Bethany Plays: SS Chapter 14 Ephraim Part 2: A Vow Aknolled

When last we left our intrepid heroes, L'Arachel plunged into danger so recklessly, that this is not as much help as Cormag wishes it were.

And L'Arachel finally heals.

I don't think she had a Vulnerary. Let this be a lesson to always pack your lunchbox.

This side is also having fun.

I should've had Artur stay here instead of healing Tana. I don't know why I didn't. Maybe I didn't want Artur hogging the EXP.

Although clearly Ephraim wasn't quite there. I thought he rammed the level cap sooner.

That's this mess cleaned up.

So long, Body Ring!

Also, Garcia has been sitting here on one HP thanks to L'Arachel's shenanigans.

These two are also running from the mages. I have a lot of problems here.

Tana runs to the rescue!

Artur does what he should've started with.

And eating that Vulnerary has made L'Arachel's lot so much easier.

Although it still sucks to be these guys.

Right, no more of this mess.

And fortunately, Talk allows me to use up my last movement.

L'Arachel is no longer in danger.

The boys, on the other hand...

Well, you can't be in danger if the enemy is oneshot.

Don't worry, I thought of the Longbowman.

...Actually, I probably didn't, but that was a huge coincidence.

That point of Res is not helping, really.

Not a oneshot, but Tana can take it.

Nosferatu doesn't help you if it's a oneshot.

Although I'd like a bit more.

Oh hey, Rennac is in Longbow range.

Had enough out of you.

Sure, why not?

Yay? I do plan to use a bow user, but it's not actually going to be anyone in this party- although Gerik and Garcia can use Bows on promotion.

I think L'Arachel didn't need this one, I've already got a spare from not promoting Natasha. Probably.

L'Arachel begins healing for EXP.

...Not great, after what just happened.

She's got a lot of healing for practical purposes to go up here.

Tana opens the door. There's not much behind it to be afraid of, just a few Dark mages.

And ones that can't reach us in much of a hurry.

Artur's going to try not healing for a bit. The people here don't need it, but L'Arachel might like the EXP.

Besides, this guy is pathetic.

It's so annoying these guys can reach those chests.

...Suddenly I'm more concerned.

You both have Physics. Of course they do.

Right, more healing out of critical health.

And this was direly needed.

Artur is already at B Rank! He doesn't need to do any more healing for his Staff rank- he already has Physic. And besides, he's so close to S Light that he won't be in danger of accidentally capping Staves instead.

Tana is my competent spearhead.

And not half bad bait.

Next turn. You're mine.

So long, irritator!

L'Arachel can only heal so fast.

And Gerik gets started reaping the EXP.

What do you mean, he hit? He's an FE8 Luna shaman, they can't even hit the broad side of the castle!

Oh well.

Now you're doing just fine.

Remember when these guys were actually terrifying? Me neither, I don't play much FE7.

You're irritating.

At least L'Arachel's low Magic means she gets more Heals out of these guys.

Now he dodges.

Pop goes the EXP bag.

Cormag drops Rennac off here, and Artur goes to hang out for Support points. At last, I'm building that pair.

Joshua pulled some evade out of nowhere. Did I Support him with someone yet?

...Wait, never mind, this is the shaman, not the druid.

Artur, you're needed back here!

Josh dodged the druid too.

Not the end of the world: Gerik can kill a 16 HP guy same as a 4HP guy.

What is with all these Res levels? Sure, these guys could use more Res...

Cleanup time.

Now that is a level.

Yoink!

I'm always so annoyed when I miss a Speed or Luck proc on Tethys, as if I really care about each and every single point.

Promotion time for the big boy! On Eirika route, you can feed Gerik enough kills to get a reasonable promotion level around Chapter 11 or 12. Here, he had to wait until the end of 14. Cormag has the opposite problem, but I think Cormag is better off on Eirika route than Gerik is on Ephraim.

Gerik can promote into an infantry unit with Axes or a horse unit with Bows.

