WE HAVE A TAKER FOR THE CROSSOVER SPECIAL: EveBlaze14, bringing Fire Emblem Awakening: The Forgotten Hero and the Reincarnated Tactician to the table. This is a cool story that blends 3 different FE casts together for the Ylissean Campaign (Naga is a chronic meddler).

Lesson #10: Correcting Error

"This area is secure," Legault reported back to the Brothers Reed. The trio had set off on their own—the rest of Mark's initiates dying too often for their tastes—and made it further than any group.

"Same prep as last time?" Linus regarded the staircase to the next level. Several messy deaths had driven home the lesson: Don't rush the descent. Backtrack, Stockpile, Identify, and always have a Get-Me-Out-of-Here plan at the ready before going down.

"The closest fountain was 3 rooms back and 2 rooms to the right," Lloyd recalled. "Bring everything there; we'll see if there's something we can use."

The ex-Fangs had recognized quickly enough that staying alive in The Dungeon wasn't simply a matter of honing high-level fighting skill and outlasting hordes of inhuman foes. That was only one piece of the puzzle, and if that was the only piece one saw death would be quick and frequent (Bartre thus far had been the prime example of what NOT to do; focusing only on swinging his weapon at the foes in front of him and seeing nothing else. He had yet to make it past Level 3).

The other pieces were strategy elements; the logistics of obtaining and managing equipment, the choices of how to use (or refrain from using) which assets against which threats, and the judgement calls of when to press forward versus when to fall back.

There were three basic things Legualt and Linus and Lloyd knew they needed to do to delve deeper in their quest for The Scroll: catalog all the causes of death that stopped delvers from so doing, identify answers to each cause, and find ways to consistently have those answers within reach as they made their descent. To these ends they had taken to lingering at The Reliquary after each death; long enough to meet others as they returned and hear word of their dungeon-delving experience. What they encountered. What they overcame. How they had overcome it. Most importantly; what had killed them.

The ex-Fangs were not so naive as to believe they had yet found every cause of death in the dungeon. After all, they had not even seen most of it. But their Reliquary stake outs had revealed important information: the common causes of death that had everyone dying over and over again on the first eight levels, and the ways to avoid them.

PROBLEM: The standard gear they had brought with them from Elibe was never with them after they died, and wholly inadequate for threats below Dungeon Level 5 regardless. This required the use of gear scavenged from The Dungeon; gear which was sometimes mundane, and sometimes aglow with magic. The magic gear could contain blessings for overpowering monstrous foes or warding off various forms of mortal demise… or contain hexes and curses that invited them. If one did not equip magic gear the lower levels were unmanageable for even the most skilled fighter, and if one did equip magic gear a nasty curse would eventually prove lethal. Directly or indirectly. (Priscilla had been strangled to death by a cursed amulet. Heath had been pierced by his own armor. Sir Kent had taken up a cursed sword that welded itself to his hands and then shattered its blade, leaving him unable to manipulate tools or wield a proper weapon against the threats that followed)

ANSWER: The fountains found on every level of the dungeon flowed with holy water. If magical gear was placed in one of the fountains, any curses or hexes attached thereto would be removed. Cursed items would become mundane, and any item that retained its magic after a dip could then be presumed blessed and equipped safely. (Brother Lucius had been the one to figure this out. Lloyd thanked him for it; this knowledge had proved immeasurably valuable)

PROBLEM: Rust Monsters and Slime Beasts would ruin any weapon that struck them. And, if they hit you, would also ruin armor (Sir Oswin had learned this the hard way, dying to a goblin with a stick—of all things—from fighting it in the condition he was left in after trading blows with a Red Jelly). Hydras would simply grow another head and become more dangerous when struck by a sword or an axe (a young one had sprouted 15 face-fulls of snapping jaws and ripped Guy to pieces before the swordsman realized his error). Curse Skulls—evil, evil, things—would paralyze anything holding the weapon that struck them, then summon bone devils that could easily kill a paralyzed foe.

