arent there potions of freedom available (for those who get killed by hold)
There are but once you are held you can't drink them LOL - probably not enough around to gulp down everytime you meet an enemy with the potential to hold you.
@Wanderon: may luck continue to favour Mrs Brightbow & co.
I find the coastal maps with sirenes dangerous in any no-reload run. They can go smooth and get you nice XP farming early on, but all it takes is one dire-charm you had not anticipated and you're gone. FYI, the skeleton warriors summoned by Animate Dead are nothing like the standard lvl.15 version. They do however get stronger with caster's level and the last version (lvl.7 and above) is tough and wields long sword +1 (incidentally turning this spell in a cash machine).
off-topic: anyone knows how to upload screenshots in a post?
The Gnomish Clerical Trio comprised of Brix Hadilsmok, Quayle & Tiax, settled in Baldur's Gate.
Some jokers tried to poison them, but it did not take long for the Gnomes to wind up their plan. It involved a huge brawl in the temple of Umberlee; the walls were tainted with blood but really, the evil priestess stood no chance when Brix & co started summoning skeleton warriors. Weirdly, this outburst of violence seemes to have made Brix wiser (WIS now = 18).
After my last encounter with Larze which ended up in a disaster (in my last no-reload run, he decimated my party of 4 and killed in 2 huge blows my PC), I wanted to set the records straight. Brix went up to him unbuffed and when he turned hostile, Quayle took a chance with the Wand of Paralyzation. The huge ogre was stunned, and agonized under gnomish' blows. Moments later, Marek failed his save vs a Chromatic Orb and suffered the same fate.
@ Ignatius - glad to see you got some payback on Larze!
As for skeletal warriors the first ones that spawned were the huge guys and I did see a combat roll that did a 24 point hit but the next couple were more normal sized - I still suspect they are much more formidable than the cannon fodder that spawned in the original - the only thing they had going were numbers - as I recall the higher your level the more spawned so by games end you were summoning 8-10 per spell I think which made them reasonably effective as bone walls to snipe from behind.
Note to self - just becuase I am playing no reload doesn't mean I should play no saves - we cleared out Ulcaster map and all - I paused the game and walked up to get the mail - came back to a "brown out" (low power) - both monitors were black and would not come back up - had to do a hard shut down and wait an hour or so for the power to come back up - last save was the auto save as we left Beregost to head to Ulcaster... sigh
Started another character earlier today for simultaneous run:
Lian Longshot - CN elf fighter/thief 18/99 - 19 - 18 - 11- 8 - 13 **Longsword ** Long Bow
Going for a nuetral/evil run - hurried down to grab Edwin and just killed Dyna at Gnoll Fort with: Kagain Monty Xzar (dead and will probably drop him to make room for Dorn who may show up as we head back) Viconia Edwin
Everyone is level 1 except Viconia (2)
Lian is currently in plate and will probably snipe with bow until he builds up enough HPs to feel safe in leathers - he will be locks and traps - Monty stealth and backstab - Kagain and Dorn tank and Edwin blow up stuff. Only bad part so far is both Edwin and Kagain need the dex gauntlets LOL
Guess I'll go try Ulcaster again with Brightbows Brigade or maybe I'll see if we can scare up Dorn for Lian...
i made an elven assassin, got to FAI, killed the belt ogre, did landrin's possessions, killed marl, silke and karlat. went south to nashkel, got the boots of stealth, ran away from the other hobgoblins, then as i tried to manoeuvre past a ghast that suddenly popped up, i was held and slaughtered by an unholy alliance of hobgoblin and ghast
Brightbows Brigade redid the Ulcaster ruins (after losing that section of the game in a power surge) - It did turn out that only the ruins themselves had been lost as we had cleared the rest of the map first and then went back to town to sell our swag so the auto save when we left town to return to Ulcaster was still there. We were not as careful this time and set off some traps killing Imoen (the trap finder) who was stupidly still wearing Gorions belt but we made it out and then snuck over to Gullykin and went down the hobbithole and killed the Ogre mage and his buddies close to the hobbithole door and left the rest (I hate Firewine).
Imoen got caught stealing while she was searching for the +1 sling thats in one of the huts and for the first time ever I think some halfling enforcers showed up (an EE addition perhaps) and we beat feet out of town to avoid tarnishing our rep by killing them and the goody-two shoes in the party gave Imoen a talking to altho I doubt it will do any good - she just likes to pilfer stuff too much and mostly we will put up with it.
No plan yet on whats next for Brightbow - I might set her aside for a bit and move Lian along after dinner.
@Wanderon: don't give up on Mrs Brightbow! you've had a good run so far.
The Gnomish Clerical Trio of Brix, Quayle and Tiax, is having a good time in the big city.
When Brix Hadilsmok was in Candlekeep he used to clean warehouses from rats. Now, he cleans merchant estates from dopplegangers and he cannot really say the latter is more dangerous than the former. With -7 AC, clearing Merchant's League + Seven Suns was easy alright.
The Gnomes then went mage-hunting. Yago was silenced pronto. The quatuor of Niemain & friends were also muted, then fireballed to death. Ragefast was simply blitzed with bullets and a hammer. They spared the life of Ramazith, but raided his tower and Brix is now more clever (INT = 15).
