Well it's a "moonblade" so the kewlness factor is out of this world...
Seriously it's not the be all and end all of uberness but it is a decent weapon at that stage of the game and you don't have to refuse Shawfords rewards (or the druids rewards) you just have to refuse the Moon-ladys rewards - which is a decent trade off but you can certainly get on without it.
(and may have to have been " doing good for the defense of Targos & the Ten Towns at this perilous time - but I'm not certain about that part - that's just what she says when she gifts it to you)
@Wanderon You get the moonblade if you rescue the villagers and refuse the quest-giver's (the one that asked you to get the moonblade, forgot her name) reward. She'll hear about your good deeds (you rescued the villagers) and decide you can do more good with it. That's about it for getting the moonblade if I remember correctly. Anyway I want to do this too, but is shadowkeeping allowed? (cause I'm gonna start as a fighter kit then multi-class into fighter/thief with shadowkeeper.)
Anaialee convinced the mercenaries to help out with the Palisade defense, however, a few minutes after talking to Shawford about that, the Palisade came under attack. Goblins attacked, and for each goblin that was struck down, an undead creature, a skeleton or a zombie would take its place. It was a nightmare. Especially when Anaialee heard the words:
"Prepare for trouble."
"And make it double!"
(It just turned into an episode of Pokémon! I mean...Jessie and James as goblins! WHAT?!)
Two goblin wizards came through the broken gate into the Palisade with some more goblins, and some undead.
The goblins weren't a problem, Anaialee cast sleep, and some of the goblins fell asleep. Valeero cast bless on Hildury, but only Hildury, Anaialee, Nikosh, and Valeero were affected. Then Valeero cast Remove Fear on Sir Nord, and Rizdaer. Valeero also used her two scrolls of 'Hold undead', since turning did nothing. Then, Anaialee cast Magic Missile until the two goblins were dead. (And there was no "We're blasting off again!")
The party's next mission was to secure the Shaengarne Bridge. However, there were several orcs in the way of that. So, most of the orcs had to die, and the group saved two druids before moving into the next area.
The party was saved by a Silverstar of Selune, however, she lost her moonblade to a troll. So, Anaialee went after it, and Torak as well. However, a girl came out of the orc encampment, and requested that the other villagers be saved. So, Anaialee went to the remains of the apothecary's house, and pulled out an invisbility potion. Nikosh quickly declined going into a camp filled with orcs. So, Anaialee eyed Rizdaer.
"You'll do." Anaialee spoke to the drow. "Since our rogue is too much of a coward to open the gate."
Those words made Nikosh glare at Anaialee, but it made Rizdaer roll his eyes, take the potion, and drink it. A few minutes later the gate was opened and the party saved the villagers.
Then, the group went after Torak. Except, he had some help from half-orc mages, and druids. Anaialee cast sleep again. Hildury called upon the aid of Tempus and gained some additional strength. Valeero healed whoever needed it.
Next, the group went into the cave and went after the troll. The results of that fight were obvious. Many more orcs were killed. Hildury called upon Tempus to heal Rizdaer whenever he needed it. Anaialee cast a Melf's Acid Arrow on the troll when it was near death.
Anaialee went back to the Priestess, rejecting her reward. However, she ended up with a Moonblade instead. Anaialee handed the Moonblade to Valeero. Sir Nord, and Hildury nodded in approval as Anaialee handed the sword to Valeero. Who better to wield a Moonblade of the Moon Maiden, then a Morninglady of Lathander?
Party: Anaialee - Sorceress - 4 Sir Nord - Paladin of Helm - 7 Rizdaer - Fighter - 4 (6) Valeero - Morninglady of Lathander - 7 Nikosh - Rogue - 4 Hildury - Barbarian/Battleguard of Tempus - 3/1
Reloads: 0
Notes: Next level Anaialee will be multiclassed into Ranger. Why? I want an Arcane Archer type character? Heh.
I got Harmonius' party up through about the first two big battles inside the goblin warrens, below the Horde fortress.
Lots of good NPC Project interaction happened.
I almost had a TPK against the defense on the bridges outside the warrens. Harmonius went down to a Hold Person, and Valeero followed shortly thereafter. We kept getting harrassed by Sleep and Entangle spells, and by those thrice-damned drums that kept arse-pulling more enemies. We almost lost Sir Nord as well - he was down to *two* hit points when we managed to get to the map edge and retreat back to Targos.
I wasn't sure if we could recover from the devastating arse-kicking. We drank over 3000 gold worth of extra healing potions, and we lost several extra healing potions when Valeero fell. We lost Valeero's half plate, her special golden winged helm, a staff mace +1, a shield +2, and Harmonius' Short Sword of Sure Striking +1, plus other assorted potions and items.
Then, it cost us almost every last copper to get Harmonius and Valeero raised back in Targos. We had to sell a Bag of Holding for 2500 gold to be able to afford it. So, we were broke, and Valeero and Harmonius both have inferior equipment now.
I am going to have to get much, much more careful not to rush into encounters now. IWD2 is primarily a tactical game, and it punishes you severely for rushing into anything. I have to try to draw enemies out with range, and watch out for all the spellcasters. Also, it lulls you into a false sense of security by giving you several easy encounters just before it drops the Sword of Damocles on your head.
I started playing with the AI scripts. IWD2 actually has some pretty decent scripts. I found one for Harmonius that has him sing bard song most of the time, and it shuffles through the songs logically in a way that takes maximum advantage of the Lingering Song feat. I've just discovered that you can use Lingering Song to stack two bard songs together, and the AI script is pretty good about doing all the shuffling automatically for your bard, freeing your attention to tactical management.
I was very proud that I managed to recover from a devastating loss against the Horde defenses without reloading. I want to get as close as possible to doing this as a no-reload, although I'm not so naïve as to think that will happen, since I've forgotten everything about this game, such that I couldn't metagame it if I wanted to.
@Belgarathmth - IWD2 has some of the best AI scripts. The only way BG2 gets that good with its AI scripts is if you use BP AI Scripts mod. Not that I mind using that mod.
I have another update.
The party cleared its way to Shaengarne. Destroying Spiders, Bugbears, Malarites, etc. They even destroyed the dam that the Malarites and the orcs were building on the Shaengarne River.
Hildury apologized to Rizdaer for judging him based upon his race, and not his actions. Anaialee wasn't guilty of this, but she actually liked the drow, and got along with him fairly well.
Anaialee made a promise to Rizdaer as well. She promised him that she would never try to hurt him like other surfacers have. To which the drow said.
"You are such a strange woman."
"Thanks Rizdaer." Anaialee thought to herself.
A few hours later they had finally reached the bridge. The group cleared their way to it. Hell, they destroyed every creature. Hildury and Valeero used their healing spells. Especially when it came to Xuki. However, it was all for naught. The Shaengarne bridge was destroyed.
The party returned to Targos, got their money from Shawford, and talked to Ulbrec. Then, they all retired to the Weeping Widow Inn.
Party: Anaialee - Sorceress/Ranger - 4/1 Sir Nord - Paladin of Helm - 7 Rizdaer - Fighter - 5 (7) Valeero - Morninglady of Lathander - 7 Nikosh - Rogue - 5 Hildury - Barbarian/Battleguard of Tempus - 3/2
Reloads: 0
Notes: I bet most of you figured out that the number in the parentheses is what Rizdaer's level would be if he wasn't a drow, and took that two level reduction thing? I don't mind. I just like that this party is actually functioning well.
@Draith012, I just got to read your entry from August 20, because I only last night caught up with where you were in the game at that time. Very nice fanfic work, as always.
We have moved deeper into the goblin warrens, searching for an underground secret way into the Horde fortress. We found Pondmuk the goblin (or whatever his name was), and he gave us some info after we brought him some spider bodies to eat. He also offered to stand watch while we rested, but he betrayed us (of course), and summoned a bunch of his goblin friends. That's what we get for trying to trust a Chaotic Evil race. Yeah, yeah, I know, exceptions abound, and one shouldn't judge a whole race by their perceived Chaotic Evilness, but darned if they don't keep proving the "stereotype" again and again!
We retreated to Targos to buy more healing potions, and some new magical equipment. I have decided that having Hildury dual wield may be a mistake, so for now, she is going to start wearing heavier armor (which will negate her ranger dual wield bonuses), and using a magic shield that we found on one of the many bodies in the goblin's spider pen.
We finally made our way to, of all things, a demon... is "child" the right word? He called himself a demon "whelp". I made a "deal with the devil" to seek a message to him from his Hellish lords that he said was being held by the leaders on the next level below in the warrens. I am quite sure that he will betray us as soon as he gets his message, but I want to know what information I might learn from pretending to take him up on his offer of alliance, and then giving him his message. At least we can read it first, and, we will be stronger by whatever equipment we can take from the deep levels goblins and, as we have seen now, their Orog overlords, before we attempt the daunting task of fighting a demon, even a "child" one. (Demons reproduce like those of us on the Prime? Interesting.)
Here are some images of our first battle on the second warrens level:
Jaemal casts Web in hopes of disrupting the enemy Shaman's spells, after a failed attempt at Sleep. I became very, very glad that I had suggested to Valeero that she pray for "Remove Paralysis", after Sir Nord fell victim to the Shaman's Hold Person. I have also suggested to Valeero that she pray always for an Exaltation spell against future such magical disasters from enemy casters.
Oh yes, and I also sang up a Chromatic Orb that stunned the thrice-damned shaman. So, Sir Nord and daddy dearest, music is useless, hmmm?
Valeero saves Sir Nord with that Remove Paralysis spell:
Valeero heals Sir Nord as the rest of us fight. I keep singing, because I am convinced that my musical magic actually can save our lives, although its effects are subtle. Neither Sir Nord nor my father believe in my music. Still, I keep singing.
