Part 14: Stratum 2: Oblivion Part 1

Besek’s structure is ever-changing, but it is commonly agreed to be divided into three ‘layers’, known as Strata.
- excerpt, Legends of Besek, Vol I

Oblivion

While our goal must be getting closer and closer, it somehow feels as though we may never find it.



It seems like I only get worse and worse, though. This pain is almost unbearable now.

Video- “Oblivion Lead In”

Click For Video

Ashley!? Are you alright!?
I’m okay… I’m hanging in there…
You shouldn’t overwork yourself.
But I don’t want to slow the group down…
Ashley…
Don’t worry so much! I’ll be fine!
I… I’m sorry.
What’s going on?
Nothing.
It doesn’t look like “nothing.”
I said it’s nothing!
…
We should get going. The Majin are on their way.

We pushed on to the door to the next Stratum.

Video- “Oblivion Part 1”

Click For Video with Commentary



Ally Team:
Our standard team of Ashley, Glynne, Reyna, Ares, Yuri, Velnor, and Irina. This gives us a lot of healing and support, which is going to be increasingly necessary in here.

Enemy Team:
Our opposition is mostly just Majin taken from all over the later parts of Desert: two Exo Machinas, two Heeflers, two Vespulas, a Pyromote, and a high level Thiefler. Let’s take a look at the two new versions of some old ‘friends’.



Here’s the higher level Thiefler. It’s faster, armed with slightly better magic, more resistant to magic itself, and has a surprisingly powerful physical attack. It’s still Thiefler, though, so the real threat is still that it’ll steal all the loot on the map. It’s also one of the easiest Majin to Overkill, it’s still just got 50 Overkill HP.



The higher level Vespula now has a Slow Attack as well as a Disease Attack, and with a million uses of each it’ll never, ever run out of something irritating to use on you. It’s even harder to swat down and its flying movement type makes it terribly dangerous on maps like this with lava pools because it can fly over them and we can’t.

Deployment:



We’re deploying for an aggressive push on the Majin. We’re going to roll up towards the north chest because the south chest is only accessible to a summoned Thiefler. We want to move through and methodically crush the Majin bit by bit.

Tactical Objectives:
-Smash the enemy

Map:



Be careful. There’s probably Majin hiding behind it.
We’ll have to be ready for them!
Holy Atona, please guide and protect us.
Majin! You better watch out!
Falsin scum! It must quit its purpose and leave!
We don’t take orders from monsters.
Oh, how it speaks to me…

We start by pushing ahead far enough to lure the near Exo Machina in. Exo Machina is strong enough that we don’t want to mess with him and other Majin at the same time if we can help it. We start pouring fire on him, though Pierce attacks are largely ineffective.



No, no!
It’s not me!

We manage to pound Exo Machina down into range to be Overkilled, though a Heefler is coming down to spoil our fun if we’re not careful. Exo Machina manages to bleed Ares, which sucks but it won’t be the first status like that we see in this map.



It feels so… eerie!
It’s probably coming from beyond the door.
Not for long.

I start attacking the Heefler a bit, cure Ares’ bleed, and then Overkill the Exo Machina with Ashley. I then Lead Ares to capture the Exo Machina before Heefler can kill it. This causes Ashley to level up.



Ashley gets the awesome Hexa Resist skill at 20. This greatly increases all of her elemental resistances, making her quite resilient to everything magical now. With Exo Machina down we fully move on to the Heefler. Irina levels up, not really gaining any new skills. Heefler quickly falls to a Combo, which allows us to move Ashley up and lure in the closest Vespula, Pyromote, and the second Heefler. Glynne moves up to support and Reyna captures the Heefler that we’ve got bound. Vespula keeps annoying us with status attacks, and also with its vast movement range. If we’re not careful where we put Yuri and the archers it’ll fly right over the lava and start crushing them. Ares drops a bleed on the Pyromote, which is always valuable. Heefler crosses over to where we are to engage Irina. While we would prefer not to have a Majin behind our lines this does give us a good opportunity to get some hits in on him.



Ashley seems to be getting worse, too!
Do you think it has anything to do with that librum…?

We Overkill the Vespula so that Ashley can start chasing down the Thiefler, which has already stolen the item we couldn’t reach and it moving towards the second one. Yuri manages to level up while healing.



Yuri gains the Divinus skill, which can cure any status effect. It’s awesome. We start putting some heat on Heefler, and the second Exo Machina engages. We need to be careful now, because Ashley needs to go off and deal with the Thiefler and get the chest and therefore can’t help with the Exo Machina.



No… No, this isn’t me…!

Ashley Fractures the Thiefler, and we keep the heat up on the Heefler. Sadly, Velnor drops to a pair of Pyro IIs from the Heefler and Pyromote. I set up a Combo with Glynne and Reyna on the Pyromote while using Ares to keep the Exo Machina busy. Reyna manages to level up when I execute the Combo.



Reyna’s definitely getting surprisingly decent, though he’d be better if he could equip librums or something. Ashley Overkills the Thiefler with a Punishment, though I probably should have just killed it because there’s no way to stop the Heefler from just killing it in a sec. We at least do manage to capture the Pyromote, but poor Thiefler pays the ultimate price for it.



This really sucks because we don’t get money for him at the end. Even worse, the second Vespula engages and diseases Ashley. I throw some magic around with Glynne and Ashley, who moves over towards the chest but can’t quite reach it. Interestingly, Exo Machina actually goes over to chase after Ashley, probably because she’s diseased. We start engaging the Heefler and Vespula with Reyna, Glynne, and Ares. Ashley reaches the chest, which has Jade plate in it. Plate is the best armor for physical resistance, but does make the wearer pretty slow. Glynne could use it but he probably won’t. Exo Machina gives me a scare by critting Ashley, so I start her back towards support. We manage to Overkill the Heefler with a Combo, which really helps out. She heals herself, and then we remove the Disease.



Have you seen a man pass by here!?
Falsin are all the same!
Damn! They’re useless!

Ashley and Ares combo to finish off the Vespula. Glynne levels up at some point in here, I don’t capture the stat screen and he doesn’t gain much. Annoyingly, I manage to just barely not overkill the last Exo Machina with Ashley, ending the first half of the battle.

Battle Result:

Levels:
Ashley 19->20
Glynne 14->15
Reyna 13->14
Yuri 11->12
Irina 10->11

Majin:
Heefler Lv 14 x 2
Pyromote Lv 14 x 1
Exo Machina Lv 14 x 1
Vespula Lv 15 x 2

Gold:
2200

Defeating the Majin only made things worse.



Ashley!?
We’ve got company, guys!
I have not been to this world in a long time…

Their master burst through the gate.



I am Gergedeus!
Ah, Izel! The most revered of visitors!
We won’t be staying long!
Izel, use those Falsin as they were meant to be used.
Fully awaken! Unleash your power!
Shut up! Shut up!
Holy Atona, please guide and protect us.
Die, Majin!

Nothing’s ever easy in this damned place…
- journal entry