Stush's whimsical names are noted, but since he didn't mention who should get what I'm saving them to fill in gaps later.
Welp, on to El Hideout del Bandito.
I'm taking Ziggy.
Man, what a sucky hideout. It doesn't even have a roof, and it's raining.
One incredibly minor running gag in this game is that white mages are often the most rude/violent/bloodthirsty unnamed NPCs.
Yep, here we are.
Argath: I pray I am able to repay it -- even a little -- by aiding you in this!
Battle start!
Three male thieves, two female white mages, and...
Our target. She's a tough old bird, and the mission objective I completely failed to screencap is "Defeat Milleuda" rather than "Defeat all enemies!"
In many games, these male thieves are a
problem. They have Steal Heart, which causes Charm status on targets of the opposite sex as the user. It's not very effective on monsters, though. (Not impossible, just not very effective.)
The white mages start by dropping Protect on nearly everyone, but it misses everyone but Milleuda.
Did I mention it's raining? And that R2 is a Black Mage for this battle?
Thunderstorms increase the damage from lightning-elemental abilities, like this Bolt spell and Ziggy's Thunder Anima. If I'd thought about it I'd have equipped a Thunder Rod for even more damage from R2's Bolts, but this hit is well in excess of the poor guy's maximum HP anyway.
Thunder Anima almost oneshots a White Mage, not that you can tell because she's squirreled away in the little corridor. It looks like Ziggy is (justifiably) nailing Algus with it.
zap
zap
justifiable zap
See, this battle is where we really learn Argath's true nature: he is a
massive dick. But then, so is every member of nobility in this game, almost down to the man. It didn't happen in this playthrough (perhaps the patch bugged/removed it?), but given enough turns go by, either Milleuda or Argath trigger this conversation:
Milleuda: How can you nobles live as you do and yet hold your heads so high? We are not chattel! We are humans, no less than you! What flaw do you hold there to be in us? That we were born between a different set of walls? Do you know what it means to hunger? To sup for months on naught but broth of bean? Why must we be made to starve that you might grow fat? You call us thieves, but it is you who steal from us the right to live!
Argath: You, no less human than we? Ha! Now there's a beastly thought. You've been less than we from the moment your baseborn father fell upon your mother in whatever gutter saw you sired! You've been chattel since you came into the world drenched in common blood!
Dude.Milleuda: By whose decree!? Who decides such foul and absurd things?
Argath: 'Tis heaven's will!
Milleuda: Heaven's will? You would pin your bigotry on the gods? No god would fain forgive such sin, much less embrace it! All men are equal in the eyes of the gods!
Argath: Men, yes. But the gods have no eyes for chattel.
Milleuda: You speak of devils, not gods!
Delita: Ramza, is this woman truly our enemy?
So really I'm doing everyone a favor by blasting him in the back with electricity. Delita's already down, being braver than Argath and falling to the thieves' blades.
Leaving me...
aw yeah
Well, I tried. This was the only skill I learned from anyone; every other foe turned into a treasure chest.
And then Milleuda, cornered, is pecked and stoned into submission. Not that doing so was easy, she's got a hell of a defensive build going on and blocked a surprising number of attacks and counterattacks.
A bit later...
R2: Do you truly hold us to be so foul?
Argath: Do it, R2! She fights as a Corpse. Let her become one for true! She's a foe and a traitor -- an enemy of House Beoulve! The world has no place for such wretches. Her claim to life is forfeit! Spare her now, and you place your seal on the warrants for our own deaths! It's her or us, R2! Strike her down!
Delita:
Dude, chill. Try as I might, R2, I cannot think this woman our enemy.
Argath: Have you lost your wits?
Delita: This woman is no more chattel than you or I.
Argath: You would turn against our cause, Delita? I ought have expected as much!
Milleuda: So long as you bear the name Beoulve, you will ever remain an enemy to me. You'd do well to remember that.