Part 35: Chapter 24 – Retaking Zemsellia

Chapter 24 – Retaking Zemsellia



Welcome back. Today we are going to follow up on Runan story after he and Holmes met in Salia. We rearranged our armies and it’s time to move out.



Although first the master of exposition has a few more words for us.





: That’s right it’s Aura Rain. The strongest tome passed down from the family of Water Priests. The sage Maios entrusted me with it before he died. Naturally he said to pass it on to you...

: Aura Rain... This is… the rain of light... Aura Rain....

: That’s right. It’s a surpreme grimoire. With it you can banish the wicked into oblivion in an instant. Due to the potency of this magic, the sage wouldn’t even let our father handle it... he said to give it to you. You understand Meriah, don’t you? What he meant for you to do?

: Yes... I understand. I will do as he wished for me to. Thank you, Rishel!



And thus we get handed Aura Rain one of the best tomes in the game. More on that later though.



Anyway Holmes has some plot to get out of the way as well.





: Do you want to stay here with your parents?

: I’m sorry...

: Nah, you don’t have to apologize. I am not angry, heck, I even understand it. After dreaming about it for so long you finally met your parents. It’s natural that it would hurt to leave them again so soon.

: Will you be fine if I’m not here?

: Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.

: Really? If you say so....



Hey there Shigen, good to know death doesn’t stop you for long.

: Aah, sorry. Alright Katri, we’re going. You take care of yourself.

: Holmes...





That’s quite the delayed response...

: Hmph, I won’t die that easily.

: I see. It’s just that you left so suddenly, I thought something happened to you. You’ve got the devil’s luck, pal. Now what’s all that about me being lonely again?

: With Katri staying behind, I’ll be the only one you can talk to from here on out. Gonna feel lonely at all?

: hmph, it’s none of your business. Anything I do isn’t your concern.

: Fuu, I thought you would say so. Then, I have one request. Let this woman here join us.



: Hmph, don’t see a problem. Is she a lover or something?

: Her name is Sierra. Old friend of mine that betrayed Gazel’s organisation in order to save my life. She doesn’t have anyone to rely on but me, so it’s all she got.

: Hmph, I already said it’s ok. Even if she is a witch, if she is your woman I don’t have any objections. However you must be careful with other woman. Don’t start thinking with the wrong head just because you got a pretty face.

: Tsk, Watch your mouth Holmes...

: Hahaha, Don’t worry Sierra, it’s a guy thing. If you’re Shigen’s friend then you don’t need to worry about anything here.

: Yes, thank you Holmes...

: So what’s the plan now?

: Well, for now I need to return to Granada, so we will cross to the east over the Senay Sea.

: That sea is still under rule of the imperial navy. If we end up fighting them, do you expect us to win?

: Well, with things like that, we just need to go ahead and try.

: Hmph, no matter how many lives I have, it’s not enough to be your comrade.

Two things happened here: 1) We’ve got a new recruit and 2) Shigen will replace Katri as a mandatory unit from now till the end in Holmes chapters. As for Sierra, she is awesome due to being a witch and thus having access to the warp skill making her perfect to get rid of undesirables in a flash with a good tome.







Meet Julius, the youngest son of the King of Canaan.

: Play me not for a fool! Why did you send the reinforcements back to us? You cannot hope to hold the Lieve Line with what remains, brother.

: I will be borrowing some forces from our allies, my lord brother. You have nothing to worry about. I assure you.

: Allies? I presume you speak of Zemsellia and Archduke Dhorme? Are you sure they are trustworthy? You’re still the noble knight who would release his prisoners during a prisoners exchange without even waiting to see whether the otherside honors it’s side of the bargain. Someone like you could never see through the wiles of someone like Dhorme.

: This is exactly why it’s well. This war will be decided by whether he turns traitor or not. So, can you not see, my lord brother? If we are fated to lose, then it’s best to reduce the number of casualties as much as we can. And how do we reduce casualties? Simple, lord brother. We send as many troops as we can back to safety. Or am I wrong, lord brother Barca?

