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

Gonzlaes grabs a level up as well near the end, though it, too, is pretty terrible.



Ray gains a level up too, and thankfully it's decent for a change.



At the end of the rush of reinforcements, Shin gets pushed over the edge into level 20. He's ready to promote!



Once the fighting's died down, Shin takes the Orion Bolt in hand...



...And promotes to the Nomadic Trooper class. Aside from the usual massive promotional gains, Shin also gains the ability to use swords, expanding his arsenal to melee attacks as well as ranged.



Gonzales has the ability to mountainwalk, so he sneaks over to Raeth and starts the assault on the castle. Best part? The mountain terrain makes him untouchable as far as the boss in concerned, and none of the other enemies can strike at him from that point.



Raeth: There must be a reason you attack this castle... But what...?

This is gonna take a while, so let's leave them at it for now...



Heading over around the mountains, a sniper and archer head for our group and attack.



Next turn, Wendy pulls back her Iron Lance and skewers the archer on it for 15 damage and a level up.



With Elphin's help, Geese manages to not only finish off the errant archer but also to attack the sniper as well.



The sniper weakened, Ray lets loose with Flux and takes him out.



Next turn, a mercenary approaches, and Oujay and Ray are ready and waiting the attack.



Geese and Wendy attack, but aren't quite strong enough to finish him off.



However, with Ray's help, the mercenary goes down without a fuss.

Next, we begin luring in the cavaliers, which goes just as planned.



As does luring the dragon rider...



...and the cavalier as well.



Tate doesn't quite get a kill, but she levels up nonetheless.



Leave it to Geese to go completely overboard and critical the poor bastard into submission. He reaches level 20, which means that he's ready to promote.



Like so.

Like with the swordmaster class, the berserker gains a 30% boost to their crit%, making them extremely deadly in melee combat. Even though Geese isn't as strong as Rutger is, he's still quite dangerous in his own right and is usable on that front alone.



With the other enemies wiped out, we converge on Raeth here and begin wearing him down. He's quite strong with that spear of his, but his low speed holds him back from being truly dangerous.



A spear has only 15 uses, by the way, so if you're so inclined, you can have him use it up and wail on him for experience. It's pretty cheesy, but it doesn't take nearly as long as you'd think and a few of our promoting units are near level 20 so I'll indulge in it for a bit.

Besides, this game's been as cheap as fuck so far, so it's only fair that I return the favour.



During the process, Wendy gets nudged over to level 19. Just one more and she'll be ready to promote.



One more turn later and Raeth is exposed, ready for wailing upon with our weapons.

Elphin gains a level up from helping Wendy move back and forth to retrieve Vulneraries.



I didn't really do it for too long - as I said, I mostly just wanted to get everyone prepared for promotion next chapter.



Well, except for Tate, who's ready to promote right now. Mercury powers activate!



And so Tate promotes to the Falco Knight class, gaining a big boost in stats, as well as the ability to use swords. All in all, she's looking quite nice.



Gonzales gets off one more level up from Raeth...

And Oujay seals the deal.



Raeth: Why... do you seek her...! To use her power...? ...!



Overall, it only took about 40 turns or so for those last few levels. Nothing too long - Raeth's spear breaks pretty quickly, RNG allowing, so you can syphon a few more levels out of him before heading onto the next challenge...



Well, anyway. That's a story for next chapter, so let's go finish off this one first, shall we?

Merlinus: Master Roy! Here she is!

Roy: [Off-screen.] You found her? Wait, I'm coming.

Heh.

[Roy appears.]

Merlinus: Now young lady, thank Master Roy.



Roy: It's ok, Merlinus. ...Now, why did you follow us?

Fa: Fa just wanted to see the outside world...

Merlinus: What! For such a reason... Do you know how much confusion you have caused?

Fa: But... but... Fa's never, ever allowed outside. The elders say that Fa has to be hidden... Fa is always alone... all locked up in her room...



Roy: ......

Merlinus: Master Roy, what shall we do?

Roy: ... You've suffered a lot. But do you understand that you've worried the elders and caused a lot of inconvenience?

Fa: Fa's sorry...

Roy: Really sorry?

Fa: Yes.

Roy: Well then, you can come with us.

Fa: Really!?

Merlinus: Are you sure?

Yeah. I mean, you're bringing a little girl with you into the army, and you don't even know whether or not you'll survive the fight against Bern.

