Part 23: Chapter 12x: Dandelion

They must be the Empire's public security forces... Is Seram all right?
He might have been killed... I'll go check. You stay here.



An army's coming for us. Damn bastards.
Army...
Hey, what was that smile for? Oh, I get it. You think you can escape from me now, eh? Well, fat chance of that. There's no way I'm letting go of a useful slave like you.
Why... Why are you doing this...? Please let me go... Please...



Oh god, why did you have to go there Fire Emblem?

I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please, forgive me!
Good. Then go help Trude with that Thief Staff. Now go on, you incompetent slug!

---









Pahn isn't a bad man.

We must have vastly differing opinions on what constitutes a bad man Lara.

Do you know him?
Yes... Until a year ago, I was a dancer in a band of traveling entertainers. I hated it there, but since I was sold there for money when I was little, I couldn't escape... But then Pahn saved me from them.
I see... So that's why you became a thief.
Lord Leaf, please let me speak with him. I need to talk to him!

---





Here we are. Fog of war, indoors, you know the deal by now. Coming along with us on today's escapade are Marty, Safy, Lara, Marita, Marty, Carion and Salem (who only just now officially joined.)





You can see Pahn and the throne in the bottom of this screenshot.



That's unusual. This map is pretty much designed to slowly screw you over, slowly crushing your hopes that you might make it out alright. It's not dangerous whatsoever, but there's a lot of treasure spread around, and all the enemy thieves are going to steal it, and then escape out of numerous staircases spread out around the map. There are also a bunch of dancers spread around. Dancers are a new class that let a character move twice, meaning the thieves are going to be escaping with our treasure twice as fast. I'm pretty sure Thracia 776 is the only game in the series where there are enemy dancers.



We also need to recruit Trude. You'd think Salem could talk to him, but nope. You need to capture him (or have Pahn talk to him, but the logistics of that are complicated, to say the least.



He's got decent stats and weapon, so taking him alive is difficult for obvious reasons.





We also have to deal with Tina. You see, her thief staff lets her steal things. From anyone with lower magic, anywhere on the map. While she's obviously recruitable, and so we get anything she steals back, the thief staff is awesome and you want it as intact as possible. She also has 5 god damn movement stars, so she can frequently steal twice per turn.



Oh hey, 5 more movement stars. On a thief. That's beautiful.

Now, we could play by their rules. We could try to make it through the map, while our precious treasures are stolen and our thief staff is eroded. Or we can say fuck you Thracia 776 and your bullshit. Because Safy's got an A in staffs, and we've got ourselves a warp staff.







wheee



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Hm? Oh, Lara... What are you doing here? Ah, I get it... You missed me so much, you just had to come back, right?
...What if I said yes?
Whoa, whoa, what's with the serious look? I was joking. I don't need a kid like you hovering around me. Go back to Manster.
So you're driving me away again. I thought you liked me when I was dancing. You were watching me so intently...
Yeah, I didn't know you were still a kid back then. Yup, you're right, I liked your dancing. It's, you know...energizing. It cheers you up. But you hated dancing, right? That's why you quit.

I'm not even sure what that first line really means, but it somehow still sounds creepy.

...No... I actually like to dance. So... If you liked it, I can dance for you again.
What are you saying...
No, not just for you... If I can cheer everyone up with my dancing, then that would be nice...
Everyone? Who's everyone?
Prince Leaf's Liberation Army. I'm helping them. I'm not much use, though...
Hmm... Ah, I get it... All right Lara, go back to being a dancer. Then I'll join the Liberation Army as well.



---











wait what





Yoink!







And with Pahn recruited, the thieves and dancers all escape, sans treasure. Unfortunately, Trude's going to retreat too, and we can't have that, now can we?



Safy repairs Seram's sleep staff.



And Seram knocks him out for the count.

And, that's pretty much the map. All we've really got left to do is open some chests, capture the sleeping Trude and recruit Pahn. Leaf has a set of chest keys, so we're leaving the chests to him.