: Julius... don’t tell me…

: My lord brother, I pray you return to the royal palace. Estefan will be needing you more than I. Barbarossa’s death has caused her quite a shock, I am afraid. She came to me, eyes turned red from tears and gave me the following order: To bring back the head of Prince Runan without fail.

: Heavens above... Estefan couldn’t.... She couldn’t have ordered such a thing...

: My lord brother... This war must come to an end. If it does not, then even gentle children like Estefan will have blood on their hands. I did not agree to fight with you, Barca, nor with Ares in order to create this chaotic mess in the world. The only thing I want to do is to change this society that lives and dies by the depraved whims of nobles, with no real justice anywhere to be seen. But ever since that woman arrived, our lord father completely changed. Our beloved Canaan Confederacy changed into the Zoa Empire. We went to war with the noble Lieve and allied ourself with the evil that is the Theocracy of Gazel. The five nations of the Canaan Confederacy are now under the thumb of the Theocracy of Gazel. All power is considered in Gazel’s priesthood and all the good generals and nobles were purged. And when things seemed like they could not get any worse, our lord brother Ares was slain...

Basically this game is alternate reality FE7: These two are the Reed brothers, the Emperor of Canaan is Brendon Reed, the country is the Black Fang, Zieg’s sister is Sonia and Gwenchaos and his cronies are Nergal and his priests. Let’s move on.

: Are you condemning me, Julius? Do you blame my cowardice?

: Nay, the cowardice was mine as well. I condemn myself and no one else. My lord brother Barca...




That were quite alot of . Anyway it’s time to start the map and get rid of the last dialogues in it’s start up.




This map is called: The River of Lieve.





: And after crossing it, our Homeland the Kingdom of Lieve.


: Exactly. Zemsellia is the western gate of the Kingdom of Lieve. A great city prospering from ages past. It’s governor, the house of Count Dhorme, is one of the four houses of the Lieve Royal Dynasty and the most powerful nobles after the royal family, but in the past war they betrayed us amidst the fighting and allied themselves with the empire. Thanks to that “accomplishment”, Count Dhorme was assigned the Lazeria domain by the Empire. His son Renshien became Lazeria’s governor and a cruelly opressive goverment was created. The house of Count Dhorme is our mortal enemy. I shall never forgive them!!







: to spare me trouble? What do you mean by that?

: The count is always like this. If the battle turns disadvantageous, you would have given away your life and joined the enemy, I bet. Because you can’t leave your lovely subordinates among the hyenas’ pack.

: Wha- What the?! You dare say that I would betray our empire?

: If we clashed seriously against the allied army, both sides would suffer great losses. And the only one that would gain something would be you. That’s the point right?

: Grr...

: I will return to Canaan. This land goes back to you, Count. You may do as you see fit with it.

: Kh.. Damn youngsters...



: Renshien, so you’ve come.

: Lazeria’s sandstorms are too rough. They don’t fit me at all. If Lord Father doesn’t exert hinself more, all my efforts shall be in vain.

: And what are these efforts supposed to be? The things you did is just killing your mother and giving the blame to some travelling mercenary, nothing more than that?

I see, offing your mother seems to be a regular occurence...

: Lady Mother had lost her sanity. Every time I met her she would call me “inhuman”. I’m a very calm person, but that would rile up anyone, wouldn’t it?

Renshien, as you surely noticed, is kind of a psychopath...

: It was because your punishments towards the people of Lazeria were simply too cruel. It’s normal for a parent to scold his child, isn’t it?

: Yes. I too regretted what I had done. If my killing of Lady Mother became public, my, that is the future king of Lieve’s, reputation would be tarnished. Just when I was thinking of what I had to do, that woman appeared. She was a female mercenary, hired to guard the royal palace who happened to pass by at the time and since she had seen the murder scene I had to put the blame of the governor’s wife murder on her., that’s all. I wanted to kill her then and there, but she managed to flee...

: And so, to seal her mouth, you hired the Reaper of Shramm and had him chase her.

