Part 8
Leaving Galam Palace, we stop for a moment to explore the town of Galam. No rush. It's not like we're trying to stop a war or anything. Oh wait...
The weapon shop has a couple of new items. We buy a Bronze Lance for Ron and a Short Rod for Ashley.
There are also a couple of chests in the store. They both have Medical Herbs inside.
Alright, we're done here.
As we set foot outside of town, we're spotted by a unit from Galam.
How did you get past the Galam guards? No one is allowed to leave 'til we conquer Granseal!
I know... ah... but King Galam... left this behind... And you want to bring it to him? Hmmmm. I don't know...
What's going on here? They want to deliver a package to the King. To King Galam? It sounds important. But he has not rescinded his orders yet... I had better deliver it. I think we're in trouble! Hand it over. I'll deliver it to...? You!!! How did you escape from jail?!
In a surprising display of competence, the Galam soldier saw through Cluny's lies.
Well, when subtlety fails, there's always violence. And if that doesn't work, you're probably not using enough of it.
Battle #6:
Between us and Granseal are 3 Galam Soldiers, 2 Galam Mages, 2 Galam Knights, a Galam Archer, and a Dark Cleric.
Again, the first blood goes to the enemy. I was moving to shield the squishier members of the force, and it worked. Nigel was attacked instead of Shaggy or Cluny.
Ron tests his new lance out on the Galam Knight.
That'll do just fine.
The Galam Knights really seem to dislike Nigel today. Oh, well. He's tough enough to take it.
Since she couldn't get in range to heal Nigel, Ashley canes the injured knight.
Not enough damage for a kill, but hopefully enough for another purpose...
Shaggy roasts the other knight a little.
Not again...
You remember how I had Ashley injure the one knight? It was so Cluny could finish it off.
To put it politely... Cluny is fucking terrible for the time being. He can eventually become quite good, but it takes a while and quite a bit of effort.
By the end of the game, he can reach the top 5 on the force for attack power, top 3 for agility, and he'll have a respectable amount of defense. If that wasn't enough, he also gets unique versions of the Blaze and Bolt spells (Katon and Rajin, respectively) which are not effected by enemy magic resistances. Oh, and his best mithril sword also has a chance to score instant kills.
Since I'd rather not have Shaggy die again, I have Samwise use a medical herb on him.
Nigel is taking a bit of a beating, but he's not in any real danger yet.
Ron and Shaggy get rid of the incoming soldier.
Aaah! Bad touch!
Alright, now he's in serious danger.
Crap, not quite enough to finish the Knight.
Fortunately, Ashley has the next turn. She heals Nigel for 15 HP.
Cluny finishes the Knight that Nigel failed to, getting some more much-needed EXP.
Not wanting to be shown up by the weakest member of the force, Nigel responds by cutting a mage in half.
Ashley gets rid of an archer, earning level 7 and Heal 2.
Ron and Samwise deal with a soldier that got in our way as we advanced south. Samwise earned level 7.
Whoops! The Dark Priest charged Ron and took a chunk out of his remaining health.
While he can't do anything significant to armored foes, let's see if Cluny can injure an enemy mage...
Guess not. At least he earned level 6.
Nigel finishes the mage off, which brings him to level 9.
Samwise and Cluny take out the Dark Cleric.
While Ron and Shaggy eliminate the final soldier, bringing the battle to an end.
Next update: A tragic homecoming.