ANSWER: Diverse means of dealing damage were needed; mastery of a single weapon would not suffice. For Lloyd, this was a full back-to-the-drawing-board moment. Sword mastery was his life. Sword mastery was what made him the White Wolf of the Fang. If he was not Lloyd the Swordmaster, he was an apprentice all over again. Still, he knew, this was as good a place as any to try using things that were not swords (and to die from using them poorly). Lloyd had tried his hand at archery, lancing, axefaire, and even spellcasting; none of which felt right or he could say he was particularly good at, or could he ever envision himself understanding the way he understood the sword . Still—he could not deny—the simplest fireball was infinitely better against the likes of a hydra or a rust monster than the most deftly delivered bladework.

PROBLEM: Sir Marcus had no idea what the hell he was doing. As senior-most Knight Commander of the company he had become its de-facto leader in the absence of Mark and the lordlings. And it seemed as though he had only marginally more awareness than Bartre that conquering The Dungeon required a deeper strategy than Hit It Very Hard.

ANSWER: Stop following Sir Marcus.

"3 potions, an amulet, a ring, a cloak, a helm, and a scimitar," Linus took stock of their haul.

"Alright; who wants to be the test dummy this time?" Lloyd asked.

"I'll do it," Legault offered.

When they first entered The Dungeon their collective judgement would have told them that they were unharmed after their last battle and equipped with familiar gear, and therefore ready to press forward to the next level. They now knew that this was error, and that fall back to the last room with a fountain was the correct next step.

"…this one is a potion of strength…" Legault sipped from the first of the three vials, and punched a hole in the dungeon wall to illustrate its effects. "This one doesn't feel like its doing anything. Eckkkkk…this one is poison…" Legault drank deep from the fountain of holy water to cleanse himself before the terrible stuff took effect. (Another helpful hint from Brother Lucius; who knew holy water had so many uses?)

"The second one might be a potion of curing," Linus guessed. "It wouldn't do anything if you were healthy."

"One way to be certain," Lloyd knew what they had to do. "Drink the poison, then drink the other one again. If the poisoning stops, it's a potion of curing."

"You drink the poison!" Legault had enough of it.

"Oh quit being such a baby," Linus took the vials and quaffed. Then became violently ill. Then drank the holy water. "That was not a potion of curing," Linus confirmed.

"…on to the gear then…" Lloyd threw the amulet, the ring, the cloak and the helm into the fountain. The amulet glowed black and then stopped glowing altogether. The rest of the gear glowed white and then simmered down back to its base shimmer.

"The amulet was cursed…now its junk…" Linus discarded the useless item. "…This ring…" Linus put it on his finger, and immediately found his body covered in a golden sheen. Further testing (i.e. punches from Legault and Lloyd) determined that this was a magical force shield, which blunted the power of incoming blows.

The ring was identified as having protective properties, the cloak was identified as allowing its wearer to become invisible, the helm was identified as allowing its wearer to see invisible, and the scimitar was identified as a sword of fire.

Legault took the cloak, Lloyd took the ring and helm, and Linus took the curved sword. (Lloyd still of a mind that he should be experiencing swordless combat; trying his luck now with combination of low-level fire magic and throwing axes and finding that if nothing else, it was at least good for generating mid-range threat before closing to sword range).

"Next level?" Linus saw no reason to linger further.

"Next level." Lloyd agreed, and the trio doubled back to the downward stairs.

It was their first time descending to Dungeon Level 9. No one at the Reliquary had been able to tell them of the death-traps beyond Dungeon Level 8, so to the best of their knowledge it was the first time anyone from their company had descended to Dungeon Level 9.

Level 9 was quiet.

With every level so far having been more difficult than the last, it struck the party as odd that this one would be so peaceful. The room with the stairs leading back up to level 8 had a weathered statue being worn away beneath the trickle of broken sewer pipes, an unadorned altar, and a creeping mold covering half a wall. Nothing that looked like it was trying to kill them.

If at any moment you feel like you are not one mistake away from dying, you are wrong. And probably about to die.

"Maybe the mold is dangerous?" Linus faced the creeper and ventured a guess. This was what he was thinking when he felt the pinch in the back of his neck and his throat swelled up and his face went numb.

He was dead before his legs gave out from under him.


"This again? Gods be damned…" Linus was back at the Reliquary.

"Good run mate," Sain called out. Linus looked up and found him sunbathing in the nude atop the mausoleum, far too relaxed for where he was or how he had gotten there. "How'd you die?"

