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Welcome back. Last time, we dealt with a giant spider some girl with a sword menacing some innocent civilians. Today, we're going to take the fight to Grado and rescue Ephraim from his "captivity". This being the lead-up to a climactic battle, everyone has something to say. Since this is all unchanged from vanilla FE8, I'll skip over it, other than...
Haha, no.
First thing's first, buying a Skill Scroll. I'm not going to use it just yet: for now, it'll sit in our inventory until I decide who'd benefit the most from an extra skill. Before this chapter, I also bought Artur a steel sword so he can actually hit things, as well as a hand axe for Joshua, because a crappy range option is better than no range option at all.
Again, there's not really much other setup to do, other than Vanessa will actually be leaving the Ballista behind for today, given that there's actual ones on the map that she can use.
And she goes for it right away. There's two enemies above it just out of range of this screenshot, but neither of them can actually use the ballista themselves.
While she does that, everyone else pushes on ahead.
Oh boy, another spider. On a Gate, no less! Hopefully he or the one next to him don't have sharp claws, because that would be very annoying.
Oh, this guy by the bridge had a hand axe. Points for effort, I guess.
As tempting as it is to get in the ballista right away, I'd rather deal with the guys standing right here first.
She wouldn't be able to take them out in one round either way, but still.
Eirika kills a Mauthe Doog that roughed up Artur on the enemy phase, and then I realize I've left her in range of this dude with a Spear, so Lute flies in to (hopefully) distract it. It doesn't work.
As everyone else filters forward, Moulder continues to (try to) pick off the other guys farther up.
On the enemy phase, Vanessa tangos with these two idiots. Hey, another Runesword! This run really seems to like those for some reason.
Meanwhile, Eirika nearly dies. 
God damn, why can't you drop that Axereaver?! It looks so good...
I'll take more Strength from killing the Enemyrika i can't believe i never thought to call them that until just now, though.
Uh, and this too, I guess.
Away with ye!
Neimi or Lute will probably appreciate this.
It's still wonderful to see that x2 when Ross attacks.
Him missing twice is... less wonderful.
Garcia helps clean up.
Eirika redeems herself with a crit, but this frame makes it look like she's more interested in something in the sky.
Speaking of Neimi and Lute, Neimi chucks a javelin at this Revenant. I don't expect anything, but she actually manages to connect with one of them.
Then Lute picks up the spare.
Moulder finishes this guy from earlier, and that's the turn for everyone.
It's a good thing Vanessa isn't gonna be in any more danger after this.
Steel versus steel! My steel wins.
Provoke is working a little too well for Artur. Hopefully him killing everything that comes to him won't eventually get him killed...
And now, Vanessa is free to terrorize half the map with An Actual Ballista.
I'm kind of amazed at how much Strength he's been getting, given he only has a 35% growth rate.
Yikes, that's a lot of damage. I don't think any monster weapon is going to top the sharp claw, but this is still scary to connect with. And this is with Lute's defense buff from Spectrum Stance.
...Actually, I'm inclined to call this better than the sharp claw, on account of the better accuracy and way lower weight. Now if only I can get a Revenant of my own...
...especially considering they have this as a class skill. 
Lute kills it for a crap level and a free Elixir.
Vanessa finally gets in the ballista to find it's way worse than the Iron one we were using before, not even because of the 5 less range. It's a good thing I didn't get in it first, because the bonewalker probably would have been able to drop her right then and there.
No battle animations for the real Ballistae, sadly. Also, the map battle window displays Attack Speed, which I don't really remember from vanilla FE8.
Ross and Gilliam both get levels out of me rushing Gilliam up to heal Lute.
Moulder continues to give zero fucks about enemies trying to hit him.
Eirika kills it for even more Defense! Beautiful.
For hitting level 10, she becomes the fourth person to get Swift Stance. This is good, given all her other skills rely on her attacking instead of being attacked.
Oh god not another one 
Even with Gilliam healing her, the Bael is just strong enough to one-round Lute. Let's hope it doesn't...
Very nice.
I wanted to have Artur or Lute take out this Dancer, but since she's sitting in a forest, they'd have a hell of a time hitting her, so Moulder comes back over to help out.
There we go. And now all that's left is Murray and the other monsters guarding the castle.
Neimi baits out and takes care of this one. Who needs defense when you can just dodge attacks forever?
Fortunately, it turns out Murray doesn't have a sharp claw, but this guy does. The fact that Joshua can double even with how heavy the hand axe is is telling of how heavy the claw is. I don't actually do this, because I don't want him to whiff and then get destroyed on the enemy phase. Instead, I wait for Vanessa to catch up so Gilliam can get her back up to full health.
Lute ultimately baits the spider out. Even if it hits, she can tank it.
And tank she does!
Murray is... interesting. He has a poison claw, which is somewhat annoying but nowhere near as bad as the alternative, and some rather strong skills. Fury gives him +2 Strength, Speed, Defense and Resistance, at the cost of taking 6 points of damage each time he fights. Lily's Poise is apparently a Bael class skill, and it lets adjacent allies deal 1 extra point of damage while taking 3 less. I'm very glad I didn't see this during Ephraim's chapter.
Moulder gets us started.
He misses, but... Fury takes effect anyway. Suddenly, this is looking to be a lot easier.
Neimi continues to hit improbably low hit rates to get even more Skill.
Joshua parks himself in front of Murray, giving no fucks about the boost in damage he takes.
Lute doesn't get as lucky as Neimi, but...
...with Ross's help, she can go in for the kill. This won't kill on its own, but Fury should kick in and finish him off.
She gets a decent level out of it, either way.
It turns out Fury can't kill off of its self-damaging...
...which lets Vanessa come in to actually land the killing blow.
And she does so... not exactly in style.
The fight's over, but I take a bit of time to grind up supports...
...as well as Ross and Gilliam, who were close to another level up. Ross is one point off his magic cap, now.
Gilliam's level might be crap, but he gets a good skill out of it, at least.
And now we're done!
Eirika and Seth are approached by Orson, who's... a Bishop? Wait, don't tell me Ephraim, Forde and Kyle's classes changed, too...
"They confiscated my sword and made me wear these saintly robes. I couldn't tell you why."
Orson leads them into the castle and that's the chapter! Thanks for reading.
NEXT TIME:
Of all people to not change class from an earlier cutscene...