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

Yep. In the next four or five chapters we'll be picking up some of the very best characters in the game, so a lot of the weaker characters we've been putting up with will soon ride the bench as we swap them out.

My guess for the overall weakness of the characters was that the developers intended to balance them out with the promotion gains, which are every bit the definition for obscene (5 HP and 2-3 points in almost every other stat for each class) but the problem, of course, is getting them there in the first place when they're refusing to grow. As it is, the PCs in this game are mostly pretty sad.

Though the game does have a few good gamebreakers - [Gonzales] on one of the routes, for example, is even more broken than Dart, if you can believe that. Just that it's not even, is all.

Welcome back. After being tricked into staying at a castle by a traitorous Wagner and returning the favour by invading his castle and killing him, we now find ourselves on-course to Ostia, where a rebellion has recently broken out.



According to the information that he had gathered on the way, General Leygance, one of Lord Hector's advisors, had started a rebellion with Lieutenant Devias to sell Ostia to Bern. Lilina had been captured and taken hostage by Leygance. She was then imprisoned inside Castle Ostia, probably because Leygance thought that he could use her for something later on. Hearing that report, Roy and company entered Ostia city in an effort to rescue Lilina.

Ostia, the largest and most active city in Lycia, was to become a battlefield, stained with blood...



Using the same team before with a few additions, join us now as we face off against the...

Chapter 7: Rebellion at Ostia





Devias: They've been quiet so far, sir. But the mercenary knights from Ilia that Hector hired are showing no submission.

Leygance: Hmph! What's wrong with them? We're telling them we'll pay more!

Devias: Well, Ilia's mercenary knights are known never to betray their masters.

Leygance: You fool! I know that! General Narshen is going to arrive soon! If we don't have Ostia under our control by then, he'll laugh at us!

Doesn't Narshen laugh at everyone, though? Hell, he'll probably laugh at you anyway for wearing purple armor and having a fat man with a moustache as a lieutenant.

Devias: O-of course, sir.

Leygance: We may have to use Lilina to bargain with the mercenary knights... If we use her as a hostage, they should surrender to us. But that must be a last resort. We will fight them ourselves with the help of Dragon Knights sent from Bern to crush Ilia's forces!! Devias, I want you to clear out the town and guard the castle gate. I will defend the inside of our castle.

Devias: Yes, sir!

Seems Leygance hasn't noticed our approach yet. Back to camp!



Roy: ...have joined the rebellion?

Merlinus: Quite a few, I'm afraid. They have forgotten their loyalty towards Lord Hector, and are simply flocking towards the one with more power, which is Bern. How disgraceful!

Roy: I see...

Merlinus: But there is good news. too, Master Roy! There is a band of mercenary knights from Ilia that are willing to join forces with us and attack the rebels.

Guinevere: Mercenary knights from Ilia?

Merlinus: Yes. They said that they signed a contract with Lord Hector that they would fight Bern alongside Ostia's troops.

Roy: That's fortunate. But when the mercenary knights hear the news, that Lord Hector has passed away, that contract would probably be broken. Do you think it's possible for us to officially hire them into our service?

Merlinus: I would have thought so too, Master Roy. However, they already knew of Lord Hector's death. They offered to fight alongside us anyway.

Guinevere: Why do they go that far, when they are mercenaries?

Merlinus: Ilia is a snowy area with a harsh temperature, so the land isn't very arable. Therefore, sending out mercenaries to fight for pay is one of Ilia's main sources of economic input. I've also heard that mercenaries from Ilia put trust over anything else and that they never betray their employers. The rumors are true, I see.

Roy: Then they should be powerful allies.

Merlinus: Yes! Fortune is still with us, Master Roy! But... I heard from the mercenary knights that one of the Three Dragon Lords is coming here with a legion of Dragon Knights. If they should join the rebels, then our chances of defeating them would become extremely slim.

Guinevere: Roy... what are you going to do?

Roy: The Kingdom of Etruria might join us.

Guinevere: Etruria?! Would that be possible?

