Neera wanted to go find a Wild Mage named Adoy so then she could learn how to control Wild Magic. On the way to Adoy's Enclave, however, the group came across some Amazon bounty hunters. Neera's wild magic actually proved somewhat useful when she entangled one of the women.
When the Enclave was finally reached, the group explored. Finding several treasures. A hobgoblin, and his army, which was taken down quite easily. As well as Adoy himself. Then, the Red Wizards returned. They were quite difficult. Garrick sung his song. Neera cast sleep, her wild magic, and her magic missile. Khalid seemed to not skip a step when dealing with the mages. Jaheira had tried to cast a bless spell, and after the battle, a few Light Cure Wounds. (I had to reload on this one because...Cone of Frost or Ice or whatever that spell is killed Saki.)
After that ordeal was over, the group headed back out into the Wilderness. Where they found some diviner, who tried to tell Saki her future, but ultimately went insane when Saki prodded about it. She turned hostile against Saki and died for it.
Then, the group came upon a woman named Safana. She said that she knew where some treasure was at. So, Saki decided to help out, and she did. The group kept Safana, she was actually good to have around, anyway.
After discovering the treasure, they went to the Nashkel mines. On the last level of the place, the group came upon a very depressing mage, and he decided he was going to go to Everaska. Then the group took on the Half-orc sabotaging the Iron Ore! Neera cast magic missile, and sleep spells. None of them going into Wild surge.
After collecting the reward for dealing with the invader in the mines. The group came across another person wanting to kill Saki. He was dealt with easily. Neera cast her magic missile, and learned a find familar spell.
Up the coast the party went clearing out pockets of riff raff along the way. They encountered Brage and convinced him to return to the Temple in Nashkel altho he was most reluctant and may have prefered we simply take him down. An archelogical dig provided an interesting afternoon and a seer apparently went beserk and they put her out of her misery. They took out some worgs that had a youngster trapped in an old lighthouse and Olin went sirine hunting bringing a matched set of large pearls to add to the coffers and directed the party to a large cave to explore. Tarmin lived up to his trapfinding and disarming reputation and they dispatched a trio of flesh golems who were guarding the caves treasures. Surprisingly enough it turned out to be the dwarf who was most interested in the heavy tome found there and he seems to have grown in stamina - perhaps from lifting it so often and his wounds almost heal as you watch now. They took out what seemed to be an entire brigade of hobgoblins on their way east scattered about the landscape in small scouting groups but they posed no real threat MIkeli's well trained group who took them down quickly and effeciently. The party sold much of the magical gear they found to the tempermental mage at High Hedge and are currently resting in Beregost prior to heading North in search of Tazoks camp.
Current levels: Mikeli – Inquisitor – same gear and weapons AC -4 and Thac0 13 with his +1 Two handed sword. Tambul – Barb 5 – Splint mail AC -1 Bastard sword +1/Ashideena Thac0 13/17 Axel – WS - Plate & Lg shield +1 AC -2 Axe +1 Thac0 10 Baila Beastmaster 3 > Cleric 5 Un-ID leathers and Lg shield +1 AC 0 Club +1 Thac0 14 secondary scout Tarmin – C4/T5 – Shadow armor Lg shield +1 AC -2 Stupifier or sling +1 Thac0 16 or 15 OL- 75 / FT- 90/ MS- 70/ HS- 50 (no points added to others) Olin – Archer 5 Stud leather RoP+1 AC +2 Comp Longbow +1 Thac0 \4 Varscona Thac0 11 Primary scout (stealth 87) Pretty solid group - still debating how to take on the bandit camp for this group. No reloads, no deaths (except Tambul for the nymph/Ogre mage quest)
Saki led her group North to Beregost. Talked to some people, such as Elminster. Then, went to Feldepost's Inn. There, she dealt with a man named Marl, and a mage named Tranzig. Both were quite simplistic, as in, they both only took a couple of sword strikes and they were gone.
Then, the group headed towards the bandit camp, as indicated by Tranzig's letter. They pretended to be wanna be bandits. After dueling with Tazok, the group went into his tent, and fought with the group within. Garrick sang his song. Neera cast resist fear, a chaos shield, and some wild magic, one of which turned into a fireball, and killed Garrick, Jaheira, and Safana. After, resurrecting those three, the party went back to the tent.
Saki had led her group to Cloakwood, where the next objective of her mission to stop the Iron Throne was at. She had helped a few people along the way. One such person was Aldeth Sashenstar. He had a druid problem, or rather, the druids had a problem with him hunting there. The druids were defeated easily, and Neera's spells had nearly killed the front liners of the group, but how is that different than the usual?
Next, Saki led her group into the spider infested part of the forest. She helped a man named Tiber find his, unfortunately, deceased brother. The usual things were done, except Neera had turned herself into a wolf when her wild magic surged.
Then, there was a part of the forest that had some shadow druids, and a man taming wyverns. They were all dealt with. Neera's wild magic caused the weaponry to glow for a short time. Of course, while dealing with the man taming the wyverns, Neera cast skull trap and nearly killed everyone...Well, except for Garrick she did kill him.
