Bethany Plays: SS Chapter 9 Ephraim Battle: The Prisoner

It's truly remarkable, to go from having Lute as our mage to having Artur.

On a slightly related note, it is now our Anima tomes that are gathering dust in the convoy.

Artur's working on being Lute.

Pictured: Tana needing a command to make the turn auto-complete. You can't even RNG manip with her- I imagine you theoretically could, but it'd be the worst thing ever.

Also Lute things. Hard mode also means the enemies are actually somewhat scary, too. Still have Natasha, though.

The green squares represent the range an enemy staffbot has with a Sleep staff. Joshua is currently out of range because the priest must stand on the square currently occupied by that archer to fire the shot. I can fill some of those spaces, but somehow I feel like someone important is taking a nap.

Colm hasn't been awful, but this fight isn't exactly showing his good side.

OK, seriously, is everyone failing to dodge things?

You have a Support.

First shot goes to Garcia. It misses.

Ross is the boss. Especially when he's got an extra 3 Atk and 15 Crit from his father.

Also 15 Hit/Avo, although I don't imagine that helped here.

Colm picks off a weakened fighter and gets some stats he needs. Yeah, the main reason I'm training Colm is bigger numbers. Speed is important for Thieves.

Joshua can take the Fighter Colm weakned.

And Ephraim can turn a cavalier into a fine powder.

Artur, making sure he doesn't waste any more shots.

Next turn, and... dammit, all the bait got out of range.

Fairly sure this one missed.

(For the record, Garcia falling asleep isn't the worst thing in the world- I think he still gives Ross Support bonuses if the horses ferry him up.)

Ephraim is going to go on a horse-killing rampage.

Natasha's doing even worse here- just Magic for restoring HP. I really should've stuck with Moulder- I was planning on getting a specific Support because it's cute, but then I changed my mind on how to represent Supports and that plan became pointless.

Reginleif takes its course.

And Ephraim gets his girlfriend's spear. It's going in the convoy and never getting used either way.

Of course there's a wise guy.

Dangit. At least it was Garcia.

The game will have you believe this man is not a merciless killer.

Artur goes in for a weaken.

...You know, I wonder if Artur actually got more Avoid from having the tome break. Although, I don't actually recall if Artur is too small for Lightning tomes. (He has exactly enough Con to mitigate Lightning.)

Of course, you hit Josh.

There'll be some Shamen coming up from the rear, and Artur's going to have to ready himself to repel those. At least we're out of Sleeps from that one priest.

Ross, as depicted without the bonuses from his Garcia Support.

I feel spoiled.

Here is Artur against the shamen. He's doing just fine.

Right, this guy, annoyingly, is the guy with the key.

...Remind me again when I have horses to avoid.

Well, I guess there's worse ways to take out one soldier.

...Hm, so that's in enemy range.

Ephraim prepares for the big entrance.

...Of course the knights in here have Javelins.

Reorganising the room, and...

...So I guess I just didn't want to bring Garcia with?

Points for trying.

At least they dodged these two, although the next turn is going to be fun.

Ooh, 1 damage. I'm so scared!

Amelia has stepped forward, making this turn even more exciting. I'm not allowed to move any further north than Ross already is. Well, OK, I can stand one square further in the next column, not that that helps me.

Ross backs up. An obvious move, since those mercenaries are scariest to him.

Ephraim needs to be closer to Amelia to get her out of there, so in he goes.

I had plans, but ultimately, Artur went in for the kill.

Joshua... well, OK, his weaknesses are starting to come in. He has issues with his Strength.

Issues, not disasters. Although this isn't great.

Right, so... I have to untangle this knot now or Amelia is dead.

No problem here.

Speed! Res? Just look at that level, though- Ross still has plenty of gas in the tank before promotion!

Artur goes in for an archer, although maybe I should've left it for enemy phase...

The fact he got a swing off at all is the most disappointing part.

At least Natasha can safely heal up Artur.

...Right, this guy has a Longbow.

Time to recruit Amelia the second time around.

Ephraim is taken aback by finding someone so young on the battlefield. He does keep Myrrh back.

I don't think we know Amelia's biological age the way we know, say, Nino's, but I'm fairly sure she is indeed "a child". Clearly old enough to be accepted into the army, although perhaps "post-invasion Grado that wants all the cannon fodder it can spare" doesn't count.

Ephraim, being Ephraim, responds to someone picking a fight by accepting the fight.

Amelia wasn't prepared for that one.

Ephraim takes one look at Amelia and realises that this isn't going to be a fair fight... or a fight at all. Just a murder.

