Screenshot LunaticScreamer plays FE7 Chaos Mode

[KnightofLeonster]

Ah okay, thanks for the help! This'll hopefully make the game less of a ragefest.

[LunaticScreamer]

Alrighty, here comes today's update, one so big that I have to split it into three parts. Let's begin, shall we?

[spoiler=Ch20 Part 1: Legault of Legends I]

Something awful eh? I wonder what that would entail.

Probably something with Ephidel ninja warping in and abducting Ninian I would reckon.

Jaffar giving more christmas time presents to everyone, whether he or she wants them or not.

Time for chapter 20, probably the toughest chapter so far without question. If you wanted to wall up at the start, then it isn't so bad, but there's lots of extra bonuses that basically require me to bum rush to the throne room so I can ensure I'll be able to scoop up everything.

For stealables, this Nomad has an Earth Seal.

Cavalier with Speedwings.

Talisman on this Mage.

Finally, a Goddess Icon on this Luna spamming Heretic. Considering what's in the throne room, this guy will be a massive pain in the ass because you'll have to clear out the throne room a good deal before you can get Canas up here to steal the item.

What's worse, there this potential nightmare waiting just to the above Heretic's southeast. A character that gets berserked is not going to be fun, especially when you'll be hard pressed for time as is.

Anyways, time to get started. I need an excuse to get Canas to lv20 so Lucius weakens a far away Archer.

Then, after Dart nukes a Knight, Canas moves forward as far as he can go, then ends the Archer's life, hitting lv20 with a solid level.

Going to need Sain up the middle to deal with an incoming reinforcement in a couple turns so Eliwood uses the Door Key I gave him to open up this door.

Serra uses her Steel Sword and gets a crit against a Longbow Archer in the center. He drops a Restore staff which will come in very handy when the team crosses the Berserk user's path.

Sain has enough charges left on his Luna tome that he can nuke the Mage nearest to Canas and still have two uses left for his very important task in a couple turns. Getting a good level out of the deal helps too.

Everyone moves forward and Lyn gets the first instance of cheating death this map. She does pick up a level from her experience though.

Lovely, a Physic jerk is around...and no, it's not the Sage in the throne room. Luckily though, the Physic jerk chose to heal this nameless Knight and not Cameron.

Speaking of Cameron, he's reasonably powerful with a good reserve of hp, but because of his idiot helper, he was not healed to full so he's kinda screwed. He is sporting a new weapon though, the Poison Lance. Pretty funny description, but yeah...it is very accurate, simple as that.

I do need a path cleared out for Canas and I don't want to screw around with that plan so I send my tactical nuke forward to crit kill Cameron. Not that the crit was needed to ensure the plan going off smoothly, but I appreciate the extra use of the Steel Lance saved because of it. He drops some Elixirs too which is nice.

Canas moves all the forward to a forest tile, then uses an Earth Seal to promote. Some very nice stat boosts from his promotion I must say.

One thing to note here...Assassins are still able to steal, meaning this promotion just gives Canas a way to contribute significantly to a battle (Lethality!).

Lyn moved forward and took the Elixirs on Wil to heal herself while Serra attacked from range once again. She missed one hit.

Even so, that one hit was enough for Hector to come in and finish off the Nomad.

Dart crit kills one of the Knights approaching from the west.

Rebecca comes up and switches Dart's weapon to a Shine tome so he can counterkill the other Knight on the enemy phase. Also, she gets her B support with him.

Well, that's one bullet dodged.

Eliwood really is the king of dodging attacks with high odds. Sure, the Luna user doubled him and landed the second hit, but still...dodging a 94% hit. Well done Eliwood!

Good thing Lyn healed because she got hit by a Nomad in the enemy phase. Luckily that was the only enemy to attack her that turn.

Everything else in range decided to suicide on Canas who picked up a level during all of his counterkilling this enemy phase.

A new turn begins and...oh dear, is that a Thief in the southeast I see?

Well, this sure will help. Sain now has an extra charge of Luna available should I need it later on.

Even though Eliwood's not where the main event is right now, he can still pick off enemies like he does to this Cavalier thanks to a critical.

Canas steals the first item of the chapter.

Lyn removes a potentially nasty threat from the board.

Dart gets his B support with Wil.

Wil then crit kills another Cavalier for fun and gains a good level from it, ending part 1 of tonight's update.

Part 2 should be incoming very soon here.

[Klokinator]

Supporting in the middle of a chapter? Ballsy.

[LunaticScreamer]

Part 2!

[spoiler=Ch20 Part 2: Legault of Legends II]

Picking up with the slaughter, Lucius nukes a Fighter in the central area, but misses a hit.

Hector engages in some counterattacking during the next enemy phase, getting more precious resistance from a level up.

Canas has a Steel Sword equipped for a good reason here.

Marcus dodging like a pro.

This Nomad that just hit Canas has the Earth Seal. Canas has his Steel Sword equipped so he doesn't accidentally counterkill her.

Physic jerk still at work being annoying it seems.

Whew, that's a relief. Had Canas gotten berserked there, it would have made the next turn much more nasty.

Lowen finishes off the Fighter that Lucius weakened last turn for a meh level.

Since Canas wasn't berserked, Marcus can heal him up to full rather than use the Restore staff to cure berserk.

Hector take an item off of Canas so he can go ahead and steal the Earth Seal.

More murdering begins so I have a clearer path to the throne room door. Serra picks up a level from the kill she got.

Wil goes 3 for 3 on crit kills this map.

Dart uses a Vulnerary to heal up from the damage he took counterkilling a Knight earlier. Eliwood likewise heals himself up with one of his own Vulneraries.

Here comes the next troubling part of this chapter. Legault is in the throne room and he has an Axereaver. That coupled with the Luna user can add up to a ton of damage if both hits connect.

Also, I am so glad Marcus got that rush of speed levels late in his career. Without them, Legault could easily double him, making my task that much more difficult to do.

The only damaging attack that got through this enemy phase. Rebecca was damaged by a Nomad she killed before this enemy phase began.

The Sleep staff gets used to put the Luna user to sleep. When I only have to worry about Legault's Axereaver shots, it makes my life much easier for the next 5 turns.

As for the Physic jerk that's been doing healing work the last couple of turns, he falls to a combination of Hector, Serra, and Dart. Dart picks up a good level in the process of killing the jerk.

Eliwood & Lowen are doing a good job of keeping the reinforcements coming through the central area in check.

I oughta start cleaning the throne room out of all non important enemies, but Darin won't make that an easy task. By virtue of being a Dragoon, he's already a big threat because of his high crit rate. Even worse is the fact that he will move to attack anyone in his range, something he didn't do in vanilla.

Finally, by killing him, all reinforcements will stop coming in. I don't want to kill off Darin until a certain enemy reinforcement appears so my Steel Sword users will have to thin out Darin's lackeys for awhile.

Like so!

Rebecca uses another shot of the Elixir to heal up. She's currently in Legault's range and needs the hp to survive the next turn.