Finally at the mine part of Cloakwood, the group had to deal with several mages just to get to the final person. Skull traps, Minor Spell Deflections, Wild surges all being flung all over the place!
Once on the last floor, the last mage there was easily slaughtered after his use of dimension door was stopped. Neera cast Haste of herself and Jaheira. Garrick sang his song as per usual as Khalid, Jaheira, Saki, and Safana attacked.
I have somewhat of a dilemma - the party was traveling from Gullykin to Firewine and we were ambushed by a basalisk - the dwarf got petrified and we had no scroll to release him nor could we go get one and come back becuase it's an ambush map - my choices would be:
1) Go back to the autosave and chalk up my first reload of the game.
2)accept his loss and move on with no reloads yet and: 2a) replace him with another PC A) a new level 1 PC an existing one from my available imports at similar or lower level
2b)replace him with an NPC - (not sure yet who is still available that would fit in the group)
2c) Don't replace him just go on with a party of 5
Suggestions welcome - I'm going off to see what sort of PC characters I have available that would fit with the witch hunter group.
First real deaths (not quest related) and a reload opportunity passed by - for now...
Ok after my dilemma (above) I made a couple save games - one from the autosave before the dwarf got stoned & one from after he got stoned (right after leaving the ambush area). Then I went to character creation and looked at possible options of adding some other PC to the group from my numerous parties but no one really stood out.
I then looked at creating a new character but came to the conclusion that the dwarf WS was just right for that slot and that I may as well just go with option 1 and take a reload and move on with the group intact (and go buy some stone to flesh scrolls to avoid this happening again).
I did so - and we moved on cleared Firewine (above ground) and quit for the night with a new save. Today I looked at my options again and it occured to me that I could avoid a reload by taking option 2b (recruit NPC to fill Axels slot) and that Rasaad would fit well in this mostly goody-two shoes group and that it would give me a chance to see his quest so I went back to the save after leaving Axel and headed to Nashkel and picked up Rasaad. We returned to Firewine and Rasaad almost immediately died...go figure LOL
Back to Nashkel to revive him and forgot to grab his gear from Firewine Bridge (including the expensive dex gloves we had bought back from a merchant) Dohh... Thankfully it was still there when we returned and we cleared the above ground map and headed to Beregost.
Along the way we were ambushed by knobgoblins and guess who was sitting there stoned in the middle of the map? Our old buddy Axel - so now we had another dilemma or so I thought - I was going to take Axel back and hope Rasaad would tell me I could find him somewhere (altho I was pretty sure he would not) but after turning the dwarf back to flesh he had nothing to say to me and I could not get him to rejoin.
So to recap what has transpired with this current group:
Before Axel was stoned we cleared the lower Gullykin bounty hunters and killed the ogre mage and freinds from the hobbit hole entrance. Lost Axel on the way to Firewine and picked up Rasaad and cleared upper Firewine with a death for both Rasaad (by a kobold) and Baila (by the Ogre mage at Firewine).
(we were then unable to reconnect with Axel in another ambush)
We are now in Beregost and will soon head to Larswood where I think we will battle an evil sorcerer and see how effective this group of witch hunters is...
Everyone is level 5 except Rasaad who is level 4...
Current group has endured 2 deaths (revived) and no reloads...
The party entered Larswood and battled a large horde of gibberlings and as the battle ended were surprised with the appearance of a drow in mage robes. He began spouting drivel and Mikeli was having none of it and they slew the evil sorcerer on the spot knowing the Sword Coast was a safer place with his passing.
Soon after an archer in a group of bandits targeted Rasaad and once more they found themselves carrying the monk to a healer to be revived. He fairly trembled with verbosity once he was back with the living and Mikeli did his best to follow along with his story as convoluted as a barrel full of worms.
Eventually he came to a pause and they headed back to Larswood and finished their cleansing and moved north to Peldvale.
Baila finally succeeded in charming a bear who was most helpful in clearing a nasty bunch of spiders and eventually the group cleared the area of vermin and bandits and rested before heading north once more in search of thier camp.
The camp when they found it was larger than they expected but that turned out to be more of a help than a hindrance as the bandits were spread out and Olin did a fine job of sniping the scattered guards one at a time and then leading the foreman back to the waiting arms of our heroes.
With the guards lying dead all over the yard the group burst into the main tent and took down the small group of leaders in short order barely taking a hit themselves. They spoke to a prisoner and gathered documents pointing the way to the Cloakwood forest and then spent the afternoon stripping the camp of anything useful and headed back to Beregost to turn in almost 40 bandit scalps and celebrate their victory.
Rasaad is level 4 and the rest are all level 5 with a couple of them and Rasaad getting within a couple thousand points of leveling while the other 3 have closer to 5K to go. I suspect it's time to go ankeg hunting before we enter cloakwood.
The only issues so far is the armor restrictions - both the archer and beastmaster>cleric are limited to leather and the cleric/thief has the shadow armor while the barby has mail of the dead. At the moment the Barby, cleric/thief & beastmaster have shields and are down to -3, -2 and 0 respectively, while the archer is at +2 and Mikeli is at -4 in Ankeg plate. Rasaad with dex gloves and an RoP is 0 as well.
