The Re-Conquest of Zeteginea: Interactive Ogre Battle Dynasty

[cschex]

All I can say is, thank god for resurrection spells. Second in kills, baby.

[TonyR]

Nice to see the Griffons get some action.
Maybe now we can be more useful in future battles.

[Sublime 2]

Now that's the action i'm talkin about!!

[kingfc22]

I was rusty. Yea, that's what happened.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Rawr!

Lots of food lately. Good good! Food makes me hungry.

Great job, Leader Vince! We're bowling 'em over.

[TonyR]

Giving our fearless leader a bump.

[Vince]

Had a lot of stuff to do on my day off this week, translated to no Ogre Battle. We should be able to take on the Island Avalon before the weekend is over.

[Travis]

As assault of vibrant green forest canopy rushes by, no break in it big enough to expose any glimpse of the forest floor far below. A grouping of large hills break the landscape, rising far above the canopy we soar just above.

Swirling down the far side of the hill and rapidly into the valley beyond, a break in the forest top can be seen. Aged and crumbling pillars fight a losing battle against the encroaching forest, but there is enough of them left to recognize this for a decaying temple of some sort. This appears to be our destination as with one final stomach lurching dive, we slow down and focus on the temple, or more appropriately, the figure within.

A man kneels in the middle of the ruins. Scars criss cross the man's back and appear to wrap around his torso while the deep red pants he wears obscure any such observations of his lower body. We swing around and see him from the front, eyes closed, his face a mask of calm. His hands rest on his legs while an obviously often used and well cared after sword rests on the ground in front of him.

A figure appears behind him, moving with obvious effort to remain quiet. Pausing with a hand on one of the pillars, the person appears nervous, starting to speak and then stopping numerous times.

"Sir, it's time."

The man in red's eyes snap open, and without a word or a look his hand grasps his sword even as he starts to rise.

"Rouse the rest of the Crimson Slayers."

Needing no more encouragement, the second man is gone, and as he leaves, the smallest of smiles appears on the Samurai's face.

[Vince]

Item Draw:

First up is the Evil Blade -- it provides a bonus to Strength (+8) and Intelligence (+3). The strength bonus will be nice for one of our offensive units -- BYU 14, ardent or TonyR. ardent gets the lucky number here, and he'll somehow manage to keep his Griffon talons on the sword.

Next in the draw is the White Cape, providing +5 to Physical Defense and +13 to White Magic. Good for one of our Clerics, MrBug will take this one as Sublime already has an item.

Third up is the Elder Sign, a mystic pendant which confers an unbelievable amount of statistical goodness to one of our troops: +11 Strength, +5 Intelligence, +16 Black, +14 White. That strength bonus is too much to ignore, and the magic defense will be quite nice to one of our front-line fighters. That means that BYU 14 or TonyR are eligible for this one...and TonyR manages to score the Elder Sign. BYU's streak continues...

...but it will end here, and with a pretty nice item to boot. We have the Euros, a sword of one of the wind Gods, with a +15 Strength bonus, and a +3 Intelligence bonus. With no opposition, BYU takes down the Euros.

The Ice Scimitar confers only a +3 Strength bonus, but adds Ice damage. Since all of our offensive units have items, I'll drop it on one of our support units (probably Forrest the Lycanthrope).

The White Garb is a slight physical boost and some White boost, so I'll drop it on one of our non-FOFC Clerics.

So now that all of our physical offensive units have items, I'm going to institute a waiver claim system for new items that we acquire. If you want to swap your current item out for a new item, let me know. If multiple people claim the item, whoever has the higher waiver priority wins, and their waiver priority is dropped down to the lowest possible. Everyone inbetween moves up one slot. Rinse, repeat. Waiver order will be in reverse order of acquiring items, so here's the offensive Waiver order:

1. BYU 14 (Euros, +15 Str. +3 Int.)
2. TonyR (Elder Sign, +11 Str. +5 Int. +16 Black +14 White)
3. ardent enthusiast (Evil Blade, +8 Str. +3 Int.)
4. Tellistto (Flame Sword, +6 Str.)
5. Travis (Sword of Evil, +15 Str.)
6. Raven Hawk (Boleas, +17 Str.)
7. kingfc22 (Honour Shield, +14 Physical Defense, +7 White)
8. law90026 (Flame Sword, +6 Str.)
9. Godzilla Blitz (Hydra's Fang, +4 Str. +6 Physical Defense +8 Fire)
10. blade6119 (Black Axe, +18 Str. -8 Int.)
11. tucker342 (King's Crown, +17 Physical Defense)

Item Bin (unclaimed Items):
Ice Scimitar, +3 Str.

[Vince]

Tucker's had a while to respond to whether or not he wants to be a Vampire, so I'm going to pass the blood kiss off to one of our non-FOFC Knights. I'm still trying to come up with something to choose between cschex and law90026 for the Stone of Dragos, as both are approaching level 12 and Beast Master status. I'm not going to be able to finish the Island Avalon today, as I have to work tonight, but I'll get it started, and hopefully finish tomorrow or Monday.

[Vince]

Battle rages across the Mountains of Avalon...the Crimson Slayers have notched 7 kills amongst themselves, while the Nightcrawlers have annihilated 2 entire units while on fortification duty.

[kingfc22]

The Liberators want to pillage and plunder

[Vince]

Ok, I just polished off the battle, but I'm tired. Write up tomorrow or tomorrow evening.

Our luck continues to hold, however -- we landed a famed Undead Staff. That item will transform one of our Mages into a hugely powerful Sorceror. Should make for an incredibly potent unit.

