Black Water Marsh - Stigandr Rescue mission - HOW?!?!?!?!?!?

[BlackDragon]

Got a mission where I'm supposed to seek out 'Mirrar of the Marsh'. As soon as I enter the area, though, I come across those two Stigandr you encounter when you first enter the area, too. They're caught in a trap at one end of the level. I'm at the other end of the level. If either one of them falls, it's Game Over.

And I LITERALLY PHYSICALLY CANNOT GET THERE IN TIME. I mean... it just seems impossible. As soon as the battle starts, they're mobbed by two frogs, two bunnies, a witch and a river-troll. Most of them piling on the melee-fighter who's closest to them. The two frogs are the executioners, really - they surround him, and then take turns back-attack-combo-hitting when their mates throw ranged attacks at him. Meanwhile, BOTH of them act like suicidal idiots, being under the AI's control and all - with the ranged attack of them seeming to DELIBERATELY AND SPECIFICALLY attack the enemy that'll make the LEAST difference. Potentially, he COULD do a lot of good by hitting the monsters clustered around his mate, setting off a chain-attack that triggers a bunch of combo-hits... but instead, he seems to inevitably just waste his attacks on a solitary, non-threatening bunny somewhere at the edge of his reach.

So basically, you've got two turns, AT BEST, to reach the immobilized heroes. Even if you absolutely tear through the enemies that stand in your way, you simply CANNOT MOVE FAST ENOUGH to make any difference. I tried granting Speed Up to a water-type healer with good mobility, sending it down to try and keep them alive for a bit... but guess what? Healing-support is only possible when ADJACENT, and those aforementioned murderfrogs do splash-damage, meaning the would-be healer gets absolutely BOMBARDED with indirect damage, and soon winds up dead itself due to lack of support.

...in conclusion, the mission appears to be genuinely impossible, and I really hope somebody can explain to me how it ISN'T...

[myhr2]

Never had any problem with that mission. Seems wierd that the NPCs die so fast. What level are you?

[BlackDragon]

Originally posted by myhr2:

Never had any problem with that mission. Seems wierd that the NPCs die so fast. What level are you?

'bout 30 with most of my crew. And it doesn't seem that weird to me, considering the sheer number of enemies that immediately mob the NPC's once the mission starts - ANYONE would go down fast when they're taking 10 attacks in a round! And those frogs aren't exactly weaklings, either. I've tried using Fairy's Kiss to keep their target alive, but the combined damage-output of all those foes is just so sickeningly high that it barely qualifies as a drop in the bucket...

[myhr2]

30 seems about right. Dunno what to say, the NPCs can actually tank some turns before going down, and even so, they shouldn't be dead immediatly. How long are you taking to reach them? About four turns should do the trick.

[BlackDragon]

I've tried several times, and I've yet to see them survive Turn 3. Heck, if they COULD last that long, I could conceivably reach them with at least a COUPLE of units, and probably pull through. But, it's not even a contest. The melee-fighter will usually be well past half-dead going into Turn 3. Combo-attacks are pretty OP against immobilized units, ya know? Like I said - frog on one side, frog on the other side, each of them triggers a combo-back-attack when they attack, and each of their RANGED buddies (including the hard-hitting River Troll) triggers TWO combo back attacks every time they throw in a hit. The damage mounts REALLY quickly that way. And it's pure luck if the two of them manage to take down even a SINGLE opponent before that happens, since they're mindless to the point of the suicidal. If I could control them myself, I could definitely off one of the frogs at least - which would make for a FAR more survivable situation. But they're just... too damn stupid.

Basically, there's literally no way to get there without using Haste, and using Haste consumes a turn for the unit that grants it, limiting their own movements... and, oh yeah, all those units clustered around the NPC's are water-types, so the wind-types that can actually grant haste are exactly the ones you'd want to send down there ASAP. As previously mentioned, sending an unsupported healer down there in a bid to keep those lunatics alive just gets that healer killed in a hurry...

[myhr2]

I don't know what to say, I mean, yes, you have to hurry, but being dead by turn 3? No way.

[BlackDragon]

Originally posted by myhr2:

I don't know what to say, I mean, yes, you have to hurry, but being dead by turn 3? No way.

