Ether

As Jeremiah withdrew his blade, it seemed that was the end of their session. Roxanne stepping back the slightest bit as her funnels withdrew with a glance. Centering herself as she took in his words, she gave him a quick smile. "Well, when doing something the expected way will get you killed too, sometimes a surprising gambit is the best choice, right? You really figured me out in an instant... I don't know if I should be impressed or terrified." Roxanne replied, going over his comments again in her head, placing a finger to her chin and slightly bobbing her head. "You're right though, it was the same with Miria. It's harder to use them when I need to focus so much on defense... you're both at a higher caliber than what I'm used to fighting. You call that prolonging, though?" Roxanne paused for a moment, her cheeks puffing into a pout as she gave one stomp with her foot. "It was like you changed out of nowhere. I know I'm better at taking magic than direct hits, but you were definitely going harder after that first exchange. I know if you were serious serious it would have been my head, but prolonging things would have been more like focusing on evasion, wouldn't it? I guess it doesn't matter, but it felt way more like you were trying to gut me after the first shot." Roxanne eventually shook her head, her expression returning to cheery. "But, if I surprised THE Jeremiah Noire enough to make you even a little serious, then that's a win in my books. I'll have to try and get in more matches with the Tigers... if Miria is any indication of the quality of fighters here, I think I could learn a lot."

Roxanne's gambit had paid off, her initial assault connecting from both sides of Jeremiah, but as expected, the man didn't seem much worse for wear. As he launched a counter from his levin sword, Roxanne braced, immediately obvious that the man would not be missing his shots. The bolt hit her centre-mass, the initial shock being softened by her armour, allowing her to take the attack relatively well with her own magic resistance. "Maybe I can witness you go all out someday, rather than feel it myself." The sheep replied as Jeremiah began to close the gap with incredible speed. Something felt... different. As all of her space dissolved in an instant, Jeremiah's blade felt more intense. Sure, her magic resistance was stronger than her physical defenses for the most part, but it was clear from the strength of Jeremiah's blow ripping into her armour that he was attacking with greater intent on his second go. She had managed to tag him with several grazing blows during his advance, but it was clear that like with Miria, she couldn't properly fend Jeremiah off in close quarters with swordplay. Barely redirecting a with her beam blade, the same sort of tactic she had tried with Miria wouldn't work, the swordsman weaving through the volleys of light magic attempting to suppress him with ease. His assessment of her abilities was pretty much spot on, despite having only witnessed them for a few seconds at best. What a terrifying individual... 'Here goes nothing then...' And without any more thought behind it than that and certainly too focused to verbally respond, Roxanne took advantage of her biology, shoving her head forward to strike, ramming the Moonless Arbitrator in the forehead in a bid to create space. Luckily her horns and sheep skull leaving Roxanne completely unphased by the impact. In a swift followup, Roxanne's conduits rained magic into Jeremiah as she thrust her beam blade forward towards him.

"That's right, I am. Not the most common sight around these parts, but I could say the same of you." Roxanne nodded at his assertion. So then this sort of magic, like her conduits, wasn't common practice in the alliance, but his wording seemed to imply that he had prior reason to suspect as such. Given how little they had interacted... that she had recognized him? That must have been it. "That suits me perfectly well. As curious as I am to see you in proper form, I don't think I'd remain conscious long enough to take any of it in." Roxanne replied, shards of crystal forming in each hand. Channeling light into the gemstones, as soon as they were properly cooked, Roxanne hurled the pair of crystals towards Jeremiah. Arcing through the air towards the man, as they came close both of the makeshift explosives went off, showering Jeremiah in sharapnel alongside a blinding light and harsh noise, meant to disorient him. At the same time, under the cover of the flash grenades, Roxanne called in her funnels, the conduits taking position around Jeremiah from multiple angles and immediately raining magic onto him. Taking a defensive stance, the sheep watched Jeremiah like a hawk as she fired volley after volley of light, certain that it wouldn't keep him pinned down for long...

