Part 14: Chapter XI - I shan't dare do anything to put you out

I shan’t dare do anything to put you out


- BOSS Video: Meet Wagram


Music: A Special Girl





Irina, you must bind this Remnant to yourself. You must release its power.

The white-robed mage creates a flame in the palm of his hand.

For that power will change the world. Why, it might even bring back the dead.

The flame changes to blue.




You mean…?
We’d like to see your brother again, wouldn’t we?




Put into a trance by the flame, Irina steps forward to do the mage’s bidding.




She reaches up to try and bind the Remnant Schiavona. It responds easily, turning from orange to blue and floating down to her.




Irina!




…

This seems to break her concentration, but she does not otherwise react.




Rush, they have a hostage. You must stay calm.
But –
Listen. These people are dangerous. We don’t know what they’re capable of.

David steps forward.


Music: Slipping Through Your Fingers




Well, well, if it isn’t the Marquis of Athlum.




You know of me? How fortunate. Your acts of aggression have not gone unnoticed. We know how you manipulated both the Rubber Soul and the Schiavona. And let’s not forget the kidnapping. Your actions are in violation of congressional decree, and for this you will be punished.
Both of us are men of reason, Marquis. A man of your stature surely realizes the… impracticality of certain laws. But I understand. We will withdraw if that is your wish. We shan’t dare do anything to put you out. Will that be all?

Wagram’s voice just oozes sarcasm for those last two lines. His talking about the impracticality of certain laws is almost certainly a deliberate taunt, given some things we’ll learn about David later.




No. You will release her and surrender immediately.
Do you think we won’t harm you? Just because you’re the Marquis of Athlum?
Your confidence implies you are not alone. Who is your ally? The Duke of Ghor, perhaps?




Wagram chuckles behind his fan.

By now you must be aware of the Academy’s response – or lack thereof.




You… you’re part of the Academy?
My dear Marquis. Irina is special. Her parents desperately wish for her to take part in our research.




She has finally come to understand that. We merely… got off on the wrong foot.
Liar! You’re full of it! Irina, I know you don’t want to be here. But it’s okay now. I’m here! It’s me, Rush. Your brother!
…
It’s a shame they do not share the same power. Marquis, would you be so kind as to babysit your brash young friend for the time being? Consider it a helping hand in our research.

The mage’s contempt for the Athlum group is pretty clear. He doesn’t even bother coming up with even halfway-plausible bullshit, while Irina is standing there, so obviously hypnotized that no one even has to say it.




Rush! Stand down!
No! I’m gonna go save my sister!

David restrains Rush again. Contrast this to Dillmoor – Rush immediately charged in at the first sight of Irina. Here, he didn’t even join in the conversation for some time, and if he REALLY wanted to, he could have broken free of David.

Marquis, I believe it would be in your best interest to stop your little friend. Otherwise I fear your life… may be in peril.
I find your story hard to swallow. You will come with us to Athlum to confirm this with the Academy.
You do not take my word as fact?
Well, as my acquaintance here would put it: ‘Dude, I don’t even know your name!’
I am called Wagram. So, in terms your acquaintance would understand, are we ‘cool’ now?
I’m afraid not.




Very well. Perhaps I shall convince you… by force!










Mission: Defeat the Fiery Idol!

Music: The Gates of Hell





We’re up against 5 unions of the Third Committee, plus the Fiery Idol. Wagram himself does not fight (nor does Jager).

The Fiery Idol is our first true boss. This is a pretty hard battle, because of the guest union-game-over thing. The best you can try to do is target a union close to the guest unions and hope that they attract the flank attacks instead of Rush.




Rush’s union takes some damage, and Rush’s first stroke of Bladedancer misses, so they’re still alive. David and Torgal take out their unions.




Many bosses get unique attacks. We saw that with Jager earlier and his Beatdown. The Fiery Idol has three, this is his first.






It conjures four balls of fire and flings them one at a time at the target, then conjures a fifth and flings it as well.




Rush dodges it, though.




