Part 53: Chapter 4, Part 9: Doma's Gate

First order of business today - the vote was a tie, so I decided another healing item was more useful than a shield even if we don't face any threatening monsters the rest of the way. Alm makes his way back out of the Fear Shrine so that Celica can take her turn.



A group of witches form up near Alm when he sees daylight again. It's the same group he fought several updates ago.



Finally, Celica charges Doma's Gate.



Probably Celica's most difficult battle so far, but the enemy lineup looks more threatening than it really is. Celica's army is a lot stronger after the Lost Woods.



Nine level 5 witches are scattered outside the gate; they won't pose any real threat at this point.



The five slayers are a little more concerning, but they layout of the gate will let us control when and how they reach us. The two high knights/barons won't be a problem, either, as we can have mages attack them safely from behind the walls.



The wizards are all armed with Death, and their positioning will threaten anyone who tries to circle around to the south. The north side will be the best approach for physical units. The shaman summons gargoyles which aren't really a problem for us anymore.



The boss is Jamil, another wizard with some more stats. The easiest strategy for him is to pick him off from a safe distance with a sniper and a Magic Ring-armed magic-user.


Turn 1



The fliers and Leo each take out a witch, immediately reducing the outside threat to almost zero.



Leo even gets a great level out of it.



The witches try to get some revenge with attacks against Leo, Catria, and Est, but they're not very effective. Off-screen, the shaman summons a single gargoyle.


Turn 2



Saber and Est take out two more of the witches. The rest are hiding in trees so will take some more effort to dig out.



Meh.



The tree doesn't help the witch hide from May's Aura.



Jesse misses his first hit but nails the second, and with Sonia having softened up the witch that's enough for another kill.



After Catria misses twice, Palla gets in one hit on the last witch. That's enough for Kamui to be able to take the kill.



Two turns in, and the witches are wiped out. Everyone left moves towards the complicated gate structure.



And another dick move, although a minor one. Randomly Jamil will be able to trigger a special extra ability - Megaquake. It hits all of our units for something like 8-12 damage. I don't think it can actually kill units that have less HP than that, but I didn't give Jamil any more opportunities to find out, either.



Another gargoyle is summoned, while the first one advances.


Turn 3



Leo shoots down the gargoyle with one shot.



Saber lines up to draw out the first slayer, while the fliers head north. The rest of the turn was spent shuffling units around and healing up some of the quake damage.



Neither one can do much damage to the other. The slayer's high Speed doesn't make much difference when it can't do a lot of damage.


Turn 4



Leo starts off the turn again with another gargoyle kill. The Silver Bow gives him just enough power to take it down in one shot.



The fliers move in to take on the northern pair of slayers. Palla and Catria have enough Defense to stand toe-to-toe with them, and Palla even gets in a shot with the Hand Lance.



Sonia and Boey try some magic against the lead slayer, but it doesn't deal much damage.



Saber takes the Hero Sword from Kamui to get in a little more damage on the slayer.



The slayers don't fare much better against Palla and Catria, but they're pretty dodgy so avoid both counterattacks.



The Hero Sword gives Saber a critical counterattack against his opponent on the enemy phase.



Saber's come back down to earth a bit since the earlier chapters, but his Defense is still top-notch.


Turn 5



Palla and Catria are able to take out one of the northern slayers.



Est trades blows with the other slayer. She'll have just enough HP to survive the counterattack on the enemy phase.



The rest of the army streams into the gate, with Valbo blocking off the southern slayer. Carefully, no one is in range of a mage at the moment.



Est is the only unit in Celica's army fast enough to avoid a second attack from the slayer. Good thing, since she wouldn't survive another one.



Valbo takes a scratch in his guard duty.


Turn 6



Palla and Est are able to take out the remaining slayer (after some remote healing from Jenny) and the northern path is clear.



Pretty good level for her, but she'll get more than enough Defense when she can promote in a few more levels anyway.



Leo uses his extra range to get in some early damage on Jamil, getting lucky and landing both hits.



Saber softens up the slayer a bit so that May can use Aura to punch through the slayer's high Magic Defense for 14 damage. The slayer still has 13 HP left, though.



Boey and Sonia chip away for another 8 damage, ensuring Saber will have a chance at a counter-kill on the enemy phase, if the slayer should attack again.



Catria draws the central slayer out and pulls out a crit for an immediate kill.


Turn 7



Saber tries to get the kill on the last slayer, but misses. Boey moves up to take the kill himself.



At this point I just want to get him to promote so that I have another healer, but I don't know if he'll even get that far.



Jamil retreated to the healing tile but Leo pursues and lands one of his attacks for some more damage.



Sonia uses her long-range magic to finish off Jamil and prevent any more Megaquakes.



She gets a little faster but could really use some more Power instead. Really Celica's army is just missing that Angel Ring now that it's gone off to Alm's group.



Catria brutalizes the shaman, and Est takes the Hand Lance from Palla to finish it off.



Catria will block off one baron, while May and Sonia draw out one of the wizards.



The baron whiffs on Catria, who makes it pay with a critical counterattack.



Meanwhile Sonia dodges the flying skull laser and roasts the wizard in return.


Turn 8



Sonia takes out the central high knight. Just a few units left in the southern branch now. May then finishes off one of the wizards.



Est brings the remaining wizard down to 4 HP, which will keep it from casting anything on the enemy phase.



Two units left, and one of them can't attack. The baron goes after Catria, who dodges again, while the wizard tries to run away.


Turn 9



Est chases down and kills the last wizard.



Can't complain about a three-stat level in this game.



Boey and May then team up to wipe out the baron, ending the battle.



But we're not done yet! Once back on the world map, the witches that assembled at the start of the update move in and attack Alm!



Alm's army is much stronger than the last time they fought this same battle. A few low-level witches, wizards, and myrmidons aren't really a problem anymore. However Alm is a bit handicapped - I remove everyone's equipment between battles to update the rosters in the second post, so the only item this group has right now is the recently-acquired Holy Shield.


Turn 1



One witch teleports to the southern group and attacks Force, while the other warps up to attack Claire. Neither accomplishes much.



The biggest difficulty in this battle is making sure no one gains a level, since I don't have the Angel Ring handy. As such the southern witch is left alive as Robin can't reach and Force and Python would each gain levels from the kill. Claire was able to wipe out her attacker, while Matilda moved south to attack an oncoming wizard.


Turn 2



A crit on a counterattack from Matilda takes care of one of the myrmidons. I almost feel bad for the guy.



Another witch had teleported in to attack the southern group. Robin finished off the weakened one from last turn, while Python and Cliff took care of the other one.



Matilda wipes out another witch to try and prevent any more teleporting shenanigans.



Bring it on.


Turn 3



The myrmidon throws himself at Dyute, who last update promoted from a female mage to a 'priest', which happens to be the same as Celica's starting class. So now Dyute looks just like Celica and can use a sword, apparently. Seems a little strange to me.



Matilda meanwhile dodges some more magic attacks, nothing she can't handle.



Ryuto and Silk team up to take out one of the wizards.



Claire and Matilda kill off two more enemies, leaving just one wizard. Dyute could kill it easily, but she'd gain a level in doing so and I'd rather hold off on that.


Turn 4



The last wizard traps Alm in some slime, but Matilda takes care of it to end the battle.


Next time:



Alm and company head to Nuibaba Manor.