Roy: General Cecilia, the Sorcery GEneral of Etruria was my teacher in battle arts while I was studying in Ostia. I have a feeling that she would be willing to join forces with us.

Merlinus: I would object, Master Roy! If we depend on Etruria to solve our own matters in Lycia, we'll be sure to be their laughing stock for decades!

Until, y'know, Bern invades them too.

Roy: Yes, I know that... But this is truly an important matter for Lycia. I think that we should go for the safest and most definite option rather than worry about the consequences and do nothing, which would most likely lead to the extinction of Lycia.

Merlinus: ...Master Roy.

Roy: We have to move quickly! I'll write a letter to General Cecilia. Merlinus, I need you to get the letter to her as quickly as possible.

Merlinus: ...Yes, Master Roy! You are right. I shall send the letter to her as soon as you are ready.

Roy: All right, everybody! Let's retake Ostia!



Woof, this map's a bit of a doozy. There are a lot of powerful enemies here to deal with, quite a few recruits to re-hire into our services, a few dangerous reinforcements we'll have to deal with, and lots of treasure to collect. This is also the first map with a colosseum to take advantage of, so we'll be paying a visit there later.

Our first objectives then, are to recruit the Ilian Mercenaries as soon as possible and clean out the enemies near the start. Once that's done, we'll begin looting the treasure from the nearby houses and, after waiting out a small pack of reinforcements, make use of the arena to our heart's content. Then we'll take out Devias and remove him from the throne.



First order of business is for Thany to stop by the nearby village here, netting her a Killing Edge. Odds are this will go to Rutger.



Lugh here heads north to bait in the nearby knight. He's strong enough to take a hit and fast enough to still dish it out, so he'll be fine.



Wolt, Lance and Alan conspire to take down this knight, but are one point of strength short of the mark. Alan was also missing an Iron Lance, presumably.



Anyway, Chad heads to the village here for a chat with an old man.

He gets the Torch staff from it though, which... isn't all that useful, to be honest.



Wolt finishes off the knight next turn, earning a so-so level up as a reward.



See? Lugh can take it.



A fair majority of the units on this map are aggressive, meaning that you'll be rushed from all angles by enemy after enemy if you're not careful. You'll have to take them out as they approach while keeping your formations strong.



Thankfully, reinforcements finally arrive. Meet Zealot and Treck, two of the Ilian mercenaries we heard about.

Zealot: All right, we're going too. Let's go and drive off the rebel forces!

Treck: Will do, sir.

Zealot: Wait, where's Noah?

Treck: Ummm, I think he went to the arena a while ago. He said he's coaching a young girl in the sword arts.

Zealot: That Noah, a coach? That's unusual... Well, no matter. Once he finds out that we're attacking the rebels, he'll catch up to us.

Treck: Yup.

Zealot: All right, let's go.



Thany and Roy join in on beating down one of the soldiers.



Here, I was hoping that Wolt and Sue would be able to shoot down the mercenary here so that one of the cavaliers could head off another enemy, but a couple of misses force my hand.



Lance weakens the mercenary down like the others should have, netting him an amazing level up.

Alan then finishes him off. He takes a hit though, but Saul''s ready and willing to heal him.



This might seem like a bad thing that Saul's left in the dragon knight's range, but having him take the blow actually helps us out by drawing the knight's attention away from the cavaliers. Alan and Lance are strong enough that they can take the knight and archer or the dragon knight, but dealing with both at once puts them in far too much danger. Hence why we're luring him away.



Lugh continues to screw himself out of magic...



And the dragon knight (and mercenary too, I guess?) take the bait as planned. Next turn, we'll surround the dragon knight and shoot him full of arrows before he becomes a real threat.




There's a lots of Javelins and bow-users on this map, I notice. Note that if Alan had been attacked by the dragon knight earlier, he would be dead now.

Treck and Zealot deal with one of the archers harrassing them.

Meanwhile, back at the arena...



Noah: Well then, Fir, I should get going soon.

