War at it's most adorable. Let's Play Fire Emblem!

Since we're about to meet him I wonder if most people know that the reason Wallace dissapeared after Lin's story is because he went to Taliver Mountains to kill every single bandit that lived there.

That annoyed me. The Taliver bandits were built up as these huge monsters, one that was Lyn's major issue. To have a person like Wallace turn it all into an Anticlimax felt cheap. Would it have killed them to make the Tavlier be the ones attacking during chapter 4 and 5 instead of the stupid brigade?

And Nino

Well, that's only implied if you support her with Jaffar and I think maybe one or two others.

Erk. And I think alone too.

^ All it says on Nino's solo ending is that she went to visit her family's graves.

I don't know, I liked what Wallace did. To me it was kind of moving and cool, and the reasons why he did it where sound.

What's this thing about Nino that everyone is talking about?

edited 9th Sep '10 9:24:21 PM by daltar

^ In all of Nino's support endings, they all basically say "She and her husband were never see again". Kinda depressing, seeing all she went through.

Pairing her with Jaffar: Jaffar leaves to protect her from bounty hunters hunting for the Angel of Death. Nino dissapears looking for him.

Pairing her with Erk: Nino leaves to protect him from bounty hunters hunting for former Back Fang members.

Oh right... she surely deserved better. At least it wasn't a total downer though.

Ignore this post, formating error, puppy related technical problems. Oopsie.

edited 10th Sep '10 4:34:56 PM by Lupine_Volt

Yah...Anywho, enough of these depressing spoilery details! There are hams to be experienced! Horrible gameplay mechanics to deal with! Sympathetic bosses to defeat! All today in

Chapter 9: A Grim Reunion (Your Ham is evolving?)

Lundgren has branded our merry group as traitors, and, seeing that we've killed everyone that he's sent at us, he decides to call in the troops from the other Lycean Lords. Lyn goes to Eliwood to help, and Eliwood manages to convince the other surrounding lords to remain neutral in the conflict. This does, however, mean that he himself won't be able to help us.

We're greatful, however, and after our thanks, Eliwood takes off back to Pherae. We head back to Caelin. Unfortunately, however, there's a thick fog rolling in on us. We have to move fast. The quickest route, however, takes us through the Eagler Estate. General Eagler is the one who trained Kent and Sain. And this is our last obstacle before we reach the endgame.

Before the battle, Matthew sidles up to Lupine and asks to take the lead this battle. Thieves can see much better in the fog than other units, and when the fog falls, we won't be able to see enemies. Which means that we'll have people jumping in out of the fog to strike us down. Matthew dons a pair of goggles and calls for everyone else to follow him, waving his arms and being cheerful.

However, he is promptly punted aside by a man with a scalp roughly as shiny as a bowling ball in silver armor. Kent and Sain promptly give their best "Aww hell" faces. This man is Lord Wallace, level 5 ham and Retired Bad Ass. He demands to see Lyn, to see if she truly is the Marquess's granddaughter. Kent and Sain prepare to have their asses handed to them on a silver platter when Lyn steps forward.

He looks deeply into her eyes, and sees within them the Lady Madelyn, who had run away so long ago. Lyn does not have the eyes of a liar. Wallace, now chuckling merrily, has decided to join our merry band. Kent and Sain can now relax, as they rather enjoy their torso's whole. Come! Let's march! Lupine finds that he no longer is giving the commands annoying.

Lyn likes Wallace. Kent says that he hasn't changed a bit. Right then! Wallace is back from retirement on a farm, and now forces Lupine to give him his orders first.

Lupine does a quick check of his inventory, and finds that Wallace is carrying around a Knight's Crest. A Knight's Crest is a special item that allows Cavalier's like Kent and Sain or Knight's like Wallace to promote into Paladins and Generals, respectively. However, it's best to do so once the units have reached level 20, as to get the maximum growth out of them. So, Lupine begins to-

"AHA!" Wallace spotted Lupine glancing at his equiptment, and, probably clapping him so hard on the back that Lupine's shoulders both simultaniously dislocate themselves. He orders Lupine to order him to use the Knight's crest. Lupine timidly asks why he hasn't used it already before coming to smite our little band, as the thought of Wallace even more powerful is a terrifying thought. A sympathetic Dorcas begins the painful process of popping his shoulder back into the socket, and Wallace, with gusto, slaps the badge onto his chest.

At this point, however, he is promptly struck by lightning and disintigrates, leaving the rest of the legion staring at the scorchmark on the ground in horror. He then reappears a few feet away, wearing much larger armor, and I'm pretty sure he grew a coupla feet in the process.

"HAHAHA! LOOK! A Giant Walks Amongst you! Come! Break your weapons against me!" Wallace is practically foaming at the mouth now, and everyone else promptly decides to find enemies to feed the giant's bloodlust. Rath and Dorcas promptly retreat to the sidelines to have a contest of outsilencing eachother. Rath usually wins these.