[Vince]

Battle 8: Island Avalon
Black Knight Gares is the only son of Empress Endora. Rumors abound that he is immortal, and that he sold his soul...his black armor gleams, and the only view of the man inside are his cruelly burning eyes through the visor on his helmet. He has been sent to Avalon to rule the Roshian Temples...



More rough terrain...I don't like these battles with no roads. The enemies are starting to ramp up in difficulty -- no longer are we seeing incomplete units being thrown at us; each unit has a full complement of characters in it, and the characters are usually in a position where they will do the most damage to us. Should make our strategy in the upcoming battles much more important than the usual "send everyone to the middle and duke it out" tactic. Baingoin (in the Southwest) is our home base this battle, while Gares is holed up in Amad.

We start off by deploying our units -- Sublime 2 and his Alternate Liberators will be sitting this one out, but just about everyone else should get in on the action. We deploy the Crimson Slayers, and after stopping at the Roshian Temple to liberate it, we send them to the center of the island -- the mountain pass there seems to be a pretty good spot for a hidden town or temple. They will be the initial assault crew this battle, and will be supported by a few non-FOFC units to begin with. sachmo71 and the Wizards will garrison the Roshian Temple, and will probably advance once the enemy has been engaged. Once the battle begins in earnest, ardent and the Scouts will fly in to relieve the non-FOFC units, as will kingfc22 and the Liberators. To start with, however, the Scouts will fly to the southeast island chain, to see if they can find any hidden cities or treasure, then will head straight towards the middle of the map to apply pressure. The Liberators will head East, liberating Gontak, Mang and Taljin, where they will form the Garrison until we have a good idea of what we are facing this battle. The Nightcrawlers will follow the Liberators, and end up fortifying themselves at Mang. The Heavy Hitters will form the garrison for Gontak, while sachmo71 and the Wizards will take the Roshian Temple just to the north of our home base at Baingoin. Our two non-FOFC units supporting the Crimson Slayers at the beginning of the battle are Gilbert's unit, a Beast Tamer, Wyrm, Mage and Vampire, and Lyon's unit, a Beast Tamer, Dragon and Red Dragon. Gilbert's unit can fly, while Lyon's dragon unit moves quite quickly through Mountainous terrain, so they both should prove flexible and quick through the mountain ranges in the middle of this map.

As usual, we move quickly, and liberate the three towns and Roshian Temple before night falls. Gilbert was sent north towards Galyasa (though not to liberate it), then towards the middle of the map to scout out the north-western range of mountains, while the Crimson Slayers and Lyon were sent right up the gut. Travis and company spot the enemy first, and we note that it will indeed be difficult this time around -- Ninjas, Knights, Berzerkers, and even some undead smatter the enemy troops. The Crimson Slayers engage the enemy front line, and battle began in earnest.

We quickly learned quite a few things. First off, fighting logically put together enemy units is much more difficult than hodgepodge units in dissarray. Second off, with 3 of the 5 units in the Crimson Slayers getting only one attack (1 Sonic Strike from Travis, 1 from Tellistto, 1 Acid Cloud from ntndeacon), they had better not miss. Even though Travis and Tellistto hit REALLY hard, if they miss, that's a huge chunk out of our potential damage. Third off, fighting in the mountains isn't easy with ground troops. The enemy ninja threw all sorts of ninjitsu at us from the back row, while the knights soaked up the damage long enough to make sure they hit us hard. The Crimson Slayers, though wounded, were still up to the task. After a few battles of softening up the enemy, they quickly began to fall to the heavy Sonic Strikes of Travis, and a suitably weakened unit even allowed ntndeacon to kill three enemies with one blow. Rotating out with Gilbert and Lyon, the enemy's first wave was suitably repelled from the center of the map. During the battle, however, the Crimson Slayers did indeed find a Roshian Temple -- inside was the Shaman Aisha. Apparently her mother Foris was a high priest in Avalon, and Gares has killed her because the Roshian Temples refuse to bend to his will. When asked if we will allow her to accompany us, we agree immediately, and deploy Aisha's unit towards Gelze. Sadly, her unit of 2 Knights, 2 Mermaids and Aisha the Shaman seems rather weak, so we'll keep her at liberation duty until we can give her a crack at Gares.

At this point, the Scouts have discovered the Lightning Bow (+7 Strength) down on the southeastern island chain, and head towards the center of the map to relieve Lyon. Gilbert is sent to Taljin to garrison the town, while kingfc22 and the Liberators are called towards the center of the map to support the Crimson Slayers for the second wave of attackers. On the way towards the middle of the map, the Scouts discover the Pristine Sword (+8 Strength, +10 Intelligence) on the southeastern cliffs.

Somehow, an enemy unit skirted around the center of the map, and made its way south towards Mang, where the Nightcrawlers are stationed. Made up of a Shaman and three Angels, we're not really too worried about their ability to take the town -- they get three attacks and three heals. And Angels aren't exactly known for their powerful attacks. The unsuspecting unit is absolutely cut to shreds by the ferocious attack of our Nightcrawlers.

Back to the task at hand, the battle in the middle of the map. By the time the enemy's second wave has reached us, the Scouts and the Liberators are there to join the fray. The Liberators run into some of the same problems that the Crimson Slayers did -- in the mountains (and at night -- they're highly aligned, so they don't perform as well then), the footsoldiers are limited. Kingfc22 and tucker342 are limited to attacks of 15-20, rather than the 20-35 that we're used to seeing. BYU 14 seems unaffected, and is still walloping people at will -- but tucker342 misses many opportunities to notch kills, and BYU is left to clean up after him, collecting quite a few kills that by all rights should have been tucker's. When the Scouts finally enter the fray, I'm worried -- they only get 5 attacks as a unit, our other troops have been having problems wounding the enemy significantly, and the Scouts are a level or two lower than most of our units.

