SS Chapter 13 Eirika: REVENGE! VENGEANCE!

Our next stop is another uninteresting dot. Ironically, I think this mission is more interesting than the ones that came before.

This always seems to happen for me. I wonder if it's because of the "RNG is always the same on boot" thing.

We can still buy some tomes here. No Divine? At least we don't have a Light mage to be disappointed here.

We're about to make our formal arrival into Jehanna.

Yeah, Ismaire is Queen because her husband asked. Ismaire is quietly the character that suffers the most because of the game's sexism. Well, she gets a big heaving dose of it later, but that's next chapter: Right now, we're not going to be getting into what she's up to (which may just be another instance of the problem in and of itself, but it's not like we're seeing what Mansel gets up to on his days off.)

Pertinent plot information. Insomuch as Ismaire's son does anything when he gets revealed.

Grado's already causing problems, and right now, we're heading head-long into those.

So what is this canyon and why is it so interesting?

Don't worry, this is relevant.

Valter has just got back home and is now finishing what he started by killing Glen: Getting the people who cared about him angry.

Dear Latona, Valter, do you have no shame? I can't necessarily fault the man for his idea, but this is disgusting on so many levels.

...What funerals you going to where it matters what the body looks like?

As decisions go, not the worst idea in the world for either side. It's a little tasteless to bring it up now, though.

Cormag is not really interested in playing this game, instead laser-focusing on his desire to act on this tragedy.

As one last laugh, Valter gets to act like this is because of Glen's failings as a combat unit.

Valter blames Eirika for Glen's death, because this gets him what he wants, but he does have a bit of an uphill battle to sell his position on: Glen was killed by lance wounds, and while Eirika does use her Rapier like a lance, it's unlikely that this swordplay would create the injuries Valter has left.

Fortunately for him, Cormag is neither able nor interested in checking.

Yeah, Cormag is about to stop being useful to Vigarde one way or another.

I love how the game has Valter tell Cormag where to go and Cormag just leaves, wyvern and all, before he finishes talking. This is just perfect.

Even Valter seems a bit non-plussed by how well his plan worked.

On a scale of "nope" to "get me the hell out of here", this definitely rates about a "who wrote this man?"

Our regularly scheduled passage through this random piece of unlisted terrain (I don't believe this is any map we ever play on) is interrupted by a Frelian messenger.

This is the most hilarious response to that question.

Not that her concern is unwarranted. But, to be clear, this is a reaction and not actually her message.

Innes actually treats her concern with respect. She clearly has an urgent message, but Innes's raw practicality is not so all-encompassing that he won't take the time to reassure the frazzled Frelian faction.

That said, this is an urgent report and Innes would like it now, please.

Frelia's official response to the whole Carcino debacle has been to deploy what forces they can spare (what was this about having no brigades to spare for Eirika?) to crushing Pablo's forces and lending a hand.

And they're doing a good job of it, too.

...And funnelling them in our direction.

And they'll probably get thrown to the wayside like the traitorous filth they are. With that said, we are, right now, in between Pablo and the Grado army. You may consider this a gameplay hint.

Anyway, now that we're done vaguely warning the player about surprise reinforcements in an update that sounds a lot like meaningless plot updates, what's going on in Ephraim route?

We get news from Chapter 9. Doesn't even mention the sailing adventure or that Duessel has joined our ranks. She said she had news, not that she had good news.

Vigarde, yes, but the Imperial Six are scattered over the continent, and at least two of them are no longer our enemy (not that Innes, the character, knows either Duessel or Glen's situations).

You'd think an invading army would have a weaker army in the capital, since the whole point is they're trying to fight someone else.

Ephraim can totally handle himself. Although the odds are such that the safe bet is probably Grado.

...The plot is going to change scenes now, because this just does not dignify a response.

As a reminder, because it's going to be pertinent information, Eirika does not know L'Arachel is the Princess of Rausten.

She just sees L'Arachel as a very weird girl, and regardless of her deal, keeping her out of a fight scene is in everyone's interests.

I think everyone knew this was going to happen, but we had hopes.

Just because she's completely lost the plot in her personal life doesn't mean she's lost the plot when it comes to the actual plot.

...

We're not telling the party what we're up to? Honestly, probably for the best, this sounds like the sort of thing that would make the army panic more than motivate them to prevent it.

L'Arachel seems to have forgotten Eirika doesn't know she's a princess, too. Although I suspect her excuse would've been no better had she been given time to consider one.

Eirika doesn't buy it.

L'Arachel: "Oh yeah, I called backup, better let her know."

Translation: This will be a Defend mission.

L'Arachel must be enjoying having her girlfriend on the backfoot.

