Part 23: Mr Euchre's Wildcard Ride

Last time Euchre saved his father, Warden Trump, from Dr Snap's monsters, and received a hint that Dr Snap would be heading to Infern Isle to finish carrying out his plans.

Music: Seeking Treasure



This time, he'll be following Snap there in order to stop him.

Music: None



The first order of business, of course, is to leave CELL HQ and go back to Fert Isle.

Music: Scoutpost



The scoutpost seems as good a place as any. Black Jacques should still be here, and he's sure to be interested in what Euchre has to say about the fate of CELL.



I 'eard you went to ze 'eadquarters by yourself. What did you say!? Warden Trump 'as been injured...!? Oh, 'ow I wish zere was something I could do for 'im...



And now you 'ave been entrusted wiz a great mission, eh? (sigh) I know YOU will not let ze Warden down like I did.

I'm sure Black Jacques will be welcomed back to CELL with open arms. After all, it was a pretty desperate situation. I wouldn't blame him for fleeing.



The air is deadly still....like the quiet before the storm.

Actually, come to think of it, nothing really bad seems to be happening around here right now. Maybe Snap hasn't started the Great Catastrophe yet.



One minute it was here, and the next it was gone. I don't know where it's headed... But if that thing got loose in town...

Whatever the case, at such high speeds it's unlikely that Euchre will get to Snap before he can begin. Hopefully it's a particularly slow-moving catastrophe.

Music: Island



Even if that's true, it's still best to get over to Infern Isle as fast as possible. We'll be skipping over the other islands on the way because, quite frankly, there's nothing interesting there.

Music: Frozen World



The place looks a little different from Euchre's other visits here. Must be all the purple.



For some reason not everyone has evacuated in the face of impending doom.





It's partially because some people are too stubborn to leave. There's always one.



It's right over the wastelands - something big is happening out there! The cataclysm has come! No one can stay on this island and survive!

Ah, that'll be the portal to the dark world. It seems that Snap's already put things into motion, although it's not all that surprising given how the island looks.



It doesn't matter what the state of things is right now, though - new monsters are around! Yes, all the monsters on Infern Isle have disappeared and been replaced by far stronger beasts. The first of these is wandering around on the beach where the Flyguys were before.

Music: Monster Battle



Despite looking extremely similar to Restless Armours, Lethal Armours are actually magic-focused.



They only appear to have one spell, though: Kasnooze. It's pretty dangerous, to be fair, since it has a fairly high chance to send all of Team Euchre to sleep.

Music: Frozen World



They can't capitalise on this very well, though, and don't come along with any other monsters. They also don't actually cast the spell that much.



Moving on, Euchre heads over to the northern side of the island. Remember this place? There wasn't really anything here other than two chests.



Of course, nothing's really appeared in the area that Euchre could access before other than some new monsters. Heading left at the fork has him run right into these Hacksaurus-ish fellows.

Music: Monster Battle



Tyrantosauruses are pretty decent. Having three of them in an encounter can really drain HP quickly.



Helm Splitter is, as always, a good ability. The Attack stat of Tyrantosauruses isn't half bad, either, so it's important to be aware of any monsters who have their Defence lowered.



Funnily enough, though, they like to use what I think is Inferno, the tier 3 fire breath attack. It does a lot of damage, sure, but it isn't affected by Helm Splitter's debuff.



With only one around, scouting it really isn't bad.



On a slightly different note, Skeleton Soldiers can be found around here in encounters. There aren't any wandering around on the map, though.

Music: Frozen World



Walking back to the split in the path and going the other way, there's yet another monster around.

Music: Monster Battle



Cockateers are also a little nasty, although their abilities aren't quite as good as those of Tyrantosauruses.



Swoosh is definitely not as damaging as Inferno, but it's still group damage and it's used fairly often.



And Gust Slash is basically a small damage boost on top of their normal attack, since Woosh isn't the most common resistance.

Music: Frozen World



Overall they're just kind of there for the most part, though if multiple copies of them spam Swoosh there could be trouble.



Next up is a monster on the upper part of the island. This makes four out of five monsters that appear on Infern Isle now palette swaps, at least in their original incarnations. This game does a little to differentiate the models, like giving Tyrantosauruses hammers or Lethal Armours polearms.

Music: Monster Battle



Anyway, these particular monsters are Dragurns.



Their moveset consists of both Inferno...



...and Cold Blizzard, its ice breath counterpart.

Music: Frozen World



Together, they make Dragurns...kind of okay. They don't use their abilities often enough to really give them much advantage. The same can be said of most enemy monsters, frankly.



Anyway, that's everything done on the parts of Infern Isle that Euchre's visited already. It's time to start treading some new ground.



Remember when that door just ahead was impassible?



And there's an ill wind blowing in from the wastelands beyond... The situation is out of control. If we don't get everyone off Infern Isle soon...

As it turns out, instead of just flying over the gate, Dr Snap had to actually pass through it. That would probably make this the gate to the dark world that he and Wildcard talked about.



There's nothing that Euchre can do but follow after them.



Interestingly, the door doesn't immediately lead to the northern side of Infern Isle. Instead there's a little transitional area. It doesn't have anything in it outside of that one guy over there.



Wh-What IS this? Could this be the ancient catastrophe all over again!?

Euchre will proceed to completely ignore his advice and go onward anyway.



Like so.



Unfortunately, upon entry, Euchre is ambushed by a cutscene!



Yep, that's Euchre all right. It's not like he's been on-screen for the whole game or anything.



The camera pans up from Euchre to show the new structure that's somehow sprouted up from the ground. That's some quick volcano growth.



Sadly, the place is pretty uninteresting in terms of mechanics. It's basically just a winding path up to the peak with minimal branching.



Cockateers populate the lower layers, meaning that Euchre has every reason to use Vanish. For whatever reason I decided against doing so.



Anyway, heading further along the only path leads Euchre to an arch. This marks something of a transition point.



It's mostly because Skeleton Soldiers start popping up afterwards, but they're uninteresting and Euchre already has one.



It's not long before Euchre reaches the top.



Turning to the right up here is the right way to go. What's that way, you may ask?

Music: Ace Of Spades



Well, it's the entrance of the whole structure.



And it's guarded.



WHY ARE YOU HERE? DO NOT TRY TO STOP ME. WITH SNAP'S ASSISTANCE, I SHALL COMPLETE MY MISSION. NOT EVEN YOU CAN STOP US ANY MORE... ...AND I WILL STOP YOU IF YOU TRY.





Of course, Euchre isn't going to be diverted by Wildcard's words. He holds the Baryon Sphere up in an attempt to drain the dark matter.



NNNGH. THE DARK MATTER IS...DRAWN FROM ME...





You didn't think Euchre would get out of this without a boss fight, did you?

Music: Boss Battle



Wildcard as the Ace of Spades is different to the two bosses that came before him, because he doesn't get Double Trouble.



Shadow Slash is his primary damage ability, and to make up for only being able to use one action per turn...



...it hits like a truck.



Oh, and just in case you thought debuffing his Attack was a viable strategy...well, it still is, but this is going to be coming along every so often and isn't affected by that.



The damage is roughly equivalent. It's worth noting that this amount of damage is dangerously close to Vlad's maximum HP. Is this a concern?



Er, no. Vlad, being a Dark Slime, just so happens to absorb Zam-based attacks like Shadow Slash and Kazam. This is probably one of the better strategies to use against Wildcard - just bring along a few Zam-absorbing monsters and he can only do damage with his normal attack.



Speaking of which, said normal attack is definitely no slouch in terms of damage. It just lacks the significant bonus from Shadow Slash.

You might notice that Wildcard doesn't have any options for multi-target damage, and that's partially his downfall. As it is, Li'l Green can just Fullheal anyone who's been hit and entirely negate any damage done for the most part. As a result, after a little while...



...Wildcard falls at the hands of Team Euchre. It's for his own good.

Music: Frozen World



After the fight, Euchre is left standing over a defeated Wildcard. What needs to be done is obvious.



It's time to get Wildcard back.

The baryon sphere begins to absorb the dark matter from Wildcard...

Music: None





Music: Sanctuary (Variation)





Something evil ruled my heart. Euchre...you rescued me from its grip.



I am the Incarnus, yet I have willingly opened the gate to the dark world!

The camera pans up to the sky above Infern Isle.



He awoke my dark side so that I would open the gate for him. Not only that... I made the passageway between the two worlds even wider. This is what he was plotting from the very beginning.



More dark matter has already poured into this world than ever before! We have to stop it, lest this world be swallowed up by the darkness!



Where is it? Where is the Mark? Snap has it! He must have taken it from me after I opened the gate! He's inside this mountain. What further evil is he plotting?



Now, Euchre. Will you come with me a little further?



And with that, Euchre's gotten Wildcard back. Next time, instead of entering the final dungeon on the peak of Infern Isle, Euchre will be going back around the various islands of Green Bays and cleaning up some loose ends.

Extra: The Monster Library

Dragurn





Dragurns have the Skills Fire and Attack Boost when scouted and just Fire when synthesised. They have no Traits and are immune to Fizzle.

Fire was first found on Firespirits back in Part 6.

Tyrantosaurus





Tyrantosauruses have the Skills Guerrilla and Attack Boost when scouted and just Guerrilla when synthesised. They have the Trait Critical Massacre and are immune to Sag.

Guerrilla was first found on Mischievous Moles way back in Part 2.

Cockateer





Cockateers have the Skills Bird Brain and Attack Boost when scouted, and just Bird Brain when synthesised. They have the Trait Fly Swatter and are immune to Sleep.

Bird Brain was first found on Mecha-Mynahs back in Part 12.

Lethal Armour





Lethal Armours have the Skills Cold Sleep and Wisdom Boost when scouted and just Cold Sleep when synthesised. They have the Trait Able Ambusher and are immune to Confusion.

Cold Sleep was found on Frou-Frous back in Part 16.


Extra 2: Synthesis Recipes

Lethal Armour + Metal Slime Knight = Hunter Mech (Rank C, scoutable, not available through generic synthesis)

Not worth it in the slightest. Remember, Hunter Mechs can be found on Celeste Isle very easily.