Part 64: The Sword of Seals (feat. Wind God Sety)
Chapter 21: The Sword of Seals (feat. Wind God Sety)
More hardships than you know, poorly edited narrator man. More than you know.
Guinevere guided Roy toward the Shrine of Seals, but in their path stood Bern's main forces, the strongest army on the continent, led by Murdock, the leader of the Three Dragon Lords.
Etruria and Bern, the two leading forces on the continent, clashing in all-out war. The longest and bloodiest day yet to be seen by Elibe was about to begin...
Yes, my lord. We are prepared.
Your squad will be the key to winning this battle. Understood? Of course, my lord. I will not let you down. Yes. We shall show them the power of Bern's main forces. Still...that general from the Lycia Alliance Army has made it this far. General Roy? Yes, him. I wish to see how he fights...by going up against him in person.
Bishop Yodel! What brings you all the way from Etruria? Is something wrong?
I did some research after receiving your letter. I have come to the conclusion that Bern has indeed resurrected the Dark Dragon! Is that true!? ...But Hartmut defeated the Dark Dragon in the war. How could Bern have brought it back to life? Apparently, Hartmut did defeat the Dark Dragon, but he did not finish it off. What!? Instead of killing it, he sealed it away in the mountains of Bern. And the sword he used to seal it was...
Oh, did you know?No, actually, I just guessed. It’s not a very creative name.
Yes. I have done a little studying myself... Even if the Dark Dragon has been released, if we can obtain the Sword of Seals, then we may be able to seal it again, or even kill it once and for all. That is the Church's conclusion, and they sent me to ask for your assistance. Do you know where the Dark Dragon is? Yes, that is my next point. As the the fire-breathing Dragons can change into human form, is highly possible that the Dark Dragon can as well. In fact, we have a suspect. There is a shaman called the Dark Priestess whom King Zephiel keeps at his side at all times. The Dark Priestess... We have no solid evidence, but it is true that she appeared at around the same time that the other fire-breathing Dragons started to be seen. ... Apparently, the Dragons sealed away their power in gems called Dragon Stones to change into human form so that they could adapt to this environment. In that case, it would not be surprising if the Dark Dragon was in the form of a human woman as well. In any case, we have to go see her to confirm the truth. Yes. I shall accompany you. You would fight alongside us? That would be most helpful! Also, take these. 
I have instructions to give them to you. Divine Weapons, too!? If the Dark Dragon has really been released, this would be the greatest danger mankind has faced since the Scouring! Yes. We will face it with all our strength!
Welcome to Bern. Standing between us and the Shrine of Seals is the bulk of Bern's army, led by Murdock and Gale. This is not an easy chapter - there are asshole reinforcements galore and the vast majority of them are squadrons of wyvern riders. Think back to the first time you played Cog of Destiny in FE7, and now imagine that every single set of reinforcements are wyverns. You now have the basic The Sword of Seals experience queued up. Everyone's inventories should be stuffed with as many weapons as possible, and anyone that can heal should have at least one staff, preferably of the Physic variety.
Translation: Watch your squishy units.
This was actually one of my favorite maps in the game, and one of the few that I actually remember. Definitely hard, but a lot of fun.
IntSys is not without mercy, however. There are no status assholes, only one Bolting sage (the guy in front of Murdock), and while the rest of the Sages/Bishops do have Physic staves, they don't seem to be very keen on using them.
*eagerly awaits Hard Mode writeup*
Speaking of inventories, sell off anything and everything you can in preparation for the chapter. It's home to the second (and far more gamebreaking) secret shop, and those Knight Crests and Guiding Rings aren't doing a damn thing for you at this point.
Yodel himself isn't particularly impressive, but we're very interested in his inventory. Aside from a free Recover staff, he comes with two Divine Weapons. The first is the weapon from whichever route you didn't go down (Sacae/Ilia), but the second is the Saint's Staff. If you remember the Ashera Staff in FE9/10, you're looking at basically the same deal - A full heal to every unit on the field and restores their condition except the user.
