Lunatic Revelations Pick My Units (Complete)

[Eltosian Kadath]

I hope this fixed it, . It is kinda irritating that it doesn't seem to let me edit with pictures

 

We had a Selena prepromted version, but can she still rock the shades as a Berserker

You know it

That eye patch, it just fits with her cold and callous demeanor, and the implied injury adds a story to her new heavy armor.

Elise was a tricky one, but I think having Xander's crown works with her. It adds this slight hint of regality to her adorable self, and with the hair covering it in part, it almost looks like a heart

Silas is the only one who could wear the weed man's head gear with dignity.

The cow horns feel like they perfect the look. The whole Oni look is about intimidation, and this adds just a little without just looking silly

 

Edited May 9, 2019 by Eltosian Kadath
Attempting to fix

[Gannondworf13]

17 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The cow horns feel like they perfect the look. The whole Oni look is about intimidation, and this adds just a little without just looking silly

The images after this line aren't loading. 

[Eltosian Kadath]

All right one final attempt at getting this to work

Its not that bad Ryuuji, especially when it is this underleveled

The relationship groups are Odin and Nyx (already paired), Niles and Camilla (already paired), Hinoka and Azama (unpaired), Laslow (with his wife soon to recruit), and Ryuuji is forced

Hinoka and Azam will take the north while the rest head south to grab Mozu. Camilla claims the first kill.

And the enemy obviously chose to attack Odin over Camilla, so they switch sides for the kill and Camilla wipes out another next to the river, while Azama pairs up to avoid getting hit, while Hinoka finishes

Camilla approaches Mozu to protect her, while Nyx draws in a faceless and Hinoka finishes one to the north, and Ryuuji slips by to rush Mozu

With some pairup and separate maneuvers Ryuuji gets adjacent to Mozu, and Laslow gets ready to permanently pariup with her, while Camilla ensures nothing can touch her. Nyx took a hit so she switches to Odin for the kill, and Hinoka pulls back to let Azama separate and heal next turn

I guess this is the first NPC or enemy he has run into, so valid question Ryuuji

That is really Camilla and Laslow's job really. It does feel kinda scuzzy (but also in character) for Laslow to take advantage of Mozu's grief to get into her pants.

Odin can just barely take a hit from that last faceless in the corner so he draws it in. Hinoka finished her enemy while Azama heals to maximize support points. Finally Camilla and Laslow (with his future wife in tow) draw in the enemies that were previously pretending to threaten Mozu

Odin finished the faceless after it missed him. Camilla and Laslow are doing the same sorta thing just slightly closer (and after finishing one that approached for the attack stance), and Azama paired with Hinoka to get dropped off closer.

This turn is basically people staying close, as Laslow and Camilla finish the last that approach, Azama and Hinoka stayed in place finishing and healing (although forgot an image for that), and Odin is trying to regroup.

We are beginning to converge on the boss (although Odin/Nyx will never make it in time)

As Laslow finishes one of the last faceless in the area Camilla pulls ahead and separates to let Niles get in some attacks, as Azama and Hinoka have another finish and heal round

Camilla had an unlucky miss to let it live long enough for an enemy phase.

I was going to call into question how old she was that she acts like losing her mother is tantamount to losing her life, but

that kinda put it into better context. Don't worry Mozu, things won't be the same

Edited May 9, 2019 by Eltosian Kadath
I really hope this works fully

[Punished Dayni]

Looks like they're all there now.

[Eltosian Kadath]

Sorry about all the technical difficulties. I hope I have the image problem sorted this time.

Part 18 Azura's Masterpiece.

Those who have been reading through and know Revelation's story may have noticed a key plot point that I have been tip toeing around, the importance of the changing sky. Its time for a flashback to the first trip to Valla

The pathway between the bottomless canyon and Valla is about to close for decades. By setting this time limit, and pointedly ignoring how they would leave Valla after it closes, Azura gently led Ryuuji to coordinate his entry to Valla, with all of his allies, for the last possible second. Now the entire royal families of Nohr and Hoshido, the daughters of the Fire tribe and Ice tribe's chiefs, the adoptive son of the Wind tribe's chief, the chief of the Wolfskin tribe, the (possibly former) chief of the Kitsune tribe, and the leader of the Chevois  knights, will all be trapped in Valla and forced to aid in the overthrow of her kingdom's usurper. With everyone that knows of the great Xander-Ryoma peace trapped in Valla, there is no major impediment to Garon and Yukimura continuing the war. Papa Garon and Yukimura might be maintaining control of Hoshido and Nohr for now, but Yukimura's clearly concerned about the stability of his position if the Hoshidan royals are gone too long

and when Anankos's magic is no longer sustaining the slime father, well if IS handles that like they did in the past

he dies. The two greatest kingdoms of Fateslandia are hurdling towards this disastrous limbo of succession that will drain their manpower and resources, and if the Vallanese throne is secured with enough years remaining in their decades of entrapment to recover and consolidate their holdings, they are in a position to emerge as the greatest power in Fateslandia. Even the minor powers have been left either crippled (Izumo is already facing the question of succession, Mokushu has been conquered, Nestra was sacked, and Notre Sagesse is sans Sage) or with prominent hostages already within reach. If Azura emerges victorious I would expect Valla to usher in a new peace while gaining generous land concessions from the ransomed kings.

Now back to the present

Ryuuji is too committed to back down

but there are some reasonable concerns

which Ryuuji is ready to "sacrifice" himself to the curse to solve.

Azura desperately tries to stop him, but its Scarlet with the solution

Ryuuji has built an army so loyal to him that they would follow him over a literal cliff.

Ryoma should really be able to get an S support with Scarlet.

I am glad I got her those glasses that caught her eye before

Before an agent of Anankos attempted to assassinate Ryuuji

and instead crushed that flower of Chevois youth, and bravery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sorry I felt this LP needed a moment of silence for Scarlet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now onto some quick preps. I decide that rule 3 doesn't count paralogues as chapters, so the +1 bronze lance I made for Azama called the Caduceus will count. Next Azama and Mitama need their accesories.

... you know what I'm implying

I think the sun motif fits her starry eyes, plus finishing the circle of the Kinshi ornamentation is a must.

Finally on to the chapter, one unit has got to warm the bench, and with this chapter splitting up the crew, I decide to leave Azura behind. Dancing is strongest when the crew is together, and there will be points where there will be very few units to protect her from safety. I do net a reset when I try to split the army four way, so on the winning run I do the far more sensible option and split 3 ways, one for each healer, and they will be named as such

Let's start with Azama's army, which attacked the north west. Beruka chips the berserker first, then Rhajat was going to resistance seal, but death blow lets her kill it on her own. Azama and Elise join after

Now Sakura's army, which attacked the north east. First Selena gets a Ryuuji attack stance to get the speed to double with the killer axe, but she manages to miss twice, which is fine because she crits on the Silas attack stance for the kill and a level on him. My first thought with Sakura is to simply separate Ryuuji out, but decide to heal after committing to the transfer (she wasn't that low on health, but with so few units it might make a difference).

Finally Felicia's army, which attacked the south east. Caeldori moves in to give Felicia an attack stance with her debuffing chip, and then Mitama moves in to give Oboro her attack stance, but on the fort makes the Oni too tough to take town on the first round

Turn 2 Azama manages to level off of the chip on the first spearmen to approach, and after a Rhajat range chip, Beruka kills, while Elise stays close due to the concentration of bows to the south

Next Sakura starts by debuffing (and giving Selena some extra attack stance accuracy) the berserker that moved up, and then Selena crits it to death, so Silas separates Ryuuji from Sakura instead of finishing the berserker.

Then Felcia heals Oboro and herself, Caeldori chips the Oni Chieftan more, while Oboro moves forward with a killer lance to bait in the Great Master, and let Mitama claim the kill for a level with a solid attack stance.

First Rhajat moves to add attack stance to the two ranged attacks against the merchant, it still has a lance equipped so Beruka and Elise together kill it safely, and Beruka claims a level, as Azama moves pairs with Beruka to protect her from attack stances on enemy phase, and keep the Onmyoji from doubling with the handaxe equipped.

Sakura and Felicia's armies are close enough to capture with a single image. Sakura opens by chipping and debuffing the Basara, then Ryuuji prepares to chip with dragon tanking to follow, and Selena crits (and levels to boot), so both Selena and Silas rally up defense and strength

Oboro doesn't crit, so Caeldori chips from range, and Oboro finishes it. Then Felicia chips the Master of Arms that moved in for the attack stance, and Mitama gets exact damage to kill with her bronze lance

Now with Azama's army, Elise gets the spearman kill with the boltaxe, then Rhajat gets the kill with the Beruka attack stance on the Onmyoji, then Beruka switches to Azama and transfers Beruka to heal up Rhajat (plus the defense from the Beruka pairup compensates for the old defense seal)

Now Sakura goes for some debuffing  (mostly trying to reach C rank shurikens) and chip with Silas to give Ryuuji the kill. Most of Felicia's army is about to join Sakura's but Mitama activates the south eastern dragon vein

Back with Azama's army, Azama finishes the first sniper that missed Rhajat, and she baits in the next bowman (there are two with overlapping ranges but only one space they can attack from), and Elise activates the north western dragon vein

The Maid's armies are combining together. I have a bit of a sloppy play when Sakura heals the 1 HP Silas got on a levelup instead of pairing up to take advantage of his movement, but this turn is just the two armies meeting. Going forward I will use cardinal direction to distinguish the two armies till they merge

In the west we do some repositioning, the most important of which is to have Rhajat move back a space to change the sniper and merchants ranges

In the east Oboro hits the general with a hammer attack stance from Selena for a level, and Caeldori manages to finish him off (after a strength rally on her, and her attack stance partner) for another level. Sakura heals Ryuuji, Felicia heals Selena, and she sets up the strength rally and the attack stance for Ryuuji, that levels chipping the maid in hope that it will run off letting me draw in the adventurer. Mitama gets in a position to activate the north eastern dragon vein, and Silas pointlessly defense rallied Ryuuji, as the stationary Onmyoji on the fort range heals the maid back up to full enemy phase, and she just sits there.

This was a reinforcement turn, one of which was a very pointed reminder that I haven't activated the north eastern dragon. In the west Rhajat got the hits needed to kill the merchant on enemy phase, but with a new sword master that spawned in the center, and sniper from the south I decide to pull back a little and let the badly injured Beruka she has been protecting in her guard stance get some healing

In the east I have Caeldori activate the far eastern dragon vein, Oboro move in position to let Sakura and Mitama get the attack stance on the Onmyoji that just spawned on the north eastern, and after they kill it, Ryuuji catches a ride with Silas to activate the north eastern dragon vein, while Selena pull out of the new snipers range for the moment.

Azama finishes the healing of Beruka and positions himself to embarrass the swordmaster in the west (with a lily poise boost jut in case)

While in the east Selena gives Caeldori a strength rally to hit the new sniper in the face with the right damage to give Mitama the kill with her own 100%  accuracy attack stance for the level, while Ryuuji passes Silas off to Oboro, for Sakura to then separate him forward, and Felicia heals up Oboro

Azama ends the sword master on player phase, but with the spawned sniper uncomfortably close, and protected by the other snipers threat range, it is time to use Beruka's lunge to save the day

This lets Elise safely kill the sniper in melee

The east is looking to be in a bit of a pickle as the adventurer is positioned to hit anyone that attacks the maid, with an onmyoji attack stance if they have the gall to do so from melee, with her positioned on the bridge, only one space can attack the maid from the ground at range, and only my flying ranged attackers could take her down in one attack (leaving them wide open to being hit by a bow), and the Onmyoji on the fort is entirely able to heal the maid repeatedly. The solution was to use Silas's flying shelter to protect Oboro after she killed the maid.

Back in the west it is time to pull back a bit and switch to the mixed tanking of Rhajat, as an Onmyoji pointlessly tried to join in an attack stance with the sniper, and a swordmaster spawned within charging distance.

Meanwhile the east is breaking through the center, as the chip from Selena's handaxe convinced the onmyoji to move in to range heal. Caeldori deals with the the adventurer with a Selena attack stance, and a combination of Sakura and Felicia kill the mobile Onmyoji (and Sakura finally hits C rank shuriken), and Silas chips the immobile one with a lance to let Ryuuji finish him after pairing with Selena to reach.

Next turn in the west Rhajat levels on the enemy phase, and the Onmyoji pointlessly moved in to attack stance instead of healing him, so the switch to Beruka gives the easy kill on the sniper, and after an Elise chip on the Onmyoji Azama gets the kill for a level and to be in position to embarrass the second swordmaster.

Ryuuji activates the near east dragon vein, and the rest of the eastern army prepares for the adventurer's reprisal.

The whole force is finally concentrated enough to capture them in one image. In the west Azama finishes the swordmaster on player phase with Beruka leveling on the attack stance xp

Then Elise tries for the Boltaxe kill on the general, but has a miss, so Beruka passes Rhajat off to her for some extra defense to make its attack with a javelin on enemy phase safer. In the west after Ryuuji's enemy phase chip Felicia finishes the adventurer for a level

Then Ryuuji passes Selena off to Silas, who then ferried her into the hammer kill on the other general on the other fort, with Oboro following behind to separate them to maintain mobility, while Sakura catches a ride forward with Mitama, and the east generally presses forward

Despite the maid's attempts to save the final general with healing it dies enemy phase to Elise, and we start by activate the two dragon veins in the central section of the west

and the armies combine (and Mitama heads back to pickup Felicia) and prepare to take on the final fort, and the sniper that spawned next to it.

Elise levels killing the sniper

but otherwise not much action this turn. Some healing, some head back to the starting island, someone puts the enemy maid out of her misery etc

Elise and Ryuuji kill the Oni, and Caeldori rides Silas's wyvern to activate the final dragon vein, as a lot of my army prepares for the final attack

I take a couple of turns preparing to finish the last room in one single turn.