Miria said she was fine, but Roxanne allowed her staff to press against the cub and pour it's healing light into her anyway, washing away the remnants of battle from the little knight. By the time she was finished with that, Jeremiah had responded, calling Roxanne forward, were she ready to begin. Before she could though, Miria answered in tandem, getting a light chuckle out of the sheep. She couldn't help but gently ruffle the girl's hair as she bowed in apology, before stepping towards Jeremiah. "It's fine, Miria. We both just finished, so it makes sense for us to both go one after the other. And yes it is, Mr. Noire." Roxanne noted, allowing the tattered remnants of her crystal armour to fade and break away into dust, the armour reforming itself in place. It had taken a good beating against Miria, and wouldn't offer much against a seasoned swordman like the Moonless Arbitrator with obvious damage to exploit. Taking her place across Jeremiah, Roxanne observed him for a few moments. "So, what combat rules are you putting forward for this match, then? Given it's a training exercise, I'm sure you have certain goals you wish to meet here."

"Mmm, I'll be alright Miria... you're a lot stronger than the folk I'm used to dealing with." Roxanne responded, making a bit of effort to stop leaning on the little knight. If nothing else, bleeding on her less would be a positive outcome. Luckily it didn't take long for the Tiger's self-proclaimed primary healer to come over to her and mend her wounds, Roxanne taking the opportunity to stand up straight and stretch a little after being healed. "Roxanne Vallena, charmed to meet you. So you're Renais, then? Alvira mentioned you." Roxanne noted, recalling her prior conversation. So she was enamoured with the evokers, huh? Well, she couldn't really blame the girl too much. "I'm a bit of a healer myself... I'm a bit more adept with offensive magic, but I can patch someone up well enough... just not, y'know... me. Speaking of, how are you doing, Miria? Not that I want you to be hurt, but it'd be pretty embarrassing if all that magic hadn't dented you at all." Roxanne asked, looking Miria over as she did so. She was certainly not lacking in scorch marks and wounds upon inspection. Roxanne instinctively reached for her staff, worst case Miria would get a double shot of magic if Renais sprung on her first. "Well either way, they were good matches. I wonder if... looks like Jeremiah just finished up." The sheep noted, giving the man a wave as he appeared to be talking to Cinead, the state of both of them indicating that they had just concluded their bout.

It seemed the Knights on the bridge weren't pursuing... at least not yet. So long as that remained true, that flank was secure, especially with Rivane riding ahead to scout the other side. That left herself, the ex-captive Rina, and the Princess somewhat splintered from the rest moving through the upper treeline. "Hmm... looks like the other have those set of woods covered. There's a small break in the trees here, we should be able to cut through and flank, I think. You're a little closer, but I can cover you." Willow noted towards Jilyn, as she began to move forward and dipped into tree cover. Willow to 14,15

Miria had clearly already adapted well, managing to deflect and evade the incoming fire far more than her first go around. Roxanne managed to get one solid hit in before Miria closed the gap, lighting her beam blade as the knight closed in. Miria's blade struck first, biting into Roxanne's side as her own swing went wide, funnels assisting with suppressing Miria, but not landing any decisive blows. Another exchange, blades catching for a moment, iron against searing light and crystal core, before a break. Miria was faster, blade striking out to cut Roxanne’s arm on the retreat. A few more small hits from her conduits kept Miria hemmed in, but the knight was already in her favoured range. It would have to come down to the next exchange. Seeing Miria take aim at her centre of mass, Roxanne tried to bolster her armour to eat the hit. Miria was a superior swordswoman without a doubt, which left Roxanne little choice but to attempt a gambit. Miria's sword crashed into her armour, as Roxanne’s beam blade connected with the magic golden plate. "Ghk!" Roxanne croaked out, her armour giving way to Miria's attack and biting into her torso, the hit dispelling her focus enough for Roxanne's own blade to dissipate before it could do more than gently cut Miria's skin. Collapsing momentarily against Miria's chest, the sheep let out a resigned groan. "Urgh... round is yours..."

