Workshop in the Ironwood Grove
A downloadable game
A submission for the RTP Only Jam.
Follow the young Elven scholar Nell and her sister Neris as they venture into the Ironwood Grove, at the request of Professor Matthias- but beware, for it's home to ferocious monsters, and a fell scheme is being hatched in the shadows...
Switch between different forms and weapons to adapt to different threats and overcome different obstacles. The game can be completed in just over an hour, but there's plenty of backstory to discover and dialogue to read if the player goes looking for it.
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Oooh, glad I was troping this some more and read the Walkthrough! Else I never would've found the secret boss!
And glad I looked at the final detail. Probably would've found out through trial and error, but easier this way. Heh. Thanks for the walkthrough!
And even with that, turn management and gear is important, since even LV 12 Nellis needs to be specialized with Agility gear to be fast enough to be useful? And no, not even fast enough to go before any enemy. Oof.
I basically resigned myself to not going first at the start with Nell, and just using Neris and Party Member 3 to lock down the adds and debuff the boss while Nell set up Earth Form buffs to tank a big hit. Neris's Lock and Load and Party Member 3's ultimate skill does great at that. (The adds are the biggest threat sometimes- the attacker's stun can really ruin your day. A Ring of Free Action is a good option on Nell for that reason alone.)
I think I did manage to beat that boss without the final detail once, but it wasn't easy- his second phase hits hard and hits fast. The Take Aim + Heavy Draw combo hasn't let me down yet, and both Fire Form and Air Form can really lay down the hurt. On that note, Tailwind Sweep in Air Form is very useful for getting the Agility advantage, just like the Pokemon move that directly inspired it; using it is one of the few ways to outpace the 250 AGI on the adds.
Oh god. That's a lot of AGI. HA!
Thanks for that info! I didn't think to swap out of Earth after applying the Ward and Blessing.
And needed a LV 14 Air Nell to outspeed the Left Add. It seems the Right one is even faster than 254 AGI! HA!
Woo! Sweet Expanded Epilogue! ... I wonder if the trigger is opening the chest with the item, or just beating the Superboss... I'll assume I just have to win. Don't feel like beating the final boss for a third time just now.
HA! Got the letter in the backwards way. Great "sense of direction", Neris.
I didn't notice how the places past the boulders connected, so I just went the long way around to get the chest at the top of the boulder-y map.
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And against the next enemy with the sisters being LV 8 and their companion at LV 6..., spamming Blizzard along with Scatter Shot and some Poison helps a lot, just can't figure out how to get past that Iron Ward. I guess I gotta use Magic, meaning I might need to use Vis, since I'm out from all that Blizzarding.
Without spoiling anything: you can feel free to use your items for this fight.
Also, be careful- some enemies get scarier as their HP goes lower.
Yep! Gave a Vis to Neris so I could use her magic arrows. Makes things a whole lot easier! Into the underground I go!
Ooh, some people react to the Forms!
Ah, easy cipher! And then it gets harder? And harder? Oh my. Right, many (4) colors. ... Oh no... I can read it...
Finally getting to use all that Sil I gathered! And I'll have to watch my spending for this first purchasing spree! 4K isn't enough!
Spoilers-ish below, people.
Kilo Vis doesn't say how much MP it restores, but at least 1000, and likely 2000.
Lol Dwarven Diplomacy!
Didn't even need to buy anything to defeat the first new boss.
And same for the second. Uh. That second set of runes is incorrect if you check them.
Is Reflective Ice hard to hit, or literally impossible?
Pre-battle banter changes by element! Cool!
Okay, maybe I'll go buy some gear... Crushing Cloud is doing much less damage than expected. Perhaps because it's magic?
Superheated Smackdown and Armor Break! so nice! ... And mystery solved, unfortunately. Discount time! Only bought some armor for Neris before. Actually there's no Discount, just more stuff to buy. mmm.
Darn. Nova. Hmm. I kept Sonic Shooting. That Feeble might've even been helpful, if I had enough HP to survive.
And made it to the final phase, and only survived one turn. Didn't manage to attack twice. Concerning.
Why does HP / 2 for the secret character if Honeycomb-ed? it seems? Might just be me not reading the damage numbers right.
Yay for being able to Mute the final phase!
Do each of the Element Colors appear when they're used for the finale? I can't remember. Well, gotta go to bed! Great thing to end a day on!
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After beating the Earth Cave boss, the final boulder duplicated itself?
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Third rumor response goes slightly out the box:
and neithe[r]
her nor her son
Finally got around to playing this enough to find Water Form. Lol how her Class is now just Water.
Real useful for getting rid of the Poison / Venom that I came into the room with!
Ooh, and loses single target healing! Interesting! But it's not a loss, at least on the Heal, since it costs the same. That she loses Focus is more concerning.
Nice messages on trying to Revert and Aquaforma in the wrong state! Funny!
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Lol the Threat to Water, only managed a Poison/Slow. Didn't deal any direct damage, since I was smart enough to use the Ice of Water Form.
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Lol Standing on Fire Slab cutscene.
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And got Hot Steam before my next Oily Ooze. Lol. But Neris is down. And might wanna Revive and Focus instead. Hmm.
Ooh, I can't Track Monsters while Neris is Knocked Out! ... And Ooze is Fast... Too fast. Taking 3 hits before I can even Steam... A 305 Lone Nell isn't surviving.
Now I have Life Spring, but 165 MP isn't enough to use it! Guess I gotta Revert. Oh, Revive costs the same. Gotta run and Focus. Only have 3 Vis...
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The Bridge to the West cutscene still happens, even if I raised it up before?
Every Form has something to say about the rock! Hehe!
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Ugh, that cluster of 3 Oily Oozes, needed a LV5 Nell and a LV 6 Neris to survive that, since they were using their worst attack. Always Accurate, etc.
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Ooh, Earth Rumble! ... Nevermind.
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Lol how I beat Red Hornets with just two Crushing Clouds. Lol I've never seen a Marshgoyle yet. So much lore and modern ecology knowledge! Nice!
Ooh, good rolls could've wiped out the hornets in one CC. Wish I did Musket and CC. Well... ally! Woo!
oh my. Save warning. Concerning! ... Marshgoyles deal 400+ to Neris. Very concerning.
"Mr. Marshgoyle" is a tricky one. Defend is your best friend.
I'm almost at LV7 Nell, so I'll try that first. Thanks for the tip!
FYI, if you wanna start a TVTropes page for anything, I'll help you. I made RandomDrop 'cause I wanted to remember where Phoenix Feathers come from. They seem to be rarer than expected, or it's just the first fight with them that drop them?
Also not sure where Vis can come from...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/article_history.php?article=Main.RandomDrop
Red Hornets have a 10% drop rate on Phoenix Feathers; it's pretty rare, but the fight with seven of them means there's over 50% odds that you'll get at least one from drops.
As for Vis, that drops from Oily Oozes, also at a 10% rate. There should also be some in chests.
Fought all my way to Mr. Marshgoyle and only got 1 dropped Feather.
Have never seen a dropped Vis. Only got the 3 from Chests.
Thanks for the info!
Man, I really should download this eventually. Watery Nell Screenshot with Water enemy really makes things mysterious and interesting!
How big is the EXE?
Thanks for giving the game a look! The EXE is just shy of 15MB.
Quick update today, and just before the submission period ends! I had a name wrong in the Credits; this has been corrected in the latest release.