Boy was I wrong to worry.

The Scouts absolutely demolished just about everyone they faced. ardent's Wind Storm attack from the back row, which hits every enemy, was wounding from 25-45 on each enemy, while TonyR was happy to score kill after kill on the units weakened by ardent's shot and their Beast Tamer Berkeley's whip. After the first few fights, when we realized how potent they were, we had them swing northeast, and then came upon the second wave's rear -- when the Scouts would invariably demolish the enemy, they'd be sent right into the Liberators or Crimson Slayers, who happily dispatched those few remaining enemies. The center of the battlefield turned into a bloodbath for the enemies, as they fell quickly and easily to our massed troops.

With all three units getting plenty of experience, we sent sachmo71 and the Wizards to clean up the stragglers and deal with a potential 3rd wave of enemy troops. The Scouts were sent to the sea between Avalon and the northern island, to spy on the enemy's home base at Amad. We let kingfc22 and the Liberators remain at the central Roshian Temple as a garrison, while Travis and the Crimson Slayers were sent on Liberation clean-up duty, liberating Jisshian, the northeastern Roshian Temple and Tomayang.

While sachmo and the Wizards were making their way through the mountains, the enemy sent a pretty solid flying task force after the Scouts, who were stationed in the ocean. At first, I didn't notice it -- with nothing of strategic value in the ocean, I figured the enemy wouldn't challenge the Scouts' position. But the Scouts continued to blow through the enemy, with TonyR picking up his sixth kill of the battle, and ardent getting his fourth. Deterred, the enemy picked up its old battle path, towards the central Roshian Temple. By this time, however, sachmo, Jeeber and Katon were prepared for them.

Though not with the same methodical efficiency as the Scouts, the Wizards were more than a match for the enemy's third wave, which had been somewhat weakened by an attack on the Scouts. Katon and sachmo quickly picked up 4 kills each, with JeeberD tacking on 3 of his own, and the wizards all levelled up -- at level 10, they were all eligible for promotion to Mage, and they all immediately promoted. Instead of their two targetted magic attacks from the back row, they now each fire off a single spell which blasts the entire enemy party. In a completely fortuitous move, the first unit they were able to dispatch after their promotion was carrying an Undead Staff -- which will enable one of them to promote to a hugely powerful Sorceror!

With the battle in hand, we moved the remainder of our troops forward, sending Aisha towards Gares at Amad. As support, the Nightcrawlers and the Wizards were prepared to move in if Aisha could not get the job done. Meanwhile, the Scouts and the Crimson Slayers were sent to Rajin and Gelze, respectively, to finish off the liberation. Aisha arrived, the final two towns were liberated, and we moved in on Gares.

With two Black Dragons -- one in front, one at his side -- Gares posed a significant challenge. Without any Fool Tarot cards (which eliminate all units but the boss from the enemy party), we would have to either bull our way through the 190-HP dragon in the front row, or use targetted attacks to get there. Aisha confronted Gares, and he laughed at her, amazed that someone so puny would even consider being able to defeat him. Sadly...he was right. The Dragons and Gares made short work of BOTH knights in Aisha's party in one battle, and they quickly retreated to lick their wounds. The Wizards were the first in after Aisha, and their magic attacks were able to strike at Gares while hitting the Black Dragons simultaneously. Doing immense amounts of damage, the Dragons were weakened considerably, but the Wizards were just shy of defeating Gares -- and to compound the mistake, I failed to realize that Gares got 3 attacks in the battle -- and he took his wrath out on Katon, who became our second casualty of the war. After reviving Katon, the Nightcrawlers stepped in.

Though already considerably weakened, the front row Black Dragon took an attack from everyone in the Nightcrawlers' party before succumbing to our onslaught. A hit-all attack by the Nightcrawlers' mage, however, was able to further weaken Gares, and as soon as the Black Dragon fell, law90026 dashed forward with his Whip, earning his first and only kill of the battle by defeating Gares! Amazed at his defeat (yet not killed), Gares retreats. Island Avalon is ours!

[Vince]

The Haul:

Battle 8 Kills:				Overall Kills:				Deaths:
BYU 14		6		ntndeacon		22		cschex		1
TonyR		6		BYU 14		20		katon		1
Travis		5		cschex		17
Raven Hawk		5		Godzilla Blitz		15
ardent enthusiast		4		law90026		15
ntndeacon		4		sachmo71		15
sachmo71		4		katon		15
katon		4		Raven Hawk		15
JeeberD		3		Tellistto		14
tucker342		2		JeeberD		13
kingfc22		2		blade6119		12
tellistto		1		kingfc22		10
law90026		1		TonyR		10
				tucker342		9
				ardent enthusiast		9
				Travis		7
				MrBug708		4
				Sublime 2		2

Level Ups:
sachmo71 x2 (11)
katon x2 (11)
JeeberD x2 (11)
kingfc22 (10)
BYU 14 x2 (10)
tucker342 (10)
MrBug708 x2 (10)
Travis x3 (10)
Raven Hawk x3 (10)
ntndeacon x2 (12)
Tellistto x3 (11)
ardent enthusiast x2 (9)
TonyR x2 (9)

Class Changes:
sachmo71, Wizard -->Mage
katon, Wizard -->Mage
JeeberD, Wizard -->Mage
MrBug708, Cleric --> Shaman
Kapelila, Dragon --> Silver Dragon (rotates out of the Wizards' group, new Dragon Ratynos joins)

Items:
Golden Armor, +12 Physical Defense
Ice Blade, +7 Strength
Lightning Bow, +7 Strength
Pristine Sword, +8 Strength, +10 Intelligence

Undead Staff -- Converts a Mage to a Sorceror

These will all go to the Item bin, except for the Pristine Sword. Since all of our Intelligence guys already have items (all the wizards and both healers), ntndeacon gets the Sword immediately.

