Part 14: The Nova Emblem (Part 2)

Last time on Thracia 776, Leaf and his forces made their way to Hannibal's mansion, where Count Dorias and several young soldiers await. However, before they arrive Thracian forces, led by Murdok (under the direct command of King Trabant), attack them. Four young soldiers: Selfina, Robert, Alva, and Kein are defending Hannibal's mansion. We need to reach them, defend the mansion, and then escape into the mansion.

---

A quick note before the update: Due to some recording stuff, I had to play this map twice. I'll be continuing from the save of my first playthrough, but the update is based off the second. I used the same strategy both times, so this is an accurate representation of how I beat the map. Although the levels were different between both playthroughs, you'll see that it doesn't end up being much of an issue.

---





Alright, let's do this. As a reminder, our sortie this time consists of Asvel, Carion, Fin, Fergus, Karin, Shiva, and Nanna.



To start us off, Carion moves and gets off his horse. He's currently holding onto every scroll except for Odo; we have big plans for Carion. Karin rescues him...



And makes her way west, towards the mansion.



Everyone else follows behind Karin, although their movement is hindered by the thick forests.







We let these chumps escape, they're just going to be holding us back. (I reset one time in an attempt at the same strategy you're about to see, except without having these guys escape.)



Selfina stays behind, and moves slightly.



The Thracian army begins their march. The bishop and his entourage stay still, we can deal with them on our own time.



Karin's already made it across the mountains. She drops Carion. Our ridiculously circuitous plan is one-quarter complete.



Our main force keeps moving, slowly but surely.



The enemy's main force keeps moving, a lot less slowly but just as surely.



Back to us. Carion moves on up and talks with Selfina:

---





Well, I can only help out with things like this. I'm trying hard to become a fine knight like Sir Glade and be of some use to Lord Leaf... Curse my powerlessness.
Carion, don't rush. You'll only end up losing your life that way. Oh, and I suppose it's time to give you this.
A beautiful sword... Where did this come from?
This is known as the Elite's Sword. Your mother asked me to give it to you once you became a knight.
My mother?
Yes, you were still young when she died of sickness. She said this is the sword your father used during his prime.
The sword of my father...a knight of Lenster.
That's right. Use it wisely.
Yes! Thank you, Lady Selfina!

---

Hell yes, thank you Selfina. The Elite Sword has two effects, both of which are awesome. First off, it gives the Elite skill to anybody who has it equipped. (Elite, you may recall, doubles EXP gained.) Secondly, it boosts defense by 5. Carion's right, it's a damn beautiful sword.



Now, Selfina gets off her horse, and is rescued by Karin.



Who then goes to hang out in the mountains.



The rest of our characters form up as shown, Fergus is standing just inside Murdok's javelin range. He's also inside the range of one of the dragon riders, he's got the Odo Scroll to deal with his killer lances. (This was reset 2/2, I was stupid and assumed they could take care of things without it.)



That's one down.



And here comes Murdok. He misses.



Meanwhile, the Thracian ground forces move up. Three dragon riders move west, we can't stop them from making a pass at the mansion now.



Not that it matters. Here's the endgame of my convoluted plan. We've got Carion, with the Elite Sword, and every scroll, on one of the enemy's prized fuck you tiles. Because of it (and his Elite Sword), he's got 22 defense to hold off the oncoming army with. It's go time

But first, we've got another problem to deal with, Murdok.



Fun fact, Wind is effective against fliers Asvel's dealing 50 damage per attack here.

[Asvel:, Lv. 2, Hp: 26, Str: 0, Mgc: 0, Skl: 12, Spd: 20, Luk: 8, Def: 7, Bld: 6] This is his real level, which is shame, because it sucks. Admittedly, his fake level sucked too, so it's a lose-lose scenario I guess.



Karin comes back and visits a small village.

---





Here, I found this in the hills the other day. It must belong to them. Could you return it to them for me?

No can do Lady! She gave us the Fala Scroll, which gives +5%str, +5%mag, +10% Skl, and +10spd. It's similar to the Baldo Scroll in that it's good on pretty much anyone.

---



With Murdok dead, our main force keeps heading toward the mansion.



The enemy force is almost there too.



Karin drops Selfina, then moves two spaces left.



We keep on moving.





Ah, the sweet sound of no damage.





And there's the army Carion's going to be holding off.



He briefly moves off his throne to kill a solider.

[Carion: Lv. 7, Hp: 31, Str: 9, Mgc: 2, Skl: 11, Spd: 13, Luk: 9, Def: 7, Bld: 8]



Okay, I did not see this coming. Turns out the enemies actually have a self-preservation instinct, and so no one is willing to get themselves killed by Carion.



Well, except for this guy.



Meanwhile, two soldiers have braved their way through the mountains to throw some javelins at Fergus. Neither hit.



Two archers follow, but both miss as well.





Their bravery is rewarded by us sparing their lives (and capturing them), rather than killing them.



Well except for this guy, we kill him for the crime of being able to attack Karin on the enemy phase. I actually don't think I've mentioned it yet, but bows are effective against fliers. An accompanying refresher, effective damage triples a weapons mt.