Lara's holding onto some lockpicks, so Pahn can take them and escape from the throne room (we need to get Pahn to the other side of the map.)



Lara's going to follow him, while dancing for experience. She's holding a bunch of scrolls and the elite sword, so she gets 20 experience per dance.





She's a maniac, maniac on the floor

Now that we've seen her dance, let me talk some more about her. Her promotion to dancer isn't really a promotion, but rather more of a class change. What this means is that she can become a dancer even if she's already been promoted, and she can promoted again from dancer (back into a promoted thief.) This means that she can potentially gain 80 levels. I'm not going to show it because it's highly impractical, you'd need to use two Knight's Proofs on her, as well as get her to 20/20 by this chapter. As well, as you saw, she suffers stat penalties when she goes to dancer, so combined with her lackluster growths, she won't even be that fantastic. Furthermore, she can still steal and pick locks as a dancer, but she can't dance as a thief/rogue.



This is literally why Marita is here, so she can use the Elite Manual without taking up an inventory space/turn later on.



And we've captured Trude

For the next twenty some turns, Leaf continues to plunder us some treasure, while Lara makes sure to dance every turn. Our takeaway from the map ends up being a Charge Manual (teaches Charge), a shield ring (boosts defense), an armorslayer, a fortify staff (heals every ally on the map, 3 uses), and a Knight's Proof.

Then, twenty five turns into the map...



What. Why did a dancer spawn.



And why the hell does she have a Knights proof? If you don't kill any dancers, on the twenty fifth turn, this dancer appears. She's going to go from where she is to a nearby set of stairs, she'll only be around 3 or 4 turns at most, so even if you're still around 25 turns in, there's no guarantee you'll even see her. Anyways, Pahn steals it from her. Of all the arbitrary bullshit...



It's somehow not even the worst. Five turns later, this dancer shows up, under the same conditions as the first (so if you kill the first ). Carion captures this one, warp is too heavy for Pahn to steal.

With that taken care of, Leaf has Lara dance for his amusement, until she's literally three times more fatigued than you have to be to be allowed to sit out of a map.



No pain no gain though.

One last objective...

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Slave!? Tina! What did he do to you!?
He told me to help him steal with the Thief and Unlock staves...
Why didn't you refuse?
I did... But then he did terrible things to me...
Terrible things!?
Yes...
What did he do to you, Tina!? Tell me! I'm prepared for the worst!



That was not at all in bad taste, way to go Intsys

...Is that all?
Yes... But I was really scared. Just remembering it gives me shivers...
Tina...
Yes?
I told you to stay in Tahra until I returned. Now, you see what happens when you don't listen to your big sister? I hope you've learned your lesson.
Yes, I'm sorry... Oh, Safy, don't you think Lord Leaf is so handsome? My ideal man would be a prince like him... What do you think, Safy?
Tina... ...I'm a little tired. Let's talk later.
Okay, big sister!

So I guess Pahn isn't a rapist, just a guy who kidnaps kids and creeps on dancers. Totally a good guy. (You could argue that he only made Tina his "slave" so she wouldn't go get herself killed crossing war torn country. Pahn's useful, so I like to believe this.)

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And we're done.

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Let's head on to Tahra!



I'll talk him into joining the Liberation Army. Then there should be no problems.

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This update was kind of short, so I'm going to fill it out with a lot of possible conversations you can see this map:

At the beginning of the map, if you bring Lifis:

What's the matter, Lifis? You don't look well.
Hey, prince... Could you switch me with someone else? I really don't want to..
You said you were living around here when you were a child. Do you know some of the thieves?
Well... There's this one guy I really don't want to meet, and...
Don't be ridiculous. Now go to your post!
Come on, please! Just this once!
No. It's the prince's orders!

