Part 8: Chapter VI - I'm gonna smash your faces in!
I’m gonna smash your faces in!
The union formation for Blocter’s mission is different. He’s on his own and Rush gets the other two soldiers.
Blocter
One of Athlum’s Four Generals. Covered in hardened muscle, but a big softie at heart. Sees David as a brother.
(Voiced by Dave Vincent.)
Class: Expert Fighter
Initial BR: BR 5
HP: (468)
Str / Int: (28 / 16)
Current Arts
One-Handed: Knee Splitter
Power Grip: Smash
Herbs: Restorative Herb
Hexes @ BR 33
Traps @ BR 44
Comments
Like all Yama, Blocter has substantial HP. He’s all about pounding things into a pulp. He may not have a lot of special skills, so he looks unimpressive at a glance, but there will eventually be a very good reason to have him in the active party. He learns Hexes as a token Mystic art, but it’s pretty late, and his Int stat is not likely to have improved a lot from the time you get him, so it’s probably best to disable it to keep him focused on hitting things. He gets a unique item through the main story that only he can use. You may also want to disable his Herbs after he officially joins the party to keep him from becoming a Scout. In fact, do it immediately, because if he gets much over Herbs II, he'll almost certainly end up locked into Scout.
– Dungeon Video: Gaslin Caves 
Music: Into the Depths
Gaslin Caves - Many years ago, an enormous cavern was discovered during a series of earthquakes. It still has not been fully explored.
Yeah, I know. And it’s always good to fight as many monsters as possible at the same time. Why? That sounds dangerous. The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward, that’s what I say! What do you mean? … What do you mean, “what do you mean”!? Look, just try it, okay? Let’s go! Uh… okay. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Here’s a map of the area. Now you don’t have any excuse for getting lost, awright? Now let’s get outta here!
The more monsters fought in one battle, the better the chances to earn rewards. Although there will be more risk involved, there may be unexpected rewards.
Gaslin caves is small, short, and easy. But note that boulder in front of Rush for (much) later.
Music: Flamedrop
The monsters here’re pretty weak to poundings. So long as everybody sticks to physical attacks, we’ll be in the clear. ‘Course, with me here, you’d be winning anyway! Hunh… Let’s give it a shot! Awright! Let’s move! When you direct units to do physical attacks, they’ll attack with their equipped weapon, or perform combat arts. You can learn different combat arts depending on your wield style, so try different combinations and see what happens.
Blocter wasn’t kidding about him being here making this easy. He can one-shot the Rosefly enemies here with his normal attacks (not that they’re actually tough). Of course, if he were to do that, then Rush wouldn’t learn his first combat art, and that’s the reason he’s here. So, Blocter is going to stand by and do nothing, while Rush will be using only basic normal attacks.
Sometimes enemies, such as this Manticore, are buried underground and only pop up when you get close. Needless to say, those ones are always aggressive.
I deliberately let this one run into me as part of the tutorial series. Namely, Why You Shouldn’t Do That.
-Enemy Advantage -If you are touched by a monster in the field, the following battle will be to the enemy’s advantage. This can be avoided by engaging monsters in battle yourself.
There are several reasons why this is bad. First, is that an Enemy Advantage gives the entire enemy force one free turn of attacks on your unions. Best case scenario, this means you will start out injured. Worst case you could be party-wiped before you get to move. (Save often!)
The second reason why this is bad is that getting an Enemy Advantage breaks the battle chain. Battle Chain is a running tally of defeated monsters in a dungeon. A higher chain boosts art learning and upgrading, and the EXP multiplier for other stats. It is better to engage in a fight you would rather avoid than it is to break the chain.
It’s rare, but sometimes units of an enemy union can flee a battle. Too bad YOU can’t. There’s no way for a player to flee a battle (at least not that I’ve heard of), which can be annoying.
Blocter was talking about fighting as many monsters as possible at one time. This is what he meant – it’s called linking. These two different groups of Roseflies were close enough together that I could engage both at the same time. This increases the battle difficulty, but it also improves the drops from the monsters, and the XP that goes towards stats you get from completing battles.
Each enemy on the field represents 1-3 unions, each with 1-5 units in them (usually no more than 3 units, though), so linking together three enemies on the field can have you facing up to 9 unions (although the game only lets 7 enemy unions on the field at a time). Don’t get too greedy or reckless though. As this alternate-universe shot shows:
A misjudged “stand by” command left Blocter in perfect Raidlock position. He killed his attacker, but was so wounded that the third union took him out. This didn’t happen in my recording, but I’m mentioning it for another tutorial message: -KO-A union’s HP is the sum of each member’s HP. Instead of worrying about the HP of individual units (which you can’t actually see anyway), watch that of the union instead. If the union’s HP falls to 0, then the whole union is incapacitated, and will be unable to act.
Critical Offense triggers can drastically change the course of a battle. Note the turn order before I landed this trigger.