Of course, Legault goes after Lyn instead and...sheesh, I'm getting lots of dodges on attacks with high chances to land.

Meanwhile, Sain's fending off a pair of reinforcements in the southwest. He gains a good level after counterkilling one who was forced to attack him at melee range and promptly got turned to sludge by his Flux tome.

Lowen gains a level in his continued watch over the central corridor with Eliwood.

Lucius finishes off the last of the southwestern reinforcements and finally gets some resistance from a level up.

Finally, my prey has arrived. This Thief is the sole reason I've been holding back a bit from rushing the throne room and killing Darin.

Last use of the Sleep staff, but it's for a good cause. I now have five turns to clear out the throne room and get Canas to steal the Member's Card, though of course he'll also be stealing that Goddess Icon off the sleeping Luna user.

Darin attacks Canas in a bit of a silly move now that I think about it. Not sure why I was intent on wanting to rush the throne room so quickly, especially with Canas. Somehow though, he dodged Darin's strike and promptly owned his face on the counterattack (Lethality activated I believe).

Marcus attracts the attention of another Axereaver user in the northeast. No worries since Legault has already taken his turn so Marcus is safe for now.

Good thing Canas dodged this hit and Darin's strike because...

Yup! Canas even missed one of his counterattacks here.

More dodging attacks with high odds to connect!

Dart gains a level finishing off the Swordslayer Fighter that Canas weakened.

Marcus uses his Unlock staff to open the door to the throne room.

Hector is then able to rush into the throne room and talk to Legault to get him on our side.

Legault isn't too bad of a flyer. He's a bit weak defensively, but only suffers in hp & resistance growth wise. Certainly a potential endgame unit if given a chance to level up. If you do use him it'd be best to toss an Angelic Robe his way to boost his hp.

Also, that Axereaver. I do believe Wil is going to be taking that, heh.

Rebecca kills off another of the throne room inhabitants and picks up a level from it as part 2 of the update comes to a close.

Part 3 should be the finale and that'll be up soon.

[Klokinator]

I oughta start cleaning the throne room out of all non important enemies, but Darin won't make that an easy task. By virtue of being a Dragoon, he's already a big threat because of his high crit rate. Even worse is the fact that he will move to attack anyone in his range, something he didn't do in vanilla.

Worth pointing out on this map you can get an Iron rune, which nullifies his crit and therefore his main threat :)

Aren't I thoughtful?

[RandomSwordmaster]

I just facewrecked him using Serra. SILVER SWORD/MANI KATTI OP! Nice 10 hitrate and 12 damage you got there, meet my 50 critrate with 50 damage and 100 hitrate

[LunaticScreamer]

Wrapping this chapter up now!

[spoiler=Ch20 Part 3: Legault of Legends III]

Welp, looks like the central path guarding line has hit a snag.

Legault fixes said snag in the line.

Finally, Canas can steal the Goddess Icon.

Wil does what he's been doing for basically this entire chapter.

Wasn't sure if Legault or Lyn would be able to survive a crit from this Mage so I had Sain burn the last two charges of his Luna tome to kill him off.

So, rather than, you know, heal her injured comrade, the lovely Sage in the throne room uses her Rescue staff instead. That's not going to help you know, heh.

Granted, I wish I could have gotten that Rescue staff, but I didn't really have a choice since I still need to steal that Member's Card so Hector & Dart kill off the Sage. A free Physic staff is nothing to complain about though.

That's the last of the long range jerks for this map finally.

Not much happening on the enemy phase aside from some Fighters breaking open a few remaining walls.

Lyn puts the sleeping Luna user out of his misery at long last and gets a very good level from the kill which caps her skill & speed.

There's the karmic counterbalance to Lyn's level up.

Another enemy phase goes by with Eliwood being the only one taking any damage whatsoever.

Member's Card is now mine at last!

And now the loyal Thief is dead.

Another enemy phase goes by. Hector lost a good chunk of hp during it since he got hit by a Poison Lance using Knight.

At this point, I'm just letting any enemies that move come to me and nearly kill some of my units because I wasn't checking weapons properly.

At least Sain is still managing to pick up good levels while attacking (and making sure he has enough hp to eat one Swordslayer hit in the worst possible scenario of course).

Not that the extra hp helps when you get hit by the first Fighter, then have to dodge a killshot afterwards from the other nearby Fighter. Not sure why I chose now to start getting stupid about by approach, heh.

At least any danger Sain would have been in is now null & void.

Didn't want to do this, but since Marcus is rushing back after healing up Sain, I need Wil to use an Elixir while he tanks against some Poison Lance shots until someone I actually want gaining experience can come up and kill the two attacking him.

There we go. Just one Poison Lance user left on this side now.

Make that none if you consider the enemy phase had the last Knight in the corner attacking Dart and getting himself killed in the process.

Sain, now in much better condition hp wise, nukes one of the Brave Bow Archers in the southeast. Only two more levels and he'll be able to promote.

At this point, I was just stalling while Sain ran around and killed off a few stragglers before rejoining the team in the throne room.

Capped magic and one level away from promotion.

Yeah, I think it's about time for Eliwood to get a Secret Book, considering these hit rates.

Has a capped stat. Still gets a perfect level. That's just how Sain does business it seems, am I right? Just got to throw him a Guiding Ring next turn and...

Sweet! Sain gets some extra Dark exp, but also gets C-Anima & C-Staves. Not only does he have an alternate ranged option besides Nosferatu now, he's my second healer of the group. Quite a good thing since that means less stress for Marcus to deal with in keeping everyone alive.

Oh yes, there's still a stealable item to get. Canas lifts the Talisman off this Mage now.

Eliwood doesn't get a kill, but he does get the kinds of stats he's looking for at the moment. No worries about that skill since I'll probably toss him a Secret Book or two before the next chapter.

Don't care about the damage. He's the last one alive right now.

Best use of a one stat level for Dart.

There goes the last of the enemies on this map. Now to do some clean up work around the area.

Sain does some healing maintenance and picks up a soild level in doing so.

Treasure chest report. Take note that the Fortify staff requires an S-rank to use and only has 4 uses. Best to use it only in dire situations.

Also, if you're having issues with taking out Darin easily, it's not a bad idea to detour into the northwestern treasure room quickly and snatch up that Iron Rune to help negate his critical chance.

Two secret shops on this map. The one in the northwest corner holds a good assortment of promotion items.

Meanwhile, the southeastern secret shop has a ton of stat boosters. Goddess Icons for 1k gold with the Silver Card is a steal if you ask me.

Anyways, after selling some junk, I picked up a couple Guiding Rings and a few Dragonshields.

One of the Guiding Rings finds its way over to Marcus who gets C-Anima & E-Light to go along with his expertise in staves. He'll probably focus more on Light tomes due to the lighter weight of tomes like Lightning & Shine.

Anyways, support points are grinded up and Hector seizes the throne.

So, the reason I can't pass is...why now?

Oh.

