Part 2: Escape!

Remember how I said that all chapters start with a short narration? Well, this one is an exception. It's really more of a continuation from the last chapter than a new chapter all in itself.



At the border fortress of Mulan that stands between Renais and Frelia, Grado's forces are approaching.



: What? So soon? Ah, we've had no time!

: Milady, we lack the arms to defend this place. You must return to Castle Frelia.

: I can't! Not yet. We haven’t found Eirika and her companions yet. Eirika is my friend, and she needs my help. I won't abandon her.



: Yes, Your Highness! *leaves*

It's lines like these that make me really dislike Tana. I think they're trying to make her seem somewhat ditzy, but it gets a little ridiculous sometimes.



: Eirika, please be safe.



: Hmph. They're tenacious, but they have no hope of stopping our advance.

: What are your orders, sir?

: Ha! Orders? You just stand here and watch. I'll crush them myself!

: As you command, sir.





: Ha! That's what happens when you face my lance!

...Yeah. I could see him hitting, maybe, but scoring a hit and a crit with those numbers? What are the odds?



: Call off your forces and turn back, or you'll have me to deal with!

: Is that so? And who might you be?

: Who--? I am Tana, Princess of Frelia. I will not permit you to abuse my country any longer.

: Frelia's royal brat, huh? How convenient...

: Leave this castle immediately. If you harm me, my father and brother will chase you to the earth's end.

: Yes, I've heard of how King Hayden dotes on his precious little daughter. Let's see how true that is. You’ll make us a fine hostage, my dear. Seize the girl and lock her up!



: No! Let me go!

Oh yeah, and there's also the damsel-in-distressing. That stuff gets old fast.





: I see it. It seems like Grado's army has already reached Frelia. Princess, this place is perilous. We should bypass Mulan altogether and head straight to the castle.

: But we can't just ignore this... You were there when Renais was invaded... You saw what I saw. You saw how the people suffered at the hands of Grado's soldiers. Homes were destroyed, possessions stolen, women kidnapped... Anyone who resisted was executed without question, without hesitation.

: ...

: Please, Seth. I can't allow that to happen here. I don't want to see any more people harmed by Grado's atrocities.

: All right, Princess. I understand. Perhaps we can retake Mulan. But, Princess, you must act with caution. Your people need you, too.

: Of course, Seth. Come on! Let's go!



And here we go! Compared to last chapter, that took hardly any time at all.

Our objective for this map is to Seize the gate to Mulan. To do that, we need to have Eirika stand on the space that Breguet's occupying and use the Seize command. Since bosses don't move in a Seize map, that also means that we'll have to get rid of Brequet too. Sounds easy enough.

But first, we've got two new unit types here, so let's have a look-see.



Soldiers are almost universally cannon fodder. Their stats are terrible, they can only equip lances, and their constitution is often so low that anything above an iron lance actually slows them down even more.



Breguet, meanwhile, is your typical Knight, all strength and defense and not much else. If we had a magician of some kind, we could take advantage of his low resistance and circumvent the defense entirely, but we don't, and we won't get one this map either, so we'll have to take him out some other way.

Turn 1



That soldier north of Seth doesn't move this turn, but my memory of the map was a bit fuzzy, so I had Eirika hide behind him anyway, under the assumption that the fighter would also be going for her.



: Ha ha! It really is my lucky day! Fame and fortune ride to meet me! Move on, you slugs! Bring that girl to me!



The fighter seemed to think that whiffing a strike on a weaponless Seth was more important than striking Eirika. It's like how in Advance Wars (another wonderful game by Intelligent Systems), the AI had a peculiar fascination for destroying APC's, despite their lack of relative worth.

Turn 2



Turn 2 starts with a pleasant surprise: reinforcements!



: Aye, we have. Her Highness Princess Tana should be inside the castle.

: But look -- the countryside is crawling with Grado soldiers! Where's the castle guard! Has Mulan fallen? Are we too late?

: Too tough to say from here. Princess Tana's in no danger if they want her as a bargaining tool. We men of the Eastern Watch will see her to safety.

: Yes...Yes, of course. We mustn't give up. We must move. We must retake the castle. Then, we ride forth to Princess Eirika's aid.

: I've stronger armor then you do. I'll take the lead. Watch my back.

And just like that, our army has doubled in size. While most new allies will require some action on our part to recruit, sometimes the game just throws them at you.



Fairly solid bases for a level 1 character too. Franz is a cavalier, a first-tier paladin, which means that he's got 19 more levels than Seth to develop his stats. Quite a lot of potential here for the young lad, assuming he actually gains anything. You'll see when I show you his growths.



Gilliam, meanwhile, is better than Breguet pretty much across the board. His main weakness is that low amount of move, since it means that he'll lag behind everyone else in most maps.



First things first, Gilliam and Franz go to work on the soldier they start next to. Gilliam's not fast enough to double anyone on this map, so he'll be taking a lot of hits. But that's okay. That's what his high defense is here for.



You might notice that I'm having Franz use a sword against a lance. That's completely intentional. You'll see.

Besides, Franz killed him anyway.



