Part 7: Chapter 4x: The Hero of the Winds

Oh, good. Then let's rescue them and send them back to their homes.
Yes. But be careful, there are still a decent number of guards on watch.
Yes.
After you rescue the children, I want you to go search for Prince Leaf with Brighton.
What? ...Prince Leaf!?
Right. He's been captured by Reidric and locked in this castle. ...What's the matter, Asvel? You look surprised.
Lord Leaf is a very important person to me. I've been looking for him ever since we separated in Tahra. It's been three years now...
I see... Anyway, find the prince and escape Manster with him. I plan on getting the Magi members to hide outside the castle as well. We'll only be decimated if we don't do something.
What are you going to do, Lord Sety?
I'm going to stay here a little longer. The remaining civilians must be helped as well.
I'm sorry... You've taught me so much, but I can't be of any help to you...
Don't worry about it. The only thing I ever taught you was that Grafcalibur spell. You can use it to protect Prince Leaf from now on.

Oh don't worry Sety, he will.

...Lord Sety, we'll meet again, won't we?
If Prince Leaf is truly our hero, then Thracia will eventually be liberated. ...We'll see each other again, right here in Manster.



---

(This is the maps generic player phase music.)





But...sniff...
The soldiers'll get mad and yell at us again to shut up..
I don't care! If I keep making them mad, maybe they'll send me back home... I want to go home...

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We've got ourselves another fog of war chapter here. Our goals are pretty simple this time around, we want to break the children out of jail, and then head north and eventually escape.



Up north Sety and Asvel are hanging out as allied units. Allied units are controlled by the AI, fight on your side, and move after the enemy phase. Generally speaking, most allied units are either NPCs in need of saving, or recruitable characters. Let's take a look.



Don't let his boyish face or low level trick you, Asvel is a murder machine.



This is mostly thanks to his Grafcalibur spell, which is best described as ridiculous. It's light, incredibly strong, and has a critical of 40 which goes nicely with Asvel's PCC of three. It's light weight is especially useful, magic users' attack speeds are solely determined by Speed-Weapon weight, so even the lightest of weapons are bringing down their attack speed. Now let's check out his mentor.





Sety uses the ever-ridiculous Holsety spell, which beyond being the strongest weapon in the game and being unbreakable, also boosts his speed and his skill by 20. When you factor in its weight, that translates to 34 attack speed, which in turn is 68 evade from speed (which is 28 more than any other character in the game can get.) What I'm trying to say is that Sety murders everything.



This chapter is pretty front-loaded, charging into the fog recklessly would do nothing but get me killed. Instead, I form up like this. I'm deliberately out of the mage's range to make things easy on my units.

(Here's the generic enemy phase music for the map)



Sety does what Sety does best. Twice.



(Here's what plays when you get attacked)

It begins. Leaf is attacked by an Armor and a mage. He dodges the mage's attack though, leaving him weakened but not in any real danger.



A second mage attacks Fergus, dealing mild damage.



A third mage comes after Dalshin. He misses as well. I'm getting pretty lucky here, these first couple of turns can be rough, but all these misses are making things easier for me.



Sety and Asvel go to work, killing one soldier each.



Did I mention Sety has movement stars? He does. He gains a second turn and uses it to uncover two soldiers. (He couldn't kill either of them because you can't reveal and attack an enemy with the same unit.)




(Here's what plays when you attack an enemy.)







Look at that, our little gang's getting good at killing



I remember Dalshin had a torch (which they pretty much explicitly gave you to use here ), and use it illuminate our surroundings.









We kill two enemies on the counter attack, while Sety shows us how it's done and kills four soldiers on the enemy phase. Never change Sety .



An enemy soldier makes the mistake of attacking Bryton. You shouldn't attack Byrton. (+1 Hp, +1 Str. Not great, but not surprising either.)



Karin downs a soldier with a crit.



And the enemy ends with that.



Karin makes a damn good mage killer. Her high magic means that this guy could only do one damage to her.





