Part 60: (Chapter 5, Continued)
The first thing we want to do is have Bastian talk to Volke.
How much "convincing" will it cost?
Three thousand. I thought I was the jester. Considering your usual schedule of services, three thousand is negligible! I don't like that guy. Call it a personal discount. Do you want it or not? Of course I shall take your discount! Do as you wish when you see him. Now get to work. Understood. I almost pity old Izuka...
Oh, and consider this a bonus.
Alternatively, we could have talked to him with Elincia:
Excuse me... Volke? ... Um... Sir Fireman? ...What is it? You seem to have some time on your hands... Would you mind helping us? Three thousand. Three thousand? ...That's what the job will cost you in gold. Fine. I shall pay you that amount after the battle. Agreed. I await your order. Thank you. And, if I may ask... What? Why do you need so much money? One hundred thousand. Excuse me? That's what it will cost you for me to answer that question. Are you prepared to pay it? ...No. Then let's get to work. What shall I do first?If you don't have 3,000 gold, you're out of luck and can't recruit Volke. If you talk to him anyway, he'll just leave. You don't want that. You want Volke.
Volke is one bad ass motherfucker. He's an Assassin, a unique class that works a lot like a thief only with the ability to seriously fuck shit up. Not only does he have speed and skill to kingdom fucking come, but he's also got tons of strength and very respectable defences, and pre-established SS-Rank in knives. He's also conspicuously well equipped; he comes with Peshkatz, the strongest (S-Rank) throwing knife, Stilleto, the S-Rank dagger, and a generic Silver Knife. And we've just given him the Baselard.
And his skills. His skills! He's got the Assassin mastery skill, Lethality, which does exactly what you'd expect a skill called "Lethality" equipped on a unit with the class "Assassin" to do; kills people. None of this "triple damage" or "negates defence" or "puts target to sleep" bullshit, it's just a straight up instant kill. It has an activation rate of [skill / 2]%, so 18% for Volke. Failing that, he's got Critical +25. Plus Twenty-Five! Holy fucking shit! His skill stat adds another 18, so he's at 43 base crit chance. Baselard adds another twenty to that. God. Damn. Finally, as if all this wasn't enough, he has innate Stillness, which is basically the super version of Shade. If you have Stillness, the enemy will never attack you if someone else is in range. It costs a cool 25 SP to equip normally (the highest cost of any non-mastery skill in the game), and for good reason.
Volke has endgame-ready bases, and seven levels (with acceptable growths) still ahead of him. Volke is amazing.
Know what else is amazing? Beastfoe.
...
Fiona isn't fast enough to double the cats here, but she gets lucky and triggers Sol.
Nolan and Zihark murder a tiger and prepare to hold the right exit while the Silver Knight Squad prepare to hold the left one.
Some enemies waste their time on Astrid (since she's holding a bow and can't counterattack) but she dodges them nonchalantly. Then this silly tiger attacks Zihark and triggers a Vantage-Astrum.
He manages to survive all the way up to the fourth hit, which features a flourish-y somersault. We still haven't seen anything survive up until the fifth hit.
Three tigers in all attack Zihark, and only one survives.
He gets a mediocre level out of it all. Defence means nothing if you never get hit.
Some cats attack Fiona and Oscar, too. Fiona's survives. Oscar's, needless to say, does not.
The rest of the horde edges towards us. Much of the terrain here is swamp, which slows them down a lot, but there are a couple of land routes they can take. And, of course, there are the birds. Dragons, incidentally, don't fly; they just walk along the ground, really slowly.
Every turn, Izuka will do one of two things. He can;
a) Teleport to one of the other islands. He does this if you get too close but aren't in his attack range. Otherwise he'll...
b) Summon four random Feral Ones to the four panels adjacent to him. They can be any type - even dragons - but are most commonly tigers and cats. Note that summoned laguz, for whatever reason, can't initiate combat until two turns after they appear. They appear, can move the turn after that, and can attack the turn after that. Though, of course, they can still counter if attacked by us.
Izuka will do his summoning schtick twenty-five times in total, and then defaults to fight or flight.
