An Inevitable Encounter

An Inevitable Encounter (Japanese: 必然の出会い Inevitable Encounter) is the prologue of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. It consists solely of a mission, A Skirmish at Dawn (Japanese: 夜明けの遭遇戦 Encounter Battle at Dawn).

An Inevitable Encounter

Location Remire Village New units Byleth, Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude Boss(es) Kostas

“	Please forgive our intrusion. We wouldn't bother you were the situation not dire. We're being pursued by a group of bandits. I can only hope that you will be so kind as to lend your support.	”	— Dimitri

Plot

Main article: An Inevitable Encounter/Script

In the Imperial Year 91, the divine Seiros engages the Liberation King Nemesis in battle and slays him, avenging an incident at the Red Canyon. Approximately one millennium later in 1180, a person named Byleth has a dream of the battle and of a mysterious girl. Afterwards, they are woken up by their father Jeralt. The nobles Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude appear and explain that bandits have attacked them while they were resting at camp. Jeralt agrees to protect them, and he and Byleth ride out. With Jeralt's guidance, the four are able to rout the bandits and injure their leader Kostas.

As the battle ends, Kostas recovers from his injuries and attempts to attack Edelgard, but Byleth sacrifices themselves to protect her. They have another vision of the girl, who scolds them for being so reckless, introduces herself as Sothis, and grants them the ability to rewind time with Divine Pulse. Byleth redoes the past several seconds and this time counters Kostas' strike and drives him off. At this point, the group is reinforced by the Knights of Seiros led by Alois. Alois recognizes Jeralt and reveals that he was once the respected captain of the Knights of Seiros who vanished approximately 20 years ago; he browbeats Jeralt into returning to Garreg Mach Monastery with him and invites Byleth to accompany them. The three lords thank Byleth for their actions, descend into a bickering match, and offer Byleth a position with their respective homelands.

Chapter data

Normal/Hard Maddening

Chapter Data
Conditions	Unit Data
Victory: Defeat Kostas	Player	Partner	Other	Enemy	Third
Defeat: Any player unit dies	4	{{{partner}}}	1	7	{{{third}}}
Normal Hard {{{content3}}} {{{content4}}} {{{content5}}} {{{content6}}} {{{content7}}} {{{content8}}} {{{content9}}} {{{content10}}} {{{content11}}} {{{content12}}} {{{content13}}} {{{content14}}} {{{content15}}}

Chapter Data
Conditions	Unit Data
Victory: Defeat Kostas	Player	Partner	Other	Enemy	Third
Defeat: Any player unit dies	4	{{{partner}}}	1	9	{{{third}}}

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Character data

Characters
New units
Byleth Commoner HP 27 Inventory -- Level 1 Automatically from turn 1 Edelgard Noble HP 29 Inventory -- Level 1 Automatically from turn 1 Dimitri Noble HP 28 Inventory -- Level 1 Automatically from turn 1 Claude Noble HP 26 Inventory -- Level 1 Automatically from turn 1
Available characters
None

Item data

Items

Name Obtainment Method Iron Axe Dropped by Kostas

Enemy data

Normal Hard Maddening

Enemy Units

Name Class Lv # Inventory and Skills Notes Thief Ruffian 1 6 Iron Sword The northwestern three begin moving if any of them are provoked. Kostas Thief 3 1 Iron Axe He and his squad begin moving after the first four Ruffians are defeated.

Reinforcements

Name Class Lv # Inventory and Skills Notes

Enemy Units

Name Class Lv # Inventory and Skills Notes Thief Ruffian 1 3 Iron Sword Sword Prowess Lv 1 The northwestern two begin moving if they or the nearby axe-wielding Ruffian is provoked. Thief Ruffian 1 1 Iron Axe Axe Prowess Lv 2 Begins moving if a nearby sword-wielding Ruffian is provoked. Thief Thief 1 2 Iron Axe Axe Prowess Lv 2 Begins moving after the Ruffians are defeated or they or Kostas are provoked. Kostas Thief 3 1 Iron Axe Axe Prowess Lv 2 Begins moving after the Ruffians are defeated or he or the Thieves are provoked.

