Part 49: War of Liberation - Part 2

Last time, Delmud joined us and we proceed to assault some random fort on our way to liberate Manster. That's about it. Kind of a filler chapter here.

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(Player Phase)

(Enemy Phase)



First things first, Linoan casts Magic Up on Tina.



Then, Tina steals the sleep staff from the Priestess near the boss. Did you know you can steal ballistas? Turns out you can. You can't actually use them, but apparently Tina can haul around a ballista as easily as a staff, which is pretty funny. They also sell for a pretty penny. (2100 gold for one of the good ones.) Anyways, we steal instead of Silence because the priestess would have left the map if we'd silenced her.



We advance in a giant clump. Formation

None of the nearby ballistas make their shot on the enemy phase.



Fergus has the King Sword here, giving Karin +30 avoid. I like the fact that my go to strategy for clearing ballistas is to use my flier. Next, Shanam visits the village on the cliff.

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I wish we could go back to the old days again... So please, for the sake of that wish, please drive away the Empire. Here. It's a boring thing, but please take it along. I definitely think it will be useful.

She gives us some more Holy Water.

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The rest of our forces keep moving down.



We're not so lucky this time though, and Delmud and Asvel take a hit.

[Asvel: Lv. 9, Hp: 37, Str: 1, Mgc: 16[/b], Skl: 18, Spd: 20, Luk: 10, Def: 7, Bld: 7] The sooner Asvel hits an A in wind the better, because without Blizzard/Tornado he's outmatched by our multitude of other Sages.



Some soldiers show up from the forts. These guys are absolute chumps, they have poison lances which could theoretically be a nuisance, but they also have javelins and so AI priorities render them useless. They're all kind enough to carry antidotes though, so if we capture some of those we'll no longer need to stay poisoned the entire map if we get hit by Yotsmungand



Sara heals Asvel, and Karin takes down one of the ballistas.



Everyone else waits in the forest, while Marita and Carion go to bait out the Dragon Knights.



These two armors die, but in retaliation the enemy puts another bolt in Delmud.



I hate these Dragon Knights, because they all have 10 luck and Prayer. Prayer is pretty much Thracia 776's go to for making an enemy a nuisance.



Karin takes down another ballista, while Sara heals Delmud.

[Sara: Lv. 14, Hp: 38, Str: 7, Mgc: 20, Skl: 20, Spd: 20, Luk: 18, Def: 20, Bld: 9] Build and Strength don't matter for Sara, so Hp and Luck are the only stats she really has left. So this is good.



We form up in the forests.



Damn it Delmud. The rest of the ballistas miss their marks.



The Dragon Knights are another case of AI ruining what the game was going for. All of them have Horseslayers, but since they have Javelins as well, they won't use the Horseslayer unless an enemy has a ranged attack. Since they can reposition themselves after attacking, rather then fucking up anybody stupid enough to use a mounted unit here, they just miss everyone. The boss here was kind enough to stay out of everyone's range, so we have to let him live.



First, Delmud retreats for healing.



Xavier is slow as hell, and doesn't crit.



[Leaf: Lv. 7, Hp: 46, Str: 17, Mgc: 2, Skl: 9, Spd: 18, Luk: 14, Def: 15, Bld: 8] Will Leaf hit the double digits in skill? Stay tuned.



The Dragon Knights have enough HP and defense that you won't one round them without a critical.



God damn Prayer.



Prayer, Ladies and Gentlemen.



We clear out every enemy we can, while Carion moves down to take down the ballista. On the enemy phase, he kills the nearby armor.



The ballistas continue to miss everything and everyone, so it's time for the Dragon Knights to miss everything and everyone.

[Xavier: Lv. 7, Hp: 39, Str: 14, Mgc: 4, Skl: 9, Spd: 7, Luk: 4, Def: 17, Bld: 15] This is a fantastic level for Xavier.

Soldiers of Lenster! Die!





That was close. Let's get our revenge





[Ronan: Lv. 3, Hp: 34, Str: 17, Mgc: 12, Skl: 17, Spd: 20, Luk: 11, Def: 9, Bld: 10] I really wish there were Magic bows.



Prayer had better not activate here.

Your...Majesty...forgive... Gah!

Good.



Xavier and Leaf team up to take down this guy.



Or not.



We'll let super religious Dragon Knight there survive for now.





For fuck's sake



Finally



Carion attacks a ballista, and doesn't critical.

[Carion: Lv. 14, Hp: 52, Str: 20, Mgc: 7, Skl: 20, Spd: 20, Luk: 20, Def: 20, Bld: 20]



Fin swaps and drops the soldier.



We see around 5 turns of this. None of them are that strong, but they compensate by having powerful weapons. The Axe Knights have Halberds, the Bow Knights Great Bows, and the Mage Knights Elfire.



More capturing.



Oh hey free rewarp staves.



I had been saving the ballista for Leaf. That was a bad idea.



The only good ballista is a dead ballista.



Marita scores an empty level here. Way to go. Luckily we can actually cure poison this time.





And they're almost here...



There we are.





We've set this up so that Leaf is getting Charisma from two different sources, boosting his already fairly respectable avoid incredibly high. And then, he. Murders. Everyone.



In the midst of said highly improbably murder, we also capture one of these guys with Karin.