Carion takes down another enemy. If they won't attack them, he'll cut them down where they stand.

[Carion:, Lv. 8, Hp: 32, Mgc: 3, Skl: 11, Spd: 13, Luk: 11, Def: 7, Bld: 8]



The enemy keeps milling about. One dragon rider moves into an unfortunate position, so we'll have Karin bait him out and kill him (she has the Fala scroll, which will protect her from his killer lance.)





Selfina weakens one soldier, and Fin captures him.



Fergus captures a second.



On the enemy phase, Karin takes down the dragon rider without issue.



Two archers attack Fergus, he takes some heavy damage due to stat penalties (there was nobody available to take the captured soldier from him and drop it.)



Nanna heals him.



Another one down.

[Carion:, Lv. 9, Hp: 33, Str: 9, Mgc: 3, Skl: 11, Spd: 14, Luk: 12, Def: 7, Bld: 8] I suppose I should mention these aren't his real levels, his real levels were much better.



Two archers move forward and attack our troops. They don't do much.



Selfina, Karin and Fergus combine their strength to capture one.



Shiva shivs the other one, capturing him as well.



Carion does his thing.



He does it again next turn.

[Carion: Lv. 10, Hp: 34, Str: 10, Mgc: 3, Skl: 12, Spd: 15, Luk: 12, Def 7, Bld 8]



Mounted units can't cross mountains, so we have brief lull in the action while we dismount. To fill the downtime, let's gossip:

---





Selfina! Is it really you?
Lord Leaf... This is real...it's not a dream. You've grown so much... You used to be so little, sleeping in my lap. Oh...
Selfina, I'm the one who wants to start crying. I thought you and Dorias had been killed for my sake... I never thought I would see you again. I have no memory of my mother or sister... So I thought of Lachesis as my mother, and you as my sister. I remember always being so troublesome to you.
No, you weren't like that at all... ...Has Lady Lachesis...?
No... She's hasn't returned from Isaac yet...
...I see... Don't worry, Lord Leaf. I'm sure she's doing fine somewhere. We were able to meet again, so we'll see Lady Lachesis again, too.

But wait, there's more!





You are...?
Have you forgotten me? I'm Selfina.
Selfina? Count Dorias' daughter?
Yes.
...Well... So this is that little girl with the braids...
Ten years can make a big difference. I'm now married to Glade.
Glade? He's alive!? Where is he? I have to see him!
He's not here. He went to aid the people in Tahra...
Oh, I see... Too bad. I suppose it can't be helped if it's an order...
You seem to be more interested in Glade than me, Sir Fin. You haven't changed at all... You were always cold towards women.
Cold? I never intended to be...
Then why did you leave Lady Lachesis? You knew how sad she was...
...I don't know what you're talking about...
Yes, you do! But you act like you don't know at all. You're cruel, Sir Fin!
Selfina, we've met again after so many years. We don't have to...
Oh... Yes, I'm sorry. We finally meet again, and I can't do anything but shout at you...
No, it's all right. We'll talk about it later. Right now, we must fight.
Yes, Sir Fin...

Well now, isn't that an interesting bit of characterization?

---



Damn it, why did the dragon rider have to go and move.



Karin's going to take this one on as well.



An unfortunate miss leaves an enemy soldier with his life.







And he's dead. Nanna does healer stuff to Karin.



Carion does cavalier stuff. It's similar to healer stuff, but more people end up dead because of it.

That was the last soldier, which leaves us with an army of armors, all equipped with steel lances. I want to capture as many of them as possible.



Fin's going to bait them out for the capture, with an iron lance equipped he should weaken them without killing them.



Following the first law of Fire Emblem, he scores a crit when we'd rather he didn't.

[Fin: Lv. 13, Hp: 32 Str: 10, Mgc: 2, Skl: 8, Spd: 14, Luk: 7, Def: 9, Bld: 9.] He also gets a level we'd rather he didn't! (This is Fin's real level.)



It goes better with the next armor. Fin also gets a lance rank from it.



Carion had been weakening this armor in hopes of a capture. However, the bishop (remember him?) on the other side of the map tried to heal him with psychic, but y'know, the thread title. This should also be enough to demonstrate that it was, in fact, not an oversight on my part when I neglected to mention what psychic's range is. Staff ranges isn't really something Thracia 776 does.



Anyways, on our phase Fin captures the weakened soldier.



How do you like it, Thracia 776



Uh, what. A random armor suddenly becomes suicidal, killing himself on Carion.

[Carion: Lv. 11, Hp: 35, Str: 11, Mgc: 3, Skl: 12, Spd: 16, Luk: 12, Def: 8, Bld: 9]

He also gets a rank in swords.







Only two armors left.



Another one weakened.



And now for some reason the bishop and his crew have stated to move.



Karin's going to take care of the bishop, for now, she moves into the mountains, just out of range of his meteor tome.



Fin captures another armor.



Carion gets another unwanted crit, killing the last armor.



Meanwhile, bishop and friends are still moving toward us. Karin has moved into the bishops range, ready to capture him.