There's a mountain range next to us that is our border to the other side of the map. Above is a pathway, below is a river and bridge. Sain, Wil and Erk go north to feast upon reinforcements that will come from the fortresses in the mountains. Everyone else will go the southern route.

Matthew and a Mercenary engage in a sword fight, when is ended when Kent is both Boring, but Practical and brings a javelin along. Lucius and Erk both spot mages in the mountains, and with two criticals and a lot of hand waving, they disintigrate the brigands. Sain spears a soldier, and Lyn gives a clean decaptiation to a bandit who tries to sneak up on her.

At this point, the fog rolls in. We are now limited to only a few squares of vision around our units. We can see the map, but not the enemy units. Florina, during our first turn, dropped by a village, and a man, knowing of our situation and wishing to help us overthrow Lundgren, passes us a torch. Someone's getting a big tax break when Lyn takes the throne.

Florina passes the torch to Matthew, and his already much better range increases even further. Waving the torch about, we can see pretty much the whole map.

Florina then dives down on a cavalier, and doubles him down enough for Kent to finish him off for a level up. The horridness of this level up can only be described as the sound of your kneecap reversing directions.

Up north, Wil snipes a soldier, Sain spears a cavalier, and Erk fries another mountain bandit...well, he would've if he hadn't missed. *Dope.* Serra applies a little care to Florina. Her heal staff is getting pretty low on uses. We'll need to stop by the next drug store and pick one up. Oh, and Rath wants some skittles, so make sure to get some of those too, Serra.

Erk is hit by the axe, and kills on the counter attack. Matthew is ambushed by a cavalier. Sain comes under the eyes of an archer.

Erk steals Wil's vulenary while he's distracted taking down another soldier. Sain kills the archer that's pestering him. Lucius appears behind Matthew, and zaps the cavalier off of his mount. Wallace, giddy for action, goes after another cavalier. It's wasted experience, considering that he get's three experience when others get thirty, but I figured it'd be out of character for him to go wait in a corner. Lupine probably wouldn't live to tell about it.

Another foolishly foolish fool of a bandit goes after Lyn. He lives. The soldier who tried to sneak up on Erk doesn't. Wallace brings the cavalier down to nearly none, and Sain finds an arrow has been quivering directly next to the neck hole in his armor.

Matthew finishes off the cavalier, and Erk does the dance of firey death for another Bandit. Lyn finishes her target, leveling up in Strength! *WOOT* Kent and Florina, spotting a castle through the remaining scraps of fog, decide to flush out any troops surrounding the estate, and General Eagler. Spotting his old boss, a paladin and our first promoted enemy, Kent begins wishing that Marquess Caelin had sent Jimmy to Sacae with Sain instead of him.

Florina kills a guard, Lyn kills her bandit next, and Matthew watches boredly as an arrow flies past him and imbeds itself into the cliffside. Drawing his knives, he attempts to carve an M into the archer's chest, only for him to fall dead at the second stroke, making it look like...well, sortal like ^, but bloodier and with a jagged part where the guy fell down screaming.

Lyn is playing hide and go seek with a bandit now, waiting to jump out and kill him, as he's the final one she'll deal with. Florina heads back over to pick her up once she's finished so Lyn can rejoin the rest of us at the castle. Kent and Sain circle the place, with Sain killing off Jimmy the footsoldier.

Lyn finishes her final bandit, and now only Eagler is left on the map, gaurding the sieze spot. He has two different ranged weapons, a hand axe like Dorcas and a Javelin like Kent and Florina. Wallace, holding his lance, makes great and untouchable bait, so we send him in. Eagler has special conversations with Wallace, Kent, Sain, and Lyn. With Wallace, the general brands us all traitors, and Wallace declares he won't follow Lundgren's lies. Eagler, looking reluctant, lobs a handaxe at Wallace. It bounces off with a comical plink, making both men stare at it awkwardly. At which point Lucius scorches his back with Lightning. Florina swoops up the androginous man, and Wil takes his place with an arrow to the chest.

Lyn can now safely double this man to death with the Mani Katti, and approaches. Eagler, convieniently, demands her come forth. He doesn't stand a change. With his dying breath, he tells us to go quickly. The marquess doesn't know what's going on. He's being poisoned...and with that, he falls, dead. Lyn calmly reaches down, closes his eyes, steps into the gateway and siezes, winning us the chapter.

Lyn questions the two knights on what kind of man Eagler was. He was their captain and teacher when they joined the knights of Caelin. He was devoted to Marquess Caelin, but still forced the fight. Sain theorizes that Lundgren must have some sort of blackmail or hostage over Eagler. Lyn, becoming really upset, vows that Lundgren will not know another day's peace so long as he shall live.

