Attack from above if you can, and guard your back with the rocks scattered

about the battlefield or with other ally units. Remember that if you act

without moving, or move without acting, your next turn will come sooner than if

you both act AND move. So if there’s no real need for a character to move or

to take action, don’t do it just for the heck of it. Your next turn will come

sooner if you don’t.

You’ll encounter your first monster here in the form of a Red Panther. It’s

the toughest unit in the enemy forces, but it’s not too bad. Be warned that,

like all monsters, it will counterattack you whenever you attack it. Don’t

attack the Red Panther using a character who’s low on HP, or the counterattack

is liable to KO you! (You CAN avoid the counterattack by using the Squire

ability Stone to attack from a distance, but this ability is really too weak to

be worth using.) The Red Panther can also poison you, which causes you to

lose a little HP after each turn you take. You can cure this with an Antidote

if you want, but it’s probably not necessary--the poison wears off after a few

turns, anyway.

This may be your first chance to pick up crystals or chests. When the counter

over a KOed enemy unit goes down past 0, the unit vanishes and is replaced with

a crystal or treasure chest. Pick these up by moving onto the same tile.

Picking up a chest will get you an item. Picking up a crystal will either heal

the unit, or in some cases give you the option of learning many of the defeated

enemy’s abilities. (Note that although you point the cursor at an individual

ability, you actually learn ALL of the abilities offered, regardless of what

you pick!) Crystals from monsters will only heal you since monsters don’t have

any abilities you can learn, and crystals from humans won’t always offer you an

ability either. (Unless the units is in desperate need of healing, you should

generally choose to learn the ability, as this permanently adds abilities to

the character!) Crystals from humans are great to pick up as they can teach

you new abilities, so grab them when you see them. Monster crystals are only

necessary to pick up if you need healing -- or to prevent the enemies from

getting to them first, as they can heal themselves with crystals too! Chests

typically just offer items you can buy in stores anyway and so are not as

important to collect, but early on they can still be useful as money is

tighter.

If one of your OWN units gets KOed, you must act to revive the character before

the countdown runs down and the character is lost permanently. Right now,

you’ve got two ways to revive a character. If one of your Chemists learned the

Phoenix Down and you have Phoenix Downs in stock, you can use the Phoenix Down

to revive the character. Or, you can hurry and clear the battle before the

countdown runs out -- when you win a battle, any characters who have been KOed

but not completely erased will be brought back to life.

BATTLE TROPHIES: Potion x2

---Battle 3: The Siedge Weald--------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], Argath [guest], 3 others

ENEMY FORCES: Goblin x2, Black Goblin x2, Bomb x2, Red Panther x1

--STRATEGY--

This battle is nothing but monsters; watch out for their counterattacks! For

the most part, though, they’re not too tough. Take out on the enemies on the

higher ground first before you start crossing the water. Otherwise, you’ll

expose yourself to attack from above.

BATTLE TROPHIES: None

---Battle 4: Dorter Slums------------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], Argath [guest], 3 others

ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x1, Archer (male) x3, Black Mage (male) x 2

--STRATEGY--

The enemy has Archers and Black Mages, who both have ranged attacks and can

hit you from a distance. This means that you’ll need to be more aggressive; if

you hang back at a distance, the enemy can keep hitting you from afar!

Note that when one of your characters gets hit with a Black Magick spell, the

characters in adjacent tiles also take damage. There are two ways to avoid

this. While the spell is still charging, you can move the other characters out

of the way, or you can kill the Black Mage charging the spell and stop the

attack entirely! Since the spells do quite a bit of damage, it’s great to

take out the Black Mages as soon as you have the chance. They don’t have much

HP so you can finish them off easily. (Note that spells can also have a

"friendly fire" effect -- if another enemy is in range of the spell when it

goes off, they get hurt too! You can possibly use this to your advantage by

positioning targeted characters next to enemy units.) To check when the spell

is going to be fired, press the Circle button when it’s your turn, then use the

Triangle button to bring up the menu and choose Turn List.

If you have Black Mages of your own, you can also use these area damage effects

to extend the effective range of your magicks. If the range of your magick is

one tile too short to hit an enemy, you can target the tile directly in front

of the enemy and the magick will still hit the enemy thanks to the area effect.

