Wait, Zephiel's the bad guy? Let's Play Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals!

The enemies charge at this point, though only one manages to get close enough to attack Elphin, missing.



Two of the cavaliers go done with no trouble thanks to the Horseslayer.



Next up, Ray and Geese conspire to take out the paladin.



Miledy snaps the Horseslayer while killing a third cavalier...



And Saul kills the last, levelling up.



At this point, Elphin revives Saul so he can join Lance to the east. Since Lance will be luring Percival to us with the Lancereaver, we'll want Saul to stand just behind him to act as ballista bait in case Percy connects. This is probably the most delicate part of the battle so far, and lord only knows how many times I've had to start over because of an unlucky hit.

Of course, I'm pretty confident we'll make it this time, so have a Roy/Wolt support on the house.

Wolt: Master Roy, is something wrong?

Roy: ...Just call me Roy. We grew up like brothers, you know.

Wolt: I appreciate your kindness, but rules are rules.

Roy: Do you think so? You've suddenly become a faraway person.

Wolt: What are you saying? I'm right here in front of you.

Roy: That's not what I mean.

Wolt: Haha, I know. But I must not slack off in areas like this.

Roy: ......

Wolt: Well then, let's go! We have a long ways yet, Master Roy.



Ding!



The luring is successful, with Lance dodging and Saul only taking a regular hit. So far, so good.



Meanwhile, Roy dodges and criticals an approaching paladin, reaching level 20.



And Ray and Saul take a few for the team.



And it's time to recruit! This is why we brought Elphin along, by the way...

Percival: !! You...

Elphin: Have you forgotten my face?

Percival: No... it cannot be. The prince... is dead.

Elphin: ...I understand your confusion. After all, a man who was pronounced dead is standing before your very eyes.

Percival: Prince Mildain! You were alive...?

Surprise! Although the game's been alluding to it for a while, I bet you didn't see that coming, did you?

Elphin: I have troubled you for a long time now. ...It has been over a year since I was assassinated.

Percival: Assassinated!? Your Majesty, did you not fall off your horse in accident?

Elphin: No. I was shot with a poisoned arrow. First to my horse... and then to me...

Percival: No...

Elphin: Douglas noticed first and made it public that I had been killed. A different corpse was placed in coffin, and everything was set up as if the assassination had been successful. Douglas then entrusted me to his adopted daughter and let me escape to the Western Isles.

His adopted daughter being Lalum, by the way.

Percival: Lord Douglas did that...

Elphin: Even after I escaped to the west, I suffered from a high fever caused by the poison for many months. I was hovering so long between life and death that Douglas' daughter gave up hope countless times...

Percival: ......

Elphin: The resistance forces helped me by giving me medicine. Ironic, is it not? They, who were fighting against Etrurian nobility, had saved the lfie of the Etrurian Prince!

Percival: ......

Elphin: I recovered... slowly. And then I saw the horrors being committed by the Etrurian nobles in the area. I felt ashamed that I had not noticed when I was still residing on the throne.

Percival: Your Majesty...

Elphin: While aiding the resistance force, I was looking for a chance to return to the mainland. Then Roy came along, and I say my chance. And that is how I ended up here.

Percival: Prince... I am truly thankful that you have returned alive.

Elphin: I am with the Lycia Alliance Army right now, but I must still hide my identity. And if I still have the loyalty you pledged to me in the past...

Percival: I am at your service, my Prince. My master is only one, and he is you, Prince Mildain.

Percival is a complete badass, and one of the very, very few prepromotes to stand toe-to-toe with our other recruits. He's pretty much this game's Pent, with great stats all-around and only needing a few more points in strength and speed to be viable into the end-game. If Alan or Lance weren't turning out well, then Percival would make for an immediate, effective replacement without missing a beat.



Let's see... he pairs with Elphin, Lalum, the other Etrurian generals and Dorothy, oddly enough. He's pretty cool all-around, and his supports are solid choices for the most part. What else can I say? Percival rocks.



With Percival recruited, his troops turn into NPCs and flee, so all that's left is to kill off the remaining forces surrounding them to clear their way.



On the other front, Ray sets up a kill on the mage here...



