User:Whismas/Third Arclent War Part 2

With business taken care of it's time to meet up with your old and new allies to plan on how you're going to win this war.

Ardoheim 4: Mountains and Madness
Simon, Vhala and the rest of the Ardan squad teleport into the western mountains to clear out the Unsuccubi currently rampaging through the area. Be sure to check your formation to make sure that your party members are active after the last fight with Riala. Once again, your progress is tracked in a hidden battle score, which is improved by defeating unsuccubi, coordinating with your allies and convincing the Incubus Emperor's forces to stand down. Inside the cave is a black orb, and interacting with it reveals the Unsuccubus Mass boss fight. It's immune to status effects and anti-sex damage, resists attack debuffs and lust attacks, and is vulnerable to ice, but with your current party about the only option is to hit it with Aka's Debilitating Strike and Forceful Lunge, Simon's Precise Strike, Uyae's Takedown and Vhala's Triple Shot and grind it down with damage.
 * +1 for talking to the nun in the southwest about how to care for traumatized succubi.
 * If the Unperson Vote passed, +3 for talking to the Unpeople sitting by the fire about baiting the succubi using sex
 * +1 per Unsuccubi patrol you defeat- two wandering around on the lowest level outside, two more inside the cave.
 * +1 for talking to the succubi scout patrolling the middle level, who simply wishes to surrender.
 * +2 for talking to the Unsuccubi on the middle level, with an additional -2 to IKD Morale.
 * +2 for escaping the fight (hit cancel, then select "Escape") with the two succubi soldiers asking you not to attack them.
 * +3 for entering the succubus camp, allowing Aka to capture their leader.
 * +2 for having Simon use his Dominate skill on the succubus soldier who doesn't want to fight but worries about her family, allow you to end the fight without killing her.
 * +2 for flanking the orcs in the northeast, allowing you to dominate them and get them to surrender without a fight. You can also talk to them, and they'll let you loot the chests (1070 Sx and two health potions).

Once the Unsuccubus Mass has been defeated and you've taken care of everything else you want to deal with in the mountains, it's time to head up the stairs and summon the Doom King to raise some hell.

Things don't really go as planned however. The Incubus Emperor launches an assault of his own, forcing Commander Geoff to buy time with Antarion and whatever resources he has on hand. If you managed to open the War Vaults at the Summit, it grants a +2 to the battle score, and Geoff explains that he should be able to take a few blows. Unfortunately things don't go according to plan here either.

Back at the military district, the Ardan forces (and Unpeople, if the vote passed) are preparing to counter an Unsuccubi assault. If Stark was revived, he joins the battle, providing a +2 to the battle sore as he draws off the Unsuccubi with his undying body.

Simon's group finishes up, receives word of the attack and arrive at the scene. After some conversation, Vhala offers her assessment of the battle so far. You then have the option of deploying a unit of troops to help out. This has different consequences based on the battle score so far. Once troops are deployed or not, you learn Vhala's assessment of the final outcome of the battle. Before Simon heads out, he can decide where he wants Aka's group to focus their aid. After that, it's time to see what's happening with the Incubus Emperor and Yhilin forces back at headquarters, and then it's off to the Bloody Spire.