Also...Ninian, I think you would be good friends with Grahf from Xenogears. Rumors say he seeks power and talks about it all the time.

You know, I was going to think of something to say regarding this and the dragons that are coming out, but I'm just going to go with the fact this line is hilarious and leave it at that.

Looks like Nils somehow talked her sister out of her drunken stupor. Everyone survives I think?

Nope! Congrats Ephidel, you failed to run and now you're going to be turned into a pile of ash, soon to be forgotten by even your own superiors. Capital work buddy!

That's the end of this long chapter.

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Legault)]

Legault's growths:

Hp: 40% Luk: 0%

Str: 60% Def: 50%

Skl: 65% Res: 15%

Spd: 80%

Legault's growths are nowhere near as "meh" as his description seems to state. The problem arises if you've used Lowen in any capacity and will likely have much more hp, strength, and defense. Legault is hardly a useless character though and is certainly capable of holding his own once his hp & defense have gone up a bit.

[Klokinator]

Damn son, now that's what I call a promotion bonus!

[LunaticScreamer]

Time for an update!

[spoiler=Ch21 Part 1: Fuzzy Foggy Fuckfest I]

Probably one of the best chapter titles to date if you ask me, heh.

The Nergrinch Who Stole Christmas: A splendid adventure coming to a store near you!

Anyways, this won't be an easy chapter right off the bat. You only get 8 units to take with you this time around. Of the one selected here, Marcus & Serra get swapped out for Canas & Dart.

Threw a couple Secret Books Eliwood's way. I can't afford to have any slackers during this chapter when I'm going to have to murder at a fairly brisk pace for the first few turns.

Hector gets his regular injection of speed thanks to the Speedwings that I stole in the last chapter.

Fog of War map with two thirds of the enemies possessing poisonous weaponry. This is not going to be an easy chapter for the first two or three turns until I can get things under control.

Ninian, not satisfied with her current level of power, decides to join the team right at the start.

There's quite a bit to talk about regarding the girl who hungers for power and all of it is positive talk. For starters, if you couldn't figure out based on her rating, Ninian is the sole character in this hack that still has a luck growth, meaning her evasion is going to skyrocket once she starts picking up some levels.

Actually, scratch skyrocket there. All of Ninian's stats except for skill have very high growths. Not a single one below 70%. She only has 13 levels, but goddamn is she going to make the most of them.

As if her awesome growths weren't enough of a selling point, she has number of uses which faciliate her purpose as a pure support unit. She has her typical extra turn granting capabilities, but also possesses every single ring that buffs a certain stat of an adjacent target for a turn. Having 60 uses too means she'll not be likely to run of charges on them very easily.

Of course, when extra turn granting isn't required, she can serve as a staffbot with her access to staves.

Couple of interesting enemies to note right off the bat. This Monk in the northwest corner is using a new weapon, Purge. This weapon is basically tailor made for Dart to use. Whereas other Light magic users would suffer a massive AS penalty, Dart's only going to lose roughly 5 AS when using this. Coupled with his high speed and matching high growth, he'll be able to play around with it more freely compared to other Light magic users.

On the other side of the wall to the east, there's this Heretic. It's yet another Luna user with a stealable on hand, but somehow this girl forgot to go train so her Luna blasts are only doing 5-6 damage. Much better than the 11+ it was doing last chapter.

With a little help from Canas for increased viewing distance, Rebecca & Lyn kill the two Monks lying in the southwestern corner.

Ninian gives Canas an extra turn so he can rush east. He's got quite a bit of stealing to do over the next few turns.

That's a bunch of flyers, isn't it? All of them have Poison Lances too so they're going to hit fairly hard and be quite accurate.

If that wasn't enough, two of those four Poison Lance jerks have stealables. Top left Wyvern Rider has a Dragonshield while the bottom right Pegasus Knight has a Goddess Icon. Trying to get all the stealables and not die horribly is going to be a challenge, that's for sure.

Since I'm waiting for the flyer brigade to move forward, Wil takes this chance to get an A support with Dart.

Like I said before, the Luna jerk is only going to be a minor nuisance at best with that kind of damage output.

Ok, I suppose this Monk would have been a threat had Eliwood not cut short his life with a counterkill thanks to getting a critical.

This isn't the holder of the Dragonshield. No points for guessing what happens to this Wyvern Rider.

Turn 2 begins with this interesting enemy. Looks like certain classes restricted to specific players are now being used by the enemy. This one won't be too much of a threat since the Wolf Beil is a 1 range weapon, but that also means there will be promoted versions of the Hector Lord and other kinds of lords in future chapters. Lovely!

This turn is going to be a very dangerous one. Since Canas is my only stealer in the group, he's going to have to move right into the middle of a huge cluster of enemies. To help him out, Ninian uses her Ninis's Grace ring to increase Canas's defenses for the upcoming turn.

That's one of the four stealables in my hands so far.

Now, the next task is to kill as many enemies as I can with the highest priority going to any flyers without stealables. Dart & Wil each kill a Pegasus Knight while Sain nukes a Wyvern Rider.

Well, there's a new weapon in Wil's face. Aura stings quite a bit so it's good Wil's a little resistance blessed here.

Eliwood is the Luna dodging king, no questions asked.

Proof that Ninis's Grace saved Canas as seen above. I do think getting poisoned cancels out the effct of Ninis's Grace, but even then, the defensive boost for the first two enemies that attacked him was enough to ensure his survival this turn.

Wil is tanking it something fierce, isn't he?

Ninian takes the Mend staff on Sain so she can heal up Wil. He's got some important work to do on this turn.

That's the last of the stealables from the flyer brigade. Canas picks up a good level from his pilfering business this turn.

Time to pull out the usual Caim of Drakengard strategy and murder everything in a three mile radius.

More murder!

Stats of the Aura tome. Pretty damn good I must say.

And now that awesome tome is in my hands. Dart will make good use of it I'm sure.

This is why I wanted the Aura user dead. I was worried that Ninian would go down if attacked by two enemies. Luckily, thanks to her good starting hp and alright defenses, she has enough hp to take one hit. Good for maps like this where my strategy requires me to be very aggressive to ensure all my tasks for the chapter are completed without a hitch.

Namely, hitches like this happening. Critcals are only fun when I'm the one dishing them out and not the other way around. Rewind time!

This time, Ninian dodges the one attack sent her direction.

Sain doesn't get criticaled into next week, hooray!

Too bad for this Hector Lord enemy that Sain can double & kill him. Sain does just that of course.

Things are much easier now that I don't have to worry about multiple flyers at once.

Stealable #3 is in my hands now. Last one is on the boss whom I have to kill to complete this chapter.

Brigand trying to destroy a village? This is what Wil says to that idea.

This is what Wil says to the flyer thinking she can come in and get a cheap shot at someone.

A combined effort from Eliwood & Dart take out the Bishop with Dart gaining a level from the kill.

Part 2 of the update should be up soon.

[Klokinator]

The final update will make poison a lot more dangerous. Dare I say it, that dinky little 5-6 damage luna user will become an actual threat haha.