This is a good tactic for hitting more distant enemies, like you see in this

battle. Just make sure the enemy won’t be able to move out of the way before

the magick activates!

There are two enemy Archers on the tall building beside where you start. At

the beginning of the battle, Delita and Argath will begin climbing up the

building to attack them. Let Delita and Argath handle the two Archers, and

send at most one other character up the building. The rest of your team

should advance down the street. Take out the Black Mages first since they can

do so much damage.

It’s likely that one or more of your characters will get KOed during the

battle. Remember that if the counter over their head goes below 0, you lose

the character permanently. To avoid this, when a character’s counter gets low

(0 or 1), use a Phoenix Down on him or her. Even if another attack takes the

character out right away, the counter will be reset and you’ve bought yourself

a few more turns to finish the battle.

Since you start on the street and the enemy has the high ground, Archers are

not particularly useful here. On the other hand, Move +1 is a great ability to

have as it helps you quickly close the distance between you and the enemy’s

ranged attackers.

BATTLE TROPHIES: 500 gil, Iron Sword, Hempen Robe, Ether

---Battle 5: The Sand Rat’s Sietch---------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES:

1st Squad - Ramza, Delita [guest], 1 other

2nd Squad - Argath [guest], 2 others

ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x 3, Archer (male) x1, Monk (male) x2

--STRATEGY--

You’ll deploy your characters in two squads for this battle. Be sure to deploy

somebody with the Items command (either a Chemist, or another character who’s

learned the ability) in the second group.

There are two entrances to the fort. When the battle begins, send most of

your characters towards the entrance that’s closer to Argath. This is where

the bulk of the fighting will take place. Argath will probably make a suicide

mission into the building, but keep healing him anyway -- if you were able to

give him a Black Magick spell (as recommended in the walkthrough), he’ll be

very helpful. Don’t crowd the doorway or you’ll get in trouble. Let

the enemies come outside to you.

Meanwhile, Delita will head towards the other entrance. You might want to

send one other character with him. Hopefully, Delita’s squad have the chance

to sneak up on the enemy Archer from the rear and take him out so he can’t keep

shooting at the main squad.

Remember that if a character doesn’t move on a particular turn, his or her next

turn will come quicker. If you don’t need to move to land an attack, stay put

and you’ll get more turns. This is especially helpful for your Chemist; by

having him/her remain stationary and throw items to the characters who need

healing, you’ll get more turns and more chances to heal.

BATTLE TROPHIES: 500 gil, Hi-Potion, Blind Knife

---Battle 6: Brigands’ Den-----------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], Argath [guest], 3 others

ENEMY FORCES: Milleuda, Thief (male) x2, White Mage (female) x2

BOSS: Milleuda [Virgo] - lv 7 Knight - Bravery 68, Faith 58

Equipment : Iron Shield, Bronze Shield, Iron Helm, Chainmail, Power Gauntlet

Abilities : Arts of War, random action ability, Parry, random Squire support

ability, Move +1

--STRATEGY--

If you happen to have any male Pisces characters or Taurus and Capricorns of

either gender, deploying them here can be useful. Milleuda, the boss here, is

always a female Virgo, and the three Zodiac signs listed above will do extra

damage to her. (You can only prepare your Zodiac signs in this way when

fighting bosses; non-boss enemies have randomized Zodiac signs.)

I recommend standing up on cliffs on the left side of the fort when possible;

you have a height advantage there. Since you should have Hi-Potions now, use

them for all your healing needs--the 30 HP from a regular Potion just doesn’t

cut it now.

There are two White Mages here. Check their status; they may have Black

Magicks or Items as a secondary ability. A Black Magick-wielding mage is the

most dangerous, so if either or both have Black Magick, try to take any of

these out first. (You can use the same tricks you used in Dorter to avoid

their magick.) However, if an Item-using Mage comes out of the fort and starts

using Hi-Potions, you may need to take her out first or she’ll just heal all

the enemies. If either mage starts casting Cure, note that you can stop it

more or less same way you can stop a Black Magick spell -- either take out the

enemy they’re trying to heal, or KO the Mage herself.

