Toggle Background Color
Chapter 6: Escape from the City
Here we go, we're getting to the final stretch of the Manster escape. This part should go by really quickly, with two fliers, both already mounted, one of them a Dancer, and the other a Thief.
Here, Leif is blaming the Empire for the death of his parents, which is a bit confusing, since he then turns around and blames Thracia of that same crime in the next chapter. I don't think this contradiction was ever cleared up in our discussions, so it was chalked up to designer oversight.
Maybe he's saying they indirectly killed them, because Quand and Ethlyn did come to help Sigurd fight Granvale?
There's a lot of really weird dialogue bits in this part, honestly. Augustus has a very uncharacteristic “What's that, Lassie? Timmy fell down the well?” moment here, reacting to something Leif never explicitly spells out (he just says “now they've taken my mother from me all over again”).
Not that it's all the JP script's fault. There's that strange “Leif is from Manster” assumption again.
The JP script specifically says the Order is most influencial in the cities of Leonster and Manster, which also happen to be the only places in the game where you fight dark mages. The only exceptions are Tahra (where Manfroy sends his troops after the ch4 conversation), and Fort Danzig (where they are Julius's entourage, who happened to be passing by?).
There's still some pretty good lines though, which does make it even more of a shame that Cirosan recently announced that the project was going to stop without any further script revisions after the next minor bugfix. Or that he wishes to “maintain creative control over his vision”, which is the nicer way of saying he'll go after your ass if you try to finish his work for him.
Oh, and he left the Project Exile server today, too, so I guess RIP that whole “fixing mistakes” endeavor. 
But that's just how the ball rolls, sometimes. It's like Eyvel. I sure wish she was deployed, after my most daring rescue, but there are no deployment slots for her on this map...
She isn't even deployed at map coordinates [0;0], like what happens if you glitch some characters in. I think the game simply does not perform a check on her escape status. Why bother, after all?
Now, will that change anything for chapter 24x? Good question! I guess we'll find out when I get there! Randomizers!!
Over on the left, we have a fun new crew. No Meteor Bishops, just staff Sorcerers. The added cavalry and fliers might be an issue, though.
A bigger issue is Raydrik bringing 4 Authority stars to the field, a warp staff, and a random mage with Wind next to him, just to tease me about the one good anima tome that I can't get.
Just like other Manster general Eisenhau, Tolman is named after a historical figure, and so his name was changed from “Truman” to this variation.
Tolman has 3 more stars, bringing the total bonus to +21% Hit/Avd, which is a bit scary. Aside from his stars and mobility, there's not much to him. He does have Unlock, which got de-Prf'd and uh...
He's not the only one with Unlocks. The other Sorcerer only has two Recover staves.
In the streets, we have a few lance knights, mages, and the priests are patrolling the streets. Amusingly, since they have no weapons, nobody can ever enter their attack range, meaning they cannot ever raise the alarm, meaning this mission is exceedingly easy to stealth through.
Of course, I'd be missing out of a lot of good loot, so what I'll do instead is
Let's get to it. First off, spears for our fliers. Karin is back on a horse, so there will be a lot of Quad Dancing from now on.
I do want to open doors a bit, so that the Unlock folks don't waste too many uses being moderately helpful to us.
Over here, let's go and lure these guys, and...
… and only the pegasus moved. Huh.
Both this guy and the boss realize it'd be way better for their health if we stealthily went away so they're trying to subtly suggest that we leave. This guy's having a hard time though.
Oh, by the way, Unlock staves are E rank! Because they have to remain usable by vanilla Tina even if you remove Prf locks. Same with the Thief staff. This is not incredibly busted in any way.
Speeeeeaaaars! How I've missed you.
Anyways, here's a dead pegasus.
And here's Nanna realizing she needs Con to steal things.
All right, enough waiting. Time to lure everyone who can be.
Much better.
Before we tackle the large chunk of enemies, let's hit the shops!
This armory apparently doesn't get randomized, for some reason.
The general store has a... much wider selection. None of these are particularly useful, aside from Slim Lances and keys.
In FE Heroes's second popularity poll, Hicks was the least popular playable character in the franchise. Even with all of our translator's efforts, he barely stands out from random villagers.
Our Hicks is very special, though. His stats aren't fantastic, but he's a flying thief who isn't Lara. Look at that huge Con! If an enemy is slow enough, Hicks can most definitely disarm them, and then fly away. Shame about the weird weapon ranks, but at least he can stay relevant indoors.
He trades with Karin to wipe the poison off of his lance, and comes over here to be a diversion. 7 Defense isn't too bad.
But we still have a big block of guys up there. Let's take care of them.
Nanna takes revenge on the one bow knight who decided to attack her.
And Macha makes pretty good use of Accost already, deleting the one brigand.