The rerun is scheduled for April according to the tweet from the feh account https://twitter.com/FE_Heroes_EN/status/1753312293880991805

Things seemed to be getting a little more hectic in the area, which left Roxanne to assume that folk were getting into their matches. Miria seemed raring to go, taking the sheep's explanation pretty handily... though given she didn't actually know how Miria's armour worked, Roxanne couldn't tell whether the comparison was apt or not. As Miria moved into position, it seemed round two was set to begin. "Alright, show me what you've got, Miria." Roxanne noted with a nod, as her funnels swiftly moved into position, taking shots at the golden knight as they began to weave through the air.

Luckily enough, Miria seemed to take it pretty well on the chin, and was back on her feet soon after being healed. Roxanne let out a relieved sigh as she put her staff away, nodding along as Miria noted the armour was a work in progress. Well, it already looked awesome, so Roxanne could only imagine what it might be like when it was fully finished. "As long as you're alright, and I can imagine. If I came up to you in a big fight and you did that, I'd be pretty surprised myself. As for these... well, most people can't do this. It isn't a spell or technique, it's a conduit. They-" Roxanne caught herself before launching into a tangent, rubbing the back of her own head bashfully. "-mmm, without talking your ear off, they were designed to focus my magic. In order for someone else to do it, they'd need their own set. I've only ever seen one other, but I'm sure that they can make more back home if they wanted to." Roxanne decided to leave it at that unless Miria asked for more info, giving the girl a nod as she asked for another round. "If you're up for it, then sure thing Miria."

It seemed somewhere along the way, Roxanne had made a miscalculation. Unfortunately, by the time that realization had made itself known, it was far too late to correct it. That miscalculation was, of course, that a magically conjured set of golden armour would provide a formidable amount of magic resistance to it's wearer. In practice, however, Miria was quickly overwhelmed by the swarm of funnels, opting to attempt to evade rather than use her armour to push through, as it quickly gave way to her beams of light. Repeated blows from the conduits swiftly took Miria down to the ground as her armour faded, Roxanne jogging over to the fallen knight and retrieving a healing staff. "Oh geez, are you okay, Miria?" The sheep quickly asked, pressing her staff against Miria and channeling magic through it into her. As she continued to heal her sparring partner, she offered her other hand for Miria to grab. "I uhh... may have gone a little overboard... but your armour was so cool, I got excited... I thought it would deflect magic a bit more... please be okay." The sheep added sheepishly, awaiting a response as Miria's wounds closed up.

Tailtiu just ate R!Reinhardt's ass so you'd best believe we're rocking her.

"All out huh, that suits me just fi-" Roxanne began, when Miria erupted into a flash of light, no less dazzling than an impressive display of light magic. The sheep simply stared at her a moment, before hopping up and down a few times and clapping. "-that was amazing! Aha, I love that, that's so cool! You'll have to tell me how it works after, Miria. Heehee... I'll have to try now, okay, what can I..." Roxanne vented her excitement for a few moments, trying to think how she could mirror a display like that, a bit of a showy side to her sneaking through. She wasn't quite sure if it would be quite as good, but she had to at least try. Pondering that while leading Miria towards a more open spot on the field, Roxanne gave Miredy and Jane a wave, noting that Jesse was with them as well. Not training? Her prerogative, Roxanne supposed. "This spot should be good. With magic like that... ohh, you've got me pumped, Miria!" Roxanne noted, staring her sparring partner down. It was time to make her entrance. From her wrists, a crystal barrier began to form down the length of her arms, coating her skin in a shimmering, protective layer. As it was forming, the monster reached up towards the pins keeping her hair bound. Time to make this flashy! Grabbing both pins and pulling them loose, a shake of her head caused her flowing, floofy locks to cascade down her back, billowing out past her waist as they shook themselves free. Lighting the conduits embedded into her bangles as her arms came back down, from each wrist a concentrated blade of light sprung forth. Finally, Roxanne's funnels broke free of her from the waterfall of hair, beginning to swarm as her legs and torso were encased in crystal armour, eyes aglow with magical might. "I'll show you everything I've got!" Roxanne finally announced, taking a stance to block Miria's blade when she closed the distance, as her funnels came to life, bombarding Miria with magic from every angle as they dipped and weaved around her guard.