Caeldori starts by killing a hero with the swordcatcher, which Azama then trade to his inventory to kill the second. Caeldori picks up a level from this.

Next Selena Hammers one general to death, and Elise Boltaxes the other. Then Ryuuji gets a Sakura pairup to get the speed to comfortably kill one sniper, while Rhajat kills the other. Silas finally trades the swordcatcher to his inventory, but he couldn't reach the speed to double and kill his hero, but the Ryuuji attack stance helps, and Mitama finishes him with the Silas attack stance. We still have Oboro, Beruka, and Felicia to finish the boss with.

Ok the fact that Arete is shown to be able to activate dragon veins (even when her name is ??? and there are none on the map) is a nice detail, and adds some curious questions about the old Valla royal family. Was the old king of Valla of Vallan royal blood? If he was which royal blood runs through Arete's blood? If they were both of Vallan royal blood how related were they? I guess there are no answers yet, and its time for Oboro to finish this map.

No matter who you think the villain is Azura is telling the truth.

I'm sorry Ryoma

Good job Revelation writers, those two had enough chemistry when we saw them together that this tragic moment gets to me.

and Ryuuji sorta ruined his future ahha moment by accidently mentioning the flower here in the same way I ruined the tragic moment above with some cynicism.

Next up is Ophelia's paralogue, Odin and Nyx hit S after Mitama's paralogue so no relationship grinding needed.

[Punished Dayni]

5 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The pathway between the bottomless canyon and Valla is about to close for decades. By setting this time limit, and pointedly ignoring how they would leave Valla after it closes, Azura gently led Ryuuji to coordinate his entry to Valla, with all of his allies, for the last possible second. Now the entire royal families of Nohr and Hoshido, the daughters of the Fire tribe and Ice tribe's chiefs, the adoptive son of the Wind tribe's chief, the chief of the Wolfskin tribe, the (possibly former) chief of the Kitsune tribe, and the leader of the Chevois  knights, will all be trapped in Valla and forced to aid in the overthrow of her kingdom's usurper. With everyone that knows of the great Xander-Ryoma peace trapped in Valla, there is no major impediment to Garon and Yukimura continuing the war. Papa Garon and Yukimura might be maintaining control of Hoshido and Nohr for now, but Yukimura's clearly concerned about the stability of his position if the Hoshidan royals are gone too long

and when Anankos's magic is no longer sustaining the slime father, well if IS handles that like they did in the past

he dies. The two greatest kingdoms of Fateslandia are hurdling towards this disastrous limbo of succession that will drain their manpower and resources, and if the Vallanese throne is secured with enough years remaining in their decades of entrapment to recover and consolidate their holdings, they are in a position to emerge as the greatest power in Fateslandia. Even the minor powers have been left either crippled (Izumo is already facing the question of succession, Mokushu has been conquered, Nestra was sacked, and Notre Sagesse is sans Sage) or with prominent hostages already within reach. If Azura emerges victorious I would expect Valla to usher in a new peace while gaining generous land concessions from the ransomed kings.

When it comes down to it, Azura really should be consider the genius moving the plot forward, she does it much more than Corrin who ends up a willing assistant more often than not. This last chance that she refers to is certainly in Birthright (I don't know if it happens in Conquest, I feel like it should) so you're likely to have seen it before and wondered why it's relevant only to get to it now and it could be pretty neat honestly (If you're not 6 months between playing the paths like myself).

Also if they're trapped for decades, doesn't that mean that there's a lost generation of rulers which leaves a power vacuum so vast that it's likely Fateslandia/Moirai as we know it is eternally altered by the time anyone does return from this task by those who had to take over afterwards, leading to a situation where the old blood would have to face the consequence of leaving their nations behind and okay, why can't Fates just cause people to see its positives instead of us spinning off to better ideas raised by the unanswered questions it caused?

Also, you can fight Skirmishes outside of Valla after you enter it. Why would they not at least prevent that from happening?

5 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

and instead crushed that flower of Chevois youth, and bravery

RIP other character that dies 2/3 times in Fates.

You deserved a better setting and supports.

[Eltosian Kadath]

On 5/11/2019 at 4:01 AM, Dayni said:

why can't Fates just cause people to see its positives instead of us spinning off to better ideas raised by the unanswered questions it caused?

One of Fate's good points is that it was built around a lot of great story ideas, but many of them were poorly executed

On 5/11/2019 at 4:01 AM, Dayni said:

Also, you can fight Skirmishes outside of Valla after you enter it. Why would they not at least prevent that from happening?

and one part of that execution problem was their willingness to sacrifice story for gameplay.

 

Part 19 Paralogue The Chosen Heroine arrives

So I spend 1 reset figuring out that I need to go shopping first, another getting my troops movements right, and a final one due to how dissatisfied I was with my first solution, due to the extreme measure I had to take to fix me forgetting to grab one of the villages before the northern reinforcements break through. If this paralogue were long I probably wouldn't have bothered.

So this happened when I went shopping. The relationship grind sessions have given me enough DV upgrade points to spend them on frivolous things like the hot sprigs. The hot springs is one building that I have always found odd. It feels like there should be some kinda mechanical effect tied to it, due to the way it is time gated like other buildings with mechanical effects. If its purely for fan service, it feels focused on either the shoujo ai or shonen ai crowds. The male entering on female always comes across as something that you have no control over that you should be punished for, while the female walking in on male comes across as something you should feel gross and ashamed of for accidentally doing. I suspect there is something lost in cultural translation here.

Now back to that shopping trip, I grab Lightning to give Rhajat some reliable combat, the Flame Shuriken for Sakura hitting C rank, a Freeze staff for her as well just in case, and finally a Dual club for Selena. I use my forge on a +1 bronze lance for Mitama called Poet's Brush (with the raider bow she already reached D rank in bow). Now for deployment, I let Caeldori, and Beruka wait this one out as they are both higher level troops, and do not have an obvious role to play in the battle to come. Now on to the actual map

I almost feel called out for using the similarity of these two words to evoke the looming threat of mortality in a 100 word story I wrote once (hitting exact word counts is harder than you think). I like Owain/Odin, probably my favorite of the Awakening characters, but

Ophelia has all of Owain's best qualities, with enough confidence to overcome any cringe, and overshadows him because of it.

I feel like this is something that any fanfic writer is going to have to face when they have children, that they will read it

because nothing is really private online.

When these two get into character, there is this contagious overabundance of excitement and optimism. Best mage and favorite of the Fates crew makes her debut

So I open by killing all the wyverns. Oboro and Mitama each ambush one (and Oboro levels doing so) while Azura just avoids enemy mage range to dance Elise into getting the last one

Next the generals, Selena uses Silas's wyvern to reach and hammer the one with wary fighter. Next Rhajat needs to kill the other with lightning, she needs 3 of 4 hits or one crit, with 61% hit and 21% crit. That sounds bad, but overall you are looking at ~65.06% success with single RN, and there are two ways of bumping that up if need be, first with a magic tonic and +2 magic meal I can get it too 2 hits or a crit to kill (which bumps it to ~86.25%) and if you add the classic skill+luck tonic you can reach ~90.57% success (only ~72.19% success if you don't pump up damage). I didn't fail it so didn't bother upping it, but lightning's ability to more easily convert damage to effectively accuracy is very useful. The rest of my troops congregate in the north using pairup separate strats, Ryuuji ends by dragon tanking the first master of arms, with Sakura's aura to help. Also of note Ophelia uses the Offspring Seal to get 2 free levels, Odin fills her inventory with magic, and she grabs the Witch's Mark from the convoy.

Next turn the group in the north wipes out the Master of Arms, but the Priestess's ability to use bows keeps me from pressing much further, and I leave one Onmyoji injured to coax it into healing instead of seriously injuring Ophelia, or Felicia. Next with Rhajat I decide to switch to Horse Spirit to clear debuffs a little, when she attacks one of the two Berserkers that headed north around the house. She has a miss, but that is fine, Selena moves back and switches to Silas for the ranged kill. Meanwhile Mitama moves back to kill the Onmyoji that positioned itself between the houses to get a free hit on Oboro (note that due to the forest terrain the injured Onmyoji will have to hit her from range and die next enemy phase). Then Elise pairs with Oboro and switches after moving to let Azura give Elise the speed boost from the dance to then double and kill the other Berserker in the center.

One of the Onmyoji in the north killed itself on Sakura enemy phase, so first Ophelia kills the one with pass while people are still around to attack stance with, the Sakura kills another for a level, then Azama takes out the healer, and Ryuuji wipes out the Adventurer for a level, letting Felicia grab the village this turn.

So that fixed the mistake I made last time. Next Rhajat uses lightning to accurately wipe the remaining berserker (>95% success rate assuming 1 RN), then Silas one shots the first Master Ninja with a bronze axe, then Elise and Oboro separate in the north, giving Azura the space (after a Mitama pairup to get an extra movement) to dance him to then repeat this feat with an iron lance (the +1 lilypoise damage let him kill with the axe before, also note even if he missed Azura will live one Ninja hit with 2 HP).

We finally have enough of a respite to let Ophelia become a Witch

Now in the North I start by setting up the enemy phase death of the first General to Elise's boltaxe with everyone else ready to wipe out the Northwest before the Northern reinforcements start pushing in. In the South, Silas moves Selena onto the fort to comfortably solo the Southern reinforcements, while Rhajat moves onto terrain with the horse spirit to tank the General from the southwest.

Selena levels enemy phase as she proceeds to killer axe everything that enters melee

And on player phase kill the Adventurer that parked himself in front of her on his quest to raid the villages. The General that is dueling Rhajat was hit by the horse spirit, so I go for the Lightning kill (~85% success rate at 1 RN) and get it. In the North I chain together attack stance kills to wipeout the Northwest to get Ophelia a level, and I still have Azama, Azura, and Mitama to spare.

I use Azura to push Ryuuji into becoming Azama's attack stance partner to enemy phase the first Hero from the northern reinforcements, while Azama grabs a level by healing.

After that first Hero falls, I again chain my attack stances together to wipe out the northern reinforcements, and I use freeze to not have to worry about the nearest part of the boss's posse, which lets me use squishy units more liberally

I have Rhajat and Odin head towards the western house to let the lancers that headed south to kill themselves on Selena

I let Ophelia get the boss kill for a level (which gets me a free tonic from the skill she learns),

while Odin and Selena grab the southern houses, and after killing the boss's guardians I make sure to stay out of bow range, and everyone that can be targeted by the formerly frozen enemy can take a hit.

On this second to last turn I give Ophelia some XP (and dance her to point her in the direction of the last enemy), make sure Elise grabs the last house, and Selena finally starts hitting the Mechanist that has been pelting her with arrows.

I end it by giving Silas a level with the kill

 note that if he missed I had other troops I could use to finish it.

I think this exchange where Odin admits it wasn't real, shows a bit of what makes me like Ophelia over Odin. The times when Odin drops character and tries to be serious, there is this sense that he is ashamed. Ophelia isn't ashamed of who she is or who her father is.

You misspelled it, its Mystletainn

30 might, 80 accuracy, 5 weight, +10 resistance, +20 skill, and free critical skill to use that extra skill with is really good. Owain clearly didn't have the right holy blood to wield it.

If your sword is slipping out of your hand, that sounds more like an issue with the wielder than the weapon. Was he even maintaining his edge, or was that what made it dull as a butter knife. I guess this is their attempt to explain Owain giving up the sword when going to Fates.

No incest jokes for this one, these two are too innocent and pure for it.

[Shadow Mir]

I would point out that Mystletainn does appear in Awakening as a bonus box weapon. However, it, along with most every other legendary weapon from Jugdral that appeared in Awakening, was heavily noifed.

[Punished Dayni]

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

There's some nice bases to start with.

Shame the only stat to really improve from there so far's her magic.

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

If your sword is slipping out of your hand, that sounds more like an issue with the wielder than the weapon. Was he even maintaining his edge, or was that what made it dull as a butter knife. I guess this is their attempt to explain Owain giving up the sword when going to Fates.

The Missiletainn in Awakening is canon to Odin apparently.

That Missiletain couldn't cut a brigand. Mystletainn, on the other hand, would have been what he wanted (Even if it's worse in Awakening, only +5 skill and less might, but no weight!).

2 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

However, it, along with most every other legendary weapon from Jugdral that appeared in Awakening, was heavily noifed.

I'll be honest, noifed sounds like a mafiosi's way of saying nerfed.

"I'll make sure that horse gets "noifed" before the race tomorrow Don."

[Eltosian Kadath]

 

Part 20 Challenge Accepted Chapter 19

I'm glad they brought this gimmick back. In Conquest the severe restriction placed on deployable units did not give this idea the room it needed to flourish. That being said it took me a bit to get into the headspace for how this chapter works, so I had a few resets on this one. With that out of the way lets look at the story.

We start with Azura trying to explain things about Valla

This makes me wonder how Garon and Sumeragi avoided the "curse". Did Anankos warn them? Did they have some close calls with disappearing? There is the possibility it messed with peoples memories, but then the Throne of Truth would have kept Sumeragi on the path to being "cursed". I guess this just adds either more evidence the "curse" isn't real, or that the writers did not actually think about the curse.

This little detail actually adds up though. It helps to sell Mikoto as a Vallan refugee, as the Hoshidans had close relations with Valla before, and explains how easily she integrated into the Hoshidan court, and knew the details of its magical throne.

Kinda interesting how they showed the Nohrians the ceiling dragon before actually name dropping Anankos to them.

Also nice to have to have it confirmed that Garon will go the way of Manfloy when Anankos dies.

...This sounds more like the plan of someone trying to strengthen the kingdom of Valla rather than an insane dragon trying to destroy everything.

Selling your plan as the evil Anankos's works well, as the other do not know enough to see the decades of decay they are dooming their homelands to.

You certainly are, and Valla easily conquering the other kingdoms would benefit you once you claim the throne.

