♪ The Imperial Army is Upon Us ♪
If you can fight, pick up a weapon! Everyone else, hurry up and evacuate! We have the goddess's protection on our side. We have nothing to fear. Victory will be ours!
Almost.
Well, hurry up. I don't need to tell you that the situation is dire. We have some support troops from the local nobles, but the army we're facing is immense. No matter how you look at it, we're at a disadvantage. To make matters worse, the enemy is being led by Edelgard. You know well how extraordinary she is.
Of course we know, but we can't let her get away. Also, please cease your unwarranted glaring. We don't deserve your judgment.
My father was removed from his role as prime minister and is still under house arrest in the Imperial capital. As his successor...it is my duty to stop her!
The way she's going about all of this is wrong. It's up to us to help her realize that!
I won't be following her, but...I won't run away either!
Edie's going to come at us with all she's got. And that's a lot. That means we need to fight her with all of our might too.
She is one who has strength, that has certainty. But we have strength also. We will not be losing!
I shall fight with all that I have. It is an honor to fight alongside each of you!
You students really have guts, don't you? Though, I suppose I can't call you students anymore. You're now part of our order. You have our support and our gratitude.
Leave it to me. These kids...they look up to you. I guess that goes without saying. Just look in their eyes and you can see it. If we all make it through this, let's meet again. Good luck out there!
♪ Anxiety ♪
Oh, hell, is now really the best time for supports? Well, whatever...
Ferdinand/Caspar B.
Ferdinand. Waiting for what?
I am going to give you a lesson on the righteous path of the noble. Righteous path—what? You have a problem with my "path" now? You think you're more "righteous" than me? That remains to be seen. I heard you stopped a robbery in town the other day. Some despicable thief who was robbing an elderly shopkeeper. Rumor has it you didn't wreak as much havoc as usual. Hey, now. I think you're underestimating me here. When the thief showed up, the old shopkeeper was so scared that he could barely stand. I didn't want the guy to pass out, so I had to stay calm while handling the situation.
Rather than fighting, I gave my own money to the thief and told him to get out of there. Or else.
How, uh, magnanimous of you. The thief fell for it and left the shop. That's when I chased him down. I got my money back and gave that thief a good beating. He won't be back here anytime soon. Ah, so you walloped the scoundrel. That does sound like you. I am finding this story more plausible. Nevertheless, I think—
Hold on! Now it's your turn. I heard a very interesting story about you recently. My turn, eh? Let's hear this story, then.
Stop, stop. I know what you are getting at, but you have the wrong idea. Let's hear your version, then. I had been browsing for weapons at a run-down stall. Suddenly, a man seized the stall's owner and started dragging him away! Someone with a less generous spirit might say the peddler had it coming. His wares were quite inferior, after all.
But without a moment's hesitation, I leapt to his aid and soundly defeated the goon! Well done. Sounds exciting. It was nothing, really. Anyway, the old shopkeeper let me in on the details. He said that he was a novice trader, tricked by a noble into selling low-quality goods.
That ruse was about to come to light. So the noble had sent a mercenary to keep the shopkeeper silent. So, that's what really happened. I just heard you snapped and attacked some noble's servant. I figured it was worth asking about. Well, I won't deny it. I forgot my rank for a moment and let my instincts take over. Is there something wrong with that? It sounds a little like something I would do. And your, uh, gentle approach to handling that robbery... That sounds like something I might do. You were not overcome by your impulses. You kept a cool head. For the most part. I think we're starting to rub off on each other. Always looking for a way to defend justice, and to lift each other up! Partners in justice, eh? Well now. That I can agree to.
♪ Anxiety ♪
I'd say Caspar is rubbing off on Ferdinand more than the other way around.
Ferdinand/Hilda C.
I just have a tiny favor to ask. I apologize, but I must graciously decline.
You didn't even let me say what it was! I can proffer a guess. Instead of relying on others, why not try doing something on your own? Nobles should not be lazy or idle. We should accomplish our goals through earnest effort.
Easy for you to say! You're the very model of a diligent noble.
