Part 58: (Chapter 4, Continued)

Ike, Soren and Gatrie nonchalantly murder their way along the main path.



This. This is the unit we are going to turn into something usable. The one thing she has going for her from the get go is her crazy raven speed and correspondingly high avoid. It's a lifesaver, to be sure.



Anyway, this one little scratch gives her 40 EXP. So that's something.



Mia and Aran clear out the ledge leading to the first treasure room.



Aran becomes a little more impenetrable with each level.



Why yes, we are getting 90% accuracy up a ledge, what of it? OK, yes, we're using a crossbow, which is very accurate, but still.



Rolf becomes a little more frightening with each level.



Rafiel becomes a little more... levelled... with each level.



When turn 1 is said and done, here's what we look like. Tormod, Muarim and Vika are all safely out of harms way and our badasses are right in the fray.



Oh, he's here too.

The last time you faced these enemies, you were defeated, humiliated, and your heron slave trade was exposed. By the good graces of your fellow senators, you were saved from death and hidden away here. Behind the backs of the apostle and the prime minister, we have kept you safe. Do not fail us.

I understand, Senator Hetzel. Rest assured, the savages who dare set foot in my home a second time will be eradicated for the glory of the goddess! Ugly creatures deserve nothing but an ugly death. You will not regret the lovely mercy you've shown me!

Begnion Senators. Assholes.



Hetzel exits.



The enemy assault gets off to a flying start.



Gatrie can't quite hit this guy. How annoying.



A rapid succession of enemy mages attack Ike. All of them miss, and all get obliterated by Ragnell.



Oh for the love of-



A few guys come for Aran, too. He shrugs it off, although the faster ones survive.



The enemies not in suicide-range all charge forward, and our turn comes again.



The marksman range boost is absurdly useful. Not only does it allow you to outrange other ranged units, it also allows you to add a third layer of ranged attacks to a group trying to rush a chokepoint.



I planned on having this guy kill himself on Aran in the enemy phase, but Aran got ahead of himself and activated Impale. As you wish.



Vika has just about enough strength (plus 7 Mt from her "weapon") to deal useful amounts of damage to low defence units like swordmasters and mages. Although you really don't want her to get hit by them. And the swordmasters, with their hax'd Critical +20, should be handled with extreme caution. You don't want to push your luck with enemy crits.



Nevertheless, Vika emerges unscathed and with a very nice level. While transformed, each point of speed represents 4 additional avoid.



The generals guarding the doors won't move off their spots, ever. So Mia goes to him. When someones's actually in range, they'll attack as normal, so we'll be able to counterkill him in the enemy phase.



While continuing the push east, Gatrie gets a pretty great level...



And Soren gets an alright one. He's starting to fall behind in speed again, however (in terms of the game's demands, not his averages).



End of turn 2.



Two enemies kill themselves against Gatrie, and another comes for Aran.



Man, levels this chapter are all over the place.



The general hits Mia, but she hits him back. Three times. He dies. He drops a Door Key.



Blah. I think we've finally exhausted the RNG Gods' favour. I need a volunteer from the thread... and bring your firstborn.



On our turn, Mia immediately uses said Door Key to open the door in front of her, revealing the enemies and chests inside. Protip: Never send a thief to open a door into a concealed room when you don't have anyone else to send in. There are always enemies inside, and if you're not careful your thief could get killed.



Vika helps Aran with his cleanup.



Hey, that's more like it! Somewhere in the world is a parent for whose loss I am very sorry.



Janaff halfshifts and grabs Tormod. Tormod will spend most of the mission like this... just in case.

Rolf, Ike, Soren and Gatrie continue their push...



That's better.



I love that Soren is strong enough to not be encumbered by siege tomes. It is unspeakably useful.



Anyway, turn 3 ends with a lot less bad guys than it started with.



The enemy phase begins with some asshole managing to reach Vika with 39% hit/18% crit. Too high. Fortunately, our luck holds out.