With that we've pretty much taken out all of the first wave, and established control over the area. Things are looking good for team Leaf.



It's alright Fergus, I forgive you. Especially because he just got a weapon rank, boosting him up to a B in swords. A is top tier in Thracia 776, so he's almost able to use any sword.



Yup, that's about what you'd expect.







That one armor proves to be a surprisingly tough foe. Those screen aren't out of order or anything, Fergus got a second turn.



And with it he gets +Str, +1 Lck, +1 Bld



Leaf heals up and we end our turn like this. Sety and Asvel are just going to hang out in the north part of the map, even if any more enemies do show up, they'll be able to take care of them no problem.



Lifis unlocks the bottom cell.



Leaf and Bryton make a wall against any surprise reinforcements on the right, Makua and Dashin do the same on the left.



Next turn the northern cell is opened.



All the children escape without incident. I'm sure they'll be fine in this enemy infested fortress. Anyways, we start heading north to rendezvous with Asvel and Sety.

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Yes! To look for you!
To look for me? ...Did Fee send you? Or was it my mother...
...Lord Sety... I have something very important to tell you.
What is it?
Well... ...Oh...
Karin, what is it? Crying isn't helping!
Yes... The queen, she...
Mother!? Did she...?
Yes... It's been two months already...
I...see... So...mother died...



Lord Sety...
I was too late... I... I wanted her to see father just once more...
Lord Sety, please return with me to Silesia. Lady Fee is waiting for you.
Fee... How is she doing? Is she all right...?
She tries hard to hold back her tears in front of the others, but she cries and cries when she's alone with me... You're so cruel, Lord Sety. You push everything on little Lady Fee and go running off to a place like this... It's natural to be called a hero when you take after Holsety. But you're letting that get to your head and abandoning your mother and sister. And you call yourself the prince of SileSia!
Karin... You're right. But my father was the only one who cure my mother's illness. Even if I stayed by her side, there was nothing I could do except watch her fade away... That's why I wanted to find my father no matter what.



I see... Forgive me, Lord Sety. I was harsh...
Karin, can you give me a little more time? I'll return to Silesia once I drive Reidric out of this city. It shouldn't take long. I just need another half a year...
Then I shall stay here with you.
I appreciate your concern, but... I can't fight with you around. I want you to go back to Silesia.
...Yes... I would just be in the way, wouldn't I... All right, I shall go back home. Please promise me that you'll come back as well, Lord Sety.
Yes, I swear to you that I'll return. Here, I'll give you this as a symbol of our promise.
What is this? A rag?
That's a national treasure of Silesia. It's an old scroll left by the holy warrior Sety, and it has magical powers. I'm really supposed to give it to my bride, but I'll give it to you for now.
I-I can't accept such a valuable item!
Karin... I'm sorry about my mother. I'm also grateful that you took care of Fee for me. This is a symbol of my gratitude. Please take it.
...Very well. But I'm only taking it for the time being. I'll be sure to give it back once you return to Silesia!
Karin, we'll meet again in Silesia. Take care of yourself until then.
Yes! You too, Lord Sety!

---

For that we get a new scroll, and just like its namesake its damn good. The Sety Scroll boosts Spd growth by 30 and magic growth by 10 in exchange for a ten percent penalty to Hp. From a purely statistical point of view, Dashin would be the best candidate for it, but on the flipside Dashin isn't very good. Rather than think hard about it, I just decide to give it to Fergus, on the basis that making strong units even more powerful is fun.



A turn or two pass and reinforcements start heading at us from behind. I end up keeping the formation you see here, rather than advancing on the enemies and risking getting swarmed by enemies hidden from sight.







+1 Hp, +1 Spd I'm going to drop the pretense of caring about Leaf's levels, he's not going to be very good either way. (Also he's actually doing fairly well)

---

On the other phase, Asvel moves to Leaf and recruits himself.



