Let's Play Monster Quest part 4

Curious. Seth, I appear to be missing the bracelet of purely sentimental value given to me by my father, King Fado. Oh well, let's keep on task.
NO WE MUST GET IT BACK RIGHT NOW
Errr. I know you were closer to my father than I in some ways, Seth, but-
VERY IMPORTANT NO TIME TO DISCUSS
Seth! I appreciate you as an adviser, but I make the final decision! Why is this so important, exactly?
My lady, I assure you there is a very important reason. I swear on my oath to Renais.
Oh, well, that sounds good, bu-
OFF WE GO


I like the alliteration here, but the chapter title is fairly misleading about what's important in this mission. Not necessarily bad, but odd.

Before we start, I check all the enemies, and as far as I can tell the hack has done nothing to them.


So here's our starting position. Note the bow-wielding Bonewalker -we've got a new party member.


Beacon Bow. Called it.

Neimi's been all-around upgraded compared to the unmodded game, with literally every stat either improved or unchanged. I'm particularly pleased by her bolstered Constitution, as it makes heavier Bows more practical for her.

(Specifics: +3 HP, +2 Strength, +1 Speed, +2 Defense, +2 Constitution)

Have a picture of the entire map, courtesy of Serenes Forest.


I've always kind of wondered why there's that one irrelevant Forest tile.

It's completely possible to navigate the map without opening any of the doors, barring the one Colm automatically opens, but I tend to avoid that. Running out of Lockpicks has never been a concern for me in previous runs, while saving weapon uses is much more useful.

... though it's only in writing up this post that it occurred to me that infinite-use weapons bypasses that. Whoops.


Regardless, I open by having Ross take a shot at the Bandit just on the other side of the wall. This is normally the mission I carefully arrange to get Ross to level 10 so he'll promote as early as possible -I'd do it on the mission he's recruited on, but all of the enemies are aggressive on that mission, making it impractical- but since Ross is not a Trainee here I'll be a lot less obsessive about that.

Also, our (Well, your) first glimpse of Tarvos Ross! He's... blue? With purple hair? Huh. I was expecting him to be more similar to his father. He makes me think of a centaur Poseidon this way. Also, his axe is golden for some reason. Weird.

He's also the first wonky-looking sprite we've seen -it's barely visible in this screenshot, but he's got glitchy-looking purple spots on his arms that I'm pretty sure are from a bad pallete, and not more hair.

 
Then a bunch of moving happens, and Colm shows up. He's a Revenant.

... this would surprise me, but the hack's readme explicitly tells you that Revenants have Thief functionality. I'm still kind of... disappointed, I guess? Anyway, here's our new friend's details.


As is the pattern with this hack, Colm's statline has been improved, but not nearly as much as usual -most of his stats are the same as Thief-Colm's, and the exceptions are only a point higher. That's fine, he should be plenty useful regardless, though it's going to hurt that he won't get weapon triangle advantage against the various axe-users on this map.

(Specific stats: +1 Strength, +1 Speed, +1 Defense. Yep)

Also note that he comes with a Sharp Claw, and that his Lockpicks have extra uses compared to the unmodded game. The Sharp Claw is the hardest-hitting Claw, though it's also the least accurate and the heaviest.


A quick comparison shows that the hack retains those truths, and the Weight in particular is apparently unchanged; 14, way too much for Colm's rotting shoulders to bear. The Might appears to be unchanged as well, at 14 again.

Regardless, I don't like these numbers. The Brigand will two-shot Colm if both hits are landed, and the Rotten Claw is too weak to kill the Brigand even though Colm will double him.


So instead I have Gilliam move up and swap the Fetid Claw for the Sharp Claw and -dangit, the Fetid Claw is also too heavy for Colm! Still, I think this distribution makes more sense, since Gilliam can take the weight of the Sharp Claw easily, while the Fetid Claw might actually be useful to Colm against some targets. If he had just one more point of Speed here, he'd double the Brigand, for example. He wouldn't kill them, mind, but he would double them.


I settle for having Colm sit around and wait for the Brigand to come to him.


Meanwhile Ross hits his Brigand again for some more experience, and you can better see what I was talking about earlier. I think those are shadows, only they're some shade of purple? Or maybe they're meant to be muscle lines. Regardless, it looks really weird, and it's even worse in motion.


Then a bunch more moving occurs, though for whatever reason I didn't screenshot Seth's final position. It's just below Vanessa, though.