Which is rather easy to follow through on, as we will reach him by tommorow. Lyn, Lupine and the troops make haste.

Lundgren, meanwhile, visits his older brother, confined to bed from his "illness." He begins gloating that his brother's granddaughter is probably dead by now. Your life's lost all meaning, so hurry up and die already! Marquess Caelin, however, holds on, still wishing only to see his granddaughter once... We finish this chapter with Lundgren rubbing in our faces the fact that he's an evil douche.

Next time: Endgame 1. Challenges, hopes, dreams, stat increasing items, and farewells. All on Let's Play Fire Emblem!

Having trouble?

General back to school mania. Also, I had this half typed out when my computer fizzed out on me, so the first half of this battle will be very abbreviated.

Chapter 10: The Distant Plains

Our motley group has reached Caelin, and we now advance on the castle. Lyn, praying for her grandfather, asks each member of our army to lend her their strength for one final fight.

Castle Caelin is south of us, but an impassible mountain range seperates us from it. Unless Florina ferried everyone across the mountains while Kent, Sain, Rath and Wallace slowly made their weay around, we'll have to go across four to five section of land, all divided by rivers, and aggrivatingly enough, pretty much one bridge each until the last couple.

We begin, rushing across the bridge, from the first island to the second, Lucius and Matthew backhandedly wiping out an archer and soldier while Florina heads down to island 4 to wipe out some mercenaries. At this point, it starts to rain, but let's up two turns later. We soon reach Island three, Lyn heading off to a village while the others work on the bridges. Matthew levels up for strength, so He's probably going to stay on the roster. Lucius and Kent do likewise. Florina and Erk, however, both gain mediocre speed and HP level ups. Nils get's his level up too. Bards can't attack, so his are completely defensive and evasive serving. LYn pops into the village, where an old woman beckons her over. Encouraging her that everyone is loyal to the marquess and his true heir, she pushes a small ring into LYn's hand and slips inside. The ring is an energy ring, an item permanently boosting a unit's strength by two. Lyn, being the only character of this lot that we have to use and tends to sometimes be screwed out of strength, slips it onto her finger gently.

• This was where my computer hiccuped last time. T Hat was roughly 7 turns hypercondensed.

F Lorina, Wil, Kent and Sain fight cavaliers between islands three and four when more rain comes, and Serra heals Florina, her heal staff reaching the almost breaking point. An old tree serves as a makeshift bridge after Dorcas, finally wanting to be useful, chops it down. Lucius and Erk get ready to bring down another one on the other side of the tiny island that will bring us directly to Lundgren.

Wil snipes off a final cavalier, and now Lundgren and a Knight are the only units left to oppose us. That is, until another cavalier pops up out of nowhere, but Matthew offhandedly dodges and criticals him. When he realizes that Matthew is too weak to actually kill him, the cavalier, identified by Kent and Sain as the classroom douchebag, Rick, starts laughing. An arrow in the trachea stops that nice and simple.

Wil is now at exactly 99 experience points, so next turn I park him right in the line of fire of the knight. He'll absorb the 1 exp of *not dying* experience, and then Matthew and Kent can finish him off. Wil grows stronger *But he could use some speed, game* and Matthew, armed with iron swords, scratches him. This way, he'll absorb experience slower, but get enough to level up, and then Kent can finish it. And so it goes. Matthew earns a crappy level up with an unfortunate critical, and Kent gets nothing.

Now, only Lundgren is left. Here's what we do. Erk and Lucius both toss spells at Lundgren to soften him up. That get's him down to 9 hitpoints already. However, he has a nasty Silver Lance equipped. Silver weapons are generally the best kind of weapons to use, so we need him to swtich to the javelin. Kent and Sain swoop in to rescue the mages, then Rath and Florina grab them and drop them so that they can move next turn. Wallace, armed with his lance, then steps up to lure Lundgren's javalin out by standing just beyond arms length.

Lundgren has special conversations with Kent, Sain and Lyn, by the way. He tries to boss Kent around, bribe Sain, and insults Lyn. None of them are amused. Lupine leaves Wallace to keep Lundgren's axe out and wittle the hitpoints away. LYn only has abouta 50% chance of hitting Lundgren, even with her Mani Katti out. Serra, new heal staff in hand, and Florina, ready to fly, are prepared for if Lyn suffers a bad hit. Lyn steps infront of Lundgren to face him now.

It begins. Lyn misses twice and takes a heavy hit...not a very good epice show down. She retreats, get's healed, and waits.

Lyn attacks again, this time on the offensive. She draws her blade...concentrates...and Flash Steps her way behind Lundgren. There's a choke, a gasp. "That annoying little girl...nothing but a savage from Sacae...the Caelin throne...should be mine..."

