Go Go Rally Rangers!

[Alastor15243]

Hang on a dangblasted minute, how're you gonna survive Chapter 7? That's full of enemies surrounding two non-Rally Rangers!

Uh... how do you mean? The only new unit force-deployed in chapter 7 is Cordelia, who's Rally Black!

[Flamy]

Uh... how do you mean? The only new unit force-deployed in chapter 7 is Cordelia, who's Rally Black!

Wait, whoops. Meant Chapter 8. :P

[Alastor15243]

Wait, whoops. Meant Chapter 8. :P

They don't really surround Nowi and Gregor. They're quite close to the main party and thus easy to protect.

[Alastor15243]

CHAPTER 7

I sell Panne’s useless Beaststone for a cool 1k to conserve funds. I also bought a concoction from the nearby merchant, ignoring the hammer and iron lance as I don’t really need them at the moment. Vaike’s hammer will serve just fine until chapter 12 when Cherche comes in with another one.

I am now greatly regretting not buying a javelin when I had the chance. Kellam’s is now broken, and a knight risen is still on the place from last night. In fact almost half of the stores are covered with Risen.

Ah well, Cordelia will come with one when she arrives this chapter. Still, it means Henshin’s gonna have to take the lead on tanking, for reasons that I will explain shortly. But first, STORY TIME!

Up on the moon:

Gangrel: Hahahahahaha! Oh gods! AHAHAHAHAHA, oh this is RICH! RICH I SAY! You mean to say you went in PERSONALLY… and they STILL kicked your sorry ass!?

Validar: Grr… those insufferable Rally-

Gangrel: Oh no, Validar! Do go on about how PATHETIC they are! It can’t be healthy for your self esteem to mock people who beat you! You should be singing their praises! Joining their FAN CLUB!

Validar: You… you knew this would happen…

Gangrel: I personally find it much more practical to send my mooks after the Rally Rangers instead of myself. Is it because I’m too powerful for it to be remotely sporting? Is it because I’m too smart to risk getting my ass kicked? The world may never know, and it doesn’t matter! Either way, I’m still better than you! Nah nah-nah nah nah!

Validar: I hate you so much!

Gangrel: (bows) Oh, please, this is all too much! Anyway, now that I’ve cemented myself as NOT the most incompetent general of the Shadowy Forces of General Unpleasantness {because that’s you}, I shall resume my efforts to kill those pesky Rally Rangers! Toodle-oo!

Meanwhile, back in Ylisse…

Chromzord: So this is where we’re supposed to find Rally Black, is it? Emmeryn was kind of vague as to what we were supposed to do here.

Henshin: I figure we’ll just do what we ALWAYS do: get attacked by the SFGU and find our new member along the way. Have we found even a SINGLE ONE of them outside of the heat of battle? Lissa, where did they find you?

Lissa: Excuse me! They didn’t FIND me! I’m Emmeryn’s little sister! And Chromzord’s too… somehow.

Henshin: Oh? And where were you born?

Lissa: …On a battlefield. While my mom and dad were fighting the SFGU.

Henshin: Figures. Aaaaaaand right on cue, here they come.

Vasto: AMBUUUUSH!

Henshin: It doesn’t really count as an ambush anymore, guys, you do it way too often. We’ve started betting on how long.

Lissa: *grumble grumble* (Hands over 100 gold to Vaike)

Vaike: Rally Red prevails once more!

Henshin: (casually, strolling around giving instructions) Alright guys, let’s see… they’ve got a lot of wyvern riders, par for the course, so we’ll be handling them with Rally Orange and Rally Blue as usual, and- (nearly stumbles off the cliff, looks forward at the wyverns flying beyond it) …Oh no. OH NO. OH NO!

Chromzord: What’s wrong, Rally Silver?

Henshin: LOOK! They have wyverns positioned IN FLIGHT ACROSS THE ABYSS! Powerful axe wielders! THAT ONLY RALLY GREEN CAN FIGHT! FAR AWAY FROM OUR HEALERS!

Chromzord: …Oh. Yeah. That’s bad.

Henshin: Alright, we’ll have to be careful about this.

Sumia: YOU’RE SENDING ME TO FIGHT FIVE WYVERN RIDERS? I CAN BARELY SURVIVE THE ATTACK OF ONE!

Henshin: I’m sorry, we don’t have a choice. MOVE OUT!

Alright, let’s see… Sumia DEFINITELY needs some tonics. I’ve outfitted her with the killer lance, miniature lance, iron lance, and Ephraim’s Lance, as well as the concoction she got last chapter. I give vulneraries to my healers and set Henshin and Kellam up to take point, because it is imperative that I get the group out of range of the soon-to-arrive rear reinforcements. I friggin’ hate those things! Who thought that was a good idea!?

