Part 33: Chapter 16b: The Dark Forest - Part 2

Last time, we wandered into a Lopto base in the middle of the Melfiye forest, on our way to liberate Lenster. Staying there is Sara, the granddaughter of Bishop Manfroy. That's about it really.





Let's do this. We've brought Olwen, Makua, Dean, Karin, Homer, Nanna, Marita, Linoan, Tina, Seram and Marty along with us. I brought Tina along so we could steal some of the hard to capture items with her thief staff, but I forgot to bring it, so we're doing things the hard way. .



First turn, I have Dean and Karin rescue Makua and Homer respectively, and fly forward. Everyone else inches forward, ever so slightly.





You see the Dark Mage who just warped to the west side of the map? He didn't cast rewarp, he stepped on a special warp tile. Warp tiles are completely indistinguishable from normal terrain, and warp any character who steps on them to a predetermined tile elsewhere on the map. This map is pretty training wheels for warp tiles, if riding a bicycle made you want to kill yourself.



And Marty is berserked. Berserk (when used by Rinecock) has a 99% chance of hitting anyone with less than 12 magic, so it's not really something you can avoid. You just have to suck it up. Or in our case, let Linoan cure it.



Next turn, we have Dean and Karin drop Homer and Makua right next to the boss. Leaf positions himself so that they can all take advantage of his Charisma. Or at least his charismatic sword. It's a pretty cool sword.

---







No...it's nothing. Rinecock, can I go out for a walk?
N-No, Lady Sara. Please... You must stay put.

I'd feel bad for the guy, I can't imagine losing the head Bishop of evil's granddaughter would go over well, if we weren't about to kill him anyways. Them's the breaks.



Sara proceeds to appear on the forest directly east of Rineck.

---



[Homer: Lv. 15, Hp: 33, Str: 2, Mgc: 11, Skl: 11, Spd: 14, Luk: 18, Def: 5, Bld: 8] You don't need strength, you need defense! You have all the cool scrolls, act like it.



Rineck doesn't do anything this turn, leaving us open to do this.





Yotsumngand still poisons us, which means two things. One, we have to deal with half our characters walking around poisoned the whole god damn map, and two, lots of free staff experience. Anyways, Rineck eats a critical.



Which is followed up by Karin taking a chunk out of his Hp, leaving Makua free to capture him.



[Makua: Lv. 2, Hp: 36, Str: 17, Mgc: 4, Skl: 20, Spd: 20, Luk: 12, Def: 14, Bld: 12] Makua continues being amazing.



Linoan heals Homer from afar, she happens to double cast, bringing him to full health.



My love for this staff is like a truck._{I'm sorry, I had to.}



That's something .



Sara steps on a warp tile, and is brought across the map. Sara's an enemy unit for the record, so she isn't in any danger.



[Homer: Lv. 16, Hp: 34, Str: 2, Mgc: 11, Skl: 12, Spd: 15, Luk: 18, Def: 5, Bld: 8]



This time it was a rewarp staff. Makua gets hit by the other Dark Mage, meaning she's poisoned for the rest of the map. .



[Homer: Lv. 17, Hp: 35, Str: 2, Mgc: 11, Skl: 13, Spd: 16, Luk: 19, Def: 6, Bld: 8] Finally, some defense.



Between Dean and Karin, we capture the Dark Mage. Not before Karin gets poisoned though. Time for the enemy phase.



Sara continues her map hopping adventure, and ends up near Leaf.



Two Dark Mages attack Makua, both miss. The fun thing about taking these screenshots is that you realize plenty of moments you almost died. A third can't attack from a range, and ends up dying by her hand.



She then gets healed from afar, and takes down another Dark Mage.

Makua: Lv. 3, Hp: 37, Str: 17, Mgc: 5, Skl: 20, Spd: 20, Luk: 12, Def: 14, Bld: 12] Magic is nice I suppose.





A movement star lets him move twice.



Karin doesn't manage to finish him though .



---





......
Who are you? Are you alone?
Hmm... So this is you...
Huh? What do you mean?
Ahaha... I knew it. All right, I'll help you.
What do I do... Where are Dorias and August when I need them...
I'm Sara. I know all about you. Your name is Leaf. You're the prince of Lenster. Your father is named Cuan. Your mother was a pretty woman named Ethlin, but she died.

Well that's not creepy at all, no siree.

! ......