Which Wendy finishes off, levelling up.



At this point, a group of cavaliers spawns in the northwest, and at this point Percival's troops would flee the map as well. However, by the time those guys reach us, we'll have dealt with the other enemies and set up our formations by them to counterattack.

Our guys take a few hits from the remaining forces, of course, but they all survive.



Alan and Wolt take down a few of them when their turn comes around.



Percival, meanwhile, takes care of the troubadour in the east that's left over. He misses the second blow unfortunately, but it's not like the troubadour's going anywhere.



Lilina gets up close and personal to deal with the long bowsman.



Gonzales nails a mage with hand axe...



And Oujay finishes it off.



Ray takes out the other archer here, clearing out the forces to the west.

At this point, the reinforcements reach us, but they don't stand a chance at this point.



Lilina, Roy and Wolt clear out a few. All told, I was hoping Roy would only soften up the paladin instead of killing him, wasting EXP in the meanwhile...



Anyway, Geese takes out another cavalier, levelling up in the process.



Elphin gives Shin a boost so he can help Miledy get a kill.



Roy drains one of the remaining cavaliers with his Nosferatu...



And Tate finishes him off for a level up. She's looking quite nice this playthrough.

Alan attacks and, though he doesn't finish her off, he levels up in the process and grows even more powerful.



Oujay finishes off the enemy's forces at this point, leaving only the reinforcements in the southwest to deal with.



Percival's troops are pretty smart and flee the moment he switches sides. Good thing too, since the last thing I want is them suiciding the boss...



To prepare for the approaching enemies, Saul heals everyone up a bit.



Oh hey, Wendy/Oujay activated this turn...

Wendy: I'm practicing my walking.

Oujay: Walking? Why?

Wendy: For an Armor Knight, it's tough to get back up if you fall to the ground. You have to build strong legs to make sure that you will never fall.

Oujay: I see.

Wendy: The basics are everything, Oujay.



At this point the reinforcements spawn in the south.



The troubadour Percival missed killing charges our group for some unknown reason and Miledy elects to attack it.



Here they come...



Miledy lands a blow, leveling up.



Elphin gives her a little boost...

And she finishes the job.



Alan doubles one of the cavaliers into oblivion while Percival softens up the paladin.



Taking back the halberd from Gonzales (which I guess I gave to him at one point?), Geese finishes off the paladin and finally gains more strength.



Gonzales takes back the Halberd and finishes off another cavalier in one blow.



Lance takes out the Killer Lance wielder with his Lancereaver here...



And Shin finishes off the troubadour, levelling up.

Dodging a blow and counterattacking one of the cavaliers pushes Lance over to the next level.



Gonzales, meanwhile, dodges a Javelin thrown his way and rips the cavalier a new one on his turn.




With that done, all that's left are the boss and the village and we're done. Since that's still quite a bit far away, our plentiful mounted units lend us a hand and ferry us across the bridge.



We drop our characters off to the north of the castle...



And surprise! It's time to arena abuse some more. Since a few of our characters have fallen behind, I'll bring a few of them up to speed with the rest...

If you thought that took a while, you should've seen one of my earlier, failed playthroughs where I attempted it with Vulneraries. Oy.



Tate's low Con was preventing her from doubling in most of the arena bouts, so I elect to give her the Body Ring to speed things up a bit. And hey! It helped.



All that's left is a little healing and it's boss time!

Flaer: But I am a Knight of Bern! I will not surrender!



Flaer's a Goddamn sissy, honestly. Sure, he's got good stats, but now we've got so many different means of dealing with Dragon Lords (the Wyrmkiller, our axe-users, our bow-users, Aircalibur, etc.) that he doesn't stand a chance against us.

Anyway, Ray misses his shot here, but he gets a good level up out of it.



I deleted no shots here - in a grand total of one turn, we anihilated Flaer. Kinda pathetic, isn't he?

Ooh, and Lilina gains more magic too.



Flaer: ...plenty of warriors greater than I... Bern's army shall annihilate you... For sure...

Yeah sure, I'll believe it when I see it.



With Flaer dealt with, Percival and Miledy head south to the village to pick up the item there. They run afoul with a few mercenaries...



