Kingofsouls

Well Pokemon Sun is a thing, so at the moment Aethers Awesome Avengers are going to take a game break and go on hitatus for the indeterminate future.

Okay, so...Halloween may have been a thing and I may have spent most of the month making costumes and well...considering my job and life in general I may have put this on the back burner. For those of you enjoying the run and were eagerly awaiting the next update, I appoligize. Hopefully I will be able to get more time into the run, but with the Holidays coming up, no promises. Now on to the run! Paralouge 6 Herbal Remedy UNITS: AETHER, KAZE (FORCED), Kagero, Saizo, Sophie, Selkie, Subaki, Kagero, Mitama, Rinkha, Setsuna , Sakura, Hisame So, fun fact story time. This Midori (blue haired cutie) is a Midori I am VERY familiar with. In my three runs of this game, I paired Kaze and Azura up together in two of them - Birthright and Conquest for those wondering. Also fun fact number 2: I didn't get a A rank with Kaze so he bit the big one and there was only one Midori (as much like the Highlander there can only be one). In any case, this is now my second (or third depending on how you count it) Azura! Midori. In any case, Midori snuck out of her Deeprealm to look for Dragon Herbs. Is it just me, or a lot of these kids just leave their deeprelams because reasons? Eh, questions for later. Thankfully, daddy Kaze swings in just in time to save Midori from nameless NPC thief, but somehow loses her Dragon Hers to Candace, who took the herbs and refuses to give them back as she claims that since the herbs where in the forest, it was okay to take them from Midori as it was not steeling. Logic. In any case, Candace on the run and we gotta get to her. Before we do that however, we promote Setuna, Mitamia, and Takumi because they are ready for MOAR POWER. For those about to kick ass, we salute you. Anywho, on to the map itself. Ladies and gentelmen I present to you the gimmick of the map.. Candace and her disposabe meatshields... ...and the LONG road ahead of us. This chapter is a chase chapter pure and simple. The chapter ends when either Cadance makes it to the end of the map, or we kill her and take the Herbs that are ours back. That being said, Candace gets a head start, and it helps her out. If we don't hurry she's going to escape, and that will make us sad. Thankfully the Dragon Vein Gimmick is to burn down parts of the forest tree walls and make it easier to close the gap and even cut off Cadance, as Candace prioritizes getting the hell out of here alive than fighting the PC units (and considering how she prioritizes living over fighting, she's pretty smart compared to the other enemies in this game). We however face another problem: Sazio, Tsubaki, Sophie, and especially Selkie are nearing level 20 and need to use this chapter to train to keep up with the other Awesome Avengers. Thankfully the trees aren't that much of a problem, so we can just...I dunno fly over them. Our first two marks are an outlaw and a Fighter. Sophie throws her Wakizashi at the fighter to soften him up. Hisame on the other-hand swoops in and chucks his Kodachi at he Outlaw, getting a hand from Sophie to clear him out. And in a shocking and unforeseen twist... Hisame levels up to 20! YAY. However, there are two Cavaliers up north, so we have Midori switch Hisame to a better weapon and then she uses her dank weapon to kill the Fighter. So Dank. Much power. (She crit for 48. OH yea! Also, I feel sorry for that Fighter. He died naked, that's pretty sad honestly) After that, we move on to situation two. Saizo flies over the trees and hits the first Knight while Subaki perfectly follows suit and lands the kill. He also gets a needless crit, but crits are awesome. Candice and her goons runs down the path, and while we can open a path now we are not. It's too risky with her meatshields. Selkie rushes in and kills the cavalier. However...there is a little problem. The Malig Knight. With Lunge. We has Hisame pick her up with Shelter to save her butt. We get everyone ready, crowding around the Dragon Vein while Saizo, in a expected and completely forseen twist... Hits level 20. WOOOOT. All according to plan. ON enemy phase, the Malig Knight goes after (surprisingly) Rinkha. For a moment I fear that Aether's 40% crit chance will trigger and kill the Knight thus denying his Xp to the units who need it. Thankfully, she does not use her Crit Cannon powers, and the M. Knight lives. For now. With Candace and her crew coming towards the bird boys, we need a plan and fast. First thing is we sick Mitama on the Malig Knight, and then sick Selkie on him for the skill. She hits 19, and that 20 is sooo close i can taste it! With no other options, we use Sakura to open the path via Dragon Vein. Aether rushes towards a lollygaggy Fighter whom Subaki finishes off . Sophie on the other hands takes out the Troubador near the other troops, and with that... Hits level 20! ...yea that one is my bad. I hit the button before i took the screen ca. Sorry Sophie. Meanwhile the enemy decides to say hi, sending troops towards us while Candace and the mages run away like cowards. As Cadence and her two magic cronies make a break for it, we pass around daddy ninja before settling on killing the Fighter with Mitama and Midori. Tsubaki then swoops in and . takes out the Outlaw . We then bunch around, trying to optimize Xp. But that's not important. THIS is the important part. And no, sadly she does not get to ride Avel. Shame really. Kind off. Sort of. Not really. On enemy phase the mages march towards us, with the Dark Mage learning the hard way why Kagero is awesome. Mitama swoops in to soften up the Sorcerer for Selkie to finish off. Sadly not enuff dakka I