Part 13: Chapter 3C (2)

Clouds of intrigue and betrayal loom over Artolia's royal house, casting shadows about the land.

Soon, Artolia will be rife with battlefields. Fortune smiles upon you, Master.

...Fate scoffs at me.



What was that?





Hey that guy looks... familiar...

There prowl demons indeed.

Traveler, we are in distress. I beg of you, please help us!



Alright, we... don't have much to play with, since we only have three characters. Still, Darius and Gwendal are full-fledged party members now, so we can tweak them slightly.



We teach them both Dash, give Darius the Falchion, and Gwendal the Elemental Edge. There's no need to change any of their attacks as it is. Our main issue with the party right now is Battle Gauge rising, since we only have five attacks between three characters - we'll be reliant on Darius to knock enemies down so we can grab enough gems to raise the gauge to 100.

We also give Wylfred the Treasure Hunter since we don't have anything better.





Before we talk about the Sin quota, let's discuss the mission. Rescue missions are the third kind of missions. Basically, defeat all enemies, but if the escortee of the mission (in this case Rosea) dies, game over. This is pretty much the only kind you can fail even if you use the Plume, since the Plume doesn't make our non-party allies invincible or anything. Rosea and Duwain get their own turns separate from us and while we can heal and use items on them, we can't join in their attacks nor they ours, though they will generate Sin (but not experience or OTH) for us if they kill anything. Still, Rosea and Duwain don't need any help. Only one enemy (the Hellhound near the top) can engage them, and they will kill it by themselves in two rounds. Rosea can also Heal herself if she needs to.

In case you're wondering, I don't know what happens if Duwain dies since the enemies always seem to prefer to target Rosea instead.



Hidden items can be seen as a sparkly dot on the map. It's not worth going after the one on this map, since it's just a Frost Crystal.

Now let's talk about the Sin quota. 150 Sin minimum, 300 Sin for the best stuff, 4 enemies on the field. The problem is that there's really no way to get to the Hellhound at the top before Rosea and Duwain kill it, and they'll usually give us very little Sin. So we'll pretty much need near perfect kills for the remaining three enemies.



The first thing we do is move everyone to the left side here, to bait the Lizard Man to walk over. The other two enemies (another Hellhound and a Fire Bat) remain inactive.



Rosea has the best spell in the game, the Holy elemental Sacred Javelin. Like Frigid Damsel, it causes knockdown, but the trajectory starts from right above the enemy's head, making it impossible to miss with the move unless the opponent dodges it. Fantastic knockdown and support spell, good damage, and a 5% chance of Stun (which is basically the same as Freeze/Paralyze).



Enemy Phase, and we're introduced to one of the nastier mechanics of some of the upgraded enemies. Hellhounds have an attack that sends them flying through to the other side of their target, which can mean easy strikes from the back, fazes, and gems for them. In this case, Rosea nearly dies, which would be a swift end to our mission.



The Lizard Man moves in and attacks Darius. It hits very hard and nearly kills him. I should really get him better armour after this.




Alright, our turn again. Lizards hit very hard and have good health, but are cripplingly weak against magic.



In my father's name...





The Elemental Edge is a beautiful, beautiful thing.



Darius' Soul Crush

While not amazing on damage, Darius' Soul Crush does stand out by both raising the Hit Count generously (18 hits) and raising the Attack Gauge by 54, which is the best you can get in the main game. That's enough to fill the gauge even if Darius is the third person to use the Soul Crush, as long as you're quick with the fingers and are using at least a Trinity Fork.





I live to see another dark day...

The Lizard Man can drop one to two pairs of Safety Boots. While they're not amazing on defenses, they can be worn by anybody and allow the wearer to ignore terrain effects, like the poisonous water in the last chapter.



We're a third of the way there. We Dash Darius and Gwendal to the other end to lure the other Hellhound over. Darius even levelled up from the Lizard Man, so we don't have to heal him.



Meanwhile, Rosea heals herself...



And she and Duwain clean up.



Not great, but I guess I'll have to take what I can get. But all that potential experience! Wasted!



Alright, this is not ideal.



At last... an end to suffering..

Darius, you make Wylfred seem cheerful. I mean, oh no, Darius died! Now I have to use a Union Plume on him!

