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Chapter 4x: Asbel is a fucking Lemming
Today, we meet Ced, who will sadly join us in his vanilla form. His actual playable self won't show up until chapter 23. Also, this map is mercifully not a Fog of War. This allows me to appreciate from the get-go just how many more mages I have to face.
Being Asbel's teacher, Ced does take a more didactic tone when explaining things. Not that these two have enough dialogue for it to really show.
I feel this was just kinda the point where our translator really got into a mood for rural accents. Like Karin, Asbel's accent and register are a bit inconsistent with his character. He does come from a small town, but he's the son of a priest, and seemingly pursued magic studies in Tahra. By today's standards, that's basically being the son of a teacher, and following a higher education in the big city.
At least, unlike Karin, his voice stays consistent. 'cause after he's recruited, he doesn't get any more dialogue for the rest of the game, which is kind of a shame.
This is our initial setup. Thanks to movement penalties, the Bow Knights aren't a threat, and it's possible to lure the mages before the brigands.
Like so. This means that we can do one wave after the other, setting up the next defensive line as we finish up the rest of the previous wave. So in about four or five turns, we should be at the door. That is still too many turns, because...
Asbel fucking sucks! 8 Attack! 22 HP! The worst magic type, and not even a C rank in it. Also Accost, just in case you wanted to see him get hurt more.
This is a big problem, because the corridor of harmless soldiers is now full of 8 mages who easily out-stat him.
And of course, he's aggressive and will always try to engage an enemy on his own turn. It's extremely easy for him to end up one hit away from death on the very first turn.
And before you ask, no, having Ced around doesn't even help that much, since he goes exclusively after the mages that Asbel has already weakened. This guy had 2 HP. Great use of your ancestor's mythical weapon, my guy. 
So here come the savestates. It's thankfully quite easy to manipulate the RNG in Thracia, as opening a character profile is enough to burn random numbers.
Took a few tries, but getting Asvel two hits away from death is the best I could get. I might have tried a bit more, but
Fergus dodged two Elfires and that's definitely worth keeping.
There's also a Sorcerer up there, with a Torch and Ensorcel (“M Up”) staves, buffing his nearby allies. As if Asbel wasn't enough of a time limit.
Then again, he's not very good at it, and every miss gives me more time before he runs out of my Ensorcel.
Speaking of Ensorcel, there do already exist two localized names for a staff that increases resistance: Ward and Barrier. However, since Magic is Resistance in Thracia, this staff is more used for offensive purposes. Even the JP name is different: “M(agic) up” instead of “Magic Shield”. So we went and borrowed from Aethin's Tearring Saga translation, a game that also uses Magic as Resistance.
He called the Attack, Magic and Defense staves “Empower”, “Ensorcel” and “Enarmour”, by the way, which is neat and feels almost too clever for a Fire Emblem game. 
Anyways! Turn 2, we switch up our frontline to folks that can better handle axes to the face.
Or that destroy everything they come in contact with.
All right. Wave 2. I'm not sure what I was thinking putting Lara with her 5 Atk and 16 HP on the frontlines like that.
Or why I put Karin against the one guy who had an axe I kinda wanted. Ah well.
More Con for better spears! Eventually.
And thus, Leif can use all the axes in the game on chapter 4x. I guess I'll work on his bows, once he promotes...? In chapter 18...
Lithis, meanwhile, gets hit by a Devil Axe and then... ugh. That's our first, isn't it? 
Lara almost died, and tink'd in return. Behold, gentlemen! Strategery! 
But what I lack in skill, I make up for in luck. Asbel dodges twice!
And Ced takes one more victim!
Speaking of Ced, I haven't shown his profile yet. He hasn't been randomized, but notice the Paragon down there? That's because his class skill got switched up. Yep, male Sages get innate Paragon. That should make for a fun Marty party, when he gets there.
On to wave 3. Time to hurry up, because this is where the greenies will rush into danger.
For all the bad things I say about Brighton, his criticals are always timely.
Macha, though... Oh, you think you're funny, with that Luna proc? You think you're real funny, aren't you? 
Fergus heals Lithis up and he jumps back into the action, ready to redeem himself from that awful level.
Even though opening the northern door is a priority, I can't have Lara go up and then back down for these cells, otherwise there'll be reinforcements here by the time she frees the kids.
Over in the north, this Sorcerer just keeps tripping on his robes or something, and Lithis just threw a Bhuj at a bunch of bow ladies.
I don't think I've ever explained the Bhuj thing, have I? The kana for this weapon spells “Pooji”, which doesn't seem to refer to an existing weapon type, or even be a real word. It does appear again in Vestaria Saga, though... and in Berwick Saga, except it's spelt “Booji” there. Now that spelling does bring up some results:
Bhuj, an Indian dagger named after a city, sometimes called an axe-knife(!).
Vouge/Voulge, a type of european polearm, which fits the setting.
It seems likely that “Pooji” was really just a different, innacurate transcription choice. We settled for Bhuj, seeing as that weapon type resembled Orsin's weapon a bit more. Besides, hey, if it was Vouge, it's fine, because Castlevania mixes them up too.
Source that I mostly paraphrased here: Aggro's very thorough research on the subject
This axe also was turned into a bit of a meme by Mangs, a popular FE youtuber with a style and fanbase that I can't help but compare to PewdiePie's. So of course we've had a lot of people clamoring (more or less politely) that we should leave “Pugi” as is, because of how much of a cultural phenomenon it is or something. Some folks even went so far as to hex-edit the name back into the game. 