Amazing how that "curse" didn't keep your mother from explaining this exposition dump to you during your exile from Valla, but did stop Ryuuji from sharing during the rest of the plot (and to our best knowledge Azura's mother didn't poof to the curse, see died protecting the Nohrian royal family remember)

Now onto the map

This also marks the first time I cooked up a meal before the battle, and got lucky with the buffs

This map has a very tight unit limit, so after some deliberating I decide on Selena, Beruka, Mitama, Felicia, Azama, Ophelia, Caeldori, and Ryuuji of course. Azama and Mitama are the only ones deployed that do not get the meal boost. For this map, Sakura lends Felicia the flame shuriken, Azama grabs the Beast killer, and Ophelia adds most of the tomes looted in her map. This map gives you two options, you can flee like a coward, or activate the dragon vein to create duplicates on the bottom map to kill the boss and collect as much loot as possible for 20 turns.

Challenge Accepted.

So I waste about 4 resets (and 2 party compositions) trying to reliably wipe the 2 Generals and Sorcerers to the west first turn, but without a lucky proc or multiple lucky dodges one tends to live and finishes off someone wounded, so Felicia draws them by letting one Sorcerer waste its attack against her tome breaker, which gets them close enough to be easily wiped them out next turn, while Caeldori introduces some Swordmasters to her Sword Catcher, but has a miss so Ophelia finishes the first, while Ryuuji kills the second with a Caeldori attack stance.

First Ophelia pairs with Azama to get the kill on one General for a level. This unlocks the Warp skill, which is very broken (not quite Tear Ring Saga warp but almost), especially on this map.

Next Mitama finishes the Sorcerer that wounded itself on Felicia for a level for her as well.

Then Felicia chips the other General for a unfortunate level

Finally Selena finishes the General, and Beruka uses the Raider Katana to double (but doesn't need it due to trade switching Selena's weapon to the dual club for the crit attack stance) and kill the last Sorcerer. Then Caeldori positions herself to draw in the two Berserkers with her sunrise katana with some healing from the convoy just in case. This proves an unnecessary precaution as they have 0 hit on her, but with the Ryuuji attack stance she is two damage short of killing them naturally, but one dies to a crit anyway.

Start of turn 3 Mitama activates the Dragon Vein creating the duplicates on the bottom map. Dealing with the Replicas on one map and real ones on the other is a bit confusing, as you have to be extra careful when one is taking an enemy phase hit, that the other still has the desired weapon equipped, and doesn't/won't get wounded or debuffed too much for the other side to handle. The clones start by having clone Felicia tome breaker the Sorcerers to the north west, while Selena just draws in the first of the bowmen from the south west.

On the other screen Ophelia uses her new warp skill to telefrag the remaining Berserker, while Caeldori convoy heals and tries to repeat this sunrise katana dodge tanking technique on the Heroes with the help of some woods. The rest of the army starts positioning to threaten the forces on the north side of the lake that is emptying out into the void.

Next turn the attack of the clones Beruka and Mitama finish the injured Sorcerers, while fake Selena deletes the one that attacked her, and duplicate Caeldori draws in the next sniper with a javelin, and gets healed to full by false Felicia.

Meanwhile in the real domain, Caeldori finishes one Hero while Ophelia kills another to take advantage of her full guard gauge to start luring in the cavalry to the east. Felicia is using tome breaker to lure one of the Oni, with a killer Axe Selena attack stance ready to strike back with

Pretend Ryuuji levels enemy phase on the attack stance chip against the Sniper from fake Caeldori's javelin, but it is pretend Ophelia that kills it player phase for the level

while the rest pull back to let the charging dark knights waste their opening volley on fake Felicia's tome breaker, and Selena's doppelganger grabs a Ryuuji's duplicate to remove all crit chance from their sniper lure

While on the serious side Selena killed the first Oni on the enemy phase attack stance, so her and Felicia pull back to try for an encore, while Ophelia, Ryuuji, and Caeldori remove the promoted cavalry that advanced, although Caeldori has to draw forth the last when she kills the bow knight for a level

Next turn with the phonies Selena levels by removing the sniper's face, while phony Beruka and equally phony Azama deal with the Dark Knights

Back with the normies, Beruka has to finish the job as Selena failed to crit this time. The two sniper hits are going to hurt, but they can't setup an attack stance while both hitting, and with a bronze lance equipped she won't have to worry about crits, and should live in the single digits. Ophelia finishes the Dark knight, while Azama heals Caeldori, and she prepares to draw in the maid

Back in the land of double vision, Selena's double finishes the maid that attacked, while the rest of the troops heal up and prepare for the next assault by letting Azama draw the first swordmaster

The real half of the map is almost emptied, as the Snipers and Maid do not survive player phase, and Beruka levels killing one sniper in position to draw in the last enemy.

The astute among might notice that the Replica half of the map has an extra Azama, while the normal half lacks him, that is because

warp breaks this map by letting people from one side cross to the other. From hence forth the two Ophelias are ferrying people over to the populated side and switching maps through warp every turn.

Ophelia kills one Great Knight while carrying Ryuuji, and Felicia's replica claims an even worse level than before, while Beruka kills the injured Sword Master to free up the real Azama to get a kill on the Paladin with the beast killer for a level

While the false Ryuuji prepares to draw in the Berserkers to the woods, with enough assistance to deal with them next enemy phase

Note one of those Berserkers is particularly derpy

The bolt axe is perhaps the worst weapon he could be wielding, forcing it to rely on his 0 magic and with a -10 hit from gamble on a weapon that cannot crit.

Meanwhile the top map is cleared, and I do not intend to flee with anyone, so here is the last image of that half I will bother with

Next turn on the map that matters, Mitama's Replica manages to kill the injured Berserker after a speed rally for a level

while the double of Selena deals with the derpy one, and with some creative item management with the one that an Ophelia warped in they have the handaxe ready to try and chip the Dark knights possible attacks

They have a hit so one of the Ophelias warps in Felicia and her tome breaker to trivialize him and the Sorcerers following after, while pretend Caeldori starts drawings in the bow knight (and the rest of his promoted cavalry friends) with the good old sunrise katana, and a guard stance, pus a speed and luck rally from one of the Azamas to get that avoid high enough to be perfectly safe.

The double beast killer Azamas (plus their multiple attack stance opportunities) makes short work of the Cavalry, while the false Mitama and the real Selena finish off the crippled Sorcerers (and an Ophelia drops off the real Mitama), while the Felicia's shadow readies the old tome breaker to draw in the nearby Oni

After the Oni deaths player phase, we stall for a turn to deal with some Hero and Berserker reinforcements

Ophelia manages to level with a warp kill on the Berserker as she brings the last unit from the top map over

And Caeldori starts drawing in the cavalry from the south just as a new batch are spawning and ready to charge

And by the time we steam roll that first section of cavalry the next is already threatening us

Azama's doppelganger levels as we sweep them away and prepare to draw in the Generals that guard the boss with Beruka teleporting forward with an Ophelia and trading for Selena's hammer to retaliate with.

More Mages and a Dark Knight spawn in so I let the fake Felicia level killing the surviving General, and leave only the twin tome breakers in range of the reinforcements in that direction, while a Mitama with a movement pairup let me setup the warp kill on the distant Hero

The mages aren't a problem , but this convinces the Sword Master to move  adjacent to the boss, and with that practice katana he is a difficult enemy to hit as it takes the combined efforts of a Mitama, an Azama,a Ryuuji (with Felicia pairup), and Ophelia to finally hit him enough to take him down. Then Azama one rounds the last enemy on the map for the win

 

Oh this kid, I completely forgot about him in the premap plot section

That claims to be the page of an ancient dragon. Why does the ancient dragon want or need a page again?

Perhaps its that he stay in an inhuman dragon form that make him seem so demonic

Azura crafty as ever makes him prove his claim by providing the information they would most want from him.

Challenge Accepted

I am going to give Revelation points here for this sounding like a perfectly logical place for Anankos to be, and an equally logical place to lure the army into a trap.

and then the chapter ends with a shadowy meeting of all the nobodies of the organization XIII just out of the blue.

Next up is Nina's chapter, and it is already finished; I've just fallen a bit behind in the write-ups.

[Punished Dayni]

9 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

This makes me wonder how Garon and Sumeragi avoided the "curse". Did Anankos warn them? Did they have some close calls with disappearing? There is the possibility it messed with peoples memories, but then the Throne of Truth would have kept Sumeragi on the path to being "cursed". I guess this just adds either more evidence the "curse" isn't real, or that the writers did not actually think about the curse.

I mean, it's clearly the latter, but they're both possessed, so maybe it doesn't affect those who Anankos directly controls.

9 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

This little detail actually adds up though. It helps to sell Mikoto as a Vallan refugee, as the Hoshidans had close relations with Valla before, and explains how easily she integrated into the Hoshidan court, and knew the details of its magical throne.

I mean, wow that kind of works.

It'd work better if Valla wasn't in an upsidedown world, but still.

9 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Selling your plan as the evil Anankos's works well, as the other do not know enough to see the decades of decay they are dooming their homelands to.

It's almost like she warps reality saying this so that she isn't questioned thanks to the photo taken.

9 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Amazing how that "curse" didn't keep your mother from explaining this exposition dump to you during your exile from Valla, but did stop Ryuuji from sharing during the rest of the plot (and to our best knowledge Azura's mother didn't poof to the curse, see died protecting the Nohrian royal family remember)

I mean, they knew Valla, so they didn't need to mention it by name.

The curse only gets invoked by the name, right?

9 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

On the other screen Ophelia uses her new warp skill to telefrag the remaining Berserker, while Caeldori convoy heals and tries to repeat this sunrise katana dodge tanking technique on the Heroes with the help of some woods. The rest of the army starts positioning to threaten the forces on the north side of the lake that is emptying out into the void.

Wait, you can do that? That's not illegal?

9 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The astute among might notice that the Replica half of the map has an extra Azama, while the normal half lacks him, that is because

warp breaks this map by letting people from one side cross to the other. From hence forth the two Ophelias are ferrying people over to the populated side and switching maps through warp every turn.

....

That's amazing, never knew that could be done.

I do not regret picking Witch!Ophelia.

10 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

That claims to be the page of an ancient dragon. Why does the ancient dragon want or need a page again?

I think he was the page to the last king before Anankos killed everyone.

10 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Perhaps its that he stay in an inhuman dragon form that make him seem so demonic

I guess he served Anankos after all.

What?

10 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I am going to give Revelation points here for this sounding like a perfectly logical place for Anankos to be, and an equally logical place to lure the army into a trap.

I mean, it's the third thing I haven't questioned since the story went all the way to Valla.

[Eltosian Kadath]

On 5/18/2019 at 3:31 PM, Dayni said:

they're both possessed, so maybe it doesn't affect those who Anankos directly controls.

Sumeragi doesn't get possessed until after he dies, but you may be right about Anankos protecting papa Garon from the curse (or perhaps the curse is what let the slime father replace the good version of Garon that Xander idealizes)

On 5/18/2019 at 3:31 PM, Dayni said:

....

That's amazing, never knew that could be done.

I do not regret picking Witch!Ophelia.

Witch Ophelia is proving to be kinda amazing. I think I undersold warp when I compared it to Tear Ring Saga's version, it may restrict you to appearing adjacent to allies, but with your ability to first pairup or switch before warping, and after warping switch and/or transfer before making an attack or separating, it lets her share her warp powers with anyone that could need it.

On 5/18/2019 at 3:31 PM, Dayni said:

Wait, you can do that? That's not illegal?

I feel like I am missing something here

 

Part 21 Don't Kink Shame the Incestuous Yaoi Lover Paralogue 22

It took one final map of relationship grinding to get the last 2 couples to S, so it is time to put grinding maps behind us. So lets start with some more meals for the army, but with the upgraded kitchen we can feed everyone.

at least it wasn't a bad flair, just a meh one. The res boost is due to the staggering abundance of shining bows on this map.

Now for a little bit of the story.

The group agrees to help a Nohrian noble, with the most egregiously evil facial expression in the game, guard his ill gotten loot from noble thieves.

Niles then so thoroughly and accurately shames his daughter that she quits the profession as soon as she joins to follow in her mother's footsteps.

I do kinda like how they use this to point out the logic of Nohrian archers having thief abilities by making an allusion to Robinhood.

With the expression he has given, the only thing I wouldn't believe is that he gotten it without nefarious means.

Unfortunately we can't recruit her during the paralogue and have to beat some sense into her.

Sorry Nina, but you aren't going anywhere.

So Felicia, Azama, and Caeldori are on the bench for this chapter simply due to having the highest xp totals at the moment (and Felicia gives the flame shuriken back to Sakura).

First thing I do is have Niles open the front door, and then Sakura ensures that Nina will not move.

I start moving everyone forward, and have Rhajat and Beruka pairup, and then Azura dances Rhajat for a level

and to let Rhajat not only kill one of the Heros from range, but choke the point that they will all pass through with the horse spirit

Rhajat does fine, but now there is a wall of Generals between us and Nina. Oboro starts by finishing the hero that started adjacent to Rhajat and was missed by her, then Ryuji takes its place to finish the General that injured itself attacking Rhajat with the dragon stone and a Rhajat attack stance for a level.

As Elise finishes the one to the west with the bolt axe and Ryuuji dragon stone attack stance for a level, gets sheltered by Silas to keeps her out of arrow range, and later Niles transfers and separates her (as the last action of the turn).

Ophelia wipes the one to the east with magic and Selena's hammer attack stance for a level

and Mitama pairs with her to reduce enemy phase damage. Sakura range heals Rhajat, and Rhajat chips Nina (could kill without a miss), so Sakura gets danced by Azura to then

make sure she never escapes. Sorry about how shaky that image is.

Rhajat manages to level due to how much chip damage she is involved in on enemy phase.

