SS Eirika Chapter 11: Pleading Insanity

Next up, we've got a bit of a complicated mountain place. Important note: once you start Chapter 11, you'll be immediately funneled into Chapter 12 afterwards and can't return to the map. Make sure you've accounted for this in your plans.

On a related note, our convoy is starting to get full of miscellaneous junk. Anyone who's not using their sword arms for our cause will give their five inventory slots to holding this sort of thing- if the convoy is full, I drop my new loot!

The Caer Pelyn mountain range has an essential destination for us, and Ewan knows it's there because he's one of the few people the society talks to on a regular basis.

Considering the main force attacking Eirika from Grado is wyverns, this might actually have been a mistake, but at least we're avoiding Carcino.

Also them, too. They don't have to climb the mountains to attack us, I don't think.

So then, another monster map.

We get Eirika/Seth, Innes, Tethys/Ewan, and... Gerik? Not sure why he's here.

Ewan is clambering on up like a mountain goat with a boatload of extra stamina. No one told this kid about patience.

We don't want you to get yourself killed.

I don't think I have the time or patience to list the ways this might be possible.

Innes is getting mildly concerned about all this fog, wondering what's going to happen next.

Ewan is not interested in hearing this very important advice.

Innes may have his soft side, but this is reserved for people he likes. Ewan has not earned this generosity.

Eirika sticks up for Ewan, at least.

...

We really don't have any other guides?

Innes goes into business mode. Yes, somehow this is him being more serious than he already was.

Ewan is adorable when he's not being aggravating. And sometimes when he is.

Innes has Spotted Something!

Ewan dismisses his concerns. That fortress he's looking at is just an old building, there's no one to fear.

Innes knows that any unexplained phenomenon must be investigated immediately, lest it turn out to be a hostile presence. You can't do anything unless you know what your parameters are.

It's impressive this boy survived crossing this trail so often.

Then again, it's not like this particular danger was an issue in the past.

It's danger time!

Time for another monster map!

No offense, Tethys, but what are you going to do?

Note that Tethys does not object on grounds of Ewan being inexperienced. Ewan is, in fact, capable of attacking, although no one should be allowing this boy near a battlefield.

Tethys is also worried about Ewan as a sister might.

And Ewan was surprisingly quick to agree. He doesn't actually appear on this map to "help"- he sits out just as Tethys ordered.

We have other problems.

L'Arachel has come out of the woodwork to have taken a shine to a decrepit old fortress as a place to spend the night.

L'Arachel wonders about Rennac's departure now. Either this is actually bothering her or she just hasn't noticed until now. I can believe both.

Fortunately for L'Arachel, her remaining bodygard is capable of thinking, scouting, and in general keeping her alive beyond hitting things with an axe. Really hard.

Because L'Arachel can't.

Only L'Arachel.

Dozla is as enthusiastic about this opportunity as L'Arachel. They're FE8 enemies, it shouldn't be too hard.

We begin today's map in Fog of War. Colm is here because there are three treasure chests to loot, but otherwise, our goal is to Rout the monsters. In general, if a map is full of monsters, it's probably a Rout map.

L'Arachel, like Tana, is not labelled as a princess despite being one, but unlike Tana, the game is going to pretend she's not a princess for a bit, and she only gets one description. L'Arachel is an underlevelled healer for this point in the game, and she's so far behind that the only way you're going to get her promoted is with heavy favouritism- Moulder and Natasha have issues and we got the latter six chapters ago. It is L'Arachel, however, and such favouritism is founded. She'll be joining both routes.

Dozla, on the other hand, is a prepromoted Berserker with a bit of a poor showing. He's not bad by any means, but he has some Speed/Luck problems that make him fall behind when it comes to being more than "hit hard and hit once". Any half-decent Ross should have no problems outclassing Dozla entirely. He is your only other Berserker, and Berserkers have some moderate utility because of their unique movement type, but whether Dozla gets to enjoy it is another matter.

I'd tell you a little more about the enemies we're going to be fighting, but it's a Fog of War map, I can't see them. Suffice it to say we will be introduced to a few more types of monster beyond Revenants, Wights and Mogalls.

...Not here, though, either. Those archer Wights have Longbows, but the one south of us has a Venin Bow.