Roy: The enemy might already know about her. In that case, it's better to have her where we can see her rather than letting her go off back on her own to Arcadia.

Oh, okay. That... actually makes sense.

Fa: Yay!

Merlinus: Hush! Don't get too excited.

Roy: But you mustn't go off alone anymore. Promise?

Fa: Yes! Fa promises!

Aww... and with that:



Next time: It's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum... and we're all out of gum.

They had gum in the middle ages? No wonder they kick so much ass!

I'm increasingly sad this didn't come here. Eliwood WAS an idiot, wasn't he?

It feels like the levels in this game are a lot higher than FE7's. Just my imagination, arena abuse, or true in general?

I hope you don't have to use Fa much. She bugs me.

Well, FE7 had that ten-chapter tutorial to keep things artificially deflated.

A little bit from b) and c). I've been hitting the arena a little bit harder during this run than I normally do, but the enemy's levels have been scaling pretty quickly over the course of the game and it's been getting harder and harder to keep up as a result. Hopefully our promotions will give us the edge we need and the enemy's forces will start to slow down a bit, but something tells me that's not gonna happen...

That too.

This does seem to be a little bit higher than FE8 and 9... then again, I always wind up underleveled in Fire Emblem. And it's impossible to judge how it stacks up against FE10.

Welcome back. Last time, Fa followed us to Etruria and got herself captured in a fort on the country's border, forcing us to attack the castle and rescue her from her captors.



The capitol of Etruria, Aquleia is also the largest, most prosperous city on the continent. Preparing for the Lycia Alliance Army's attack, the Coup d'etat army concentrated forces in Aquleia. Originally they had planned on using the garrison of the city for defense, but since the Elimine Church had turned to Roy's the Coup d'etat Army had no choice but to retreat to the castle and take post there instead for fear that the Church may have encouraged the city denizens to protest.

The Elimine Church was started by 'Saint Elimine', one of the Eight Heroes. This religious organization had many followers, primarily in Bern and Etruria. Roy had gained the Church's support in attacking Aquleia. However, Narshen and his elite troops were waiting for Roy inside the castle.

Join us now as we push through and begin...

Chapter 16: Retaking the Capitol





Uh-oh, looks like Narshen isn't too happy about this.

Narshen: That Lycia Alliance Army still stands! How could they come this far!?

Soldier: G-General Narshen... The leader of the Three Dragon Lords, Lord Murdock, is here!

Narshen: What!? H-Hurry! Send someone out to escort him here! Make sure he gets utmost attention...

Soldier: He is already here...



Narshen: L-Lord Murdock... What a pleasant surprise! What brings you all the way from Ilia?

Murdock: Narshen, I believe you owe me an explanation.

Wait for it...

Narshen: I-I'm sorry, sir... I don't quite understand...

Murdock: Princess Guinevere has escaped, again. Flaer, your lieutenant, has failed in his mission at the Western Isles. Also, you have neglected the mission of capturing the hidden village in Nabata, as given from the king himself! Narshen! I want explanations. Now!

Narshen: Y-Yes... Well you see, my Lord, there have been many complications, and...

Murdock: ... Enough. I have orders from the king. You are to be demoted from Dragon Lord status.

Narshen: What?!

Ha!

Murdock: His Majesty wants Gale to take your place.

Narshen: My Lord! Please wait! Please give me one more chance!!

Murdock: ... The Lycia Alliance Army is approaching here. Show me your worth, and stop them. If you succeed, I will negotiate with the king.

Narshen: Lord Murdock...

Murdock: Narshen... Don't fail the king... or me, again.



Narshen: And my replacement is that Gale...! Never! I will not allow that to happen! B-But what can I do... No...! My honor, my status... It's all collapsing!

Soldier: General Narshen, the enemy is getting close.

Narshen: Quiet! I know that. ... Wait. Miledy's younger brother is stationed in this castle... and she's the one who let the princess escape! Ah! I can say we failed because he was leaking information to the enemy and get rid of him later! Hehehe...

Soldier: General Narshen... What were you thinking?

Yeah, you should really learn when to cut your losses, brah.

Narshen: Hm? Oh, you know Miledy's younger brother, don't you?

Soldier: Do you mean Sir Zeiss?

