Fire Emblem Path of Radiance Girls Only HM: Chapter 10 - Prisoner Release

The tenth chapter of the game is distinct in that you can choose to do it in different ways - either go for stealth, not fighting anybody besides the boss (if you can manage to engage him undetected) and collect the impressive 700 Bonus EXP for making it out without any of the three soldiers noticing you, or FIGHT IT OUT!

700 BEXP seemed like quite a lot indeed, but I didn't expect what a pain in the arse doing stealth with an all-female team would be. I counted on Lethe as being my Oscar replacement, but then realised she would lose her Laguz form a few turns into the map with the movement bonuses it gives. It didn't help that I kept doing mistakes as I was planning my stealth clear, and had to redo it several times until I just decided I'd rather kick their asses instead.

And it turned out to be not such a bad idea at all. For one, for the 700 BEXP lost for opting against going stealth, we get a lot of combat experience (I tried to play in such a way that Titania only weakens enemies without killing them by having her suffer a speed penalty from carrying Ike - it nearly cost me the risk of Ilyana being targeted by two enemies at one point, but the Knight chose to attack Marcia for some reason), we build weapon ranks (it wouldn't hurt if Titania could wield Silver Lances in addition to Silver Axes at the end of the game), and Ilyana got an impressive number of Fire castings on slow Knights and Soldiers weighed down by Steel Lances (they still haven't got the Strength stat to carry those without attack speed penalties).

Finally, in this map we can recruit Nepenthe after the chapter, as long as somebody opens her prison cell. I don't think she's nearly as good as some people say (since I lack the opportunity to get the level-ups I want), but it's another female fighter and one that will get quite tanky as the game progresses. If you go for stealth, opening Nepenthe's cell in a way that she isn't spotted by one of the soldiers is complicated and gives me a headache.

And last but not least, we get all the chests, including one with Statue Frag which I don't think has any use in this challenge besides being sold (we're not using Boyd or Largo). There's also a Counter scroll which I'll probably teach to a frail character like Mia or Marcia, I haven't decided whom yet.

All in all, I was really relieved to just complete this chapter without attempting the stealth run. Gave Titania the boss kill, and the boss actually drops a Master Seal, which we could use to promote one of our characters early.

Two good candidates for an early promotion would be Ilyana and Mist. Ilyana gets better weapon ranks in three elements and becomes the second healer with access to staves, which is excellent. Mist, upon promotion, gets a horse and far better mobility, in addition to the invaluable chance to heal and escape from danger on the same turn. You can see how useful that can be when in this video there's one instance where I have to rescue Mist so that the enemies don't destroy her. With extra movement and a horse, she is less likely to be attacked, plus she can equip swords to counter attack for miserable damage.

I'm not sure if I want to promote any of these two, maybe I'll wait for now.

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