Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 13: Why Do Invincible Mages Always Have to be Evil?

In which I try and try and try again to deal with the desert.




Chapter 15: An Oasis of Magic

We travel to Khadein, city go magic. The intro art shows a city in the desert, with a very byzantine architecture style going on.

Sort of a "Disney's Aladdin" feel.

Apparently many knights have tried to oust Gharnef, but he is too powerful. "One by one the heroes fell to blades unseen and fires within their armor..." so, the heroes played the role of the evil movie ninjas? Guys, attack all at once!

I mean, he looks like an evil wizard.

Looking over the map, Gharnef himself is here but in the southeast corner by a pair of treasure chests. The seize point is north of our position. And Gharnef looks to be a promoted mage class already at level 15, so the equivalent probably of level 35? Well, his stats aren't spectacular but he is armed with a spell book I'm unfamiliar with. We may not be intended to engage him, since he's not on the seize point. Maybe I'll bring Julian and have him hang around near Gharnef without being in range, and see if I can sneak in for the treasure at some point, while the rest go north. What could go wrong?

I get 16 units this fight, so for once I don't have to leave anyone from my main team behind.

The fight starts with Gharnef seeing us but scoffing at our powerlessness.

Dregs? Come on, we're a whole army, nay, a League! A League of... like 40 people at this point...

So long as he has the magic of Imhulu (the spell book he carries) none can end his life. That sounds creepy. And this is new... "With the dragon-goddess right where I want her, in the Fane of Raman, there is no way for Gotoh's Starlight to disperse the shadows that guard me." Gotoh was one of the three sages, right? Shoot it's been awhile, I don't remember which sage he was.

Ominous.

On to the fight! We start once again behind a branching river, with a single bridge leading north. The bridge is guarded by a pair of enemy mages (this looks like a mage heavy map, maybe I shouldn't have brought Roger?) but Lena has massive resistance, so they can do all of 0 damage to her, while her fire magic doubles them for 28 damage of their 20 HP. So this shouldn't be much of a barrier. Caeda takes the second mage out with ease, suffering only 5 damage in return.

Across the bridge we are on another small island surrounded by the river and what may be a lake? Possibly the oasis?

Oh shit, Gharnef is moving towards me. Maybe we should run as fast as we can the opposite direction? I didn't like the sound of "they literally can't kill me"...

Yeah, Abel goes to talk to a villager, who warns me not to rely on metal armor against Gharnef's magic (so, most of my army) and get myself a barrier staff instead.

Sounds like running away is a good strategy.

Also, don't fight Gharnef head-on. But he tells me a secret (whispering to us in case Gharnef is listening) that Gharnef never stays in Khadein for long, and that good things come to those who wait. So, run away, gotcha!

Catria and Minerva, my two flyers this battle, rush ahead of the main force as the rivers don't slow them down. Catria kills an enemy thief who was probably going for the treasure chests Gharnef just vacated and got a Recover staff from the corpse.

An enemy mage spots Abel and sends a blizzard spell against him for a whopping 13 damage, but Abel still had his Javelin equipped and murders the mage in response. Three enemy dracoknights then fly up, and throw javelins at Catria and Merric. Merric responds with a healthy dose of fire but Catria just has an Iron Lance. She dodges one javelin at least. Abel flees from the approaching Gharnef, tossing his javelin at one of the dracoknights harassing Catria, which breaks the javelin (I should have paid more attention to it's remaining durability, he's down to just swords...) and Lena runs forward to heal Abel, which levels her to 8, and gets her even more resistance (she negates the first 18 magic damage per attack now. She may be more invincible than Gharnef with his magic tome! Well, to magic, her Defense is only 5.)

Meanwhile, Gordon strolls up, lands a critical hit on the dracoknight that had gone after Merric and utterly destroys it. I leave him juuuust outside of Gharnef's threat range... so next turn you run Gordin, you run!

Cain finishes off the dracoknight that Abel attacked, taking 6 damage on the counterattack. The rest of the army moves across the first bridge, staying just barely out of Gharnef's range as well. I hope I can keep everybody safe next turn too.

Caeda attacks the second dracoknight that went after Catria, and levels up to 2! She gets Skill, Speed and Luck bonuses... but not Strength, which she desperately needs. I guess she stays in paladin for awhile longer? Honestly paladins look pretty cool anyway. Catria finishes the dracoknight off and goes up to level 6, gaining HP, Skill, Luck and Defense. That's a solid level up for a pegasus knight.