Narshen: Right, Zeiss. Anyway, he's suspected of leaking information to the Lycia Alliance Army. Capture him and bring him here.

Soldier: What? But Sir Zeiss would never do something like that...

Narshen: Shut up! All you must do is follow my orders! Now bring him here!



Roartz: If we get caught, we shall be prosecuted as the initiators of the coup d'etat!

Douglas: ......

Roartz: ... Arcard! This is all your fault! If you had done your duty and gotten rid of the Lycia Alliance Army at the Western Isles...

Arcard: B-But Lord Roartz...! ...No! This is not the time to be arguing, my Lord! We must escape!

Roartz: But escape to where...

Arcard: ... Let us turn to Bern! This is originally their plan...

Roartz: Y-Yes, of course! We have done what they asked of us. They would be sure to help us.

You sure about that? I mean, Zephiel's not exactly the kind of guy to put on airs for people he doesn't have a use for. ...Man, you can almost taste the dramatic irony.

Douglas: ... May I ask what you intend to do with the king?

Roartz: Er... No, they would not harm the king. After all, King Zephiel's mother was from Etruria. Anyway, Douglas, you must escape too...

Douglas: I refuse. I was originally fighting alongside you because King Mordred's safety was at stake. I had no intention of going along with your plans.

Roartz: Hmph! Stubborn as always, I see. Suit yourself. Arcard, let us escape!

Arcard: Lord Roartz! Please wait...



Douglas: Fleeing at the last minute... It must have been easy for Bern to seduce them. I suppose I can leave those two to the Lycia Alliance Army... If Prince Mildain returns... Etruria will pull itself together again. And until then... I shall fight and prove my loyalty as the 'Great General' of Etruria!



Hey, it's Bishop Yodel! Remember him? He appeared way back in chapter 5 and lent us Dorothy and Saul.

Yodel: According to the information we have gathered, the Coup d'etat forces are stationed inside.

Roy: Bishop Yodel, I thank you for your help. Thanks to the Elimine Church, we were able to avoid fighting in the city and killing innocent people.

Yodel: No. I must thank you. Our order was being prejudiced by the Coup d'etat group, so if you hadn't come along to fight, we would have been driven out of the land a long time ago.

Roy: Prejudiced? Why?

Yodel: Most likely because we were investigating Bern's Dragons. Saint Elimine, our founder, said this before she ascended to heaven. "Never allow the Dragons to be brought back to the world... It would mean death for many people." Therefore, we are making our best efforts to find a way to send the Dragons back to the world in which they belong.

Roy: ...If the Coup d'etat forces had joined with Bern, then of course they would want to stop you.

Yodel: Yes. We also found this. The resurrection of the Dragons is somehow tied to the Fire Emblem, Bern's greatest treasure. That's where I sent Saul and Dorothy to investigate.

Roy: I see.

Yodel: Master Roy, you must stop the Coup d'etat troops. And if you would allow me to give you further advice, I would suggest that you do not do any unnecessary killing. I am sure there are troops that had no choice but to join the coup d'etat due to inner reasons.

Roy: Yes.

Yodel: May Saint Elimine bless you, Master Roy.



This map is much easier than it looks. We don't have to worry about a time limit, the chests won't be touched by anyone due to the lack of enemy thieves, the recruits will either be coming straight for us or stay out of the fighting and we've promoted our units so we can fight back with our full strength. There are a few tricks nevertheless - a few mages on the map are holding tomes of Bolting, so you'll have to watch out that your units don't get fried - but otherwise just take the map slowly and fight through the enemy one at a time.



One thing to keep in mind though is that we need to make sure that General Douglas is alive at the end of the battle to unlock the next sidequest chapter, and not only is he an enemy but he's aggressive and can't be recruited in this chapter. As such, we'll need to leave someone behind as a decoy, as the last thing we want is for him to go a rampage while we're in the middle of an all-out melee. Myrmidons, thieves and Roy himself tend to be good choices for this task - they're fast enough that, with the weapon triangle and terrain working in their favour, they can dodge every one of Douglas's blows while at the same time being physically incapable of scratching his armor.

On another note, Fa will be joining us from this battle on and she is, by far, the strongest character in the game. I mean, just look at those stats! If you wanted to, you could give her a set of Elixers and have her solo the map, her defenses are so high. Couple that with her insane growths that are actually over 100%, and you've got a force of nature on your hands.