Asvel!? What are you doing here? I thought you were in Tahra.
I went after you as soon as you left Tahra. But I lost track of you, and I've been here in Manster for half a year now...
As soon as I left!? ...Then you've been searching for me for three years...?
Yes. Don't you remember our promise? We vowed to reclaim Thracia together. But you left me and went off on your own, Lord Leaf.
I'm sorry... I had no choice. Tahra was surrounded by Imperial troops, and I was sure I was going to die. I never thought I would make it out of there alive... I didn't want to put you in danger.
We swore to each other that we would live and die together, Lord Leaf... Was that an empty vow? I still remember it. And I've chosen to aid you as much as I can.
Asvel...
Lord Leaf, let's reclaim Thracia. I'm willing to go through anything for that cause!

And with that, Asvel joins our gang.

---



Sety does his thing.



Karin does hers. (With Makua's help)



+1 Hp, +1 Str, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 Lck. Now that's what I'm talking about!



Asvel attacks the soldier, Dashin tries to finish him but fails.



Leaf doesn't.



Would you look at that, more reinforcements.





Fergus and Karin are making the best murder couple. (Sety took the third)



The reinforcements are coming from the left and the right, so we block off both sides and prepare to farm reinforcements. It's a lot like the last map, so long as we kill them as they spawn and don't let them overwhelm us, we've got a great opportunity to farm experience.



Case in point (+1 Hp, +1 Lck. Damn it Dashin, that's not even a good armor level up.)



Some fighting happens...



I screw up and let Lara get attacked by an archer. (The archer went into the northern cell and attacked her through the wall, bypassing both logic and our defensive line).



Asvel moves to take out a weakened soldier. You may notice that I've left the south completely unguarded. That's because I'm cheating somewhat, I remembered from previous playthroughs that reinforcements only come from the left and right.





Have I mentioned my memory is shit? If the first attack had hit, we'd have had a reset on our hands.



This calls for a complete change in tactics. We turtle up like this, to defend ourselves from all sides. It's time for a lot of a murdering. . Here's the cliff notes version.



+1 Str, +1 Mag, +1 Spd, +1 Lck, +1 Bld. That's a damn fine level there.





Sety spends his time taking down enemies, frequently two per turn. It's honestly getting a little frustrating, stop stealing my kills Sety _{I hate it when we fight}



+1 Lck. I think that qualifies as ironic.







Holy shit, look out for Karin.



Holy shit, look out for double Karins.

I wouldn't mind double Karins.

Not now buddy.





+1 Str, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 Bld. Two stats Makua really needs, and more. Keep it coming Makua.



Finally it's done (only took 22 turns). This time for real. Earlier, the game deliberately stops reinforcements for around 5 turns before starting again. Luckily I don't fall for Thracia 776's tricks, and am still in formation when they start showing up again. Still, even though I didn't fall for it, I still need to stress that the game deliberately tricks you into thinking the reinforcements are done so they can take you from behind.

Also, with the reinforcements gone, Sety escapes from the left corridor. I suppose it's better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all



I move everyone up and have Lifis pick the lock to a treasure room. Guard Lifis? What do you mean guard Lifis? Why would the enemies have guards in the treasure room?



Well shit.



Makua gets attacked through the walls.







Anyways, let's deal with the armor who captured Lifis.



He took Lifis' inventory, which means we need to capture him to get it back. Furthermore, the armor has the infamous Devil Axe, which has a (21-luck%) chance of dealing damage to its wielder upon attacking, in exchange for being extremely powerful (it has a ridiculous 20 mt, something that only Holsety matches, and boosting weapon ranks quickly. I'd like to say letting Lifis get captured was a genius way to help nullify the axes' threat (and make it easier to capture him), but it was really just me being stupid, with unexpected side benefits.

Anyways, I give him a turn to move out of the bottleneck, and then strike.





We're good, we've got Lifis' stuff back and we've got a shiny new evil axe to show for it.