How can it heal everyone except the user?!
As a side note, I'm actually kind of impressed with the translation on this one. Holy Maiden's Staff is a pretty good description for Saint's Staff, given that we're talking about Saint Elimine.
Too bad it’s not a Light tome, otherwise they oh wait I already used that one shit
Miledy has the honor of saving the only village, while the rest of the team splits in half. Shin and Percival lead the charge east, with Saul, Niime, Tate, Lalum, and the swordmasters in tow. Roy takes the remainder of the team south.
There are no soldiers here. I'll give you this, so just leave! [Got Knight's Crest]
How incredibly helpful. Seriously, why do Fire Emblems insist on giving you promotion items long after they have any use? Is anyone really thinking "Well, I guess now I can promote Lance, can't hurt to have a freshly promoted paladin four chapters from the end of the game!"
Glorified vendor trash, I guess.
Gotta get that funds rank up!
Get used to this screen, by the way. We're going to be seeing a lot of +1's before this update is all said and done.
a.k.a. the upside to these kinds of missions.
And so we begin. Heading south triggers ~4 turns of the paladins and the south group of wyverns.
Gonzales, Hugh, and the twins break south to deal with the infestation. Miledy comes to help them in a turn or two, but the rest of Roy's entourage heads east.
Saul and Niime prove invaluable in cleaning up behind the main offensive front. Shin tears through wyverns, but more often than not it ends up with him having at least two wyverns trying at close range for a free hit.
Going east triggers these two groups of wyverns, as well as a group in the south that couldn't spawn because the AI was at its unit limit.
Already. Damn.
As I was mentioning above, nuking a wyvern on our turn sometimes leaves us in...precarious situations.
I'll spare you the details in the south, just know that it involves a whole lot of this.
In the center, a wyvern lord comes calling for Lilina and gets one-shot for his trouble. Aircalibur is worth its weight in gold on this map.
That’s not the compliment it sounds like though, since its weight is only 2
Gonzales picks up a level swatting some horses around.
For some reason, the AI tends to ignore the swordmasters and focus on Shin, Percy, and Saul. So I take advantage of this and use Rutger and Fir to clean up stragglers as the team marches forward.
The terrain makes the east side much more of a pain in the ass than it needs to be. The wyverns almost always fly up the east wall before cutting in to attack someone, and as you can see, the darker forests are counted as "Woods" terrain and are impassible, making proactively dealing with them all but impossible.
And yeah, for whatever reason IntSys decided they would throw the trainee squad in too. Good luck with that, buddy.
I don’t even know.
Try as he might, Gonzales just isn't accurate enough to pick our Physic friend here. A project for next turn, as it were.
There's half the southern group of wyverns, but the other squad still can't spawn in.
Percy proves to be a very popular target in the northeast.
As in, that Javelin had 18 uses at the end of my turn.
Throwable weapons are weaker than melee-weapons... so melee AIs often tend to rush Javelin-using units when they can. Kinda annoying, really.
TAAAATTEE you missed twice and got hit get your shit together
The ol' end-of-turn level dump.
Miledy intercepts this group of wyverns on their way over. They mostly suicide into her.
Meanwhile, Gonzales and friends continue pushing forward. Physic man isn't so lucky this time.
Shin wisely hops into the forest before picking off the wyvern lord this time.
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We can start off the turn with good news, as we've cleaned out the southwest corner. After we kill off the stragglers, Gonzales and co are free to head for Murdock.
Hugh continues his quest to be the best-worst mage by being capable of tanking hits with his face.
Look at that crit rate. I'm disappointed in you, young lady.
...Fine. Apology accepted.
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Meanwhile, the center team moves along uneventfully.
Goddamn longbowman, landing on a 33% hit chance.