Two guys go after Aran and get crippled - they'll make good food for Vika next turn. Also, the halberdiers in the treasure room attack Mia to little worthwhile effect for them.



Ike jumps up this ledge to see if some of the fool archers up there will dare risk attacking him.



Heather takes out one guard (and grabs his Chest Key) with throwing knives, while Mia disables the second.



Aran clears the swordmaster out of Vika's way and gains a bad level that at least contains a useful stat.



Vika eliminates one of the weakened enemies, and is just able to duck out of the mage's range.



Good, good! More strength! Aran deals with the swordmaster.



End of turn 4.



Hah! He fell for it!



Ike does not care about your stupid ledge advantage.



The second archer manages to get a crit on Ike (for 6 damage) but dodges the counter. Meanwhile, an enemy mage gets the drop on Gatrie for about 16 damage. If you look to the mage's left, you'll be able to make out the gap through which he jumped down. Ain't perspective a bitch?



The remaining guy in the treasure room thinks to attack Mia, but Mia thinks he's going to get Vantage'd and die before he gets the chance.



And here we go. This mission brings the Asshole Reinforcements in spades, and this is the beginning.



But first, chests! Heather grabs the first one, Mia stands next to her, trades for the Chest Key from the general, and opens the second. Our prizes are a Statue Frag (aka 4000G because who the hell actually uses Statue Frags?) and a fresh Blizzard Tome, which is much appreciated.



Vika's outta TP, so she uses our shiny new Laguz Gem, that she might never have to worry about TP again (this chapter). Given the grind we have in store for her later, this thing is gonna be invaluable. And yes, it really does have five uses. If you want, you can even use it on multiple units in one chapter!



Soren softens up the mage using Arcwind and Vika takes the kill.



Yes, yes, yes!



Ike uses Ragnell to take out the archer reinforcement, Gatrie cripples a second, and the two of them form a wall protecting Soren and Vika. End of turn 5.



Gatrie misses one of his counters but gets an acceptable level, so it's all good.



A swordmaster attacks Aran, but other than that, all the enemies stay put. Our turn again.



Vika's coming along in leaps and bounds.



_{...had to open my big mouth.}



Thanks to Rafiel, she gets another go. But no level this time. It's bought her up to ~70 EXP though, so the next few kills will get her a level each.



Ike and Soren mop up the last of the reinforcements and we end turn 6.



A single halberdier charges Aran and gets counter-criticaled, and a whole load of reinforcements show up from the west. Otherwise... nothing.



No up-ledge kill this time. We get a level, thoug-



That's it. It's official. All my good levels are being stolen from Ike.



Soren breaks out his Blizzard tome instead.



See? See what I mean?



Soren and Muarim get Vigor'd...



And between the two of them manage to take out one of the archers up on the landing here.



The second one is on just low enough health to be fed to Vika.



Turn 7's end.



There's a guy with a Sleep staff up near Oliver. Not an Elsleep, just an ordinary Sleep staff. Vika is the only one in his range, but she has enough resistance to avoid it.



The enemy charges forward...



What, thought you were done with the guys over here, did you?



Well, no matter. Ike, Soren, Vika and Rafiel dispatch two of them and cripple the third.



Good, good!



This guy here has a Hammer, except that Aran managed to Disarm him, I'd steal it for stealing's sake, but Heather's too far away, so we just have Rolf murder him.



Well whaddya know. Exact same level again.



With Hammer-guy dead, it's safe to send in Gatrie. Gatrie proceeds to Luna the second general guarding the stairs.



All in all, a fun turn 8.



Missing Vika was one thing, but Sleep guy can't even get a hit on Gatrie. That's just lame. Though fortunate!



About five people proceed to attack Gatrie. All of them miss. Two are melee range and get killed by Luna. Two guys attack Aran from range as well, both miss.

The remaining asshole in Ike and Soren's corner attacks Vika and accomplishes nothing save his own death.



