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

I think you missed something right after you introduce the new units. It kinda seems like it jumps ahead a post.

Roy: Sophia, where are the inhabitants of the village? What's wrong?

Sophia: ... The entrance to the emple...

Roy: This door... It looks like it has been forced open. What lies inside this temple?

Sophia: There is something we call the Divine Weapon... It is a spell book.

Roy: Divine Weapon!? There was one here, too!?

Oh come on, now. Didn't Eliwood tell you anything at all about his adventure?

Roy: ... Then that must be what Bern was after! In that case, we may be too late.

Sophia: It is there... I can feel it...

Roy: All right! Let's go! We may still be able to stop Bern!



Next time: Hey, Graybeard. Where'd you put Forblaze?

EDIT: There we go. Thanks for catching that, JFink.

Papillion? Eliwood didn't find any of the Divine weapons aside from Durandal and (depending on whether or not it's Hector's Tale) Armads. Athos gathered them up pretty quickly, given how you're going through this.

And why do I think that Lilina is taking after her father in Tanto's walkthrough?

He didn't really have to, though - Eliwood saw for himself that Athos wielded Forblaze when they came to blows with Nergal for the first time, and that the Archsage resided in the Nabata Desert for the longest time would've clued him in to the Divine Weapon's resting place anyway. Considering that Hector told Lilina quite specifically the location of Durandal, it's a bit odd the disconnect between what Eliwood knows and what he didn't tell Roy.

That's the hazard of stories working backwards, I guess.

Welcome back. When last we met, we had torn our way through the desert collecting valuables and wasting experience by the hundreds in order to finish in time.



One of the divine weapons is said to be hidden in it. Roy and company were quick to follow Bern's troops, who had already found their way into the temple...

Join us now as we make up for lost time as we collect...

Chapter 14x: The Infernal Element





Soldier: Yes, we think it is lying inside this altar, but it won't open...

Ohtz: Break it, force it open, or do whatever! We do not have much time.

Soldier: But we must also deal with the enemies that have entered the temple! We don't have enough manpower to use force on the altar!

Ohtz: Then we must get rid of the enemy first. Then we can examine the altar with leisure.

-

Roy: This is the underground of the desert? There's so much... water.



Sophia: ...groundwater... That's why plants and animals can live here...

It's true!

Roy I see. So that's why you were able to build a village here. Still, how did you find such a convenient place like this?

Sophia: Athos... The "Archsage" Athos is the one who led us here...

Roy What? Do you mean the Athos of the Eight Heroes?

Sophia: Yes... After the Scouring... Master Athos traveled around Elibe... At the end of his journey he arrived at a village in which people and Dragons lived together... But he said that... it would only be a matter of time before it was found by other people...

Roy So he led you here...

Sophia: Yes... and he hid his Divine Weapon inside this Temple...

Roy And... Can we use his Divine Weapon?

Sophia: Yes... Master Athos said that we were to use his weapon to protect Arcadia... And if you use it... it would be to protect us...

Roy All right. Thank you.

Sophia: Some of the pathways of this temple will suddenly sink into the water... Please be careful...



Ahh, a nice breath of fresh air. As with the other sidequest chapters,we're free to move at our own pace here, so once we hold out the initial rush of enemies we can take out the rest at our leisure.

As Sophia mentioned, large sections of the floor on this map will raise and lower over the course of the battle, so you'll have to be careful that your teammates won't find themselves stranded on open water. A good idea is to bring Geese and a few fliers along so they can rescue your allies from it and help them rejoin the battle faster. Other than that, it's a pretty typical map - watch out for the tomes of bolting that the sage and boss have and take the enemies out one at a time.

Since our team's been falling behind in firepower in the past while, we'll be taking this opportunity to promote as many of our characters as possible. Let's see how many we can bring to the next level, shall we?



As I mentioned, the boss, Ohtz, is wielding a tome of Bolting and can nail your team pretty hard with it. Thankfully, he doesn't move from his position, but be sure to keep out of his range nonetheless.



Anyway, a surly gang of pirates zeroes in on our position at the start, but they stop just short, giving us time to reorganize ourselves into a more defensive formation.



Alan takes the role of guard and doubles the berserker down, but a nearby priest heals him back up.



Wolt undoes the healing with an attack of his own...



And Lilina finishes him off, levelling up.



A few more enemies throw themselves at our group, but with little effect.

The priest from before tries to heal back up the pirate Lance nearly killed with some long-range healing.



However, Miledy's on the ball and takes him out with her Javelin, making her the first ready to promote next turn.