Better. Would it kill you to get some damn speed, kid?
The northeast is done with their reinforcements for now as well, so it's time to head south after cleaning house.
Gonzales: Dragon Slayer leads the charge to the shrine itself.
As we clear out, Saul and Yodel can have a chat.
Saul, it is good to see you are well. And thank you. The Church has been saved countless times because you and Dorothy fought alongside Roy.
...If one such as I was to be of any help at all, then I am truly proud. Oh? It seems I have never seen you so...serious. Bishop Yodel, even I am a priest. I have as much concern for the common good as anybody. I see. I am sorry. Then let us fight together, shall we?Anyway, you want to be the hell out of the center of the map roughly when you reach the top of the Shrine of Seals because...
Leave none alive! Show the enemy the wrath of the Dragon Masters of Bern!
...Gale shows up. His main squad comes from the village, and the two squads on the edges of the map are reinforcements that continue for a few turns, so make sure someone in the area can handle them.
Oh god abort abort abort
We're close enough to attract this guy's attention as well, which makes things really fun.
Well, you're no Thany, but I'm still going to miss you in the final chapter. Good thing that's not for another three chapters.
Right, so let's talk about Gale. He's kind of scary if you're not ready for him, but if you are, he's no worse than any of the thousand other wyvern lords flying around this chapter. He was originally intended to be recruitable by Miledy - he even had a personal weapon called the Dragon Spear which basically functioned like a Brave Lance, but for whatever reason, this was dropped for the final release. Thematically, whether it makes more sense that he would stand and fight for his country even against those he loves or he would betray Bern to aid them is left to the reader. Practically, we have to kill his ass - not a difficult task since he lacks a Delphi Shield.
Something of an oversight for a boss of his supposed calibre at this stage of the game, no?
I can never remember if you recruit Gale or not in this game. I only played this like a year ago, and until reading that I could’ve sworn he joins you.
The secret shop is located in this conspicuous plains tile in the middle of the peak terrain.
I... I could die right now, and be happy. Just as long as all the shit that I bought gets sent to the convoy properly. Otherwise I wouldn’t actually be that happy. But...
BOOOOOOOOOOTS! Buy them all. All of the boots! Make your men cap Movement and run forever!
All promotion items, all stat boosters, all siege tomes. Motherfucking buyable boots. Needless to say, we get a pair of boots for everyone on the final team, an assortment of stat ups (including a few Body Rings, Dragonshields, Energy Rings, a Secret Book or two, Speedwings, and a Talisman), a pair of Bolting tomes, and a Purge.
Also, man, siege tomes are cheap.
Bear in mind that’s all after the Silver Card discount. In reality, I picked up about 180,000 Gold worth of stuff.
Tate took a hit from the wyvern lord, so she has to bail on Lalum. Lalum will spend the rest of the chapter sitting on that singular tile dodging ~15% accurate Steel Lances.
Saul picks up a level patching up Tate.
I considered trying to run Miledy up to fight Gale, but she was perfectly content to pull a number of crits out of her ass to deal with wyvern reinforcements, so I let her be.
Sup Gale?
Fun little note, he does get his own unique sprite.
Zeiss... Take care...of Miledy...It doesn't help him any.
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Shin maxes Str for the effort.
Saul takes up position closer to Lalum to siphon off the wyverns that can't directly hit her.
Silly wyverns, you're never going to beat Aircalibur.
Gonzales has made his way around the shrine, and introduces our Bolting friend to his Killer Axe.
With a little help from Igrene and Tate, the center is cleared out as well. The only enemies left now are the ones harassing Lalum and the two knights with Murdock.
Lilina picks up one last level frying a stray wyvern lord that was bothering Yodel. Max magic.
Now, it's time for Murdock. Ignoring his Knight's Crest that there's no reason to steal considering we got a free one this chapter anyway, Murdock is pretty nasty. Max strength, over 60 HP, a Tomahawk to punish at range, and he functionally has 28 Def and 22 Res.
