Part 48: Chapter 19B: Battle for Bulgar

Chapter 19B: Battle for Bulgar



As a center of commerce between Etruria, Bern, and Ilia, Bulgar has had a history of being free city without a ruler. However, with Bern's invasion, Advisor Roartz now had control of the city under Bern's protection.

Roy approached Bulgar to liberate it and to gain some useful information on invading Bern.





Could they not have given me the time to at least set up a defense!?

Yes, how entirely inconsiderate of us. Pack it up boys, we'll be back in a day or two. Wouldn't want to be unfair or anything.

Besides, we’re not dumb enough to believe we have an advantage just because the game tells us we have an advantage.



You can retreat to the palace and fortify your defenses there.

...Can you hold them back?

We must at least try.

If you do not know whether you can win or not...

Then what would you do? Flee? Tell me, just where do you think you can hide?

...

General Brenya has given me orders to protect you. I will do so with my life. But you must not be afraid to fight, either!

...A-All right... Then I shall fortify the inside and leave the outside to you.



Why should we fight for a coward like him?

Don't say that. General Brenya didn't willingly tell us to protect him. She had no choice because they betrayed Etruria and joined forces with Bern. ...Therefore, we must fulfill our duties as warriors.

...

I have also gotten hold of information that the allies of the Silver Wolf are lurking around here. Keep your guard.

Yes, sir.



...We fight again today.

Yes... I am sorry that I cannot find the time to talk with you at leisure.

Please, do not worry. ...My brother started this in the first place.

Princess...

...Yes?

May I ask the reason why Bern's former king tried to murder King Zephiel?

...Zephiel and I were born from different mothers. I am actually only his half-sister.

I heard that Zephiel's mother was the queen* of Etruria.

Yes. It was an arranged marriage to strengthen the tie between Bern and Etruria. However, our father already had a woman he loved at that time. That was my mother.

...

The marriage between our father and Zephiel's mother was forced. Therefore, our father didn't love Zephiel's mother, and always thought badly of Zephiel.

Then is that why the former king and King Zephiel had a bad relationship?

No... Even then, Zephiel was always trying his best to gain our father's affection. He excelled in his studies and military training, and he was always trying hard. He grew to become a proud heir to Bern's throne.

Then why did the king try to...

???: Master Roy! We are ready for the attack!

All right, I'll be there in a minute! Princess Guinevere, I'm sorry, but...

No, it is all right. Please be careful.

*Whoops

Retcoooooon!

Now this is actually interesting because it expands on what we know from FE7 - the two big takeaways from this are who exactly Queen Hellene was and her relation to Etruria, and the actual reason behind Desmond's hatred of Zephiel and the FE7 assassination attempt. As to what caused this one...well, we won't be hearing that story for another chapter or two.



But now is not a time for words. Rather, it's time to sack the shit out of Bulgar. In the west, Shin and Tate hang out to kill the nomads as the rest march to the northwest entrance to the city. Miledy and Percival do the same in the east as Fir joins the west crew, with the remainder of the the eastern troops heading to the northeast breakable wall.

See? What did I say about the game telling us we had an advantage? And what was with that “no time to set up a defence” bullshit?



Some day your luck will turn around, Saul. Even if we have to force-feed you idols blessed by the goddess herself.





Just when we thought Bern had finished invading, now we have to deal with Etruria. Sigh...

...

Small wonder. This is a large trading city. Any army would want control of it. Well, then...

H-Hey, wait, where are you going?

I'm going to watch the fight. Let's see how worthy that Roy is.

What, now? But...

Don't you worry about me. Everything will be fine.

*Dayan and Niime leave*

What? Hey, wait! You're leaving, too?

It would appear we have some guests. Neither appears on the map or anything, but we can only visit the red roof houses, so who knows where the hell they ran off to.



Woo Tate, you show that nomad what-for.



Let's play "Spot the trend" with this chapter's levels. I promise it's going to be an exciting game.

Remember when we used to be able to pretend that this was somehow my fault? Wasn’t that convenient?



This is literally the only time anyone has ever advocated attacking a nomad at range from a flying mount.



Did I mention there's a sleep asshole? Because there's a sleep asshole. To be honest, he's not really much of a threat in the first place on this map - doubly so since it's Gonzales who is a brick wall of HP.

There comes a point in every Fire Emblem game where, really, you don’t need to mention that there’s a Sleep Asshole.



The wyverns on either side are your standard group and aren't very threatening unless you're trying to fight them off with Shin and Tate like I am. There's also a Killer Lance wyvern, but he and the Wyvern Lord are the only two of note.



Have you figured out the theme yet?







It’s less than you might think. I did the numbers on this; the chances of none of these attacks connecting (all of them being OHKOs) is ~37%, including adjustments for True Hit. Not a miracle exactly, though admittedly not a chance you really want to find yourself taking.







This single point of speed means Miledy can now double nomads with the Iron Blade, which drastically speeds up her sword training.



Percival, Miledy, and Echidna get to work on the east wall, taking it down over two turns.

I’ll never stop being slightly exasperated that walls can’t be doubled. Are they too fast for us?



The west wall is broken down quickly afterward.



I want you to open the front gate to let the reinforcements in when they arrive.

Yes, sir.

This is actually a fake out. Gel says this on turn seven, but said reinforcements don't appear until turn 13 or so.

Oh god, they’ve figured out we can listen in on them and now they’re feeding us misinformation



I love prepromotes, don't you?



Lugh, you are the worst at dodging Silence.



The swordmaster to the south has a Killing Edge, but he can't actually hurt Miledy. The biggest threat to her right now is one of the archers by the boss who has a longbow. And speaking of longbows...