1. BYU 14 (Euros, +15 Str. +3 Int.)
2. TonyR (Elder Sign, +11 Str. +5 Int. +16 Black +14 White)
3. ardent enthusiast (Evil Blade, +8 Str. +3 Int.)
4. Tellistto (Flame Sword, +6 Str.)
5. Travis (Sword of Evil, +15 Str.)
6. cschex (Rune Axe, +16 Str.)
7. Raven Hawk (Boleas, +17 Str.)
8. kingfc22 (Honour Shield, +14 Physical Defense, +7 White)
9. law90026 (Flame Sword, +6 Str.)
10. Godzilla Blitz (Hydra's Fang, +4 Str. +6 Physical Defense +8 Fire)
11. blade6119 (Black Axe, +18 Str. -8 Int.)
12. tucker342 (King's Crown, +17 Physical Defense)

Item Bin (unclaimed Items):
Ice Scimitar, +3 Str.
Golden Armor, +12 Physical Defense
Ice Blade, +7 Strength
Lightning Bow, +7 Strength

Potential Class Changes:
Raven Hawk: Eagleman
TonyR: Cockatrice
ardent: Stone Golem (you said you were interested in a Golem, and we now have one -- if you want to stay a Gryffon, that's fine. If you want to promote to a Cockatrice, we're going to have to lower your alignment)

Healthiest Soldiers	Class	Lvl	HP		Smartest Soldiers	Class	Lvl	Int
1. BYU 14	Giant	10	176		1. sachmo71	Mage	11	116
2. Blade6119	Giant	9	154		2. Sublime2	Shaman	10	106
3. Godzilla Blitz	Hell Hound	10	148		3. JeeberD	Mage	11	99
Strongest Soldiers	Class	Lvl	Str		Charismatic	Class	Lvl	Cha
1. BYU 14	Giant	10	105		Ten Tied at 100
2(t). Blade6119	Giant	9	104
2(t). Travis	Samurai	10	104
Quickest Soldiers	Class	Lvl	Agi		Highest Aligned	Class	Lvl	Ali
1. ardent enthusiast	Griffon	9	93		1. kingfc22	Knight	10	91
2. TonyR	Griffon	9	92		2. MrBug708	Shaman	10	87
3. Godzilla Blitz	Hell Hound	10	90		2(t). Travis	Samurai	10	87
Luckiest S.O.B.'s	Class	Lvl	Luk
1. kingfc22	Knight	10	56
2(t).sachmo71	Mage	11	55
2(t). Ardent enthusiast	Griffon	9	55
2(t). TonyR	Griffon	9	55

Look tomorrow to see a pair of Ogre Battle related contests to determine who gets the class upgrading items -- the Stone of Dragos and the Undead Staff!

[Tellistto]

Nice battle! Good to see nearly everyone getting into the action too.

Tell

[Sublime 2]

Everyone but the Alternate Liberators!!

[Vince]

Come one, come all, to our item draw contest! With a Stone of Dragos and Undead Staff to auction off, I've come up with a little word game for our contestants to play. First, the contestants:

Group 1:
cschex
law90026

Group 2:
sachmo71
JeeberD
Katon

The winner from group one will win the Stone of Dragos, while the winner from group two will win the Undead Staff. Since we don't want this to be an exclusive thing, anyone can enter the contest. However, to keep things competitive, please do not post your answers in the thread...PM them to me.

I like word games, so I have concoted a group of anagrams comprising of names from throughout the dynasty thus far. PM me answers to each of the Anagrams, and whoever gets the most correct wins. The ninth question is a tie-breaker. Deadline for entries is 12:00 AM PST on Thursday (so Wednesday night). If I get entries from all the main contestants before hand, I'll post the results of the major prizes. With no further ado, here are the anagrams:

1. Roman Lodger
2. Pogo From Rest
3. Beat Stream
4. One Tribal Ears Rattle
5. Thy Three, Shave It
6. Dare At Stunt Shine
7. Should No Hire
8. Slight Crane Threw
9. (Tiebreaker) What is the grand total of strength for the entire army (not just the FOFC characters)?

Remember, PM your answers to me, and entries are due by 12:00 AM Pacific on Thursday morning (Wednesday night).

[Vince]

So it's more than 24 hours after the deadline, and the participation has been decidedly...lacking. We do have our two winners, however, so that's a good thing. If you're still looking to compete, feel free to turn in an entry. I'll come up with some sort of prize other than the two already advertised.

Congratulations to cschex and Katon (with a perfect entry, no less)! Katon wins the Undead Staff, and will be a sorceror by our next battle. cschex wins the Stone of Dragos, and upon reaching level 12 will go straight from Beast Master to Dragon Tamer.

We've had a bit of depressing news in my family, so I'm going to be out of town this weekend, and working a ton before I leave to make up for the time I'll miss. I probably won't get to the next battle until next week, but for now, I'll let you all discuss where we should go next.

There are two paths of entry to the heart of the Empire -- North, through the Kastolation Sea, or West, through Diaspola. Either way, we'll eventually get to Fort Allamoot, and we'll probably go back through the way we don't choose initially, just to clear out the Empire's presence. Discuss!