A swordmaster finally manages to hit Gatrie and gives him a rubbish level.



And we're now in enemy Physic range, so that's wonderful too.



OH COME ON



Soren has no patience for assholes.



Vika, aided by Muarim, takes out a second. Vika has now capped magic and skill. Not the most useful caps, but remember, there's BEXP later.



Then, thanks to Rafiel, she and Soren take out the last one. It looks like she's now down to getting a level every other kill.



Aran, Gatrie and Rolf begin pushing through the enemies on the stairs, Aran gaining a quite acceptable level in doing so. The swordmaster he just killed drops a Tempest Blade which is going to Mia at some point.



Speaking of Mia, she comes up to help the push and gets a... less great level.



Nailah waits at a gap to stop enemies from jumping down and also to bait the nearby fire mage into attacking her.



End of turn 9.



Sleep-guy's third and last shot at Sleeping someone fails entirely.



The fire mage does indeed get a quite damaging hit on Nailah, but she'll be fine.



Aran gets in a few counterkills and a countercripple, which is promptly invalidated by the enemy Physician.



Vika is going to spend the next several turns pecking away at the general guarding this door. She's going to keep it up until he dies and will gain a load of progress towards a strike rank in the process (Strike levels up very slowly compared to other weapons; it takes 200 uses of a weapon to gain a level, and laguz can't use Discipline or Arms Scrolls). Obviously, I will be skipping over the blow by blow coverage of this.



Rolf, Gatrie, Mia and Aran continue to mutilate their way through the enemy on the stairs, and Aran gains this very Aran-esque level.



Soren also gains a not-that-great level from healing Nailah.



Turn 10. It seems like we're going to do a lot of stalling while we wait for Vika to finish her epic duel, doesn't it?



A few enemies come down to play while we wait - the generals at the top of the stairs will stay put no matter what.



Vika gains a level in the course of her fight. She's getting around 20 EXP a battle here, on both the player and enemy phases (and we're getting Rafiel up there to help ASAP), so the time invested is seeing lots of returns.



Ah, there we go. It begins. The distraction.



Rafiel gains this unremarkable level...



And Rolf gets into position. He's going to stick right there for the whole rest of the mission.



Janaff - fully shifted - joins him to block the gap. We want to get Soren down here, but he's too far away, so Janaff will fill in.



End of turn 11.



Needless to say, Janaff is in no danger of being hit, even by archers.





This is this mission's spectacular dick move. Just when you're on the verge of charging Oliver, a whole horde of asshole reinforcements start warping in and attacking you from behind. I really hope you didn't leave anyone down in the starting zone. Fortunately for us, we're not playing this mission for speed, so we can take our time killing these assholes.



Rolf is going to have so much fun over here.



...eh.



Soren arrives to help.



One annoying and often forgotten thing about Rafiel is that he absolutely cannot climb ledges while transformed, even if he has the move to spare. This is probably because birds don't have arms (as such) while transformed, and since Rafiel can't fly, he has no way of climbing.



Mist continues the proud tradition of wasting good levels.



Anyway, that's turn 12.



The assholes fruitlessly try to harm Rolf and Soren and get variously killed and crippled in the process.



The guys in the west also start advancing. We should probably get someone down there.



Mia will do. She busts out the Tempest Blade. It is, you will recall, equal to Ragnell in Mt, so it can kick ass, and it allows Mia to counter against archers as a bonus.



It is sadly incompatible with Astrum, but fine with Adept and criticals.



It's fish in a barrel down here.



Another level for Vika. More speed!



End of turn 13.



Goddamnit Mia.



Level aside, she effortlessly murders everyone who approaches her and four new guys warp in.



Oh now this is just stupid.



Nothing much to report from turn 14. Mia moves closer to the assholes (she's half concealed behind the barrier in this screenshot), Rolf and Soren take more potshots, Vika keeps up the grind, and that's it really.