Now, let's do some numbers here;
Each of the laguz here, save the dragons (they're actually low level, but still formidable) will reliably drop 20-30 EXP for our Lv ~10 dudes, more for Pelleas (even before you account for Paragon). Izuka's summons alone will account for one hundred kills, and there are at least forty predeployed.
Alternatively, if we finish the mission in ten turns or less, we get 2500 BEXP, good for maybe a level or two.
So, yeah, we're sticking this out.
The first action of our turn brings a great level for Fiona.
Pelleas gets extraordinarily lucky with his first attack. Not that it matters, since the tiger is on such low health, but whatever.
Part of the ridiculousness of the Flare animation comes from the fact that Fire Emblem character models do not have any ragdoll or skeleton elements of any kind; every aspect of their hair or clothing flapping around is accomplished through hard-coded, canned animations. This is particularly noticeable on the death animations of enemy sages, whose cloaks seem to just float above the ground on a cushion of air or something. The Flare animation is particularly lazy in this regard; there's a bit of cape-billowing on landing, but otherwise they just turn the entire model around 360 degrees and call it a day.
It's a redundant Cancel too!
Did I mention that Astrid is fast enough to double cats? Well, she is. She takes a hit, but she has Imbue and 20 magic so I think she'll be fine.
The rest of our guys all move up and Nolan gets an incredible level. Seriously, where is he getting these levels from?
After being Vigor'd, Pelleas experiments with Fenrir on a dragon. He lands another redundant Cancel.
And a nice level.
Elincia flies into position. Her job is going to be intercepting hawks and ravens where others can't get to them; otherwise they'll be a pain, fly behind our lines, and kill Reyson. In the meantime, though, she Stuns this cat into submission.
Next up: Volke. Volke is ridiculously good.
Being a unique class, he has a unique set of animations. They're similar to Sothe/Heather's, but a lot more... practiced.
And of course, he activates his mastery skill on his first hit.
*censored*
End of turn 2.
A cat runs past Nolan and Zihark and goes after Pelleas but screws it up.
Another goes for Volke. He misses too.
Big mistake, pal.
Astrid takes another hit an-
Nevermind.
Fuck. This is what I get for taking Blossom off her.
Two cats, a hawk and a raven pop in.
Never underestimate dragons. Yes, we're doing a fuckton of damage, but that's because Fiona has Dragonfoe and a weapon with 14 Mt. And these are fairly tame dragons, at that.
They are, as you might imagine, rather large.
Nevermind.
That's better, Oscar.
Elincia goes on raven duty. Because she's using what is essentially a Brave Sword, and is attacking first, both her attacks will hit before the raven gets a chance to retaliate.
End of turn 3.
Here's the other "thing" about dragons...
They're the only laguz species that can attack at range. This makes them harder than other laguz to defend against, because you can't counterkill them without a ranged weapon. Fortunately, there aren't that many dragons here, so that's not much of a problem for us.
A cat claws Pelleas so hard that most of the stats drop out of the level he gains.
Zihark and Oscar rack up some counterkills between them and Oscar gets another pretty great level.
Then a bunch of ravens and hawks attack Nolan, to little effect save their deaths, and two cats and two tigers teleport in.
Volke employs the weakest weapon he has. It's more than enough.
And he's always got his absurd crit rate.
Volke's crit animation is almost too fast to properly screencap. Needless to say, he jumps a lot in it.
Zihark reckons he might as well put that Birdfoe skill to use.
Wonderful.
Let's show this dragon what's what.
God Damn. How does he keep getting these?!
Elincia dispatches another raven for a great Blossom-fueled level.
End of turn 4.
Four laguz in all immediately round on Zihark and get variously killed and crippled. They also give him an "eh" level, although the speed is always appreciated.
Latest grab bag: one cat, two tigers, one raven.
Pelleas grabs another kill, gets another level. His speed is really starting to get results now, although would it kill him to get some more magic?
Then, with some help from Reyson, he gets another kill.
And another level. I guess we asked and did receive!
Two crows and a dragon are hiding out in the southwestern corner of the map. Oscar and Fiona venture down there to take care of them, and chat inanely to pass the time.