Fir here is Bartre and Karla's daughter from FE7. Try and guess which parent she takes after more.

Fir: Thank you for coaching me, Sir Noah.

Noah: No problem. But I must say you surprised me. You suddenly came up to me and said, "I want to fight a match with you!"

(Hint: It's her father.)

Fir: I-I'm sorry, Sir Noah. It was my first time in the arena...

Noah: If you asked another person, you would have been killed. You need to look your opponent over very carefully before choosing to fight.

FIr: And you must not hesitate to surrender if it looks like you're going to lose. Right?

Noah: Exactly. You can always win back your money, but if you lose your life, it's all over.

Fir: Yes!

Noah: What are your plans now? Are you going to stay here and work on your sword skills?

Fir: No, I'm planning to travel to the Western Isles.

Noah: The Western Isles? Why?

Fir: They're building a new mine there, and I heard that a lot of people are going there looking for work. They must be strong people if they're miners, so I thought it would be the ideal place to find people to fight for my training. And besides...

Noah: Besides?

Fir: The Western Isles is where my mother first met my father. She's dead now, but when she was my age she was also travelling around the world training her sword skills.

Noah: I see... you surprise me again.

Fir: ?

Noah: All you were saying at first was, "I want to become strong, I want to become strong," right? So I thought swordplay was all you had interest in. But you were training because you wanted to be like your mother? I'm so happy to see that you do have a cute side!

Fir: What?? ...Sir Noah! Please don't tease me!

Noah: Hahahaha!

And there goes Fir off to the Western Isles. I'm sure we won't meet her again anytime soon.



Of course, we're still in the middle of a battle, you see.

Noah: Yeah. And what do you want?

Roy: My name is Roy. I'm the leader of the Lycian Alliance Army.

Noah: Oh! I heard about you... From now on, is it alright if I join with you?

Roy: Are you sure that's alright?

Noah: What?

Roy: Don't you have to ask your commander if it's okay?

Noah: He told us to join with the Lycian Alliance army. That's enough for me.

Roy: But did he mean like this?

Roy's probably the only guy in the game so willing to look a gift-horse in the mouth. It's pretty infuriating!

Noah: This is a battlefield. If you take your time to check everything with your commander, then you won't be able to act quickly in trouble. It's not good to disobey orders, but outside of that you can play it by ear.

Roy: I see... Thanks for telling me.

And with that, we've got ourselves a new recruit. Let's take a look.



Out of the four cavaliers we'll be recruiting, Noah's pretty middle-of-the-road. He's weaker than Alan, slower than Lance, and isn't as sturdy as Treck is. Still, he's pretty decent in his own right, so you can substitute him in if one of your horsemen are struggling to hold their own. Otherwise you'd be better off using one of the other guys instead.



The huge shame of it is that Noah's supports are far and away the best of the bunch. Aside from his usual flirting with Fir (who we won't get until later on), he can be pretty fatalistic; a large majority of his supports are pretty dark, focusing on the bleaker aspects of the Ilian mercenary lifestyle. Noah's a pretty interesting character, and here's hoping he turns out well so we can learn more about him.



Anyway, you remember that dragon knight from earlier? Mincemeat.



Thany and Lugh, meanwhile, take on the mercenary harrassing Clarine, breaking Lugh's fire tome in the process.

Noah shows his support for our cause, lending his spear to take out an errant archer.



Dieck finishes off another archer of his own, getting a pretty good level up.



His weapon also goes up a rank.



Alan's feeling a bit worn out, so Saul the near-dead heals him up so he can keep fighting.



Rutger takes out his rage on a nearby Soldier, gaining a fantastic level up in the process.



The knight-killing continues...



Chad visits Archimedes here and picks up a long bow, which we'll be sending to either Sue or Wolt.



Clarine heals herself up a bit after her encounter with a mercenary. You can also see Noah in the corner there - he's currently en-route to try and recruit Zealot and Treck.



He takes a big hit here though, despite the odds.