Oh fuck. I forgot to screen the assholes for weapon types and I missed a guy with a Meteor tome.



Ow.



Ooowww.



Mia continues counterkilling and gets a slightly better level this time.



Vantage-Astrum is a beautiful thing to behold.



Lots of new assholes warp in. Again, it's hard to see in the picture due to the perspective, but Mia has them in a chokepoint.



They just keep on coming!



Hey, asshole. Guess who else can double-Meteor people? And while you're at it, guess who doesn't need to pick on untransformed laguz to do so? Did you guess Soren? Huh? Did you? If so, you win the prize.



The prize is a burning space rock.



Vika has managed to kill the general she was "training" with, so she moves onto the next one. This one has a short axe, which makes Rafiel-use a pain, since we can't use his Vigor without leaving him in range.



But where there's a will...



There's a way. Damn I love Shove.



Additionally, level.



Rolf, too.



During all this (excuse the somewhat out-of-sequence screenshot) Heather has managed to open the next door. She'll be able to take a hit from one of the guys in there (none are rangers) before we send in Ike and Gatrie.



Since Soren had to leave his post to Meteor that one asshole, he's left a gap. Nailah covers for him.



End of turn 15.



Heather does indeed take a hit, and damages the guy somewhat in return.



The general Vika is now training with is in range of the enemy Physician, so he'll get his health restored every round until either we get bored and kill him with Ike or something, or until the enemy runs out of Physics, or until Vika gets strong enough to kill him between Physics. Which will happen soon, don't worry.



Ike steps in to clear the treasure room of guys.



Otherwise, turn 16 is quite uneventful.



Three counterkills later, another un-great level for Mia. More speed is basically a dump stat for her at this point; there is literally only one enemy left in the entire game that she can't double - although she will once speed is capped, so there's that...



The treasure room practically cleans itself out on Ike.



...I give up.

Our turn.



Sweet! This is the most powerful crossbow in the game. It has 38 Mt and +15 crit.



Another level for Vika. It's not that good.



Holding off the Asshole Parade is literally the only thing keeping us busy right now (besides Vika's grinding). End of turn 17.



Absolutely nothing happens in turn 17's enemy phase that isn't a continuation of something already ongoing.



Soren gets a pretty OK level from his barrel-fishing.



Aran comes down to lend a hand.



Oh, nice! Fortify is a rank-S staff that will restore [10 + magic stat] HP to all allies within [magic stat / 2] squares of the caster. That's pretty damn handy. It has 5 uses.



Turn 18 end.



Finally. Vika has gone from rank A to rank S in strike, and now her Beak has gone from 7 Mt to 12 Mt. When you add in that she's fast enough to double pretty much every enemy ever, that's a pretty damn handy upgrade. It's unlikely (though possible) for her to get to rank SS before the end of the game, which would bring her to 17 Mt.



Otherwise... business as usual.



A level for Rolf, and now his strength is capped.



Between her newfound might, her speed, and Rafiel, Vika is now able to kill the second general. Before you scoff at her damage output, remember that she's fighting a general.



She celebrates with an awesome level.



Look at this. Just look at this. Then go back and look at Vika's stats from the two BEXP levels before this mission. Her progress has been astounding.



The two guys guarding the last treasure room are both mages, so Gatrie brings out his Javelin for the ranged counterkill.



End of turn 19. Time to end this farce.



Gatrie's mage counterkill gets him a pretty great level.



Mia's... yeah. Anyway, the enemy phase consists mostly of Rolf and Mia counterkilling.





Heather gets to looting.



End of turn 20. We're preparing to charge the top level.



This is the only enemy action this phase. All the ranged guys by Rolf and Soren are dead, and this is the last guy by Mia. He survives her counter...



...so she kills him on our turn instead.





The hidden treasures on this level. Might put that Maelstrom skill on Vika.



Gatrie moves to draw out some foes. End of turn 21.



Two halberdiers come out and are counterkilled.