Lyn, meanwhile, personifies Anticlimax by getting a single point of luck on her level up and nothing else. Damn you Lundgren...She and Lupine rush into the castle, the other's hot on their heels.

Lyn finds the royal chancellor, Reissmann, who sent Kent and Sain out on their mission. Lundgren had him locked up when he heard about their sucess. He guides her to her grandfather. The others all wait outside the door, and Lyn, suddenly not a warrior woman, but a teenaged girl, steps into the bedroom of her grandfather.

He's still bedridden, and weakly demands she leave. He'll take no visitors. He asks to be left alone to die. Lyn, nervously, introduces herself as Lyndis. Her father was Hassar, chieftan of the perished tribe of the Lorca. Her mother was Lady Madelyn of Caelin.

Her grandfather, disbelieving, beckons her come closer. And in her face he sees his own daughter, gone for 19 long years. And with that, he collapses back in bed. Not dead, though. Still talking.

Lundgren had told Lord Hausen that Lyn had died during our many battles to reach Caelin. He thanks Lyn for holding on and living. Lyn tearfully explains that her parents both died by the blades of brigands last year. *At this point, artwork of Lyn, holding her grandfather as he lays in bed, pops up.*

He asks Lyn to forgive him, because if he hadn't been so stubborn about her parents, they would never have been any massacre of the Lorca. Lyn reassures him that her life, before the massacre, was blessed and peaceful, with her mother and father by her side. He's glad to hear that his daughter had a happy life. And now, he can die in peace...

Lyn won't hear that, however. So what if he's taken enough poison to kill an elephant? On the plains, they say that illness fails in the face of a strong heart. And she is with him now, after so many trials, and so much suffering, so much loss, so much laughter and joy and tears and friends and foes...They have so much to talk about. They'll take walks, listen to music...They have 18 years of lost time to make up for.

Hausen does admit it sounds...nice. ANd when he's well, she'll take him to see the plains of Sacae. He can view the oceans of grass and the endless, unbroken sky of pure blue. THe lands her parents love, and the lands that live on in her eyes. He can do it! *Outside, Serra, Florina, and Ninian are all crying into seperate hankercheifs. The rest are watching on, silent and trying to get a good view. Lupine, standing in the doorway, is beaming ear to ear*

Later, in the courtyards, Sain asks Lyn if she truly plans to stay in Caelin. She will, until lord Hausen is well. Kent pipes up that the Doctor is amazed at the recovery lord Hausen is making. Florina, at this point, bursts on scene, Wil trailing behind her. Florina was hired by Caelin house! She can spend all of her time with Lady Lyndis now! Er...don't call her Lady. Florina points out that there are rules to follow now that she's a servant. At this point, she then glomps Lyn and tells her, flat out, that she Loves her. Ho Yay anyone? Or just platonic friendship? You decide!

Wil has also decided to stay. He was going to go back home, but he's grown fond of the legion, and the pay's good. He'll send word back to Pherae*Coincidentally, where Eliwood lives!*

But not everyone is staying. It's later now. Hours, days, months... outside the castle, on a hill, Lupine and Lyn say their goodbyes. Lyn won't ask him to stay, but...she'll miss him. Such an unexpected adventure they got caught up in. She's sure that he'll become a master tactician.

With artwork of Lyn, eyes filled with tears and ponytail blowing in the wind, she says a final farewell. She hopes to see him again. And with that, farewells.

Kent becomes the Knight commander of Caelin for his deeds.

Sain becomes his second in command, and still flirts with the ladies.

Florina stays in Caelin, and is working on her man phobia. She's getting better about it. .

Wil is popular in the house of Caelin, and Kent is teaching him proper manners..

Dorcas returns home, and takes Natalie back with him to Pherae.

Erk takes Serra to Ostia, and returns home. She's still annoying. He's still annoyed.

Rath takes off as a mercenary, but no one knows where he went to.

Matthew dissapears after the final battle, unknown whereabouts.

Nils and Ninian take off, traveling and performing.

Lucius takes off after a while, and is said to be traveling with a hard eyed redheaded mercenary. (Totally not Collete/Kratos parralel at all)

Wallace sets out for adventure, although he probably got lost along the way. *More on this in the Lyn/Wallace Support conversations*

And Lyn...Lyn lives with her grandfather, and the two take many walks together. On clear nights, Lyn takes off for the hilltops, and stares into the distance, thinking only of endless greens and blues from whence she came, and of a certain green robed figure she calls her best friend.

And that's that! the first ten chapters of Fire Emblem. Our party has split up and now we leave Lyn for another story, of another young nobleman who sets out on a quest that will alter the course of history. And it all will begin 1 year later...

edited 18th Sep '10 9:18:55 AM by Lupine_Volt

You...You don't seriously mean it's going to be a year before the next update, do you?