Always contemplating the noblest course of action, never stopping to take a break... Your chore today was repairing the weapons, right? There are so many weapons here, and yet you're already done. That's pretty impressive. It was nothing! Anyone could have done the same. I don't think so! I certainly couldn't. I do not believe that to be true. Look at me. I'm supposed to be organizing these library supplies, but I have no idea where to start. What could be difficult about such a task? You simply line them up and count them. There are too many! Maybe it doesn't seem difficult to you, but that's just because you're so clever. Granted, there might be some creative approaches to completing the task... Oh? Please, enlighten me! Hm, I can point you in the right direction. To start, divide them up by size. Right, right. I'm with you so far. And then what? Now, put similar items together. That makes it easier to get a handle on the numbers. I see! Then what? Now that you have arranged everything, you can begin counting. See how easy it is? Wow! You did that in no time! You really saved my neck there. Thanks, Ferdinand. Bye!
♪ Anxiety ♪
Caspar/Hilda C.
Oh! Uh, hi, Hilda. I just got in a little fight. No big deal. I definitely won. Your face is all swollen! That looks painful. Come on, let's get you to the infirmary. No, no. That's really too much. Like I said, I'm fine. Don't argue, just come along. You look ghoulish!
Huh? Maybe it's worse than I thought... Whatever. It can't hurt to have it looked at.
Great! Thanks, Hilda. I had no idea you were so good at this. I always tended to my big brother's wounds, so I have lots of experience. I'm curious, though. Why are you always getting into fights? You really got hurt. Surely it would have been better not to bother. It's not like I go looking for fights. And I'm not always the one who starts them!
There are just a lot of guys in this world who won't listen to reason. Somebody's gotta beat some sense into them! Hm. So that's why you're always picking fights. Why not ignore them? Or ask someone else for help? Maybe that's how you'd handle it, but I can't just look the other way. How very gallant, but maybe you should try showing a little restraint. You really think that? Yes, I do. I don't think you can solve all your problems by throwing a few punches. The world's a big place. At this moment, all over Fódlan, countless people are in some kind of trouble. But they'll figure things out one way or another, even without you there. Try to hold back and see what happens. Maybe you'll be surprised. Besides, if you're always picking fights, you might get so badly injured that you can't protect me! Now that's a good point right there. I guess I could give this whole "restraint" thing a shot.
♪ Anxiety ♪
Hm. Caspar and Hilda do have opposite viewpoints on how to solve problems, don't they?
Petra/Cyril C.
Aw, just doing my job.
There is no need for showing humility. You work with hardness... I mean, you work hard. It makes me have curiosity. Can you tell me what plans you hold for the future? The future? I don't know anything about the future, but I'm kinda busy, so can we talk later? I have had the learning that you are from Almyra. Everyone has the saying that it may have...may be hard to move up in the church for you. But even with that, you always have passion and work with hardness! What fills you with determination? I work because I work. It's what I do here. And, ya know, I really wanna make myself useful to Lady Rhea, so I can repay the big debt I owe her. Lady Rhea gave me a home when I didn't have one. I understand the feeling of need for repaying debts. But does it give you difficulty, being a great distance from your home for so much time? Almyra's just where I was born. It's not like I've got family there. If ya love your homeland and wanna go back, then that's nice, but...it's not a thing I wanna do. I like where I am. The best future I can think of...is if things stayed like this forever. Yes. I have understanding. You and I...have similarities. But, at the similar time, we have differences. Maybe. Hey, I still got a lot of work. Better get to it.
♪ Anxiety ♪
Marianne/Hilda B.
E-excuse me. I have some more supplies that just arrived for the infirmary. Oh, were there more? I thought I'd gotten them all. I just have bandages and other small things, but there might be more coming. Well, I just got the boys to bring in the heavy bottles. Looks like we can't fit all of it without some rearranging though. You know, if you'd arrived earlier, you could have helped me tidy up.
My apologies. I don't really need your apologies. I need your help. Oh, OK. How can I help? How can you help? I said "tidy up," didn't I? See the shelves there? See if you can clear out some space and tuck away the bandages. I can try...
Hey! Careful, Marianne. There's some strong stuff in those bottles. I'm sorry. I— No, look, just leave the bandages for now, and move the bottles from the shelf.
I can do that. Ah! Now the bandages fell! Aaagh! No!
I'm sorry that I was no help. I just got in your way. It's fine. We'll even it out with pastries. You want me to get you pastries? I guess I can. You seem so thoughtful and composed, but you're surprisingly clumsy. It's such an odd mix, I practically have no choice but to take over for you. You're right... I'm sorry.
