Moving people around with siege tomes gets you stuff like this, where a door completely off screen is in Meteor range and the game offers the option to fire upon it.
Mist brought her Silence staff. She won't actually be Silencing any of these soldiers, there's no point, but it's important to remember that the game will give you the option.
Tanith summons some reinforcements and Ike orders them to stand here. This is my usual plan for the Sleep staff standing next to Ena.
This corridor gets annoyingly packed on Turn 1. Like with Chapter 16, I feel like the opening could go a little more interestingly?
Turn 2, we make our own fun.
Sothe opens the first door and finds a Warrior. Even if he were allowed to hit back, he has no chance.
Mia rushes in to keep him safe.
Mist continues fighting, despite those sniffles back in Base. Fire Emblem has yet to implement that level of morale into their units.
Tanith summons some more Reinforcements. We're going to bring all six today!
The first treasure is the ultimate kind of Knife, the Stiletto. Stilettos have 8 Mt and are Effective against Armours. Calill usually has better options. Also, since the ability to use Knives is a Skill and not a Weapon Rank, Sothe can and will attempt to use this. Not that we'd be putting him in situations where he can demonstrate anyway.
Titania, owing to her usual standard, will be on escort duty. Her job will be to transfer her massive Move stat onto Sothe and get him to all the treasure faster.
Ilyana walks all the way around to bait that enemy up ahead before oneshotting this guy.
Mia crits the other one, in a still frame I wasn't expecting and am now just staring in bewilderment at.
Lethe gives Titania a Smite. This will cause her to lag a little behind, but this gets Sothe moving faster.
Calill can 2-shot enemies, but this also takes up two uses of a rare and 5-use tome.
So I want her oneshotting if at all possible.
Siege spells don't cut to animations, but they're still impressive. Hopefully Nephenee survived that.
This guy challenged the Holy Guard. And it looks like he did some damage.
He also took some damage, too. That's the Physic staff that Bishop on the left is holding.
The Longbowman standing up ahead finishes the Holy Guard off.
Ilyana continues to crit things.
Mia does not one round something. Thanks, high HP Warriors. Mia is supposed to be fighting these guys, according to the Weapon Triangle.
Ilyana finishes it off.
Parity! Parity will make it so neither combatant is allowed to benefit from Skills, Supports or terrain. In Radiant Dawn, you could choose to fight with Parity or fight normally, but in Path of Radiance, it always procs. I don't fancy this one.
Titania and Lethe Rescue-Drop Sothe all the way up here. I think he can reach the next door from this square, too? If Sothe isn't doing something on his turn, it's a bit of a waste of time, owing to the fact that he's got eight chests to open on top of the doors. Nothing we can do in some cases, but let's try to keep that to a minimum.
Calill handles the longbowman.
And Astrid shoots this guy from across the pond. Just because she can't walk over doesn't mean this guy is safe.
Mist decides to wave her Silence Staff and hit... this guy.
For the next 5 turns, he won't be able to use Sleep or Physic.
Meaning Marcia is fine to hang around on this part of the level. This does mean those Holy Guards are better off someplace else...
Jill continues to take advantage of the freedom to explore this part of the level, and heads towards the throne room.
The Sleep staff up north misses Tanith. I'm not sure a Restore would've helped from that position, and I think Lethe is lugging around Mist's.
A set of reinforcements! So much for "no reinforcements". There are only four reinforcements (at least as I encountered them). On a failed recording, they all spawned on the same turn, but here only one appeared. Clearly they have special conditions attached.
Lethe Smites Titania again.
Sothe apparently missed the door, sadly, so we'll have to resort to the good old-fashioned standby. We are going to be breaking and entering! Breaking and entering is honestly my favourite name for a crime, especially the way Vernon Dursley announces it in the first Harry Potter movie.
(After seeing a giant calmly break down a door and walk in) "I demand that you leave at once, sir! You are breaking and entering!"
Ilyana will deal with Kasatai.
