Murder Holes (Japanese:マーダーホレス) is theside quest of the eleventh chapter ofFire Emblem: Thracia 776. In order to play this chapter, the must have completedthe previous chapter in 30 turns or fewer, triggered the trap by allowingLeif to enter the central courtyard, and keptFred alive.
August, feeling that time is of the essence, instructsLeif to have their forces enter the fortress's dungeons to clear out any remaining troops and rescue anychild prisoners before they are executed.
Kempf is then seen ordering a begrudgingOltoph 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 ofthe Empire but she reassures them that she will help them escape. She is freed by Leif's forces and her subordinateFred during the fighting.
After Friege's forces are cleared out of the dungeon and the children escape, Olwen overhears August andDryas discussing the honor of house Friege in light of the fact thatIshtar's romantic relationship withJulius and open participation in the child hunts makes the entire house followers ofLoptous. 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 brotherReinhardt, have really been doing.
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 werecaptured 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 thirteen of the fourteen deployable 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 withOlwen and theCivilians; they cannot be interacted with until the NPC no longer shares the tile, either through movement on their turn, beingrescued, or being killed.
Version 1.06 of theLil' 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).[1]
Additionally, any units that were captured in the previous chapter will return in this one. The first twelve who were captured will be present on the map, and will be recruited at the start of turn 1; if a thirteenth unit was captured, they will not be present, but will be recruited at the end of the chapter.
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.
Authority: ★ • Starts on athrone, 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.
Moves to escape via the northwest; allows the acquisition of theHeim Scroll from a village inChapter 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.
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 rather from avoiding fighting. Most of the enemies here have 2 range weapons that will chip at your units with lower bulk or avoid. This is a great chapter for units with strong 2 range, likeAsbel,Osian,Selphina, andDagdar. Bring a door key or lockpick forOltoph'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 moreconstitution than him. Siege tomes sell for a good profit. Another option is to simplywarp to the boss and kill or capture him (the latter can only happen after killing an adjacent enemy) 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.
On turn 30, Oltoph stops attacking and runs to escape, which also opens the door. If the player cannot open the door, they must wait for this event. If the player blocks the escape tile, he will be unable to escape. It is possible to abuse this to safely neutralize Oltoph when combined with a magically resistant unit, though this is not viable for an SSS rank run.
Fred appears as a player unit on turn 2, and the main goal with him is to make a beeline forOlwen's cell. It is best that he attacks theSoldiers 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 withJavelins) will continually attack and may kill her if Fred does not hurry. If the player fears her death, they can use Warp to send a unit up to protect her, though she can not be rescued with theRescue staff until she is recruited.Soldier reinforcement will appear as well, though fortunately the one adjacent to Olwen's door has aShort Lance and will block the Javelin Soldiers from attacking. The Short Lance Soldiers have strange AI, and will sometimes refuse to attack Fred and stay still, so leaving them be is for the best.
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. The player should use theRescue mechanic to keep their units safe from the enemy Soldiers.
• Used in FireLizard's translation. • Used in the 'Project Exile'fan translation patch. • 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
↑"In chapter 11x, if you had units captured and taken away in the previous map, they would mistakenly be sent to Olwen's cell, occupying the same tiles as its occupants and preventing your units from moving. They'll now be sent to the middle, empty cell." — Miacis,comment on [FE5] Lil' Manster – Translation and Quality-of-life Patch for Thracia 776, Serenes Forest Forums,Published: October 31, 2020,Retrieved: April 26, 2022
↑2.02.1"Let me tell you of a battle which hinged on the efficacy of murder holes..." — Leif,Fire Emblem Engage
Map of the chapter
