Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 8: Reinforcement Grind

In which Marth travels to Lefcandith Valley and I work on leveling some people up.



Chapter 7: Lefcandith Gauntlet

Somebody got ahold of a fantasy name generator for this one...

The introductory text says that Marth and his army ("army"... we lost half our number last session...) are now known as the Archanean League. I wonder by whom? Are we calling ourselves that, to add the Archanean stamp of legitimacy? Is it from Princess Nyne? Or is that what the Dolhr alliance are calling us? It's unclear.

Anyway, Marth follows the middle road south towards Archanea Palace, through the perilous Lefcandith Valley. Countless fortresses (spoiler, there are 5 forts and the enemy castle on the map) line the valley, and the Whitewings, a Macedon knightly order led by Princess Minerva are stationed in the valley.

During setup, I decide to try the reclass option. I'm switching Barst to Mercenary, he has amazing strength (12! Maybe my only double digit strength character) so he can dish out the damage, but his skill is only 6 so his hit chances are terrible, especially with axes. Not that he's missed much so far this game, but... I want to see if I can boost his skill a bit so he's more reliable later on. Especially since I killed off his buddies last session (I still feel guilty about that!)

I also check out the Forge option in the armory, and bump up Gordin's Iron Bow's strength. I noticed my archers have trouble damaging the bosses (they can hit, twice often, but doing 0 damage twice is uninspiring...) and it lets me rename the bow! Gordin's Bo it is (character limits...) That's pretty cool actually.

Let's start the fight!

We start with a dialogue between Minerva and the enemy general Harmein. Minerva is unhappy with Harmein's tactics, and would prefer to fight us head-on, keeping her pride intact. Harmein points out that that Macedon pride cost the lives of many soldiers in Aurelis, which... fair point actually. However Harmein then points out that the emperor himself put Harmein in charge here, and don't they have Minerva's little sister Maria as their ward? It would be a shame if they couldn't keep taking care of Maria... so, threatening the hostage, not cool dude. Minerva says the Alteans are smarter than Harmein gives them credit for. They won't fail here and he will regret his decisions. She walks out, unhappy but still prepared to fight us.

Hovering over her sprite on the map, I can see that Minerva is a Dracoknight, that sounds fun.

I visit a house near my starting location, and a villager tells me that Minerva has the Hauteclare, the strongest axe of all. Its origins are unknown, but its power is said to rival even that of Archanea's Three Regalia. If she were to get Iote's Shield, Macedon's national treasure, she would be nigh unstoppable. So, can she join me?

Interesting, there's a village surrounded by mountains and guarded by a few enemy units, but I can't get to it because there's a gate blocking my way...

Shoot them Gordin! Shoot them now!

While I send a few units to investigate the gate, Minerva and the enemy fliers come at me over the mountains. An enemy Dracoknight is first, but Gordin's bonus damage against fliers means I make short work of him. A pair of enemy pegasus knights are also inbound, and Minerva and three named Pegasus knights (Catria, Palla and Est) behind them. Gordin levels up to 7 and gains HP, Strength, Skill, Luck and Defense, so that was nice. Wait, did forging the iron bow reduce it's uses or was that already at 12 charges when I did the forging? I'll need to investigate for next time...

I take out the two nameless pegasus knights, but Minerva and her people are right next to me... and they don't attack. Hmm. Maybe live and let live? Let me ignore them while I sort out that gate and see how that goes...

Can't we all just get along?

Oh, turns out Julian can unlock the gate. He's a master thief, no gate will stop him! 

Lena levels up healing Gordin and Julian to 8, and gains Skill, Luck and Resistance. I think she's my only unit with any resistance, maybe I should get her some offense at some point so she can take on enemy mages?

Marth heads to the village. There, he meets a robed man named Bantu, who asks if we've seen a young girl named Tiki. He wastes no time explaining that Tiki is the last of the Naga, the divine-dragon clan. Without her we can't challenge the Manaketes who serve Medeus. Bantu continues to explain that he is indeed a Fire Dragon, but he doesn't have Tiki's power. Also, he lost his Firestone in Pyrathis, and without it he cannot do battle. Anyway he joins us to look for Tiki. I happened to pick up a Firestone from a previous map... let's give it to him. It only has 30 uses though, so he may not have much longevity.