There are three chests in the treasure room. We get the Life ring shown, as well an iron blade (a strong, but heavy and inaccurate sword), as well as a Brave Sword. Fergus is going to have fun with that (his weapon rank earlier has made him and Lead the only ones capable of using it.) I don't think I've been stressing this enough, so I'll say it now. Brave weapons are really strong. The Brave sword has 15 mt, which makes it tied for the strongest sword not unique to a specific character. This is 3 mt more than the Iron Blade, as weapon whose gimmick is to be strong but suck otherwise. It's also more accurate than an iron weapon. It is pretty heavy though, weighing in at 14.



Fergus opens the door to the last batch of enemies (using the door key Asvel had been holding onto).



God damn it, stop making random enemies stronger than the other enemies around them. It's disorientating.



I'd like to say this is good, but it's bad. When you're holding a bottleneck, you want enemies to survive so that other enemies can't attack you in their place.



. That was a close one. The enemy survives too, ensuring no more can take his place.



They only have room for one ranged attack, and I have no problems with what they chose.



The last challenge on the map.



Of particular note is this fellow. Not only could he have killed Fergus if he had attacked instead of javelin guy (well I think he still would have missed, but a hit would have killed Fergus, unlike with the javelin guy. Regardless, he's got a Psychic staff, which allows a healer to heal a unit from a distance. Useful, and I'd like to get my hands on it if I can.

But first up, while retreating Fergus to heal, I realize whittling down the reinforcements burned through all my vulneraries. I hadn't been capturing enemies due to fog (thought it might be too risky), and so we'll need to pillage some more.



That's the way.



+1 Hp, +1 Str, +1 Skl, +1 Def. Not shabby.





I deliberate for a while and decide it's not worth risking a reset for five ranged heals.



+1 Hp, +1 Mag, +1 Spd. Minimalist, but good.

Our turn ends with Dashin holding the bottleneck, with Byrton behind him.





Dashin misses, which pretty much ties our hands for the rest of the player phase.





+1 Bld. That's not a level, cut down on the sweets Bryton.



Asvel kills the soldier who attacked Bryton. (+1 Skl, +1 Def. Defense is nice I suppose.)



Fergus tries out his fancy new toy. I really like the Brave Swords' sprite. (I really just like that weapons have different sprites.) (+1 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 Lck . Speed is nice I suppose.)



And we're done! No more enemies.



Our gang starts escaping, and finally, Leaf escapes.

There's uh... no dialogue after we win. So uh, chapter done

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New Recruits

Asvel



Hp: 55% Spd: 75%
Str: 10% Lck: 35%
Mag: 35% Def: 10%
Skl: 55% Bld: 10%
Mov: 2%

Weapon Ranks: E (fire), E (thunder), C (wind) Movement stars: 1 Skills: Continue PCC: 3

I'd like to say I love Asvel, but it no longer feels appropriate after seeing his pants situation. It's not an exaggeration to say Asvel is one of the best characters in the game. He's got great growths (look at that speed), combined with being a mage, which gives him access to the absolutely ridiculous promotion to Sage (ridiculous stat boosts, we'll see when we get there). As well, he's got Grafcalibur. Grafcalibur is amazing. It tears through any enemy, even bosses that the rest of our troops can't match. Asvel is going to be carrying me through a lot of hard levels and saving my ass in a lot of difficult situations, he's one of the few characters you really shouldn't go without. He's also just all around good otherwise. His PCC is high (and a guaranteed crit with Graf on the 2nd attack), he's got one movement star, and a good skill. He's the man.

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Viewer Participation time!:

We've got ourselves a Sety Scroll. Who should hold onto it? (Hezul and Baldo will stay put for the time being, neither is really something Asvel needs, and nothing else has really changed to necessitate a swap.)

Musings: I honestly wasn't sure who to put this on. Dashin fits it best stat wise, but also isn't very good. Asvel could be a good candidate, but it feels criminal to waste 30% speed on someone with a 75% growth in the stat already. So, this one's up to you folks.

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Current Resets: 0

Next time on Thracia 776: Shouldn't have tried those brownies Eyvel.