Part 43: BF38 – Inside Ishnad

The Royal Army's plan to take the floodgates was jeopardized when Milanor encountered Zilva's Special Forces on the mountain road, but with Kylier's help, they managed to defeat their enemy. The three proceeded onward, unbeknownst to the Imperial Army.

As expected, the Fortress of Ishnad saw several casualties from the flooding and couldn't prevent the Royal Army from entering the castle through the destroyed south wall.

Despite the losses, Baldus, the God of War, persevered through the flooding and confusion to regroup his defensive formation.

Eudy's sorcery unit, which survived the disaster from their castle perch, moved the cannon inside the fortress to prepare for the Royal Army's attack.







Look! The castle wall...

Princess, they must have succeeded! We must attack before the enemy recovers!

You're right. Let's join up with Milanor and Elena.





As we can see, half of the visible map is Fort. Once we get inside the keep, all of the terrain is Fort as well. Beside offering a huge defensive boost to everyone, Yggdra will reap the benefit of Fort . This, plus some of the enemy formations, makes the level a great candidate for Yggdra winning MVP – which is what I'll aim for.



Since Yggdra's doing most of the work, let's really push her stats up. With the Alchemy Glass, she'll gain a massive amount of Exp per encounter.



Durant's only low stat is his Luk at the moment, so we'll give him this Kalinka Berry. It increases a random stat, so if it's not Luk I'm resetting and trying again. We'll find out on the first turn, anyways.



Nietzsche has to come for item duty, and you kinda need this Glass Bottle equipped for the most benefit. She won't see any combat, so that's ok.



This and next level take place mainly on Forts, and we face some serious defenders. The Rainbow Arc will let Elena cut through their morale like butter.

Milanor and Kylier are coming of course, and they're both equipped. Rosary will take up the final slot, but only because she still has the Warp Shoes equipped. This map also has a warp-exclusive item, and it's not a bad one.

Yggdra will take a medallion, raising her morale to about 6000. It's probably unnecessary at the moment, but with Yggdra doing a lot of work, and Baldus on the map, it's not a bad idea.



Yeah, I'd say that went pretty well. Let's get back to the main group and kick some tail!



To finish this section of the map, we need it so that all of our characters are adjacent to at least one other, so that they're one large group. The only thing in our way right now are these Valkyries, severely demoralized from the flood.



When night falls this conspicuous island has an item.



I shall try eating it.





There we go, 4 Luk.



And Yggdra ruins these Valkyries.



Next turn just involves moving the army up. That lone water tile beside Yggdra has an item available for Nietzsche, but only at night. If you equip the Mermaid Fin and allow someone else the ability to swim, they won't be able to find it – Nietzsche only.



Ooh! This little fishy looks all slimy... and really tasty!

This item is available regardless of whether you have the glass bottle equipped.



How... scientific.

And Rosary collects her loot. We take care to warp her off the island during the same turn, so she's not stuck.

During the next day, we bring everyone together.





How's everyone here? You guys must be bushed.

We're fine. It's good to see you return safely.

All thanks to Elena! So what's the enemy up to now?

The rush of water devastated them and their fortress. Baldus has been quick to adapt to the situation, however.

Well, we'll never get a better chance to attack. Let's go!



Th-This is awful! Are all the soldiers here dead!?

General Emelia, what should be do?

We hafta protect the town of Ish! Everyone there is in danger!



Yes, Magister Eudy!

We don't have anything do worry about from the cannon right now, until we defeat Emelia and approach the main Keep.



And this Victory condition is a little misleading. It starts off that we need to defeat everyone, but that's not all.

They've regrouped pretty well, considering... We'll never get the drop on them at this rate.

Even so, their strength must have been severely reduced.



Emelia's in good shape again, but really can't compete with Yggdra, Milanor or Elena.

After preparing an attack, I move Nietzsche out of the water. Since the Glass Bottle is equipped, this triggers a new item.


Ooh, a dozeu!



If we skip this part, and just keep the Dozeu, it dies at the end of the level, and gives us a different item.





Emelia will survive this with about 3000 morale. The other three Griffons don't. Elena moves to the side, so that she's not a solo-target on Emelia's turn.



With Milanor as the most inviting target, the Griffon tries to attack him. It goes poorly for her.







And with that, Milanor defeats Emelia, forcing her to retreat. All the enemies are defeated, but no victory...



Elena uses some extra movement to wait by the Keep's door. Milanor will claim Emelia's dropped item, which is currently hiding the town of Ish.







No... The people are still here...!

General Baldus! The Royal Army has entered the town of Ish...

So the walls have been breached... Hurry! Open the Gates of Carnage.

Seriously, though, how can you trust an empire that uses that as an otherwise mundane doorway. Metal as fuck, but that only counts for so much.

B-But if we do that...

I will not abandon those who have yet to evacuate! How long do you think they'll last without us? A nation is nothing without its people! Open the gates!

Yes, Sir!



Hey, check it out! The gates are open! Now's our chance!

Everyone, make for the gates!



Yggdra charges forward with Crusade. Although not necessary, Elena is providing some backup. She'll move out of the union before the end of the turn. If anything survives to counterattack, Crusade will deal with them.

We're now in the cannon range, but during night we have nothing to worry about.



The two Fencers and the Golem are eliminated, and Baldus takes a bit of a beating. Before I forget, let's take a look at him and Eudy.