However, Drelik & Jardak were a different matter. The butler turned out to be tougher than his master; his magic resistance thwarted all that we threw at him (Doom, Hold Person, MM's, Wand of Paralyzation...). By the time we managed to take down his Mirror Image, he had cast Horror and targeted Quayle, who was the only one to fail his save. 2 volleys of Magic Missiles killed our weakest link (24 HP's) and Tiax was delighted at his death. We raised him at the Temple of Helm. A hasted Brix took on Jardak in a one-on-one melee brawl; the fight was pretty even, Brix had to drink 5 potions of healing but prevailed.
I need to find a way to go through such magic resistant ennemies; had they been more numerous, the encounter might have taken a sour turn...
Well... that was not the most enjoyable experience but the Gnomes, always on the lookout for more cash, have cleaned up Baldur's Gate sewers. Patrolling with skeleton warriors while casting sleep and fireball from behind, works well. They earned the respect of Scar and are now sitting on a ludicrous pile of 60,000 gold pieces.
Brix Hadilsmok is very much tempted to take his weird friends to the dreaded Durlag's Tower... not that he wants to get rid of them or anything.
Just started my no reload challenge. I decided to take the first stats I rolled, without rearranging any of them at all. Ended up with 7 strength (carrying capacity will be an issue), 18 dex (v happy with this!), 13 con (was hoping for bonus health), 12 wis (irrelevant), 10 int (happily irrelevant too) and 10 charisma.
Candlekeep went pretty smoothly, and my patience with Firebeard paid off to the tune of an extra 300 gold. Gorion escorted me out of the keep and then managed to get himself killed by a pack of bandits. Tobe honest, I always suspected his tales of consorting with Elminster were just that and was satisfied to be proved correct.
I picked up Imoen, Montaron and Xan while mopping up some stray wolves for some experience. I was jumped by wolves on the way to the next map, but a couple of sleep spells took care of them. I didn't hang around after this because Imoen was looking pretty unhealthy and so we pressed straight on to the Friendly Arms.
I met some stupid old woman who wanted me to find her missing ring. When I asked about a reward she stormed out in a huff. This seemed foolish to me as any thief could just walk in and take her stuff. I felt it was my civic duty to highlight to her just why we don't leave our houses unguarded.
A foolish mage tried to kill me on the steps of the inn - he hadn't even bother preparing for the fight! A slingshot interrupted whatever he was trying to cast and then Monty finished him off in short order. Inside the inn I met up with Jaheira and Khalid and agreed to accompany them to Nashkel to investigate the mines. There seem to be some sparks flying between those two and Monty/Xan but I'm sure they will get along fine once they get to know each other better.
A dwarf in the inn mentioned he had lost a magical belt to an Ogre to the south of the inn. I thanked him for the valuable tip. And then finally as I was bedding down for the night, a bellhop gave me a complimentary pair of magnificent golden pantaloons. He muttered something about getting them cleaned, but I assured him that I would happily take them as is, and get them cleaned myself. Everyone agreed that they looked rather fetching on me.
Soloa - as you may guess from the name she was originally going to be a solo run, but I decided it would be more fun to go with whoever I came across. So I'm stuck with a fairly inappropriate name - but that's the way it goes in a no reload challenge!
@Wanderon: don't give up on Mrs Brightbow! you've had a good run so far.
Oh I'm not giving up on her I often run more that one campaign more or less simultaneosly - no more playtime until Sunday tho as I'm on my second of three 12+ hour days in the row today.
Soloa - as you may guess from the name she was originally going to be a solo run, but I decided it would be more fun to go with whoever I came across. So I'm stuck with a fairly inappropriate name - but that's the way it goes in a no reload challenge!
You did not tell what are her race and class! (unless I missed it somewhere)
I didn't. I definitely meant to. This is turning into something of a no-reload challenge posting, I'm having to deal with my mistakes!
She's an elven sorceress. Elven because 90% resistance to sleep and charm should be pretty handy. And sorceress because they are fun
Playing on core rules. Happily as a sorceress she doesn't need to worry about the low int for scribing spells (and with 10 int even a potion of genius wouldn't help much). The lack of a con bonus combined with random hitpoints is probably my biggest concern.
My Gnomish Trio run almost came to an end in an encounter I had completely forgotten about.
We casually "visit" a house in the SW section of Baldur's Gate. It is that of a mage, Sunin. We try to politely leave but he wants none of it and attacks, summoning 2 warriors to help (Maka & Joular). We are caught by surprise.
1/ I decide to mindshield Brix, while both Quayle and Tiax cast Sanctuary (plan is to have them hide in the side rooms and summon skeletons for help). Quayle is hit by an arrow and interrupted, having lost half his HP's while Tiax sanctuarizes but fails his save vs Sunin's Horror. Not exactly going per plan.
2/ Brix tries to draw Sunin and the fighters towards the other side of the house in order to save Quayle. This time the plan works, but it works too well: Brix lets himself get cornered and blocked by the fighters in an angle, while Sunin starts pelting with melf's acid arrows. Meanwhile Quayle drinks a healing potion and tries to silence Sunin, but he saves. This is bad.
Turning point in my no-reload. I'm boxed. Quayle cannot take out all 3 ennemies quickly. Tiax is horrified. I have 2 acid counters and HP's in the low 30's. I look at my spell book, my inventory. I find only one way to save my skin: drink an Invisibility potion. Gulp.
3/ a now invisble Brix takes time to heal (with potions). Quayle, out of sight, manages to cast 2 skeleton warriors and sends them towards Sunin & co. They distract the ennemy and Brix is not boxed anymore. About at the same time, Tiax's sanctuary fades away, but not his horror. He appears under the nose of our foes and they focus on him. Soon, Tiax falls.
4/ My skeletons engage Sunin who fails to cast any interesting spell. Brix has him taste the Wand of Heavens while Quayle sends a volley of MM's. The mage is out. Yeah!
5/ Maka & Joular don't really stand a chance now. One of them is held, our slings and skeleton warriors overcome the other.
Well, that was a close call. I might regret using that invisibility potion here, but there was no safe alternative. We raise Tiax, and Quayle got himself a very nice Ring of Wizardry.
The continued adventures of the Gnomish Clerical Trio - or why no one should mess with a Gnome when he is not in the mood.
Brix, Quayle & Tiax had had a rough night in the city. The scars from their encounter with Sunin were still very visible, and all they wanted was a quiet evening of ale and smoke at the Helmet and Cloak. Gorpel and his group were a pain, but Brix calmed Tiax down and things were under control. Until another group, larger, came in: Gretek and his maulers. Trouble, that's what they wanted. Brix the wise lost his temper and went berserk. Trouble they got, and much more.
The fight, this time, was handled remarkebly well even though Gorpel & co were sneaking through the backdoor like cowards.
As the maulers' casters were buffing with mirror images, Quayle summoned 2 skeletons, Tiax 2 kobolds and Brix silenced them all. Cannon fodder was standing between the ennemy fighters and the gnomes, who pelted with Hold Person, Slow and Doom. Brix had the time to buff with Holy Power->DUHM. He meleed his way through all 6 opponents while Quayle & Tiax, strategically placed in the room's corners, had a sling-fest.
Their band of 6 never had a chance really, the opening Silence having rendered their spell-casters useless.
Me (Soloa) and my party set out from the Friendly Arms in first thing in the morning, heading south towards Nashkel. Fortunately we got jumped by a group of bandits along the way who were no match for my sleep spell. After relieving them of their treasure and lives (can't leave them to prey on innocent travellers) we continued onwards.
Shortly thereafter we bumped into the belt loving Ogre we had heard about from the dwarf. I think he must have sensed the mysterious belt I had found while burying Gorion and he attacked us immediately. However it seems he had a sudden attack of narcolepsy (hehe) and I find myself the owner of two mysterious new belts.
We pressed on towards a large temple in the distance, battling some minor foes, when we were jumped by a strangely organised pack of skeleton archers led by a ghoul. My mighty sleep spell failed me for the first time and we were in a pitched battle for our very lives! Imoen was targetted by several archers and despite drinking a healing potion was struck down. The mage guy (Xar? Xap? Zcam?) was his usual useless self, doing some minor damage with his pathetic spell before running and hiding in a corner. Eventually we prevailed with much further injury but no further loss of life. Stopping briefly in the temple to ressurect Imoen (for a bargain 100 gold) we then headed to Beregost.
Shortly after entering the town we were approached by a man offering 300 gold for some brief bodyguard work. This was too good to turn down so we accepted his offer and he took us to his employer, Silke. Silke turned out to be an excellent judge of character as she immediately increased the reward to 400 gold because of how good we looked - a factor I attribute largely to my marvelous golden pantaloons. She warned us that she was about to be attacked by a dangerous mage and that we should attack before the mage could speak any spells. This seemed like excellent advice so we jumped the mage as soon as he appeared. Easiest 400 gold ever, although the townspeople are giving us some funny looks.
A strange mage approached us to help her evade the authorities. So in the interest of justice we promptly tried to hand her over to the authorities, but despite our best efforts they attacked us for harbouring a fugitive! Shortly thereafter they had some brief dreams in which they were elven and resisted my sleep spell. The mage thanked me and said she was heading to the Friendly Arms. I wondered if my civic duty was to hand her into the authorities myself, but settled on just tipping them off to her location the next time I see a policeman.
We stopped in the inn for the night, whereupon a drunken lout called Marl insulted my pantaloons. One thing led to another and you can probably guess what happened next. Still, it was a good learning process for both of us, although he probably doesn't appreciate as much as I do.
First thing in the morning we headed on for Naskel, although we did briefly stop by Firebeard's house to drop off another book for him. No 300 gold reward this time, but we did get a rather handy scroll case.
The journey to Nashkel proved fairly uneventful, the monotony only broken by the crushing victory of sleep spell vs hobgoblins. The mage, Zip, insisted we head to Nashkel as soon as possible. I'm beginning to think he's not quite right in the head which isn't what you want with a mage.
Arriving at Nashkel we bumped into a strange juggler. I didn't have the heart to mention that he was just waving his arms and legs in the air with no actual balls to juggle. Instead I tipped him a gold piece out of sympathy before moving on.
Stopping off to rest at the inn, we were accosted by a strange cleric who insisted we kill her and take her armor to aid our quest. Khalid is now the proud owner of a suit of platemail.
The mayor of the town offered us a reward for investigating the Nashkel mines and given that we were planning on heading there anyway it seemed rude to refuse his offer. Further on in the town a man complimented me on my grey cloak and handed me 200 gold! To be honest my cloak is more black than grey so I think it must really have been down to the incomparable golden pantaloons.
A little further into the town a man was setting up a ventriloquist show. It was going to involve a talking hamster of some kind. I feigned interest but when I pointed out that was rather unusual act the man took offense and attacked us. We were left with no option but to defend ourselves, but I feel sorry for all the poor children who will now miss his show.
Passing over a bridge we encountered a man called Edwin, who said that he was on a quest to kill a dangerous witch. He looked much more competent than Zon and since he was on such a righteous quest I offered him Zit's place in the party. This caused Monty to leave in a huff.
I then met a delightful young man called Noober. We whiled away the afternoon discussing philosopy, music and art before he had to leave. Finally, as we were tramping across a farmers field on the way out of town we came across a very impressive suit of armor just lying on the ground. That could do some serious damage to a plow so we cleared it out of the way for the farmer.
Shortly after leaving town we were attacked by some bandits. As I was readying my sleep spell an enormous brute of a man attacked them from behind, killing 3 while we all just gawped at him. Thereafter the remaining bandits fell asleep and we made the Realms a safer place for travelers. The enormous man turned out to be a half-orc named Dorn. He mentioned something about being betrayed and wanting to turn his betrayers into the authorities, dead or alive. Or at least something like that - I was staring rather dreamily at his muscles at the time. Collecting my wits I gladly accepted his offer to join.
The only question now is whether to head straight to the mines, or off to the west to kill a dangerous witch. I'm going to sleep on it and decide in the morning.
Are you having any trouble keeping Twiddle-dum and Twiddle-dee from engaging each other instead of your enemies?
So far so good, I've had Quayle & Tiax together in the party for 10 days now. I do not know whether there is a specific timer after which they start coming to blows, I've read that eventually they will. So far all that's happened is that when one of them dies (twice for Quayle, once for Tiax), the other makes it very clear that they're please about it.
All no-reloaders, always bear in mind that electricity can end your run very brutally! As Brix & co were walking through The Gate, lightning struck Brix and dealt 31 dmg. Hours later as we exposed Gervisse the mage, he managed to let go of a lightning bolt in the twins' house, causing again ~30 dmg to Brix and killing Quayle... I am now thinking to run throughout any dungeon/undercellar/crypt with 100% Pro Electricity on for Brix.
Having done enough wandering in the big city, Brix, Quayle & Tiax decided it was time to confront the Iron Throne in their HQ itself.
The dopplegangers in the first 4 floors posed no threat at all; the Gnomes sanctuarized and were impressed at the sight of the welcome committee on the 5th floor. They were not going to let them any chance; un-noticed, they gathered in the far-end room opposite the staircases and put up a plan.
1/ Summon 4 skeleton warriors and then buff-up with Haste->Chant->Strength.of.One->PfE->Def.Harmony
2/ rush-in the corridor the 4 hasted skeletons
3/ have the Gnomes pelt the following AoE disabling spells: Silence(x2)->Hold(x2)->Slow
Once this was done, the party of Zhalimar Cloudwulfe was nothing but a wreck. They had managed to take 2 skellies down, but they were slinged to death by the mighty gnomes in a few rounds. Check/mate.
In spite of the horror of seeing dear Candlekeep infiltrated by evilness, Brix refrained his chaotic temper and spared the lives of Rieltar & co while they were within the bounds of the sacred library. That did not prevent the Gnomes from being accused of their murder and had it not been for Thalantyr, their heads might be used right now as ornements to the Ducal Palace.
Down in the crypt, Tiax did what he was recruited for: disarm traps (except one lightning bolt that almost killed him) and open locks. Which enabled Brix to both increase his STR (now 17) and WIS (now 19); maybe Brix Hadilsmok is the wisest gnome that ever was in Fäerun... Dispel Magic works well to remove greater dopplegangers' haste, and Prat & co received more or less the same treatment as the Iron Throne leaders at the 5th floor of their HQ (see above post). They never stood a chance.
We made it safe back to Beregost, but are weary of returning to Baldur's Gate now that we are wanted for murder. Although maybe foolish, Brix thought this might be a good time to visit Durlag's Tower. A little bit of tourism cannot hurt us...
-> Brix has now reached the cap of 161k. He is at the beginning of Chapter 7. I have not done Durlag's in ages and feel like the Gnomes should have a go at it. I should not do this in a no-reload, but here we go. I'll report of what they found in there, later on. Wish the Gnomes luck!
I've played the all saga through and through many times but have never solo-ed and have never played a no-reload. As BG:EE became available, the new char was created (an elven archer), and his party with Dorn, Neera, Jaheira, Tiax and Shar-teel made it to the city of BG and the dungeon under the Durlag’s tower. It was a rather smooth run, I’ve remembered many difficult enemies and traps. At that moment I realized I want to challenge myself. And I created a new char for a solo run. A gnome, an illusionist/thief. ORI is his name. 18 – 18 – 17 (with the Tome it will be 18 for the max saving-throws) – 19 - 2 – 18. * in shortbows and * in one-handed style. 60 in lockpicting and 35 in hide-in-shadows. CG. I identified the main things for ORI: 1. First think than act. 2. No fighting with strong melee fighters and creatures till the latter stages. 3. Going to the dungeons (chapter 3) with a high score in find traps and lockpickting. 4. * in daggers at the 4th thief level. 5. All money must be saved for the Dagger of Venom. ORI bought a katana with the money made from selling the shiny stone. A bear and wolves at the first area after Candlekeep were killed with the bow and an essential help of a potion of speed. Didn’t fight anyone at the next location – no potion of speed left so to fight the wolves was a suicide. The first killer at the FAI was stabbed from the shadows. Then it was an epic battle with hobgoblins who had stolen a ring. After that ORI came to Beregost and took everything from all the chests (except one) and wardrobes in this town. With the wand of lighting Silke and Carlat have been destroyed, one by one. Exploring the two locations to the south of Beregost, a High Hedge (except killing a spider – he’s too strong), a temple (except a group of wolves in the east) and a location with a cow being attacked by xwarts, selling all the items found have brought a so desired 12 700 coins. ORI has reached the 4th thief level and has bought the Dagger of Venom. He has 40 in hide-in-shadows (45 with the Zurlong boots), 85 in lockpickting, 40 in find traps. Now it’s time to go to Nashkel.
@bengoshi: good luck to Ori ! I noticed you killed Karlat with a wand of lightning... did you use it inside the inn?? if so, must have been a bloodbath.
I made the executive decision that the Nashkel Mines could wait and headed west towards the Gnoll Fortress where the dangerous witch awaited.
After a brief, but fairly terrifying, encounter with a wandering lesser basilisk (fortunately nobody died) we arrived at the edge of a small forest where a nymph approached us asking for help in saving her tree. I explained that we were on a mission of vital importance and could only justify delaying our journey if there were a reward which could help our overall mission. The nymph got very huffy about this but I agreed to at least talk to the axemen. The axemen proved rather aggressive and things rapidly escalated from there. Happily it turned out that the nymph was able to reward us after all so it all turned out for the best.
Further west we encountered a rather aggressive troupe of adventurers who looked to have some very nice equipment on them. They started talking smack, and things escalated in the usual manner. But then disaster struck and my sleep spell failed me! Oh, and Khalid died during the ensuing hurly burly but that wasn’t a problem because Dorn easily carried his stuff. Jaheira mentioned that we could raise Khalid for 100 gold, but after carefully weighing this up it just didn’t seem like a good deal.
On our final approach to the Gnoll Fortress we encountered a strangely civilized gnoll who warned us against approaching the fortress. Clearly he was in thrall of the witch and trying to deter heroes from approaching. We ignored him.
I won’t go into much detail on our assault on the fortress. Suffice to say it was heroic, terrific, classic and other superlatives ending in –ic. We slew the gnoll leader and brought low the witch before she could even speak a spell. But then something terrible happened – after relaxing because we thought we had cleared the fortress, a lone gnoll got a lucky hit on Dorn and slew him in a single blow! I knew he was special, but just didn’t realize how much I cared until we had to distribute all of his stuff across 4 low strength characters. It was so bad that I began to appreciate Jaheira.
With heavy packs we set out for the temple to resurrect our beloved mule.
Comments
I find the coastal maps with sirenes dangerous in any no-reload run. They can go smooth and get you nice XP farming early on, but all it takes is one dire-charm you had not anticipated and you're gone. FYI, the skeleton warriors summoned by Animate Dead are nothing like the standard lvl.15 version. They do however get stronger with caster's level and the last version (lvl.7 and above) is tough and wields long sword +1 (incidentally turning this spell in a cash machine).
off-topic: anyone knows how to upload screenshots in a post?
Some jokers tried to poison them, but it did not take long for the Gnomes to wind up their plan. It involved a huge brawl in the temple of Umberlee; the walls were tainted with blood but really, the evil priestess stood no chance when Brix & co started summoning skeleton warriors. Weirdly, this outburst of violence seemes to have made Brix wiser (WIS now = 18).
After my last encounter with Larze which ended up in a disaster (in my last no-reload run, he decimated my party of 4 and killed in 2 huge blows my PC), I wanted to set the records straight. Brix went up to him unbuffed and when he turned hostile, Quayle took a chance with the Wand of Paralyzation. The huge ogre was stunned, and agonized under gnomish' blows. Moments later, Marek failed his save vs a Chromatic Orb and suffered the same fate.
As for skeletal warriors the first ones that spawned were the huge guys and I did see a combat roll that did a 24 point hit but the next couple were more normal sized - I still suspect they are much more formidable than the cannon fodder that spawned in the original - the only thing they had going were numbers - as I recall the higher your level the more spawned so by games end you were summoning 8-10 per spell I think which made them reasonably effective as bone walls to snipe from behind.
Note to self - just becuase I am playing no reload doesn't mean I should play no saves - we cleared out Ulcaster map and all - I paused the game and walked up to get the mail - came back to a "brown out" (low power) - both monitors were black and would not come back up - had to do a hard shut down and wait an hour or so for the power to come back up - last save was the auto save as we left Beregost to head to Ulcaster... sigh
Started another character earlier today for simultaneous run:
Lian Longshot - CN elf fighter/thief
18/99 - 19 - 18 - 11- 8 - 13 **Longsword ** Long Bow
Going for a nuetral/evil run - hurried down to grab Edwin and just killed Dyna at Gnoll Fort with:
Kagain
Monty
Xzar (dead and will probably drop him to make room for Dorn who may show up as we head back)
Viconia
Edwin
Everyone is level 1 except Viconia (2)
Lian is currently in plate and will probably snipe with bow until he builds up enough HPs to feel safe in leathers - he will be locks and traps - Monty stealth and backstab - Kagain and Dorn tank and Edwin blow up stuff. Only bad part so far is both Edwin and Kagain need the dex gauntlets LOL
Guess I'll go try Ulcaster again with Brightbows Brigade or maybe I'll see if we can scare up Dorn for Lian...
Imoen got caught stealing while she was searching for the +1 sling thats in one of the huts and for the first time ever I think some halfling enforcers showed up (an EE addition perhaps) and we beat feet out of town to avoid tarnishing our rep by killing them and the goody-two shoes in the party gave Imoen a talking to altho I doubt it will do any good - she just likes to pilfer stuff too much and mostly we will put up with it.
No plan yet on whats next for Brightbow - I might set her aside for a bit and move Lian along after dinner.
The Gnomish Clerical Trio of Brix, Quayle and Tiax, is having a good time in the big city.