Thac0 is decent with a couple at 12, one at 14, two at 15, and the archer at 4 with their best weapon. The two clerics keep partners healthy and enemies napping (command) or held when needed as well as the occasional bless, silence, summons, or call lightning which means we don't miss the mages too much.
So starting Chap 4 with no reloads and 3 deaths (revived) and one dwarf lost in the wilderness.
In my fantasy mindset, Paladin’s & their subclasses equate to members of the monastic military orders of the Crusades. I organize them this way; Paladins equate to Knights Hospitaller; Cavaliers to Knights Templar; Undead Hunters & Inquisitors to Teutonic Knights.
That said, I’m introducing Behmen von Bleibruck of Candlekeep. Behmen is modeled after the movie character of the same name who acts as the protagonist in Season of the Witch.
I was originally going to play him as an Inquisitor or Undead Hunter. However, in the movie, Behmen deserts from the Teutonic Knights. To try & portray his fallen status, I’m stripping him of his Paladin status & playing him as a Fighter/Wizard Slayer.
This class works well, since the movie plot has Behmen escorting an accused witch to a monastery to have a curse (Black Plague) lifted from the land.
* Note: This game would be even more interesting if the ‘Hard Times Mod’ would work with BGEE. The ‘plague’ could then be associated with the Iron Crisis.*
Behmen von Bleibruck is Lawful Good but has Neutral Good tendencies @ times.
I intend, at least now, to keep w/the typical comrades & play them throughout Baldur’s Gate/Tales of the Sword Coast & then onward through Baldur’s Gate II Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhaal.
I envision dual-classing Behmen to Fighter/Wizard Slayer-Cleric at the beginning of Baldur’s Gate II as he tries to recover some of what he lost when he deserted.
Key Event: Character creation – took three days to develop this character idea
Treasure of note: Absolutely none
Current Disposition: Standing in front of the Candlekeep Inn
Next Steps: Equip Behmen for a journey
Level Up: None
Current Party: (Reputation: 12 - Average) Behmen von Bleibruck, Ftr/WS (18/27, 10, 16, 10, 15, 10)
The group revisited the Bandit Camp area to assure they were not rebuilding and then explored the local farmland to the West. They discovered the body of a local farmers missing son in nest of nasty ankegs and when they returned the body they convinced him to take some gold off their hands as it was too heavy to carry which brought a snort from the halfling and a chortle from the gnome which Mikeli stifled with a look.
They turned down a suspicious offer from a group of fishermen and later ran across the priestess of Umberlee the fishermen had asked them to chastise. Alas when Mikeli mentioned the group the priestess attacked commanding Mikeli to lose conciousness then breaking off her attack when the remainder of the party severely wounded her and she pleaded for help and mercy. Sadly it was right after that moment that Mikeli arose and his well trained muscles completed the strike he had begun before her spell unaware of her surrender. His blade nearly cleaved her skull in two and there was no chance she would ever be raised. This may not end here as Umberlee is a mostly unforgiving diety.
The party stashed several of the ankeg shells in the now empty nest and carried seven of them to Thunderbottom in Beregost and sold them for 500 gold each returning to the nest later and bringing another 8 to Beregost which funded a trip to the trader at Ulgoths Beard where some fine items were added to thier gear including a scary looking staff for Baila as well as a cloak thats so confusing in design it hurts the eyes to see it, a pretty greenstone amulet, a wand of the Heavens for the Gnome and a silly harp he claims to have mistakenly added to the pile which he refused to return once the deal had been done. He can't even play the damn thing.
The party is resting at FAI and will enter Cloakwood on the morn...
The ankegs added some levels with Baila at Beastmaster 3> Cleric 6, Tambul the Barby at 6, and Rasaad at 5, and the other 3 needing about 2K now to level.
No reloads - death count still 3 (revived) and the lost dwarf.
I was disappointed in the botch up of the Umberlee quest I didn't think the Inquisitor would accept it but if you don't then apparently the fishermen won't talk to you again even when she dies (which was totally accidental - she had already started her dialoge and we had answered that we would help her and Mikeli got up from the command and almost chunked her.)
The harp from Ulgoths was accidental too - I had been reading the description and apparently had clicked on it - I didn't even see it in the gnomes inventory until we were back at FAI. LOL Maybe after we finish Rasaads quest we will grab Garrick for a while.
The harp from Ulgoths was accidental too - I had been reading the description and apparently had clicked on it - I didn't even see it in the gnomes inventory until we were back at FAI. LOL Maybe after we finish Rasaads quest we will grab Garrick for a while.
I, Behmen von Bleibruck, have trained to be an Inquisitor all my life. Working under the tutelage of Monks & Warriors of Candlekeep, I received my commission. And then, I walked away from my order shortly after acceptance. Wrestling with demons that have tormented me mercilessly all my life, I turned away from what I truly wanted most. Before I ever set foot into the Faerun as a Paladin/Inquisitor I gave up my dream. Only Gorion, my step-father, knew of my decision…and the loss of the powers that would have gone forward with me as a Paladin/Inquisitor. His connections allowed me to retain some skills toward the elimination of practitioners of Dark Magic and I have honed them the best I can.
