Part 32: Chapter 16b: The Dark Forest - Part 1

However, to get to Lenster through this route, the Liberation Army would have to make its way through the thick forests of Melfiye.



Leaf was about to find out soon enough...

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If we can head through to the northeast, we should be right in front of Lenster. However, we must be careful so we don't lose anyone along the way.
All right. Tell the others to be careful as well. Let's go!

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An army...? It must be Count Conomore trying to rescue Princess Miranda...
No, he isn't that stupid. They must be the remnants of Lenster trying to reclaim their castle.
So they chose to go through the forest to avoid the enemy's main defenses... Fools...
Well, now we have something to play with. Take those who are free and set up a defense.

Yes. What will you do?
Me? Haha... I think I will try this out.
The Berserk staff? That sounds interesting, Bishop Rineck.

Berserk, my nemesis, we meet again.

Hehehe...



Lady Sara!? You musn't come out here. Please return to your room.
But I'm bored. Where's Grandpa?
Bishop Manfroy is in Conote with Lord Yurius. He should be returning soon...

Wait what? Who's her grandfather? Bishop Manfroy is pretty much the head honcho of the lopto church, also known as the bad guys, and is directly or indirectly responsible for nearly everything bad that happens in 4 and 5. We've met him once, back in chapter 4 in fact:

Chapter 4 posted:

He's the dashing fellow on the left here. There's another reason why Sara being his granddaughter is interesting, but I'll leave that for you all to try and remember (until it's relevant.)

I shouldn't have come here... It's so boring.

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Here we see the top half of the map. There aren't many enemies this time, with the game instead giving us small groupings of powerful promoted enemies with powerful weapons. Let's start with Rineck and company.





His dark mages come in two flavors, Psychic and Rewarp. The three in the back have the psychics, the three in the front Rewarp.



Berserk is a new status element, and has a reputation for being the most frustrating status element in pretty much any Fire Emblem. Berserked characters don't distinguish between friend and foe, and will attack the nearest character (although it sure as hell feels biased towards attacking you). Berserk is interesting in 5 though for two reasons. One, it lasts forever like all status effects , and two, you can attack and counter attack berserked characters. In fact, you can even capture them, neutralizing them until you can cure them.

Have I ever mentioned that beyond 10 defense and 30 avoid, thrones also give immunity to status effects? It's doubly relevant here, first, it means getting berserk before he burns through all three uses is a hassle, we can't steal it (too heavy/Tina's magic is too low), and we can't put him to sleep/silence him to get it either. We have to capture him the old fashioned way, which is pretty rough in three turns. Second, it means Berserk isn't that powerful in our hands, as most enemies worth berserking are immune. Berserking a trash mob might damage one or two enemies, but not many. That said, I'll still make sure to get it with at least one use left, just for kicks. I don't think you can get berserk in any other FE game, so I feel I should show that off. Nevermind, this is blatantly untrue. Also, there are some moments I can think of where Berserk may be fun.



Let's look at this corner now, starting with this Swordmaster.



He's holding a Luna Manual (from now on, I'm just going to use the official NA names for the various sword skills, rather than dealing with thousands of translations. So Moonlight sword is Luna, Sunlight sword is Sol, and Shooting star sword is Astra). We don't want to leave without that. He's also got a silver sword, which is actually one of the worse weapons on this map.



He also has Charisma, Continue, and Luna. Yeah enemies get skills, deal with it. In the same group as the Swordmaster, we have a hero with a Wind sword and Wrath, a second Hero with a Halberd and three movement stars, and a third Hero with a Master Sword and Prayer (although fairly mediocre stats).



Now we have the top left. The Hero I've selected has a Sleep Sword (puts anyone it hits to sleep), as well as prayer. One of the Heroes in the front has Continue and a Killing Edge, the second has Charge and a Silver Sword. The Sniper has Charge and a Silver Bow, and they're all backed by a dancer.





And Shanam. They have Shanam too. Look out .



And here we have three Berserkers and a Warrior. The Berserkers all have Wrath. One has a Devil Axe, another has a Poison Axe, and the third...



A Pugi, along with some pretty beefy stats. Getting this will be fun. (Unless I thief staff it, which actually would be fun.)

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And that's today's map. We have 11 vacant spots, although Homer has to come, and I'm force-deploying Seram (I believe in you, also you folks want him promoted), and Tina (to keep my options open). So, choose 8 characters from: Olwen, Makua, Dean, Karin, Nanna, Marita, Carion, Fergus, Marty, Lara, Asvel, Othin, Havan, Safy, Fin, Ronan, Shiva, Pahn, Glade, Linoan, and Ralph, under the condition that at least one of these characters be a flier. Click here for the character guide.

Fatigue Counter:

Olwen: 5/26
Makua: 21/35
Dean: 9/37
Homer: 31/32 (I am a master of micromanagement )
Karin: 6/35
Nanna: 15/31
Seram: 17/29
Marita: 13/38
Tina: 7/14
Carion: 8/45
Fergus: 5/38

Musings: I didn't force deploy Pahn because all he can steal on this map on account of low build is the Luna Manual, as well as the killing edge and any rewarp staffs. Not terrible, but I didn't feel I really needed him either. Your call thread.

Voting will be open for 48ish hours.