Alan dodges a javelin here.



Noah takes a few big hits here, and even though he's still hanging on, he'll be forced to retreat for more healing later. This, unfortunately, begets a rather large number of problems later on...



Regardless, Chad manages to dodge a cavalier's swing, and a priest shows off something we haven't seen yet, a Physic staff. Physic staves, as you can imagine, allow for long-range healing, helpful if you don't want to risk sending your healers to the front-lines.



Treck goes and helps out Noah with one of the attacking knights while Zealot flees to a corner and takes out an archer.



Saul's looking a little green in the gills and snatches Clarine's vulnerary to heal himself.



Rutger's refusal to critical forces the mounted units to charge in and help him.



Sue gains her first level, but it's not very good; she needs strength if she wants to stay on and she's not giving any.

Noah's near-death experience causes him to flee back to Clarine for healing.



Lots of shish-kabobing going on here.



You know, Wolt's pretty agile for an archer. Does he take dancing lessons?



Treck attacks one of the physical priests while Zealot criticals a mage in the northeast.



However, the former has managed to put himself in the range of a dragon knight, who can kill him quite easily if we let him. We'll rescue Treck with one of our units to pull him out of range.



Like so.



Lugh, Wolt and Alan team up to take out the mage here.



Alan's kill results in yet another fantastic level up.

Noah picks up a healing staff from a helpful little girl - this one will probably be going to Merlinus until one of our healers gets to a B-rank in staves.



The priest that we injured before flees and starts to heal himself with a vulnerary. Not too big of a problem, since he can't do much else.



Clarine picks up Treck from Thany here - since she's a flyer, having her move around to pick up the items will move faster than having the others do it.



Thany picks up an elixer from the village here (not shown).



The priest from before just finishes his healing when Zealot swoops in and finishes him- wait, Zealot?



Oh shit.

More on this after we visit a few villages.



Noah picks up a Horseslayer, which is vital for dealing with the reinforcements later on in the battle.



Thany, meanwhile, picks up a Red Gem (also not shown).

Okay, even though Zealot's on the warpath, there's a way out of this. Lugh here will act as a decoy, as his low Def will lure the dragon knight to him instead where we can swarm and kill it. During this, one of our mounted units will move up, rescue Zealot and bring him back to us, where we can give him a good tongue-lashing and send him to the benches.



The dragon knight attacks Lugh as planned, though is neither strong enough nor fast enough to kill him. Zealot, meanwhile, attacks the remaining priest, putting him back in our range.



With some healing from Clarine, Lugh and Dieck finish off the dragon knight.



And two turns later, Zealot's now back under control. That was close - one less move and odds are Zealot would've rushed Devias, ruining the entire battle.



With Zealot safely secured, our forces now make their way southward to deal with some of Devias' reinforcements.



Heh.



Clarine heals up some of our wounded a bit first.

And here they are - the reinforcements are just a pack of cavaliers. Looks innocuous, doesn't it?



Quite the opposite, really. This Silver Lance wielding unit is easily the most dangerous unit on the map, and can one-shot our characters pretty easily if we're not careful. Thankfully, we've got that Horseslayer from before, which Noah uses to take him out.



Since the other mounted units aren't in range, Rutger goes in and breaks his Killing Edge to take out another cavalier.



For the others though, we're going to have to play hot-potato. Alan takes the Horseslayer and finishes off another cavalier with it.



Thany does so as well, earning her a pretty good level up.

And... that's it, really. As long as you make sure to take out the Silver Lance cavalier first before he can take out anyone, the rest are pretty much a piece of cake.



And if you get hurt, Saul's always ready to heal you back up.



Sue makes her way south to rejoin our team to drop off Zealot for us.



And then we recruit him.

Noah: General Zealot!

Zealot: Ah, it's Noah. You were at the arena, weren't you?

Noah: Yes, sorry I'm late.

Zealot: Doesn't really matter... we've just started fighting. I haven't talked to the Lycia Alliance army yet.

