Part 46: Lodestarhenge

Update 46: Lodestarhenge



Welcome back! Last time we fought a bunch of demons at the Crossroads, then got distracted from saving the capital. This time we’ll be finishing a long-running sidequest with what is quite possibly one of the worst escort AI’s I’ve ever seen.



Arriving at Lodestarhenge, Kyrie makes note that we have all 4 Henge Fragments.




She puts 2 in on the right.




And then puts the final one in on the left.



At which point they all start glowing red.




A bunch of concentric circles converge in the center of the stone structure.



Someone appeared!



He stands up, looks around



And is suddenly surrounded by demons!

And he’s not alone.




Apparently, a few more demons spawned while the fight got set up.

Now this fight is an absolute pain in the ass because you need to keep both Kyrie and the new guy, Kairu, alive. Kyrie is fine, but Kairu is absolutely suicidal. He’s a solid enough combatant. Which is bad because he’ll gladly charge head long into masses of enemies because he’d do good damage to them. And then he’d die by getting swarmed before any of my people could come rescue him. In fact, I had to retry this fight 3 times due to Kairu getting himself killed. Once was even off of a counterattack that he provoked!



For the successful attempt, I brought Reiner, Hannah, Eustace, and Selina.




And we also get Kairu, who has the final unique class of the game and comes quite well equipped.



Up against us are 3 Harvester variants, 2 Malcubus variants, a Pestilord, and an Overscourge. The Harvesters are the real problem because they do about 100 damage a hit to Kairu and he loves to hit them and get countered.



Demonstrating my point of being inherently suicidal, Kairu opens the fight by leaping to the square in between the 2 Malcubi.



On the left, I have Reiner try and draw some aggro/keep the Archafflictors tied up.



And Kairu gets stabbed in his openly presented back to the tune of 1/3 of his health.




The mobile Overscourge poisons Hannah, so I have her regenerate and then move up the stairs to the center to become a better target.



Selina starts working away at the Huntsman with a fire bolt.



After a bit more movement, Eustace heads up and hurts the Domincubus.



While Hannah does her job of getting hit and then crippling both of the Huntsmen on that side. Without their ranged attacks, it’s less likely that Kairu will get killed out of nowhere.



On Kyrie’s turn she addresses the mystery man.



So you say. What of those demons?
I doubt they’re the peaceful type. I was fighting them when I got transported… here. Wherever “here” is.
We’re in Centina’s Highlands.
Ah, yes… Centina. Could you remind me where Centina is, exactly?
It is one of the major cities of Teora, of course. What remote land do you hail from that you’ve never heard of Centina?
A place *very* distant from here, I’m guessing. But we should take care of those demons now and talk later.



And then Kyrie takes a big whack at the Pestilord. It was about here that I remembered I had the Pestilence maul from the ship’s treasure chest, which explains why she could inflict so many status effects.



Kairu continues leaping in between the Malcubi.



While Reiner takes out the Pestilord.



Soon afterwards, a thoroughly bruised Hannah kills the Malcubus.



And I have Selina slow the two nearby demons, to hopefully prevent any shenanigans.



And that triggers more dialogue from Kairu.

All Arbiters are trained in the ways of magic. Did you not know that we’re Arbiters?
I know now. In any event, I’m glad to hear magick is a thing around here!



The slowed Domincubus then does about half of Kairu’s health in a single cast of Dark II.



Because both of the upcoming Huntsmen are crippled, and thus can’t hurt the weakened Kairu, I have Eustace run off to kill the Domincubus instead of healing Kairu.



They proceed to kill Hannah twice instead.



I just about have a heart attack when I see Kairu rushing towards one of the Huntsmen, but for once he doesn’t do something actively suicidal. He heals Reiner, and actually heals himself too thanks to the passive from his Mender secondary.



Reiner then takes a whack at the Overscourge, who debuffs everyone on his turn. Nothing too crazy this time, though Eustace gets a ton applied to him.




Over on the side, Selina and Eustace cooperate to take out one of the Huntsmen.



And again, I’m shocked when Kairu chooses to heal instead of doing something stupid.



Especially because the small bit of healing he gave himself makes the AI choose to kill Reiner instead of attacking Kairu.




Revisiting their tag-team, Selina and Eustace take out another Hunstman.



Though just to remind me not to praise him too much, Kairu runs around to heal Eustace and presents his back to the Harvester for more stabbing.



The Overscourge hits everyone again and charms Kairu. I’m actually totally okay with this since none of my units have damaging counters and the AI won’t actively target charmed units if there are other options.



But after a bit more cleanup that’s slightly elongated by Kairu’s active healing of the demons, Kyrie kills the Overscourge.



And Eustace finishes the fight by killing the Harvester.



That was an annoying fight. Like I said, Kairu is almost actively trying to die and you really have to work to not let him do so. I wish they changed his AI to make him just a bit more conservative, because it otherwise really says something that I was glad that he got charmed.



After the fight, Kyrie and Kairu talk.



Although I’m guessing this portal must have plucked me from Artania somehow and deposited me here. Were you, by chance, just now fiddling with the portal? My experience is that portals tend to activate as a direct result of fiddling. Or the proximity of mighty magical artefacts. (Sigh)
I was indeed trying to activate the device, although I had no idea it would bring you here, Kairu. My apologies. I promise I will do my best to return you to your home.
No worries. Truth be told, I had hoped the portal would lead me somewhere interesting, and it seems to have done exactly that.
I’ve been meaning to ask, what is this mark you bear?
You mean the Mark? It is the sign of the Marked and enters me in the Pilgrimage to become one of the Immortals of the land. Why do you ask?
I’ve… seen its like before, back home. Say, could I accompany you on this Pilgrimage?
If you wish. My “fiddling,” as you call it, brought you here, so I feel responsible. But why do you wish to join us? Our journey will be quite dangerous.
Let’s just say your Mark is giving me an idea about what awaits at the end of the journey. And this time… In any event! I won’t slow you down, I promise. I’ve been about similar business before.
And what business is that?
You know, saving the world, et cetera.
Not quite the same thing as what we’re doing, but you’re welcome to join us nonetheless.
Excellent!



And with that, Kairu joins the team.



Back on the world map, we’ll head back to the Crossroads. Next time we’ll be actually heading into Illuster to deal with Primus’s and Sigil’s plot!