Incubus King's Domain 3: The Bloody Spire
Here at the Bloody Spire, it's all orcs all the time. Hope you collected some good ones. Yarra departs, leaving them to fend for themselves. As Orcent explains, Robin has modified some of the equipment you received from your suppliers for their use. So check your equipment, you possibly have better gear to distribute. You might also want to familiarize yourself with your orcs and their abilities. Note that with the exception of Orcent's Eyepatch, all gear can be shifted around between orcs, so if you've got all five orcs but only four slots on the active party then feel free to take the good stuff from the orc you're not using.
 * Orcent: You've used him since Yarra's route, and should be familiar with his three basic skills- Aggressive Attack is good for doing more damage than just his basic attack, Defensive Attack is invaluable for reducing the attack and agility of enemies, while Piercing Attack is good against high-defense or dodgy enemies like Armored Fighters. While in Yhilin, Orcent may have also picked up a complete set of Yhilin Orc equipment after drinking with guards at the bar, and an enchanted eyepatch created by Yhilini succubi, which halves the damage he takes from enemy attacks.
 * Grubbak: The only other mandatory orc. As you saw earlier in the war, Grubbak has Orcent's Defensive and Piercing Attacks, plus his own elemental attacks which are good against enemy weaknesses (such as the many orcs vulnerable to fire).  Note that elemental attacks use his physical attack stat against the enemy's magic defense, so while a shaman might be vulnerable to his Lightning Attack, the shaman's high magic defense might mean that even an effective Lightning Attack will do less damage than simply smacking him with a sword.
 * Impaler: High attack and HP, shares the Aggressive Attack and Piercing Attack skills with Orcent. He also comes with his own skills.  Magic Smasher is a low-damage attack that reduces enemy agility and magic attack, making it the anti-mage version of Defensive Attack.  Cull the Weak does high damage against enemies with low physical and magical defenses, making it something best used against select enemies such as the Ragged Berserkers (it also works against the Rabble, but so do basic attacks).  Comes with his own Brutal Orc Spear, the highest-attack weapon available to the orc party at this point.
 * Ralke: Has the same Defensive Attack as Orcent, but has two skills of his own. Defeat Human King is a potentially high damage attack that uses both his physical and magical attack stats to do damage against a target's magical defense, though like Grubbak's slashes it's not that good against mages.  Save World heals Ralke for a paltry amount of damage and clears poison, but also boosts his attack and defenses.  Comes with the Orc Hero Shield, a nice shield that also boosts attack.
 * Implevon the Third: Has Orcent's Piercing Attack, and two skills of his own. Magic Attack does an ok amount of magic damage against a target's magic defense, but isn't anything special since Implevon's magic attack stat isn't all that great even with every piece of orc equipment that boosts magic attack. Annoyance is Implevon's version of Hilstara's Shieldwall skill, letting him boost his physical defense and draw attacks to himself.  If given good armor he can almost function as a tank, especially since he has an innate 15% evasion rate compared to the default 5%.  Unfortunately, he has fewer HP than the other orcs, making this strategy something of a gamble.  He also comes with the Orc Magic Charm, which boosts magic attack and defense and also halves damage from fire, ice and electric attacks.

In the southeast corner is an orc merchant who sells some general orc gear including Orc Potions and Heavy Orc Potions which heal twice as much, while in the northwest area right by a fence is an orc who will let you rest your party for 1000 Sx. No matter how you arrange your party, you're not really going to have any way of healing up from damage other than using Orc Potions or paying for a nap, both of which are expensive. Still, if you want to get the best results at the summit it's a cost you're probably going to end up paying.

Once you've got your party set up, it's time to wander around and talk to some orcs. You want to build up a secret Orc Summit score, and you do it by convincing other orcs that you're the best around and they should listen to what you have to say. Once you've got your talking (and fighting) out of your system it's time to get on with the main event- more fighting. Talk to the orc at the top of the map for an explanation. It's not a bad idea to rest and heal up first if you fought the other optional orcs, and it's an especially good time to SAVE YOUR GAME (preferably in a new slot). The following challenges can be dangerous, as can the events immediately following the Spire.
 * +1 for talking to the Orc by the pillars in the center of the map. Also sets the "Talky Orc Summit" flag, which may come up later.
 * +1 for talking to the Erosian orc in the northwest fenced area, who supports Yarra since her actions in the Gathering.
 * +1 for talking to the orc on the eastern outer edge of fenced area if you have the Impaler in the party, who supports the Impaler's raids for killing off weak orcs.
 * +1 for talking to the orc on the western edge of the map with Ralke in the party, as Ralke explains how to save orcs (and also the world).
 * +1 for talking to the Imp in the southeastern corner of the map with Implevon in the party, since imps got to stick together.
 * Talking to the ogre in the northeast corner won't give any points when he comes to agree with Orcent, but he will bring up any acts of sabotage Simon has performed in the IKD.
 * Challenging the ogre on the eastern edge of the map doesn't give any points for the fight, but it does give you... 1 health goo (and good XP, at least).
 * Talking to the orc in the corner of the northern portion of the map results in him insulting you for being a human lover. Challenging him results in a fight against one Rabble, two Ragged Berserkers and one Armored Fighter, and winning gives +1 to Orc Summit as well as an attack-boosting Orc Gauntlet that also provides immunity to the Orc Poison ability.
 * Talking to the green orc on the southern side of the fence results in a fight with a Corrupting Shaman, two Ragged Berserkers and one Rabble. Winning gives +1 to Orc Summit and the Orc Shaman Shield, which boosts your magical attack and defense.