Alright, I’ll be honest, there was a failed attempt of this run I deleted the record of. What went wrong? The hammer guy. That I forgot had a hammer. Ugh. Well, gotta make note of that asshole’s position this time.

Kellam and Henshin advance, Henshin armed with thunder, and he attacks the nearby archer. Kellam fails to dual strike and so the archer lives.

Thankfully Sumia criticals on the nearest wyvern rider, meaning I don’t have to use a physic on her.

Fearing the archer might screw up next turn’s needed rout, I move Miriel forward to be beside Vaike as he attempts to hand-axe the nearby barbarian. I’m hoping to take him out to make up for not killing the archer. No such luck, but Chromzord can easily finish him off with Roy’s Blade (it’s roughly a steel weapon, so little point in conserving them when I have two and I’m starting to get steel stuff)

Miriel is now in range of a wyvern rider, so I arm her with elwind by trading with Virion as he advances. Lissa and Maribelle bring up the rear.

The enemy phase is quite successful, with every enemy stupidly attacking a unit who can lay on some serious hurt. All of the enemies who were in range of my team come out of the enemy phase so critically wounded almost anyone could finish them off, even if any member of my team still sucked. Sumia also kills one of the wyvern riders on the enemy phase and gains a beautiful level up (Str, Spd, Lck, Def, Res). Had she just gained HP as well she’d actually be able to take two hits from certain wyvern riders!

Advancing my wall should be fairly straightforward. Four enemy units who can pretty much be easily picked off by any of my units, and the dreaded hammer barbarian is easily in range. Vaike fells the wyvern rider, and then Virion just barely one-shots the fully healthy wyvern rider who came close, earning a concoction, allowing Miriel to kill the badly wounded archer from beside him at just barely 100% accuracy with her elwind. She levels up, gaining HP, Skill, Spd, Lck, and Res.

Highly conscious of the fact that Henshin has been RNG screwed in the past couple of level ups, I hope for the best as I kill the badly wounded thief at 99 exp: HP, Skill, Def, Res. I’m satisfied.

Chromzord easily one-roundes the hammer wielder with no damage, but it’s a mildly pyrrhic victory, as he gains a mediocre level (HP, Str). Kellam advances, and the wall is complete, though I couldn’t get Henshin and Kellam side by side this round.

In gauging whether or not to use a physic charge to heal Henshin to full, I look at the enemy damage values: 20, 20, 17, 16, 23, 20. Subtracting Henshin’s defense from each, I get 5, 5, 2, 1, 8, 5. 3 of them are guaranteed access to him by virtue of being ranged, the 2 five damage archers and the 1 one damage hand axe user. That’s 11 damage, leaving 8. If all three attack and hit and then the steel axe guy hits… okay, I’m healing him. But I do it with Maribelle, who could use the physic experience more.

I survive the enemy phase with minimal damage, though Chromzord took the brunt of the attacks and he is at roughly half HP.

And at long last…

Sumia: Rally Silver! T-the wyverns! THEY’RE ADVANCING! I can’t bait them one by one anymore, I’m in huge trouble!

Henshin: Shit!

Chromzord: What are we going to do? We can’t take that many wyverns at once! WE NEED BACKUP! FLYING BACKUP!

(Enter Cordelia) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d30OSJkt7Dc

Cordelia: The wind howls… the world cries out in agony… AND IT IS I WHO ANSWERS ITS CRY! RALLY… BLACK!

Behold, Cordelia, Rally Black, possessor of the most useless rally and the most useful class of my entire party. The only one of my party who will ever get galeforce, and since Rally Move is virtually useless, she’s essentially a second Chromzord, one with galeforce. She’s probably going to be the most powerful unit in my entire group.

But at the moment, dynamic entry aside, Cordelia is NOT going to be much help here. She’s not at melee range of any of the wyvern riders, meaning she can’t use her steel lance, but has to use her javelin, which does a piddling 2 damage to the wyvern riders. Best case scenario, one of her javelin shots triggers a dual strike to kill the wounded one who dodged one of Sumia’s killer lance attacks, but that’s only 2 27% chances, I’m not counting on it. I’ll attempt it anyway, but just in case it fails…

On land: Five enemy units, only two of which are wounded. One of them is a wyvern rider, which Chromzord can easily one-round with his trusty Falchion.

Over the ravine: Two wyvern riders, one at half HP, the other at full. Sumia’s gonna have to be healed with a physic in order to take the healthy one out. If Cordelia manages to DS trigger on the wounded one I don’t have to worry about that. If not, he’s miraculously in range of Virion’s longbow, though that would put him in a slightly exposed position, not tactically ideal.