mean XP. And as we approach, there is a lull in the action. "Take that Father, With this I take one step closer to being more than just a younger Pickle obssessed version of you. Ha." Okay, not my best Hisame impression, but worth a shot. But lets keep this upgrade train rolling shall we? Now that Bolt Nagitina will hurt even more! Also he can use Staves now so more healing! As Cadence runs, we burn down the next set of trees, intent to cut her off before she bails. Midori snipes a Dark Mage, but takes a hard hit. Totally worth that level. Kagero takes out the other mage just to act as bait for the Fighter. A Wyvern Rider also says hello and dies horribly to Hisame. And with that, Selkie swoops in after Midori softens up the Fighter to take him out. Selkie, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. ...okay, if I can go on a tangent here. Why don't you look a gift horse in the mouth? It is a generational thing from the wild west that just persisted in the lexicon of time, or is it because horse bite, or something else? I never really got that. Anywho Sophie burns more trees down pissing off Smoky the Bear even more and we pass the turn. Cadence approaches, but there in lies the problem. A Xp Pinata called Berserker stands on a fort, but our characters are mostly content with the XP they have so far. Do we let Cadence pass, and hope that she doesn't take a pot shot at our fliers or sqishy units to get more time or kill her now and end chapter before anything terrible happens? The risk of letting her live was outweighed by killing her now before we recrete one of my failed Chapter 15 runs (that chapter can do die in a fire!). Naturally Subaki misses on a 92 percent. With his level 20 out of reach we use Setsuna to take down the Adventurer and claim victory Insert Phineas and Ferb joke here? And with that, we have all of Aether's Awesome Avengers just in time to invade Noir and kill Evil Adopted Dad! What perils will we face? What dangers will we encounter? Do they have enchiladas in Noir? I hope not, I'm a burrito kind of guy. Find out next time! Stats will be posted tomorrow!

OGJKL;RAJBOI;FDJHGIO;RDHJGIOERQJGOI;HDRFAOIVGHDRFGHIORHGIO;REHGIOPFRDHVOI;DFBNIUDERHGIRQHPQERGY[9QEHBG9IP;REQYG[9EQRBVI;REQHVP[i9ERQHG0'QEGFP8QERVUEQRGUYOAERG ….oky okay, i’m calm. I’m calm. So, let me just get my soapbox here and...there we go. Okay… She this? This is a wolf critting Sophie. ON 2%. And this is the second time this exact same wolf got a crit on Sophie on 2%. THE. EXACT. SAME. WOLF. GIVE. OR. TAKE. REALLY GAME. REALLY. MUST YOU TORMENT ME SO? The first time sucked. The second time was humiliatingly EVIL. ANd this wasn’t the worst way to fail. Can you say “Horse riding Hisame gets eaten alive by Keaton the Beast-Killer”? Because that happened because I didn't pay attention. He was the last enemy to so that was a kick to the shin. Obviously someone up there wants me to hate life. Because of this one chapter. I am not going to lie, I hate this chapter. I want it to die in not only one fire, but ALL OF THEM. I don’t care that it’s not actually possible, because I think this is the part where the developers were like “oh, hey lets make the game hard now.” And considering how fragile a majority of the Hoshido units are, and considering how powerful Wolfkin are...we needed a lot of patching up. Sigh. You didn't come to hear my rant. You came to hear my tales of wolf slaughtering. So, here we go. Chapter 15 Wolfskin Peak A.A.A: Everyone but Ryoma The gimmick of this chapter is the unit type. Every enemy in this map are either Wolfskin or Wolfsengers (promoted Wolfskin). Due to being beast types, the Beast Killer we got last chapter is going to be well used. In addition, they are also weak to magic due to a naturally low Resistance Shame we don't actually use magic as our only magic user is Azura, and the only magic weapon we have is the Bolt Nagitana, which Saizo has. Oh well, better make due with what we got than complain. In addition, every Wolfsenger has a skill, and some carry Beastrunes, making them tougher to kill. We sic our troops on the first four wolves, giving Hisame the Wolfsenger kill getting him up to level 19. Selkie then takes the one directly behind that guy and takes down a wolf, but is grievously wounded in the process, but on the bright side she hits level 16. Setsuna follows suit and strikes a wolf, killing him, but she unfortunately doesn't get that much xp when compared to Selkie. Finally, Sophie rushes in and takes out the last Wolf with some help from Selkie. We also get Takumi into position to lure a nearby Wolfsenger (who has Strong Riposte) and give him some Xp. We send Sazio near the mountains and hope for the best. The best is Takumi getting hit and losing about half his HP. Thankfully with help from Saizo's Beast Killer the Wolfsenger gets Takumi’d and Takumi hits level 19. Praise Takumi. After all that, We get into position, and hope for the best. Thankfully RInkah a has pretty good defense sitting around 20, and holds the line in the valley. Meanwhile Aether lures a wolf from the other side of the pass. She doesn't connect, but that's okay. With enemies all round, we decide to pop the dragon vein, hitting all foes with stat debuffs. After that, we pair Sophie up with Hisame, and have her walk into the mountains to cut off the wolves who come that way. Mitama also tags along, capable of surviving the wolf who will most likely go after her. Meanwhile back at the valley, Setsuna clears a paths for SAIZO to KO the Pass Wolfsenger, and with Rinkha's aid he's taken down. Takuimi and Rinkha finish off the last two while Aether uses her Crit Cannon powers and overkills her mark. Praise Takumi. As expected during enemy phase the Poison