Part 28: It Takes Ages (Battle)

Chapter 12: It Takes Ages (Battle)

Today we’re taking on the Ageless Palace, another map that will return in nightmarish form in the sequel. It’s got some tricky bits in this incarnation too, but I should be able to handle it.

If I couldn’t you wouldn’t be seeing the update. It is a hella long update though, as that seems to be my curse with Archanea themed maps.

: Bishop, what do you make of this? I hear shouting in the corridors.



Boah really does just look like in human form.

: An army?! Really? Then we are saved!

: Saved, perhaps...or doomed. Surely the enemy realizes we are more trouble alive than dead now.

: You do not take my meaning, Bishop. By “we” I mean Archanea. Archanea is saved. If Princess Nyna has truly come to chase the enemy from our halls, to free us…Then my death will have meaning.

Nyna ain’t gonna do shit. She’s got a Sage sprite but she’s never playable.

: Ho ho...I admire your spirit, child. I always have. But think how Astram would grieve if you were to die.

: I... I had hoped to see him one last time- to say goodbye. That alone I regret.

: Ah, but you have not died yet, Midia. Hang on to hope.



Immediately I want this free sword. These thieves really are just designed to be item dispensers. 9 Attack and 2 Defense in Chapter 12?





They didn’t even pretend with these jokers.





As seen again.




So, I’ve moved Abel and Hammer Barst to draw out the Knights. But, all my units have moved, so...I’m not sure why my turn’s not…




Oh. Yeah, all these guys just…appear in this cell at the start of the map. And they’re all automatically joined up. The archers and mage outside the cell will be shooting at them, so you’ll have to move quickly if you want to save them. There are two safe squares in the top center there, and ideally you can try to tank the mage with Boah, and the archers with those knights...but on harder difficulties that really still won’t last you long.

Regardless, they’re all new units, so let’s do the rundown thing.

Boah sucks. Like, worse than Jagen sucks. Not only does he have atrocious base stats, his personal growths consist of 20 Luck, 10 Res, and…-10 HP. He’s got a B in tomes, I guess, but...that’s not really saving him.




Midia the Paladin is yet another of Shadow Dragon’s “here have a horse” characters. I think she’s the final Paladin/Cavalier, though, and she’s probably the worst of the bunch. She’s got a notably solid HP growth, but she’s really hurting for Strength, and her weapon levels aren’t even worth noting. Again, Jagen had the edge here.




Macellan’s the Red Knight, and he’s not as bad as those first two, but he’s not great. He doesn’t have any notably great growths, and some really bad ones. (Zeroes in HP and Defense as a Knight.), as well as showing up notably underleveled and at 3 Speed. Regardless of his decent base defense, the enemies here will melt that 20 HP pretty quick with doubles.




Dolph’s the Green Knight. I actually kinda like Dolph. He’s not exceptional, but he doesn’t have any huge, glaring weaknesses. He’s underleveled and you’d need to baby him if you wanted to use him, but he turns out pretty alright.

That’s not really a reason to use him over Roger, Draug, or Wolf, but...it’s more than anyone else here gets.




Tomas is so boring I almost just don’t have anything to say about him. He just...doesn’t really stand out anywhere. His base stats are bad, his growths are “eh”, and he doesn’t get a single line of dialogue in the entire game.

So as you can see we’ve got some real champions here, it’s a mystery how Archanea ever fell.




Maybe if they had more Barst? That would have helped.




I shimmied the prisoner units around a bit to try and minimize damage. If I was smart I’d have made Boah distract the mage, but I’m not. So this is an EXTREMELY tight clock.

Why yes, I am going to cheese it.




When I said it was tight I wasn’t kidding. Caeda and Cain, the fastest movers on the team, rushed full bore and it’ll still take them a few turns. I don’t really have that kind of time. Thankfully this map has already sorta given you the tool to circumvent it.




Case in point. Dolph isn’t living through another hit of that. I could shuffle Boah out, but it would only buy me very little time.




It’s also probably worth mentioning that the enemies aren’t sitting still while I play Prison Break here. The mages down south are rushing the team.




DEPLOY SECRET WEAPON



CODENAME: BARST DROP




(c’mon maria)



The Barst Drop is swift and merciless.




Everyone else is just sorta meandering their way forward. I’ve got to cut those mages off eventually.




Oh, so, here’s something to worry about. Reinforcements from the outside of the castle. Two Cavaliers and a Horseman. And they’ll be spawning for a while.




Well, we’ll worry about that sooner rather than later, but for now I have to watch both of these archers whiff on Barst.



There we go. Thankfully this map provides you with a pretty ideal chokepoint right where these halls converge.




Thankfully Barst and Marth can clear up the remainder of these assholes who were harassing our prison pals.




Also might as well open a door here. Julian’s not doing anything else at the moment.




Also, to add to our troubles, Heimler and his Cavalier goons aren’t happy with us now, so we’ve got even more incoming threats from the south.




The first set are kinda pushovers, though.




I’m not upset, just disappointed.




The second mage is a little more of a threat, due to his Elfire tome. Thankfully he drops it on death, Cord or Linde will want their hands on that.




Marth also officially cleans up the last of the prison guards.




You know, it’s two stats, but one of them is Strength, so I’m okay with it.




Turn 5, a new set of Reinhorsements. This is going to happen every other turn, yes.




And the first group is almost here. We have a medic on standby.






Yikes. Even against Abel, our most defensive not-Wolf character, these guys make a dent. I’d also like to apologize for these level ups if you come from the more recent, or less recent and Not Shadow Dragon FE games. It was a simpler, more frustrating time.