Also, we engage in much creative unit placement in order to keep the hawks off Reyson.
End of turn 5.
A cat attacks Astrid and immediately gets Sol'd. Also, Astrid gets a level and also what I'm pretty sure is her first ever non-Blossom gain in defence, ever.
Ranulf gets his shit ruined by a hawk, but gets in one good kick in retaliation.
He also gets his first actual level. Wow, Ranulf was harder to properly train than I thought he would be...
Pelleas is remarkably good at dodging. He proceeds to ruin this tiger's shit with Carreau.
Bah.
The rest of the enemy phase is pretty boring. Enemies crowd around, attack various people, fail to do anything save die or get injured.
Two cats, raven, hawk.
To show how fast Pelleas has gotten, we have him Fenrir a cat twice.
Alright! Apology accepted, RNG.
Sometimes, the template dialog manages to work. Sometimes.
Reyson and Pelleas have been working together a lot this chapter.
And to good effect.
Ranulf and Volke work together to finish off the invading hawk.
This is the best I could do at capturing Volke's crit animation.
Superfluous backflip to start...
Crouches.
This screenshot is the frame after the previous screenshot.
Volke literally teleports around.
So, yeah. He moves very quickly.
He also does not have a victory animation. This fits with his serious nature.
And this level fits with his awesome nature.
Call me cruel, but I can't get enough of the faces cats make when they get critted.
Bah.
Fiona and Oscar continue tidying up their little corner and Fiona gets a crap level.
And that's turn 6.
Pelleas has run out of Carreau and is now using Verrine instead. Woe is him. Also, woe is this cat, who gets hit by two Verrines and dies.
Other enemy phase highlights: Elincia kicking ass with a stave again.
Pelleas is hit, but he Flares the health right back.
He's capped speed and defence, so the impressive-ness of his levels is a bit interpretive now. Sad thing is, he's got a way to go before he hits his magic cap, and I doubt he'll do it on natural levels alone. Incidentally, he hits Rank SS in Dark magic at this point too.
A raven pesters Oscar and Oscar's level pesters me.
Yadayadayada, advancement, some cats suicide on Zihark, Izuka summons two cats and two tigers, and back to our turn.
Fiona gets to slaying another dragon.
That's two for two. We've Sol'd so many dragons we could make a tidy profit!
Oscar clears out the crow, and their little corner is clear. Now to get them to rejoin the main force!
Pelleas' rampage continues. Reminder: He's capped speed and defence, so this is quite a good level.
Astrid doesn't have Birdfoe, but she does have her bow collection, so she's alright.
Reyson gives Pelleas a boost and gets a Heron level.
I'm hesitant about wasting all our Verrine uses, so Pelleas switches to Arcthunder. It's more than powerful enough.
And the higher level thunder tomes, combined with Pelleas' not inconsiderable stats, mean we actually get a meaningful crit rate to compensate for thunder magic's low power and horrible accuracy.
End of turn 7.
Zihark doesn't care about your range.
This is insane. Pelleas is standing on the front lines drawing counterkills. He doesn't even have a support yet!
And the numbers continue to go up.
More staff combat. Elincia is out-damaging this raven with a 0-Mt weapon.
Another!
And another!
Less impressive, but damn. You can't not love the fact that we're even getting all these levels in the first place.
One more.
Dang.
Two tigers, cat, raven.
All laguz species have one crippling elemental weakness, and for Dragons, it's thunder. Pelleas avails of the opportunity, landing his first ever non-redundant Cancel.
Another OK level for Astrid.
Nolan can Adept-Abuse too!
Holy shit! Another one?! This Nolan is far too good to be legal. You guys sure you aren't making sacrifices in my name?
Anyway, Turn 8 was another one of those "everyone grab a guy and murder them" turns. Save for Pelleas, who got two, as usual.
Zihark's first counterkill in the enemy phase nets him a nice level.
The laguz on the middle island can't really get to us, so they all just crowd into the reeds and wait, while Izuka summons two cats, a raven and a hawk.
Just for posterity, here's the numbers on Arbelest vs Raven.
We're not being wasteful, though, so we'll just use Taksh instead. Honestly, a Bowgun could've OHKO'd this guy.
