Part 20: Chapter 11x: Murder Hollace - Part 2

Last time on Thracia 776, we delved into the depths of Dandrum Forest to save some kidnapped children. General Olwen, who was somehow not aware of mass child kidnapping going on within her own army (and even within the fortress she was garrisoned in), discovered the child hunting after being locked up by the dastardly Kempf, and seems to be in a prime mental state for recruitment. Meanwhile, Kempf has told his soldiers to go die attacking us, and to kill the prisoners while they're at it. Pleasant guy.

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Here's us. Yet again, we've got ourselves another fog of war dungeon with NPCs to save. Fuck this map. You'll see.



First up, the newly powerful Marty cuts his teeth by axing a soldier to death.





We've got a decent shot of our little corner of the map here. We're forced through a narrow corridor here, with mages and archers attacking us from inaccessible corridors on each side.



Alright Ronan, show us what you've got.



...I'm actually impressed. Maybe there's hope for you yet.





Oh hey that's nice. We are totally in a position to stop this guy from killing her. This is fair.



Marty and Havan proved quite agile and avoid damage from the enemies to their sides. Dashin was probably a poor choice for this map, the mages could potentially double him, which would be bad for obvious reasons. He can't really make it through the wringer.

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Oh phew, this is going to make saving Olwen a lot easier. Not easy, but easier.

Fred? He came... Fred! I'm in here! There are children with me! But be careful of Kempf's troops!

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Fred tries to make his way to Olwen, but gets blocked by some random guards. You see, when I said Fred showing up would make saving Olwen easier, I didn't mean it would be easy. It's not hard either though. The simple fact of the matter is that Olwen can get attacked enough times to die before Fred can make it to the guy attacking her. Simple as that. The game has a built in chance of forcing you to reset, just as a sort of a fuck you for trying from the fine folks at Intsys. I'm a little bitter





God damn, that was a 98! That shouldn't happen.

We don't have much else to do on our phase, so we let the enemies do their things.



[Marty: Lv. 19, Hp: 52, Str: 16, Mgc: 5, Skl: 6, Spd: 12, Luk: 13, Def:15, Bld: 20] Marty tops off his exp from dodging and gets an unsurprising level.





Damn, that's not good.



Both soldiers seen here survive, although a third dies.



Havan takes some damage this time. Nothing catastrophic, but worth healing anyways.



Fred takes down one of the weakened soldiers from afar. None of them are really a threat, javelins and whatnot.



Almost there.



Oh for fucks sake. Marty tries to attack the next soldier guarding the corridor, but misses again.



With nothing better to do, Havan heals.



And here's what we brought Ronan for. He drinks a Holy Water, and prepares to farm some mages for exp. He's going to get a lot of level ups this map, so forgive me if I skip out on showing all of them.



He just so happens to get a movement star, letting him get a start on his mage killing. Safy does her part in this whole shindig.

[Safy: Lv. 11, Hp: 16, Str: 2, Mgc: 10, Skl: 8, Spd: 10, Luk: 9, Def: 0, Bld: 3]



And he's dead.



Good, Olwen lives to potentially die another day.



The second soldier (the one not trying to kill Olwen), tries to kill himself on Fred but fails.



Oh joy, healers. The soldier Marty should have killed gets psychiced from a distance.



Thankfully, he doesn't miss this time.



Neither does Havan.





Damn it, Olwen isn't safe yet.



This is the soldier who isn't trying to kill Olwen, unfortunately.



A random armor comes out of nowhere and tries for Havan's life. Predictably, he fails.



[Havan: Lv. 15, Hp: 37, Str: 13, Mgc: 2, Skl: 10, Spd: 13, Luk: 6, Def: 9, Bld: 16] That's... and odd level. Not bad, but odd.



Damn it, let me kill the guy.



Good.



Havan and Marty continue on their journey through the doom hallway.





Are you joking? Another miss? I swear to god Marty, just because you're supposed to have bad stats doesn't mean you have to act like you do.



Now this is unfortunate. Not for me, but for making an entertaining LP. Normally, if he hadn't chosen to heal this guy instead, the psychic user on the map (also the boss), would have attacked Fred with bolting. The way the map is set up, if you want to attack the guy who's attacking Olwen, you have to put yourself in range of the bolting. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, Fred can shrug off a bolting or two, but bolting has a non-insignificant critical chance. Nothing quite like saving Olwen only to be taken out with a bolting from nowhere.



The psychic was a complete waste of time too.



Ugh where did these guys come from?



Not that it matters, because neither stands a chance against Havan.



Oh yeah, Ronan's still doing his thing.



Hey guys, guess what time it is?





Up until now, you may have thought Marty was just an entertaining gimmick.



You may have thought that even with the scrolls he was nothing more than a situational character. Nothing more than a slow and inaccurate tank (who would stay that way unless we kept scroll abusing him)



I'm here to tell you...



You were wrong. It's time for the Marty Party.