♪ Anxiety ♪
One final class change for the road.
Here we go...
♪ Roar of Dominion ♪
Here we go. We already had our introductory cutscene, so we're just dropped straight into battle preparations.Roar of Dominion will play throughout the entire map, by the way. Give it a listen if you can find it on YouTube.
Here's the group that I'll be deploying for this map.
Seteth comes with an innate Authority B, meaning I can give him the Galatea Pegasus Co. right off the bat. How handy.
Cyril will take one of the Knowledge Gems. I want to speed him through Brigand, because we're at the point in the game where I want everyone in Advanced classes or better.
Catherine comes with the Thunderbrand, which, remember, is an absurdly good weapon. 13 Mt, 70 Hit, 10 Crit, has the Brave effect. It also lets her use Foudroyant Strike.
Foudroyant Strike: +6 Mt, +30 Hit, +30 Crit, 1 range, costs 3 durability. Effective against Armored and Dragon foes.
Seteth takes the other Knowledge Gem, because no-one else really needs it.
Let's take stock of the battlefield here. The map is big, and we're facing a lot of enemies. 39 is way more than any map we've done up to this point. We thankfully have some decently useful ally units for once—including Manuela, who has access to Physic.
There's flying monsters here, who pack a serious amount of hurt with their high AS and reasonably high Atk.
Your allied units can't last the entire map, but they can fend for themselves for a while. Take note of how Hanneman has Black Magic Avo +20, for example.
Manuela's even harder to kill, even though she does far more important things.
White Magic Avo +20: Grants Avo +20 when using white magic.
Stealth: Makes it more difficult for foes to target unit.I'm not sure what Stealth actually does, but I think it means that as long as the unit with it isn't in danger of dying in one round of combat, enemies will prioritize other targets over them.
Our old friend the Death Knight is here, and he's even about the same as we last left him. Slightly higher stats, I suppose.
Murderous Intent: If unit initiates combat, grants Hit +20 during combat.
Lancefaire: Grants Atk +5 when using a lance.
Commander: Nullifies instant death effects, status effects, and movement effects, and greatly reduces damage from enemy gambits.
Counterattack: Allows unit to counterattack regardless of distance to attacker.
Discipline: Doubles skill experience earned in battle.
Poison Strike: If unit initiates combat and lands a hit, targeted foe loses up to 20% of max HP after combat.Don't take him lightly, as always, but he is much more easily dispatched with units that aren't Lysithea by this point.
Down here is Ladislava, one of Edelgard's generals. She's got a respectable amount of AS and a monstrous 50 Atk. Take her down with bows from a safe distance, if at all possible.
General: Nullifies instant death effects and halves damage from enemy gambits.
Axefaire: Grants Atk +5 when using an axe.
Aegis: Chance to reduce bow/magic damage by half. Trigger % = Dex stat.
Avo +10: Increases Avo by 10.
Defense +2: Increases Def by 2.Aegis won't make that easy, unfortunately—she's got an 18% chance of halving any damage she takes from bows or magic.
And there's also Emperor Edelgard herself. She's gotten a slight bump in stats since the Holy Tomb, but is otherwise the same.
Charm: Adjacent allies deal 3 extra damage during combat. Axefaire: Grants Atk +5 when using an axe. Commander: Nullifies instant death effects, status effects, and movement effects, and greatly reduces damage from enemy gambits. Counterattack: Allows unit to counterattack regardless of distance to attacker.
Seal Strength: If unit damages foe during combat, foe suffers Str -6 for 1 turn after combat.
Seal Magic: If unit damages foe during combat, foe suffers Mag -6 for 1 turn after combat.
Hubert's on the western end of the map. Heartseeker: Adjacent foes suffer Avo -20 during combat. Commander: Nullifies instant death effects, status effects, and movement effects, and greatly reduces damage from enemy gambits.
Paragon: Doubles experience earned....Why does he have Paragon? Oh, whatever. Treat Hubert with caution. He'll melt to physical damage, but if he can get a counterattack in with Banshee Θ, he'll lock whoever hits him in place, potentially putting them in an intensely bad situation.