Roxanne felt a little bad, it seemed Miria was being pulled in quite a few different directions. It passed rather quickly as she agreed to spar, however. If the other two wanted to get involved, they were welcome to do so. Taking a quick glance over, it seemed Alvira and Jeremiah were starting, but it would be disrespectful to pay them more attention than her own opponent. "Well, if what I've heard about him is anything to go by, he'd clap just about anyone. Was sorta why I wanted to see it myself, but the time will come... so Miria, how do you wanna do this? Feel eachother out a bit first, or just go full throttle from the getgo?" Roxanne offered, figuring it was best to let someone from the wider group set the pace, given she was the outsider here.

And stake a claim someone did, although it wasn't the person Roxanne had been expecting. The student made sense, but Alvira... seemingly had a bone to pick with Jeremiah over raising his sword at her. Fair enough, and as she had promised, the sheep took a step back for Alvira. "By all means, Alvira. Best of luck." Roxanne flashed the dragon a smile, as she began to scan the other Iron Tigers. Alvira really was the one she was most familiar with, and with her being the one to step up to Jeremiah, that left precious few options of potential partners that she could identify by name. Of the ones present for training, there was the colossal dragon man Cinead that had just introduced himself, as well as- "Miria, right? I hope I remembered that correctly. I don't know too many folk here, so if you didn't have anyone else in mind, perhaps we could pair up to spar?" Roxanne asked, turning towards the girl who had been one of the first to speak with her. She did appear to be in a small grouping with a catwoman and avian man, helping the former with her armour, but that didn't necessarily mean they were a training group. If so, well, she'd have to find someone...

Ultimately 3H struck a chord with a lot of people, it is pretty handily the title with the largest fanbase, and the one most likely to have it's players only have gotten invested into it, since it's a bit different from other FE games in a lot of ways. That said, both Felix and Bernie were contenders for years now and would have naturally been shoe-ins, with Engage being an unknown entity. And it isn't like Engage didn't do well, when looking at the top 20s(since that's all we have access to right now) engage actually accrued more votes than 3H did, but it was spread over 12 characters compared to Fodlan's 7. Yunaka and Ivy took a very close 3rd and 4th, and FAlear wasn't far behind. Bernie and Robin also saw large increases of votes despite a slight drop in overall votes(Women's side didn't see much of a drop, but the men's side took a nosedive, which lines up with Engage's men being a bit of a flop, with none of them ending up really being contenders this year) Numbers for reference, taken from discord and reddit: 1st: Engage: 61,427 (12 characters) 2nd: Three Houses: 55,613 (7 characters) + Hopes: 6803 (2 characters) 3rd: Heroes: 25,143 (3 characters) 4th: Awakening: 17,654 (2 characters) 5th: Fates: 17,438 (4 characters) 6th: Genealogy: 13,913 (2 characters) 7th: Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn: 11,254 (3 characters) 8th: Tokyo Mirage Session: 11,152 (3 characters) 9th: Three Hopes: 6,803* (2 characters) 10th: Sacred Stones: 3,475 (1 character) 11th: Binding Blade: 2,519 (1 character) Total votes among the top 20 for the men: CYL 5: 253,099 CYL 6: 176,931 CYL 7: 131,865 CYL 8: 105,463 Total votes among the top 20 for the women: CYL 5: 175,995 CYL 6: 175,194 CYL 7: 125,305 CYL 8: 120,828 So really the takeaway here is that one, 3H continues to have a strong presence and despite a lot of older fans disliking it, it's here to stay. A very significant portion of players are not fatigued with 3H in the slightest because for a lot of folk, it IS the draw. And two, Engage did just fine, but it's votes were spread out significantly, compared to 3H concentrating the majority of it's top 20 votes into 3 characters. It lead the overall vote count for the top of the bracket, but it was split among too many options to overtake old favourites with something to prove. 3/4 of the top women going into next year, assuming nothing shakes up the series are from engage, while for men, unless the Brodia bros consolidate they will likely not make it. Edit: so the vote totals above didn't account for the Shezes since they were from Hopes, adding them in is 2 more characters, with a total of 6803. Fodlan as a whole slightly edges out engage, but it doesn't chance much of the analysis overall.

