her. You know, you two are very much alike. You're both very stubborn. ... I'm just teasing you, Sothe. Anyway, did you hear what the enemy said before the battle? Yeah... They called out Lekain by name. No mistake about it. That means he's still alive, and probably not petrified, since they said he was their leader. I suppose we'll run across him once we get closer to the tower. That'll be our big chance. Right. We must break the blood pact. No matter what it takes. Of course, our first goal is to save everyone from the goddess's judgment. But we have to break the pact while they're all stone. If we don't, we may save the world, but still lose Daein.---
Lady Micaiah can hear the voice of the goddess Yune and learn of impending danger. She is much like you, Empress Sanaki. ...Let us head back. Are you sure? You said before that it was imperative you speak with Lady Micaiah... It's not important. Forget it. Empress...---
So we missed half the turn bonus, but it doesn't matter much. On the whole, Part 4 sucks for BEXP. You'll be getting by on savings from Part 3 and a small dribble from the early chapters of Part 4, but they start throwing it at you again once you hit the Endgame, so don't panic. We'll have our 20/20/20 crack squad yet.
Next time: We're finally allowed to start using Ike again!