But nevertheless, we pick up Al's Sword from the village anyway. Like Gant's Lance, it's an easter egg referring to the Hasha no Tsurugi manga based off the premise of this game...

Well, anyway. With that done, it's time to move on.



Cecilia: Roy... I have made a fool out of myself in front of you.

Roy: No, of course not! I am relieved that you are alive... But what of your wounds? Are you all right?

Cecilia: Yes. This girl treated them for me.

Roy: And you are?

Sophia: I am Sophia... A priestess of Arcadia...

Cecilia: She prophesized that you were coming. And you also said that you would tell us more once we were safe.



Founded by Athos and Nergal, as you may remember from FE7...

Sophia: We tried to stay an isolated people... But Bern found out about us, and...

Roy: They attacked you?

Sophia: Yes... I... was too slow, and I was captured.

Roy: I see... but why would Bern attack a small village like yours?

Sophia: I don't know... Maybe they found out about the Dragons that live in Arcadia.

Roy: Dragons!?

Sophia: Yes... Arcadia was built by Dragons and people joining forces a long time ago...

Roy: ...Such a place existed...

Sophia: Master Roy... Please, save our village...

Merlinus: But the story does seem a bit unbelievable.

Sophia: ......

Roy: In any case, it's probably true that her village is under attack by Bern. We owe Sophia anyway because she helped General Cecilia.

Sophia: ... Thank you.

Roy: Then, can you tell me more about your village and the Dragons?

Sophia: ...Yes... I will gladly tell you what I know...



Soldier: ...given, we will station ourselves in this castle and prepare for further coup d'etat attacks.

Jesus Christ, enough about the coup d'etat already!

Percival: Good.

Soldier: Here, we found this in the castle. Please take it. General Percival, please take care... of Etruria.

Percival: I know. Leave it to me.

Soldier: Yes!



You only get this if all of Percival's troops survive, of course. This will probably go to Lance to promote, and is the main reason why I wanted to recruit Percival this chapter. So with that...



Next time: For Arcadia, we fight!

So there's a female shaman and a female dragon rider available too? Is there any role NOT covered by females in this game?* Axes? I'm really impressed. Few games have such a big cast with such a high male to female ratio. Makes me want to play a shoujo-fest playthrough.

* Not counting "Lord".

Well... not including prepromoted units since they only cover half of the classes, there aren't any female mercenaries, cavaliers or soldiers in the game and fighters and brigands/pirates are generally male-only (though that might be just to balance out the female-only classes, i.e. pegasus knights and troubadours). But yes! There's a pretty good gender-balance overall, and it's nice that they evened things out like that.

Ok, yeah still very cool! It makes sense the game with all this stuff about Guinevere would be the most female-heavy. ^_^

I've always wanted to see this game introduce a cross-dressing male Pegasus Knight. It's not like they've ever shied away from androgynous males in the past, so they might as well take it even further.

I seem to recall that according to the backstory, a pegasus will only let a woman ride it.

Oh, they crossed unicorn lore into pegasus lore? That makes sense... Though they'd just have to find a blue-haired bishounen virgin and I think it'd work. ^_^

Welcome back. Last time, we went out of our way to recruit an early gamebreaker and saved General Cecilia from the combined forces of Bern and Etruria.



...Sophia's lead. According to Sophia, there was a hidden oasis in the desert, and that's where her village, Arcadia, was located. However, at that time, Arcadia was under attack by Bern's forces. Their aim may be the Dragons that are said to inhabit the village. Although the Lycia Alliance Army moved as quickly as they could towards Arcadia, a vicious sandstorm stood in their way.

Join us now as we make our way to the hidden village of...

Chapter 14: Arcadia





Igraine: If you follow this path, there is a place to hide. Can you make it there?

Fa: But... Fa's tired!

Igrene: Don't be stubborn. Now go, or else Bern's soldiers might find us.

Fa: What about Sophia?

Igrene: I don't know... Maybe she was caught by Bern's troops.

Fa: If we get caught by Bern, then can we see the outside world?

Igrene: Fa, no. The elder said that we mustn't communicate with the outside world.

Arcadians are a very isolationist society, I see.

Fa: Aw... Please?

