Part 22: The Thieves of Dakia - Part 2
Last time, we found ourselves heading through the forest of Dakia, on our way to reinforce Tahra against an upcoming attack from the empire. Inhabiting the forest is a band of thieves, lead by the seemingly honorable Pahn, with a former Lopto priest by the name of Seram numbering among their ranks. Believing us to be an imperial force, Seram and his sleep staff have been given the task of stopping us. There also seems to be a slight schism in the thieves' ranks, as a man named Cohlo's violent tendencies don't mesh well with Pahn's more Robin Hood-esque ways. Furthermore, Marita - Eyvel's daughter - has been left by the Bishop Cyas in a nearby village.---
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Today's mission is brought to you in part by Asvel, Carion, Marty, Othin, Makua, Fergus, Karin, Olwen, Nanna, Shiva, and Fin. Although it can't be seen due to the fog of war, there are 3 villages that need to be visited. 2 of them are in danger of being destroyed by bandits, this is especially frustrating as only some of the bandits can destroy the villages. They have slightly different sprites, but you may not notice this at first, so it can be kind of disconcerting to see a bunch of bandits swarming a village for several turns only to have one of them suddenly destroy it.
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There really isn't anything to do but move forward. One village is to the north and the other to the south, so you want to divide your forces somewhat. We're also on a time limit here, we have to beat the map in 19 turns.
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Cohlo will literally do nothing if you don't come to him.
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Every Fire Emblem player's favorite thing - status effects! At least it's not berserk. Not yet. Anyways, due to the way staffs work, Seram (I'd been calling him Salem this entire update, that should be his name) has a flat 84% chance of hitting so long as his magic is greater than the target's (60+4*skill is the staff accuracy formula). Do I even need to say it hits?
Let me just say, fuck sleep. Sleeping units have all of their stats, except luck and build, reduced to 0. This wouldn't be so bad if you could, y'know, cure it, but we can't do that yet. Anyone who gets put to sleep is not only out of commission for the entire map, but they're also sitting ducks just waiting to be taken down.
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Some bandits pop out of the woodwork. Note that some of them have their axes pointed to the left; these bandits are essentially thieves, and can destroy villages and steal items. Since sleep drops speed to 0, any sleeping characters are going to have their inventories stripped dry.
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Some blows are exchanged, one bandit dies and the other survives. No injuries on our side.
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Bandits? Are they the thieves the villagers were talking about?
No, the Dandelion would never attack a village. They're probably brigands from another area. I see... Don't worry. I'll protect this village. Don't be silly. A girl like you wouldn't stand a chance against brigands. No, I'm a swordfighter. I am the daughter of Eyvel! I won't lose to a bunch of brigands!---
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And finally, Marita joins our forces. Statwise she isn't much to speak of yet, but she's brimming with potential. She should be able to fend for herself for the time being, her sword comes with the brave effect as well as the awareness skill (nullifies enemy combat skills), and has 20 crit, which goes well with her PCC of 5.
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Anyways, time to strike back! We begin by taking a prisoner.
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Fergus gets a movement star, and so Carion takes the prisoner from him to give him a chance to act again.
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Damn it, math is hard. For now, he's a free man.
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So's this guy.
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Or not.
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At least Othin can still kill people.
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Nanna does the ol' swap and drop.
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Here's how we end our turn. The northern village is two spaces over from the arena seen in the very top, Asvel's making a break for it.
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I'm not going to lie, most of this map is kinda dull. It's just a lot of bandits to kill.
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Oh god damn it
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Sleeping characters automatically fall of their horses, making it the only way to capture them. Quick, everyone think of ways the game can use this to screw you over!
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In this case though Carion being dismounted doesn't matter too much.
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Leaf is actually going to participate this map! Enjoy the novelty, you'll be seeing less and less of this as things go on.
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Fucking sleep. Why does sleep give you zero defense (the two is from the forest)? Does armor stop working while you sleep? Luckily one one hit connects, so Carion doesn't take too much damage (0 speed
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This guy's a survivor. Not much of a fighter though, based on his 1 percent hit chance. By the by, hit chance can't go lower than 0. Just so you can never know for sure...