He then, for, uh... some reason, suggests that Amelia surrender. I'm sure getting Amelia out of combat is the best thing for her, although I'm not sure what Ephraim has planned past asking this question.

Amelia, because propaganda, is terrified of surrendering to Ephraim. I wouldn't be surprised if some tellings about Ephraim in the Grado propaganda machine exaggerate the number of heads, arms or supernatural powers Ephraim possesses.

Ephraim can promise not to attack if he doesn't get attacked. Because combat instincts.

Ephraim's blink frame, it's perfect.

Of course they have to exaggerate Ephraim's mercilessness to that extent in order to get the soldiers to fight on Gheb's side instead of his. Even then, part of me wants to take my chances with propaganda Ephraim.

Incidentally, considering the through-line between Ephraim and Dimitri from Three Houses, I find it interesting that, while Ephraim never commits the kinds of crimes necessary to earn this reputation, he has it anyway. I would not be surprised if this element of Ephraim's role in the story influenced Dimitri's direction- is this where the seeds of the Boar were planted?

Again, Ephraim is many things, but he is not and has never been a monster. He bears no ill will to the people of Grado for whatever crimes their Emperor has committed, a list of crimes he will investigate thoroughly before passing judgement.

And hey, if Amelia will accept the premise that the war between Grado and everywhere else is illogical, then Ephraim will gladly accept the help finding out why.

Ephraim route Franz has a different recruitment conversation with Amelia:

Franz: You… you’re a girl?!
Amelia: Ah! Don’t make fun of me! I’m a soldier of Grado! Prepare yourself, Frelian dog!
Franz: W-wait a minute!
(Amelia trips and gets up)
Amelia: Oof…
Franz: Are, are you all right? It’s not surprising you fell over from that stance. Can you get up?
Amelia: Sh-shut up!
Franz: Did you hurt your knee? I know how it feels. I did it often enough as a recruit myself. To be honest, I still do it more than I should.
Amelia: ……
Franz: I’m Franz. I’m a Knight of Renais. What’s your name?
Amelia: I’m Amelia.
Franz: Amelia, do you think I could ask you to surrender? This may be odd, but I really have no desire to fight you.
Amelia: ……
Franz: I get the feeling you don’t want to fight either. Am I right?
Amelia: I… B-but… I’ve heard Prince Ephraim takes female prisoners and uses them as palace slaves. If I surrender, will I be forced to work in the palace, too?
Franz: N-no, don’t be silly! Prince Ephraim would never do such a thing… I think...
Amelia: You think?
Franz: No, he wouldn’t! Of course not. You have my word of honor.
Amelia: …Well, you seem sincere. I’ll trust you, Franz.

I didn't remember Franz not being entirely sure about Ephraim's character. I have faith Ephraim would never do this, though. Mainly because if Ephraim was going to do anything sexual with anybody, Tana would know about it.

This formation is just getting ridiculous. I also seem to be forgetting I can move Garcia while he's asleep- to be fair, if the turn ends and he's still Rescued, that turn doesn't count towards him waking up. Maybe he's just too heavy for the boys- Garcia's a giant of a man, and the bonus for carrying people around with horses is also not that big.

Natasha said hello to the Longbow. I can't kill this guy, remember.

The other archer on the left met Artur, thankfully. Now the left wall is relatively safe.

Also more Speed for Artur. His Avoid is going to tail behind Lute's because of inferior Luck.

Garcia's awake.

Wow, Seth gothim a long way just on his move!

Right, so how far can we establish as ours?

Joshua decides he's not dodging this attack.

Huh. Chest Key. I imagine this mage lived up north, but moved over because reasons.

Artur keeps needing healing...

Right, sooner I can get out of this corridor, the better.

Ephraim, continuing to flatten everything.

Right, so we have a new front, mostly on the left wall, as well as still having those mages...

...Right. Well, Natasha can deal with that.

Ow. How's Ephraim's HP so bad?

Ross scoffs at the idea this might actually be a challenge. To be fair, this guy could also have attacked Ephraim.

I don't think that's an issue.

Artur plugs up the hole, although unless everyone keeps to the left wall, he won't get the other mage.

Also, despite having WTA, these mages are no concern for Artur.

I... think Colm can reach the archer? Probably can't, though. Especially since he probably won't attack Artur anyway...

This guy will, though!

Wow, that's best case scenario right there. I thought he was going to hassle Natasha or the cavalier who's Rescued someone!

Oh hey, a Shaman, too. The Luna tome is the most terrifying tome in all of FE7, being a tome with stats 0/95/20, and ignoring your Resistance. Sacred Stones nerfed it to 0/50/10, and somehow that was enough to turn it into a weapon most shamen would be embarassed to be caught dead holding.