Just think... some +Hit supports could make you able to nail him with Eclipse tomes that you can buy... maybe.
I set up the magic support triangle to wear him down while Rutger approaches with an armorslayer.
I congratulate you. But can you defeat me?
Lugh pulls a crit out of his ass, which gives me an idea.
Lugh brings him down to 2 HP, and it's right about now I realize holy fuck Murdock could have one-shotted Lugh what the fuck was I thinking
And that brings us to this. In a way, I'm kind of impressed. This is Roy without any support bonuses and he's actually doing alright for himself.
I have always been looking forward to matching blades with you!You get two guesses as to who wins. First one doesn't count.
Zephiel... My king... I cannot protect you...any further... Forgive me...!Waste of experience from killing a 20/20 General? You bet your ass it is.
Does that mean that the Sword of Seals is in there?
I don't know... But I heard from a captive that two things are hidden inside the temple. ...! Does that mean that there's another Divine Weapon? Possibly... Perhaps we should ask those from our army who are natives of Bern. All right. I'll check with them.Next time: The Sword of Seals! For real this time!
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Level 20 Bishop
Light - A, Staves - S, Affinity - Light
HP: 35 (20%)
Magic: 19 (30%)
Skill: 18 (15%)
Speed: 14 (10%)
Luck: 11 (20%)
Defense: 5 (10%)
Resistance: 30 (20%)
Con: 6
Despite having growths, Yodel comes as-is (given that he's 20/20) but he's not that bad. His defense is atrocious and he could really do with a few more points of speed, but the rest of his stats are at least servicable. He's also your only chance for using Aureola if you haven't been grinding the hell out of Saul or Ellen's Light magic rank, and another person capable of throwing around Physics is never a bad thing. Just don't expect an Athos out of him.
Conversation with Dorothy
Dorothy. Have you been well?
Yes. It is good to see you again, Bishop Yodel. You are always so bright and full of energy. I'm sure God loves that part of you. Do you think so...? Everyone who comes in contact with your pure heart has his own heart cleansed. Like me, for example. Even Saul. You should be proud of that. Yes, Bishop Yodel!
Gale official art.
Conversation with Zeiss
Sir Gale... Zeiss. You seem well. Sir Gale... Must we fight? Yes. We must. I... I don't want to fight you! You're the last person... Zeiss! Don't be a child! Huh...!? Did you have only so much resolve when you left Bern? Is that all the resolve you had when you decided to fight against Bern!? No! My mind is...set... Even now, it hurts to point my blade toward Bern, my homeland... But I believed with my heart that the path I chose wasn't a mistake...! Then cast away your hesitation! Focus on crushing those who block the path that you have chosen. ...No matter who it is. Sir Gale... Zeiss... Were you not a knight of Bern? ...Of course I am! Good! When we meet next time, neither of us will speak. We will fight!Conversation with Miledy
Gale... Miledy... Gale... I... Don't speak... You and I are both loyal knights. We both fight for whom we have pledged our loyalty to. That's all. ... Miledy... This is probably the end, so let me say this. Miledy, I am truly grateful that I was able to meet you. We trained our skills together, and we fought alongside each other. Miledy... The days I spent with you... Those were the happiest days of my life. Me... Mine, too... ...Goodbye, Miledy... I always wish we had met in a more peaceful time. Gale...*Gale leaves*
Wait...! Gale! Don't go! Gaaaaaaaaaale! You have to read between the lines a little bit between her supports and previous interactions with Gale, but this more or less outright states that Gale is her boyfriend. 
Murdock official art.
Miledy vs. Murdock
Miledy... I don't want to fight you, but you stand here before me. It seems we have no choice. Come!Zeiss vs. Murdock
You were one of Narshen's troops... I heard the story from Gale. I do feel sorry for you, but you are currently an enemy. Come! We fight!