You don't have to look like that. My parents are dead, too. Mama died when I still little. Papa...was killed by Grandpa because he loved Mama. It was before I was born.



......

You were calling for me. So I'm offering to help. But if you're just going to call me a nuisance, then fine!
Wait! I...I can't let you go. I need to know more about you. Will you come with us?
Well...okay. I like your voice, Leaf.
Thank you...Sara...

Appropriately enough, Seram can also talk with her.

Lady Sara!? What are you doing here?
Who are you? I don't know you.
Ah... I was once a Lopto priest, but there is no way you would know me.
Oh... But I have no need for you. I'm looking for the voice.
Voice?
A beautiful voice... It's crying out for me. It's saying, 'Help, help...'
...I see... Lady Sara, the granddaughter of Bishop Manfroy, can use the Staff of Kia...

Uh... Okay. That's relevant. (Okay, I realize while typing this that the voice is maybe supposed to be Eyvel. Because she's petrified. And Kia cures petrification. That's the only explanation I've got for that non sequitur.)

Oh... See you, Seram...

---





Sara is an incredibly powerful unit, although her durability is non-existant. Your eyes don't deceive you, she does indeed have Elite, Wrath and Prayer.



On the enemy phase, Karin kills the Dark Mage she'd previously fought with.

[Karin: Lv. 4, Hp: 36, Str: 15, Mgc: 12, Skl: 15, Spd: 20, Luk: 20, Def: 11, Bld: 9] I think that classifies as amazing. I told you back when we got Karin that she never lets me down.



There aren't any Dark Mages left, so Homer gets taxied via flier back to our main forces, and then healed by Linoan.

[Linoan: Lv. 12, Hp: 24, Str: 2, Mgc: 10, Skl: 12, Spd: 15, Luk: 15, Def: 3, Bld: 4] Meh, she can do better.



Here's the plan. We're going to sweep through the map counter clock wise, gradually capturing as many enemies as we can. Marty leads the charge. Fun fact, the forests are in fact filled with impassable thickets (the dark green forests). I'm color blind and can't really tell the difference unless I'm looking for it, which makes for some fun times. The way Marty's heading now is the only route to the Berserkers, the gap north of us is walled off by thickets.



He attacks Dean, but misses.





Marty and others keep charging onward, while Tina does some healing.



Marty successfully baits out the Berserker with the Pugi, gaining a level up for his efforts.

[Marty: Lv. 4, Hp: 55, Str: 19, Mgc: 7, Skl: 11, Spd: 18, Luk: 14, Def: 19, Bld: 20]

Capturing the Berserker is going to be a hassle, he has Wrath, and can attack at a 1-2 range because of his weapon.



Welp, that was a plan. Didn't pan out, but it was definitely a plan.



We have Marty retreat. You'll see my brilliant plan soon enough, you all will. Makua moves away from a Dark Mage reinforcement to get him off the throne. Tina levels up from healing scratch damage.

[Tina: Lv. 3, Hp: 15, Str: 0, Mgc: 3, Skl: 1, Spd: 7, Luk: 17, Def: 0, Bld: 3]



The Berserker moves out of the forests to attack Marty from a range. Where's your 20 avoid now hmmm? The Dark Mage attacks Makua but misses.



Marty could have tanked a critical, but the Berserker doesn't pass the hit check and just flat out misses.



A gamble, but not a very risky one.





Homer takes down the Berserker with a poison axe (the axe we don't care about), getting a pretty good level up.

[Homer: Lv. 18, Hp: 36, Str: 2, Mgc: 11, Skl: 14, Spd: 16, Luk: 20, Def: 6, Bld: 8]



Nanna missteps. I hate it when that happens.



Marty dodges both shots from the Master Bow.



One Dark Mage attacks Makua from afar, but the second (who just showed up), is forced to attack from melee range.

[Makua: Lv. 4, Hp: 37, Str: 18, Mgc: 5, Skl: 20, Spd: 20, Luk: 12, Def: 14, Bld: 13. Keep the good levels coming Makua. She can almost use a Steel Axe without attack speed penalty (although she doesn't have the weapon rank for it yet.)



She then captures the one who she didn't kill.





And now we have the Master Bow.





Even holding a captured enemy, Marty can still double the Berserker. We lose out on the devil axe, but it's not like I'll ever have the guts to use it anyways.



Flash forward a couple of turns. We've reached the second group of enemies. Leaf waits in range of the Hero with the Halberd, as he probably has the best chance of not killing him. Elsewhere, Makua missteps and warps to the same place as Nanna, and they both make for the main force together.



