Welcome back, viewers! The title of today's installment is a quote from Robert W. Service. I can't think of a good introduction today, so let's just head to the next battle!
CHAPTER 8: THE GRIMLEAL
The Shepherds have crossed into the Border Sands, and have not been spotted by the Plegian forces thus far. Chrom tells Yukari that this is hopefully due to cunning, and not because every soldier in the army is waiting for them to spring some major trap. Freddy walks by and tells us some kind of commotion is occurring a small distance away, and when Chrom says it's a good time to move out, Freddy warns him that only mages and flying units will be unhindered in the desert. Chrom then wishes to talk to Yukari about strategy, and we cut to the battle preparation menu.
After selecting my units, making sure that my two mages and my two pegasus knights were in good positions, I started the fight. Immediately, there's a scene of a young-looking girl named Nowi running away from someone scary. Another person, a big man named Gregor, runs up behind her and asks (with broken English) why she is 'no comprehending'. Nowi freaks out a bit, which Gregor warns will give away their position. She goes on about how she's tired and sore and about to be killed by a big weirdo, but Gregor does not want to be seen as a villain. Chrom and Lissa overhear this from half the battlefield away and warns Gregor not to harm the girl, and Gregor moans about how he's been insulted all day, all for doing good deed. The boss, Chalard, then steps up and tells Gregor that he will now face Grima's wrath. Chrom wonders why everyone's after the girl, but Gregor says he is no part of this group, and hopes Chrom can see his innocent-baby face. The Shepherds can't describe his chiseled features as 'innocent baby'-ish, but since he keeps denying to be an enemy, Chrom decides to sort this out later and protect the girl later. Let's take a look at these people that have instantly fallen under our control (and the boss of the chapter), shall we?
- GREGOR (Gregor wield swords, fight like ten beefy men, and sound like Heavy from Team Fortress 2): A seasoned mercenary with a big heart and a refreshing grin.
- NOWI (Who is actually a Manakete, which is similar to a Taguel): An innocent "little" manakete with a dramatic side.
- CHALARD (The boss, who wields the dark tome Nosferatu, which absorbs HP equal to half the damage dealt): A priest with fanatical reverence for Grima.
Oh, and there are three villages on the field, which will give us an item if we wait near them, but can also be locked down by some enemies. So, let's try to get through this desert in one piece, and save all of the villagers while we're at it.
- Chrom & Gaius: Thanks to a boost by Lissa, though this duo has the worst movement on this map, they're able to kill an enemy fighter in their first turn. Unfortunately, save for taking a few hits that could have hurt Lissa, they spend most of the rest of the battle slowly plodding to the village Gregor was heading for. Once there, we get our first Master Seal. Other then that, and getting a Finn's Lance (Luck and Defence +2 when equipped) from an Event Panel, they didn't really do much this time.
- Yukari & Ricken: While almost everyone else heads left, Yukari and Ricken head right, taking care of a fighter that could wreck the nearest village. They then check out the village that Miriel and Stahl passed by, earning yet another Rescue staff and getting a brief (and unnecessary) description of how to use these things. They manage to catch up to Miriel and Sumia in time for Ricken to get a kill. While they didn't do a lot of killing in this battle, they do get the most important kill: after Gregor and Nowi let off some steam, Ricken finishes off Chalard with a critical Thunder strike and retrieves an Energy Drop upgrade item.
- Stahl & Miriel: The only other duo that went right instead of left. They get the first kill, a myrmidon blocking their way to the closest village, thanks to a critical hit. Quickly clearing out the other nearby foes, they then head south, attracting some dark mages and slaughtering them with double attacks of Elwind and Dual Strikes. Heading further south, they get into a small Plain surrounded by desert, allowing Stahl to regain his regular movement range and get some experience from killing three of the four nearby opponents. Unfortunately, he took a fair bit of damage, so Miriel and Sumia (and briefly Ricken) took care of the last fighter there (and the two cavaliers left over from the bunch that went after Nowi). They followed Sumia south, and while they take some damage while trying to make sure that the opponent with a Killing Edge never got a chance to use it, they end up mostly fine. When only the boss was left, I decided to let them get the honor of visiting the final village, earning our first (non-Reward Bonus or Merchant) Second Seal.
- Lissa & Frederick: In the first turn, Lissa moves downwards (since the Shepherds start at the top and the boss is at the bottom) a few spaces and uses Rescue to level up and give Chrom a small boost forward. Freddy can't protect her from the nearby dark mages (only one of which is actually wielding a dark tome), but for some reason (probably because of a difference in Resistance being more notable than a healer's overall frailty), they both went after Chrom and whittled him down to single-digit HP. The next turn, while Cordelia did take quite a bit of damage, there were no foes in her range, and thus Lissa opted to rescue Nowi before she could get KO'd. Freddy swaps in when they encounter the main force going after Nowi, and swaps back out when the enemies are cleared out and Sumia needs to be healed. Lissa also patches up Gregor when most of the foes have been eliminated, healed Sumia before she went towards the final village, and healed Sumia again when only two foes (including the boss) were left on the field.
- Sumia & Cordelia: Pairing two high-movement characters may be a bit of a detriment in this field, but if Cordelia (the stronger of the two, at 3 levels higher at the battle's beginning) gets heavily injured, Sumia can swap in and quickly fly back to Lissa. They help clear up a fighter and a dark mage in the upper-left, and then help Freddy and Nowi deal with a bunch of enemies. Quick note: Pegasus Knights have high Resistance, and neither Sumia nor Cordelia would take more than 4 damage from a single magic attack. After that, they provide Miriel and Stahl with backup. They then head down to the enemies in the far south, but are unable to bait them out when first entering their movement range. Taking advantage of this, they strike first against some dark mages and myrmidons guarding the third and final village.
