Part 42: Lenster's Liberation - Part 1

They headed straight for their prize...the throne.

Leaf's long-awaited dream of his nation's reconstruction was about to become a reality at last...

---





You!

I kept a loser like you alive and used you as my right-hand man this past decade. I trust you haven't forgotten my kindness!
Well... I have been doing my best to serve you as well.
Yes, you have been quite useful. So I have also been trying my best to give you what you want as well.
Ha...
What? Is there a problem? What is it?
It is too late... Those who have fallen will never come back.
Er... But, Xavier, you are just as guilty as I am.



Have no fear, Count Gustav. I am a warrior, and I shall die like one!

---







Let's not.

That will be a difficult task. We are going to release the hostages and have them talk to General Xavier's lieutenants, but it will be all over if they are seen by Imperial troops. Be careful...
All right. Everyone, let's go! Let's fly the flag of the Gae Bolg from our castle once again!

---



And here we are. Chapter 18. This is one of the most infamous chapters in the game, entirely because of how difficult the bonus objectives are to complete. First, recruiting Xavier. You see the group of armors in the center near Xavier? 8 of them are affiliated with Lenster, and the remaining 4 are affiliated with Freege. Remember this. Now do you see the group of NPCs locked up on the left? What we have to do, is free these NPCs, and then have them talk to the 8 Lensterian armors. Once they talk to an Armor, the Armor will become an NPC unit, and start to escape the map. To recruit Xavier, we need to turn all the armors, and then have Leaf to talk to Xavier. But, the NPCs will attack the still hostile Lenster armors, and since they all have Hammers or Killer Lances, they'll make short work of them. Oh, and we can't have any NPC talk to any armor. No sir. Each armor has a specific NPC that can turn them. The one saving grace in all of this is that the Lenster armors won't attack the civilians. On the other hand, since each armor can only be recruited by one civilian, you can end up in a deadlock where an armor is surrounded on all accessible sides by civilians that can't recruit them. In short

Also, see the random soldiers scattered around? There are 16 of them. We get a nifty reward if we don't kill any of them. Fortunately, capturing and releasing them counts as saving them.



Gustav is fairly powerful, and another goddamn Baron. He also has a continue manual we want to steal.



Xavier has some really good skills and weapon ranks, even if his stats aren't fantastic.

---

Alright, let's do this. We're force deploying Tina, Olwen, Marty, Lara, Pahn, Homer and Othin, so choose 8 characters from: Carion, Fergus, Asvel, Havan, Fin, Ronan, Makua, Dean, Marita, Safy, Shiva, and Sara. Keep in mind that since you can't reposition units, I may not bring everyone to get people on the side of the map I'd like them on. Also, now that the branching paths have ended, you can again find up to date character statuses here.

Fatigue Counter:

Olwen: 11/27
Marty: 17/57
Carion: 9/47
Fergus: 24/39
Lara: 14/32
Othin: 8/42
Havan: 8/39

Karin/Seram/Linoan/Nanna: Fatigued

Musings: I haven't posted these yet, so here are relevant dismounting penalties:

Lance Knight (Fin) / Pegasus Knight (Karin) / Male Paladin (Carion):

-1 Str, -1 Skl, -1 Spd, -2 Def, -3 Mov.

Free Knight (Fergus):

-1 Str, -1 Def, -3 Mov.

Female Paladin (Nanna):

-1 Str, -1 Spd, -1 Def, -3 Mov.

Mage Knight (Olwen):

-1 Str, -1 Skl, -1 Spd, -1 Def, -3 Mov.

Dragon Knight (Dean):

-3 Str, -2 Skl, -2 Spd, -5 Def, -3 Mov.

Note: Due to the way dismounting works (technically, you actually get bonuses for mounting, not the other way around), capped stats can stay capped when a unit dismounts.

---

The Luna Manual:

This is a fairly simple vote, vote for who among our units is going to get the Luna Manual we got in 16b. Luna isn't locked to sword users, anyone can use it.

Musings: It's not a killer combination like Wrath + Resolve in FE9, but Luna goes fairly well with Ambush (so Makua or Havan, although Makua has a better chance of activating it.)

---

The Knight's Proof:

We now have 2 Knight's Proofs in our possession. While one is promised to Homer from before, we need to give the second to someone else. After this, our next Knight Proofs will be found in Chapter 19, Chapter 20, and Chapter 21x. Then they can be purchased in Chapter 22, and anyone left unpromoted will be promoted. For now, choose one of the following to promote when they hit level 20.

---

Safy, Tina:





Promotes to: High Priestess Gains: +0 Str, +3 Mag, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 Def, +0 Bld, +1 Mov, +1 Staff rank, E rank in Light.

Thoughts: This is a pretty crumby promotion, with the only stat it gives in any large amount is magic (which both already have a fair amount of.) The rank in Light magic is pretty much useless, Light magic is really rare, and neither Tina or Safy have much combat potential. Staff rank is good for Tina, and irrelevant for Safy. This is another promotion where the best thing it gives you is another twenty levels. Honestly, Safy is becoming kind of obsolete (Seram, Linoan and Sara will have A's soon), and Tina is still under-leveled.

---

Shiva:



Promotes to: Swordmaster Gains: +2 Str, +1 Mag, +3 Skl, +3 Spd, +2 Def, +0 Bld, +1 Mov, +2 Sword ranks, learns Continue.

Thoughts: Overall, a pretty strong promotion. While they don't need the skill or speed, 2 strength and 2 defense helps a lot, and Continue goes really well with Swordmasters (being contingent on speed). No build is really unfortunate though.

---

Fin:

]

Promotes to: Duke Knight Gains: +2 Str, +1 Mag, +3 Skl, +2 Spd, +2 Def, +1 Bld, +1 Mov, +1 Lance rank.

Thoughts: Not much to say really. Stat bonuses are good, but nothing special.

---

Othin, Havan:





Promotes to: Mercenary Gains: +2 Str, +1 Mag, +3 Skl, +3 Spd, +3 Def, +0 Bld, +0 Mov, +1 Axe rank, E in swords.

Thoughts: This is a pretty good promotion, the stat bonuses are quite robust, in areas both of them could use, and it gives them a new weapon type. No move hurts though.

---

Ronan:



Promotes to: Sniper Gains: +2 Str, +1 Mag, +3 Skl, +3 Spd, +2 Def, +1 Bld, +0 Mov, +1 Bow rank.

Thoughts: Another fairly generic promotion. The 0 move is not as big of a deal as in other promotions, as Ronan starts with one more move than your average foot soldier (having 7 rather than 6).

---

Sara:



Promotes to: Sage Gains: +0 Str, +6 Mag, +5 Skl, +5 Spd, +3 Def, +1 Bld, +2 Mov, +1 Staff Rank, +1 Fire Rank, +1 Thunder Rank, +1 Wind Rank, +1 Light Rank, Learns Continue.

Promotion to Sage is still ridiculous. Furthermore, Sara will hit an A in staves once she promotes, letting her use Warp and Rewarp.