(I'm not sure how large posts can be on this board, hence splitting this up into multiple posts.)
When last we left our protagonists, they had just decided to abandon their duties and hie off on a wild goose chase for Marquis Elmdor. Only pure, random chance would lead to their actually finding a clue by wandering around the city of Dorter on Zalbag's tip. I'm sure nothing will happen...
Of course, to even reach Dorter, they'll have to pass:
Sweegy Woods
Holy crap! Eye gouge inflicts confusion, turn punch has a huge AoE, and bombs have reraise?! Now I see the power of the science!
Anyway, I realize I forgot to learn any black or white magic for my casters, so the PCs begin the battle by Accumulating en masse, while Delita and Algus take the immortal advice of Lieutenant Kenni. Algus teaches me about eye gouge, Delita actually manages to be effective, Algus, having been throw stone'd to semi-sanity, Charge-2's a bomb and drops it to 1 hp. We drop the black goblin by beating it down with practically the whole party and things are looking up, but charming cat is still charming and Susan turns on the party.
Ramza stones first Algus, then Susan, then dodges an eye gouge to prove himself truly opposed to mind-altering effects. Meanwhile Algus pursues a bomb, apparently desperate to trigger its re-raise.
With no healer except a single item-squire, half the party confused and the other half almost dead, surrounded by AoE and status-using enemies – yeah, this is a Total Party Kill.
Sweegy Woods REMIX
Hmm. Actual challenge in earlygame FFT? I'm liking this more all the time.
THIS time, though, I'm coming prepared: Susan and Naesala actually know spells! I expect this will make something of a difference. Rudy also picks up heal.
Everyone but Algus and Delita retreats to the corner and begins Accumulating. The monsters and NPCs charge each other – a battle whose conclusion is, sadly for A&D, foregone. Hopefully they'll buy me enough time to get strong enough for a counterattack. The NPCs would have actually accomplished something (killing the black gob) if Delita's Charge'd attack hadn't missed. >_< Instead, they just do a little damage and get slaughtered.
Ramza gets charmed and hits Susan, Rudy Heals, Susan cures. Naesala drops bolt on charming cat and a gob and the battle is joined! The bolted duo attack and Rudy is poislowed (those cats are just FULL of status effects), but Susan Heals him and he, Ramza and Naesala butcher the first pair of attackers. Enemies 2, Us 2. Not bad odds since we only lost Guests.
Unfortunately, things go from average to bad to worse in short order. Spark gives a gob re-raise but none of my people, I'm stuck in a constant loop of confuse-heal-die-wish, and eventually wish freaking MISSES and Rudy turns into a box. Mission Fail.
Mandalia Plains Random
Party Changeup!
Ramza discard his 1337 n3kk1d sk1llz to become a monk.
Rudy acquires said 1337 n3kk1d sk1llz.
Naesala takes Item instead of Basic Skill.
About this time, I realize that I actually have a ton of items to sell. So, it's back to Igros to buy what I should have bought the last time I was there.
However, on the way, a Mandalia Plains Random appeared!
I added Dawson back into the party and faced off against three chocobos and two gobs. I shuddered to think what the big yellow birds could do, considering they're one of the nastier earlygame enemies in vanilla FFT. To my surprise, they... retreat? Interesting. I wonder why the AI is using them so oddly. The gobs prove to be made of sterner stuff, and the chocobos follow their lead toward where Ramza and Susan are busily Accumulating power.
Hostilities are joined when Dawson, heretofore without sin, throws the first stone (at a gob). The gob doesn't appreciate the biblical joke, eye gouging the squire, who then proceeds to chuck a rock at Ramza, instead. Ramza forgives and tries out his Stigma Magic, which is good for what ails Dawson, and Susan cures Ramza. Rudy and Naesala cooperate to bring down one chocobo and bolt another (plus a gob); Rudy easily tanks the bolt. Knights are awesome, even without gear.
At least, so I thought. A gob drops the wounded Rudy with a back attack! But it's no match for Accumulated kung-fu Ramza, and the battle is all over but the shouting. (Actually, there is no shouting; no one knows Yell yet.)
The battle proves fortuitous, as even with it AND my sales, I barely have enough to afford a flail for Susan and Rudy's new battle gear. But, I now have an awesome tank and a healer who can fight with the best of them, as well as a few more abilities to take into Sweegy Woods.
