Part 32: Dragon Girl
Chapter 15: Dragon Girl
...the desert.
Roy's next task was to confront the Revolutionaries in Etruria. However, a messenger from Nabata came to him with disturbing news. Fa, the little Dragon girl, had left Arcadia, following Roy. It would be a disaster if the Revolutionaries or Bern got their hands on her.
Bent on finding her before the enemy, Roy led his forces toward a small fort on the Etrurian border.
Girl? That one that was scurrying around the outskirts of the castle? Are you still worrying yourself over that thing? Just throw her out.
But sir, she was carrying this. ...? Is this...a Dragon Stone? ...That's what I thought, so I decided to report. Have you ever seen a Dragon Stone before? Yes, when we invaded Lycia. The Dragons were carrying them when they were in their human form. ...But it looks different from the ones that they have. Either way, it has to do with the Dragons. We should inform King Zephiel and follow his instructions. Make sure the girl doesn't get away!Well, good to see we've already blown our objective from the chapter overview.
Extreme off-screen incompetence.
Lord Douglas, please do not worry about me. You must return to King Mordred's side.
Hmph, defeating the Lycia Alliance Army is not a task that requires the Knight General's assistance. ...Roartz, that snake. He is wary of my turning against him. He must be thinking that I would try and murder him in his sleep if I were stationed at Aquleia. That man, worrying about traitors? Ha! He shouldn't be the one to talk. Why, he was first to betray his loyalty to the king! The bastard. Well, Lord Douglas, it just goes to show that not many have such loyalty as you. Rubbish. Look at yourself. ...I had no hesitations when Prince Mildain was alive. I never doubted my loyalty to him, or to the wellbeing of Etruria. This mission is to protect the king's life... That...should be enough reason to fight... Do you hesitate now? Yes, slightly. But it matters not. Nothing will change even if I do. I see... 
... Etruria...will most certainly fall with the king before this war ends. ...! Lord Douglas!? Listen! No matter what happens, I will stay by the king's side. But you, Percival, you are different. You are the one who will lead Etruria's future. I cannot say when, but I firmly believe that Etruria will be blessed with prosperity once more. So Percival, you must leave Etruria and wait until that time comes. Lord Douglas! What does... General Percival! We have spotted the Lycia Alliance Army up ahead! What are your orders, sir? Now go! I shall return to Aquleia. *leaves* ...Move out! Pursue the Lycia Alliance Army!
Yes. The locals have witnessed it.
Roy, I apologize on behalf of my people for the inconvenience... I know we must hurry toward Aquleia.
No, please don't worry about it. If she were to fall into the hands of Bern, that in itself would be a disaster. She should be safe as long as she remains in her human form and doesn't show anyone her Dragon Stone. Dragon Stone? Yes. When Dragons are in their human form, they seal their powers into crystals called Dragon Stones. It is said that it takes vast amounts of energy for Dragons to maintain their actual form in this world, so they typically remain in human form to minimize energy consumption. Maybe the 'human not human' was in human form for the same reason. Most likely. It is also said that Dragons only started taking human after the Scouring ended. Since the Scouring...? Yes...
...castle has returned. What did he find out? He said that a large number of troops have been coming out of the castle. They seem to be fortifying their defenses. Oh... Maybe they found out that Fa is a Dragon. The border guards also seem to have noticed us... We have to do this quickly.
Chapter 15 is your breather after dealing with 14/14x. None of the enemies really represent much of a threat and the reinforcements come pretty late, and aren't very impressive to boot.
There’s not much that wouldn’t be a breather after 14/14x. God damn.
Igrene makes her debut with a Killer Bow in tow, and it's so nice to have an archer that doesn't require any babying or other bullshit. Except for the part where we already have Shin, but eh, it's the thought that counts.
Percival is hanging out behind us, but he'll move south after us immediately, so Lalum will be bringing up the rear to bring him around.
Also, the east village? Might want to get a jump on that. Preferably with Lilina in tow. Just a hunch. Let's start with the closer one.
She got taken away to the castle. Here, I'll give you this, so you can rescue her? It was a book that our priest was always carrying. ...He got taken away to the castle, too. But he never returned. [Got Divine]Free spellbook for Saul? I am okay with this.
Fun fact, this guy was in range of Igrene and totally ignored her.
Odd. This doesn’t even inconvenience you that much either, so... who knows.
He chose poorly.
The Valkyrie has Aircalibur, but it's not strong enough to kill Miledy by herself, so Miledy goes and parks herself up in the mountains where no one else can reach her.
A couple of the cavaliers go after Gonzales. He obliges.
Oujay gets the short end of the stick after he misses the cav once and fails to crit on the second hit.
Ouch.
Roy shows him how this shit is done.
Igrene similarly kills off the valkyrie.