Now just scant months from that event, now a Fighter/Wizard Slayer, I am thrust out upon the road, away from the security of his lifelong home in Candlekeep. Gorion is dead, & the demons inside me continue to dog my heels.
In the span of only a few days, I’ve gone from the doorstep of the Candlekeep Inn to a Commoner’s Room in an inn in Beregost by way of the Friendly Arm Inn. I am accompanied by follower’s including my childhood friend, Imoen. Gorion gave me the name of two companions I was to seek out should he & I become separated, which his death brought to fruition. Khalid is a knight w/Longbow skills, & his wife, Jaheira, is a Druid trained as a fighter herself. In Beregost, the four of us assisted a mage named Neera &, after defeating his evil mistress, picked up a Bard named Garrick.
Key Event: I have defeated four assassins, a Red Wizard w/a couple of thugs, an evil mage, a handful of Gibberling’s & their diseased cousins. I have no question; however, that defeating the Assassin Wizard, Tarnish, on the steps of the FAI has been the key to my early success. W/the help of a guard @ the FAI, Imoen & I were able to defeat him despite my taking two separate Magic Missile blasts from him. We picked up a little booty from his person, including a spellbook (which had his name on it). Imoen has the spellbook – wonder what she’s doing with it.
Treasure of note: Quarter Staff +1 (Jaheira); Potions of Invulnerability & Defense (Khalid)
Current Disposition: Resting, Recovering, Recuperating, Resupplying in Beregost (Red Sheaf)
My followers & I have completed the short trip s from Beregost to Nashkel. The roads were somewhat challenging for a party so inexperienced. We battled 2 Ogrillons; had a run in w/a Flaming Fist Mercenary; fought a pitched battle w/6 Hobgoblins & took out a couple of Gibberling’s.
The Ogrillons carried a letter addressed to, “My dearest Marianne” from “Roe.” I feel I need to find this Marianne & deliver its good tidings to her.
Shortly after arriving in Nashkel, we met a Ranger, Minsc, who asked our assistance in rescuing his companion, Dynahier, from a Gnoll Stronghold w of Nashkel. In agreeing to do so, I had to make a difficult decision to release Garrick from his service to me. While that service has been minimal from a combat standpoint, his friendly personality will be missed. Still, I feel I need the ‘sword arm’ of another warrior @ my side & having a ‘Bard of my own’ might just bring forth pride, something I don’t need out here on the road, for Pride, it is written, leads to destruction.
We were mistakenly offered opportunity to collect on a bounty that was due someone named Greywolf. Honesty won the day & we garnered a measure of respect and gratitude for our efforts.
Key Event:Once again, found myself in a battle for my life against an assassin. I assume this one was a Cleric but I’m not sure she was serving her deity, at least directly, no matter how evil that deity might be. No, it appears she, like the others I’ve faced, was acting on a bounty notice from some unseen hand. She managed to get off an Entangle Spell but aside from that, we took her down using bows, crossbows, sling stones, a Magic Missile from Neera & a Doom Spell from Jaheira.
Reloads: 0
Treasure of note: The Eyes of Truth is a Helm of Infravision & while I could use this in a dungeon setting, I am going to sell it and use the gold to purchase a Long Bow for Minsc, who as a Ranger has been trained in that weapon skill as well as his immense 2-Handed Sword. I have found my Crossbow, @ times, to be a real combat multiplier. Minsc w/a Longbow will make us even more difficult for any foe close to us in experience.
Current Disposition: Resting, Recovering, Recuperating, Resupplying in Nashkel
Next Steps: West to the Gnoll Stronghold to rescue Minsc’s charge, Dynahier
Level Up: Jaheira has improved to Warrior/2//Ovate/2. She’s been granted a 4th 1st Level Spell. Initially, she’s chosen Doom to compliment Armor of faith, Bless & Cure Light Wounds, which she was already using to our benefit,
At Minsc’s request, I decided to head w to the Gnoll Stronghold to attempt to rescue his companion, Dynahier. The journey to the stronghold turned out to be more challenging personally than the stronghold itself.
Twice, I fell in front of my followers to the swipe of a Cave Bear’s mighty paw. As I mentioned in my last note, inexperience is our greatest foe here in the vastness of the Faerun where we are ‘like a mist that appears for a little while, and then disappears.’ Only the honor of my companions allows me to use my quill @ this moment. Twice they carried my belongings the Temple of Helm @ Nashkel where the honorable priest, Nalin cast Raise Dead to restore my person, for a suitable donation of 100gp on each occasion.
Key Event: While my run-ins w/Cave Bears are obviously fresh in my own mind, our victory @ the Gnoll Stronghold is a success for all of us & has increased our confidence. We really had little trouble w/the Gnolls and their Xvart slaves. Although, once we’d rescued Dynahier & were mopping up the sentries outside the walls, I took two deep wounds from a Gnolls' Halberd that reminded me how quickly I could arrive @ a dirt nap if I’m not more careful.