Not from melee range, obviously. Even without the +50 Crit, that would kill if it connected. If.
Daein is on its last legs. Well, these Daeins are.
What else would Ilyana do in response?
So long, slightly nice guy.
Your EXP was very nice.
Mia starts heading back south. Honestly a bit of a mistake, but there will be reinforcements down here for her to chew on.
Tanith makes sure this guy doesn't Sleep anyone else.
Nephenee weakens a general so Mist can only use one Sonic Sword cast. Because clearly I have nothing better to do with her.
To demonstrate, Calill uses her Meteor spell on a door.
Astrid shoots down this mage down here.
Marcia has grabbed Ike and joined Jill in this gambit over here. No, this isn't a surprise Seize, I want the treasure chests.
Jill puts Ike down and ventures into range of this enemy.
The Holy Guard have been sent here, for whatever reason. I think I put them on Avoid, actually.
Another named boss! This guy honestly seems even more metal than Kasatai's "using our skulls as goblets" thing.
These are the guys that spawn at start. The Warrior has a Short Axe, which makes leaving a Swordmaster behind an annoying prospect.
This is more of an issue, though. The Warrior uses a Killer Axe here, and here I am without Mia.
Tanith and Titania open the door-
With Titania moving to exactly this square.
Ilyana easily handles the one enemy guarding the treasure chest.
And now has a one-use Elthunder tome. Probably not going to weaken anything with it, way she crits. Honestly, I think she was supposed to destroy a two-use Elthunder tome on the Sage and crit.
That's a treasure worth protecting.
Mia comes back around to the Killer Axe guy, and wow I Directed the Holy Guard over here? Why? It certainly made my life a lot harder, though.
Lethe stands here, and Ilyana and Tanith are probably unassailable.
Jill throws Mistilethe at one of the Knights that followed Tauroneo. I love exact kills.
And moves out of range. Turns out my cunning gambit wasn't as cunning as I needed it to be, and now I'm improvising.
We're Directing the Holy Guard back here, then. Maybe I'm confusing the Avoid plan with another run.
Marcia stands here with a melee weapon. This plan turned out to have a surprising outcome that I kinda regret but was probably for the best.
Calill and Nephenee work on gaining entry into this room.
Mist and Astrid open up this one.
It has no enemies in it.
Marcia took a hefty hit from Tauroneo.
Calill dodged this Longbowman. Not sure she would've taken much of a hit if it connected, but probably better to be safe.
Oh boy, more damage on Marcia.
And all the axemen go after Lethe instead of Mia.
She doesn't kill this one, but she does account for the other two.
Three enemies are supposed to spawn from this staircase when reinforcements appear, but only one of them seems to have found their way in? I would've liked to have got EXP from them all, but right now, if I want this plan to work, it's probably better there's only one of them.
Marcia kills it and moves to this exact position. Owing to the geography of this map, this is a chokepoint through which the sword units to her left cannot pass.
Mist stands in this exact spot and Physics her. No, really, this is the limit of her Physic range. She can (and does, with her remaining movement) move one tile right, but she can't Physic from there.
Calill gives this guy who shot at her something to remember her by.
Astrid and Nephenee open the door and find four sword units. Nephenee will handle them.
Sothe moves as far as he can, and oh look, Titania is prepared to Rescue him and move him somewhere else!
Here will do.
Lethe, now untransformed, will be preparing herself for contributing to the Rescue chains.
Mia will protect her from the Killer Axeman by blocking him rather than killing him. I think the reinforcements at start are moving in exciting ways I want to try and control.
Ike walks up to Tauroneo and... Talks?
Tauroneo recognises Ike. Asterisk.
Tauroneo recognises Ike's swordplay.
It's interesting, how the way Ike holds his sword can be identified by multiple characters. Unlike Stefan, Tauroneo is just recognising that it matches Gawain's.
Gawain was a Daein general, and it turns out he was a friend of this one.