And Echidna cleans up this asshole. We press onwards.
It is you, isn't it? I was looking for you! I am... *steps back* Wait! Wait! Stop your horse! Listen to me! Who are you? Don't you know!? I thought we'd met before. ...I sort of recall seeing you at Lord Douglas' manor... Yes! That's me. You do know me, then! But the girl I saw there was a little more...ordinary. What's that supposed to mean? Ah, no matter. Anyway, my name is Lalum. I'm here under the command of Prince Mildain. Prince Mildain...? Don't be daft. The prince was killed in an accident the year before. Well... Look at this! ...! That emblem... It belongs to the prince...! Now do I have your attention? Then take a look at this letter, too. The prince told me to give it to you. ...This is the prince's handwriting... So he is alive! Then I hesitate no more. If the prince has joined the Lycia Alliance Army, then I must do the same. *leaves* Wha-? That was quick... I was hoping things to get more dramatic... Like, 'If you're still going to stand against us, then you're going to cut me down first!' or something like that...And that's that. Percy comes with a Silver Sword and Lance, so he's pretty much primed to kick ass from the word go.
Also, his crew turns neutral and gets the whole survival bonus thing. Fortunately, their exit point is in the southeast corner, and getting them all there alive is trivial.
IntSys showing mercy again? Madness.
Argh! Always with the sprite reuse!
What do we do, Boss?
The army's gonna loot the villages anyway. I suppose we better ransack 'em while we can. Awright, Boss! But make sure you don't do any unnecessary killing, you got that? Got it... *Garret leaves* He's too nice... Well, I guess we can make it the army's fault.
On turn three, these guys show up and start heading for the east village. Garret didn't move with them, but I don't know if that was just his AI bugging out or he's programmed not to move until the village is saved, because I'm pretty sure he moved with them on my practice run.
Standing between us and the village is a rather large group of guys, and Lilina is going to get torn to shreds if we don't murder most of them. So let's do that.
[b]
[/b]For once, Oujay actually crits.
Gonzales lands a crit on his 40% accurate attack and gets a very nice level in response.
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That's a much safer route to the village.
What the hell is your people's problem? That's twice now the AI has ignored Igrene and attacked Lilina instead.
Roy gets revenge for his girl.Maybe the AI just decided it hates Lilina. Lord knows I’d hate her if I was the Fire Emblem AI.
So anyway, Garret. He's alright, I guess. Proto-Hawkeye, basically.
Blah blah tutorial shit. It can repair anything... But the staff itself just rots away. [Got Hammerne Staff]Now that we have this baby, those legendary weapons aren't so fragile anymore.
And this is a wrap for Roy. While this is an above-average Roy, we're stuck with this until the end of Chapter 21x. And he will be much less impressive in Chapter 21. Anyway, he and Percy can have a positively riveting chat.
Wait, it’s that long?! Christ. I’d heard about this shit but that’s just... wrong.
9 chapters from now, to be specific.
General Roy. I wish to join your cause. Would it be all right? Of course! Someone of your ability is always welcome. But why have you suddenly changed your mind? ...Must I answer that question? No, I wouldn't force you if you have a reason not to. Forgive me. I shall tell you when the time comes.
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What? Who are you?
Why? Why do you attack the villages? Eh? Who do you think you are? Tell me why you're attacking the villages! Why? ...Well, I could say that it's your fault. Our fault...? Yup. Because you idiots are causing wars like this, there are more and more people like me who have to steal to get food. We are fighting to help people like that. Right, I've heard that enough times now. Look at reality, kid. They all say that they're trying to help, but it's all words and empty promises. Where's the action? You got your head in the clouds, and you just can't see what goes on on the ground. Get it? Now out of my way.
What!? Listen, I ain't playing games with you. If you don't get the hell out of my way... I won't move. If you want to kill me, then you may do as you wish. What... If I let you pass, I would just be another one of those people who you say are all talk and no action. I am telling the truth! We are fighting to help the people. You... Hehe... I never thought I'd meet anyone so naive. Do you...laugh at us...? But still, it's nice to hear once in a while. Then... All right, you win. I'll stop looting. But you gotta let me fight with you guys. I gotta see with my own eyes that you're gonna be true to your words. Thank you. If you fight alongside us, I'm sure you will understand. Well, you certainly seem confident about that. I'm Garret. And you're... Lilina. Lilina? Well, then, I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, milady.
Oh come on.
Saul murders the cav's buddy in response.
Fir weakens the valkyrie for an utterly fantastic level. Lugh gets fucked by the experience scale.
A little further north, this lineup puts Miledy in range of a single wyvern, and two cavs in range of Lugh, Ray, and Echidna.
I'm okay with this.
This was much closer than I would have liked, but he pulled through.
Lugh finishes the wyvern that attacked Miledy to max out himself. Also in pretty good shape!