Now that is an enemy formation.

Say hello to today's chapter boss, Aias. He's a pal of Caellach's.

He has noticed that he is not the first guy to be thrown into the Eirika murderball, and is at least somewhat concerned by this observation.

Still, though, he does have confidence. Not entirely misplaced, either.

This is not the only character whom Caellach has fought alongside in his younger mercenary days, which makes me wonder in what capacity Caellach's two friends know each other- did he know them at different times, or was it one big happy trio? Sadly, they don't have the chance to bring it up.

Aias is acclaimed as a formidable tactician, and his formation seems to be the one with the most thought put into it from an in-universe perspective. Whether he has earned that accolade from an external perspective differs from person to person, but this is considered to be one of the harder Eirika missions by beginners.

Aias isn't really in this to be a General. He's lending a hand to his old mate Caellach and probably getting paid for it.

Sure beats the alternative.

You didn't have to murder him quite so brutally, Aias.

At least Caellach presents a reason he won't be lending a hand to Aias personally. I don't think the Rausten Knights actually acknowledge his efforts when they arrive, though.

Imagine having a perfect record when it comes to mercenary work. The pressure must be enormous.

I wouldn't want to be him.

Right. So now we're staring down the barrel of Aias's formation.

We're trapped between a hammer and an anvil.

Honestly, we're putting a lot of faith in the idea that L'Arachel's Knights are as good as she's selling them. If they're not, we're dead with friends.

So, how will we be handling this?

With the usual applications of our army. Vanessa is dying for a promotion, but we won't get her Whip until Cormag gets here.

This map is small, and all the more deadly for it. Fortunately, Pablo doesn't show up for a long time, so we have plenty of opportunity to deal with Aias's stuff.

Aias is the Great Knight in the middle. Most of this stuff will move, and the trick to this map is making sure you can handle them when they do.

Pictured: Aias. Huh, the game actually does kinda hedge itself on the matter of Aias's skill. Regardless, if we want to finish this map early, we can do so by killing him, although that won't be the easiest job in the world. He has three powerful weapons, one of each kind, and you can bet whatever weapon he has equipped is the one you don't want to deal with. He has two major saving graces: Only one of these weapons is ranged, so you can throw Lute at him if he's decided to change (big if, I wouldn't want him swinging either of those melee weapons at me), and since that Swordslayer isn't filling the axe's usual job in the weapon triangle, he does not have full control over WTA- he's got no answer to Lances. Now may be a good time to consider packing a Heavy Spear.

I'm told he's actually far, far weaker in the Japanese version. He's easier to kill to end the map early there.

The priests. That Sleep staff may cause serious Problems if he uses it while everyone else is still alive, although I'm not sure he's that kind of enemy.

Pablo will take his time getting here, but those fortresses do have enemies for us.

Let's start by neutralising the ballista threat as much as possible. Don't want our fliers worrying about death every turn by existing.

Now that I've spotted Vanessa's HP woes, I'm working on them!

Fortunately, this square is exactly out of range of the centre ballista. I don't really have much for him on turn one.

Tana can handle it.

Amelia takes point. Delicious formations mean delicious EXP.

(Speaking of Amelia and this map, she apparently shows up here if she ran away in Chapter 9, although I'm not sure where).

Marisa also wants in on the EXP. Also making sure Neimi doesn't do any thievery.

And, as always, L'Arachel gets in some Barrier on her way to mastery.

Natasha is on standby for the serious stuff.

I don't think we'll be needing her.

Well, Marisa might.

I wish Amelia was higher levelled, but at the same time, she's doing just fine where she is.

...Marisa might be in some serious trouble, though.

Even the ballista went for her!

Ranger went for Neimi, though. Not that he did a great job.

He pops like a pinata! These guys would be scary if they had stats.

...The same is true of Marisa.

Are you done?

Yeah, they're done.

Even Natasha can pop these like popped corn.

Right, Marisa handles this guy first. By... dabbing, I believe.

So long, Ranger Ned!

L'Arachel takes the healing. She'll want to do as much as possible.

So long, Ranger Ted! That's the promoted stuff done.

Amelia deals with our ballista issue.

And Tethys makes sure the princesses can stay in girlfriend range.

Natasha considers the incoming enemies that have indeed shown up.

Lute notices L'Arachel didn't heal all Marisa's wounds and tends to the papercut. Plot twist, that wasn't even a battle injury.

Here's what happens if Tana wanted to just finish the map right now. Well, the Accuracy could use work and she doesn't ORKO, but still. If you're good at the game, Aias is far less scary than he plays himself up to be.

With a sword up, these armour knights can handle Amelia.