The next turn is all about chaining my attack stances together to clear these enemies away without entering the next sets range. This is easily done with units to spare. Once that is done and all the shining bows are gone Rhajat can switch over to Beruka to kill Nina and tank the purely physical threats that remain

Now all of them moved in, so Ryuuji starts by range debuffing the General that attacked Beruka from the west with fire, then Silas kills it after trade switching Ryuuji to the dragon stone, so Sakura can enter its space and kill the Berserker that attacked Beruka from the north at range, and Selena can use Ryuuji's attack stance with her hammer to kill the General that couldn't reach Beruka. Next Beruka switches to Rhajat to let her hit and debuff the General that attacked them from the east at range from the other side, and Ophelia finishes it, with Mitama trade switching Ophelia to the lightning to get the ranged kill on the Berserker that tried to attack stance with the general last turn (and that Ophelia moved adjacent to for the General kill). Azura then dances Rhajat to break the eastern wall, and those that can still move get ready to enter the breach

First thing that happens is Elise kills the General that is clogging the path with her trusty bolt axe (Rhajat chipped and debuffed it). Then Oboro uses that space to do the same to the Sorcerer with her killer lance plus Rhajat attack stance. Next Mitama trade swapped Elise to tomes for a more accurate attack stance on the Sorcerer on the other side of the wall. This let Rhajat pull forward to draw in the Adventurers with both steel and shining bows while chipping and debuffing the other General, then Azura dances Elise to kill it from outside those dangerous bow ranges. Next Selena and Ryuuji open the door to the northwest with a door key. Its only after I do this that I take a close enough look at the distances to realize they can't catch the Adventurer that just nabbed the shining bow chest, and I am going to have to get creative.  Silas gets the only guard stance he can to lunge into one of the Sorcerers to the west unleashing its fury on Ryuuji and Selena, and Ophelia warps in to kill the other, putting them in a prime position to kill the adventurer next turn.

Selena takes a heavy hit but survives it, but far worse there are reinforcements this turn. The paired-up Sorcerers with Adventurers in the back completely stalls all momentum in the east with how many fliers are on that side. Rhajat manages to kill one of the Adventurers that attacked her on enemy phase, and the Sorcerer that was further north dies, but we have to pull back out of bow ranges (not that those that grab the loot do not even try to attack so for now I ignore him). The west has a similar pickle, as the one that grabbed the loot has only space outside of the bow range of other enemies, so Ophelia tries for the just under 50 mjolnir crit, but merely hits. Silas has to finish it in melee, which means Azura has to dance Sakura, and Ryuuji has to move his convoy to place in her reach that lets her grab a Rescue staff and pull Silas away from painful bow death

Selena kills the Sorcerer that hurt her with a dual club hit to finish off this turn

#

In the east the lone injured Adventurer dies enemy phase, and the Sorcerers are debuffed and injured, so Oboro manages to finish one for a level

and Elise finishes the other leaving only the Adventurers. Ophelia kills one by warping in with lightning and Elise attack stance, and after pairing with Mitama Azura dances Oboro for a scary kill on the other with the Ophelia attack stance, letting Beruka chip the one carrying the partner seal for a level.

Meanwhile Sakura heals for a level, and Niles starts heading for the chest that his daughter usually grabs.

Unfortunately I miss the image for this turn. Sorry.

Beruka chases down and kills the one carrying the partner seal in position to let Ophelia warp to kill another adventurer, leaving only the one fleeing with the gold, while Niles grabs the goddess icon, Sakura heals and we start to regroup.

Ophelia kills the last Adventurer in east for his gold, letting Beruka and Rhajat start their long treck back, while we are still concentrating our forces in the west even as reinforcement Berserkers show up.

They run away?

Apparantly after all the looter are killed everything on the maps starts trying to escape. The other times I have done this map I have had at least an extra locktouch units to go through the southwestern route (and I cheesed the shining bow grab) to block off that escape route, so this is the first time it has been a major feature of the map for me. I manage to lure the two Berserkers that spawned into attacking us

And feed Silas a level killing one

But despite my best efforts

They prioritize leaving the map over attacking, so those end up being the last kills of the map.

The map ends with an bit of an in universe critique of the whole deep realm baby growth chambers.

Nina starts by rebuking Niles for the way the time difference leaves the children feeling neglected.

Niles defends his actions by first stating the more general reason for her to need the protection of the deep realms.

But transitions into the more personal and heartfelt reasons he decided to send her to the deep realms. Its rather optimistic of him to imagine the deep realm as a better world than his own.

As Silas states the obvious

Nina starts fantasizing about Yaoi involving her father

No kink shaming the yaoi fangirl, just let her fantasize guys.

After finally returning to base Nina takes her Offspring seal for 4 free levels and then changes to

The double E rank weapons is what hurts the most here. Next up is Chapter 20, and again I have it done, just need to write it up.

[Punished Dayni]

4 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I feel like I am missing something here

I was just in shock that Ophelia was allowed warp between the islands.

5 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

make sure she never escapes. Sorry about how shaky that image is.

Sakura is about to activate Za Warudo again I see.

5 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

No kink shaming the yaoi fangirl, just let her fantasize guys.

It is still weird she's doing so involving her dad though.

[Eltosian Kadath]

On 5/22/2019 at 12:36 AM, Dayni said:

It is still weird she's doing so involving her dad though.

In defense of Nina, she is clearly focusing on Silas, and her father would fit nicely as an opposite gendered surrogate for the fantasy.

 

Part 22 ---- Chapter 20

The only major preps here were with Nina's equipment. I forge a fire tome called the Yaoi Doujin for her, she claims the Tharja axe from Rhajat (must be a Yandere fan as well) plus a raider axe, and disrobing gale for variety. Now onto the story

...Has Elise been blindfolded throughout Valla, floating islands are one of its most distinctive features, and both Valla chapters have involved them.

This seems like a reasonable concern, but

Takumi aptly points out that if they intend to follow Anthony they have no other options.

Sakura was right to be worried, but this gives us an opportunity to see how the Nohrian and Hoshidan truce has started to warm relations

When a Prince of Nohr save a Prince of Hoshido.

Xander catches a suspicious reaction from Anthony, which starts keying him into Anthony being a potential traitor. Kinda uncharacteristically astute of Xander as Anthony is far subtler than Garon. On the other hand Xander didn't want to believe anything was wrong with his father, and was thus willfully ignorant of his issues.

Now onto the chapter itself. I have three resets here, one where I was figuring my opening out, one where I underestimated the master ninjas, and a final one where I wasn't careful with the Maligknights ranges.

Azama, Felicia, and Beruka are waiting this one out. I start by having Mitama activate a dragon vein to give us access to the Generals to the west. Silas then gives Selena a defense rally, and Azura dances him for a level to let him pair with Selena for more bulk (and free extra dodge)

Selena then grabs a kill on the first General and gets ready to enemy phase the rest. This is somewhat safe, there is a low crit rate to worry about, plus if every enemy gets their 55-60% accuracy attacks hit and she crits with every attack (mid-high 30%) she won't get the block she needs. Caeldori and Ophelia are just behind to help deal with the Kinshi knights that will join in. In the east Ryuuji activates the dragon vein that unleashes the Master Ninja with the dragon stone and both sister's personal skills to tank the first one.

Next turn Caeldori kills one Kinshi for a level

Mitama kills another, then Selena kills the immobile General with he overused hammer, which lets Azura use her former space to dance Mitama into a second kinshi kill for a level, as Ophelia finishes the last.

In the east Elise chips the debuffed Master Ninja to let Nina get the kill, then Ryuuji takes a heavy hit to debuff the next, and Sakura chips him to let Oboro chip him more with the guard naginata to avoid damage, so Rhajat can kill it and protect everyone else from the third with Oboro's help.

Next turn Selena switches and trades the dropped chest key to Silas to loot the chest, as Caeldori gets danced to give Mitama the attack stance she needs to kill a Onmyoji in the center. Ophelia warps to give us someone that isn't debuffed to chip that last Master Ninja, and she crits it with the calamity gate, so everyone collaborates to find a way to feed Nina the kill on the Sword Master that moved forward.

Silas lures one of the Great Masters in the center, as Mitama sets up her personal skill for healing, and Rhajat tries to lure the rest of the Sword Masters, and Sakura heals Ryuuji.

Silas pulls back with his javelin to injure the Onmyoji that healed the great master, and Mitama starts air lifting Caeldori to the main army, which is using its overwhelming numbers to find safe ways to deal with the 3 Sword Masters without poking the Maligknights which results in a Rhajat level , and Nina is slowly approaching her first level.

Silas finishes the Onmyoji on player phase, and after a careful look at enemy ranges, Mitama lets Caeldori lure in one of the Great Masters. Oboro gets healed, and readies a dual yumi to enemy phase the first Maligknight

Oboro kills a second on player phase for a level

and Caeldori switches to Mitama to kill a third, and gets into a position to let Ophelia get an attack on a Great Master, for Silas to kill it from range, while Elise pairs with Nina to get the move to kill the last (no kill for Nina this turn).

Ophelia levels enemy phase on the injured Great Master, while I arrange for Nina to get the level on the Falcon Knight kill.

Hint taken Nina, its time to slow down a bit to let you catch up. I use dragon veins to set things up to reunite the army, as Silas starts attacking the last Great Master.

Silas levels when he kills it, but the rest of the turn is used getting ready to attack the next groups of Generals.

Time to start feeding Nina. Unfortunately these Generals are only getting hurt by magic, and range will keep her alive, so she gets more magic rank when she really needs more axe rank. I activate the dragon vein forward, although the rest of the advance is a bit clumsy. I setup the hammer attack stance with Selena for a Nina attack, and she crits so I do not have to warp Azura in for a dance. I also use Oboro to enemy phase the last Malig Knight.

Next turn Nina levels killing the next General after Oboro chips with an Elise attack stance, with her own Elise attack stance, and a dance to finish things as Elise is trying to raise her tome rank and had an attack stance miss with weapon triangle disadvantage.

With the Generals from the boss island coming in I pull back a little and let Rhajat chip and debuff the first General

Next turn Rhajat switches to Lightning to make Nina's kill of the General she chipped and debuffed more reliable. Rhajat then pulls back to let Azura dance Nina, while Ryuuji positions himself to give the strongest attack stance he can, and Elise levels chipping with the horse spirit on the next General to give Nina another kill. Both Elise and Nina are in the last General's range, so Silas rallies defense, and Sakura sets up her aura for both of them, while the Kinshi ferry the last infantry over

Next turn Nina finishes the General that hit her from range with an Elise attack stance, Sakura heals her and gets her personal skill ready to help anyone taking on the static General, then Nina gets danced by Azura, Elise hits the immobile general in melee, to give Nina the safer and easier kill for a level.

Then as I start moving troops forward I really nail down the weird way the Bridges work when the dragon vein is triggered with people on them, and people in the location it will go when Ryuuji activates it.

but people still have to keep moving

With Mitama activating the dragon vein and good use of pairup/separate we congregate before the next group of enemies with Nina baiting in one of the Falcon Knights

With Nina finishing the Falcon Knight after moving a little to let Azura dance her and level to let her grab the chest I almost forgot about. Rhajat draws in the other Falcon Knight.

Nina manages to finish off that Falcon Knight, while people are moving forward, and Sakura manages to level while healing.

Now it is time to use the bridge mechanics to my advantage. Mitama activates the dragon vein to move all the people on the bridge to let my infantry get involved in the Onmyoji fight. Oboro got moved along with it, but she still easily reaches a space to hit one of the Sorcerers from range, but with a miss, her former attack stance partner Selena then move forward to let Ophelia get a safer warp kill and give Elise an attack stance on the chip to finish with Caeldori. Rhajat moves in to add an attack stance to Silas ranged chip, and with Azura pairing with Nina to reach Mitama, switch and transfer to let Nina claim the kill on the last one for a level

Now my fliers get ready to take on the Berserkers, with Oboro chipping the nearest so Nina can grab a kill and some axe rank, with a pairup, Lilypoise boost, defense rally, and luck rally to make it entirely impossible for the other Berserker to ruin her day, while Azura activate a dragon vein to let Ryuuji, Sakura, Ophelia, and Selena gets ready to take on the boss in about two turns.

Next turn Silas moves in to chip the mobile Berserker so Nina can finish it for some axe rank, and Elise can chip the other to let Mitama get a kill, and more people approach the boss.

Nina and Mitama (with a chest key) grab the last chests, while Selena adds some ranged hit to the boss, so Sakura can finish her.

 

...Was the impregnable stone fortress of Gyges always the capitol? This seems like the kinda thing Azura should know, but I guess its possible her mother never mentioned the capitol while telling her daughter about Valla.

Seeing as the first we see of Antony he is being chased, it might be relevant to ask how he picked up that pursuit. If they found him escaping it seems reasonable to question whether or not his means of escape was discovered, but

Xander is having concerns that the whole thing is a trap.

Despite this being the safest option, Ryuuji would never allow it, and the value of learning a means of entering Anankos's impregnable fortress might be worth the risk.

Xander is proving himself to be very perceptive, when he isn't blinded by his relationship to his father.

[Punished Dayni]

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

In defense of Nina, she is clearly focusing on Silas, and her father would fit nicely as an opposite gendered surrogate for the fantasy.

Wait, so she is pretending Niles is a woman here? I am confused. Too confused.

2 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Seeing as the first we see of Antony he is being chased, it might be relevant to ask how he picked up that pursuit. If they found him escaping it seems reasonable to question whether or not his means of escape was discovered

To be fair, he could have been discovered some distance away from the place he escaped (the idea he could be pursued isn't impossible), so they wouldn't know it was how he got out..

[Eltosian Kadath]

23 hours ago, Dayni said:

Wait, so she is pretending Niles is a woman here? I am confused. Too confused. 

I meant it more as he would be like a male Nina, so sorry for adding extra confusion.

