Murder Holes

Murder Holes

Location Dandrum Fortress dungeon Weather Fog of War New units Fred, Olwen Boss(es) Oltoph Previous chapter(s) Dandrum Fortress Next chapter(s) The Thieves of Dacia

“	All you have to do is kill the enemy before they kill you. Of course, you'll have to be prepared for the worst...	”	— Kempf's advice to Oltoph

Murder Holes (Japanese: マーダーホレス) is the sidequest of the eleventh chapter of Fire Emblem: Thracia 776. In order to play this chapter, the must have completed the previous chapter in 30 turns or fewer, triggered the trap by allowing Leif to enter the central courtyard, and kept Fred alive.

Plot

Main article: Murder Holes/Script

August, feeling that time is of the essence, instructs Leif to have their forces enter the fortress's dungeons to clear out any remaining troops and rescue any child prisoners before they are executed.

Kempf is then seen ordering a begrudging Oltoph to stay behind and fight to the death to guarantee escape. Kempf also orders Oltoph to execute any remaining prisoners as an afterthought and makes his way to the exit.

Olwen, who is locked in one of the cells with some children, witnesses their terror and fully grasps what the child hunts really are. The children are initially angry at her due to being a soldier of the Empire but she reassures them that she will help them escape. She is freed by Leif's forces and her subordinate Fred during the fighting.

After Friege's forces are cleared out of the dungeon and the children escape, Olwen overhears August and Dryas discussing the honor of house Friege in light of the fact that Ishtar's romantic relationship with Julius and open participation in the child hunts makes the entire house followers of Loptous. Olwen is confused by this information and voices her objections to this; she then agrees to accompany Leif's forces to learn the truth of what the Empire, and her brother Reinhardt, have really been doing.

Chapter data

Chapter Data
Conditions	Unit Data
Victory: Seize the throne	Player	Partner	Other	Enemy	Third
Defeat: Leif dies	6–8+2+12	{{{partner}}}	4-1	36+18	{{{third}}}

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

Placement of returning units captured in the previous chapter.

Additionally, up to twelve units that were captured in the previous chapter will return here as prisoners in the upper cells. They are positioned based on their place in deployment order in the previous chapter. If more than twelve units were captured, the unit last in deployment order will not be present; however, they will still be re-recruited at the end of the chapter. The second, fourth, fifth, and sixth prisoners will overlap with Olwen and the Civilians; they cannot be interacted with until the NPC no longer shares the tile, either through movement on their turn, being rescued, or being killed.

Version 1.06 of the Lil' Manster fan translation adjusted the positions of the first six captives, placing them in the middle cell rather than sharing Olwen's (shifting each of them four tiles west).

Character data

Characters
New Units
Fred Paladin HP 33 Inventory Lightning Sword Dire Thunder Vulnerary Door Key Level 2 Automatically from turn 2 Olwen Mage Knight HP 24 Inventory -- Level 2 NPC, talk to with Fred
Required Characters
Available Characters

Additionally, up to twelve units that were captured in the previous chapter will return in this one. If more than twelve units were captured, the first twelve in deployment order in the last chapter will be present, and the rest will not.

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 Con Mov Inventory and Skills Friege Axe Armor 8 3 20~30 4~14 0~10 0~10 0~10 0~10 8~18 9~19 5~6 Battle Axe Authority: Oltoph Moves to attack units in range. Friege Soldier 6 6 20~28 3~11 0~8 0~8 0~8 0~8 1~9 6~14 5~6 Javelin Authority: Oltoph The southern one does not move. Friege Archer 8 2 20~30 3~13 0~10 0~10 0~10 0~10 1~11 6~16 5~6 Poison Bow Authority: Oltoph Friege Mage 10 2 18~30 0~12 2~14 2~14 3~15 0~12 0~12 4~16 6~7 Elfire Authority: Oltoph Friege Mage 9 1 18~29 0~11 2~13 2~13 3~14 0~11 0~11 4~15 6~7 Thunder Authority: Oltoph Friege Soldier 7 1 20~29 3~12 0~9 0~9 0~9 0~9 1~10 6~15 5~6 Javelin Authority: Oltoph Does not move. Friege Soldier 10 2 20~32 3~15 0~12 0~12 0~12 0~12 1~13 6~18 5~6 Javelin Authority: Oltoph Does not move. Friege Soldier 8 2 20~30 3~13 0~10 0~10 0~10 0~10 1~11 6~16 5~6 Javelin Authority: Oltoph Does not move. Friege Sword Armor 6 4 20~28 4~12 0~8 0~8 0~8 0~8 8~16 9~17 5~6 Iron Blade Authority: Oltoph Moves to attack units in range; otherwise moves randomly. Friege Mage 8 2 18~28 0~10 2~12 2~12 3~13 0~10 0~10 4~14 6~7 Wind Authority: Oltoph Moves to attack units in range. Friege Archer 9 1 20~31 3~14 0~11 0~11 0~11 0~11 1~12 6~17 5~6 Short Bow Authority: Oltoph Friege Mage 8 1 18~28 0~10 2~12 2~12 3~13 0~10 0~10 4~14 6~7 Thunder Authority: Oltoph Friege Archer 10 2 20~32 3~15 0~12 0~12 0~12 0~12 1~13 6~18 5~6 Short Bow Authority: Oltoph Friege Mage 7 1 18~27 0~9 2~11 2~11 3~12 0~9 0~9 4~13 6~7 Thunder Authority: Oltoph Friege Archer 6 1 20~28 3~11 0~8 0~8 0~8 0~8 1~9 6~14 5~6 Short Bow Authority: Oltoph Friege Mage 6 1 18~26 0~8 2~10 2~10 3~11 0~8 0~8 4~12 6~7 Thunder Authority: Oltoph Friege Archer 10 3 20~32 3~15 0~12 0~12 0~12 0~12 1~13 6~18 5~6 Poison Bow • Antitoxin Authority: Oltoph Oltoph Bishop 8 1 20~30 0~10 5~15 2~12 2~12 0~10 1~11 4~14 5~6 Bolting • Meteor • Physic • Door Key Authority: ★ • Starts on a throne, the chapter's seize point. • Does not move until turn 30, at which point he begins to ignore combat and move to escape via the southeast corridor.