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He doesn't stand a chance against Marita and her Marita's sword. That doesn't flow so well, does it?
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Even with 0 speed, a hand-axe can't even get above 9 hit. That's just pathetic.
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[Fergus: Lv. 19, Hp: 35, Str: 15, Skl: 12, Spd: 12, Luk: 14, Def: 8, Bld: 10]
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We've got a lot of bandits to deal with here. Still, I imagine you've realized by now that none of them are much of a threat.
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Leaf killing someone? Why I never!
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Daim Thunder in a nutshell. Crazy damage, 0 attack speed.
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Pugi is still fantastic for capturing. Capturing becomes more and more frustrating as the game goes on, as it's impossible to double someone with more than 6 attack speed when capturing.
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Bandits vs. Myrmidons match ups tend to be harder on the bandits than the myrmidons.
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Fuck yooouuu.... Never mind he missed. Misses don't actually consume a staff use though, if you want to bait out a staff's uses you have to take the hits.
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Leaf gets surrounded by three bandits, while Karin fights a third.
[Leaf: Lv. 16, Hp: 36, Str: 10, Mgc: 0, Skl: 4, Spd: 12, Luk: 12, Def: 9, Bld: 6] Surprisingly decent.
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Marita still exists.
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Karin and Fergus work together to steal us some new weapons (perhaps it is we who are the real thieves).
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That can't be fun for him. Can't say I disliked it though.
In the meantime, Asvel's made it to the northern village safely.
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One of these days I want to visit a village, and get rewarded because some other people saved their kids and they thought it was us. Although knowing Thracia 776, it'd be more likely that they'd give the reward to someone else if you don't make it in time. Oh yeah, we get a silence staff from the village. Silenced characters can't use magic or staves. I probably could have silenced Seram so he couldn't burn up his sleep staff (which we'll need to repair), although Safy was fatigued and Nanna can't use silence on Seram because of her stats and ugh who cares
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It may be hard to tell from the picture, but you can't move through all of these forests. The dark green ones are impossible to traverse, if you look closely you can see that Makua is moving through a thin U-shaped corridor of light green forest.
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Back to you Marita.
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Nothing else happens on the enemy phase.
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Marita moves forward to reveal Seram. He isn't much to speak of, but we need to take him alive.
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Nanna uses a torch to expose our surroundings. The warrior right there is Cohlo.
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We could kill him easily, but we want take his Ambush Manual. If I had a faster thief I could just steal it. Oh well. It would be a lot easier to catch him if my big guns weren't asleep, but that would just be too easy, wouldn't it?
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Daim Thunder and Olwen can be really good for capturing. Most magic users don't have the build to capture, but Olwen's horse gets around that, meaning she can do heavy damage and two attacks while capturing.
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Here, I made some dinner for you. It's cold out, so I made something warm.
Thank you. It's dangerous outside at night. You should go to sleep. Yes... ...Are you worried about your sister? You said her name was Safy... Don't worry, you will see her again. I will help you look for her once my wounds are healed.131.png)
Seram's pretty interesting. He's by all accounts a nice guy, which makes the fact that he used to be a Lopto priest odd. Was the Lopto order not evil at one point? Doesn't seem that likely from everything I know of the setting. Or did Seram just have a change of heart somewhere and decide to try and be an ethical person? Who knows?
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Sleeeeeeppp!
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Shiva and Makua make their way towards Cohlo. They're going to wait outside his range until Fin is closer. With Carion and Marty out of commision, it's up to either Fin, Nanna, Fergus, Karin or Olwen to capture Cohlo, and Fin is the nearest and the 2nd most feasible. (We're still on a time limit).
In the meantime, we strike south and reach the southern village.
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How can I ever repay your kindness? Here, take this as a token of my gratitude. We get the Heim scroll, which is +30 magic at the cost of -10 defense. -10 defense can be a pretty harsh penalty for almost anybody, so Heim gets a lot better when we get the +30 defense scroll later on.
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Marita: Lv. 3, Hp: 23, Str: 3, Mgc: 1, Skl: 8, Spd: 13, Luk: 8, Def: 3, Bld: 5] This is pretty disappointing, especially considering Marita's growths.