For some reason, Gerik is just that much better a unit in Hero compared to Ranger, to the point I think most people would be surprised to learn Gerik can even become a Ranger at all (I often hear and think of Neimi as the game's only Ranger). Early on, it was considered the fact that Gerik's massive Con is so well suited to carrying around heavy Axes without penalty. Later, when movement was king, the power of Axes and the weakness of Bows just managed to make up the difference. Besides, Gerik probably has a terrible Aid score thanks to all that Con.

15 Con is enough for him to carry around every axe in the game except the Brave Axe and the Devil Axe with zero penalty. Gerik's Speed may be a little shaky (18 is still very solid right now), but unlike some of our more delicate flowers, Gerik gets every point of that.

Garcia loans him a few axes to get started.

There we go, L'Arachel's getting into gear.

And she can basically heal whoever in here, there's no more enemies.

Angelic Robe for the pile.

And I'd rather not deal with you two.

...You one round with Reginleif?

Let's send someone else. Mostly for the EXP: Ephraim would get none, and this man has a ton.

Not a very talkative fellow.

Ross had a lot of help from Garcia when it came to getting a few extra points in Atk and Crit. He will be missed.

A few points in HP back from the throne, and no finish from Ross.

That's OK, Gerik wanted the kill anyway.

A man of few words to the end.

Ephraim: Vigarde! Why did you invade Renais? Why did you kill my father?
Vigarde: …..
Ephraim: Answer me, Vigarde! …So you really have lost hold of all your senses, haven’t you?
Vigarde: …..

Vigarde: …..
Duessel: Your Majesty, am I finished?
Vigarde: …..
Duessel: Your Majesty… It’s too late, isn’t it? …Forgive me.

Both Ephraim and Duessel try to talk to Vigarde, but both take different impressions about what it means he's not responding. Poor Duessel.

May your sacrifice be immortalised in these great gains.

Not sure who'd you give this to. I suppose this harkens back to Murdock from FE6: For some reason, the final three human bosses in that game are holding promotion items (that you have to steal!) despite being practically at the end of the game and a freshly promoted character isn't going to be doing much. We're not quite there yet, but I don't feel like this Knight Crest is destined for anybody in 99% of player armies. You already had two by this point.

Speaking of promotion items acquired at this exact point in the story, here is the Secret Shop in Ephraim route.

Same stock as in Jehanna Hall. It diversifes postgame, though.

Now it is time for the same thing we did in Eirika's Chapter 14: Spamming Heal and Barrier until she promotes.

Also forming up a tight formation of Support point grinding while I'm at it. There are, I believe, seven Support pairs I am currently grinding in this formation.

Some level ups, and... wait, Joshua has moved. Never mind, this run's not going for Joshua/L'Arachel.

Gerik/Joshua acquired. Wind/Thunder is [+0.5 Atk, +0.5 Def, +2.5 Hit, +2.5 Avo, +5 Crit, +5 Dodge]. Gerik gets to be as critty as Joshua.

More level ups.

And Artur/Cormag gets their go. [+0.5 Atk, +0.5 Def, +5 Hit, +5 Avo, +2.5 Crit, +2.5 Ddg]. I wish I had that sooner.

Another rank of Ephraim/Tana.

...And Tana got hit by one of those continuity errors.

Wow, L'Arachel's making ground.

Ross/Gerik. [+0.5 Atk, +0.5 Def, +2.5 Hit, +5 Avo, +5 Crit, +2.5 Def]. Won't be A Support, but since Gerik doesn't have an Atk granting affinity, this is basically as awesome as Ross needs anyway. Sure, it would be nice if Ross had the full +15 Avo/Crit like he does with Dad, but practically, it's not much worse for him.

L'Arachel made it to 18 in this route. Since she wasn't sharing healing duties three ways with Natasha and Lute, just Artur, she got more EXP before this.

Right, it's time for L'Arachel's promotion, version 2.

As mentioned in Eirika route, L'Arachel doesn't really difference between Valkyrie and Mage Knight beyond the difference between using Anima tomes and Light tomes. Since our main magic user thus far has been Artur instead of Lute, L'Arachel getting Anima instead of Light is a really practical choice as well as a nice aesthetic one.

