Part 29: Chapter 14x: Freedom - Part 2

Last time we found ourselves escaping from Tahra, newly occupied by Thracia. We've now found ourselves escorting 600 of Tahra's citizens through a fog of war covered valley, with a fleet of Pegasus Knight's belonging to general Misha about to attack us, promising fun times for all.





We've brought Olwen, Marty, Othin, Havan, Dean, Homer, Asvel, and Lara along with for today's mission, with Linoan joining our party for the first time. Tina was supposed to come, but after an unfortunate first attempt I replaced her with Lara (my apologies to Shei-kun).

There isn't much for me to do turn one, so I just shuffle some characters around as shown. Linoan moves onto a mountain for extra defense and avoid, after being given a psychic staff, a thunder tome, and the Resire tome by Leaf.



A Pegasus rider comes out the fog and kills herself via Makua. The Pegasus riders aren't much of a threat, and by that I mean almost anyone can kill them effortlessly. Even Linoan can hold her own against them as long as she's on a mountain. The Pegasus riders aren't here to pose a threat to you (although you still need to be careful with frail units like Linoan), but for a soon to be seen, much different reason.



Might as well, right?



...And she misses.



Take two folks.



It's quiet... too quiet.



Marty goes the capture the dark mage.

[Marty: Lv. 3, Hp: 54, Str: 19, Mgc: 7, Skl: 11, Spd: 18, Luk: 14, Def: 19, Bld: 20]



The dark mage happens to have a very... interesting item on him. The rewarp staff is an A rank staff that lets the user warp anywhere. They're absolutely ridiculous if we can get a character that can actually fight to an A in staves. Seram is a pretty good candidate as things stand now, and Linoan (who already has a C, and gets one on promotion) makes a strong case for herself this chapter. We can't actually take it this turn though, because Makua's inventory is full. Of course, while it's nice to get a rewarp staff, you can probably imagine the implications behind the fact that the one dark mage had one.



We end our turn like so.





Two Pegasus riders appear from the darkness and an NPC shows up near the bottom of the map. This is the gimmick, so to speak, behind the map. The Pegasus riders are going to capture the civilians and fly away with them. For each civilian that escapes from the map, we get one stamina drink, so it's in our best interests to stop them from getting carrying away. A flier makes this chapter a whole lot easier, because without a flier you can't stop the Pegasus riders if they make it into the mountains. Tina got the boot because she got captured and carried into the mountains, out of Dean's range, almost instantly.




Olwen, with help from Lara, takes down one of the Pegasus riders. Wind is effective against fliers, and so she can pretty much one-shot any Peg. rider. This goes especially well with ambush.





A dark mage warps himself right into the middle of our troops. Luckily he can't actually move after warping, so he's really not a threat.





[Homer: Lv. 8, Hp: 26, Str: 0, Mgc: 7, Skl: 5, Spd: 12, Luk: 13, Def: 2, BLd: 7] Not only does the Peg. rider survive, but they also give Homer a crappy level up.



Linoan goes to finish her off.

Linoan: Lv. 4, Hp: 17, Str: 0, Mgc: 8, Skl: 5, Spd: 10, Luk: 9, Def: 0, Bld: 3] The thing about Linoan is that she levels up really fast. Way back when, I talked about class power briefly. Linoan's class actually has the lowest class power (1) of any class in the game that can use weapons, and so she levels extremely fast. I did some brief :sperg:, and worked out that at level 10, killing a level 10 enemy with a default class power (3), she levels faster than Homer does under the same circumstances, even though he has Elite. In fact, so long as Linoan is level 9 or higher, she levels faster than Homer does killing the enemy described.



Dean captures another rewarp staff. We want a lot of these. I didn't mention it last time, but the game is kind enough to give us a fairly powerful character who starts with an A in staffs, so even if Seram and Linoan both turn out useless, we'll still have options.



This is the most frustrating part of the map. Some of the dark mages don't actually warp, they just spawn near you. This makes keeping the civilians alive pretty rough, because while they'll capture the civilians if they can, they kill them if they can't reach them to capture them.



For the time being, the mage settles for attacking Marty.



This one survives too. Magic users have kind of crappy speed, because build doesn't offset the weight of a tome. With thunder's 5 wt, Homer actually isn't that fast. (Speed doesn't actually do much of anything but determine attack speed, which is used for all speed related calculations but one (staff doubling chance)).



A second NPC shows up. There are eventually going to be six of them, meaning we can potentially get a lot of stamina drinks.



Makua captures the dark mage, eating a hit in the process. The thing about Yotsmungand is that it poisons anyone who gets hit by it, meaning we have to deal with poison on top of everything else going on this chaper. While we do have a restore staff, curing poison is kind of an uphill battle, and there are much, much worse status effects out there. It's horrifying. For now, I'm just going to have my poisoned characters tough it out. It builds character.