 

Part 23 Everyone is Here Paralogue 21

Last but for a certainty not least it is time to recruit Soleil. Her chapter is rather tricky as it spreads you very thin if you try to save her allies, so

I go for as defensive a meal as I can, and I get a flair that would be great if there were more than 2 males on the whole PMU team. Had quite a few resets here, but a part of that is that I wouldn't let any of Soleil's men die.

I'm glad they have stuck with Dastard throughout the series. It started as clear and silly censorship, but it grows on you, gaining a charm all its own.

I wonder how the existence of tailed shapeshifters would change the context of this phrase. Then again they may not be well enough known

I like this little detail, that the villainous brigands didn't fight to the death, or scatter so thoroughly that they never returned, instead that they retreated so they could come back stronger.

Another band of merry men huh.

I rather like Soleil, and this hints at two parts of it here. First she somehow has a healthy relationship with her father. Second she is confident and in control of herself, like a force of nature as they put it.

Now onto the paralogue. I end up deploying Nina, Silas, Beruka, Azura, Felicia, Rhajat, Mitama, Azama, Ophelia, and Caeldori, with Ryuuji and Laslow forced. Also of note I made sure everyone had an equipment slot open, as at least one reset I had was tied to not having the room to pickup and move an obstacle. Finally I fill Laslow's equipment with weapons for his daughter.

My opening has Rhajat kill one of the Berserkers with lightning, and leave Mitama at the edge of Rhajat's range to let her carry her along next turn. Ryuuji and Felicia move as far as they can with a pairup and separate, while Caeldori and Azama do the same. Next Beruka pairs with Nina for the extra move, and then Azura pairs with Silas to move into a position to dance Nina, that then separates as close to Soleil as possible, and then Laslow pairs with Ophelia to warp adjacent to Beruka and drop Lalow adjacent. Unfortunately Soleil doesn't recruit herself.

But next turn Laslow recruits her.

Its a real sign of strength being able to admit you need help.

And like magic, Laslow calling his daughter a Hero

makes it so.

After Laslow recruits his daughter, Beruka pairs with her to get the extra movement, and she promotes just outside a mixed attacking group to the south to try and get as many as possible to head in that direction instead of near the green unit. Caeldori again pairs and seperates with Azama to draw in the Berserkers with the sunrise katana to dodge tank and counter kill with the Azama attack stance. Rhajat and Mitama pairup to move towards the action, and Ryuuji and Felicia pair and move in such a away to let Ryuuji draw in some of the northern Berserkers, while letting Azura get closer to Mitama and Rhajat for next turn. Next Ophelia pairs with Nina to then separates into range of the approaching Sorcerers

On enemy phase Ophelia kills the Sorcerer that attacked her, Azama had a miss so one that attacked Caeldori lives, and Ryuuji levels killing the 2 Berserkers that attacked him

So Felicia chips the last Berserker from range, so Nina can get an axe kill, Ophelia warps to kill the Hero that followed the Sorcerer, and Ryuuji kills the last Sorcerer, emptying the north for now. With a dance, Mitama drops Rhajat and her horse spirit in place to block up 2 of the mixed attacker groups coming from the south. Having successfully drawn the 3 attacker into their direction, Soleil pulls back and separates Beruka. Caeldori kills the last Berserker, so Azama starts heading west to add a healer to those about to confront the armies of the south.

Next turn we have 6 more reinforcements show up. So Ophelia moves to be in the range of healing when Felicia draws in the new Sorcerers (without drawing the Dark Knights yet) with the Ryuuji attack stance to kill it. In the south, Soleil hand axes the first Sorcerer, with a lightning attack stance from Rhajat in case she misses. Then Beruka lunge kills the next Sorcerer, and after Azama healing her, Rhajat enters the Beruka lunged past to chip the Hero behind the last Sorcerer, so that Mitama can kill it instead (and trade switch Soleil to a more melee focused weapon). Now Nina moves in to separate Silas from Azura, and she dances him, to let him grab one of the obstacles for future use. Caeldori is staying in position for future reinforcement reasons. Sometime one of the the enemies that Soleil drew in would head for the green unit anyway, and she would deal with that if it happens.

Now 10 more reinforcements popup. Felicia and Ryuuji pull back to try and enemy phase another Sorcerer (and get Ryuuji in position to deal with the northern Berserker reinforcements). Beruka finishes the one that hit her, Rhajat killed one on enemy phase, and chips the other enough for Soleil to handaxe it. Silas and Mitama kill the Heroes, Azura catches a ride with Nina to let Soleil kill the Sorcerer after Azama healed her, so Ophelia moves to Ryuuji to grab a healing item from the convoy, to then warp to Rhajat to trade it to her and pair with her, so they get ready to chip the Heroes from the south. Rhajat levels on enemy phase

5 more show up this turn. A dance lets Soleil level on the last Hero in the south with the good old Rhajat lightning attack stance.

Next Rhajat moves to Beruka, switches to Ophelia, transfers to Beruka, and Ophelia warps to pair with Felicia so she can block the path to the green unit without having to worry about Hero attack stances (and have the power to enemy phase the Dark Knights in a couple of turns). Silas move in to pair with Ryuuji for the +5 crit avoid (had a reset due to Berserker crits here), to make a future maneuver easier, and give him access to an obstacle. Azama heals Beruka, she moves and separates Rhajat, and Laslow separates Nina from Azura. Mitama is getting ready to pairup with Caeldori soon, but thing do not go quite according to plan there.

As I need to get the other obstacle in place to protect a green unit from Sorcerers. Mitama flies over to grab it, Azura pairs with Laslow, gets transfered to Beruka to then then switch to Azura to transfer Beruka and dance Mitama to drop the obstacle. Also 8 reinforcements showed up in the players starting position, but I have at least two turns before they are a problem. Caeldori grabs a kill on the first Berserker, but has to do so with the Cordelia sword instead of the sunrise katana and levels.

Sorry about the thumb. Felicia has to kill the Berserker that had a handaxe in the north (she has a full guard up so this is safe), while Ryuuji gets ready to test his new dragon stone+ on the Heroes. Rhajat pairs with Nina to start chipping the oncoming Sorcerers with Azama and Soleil there to finish them next turn.

Caeldori kills the Berserker without the handaxe, but takes a hit. Mitama manages to level on the return shot on a Sorcerer.

So Azama pairs with Laslow to get dropped a bit closer, so Azura can dance him to get close enough to range heal Caeldori, and give her an attack stance on the last Berserker, as her seal attack dropped out of the +4 damage bonus from her personal skill, and she needs it to kill (again no sunrise katana). Felicia finishes the Hero that was hurt by the dragon stone, and explicitly in range of all the Dark Knight (and with the magic boost from Ophelia pairup she exactly kills them). Ryuuji moves and switches to Silas to chip the other Hero (and have the extra move for next turn). Soleil kills one Sorcerer, and Rhajat switches to Nina to let her lunge to block off the last one.

Caeldori faces the highest accuracy attack yet, a low 50 and dodges anyway. Felicia levels by killing all the Dark Knights.

Silas moves to protect a green unit from melee, switches to Ryuuji to Dragon tank, and he trades to drop the obstacle next to him, while Felicia moves and switches to Ophelia, to get danced for an Azura level, and kill the Berserker in the midst of the Sorcerers she is now blocking

Caeldri gets the Azama pairup and starts using the sunrise katana to kill the first bowknight safely. Nina lets Rhajat get in position to tank a mixed attacking group in the center of the south with Mitama just behind, while Soleil prepares to enemy phase that last injured Sorcerer (but I forget to account for the +1 defense from the forest so it lives on 1 hp)

Caeldori takes some poison damage, and Ophelia enemy phases the lot of the Sorcerers, but she is a bit low on health. On player phase Ryuuji kills the one that hit him enemy phase,  while Caeldori is working her way through the Bow Knights. Rhajat moves close to Azura and uses a vulnerary to let Soleil grab a kill after a Mitama chip, then Rhajat gets dance to finish another with the lightning (also trade switches Soleil to a handaxe), and then Ophelia uses that space in front of Rhajat to warp and switch to Felicia, trade switches her weapon back to horse spirit, and range heals Soleil. Soleil ends up leveling on enemy phase to that Sorcerer she tried to kill last turn

After a Hero handaxes the green unit behind Ryuuji, he switches to Silas to lunge kill it for a level and to prevent any more damage on that poor green unit. I let Azama get the kill on the last Bow Knight for a level as well.

Now Mitama has a full guard so she chips Zhara, and Felecia switches to Ophelia to have her warp and finish him (taking advantage of the weaknesses of magic counter).

Next Rhajat with a dance blocks off the Berserker Sorcerer pairs, and trade equips a bow on Mitama, and Soleil finishes the last Sorcerer in the south.

Next turn Beruka range lunge kills the Sorcerer half of the nearest paired enemy

and Ophelia finishes the Berserker half for a level

and Nina kills the other Sorcerer thanks to Rhajat sealing its resistance. Then Azura dances Ophelia to let Felicia heal Soleil. Silas switches back to Ryuuji while killing another Hero, and Azama starts to approach him while carrying Caeldori.

The last Sorcerer falls fairly easily on the last turn, and I let Soleil end things with the Berserker.

Laslow successfully sums up this chapter, but pulling it off was a lot of fun.

I do like the way they characterize Soleil's nervous flirtation, it may be a bit cliche but comes across as consistent with his character.

Laslow continue to prove himself to be a progressive father, and positive figure in his daughter's life despite the way he treats women.

Good advice, but Soleil's success is clearly due to her confidence.

While I am tempted to say that children are not their parents, Silas is clearly judging Laslow unfairly. Laslow has only shown himself to be a good father in their interactions, and fatherhood seems to bring out the best in him.

Now that everyone joined, I think next time will be another unit review, but first it is time to for the final Accessorizing.

Arete's feather is massive, eye catching, gaudy, and perfect for Ophelia.

If any of the human Fates characters is a furry it would be Nina, and even if she isn't I could still see her wearing the tail as part of some cosplay

The white flowers are subtle, but emphasis her flirtatiousness.

[Punished Dayni]

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

And like magic, Laslow calling his daughter a Hero

makes it so.

(Insert your choice of Hero song here)

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I do like the way they characterize Soleil's nervous flirtation, it may be a bit cliche but comes across as consistent with his character.

Soleil's a man all along?

Is that why (s)he has difficulty working with woman?

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Laslow continue to prove himself to be a progressive father, and positive figure in his daughter's life despite the way he treats women.

I mean, kind of.

Doesn't mean he shouldn't have improved.

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

While I am tempted to say that children are not their parents, Silas is clearly judging Laslow unfairly. Laslow has only shown himself to be a good father in their interactions, and fatherhood seems to bring out the best in him.

He doesn't think Laslow was able to raise a child.

Someone maybe could take some lessons, Silas.

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

If any of the human Fates characters is a furry it would be Nina, and even if she isn't I could still see her wearing the tail as part of some cosplay

True story, my niece's dog has a full name: Furball Furby Nina.

Nina has been ruined forever now for me.

[Eltosian Kadath]

On 5/28/2019 at 11:15 AM, Dayni said:

Soleil's a man all along?

That was a silly typo of me.

On 5/28/2019 at 11:15 AM, Dayni said:

Doesn't mean he shouldn't have improved.

True, he really should work on improving himself.

On 5/28/2019 at 11:15 AM, Dayni said:

Furball Furby Nina.

So her Fursona has a name ?

All right onto the Unit Review

Ryuuji with HP boon, and Skill Bane

Ryuuji is a solid swordsman, with the incredibly useful dragon hex, but

the dragonstone + is an interesting trade-off, with a skill bane that accuracy  is particularly bad and gets worse (thankfully you can't be debuffed into negative skill), but it lets him become arguably my best mixed tank (although his middling speed and lack of 2 range in dragon form can make Rhajat a better mixed tank in some situations)

 

Felicia

Tome breaker is about the only thing she really has over Sakura (the higher luck is very situational, and the higher resistance is kinda trumped by Tome breaker). Tome breaker is still amazing, and even when Sakura hits level 15 she can fall back into a supportive role easily.

 

Azura

Her stats have never mattered, only her ability to dance does.

 

Sakura

Now that she has access to the flame shuriken she is a competent combatant. She has the defenses and speed to take a hit, and hits hard with magic damage. She can still use her normal healing and aura utility if she needs to.

 

Caeldori

She hits hard and can dodge tank rather well. With the sunrise katana she hits 79 avoid, and the double rally of Azama lets her hit 89, plus all of her supports add avoid (although one needs to raise a rank first). She won't survive well against WTD, but otherwise does well. She also has access to the Camaraderie skill, and I am thinking of swapping Strength Seal out for it, as it is proving to be a bit of a mixed blessing. Her high dodge lets it add some physical bulk to her, but it can also pull enemies out of Prodigy range for less damage.

 

Oboro

Her and Mitama have fairly similar offensive stats, with Oboro having a bit more physical bulk,  but their skills notably differentiate them. Oboro has far more offensively oriented skill (Quick Draw, Nohr Emnity, and Seal Defense) which let her hit a lot harder. Plus her weapon ranks are close to capping, giver her access to many useful weapons.

 

Selena

Now that her weapon ranks are more respectable she can function well as a Berserker. At her best when multiple allies use her attack stance, on top of her own attacks to roll for her high crit rate as many times as possible. She does also have strength rally, but she usually has better things to do.

 

Beruka

Beruka and Silas are starting to hit dangerously low speeds (raider weapons help a little, and if she hits C sword the practice sword can help more), even if their physical stats are good. Luna lets her take more advantage of her high skill stat (and personal growth rate).

Elise

Elise has similar looking stats to Nina, but with a magic attack focus. The bolt axe hits hard, but she is still working on the weapon ranks to reach lightning. Good unit with a great personal.