Leif one-shotting a unit every turn never gets old.
Sorry, two units per turn. 
Okay! Sure! Cap that strength at level 16, why don't you! I'm not gonna stop you. 
Behold, the defensive formation known as “everyone can survive this, as long as fucking Asbel isn't exposed”.
We get this little scene on enemy phase. Both of them are Princes, which is fairly amusing.
Saias uh.... slaps Mareeta twice. One on both sides of the head, and then they disappear. And that's how the curse of the Shadow Sword Thief Staff was dispelled!
Hicks proves surprisingly popular. Even the Pegasus decides to go out of its way to attack him.
He's not... particularly effective in his fights, but hey, he's trying. He's wearing a cool black armor which I assume is what all generic Dracoriders have.
Over up north, Leif took a bit of a beating, but aside from that, nothing out of the ordinary. Fergus is just showing off at this point... I don't think his performance has earned him that, though.
Thanfully, the enemies left a bit of space for Tolman to join in on the fun. Usually, the guy just keeps his distance to use his Unlock.
… her Unlock? He looks like an Ethlyn. Anyways, on player phase, he and his Authority stars get Bhuj'd out of existence.
Nanna destroys a bow knight and gets even more beefy! That Hezul Scroll is doing wonders for her.
And this is where Hicks gets to pull off some sick tricks. That's so darn evil, I love it.
That just leaves one mage and one bow knight. Macha takes care of the mage, gaining more of that delicious speed. As for the bow knight...
… bullying archers is my passion.
While Leif's squad is wiping up most of the remaining combat, the girls are looting the villages. Kind of a weak start. I don't even have any non-Tanya archers.
This, however, is much better! and will probably never be used because what if I need it more later.
I position Lara right here, because the Priest prevents her from getting attacked down there. Can you spot where the gross tactical mistake is?
If you guessed the Pegasus Rider, then you are correct! She can attack Lara from anywhere.
If you also guessed the Lance Knight attacking from the village, you are doubly correct! He one-rounds her, unless Lara gets particularly lucky with her dodges.
Which she does, and gains a surprisingly un-Lara-like level for it. 
Karin finishes the pegasus rider, and Lara makes her daring escape, passing by to get this staff that I'm sure has a hidden blade inside.
Over up north, the disarmed mage tried fleeing. That just won't do.
Last map was defense, and now it's constitution, huh.
Lithis's gains are more modest. He's not all that amazing for a level 16 unit, but he's a good all-rounder, and again, Berserker gains are insane.
Both cavs try their luck against Leif. They explode on contact.
Time to wrap this up. The piñata Sorcerers kindly cede all their belongings.
Hicks stalks his next two victimes from above the forest's canopy, for you see...
Both of these lance knights don't have enough speed to escape... the Hicks. 
Sure, more Con, means more weapons!
As for the mages guarding the exit... well...
By the way, this entire time the Priests have still been diligently patrolling the streets like none of this mayhem was happening. Gotta admire that professionalism.
The unarmed cavaliers try to escape, but...
… there is no escaping the Hicks. Like the ominous raven patrolling the skies, he will steal all your shit.
Fergus zaps one of them on the way out, and very slowly is fixing his deficiencies. It's not like Halvan will probably replace him or anything.
Hey, that's almost the right item! Instead of Od's scroll, we get Njörun's. Its bonuses are fairly straightforward:
15% Def | 5% MHP, Lck | -5% Mag, Spd
Makes someone way beefier, at the cost of a bit of speed. I'm not sure who really would enjoy this, aside from Nanna, though she already has the Beef Scroll.
I don't need to know how to read to know this is amazing. Just gotta get Nanna to A rank, now.
Karin dances for Lara as I do some last-minute inventory shuffling. That's 9 defense on a pegasus rider, by the way. This is a really good Karin.
Lara picks up a few axes for the two bandit boys.
Then trades them away for a bunch of vendor trash.
We have a pretty good amount of cash, that way. Money isn't super important in vanilla Thracia, but since this is randomized, there's some very valuable loot to be found in shops. Also, I will probably have to buy all of my Master Seals.
Here, I pick up one Slim Lance, a couple of Door keys, and a Jormungand to have a laugh with Fergus.
I believe that is enough dilly-dallying. The bow armors are here.
Yeah, definitely cutting it a little close. The armors are nothing dangerous, with very basic bows.
However, on the following turn...
He's not nearly as scary as vanilla Galzus, but still not someone I'm willing to mess with. Those stats are actually really high for a Prince, considering that class has atrocious bases.
That about does it for chapter 6. We picked the place clean, and now it's time to pack up and leave.
Leif can still nearly murder Galzus with the master Axe, though!
Next t– ah crud, I knew I forgot something:
