Hello again, everyone! Terribly sorry that it's taken so long for this installment to be posted; I have major plans next week, and I needed to spend some time preparing for them. Now, last time, we foiled an assassination attempt organized by the man that we've seen in a premonition, and decided to relocate Emmeryn before the Plegian army comes to our front door and bashes it wide open. So...let's completely forget about that for a while, and deal with an optional Risen battle to the north, followed by a bandit problem in a dirt-poor village!
CHALLENGE: THE NORTHROAD
I won't talk about every optional battle I do, but since this is the first I've done in this file, I may as well talk about it. So, as I may have mentioned before, Risen and Merchants can randomly appear on the World Map. You can summon them with specific items, but if you just wait a day in real life, one, the other, or both will just show up in an area you've previously cleared. Merchants, represented by Anna (a reoccurring character in the Fire Emblem series), sell you extremely rare items you can't get anywhere else and semi-rare items at discounts. This includes stuff like permanent stat boosters, weapon-repairing Hammerne staves, and Elixirs that completely restore all of a unit's HP upon use. Risen, on the other hand, have to be fought. Their levels correspond to the area you're in; for example, the Northroad Risen are Level 4-6 with a Level 9 boss, which means that now is a good chance to train up my weaker units. Risen also carry Bullion, which can only be sold to Merchants and regular stores in return for money. Oh, and the boss usually carries something amazing, too. Finally, in the event that a Merchant and a Risen randomly appear in the same area, the Merchant will appear in the Risen battle as an NPC, and you get a rare item if she survives the fight (and then you can buy/sell stuff). Now, let's get through this quickly, shall we?
- Yukari, Sumia, Frederick, Lissa, Stahl, & Kellam: Everyone starts at the top of the map, where we fought the boss when we were first here. There's three opponents to the north, but the main force is to the south. While the horsemen went over the narrow bridge to reach the south, Yukari and Sumia just flew across the river. Either way, they all worked together to deal with the enemies there.
- Lon'qu & Miriel: They dealt with the three northern opponents, and it took about as long as it took the main group to deal with the other six or seven enemies.
- Turns and Heroes are not recorded, but it took 5 turns (would've been 4 if I wanted to use up Lon'qu's Killing Edge faster), and since Sumia dealt a lot of killing blows and got an almost-perfect level (every stat except for Resistance went up), I think she and Yukari were the MVPs.
Note that Chrom was not in this fight, because it is optional, and his appearance was not necessary until the debriefing at the end (which always includes Freddy as well). And so, after dealing with the Northroad Risen (and earning a Brave Bow from the boss in the process) and buying a few new staves and swords, it's time to head to the Farfort and recruit ourselves a villager!
PARALOGUE 1: SICKLE TO SWORD
So, some teenage farmer with a pot on his head and a southern drawl rushes into the scene, and asks Chrom for help. A brigand was chasing him, and while the brute originally looks happy that he has more victims to slaughter, he quickly realizes that we're Shepherds and turns tail. The farmer, named Donnel (though he has the uncreative nickname of 'Donny'), is from a nearby village that just got attacked by bandits. Donny's the only one that didn't get captured, and since everyone else is going to be hauled off to a labour camp if we don't hurry (including Donny's dear ol' ma), he needs Chrom's help. Chrom agrees, and Donny leads the way to the bandits.
At the abandoned and decaying structure that the bandits are hiding out in, their leader, Roddick, has just heard about the Shepherds from the bandit that ran away from Chrom earlier. He decides to stay and fight the Shepherds due to the ransom he can probably get from the noble folk. Donny's mother speaks up and asks for Roddick to at least let the children go, but it seems that her husband broke Roddick's rib last time the bandits were here (an act which immediately led to Donny losing his father), and he taunts the lady by saying that Donny will be the first one gutted once the upcoming battle is over. Nearby, Donny, Chrom, the official Shepherds, and the non-official Shepherds (who will from now on just be grouped with the regular Shepherds in recaps) have arrived. Chrom asks Donny to stay close, but when the farmboy tells him that he hasn't a clue how to fight (but would still like to be as strong as Chrom some day), Chrom gives him a motivational speech about how no man is born a warrior, and he could be as strong as he wants to if he just believes in himself.
Chrom: And farm work makes for fine training - a sickle's not far from a sword, after all.
And after that kinda-title drop, Donny decides to fight to save his friends and family, and joins us on the battlefield. After taking some time to select and organize our forces, making double-sure that Gaius is there to unlock some chests (it's the reason we didn't do this mission back before Chapter 4, after all), it's time to...tell you about some important people!
- DONNEL (who will only stay in our army after this skirmish if he levels up at least once during it): An Ylissean commoner with a "funny way of talkin'."
- RODDICK: The ruffians' savage and unsavory leader.
Note that 'An Ylissean' means that 'Ylisse' is not pronounced with a silent Y. And now, it's time to fight some bandits, and recruit a man whose default skill guarantees excellent stat growths! And that man is Donnel, of course.
- Yukari & Donnel: Yukari's our strongest character right now, at level 13 with better stats than Freddy, so she gets paired with Donny. This means that Donny can now do about 5 damage when he attacks. I guess I could have forged a Bronze Lance for him (since he lacks the aptitude to wield anything stronger), but if I'm careful about where I place units and when I bring him out to attack, it should be fine. Donny's first kill is an archer towards the beginning of the map, and the experience earned brings us 40% closer to earning him permanently (in other words, he earned 40 exp.). After being rescued to get closer to the others, Donny later takes a fair bit of damage when dealing with a barbarian in a room that Chrom dashed past. But thanks to Maribelle's Mend staff, he's able to survive two direct attacks. He was then rescued again to land a killing blow on a barbarian, leveling up and earning 7 stat upgrades. With Miriel's help, he then killed off the barbarian he was dealing with earlier. At the end of the fight, Yukari traded Donnel for Chrom, because Donnel did not have enough movement to get to the boss unless more than one unit carried him there. This allowed Donny to end the battle at Level 3, and seven stats went up again. By the way, Roddick doesn't say anything special when fighting against Donny.