Wolf (yea, a trend here is that I’m just caling the Wolfsengers by their skill they have. That is their name) goes after Mitama. Selkie then rushes in for the kill, getting that XP she needs as she is the lowest level member of the AAA. Thanks to that move, Mitama has a clear shot at the Life and Death Wolfsenger. Mitama however misses on her second attack (with an eighty!) and Selkies not much help either, so we give the kill to Sophie. Alas poor Wolf Yuric, I knew him well. In any case, we get close to the second set of forts. We use Rinkah/Kagero as bait to lure the enemy. The big bad wolf of that group has Aegis and is smart enough not to take the bait. Plan B time. Reinforcements arrive at the first set of forts, and with Sophie able to hold the mountain line we can take on the newcomers with much fear. We take them out without no problem, and Mitama and Sophie continue their march up the mountain. Meanwhile, back at fort set 2, we send Rinkah closer to the Passive Wolf. With support from Kagero, she is sure to live. However, during enemy phase, our march up the mountain has alerted the dreaded Passive Wolf of our prescience, which may be a problem for our melee units... ...and this sudden wave of a TON of reinforcements is a bigger one. Thinking fast, we use the second dragon vein and take out the Wolfsenger with Setsuna, Aegis be damned. We take it's Beastone, and send it to the convoy for ease of giving to Selkie. Back at fort 1, we take out the reinforcements easy, and Selkie hits Stone Rank C, letting her actually use the Beastrune we got when we get around to giving it to her. Mitama and Sophie continue the mountain march, getting ready to intercept the Passive Wolfsenger. Fearing for the worst, we send Azura closer to our Takumi team, and give Kagero to Setsuna, hoping the extra two defense will help. No damage, but he had a killer uppercut. After all is said and done, we find more reinforcements come from the west side. Finding retreat to be a better alternative to dying, we try to un. Setsuna takes a pot shot at the wolf that attacker, only missing one attack and thus not killing him forcing Rinkha to swoop in with her killer abs of rock hard defense. Saizo pairs up with Takumi and they take on the wolf horde in the lower west, building up dual guard. By this time Sophie leaves the mountain, and switches to Hisame to speed into the fry and flank them from behind. Hopefully. The wolves gain up on Takumi, who stands his ground, using Dual Guard to survive the fight. Thanks to the speed boost from Saizo, he builds it fast and lives! Thankfully no wolves spawn this turn. It’s still not good for us though. We fall back , setting up a meat wall as Hisame closes in with Mitama trying to catch up. More reinforcements arrive, thankfully very far away, and we start our counterattack. Selkie takes out a Wolfsenger (but it sure did hurt her!) And Takumi finally gets to Rank D. We slowly strike back, and clear out the wolf wall. At the best part? Yes. Yes you are Takumi. Praise Takumi After weathering the storm, Mitama and Hisame take out the closest enemies while more prepare to pounce. Selkie is still hungry for XP, so we have priorities to juggle. However, we math wrong and the closest Wolfsenger goes after Hisame. Thankfully his Dual Guard was up so he lived through a potentially deadly encounter. We give Selkie to Takumi who uses the passive effect of the Fujin Yumi to run over the mountain with no movement penalty and kill the Wolfsenger. This gives Rinkah a chance to run in and draw fire. In the meantime, Hisame rushes toward the end of the valley to draw fire there. Hisame holds the line, thankfully, while Rinkah holds hers as well. Selkie then gets another Wolfsenger kill, and with a Dual Guard ready Sazio uses the beast Killer on another, protected from a nasty hit. However, we play it safe with Hisame, who falls back and heals up with a Vulnerary. The wolves rush him, but with a DG reddy, damage is mitigated. Thankfully Hisame was able to wound the Wolfsenger assaulting him, so he switches to Sophie who gets the kill. Mitama thens gets Rinkah as a partner from good ol Saizo and kills a wolf to, acting as bait to lure in the other two. And strangely... ...hits level 20. What a strange and unusual coincidence. With the last two wolves left - one minion and Keaton - we have Rinkha get closer to bait in Keaton. He takes the bait, and on our turn we zap him with Saizo’s Boltstick to get in some damage. The real thought choice is who gets to rush in and get the bosskill for all that delicious nutritious XP. And Setsuna gets it kill! And the level 20 from another guy! WOOT WOOT! We finish off the last wolf, and finally finally manage to beat this god forsaken exercise in pain and suffe… REALLY GAME!? REALLY!?!?!?!?!?. At least this time I know that Kaze can live past this chapter, and with that A rank support he lives to see his daughter. And with that, we see the sunrise and get ready to continue our march. AETHERS AWESOME AVENGERS Alright, so about the delay... I'm not going to lie: This chapter was a major fun killer for me. It was not fun, and writting was while not equally unfun wasn't a pleasuere either. BUT THANKFULLY we managed to get over this hump. In addition, with a new job eating away at free time, a Halloween costume being made, and Nindies wanting attention (love Severed and Axiom Verge btw, go play em if you haven't) it's been a little bit of a challenge going back to this game. But I'm not going to abandon this run. I said we are going to see the end, and see it we shall. And I hope to see you there with me. Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Good news everyone! I beat chapter 15! Report soon to follow!