After you’ve taken out the White Mages, concentrate on Milleuda. Her attacks

are quite strong, If you have the Rend Weapon or Rend Armor abilities (both

from the Knight job), you may want to try them on her. Breaking her weapon

will greatly reduce her attack power, and breaking her armor will reduce her

HP total. If you already have a Thief, you could try stealing her equipment

too, as she’s got a nice set of gear, but you’ll be able to buy all her stuff

eventually.

The Thieves here may swipe some of your armor, or at least your headgear.

Although this might be annoying, it’s not really too bad; you can just re-buy

the items after the battle. What’s much more deadly, though, is the Steal

Heart attack they may use on your female characters, which will turn them to

the enemy side. If you have a choice, try to deploy male characters for this

battle as they can’t be affected by a Steal Hart from a male Thief.

Milleuda is the game’s first boss character, which means that as soon as you

KO her, the battle ends, even if there are other enemies left standing. If

you’re in danger, take her out quickly to end the fight. But if you’ve got

Milleuda cornered or otherwise have the upper hand, you may want to finish

off the other enemies for more Exp & JP, then let them die completely so they

turn into a chest or crystal.

BATTLE TROPHIES: 700 gil, Iron Sword, Bronze Shield

---Battle 7: Lenalian Plateau--------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], 4 others

ENEMY FORCES: Milleuda, Knight (female) x2, Black Mage (male) x2,

Time Mage (female) x1

BOSS: Milleuda [Virgo] - lv 8 Knight - Bravery 68, Faith 58

Equipment : Mythril Sword, Bronze Shield, Barbut, Chainmail, Shoulder Cape

Abilities : Arts of War, random action ability, Counter,

random Squire support ability, Jump +1

--STRATEGY--

Again, Taurus, Capricorn, and male Pisces characters will do extra damage

against Milleuda since she’s a female Virgo.

Play the first few rounds defensively to prevent any early casualties, and use

the high ground to your advantage. Send one or two characters after the Black

Mages, and possibly the Time Mage as well. If you have an Archer, send

him/her up onto the tall ridge and shoot down on the enemies.

After knocking out the Black Mages, concentrate on Milleuda. This time, she

has the Counter ability, which means that whenever you hit her with a close-

range attack, she has a chance of striking back. So, be sure not to use any

close-range attacks against her unless your HP is high. A good strategy is to

attack her with long-distance attacks like bows and Black Magick, which won’t

allow her to counterattack. Milleuda might also use her Rend abilities to

break your gear. Again, as soon as Milleuda goes down, the battle ends, even

if other enemies are still standing.

BATTLE TROPHIES: 1000 gil, Silken Robe, Battle Boots

---Battle 8: Windflat Mill-----------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], 3 others

ENEMY FORCES: Wiegraf, Boco, Knight (female), Monk (female) x2

BOSS: Wiegraf [Virgo] - lv 9 White Knight - Bravery 71, Faith 64

Equipment : Mythril Sword, Round Shield, Barbut, Chainmail, Shoulder Cape

Abilities : Holy Sword, random action ability, Counter,

random Squire support ability, Jump +1

ENEMY: Boco [Aries] - lv 7 Chocobo - Bravery 68, Faith 48

--STRATEGY--

Like his sister, Wiegraf is a Virgo. He’s male, though, so this time Taurus,

Capricorn, and FEMALE Pisces characters are the ones to deploy (if you happen

to have them -- if not, don’t sweat it).

Wiegraf is the only real threat here; most of his companions are pretty weak.

Start moving along the bottom of the cliff and quickly take out the Chocobo

(Boco) and the Monk. Wiegraf and the other enemies will soon move down to

fight you. Finish off any enemies that are low on HP, then go after Wiegraf.

Wiegraf uses a couple different special sword techniques that allow him to

attack from a distance and (unlike magick) don’t require any charge time.

Most of the time, he’ll use Northswain’s Strike, which strikes a single

character (usually for about 35 HP or so), but if your characters are close

together, he may also use Judgment Blade to attack a "plus-shaped" group of

tiles. These attacks are pretty strong, but Wiegraf doesn’t have a great

defense, so if you hit him with a few strong attacks (Mythril Swords, black

magick), he’ll go down quickly. Just stay healed!