Igrene: No. ... But I wonder how Bern found out about our village... Perhaps it has something to do with the ominous 'force' that Sophia said she detected from the soldiers...

Fa: What's wrong?

Igrene: ! I shouldn't be thinking about such matters now! Fa! Over here, hurry!

Fa: ... Fa wants to see outside world too.



Zeiss: A band of mercenaries and some Dragons have arrived as reinforcements, but General Narshen's group hasn't arrived yet.

Randy: What is he doing? He must know it is impossible to take over the village with such a small army like this...

Zeiss: ......

Randy: Anyway, we must inform the King about the Dragons that live here. Zeiss, I want you to go to Aquleia and report to King Zephiel.

Zeiss: What do you want me to say?

Randy: Dragons do indeed inhabit this village. According to a captive, there are also signs of 'Divine Dragons', the most powerful even among Dragons. ... Tell him that.

Zeiss: Yes, sir.

Randy: Make it quick.



Sophia: Yes... this sandstorm has always protected our village from intruders.

Roy: Well, it must be a pain trying to look for a village in this mess. I can't see three meters ahead... So in which direction do we move?

Sophia: Yes... Head to the Northeast... But...

Roy: But?

Sophia: There may be many things hidden in the sand, blown around by the sandstorm... Please be careful where you step.



This map is annoying. Not only do we have to deal with Fog of War, but we're also fighting on desert terrain as well. The sand dunes here will end up cutting our infantry's move in half, and mounted and armored units are rendered all but unusable - only mages and flying units can move across sand without penalty. In addition, there are plenty of valuable treasures hidden in the sand as well, and we can't afford to pass some of them up.

The good news is that we should be able to accomplish all of our goals here in one fell swoop. After sending Chad south to pick up the item there, we'll simply circle around the dunes to the north and make our way to the southeast corner, picking up items along the way. Once we've got everything, we'll make our way to the boss and take him out.

Thieves, as you may have noticed, are invaluable here - not only do they increase your visability my obscene amounts here, but they also have a 100% chance of uncovering the buried items so if you want to get everything on the stage, you'll need to bring some along. There are also a bunch of dragon riders and mamkutes in the stage to watch out for, so be sure to bring along an archer or two with your mages to take them out.

By the way, there's a time limit on this stage as well. In order to unlock chapter 14x, we'll need to finish the battle in 25 rounds. Which... isn't too bad - as it is, it's more than enough time to work our way through, but keep it in mind nonetheless so you don't find yourself running out of time.

Finally, Sophia and Cecilia will be joining us for the battle. However, the former is severely underleveled and the latter moves like a snail across sand, so keep them behind your more capable units.

Speaking of which, let's get to know them, shall we?



Sophia's got great growths in magic and resistance, and, though it's nothing special, she does gain an adequate amount of speed as well. As such, she can develop into a very powerful magical tank if you raies her up, possibly into one of the strongest characters in the game.

That is, if you can raise her up. As you can see, Sophia starts out incredibly weak at only level 1, so you'll have to basically feed her a few maps before she can start holding her own. She's not bad if you level her up, just that she takes a while, is all.



She's got a few good support options... Roy, Ray, Fa, Igraine. Nothing too outstanding, but she's there if we need her.



Cecilia, meanwhile, is nothing special. Her stats after terrible, her growths are terrible - really, she's just another generic prepromote.

Roy, Percival... yep, nothing to see here.



First things first, we'll need to increase our visability a bit, so Astol and Cath bring out their torches.



Astol picks up a Talisman (increases Res) from the ground in the process.



Meanwhile, Miledy and Tate piggyback Chad to the corner here, where he'll pick up another of the buried items on the map.



During the enemy's phase, Saul lures a group of Dragon Riders from the north and doubles them to nothing. Though he's a bit overleveled from all the healing he did in chapter 7 and 13, he still needs to boost his Light rank to S so he can use the Aureola tome later on. As such, he'll be getting a few kills anyway to help him get there.

The Dragon Lord survives the turn, so it's not a complete waste of experience.



Next turn, Cath starts whittling down a mage to the north. She picks up a pair of boots (increases Move) in the meanwhile - these will probably go to Wendy, since she could use the boost.