Rosea and Duwain stay put. Escorts don't move at all (except for a few exceptions), even if they could go after another enemy or are being attacked at a disadvantageous range.



Revive Darius, Dash Wylfred in...



...And get sweet, sweet revenge.





For you, Father...

Alright, just the Fire Bat left.



Now, once you approach the Fire Bat, it will become active and beeline suicidally for Rosea, since she and Duwain would kill it next turn and there's nothing you can do about it. The smart way to do it would be either to Gleipnir's Bonds it so it can't move, or move Wylfred in just before it becomes active and use Vali's Awakening so it attacks Wylfred instead.

...Now, I did not remember to do this.



Dammit



DAMMIT



DAMMIT

I had this! I was going to do it right!



...Urgh.



Right, rewards...

The bottom-tier items are Fire and Earth Talismans, nothing special. Mid-tier stuff includes the Kindling Sword, a broadsword with 90 ATK, 30% Fire Element, 2 attacks and SC enabled. It's nice but with Darius in the party the Elemental Edge is pretty much better. The other reward is the Expert's Experience - a single use item that grants 30,000 experience to the target non-Guest member. It's a pretty nice bonus, and we can either just chuck it onto Wylfred now or wait to use it to bring an underleveled member up to par.

The top-tier rewards we missed out are two copies of Regneration (50 AP cost, restores 5% of maximum HP for 5 rounds), a copy of Transposition (switches the target enemy's position with the user, handy to set up sieges with), and the Mithril Helm, a nice helm with more RDM than the Rune Helm but less RST and MAG. The latter would have been nice to have but they're not absolutely crucial, so I guess I can afford not getting this set.

---



...

Pay it no mind. Any passerby would do the same.

So abruptly you depart? I pray the gentleman accept the humble courtesies of we so deeply in his debt.

...

Though I must say Duwain, your reticence hardly inspires civility. Would you not care to speak your mind?



Forgive my asking, but I am curious as to how you acquired it.

That sword is the bequest of my late father, and with it shall he be redeemed.

You seek to avenge him?

It is the sole reason I roam these lands.

My... my condolences...

What's come over you Duwain? You look as though you've seen Death itself!



How could you know that?

Forgive me! I-I beg of you!



Halt! Where do you run?

How did he know my father's name?

Alas, I cannot say. Duwain was, at one time, a gallant hero.

That is, until war cost him both his beloved wife and his dearest friend, leaving him to grieve alone.

What is worse, the circumstances of his friend's death racked Duwain with a horrible guilt.

"Oh, is that all? Welcome to the club."

I convinced myself he had overcome the demons of his past, only to find now that they still haunt him.



Nevertheless, I would be remiss if I did not offer you at least this small token of appreciation for rescuing us.

Meat and bread. What man could refuse?

I pass them along to you as I received them this morning - in gratitude.

In whose grace were you?



But we are only two, and the swelling hordes of monsters strike Artolian villages more each passing day.

What will you do for food?



Very well. Tell me, where will you go now?

People speak of a village ahead massacred at the hands of the undead this past night.

Duwain is aware of it as well, so I expect I should find him there.

Allow me to accompany you.

Truly?

These roads are no place for a lady to travel helpless and alone.

---

Before we end the update, let's look at Rosea, who's joined us as a Guest, since I'm sure some of you will want to be talking about that.




Rosea is pretty much the best Guest. She starts off at a solid level (she's the same level as Wylfred right now, actually), she has a good weapon (the Votive Crosier is better than the Infinity Rod), and her equipment even gives her a 10% resistance to Lightning, because why not.



As mentioned earlier, Rosea uses the best spell, Sacred Javelin. It's gold for knocking down enemies, so if we had more than four party members we could reasonably stop using Darius if we really wanted. Rosea also has Soul Crush enabled so she can contribute there as well.



As one might expect, Rosea has a solid defensive set of spells as well. Aside from Heal and Guard Reinforce, Rosea also has Normalize, which heals status effects for 40 AP, and Invoke Feather, a revival spell that costs a hefty 50 AP. Union Plumes are usually the better option if you can spare the cash, so we'll mostly only be using Heal and Normalize from her set, possibly Guard Reinforce or Sacred Javelin as a menu spell.

Next time: monsters! Fighting! More backstory!