#but I couldn't let Anastacia die. I need her for boss battles

[kujirara]

Adventure Log 1:

Ancient Forest, part 1

“We’ve been walking for HOOUURS can’t we sit down and rest for a minute?” Eri, the Dark Hunter, yells, while stretching her arms.

“It’s barely been 10 minutes…”

“Do not let your guard down, Eri. The creatures here are stronger than you could think.” Anastacia warns her.

“Come on, we’re on the first floor. There is nothing that dangerous over… ACK!”

Eri suddenly turns around and swings her whip, but the only thing she hits is a tree. The creature that attacked her – A red mole with amazing claws – craved its nails in her back and is holding into it, in a way where it moves when she moves.

“Eri, stay quiet for a second.” Helena, the Alchemist, says in a disturbingly calm tone. “I need you not to move.”

Suddenly, the Dark Hunter feels an intense power hitting her, something way stronger than anything the Mole could have done, and feels the heat of the blood - and the flames - hitting her back right before falling on the muddy ground pain.

“HELENA, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?” Apollo, the Troubadour, yells in anger.

“It worked, didn’t it? The mole is dead.” Helena quickly approaches Eri, thrown in the ground and barely conscious. “I’ll pass the medicine on your back now, okay? You know how much it burns… Eh, I don’t think you’re listening anyways.”

“Now what? Do we call Sylvia?” Lilo asks.

“No need, Sylvia was the one to give me this medicine anyways. She promised it would heal basically any damage a monster this low level could cause. She’ll get up in a minute, I’m sure.”

“But this burn was not caused by a monster…”

“Honestly, she has been hit by me so many times during our training, I don’t think she even feels it anymore.”

“This… Are you aware that this does not make it any better, correct?” Anastacia says, with genuine concern in her voice – a rare thing for her.

“Eh, it will be okay. I think she is into that, actually.”

“Huh…”

And so, the time passed.

-

“Another dead end, how exciting…” Eri says, ironically. “I hope you are marking all this in the map, Lilo.”

“I am! Don’t worry about it”, Lilo, the Survivalist, innocently answers. Eri rolls her eyes.

“Hey, what’s that?” Apollo suddenly points to the top of the tree at the dead end. “There is something tangled in the tree. Doesn’t look like a normal vine…”

“It’s a whip.” Anastacia, the Princess from a faraway land, says in a serious and imposing voice, as she is used to when giving orders. “Lilo. Get it.”

“Of course, Miss…” Lilo quickly but carefully goes up the tree. Despite her constant passivity towards everything, she is skilled in her areas. “This looks really old, are you sure you want to pick it up?”

“Yes. Someone must have lost it, and it is our duty to give it back.”

“I understand…” she then proceeds to untangle the whip from the branch, something a normal person would take a long time due to the complexity of the nods, she can finish in just a couple minutes.

--

On the way back to the entrance of the labyrinth, after carefully avoiding the giant deer, Lilo suddenly stops in a crossroad.

“What’s wrong?”

“This path… we didn’t map it.”

“Oh for fucks sake, then map it!” Eri yells, then starts walking towards the unmapped room. “See. There is a chest here that we missed. Your fault.”

“Hey, come on, stop being mean with her. None of us noticed the path, it’s not only her fault.” Apollo, the Troubadour comments.

“She is the survivalist here. Noticing paths and marking them down is her only role. And she failed to fulfill it. Yes, it was her fault.” Anastacia says in a surprisingly imposing tone. “We are lucky it was not a big deal this time. Pay more attention.”

Helena rolls her eyes.  “What even is in the chest?”

“It was Nectar. Those items are rare around here; we almost lost something very precious. Because of you.”

Lilo says nothing; she only lowers her head and puts down a chest marker on the map.

---

After completing the map fo the first floor and reporting to the Duke, the Graveyard guild moved on to the second floor.

"Attempt at an ambush, behind Eri." Lilo says casually, while preparing her bow. The second the Venomflies pop out of the woods, attempting to spread their venomous powder, a combo attack - Flank Shot quickly followed by a Volt Fomula - Eliminated half of them. A swing of Eri's whip was just enough to deal with the rest.

The battles were getting easier to manage. The explorers were starting to let their guard down.

"So, what did you think of those Dinos back there?", Apollo asks.

"They are stupid. Very big and scary at first glance, sure, but they can't see anything a palm in front of them. I bet we can set them on fire easily." Helena says.

"No, I don't think we can... they might be easy to dodge, but if they catch us I bet we're done for good."

Lilo gestures to the rest of the group. "Hey, guys, I found a shortcut over here, I think it takes us back to the entrance."