Never thought I'd see the day. He got Continue, but I'm still impressed.

[Leaf: Lv. 18, Hp: 38, Str: 10, Mgc: 1, Skl: 6, Spd: 13, Luk: 12, Def: 9, Bld: 6] That's more like the Leaf I know.



[Tina: Lv. 4, Hp: 15, Str: 0, Mgc: 4, Skl: 2, Spd: 8, Luk: 18, Def: 0, Bld: 3] Magic and Skill are the only stats I care about on Tina. More magic means more stealing, and more Skill means less missing.



Marty's going to bait out the Hero with the Wind Sword.



'Atta be.



Capturing him won't be that easy, he has 17 speed (5 of which comes from his Wind Sword), and so he'll double anyone who tries to capture him.







Oh no, Oh no.







[Marty: Lv. 5, Hp: 56, Str: 19, Mgc: 7, Skl: 11, Spd: 19, Luk: 15, Def: 19, Bld: 20]



More reinforcements.



We lose the Master Sword, even holding the captured Hero Marty can still take her out.



More reinforcements.



[Seram: Lv. 16, Hp: 30, Str: 0, Mgc: 15, Skl: 12, Spd: 15, Luk: 4, Def: 2, Bld: 4] Hooray, a decent level. So proud .



One of the reinforcements steps on a warp tile, bringing him close to our back lines.



He promptly dies.



Dean takes care of the other one.

[Dean: Lv. 5, Hp: 38, Str: 14, Mgc: 2, Skl: 14, Spd: 13, Luk: 6, Def: 13, Bld: 13] Not bad, not bad at all. Luck especially is nice.

Alright, with both Dark Mage reinforcements dead, we can move onto the next phase of our plan. We're going to keep Karin outside of the range of the Swordmaster with the Luna Manual, and have her move in and out of his range, diving bombing him and gradually whittling him down. She'll be the Ulir scroll to prevent criticals. Sara's going to heal her while she does this (Sara gets 30 exp per heal because of Elite, so she's very easy to level.)

[Sara: Lv. 8, Hp: 14, Str: 0, Mgc: 12, Skl: 13, Spd: 10, Luk: 10, Def: 0, Bld: 3] This is a very typical level for her.



Almost there...



[Karin: Lv. 5, Hp: 37, Str: 16, Mgc: 12, Skl: 15, Spd: 20, Luk: 20, Def: 11, Bld: 9]

[Sara: Lv. 9, Hp: 14, Str: 0, Mgc: 13, Skl: 14, Spd: 11, Luk: 11, Def: 1, Bld: 3] Defense! .

[Sara: Lv. 10, Hp: 15, Str: 0, Mgc: 14, Skl: 16 (+2), Spd: 12, Luk: 11, Def: 2, Bld: 4]

Not all of these were from healing Karin, she also healed some poison damage.



God damn warp tiles!



Time for the last group of enemies.



Dean and Karin can just fly in and out of their range, so we're going to capture this guy with the Silver Sword like so.



We'll do the same for the Hero with the Sleep Sword. If Dean gets hit, Karin will rescue him (as being put to sleep dismounts a unit), and carry him to safety, and then Sara will cure him with Restore.



Dean gets hit, and while repositioning everyone to cure him, Makua missteps .



[Sara: Lv. 11, Hp: 16, Str: 1, Mgc: 15, Skl: 17, Spd: 13, Luk: 12, Def: 2, Bld: 4] What I really want for her is defense, but Hp will do as well.





This time we've got it.



Next, Leaf surrenders all his weapons.



He then moves into Shanam's range.



Don't say that and then attack me! He's unarmed for god's sake.



He also gets attacked by the Sniper, but ends up fine.



---





So now you're working for Lopto, eh? You don't really care who you work for, do you?
W-Wait... I didn't want to... I ran out of cash, so I kinda had no choice...
Well, do what you want. It's none of my business.
H-Hey, wait. You're just going to leave me here? Come on, help me out. We're friends, right?
I told you to do what you want. You want to come along? Fine with me.
Yes... I'm sorry...you have my thanks.



---

And with that, Shanam joins our merry gang. I'd prefer the real thing, but what can you do?







The dancer might make it so the Sniper can kill Homer, and I don't want to take any chances, so Nanna finished him from afar.