Time Skip.

I know about the Time Skip, but I can't remember if it's ever taken him this long to update before.

• Crawls back into forums* Advanced Placement Psych...dear god...somebody...need...tropes...*dies*

...Anywho, I'm back ladies and gentlemen! Sorry for the delay. Homework, play practice, family, the such. Oh, and puppies. I have the most adorable little nuisence of a puppy who enjoys my toes far too much.

...That, and I lost my cartridge. Don't worry. I'll find it later today, and I'll make a fabulous update for you. Until then...sorry for the delay.

Found it! Surprise surprise, my puppy had it in her little den. Unharmed, however. So, let's play this bitch up.

When we last left off a year ago, our party had defeated Lundgren, the Disc-One Final Boss, and was scattered across the land.

We are treated to a slow history of Elibe. Once, there was a war called the Scouring, between men and dragons. Man sealed the dragons away...or did dragons seal men away to Elibe? *Think about that, Internet. Whenever playing a game, figure out who sealed who away before jumping to conclusions. In this case, men sealed dragons, but it could've been the other way around.

Anywho, the 8 people who vanquished the dragons became leaders of the new countries. The Hero, Hartmut, founded Bern. St. Elimine, *one of the two women in this ensemble* moved to the west coast, and founded the artistic countrie of Etruria. Horsewoman Hanon (She's a Man in Japan) settled down in Sacae, where Lyn's from. Barigan the knight moved north to Ilia, the frigid countrie. The berserker Durban created warrior clans throughout the western isles. Archsage Athos went to wander the Nabata wastelands. Finally, the champion Roland's children became the lords of the land of Lycia. *The LLL. They went bowling on Tuesday nights*

It's been 980 years exactly since then. We're now in Pherae, a peaceful territory in Lycia. Lord Elbert, a all around stand up guy and Eliwoods father, has mysteriously vanished a few monthes ago, along with most of the good knights he has. Eliwood, believing his father is still alive, vows to find his father. We join him now, as he is...

Chapter 11: Taking Leave.

Eliwood and his loyal knight, Marcus, are talking now, a distance from Pherae castle. Markus, a senior knight and already promoted Paladin, is ready to leave whenever Eliwood is. *Marcus is basically a glorified experience hog and meat shield. He sucks. We won't be using him.*

Eliwood says a final farewell to his mother. She wishes him the best of luck, for her sake. She cannot lose both a husband and a son. Eliwood entrusts his mother to Isadora, Pheraes only other paladin who didn't go off with Elbert. She also sorta sucks. But she's nice, and has nifty blue hair. G'day to both of ye. We'll see you in a coupla chapter.

Marcus is waiting for the third member of their group, his trainee Lowen, to show back up. Lowen went to see if he could find someone useful. Ooh, my ears are burning all of a sudden...

In the village, meanwhile, a bandit group has started attacking, having heard that all of the good knights vanished. *Isadora and Marcus could still hold off these jokers.* Groznyi, as that is the bandit leaders name, claims this village in his name. A passing villager asking how to pronounce that is decapitated.

Approuching Eliwood and Marcus is a very crowded horse, carrying a yellow cavalier with bright teal hair that obscures most of his face, a green haired and oranged clothed girl with pigtails, a winning smile, and a bow and arrow, and a familier figure in a green robe.

Lowen, the cavalier, bursts up to the group, babbling. Marcus slaps him across the face, probably saying Get A Hold Of Yourself Man. He blurts out the bandit threat. The girl riding behind him hops down, spitting a few teal hairs out of her mouth, and introduces herself as Rebecca. She's the daughter of the village magistrate. She begs Eliwood for help.

Eliwood agrees, and the four of them gear up to fight. A lord, a useless paladin, a frankly sorta sucky cavalier, and an Archer who may end up useful if she get's strength.

Lowen also introduces the third person riding the horse, who hops down, complaining of saddle sores. A traveling tactician...Gee, who on earth could that be? Lupine and Eliwood get reaquainted, and Eliwood compliments his work. Aww...gosh, I'm blushing. This is why I like Eliwood.

Lupine has apparently been traveling about, honing his skills. Personally, I would've spent the year collecting promotional items, but that's just me. Anyways, we begin now.

The first thing we do, trade Marcus's Steel sword over to Eliwood. Eliwood has a rapier, which is basically his version of the Mani Katti, but with fewer uses. So we're gonna save that for armored and mounted units. Lowen, armed with an iron sword, takes on the first bandit of the second half of the game. He only gets him down to 10, so Eliwood can finish him off. We're keeping Eliwood and Rebecca the only ones getting the experience here, if we can help it. Unless you guys want me to use...