- Chrom & Gaius: They beeline towards the chests, cleaving through foes along the way, but trying to leave enough behind for Donny and the others to gain experience from. Chrom learns the Charm skill at level 10, which grants a small bonus to hit rate and avoidance to nearby allies. The duo suffer a great deal of damage, especially when dealing with barbarians and archers, but are able to catch up to an enemy thief on the map. The guy was also heading to the treasures as quickly as possible, and the duo don't kill him until after he's already opened the door blocking the chests. For the record, if I had not come here before getting Gaius, there are two chest keys and one door key held by the enemy forces that are retrieved upon their deaths. And personally, I find it's easier to manage one thief than it is to trade keys between different inventories. Also, if we let that thief do his dirty work without interruption, we could kill him and take back the last item he looted (getting us 1/2 of this battle's rare items), or let him run off of the battlefield and take the loot with him, never to be seen again. Oh, and the chests contain a Killer Lance and another Rescue Staff. The duo caught up to Lon'qu and Panne eventually, killing off an archer. Chrom and Donny then swapped places, allowing the duo of Donny and Gaius to kill the boss.
- Stahl, Miriel, Lon'qu, & Panne: They work with Yukari to take care of the foes near the start, killing two and leaving an archer weak enough for Donny to get the bonus experience for a killing blow. They then chased after Chrom and knocked out some of the remaining foes. Lon'qu & Panne mainly stuck behind Chrom, only getting in front of him to kill an archer in the room with the chests (and also getting a temporary stat boosting item from an Event Point), while Stahl & Miriel were of assistance to Donny. Lon'qu and Panne then led the charge towards the boss's room, distracting archers and killing a couple of them, while Stahl heads to an Event Panel and picks up the extremely useful Celica's Gale magic tome. Lon'qu and Panne were also the first to attack the boss, and even though neither of them had more than 10 HP and would not withstand a hit, they dodged often enough to deal 32 damage, leaving the last 2 points for Donny.
- Maribelle: The odd one out. She heals quite frequently, and I let her use the Rescue Staff I picked up from a Merchant earlier to help get Donny to the action faster (and to earn a great deal of experience) a total of two times. She was attacked once, when Donnel went for a kill and the barbarian he had been dealing with slipped through, but was able to survive the battle.
- Turns: 11 (It would have been less if I didn't need to worry about chests and letting Donny steal some kills)
- Heroes: Lon'qu & Panne (For cleaning up after Chrom, killing many foes on the way to the boss, and almost killing the boss)
Donny's ecstatic that the bandits are gone once and for all, and Chrom compliments him. The villager then reunites with his ma, and they thank Chrom for coming to their aid. Chrom says that Donny should be the one getting the praise for leading the charge and that the Shepherds only picked off stragglers, even though my summary shows that the complete opposite actually happened. Chrom then tells Donny to hone his potential and keep his village safe, but Donny actually wants to tag along and be a Shepherd. His ma's shocked at this decision, but Donny wants to keep his home safe, and joining Chrom will let him keep many other homes safe as well. Chrom says that he'd actually be thrilled to have him, as they need brave men like Donny, and the mother eventually relents and lets Donny go. She wishes him well and tells Donny that glory is waiting for him, and Donny says that while he'll always be fighting for her, he'll bring home some glory if he finds some. His ma, of course, just hopes that he comes home alive. We then save, and get the chance to view some supports.
- Frederick & Lissa (B-Rank) (earned during the Risen fight earlier): It turns out that Lissa's body isn't quite fit for Frederick's level of training, which Frederick takes as her just needing to train more often and get in better shape. Lissa wants a break, but Frederick replies that he's never taken one before. Lissa wonders how Freddy's gone for so long without letting off steam, and Freddy just says that he swore an oath to protect the royal family, and said oath did not include stipulation for breaks. Lissa then makes a joke about how Freddy probably doesn't even know how to relax...which turns out to be quite accurate. She then cuts a deal with Freddy: in exchange for Freddy training her, she'll show Freddy how to properly slack off. It's a deal that Freddy can't talk his way out of.
- Chrom & Gaius (C-Rank): Gaius and 'Blue' (Gaius is fond of using nicknames, you see) talk about how Gaius has to travel frequently as a thief. Chrom, who's had to deal with royal burdens and has only journeyed for diplomatic reasons, wonders what being free to roam is like. Gaius mocks him a bit for his upper-class upbringing, thinking that commoners have all the time in the world to do whatever and travel wherever, but he and Chrom both know that it's not what the lord meant to imply. Gaius asks if Chrom really is tired of the sweet life, and if he's just not counting his blessings. Chrom admits that it's nice to have a warm bed and people aiding him despite how stiffling his situation is, and they agree that he probably shouldn't complain when so many people are wishing for the kind of life he has.
And so, another unit has been recruited. I could go on and do the second Paralogue available right now, but I think I'd rather continue the plot, as I'd rather get more recruits before some rare items. Plus, I already have a bunch of rare items from my carried-over Renown, such as a Large Bullion (worth 10,000 gold when sold, though I can always access the DLC mission 'The Golden Gaffe' if I'm downright bankrupt) and a Second Seal (which can be used to change a character above Level 10 from one base class to another, instead of upgrading them to a second-tier class like Great Knight). So, be sure to tune in next installment, when our plan to protect Emmeryn will almost certainly hit a snag and more intense fighting occurs!
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