Engage kind of got smashed on the men's side, but for the women's Yunaka and Ivy were 3rd and 4th by a fairly small margin. It seems like engage votes were just a little too spread out to beat out the more concentrated rallies for remaining picks.

"Mmm, well not Lord Owen's, exactly. Just someone who wants to see Kazran pay... so our interests aligned." Roxanne gently corrected, best not to let misconceptions flow unchecked. If the Iron Tiger herself, as well as Lord Owen hadn't taken issue with her, then there was no reason to try to obscure things. With a few more arrivals, it seemed that things were about to get started. When Jeremiah asked for volunteers, Roxanne fidgeted just a moment. On the one hand, she was incredibly curious... from the way the man spoke, it became more and more likely that he really was the Celestial Knight... that he could only offer guidance rather than direct assistance was telling next to the name. "Well, if no one has a particular bone to pick-" Roxanne glanced at this Versaris whom Jeremiah seemed to be addressing the most directly out of anyone, before looking back at the man himself. "-then I'll volunteer. From the way I figure it, they all know eachother, it'll be simpler for them to pair off effectively. Besides... can't say I'm not curious to see the Moonless Arbitrator in action. But if anyone else is itching to have a go at you first, I'll let them at it."

It seemed more of the Tigers were arriving as the moments passed by. A few of them were faced Roxanne recognized, the first was the mage that had been present alongside Owen and Commander Liberia... Synnie, apparently, surely a nickname. There was also Miria, the chipper lass that had been present in her first encounter with the Tigers at all. The rest were unknown to her for the time being, although one in particular, an exceptionally large dragon, made a point to introduce himself. "Roxanne. Well met, Cinead. I'll be accompanying you all for the assault on Beacon Keep... as of now I've only been introduced to a few of you, but I hope we'll get along well." Roxanne replied, giving the man a small bow. There would be more people to come, so it was likely an explanation she would need repeat more than once. Better to dole it out in chunks rather than to each individual.

Well, here it was. They were bound to run into resistance eventually, but with both paths forward blocked... knights straight ahead and brigands to the East, they would have to make a choice. Which one to make wasn't difficult, and Rivane ordered accordingly. Break East was the sensible idea, since there was no telling how deep the garrison holding the bridge truly was. Running into that Knight Captain again would be a poor outcome. Watching as their little knight, no longer imprisoned, opened things with a burst of light, Willow charged in to follow-up. "Flashy huh? I like it, miss Knight!" Willow to 17,14, fist Merc 4

Jeremiah... Noire. Roxanne's eyes widened for a moment, before she could regain her composure. First the Evokers, and now Jeremiah Noire. The Iron Tigers were an enigmatic bunch to be sure, and the mystery of them seemed to grow by the day. All of these major players in the world across nations, all coalescing around this one group. Roxanne was a bit overwhelmed to be honest... if anyone had told her what she would find in Eslcas, she would have called them delusional and a pathologic liar. "Roxanne Vallena. Well met, Jeremiah. Thank you for your time." The sheep replied, accepting Jeremiah's outstretched hand and giving it a firm shake. If this was in fact, THE Jeremiah Noire, then there was zero doubt that he had caught her reaction, but it wasn't as though she could do much about it now. She could only wonder just what sort of training exercise the man had up his sleeve... it would certainly be an educational experience if nothing else.

For what it's worth, Mythic Altina did win AHR. While there might be some measure of dev bias involved, Altina likely sells very well, which would contribute to her repeated appearances. We know mythic was a highly-desired hero in her day, Winter Altina was a pretty strong harmonic hero, and summer Edelgard was a very strong unit paired with a house leader. The third case was less about Altina, but if a hero consistently sells well above their weight class, they will be repeated.

