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Chapter 2x: Curtain of Night
--In the bushes near Mayohiga...
Yes, they really do switch from "Mayoiga" to "Mayohiga" here. I don't know why.
...
...
...
I'm glad we caught up, but.... It looks like Cirno's gang already got beat up.
What should we do? If Cirno's gone, there's not much reason for us to stick around.
Hmm...
Can we just go home?
It's already night, and there's scary youkai living around here. Running into one of them sounds terrifying.
C'mon Sunny, Star, let's go-
Aha, I've got a great idea!
Wha-?
If we can beat the guys that beat Cirno, then that'll PROVE we're stronger than her.
This is a great chance for us! If we just beat those youkai, everyone'll see how tough we are!
Woah woah woah, seriously!?
Mmm...
Well, they're probably tired from fighting Cirno, so it might work out...
Right, right!? Then it's decided!
First, let's mess with the short one lying down over there.
Alright you two, we'll hit em with the usual.
I'll make us invisible, Luna makes us silent, and Star's on lookout.
With our powers combined, we've got nothing to fear!
Yeah... if we work together, it might just work.
I dunno about this...
Puhaaa~
Man, I'm stuffed AND I'm smashed!
Good food, good drinks, this's the life! *hic*
...Mmn?
Tee hee~♪ She's just lying there like an idiot.
Bleeh~!
Ugh, she reeks of alcohol...
Guess she drank her lights out?
Rawr!
Whatever the case, she can't hear or see us, so she can't know we're here.
Can't see me, can't see me~
The hell..? No one's there, but it feels like there is...
Kinda feels like someone's messin' with me...
Hehehe~♪ What should we next?
Hey hey, got any good ideas?
Hmm...
Maybe just stick with the classics and scribble on her face?
A bit simple, but not bad.
Well then, as the developer of this plan, Ms. Luna Child, why don't you take the lead?
Wha, me!?
But of course♪
Urgh...
Feels like someone's there, but I can't see 'em...
Mm...
Rah!!
Ahh!? S-Star, are you okay!?
What the!? She can't see us, right!?
And why I am I the one she hit!?
Did she figure out we're here?
W-we gotta get outta here! Retreat!!
R-right!
Hey! Don't leave without me!
They flee.
I... hit something, I think?
No doubt about it. Someone was hiding there, for sure.
Jeeze, that surprised me.
But that's weird, I'm sure we were invisible. Luna, did you forget to make us silent?
I definitely did my part. It's not like I want to get caught, you know.
So somehow, even without sight or sound, she still caught wind of us.
Fine then, we'll just go with Plan B.
We wanted to provoke them anyway, so let's lure them over there!
---
Hmm? It seems more visitors have arrived.
Ran, you've got the best night vision, right? Go take a look.
Huh? Is someone out there?
It's dark, so I can't really tell.
Yes. Seeing them might be hard, but I can detect their presences.
Another group of fairies, I suspect.
Indeed... they're hiding, but I can see some number of fairies.
Still, when did they get so close? I'd think I would have noticed them already...
What do you think, Yukari?
Erasing sight and sound... I suppose they'd need some kind of ability like that.
I'm surprised. It looks like they're coordinating multiple different powers to do this.
Normally, with this many fairies, they'd all be acting independently.
Indeed.... The ice fairy and her friend from before were impressive, but these fairies aren't bad either.
It seems something truly has awakened in fairies as of late.
Heey, Yukari!
Check this out! There was something around here, see? I mean, you couldn't see it, but someone was there!
...Are you talking about them?
"Them"?
Wah, someone's there!? Whadda hell! When'd they even!?
We were just talking about that. You're a bit late to the party.
Shaddap! I was preoccupied!
...So, what's the plan? Scare em off?
Yeah. We can't just let them run amock.
Be careful, though. It'll be hard to fight when it's this dark out.
Because we can't tell where they'll come from?
Correct. Unless you're looking to get smacked out of no where, be careful.
Also, be careful where you go, lest you run into an ambush.
G-got it.
Roger dodger!
Hehehe~ So this time we got disappearing fairies, huh? Sounds fun!