Sadly, I had to make the tough decision to part ways w/Neera. I just cannot afford more than five henchmen. Maybe it’s for the best, b/c I found myself becoming attracted to Neera & I’m sure the feeling was mutual. I need my focus & so do my henchmen. Depite her disappointment, as a parting gift, Neera gave the party a Gem Bag she'd had when we met her.
Treasure of note: Ankheg Plate Mail (Behmen); Brawling Hands (Gauntlets of Dexterity – Minsc)
Current Disposition: Resting, Recovering, Recuperating, Resupplying in Nashkel
Next Steps: On to the Nashkel Mines
Level Up: Imoen to Footpad (Thief) 2 & increased skill in Open Locks, Find Traps & Move Silently to 35%, Hide in Shadow to 25%;
Notes: Saki now has 19 strength, 11 intelligence, and 11 wisdom due to finding some tomes. Also, after this update, I'll be going back to my more detailed writing.
I’ve learned once again never to let my guard down out here. At any moment, evil can emerge & bring tragedy. Just as we were returning to the Nashkel Inn to recuperate & e some nourishment we were attacked, yet again, by an assassin. We’d beaten him, or so I thought, when I was blasted with one too many of the missiles in his Magic Missile. Once again, my honorable followers got me to Nalin @ the Temple of Helm. Then they got me to the Nashkel Inn where I rested. Fate was with me, I suppose, because when we emerged from the Inn my assassin was still about. I guess he felt he had nothing to fear & had been spending some of his bounty @ the belching Dragon. The second time I met him, it didn’t go as well…for him.
Key Event: Nonetheless, I’ve finished running down the secret of the mines. Four levels of constant pin-pricking Kobold attacks led us to the master of the operation, Mulahey, a Half-Orc Cleric. We fought a long battle to take him down, especially with his minions fighting @ his side. I suppose there were some 7 or 8 skeletons & ~ a dozen Kobolds at least.
From Nashkel we followed clues to beregost, where we took down a Mage named Tranzig, who's letters send us henceforth, NE to Peldvale and Larswood.
Treasure of note: Talos’s Gift (Boots of Grounding)(Behmen); SSwd +1 (Imoen)
Current Disposition: Resting, Recuperating & Resupplying @ the FAI
Next Steps: Toward Larswood and Peldvale
Level Up: Khalid promoted to Warrior (Fighter/2); I too have been given greater power & responsibility by becoming a Swordsman (Wizard Slayer-Fighter/3) & have been granted two Cure Light Wounds abilities; Imoen to Cutpurse (Thief/3) & increased skill in Open Locks, Find Traps, Move Silently & Hide in Shadow to 40%; Minsc to Strider (Ranger/2)
Shadowhawks journal: The gnome Boris Badenov had been chafing a bit under Gorions tuteladge but had to admit he was growing quickly in power here. The magic training was grand and his long time freind Imoen and he had formed their own little lecture series picking out glorious chapters in the old tomes that described the workings of the minds and fingers of numerous ne're do well thieves, cut-throats, pirates, and cut-purses and they did a fair or maybe unfair bit of practice on the travelers who stopped by Winthrops and partook a bit too heartily of his fine ale and wines.
Their game got the notice of an odd pair of wanderers called Friar Gluk and Nillini Nightflight who caught them at their craft one evening and offered to teach them a few new tricks for a pitcher or two of Winthrops best. He was a huge half-orc Cleric with a fetish for setting traps for the unwary and his partner was a ghostly elven lass who seemed to disappear from right before your eyes only to announce her new position behind you with a pinch to your butt cheek if you were a freind. Boris didn't think her enemies would feel just a pinch in the same situation.
As it turned out the good Friar & Nil were on the premises when Gorion told Boris they would have to leave immediately and when Boris told them of his surprise journey they promised to keep an eye out for them on the road. Boris and freinds were wandering about Candlekeep as he prepared for his journey but even the appearance of two assassins that they easily dispatched left him unprepared for the severity of his troubles.
However that quickly became apparent when he and Gorion were ambushed by a fairly large group soon after leaving Candlekeep. Gorion sent him running and Boris looked back from the shelter of the trees just in time to see Gorion fall to the sword of the huge armored figure leading the enemies tho he had taken down all but two of the foes that he faced with his powerful magics.
Boris snuck off into the darkness steaming in anger and frustration and determined to avenge his foster fathers death and discover what lay behind this.
Things looked up significantly in the morning light as he carefully stepped out of the woods into the roadway and saw not only the Friar and his Nil coming down the trail but his own longtime partner Imoen as well. They banded together and made their way back to the ambush site where they gathered what they could and hurried off. They were attacked by several wolves along the way and the Friar was almost beheaded by a bear that Nil had aroused with an arrow to it's backside. His cleric skills came into play and on they went.
