SS Chapter 8: Admiral Lute

Don't worry, the chapter title is a nice, massive "It's a trap!"

Now we've entered the main part of Renvall.

And we haven't encountered... any guards.

Eirika is thanking her lucky stars.

And Seth is going "...wait a minute..."

No mention of Forde, Kyle, or any other members of Ephraim's retinue that died before we got our hands on them. Also, how long ago in the story was "two weeks"? The old lady last chapter implied 5x was "a few days ago"- OK, she's a little out if it, yeah...

How nice and convenient.

...I feel like bringing in people from villages (who I highly doubt started life as servants) makes it more likely they'll blab. Soldiers have more training in this sort of thing.

Orson doesn't know what happened to Renais. To be fair, neither does Ephraim.

...I wonder if Ephraim does know how much time has passed since he went "off the grid".

Yeah, uh, you missed a lot.

And he apologises to Eirika for not having been there.

Eirika assures him she's not blaming anyone who wasn't there (I don't think they would've helped) and is focused on making sure Renais is restored before wishing Renais was never destroyed at all.

And then casually blabs about the bracelet. It's top priority, yeah, but have a little opsec, Eirika.

Let Orson mention it first, to prove he was in the know.

Because this line makes a good argument for Orson having genuinely not known about it.

Although no one here in Renvall knew that's why they captured Ephraim and failed to confiscate it? Definitely time to start doubting Orson's story.

Good idea. No, seriously, no matter how competent Eirika is, if the Grado army expects her to be holding it, they have a target. Give it to Seth- no, even better, give it to Neimi. The Grado army charging Eirika waste a lot of time trying to extort the bracelet out of Eirika and then have no idea where it actually is.

(The best place for the bracelet would perhaps be elsewhere on the continent, but I'm not sure how safe it is with Hayden.)

Orson putting himself first in that suggestion.

And focusing heavily on Eirika's safety over that of the bracelet.

That much is so obvious, there's no way to argue anyway else.

...

If Orson didn't know about the bracelets, why does he know they're the key to the Stone?

Eirika has started to realise that something here doesn't add up.

And Seth steps forward to confirm exactly what. Restoration Queen lets Eirika do some of the dissecting, which helps her out a ton.

...Weapons?

...You mean you've been guiding us through enemy territory unarmed? What kind of plan is that?

He got stabbed by a wyvern knight. For some reason, he forgot WTD.

Seth would like to make a short inquisition.

Possibly for the same reason there are no enemies now.

Good question. I can't think of much for that, other than perhaps "Ephraim is liable to get himself back in captivity if left to his own devices."

Presumably you weren't the only one Fado told, Seth. I feel like he didn't learn this one from Grado- if he was just a defector, he'd probably be too low on the totem pole to be in the loop for this.

Orson hopes to get out of this conversation without answering any of Seth's questions- a very bad sign.

A doublet is a form-fitting shirt in men's fashion. I wouldn't say Orson is wearing one the audience can see, but this wham line is so iconic even Restoration Queen lets Seth keep it.

Once you get to the concealed weapon, there's no argument of good faith.

Eirika, despite being a diplomat first, was dangerously close to swallowing Orson's bait whole, and had to be bailed out by the knight Seth. There's a reason Restoration Queen let Eirika figure out the trap for herself. Without her wit, Eirika doesn't have much going for her as a protagonist- Ephraim may be a reckless war god carried by player power, but at least he's good at that!

Even now, Eirika hasn't actually realised why all these contradictions are relevant.

Now that we're all on the same page with regards to Orson, it's time to ask the important question- why?

Ah, he's doing it for his wife.

...I don't get it.

Neither does Eirika. I don't think they ever explicitly state what's so weird about this in this part of the game... or, come to think of it, ever. It's a reveal they leave to the last second.

Ah, there are our enemies.

Tirado is glory-stealing, and Orson doesn't mind because all he cares about is hanging out with his wife. He'll do whatever Grado needs him to, and nothing more.

