Part 122: Final Flight

Chapter 95 – Final Flight


Chapter 95 IMPORTANT – Watch this!
Really old run of this mission in Nightmare mode

The entire chapter is done in video, and I suggest you watch it.




Music: Damian’s Fortress – The Approach


Music: Damian’s Fortress – Final Flight


Final Flight is a remix of “Fly Dragon Fly”, but a bit slower and more epic.


Music: Damian’s Fortress – The Approach



Video: Final Flight


This is it, the final Dragon flight of the game, and it’s the best of them all. We need to ensure that the zeppelin reaches Damian’s palace.

The reason why I love this mission is because up until now we haven't really used the Dragon form for anything except getting from place to place - and even then it was clear that teleporters could have easily been added for that. There were no objectives we needed to use the Dragon to complete, and finally, here we are, at last getting a mission that couldn't be done by adding teleporters all over the place.


Our powers have increased.

Fire Sphere


Increased from Rank 5 to Rank 15!

Damage: 320 -> 600
Mana Cost: 44 -> 120
Cooldown: 4 -> 2 seconds
Burn Duration: 8 seconds.


Wrath of the Patriarch


NEW SKILL!

Mana Cost: 400
Cooldown: 45 seconds
Damage: Massive
Radius: Large

This is your nuke spell. I don’t have specific information on what Wrath of the Patriarch does, but suffice to say that it’s powerful, but the cooldown makes it a resource you have to carefully manage.

With all out skills maxed, we have been locked out of the Dragon Skill screen for some reason. There’s also no reason to change most of the +Skill armour, so I settled on +40% Hitpoints and +20% Defence pieces, with the rest for looks.





(Zandalor) This is it! Are you ready Captain?


Zandalor is using magic to establish a three-way communication link between us, the zeppelin, and himself back in Aleroth.




(Zeppelin Captain) Yes sir! The zeppelin is en route to the palace.
Good! Hold her steady, and fear not, for the Dragon protects you!
(Captain Titus) Glad to hear it! Captain Titus here, Dragon Knight. At your service! Keep the Damned One’s spawn away from the zeppelin and we’ll blast his fleet into oblivion!


Most people shudder when the hear the words “escort mission”, because a lot of the time, that involves babysitting a suicidal AI with low health against huge numbers of tough enemies whose entire purpose is to squash the wimpy escortee like a bug.

This is not what this mission is.




Unlike most other escort missions, the key thing to remember here is: DON’T STAY NEAR THE ZEPPELIN.

That alone makes this much different than other escort missions. Yes, the Zeppelin will keep moving, and you can’t tell it to stop or wait – but you don’t really need to.

There are no ambushes in this mission. All your enemies are visible, the challenge is taking them out quickly and efficiently.

The zeppelin has lots of health, and is more than capable of taking out any enemy fliers that get too close. Don’t worry much about stray flyers. Your job is to take out the towers and nests.

This isn’t an escort mission, it’s a snowplow mission. Clear out all the towers ahead as fast as possible. It’s a GOOD thing if you hear Captain Titus saying “Don’t fly too far away from us Dragon: we’re vulnerable,” it means you’re being efficient.




Two Fire Spheres, or one and a dose of Firebreath will take out a Ballista tower. I’m not sure which one is faster anymore. It seems that the Dragon’s mana recharging is slower in the expansion than the regular game, probably for balance reasons.




Towers do take time to kill, and special ones even more so. Let’s try out our new skill, “Wrath of the Patriarch”.

Music: Damian’s Fortress – Final Flight





Holy crap!
Yeah! Down with their lairs!




You will notice, Dragon Knight that Bellegar’s device influences your powers. Even a modest ball of flame can now flatten the mightiest of structures!
And as I understand it, Dragon Knight, you can summon a wyvern to your aid! Such an ally would be welcome indeed, and may distract the tower operators.
Stop backseat Dragoning, please!




Good work! I see you haven’t lost your touch!




Look at those other zeppelins going down… More blood in the service of Rivellon. May a victory honour their sacrifice!
The islands up ahead are packed with towers. If you need some help, we can bombard them for you! Just pick out a target and we’ll take care of the rest!
How about this Ballista tower here?


Zeppelin Barrage


NEW TEMPORARY SKILL!

Mana Cost: 350
Damage: Single tower destroyed.
Cooldown: 30 seconds.




Good shot!

Zeppelin Barrage is our new skill. For 350 mana, it’ll take out a single tower in range of the zeppelin’s weapons. It’s useful enough. I usually use it on lone Nest towers, but anything will do.




The first cluster and first autosave points are done. This second cluster isn’t much harder, as long as you save your nuke for the Lightning Tower at the end.




I sense a presence in the fortress… Ygerna is there, but Damian… I can’t be sure. Let us hope the magic Bellegar gave you will prove strong enough to decimate them all.


Foreground: One Nest tower goes down after about 13 seconds of continuous work from me.

Background: One Nest tower is about to go down after I spent 1 millisecond to target it with Zeppelin Barrage. Use Zeppelin Barrage whenever it cools down.






That clears the second cluster (except for some other towers – don’t forget about those).




Look at all them blasted nests! We must take ‘em down or be overwhelmed!




Watch out for those Grub Demons! They are wicked and powerful beasts!

They’re flying kamikaze bombs, and since Dragon health doesn’t regenerate, they’re very dangerous. But they’re also slow and easily killed.




Let’s see if this Wrath can clear the skies a bit.




Feel the flames of vengeance, Demon!




The easy part is over. From now on the sky will be full of targets. Too many targets, in fact.




“Target is too far from the zeppelin.” That means I’m doing a good job and have a solid lead, and I’ll need it.








So many islands, so many Demons lie ahead of us! We can’t make it!
Calm yourself, Titus! You underestimate the Dragon!
_{No, I think he’s spot-on actually.}






This is the final stretch to the palace. Redouble your efforts and may the Seven Gods be with you!
I’ve already redoubled my efforts! The problem is that they’ve sextupled the number of towers!

There are just too many towers to clear. The zeppelin will start taking damage at about this point, but if you’ve done your job well, it will be the first damage it has taken all mission.




Ah! We are too heavily damaged… we can never make it back! It’s no good. There is but one course open to us: to crash into the castle.
There must be another way, Titus! It will mean your death!
No! It must be done! Cover our last approach Dragon. We will vanquish the Black Ring yet!




I will, Captain. May the Gods be with you.

Once you get that message from Titus, the mission is seconds away from completing, just before it gets too overwhelming to defend the zeppelin.




























Yes! Good riddance to - Wait… that feeling! I’m being teleported somewhere!