Too many wolves not enough veins. And my latest death was hanging Takumi a Beast Killer. He was ganked by like six of them! And now I kind of wanna draw that.

Mini update time. I hate Chapter 15. I hate it, i hate it, i hate it, I HATE IT. kay, okay, sorry. Had a miror melt down. But I have a good point here. The chapter is...brutal. It is kicking my ass, and honestly I am taking my time because this chapter is so unfun i just don't want to continue because it's unfun. I mean, you're fighting an army of wolves, it should be great, right? But on Lunatic it's just...so cruel because you really need o be careful, and I am using this as a training chapter to get everyone promoted so that adds a little bit more challenge, and well everythign just adds up. I. Hate It. Sigh....okay so question time guys: Least favorite chapter in Birthright, what kind of run was it (casual, iron man, PMU, blind, etc) and why do you want it to die in a fire?

So, before we crush our enemies, drive them before us, and laminate their women1, we upgrade our Rod Shop to level 2. Guess what that means? Time to pass out the Second and Heart Seals! With only so many to give out until the next upgrade, we have to make them count. And make them count we go. We give them to Azura, Sophie, Mitama, Rinkah, and Takumi, promoting them to Onmiji, Mercenary, Ninja, and Spear Fighter respectively. Don't they look great! Chapter 14 Border Crossing A.A.A: Aether, Ryoma, Sophie, Mitama, Kagero, Subaki, Rinkah, Setsuna, Azura, Selkie, Takumi, Saizo, Selkie. So...I am not going to mince words...I am underprepared for this. I lost my notes for this chapter, since it really has been a while, but I remember the basics. The plot as of now is that now that we have Ryoma, master of the OP Katana, we head to the Nohrina Border, ready to kick some Nohrian ass and take their names! ...that is a lot of names to take. Thankfully we're the good guys, so this is going to be a walk in the park. We move on to set up our formation, and get ready to invade and complete the map goal of killing the boss. Yea...wheres that Ackbar gif when you need it? The big hurdle is twofold: On each side of us are three groups of three Cavaliers and a Paladin. The Paladins are XP pinatas, and we need to level up our troops. So the challenge is to kill the weak units, weaken the big one, and then have the person we want to level kill the Paladin without anyone dying. It's a bit tricky as we also have a wave of Knights closing in on us. Thankfully Aether's Hammer (time) and the Armorslayer make short work of them so we focus on the horsies. It takes a little bit to get through them all, but we do. After we make our advance towards the gate, we Rinkah and Saura to hit that magic number 20, and since we just so happen to have Master Seals.. ...why not do it now? So, anyone remember the boss rooms? Not so empty now. After taking out the horse waves, and getting a Beast Slayer while we are at it, we make it to the entrance, guarded by Benny and Charolette and two Knights. Hammer time and Armorslayers say hello, and we start to lure in the reinforcements after that. Once we are able to breach the enterance, we crack the Dragon Veins inside and make rocks fall, making our job of cleaning up easier. We send the units who need XP like wizards need food (the answer is badly btw) after the Generals, and by doing so, Aether hits level 20 and promotes to Beserker. Beware all of doubt the power of my Crit Cannon! Beware her and her Great Club of Many Deathbringings! After that, we clean up, giving Kagero the kill and get her up to level 20 and with that another chapter is clear. Mechanists are OP, ban all Mechanists All in all, I was a little underwhelmed by Selkie and Takumi, but Takumi as the excuse of being stuck with E-rank lances. Selkie? Not so much. Hopefully she can take on the more psychically powerful Wolfskin next chapter, as she's more of a magic tank. No stat pics right now, but I will get them up for next update. -- So, if I can be frank, I really want to hear from you guy. I'm sure you all are enjoying the run as much as I am, but unless you speak up, I can only assume. I want to hear your thoughts, hear your opinion. Give suggestions for tactics, make crazy fan theories, praise Takumi, anything goes here. We cool like that You guys helped make this run what it is, and with all the silence I'm not sure what to think.

Even better this particular escape map does something no other map in FE does, but I'll keep that a secret for now

She's better in the second. In the first she can destroy armies on her own. In the sequel she can destroy countries. That's how I describe her.

I haven't' payed Path in a while. Maybe I'll pick it up soon. In any case, when you get to her, do everything you can to recruit Nephenee. How good is she? She can destroy armies by pretty much herself. As for the Rhys/Mist argument, Mist promotes into a Sword/Staff user, which at this point in the series is considered extremely unusual. Makes her a very good mage killer and is probably why she's got the edge over Rhys.