I can guarantee the death of the archer, the landbound wyvern, the wounded wyvern, and the thief this turn. The fully healthy wyvern I have some confidence with, but the accuracy levels of lance versus axe are not ideal to say a guarantee. The remaining archer and barbarian I will be VERY surprised to see fall this turn, but as long as I keep Maribelle out of their range they won’t be able to kill anyone on their own. Cordelia time!

MIRACULOUSLY Cordelia’s javelin throwing DOES trigger Sumia to dual strike. Wounded wyvern down, Virion is now available for use elsewhere.

Maribelle moves to heal Sumia so she can attempt to take down the healthy airborne wyvern rider. That’s two physic charges, but thankfully Maribelle got a good level up with the experience (Mag, Skill, Lck, Def). Sumia succeeds!

Miriel finishes off the wounded archer, Virion longbows the healthy barbarian and fells him with a blast of his trusty Levin Sword. Chromzord fells the wyvern rider without taking damage. Kellam can easily fell the wounded thief with his iron lance, and he’s just one measly attack power shy of being able to one-shot the archer with a convoy grab of Sigurd’s lance from the adjacent Chromzord’s convoy. Alas.

Noticing Miriel’s at low health, I have Lissa heal her and she gains a level (HP, Mag, Spd, Res).

In one last-ditch effort to fell the archer, I have Vaike attack him from next to Henshin for the critical bonus and potential dual strike. Either one would kill him. Neither one happens, but Vaike does avoid getting counterattacked (not that it would have endangered him). Dejected, I settle for killing the thief. The medium bullion is mine.

The archer suicides on Miriel, and now there are just the two wyverns left. I suspect the reinforcements will arrive next turn, so I strive to get everyone out of their way. Miriel attacks Vasto with elwind, Maribelle heals Chromzord, and Virion finishes Vasto off, leveling up spectacularly (HP, Str, Mag, Skill, Spd, Def) and getting a steel axe. Lissa heals Miriel, and everyone makes a formation around Maribelle so the remaining wyvern rider can’t hurt her.

Now I COULD catch the reinforcements, but seeing how I’ve been quite lucky with level ups and I REALLY don’t want to have to redo this if I did something wrong, I decide to play it safe and have Chromzord take down the last remaining wyvern rider with falchion. He levels up, gaining HP, Skill, Spd, Lck, and Def.

CHAPTER COMPLETE!

New Supports: Chromzord and Henshin reach level B.

And as I get to the world map… a risen group spawns RIGHT ON TOP OF THE PLACE I JUST CLEARED, once again barring me access to more javelins. Shoot. Well, at least we have Cordelia’s.

Speaking of her, we’ll have to get her trained up quick. The next paralogue MIGHT be a good opportunity for that, not sure. Anyway, that’s a job for tomorrow!

[Alastor15243]

PARALOGUE 3

Alright, the javelin and hand axe shop is finally available, so I use it and buy some javelins, stocking up. I then head to Paralogue 3. This paralogue really doesn’t inspire me much in the area of dialogue, so I’ll just do a standard playthrough of this map.

Ah, there’s exactly enough room for my entire group. I give Cordelia a strength and defense tonic in preparation for trying to train her up, and I give Sumia the same treatment since they’re both gonna have to go out to the western front, in the open. Thankfully it’s mostly against physically weak pegasus knights, but still…

On the main area where my units are, to the west, there’s a mercenary and a fighter, I have Sumia kill the former and the slower Cordelia takes care of the latter thanks to her killer lance and the accuracy bonus from fighting alongside Sumia. Sumia doesn’t even need to be healed because she dodged the mercenary, and Cordelia doesn’t get hurt either thanks to a dual strike from Sumia. So far things are going great!

Henshin attacks the fighter on the east side, which gives me a good chance to kill both the mercenary with Chromzord and the fighter with Kellam if Henshin dual strikes on either. No luck with Chromzord getting help, so I have Kellam finish off the mercenary. He misses, but THEN Henshin decides to assist. Since Miriel’s close to leveling up, I have the sturdier Vaike, who has nothing else he can do this turn, attack the javelin-throwing knight with his steel axe, leaving him with 1 HP. Miriel then one-shots him, avoiding the damaging counter-attack. She levels up, gaining HP, Mag, Skill and much-needed Def, and gaining the focus skill. Lissa heals Chromzord, Maribelle heals Vaike. Virion I move towards Cordelia and Sumia in case they need assistance with those pegasus knights. Somehow.

Knight attacks the villager, fighter attacks vaike and dies horribly, archer attacks Lissa, fighter attacks Kellam, all really predictable. Incidentally, Kellam leveled up (HP, Str, Spd, Def, AWESOME!)