Lastly for bosses, there's General Randolph, near the center of the map. He's not as threatening as Ladislava due to his lower Mv, and lack of really threatening abilities, but he's still not to be trifled with. 53 Atk can badly mess up basically any of our units, and he's got some not-insignificant Crit behind it. General: Nullifies instant death effects and halves damage from enemy gambits. Axefaire: Grants Atk +5 when using an axe.
Axe Crit +10: Grants Crit +10 when using an axe.
Phew... Is that it? I think that's it...
Part 1 Endgame: start!
Seteth boasts incredibly high usability right out of the gate. It owns.
Caspar breaks this wall down. Moving the western side up just through that small corridor on the left is way too annoying otherwise.
Catherine is also ready to deal some major damage as soon as she's recruited.
With a little help from Sylvain, Ferdinand can rush this archer down. Moving out of deployment positions on this map can be hard for cavalry, since there's stair tiles near most spawn spots, and those heavily penalize movement for cavalry.
Oh no, she missed Str in one level, whatever will I do? She still got Spd, which she arguably needs more than Str by this point.
The nearby pegasus knights will cause me a neverending amount of headaches if I don't take care of them immediately. As such, Abby locks one of them down with a gambit.Mediocre level. Get Str or Mag, please.
Cyril's able to finish off the rattled pegasus knight and gets a bad level for it.
The onager connects. Annoying.
Ferdie is unstoppable.(Please ignore that status popup, I forgot to go offline before recording.)
Oh jesus that could've been bad.
Like I said, the allied units on this map are fairly capable of fending for themselves.
And Manuela is a pretty big help.
Even when they can't deal much damage, they can still lock units in place.
That won't do—the strongholds to the east and west are our rally points for reinforcements. Retake them at once! Translation: killing Hubert and the Death Knight will give us some very powerful allied reinforcements.
Ugh, how do I deal with two flying monsters here when I only have Caspar and Seteth?
Breaking most of the nearest one's armor seems like a good start.
And having Seteth break the rest seems like a good finish. Now I've got one turn without having to worry about that thing.
Boink.Reasonable level.
Catherine breaks the wall so Sylvain can dance for Ferdinand.
Allowing Ferdinand to kill this archer manning a siege weapon.
Snipe.
Double snipe.
aaagh turn off your internet next time
Sylvain takes 7 damage.
I like how I can have Bernadetta handle a chokepoint and she doesn't get immediately murdered.
I can't really spare the time to break this monster's armor, so I'm going to just go for straight murdering it.
Still a monster, ever a bit speedier.
Caspar will just come out of trying to kill the monster worse for the wear, so I have him use Healing Focus.
This should be fine.
A Rally from Annette surely couldn't hurt.
Same with a small patchup. Sure, it only heals 1 HP, but it activates Ferdinand's personal skill, and every bit of Avo helps when holding a chokepoint.
...Y'know, I think Ferdinand will be okay.
Yup.
Well, there goes Hanneman.
Okay.
While the Death Knight and Hubert are alive, the Adrestians will get reinforcements there.
It's over.
One monster down.
Yeowch.
Here we go!
I didn't need Lysithea to kill the Death Knight...but c'mon. I had to.The Death Knight has battle dialogue with Abby. For the sake of completeness:
This battlefield is too chaotic...for us to kill each other upon...
Catherine is seriously scary.
This is a risky-ass manuever, but I'm hoping it'll work out. If it doesn't, well, I always have Divine Pulse.Certainly paid off in that level. Once I start feeding Seteth Speed Carrots, he'll have killing power on par with Bernadetta, Petra, and Ingrid.
The Onager connects. I have not been having good luck with avoiding siege weapons this map, have I?
Except for this one. Even if it had connected, it wouldn't have done anything.
Damn, Seteth whiffed his counterattack.
Good thing Abby has Recover at the ready.
Seteth pulls out of the middle of the map; he wouldn't have been able to do anything, anyway.
Alright, Cyril, please don't die.
Get outta here.
Breaking that wall makes it easier for Sylvain to get to the center of the map.
Like so.
Oh well.
Finally, this jerk misses.
Owie.
Oh, hell, I need to kill those pegasus knights soon. They're dangerously close to the objective tiles.
I have yet to run into an armored unit that was of any threat this whole run.
Aaaaaaaaaand Physic gets turned against me. Dammit.
Well, uh, okay.Told you these reinforcements were powerful.