Two friendly fighters suddenly burst out of a village up north. It's Dorcas! And his new friend, Bartre the Brave! Bartre, eager to join in, jumps into the fracas. Dorcas, meanwhile, has already planted an axe in the head of a bandit while Bartre is busy talking. Bartre, eager to join in, also attacks an archer. Rebecca takes her first kill in an archery fight. Eliwood finishes off Dorcas's bandit for him. Marcus heads north to the village, receiving a Dragonshield. T He shield is a 1 time item that increases one units defense permanently.

The bandits ceme for us now. Eliwood and Rebecca make short work of them. Eliwodo gets his first level up! Plus one in every stat but Hitpoints and Resistance! *Booyah!* Marcus, still being minutely usefull, now visits the general store, where we stock up on Vulneraries, a coupla pepsis, and...Oh, what's that? Uh, Dorcas needs cigarettes.

1 bandit attacks Marcus, and is promptly skewered. His comrade attacks Lowen, and is not skewered, but is then stabbed by Eliwood. He's getting used to the whole killing thing. Bartre lures an archer close, and the archer is rather shocked when he finds that people can actually throw axes like boomerangs. While he's confounded with this bit of trivia, Rebecca shoots him in the ear.*Almost a level up there...*

The final bandit aside from Groznyi charges at Eliwood, and get's caught on his sword. Rebecca shoots him the the ear as well, earning a level up in her Strength and speed! Only Grozy's left alone now.

Bartre starts the party with a hand axe thrown through the back of the entire 6 square village. The guys got an arm. However, the next turn, both he and Rebecca miss their shots. Eliwood stands before him, waiting to be attacked so he can counter. Dorcas lights a a cigarette up.

Grozy misses Eliwood, and Eliwood hits him. Eliwood attacks again, bringing him down to exactly 1 damage. Rebecca gladly takes back her village with one arrow, and the chapter is won. She levels up again. Strength and speed! Rebecca is looking just as good as Wil did. *I usually like to use both archers, but that's a matter of your opinions.*

The magistrate, Rebecca's father, thanks us for our hard work. Eliwood points out that's what Lords are supposed to do for their subjects. He, however, isn't so sure of that. Why, just a few territories over, citizens of Laus are being forced to prepare for war, and nothing is being done about bandits and thieves.

Eliwood finds this suspcious. Considering he has no idea where else to go in search of his father, this'll be the place.

Lupine doesn't have a destination in mind, so he's decided to hitch his wagon up to Eliwood's party. We ride off, and Rebecca follows. Her father objects, but, as she points out, she's just gotten two great level ups, and she may be able to find her missing brother! And, with his blessing, she races to catch up with us. Presumably, Dorcas and Bartre are also ground bound with her, trying to keep up.

N Ext time: Game-Breaker units! Old friends! Desperate attempts to swap axes! All on Let's Play Fire Emblem!

I feel a little bad about the delay, so, here. We'll do a double.

When we left off last time, our motley crew of heroes (A chivelrous redhead, a meat shield, a blind paladin, a country girl, an ADHD afflicted fighter and Dorcas) set out on a journey to find Eliwoods father. They're heading now to the land of Laus, where suspicious military preparations are on the rise.

Join us now as we meet up with some...

Chapter 12: Birds of a Feather.

We are en route to Laus through the territory of Santaruz, owned by a friend of Eliwoods dad. The old lord himself, meanwhile, has learned from a mysterious hooded man with golden eyes that Eliwood is in town. The old man is worried that Eliwood will come asking about dear old dad. He doesn't want to lie...

Hoodie Mc Villiansburg volunteers to help drive the boy away. Give him a quick scare, he'll run home to momma, and it's game over then. Not too serious of harm...

We return to our group, Lupine apparently just finishing outlining a plan to ask Marquess Santaruz for assistance before heading to Laus. The others compliment him on this brilliant plan... Wow, common sense is really prized nowadays, isn't it? Old lords name is revealed to be Helman. Eliwood has known him all of his life.

Marcus, however, sees danger. It's not hard to see, as it's a chubby fighter with a bigass axe and is loudly asking for alms for the poor villager. Marcus isn't buying it. Get out of the way, or he'll Jeigan the hell out of you. Chubbster reveals that someone wants Eliwood dead! Golly gee, Hoodie Mc Villanson isn't an upstanding member of the community? The hoods break out a...decently sized fighting force...I think this is bigger than anything I faced in Lyn's tale.

Before the battle, Dorcas has a short conversation with Lupine, revealing that Natalie is in Pherae, and is confident in Lupine's abilities. Several characters have special conversations before the battles with the tactician. Just a nifty story thing.

Everyone but Marcus moves into position to meet the first of teh bandits we'll be facing. Marcus, meanwhile, saunters up to a village, and recieves a secret book, which wil increase your characters Skill stat. This improves accuracy, basically. Something to consider for a coupla characters coming up later.

Dorcas also has an Energy ring, like we got in chapter 10 and gave to Lyn. We'll probably give this to Rebecca, but she's developing nicely so far. And no. Not like that, pervs.

Dorcas came under the only bandit attack this turn, so Eliwood finishes him off, leveling up. Luck, defense, resistance. All...sorta important...

Next turn, Eliwood and Rebecca team up to take down a mercenary that doubled Bartre. Chubster, seeing that we're on the advance, orders everyone to charge us at this point. This is bad. Eliwood, seeing the bandit conga line advancing from over the mountains, is actually worried. Lupine, however, lifts a hand and counts down...5...4...3...2...1...

At this point, a blue haired young man in royal looking armor pops in from the north. He questions one of the enemy soldiers. The soldier, one of Santaruz, tells him to buzz off. Hector here disagrees on the fact that that's his friend fighting over there. The soldier, surprised, turns, just in time for the axe Hector's holding to seperate his nose into two neat little halves. Sorry bud. He's in a hurry.

Surprise! Serra, our favorite cleric, pops up to go "ewww..." at the fountain of blood shooting from the mans cleaved face. Matthew, our favorite thief, compliments his face spliting technique. And a new character, Oswin the knight, fiinds the fact that he's clubbing men he hardly knows to death slightly distaceful. Why, it was only 20 seconds.

Shut up and join the fight Oswin. Hector orders Matthew and Serra to stay away from the battle. Matthew is horrified at the idea of hiding with Serra. You can't hide a pink haired white robed bitchy priestess! You just can't! (For those of you who haven't seen teh connection, Hector is the blue haired man from chapter 7, the house Matthew went to visit during the battle. )

Hector proceeds then to cleave a man in twain with an axe stroke. Oswin, lumbering behind, Spears another to near death with a javalin. Rebecca and Eliwood, as usual, kill bandits. Dorcas tries to join in, but misses. If we keep him, he'll probably benefit from a secret book.

Lowen kills a man on the enemy turn...make it two. He levels up, gettting Speed, luck, and defense. Sorry, but still not interested. Eliwood also comes under fire. Hector to the resc-...oh, he missed. Rebecca engages in an archery duel to his target, while Dorcas finishes off another bandit. Eliwood heals. We all wait.

Eliwood dodges another attack, and the bandit conga line comes round the bend. Hector finishes off the man attempting to bisect his friend with a rusty axe, and we go back to waiting. Hector comes under attack, then Eliwood. They swap targets, but Hector can't finish his off. Rebecca takes another life, leveling up for speed and Luck. Bartre goes shopping, buying a coupla axes, and an Iron sword for Eliwood.

Hector fights another bandit, and is attacked by an archer. He's not looking so hot. He does, however, finish his target, leveling up for...skill and resistance. Damn. Eliwoods, meanwhile, gives us... Strength and speed!

Next turn, Hector heals up, Marcus and Oswin make a shield so that Chubby can't reach our more vulnerable units. He attacks Marcus, and...Ohh...Damn. I wanted that experience to go to someone useful. Marcus just stole our kill, ladies and gentlemen. ...Damn. Oh, and if that's not enough, he also steals the last kill on the map. Lupine screams several obscenaties at him, before ordering him to go die in a hole.

Hector and Eliwood, oblivious to Lupine's attempting to strangle Marcus in the background, greet eachother. Hector has come to help our search for Lord Elbert! And his a bit pissed Eliwood didn't ask for his help. Eliwood points out that Hectors brother Uther is the leader of the Lycian lords, and he'll probably need Hector's support for the upcoming meetings. Hector blows that off.

He reintroduces us to Oswin, his sworn man. Uther sent him along to cover Hector's back. Serra and Matthew burst on scene, Matthew trying to hold Serra back. Hector introduces them as well. A cleric and a...information gatherer...lockpicker. Don't let it worry you. Lupine, meanwhile, pats down his pockets to make sure his gold is still there.

Hector says that there are rumors about assasins roaming the lands, and several mercenaries and important people dissapearing. Marcus points out that these guys wanted Eliwood specifically dead. Hector tells them of the soldier standing by and watching the battle without helping Eliwood.

Eliwood goes to consult with Lupine, who thinks something may have happened to Lord Helman. Hector pops over, wondering who the hell this guy is and why he kept shouting "I"LL TEACH YOU TO STEAL HECTOR'S KILLS TO SONNAVA-" to Marcus earlier. Eliwood introduces Lupine to Hector. Hector is surprised that we're so young. Younger than any of the strategiest in Ostia, where he lives. Eliwood assures Hector that Lupine is a brilliant tactician. Lupine blushes and fakes modesty.