I am doubly okay with this. Also swords, but that's not really important right now.
Bors and Echidna are holding the line in the south for asshole reinforcements...that never come. So they stand there for most of the chapter not doing anything.
This is what Fire Emblem does to people.
Ray goes wyvern hunting, gets a pretty dull level.
Good. Send them out. Yes, sir.
He's turning out well, if painfully average.
First things first, you really have to die.
Time for reinforcements. Aside from the guys already down at the castle, two cavs will appear from the castle and two from the fortresses next to Fir. One will always be distracted by Igrene, but the others will frequently go after Fir or Oujay, which is substantially more of a pain. The ones by the castle find Miledy. It works out pretty well for them.
For the next few turns, Ray is basically going to sit here and kill off the cavs that come after Igrene so he can get maxed out.
Fir going to be a giant glowing target for these guys, but fortunately it takes three hits from their javelins to kill her, and when they're only pushing a low 30's hit rate, she's pretty damn safe.
And sometimes they just forget about Fir to attack Miledy instead.
And by "sometimes" I mean all of them do.
That’s it. The AI is glitched. It has to be.
So this is going to be our status quo here. A couple of guys will come after Fir or Miledy, and we'll murder most of them with Saul healing up Fir/Oujay if necessary.
Lalum will be seeing that level a lot since her speed is capped.
Even Percy gets to join in the fun a little bit.
Well that was refreshing. Nothing like a good bout of reinforcement slaughter to clear the sinuses.
Boss time.
Raeth is a joke. His Spear is kinda painful if it lands, but otherwise you can easily blow him out of the water.
There must be a reason that you attack this castle... But what...?
Saul was sitting on 94 exp so I had him start the fight just to pick up his level.
Stand back, kids. The real star of the show is here now.
She isn't human, is she! Why...do you seek her...! To use her power...?Unfortunately, it only nets him 93 exp, so no level.
You found her? All right, I'm coming! Now, young lady, thank Master Roy.
It's okay, Merlinus. ...Now, why did you follow us?
Fa just wanted to see the outside world... What! For such a reason... Do you know how much trouble you have caused? But...but... Fa's never, ever allowed outside! The elders say that Fa has to be hidden... Fa is always all alone...all locked up in her room... ... Master Roy, what shall we do? ...You've suffered a lot. But do you understand that you've worried the elders and caused a lot of inconvenience? Fa's sorry... Really sorry? Yes.
Really!? Are you sure? The enemy might already know about her. In that case, it's better to have her where we can see her rather than letting her go off on her own back to Arcadia. Yay! Hush! Don't get too excited. But you mustn't go off alone anymore. Promise? Yes! Fa promises!
...given, we will station ourselves in this castle and prepare for further attacks from the Revolutionaries. Good. Here, we found this in the castle. Please take it. General Percival, please take care...of Etruria. I know. Leave it to me. [Got Knight's Crest]-----
Level 1 Sniper
Bows - B, Affinity - Ice
HP: 32 (70%)
Strength: 16 (35%)
Skill: 18 (25%)
Speed: 15 (35%)
Luck: 9 (20%)
Defense: 11 (10%)
Resistance: 10 (5%)
Con: 7
Forget Wolt and unless you've been pouring a lot of experience into Dorothy and Klein, forget them too. If you absolutely must have a Sniper on your team, look no further than Igrene. Her growths are pretty bad, but she comes in well on par, and she can easily carry you most of the way to endgame if you can stomach having a sniper in the first place. Sure, Shin is better in literally every way, but I guess if you're shooting for the Ilia route, she's there for you?
Level 5 Paladin
Swords - A, Lances - A, Axes - C, Affinity - Dark
HP: 43 (75%)
Strength: 17 (30%)
Skill: 13 (25%)
Speed: 18 (35%)
Luck: 12 (20%)
Defense: 14 (20%)
Resistance: 11 (10%)
Con: 12
Percival is a monster. Even on normal mode, the only cavalier who is actually head and shoulders above the guy at an equivalent level is Lance, and that's mostly due to his much higher skill and marginally higher speed. Yes, his growths are
Level 1 Berserker
Axes - C, Affinity - Wind
HP: 49 (70%)
Strength: 17 (45%)
Skill: 13 (25%)
Speed: 10 (25%)
Luck: 12 (15%)
Defense: 9 (15%)
Resistance: 4 (5%)
Con: 13
Garret isn't necessarily a bad unit, but he's really underwhelming if you've put any amount of effort into raising Geese, let alone Gonzales. He has some innate utility simply by being a berserker (+30 Crit, fuckton of HP, can walk over Peak terrain), but he's not very fast and his growths as a whole suck aside from strength. If you really want that third berserker he's there, but Geese and Gonzales are much better prospects.