Because you’re fighting in such close quarters, watch out for the "friendly

fire" effects of your own spells! In general, if one of your allies is

standing right next to an enemy, a useful trick is to target the tile right

BEHIND the enemy to avoid hitting your ally when the spell goes off. For

instance, if your characters are positioned like below, target the space marked

with a *:

*EA (A = ally, E = enemy)

This way, you’ll still hit the enemy, but the spell is positioned so as not to

harm your ally.

As soon as Wiegraf’s HP drops to critical status, he’ll teleport away and the

battle will end.

BATTLE TROPHIES: Hi-Potion

---Battle 9: Ziekden Fortress--------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES:

1st Squad - Ramza, Delita [guest], 1 other

2nd Squad - 2 others

ENEMY FORCES: Argath, Knight (male) x3, Black Mage (female) x3

BOSS: Argath [Virgo] - lv 10 Knight - Bravery 32, Faith 67

Equipment : Knightslayer, Round Shield, Barbut, Chainmail, Power Gauntlet

Abilities : Arts of War, random action ability, Auto-Potion, Equip Crossbows,

Move +1

--STRATEGY--

You’ll deploy in two squads again for this battle. Deploy your best damage-

dealer along with Ramza in the first squad. The character in the second squad

are going to be largely useless as they start far away from the action. If you

want to pick and choose Zodiac signs, Argath is again a Virgo and susceptible

to Taurus, Capricorn, and female Pisces attacks.

Luckily, you can almost beat the whole fight just using Ramza. Just go after

Argath and completely ignore the other guys. He’s only got a crossbow, so he

can’t do much damage to you, and he’s useless at close ranges. Just chase

him down and hit him with your strongest attacks, like Knight and Monk attacks

and Black Magick. Because it’s snowing, the Blizzard families of spells will

be particularly effective -- and even more so if the caster has an Ice Rod

equipped. You’ll want to block Argath from climbing up the stairs to the roof

of the fort, as he has a good sniping point if he gets up there and it’s slow

climbing up after him. Just position your characters between him and the

stairs and he shouldn’t be able to climb up there.

Argath does have the Auto-Potion ability, which gives him a random chance to

heal himself with a Potion when you hit him, so you may want to avoid using

very weak attacks against him--the gain from the Auto-Potion may heal him more

than you hurt him for! (The ability isn’t always activated, though. And Auto-

Potion also can’t protect him whenever you land the killing blow. Again, as

you soon as you knock down Argath, the fight--and the chapter--ends.

BATTLE TROPHIES: None

%%%CHAPTER II: THE MANIPULATIVE & THE SUBSERVIENT%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00bs2

---Battle 10: Dorter-----------------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Gaffgarion [guest], Agrias [guest], 3 others

ENEMY FORCES: Black Mage (male) x2, Archer (female) x2, Thief (male) x2

--STRATEGY--

There’s no boss here, so you’ll have to wipe out every enemy on the map to win.

If you’ve got good jobs, though, this battle should be no problem. Just move

up the path and take out the enemies as you go. The Black Mages and Archers

do the most damage, so when you’ve got a choice, go after them before the

Thieves.

Agrias has a nasty habit of casting spells indiscriminatly on your own people,

thanks to the goofy Guest AI. You can either de-equip her spells from the menu

beforehand, or pay attention to which she enemy she is targeting and stay

clear.

BATTLE TROPHIES: 1000 gil, Flame Rod, Mage Masher, Phoenix Down

---Battle 11: Araguay Woods----------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Gaffgarion [guest], Agrias [guest], Boco [guest], 3 others

ENEMY FORCES: Goblin x5, Black Goblin x1

--STRATEGY--

If you choose the second option before the battle, you must keep Boco from

being KOed. Fortunately, this isn’t hard. Boco will usually retreat into a

corner, where will be chased by the lone Black Goblin. Boco can take care of

himself just fine, so don’t bother going after the Black Goblin unless you’ve

mopped up all the other enemies.

The Goblins aren’t very strong, especially with Agrias’s and Gaffgarion’s help,

so I recommend just rushing them. Stay out of the ditches.

