The Fiend's Lair

---

This page has been marked as a stub. Please help improve the page by adding information.

---

The Fiend's Lair

Location Munster New units Saias or Ced Boss(es) Alphand Previous chapter(s) Across the River Next chapter(s) The Baron in Black

“	All right. Farden, kill the children who have escaped. Show the people who are still left what will happen if they try to run.	”	— Raydrik to Farden

The Palace of Evil (Japanese: 魔王の城 The Demon King's Castle) is the twenty-third chapter of Fire Emblem: Thracia 776.

Plot

Main article: The Palace of Evil/Script

As Leif's forces draw closer to Munster, the situation in Munster grows increasingly dire for its residents. Raydrik's forces scour every safehouse, leaving the Munster citizens with nowhere to hide their children. Ced wishes to escort the children out of the city personally, but that would leave the Magi, the rebellious group he is leading, without a leader.

As Ced ponders the situation, Saias appears and volunteers to escort the children out of Munster. Ced accepts the offer, but also gives Saias the Bragi Sword and requests him to bring it to Leif, as Leif can use it and it is the only weapon capable of breaking Raydrik's defenses granted to him by the Loptr Sword. Saias accepts the duty and leaves Munster with its children. In response, Raydrik sends Farden and his cavalry to hunt down the escapees.

In the meantime, Leif, August and the Liberation Army reach Munster and notice the escaping children being hunted down by Knights of Munster. Leif immediately orders his forces to move in, and a battle begins.

During the battle, Altena and Coulter arrive from the south to survey the situation. Coulter suggests that they could seize Munster amidst the chaos, but Altena is against the idea because it could get civilians killed. She also claims that Munster being liberated from the Empire is a blow against their enemy regardless of who deals it. Coulter tells her that attacking Munster is King Travant's idea, to which Altena responds that she must convince the king not to go through with the attack. She then heads off to meet with Travant, leaving Coulter behind, and Coulter complains that there will never be a better opportunity to take Munster.

Meanwhile, in Munster, Alphand prepares to defend the city, but he misplaces his Poison tome and orders one of his soldiers to find it. Regardless if Alphand finds his weapon or not, when Leif's forces close in on the city, Ced approaches Alphand and tells him that the Magi are in control of most of the city. He offers to spare Alphand's life if he surrenders, but Alphand refuses to surrender, calling Ced's claim of controlling the city a bluff. Ced then kills Alphand and takes his place in the Munster garrison, waiting there to meet Leif's forces.

At the same time, Coulter decides to attack Munster, but Altena comes back from her meeting with Travant and insists on calling off the attack. Coulter disregards her orders, though, claiming that the order to attack came from King Travant himself. Altena is in disbelief and leaves to discuss the matter with Travant again, while Coulter carries out the assault in her absence.

During the battle or after it, unless Saias dies, Leif meets him and is given the Bragi Sword by him. Upon realizing what the weapon is, Leif is dumbfounded and thanks Saias for the gift, but Saias downplays his role and tells Leif that it was Ced's idea to begin with, as Ced cannot wield swords very well.

Once Leif reaches Munster, he can talk to Ced, and if he does, Ced joins the army. They have a discussion about each other's achievements, with Leif feeling inferior to both Ced and Seliph due to his mistakes. However, Ced is convinced that Leif has accomplished much more and fought much harder than he believes. Ced then requests Leif to aid him with liberating Munster, as there is one more wing of the castle that holds Raydrik's remaining forces, and that wing houses child hostages. Leif agrees to help Ced, and they fight together from then on.

After the battle, Leif and August discuss the remaining fight ahead of them. As the Magi take control of the streets, Leif's forces will be storming the castle. August brings up the fact that Raydrik's sword provides him with great defensive power that requires a countermeasure to pierce. If Saias was not able to give Leif the Bragi Sword during the battle, he does so here. Saias also tells Leif that he will go to the Tower of Bragi and ask for guidance, to which Leif responds that maybe Saias could stay a little longer and help liberate Munster. Saias accepts the request if Ced did not join Leif's army, but if Ced did join Leif's army, Saias claims his heart has grown too accustomed to warfare and leaves while promising to pray for Leif's success.

Beginning log

After crossing the Great River of Thracia, Leif continued on towards Munster. Meanwhile at Munster, the civilians who had heard of Leif's approach were attempting to flee once and for all, and the Magi group led by Ced was aiding their escape. Fierce clashes were ensuing between the Munster army and Magi group day and night...

Chapter data

Chapter Data
Conditions	Unit Data
Victory: Seize the gate	Player	Partner	Other	Enemy	Third
Defeat: Leif or Ced dies	8–16+2	{{{partner}}}	6+1-1	17+107	{{{third}}}

Units are arranged based on their position in deployment order after Leif.