Anyways, back to randomized FE5, where I wish I could hex-edit Asbel into a unit that can actually dodge.
Lara frees the last remaining children, and gets danced. Almost to that door!!
The bow ladies get cleaned up, and Lithis is gonna try to act as a decoy so the mages won't attack Asbel too much.
This is a really good first level though. Shame I don't really want to train her.
Phew, all right. Here comes the Enemy Phase from hell. Even with a few lucky dodges, Asbel currently is one hit away from dying, which means he needs to dodge...
… not one...
...not two...
…but three hits, the last one caused by his own hubris.
Ced has a Vulnerary in his inventory, by the way. Enemies and NPCs are able to trade items with their allies. It's just Asbel really, really wants to die.
I have seen this “Loaded state” screen 33 times! Asbel, you dick! 
Obviously, the only mage that Lithis lured was the one who wasn't in range of Asbel.
Fuck you.
Fuck you too. I'm coming for your head.
But at last, at long, long last, Asbel survives his turn. Praise the Lord Brigand.
Get in my team, you absolute, colossal dipshit.
I sure fucking wonder why he left you behind.
And now here comes great wizard Fergus and his critical fail at healing.
Those are the entirely wrong stats for healing, but awright, sure, give it another try.
. . . You know what...? It's fine. It's fine!
The last mage still standing is promptly bisected, and Asbel gets force-fed a Vulnerary.
Phew. Finally done with this hell corridor.
Onto the slightly less hellish room that's also full of wizards.
Fergus finally succeeds at healing Lithis, who goes after the latest Ensorceled mage. He can take off half of Lithis's large health pool with just a Thunder tome.
Doesn't make up for the last level, but otherwise, it's... fine.
Dalsin takes on the other buffed mage, and does pretty well!
Despite being invincible and killing everything in one hit, Ced always goes for weakened or unarmed enemies, and I don't trust him not to sneak in and murder the Sorcerer. Lara jumps on her pegasus to rescue him. Yet one more fun use of All Terrain Movement. This option is great.
Enemy phase happens. They all hit Macha, and she survives by the skin of her teeth.
There's one guy I really wanted to grab for his Torch. Leif gets.... wait, hold the phone, is Leif already at 16 fucking Strength? I was so focused on his Skl/Spd I didn't notice how stronk our lord was getting.
Fergus is... you know, doing Fergus things. We're almost done with combat, though, and he's training his staff rank without using up our limited staff supply. So it's not so bad.
Speaking of training, this is around the time I realize I can just have Karin dance with the Paragon Sword on. I probably should have done that for awhile now.
And, at last, the Sorcerer is captured. We may release the Ced.
Time to chat with Karin for a try at the Thracia gacha roulette. Also, this is a pretty good line, not gonna lie. 
Lots of vitriol was thrown about the Holsety → Forseti / Sety → Ced localization back when Awakening first came out (and I still see occasional complaints about it), but... Forseti was an actual god, and Ced was an actual hero. A common counter-argument is that Ced was named after Forseti, but this is simply untrue. Forseti the god gave his name to his holy weapon. Our Ced was named after his ancestor, Ced the Crusader. Did the Crusader change his name after meeting Forseti, or something? It's all speculation, there's no in-universe grounding that the names are supposed to match, not even in supplementary materials.
You would, in fact, do the very opposite of slowing him down, by letting him move twice a turn!
Silessean weddings must get pretty intense.
Hahaha! The idiot has fallen right into my trap!
It's not America, it's Ced, right around the corner.
C'mon, Ced. Catch!
Good boy.
So here's a neat little trick. We don't have access to the prep screen storage right now, but...
If we obtain an item (from a chest, village or event) with a full inventory, we can still send items to our Supply, even during the Manster escape. This is super useful for all these valuable random chest items that we don't wanna throw away, but also can't use right now.
Like this rare and valuable A rank sword. But hey, now I have just what I needed to recruit Xavi- ah, wait, no, I don't, because all the adjutants will be randomized so the usual strategy won't work..
Also, reinforcements start showing up. A lot of them, actually, so I should probably get a move on...
Or, you know, I could hang around, expecting to farm uh.... Thunder tomes and Devil Axes. What the fuck am I doing and why did I put my 1 HP unit here?
Ahaaaah! Begone, foul Javelin! I cast thee into the abyss of the Supply!
This is a nice bow, but I'm not banking on either Nanna or Hicks to be able to use it.
And the last chest is a letdown, but hey, it let me send the Brave Bow away too.
Help me, Ceeeed! 
One Brigand does manage to sneak through and... oh dear, that would have been a game over, huh.
I don't know how, but Brighton got stranded on the left side, and I can't safely go through the hell corridor, so...
Coming through!
More Paragon Sword, more Strength, more mage reinforcements.
One sneaks a quick spell at Lara on the way out. That's a very thiefy level, and only 6 damage. Huh. Lara's Magic is pretty decent, being a pegasus rider and all.
I don't know why I tried so hard to save you, Asbel, but now I'm making damn sure you get all the way through Manster so that I can bench you as violently as possible.
Ced, could you maybe like... try standing in the doorway...? That'd be nice.
One last fight for the map, and it has our first Adept proc. Sweet.
Well then. That got really tense, really fast. This would have been a nightmare, with fog of war.
Next time:
