What the hell were they smoking while designing Dechala, lol
So, I've finally picked up a faction that starts in the immediate vicinity of the snake bitch, namely - Balthasar Gelt. Long story short, I took my damn time doing quest battles after dealing with the CatNam partisans (Burning Wing Nomads) - the first two ones for Gelt himself, as well as the G&F one. Finally, after paying her off one time she extorted me, I've went to war while she was finishing off Nakai and his vassal (which she promptly did).
Oh boy, thank the gods I've done it this way, when my heroes and lord have gained some experience. In particular - my Death Wizard, which I've spent the early Arcane Essays on (along with a Heavens and Life wizard). Also, by this time I've accumulated some ancillaries which give you WoM. I would be properly fucked otherwise.
This bitch is something else. It's one thing reading the posts/comments and memes here, you need to play against it to really understand. She slithers around the battlefield with the speed and power of a freight train, and packs the same punch. As an empire, you just don't have anything to tie her down at this stage of the game (pretty early, I would say, my capital isn't Tier 4 yet). She can't be bogged down by spearmen chaff, I tried, it simply doesn't work, she slithers away just like that [snaps fingers]. The only way to counter her is to have Gelt and the Amethyst Wizard follow her on their Pegasuses and dump all the current winds on Spirit Leech/Final Transmutation. No other spells take precedence until she's put down or made to retreat. If they were still grounded, I guess it would be game over as well. Btw, good luck catching her when she does retreat.
One woman army, indeed.
It's not that I'm complaining, that was actually fun, finally some challenge. Everything snakey from the ToT just moves so damn fast, and is almost impossible to pin down.