"Perfect." walks towards the small open space inbetween the trees. "Good job, Lilo. We can head back now."

"Anastacia, you should see this over here." The voice of Eri is heard a little far away, from her back. Anastacia sighs and turns around.

"What is that, a sunflower? What is so surprising about a flower?"

"It... It's a monster!" Lilo suddenly yells. "What are you doing so close to it?"

"Hey, come on. It's just a flower. What bad could it do?"

Suddenly the creature moves, as if pointing its head - its flower - to the party's direction. And another flower, that until this moment was hiden in between the trees, appears, doing the same movement.

"Guys, this might be dangerous, we should flee. Now."

"Retreat." The Princess orders. Apollo and Helena, with this order, turn and move towards the shortcut, but not Eri. Eri refuses to move.

"Come on, are we really gonna flee from flowers?" she says, taking out her whip. She is confident. She does not believe this fight can be lost.

The sunflowers shoot their Solar Flames: a burst of energy coming from the center of the flower. The first flower, the one closes to Eri, would hit her straight on the chest. She would not survive such a powerful shot, that close.

"Get down!" Anastacia yells, as she throws her body in Eri. Eri falls to the side, but Anastacia is hit directly by the beam.

Eri's eyes widen in horror the moment she realizes what she has done. She picks up the fallen princess, and turns her eyes to the shortcut behind them. Before she can move, or say anything, arrows pass trough her. Multiple arrows, about 8 of them, hit the flowers, one after another, in a burst of power. All the flowers, dead in an instant.

"Eri, what the fuck? COME QUICK!" Helena yells. Eri gets up and runs towards the exit, still carrying Anastacia in her arms.

----

Anastacia is laying on the ground. She has a bed in her room, but she does not wants to use it. Not now.

A knocking sound. Someone is at the door. Anastacia does not wants to answer it.

"Excuse me... I'm getting in, in case you're undressed." It is Eri. "Hey, how are you? Physically, I mean. The nectar worked well?"

"Yes, I am alive." Anastacia answers, without really looking at the door. Her eyes are completely fixed in a singular point in front of her.

Eri sits in front of her. "Hey, I just wanted to let you know, I understand."

"What?"

"I understand. I understand what you are going trough now. Dying is a traumatic experience. I have died before."

"..."

"I used to drink Nectar as a recreational drug. It is a really strong medicine, despite the sweetness, and drinking it when you don't need it can fuck up with your mind. Dying hurts physically, and reviving hurts mentally."

"..."

"...I'm thankful that we found that Nectar. I wouldn't want you to die. You are one of the few cool people in this guild."

"...thank you for using it on me."

"Of course. Just wanted to let you know that I am here for you in case you need it. It's hard to bear psychological damage by yourself, I'd know it."

Anastacia answers with a nod.

"Ok... Well, I'll let you rest now. The Duke called us specifically. Tomorrow we are going there. Hope you can still keep going."

"I can. Don not worry about me."

Eri nods, and smiles. And this was the end of Graveyard Guild's first day of adventuring.

Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Nuzlocke

This is my first time trying a EO Challange Run. I kinda just wanna see how long it will last, and document my journey.

Ruleset:

Game will be played on Expert Difficulty, Classic Mode.

Only 1 character of each class will be created at the start of the game.

All character’s levels must be kept below the cap for each stratum.

The level cap for each stratum 3x the last floor of the stratum. (15 for 1st stratum, 30 for 2nd, etc).

Once a character dies in combat, they must be released from the guild; if the whole party is defeated/a game over is reached, all 5 characters must be released. Ressucitate, Revive and other revival skills are not allowed.

All characters get a second “life” after a game over during a boss battle, only once per boss per character.

Floor jump not allowed. Ariadne Thread is allowed.

May only reassign SP after defeating a Stratum Boss.

Grimoires are allowed.

Medica, Amrita and other healing itens are allowed.

BUYING Nectar is not allowed. Using it is.

The Plan

For exploration, a Survivalist is a must have. With a ruleset like this, surprise attacks could and will be fatal. Risk Perception and Stalker are needed as fast as possible. Keeping a Protector with Flee could also be useful for random encounters, especially early on, tho both of those can be taken out with Grimoires later.

For the first stratum boss, the plan is simple: Dark Hunter for Leg Bind, Troubador for Flame Fantasia, Alchemist for Ice damage, and Sovereign for Elemental Link and buffs. The last slot would be Survivalist, probably.

Of course all of this is insanely RNG-dependant, and the rules might be bent to better suit my own playstyle, but those are the rules I'm going to plan around. Wish me luck lol