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Chapter 3: Troubled Bandits
I love this chapter name. No, we're not going to be marriage-counselling Batta's parents.
?Pew! Pew! Eat light death, suckas!?
And the journey to Lycia continues.
I do hope you're referring to the victims here.
(no they're not)
- - -
: This is Taliver Mountain, home to ruthless bandits. There's no marquess around here, so they do as they please.
: This is... horrible! I-I can't believe it's like this. It's just like... back in Tahra, all those years ago. Ahh...
: Lady Linoan...
: The Grandbell Empire... They killed my father and tried to take Tahra. All because he was hiding Prince Leaf from them. I will avenge my parents. I'll do whatever I can to help Tahra. And I hope my friends will help in any way they can.
I like to imagine Linoan just gives Sain a look at this point.
: If it's anything at all, allow us to help.
: Sain.
: Indeed. It's no trouble to us.
: Kent... Ah! You too, Aranea? Thank you. All of you.
Duchess. Money. Hell yes.
People arrive! There's still a Pegasus Knight. Who could it be?
Ohhh yessssssss.
: What are you going to do to apologise? Huh?
Same old Marcia. 
: Try, it, land monkey! I'll stick this lance where the sun don't shine!
: Heh. You're quite the tough little cookie.
: Don't worry. We won't rough you up... much.
: Oh, crackers... I don't think I can take on these guys by myself. Stupid weapon triangle...
: C'mon! Let's move!
: There seems to be some sort of commotion.
Linoan sprints over.
: Wait a second! What's going on here?
: Hey! Who're you, butting in our business?
: Hey lady! Get out of here before you get hurt!
: Nonsense. Release the girl at once, and we will not harm you.
: Not a chance! There's no way we'll let go of this fine prize.
: Oof!
I really like Marcia.
: Phew. Close one.
: Are you... alright?
: I will be, once this mess is sorted out. Hmm... Who are you? I can tell you're not from around here.
: I'm Linoan, the Duchess of Tahra. Behind me is Kent. He and Sain are knights of Caelin.
Marcia is right out of the 90s, apparently.
: Ah, Begnion. On the continent of Tellius, no?
: You'd be right, there.
: Ah, I see. May I ask what happened here?
: Well, I was on a scouting mission here in Elibe. I flew down to take a break, see? Then these two bozos come in and start hitting on me! I naturally tried to move away, but they followed. Then my pegasus somehow got startled, and stepped on one of 'em!
Oh. You're still here?
: I keep telling you! You deserved it! I wouldn't date you, even if you paid me 1,000,000 Gold!
: Oh, so that's how it's going to be, huh? Then we'll force ya to come with us!#
: Over my dead body you will!
Linoan speaks for us all.
: Is there any way we can let this pass? If you ask me, this is a stupid reason for a fight.
Oh boy.
: The men are fair game, but don't put a scratch on the girls!
This will manifest exactly no times. The bandits will happily chop Linoan and Marcia in half.
: ...Looks like we'll have to fight now.
: It's alright. These brigands are to blame.
: Well, allow me to help. It's the least I can do for you guys.
: I'm grateful, Marcia. Thank you. But... will you be fine with just that spear?
: Aw, no worries, miss! I can take care of myself easily!
Aaaah! Phantom words!
?The walls may play a key role for our victory. We'll have to use them to our advantage.?
: Uh... Hey, Linoan. Who's that?
: Ah, I see. Heya, Aranea! Pleased to meet ya!
Prepare yourselves. Move Linoan to the village, and...
Voice: Leave us alone, you thugs! Go away! Go away! We've got no more gold for you!
: No, wait! Please! We're not bandits! We want to help the village! Please listen!
Voice: Remain calm, everyone. I'll go see what's happening.
AUGH
: I'm Lady Linoan of Tahra. Our group is just travelling through here. We saw some bandits about. We're going to deal with them, but... We need you to go and warn the villagers.
