RD Chapter 3-12 Base: The dotted line

The bridge was called "Riven" in PoR. I think this is on the translation: In the JP version of PoR, it is also called something close to Oribes.

Sanaki isn't in this to crush Daein, though. Hopefully a peaceful outcome will be faster than crushing the Daeins to dust.

Although perhaps this is overly optimistic. They did ask for Sanaki to be handed over, I'm not sure in what universe this request would be honoured.

I'm more amazed they not only returned the messenger, but allowed her to wait this long.

Let's try and keep things to a minimum.

This one's a pretty cryptic title.

生きてこそ

The translation is something like "Only Alive" or "As We Bear It" or something. I think it's more fitting, but I can't explain it.

Micaiah got taken to a sick bay, which probably explains Daein's non-hostility over those several days. I wonder how things would've turned out differently had Sanaki pressed on immediately. Could Daein have met them without Micaiah?

This is news to Pelleas, though.

...Honestly, kinda strange considering how little Daein's been active since 3-7. Presumably Micaiah's still been doing stuff, but no idea what that stuff is.

Mood.

As is usually the case.

Hey, how come I don't get to use this as a medical condition?

...I have questions. Several questions.

Sothe phrases it somewhat more bluntly.

Something has to give, and honestly, Micaiah is the weakest link here. Look at her, do you think she can physically hold that much stress?

In a physical fight between Micaiah and Pelleas, I think I give the edge to Pelleas. Sothe has him roundly outclassed, Rescue penalties or no. Although perhaps we shouldn't bring mechanics into this, Pelleas is actually pretty powerful compared to base Sothe.

Sothe, again, speaking on Micaiah's behalf. Somewhat disconcerting that I can't actually see Micaiah on Sothe's side in this argument. Loyalty to one's King in the absence of all reason is a trait normally reserved for... Camuses.

There is a non-zero argument to be made that, rather than Levail, Micaiah is Radiant Dawn's Camus. They are typically characterised by being strictly non-playable, but the shifting perspectives offered by Radiant Dawn have given the devs a prime opportunity to not only present the perspective of a Camus, but explore it. Notably, Three Houses also lacks a character who is both non-playable in all routes and possesses the qualities ascribed to the Camus. Honestly, I'd say Three Houses does "playable Camus" even better, by virtue of the sheer volume of sympathetic hostile perspectives on offer. No one character in Three Houses is the game's Camus, but there are bits of him scattered across the cast. Especially the Faerghus lot.

Anyway, back to this ponce of a King, Pelleas has gotten desperate for Micaiah's continued service in the war.

It's gotten to the point that Tauroneo, who otherwise has his own issues with excessive loyalty, is like "...yeah, mate, this is excessive, please stop." When Tauroneo is calling you out, pay some attention.

He's gotten on his knees! The music has cut out! This must be a big deal!

You are being really vague right now, Pelleas.

Sothe has looked at that and thought "suspicious". I can't even say he's wrong. That's basically the only thing that explains what Pelleas is doing right now.

...You-

Sothe just really doesn't care about Pelleas's peddling anymore. He's gotten in between him and Micaiah, and for that he shall be shown no mercy.

...Now if that isn't a choice of words to explain his actions.

Oh. It's time for this to make an appearance.

Blood Pacts are synonymous with bad writing in the FE community, and honestly, I disagree with the arguments that are usually made for it. But before I can cite myself too readily on that, we'll need to let the game explain what they are.

One thing to observe right off the bat is that Almedha is aware of what they are and respects their dangerous nature.

So yeah, let's talk about this whole shebang.

Yes, yes, I know, Micaiah has arisen from being knocked unconscious by stress, we have more important business. It was going to happen at some point, Sothe.

Pelleas, right off the bat, you should know that is not the defence you think it is.

I feel like the reason for the late night, other than the ominous lighting of night time, is to flex on Pelleas and make him go out of his way on purpose.

This is not what he was expecting out of tonight's sleepwalking episode.

And Lekain just warps in, as one does.

Pelleas considers this to be worth questioning. At least he's good for something.

The Rewarp staff appeared in Thracia 776, as an enemy-exclusive staff that the unique mechanics of Thracia undid the whole "enemy exclusive" part, this game as a truly enemy-only staff, and Shadows of Valentia as something both sides could cast, but with limitations compared to the Thracia and RD versions of the spell. Expect it to appear next in FE20.

