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Before taking on the Phantom Ship, I took most of my second-string units (and Joshua, for Mercy grinding) to the first two floors of Tower of Valni, and got, uh, way more experience than I was anticipating.
Ephraim: 5 levels (capped!), +5 HP, +3 Str, +4 Skl, +3 Spd, +1 Lck, +3 Def, +2 Res
Garcia: 2 levels, +2 HP, +2 Str, +1 Skl
Neimi: 1 level, +1 HP, +1 Mag, +1 Skl, +1 Spd
Joshua: 2 levels, +2 HP, +2 Skl, +1 Def, +2 Res
Amelia: 3 levels, +3 HP, +1 Str, +1 Skl, +1 Def
Tana: 1 level, +1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 Lck
Cormag: 2 levels, +2 HP, +1 Mag, +2 Skl, +1 Lck
Look at that, Neimi finally got Magic! And Ephraim actually managed to get a string of good levels, but he still goes into promotion with pretty low stats.
Speaking of which, here are his stats at level 20. They're still bad, but he definitely could have turned out worse.
Like the other promoted monsters, the Entombed is just a palette swap of the Revenant, so his sprite doesn't change.
And his promotion gains are barely better than a regular level. 
I'd like to get him to level 10 by the end of chapter 16 so he can pick up a skill before he gets his second promotion, but I'm not sure how feasible that would be even accounting for Paragon.
Depressing gains aside, let's get into the chapter.
After Selena talks to Vigarde, we cut to Ephraim and Myrrh on the boat. As of right now she's an Archer, but that's always subject to change based on the whims of the RNG.
Why rise and shine when you can rise and rage? 
This is kind of a weird party, but I'm sure I can make it work. Amelia is here for her sight and nothing more - she's still very low-level, but I'd rather be able to actually see what I'm up against before it comes. Neimi and Artur both have Torch staves, too.
Neimi starts by firing hers off to reveal a pegasus and -- oh for fuck's sake, this is gonna be Village of Silence all over again, isn't it? 
At least we're dealing with the sea and not mountains, and also a type of enemy that can't actually attack.
The enemy actually capable of combat goes down in a single hit from Moulder.
Artur torches over here to reveal more of the same. This is gonna take a while...
It's a good thing I still have some Bolting left, though it'll probably be gone after this chapter.
One of the pegasi suicides on Vanessa, letting her cap Skill!
Then the ship pulls up and 
These guys don't have very impressive stats, but the Ranger has Counter and the Rogues have Lethality. Even if it's only a 2.5% chance to go off, that's 2.5% too much, if you ask me. And just for good measure...
...there's a siege asshole in the middle of this clusterfuck! This time, Shadowshot's might is the same as its vanilla incarnation, and it has higher accuracy.
While I puzzle out how to deal with all of that, Tana finishes off a peg knight that attacked Amelia, getting another excellent level, and...
...Critical Force! Run 1 Neimi never left. 
Now let's see how bad of an idea this is.
As much as I'd like to out-siege this guy, it feels like a waste to not kill with Bolting.
So the Bard gets it instead. 
One of the Mogalls makes the mistake of attacking Kyle. Look, I know what they say about slow and steady, but can you at least get some speed, please?
The Siege-gall also goes for Kyle, but he tanks the hit.
And then the floodgates open.
The joys of Critical Force. Tana was strong to begin with, but a significant crit chance makes her even more powerful.
Amelia pokes at a Gargoyle for this. She has yet to get a level with more than 2 stat gains.
Neimi patches up Kyle's Provoke-induced damage for more magic!
And Moulder picks off one of the Shamans for a similarly level.
Whoa, that's a nasty looking Killer Axe. Hopefully I won't have to wait until the end of the game to buy it this time 
Provoke means everyone who can attack Gilliam does, but he comes out of it alive.
For all I've been ragging on Ephraim, Elbow Room actually does a lot to help him. +3 damage may not seem like much, but when you have low stats every point counts.
Vanessa and Moulder are still busy fighting dudes on the ship, and in the process Vanessa lifts probably the most pathetic weapon across both runs so far off of a Gargoyle. 
Another pegasus comes out of the fog, but Vanessa is fine.
She's... less fine after a run-in with this guy. Fortunately, Counter only applies to attacks from adjacent enemies, so she lives.
