Part 36: Welcome To Wizard Hell (Battle)

Chapter 15: Welcome To Wizard Hell (Battle)

This map was slightly harder than I expected/remembered, but it wasn’t so bad.



Gharnef the sun is out.

Gharnef you’re in the desert. You don’t need that fireball.

: Ha ha ha… Really, do they think people have not tried before? So long as I possess this Imhullu magic, they cannot snuff my life out. No one can.

That might be important.

: As for the White Sage… He will trouble me no longer. With the dragon-goddess right where I want her, in the Fane of Raman, there is no way for Gotoh’s Starlight to disperse the shadows that guard me.

That also might be important, but it has way more Proper Nouns.




Fliers are really good on this map. Pegasus Knights also happening to have high resistance is just icing.




It is better if they hit, though. C’mon, Palla.




Thankfully we do have a (dark) Mage of our own.




He’s ready for this map in particular now.





I just kinda wanted that out of my inventory. Again, I think Maria now takes 0 Damage from any magic user here, except Gharnef.




Though it’s much less impactful than what the fliers can do, Pirates can also skip over this tiny chunk of river, saving a few turns. That might actually matter, given another element of this map we’ll see soon.




The enemies move! At least, the Dracoknights near the northeast do.




Much more importantly, so does Gharnef.




Probably unsurprisingly, we want to avoid Gharnef. That 22 Damage from Imhullu is a killer with the shit Res across the board in Shadow Dragon, and 19 Speed means he stands a pretty solid chance of doubling your units, especially slowpokes like Wolf.

Gharnef can one round kill General Wolf. Be careful.




Don’t worry, that’s not his range Cord’s sitting in. That’s a Dracoknight.




See? We’re all good.



We’re no longer good




The pressure is on now, though. A Dracoknight is supporting Gharnef’s menace here. I want to make sure he doesn’t Javelin Maria or Wendell.




To do that I made this weirdass formation that conveniently blocks off any squares within 1-2 Range of Maria.

I don’t even know if he can one round her but this looked cool so I did it.




Meanwhile this Thief picked the absolute worst time to show up.




Zap.




Recover is just a flat out full heal. Not bad.




While most of the team nervously inches away from Gharnef, Minerva, Caeda, Barst, and Marth are going to start working on the enemies on the west side of the map.




Not much to worry about from this guy.




This is unpleasant, though.




Impending Gharnef also means I don’t want to leave anyone in melee range, meaning that Dracoknight’s going to continue being a hassle for at least another turn.




Wolf and Catria still get hits in.




Formation Healer Defense is a go, again.




Obnoxiously, the range on both these mages lines up perfectly with Gharnef’s. They’ll be annoying to Julian, and if he tries to escape on the right, he’ll just run into the big man himself. It’s a rock and a hard place!





Caeda cares not for rocks.




Cord, thanks to tome users moving quick in the desert because they float or something, I dunno, manages to break right and get ready to take down another of the chaff mages.




Speaking of. I used Hauteclere here because I didn’t want her to take the 12 damage. You’ll see why.




Evidently there was something here earlier. Now there’s Barst. (It was the Bishop Minerva pulled over.)




Linde should also be able to lure over the last Dracoknight. 3 Defense is painful to look at, but Linde’s function has always been to be a tactical nuke with her Magic and Aura for that extra punch when I need it.




Here’s why I was worried about Minerva’s HP. The “boss” on the castle is going to throw bugs at her from a long distance. Extremely rude. Worth noting, fliers don’t get terrain bonuses, so this fort isn’t helping with evasion. Swarm just has naturally bad accuracy.




Cord’s still a glass cannon, even against mages, but Bolganone does work.




I have that issue with both of these guys. Linde’s more extreme with it, though.



Also shit, here he comes.




Wendell’s still got a Physic handy, at least.




There’s another Dracoknight coming for Cord, so he needed it. I’m making a mistake here I don’t realize.




Thankfully this stretch of terrain is technically plains, so Julian can escape Gharnef’s range.




The Dragoon also goes down to a lousy Thunder tome. Not wasting charges on that joker.




The one down here meets a more dignified end.




A Catria themed end.




: Caesar was wearing a silly bandana. I didn’t like it. What kind of a name is Caesar anyway?

: You can skip ahead to the part where you start moving again, it’s alri-

: How many Caesars do you know? How many bandanas do you know? Exactly. That might be a headband, actually, I’ve never been sure of the difference.




From Enemy Phase 5 onward, a new mage will spawn where Gharnef started and start running at you.




