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...Oh, hell with this. This is why I never do fresh Kaiba runs.
Chapter 15: Sandy Showdown
Alright, let's do this. Chapter 15 is probably my favorite chapter in the game, because it doesn't rely on bullshit like Fog of War or having to keep a bunch of useless NPCs alive (looking squarely at you, Victims of War and Ghost Ship 
smile:. While the desert does slow things down a bit, this is a straight up brawl against Caellach and Valter, and unless you've been favoring a couple of super-units, the enemies are diverse and strong enough to keep you on your toes.
And that's before we start talking about the hack. 
The mooks are the usual bunch, so they're nothing worth noting. But we do have some new promoted enemies.
Paladins are obnoxious, but nothing too terrifying. That honor is reserved for the berserkers, because jesus christ that is the unit trying to shove a Dragon Axe in your unit's face.
And don't forget these guys. They're always here, always ready to be fucking assholes.
But wait, we're not done yet! If you call right now, we'll include a complementary pair of staff assholes as well!
Josh knows who's getting some tonight. 
But seriously, Josh, Marisa, L'Arachel, and Eirika are heading to west to Caellach. Gerik, Forde, Amelia, and Ewan are taking the east side for fun, profit, and berserkers. Tana and Cormag will be flying around to wherever they happen to be needed, and Lute is moving down through the center to abuse her mage status.
This is kind of important. I really want Gerik on this "forest" tile, because it'll put him in hand axe range of the first berserker.
Thanks game, what would I ever do without you? I have so many dark magic users just lining up and begging for a new tome.
Gerik is our first line of defense around our Berserker friend.
Aaaaaannnd...fuck. There's no way for Amelia to get out of his range.
This is kind of a bad thing. That's her with the Killer Lance equipped, so she doesn't even have an AS penalty.
Cormag cuts off our unfortunate bandit friend, and Tana heads east to introduce some wyverns to her Dragonspear.
And Lute continues to harrass the units stuck trudging through the sand.
Hey, it's Ephraim!
And...Duessel!
...And...Knoll...
...
Goddammit, game! 
I like to think choosing to build Ewan and Amelia's support saved her ass on that one, even though it actually should have gotten her killed. 
Just throwing that out there for reference.
So hey, we've got some new units, let's get to that.
Ephraim pulled some defense levels out of his ass with alarming regularity off-screen, but otherwise he's in pretty typical shape.
Heath Duessel is pretty damn impressive. Being at L10 promoted is a bit of a damper, but otherwise he can roll with Tana and Cormag without even breaking a sweat, and even comes with some excellent equipment to top things off.
Karla Knoll, true to both her origins in FE7 and her original character in FE8, is completely goddamn useless. Her HP is the prime offender, but it combines quite nicely with her pathetic defense and non-existent luck. Remember, we have could have four swordmasters before recruiting her, and Eirika is functionally one. Just saying.
Back up north, a combined effort from Ewan, Gerik, and Rennac finally gets rid of our berserker problem, just in time to deal with pegasus reinforcements from the northeast corner.
Finally, the shops start stocking Divines. L'Arachel is going to be very happy to get her hands on these.
Ephraim's group is in the most difficult position. We have to get through the two rangers and paladin to get to Valter, and they're strong enough to shred pretty much anyone if they attack together.
For now, I'm focusing on clearing out the flunkies. There are enough cavs and myrms that someone's going to get a hit, and that's the last thing I want after getting attacked by the rangers.
Berserker #2 is waiting down by Valter, but I try to lure out a few of the wyverns first. Turns out they only move once you get close enough to Valter, so none of them bite.
First up on the chopping block is Caellach. Josh and Marisa can't abuse being Swordmasters because of his Hoplon Guard, but he's still not going to be able to hit them, which is what matters. Josh is waiting at range to get him to switch to the Tomahawk, because the the one extra weight is enough to push him down to 17 AS, which is just enough for Marisa to double him as well. His bonuses aren't amazing (+5 HP, +5 Str, +4 Skill, +4 Speed, +4 Def, +2 Res), but they're high where it counts.
Bah, the Devil Axe must be contagious.
So these cavaliers are a huge pain in the ass. They're fast enough that no one in Ephraim's group can double them, and they mostly attack at range with their damn javelins. This is especially irritating for someone like Karla, who has really bad avoid for a Swordmaster and will die if she gets hit more than once. The worst thing is when they hop in the fortress, because the last thing they need is 20 extra avoid, and we can't claim it ourselves because it'll attract the closer ranger.