Matthew saunters over to say hello to Lupine. He admits he's no common thief, but a spy for House Ostia. He's happy to be traveling again. Lupine says the same, and asks for his gold back. Matthew tosses it to Lupine, but he is unable to catch it, as he is promptly glomped from behind by Serra. He's knocked unconcious by her continious strain of high pitched chatter, bringing our chapter to a close.

Next time: Very specific recruitment objectives! Side quests! Violent Glaswegian! All on Let's Play Fire Emblem!

• Note: Okay folks, Supports are coming up soon. Right now, the only ones we're gonna consider are Eliwood/Hector, Matthew/Serra, and Matthew/The GUY we pick up next chapter. Only Matthew and Serra get a paired ending together, and it takes a long time to build up their relationships, so you people decide if you want to stick them together! Gogo!

edited 25th Sep '10 6:47:42 PM by Lupine_Volt

Hmm, Matt/Serra, Erk/Serra, Matt/Serra, Erk/Serra...

Nah. I vote Erk x Serra.

Sorry for the delay. Homework, play practice, family, the such.

Ah, yes; school gets the best of us, even this early on. It's only this weekend that I finished researching enough about British customs to finish a project for my culinary class. There's probably a few guys in the RP section just waiting to know if I keeled over or something.

But enough about me; this post is mainly about supports! I'd really like to see Matthew/Serra, even if it gets only to B or C rank. Since I had B-Rank Eliwood/Hector and A-Rank Matthew/G on my last playthough, I'd like to see something different. When it comes to A-Ranks, perhaps pair Eliwood up with one of the delightful ladies that appears later on, and Hector with whichever of Matthew, Oswin, or Serra you think will actually be close enough to be of help on a regual basis.

And on a slightly related note, I found out that if you plan everything out in advance and spent a LOT of turns just waiting around, it's possible to get 170 support conversations in Eliwood's route. I must have way too much time on my hands...

Alrighty then. One vote Erk/Serra, one vote Serra/Matthew and Eliwood plus a lady. The three ladies he can shack up with are Lyn, the dancer we'll get later, and Florina's older sister. Hector can go with Florina or Lyn. Lyn can go with Kent, Rath, Eliwood, Hector, or Florina.

Does anyone have any thoughts about using Oswin, Dorcas and Bartre? I usually don't use any of them, but I'd like some input. If they turn out crappy, though, they'll get the boot.

Unless we get more votes for Serra/Erk, or Serra/Lucius, Oswin, Hector, Florina, etc, we'll start the Serra/Matthew support next chapter.

I heartily suggest using Oswin, as I've always found him to be the best performing general in the series. Especially if he gets boots.

Seconding Oswin, and unless you love to set up intricate support networks, only Oswin. It seems that Dorcas usually turns out badly, and anything Bartre can do, Hector can do better, especially when it comes to supports.

I like Serra/anyone, frankly. As for other supports, I don't know if you're gonna show us any more than the ones you suggested, but I always liked Lowen/Rebecca. It's a real sweet one. Lowen/Eliwood and Lowen/Marcus are pretty funny.

edited 30th Sep '10 6:30:37 AM by Longfellow

Alrighty then. If you guys want Oswin, I'll use him for the first time. Unless he sucks. Lowen/Rebecca...err, I dunno. Lowen...I just really don't like Lowen. He's never turned out anything better than average by the time that Kent and Sain come around. I personally like to pair up Rebecca and Wil together, because every time I've done that I've had an unstobabble Sniper Battle Couple. However, if more people like Lowen, let me know. I may try it. Although I'd like to remind everyone that Wil got several good level ups in Lyn's tale.

Also, for Oswin, I'm openning up the option of using Serra/Oswin support, in competition with Serra/Erk and Serra/Matthew. (And Serra/Hector, but that doesn't get a nifty paired ending) I'll have an update by tonight, no worries. Just like to know what you guys think. This is TV Trope's Let's Play, so you'll be deciding my team....within reason. I'm not using a combination of Wallace, Pent, Louise, Renault, Vaida, Harken, Isadora And Zoidberg. Just saying. *Pent and Louise, maybe. The others are dead weight. Especially Zoidberg.*

edited 30th Sep '10 7:28:19 PM by Lupine_Volt

I find Oswin amazing half the time and awful the other half. He's nigh invincible against most non-magic mooks, but that 4 MOV is so fucking annoying. He has to be played differently from every other unit and I never really adjusted.

In my experience Lowen's as good as Kent and Sain. He's kinda like Oswin on a horse; you can't kill stuff with him but he can do all kinds of utility. A bit redundant with the other cavaliers though.

Wil/Rebecca's another decent support, though usually I dump Wil and use Rebecca and the magic users for my ranged hits. Of course, Fire Emblem is easy enough that we can use our favorites (as long as we avoid the shitty Isadoras et al).

edited 30th Sep '10 6:34:14 PM by Longfellow