[LunaticScreamer]

Let's wrap up ch21, shall we?

[spoiler=Ch21 Part 2: Fuzzy Foggy Fuckfest II]

See this Heretic that just popped up? He's equipped with Eclipse. There's also another Heretic in the darkness who also is holding on to an Eclipse tome If you were going to do the Torch glitch, you could get those tomes to either Merlinus or a shop and sell it off for a ton of gold. I think it sells for 16k, assuming the Chaos Mode guide is correct about that.

Dart gets the token cheating death award for the chapter.

Purge guy in the NW corner won't move until someone gets in his range. Lyn lured him in on the previous enemy phase, then she cleaved him in two and took the Purge tome for the storage pile.

After Dart kills off an Eclipse user, a Torch charge is sent to the eastern side of the map, revealing this Archer holding a droppable Emblem Seal. Won't say no to another one of those.

Eliwood's Fire tome is down to its last couple of uses, but Eliwood is making damn sure to get the most out of those last uses.

More inevitable deaths being dished out via counterattacks.

At this point, I'm camping out here for the next several turns until the reinforcements dry up.

The good news for the enemy army though? Flyer reinforcements in the southeast.

The bad news? Someone just took up a guard position by the village in the southeast.

I do believe the flyers in the southeast are screwed, wouldn't you all agree?

Oh, I guess there's some non-flyer reinforcements too. Not that they can pose much of a threat at this point though.

Sain's been going full on healing mode here, reaching B-Staves without too much trouble.

Eh, he's doing quite well right now. One dud level isn't going to kill him.

Ninian, due to all the work she needs to do in this chapter, picks up her first level giving another turn to Sain. Pretty much what to expect from Ninian's levels to be honest.

Oh joy, more Poison Lance hijinks. Not that it matters to Wil since he's just a counterkilling machine right now, but I'll have to pull him up north in a couple turns so I can get him healed. No matter, he's distracted the enemy flyers in the southeast for long enough.

Honestly, the chapter is all but over now. I can easily nuke any reinforcements that get into range with little to no damage taken by my party.

Oh hey, Mr. Emblem Seal man attacked. Too bad Hector pulls out a critical to end his life instantly, gaining a level and the Emblem Seal in the process.

More flyers attacking, then getting viciously counterkilled soon after.

Last batch of levels before the reinforcements dry up. I should probably be telling Eliwood to stop sucking on level ups, but he did get resistance.

As for Sain? He now has capped defense thanks to doing some scratch damage healing.

Village item report.

Shop report. There are a couple items not seen on these screens (Iron Bow & Flux). Bought a bunch of Mends, Thunders, Hand Axes, Steel Swords, Steel Lances, and Steel Bows. Should be good to go for the next few chapters.

Ninian picks up another level doing some last minute dancing for fun.

Everything's done for this chapter so Dart lures out the boss.

Of course, Dart is awesome and crits with one his attacks. Getting more magic is good too.

As for Oleg, his only real dangerous weapon is that Killer Axe. Whomever lures him out would do well to have the Iron Rune to nip any critical hijinks before they can ever go off. Otherwise, he's an easy kill.

That's the last stealable for this map. Dart, go ahead and kill Oleg now.

Thank you.

Also, I think he's getting his promotion next chapter, yay.

Those word replacements lead to some hilarious dialogue moments, don't they?

I don't think Limstella likes her reindeer cosplay. Too bad Nergrinch & Co. rules force her to keep up the appearance.

Oh, and Limstella gets to steal everyone's presents to increase Nergrinch's greed supply. I guess that works for her, right?

Anyways, that's the end of the chapter.

Death Count: Oswin (1), Lowen (5), Bartre (1), Merlinus (1), Dart (1), Sain (1)

Next time: Boots!

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Ninian)]

Ninian's growths:

Hp: 85% Luk: 80%

Mag: 5% Def: 70%

Skl: 5% Res: 70%

Spd: 70%

Ninian has some beastly growths, doesn't she? Put her to work and she'll turn into a dodge machine with some nice defenses to cover for her in the event an attack gets through her evasion. I may not employ her in every single map from here on out, but if I have a spare slot available, she'll be taking it, no questions asked.

[LunaticScreamer]

Update time!

[spoiler=Ch22 Part 1: Get The Damn Boots I]

Distributed some stat boosters before the chapter began. Lucius will likely be sticking around until endgame so he gets an Angelic Robe & three Dragonshields. Also, Dart gets a Dragonshield and Serra gets four Goddess Icons.

This will be another tricky chapter. I've got quite a few tasks to do here and only 11 turns to complete them all.

Thief with a Body Ring to steal on the western side of the map. Luckily, he'll be making his way to the treasure room so I can meet him there and snatch it.

Also, that Cleric standing next to the Thief? That's Heath, an enemy that can be given a talking to in order to convert him to our side. Hector will be the one to talk to him in my case, but Eliwood, Lyn, or Ninian can talk to him as well.

Token Luna user of the map has a stealable Secret Book.

Bonus enemy! This one, unlike others of its kind, will move on the enemy phase. It's a healing jerk, but well worth the kill as a free Earth Seal is always useful.

Heath isn't the only that will be a new addition to the team. Isadora joins automatically at the start of the chapter and is pretty capable of holding her ground. Very magelike bases with solid growths everywhere except for defense. If you plan to use her, giving her that Angelic Robe she starts out with wouldn't be a bad idea.

Going for the west side tasks first so Sain uses the Unlock staff to open the door.

Wil deletes this Wyvern Rider. I don't want that Brave Lance using jerk running about with Canas heading in that direction.

Speaking of Canas, he's by the door now thanks to Ninian. He attacks this Wyvern Rider for fun, but misses one hit. Amazingly enough, that works out better than I was hoping. Why?

This. By severely injuring that Wyvern Rider, Heath won't move forward, electing to sit back and use his Physic staff. This will be good as it allows me a couple turns to get Hector on over this way without having Heath wander into the range of the generics.

Yes, the generics on the west side are both good & bad for me. Good because the enemies tend to go after green army units, but bad because they seem to go right after the Thief or Heath if given the chance.

Well, Canas is safe now. Both Swordreaver Fighters felt like going after Sain.

Yeah sure, waste your time with Wil. That's a smart move, heh.

This map actually added in a pair of green army Bishops. Highly likely that one or even both will go down in the first enemy phase, but they'll sure lay down some damage like this one is about to do on a Nomad.

Seriously, both of those Swordreaver Fighters could have gone after Canas and possibly killed him off thanks to this Wyvern Rider, but no, they're afraid of counterattacks.

Sheesh, this particular green army Bishop is a dodging queen.

Well, was. This Paladin didn't crit, but doubled her. Still, one of the green army Bishops is still alive which means...

Green army Physic jerk, sweet!

Turn 2 brings in a batch of green army reinforcements from the northeast. The Hector Lord unit there is significant because it's a named unit, Rath, whom Lyn can recruit.

For now though, Canas is going to steal that Body Ring. First, Hector removes the obstacle in his path.

Next, Ninian patches up Canas, just in case a few enemies target him.

Finally, Canas swipes the Body Ring.

The less damage Canas is prone to taking on the next enemy phase, the better. Wil deletes the other Swordreaver Fighter.

Big clump of enemies in the middle. Lucius targets the most dangerous enemy of the bunch.

Luckily, his attack not only connects, but crits, taking out the biggest threat and giving Lucius a good level.

Between my remaining available units for this turn, Serra kills a Knight, Lyn & Isadora kill another, and Rebecca offs this Cavalier. Here's hoping nobody dies on the following enemy phase.

Canas is holding up just fine. How is the middle team faring?

Oh crap, that's not good! Isadora got hit by a Poison Sword jerk and dodged a deathblow here. Still, the poison damage might kill her before the next turn.

"Might" being the operative word.

Earth Seal holder is in range so Wil tries to take her out. If he doesn't crit with either attack, Canas can attempt to finish her off.

Luckily, Wil's second hit goes critical, netting the Earth Seal and an amazing level to go with it.

With help from Ninian, Hector is able to get over to Heath and talk him into joining the team.

Heath is actually pretty solid right out of the gate. Very high hp, good defenses, and enough magic to give his Physic staff some good range. Pretty good growths too with his only bad one being resistance.

Also, his rating suggests using something called a Stimulant. Too bad I don't have one yet, but it is something to keep in mind for what will be picked up in the future.

Rest of the turn is just doing some cleaning up of a few nearby enemies.

Looks like the Luna jerk is awake. How lovely.

Welp, no more green army Physic user for me sadly.

Hector gets a bit roughed up on this enemy phase, but he does counterkill whatever felt like attacking him.

Rath & his General sidekick finally get themselves involved in some combat. That General killing an enemy in the pic above has poison weapons in all varieties, making him a pretty useful ally that won't easily go down unless the enemy army focuses all of its firepower on him.

One other danger of this map...given the number of enemies with 3-10 range weaponry, Nils (whom you have to protect in this chapter) is in some serious danger as any long range shot aimed at him will be a one hit kill, making any enemies like this one a top priority in killing.

Fun fact...Heath's Restore staff says it has 1-2 range, but despite that, you can't actually target anyone at 2 range sadly. Regardless, he patches up Hector because he's going to be moving down the west side and killing off enemies there.

Canas begins looting the treasure room.

Sain goes down the east side of the map while carrying Serra. He gets a level doing his usual life stealing trickery once again.

Oh dear, this isn't ending well. This is just the beginning of the next enemy phase.

Yeesh. Luckily, Lucius is on a pillar so he has increased evasion, but still, this was a nail biter moment for me.

This Knight had a Steel Lance and probably had the best chance to finish off Lucius. He missed though and Lucius picked up a good level simply because it had more defense.

Oh crap. Luckily, this hit isn't enough to kill Lucius and there's no more enemies in his range so he manages to survive his near death experience.

Fun fact...the Heretic this guy killed? He had a droppable Eclipse tome which I don't get because he's a jerk. I'll live without it though.

Anyways, part 1 of the update is over with. Part 2 should be following very soon.

[LunaticScreamer]

Wrapping up ch22 now.

[spoiler=Ch22 Part 2: Get The Damn Boots II]

Ninian's been busy this chapter, be it giving units extra turns or healing them up.

Lyn's finally able to get over to Rath and talk him into joining the team for good.

Rath is much like Heath...quite capable right out of the gate. Tons of hp, good defense, lots of strength coupled with a Brave Axe & Wolf Beil. Pretty solid growths too except for a bad resistance growth, meaning he'll need to be careful around magic users.

Brave Axe's stats. I'll have to get this over to Rebecca or Lyn after this chapter is over with since I don't foresee Rath getting a spot on my team at the moment. That also means I'll have to look to the alternate user of the Wolf Beil if I ever want to use that weapon.

This Knight is a problem. If he gets another turn, it's possible for him to run straight up and attack Nils. Sain comes over and puts an end to that possible outcome quickly.

Well now, I'm going to have two Brave Axes to play with. Sweet!

Hector's doing a good job of killing targets on the west side of the map. I'll have him handle this side on his own since he has Heath nearby to throw a Recover or Physic use his way if he needs healing.

Cleaning out a couple magic users from the board. I worry for Ninian's safety otherwise if these two are left alive.

Looks like Rebecca wants to copy Hector's level. Nothing wrong with that since she could use the strength.

Heath patches up Canas since he took a hit from a nearby Swordreaver Fighter in the last enemy phase.

Steel Sword jerks not doing anything of importance this enemy phase.

Another green army unit falls. Too bad it took like three on the enemy side to do it though.

Some random enemy decided to attack Canas. His life was quickly snuffed out and Canas picked up a good level from the exchange.

Dart & Rath clean out the eastern portion of the map a bit. It is getting a bit crowded over there after all.

Lyn kills off a Monk and picks up some precious defense.

Next task is to start carving a path to the south so that Canas can come over and steal the Secret Book. Lucius & Rebecca start working on that task for me.

Wil gets an extra turn from Ninian so he can move forward and do more killing. I just want any non-important magic users dead right now.

Of course, enemies attacking units that will easily counterkill them help me out too.

Oh yeah, I had Sain drop Serra. Her boosted luck helps her to dodge a few nasty hits sent in her direction.

Canas finally gets in range of the Luna user and swipes that Secret Book.

Oh yeah, I turned on the mission objective panel so you can see how many turns have elapsed here. Got ~4 turns left to kill the boss.

Now you know why the chapter title is named as it is, heh.

Anyways, Eubans is an interesting boss with a preference for long ranged attacks. High strength so you don't want to let your guard down as you approach him. Also, he has an Uber Spear so you do NOT want to get in its range unless you're damn sure you can kill Eubans off before he can switch to it.

Been waiting 7 turns to finally do this.

Dart & Rath clean out a couple of the remaining stragglers in the upper half of the map.

Don't care about the level here. I just wanted Rath healed up if I accidentally send him south into the range of Eubans and his Axereaver. I'm good for that you know, heh.

Slowly but surely, the team makes their way towards Eubans, cutting down his guards on the way. Serra picks up a good level weakening a Nomad.

Hector's still doing fine, thanks for asking.

Oh yeah, Eliwood hasn't seen much in the way of action. He is going to visit the secret shop up here though.

Lots of nice goodies here. Eliwood picks up a pack of Chest Keys, Lockpicks, a Barrier staff, a Torch staff (I think), and several Physic staves.

Oh hey, Rath leveled killing a straggler. Not that bad actually, even if I'm not likely using him from this chapter onwards. We'll see though.

Looks like Dart has wandered into the range of Eubans. Joy.

Ack! Hector got critted by this Wyvern Rider, but managed to just barely survive the hit.

Luckily, Hector dodged the two attacks that would have done any damage to him. The only hit that got through is the one that did no damage to him.

Hector gains a level from that near death experience of his. One more level and he could promote. "Could" being the operative word. I say that because to get a specific chapter 24, the combined levels of him, Eliwood, and Lyn need to be 50 or greater. If any of them promote before I hit that chapter, it will only take their promoted level into consideration and not factor in their unpromoted level.

I don't think Eubans has much longer to live. Wil & Dart are going to be on his doorstep next turn.

In the meantime, Lucius picks up another level dropping a Wyvern Rider. Honestly, he could get one stat levels in resistance the rest of the way to lv20 and I'd be fine with it. He's doing well enough everywhere else right now to allow for that possibility.

Luckily, Hector had an Elixir on hand just in case of an emergency like the one he's in right now.

Ballista user? Yeah no, Wil is not letting that guy live any longer than he has. Canas comes over to kill the Wyvern Rider near Wil for fun.

Yeah, good luck with landing that hit there buddy.

Especially considering that Lucius destroys you on the next turn.

As for Eubans?

Dart ORKOs him with a double critical. The Boots are mine now.

Also...

Dart's got a promotion coming his way next chapter, yay.

Chapter 22 is over with now.

Death Count: Oswin (1), Lowen (5), Bartre (1), Merlinus (1), Dart (1), Sain (1)

Next time: The token desert chapter.

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Isadora, Heath, Rath)]

Isadora's growths:

Hp: 85% Luk: 0%

Mag: 65% Def: 20%

Skl: 45% Res: 60%

Spd: 60%

Isadora is definitely one of the best magic users in the game. Defense is her only bad growth, but otherwise she can and will turn into a magical nuking machine, especially with those great offensive growths. Certainly a solid choice for an endgame unit, that's for sure.

Heath's growths:

Hp: 80% Luk: 0%

Mag: 50% Def: 30%

Skl: 50% Res: 20%

Spd: 45%

Heath's growths might be a pinch worse than Isadora's, but that doesn't make him a poor unit by any means. He has great bases to work off of and starts with a free Physic staff. Might need a bit more work to be a viable endgame unit, but he will certainly not disappoint you if you choose to use him long term.

Rath's growths:

Hp: 90% Luk: 0%

Str: 60% Def: 70%

Skl: 40% Res: 10%

Spd: 45%

Rath's very much like Hector with his growth spread. Lots of hp, strength, and defense, the three stats he wants the most, but also has acceptable skill & speed growths. Just be mindful of that resistance as it's not likely to go up very quickly, if at all.

[Klokinator]

11 DEF Dart at 20/0? Is this real life? That Dart is ripped.

[MrNight48]

wait THAT'S heaths growths? holy shit mine must be lucky cause he always caps every stat with no stimulant.

[Klokinator]

Yeah his growths aren't as amazing as you made them out to be. His bases are fantastic but idk how yours capped everything.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Klokinator

[elf_01]

Yeah his growths aren't as amazing as you made them out to be. His bases are fantastic but idk how yours capped everything.

FWIW my (no stimulant) Heath cap rammed everything but defence at 20/20/10 pretty easily. It's a mixture of his fantastic bases, good-enough-offensive growths given that he has 42 levels to grow, and 2 sets of promotion bonuses shoring up his defenses and making up for those shaky growths there (40 levels on his 20% defence growth is +8 on average vs his base 10, then he gets +3 and +something on double promotion, giving him somewhere around average 21+ (not sure what his t3 promo bonuses are) vs his cap of 25 and defense is by far his weakest stat).

Edited February 26, 2015 by elf_01

[LunaticScreamer]

Time for the token desert chapter!

[spoiler=Ch23 Part 1: Sandy Secrets I]

Athos is Santa Claus...dammit I KNEW IT WAS TRUE! He is real, haha.

Only one upgrade handed out, but it's a good one. Dart's doing pretty damn good, all things considered.

Still on the pre-battle preparations screen since the chapter turns into a Fog of War map once you begin your mission. Reason for that is a couple nasty enemies such as this Sniper in the northwest with a useable ballista weapon with very high range.

Also, if you're wondering why the Sniper's crit is so high, it gets the same +25% crit boost that Dragoons get.

Here's another ballista user if that Sniper above wasn't enough for you. Not as much range, but regardless, it's not something you can simply ignore. This Archer also has a Dragonshield for stealing. The Heretic just to his east? Luna user, has a stealable Energy Ring.

Diving into the map now. Sain's gone to the west and fired off a charge of his Torch staff to show just how many enemies are around that Swordmaster.

...Wait a minute, I think I know who that is.

Why hello there Pent. You're looking pretty spiffy!

Anyways, Pent is problem #1 here. Not really due to him stealing experience since he's probably ending two-thirds of his battles with a crit kill, but the fact that if he dies, it's a game over for you. Luckily, this is not FE7if where he's in the northwest and far as all fucking hell away from your team. As you can tell, Sain will be in Pent's range by the next turn.

Granted, there is a chance Pent can get taken from full health to dead if he gets critted at all, but it's much less of a luck driven mission compared to FE7if's version of this chapter.

As for my strategy to save Pent...Sain can either help Pent out with heals and let him do all the killing or he can rescue Pent and move back towards the team to get some assistance in killing whatever attacks him. Either way works really.

As for the rest of the team, they'll have to deal with the first of two bosses, Paul. Lots of hp, but more importantly...that Halberd is going to hurt if it connects. He'll need to go down quickly, especially considering the fact that he does move around instead of sitting still.

Gotta take out as many enemies in the vicinity of Paul as possible to increase my frontline's chances of surviving. Canas OHKOs a Mage to kick things off.

With help from Ninian, Wil drops two Wyvern Riders. One of them forks over a Goddess Icon for the storage.

Ninian gets the first level of the chapter from giving an extra turn to Wil. She'll be lv20 before I'm done with this chapter and ensure that I'm able to access the gaiden chapter after this.

Bartre missed this attack, but combat is not why I brought him to this map.

This is why. Scattered around this map are six buried items. While anyone can find them, only a Thief will have a 100% chance of finding a buried item after ending a turn in an area where such an item is located.

Serra nukes a Mage to the west, obtaining a Guiding Ring in the process. Not sure if I'll need this, but regardless, it's free money next time I get a chance to sell things.

Now, let's fast forward to the reason I had to rewind time.

*Price is Right losing horn here*

To be fair to Pent though, his death came from this asshole Wyvern Rider getting a crit on 3% odds. Nothing Pent could have done to prevent this, just bad luck with the RNG (of course!).

Pent survives after the rewind time though.

Also...fun fact, that Iron Ballista user in the northwest can reach Pent from his current position. Fun, isn't it?

Luckily, Pent is smart and backs off to use an Elixir on himself.

As turn 2 begins, this strange individual appears. Hector can talk to him and he'll join the team, no questions asked.

Hawkeye's actually a pretty good Assassin here. Enough speed that he can steal everything from this map if you somehow didn't bring a Thief or Assassin along and a huge hp base that allows him to take one or two hits if he's forced into combat.