Cecilia weakens the mage a little more...

And Sophia finishes him off. Note that, although she's underleveled, Sophia gains an immense amount of experience from defeating the various mooks in the stage. So she'll grow fast if you plan on using her.



Lilina finishes off the Dragon Lord from before...



And Saul accidentally criticals the Mamkute here, levelling up. I was hoping that he would only double him down so that Ray could get the kill instead, but ah well. Can't be helped, I guess.



Chad picks up the Speedwings in the corner and Tate and Miledy ferry him over to the next spot.



Wolt dodges a bolt from a mage here and levels up.



There's a bishop on the stage wielding a Sleep staff, which is as annoying as you'd expect it to be. Thankfully, he goes after Sophia here and misses.



Our turn comes and we pick up a Silence staff. And yes, it really is one this time, Elfir. >:I

Miledy and Tate drop Chad off here for him to rejoin our group.



You'll probably run into this a lot while raising Sophia. She's got a lot of force behind her spells, but her accuracy is complete shit until she grows a bit more so she won't always connect as much as you like. Thankfully, we've got Wolt on hand to clean up.



Cecilia doesn't have much in the ways of an offensive use, but she can be helpful as a backup healer if you need her.



Sophia's still in range of the Bishop, so Cath pulls her out of range for now.



Even with the magic triangle working against him, Saul's completely dominating the mage here. Maybe I went a little overboard with the arena...



With Sophia gone, the Bishop turns his sights on Cecilia instead. He misses, of course.



In the north, Astol picks up a Silver Card. The Silver Card is much too valuable to pass up, as it cuts the cost of items and equipment down by 50%. We'll be dropping by a secret shop in a few chapters to pick up a few Guiding Rings for our mages, so this should definitely come in handy in keeping the costs down.

It's also a great way to improve your funds ranking in FE7, since the discount is effectively giving you money, as far as the game's concerned.



Anyway, Lilina takes out a nearby priest while Saul starts to work on the mercenaries to the east.



Cath drops Sophia off for now, since I'm pretty sure she's back out of range of the bishop...



Cecilia helps Miledy kill off one of the mercenaries here.

Whoops, spoke too soon. The staff connects here, so Sophia's out of the battle for the next four turns.



Saul and Shin take out a few more enemies while Miledy helps set up another's fall.



The mercenary Miledy attacked before takes a swing at her, but dies on the counterattack.



The hero here is wielding a killing edge, easily making him the most dangerous enemy on the map right now. I was hoping for Saul to weaken him down a bit for Miledy to finish, but he missed one of his hits and accidentally offed him on the counterattack.



The enemy bishop also takes a swing at Saul, but has a much lesser effect.



With the bishop significantly weaker than before, Miledy seizes the opportunity to take him out once and for all, gaining a great level up in the process.



One of our thieves waves around a torch again here so nothing sneaks up on us.



Homoerotic bandits ahoy!

Maggie: Yes, Rose, you are most correct.

Rose: Then, Maggie, it must be true that there is a hidden village around here.

Maggie: Bless my soul, Rose. I believe you are correct.

Rose: But my dear Maggie, we don't want to get lost in the sandstorm, do we?

Maggie: Of course not, Rose. Then we wouldn't be able to find our way home.

Rose: Well then, Maggie, do you think we should pass up the hidden village?

Maggie: My dear Rose, you forget there are rumors of vast treasures hidden in this village.

Rose: Well, we certainly don't want to miss that, do we, Maggie?

Maggie: Of course, Rose. We make a lot more money through that than by mugging travelers.

Rose: But we don't want to get lost either, do we, Maggie?

Maggie: My dear Rose, I have an idea. We may follow the people we saw heading into the desert earlier.

Rose: That's a wonderful idea, Maggie. And once we reach the village, we can thank them by smashing their heads in.

Maggie: Of course, my dear Rose.

Rose: Well then, Maggie, shall we be off?

Maggie: Why certainly, my dear Rose.

Rose: Certainly, my dear Maggie.

After that point, Maggie and Rose spawn in the bottom-left corner with a cadre of brigand reinforcements.