Although I'm not really a fan of the haircut L'Arachel gets. Part of that is the similarity to Selena (occupational hazard of being a GBA unit, although it's cool we get a Mage Knight to replace Selena on Ephraim route), but L'Arachel is a very showy woman and this very business-like cut feels antithetical. Despite the fact it kinda is closer to her portrait's cut than the Troubadour's ponytail/pigtails.

Now for more Dancer and Support grinding.

Dancer.

And Support. Tana/Cormag is identical to Ephraim/Tana in bonuses.

I think I missed the shot, but I'm also picking up Artur/Tethys.

And we're done.

We rewind time back to a sensible point in the story, back when we killed Vigarde.

Most corpses in Fire Emblem disappear after they are killed. We can presume this is a mechanical thing only, though- but Vigarde has gone and done it in-universe, too.

Seth is profoundly uninterested in the fact a man's corpse disintegrated before their eyes. Was Seth not friends with Vigarde like Fado and the twins?

After how long we waited here for people to start being friends?

Probably. And he must be happy to see us.

See, he's smiling!

Vigarde was no slouch, but stick a man on a throne and his defeat is inevitable. Also, Ephraim kinda has an armour-slaying lance.

Ephraim sees nothing strange about Lyon's appearance. To be fair, I'm not entirely sure how this looks in-universe: Lyon's alterations seem limited to a slightly rattier hairstyle and a faint grimace around his eyes, the human face changes more dramatically than that multiple times in normal conversation.

This is more alarming.

Good questions, even if Lyon was exactly how we remembered him. What is his power, if everything was hunky-dory in Grado?

Of course, Grado couldn't be anything further from "just fine".

Vigarde and Lyon both. Before the game starts, both men were famed for their generosity and magnanimous nature, almost to a fault.

Lyon seems to be struggling somewhat to speak to us.

And then he starts saying something very unlike Lyon.

Lyon is out for the domination of Magvel and the known world- which may or may not be one and the same, we never hear about any countries you have to sail to.

Lyon's character and motivation is highly complicated, especially since both routes actually give conflicting stories about what exactly is going on in his head. To make things somewhat clearer, I will slightly spoil the game here and confirm this statement is a lie. Lyon befriending Eirika and Ephraim was a genuine act.

Now, why Lyon is lying, and perhaps how much of his dreams of world "domination" were still seedlings in his thought processes at the time, those are questions we can wait to answer, if we ever get them.

And Lyon says something he has no evidence for: he accuses Eirika and Ephraim of being the non-genuine ones.

I think that's a lucky blink frame.

Lyon's chance at taking over the continent began when his father was no longer an obstacle.

And he started with the place that meant the most to him other than Grado.

The home of his treasured friends.

That's made Ephraim mad. Mad enough to cut Lyon down, though?

I'm sure Ephraim is one foolish lunge away from being in the same shoes. I'm sure Fado died doing everything in his power to keep Lyon busy long enough to lose Eirika's trail.

...I wonder if Fado died knowing Lyon was the puppetmaster. The poor man must be in agony as he watches us from beyond...

Lyon may be Ephraim's friend, but there are lines that even he should not cross.

Is this literally true? Not really- Lyon isn't literally invincible, like Ashnard. Ephraim probably could stab him now. But functionally, Ephraim would have more problems than he started with if he did, many of which he isn't even aware of.

Yeah, no saving Jehanna's stone on this route. We didn't put a bump in Caellach's step.

And yeah... Lyon is the one destroying Sacred Stones.

Should probably put a stop to that.

Lyon begins struggling to continue the conversation once more.

This is a true statement. All these sudden lapses of concentration and train of thought have meaning- Lyon cannot fight Ephraim while he's still dealing with those.

Ephraim's still got a few more bad guys to chew through. The evil members of the Imperial Six are still out there.

...Yeah, nah, the title of the chapter is still definitely a Vigarde/Lyon thing.

And he teleports away. Lyon is one of those villains that really should be able to kill us whenever he feels like it, but I don't really mind it with him: He has a plan, more than one good reason to stick to that plan, and he makes an active effort to thwart the protagonist's efforts to do the one thing that can thwart his plan.

(One of those reasons, of course, being that his plan will rid him of his twitches that prevent him being 100% sure he can win a fight he provokes on the spot.)