[Blade6119]

Go west young man, go west!

[Poli]

[JeeberD]

Sorry, word puzzles really aren't my thing...

[Vince]

No worries. I was hoping for a little more than two entries though

[Poli]

I would have entered...that was kind of fun and easy, but I heart OB.

[Vince]

So battle nine is finished (has been for two days, actually), I just can't find the time to finish the write-up. I have some errands to run today, and I work this evening, but I should be off early. So hopefully the write up will be finished by tonight.

[TonyR]

w00t !!

[Vince]

Well, Thursday's shift turned into a 6 hour long marathon, when I was expecting maybe 2 hours (stupid new hires not knowing what they are doing). Then I worked doubles the last two days. Now, however, I'm posting this on my new computer, which is really exciting. I'll get to that write-up soon, I promise!

[Vince]

Battle 9: Diaspola
Norn was a high-ranking monk in the Roshian Temple, but was demoted because she questioned Rashidi's motives. With the demotion came a move to Diaspola -- a prison for political enemies of the Empire. Though not a prisoner, Norn has fallen to the rank of Shaman and is not in the empire's good graces. With her support for Rashidi and Endora waning, her vehement opposition of the rebellion is surprising...



Well, there are roads, but it's a tight pass through the mountains, and no shortcuts. The cliffs following the rivers are also going to make trouble with our assault. With the problems we had at Avalon, I'm loathe to get into another mountain war. This time, I think we'll follow the roads. In case the enemy decides to come straight over the top, we'll send a unit or two over the mountains, but otherwise, our main forces will follow the road.

We've readjusted some of our units for the upcoming battle. Raven Hawk, with his desire to become a Raven Man (surprise, surprise), has stepped down from his role in the Crimson Slayers. Replacing him will be Sublime 2, formerly of the Alternate Liberators. The group's new alignment will be a back row of Travis (1 Sonic Strike for heavy damage), ntndeacon (1 Acid Cloud, damaging all units of the enemy), Sublime 2 (3 Heals); and a front row of Tellistto (2 Slashes of his sword) and Nelson (2 Sword Slashes). The Alternate Liberators are no longer an FOFC group, so will get less publicity in the reports. The addition of a healer to the Crimson Slayers, however, will make them much more stand-alone -- I won't have to meddle in their affairs after every battle, and they should be able to win more fights, even if they are ineffective at damaging the other unit. Raven Hawk joins the Nightcrawlers (replacing Berzerker Baron), and immediately makes them one of our most formidable groups -- now not only are they powerful, but they fly, so they are incredibly quick and versatile as well. Our only other notable changes are ardent enthusiast's change from a Griffon to a Stone Golem -- amazingly enough, TonyR is buff enough to carry a Stone Golem AND a Beast Tamer, so they will still be the Scouts as they fly around -- and TonyR from a Griffon to a Cockatrice.

We begin by dispatching the Liberators, and sending them north along the road. They will spearhead our initial assault, and liberate Poache, Romorant and Rimorge, where they will remain until we figure out what the enemy is going to do. Two non-FOFC units will follow as Garrisons, one for Me'Mak, and one for Romorant. The Crimson Slayers, now sans Raven Hawk, will liberate the Roshian Temple just to the northwest of our base of operations at Me'Mak, then follow along behind the main assault group. The Wizards will follow them, and form a garrison at the Roshian Temple -- they should be able to spot any enemies breaking through, and could conceivably cover Poache as well. The Nightcrawlers, now flying in the low skies with Raven Hawk, will branch out over the cliffs on the west bank of the river, acting as scouts for the main attack force who will be following the road. The Scouts will scout out the Southwestern corner of the map, looking for buried treasure, hidden towns, and eventually sneaking around the back of the enemy forces. Finally, the Heavy Hitters will be our brute force unit, attacking straight over the mountains. Initially, they will head towards Somyul, but will stop shy of the city. They should be able to handle any attackers heading straight over the mountains.

As usual, things proceed smoothly for the first part of the battle. We easily take Poache and Romorant, the Wizards have the Roshian Temple under guard, and the Heavy Hitters have begun to scale the mountains. They stumble upon the town of Ajan in a mountain pass, but leave it in Empire hands for now -- liberating the town would only handcuff them, eliminating their flexibility in stemming the flow of enemies as they would have to hold the town. Instead, they press on towards the cliffs, and they are the first to notice our enemies.

The enemy has obviously noted the usefulness of flying units -- again we are facing quite a few flying enemies. They are flying over the mountains, between Alkyston and Somyul, so the Heavy Hitters move slightly East of their current target to intercept. The early skirmishes bode well, as the powerful blows of cschex, Blade and Godzilla Blitz are enough to send most opponents reeling. However, Blade seems to be missing quite frequently, and would-be kills are turning into severe woundings, and the enemy keeps retreating to Somyul to replenish its units. Since the Heavy Hitters are the only force at the pass at the moment, they can't assault Somyul without leaving a clear path to our base. Though the Wizards would easily be able to handle anything thrown at them, we'd rather keep the fighting in the pass, just in case. So the Heavy Hitters continue to battle, while the Liberators, Nightcrawlers and Crimson Slayers continue to liberate towns. By the time Rimorge is Liberated, the Heavy Hitters have racked up 11 kills amongst themselves!

With the Heavy Hitters performing admirably, we strike forth with the Nightcrawlers, sending them through the pass while we send the Heavy Hitters towards Somyul. Since the majority of the enemy's forces are coming down through the mountains between Somyul and Alkyston, we plan to use the Hammer and Anvil tactic -- the Heavy Hitters will stay put just East of Somyul, while the Nightcrawlers move west from Alkyston. As the Nightcrawlers punish the enemy forces, they will be forced towards the Heavy Hitters, who will easily polish off the weakened enemy units.