Miledy's turning into a beast - her defense at this point is high enough that she can shrug off the mercenaries here.



And here come a few dragon riders...



Saul and Miledy attempt to take out another mercenary, but the RNG's feeling a bit jerky today.



One of the mercenaries rushes Saul and misses, dying on the counter attack...



As does the other, pushing Saul over to level 11.



At this point, the enemy dragon riders reach our party, but we're more than well-equipped to deal with them. Saul also manages to reach rank C in light magic as well - only three more to go!



Cecilia carves up the dragon lord with her magic...



Oh come on. Magic is supposed to be Lilina's strongest stat! Why the fuck is she getting screwed out of magic!?



Well, anyway. Wolt takes aim at the remaining dragon rider, and he only misses once.

Might as well boost the visibility a bit.



Tate takes a bit of a hit from a nearby mage.



And here come the brigands to harry us on our way through the desert.



Lilina casts El Fire. It's supereffective!



Miledy and Tate join forces to take out one of the remaining dragon riders, but Tate misses the killing blow.



Heading south, we pick up the amazingly useless Silver Blade in the desert sands here.



Ray opts to finish off the Bern mage that Lilina struck last.



We take a few blows here, but it's nothing serious.



Shin takes out the errant dragon rider with his trusty Short Bow.



Tate picks up Cath to move her out of the melee.



Saul patches Miledy up a bit...

And she takes out a mage, levelling up. Two more, and she'll be ready to promote...



To hell with wasted experience. These brigands have been rushing us through the desert and it's high time we tought them a lesson.



This... was a mistake on my part. I intended for Saul to double the hero down for Miledy to finish, but I hit take instead and dropped Cath off prematurely.



Miledy doesn't even manage to connect here. Man, will nothing go right this chapter? At least Tate's on hand to pull Cath out of danger again.



Finally, some luck. Saul dodges all three blows and takes out all but the hero.



The brigands do as well as you'd think...



Anyway, Cecilia heals Tate back up a bit while Miledy finishes off the hero with her lance.



With him dealt with, Tate drops Cath back off again.

Oh, and Lilina kills off the last mercenary. She raises her anima rank in the process, priming her to use the divine anima tome after promotion.



Yep.



Cecilia heals up Saul so he and Ray can take out the Mamkute in the bottom corner with relative safety.



Roy continues soloing the bandits on his own...



And Chad picks up the Warp staff. As you may remember, it teleports characters across the map instantaneously - useful for hard-to-reach places like secret shops and the like.



Sophia: A beautiful ring...



We pick up our second Guiding Ring here, courtesy of Sophia. She's the only one that can find it, so if she dies during the chapter you're out of luck.

Randy: By the blade... or by its light?



Randy's the boss of the chapter, and he's... not too bad, honestly. He can attack at range with that Light Brand of his, but our characters at this point are strong enough to stand against him (hell, Miledy's doing more damage to him than he is to her). Take him out like you would any other boss.



Roy keeps dancing with Maggie back in the desert sands while Lilina nails Randy with Aircalibur on her counterattack.



It's a huge waste of experience, but we're pressed for time and Berserkers are too dangerous to bother luring back to our other fighters. So, yeah.



Miledy tangos with Randy a little longer here, softening him down to 11 HP.



We'll need Roy to claim the throne when Randy falls, so Tate flies south to pick him up.



This was a huge gamble on my part, as it would've left Miledy wide open for a counterattack, but she connects and grows even more powerful.



Randy: ...meet one so strong as you... before my death.

Odd that they'd throw out some last-minute characterization on a throw-away boss, but okay. I could live with that.

There are a couple of shops just outside the gate to drop by. The armory doesn't have much, but the store is stocked with Aircaliber and Nosferatu tomes, the first one so far, so make sure to pick up a few from it before moving on.

It also contains some Pure Water, if you'd like some.



Tate brings Roy back northward, and Cecilia drops him off to go claim the throne. But it looks like Rose has caught up with us...



But that's not a problem.



Ray takes out Rose and reaches level 17 from it.



:/



When playing through the chapter, I was under the impression that I only had 20 turns, so I finished a little ahead of schedule as a result. Ah well, it was a good challenge.



Now, to claim the throne.