RD Chapter 1-3: Don't ask, don't tell

Faint light of hope, right?

A glaive is a type of blade. It actually shares something in common with the naginata.

Well... not sure what the idea behind this question is.

Who did you give the medicine to?

"Ever since I decided to stop relying on the rest of the Dawn Brigade, I've got that a lot."

...Wait, Aimee?

They were smart enough to take our weapons and inventory. Well, lore-wise.

Just Aimee, for some reason. (Well, just Aimee from the merchant convoy- no Muston, Jorge or Daniel).

Ilyana! You've crossed me for the last time, Begnion! Wait, you have Sanaki...

Aimee doesn't know what her crime is.

...I don't want to know.

Laura:

女性ばかりを集めて……
どうするつもりなんでしょう？

Aimee:

そりゃあ、目的は１つでしょうよ。
まぁ、困ったわ。
私には心に決めた
素敵な勇者様がいるっていうのに……

Laura:

その方は
助けに来てくださらないのですか？

Aimee:

無理よ。
この国にはいないんだもの。
いまは遠い空の下……はぁぁ…

Laura:

そうですか……
困りましたねぇ。

The extended script is slightly more explicit about it, with Aimee bemoaning that she has a beloved. Laura asks if he's any help, but Aimee assures her he won't be, he's in another country. And not interested.

Laura either doesn't know what they're talking about or is choosing not to know. She's apparently 17.

Oh, hello, a male guest!

...What language would he speak, then? Ancient?

In the Japanese and American versions, this infusion is olivi grass, which is an item we'll encounter later on. Suffice it to say, olivi grass is not medicine.

Unknown:

オリウイ草の葉を煎じた
塗り薬です。

Aimee:

オリウイ草～？
そんなの初めて聞くわよ？

Unknown:

え…

Laura:

私も…薬草はよく扱いますが、
その名前のものは初めてです。

Aimee:

ねぇ、せっかくだけど…
得体の知れないものはちょっと。

Laura and Aimee have a bit more of a talk about olivi grass in particular, with neither of them recognising it amongst the herbs they know.

This guy seems to think it'll work.

Micaiah goes for it.

Possibly she got Farsight that this would help.

Something interesting!

Sothe! Also, this cell seems like it would be hell to do anything in, with five people and six spaces.

I think this bird has been the most impressive character on the heroes' side so far.

"I trust you had a cutaway of the boring bits?"

Micaiah:

サザは
どうやって侵入したの？

Sothe:

明り取り用の天窓からだ。

Micaiah:

じゃあ、わたしたちもそこから…

Laura:

む、無理です…！
私にはとてもできません…

Aimee:

私にも、
イレースにも無理よ。

Sothe apparently had the medicine to drop off to the abbot. He also mentions that he came in through the window (Micaiah noted the door hadn't opened on his way in), but Laura, Aimee and Ilyana are in no shape to follow him out that way.

Aimee is kinda into Sothe. Also 17, but then again, I guess Ike was that old too.

Sothe remembers Aimee, presumably with a low opinion of her as 'that woman that kept annoying Ike'.

Sure, good point.

This guy decides to join us on the way out. I'm not sure why they arrested him. Possibly because he was walking around in a cloak.

Kurth, Kurth... huh.

Oh hey, it's the Dawn Brigade!

What are they doing here?

They don't seem entirely sure either.

He's in this for... Laura?

Laura doesn't have any ideas of her own.

We've been spotted!

And the map is populated!

Micaiah doesn't seem surprised.

Sothe has procured our inventory. This conversation doesn't sound like it, but it beats losing our inventory to the enemies.

Especially since I'm not sure if this is Glaive's armoury or Kisca's. The latter is before we even got caught, so it definitely didn't belong to us.

And Laura's inventory too.

And... inventory for Ilyana. Well, guess she was disarmed too.

Ilyana has switched from a pink cloak to a yellow cloak to denote her Thunder mastery, but otherwise she's more or less the same. As one of the younger characters, her RD design also takes away a bit of her puppy fat.

Sothe, believing he has not just a tome of Light but multiple, asks if Ilyana can use Light. Man, if she could, I'd definititely have been using Nosferatu at least once.

How convenient! Micaiah is legitimately making this expression.

Micaiah is thanking her lucky stars he got Light and Thunder and not Fire or Wind (of which neither of us can use).

The books are colour coded, Sothe.

If it works, it works!

If to fight is necessary, Ilyana is happy to bring back her Thunder tome and start zapping fools.

Although Micaiah takes a leaf out of Ike's book and tells her she's allowed to not do so.

...Possibly because Ilyana looks like she might faint.

Fortunately, "looks like she might faint" is her natural state. I told you to see a better doctor, Ilyana.

That would weaken a normal human being, and it seems to have done the opposite for poor Ilyana.

"That's basically all there is to her. That, and crits."