I'mma make ya pay for spookin' me!
Do you really need to beat them up?
Of course♪ Buggin' me while I'm resting is a serious crime!
Childish as always.
Shaddap!
And we're on the map. They weren't kidding about the enemies being right there.
So yeah, this is a night map, and that means a perenniel Fire Emblem series favorite: Fog of War! While the basics are sorta like FE (or most other games with FoW, really), there's some interesting aspects unique to this game.
I'll start with the most annoying part: you must commit to your moves. Normally you can preview your movement, and then cancel if you reconsider, but on FoW maps, you don't get that choice.
We'll see the other differences as they come up.
These basic fairies are pretty weak by our current standards. My standard Yukari/Suika pair can't quite double them, but the other pairs can annihilate them without breaking a sweat.
Speaking of Suika, here's the most Suika-ish level I can possibly imagine: HP, Strength, Defense. I'd like other stats mixed in there, but I can't really complain.
Moving west, you can see we've uncovered a couple enemies we couldn't see from the start.
Thankfully they're just fairies, or else I might be worried.
One foolish fairy breaks herself on Shrine Maiden, and gives her HP, Strength, Magic, Skill, Luck, and Res in the process. Very nice.
This fairy is heading down to Shrine Maiden and Youki. I'm highliting this specifically because...
This fairy bumped into us! A consequence of FoW is that sometimes you'll accidentally bump into enemies, and when that happens, sometimes they'll "ambush" you (as seen in the text on the right) and get to attack first, even though it's your turn.
What makes the mechanic somewhat unique is that it works for both you and the enemies. Technically the AI "cheats" in that it still knows where your units are even in the dark, but if they wouldn't be able to see you, the game at least pretends like that's the case.
Anyway, the rest of the enemies we can see got bopped on by the end of the enemy phase.
The fairies' movements are odd...
Some of them are coming for us, while others seem to be running away.
It's very strange.
Rather than fleeing... it feels like they're drawing us in.
That might be it. It looks like they want us to head northwest.
...Meaning, if we follow them, they'll definitely have a trick ready.
A trick? Like what?
A trap, an ambush, something like that.
I see... so we should just ignore, or even cut them off at the pass, right?
Aww, that'd be boring.
Best way to handle a trap is to blow right through it!
Hah, a plan befitting Suika. But what do you think?
Shall we follow them clockwise? Or go counter-clockwise and cut them off?
I leave the decision to you.
Huh, me?
Hmm, in that case...
I thiiink the game wasn't expecting me to head this far to the left on turn 1? At least, this is a different scene, and I don't think it's meant to play right away.
!? Lady Yukari! Fairies have appeared out of no where!
Oho! Already coming for us, huh?
An ambush, as expected.
I couldn't detect these fairies' presences either...
They must have been using the same power as before.
It's kinda impressive they can do so much.
Can all youkai and fairies do amazing things like that?
More or less. Their abilities may differ, but most hold some sort of power.
Awesome!
In any case, we need to do something about those fairies!
For whatever reason, those enemies remain visible even after this scene ends.
They go away after you move, though.
This game is a little slapshod in some places.
Apparently these fairies were following me from the east. Sadly I left Shrine Maiden equipped with a staff, so she couldn't counter attack.
Man, I'm getting a lot of ~5% crits.
Oh yeah, so this enemy decided to attack from point-blank (hence the 9 HP) despite having a 1-2 range weapon. This might be cuz the game tries to pretend enemies respect FoW, but for reasons I'll explain later, I'm not entirely convinced that's the case.
This time the enemy actually remembered to use the range. Again, ostensibly this is cuz she started within sight range, but I'm not too sure about that...
Anyway, we start heading around the back of the house, and once we get this far...
Hrm, yet more assassins...
Whaaat, same trick? Gettin' kinda stale~
Tee hee♪ I can't believe they fell for our trap so easily.
...I wonder. It feels like they know what we're up to.
What, like they figured it out, but they're still chasing us?
Yeah, that's the impression I get.
Pretty gutsy of em, if so.
Fine then. We'll see how long that confidence lasts!
Okay, here's an example of an ambush happening on our turn.
