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8: Fucking Oracles
All right, time to end this chapter!
Lionel's our goal again,
...and I'm sure you all know it by now, but you can actually bypass it entirely if you feel like it.
As it happens, I do. There are sticks to buy! Only for the oracles, though, and they aren't quite as nice as our old ones. +MA, though! I have to have it!
They also sell diamond armlets now, which grant +1 MA and PA and slow immunity,
...as well as flails (don't use flails, flails are awful) and the first harp (also don't use harps, harps are awful).
Then, go time.
Ramza starts all by himself,
...though I have no idea how he got up here and why the others couldn't do the same thing, it would have saved a lot of trouble.
It's a one on one duel! Let's see how this plays out in the new translation:
"Alas! It doth grieve me that this thing must be. I fear much that I must slay thee, thou poor fellow!"
"Put by thy weapon. I would take no vantage of thee. Thy sword cannot stand against an oaken staff such as mine. I could snap it like a barley straw. Yonder is a good oaken thicket by the roadside; take thee a cudgel thence and defend thyself fairly, if thou hast a taste for a sound drubbing."
...I dunno. It loses something of the original charm.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure we're screwed, because I forgot how deployment works on this map and all my squishies are within stabbing range of the enemies who all go before us argh.
Gaff goes for Ramza without fail.
oh gee thanks I so appreciate losing characters before I can even move them
On the flip side, someone dodged a hit at like 5%!
But yeah. screwed.
Ramza can survive this, though. His compatibility is good enough for 100% hit rates, so maybe we still have a chance hahahano.
Two down.
Landed a 46ish% Petrify! Not the most accurate spell, but a very nice way to deal with tanks.
I've never dodged so many fucking attacks, I guess the game knows I'm not going to live through this regardless.
How does it feel to be on the receiving end of HP theft bullshit, Gaff? But Ramza's a lot worse at it, so it's not sustainable.
My mages actually put up a decent fight, getting the knight in critical, landing sleep on two of them here...
But a second petrify is too much to hope for.
So they take a beating, and the wounded knight Moogles.
And I forget that charging makes you take more damage, so Gafgarion kills Ramza. Then he runs away and hides in the corner like an asshole.
Let's try this shit again and do what I should have done from the beginning, reset until I manage to position my characters in a way that won't put them close enough for the entire enemy force to beat on.
The archers still reach.
But the knights don't, and the summoner decides to sit around doing nothing even though I'm sure he could have done some damage from there.
New plan, move Ramza and open the gate while Gaff's helpless. Even with Don't Act, we can't take him on with just Ramza, even if we had an oaken staff ours is made from cypress.
They lined up nicely, so let's take the shot!
I couldn't Don't Act them,
...but it turned out not really necessary anyway.
This oracle gets doubleteamed by knights, but still lives. And would you look at that formation!
One guarded, but that's two down.
...and then, bullshit happens. You're supposed to stick to your side of the gate, asshole!
Ramza can just live if he life drains before Shiva goes off. He can't reach the switch.
That's what you get for pulling that kind of bullshit on me!
One knight in critical, one down (all hail Bolt 3), and we're still alive!
...correction, the generics are still alive damn it Gafgarion how are you so fucking fast
What follows is me frantically baiting him near the gate so he can Night Sword my mages, so they can in turn nuke him.
Since this landed, it's in the bag!
I was hoping I'd be able to loot the summoner, he might have something fun, but Ramza being dead kind of puts a damper on that - can't risk him crystallizing. I'll have to make do with this. It's... mediocre.
With Ramza at 0, I finally kill Gafgarion with Bolt 3.
Ramza gets up just to mock him.
He was loaded! Mine now.
We save (In a separate slot. Always save in a separate slot.) and head on in.
Gafgarion is dead. 
Oh, what are you going to do, bald me to death?
...
(I only just noticed that the candle flames stop flickering when the stone starts glowing. Probably more to do with PSX limitations than anything story related, though.)
...Oh.
I've actually never tried to cheese Lucavi with drain shenanigans. But since I've oracles, maybe I should try it-
(You son of a fuck!)
-and three oracles missing with life drain later, I'm reminded of why I've never tried it!
Fuck this shit, let's do it right.
Bolt EIN!
Bolt ZWEI!
Bolt DIE!
Fucking Oracles.
(If you're wondering, Ramza is my oracle. He contributed nothing.)
While we were killing legendary monsters,
Delita was killing politicians. I'm willing to call us even, we're both doing the world a favour.
And another interesting fact: Apparently Delita and Cid are both left handed!
Delita moves fast.
And before we know it, shit is hitting the fan all over the place...
Having reached level 10, Ramza saves his game. Next up, a new job... and then the entirety of chapter three.
Death tally: V
(Goug x2, Golgorand, Gafgarion III, Being An Idiot And Using Life Drain Instead Of Black Magick On Queklain)