Remember about 20 chapters back when we needed to field Julia to recruit Vega? Here is the backstory for it.

: Well, that’s how it went. Afterall, mother was a princess of the royal family, so I am qualified to become King. I cannot lose such a opportunity because of one small mistake, can I?



: A nasty formation, as expected of Count Dhorme.



: Have some heavy-armor knight break through and destroy them one by one. There is no other way. We must expect to suffer some casualties.

No we got a different method although Eugen supposed way would work but it would mean that Narron would basically solo the map.

: Some casualties...

: The problem is securing the bridge. If they raised the drawbridge on us, we wouldn’t be able to cross the river anymore!

: I know that. But if we charge randomly, we are just going to increase our losses. If we managed to take a detour via the northern bridge and cross the river there it would be great, but they already raised them.

Surprisingly I got two bridge keys on me Now that this is finally done with let#S get some facts about our enemies.




We got a ton of catapults on the shore which will kill anyone who isn’t Zachariah or Narron in a couple of hits. Given that there are about eight or nine of them, this makes approaching things difficult.



We got some troops to stop us from closing in on the catapults. They are nothing special and basically only there to stall you so you die to the catapults. One has a swordbreaker and the tanks require someone with a beastly attack stat or magic.



Lastly there are two physic assholes in the safety of the fort, who will gladly stop any non one turn kill.





We start in the south and our cavalry will be taking the north part with Narron leading the charge and lowering the bridges. Raffin will be kept back because the catapults will end him.







Zachariah and Rishel kill an attacking soldier and Zach focuses the fire of the only catapult in range on him. Meanwhile Narron lowers the first bridge.







The opposing troops still try to scratch Zachariah and fail as I fail in securing good levels.





q.e.d.





Narron lowers the second bridge and we bide our time for now.



On our fifth turn, something happens inside the castle. Ready for more ?





: In Canaan, the northern domain of the empire, a boy claiming to be Lord Ares’ orphan son has appeared!

: What the?! Is that really true? Theodora, please tell me more! What in the world is the meaning of this?

: It happened about one month ago. Around the northern areas, a mercenary band appeared and freed towns in northern Canaan. Under the name of Prince Sennet, they called for the liberation of their homeland and the end of the war and their forces would increase day by day. Both the Kingdom of Barge and the Oligarchy of Sofia have allied themselves with Prince Sennet’s forces. The northern half of the Zoa region too has already fallen under the influence of the liberation army.

If all this happens one month ago, how did they not notice any of it?


: Theodora, do you believe that that young man is really Prince Sennet?

: Yes. Princess Leslie of the Oligarchy of Sofia returned after 3 years. It is impossible that this young man isn’t Prince Sennet.

Remember Leslie the Dracoknight that safed us together with the other mercs in Old Leda? Turns out she was another Lord/Princess and not a bodyguard. Sorry for the mistake but there are just oo many of them.

: I see.. Sennet is still alive...

: Yes! Now Canaan will be saved. Light has returned to Canaan!

: Theodora, I will go to the roxal palace of Lieve. I have to discuss these things with my Lord Brother Barca. Accompany me!

: Yes! It is my pleasure to join you!




: Hmph, the Priestdom of Garzel has my back covered. I have nothing to fear at all.

: You might be content with that, but what will happen to me? Even if I surrendered, I’m sure the brat won’t forgive me.

: Obvious isn’t it? Lord Father you betrayed the royal family amidst the fighting and are the main culprit behind Lazeria’s fall. If it was me, not even cutting you to pieces would be enough.

: Kh.. what am I supposed to do now....

: It is no easy feat, but this Zemsellia is a natural fortress. Raise the drawbridges and close them inside the river’s sandbank. Then you just need to crush them with your catapults., right?

: but if I did that the soldiers on the frontline would be isolated with the enemy. Are you telling me to sacrifice them?

: If you wish to win, you have to forget emotions. I will return to Lazeria, so this is for you to decide, Lord Father. Well, having lived this long is enough already, right? I might as well build your grave somewhere in Lazeria. Hahaha

Kh.. that heartless bastard... Hey go raise the drawbridge! We cannot allow them to cross it! Maintain the bridge at all costs!!