So then the Brigand attacks Colm-


OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL

Boy, your eyeball is dangling.
Oh yeah, it does that sometimes.

I've always thought the Revenant battle graphic was kind of cute. The Entombed's coloration makes them look like something's wrong with them, but it looks like a skin condition or something.

This... oh man, this had me nauseous. The only way it could be worse would be if the wounds were red -yes, the blue marks across his body are open wounds- rather than blue, and I'm not 100% sure I would actually find that more revolting.

Congratulations, hack creator: you made a zombie I'm actually horrified by. This is no mean feat.


You can actually see the Revenant's spine bulging out of their back. I knew that before playing this hack, but it never made much of an impact on me.

... oh, and Colm took a hit here, unfortunately. Gonna need to heal him up.


Incidentally, here's what Moulder looks like. I think this is a pretty great look for him/her. Too bad Moulder is going to be shunned as much as possible in this hack.

... also that second screenshot makes Colm look like he's melting under intense light.

Wonderful.


Anyway, rather than have Colm risk himself on the Brigand, I have him go over and open the far chest. I also had Neimi run her Support conversation with Colm.

Try not to think too hard how "being a crybaby" works when you're a skeleton. For that matter, I have no idea how Colm can be a pickpocket zombie. Revenants make squishing noises with every step they make, and their skin sort of hangs off of them... not the most subtle things ever.


Then Eirika finishes off the Brigand and gets another excellent level, this time including Strength!


Meanwhile Ross takes another potshot at his Brigand. Almost finished!


Then a bunch more moving up happens, and I again don't screenshot Seth's ending position for whatever reason.


Ross finally finishes off his Brigand. Huzzah!


Colm loots another chest. I don't really care, since my current Lance user (Seth doesn't count) would always rather use her Bright Lance than the Iron Lance -the Iron Lance has no advantage whatsoever over the Bright Lance, and the Bright Lance's infinite uses mean the Iron Lance isn't even useful as "I don't want to waste uses on something actually good".


The Iron Sword I had Colm loot earlier is passed off to Eirika in exchange for a Vulnerary.

Incidentally, even Iron Swords have more durability in this hack than in the unmodded game, though it's only 4 extra uses. No idea why Iron Swords have 46 uses in the base game anyway. One of those weird things.


More moving up of the entire army. For variety, I don't screenshot Moulder's position this time.


I set up Neimi to bait out this Archer.


Colm loots the last of these three Chests, though I mess up the screenshot. I make up for it by screenshotting his overloaded inventory, showing that it's a Hand Axe, and Colm has to send something to Supply. (Oh by the way this is the first mission we've had access to Supply) I send the Iron Lance, since I have no use for it right now.


More moving everyone up. This chapter is a bit poorly paced, honestly.


Then the Archer- oh, right, one of those Bandits has a Hand Axe. Whoops.  This could've ended badly -if the Brigand had hit her and then she'd gotten a crit, that would've opened the way for the Archer to kill her.

I like Neimi's look! I'm honestly amused by the pink bowstring string, in particular. I guess the green loincloth is the translation of her green shoulderpad? Regardless, the sprite looks good, and though it would be easy for the hacker to have simply used an unmodified Wight sprite and hope the player didn't notice, they actually went through the effort of palleting up a sprite for her. Nice.


The Archer missed, but I decide to pull Neimi back regardless -after taking another shot. Fortunately, the Brigand missed again, but Rescue shenanigans are still nice.


The Brigand Ross killed earlier actually drops a Door Key, and I decide to have Ross pass it off to Franz so he can go open the door instead of Colm, speed things up a little. I also have Colm pass off the looted Hand Axe to Ross, so Ross can hit harder if he wants.


Next turn comes and I have Neimi attack the Brigand again, I think she got a crit here, but I didn't time the screenshot well if so. Brigand's dead, regardless, and Neimi's ready for the Archer to be baited out.


I have Franz open the door so the Brigand will kill himself on our friendly neighborhood undead horror.


I double-check the Archer's range for some reason?

Man, I dunno.


The Brigand lands a hit on Franz, but Franz ain't having none of that and one-shots the guy with a crit. Neat.


Drops a Chest Key so I don't even need Colm to open the Chest.


Meanwhile, the Archer finally is attacking Neimi and -oh, actually she would've survived even in the worst-case scenario earlier. Okay then.


