Ogre Battle Part 8: Crossing The Undead

So the aftermath of yesterday's battle is that Gilbert and Canopus have joined us, and Grimm is now a vicious bastard. If I can keep his ALIgnment and CHArisma from dropping below the minimum threshold, he may become a Mage soon. Then we're cooking. Meanwhile, we're presented with a choice...

Shall we go to Lake Jansenia, or the Pogrom Forest? Let's try the forest- I think I remember how that works...

...well, sort of. I'm pretty sure we're going to get jumped by Ghosts in the forest, so it's a good place to get my Clerics' ALI jacked up. Good place to leave Grimm in drydock for a stage so it's not quite as soul-eroding to kill people next time.

This is the shop town, and that goldish smudge up top is my base. I'm sending Kamui and Canopus to take the town, and Landis as backup. Canopus has a Holy-element weapon, so he can fend off Ghosts and Skeletons if they head his way. At the same time, I send a pair of units with Clerics to the Roshfallian Temple on the border of the forest.

...and the first card we draw is the Moon, which I may have mentioned makes it night time. Good and bad- the undead that infest the area will be stronger now, but it also puts us closer to payday. Time to liberate like crazy! With little to lose except resurrection monies- and my Goth (The Ogre Battle Saga currency of choice) is pretty good right now -I send one of my clerical units through the haunted forest, in the hopes of liberating the hidden town on the other side.

I forgot to mention: if you press R you can zoom out and see much more of the map. I'm also not sure if I mentioned that while high-aligned units are best for liberating towns, any old bastard can hold them. So Grimm's coming out as insurance.

Skeletons! Hanna should be able to exorcise them and give her troops a clean shot at the leader. They lose- remember, battles are decided by HP damage totals and undead have Zero HP -but they also level up instantly, and Hanna's ALI jumps to EIGHTY-TWO. She's Priest material now, as she'll never be doing any killing except undead, which are most common on this map. So she's set.

Now Paula gets to do the same to a pair of Ghosts! He's an ugly little spud, isn't he? It goes the same way, except this time they take out the unit leader and win the day!

Now, these Devils are another matter. They cannot be exorcised, so it's a straight fight. Luckily it's a straight fight with Grimm right behind her waiting to take up the slack. But despite the loss of a Fighter, they otherwise hold their own, knocking the enemy into the river. That lets them slide around the Temple and attack FLAIL, but he could use the XP. He holds his own, and his ALI's up to 78. Good deal!

This Gilbert-like unit's just too much for Paula to handle. I fall back before they even start fighting and leave them to Grimm's tender mercies. He tears through the Beast Tamer and one Wyrm, and the town's safe. But Grimm's ALI is down to 1, so he's too low to be a Mage now. Damn! His wingmen are good candidates, however, so we may see a change in management...

And here's our first hidden town! They drop the Mystic Mace on me, which is a Holy weapon that is capable of hurting undead. Only Holy attacks can harm them: Clerics' healing, Holy weapons, and the Judgement and Sun Tarot Cards. Sun is a double-edged sword par excellence, however- it damages BOTH sides according to their Alignment scores. Not using it with Grimm anytime soon. Canopus has pushed forward, with one of his Birdmen using the Mystic Mace for two Holy attacks in the unit.

Tomorrow: the Necromancer at the heart of the forest!