In Occupation's Shadow (Japanese:生業の影でIn Occupation's Shadow) is the fourth chapter inFire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. Lyn and her allies decide to rest for the night and encounterNatalie, who is injured. Unfortunately, the Ganelon bandits are close by.

Plot

Main article:In Occupation's Shadow/Script

After defeating the bandits led byMigal,Lyn and co. decide to rest for the night in an abandoned fortress. Inside the fortress Lyn encountersNatalie, a woman who, though injured from a childhood sickness, has traveled from her nearby village in search of her husband,Dorcas, who she fears has gotten himself involved in dangerous work for her sake. Natalie presents a sketch of Dorcas to Lyn but she tells Natalie that she has not seen Dorcas. Natalie requests that if Lyn does see him, that she tell Dorcas that "Natalie is looking for him." Lyn promises to deliver her message if she does encounter him.

Soon after, theGanelon Bandits, lead byCarjiga, gather outside and prepare to attack.Kent informs Lyn that they are under attack.Sain suggests they confront them head on; however, Lyn declines Sain's idea as doing so would leave Natalie vulnerable. Lyn then decides that they should fight with their main goal being to protect Natalie. During the battle—necessarily in Normal Mode, and at the player's discretion in Hard Mode—Lyn recognizes Dorcas and reprimands him for enlisting in such underhanded work. Dorcas admits he did it so he could afford medicine for his wife. Lyn then mentions that they are protecting Natalie inside the fortress right now, instantly convincing him to fight on her side

After seven turns pass, the bandits give up and flee the battlefield. If Dorcas was not recruited, he remains on the field, where Lyn recognizes him and informs him Natalie is in the fortress; Dorcas and Natalie then reunite. If Dorcas was not recruited or fell in battle, Dorcas informs Lyn that he and Natalie will be returning to their village, and Lyn wishes them well. If he was recruited and did not fall in battle, Dorcas tells Lyn that he will take Natalie home and return tomorrow, as he has been invited byMark to fight for Lyn. The group then returns to the fortress to rest for the night.

Chapter data

Chapter Data
Conditions	Unit Data
Victory: ProtectNatalie for 7 turns	Player	Partner	Other	Enemy	Third
Defeat:Lyn orNatalie dies	5+1	{{{partner}}}	{{{other}}}	14+11−1	{{{third}}}
Map dimensions: 15 columns by 14 rows

Character data

Characters
New units
Dorcas Fighter HP 30 Inventory Hand Axe Vulnerary Level 3 Enemy, talk to withLyn
Forcibly deployed characters
Available characters

Item data

Items

Name Obtainment Method Iron Axe Dropped by an enemyBrigand (Unavoidable on Normal)

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 Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Wlv Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Carjiga Brigand 8 1 27 6 5 4 2 7 0 15 5 Steel Axe Does not move. Bandit Brigand 2 3 20~21 3~4 0~1 5~6 0 3~4 0~1 12 5 Iron Axe The northwest one moves to destroy breakableterrain, then moves to attack units unprovoked. Bandit Archer 1 2 18 2 3 3 0 3 0 7 5 Iron Bow • The southeast one moves to attack units in range. • The southwest one moves to destroy breakableterrain, then moves to attack units unprovoked. Bandit Brigand 1 3 20 3 0 5 0 3 0 12 5 Iron Axe -- Bandit Mercenary 1 1 17 3 8 5 0 4 0 9 5 Iron Sword -- Bandit Mercenary 2 1 17~18 3~4 8~9 5~6 0 4~5 0~1 9 5 Iron Sword Moves to destroy breakableterrain, then moves to attack units unprovoked. Bandit Brigand 3 1 21~22 3~5 0~1 5~6 0 3~4 0~1 12 5 Iron Axe Moves to attack units in range. Bandit Brigand 2 1 20~21 5~6 1~2 5~6 0 3~4 0~1 12 5 Iron Axe -- Dorcas Fighter 3 1 30 7 7 6 3 3 0 14 5 Hand Axe •Vulnerary Moves toward and only attacksLyn.

Reinforcements

Name Class Lv # HP Str/Mag Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Wlv Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Bandit Brigand 1 1 20 4 1 5 0 3 0 12 5 Iron Axe -- Bandit Mercenary 1 5 18 2 7 8 0 4 0 9 5 Iron Sword -- Bandit Brigand 2 5 19~20 4~5 1~2 2~3 0 3~4 0~1 12 5 Iron Axe --

Reinforcements

• Other phase of turn 2, ifCarjiga was defeated
  • 1Brigand from the southeastern corner of the map
• Player phase of turns 3–7
  • 1Mercenary from the northeastern corner of the map
  • 1Brigand from the southwestern corner of the map

NPC data

NPC Units

Name Class Lv # HP Str/Mag Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Wlv Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Natalie Civilian 1 1 10 0 0 0 0 2 −1 25 5 -- • Does not move. • Death results in aGame Over.

Boss data

Main article:Carjiga

Brigand Level 8 Affinity --

Stats Max HP 27 Luck 2 Strength 6 Defense 7 Skill 5 Resistance 0 Speed 4 Constitution 15 Movement 5 Aid 14

Inventory Steel Axe Weapon Levels -- -- C -- -- -- -- --

Strategy

In normal mode, you will be forced to moveLyn to cover the east entrance and recruitDorcas on the following turn. You will also be prevented from moving any units outside the fortress on turn 1. After recruiting Dorcas, the game forces you to attack with theHand Axe. After this tutorial, you are free to finish the chapter however you see fit.

Kent andSain should be able to handle the axe-fighters approaching from the south and the reinforcements approaching from the same direction. After Dorcas is recruited and the fighter behind him has been defeated, leaveFlorina behind to guard the east entrance from theMercenary reinforcements.Wil can be used anywhere to help weaken enemies for underleveled units or bait the archer nearCarjiga. The enemies on the west can be managed by one of the cavaliers and Wil.

You can send one of the cavaliers to handle the boss, however doing so will only give a large sum of exp and will not stem the flow of reinforcements or end the chapter early. Furthermore, Sain or Kent will have to spend an additional turn getting back to the fortress to take care of any remaining units. The cavalier that is sent to kill the boss will need to have eightspeed and enoughHP anddefense to potentially survive two hits from the Carjiga'sSteel Axe in order to secure a quick and easy kill.

The safest approach to beating this chapter is to line up the cavaliers in the hallway just south of Natalie, move the other units behind them, and wait out the rest of the time there, healing the cavalier in the front withVulneraries as needed. This method is fast but will severely limit the amount of experience units can obtain.

In hard mode, you are no longer forced to recruit Dorcas but doing so is still a good idea as having access to a weapon with 1-2 range can be very helpful and it removes one unit from the enemy's ranks without using a weapon. Other than that, the strategy is essentially the same for clearing the chapter.

Trivia

• Some of the reinforcementBrigands in this chapter possess a Cweapon level inswords despite never wielding anything butIron Axes. This occurs because they share their character data with mercenaries that also appear in the chapter.

Etymology and other languages

Gallery

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