When Brix Hadilsmok was in Candlekeep he used to clean warehouses from rats. Now, he cleans merchant estates from dopplegangers and he cannot really say the latter is more dangerous than the former. With -7 AC, clearing Merchant's League + Seven Suns was easy alright.
The Gnomes then went mage-hunting. Yago was silenced pronto. The quatuor of Niemain & friends were also muted, then fireballed to death. Ragefast was simply blitzed with bullets and a hammer. They spared the life of Ramazith, but raided his tower and Brix is now more clever (INT = 15).
However, Drelik & Jardak were a different matter. The butler turned out to be tougher than his master; his magic resistance thwarted all that we threw at him (Doom, Hold Person, MM's, Wand of Paralyzation...). By the time we managed to take down his Mirror Image, he had cast Horror and targeted Quayle, who was the only one to fail his save. 2 volleys of Magic Missiles killed our weakest link (24 HP's) and Tiax was delighted at his death. We raised him at the Temple of Helm. A hasted Brix took on Jardak in a one-on-one melee brawl; the fight was pretty even, Brix had to drink 5 potions of healing but prevailed.
I need to find a way to go through such magic resistant ennemies; had they been more numerous, the encounter might have taken a sour turn...
Brix Hadilsmok is very much tempted to take his weird friends to the dreaded Durlag's Tower... not that he wants to get rid of them or anything.
Candlekeep went pretty smoothly, and my patience with Firebeard paid off to the tune of an extra 300 gold. Gorion escorted me out of the keep and then managed to get himself killed by a pack of bandits. Tobe honest, I always suspected his tales of consorting with Elminster were just that and was satisfied to be proved correct.
I picked up Imoen, Montaron and Xan while mopping up some stray wolves for some experience. I was jumped by wolves on the way to the next map, but a couple of sleep spells took care of them. I didn't hang around after this because Imoen was looking pretty unhealthy and so we pressed straight on to the Friendly Arms.
I met some stupid old woman who wanted me to find her missing ring. When I asked about a reward she stormed out in a huff. This seemed foolish to me as any thief could just walk in and take her stuff. I felt it was my civic duty to highlight to her just why we don't leave our houses unguarded.
A foolish mage tried to kill me on the steps of the inn - he hadn't even bother preparing for the fight! A slingshot interrupted whatever he was trying to cast and then Monty finished him off in short order. Inside the inn I met up with Jaheira and Khalid and agreed to accompany them to Nashkel to investigate the mines. There seem to be some sparks flying between those two and Monty/Xan but I'm sure they will get along fine once they get to know each other better.
A dwarf in the inn mentioned he had lost a magical belt to an Ogre to the south of the inn. I thanked him for the valuable tip. And then finally as I was bedding down for the night, a bellhop gave me a complimentary pair of magnificent golden pantaloons. He muttered something about getting them cleaned, but I assured him that I would happily take them as is, and get them cleaned myself. Everyone agreed that they looked rather fetching on me.
She's an elven sorceress. Elven because 90% resistance to sleep and charm should be pretty handy. And sorceress because they are fun
Playing on core rules. Happily as a sorceress she doesn't need to worry about the low int for scribing spells (and with 10 int even a potion of genius wouldn't help much). The lack of a con bonus combined with random hitpoints is probably my biggest concern.
We casually "visit" a house in the SW section of Baldur's Gate. It is that of a mage, Sunin. We try to politely leave but he wants none of it and attacks, summoning 2 warriors to help (Maka & Joular). We are caught by surprise.
1/ I decide to mindshield Brix, while both Quayle and Tiax cast Sanctuary (plan is to have them hide in the side rooms and summon skeletons for help). Quayle is hit by an arrow and interrupted, having lost half his HP's while Tiax sanctuarizes but fails his save vs Sunin's Horror. Not exactly going per plan.
2/ Brix tries to draw Sunin and the fighters towards the other side of the house in order to save Quayle. This time the plan works, but it works too well: Brix lets himself get cornered and blocked by the fighters in an angle, while Sunin starts pelting with melf's acid arrows. Meanwhile Quayle drinks a healing potion and tries to silence Sunin, but he saves. This is bad.
Turning point in my no-reload. I'm boxed. Quayle cannot take out all 3 ennemies quickly. Tiax is horrified. I have 2 acid counters and HP's in the low 30's. I look at my spell book, my inventory. I find only one way to save my skin: drink an Invisibility potion. Gulp.
3/ a now invisble Brix takes time to heal (with potions). Quayle, out of sight, manages to cast 2 skeleton warriors and sends them towards Sunin & co. They distract the ennemy and Brix is not boxed anymore. About at the same time, Tiax's sanctuary fades away, but not his horror. He appears under the nose of our foes and they focus on him. Soon, Tiax falls.
4/ My skeletons engage Sunin who fails to cast any interesting spell. Brix has him taste the Wand of Heavens while Quayle sends a volley of MM's. The mage is out. Yeah!
5/ Maka & Joular don't really stand a chance now. One of them is held, our slings and skeleton warriors overcome the other.
Well, that was a close call. I might regret using that invisibility potion here, but there was no safe alternative. We raise Tiax, and Quayle got himself a very nice Ring of Wizardry.
Brix, Quayle & Tiax had had a rough night in the city. The scars from their encounter with Sunin were still very visible, and all they wanted was a quiet evening of ale and smoke at the Helmet and Cloak. Gorpel and his group were a pain, but Brix calmed Tiax down and things were under control. Until another group, larger, came in: Gretek and his maulers. Trouble, that's what they wanted. Brix the wise lost his temper and went berserk. Trouble they got, and much more.