If one word could describe the past few days of Roxanne's life, it would be turbulence. Everything had moved at what seemed like a fevered pitch from the moment she had met with Lord Gaffney. She had been reunited with Jane, and it seemed as though things would work out. Her maps largely matched what the mercenaries had been intending, and the timeline worked in her favour. She could sail with the Iron Tigers and arrive before M's deadline. Still... remaining in Eslcas had taken a toll mentally. She knew that there was no use trying to find passage on a ship and return early, but she felt restless throughout her stay in Eslcas. All she could really do was make the best of what time she had to try and hone her skills. She had met with a few other practitioners which had been enlightening in it's own way, but what had drawn Roxanne's interest for the given moment was the talk of one of the Iron Tiger's tagalongs? Perhaps the wrong word, but she knew not enough of his situation to think much different, seemed to be preparing to spar and instruct. It seemed as though it was... a rather big deal? The man must have been some sort of big shot, but regardless... it couldn't hurt to see if she could partake. Making her way to what appeared to be the right place, Roxanne gave a small wave to a familiar face, the fire dragon she had spoken to prior. Alvira identified the man in the field as Jeremiah during her approach, and her words set the stage well for this indeed being the exercise she had heard about. "I... hope I'm not considered intruding. I heard of a training exercise, or sorts? I may not be a Tiger, but... well, we're all to sail on Kazran the same. I hope you don't mind my sticking my nose in, I'd like to be in my best shape possible, the same as all of you."

"Costly? No, we were going to attack Kazran anyway. M was positively livid, like a woman possessed. We don't intend to extort you." Roxanne corrected as the bodyguard said his piece. The man seemed on the side of assisting her, but it wouldn't do to leave misconceptions like that out in the open. As they gained a new arrival... another Gaffney it seemed, given that she had addressed Lord Owen as brother. Flashing the woman a quick smile at her comment, Roxanne continued idly patting Jane's hair, sliding her hand off to one side as the snake approached, intending to do the same. "Not quite a family reunion yet. We were looking for little Jane after she was taken by Kazran. To get her back, and relieve the world of that man. I'm glad that we needn't worry about finding her now... if the underground already had her..." Jane shook her head. If they had actually won, and Jane had already been sold... would there have been any leads left to follow? Little chance of more than a bill of sale, and the institution of the underground as a whole... as a lead it was practically useless. "I can't thank you enough for taking care of Jane. She seemed quite comfortable with you, Miss. I can see that you treated her well, and... even if we had won, I don't know that we ever would have found her without you."

Roxanne could have never predicted what happened next. As Lord Gaffney inquired into just who she was representing... something the man would hopefully be flexible on. Pirates they might have been, but they had never hit Eslcas or the lands under Gaffney... and so long as he remained so amicable to non-humans, they likely never would. Still, hearing Owen's stance would need wait just a moment, as the odd snake woman approached the conversation, interjecting with a hopeful question and a small child. As Roxanne was tackled, she froze in place for a few moments, looking down at Jane. Why was Jane here? How... was Jane here? This... she needed a moment to process, lowering her hand to slowly pat the girl's hair. "Jane... I can't believe you're here, Jane. I'm so glad that you're safe. Momma... momma is on her ship by now. She sent me ahead, to try to find anything that would... that would help us rescue you. She was so worried about you, Jane." Roxanne replied, her expression growing soft as she squatted down closer to Jane's eye level. Jane being here was good, but it also presented an issue. She had no way to get in contact with M while she was on the open water, the only way to convey that Jane was safe was to meet with her in person. Even if this might have changed things, it wouldn't get the chance to make that change. Continuing to gently pat the spider clouded on the head, Roxanne looked up towards Owen and Natalya. "The forces I represent... are a band of corsairs under command of little Jane's mother, M. I know what you're likely to say, but... we've never looked at Eslcas as a target. We've mostly operated out of Old Asqua... most of us are monsters that haven't been deemed... societally acceptable. So a place like this, a haven in Islexia, we bear you no ill will. As for the area... I'm not intimate with it myself, but I was given a map with the details to meet up with M before her attack. I can go over it with you, and further discuss the details, if you'll help us." Roxanne noted, turning back to Jane. There was still the issue of the timeline, but as long as she could sail ahead with Jane in tow and a promise of reinforcements, maybe she could stay M's hand, if only long enough to turn this from a suicide raid to a proper battle to crush Kazran.