Part 54: Chapter 4, Part 10: Nuibaba's Manor

Time for Alm to charge into Nuibaba's Manor. To be honest, I don't really remember why we're here - wasn't Alm supposed to be storming Rigel's castle?



An interesting map - we actually outnumber the enemy here, but the manor's entrance is in the back and will require most of our army to circle all the way around. Light footsoldiers and mages can charge up the hill one tile at a time.



Kind of an ominous beginning.



Legendary! Also is Terror Mountain related to Fear Mountain? Because we just conquered the fuck out of that place.



Oh good, we get to face a new super-powered enemy-only spell.



Yup, sounds great.



I already told you, I don't remember!

So that start of the map really dials up the drama. Let's see what we're actually facing here.



The necromancer himself isn't very impressive, but he does have a new spell. Medusa is patently unfair, as such only the enemy gets to use it. If it hits, it sets the target's HP to 1. Unless that unit already has 1 HP, in which case it just kills the unit. So since Nuibaba acts first, he can take our strongest unit down to 1 HP and then any other schmuck can finish it off. Fortunately there are some drawbacks. Medusa has a 70% hit rate, which is higher than I would like, and a normal 1-2 tile range. More importantly it has 13 weight so he'll never double-attack with it, and costs 7 HP to cast.

The best strategy involves using our two anti-magic items - the Angel Ring, which sets the holder's Luck to 40 for a big magic evasion boost; and the Magic Shield, which sets the holder's magic evasion to 90%.

Nuibaba also has a Magic Ring, giving him a large attack range with that Medusa spell. So he can reach any of our units as they slowly move around the hill to the back of the manor. That won't do at all.



The other wizards have a high annoyance potential, with mass-healing and a powerful spell.



The bow knight and the slayers aren't nearly as terrifying as they were last chapter. There's also a gargoyle-summoning shaman.


Turn 1



This map has the potential to turn into a long slog that just ends with someone dying due to Medusa anyway. So I'm going to cheat and send our superhero out alone with the Angel Ring. Dyute is sitting out on a recovery tile with huge magic evasion from the Angel Ring, and her naturally crazy-high Power and Speed making her a counter-kill machine.

Worst-case, she dies and I lose one turn of effort in restarting.



Everyone else makes the slow trek forward.



Nuibaba does a lot of talking for an optional mid-game boss. At least for this game.



I probably shouldn't be surprised that a spell named Medusa involves a flying snake-hair head that just hovers around and stares at you, but I am.

Luckily the hit rate is miniscule so Dyute dodges and then punches back hard. If she hadn't missed her first attack, Nuibaba would've fallen on the first turn.

If you're wondering, Nuibaba attacked from only two tiles away, allowing Dyute to counterattack, because the enemy AI prefers to have enemies attack from a recovery tile when possible. So I intentionally positioned Dyute so that the only recovery tiles within five tiles were within her counterattack range. Or I just got lucky; your pick.



Of course, there are other wizards wanting to get a shot in on Dyute, with equally low hit rates. She dodges two out of the three attacks (which only hits her for 10 damage) and counter-kills two of the three wizards.



The recovery tile gives Dyute enough physical evasion to avoid the bow knight, the one enemy she can't counterattack.



Two slayers also attack Dyute, a disaster for any other unit. But Dyute is fast enough to not only avoid double-attacks, but get in two attacks of her own. She dodges one attack, and takes some damage from the other.



Since Dyute's promoted class is the same as Celica's initial class, Dyute now gets to make physical attacks and wield swords as well. So any attacks on her from one tile away get a physical counterattack with her base 29 Power. Since the slayer has a higher Magic Defense than regular Defense, the matchup works out perfectly for her - she counter-kills one slayer entirely, and cripples the other one.



The second slayer's attack almost resulted in disaster as the enemy gets a crit. Dyute survives with 4 HP; the Angel Ring will add another 5 HP at the start of the next turn. Which is now.



Dyute gained three levels from all of her counter-kills, since her XP curve is the same as Celica's from the beginning of the game, rather than resembling that of a promoted class. The first level was Power/Skill/Speed, followed by two Luck-only levels, all doubled by the Angel Ring.


Turn 2



The enemy forces have been severely reduced. However Dyute is down to just 9 HP so is a bit vulnerable - let's send her some reinforcements.



But first, Dyute spends a precious Hit Point to throw a fireball at the boss, turning Nuibaba to ash. Only proper way to dispose of a necromancer, anyway.



Don't worry Nuibaba, it'd take an end-game boss to stand up to Dyute at this point. The Magic Ring goes into storage.



There's a recovery tile opened up near Dyute now. Who better to help her out than her brother Ryuto?



The slayer has too much Magic Defense and the bow knight has too much HP, so Ryuto instead takes care of the last wizard in the area.



Claire's available for support. Dyute has 8 HP left, which means she can survive either the slayer or bow knight hitting her, but not both. We're only on the second turn still so restarting wouldn't really be a problem if things turn out badly.



I don't think the rest of Alm's army is going to be much help on this map.



The bow knight moves onto the recovery tile, which brings it close enough for Dyute to counterattack. With two fireballs. Which cost her 2 HP, bringing her down to 6 HP total since the bow knight missed. And Dyute didn't even land either of her attacks somehow.



Dyute dodges the slayer however, so it's all good. She even gets a counter-crit to finish off the slayer.



And she's now crazy-fast to go with crazy-strong.


Turn 3



The enemy ranks have been reduced by 2/3.



Ryuto attacks twice, hits once. Dyute doesn't need any help, anyway, even after getting hit by another attack with a sub-20% hit rate.



Seriously, she's just insanely powerful now. Five levels gained in this battle for Dyute.



The shaman hasn't summoned anything yet, and Claire makes sure that it never will.



There's only two enemies left, the outside crew isn't going to make it in time.



Flying horses beat flying skull lasers every time (Claire dodges).



The last slayer gets in two attacks on Claire, but neither one hurts very much. Her counterattack does more damage (9).


Turn 4



Claire starts out by crushing the laser-skull wizard.



Dyute misses one attack or the map would already be over.



And even a crit can't give Ryuto the kill here. Guess it's one more turn. I could've warped in another unit to get the kill, but really, why bother at this point.



The slayer retreats to the recovery tile, for all the good it will do him.


Turn 5



Claire gets the final kill, wrapping up the battle. Only four of Alm's units were needed (three combatants and Silk for warp-duty).



Claire gets the third three-stat level of the battle - I think that's a record.



Time to head inside and figure out why we were here.



Nuibaba's home seems to be mainly a prison.



The center room holds three traders. So we could send the Angel Ring back to Celica's group if we were so inclined. I think Alm's going to stay greedy for a little while longer. Anyway, the real action is in the cell on the left.



He opposed the war, however. To ensure he didn't rebel, I was taken hostage. If Zeke sees me rescued, I'm sure he'll gladly help you.



And with that, Alm gets another healer, and a pre-promoted one at that.



Her stats are kind of junk, except for that Magic Defense. But she has the Physic spell and enough Power to make it count, so she'll never have to be on the front line.

Anyway, you're forgiven if you don't remember who Zeke is. We last saw him six updates ago. Back then, Alm didn't have enough firepower to take on both armies. Now he probably could, but it looks like he won't have to.


New Characters

Teeta is a better healer than Silk thanks to the Physic spell, which let's her stay away from the front line. Good thing, too - her stats are pretty terrible.
Next time:



A couple of small but powerful armies wait in a bog for Celica.