Part 13: Recommended: Questionable Hiring Practices

The ghost is raiding a monastery's pantry. Why it wants to eat pants is beyond me. The important part is Elda's Cup there. This will be the crux of this chapter.


Yoink.


The cup is brought along for every mission I can. It replaces normal recruits with a 20% chance of someone... special. However, because the RNG hates me whenever I try to do something awesome, this takes about 20 tries.


"Now, I'll ssay it once. Pass the tesst, or I sslice open your sskull."


Clan Beoulve may be mighty negotiators, but they aren't very fashionable.


"Now, I'll ssay it once. Give me the adamantite, or I carve it out of you."
"Why are you talking to that corpse?"


For this, Clan Shalo has to suffer.




No, no matter how desperate we are, we can't abandon our dignity like this.

Besides, I don't have the jerky for it.


Eh?! Someone's offering to join!


I FORGOT THE FUCKING CUP!?


All this metal hunting has improved the clan's smithing ability, which produced this katana. Last Breath instantly KOs an enemy. I've got 3 of the Assassin's 5 really good abilities.


Bah, who is it this time?


It's... It's her! Eldena! She's a semi-unique character who joins after completing a mission in which Elda's Cup is used. Besides being 5 levels above average...


...She joins with Doublecast already mastered!


I got this for hitting 40 negotiation. It teaches doublecast to any Red Mage, but it requires 999 AP. Eldena comes with it and a free 300 AP ability. She's pretty cool that way.


Liam was but a placeholder for Eldena, which is why I accepted something as weak as an Animist.


What could the item be?!

Actually, I know already and that's why I'm taking this mission.


Yeah whatever.

This mission only allows 5 dudes but Montblanc is going off active combat duty soon anyway.


Doublecast allows a Red Mage to cast two spells, obviously. Right now, all Eldena has is her innate Barrier (shell and protect on one person) and Blizzard, which she's learning.


Blizzara and Blizzaga come out to do, roughly, 133% and 166%, respectively, the damage of a normal Blizzard. By casting two at once, Eldena is dealing more damage than Blizzaga at the cost of Blizzara. Red Magic has Sleep and Cure, making a well-trained Red Mage a fearsome foe with Red Magic alone.


So fearsome, in fact, that Eldena wins this battle practically by herself.


For clearing that mission, we get The Hero Gaol.


By "reading" The Hero Gaol in the mission item menu like this, it's quest chain is unlocked.


The text also has a semi-unique unit attached to it.


But while trying to get the guy to try and join, I decide to wreck some more Borzoi shit.


Ice is forbidden today, and Eldena's learning Blizzard!

I'll cast Blizzard anyway.


The enemy Red Mage (dressed in blue) has another Madu and a Minerva Plate. The Minerva Plate is Viera-only armor that absorbs darkness.


Bringing Norma along wasn't the best choice. Seth spends most of the fight casting Cure on her.


The White Mage dodged a Last Breath and the red mage is immune to KO and Petrify because she's a boss. They spend every second trying to maim Norma.


Eldena hits the black mage with two Blizzards a turn. She gets by the Forbidden: Ice law by using Doublecast, which isn't Ice-elemental. Doublecast gets by all laws but Color Magic (because it's still a Red Magic ability) and status ones, which the judge can detect for some reason.




Her valuables taken, we let the reaper take his toll.




She can't hear you where you're going.


A few dispatches later...


The semi-unique Moogle, Lini, joins. Lini starts with Ultima Charge. Each race has an Ultima skill. They all cost 60 MP and deal triple the normal attack damage. While Lini may be a bit short on the MP, as a Mog Knight his stats are all-around good. Not like 9 MP will be impossible to get.


But, yeah, Lini and Eldena are a bit higher level than everyone else. Also, Lini joining means Montblanc will not see a fight again unless he forces himself in.

NEXT TIME:

Lini steals 18 abilities while Ramza steals a half-dozen weapons and armors. Stealing stealing stealing stealing.

MECHANICS CHAT Vol. 7: Semi-Unique characters.

Semi-unique characters are generics with specific recruitment conditions, mastered abilities, and specific names. Eldena and Lini are two of the six, and the earliest two.

The six are, in order of name/race and class/abilities/condition:

Eldena - Viera Red Mage - Barrier, Double Cast - clear mission with Elda's Cup
Lini - Moogle Mog Knight - Mog Guard, Ultima Charge - clear mission with The Hero Gaol
Cheney - Human Hunter - Capture, Ultima Shot - clear mission with the Snake Shield
Palanza - Bangaa Gladiator - Blitz, Ultima Blade - clear mission with the Wyrmstone
Quin - Nu Mou Sage - Giga Flare, Ultima Blow - clear mission #63
Littlevili - Viera Sniper - Doubleshot, Beso Toxico - clear mission #43

Elda's Cup is consumed in a dispatch available not long after Hungry Ghost is, and Mission #63 cannot be repeated. Furthermore, if you toss any of the items, none of the characters are available. Littlevili is the only one you can't screw yourself out of. There isn't an Assassin with Ultima Masher, sadly.

Which ones are worth it? Let's see:

Eldena: She joins early enough to not screw herself statwise and Doublecast is always good if it's free. Unless you plan on hiring two assassins, Eldena works just fine.
Lini: The only way a Moogle could be more worth it is if he were a Juggler. Lini may win anyway due to his high HP, MRes, and WAtk. I dunno, I like Lini.
Cheney: Hunters are amazing. Hunters that can skip using the SeventhHeaven for any amount of time are amazing. Cheney may join fairly late, but his hunter stats and 1199 saved AP make him good.
Palanza: Eh, if you're hurting for a Bangaa.
Quin: For all the work you have to do to get him, he sucks because he's horribly slow because he's a Sage.
Littlevili: It's the last bit of story when mission #43 becomes available. By that time, Assassins are pretty easy to get and a Sniper that saves 500 AP isn't going to cut it.