No way, you say?
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2448927912

Start of Turn 3. Dude has next to no HP left and is completely surrounded. He would ABSOLUTELY be dead before the end of the turn (again), if it wasn't for the 'fully evolved' form of Piyochin, there. He proved to be the key - with the jump-type movement and a good bit of range, combined with Haste, he was able to get there in 2 turns. Thanks to the River Charm, he could hit both of the frogs, provoking combo-attacks from Mr. Mostly-dead that took them out, reversing the situation. Next turn, he could heal the guy (halfway) back up, and the next turn the whole party was there and the mission was won.

So, sure, not IMPOSSIBLE... assuming you've got Evolved Piyochin and some luck. Without one or both, you're screwed.

[myhr2]

I don't have Evolved Payachin at this point and I don't have problem with this mission. I'll have to pay attention next time to what happens and what I'm doing so that I can tell you, because this baffles me.

[heronumber00]

I don't know if you still need help with this one, but I will give some points just in case:
1. Bring defensive talismans (healing spells, Faery’s Kiss and Sun Shower, and MB shield spell, such as Barrier), healing spells often take a short time, 1 or 2 turns, to refresh, with help before Payachin can get to the guys. (Btw. I'm not sure if you know, but healing spells can act as revive too)
2. Put Friendship Scroll on Payachin (the higher lv the Friendship Scroll the better), it increase the area where Payachin heal apply. Put it on and see the craziness of it. If you don't have it, try to do some battle to try to farm for it.

[Rock]

I was having the same issue. Possibly starting the mission at too high a level makes it more difficult? I'm around 30 (I recruited Red and Tom first). This is by far the most difficult mission I've played so far. The rest of the game has been a cakewalk up to this point.

Reviving is out, because you lose the instant Marcus dies. No opportunity to resurrect. Marcus dies on the third turn, so you can't cast anything that takes 4 to charge (like teleport, assuming you have Peony's special maxed). Faery's Kiss and Sun Shower aren't strong enough to keep him alive. Also tried Immortal scroll with the same effect. Most MB spells don't help a lot since Marcus starts with 0 MB anyhow.

I tried maxing Peony's defense trait to see if it would help with the power of healing spells, but it didn't seem to do much. Plus it takes 1 turn longer to cool down before you can cast spells than if you have her special maxed. With Peony's special maxed, you can get an easy kill on the first turn and cast Faery's Kiss on turn 1; Sun Shower on turn 2.

*What did the trick for me* was replacing my Ice Gremlin with the Air Gremlin. That allowed me to haste Payachin (not evolved), which allowed her to get down there faster. Then she also drew a lot of fire from the enemies down there. Since I have the defense attributed maxed on Payachin (along with the Glacial scroll), she is basically an invincible meat-shield (especially in the water). So that did the trick.

My team was Peony, Payachin (not evolved), Tom (didn't really contribute but grabbed the chest), White Widow, Powder Jack, and Gremlin Thief (replacing Gremlin Bandit). The only really critical characters are Payachin and a wind summons who can cast haste on Payachin. Otherwise, pretty much anyone else would probably work fine. Hasting Payachin seems to be the key to winning this difficult mission.

[BlackDragon]

Ditto for me, though in my case, I don't think I could've done it without Payachin's EVOLVED form. Though, I suppose I'll never know - certainly, the fact that I first encountered this mission while waiting for Payachin to return from his temporary post-evolution leave of absence contributed heavily to it being outright impossible.

I do have an idea about another way you could do it, though, if you were high enough level - specifically, high enough level to max out Peony's Special-stat. That gives you 'Spell Cooldown on Kill. Using that, and making good use of the handful of weak enemies that spawn near your starting-point, it's entirely possible to have Teleport ready to go by Turn 3, at which point you could send any number of things directly there - such as, for instance, a tough Protector who can keep 'em safe and counterattack the frogs to death. Tom would work well, considering his Ice-element!

Either way, the mission seems more like a puzzle that requires a highly specific solution rather than a tactical challenge...

[meanatoe]

what I did was put Chico in the party with a wind gremilin, gave chico the stigandr scroll (+1 movement and some speed depending on scroll level) and then gremlin assisted him to give him haste for 2 more movement and then sped him over to the 2 dudes and had him wait to protect them while everyone else headed over.

[Chief Spreading Bull]

You could always just give Payachin a Teamwork scroll, cast haste on her and just rush her toward the Strigandr so that she can heal them both until the rest of your forces get there. Or you could just use Teamwork scroll on Pichon so that he can cast Mass Haste on all your units and you can get there faster to protect them.

Haste is an unbelievably powerful enchant in the first two turns of any fight since it allows you to position your forces, then you can just switch them over to Rage or Mana Burn after wards.