Along the way towards the Freindly Arms Inn they came across a somewhat frazzled mage with a psychotic halfling at his side and added them to the group. The mage never made it to the FAI as he cried out something about death incarnate while he foolishly set about attacking an ogre with his dagger despite the warnings of the group. His skull was cracked by the ogres club altho the group took the ogre down with some help from Friars command spell and they gathered the spoils and moved on knowing there was no raising the mad mageling this day.
Wary now the group camped outside the walls of the FAI to refresh their spells and Boris spotted something glittering under a tree which turned out to be a beautiful ring he promptly put on his finger. After a nights rest they entered the compound and faced yet another assassin who was put down without a struggle - this one carried a bounty notice on Boris which he tore into tiny bits.
Inside they met Gorions freinds Khalid and Jahiera but once they had finagled them out of some potions and other useful items for their journey they bade them good day and farewell and moved on without them. They also met a surly Half-orc who looked like he might be useful in a fight but he had nothing to offer them today.
They cleared some hobgoblins from around the compound and rescued a drow from the Flaming Fist - Friar was pleased the Fist armor fit him well and they sent the drow packing as she would no doubt attract too much attention to them and they wished to keep a low profile.
Boris returned a ring to a woman named Joia and she told him he could use her cabin whenever he wished as she was leaving for a time so he stashed Gorions last letter and a few other things there and the group headed south towards Beregost and Nashkel.
Thus begins the journey of Boris Badenov and the Shadowhawks.
Boris Badenov M CN Gnome Illusionist/Thief - 14 - 18 - 18 - 19 - 10 - 13 *shortbow *crossbow (no melee for this one LOL) Mage & Lockpicker
Not totally decided yet but I think I may leave the last slot open for shuffling NPCs in and out for their quests but eventually I will fill it with another thief type NPC.
Minimal reloads - core roolz (including scribing & hp rolls at level up)
Update 1: The Shadowhaws made their way to Beregost where they encountered the age old dilemma of a damsel in distress. It seems a somewhat ditzy wild mageling is being chased by some Wizards of Thay - Boris thought she looked promising in more ways than one and promptly committed the party to assist her - Imoen scoffed and rolled her eyes knowing what a ladys man Boris thought himself to be.
The wizard hunting party arrived right on cue and the battle was joined and tho Boris was busy sending a magic missle towards the most dangerous of their foes he was momentarily distracted as Nil who was standing just to the left of him faded into the shadow she was standing in and suddenly reappeared right behind the still standing Red Wizard and almost decapitated him with her long sword. No butt pinch for that one he thought and raised his bow to help the others mop up the minions.
He welcomed the new wild mageling called Neera with open arms and a broad wink towards Imoen who once again rolled her eyes knowing their standing bet was on and wondering which inn he would park them at so he could work his magic on the new girl.
After disposing of some loot and restocking at Feldposts Boris did indeed lead them right into the Red Sheaf Inn where yet another bounty hunter awaited. The group dispatched him without much trouble and Boris set to plying the new girl with some wine and stories. The following morning Imoen tossed Boris a silver to pay off their standing bet shortly after seeing Neera scampering from his room tugging her robes back into some sort of order.
The group set out to explore the woods south of Beregost where they had heard a vampiric wolf prowled at night. They saw no sign of him but managed to take down a ghast and a few smelly knobgoblins before running into a Flaming Fist who threatened to arrest them - Boris winked at the Friar and surrendered the group offering to set down there arms.
The Friar cast command on the silly guard as Nil snuck up behind him and he was dead before he knew what hit him. Monty readjusted the gaurds armor to fit himself and they headed back north. A couple Ogrillions got in the way and they discovered a letter on one of their bodies and went off in search of Mariane.
After selling off some hobgoblin loot Thundergasser told them Mariane lived right behind the smithy. Boris found her and gave her the letter and she returned the favor with a lovely ring that glowed slightly as he put it on.
Later as the party ventured further south a small tribe of kobolds surprised them and Nil took several hits in a row that felled her before she could gulp down a potion or hide. Friar Gluk was beside himself and insisted they immediately take her the Beregost Temple and bring her back - which they did. Traveling south once more they arrived at the Nashkel Carnival where they sold off some loot and rested a bit before entering town.
*********************************
So far only one death and no reloads. Imoen and Nil are both level 2 and everyone else is still level 1. Will have to decide now whether to explore some more or go ahead and clear the mine map and go right for the mine. Imoen has 60 in traps and Nil has 85 MS & 55 HIS with the boots so they should be able to clear the traps in tandem without much trouble.
The witchhunters rested a bit at the FAI then stashed some surplus items at Joias and headed for the fabled Cloakwood. They were determined to search every glade in search of signs of the Iron Throne camp. A merchant was having troubles with some druids at his hunting camp and asked that they assist him - Mikeli suspected he was not getting the whole truth but decided to speak to the druids anyway - his diplomatic overtures were met with an immediate attack and the group responded in kind - Tarmin silenced the entire area and they cut the angry druids down without much trouble. The merchant promised to make things right if they would visit him in Baldurs Gate and Mikeli said he would.