The annoying thing about Tethys/Marisa Supports is that Tethys's job is to get Marisa to move away, so I'm not even getting the bonuses. At least Neimi's not catching up to Amelia yet.

Amelia and Marisa are going east because that's where the larger portion of enemies is, while Lute and the pegasi are heading through the more precarious south.

There's plenty of enemies here, although the odds are we're only fighting them with one character.

It sucks he gets a forest, too, but it doesn't change the outcome of this fight significantly. Wish we got the forest, though.

Marisa, despite having less good odds, manages to live up to her class's reputation and actually dodge things.

Dozla lives up to his class's reputation and crits a Wight. Despite all appearances, L'Arachel and Dozla are pretty safe where they are- most of the enemies in the mission are more interested in you than them, and you have ample time to arrive and get L'Arachel under player control. If anything, the issue is stopping Dozla from charging into danger and depriving you of EXP. Plus, the Battle Axe isn't exactly durable.

Aha, a new monster has made its way into view!

The name "Mauthe Doog" comes from the Manx legend "Moddey Dhoo", as one of the first romanisations of the name. It is a massive black dog said to haunt Peel Castle on the Isle of Man. Here, Doogs are the Myrmidons of the monster world- they're really fast and difficult to double, but you should have no issue one-shotting them. Even the weakest of our characters is probably fast enough to scramble up a double, but I have had an Eirika so weak that she actually didn't manage to kill a Doog in two hits.

Natasha is going to keep up using this Torch staff- I want her getting some more EXP.

...With that said, here's level 10. May not be the worst idea to promote her now, although I could always give her an extra level or two... Not sure how much that'd help.

Here's Amelia no longer being a liability to the team, but an asset in her own right.

Then again, it's not like Marisa is struggling in any particular way.

And, rather nicely, Marisa can be Danced and attack another enemy while getting more Support with Tethys!

Yeah, I'm really worried about her Atk. That bulk is never getting fixed.

You may notice that archer hasn't shot at either pegasus. I don't think he moves on his own.

Ambush! I tried moving onto a square that was already occupied. Easy to do in this hallway.

...Meep.

Neimi is going to stand in Support range of Amelia and make it more annoying for monsters to get to my back line.

And also get some Sword EXP, I guess.

The Ranger Sword animations are just... so mediocre compared to the Nomad Troopers.

That's to be expected.

I wish that didn't happen.

Mauthe Doogs are also pretty likely to hit 0 damage on you. They do have good enough accuracy that anything they can hurt is an issue, but that's a big if.

Dangit.

This is an omen.

A good one! Wow, that was pretty low accuracy. Still too high to be taking.

And another one bites the Dozla.

Oh, you're a Wight, that explains things. This'll also be some good EXP.

In more ways than one.

Right, that's enough near-death experience, this is why Lute came along.

And this guy probably needs to go.

Really wish Marisa didn't need to pick off so many weakened guys, but I guess she should be grateful she's getting kills at all?

She also needs healing.

There are plenty of enemies hiding in corners and the like before they start heading your way. This guy doesn't seem to be in a hurry to get moving yet. If I had vision on him, Neimi could shoot him from this square.

Amelia likes this spot. Marisa, less so.

There are Chest Keys scattered around these guys, but where they wind up, nobody knows.

Marisa finishes this Doog.

And Vanessa just no-sells this poor revenant.

Amelia has no fear.

Wow, Vanessa is a brick wall.

Amelia just has high Res, but she's doing a fine job copying her.

Around this point, it occurs to me I need to have Eirika get to L'Arachel to recruit her, and right now that is not a particularly imminent outcome.

We need to start making a path.

...She's going to shrug off the damage, right? Better hope there aren't any archers around here...

I hate tripping over myself.

So long, Tethys.

Well, there's that bulk, I guess!

Natasha's going to be going for her next level up.

...And, uh... there's our other new monster.

This fellow is a Gargoyle, and he indeed uses Lances. He also counts as a flying unit in all the important ways. Fortunately, he is not in range of Marisa, not that she's too scared- with that said, unlike Wights, Gargoyles are actually competent.

Relatively speaking.

Amelia just does whatever she feels like.

And yay, next Support rank!

