Update 21: extremely Vinny Vinesauce voice FiiIIIIiiIIiiiIIIIIIiiiISH

♪ A Guide for the Future ♪


Welcome back. Today, we'll take on Flayn and Seteth's paralogue. This is another paralogue you will always have access to, since Flayn is always going to be in your house.
♪ No music ♪



♪ Tactics ♪


For the last time, Flayn, the answer is no.
You are departing for the Rhodos Coast, are you not? I must come!
You will do no such thing. I am not going there to pay respects at the cemetery, but to do battle.
With you there, I will be beside myself with worry. It will be easier for me to fight if I know you are safe.
But...I must!



I don't like the sound of that...
I only wish to make a small request.


A mission?
Indeed. The Western Church is attempting to seize sacred ground by force. With this action, they are no longer merely believers of a different creed. They are a dangerous threat that cannot be ignored.
We cannot allow the holy artifacts enshrined there to fall into their hands.
I, too, wish to be of use to the church! And I do admit I am terribly worried about my brother.
No matter my protests, he will not allow me to come.


Why me?
If you are there to protect me, my brother's fears will be allayed. Isn't that right, Brother?
I suppose your aid would indeed be useful, yes.


Very well.
Wonderful. Let us depart at once!



♪ As Swift as Wind ♪


You'd think the Church of Seiros would've forcibly disbanded the Western Church and remade it by this point.

Here's our group for this battle. Abby, Seteth, and Flayn are forced deployments, leaving us with only 7 discretionary slots. You may notice it's incredibly mage-slanted, and there's a reason for that.

This map is covered in sand tiles, which severely hamper infantry and especially cavalry units' movement. Mages are unaffected by this, as are fliers. Hence, I brought a bunch of mages with me, along with Ingrid. Petra's got enough levels for now, so I had her stay behind.

Note the Church of Seiros banner by Seteth's face. This indicates that he's a guest unit, and does not receive any EXP, skill experience, or class mastery experience. However, he does gain support points with units he has supports with, and will build support points with Abby after every round of combat he's involved in, no matter how far apart the two are.

Mixed in with the normal enemies are Warlocks. We're running into more Advanced classes now. These guys, despite being stuck with Fire, pack a serious magic punch, and are speedy as well. Handle with care.

This guy's kind of the head boss of the map out of the three present. He's packing Aura, a very powerful offensive white magic spell. He's not too durable, and he's extremely slow, so thankfully you can probably kill him in one or two rounds of combat.

The northeast boss is a complete chump. The only neat thing about him is that he drops a Black Pearl on death, which is a Cha +2 stat booster.

The southeast boss is a carbon copy of the northeast boss. She's carrying a Levin Sword, and hey, never hurts to have more of them to turn into Levin Sword +s.
♪ No music ♪


Let's roll.
♪ Dark Clouds Gather ♪


You are the heretics! Begone from here at once!




But none of you are using— Oh, whatever.
♪ Tempest of Seasons ♪


Wait, Brother! I shall accompany you!



There's a bunch of annoyingly-fast Assassins scattered throughout the map.




With a bit of help from Rally Magic, Annette is able to kill the Assassin. She gets a very bad level for it.

Marianne silences this Priest, because... Uh... I'll get back to you on that.

Everyone else just moved up.

Having 0 damage against someone and also missing is the exact inverse of a power move.




Doubling me doesn't mean shit if you can't deal any damage.


Bye-bye.


Let's get this over with.



That crit is fine by me. That level is not.



You can use Rescue for non-defensive mobility. It just isn't that great at it.

I'm gonna get nothing but bad levels today, aren't I?


The Assassin can't one-shot Mercedes, and even though he very much doubles her, he'll get killed by her counterattack.



Is what I would've said if Sylvain wasn't right there.

Hey, Spd. That's not bad.