Alan and Lance take down a few more enemies, while Wolt takes out another on his turn.



One of the enemy druids is holding an Eclipse tome, but the low accuracy is just too much of a barrier to break through for him.



Miledy cracks the Elysian Whip she's holding...



And booya. One dragon lord, ready to go. With the stat gains from promotion, Miledy grows even more powerful...



A few more pirates take a swing at our guys, though only Wolt takes a blow.

Wolt exacts revenge next turn, getting a near-perfect level up.



Alan and Tate take out another pirate...



But whoops! Looks like the floor's vanished out from underneath them. As you can see, our mounted and infantry units are unable to move on water, making them sitting ducks for the oncoming pirates. However, they can still fight, and we remembered to bring flying units with us, so it's not a big deal.



Note that, even on water, we're too good to touch. Oh yeah.



Shin sets up another kill...



And Lilina follows through. She's finally making a comeback, thankfully - magic and speed are both stats she'll need.



We continue our attack afterwards, but Tate manages to miss twice here. Stupid RNG.

We weather a few more blows on our turn, though the pirates that attacked Lilina got blasted into oblivion.



Seems like Alan's eager to promote, as he gets a critical right off the bat and reaches level 20.



Though we'll just move him out of range so Ohtz doesn't fry him up...



At this point, the enemy's offensive has all but petered out, with only a lone pirate and druid targetting our troops. Time to start moving across the map.



But first...



Paladins, baby. With the promotion boost, Alan's only four points away from maxing out his strength - I daresay he'll probably make it there.



Lance, not wanting to fall behind, pulls out the big guns and slaughters a helpless pirate.



After crossing the halfway point of the bridge, the enemies in the south start to advance.

Geese is the first one to get there, however even with the weapon triangle working to his advantage, he manages to miss both swings.



Tate pulls Geese out of the way so that Rutger and Lilina can take out the mercenary in his stead.



Lance swings at the archer, but only manages to connect once, resulting in him getting a shot at Rutger (he misses).



The druid moves into range, however...



He puts himself into range of Lilina. The shot of Elfire pushes her over to level 20, ready to promote.



Rutger finishes the errant archer off, reaching level... 18.

Lance and Wolt follow Lilina's lead, taking out the druid before he can heal anyone else. With him gone, Tate's free to drop off Geese where he was standing.



Roy accidentally comes under fire from the Bolting-wielding sage, but he dodges.



Hey guys, you thought Lilina was powerful before? Wait 'til you get a load of the new her...



And so, taking the Guiding Ring, Lilina promotes to the next class, sage. Note that, even with the magic screwage, Lilina's quite powerful, and the addition of staves and her S-ranking in Anima will make her even moreso.



Some more enemies move into our range and Geese rushes out to meet them.



Wolt's looking a little pale, so he takes Roy's Elixer and heals himself back up.



Shin and Geese target a few of their enemies, and Geese uses his muscle (and the disappearing platform) to block them from attacking the others entirely.

Wolt shoots down a mercenary with his Brave Bow to double.



Lance, seeing an opening, rushes through and takes out an archer, reaching level 19 and gaining more strength.



As for the last one, Geese, Shin and Tate take him out at range.



With them dealt with, Geese and Alan heal up a bit.



A few dragon riders, clued in on our approach, start to make their way towards us.



Whoops. Alan narrowly dodges the Bolting strike, but maybe I should keep a better eye out for it.



Rutger's the only one in range, so the dragon riders ready their lances and miss.

Shin shoots one down, reaching level 17...



And Wolt takes the other, readying himself to promote next turn.



The floor fell through here stranding Lilina and Roy on the water, so Miledy pulls back and starts rescuin'.



I've been waiting for this since chapter 1. Leaving his old archer bow behind...



And he pulls out Orion's Bolt and slings it, and becoming the straight-shooting, no-nonsense sniper. Wolt's turning out fantastically, to be honest - with these stat's, he's more than ready to give Klein and Igrene a run for their money.



With Wolt promoted, Shin steps up and starts weakening the other enemies to feed to the others.



Geese is using a Vulnerary, so it's taking him a little while to reach full HP.



Gah! Stupid floor.

Here come the others, though I doubt you're interested in seeing them do nothing over the next few turns. Fast-forward!



Tate tosses a Javelin at the approaching dragon rider for Lance (after setting up her Iron Lance for the approaching mercenary, of course) to finish off.



The mercenary strikes air instead of Tate, and our pegasus knight strikes back for another strong level up.