Ow, that's a decent chunk of damge from a Mauthe Doog. Proof of concept that when they hurt, they hurt. Fortunately, there's not a lot of people who are both squishy and slow.

Marisa finished off this one with her high Speed.

Vanessa was fine.

Eirika has now been deposited. Unfortunately, it's still one more turn without L'Arachel.

Amelia continuing to find the most frustrating positions to stand in to shield her allies.

Not a lot of enemies going on right now...

Oh hey, this guy has a Door Key! I'm not sure if he's a reinforcement or he just sits there for most of the map, but now we're this close, he's going to actually open that door he's standing next to, and there's usually a lot of monsters in the fog to capitalise. This is the most dangerous part of the mission.

If you're on a quest to acquire every single obtainable item, I wish you all the best in luck in Stealing that Door Key out of his inventory. Somehow I doubt it.

This'll do, I guess. I don't like the missing Luck, but her Avoid doesn't neeed to be perfect.

Marisa has a pillar, she'll get the EXP too.

Exact kill on this one.

Door open.

And here's Marisa up against a Gargoyle. Not exactly that much better than the Wights, admittedly, but they're usually stronger, faster, and/or physically bulkier, and it's usually the one that inconveniences you.

Amelia doesn't really care.

All the other monsters that are supposed to rush through the open door have instead lit up on Vanessa and Tana.

I have other priorities.

Once again, despite L'Arachel being in no rush to share her name with Eirika, Eirika remembers her name immediately and confidently. That must be the diplomat in her.

...I have to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what blessings numbers one and two are, but L'Arachel, surrounded by monsters, takes one look at Eirika and considers her mere arrival a blessing.

Considering her overconfidence, I consider it relatively unlikely L'Arachel is relieved because she's getting help fighting monsters. These girls are gay as hell.

Eirika, on her part, does think she's not prepared to fight this battle. Which, if she has this impression now, when L'Arachel is trying to seem heroic in combat, shows she is woefully underprepared for actually being this hero.

My headcanon for why L'Arachel is a level 3 Troubadour and not level 1 is because he got into 200 fights with monsters and tried to swing her staff at every single one.

Eirika nods politely and crosses her fingers L'Arachel doesn't get herself killed.

Since she's now following my orders, I can have her make a more reasonable approach to self-improvement: Spamming Torch staves for EXP. She's also going to be getting an Eirika Support, so she doesn't recruit Dozla because that would involve moving away from Eirika.

Scary, Deathgoyle! The boss of this map was a Wight over in the south-west, but this guy makes solid competition.

...Or at least he would if this wasn't Sacred Stones. He's worth more EXP than his neighbours.

And when a normal Gargoyle is suffering this indignity...

Natasha heals up Amelia, and now it is her turn for a second turn.

Neimi equips a bow as she charges forward.

Wouldn't want her stealing any more EXP, would we?

Yay!

Natasha is using her Torch. Can never be too careful about that one Fogged tile.

There's nothing on it, but there could have been!

Colm found a book.

Lute opens the way for Vanessa to take the Deathgoyle EXP. It's no Entombed, but it's big.

Somehow, it's the only thing so far that's threatened to hurt Vanessa.

I think it is around this point that I finally notice Vanessa's HP is, to put it bluntly, terrible.

Checks Wait, Vanessa's average HP at level 17 is 25? I'm only -4? (I'm also only +2 Def.)

Tana gets a level right afterwards, and the difference in HP is astounding. A little less in the Defence, but she is doing just fine.

Double-checks wait, you two are the same level now?

Marisa got hit so hard all the interesting stats fell out of the level. Not the best impression.

Tana breaks a spear over a gargoyle's head.

Vanessa, meanwhile, is taking single digit damage from a bow. Well, in the theoretical world where she is taking damage at all.

Amelia figures she might as well open this while Colm's fallen behind.

This is probably never getting used.

Natasha's still getting plenty of use of her own Torch Staff in. Unfortunately for her, with L'Arachel around, she's probably going to fall even further behind...

Tethys sends Colm up.

And enough near misses out of this guy.

Annoyingly, in Sacred Stones, Talking ends your turn.

L'Arachel is going to spend her turn getting Dozla out of our hair mechanically.

