Part 17: Thespeiros II

Update 17: Thespeiros II



Welcome back! Last time we fought a bunch of idealistic youths, and then left them to starve in a temple that only we can let them out of. This time, we’ll be headed back to Thespeiros to meet back up with Anadine and then making a new plan from there.



When we arrive, we catch the end of Kyrie briefing Anadine on what happened at the Temple.

We should head to the next Temple and hope its Relic is still intact.
I understand.
I’m worried, Kyrie. It feels worse than before, this close to the Temple.
Don’t worry, Anadine. We will do whatever it takes to find a cure.




We hear a noise, and then one of the Immortals teleports in.

Primus?
Captain Kyrie, good to see you again. It has been quite a while. Greetings to you as well, Anadine.
Sir!
What a quaint little hamlet. Well. In any case, good old Quintus asked me to check up on you. What has been happening, anything of note?
There is much to tell, Primus…

There’s a quick fade to black.



Though the events related are undeniably dire, remember that as a Marked, your priority is the Pilgrimage. Your duties as an Arbiter are behind you now. The Council is investigating all these goings-on and will take advantage as they see fit. You continue with your own mission without distractions.
I will keep that in mind, Primus.
Excellent. I have always known you to be reasonable. Now, it may be helpful for me to examine young Anadine. I have committed no insignificant amount of time to the study of magical energies.



Suddenly, Reiner yells out.



Did you arrive… recently?
More bandits? Didn’t we eliminate them on our way here?
I have a theory about that, but lets’ wait until after we’ve dealt with this threat to discuss it.



Primus is pretty clearly hamming things up right now.

This will not do. No, not at all. Come, Captain. We shall deal with them together.
Really? Are you sure you want to get involved?
I don’t mind at all! Honestly, it’s a little bit exciting.
Right. Of course, Primus.




Time to deal with some bandits! Notably, Primus will be fighting alongside us for this battle.



Up top, we’re running with Kyrie, Anadine, Bobby, Eustace, and Yates. If I’d been smart, I would’ve brought Reiner or Azure to hit people from range while being safe, but I can still make this group work.



As for the enemies, we have quite a few of them to deal with, including this sneaky merc hiding behind the house.



Notably, there’s a warmage, which is one of the stronger classes in the game. They have a gimmick that’s broadly similar to the seers from FFTA2 but with more of a melee focus. They are very, very nasty.




There’s also Primus. He comes pretty heavily equipped, and only has 1 ability. It does no damage, but he’ll find ways to make it work.

Right after I start the fight:



Bandit 2: Yes, I think it is! Do not concern yourself. Our sponsor told us Immortals cannot directly interfere in mundane affairs.
Bandit 1: Yes, right. In that case, let’s have it!



The enemies advance towards us, and Primus pops down to say hello.



And to drown that poor knight.



The warmage apparently wasn’t a fan of that, so he hops underwater and chucks a rock at Primus.

Once Kyrie’s turn comes around, she asks what’s going on.



Correct, Captain. However, since we Immortals travel so frequently, the Council does not monitor teleportation magic. It is the misfortune of these rogues that said teleportation leaves them in unsafe areas, I suppose. And all without violating the strictures of the Council.



After the Immortal effective-god-king admits to not really following the few rules that are supposed to bind him, Kyrie vents her confusion out by smacking the komainu with a dark bolt. Though it’s immediately healed by the mender.



I move Anadine up to try and get into the fray, which just opens her up to start getting nailed by the enemies down below.



I can’t even block the komainu, since they apparently have 12(!) jump height, so he scampers up the wall and takes out 2/3 of Eustace’s health.



Primus helpfully deals with him for me though.



I end up retreating Anadine since she was getting badly hurt, and heal her with Yates while Kyrie block the stairway. Annoyingly, all of the enemies are too low to hit with spells from the stairs.



Bobby still advances to buff his and Kyrie’s defenses



Kyrie keeps getting wailed on, getting dispelled and then lowered defenses, while Primus teleports another armored unit to his doom.



Bobby pops further down to buff Kyrie again.



And this very annoying scoundrel starts shooting my guys in the back. Despite being physically close, he’s easily 2-3 rounds of movement away from actually being attacked.



Primus then has the brilliant idea to teleport into the middle of the crowd to use a potion on Kyrie. While I appreciate the healing, this is a terrible idea on his part.



Especially because he immediately gets zapped, along with Kyrie and Bobby.



After Yates does some emergency healing on Bobby, Kyrie is able to take out the enemy wizard, which is a huge help.



Primus then takes a huge hit from the merc smashing him into the stairs.



And another big one from the reaver as well.



The enemy warmage then hits Anadine with a single target spell that nearly takes her out.



While Primus apparently takes the hint, and moves, drowning the mender as he goes.



Because Anadine’s at such low health, there’s essentially no cost to using this. Really makes me want to combo it with some later passives to make a “Danger Anadine” build ala Paper Mario.
I do have Kyrie use a potion to heal her back up though.



I then finally have Eustace contribute some damage by doing over half of the reaver’s max health, KOing him.


The warmage then runs up and does a bunch of damage to Anadine with his abilities.



Though she survives and takes a chunk out of him in return.




Anadine and Kyrie then wail on him, but fail to take him out.



Meanwhile, all of the enemies left can swim, so Primus goes and hides in a corner.



The warmage, in a last move of defiance, use a burst to nearly take out half of my party. No one goes down, but all 3 people are down to low double digits. In desperation, Eustace heals Kyrie, and then Bobby heals him to protect against the scoundrel. Anadine also runs off to heal herself with the basic field aid.



Kyrie then finishes the job and takes the warmage out.



Sadly, my healing frenzy can’t save everyone and Yates goes down. I didn’t even get to use reanimation because he was so focused on healing this fight.



After nearly 3 full rounds of chasing them around, I finally get the merc down with a holy beam from Kyrie.



I also spend a few more rounds chasing the scoundrel around, but eventually corner him up top and take him out with Kyrie.



Sorry Yates.



After the fight, everyone gathers in the main square.

Thank you for your help routing those bandits, Primus.
Don’t mention it. I mean that. Let it be our little secret.
As you wish.
Now, let me see what I can do for young Anadine.



She approaches, and he uses some magic on her to make the flame reappear.

Hmm… As I suspected.
I have deciphered the function of the device Bzaro delivered to the Council. It siphons energy from the Relics, but for what purpose I cannot yet say. I believe by using this device on Anadine, we should be able to remove the dark energy she so carelessly absorbed. The process should be quite safe. And is definitely necessary
Anadine?
Yes. I think we should do it. Thank you, Primus.



He then uses the device to drain her, and the flame fades.



I’m all right. I no longer feel the negative force of the Temple.
(looking at the device) Looks like it’s all there. Excellent.
The dark energy has left your body, but whatever changes you experienced will remain. I suggest you take this as a lesson not to fiddle with powerful artifacts you cannot possibly understand… Though I admit this ordeal seems only to have left you stronger in the end.
Thank you for your help and wisdom, Primus.
It was my pleasure. The Council has high hopes for you, Kyrie. Remember my instructions: focus on your pilgrimage and let us handle these malcontents and shadow skulkers from now on.
As you say, Primus.

Primus then teleports out.



I wish I could say it was a pleasure having you with us, but of course, it wasn’t.
The feeling is mutual, but I intend to stick around for a while yet. I’d like to continue my evaluation of Anadine, to ensure her recovery is complete. And judging from your experiences on the road, I am confident the services of a genius doctor will continue to be both helpful and necessary.
(crosses his arms) …
A good point, Yates. Although Anadine seems fine now, I would feel better having your medical expertise on hand. For the time being, at least. Now, onward. The next Temple is located near the Bzil capital, and that means crossing the desert.
A difficult march through dangerous territory. I’ll make sure everyone is fully prepared for the trek.



With that, we’re back on the world map. A bunch of places have opened up in the north, and new events are available in Thespeiros and Centina. However, since this has been going for a while, we’ll be ending this update here and checking it out next time!