The tactic worked like a charm -- though the Heavy Hitters got less action than I anticipated. The Nightcrawlers mowed through the enemy's forces like a hot knife through butter, leaving very little for the Heavy Hitters to clean up. Though the unit as a whole must have garnered 20 kills in the sortie, Raven Hawk and law90026 only managed a couple, as they were very well distributed amongst the characters in the unit. With lots of experience earned, we send the Nightcrawlers back towards Rimorge, and move the Crimson Slayers and Liberators to liberate the Roshian Temple, Alkyston, and to make the push towards Somyul. The Heavy Hitters, now with 19 kills to their name (and a bunch by Blade, who seems to have figured out that you're supposed to HIT the other guys again), are also retired towards Alkyston, to garrison the town once we have liberated it.

The Scouts are busy down south, liberating Pelegue and finding a completely useless item in the Iron Gloves. +2 to Physical Defense. Woo-hoo! They head up the coast to attack the enemy's flank.

About this time, the second wave of enemy troops has begun to meander over and around the mountains. Now that we seem to have a firm grip on the pass (though Somyul is still in enemy hands), they are a little more reluctant to come over the top of the mountains at us. The Liberators and the Crimson Slayers alternate in forcing the enemy back out of the pass altogether as they push towards Somyul. The Slayers space the kills out quite evenly, as everyone gets at least two kills. The Liberators, on the other hand, are suffering from Can'thitthebroadsideofabarnitis. It's a rare disease. Amazingly, even though they won many small battles, the Liberators managed to get ZERO kills in the mountain pass. It was pretty amazing, actually, and I'm thinking of naming an award in their honor. "The Blindfolded Drunk With a Stick" award -- for flailing around at everything, and hitting nothing. In any case, we push through, and capture Somyul. From here, we decide to press on -- The Scouts have arrived, and will support the Liberators as they move towards the Roshian Temple, while the Crimson Slayers will head west to Raloshel.

The Liberators have figured out how to kill people again, but they are still struggling mightily to put the enemies out of their misery. Tucker will finish the battle with zero kills, while Kingfc22 and BYU will only manage 2 and 3 respectively, even though they were involved in MANY battles. The Scouts do a better job, as ardent enthusiast and TonyR simply pummel the enemy with some tremendous physical attacks. As a Golem, ardent is quite slow, but packs a mean punch. Literally -- he punches enemies. Tony, much quicker to act, is good at picking off weakened enemies before ardent has a chance to attack, gaining him a few more kills than ardent. Though they do so without killing many enemy units, the Liberators and Scouts push on towards the Roshian Temple, and take it in the name of the Liberation!

The Roshian Temple gives us insight into Norn's hatred of the Liberation -- her lover was Debonair, the General we defeated in Zenobia. Norn thinks that Debonair was killed at our hands, and therefore wants revenge. Maybe we can talk her out of it...

With the struggles of the Liberators, we decide to move the Wizards forward -- we want to see how they do, especially with new sorceror Katon. Seven League boots transport them to the front of the battle quickly, and they appear at the Roshian Temple with the Liberators in the blink of an eye. They move forward, and give new meaning to the phrase "open up a can of whoop-ass."

With the tank of a Dragon in front of them, the Wizards can sit back and let him soak up all the physical damage, while they toss spells at the entire enemy unit from behind. With FOUR magic attacks each battle, which hit every enemy for about 40-60 damage each, the Wizards are officially our most powerful unit. In the space of 5 battles, they picked up 21 kills. Huge! We sent them forward to take on Norn in Diaspola, and they absolutely annihilate her and her two Titan guards. Norn asks if we will kill her, and I step forward to tell her that Debonair is not dead, and that she should join us. Impressed by our high reputation, Norn joins our forces, with her two Titan Guards! Diaspola is ours!

[Vince]

The Haul

Battle 9 Kills:				Overall Kills:				Deaths:
Godzilla Blitz		9		ntndeacon		25		cschex		1
Blade6119		9		Godzilla Blitz		24		katon		1
JeeberD		9		BYU 14		23
Katon		8		katon		23
TonyR		6		JeeberD		22
law90026		5		blade6119		21
sachmo71		5		law90026		20
Raven Hawk		3		sachmo71		20
BYU 14		3		cschex		18
Tellistto		3		Raven Hawk		18
ntndeacon		3		Tellistto		17
ardent enthusiast		3		TonyR		16
Travis		2		ardent enthusiast		12
Sublime 2		2		kingfc22		10
cschex		1		tucker342		9
				Travis		9
				MrBug708		4
				Sublime 2		4

Level Ups:
sachmo71 x2 (13)
JeeberD x2 (13)
Katon x2 (13)
kingfc22 (11)
BYU 14 (11)
tucker342 (11)
MrBug708 (11)
Travis x2 (12)
Sublime 2 x2 (12)
ntndeacon (13)
Tellistto (12)
law90026 x3 (14)
Raven Hawk x3 (13)
Godzilla Blitz x2 (12)
Blade6009 x3 (12)
TonyR x2 (11)
cschex x3 (12)

Class Changes
Law90026 --> Beast Tamer to Beast Master
cschex --> Beast Tamer to Beast Master to Dragon Tamer
Blade6009 --> Giant to Ice Giant
ardent enthusiast --> Griffon to Stone Golem
TonyR --> Griffon to Cockatrice

Items:
Iron Gauntlets, +2 Physical
Flame Sword, +6 Strength
Thunder Helm, +X Thunder

Pretty weak item draw. They all go into the bin to random characters.