Also, more bugs, but Julian can dodge them.


Minerva did get healed by the fort, at least, that’s evidently not considered a terrain feature.




Cord also gets a good dodge off. This was a lucky turn. Sadly, this wasn’t a double because Bolganone is heavy.



Thus the Curate just heals that Dragoon back to full. Dammit.




See, this is what I should have done the first time.




Caeda also nonchalantly dispatches the “boss”. Later, generic Bishop. See you on the Normal run.




This is beginning to get uncomfortable.




After 6 turns of chasing us around, Gharnef’s thrown out his back and his widow’s peak is all agitated.


: But if it’s Falchion you want, come and take it. I shall be waiting at the Temple of Thabes.




He departs for Fantasy Egypt, I guess.




Most importantly, this means we’re finally free of Gharnef, as well as all the enemies on the west end of the map. (Except for one Curate.) Now it’s just a matter of cleaning up to get to those chests!





The first of the Gharnef Replacements reached our team. It was a mistake.




This seems like a great time to show off the Barrier Staff. It’s a niche little item, but when it’s useful, it’s really useful.




Like right here. Guess who’s nearly invincible now?




Great job as always, Wendell.



Wolf also pitches in. Maybe I should have brought Javelins that weren’t held together with chewing gum.









Turn 8 brings a more obnoxious reinforcement type along with the usual Mage, a new Dracoknight in the northeast section. This map is really full of empty space, those are the only reinforcement spawn points.









Thankfully I didn’t have anyone too squishy there. Remember that Hard Mode means reinforcements can attack as soon as they spawn!

It’s dumb!




I can’t do quite enough damage to kill the Dragoon from there, so I’ll get Caeda out. Caesar and Cain move to block.




One of the mages ran past Catria to go for Wolf. I guess it was technically a better choice.









I almost forgot about this guy.




Caesar also dispatches of our flying foe with a stylish Crit. Those Dracoknights have a lot of defense.




Worth it for that level, though.




Palla’s going to go block their spawn so I don’t have to deal with that anymore.



The only really interesting thing about the shops north of the castle is that they sell another replacement Rapier, but at this point the Rapier’s might is so low it’s lost a lot of its strength.




No more Dracoknights. No more reinforcements, actually, the Mages have finally stopped as well.

There are still two of ‘em kinda loitering on that east edge, out of the way of everyone and everything, though.




…




I do it for the experience.




That’s okay too.




Once Julian finally hauls his ass over there, the first chest has a nice reward.




That’s pretty damn good in Shadow Dragon, the game where Res is more dead than Con.




The other one has an Energy Drop. Nice, but nothing we haven’t seen before.




Only about 12 extra turns for those two chests!









It’s haunted.

: Huh? Who are you?!


: My name is Gotoh...I am speaking to you from Macedon through magic.

Oddly, a portrait for Ghostly Glowy Gotoh doesn’t seem to exist. I think they just put a filter over his normal one.

I’ll do my best.

: Gotoh? The White Sage?

: Some have used that name, yes. You must listen to me. As you suspect, Gharnef has made off with Falchion.




Evidently Gharnef and Medeus aren’t as buddy-buddy as the intro may have us believe. I don’t think any of Medeus’ lackeys actually like him.

: Gharnef knows this. And one day, he plans to conquer Dolhr and rule the entire world.

: Is Imhullu so powerful a magic, then?

: Yes. The mage who wields it cannot be killed; cannot be so much as scratched. I was the magic’s guardian once. Knowing its forbidden power could work terrible evils, I kept it close. But Gharnef, one of my two pupils- Miloah being the other- took the forbidden tome and vanished. Now you are paying for my carelessness. Forgive me. I wish to make amends by teaching you the only way to undo Imhullu’s power.

Miloah was Linde’s father, in case you forgot. Gharnef killed him. Makes sense, given that Imhullu does make him completely immune to harm, which carries over into gameplay!

: Which is…?

: It is called Starlight. One blast is enough to break through Imhullu’s shadowy protection.




I think this is the first time they say “Orbs” in this series. Hail the first Orb.

: Heed me, Marth. When you find the Lightsphere and Starsphere, bring them to me. Then I will give you the magic you seek. Then you will have Starlight, and with it, Gharnef’s reign will end.

That sounds like a good idea.




Still, Marth has unfinished business. We’ll take care of that soon.

Bonus Content



The Eldest Of The Three Pegasus Sisters, Palla

That Pegasus looks concerned.