Here, take one. Use it to drive Bern's soldiers out of here! [Got Longbow]



You are the smuggest motherfucker for having just gotten nothing but resistance.



Our first reinforcements of the map - the wyverns are a joke, considering Gonzales is right next to them, but the nomads are more problematic. Tate is still asleep, and even with the Delphi Shield she's still taking ~7 damage a shot out of her 32 HP.



Come on, all he's going to do is stand there and get some free swag for listening to some random villager say a few lines.

The fact that visiting characters never actually say anything notwithstanding (although I guess you can say that they are implied to have said things, like the Silent Protagonists of old), this is a nice bit of attention to detail. It also prevents units from Talking or Supporting, although not from talking to bosses and such. Oops.



Bors out-crits a Swordmaster for a pretty awesome level.


But now that they've taken over the city, they won't pay me anything! Here, I'll give you this dragon-slaying sword, so can you do something? I've been hiding it from them... You know why, don't you? [Got Wyrmslayer]



There's a second breakable wall on either side of the boss chamber, but there's really no point to opening it. Igrene puts a few holes in the longbow archer across from here instead.



Shin and the just-awakened Tate get to work killing the nomad reinforcements.



Really, Fir? The one time I need to you to crit and you just land twice.


...so I'm not stealing it! I'm sure I can sell it... Whoa! A-Are you from Bern? No, I wasn't stealing this sword! See ya! [Got Wo Dao]

Free Wo Dao! And it's kind of funny because I sent Miledy, so he was right.



You're in bad shape as a caster when you get doubled by generals.

To be fair, there are Generals, and then there’s Bors.



Oujay pulls an excellent level by critting the nomad trooper.



shit shit shit that hit should have killed Miledy. A nomad trooper ignored her earlier in the turn to attack Lilina instead.


People used to buy them before, but I had to close my shop because of the war. Here, take one... They won't sell anyway... [Got Energy Ring]



This poor sage is the last enemy aside from the boss. Percival whiffs twice, and Echidna kills him off.



Oh wait, forgot about you guys. Let's fix that.





Turn 12 finally opens up the front gate, which would be a lot more dangerous if we hadn't already routed the damn map.

Who’s even opening the gate?


Well, I used to say that to trick people, but I can't do business with the war going on. Here, take one. It won't bring you any luck, though. [Got Goddess Icon]

I see what you did there, game.

Last village for the chapter. Nothing left to do but clean up the boss now.



Healbot level for Ray.



Woo, word salad. This is another warning, what he's actually saying is to have the troops hiding start the attack. What this means is that on turn 15, a bunch of myrmidons spawn near the various villages. Some of them are apparently nastily armed. I wouldn't know, because I murdered the shit out of Gel before they spawned.

Oh for the love of-

“Tell the troops hiding in the houses to start attacking”.

THIS IS NOT DIFFICULT.



Bors and Oujay form up to block off the main gate. It proves unnecessary.



Gel is a righteous pain in the ass. Swordmasters are bad enough in a game with low overall hit rates, but the fucker is sitting on a gate for an extra 20 avoid, and he isn't weighed down by the Light Brand at all. He's not particularly powerful (Once again, Bors could effortlessly tank him), but you do want to stick with ranged attacks to negate his crit bonus where you can.



Behold my blade...as I swing it for the last time.



...Or Lugh could totally invalidate him in a single attack.

Remember, kids, magic weapons are subject to the Magic Triangle!



Time to wrap it up, Gel.





This is a running joke whose punch line wasn't funny ten chapters ago.

That’s a matter of perspective.



A few reinforcement stragglers pop up, but they don't stand a chance. We're only still here to grind some supports.



The shop does sell Divine tomes, so we grab a few along with some Aircaliburs. The armory sells Iron and Silver weapons if you're looking to stock up, but we don't buy anything.



You're not too bad, are you?

Wh-Who are you!?



I said you couldn't come in. Master Roy is very busy.

What's the matter?

Well, Master Roy, she kept pestering me that she wanted to see you. But you were busy, so I was trying to drive her away.

Listen to me first. Then you can decide whether you want to get rid of me or not. I think I have information that you might be interested in.

...What is that?

It's about the humans who change form into beasts.

...I want to speak with her in private. Can you leave the room?

Yes, sir.



Those beasts you speak of...

Right. Dragons.

Dragons... They are not the wyverns that Bern's Dragon Knights ride, but the strange troops that are mixed in with Bern's soldiers...

Exactly. Those are the Dragons that were supposedly defeated in the Scouring.

...Who are you?

I am Niime, a scholar of ancient Dark Magic. Some call me the Hermit on the Mountain. This war...at first, I thought it was just another skirmish, so I didn't pay heed of it. But now...I can feel evil among Bern's troops, so I'm investigating.

Were you able to find out anything?

The Dragons are indeed shrouded in mystery. I looked through many ancient books and scrolls, but I could only decipher so many of them. But...

...But?



Dark Dragon... That is the leader of the Dragons that Hartmut defeated.

Right. Dragons are a much more advanced species then us humans. They have much greater vitality and intellect than us. However, there was one thing that the Dragons lagged far behind the humans in. The Dragons' reproductive system was much less efficient than that of the humans. But even then, the Dark Dragon...it had the power to create more Dragons. That is what I learned from my research.

It can make more Dragons...

The Dark Dragon can create more of its kind. That would explain where Bern has been getting all of its Dragons.

That is possible.

Now, that being said... I want to learn more about the Dragons. Let me accompany your travels. I wield Dark Magic...I'm sure I can be of some assistance.

Of course. We want to learn about the Dragons as well. It may be dangerous, but it that's okay with you, you're welcome to join us.