By the way, Seteth is a monster. He's a Wyvern Rider and he's got high Str and high Spd. You might've thought that the archbishop's right hand would've been a Bishop. Oh, sweet summer child, how wrong you are.

Guardian: Adjacent female allies deal 3 extra damage during combat.

His personal ability also makes adjacent female units—among whom are some of the speediest and already-strongest in the game, remember—deal 3 extra damage in combat. It's really good.


Defenseless, are we?!


Absolutely eradicated.



Ow.





Hubert softens up that Warlock, and gets an okay level out of it.


Abby also softens the Warlock up, intentionally sabotating her damage to do so.



And Annette is able to get an exact kill.


♪ Wrath Strike ♪


Marianne silences the southeast boss, because why not.

Besides not wasting Silence charges.

Not like we can deal damage to her.

You still get skill experience and class mastery experience, at least.


Sylvain, thanks to Philanderer, can at least deal 6 damage, which will get healed up by the heal tile and Prayer Ring.





Back on the west, Ingrid skewers the nearby Thief.


Oh yeah, by the way, the southeast boss can swap to her Levin Sword, so silencing her is a waste.

Poor Linhardt.


I will take any Spd I can on my magic users. They tend to end up pretty slow for me.


Ingrid murders a fool that thought he could challenge her. He only made her stronger in every relevant way.



The Warlocks are actually worthwhile to silence.





Dang it, Sylvain, I thought you were better than getting hit by a 42 Hit chance.








1 HP. Oh well.


this holy man about to wreck your shit


so is this noble daughter who doesn't seem that interested in being a noble



I have no-one but myself to blame for this situation.






Should've used Wind, so I could've said that this Warlock died to a stiff breeze. Oh well.


Try this on for size!


Get clowned on.


You'll notice that Abby took no damage in this round of combat. That wasn't from dodging an attack! Instead, she activated the Crest of Flames's "cancels counterattacks" effect, for what I think was the first time in the game.

Right, time to end this. I've got better things to do.


Thank you, Sylvain.


♪ Tempest of Seasons ♪


Zealots.

Nothing happened in the enemy phase.

I have Marianne bait out the upper enemies. Some Rally usage should make her a good bit deadlier.


No crit.

Linhardt gets an abysmal level from healing Hubert. I don't like how many levels like this my magic users have gotten.



lol

lmao

The Rally didn't make Marianne double. Oh well.




If you find that your natural units have trouble dealing with the Warlocks, Seteth makes for a pretty good backup.



He's certainly amazing at setting up kills.

A mediocre level for Ingrid. She's still way ahead of where her Str would be on average, at least—a whopping 5 over her expected average of 19 at level 19, assuming you didn't put her in Fighter.


...Ah. I see.




Another blind stab hoping for a crit. Oh well.



Marianne's able to clean up. Level's not that great, even if it's got a bunch of stats.



Annette, please, I want to use you.


Sylvain's getting pretty decent at this magic stuff. I'm so ready for him to learn Fiendish Blow.




Pathetic.

Ooooooh, that could've been bad if Hubert missed.




Power...

Annette can't even scratch the northeast boss, so I have her buff up Sylvain instead.

I knew all those defensive levels would come in handy.
♪ Wrath Strike ♪







Bahahahaha!




it's a free round of combat

I'd rather let Mercedes get this kill, so I intentionally lower Abby's total damage by using Ruptured Heaven.

Thankfully, the Crest of Flames's +5 damage effect did not activate.

That Mt-boosting support with Annette is paying dividends here.


Absurd dividends.
♪ Tempest of Seasons ♪



Given your guys' utter failure to do anything, I doubt she's on your side at all.


This should do the trick!


And now, only the northwest boss remains.

If you kill the northwest boss first, I think, the other bosses start running away. I've seen it happen once on Maddening and that might've also been because I took too long. I'm not sure.

Not quite sure why I went with Ingrid's Iron Bow here. In any case...






Wind him up, knock him down.