Ephraim has more questions than answers.

...Captives, plural? We'll only meet the one important one.

I was wondering where Ephraim route's second exclusive character was.

This is a surprising moment. I imagine this poor fellow doesn't look well- he's been in here since the war started and he probably hasn't had a healthy diet and exercise routine.

He doesn't look that bad on his sprite, though- although perhaps they just didn't want to give this guy a second sprite for being bedraggled from his prison sentence.

...Also, how has he gone this long without being executed if he's on death row? Fellow's luckier than he thinks.

He probably needs some time to recover his vision, too.

Eh, Grado's executioners in these times probably weren't entirely sure who or why they were killing people.

Knoll used to be one of the most respected and learned men in Grado, and he's probably the last one still alive.

As for what he did to earn himself a trip to the gallows...

He doesn't seem entirely content to share, but it's nothing we're going to execute him for afterwards.

If Knoll is the most learned man in Grado, surely he knows something about what Lyon has gone and done, doesn't he?

...Indeed he does.

And now might be the time to share.

Knoll actually takes his time to consider it.

It really is that grim.

Knoll begins his story at the most important point: The death of Emperor Vigarde, a year ago.

...As opposed to the death of Emperor Vigarde, that thing we just did a few turns ago.

Knoll isn't really a snarky character, but this one line is such a sheer punch of snark that he manages to sell himself as one nonetheless.

Vigarde got sick and died. We don't need to go into detail about why. I like to think he overworked himself to death being too generous and volunteering to do too many things.

Lyon did not feel prepared to step into Vigarde's shoes. This is an element of his character we recognise- Lyon's poor self-esteem and his admission that he cannot see himself doing Vigarde's job is a thing we've seen in the flashbacks.

And clearly Ephraim recalls it too.

I thought I recalled something in the script about Lyon having already saved a life with the power of the Sacred Stone. Turns out we see the flashback where he mentions that later. But yes, Lyon has precedent to believe this plan works.

Although Ephraim is less convinced.

The other four Stones chain the Demon King in his prison, but the prison itself is the Grado Stone.

So, overall, the largest quantity of magic involved is present in it.

This is a big project Lyon was looking into before Vigarde died. It was going to be his impact on the world.

And it can't be said it wasn't.

They had a time limit for it, unfortunately. If the public learns he dies before Lyon is done, then all of a sudden Vigarde has a lot less power and Lyon gets a lot of unpleasant questions about his newfound necromancy.

I suspect he hasn't thought far enough ahead to answer point B, though.

Lyon crammed like he's never crammed before.

Dramatic beat...

Anticlimactic reveal. We're going to be getting just enough, but we're going to skim over the "minor" details of how this happened to focus on what it means that it did.

Knoll saw the division of the Fire Emblem into the Sacred Stone binding the Demon King... and the Dark Stone, that was the Demon King.

I find it interesting this is labelled as "1 year ago". Yes, that's when the Emperor died, but there's also the matter of what Lyon and Vigarde do with that year before invading Renais. Maybe time is actually passing in this story.

Knoll rushes in to see what Lyon has gotten up to, realising he hit upon something big.

He probably has lost track of which of his ~~cultists~~ scientists is which. He's running on about two hours of sleep and a meatball he found under the throne.

Lyon has undone death itself.

...Sorta.

With that said, "sorta" is still a pretty fantastic job!

Knoll has distracted himself from the sheer miracle Lyon has just performed long enough to notice that Lyon is holding something... unusual.

Lyon possesses the Dark Stone.

The power over life and death itself, and that's just the beginning.

And the first Sacred Stone is smashed. Although we were fairly sure Grado's was destroyed, there's a lot of dramatic context tied to how that went under the radar as a result.

Knoll's jaw, still on the floor after watching a reanimation, is aghast anew at Lyon declaring war on that most sacred of sacred duties Magvel holds.

And if the full power contained within the Dark Stone is to be unleashed, the rest need to go.

...Yeah, Lyon has rocketed past several stages of evil by now.

Yeah, see, it's implied Vigarde didn't spend long as a puppet before invading Renais, so I'm surprised there's a "year" label placed on that flashback. This game has gone some distance over Magvel, but a year?