A successful chain boosted my entire unions movements ahead of the enemy, letting Rush finish them off with a critical hit before they even get to attack.
Blocter was right about the rewards for linking being good. - BOSS Video: Slavers 
What are all these girls doing in a place like this? Oh man, could it be that? Ugh…
Whadda you think you’re doing?
So you’re that group then? The gang of thugs that’s supposed to be running around slave-trading? Slaves?!
One of the slavers makes a break for the merchandise.
Blocter’s faster than he looks, and is having none of that. Who the hell are you people? We don’t have to introduce ourselves to the likes of you! Get ready! I’m gonna smash your faces in! Rush, you want a piece too?
Oh yeah! Bring it on! Heh. Whatever. It’s your funeral! Get ready for a beatdown!
Music: Struggle Eternal
Mission: Defeat the slave traders! Blocter’s quite capable, but he actually hasn’t got the power to solo this fight without Rush’s help. There’s more than enough heads to bash for everyone, so Blocter’s off the sidelines. 
It’s you and me, then!
Blocter can’t handle being attacked by two unions all on his own, but Rush can’t really do much to help. Blocter will have to break deadlock to heal himself. Awright, bring it on!
I can’t go down like this! Rush takes his group out, and Blocter heals to full, but the Slaver boss Raidlocks Blocter, leaving him at 66% health, and then this happens.
Ugh… bloody hell!
-Rear Assault-
A Rear Assault (stop snickering, you) occurs when a deadlocked union is flanked twice, and a fourth union attacks it. I think it can also happen if you break deadlock and are attacked by a unit positioned directly behind you based on the battlefield map orientation (hey, it’s actually used for something?).
(Another possibility – I am not entirely sure about this – if a union attempts to a flank attack on a unit which is in Raidlock. (Raidlock only lasts for the duration of a turn, after which it becomes a Deadlock, and for a rear assault to take place, the Raidlocking unit has to still be alive.) )
Unions performing a Rear Assault get a Morale boost, and a higher bonus to attack than flanking unions. This is a rare occurrence, as most of the time, piling several unions onto an enemy union will kill it before you can pile on a fourth or fifth union (and the rare unions that can survive that can typically perform a Multi-(union)-Deadlock.
Blocter has to spend his turn healing himself again, but at least now Rush can take out the enemy flanking him.
Finally. 
Devil’s Due is the basic Dual wielding combat art, now Rush can do something when I tell the party to use Combat Arts. So long, basic attack!With the other slaver down, it’s just the boss. He Raidlocks Blocter again, but Blocter dodges.
Music: Sliver of Hope
Come on, let’s run ‘em down!
Without his backup, the Slaver goes from full health (approximately 1800) to dead in one turn.
Kidnapped Little Girl: I don’t know how to think you and your master, Lord Blocter, enough!
Kidnapped Little Girl: Thank you so much! I’ll never forget this!
Kidnapped Little Girl: Thank you! Finally we can go back home…
Glad to help, but have any of you seen another girl, 14 years old? Kidnapped Little Girl: Hm? No, I haven’t seen any other girls but us. I don’t think those hoodlums got anyone else…
Ugh… So from the look on yer face, I can tell you didn’t find your sis. Thinking about where we are an’ why, I dunno if that’s a good or a bad thing… Anyway, there’s no point in getting all down about it, right? C’mon, let’s head back to Athlum. - Video: Blocter and Pagus’s Report
A slave-trading syndicate, and anti-Remnant terrorists… lovely. And to think, while we were fighting beastmen, those fiends were doing as they pleased.
We are already looking into this, Lord David. You should not trouble yourself further. More importantly, we have learned of something else similarly… troubling.
Multiple sources have reported seeing a bright light flash across the sky. A flash?
Every so often, Remnants produce light. It’s called Luminescence. The light could have been luminescence from the Valeria Heart, or the Gae Bolg, reflected on the clouds. Ah, but the Valeria Heart and the Gae Bolg are bound. They have not seen a Luminescence in a long long while. Then, maybe a different Remnant? That light moved as if it possessed a mind of its own. Very different from Luminescence to be sure.
Then… a flying monster! So it would seem. Where was the light headed? Towards Dillmoor.
Fine. You four take Rush and head to Dillmoor immediately. It seems we’re up against a flying Remnant.
No way! That-that’s impossible! The Academy’s research on Remnants may be ongoing, but they have never announced a Remnant with the power of flight. No, it must be a Remnant. No other possibility makes sense. Now we’re up against a group that has its hands on an unknown Remnant. Choose your battles with discretion. Retrieving Irina is top priority.
Yes, my Lord. Don’t sweat it, Dave. We’re the good guys. We’ll definitely get Irina back!
David’s expression says it all.New Arts Summary
learned Devil’s Due ! “Academy Visistone 9-13” posted:
Dungeon Video: Gaslin Caves
BOSS Video: Slavers
Video: Blocter and Pagus’s Report
Next Time: This calamity is known as the Collapse.