Rescue (chapter)

Rescue is the second chapter of Fire Emblem: Path Of Radiance.

The chapter begins with Mist and Rolf the youngest members of the Griel Mercenaires being kidnapped by a disgrutal group of bandits. This is the bandit group's retaliation for the Griel Mercenaires having defeated them when they were ransaking a small village in Chapter 1 of Path of Radiance: The Battle Begins.

Soon after the kidnappings Ike, Boyd, Oscar, and Rhys realised that Mist and Rolf were missing. After discovering what had happened the group of four set out after the bandits without any other help, as the other Griel Mercenaires were on a seperate mission elsewhere.

Eventually Ike, Boyd, Oscar, and Rhys arrived at the location that the Bandits were at. The bandits then taunted them, revealing that Rolf and Mist were trapped inside a Shack located behind the bandits on the map. The Bandits also inquire as to where Titania is, as she had lead the attack on the Bandits in the village the chapter before.

Ike, Oscar, Boyd and Rhys will then choose to fight the Bandits and rescue Rolf and Mist despite the fact they are severely outnumbered.

Terrain
The battle of, Chapter 2: Rescue, is an uphill battle, literally. The Shack inwhich the kidnapped Rolf and Mist are trapped in is located at the top of the hill. Up along the hill the Bandits are spaced out ready for combat.

Off to the bottom-left of the map is a small alcove, blocked off by the rocky hillside. The only way to acess this alcove is by entering it from the bottom-left. This alcove can be used tatically in the early turns of the battle to create a safe area to create a bottle-neck effect in. This is espsically effective on Hard Mode and Maiac Mode.

Up along the hill there are a few randomly placed trees and thickets. These can be used tatically in battle to create 'walls' and to use the thickets for battle bonuses. They however can not be depended on much in an active strategy because of their placement on the hill. They can however be used effectively as a player forges their way up the hill aginst the Bandit forces.

Also parts of the far left side of the map are inacessable, and thus will not really play into any strategy a player can have.

Strategy
As previously stated, Chapter 2: Rescue, is litterally an uphill battle. In this battle the player will have only four units to control, one of which being Rhys, who can not attack. This leaves the player severely, although of course not hopelessly, outnumbered.

At the begining of the battle the player will most likely notice an alcove to the bottom-left side of the map, just to the left of the player's character's deployment area. This alcove will on most modes only have a single enemy standing in it, who can easily be defeated, however on Hard and Maniac Modes a larger group of enemies will be in the alcove at the begining of the battle.

This alcove can be used to create a bottle-neck once the enemies within it are defeated. The player can set up their attacking units in the entrance of the alcove to block it off, and Rhys can stand behind the blockcade and heal anyone who is injured by the enemy attackers.

As this suggests, the enemy units near the bottom of the hill will converge on the player's units. Although they can be easily defeated if the player uses the alcove or another well planed strategy. Also it should be noted that within the first few turns Titania will arrive to help the others.

Once the immediate attacking force is deflected only about half of the enemy units will remain. The player can then slowly make his way up the hill by again, creating a wall with his attacking forces. As the player moves up the hill he/she had pick off the remaining enemy units.

At the top of the hill, near the shack is the boss. He is not a particularly difficult boss and can be easily killed in a few rounds by the player's attacking units. The boss will drop a rare Speedwing status boosting item upon his defeat.