If you recruit Pahn with Lifis:

Shit...
Hm? ...Are you Lifis? Hey, long time no see!
Y-Yeah... Hi...Pahn...
You haven't changed at all since you were a kid, have you? Have you at least learned not to wet your bed?
C-Come on, Pahn... That was a long time ago.
Really? You were biggest crybaby in the village, and you were always being bullied by the other guys... It seems like it was yesterday.
...You were the one who always picked on me first...
Hm? Did you say something?
No, nothing...
Oh, okay. Hey, you're working for the Liberation Army now, right? Sounds like fun. Yeah, I think I'll join. Where's your leader?
Wh-What!?
What! You got a problem?
...No...
Let's have fun again, like the old days! What do you say?
...I'm gonna be stuck with this asshole again...?
Hey, you all right? You look a little pale.
Huh? D-D-Do I? M-Maybe I caught a cold or something! Ah, ahahaha...
?

Post chapter, if you brought Lifis:

All right. Pahn's a caring person, isn't he?
Prince, you don't know what this guy is really like... Oh, man...

If you recruit Pahn with Seram:

Pahn! Withdraw your sword.
Seram!? What are you doing on the enemy side? ...Are you going to betray us?
No. These people aren't enemies. They are Prince Leaf's Liberation Army.
Liberation Army? What's that?
They have the same ideals as we do. I will explain it later. For now, just withdraw your blade!
So you want us to stop fighting? ...I suppose you've thought it through well enough to make a decision like this. All right, I'll trust you. Let's go.

And lastly, if you recruit Trude with Pahn:

Trude, it's all right. We don't have to fight any more.
What do you mean?
I'm joining the Liberation Army. So come with me.
I see... So that's the Liberation Army... I knew their morale was too high to be the Imperial Army. All right. I'll go with you.
Good. We've been friends for a long time, so I didn't want to have to fight you. Thanks, Trude.
Of course. Let's go.

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New Recruits:

Tina:



Hp: 40% Spd: 65%
Str: 3% Lck: 90%
Mag: 50% Def: 5%
Skl: 25% Bld: 5%
Mov: 5%

Class: Priest Weapon Ranks: E (Staves) Movement stars: 5 Skills: None PCC: 1

While her growths are pretty good (she has no defense, but what healer does?), what really sets Tina apart are her staffs. Thief is awesome, and Unlock is very useful too (it lets her open a door or chest from a distance.)

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Pahn:



Hp: 65% Spd: 65%
Str: 40% Lck: 70%
Mag: 10% Def: 25%
Skl: 45% Bld: 10%
Mov: 2%

Class: Rogue Weapon Ranks: B (Swords) Movement stars: 5 Skills: Steal, Sunlight Sword, Ambush PCC: 5

What's this? A thief who can actually fight? Pahn's a pretty great unit, 5 movement stars is fantastic, a PCC of 5 is just as great, and his skill load out is good too. He's not as good in terms of raw statistics as Lifis at an equal level, but his better skills, PCC, movement stars, and ease of use makes him a better unit, in my opinion. Beyond being a really good thief, he can also contribute combat wise, although his strength is pretty bad. He comes with the King Sword, a fairly powerful sword that gives Charisma to its wielder. It's not unique to him though. In fact, it's not a bad idea to give it to Leaf to make him into a Charisma bot for the rest of our forces (because what else can he do?)

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Trude:



Hp: 90% Spd: 35%
Str: 35% Lck: 60%
Mag: 5% Def: 30%
Skl: 45% Bld: 20%
Mov: 2%

Class: Myrmidon Weapon Ranks: B (Swords) Movement stars: 1 Skills: Awareness PCC: 1

Trude isn't a bad unit by any means, but he's the worse of the 4 myrmidons. He doesn't have any of their PCCs, nor he doesn't have Makua's useful promotion, Marita's crazy growths, or Shiva's all-around excellence. He does have some advantages though, between his Hp and his above average defense he's quite durable, his strength starts out high to compensate somewhat for his low growth, and he has a good starting sword rank.

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Current Resets: 27

Next time on Thracia 776: A chapter. It's difficult, some aspects of it are bullshit, the usual really.