BATTLE TROPHIES: Hi-Potion

---Battle 12: Zeirchele Falls--------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Agrias [guest], Delita [guest], Ovelia [guest], 3 others

ENEMY FORCES: Gaffgarion [Fell Knight; Virgo], Knight (male) x5

--STRATEGY--

First, take out Gafgarion. If you turned him into a crummy job before the

battle and stripped off his armor (heh heh), you should be able to KO him in

one hit.

The mission here is to protect Ovelia, which means you can’t let her get KOed.

She isn’t in too much danger, though, since she can cast Aegis, which puts a

whole lot of good defensive buffs on her. She only has enough MP to cast this

once, though, and it wears off after a few turns. Just to be on the safe side,

keep a healer reasonably close to her.

Start off by taking out the Knights on your side of the falls. One of the

Knights from the far side will probably try to cross over, so position an

Archer (assuming you have one) on the corner of the cliff and shoot down at the

guy. Agrias tends to loiter in the water and may finish him off; if not, send

a character or two down after him.

A great trick here is to KO one of the enemy Knights while he’s standing on the

bridge. Until he decomposes into a chest/crystal, his body will completely

block the other Knights from crossing the bridge. Since the Knights have NO

ranged attacks, you can use this as a chance to shoot at them from afar.

If any of the Knights drops to critical HP, he may try to flee up the cliffs on

the side of the falls. You’ll have to chase after him, so it may be useful to

bring a character with a good Move range to this battle. (Battle Shoes and

Move+1 or +2 will increase your Move range.)

BATTLE TROPHIES: None

---Battle 13: Zaland-----------------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Agrias [guest], Mustadio [guest], 3 others

ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x2, Black Mage (male) x2, Archer (female) x2

--STRATEGY--

This is a toughie. If you chose the second option before the battle, you’ll

have to keep Mustadio alive; otherwise, you can let him get KOed without

losing the battle. (Of course, choosing the second option also gives you a

greater boost to your Bravery.)

When deploying your character, deploy them in the "front" row (i.e., the row

where Ramza is already standing). This starts them closer to the gate and

allows them to get into the city faster.

The enemy is holed up inside Zaland and launches arrows and powerful Black

Magick at you through (and over) the wall. Any melee characters you have will

need to rush for the gates. In the mean time, your Archers and mages can fire

back with their own ranged attacks. Equip the Archer’s Bane reaction ability

on any character who has it, as it will help protect you against the enemy

arrows.

Mustadio will initially do one of our things. Most likely, he’ll run up on the

top of the gate and attack with his gun from them. This is the "good" outcome

since it keeps relatively him out of harm’s way. But sometimes he’ll stay on

the ground inside the city, which is bad news, as all the enemies will pick on

him and it’s hard to reach for him healing. In this case, your best option is

to cast Shell on him to reduce the magick damage he takes. Note that you

can’t throw items through the wall, but you CAN cast White Magick through it,

so you’re probably better off with a White Mage for healing here.

If you’ve been using Ramza mostly for close-range attacks, he may not be much

help here. On his first turn, have him use Tailwind on one of your Archers or

Black Mages to boost their speed and get them more turns. Then start him

running towards the gate so he can get into the city and use melee attacks.

Make the Mages your first target, since their magick attacks are so strong.

Use Black Magick, bows, and the Black Chocobo (if you brought one) to take them

out as quickly as possible. Until the Mages go down, keep your characters

spread out so enemy magicks can’t hit more than one of your characters at a

time. After the Mages go down, go after the Archers, then the Knights.

Mustadio’s initial abilities seem to be randomly determined, but if he happens

to start with Beastmaster, land the Black Chocobo next to him. Mustadio’s

Beastmaster skill will allow the Black Chocobo to cast Choco Meteor, a really

strong attack. (You can tell what abilities Mustadio has equipped by clicking

on his tile.)

Mustadio also uses his Aimed Shot abilities to put status conditions on the

enemies. Immobilize (from Leg Shot) will keep an enemy from moving for a few

turns, and Disable (from Arm Shot) will keep an enemy from taking action. If

a bad guy gets hit with Disable, don’t bother targeting them any further,

since they can’t do anything to hurt you for a few turns. A Knight that’s been

Immobilized is also a low-priority target since he can’t move to attack you as

long as you stay out of the tiles directly next to him. (The Black Mages and

Archers can still shoot even if they’re Immobilized, though!)

As for the Knights, they’ll probably try to climb over the wall on the side of

the map opposite the gate into the city. Agrias will attack them, but she

can’t take them out her own, so help her out with your ranged attacks.

The Knights may also use Phoenix Downs to revive any Mages and Archers you KO.

Characters revived with Phoenix Down comes back with only a little HP, though,

so you should be able to knock them back out again with just a single attack.

BATTLE TROPHIES: 2000 gil, Mythril Sword, Hi-Potion

---Battle 14: Balias Tor-------------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Agrias [guest], Mustadio [guest], 3 others

ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x2, Archer (female) x2, Summoner (female) x2

--STRATEGY--

This battle can be harder than it looks. The enemy squad has Summoners for

the first time (one positioned on each side of the hill), and their summon

spells can do big damage to your team.

On the first turn, Mustadio will probably chase after one of the Summoners.

Send a fast and/or magic-using character around the opposite side of the hill

to take out the other Summoner. The Summoners don’t have much HP, so you

should be able to finish them off in a couple turns. Meanwhile, have the rest

of your squad attack the center of the hill. If you can attack the enemies

quickly, the Summoners may squander their turns casting Moogle for healing

instead of using damaging summons on you.

You’re not *required* to keep Mustadio alive in this battle -- if he gets KOed,

you won’t lose the battle -- but it’s a good idea to keep him standing, as his

gun is quite helpful. As in Zaland, don’t waste your turns attacking enemies

that Mustadio has Immobilized or Disabled.

A cool trick here is to use the Squire ability Rush to knock the Knights and

Archers off the hill. They’ll take damage if they fall too far, and you’ll put

them out of range of attacking you.

BATTLE TROPHIES: 1000 gil, Holy Water

---Battle 15: Tchigolith Fenlands----------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Mustadio [guest], 4 others

ENEMY FORCES: Skeleton x2, Bonesnatch x1, Ghoul x2,

Floating Eye or Malboro or Pig x1

--STRATEGY--

The last member of the enemy forces is randomly determined; it’s usually a

Floating Eye, but sometimes you’ll get a Malboro or Pig instead.

Randomness aside, this is a fairly normal battle with a few quirks. First, if

you end your turn in the swamp, you get poisoned. (Simply passing through the

swamp as part of a move won’t poison you as long as you end the move on dry

land.) This isn’t that bad, but if you have a choice, stand on land. And be

sure not to end your turn in any water where the Depth is displayed as 2 -- if

you stop here, you won’t be able to take any actions, as you’re up to your head

in water. (The Ninja ability Waterwalking would prevent this, in the unlikely

event you have it already.)

Second, almost all the enemies (everyone except the Malboro, Pig, or Floating

Eye) are undead -- that means you can use heal spells and items to damage them.

It’s quite effective. If you’ve had a chance to learn Mustadio’s Seal Evil

ability, he may also use that to turn the undead monsters to turn them to

stone. Other than those two exceptions, there’s nothing here you haven’t seen

before.

The Pig shows up pretty infrequently, but if you DO see it, it’s definitely

worth trying to recruit it using the Orator’s Entice or Tame abilities. You

can use the Pig to breed pig-family monsters, all of which yield great rare

items when poached. Or, if you can’t recruit it but DO have Poach, you could

at least poach it, though you won’t actually be able to collect your poached

item until Chapter III. Note the Pig can only appear during the initial story

battle, not later random battles.

BATTLE TROPHIES: None

---Battle 16: Goug Lowtown-----------------------------------------------------

YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Mustadio [guest], 4 others

ENEMY FORCES: Archer (female) x2, Thief (male) x2, Summoner (male) x2

--STRATEGY--

The enemy Archers in this battle have a huge range and it’s hard to stay

out of range completely. So, don’t deploy any character who has really low HP

as you probably won’t be able to protect him/her/it completely. Equipping the

Archer’s Bane reaction ability will help you a lot, if you have it available.

Mustadio will be almost invariably killed at the start of the battle -- he has

no equipment and starts right next to the enemies. Don’t worry about him.

He’s still a Guest so he can’t die permanently yet.

Move your guys up onto the roof. Use ranged attacks to take out the Summoners.

Note that both Summoners are one side of the enemy roof and both Archers on