The shaman was, indeed, caught dead holding a Luna tome.

Now here's a big boy weapon. Whoever I send to bust Tana out is going to have to plan for this. And I suppose the treasure, too.

Artur heads up to look the Knight in the eye, but no way is he going a round with the Killing Edge guy. I mean, look at his Luck, he's got even more to fear from crits than most!

...All right, someone take away some of Colm's extra stuff.

Spare Lockpick, why does he even have that?

Now I can safely deal with this guy!

...Assuming I have someone with a throwing weapon.

Or the ability to Rescue Colm out, that works too.

Even if Ross has to drop him.

Joshua was probably getting the kill anyway.

Without the mage bothering her cell, Tana flies towards the door, for maximum range of movement once she's freed.

Sleep staves do have animations. This guy picked a target I care about, then!

Dodging status staves is a matter of Resistance, not Avoid, so that's why Colm's dodge chance is so shaky.

One of those important steps before every tricky plan is to measure how far your rear guard can get.

Colm's going to focus on looting. He'll probably still be doing it when the map is done.

Ross takes out the knight, since he didn't take the Artur bait.

Great, now I need to get this key to the Door.

Artur and Ephraim consider the nuclear option.

Safely out of range of the cavalier.

Best to continue to stay clear. No one I have left to move really wants to be the one to take first strike.

And down goes Amelia. There's cavaliers coming in from the south, so, uh, should probably get on that.

Garcia busts Tana out.

Mustn't have been able to secure a good weaken, or maybe Tana needed to take his spot.

Tana loads up on stuff out of Supply while next to Ephraim.

And then triggers a Talk, since he's there.

I guess this also counts as proof Ephraim had no idea Tana was in there. Which we kinda knew, but it helps to see it explicitly.

All's well that ends well.

And, like Eirika, Ephraim tries to send her right back. Unlike Eirika, he kinda has a foot to stand on.

This is some assistance.

Tana's not one for giving up, though.

Ephraim's got one big weakness: Little sisters. He can't say no to Eirika, Tana or Myrrh if they really want something from him.

Tana will be getting herself into several reckless scrapes under my command.

I don't think he does, he just went along with it.

Colm secures some cash in this chest.

OK, I've got a little space to play with, but not a lot, and Amelia is going to be screwed next turn. Just assume she's not going to survive any attack that gets thrown her way.

We're going to need Ephraim healed up. Also, a cavalier reinforcement showed up up here, too.

Ross pulls back, and Seth goes in to get the myrmidon over. It sucks, but it's gotta be done.

Joshua takes point to take on the cavaliers. I assume attracting the shaman is also intentional.

Ow... Seth can take it.

Tana's doing just fine, even if I forgot her animations again.

Dangit, Forde.

Not that Joshua needed more rounds of combat.

Ephraim's doing just fine, he's just in the wrong spot.

Well, that could've ended worse than I had planned.

JOSHUA I SWEAR TO WHATEVER GODS MAGVEL HAS I'M TELLING YOUR MOTHER ABOUT THIS

Good news, we're out of new Sleep charges.

Colm goes for a weaken, since he's in range.

Tana needs all the help she can get, and we don't have much to spare.

Nothing for it, Joshua needs to leave the chokepoint.

Bring in the competent ones!

This is how Reginleif is doing. Better than I thought, but we're going to run out of it soon.

Natasha gives Seth a pickup. Take note of the fact I still haven't dealt with the Killing Edge.

I was saying about Tana getting into reckless situations? One day, she'll kick enough ass that doing this no longer counts as reckless, but base Tana doesn't really have business taking this risk.

Ephraim, in a fit of "saving Reginleif uses", defends this hallway with his Iron Lance instead.

I guess this was my payment for the Killing Edge dodge.

This guy is still harassing us.

And one of the Javelin cavaliers found Franz!

Better chances than they had with Ephraim.

Natasha heals up Tana. This is gonna get rough.

Right, let's start with getting Tana's essentials up as high as they can get. Although it turns out some Defence might be nice...

I need this guy dead more than I need Tana doing it.

And this situation only gets worse the longer it continues.

This soldier has finally been attracted. I was hoping to feed him to Tana, but the north held her up too long.

Back to the Reginleif it is.

Seth drops Garcia off. If a Javelin goes his way, at least Ephraim isn't wasting his lance.

I'm going to be honest, I have no idea what the cavs are doing right now. I'm sure my past self has a good explanation.

...This sometimes happens- some frames of animation are all white, and every time I happen to catch one, I groan in annoyance. This'll be the only one you'll see.

Whatever caused it, it gave Ross this level up again.

Yep, someone pitched at Garcia. Recall that all the buffs Garcia is giving Ross also apply in reverse- although the only one Garcia needs is the 15 Avoid.

Here he is using the offensive buffs to his advantage.

With that said, I don't want to use his buffs. I want Tana to secure this kill, and by removing the buffs, I can do so.

...Just let me heal him up...

Yeah, Natasha is getting benched first chance she gets.

Hit right back. Is that a 34% hit rate or not?

Tana thanks you all the same.

The Ocean Seal is an important enough item that the game will give it to us in both routes on the same map. For Ephraim, this is the promotion item for Ross and Colm. Yes, we're using it on Ross, don't ask silly questions.

Seth and a cavalier boost Colm to go reach this chest faster.

This knight has an axereaver, and this party is scared of that. Ross can make up the disadvantage with Garcia support, and the knight is kinda pathetic anyway (6 Avoid), but it bears mentioning.

I barely care about WTD, what's double WTD going to stop me?

So much for sparing him and hoping for a feed. Then again, I wouldn't have given him Garcia Support if that was the plan.

The plan was to summon these two closer.

It's about time too.

Garcia weakens the mage from this square.

And gets an actually decent level up out of it. Garcia's not unusable, he's just not in my plans for this run. Although Speed is a little unusual for him, and you might worry about the Skill, too.

Tana continues making sure she can hit things hard.

Ross stands on this square, completing the formation that prevents this archer from hurting Tana.

Joshua's not going to get here in a hurry. And here those two cavaliers are not lending a hand.

That would've come in handy several turns ago.

The Support points were worth the shot.

Incidentally, Ephraim and Tana are heading north.

Joshua will take this kill instead.

What is with Tana and dodging 60% sword strokes? Not that this one was scary or anything.

Although I then proceed to mention this is the most damage any enemy on this map has threatened to do to Ephraim.

Tana takes the shaman and lets the mercenary finish himself off.

Joshua gets an exact kill. He needs bonuses.

...Right, he has a Physic.

Thanks for the boost, Garcia.

That's some nice Avoid, although I can see the lack of Defence (and HP, come to think of it) that's going to make next map exciting.

...Look, just because Artur is going to mulch this guy doesn't mean he'll do it fast.

Something a holy man should've done a long time ago.

Beat you senseless.

Look, the last thing I need is you using that on Gheb.

He gets enough healing from the chair.

A dancer would be nice.

Ross lends a hand. Right, who's turn is the boss kill?

...Artur? Well, I had a good reason, aside from him being the highest level.

Anything's possible if it really needs to be done.

Magic! DEFENCE! Yeah, Artur is still taken out by a stiff breeze. Anyway, it would be really nice if Artur were to promote soon-ish, and the closer he gets to a high, promote-able level, the better. 17 is on the low end of my standards, but it's high enough that for a crucial promotion like Artur's, I might consider it.

I don't decide to do so this map, though, you'll have to wait until next time.

Killer Axe attained.

Now it's time to grind Support points.

(Eventually, it took so long I sent Joshua down here to kill this guy just to stop Enemy Phase notifications.)

It also gave him a level up. Still feel a little bad, especially since lore-wise, this is supposed to be sparing people.

There's C Rank Ephraim/Tana, we're done here.

A "rout" in Fire Emblem terms means a complete destruction of all enemy targets, but the fact there is someone still standing after the fact implies Seth's use of the term "routed" here is a more traditional "everyone who wasn't killed ran away in a way that indicates they're not coming back."

Here's our prisoner. He doesn't have a name and he's going to disappear into the ether once we're done interrogating him. Consider his words the Grado populace's.

Before asking his question, Ephraim assures the prisoner that, while he wants an answer, he will accept it if one is not provided. More than most prisoners tend to get out of their interrogations.

The prisoner accepts the request.

Ephraim goes right for the obvious one.

...Figures.

We already knew this, but at least we have direct confirmation.

Ephraim tries a simpler, alternative question. General Duessel is likely privy to some more concrete answers.

Not actually the truth, but I can understand why this man believes it to be such. Duessel is already on his way to Frelia to engage Ephraim, although I imagine the news of his deployment didn't travel much further ahead of the man. His activities while at the castle are accurate.

Duessel's objections, and the fact they've gotten far enough that even this man knows about them, are Serious, but Duessel would prefer to make them than remain silent and keep his position.

This confirms Ephraim's suspicions that Duessel is a man to trust, and pretty much confirms Ephraim's next action is going to be finding Duessel.

Prince Lyon, on the other hand...

Even this guy kinda knows what's probably going to happen if he answers the question to the best of his knowledge.

He even prefaces his understanding by making sure Ephraim knows it's hearsay and conjecture.

Because allegedly, Lyon was the one who started the conflict to begin with.

Ephraim, predictably, does not take the news well.

He knew a man that could never have done this, but here he is, having done this.

Ephraim is calmed down, and the interrogation has come to an end. Isn't it so much nicer when our Lords don't try and torture the prisoners to get them to confess to nonsensical crimes?

Ephraim is going to leave the busy details to Frelia while he continues on his search for information. I wholeheartedly support this decision, owing to Ephraim's inability to handle busy details and his ability to go into fortified places and seize them with minimal armies.

Ephraim's plan is to find Duessel and get something more concrete to work on. He has not taken the rumour presented to him as fact, and is also prepared to greet Lyon as he would Duessel.

Of course he has misgivings, that's what we're paying him for.

And of course I can't in good conscience agree with Seth's particular choice in disagreement. There's better arguments to make here than "they're Grado, we can't trust them".

Ephraim insists that there will be no conflict.

On nothing but strength of character arguments.

This is another instance where I'm agreeing with Ephraim's arguments but feeling like Seth is kinda being more persuasive.

At the very least, Ephraim is listening to Seth. Ephraim does listen to people. When it seems like something's gone in one ear and out the other, it's because Ephraim either doesn't understand the argument or disagrees with it too strongly to bother arguing.

Usually, it's the former.

Ephraim is prepared to fight anyone who draws a weapon on him. He's just hoping diplomacy works the first time.

Say what you will about Ephraim being "too perfect", this particular expression of his convictions really speaks to a man who understands right from wrong more deeply than many, but less deeply than experts in politics. It's what happens when Ephraim's resolve is actually tested that draws more valid criticism.

Seth noticed he was being rebuked by that statement and acknowledges it.

...Please don't tell me that's the only reason you're listening to Ephraim.

You can ask him as many times as you think will help. It's just not gonna happen.

Ephraim understands that plunging himself into danger is different from plunging other people into danger. If the writers weren't so scared of permadeath, this might be a good time to mention Tana plunging herself into Ephraim's danger here.

Ephraim announces this plan. In general, one gets the impression Ephraim is kind of leaning on Eirika's help to get this done.

Ephraim then turns around and tells Myrrh to leave. Granted, she's barely done anything over the course of the story thus far, but our understanding is that her role is critical in the upcoming crisis.

It's kinda difficult to argue Ephraim has a head on his shoulders when he does crap like this.

This, at least, is a true statement. Then again, things seemed to go just fine before that.

At the very least, once we find that dragonstone, Myrrh will stop being defenceless.

I presume Myrrh is also going to be incredibly helpful identifying and crafting counter-strategies to that.

Once again, Ephraim's weakness to little sisters is exploited. Imagine the damage Grado could do if they employed a woman cute enough to count. Selena, despite her status as a woman mattering to a small degree, doesn't strike me as the kind of woman who could pull this off.

...I'm slightly worried that Myrrh continued that sentence...

Anyway, speaking of Selena, it's time to hear what her job is.

She starts a long and formal means of accepting it, but Vigarde interrupts her partway.

Selena is to be deployed alongside Duessel.

Or at least, that's the only conclusion that makes any sense.

Instead, her orders are to eliminate Duessel.

I mean, he's only complained about how bad a job Vigarde's been doing long enough.

Not strictly speaking true. All he's done is tell you you're doing a bad job.

Well, so much for Duessel.

Selena can't quite parse the "Duessel is a traitor" message. Again, though, it's not like he's been quiet about it.

With that said, Selena is not of any mind to argue against Vigarde. Although she's clearly trying to stammer something appropriate out.

It's time to see if Selena will do what Duessel did not.

I'm somewhat afraid of what the answer might be.

Selena prepares to rally her spirit by talking to Vigarde, the man who helped Selena when she needed it most, and not the Emperor.

Vigarde remains silent.

Vigarde in general made a tremendous impact on Selena, and the way she approached situations in her life.

Selena's fundamental identity, that which she formed under Vigarde himself, is as opposed to Grado's current practices as Duessel's is.

Although by this point, it's pretty clear that Duessel is probably going to turn up in Ephraim's army eventually, the game throws a lot more doubt on whether Selena will wind up following him. At this point, while it seems more likely she'll join Ephraim too, it's genuinely still up in the air.