The apprentice tactician Garystu and the young swordfighter Lyn. A strange pair on an even stranger journey. To prepare for the long road ahead, they go to Bulgar, the commercial centre of Sacae. Unbeknownst to Lyn, she will discover something that will alter her life forever.
Chapter 1: Footsteps of Fate
First up, as per usual, cutscene. Lyn is in Bulgar to purchase supplies for her journey, when a pervert shows up! The pervert turns out to be a knight in green armor, and he attempts to hit on Lyn. He hails from the Caelin canton of Lycia, "home to men of passion and fire". Lyn responds, "Shouldn't that be 'home to callow oafs with loose tongues?'" Ouch. Sain's right, though. Lyn's even lovely when she's cruel. Lyn leaves, and Mr. Green's partner Mr. Red turns up. As we learn here, Mr. Green is named Sain, and Mr. Red is named Kent. Kent berates Sain and tells him they still have a "mission" to complete. Lyn appears from out of nowhere again to tell the knights their horses are blocking the road. Kent tells her he "feels like they've met before", and shenanigans ensue when Sain assumes that Kent's trying to hit on her too. Lyn runs out of patience and leaves again. Kent berates Sain (you will notice an ongoing theme here) and decides they should follow her, because she's their "mission".
Then Lyn is alone and someone turns up. It's a guy named Zuko... sorry, Zugu. Yeah, you'll soon notice that the names in Fire Emblem games fall into two categories: "English" and "weird". He's wearing raggedy clothes, has spiky hair, stubble and a scar across one eye, so of course he's evil. He says something about it being a shame he has to kill her, because Lyn's a "pretty one" (sorry, Lyn, but Lucius has you beat there), and the Red Team turns up for another crack at her.
What are we up against? Three brigands and a boss? We can take 'em ourselves! Or not, because our friends from town are here! Kent and Sain hop in, declare the brigands to be cowards for attacking a helpless girl, and ignore Lyn telling them to stay out of her way. They put themselves under Garystu's command in this battle. So now, we have three characters to control! Sain wishes to impress his beauteous one, and decides to (tell the player to make him) attack first. He fails to impress anyone by failing to hit the brigand with his lance and getting injured himself. Kent shows up and berates Sain. Sain, apparently, wanted to look "heroic" by using a lance. He pulls a sword out of his ass (I have to assume so, because it wasn't in his inventory) and gives it to Sain. Yep, this is our explanation of the weapon triangle. Swords beat axes, axes beat lances, and lances beat swords. Easy enough.
The game tells us to attack the brigand with Kent and Lyn using their swords, and together, they finish the brigand off. Sain wants a chance to redeem himself, so we send him south to attack another brigand with his sword... and, man, the game designers really have it in for Sain, because he misses again! He doesn't get hurt this time, though. Kent berates him again, and tells him that he missed because the branches of the woods the enemy is hidden in make it difficult to attack. Or, in practical terms, because forest tiles give +1 point of Defence and +20 chance of dodging. The game tells us to move Lyn into the woods to the north. Kent is allowed to do whatever, so I have him attack that brigand. The brigand attacks back in the enemy phase, but Kent dodges it easily. The next turn, the game decides to give us a tutorial on the trading system. Drop used vulnerary with Sain. Use it. Difficult. Kent finishes the brigand off, and the one to the north attacks Sain.
Considering where they are right now, I let the group split. Since I want to let the two cavaliers level up, I let Sain take the brigand who attacked him, while Kent takes the last one to the east. Kent levels up on him, and gets growths of +1 HP, +1 Speed, +1 Luck and +1 Defence. I could do with some Strength right about now, but for now, quite good. Meanwhile, Lyn and Sain head north to deal with Zazu... sorry, Zugu, with Sain healing again before he attacks. Lyn weakens him with her sword, and Sain finishes him off. As a result, Sain levels up, and gets a fantastic growth of... +1 HP. Boo. Well, right off the bat, we have a prediction of which cavalier I'll be taking to the endgame if Lowen falls through.
Following that great challenge, we have a conversation between Lyn, Kent and Sain. The cavaliers have ventured from the country of Lycia, looking for Lady Madelyn, the Marquess of Caelin's only daughter, who eloped with a nomad 19 years ago. The Marquess originally disowned her because of his heartbreak, but last year, he received a letter from Madelyn saying that he had an 18-year-old granddaughter. And the granddaughter's name is... Lyndis. Nope, doesn't sound like anyone we know at all. Yes, Lyndis is the Marquess' granddaughter, and Kent immediately knows this because she looks like Madelyn. More infodumping is sparked when Lyn tells them that Zugu called her Lyndis. It seems he's a henchman of the Marquess' brother Lundgren, who now stands to inherit the throne of Caelin, and is, in the extremely persistent way of your standard Evil Uncle, making attempts on Lyn's life. Lyn is railroaded into accompanying Kent and Sain to Caelin because it's dangerous to go alone. And of course, Garystu decides to accompany her as well, because otherwise, there would be no game.
To Caelin! Onward and upward!
Let's Meet the New Meat!
Sain (Level 1 Cavalier)
- HP: 19, 80% growth rate
- Strength: 8, 60% growth rate
- Skill: 4, 35% growth rate
- Speed: 6, 40% growth rate
- Luck: 4, 35% growth rate
- Defence: 6, 20% growth rate
- Resistance: 0, 20% growth rate
- Weapons: Sword (E), Lance (D)
Kent (Level 1 Cavalier)
- HP: 20, 85% growth rate
- Strength: 6, 40% growth rate
- Skill: 6, 50% growth rate
- Speed: 7, 45% growth rate
- Luck: 2, 20% growth rate
- Defence: 5, 25% growth rate
- Resistance: 1, 25% growth rate
- Weapon: Sword (D), Lance (E)