Character data

Characters
New units
Saias High Priest HP 23 Inventory Lightning Warp Silence Heal Door Key Level 12 Automatically from turn 1 Ced Sage HP 32 Inventory Forseti Vulnerary Level 14 NPC, talk to with Leif
Available characters

Saias does not receive bonuses from authority from Leif's forces, nor does he provide them. He does receive and provide bonuses in the following chapters.

If Ced is recruited or any of the Civilians are killed or captured, Saias will leave at the end of the chapter.

Item data

Items

Name Obtainment Method Vulnerary Visit left house Pure Water Visit middle house Physic Visit right house Bragi Sword Talk to Saias with Leif, or at the end of the chapter if Leif did not talk to Saias and Saias is alive and uncaptured

Enemy data

Stats with two figures separated by a ~ are presented as a range, representing stats that vary due to random growths. The figures to the left and right of the ~ are the stat's minimum and maximum possible values respectively.

Enemy Units

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Farden Paladin 20 1 48 15 5 14 16 16 13 17 9 Flame Sword • Master Lance • Vulnerary Authority: ★★ Action: ★ Not present during preparations. Loptrian Dark Mage 18 2 24~34 0~10 5~15 4~14 3~13 0~10 4~14 5~15 6~7 Jormungand • Sleep Authority: Alphand Does not move; randomly acts or does not act each turn. Munster Poison Ballista 18 3 20~40 4~20 0~20 3~20 0~20 0~3 5~20 20 0 Poison Ballista Authority: Farden Munster General 20 1 26~48 7~20 1~20 5~20 2~20 0~20 12~20 10~20 6~7 Hammer • Poleax • Poison Axe • Killer Axe • Master Axe • Vulnerary Charm Authority: Farden Moves to attack units in range. Munster Great Knight 17 3 24~43 5~20 1~20 6~20 6~20 0~19 5~20 9~20 9~10 Battle Axe • Hammer • Vulnerary Authority: Farden Munster Duke Knight 18 4 24~44 5~20 1~20 6~20 6~20 0~20 5~20 8~20 9~10 Great Lance • Killer Lance • Vulnerary Authority: Farden Munster Bow Knight 17 2 24~43 5~20 1~20 6~20 6~20 0~19 5~20 7~20 9~10 Great Bow • Vulnerary Authority: Farden Alphand Dark Bishop 13 1 56 4 17 15 15 13 12 12 6 Jormungand • Silence • Hel Authority: ★★ Action: ★★ • Not present during preparations. • Does not move; stands on a gate, the chapter's seize point. • Obtains a Poison on turn 5. • Dies and is replaced by Ced in a scripted event if a unit nears the plateau surrounding his position (columns 14–24, rows 12–19).

Reinforcements

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills File:Ma snes03 wyvern rider enemy.gif Coulter Wyvern Rider 14 1 48 16 5 16 15 9 16 17 9 Silver Lance • Javelin • Ridersbane • Vulnerary Authority: ★ Does not move until Alphand is defeated, at which point he begins moving to attack Ced, and moves to escape if he is inaccessible (e.g. Ced did not appear or was rescued). File:Ma snes03 wyvern rider enemy.gif Thracia Wyvern Rider 12 8 45 13 4 12 11 12 14 13 9 Silver Lance • Ridersbane Authority: Coulter Does not move until Alphand is defeated, at which point they begin moving to attack Ced, and move to escape if he is inaccessible (e.g. Ced did not appear or was rescued). File:Ma snes03 wyvern rider female enemy.gif Altena Wyvern Rider 14 1 20~25 7~12 1~6 6~11 6~11 0~5 9~14 5~10 9~10 Dragonpike Adept • Vantage Authority: Coulter Ignores combat. Does not move until Alphand is defeated, at which point she moves to leave the map. Thief Thief 5 1 16~23 1~8 0~3 1~8 6~13 0~7 0~7 5~12 7~8 Iron Sword • Lockpick Steal Ignores combat; moves to raid houses, then moves to escape south. Munster Great Knight 15 8 24~41 5~20 1~18 6~20 6~20 0~17 5~20 9~20 9~10 Hammer Authority: Farden Munster Duke Knight 14 8 24~40 5~20 1~17 6~20 6~20 0~16 5~20 8~20 9~10 Great Lance Authority: Farden Loptrian Dark Mage 13 80 24~39 0~15 5~20 4~19 3~18 0~15 4~19 5~20 6~7 Jormungand Authority: Alphand

Enemies will not attack the civilians, except to capture them.