Not to be That Guy, but we've been fighting for a while now, Zealot, and you could've talked to us anytime. That is, if you weren't too busy getting yourself killed.

Yeah, yeah, getting carried away now...

Noah: Oh? Don't worry, I just got done talking to their leader.

Zealot: Really! Then it's time for us to submit to his leadership. Noah, I leave the negotiations with the Lycia Alliance to you

And with that we get a new guy. Let's check him out.

Well, what can I say? Zealot sucks. He's got some of the, if not THE worst growths in the game (some even argue the entire series), and even manages to hog experience at this point in the game. His starting stats are terrible, he doesn't grow, and he doesn't even have any promotion gains to take advantage of. If we're still using him a few chapters from now, then it's a sign that something has gone horribly wrong.



His supports are actually pretty great (Zealot/Noah is one of the best written in the game), but it's a shame because Zealot sucks.



The real reason to recruit Zealot is to recruit this guy right here.



Zealot: Hm, not the most enthusiastic response. You don't like the idea?

Treck: Eh? No, I have no problem with it.

Zealot: Oh, all right. Just thought I'd ask.

Treck: Lycia... Nah, we shouldn't have much trouble.



Treck's not the strongest of the bunch, but his defense and HP are high enough that he can become an effective tank if you raise him up. He's a bit lacking in strength and speed, but all in all, he's not too bad - if Alan or Lance aren't doing too well and you don't feel like fielding Noah, Treck's got your back.



His supports are also quite good, too. Treck's a pretty funny character and plays off the others well, so give them a look.

The house here yields us a Hero Crest, the promotion item for Myrmidons, Mercenaries, Bandits, Pirates and Fighters. Merlinus will hold onto this for now.



Anyway, gather around everyone. I've got a splenderous, most wonderous thing to find. It yields heroes of fine caliber, weeds out the weak from the strong. Yes, I'm talking about:



The arena.

Like in FE7, the arena functions as a way to earn money and yield strong characters very quickly, but at the cost of putting your characters at considerable risk.



The arena works just the same as before - you place a bet with a character you've selected and have them fight it out for a few turns with a randomized opponent until one person dies or yields. If you win, you earn double your bet and a fair sum of experience, but if you lose you lose your bet and, potentially, your character as well, provided you didn't yield.

The best rule to follow in the arena is, again, Murphy's Law. If the enemy has any chance of killing you in the next round - be it from a normal hit, doubling (two hits) or a critical (three hits) - forfeit right away. It doesn't matter whether or not you lose money, 'cause if you lose a character you'll have to start over.

Since the enemy is always selected depending on your stats, speedy characters like myrmidons or mercenaries, or ranged units like archers usually tend to dominate. This is mostly because the units selected to fight them tend to underperform - myrmidons and mercenaries are always given enemies that they can damage and easily double, while archers are pitted against only ranged units as well, which typically tend to have low defense and average speed at best. Ideally anyone can win at the arena if they've leveled well enough, but you've got to keep an eye out for your characters nonetheless as a misplaced critical or a misjudged action can lose you a fighter.



This is also a great way to level your healers, by the way, since they'll get experience pretty much every time you fight, regardless of whether or not you win.

Anyway, no sense in discussing every fight. Time to fast-forward:

How many Cavaliers are there in these games?

(I missed his level 10 level up, but it was just a little bit more of the same.)

Whew. You have no idea how long this took to do.



During the fighting and the whatnot..

Zealot: And you are?

Roy: My name is Roy. I'm the leader of the army that's fighting the rebels.

Zealot: You? Impressive... I was expecting somebody a little older.

Roy: I am here, respecting the will of Lord Hector.

Zealot: Lord Hector... We've lost a valuable person. He was a true warrior.

Roy: Yes, and I want to retake Ostia, for Lord Hector's sake! And Lilina's sake...

Zealot: All right. Then we'll help you as much as we can.

Roy: Thank you for your assistance.

Zealot: You can thank me after we've retaken the castle. Come, we must concentrate on the enemy right now!