Elincia gets an absurdly lucky crit on a cat she otherwise wouldn't have killed.
*sigh*
Dragons have sufficiently high defence and HP that they're actually quite hard to kill in one round without an effective weapon, even in their current low-level state. Sometimes, you need a bit of luck even with such a weapon.
Like this.
Thanks to Reyson, Elincia gets another kill and another wonderful Blossom level.
End of turn 9.
We don't even get attacked. None of the pre-existing laguz could reach us. Izuka summons a cat, a tiger, a raven and a dragon.
Zihark once again puts that Birdfoe to work.
We send in Volke again. He's such a joy to use.
End of turn 10. Astrid goes north to train on the laguz up there. You can also see Oscar and Fiona finally catching up with us to the bottom right of this screen. They'll be getting some training for themselves later.
A mess of Zihark counterkills whizzes by, as does a level in which Zihark caps skill.
Astrid gets mobbed by laguz, but kills one, cripples the other two, survives with most of her health (and will be Imbued next turn) and gets up to rank A - her cap - in lances.
Then a hawk gives her this level, which is sparse but nice because it brings her to the "can double everything in this level (even the ravens)" speed threshold, and adds more welcome defence.
Izuka's spooked.
So away he runs. That also means no summons this turn.
After getting most of her health back, Astrid Sols this tiger and gets the rest of it back too.
Pelleas Effective-Crit-Cancels a dragon.
Damn, it's satisfying.
Between everyone, they completely clean out the middle. End of turn 11.
Crow thinks attacking Nolan with 5%/1 Dmg is a good idea. It isn't.
Even his crap levels are badass.
A similar thing happens to Zihark.
Two tigers, two ravens.
Want to see something ridiculous?
How about a reaver with capped magic, speed, luck and resistance at level eight?
All things considered, Zihark isn't doing too badly either.
Fiona is, though. C'mon, Fiona! We want you to be endgame-viable so we can laugh at the system!
End of turn 12.
Astrid is mobbed by laguz that can't attack her because they spawned last turn. Fine by me. Summons: tiger, cat, two hawks.
Astrid and Volke get stuck in.
Oscar and Fiona move in to occupy the island south of Izuka. End of turn 13.
Enemy phase consists of Astrid counterkilling things. She even gets in one of those ridiculous paladin crits.
Bah.
Two tigers, raven, hawk.
For the next few turns, we're going to remain stationary and just let Astrid, Volke (sometimes), Oscar and Fiona counterkill things. End of turn 14.
Approval.
Beginning of turn 15...
Stave use, particularly Physic and Recover, is always a great way to level Paragon sages.
End of turn 15.
Beginning of turn 16...
End of turn 16.
Izuka flees halfway across the map again. Guess it's time to mop up and move on over. Again.
We kill most of the inhabitants of the northwest island, and that's the end of turn 17.
Volke counterassissinates.
Here we go again.
Astrid clears out the last tiger in the northwest, then Canto's over toward Izuka.
End of turn 18. Everyone does their best to charge over, but...
Izuka just teleports back to the northwest again. Asshole.
Volke has a really awesome regular attack animation where he half runs, half twirls, and half cartwheels towards the enemy. It somehow manages to look goofy and really practiced at the same time. Maybe that's how he catches targets off guard...
Looking at it in detail, that does not look like a particularly good throwing knife. Oh well. Videogames.
Volke has had 100% good levels. He's also capped strength and HP. This is a Great Thing.
End of turn 19.
The mission's dragging on and I'm starting to get bored, so to stave off the burnout, I have Pelleas fight some laguz armed only with a staff.
It's amusing.
This isn't.
Seriously, though, arch sage staff animations are just silly. They have them doing jumping overhead smashes and stuff.
Somehow, smacking animals with staves causes Pelleas to become more adept at using their magic.
More laguz...
And more walking over to Izuka. We'll be careful not to get so close this time. End of turn 20.
Pelleas takes a hit but dishes some out in kind.
Now that we've found a spot that works, we're going to continue counterkilling until Izuka finally runs out of reinforcements.
Pelleas gets bored of staff training and decides to Arcthunder-Cancel-Flare-Cancel the nearby dragon, killing it and healing himself. Besides, he's getting to high levels and hitting caps, and I want at least one good BEXP level for him. Volke and Elincia take out the laguz he was training with.
Oscar and Fiona finally get to work. Fiona really, really, wants some speed. It's supposed to be her thing! Its supposed to be her claim to being a good-paladin-really!
End of turn 21.
Nothing to report, really. Some guys attacked Fiona to no avail (she had a bow out), and more laguz warp in.
Turn 22 ends after much slaughter.
You know the drill. New ones appear...
Crap levels are gained...
And old ones die. End of turn 23. Note that Zihark has gotten in on the fun, even going so far as to stray from Nolan's support range.
Alright, I can hardly even bear to continue summarising this. Over the next several turns we counterkill stuff, OK?
And gain some nice levels too.
Very nice levels.
Yep, that's a level.
So's that. Speed!
What's this? At the end of the 26th turn, Izuka's got nothin'.
Wonderful. Let's clean up and put this thing to rest.
Most of the laguz clean themselves up on us, and Elincia takes care of the last one.
Izuka decides to attack Elincia rather than run away again.
Revenge? On whose account? What are you talking about? I am arresting a dangerous fugitive.
Balberith is appropriately flashy.
What an anticlimax.
Yes, yes, Heron level.
Now, there are lots and lots of people who can talk to Izuka.
Ah... You must be the hawk king! Understand that my work was never intended to harm the laguz, specifically!
No power on Tellius will protect you from me. With your death, I can finally lay my brothers' souls to rest. They've broken through my Feral Ones! I must create more!
After the war against the Mad King, I always regretted not capturing you. Prepare yourself for justice! Don't you see? If I am harmed, my knowledge will be lost! Can the human race survive such a tragedy? If you fools cannot see the larger picture, you will have to be destroyed!
I don't know what atrocities caused Bastian to hold you prisoner, but I know what you did to the laguz, and that's reason enough for me to kill you! Don't be too rash! If you kill me, Crimea will surely suffer! I will silence your lying tongue, degenerate!...Crimea will suffer? An interesting claim.
Have a care, Crimean count! If my knowledge dies, so does your only hope of saving that man! Hmm...it's true that your knowledge is a valuable asset. Ah, my noble count! You are most merciful! I have some knowledge of anatomy. Once you are dead, perhaps I will dissect your brain and see if I can identify the root of your intelligence. Y-you monster! What you suggest is unconscionable! Exactly, yet you had no hesitation before doing worse to the laguz. I will speed you now to the afterlife, where you may contemplate your life's egregious mistakes.
I saw the results of your experiments at Gritnea Tower. The mutilated bodies...the rotting flesh... It was the most horrifying experience of my life. I wonder if my nightmares will pass when I kill you? How could you not see the importance of my beloved research? That was my life's work! Then it is appropriate that you will pay for those terrible crimes with your life. My long-suffering kinsmen, watch as I destroy your tormentor!
Izuka the Cruel... You are the author of this atrocity against nature? What gives you the right to perform your vile works on the laguz! The sub-humans are perfect subjects! What could be wrong with using them? ...She always told me not to let anger and hatred get the best of me, not to let them guide my blade... This will be my only exception.This is another reference to Zihark's long lost laguz lover.
You! You're... ...under a new contract. Good-bye, Izuka. Feral Ones! Kill him! Do it now!...but I think we all know who's got the most right to a conversation.
Ah, my dear prince Pelleas! Excuse me, King Pelleas! I'd assumed that you had been turned to stone. How nice to see you again! But I am saddened to see that you would betray me and fight alongside these shortsighted fools! I found you and set you on the path to royalty! I served you well, did I not?
I know that you've been working for the senate, Izuka. So you found out. Very well. At least I don't need to pretend anymore. It isn't like you will spare my life, anyway. With most of Daein turned to stone, the blood pact can no longer harm anyone. But that doesn't change the fact that you tricked me into risking the life of every citizen of my kingdom. Why would you betray me, Izuka? Were you ever loyal to Daein? Betrayal? What of your betrayal to me? I remember well how you valued one worthless laguz life over mine! It was your betrayal that forced me to abandon my work! You were supposed to be my puppet, a weakling boy-king that I could control, giving me free reign!
...but...
All I did was look for a boy that could pass for the king's son. But... Mother said... She said she was certain that I was her child! Ah yes, Lady Almedha, paragon of sanity! She is certainly fit to identify a boy she hasn't seen in fifteen years. She was so desperate to have her son again that she would have believed anything I told her. No... No! Stop it! Stop talking!
Sadly, Izuka's resistance precludes Pelleas from being able to force his request.
It doesn't save him from Elincia, though.
Go away.
This is quite disappointing, given Elincia's last few levels.
---
Disgusting filth. I can't kill him enough times for what he's done!
I suppose that is all there is, then.
Hey! Count Bastian!
Oh no... Your Majesty, we must return immediately. I will explain everything.---
Shhh! Calm down, sir. It's all right. You are a strong man. You will pull through! Please, you must calm yourself!
Ugh... Ahhhhhh! Grrr...rr... What's wrong, Uncle? Please speak to me! It's me, Elincia! It's no use, Your Majesty. Your noble uncle's mind has been broken... by the drug that creates Feral Ones. No! How did this happen? Uncle! Uncle! You must hold on! Uncle Renning...---
What happened back there? Who is that man? That is Duke Renning, the younger brother of Crimea's last king, and Queen Elincia's uncle. He was next in line to become the king of Crimea, but-- He was believed killed in the last attack by Daein, three years ago. I see. And what's wrong with him now?
Duke Renning was apparently killed three years ago... but as you can see, he is still alive.
When the Mad King heard of his skill, he had Renning kidnapped and gave him the drug that creates Feral Ones. This drug made Duke Renning even stronger, but shattered his mind. He became Bertram, one of Ashnard's infamous Four Riders. After Her Majesty and company defeated him, I had him taken back to my castle. I hoped to find a cure, but I didn't want to raise false hope, Your Majesty, so I kept the secret. However, his mind continued to deteriorate, and there were no signs of improvement.
This man had made himself an aide to the new king of Daein and was not difficult to locate. Feeling that Renning was running out of time, we kidnapped Izuka to learn more of the condition.This explains why Izuka had disappeared way back in Part 3.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, beorc are affected differently by the drug than laguz. Izuka then offered to create an antidote in exchange for his freedom. Did you agree to it?! We refused without a second thought. Such a monster cannot be allowed to roam free. Besides, we know a more certain way to cure Lord Renning. The galdr of rebirth!---
I can't guarantee anything, Elincia. But I will try. Oh, thank you, Prince Reyson! Thank you! Please give me a moment to myself. I must prepare.---
I thought the galdr of rebirth was too powerful and complex for a single heron to perform. Usually, that's true. Right now, however, Ashera's awakening has infused the world with order; I've never felt stronger. What's more, Lord Renning's condition seems less severe than a true Feral One. I think I can do this. Well, you're the expert. Just don't go taking unnecessary risks. I won't, Tibarn. You needn't worry so much. I've grown a lot.---
Uncle! Hold on!
Oh! Thank you, Reyson. Thank you!---
He's asleep with a big, contented smile on his face. He'll be fine. I suppose we should give thanks to Goddess Ashera. Her power gave strength to Prince Reyson and saved Duke Renning's life. It's hard to think of her as the bad guy after seeing a thing like that. Goddess Ashera, huh? I can't die until I see what she looks like.Well, how about that for a dramabomb?
Funny story: Renning had an (unused) portrait in Path of Radiance. Some crafty people at Serenes Forest (I'm assuming) overlaid this portrait with that of Bertram:
And that's the story of how some guys managed to spoil a massive plot point before Radiant Dawn even came out. This wasn't the only thing they deduced from digging around in PoR's files, either.
I guess it's nice to see that IS weren't just making all this up as they go along, however. They clearly had all this worked out in advance.
Boo hoo, we missed the 2500 BEXP for a 10 turn finish. What ever will we do with all the levels we gained in skipping this?
Next time: At long last, the Endgame!