Eirika, less so.

And some cavaliers come around. They're easier to deal with.

That feels neither necessary nor helpful to his cause. To add insult to injury, his magic is so pathetically low it's not like it's doing much.

Dang fortress, stealing healing L'Arachel could be doing.

Marisa gets to be the main fighter of the rear guard.

Eirika has... surprisingly few swords. She has the Convoy and is also nearing her level cap.

Right, he's gone.

And Amelia continues being generally awesome.

Let's not have any more of you.

This also puts Lute in Vanessa's range to make sure she can handle Aias's counterattack.

Oh, by the way, here's the reinforcements.

They suck, but they do exist.

Yay, horse-killing sword! This is the good one, since all the postgame horses are axemen, but against human enemies, it's a little less helpful.

Well, so much for Marisa's EXP.

"That would require moving from this fortress, and this gives me a lot of additional stats and passive regen, you see."

"Frankly, I don't know why I even bothered trying, I only had a 9% chance of landing the hit."

Natasha takes out another mercenary.

While Marisa gets in position to get everyone else who's coming out.

Amelia sets up for some cavalier reinforcements. This'll be that kind of Defend map.

Vanessa wants the north ones, but first, enough out of you, too.

Eirika and L'Arachel need to pull back.

...They got pretty far.

Ow.

Please learn to dodge.

Oh hey, Cormag showed up. If you finished this map early by killing Aias on like turn 3, you don't get Cormag. He just disappears into a crack in plot. So does his Whip, don't let him do that.

Anyone else getting Dimitri vibes from this guy? Don't worry, unlike Dimitri, he'll listen to reason.

We'd better not let him hit us with that Killer Lance of his, though.

OK, that guy can go pretty high north, Vanessa needs to move up a bit.

So long, this guy- he has the Javelin.

And Lute is out of range.

Dangit, Marisa doesn't get the kill here.

Natasha, lend a hand.

Dammit, Natasha.

Well, let's at least get them off their fortresses.

...That was a choice. Did Tethys just not reach one square further north?

Oh hey, Eirika/L'Arachel got a Support rank! C Rank, incidentally.

Tana sets up. Pablo isn't far off, and we want someone hugging the west edge of the map when he does.

Can't you let Marisa have anything?

...That's a level up.

And here come the cavalry.

Whew, good thing that wasn't Cormag!

I'm not sure what I love more: 0, or a tiny single-digit number like 3.

Extra EXP, and...

Right, you need to stop being our problem.

Considering how viciously Cormag wants his revenge, he's very polite and courteous when introducing himself.

And fortunately, Cormag clearly enumarates the crimes for which he believes Eirika did and is holding her accountable for. Contrast Dimitri, whose beef with Edelgard is complicated by the fact that Edelgard actually did things Dimitri wouldn't like and she has no idea that she's actually innocent of the crimes Dimitri is accusing her of.

Dimitri's idea of revenge is murdering Edelgard at any cost. Cormag has the same single-mindedness, but he doesn't just want Eirika dead.

He wants to prove that he (and by extension Glen) is stronger than Eirika, and lets Eirika make all her necessary preparations to make this as fair a fight as possible, so there can be no doubt that it is Cormag's superior skill that made him the victor.

Eirika didn't see Valter kill Glen- all she knows is that Glen went back to Grado with the plan to talk things out with Vigarde.

And Cormag will not hear a word of it.

Eirika tries to explain what she recalls of the events.

Yeah, long shot. Of course we'd tell him something. We're not Valter, we don't own our misdeeds.

Eirika's sole proof of the encounter are the words with which Glen described her.

Cormag: "Yeah, sounds like something Glen would say."

But this confuses Cormag: Why on earth would Valter lie about who killed Glen?

And then the penny drops. He's Valter.

Well, that's a sudden change of heart out of nowhere.

Really, Cormag has not changed any part of who he is and what he believes in. He just realises that the mindless revenge he's been pursuing since this chapter started was misplaced, and now that he knows who's really responsible for killing his brother, he's preparing just the thing to pay him back.

Hopefully the ideology rubs off on him before he's satisfied himself, otherwise this could get awkward.

Cormag is probably the character who is most significantly impacted by what route he's recruited on. He errs to the more mellow Ephraim route self in Supports, partially because it's not actually that long until we kill Valter anyway, but I feel like he's one of the characters the route split was designed to make possible. Funnily enough, PoR's wyvern knight is also a character designed from the ground up to accommodate the new story-telling device in plot-speed Supports and Info conversations. The devs know their audience.

Anyway, he's a male character, so he's going to dump his lances in the convoy and go ferry the Whip over to Vanessa while everyone else gets on with their work.