Will it be enough...?
Sweegy Woods 3: This Time It's Personal
Ramza's patience with the guardians of Sweegy Woods wanes. (For my part, it's a blast to have to think about a battle before Dorter. Which is next. Gulp.) Now a kung-fu Accumulator, accompanied by the flailing Susan and fully prot-specced Rudy (and Naesala, who is the same as before), he leads his intrepid band into the savage wilderness once more.
The battle opens, as always, with Algus and Delita arguing, then advancing. This time, Rudy joins them, trusting in his tankiness to win through – as a result, he and Delita are able to slay the black gob. (I've seen this movie. The black gob always dies first.) Delita gets slowed and poisoned by charming cat, and Algus pulls aggro on the rest of the enemies. Algus surrounded and torn to pieces by rabid beasts; it brings a tear of joy to my eye.
Now the party reverses course, with Rudy leading the way and Naesala creeping into bolt range. Ramza and Susan continue Accumulating; their power level will soon(ish) be over 9000. Naesala and Rudy smack charming cat but can't drop it; the kitty retaliates by nailing Naesala. Ramza moves to Stigma Magic this, learning to his horror that he can't cure slow. >_< Delita goes down to a concerted attack, and Algus dies as he lived – uselessly and without dignity.
Rudy and Naesala again cooperate, this time bringing down a gob with only mild injury. Considering that I now have a numerical advantage and my two strongest hitters have yet to show their power, I'm feeling pretty good about this. Naesala, true to his namesake, betrays the spirit of peaceful cooperation he had going with Rudy and drops poison into the midst of the battlefield. Poison has meteor's AoE now? Wow. Anyway, Rudy, the surviving gob and one bomb succumb to the venomous arcana.
In a moment of kindness that would never, ever happen if there were human enemies here, Ramza Wishes Delita were back in the fray, and Susan instagibs a bomb. It immediately gets better and makes Delita worse. Hmm. I feel a certain lack of progress here. The second bomb shocks Naesala from afar, dropping him.
But Susan repeats herself, and between a thrown stone and repeated brutal beatings, Ramza finishes off the last two enemies. Victoly!
Slumming In Dorter
Before going to Dorter, I look over the party's setups. Susan can learn Esuna, which looks downright vital after the last battle. She and Rudy are fine as-is, class-wise, and there's no question that both Ramza and Rudy have been very effective in their current setups.
But.
Ramza can now be a geomancer! I've never actually had one this early, except one time when I was rushing ninja and overleveled like mad. I decide to try it out. That leaves the monk slot open, and despite the awesome knights bring now, I feel uncomfortable going without one. Rudy slides over to monk, a more natural fit for the character he's named for. We hop back to Gariland to buy some stylish leather jackets (Tunnel Snakes rule!) and then head for Dorter – and DESTINY.
My expectations of a nearly insurmountable struggle proved... not exactly accurate. Delita and Algus charge ineffectively uphill, managing to get themselves killed without dropping a single enemy. But on the ground, an Accumulated monk, geomancer and priest prove more than the enemy can handle and in short order I've even dropped the oh-so-tanky enemy knight. The archer without a weapon doesn't help the enemy cause any.
I string along the last of the archers on the roof to give me time for crystal collection. The collecting goes... okay, I guess. Nothing spectacular, but lots that's serviceable. Unfortunately, while I'm scooping up crystals (and a single, rather crappy, treasure chest), Rudy manages to get himself ventilated by the last archer! What was a cakewalk becomes a race against time as Ramza scrambles up to either kill the archer or wish Rudy weren't dead! At the last second, Ramza leaps up, pitches a stone at the archer in desperation – and knocks him off the roof. The fall deals lethal damage. Heh.
I'm blown away by how easy this was. I assume it's because Sweegy was so much harder than normal, and as a result I was both paying more attention and better geared (with both classes and items) than I would normally be without intentionally leveling up.
No one changes classes after this rout, but Ramza learns sandstorm in preparation for the Cellar of Sand Rat (“Cellar” means a rat's nest!), Naesala learns Bolt-2, Susan picks up Prot-2, and Rudy learns the Cha-Cha-Chakra (and repeating fist). We tool up (Naesala dons a linen robe, Ramza gets the iron sword, Delita actually gets some new gear, and we start to acquire booties of battle).