A swordmaster comes out and is crippled, then Physic'd.



On our turn, Gatrie and Aran charge the enemy generals, and Vika gets to have a go at someone not wearing full plate armour.



She again enlists Rafiel's help to get the last hit in.



It's just priests, generals, and Oliver. Vika's gonna be fine.



Aran counterkills a general, and a priest comes after Gatrie, but the rest all stay put.



So we charge them.



And profit!



Ike finally manages to bust out an Aether.



Everyone just grabs a target and murders, and some get levels.



End of turn 23 and w-

-wait, hang on, fuuuuck-



-fuck fuck fuck fu-



-ck fuck fuck fuck-



Unhand me!

But how is it that anyone could risk a precious treasure like you in battle? What if something marred you?

What are you talking about?

Don't worry, pretty bird; I'll save you. You need someone who can give you loving protection. Someone... like me.

???

I'll take you away from these savages! I would never let them lay a single finger on you, my precious! No, no... The jealous cretins mustn't ruffle a single feather... I'll have to kill them. Come now, come to daddy!

...

Even for pre-battle dialogue, that's pretty creepy. He-



-wait.

Wait a damn minute.

Did Oliver just recruit himself onto our team?



The enemy phase rushes past in a blur of confusion and mediocre levels.



It's quite simple, really. A true guardian of beauty stands with those who are beautiful. If your exquisite heron prince will not stay here in my home, I must follow him. I have seen death; it holds no mystery for me. Only my pursuit matters. Rest at ease, friends.

Um. What.



So, yeah, Oliver just recruited himself onto our team.

If we'd fought him normally, we would, of course, have gotten all sorts of creepy battle dialogue from him.


Ho ho, what have we here? A fine little raven indeed! Please... Let me see the length of those wings. I'll need to know, if I'm to take proper... care of them.

You Begnion nobles... Can't you ever just say what you're thinking?



Sub... sub... sub-human! Tiger! Tiger! Eyes burning bright! In my foyer late at night! Oh, my poetic soul! I'm much too delicate for this!

Oh boy...

Har har.



Hey, chunky! Apparently we didn't kill you enough last time! Time to try again!

Yawp! Dear me! What a frightening young child.

I am NOT a child!



Grrrrr!

Ack! A sub-human! What a horrible monster, smacking his lips before dining on my delicate body! Someone, please help me! A man like me doesn't deserve this!



S-sub-human! A hideous sub-human is attacking me! Help! Someone help me! I'm much too lovely for this!

What a strangely shaped creature... Is this some rare subspecies of beorc?



You! You're still alive?!

The world simply could not bear to be without me. Your crude weapons have no force against true magnificence! Blessed with such beauty, I have no foes...only inferiors!

Glad to see you're still barely clinging to that last shred of sanity. Just give it up, already.


But no, instead he just waddles over and joins us.

Since we're on the subject of talking...



Holy moly! You are absolutely huge! I feel puny next to you...

That's because you are puny. Magic clearly doesn't give you much muscle tone.

Oh...I suppose that's true. Still, it works pretty well for winning battles.

Actually, Tormod...

What?

Did you actually get smaller?

Nah, you just can't see me properly because all of your blood gets pumped to your muscles, away from your brain!

A little touchy, Tormod? ...Whatever. We have work to do.





If I could put an entire screenshot in parentheses, I would do it to that one.



Well, if he's going to join us, let's at least put him to work.









*shudder*

Yeah, even against his own troops, it turns out Oliver is just not that good. As a Saint, in a team already possessed of ample healers and two mandatory endgamers who can use light magic, it's hard to like Oliver. I suppose he's another one of those types who could be a serviceable stand-in if all your light mages/healers suck and you really want one for Endgame, but... yeah.

It's also kinda hard to like Oliver, period.



His one redeeming feature is, of course, his completely awesome battle theme.



One last thing to loot. For some reason, one of the priests is carrying an Unlock staff.



