RD Chapter 4-4 Preparations: A rainy day

Ike's still chewing on the massive bombshells the last few chapters have been throwing at him. He's got more to go coming up. There's a reason he's not a King.

If nothing else, they'll be there because that's where the final boss is.

This isn't setting up for a "Ike does something rash" thing. We don't really have the room in the story for a character arc in Part 4, it's almost all plot here.

Near the capital? Now I'm positive the map the narrator is looking at is not the same as the one we are.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn to bring you Fire Emblem: Fates!

Yes, Tanas is the home of Duke Oliver! They even got the CG look back for this opening shot!

No thanks to Ike's fondness for the great outdoors. Especially after the Extended script in 4-1, if Mist starts accusing Ike of anything, know that I called it.

Mist:

あ～…うれしい！
野宿じゃないのって
もう何日ぶりなんだろ？
雨降りに感謝しちゃう。

Ike:

なにをおおげさな。

Mist:

おおげさじゃないわよ。
来る日も来る日も
戦いの埃と汗にまみれて…
夜は野宿なうえに
常に敵を警戒していないといけない……
そりゃ、こんな時だし
石になった人たちのことを考えれば
文句言っちゃだめってわかってるけど……

Titania:

けど…なんだか落ち着く？

Mist:

そう！　そうなの！

Ike:

それについては俺も同感だ。
こんなふざけた場所でも
屋内には違いない。

Yeah, probably. Not as much as I expected, but I think there's a little of it.

Three years on and no one has looted the place. Possibly because the decorations are so ugly no one will buy them.

The senate did? Prepare for shenanigans, everyone. Also, the confiscations happened after the war?

Titania notices that, for a building that has been unoccupied for three years, the place has had a thorough dusting.

Not only is someone squatting here, but someone willing to perform menial work. Or has servants to order to do it for him. And all involved survived Judgment.

Titania:

そうね。
昨日掃除したように綺麗なままだし、
何より、雰囲気が変わったわ。

Mist:

調度品なんかが、
以前と少し違ってるよね？

Soren:

……趣味の悪さに
磨きがかかりました。

Huh, they've redecorated. This lot likes it. Better than what it was, at least.

Rafiel seems perturbed by something or someone running around the house.

Watched.

But no idea why. Or even who.

The idea is that we find out before we do so in an unpleasant manner.

SANAKI MVP! Whether this is actually impressive will come later, but any excuse to praise her is all right with me.

Just the one Base conversation today.

Ike is having a chat with Volug. Incidentally, this does mean you need to have Volug in the Greil Army.

Well, "chat" is a generous term.

Every line is sandwiched with a "..." from Volug.

[Volug, speak out loud. Ike is confused by your silence.]

[But, Your Majesty… He doesn’t understand our language.]

[It’s better than staying silent.]

Whatever Volug did, Ike would have been left completely baffled regardless. Which is bad news for Volug.

Hatary only speaks in Ancient. While Nailah is fully bilingual, Volug has yet to master the new language.

Ike isn't brushed up on his history of language, but studying it explains what's going on quite easily.

The modern language was invented by the people of Tellius for some reason, and because of the culture divide in the Desert of Death, Hatary never did the same.

This part, meanwhile, completely confuses me. Where the Ancient and Modern languages fit together doesn't quite sit right with me. Perhaps Nailah learned the story wrong, but this part of the story honestly doesn't click with me.

And this is part of why. Leanne speaks Ancient, and the rest of the heron clan seem to natively speak the language.

Also laguz are largely the people who understand Ancient at all. I don't remember when Nasir confirmed his ability to read it, but perhaps Ike is thinking of his implication that he read Lillia's messages in Palmeni Temple.

With Leanne knowing the Ancient Language from her early developmental stage and having to learn Modern, I rather doubt that.

This part is more logical, though. Humans eventually stopped using Ancient Greek and moved on to other languages. Although why English, of all languages, got lucky enough to take the top spot is another matter. English is by no means "newer and improved".