Disaster struck on the second level of the warrens! Hildury fell to concentrated attacks from our enemies. We had no choice but to retreat back to Targos, to have her raised.
As we set out to return to the warrens in the wee hours of the morning, Jaemal and I took a break, and sat together quietly away from the others. He began to ask about the Aurora Borealis in... a certain way. While explaining, my breath caught in my throat as I suddenly found his hand upon my shoulder. Could it be that I have found my soul mate, in this cruel world, after a lifetime of being made to endure all manner of cruelty because that I do not have the usual feelings for women enjoyed and demanded by my father?
Jaemal's voice is - so deep, and so confident. And yet, he seems so... vulnerable... because of his past as an unwilling eunuch, and a slave. He even says he remembers the awful thing that was done to him. I had thought that that was only done to babies under extremely rare circumstances, and supposedly to the benefit of those babies, but according to Jaemal, he was a fully aware seven year old child when the slavers grabbed him, told him that his master wanted something of his, that silly, stupid angel children like him must always give to their masters, and... oh, Oghma.
I did my best to comfort him and show him my genuinely growing love for him by holding my breath and leaving his hand on mine for as long as he wanted it there. I thought, and I was scared, that if I as much as breathed too hard, he would run away, and slam his defenses down on me like a portcullis.
In this harsh world, in our little squad of adventurers who were desperately trying to defeat the Horde , and to open the way for desperately needed reinforcements from Neverwinter and Luskan, through desperate strike-and-retreat guerilla warfare, I resolved that I would do everything in my power to show this man, and yes, he is a man, despite his doubts that he is, all the beauty and joy that can be had through beautiful sights and sounds. Jaemal's brief moment of vulnerable appreciation of beauty has strengthened my resolve tenfold to dedicate my life to beauty, art, and music! This awful, icy world of ours needs that, more than any more men of war, or even spies, priests, or wizards!
@Shandyr, you might enjoy checking out the IWD2 NPC Project Jaemal romance.
Reloads: 0 Average party level: 6
EDIT: More Jaemal romance, for any who are interested, but who don't intend to play it for themselves:
Observation: the IWD2 project romances seem to be running on rest cycles rather than real time playing the game, which is making them run much too fast, since IWD2 is a game that pretty much forces you to attack/retreat/rest in a continuous cycle, pretty much perpetually. The dialogues and romances need to be spaced on a real time timer, like the BG2 romances. I've always thought that one hour of real time in-game time per dialogue was a very comfortable pace. The IWD2 talks appear to not be doing that. At this rate, I expect to have exhausted all the written IWD2 dialogues other than game-event talks, before I ever even get out of chapter one.
@Belgarathmth - Its the quirks with the engine, that makes the dialogues and the romances like that. Also, you have to keep in mind, IWD2 isn't really made for 'Party interacting NPCs'.
However, all dialogues, and romances are based on chapter. The best way to see if you're out of dialogues for the chapter would be to press the 'P' key. I think some of these things are just really fast pace. Then again, IWD2 Chapters are -really- short.
I got an update, but I'm not in the mood to write it in story form so...
Long story short, Defeated Guthma with magic missiles, swords, arrows, and bullets. Also used a Remove Fear to keep the group immune from horror spells. Also, Fireballs. Lots of them.
Party: Anaialee - Sorceress/Ranger - 6/1 Sir Nord - Paladin of Helm - 9 Rizdaer - Fighter - 6 (8) Valeero - Morninglady of Lathander - 9 Nikosh - Rogue - 7 Hildury - Barbarian/Battleguard of Tempus - 4/3
@SapphireIce101 hrn? The chapters are short? But chapter one takes you through 3 missions, two of which fell kinda long. I don't know. I never made it pass... well after the monastery.
@Belgarathmth it's been awhile since I played 3rd edition. Do they let you have all your off-hand attacks or do you only get one additional attack when dual wielding? Otherwise, it might be better to use a two-hander for Hildury if she has high strength score. Believe two-handers give 1.5 damage bonus than normal. But then again, if you do get multiple attacks with your off hand, it'll be worth it to dual later levels. Found this really nifty leather armor that makes you immune to hold spells so no more those beat downs via immobilization.
Speaking of which, I finally caught back up to my original run using the Tactics4IWD2 mod. It's quite a pain in the @ss and the boss fights each have a little surprise for you along with large modifications to the creatures, their AI script and spell selections.
In short, at the bridge everybody but Ria died in the attempt of capturing the bridge. In order: Hector: Held by the mage at the end of the bridge and then beat down by his undead summons Draith: Hit by same mage's fireball Ishtaida: Struck down by a malarite high priest's call lightning spell Valerie: zapped by that same damnable mage's lightning bolt Constantin: unfortunate critical hit at the very end when clearing out the remaining forces This would have probably made for a better story and epicness. Maybe I'll rewrite it later...
And the last section of the fort was an agonizing snail paced battle. Had to rest twice appose to not having to at all. Guthma took down both Constantine and Draith (admittedly Draith should have survived if I wasn't being careless, shame on me). So the death count is up to 7 now instead of 1. Hm.
@Draith012 - They feel kind of short to me. I mean, they aren't 'Baldur's Gate Short' aka Speed Runners trying to beat the whole game in a hour or two in zero reloads while soloing it. That's hectic stuff there.
And it appears that people are almost at the same spot. Hah.
@Draith012, the dual-wielding only gave 1 extra attack per round. I thought that was pretty good when I took it, but Hildury started to really take a beating with that leather armor requirement, so I decided, that at least at the point where I am in the game now, the best defense is not a good offense, but that the best defense really is a good defense. So, she's wearing chain armor and using a shield, for the time being.
Brightaxe and crew managed to clear the bridge - no real issues on the pass the dam or the bridge maps - we returned to the Moonlady after each map to rest/heal and get another aid spell before moving to the next.
Current levels: Brightaxe - Battleguard 4 (5 ECL) (only about 500 from next level) Nord - Paladin 4 Fighter 1 (only about 600 from next level - fighter 2) Hildury - Barbarian 4 Ranger 1 (just leveled) Nikosh - Rogue 5 Salomeya - bard 5 Peony - Illusionist 5
It's beginning to look like Peony may be a more likely romance option as Sal & Brightaxe at CE & CG are a bit like oil & water LOL.
The next set of maps are where a LOT of my previous No Reload games ended it will be interesting to see how this group fares there as my memory of what to expect where are likely to have some gaps after all these years of Dragon Age & Neverwinter 2...last time I played through ID2 was probably 8-9 years ago...
I'm not really in the mood to do any creative writing today, but it occurred to me that, often, the most fun part of reading challenge posts to me is looking at good screenshots. So, I made a bunch of screenshots. One picture is worth a thousand words, I guess.
So, next session, we will be taking Oswald's flying ship to Chapter Two. Everybody seems to be saying that things will get much harder there, so, I'm proud to have finished Chapter One with no reloads.
Reloads: 0 Average Party Level: 7
BTW: It looks like Mirror Image protects against Fireball in IWD2; that is, Fireball only blasts one Mirror Image, and leaves the mage that cast it safe. That's a pretty significant upgrade. It's interesting to see all the spell tweaks in IWD2 - some are greatly amplified, others are gimped half to death.
Well Mirror Image was never suppose to work that way in 3rd edition. I think that's just a fail scripting on the programers part. It probably just registers a hit which in turns kills an image instead of just hitting the mage and ignore the spell entirely. I've noticed as well as the goblin shamans and orc shamans were ignoring my fireballs. Very annoying as it makes magic missile the most effective spell in getting rid of such annoying buffs. Not to mention that mirror image still works in conjunction with improve invisibility which is just absurd. I'm surprise there aren't fixes for these things.
As far as dual wielding, 3rd edition had feats like Improve Two-Weapon Fighting which allow you gain additional attacks with your off hand provided you had the B.A.B. to support it. I haven't seen them on the list so I wonder if they just give it to you anyways. Otherwise, you'll do more damage with a two-hander than dual wielding.
The screenshots are nice. They let people know what you're doing along the way but I like reading how other people handle situations that the game has.
I've always thought mirror image was just an added chance you didn't get hit - that the damage from whatever source would hit either the mage or one of the images so if you had 5 images chances of your mage getting hit were 1:5 and with 3 images 1:3 etc. but the mage had a chance to be hit at all times.
@Wanderon, in the original vanilla BG, the mage could not be hit in melee until all the images were gone. It got changed later so that there was a one in however many images chance for the mage to still be hit, greatly weakening the spell. It doesn't offer any protection from AoE damage like Fireball in the BG games, and I don't think it does in Icewind Dale 1 either.
But in IWD2, it's protecting from Fireball, which greatly increases its power. I haven't found out yet if that works for the player, or only for the enemy shamans through a bug.
I remember in 2nd edition handbook and even in the 3rd edition that the spell created illusion duplicates of the mage. The attacker must first roll an attack roll against an dodge bonus (dex mod) AC to see if he hits. If the attack was great enough to physically touch the mage then there was a one in 'x' chance he hit the actual mage. If he didn't, the image vanish, if he did, you apply his armor bonus to see if he successfully penetrated his defenses. It never protected against area affects, instead a fireball will burn the mage and the images will replicate his appearance completely (so all the images look as though they were burned as well). It couldn't work in conjunction to invisibility as it would caused the images to disappear as well and thus negate it's intended purpose. It was really a pen and paper spell so programming all this would probably be a pain in the @ss. In fact, invisibility and improved invisibility negated other illusion spells like blur and displacement. There was no absurd stacking.
Brightaxe and Co are working diligently at the Fortress and for a time things were going well - I recalled the set-up for the western side of the map and sent Nik scouting and dragging the enemy back to meet us and we progressed fairly steadily without much trouble clearing the first west side first then the first bridge then back to the west side and up to the north bridge where Nik snuck across and far enough south to take out the drum before we engaged that group. He snuck back across the bridge and we pulled them to us again and then made our way south where we made our first mistake.
We pulled a rider back to the north and another couple including a "boss" followed him but apparently the head shaman also snuck north and saw us and went back and started beating his tom-tom and riders starting appearing at the north bridge. Then Sal charmed one and the new ones were not arriving fast enough to give us trouble so we hung out and killed a half dozen or so waiting for our charmed rider to turn hostile again - which he never did. We were also unable to target him to make him hostile so eventually we just let him tag along and we headed south to face the music where his brethren finally killed him. (We charmed an elite archer down there as well and he also did not return to hostile so apparently the charm spell is bugged for duration - oh dear - (snicker).
Both Peony and Nik bit the dust before that battle was over both I think due to lightning strikes and apparently the head shaman got off a half dozen call lightning spells before he was taken down and of course they kept right on working after his demise so we had to give up on looting and take everyone far enough away to avoid them until they finally all dissipated. Then back to Targos to raise our dead which took all but 231 of our gold.
Fortunately it then occurred to me that we had not yet grabbed our wages for the bridge battle and we did so bringing the coffers back up to 3231 so we can afford to raise our fallen allies a couple more times if needed (which I suspect it may be before the fortress falls to our awesomeness!)
Brightaxe is now level 5 (6) and Nord is Pally 4/F 2 with the rest at level 5 with 1500 - 2000 to go before level 6.
Battle of note, the first. Giants in the playground. Nord and Hildury tank the leader. Jaemal casts Web and several Fireballs at the rest, doing most of the heavy lifting. The enemy was arranged quite conveniently to make this possible.
Character development: Hildury is becoming quite the party philosopher. She asked me why people make fun of pallys. I tried to give her a simple explanation of rigid thinking, fundamentalism, and fanaticism, how it hurts people, and that hurt people ridicule that which hurt them in order to gain power over it. She stared blankly, ignored my answer, and stated with absolute conviction that people make fun of pallys because they're jealous of them.
Jaemal continues to adore me. I'm not totally sure if I'm comfortable with that, for fear of letting him down. We have had several intense discussions about his background as a slave. He is playful and attentive, but fearsome in his magical power in combat.
Nikosh made some tortoise shell hair ornaments for Hildury. Sir Nord acted abashed that he had never seen to Hildury's "femininity" before, and insisted that Nikosh take gold in payment.
We have been taking our time, and attempting to enjoy our new situation, at my insistence. Merely by exploring the area piecemeal, and resting and recreating frequently at Oswald's shipwreck, we have learned a plethora of information about what is going on here. There seem to be two factions, the "cult", which we know from attacks at night are actually a pack of werewolves, and a coven of Auril, who are blocking our way out of the pass where we crashed.
Oswald has been using the time to craft us useful armor out of beetle carapaces, and cold-resistant clothing out of the pelts of yeti that we've killed, since both creature types insist on attacking us with some regularity, but are easily dispatched.
Given that we were made to crash by robed, magic-casting women, who are now blocking us from exploring farther, I'd say that we are going to have no choice but to declare war on the Aurilites. I'd like to keep peace with the werewolves, especially since their leader has several extremely valuable magic items that he is willing to sell or trade. My feelings say that trying to rob him would be evil and dishonorable, as he has done nothing to hurt us, (aside from a few of his fledglings losing control in the night), and also that he probably has failsafes in place to destroy his valuables if anything happens to him.
Once more unto the breech my friends - we entered the goblins warrens under the fortress and immediately came upon - wait for it.... GOBLINS!
Webbed 'em up at the entrance and took the first room down without too much trouble with a lot of micro-management as they began to break free - sent Nik to scout the next area and drag them back to us which worked fine - talked to the spider craving Pondmuk and agreed to exchange food for info but forgot about the goblin crew waiting in the next area and by the time the smoke had cleared from that one all but Hildury and Nord had fallen so another trip to Targos which this time did just about wipe out our gold. - I toyed with the idea of reloading here as I had a q-save from after the last room but bit the bullet and got them raised instead.
Back to the warrens we cleared the spiders and the rest of the rooms in the first section losing Brightaxe again in the final fracas against those red goblin thingys when he got held. Fortunately we had looted enough gold to pay those thieves in Targos another 1100 (when they should have been paying us for doing their dirty work and raising us for free) once again taking our gold count down to 212 with very little stuff we might sell off if more was needed.
That's probably as far as we will go today unless I don't find anything interesting on Netflix this evening...LOL
Everyone is at level 6 except Brightaxe at 5 (6) but Nord only has about 300 to go for his next level.
Solomon is a selfish, power hungry, brash and impulsive Bhaalspawn more concerned with his own strength than anything else. His decisions will be roleplayed, however I will metagame encounters, item locations, and so on. In other words I'm not going to pick a dialogue option for any other reason than it's the most likely thing he'd say, but I will go pick up items like the Ring of Wizardry and cheese Firebead Elvenhair.
I will be going through the entire saga and a ton of additional content including DSotSC, NtotSC, SoBH, TDD, SOS and possibly TS. This is on BGT with SCS, IR, SR, BGSpawn, fixpack, tweak pack and others that don't majorly impact gameplay such as NPC Project, UB, etc. In other words BWP "standard" with the above mega mods and almost every difficulty enhancing piece of SCS, except Cloakwood Spiders and Final Battle.
Solomon will spend much of BG1 alone and when he does have company it will likely be only one companion. In BG2 I will probably have a party of 4, the fights are more difficult and the banter more entertaining. I'm going to treat it like a no reload, but since I'm going through content I've never seen, plus SCS, I don't expect to win every fight but I will avoid reloading at all costs.
Chapter 1: Candlekeep
Uneventful as expected. After the usual quests Solomon had just enough to buy two Scimitars (he started with ** TWF and ** Scimitar) and get one night's rest to memorize Find Familiar to summon his Dust Mephit. In the morning Firebead insulted his appearance, something about a fool buying tainted iron while wearing rags. And so it began.
Solomon ended up leaving Candlekeep with two Scimitars, a Bag of Holding, a Traveler's Robe, a pair of healing potions and 10 gold. It's important to note that with Item Revisions installed the robe is +2 movement rate which is highly convenient.
Ditched Imoen after she handed over her belongings, don't need the brat. Traveled to FAI, picked up Ring of Protection +1 and Ring of Wizardry along the way. Tarnesh the world's third most unsuccessful assassin dispatched easily, Wand of Missiles to interrupt his spell and a follow up swing of the Scimitar to finish him.
Told Jaheira and Khalid to take a hike and headed north. Using Mage Armor at this point, with RoP and Dexterity bonus Solomon is at AC 1. The Hobgoblins in FAI proved no challenge, most killed in a single hit. Continued north into Lower Chionthar.
Met the fishermen, headed to the Ankheg cave. Used the speed from Traveler's Robe to avoid Ankheg attacks and get the loot: Wand of Fire, Chainmail+1, etc. Dropped the body off at Brun, tried to get a reward out of him and couldn't, no reason not to leave the body anyway at this point. Leveled up from it.
Left to Wyrm's Crossing and met with the priestess, one hit put her in a talkative mood. Changed Mage Armor out for Shield before returning to Chionthar. Now using the spell Shield (-2 AC/-4 vs missiles) and the Chainmail+1 now to get down to -3 AC . Met with the fishermen, it was a blood bath. Cleared the Ankheg cave for a couple more levels. Didn't really expect to get through the entire thing before needing to leave but the rolls were a little lucky.
This puts Solomon at 4/4 with 6 spells/day in the 1st circle and 2 in the 2nd circle, plus Mage Armor is now AC 5 instead of AC 6, remember I use Spell Revisions. Now I can ditch the Chainmail again and go back to using Traveler's Robe, plus Mage Armor, plus Shield for a -2 AC, -6 AC vs missiles. Now it's time to start heading towards Beregost, but not before a few more stops.
First stop, High Hedge. Along the way killed the Ogre with a belt fetish, kept the belt, Solomon thinks it's worth more than anything the Gnome has (I actually don't even remember what she offered, but it makes him stronger so he wouldn't give it up). Once in High Hedge pick up two new spells: Invisibility and Mirror Images. Headed southwest to the Lighthouse Area.
Once in the Lighthouse Area rested and used Mirror Images and Invisibility. Went to the Flesh Golem cave, bypassing the Sirines. Once inside Mirror Images took care of the trap while Invisibility took care of the Flesh Golems. Or so I thought... there were more traps than I remember, something I installed probably added them. This damn near killed Solomon, but he survived and got the loot: Wand of Paralyzation, CON manual, Cloak of the Wolf, potions, etc. There were a couple Bard only items that came from DSotSC which surprised me since I've never had it installed before. Escaping required a Potion of Invisibility Solomon had stolen from Jaheira.
I wish I had video'd this -- it was nerve wracking, I expected it to be routine.
Now it was time to deal with Bassilus. Ordinarily I'd use a Wand of Lightning from Beregost, but lacking both a Thief and a Knock spell that wasn't an option. Since this isn't really a solo run I could have picked up Imoen to do it, but that was stretching the metagaming I'm willing to do and I'd like to try and go a lot further solo. The fight did NOT go as planned. A 4/4 F/M with Wand of Fire should normally trivialize Bassilus, but I forgot that I had installed "Improved Bassilus" this time in SCS.
It started normally, Wand of Fire to kill all of his minions. Why? Because Solomon's dialogue choice didn't kill them, remember I'm not metagaming dialogue at all. Then Solomon closed in for the kill... and missed, repeatedly. Bassilus buffed himself, debuffed Solomon, then a hold just as Solomon got off one with his Wand of Paralyzation. Fortunately Solomon saved and Bassilus didn't, otherwise that probably would have been the end of the "no reload" portion of our journey.
