Part 16

Having liberated Polca from their invaders, we find the mayor cowering in his house...


Do... don't kill me! Please, take him!

The mayor is enough of coward to sell out the wounded boy. Charming.



What's he talking about?
I don't know... What a loon! C'mon, mayor. We're alive!
What?! Er... I really regret all of this. Suddenly, the devils appeared. We had no power to resist them. They promised they would do nothing if we gave Oddler to them.
And you sent ME in Oddler's place?!
I'm sorry, please don't tell King Bedoe!
Alright, I won't... If you prepare a raft for Nigel.
Oh, thank you! A raft will be waiting for you on the river. Why don't you take a look at it right now?
He wants to get rid of us.
You're right. Anyway, we have a raft now. Let's go!



As we leave, the Mayor stops us.


Please take this boy with you.
You lazy human! You don't want to take care of him!
I... er...



Does the Shining Force look like a babysitting service? Hell, no.

I agree. Our journey will be too difficult on him, as he is blind. Mayor, we can't take him. We're sorry.
But...

We continue on before the mayor can whine at us some more. However, as we reach the edge of town...


Please, let me go with you!



What part of no didn't you understand?

Huh?



He trips over his own feet while coming closer to us. Blind and clumsy? God hates you, kid.

Watch out! Be careful.
Yes, I will... As long as I'm here the devils will return. Maybe Nigel is strong enough to resist them?
But, you may be injured!
Well, I think he should come with us. If we left him here, he could be killed. It's too dangerous, isn't it, Nigel?
He needs a guardian. I'll take care of him.



Fine, we'll drag the brat along if it'll get everyone to shut up.

Thank you very much. I'm Oddler. I was nearly dead when I came here. Actually, I don't remember... I don't know the reason why the devils are after me. I'm afraid I'll cause you a lot of trouble.

Then go away!



It sounds like Harvey is going with us.
I am. I want to fight with Nigel. This might be exciting!
I didn't know you were such an adventurer!

Harvey joins up. He's not exactly a powerhouse, but he's strong enough to make himself useful in the upcoming fights.



We are waterborne once again. If we've learned anything, we know this will not end well.





As we follow the river south, we emerge from the aquatic cave near Ribble.

While are two different new places I can go to right now, the game hasn't really told me to go one of them yet. I'll go to the more "natural" first destination first, the town of Hassan. This way you'll get to see me suffer more.



Having come a ways south and a little west of Ribble, we lay eyes on the town of Hassan. However, as we come to the fork in the river...


Did the water stop flowing? What's happening?
Wow! What's that?



OH FUCK



Battle #14: Tentacle Rape



The Kraken is looking to use its 8 legs and 2 arms to invade our precious orifices.



To make things worse, we don't have much room to work with.

To put things into perspective, the Kraken fight is basically Shining Force 2 kicking you in the balls to see if you're still paying attention. It's a massive spike in difficulty from what the game throws at you before it.





I position Wolfy to draw the first leg in.



The bait works.



But that's still a really nasty hit.




Er, I was hoping to do a little more damage than that...




Harvey has really lousy defense. It's made worse by the fact that flying units don't get any land effect defense bonuses.



Finally, Cherry finishes off the first leg.



Ashley will have her work cut out for her this time.



Wolfy lures a second one in!




However, this time he gets a little payback. Counter attacks only seem to do about 60-80% of a unit's usual damage.




HOLY SHIT! Enemy crit. Our first death this battle. Believe me, it won't be the last.



Knox swoops in to finish the second one off, earning level 15.



I move Harvey in to act as cover for Wolfy.



The Kraken's arms can reach two squares away to attack.



And they hit even harder than legs.




Whoops. At least she survives it.




Even Nigel has a hard time taking kraken limbs out quickly.



Shaggy blasts the arm but...




He falls to a critical strike soon after.



Thankfully, I'm able to get Ashley to safety. She heals Samwise.



Another one of the legs falls to Wolfy.



And Nigel finishes off the first arm.



Harvey is able to get a kill.




Oh, snap. Ron goes down.



Another kill for Nigel.




Surprisingly, Harvey is able to avoid death this turn.




However, Byron isn't so lucky.




Samwise goes down to yet another enemy critical hit.




And Harvey falls to strike from the remaining arm.



Wolfy takes out another arm, but at this point, it probably doesn't matter.



The Kraken has an attack reach of 3 spaces, and it has Nigel in its sights.




Fortunately, its breath attack isn't that bad.



Everything else is put on hold, now the only priority is to attempt to kill the head.

Or it would have been if not for...









Edit: The Kraken Falls - Video Update! - Watch it for a more favorable result. Available in both Google and Dailymotion (Part 1 Part 2) flavors.