And here's some tutorialisation about how Aimee and Kurth will be taking to the field as yellow units today. As a general note about Phase tunes, the Partner and Other Phases have the same jingle no matter what the faction is.

And battle starts!

Here is the map, showing off our new factions. I don't think generics ever use the same faction as the player, but I might be wrong...

A lot of the fighters directly next to you at the start have Vulneraries, if you want to have Sothe nick them. I won't.

This, though? This is a really nice Skill. I'll wind up having Sothe relieve him of it before Micaiah Thanis him.

Our blessed little Thunder Sage has reverted into the lowest level PoR veteran, but those are some stat bonuses. If you're playing along on a fresh RD file, your Ilyana's stats might be lower. That's where the Transfer bonuses come in- RD Ilyana gets +2 to every stat that is Green in PoR. In our example, Strength, Magic, Skill, Speed and Resistance. Which is excellent, because some more Magic, Speed and even Skill will make Ilyana a force to be reckoned with.

Weapon Ranks also get Transfer bonuses. A base Ilyana will have C Rank in Thunder, but our Ilyana had S Rank in the craft, and so she's gotten a bonus based on such. C, B, A and S all give fixed bonuses, but it seems the 160 WEXP for having S Rank has pushed her to her cap in weapon rank for the moment. Fun fact: Getting from C to A Rank in anything requires 110 WEXP.

The game does not remember anything about Skills, so Ilyana has lost Nihil. However, all the base skills from Path of Radiance have, with limited exceptions (almost entirely on boys) stayed the same, so Ilyana still has innate Shade. One thing RD does that PoR does not is that starting skills do not cost Capacity. Honestly, some characters in this party could not equip their Skills if they had to use Capacity to do so.

Ilyana has spotted her first target.

Most of her stats sapped from her and she's still one-rounding. Yeah, she's set.

Well, this is a nice, clean oneshot to finish off the Light tome. I use Thani anyway, so I can use a one-use Light tome as a weaken later.

Also new to Radiant Dawn: If Micaiah has consumed her turn, it is still possible to access Order and Direct commands if necessary by clicking on her. This is so nice. In exchange, there aren't quotes for giving Direct orders, presumably because there are multiple Lords that ultimately get the chance to Direct allies.

Laura stands on this square.

Ilyana engages in her first round of melee combat. She does not dodge. Her Defence is a lot shakier than Micaiah's, and her HP means she's technically the more frail unit. This says a lot.

Reinforcements from the rear! Laura recognises one.

Oh, hello, you have a face!

Ilyana kills his buddy.

Ilyana can return to greatness one day.

You recognise Aran, then?

Aran appears to be Daein born.

I'm not sure how this situation came about. I'm going to guess it's recent?

Because he knows Laura. Laura doesn't leave Daein.

He has his limits.

Laura has formed enough of an attachment to us that she can't imagine abandoning us.

Aran draws a line in the sand. What Begnion is doing is wrong.

And Aran chooses to fight for us! Good thing he's still wearing his Daein armour!

His birth family. His adopted family, on the other hand...

At any rate, that was Radiant Dawn's introduction to recruiting enemy characters. It is possible to get full recruitment in this game and never Talk to a red unit again.

Micaiah can't reach the exciting part of the map on this turn, and both girls have consumed their turns.

Huh. Aimee is surprisingly strong magically. Note that the Independent faction has no Commander.

Now this is a meatshield. And look at that Capacity.

Pity about the no weapon ranks.

Ilyana and Laura struggled crossing the thickets, but Ilyana can get a boost from a Laura Shove. Now she can engage that ranged unit on the other side of the wall.

Micaiah can go handle some Knights in Thani-able armour.

And gain Speed.

Only some walls can be shot through- the walls that have special holes for the explicit purpose. These walls will appear in the animations.

Ilyana managed the dodge. Yes, mages need holes in the wall too, despite the fact it looks like she's circumventing it entirely.

Micaiah manages a dodge too! Against a myrmidon, no less!

This fellow has a Longbow- an Iron one, to be precise! Longbows in Radiant Dawn have been divided into Iron, Steel and Silver varieties.

It's Laura's turn to take a boost. I'd rather Ilyana get that guy in the corner with the Hand Axe, so she'd like to stand in the thickets still.

Micaiah stays out of that Hand Axeman's way to zap this armour. These two don't like to move.

Sothe readies himself behind Micaiah for the steal. Everyone else eyes the place the two yellow units are hiding.

And here comes the Hand Axe.

This one connects. Ilyana doesn't care.

I'm not sure what I wanted to bait, but it seems I won't get it. After this turn, I'll be claiming the victory. Burton's Wind Edge is an annoying area of denial if I want to finish those east enemies.

Magic capped. Micaiah now could not hit harder if she wanted to.

These three are going to live to tell the tale. They have families, I guess it's not so bad, but in this case, I'm less pleased.

Yoink!

Is this one of those you-know-what kind of caveats?