Now it was FINALLY time to actually finish our trip to Beregost. Of course on the way to Beregost he was ambushed by... a Minotaur. What the... I did not expect this, but Solomon had rested before his journey and had his full set of spells available. Mage Armor, Shield, Mirror Images: dead Minotaur and 3k experience.
Afterwards he at last arrived in Beregost.
Edit: I should summarize his current state of affairs.
Solomon arrived in Beregost at levels 5/4. He is sporting a Traveler's Robe, Ring of Protection +1, Ring of Wizardry, Helmet (plain), Girdle of Piercing, dual Scimitars (plain) and Cloak of the Wolf with Wands of Paralyzation, Missiles and Fire. This puts him at -2 AC (-6 missiles/piercing) with 1 regeneration per 2 rounds (Cloak of the Wolf) a THAC0 of 12/14 and damage at 7-14. His only used spells right now are Mage Armor, Shield, Mirror Images and Invisibility. Note he also has Blindness, Spook, Color Spray and a few others if he needs them, which he probably will very soon.
Brightaxe has almost finished the second half of the warrens (I think) - my lack of recall has led to some unexpected encounters along the way many of which were costly - the party is perhaps in the best physical shape they have ever been in having walked back and forth to Targos 3 or 4 more times since my previous post they are now considering entering the Ten Towns Marathon to raise money for potions.
We were required to sell some high end ranged ammo for the gold to raise our dead leaving us unable to afford to stock up on extra heal potions which then of course completes the vicious circle by causing more deaths as it takes Brightaxe what seems like 30 minutes to cast a simple heal spell while his comrades bleed out.
We have completed the "circular" portion of the second warrens map from the entrance around in both directions to the room where Kruntur and his comrades await our clearing of the rest of the warrens.
We have not yet ventured up the remaining corridor that leads to the exit into the fortress itself and I can't recall if there is another battle awaiting us there or not - I seem to recall some nasty trolls but we have inadvertently pulled some from other areas that showed up while we were battling some more mundane creatures - perhaps attracted by Nords constant blighted swearing at 90 decibels.
Banter has been very limited today altho twice when we were in the healers tent in Targos the screen shaded over as if a dialogue was about to occur then cleared without starting one and I'm not sure if that is because we have spent so much time there or because the dialogues are bugged - time will tell I suppose.
To be clear, it's not a solo run per se. It might end up being that way for BG1 though.
Right now I'm debating Drizzt. There aren't many Scimitar options in BG1 and he's very tempting. But killing him solo with a low level F/M with what I currently have at my disposal doesn't appear possible. If I could find some Fireshield scrolls or something. There's one in Durlag's (ed: Scimitar, not scroll), but I don't remember the traps and I'm not sure Solomon would live through it.
I have the day off... in fact I have tomorrow off too, so I wouldn't be surprised if I finish much of BG1 by tomorrow night.
Chapter 2: Beregost and Mutamin's Garden
Once in Beregost Solomon made a bee line for the most expensive inn: Feldepost's. Marl greeted him, Solomon responded with something unkind about his mother and then Marl died. Very unfortunate. After good night's rest and selling everything that will never be needed again he explored Beregost.
First, Garrick and Silke. Garrick offered 300 gold to protect Silke, which Solomon agreed to. When the thugs showed up they obviously weren't thugs, but Solomon dropped them anyway (hey, why not?). At this point Silke failed to pay and she suddenly found herself split to pieces... insert evil laugh. Don't worry Garrick, Solomon hasn't forgotten YOUR role in this charade. You die now. Did I mention Solomon does NOT like being used? He must be self-conscious about his low WIS. I forgot to take a picture, damn.
Next up, would be assassin number four. Not even worth mentioning. The assassin quaffed a Potion of Heroism and then promptly got his rear end delivered to him post haste for the trouble. Solomon asked around the bar and ran into Perdue. He already had his sword after the visit to High Hedge and fortunately this is one of those cases where the dialogue options Solomon would follow actually lead to completing the damn quest. Level 5 Mage is so close now, less than 300 XP.
On to the temple to collect his reward then. 2500 gold and enough XP for a level. I'm not sure which mod changed it from 5000 to 2500, kind of ruins the immersion, I feel like Solomon should instantly try to murder everyone in the temple for it. If I wasn't absolutely sure those 3 Sirines would kill him I'd try it... maybe he'll have to come back.
Now to hunt Basilisks. Solomon headed east and ran straight into the Vampire Wolf pack. Lacking any magic weapons he had to use his Wand of Fire to kill them off. It was a nice bit of XP for him regardless.
To the Basilisks. Normally very straightforward, failed to remember they're buffed up this game. The Greater Basilisk was chewing up Solomon but the Wand of Paralyzation put an end to that. The Lesser Basilisks were all trivial which put him fairly close to level 6 Fighter. Perhaps against my better judgment I decided to go for Mutamin and his pets.
It started off fairly normal. The pets were no problem, paralyzed the Greater just as previously. Mutamin himself was a much bigger pain. He saved against paralyze and managed to get a Blindness on Solomon. If this wasn't bad enough the Potion of Sight didn't cure it. Eventually Solomon got Blindness off on Mutamin as well, unfortunately this meant neither opponent could find the other. Solomon finally gave up and took a nap.
The next morning the battle resumed. Solomon started buffing but Mutamin found him almost immediately. This time Solomon got the upper hand with a Blindness, but Mutamin got off a Slow and Horror. Once the Horror finished a Potion of Speed countered the Slow and Mutamin was made short work of.
Next contenders please. Kirian's party, a merry band of psychopaths. Again the fight did not go as planned -- seems to be a common theme right now. First, Solomon really should have slept and memorized new spells, but I was a bit impatient and don't really like the idea of him sleeping twice in 5 minutes. So he lead with a Dire Charm, which was saved against. Damn. Time to bravely run away?
He stuck it out and it turned into a pretty easy fight. Peter was tossing spells and that had to stop before something bad happened. Wand of Paralyzation to the rescue, one down. Next the archer, tried to minimize attacks on Solomon while attempting to get him while he had his bow out for the attack bonuses. He was made short work of. Next the two melee fighters, they were winning unfortunately. A Potion of Defense turned the tide dropping his AC all the way to -6. Solomon finished them both off without having to resort to any more wand usage, a good thing because he'll need them.
On the way back to the temple area Solomon ran into Shar-Teel. She proposed a duel, he accepted, she claimed victory immediately and took 20 gold, he promptly killed the thieving ***** (he was half health... I think the game ended the duel as it started). From there a quick clearing of the Temple area finished off level 6 Mage making him 6/6 with 80k experience. It also revealed a cave with Vampiric Wolves and God knows what else, must be part of DSotSC or NTotSC because I do not remember it.
Next step will be some gear upgrades and finishing Chapter 2.
Solomon finally arrives in Nashkel after a brief trip, clearing the bandits and Ogrillons on the way finding a Boots of Stealth in the process. I went straight for the Ankheg Plate +2 which dropped his buffed AC to -6. Next, Noober, who died a quick death.
Shortly after Noober came Minsc, and Boo, whom did not take kindly to being called a loon. He died quickly too, as did Boo the dirty rodent. Oublek presented a welcome gift for Solomon, he doesn't know who Greywolf is and doesn't care, free money is free money.
Last but not least there was the fifth assassin, whose name I cannot even remember. She likes to cast spells so Solomon went in Invisible, got up next to her and started the fight. He interrupted her casting and she went down easily too. No surprise given how over leveled he is, but he's still rocking plain Scimitars without the proper protections, one bad Hold and it could be over.
Off to Ulgoth's Beard, just enough gold to pick up the Greenstone Amulet. In IR this has been made into a "while equipped" with no charges, which means he'll have to actually wear it for the fights. While in Ulgoth's Solomon tried to talk to Dushai, she was a rude little Gnome. A rude little Gnome with a very nice looking ring on her finger -- Solomon is very tempted. For the moment, though he knows he could win the fight, he elects not to kill her for he is unsure what the reaction of the locals might be.
While in Ulgoth's he signs up for Ike's tour of Durlag's Tower and sets off immediately. Once there he runs... very fast, past the Battle Horrors. Into the tower, watch the show, Solomon really enjoyed the part where everyone dies to a Demonknight while he ran. Up to the second floor, Mirror Images + Protection from Petrification + Invisibility. Move to the roof, make the saving throw against the trap (wouldn't have mattered if he didn't), up some stairs and to the trapped chimney for a Scimitar +2.
The trap did little and the two Greater Basilisks nearby were fairly easy one at a time, as was the Lesser Basilisk by the door way. Next Solomon decided to clear the rest of the upper levels. Once the Ghasts were dead Solomon was at 7/7. Fourth circle spells, great, too bad he doesn't have any. One of the problems with being this high level without having access to BG.
Riggilo on the third floor got into an oral sparring match. Solomon poked fun at him, expected a fight, didn't get one, decided to make one himself. Riggilo tried cheese tactics on Solomon, using Potion of Invisibility one after the other attempting to backstab, he missed every time and was put down.
Fourth floor, first encounter is the Ghost. Went Invisible, never attacked, had to let Arrowbait out of his pack to cast Glitterdust. Then it was waiting for a hit to land, easy fight but lasted a while, apparitions have impressive AC. It dropped Full Plate +1, which Solomon started using immediately, putting his AC at -8 with buffs. Finally Kirinhale. She took the wrong approach, you don't get chummy with Solomon by acting nice. If she'd broken out the whip and clamps he'd probably still be in Hell, instead she's now spending time with Myrkul.