I'm moving to the space highlited by my cursor here.
But whoops! There was an enemy in the way.
We're treated to a 1 second shot of the this pre-battle screen. I've seen parts of the japanese wiki saying I should be able to switch weapons here, but I've never been able to do it? So in practice, you're just forced to use whatever you're equipped with.
And yeah, as before, since the enemy ambushed us, they get to attack first.
A bunch of enemies run into Ran, so Shrine Maiden heals her and gets this level. Strength, Skill, Speed, Luck, Def. Shrine Maiden continues to impress.
Most of this chapter has just been progressing along 2-tile-wide paths like this, with Suika and Ran blocking the path while Shrine Maiden keeps everyone's HP topped up. You're not likely to be in danger with the quality of the enemies in this chapter, even factoring in the Fog of War, but you might as well take things slow and safe.
As we move up, Yuyuko grabs this baller level. HP, Strength, Magic, Skill, Def, and Res. I'm getting seriously lucky with these early levels.
Strength, Skill, Res. Compared to our recent string of levels this is a little disappointing, but honestly this is closer to what I'd expect.
Pass a few turns and we get to the next event trigger.
More of you, huh?
Though you could say we expected them, their numbers are troubling.
How bothersome.
Guess we'll just have to leave it to you, Youki.
My lady, this too is training.
I would ask that you exert yourself as well.
Jeeze, you're always so strict...
Hehe, the best is yet to come♪
Luna! Star! Let's rock!
Yeah!
Ah, hold on!
W-whaa!?
*bonk*
Woah, Luna, are you okay?
The heck're you doing? Hurry up already!
Ouchy... I scraped my knee.
I dunno if I can run on this...
Sunny, what's the plan?
Sheesh, you're such a dummy, Luna...
Fine, Plan C!
They should be tired, so we'll hit em all at once!
There's a lot of enemies hiding out in this corner, but with how good my level ups have been they're no challenge at all. Even at weapon triangle disadvantage, Suika takes 0 damage from all of the sword fairies, and the lance fairies are even worse off.
Here's another healing level. HP, Strength, Magic, Skill, Luck, Res. An excellent level, as usual.
By the way, have you noticed that Shrine Maiden is level 7, while all my other units are at 5? It's really easy for healers to outpace the rest of your army in this game, and I'm not even trying to optimize her EXP gains.
Oh yeah, okay, so remember what I said about enemy weapon ranges earlier?
So Suika smacked this fairy (who has a 1-2 range javelin) with her own 1-2 range hand axe, right? And now the fairy gets to take her own turn, starting in sight range of us, right? And Ran is sitting right there, without any ability to counter her from range, right?
And yet she actually moved next to Ran. For literally no reason.
You will pay for your foolishness with death.
I'm really not sure what's up with this behaviour. Is it because of the FoW? Is it some special dumbass suicidal fairy AI? Is it endemic to enemy AI in general? Who knows.
I don't remember it happening when I played the game before, but maybe I just never paid attention? I'll have to keep an eye on it in the future.
If you're playing along at home, be REALLY FUCKING CAREFUL when you move down here.
The Three Fairies of Sunlight are hiding out here, and unlike the other fairies this chapter, they don't fuck around.
Sunny is using a basic Fire spell.
This is important, because Fire weapons are super effective against Beast units, like Ran.
10 damage is kind of a lot, compared to the other enemies this chapter.
And here's Star outta nowhere. Sadly she didn't figure out the whole "attack from range" thing that Sunny's got figured out.
Star's equipped with Wind magic, which is effective against flyers like Yuyuko. Yes, both Wind and Ice are effective against flyers. Wind is magic-only though, and very common, where-as Ice weapons show up in all weapon types but are rarer.
And now Star's dead.
HP and Strength. Not the best, but I won't turn down Strength.
HP, Skill, Speed, Luck. Pretty much the exact opposite of her previous level, but not at all unwelcome.
No way...
S-Star, are you okay?
They beat Star!?
H-hmph!
If they beat Cirno, then of course they're tough.
Even so, we've still got a trick up our sleeves!
...Sunny, are we still doing this?