Roy: Yes!



Anywho, on our way north, Zealot passes by the local weapons shop and makes use of our newfound wealth, purchasing us two of each weapon.



The reason why we don't pass through this gate here is because it's a trap. It won't open when prompted and will summon up more cavalier reinforcements, one of which is wielding a Silver Lance.



Going through the right side nets us a more managable group of enemies to deal with.



Chad starts looting the treasure chests, first off pilfering us a Rapier. This will go to Roy, naturally.

Let's see if we can't kill all of these reinforcements in one turn.



One!



Two!



Three!



Four!



Five!



Six!



And... that's it. The rest weren't in range, so the two soldiers will survive for one more turn.

You know, you probably could have posted a Before and After shot for each character, rather then posting each individual Level Up.

Emphasis on one more turn.



The other chest nets us a Barrier staff, which... isn't really useful, to be honest. It's only until FE8 that they begin to shine, and that's only because of how quickly you can raise your healers with them by buying in bulk.



Devias here wields a Spear, which is basically a souped-up version of the Javelin. The big threat here is that he can attack at range, however..



Devias: Ergh... I'll not let you pass here!

Sure, whatever you say, buddy.



Anyway, as I was saying, Devias is far too slow and inaccurate to make any real use of it, so speedy characters like Roy here can make mincemeat out of him.



One more turn goes by, and Lugh weakens him enough for Roy to finish him off with a critical.



Devias: These people are... strong...



Eh, could be worse.



You have no idea how happy I am this mission is over. So... happy...

Roy: Okay, the city should be under control by now. Now we have to recapture Castle Ostia and rescue Lilina!



Merlinus: I understand that you want to get in quickly, but we are working as fast as we can, so please be patient!

Roy: ...Lilina.

Merlinus: Speaking of Lady Lilina... What do you think of Lord Hector's story, Master Roy?

Roy: You mean about the Dragons? They weren't myth, they were real... Lord Hector is one of the greatest battle tacticians in Lycia. And his army was decimated in such a short time...

A point of contention for me: the word is supposed to be "destroyed". Decimated means it was only destroyed by one-tenth. Remember the difference!

Merlinus: Well, Bern's army is among the strongest in Elibe. I say, these Dragon Knights are indeed formidable opponents.

Roy: Of course the Dragon Knights must have been tough enemies. But the real Dragons.. I can't even imagine how powerful they must be. The weapons that are effective against Dragons... I wonder where they are?

Merlinus: I presume they must be the Divine Weapons.

Roy: So if we use those weapons, we can fight the Dragons effectively. But I wonder what a Divine Weapon is doing in Ostia?

Merlinus: Perhaps Lady Lilina knows that. Hmm, I do wish to know as well. Oh! Master Roy, our men have finished knocking down the gate. We can enter now!

Roy: All right! Charge! We will rescue Lilina, no matter what!

You heard the man! Let's go get those bastards!



Next time: Reinforcements? We are the reinforcements.

Four in this one, three in FE7 and FE8. It's... yeah, it's a bit ridiculous, to be honest. There are something like 55 recruits in this game though, so it's not the number of cavaliers along that's a bit inflated.

> It's tradition, man! Showing level ups is the fun part!

When you get to the end of your pre-played stuff, at least, can you do a side-by-side comparison of all your guys? That'd be fun.

Yep! That's on the list, actually - once we reach, oh, chapter 9 or so I'll be going through the guys we've all recruited so far and taking the best of each kind, sort of like how Tanto did in FE7. My method of selection is a little different, though, as we'll see later on, but the basic principles will still apply.

Then FE9 and FE10 had four each, but FE10 also had an absurd number of paladins as well. Provided I remember correctly. But those can be excused, as the weapon choices were more varied there - there was one cavalier for each type of weapon, and when promoted to paladin they gained a second choice of weapon type. And given the exorbitant number of recruits in those games, your entire platoon of cavalry wasn't all that big, especially in comparison to the number of mages you got.