With a magical Scimitar and the Greenstone Amulet in hand, time for the mines. First a visit to High Hedge to pick up Skull Trap. Then Solomon met Prism and, after being bribed of course, agreed to nobly defend poor little Prism. Greywolf went down fast as expected and left Varscona +2. Now I really wish I had realized this sooner, but a Long Sword +2 even without any proficiency is only 1 THAC0 off a plain Scimitar for Solomon. This entire time he could have been using it with hardly a penalty. Regardless, now he's packing two +2 blades, at level 7/7, with a Wand of Paralyzation, 90 HP, a THAC0 of 8/13, AC of -8, 3 attacks per round. Not bad.
We have attacked the Aurilite perimeter town, secured it, and moved to attack their Wall of Ice and temple, as this is the only way out of the pass, which they have blocked. We have all the components for Oswald's mending spell, except for one additional perfect diamond. Hopefully there is at least one more to be found, somewhere in the Temple of Ice.
The Aurilite leader of their perimeter encampment claimed that they had not wrecked our ship, but that they were going to try to kill us anyway, pretty much just because we needed to pass to look for that last diamond.
In the battle for the enemy encampment, Sir Nord and Hildury tanked the priestesses and wolves coming from the north, while Jaemal single handedly defeated an entire squad of priestesses and wolves moving up from the south. Remind me never to piss off Jaemal!
First, picked up the Wand of Frost outside the mines then headed east to the Valley of Tombs to get a Wand of Monster Summoning from the crypt. Cleared the few other crypts and the experimenting mage.
The mines themselves went about as you'd expect it would with a level 7 Fighter dual wielding +2 weapons. Everything died, quickly. The entire trip was maybe 10 minutes.
Mulahey was particularly easy. Solomon entered his lair, then backed out to buff without having moved from the entrance. This has never happened before, but Mulahey who hadn't even seen Solomon followed him out. End result is he was alone, none of the normal spawns. He dropped like a ton of bricks. Looted, told Xan he must be terrible to be captured by these buffoons and left.
Comments
Seriously it's not the be all and end all of uberness but it is a decent weapon at that stage of the game and you don't have to refuse Shawfords rewards (or the druids rewards) you just have to refuse the Moon-ladys rewards - which is a decent trade off but you can certainly get on without it.
(and may have to have been " doing good for the defense of Targos & the Ten Towns at this perilous time - but I'm not certain about that part - that's just what she says when she gifts it to you)
Anaialee convinced the mercenaries to help out with the Palisade defense, however, a few minutes after talking to Shawford about that, the Palisade came under attack. Goblins attacked, and for each goblin that was struck down, an undead creature, a skeleton or a zombie would take its place. It was a nightmare. Especially when Anaialee heard the words:
"Prepare for trouble."
"And make it double!"
(It just turned into an episode of Pokémon! I mean...Jessie and James as goblins! WHAT?!)
Two goblin wizards came through the broken gate into the Palisade with some more goblins, and some undead.
The goblins weren't a problem, Anaialee cast sleep, and some of the goblins fell asleep. Valeero cast bless on Hildury, but only Hildury, Anaialee, Nikosh, and Valeero were affected. Then Valeero cast Remove Fear on Sir Nord, and Rizdaer. Valeero also used her two scrolls of 'Hold undead', since turning did nothing. Then, Anaialee cast Magic Missile until the two goblins were dead.
(And there was no "We're blasting off again!")
The party's next mission was to secure the Shaengarne Bridge. However, there were several orcs in the way of that. So, most of the orcs had to die, and the group saved two druids before moving into the next area.
The party was saved by a Silverstar of Selune, however, she lost her moonblade to a troll. So, Anaialee went after it, and Torak as well. However, a girl came out of the orc encampment, and requested that the other villagers be saved. So, Anaialee went to the remains of the apothecary's house, and pulled out an invisbility potion. Nikosh quickly declined going into a camp filled with orcs. So, Anaialee eyed Rizdaer.
"You'll do." Anaialee spoke to the drow. "Since our rogue is too much of a coward to open the gate."
Those words made Nikosh glare at Anaialee, but it made Rizdaer roll his eyes, take the potion, and drink it. A few minutes later the gate was opened and the party saved the villagers.
Then, the group went after Torak. Except, he had some help from half-orc mages, and druids. Anaialee cast sleep again. Hildury called upon the aid of Tempus and gained some additional strength. Valeero healed whoever needed it.
Next, the group went into the cave and went after the troll. The results of that fight were obvious. Many more orcs were killed. Hildury called upon Tempus to heal Rizdaer whenever he needed it. Anaialee cast a Melf's Acid Arrow on the troll when it was near death.
Anaialee went back to the Priestess, rejecting her reward. However, she ended up with a Moonblade instead. Anaialee handed the Moonblade to Valeero. Sir Nord, and Hildury nodded in approval as Anaialee handed the sword to Valeero. Who better to wield a Moonblade of the Moon Maiden, then a Morninglady of Lathander?
Party:
Anaialee - Sorceress - 4
Sir Nord - Paladin of Helm - 7
Rizdaer - Fighter - 4 (6)
Valeero - Morninglady of Lathander - 7
Nikosh - Rogue - 4
Hildury - Barbarian/Battleguard of Tempus - 3/1
Reloads: 0
Notes: Next level Anaialee will be multiclassed into Ranger. Why? I want an Arcane Archer type character? Heh.
I got Harmonius' party up through about the first two big battles inside the goblin warrens, below the Horde fortress.
Lots of good NPC Project interaction happened.
I almost had a TPK against the defense on the bridges outside the warrens. Harmonius went down to a Hold Person, and Valeero followed shortly thereafter. We kept getting harrassed by Sleep and Entangle spells, and by those thrice-damned drums that kept arse-pulling more enemies. We almost lost Sir Nord as well - he was down to *two* hit points when we managed to get to the map edge and retreat back to Targos.
I wasn't sure if we could recover from the devastating arse-kicking. We drank over 3000 gold worth of extra healing potions, and we lost several extra healing potions when Valeero fell. We lost Valeero's half plate, her special golden winged helm, a staff mace +1, a shield +2, and Harmonius' Short Sword of Sure Striking +1, plus other assorted potions and items.
Then, it cost us almost every last copper to get Harmonius and Valeero raised back in Targos. We had to sell a Bag of Holding for 2500 gold to be able to afford it. So, we were broke, and Valeero and Harmonius both have inferior equipment now.
I am going to have to get much, much more careful not to rush into encounters now. IWD2 is primarily a tactical game, and it punishes you severely for rushing into anything. I have to try to draw enemies out with range, and watch out for all the spellcasters. Also, it lulls you into a false sense of security by giving you several easy encounters just before it drops the Sword of Damocles on your head.
I started playing with the AI scripts. IWD2 actually has some pretty decent scripts. I found one for Harmonius that has him sing bard song most of the time, and it shuffles through the songs logically in a way that takes maximum advantage of the Lingering Song feat. I've just discovered that you can use Lingering Song to stack two bard songs together, and the AI script is pretty good about doing all the shuffling automatically for your bard, freeing your attention to tactical management.
I was very proud that I managed to recover from a devastating loss against the Horde defenses without reloading. I want to get as close as possible to doing this as a no-reload, although I'm not so naïve as to think that will happen, since I've forgotten everything about this game, such that I couldn't metagame it if I wanted to.
Reloads: 0
Average Party Level: 5
I have another update.
The party cleared its way to Shaengarne. Destroying Spiders, Bugbears, Malarites, etc. They even destroyed the dam that the Malarites and the orcs were building on the Shaengarne River.
Hildury apologized to Rizdaer for judging him based upon his race, and not his actions. Anaialee wasn't guilty of this, but she actually liked the drow, and got along with him fairly well.
Anaialee made a promise to Rizdaer as well. She promised him that she would never try to hurt him like other surfacers have. To which the drow said.
"You are such a strange woman."
"Thanks Rizdaer." Anaialee thought to herself.
A few hours later they had finally reached the bridge. The group cleared their way to it. Hell, they destroyed every creature. Hildury and Valeero used their healing spells. Especially when it came to Xuki. However, it was all for naught. The Shaengarne bridge was destroyed.
The party returned to Targos, got their money from Shawford, and talked to Ulbrec. Then, they all retired to the Weeping Widow Inn.
Party:
Anaialee - Sorceress/Ranger - 4/1
Sir Nord - Paladin of Helm - 7
Rizdaer - Fighter - 5 (7)
Valeero - Morninglady of Lathander - 7
Nikosh - Rogue - 5
Hildury - Barbarian/Battleguard of Tempus - 3/2
Reloads: 0
Notes: I bet most of you figured out that the number in the parentheses is what Rizdaer's level would be if he wasn't a drow, and took that two level reduction thing? I don't mind. I just like that this party is actually functioning well.
We have moved deeper into the goblin warrens, searching for an underground secret way into the Horde fortress. We found Pondmuk the goblin (or whatever his name was), and he gave us some info after we brought him some spider bodies to eat. He also offered to stand watch while we rested, but he betrayed us (of course), and summoned a bunch of his goblin friends. That's what we get for trying to trust a Chaotic Evil race. Yeah, yeah, I know, exceptions abound, and one shouldn't judge a whole race by their perceived Chaotic Evilness, but darned if they don't keep proving the "stereotype" again and again!
We retreated to Targos to buy more healing potions, and some new magical equipment. I have decided that having Hildury dual wield may be a mistake, so for now, she is going to start wearing heavier armor (which will negate her ranger dual wield bonuses), and using a magic shield that we found on one of the many bodies in the goblin's spider pen.