Sunny's not the type to just run away from here.
Exactly!
Luna, Star, we'll do it like we normally do!
O-okay.
Roger!
Alright, we're in formation! Charge!
---
It's like they've Paired Up, but... different!
A Trinity...
It's a powerful formation that focuses the strength of the two in the rear into the one leading the pack.
However, it's not a technique that you can pull off without a huge amount of trust for your partners.
Fairies are normally solitary beings, so for them to cooperate so well is quite unusual.
We can praise them later.
If they can pull off a Trinity, they're not enemies we can take lightly.
Quite so. Be careful, everyone.
ignore her HP, I took this screenshot out of order
So, here's our first look at a Trinity (三位一体, or roughly "Three Parts, One Body"). It's like a Pair Up, but... y'know, more-so. The bonuses they're getting are about what I'd get for Pairing Up with Youki. That doesn't sound too impressive until you remember he's 17 levels higher than them. Yukari's advice about being careful is well-advised, in this case.
Nothing for it but to start wading in. Sunny's up first, and she's faster than any of our units sans Youki.
She also decided to land a critical hit on Yuyuko. So uh, that's not great.
Luckily, on the enemy phase, Luna decided to attack Suika. Unluckily, Suika has fuckall resistance and took 14 damage, with a 16% chance of just dying immediately.
By the way, Luna's equipped with a basic Lighting spell.
We're in somewhat hot water here. Suika, Yuyuko, and Ran are ALL within range of getting killed immediately. Shrine Maiden could heal up one of them, but the Three Fairies are genuinely very powerful, so getting into a war of attrition is a risky bet.
I figure that just going for the throat is the best way to defuse the threat.
Ran cherry-taps Luna with her Bronze Sword for exactly enough damage to kill.
She grabs HP, Speed, Luck, and Def.
Yuyuko gets Strength, Magic, Luck, and Res. This is shaping up to be the best Yuyuko I've ever had.
Once they're down to just a duo, their bonuses are much easier to handle, so we just rip through em no problem.
Considering Yuyuko's HP, this might look risky, but...
Star sustained a bit of damage while I was taking out Sunny, and one thing the AI loves to do is chug vulneraries if it has them. So in practice, this was safer than it looked.
Down to just one boss left, I stall a couple turns to get Shrine Maiden a healing level. Strength, Speed, Luck, Def.
If I really wanted to, I could just sit here and stall until she hit level 20, but that'd be a bit boring, even for me.
And with that, the chapter is cleared.
No way! They beat us so easily...
I mean, they beat Cirno. They're obviously super tough.
I didn't think it'd go like this...
*pichun*
Lady Yukari, what should we do about these fairies?
I'd like to keep these ones for now.
If something has indeed changed in fairies, we might be able to get a clue out of them.
---
Are you three okay? Do you have any injuries?
Wha-?
Hey... you've scraped your knee, haven't you?
Hold on, let me treat that for you.
Huh? Er, no, that happened before we-
Just hold still.
Oh, um... okay...
---
...Hey, Sunny?
What, uh... what's up?
This is the first person who's ever been this nice to us.
...
---
...There we go. Good as new!
Um, thank you very much!
Think nothing of it. Now, be good girls and head on home.
Oh, and don't do this again, okay? Next time, you might not get let off with just a scraped knee, you know?
A-alright!
Hey, hold up!
?
I'm Sunny Milk, and I'm not the type to just limp back home after someone does me a favor!
So, I'll help you out until I'm satisfied!
Huh?
We want to pay back the favor. We owe you for our friend, so we can't leave until we do.
Right, Luna? You owe her the most, so you gotta put in the most.
Wait, what?
Er, right. I'll give it all I've got!
It's fine, you don't have to-
You might be fine with it, but we're not!
Even if you don't want us to, we'll be sticking with ya!
Oh, um... okay. Happy to have you?
---
Yukari.
Looks like she saved me the trouble.
Even still.... Not just youkai, but even fairies seem attracted to her.
Quite an interesting human, hm?
Indeed...
And with that, I'll see you all in Chapter 3.
We'll actually go to a different map next time, I promise.