Narratively, Dozla doesn't have any questions.

These two are perfect for one another.

Ooh, L'Arachel got to move again. Maybe I should've put Eirika closer to the action...

Tana takes point against the danger. This square is a chokepoint: No monster can make it to the east side of the fortress so long as Tana does not move.

So this square is completely safe for L'Arachel.

An ambush! Tana can oneround this guy, despite his massive HP bar.

And she profits greatly. She's probably getting the first Elysian Whip.

All of these guys are on the move. This is more concerning than encouraging.

There should be reinforcements down here, including a Wight that comes with another Door Key to open that door.

Eirika remembers she has a sword of her own.

Colm stands here, unable to reach that chest.

So everyone gathers to surround the archer-

Dangit. There is a way to get L'Arachel adjacent to Eirika while still surrounding the guy, but somehow I doubt I did it.

Speaking of that Whip.

Oh hey, Tana gets a Support with Eirika!

Oh wow, that Torch Staff is worn.

Natasha fires off her last shot.

One more level out of her.

L'Arachel is going to be the main source of- wait, if that's Vanessa, where did Tana go?

...Oh. My past self is an enigma my present self is stumped dealing with.

There's the Door Key.

Neimi gets Vanessa out of shooting range. Yeah, she's in no danger, but no sense pressing my luck.

It would've been nice if this hit, but I can live without.

Good level out of it regardless.

Yay! It's good to have the freebie so I remember to carry it into the maps where it will be necessary.

L'Arachel starts the slow process of healing everyone's boo-boos.

I also have to leave this archer alive or the map is over.

L'Arachel also needs to burn all 18 Torch staff uses for the EXP they can only provide her on this map: any later and the EXP is worthless.

+1 HP ticks...

And let the EXP roll.

...Oh yeah, that guy.

Dealt with.

Tana decides now is as good a time as any to promote.

Pegasus Knights can promote into either Falcoknights, which use Swords, or Wyvern Knights, which have higher Strength potential, Con, and the Pierce skill for free. The deal is almost comically biased towards Wyvern.

But I'm attached to my pegasi. My pegasi tend to turn out well and my wyverns less well. And while FE8 Wyvern Riders are using a different kind of dragon to the usual variety, I still prefer my flying creatures feathered.

Honestly, this is probably less useful than I give it credit for.

I thought promotion didn't heal you in this game? Of course, when I need L'Arachel to get some extra EXP...

Torches it is.

Yeah, I think L'Arachel is just dying to use her magic as a weapon.

More dodge for the dancer.

And more EXP out of that level up!

Only Natasha can heal L'Arachel's boo-boos, though.

Another level up out of her first map...

And I'm out of Torches. Those three-and-a-half level ups are impressive, but L'Arachel's going to get like two more tops before the next staffbot grind in Chapter 14.

Oh, wait, more EXP to heal while I'm Support grinding.

We're done now.

I think the most impressive part is that they actually credit L'Arachel with having actually done anything. Obviously, narratively, she's probably more competent than her gameplay stature (and her healing is a non-zero contribution to any travelling party!), but I still question how much help she provided fighting monsters.

Now, her big burly titan of a retainer, he's helpful. Although now he's already fallen into the bucket of NPCs who is considered perma-killable and thus won't be acknowledged in this conversation.

L'Arachel makes exceptionally clear, across all her encounters, that her job of killing monsters is divinely ordained. Despite, you know, the lack of detail about religion in Magvel as a whole. Somehow I feel like that's intentional- the fact we don't know the details about what Magvel's religion is like is done so we don't immediately dismiss this possibility as false.

L'Arachel is already partway to a Support rank with a girl she's got a crush on and hasn't even been introduced.

The C Rank does include L'Arachel addressing Eirika by name, but it also mentions the whole "L'Arachel is Princess of Rausten" thing, too.

Eirika doesn't recall that neither of their meetings included her mentioning her name- they've already gotten so close, relatively speaking, that no reasonable conversationalists would have omitted their names.

This is L'Arachel, however. "Reasonable" is anathema to her.

Technically, Eirika is supposed to be in disguise, but hey, so is L'Arachel.

