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Welcome back. Last time, some really silly skills joined our party, bringing Moulder and Vanessa with them. This time...
...we're stopping an army of gargoyle bandits. It's a good thing these aren't brigands that can fly and attack villages, but let's not give IntSys any ideas.
Anyway, the village gets attacked, Garcia and Ross run out...
"I'm a pirate, actually, but close enough."
"Wait, how do you know that, Vanessa? The mountains are in the way..."
"I just have really good eyesight."
Anyway, let's get onto the chapter proper.
Hey, Selena! I hope you still have vendor trash for m-
OH MY GOD.
Then Moulder goes for the other village. I imagine they just threw this at him because they're terrified of him being a floating eye. Now, since we can't get to Ross and Garcia right away, we'll have to pray that they can fend for themselves.
Garcia will probably be fine, but Ross... well, I said "pray" for a reason.
I can't look at their growths just yet, but we can at least talk skills. In addition to Dance and Wary Fighter, Ross also gets Seal Resistance, which works exactly like Seal Luck, just for Resistance. That's actually really good for him given how atrocious Dancer stats are, and the Fire tome also doesn't really do him any favors. Though, like Gilliam, I'm probably going to have to keep him away from combat given that he'll die if he's looked at funny.
Garcia, on the other hand, has Swordfaire (+4 damage when equipped with a sword... on a unit that can't get swords 
), Shove, and Camaraderie (heals 10% of max HP if there's allies within 2 squares of him - this stacks with Bonds).
As much as I hate to waste a ballista charge on something like this, this gargoyle would be able to one-shot Ross if not for him being on a fort. I don't trust the AI to not subsequently kill itself attempting to attack the gargoyle on the NPC phase, so let's just nip this in the bud.
Oh hey, they even added in the ballista animations from FE6! That's a nice touch.
Vanessa hits up the armory. I didn't get a chance to look at it last chapter, but wow the iron lance is bad in this run. I guess now the slim lance being more expensive is justified 
The slim sword is also pathetic besides somehow having 0 weight, and the iron axe isn't particularly impressive either. Garcia got stuck with one, and yes, he's weighed down by it. I end up picking up a slim lance for Franz, and another iron sword for Eirika.
'
oh god dammit i forgot there was another one
One reset later...
Well, I was going to have Seth use the ballista on that gargoyle instead, but it turns out he's just out of reach of it. 
All I can do is pray that it misses.
That's better.
I don't know what's more horrifying - the amount of damage this guy can potentially do, or Vanessa's palette.
Garcia finishes off the gargoyle that menaced his son.
Here's that peak/water setting in action. The game let me shove Vanessa onto a mountain for that sweet, sweet defense boost when normally it wouldn't, and now she can get off of it normally.
Bone seems to have become Firebrand. I can get behind this.
Whoa, Nosferatu this early on? Garcia ended up one-rounding this guy, so I couldn't get a look at what its stats are like. 
Bless his heart, he's trying so hard.
These reinforcements are a lot scarier when they can fly and spawn with killer weapons 
Cool, now go tell your dad to stop stealing my EXP.
Whoa, that magic growth! There's hope for him yet. Though his other growths are... concerning.
Remember when I said Ross's Fire tome wasn't doing him any favors? This is why. The weight and might being swapped aren't that big of a deal, but the accuracy drop is very noticeable. I just hope that I'm able to get him Thunder or something soon.
I'm sure a thief will appreciate this... if I ever get one.
Vanessa softens up the boss, and Moulder goes in for the kill. Also, between this chapter and last, thanks to Sorites in the thread, I realized that I somehow have something called "flashy mode" on. In other words, the lucky superfluous crit finishes I've been getting are actually guaranteed to happen on the last hit for a boss. And here I thought I was getting really lucky...
In hindsight, I probably should have attacked from close range to see how Barricade+ works, but oh well. There's always next chapter.
Oh for fuck's sake. One more reset later...
...and the enemy that forced my reset last time doesn't even spawn. Hooray?
After Vanessa and Moulder take down Bone like last time, Seth manages to beat the thieves to the village for another Master Seal. How... suspiciously generous.
"Because... you're absolutely right!"
Garcia has some very... top-heavy growths. Really nice HP and strength, it's just a shame about, uh, everything else.
Well, it was worth a shot. Not like he's in danger of his weapons breaking. Eirika gets this kill instead.
All three of the Thieves have droppable Lockpicks. Again, this will be really nice if and when I get a thief... but I have a suspicion we won't get one by next chapter.
One of the thieves is packing a steel sword, which actually looks pretty decent other than the accuracy.
Why would you do this to yourself? You have so much to live for...
Also, it looks like the peak setting also applies to terrain like villages too, which would explain why this guy was able to move through impassable terrain to attack Seth.
Here's Ross and Garcia's palettes. They're very... blue. Ross's just seems to be the default dancer palette, for some reason.
Since all that's left is a single thief that can't hit Seth if his life depended on it, I take some time to get Ross a level through dancing.
That sure was worth spending 10 turns on.
Then Moulder smites the thief to end the chapter on an underwhelming note.
"I'm guessing that gargoyle getting shot by a ballista was you, anyway."
Colm is still enough of a thief to jack our valuables, at least! 
After that, we go back to the armory to find that the other axes at the store are... even worse than the iron one! Hooray! 
Join me next time as I hopefully get a thief.
NEXT TIME:
Sometimes, skills just don't work out in your favor.