Toggle Background Color
Chapter 12: We can't stop here, this is Gargoyle Country!
Chapter 12 is basically Chapter 11, but easier; we can see all the enemies and we don't have any "helpful" NPCs. Guy has tagged out for Neimi, since while there may not be Deathgoyles this time around, there are a lot more gargoyles to deal with.
We're about at the point where monsters are more or less maxed out. That's not to say they're not a threat, but until we start seeing significant amounts of promoted monsters, we can more or less run on auto-pilot for monster maps.
Saleh has joined us, with all the immediate utility that a Sage provides. He's more or less on par with Nino, which makes him invaluable until we get Erk and Ewan promoted and up to speed (spoilers: We're using Ewan).
Innes leads the charge east, while Tana and Priscilla go south to head off a pair of gargoyles. Saleh will bring up the rear after dealing with our Mogall friends.
Tana gets us started with a defensive level. On my run which magically decided not to record, I'm sure it will not surprise you to learn this level was perfect aside from defense.
This, on the other hand, was the exact same level. Thanks Lyn, you're really making a good case for being promoted over Marisa.
The biggest threat on the map is getting ganked by a group of gargoyles. The way they're lined up means you're almost always going to be in range of all three at once, so leading with a unit like Gerik is highly recommended.
I apologize if this opening section is a little light on commentary, it's mostly spent by Gerik/Tana/whoever setting up kills for Eirika/Neimi/etc.
I knew there was a reason I held off on promoting you.
Functional, in the barest minimum sense.
Until I get Ewan through the Pupil stage, Saleh is serving as my Dark magic user. He has the perfect amount of Con to use Flux, and it's effective against monsters for thrice the benefit.
Right before we arrive at Ewan's village, we get assaulted from behind. This is probably the worst part of the chapter, because someone's going to have to hold the line against a couple gargoyles and the mauthe doogs at once.
Most of the A-team stays behind, while Innes, Nino, and Forde push onward.
Let's play a game: See how many different ways you can see that I've fucked myself with this formation (the displayed attack range is the bottom-most gargoyle). Bear in mind that the pegs are probably going to be two-shotted, Josh is in range of all but one of the gargoyles and will be hit at least one mauthe doog (and probably more), and there are four more gargoyles offscreen to the west.
While the south crew tries to unfuck themselves, Innes gets to work up top. Picking up Ewan without cleaning out the area first may not be the best idea.
The first bullet is dodged when Priscilla avoids the Horseslayer. I didn't run the full set of numbers, but she should narrowly survive the attack from the other two.
Another success comes when Josh fails to kill the mauthe doog. A handful of runs ended here when he killed two of them in a row, leaving him with 10 HP when the last gargoyle decided to move. Seriously, what the fuck IntSys? Why the hell do his two buddies move first, but he moves last among the monsters?
Back in friendly territory, this skeleton has a Killing Edge, but doesn't move for whatever reason. Innes puts him out of his misery.
And Eirika gets Ewan. I like that he's not a complete waste of space anymore, but the hugely inflated Res scores mean he can't hurt much on the map.
This is a safer position than it looks like. One of the closer gargoyles has an axereaver, and all four of the remaining enemies have to land in order to kill Josh. If any of the mauthe doogs go after someone like Saleh or Priscilla, he's in the clear regardless.
Priscilla grabs Erk and heads north. The rest get in position for one more turn of gargoyles.
And we're good. 
And just in time to crash the party, another group of gargoyles to the north.
The north group starts pulling back a bit, and Nino gets a pretty good level patching up Innes.
Alright, let's have some fun. The short spear garg is the primary target, as he's the only one with a ranged attack.
The rest soon follow. Regrettably, I don't have anyone in range to kill the last one, but otherwise the threat is completely neutralized.
The entombed won't move, so I can sneak Tana and Priscilla around the side to deal with his garg buddies.
I'm probably going to throw her a whip after the next tower trip, but it amuses me that she still might max strength.
Yeah, there are going to be a lot of promotion items going out after the next tower expedition.
Gerik does the heavy lifting, and Tana picks off the entombed for a bad level. This leave us with alone with the boss.
The boss isn't much to write home about, just don't throw Forde or Seth at him and you'll be in the clear.
Josh performs the thankless job of getting the boss to switch to his Steel Bow, and our band of unpromoted units go to town on him.
And that'll do it. Next time: A Tower Double-Feature.
-----
Level 1 Sage
Anima - A, Light - A, Dark - A, Staves - A, Affinity - Wind
Equipment - Elfire, Thunder
HP: 30 (+4) (50%)
Magic: 16 (+4) (30%)
Skill: 18 (+4) (25%)
Speed: 14 (+4) (40%)
Luck: 11 (40%)
Defense: 8 (+4) (30%)
Resistance: 13 (+4) (35%)
Con: 8
Saleh is a fantastic prepromote. His bases stats are amazing, he can effortlessly throw around any of the four magic schools, and he has enough Con to handle the useful tomes with minimal AS penalties. His growths aren't very good and he'll probably be outstripped by just about everyone that can go Sage, but Lute Nino is probably the only unit who can reasonably be his equal when he joins up.
Level 1 Pupil
Anima - E, Affinity - Light
Equipment - Fire, Vulnerary, Energy Ring
HP: 15 (+5) (50%)
Magic: 3 (+4) (45%)
Skill: 2 (+4) (40%)
Speed: 5 (+4) (35%)
Luck: 5 (50%)
Defense: 0 (+4) (15%)
Resistance: 3 (+4) (40%)
Con: 5
To be completely honest, I never saw what the point of Ewan was. Lute's a better mage, Knoll's a better summoner, and even if you do make Ewan a Druid, he's probably going to be mainly using Anima tomes anyway because A) Dark magic sucks and B) He doesn't have the Con to use anything higher than Flux...meaning he's back in competition with Lute. 
Ideally they'd just save us the trouble of dealing with another trainee and make him a shaman by default with higher growths and Con, but we don't live in an ideal world. I'm still going to use him because Knoll is awful but that doesn't make Ewan good.