L'Arachel has never met Eirika, but she does know that the Princess of Renais is named Eirika. I continue to find it fascinating that the same does not apply in reverse- L'Arachel must introduce herself as Princess of Rausten to both twins, neither of them go "oh, you must be the princess L'Arachel".

Of all the lines of dialogue to get that blink frame on. L'Arachel bows to nobody, but perhaps just this once...

Although hoow the hell both of them are in the same dilapidated fortress is a mystery to her.

Well, technically, they're only orientated because of a kid who may or may not have gotten into the coffee pot.

Jump cut, we're getting L'Arachel up to speed on all the miscellaneous plot details you know full well.

L'Arachel looks at that and wants in.

Eirika does not want to "pull L'Arachel into madness". I'm afraid if there is madness in this party, it hangs around L'Arachel.

The grand design of "this is a video game and L'Arachel's sole mechanical purpose is to be a playable character", presumably.

Whatever metaphysical sources she claims to have for this assertion, I have reasons to doubt the whole thing. But whatever gets her to keep following us and not the laser pointer that is her imagination.

I notice that's not a "yes".

I know I mentioned Dozla is now perma-killable, and this is no exception: Dozla's just cameo-ing if he survived to fully justify him joining. If L'Arachel didn't Talk to him during the mission proper, Dozla would also join us here.

I love how smug L'Arachel looks with this blink frame. She looks so proud to be Eirika's new companion.

Dozla is happy to do anything L'Arachel wants to.

L'Arachel doesn't really mind Dozla's absolute loyalty. The game's kinda light about going into why Dozla is like this, but I think it's less loyalty to Rausten as it is loyalty to L'Arachel herself.

These two are so adorable. But if they don't stick in this army, they are going to die a horrible death.

Ewan has gone and wandered off, searching for his teacher. Perhaps I was premature in saying he obeyed Tethys.

Saleh's not hanging around right now.

Never mind, Eirika's still with him. I thought this map was further ahead than it was. It looked like a later area, but on closer inspection, it's not.

Unfortunate. So do we just wait here for him to come back?

This may or may not be true, but it's not why he's gone now.

Saleh has urgent business and he's going to be gone for substantial reasons. So it'd be preferable if Ewan didn't interrupt it.

...Hey, wait a second, Saleh looks kinda familiar!

Eirika, despite having bumped into him once and having one of the more boring conversations in the game, recognises the man when he pops up again. Turns out she has the real protagonist powers of "this character has a full portrait!"

Then again, Saleh was also more prominent in the prototype, so maybe Eirika is being written with that experience in mind. I can believe either.

Saleh also recognises Eirika, which perhaps puts a little more credence on the "this scene is written for the prototype encounter". Although Eirika probably is a bit more memorable than Saleh?

Ewan has made the rather astute observation that we might need a guide through Caer Pelyn other than himself.

So will Saleh help us?

He's very moody and introspective about whether or not he'll lend a hand. He's very busy, you see.

Fortunately, "busy" is taking him back home, so he sees no issues here.

Translation: They wouldn't go out of their way to meet new people, but they also wouldn't go out of their way to refuse them if they arrive of their own accord.

Probably a sensible idea. Especially after following Ewan around.

Also the monsters. That was non-trivial. I assume.

And this is how Ewan goes and does something stupid. Don't worry, he'll survive this.

If anyone will be fine, it's him. Monsters don't really get tired and they'd get tired following him around.

Innes has little patience for such shenanigans.

He understands, he just doesn't have the patience. Fair's fair, I don't think I would either.

Saleh, as a good teacher, has nothing but confidence in his pupil. I suspect he may not have taught the kid if he'd be the kind of boy to get lost in the mountains: starting classes would be a nightmare.

This means little mechanically, although we do have a little more content to go over...

Everyone files out of the house to begin the march-

Only to be interrupted by Glen and Grado.

Eirika, for the third time this mission, recognises a character whom she met once in passing.

Unfortunately, Glen is not here for tea and biscuits.

Glen leads this conversation by establishing what, exactly, Vigarde has ordered him to do and what his justification is. Theoretically, this is "reading Eirika her rights", but in this situation, it's more of a cry for help, since nobody in this conversation believes this for a second.

