Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 16: Est

In which I meet my favorite character so far.




Chapter 18: The Sable Order

Marth moves on to Chiasmir. Chiasmir contains the Fane of Raman which should contain the Starsphere and the Lightsphere for Gotoh to make the spell that will defeat Gharnef. However, they find a cohort of Grustian knights known as the Sable Order in their way. The armies meet on a long bridge leading to the Fane.

Checking the map, we start on the North side of the bridge. The bridge is divided in two sections, the first section leads to a peninsula that has a few Grustian knights on it, as well as some shops and an Arena (I'm thinking I may work to grind a few more people to 20 so I can use these Master Seals...). The second section leads directly from the first (the peninsula is to the east of the bridge itself) to the second major landmass where the balance of the Grustian forces await. The enemy commander is Sternlin (who will drop me another Master Seal when he goes down...). I see a line of four forts on the western end of the second landmass, I bet reinforcements will spawn from there (so maybe I won't need to grind in the arena so much?). Except for a single Bishop, all the enemy units are mounted. Lots of cavaliers and horse archers, and a few paladins mixed in.

Marth is coming, obviously. He may actually hit up the arena a bit, he's lagging behind a bit at level 15. Marth is special, as he does not promote (neither do my thieves or my balisticians) but instead max out at level 30. The rest of the units cap at 20, but can then promote and level to 20 again, effectively becoming level 40. Marth compensates by having really good growth rates (as does Julian, actually, if I decide to use him for more than stealing...)

So who am I bringing? Cain and Abel feel like the backbone of my forces at this point, along with Caeda, Barst and Ogma, so they're in for sure. Merric and Linde are good as well. Gordin... I want him to be good, and he's only level 16, so I may try to get him to 20 and see if he gets some good level ups in there, but he was so fragile last map. Catria is doing pretty good, and Athena's already promoted. Should I bring a knight back in and try to get them promoted? It's either Draug or Roger. Roger's fun from his recruitment, but Draug has been with us longer. Also, Draugr has a massive 18 defense at level 11, and Roger at level 8 is only 13. Since knights are mostly roadblocks, I really want defense on them, and Roger is not likely to catch up to Draug on that front. Roger does have better strength, so he hits harder, but I mostly rely on the likes of Cain and Abel for that aspect...

Jake or Beck? Jake I leveled up to 7 last time, and he still only has 6 strength, while Beck at level 3 has 7. Their skill is the same, despite Jake having 4 levels on Beck, and Beck is only 1 point of defense behind Jake, and two points of speed behind. I'm not even sure Ballisticians can double attack with high speed, so that may not matter so much (especially if I keep the enemy away from them). It seems likely that Beck is going to be better long term, so lets switch Beck in.

I have 2 Master Seals right now, and I will get one at the end of this map. Maria's stats are lagging behind Lena, and she is level 19 now. I think I'll let Maria sit this one out so I don't waste experience and bring Lena, and then see how I feel next map. Maybe Maria also gets a promotion and I have two amazing healers, we'll see. But Cain and Abel are both level 18 now, and likely to hit 20 by the end of the map, so I think I'll give them each a Master Seal so they can promote mid-fight if I need them to.

Wolf will come along, in case I need some hard hitting archery at speed. Julian will come with the Silver Card for 50% off purchases, in case I need to do shopping, and the VIP card in case I can somehow find a hidden shop... should I look those up? Maybe I'll look those up... Ok, I missed one last chapter, but there aren't any until Chapter 21 when I can buy stat boosting items, and Chapter 23 when I can buy 3 Master Seals. I'll want to remember the one in Chapter 23 just because I like promoting people. I'm not sure I need the stat boosts... but maybe if I want to make Gordin amazing. In that case, I think I'll swap Wolf for Draug, and see how that goes.

Ok, final list:

Marth, Cain, Abel, Ogma, Barst, Caeda (paladin), Lena, Merric, Julian, Linde, Gordon, Catria, Athena, Beck, Draug.

Fight!

Malledus and Marth survey the enemy across the bridge, speculating about the Sable Order. Nyna comes out and asks who the enemy commander is. She was... concerned? That a brilliant general might be with them.

Not suspicious in the least? Seriously what's up Nyna?

Marth concludes she refers to General Camus. Apparently, Dolhr is not happy with Camus right now, because he acted outside of orders somehow, so Camus probably won't be on the field today. Nyna is... relieved? "That... that is good news." What's up with this Nyna? What are you not telling me?

Marth visits a villager, who informs me that the Fane of Raman is supposedly guarded by a fearsome guardian, but the fearsome guardian is "Nowt but a wee lass." The villager wonders why she would stay all alone in such a dreary place. Fair question, but I have more pressing concerns at the moment.