Havan's got a Sety scroll, to help him protect against criticals. Marty has higher magic and health, so Havan's the target of Oltof's wrath.



Now, you might have thought that since Fred has a door key, he should use it to spring Olwen and the children. Don't do this. Whatever you do, don't. Although you may believe that since Oltof doesn't attack Olwen, even though she's obviously in his range, he won't attack her at all. This isn't true, he just waits until you've opened the door. Or... you could not realize there's a siege tome user (because he healed instead of attacking Fred), and decide to free them. Only for the children to be murdered from afar by thunder. What I'm saying is, don't free the children. Be a jerk.



Instead, do this.





Oh boy



So yeah, that would have killed her. And unless you keep a character guarding the door (and thus in critical snipe range), they'll probably get the chance. (Although I could have gotten there faster if Marty hadn't been so unlucky with his misses near the beginning.) You may have noticed three died, Fred did the honors.







One shot. 1 percent chance of hitting for no damage. That's the way Marty parties.



Havan takes priority over Fred in Oltof's bolting AI, so Fred is safe to guard the door and kill soldiers. Multitasking

[Fred: Lv. 3, Hp: 33, Str: 10, Mgc: 5, Skl: 11, Spd: 9, Luk: 4, Def: 8, Bld: 11]

He also gets a surprisingly good level from it.







Marty takes the Sety scroll from Havan, he's going to take over bolting bait duty from Havan. Also, god damn look at those numbers. Marty is a murder machine... Well that's sentence I didn't think I'd be typing at the start of this LP.



Havan's going to go hang out with Fred over here.



8 damage. 8.



Oh my.







Two survive because they attack Havan from a distance. Clever guys.



You can't escape death, you can only put it off for a while.



Next turn comes around without incident, and Havan takes down the second as well.





Oh hey more. Take care of them, would you Havan? (Also as a side not, imagine if you had broken the children out of jail recently. It would be a nightmare)





[Havan: Lv. 16, Hp: 38, Str: 13, Mgc: 2, Skl: 10, Spd: 13, Luk: 7, Def: 9, Bld: 16]



Yet again two survive. Can't say I envy them.



Marty's still doing his thing, providing some great shots of meteor on top of being awesome.





How the hell did he dodge that?





Ronan's finally cleared the wringer of enemies (he moved up to the top to make sure.)



Seriously, where was this armor hiding?



Oh lord, run Ronan, you can't take him yet





Dashin's going to help .











Empty level!

Oltof is out of siege weapons, so we can start tying up lose ends. First, some more experience for Ronan.



Three archers die by his hand.





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Lady Olwen!
Thank you, Fred...
Thank goodness you're all right. Let's escape... ...Is something wrong? You look pale...
Fred... What have we been fighting for all this time?
Lady Olwen...?
What have I been doing? Helping the Empire snatch innocent children away from their families? Or helping them send the children to Barhara to be sacrificed?
Lady Olwen...
I... I never had any hesitations about my job until now. I thought that I would always be doing the right thing just as long as I was following my brother. But now... Now, I don't know any more! I can't believe in anything! What should I do...?
...What I can say is that your place is no longer in the Empire.



I know Prince Leaf personally. Our ideals are much closer to his than the Empire's. Let's go, Lady Olwen. We can find what you have lost sight of in his army!
...All right... Let's go.

Olwen joins us.

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Fred and Havan are going to escort the children to freedom.

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Hmph, I'm not following an order that I know will lead to my death. I have something to report to the commander. I must go see him.



......

This happens if you take too long. All you lose out on is a chance to take his stuff, which was already broken anyways.

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Marty, Ronan, Leaf and Dashin are going to take down the last wave of enemies.



First, Ronan will bait them out.



He misses, thankfully.



Mathmagics! The mages have wind tomes that we'd much rather catch then send to mage's graves.



This one was just luck.



That's one.









And after the enemy phase it becomes two.



Whatever do I have planned here?

The armor is going to attack Ronan, Ronan's going to dodge, and after some time, Roman's going to hit level 18. Around level 12 the armor decided he wasn't my puppet and tried to kill himself on Dashin, but he failed and everyone but Ronan moved out of his range, leaving him no choice but to attack Ronan. Eventually, I got sick of healing Ronan (he got hit every once in a while) and have Dashin and Marty work together to capture the armor.

[Dashin: Lv. 11, Hp: 34, Str: 11, Mgc: 0, Skl: 4, Spd: 2, Luk: 4, Def: 14, Bld: 5] Way to stay relevant Dashin

Now, time for Ronan.



He's got a lot of strength, but his magic is a little lower than it should be and oh god this LP is destroying everything I thought I knew about this game. Unlike Marty, who became a god with scrolls, Ronan's never going to be any more than good.

Before we seize the throne and finish the map, Olwen and Leaf can chat.

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And you are?
I am this army's leader. ...Leaf.
Leaf? The prince of Lenster? I... I am Olwen, a Mage Knight of Freege.
Freege? Then why did you...
Where should I start... Actually...I'm a little confused since so much has happened so quickly... Prince Leaf, would it be all right if I stayed with your army for a while? Until I get things straight...
I don't mind... But I'll have to talk to Dorias and August about it first. Could you wait until the end of the battle?
Yes. I'm sorry for being a burden.