Eirika, since this is the first time anyone has told her what Grado thinks she's doing (until now, everyone's been more concerned with the bracelet), is absolutely dumbfounded.

And then Glen gives her her opportunity to speak up and make any refutations she thinks would help. Also several that won't help anybody, but would make all involved feel better.

Revenge would also be poorly directed at Carcino. Now, if she was going to Grado...

Glen also points out the kernel of truth in these false rumours: Eirika is on the move with armed forces in a country other than her own, and there was a battle at Kiris.

Eirika, however, isn't fully able to put her thoughts together. For the most part, I assume that whatever diplomatic training she's had assumed the most serious faux pas she'd ever have to smooth over would be much smaller in scale than this.

Innes jumps in and bails her out.

Eirika is being diplomatically bailed out by Innes. Better than Seth, at least, Innes has at least had training in diplomacy, even if he never acts like it. But it'd be nice if Eirika got to win an argument from time to time.

Innes points out that Carcino struck first.

He has a point on his hypocrisy game, although perhaps his premises could use some work.

We're starting to go around in circles here, boys.

Eirika remembers she's actually good at this sort of thing and de-escalates the situation. I knew sending in Innes was a bad idea.

Right, so you please stop trying to attack us for ridiculous reasons.

I can only imagine how ridiculous this threat is coming out of Eirika.

Glen is still cowed all the same.

Glen reveals a bit of a glaring weakness for the twins to exploit: The Imperial Three really don't want to be here.

Eirika's words have given him enough to go on that he's really not interested in blindly obeying any orders.

With that said, however...

Glen has not taken Eirika at her word. He has, however, compared her version of the story to Vigarde's and found Vigarde's wanting. Technically, he is on her side, but it's a bit more nuanced than that.

He is going to do his own investigations into Vigarde directly, and his subsequent actions will be founded based on what the results of said investigations are.

And Eirika accepts that as a win.

Everyone files into "getting away".

While Glen gets guests.

Valter is not impressed to see Eirika and Glen enter a conversation where one was not brutally murdered.

And yes, he did see that.

Glen isn't in a rush to defend Eirika from Valter, he just wants to get his own ducks in a row. He probably expects Eirika to send Valter packing.

As little patience as Glen has for anything other than getting his answers, he has always had zero patience for Valter, and wants out of this conversation.

Valter has other ideas.

Glen is confused. And perhaps not quite sure what he's about to see.

Valter starts waxing nostalgia. This is probably Glen's chance to run the hell away.

Valter's memory of the incident was that he was unceremoniously ditched because reasons.

Glen's memory involved Valter actually earning his punishment. Although perhaps if somebody uses their power as a knight to slaughter the helpless, perhaps releasing them out into the world with no culpability or ability to track their movements isn't much of a punishment...

Glen, to Eirika: "I don't think revenge would drive you to such depths."
Glen, five minutes later: "...I was blind."

By "sanity", I have to assume he means "enough reasoning to meet the minimum definition of a functioning human being". This man is clearly insane by all other metrics, but for a man powered entirely by spite, he is still capable of riding a flying dragon.

Glen is really wishing he took his chance to run the hell away.

Valter has no idea what he plans to do with his life if the war ends. So he's looking for the Grado soldiers who would think twice about fighting and... changing their minds, so to speak.

Says the man who brought a sword to a lance fight.

I think "sanity" is a lost cause here.

Unlike when Seth fought Valter in the prologue, these are the numbers you would get if you put Glen and Valter into combat with one another. If they weren't, I'd say Seth's general debuffs in gameplay didn't mean anything, but the fact that the game almost went out of its way to show Valter literally beating the stats out of Seth implies that they actually wanted that to be part of Seth's place in the world.

The outcome of this battle is fixed regardless.

Valter manages to do enough damage with a crit to drop Glen to zero.

A good man is now dead. That is our first dead Imperial General, out of the six (although with Duessel serving Ephraim, I hope we don't lose him).

Valter sends these guys to "the small fish". They don't wind up fighting Eirika in Chapter 12. There are wyverns in Chapter 13, but somehow I doubt it's them.

Also, Glen's flunkies obey Valter's orders too. He killed Glen, he bought his mens' loyalty.

Eventually, we'll get this guy.

Next time: We find Caer Pelyn.