Mechanically, it can put the caster on any square on the map they are allowed to stand on. When equipped, it's good for 20 HP recovery a turn.

I believe it is mentioned in some capacity that warp powder is an essential ingredient of the Rewarp staff. Raw warp powder was just impractical.

One might ask "why not just take a breather before acting", but then you run into the problem of "why not just ride a horse to your destination and cut out the (presumably rare/expensive) middleman".

This line offers some explanation for the Black Knight's ability to teleport onto a map and immediately do some serious damage in this game. The Black Knight might've mentioned that warp powder is draining to Ashnard, but this could easily have been an excuse to make this ability of his seem less useful than it is and distract Ashnard from desiring it for himself.

The messenger tells him he's gotten distracted, and Lekain has this comment to make. Rewarp is not the only enemy-only staff that is mentioned to be created by senatorial research. One gets the impression that Lekain fancies himself a pioneer and enjoys new things. On the other hand, it's Lekain, odds are it's not him putting in the work.

All right, let's get back to why Lekain is here.

Lekain, to Pelleas: "Can I ask a favour?" He must know he's got some serious leverage to get this to stick.

It's implied this happened before the conversation in 3-5, but Lekain brings up the fake apostle rhetoric. If we are to assume this line is not in error, Lekain has been working on setting this up long before he felt the need to capitalise upon it. This is all kinds of very concerning.

そう、まさにそれだ！
半獣どもを始末するために、
デインからも軍をお借りしたい。

I see no mention of the false apostle here.

This should really have stopped here.

Pelleas at least manages a diplomatic way of phrasing "get the hell off my property".

And Lekain gives him pretty much the same ultimatum as Pelleas did to Micaiah before this flashback. I think the key thing to consider is that Pelleas thinks this threat is something Lekain can actually back up.

まさか！　我が国は現在、
半獣どもと戦の真っ最中…
こちらに割く兵力など、とても。

(Incidentally, this not actually the case, Lekain is too busy fighting the Laguz to enforce any punishment personally).

There's really something funny that the Daein arc boils down to "did you read the Terms and Conditions?"

This is a document Pelleas has signed.

Pelleas:

即位式の後に…
僕が署名した借用書……？

Lekain:

そう、非公式に行なった、
元老院の『誠意』です。

Pelleas:

帝国がデインに対し、
無利息無期限で億単位のゴールドを
貸し付けてくれるという内容でしたね。
借用書という体裁はとっているものの、
駐屯軍の不始末に対しての賠償だから、
ゴールドは返さなくていいと……

Lekain:

さようさよう。

Pelleas:

それを盾に脅されるのであれば、
ゴールドはお返しします。
復興のため、かなり
使ってしまいましたが…
何年かかってでも必ず……！

Lekain:

世間知らずのデイン王は、
これがただの借用書であると…
そう信じておられるようだ。

Pelleas thought he was signing a loan contract, where Begnion would give a hefty gold sum to Daein. Although this transaction was technically a loan, Begnion waived the return date as repartritions for its crimes. Pelleas initially believes Lekain intends to renege on this waiver, and promises to return all the gold he still possesses (a solid chunk having already been spent on restoration efforts).

Whoops.

This line kinda feeds into some of the less fair criticisms of blood pacts- namely, it is not in any way a magically compulsive contract. It is physically possible to break the terms. You'd think this one would be obvious, but sometimes you really need to go over the basics.

Izuka's betrayal was obvious and off-screen, but the shoe has finally dropped. You mean to tell me that the King counting on someone else to read all his contracts and assure him of their validity was conned into signing something of the advisor's agenda? Perish the thought!

Izuka is not working for Daein at all!

Lekain:

普通、借用書に…
血印など用いるわけがない。
あなたも訝っていたようだが？

Pelleas:

……だが、イズカが
儀式としては当然のことだと……

Lekain:

そうだ。
”血の誓約”を結ぶ儀式では
当然、必要なことだ。

Pelleas:

…まさか……

Lekain:

イズカは私たちの手先。
デインを完全に支配するために…
意のままに動く王が欲しかったのでな。

Pelleas:

あ……　あ…ぁ……

Lekain asks why a loan would be signed in blood. Pelleas was assured by Izuka that it was standard practice. And that's when the penny drops.

