Part 24: Chapter 12x: The Axe of Lightning

Chapter 12x: The Axe of Lightning



...to find the Divine Weapon hidden there. Little did they know that they weren't the only ones who knew about the cave...



Oh hey, I remember this one too!



Oh god, it's you again. And no, this is not the last time we'll be seeing this sprite.

Treeaasure... Where are yooouuu... Answer meee...

Boss...you sure about this? Bern told us to block the entrance to the cave. If they catch us now, we'll be sent back to prison!

Idiooot! We're gonna bury this cave anywaaay... Sooo they ain't gonna know that we took the treeaasure... If we bury the cave without taking the treasure, no one's gonna be able to fiiind it... Have ya ever thought about how the treasure would feel theeen!

Well... Guess you're right.

Boss! We've got company!

Whaaaat? So they think they're gonna take our treasure do theeey? Have the boys near the entrance take them ooouut... And grab all the treasure chests... They're mine nooowwww!



It's pretty dark in here.

I have heard from a scholar in Djuto that the Divine Weapon hidden here is the Armads, the Axe of Lightning.

Armads... This time it's an axe, not a sword.

The Armads was used by Durban the Berserker, the largest and most muscular of the Eight Heroes. A swing from his axe must have been a sight to see indeed.

Elphin, you certainly know a lot about the Eight Heroes and the Divine Weapons.

I am a bard, Master Roy. I know many myths and legends.

I see. I'd like to hear some of them when we have the time.

Of course. ...Master Roy, it appears that we have company in this cave.

We do?

There are also some strange fumes coming out of the walls. We must proceed with caution.



And it's go time.



12x isn't very difficult, as much as they try with the fog of war and reduced unit count. As you can probably guess from all the chests scattered around, there are plenty of enemy thieves around - three to be precise. Fortunately, the thieves are retarded and two of them will gleefully run right to the two chests closest to us.

A secret fog of war map in Fire Emblem isn’t a total asshole?

Fir, Ray, Tate, and Geese are going north, and Roy, Lilina, Astol, and Clarine are going east. Geese smacks around the archer, and Fir and Tate kill the brigand for Fir to get the first level of the chapter.



Gee, what a surprise.



What is this madness?



The fortunate thing about all these chests is that with two exceptions, none of them have anything worthwhile in them. The only things you'll lose to the thieves are Antitoxins and Elixirs.



And it's a good thing for those Antitoxins, because it's yet another old friend - the poison shooters. Nothing's changed here, they do a minor amount of damage and poison you for five turns if you get hit by them. However, much like the lava vents in 8x, they just go off randomly instead of every turn you're in front of one.



Astol isn't looting the chest because I want the enemy to do it. It is an elixir, but I'd rather just let him get away with that and steal his lockpicks to neutralize him.



We're not playing any such games with this guy, though.



Quite acceptable.



Next, let's get to work on this conga line.





Looks like your luck’s not being drained so much anymore. Wonder why that happened?



The north route is pretty uneventful, just a few brigands and archers along the way. Geese is taking point for obvious reasons, and even picks off this archer like a pro.



The myrmidon actually hits Clarine, but Lilina and Astol quickly remedy that. Roy takes the choke point of sorts right above Lilina.



Silly brigands, Poison Axes are useless!



Goddammit Geese, I want to use you, but you're not making this easy.



This is...better. Not that she was setting a particularly high bar before.



Ray polishes off the brigand. Is it just proximity to Fir that does this shit to people?



Welp, wasted that use of a vulnerary on Geese.



Ray and Tate take care of the myrm next turn.



Eclipse assholes. Still not hitting a goddamn thing.

You’d think it wouldn’t be difficult to get enemies to not attack when hit odds are zero, but nooo.



Last enemy on the east side. From here it's a straight shot north to the boss.



Yes, thank you Fir. I promise we didn't forget about you, you don't have to remind us.



This guy is pretty much the worst part of the level. He has Eclipse, Physic, and Nosferatu, and with 17 magic he can fuck up just about anyone in the army's day.



Like so. Anyway, Fir is unironically the only reliable hope the north team has of killing this fucker, so Geese and Tate box him in against the wall while Fir uses a vulnerary. She's fast enough to double the Druid and only needs a single crit with her Wo Dao, but she has to be able to survive the hit in between.



Ray runs down to the center of the map to kill off this stray bandit. Wouldn't want to leave any survivors, after all.



Look at that, she got it on the first try. I'm honestly shocked.



The first of two chests we actually give a damn about on this map.



Last enemies. The myrm has a Killing Edge, and the brigand a Devil Axe, but neither moves.





I particularly like how his sprite fades out while still animating.



Grero is yet another berserker, and I'm not going to bore you with the details again. Ray and Lilina will sit there and unload on him (though Ray is mostly there for moral support with his 29 hit).



And the other chest we give a damn about. Time to go kill the boss.



I love that a crit would instantly gib him.



Rah!





This is what we call a one-track mind.



It's a bit of a gamble, but his hit rate is low enough that we'll probably be okay if Roy misses. He can eat one non-crit hit anyway.



It turns out to be unnecessary.







Hey defense, that's...something...



Hm... I can hear wind coming from behind the throne...

What? I can't hear it... Wait, there's a little niche between the floor and wall... Oh! It opened! ...Is this the Divine Weapon? This axe is huge!

Armads...Durban's axe. It certainly seems fit for a mighty warrior.



I have a message from Etruria... A coup d'etat has broken out at the Etrurian castle city of Aquleia!

What!

The initiators are Advisor Roartz and Lord Arcard. They have caputred King Mordred, and have announced their plan of dividing ownership of the world between Bern and Etruria!

No... The two strongest nations in Elibe joining forces...

Is General Cecilia all right!? And what about Princess Guinevere...

We do not have any accurate information... But we have word that the Three Etrurain Generals have been separated. Sorcery General Cecilia has escaped Aquleia and is headed for the Missur Peninsula in the west.

What about the other Generals?

With King Mordred taken hostage, they have been forced to join the Revolutionaries.

Master Roy...

We need to contact General Cecilia. Princess Guinevere...General Cecilia... Please be safe...



I still don’t like that Lyn/Hector/Eliwood decided to just give up on these things. I mean, if Hector still had Armads...

Two down, six to go. But I don't like the sound of heading for Missur...