#kinda dicey area i'd still say

[claire-starsword]

The Guardiana Magic School Run - Part 2

We're back after an unexpectedly long pause, I played this part last sunday actually but didn't have time to post/finish the doodle til now. I've been typing the reactions live while playing though so it's not a problem.

That's all for big rambling preambles, Guardiana's magic parade exits the mountain hut and immediately gets into the action.

The clear bonus this time is the Demibuster, a sword not only stronger than Max's current one, but which also deals extra damage to Dark Dwarves. Dark Dwarves will be around for the next three or so battles so it's a neat bonus, but losing it is not the end of the world, as these things sell in Alterone shops as well. Of course, I'd rather save money for Steel Rings.

Unfortunately, this clear bonus is also kinda hard. The beginning of the battle is neck deep in mountains and the great feats of Guardiana's magic users do not include flying magic, so everyone's movement will be sucking for the foreseeable future. I think Max and Gong have enough defense to go in front alone, but I did say my challenge here is to minimize deaths so I'm a bit afraid of risking. Meanwhile Tao and Lowe have less movement so I expect them to suck. I even transferred an herb from Lowe to Max as he might struggle to reach people to heal them.

First enemies are a trio of goblins, I expect them to be ridiculously easy. They were doing like 3 damage on Gong last time and he and Max both gained defense on level up.

See everything's fine.

I'm gonna play a bit risky and keep advancing with Gong, letting Tao and Lowe deal with the goblin early on since they won't be crossing that area any time fast. The enemy AI tends to attack a character once they're in front of them so I don't expect this goblin to ignore Gong and go beat the squishy ones.

Infuriating survivals happen.

This guy thus gets a hit on Lowe but as you can see everything's fine. There are occasional benefits to being in the mountains I guess, the terrain bonus might be helping.

The third goblin does rush Tao so I was being reckless but she's fine, it's all good.

It does suck that now Max can't reach the guy next to Tao though. I'm not wasting Max's attack on a guy with 1 HP, so he's joining Gong.

See look at the numbers this guy's doing.

Hilariously the speed boost means he's now faster than the goblins so he's gonna finish this guy anyway, I don't want the squishy ones to face too much for too long. They drop a Medical Herb which is nice of them. Also I did promise to highlight differences so, unlike the clunkiness of item management in the mega drive version, this one has an item box you can store items in. It cannot be accessed in battle of course, but it's great to keep key items in. I'm bringing this up because enemy drops also go to it if your character's inventory is full, which is very convenient.

Turn 4. I'm clearly risking Gong a lot, but Tao and Lowe have finished the last goblin and Max should be reaching the front somewhat fast. Gong can also heal himself to buy time if things get dicey. I also don't think the dwarves advance as much as the goblins, so it should be fine for now.

Turn 5. Nothing happened! Which is bad because I guess the goblins and dwarves will want to come all together now. I'm still sending Gong ahead but I'm increasingly scared.

Turn 6. Turns out I found the perfect bait position for Gong as most enemies advanced yet none could reach him. We now have the initiative to deal with this group, but.. Max won't be reaching anything this turn, and Tao and Lowe are out of question. Perhaps they'll get baited by their obsession of Max, let's see if I can spread them out like that.

Yoooo nevermind I underestimated our great leader let's gooooo

MAX GREAT WARRIOR NEVER SAID ANYTHING BAD ABOUT HIM IN MY LIFE

He's also taking 1 damage from the dwarf so I have zero worries now.

I decide to get greedy now that I know the hero is very great and all that.

I'm fairly sure these guys could reach Lowe but they wanna kiss Max so bad it makes them look stupid. Max also counters the other dwarf, I suck at screenshotting counters, but the guy survived at 1 HP which is such a waste.

Max gets another absurd level up, this isn't even every stat, I'm bad at screenshotting level ups too, but look at this, no wonder I used to basically solo with him back when I was worse in the game.

I'm also convinced at this point Lowe won't be doing any useful healing so I'll start spamming the spell just for the exp. He and Tao did take some damage at the beginning so it's not totally useless.

Turn 9. I think Tao can reach that dwarf and finish them to get some exp. Would like to save the goblin for them as well but the guy is dedicated to chasing Max and I don't want them around while dealing with the last enemies.

The blazing woman succeeds, gets a good level up, and an item drop for her trouble, actually I don't think I've ever got so many item drops, it's hilarious to get so lucky at a first challenge run.

Disaster! We're at Turn 12 and the dark dwarf has done this garbage move, I thought these enemies had fixed position beyond the bridge. Maybe that's how it is in the mega drive version, this one has more aggressive AI, but don't quote me on that. What matters is that I messed up big time, bye bye Demibuster.

You can't say Max isn't trying though because he does a double hit and massacres the dwarf immediately. I have also healed him with a medical herb and Gong with himself last turn so we can be aggressive at these enemies, we just lack time.

AND AS I SAY THAT, a knight counters for a whooping 4 points of damage, because I forgot how absurd they were compared to everything else, and then the knight pair finishes Gong off with their own turn actions.

Congratulations Gong for getting the first death of the playthrough! This is why I did NOT challenge myself to a deathless run.

Worse part is that like, the battle sure was easy. Had I totally given up on the Demibuster instead of trying some miracle this could have been avoided. Alas.

Everything finishes up perfectly in the next turn. Man, I'm mad, this was so easy to avoid. My shame costs me 90 gold, I think reviving is pricier in this version??? Oh this will suck. I save in the Mountain Hut because might as well save entering Guardiana for the next update.

Losses: 0 Deaths: 1 My hubris: immense

[beardedmrbean]

Sept 20 (Reuters) - A federal law prohibiting people under felony indictment from buying firearms is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Texas has concluded, citing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that significantly expanded gun rights.

U.S. District Judge David Counts, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump, reached that conclusion on Monday in dismissing a federal indictment against Jose Gomez Quiroz, who had been charged under the decades-old ban.

Counts cited the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in June declaring for the first time that the right to "keep and bear arms" under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment protects a person's right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense.

Counts said that while the U.S. Supreme Court decision did not erase societal and public safety concerns about guns, it had "changed the legal landscape."

"The Second Amendment is not a 'second class right,'" Counts wrote. "No longer can courts balance away a constitutional right."

Quiroz's attorney and representatives for U.S. Attorney Ashley Hoff, whose office prosecuted the case, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Quiroz had been indicted in a Texas state court for burglary and later for bail jumping when he attempted in late 2021 to buy a 22-caliber semiautomatic handgun, leading to his federal indictment.

A federal jury on June 23 found him guilty of one count of illegal receipt of a firearm by a person under indictment and one count of making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm.

That same day, the U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority handed down its ruling, which struck down New York's concealed carry law. Quiroz then moved to have the case dismissed, citing that decision.

Counts granted the request, saying a historical survey found "little evidence" that the federal ban "aligns with this Nation’s historical tradition." (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Howard Goller)