Eirika's in a dangerous spot, but I have her soften up a fighter anyway. Don't worry about the strange blurry mess trying to smash her head in. The sprite animations use a lot of stretching shots to show sharp movements. It's really quite fascinating to watch frame-by-frame.



Let's talk about rescuing. In short, if a character's constitution is higher than another character's constitution, he or she can carry the character, keeping him or her out of harm's way. If a character's riding a horse, they also get a bonus to their constitution for purposes of rescuing someone.

On the negative side, rescuing someone does cut Seth's speed and skill in half while he does it, so he'll need to get out of danger too.



Fortunately, he's got a trick up his sleeve.

Mounted characters are ideal for rescuing because they get to use their movement points even after doing an action. This is true for trading and talking as well, but for some reason, the GBA games all didn't let mounted units move after attacking, even though you could do that in the SNES games. Kind of a weird restriction, since, as I mentioned, you can move after doing every other action.



Carnage on the enemy phase, but it could be worse. Both fighters went for Gilliam, giving him some hard knocks, and one of the soldiers made a try for Franz, but got wasted. The AI in the series will tend to go for a Weapon Triangle advantage whenever possible, so that's why I had Franz use the sword, so that the two guys with axes would target Gilliam instead. If everyone had ganged up on Franz, things would have been much messier.

Turn 3



When our turn finally rolls around, Franz has an easy win on the lone fighter who survived the last round.



Meanwhile, Gilliam borrows one of Franz's vulneraries and uses it. Characters can trade and use items on the same turn, a convenient fact for exactly this sort of scenario.



Finally, Seth uses the natural cover of Franz and Gilliam to drop Eirika safely behind them. I'm babying her perhaps a little much this mission, but she has a very important responsibility.



Not much to report on the enemy phase. The last fighter and soldier went for their specific targets and Franz gained a level out of it.



Anything with strength, speed, or defense in it is fine by me.

Turn 4



Working together, Franz, Gilliam, and Eirika take out the last units, all without a scratch. All that's left is the boss, right?



Not quite. You see, when I moved up to defeat those enemies, I crossed an invisible vertical line, and that triggered reinforcements. Fortunately, FE7 established a precedent where enemy reinforcements would arrive at the end of their turn, not the start, so you won't have any cases where four dudes jump out of a castle and smash your weakest unit without warning.

Turn 5



Those are some terrible hit odds, aren't they? Obviously, part of the issue is that I'm using swords versus lances, but a bigger problem is the gate itself. It provides 3 defense and 30 avoid to whoever's standing in it. Breguet's slow enough that it doesn't matter too much, but when we encounter some of the faster enemies, this may present a problem.

Anyway, remember how I said that Eirika was needed for this fight? You see, one aspect that the Rapier shares across all games in the series is that it is "effective" against mounted units or armored units like knights (and if we'd visited one of the houses on this map, we'd have learned the same). What effectiveness does is it multiplies the weapon's damage by three. Not the total damage, only the weapon's damage. That's why we've only barely got enough power there to finish him, assuming we hit both times.

: Bah, what a worthless lot of curs I've been assigned!



: This...this can't be... I...

And we do. Boy, I'm lucky.



See? Nothing but luck.

Whacking enough things with her Rapier also increased Eirika's sword skill from E to D. If she wasn't worried about the weight of it tanking her speed, she could equip Seth's steel sword now.

Turn 6



On the other side, Franz is taking cover in a fort. In addition to a very generous 2 defense and 20 avoid, forts also heal 20% of a unit's health if they start a turn standing in one. With that kind of protection, Franz and Gilliam are easily able to mop up the reinforcements.



Gilliam gets a sweet level out of the deal too. Speed is rare on a knight, and every little bit helps.

Anyway, with nothing else to do, I seize and finish, and the game immediately apologizes for giving us a brief and concise introduction at the start of the chapter.



: Sir Gilliam... I’m sorry, I never meant to cause you such trouble.

: It was no trouble. I live to serve, Princess.

: Tana!

: ...Eirika?!? Is that really you?

: Tana, what are you doing, so far form Castle Frelia?

: I heard that Renais had fallen, and I was so worried... But I'm glad to see that you're safe... Wait! Where is Ephraim? Is he well?

: I wish I knew.

: You haven't heard from him? Oh, I hope he's not been harmed... Come, we must go to Castle Frelia. My lord father may know something.

: Thank you, Tana.

Segue to a pointless narration sequence.



Alongside Princess Tana of Frelia, they ride to the Frelian capital.



: You've no idea how I worried when I heard you were under attack at Border Mulan. You are not to leave again without my permission. Do you understand?

: Don't be mad, Father. Look, I come bearing good news. Eirika! Come out now!

: King Hayden, I am pleased to see you again, even in these sad times.

: Ah, Eirika! It does my heart good to see you safe.

: Thank you. I was able to escape the castle before Renais fell. But I'm not sure if my father...

: Yes. I... have received word of your father.

: Your Highness? Please tell me. Is my father well?



: ...No, it cannot be...

: ...

: Rest assured, Grado will be punished for its cowardly act. This is Frelia's promise. Eirika, please stay here and rest. I cannot imagine how exhausted you must be.

: ...

