Part 19: Caravan Trail

Update 19: Caravan Trail



Happy Turkey Day and welcome back! Last time, we listened to Kyrie voice her misgivings over Primus’s conduct and get slightly chided by Reiner, and then had Anadine get her mother’s armor refurbished. Then she and Reiner had a deep talk about their pasts and letting go, including the revelation of Yates’s crime against Reiner. This time, we’re going to go kill some monsters in the desert.

Also, I forgot to get a screenshot of the world map, so instead we’ll be working with the battle intro.



We pop in and Kyrie starts giving a warning to no one in particular.

They appear to be lumbering and slow, but can charge a great distance across open ground to attack, and pack a mean wallop when they do. Make use of these columns and ruins to deny them a clear path to charge.




And then it’s time to fight.



For this fight, we’re dealing with a number of nasty enemies. First up, and the brand new type Kyrie was talking about : the Bzzrks. Looking at their movement stats, they can barely get anywhere, so they shouldn’t be too threatening, right? Well, like Kyrie said, they can charge, and by charge I mean hit a unit that is any distance away in a straight, unobstructed line. They also have a passive that boosts the damage they do as a factor of how far they move in a turn, and already hit decently hard without it. They’re tough to put down and can really do a number on an exposed squishy unit.



Hiding on the sides, we also have 2 earth element pekites, and an Arpia up even higher off screen, all looking forward to harassing us.



Finally, we have the other new enemy type: the Zotzit. These guys are similar to the Bandit Kawas in that they’re essentially bonus enemies, this time for AP. However, they’re much more annoying to kill since they can make themselves totally evade any 1 attack, and have very annoying reaction ability. Whatever type of attack last hit them (basic, attack skill, magic) has a 0% chance to hit them again, so you need to alternate. Additionally, they’re much more aggressive than the Kawas. They’ll charge forward, hit you a bunch, and then use their super-powered “final sting” to absolutely mess up one of your guys and then escape from the battle. They’re annoying and tough to kill, but the bonus can be totally worth it since it’s hundreds of AP. Sadly, I do not get it this time.



On our side, we have Hannah and Anadine providing a solid front line for the Bzzerks to charge into, while Eustace, and Bobby (who’s now a druid) provide magical support, Azure for ranged damage, and Selina for general support/healing.

To open the fight, the Arpia flies down off of her perch but can’t hit anyone because all units are just out of reach.



So instead, Azure tries to root the Arpia down where she’d be out of the way. Sadly, the status doesn’t stick.




Two of the Bzzerk’s charge into Anadine. However, thanks to her armor and new shield Anadine has quite high defense so she’s mostly fine.



And the beetle’s positioning leaves them open for Bobby to exploit their weakness to water.



Anadine and Hannah beat up a beetle, and then the 3rd one comes charging down into Anadine.



Ending up in the perfect spot for Eustace to hit them all, taking 1 out and severely weakening the other 2.



The closing monsters focus on Anadine, including a solidly powerful blast from the Zohlmander that hits her through the Bzzrk.



Azure runs over to heal her with a heavy potion, and Anadine is nearly back to full health.



As the zholmanders/therval close, Bobby hits the bzzrks again, taking out both of them in one cast.



And soon after Hannah totally overkills the arpia with a righteous blade. It was the only way to get her, but I do wish I could’ve saved the MP.



Of course, Hannah pays for it by getting blasted by a full powered zohl beam.



And then gets taken out by one of the Pekites. Despite spending time as a knight, it really seems like Hannah could use some time in a more magically defensive class.



The zotzit floats over and nearly 1HKO’s Bobby. Instead it just blinds, poisons, and bleeds him while taking out about 90% of his health.



And then it runs like a coward.



Though she’s hurting, I have Azure try and root the Pekite and this time it works. Basic magic is relatively short ranged, so it’s effectively out of the fight for now.




After being weakened by Bobby, one of the zohlmanders falls to a hit from Anadine. Though I do have to smack it into Selina’s back with a push attack.



Meanwhile, the other pekite hops down and nearly takes out Azure. I’d just healed her, and that only barely kept her up.



But the other one’s stuck where it is and has to just heal the both of them.



Azure then roots the other pekite, leaving me much more free to clean things up.



After some more hits, Eustace takes out the last zohlmander.



And Bobby gets the therval with a bleed cast.



The first pekite moves up and hits Anadine, and then promptly gets absolutely obliterated by Eustace.



After I grab the two nearby chests, Eustace then takes out the last Pekite to finish the fight.




He definitely deserves the MVP too. Too bad Hannah went down though.

Overall, this mission went really well this time. I think the move for this fight is to try and draw the beetles in early, to take them out before the others can show up. In a previous try I tried to send Azure up top through the hole in the ground while the others hid from the beetles. This just resulted in everyone getting swarmed and blitzed down by a bunch of attacks in a row, actually causing me to lose the fight entirely.



One of the treasures I got were these jet boots. And you’re reading that right, they give an insane 40!! Jump boost to whoever wears them. They will be absolutely crucial to my next fight strategy, which is great because I nearly forgot about them entirely.



Next time, we’ll be heading over to Oldebzar to check out the new town and whatever’s beyond it.