The enemy keeps closing on me. An enemy bishop shoots lightning at Catria, and several of their mages move closer. Aggressive map! The final Dracoknight runs into my forces and throws a javelin at Linde, but she steps aside and retaliates with fire. The dracoknight is not so lucky or skilled as Linde and takes it full in the face, though he's still standing afterward. Athena walks up and critical the dracoknight to death on my turn because she's awesome that way. Caeda easily kills the bishop with the lightning, and Merric kills one of the approaching mages.

Unfortunately, the stragglers of the army aren't quite fast enough to escape Gharnef, I think the desert sands on the north side of the river slow everybody down.

In case the first villager wasn't convincing enough...

So Lena bravely moves back across the bridge to block him from going after anyone more vulnerable. I figure she has the best chance of surviving with her massive resistance. Unfortunately, Gordin is also still in the vulnerable zone if Gharnef wants to go for him instead... fingers crossed!

Oof, the enemy bishop who is standing on the seize spot has a super long range spell that hits Marth pretty badly, even though we're pretty far away. Also, Gharnef of course goes for Gordin... please live Gordin!

Good luck Gordin!

Nope. Gharnef dealt Gordin 21 damage of his 28 HP (at 67% chance to hit) and Gordin did... 0 damage, because of course he can't hurt this guy at all. And then Gharnef is fast enough to get the double attack. And of course, he hits his second 67% shot as well. Sorry Gordin. Ok, let's try this again...

This time at least I know that the enemy is aggressive and will come at me even when I'm not immediately in attack range. Also, maybe I don't need all 16 people? It turned out to be a lot, so people were blocked by my forward units and I couldn't bring everyone across the bridge fast enough.

Hmm, if I recalls Barst as a Pirate, he can cross the river without the bridge, and he's still the axe-wielding force I'm used to having. Let's do that for this fight. I can make Athena a pegasus knight, and Caeda a dracoknight, so I have more fliers. There didn't seem to be any enemy archers to worry about, just the mages, and the added maneuverability will be nice. Roger stays behind, he's too slow and mages are knight-killers anyway. That adds a fair bit of maneuverability to the force... I'm reluctant to leave too many people out just because I like to level people up, but... I guess, maybe, that Abel doesn't need to come? Agh, I just can't bring myself to leave him behind! His green hair and amazing stats are too much. But I will move people around on my deployment so my slower infantry people are near the front, and the faster people are in the back at least. Also, I'm forging a special Steel Lance for Abel, the Gae Bolg (yes I play too much Final Fantasy).

Ok, let's see how this goes!

Gordin and Lena take out the first two mages no problem. Catria kills the thief and gets the recover staff again. My whole army is across the first bridge on turn two this time, which is better, but Catria is almost killed by the Dracoknights javelins when all three go after her, which is not good. She survives on 5 HP at least... Cain takes revenge on one Dracoknight, killing it outright with his Darkness sword. Lena goes up to level 8 again for healing Catria this time, and gains the same point in resistance. Abel slaughters a second Dracoknight with his newly forged Gae Bolg. Athena and Caeda tag team the third dracoknight, and all but three units are across the second bridge, so I feel like this is going better than the first time. Caeda levels up to 2, gaining Speed and Luck. Still no strength.

Well, until the fourth dracoknight hits Maria, but she survives at least. I need to be more careful with my positioning for my healers! ...And Gharnef has come at me in the North. Run people, run!

Linde runs out of Gharnef's range and kills the enemy mage that came for us. Unfortunately, I can't attack the fourth dracoknight without leaving somebody in Gharnef's range, so... let's see if I can lure him into a trap. Ah, shoot, darn sand! Abel's movement is cut just one square too short to form the last piece of the wall I'd need to make around Maria to protect her from the dracoknight. So... Abel, maybe you'll survive a run-in with Gharnef? Otherwise Maria goes down and I start over, so I may have to do this a third time tomorrow. Yeesh, Gharnef deals 23 damage to Abel, and he was already weakened from fighting before, so that's a nope.

Ok, fourth time is the charm?

Gordin and Lena kill the mages. The army begins moving across the river. I'm going to keep the flyers closer to the main group instead of rushing them ahead this time, see if that helps. Maria heals Gordin up from the mage's counterattack and levels to 7, gaining Luck. Caeda kills the thief, and goes to level 2 again, gaining Skill and Speed.