This is not really a thought that follows from Nailah's exposition, but it's a good conversation to have while talking about people who speak other languages. Mordecai learned another language in order to communicate his beliefs to people with whom communication was otherwise impossible.

I didn't list it as such, but I intentionally included Mordecai in the Greil Army as part of this conversation. It is not strictly necessary to do this, this part of the conversation happens regardless of where Mordecai is. Although I wonder if it's still there if Mordecai is dead...

Volug speaks! Considering his personality, the fact he is speaking at all is as interesting as his use of modern tongue.

This is a relatively important part of language that is easy to brush over- the "default language" of the story is a language like any other, and it is not necessarily the case that someone who speaks only an ancient tongue will be able to understand it. Volug has explicitly mastered that skill.

...Honestly, a bit of a weird line. It's a nice offer that Volug need not speak Modern, but Ike not understanding Ancient means that it's difficult for Volug to communicate with Ike.

[Here, I want you to have this.]

Ike's learning!

[It’s about time!]

Volug's sass never comes across unless you know what he's saying.

[I guess you could say that.]

This is the most important part of education: the desire to learn. Without that, education will fall upon deaf ears and time will be wasted by all parties.

Ike suggests the two of them teach each other how to speak the other's language. Volug, of course, can at least understand Ike, but I can't help but wonder if this won't turn into the blind leading the blind.

[All right. It’s a deal.]

Volug seems to like the idea.

Yay. The conversation was more valuable than the prize.

These two have finally begun their Support with one another. The idea is that they will get to A Support and I will check a conversation that kinda plays with the timeline. Heaven+Wind is a pretty bad pairing, but Heaven is a bad Affinity.

Aimee is selling Door and Chest Keys in her shop! This upcoming indoor map is going to require both, and the game doesn't demand you put Heather in the Greil Army. Honestly, though, Greil Army is the best place for Heather.

...Also I have way more Chest Keys than I need. From somewhere.

Nailah gets a BEXP level! HP/Spd cap.

I pass some more around the rest of the high-levelled crew. Meg capped Defence and Mia capped Skill/Spd (funny that a Mia I'm raving about hasn't done that yet).

The... outer building?

...We have a rescue mission?

TORMOD! He's alive after all! Gotta put these guys back in the party! I wonder what he's been up to while he's been gone.

Ike recognises him, despite the fact this position probably isn't the best for doing so. Then again, I'm struggling to picture how this house is built that it even has ledges.

Micaiah has, though, and thus so have we.

This guy Tormod set on fire is suprisingly not-dead.

Tormod sets him on fire again. After the animation is over, the guy doesn't fall over.

Tormod is completely confused by this turn of events, having kinda missed most of the game and turning from overpowered to underlevelled.

We're here to help!

I have a soft spot for jokes where a rescuer tells the victim to continue doing whatever they're doing and the victim rolls their eyes.

Tormod does a double take, not recognising Ike.

Tormod's lack of growth is really starting to annoy him, seeing all these big people. I think he is legitimately making that expression.

Tormod finds a second wind in hoping for a growth spurt. Whatever gets you across the finish line, buddy.

Ready when you are!

...Ooh, we can customise you!

Tormod, Muarim and Vika come with new items, including new spells for Tormod (although the game has more faith in his Fire rank than we did in giving him that Bolganone).

I think this is an item that suits Vika more.

Also this for Skills. Hey, if we're going to be perma-transformed, we're going to need the help to shore up our EXP gain. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the spare space for anything else, as a bird tribe with Canto.

Oh yeah, while on the topic of Skills, Meg is going to continue to bear Disarm, but she has a cunning plan to get around the problem of still being Fast.

Also, since I grinded for it in 1-E, Vika/Nailah Support. This is just here for the extra boost to Nailah's survivability, if anything.

We're not actually done preparing, but we've gotta scope the battlefield next.