Part 8: Part 1-4

We have two more dungeons to finish before the end of chapter 1.



The Forest of Woe is actually easier than the Solde Catacombs, so it's not a bad idea to do this one first. Ah well.



There aren't any tricks or puzzles to the Forest - wander around open chests, and explore every place. A few of the more valuable chests are trapped, but that's essentially it. A copy of the Icicle Edge spell can be picked up early on.



The enemies here are the same as in the dungeon in Chapter 0, with Dragon Servants as well. So nothing new here, Element Scepter Fire Storms will still blow away all enemies. Killing an enemy with a menu spell prevents you from comboing afterwards, so keep that in mind if you want to knock crystals or gems out of enemies.



Aside from Icicle Edge, the other useful treasures are a pair of Element Scepters, both booby trapped. If you've been keeping count, that's four Scepters we already have.



Also pointing out the Flare Crystal here because the chest is a bit hidden, but that's about it. Crystals will cast a corresponding menu attack spell when used as an item (in this case, Fire Storm).



There isn't much more to it, so let's skip to the dungeon boss.



OST: Confidence in the Domination





Our enemies are three Insane Yetis. To their credit, they have high health, sporting 5,200 health each. However, their attacks are weak, and the game immediately clues you in that they're weak to Fire.

You all know where this is going.



5k health means a few rounds of Fire Storms, but the fact that only the frontline Yeti can attack til we take out it out means this is barely even a battle. We could even bring Llewelyn and have our archers and Jelanda slowly snipe the two back Yetis, but roasting them with the Element Scepter is just much faster.



Lenneth and Arngrim having maxed First Aid means even the few attacks they land don't even faze us.





Burn in hell, blasphemer of souls.

At least they cough up okay experience considering the effort we put into the fight.



This is the work of an Undead. I sense a powerful force nearby. So this is causing all the snow. This is what happens when mortal creatures meddle with forces beyond their ken-

Lenneth destroys the orb thing and we're free to claim our artifacts.







The Extreme Guard is a nice gauntlet that reduces Fire damage by 50% and has a chance of counterattacking enemy attacks with fireballs. Pretty cool all-around. The Phoenix Feather auto-revives the character it's equipped to, but has a 10% chance of breaking each time. We'll keep it around for another day though.



The last dungeon is a special one. The Cave of Oblivion is a dungeon that re-appears every chapter. It can take one of four forms, with varying possible treasures and enemies.



We luck out and get fairly weak enemies. Some games can even throw monsters from Chapter 8 right at you from Chapter 1 on. The best way to deal with a hard Cave of Oblivion is to transmute Element Scepters into Tomes of Alchemy - they instantly wipe out an encounter, and you'll get gobs of experience in the process.



Vermins are the new enemy here. Aside from flying, they aren't too notable, being just slightly tougher and hitting harder than the other enemies in this chapter.



They also cough up decent experience.



The cave is fairly short, and you'll have to notice the side paths and crannies to probe for treasure. It's actually possible to manipulate the RNG so that the cave will have all its possible treasure, but we don't really need to. One of the cave formations doesn't even have any possible treasure.



We score two items on this run - a Mithril Ore and a Broken Blade. Neither are of use to us now, but the latter will be very nice later on down the road.



Let's move onto transferring our Einherjar. Belenus had a small lead at the beginning of the vote but Llewelyn soon easily overtook him. And notice he just barely meets the Hero Value after I maxed out all his traits. Darn it Llew. Well, I guess you were slightly useful in the end.

We have a few periods afterwards free, so I just run around, popping into towns and talking to NPCs.





Once you use up all your periods, Freya summons you to give you your report on how badly you screw up.

---







Hmm.

Our current situation is... If things do not improve, I'm afraid we are doomed. Do you wish to know the status of our Einherjar?



Freya is prone to exaggeration. But... yes, let's see how Llewelyn is doing.



...Huh. That's not bad. Incidentally, it's possible for Einherjar to lose battles in Asgard, and some of them might even die. Ways to help circumvent this are sending them up with high Hero values and having at least some basic equipment.

Lenneth, about your performance...

Send us warriors brave and true.

That's Freya speak for 'well, you passed I guess.' If we had sent up Belenus instead we would likely have done much better.



Freya will give us some MP during the Sacred Phase. We'll get more if she's happy - MP isn't really going to be a major problem anyway, but this will help.

The Lord Odin is pleased with you.



We get all our possible rewards from Odin, and there are some really fantastic goodies in there. The Supreme Crossbow is going to be a fantastic weapon for Lenneth, and Wait Reaction is brilliant. I'll get into it in a future update, but I'm sure many people in the thread will talk about it as well.

Lenneth, I have a request to make of you...



We need a warrior skilled in battle tactics. Send us someone with a good knowledge of artifacts.

And here's our Einherjar requirement for Chapter 2. Belenus will be able to match this fairly easily, but let's see if we can't get more Einherjar this chapter.



---



And thus begins Chapter 2. Let's see who we're going to visit, shall we?



Listen: Spiritual Concentration 4

"Arngrim did what? This is some sort of mistake!"

"Hey, let's all go together. There's no reason to go in alone. If we all go, then-"

"Dying for justice and lofty ideals is pointless!"

"You're talking about Arngrim again, eh? About him being 'special'?"

"I will not run away!"



Listen: Spiritual Concentration 5

"And what will your soul project upon this dark cave?"

"Please..."

"..Argh.."

"Please lord, do something!"

"Huff, huff..."

"My brother!"

"Please protect my brother!"

"I will live on, for my body was but a vessel."



So... where are we going first?