Father MacGregor, the most sensible man in Grado's upper echelon, tried to do something about this.

He was killed for it. Natasha's mentor did something similar, although considering Lyon did the killing, it's probable Natasha's mentor and MacGregor are, in fact, different people. If Natasha was hearing directly from MacGregor, she'd probably know a few more key details than she ultimately does.

Knoll, for some reason, was allowed to live this entire war up until now, despite him having more of a grasp on the cause of Lyon's darkness than MacGregor did. Lyon had plenty of time to deal with MacGregor- and they reference it to boot- but the scientist who made this all possible? He can wait a while. It's possible that Lyon left Knoll around for Ephraim to find, so that Ephraim would get the exposition at just the right time dramatically, but while that is interesting from Eirika route's perspective, Ephraim route tackles the subject differently.

Alternatively, the man was allowed to live because living with the guilt of helping cause these events is probably more painful than killing the man.

Knoll has spent the past few months in jail, Ephraim, and I doubt he knows many state secrets of Grado where the military is concerned.

There is one thing to say about the Lyon that appears before us now... he is not the Lyon Ephraim knew at the start of the story.

The twins can only take this fact as true. And worry about so many others.

Knoll knows enough about Grado to get Ephraim here.

Each country has a room like this, where two major things are kept: The Sacred Stone...

And the Sacred Twins.

Ah, yes, this is Ephraim route, we still need to be introduced to the concept.

The Twins are the most powerful weapons in all of Magvel.

And Grado has... the axe and the Dark tome. Clearly this was a hero of raw physical power. I'm still fairly sure it was unlikely the heroes used both Twins personally, although no counterevidence is ever provided.

Lyon was fundamental to both twins' development. A fact that they're going to be confronted with every time.

Imagine if Lyon actually did anything with these.

It's implied, in some cutscenes, these are kept in obvious chests. Well done on your Spot check, Ephraim.

Oh hey, Ephraim asks the question, too.

Please, Knoll, elaborate. I've honestly never figured it out.

Knoll, in the absence of any Grado character with any actual authority (Duessel was busy basket-weaving), bestows the Twins upon us.

...Maybe Lyon's not all bad after all.

The Demon Tome, Gleipnir is, in all honesty, the most disappointing of all the Twins. Standing tall at a whopping 23 Might and bestowing +5 Skill on the lucky dark mage who uses it (the only way to have an S Rank Dark user by now is to be grinding Ewan like mad- you've had two and a half chapters to squeeze him through Pupil, Shaman and then a promoted class), Gleipnir has two glaring flaws weighing it down- a colossal 20 Weight, and the fact it doesn't have a x2 damage bonus against Monsters like the rest of the Twins. Although in the right hands, perhaps the latter need not be a flaw after all.

The Black Axe, Garm, meanwhile, is one of the better Twins. Its 20 Might is combined with a +5 bonus to Speed- Ross will be rocketing around when we break out this bad boy. Gleipnir and Garm combine to make excellent weapons for Duessel and Knoll- the major Grado characters running around are members of the right class to use these. It's also relatively interesting, too, that Gleipnir and Garm describe guardian bindings that are said to betray the Norse gods come Ragnarok.

Frelian Messenger! It's interesting that the room is once again packed with the plot important characters and then a bunch of Grado characters. No room for Amelia, though.

A messenger runs into the room, panicking and clearly bearing urgent news. Ephraim's like "oh, excellent timing, send a message."

Please pay attention, Ephraim. I know it's been a long exposition, but...

I believe Eirika route ended in a massive ambush?

And Eirika's in there.

...Without the player party.

Duessel: "Guys, I'm right here."

A valid point, if not for the fact we've known well ahead of time that the Imperial Generals are focusing on Lyon's objectives rather than holding the fort. Then again, I suppose we're blaming us going into Grado Keep on Ephraim's recklessness rather than noticing a lack of Generals running around.

Plus, we did kill Selena.

...So that's where the Knights of Rausten went? Who gave them that order? Although since L'Arachel isn't in Eirika's party on this route, they probably didn't see much reason to stick around with her.