An enemy mage moves to attack Abel. But yay Abel! He dodges the blizzard spell! One dracoknight goes after Merric, and a second goes for Lena. That as a mistake, Lena gets a critical on her counterattack and wipes the second dracoknight out. Lena levels up to 8 and gains resistance. On my turn, Gordon finishes off the first dracoknight, reaching level 14 and gaining a point of defense. Two more remain, and I need to keep an eye on them since they were my downfall last time. I move the rest of the army into a defensive circle around Maria, but I can't quite block both dracoknights from getting to her. Hopefully she can survive one hit... Oh, he went after Linde instead. The other dracoknight went for Merric. Merric and Linde both dodge the dracoknights javelins, and retaliate with fire, leaving the dracoknights at about half health. Merric and Catria gang up to finish the dracoknight by them, while Linde uses Aura for the first time (it deals over twice the damage of her fire spell) to kill the other. Unfortunately, Gordin is still not fast enough to escape the incoming Gharnef. But this time, if I move Lena in the way she is the only one he can attack. Alright, I'm relying on that massive resistance this time... Yes! He can only do 3 damage to her! And he doesn't get the double attack! Lena you're my hero!

Next challenge is avoiding the seize point bishop's long range while dealing with two mages and a second bishop on the approach... the high move value of Caeda and Minerva are going to be invaluable here. Let's see if Caeda can kill the extra bishop this turn... yes she can! Minerva will position herself just out of range of the seize point bishop and go for him next turn.

Gharnef keeps following us, but he misses Lena this time. If I can leave only her in his range...

Damn, Minerva went after Seize Point guy, but missed her second hit so he survives the turn. Caeda does take out the other bishop, I'll just have to survive a hit from the long range Swarm spell this turn. Let's see if I can't take out the other mages in the area.

While all this is going on, additional enemy mages are spawning at Gharnef's start point.

Shoot, as soon as my people hit the desert sands they lose all movement, and can't escape Gharnef. I may need to actually cut all these people from the team if I lose someone again.

Catria kills an enemy healer and gets to level 6, gaining HP, speed and luck.

Interesting, the mages move on sand with no penalty, it's just everybody else... hmm.

Oh thank god! Gharnef chooses this turn to leave. I get a dialogue: "Altean Prince! I fear you are not quite imposing enough to warrant my staying here. But if it's Falchion you want, come and take it. I shall be waiting at the Temple of Thabes." And he teleports away. Well, that bodes well! I have to defeat him eventually I guess... Anyway, with him gone, lets go kill everyone and loot everything I possibly can on this map.

I send Athena to finish off Seize Point guy for the experience, but she doesn't quite level yet.

Oh, now a dracoknight is spawning at a fortress too. Well, that's not bad as long as they can't group up... or the dracoknight can go kill Merric.

I'm sorry my poor tactical sense got you killed Merric, do you have to rub it in though?

One more try, and this time I'm definitely taking fewer people. The flyers are great, the mages are decent, but I don't really need anyone else. Well, maybe Abel. I may switch Gordin out for Wolf, Wolf will be faster for the first part with his horse and will still have the bonus against fliers that Gordin has. This is just a very unforgiving map when I don't want to lose my people. Oh wait! I used a save point last time just before Gharnef left! Let's pick up from there...
Catria hits level 6 again, gaining HP, Strength, Skill and Luck. That's a better level up even.

Merric levels up to 15 after killing a long string of enemy mage reinforcements, gaining HP, Magic, Speed and Luck. Maria heals Catria after Catria takes over for Merric, and levels up to 8, gaining only a single point of luck again.

I loot the chests and end the battle finally. March walks into the fortress but finds no trace of Falchion. Well, Gharnef said it wasn't here... Marth's unhappy, he feels this whole battle was for nothing. Then a blue guy appears.

Help me Marth-iwan Kenobi

It's Gotoh. He's talking to us from Macedon via R2-D2. I mean, by Magic. Hmm, Gotoh says with Falchion and Imhulu both, Gharnef is a force even for Dolhlr to reckon with... apparently Gharnef has eyes on world conquest too. Gharnef was one of Gotoh's pupils, Miloah was the other. Gharnef stole Imhulu from Gotoh, who had been trying to keep such powerful magic away from evildoers. Apparently he wasn't very good at judging apprentices. There is only one way to defeat Imhulu, and that is Starlight, a magic that requires two orbs to cast, the Lightsphere and the Starsphere. He should have listed those the other way around to make it more obvious. Gotoh wants us to bring the two spheres to him, and he will give us Starlight in return in order to take Gharnef out.

And with that, Chapter 15 ends! Next time, Chapter 16! (I know, so predictable)