Perhaps it is time to reevaluate the chokepoint and make it NOT on a corner.

I even could have cheated and looked at the last LP. Whoops.






Ah well, no harm done. Except to Abel.




A little emergency Blizzard from Linde and the hall is clear of the first mounted menace.




Speaking of Mounted Menaces, though, Caeda needs to Vulnerary up here. It’s been mentioned in the thread that I got hella lucky with Caeda’s Defense growths? We’re about to see that in action.




Yes, yes, I see you guys.




I now present to you, Caeda.






Who killed both Cavaliers and brought Heimler down to 1 HP in one turn





This is just the ultimate disrespect.




Yoink.




At least being a meatshield is doing wonders for Abel’s lancing arm.




Not so much for his lance, though.




I was hesitant to use this, since the Javelin’s got range, but now I don’t have a choice. Guess these Riders are just gonna have to get Bane’d.




I’m using Physic because that Horseman could probably double and kill Maria.




Linde will be okay, though.



What did I do to you, level up machine. What did I ever do to you?




Insult to injury here, but at least this is the last batch.




Abel’s stinging a bit, though, so he’s going to draw back and heal up while Barst takes on a bit of his work.




I love this pirate.




The level up machine has forgiven me, evidently. I just realized Maria is probably our best tank against mages right now.




So while all that tomfoolery is going on up top, a small strike team is moving to take out this manakete.

They are cunning. They are capable. They are Caeda, Cord, Cain, and Caesar.

They are the C-Team.




Caesar does all the work, but that’s pretty much how these teams tend to function anyway, isn’t it?




Barst just refuses to be hit by arrows on this map.




Thankfully Maria’s still good at what she does.



...Shit, I left the Wyrmslayer on Ogma.




My hubris!




This is of little comfort.




I’m sorry about all these Barst levels. But only a little.


Still, that 1 new Defense isn’t going to save him against this last wave.




Subbing Abel back in.





I’d say it was a good choice.



That’s all the reinforcements out of the way, but there’s still a hallway full of treasure to plunder. Plunder team is a go.




Marth positions himself to lure out the general.




The general does not come. Good news, though, here’s a chest of 20k gold! Shadow Dragon’s not a game where you’ll be hurting for funds.




Julian’s also starting to collect these. We might even use some of them soon.





Maria gets a pretty great level (And Staff Level) just by healing up the units who are still a bit dinged up.




Maybe this will convince him to move. I don’t want to get too close to that door, because Mr. Silver Bow Sniper is not a kind host.




Ah, that woke him up.




Thankfully it woke him up directly into Aura. Goodbye, General.




Ooh. Not bad. The Arms Scroll automatically gives a unit a rank up in the weapon of your choice. Great for reclassing.




The last two chests are under the cover of the sniper, so we’ll have to take him down. This guy is probably the toughest enemy so far, he makes the boss look like a chump.




Thankfully Aura is still a tactical nuke. I needed to weaken him with Barst first, though, or he would double and kill Linde. Silver Bow Sniper Guy don’t fuck around.




More speed for Linde is always good.




I will remember you, nameless enemy NPC, for being a pain in the ass.




This isn’t a particularly interesting piece of loot, it’s just the Wyrmslayer but a Lance.




Taking out the boss’s remaining guards is trivial, since they can’t attack.




And the final treasure is...a Silver Sword.

Really? You guys put all the best stuff towards the unguarded part of the room! No wonder Archanea Castle keeps getting ransacked.




Don’t mind me, Boss, I’m just opening a door.




No sense dallying, I suppose. Here we come!





And there he goes. As a Bishop, Volzhin isn’t particularly tanky, even with the Throne. His exclusive Tome, Bolganone, is neat, though.





Fun facts about Bolganone, Robin uses it in Smash Bros. and it’s apparently pronounced like “Volcannon”, because “bolganone” doesn’t actually mean shit. I figured it would be an obscure mythology reference like Imhullu, but nope!




It’s easy to almost forget, but there’s still this shop and Chest in the bottom right of the map, where Heimler started.






There’s the good shit. The Boots are a permanent +2 Movement. Nothing else in the game, bar promotions, gives movement. There is only one pair. You will want to give them to Marth, so he can scoot around to villages and stuff faster.




The shop is less exciting, just a lot of swords. I bought a few anyway because we’re loaded.


Anyway, Map Clear!






: I could not have done it alone, Nyna. The whole Archanean League fought tooth and nail this day.

Except Nyna, who did nothing.


: True, and yet all the same… I have little doubt your exploits are the ones that will live on in song. I have a gift for you, to celebrate your achievements here.




: The other two regalia- the sword Mercurius and the lance Gradivus are not here. The enemy took them when they fled. I am sorry. I had hoped to give you all three, and thus aid you in the battles to come….

I don’t think we can use either of them yet anyway.

: Your concern for me is more than enough, Nyna. One day, I will get your family’s treasures back and use them to crush Dolhr. I swear it on this emblem of fire!




And so we got the best Bow in the game .

Next time:




: Sir Jagen! Have you covered that narration slide in crayon?

: Yes.

: But...why?

: Because I’ve just realized, again, I’m telling this story completely wrong! Let me correct things…

Next time, actually, a return to the Normal mode run for another Gaiden chapter.

Bonus Content



The Love-Longing Knight, Midia

Not to be confused with Medea, the witch, Madea, the Tyler Perry character, or Media, the main means of mass communication/healing spell from SMT.