So, I'm sorry about the delay in posts, my schedule got shifted due to new employment and life in general. Expect the next update in two or three days. In teh meantime, how is everyone enjoying Aether and her Awesome Avengers? Favorite moment? Least favorite? Random thing you want to blame/praise Takumi for that happened during the run? I want to hear your thoughts as without you this run would not have been a thing.

Chapter 11 To The Sea A.A.A: Aether, Saizo, Kagero, Sophie, Hisame, Azura, Mitama, Azama, Rinkah, Setsuna, Subaki, Takumi Free Unit: Reina Hey look, we don't need any pair up bots this time around! Anywho, apparently the fastest way to get to Nohr is by boat (don’t even think abut it), so we hitch a ride on one. However, we are assaulted by invisible soldiers and must kill them to not die. The gimmick of the map is that we are on a boat. While boat levels are not anything new for fire Emblem, usually boat levels involve three boats, not one as big as this one. That is why a ton of the enemies are flying units. First thing we do is fall back and crowd around the gazebo directly north of us. Takumi leads the charge north, ready to shoot down the fliers that way. After that, guess who shows up? Reina, this map’s free unit, who gets closer to us for ease of recruitment... ...and damn is she bloodthirsty. Remember everyone, Hoshido is the peaceful good guy country! After recruiting, we send her back down to handle the air force there while Sophie pops the first Dragon Veins, creating a windstorm that slows down flying units, just as insurance. Takumi also triggers the one in the middle, so we have that side of the map taken care off. However, in our haste to use our flying archer, we almost send her to her death, avoiding a kill shot by the luck of the dice. We have Reina retreat, and we gird our loins and wait out the attack, luring the fliers towards our tanky units. With Kagero taking care of the south, and Rinkah and Setsuna using Attack Stance to cover the north (and Reina’s spear), we are able to get things under control. By turn 7, we decide to move the group westward, and west we go. We decide to split into two groups. The North team of Rinkah, Setsuna, Hisame, Sophie, Reina, Azura, and Asama while South Team is Aether, Kagero, Takumi, Saizo, Subaki, and Mitama. We however make a tiny error. We send Saizo and Subaki off the boat to handle the growing swarm of Wyverns, which wounds our boys. We fall back, putting them back on the boat and wait for them to come to us as usual. This is the wiser idea, and we come out smelling like roses. North team has an easier time doing the same thing, so not much there. Now here is what I don't get. The two wounded Wyvern Riders are wounded, and are crowding around Falcon Knight, who can heal them. But she doesn't. And I know one of those Riders was wounded by Reina way back near turn 2. IN any case, we crowd as lose as we can without getting attacked and use Sophie to pop the last dragon vein. Anyway, we finally get the Falcon Knight and it's fellows to come closer to us, but that is a huge flock to handle. We let Setsuna kill the Falcon, and go to town, clearing out the enemy. The Boss and his troupe also decide to move the north team into the tempest for protection. Just when things couldn't better better, a Malig Knight (with a Snake Spirit as loot) swings by on the south, and he has Mjölnir as well, which is bad. We retreat up from the south. Meanwhile the boss crew dances around the tempest, so we dance too The boss gets closer and we send in Aether with Ryoma's club. She gets a crit and takes him down hard! Chapter 12 Dark Reunion A.A.A: Aether, Azura, Saizo, Subaki, Kagero, Hisame, Sophie, Mitama, Setsuna, Takumi, Rinkah Free Unit: Kaden We finally make it to shore, and the kingdom of Crysenkia, our local stand in for Venice. Honestly I love the level design of this map. The boats and the water make the fight interesting and visually pleasing at the same time. It’s also got a bit of the great escape for good measure. Anywho, we meat up with the Free Unit of the Map Kaden, who is a kitsune who loves to pay back his favors. We help him out by taking the place of this singer who never ever shows up again, and having Azura sing in her stead. Also King Garon is there, so this is a perfect chance to ambush him. We have Zola (yes, we still have him) use that illusion magic of his to disguise Azura, so Garon and the Nohrians would not be able to identify her as Azura. Naturally she sings the one song that will definitely identify her as Azura. Yea, I know it has magic powers Azura, but really, would it hurt to sing something else once in a while? Doesn't matter anyway, as Garon knew our plan all along thanks to Zola being a lying traitor, and gets what he deserves. Shame. No really, it’s a shame. I think Zola liked being with us. A little kindness goes along way. In any case, we gotta get out of here. The goal of the map is to get Aether to the red square on the stage and escape, which somehow lets everyone else escape as well. Not questioning it. The catch is that the walkways are very narrow, and aren’t really connected to where we start, so we have two options. Option 1 is to rush to the Dragon Vein (which has a chest containing a Dracoshield nearby so naturally we gotta get that too) to freeze the water, which will let Aether walk over it to safety, or Option 2, which is to have Aether hitch a ride on a flying unit and just…fly there. Our