 

Silas

Silas's low speed is starting to get worrisome even with his bulk. He has a lot of useful utility abilities at this point, with flying shelter being a great addition to the normal Wyvern Lord abilities of a flying lunge, general flying utility, and the excellent defense rally.

 

Rhajat

Her mixed bulk with the horse spirit is overwhelming what I used her for, although she occasionally takes the offensive with lightning. Tomes have far more useful abilities attached to them, and better 1-2 range capabilities, and with skills that push her towards more towards magic attacks (seal magic and its synergy with vendetta, and +2 magic), her axe rank has fallen far behind. She also has access to Push as a skill if I want to swap something out for it.

 

Azama

He has good attacking stats, staff utility, and a useful rally combination. Rally speed is great and worth using alone, and works well with rally luck for an overall 10 avoid boost. He currently has the bolt naginata due to having a magic stat, but it hasn't seen any use yet.

 

Mitama

Mitama has similar offensive stats to Oboro, but with higher magic bulk, and fairly bad physical bulk. Her personal skill, Camaraderie, and Miracle give her more abilities to survive and recover, plus Darting Blow lets her hit higher speed ranges. She also has a magic stat, but she hasn't hit the bow rank (or spear rank I suppose) to actually use that yet.

 

Ophelia

Ophelia is best mage. Warp is also amazingly useful, brokenly so in some maps.

 

Nina

Nina has similar looking stats to Elise, other than her terrible HP and a focus on physical attacks. Unfortunately her weapon ranks are still stuck at E and her personal is almost unusable with Ryuuji, Azama, and Silas being the only male units in the PMU. Her +1 move, and lock touch have excellent utility though.

Soleil

Good stats, passable weapon rank, and an easy to activate (on this mostly female PMU) good personal skill.

 

Next up is chapter 21, which has a gimmick that makes it very easy.

[Eltosian Kadath]

Part 24 Steroids, not even once kids

Unless this is slightly hyperbolic, this indicates that Xanders words and opinions have swayed the Hoshidans as well as Nohrians. More indication of the easing of tensions between the two nations.

Heading in there alone would still be suspicious. If he actually managed to open the front entrance I would assume it was a trap, for how would actually succeed without inside help.

It is a terrible situation to be in (if he wasn't a traitor) as a large group like Ryuuji's army would have a much greater chance of being discovered (and having to fight their way through), even without treachery.

I do wonder what Anthony would have done if Ryuuji just let him enter alone. But alas Ryuuji followed Anthony into a trap

I am going to give the Revelations writers credit for the clever dual reference of this line. The first is what Anthony is clearly intending, the "cut the head of a snake and the body will die", but there is another phrase that references the myth of the hydra, "cut off the head, and two grow back in its place", hinting that even if Ryuuji falls, Xander and Ryoma would still be there to pick up the pieces of his army.

Despite Anthony trying to sell this as Ryuuji not trusting him, leaving a note to inform people of where he has gone and what he is doing (or letting someone else know this information by telling them in person) is a basic safety precaution. The arrival of the army hints that this precaution was unnecessary as his not sibling were intentionally keeping an eye on him (and following when he suspiciously wandered off).

The change in Anthony's physique when Anankos transforms him into a faceless is kinda impressive. Also despite him not saying anything intelligible here, his battle quotes are, which is unique for faceless.

All right onto the map. I let Ophelia take a break as she is a little over-leveled, and this chapter is kinda easy. Felicia is also on the bench due to not needing a third healer

I start by letting Elise tank the two nearest tome users to gain some tome rank, with Nina in position to get some axe rank

The gimmick of this map is that units that end their movement/action in a blue room become unpromoted, and have to do the same in a red room to promote again

which lets you take on enemies in weakened states. Note that this change in form doesn't seem to effect the amount of xp gained. This chapter is an opportunity to gain up weapon ranks and xp, so Nina starts by gaining some axe rank and a level taking out the nearest mage, and Selena levels killing the spearman

Soleil uses a handaxe which chips without the Selena crit the other spearmen so Elise gets some more xp and tome rank, and Oboro claims the other mage kill with a Nina attack stance, and Mitama trade equips her to a killer lance for enemy phase. Everyone else moves in behind, with Beruka pairing with Silas to separate into enemy maid range with a bronze lance, and Caeldori getting danced to reach her destination

Next turn Caeldori, Silas and Beruka break off to deal with the east, and are drawing two Master of Arms into demoting. Then Azama enters this nice hole in my formation to give almost everyone a speed & luck rally. Elise kills the Troubadour (former Maid), and Soleil finishes off the injured Samurai with a handaxe for some relationship gains with Ryuuji. With the speed rally and a Nina pairup to get the needed movement to kill the Samurai in the next room with a dual yumi, and after a dance Azama separates them, as the rest are following along.

Next Sakura levels by healing Azama, and after a dance killing the mage that hit him.

Caeldori, Silas, and Beruka are enough to wipe out the former Master of Arms. Then Ryuuji moves in to draw in some Master of Arms, and Rhajat pulls the shining bow Adventurer

Next turn is a bit busy as Elise kills the former Master of Arms that attacked Ryuuji for a level.

Selena ranged chips the other to let Azama kill it. Ryuuji and Sakura blocks off the Merchant from hitting those flyers with a bow without drawing in any mages, as Sakura kills the Archer/Sniper that was moving with him at range (that border region to the south apparently counts as part of the blue room so it was an Archer at the time). Azura dances Azama to let him range heal the damage Sakura took. Nina moves to range chip the Swordmaster that added an attack stance to the shining bow attack so Oboro can grab the kill for a level with a lance (Mitama trade equips her back to bow for enemy phase), and Soleil finishes the shining bow for another level

In the east Caeldori, SIlas, and Beruka are getting in position to kill the fighters next turn without letting them promote.

This tactic works next turn and gets Beruka a level.

Soleil finishes the former Maid, Nina grabs the chest, Selena kills the former Merchant, and everyone else starts positioning for next turn. Of note is that Rhajat and Mitama are waiting to ambush the new Swordmaster that spawned after it demotes next turn.

It ends up being Mitama and Sakura that kill the former Swordmaster. Oboro starts baiting in the Maid to the south as the whole army prepares to crush the yet to promote mages.

Azama easily wipes one mage, and a Silas javelin plus Caeldori attack stance kills another, then Elise pulls off a Lunge to pull in the last mage for an easier finish, and get her in position to draw in a Swordmaster

Selena finishes that almost dead mage with an Azama attack stance. Soleil finishes the maid, and a Nina ranged chip, lets Oboro finish the former Swordmaster. Next Sakura pairs with Rhajat to get transferred to Ryuuji, and after a dance they put themselves in position to give her 4 extra damage reduction with a trade equip to the horse spirit for 3 more.

Mitama finishes the former Swordmaster. Sakura heals up Elise as Ryuuji gets ready to dragon tank the first Ninja, and Nina draws in an Adventurer. Nina chains together some transfers to approach the next chest as Caeldori, Rhajat, and Silas setup for a plan to debuff the boss room.

Soleil kills the Adventurer that attacked her, and Mitama pulls back to help her and Oboro deal with the Master of Arms reinforcements I have been ignoring, but whose range you can see below. Selena makes it fairly easy to chain together the two Ninja kills. Nina grabs the other chest but the others in that direction wait another turn before activating the dragon vein.

Speaking of which.

This changes the colors of the rooms, but doesn't change people's classes until they end their turn, so Ryuuji draws in the unpromoted Ninja, while Soleil and Oboro kill the former Master of Arms. Elise has to charge back to chip a Sniper that spawned on the stairs, so Mitama can finish it with an Oboro attack stance. Silas then defense rallys Rhajat and get in position to give her an attack stance to rile up the boss room with the horse spirit.

Nina kills the first Ninja with Ryuuji leveling on the attack stance hit.

Beruka then nabs the other kill with Nina's attack stance. Azura dances Nina into range of grabbing the next chest. Then Selena gets ready to enemy phase the General that left the boss room with her hammer and a precautionary Ryuuji pairup for some extra crit avoid. Rhajat took enough damage that she pulls back to let Caeldori finish the one that attacked her, and Silas gives her a rally defense for next turn. Everyone else moves towards the boss room as fast as they can.

Caeldori kills the other bow user on enemy phase for a level.

But a pair of Master Ninja spawn into striking distance of her, and a pair of Maids (one with a chest key) spawn next to the chest Nina is approaching. The three that were in that room flee from those terrifying looking Ninja. Selena prepares to enemy phase the demoted General, Nina grabs the nearby chest and Elise kill the Maid with the chest key after a dance.

The reinforcements end up being a false alarm, as one of the Master Ninja escapes the map immediately, and after the surviving maid acts it demotes (despite the room she is in being uncolored).I think these guys are supposed to grab the chests, and the Ninja that ran is tied to a chest I have already looted. I still have those three flee in case I am wrong. I use Soleil to occupy the spaces the former Maid would use to promote (so it doesn't move). Everyone else gets in positions to grab the chests and kill the boss in one turn.

But the arrival of magic reinforcements delays that plan. I use Elise to draw in one, and Selena the other (this is only safe due to a full guard gauge). Once the Ninja demotes I finish him with those who were fleeing before, and Soleil finishes the former Maid. Azura ends up leveling while dancing as well

I decide to take an extra turn due to the arrival of a General.

But after its death I grab the last chests, and let Beruka grab the kill on Anthony after an Elise chip.

 

Having been betrayed Ryuuji is having his faith in humanity tested, but Ryoma and Xander are there to help restore his faith in people.

And then Gunter ends the chapter with the entirely innocent note that

 

[Punished Dayni]

On 6/2/2019 at 3:18 AM, Eltosian Kadath said:

Heading in there alone would still be suspicious. If he actually managed to open the front entrance I would assume it was a trap, for how would actually succeed without inside help.

If he was super sneaky.....

A Gaiden level with Anthony sneaking around and getting to the mechanism to open the gate maybe?

On 6/2/2019 at 3:18 AM, Eltosian Kadath said:

I am going to give the Revelations writers credit for the clever dual reference of this line. The first is what Anthony is clearly intending, the "cut the head of a snake and the body will die", but there is another phrase that references the myth of the hydra, "cut off the head, and two grow back in its place", hinting that even if Ryuuji falls, Xander and Ryoma would still be there to pick up the pieces of his army.

Somehow I feel like it's a bit unintentional, considering Corrin's meant to be the grand uniter.

It's a neat little thing if true, but I'm not sure that near anyone would have been thinking like that.

On 6/2/2019 at 3:18 AM, Eltosian Kadath said:

The gimmick of this map is that units that end their movement/action in a blue room become unpromoted, and have to do the same in a red room to promote again

  

which lets you take on enemies in weakened states. Note that this change in form doesn't seem to effect the amount of xp gained. This chapter is an opportunity to gain up weapon ranks and xp, so Nina starts by gaining some axe rank and a level taking out the nearest mage, and Selena levels killing the spearman

I feel like an idiot because it looks like you're unaffected. Are you?

Really feels like you should be affected.

On 6/2/2019 at 3:18 AM, Eltosian Kadath said:

And then Gunter ends the chapter with the entirely innocent note that

Completely innocuous.

Couldn't be said by a nicer guy.

[Gannondworf13]

The red and blue floors only affect the enemies. You don't promote and unpromote.

[Eltosian Kadath]

On 6/3/2019 at 1:45 AM, Dayni said:

If he was super sneaky.....

A Gaiden level with Anthony sneaking around and getting to the mechanism to open the gate maybe?

Maybe, but as Chapter 24 will show, Fire Emblem stealth missions tend to kinda suck

 

Part 25 Mind Readers Chapter 22

Lets start with some weapon rank related preps. Elise hit C rank tome so she gets a lightning tome, Mitama just managed C rank bows, so she can use a shining bow; and Nina reached D rank axe, and gained a handaxe for ranged physical damage. This chapter isn't very hard with so many fliers on my side, so no trips to the food court, but I did nab a reset forgetting that Mecanists get bows as their alternate weapon type. Now back to the story.

Seeing as Elise was born after Azura's capture, which is well into her exile, she must have been very yo-

...Young enough that her mother still had to lead her by the hand sounds about right.

That is a very dark commentary on the nature, and mentality behind Monarchy.

Azure, why didn't you recognize her when she was the boss of -

...Ok this is getting a little surreal

Doesn't he know that this is what happened to his slime father.

...I think the writers have stopped anticipating my commentary.

It is kinda interesting that she doesn't have Arete's memories, or pretends to have them, like Garon or Mikoto.

All right onto the chapter. Ophelia is still a level above the group, as is Caeldori, so they warm the bench on this one. Its also interesting to note that barring Arete (and the faceless I suppose) every enemy on this map is of a Hoshidan class.

Selena starts by crit killing the Sniper for a level.

Then Beruka, and Silas trade Selena to the dual club to try and range chip the lower Sword Master, but he is evasive enough that even after Elise tries to lightning him, Mitama has to finish him with a bronze lance (and takes a Vantage hit in return that Azama ranges heals a bit away) for a level.

The other Sword Master dies to Oboro using a dual yumi, and thankfully Mitama had an unlikely miss on her attack stance, so Soleil gets the kill (and a level) without having to face a Vantage attack.

Rhajat draws in the Spearmen from the south with the horse spirit plus supportive and quiet strength to take the hit. Nina is also nearby to deal with these southern enemies, and Azura uses her dance to get Felicia closer to the northern group

Beruka takes a hard hit from the Onmyoji with Spear Master attack stance (Soleil traded her to a bronze lance before so she isn't doubled), and Rhajat is hurt by the Spear Master with another's attack stance hit. Soleil kills the Onmyoji, but has to take a hit from it. Selena gets into position to give Beruka her attack stance against the Spear Master, although with no crit Silas nabs the level, and kill instead. With this space Felicia gives Soleil a range heal to finish the news in the north.