Orson paints himself red and runs off. He'll probably turn up someplace else.

Seth: "...OK, why am I scared?"

...

I still don't really care.

Tirado may work for Valter, but that kinda describes a lot of people running around Grado. Tirado is, technically, the First Act Boss, but he doesn't really get a lot of development beyond that of an ordinary Chapter Boss like Saar or Murray. Probably why the final game made him not a member of the Imperial Seven.

More of that "Eirika is helpless without Seth" thing. I'm sure there's no reason for that. snorts.

This is around the point you find out Ephraim actually got away.

"Somehow he escaped" is all the explanation we're getting. Valter likes to play with his food before he eats it, but even he wouldn't have let Ephraim escape that easily.

Annoying and... seriously, you just let this happen?

Tirado claims credit for the backup plan. I see no reason to deny it to him.

...We got the rumour from Novala. Did the devs... I feel like there's a missing step in this plan.

...Yeah, he mentioned that a few textboxes ago.

So we're not getting out of here without a boss fight.

Or... ever. Tirado destroys the only exit to Renvall, remember that, by the way.

Tirado orders our death. I have the sneaking suspicion that he's not gonna get promoted for letting Eirika get killed on his watch, but at this point, I don't blame him for taking the nuclear option. Whether because of Eirika herself or her companions, Eirika will not be taken alive by force.

And now the bridge... kinda spontaneously combusts. It's a GBA game, cut it a little slack. Presumably, Vanessa can fish us out given infinite turns.

We do not have infinite turns. (Yet.)

Seth, I know it wasn't impressive, on account of being a GBA game, but you were right next to an explosion of some kind, pay attention. How do you notice a blade in a doublet and not that?

The fact these might actually be the two protagonists most on the ball is probably alarming you as to the state of the rest of them. Innes is pretty good, at least.

This whole quest was to help Ephraim and now we're in... some trouble.

All right, battle time. We're bringing along Colm, because there's treasure to loot.

Our map looks a little like this.

That's a lot of armour around one chest.

This part of the map might look a little familiar to you- if you overlay the map for 5x over this one, you'll find that this area matches up. Fire Emblem very rarely makes you fight in the same geographical location twice, but when it does, it likes to pull tricks like this one. Some people call it recycling. I say "is it really recycling if they make new map segments and try to hide the match?"

This corner is suspiciously empty.

Tirado is the first promoted enemy we'll have the misfortune of dealing with, and he takes a few cues from Lundgren of FE7 fame on his mechanical role. His natural Avoid may be in the can, but thrones give 30 Avoid. I'd be a little more worried about his Skill. All that being said, it's going to be tough to pick somone to a) damage him and b) not get killed on the rebound. I think we've got a few candidates, though.

Eirika's going up.

And Vanessa's heading left. There's a bit on the west side that Vanessa's flight is good for.

More pretty good picks for her stats. Although, in hindsight... I can't help but feel like I should be worried about that 19 HP now?

Lute is going to get along fine with the north.

Neimi, sadly, doesn't have much she can do this turn in the west. Neimi's kinda not in her element here at all, really.

I haven't entirely committed to Natasha's plan yet. North seems safer for her, but I think Neimi would like the safety.

Even Eirika is making the Knights look bad.

They always have some keys packed in indoor levels.

I am having way too much fun watching sword users embarass themselves on Vanessa.

...

OK, so to recap, Ephraim, whose siege of Renvall was very obviously a mistake, who made a daring escape when the odds were turned against him, has now... come back to Renvall. You know... past the fact that the "one exit" was destroyed. I really, really can't help but feel there was some kind of last-minute rewrite that put Ephraim in this position- how much of a rewrite would you need to posit he just broke out of some kind of jail?

Ephraim is, somehow, aware Eirika is here. This might be just as confusing as why he's here in the first place.

Vanquish? What kind of hero are we, these are enemy soldiers, not monsters!

At least bash and whack are ready to lend a hand.

Probably for the best on this run.

That's something for the playthrough where Ephraim, Forde and Kyle have stats.