Jesus, not again.



Separated from the others, Lance and Tate try to hold their own, but miss quite handily.



Thankfully, so does the enemy archer, leaving himself wide open.



Tate weakens the mercenary a bit more before rushing forward to finish him off.

Fast-forwarding five or six turns (yes, that's how long it took for the path to open up again), Lilina takes Roy's Elixer and readies herself for some lightning rod action.



They never do, do they?



Ohtz manages to connect, much to my chagrin, and the approaching druid forces my hand and I move Lilina back out of range to heal.



Things get even worse when they both manage to connect again.



Lilina's still got that elixer though, so she pulls it out and heals back up.



Shin pulls back his long bow and criticals the druid for his transgressions, becoming even more brokenly powerful in the process.



That put him in range of Ohtz though, so Geese rescues him so Lilina can continue her baiting.

Even with the healing, Ohtz gets quite a few lucky hits, more than Lilina can manage.



As such, Roy's forced to move into range and weather the last bolt of Bolting.



There's still that other sage however, but Wolt's on the ball and takes a few for the team.



With the tomes of Bolting gone, we begin our final advance on the boss, taking out everything else on the way.



Shin and Lance take out the mercenary while Rutger criticals the pirate right off the face of the map.

Lance weakens the sage down a bit, reaching a promotable level...



And Rutger takes him out, reaching level 19.



With only Ohtz left, Shin pulls out the ol' Long Bow and fires off a volley, though the weapon's low accuracy and Ohtz's Avoid render it a miss.



But enough about that - it's promotin' time!



Doning the paladin's armor like his partner-in-crime, Lance ascends to the next level. The boost in strength and the addition of axes to his arsenal will make him a force to be reckoned with.



Risking life and limb, Miledy and Lance use their newfound powers to weaken Ohtz down for Rutger, since he's the closest one to level 20. However, he misses.

Thankfully, Rutger dodged Ohtz's counterattack, so all we have to do is pull Miledy and Lance out...



And for Rutger to finish him off. (And your eyes don't deceive you - Rutger gained absolutely zilch from his level up.)



Yep.



Just one more promotion before we claim the altar...



Out of all of the classes in the game, the myrmidons and brigands/pirates make out like bandits from their promotions. That's because they gain a whopping 30% critical boost upon ascending to their next class, which, coupled with their high strength and speed, makes them virtually unstoppable. So, yeah - Rutger's just become the deadliest fighter on our squad.



That was a nice break. I really liked this chapter, admittedly - lots of twists and turns without being entirely unfair. But alas, it's time to move on...



Roy: ... It won't open...

Sophia: This altar is made... so that only those of the village may open it... So please allow me...

Roy: Yes.

Sophia: ...... There... There is the Divine Weapon.

Roy: The one that Athos used? Then...

Sophia: Yes... The "Infernal Element", Forblaze...

And that's a-

Elder: Who are you? How did you enter?

Yeep!



Roy: I came with Sophia to protect this village.

Elder: With Sophia...? Then it was you who drove off Bern's soldiers? Oh... Please forgive my impudence. I am the Elder of Arcadia.

Well that was easy.

Roy: Elder... Then are you the Dragon?

Elder: Dragon... They once called me that. But that is a story of a time long since past.

Roy: ......

Elder: Let me see... The only real Dragon we have is Fa right here.



Roy: This little girl is a Dragon?

Elder: Yes, although she is far from the mature form.

Roy: Elder, do you know anything about the Dragons in Bern?

Elder: What! There are Dragons in Bern?

Roy: Yes, we have seen them.

Elder: Why...? Dragons to not exist anywhere except here.



Elder: What is it, Igrene?

Igrene: Sophia said that she could detect an evil 'force' coming from Bern's troops. That may have something to do with the Dragons Roy says he saw at Bern.

Elder: Perhaps...

Roy: But I am too old to detect such force now.

Elder: 'Force'? What is that?

Quintessence, I presume. I'm guessing the translators got a different version of the same word when they were working through the game's text.

Elder: Sophia is half dragon, half human. That gives her the ability to detect the pulses emitted from other Dragons. But because she cannot detect them clearly, she only said that she felt a Force that was twisted unnaturally.

Igrene: think that you should look into it. Elder, if you would allow it, I would like to ask to join Roy and look into Bern for myself.

Elder: I really do not want to deal with the matters of the outside... But this is a time of emergency. Well then Roy, will you take her?

Roy: Certainly.