That is a hell of a lot of dudes. Did the designers really expect you to lose that many characters over the course of the game? It looks like you can only take 10-15 units per map, and they look kind of less devious and crazy than FE7. But I'm sure we haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet.

Decimated has two meanings:

So they actually used it correctly, but it could also mean what you said.

Well yeah, but that double meaning creates a bit of ambiguity in the expression, which lead to that kind of confusion. I'll admit that there's nothing technically wrong with it, true, but in this instance it's not exactly the perfect choice either.

But still, I guess I stand corrected?

Welcome back. During our previous episode, we just finished clearing out the Ostian town, leveled up like crazy in the arena and are now on our way to breaching the allegedly impregnable Castle Ostia.



...such as Armor Knights and Generals. With them, Castle Ostia's defenses have always been incredibly strong. For a long time now, the castle has been rumored to be "unconquerable". However, that rumor was about to proven wrong. By Roy, who, ironically, wished to protect the castle.

Chapter 8: Reunion





Leygance: What?! The enemy has broken into the castle? What the hell was Devias doing out there?! Were those Knights from Ilia so strong? ...Or was the Lycia army larger than I expected... In any case, they have gotten into the 'unconquerable' Castle Ostia! We must drive them out, or Bern will look down upon us... You over there!

Soldier: Yes sir!

Leygance: Set up troops all over the castle! Especially around the throne rooM! Prepare your defenses! We must not let the Lycia Army get any further into the castle!

Soldier: Understood sir!

Leygance: One more thing, I want you to discreetly kill Lilina during the battle.

Bastard!

Soldier: What? ...Sir, weren't we supposed to keep her alive?

Leygance: I was planning on using her as a hostage. But there are still many rebels that put faith in her. If we openly use her as a hostage, those soldiers might turn against us.

Soldier: But in that case sir, they would surely turn on us if we kill her!

Leygance: So I said to do it discreetly, didn't I? Kill her quietly, and pretend that she was hit by a stray arrow. Then we can make the enemy responsible for it! Now go!

Soldier: Yes, sir...



Roy: ! Who are you? An enemy?

Astol: No, I'm on your side. Greetings, my name is Astol. I used to work here in the service of Lord Hector.

Merlinus: Excuse me, but what kind of work were you doing? You certainly don't look like one of Ostia's servants...

Astol: My, my, aren't we a little rude, old man? See, I'm a spy. I go on secret missions to gather information, steal things, check up on people... That kind of thing.

"And if you keep bugging me about it, I just might check up on you one day too, if you get what I mean."

Merlinus: Hmm, I see.

Astol: If people can tell that I'm working for a noble just by looking at me, then I'm not much of a spy, am I? Anyway, for a month now, I've been running around Lycia to gather the latest news. When I heard about Lord Hector's death in Araphen, I returned here as quickly as I could. Then I see that those idiots, Leygance and Devias have caused a rebellion! I didn't make it in time to save Lord Hector, but I don't want to be too late for Lady Lilina.

Roy: Then you'll join us? Good, let's work together to rescue her. Do you know where Lilina is?

Astol: Of course, investigating into matters like that is my job. Lady Lilina is locked into a small room in the center of the castle. And that bastard Leygance is sitting on the throne like he owns the place.

Roy: We have to hurry then. We must defeat the rebels and rescue Lilina before Narshen arrives from Bern!



Leygance is full of shit - the only assassin to worry about here is a lone archer, and he's easily evaded.

Anyway, the map here is pretty simple - circle around the back and work your way to the center. There's a bit of a clusterfuck by the northwest staircase, but luring them in bit by bit makes them no problem at all. We've got to move fast, though - a pair of thieves spawn around two turns in, so we'll have to make our way to the chests first before they can loot them.

Also, a side-chapter opens up if we keep Lilina alive (which we were planning on doing anyway, but whatever) which we CANNOT afford to miss, for reasons that I'll get into next chapter.

By the way, we've got a few new recruits, don't we? Let's take a look.