...But you can see why we can't use her, can't you? Yes, her dragonstone only has 30 uses, which means she can only attack 30 times before it breaks and she becomes useless. The Hammerne staff can't even repair the stone, either - once it's gone, that's it. There's a glitch where you can grab an enemy Mamkute's dragonstone and give it to her to use, but otherwise save her attacks to promoted enemies for experience and only field her near the end when you might need her firepower.



Supports... she pairs with Sophia, Igrene, Elphin, Sue, and a prepromote that you may or may not want to use, depending on your play style. Not much to go on, but she's a light elemental support so she'll make a godo partner nonetheless.



One last thing before we start... there are a pair of items on the stage that we'll definitely want to pick up before we take the throne. The first is the Delphi Shield, held by Narshen, that negates the bow weakness for flying units like Tate or Miledy, which is helpful for reasons that should be obvious. The other is the Member Card, which allows us access to the two secret shops in the game, one of which is on this very map. The items stocked at the shops are too good to pass up, so you'll want to make sure to pick up the card as well, either by stealing it or recruiting the person holding it (Hugh).



Anyway, our first stop is to try and lightning rod down the mage in the corner so we can make our way through the castle safely. Lilina's perfect for the task since her high Res means she can take a few hits, and the cover of the forests outside should help boost her Avoid to the point where she'll dodge most of the hits thrown at her.



On yet another note before I start, I dumped a bunch of iron weapons into the inventory of our newly-promoted units so that they can begin working on their weapon ranks immediately.



The first turn goes smoothly enough - Alan ends up luring in a mercenary along his path and Lilina dodges the shot of Bolting.



Hmm?

Zeiss: Why did you summon me here...

Gale: There is no time to be explaining the details. Zeiss, you must hide for now.

Zeiss: ... What do you mean? The enemy is right in front of us!

Gale: Zeiss... listen to me. Just now, General Narshen gave an order to the entire army... to capture you.

Zeiss: What?! Does he think that I am betraying Bern?!

Gale: He is trying to put the responsibility of his past failures on your shoulders. He is saying that you worked with Miledy to leak information to the enemy.

Zeiss: With my sister? We don't even know where she is.

Gale: Miledy has apparently joined the Lycia Alliance Army alongside the Princess.

Zeiss: !! Miledy turned to the enemy?! I don't believe it...

Gale: Then get the story from her yourself. I want to go with you as well, but I have been told by Lord Murdock to watch the battle and report back to him. Zeiss, I want you to escape when you see the chance and go speak with your sister.

Zeiss: Sir Gale! I...

Gale: I do not intend on doing anything until we hear Miledy's story.

Zeiss: ......



Zeiss will then spend the entire battle sitting there, until we break down the wall to get to him. Interestingly enough, he's sitting on the space where the secret shop is...

Anyway, Roy takes out the mercenary with his sword - this is mostly because I needed someone light enough to pick up and carry so the team can keep heading east without pause.



Oh, and Alan/Lance activated this turn, it seems...

Alan: Yes. But it's just what I want.

Lance: Alan, I need to tell you something. It's about when we lose.

Alan: When we lose?

Lance: Right ... If it looks like defeat would be certain, then I want you to take Master Roy and retreat. I will act as a decoy for the enemy and buy time for you.

Alan: What? But then you would be in danger.

Yes, that's kinda the whole point, Alan.

Lance: Someone has to do it. Then it might as well be me, who has been in Pherae the shortest...

Alan: Don't be ridiculous!

Lance: ... Alan?

Alan: If you're staying, then I will as well. I won't allow you to go off alone and commit suicide.

Lance: But you're one of a long line of knights serving the Pherae family. So you should take Master Roy and flee...

Alan: How long you've served means nothing! Then let me ask you this. Has your loyalty been less than the other knights?

Lance: ......

Alan: Can't say it yourself? Then I'll answer for you. You're working just as hard as anybody! You've been as loyal as any of the other knights! I know that best, because I've been your partner ever since you came to Pherae!

Lance: Alan...

Alan: Don't do anything stupid, Lance. You're a necessary person to both us and to Master Roy.



Hugh: Wait a minute, then what happens to my payment? I haven't been paid for this mission yet!

Heh.



Lilina resumes her duties as lightning rod and dodges a few spells sent her way.



