Does the game add an extra turn here? I'm going to check all the survive and defend chapters in the epilogue when I finish because I really don't know how that works.
- Tactics — 4 stars
- Survival — 5 stars
- Funds — 4 stars
- Exp — 1 star
- Combat — 5 stars
I'm surprised Funds didn't go down after I sold a bunch of stuff to hire Farina. Guess it's cause I have so many unused promotion items. OTOH, nothing's going up, either.
After yesterday's battle, I was worried Pascal's men might have butchered the citizens of the unfortunate village they burned. That beast didn't give a whit about civilians...fortunately, it seems a traveling swordwoman defended them before leaving. Something about finding her brother...shame, I would have liked to meet her.
Brr. It's freezing up here in the mountains.
After Hector's information proved inaccurate, we followed up a tip from Louise instead. It's an open secret that the king's daughter, Guinevere, is his by a mistress, and that he would prefer her to be his heir. It's possible he might have "disappeared" the Emblem out of spite.
So Hector, Lyn, and Eliwood plan to sneak into the king's castle in the mountains and see what they can uncover. A rather foolhardy move if you ask me, but they didn't, this time.
I'm strolling in the woods just below the treeline, getting to know our new recruit; the rest of our band is chilling (literally) at Merlinus' tent. Farina acts like she only cares about money, but when I mentioned we had two pegasus knights with us prior to her joining, Florina and Fiora, her eyes lit up. They're her sisters! She's a bit disappointed not to meet them—she had a quarrel with Fiora several years ago, and they've been estranged for a while; a chance to reconcile would be nice.
While chatting about family, she suddenly halts, thrusting out an arm to block me. Silently, she points out the wyvern patrol circling above our heads. Have they seen us? The palace guard is known to be unforgiving with trespassers.
No...they're watching some tiny figures in the distance. Could it be...? Oh, Crap!.
If they capture the heirs of multiple Lycian territories, alive and red-handed in the act of espionage, it will give King Desmond all the excuse he needs to invade. The Ostians and Legault quickly retrieve Ninian and Nils and flee—if we fail to rescue the lords here, someone must warn Lycia.
I hop astride Farina's pegasus, arms around her waist, as we take to the air to command. There are other figures hurrying to join...it's Pent and Louise! How did they know?
Hector: Injured several wyverns for Lyn to finish off. Hector's not quite a "whirling vortex of doom" anymore; he's still impervious to enemy attacks, but can't kill them either.
Lyn: When the Heaven Seal did nothing for Hector, she took it. I'm not sure what it did—Farina and I were too far away to see clearly—but she seems fine.
Rath's short reunion with us must have rekindled some interest in the traditional weapon of Sacae; Lyn proved an almost supernaturally good shot, downing many wyverns in flight when Hector failed to pierce their scales with brute force. A few that got close were struck down with the wrymslayer or lancereaver.
Eliwood: Did nothing but give supplies to people.
Bartre: Bartre, on the other hand, was everywhere and did everything. He and Guy were visiting a few locals to learn the best spots for hunting; after all the money I had to dole out to Farina, we're going to be living off the land for a while.
When the attack started near their homes, he went south to shoot some people, northwest to save Merlinus, southwest to shoot a knight and nomad so Farina had room to maneuver, and finally east, where he broke the halberd and pincushioned wyverns until Vaida got tired and left.
Guy: Helped Bartre for a while, then guarded Louise's ballista after talking with the houses' residents—one of them has heard of a tactician named Montago. I guess I'm famous now!
Pent: Incinerated the closest enemies with his Elfire tome, then all the western ones. Unsure who needed his help more, he made up his mind to aid the southern group when his wife came under fire, using his Physic staff to heal her and Farina several times.
Farina: I hope it was my added weight and inexperience with flight that distracted her, because I would hate to think my mercenary friend wasn't worth her salary. We had a lot of close calls today.
Starting out, she duelled bandits on the southern mountaintops with the axereaver, which went well enough. With Bartre's assistance in drawing away the most dangerous enemies and Louise providing artillery support, we visited a tiny village and received a rare Hammerne staff.
A blue-haired woman with the air of a Femme Fatale handed it to me with a tone of irony, although I couldn't see the joke. I didn't realize it at the time, but this was actually our moment of greatest peril.
When a squadron of Bern's finest arrived from the southwest, Farina tried to fight them...but we were hopelessly outclassed. She criticalled a few, but trading blows with the rest of the riders was a losing strategy, and they never stopped coming. We fled east, where the situation was little better, Guy, Louise, and Bartre being overrun.
Louise: Shot a bandit to the south, then took an abandoned ballista—Bern doesn't clean up very well after their military training exercises, do they? She used it to kill one of the nomads harassing Merlinus, then a wyvern attacking her.
Meeting up with Guy, she injured several more wyverns, but the small group began to be overwhelmed. A rider broke through and tore a ragged wound in her side. As she gasped what was very nearly her final breath and Farina tumbled from the sky, I frantically yelled for Pent, who saved us. In almost no time, Louise's flesh knit together and she clambered back into the ballista. She defiantly fired the last shot in the battle, and the last arrow in the siege engine, to critical a wyvern.
I will never again underestimate the power and versatility of magic.
When Vaida tired of her blood sport and left, I asked Pent why they had come. Apparently, the duo had noticed a large flight of wyverns not in Bern livery and decided to trail them...wait. They aren't Bern soldiers? Pent confirms this, being more versed in the uniforms of various armies than I...but says they do not appear to be Black Fang either. Curious. I guess that could be why they didn't keep fighting to defend the castle.
Lyn thinks tracking Vaida's unit might lead us to the Fire Emblem, so we leave the growing uproar around the palace behind. As we climb higher into the mountains, I ask Legault about the woman I met in the village; it is surely no coincidence that she appeared when she did. The chill I feel in the air grows remarkably frostier when he informs me it was probably Ursula of the Four Fangs. So close to death...yet she not only spared us, but gave aid. Why?
Apparently being in a ballista slows Louise down so much she can be doubled by wyverns. Down to one HP, then healed to full by Physic. Also, I gave her the Afa's drops.
Farina got a horrible level-up of one HP point...twice. Pent did the same thing, but only once. I'm kind of annoyed, because I've been looking forward to new units for a while and they're being overshadowed by Bartre, who isn't even using his primary weapon!
12 turns, assuming one's automatically added.
MVP: Bartre the Swiss Army Man, who kept all my people safe. Best defense is a good offense.