"Our" referring to the Dawn Brigade.

The Begnions are so much smugger than the Daeins ever were.

This guy does not survive. Capped Magic and Sothe Support.

More HP, and closer to those other stats capping.

The victory condition of this map is to Defeat the Boss, who is stationary here. In Normal, it is instead to Escape from the tile he's standing on. The Longbowman occupies it instead, and Burton is free to move around.

Either way, we're done.

I wonder when Aimee was captured, relative to her arrival in Daein. The extended script implies she did a non-zero amount of proper merchant business, but how long has she been down there?

Begnion, a corrupt invader? It's less likely than you think. For Ike's party, most of their experience with Begnion's head of state was the incredibly helpful and completely solid Empress Sanaki, who'd take one look at this mess and start rolling heads.

I don't think this "looting the towns" thought is actually that prominent in the rest of the text, but I guess it's here, at least. Bastards.

Micaiah:

…でも、先の戦いでは……
わたしたちの国デインが
クリミアに侵攻し占拠しました。
デイン兵だって……
クリミア人に対して、
同じようなことをしたんでしょう？

Aimee:

そりゃあ、当然…
一部にはそういうところも
あったんでしょうけど。
だけど、投降し服従を誓った
クリミア人に対しては
きちんと扱っていたって聞くわよ。

Micaiah asks how Daein treated Crimea. Aimee mentions that at least Crimeans were offered the option to surrender and be treated more fairly. Which... I guess?

Also, Ashnard was way more entertaining a villain- and more cohesive a plan, too.

 いいかい？　国っていうものはね、
たくさんの民が健康に働くから在るものなんだ。
どんな偉い王様がいても、
たった１人じゃ国は成り立たない。
農作物を育て収穫したり、
家畜の飼育したり、衣服を仕立てたり…
その上、税金を納めたりね。
そんなこんなは、すべて
その国の民がやってくれるんだから。
国の財産は金銀財宝だけじゃない。
民そのものこそがそうなんだ。

The extended script is more clear that Daniel is talking about all the little things the people do that make everything about a country run smoothly- the farming and the cooking and all the little work and so forth.

アシュナード王は、それをよく理解していた。
だからこそ必要最低限しか建物を壊さず、
民の命を殺めなかった。
クリミアがたった３年で復興できたのは、
アシュナード王の恩恵によるところも
大きいってことなんだ。

Apparently, the way Ashnard treated the Crimeans and their property was helpful to allowing the place to recover in three years. Considering Ashnard wanted to use Crimea as a foothold to invade Gallia, he at least had a military head on his shoulders.

Daein will once again become just some Begnion land.

We are Daein's last hope. So what is it we have to do?

A rumour. That's all we have.

Aimee:

民が一丸となって、解放軍を組織するのよ。
そして、にっくき駐屯軍と戦って…
国から追い払ってしまうの！

Daniel:

ララベル、
そんな簡単なことじゃないよ。

Muston:

クリミアには、旗印となるべき
王家の末裔がいたんだ。
それを欠いた状態では、
国を取り戻すところまではやれんだろうな。

Daniel:

王１人では国は成り立たない。
だけど、王がいなくても
国はやはり成り立たないんだ。

Aimee suggests doing what the Crimeans did, but Daniel and Muston believe a royal is necessary to do that bit.

The lost child of the last King. That's exactly what Crimea had. Well, that and a charismatic general that represents the people- but we have one of those too.

Jorge:

今夜、牢獄の警備が甘かったこととも
関係あるんだけどな。
ジェルド将軍は、王都で起こった
とある事件のために緊急で呼び戻されたらしい。

Sothe:

事件？　どんな？

Jorge:

『アシュナード王の遺児現る！』
こーんな噂が舞いこんできたらしい。

Apparently, the security in Glaive was particularly lax today because Jarod was called away to attend to the matter of this heir starting something.

A valid question, even if it is strange that Sothe feels he ought to have been informed.

The parallels. Much of what seems good and evil is simply a matter of perspective.

Stay tuned for the third game in the trilogy, which starts with Tormod doing the same thing in Begnion-

The Desert of Death. Yeah, sounds like a place where he'll continue being alive.

So what does the miracle Farsight have to contribute this time?

I find it very interesting that Micaiah did not connect this thought to the existence of the orphan.

Desert of destiny! Don't worry, we won't have the Fire Emblem Desert Map yet. Although the Dawn Brigade has it so rough in Normal Mode I wouldn't have put it past them.

そうこなくっちゃ！
おれたちもお供するぜ。
こんな楽しそうなこと、見逃す手はない。

Jorge has a quick line at the end where he says he wants to come to. Not that you expected to not keep the merchants and Ilyana, did you?

Turncount was easy. Yellow army survived was even easier. Yellow units Escaping in Normal Mode is worth 100 BEXP a head, but we got 200 just for not getting them killed.

Next time: An important encounter.