This writeup is pretty weak -- I did this battle about a week ago, and can't remember some specifics. Sublime got to kill a few undead with the Crimson Slayers, the Nightcrawlers had a gambit over the Northern mountains, but nothing really happened, and that's about it. The next writeup should be a bit better, as I expect to do it shortly after I finish the battle.

[Blade6119]

Ice Giant? Lets see godzilla whine now, ill just freeze his hell torn soul. Nice win, and thanks for getting the heavy hitters the action we had been craving the last few missions

[JeeberD]

Nine kills and I can't even get my name in the write-up? Damn, what am I paying my PR guy to do?

[Vince]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Nine kills and I can't even get my name in the write-up? Damn, what am I paying my PR guy to do?

Sorry 'bout that

I think I figured out why you got many fewer kills in the previous battles -- you're slow. sachmo71 and Katon both get to attack before you, in almost every battle (every once in a while you get a shot in before them, but it's really rare). When you guys were single-enemy targetting guys, the first three shots would usually put a guy on his last legs, and sachmo71 or Katon would finish him off before you'd get your second shot on him. Now, you guys all wound an absolute ton, and in the first three battles you guys had on this map, you had 7 kills (to sachmo's 1 and Katon's 3), since instead of just weakening the guys, you were finishing them off.

[TonyR]

w00t! Nice to see the Cockatrice get 6 kills in small battles.

Carrying around a stone golem is mighty hard work.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by Vince

you're slow

And art immitates life. Beautiful...

[Vince]

Meet...



Vitals:

Character	Class	Lvl	HP	Str.	Agi.	Int.	Cha.	Ali.	Luk.	Item
Tellistto	Samurai	12	143	93	81	73	100	72	46	Flame Sword
Nelson	Knight	12	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Ntndeacon	Doll Mage	13	141	86	83	87	100	81	47	Pristine Sword
Sublime 2	Shaman	12	144	78	73	118	96	91	50	Mystic Mace
Travis	Samurai	12	154	112	87	86	100	93	49	Sword of Evil

Attacks:
Character	Attack	Num
1) Travis	Sonic Strike	x1
2) ntndeacon	Acid Cloud	x1 All
3) Tellistto	Sword Slice	x2
4) Nelson	Sword Slice	x2
5) Sublime 2	Healing	x3

Class Changes:

Character	Change To	Lvl?
Tellistto	Samurai Master	15
Travis	Samurai Master	15
ntndeacon	Enchanter	14
Sublime 2	Monk	18
Nelson	Paladin	15

The Crimson Slayers, with an average Alignment above 96 are one of our premier Liberation units. With only 6 attacks, they aren't the most powerful unit we have, but they do make those hits count. Travis' Sonic Strike hits for around 60-80 each time, and ntndeacon's Acid Cloud is good for 20-30 damage on each character in the enemy unit. Tellistto and Nelson provide supporting attacks at 20-40 damage per strike, and Sublime 2 recovers around 35 damage per heal. The Crimson Slayers are an incredibly well-balanced unit.

[Raven Hawk]

Travis wields a mighty sword between his legs.

[Vince]

Battle 10: Kastolation Sea
The Kastolation Sea is the ages old home of the Mermaids. With rumors circulating that eating mermaid flesh grants immortality, the Mermaids have been hunted mercilessly for years. Promised protection from Empress Endora, Porkyus, the Mermaid Leader, entered an alliance with the Empire in hopes of protecting her people.



Water, water and more water. Our home base is Fanning, while Porkyus is holed up in Palmirra. Seemingly a deserted area (Pittokya, Tokelau, Malden, Pahpehte, Fakarabh, Salay Gom and Bipoah are all hidden cities that we discovered while exploring the area), holding towns seems to be of little importance in this battle. With very few (ok, only one) water units, we will be relying on our flying units for flexibility in this battle while we send our landward units on the slow trek towards Palmirra.

The water is really going to hamper movement in this battle, so we're going to focus mainly on our flying units. We begin by deploying The Liberators, the Heavy Hitters and the unit formerly known as the alternate liberators on the long trek through the ocean towards Maaksaz -- they will island hop to avoid the tremendous hindrance that travelling through the ocean does for land-based units. The Nightcrawlers and Scouts will take the forward positions, along with a handful of non-FOFC flying units who will mostly explore.

The Nightcrawlers head east, while the Scouts head north, and we're really not sure what to expect from the enemy this time around. The Scouts camp out near the island of Pahpehte (though they leave the city in Empire hands for now), hoping to catch a glimpse of the enemy travelling down the road. The Nightcrawlers take up a position over the ocean south of the Roshian Temple. The Scouts find the enemy first, as we see a group of two wizards and two knights coming over the mountains. Perhaps we've taken a regression in enemy unit construction logic, as one of the Wizards is in the front row, where he can only flail at us with his staff. In any case, battle is joined, and ardent and TonyR do a good job of tearing apart the Wizard in the front row. Tony takes credit for our first kill, and the enemy adjusts their path to pass by the Scouts. With plenty of units behind them, we allow the enemy to continue by, hoping to catch a glimpse of more enemy units -- of which there are surprisingly few. A Berzerker and Red Dragon, then a Knight and two Dragons, and a Cleric and two Valkyries. Very shoddily constructed groups, and only 4 of them total...something is up. The Scouts have a few more skirmishes, pick up a few kills (no thanks to Ardent, who is having a hard time connecting on his punch), and then the enemy's main force is behind them.