Hi exposition man!

On the other side of the mountains, Minerva and I hold our positions until Minerva gets fed up with the cat and mouse tactics. She and her three named pegasus knights leave.

That's awesome art, which displayed on the bottom screen.

I'm glad I didn't have to fight her, I have a feeling I would have had casualties... I regroup and head south towards Harmein's position. He has two armored knights and a healer near him, but as I approach, the four forts surrounding the area spawn enemy cavaliers. One cavalier has a riders bane, one a steel sword, one an iron lance and one a javelin. I'm not concerned about the latter but the riders bane could be trouble, and the steel sword will hit harder than my iron weapons...

Incoming reinforcements!

I can't quite get enough attacks in to do more than kill the steel sword guy, and at the end of the enemy's next turn 4 more cavaliers spawn with the same armaments. But this time I'm able to swarm them, and I clear the field. Cain levels to 7 and only gains HP and luck. Cain, do better, Abel's leaving you in the dust. The enemy armored knights also approach, and Merric kills them one per turn in short order. Marth levels up during this melee to level 8, gaining HP, Strength, Skill, Speed and Luck. See Cain? Do as Marth does! Ogma hits level 7 and gains HP, skill and defense. 

I sit one of my people on the fort the steel sword cavalier was spawning from, and the enemy only get 3 reinforcements this turn. Taking them out levels Lena to 9 (she only gets HP, but for a healer I'll take it) and Julian hits level 7 and gains just skill. The enemy now spawn once every other turn, so I take the off turns to surround the forts with my own people so I can use this as a level grinding station, killing them as soon as they spawn.

Draug hits level 4, gaining HP, speed, luck and defense. That's good for a knight!

Barst hist level 8 and gets HP, skill, speed and luck, just what I was hoping for.

Caeda reaches level 8 and gains skill, speed, luck and defense. Also good. Makes up for Julian.

16 damage with a double at level 1??!! Bantu you're a monster!

Bantu you're literally a monster!

The enemies stop showing up after awhile. I wait a few extra turns to make sure, but looks like it's time to move on to the boss. 

Well this will be tough. My archers deal 0 damage to him, even with Gordin's Bo. Merric deals 9 damage, if he hits (80% chance to hit, so he misses sometimes) and Harmein regenerates 7 HP per turn from his throne.  And he would hit Marth for something like 13 damage, for Marth's return hit of 10, but Marth only has a 60% chance to hit, while Harmein has a 90% chance. Oh boy. I guess he's a General, the promoted version of a Knight, but this is rough. 

Merric plinks away, hitting more often than not, leveling up to 8 in the process and gaining HP, skill, speed and luck. Finally I get lucky, and Merric hits with a critical! Takes Harmein down from  a full 32 HP to just 4! Still, I'm not going to run Marth in and risk a miss. Merric takes Harmein down over the next two turns, and hits level 9 from killing a promoted unit, gaining just luck. Merric you're generally great but even your green hair won't save you if you keep that up...

 After the fight, Malledus wants to chat Manaketes with Marth, in case Marth doesn't know about them. Marth knows they are dragon kin, but not much beyond that. Manaketes inhabited our continent long before humans. They are actually dragons in human form, but they suppress their draconic nature by sealing their power in dragon stones. Thus they appear human, and usually choose to live peaceful lives in quiet places rather than terrorizing humans. However, 100 years ago, something changed.

Medeus I presume.

Medeus, the Shadow Dragon, surfaced in Dolhr and basically took over. He created the Dolhr empire, invading human realms and subjugating everyone. Then Anri appeared and rose against Medeus with the shining blade of light called Falchion, with which he killed Medeus.

Anri, are you alright? 

Marth knows he is Anri's successor, and promises to finish what Anri started a century ago. 

I'm still not happy with this "You're Anri's last male successor, so it's up to you" stuff Malledus keeps pulling out... I wish when games were re-released for later platforms they could revise some of those things...

Anyway, onwards to Chapter 8!