Part 12: Chapter 2, Prologue: Cloister

Today we start the second chapter, going off in a completely different direction from where we left off with Alm and his army at Sofia Castle.





The road to Mila's Temple is long.

A couple updates ago, Force had mentioned that Mila (the goddess of Sofia) had gone missing, and someone should go to Mila's Temple to investigate. Looks like Celica is picking up that torch. Gaiden goes full-out with multiple separate armies played in parallel.

Between Geyse's pirates and the evil fiends rising, you'll surely be attacked. It's too risky....



Jesus, three years without any crops? What the hell have you all been eating? On second thought, I don't want to know.

What in the world befell the Earth Goddess Mila? I want to find out for myself.

I see.... If you insist, then I shall not stop you, Celica. You know why Sir Mycen placed you in my care, right? You are the last of the Sofian royal family. Sofia's people depend on you. Don't try to do the impossible.

Missing princess, confirmed. Didn't take long to get to the bottom of that mystery.



We gain control of Celica in another exploration segment. Lots of people to talk to before we go anywhere, though.



Noma doesn't have any more to see beyond well-wishes, so let's talk to the other three, who look a lot like potential recruits.



If you get hurt, I can heal you with my Recover spell.



And the lady on the left beomces our first recruit, another cleric. Jenny is pretty much the equivalent of Silk for Celica's army, but she has one surprising difference that we'll see later on.



I can also use Thunder, so please rely on me, 'kay?



The girl on the right is May the mage, clever, right?



I'll come along too, so please relax.



Boey joins as well, a second mage. We...don't really need two mages.



Celica is a Priest, so that means our entire army is four magic-users. Could make for some interesting battles to start the chapter....



Celica starts off with decent stats, but still worse overall than Alm at the start of the first chapter. She has one key advantage, though - she can both cast Black Magic and use Swords. She starts off with the Fire spell.



Jenny starts off with a bit less Power and more Speed than Silk, but her growth rates are the opposite in comparison so they'll even out after a few levels. Like Silk, she starts off with both Recover and Nosferatu.



May is the stronger of the two mages, starting off with good Power and Speed and both the Fire and Lightning (Thunder) spells. Effectively, Lightning is like Fire, but more so. It has 1 more Might (4), 10 less Accuracy (70), 2 extra Weight (5), 1 more HP cost (2), and, most importantly, 1 more Range (1-3 tiles). It's usually best to stick with Fire unless the extra point of damage is needed to get a kill, or May can only reach the enemy from three tiles away.



Boey starts out flat-out worse than May in every way that matters. Less Power and Speed, and he only knows Fire to start. His only real advantage is Defense, which shouldn't really matter for a mage, and HP, which will help him cast more powerful spells more often but isn't enough to offset his weakness.

Moving north, we find...



...it's another shrine!



This time we have a choice between Power and Speed. Again, they can be used three times total, not each. When you see the growth rates for our army, it'll become pretty clear what needs to be done. Which isn't necessarily what we will end up actually doing, of course.



Exiting to the north will bring us to the world map, where we're immediately thrown into another battle. But that'll have to wait until next time!

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New Characters

Celica is the main character for the second chapter, and as with Alm, it's game over if she falls in battle. Not that we're letting anyone die anyway. She has worse stats and growths than Alm overall, but makes up for it with the ability to both cast spells and wield swords. If we can get her a power-increasing sword, it'll actually increase the potency of her spells, as well.
Jenny is the healer for our group, and not very different from Silk at first. She will make for a very good magic tank if the need arises, and her Power growth will make her into a strong healer, but her Speed will eventually keep her from being effective offensively.
May is a great mage with her Power growth, but eventually won't have enough Speed to offset the large weight of Black Magic.
Boey's another mage, and though he appears to be marginally better than May by the pure numbers, with less Power and a lower base Speed he's actually much less effective. He eventually gets some cool spells, but May gets hers more quickly.
Next time:



A romp through a cemetery to warm up the new army.