Igrene: I am Igrene, the Guardian of Nabata. I have confidence in my skills with the bow. I believe I can aid you in battle as well.

Roy: Thank you.

Fa: Fa's going too!

Elder: What are yousaying, of course you may not. There is no telling what could happen if your existance were exposed to the world!

Fa: ......

Roy: Well then, let's go.

Igrene: Yes.

Fa: Fa will just follow them anyway!

Oh my. Something tells me that nothing at all terrible will come of this.



We pick up Forblaze on our way out, presumably to give to our newly-promoted Lilina. And with that...



Next time: Long, long ago, in a castle Fa, Fa away...

Heh heh. The boss was named "Oats."

So Igrene is Hawkeye's daughter, yes?

Yep. She's also got pretty good stats for a prepromote, as we'll see next chapter.

Poor Lilina, taking lightning bolts to the head all day for her team. I guess she must've inherited her dad's toughness.

Whoops, sorry about the late update today - just found out that the Bleach filler's been over for a while and wanted to catch up. Anyway, welcome back. Last we met, we picked up the Infernal Element, Forblaze, and promoted the crap out of our units to better meet the rising difficulty of the game.



...the desert, following Igrene's lead. Now they turned toward Etruria to confront the Coup d'etat forces. At this point, a disturbing message came from the Elder of Arcadia.



...fall into the hands of the Coup d'etat forces or of Bern, who stood behind them, it would be a disaster. Bent on finding Fa, Roy moved his forces towards a small fort near the Etrurian border.

Join us now as we promote some more while in search of the...

Chapter 15: Dragon Girl





Geez, look at the chin on that guy. You could hammer a stake with that thing.

Raeth: Girl? The one that was scurrying around the outskirts of the castle? Are you still worrying about that thing? Just throw her out.

Soldier: But sir, she was carrying this.

Raeth: ? Is this... a Dragon Stone?

Soldier: ... That is what I thought also, so I decided to report.

Raeth: Have you ever seen a Dragon Stone before?

Soldier: Yes, when we invaded Lycia. The Mamkutes were carrying them when they were in human form.

Raeth: ... But it looks different from the ones that they held. Well anyway, it still has to do with the Dragons. I suppose we should inform King Zephiel about it and follow his instructions. Make sure that the girl stays inside the castle!



Merlinus: Yes. The locals have witnessed it.

Igrene: Roy, I am truly sorry... One of my people have caused you great inconvenience, when we must be hurrying toward Aquleia.

Roy: No, please don't worry about it. If she falls into the hands of Bern, that in itself would be a disaster.

Igrene: I believe she would be safe as long as she remains in human form and doesn't show anyone her Dragon Stone.

Roy: Dragon Stone?

Igrene: Yes, when Dragons are in their human form, they seal their powers into crystals, called Dragon Stones. In this world, it is said that Dragons must use vast amounts of energy to maintain their actual form, so they usually remain in human form to minimize energy consumption.

Roy: Maybe the 'humans not human' in Bern were in human form for the same reason.

Igrene: By listening to the story you told us earlier, probably you are right. It is also said that Dragons started taking human form ever since the end of the Scouring.

In fact, they may even be walking amongst us right now.

Roy: That long ago...

Igraine: Yes...



Merlinus: ... the spy we sent to the castle has returned.

Roy: What did you find out?

Merlinus: It seems that a lot of soldiers have been coming out of the castle. They seem to be fortifying the defenses around it.

Roy: Oh... Maybe they found out Fa was a dragon.

Or maybe they noticed the large army stationed outside and/or marching towards the castle, i.e. us?

Merlinus: And the troops protecting the border seem to have noticed us.

See? Told you.

Roy: We have to rescue her quickly.



This one's not too bad if you plan ahead. Anyway, our goal is simple - we'll swirl around the mountains in the center and head for the castle, defeating the enemy troops and visiting the villages along the way. We'll have to rush at first - three turns in, a bandit group will spawn in the north and head for the easternmost village, which is too valuable to let be destroyed. Furthermore, one of the bandits is recruitable, so we'll have to make sure that the recruitee (in this case, Lilina) is in range to pick him up. We simply can't let the village be destroyed (it houses the Hammerne staff, which is vital if we plan on using the Divine Weapons during the course of the normal game) so we'll have to intercept the group before that becomes a risk.

Afterwards, however, things will start to slow down. Reinforcements will start spawning from the castle and forts, so we'll hunker down in the far east and wait them out. Once that's done we'll take it slowly to the castle, fight off the boss and conquer the map. Altogether not too hard, but stay on your guard nonetheless.