Reinforcements

Name Class Lv # Inventory and Skills Notes

Enemy Units

Name Class Lv # Inventory and Skills Notes Thief Ruffian 4 3 Iron Sword Sword Prowess Lv 3 The northwestern two begin moving if they or the nearby axe-wielding Ruffian is provoked. Thief Thief 4 4 Iron Axe Axe Prowess Lv 2 • The southern two begin moving if either is provoked. • The northern two begin moving after the southern Ruffians and Thieves are defeated. Thief Ruffian 4 1 Iron Axe Axe Prowess Lv 2 Begins moving if a nearby sword-wielding Ruffian is provoked. Kostas Thief 6 1 Iron Axe Axe Prowess Lv 3 Begins moving after the southern Ruffians and Thieves are defeated.

Reinforcements

Name Class Lv # Inventory and Skills Notes

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NPC data

NPC Units

Name Class Lv # Inventory and Skills Notes Jeralt Paladin 3 1 Iron Lance Blade Breaker • Canto • Keen Intuition • Lance Prowess Lv 1 • Immobile until all except Kostas and his nearby Thieves are defeated, at which point he begins moving unprovoked. • If he attacks Kostas and would normally kill him, his attack will instead leave Kostas at 1 HP.

Reinforcements

Name Class Lv # Inventory and Skills Notes

Boss data

Main article: Kostas

Normal Hard Maddening

Thief Level 3 Movement 5 Crest --

Stats Max HP 28 Luck 5 Strength 10 Defense 6 Magic 5 Resistance 1 Dexterity 7 Charm 6 Speed 7

Inventory Abilities Iron Axe -- Combat arts Spells Battalion -- -- -- Skill Levels Ma E E E E E E E E E E E

Thief Level 3 Movement 5 Crest --

Stats Max HP 29 Luck 6 Strength 11 Defense 7 Magic 6 Resistance 1 Dexterity 7 Charm 7 Speed 7

Inventory Abilities Iron Axe Axe Prowess Lv 2 Combat arts Spells Battalion -- -- -- Skill Levels Ma E E E E E E E E E E E

Thief Level 6 Movement 5 Crest --

Stats Max HP 32 Luck 7 Strength 12 Defense 8 Magic 7 Resistance 3 Dexterity 9 Charm 9 Speed 10

Inventory Abilities Iron Axe Axe Prowess Lv 3 Combat arts Spells Battalion -- -- -- Skill Levels Ma E E E E E E E E E E E

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Strategy

This section details unofficial strategies that may help with completion of the chapter. This may not work for everybody.

As the tutorial mission of Three Houses, this should be a cakewalk as long as you don't do anything dumb. If you already know which house you're going to side with, you might want to try to feed your kills to Byleth and your favored lord. Byleth is perfectly capable of plastering the poor guy up front with a single use of their Combat Art, so get used to using those. On Maddening, Claude needs to chip him in order for them to get the kill. You may be tempted to initiate the talk conversations between Byleth and the three lords, and Claude can do so with no consequence, but Edelgard and Dimitri would rather move as far north as possible in preparation to take the forests next turn. On turn 2, move the two lords into the forests. You can also have Byleth chat with one or both of them. The next group of enemies will attack, so on turn 3 you can move in with everyone else and mop them up. With them dead, it's time to make for the northeast and deal with Kostas. Move into the isolated forest with Byleth, who will injure all three enemies. Jeralt has aggroed by this point, and will steal a kill from you. At this point, you can wipe out the enemy with little trouble. If you're feeling thrifty, you can trade over everyone's weapons to Byleth and your favored lord so you can filch them when two of them leave you.

Trivia

• During this chapter, Byleth and Jeralt are part of the "Mercenaries" faction. Both of them switch to the Church of Seiros after this battle.

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English	An Inevitable Encounter	--

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English	A Skirmish at Dawn	--

Gallery

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References

	An Inevitable Encounter	• Three Houses →