The fight, this time, was handled remarkebly well even though Gorpel & co were sneaking through the backdoor like cowards.
As the maulers' casters were buffing with mirror images, Quayle summoned 2 skeletons, Tiax 2 kobolds and Brix silenced them all. Cannon fodder was standing between the ennemy fighters and the gnomes, who pelted with Hold Person, Slow and Doom. Brix had the time to buff with Holy Power->DUHM. He meleed his way through all 6 opponents while Quayle & Tiax, strategically placed in the room's corners, had a sling-fest.
Their band of 6 never had a chance really, the opening Silence having rendered their spell-casters useless.
Are you having any trouble keeping Twiddle-dum and Twiddle-dee from engaging each other instead of your enemies?
Shortly thereafter we bumped into the belt loving Ogre we had heard about from the dwarf. I think he must have sensed the mysterious belt I had found while burying Gorion and he attacked us immediately. However it seems he had a sudden attack of narcolepsy (hehe) and I find myself the owner of two mysterious new belts.
We pressed on towards a large temple in the distance, battling some minor foes, when we were jumped by a strangely organised pack of skeleton archers led by a ghoul. My mighty sleep spell failed me for the first time and we were in a pitched battle for our very lives! Imoen was targetted by several archers and despite drinking a healing potion was struck down. The mage guy (Xar? Xap? Zcam?) was his usual useless self, doing some minor damage with his pathetic spell before running and hiding in a corner. Eventually we prevailed with much further injury but no further loss of life. Stopping briefly in the temple to ressurect Imoen (for a bargain 100 gold) we then headed to Beregost.
Shortly after entering the town we were approached by a man offering 300 gold for some brief bodyguard work. This was too good to turn down so we accepted his offer and he took us to his employer, Silke. Silke turned out to be an excellent judge of character as she immediately increased the reward to 400 gold because of how good we looked - a factor I attribute largely to my marvelous golden pantaloons. She warned us that she was about to be attacked by a dangerous mage and that we should attack before the mage could speak any spells. This seemed like excellent advice so we jumped the mage as soon as he appeared. Easiest 400 gold ever, although the townspeople are giving us some funny looks.
A strange mage approached us to help her evade the authorities. So in the interest of justice we promptly tried to hand her over to the authorities, but despite our best efforts they attacked us for harbouring a fugitive! Shortly thereafter they had some brief dreams in which they were elven and resisted my sleep spell. The mage thanked me and said she was heading to the Friendly Arms. I wondered if my civic duty was to hand her into the authorities myself, but settled on just tipping them off to her location the next time I see a policeman.
We stopped in the inn for the night, whereupon a drunken lout called Marl insulted my pantaloons. One thing led to another and you can probably guess what happened next. Still, it was a good learning process for both of us, although he probably doesn't appreciate as much as I do.
First thing in the morning we headed on for Naskel, although we did briefly stop by Firebeard's house to drop off another book for him. No 300 gold reward this time, but we did get a rather handy scroll case.
Arriving at Nashkel we bumped into a strange juggler. I didn't have the heart to mention that he was just waving his arms and legs in the air with no actual balls to juggle. Instead I tipped him a gold piece out of sympathy before moving on.
Stopping off to rest at the inn, we were accosted by a strange cleric who insisted we kill her and take her armor to aid our quest. Khalid is now the proud owner of a suit of platemail.
The mayor of the town offered us a reward for investigating the Nashkel mines and given that we were planning on heading there anyway it seemed rude to refuse his offer. Further on in the town a man complimented me on my grey cloak and handed me 200 gold! To be honest my cloak is more black than grey so I think it must really have been down to the incomparable golden pantaloons.
A little further into the town a man was setting up a ventriloquist show. It was going to involve a talking hamster of some kind. I feigned interest but when I pointed out that was rather unusual act the man took offense and attacked us. We were left with no option but to defend ourselves, but I feel sorry for all the poor children who will now miss his show.
Passing over a bridge we encountered a man called Edwin, who said that he was on a quest to kill a dangerous witch. He looked much more competent than Zon and since he was on such a righteous quest I offered him Zit's place in the party. This caused Monty to leave in a huff.
I then met a delightful young man called Noober. We whiled away the afternoon discussing philosopy, music and art before he had to leave. Finally, as we were tramping across a farmers field on the way out of town we came across a very impressive suit of armor just lying on the ground. That could do some serious damage to a plow so we cleared it out of the way for the farmer.
Shortly after leaving town we were attacked by some bandits. As I was readying my sleep spell an enormous brute of a man attacked them from behind, killing 3 while we all just gawped at him. Thereafter the remaining bandits fell asleep and we made the Realms a safer place for travelers. The enormous man turned out to be a half-orc named Dorn. He mentioned something about being betrayed and wanting to turn his betrayers into the authorities, dead or alive. Or at least something like that - I was staring rather dreamily at his muscles at the time. Collecting my wits I gladly accepted his offer to join.
The only question now is whether to head straight to the mines, or off to the west to kill a dangerous witch. I'm going to sleep on it and decide in the morning.
All no-reloaders, always bear in mind that electricity can end your run very brutally! As Brix & co were walking through The Gate, lightning struck Brix and dealt 31 dmg. Hours later as we exposed Gervisse the mage, he managed to let go of a lightning bolt in the twins' house, causing again ~30 dmg to Brix and killing Quayle... I am now thinking to run throughout any dungeon/undercellar/crypt with 100% Pro Electricity on for Brix.