- Gregor & Nowi: Since they begin right next to each other, they team up and beeline to the left. Not only is a village there, there's an oasis just to the south, and since enemies can't stand in water, they probably won't get surrounded and overwhelmed. Gregor was the unit that took point in the first turn, because he has 30 HP and Nowi only has 18. It turns out to be a good idea, because even though he can't attack the mages, he withstands 26 HP of damage. In Turn 2, Nowi swapped in to kill a fighter before being rescued, transforming into a giant green dragon and blasting the foe with a sphere of green energy. This prompts a quick conversation between Yukari and Chrom, who note that she's a manakete and that they could probably use her help more than they need to protect her. After becoming a part of the main group and taking care of an enemy or two, they head south after Sumia and Miriel's teams, helping clean up the mess after the enemy spend their turn trying to take the mage/cavalier combo and the fliers down. I let the duo land the first attacks on the boss, and while neither of them would get special dialogue, they do land a fancy Dual Strike.
- Turns: 8
- Heroes: Stahl & Miriel (For more or less taking on the entire right half of the battlefield by themselves)
Nowi's still sad at how her day's been going, and Gregor tries to comfort her, saying that the evil people are now also dead people. Nowi thanks Gregor and apologizes for being mean to Gregor earlier, saying she gets nervous around people outside of her age group. Gregor counters that, since she's a Manakete, Gregor is much closer to her age than others. Chrom asks Gregor to look after the girl, since they need to go and rescue people, but Gregor has a different suggestion.
Gregor: Mmm...Gregor is mercenary, yes? Maybe you hire Gregor instead. True, Gregor just finish killing former employers, but still very reliable! So long as you not try to hurt little girl, Gregor will not hurt you. Also, Gregor need steady income...Many angry former employers.
Chrom asks if Gregor is a sell sword, and is slightly misheard, as Gregor says that his sword is indeed very swell. Since Gregor did show some good skills in the battle, Chrom decides to hire him. Nowi hopes that they don't leave her behind, since she had just escaped from a slave auction where she had to do tricks in her dragon form, and Lissa becomes outraged at the scumbags that would do such things to a little girl. Freddy points out that Nowi isn't as young as Lissa might think, and Nowi reveals that she's over a thousand years old. Freddy then suggests to Yukari that Nowi would make a strong ally in the battles to come, and it would be risky letting her fall back into the Grimleal's hands, which I think is quite a development from when he was doubting Yukari's honesty at this adventure's start. Harsh times make for strange bedfellows, I suppose. Yukari asks what the Grimleal is, and Freddy explains that they are semi-religious followers of Grima the fell dragon, the monster that the first exalt and the divine dragons killed a thousand years ago. Flavia pops up out of nowhere and suggests we get some rest before storming Plegia's capital city, and we get a save prompt and a quick trip back to the World Map. Let's view some more supports, shall we?
- Chrom & Gaius (B-Rank): Gaius asks if Chrom has any plans after supper, but Chrom needs to inspect the armory. When inquired about tomorrow's plans, Chrom needs to meet with a war council to discuss strategy. Gaius is a bit upset at this 'all work, no play' situation, but Chrom says that if what Gaius wants is important, he'll free up some time. It turns out that Gaius has been thinking about their previous discussion a fair bit, and wants to show Chrom some of the highlights of the footloose and fancy-free. There's no time for a 'round-the-world tour, but Gaius says that all he'll need is one evening, and asks Chrom to tell him when he's ready.
- Sumia & Cordelia (C-Rank): Sumia's doing something unusual, and Cordelia wants to know the details. Now, you know how some children pluck petals off of a flower, saying "he loves me, he loves me not" and whatnot? Well, Sumia believes in these 'flower fortunes', and it turns out she uses them for almost every situation. Cordelia considers this an odd way to foretell the future, though she doesn't believe in any of the ways, wanting to make her own fate. Sumia admires how Cordelia is confident enough to think she can control fate itself, while the klutz is lucky to walk through camp without tripping once. Cordelia says it's a matter of not limiting yourself, and wants Sumia to learn how, starting by getting rid of her flower fortunes. Sumia's worried, but Cordelia says that you don't need a weed to tell you what to do, and that she can control her destiny if she just believes that she can.
- Gregor & Nowi (C-Rank): Nowi says hello to 'gramps', who retorts that Nowi is great-great-great-great-granny if they are talking about age. Nowi's bemused, since most people treat her like a child because of her appearance (not mentioned: she also loves playing children's games like hide & seek). Gregor says he was just trying to be flatulence...flippery...flatness...he can't remember the exact word, but I think 'flattery' is what he was going for. Nowi wants to ask him something, and while Gregor says that he is poor like beggar and will not let her borrow money, she actually wants to give him something. She has no gold, since she loses things more often than a senile squirrel and Chrom won't trust her with any (and also because material possessions aren't really important to long-lived manaketes), but she does have a big sweater that she wants to give him. It doesn't appear all that good, but Nowi claims that it's lightweight and it breathes well, since she lined it with manakete scales. Gregor wonders how she obtained some, and Nowi claims that since she's a manakete, she just had some lying around. Gregor accepts the sweater with much gratitude.
And that's it for now. In my previous file, Nowi ended up with Virion, and Gregor ended up with Lissa. According to previous comments in this liveblog, Gregor will be competing with Virion for Panne's attention, and Nowi's going to hang out with a sweet thief. Will this be how things turn out, or will new decisions be made? Tune in next time to find out!
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