Sand Rat Cellar
Ramza and Naesala join Delita on the right flank, Rudy and Susan accompany Algus along the left.
Considering how dangerous monks and knights are, this battle is pretty scary. Not as much as a fight against monsters, but still not one I'm confident about. A monk quickly charges Delita, only to be ambushed by Ramza and Naesala (with, admittedly, some friendly fire. Okay, a LOT of friendly fire, and by fire, I mean bolt, and by bolt, I mean bolt-2). But hey, the monk dies. On the other front, Rudy blocks the door and Susan tries out the new and improved protect-2. She defends herself, but the faithless Rudy remains unbuffed. The enemy archer manages to hit the ceiling while aiming for Algus. Dumbass.
Things don't go as well, however, once the enemy monk drops a deadly wave fist on Rudy. Grefter, enemy knight leader, emerges through the gap and gets to Naesala to avenge the perfectly aligned bolt-2 the black mage just dropped on the Death Corps force. The situation seems hopless when Susan runs out of MP and Grefter kills both Naesala and Ramza – there's no way I can kill three knights, one with Item, before time runs out. Then I remember chakra. Susan's last MP went toward raising Rudy (which actually WORKED, for a wonder), but the monk gives them right back – and me a real shot to win this thing.
Susan raises Ramza with her newfound MP, then Ramza wishes Naesala back to the land of the living. Back to full strength (at the admittedly considerable cost of losing a crystal to that bastard Delita ,-_-,), I'm ready to finish this. Or rather, to cruelly prolong it by killing off my guests and leaving one enemy alive while I wait for the crystals. Fortunately, Grefter has added Algus to his kill count but is now on the verge of dying himself, so I'm in a good position to do exactly that.
The PCs dispatched Delita (just before he could commit the ultimate sin of Wishing Algus were alive!), then Grefter, who was cowering in a corner after his heart-stopping duel with the aforementioned Algus. The Item knight fell soon after to an assault by Ramza, and Rudy and Naesala trapped the bow-wielding knight in a corner of the fort, unable to attack or escape. After an INCREDIBLE haul of crystals (Head Break, Weapon Guard and an item for Ramza, Spin Fist, Secret Fist and an item for Rudy) and some crappy treasures, we put the last knight out of his misery.
Another Mandalia Plains
Rather to my surprise, Ramza and co. returned to Igros without random encounters – which meant I was back in a serious cash crunch. I had to sell some currently un-used but high quality armor, gear I expected Rudy to don as early as the next battle, just to pay for an expensive axe for Ramza. Nonetheless, I felt certain this was a worthwhile purchase, considering the axe's many benefits. I also picked up some new armor, mostly for the mages (red hoods), and an all-important thunder rod for Naesala.
On the way to our first meeting with Miluda, however, a pair of gobs and a pair of charming cats ambushed us. Despite the potential mindscrew, I entered the battle with faith. As a result, we were able to defeat it!
This battle was about as unnotable as they come, save for a goblin using secret fist and saying the quote. Pretty cool to see a gob with a speaking part, although if other monsters do this it may grow passing strange.
Thieves' Fort
The battle with Miluda's band opens like most: guests vs. enemies. Delita and Algus manage to almost kill the thief who charged in to attack the former. They fall to an enemy bolt shortly thereafter, saving me the trouble of killing them, and Naesala finishes off the enemy thief one of the priests had targeted with Cure 3.
The same priestess who dropped the guests does the same to Susan, but Naesala turns about entirely fairly with a bolt of his own. Meanwhile Ramza and Miluda fight it out, and Rudy prevents a priest from raising the dead thief.
This battle turned out relatively tricky – but only because I was intent on keeping Miluda alive while I nabbed crystals. With the white mages dead, dropping the two remaining thieves proved easy enough. Miluda herself was a dangerous foe, between her usual boosts and the new knight bonus, so I ended up doing much of my damage through Naesala's poison. Eventually, after much wishing and gnashing of phoenix down, the last of the thieves gave up the ghost, we collected the crystals and Ramza finished Miluda off... for now...