[Karin: Lv. 11, Hp: 41, Str: 16, Mgc: 15, Skl: 18, Spd: 20, Luk: 20, Def: 13, Bld: 9]

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And we get a Silver Sword.

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Anyways, back to your regularly scheduled murder.







[Sara: Lv. 15, Hp: 39, Str: 7, Mgc: 20, Skl: 20, Spd: 20, Luk: 18, Def: 20, Bld: 9]







No-one escapes Leaf. He's been terrible all game and now he's getting his revenge.





Actually this is a bad idea, those guys have good weapons.



There we go. Anyways, let me present to you new Leaf. Drumroll please...








































































Double digit skill . He was stuck at 10 until level 14, so I was worried.

With that done, it's time to get ourselves the bosses' Blizzard tome.









All the nearby armors die horribly, and no ballistas connect. All of them are poison ballistas, which while annoying have terrible hit. I'm not sure how a poison ballista works, but hey, it's Fire Emblem. We're already accepting that Ballistas are a mild annoyance and not instant death, some more suspension won't break anything.



Carion is in his normal range, so he doesn't cast Blizzard.





I screw up horribly. Carion doesn't move back into Flaus' range, and Sara attacks the ballista instead of dropping the bishop. She doesn't even kill the ballista This is an especially horrible screw-up, because while Sara can restore sleep if Carion gets hit, she can't cure herself, and her low avoid while carrying the bishop is going to make Flaus prioritize her over Carion's lower magic.



Thankfully, he misses. I may have been able to improvise something, but I'm glad I didn't have to. My improvisations tend to be terrible but somehow effective at best, and just plain terrible most of the time.



Carion's going back to acting as a lure for Flaus, and Sara drops the bishop. Carion gets hit this time, but we heal him from afar.



This time, we swap and drop successfully. Again Carion gets hit, and we use Psychic on him.



A PCC of 0 isn't all bad, as it helps you control damage output. She can only crit once, and he can survive one normal hit and a crit without dying. Unless she gets continue. Ah well, can't get through life without some risks.



We heal him afterwards.





[Carion: Lv. 15, Hp: 53, Str: 20, Mgc: 7, Skl: 20, Spd: 20, Luk: 20, Def: 20, Bld: 20]









Another one attacks him but survives. In order to capture him, Leaf retreats...



Carion accidentally stays in range of one of two remaining armors. The obvious thing happens.



We kill the ballista and move up to capture the last armor.



Marty does the honors.





Nothing but Hp.





Delmud takes a hit from a ballista.



Sara rewarps to kill those two ballistas. She gets two in one turn.



Fergus gets healed from afar from damage he took waiting for Sara, and Delmud heals with a vulnerary.



Delmud kills both armors. I wasn't really counting ranges here







We heal him using another psychic charge. Marty takes the prisoner from him.



Oh fuck. A critical. I hate those.



Oh thank god



[Delmud: Lv. 4, Hp: 37, Str: 12, Mgc: 5, Skl: 13, Spd: 12, Luk: 8, Def: 10, Bld: 11]



Remember the last armor on the map? Near Sara? Either way, Karin captures him.



With this done, Linoan makes the long trek across the map to the church.

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I am an old friend of your father's. I also knew your mother very well. You look exactly like her.

If I remember elementary school, you're not supposed to go with anyone who says they're a friend of your parents. Stranger danger!

I see...
I hear you've been fighting alongside Prince Leaf.
Yes.
Hm... So the Holy Warrior's blood is in your after all...
Holy Warrior? ...Me?
Your father didn't tell you anything? The rulers of Tahra are direct descendents of the Holy Warrior Heim.

Heim is the best holy blood, with the main descendents of Heim making up the royal family of Grandbell.

Of Heim...?
Ah, so you haven't yet noticed the power that lies in you. Come with me. I shall awaken the blood of Narga that rests within you.
Yes...



Our fourth sage, and our second with an A in staves. She's not quite as good as Sara, but she has a better PCC and can use Rewarp as well.

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I have a genius idea. Since Leaf is considered unprompted, but we've made him rather powerful, he should clean up in the arena.

Then I remember that this is stupid, because it's assuming they wouldn't just give tier 1 mages 20 defense. Because they totally would. And he doesn't even get much experience from it. I'm stubborn though, and fight Leaf's way up to level 20 (from 18.99).



He also picked up some move along the way, making up for his travesty of a promotion.



Linoan was already fatigued, so she played healer.



After this, we sell a bunch of near broken and broken items from the supply, and Shanam buys a bunch of Wind tomes from the vendor. Wind is the best magic, and is only sold here, so it's nice to have.

That about puts an end to things here.

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What!? We have no time to waste! Let's go rescue the prisoners.
Lord Leaf, our troops are exhausted. I have also gotten word that the Schwarze Rosen is approaching us. Going in would be too dangerous.
No, August. I can't just abandon my captured comrades. I'll save them on my own if I have to!
Hm... Very well. Then you may only take a small number of troops with you. The others must rest.

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Current Resets: 45

Next Time on Thracia 776: Oh hey Ralph... how's it going?

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There won't be a part 1 for the next mission (in exchange chapter 22 will have some special viewer participation), but we do get a Knight's Proof that mission so I'm going to have the promotion vote now. Your choices are Othin, Havan, Shiva and Fin. I'm reposting the promotion guide again if you want it.

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.

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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.

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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.