The dopplegangers in the first 4 floors posed no threat at all; the Gnomes sanctuarized and were impressed at the sight of the welcome committee on the 5th floor. They were not going to let them any chance; un-noticed, they gathered in the far-end room opposite the staircases and put up a plan.
1/ Summon 4 skeleton warriors and then buff-up with Haste->Chant->Strength.of.One->PfE->Def.Harmony
2/ rush-in the corridor the 4 hasted skeletons
3/ have the Gnomes pelt the following AoE disabling spells: Silence(x2)->Hold(x2)->Slow
Once this was done, the party of Zhalimar Cloudwulfe was nothing but a wreck. They had managed to take 2 skellies down, but they were slinged to death by the mighty gnomes in a few rounds. Check/mate.
Time to leave BG and head for Candlekeep.
Down in the crypt, Tiax did what he was recruited for: disarm traps (except one lightning bolt that almost killed him) and open locks. Which enabled Brix to both increase his STR (now 17) and WIS (now 19); maybe Brix Hadilsmok is the wisest gnome that ever was in Fäerun... Dispel Magic works well to remove greater dopplegangers' haste, and Prat & co received more or less the same treatment as the Iron Throne leaders at the 5th floor of their HQ (see above post). They never stood a chance.
We made it safe back to Beregost, but are weary of returning to Baldur's Gate now that we are wanted for murder. Although maybe foolish, Brix thought this might be a good time to visit Durlag's Tower. A little bit of tourism cannot hurt us...
-> Brix has now reached the cap of 161k. He is at the beginning of Chapter 7. I have not done Durlag's in ages and feel like the Gnomes should have a go at it. I should not do this in a no-reload, but here we go. I'll report of what they found in there, later on. Wish the Gnomes luck!
As BG:EE became available, the new char was created (an elven archer), and his party with Dorn, Neera, Jaheira, Tiax and Shar-teel made it to the city of BG and the dungeon under the Durlag’s tower. It was a rather smooth run, I’ve remembered many difficult enemies and traps.
At that moment I realized I want to challenge myself. And I created a new char for a solo run. A gnome, an illusionist/thief. ORI is his name. 18 – 18 – 17 (with the Tome it will be 18 for the max saving-throws) – 19 - 2 – 18. * in shortbows and * in one-handed style. 60 in lockpicting and 35 in hide-in-shadows. CG.
I identified the main things for ORI:
1. First think than act.
2. No fighting with strong melee fighters and creatures till the latter stages.
3. Going to the dungeons (chapter 3) with a high score in find traps and lockpickting.
4. * in daggers at the 4th thief level.
5. All money must be saved for the Dagger of Venom.
ORI bought a katana with the money made from selling the shiny stone.
A bear and wolves at the first area after Candlekeep were killed with the bow and an essential help of a potion of speed.
Didn’t fight anyone at the next location – no potion of speed left so to fight the wolves was a suicide.
The first killer at the FAI was stabbed from the shadows.
Then it was an epic battle with hobgoblins who had stolen a ring.
After that ORI came to Beregost and took everything from all the chests (except one) and wardrobes in this town.
With the wand of lighting Silke and Carlat have been destroyed, one by one.
Exploring the two locations to the south of Beregost, a High Hedge (except killing a spider – he’s too strong), a temple (except a group of wolves in the east) and a location with a cow being attacked by xwarts, selling all the items found have brought a so desired 12 700 coins.
ORI has reached the 4th thief level and has bought the Dagger of Venom.
He has 40 in hide-in-shadows (45 with the Zurlong boots), 85 in lockpickting, 40 in find traps.
Now it’s time to go to Nashkel.
I made the executive decision that the Nashkel Mines could wait and headed west towards the Gnoll Fortress where the dangerous witch awaited.
After a brief, but fairly terrifying, encounter with a wandering lesser basilisk (fortunately nobody died) we arrived at the edge of a small forest where a nymph approached us asking for help in saving her tree. I explained that we were on a mission of vital importance and could only justify delaying our journey if there were a reward which could help our overall mission. The nymph got very huffy about this but I agreed to at least talk to the axemen. The axemen proved rather aggressive and things rapidly escalated from there. Happily it turned out that the nymph was able to reward us after all so it all turned out for the best.
Further west we encountered a rather aggressive troupe of adventurers who looked to have some very nice equipment on them. They started talking smack, and things escalated in the usual manner. But then disaster struck and my sleep spell failed me! Oh, and Khalid died during the ensuing hurly burly but that wasn’t a problem because Dorn easily carried his stuff. Jaheira mentioned that we could raise Khalid for 100 gold, but after carefully weighing this up it just didn’t seem like a good deal.
On our final approach to the Gnoll Fortress we encountered a strangely civilized gnoll who warned us against approaching the fortress. Clearly he was in thrall of the witch and trying to deter heroes from approaching. We ignored him.
I won’t go into much detail on our assault on the fortress. Suffice to say it was heroic, terrific, classic and other superlatives ending in –ic. We slew the gnoll leader and brought low the witch before she could even speak a spell. But then something terrible happened – after relaxing because we thought we had cleared the fortress, a lone gnoll got a lucky hit on Dorn and slew him in a single blow! I knew he was special, but just didn’t realize how much I cared until we had to distribute all of his stuff across 4 low strength characters. It was so bad that I began to appreciate Jaheira.
With heavy packs we set out for the temple to resurrect our beloved mule.
Thanks.
No, this chap came out onto the street to watch some stars and to kill some gnomes. But he failed:D