We finally made our way to, of all things, a demon... is "child" the right word? He called himself a demon "whelp". I made a "deal with the devil" to seek a message to him from his Hellish lords that he said was being held by the leaders on the next level below in the warrens. I am quite sure that he will betray us as soon as he gets his message, but I want to know what information I might learn from pretending to take him up on his offer of alliance, and then giving him his message. At least we can read it first, and, we will be stronger by whatever equipment we can take from the deep levels goblins and, as we have seen now, their Orog overlords, before we attempt the daunting task of fighting a demon, even a "child" one. (Demons reproduce like those of us on the Prime? Interesting.)
Here are some images of our first battle on the second warrens level:
Jaemal casts Web in hopes of disrupting the enemy Shaman's spells, after a failed attempt at Sleep. I became very, very glad that I had suggested to Valeero that she pray for "Remove Paralysis", after Sir Nord fell victim to the Shaman's Hold Person. I have also suggested to Valeero that she pray always for an Exaltation spell against future such magical disasters from enemy casters.
Oh yes, and I also sang up a Chromatic Orb that stunned the thrice-damned shaman. So, Sir Nord and daddy dearest, music is useless, hmmm?
Valeero saves Sir Nord with that Remove Paralysis spell:
Valeero heals Sir Nord as the rest of us fight. I keep singing, because I am convinced that my musical magic actually can save our lives, although its effects are subtle. Neither Sir Nord nor my father believe in my music. Still, I keep singing.
Yet again we stand victorious over our enemies.
Reloads: 0
Average party level: 6
Disaster struck on the second level of the warrens! Hildury fell to concentrated attacks from our enemies. We had no choice but to retreat back to Targos, to have her raised.
As we set out to return to the warrens in the wee hours of the morning, Jaemal and I took a break, and sat together quietly away from the others. He began to ask about the Aurora Borealis in... a certain way. While explaining, my breath caught in my throat as I suddenly found his hand upon my shoulder. Could it be that I have found my soul mate, in this cruel world, after a lifetime of being made to endure all manner of cruelty because that I do not have the usual feelings for women enjoyed and demanded by my father?
Jaemal's voice is - so deep, and so confident. And yet, he seems so... vulnerable... because of his past as an unwilling eunuch, and a slave. He even says he remembers the awful thing that was done to him. I had thought that that was only done to babies under extremely rare circumstances, and supposedly to the benefit of those babies, but according to Jaemal, he was a fully aware seven year old child when the slavers grabbed him, told him that his master wanted something of his, that silly, stupid angel children like him must always give to their masters, and... oh, Oghma.
I did my best to comfort him and show him my genuinely growing love for him by holding my breath and leaving his hand on mine for as long as he wanted it there. I thought, and I was scared, that if I as much as breathed too hard, he would run away, and slam his defenses down on me like a portcullis.
In this harsh world, in our little squad of adventurers who were desperately trying to defeat the Horde , and to open the way for desperately needed reinforcements from Neverwinter and Luskan, through desperate strike-and-retreat guerilla warfare, I resolved that I would do everything in my power to show this man, and yes, he is a man, despite his doubts that he is, all the beauty and joy that can be had through beautiful sights and sounds. Jaemal's brief moment of vulnerable appreciation of beauty has strengthened my resolve tenfold to dedicate my life to beauty, art, and music! This awful, icy world of ours needs that, more than any more men of war, or even spies, priests, or wizards!
@Shandyr, you might enjoy checking out the IWD2 NPC Project Jaemal romance.
Reloads: 0
Average party level: 6
EDIT: More Jaemal romance, for any who are interested, but who don't intend to play it for themselves:
Observation: the IWD2 project romances seem to be running on rest cycles rather than real time playing the game, which is making them run much too fast, since IWD2 is a game that pretty much forces you to attack/retreat/rest in a continuous cycle, pretty much perpetually. The dialogues and romances need to be spaced on a real time timer, like the BG2 romances. I've always thought that one hour of real time in-game time per dialogue was a very comfortable pace. The IWD2 talks appear to not be doing that. At this rate, I expect to have exhausted all the written IWD2 dialogues other than game-event talks, before I ever even get out of chapter one.
However, all dialogues, and romances are based on chapter. The best way to see if you're out of dialogues for the chapter would be to press the 'P' key. I think some of these things are just really fast pace. Then again, IWD2 Chapters are -really- short.
I got an update, but I'm not in the mood to write it in story form so...
Long story short, Defeated Guthma with magic missiles, swords, arrows, and bullets. Also used a Remove Fear to keep the group immune from horror spells. Also, Fireballs. Lots of them.
Party:
Anaialee - Sorceress/Ranger - 6/1
Sir Nord - Paladin of Helm - 9
Rizdaer - Fighter - 6 (8)
Valeero - Morninglady of Lathander - 9
Nikosh - Rogue - 7
Hildury - Barbarian/Battleguard of Tempus - 4/3
Reloads: 0
Edit: Forgot to mention Fireballs aka Fiyahbawls.
@Belgarathmth it's been awhile since I played 3rd edition. Do they let you have all your off-hand attacks or do you only get one additional attack when dual wielding? Otherwise, it might be better to use a two-hander for Hildury if she has high strength score. Believe two-handers give 1.5 damage bonus than normal. But then again, if you do get multiple attacks with your off hand, it'll be worth it to dual later levels. Found this really nifty leather armor that makes you immune to hold spells so no more those beat downs via immobilization.
Speaking of which, I finally caught back up to my original run using the Tactics4IWD2 mod. It's quite a pain in the @ss and the boss fights each have a little surprise for you along with large modifications to the creatures, their AI script and spell selections.
In short, at the bridge everybody but Ria died in the attempt of capturing the bridge.
In order:
Hector: Held by the mage at the end of the bridge and then beat down by his undead summons
Draith: Hit by same mage's fireball
Ishtaida: Struck down by a malarite high priest's call lightning spell
Valerie: zapped by that same damnable mage's lightning bolt
Constantin: unfortunate critical hit at the very end when clearing out the remaining forces
This would have probably made for a better story and epicness. Maybe I'll rewrite it later...
And the last section of the fort was an agonizing snail paced battle. Had to rest twice appose to not having to at all. Guthma took down both Constantine and Draith (admittedly Draith should have survived if I wasn't being careless, shame on me). So the death count is up to 7 now instead of 1. Hm.
And it appears that people are almost at the same spot. Hah.
Current levels:
Brightaxe - Battleguard 4 (5 ECL) (only about 500 from next level)
Nord - Paladin 4 Fighter 1 (only about 600 from next level - fighter 2)
Hildury - Barbarian 4 Ranger 1 (just leveled)
Nikosh - Rogue 5
Salomeya - bard 5
Peony - Illusionist 5
It's beginning to look like Peony may be a more likely romance option as Sal & Brightaxe at CE & CG are a bit like oil & water LOL.
The next set of maps are where a LOT of my previous No Reload games ended it will be interesting to see how this group fares there as my memory of what to expect where are likely to have some gaps after all these years of Dragon Age & Neverwinter 2...last time I played through ID2 was probably 8-9 years ago...
I'm not really in the mood to do any creative writing today, but it occurred to me that, often, the most fun part of reading challenge posts to me is looking at good screenshots. So, I made a bunch of screenshots. One picture is worth a thousand words, I guess.
So, next session, we will be taking Oswald's flying ship to Chapter Two. Everybody seems to be saying that things will get much harder there, so, I'm proud to have finished Chapter One with no reloads.
Reloads: 0
Average Party Level: 7
BTW: It looks like Mirror Image protects against Fireball in IWD2; that is, Fireball only blasts one Mirror Image, and leaves the mage that cast it safe. That's a pretty significant upgrade. It's interesting to see all the spell tweaks in IWD2 - some are greatly amplified, others are gimped half to death.
Well Mirror Image was never suppose to work that way in 3rd edition. I think that's just a fail scripting on the programers part. It probably just registers a hit which in turns kills an image instead of just hitting the mage and ignore the spell entirely. I've noticed as well as the goblin shamans and orc shamans were ignoring my fireballs. Very annoying as it makes magic missile the most effective spell in getting rid of such annoying buffs. Not to mention that mirror image still works in conjunction with improve invisibility which is just absurd. I'm surprise there aren't fixes for these things.
As far as dual wielding, 3rd edition had feats like Improve Two-Weapon Fighting which allow you gain additional attacks with your off hand provided you had the B.A.B. to support it. I haven't seen them on the list so I wonder if they just give it to you anyways. Otherwise, you'll do more damage with a two-hander than dual wielding.
The screenshots are nice. They let people know what you're doing along the way but I like reading how other people handle situations that the game has.
But in IWD2, it's protecting from Fireball, which greatly increases its power. I haven't found out yet if that works for the player, or only for the enemy shamans through a bug.
We pulled a rider back to the north and another couple including a "boss" followed him but apparently the head shaman also snuck north and saw us and went back and started beating his tom-tom and riders starting appearing at the north bridge. Then Sal charmed one and the new ones were not arriving fast enough to give us trouble so we hung out and killed a half dozen or so waiting for our charmed rider to turn hostile again - which he never did. We were also unable to target him to make him hostile so eventually we just let him tag along and we headed south to face the music where his brethren finally killed him. (We charmed an elite archer down there as well and he also did not return to hostile so apparently the charm spell is bugged for duration - oh dear - (snicker).
Both Peony and Nik bit the dust before that battle was over both I think due to lightning strikes and apparently the head shaman got off a half dozen call lightning spells before he was taken down and of course they kept right on working after his demise so we had to give up on looting and take everyone far enough away to avoid them until they finally all dissipated. Then back to Targos to raise our dead which took all but 231 of our gold.
Fortunately it then occurred to me that we had not yet grabbed our wages for the bridge battle and we did so bringing the coffers back up to 3231 so we can afford to raise our fallen allies a couple more times if needed (which I suspect it may be before the fortress falls to our awesomeness!)