Gawain and Tauroneo both served Daein as "one of the Four Riders", a position of high rank. It's basically the King's right hand men! Important to note, when the Four Riders included Gawain and Tauroneo, Ashnard's father was in power.
(Minor note, but Tauroneo was designed to appear older than Greil. "How is the old goat?" must be some in-joke.)
Unfortunately, Greil has passed on, so no reunion.
Tauroneo can't imagine Gawain meeting his end. At the height of his skill, Gawain was legendary.
Tauroneo finds it astounding that the Black Knight managed the feat. To me, this honestly says a lot about the Black Knight's lore power level from the Daein's perspective. We, the player, feel his presence as this almost superhuman soldier, but he is still (somewhat) human.
Tauroneo asks this question. He's not particularly interested in continuing to fight Ike if it means killing him.
I'm not 100% sure I like this. I think Tauroneo is more concerned about the number than the gender, since he asked about sisters in the first place... (though it sounds like the Japanese line is less gender neutral).
Tauroneo can't end Gawain's legacy. Not that Ike has been practicing his swordplay.
Tauroneo, that is not a correct answer to that question.
Tauroneo has some firm disagreements with Ashnard's reign, and would do anything other than continue to serve him.
How about fighting for us?
Tauroneo doesn't expect to be accepted into the Crimean army, as a former Daein general.
Remember Ike saying he wouldn't accept Jill's aid in Chapter 12? Come a proper general, and he's happy to get anyone who'll sign up.
How macho of you. Yeah, this man would be right at home in Faerghus.
Ike steals all his stuff for convenience, too.
Tauroneo, as a former Daein general, has a boss quote with most bosses for the rest of the game- like the laguz, mostly a generic "ah, a traitor of Daein, let me kill you" with no response. As a more interesting fact, Tauroneo has dialogue with Kasatai.
Kasatai: Sir Tauroneo! I can’t believe that you would… betray Daein.
Tauroneo: …Forgive me…
Kasatai: You… fool!
Meanwhile, Jill kills this guy to prevent Ike or Tauroneo being in trouble.
She Stuns him, too. That swooping part goes by fast. These things are worth getting clips of, if I could do that.
Despite being Stunned, he's able to counterattack. I think in RD, this is not the case. In theory.
Nephenee is running out of ways to take enough damage for Wrath.
So, remember how Marcia has Vantage? The two myrmidons get oneshot and posed zero threat for Marcia.
This swordmaster survived a single hit, which meant he had the chance to hit Marcia. Even if he crit (he had a non-zero chance of doing so), Marcia would've survived even if not healed by Mist. Marcia was in a surprisingly low amount of danger. Still want the HP if I want to press on further.
Speaking of taking on myrmidons, Nephenee faces down the same ones over here.
She does get lucky enough to trigger her non-zero crit chances, Wrath or no Wrath.
The Killer Axe warrior just ignored Mia. Also, these are where the starting position reinforcements have moved. I am very slightly concerned about how Mia will handle all four.
Let's start with the one that might actually hurt one of my units if left unchecked.
Sothe picks this up. Less worth it.
And Tanith and Titania get him this far with a Rescue Drop.
Astrid kills this guy before he zaps Sothe.
To continued moderately decent levels. If I'm feeling down on Astrid, that's mostly because I usually have her Strength capped by now.
Mist and Jill carry Calill up closer to the action.
Ike moves closer to the throne room. He's gotta be prepared to Seize, after all.
And Marcia stands here, to bait that Killing Edge Swordmaster. This goes horribly awry, see if you can guess how.
Ilyana heals Nephenee, because Staff EXP. There's really no other purpose.
This guy stops being Silenced. So remember how Ena has a Skill that cures status conditions to adjacent units?
Well, time for our units to fall asleep again.
Marcia crits the Killing Edge guy. Sadly, on the second hit.
Nifty level, I think that's everything she really wants.
We get to keep this Killing Edge!
Mia gets another of that good level, except she's switched the Speed for Strength.