Growth wise, only strength & defense are bad. Everything else is pretty solid. Likely not as good as a trained up Canas, but still very useful if you need a second stealer on big maps.

Hawkeye's recruited and everyone gets back to their usual murdering duties.

First of four stealables pilfered.

Dart fails to critical and he even misses one of his hits.

That's why I have Ninian here to help correct mishaps like this.

There's the crit. Good job Dart!

More skill? Works for me!

So many enemies up north. Luckily, only two or three really pose any immediate threat to me.

That would be one of the threats I have to be wary of for the next couple of turns.

That Iron Ballista jerk is certainly annoying as hell. One crit from that one and Pent is dead, simple as that.

This was the only other enemy that managed to hit Pent this enemy phase. Too bad the counterattack rush was too much for the Wyvern Rider to handle.

Pent moves even further back to use another Elixir. I think he's safe now.

Random attacking for kicks apparently does not go over well with the RNG gods.

Slowly enough, the team is clearing out the northeastern portion of the map.

Keeping everyone healed is very important for the first four or so turns. You never know when the Luna user and/or ballista users will decide to gang up on a target.

The good news? The northeastern corner of the map is largely in my possession now.

Better news occurs when misses from the ballista users appear. The less I have to heal, the better of course.

At this point, Pent is in no realy danger of dying as part 1 of the update comes to a close.

Quite tired again as I post this so I'll get part 2 of the update up tomorrow after I get some rest.

[Klokinator]

Why hello there Pent. You're looking pretty spiffy!

Anyways, Pent is problem #1 here. Not really due to him stealing experience since he's probably ending two-thirds of his battles with a crit kill, but the fact that if he dies, it's a game over for you. Luckily, this is not FE7if where he's in the northwest and far as all fucking hell away from your team. As you can tell, Sain will be in Pent's range by the next turn.

Granted, there is a chance Pent can get taken from full health to dead if he gets critted at all, but it's much less of a luck driven mission compared to FE7if's version of this chapter.

As for my strategy to save Pent...Sain can either help Pent out with heals and let him do all the killing or he can rescue Pent and move back towards the team to get some assistance in killing whatever attacks him. Either way works really.

And if you haxxed and got that REscue staff from Legault's chapter, rescuing him is super easy too!

[LunaticScreamer]

And if you haxxed and got that REscue staff from Legault's chapter, rescuing him is super easy too!

Very true!

Now then, time to wrap up chapter 23.

[spoiler=Ch23 Part 2: Sandy Secrets II]

Canas finally gets close enough to the Luna jerk to swipe that Energy Ring.

No more need for her to be alive so Serra fries her.

Quite a few flyers that could attack Pent next enemy phase. Sain & Wil, the latter getting an extra turn from Ninian, get to killing some of them.

Eliwood heals himself up with a Vulnerary. Not taking any chances as long as the ballista enemies still have ammo to spare.

So many misses!

Ok, that was not a miss. I really should get him out of the ballista's range next turn.

Last flyer in the range of Pent gets nuked.

Ninian helps Wil once again as he continues to delete flyers off the map.

She dodged, that's good.

He didn't AND he got critted. That's not good, heh.

That's more like it Hawkeye.

Sain rescues Pent so he doesn't wander off on his own and attract more attention his way.

Gotta love it when two enemies are stacked on top of each other. Also, both ballista users are out of long range shots now.

Bartre actually manages to get a kill with his Steel Sword. That's nice, but he ended his turn somewhere very special.

Sweet.

The Ultimate Seal is a new promotion item in this hack, useable by 2nd tier magic users (Sages, Sorcerors, and Bishops), granting them a third class with even higher stat caps (None above 30 though). This is why all magic users have good prospects as even Leila, meh growths and all, can turn out excellent with a third promotion possibility.

At this point, reinforcements are easy enough to deal with as they only contain unpromoted magic users like this. I mean, the Mage must be happy to have dealt some damage, but he's about to get OHKO'd by Dart sadly.

Speaking of OHKOs, Eliwood gets one of his own frying the last flyer on the map.

Stealable #3 get. Only one more item remains to be stolen and it's on the last boss.

With an extra turn granted by Ninian, Eliwood gets another OHKO thanks to critting the Archer.

Also, he got a good level despite only getting two stats.

Literally the only thing that happened during the enemy phase.

Not going to bore you with specifics at this point. I'm just waiting for the reinforcement flood to stop so I can send Bartre off to get the rest of the buried loot.

Sain's been grinding his staff rank up while the reinforcements keep on coming. He hits A-Staves right as he gains a level, meaning he can now start using Physics which will help me out immensely.

Speaking of levels, Dart gets one too doing a bit of scratch damage healing himself.

Reinforcements are over with now so, before I send Bartre off to do some buried treasure searching, I'm going to go ahead and get Ninian to lv20.

Lucius sets up a support with Serra. Might as well since he's going to be sticking around.

Now then, prepare for a bunch of Ninian levels!

There we go. Given her growths, it's hard for her to get stat screwed. She's got plenty of avoid and enough hp & defenses to take a hit or two if the situation calls for it.

Sain picked up another level healing Ninian anytime she got hp on a level up.

Ok, Bartre isn't going out just yet. Just this Sniper left to kill which will be handled by Eliwood. I'd like to get him to lv20 before this map ends. Sain acts as his healer, using his Mend staff anytime Eliwood takes even the slightest bit of damage.

Well now, he got more than three stats on a level up. That's a surprise, heh.

Fun fact...Eliwood got this crit when one more normal hit would have gotten him to lv20. Good job chief!

Eliwood will have to wait until I reach chapter 24 for his promotion, but at least he's ready to go when that time comes.

Still a boss left to kill, Jasmine. He's not anywhere near as dangerous as Paul since he lacks a powerful weapon like him. That doesn't mean you should let your guard down though. I will need to lure him out a bit though since he's standing in the range of a couple buried pieces of treasure that Bartre will have to collect shortly.

Another level for Sain spamming the Barrier staff. That's not why I was spamming the staff so much though.

This is why. Normally, you can only have one S rank, but Chaos Mode allows you to have multiple S ranks. Sain having S-Staves will be very nice for a staff that I'll be getting in chapter 23x.

Grabbing some buried treasure. Apparently I'm an idiot and forgot to get one of the buried treasures located on the other side of the skeleton where I got the Earth Seal. That missed item was a Silence staff. Eh, I'll live without it I'm sure.

Fenrir's stats. Heavy as hell, but a 1-3 range Dark tome is pretty rare.

Just for kicks, I let Bartre weaken the boss. Pretty nice levels overall I have to say.

Oh yes, I need to steal that don't I?

Lyn comes in to finish off Jasmine and end the chapter. She gets more strength which is perfectly fine with me.

Sure did help you out. Even had to invoke rewind powers to save your ass from being torched by a critical hit.

Bonus stage! That'll come in the next update though.

Death Count: Oswin (1), Lowen (5), Bartre (1), Merlinus (1), Dart (1), Sain (1), Pent (1), Hawkeye (1)

Next time: Magic user blitzkrieg!

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Hawkeye)]

Hawkeye's growths:

Hp: 65% Luk: 0%

Str: 30% Def: 20%

Skl: 60% Res: 35%

Spd: 60%

Hawkeye makes a pretty good Assassin overall. He starts out with enough skill & speed with good growths in both stats to match, but he's also got enough strength to not be useless and do no damage when Lethality procs do not occur. Canas will probably still be my main Assassin, but Hawkeye's no slouch himself and can sub in for Canas if he's doing poorly.

[Klokinator]

Hawkeye, IMO, is like a really early variant of Jaffar. I wanted a usable prepromote assassin that wouldn't outdo Canas in every category but also wouldn't suck, basically.

[LunaticScreamer]

Time for tonight's update!

[spoiler=Ch23x: Nothing Is Altered]

Here's an interesting chapter. It's an all magic user convention, complete with a trolling magic seal. That doesn't mean there's some dangerous enemies though.

Anyways, character wise, Hawkeye is forced here so I'm letting Canas sit this one out. Bartre's only along so I can get him to lv20 and then promote him. Wil's also here as usual to get rid of some nasty enemies for me.

See all the highlighted enemies here? Each one has Luna. While most Luna users have been running with 10 or so magic at best, all of these promoted Sorcerors have 20-22 magic, making them extremely dangerous with Luna. Two hits of it will likely kill or severely injure every single unit in my team currently, hence why Wil is here. He's tasked with destroying each and every one of those dingbats.

Also...whomever is in the team going south should have one unit capable of using the Restore staff. You're going to need it most likely.

Wil begins his quest to destroy every enemy magic user holding a Luna tome. The level is actually much better than it might seem at first simply because if he gets one more point of speed after this, his other task for this chapter will be much easier to accomplish.

With an extra turn provided by Ninian, Wil destroys this Sage. Considering there's a nearby Luna user that could attack, why would I even think of doing this?

That's why. Infinite use S rank staff that can save far away people? Yes please.

Bartre attacks this Sniper for kicks since he can't do much else this turn. Believe he lands both of his hits too.

Hector's team is tasked with diving south and dealing with a few status wielding enemies. Dart unlocks a door with his Unlock staff and gets a great level in the process. Considering how bad his skill/defense/resistance growths are, he seems quite content on hitting one or more of those growths on a regular basis.

Hector & Lyn each get a kill while Hawkeye weakens another enemy. The Sorceror that was killed drops a Door Key, ensuring you're not totally screwed if you forgot to bring some kind of door opening item. In fact, you'll get several Door Keys as drops from enemies here.

The only thing that happened during the enemy phase, but it shows just how deadly the Luna users are. Nobody in my team can endure that kind of punishment for very long.

Wil continues his Luna user killing spree and...sheesh, isn't this the guy that's supposed to have terrible resistance? More importantly, thanks to that point of speed...

Wil can now double Kishuna. He could probably kill him on the next turn if he wanted to, especially with Ninian's help, but I'm leaving Kishuna alone for a bit longer until the Luna users are all dead.

One more Luna user to go now.

That's sure a level, isn't it?

Dart unlocks another door and prepares for the worst. Why?

Status jerks! Luckily, the Silence staff fails to connect on Dart, meaning he can remove Lyn's sleep status next turn.

Another turn begins and Wil gets rid of the final Luna user. Things are suddenly much easier now.

Another turn means another round of Bartre having fun with the Sniper. Amazingly, he manages to kill off the Sniper. Only 4 levels to go until his promotion.

More Ninian shenanigans gets Wil to precisely the right range to destroy this Bishop who holds a Berserk staff.

Hector breaks down a wall in the southeast, allowing Lyn & Hawkeye to go through and kill the remaining status jerks skulking about. With all the primary threats of this map taken care of, things get much easier to manage.

That's one strong enemy Dragoon, isn't it? That's 9 damage against one of my most defensively sound units with a chance to crit on top of it. Definitely do not want to underestimate this one.

On turn 4 now. Kishuna will leave the map after this turn is complete so if you want him dead, you need to do it now.

Rebecca gets a helpful crit against the Dragoon for an easy ORKO, then gets a turn from Ninian to cleave a Bishop in two and gain a level from the experience.

Wil finally focuses on Kishuna. He needs a crit to OHKO Kishuna and, luckly, he gets it on his first attack.

Upon defeating Kishuna, four magic users appear from a stairway in the center. None are exceptionally dangerous, but each one carries an item he or she drops upon death. In total, these for magic users will add another Shine, Elfire, Nosferatu, and Recover to your storage pile.

Bartre attacks this Bishop while making sure he's out of range of another Bishop in the northwest. Somehow, his attack crits and the Bishop dies, giving Bartre some precious speed.

At this point, the last remaining enemies are easy pickings. Lyn only needs one more level while Hector has hit lv20 and just needs to wait until the next chapter to safely promote.

Well, make that lv20 for Lyn and...oh ok, I see how it is Mr. RNG.

One last Bishop in the northwest failed to hit Ninian. Rebecca doesn't miss her attacks though.

More attacking hijinks from Bartre, but he misses a hit this time. That actually helps as Lyn can give her weapons to someone else and lure the Mage in while the other treasure chests are looted.

Speaking of treasure chests, the first opened one gives an extra copy of Warp. I'll be needing them for a chapter down road to pull off my strategy for it.

Bartre is sure landing those killshots despite low hit odds. He's also two levels away before he gets promoted.

Make that one level now.

Last of the treasure chests on this map. Time for Bartre to finish off the Mage and hit lv20.

There we go. He's ready for his promotion now, even if I'm planning to take him only to level 5 promoted so I can get a future unit down the road.

Athos has changed his appearance quite a bit, hasn't he. Apparently Santa Claus was one of the reasons this world has seen a long stretch of peace. Santa Claus probably saved lives in the real world too if this is anything to go off of.

That being said, the team gets a very awesome item, the Stimulant. Use this on someone of your choosing and his or her growth rates will increase by 20%. Yes, that includes luck as well.

Best news of all though? This is not the only Stimulant that can be found in the game.

Closing out chapter 23x with some more highlights involving a radically different tone of dialogue thanks to one word change.

Death Count: Oswin (1), Lowen (5), Bartre (1), Merlinus (1), Dart (1), Sain (1), Pent (1), Hawkeye (1)

Next time: Flyer power!

[Klokinator]

"Flyer power". I see what you did there, and I like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z5JFc8-TQM

[elf_01]

There we go. He's ready for his promotion now, even if I'm planning to take him only to level 5 promoted so I can get a future unit down the road.

Bartre doesn't have to be level 5 promoted (or promoted/levelled at all) to recruit Karla in CM, so you can save that Ocean/Earth Seal if you want.

[RandomSwordmaster]

i recruited karla with base bartre and emblem seal :p WITHOUT RNG ABUSE.