[Makua: Lv. 18, Hp: 34, Str: 11, Mgc: 2, Spd: 20, Luk: 12, Def: 9, Bld: 9] Man, I was full of shit with that whole builds character thing, but it seems to have been true.



Lara dances for Makua, who proceeds to drop a whole bunch of scrolls on Homer.



He can't actually kill her, but Othin sure as hell can.



A poor decision on her part. Olwen takes her down with wind before she even gets an attack in .



A second Peg. rider that couldn't reach us unwisely waited in our range.



With some help from Lara, he takes her down fairly easily.



A dark mage comes out of nowhere and hits Lara, poisoning her.



Furthermore, two Peg. riders show up, one of them managing to capture one of the civilian groups. I don't quite understand the logistics behind that, seeing as how there are apparently 600 civilians, meaning each civilian unit is 100 people, meaning there a either a whole lot of Peg. riders per Peg. rider unit, or one Pegasus is not having a good time right about now.



A third NPC shows up on the NPC phase, while Havan sets the captured NPC free. Or tumbling to his death from the sky. Whatever.





[Homer: Lv. 9, Hp: 27, Str: 0, Mgc: 8. Skl: 6, Spd: 12, Luk: 14, Def: 3, Bld: 7] I guess you could call that level up a Homer run.



Lara dances for him, but he misses his second hit, which would be unfortunate if Lara hadn't procced a movement star, letting him move three times.



We end our turn in this formation. The whole defensive circle with a gap between the civilian and our units is pretty important during this map, as it prevents the dark mage from being able to attack the civilian. That said, sometimes it's better not even to have a formation, as having the dark mages capture the civilians is normally ideal (you can easily take them down with their stat penalties).





[Othin: Lv. 17, Hp: 42, Str: 10, Mgc: 1, Skl: 9, Spd: 14, Luk: 14, Def: 7, Bld: 18] Othin's defense is kind of crap, so I can deal with this.







You want to have Dean right next to as many civilians as possible, as he has higher move than the Peg. riders, and so he can always save any civilians he's adjacent to if they're captured.



Olwen captures the dark mage with Daim Thunder. In the process, she gets an A rank in thunder, meaning we can finally use some of the bolting tomes we've built up. Talk about electrifying.



Marty and Asvel move up slightly to defend the northern most civilian against any surprise threats.





And here's the fourth civilian.





I don't do much this turn. You may have noticed that Olwen crossed the mountain, despite my earlier claim that mounted units can't cross mountains. For what has to literally be the first time in the LP, I didn't actually make a mistake, mounted units gain the ability to cross mountains at a heavy movement cost once they promote.







Olwen gets us another rewarp staff. More!



Linoan casts Magic up on Marty. There's something we need done, and Marty may just be the man for the job.

[Linoan: Lv. 5, Hp: 17, Str: 0, Mgc: 9, Skl: 6, Spd: 11, Luk: 10, Def: 0, Bld: 3] Not bad, but not terrible either.



Onwards, brave Marty! Meanwhile, Othin rescues Linoan so she doesn't end up on the wrong end of a lance. Well the right end I suppose, getting hit by the blunt part of a lance wouldn't be so bad.





Marty can pretty much shrug it off, 14 magic from the Magic Up staff and 54 Hp makes him a brick wall.



More attempts to capture my civilians.



Oh shit. This is why I sent Marty up with the magic staff, the boss of the map has the Dark siege tome Fenrir, which is ridiculously powerful and accurate. He doesn't pull of a dodge.



I figure Marty's in a little over his head here, and have him retreat.



Meanwhile, Othin drops Linoan, and Havan and Dean free the captured civilians.





It just doesn't end, does it? We now have a fifth civilian to deal with as well.



As always, we free some civilians.



A crit (a guaranteed crit mind you, a PCC of 5 is a beautiful thing), takes the Dark Mage down.

[Homer: Lv. 10, Hp: 28, Str: 0, Mgc: 8. Skl: 6, Spd: 12, Luk: 14, Def: 4, Bld: 7] If I could pick any two stats for Homer, those would be them, so I'm not going to complain.



[Homer: Lv. 11, Hp: 29, Str: 0, Mgc: 9, Skl: 7, Spd: 13 Luk: 14, Def: 4, Bld: 7] Pretty good, magic and speed help in the short term, although his promotion kind of renders them useless in the long term. He kills a Peg. rider too.



Oh fu...



God damn it, I was doing so good too Screw you, I have plenty of stamina drinks, I can do without one more. (This is the only civilian I let die.)





Not again you won't.



Let's try this again. Asvel is giving Odo and Sety, and then has Linoan cast Magic Up on him.