Note that, if we haven't recruited Percival yet, he'd appear with his cadre on this stage as well and we'd have to lure him in for Elphin to talk to. Thankully, we already pulled that off earlier in chapter 13, so that's one less thing to worry about.



Igrene will be joining us for the chapter, and she's not too bad. Her stats are decent for a prepromote, being roughly on par with Wolt's at the moment, and, though her growths leave a little to be desired, they're good enough that she could develop the stats she needs for the rest of the game. We're using Wolt, so she'll sit the bench, but don't be afraid to use her if you have to.



She's got a few supports with the other Arcadians (namely, Sophia and Fa) as well as the other archers, but the gem of the bunch is her support with Astol, believe it or not. It's ripe with tragedy and makes for a great read, so be sure to take a loot at it even if you're not using either.



First things first, we'll be giving Wendy the boots we found in chapter 14. Knights have terrible move, even after promotion, so giving them to her will help her catch up with the rest of our units.



Miledy moves first, heading east to impale the nearby mercenary with her Javelin.

Lilina follows soon after and snaps her Fire tome to finish the job.



Though it's still quite good in its own right, Tate's speed has barely grown at all since she joined. As such, she takes the Speedwings herself to bring it up to a level more suited to her, er, level.



Lilina's move accidentally put her in range of a mercenary, but she tears into him with Aircalibur on the counter.



Wendy's accuracy is complete shit (which is strange, since it's one of her higher growths), but Geese is standing nearby to finish the job.



With him gone, Lilina and Miledy focus on an approaching valkyrie, easily the most dangerous enemy in range at the moment.



Meanwhile, Shin and Tate take out an archer to the south, who was trying to sneak around the cliffside to shoot at our group.



With a boost from Elphin, Oujay moves forward and seats himself by Lilina. The cavalier flanking the valkyrie from before is still in range, and even then the group of mercenaries and archers to the north are approaching, so we'll want as many of our allies in formation to take them out.

Two of the cavaliers to the east make runs at Miledy, but get cut down for their efforts.



A third one attacks Geese while he's still holding a swordreaver, yet misses and gets a solid thwack in return. Geese levels up from it as well - miraculously, it doesn't suck as much compared to some of his earlier ones.



The fourth cavalier, meanwhile, tries to play it safe with his Javelin. It doesn't work.



Here's something you don't see everyday. With the Steel Lance weighing him down, the cavalier here ends up getting doubled by Wendy.



The Javelin guy, meanwhile, gets shot down by Igrene.



And here come the bandits...

Bandit: So what do we do, Boss?

Garret: The army's gonna loot the villages, anyway. 'Suppose we better ransack em' first.

Bandit: Awright, Boss!

Garret: But make sure you don't do any unnecessary killing, you got that?

Bandit: Got it... [Garret leaves.] That guy's too nice... Well, I guess we can make it the army's fault.



Two of the approacing archers take aim at Igrene and connect, but get shot down in return.



Shin pulls out his trusty short bow to soften one up...

...And Tate finishes him off for... skill.



One of the mercenaries is wielding a Killing Edge, but Rutger here is so powerful that he criticals him out of the fight before he gets a chance to use it. Rutger: 1. Killing Edge: 0.



Geese pulls out his old Iron Axe to take out another archer.



With some help from Lilina, Oujay wipes out one of the mercenaries...



Miledy kills off another...



...And Igrene kills the last with a well-timed critical.



Roy, meanwhile, drops by the village we past to pick up a Divine tome, a more powerful spellbook for Saul to use.



You know, you have to wonder what the deal is with Lilina talking to potentially dangerous bandits one-on-one...

Garret: What? Who are you?

Lilina: Why? Why do you attack the villages?

Garret: Eh? Who do you think you are?

Lilina: Tell me your reason for attacking the vilages!

Garret: Reason? ... Well, I guess I could say that it's your fault.

Lilina: Our fault?

Garret: Yup. Because you idiots are causing wars like this, there are more and more people like me who have to do banditry to get food.

Aw geez, not this shit again. Even still, it was Bern that caused the war, so don't you go pointing your finger at us, Garret.

Lilina: We are fighting to help people like that.

Garret: Right, I've heard that enough times now. Look at reality, kid. They all say they're trying to help, but it's all words and empty promises. Where's the action? You got your head in the clouds, you can't see what goes on the ground. Get it? Now get out of my way.

Lilina: ...No.

Garret: What!? Listen, I ain't playing games with you. If you don't get the hell out of here...