With our main battle force still traversing the ocean, the Nightcrawlers are the next unit to face the enemy, and the poorly constructed enemies have little chance as the Nightcrawlers tear through the weakened units like wet tissue paper. The first enemy 'assault' has been turned away, though it was decidedly weak...

...and we soon discover why, as our non-FOFC unit with Octopi, stationed just outside of Fanning, our base, notices a group of Mermaids and a Kraken streaking low along the islands to the south straight for Fanning. We've never seen the enemy pull a tactic like this -- though we've also never been on a nearly all-water map. Though we have two units there to protect Fanning, both are severely lacking in the experience department -- the Octopi and Valkyrie unit is at level 2 (versus the level 11 and 12 foes we face in this battle), and my unit, the Opinion Leader, is comprised of level 3-8 characters. With this in mind, I send the Nightcrawlers down to support, though they will not get there quickly enough to intercept the Mermaids. We use some hit and run tactics, and some well-placed tarot cards to deflect the attacks of the rogue enemy unit that slipped past us, and after defeating the leader, the enemy unit retreats right into the Nightcrawlers, who make short work of the Kraken and Mermaid left. These battles do show us something, however -- Octopi are a pain in the ass to fight in the water. The Nightcrawlers have a new mission -- to traverse the southern waterway towards Bipoah to find any other enemy units who might be taking the same route. Similarly, we move the Scouts north around the main island to see if there might be any enemy units coming through the Ocean in the other direction.

With little action on the main island, once the Liberators and the main land forces reach land, we push them up quickly, liberating the Roshian Temple, Malden and Maaksaz. With very little opposition, the Liberators push ahead to Tongaleb, seeing as the only enemy land units have come over the mountains, rather than around. They should be able to stop any further land assaults before they begin. While The Scouts and Nightcrawlers hunt down any rogue ocean-going enemies, we move the Heavy Hitters north towards Palmirra, to keep any further Ocean attacks from materializing by heading them off before they can get to the Ocean.

The Nightcrawlers see a lot of action along the southern sea -- but the Octopi are tough nuts to crack when they are in the ocean, and it takes multiple fights with each unit to dispatch them, even for a powerful unit like the Nightcrawlers. As such, Law90026, the quickest character in the group, gets quite a few kills to lead off battles, as they are repeatedly facing already weakened units. Hunting down each of the sea-going units is tough, and when it becomes apparent that there is no one in the Northwestern sea, the Scouts come around the main island to catch the remnants of the enemy's ocean forces from behind.

Meanwhile, the Liberators are seeing their fair share of action at Tongaleb -- the enemy has sent another land force over the mountains, and they head straight for Tongaleb. BYU, kingfc22 and tucker continually repel the enemy's assault -- though it takes them a few battles (the enemy's units are comprised of a lot of 'tank' units like Dragons and Giants that can take a lot of punishment), the Liberators are hardly fazed, as with MrBug's 3 heals, they rarely finish a battle with any damage taken. Tucker loses three easy kills by missing his attacks -- BYU 14 is happy to pick them up, however, and leads all liberation soldiers with 8 kills for the battle!

During the battle, one of our scouting non-FOFC units discovers a Roshian Temple on the farthest northwest island, where a monk bestows upon us the Brunhild -- the legendary sword of the Gods! It's worth +20 Strength, and for the battle we give it to Canopus, our Eagleman. According to a monk in Tongaleb, the Brunhild is the key to finding the Chaos Gates...which Mango, a witch who lives in Bipoah, tells us lead to the Sky Islands, three floating islands where the three Knights from the legendary Ogre Battle live. Supposedly, the empire has sent troops to the islands to keep the knights from helping the liberation.

Once the Scouts and Nightcrawlers have cleaned up the ocean attacks, the Heavy Hitters team up with a non-FOFC unit featuring our Vampire to surround Palmirra. They both move in in a pincer attack, and bounce enemy units back and forth between the two of them, annihilating the final three enemy units. With nothing left to do, the Heavy Hitters move in, where Porkyus vehemently declares that she will not allow the Liberation to remove the 'protection' of Empress Endora. The massive blows of Godzilla Blitz and Blade6119 are more than enough to take down the mermaid, however, and Godzilla Blitz, newly promoted to the ranks of Cerberos, puts the final nail in Porkyus' coffin, and the Kastolation Sea is ours!

[Godzilla Blitz]

Take that, Porky! Rawr.

Nice writeup!

[Vince]

As an added benefit, we found another Undead Staff and a Full Moon Stone during the battle -- so we have another promotion from Mage to Sorceror, and we also have acquired a Were-Tiger, if anyone would like to change characters.

For the Mage-to-Sorceror transformation, we have JeeberD and sachmo71 -- so if the two of you would like, here's a short and sweet contest between the two of you. Before I print out the stats from the last battle, what is the total number of kills by FOFC units in our campaign so far, including the battle at Kastolation Sea? Closest to the correct number wins the Undead Staff. PM me your answers -- tiebreaker will be the response I receive first.

[Vince]

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

I'm going to run the next battle either Tuesday or Wednesday, so get those entries in for the contest!

[Vince]

So real life has rudely intruded on my video game playing habits. Hopefully I'll be able to get a battle in over the weekend, but I make no promises.

[Tellistto]

I'll be around whenever we're ready to go fighting again. Just send the word!

Tell

[TonyR]

Who won the contest to become a sorcerer?

[Vince]

Jeebs did, missing his guess by only 3 kills. It was a pretty impressive guess. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to this before the next weekend...lord knows I could do with some relaxation.