Not much to say here - Astol is our next thief, and he's not too shabby. He's the strongest of the thieves and joins with already good stats. His growths, admittedly, are the worst of the three but since thieves are non-combatants that doesn't really matter. He'll be standing in for Chad from now on, at least until we get our third thief.



His supports are a mixed bag - some good ones, some bad ones. They're mostly with characters we'll not be using though, so make of that as you will.



Lilina doesn't really seem to show much promise at first. Her starting stats are low, usually lower than Lugh's at this point, and her consitution is low enough that heavier tomes will slow her down. She doesn't gain much skill or speed and her HP makes her fragile.

However, despite all this, Lilina is the best Anima user in the game by far. With an unbelievable 75% in her magic stat, she will most assuredly max it and max it quickly, and will act as a boss killer well up until the end of the game. Her speed's a bit of a worry, but it's good enough that she won't be doubled by most other mages and we can give her a few Speedwings to even it out anyway. Regardless, Lilina will be taking a spot on our team and she'll do quite well in it.



Her supports as well are fantastic, supporting with some of the strongest characters in the game and having decent conversations to boot. Her selection rivals Roy's for the largest in the game at a total of 10, so you can pair her with pretty much whomever you please.

Of course, she'll have to survive the chapter first, and getting her out of the range of this archer is the first step to achieving that goal.



The battle begins in earnest, with Alan narrowly missing a kill here.



Lilina: Is there a battle going? I wonder what's happening outside...



Cavaliers and soldiers have a bit of a tense rivalry going, don't they?



Lilina takes a huge hit here, but odds are it'll be the only one she takes until we free her.



Another Sue level up. ...She could use a bit more strength.



Lilina moves to this tile during our turn, putting her out of the range of the two archers. Those two will then march on to join the rest of their army, leaving Lilina alone for the remainder of the fight.



Noah levels up again. It's pretty good, addressing his weaknesses in the other stats.



Sue and Thany team up to take care of a mage and a soldier.

Alan takes out a knight on the course of the turn...



...But bids a hasty retreat at the approach of this Horseslayer-wielding knight. We'll be taking him on with our footsoldiers before pressing on.



By that, of course, I mean that Roy's going to critical him to death right away. (And it's finally a good shot, too!)



Noah, Wolt and Rutger finish off the soldiers accompanying him - all that's left is the archer from before and we can move on.



Good timing, too - our reinforcements have arrived.

Oujay: ? Sir Barth, this is a dead end!

Barth: Don't worry. This wall has cracks in it. We can break through it if we hit it a little with our weapons/



Wendy: I wonder where Lady Lilina is?

Barth: I have a pretty good idea where she is. We've known this castle for a long time. Hmm, I do wonder what's causing all the noise, though.

Wendy: The Alliance Army? Then my brother must be with them...

Barth: ... We don't know if he's still alive. You shouldn't have such high expectations.

Harsh.

Wendy: Oh... Yes.

Oujay: Sir Barth, you don't have to be so cold. He's Wendy's only brother, right?

Barth: You must never look away from reality.

Oujay: But...

Wendy: It's all right, Oujay. Sir Barth is right.

Barth: As an Armor Knight of Ostia, you must never panic, no matter the situation. Understand, Wendy?

Wendy: ...Yes.



Wendy's the second knight we'll be getting, and in my personal opinion, the best of the bunch. She's got good growths all-round in the relevant stats, and has quite a few good supports to shore up the ones that don't grow. Sure, Bors has better starting stats and Barth is a slow, if powerful, tank, but Wendy grows reliably where it counts and has the least chance of being screwed out of stats, and we'll be using her on that merit alone if she doesn't disappoint.

(I failed to grab a screenshot of her equipment, but it was nothing special - an Iron Lance and a Javelin, if I remember correctly.)



As mentioned, Wendy's got some good supports - she's one of the better partners for Oujay, who we'll most certainly be using, and she makes a good parter for Lilina as well. The conversations aren't particularly special, but they're a fair bit better than the other two knights.