Part 43: Bonus Chapter #2: Wind and Thunder

Bonus Chapter 2: Wind and Thunder



: Sir Jagen, I’m having...trouble believing some of your stories.

: Why’s that? You know Etzel, don’t you?

: Yes...but that doesn’t mean anything you said about him was-

: Fine. Have another tale about Sir Etzel! Then you’ll believe me!

: That still doesn’t…

: Quiet, Chris.




We’re heading back into New Mystery for this one. This is the first of the DLC bonus maps, but I’m playing it second. The order doesn’t matter, they aren’t at all related to each other. This takes place between the two games, as they all do.







: Once ruled by the Dark Pontifex Gharnef, these lands were liberated by Marth during the War of Shadows. However, rumors say the Dark Pontifex still holds mysterious rituals in the ruins that litter the surrounding desert. Following the orders of his teacher Wendell, Merric, wind mage of Khadein, leaves to investigate those ruins…




: Elrean…




Elrean doesn’t appear in Shadow Dragon, but he’s one of Merric’s classmates. His specialty is Thoron, which is way lamer than Excalibur.

: However, what is the meaning of this? Didn’t Gharnef die in the previous war?

: True. But according to Master Wendell, Gharnef's subordinates--the heretic bishops-- are on the prowl.




: Linde... Are you fine with coming here? It's dangerous inside. Maybe you'd better return to Princess Nyna...

Rude as hell, Merric.

: We've already talked over this. I'm an experienced mage just like you. And besides... We're friends, right? And friends always help each other.

: Alright. Then I’ll borrow your strength. Thank you, Linde.



: I’m lending you my strength because I owe Khadein, but...this is going to be a difficult battle.

: For a pacifist, he sure seems to end up in battle, like, a lot.

: You speak truly, Sir Etzel. None of us can withstand many enemy attacks. We must proceed with caution.




Heeding Merric’s words will be important...briefly. You’ll see. For now, let’s go over our characters for this map. Elrean (Now officially localized as “Arlen” thanks to the Heroes poll) is a pretty standard Mage. He’s the second beefiest of our units, and 22 is a pretty good ATK score, so he’ll be seeing quite a bit of use. That second item he has, Aries, just passively buffs his Skill and Luck by 1. Hooray?




Merric himself doesn’t have the same punch Elrean does, but he does still have Excalibur. That’s going to be quite helpful.




Linde, unfortunately, is just not that great on this map. She’s still got great attack power thanks to Aura, but she’s slow and made of tissue paper, and one extra damage over Elrean isn’t a great trade off.




Etzel forgot to bring a cool Tome and thus has the lowest damage on the team, despite his high Magic stat, but his Heal staff is super useful, and he’s tanky enough to eat a hit or two where the others can’t.




There are quite a few enemies on the way, most of them of the Hard Hitting variety. Great. The Fire Dragons don’t appear in Shadow Dragon, but they’re pretty much just Manaketes.




There are also a ton of treasures littered around the map to be pilfered, if we can scrounge up the keys.




The actual goal is to lead our gang of mages through this building, out the top entrance, across the courtyard, and into the top left area.




That’s where the boss Heretic Bishop is waiting. But, keep in mind, this is a “Rout Enemy” map, so every enemy must die for a victory.




Time to finally get this show on the road. Elrean is tanking the first hit, because Etzel couldn’t walk that far already.

: Look well, Merric. This is the power of my magic!




Elrean dishes out a lot of damage, but you can see that our team’s defenses are going to be an issue.




With the myrmidon approaching as well, I pivot Elrean around the Barbarian to get in his range for the next attack, and heal him up with Etzel’s staff. It’s a good idea to push into the building quickly so you have some room for an upcoming surprise.




I’m not going to show all the level ups/item drops in the Bonus map, but hey, this is something.




Despite his decent speed, Elrean still gets doubled. He also doesn’t quite kill this guy. Someone at IntSys probably thought this was hilarious.

More importantly, at the end of the second turn, something happens...




Feena’s a dancer, she doesn’t show up in Shadow Dragon. That other guy, however…




Oh, hey, I’ve heard of you.

: Hey, don’t ignore me!

: Woman... I have no time to waste with you. I have to go and save my sister. Dig yourself a hole and hide or whatever takes your fancy.

: W-wait, you don't have to be so mean! Well, I'm grateful because you saved me when those barbarians tried to kidnap me. But, how am I supposed to get back to town if you just leave me here? You're a man, so you have to take responsibility until the very end. If you do, then I'll...



I love that his portrait actually just disappears.

: Meanie. I bet you've got a terrible relationship with your sister!




Nerve successfully stricken.


: Oh… bull’s eye?

: ...As if. More like you missed the mark completely. But, what gave you the idea?

I really like the mental image of Michalis, usurper king of the Dragon Country, holding a giant lance, sitting on his wyvern and saying “AS IF!”

: Oh, that’s easy. You may be pretty handsome, but you don’t understand a girl’s heart at all. Understand? You know, girls are… Hey, w-wait!




Well, we’ll worry about them later. Linde seems to think she’s that other guy, but I don’t see any Aethers coming from her.





Merric’s battle quote is rather unimpressed. (We’ve already had three screenshots of someone just saying “...”)




So, Feena’s joined the team now, and she’s awful in combat. Anything here well probably kill her in a single round. Don’t let her near any enemies. She does have a talent, though, being a Dancer.



Michalis breaks this map into tiny pieces. Holy shit. Almost nothing here can damage him in any significant manner. 20 Defense, 22 Speed, and 33 attack. This is gross.




Feena’s Dance command, while eating up her turn, lets her allow any other unit to move again. I use it to get Michalis in position to lure the two ranged enemies in this area.