My turn again, and I start by having Franz open the chest. Franz will make good use of this Javelin, so that worked out.


So then I have Neimi shoot the Archer again, and she got hit both times. Not surprising.


Two different screenshots, and I'm pleasantly surprised the first one actually caught the glowing ball of dark magic. It flickers in and out the whole time, and I was expecting to miss it. The second screenshot is just showing that Neimi is at full health.

Incidentally, though I didn't think to take a screenshot of Moulder's experience gain from healing, it (re)confirms that he/she is considered to be a promoted unit. Unfortunate.


Neimi finishes off the Archer on the enemy's turn and gets a solid level, though lacking the two most important stats for a dedicated Bow wielder.



I check the Thief's Speed, and compare them to my other units. Only Eirika and Vanessa have enough Speed that the Thief can't steal their items.


As such, I move up Vanessa to bait out the Thief -she's still one of my lowest-level characters.


More general moving up.


I missed the screenshot in my shock, but the Thief steals Vanessa's Vulnerary anyway. I would've sworn that you had to outspeed the target to steal their stuff, but apparently either I was wrong or the hack changed that.

Regardless, Colm isn't fast enough to steal it back, so this is lost to me.

Now I'm wishing I'd thought to have Franz rip the Thief apart with his Javelin earlier. He could've, but I didn't think of it at the time and wasn't expecting this Thief to be this kind of a problem.



Vanessa has her revenge over the course of her turn and then the Thief's turn. I'm pleasantly surprised when the Thief suicides on Vanessa -in the unmodded game it's pretty normal for me to see Thieves steal a Vulnerary and then run off to heal with it the instant they're injured, so I was expecting this Thief to do exactly that, which would've been annoying.


General moving up, staying out of reach of the above Brigand. Ross is in reach of the more southern Brigand in an attempt to bait them out.


It works.


Colm attacks the lured-out Brigand, but doesn't get much accomplished and takes a hit in the process.


I again get a poor frame for showing it, but Neimi gets another crit, finishing off the Brigand.


More general moving up, and I've got Franz set up so the other Brigand will be baited out and attack him.


Success!

Though, ow, Franz isn't looking so good.


This particular Brigand is carrying a Pure Water, and I have Colm take it off his hands. Free experience!


Since Franz can't possibly miss, I have him finish off the Brigand -he doubled them when they attacked him, so they're in reach to die in one hit. He gets a really good level out of it.


Meanwhile I bait out the Mercenary that was north of that Brigand with Vanessa. I'm amused he can't hurt her.


I have Colm steal the Mercenary's Antitoxin. This may or may not be useful in a later mission, but in any event it's more free experience for Colm.


Then I have Neimi finish off the Mercenary.


Franz is healed by Moulder, and this time I get a screenshot where the ball is invisible.

Though mostly I'm screenshotting these because it amuses me to have a giant snake-woman channeling dark, crackling energies into... healing someone.


I check out possibilities for attacking Bazba and have Franz attack. It's not really reckless, even though Bazba will kill him in two attacks if he lands both -I've got Rescue shenanigans available.


Annoyingly, Bazba lands his counterattack.



After a bunch of Rescue shenanigans, I have Eirika sit next to Bazba. This time he misses.


I have Neimi take a shot, noticing that she's close to a level-up, and she gets this meh level. Speed is good, anyway.


I have Vanessa throw a Javelin because why not. She misses, but hey, free experience.


Then, since Bazba is so weakened, I have Eirika finish him off with an ordinary Iron Sword, whereupon she gets another really good level!

Talking ensues.

I know you're really the Dark Princess of Renais, Lady Eirika, rather than an anonymous traveler, and I wish to join with your Army of Darkness to forever banish the Forces of Light!
Seth informs me you stole my Lunar Bracelet.
No I didn't.
Yes you did.
It was on her the whole time! I have photographic proof!

See?
... you stole something when you "accidentally" bumped into her earlier.
Hey man, my claws and my lockpicks were the only thing on me at the start of this mission, and you can see that all I'm wearing is some ragged pants. Unless you think the good lady was carrying some lockpicks?...
... fine. But I've got my eye-
What eye?
-socket on you.
But really, Seth, why was this so important?
Oh would you look at the time, gotta go.
...
--------------------------------------------------


Which brings us to the world map again, where next time we finally meet some enemy monsters.

See you next mission