Lilina: I won't move. If you want to kill me, then you may do as you wish.

Garret: What...

Lilina: If I let you pass, I would just be another one of those people who you say are all talk and no action. I am telling the truth! We are fighting to help the people.

Garret: You... Hehe... I never thought I'd meet anyone so naive to think as you do.

Oh no you di'n't.

Lilina: Do you... laugh at us...?

Garret: But still, it's nice to hear once in a while.

Lilina: ! Then...

Garret: All right, you win. I'll stop looting. But you gotta let me fight with you guys. I gotta see with my own eyes that you're true to your words.

Looks like the party compulsion field's still in full effect. All right then, we could use another berserker, I suppose.

Lilina: Thank you. If you fight alongside us, I'm sure you will understand.

Garret: Well, you certainly seem confident about that. I'm Garret. And you're...?

Lilina: Lilina.

Garret: Lilina? Well then, I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, milady.

Eh. Garret's nothing special - he's got good strength, but his speed's crap. I suppose you could use him if Gonzales and/or Geese are dead or underleveled, but other than that he's just another generic prepromote.



As you'd expect, he pairs with Cath. Other than that, there's not much.



During this small break in action, Wendy takes the Talisman I dumped in her inventory and uses it to boost her Res a bit. One or two of the restarts this chapter have been from one of the valkyrie doubling her, so this boost in magic defense will help her in case this happens again.



Ah, speak of the devil - here they come now.



A few of our characters stop by the nearby shop to pick up a few vulneraries, as they've been fighting pretty much nonstop the past few turns without healing up.



Roy's trucking along from behind, by the way.



With a little boost from Elphin, Shin takes out the approaching cavalier alongside the others.

Geese doubles down one of the brigands...



And Wendy finishes him off with her lance.



Ray sets up a kill for Tate with his Nosferatu tome, but the pegasus knight misses, prompting Oujay to join in and deal the killing blow.



The other brigand following Garret takes a swing at Wendy and attempts to weaken him have mixed results.



Wendy misses one of her attacks, but, with Elphin's help...



...This time she connects, levelling up in the process.



Finally, Gonzales joins in with an attack of his own and finishes the brigand off.

A turn or so later, the rest of the cavaliers make their way south to our troop. Our team takes a few blows, but the cavaliers end up the worst of it.



Geese manages to level up from one of the kills, but...



...Well, anyway. Maybe some overkill will help ease the pain.



Elphin stops by the shop to pick up a bunch of Vulneraries for everyone. Since his item stock is pretty much empty when you use him, you can send him around to ferry curatives for everyone.



Roy passes by the other village to pick up the incredibly important Hammerne staff. As I said, if you want to be able to use the Divine Weapons without having to worry about their usages, then this staff is key - essentially, it allows for you to go crazy with a few of the weapons, as you can simply repair them back to full usages. It can only repair 3 weapons though, so don't go too overboard.

If you're wondering, it doesn't repair dragonstones, so it's not quite perfect.



Back at the castle, Raeth's reinforcements are ready...

Raeth: Good. Send them out.

Soldier: Yes, sir.

In two turns, a pair of cavaliers will spawn from the fortresses as well as the castle, for a total of four per turn. Thankfully, they warn you ahead of time so you can prepare your formations and reap the experience...



In the meantime, our unpromoted units begin clearing away the dragon riders to the north just in case. Wendy dodges here...



And Gonzales takes aim with his Hand Axe, raising his weapon rank in the process.

Oujay doubles down it some more...



And Shin takes aim and finishes it off for a level up.



Wendy begins luring the other dragon rider over to us, equipping the Javelin in the hopes of getting off a successful counterattack.



Gonzales nails the dragon rider with one of his hits, levelling up.



Oujay follows up with an attack as well, also getting a level up. It's not quite enough, though...



Elphin gives Ray a little boost so he can move up...



And he finishes the job successfully.

At this point, the reinforcements from the castle and forts spawn and start to make their way to us. We make our formations and hunker down for the impending attack.



Oh, and Elphin brought the drinks, so we can heal up before the fighting begins.



The first wave of cavaliers arrive and take aim at Gonzales, missing both of their attacks.



Seeing an opening, Geese, Shin and Ray pounce and take them out. The fighting goes on like this for a while, so I'll spare you a bunch of the more redundant screenshots. Needless to say, we kill a bunch of dudes.



During the kerfuffle, Elphin manages to sneak in another level up.



As does Geese, though his is marginally worse.