Oh, right, I did bring Rennac for a reason.
Marisa takes the opening blow and gets a decent enough level for it.
Much to Caellach's dismay, Josh just got a family heirloom. One down.
Ephraim whips out Reginleif and goes to town on a cavalier. Neither the cav nor the RNG appreciate his theatrics.
Naturally, this signals every fucking cavalier in the area to charge straight at him, with predictable results.
L'Arachel is still doing her thing and making numbers go up. Can she cap speed too?
And right about here is where I nearly have a goddamn heart attack. I've been playing a lot of Awakening, which brought back the "move as soon as you appear" asshole reinforcements from FE6 if you had the audacity to play above "I need more than two units?" difficulty.
I spend a minute or two trying to work out a way to kill the Paladin and give myself a chance, but there's just no way to do it. Time to grab the squishies and run.
After dumping Nino and Ephraim, Cormag and Heath are in a much better position to defend themselves. I debated leaving the merc alone, but he comes before the rest of the group, so Ewan would get hit by the merc and the cavs/paladin instead of just the cavs.
Amelia maxes out on a whimper of an attack that fails to crit on either hit, but I certainly can't say no to that kind of level.
We have a shaman infestation in the north, but Forde is there to take care of it. Gerik holds the line on the other side of the palace.
Now we're in business.
Time to take out the trash.
Disappointing, but adequate.
You show her how it's done, Cormag.
The pair of mages that remain do a number on him, but all that's left now is to carve our way through to Valter.
I realize I made you a Great Knight out of necessity for axes, but it'd be great if you would be more...great knight-y. Like, some strength and defense would be phenomenal.
With that little surprise taken care of, we can get to work on the rangers. Amelia grabs her Spear and takes the fort.
A couple cavaliers challenge Ephraim, but they only serve to fuel his bloodlust.
Ewan fries Ranger #1 and we're ready for the paladin.
Alright, fine. If the paladin won't come, I'll take the ranger instead.
Man, this guy just does not want to move. 
Well I guess I can't complain about being able to kill the rangers without any extra pressure.
Josh picks up an absolutely fantastic level and caps strength. It's kind of a shame Audhulma gives +5 Res instead of +5 Str like Sieglinde, because the only sword class that has a higher strength cap than 25 is Great Knight, and Great Knights kind of suck.
Huh, evidently the paladin triggers with the the rest of the group. And goddammit Ephraim, this is a terrible time to take a nap.
Wake up, slacker. We still have work to do.
So hey, what's up Valter?
Valter is a tad more obnoxious than Caellach because of the increase in speed and the Pierce possibility, but he's still nothing special. +4 HP, +5 Str, +4 Skill, +5 Speed, +5 Def, +4 Res
Unfortunately, his luck is still shit, and he immediately eats a crit from Ewan.
Immediately followed up by one from Amelia.
One of these days we're going to close out on a good level. Today is not that day.
Next time: We bid farewell to a old friend.
-----
Level 10 Wyvern Knight
Lances - A, Affinity - Anima
Equipment - Silver Lance, Spear, Vulnerary
HP: 46 (85%)
Strength: 21 (55%)
Skill: 20 (40%)
Speed: 19 (30%)
Luck: 9 (20%)
Defense: 18 (45%)
Resistance: 11 (30%)
Con: 12
Heath isn't an amazing unit, but all things considered, he's a pretty good one. His bases are excellent, he comes well-equipped, and unless Cormag or Tana get a lot of extra levels, he'll be able to at least hold his own against them. Duessel's growths are better suited for a Wyvern Lord, but he's good enough that I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He's not going to blow anyone out of the water, but he's a solid B-Teamer.
Level 10 Swordmaster
Swords - A, Affinity - Dark
Equipment - Killing Edge, Vulnerary
HP: 29 (70%)
Strength: 21 (50%)
Skill: 23 (40%)
Speed: 23 (35%)
Luck: 0 (20%)
Defense: 8 (10%)
Resistance: 13 (45%)
Con: 7
Berserkers
Warriors
Druids
Summoners
Karla, Karla, Karla. What can I even say about you? You're awful. Awful, awful, awful. No survivability, terrible growths for your class, and you screw me out of yet another set of classes. The only use I can really see for her is that if the 
trend continues, she should still have Knoll's C rank in Dark Magic. This means she might be one of the very few sources of an accurate Luna, plus she still has all of the usual Swordmaster shit. It's not enough to justify using her, but it might make for some fun in the tower.