Kinda shatters Pelleas, a little bit. Again, if this is supposed to be before the 3-5 scene, "Izuka got kidnapped" is kinda different in tone...

There are stories about blood pacts? They are clearly not a recent innovation of Lekain's, but one by one of his predecessors.

Aimed at rulers. I don't think it necessarily needs to be the case, but it's interesting that Begnion has developed a tool so uniquely suited to get foreign powers to obey their whims. They really resent the whole "other nations forming from their lands" thing, don't they?

The complete. Destruction. Of country. It sounds impossible, but the Faerghans did it with good ol' elbow grease, why not a way to do the job magically?

This is definitely an interesting story, but less because of the words and more because of the pictures.

Who it was lost to appears to not be covered. What country even would take territory other than Begnion itself?

Perhaps this was an attempt at resolving such an attempted conquer.

Lekain has his way of thinking about things. As usual, it's a pretty unpleasant sort of way.

No, but I fear you're going to tell me anyway.

Someone just... died. I wonder what the official story was among his family before they figured out the truth.

One can observe the rate of a blood pact's destruction through an understanding of triangular numbers.

"Like a contagion". I wonder if there is in fact a common root with plagues and the blood pact curse.

465 people are now dead.

And a further 4585 people died while this king desperately attempted to figure out an appropriate means of contrition. Just in case you thought it was just this particular Senate who were assholes to the nth power. Or in this case, the nth triangular number.

I wonder how that country arranged its succession.

And was eventually released from its blood pact by...

...Lekain, you were supposed to finish the story.

Well, he does have a choice...

Although yeah, I would never suggest it as the right choice... mostly...

And Lekain leaves us off with that lovely little note. A regular abusive relationship, this one. Imagine what it's like being unable to speak up about your persecution in fear that news of your efforts get back to your abuser and you get punished for it. This sort of thing can get oppressive.

Disobey the Senate and Lekain is made aware of it. I believe the curse of the blood pact must be actively invoked- think of it as Lekain having his finger over the nuclear launch button. No matter how imminent that threat is, Lekain still has to actually make the effort to push the button.

Unbelievable.

This part was not mentioned in the story.

I wonder if it's like Harry Potter's scar and it causes Pelleas physical pain when he breaks the pact and the curse is invoked.

Sothe, meanwhile, isn't buying it. Or at least, would very much prefer to not have to choose to buy it.

And Sothe throws this point at the pair.

Almedha's "..." speaks volumes.

It turns out there is considerable grey area over whether this is a functional solution. The lion's share of blood pact negativity is the debate over how to define who it works on. My initial counterposition is this: If the blood pact cares about genealogy, Ike is a more likely victim of the curse than Micaiah.

Micaiah can tell truth from fiction. In a fashion.

And that got Sothe listening.

Micaiah pulls us off the relative goose chase of asking whether or not we should even be believing this threat.

She still has some of her powers. Imagine if she lost Sacrifice! I don't think anyone would care, honestly, she has Mend and Physic now.

Part 1 was kind of... pointless, in the end. We're a country again and not a supressed blob, but our role in the world is no better than the Imperial Occupation Army's was. Honestly, we probably have an even worse lot, because we're the cannon fodder.

Sothe really doesn't want to have Micaiah continue as general.

...Remember how inspirational of a figure we were in Part 1? How much the Daein Army would give their lives to the Maiden of Miracles thus far in Part 3?

We can't afford to abandon that advantage. That would be the equivalent of sending the people of Daein to their deaths. Not that this isn't already.

Sothe doesn't seem all that fond of that answer.

You've said that already, and my answer is the same. The fact you didn't know is proof you should never have been in charge of that decision in the first place.

...Pegasusknight.com's script for the 3-12 opening stops here. I don't want to blame that on the site, but, uh... did the following conversation really only happen for INT?

We need answers, not apologies.

Pelleas has made enough of a mess. He doesn't want to have to be responsible for a greater mess.

Sothe, for obvious reasons, is not a fan of this plan.

Tauroneo, for slightly less obvious reasons, is also not a fan.

Consider how long a war of this time period might last, and compare it to some of the triangular numbers you might get. And then consider the Apostle's Army, if Daein allows them free access to Begnion and suffers the curse, must make it through what remains of the Central Army, get to Lekain, and not even necessarily undo the curse.