The soldier here has a bridge key and will run towards it and close it up.



Anyhow it’s time to do something about the catapults.





Let me introduce Aura Rain. It can only be used every five turns, has a measly seven uses and only a base power of 7 meaning its weaker than even a basic fire power. But it hits every enemy on the map.



Mel here has one job to do. Boost Meriah magic by 7 with her special staff,



Like that. Now Meriah has 16 magic meaning Aura Rain has 23 power. The Catapults all only have 23 Hp and no magic defense. You see where this is going.



Meh doesn’t matter anyway.



Warning! Global nuke incoming!



















And with that we have eliminated the threat of this chapter and severely crippled the surviving forces. Time for our boys to move in and kill the rest.









Meanwhile Narron and co broke through the gate and murder physic assholes and visit the villagers.



: We’ve been waiting such a long time for this day. Please take this charm and carry it with you. All citizens of Zemsellia are praying for your victory!







We continue to advance and Runan eats Lightning to the face.



He returns the gesture.





Strength and defense are always important.











The murdering continues and Vega gets a typical swordmaster level. Sun visits another house.



: I beg you, please save Zemsellia from Count Dhorme’s tyranny!







With the catapults out of the way, Raffin moves in and kills the soldier responsible for closing the bridge.





Afterwards he finishes off the thief that spawned and would raid the villages. He gets a good level out of it.








Sun visits the last house.









Narron and Raffin camp the reinforcements waiting for Runan to arrive since I wanted to check whether he had special dialogue with the boss (and because he needed to capture it anyway). I have no idea how Narron keeps gettin gall that defense with a 22% growth but I’m not complaining. He is one off from capping strength and two off capping defense.






Runan finally arrives and Alicia begins weakening the boss using the tome she got from her dad.







Runan triggers no special dialogue and finishes the boss, kinda disappointing after all the vitrol coming from Eugen...



That however is pretty awesome



Let’s finish this. Please brace yourself for more





: Lord Runan does something bother you?

: Nothing, I was just thinking about Lazeria. That man, with Renshien as governor, the people remaining in Lazeria must be living through hell on earth.

: Now, I remember, You my lord, know Lord Renshien very well....

Yes he does, please shut up with forced exposition...

: i met him often at the royal palace. It sickens me just remembering that despicable and perverse man.

Too late

: Lord Renshien has been regarding Lord Runan as a rival since a long time ago. Even if his Lord Father, Count Dhorme, was the leader of the 4 Houses, you Lord Runan, your father being Lord Glamdr, were pretty popular both in the palace and the streets, soe he was extremely jealous of you. Him provoking Dhorme’s betrayal and becoming Lazeria’s representative governor too stemmed from his hatred towards you, my Lord or so I think.

And I think I will shoot you...

: Eugen. Let us hasten and free Lazeria. We cannot let Renshien act like he pleases any longer!

: Yes sir! I shall make preparations right away!



Last stop. Time to meet the opponents for the next map.





: We’ve had a lot of time on our hands after being send to this remote frontier. Are we finally going to see combat?

: Wait General! Focus on your defenses and buy me some time! When the enemy has tired themselves out, I’ll move in from the side with my troops.

: Hey Simon, are you trying to give me order? Don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong! I’m more than a match for the rebel army!

: Wait just a damn minute! Prince Barca himself requested that we come all the way from Sofia. We must accomplish the task we’ve been given.

: That’s big talk from someone who has a mere five dragon riders!

: Didn’t you know, General? We’re called the “Condor Corps” because we’ve held our own against every enemy we’ve faced in battle.

: You sound like scavengers to me. I guess plucking the heads of corpses is a Sofian specialty, eh?

: Hmph, Talk big while you still can...



Seems the opposing soldiers are is disagreement, but more important we managed to finish this chapter. As for the next time, you didn’t think a FE clone wouldn’t have an annoying desert map would you?