Despite being Ephraim's men, they're as devoted to Eirika as anyone else in our party.

...On the other hand, being Ephraim's men wouldn't preclude that, considering Ephraim's devoted to his sister as is.

It's... actually kinda weird that Forde is being so brash and dismissive. I feel like the arguments these two make should be switched here- with Forde wanting to regroup with Eirika and Kyle wanting to crush Grado decisively with a pincer attack.

Well, they await "his" command, but they spawned in blue, not green- so they listen to me!

Well, Ephraim, in universe. What he says goes.

And my orders are to hold your position until Vanessa and Neimi clear out the enemies in front of you, and then make your way to Eirika to deposit all your stuff.

Guys, you have like, one EXP between you, when one of you got hit by a Javelin or something.

Eirika parks here, because I dunno, I wanted to attract the shaman's attention. Two squares make all the difference, apparently.

Natasha's going to Neimi's side.

The soldier and the archer are unfortunately positioned, and figuring out where to position Ephraim and co without attracting their attention was tough.

I figured it out.

Something like this will do. With Neimi and Vanessa taking out those two guys, the men can sneak past to safety.

Oh hey, free healer EXP- oh right, Natasha went west.

Strength and Luck, then.

Eirika opens the door.

And I focus on this side first.

So long, archer.

Vanessa now has a one use Lance, good for not killing something she wants to feed. This kill came from one of her spares.

She continues to gather Strength, Luck and not HP.

Natasha's scared to go forward.

And the boys make their move.

Now it's time to open fire in here.

Let the carnage commence.

...Not that kind of carnage!

That was closer than I planned.

More Skill in the bargain, though.

Any fight you walk away from alive is a fight worth being in.

I don't think that's what the shaman expected to do with his life.

As cool as that was, Lute is healing up with a Vulnerary this time.

Wow, you guys couldn't get the Solider? How far back was he?

At least these three are now firmly not in danger of getting into any fights.

Vanessa's HP is matched only by the low damage values of incoming attacks.

And there are Longbows up in the north, to make this more annoying than it needs to be.

Speaking of more annoying than it needs to be, these three cavaliers are the main reason Ephraim's company can't stay where they spawned. A playthrough that allows Ephraim can just have Reginleif take on all of these guys (except the one with the Javelin), but we'll have to play creatively.

I swear I know what I'm doing!?

At least Neimi dodged. Wait, Natasha needs healing EXP.

One of the horses picks up Ephraim to make extra sure they don't feel like going this way.

Angelic Robe in the chest. One of the knights could've used this to avoid the stream of oneshots.

Outrange this.

Already we're closing in on Tirado, and we've still got plenty to do!

Including have Vanessa press on through these guys.

This guy spawned in the rough centre of the map. As a thief, his job is to find treasure, steal it for himself, and run the hell away. You can steal his lockpicks if you've been training Colm- unfortunately, he's too fast for base Colm, so he is in fact able to steal my lockpicks if Colm is allowed in range.

It's worth considering allowing him to steal a single item- the game lets you take one back as a drop. If they take more, then you're screwed.

Also mages up here. They're definitely 2 range, but still plenty to be getting on with.

And then there's these guys. Fortunately, if I play the counting game, I can have Neimi stand at the edge of the Javelin user's range and be in danger from no-one else.

That's the square I need.

It's important to keep in mind that thieves can nick your Vulneraries- but just as important to remember they can only do that if they outspeed you. It's raw Speed for Thieves, no putzing around with Con and such.

Lute's dealing with the mage. I want less enemies in range rather than more, and Colm needs to cross the area in front of Tirado to continue looting.

In fact, Vanessa's forward push is to help facilitate that.

Strength, Speed, no HP, business as usual for this Vanessa.

Eirika attracted some attention over here.

And Lute continues to outclass mages so thoroughly that they needn't have bothered moving out.

All they're doing is making her more powerful.

(Incidentally, 20 is the cap for unpromoted stats- Lute can't get any more Magic until she promotes.)