And that's the most immediate secondary objective failure taken care of.
Cyril has Close Counter, so I'll just leave him with the bow out.
Alright, the destination tiles are safe.
Victory is assured!
Well, that saved Ferdinand from a potential counterattack.Kinda wish he had more Spd, but this is still a good amount for a cavalry unit in my experience.
Alright, pegasus knights down.
Nice.
Not nice.
Please die now, thank you.
Try me, Hubert.
Bernie uses the Onager to just fuckin' erase that mage from a bunch of tiles away, and receives an excellent reward for her troubles.
Lysithea warps Annette closer to Seteth, for Rally purposes.
And also healing.
With a little dance from Sylvain, Seteth is back at full HP.
The ballista lands. Annoying.
Ferdinand's in a little bit of dire straits, but he should be fine.
Y'know, that's not nearly as fun when it's being turned against me.
Oh fuck, Edelgard's moving up.
I gotta wrap this up quick.
Cyril clears Abby's way and gets a shit level.
...You could at least put up a fight, Hubert.
In the end, however, it seems you are nothing more than a slave to your goddess. Hubert has two other lines: one for fighting any student who started in the Black Eagles house, and one for all other units.
Such a shame. There are people in the Empire you truly care about, too, aren't there?
I wonder what will become of them. What you fail to appreciate is that we have, at our backs, a force you cannot hope to defeat. lol bullshit, we've clowned on Those Who Slither in the Dark multiple times.
I can afford to fall back. We still have the advantage. Yeah, tell yourself that, Hubert.
Hey, that's an excellent level! And the Goneril Valkyries are at full power now!
God Swift Strikes is so good. Don't even need to be fast to be a player phase terror.
Annette rallies Seteth.
Hey, not bad.
My life was changed forever by Her Majesty... Now, I lay it on the line. For the Empire! Ladislava has no other lines in this map.
Annoyingly, the combat UI faded out before this popped up, but that one-shot her.
You sure have, Felix.
I'm taking a big risk by doing this with Seteth.
'Scuse me? Who're you?
oh fuck
Yeah, uh, that didn't work out...
Different tack. Seteth won't get the benefit of the forset tile, but he is less open to other attacks here.
The ballista hits.
Much better.
With Edelgard fast moving up the middle, I'm trying my hardest to get everyone as much EXP as possible before the map is over.
Annoyingly, Cyril is one round of combat away from getting Death Blow, and Sylvain is not close enough to dance for him. Oh well.
I have no choice but to distinguish myself in this fight!
Yeah, sure dude, see ya.
Argh! I'm finished. I'm loathe to say it, but I must retreat... Randolph has special combat lines for facing... Caspar? Huh. This guy seems real familiar...
Y-you dastard! Aren't you... No... Eh, that doesn't matter right now. Let's go!
After a dance and a Rally, Bernadetta could pull this off. I don't have her do it, but she could.
Instead, I have Catherine start.
Edelgard has lines for facing Adan/Abby and any other Black Eagles students, similar to Hubert.
I wish you were someone whose heart could be swayed by my words and deeds. If it were so, I would have done anything to make you my ally...
If you don't want them to be destroyed completely, I suggest you turn tail and flee.
Think very carefully about whether you wish to raise your sword against the Empire...or if you will offer it to us in fealty. And after you've thought it through, if you still wish to fight, I won't stop you. I will simply use the full extent of my power...and crush you.
Again, she can barely put up a fight.
She feeds Catherine a level that I am fine with.
Yessssss, perfect level.
Alright, let's wrap this up.
Marvelous.
Send in our reserve troops! And give my uncle the signal!
What...is this?!♪ Descent ♪
♪ Against the Imperial Army ♪
This update brought to you by the wonderful patrons of my LPs on Patreon:
- SighOfLethe
- LoneJudas
- JeromeKelvin
- Carnival
- Logicblade
- marron
- Nico Z
- Wakujuz
- BeanMachine
- Crosspeice
- LiveBait
- Cotton
- Plutia
- ZZT the Fifth
- Jesse C.
- freshlybaked
- Materant
- Vrorag
- Natsume
- Silverfire
- Sylviaon
- Andrew
- Aithon
- ThornBrain
- LPFinale
- Erisin
Next Update
Previous Update
Table of Contents