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And let's begin the operation. Makua's going to bait him out, she has the distinct honor of having an almost guaranteed dodge, as well as being unlikely to kill Cohlo.
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He's dead. Let's hope Cohlo doesn't follow in his lackey's footsteps.
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Did the weapons and horses not tip you off?
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One great thing about the animations is that you can actually change sides with enemy. It's not really happening here, but if you get the crit where you dash past the enemy (everyone has multiple crit animations depending on when they get it), you'll turn around and attack them from behind for any further hits. I think you need a brave weapon, I'll try and get a gif of it some time. For now, you'll just have to make do with my vivid descriptions.
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We've almost done it. C'mon Fin, work your magic.
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How do the numbers work out to 1hp so often? (At least this time it wasn't my fault, Fin missed once.
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That doesn't look so good. However, I can move Karin over slightly so that she's near Fergus and Nanna, that way her accuracy goes up to 68 and Cohlo's goes down to 50. She'll still die if she misses and he hits twice though. No whammy, no whammy...
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Yes!
[Karin: Lv. 17, Hp: 32, Str: 10, Mgc: 8, Skl: 11, Spd: 20, Luk: 20, Def: 8, Bld: 4] No!
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I don't want to burn up too many uses of her sword, so I have her retreat slightly.
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The village near Marita can only be visited by Olwen. So, we're going to have Karin ferry Olwen across the river. It would be pretty difficult to get her there the long way and still make it to 12x. The long way, for the record, involves using a thief to bring the drawbridge in the north back up, and crossing there. We're just going to use Karin instead. If Karin is dead and so are your thieves? Tough, I suppose. I mean, you kind of deserve it if you let both thieves die, but still.
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[Marita: Lv. 4, Hp: 24, Str: 4, Mgc: 2, Skl: 8, Spd: 14, Luk: 8, Def: 3, Bld: 5] That's better.
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Karin drops Olwen and comes back for Leaf.
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Karin rescues Leaf and carries him across the river. Olwen visits the village.
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How can I ever repay you for you kindness? Here, take this as a token of my gratitude....That sounds a little familiar. I don't know why Olwen has to be the one to visit the village, I guess so Marita can't visit the village. As for why Olwen, I guess because anybody but Marita just wouldn't be arbitrary enough.
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Marita takes some scrolls to avoid getting hit by a critical, and goes to capture Seram. For the record, here's what she's up against.
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She shouldn't have too hard a time of things.
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[Marita: Lv. 5, Hp: 26 (+2), Str: 5, Mgc: 2, Skl: 9, Spd: 15, Luk: 9, Def: 3, Bld: 5] Look at that +2 Hp. It's...beautiful.
With Seram good and captured, we can feel free to seize the building.
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We should only take those who are still able to fight. ...Around five people, maybe.
All right, let's go. The villagers would appreciate it.---
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I'm surprised as well. I never thought I would find you or the people of Fiana so quickly. Marita... Forgive me. Because of me, Eyvel... No, it's not your fault... It was my weakness. If I hadn't lost to the sword's power... Marita, I promise I'll rescue Eyvel. I'll save her with my own hands!203.png)
We'll save Eyvel together, Marita. Yes, Lord Leaf!---
New Recruits:
Hp: 60% Spd: 40%
Str: 5% Lck: 10%
Mag: 30% Def: 15%
Skl: 45% Bld: 15%
Mov: 2%
Class: Dark Mage Weapon Ranks: C (Staves), D (Fire), D (Thunder), D (Wind), C (Dark) Movement stars: 0 Skills: None PCC: 1
What Salem really has going for him is his C rank is staves. Staves are really good, and a decent staff rank can always come in handy. His offensive capabilities are nothing more than a bonus on top of this this though. Dark magic is neat as a novelty, but it's incredibly heavy (12mt as its lightest, and as always for magic, without build to offset it) and quite rare until later in the game. It also doesn't have the same neat effects as it does in 7, Luna is sadly, not a thing yet. Dark mages also lack the fantastic promotions of mages, so he can't match up statwise to Asvel and future Sages.