Hundreds of Daeins are going to die. Whether this pact is obeyed or not.

Pelleas, last King of Daein. Although what happens to this land afterwards could get interesting.

Considering Lekain's idea of how much sacrificing Daein should be doing, even if the Daein Army was routed, the blood pact would probably be invoked anyway and kill the rest of them off while the Apostle's Army is in Begnion.

The music cuts out again on this line.

It's Micaiah's turn.

Pelleas, listen to yourself.

You're telling me there is no escape clause on a contract? Most of them, you can do a pretty good job just ripping the damn things.

We're not accepting "I don't have the power" as an excuse. If you don't have the power, who does?

I'm really not sure where one would go to find information on Blood Pacts. It doesn't seem like something you could just find on a bookshelf. At least I really hope you couldn't.

Pelleas resolves to take Micaiah's suggestion to heart.

Charging bravely into the thick of danger to save people, that's been what Micaiah's been up to the whole time.

With that said, though... we have to figure out some way to avoid suffering the consequences of the blood pact while we figure out how to undo it.

All we need to do is just look like we're contributing to the war effort!

"Time to grab books from the shelf randomly and hope for the best!"

Now then, to figure out how to fight off Ike and the Apostle's Army without dying horribly. Can't be too hard, can it?

Astrid really made use of Parablossom while she had it. I'm hoping to get her Paragon into the general pool, so it's nice that she's so close to her omnicaps.

This is the glossary entry for Blood Pacts, since I know some people will want to have it on hand.

血の誓約(チノセイヤク)

古から伝わる一国の王が何かを借用する際に結ぶ誓約儀式。
誓約を結ぶと左右どちらかの腕に誓約の"証"と呼ばれる輝く模様が現れることが特徴。
誓約者が約定を違えると呪いが発動し国民全ての命が奪われる。
誓約が解かれるまで"証"は、先代の王もしくはそれに順ずる者に継承される。

Yes, I got the JP copy too. This one looks basically the same, though.

Five Base conversations today. And unlike 3-6, there's some chunk to all of these ones. I guess that explains why the Base is longer than the Combat today.

What are you doing still here?

The Micaiah line I skipped to prompt this was "please be careful". I joke about Pelleas being a spineless king, but he's jelly right about now. Not that it's the most unreasonable thing in the world.

Micaiah's probably been feeling this suffering for a while, which helps to explain why she was staying on Pelleas's side.

...Apparently Micaiah is of the opinion that Pelleas not knowing about the Pact absolves him of guilt.

Fight destiny? I mean... I can see how it works, but that seems a little dramatic for what's going on here.

"Another one". This is just a Master Crown.

Or die trying. Yes, I know it's not a dangerous mission, but...

We'll just put in the pile, I suppose?

Tauroneo speaks with Sothe.

He's interested in this talking point. I think, the way Sothe answers this question, Tauroneo implies that he believed Sothe was still planning on running away with Micaiah even now. Which... after that speech Micaiah gave, how would Sothe get away with it?

Tauroneo comes back to this thought.

This is a very good question still. Zihark is a Daein fighting for the Laguz Alliance. Meg is a Crimean fighting for Daein. Ike is the son of Daein's Greatest General and has loyalty to no country in particular. Which of these characters will be in danger?

Sothe has the right idea. There's no way to use edge cases like this to save everyone. You have to attack the problem directly or nothing will happen.

So what are "these"? When you find out, this conversation will get a lot more hilarious.

Also, what parting was Tauroneo preparing for? I suppose Micaiah was planning on leaving when her Brand became an issue.

Sothe is gobsmacked.

Because Tauroneo just gave him a pair of shoes. As hilarious as this is, the Boots are honestly not as great as they usually are. I wouldn't really say movement is the chokepoint in many of the maps these can influence, but they are still the one-of-a-kind statup they usually are. I don't use these immediately, but I will use them at the first opportunity on the person whom I intend to receive them.

Sothe's conversation is giving us a cash injection. Sothe also notes that cash is only going to get us so far.

Ike is a sledgehammer, and Micaiah knows there's no way to stop that.

Sothe worries about her being so hard at work here.

...That's a choice in ending.

Cash injection is a cash injection.

Oh hey, it's Nolan! Back from a long break, Nolan is here to fulfill his last job as Leader of the Dawn Brigade.

Also, they have a nice little character trait for him.

Nolan was a merchant, although I don't believe we're ever led to assume anything in particular about the literacy levels or lack thereof in Tellius. I feel like Edward doesn't know how to read, though.

Nolan is very much a thinker, as the fact his hand is on his beard can attest to. I'm not sure what gives Nolan the impression Sothe is in the "learn as much as possible" camp.

Nolan's still... sorta doing his job as leader. It's very clear that at this point, Micaiah all sorts of outranks him, though.

Is this a good position for Micaiah to be? Nolan doesn't seem sure. I wonder if the answers are in the book he chose to read.

At least Nolan is the sort of leader to be concerned about his charges. Give him a little training and he might actually make a good contender for Daein's next King when this whole "Pelleas" thing doesn't work out.

I wonder what we're meant to make of these "..."s.

6000 Gold, the most expensive Axe outside the S Rank one.

This exchange really piques my interest. I wonder if Sothe is trying to reconcile Nolan's role as leader with the current arrangement of the Dawn Brigade.

There's also this weird thing where I don't think Nolan actually knows about the blood pact. Telling them about the death curse placed on all of them is probably lethal for morale, but Nolan seems like he could do research way better than Pelleas.

You forget sometimes that Sothe is still young. 17, by the artbook.

"But not too long, or you'll forget you're even contemplating it."

No, but seriously, that's the last we'll hear from Nolan. I wish this guy well.

Now just hand that over to Jill and...

"Nico" is, of course, with Nico the kiddo from Chapter 1-1. They brought him back. This conversation, too, is an addition of the localisation. There is just outright no equivalent to this scene in JP.

You do have to wonder how these two tracked us down, though. Also, from context, I feel like it's slightly weird in continuity for Micaiah to be out here participating in a Base Conversation- I think the intent behind her conversations in this chapter is that she's been holed up in her room planning for some way to hit the Apostle's Army and sting.

Micaiah is not one for titles or any sort of fuss.

So how are the commoners handling this whole situation, then?

...What are you doing, then? I'm serious, what is it that you're contributing to this particular effort? I feel like there's a missing question here.

Presumably they're acting as a voice for the voiceless, but that doesn't work as well when Nico is an established character. Perhaps his father is in the army.

Micaiah promises success.

And gets his hopes up even more. This fanaticism is going to stay there for a long time, isn't it?

For example, making sure everyone doesn't die a horrible, but quick, death.

Nico's fine with leaving. I know kids who wouldn't be.

Time for Micaiah to have her piece.

Micaiah is entirely in this for the good people of Daein like Nico.

That's the whole reason she's in this army, remember. Before she started her faith in Pelleas, she was entirely for the commoners who needed liberation from Begnion.

This war, on the other hand? There's no two ways about it. The Begnion Senate killed their empress, did a genocide, killed a messenger when he was sent to complain, is using other countries as cannon fodder, tried to kill their empress again, and all the other crimes I've lost track of.

It's kind of difficult to not want to kill and be the general of an army at the same time.

This is where Micaiah sells herself. The answer that helps the largest amount of people is to step back, let the Apostle's Army through, and hope they kill the Senate fast enough to undo the blood pact. Perhaps join them and speed the process up.

But that's not an option for Micaiah. She's going to save her people no matter the costs.

This is a lot of the rhetoric that gets applied with Edelgard doing the same thing- painting herself as something to be reviled and hated to act in the greater good of saving the people she is responsible for. And I can certainly agree that the parallels feel intentional on the latter's part. However, considering the rest of Micaiah's character, I'm disinclined to say Micaiah is much of an Edelgard. She does similar things, but doesn't really have the same character needed to fully step into those shoes. I do have to wonder if Edelgard was an exercise in "but what if Sanaki had to win from Micaiah's position?".

Then again, this is also a character motivation grafted on by the localisers, and as such was not designed to fit in with the rest of her character by a single writing team (unless the original writers requested the addition late in development). It's interesting that the same translation company that gave such Edelgard-like traits to Micaiah then went on to weaken Edelgard's position in Three Houses. Many. Many. Many times.

Anyway, let's do our housekeeping. Tauroneo is now in our army and he will stop hiding behind plot reasons to not be deployed, so he is now freely usable. If you remembered us having 12 characters in 3-6, remember we sent Zihark to the Greil Mercenaries.

Today's Bargains. The Daemon Card was the only tempting offer, but the Bargain selection next chapter is much more exciting (as far as I remember) and I wanted to make sure I still had the money for everything I wanted. Two Daemon Cards will be enough for Leanne until Endgame, when these things can be freely purchased.

Fiona needs to get some EXP up.

Vantage + Adept seemed like a good idea for Meg, who is fast but has trouble doubling. Adept turned out to be a bad idea for this map, but it's usually a pretty solid pick for her.

In case I have to Sacrifice. But I have Mend now. In hindsight, this was dumb.

Some BEXP for our multiple-caps people. They were close to their next level, but honestly, these levels aren't great.

Jill, meanwhile, really got a chance to flex her caps. I probably should've been more careful about that last level, but meh.

One point off her HP cap, I believe. And her third tier HP cap is actually not that far off.

This will be close, if I want this to get to A before Endgame. I think I can make it, especially since Micaiah/Fiona is faster than vanilla.

Can we say we didn't see them?

Sothe is starting to doubt the whole "let's fight these people who are trying to actively avoid us" thing. Well, I say "starting to".

Sothe:

……斥候の報告どおりだ。
皇帝軍はデイン軍との遭遇を避け、
あえてこの山道を進んでくる。

Tauroneo:

皇帝軍は、可能なかぎり
兵力を温存したまま
帝国入りを果たしたいはず。
ならば、デイン＝ベグニオン国境
イベルト長城を目指してくる……
こちらの読みは当たった。だが……

We found them here because if they were planning on entering Begnion with little engagement with Daein, this is the route we would expect them to be taking. In essence, this is more of a "we found them exactly where we thought to look" sort of plan.

Boulder traps. On our side this time. And yet, it's still Daein.

Micaiah:

……投石の準備は
万全ですね？

Tauroneo:

完了している。
しかし、このような足場の
悪い場所では精度は期待できぬ。

Micaiah:

当たらなくても構いません。
目的は足止めですから。

Tauroneo points out that the rocks aren't going to be the most accurate of weapons. Micaiah simply says they're needed to stop the Apostle's Army.

Maiel is about to die horribly. The question is can he put that off until we're done here?

We're going for the head.

Unfortunately for Micaiah, Sigrun and Tanith are just as tough as Ike on this file. Fortunately for her, the map condition is in our favour.

Again, Micaiah is avoiding mentioning exactly what the threat is, but she does give her soldiers the gist.

"And also not die horribly."

I feel like this is a suggestion that would have come to mind and then been discarded by now.

...All of a sudden I'm flashbacking to Izuka's use of poison.

Well, direct tactics don't work.

I mean... I imagine they only expect you to try a direct assault and fail miserably.

Slowing the Apostle's Army down in general is a good tactic for this situation.

All right. We can do this...

Micaiah:

では、全軍戦闘配備を！

Sothe:

ミカヤ…　ここまでする
必要はないんじゃないか？
王はいま”血の盟約”には
なにか抜け道がないか調べている。
とにかく時間稼ぎをして……

Micaiah:

無理よ…間に合わないわ。
ここを抜かれたら、
もうほとんど後はない。
皇帝軍がベグニオン領内に
入ってしまう……
そうなれば、デインは終わりよ。

Tauroneo:

ミカヤ殿、どうか冷静に…
このような策を厭うていたのは、
他ならぬあなただったはずだ！

Micaiah:

デインを救いたいんですっ！

Sothe:

ミカヤ……

Micaiah:

卑怯な手段であるのは
わかっています！
だけど…いまのデインが
皇帝軍の進撃を阻むためには、
こうするしか……

Sothe:

どちらかしか生き残れないのなら、
デインの民が勝利する道を選ぶ――
ミカヤはとっくに
覚悟を決めてたっていうのに……
だめだな、俺は。

They have to fit in everything about Pelleas looking for a countermeasure to the Blood Pact, Micaiah's desperation to win and save her country, and Sothe and Tauroneo's concerns passing into this conversation excerpt. I think the way INT did it breathes better.

Let's give Pelleas some time to think!