A fighter approaching from the north steps into range, to which Lilina responds with a good blast of lightning.



Oujay, meanwhile, covers our back from approaching enemies and gets rescued by Tate and Wendy.

Yep.



Next turn, Shin decides to step up to bat, but he misses his second shot and needs to be rescued before he gets hit by a flash of Bolting.



Lilina's still on hand, thankfully, so she finishes the job, levelling up.



We do a few more rescues to fix our formations up a bit...



However, annoyingly enough I forgot to check the flank for any approaching enemies, resulting in Oujay getting hit by a blast of Aircalibur.



Shin and his super-horse leap into the air to deliver the smackdown on the enemy mage.

Anyway, a pair of fighters and a bishop have approached our position, stopping just short of attacking. Geese, Ray and Lilina show them why they should've just packed up and gone home.



The bishop was sturdy enough to survive Lilina's assault, but he's out of range of the others so he'll be forcing himself to target Lilina next turn. So he might as well have died, pretty much.



That Bolting mage is still on the run, so we pull Alan out of range before he can strike.



Next few turns, Lilina gets hit by Bolting, kills the bishop, gets hit again...



A mage tries to sneak up on our group again, but I've already learned my lesson and sent Rutger to deal with him.



Hugh's coming up to our group right now, so I put Roy just out of range for when he moves next turn. He dodges a shot of Purge from a Bishop just behind Hugh...



...But we pull off the recruitment drive successfully enough.

Hugh: ...that's attacking the castle, right? Do you have a shortage in magicians?

Roy: ? Well, I guess we could always use more...

Hugh: Really? Great! You see, there's a Mage willing to fight for you. You think you would want to hire him?

Roy: Where is he?

Hugh: Right in front of you!

Roy: ......

I imagine that Roy's facepalming here like I did.

Hugh: Hey, don't look at me like that! I'm pretty decent with my magic. You can hire me for 10000 gold!

Roy: 10000! That's expensive...

Hugh: Come on! I need money for my grandma...

Roy: What? Is your grandmother sick or something?

Hugh: Er... R-Right! Something to that nature... Anyway, I need some cash. Come on, pal!

Roy: Well...

If you want, you can refuse Hugh here, and he'll lower his price to 8,000, then 6,000 and finally 5,000 as his final offer. However, each time he lowers his price, all of his stats will drop by one point, so if you want to use him you'll have to pony up the cash to afford him.

Roy: All right, if your grandmother's sick, then I suppose you need money for medicine.

Hugh: You got that right! She's really sick, you know. She's always getting these really bad headaches around her back.

Roy: Huh? Headaches around her back?

Sounds... suspicious to me.

Hugh: Um, y-you know what I mean. I was just giving an example of the pain... ... O-okay, got the money. I'll do my job well. You can count on me!

Roy: ......

Hugh's the third and last of the mages we've recruited so far, and his starting stats are pretty obviously the best of the bunch. However, this comes with a pretty significant trade-off, as his growths, on the other hand, are also the worst. Lugh's magic and speed are better than his and Lilina's... well, Lilina, so he's pretty much at their mercy in terms of usage. However, if you're finding yourself in need of a mage, then don't be afraid to spend the scratch on Hugh - he's pretty good when he wants to be.



Money for his grandmother my ass - Niime's far too stubborn to die just yet. Anyway, Hugh's a pretty funny guy, and his supports with Cath and Ray are something legendary. If you use him, then you can look forward to some of the funniest supports available in the game.

It's not revealed quite yet, but his father is Canas from FE7. As you remember, he and his wife died before the beginning of FE6, leaving Hugh here at the mercy of his paternal grandmother. Things... didn't go over well between them, as you can imagine.



Lilina took a few blows too many, so she trades her Fire tome to Hugh for a chance to heal up.



Oujay and Shin, having nothing else to do, pilfer the Elixer from Lilina as well.



SHIT! This was a mistake on my part - I didn't realize the approaching bishop had Cath in his range, hence this very near-miss here.



Roy takes out the bishop, since he's the closest and, hell, I just wanted to make sure the bishop was killed. Alan pulls him out though, so those mages don't make mincemeat out of him.



Not that they're a problem in their own, since our promoted guys can slaughter them.



I keep forgetting to mention it, but Lilina makes for a very powerful healer with her high magic stat. You'll want to dump a few staves in her inventory as soon as you can to make use of it.