[Nanna: Lv. 5, Hp: 32, Str: 15, Mgc: 12, Skl: 17, Spd: 20, Luk: 20, Def: 11, Bld: 8] Oh Nanna, you're so crazy.



[Sara: Lv. 12, Hp: 17, Str: 2, Mgc: 16, Skl: 18, Spd: 14, Luk: 13, Def: 2, Bld: 4]



And we're done. Well almost done.



Nanna baits him out...



Then captures him.



With that done, we start escaping from the map.



But we're not actually done yet. Before we leave, we have Leaf move onto the throne in the center of the map.

---









Leaf doesn't seem to be very good with women. I'm no Casanova, bur I don't think "Who are you?" is the right line here.

Who am I...? Have you forgotten!? I am Miranda, of Alster!
Miranda? The princess of Alster? What are you doing here...?
You didn't recognize me? Well, I'm not surprised. I look like a complete wreck. But this is all your fault, Prince Leaf!
My fault? Why?
It all started when you fled from Lenster. My father was a kind man who loved peace. He had no reason to go against the Empire... But...but...! Just because he hid you, we were caught by the Empire and attacked! My father was forced to turn me over as a hostage and lost his right to his throne...he died a miserable death. I will never forgive you, Prince! If only you hadn't come to Alster...this never would have happened...
......
...Princess Miranda, I believe you are wrong. The Empire was always plotting to take Alster. The prince was only an excuse to launch an attack. This may be rude, but your father was much too weak to be a king. He had a fine band of knights, but he refused to fight when Thracia was invaded, and neither did he come to Lenster's aid when we were in danger. And this is the result. Alster's collapse was your father's responsibility, and nobody else's!



I'm sorry, Princess Miranda... Forgive me. I never knew you were held prisoner in a place like this... I should have come more quickly.
...I was in Alster until last year. We were under constant monitoring, but I wasn't suffering thanks to Count Conomore. But then rebllion broke out in Tahra and Lenster...and in Alster as well. The Empire probably thought it safest to move me here."
I see...
Prince Leaf, if you speak the truth, then please help me! I want to reclaim Alster...and I want to avenge my father. Please take me with you!

---





I'll talk about Miranda later, the map's pretty much done.



Time to make like a tree and Leaf.

---







---

New Recruits:

Shanam:



Hp: 50% Spd: 50%
Str: 50% Lck: 50%
Mag: 5% Def: 5%
Skl: 5% Bld: 5%
Mov: 2%

Class: Swordmaster Weapon Ranks: C (Swords) Movement stars: 0 Skills: Bargain, Continue PCC: 0

Shanam can't fight worth a shit. What he can do though, is buy things at half price with his Bargain skill. So the idea behind Shanam is that you can waste a character slot in exchange for buying things at half price during that chapter. He has literally no utility beyond this.

---

Sara:



Hp: 40% Spd: 80%
Str: 0% Lck: 40%
Mag: 80% Def: 10%
Skl: 80% Bld: 5%
Mov: 3%

Class: Sister Weapon Ranks: E (Fire), E (Thunder), E (Wind), D (Light), B (Staves) Movement stars: 5 Skills: Prayer, Wrath, Elite PCC: 0

Sara is incredibly powerful. She has great growths, one of the best skill load outs in the game, 5 movement stars, a promotion to Sage (with all the typical perks), and a guaranteed A in staves upon promotion. This is all balanced by the fact that she has literally no durability. None. I saved a Life ring and a Shield ring to give her some durability, and I'm going to try and scroll abuse her in conjunction with Elite to get her some more. She also has a PCC of 0 which isn't very good, although it does let you control your damage output (weakening units without critting them is hard.)

---

Miranda:



Hp: 60% Spd: 70%
Str: 5% Lck: 35%
Mag: 70% Def: 15%
Skl: 55% Bld: 5%
Mov: 3%

Class: Mage - Mage Knight Weapon Ranks: C (Fire), E (Thunder), D (Wind) Movement stars: 0 Skills: Wrath PCC: 1

I really have to wonder why they put Miranda in the same map as Sara. Really, Miranda shouldn't be used over Sara, unless you give her the Elite Book. While Miranda does have better durability, Sara just has too many advantages over her for it to be worth using her. (You could use both, but they're very redundant. Why use two low leveled mages with Wrath?)

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Current Resets: 39 41 (Killed Rineck twice, the things I do for you people )

Next time on Thracia 776: Oh god the enemy is using strategy help me .