"I have no idea." Linus was wondering that himself. "What are you doing up there?"

"Waiting for the ladies. I'm one Florina away from seeing every perky pair in the company."

"…Of course you are…" Linus's time with them had been short and his talks with them had been shorter still. But Linus knew enough of Mark's followers to know that Sain was Sain. "How'd YOU die?"

"The last time? Jaffar broke my neck when he caught me peeping on Nino. Totally worth it. Did you know she has the cutest little freckle on her…"

Linus picked up a large rock and killed him again.

"Still worth it," Sain came back.

"You could at least TRY to pretend you're taking this seriously." I'm working my ass off to get stronger. and this fool of a knight is sight-seeing.

"Since I've gotten here I've been stabbed, poisoned, buried, drowned, incinerated, eaten, crushed, impaled, melted...and raped by a succubus. That last one sounds like it shouldn't be that bad, but its HORRIBLE." Sain rattled off the list of things that had killed him before Jaffar. "If I wanna see some titties, I'm gonna see some titties."

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE

A ground-shaking earthquake knocked both men over and a mushroom cloud of dark magic rose to the East. Something red and glowing went flying from it; hurdling away at incredible speeds in uncontrolled flight and slamming into the side of the Reliquary.

It was Eliwood.

"HYYYAAAAA!" The prince was on his feet again with a shout and a charge of spirit energy, and propelling himself back to the battlefield with the force it released at a speed to match his hurdle.

"…The Fuck?" Linus was sure that a month ago, the boy hadn't been able to hit Lloyd.

"Give them a wide berth. We don't want any of that," Sain left well enough alone.

"Was that who I think it was?" Lloyd appeared at The Reliquary.

"You too? Damn," Linus shook his head. Outfought by Legault; We're never going to hear the end of it.

"You there; sir knight." Lloyd was not one to let a good death go to waste. "How did you..."

"…Don't ask…" Linus advised. "How did WE die?"

"YOU took a poison dart to the neck. There was a koblod with a blowgun hiding in the pipes. I got bludgeoned by an ogre. It hits so hard…"

"And Legault is still…"

"He cloaked, ran away, and came back to salvage. Kid's got the helm, the ring, and the sword now….he's going the distance," Lloyd was proud. Leave it to a Fang.

Legault appeared at The Reliquary.

"…Really?" Lloyd deadpanned.

"Those octopus-men can see through invisibility," Legault informed them.

"…Ithilids…" Sain corrected.

"Come again?" Legault regarded the strange,strange knight who had resumed his sunbathing.

"The lumpy bastards with tentacles coming out of their face. They're Ithilids. Also called Mindflayers. They have crazy pyschic powers. Even if they can't see you, they can still lock on to your thoughts. If you want to take one unawares, you need a helmet that blocks telepathy."

Legault, Lloyd, and Linus gaped.

'…See…I've been paying attention…"

"You fought one?" Legault couldn't imagine that going well.

"Erk found a Compendium of Dungeon Dwellers. I've been reading up. There's some NASTY beasts down there." Sain could do without meeting most of them. "Death Wurms…Magnataurs…Colossal Jellies…"

"Find any weaknesses?" Legault expected something good.

"Hit it very hard." Sain suggested, unhelpfully. "You want more than that; you're gonna have to tell me how you keep getting all that magic armor without getting cursed."

"Easy…you just…"


"Before we leave this outrealm, can I kill Sain?" Fiora knew why he was on top of that mausoleum. Scouting for information he says; how stupid does he think I am?

"Go for it," Kent had no objections.

Seven levels deep their pair-up was still going strong. The couple had found good armor very early on—full body suits of quality mithril—along with swords of acceptable quality for close combat and a large enough stack of throwing spears to go ranged.

"Level 8 again?" Fiora was nervous.

"We'll clear it this time." Kent assured.

The first room was cleared without difficulty. Kent and Fiora found a shimmering breastplate and a glowing pair of heavy combat boots amidst its treasure trove.

"Absolutely not." Fiora remembered what happened the last time they tried on glowing armor.

"They could be blessed…"

"...Or they could kill us."

"There has to be a way to know before you try it on," they were missing something. Kent knew they were missing something.