On another note, "Great General" Douglas has been slowly making his way to our group over the course of the battle and will continue to dog us if we let him.



Thankfully, we've got a means to get around that. Since Roy here is too weak to pierce Douglas's high defenses, we can place him on one of the forest tiles in the south and have them "duel" each other for the rest of the battle. Provided nothing goes wrong, it should keep Douglas safely out of our hair.



Reinforcements will start to spawn at this point, but they're nothing big. This mage here brings another Bolting to the table, but at this point we don't really have to bother weathering its blows anymore.



First, Roy takes out the mercenary that's approached him...



And the epic duel with Douglas begins!



Looks like I spoke too soon - the mage holding the Bolting manages to get a few shots in as we pass through the main entrance. He misses though.



At this point, our forces hunker down and begin sniping at the enemies passing through. Since the hallway we're in is closed off, the enemy will have to head out the right doorway to get to us, and they'll have to pass by this part of the wall to do so. As such, we'll be setting up shop for the next while, taking out the foes moving through the area.



A knight that was following Douglas also starts sniping at Roy but he has just as little effect as his master.



Meanwhile, Ray has managed to attract the attention of a bishop passing by in the north...



While Miledy heads west to take out the nearby knight. She levels up, but I missed the shot - it was a strength-only level up, if you were curious.

A few more attacks on our team this turn - Ray continues his assault on the bishop while a fighter and a mercenary who slipped through our defensive net attack Miledy and Roy.



After a point, Hugh takes over for Ray and doubles the bishop down with his Elfire tome.



Miledy continues luring enemies outside of the gate and nearly takes out this paladin.



One of the stage's bishops tries to heal him up...



But we just smack him right down.



Hugh continues his dueling with the mages passing through the north, with Lilina standing behind him to heal him up.



Shin shoots down another passing mercenary with his bow to keep them from overwhelming Roy.



Hugh doubles down another mage while the one from before falls back for some healing.



Then the two mages switch again...

But the healing wasn't quite enough, it seems, allowing Hugh to finish him off and level up.



The fighter reinforcements start to show up on the east path, but sending more allies at it doesn't quite go as planned.



Oujay finishes off the fighter once Gonzales has been moved, but Wendy isn't quite able to deal with the mercenary.



The next fighter attacks Oujay himself next turn, however Lilina needs to switch in to deal the killing blow when a bishop decides to interfere.



Tate, meanwhile, takes over killing the mercenaries temporarily.



With the bishop distracted, Hugh manages to get off another kill here.



At this point, the enemy's reinforcements have all but petered out - there are only a few more enemies to deal with before we can move on.



As such, Lance starts to get to work on a mage to the west.

Lilina uses her last usage from her Thunder tome to critical this fighter out of the picture entirely.



And a mage starts a fight with Hugh.



Tate and Shin trade-off to deal with the last mercenary...



And Lilina heals Hugh up for him to continue his fight against the mage.



The mercenary that sneaked by starts his attack on Roy, but ends up getting his ass handed to him.



A passing mage and fighter attack Tate here, getting killed on the counter...



While Hugh takes out the final mage, levelling up.

At this point, the bishop deigns to fight Hugh himself, but, with Lilina's healing and Hugh's speed, he goes down even faster than the mages did.



Over the next turn or so, Shin takes out the last two mercenaries and waits to finish off the last mage.



Hugh, meanwhile, is finished too, taking out the enemy bishop.



With the reinforcements dealt with, it's time to move on. Cath opens up the gate here like so...



And Lance and Alan move in to attack.



Alan missed his attack and Miledy couldn't double, so Lance ends up getting the kill.



Shin finally takes out the last reinforcement, leaving the rest of the map open to move through.

Our first goal is to get to those treasure chests in the sealed off room, so Alan begins taking out the snipers guarding the room there.



Douglas and Roy are still going at it, if you can imagine that.



The other sniper tries to avenge his comrade, but misses.



And another support activates, it seems.

Wendy: Oujay, are you doing practice swings with your sword?

Oujay: Yes. I can't be losing to you, so I thought I'd retrain myself the basics also.

Wendy: I see. But, I won't lose to you either.

Oujay: I suppose we've got a little competition going, then.



Alan finishes off the other sniper at this point, levelling up.