Lethe gives Nephenee the Restore staff so she can ferry it to Mist. We have to wake Jill up.
Yay?
Titania and Tanith move around, preparing to receive Sothe once he's opened the other chest.
OK, sure, this isn't starting an actual fire in Nevassa. Just how sturdy are these doors?
Mist finally has the Restore staff.
Once Ike gets close enough to the door, there's a dialogue between Ike and Ena. Ena is staring to the right because I was looking at Meteor toming someone in that general area, and just by hovering over Ena with a Meteor tome is enough to change her direction, but I think this is oddly poignant.
A Goldoan is an odd thing to find protecting Nevassa. Especially since Ike hasn't been not expecting Ashnard- only we, the player, have known that Ashnard is missing.
Ena exchanges pleasantries with Ike. That's a pretty unusual thing to see for Ike, who's seen mostly madmen and Shiharam out of Daein.
Yeah... sorry, Ike, you won't be having that battle with Ashnard you fancy today. Or ever.
Ashnard went to Crimea personally to take over Melior. Why should he be any place different?
If Ike and Elincia truly wanted peace, why not just stop the war now? It takes two to cross swords, after all.
Yeah, uh, the whole "the Daein army has a list of crimes as long as your arm" thing.
Ena, as a member of the longest lived species on the continent, sees things in a very historical way, while most other people are more concerned about how one goes about living their lives.
Ena really wants to return to Ashnard's side.
And the Holy Guard finally do what I summoned them for and take a Sleep staff hit.
This Fighter came to see Mia rather than continue pursuing the rest of the army. Nice and convenient to kill him, then.
Now this is nice. Thoron is the A Rank Thunder spell, and we'll be bringing it out for Ilyana come endgame.
Titania and Tanith give Sothe a Rescue Drop all the way here.
Lethe moves over, and equips the Demi Band to give Tanith a boost.
Mist wakes Jill up at last to finish off the drop.
(To a fantastic level considering her Mag/Spd is capped.)
Marcia baited those mages forward without her Javelin. Unfortunately, that means Ike must now make a tactical withdrawal to avoid becoming mage food. Calill and Marcia block for him.
Jill just drops Sothe where she started and moved up.
Nephenee and Ilyana give him some pushes.
The last Sleep staff charge goes to Titania. Admittedly, not that she could continue to contribute to this map.
Calill gets a crit of her own, to join Ilyana in the "T-pose to assert dominance" club.
This one gets an Adept, but dies just the same.
Calill does not profit from their deaths.
Jill gives the door a great big whack on her way into to the throne room to deal with those Generals.
And Astrid readies her axe, to face the other General head on.
Ilyana finishes off the door.
And Sothe picks up the first treasure chest. Yes, this is the third Master Seal. No, I have no idea who you're promoting at this point.
Yeah, I think we're long past the point of Generals posing a threat to our characters that use physical weapons.
Ilyana makes a start on dealing with Ena. Dragon tribe laguz are racially weak to Thunder magic, in addition to all Laguz weapons.
Bold words for someone who can only breathe in melee range.
...That's a social distancing joke, isn't it?
Jill takes the honours of landing the final blow to liberate the Daein people. That white flash means I got a Miracle proc.
No matter, I had a second hit. The damage back smarts, though.
Ena has the standard set of dialogues, and also something to say to Mist.
Mist: Y-you… You’re one of the dragon tribe, aren’t you? When we ran into trouble in the southern sea, the dragon prince rescued us! I don’t want to fight you! D-do I… have to?
Ena: You have met Prince Kurthnaga? I’ve no desire to steal the life of one who received his aid.
Mist: Whoo-hooo!
Ena: Ah, forgive me, little one. For even so… I cannot quit fighting.
Jill still hasn't capped anything.
That tactical withdrawal means Ike can't Seize this turn. Fair's fair, I think Sothe isn't done looting.
No, wait, he is. The Brave Sword is very worth it.