As they made their way across a stream to the next area of the wood they stumbled upon an ambush by several ettercaps. Olin despises these creatures and immediately his bow began to sing - Tarmin went to scamper out of range and carelessly triggered a web trap freezing him, Olin and the monk in place but Mikeli and the halfling were just out of its range and Baila managed to jump out of it without getting caught and she quickly began to summon lightning to the area - Mikeli and Tambul took out the creatures that were outside the web and Bailas lightning took the last one inside but not before the monk died of the poison.
The group made their way back to the FAI and raised him then rested and headed back to Cloakwood.
Mikeli and Olin leveled - now everyone is level 6 except the monk and Tarmin (C/T) who are still 5.
The Witchhunters made their way through a trap filled spider infested area with Olin scouting ahead as Tarmin shadowed him searching for traps and disabling them then leading any spiders or ettercaps found back towards the rest of the group. A huge stinking nest was found in the center of the area occupied by the fattest person Mikeli had ever seen.
Diplomacy was shunned again and the party quickly laid waste to the denizens within discovering the body of a young adventurer in the process which they returned to his brother and Mikeli now had a new sword to work with tho he was unsure exactly what the runes on it signified.
They cleared the surrounding area finding the remains of another adventurer on a cliff overlooking the sea and Rasaad was the only one interested in the scimitar they discovered under the corpse and so he shall have it.
They moved on to another section of forest inhabited by a rather testy coven of druids and it looked like they might have to fight every time they met one but as the druids discovered the Witchhunters were enemies of the Iron Throne they were allowed to pass unmolested.
As they left the druid area they began to run across small wyverns and eventually discovered a cavern where some young adults resided. A fierce battle took place and as the last wyvern fell Baila was almost dead to poison and could not gulp down a potion in time to save herself and she fell.
Mikeli never hesitated in ordering the group to gather her things between them and he then led them back through the forest to the FAI. Baila was raised successfully and the group made their way to a suite of rooms to rest and regroup before heading back to what surely must be the Iron Thrones lair.
*************************** Some oddness in this session I had rested at the very start of the spider area yesterday and then saved and quit and when we started off today the first batch of spiders normally encountered were not there at all - the first foes we faced were the ettercaps. Perhaps due to saving/quiting at the start of the area?
I trailed the Bandits & sure enough, came upon a group of them in Peldvale. I guess there were seven or eight of them, led by a guy in Chain Mail who carried an enchanted Warhammer. I focused on him & after firing my Crossbow once, charged in. Jaheira cast Doom on him & Dynahier Blindness. He fell easily and his squad of Bandits were easy picking.
While in Peldvale, we also fought & destroyed ~ 9 Flinds, ~ 7 individual Bandits, 3 or 4 Hobgoblins, a small pack of Gibberling’s & some War Dogs.
Key Event: My followers & I had an extremely tough battle, one that grew from a single Wraith Spider which we were struggling w/mightily until we figured out that to damage him we needed to use enchanted weapons. Before we did so, however, we came into contact w/2 Black Talon Elite (BTE). Their Arrows of Ice rained down upon us even as the Wraith Spider continued his relentless attacks. I chose to rush the BTE & try to force them to draw swords vice continue w/their barrage. I got one of them to bite. I directed Khalid to draw Varscona +2 & Imoen her ShSwd +1 & direct their attacks on the Wraith Spider. I shouted for Dynahier & Jaheira to use their slings & focus on the BTE that was still using his deadly LBow while I focused on the other. Dynahier fell to an Arrow of Ice & shortly after that, Minsc was bitten by the Wraith Spider & lost all of his 'Berserker' strength. Unable to move, he fell to a combination of attacks from the spider & a BTE Arrow of Ice. Suddenly, a Giant Spider wandered into the melee & we were fighting 2 Spiders & 2 BTE. Khalid & Imoen finally killed the Wraith Spider & a combination of attacks killed my BTE. I too had been bitten by the Wraith Spider & had lost most of my strength & was forced to use my Crossbow because I couldn't move. To make matters worse, 2 more BTE charged into the fight from the NE after they spied Khalid repositioning to get the best shot w/his LBow. Being down to four was tenuous at best but when Jaheira fell also, I became desperate. Between the 3 of us, we somehow managed to kill the Giant Spider & the other two BTE but I don’t remember how. It’s all a blur. It took hours before I regained my strength and we were able to grab our fallen comrades’ equipment. We returned to Gellana @ the Temple of Wisdom but it seems her services have gone up – 600gps to Raise Dead for Jaheira, Minsc & Dynahier. Still, I’d sell anything I had to bring them back.
Treasure of note: 80 Arrows +1 & 14 Arrows of Ice (Khalid); on the way back to the FAI, Dynahier stumbled on a Ring of Wizadry!