The pegasus knight goes for Cordelia, who dodges (Which is lucky because I didn’t put maribelle or Lissa nearby) but doesn’t double or critical.

I now realize the fatal error in my plan: I failed to put anyone within killing range of that knight who’s whailing on the villager. Thankfully, I have a backup plan: position Henshin three spaces away from the knight so Chromzord can go two spaces away, trade Henshin for his levin sword, and pray for at least one dual strike from Henshin. I get one.

Miriel kills the wounded fighter, Sumia kills the archer across the river, reaches lance rank B and levels up (Mag, Skill, Res), Virion kills the pegasus knight, and Cordelia starts baiting the pegasus knights to come at her. Vaike and Kellam team up to take down the archer (Vaike levels up, HP, Str, Skill), Lissa heals Vaike, Maribelle heals Lissa.

The baiting largely goes well, and Cordelia gets her first level up (HP, Str, Skill, Def). Was hoping for speed, but that’s a solid level up.

Miriel gets the blessed bow, and I start to panic a bit seeing that the villagers are getting chased. I am SO used to having a suped-up promoted Sumia handle the west side. But after some thought, I’ve got a plan set up. Alright, I’ve got my plan set up. Henshin and Chromzord can easily take care of the archer and fighter by the boss. The mercenary and fighter who are pursuing the villagers can be taken care of by Sumia and Virion respectively if they position themselves properly this turn. I do so. Incidentally, Henshin gets Hp, Str, Def and Res on his level up. He’s shaping up to be a great tank, but not a heck of a lot else. Chromzord also levels up, gaining HP, Skill, Spd, Def, and Res. He’s also extremely close to finally reaching Rank D in lances.

In a spectacular dual guard, dual strike, and critical combo, Chromzord finally reaches rank D in lances on the enemy phase, killing the fighter.

I was worried I’d be forced to use one of my healers’ precious ranged staves due to a knight, but it turns out the knight didn’t move and thus I have another turn to contend with him after this one.

Sadly, I didn’t realize that VIrion wasn’t quite strong enough to fell the fighter with his strongest bow (if he had the blessed bow he would’ve been able to do it, but alas that’s on the other side of the map with Miriel), so I’m forced to use a rescue staff to bring the pokey Kellam into the fray to take care of the wounded fighter I ignored last turn so Vaike can instead finish off the fighter menacing the villagers. I then use a vulnerary on Cordelia after positioning her to fight the knight next turn. The turn after, Maribelle will physic her and she’ll take down the fighter.

Alas, it is not to be. The knight still lives, and Cordy’s the only one in range of it. Damn those villagers being too dumb to live and running right into an enemy ambush! I’m forced to use Catharsis on one of them to heal him enough to survive another attack from the fighter he just walked into the range of while Cordelia kills the knight and Maribelle physics her. On the plus side, good staff experience, and Lissa levels up (HP, Mag, Skill, Res), as does Maribelle (HP, Skill, Res). Cordelia also levels up against the Knight (HP, Skill, Spd, Lck, Res).

At long last the villagers are finally safe and I can take down the boss. The goal, obviously, is to kill him before he has a chance to use that elixir, which means letting him attack me first. I arm Chromzord with Roy’s blade and Henshin with lightning at his side and let him strike.

I let Lissa and Maribelle get healing experience and have Henshin sneak in an attack before Chromzord guaranteed kills him. Chromzord dual strikes, earning himself an A rank in swords. All I have to do is get him to level 20 in cavalier and I’ll be able to get that wedding bouquet!

CHAPTER COMPLETE!

New Supports: Henshin and Kellam reach rank A, Cordelia and Sumia reach rank C.

Learning my lesson, I have Virion grab the blessed bow and the Astra bow from the convoy. I give Cordelia Ephraim’s lance since she needs it more at the moment and Sumia has the ability to use the silver lance if she has need of that kind of firepower. And with that, I’m done for this installment!

[Alastor15243]

Hey, sorry to any fans of this, but I think I'm gonna have to abandon this playthrough. I planned on getting back to it eventually, but I'm tackling Lunatic+ and got REALLY lucky stat rolls on my Avatar so I want a spare save of this in case I screw up down the line. Sorry.

[Flamy]

Hey, sorry to any fans of this, but I think I'm gonna have to abandon this playthrough. I planned on getting back to it eventually, but I'm tackling Lunatic+ and got REALLY lucky stat rolls on my Avatar so I want a spare save of this in case I screw up down the line. Sorry.

Aw man... I really enjoyed watching Rally Rangers.

Ah well. May Anna be with you in L+!