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Another chapter complete means another quick trip to the tower. The primary goal is to get Tana up to speed, and a few stragglers like Lyn, Guy, and Neimi are coming along. You don't need to see Floor 1 again, so roll that beautiful level footage:









Goddammit Tana. I guess at least you maxed speed and are all caught up to Priscilla.



I also stumble upon a revenant holding 50 Gold. This will not be the strangest thing we walk away with this update. Anyway, with that done, let's head off to save Inn-



Oh. Oh.

Well how can I refuse a request like that?

Tower 2: Arqa



Welcome to Floor 2 of the Tower of Valni. This floor introduces some new monsters, and some of the nastier tricks they'll throw at you in the tower.





First up, we have the skeletons. As usual, they run the gauntlet between "fuck your shit up" and "lol slim lance," so you have to be really careful about who goes where.



Entombed are now random foes that can show up whenever they feel like, and they're a bit more dangerous than the boss of the last floor.



A spider is hanging out by the boss, and his fangs can inflict poison so do be careful in how you approach them.



Finally, we have something new. Tarvos are essentially the cavalry of monsters, and they wield axes.



Naturally, the boss is a Maelduin, a "promoted" Tarvos.



Since we don't have anyone promoted yet, leaving the first floor means we're on par with the monsters at best. You have to play things very carefully, because you will get your shit wrecked for sloppy play here. The top skeleton is our Killing Edge friend, and you'll see me go out of my way to avoid him as much as possible.



After some quick healing, the troops get lined back up. There's no way in hell the Entombed is going down this turn anyway, so it's all about reducing threats now.



Lucius and Neimi rescue Natasha and Nino out of the way, putting Lyn and Guy in charge of holding the line.



Well, for a given definition of holding the line.



Time for a necessary sacrifice. Neimi missed with one of her shots, so either Lyn or Guy is going to take a hit here. There's an archer off-screen in range of both, so there's no way around it. Someone is going to (maybe) die this turn.



Guy follows up and kills the Entombed. Time to roll the dice on Lyn.







Aside from the skeletons, both the Entombed and Tarvos are on their way over, and you always want to be proactive with them.



Tana takes the lead position. She's out of range of the Tarvos, and no one can double the Entombed, so the Bright Lance will do the most damage in one hit.



Did I say "the" Tarvos? Because there's two of them, and we still have to deal with a 45 HP Entombed.



So time for another fun fact. Like Flux, Elfire is effective against monsters as well. And it is going to save our fucking ass three or four times over this map. Do you hear that? That's the sound of a Bishop's relevancy disappearing.



Naturally, Nino misses, so it's time to scramble. This sets us up in a way that the only person they can kill is Lucius, but more likely than not the Entombed will go after Guy or Nino instead, leaving the Tarvos to do whatever the hell he wants, because he can't kill anyone.



Like so.



Christ, now stay dead.







Another scare comes when Tana decides to miss one of her two Bright Lance shots.



Holy shit, why is no one getting Strength/Magic? What the fuck is going on?



Oh, by the way, there are reinforcements in the tower. What do you mean, "There are reinforcements in the tower?" Of course there are reinforcments in the tower. Don't be stupid, this is IntSys.



Aside from the Tarvos, we meet the Mauthe Doogs. These are your monster myrmidons, being fast and accurate as hell, but not particularly strong.



Guy picks up 10G for killing a Tarvos. Fuck if I know, man.







Fortunately, that's all the reinforcements they'll throw at us for now, so we can continue north like nothing happened.



Yeaaahhh we're going to put a ring on you soon, my dear.



Neimi has proven herself to be plenty fast, but she's lacking in everything else pretty badly, especially on the defensive side. I have mages sturdier than Neimi.



We're in the home stretch, baiting enemies up by the boss.



...and the boss too, apparently.



Unfortunately, Tomahawks are bad for your speed.



If she had gotten more speed on that level, I'd probably have given her a Guiding Ring the second I got out of the tower, but it simply was not to be this time. I still might, actually.



With the boss done, it's just a matter of cleaning up the last couple enemies.



And that'll do it. Next time: Chapter 10, for real.