And then one of the Rogues suicides on her. 
It lets her get more speed, which is nice.
L'Arachel is a Gargoyle, and Dozla is... a Druid? Oh hell yes.
SKILLS:
Axefaith: +4 damage when equipped with an axe... which Gargoyles don't have access to.
Canto
L'Arachel has almost capped Strength at level 1 and I think that's beautiful. She even has a not-pitiful defense, too! Which is good because 11 HP does not fill me with confidence. I'm gonna need to haul ass to get Ephraim over to her.
Her starting weapon is... this. She's weighed down by it and the accuracy isn't great, but at least she'd be able to fuck up the Ranger, I guess?
SKILLS:
Sure Shot: Skill% chance for your attack to be a guaranteed hit that deals 1.5x damage.
Shove
Darting Blow: +5 Attack Speed when initiating battle.
Full Metal Body: Immune to Seal skills.
Dozla is the promoted one and yet his stats are almost universally inferior to L'Arachels. At least we have a Dark user now? Sure Shot is nice, but he has such low skill that I'm not sure how much it really helps him. Fortunately, Darting Blow shores up his low speed...
...but even with it, his attack speed is a flat zero. 
How am I going to keep these idiots alive...?
And the boss has spawned, but fortunately him not being able to fly means we have a few turns before we actually have to deal with a magic user with Dazzle. Also fortunately, he has Luna too, making him easy to double.
Most of the enemies on the bridge get cleared out, and Moulder dispatches the Ranger. Vanessa's in a bad position, though, so she has to fly away out of Moulder's support range.
We're actually in a pretty good position to recruit L'Arachel now, it's just a matter of getting Ephraim all the way across the map. Hopefully I won't need to do another shove chain
Another pegasus suicides on Moulder. I'm pleasantly surprised he hit that Luck growth, given how low it is.
Yet another pegasus suicides on Gilliam to give him more strength, which is much appreciated.
Some other enemies go for Dozla, but he stands his ground.
On the NPC phase, L'Arachel impales a Priest, which I only mention because...
...she totally cheated the fog of war mechanics; she shouldn't have been able to see him, but she flew out into the fog and attacked.
Ephraim's first promoted level is good... by his standards.
This guy poisoned and nearly killed Kyle, so Joshua shoots it down with extreme prejudice.
This was the Siege-gall, but it ran out of Shadowshots. And now it's out of HP!
Hey, look, an enemy Amelia actually has a fighting chance again! ...until the boss moves, anyway.
And the last of the (non-boss) promoteds goes down like a chump.
Oh, good, another Shadowshot asshole spawned with the reinforcements!
Dozla and L'Arachel continue to mop up the slow-ass Priests so I don't have to.
Amelia finishes off this Priest and, much more importantly, hits D in swords. Now she's not confined to the terrible Slim Sword and the somehow-even-worse Iron Sword!
Artur finally gets around to curing Kyle's poison and gets a solid level for his trouble.
The boss comes aboard, but
yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Bolting ends up going out on the other Siege-gall. I only had it for a level and a half, but it was a good level and a half. 
This, on the other hand, is not a good level. However, that was the last enemy that can actually put up a fight, so all that's left is mopping up Priests...
...and figuring out how to get L'Arachel. I end up having Gilliam shove him onto the side of the ship, but fortunately, she's close enough that it won't be necessary to do it over and over.
One of the last priests is kind enough to give Joshua some more strength and A in bows.
It took Dozla four turns to kill this guy. 
Come here, you.
These, uh... these sure are some growths! Also congrats on being the fifth fucking person with a 5% defense growth.
Maybe Dozla's growths will redeem him...?
Eh, not really. They're not awful, but 15% speed with 6 to start is really not a good look. If I really wanted to use him I guess I could give him some Fire tomes and let him go to town, but that's boring, and I already have an anima user (two, counting Eirika).
The sprite looks good, though. It feels very Halloween-y somehow.
I'm trying to grind Amelia using one of the last two Priests, but it's slow going.
She eventually lands the killing blow and continues to underwhelm me.
L'Arachel attempts to take the last kill, but misses both times
Some last-minute Torch grinding gets Neimi a solid level.
In the end, Tana sends us off with a dose of gratuitous overkill.
And what a hell of a note to end on! 
NEXT TIME:
L'Arachel's competition arrives.