plan is to do a little of both. As soon as we can he have Hisame and Sophie pair up, and Hisame slams his Armorslayer into the closest Knight, to which Kagero follows up and kills the Archer he left behind. We also send Saizo and Subaki over the water to the east and harass the enemies on the isolated platforms and take them out, as we want the path to be clear when we make our great escape. However, things make a turn for the worse when Xander arrives. And boy is he still pissed about Aether jumping ship and joining up with Hoshido. This is where the real race begins, as Xander belongs to the sacred order of Overpowered Brothers, and thus we will pretty much lose any confrontation against him at this time. And with that high movement of his, we have to hustle to the chest. Getting there...not so easy. With all the archers harassing Hisame and the various other threats, we are slowed down considerably on our way to the chest, and our fly boys also have a bit to trouble. As we approach the chest, we kill a Knight with Kagero's Sting Shuriken and Hisame kills the Outlaw he left behind like on turn 1. We also send some units close to the chest to get a Great Knight, thankfully an armored unit for us to armorslay, to come closer with some Cavalier buddies. Hisame then takes out a Knight close tot he chest, and with a dance he switches to Sophie, gives her the Armorslayer, and then kills the Great Knight. At this time, we have taken care of the enemies on the isolated platforms with Saizo and Subaki. Saizo flies to the chest and snags the Dracoshield, while Subaki floats to the back of our advance and gets a heal form an overworked Mitama. However...I fear we may have dawdled, as Xander is pretty much right on top of us, eager to show us just how powerful Siegfried is. Thankfully he’s not in range of us just yet, which was why we we able to even get the shield in the first place, so Aether hitches a ride with her hubby and gets out of there. Kagero hitches a ride with Subaki and joins them, as the stage is soon visited by a Great Knight As the fliers fly, we decide to fall back, trying to get everyone out of the way of an angry Xander. To my surprise, this plan actually works. Once we hit the stage, we take out the Great Knight, and next turn we are able to get Aether to the exit, but not before taking down one more enemy or two down in the south. Mission complete! Let me tell you, I wasn't sure if we were able to complete the mission without popping the dragon vein, which in hindsight would have made it easier for Xander to chase us, so restricting his movement was probably for the best. But thankfully we were able to without any casualties. That, and only bringing one healer (Mitama) was a bit of an…error. In any case, we are able to escape the wrath of Xander, and continue our way to Cheve, where hopefully Ryoma awaits us. Paralouge 10 Hunter and Prey A.A.A: Aether, Saizo, Azura, Kagero, Sophie, Hisame, Mitama, Rinkah, Setsuna, Subaki, Takumi, Azama Required Units: Kaden But before we head to Cheve, we first have Kaden and Oboro fall in love, and bring forth Selkie tot eh world! And then Selkie leaves her deeprealm because she has an attention span shorter than a five year old child’s, and runs into kitsune hunters, who want her fur because its apparently valuable. Thankfully we make it just in time, and in my opinion, we have one of the funniest parts int eh game: Where Kaden runs into a hunter, and he describes Selkie to him, and the hunter replies with a casual “eh, more or less” like he’s talking to a old friend. Ah, humor. In any case, we get ready to rescue Selkie Our first turn is simple. We rush the closest enemy with Sophie and Hisame, and then rush the Diviner and Archer. At this point, we split into two teams: North team featuring Hisame, Sophie, Sakura, Saizo, and Subaki, and South Team featuring everyone else. We carefully set up South Team to lure the approaching fighters, arches, diviner, and Dark Mage, and prepare ourselves. What we aren’t prepared for is Selkie going to the left rather the right, killing one in a large group of immovable archers by...playing with him. Quick change in plans. We have Kaden hitch a ride with Subaki and fly over the mountains to her, and talk to her Sure….playing. That is exactly what we are doing. In any case once Selkie becomes blue, we sic her on more Archers as the horde down south approaches South Team. They have it mostly under control, and make heads roll as they advance to the east. North team has an easier time of it. Even thought the horses are slowed down by the forests, with their Kodachis Hisame and Sophie are able to come out smelling like roses, and have it under control. They continue their march upwards. As they move up, we have the last of the enemies down south and have South Team move up, abusing the Fujin Yumi’s secondary effect of ignoring the movement penalties of terrain to haste Aether up north. Neither unit are really needed. We just move up slowly and carefully as we make it to the boss. At what point is poaching both fair and square? Saizo takes him out easy, and gets much needed XP. And with that, we have the next member of the Triple A recruited! Aether’s Awesome Avengers

If it was me, I would go with +Def/-Str and have Kana be a dragon tank since her personal heals her 15% of her HP every turn if equipped with a dragonstone. Maybe a -Strength mod and Shrine Maiden talent? That way Kana can snag Renewal and get 30% more HP.

Chapter 10: Ninja Village A.A.A: Aether, Sophie, Hisame, Saizo, Azura, Azama, Sakura, Rinkah, Setsuna, Subaki, Takumi (new Recruit) Pair-Up Bots: Kaze, Jakob I was unprepared for the darkness that was known as the ninja forest. Forgive me, my friends. Forgive me. After recruiting Hisame and going off to a single map to grind for XP, and MyCastles to grind support so he could marry Sophie, we leave Izumo and pass though Mokushu ton our quest to find out what exactly happened to our overpowered brothers. Along the way, Zola gets dumped on us because Nohr, and then ninjas happen. Lots and lots of ninjas. This chapter was not easy, let me tell you. Our first turn involves us having Sophie and Hisame throw Kodachis at the nearest ninja. Which are swords. Yea, that kinda threw me for a loop when I did my first run of Birthright, but hey, I'll take it. Anywho, the ninja bites it, and we have a tougher spot to get out off. Immediately to our right are two ninjas, a Spear Fighter/Archer, and a diviner. Only the Diviner and Archer can move. We have Aether throw a club and have Rinkah finish the ninja off. Everyone else gets closer while I have Azura get into position for next turn, and Saizo in a specific spot on the next. The enemy takes their turn. A small group of enemies directly south of us come by to harass us, the Diviner among them hitting Aether hard, as does the Diviner closest to Rinkah. Ninjas also start to move in from the east. It's not gonna be easy. At the start of our next turn, guess who shows up? Praise Takuuuuuooooooooooh my. He's red. That's a bad. And apparently he watched the Kill Your Family Show that Marik Ishtar likes so much. In any case, Azura sings him a song of birthrights and love, and he snaps out of it easy, netting us our next member of the Triple A. There's just one minor hitch: I misplaced my characters. I was aiming for Azura to land directly to the right of Takumi so she could recruit then hitch a ride with the waiting Saizo. I placed Saizo where Azura needed to be. A quick pair up with Takumi who then passed her on to Saizo was an easy fix. Meanwhile, back where the action is, Setsuna, Sophie, and Hisame clear up the southern enemies while the rest of the team clears out the small mob of enemies there. It's a bit tricky, but we somehow manage to kill the remaining stationary ninja and the diviner and create a blockade with Rinkah, preventing an approaching archer from taking us out. After killing the Spear Fighter and Archer team, we hope that Rinkah is sturdy. You see, the little bottleneck she's guarding becomes visited by ninjas and a diviner as well as the archer. Thankfully, she is able to survive every attack, but very wounded. Maybe it was because the enemies also wanted a piece of Aether who was directly behind her. I forget . At this point I wasn't taking notes anymore due to latent frustration of repeated death. As we march to the right, We split the party to take out stragglers to the north, and send in Rinkah to bait out two ninjas and a diviner in the thickest parts of the woods by killing another diviner. With constant healing she's able to survive. As we enter the thickest part of the forest, getting closer and closer to Kotaro (the boss) with every turn, it's now turn 7 and reinforcements start to arrive. After the chaos in the forest is quelled, we use Hisame/Sophie as bait to lure Spear Fighters and Ninjas that lie near the entrance to the intended entrance to Kotaro. They...don't all choose him as the target, but the enemy is closer to us and noone died, so we happy. In the mean time, waves of diviners and archers come turn after turn, and we send Aether/Saizo (who was going to snag the chest behind Kotaro before that little surprise) and Rinkah to stop this threat. In the meantime, we have Hisame, Setsuna, Subaki and Takumi handle the last couple of enemies guarding the intended path to Kotaro. By turn 11ish, all the reinforcements are dead, so begin to get ready for the final approach towards Kotaro. First, we send Saizo/Aether towards the chest, as Saizo was a ninja to start with and thus can actually open chests in levels without keys or enemy Outlaws. ...I may be a little bitter over having to pass up the Chapter 7 Seraph Robe, which would really come in handy for either Aether or Rinkah. Don't quote me on that though. Anywho, Subaki ferries Setsuna and goes along with so Setsuna could kill Kotaro's Shrine Maiden. After we get the chest (a Rescue Staff, which I have a feeling will come in handy come a certain Opera stage), we are ready to take down Kotaro, who has impressive stats for a level 2 Master Ninja, but oddly has no abilities. Odd. He makes for that with a Dual Shuriken, which not only reverses the Weapon Triangle, but doubles the effects of the triangle. So what Kotaro has is a shuriken that beats axes and bows, but loses to swords and magic instead of the actual match up. If only we had a Samurai! In any case, we ignore our sarcasm for a moment and send in Saizo to have a little...chat with Kotaro. There's some...bad blood between the two. Saizo leaves the daiymo at 1 HP, so Hisame swoops in and gets the kill for a much needed level up. With the chapter completed, we go into the Ninja Cave (Conquest chapter 17 btw for those who have yet to embrace the madness! Prepare yourselves!), and within the cave we find our next member of the Triple A: Kagero, who was captured while on her way to give messages to people. Praise Takumi. Thankfully, Kagero has good news for us. She knows where Ryoma is headed: Cheve, which is on the outskirts of Nohr. The fastest way for us to get there is by boat, so we head off to a port to hitch a ride to the home of our enemy. During the time of writing this, I just noticed that I had a Partner Seal in my inventory the whole time, and could have used it on Hisame. Well...better late than never. After we