Next Mitama kills an approaching Falcon Knight and gives Oboro an attack stance against one of the Great Masters in the forest, and Azama finishes it. The south is a lot trickier, as Rhajat and Ryuuji missed all their attacks on enemy phase. Sakura starts by chipping the first Spear Master, to give Nina the axe kill. Next Ryuuji moves in to chip the other with a dragonstone+, and give Rhajat a +20 hit to let her comfortably kill the Sniper that followed behind with lightning. Finally Elise kills the remaining Spear Master after a dance with a ranged boltaxe hit.

Mitama has to rely on that air superiority avoid to dodge the Falcon Knight attack stance with the Great Master in the woods, so on player phase she one shot the Falcon Knight, and Oboro and Azama repeat their last turn on the other Great Master, for a level on both.

Things are slow in the north as Felicia heals Beruka, Beruka draws in the Faceless, Selena gives her a strength rally (and an attack stance on enemy phase), and Silas adds a defense rally. Things are slow in the south as well, with Sakura healing Rhajat, and Ryuuji healing from a convoy vulnerary. Nina and Elise can't quite kill the nearest Master of Arms (it runs to the fort to heal), but Elise  levels on the chip anyway.

Next turn Selena range chips the faceless, for Beruka to finish it, and Felicia heals her. Next Mitama sets up the attack stance for Oboro, Azama heals Mitama, Oboro chips the uninjured Master of Arms, Elise finishes it, and Nina kills the 1 health one on the fort. Sakura does some healing but otherwise that is the turn.

Next turn Beruka gets into position to draw in a Spear Master, Selena gives her a strength rally and attack stance, with the rest of the north following behind. In the center, Rhajat kills the Oni Chieftain that is approaching with a lightning for a level

Ryuuji finally activates a Dragon Vein to follow the fliers, Azura dances so he can move forward with Sakura. Azama gives Mitama his double rally, and she bullies the spy yumi Sniper with a shinig bow (to get effective damage on the Falcon Knight that heals him instead of attacking on enemy phase). While Nina loots the first chest.

Beruka levels on enemy phase thanks to a Selena attack stance crit killing the Spear Master.

Next turn, Mitama kills the Falcon Knight with a bow, and I setup enough chip that Nina levels on the spy yumi Sniper kill.

Felicia heals Beruka, and Soleil gets in position to draw in two Falcon Knights with a Beruka attack stance, and strength rally. Otherwise there is some minor positioning from everyone else.

Beruka finishes one Falcon Knight, and then Felicia heals Soleil for a level, then Soleil kills the other

I am stalling taking on the Ninja and Mechanist woods for one more turn with the rest of my troops.

Lets start with Beruka pairing with Soleil, and Soleil getting a strength rally to draw in a Sword Master. Next Ryuuji activates the dragon vein to let Sakura freeze staff the Mechanist that would otherwise protect the nearest Master Ninja with his bow range.

Next Oboro chips, and Sakura levels on the attack stance hit, and Mitama grabs the kill with an attack stance thanks to the debuffs.

Felicia manages to finish the Sword Master on player phase, but with a new Master Ninja spawning nearby, and Arete's silence staff disabling Felicia they don't press any further. The rest of the group falls back a little to draw out the Mechanist with Rhajat, as Nina and Oboro reposition to be within range of both sides of the battle, and threaten the spy yumi Sniper.

With Felicia silenced the northern group pulls back and seperate, but Beruka stays in range to ensure it gets into range next turn. Nina and Oboro cripple the spy yumi Sniper, while Sakura finishes the Mechanist, and Azama heals up Rhajat enough to draw out the next one.

A pair of Basara reinforcements arrive from the starting area, so Elise (with an Azama attack stance) moves into magic range of them. Ryuuji finishes the Mechanist, so Rhajat enters the Master Ninja attack range with a defense rally and supportive boost to mitigate her debuffs. Beruka can still take a Ninja hit so she goes for a hit and kills with a Luna proc, so she gets healed, while Selena and  Soleil move further. Oboro finishes the spy yumi, and Nina grabs the loot.

Azama finishes the Basara, and Elise enters magic range of the next. The last Ninja proves dodgy as it takes attacks from Ryuuji, Silas, and Mitama to take it down, as Rhajat pulls back a space to let Sakura heal her and be in attack stance position. Nina grabs the last of the loot. Finally Felicia pairs with Beruka to reach a space to tome breaker the Oni Chieftain south of the boss.

Another Ninja spawns in the Ninja woods, and I just pull back for now. Elise, and Azama finish the Basara. Selena then kills one Oni Chieftain with a dual club, Soleil kills the one that attack stance with the first. Next Oboro crippled Arete with a dual yumi, so Felicia can switch to Beruka for the comfortable kill for a level.

I could end it this turn, but I am close enough to routing it that I spend what ends up being technically 3 turns on it. Oboro kills the Falcon Knight that added an attack stance to the Oni attack. Beruka switches to Felicia to let her punish the Oni that hurt her with magic, and a dual club with some attack stance accuracy to kill it. In the center Sakura kills the spawned Ninja, Mitama pairs with Nina to get a ranged attack on the remaining Onmyoji, Azama pairs with Elise to get separated into range of an Azura dance after she pairs with Ryuuji to reach him, to get the kill on the Onmyoji.

A Master Ninja spawns in the  fort to the west, which costs me another turn, as Nina starts by Lunging the Ninja off the fort, and after a dance Sakura reaches a space to give Elise an attack stance to finish it (as her health with debuff is a little too low to risk an attack herself). Azama chips the last faceless from range, but it isn't quite enough to let Silas finish it, which leave the last enemy dying enemy phase for the easy sieze at the start of next turn.

Seeing as next chapter is called Arete Undone, she will not be recurring as much as she implies.

Huh, maybe she did end up dying to the "curse" then, while she was already on her death bed.

Next up is Arete's double death.

[Eltosian Kadath]

Part 26 Double Agents and Double Death chapter 23

Poor Ryouma. Her killer is still unknown, and this lack of resolution is eating him, but he has a solid theory

One of us is a traitor, and I wonder who it could-

Oh how nice of Gunter to weigh in on this subject, adding his suspicion only after someone else brought it up.

Boy it sure would...

...I guess Ryouma jinxed it by talking about her as

has been revived to toy with our emotions. I'm kinda glad Ryouma wasn't part of the PMU as I would feel compelled to see whatever boss conversation they have.

This is another chapter that is made easy with so many fliers, so no food again, but I did have a reset when a miss in the high 90s let a Mechanist live long enough to use its bow enemy phase. The gimmick of this one is that non flyers have to crowd onto these tiny 4 space platforms to move between multiple parts of the map. I end up trying to minimize ground units, so Sakura, Felicia, Beruka, and Azura are left behind. This leaves only 5 units that have to take the moving platform (Ophelia's warp lets her skip it).

So I start by having Oboro hitting the Spear Master with a swordcatcher drop with an arrow, then Elise attacks the Sniper in melee with some lightning (and the savage blow drops the Spear Master into death range), and Oboro levels off the attack stance hit.

Then Azama moves in to give an attack stance to Mitama, who paired with Silas to reach an attacking space to switches back to Mitama and transfers him over to Azama to kill that Spear Master with an attack stance, netting both Mitama and Azama a level.

Ophelia warps over to one round the other nearby Spear Master with a calamity gate, and give Nina the attack stance hit boost to make the Sniper kill reliable. The ground bound folk gather on the moving platform.

The platforms behave very weirdly when flying units are occupying spaces, for example here two of the infantry units were forced onto the next island.

Well Selena attacks the nearest Basara, but misses the crit, so Ophelia finishes it, and Azama heals her. Then Elise hits it with a doubling horse spirit, and she lands a 3% crit after a far more likely Selena crit for the kill and a great level.

I then use that extra movement the platform pushing gave the Caeldori Rhajat pairup, plus some Kinshi pairup and separate strats to get my four remaining infantry onto another platform. I also intentionally place Nina into the platform's final location but

She ends up being pushed out of the way instead. If anyone knows how these platforms actually work please share, I am kinda curious now.

The enemy Kinshi that rode a platform with Scarlet doesn't have a bow equiped so it gets Obowroed. Next Nina range chips Scarlet, and after the savage blow she has 1 hp for Silas to finish her.

Selena separates the Azama that got transferred to Nina first. Next Ryuuji hits the one Spear Master with a dragonstone+, and Rhajat finishes it with lightning for more effective accuracy. Then Ophelia warps in to kill another with the calamity gate. Next Elise pairs with Mitama to get her the extra move to chip that furthest one with a shinning bow for Caeldori to finish it (although she gets hit back by its <30 accuracy attack). Finally Soleil separates Elise away from Mitama and onto a platform.

Nina pairs with Oboro and transfers to Rhajat to reach that first chest. Caeldori catches a ride with Mitama to the central island for an Azama heal; as Ryuuji pairs with Ophelia to warp back to the central island, and add an attack stance to Selena as she draws in a Spear Master. Elise adds her skill and Silas adds a defense rally to reduce the amount of damage she could possibly take.

Selena gets a terrible level enemy phase killing the Spear Master.

Caeldori (with Selena attack stance), Soleil, and Silas brute force their way through the Oni Chieftain's defense for a Silas level on the kill.

Rhajat gets transferred to Oboro to get her back to the central island. Selena takes advantage of her speed being higher than the Ninja Masters, letting her counter it enemy phase with a handaxe without being doubled. Azama heals her, while Ryuuji and Elise use their personal skills to let her embarrass the poor Ninja.

Soleil puts the poor Master Ninja out of its misery for an excellent level.

Elise continues the attack stance chain by chipping the Mechanist from range for Caeldori to finish it. Selena chips the Basara, and Ryuuji manages to get the kill after trade switching Selena back to the killer axe. This frees up Azama to heal Elise, Silas and Ophelia to position themselves on the other side of the island, and Mitama to add a pairup to Oboro as she convinces an Onmyoji and Sword Master to take a ride on the platform trying to hurt her.

I should have dealt with the Falcon Knight first as its range covers where those two ended up. Caeldori starts by catching a ride with Elise to kill the Onmyoji for a level.

Then Selena moves in with a dual club to give some attack stances as first Ophelia chips the Sword Master with magic, Silas shelters her to get separated away by Azama for the kill with Rhajat. Everyone else move towards that platform, with half of my flyers waiting just beyond enemy ranges where it will arrive.

I hope this platform displacement isn't random, but it seems kinda random so far.

So Silas finishes the Falcon Knight, with Rhajat tagging along. Then Azama uses that space to give everyone there his double rally. Next Oboro, and Nina chip the Sword Master with a dual katana, and Caeldori grabs the kill. Nina suffers through a terrible level thanks to the chip.

Then Ophelia warps to lightning the Sword Master at the bottom, and Mitama drops uncomfortably low on health killing it with a lance due to vantage (and trade equips Ophelia's horse spirit for a bit more bulk on enemy phase).

The Spear Master misses Caeldori enemy phase, and Silas flies close enough to let Rhajat finish. Oboro and Mitama use her lightning attack stance to kill the Sword Master that couldn't reach, and Rhajat levels on an attack stance hit.

Then Caeldori drops Elise close enough to let Ophelia warp kill the Sniper with lightning for a level.

Nina grabs the first chest on that island. Azama heals Mitama a bit and enters the healing formation for her personal skill; as the infantry on the central island start heading towards the last platform there.

I have a turn that is mostly repositioning, but of note is some of the infantry are healing from the convoy, and Nina grabs the last chest.

Next turn has a little complication when a Master Ninja spawned on the fort between the chests, so Oboro heads back to chip and debuff it to let Nina kill with her attack stance. Most of the reinforcements on this chapter spawn on forts far enough away that I didn't bother with them.

One more turn of positioning before the action really starts, as I get my fliers in position, and wait for the platform to be where I want.

So Elise convinces an Onmyoji and Master of Arms to take a ride on the platform, and convinces a Mechanist into moving into a vulnerable position

Ryuuji finishes the Onmyoji, Caeldori chips the Master of Arms for Soleil to finish it, all while getting on the platform (with Selena as well). Elise kills the Mechanist while it still has a shuriken equipped (she missed a hit here on my one reset, this time I waited a little longer for more fliers to be in position to fix a miss that did not occur). Oboro and Nina manage to finish one Master of Arms safely from range, and Silas adds some free chip on the remaining one as well.

Ryuuji setups the attack stance to let Selena and Nina take the last Master of Arms down. Elise takes advantage of a full guard gauge to get some chip on a Sniper, but the Great Master heals most of it off.

The brave tome Onmyoji is threatening enough that I don't push in far enough to reach the Great Master, and feel especially limited in space. I let Selena wipe out the Sniper, and she gets trade equipped to the dual club for attack stance accuracy. Oboro chips one Sword Master with a dual yumi, but the attack stance misses so he it isn't in vantage range, so Ophelia goes for the melee lightning kill despite some danger and gets the kill. With a pairup to prevent attack stances I use my Maligknights high resistance to chip the other Sword Master from only Snake Spirit range, and Caeldori goes for the kill, but things get a bit complcated as it hits the low 20s hit chance with vantage making things a bit of a nail bitter. Azama manages ti heal her up enough that Silas can rally her into a safe range, while Soleil blocks anyone from reaching Ophelia, but has to take an Enfeeble.

Oboro kills the Snake Spirit Onmyoji to relieve a lot of the pressure. Ophelia uses the lightning to kill the Great Master that attacked Soleil, (she moves back a litlle and gets healed by Azama) while Caeldori switches to Rhajat for some good old fashion horse spirit tanking to draw in the Master of Arms around Arete.The Maligknights move on to chipping another Sword Master, for a level on Elise, as Selena pairs with Silas to deal with a Master Ninja reinforcement before it becomes a problem using her handaxe and sufficient speed to avoid being doubled.