He attacks her with meteor, but can't do much damage due to her high magic.



Meaning next turn, she can weaken him with her iron lance.



Everyone else moves out of range of meteor.



He misses.



And she captures him He's carrying a wind tome, a meteor tome, a heal staff, and a psychic staff. On the real playthrough, the meteor only has 1 use left, and the psychic 3.

[Karin: Lv. 16, Hp: 31, Str: 10, Mgc: 8, Skl: 11, Spd: 20, Luk: 19, Def: 8, Bld: 4] Karin's doing surprisingly well defensively, even if she hasn't been getting much strength beyond her initial rush thereof. (This is, of course, her real level.)

Now all we have left is the five armors.











They don't pose too much of a threat. We capture three but are forced to kill two.

Loose end time!



Carion gets Fala on top of his other scrolls, and heads into the arena.



There's a shop to the south. S drinks are very special items which let a fatigued character go into battle. Here, we buy a thunder tome, and two S drinks (using most of Carion's arena winnings for the second S drink). There's also a village next to the armory.

---











---

Anyways, Carion gets 3 levels in the arena. I stop arena leveling him just before Nanna becomes fatigued from healing him. I could post what he looked like afterwards in the fake playthrough, but that would be stupid, because I would just have to correct it at the end of the update. So, here's what Carion and Nanna looked like on the real playthrough (post arena leveling.)



This is why I bothered, Carion turned out fantastic.



Nanna's actually not doing so bad either.

With that done, let's finish the map.



---





It's all thanks to you and Finn. I was able to live because of your sacrifices...
It is an honor, Lord Leaf... Well... It looks like I've become easier sent to tears with my age.
No, you're still young... !! Dorias! Your right arm... What happened...
This? It's not as bad as it looks. I was taken by surprise in the battle at Alster. Embarrassing, really.
At Alster... So you were injured letting me escape... I-I'm sorry! All because of me, you...
No, please don't worry about it. An old man like me would never have been much use anyway. More importantly, Lord Leaf, we must hurry if we are to go to Tahra. According to Glade's letters, the Empire is about to lead a full-scale attack. Now that we have gathered the heroes under the flag of Nova, let us be off. Let us fly the flag of the New Kingdom of Lenster and liberate Northern Thracia! First of all, we have to deal with the soldiers stationed outside.



That is strange...
Well, we can't sit here. I shall go take a look. Please wait here.



What happened?

Why, we killed them all, Dorias.

Hm? What's that... A Dragon Knight? She's saying something to the Thracian Army...
Reporting to all Thracian troops! This is the princess, Altena speaking. An emergency notice just arrived from General Hannibal. The people occupying this mansion are not bandits. They are mercenaries that General Hannibal himself hired to protect the people in this area from bandit attacks. Halt your attacks and retreat at once!

---

New Recruits

Alva:



Hp: 70% Spd: 50%
Str: 40% Lck: 65%
Mag: 10% Def: 30%
Skl: 45% Bld: 25%
Mov: 1%

Class: Lance Knight Weapon Ranks: E (lances), D (swords) Movement stars: 0 Skills: None PCC: 1

See Kein for commentary.

Kein:



Hp: 75% Spd: 35%
Str: 55% Lck: 50%
Mag: 5% Def: 35%
Skl: 40% Bld: 30%
Mov: 1%

Class: Lance Knight Weapon Ranks: E (swords), D (lances) Movement stars: 0 Skills: None PCC: 1

Both Kein and Alva are pretty similar. They both start out at a low level with little to no frills, but they have good growths and they'll be powerful statistically if you want to invest in them. Lance Knight is kind of an unfortunate class, they're locked into one weapon, and not the one they use dismounted. They're not bad, but they're not great units either. Alva is faster but weaker than Kein.

Robert:



Hp: 65% Spd: 60%
Str: 45% Lck: 70%
Mag: 10% Def: 25%
Skl: 50% Bld: 20%
Mov: 1%

Class: Arch Knight Weapon Ranks: E (bows) Movement stars: 1 Skills: None PCC: 3

Robert here is a little more interesting. He's similar to Alva and Kein, but has an advantage over them in that he's probably the best bow user in the game if you invest in him (amongst characters who specialize in bows, there's a later character who can use bows who might be better). He also has a PCC of 3, and a movement star, both of which are respectable. I'm still not a huge fan of archers, and Robert is definitely a pain to bring up to par, but if you want a dedicated bow user, he's your guy.

Selfina:



Hp: 50% Spd: 35%
Str: 25% Lck: 55%
Mag: 10% Def: 15%
Skl: 40% Bld: 10%
Mov: 1%

Class: Arch Knight Weapon Ranks: B (bows) Movement stars: 0 Skills: Charge PCC: 1

Selfina just isn't good. She's not much better stat-wise then Robert despite being several levels higher, and her growths are much lower. Her B in bows is her only advantage over him right now, in the long-term, Robert is just plain better than Selfina.

---

Current Resets: 8 10

Next time on Thracia 776: Ballistas, everywhere, as far as the eye can see!