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Alright, let's finish this trial of a map.

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If they let Tahra go, other areas will begin to rebel as well. They have gathered legions from all over just to crush one city, to show the people what happens to rebels. There are even rumors that the Gelpritter has been summoned from the Imperial capital.
Gelpritter... The Freege family's personal guards.
Yes, they are a group of Mage Knights centering around elites of the Freege family. They are one of the strongest armies on the continent. Their leader is Queen Ishtar, feared by many as the Thunder Goddess.

Oh god, please not Ishtar, anybody but Ishtar



Oh August, you're all right with me.

You know nothing of reality.
What did you say? What don't I know, August?
Rinehart is Queen Ishtar's first guard. Ishtar is Prince Yurius' lover. And Yurius is said to be an incarnation of the dark god, Lopto. They are all servants of Lopto... They are leading this world to destruction.



Olwen... I am Rinehart's sister...
I allowed her into our army.
I see. Very well... Then open your eyes and look carefully. See for yourself what the Empire really is...

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New Recruits:

Fred:



Hp: 75% Spd: 35%
Str: 60% Lck: 25%
Mag: 15% Def: 35%
Skl: 40% Bld: 25%
Mov: 1%

Class: Paladin Weapon Ranks: A (Swords), C (Lances) Movement stars: 0 Skills: None PCC: 1

Fred is pretty much the quintessential pre-premote. He's got low bases, middle of the road growths, and not much else. He's plenty usable if you need a low effort character, but he'll never be fantastic. Just compare him to Carion, who's better in every way despite having not even promoted to Paladin yet.

Olwen:



Hp: 50% Spd: 50%
Str: 40% Lck: 70%
Mag: 45% Def: 15%
Skl: 55% Bld: 10%
Mov: 1%

Class: Mage Knight Weapon Ranks: C (Swords), D (Fire), B (Thunder), D (Wind) Movement stars: 1 Skills: None PCC: 4

You know that classic Simpsons gag, where Homer's buying the evil Krusty doll and every time the shopkeep gives him new information he goes back and forth between "that's good" and "that's bad"? Olwen is kind of like the Fire Emblem character manifestation of this joke. Her growths are good (that's good), but her bases are low, and her durability will always be terrible (that's bad). However, she gets to use the incredibly powerful Daim Thunder tome, which has 15 mt, 10 crt, as well as the 2 consecutive hit Brave weapon effect. On top of this, she gets a unique sword later down the line, which has 17mt, 20 crt, +10 Mag, gives Prayer skill to its wielder, is effective against horseback units, and has the brave effect (Holy shit that's good). However, Daim Thunder has a whopping 12 wt, which will tank her Attack speed and let nearly anyone double her, as build doesn't offset a tome's weight. Furthermore, even at level 20, she'll lose 4 attack speed from her special sword, and her strength is low enough that she can't use it as effectively as she could. Although, between the brave effect, 17 mt, a guaranteed crit (PCC 4), she doesn't need much strength to kill people with it. Also, her durability still sucks.(either way, that's still bad). What Olwen really wants is the ambush book we'll get soon, which lets her kill people with two Daim Thunder hits before they can attack her.

Further complicating things, is that fact that if Olwen is dead, we can recruit a different Mage Knight later in the game.

Potential Future Recruit (PFR)

Growths: Same as Olwen's.

Bases: (Olwen's stats at the same level, 8, are in the brackets)

Hp: 40 (27) Spd: 14 (13)
Str: 11 (7.4) Lck: 14 (9.2)
Mag: 9 (12.7)Def: 10 (4.9)
Skl: 13 (11.3) Bld: (5.6)

Class: Mage Knight Weapon Ranks: A (Swords), D (Fire), A (Thunder), D (Wind) Movement stars: 0 Skills: Prayer, Sunlight Sword PCC: 0

PFR is much better at the knight part of the whole Mage Knight thing than Olwen is. He's got better Strength, Defense, Hp, Luck and Build, as well as two useful innate skills to prop himself up with. His magic is lower, but melee enemies have bad magic and so he doesn't really need it, especially because of his high thunder weapon rank. His real disadvantage relative to Olwen is that he doesn't have the super weapons Olwen has, and his terrible PCC compared to hers. (Seriously 0 is bad). There isn't really a definitive answer as to the better character.

To make things even more complicated, PFR can only be recruited on one half of a branching path later in the game. As such, there's no guarantee we'll even get the chance to recruit him.

So, to simplify matters, I'm going to hold a simple vote: Do we use Olwen, yes or no?.

(To clarify the vote, if no wins she gets benched and dies if we go down PFR's path, if yes wins she gets treated like any other character.)

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Current Resets: 18 25 (Fuck this map)

Next Time on Thracia 776: Some people you may have forgotten about.