Not at all bad. His Grand Cross gives him full elemental immunity, so it's something to watch for with Yggdra and Elena.



Eudy's not very threatening. Her 5 Tec is barely high enough to break our party's Gen, and the Gauge = Max ability does nothing for the AI.



Before the end of the turn, Elena claims the 6th Dud.

Baldus does not counterattack, and Eudy stays put at the cannon.



Milanor runs up to join the group, using Steal. Taking the Grand Cross will help us quite a bit.





And in the process, he takes another huge chunk out of Baldus.

The Golem falls, but the two Undines barely stay in this. Afterwards, Milanor moves out of the union. I don't want him finishing off Baldus quite yet. Yggdra should be able to beat him, but close enough to not drop him to 0.



Baldus attacks, and Yggdra finishes off the two Undines.



She takes a slight loss to Baldus, though, but takes a paltry 600 damage.



Well worth it to get her second level up.



Fire! Whee hee heee!

Of course we're in Eudy's range now. At a few hundred points of damage to Yggdra, Milanor, and Elena, I'm not too worried. The west side of the keep is safe, but we need to get to Eudy still, so need to weather a few shots.



Elena's Rainbow Arc cuts through the first Witch, while Yggdra and Milanor double-team the second. Eudy doesn't move, so we're in no danger of a counterattack. She hits everyone with her cannon for a second round, though.



Night falls, and Elena goes straight for Eudy with Bloody Claw. Let's see how this goes.



Damn, 164% damage, and ignores GEO. 5500 morale gone.



Milanor finishes her off.





They removed the fuse...?

With Eudy out of the way, Elena can snag the seventh and final cannonball dud. Time to deal with Baldus.



Elena will lead the attack, since she's near a level up.

We're using the rarely used Fortune card, here. While activated, units fight with their Luk stat, instead of Atk. With 6 Atk and 6 Luk, it won't change Elena a bit. Baldus, with 4 Atk and 2 Luk, though, will drop to half power.



6 Atk vs 4 Atk, and Baldus has the weapon advantage. Elena will win due to her lead, but take losses.











6 vs 2, though, and that's a different story.





Have we made it through?

The enemy is on the run! Man, they were tough...

Once we're through this town, the way to Bronquia is clear. Our foes fall further back as they sustain more injuries. Princess... this is our chance to pursue them all the way.

We will advance! In the name of the Holy Sword!



I didn't actually want Luk, since Yggdra would've been close to maxing it anyways. Tec's her low stat, but this still maxes out Luk regardless. I'll take it.


Loot


Bottled Dozeu: Elena's the only one that needs the Gen, but she can't eat this. Oh well. If it dies, it can provide a random stat up, I believe, but only the “Iron Stomachs” can handle it – Milanor, Nietzsche, and Cruz. None of them need stats either.


Bead Bracelet: Emelia has such shitty loot. 1 map.


Formular: There are two end-game staves for Rosary and Pamela, and this is the lesser of the two. Gauge = MAX means they always start with a full skill gauge, but by this time their 5 or 6 Tec will do pretty much that anyways, most of the time. Still, a decent item. 1 map.


Grand Cross: A pretty good item on paper, especially considering the amount of Fire and Holy damage in the levels fighting Gulcasa, but I can't seem to get much use of it. Milanor will focus on offensive items, and Durant will get some fairly special items I want to show off. Russell can use it, if that's your thing, but he has some neat offensive toys too. 3 maps.


Snipe Glass: Tec UP, 1 Map, 1on1=win. I dig it.



Holey Dud and Damp Dud: That's all of them, and we only have a few levels to go to offload all of these damn things.

Notes

This level can be a little painful, especially if you're not confident in attacking Baldus/Eudy with a small group. It takes a lot of movement to get from the west, to the north, so you may only be able to bring 3 or 4 members. You don't get your cards replenished after defeating Emelia, so while you may want to just nuke her with your power cards, it'll leave you weaker in the second half. You also need to worry about the +40% Geo that all the second-half enemies have, which can really slow down your advance.

Vs Emelia – Nothing too special. Your biggest concern is probably getting other characters out of the way, like Durant. Emelia herself has a 5 Tec, making Gravity Chaos threatening. Yggdra won't take Fatal Damage from it anymore, so she can be used more confidently.

Vs Eudy – Eudy is entirely optional, here. Her Formular can be nice, as can the dud behind her, but if you think you may have issues you can avoid her. A decent Elena should have little trouble taking out all the Witches solo, but that will probably take your offensive action, as well as some powerful cards. Either that, or steal from her, and run Durant or a mounted unit to get the dud. You can brute force Baldus's item with his 2 Luk if you need to. If you do take her out, though, the cannon stops firing.

Vs Baldus – Yggdra can match him with her Fort , and Elena can put up a fight during the Night. Milanor and Kylier remain the obvious choices in dealing with him, though. Anyone that breaks the melee triangle, like casters or Mistel are also good choices, providing they have the stats and you don't deal elemental damage. Fortune is a good choice, provided you used it more than me, since most characters have more Luk than Baldus.

Large unions vs solo Baldus might also prove difficult, due to Ace Guard. If he gets it off, which he probably will during clash 2, subsequent attacks will deal 0 damage on your charge / counter, while he's free to do either at full strength. In this case, try to have a card that will tip the scale in your favour, or just be strong enough to brute force him through his battle penalty. His card is weak, and you get the Fort GEO, so losses are negligible.