The Fiend's Lair

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

Plot

Main article: The Fiend's Lair/Script

Leif's army approaches Munster as its citizens try to flee, but even though Ced is in the city, he cannot protect those citizens himself. He leaves the task to Saias, who volunteers to help, and also asks Saias to give Leif the Bragi Sword, as he will need it to break Raydrik's defenses of the Loptr Sword. Raydrik sends Farden to hunt down the citizens escorted by Saias, and in the chaos, Altena and Coulter arrive, with Coulter carrying out an immediate attempt to seize Munster as per King Travant's orders. Altena tries to protest and change her father's mind, but to no avail.

Eventually, Leif reaches Munster, and as he does, Ced kills Alphand – the Loptian defending the castle – and seizes the gates in preparation for Leif's arrival. Leif can then talk to Ced, and if he does, Ced joins his forces. Saias also gives Leif the Bragi Sword either during the battle, if Leif talks to him, or after the battle, if Leif does not talk to him. Once the battle ends, Saias leaves for the Tower of Bragi and promises to pray for Leif – but if Leif did not recruit Ced, Saias instead stays with his army to help it for some time.

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
Required characters
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 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). Farden Paladin 20 1 48 15 5 14 16 16 13 17 9 Flame Sword • Master Lance • Vulnerary Authority: ★★ Action: ★ Not present during preparations.

Reinforcements

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Coulter Wyvern Knight 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). Thracia Wyvern Knight 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). Altena Wyvern Knight 14 1 20~25 7~12 1~6 6~11 6~11 0~5 9~14 5~10 9~10 Dragon Lance Adept • Vantage Authority: Coulter Ignores combat. Does not move until Alphand is defeated, at which point she moves to leave the map. Cannot be stolen from. 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

• Turn 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. If Saias dies or is captured and taken off the map before Leif gets a chance to talk to him, the Bragi Sword is lost for good, which will make Raydrik (and later Mus), much harder to deal with, though alternative means of killing them do exist. 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.
Japanese	魔王の城	The Demon King's Castle

Gallery

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  Map of the chapter

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