: The bandits here have been raiding this area for a while. I've been meaning to form a resistance, but I don't have enough men for the job. Please. Let me help you guys out and fight them!
: Of course. I appreciate your kindness! Thank you, Cruz!
Savvy players will know to select Cruz now, because that's what you do with Wil in the original game. If you don't;
: I'm Cruz. A pleasure you meet you! I'm glad I found someone willing to take on these thugs. I think I see a defenseless bandit over the north wall. My bow's ready to go at any time. He's all mine! Say the word, Aranea!
Alright but before that, let's check everyone relevant out.
Marcia is... pretty good! 7 DEF is actually equal to Sain. She's a decent all-round unit, with fantastic mobility due to flying.
Cruz, despite his terrifying portrait, isn't bad either. But he's an Archer, so... that's kind of a massive point against him.
The boss, Migal, is another bandit. Yawn. He does drop a Lightning tome on defeat, though, in case Linoan's running low and you don't want to dip into Prism Pillar. He's gotten +1HP, +3STR, +2SPD, +1 DEF and +1RES.
Cruz ain't bad, but we all know the problem with Archers.
Happily, we now get to feed the exp to Marcia. So we do.
Quite a bit!
Aw don't be like that. I know it's not your fault.
Pulling the Cavaliers back so the archer doesn't target them. The only one he can go for is Cruz, who can then counter.
Cruz wins the shootout, 2 arrows in the face to 1.
?And he's ANIME! Ugh.?
: Whoa, wait!! That's only Cruz!
: Whoa, take it easy there!
FE7: Whoa Edition.
: ...Sorry about that.
: It's alright. No need to apologise.
: I apologise, Cruz.
: Hey, don't worry about it. I understand she must've been startled from my bow. I've hunted many Gryphon Riders in my time.
Gryphon Riders are a class from Cruz's game of origin, Yggdra Union. They suffer a penalty against Hunters, which was Cruz's class in the game. So I guess he probably has shot down a fair few.
Marcia likes anime boys.
: Marcia, next time try not to skewer our allies, alright?
: Yeah, sure. Promise I'll be a little more careful.
: Good. That's a relief.
In a lot of games, apparently.
Anyway, now Marcia gets to wipe out the upper half of the map while Linoan takes care of the lower. Use Cruz? Are you mad?
Right after one last errand.
Villager: With so many bandits, I wasn't sure what to do. It's not much, but please, take this money. There is an Armoury to the southeast of us. Equip yourself as you see fit, and help us, please.
Got 2000 Gold.
Heh. ?Lucky?.
I park Marcia in range of that Mercenary, and move Linoan onwards. Nobody else gets to have any fun because I don't like them.
Marcia is kind of a tanky Pegasus Knight, taking one solitary damage point from the Merc.
On our turn, Linoan continues one-rounding fools who can't fight back.
And Marcia skewers that guy and stays where she is. The Archer is juuuuust out of range.
He takes a shot at Linoan because of it. It does not go well for him.
It does, however, go well for Linoan.
Marcia takes a hit and returns it doublefold. She finishes him next turn for...
A nice level!
Linoan can snipe over walls better than Cruz. Even less reason to use an Archer, really.
Marcia took a hit and I want to feed her that Mercenary, so I fly her over so Linoan can put her Heal staff to use.
Not that her sprite actually has a staff, since it's a modified Monk. She just casts Heal.
The Mercenary declines to move, so I send Marcia over to him.
Her levelup now lets her one-round him and take no damage in return.
Next turn I buy her a less terrible weapon. It'll slow her down by 2 points, but she's a Pegasus Knight. She's fast as anything anyway.
Migal is another one of those bosses with no ranged weapon and very little Resistance. He can be one-rounded by Prism Pillar.
: Why are you fighting us for such a silly reason?
: What's it to you, girlie?
: This is... really stupid if you ask me.