Reinforcements

• Turn 2; halted if a player unit enters the plateau surrounding the castle (columns 14–24, rows 12–19)
  • Altena, Coulter, and eight Wyvern Riders from the southeastern mountains
• Turn 3
  • One Thief from the northeast corner of the map
• Turns 3–10
  • One Great Knight from the left fortress
  • One Duke Knight from the right fortress
  • Up to ten Dark Mages, each with a 25% chance to appear each turn, from various spots on the map:
    • From near the western mountains (column 3, row 23)
    • From south of the player's starting location (column 4, row 12)
    • From the southern edge of the cliffs (column 10, row 26)
    • From the southern edge of the map (column 17, row 28)
    • From near the gate (column 16, row 16)
    • From south of the Poison Ballistae (column 18, row 11)
    • From east of the Ballistae (column 23, row 10)
    • From northwest of the eastern houses (column 23, row 2)
    • From west of the eastern houses (column 26, row 6)
    • From east of the player's starting location (column 13, row 5)

NPC data

NPC Units

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Civilian Civilian 1 5 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 -- Moves to escape north. Civilian Civilian 1 1 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 -- Moves to escape north.

Reinforcements

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Ced Sage 7 1 32 3 17 16+20 16+20 10 9 8 8 Forseti • Door Key Adept Authority: ★ Action: ★★ Does not move; stands on a gate, the chapter's seize point.

Reinforcements

• After a unit enters the plateau surrounding the castle (columns 14–24, rows 12–19); halted upon Alphand being defeated
  • Ced appears at the gate and kills Alphand

Boss data

Main article: Alphand

Dark Bishop Level 13 Action ★★ Authority ★★

Stats Max HP 56 Speed 15 Strength 4 Luck 13 Magic 17 Defense 12 Skill 15 Constitution 12 Movement 6 FCM 0

Inventory Skills Jormungand Silence Hel -- Weapon Levels -- -- -- -- A E E E -- A

Strategy

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

At the start of this chapter, the High Priest named Saias, whom you previously saw as an enemy in earlier chapters, is now on your side, volunteering to escort six NPC civilians to safety at the request of Ced. Compared to when he was an enemy unit (where he had 10 leadership stars granting a whopping +30 hit and avoid to everyone in the army), Saias only has five (three after this chapter) leadership stars as a playable character, granting only +15 (later +9) hit/avoid. Saias's main objective during this chapter is to speak to Leif, so that he can give him the Bragi Sword, a sacred blade which negates the damage-halving effect of Raydrik's Loptr Sword. Saias starts very close to the enemy forces, most of whom are cavalry, meaning they can quickly reach him and the civilians. If you want Saias to stay in your party, you also have the additional task of keeping all of the NPC civilians alive and uncaptured; Saias cannot defend the chokepoint to block their advance on his own, as he is very liable to being one-shotted. It is highly recommended to warp your strongest unit to block the chokepoint so that Saias and the civilians can flee to safety. You can also use a Rescue staff to bring Saias over to Leif to get him out of harm's way.

There are two Dark Mages wielding Sleep staves on this map. Use your own status staves to sleep/silence them to prevent them from interfering. Dark Mage reinforcements will also appear in random undiscernible spots around the map. The boss Alphand will get a Poison tome starting from turn 5, so don't dawdle too much.

If a player unit enters a certain range surrounding the castle, a scripted event will trigger, in which Ced will kill Alphand with a critical hit from his Forseti. After that, he will remain on the gate for the remainder of the map. While he is in range of the ballista, the defense and avoid bonuses granted by the gate (even before accounting for the +10 speed offered by Forseti) makes it nigh impossible for him to be scratched. Saias starts close enough to the castle that he can trigger the event, however, it is not recommended for him to trigger it, as he will not only be standing within range of the ballistae, but it will also provoke the squad of Thracian Wyvern Lords waiting at the eastern mountain range to attack, making it more likely for them to capture the civilians and kill Saias before he can reach Leif's party.

During this chapter, you have a choice to have only one of two units to accompany you for the rest of your journey: Saias or Ced. Ced is a Wind-specialist Sage armed with the powerful Forseti tome, making him bar-none one of the strongest combat units in the game and is a solid support unit in his own right with his A rank in staves; recruiting him will make Saias leave however, so it is recommended to give Saias's inventory to someone else if you decide to recruit Ced. Saias is a High Priest who, while his combat is not even close to matching Ced's, offers multiple leadership stars to boost the hit/avoid of everyone in your team. Saias will also provide a hint in the next chapter on how you can recruit Galzus if he stays. If you desire to keep Saias, then you need someone to move Ced out of the way via rescuing, since he is occupying the gate that Leif needs to seize to complete the chapter.

Note that this is the last map in the game that takes place outdoors. This is something important to note, as all of your mounted units will be forced to permanently dismount in the next chapter onwards, undoing the main advantage that they have over infantry units: high movement and Canto. Additionally, as a result of the enforced dismounting, all of your mounted units who specialize in using axes or lances will be forced to use only swords for the remainder of the game; most of them have very low weapon ranks in swords, which may harm their combat capabilities.

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English (unofficial)	• The Palace of Evil • The Fiend's Lair	• Used in FireLizard's translation. • Used in the Lil' Manster fan translation patch.

Gallery

---

This section has been marked as a stub. Please help improve the page by adding information.

---

← Across the River •	The Fiend's Lair	• The Baron in Black →