Brightaxe is now level 5 (6) and Nord is Pally 4/F 2 with the rest at level 5 with 1500 - 2000 to go before level 6.
Battle of note, the first. Giants in the playground. Nord and Hildury tank the leader. Jaemal casts Web and several Fireballs at the rest, doing most of the heavy lifting. The enemy was arranged quite conveniently to make this possible.
Character development: Hildury is becoming quite the party philosopher. She asked me why people make fun of pallys. I tried to give her a simple explanation of rigid thinking, fundamentalism, and fanaticism, how it hurts people, and that hurt people ridicule that which hurt them in order to gain power over it. She stared blankly, ignored my answer, and stated with absolute conviction that people make fun of pallys because they're jealous of them.
Jaemal continues to adore me. I'm not totally sure if I'm comfortable with that, for fear of letting him down. We have had several intense discussions about his background as a slave. He is playful and attentive, but fearsome in his magical power in combat.
Nikosh made some tortoise shell hair ornaments for Hildury. Sir Nord acted abashed that he had never seen to Hildury's "femininity" before, and insisted that Nikosh take gold in payment.
We have been taking our time, and attempting to enjoy our new situation, at my insistence. Merely by exploring the area piecemeal, and resting and recreating frequently at Oswald's shipwreck, we have learned a plethora of information about what is going on here. There seem to be two factions, the "cult", which we know from attacks at night are actually a pack of werewolves, and a coven of Auril, who are blocking our way out of the pass where we crashed.
Oswald has been using the time to craft us useful armor out of beetle carapaces, and cold-resistant clothing out of the pelts of yeti that we've killed, since both creature types insist on attacking us with some regularity, but are easily dispatched.
Given that we were made to crash by robed, magic-casting women, who are now blocking us from exploring farther, I'd say that we are going to have no choice but to declare war on the Aurilites. I'd like to keep peace with the werewolves, especially since their leader has several extremely valuable magic items that he is willing to sell or trade. My feelings say that trying to rob him would be evil and dishonorable, as he has done nothing to hurt us, (aside from a few of his fledglings losing control in the night), and also that he probably has failsafes in place to destroy his valuables if anything happens to him.
Reloads:0
Average Party Level: 7
Webbed 'em up at the entrance and took the first room down without too much trouble with a lot of micro-management as they began to break free - sent Nik to scout the next area and drag them back to us which worked fine - talked to the spider craving Pondmuk and agreed to exchange food for info but forgot about the goblin crew waiting in the next area and by the time the smoke had cleared from that one all but Hildury and Nord had fallen so another trip to Targos which this time did just about wipe out our gold. - I toyed with the idea of reloading here as I had a q-save from after the last room but bit the bullet and got them raised instead.
Back to the warrens we cleared the spiders and the rest of the rooms in the first section losing Brightaxe again in the final fracas against those red goblin thingys when he got held. Fortunately we had looted enough gold to pay those thieves in Targos another 1100 (when they should have been paying us for doing their dirty work and raising us for free) once again taking our gold count down to 212 with very little stuff we might sell off if more was needed.
That's probably as far as we will go today unless I don't find anything interesting on Netflix this evening...LOL
Everyone is at level 6 except Brightaxe at 5 (6) but Nord only has about 300 to go for his next level.
Solomon is a selfish, power hungry, brash and impulsive Bhaalspawn more concerned with his own strength than anything else. His decisions will be roleplayed, however I will metagame encounters, item locations, and so on. In other words I'm not going to pick a dialogue option for any other reason than it's the most likely thing he'd say, but I will go pick up items like the Ring of Wizardry and cheese Firebead Elvenhair.
I will be going through the entire saga and a ton of additional content including DSotSC, NtotSC, SoBH, TDD, SOS and possibly TS. This is on BGT with SCS, IR, SR, BGSpawn, fixpack, tweak pack and others that don't majorly impact gameplay such as NPC Project, UB, etc. In other words BWP "standard" with the above mega mods and almost every difficulty enhancing piece of SCS, except Cloakwood Spiders and Final Battle.
Solomon will spend much of BG1 alone and when he does have company it will likely be only one companion. In BG2 I will probably have a party of 4, the fights are more difficult and the banter more entertaining. I'm going to treat it like a no reload, but since I'm going through content I've never seen, plus SCS, I don't expect to win every fight but I will avoid reloading at all costs.
Chapter 1: Candlekeep
Uneventful as expected. After the usual quests Solomon had just enough to buy two Scimitars (he started with ** TWF and ** Scimitar) and get one night's rest to memorize Find Familiar to summon his Dust Mephit. In the morning Firebead insulted his appearance, something about a fool buying tainted iron while wearing rags. And so it began.
Solomon ended up leaving Candlekeep with two Scimitars, a Bag of Holding, a Traveler's Robe, a pair of healing potions and 10 gold. It's important to note that with Item Revisions installed the robe is +2 movement rate which is highly convenient.
Ditched Imoen after she handed over her belongings, don't need the brat. Traveled to FAI, picked up Ring of Protection +1 and Ring of Wizardry along the way. Tarnesh the world's third most unsuccessful assassin dispatched easily, Wand of Missiles to interrupt his spell and a follow up swing of the Scimitar to finish him.
Told Jaheira and Khalid to take a hike and headed north. Using Mage Armor at this point, with RoP and Dexterity bonus Solomon is at AC 1. The Hobgoblins in FAI proved no challenge, most killed in a single hit. Continued north into Lower Chionthar.
Met the fishermen, headed to the Ankheg cave. Used the speed from Traveler's Robe to avoid Ankheg attacks and get the loot: Wand of Fire, Chainmail+1, etc. Dropped the body off at Brun, tried to get a reward out of him and couldn't, no reason not to leave the body anyway at this point. Leveled up from it.
Left to Wyrm's Crossing and met with the priestess, one hit put her in a talkative mood. Changed Mage Armor out for Shield before returning to Chionthar. Now using the spell Shield (-2 AC/-4 vs missiles) and the Chainmail+1 now to get down to -3 AC . Met with the fishermen, it was a blood bath. Cleared the Ankheg cave for a couple more levels. Didn't really expect to get through the entire thing before needing to leave but the rolls were a little lucky.
This puts Solomon at 4/4 with 6 spells/day in the 1st circle and 2 in the 2nd circle, plus Mage Armor is now AC 5 instead of AC 6, remember I use Spell Revisions. Now I can ditch the Chainmail again and go back to using Traveler's Robe, plus Mage Armor, plus Shield for a -2 AC, -6 AC vs missiles. Now it's time to start heading towards Beregost, but not before a few more stops.
First stop, High Hedge. Along the way killed the Ogre with a belt fetish, kept the belt, Solomon thinks it's worth more than anything the Gnome has (I actually don't even remember what she offered, but it makes him stronger so he wouldn't give it up). Once in High Hedge pick up two new spells: Invisibility and Mirror Images. Headed southwest to the Lighthouse Area.
Once in the Lighthouse Area rested and used Mirror Images and Invisibility. Went to the Flesh Golem cave, bypassing the Sirines. Once inside Mirror Images took care of the trap while Invisibility took care of the Flesh Golems. Or so I thought... there were more traps than I remember, something I installed probably added them. This damn near killed Solomon, but he survived and got the loot: Wand of Paralyzation, CON manual, Cloak of the Wolf, potions, etc. There were a couple Bard only items that came from DSotSC which surprised me since I've never had it installed before. Escaping required a Potion of Invisibility Solomon had stolen from Jaheira.
I wish I had video'd this -- it was nerve wracking, I expected it to be routine.
Now it was time to deal with Bassilus. Ordinarily I'd use a Wand of Lightning from Beregost, but lacking both a Thief and a Knock spell that wasn't an option. Since this isn't really a solo run I could have picked up Imoen to do it, but that was stretching the metagaming I'm willing to do and I'd like to try and go a lot further solo. The fight did NOT go as planned. A 4/4 F/M with Wand of Fire should normally trivialize Bassilus, but I forgot that I had installed "Improved Bassilus" this time in SCS.
It started normally, Wand of Fire to kill all of his minions. Why? Because Solomon's dialogue choice didn't kill them, remember I'm not metagaming dialogue at all. Then Solomon closed in for the kill... and missed, repeatedly. Bassilus buffed himself, debuffed Solomon, then a hold just as Solomon got off one with his Wand of Paralyzation. Fortunately Solomon saved and Bassilus didn't, otherwise that probably would have been the end of the "no reload" portion of our journey.
Now it was FINALLY time to actually finish our trip to Beregost. Of course on the way to Beregost he was ambushed by... a Minotaur. What the... I did not expect this, but Solomon had rested before his journey and had his full set of spells available. Mage Armor, Shield, Mirror Images: dead Minotaur and 3k experience.
Afterwards he at last arrived in Beregost.
Edit: I should summarize his current state of affairs.
Solomon arrived in Beregost at levels 5/4. He is sporting a Traveler's Robe, Ring of Protection +1, Ring of Wizardry, Helmet (plain), Girdle of Piercing, dual Scimitars (plain) and Cloak of the Wolf with Wands of Paralyzation, Missiles and Fire. This puts him at -2 AC (-6 missiles/piercing) with 1 regeneration per 2 rounds (Cloak of the Wolf) a THAC0 of 12/14 and damage at 7-14. His only used spells right now are Mage Armor, Shield, Mirror Images and Invisibility. Note he also has Blindness, Spook, Color Spray and a few others if he needs them, which he probably will very soon.
We were required to sell some high end ranged ammo for the gold to raise our dead leaving us unable to afford to stock up on extra heal potions which then of course completes the vicious circle by causing more deaths as it takes Brightaxe what seems like 30 minutes to cast a simple heal spell while his comrades bleed out.