The knight shadowing Roy at this point launches a direct strike, forcing our lord to use up his last Iron Sword usage. At this point I clue in that he's still holding onto his rapier (oops), which... isn't good, since a critical from it could mean Douglas dying. It only has three usages left, thankfully, so it could be broken...



And it works! With the rapier gone, Roy can go back to fighting Douglas in safety.

Lilina proves her worth once more and takes out the Mamkute to the north with her magic. She levels up in the meanwhile, and it's a good one too.



Cath begins looting the treasury, pulling out the Berserk staff. While the staff is incredibly deadly in the hands of an enemy, it really doesn't have much use in our possession, since it'd just be faster to kill the enemy with our weapons than try and get them to kill each other. Ah well, to Merlinus it goes.



Roy's running out of swords in the corner, so Shin starts to head back south to retrieve him.



Gonzales, seeing a chance to pull out his axe, lures in a knight guarding the halls and takes him out.



From one of the chests, Cath pulls out... a Knight Crest! This will go straight to Wendy so she can promote.



I know a few of you in the audience were wondering "why the heck is Papillon still babysitting Wendy?" I mean, her stats weren't as good as the others, she was slow, she kept missing... what was the point?

Well, this is the point - or, in this case, points. Swordmasters and berserkers aside, Wendy gets the absolute best promotion boost out of all the classes, with a whopping 4 point boost to strength and speed. Though before she was languishing behind stronger units, now she is one of the stronger units. And quite handily, too.



To the north, Miledy and a few others begin wearing away at the wall to recruit Zeiss.



Cath continues looting, pulling out a Hero Crest for Oujay to use.



There goes Roy's last sword...

Oujay pulls the Hero Crest from Cath and begins to promote. Admittedly, I goofed up here - Oujay was only level 19 when he used the Hero Crest, so he's slightly weaker than he should have been promoting. Ah well, I'll just give him a Speedwing later on to make up for it. In any case, he gains the use of axes from his promotion, making him even more versatile at killing enemies.



Cath loots another chest, pulling out a replacement bow for Wolt.



Zeiss pulls out his Javelin and lobs it at Rutger as he's chipping away at the wall.



At this point, Shin's in range that he can rescue him from Douglas. Roy's out of swords and we'll need his Silver Card for the secret shop anyway, so Shin picks him up to bring back to the others to restock.



Anyway, the next turn, the wall goes down...



...And it's time to recruit.

Miledy: Zeiss?! What are you doing here?

Zeiss: ... I'm being accused of betraying Bern.

Miledy: Oh...! Is it... my fault...?

Zeiss: Sir Gale said that you had joined the enemy. But I couldn't believe it until now, when I can see it with my own eyes! Why! Why did you betray Bern?

Miledy: I never betrayed Bern. I just wanted to help Princess Guinevere.

Zeiss: So you threw away everything... Your homeland, your family... Even your lover... for the princess. For that... stubborn princess who betrayed her own brother!

Miledy: Enough, Zeiss! I will not tolerate you insulting Princess Guinevere!

Zeiss: ......

Miledy: It is the princess, not the king, who is truly working for the good of Bern. Granted, I was angry when the princess left without consulting me at all. But now that I am at her side, I understand more than ever... That she had not made a mistake.

Zeiss: ... Sir Gale was right.

Miledy: ?

Zeiss: He said that he didn't intend on doing anything until he heard your story.

Miledy: Gale said that...

Zeiss: I don't fully agree with you yet, but... I know I can trust you.

Miledy: Zeiss! Then...?

Zeiss: If the Lycia Alliance Army's leader would allow it, I want to go with you. I want to see the princess's beliefs that moved you so.



Only level 7, and just look at those stats! Zeiss is extremely powerful despite his level, and can develop into quite the killing machine once he promotes. He starts out a little underleveled though, but he should be able to hold his own long enough to do so. We're using Tate so we already have enough fliers, but Zeiss is extremely powerful and worth the experience levelling up.



As I mentioned back in chapter 13, Zeiss's support with Miledy is one of the most dangerous in the game, and the two can become virtually unstoppable paired together. As for the others... he pairs with Shin, Ellen, Bartre and the final recruit of the game. Not much variety, but whatever works, right?

Not much happens the next turn. Cath picks up a Recover staff, Gonzales shanks a knight...