I don’t have an option to heal targeting these guys, I guess I’m not quite damaged enough. Tthe only time the heal command pops up is if I break deadlock to attack the Firey Idol. I considered it, but I decide to keep fighting union D instead. Torgal’s union is in trouble, but he’ll just have to get out of it himself.






I killed them, but not without taking some damage.




David takes his union without further injury, but Torgal’s in much worse shape.




Even a restore only gets him up to 66% or so, and the other union is still alive, letting the Fiery Idol flank. It only does a normal attack, though. That’s good, because it has a nasty AoE special.




I opt to take on the last remaining normal squad, since even if David kills it first, the healing action will still be performed, just on the boss.






The enemy unit opts to defend. Defending damage taken by half. That seems to have been a “play it by ear” type command though, since the other two units try to attack. Torgal’s union heals and finishes them off.




Multi-Deadlock


Multi-Deadlock occurs when allied units are facing a particularly powerful enemy union. That is often (but not always) an enemy boss union. The powerful union can deadlock multiple unions at the same time. It is able to attack each union deadlocked with it. Such powerful unions require more units attacking it to flank. If it can Multi-Deadlock 3 unions, you need to hit it with 4 before you can get a flank attack (there may possibly be an exception for specific battle commands). Only enemy unions can perform a Multi-Deadlock.

This can have an advantage for the player, though: as long as one union remains deadlocked with the powerful union, other unions can disengage from the powerful union without fear of getting Raidlocked by it. This can be used to rotate squads in and out for healing, although it’s not guaranteed, as you’ll still need to get battle commands that let you disengage. It also doesn’t help against AoE attacks that hit the field, which are common for multi-deadlocking unions to have.






This is the second of the boss’s unique attacks. It spins around attacking all units in a union, then zooms up and plunges back down with its spear for another blow.




Time to go all-out.






Desperate Wail lowers morale, but does no damage. Could have been worse.




The boss is in critical health and oh it looks like Rush’s Morale is maxed out. The downside to using special arts is that since they automatically upgrade as you progress, using special arts commands means other units will miss out on chances to earn XP through fighting with their own arts and attacks. But I can’t resist.






One really cool thing about specials is that until it is cast, your union has an extremely high chance to dodge ANY attack the enemy throws at you. You will almost never get hit before the special is cast. To add insult to injury, Baulson and Oakes land their Critical Offense triggers, so Omnistrike – already boosted by Ragna-Rock’s +5 to Unique Arts, will automatically be a critical hit.

Release…




Omnistrike did 5100+ damage. Luckily for me, the boss never unleashed its third attack, Inferno Insignia, an AoE attack that does heavy damage. (Video)

Bonus Video: Inferno Insignia


Battle Rank: 6
Chains: 107
Turns: 5
Total Enemies Defeated: 14






The Evil Charm of Fire is a component that always drops from this boss. Thanks to my high kill count in the dungeon, I got a bonus one.




Wagram smirks humourlessly.

Well, well. It seems I’ve underestimated you.
The hell? You can’t kill him. He’s the goddamn Marquis of Athlum!
It makes no difference. He cannot unlock the true power of the Remnants. He is merely fuel for their fire.

Music: The Ageless Mage





Wagram starts preparing a powerful spell.

Ancient magicks bound to my call, within the void envelop all!




This doesn’t look good.




Can’t believe this…
I don’t get paid enough for this shit!






The spell cuts out.




How dare you?!
Rush, get outa here!
Irina?




Wench!

Wagram finally manages to overpower a fourteen-year-old girl, and he resumes casting the spell again.




Get back, it’s caving in!
Dammit! Irina! Let me go!
Lord David, fall back!
Irina!

And the screen fades to black as Rush and company flee the cave.





New Arts Summary

learned Bladedancer II!
learned Restorative Herb II
(Oakes) class changed to Expert Fighter!



BOSS Video: Meet Wagram
Bonus Video: Inferno Insignia

Flowers Count: 4
“Irina” Count: 9
“Rush” count: 3

Next Time: Ew, call the fashion police!