You will be thrown into a series of fights with no opportunity to either rest or change your party or gear in between, meaning that the only way to heal is to drink orc potions on the battlefield (preferably when you're down to one last foe that has been hit with Defensive Strike so they can't hurt you much while you're healing). Each fight you win gets you a bonus to your Orc Summit score, losing one means you're done, and you want to win all five for the best results. If you won all five fights then you're probably in a good position for negotiations, but you'll learn more about that later on.
 * Fight 1: 5 Rabble, 1 Ragged Berserker. +1 to Orc Summit for winning. The Rabble are so weak that they should probably be unable to even scratch you if you have any decent armor, and should go down in one hit.  The Ragged Berserker can probably be dropped in one hit by Grubbak's Flame Attack or Impaler's Cull the Weak.  You'd have to try to lose this one.
 * Fight 2: 1 Brutal Shaman, 2 Ragged Berserkers, 1 Armored Fighter. +2 to Orc Summit for winning. The Ragged Berserkers can be knocked out quickly like before, and the Armored Fighter can be severely weakened by hitting him twice with Defensive Attack, making him do no damage and allowing you to save him for last and use Piercing Attacks or magic attacks like Flame Attack or Defeat Human King to finish him off.  The Brutal Shaman is dangerous though, and should be killed or weakened as fast as you can.
 * Fight 3: 2 Ragged Berserkers, 2 Armored Fighters, 1 Captain. +3 to Orc Summit for winning. Again, you can sweep the Berserkers, and use Defensive Attack to neutralize the Armored Fighters, letting you focus on the captain, who can boost the stats of the other orcs.  Once he's gone it's just mop-up on the Armored Fighters, giving you time to drink some potions.
 * Fight 4: 1 Ragged Berserker, 1 Armored Fighter, 1 Corrupting Shaman, 1 Brutal Shaman. +3 to Orc Summit for winning. This may be the fourth of five fights, but it's quite possibly the hardest one since you have two shamans to deal with and not a lot of good ways to deal damage to them.  Knock out the berserker and neutralize the armored orc, then focus down the shamans, starting with the Brutal Shaman because fire hurts more than poison.  If you can't kill a Shaman before the Shaman's turn comes up, consider having Impaler use Magic Smasher on him.  Once you're down to the Armored Fighter, see if you need to heal up for the next fight.
 * Fight 5: 1 Corrupting Shaman, 1 Captain, 1 Towering Ogre. +3 to Orc Summit for winning. Strangely enough, the ogre is probably the lowest priority target- disable him with Defensive Attack first and the focus on the shaman and the captain.  The captain is vulnerable to fire and the ogre is vulnerable to ice.  If one or two of your orcs get KO'd towards the end of the fight when you've only got one weakened enemy left, it is possible to just finish the fight and leave the orc unconscious if you think you have things under control, but don't be afraid to play it safe and use potions to revive/heal if you've come this far already.

Aram 4: Holding the Pass
Hilstara and Varia's plans to interfere with Aram's aggression are put to a halt when the Incubus Emperor launches a major assault of his own. The only way to stop things from turning into a complete disaster is to bottleneck his forces in the mountain passages.

If Altina is part of the party, then she's out scouting, and shows Hilstara which of the passages they'll be able to block and which they'll have to hold.

The scene shifts to Hilstara in the largest of the passages, and she explains that with the army elsewhere she'll need to prepare as though she'd have to hold the line on her own. You then have a chance to change Hilstara and Varia's equipment. It is highly recommended that you put the absolute heaviest armor and shield (and possibly helmet if you didn't make Hilstara's Helm) you have on Hilstara, including Mammoth Armor if you picked it up from Eustrin. If you have any accessories that block blind it's not a bad idea to use those as well.