We have completed the "circular" portion of the second warrens map from the entrance around in both directions to the room where Kruntur and his comrades await our clearing of the rest of the warrens.
We have not yet ventured up the remaining corridor that leads to the exit into the fortress itself and I can't recall if there is another battle awaiting us there or not - I seem to recall some nasty trolls but we have inadvertently pulled some from other areas that showed up while we were battling some more mundane creatures - perhaps attracted by Nords constant blighted swearing at 90 decibels.
Banter has been very limited today altho twice when we were in the healers tent in Targos the screen shaded over as if a dialogue was about to occur then cleared without starting one and I'm not sure if that is because we have spent so much time there or because the dialogues are bugged - time will tell I suppose.
Right now I'm debating Drizzt. There aren't many Scimitar options in BG1 and he's very tempting. But killing him solo with a low level F/M with what I currently have at my disposal doesn't appear possible. If I could find some Fireshield scrolls or something. There's one in Durlag's (ed: Scimitar, not scroll), but I don't remember the traps and I'm not sure Solomon would live through it.
Chapter 2: Beregost and Mutamin's Garden
Once in Beregost Solomon made a bee line for the most expensive inn: Feldepost's. Marl greeted him, Solomon responded with something unkind about his mother and then Marl died. Very unfortunate. After good night's rest and selling everything that will never be needed again he explored Beregost.
First, Garrick and Silke. Garrick offered 300 gold to protect Silke, which Solomon agreed to. When the thugs showed up they obviously weren't thugs, but Solomon dropped them anyway (hey, why not?). At this point Silke failed to pay and she suddenly found herself split to pieces... insert evil laugh. Don't worry Garrick, Solomon hasn't forgotten YOUR role in this charade. You die now. Did I mention Solomon does NOT like being used? He must be self-conscious about his low WIS. I forgot to take a picture, damn.
Next up, would be assassin number four. Not even worth mentioning. The assassin quaffed a Potion of Heroism and then promptly got his rear end delivered to him post haste for the trouble. Solomon asked around the bar and ran into Perdue. He already had his sword after the visit to High Hedge and fortunately this is one of those cases where the dialogue options Solomon would follow actually lead to completing the damn quest. Level 5 Mage is so close now, less than 300 XP.
On to the temple to collect his reward then. 2500 gold and enough XP for a level. I'm not sure which mod changed it from 5000 to 2500, kind of ruins the immersion, I feel like Solomon should instantly try to murder everyone in the temple for it. If I wasn't absolutely sure those 3 Sirines would kill him I'd try it... maybe he'll have to come back.
Now to hunt Basilisks. Solomon headed east and ran straight into the Vampire Wolf pack. Lacking any magic weapons he had to use his Wand of Fire to kill them off. It was a nice bit of XP for him regardless.
To the Basilisks. Normally very straightforward, failed to remember they're buffed up this game. The Greater Basilisk was chewing up Solomon but the Wand of Paralyzation put an end to that. The Lesser Basilisks were all trivial which put him fairly close to level 6 Fighter. Perhaps against my better judgment I decided to go for Mutamin and his pets.
It started off fairly normal. The pets were no problem, paralyzed the Greater just as previously. Mutamin himself was a much bigger pain. He saved against paralyze and managed to get a Blindness on Solomon. If this wasn't bad enough the Potion of Sight didn't cure it. Eventually Solomon got Blindness off on Mutamin as well, unfortunately this meant neither opponent could find the other. Solomon finally gave up and took a nap.
The next morning the battle resumed. Solomon started buffing but Mutamin found him almost immediately. This time Solomon got the upper hand with a Blindness, but Mutamin got off a Slow and Horror. Once the Horror finished a Potion of Speed countered the Slow and Mutamin was made short work of.
Next contenders please. Kirian's party, a merry band of psychopaths. Again the fight did not go as planned -- seems to be a common theme right now. First, Solomon really should have slept and memorized new spells, but I was a bit impatient and don't really like the idea of him sleeping twice in 5 minutes. So he lead with a Dire Charm, which was saved against. Damn. Time to bravely run away?
He stuck it out and it turned into a pretty easy fight. Peter was tossing spells and that had to stop before something bad happened. Wand of Paralyzation to the rescue, one down. Next the archer, tried to minimize attacks on Solomon while attempting to get him while he had his bow out for the attack bonuses. He was made short work of. Next the two melee fighters, they were winning unfortunately. A Potion of Defense turned the tide dropping his AC all the way to -6. Solomon finished them both off without having to resort to any more wand usage, a good thing because he'll need them.
On the way back to the temple area Solomon ran into Shar-Teel. She proposed a duel, he accepted, she claimed victory immediately and took 20 gold, he promptly killed the thieving ***** (he was half health... I think the game ended the duel as it started). From there a quick clearing of the Temple area finished off level 6 Mage making him 6/6 with 80k experience. It also revealed a cave with Vampiric Wolves and God knows what else, must be part of DSotSC or NTotSC because I do not remember it.
Next step will be some gear upgrades and finishing Chapter 2.
Solomon finally arrives in Nashkel after a brief trip, clearing the bandits and Ogrillons on the way finding a Boots of Stealth in the process. I went straight for the Ankheg Plate +2 which dropped his buffed AC to -6. Next, Noober, who died a quick death.
Shortly after Noober came Minsc, and Boo, whom did not take kindly to being called a loon. He died quickly too, as did Boo the dirty rodent. Oublek presented a welcome gift for Solomon, he doesn't know who Greywolf is and doesn't care, free money is free money.
Last but not least there was the fifth assassin, whose name I cannot even remember. She likes to cast spells so Solomon went in Invisible, got up next to her and started the fight. He interrupted her casting and she went down easily too. No surprise given how over leveled he is, but he's still rocking plain Scimitars without the proper protections, one bad Hold and it could be over.
Off to Ulgoth's Beard, just enough gold to pick up the Greenstone Amulet. In IR this has been made into a "while equipped" with no charges, which means he'll have to actually wear it for the fights. While in Ulgoth's Solomon tried to talk to Dushai, she was a rude little Gnome. A rude little Gnome with a very nice looking ring on her finger -- Solomon is very tempted. For the moment, though he knows he could win the fight, he elects not to kill her for he is unsure what the reaction of the locals might be.
While in Ulgoth's he signs up for Ike's tour of Durlag's Tower and sets off immediately. Once there he runs... very fast, past the Battle Horrors. Into the tower, watch the show, Solomon really enjoyed the part where everyone dies to a Demonknight while he ran. Up to the second floor, Mirror Images + Protection from Petrification + Invisibility. Move to the roof, make the saving throw against the trap (wouldn't have mattered if he didn't), up some stairs and to the trapped chimney for a Scimitar +2.
The trap did little and the two Greater Basilisks nearby were fairly easy one at a time, as was the Lesser Basilisk by the door way. Next Solomon decided to clear the rest of the upper levels. Once the Ghasts were dead Solomon was at 7/7. Fourth circle spells, great, too bad he doesn't have any. One of the problems with being this high level without having access to BG.
Riggilo on the third floor got into an oral sparring match. Solomon poked fun at him, expected a fight, didn't get one, decided to make one himself. Riggilo tried cheese tactics on Solomon, using Potion of Invisibility one after the other attempting to backstab, he missed every time and was put down.
Fourth floor, first encounter is the Ghost. Went Invisible, never attacked, had to let Arrowbait out of his pack to cast Glitterdust. Then it was waiting for a hit to land, easy fight but lasted a while, apparitions have impressive AC. It dropped Full Plate +1, which Solomon started using immediately, putting his AC at -8 with buffs. Finally Kirinhale. She took the wrong approach, you don't get chummy with Solomon by acting nice. If she'd broken out the whip and clamps he'd probably still be in Hell, instead she's now spending time with Myrkul.
With a magical Scimitar and the Greenstone Amulet in hand, time for the mines. First a visit to High Hedge to pick up Skull Trap. Then Solomon met Prism and, after being bribed of course, agreed to nobly defend poor little Prism. Greywolf went down fast as expected and left Varscona +2. Now I really wish I had realized this sooner, but a Long Sword +2 even without any proficiency is only 1 THAC0 off a plain Scimitar for Solomon. This entire time he could have been using it with hardly a penalty. Regardless, now he's packing two +2 blades, at level 7/7, with a Wand of Paralyzation, 90 HP, a THAC0 of 8/13, AC of -8, 3 attacks per round. Not bad.
We have attacked the Aurilite perimeter town, secured it, and moved to attack their Wall of Ice and temple, as this is the only way out of the pass, which they have blocked. We have all the components for Oswald's mending spell, except for one additional perfect diamond. Hopefully there is at least one more to be found, somewhere in the Temple of Ice.
The Aurilite leader of their perimeter encampment claimed that they had not wrecked our ship, but that they were going to try to kill us anyway, pretty much just because we needed to pass to look for that last diamond.
In the battle for the enemy encampment, Sir Nord and Hildury tanked the priestesses and wolves coming from the north, while Jaemal single handedly defeated an entire squad of priestesses and wolves moving up from the south. Remind me never to piss off Jaemal!
Reloads:0
Average party level: 8
First, picked up the Wand of Frost outside the mines then headed east to the Valley of Tombs to get a Wand of Monster Summoning from the crypt. Cleared the few other crypts and the experimenting mage.
The mines themselves went about as you'd expect it would with a level 7 Fighter dual wielding +2 weapons. Everything died, quickly. The entire trip was maybe 10 minutes.
Mulahey was particularly easy. Solomon entered his lair, then backed out to buff without having moved from the entrance. This has never happened before, but Mulahey who hadn't even seen Solomon followed him out. End result is he was alone, none of the normal spawns. He dropped like a ton of bricks. Looted, told Xan he must be terrible to be captured by these buffoons and left.