: King Hayden. You know of Prince Ephraim's disappearance, do you not?

: Yes, we hear the prince and his men hound Grado at every turn. It's said that he's led his forces into the empire itself. Reports suggest he's crossed the border and now fights in Renvall.

: My brother... He fights on? Even now?

: Yes. My pegasus knights bought this information at a great price. Even though Renais has fallen, he charges into the enemy's heart. He is truly Fado's son... What a valiant youth. I wish I knew whether he remains unharmed, but I do not.

: King Hayden, I thank you for your offer, but I cannot stay. I intend to ride to my brother's side with reinforcements.

: I cannot allow it. I know how you feel, but this plan is suicide. I would be betraying Fado's memory if I allowed any harm to befall you. Stay here. Rest and mourn. Leave this war to the warriors.

: I know you mean well, Your Majesty. However, I have lost my father, and my twin brother is in peril. My brother, he is a part of me... I cannot rest here in peace while he risks his life.

: No. Renais has no more army. Grado's forces decimated it. I wish Frelia could provide you with support, with soldiers, but... My son, Innes, is on his way to meet the empire's forces. We cannot spare a single brigade. Your own retinue of knights cannot possibly face Grado alone. Are you so determined to go?

: Yes. ...With apologies.

: ...As resolute as your father, eh? What am I to do in the face of such foolhardy determination?

: Vanessa.



: Moulder.



: Gilliam.

: Yes, sire?

: You are to accompany Princess Eirika of Renais into Grado territory. I expect each of you to provide aid and support for her brother.

: Hmm. Quite a grave responsibility you've given us.

: No matter the obstacles, we will perform our duty.

: Our lives are yours.

: These are some of my most trusted and stalwart vassals. They will, no doubt, prove themselves quite valuable on your journey. Remember, you are venturing behind enemy lines. You will need supplies. I will have a supply convoy readied to carry your weapons and provisions. It will remain at your side, no matter how far afield you venture.

: King Hayden, I... Thank you.

: No, save your thanks for your return... with your brother, Prince Ephraim.

: Yes, Your highness!



Nice! Two new units, a nice bit of starting cash, and a "supply caravan." We'll see how that last one factors into things next time, but first, one last scene.



: I can't guess how you must feel, but it's just too dangerous. What would happen if you were captured by Grado's men?

: Thank you for your concern, Tana. But I have no choice. Don't you see, Tana? I have to go.

: Eirika... Oh, why is this happening? What's gone wrong with the world?

: Tana...

: Why would Grado invade? Emperor Vigarde is a man of peace. His people adore him. And you and Ephraim are friends with Prince Lyon, are you not? What could be behind this madness? Why is this happening...

: I have no answers for you, Tana. I don't want to believe it, but the reality is that we are at war. If I do nothing, I may lose my brother as well as my father. This is why I have to fight. It's the only answer I have.

Next time: We expand the roster even further with Chapter 2: The Protected

Extras



Franz
Class: Cavalier
Weapon Ranks: E in Swords, D in Lances
Affinity: Light

HP: 20 (80%) Lck: 2 (40%)
Str: 7 (40%) Def: 6 (25%)
Skl: 5 (40%) Res: 1 (20%)
Spd: 7 (50%) Con: 9

It has to be somewhat embarrassing when the character who starts out promoted has superior growths in almost every stat. In terms of sheer growth, Seth beats Franz easily, and it might be tempting to just say goodbye to the kid early and try someone else. I still like to give Franz a chance, just due to his low level, but those puny defensive growths make it risky to cart him around after a while. If he doesn't perform well, there are other cavaliers ready and willing to take his place down the line, so for his own sake, he had better keep the good levels coming.



Gilliam
Class: Knight
Weapon Ranks: C in Lances
Affinity: Thunder

HP: 25 (90%) Lck: 3 (30%)
Str: 9 (45%) Def: 9 (55%)
Skl: 6 (35%) Res: 3 (20%)
Spd: 3 (30%) Con: 14

Gilliam may not be the fastest guy around, but he's good at what you need him to do, and that's plugging chokepoints. Put him between you and the enemy, and he'll take a ridiculous amount of punishment and keep going. His only potential replacement will likely be weaker and less sturdy, even if he or she has more speed, so it'll really be a matter of taste at that point.

Bonus Conversations

I didn't capture it when I played the level, but Franz has some unique conversations with Eirika and Seth if you have him go next to either of them.

With Eirika:

: Princess Eirika, it is good to see you're well.

: Franz, you made it through unscathed...

: Y-yes, Your Highness! I met up with Sir Gilliam of Frelia and explained the situation in Renais. He told me that Princess Tana was in danger as well, here at Mulan. We rode as swiftly as we could.

: Tana is here? Franz, we must hurry!

: Understood!

With Seth:

: Is that you, Franz? I'm relieved to see you're still in one piece!

: Y-yes... and you as well, General. As long as you lead us, sir, the Knights of Renais cannot lose!

: Franz, you and I must work together to protect Princess Eirika. I want you to ride with us.

: Sir! With honor, sir!

And finally:



In memory of King Fado, who really should have gotten the heck out of Dodge when he had the chance.