Thracia 776 Playthrough - Chapter 8
Chapter 8 - Mount Violdrake
Resets: 0 (15)
Turns: 9 (137)
Deployed: Leif, Halvan, Finn, Osian, Safiya, Ronan, Shiva, Hicks
In order to reach Tahra without attracting attention of Imperial forces, Leif plans to cut through the dense mountain area along the border between North and South Thracia. We are to cross through Mount Violdrake, Dagdar's old base of operations back when he was a Brigand boss.
We now have access to the prep screen, allowing me to rearrange my items and the like. There's two mechanics to talk about when it comes to FE5 and prep for battles. One is starting locations, the other is the mechanic of Fatigue.
In FE5, you CANNOT rearrange starting locations. At all. Starting locations are arranged in order of unit deployment, but unlike FE3 where you technically can rearrange your start locations by selecting and deselecting units to change their order in the roster, your units do not move around in the roster select screen by selecting and deselecting them. Units only change list order between maps, where all your units you deployed in the last map get moved to the front of the list. This fact gets to be a notable issue in future maps where starting locations are split up and scattered around the map.
The other mechanic, Fatigue, is an extra stat that ticks upwards after every combat, or use of staff. Certain staves also increase fatigue by multiple points. If a unit's fatigue counter exceeds their max HP, they are forced to sit out for the next map. There are two ways to clear fatigue. One is sitting out for a map. The other is use of a S Drink. So in general, it's necessary to have a bit of a bench of units to cycle through in order for your units to get some rest, and you cannot just power through with a narrowly built core set of units that you bring every battle.
Onto the map. Callion has guided us up the mountain range up to a small village area in Mount Violdrake. He tells us how Hannibal already knew who Leif was upon their meeting, and that there have been rumours going around the Thracian Penninsula of a descendant of Leonster who had survived the fall or the area to the Empire. Callion was formerly from Leonster, but his parents died in the war and he was taken in by Hannibal. Hannibal had created a refugee camp for those from Leonster seeking to escape from the Empire, which is where we are currently headed. The village we come across is suddenly being attacked by Dagdar's group. But Leif's group finds it peculiar that Dagdar's bandits would be attacking their own village.
It appears that another brigand named Gomez has started a feud to take control over the bandits. He has hired a Thracian Wyvern Rider to stand guard at the manor. The map is pretty straightforward, but there is a Paralogue requirement to meet for this one. The requirement is to capture the Wyvern Rider alive. He starts the battle dismounted, but eventually takes mount and starts heading towards my army. That's not for a while into the map, so there is ample time to get the job done.
As I go through the map, I pass around the 4 scriptures that I currently possess, allowing me a bit of a booster to my level ups. Marty is in the middle of the map and I recruit him back to the team by talking to him with Osian. I then have some of my units go take care of the houses while I dealt with the boss. It's a bit hard to bring his HP down for capture as he's got a decent amount of HP, has the +10 Def from the gate, and has a decent amount of evade. He also will use a Vulnerary if his HP gets too low, making it more annoying. It takes about 3 turns of attempts but I eventually get him by landing a crit Vogue, a few stabs with a Brave Lance while going for Capture, then hitting a 40% Brave Axe Hit to take him. I then take all his items from his inventory before seizing gate in a nice no reset run.
Leif strikes a deal with the Wyvern Rider, to have him tell him information regarding what is happening with Dagdar and Tanya in exchange for being set free. The Wyvern Rider tells that Gomez is in the manor with Dagdar planning to kill Dagdar to take control over the brigand group.
Since we have the prep screen now, I'll start tallying my Roster and levels:
Roster:
Leif - L11
Asbel - L10
Finn - L10
Halvan - L9
Karin - L9
Dalsin - L9
Fergus - L8
Brighton - L8
Osian - L8
Macha - L7
Lithis - L7
Nanna - L6
Safiya - L5
Lara - L5
Shiva - L4
Ronan - L4
Callion - L2
---------------
Hicks - L6
Marty - L1
At the moment, the only characters who are confirmed benchd for me at the moment will be Marty and Hicks. Characters that I'm benching will not be listed in future rosters, but just know that they are there.