Marcia deals with this guy. Clergy or not, he's been enough of a pain in the butt.
...Also, he has Shine and Ike is standing in range. Best not to let him kill him.
Ena calmly and politely acknowledges her defeat.
Ike doesn't think there's much cause in her dying, and offers surrender. Ena has been a reasonable person, for the most part, so far, this has a non-zero chance of working.
Ena, unfortunately, is not that reasonable. She must return to Ashnard's side, no matter what. I mean, we're going that way, why not accompany us?
Oh hey, Nasir's here!
...Nasir?
Nasir outs himself as the Worm, and punches Ike with his Shove animation.
Nasir urges Ena to leave Nevassa and head to Crimea to get to Ashnard unattended.
Yes, yes he was. And he seemed like he had made amends for it, too.
Ike is still thinking in terms of good and evil a bit here, perhaps tunnel visioning on how racist Daein is. He's forgotten Naesala and Ena.
Nasir has kept completely silent on the matter. Ike sends him away in a fit.
"Take him away!"
Nasir gives us this cryptic bit of advice, and no more.
Funny to think this is where the villain conversations are happening now.
Ashnard is disappointed but not surprised that Nevassa fell in the end. Ena and Kasatai weren't winning any awards in competence- if they were, they'd be Riders and over in Crimea.
Ashnard doesn't just like war- he craves it. He also believes wholeheartedly in this idea that war is the food of the warrior.
Petrine can barely get the words out when faced with the overwhelming power and unpredictable temper of the Mad King, no matter how loyal she is.
Ashnard left his opinion of "more than enough". Perhaps it wasn't just Ena that turned out disappointing.
Oh... when I think about Ashnard and his interactions with the dragon tribes... this line gets a lot colder.
Ashnard's got a prezzie!
Ashnard wants to see the Medallion housing the chaotic power of a dark god.
The glow of the Medallion corresponds with how much Chaotic energy- that is, war- there is on the continent of Tellius. The Mad King has brought a great deal of that.
"Cruelty" is a new one. Most myths don't specify that part. It's also not really a word associated with dark gods in fiction.
This flooding event really happened. Tellius is the known world.
Ah, now that's a phrase that got your attention! All continents, save Jugdral, have their own version of the "Fire Emblem". Whatever it is, it's usually plot important, and yet none have quite the influential, looming presence that Lehran's Medallion does. Unlike Archanea and Fodlan, though, this trinket will mostly go by Lehran's Medallion, so it doesn't quite feel that way.
Petrine is scared stiff. Well... OK, what's the opposite expression?
Please do not touch the medallion, Ashnard.
Petrine would like to continue possessing her life.
Ashnard takes the medallion away from himself, slightly recomposing himself before continuing the report.
The Black Knight has decided to kidnap a heron, as per Ashnard's previous request.
He chose Leanne. This is a hint that this might be successful, since Reyson is a party member the game doesn't want to take away from you.
Interesting hypothesis.
Yeah, that might tip the odds in his favour. I don't fancy the Black Knight's odds if he and Tibarn crossed, though.
Petrine can't let the idea that one of Ashnard's aides is stronger than him stand without an immediate withdrawal.
Ashnard looks at the Black Knight and goes "...but which of us is truly stronger?"
Petrine says yes to get the hell away faster.
It doesn't help that Petrine has been failing in her service to Ashnard.
..."too"? You've fed people to Rajaion already?
Petrine will earn her title of one of the Four Riders or die trying. Perhaps literally.
Ashnard should maybe consider caring more about his generals?
Oh yeah, Ena is still alive.
Petrine knows that Ena has one mission: Return to Ashnard's side. Regardless of where she is now, her movements are predictable.
Well, so much for sparing her.
Ashnard has no use for people who fail him too many times. Ena has failed him less than Petrine has. I wonder about that whole "Ena trusts Petrine" thing...
Perfect turncount, even using just the one thief.
Next time: So what's the deal with Palmeni Temple anyway?
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