Though Shin did manage to get stricken by a shot from the mages in the corner. Yikes.



Hugh makes use of the Member Card he came equipped with to visit the secret shop. As you can see, it's stocked up with promotion items as well as Angelic Robes (!) and lockpicks to use, but the prices are a little too high to bother with... for now.



A few turns later, Shin dumps off Roy at this point, his job done.




With some... creative trading, the Silver Card changes hands and makes its way into Hugh's possession.



With the Silver Card in hand, the secret shop's prices are far more affordable. Hugh stocks up on a Hero Crest and a few Guiding Rings to promote the rest of our team.

Meanwhile, Cath, Lilina and Tate have made their way to Narshen's throne and snatch his Delphi Shield from him. With that done, it's time to take out a Dragon General.



Narshen: I am handsome... And I am right! Always! More than anybody!

Narshen has quite a few unique conversations here, with Cecilia, Percival, Miledy, Zeiss, and... Clarine?

The boss music for Dragon Generals, "In the Name of Bern", plays for the first time in place of the usual battle them. It's a pretty cool theme, so it's a shame it's only reserved for boss fights against Narshen, Murdock and Brenya...



Anyway, Narshen's equipped with a Rune Sword for the fight, making him a very difficult opponent indeed. Even though Lilina's killing him in two hits here, he'll be able to heal most of it back up on the counterattack like a shaman would with Nosferatu. However, it carries the same weakness as the darkness tome - that is, it can only heal if it connects after the damage is done. As such, position a mage wielding Aircalibur in range and let them wait for the first attack. Once the damage is done, you can have them attack afterwards for the killing blow.



Strategy aside, Lilina took a pretty heavy blow from Narshen so Tate will have to pull her out for now.



Hugh passes one of the Guiding rings to Ray, so that he can change form...



...into a Druid. Ray gains access to healing staves after promotion, but the big bonus is the sharp boost in magic he gets, as well as the increase to his stat caps.



A couple of turns of rescuing and dropping later, Ray heals Lilina back up with the healing staff.



Now that she's healed up, Lilina moves back into position to deal with Narshen.

Douglas charges our group at this point, but a wall erected by Oujay, Miledy and Tate is enough to stop him. They're all holding iron swords, so he shouldn't be able to connect on them...



Well, anyway, Ray heals Lilina up so she can make one last run at Narshen.



This is for Hector!



Narshen: I will not be defeated...! Not by you... Worthless... Gaahh!!!



Anyway, we've got a few more turns to raid the remaining chests before Douglas kicks it, so let's hop to it.



Gonzales gets to work on the remaining knight in the east, pulling out all the stops to take him out.



Hugh gets dropped off here, and he trades a Hero Crest into Gonzales's inventory.



I don't make the same mistake twice however, so Gonzales makes sure to reach level 20 before using it.



Ray, meanwhile, uses up his last use of Flux on the Mamkute in the treasure room.

And... that's it, I think. Everyone's promoted now save for our last mage (who you guys haven't really decided on yet) so we're pretty much set for the remainder of the game. Gonzales here is going to be particularly useful, as his crit boost and axe mastery will make him lethal against dragon riders...



Well, anyway. Hugh used up the last of his Elfire tome, so he snatches Lilina's for himself.



Meanwhile, Rutger dumps the remaining Slim Sword into Oujay's inventory so that he won't accidentally kill Douglas while we're treasure hunting.



Hugh fires off one more blast of Elfire to take out the Mamkute, leveling up in the process.




Cath then raids the last of the chests, pulling out weapons and items of various worth...



Oujay manages to get a 1% critical that doesn't even do any damage...

And we're done!



Roy: My name is Roy, leader of the Lycia Alliance Army.

Mordred: Hm...

Roy: ......

Um...

Mordred: ...I must ask something of you. Those soldiers who haveb een working with Bern have taken over the Tower of the Saint.

Roy: The Tower of the Saint... That is where Saint Elimine's altar lies...

Mordred: Yes... That is a national symbol of Etruria. Please, recapture the tower.

Roy: I will do what I can.

Mordred: I am sorry. You may use anything in the tower that you find useful.

Roy: The king... He still mourns the prince.

Merlinus: He must have been an easy target for Bern.

Roy: I want to help him... but how?



Elphin: When the time comes, I will return for sure.

And with that...



Next time: No, not that kind of Aureola.