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Well, here we are again. I have to say, it was a little jarring coming back to this after playing Three Houses for the past week or so But we're this close to the end, I'm not going to let the run die so easily. No grinding for this chapter.



He may be "lost to the world" because he realizes there's no way he can be any sort of threat in this chapter. You'll see.



SKILLS:
Tomefaire: +4 damage with a tome equipped.
Shove
Ready Stance: +4 Speed/Defense when the enemy initiates battle.

For this run, the part of Myrrh will be played by Lysithea from Three Houses. By an amazing stroke of (bad) luck, she still has a 0% growth in both HP and Defense, but other than that her growths are batshit. She has the potential to become a better magic nuker than Natasha and Eirika (and maybe Knoll, but he has Life and Death and she doesn't). However... therein lies the problem. As amazing as Myrrh could be, I already have three units that can fill her role, and with more survivability to boot.

There isn't too much setup to do before this chapter beyond agonizing over my party setup. I have the opposite problem from my last run, where I didn't have enough competent party members to fill in slots on larger maps - now I have too many competent units that I can't decide on the best party for situations where I only have the traditional 12.



This is what I eventually settled on. I'm not bringing Myrrh because for as much as I just gushed about her growth rates, I really don't feel confident bringing a unit with 1 Magic to a real fight! Also, Joshua's not the only person wielding an S-rank weapon this time...



Kyle has hit S in axes! If you'll remember, Kyle's personal skill makes it so that axes he wields have infinite durability, so he can freely swing this monstrosity around without fear of it breaking.



To kick things off, Eirika gets a very good level against an Enemyphraim.



Then Joshua goes Hogg wild on this one guarding the treasure chest so Rennac can get to it unopposed.



Speaking of which, man I wish Rennac didn't come with a D rank in swords, as it limits him to some of the worst weapons in the entire game.

Why no, I didn't forget to give him at least a Steel Sword, why do you ask? I did give him a C rank sword, but...



An inadvisable use of Warp to get Ephraim to the front lines gives Neimi another push towards eventual greatness.



She does it again on the next turn to get Rennac into the castle proper and - damn, did Warp always give this much experience? I guess it isn't that noticeable since it's usually a promoted unit using it.







Fortunately, most of the enemies in the room Rennac warped into also have iron swords and can't do much to hit him... even if he can't land a hit in return. However, this comes with the bigger problem that he's managed to aggro some of the promoted units in the castle, so he'll need to haul ass to get to the treasure and meet up with the group that's going up the other side of the map.



Speaking of that group, here's Moulder getting a pretty good level.



Vanessa's, from picking off the Ranger inside, isn't as good.



Then Cormag does his thing to keep the line moving.



There's really not that much that can stand up to Kyle with Garm equipped. Certainly not any of the small-fry enemies at the start of this chapter.



Man, remember how much I ragged on the Short Spear? I think this speaks more to how good Tana is, but still, the fact that she's putting up this hit chance at a triangle disadvantage and only 23% hit on the weapon is ridiculous.



Oh, right, Cyclopses. Despite their high damage output, they're not really a threat.



They don't even give good levels.



Though they do give me incentive to switch Tana back to a good weapon.



A few other enemies tried to go for Innes, and I'm not sure what this joker was trying to pull.



Yes, those Druids and the Mage Knight are all coming for Rennac



And I, um, I forgot to give anyone in this group a Door Key so Rennac is going to have to let them all in, assuming that Thief doesn't move.



I can at least give Rennac some backup.







Meanwhile, Ephraim fails to make progress against the Cyclopses, and also fails to get a good level.



This'll get their attention well enough, I'd say.



Ephraim fares better on the enemy phase...



...and the last cyclops almost makes me reset.



Well, that sure was worth wasting two Warp charges.



I hate dealing with Hawkeye, so



Ephraim and friends make it into the castle, where Tana continues to be amazing.



Kyle is going to be holding the line against these Druids and a few other magic users coming his way. He has an Elixir, he'll be fine.



There was a Warrior, too, but Kyle makes short work of him and... also doesn't get a skill for hitting level 5? First Saleh, and now Kyle. Why am I suddenly not getting skills when I know I'm supposed to?



Hawkeye enemies are good at ignoring my own statistical nonsense, but they can only get so far.



This jackass isn't a threat, but he is blocking Rennac's one exit out of the weird hallway that leads to the other entrance. However, Rennac gets to C in swords off of killing him, which means now he can use the Killing Edge he's been carting around.



This thief took Ephraim's elixir, so Knoll took his life.



Damn, everyone's getting their low growths today!



Ah, that's more like it.



While Rennac is busy with that, some reinforcements caught up to the group stuck outside, so Eirika gets some more experience in.



Kyle is still dealing with some enemies, and the low growth train keeps rolling.



Dodging poison is always a good thing.



Especially if it means levels like this!



Rennac finally takes out the last enemy between him and the door for a pretty nice level. Strength is always good, given he's operating with -3 in it at all times.



An Enemyphraim drops this, and it's, uh, better than the Short Spear at least.



Now Eirika and friends no longer have to suffer at the hands of my own incompetence. The good thing is that my Warp stunt with Rennac and Kyle has more or less cleared out the enemies in the castle, so it's just a jaunt over to the throne room at this point (and also dealing with the dregs of the reinforcements, but it's just nondescript unpromoted enemies at this point).



Neimi tops off Kyle and tops off her own EXP, too. You know, I was thinking Artur would be my main healer, but Neimi's turned around in a big way.



Knoll flips this myrmidon off so hard that he ceases to exist.



Ephraim and Tana hit their A support while they attempt to bait out the enemies guarding Orson.



They don't take the bait, so Tana instead charges forward and deletes this druid.



Weirdly, the only enemy to attack them is this Dancer that was standing by Orson, and not the other enemies in the room. They definitely charged me on Eirika's run...



Works for me, though!



I will never get over having a Falcoknight with more defense than resistance.



Eirika meanders over to the throne room, only to get impaled by this soldier, the other enemy flanking Orson. She crits him in response, leaving only Orson and--



--yeah, leaving only Orson.



That's speed capped! And now, for the rest of the treasure.



And here's the game recouping me for foolishly spending all my money without the Silver Card.



This could be useful if I wanted to take Gerik off the bench, I guess.



And the last chest is... another Gleipnir, as if I'm going to have anyone to use the first at the rate I'm going.



Anyway, Orson. As you've noticed by now, he's an archer confined to a throne and therefore not a threat in any way.



The battle begins with a Wight archery contest, and mine wins.



And that's the story of how Orson died in just two battles.







And just like that, the chapter's done.



But we're not totally done. Remember what I had said all the way back in the first run about the promotion glitch? Well, it's time to take advantage of it. Though it isn't like what happened to Vik's Guy, where they actually get an animation programmed in. Instead...



For a split second, this flashes on screen to show that Ephraim has successfully changed class. Sadly, you can't see their stat screens, but you can at least see what his maximum HP has increased to - he actually capped HP from this promotion.



I was ambivalent about doing it for Eirika too, especially given I didn't get the chance to promote her first, but I realized I wouldn't exactly be hurting for magic users if I made her a Great Lord.



And then Eirika's sprite stays on screen for the rest of the cutscene



Including this bit on the map where there's two Eirikas on top of each other.



Here's how the twins look post-promotion, given they didn't get a proper stat screen. I don't know why the Seal Strength effect from Orson is persisting on Eirika even after the chapter, but that's not the weirdest thing here. See how it still says "Magic" instead of "Strength"? Eirika did not lose the ability to use anima magic upon becoming a Great Lord. There's no animation, so it just goes to the map animation instead, but it works! Though this just makes me wonder why skills like Lumina and Shadowgift don't work if the class doesn't already use magic...



And the Sacred Twins. I probably wouldn't use Sieglinde if it wasn't for the Strength... Magic? boost.

NEXT TIME:


Lyon isn't looking so ferocious this time around.