Part 34: Gra'dess Of The Skies (Battle)

Chapter 14: Gra’dess Of The Skies (Battle)

Time to put a stop to one of the countries in Dolhr’s evil confederation. Unfortunately it’s the lamest one, but it’s progress.




I put Beck in for this map because he has higher Strength than Jake right now, and I don’t care a ton about growths, since I don’t want to use the Ballisticians much.







: B-beggin’ your pardon, sire, but everybody calls ’em the League now.




Why are there so many generic NPCs with more personality than our actual cast?

: Shut up, you idiot! Hmmm…So the princeling has returned. And he leads all the might of Archanea, with the Fire Emblem in hand…Did you send to Dolhr for reinforcements like I asked?

: Of course, sire. Macedon’s pegasus knights are on their way.

: Pegasus knights?! How am I supposed to stop the Lea- those REBELS with a handful of…of winged ponies! Send another messenger! Tell them we need Camus’s Sable Order, or…or Michalis’s Dragoons!

I mean that guy in the chapter before this one said that Camus would be here soon, but I guess he was lying. As Ballisticians do.

: I deserve the same protection as the rest of the Empire! Betraying Altea was Gharnef’s idea! Let…let him fight the brat! Don’t just stand there, DO something! I don’t want to die!

Immediately it’s time to get rid of that Ballistician. Beck’s on the case!




By the way, this is what it looks like when you miss with a Thunderbolt. Thanks Beck.



Thankfully we still have our reliable backup in Cord.




Here’s another free Ballista that’s probably not getting used, because wow, the hit rate is awful.




Well, I can still use Barst to open this Bridge, at least. Despite Beck’s miss, the opening portion of this map is still really simple. This isn’t too hard of a chapter if you know how it works.




I’m basically just massing people to go south across that bridge, there’s no reason to wait around at the start of this one.




I was regretting not equipping the Hammest at the start of this turn, but Barst does fine without it.




Hey, that’s cheating.




Cord finishes him next turn, though.




Unfortunately I am now painfully aware of how horrendous Cord’s HP is. That shouldn’t matter much, because he shouldn’t be getting hit often, if at all, but it’s still worrisome.




The most difficult part of this map is probably the northwest corner. Those bowmen can do a lot of damage to Marth as he walks across.

So I cheated and used the Warp Staff.




How efficient.




A mystery man!


: This magic tome belongs to Bishop Boah of Archanea. General Volzhin of Dolhr has been keeping it stashed away, but it…found its way into my hands, you might say. I would appreciate greatly if you could return it to the good bishop in my stead. One other thing… Please take care of Princess Nyna. I am counting on you to keep her safe. …I must go now. But our paths will cross again; you can be certain of that.




Well, I have no idea who that was. Siriusly.




Thoron is a pretty damn good Tome, so naturally we won’t give it to Boah. Cord or Linde should get some good use out of it, though.




And if I’m already committing to one instance of Warp Staff shenanigans, why not double down?




This is pretty much the Fire Emblem equivalent of a nuclear strike. Except that the nuke also has a pointed stick and never dies.




The Cavaliers rush us next, and they can do some decent damage. Still, they’re slow enough to be doubled, and that’s all our units really need.





And that should remove Fortify from the map. Fortify, by the way, does not heal the user, which is why this was even possible.




Marth takes one shot at most here, so he should be just fine.




Beck’s also helping Wolf out by hammering the Longbow wielders from afar.




This might have been a little overkill.




Maybe this too. But it was funny.




The other Cavaliers from the throne room are coming around the south passage, so I’ll have Abel attract their attention with a Ridersbane. General Fire Emblem tip, your enemies are usually pretty eager to gore themselves on even effective weapons if they can do damage to the character.

Julian’s there to loot the treasure room, and Barst/Cord are his bodyguards.




Caeda, this is like the first time you’ve disappointed me.




Caesar had to run cleanup. That’s not a good look for you.




Thankfully this Steel Bow guy denies his Longbow wielding friend a chance to even fire at Marth, because he really wants to shoot that zero damage arrow into Wolf!




The soldiers of Gra are not famous for their intelligence.



Not terrible, but I’d like a Strength point soon. Abel’s also pretty near max level and promotion. I may promote him early, since I’m probably not hitting 20/20 on this run, I’ve spread the experience too thin already.




Still speaking of Abel, he’s blocked off those thieves now.




This is nice.




The other guy does a suicide run for 1 damage. You may be starting to sense a theme.




Always pretty handy.




Wolf absorbs the weapon expertise of his fallen foes.




Beck only absorbs my disappointment.




At this point, everyone’s just sorta standing around in the courtyard, aside from the four I have looting the treasury, and Wolf, who’s doing his thing.