Well, let's get this over with.





AHAHAHAHAHAHAhahaha...



Oh, it's just adorable.



Perfect timing. There's only one more barrel-fish left.



And we're done.



I've got to say, the team is being extremely accommodating of Oliver, given that whole thing where he spent several entire chapters in PoR trying to kill them.





You! You are...

Rafiel? How-- You're still alive! I'm so glad you're safe...



So, you know, then. What we did was unforgivable... I was against it from the beginning... I argued with the others time and again! ...Ah, what's the use... It doesn't matter what I say now. Rafiel... Despite everything, I'm very happy to see that you're alive.



I've seen that man before. He's a pretty influential senator, isn't he?

His name is Hetzel, duke of Asmin... I owe my life to him.

Ike, I'm sorry, but can we talk later? Rafiel needs to rest.

Yes, of course.

---



Who cares? What I want to know is where the fuck they've been. Sadly, that one's going to go unsaid.

You won't believe me, but it came to me in a dream, Ike.

A dream?

Yeah. Shortly after that light turned everyone to stone, I had a really strange dream.



When I woke up, I knew what I had to do. I knew that everyone who hadn't been petrified was heading to the Tower of Guidance, and from there we'd all be saved.

I had the same dream. I thought this must be a divine revelation, so we left the desert to make for the tower.

Sounds like more of Yune's handiwork.



Yune? Isn't that the dark goddess I keep hearing about? Should I even be listening to her?

I can't really put it into words, but I can feel it inside. Listening to her is the right thing to do. I guess it's a lot like the dream you described.

We laguz are pretty intuitive. I feel it in my blood that Yune is the goddess of our ancestors.

All right. That makes it a little easier to come to grips with.

---



Yes, much. Sorry if I worried you. That was quite a shock.

No problem... Can we talk about it? I'd like to know about you and that man...

Yes, Hetzel... It was some time ago now, a little while before the Serenes Massacre... I was alone outside of the forest. There, I was found and captured by beorc slave traders.







After he took me home, I fell deathly ill, mostly just from desperation. Lord Hetzel was deeply moved by my plight... He brought me to a temple and spent many days nursing me back to health. I have no doubt that he saved my life, but my wings never fully recovered. I haven't been able to fly since. Lord Hetzel felt terrible... Do you know what he told me? He said, "Once you fully recover, you can return to the forest." Members of the heron clan, we can look inside people's hearts. I knew the truth of what Lord Hetzel said... He was being absolutely honest. I knew I could trust him from that moment on.



I didn't need to be told. I would have felt the suffering of that many of my brethren from anywhere in the world. Lord Hetzel never said anything, but I knew that the senators had murdered the apostle and blamed my clan. Because of the monstrous ambition of a handful of evil men, my entire race was burned to ash.

Rafiel...

Late that night, I returned to the temple. Something happened to me there... Some sort of force took hold of me... The next thing I knew... I was lying in the sand. If Queen Nailah hadn't come, I would have died right there. I didn't even realize how far I was from my dear home.



Hetzel was not directly involved, nor did he give orders to those who were. Something about him still troubles me, though... Whenever I think of him, I feel chaos boiling up from his heart. ...I sense it in myself, as well. I have the same feelings welling up in me. I suppose that's why I can accept it in him.

Your people, the remaining heron tribe... They've also changed. King Tibarn has said many times that Reyson and Leanne are far from typical herons.

Yes, I was surprised when we met again. They're both so strong...and vitality seems to shine forth from within them.

It makes you wonder if chaos is really all bad, doesn't it?

I am starting to think that what the world needs is a balance between order and chaos. What do you think?

I don't know. I think there are some things we're not meant to understand.

---



Yeah, there's no damn way we're getting a turn bonus from this. The cutoff is 10 turns, worth 2000 BEXP. But I think what we got was more worth the effort, don't you?

Next time: Someone else we haven't heard from for a while!