Part 22: I Ain't Afraid Of No Ghost

Backyarr posted:

Also, did the Czar just give you two pieces of the map?

Nope. (The piece he gave us was to the northeast of the Sceptre, though, not the east. Mea culpa.)

There were quite a few votes for going to Saharia, but continuing to explore Archipelia won 10-5.

I Ain't Afraid Of No Ghost



See if you can spot what makes this screenshot so ironic. Hint:  it's at the bottom of the screen. 



The only two spells we haven't found in any town so far are Lightning (which we don't need) and Raise Control (which we do). I think there's guaranteed to be at least one town selling every spell in the game, so our odds of finding one of those spells in a town from now on are pretty good.



Sadly, luck is not on our side today. Let's see who lives in the nearest castle.



Tee hee, Peasants. Nothing but the Giants should pose any serious threat.



Take a look at that armpit hair. Better still, don't.

It was after midnight. Furtive clouds stole quickly over the face of the moon, as if afraid to remain in any one place for too long. The devastated castle crested a desolate hilltop. Long moon shadows played ominously over the empty courtyards, highlighting the bleakness of the ruins. The whole countryside was dead, as were the castle's inhabitants.

In the still functional north wing of the castle, three figures sat across from one another at a table in a dimly light room. Two were Undead, and the third gesticulated wildly over a map which lay across the table. "It cannot be done at night. It is not proper to conduct a battle after dusk. We have enough forces, let us attack by daylight," pleaded the lone human in the room, Auric Whiteskin.

Auric was a bear of a man, tall, heavily muscled, and full of life. He wore his customary Whiteskin, sewn together flesh of baby lambs which he belived would protect him from disaster, disease, and other malign occurrences. He was worried, the undead do not understand the foibles of the living.

"Sounds like a real Conan the Barbarian type."

More like Onan the Barbarian. He's a bit of a wanker. He conspired with Rinaldus Drybone to start a rebellion in Saharia.



This is what Ignatia's Instant Army spell does now that she's an Archmage. Pretty good.



The signs on this continent sure do show a spirit of revolutionary fervour.

"Down with the King, up with dragons and demons, apparently."



I'm not sure what, if anything, this sign is trying to tell us. The only pirates we've run into so far are both in prison now.



Woo, more Giants! That'll save us a couple of Clone spells.



I hope these are Ghosts, so I can show you what Ghosts do and get it over with.



We're in luck!

Ghosts are a difficult and dangerous unit to use properly, and I'm about to show you why.



Ghosts cost a little more than Pikemen, but have the same HP, a higher skill level, higher damage, and higher movement. Of course, they're undead, so the rest of our army hates them.



But it's only in combat that the strengths and weaknesses of Ghosts really become clear. Let's send them off to attack those Orcs.





Every soldier killed by a Ghost becomes a Ghost. This sounds like a good thing, until your Ghosts start growing exponentially and end up out of control. There's nothing quite like attacking a stack of Peasants and suddenly staring down 800 hostile Ghosts.



"Whoops, I let our Time Stop run out and the week ended. Sorry."

Eh, it's okay, we've still got-- wait, why are there Peasants listed on our balance sheet instead of Ghosts? This is some kind of mistake, right?



NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO








If you do manage to use Ghosts effectively for a while, they have one final downside to kick you in the pants. Every time the Week of the Peasant comes around, all Ghosts in your army and all Ghosts garrisoning your castles turn into Peasants. Now that you've seen what Ghosts can do, let's not use them ever again.



Another town that sells no new spell.



And a castle with no villain. Well, there's nothing to see here, so let's move on.



All we want is a Raise Control spell! Is that so much to ask?



What the hell kind of a name is Ragface? HEY, LOOK AT ME, I'VE GOT A RAG FOR A FACE, I MUST BE LIKE RAGGEDY ANDY'S EVIL TWIN OR SOMETHING



Dressed in moldering green strips of cloth and garnished with the odor of death, Ragface, mightiest of the Undead, spoke, "At night, we have a distinct advantage. Our troops will fight better and the humans will be scared. After all, it is the Week of Demons and we wouldn't want to disappoint their superstitions."

Oh.

Ragface is basically a slightly tougher version of Rinaldus Drybone. He conspired with Rinaldus and Auric Whiteskin to start a rebellion in Saharia. As villains go, he's not very fleshed-out (pardon the pun): the game really has nothing to say about him beyond the fact that he's undead and smells bad.



There are two castles full of wandering monsters on Archipelia: we may as well clean them out while we're here.



Forgot a garrison bitch. Whoops. Well, we can easily go back and get one before Time Stop runs out.



I don't need to show you this fight; suffice it to say that it only took two rounds and we didn't lose a single unit.



There are only so many things one can say about leaving one midget to guard a castle, and I think I've already said most of them twice.



This is the last random-monster-filled castle in the game. Every castle from now on will have a villain in it.



"My only regret is that none of you are worth wasting a Fireball on."



This battle was less trivial than the last one: I had to get the Barbarians up into the top left corner to stop the Druids from shooting, while killing the Vampires and Giants with ranged attacks before they could bother us. Still, we defeated everyone with no losses on our side.



There are only so many things one can say about leaving one midget to guard a castle, and I think I've already said most of them twice.

"You've already said that twice."

That was the joke, but hey, thanks for ruining it by explaining it.



We've now mapped out all of Archipelia. I guess that means this update is at an end. Time to see Ignatia's current army and stats!



We could get a few more troops in each unit before hitting the leadership limit, but we're already strong enough that it's not really necessary... yet.



Ignatia's commission has improved slightly thanks to garrisoning those castles, and she's picked up a metric assload of gold.

The two villains remaining on this continent are Ragface and Auric Whiteskin. What'll it be, loyal retainers: or ? Alternatively, the option of skipping them for now and going straight to Saharia is still open.

"Zombies are more flammable than barbarians! Vote for Ragface!"