...OK, Eirika gets Danced.

Tana steals a one use Iron Sword Tethys stole from Marisa at some point.

She's feeding a kill.

OK, Natasha is ferrying the Whip.

No better time to promote her, unless the cavaliers become issues.

There's a lull with which she can escape, anyway.

And Amelia finishes the last non-Aias enemy currently spawned.

There's more reinforcements to deal with.

Amelia backs up, so she can get Neimi Support.

I presume what happened here is I had the idea for Cormag to ferry the Whip after I had already dumped it in Supply.

Now that's a convoluted way to get it to Vanessa.

Whip activated. We've seen these options before.

If I had to put either of them on a wyvern, it'd be Tana. There's a good reason to make one of them a Falcoknight even if you prefer Wyvern, but I imagine I'm the only one who uses it anyway.

...Not entirely sure who's dealing with the north cavaliers now.

These girls want to stay over here for Pablo.

And L'Arachel's stats are good enough.

I always hate dithering out waiting for Pablo. Especially since I can never remember where his formation appears.

Oh hey, Neimi is helping!

...Pablo?

I understand giving us time to prepare, but seriously!

At least Amelia's enjoying the extra time.

There they are. And Tana was standing right where I wanted her.

...Huh. Pablo didn't want to be the hammer here.

To be fair, he would have rathered not leave Carcino at all.

He is very correct about this. If they have to beg for Grado's help, they're going to find themselves very disposable.

He has a Purge tome to back this up with. Although I doubt he was expecting to see us up so close.

Oh yeah, more cavaliers.

Pablo hasn't really got weaker, it's just that he's not standing on a throne, he's holding heavier books, and we've gotten much stronger. He'll die for good this time, too- and of course, if Aias was killed before now, Pablo would also disappear into the continuity wedgie that is this map.

Matching Aias, he's apparently tougher in the Japanese version- it's supposed to be more concerning when he shows up. Interesting the devs tampered with the stats so much at all.

His best friend over here has a Swordslayer, watch out for that. I say, with Eirika and Marisa over here.

One of the Brigands is holding a Body Ring he has no plans on dropping. In any other playthrough, you should plan around having Colm steal this, this is the only way to raise your Con stat, and having a low Con is a permanent speed debuff. Unfortunately, this guy is going to die with his.

Eirika starts proceedings with this guy in particular.

And then Tana takes Pablo. He is a boss, I guess, the promoted units should handle him.

This line of dialogue is so unfitting for Tana. If it wasn't for L'Arachel, Tana would be the most affluent character in the cast thus far- she has probably got more money than Pablo has ever seen. Well, her father does, at least.

She's already the princess of one nation and the girlfriend of the crown prince of another. I don't think she needs half of your backwater nation that you'll never own anyway.

That actually mildly hurt! Mildly. We'll walk this off in no time.

Eat the rich!

...Wait, hold on, that's me. Well, here's hoping Carcino doesn't hurt too badly from half its leadership biting steel at our hands.

At least he's helping us in spirit.

Marisa isn't quite embarassing this guy, but she is doing a decent job of it.

...Oh hey, apparently she had a crit RN prepared? Maybe she should've fought the Warrior after all...

Yeah, hahahaha, not letting you take a swing at me.

This is the part where the game mocks my attempt at a "formation".

And this is the part where I wish Marisa wasn't Marisa.

She dodges, but she doesn't kill too often.

Right, this seems like a nice easy combo for Marisa/Tethys Support.

...4% odds.

At least this one won't hit me.

Eirika not killing this one? Wait, is she already level capped?

Hahaha, that's a waste of everyone's time.

Yeah, hit him.

Neimi does start the chip, however.

...Well, so much for that.

Marisa better appreciate this.

Ooh, Swordslayer! It's not super-effective on Amelia, but it does hurt. And it has decent accuracy to boot.

And there's that kill Marisa was promised.

L'Arachel got a good level out of it.

Neimi suddenly not getting counter-attacked anymore. Still doing some not-that-great damage, though.

...Double crit never mind.

Lute heals Amelia up from that Swordslayer.

...Is this all you two have between you?

This is what using a Lance does to a Swordslayer user. Why Tana didn't deal with the other guy, I've got no idea, but I suspect the reason is Pablo's higher EXP payout.

It's about time I got around to killing Aias.

This could be interpreted multiple ways, depending on what kind of piercing you did- either blitzing Aias for the kill to finish the map as fast as possible or wiping the whole thing out like I did.

