Mission 26: Cave of Cretins

Mission Overview

Situation: A group of former soldiers turned bandits are hiding in this nearby cave. They are giving our Empire a bad name, so we shall cut them down! Objective: Annihilate all enemies.	3D Map:

Enemies

	Imperial 1 (Einlager ATAC)
	HP: 97			Level: 9			Money: 5000
	BAS: 11	POW: 10	DEX: 8	AGL: 9	DEF: 5	WEP: 8	Spirit: 42	Range: 5	Speed: 5.10
	Equipment: Gradius, Garnet			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Tackle, Str. Slash, Kick			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Bandit Chief (Andoras ATAC)
	HP: 95			Level: 11			Money: 2000
	BAS: 12	POW: 13	DEX: 7	AGL: 7	DEF: 6	WEP: 13	Spirit: 48	Range: 4	Speed: 4.66
	Equipment: Battle Axe, Topaz			Attacks: Slash, Strike, Tackle, Str. Slash, Kick, Quicksand			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Bandit 1 (Barazaph ATAC)
	HP: 79			Level: 9			Money: 2000
	BAS: 9	POW: 10	DEX: 6	AGL: 7	DEF: 6	WEP: 9	Spirit: 42	Range: 4	Speed: 4.54
	Equipment: Gladius, Emerald			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Str. Slash			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Bandit 2 (Barazaph ATAC)
	HP: 69			Level: 8			Money: 3000
	BAS: 7	POW: 9	DEX: 6	AGL: 7	DEF: 6	WEP: 9	Spirit: 39	Range: 4	Speed: 4.46
	Equipment: Gladius, Emerald			Attacks: Slash, Thrust			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Bandit 3 (Andoras ATAC)
	HP: 71			Level: 7			Money: 3000
	BAS: 8	POW: 8	DEX: 6	AGL: 5	DEF: 5	WEP: 9	Spirit: 36	Range: 4	Speed: 4.02
	Equipment: Hand Axe, Onyx			Attacks: Slash, Strike, Str. Slash			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Bandit 4 (Andoras ATAC)
	HP: 65			Level: 6			Money: 2000
	BAS: 7	POW: 6	DEX: 6	AGL: 5	DEF: 5	WEP: 9	Spirit: 33	Range: 4	Speed: 3.98
	Equipment: Hand Axe, Onyx			Attacks: Slash, Strike			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Bandit 5 (Andoras ATAC)
	HP: 61			Level: 6			Money: 2000
	BAS: 6	POW: 7	DEX: 6	AGL: 6	DEF: 4	WEP: 9	Spirit: 33	Range: 4	Speed: 4.18
	Equipment: Hand Axe, Turquoise			Attacks: Slash, Strike			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Bandit 6 (Andoras ATAC)
	HP: 57			Level: 6			Money: 2000
	BAS: 5	POW: 7	DEX: 6	AGL: 4	DEF: 3	WEP: 10	Spirit: 33	Range: 4	Speed: 3.66
	Equipment: Hand Axe, Opal			Attacks: Slash, Strike			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Bandit 7 (Barbatos ATAC)
	HP: 66			Level: 6			Money: 3500
	BAS: 6	POW: 7	DEX: 7	AGL: 4	DEF: 4	WEP: 9	Spirit: 33	Range: 4	Speed: 3.70
	Equipment: Gladius, Onyx			Attacks: Slash, Thrust			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Bandit 8 (Barbatos ATAC)
	HP: 70			Level: 6			Money: 3500
	BAS: 7	POW: 6	DEX: 6	AGL: 4	DEF: 5	WEP: 9	Spirit: 33	Range: 4	Speed: 3.74
	Equipment: Gladius, Turquoise			Attacks: Slash, Thrust			Dormant Abilities: NONE

Important Battlefield Events:

- About 60 turns after the start of the battle, Bandit Chief and Bandits 1-3 enter the battle from the northern part of the screen.

Strategy

This battle is by no means difficult, but it serves a purpose; to get your weaker team members (Sadira and Cecilia) up to par. Allow Franco, Halak and Bastion to weaken the enemies, and allow Sadira and Cecilia to get the killing blows. You may not even need to have Bastion, Franco and Halak attack until the re-inforcements arrive. My own little brother known on the Pure Zelda Classic forums as Inuyasha gave me this interesting little bit of info: Sadira needs to increase DEX by 13 to earn Spiral Dive at this point in the game. That's ONLY 5 levels, which you can easily earn in this mission if you let Sadira get all the kills. Generally, I wouldn't like the rest of my team to fall behind, but they'll get chances to catch up later, right? Having Spiral Dive at this point in the game is EXTREMELY beneficial, (and it makes it easier to get Second Attack sooner!), so decide if you want to do it or not. If you're going for the Cecilia ending, you might want to be careful doing this, though my brother has also told me he was able to get the Cecilia ending by doing this and talking to Cecilia every Interview. Your call. I recommend it, just let Cecilia catch up next mission if you do, and at least let her gain 1 level to learn Str. Slash (increase her BAS by 2). This mission is pathetically easy, with the only enemies that pose a threat being the Chief and the Imperial. Everyone else is low leveled and easy to dispatch, so long as you fight properly. But if you've made it to the Empire Branch, I think you know how to fight properly.

Now that the mission is complete..

- You move on to Mission 27.

Before beginning Mission 27, save, load stats from Options screen and then Interview, interviewing the girl you want to be with in the end. Check the Briefing for an overview of what's next, and when you're ready, head to Mission 27: Harsh Reality.