...

One more point of Strength.

Meanwhile, this guy needs to go.

This situation was going to go to pot no matter who I shot. The plan is just that ridiculous.

Natasha staying well out of trouble.

And the Longbow up here makes Vanessa's movements difficult.

Fortunately, she can make it here. This water feature is traversible by fliers but not by any other classes- and Vanessa is going to make good use of it.

Eirika's going to attract more attention over in the west.

Lute's got these guys covered.

Not good, not good.

Less bad.

Although there's a lot of these guys compared to the heads I have swinging back.

...In hindsight, the correct play was a tactical withdrawal and make Neimi into a makeshift chokepoint. Only one of these guys can whack her, and Natasha can play healer on that one hit.

At least I get my point of Strength.

Natasha doesn't want any part of this mess anyway.

No more Longbows.

And you, too, I guess.

The boys are free to wander around aimlessly over here!

What did I say? Tactical withdrawal.

This guy wasn't a problem.

Grumble grumble.

Eirika finishes.

And Natasha leaves Neimi further behind. Not like it'd help now.

Got one of them, at least.

Just had to hope for another miss.

Now how did I not think of that. Tut tut. Maybe I thought Natasha would be better bait.

This is for breaking the rules.

HP! And some more Avoid, to, to distract from the low HP.

You, stop bothering Neimi.

Finally, the boys start dumping their excess loot, for redistribution later.

...Oh, hello! There's a few Talks we can have between Ephraim's crew and Eirika's party.

Eirika and Ephraim have a triumphant reunion here on the steps leading up to Tirado.

Ephraim, of course, got the mother of all egos and decided that, if he could sack one castle with four men, he could sack a bigger castle with three!

...

After spending enough time in the wilderness to not know your homeland was utterly razed, you somehow had enough of an ear to the ground to know Eirika was in danger? I don't think one can rule out "super secret twin connection" here.

Sounds like a perfect excuse for making Eirika feel like she's in the wrong for making the right moves.

Ephraim, though, doesn't see things that way.

He's proud to have Eirika at his side. Now if only Seth and Innes saw things that way too.

"...By the way, I'm confiscating your lances."
"Why?"
"Because you are going to get yourself killed."

Seth: Prince Ephraim.
Ephraim: General Seth! You’re safe!
Seth: Princess Eirika is safe as well. I’m afraid I have much news to relate to you. That will have to wait, though. For now, we must cut our way out of here.
Ephraim: Yes. Let’s conclude our business here before we talk of other matters. Come on!
Seth: Yes, sire!

Seth doesn't get much interesting with Ephraim.

Franz: Brother!
Forde: Ha! Franz! How’ve you been?
Franz: I should ask you! We’d heard you were captured by Grado’s men. I was worried.
Forde: Worried? I ride with Prince Ephraim, little brother. Death will have a tough time catching anyone who rides with our prince! But it’s not like we’ve avoided trouble altogether, that’s for sure. Hm? Say, have you grown taller on me?
Franz: I have. I’ve also finished my training. I’m now a sworn Knight of Renais. You just watch- I’m going to be on par with General Seth one day!
Forde: You want to be like the general, eh? …What about me?
Franz: Oh I… I still want to be like you, too, Brother!

Franz and Forde have a heartwarming reunion... to an extent. Forde, I think the reason no one dies in Ephraim's company isn't because the prince is good at that.

Kyle: General Seth!
Seth: Well met, Kyle. I never thought for a moment that you could be bested easily.
Kyle: No, sir! And I never doubted that I would see you again.
Seth: Kyle. About Orson…
Kyle: We heard it all. Unbelievable, isn’t it? But facts are facts.
Seth: Yes. If Orson can turn his back on Renais… We remaining knights will have to work all the harder to prove ourselves! Let’s go, Kyle.
Kyle: Yes, sir!

Kyle got stuck with Seth, and squeaked out barely more interesting than Ephraim did.

...Yeah, uh... as good an idea as this is from the blue numbers, I am not leaving Eirika to get oneshot on the return fire.

Natasha, prepare the healing staff.

Here are Lute's numbers. Well, here are kinda her numbers. I think a few of you have noticed where Vanessa is standing.

And where she's standing now. The Silver Sword is good too.

Remember, of course, that Tirado has a Javelin.

In exchange for the ability to throw it at Lute, Tirado sacrifices a whopping 8 Mt over his Silver Lance, as well as 10 points in Hit. Combined with Vanessa B Support, Lute is quite safe from retribution.

The Javelin is also heavier, but Tirado is big enough to swallow the penalty.

Unfortunately, one thing that the Vanessa Support does not give Lute is accuracy. 86.74% is a big number, but it is not 100. No matter.

Lute stands on the pillar for her next volley, but lets Tirado act first again.

The other chest contains quite possibly the best of the game's promotion items, the Elysian Whip. This is good on Pegasus and Wyvern Knights, of which there are three candidates. Sadly, you only get two of these, but I fully intend on using both in both runs.

Tirado gets some passive healing from the throne.

Enough that Lute won't finish him off- which was actually the idea.

Come back when you can hit the broad side of a barn.

Oh dear, now Tirado's accuracy is even worse.

Eirika finishes this time, though.

Seemed like her fight.

I've been told. I reckon Neimi could shoot the fleas off his wyvern's back at five hundred yards.

Now stop making it easier for your enemies to dodge your lance.

Natasha heals up Neimi and Lute some, before I finish the level. Yes, this is a chance to grind Support some more, but I don't really need Vanessa/Lute A for anything in particular, so I decide to wait until later on, when I'm grinding more than just them.

Incidentally, as a sidenote, I mentioned the power of Garcia and the Fire/Fire Support triangle with him, Ross and Neimi earlier. Combine that with Garcia's Axes, and you have a hefty set of hits aimed squarely at Tirado's shoulders. Unless Ross, Garcia and Neimi are going to be mainstays of your team, however, this is about where the power of that triangle fizzles out. You can still get a lot of mileage out of it later, of course- it's still Fire/Fire- but as bosses start to become more varied, other characters with decent Support sets (and even just decent statlines) can handle bosses just fine.

What did you expect when you ran off into a foreign nation that proceeded to declar war on your home? And then not leave any sort of message with anyone?

At least he's safe now.

...It'd be hard to miss Orson ditching them, although Ephraim did a good job of that in the post-5x scene.

...

...

...When were you "trapped" at Renvall? The ending of 5x, maybe, but I'd struggle to call that a trapping. It would explain what Ephraim is doing here in Renvall when the bridge got busted, but that's not the explanation the game has agreed with.

Ephraim is as blindsided by Orson's betrayal as Eirika was.

Come off it, Ephraim. What part of your actions do you think brought Orson to betray us?

...It was probably the mindless charging-to-their-deaths.

Who the hell are you, and when did you get here?

Myrrh is a friend of Ephraim's, and at some point while Ephraim was off-screen, he rescued her from Grado captivity. When did he have the time to do this? Who the hell knows, Myrrh has managed to remain perfectly off-screen for the entirety of Ephraim's on-screen appearances until now.

Before you ask, no, she doesn't count in terms of "Ephraim's assets that can help him sack a castle". She can fight, but she was separated from her weapon when she was captured and they still haven't recovered it.

I can't help but feel like Myrrh's inclusion in this scene was solely to allow the writers to get Eirika and Ephraim to stop going to Grado and head back to Frelia.

As you might recall, there was a man looking for an indigo-haired girl back in Chapter 5. Yes, this is the girl he was looking for. Considering his expanded role in the prototype's plot, perhaps Myrrh's inclusion in Ephraim's party had clear direction at some point in the writing stage.

Ephraim does explain, to an extent, where Myrrh came from and who she is, but he leaves the gaping hole of "when he got her" wide open.

We know about that! ...I think.

Next time: We finish up Act 1 with an Intermission segment.