Part 48: Grust to Grust (Prep)

Chapter 20: Grust to Grust (Prep)

Last time, we decided to take down the forces threatening Marth’s rear.



Namely that guy.





I don’t think they really go into detail on the War of Liberation in this game, but it gets mentioned more in the sequel. It’s ancient history anyway, and doesn’t really concern the plot here too much. Anyway, peerless knights:

: the barbarians in the kingdom’s infancy, securing its place as one of the greatest of the Seven Kingdoms. However, the current king, Ludwik, was weak-willed and easily cowed: Dolhr had little trouble forcing him into an alliance. Now he had taken ill, even as Grust suffered its string of defeats at the hand of the league. The once mighty kingdom was poised to fall…

I do like that, by this point in the game, even the narration is pumping up Marth’s team as the kingdom-conquering shitwreckers you are at this point. You’ve already taken down one enemy nation (though it was Gra so ehhhh), so now you’re in the big leagues.




This map is pretty big and spacious, so I figured I may as well show off a Ballistician. I skipped them on the Normal Run, so this is my only chance.




Just a quick note, Ballista are stored under the Bow section of the Convoy. Now then, we got a ton of loot from the Fane of Raman, let’s get to distributing it.




Caesar’s come along pretty nicely.





I’m not sure why promoting to Hero gets you 1 Magic. I’m not complaining, at least it doesn’t take away stats.



Well, speak of the devil.

Ogma is now the sole unpromoted member of the main team. Sorry, Ogma, you’ve kinda fallen behind lately, but I’ll never forget how handy you were in the early game.




Bit of an experiment here, I’m not sure if the Starsphere prevents Staves from degrading. If it does, great! If it doesn’t, eh, I’ve got enough weapons that I’m not super worried about it. The three legendary weapons I have on me have barely been touched anyway.



Stat booster time. Marth is way too slow for a Sword Lord. You only get away with that kind of thing if you’re Ike and you just one-shot the world anyway.




I never really know what to do with these. Hit rates are so generous in this game that Skill isn’t really worth fretting over. So, Marth again.




He has less Magic than Linde. I could have possibly gone with Maria for this, but eh.




Tiki’s most glaring flaw is her garbage HP, so this ought to help her take an extra hit or two with all that Defense/Res.

As another note, Tiki’s a good Starsphere holder as well, because you don’t want to waste uses on the Divinestone. She can also use Bantu’s Firestone, but it’s not nearly as effective.




This map is freakin’ huge and pretty complicated, so let’s get started. The enemy is officially done fucking around, they’re pulling out Generals and Ballistas. One of our fliers can probably reach the latter on turn one, though.

There are two routes to the castle on this map. We’ll start with the lower one.




It’s a lot more open than the path up top, and it’s also home to another fucking Ballista. Some Paladins too, for good measure. That village has a one-of-a-kind item, so it’s in our best interest to get there. It might look like I can just cut northwest from here to reach the castle, but there’s a mountain range in the way.




So we’ll need to continue west...past another Ballista (An Arrowspate too!), and hit up that bridge to loop around. Yes, there are a lot of forts dotted around. If that scares you, I’ve trained you well.




The boss, Lorenz, is surrounded by healers, a General, a FOURTH ballista (ughhh), and a thief, who wants to rush that village. If you read the last LP, it’s probably not a surprise that Lorenz is a little unique, and we won’t just want to kill him.




The top route is accessible by lowering this Bridge. Barst’s Master Key or Julian’s Existence can handle it. There are fewer enemies, but one much larger problem.




Camus himself is guarding the area up here. Camus is a real threat. He’s got his paws on Gradivus, the final Regalia, and he won’t give it up without a fight. A lot of HP, decent defensive stats, and a two range weapon mean you really want to bring your best character, preferably with an anti-cavalry weapon.

Camus is also technically completely optional! You can take the throne without dealing with him, although that means you miss out on Gradivus. Plus that’s hella anti-climactic.

Bonus Content

This is actually from Shadow Dragon, but it involves two characters you...honestly probably aren’t using, Astram and Boah. They can chat on the map, and Boah has an...interesting idea.



: Bishop Boah.

: Ah, Astram. Welcome back. I must say I am relieved. Where would Archanea’s army be without its finest knight?

: Nonsense… I am but one arrow in the quiver. Princess Nyna is the bow. So long as we have her to lead us, Archanea’s light shall never fade.

: Well spoken, child. But let us be honest: that light has not shone as bright since our defeat at the hands of Dolhr. It will take a miracle to restore Archanea‘s prestige after this… Or, perhaps, some clever thinking. If our next king were to be foreign…

: What? A king who’s not Archanean?

: Well, of course, the princess would need to approve of him. How do you feel about it, Astram?

: I don’t. I am a knight. I will leave the feeling to those whose job it is to feel and content myself with serving my kingdom… no matter how the kingdom might change.

: Then you are a loyal knight indeed. Well...the future can wait a tad longer. We have a war to fight first...and win. Archanea’s tomorrow depends on it.


: That it does, Bishop.

Oh boy, it sure sounds like nobody is thinking about this plan! I’m sure it’ll go great anyway.