upgrade Hisame, we snag a ton of tonics and feed them to our best units to survive the horrors of a child recruitment chapter. True it ruins our bank account, but we should be good. Paralouge 12: Sweet Dreams A.A.A: Aether, Azama, Saizo, Kagero, Sophie, Hisame, Azura, Sakura, Rinkah, Setsuna, Subaki, Takumi, Mitama (new Recruit). Pair Up Bots: Kaze, Silas Our next mission takes us to Mitama's Deeprealm, currently under attack of invisible soldiers who are obviously aligned to Nohr, with the many Ninjas that they are deploying. Yes...because Fantasy Europe uses Japanese foot soldiers... In any case, Mitama is sleeping blissfully, but if we don't get to her before the bad guys do (and by bad guys I mean only the Outlaws) then we will have a dead Mitama, and that is no good. The gimmick of this map is twofold. The first is that there are rivers that flood the map (HA! Puns), restricting the movement of anyone without wings. The second are a series of Fighters - with both an Iron Axe and a Hand Axe - that stand guard on several bridges that connect the mainland areas together. I affectionately call these Fighters who cannot move the Gatekeepers. In any case, we pair up Silas with Takumi and send Takumi to the east side of the map to harass a Gatekeeper, and also to lure the two archers on that side towards us. We also send Saizo that way just in case, though the archers mean he has to be careful. In the main area where the army starts, we kill a gatekeeper with Kagero, and after that we have Aether use the first Dragon Vein to freeze the southwestern rivers, allowing us to just walk around Gatekeepers and more easily sneak past their lines and wreck their back row. Such as giving Kagero a dance to rush towards a Dark Mage and kill her, then letting Sophie take down a Gatekeeper. Finally Hisame rides on his shiny new horse and takes down an Oni Savage. Not bad for a first turn. Turn 2 isn't so smooth. Sophie (being a royal) uses another Vein to freeze the rest of the west rivers. Using these to get close, Aether swings at a Gatekeeper and misses using the Ryoma's Club, so we had to give Hisame the Gatekeeper kill. In the meantime Kagero kills a lone Diviner while Rinkah tags along with Setsuna, giving the archer some defense when she kills a Dark Mage on the west side. Takumi on the other hand dances around, getting close to Gatekeepers and archers, At this point in time, Outlaws start appearing. Their sole purpose is to race us to Mitama's House, and if they get there first...well lets just say we won't like it. We speed things up. As of now we are getting close to the house, and we face the mightiest gate. The Great Gatekeepers as I call them are a Fighter using a Silver Axe and a Tomahawk with support from a Silver Bow wielding Archer. These guys are not going to be easy. To complicate matter is the presence of a Paladin, who will most certainly make things horrible for us. We decide to make it easier to lure the Paladin. With another Dragon Vein used, the rivers are frozen in a way that will let the Paladin come to us without us going through the Great Gatekeepers first. We place Subaki in a way to lure a Diviner towards us while Aether lures the Paladin towards her. Thankfully they don't try any Pair Up shenanigans and each enemy takes the receptive bait. Hisame wounds the Paladin with Subaki getting the kill shot, and the first of the Outlaws dies to Setsuna's yumi. Meanwhile on the west side with Takumi, Kagero takes a shot at an Oni Savage on the other side of an unfrozen river. She...misses one of her strikes, which makes things a little tricky. We send Takumi closer to a Gatekeeper, healing with an Vulnerably, getting ready to kill things on the next Enemy Phase. Things go swimmingly save for one thing: Kagero misses again Blame Takumi. Also Kagero is now Setsuna this map. As the northern enemies start their approach, including the other map's Paladin, we get ready to gird our loins and prepare to them by taking down the Great Gate. We send in Aether to attack the Archer, and hope for a crit using her Iron Axe instead of Ryoma's Club, mostly to make sure we actually hit. She doesn't get any crits, so we go with plan B: We chuck Hisame's Kodachi at him for the kill, followed by Sophie throwing hers at the Fighter. Subaki then swoops in for the kill. Things go from bad to worse as the second Paladin slides right next to the boss of the level: A heavily armed General. We send in Sophie and Hisame, who spam Kodachis at the Paladin, taking him down easy. The next problem to solve is the General. Thankfully we have a problem. With the east side pretty calm due to Kagero, Takumi, and Saizo having everything under control, we send Kagero, armed with a Sting Shuriken (A throwable Armorslayer) to take him down with no problem. And she didn't pull a Setsuna either! Praise Takumi. With the house’s immediate area now secure more or less, we send Azama (pairing him up with Kaze just in case) to say high to Mitama. ...honestly, when I played this map the first time in my first play through of the game, this supplied me a little. Characters usually immediately are recruited as soon as you chat with them, so having to talk multiple times was a little bit of a monkey wrench the first time around. In any case, the enemies try to kill us, Sophie getting really roughed up but thankfully she, Hisame, and Kagero are able to kill the Diviner and Archer that threaten her. Not much happens as we get ready to clean up and take the rest of the enemies down, as we are pretty much at the end. We have Azama try and wake up Mitama again... ...and one more time for good measure… ...apparently ignorance is bliss. Welcome aboard Mitama! The rest of the map goes easy as we chase down the rest of the enemies, and we can chalk up another win for Aether's Awesome Avengers! Aether's Awesome Avengers

Lets go with Swordmaster Odin!