I move west across the northern landmass towards the head of the bridge. Five of the enemy cavaliers on the southern landmass start crossing the bridge towards me, looks like 3 javelins, a silver lance and a killing edge. The killing edge is the only serious threat... though I need to remember to keep Lena out of range of those javelins. I form a line just outside the lead cavalier's range and let them come to me. Let's take them on on my terms.

A sixth cavalier from the middle peninsula joins the rush, so I have six of them, coming in sort of hodgepodge...

No problem, the first wave goes down easy. Hmm, but the middle peninsula has two horse archers, two cavaliers and a paladin. And one cavalier has an armorslayer lance, which will destroy Draug if I let the enemy get a hit on him... so baiting out with Draug is out. Cain and Abel are probably my next best option. There's a spot all three of the enemies can reach, but only one could make the attack. I'll leave Abel there, and see who bites. Maybe all three will rush us, and give me the first strike opportunity on two of them next turn...

Ah, Abel defeats my best laid plans by double attacking the first cavalier, killing him, then double attacking and killing the paladin, so all three get a shot on him! Fortunately Abel dodges two of the enemy attacks and comes out with 17 HP remaining, so he wasn't in serious danger. I forgot about that possibility though. The remaining enemies go down fast to Cain, Athena and my two mages.

Oh, Est, the final Whitewings pegasus knight, spawns on the enemy turn! Let's try to get Marth to talk to her.

She has a fancy looking sword too, Mercurius.

Not a problem, Set makes a beeline for Marth and initiates dialogue on her own.

Yay Est!

Oh, she was going to join us with Palla and Catria, but she got wind that Grust had stolen one of Archanea's Three Regalia, the sword Mercurius, so she just went and got it back. (Can I have a game of Est's adventures getting back Mercurius?) She has it in her inventory I noticed.

If you could use swords I would give you Mercurius in a heartbeat, you've absolutely earned it off screen.

And at this point, enemy reinforcements spawn on those four forts I noticed, good good.

So, poor Est is level 3, but I hear she has the best growth rates of all the pegasus riders in the game (Catria and Caeda are probably tied for second, and Palla is behind them). Est is the original archetype of the late game recruit at low level with amazing growth rates, but I wasn't going to take advantage of that... until I heard her story. Now I want to use the arena on this map and get her to level 20 like yesterday, because she got one of the Regalia on her own! That is fantastic!

Meanwhile, Barst goes a round in the arena and hits level 17, gaining HP, Strength and Skill and continues to prove he is the only axe-guy I'll ever need.

And speaking of Caeda, she lures out the next Horse Archer and javelin wielding paladin. I give her a javelin so she can shoot back at the foe. She kills the horse archer handily and attains level 6, gaining HP, Strength, Skill and Defense. She then smacks the paladin around while dodging his throw, but he has more HP than she can take out in two hits, which works because I want Marth to kill this guy.

Catria has a conversation with her sister. Now I wish I had brought Palla along too... and maybe Minerva, just to see if there were more dialogue options.

Really I want a Whitewings spinoff series.

I read about this, if all three Whitewings Pegasus knights are adjacent to the same foe they get a special attack. Maybe I'll try it out, but I'd need to level Palla up so she survives long enough to do it.

Next time you sneak off to steal back national treasures, take me with you. Also Nick Cage, I hear he's good at that.

I'm an elder sibling, but this feels like a younger sibling reaction to me.

I meet the reinforcements on the second bridge with my forces that aren't going to the arena. Cain levels to 19, gaining HP, Skill and Defense. Abel also hits level 19, gaining HP, Strength, Skill, Speed and Luck in a particularly impressive level up. A second wave of enemy reinforcements spawns, and I lure the last group of 5 enemies from the original forces with Athena's placement (I didn't intend to, but I may as well kill them all now...) Marth levels up to 16, gaining Strength, Speed and Luck. I would have liked some defense or HP, but this will do. Athena becomes a level 2 swordmaster, gaining HP, Strength, Skill, Speed and Defense. Everything I could have hoped for honestly.

Beck reaches level 4, gaining HP and Speed. Not the best. I can see the utility of ballisticians in this game, but they start with really low skill and strength and they can't grind in the arena, so I probably should have been working on these guys sooner if I wanted them to be really useful... It's not that Beck doesn't cause a decent amount of damage, but his hit rate is at BEST 89%, against the lowest skilled enemy and using his highest hit rate ammunition which I cannot buy yet so when it's gone... he'll be down to a maximum of 50% hit rate. That's not amazing. What I'm saying is, I wanted him to get a Skill increase, not a speed increase.