The remaining Onmyoji heals the Sword Master, and the Master Ninja decides to use its far less dangerous sword. A Dual club and Azama hit takes care of the Ninja. One Master of Arms dies to Ophelia, and after gets taken down by Caeldori after a ranged Soleil chip. Oboro hits the healed Sword Master thanks to its dual katana, for Elise to switch to Mitama to finish it, as Nina carts Ryuuji into position to take the Onmyoji down with the Yato for a level.

I let Oboro chip the boss for a level, and I try to do the same with Mitama, but

she manages to miss one and crit the other for the kill and level. I decide to move on, so Ophelia warps to sieze.

Arete in the final moments before her double death seems to regain her memories

I'm with Ryoma on this one. This seems like a trap and I wouldn't have risked it, but Azura follows her heart here, and is rewarded with an extra farewell.

And Arete is proud of her daughter's craftiness.

 

[Punished Dayni]

On 6/7/2019 at 6:19 AM, Eltosian Kadath said:

Doesn't he know that this is what happened to his slime father.

Or doesn't want to think he's dead.

Justlikeinconquestseeitallfitstogether

On 6/8/2019 at 1:31 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

One of us is a traitor, and I wonder who it could-



Oh how nice of Gunter to weigh in on this subject, adding his suspicion only after someone else brought it up.

Ryuji looks like he's just figured out and is going to destroy Gunter.

On 6/8/2019 at 1:31 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

...I guess Ryouma jinxed it by talking about her as



has been revived to toy with our emotions. I'm kinda glad Ryouma wasn't part of the PMU as I would feel compelled to see whatever boss conversation they have.

For her to be taken out like this sucks.

She also lacks her personal. Strange. Almost like ti's not her just let me dream dammit

On 6/8/2019 at 1:31 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

I hope this platform displacement isn't random, but it seems kinda random so far.

There are patterns, but they really feels slow af.

On 6/8/2019 at 1:31 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

I'm with Ryoma on this one. This seems like a trap and I wouldn't have risked it, but Azura follows her heart here, and is rewarded with an extra farewell.

What's she going to do, use her tome to explode the area around her? Only swords can do that, just relax Ryoma.

On 6/8/2019 at 1:31 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

And Arete is proud of her daughter's craftiness.

So was Arete telling her those stories to prep for all this planning after all?

Also you face her for three chapters of the last ten or so, I actually think that was a poor call (but then again I think Valla as a whole was a bad call)

[Eltosian Kadath]

On 6/9/2019 at 5:47 AM, Dayni said:

Or doesn't want to think he's dead. 

That is so clearly in Xanders character that you must be right.

 

On 6/9/2019 at 5:47 AM, Dayni said:

She also lacks her personal. Strange. Almost like ti's not her just let me dream dammit

I can't believe I missed that, and it does add a fair bit of credence to your theory there.

 

On 6/9/2019 at 5:47 AM, Dayni said:

Also you face her for three chapters of the last ten or so, I actually think that was a poor call (but then again I think Valla as a whole was a bad call)

They needed to find a way of changing her fight in some noticeable way (perhaps by adding some skills, or a reclass, or have her use a dragon vein, etc.) to keep it from getting as stale as it was.

 

My instinct is to shout show don't tell, but to be fair setting up an ominous atmosphere takes time they didn't have, and a level of competency these writers only sometimes display. They do try to reinforce this sense by turning out the lights before

Mikoto arrives.

...Ryuuji, you know what is going on, you were fighting Azura's revived mother just last chapter

And trying to learn from his former naivete he cuts her down

...almost. To answer Ryuuj's obvious question, with his own statements

Mikoto shows a bit of craftiness by giving Ryuuji valid advice to establish some trust between them.

Interesting that her sprite disappears with time so Ryuuji is staring into the empty space she no longer occupies in these images.

Its almost like he's seen a ghost. (sorry that was corny)

I give the stealth route one solid try, and I take about 40 turns grabbing the chests and getting through all the doors with Nina, but its clear when I open up the boss room that even if I warp a pair in, someone too physically squishy to survive a round will be vulnerable when she opens the last door. This means I need to stealth an entire strike force instead of just Nina if I want the stealth finish, and that is more tedium than I want to suffer through (and it would be fairly boring to describe anyway). I take another reset before I give the team a speed meal

with a mostly useless resistance flair

and clear on the next try. As for the team, I let Elise, Mitama, and Oboro take a breather, as they are a level above the average (and flight isn't massively useful on this map like the last two). Azura also stays out of this one.

So first turn Azama sets off the alarm, with Rhajat, Sakura, Felicia, Nina, Beruka, and Ophelia staying behind to deal with the reinforcements that spawn behind the starting area.

So Nina hits the Great Master that spawned with a handaxe, with Sakura attack stance, which spreads savage blow chip to all three. Then Felicia finished it. Rhajat chips the Sword Master with Felicia attack stance, to let Sakura kill it for a level. Finally Ophelia finishes the Onmyoji with Sakura attack stance to get her a level too.

Next Selena range chips the Kinshi that spawned in the center, and Soleil kills it. Azama then uses speed rally so that Soleil is also fast enough to not be doubled by the Ninja with a handaxe.

Which convinces it to switch to swords. A Merchent and Kinshi from the east are clogging up that norther corridor with their lances so Selena range chips the Kinshi for a level.

This lets Ophelia warp in to kill the Merchant behind the Kinshi, and Beruka shelters her out of the way to safely. Next Azama range chips the Sword Ninja and lets Soleil kill it with her own sword. Ryuuji uses the drgonstone+ with a Selena attack stance to finish the Kinshi. Silas adds a defense rally to those having to take an arrow, and Caeldori seperates Ophelia out of the shelter. Just a Sword Master and Great Master spawned in the starting area, and the same process as above I defeat them for a Felicia level.

Beruka finishes the Kinshi that chipped her, Ryuuji chips the Merchant that fired an arrow at him for Silas to finish (even with WTD he has over 100 hit, with his 3 highest supports surrounding him). Soleil blocks the path the last Kinshi that has failed to move would use to attack anyone else, as Azama heals.

Soleil levels on the enemy phase chip, for Caeldori to finish it, and we breakout of the first room.

I probably should have waited a turn at the door, as the two Mechanist and two Basara that spawn to the east would have been far easier to deal with if more of my troops were through the door, but I manage. The paroling troop ends up pushing two of the spawns down a space. I start by having Ryuuji miss the nearest Mechanist with the dragonstone+, which sets up my early attack stances.  Next Selena adds a strength rally to Silas and Soleil. Next off Silas lunges the other Mechanist closer in with a javelin, and Azama finishes it with the bolt naginata to double (both with Ryuuji attack stances) for a level.

Then Ophelia warps in to kill the other debuffed Mechanist. Then Sakura pairs with Beruka and transfers her over to Ophelia to get an attack stance against the nearest Basara, which Ophelia crits to kill. Then Soleil chips that last, and Felicia catches a ride with Nina, transfers her to Soleil to get the attack stance, and only just barely finish the last one. The guard is alive, but is so pathetically weak at this point that I ignore it.

Next turn I delay more than I should, thinking the next round of reinforcements are timing or kill based instead of area based, and the following turn the reinforcements from the other side are almost upon us. To be fair the one combat reset I had was in this section, so the caution was perhaps warranted.

The enemy's crit isn't enough to crack Selena, and Beruka picks up the easy Ninja kill on player phase. Felicia and Caeldori manage to grab a range kill on one Sword Master using attack stances of opportunity. Sakura, and Nina try to finish the other from range, but Ryuuji has to finish the job. Silas and Azama chip the last Ninja, and Rhajat pairs with Selena to reach, and transfers Selana to Azama, and trade his weapon to get an accurate enough attack stance to nab the kill.

Sakura manages to level by healing as Nina charges forward to get close to the chest, and trigger the other reinforcements.

Two more Mechanists and a Basara  spawn to the east, and 2 Sword Masters and a Master Ninja in the West. I start by having Ophelia try to wipe out a Basara, but without supportive and dragon hex support she is just short after both her and Selena miss their crits. Next Silas breaks up any possible enemy attack stances with a lunge for a level.

Then Sakura heals Selena, and gives Rhajat the room to level killing the Basara

Next Ryuuji finishes the lunged Mechanist with a sword for a level

Then Beruka chips the last Mechanits from range, Sakura range heals her and positions herself to give Caeldori an attack stance, for her to kill it for the fourth level this turn.

Azama heals from the convoy and I move Nina back a bit before the last enemies approach.

Next turn I get close enough to convince those reinforcements to start moving (or at least some of them as their AI is very lazy) , with Selena using her speed to safely draw in the Master Ninja with a handaxe.

Another Ninja crit on Selena, so she backs off a little to let Beruka with a Nina attack stance finishing the Master Ninja for a level on both.

Felicia chips the Sword Master for Caeldori to finish him (although she takes a vantage hit despite her avoid... not my luckiest chapter so far). Nina grabs the chest, and Silas draws in the Sword Master that decided to sit on his duff with a swordcatcher.

I start by opening the door by having Beruka pair with Azama, moving their max distance, separating a space closer to the door, to let Nina pair with Ophelia to warp and swap to Nina, finally opening it.

Mommy dearest has some new advice that Ryuuji is just naive enough to fall for.

I let Felicia finish the crippled Sword Master for a level as everyone else heads towards the door.

The two Master of Arms and two Great Masters that spawn next to the doors are a bit too far away to wipe out this turn so I pull back just a little, and let a healed Selena draw in the first hit.

With one dead to Selena crits on enemy phase the rest get steam rolled by my waiting army, as the two Mechanists and two Merchants are just coming into view.

I let Rhajat draw the first blow this time.

And steam roll this group comfortably as well, with the spare action to send Nina forward to activate the last of the reinforcement for this room. I grab the image for the start of next turn instead of the end of this one, it better shows off the new reinforcements (Ok my phone was getting bombarded by group texts which threw off my standard pattern for taking images for a couple of turns here, but it does kinda work better when reinforcements show up)

I head west to wipe out the nearer group of reinforcements. Nina charges back to pair with Ryuuji to give him the extra move to chip the Great Master, Sakura heals him, Rhajat finishes it with a Ryuuji attack stance, and Selena transfers and separates Nina away. Felicia chips one Master of Arms with Ryuuji attack stance for Soleil to finish it. Caeldori then adds a ranged chip to the other, with Azama trying to finish it with her attack stance, but they are just short of killing it so Silas gets to finish it instead.

Somehow the other reinforcements actually bother to move, and they have already split their forces a bit, so Selena draws in the Mechanist to the south while Soleil draws in the Merchants to the north with Nina grabbing the first chest in this room.

They are no problem to deal with but I end up missing the image for this turn. Sorry.

With the enemies in this room done it is time to do something foolish. I am kinda curious about the trap room, as you only see its contents if you fall for the trap, and there is clearly a safe way of setting it off as you will see. This takes a few turns of positioning without any action, as I have everyone except Nina and Beruka enter the previous room (the trap only damages people in the room with the door) and Nina needs to loot the last chest anyway, so I will skip strait to the door opening

Its a trap!

This does feel somewhat narratively fitting to do, as Ryuuji is trusting enough to follow Mikoto's instructions, but has the caution to not put all his eggs in one basket (its similar to how he dealt with Anthony in a way). Everyone else is safe in the other room and doesn't take damage, as Beruka shelters Nina to put them both into Rescue range of the previous chest room

So a Master Ninja and Basara spawn in the trap room the turn it opens, and are appearantly the only thing that moves, although it takes about 2 turns for use to reach threatening ranges of each other.

Selena levels on the enemy phase chip.

And Rhajat levels finishing it

and after Soleil range chips the Basara, Ophelia kills it for a level

and my two shelterers get them out of range of the enemies in the trap room, and a bit of repositioning occurs

The AI of the enemies in the trap room is on the level of a goldfish, as they just let us pick them off from the other sides of the wall without reacting, as long as I shelter (and separate) people out of their range afterwards.

Even leaving one damaged doesn't get them to move.

And having a unit in range only gets the bare minimum two to move, one to attack the other to pointlessly try to attack stance.

I probably could have done that faster, but when the fish are already in a barrel, why toss them back in the sea before shooting.

I get a bit fancy with my lunges while finishing the last of them off, getting Sakura a level by killing an Oni that got lunged through a wall (another start of turn instead of end of turn one here as well)

I have another turn positioning and healing to finish this the turn that last door opens.

With Nina opening the door, Rhajat chips the Oni so Soeil can grab both his silver club and a level.

Then Beruka range lunges Mikoto closer, and gets the spy shuriken into Ophelia's warp range

Unfortunately a bit of number crunching with the spy shuriken Ninja shows that despite doubling with darting blow Caeldori will be 2 damage short of the kill even if I transfer to get the Beruka attack stance, so I have to try for an Ophelia crit instead and merely hit. Not that big of loss seeing as no member of the PMU is capable of getting the weapon ranks needed to wield it. Next I have Silas lunge Mikoto even closer, so Ryuuji can dramatically get the boss quote and kill.

I pickup all the chip and healing xp I can before finishing and

Felicia manages to disappoint me with a blank level.

Finally Ryuuji manages to kill the corpse of his mother.

 

The tragedy of time; once lost or spent or squandered it cannot be returned.

That went to a very yandere place very quickly.

you were never paired-up to begin with.

Ryuuji level on the kill.

 

Don't worry Mikoto,

Ryuuji understands.

Its an interesting coincidence that she singles out Sakura in particular, before

getting to the bench-warmers.

This kinda reminds me of that icon Japanese commercial for the Mother 1/Earthbound Zero, except there is no guaranteed masterpiece here.

So Arete's dragon blood was from the Vallanite royal line. There is either some implied incest in Arete's past, or far more importance has been placed on the deceased King Consort of Valla, than should have. Also seems Azura may have a rival to the throne, and if some enemy were to find out perhaps they could use this information to drive a wedge into the team/

Interesting indeed my friend.

Next up we have a knife fight in the elevators with Blades Drawn.