Holy shit.




Reinforcements arrive immediately though, and this looks bad. Or, at least it does if we don’t consider that Michalis is the human embodiment of a wrecking ball.




After this, Feena just dances for him one square south of his current position.




There, both of the attackers on the left side are done for and Michalis has formed a chokepoint. There’s still a danger to the southwest, though. These weren’t the only Turn 3 reinforcements.




: fuck

God. Wyverns blow. Wyverns are basically Manaketes with twelve points of movement. And they fly. We won’t see them in Shadow Dragon, but they pop up in this game sometimes. Thankfully, the game has given us a hammer for this terrifying nail.




While I’m waiting for the Wyverns, might as well have a friendly chat.





: ...Is it not obvious? These foes are hardly a match for me.

: That's Elrean for you. This is your first real battle, yet you're as cool as a cucumber. I'm amazed.

: Naturally.

: Khadein spent thousands of gold searching for the rumored source of Elrean’s power, the Smugsphere.

: As if I would falter and commit a mistake in front of you…

: Huh? DId you say something?

: ...No, I did not. It's time we got back to the battle.




Etze’s able to tank the last Sand Clan myrmidon down here, but we’ll have more pressing issues to deal with soon.




Why yes, the Wyverns CAN reach us already.




Linde cleans up the myrmidon while Etzel gets into position for the incoming wyverns. Merric takes the furthest left spot in that attack range, where he can only be hit by one of them. That way I should be able to take them out a little faster.



Uh, Michalis just stands there.



So this is why Merric’s good here. These are flying units, so Excalibur is a one shot kill. Just like in the main game of New Mystery, Merric is a great answer to the wyvern problem.




The other enemies are also starting to move now.




Thankfully, Michalis (and Feena) are pretty much ready to solo the rest of the map.




On his turn, Merric takes a Wyvern down again, leaving only one alive.




Linde and Elrean team up and down it, while blocking the enemy path to the now critically injured wind mage.




Thankfully, forcing these barbarians to split their attentions between Elrean and Etzel keeps everyone alive.




There’s only one enemy left down here, the Fire Dragon. Etzel sets it up…




And also knocks it down, thanks to this random (but appreciated) crit!




The map is over. I know you see enemies, but the map is over.




Thanks for the chest keys.




Please, hold my chest keys.




Alright, back to work.

I wasn’t kidding when I talked about how broken Michalis is here. It’s kinda fun to play with such a powerful unit, but it sorta defeats the purpose of the all-mage challenge map when the super Dracoknight shows up and just starts wrecking shit. At least they can still open the chests.




This is okay, I guess. It’s a Vulnerary that heals you to full HP. Cool, but you probably won’t need it on this map.




What’s he even doing here?




: ...The wind mage, is it?

: Why did you come to these ruins…?

: I don’t need to answer.

: Ah, please wait. If you aren’t our enemy, then I wonder if you could help us? If we could fight together…

: I refuse. I'm not like Prince Marth. I don't intend to rely on others. But, indeed... If you don't get in my way, then I suppose I could lend you my strength.

: Feena clearly has a type.

: It’s called “bad taste”, Sir Jagen.

: Naga damn.




Another really cool item that’s...not good on this map? I guess Feena could use it?




The Lady Sword is E rank with major Might and only usable by women. Feena could use it, but Michalis already one rounds everything.




Michalis could use this, but he already one rounds everything.




This is a worse Excalibur. I don’t know why it’s here.




Anyway, the boss.




Well







“Definitely us, with no help, just us mages.”

: Merric, look.

: Hmm? This magic circle... Apparently, the heretic bishops were planning to hold some sort of ritual here. Not only that, but this is Gharnef's... forbidden magic...

: Bah, is that all you’ve noticed? Look at this offering and the pattern of the circle... I'm sure Master Wendell has taught you what they mean.

: Ah! I see. This is... Dark magic to raise a dead body back to life... Were the heretic bishops trying to resurrect Gharnef's body?

: What fools. There's no point in resurrecting the body if the soul is no longer here. Although, had they suceeded in this ritual, they might have given birth to a monster taking Gharnef's appearance...

: Indeed. But it seems we managed to avoid that. That’s because we worked together. You too, Elrean.

: ...Hmph. Don't misunderstand. I didn't fight for your sakes or anything.

: I still want to thank you. Because you're helping me. Right now.



Good luck not reading all Elrean’s lines with a British accent now.

: But ever since the War of Shadows ended... You've been acting nuttier than usual. Is it because of Prince Marth?

: You're correct. Ever since I was a child... I wanted to protect those precious to me. I studied hard, here in Khadein, because I really desired that power. However, being together with Prince Marth, and fighting that war by his side... I learned something. That the key to success, more than pursuing power alone... is to join forces with your comrades.

: …

: Elrean, you always rejected me when I asked you to be my friend... But, I hope we'll be able to fight side-by-side again, like we did this time. If we join forces, even Gharnef would be no match for us. That's what I believe.

Him being dead probably helps with that.

: Merric… ...Hmph. I’ll think about it. There might still be enemies hiding. Merric, let’s split up and search around.


: Got it!




: ...Comrades, huh?



Oh no, this again.


: What!? Who’s there…!?

: ...Don't let yourself be deceived. Everyone else is an enemy trying to trick you... Envy, hatred... That's the source of your power... Just as it is mine…

I really like this scene, because, as you learn in FE12, emotions and overstimulating emotions is sorta Gharnef’s gimmick, and it makes him a way cooler villain.


: You...don’t tell me you’re…

: Heh heh heh...





: ...Sir Etzel was barely in that story.

: ...So, I was about to get to the bridge part…

Bonus Content



Successor of the Super Magic, Merric