Okay, first death of a team member, and to a FOE nontheless! But, the very same FOE got his ass kicked in return in an EPIC battle that I will spoiler below, I think I never had such a moment in a game ever
B2F FOE battle(s)
[spoiler]
I'm exploring B2F, party level SEVEN, upper left quadrant, and I do a very stupid thing: even If I saw the FOE threat signal in the corner, I decide to step in the muddy tile in front of me, not sure of what the effect would be. The other tried to warn the reckless Princess that maybe - maybe - it was not the best idea, but her legs were already there. It turns out you have to spend 2 turns to traverse 1 and the FOE is all over me.
Not happy with the mess created, the Princess looked at the giant monster and ordered to... attack. It can't be that hard, can it? So, she draws her sword, the Hoplite get ready to defend her, the Ninja does his Kagerou trick just in case, and the Buccaneer and Arbalist shoots like crazy. A grand total of like 16 damage, barely a pixel in the monster's health bar.
The party gives the Princess murderous looks and she starts to think that maybe the FOE is not the biggest threat to her life right now. In the meantime, the smoke image vanish following a mighty strike from the beast.
"Ok guys, I was just kidding! Retreat!" The party run for their lives and manage to flee almost unscathed, receiving only a blow in the back. It was not the Princess though so she decided to keep on walking!
They head south and discover a nasty tunnel full of mud guarded by a FOE. Before the others can speak a word, the Princess throws herself in the tunnel to the astonishment of the party. "AGAIN?! Fucking bitch!" yells Ian the Buccaneer but it's too late.
The guild now has mud in front of them AND in the back and the FOE noticed them and is near. REALLY near. Like, they can't hope to escape. They get desperate but the misterious Ninja keeps his blood cold and notice a crack in the tree wall side. "Quick, inside!" They manage to get to the other side just in time! Pheeew.
But the Princess, oh that Princess. She had to be sure that she could get back form that passage. So she push the branches... and falls on the other side, again, bringing with her the whole party that was grabbing her in a last tentative to stop her. [I don't know why I wanted to check that it wasn't a one way shortcut. I forgot that once you open the passage it doesn't ask you again for confirmation. It just take you to the other side. -_-"]
So yeah, they basically throw themselves at the FOE. It must be a sibling of the previous one since it looks the same. So it's probably near to impossible to kill too. Luckily the beast didn't expect the party to return and looks a bit surprised: this is the right moment to escape! The Princess turns to the others ready to give the retreat order, but with much disappointment she realizes that they already trying to escape on their own.
Only, they can't. The tunnel is too narrow and the FOE has them cornered. Now, it's a matter of life and death. No time for recriminations, everyone must do their best to keep the team alive. The Buccaneer and the Arbalist keeps shooting at him turn after turn, even if they barely scratch the thick skin of the beast. The Princess give them and the Ninja an attack command whenever is feasible to maximize damage. The Ninja clones himself to double the attacks and the first rounds do indeed go well since the Princess is not targeted and keeps healing the others (nice combo with the clone that I didn't realize at first) while the Hoplite attracts the FOE and defends the first line.
Problems begin when the Princess DO get finally hit and a couple of rough turns ensue with general health going a bittle too low for my tastes. But, the Princess lands a strike with her enchanted sword that blinds the beast! This results in a couple of misses that gives the party a (short) time to breath, using a Medica to bring her majesty to full health again. The Buccaneer in the meantime has finished his TPS for the quick draw and relays on normal attacks. The Ninja's first clone had died long ago and he tries to make another but the monster seems to regain the sight in that very moment and a single strike befell him. Sigh.
A new problem arises when the Hoplite is out of energy for defending actively, and has to use the (only) potion to regain TP and keep spamming Line guards. The monster's health slowly (very slowly) decrease and the party starts to think that maybe, maybe, they will return to the town. The hope doesn't last long as the Princess gets hit again and has to consume the last Medica in the bag to have a minimum chance at survival. That's when the FOE lands a strong hit on the Hoplite POISONING him. Oh boy, keeping him alive will not be easy now. The monster's health is really low by now after countless rounds of fighting and the Princess lands another lucky blow in the eyes, though the beast's blindness doesn't last long and he manages to poison ANOTHER party member, the Buccaneer. He doesn't have the mighty body or the armor of the Hoplite and in a couple of turns dies, despite the healing efforts of the healthy Princess.
Things took a turn for the worst but the hideous beast has now only a single pixel of life left. With vengeful hearts, the party attacks the beast for the last time putting all their strength in the last blow. It works, and the FOE falls with a heavy sound. The Hoplite has maybe 5 hp left, both the Arbalist and the Ninja have less than half life. They take a breath after the battle and upon realizing that they made it, they don't waste a second to teleport to town. They risked enough for the day.
Wow, what a fantastic battle. I used every item I had in the bag (not many to begin with) but it was worth it. I will surely avoid doing dumb things in the proximity of FOEs in the future. Lesson learned.
[/spoiler]
Like four of my members all got hit with poison and I was like "oh fuck". Later on, my Monk also realized "oh... I had a spell to cancel out status ailments. I wonder if that could have erased poison." x_x dammit... dammit...