My people leave only two cavaliers remaining of the 9 enemies who rushes us last turn. At the arena, Ogma levels up to 17, gaining HP and Strength. And then I miscalculate, don't hit B in time, and Ogma dies. In the freaking arena. I used a save point before going to the arena... but do I want to redo all of the bridge fight since then? You know what, Ogma is great, and he's super strong, but Cain and Abel are also really good. I think I'm going to live with this. I have too many characters these days that I really like. I'll just be more careful trying to get Draug leveled up...

Yay! Another wave of enemy reinforcements! I pull back out of their immediate range, I'll let them come to me and then swarm them.

In the arena, Catria reaches level 17, gaining HP, Strength and Defense. Caeda kills the paladin in the south and goes to level 7, gaining HP, Skill, Speed and Luck. Another wave of reinforcements shows up, this time including a 2nd Paladin in the fort on the middle peninsula, so I'll need to divert some people to deal with him.

Abel reaches level 20, gaining HP and Skill. Cain also reaches level 20, gaining HP, Skill, Speed, Luck and Defense, having the level up Abel had last time. Good job you two! Paladin promotions all around.

Hmm, that 2nd paladin is a problem though. I'm worried he'll kill Beck (do I care enough?) Also, I wasn't able to kill all four of the southern reinforcements and Abel is sitting on just 12 HP... if I lose Abel, I WILL reset. Let's see how this goes... I lose neither. The southern Paladin goes for Linde, fails to kill her, and the northern Paladin goes for Barst, who weathers the attack like the champion he is. This allows Beck to get the finishing blow on the northern paladin, bumping him to level 5. Beck gains HP, Skill and Speed. So that's better. Marth kills the southern paladin, attaining Level 17 and gaining HP and Luck. Not the best level ups this map, huh Marth?

Time to promote Cain and Abel! Abel gains 4 HP, 2 Strength, 1 magic, 3 skill, 1 speed, 1 defense, 6 resistance, and 1 movement upon promotion. Cain gains the exact same stats (it must be standard rather than random for the promotions). Yay! My most steadfast and longest serving soldiers get promoted.

I love the dramatic lightning, it's so over the top.

It's over nine thousand!

A paladin spawns on the northern fort again, but this time Barst and Athena are waiting for him. Draug and Beck take potshots for extra XP, but Barst gets the kill and levels to 18, gaining HP and Skill. Lena, cleaning up the mess in the south with healing staves, levels up to 9 and gains Skill, Luck and Resistance.

In the arena, Est hits level 4, gaining Skill and Speed. Julian hits level 17, gaining HP, Strength, Skill, Luck and Defense. He has really good stats for a thief, almost on par with Cain or Abel before they promoted.  Catria achieve level 18, gaining HP and luck. And again, I am a tiny bit slow hitting B, and Gordin doesn't back out in time and dies. Damn.

Sorry Gordin, I like you and you deserve better. But I guess it means I'll stop trying to level you up?

Well, I was probably going to swap the poor boy out anyway, he has been struggling recently. I promise I'm not doing this on purpose, I was trying to get Gordin higher level to see if he'd be worth keeping around, but he just couldn't quite stay on top of things.

Draug reaches level 12 and gains... HP. That could have been better.

In the south, I slowly make my way towards the boss and begin shooting him with Magic. Merric hits level 18, gaining HP, Skill and Resistance. Hmm, the boss is sitting on a throne which heals him every turn and has no ranges weapons. Let's use this to my advantage...

Alright, several hours later, and I'm done grinding.

Final Levels:
Linde: 19, gained HP +1, Magic +1, Skill +1
Julian: 19, gained Skill +2, Luck +2
Beck: Level 6, gained Luck +1
Catria: Level 19, gained Strength +1, Skill +1
Marth: Level 20, gained HP +3, Strength +1, Skill +2, Speed +2, Luck +2
Draug: Level 18, gained HP +5, Strength +1, Skill +3, Speed +3, Luck +2, Defense +2 (maxed defense at 20)
Lena: Level 14, gained Skill +3, Luck +4, Resistance +2
Est: Level 17, gained HP + 6, Strength +6, Skill +8, Speed +7, Luck +6, Defense +4
Merric: Level 19, gained Speed +1

I killed the boss in there too, when Merric got a critical hit at one point instead of the slow beat of fireballs that I let the boss heal from. I was not nice to this boss.

Malledus and Marth discuss their next stop, the Fane.

Standard fane fare.

That doesn't sound like a dragon at all!

 Nyna interjects, suggesting that if it is so dangerous maybe we shouldn't go to the fane, but Marth points out that we need the spheres to defeat Gharnef. Besides...

Good insight Marth. Have you been on the internet?

I told you it was a dragon!

So next time, in Chapter 19 Est will fight a dragon! I mean... Next time, in Chapter 19, Marth and a few choice companions will try to sneak into the fane and steal the orbs with none being the wiser! We all know how well that's going to go, right? Not a Solid Snake amongst them...