For those who struggle with this map, this line is a massive "thumbs up" from the developers for beating it to the point of getting to this guy. Especially the FE7 fans- "Renais's tactician" may be interpreted as being us, the player, as opposed to an in-universe character. I remember hearing that at least one translation had Aias describe the person he is praising as female (which points to it being Eirika herself), but I'm not sure which- it's definitely not the Japanese one.

Aias: Ah… So here you are. The princess Eirika.
Eirika: Who?
Aias: You’re not at all what I had expected… I would test the arm that bested Glen.

Speaking of Aias and Eirika, she gets a boss conversation. Odds are Eirika's not bringing this information with her to Cormag recruit, but it is a mention to her face that Grado's story is that Eirika killed Glen nonetheless.

Amelia can slack off all she needs from that kill.

And funnily enough, the item Amelia needs if she wants to become him.

Aias: Rausten knights?! That means Caellach’s- Curses… All troops! Retreat at once!

There is an extended scene if Aias is alive to see the Rausten Knights arrive, of course. We get to see what happens to Aias- this technically happens at the end of the scene, after the friendly exposition, but nevertheless.

Caellach: Hey, Aias.

Aias: Caellach…

Caellach: That was something awful. I never expected to see you get beaten so roundly.

Aias: Yes. It was a complete failure. The Rausten knights arrived far more quickly then I’d anticipated. But it doesn’t matter, does it? Whether I won or lost? You were planning on abandoning me from the start, weren’t you?

Caellach: …Yeah, sorry. I’m not going to let things end for me here. I want to rise… To climb higher and higher. I will not be chained to my past. I will not be chained to you. I truly apologize, but you die here. Good-bye, my friend.

Stone cold. Not even entirely sure why he kills Aias other than not wanting to have his mercenary buddy stick around cramping his style.

Don't worry, insanity isn't a requirement to be a citizen of Rausten.

Finally, some real reinforcements! Who knew, the way to get some actual firepower was to seduce the ruling power!

L'Arachel briefly lets her disguise slip and complains about the delay. Caellach and Aias's conversation vaguely implies Caellach didn't do his due diligence interfering here, but Caellach does seem to have at least contributed to the battle here.

These are the sorts of people L'Arachel spends her time with.

Eirika's not going to let that pass by without comment.

L'Arachel, with a man on his knees in front of her: "No, I'm not royal or anything, what gives you that impression?"

Dozla: "Stop kidding yourself, you've gotta tell your girlfriend the truth."

It's amazing, how she tells Ephraim she's a Princess immediately, but tries so hard to sell herself entirely on her own merits to Eirika. It's hard to imagine her not being at least somewhat gay.

L'Arachel doesn't really hide this in her Eirika Supports. They don't really talk about it, but it does come up from time to time.

Although she's a Princess now, this part of her story hasn't changed.

Which is weird, because that's one of the unbelievable bits.

Fortunately, we have an impartial character to tell us L'Arachel's story.

L'Arachel got inflamed by a particularly inspiring poet, and decided she was going to become a legendary hero like the main characters in his stories. This is exactly the back story you'd expect to hear out of a character like L'Arachel: She is basically powered by the medieval equivalent of television.

Also, yes, his name is Saaga.

Eirika has no idea how to respond to that. It's a bit of a shame, because I feel like the contrast between who L'Arachel is and who she wants to be is incredibly fascinating. Fortunately, however, Eirika does have the best grasp on how to help L'Arachel recover somewhat in supports.

...OK, Mansel gave us better manpower, but Hayden gives better paychecks.

At least L'Arachel appreciates it.

Now that we know L'Arachel is a Princess, nothing changes except she's a royal lunatic.

Caellach is apparently hanging around in Jehanna Hall when Aias goes to say hi, but I'll be honest, it's been so long since I spared Aias that I don't even remember what that scene looks like.

Innes is surprised it happened while he wasn't looking.

I'd joke about how Eirika's the first person to ask, but really, this is a bit of an open question from an outside perspective. Ismaire's safety is in the hands of some... loose cannons, I believe is the technical term.

So far, Fado's died and Hayden's lived. The record on dead Kings/Queens is all over the place in this game.

This is the first time in Eirika story that Lyon has ever been presented as antagonistic. Lyon has kinda stayed out of the story in general thus far- he cameoed in A New Journey, but otherwise has been off-screen, maybe coming up for Eirika to mention how this entire invasion business is out of his character and is probably someone else's doing.

So now Eirika needs to think about Lyon as a potential bad guy.

That is a big burden to put on her so suddenly. Now that the route split is closing down, the game is starting to pick up interest in the other big interesting idea it has: Lyon. Lyon is the cornerstone of Act 3 of Sacred Stones, and we're rearing up to the point where we get to see that in action.

Next time: Eirika route's final map.