: Well, what do you want? We get no lovin' at all because we're so ugly. It's the life of a bandit. You aim to raid and capture. We try to get someone, but they always ignore us. But we never give up! We will never give up!
You and me both...
: Alright, let's settle this.
Prism Pillar turns out to be Aura, and two shots of it puts Migal down like a rabid dog.
: The Ganelon bandits will not let this stand...
That was profitable! Time to throw away Linoan's old, used Lightning tome. Chapter ends.
- - -
Incidentally, if we'd sent Marcia against Migal:
: Huh? It's you! So you changed your mind about coming with us, eh?
: Yeah, right! I'm going to mop the floor with you myself!
: Hah! With that puny thing? I don't think so!
: You're a fool, girlie! We were going to play nice, but no more mister nice guy! Time to die, darlin'!
Oh, Marcia.
- - -
: Woo! We did an awesome job!
: I'm impressed, Marcia. You know how to fight.
: It's the training I get as one of the Holy Guard.
: Ah, the Holy Guard. I've heard that they're supposedly very skilled in their abilities. It's no wonder you've fought well, Marcia.
: Uh-huh. Though, to be honest, I got tired of the work. I ended up resigning. Heh.
: Huh? Wait a second. Didn't you say you were on a mission earlier?
: Yeah, I am. See, I'm searching for my good-for-nothing brother.
: Good-for-nothing...?
You have no idea, Linoan.
: See, he gambles. A lot. He ended up getting himself in debt. I had to leave the Holy Guard because of that lazy do-nothing!
: Oh. Why is that?
: He ended up turning tail and running from them! I searched all over Tellius, but... nothing. I heard rumours that he ended up here in Elibe, somehow. So I came here.
Oh god. Here he comes...
: Sain!
: You should come with us! If you do, your odds of finding your brother may surely incease!
: Say, mind if I tag along with you guys?
: A great idea, Cruz!
: Sain... Remember our mission! We're to travel to Caelin! We have no time for random pleasantries!
Gee Kent. You're not a very Social knight! AHAHAHAHA shoot me.
: But, milady...
: Sain is right. Besides, we'll need all the help we can get on our journey to Caelin. I'd be very happy if both of you will come with us.
: Oh yeah! Woohoo!
: My name is Sain.
: Hey! Don't you try to come onto me now!
: Ah... beautiful, and yet so witty.
: I beg your forgiveness on this matter, Lady Linoan.
: It's alright, Kent. If it helps in your mission, there should be no objections about it. I hope you understand, Kent.
: I understand completely, Lady Linoan.
: Oh, yes! Of course. If you really wish to, Cruz.
: I'd be very honoured to join with you guys!
: It's settled, then! Thank you again for your aid, Cruz!
- - -
- - -
Characters Encountered:
Marcia
Class: Pegasus Knight > Falcoknight
Growths;
HP 65%, STR 40%, SKL 50%, SPD 55%, LUK 40%, DEF 25%, RES 40%
An improvement over Florina in basically every way that matters. +5% HP and RES, +10% DEF, but -10% LCK. Her bases are better too. She'll serve you well if you can mitigate her arrow weakness. Her presence here is kind of weird in that Tellius exists at the same time as Elibe in this timeline.
Cruz
Class: Archer > Sniper
Growths;
HP 80%, STR 50%, SKL 55%, SPD 50%, LUK 40%, DEF 30%, RES 25%
Cruz is, as I said, from Yggdra Union, which explains the portrait sprite... sort of. It's faithful to the original game's style but it feels monstrously out of place in Fire Emblem. I honestly don't like looking at it. He was the leader of the Karona resistance and an optional character, recruited by Milanor if you wandered out of the way in a specific Battlefield. As a unit, he's better than Wil, but still and Archer. Short Bows were supposed to be able to fire a 1 range in this hack, but that feature got cut because it screwed up Nomads. So he still sucks by virtue of no Enemy Phase kills.