Since the menu is open it's not a bad idea to save your game, but note that if you load this particular save you won't be able to change your equipment again before it continues so be sure you have the gear you want when you save or you're going to have to reload an earlier save.

You face the first wave of attackers- five Rabble and one Ragged Berserker, just as easy to defeat as they were at the Bloody Spire.

If Altina is part of the party, then the scene shifts to her as she holds off orcs in the pass and confronts her old memories in the process, with results depending on her RP total (and dialogue changing depending on her exact mindset). Then it's back to Hilstara, and the real fight begins. As with the Bloody Spire, you potentially have up to four more increasingly dangerous waves of enemies to deal with, but unlike the Bloody Spire losing a fight is going to cost you a lot more.
 * 80+: +2 to Aramite Front, +4000 XP
 * <80: +1 to Aramite Front, +3000 XP

Fight 2: 2 Orc Husks, 2 Burners, -15 to Aramite Front if lost. Meet some new enemies. Husks either attack you or try to blind you, while Burners are constantly losing HP and can hit very hard by spending the HP, but have no defense and only 1000 HP to begin with. Have Hilstara use Shieldwall to get a feel for how much they can hurt her. If they can do some serious damage then you should probably be concerned.

After the fight, Hilstara sends Varia away to go help with the other passes. If you picked up Dwarven Explosives from the dwarves in the Aramite Forest, it provides a +2 to Aramite Front, with a further +1 to Aramite Front if Varia has been dominated. Dominated Varia also gains XP based on her RP level. Without the explosives, Varia is simply told to go help the others any way she can. Either way, Dominated Varia has a few more parting words for Hilstara, and then it's Hlstara alone against the oncoming horde.

Fight 3: 1 Orc Husk 2 Burners, -10 to Aramite Front if lost. One fewer Orc Husk than the last fight, but you're also short Varia's firepower. Best to start with Shieldwall to boost your defenses even further before they start swinging. If Hilstara is armored enough that even the burners can't do more than scratch her then you can wait out the burners and finish them off, otherwise you might have to use Hilstara's Indomitable Will skill to heal your way through the damage, buff your defenses and wait for them to burn out.

Win this fight and the Aramite Front is boosted further based on Hilstara's RP value- +2 to Aramite Front if Simon had the Max RP conversation with Hilstara, or +1 to Aramite Front if it's at least 80+.

The game then checks your Aramite Front Score. A score of 32 or higher means that this is the final wave, Hilstara's forces managed to survive and the Aramite Front has gone so well that Hilstara gets a chance to help out in some way. If your Aramite Front score was 31 or lower, then you're not out of danger yet and the waves continues.

Fight 4: 2 Burners, 1 Dominated Shaman, -8 to Aramite Front if lost. If you're strong enough to outlast the burners, then the magic-slinging shaman is the only real threat. Using Indomitable Will will boost Hilstara's magic defenses as well as heal her, letting her slug her way through the shaman's magic.

Fight 5: 1 Ogre, -6 to Aramite Front if lost. Buff your physical defenses, and chip away, healing with Indomitable Will when necessary.

If Hilstara manages to beat even the ogre by herself then she secures some form of victory, but if she loses any one of the four previous fights things are going to get messy. Not only will the Aramite Front be penalized based on how easy the fight was, but she'll take a further -10 to Aramite Front and have to fight in her Last Stand.

Last Stand: 2 Ogres, 1 Monstrous Ogre. This would be a tough boss fight with a full party, but it's even worse for a solo Hilstara, especially one who probably wasn't strong enough to fight the previous battles. This would probably be unwinnable if Hilstara didn't have the Last Stand state applied to her, granting her a boost to her attack, defense, agility, critical hit chance, HP and MP regen and hit rate, plus a penalty to her evasion rate and an immunity to being defeated by being reduced to 0 HP. She's unkillable in this state, so fight on until you win. Enjoy the fight and the pile of XP you get for winning it, because you're almost certainly not going to like what happens next...

The scene shifts to Varia giving Simon a report back at the camp, explaining how Hilstara managed to delay the Incubus Emperor's forces long enough for the armies of Yhilin, Aram and the Church to sweep in on them. The exact outcome is based on your Aramite Front score, with different dialogue depending on if Varia is Dominated or Reshaped.