Onwards, brave Asvel!





Revenge!



Asvel manages to dodge Fenrir, although we would have healed him with psychic if he had been hit.



Linoan moves forward and casts torch again.



This chapter has two bosses, just as a fun surprise for the player.



While Codha is more dangerous from afar because of his Fenrir tome, once you get up close Eigan's the one you have to watch out for. He's fast as all hell, having 16 Attack speed, meaning only characters with max speed and no weight penalties can double him, he's got a killer axe, and a PCC of 2, meaning anyone who he can double (anyone with 12 AS, which really isn't that bad) is done for. He's not stationary either, so look out.



Statwise Codha isn't as powerful as Eigan, and all of his weaponry is going to weigh him down a lot. He wouldn't be that dangerous up close if it weren't for Eigan reinforcing him (P.S both bosses are on mountains have fun kids.)



Asvel charges him with reckless abandon. He procs continue, which would be fantastic, but misses both times. He does get a weapon rank in wind though, bringing him one rank away from making Tornado not entirely useless.



Eigan ditches his mountain, and eats a Grafcalibur to the face for his troubles.

Ha, haha... Fools...





Codha dies easily.

Asvel: Lv. 6, Hp: 35, Str: 1, Mgc: 15, Skl: 15, Spd: 20, Luk: 10, Def: 7, Bld: 7] A good level? How long has it been since Asvel got one of those, seriously?





The civilians continue their march.



And down goes Eigan.

Asvel: Lv. 7, Hp: 35, Str: 1, Mgc: 16, Skl: 16, Spd: 20, Luk: 10, Def: 7, Bld: 7] I'm liking that he's finally getting magic again, it's been way too long.



Damn it, this just isn't fun after a certain point.



Go wild Linoan.



Linoan: Lv. 7, Hp: 19, Str: 1, Mgc: 10, Skl: 7, Spd: 12, Luk: 11, Def: 0, Bld: 3] Strength but no magic



Fuck it, we're speeding things up.



I'm flying Jack Dean.





boooo



[Linoan: Lv. 8, Hp: 20, Str: 1, Mgc: 10, Skl: 8, Spd: 12, Luk: 12, Def: 1, Bld: 4] Defense !



Dean drops the civilian near the exit.



Alright, Linoan, keep the good levels coming.







[Linoan: Lv. 9, Hp: 21, Str: 2, Mgc: 10, Skl: 9, Spd: 13, Luk: 13, Def: 2, Bld: 4, Mov: 6] Linoan's move starts at 5, but she gets two on promotion, so she'll have 8 now once she promotes.



Finally!



A turn or so later...



Man, I thought we were done with this.









[Homer: Lv. 12, Hp: 30, Str: 0, Mgc: 9, Skl: 8, Spd: 13, Luk: 15, Def: 5, Bld: 7] This is a good level, I'm happy with this.



He's on a mountain, so I don't go for the capture.





[Linoan: Lv. 10, Hp: 22, Str: 2, Mgc: 10, Skl: 10, Spd: 14, Luk: 14, Def: 3, Bld: 4] A third point of defense? Hell yes!

This pretty much marks the end of map. We start escaping, getting 3 more stamina drinks from the civilians that hadn't escaped yet, and netting Linoan one last level from healing scratch damage.

[Linoan: Lv. 11, Hp: 23, Str: 2, Mgc: 10, Skl: 11, Spd: 14, Luk: 15, Def: 3, Bld: 4] Pretty good, she's been getting a lot of Hp which will help with not dying instantly. Once she gets some more durability under her belt she's going to wreck havoc with Resire.



And, finally, we're done .

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We plan to pass over the mountains of Dofa and go onto the northern highroad.
Northern highroad? We're heading east along the coast?
That's what I'm thinking, but we must hear August's opinion as well. Anyway, we first have to cross the mountains. We must hurry, Lord Leaf.

Oh god, not the northern highroad. So many leadership stars. So many.

---





Hey look, it's Levin. For those who aren't reading the Fire Emblem 4 LP along with mine (I'd recommend it, but it's up to you I guess) Levin is the prince/king of Silesia, Sety's father, and an important character from Fire Emblem 4. I believe he was mentioned when Karin and Sety spoke back in Chapter 4x, although it may not have been by name.

I heard about the fall of Tahra, so I thought you would be here. You seem to be having a hard time.
It is my lack of power... Forgive me.
No, you have been doing well. We were expecting Tahra to fall. Don't worry about it.
Yes...
I will check on Orgahill, and then return to Isaac. We should be able meet again in a year or so. Good luck, August...

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Current Resets: 35 39. This chapter isn't so bad, I was off my game. Although one of them was an unlucky crit.

Next time on Thracia 776: Branching paths.