An annoyingly sparse level, but at least it has Spd.

Of course, Brother. That is what I came here to do.


Yeah, that one was obvious.


Both of these battalions are very good, their Authority A requirement aside. The Cichol Wyvern Co. provides +7 Phys Atk and Assault Troop to flying units, while the Cethleann Monks give +6 Mag Atk and +20 Hit, as well as a whopping +6 Rsl.
♪ Ocean sounds ♪


But just to be safe, I have retrieved the holy artifacts. We cannot risk them falling into their hands.



I will entrust them to you.

♪ Somewhere to Belong ♪



Sentimental significance?
Yes. This stone monument is not merely here to commemorate Saint Cichol. It is also the grave of my wife.
You are safe now, Mother. Finally, you may find peace.


Your mother is also buried here?
I suppose you have earned the right to know. But this must remain between us.


I suspected as much.
And here I thought we had hidden it skillfully. There are many who would seek to harm Flayn due to the unique blood she bears. Falsifying her identity is necessary to conceal her from such individuals.


That's true enough.
Mother loved the coast so much. She and I came here together often.
Fishing was her favorite pastime. I used to sit and watch while she cast her line.
I remember it fondly. You did so love to eat the fish she caught, as well.
Fish is my favorite food, it is true. Due in no small part to Mother.
I still come here to fish, from time to time, using the skills my wife taught me. It reminds me how deeply I appreciate those years...and how I wish I could return to them.
We cannot turn back the clock, Father. We must live our lives fully, in the present moment.
You're right. That is what she always said, isn't it?
Dwell too much on the past, and you may be unable to move forward. Come, then. Let us return home.



♪ No music ♪


That was very sweet and makes me feel happy every time I see it. I do have to admit that Seteth and Flayn's cover is a bit flimsy—their dynamic is very much more "father and daughter" than "brother and sister."

For our efforts, we're rewarded with the Spear of Assal and the Caduceus Staff, which I didn't screenshot. The Spear of Assal has a hefty Lance A requirement, but has 14 Mt, 85 Hit, 10 Crit, is relatively light for a lance at 9 Wt, and comes with a Renewal effect, which is boosted for those with the Crest of Cichol—so, Ferdinand and Seteth. I didn't show it off, but Seteth has a major Crest of Cichol. The two somewhat-mysterious presences at Garreg Mach both possess major Crests. I'm sure that's not indicative of a deeper mystery with them.

Oh yeah, the Spear of Assal also has effectiveness against cavalry. It is very good.

The Caduceus Staff is an equipment item that gives +1 magic attack range, and also gives a Renewal effect to thoes with the Crest of Cethleann—so, Linhardt and Flayn. It's not quite as good as the Thyrsus, which—minor spoilers for later—is the Hero's Relic of House Gloucester, and gives +2 magic attack range. I'm so sad that I'm not going to be recruiting Lorenz every run, because that beautiful thing is tied to his paralogue, which he does not share with another unit. The Caduceus Staff isn't quite as good as Thyrsus, but it's also not tied to a unit that you can potentially miss out on, and also doesn't drain 10 HP after every round of combat if its holder doesn't have a Crest.

Before we end today, I haven't shown off the descriptions of the statues in the cathedral yet, and I want to show the descriptions for the Saint Cichol and Saint Cethleann statues.
A statue of Saint Cichol, one of the Four Saints. It is said that he was a compassionate yet stern figure whose faith was so true he was able to perform miracles. He is the father of Saint Cethleann.
A statue of Saint Cethleann, one of the Four Saints. It is said that she was a beautiful and kind soul who was beloved by all for her empathy and her ability to heal severe wounds. She is the daughter of Saint Cichol.
Parallels abound. Something tells me Seteth and Flayn are, at the very least, closely linked with Saint Cichol and Saint Cethleann. I can't be sure yet, though.

That's all for now. Next time: one of the less interesting paralogues.

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