Enemy Phase 5 brings reinforcements, though!




Wait a minute.




Oh, these are GOOD reinforcements!




Everybody stands behind Marth to try and make him look cooler. That’s the kind of respect you get in the League of A’s.




Also, that’s the end of the bowmen.




I mean, except this guy. This man is a huge pain in the ass, because he’ll shoot Julian if he opens that door. So I’m going to try and kill him through it first.




Catria and Palla both recruit themselves on Marth, by the way.

: My elder sister and I heard our mistress, Princess Minerva, had joined your ranks, so we absconded from Macedon to come and look for you here. I will fight my hardest for you, sire. You need only give the command.



: My younger sister and I parted ways with Macedon the moment we heard Princess Maria was free. Until now, we had fought for Dolhr against our will- but no longer. You have freed us to do what our hearts tell us is right. I wish to fight with my mistress, Princess Minerva. My lance is hers, and yours. Still, sire, I fear for my youngest sister, Est. She flew to Grust some time ago and has yet to return. If the three of us- Catria, Est, and I- are reunited, we can serve you all the better. I hope Est is safe.

We’ll worry about that later.




Dammit Cord, one more point of Magic!




Don’t mind me, just setting up a little blockade here. Let’s talk about our new units.




Palla kicks ass. She has amazing HP for a Peg Knight, and a good Skill growth, but perhaps most importantly is her personal Strength growth of 45%, tied for the highest non Wolf/Sedgar in the game! She comes with a B in lances and plenty of room to grow as well. Her Speed growth is abysmal, but being in a fast class and a base of 13 helps to remedy that a bit.




Catria is extremely similar to her sister. She also owns at...pretty much everything? She’s not quite the Goddess of the Skies she is in the sequel, but she’s pretty damn close, with good growths in practically every single stat. Her bases are a little rough for this point in the game, but with a few levels in her tank she’ll start tearing enemies apart in no time.



Time to storm a throne room, I guess.




Cord pulls through for us! Not even close.




These enemies are Knights, and that Rapier’s just begging to get broken here soon enough. Might as well.




These two shops are also open, but they don’t really have anything too interesting.





Door Key could be nice if you forgot to bring a thief/key and need to open that up, and that Armorslayer is of course nice against King Jiol.




Turn 8’s enemy phase starts the final challenge of this map. Two Pegasus Knight reinforcements from the spots Catria and Palla arrived. One of them will always have a Steel Lance, and the other a Javelin.




Marth’s got this.




Thankfully our Mercenaries are also crit-happy today.




Like, seriously.




I haven’t had the best luck with Cleric level ups. But that Res is certainly something, at least.




Finally, I can get into this treasure room.




The other Knight by Jiol’s side falls to Marth doing the exact same thing.




Also, don’t judge me, this is free Catria EXP. The best kind.









This is a good, one of a kind treasure. If you’re carrying this, everything in every shop is half off. It’s more useful in other FE games where money is more important, but certainly nothing to turn up your nose at here.

I’m going to sit around and grind EXP out of the Pegasus Knight reinforcements before killing Jiol. I’ve cut that out because it’s the same thing, over and over, but I’ll show the level ups.




Perhaps this was a mistake.







Slight pause for how rad Catria is. This is her at level 5.




Soon she will destroy worlds again.




On turn 15, the reinforcements stop. I know I made the Hammest for Jiol, but I figure it’s more dramatically appropriate if Marth gets to avenge his dad.

Also he’s level 12 and that’s making me sad.




Sadly Jiol has no special battle lines. I don’t think anyone does in Shadow Dragon.




Off to a rough start. Thankfully, Marth has friends.





Magic friends.



That’s for you, barely present, faceless dad!




You know, I’ll take it.




This is a good reward, though. Wolf’s probably going to want it.




After the VIP card this is pretty .








: Yes, and take it back I shall, but…

: Something is wrong. What troubles you?

: Falchion isn’t here.

: The divine blade? Was it supposed to be?

: Yes. When one of my knights returned from the battle where my father, Cornelius, fell….he said Gra had stolen Falchion. And if we are to defeat Dolhr and the Shadow Dragon, Medeus…we need that blade.




Oh wow, Malledus, I forgot you were in this game.


: Did you find it, Malledus?

: No...it seems Gharnef made off with it.

: Gharnef? Then, to find Falchion…

: That’s right. We’ll need to go to Khadein, the kingdom of magic, where he resides. It pains me to turn astray when Altea is so close, but it must be done.




Next time we take a slight detour into Wizardville.

Bonus Content



The Second Daughter of the Three Pegasus Sisters, Catria