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Hp: 65% Spd: 80%
Str: 60% Lck: 60%
Mag: 15% Def: 20%
Skl: 75% Bld: 10%
Mov: 3%
Class: Myrmidon Weapon Ranks: D (Swords) Movement stars: 1 Skills: Moonlight Sword, Shooting Star Sword* PCC: 5
God damn take a look at those growths. 60% strength on a myrmidon? It's more likely than you think. It's not quite as good as you might think though, her defense and build are pretty middling, so she'll ram her caps quick and then fall behind in those, but 60% strength is still fantastic, and she's an offensive powerhouse. Moonlight Sword lets her penetrate defense, and Shooting Star Sword lets her attack 5 times consecutively. She doesn't actually have Shooting Star Sword yet though, she learns it in chapter 15. However, I want to talk about it now for two reasons. First of all, it can be crazy good, because if it procs on the 2nd hit then her PCC of 5 applies to all 5 hits, so you can easily get 5 critical hits in a row. It's probably overkill (although with some bosses and their 10 defense thrones you can never say for sure), but damn if it isn't fun. Secondly, full disclosure. Marita has great growths but is under-leveled. What goes well with that? Our Elite Manual. That's right, It's finally time to decide who gets the Elite Manual. With some help from Nakar, I've decided on three potential candidates for the Elite book. Marita's our first. However, unlike everyone else, Marita can potentially use the Elite Sword. We'd need to repair it, but it's always an option. Furthermore, I feel obligated to mention that if Marita wins, we'll wait until we get the +30 def scroll to level her up.
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Elite Book Candidate 2 (Eda)
Lv. 5
Hp: 22 (65%) Spd: 9 (60%)
Str: 7 (40%) Lck: 12 (30%)
Mag: 3 (20%) Def: 9 (20)%
Skl: 6 (35%) Bld: 5 (5)%
Mov: 8 (3%)
Class: Dragon Rider Weapon Ranks: D (Swords), B (Lances) Movement stars: 0 Skills: None PCC: 1
(Joins Chapter 14). The idea behind Eda is to dump every scroll on her, give her the elite book, and then hopefully get a real powerful flier on our hands. This is pretty much the only way we could use her, her growths are bad enough that she really wants scrolls, and without Elite to get her levels fast and her stats up fast, it can be pretty tough to use her. Not impossible, but quite tough. Her downsides next to the other candidates are two-fold. First, she lacks Marita's crazy offense and growths, and she suffers the most severe dismounting penalties of any class. I'm talking -3str, -2 skill, -2 speed, -5 defense here. I feel like this is way too
, but also, if Eda wins and we give Marita the Elite sword, then Marita won't get the +30 def scroll when she levels, for reasons that will make sense when we get there. (Eda joins with the +30 def scroll, I'm not going to scroll level two characters in the same chapter.)---
Elite Book Candidate 3 (Miranda)
Lv. 5
Hp: 19 (60%) Spd: 8 (70%)
Str: 0 (5%) Lck: 7 (35%)
Mag: 7 (70%) Def: 1 (15)%
Skl: 2 (55%) Bld: 3 (5)%
Mov: 6 (2%)
Class: Mage (Mage Knight Promotion) Weapon Ranks: C (Fire), E (Thunder), D (Wind) Movement stars: 0 Skills: Wrath PCC: 1
(Joins 16B). Miranda needs the Elite book to be usable. Honestly, she's an interesting character. She has great offensive stats, but her defense is terrible, which doesn't go well with Wrath at all. That said, we have so many scrolls by that point that growths really won't matter. We'll be able to boost her defense by 45%, all the way up to 60% (That said, we'll be able to do the same for any winner, so don't base your decisions on that.) She'll probably never be able to use swords well though, her build isn't really salvageable. Also, she only joins on one half of the branching path, so if she wins, that one becomes the canon path by default. Beyond that, her biggest fault is that even with the Elite Book leveling her will be quite the chore.
So
Who gets the book?Marita, Eda or Miranda?
Oh, and vote to give anyone Wrath. Eda can be chosen if you want.
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Current Resets:
Next Time on Thracia 776: We show Thracia 776 who's boss.
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There will be no preamble for the next mission.