Reinforcements

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Def Res Cha Con Mov Inventory and Skills Friege Soldier 3 4 20~25 3~8 0~5 0~5 0~5 0~5 1~6 6~11 5~6 Short Lance Authority: Oltoph Friege Soldier 3 2 20~25 3~8 0~5 0~5 0~5 0~5 1~6 6~11 5~6 Javelin Authority: Oltoph Friege Soldier 6 4 20~28 3~11 0~8 0~8 0~8 0~8 1~9 6~14 5~6 Short Lance Authority: Oltoph Friege Soldier 6 2 20~28 3~11 0~8 0~8 0~8 0~8 1~9 6~14 5~6 Javelin Authority: Oltoph Friege Soldier 11 4 20~33 3~16 0~13 0~13 0~13 0~13 1~14 6~19 5~6 Short Lance Authority: Oltoph Friege Soldier 11 2 20~33 3~16 0~13 0~13 0~13 0~13 1~14 6~19 5~6 Javelin Authority: Oltoph

Reinforcements

All reinforcements are halted upon Oltoph's defeat.

• Turn 8
  • Four level 6 Soldiers with Short Lances from south of the cell containing the NPCs
  • Two level 6 Soldiers with Javelins from south of the cell containing the NPCs
• Turn 10
  • Four level 3 Soldiers with Short Lances from the northwest corner of the map
  • Two level 3 Soldiers with Javelins from the northwest corner of the map
• Turn 15
  • Four level 11 Soldiers with Short Lances from the northwest corner of the map
  • Two level 11 Soldiers with Javelins from the northwest corner of the map

NPC data

NPC Units

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Def Res Cha Con Mov Inventory and Skills Olwen Mage Knight 2 1 24 4 10 7 9 5 3 5 5 -- Action: ★ Moves to be next to Fred. Peter Civilian 1 1 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 -- Moves to escape via the northwest; allows the acquisition of a Silence Staff from a village in Chapter 12 if he escapes. Rosa Civilian 1 1 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 -- Moves to escape via the northwest; allows the acquisition of a Vulnerary or Magic Ring from a village in Chapter 12 if he escapes. Sera Civilian 1 1 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 -- Moves to escape via the northwest; allows the acquisition of the Heim Scroll from a village in Chapter 12 if she escapes.

Boss 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.

Main article: Oltoph

Bishop Level 8 Action -- Authority ★

Stats Max HP 20~30 Speed 2~12 Strength 0~10 Luck 0~10 Magic 5~15 Defense 1~11 Skill 2~12 Constitution 4~14 Movement 5~6 FCM 0

Inventory Skills Bolting Meteor Physic Door Key -- Weapon Levels -- -- -- -- C A A B -- --

Strategy

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

The main difficulty of this chapter comes not from fighting, but more rather avoiding fighting. Most of the enemies here have 2 range weapons that will chip at your units with lower bulk or avoid. Bring a door key or lockpick for Oltoph's room, and feel free to capture him, since his lack of a weapon that can counter at 1 or 2 range means he is an automatic capture for anyone with more constitution than him. Siege tomes sell for a good profit. Another option is to simply warp to the boss and capture him so that he doesn't cause any trouble with his siege tomes, though this requires the warped unit to survive all of the enemies in the throne room.

Fred appears as a player unit on turn 2, and the main goal with him is to make a beeline for Olwen's cell. It is best that he attacks the Soldiers at 2 range, as he will do magic damage. Due to the fact that Olwen is standing right next to the cell door and won't move, the Soldiers (who are armed with Javelins) will continually attack and may kill her if Fred does not hurry. However, if you want to recruit Ilios later in Chapter 16A, you must not recruit her in this chapter, or let her die if you did recruit her.

Also note that the cells in the northern part of the map have the purpose of containing the player's captured units if they were captured in the previous chapter. However, this is very unlikely to have happened due to the previous map having few enemies and only one place for them to escape with a captured player unit.

Trivia

• One of the childrens' names, Sera, bears resemblance to Serra—a playable cleric in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, and Sara—another playable cleric from this game.
• This chapter is referenced by Leif in Fire Emblem Engage.

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English (unofficial)	• Murder Hollace • Desperate Ground	• Used in FireLizard's translation. • Used in the Lil' Manster fan translation patch.
Japanese	マーダーホレス	Literally translates to something like "Murder Hollace". A common theory is that it is intended to be "murder holes", but "holes" was transcribed into Japanese literally as ホレス horesu instead of something like ホールズ hōruzu. This is supported by Kempf's other dirty tactic being called "portcullis", another fortification in castles.

Gallery

• 

  Map of the chapter

References

← Dandrum Fortress •	Murder Holes	• The Thieves of Dacia →