"If there's a way, we don't know it. The armor we have now is fantastic; its not a risk we need to take."

"By the time it becomes a risk we NEED to take, it will be too late." Kent knew better. But he did not wish to argue it. "Still; better to err on the side of caution." Their current armor WAS fantastic; lighter then steel and twice as strong and immune to sliming.

Kent and Fiora left the enchanted items behind and continued onward. Armor and coordinated spearings got them past an ogre of the kind that had killed Lloyd. Then they found something far more dangerous.

"MARK!?" He made the full desent. Fiora recalled. This place must be crawling with his phantoms.

This phantom didn't seem to know his name was Mark.

"Sir Robin; why do these risen keep calling you Mark?" the warrior princess from the blighted outrealm asked of him.

"MARK; your name is MARK." Fiora repeated! "Robin is the mother of your child. You don't remember any of this?"

"…That woman Lyn called me by that name…" this version of Mark didn't appear anywhere near as dangerous as the one Kent and Fiora knew. But it was still Mark (or Robin, or whatever he was calling himself). They could not let their guard down around him for a second. "What do you know of it; did I know you before I lost my memories?"

"…Oh…Its THAT Mark…" Kent remembered the ourealm where Mark had taught them nothing. "This shouldn't be too hard."

"ENOUGH! Kill them before they summon MORE risen! These guys look really strong," Lucina charged and Mark/Robin followed.

"You take the amnesiac; I got the princess." Fiora met Lucina's blade. Kent rushed her identity-confused tactician and forced him into a swordfight before he could cup a spell. The Mark I know would never make it so easy, Kent parried without issue.

From what Kent saw of Fiora's fight, the princess was the tougher foe.

"KRIS! THESE GUYS ARE REALLY STRONG!" Lucina called out when at last Fiora put her down. A much more dangerous looking fellow appeared, accompanied by a female tactician and…

"Lady Lyndis!" Kent really didn't want to fight her.

"Do I know you?" Lyn didn't recognize Kent in his new armor.

"It's me! Kent! With Fiora!"

"Impossible. Kent is marching with Chrom's Vangaurd. And Kent doesn't wear that! "

"It could be a Kent from another timeline. Or it could be a trap," the tactician girl considered.

"What should we do Katarina?" the one called Kris asked her.

"Ask him something the real Kent would know but a Risen wouldn't," Katarina suggested. "Something personal."

"…Okay Kent…" this strange, Ylissean-aligned version of Lyn threw out his name with great suspicion. "What did you say to me at Roy and Liliana'a wedding."

"Whose wedding?"

"…Imposters… " Lyn decided. "Katarina?"

"They were strong enough to beat Lucina and Robin; best leave this fight to Kris," Katarina advised.

"I can fight at Kris's level!" Lyn protested.

Katarina laughed, Kris drew his sword, and Kent and Fiora were back in the Reliquary in very short order.


"…What a fighter…" Kent couldn't even be mad over where he was or how he died. To have faced such an opponent and experienced his technique was an honor few knights would ever know.

"That Kris fellow would give our Mark a rough fight," Fiora was by no means a novice anymore. Nor was Kent. Kris had made them look like novices.

"I'm confused now," all these outrealms were screwing with Kent's sense of realty. "Do they have a Mark who thinks hes a Robin, or do we have a Robin who thinks hes a Mark?"

"Don't think about it too hard," Fiora herself was trying not to overthink it. If there's an outrealm where I wind up with Sain, then there's an outrelam for everything. "Think it would have made a difference if we took the enchanted armor?"

"Probably not. Kris's technique was flawless."

"Hmmmmmmm…" Fiora troubled. "You're right. There has to be a way to see if something's cursed before you try it on."

"…About that…" Sain called out from his basking spot.

"YOU'RE STILL HERE!?" Fiora instinctively covered herself.

"Peace…" Sain wasn't THAT shallow. "I told you I wasn't just peeping. Guess what those stupid fountains can do?"


Author's Notes:

-Hope that was to your liking eveblaze. Thanks for reading!

-If anyone else wants an Outrealm cameo, I maybe have one more chapter where I can do it and make it fit with the theme of the chapter.

-Yes; I'm setting Lloyd up to make the jump from Swordmaster to Dread Fighter.