Current Disposition: Resting, Recuperating & Resupplying @ the FAI
Next Steps: S of Peldvale to Larswood
Level Up: Imoen now has the skills of a Robber (Thief/4) & has improved to 50% F/Traps & 45% in H-Shadows/M-Silently & O-Locks; Khalid is now a Swordsman (Fighter/3) & improved his LBow**; Jaheira is now a Swordsman//Initiate of the First Circle (Fighter/3//Druid/3). She chose to improve to Club** & added Entangle, Ch/Person/Mammal & Slow Poison to her repertoire; Dynahier improved to Evoker (Invoker/2) & chose to memorize Armor to protect her in combat
We continued following the Bandit Trail into Larswood. Larswood was something of a respite after the challenges we ran into in Peldvale. Once again we fought & killed teams of BTE but were more effective in Larswood than in Peldvale.
We killed about a half-dozen Bandits along the trails too. Among other foes we fought was a large pack of Gibberling’s, 20 or so strong, near an abandoned tower & maybe 20 various wolves & war dogs.
Once again, we ran into a squad of Bandits led by a lesser-knight. We used a different strategy with Jaheira using her Entangle spell to wrap them up. From there we picked them all off pretty easily. Actually, Minsc went berserk & became the biggest danger of all as he started firing @ Khalid instead of the Bandits. Khalid gave him a wide birth but still Minsc kept pursuing him despite everyone’s best efforts to redirect Minsc's ‘Berserkness.’ Still, we killed all the Bandits & their leader w/o taking any losses. Minsc eventually recaptured his senses but not before forcing Dynahier to use one of our valuable Potions of Healing.
Key Event: We found a Druid shrine & ended up in a strange battle w/2 Druids. The first attacked us, accusing us of murdering other druids from his sect. We couldn’t change his mind & he attacked, leaving us no choice but to respond in kind. Once we killed him, we spoke to another Druid that had actually been helping us kill the first. The second Druid tried to convince us that his ‘companion’ had gone mad when they were attacked by Chill Hobgoblins who'd killed the other Druids earlier. It became pretty clear that the second druid had actually wanted us to attack the first. Turns out he was a Shadow Druid type and wanted his weaker counterpart dead. We returned the favor but he did use a spell on me that incapacitated me. Luckily, my loyal & faithful followers were up to the task & killed him. He was aided by a Cave Bear but they were able to defeat him also – with some difficulty.
Treasure of note: Nothing really for use by any of us. We did get a spear, Backbiter +3, from the Druids but weren’t about to risk using it so we sold it for a 1000gps.
Current Disposition: Resting, Recuperating & Resupplying in Beregost @ the Red Sheaf
Next Steps: Bandit camp
Level Up: Minsc rose to Scout (Ranger/3) & improved his C/LBow to **
Witchhunters Journal The group made their way back suffering only a couple of skirmishes along the way but when they got to the Iron Thrones mine the battle that they faced in the courtyard did not fare quite so well. Olin got things started a bit ahead of time and found himself in a bit of trouble before the rest of the group even got to him and things were very chaotic from that point on. The group eventually won the day but not before Olin fell and again Mikeli led them back to the FAI where Olin was raised and the group dropped off some of their spoils at Joias until they could sort them out later.
They rerturned again to the mines after several skirmishes along the way with ettercaps and wyverns and discovered that the courtyard was free of guards this time and enetered the mine itself. They found little resistance on the first level taking out a couple of solitary guards and speaking to a slave who told them he could flood the mines if the group returned with a special key they would have to take from the mageling who ran this stinkhole and Mikeli promised it would be so.
The second level proved better guarded and the group had just finished clearing a trapped corridor and luring a couple guards into their own trap when a pesky mage showed up while the group was scattered. It was hard to manuever in the cramped corridor and the gnome failed to command the mage to the ground.
Baila quickly shot out a command and the mageling fell to the floor but must have completed enough of the spell she was casting before falling as when she arose she immediately loosed a lightning bolt with no preparation and Rasaads body was vaporized his gear falling to the floor with nothing left inside them and the gnome and halfling perished as well altho he was still whole and should respond to a raise dead spell.
The rest of the team cut the mage down in seconds but the damage was done. The remaining members did not speak just responded to a look from Mikeli - gathered the loose gear and headed back out of the mine prepared to return to the FAI once again.
***************************************
A tough day at the office for our heroes as the death count raises to 9.
(edit added halfling death and changed death count.)
The team made it back to the FAI without incident despite an ambush by ettercaps and successfully raised Tambul and Tarmin. The got word a paladin of Helm was seen just north of the Inn and sought him out before returning to Cloakwood. His name was Ajantis and he was pleased to join them and the group staked him to some better equipment and headed back to Cloakwood.
Once there they sought the quickest path to the bottom level and the mageling who ran the operation leaving a wake of bandits and hobgoblins bleeding in their wake.They funded a miner along the way who promised to get his freinds to safety so they could open the gates and flood the mine once they had Daveorns key.
At the bottom Tarmin smelled traps and carefully disarmed them finishing the last one just as the mage appeared already garbed in protective spells. The fight was on but it was a short one - the group managed to dodge both lightning bolts that were loosed and Mikeli quickly chased the mage down as he teleported from room to room and once Mikeli caught up with him he stripped the mage of his protections and the battle was over seconds later with only minor injuries to Olin and Ajantis.
They cleared his chambers of a nasty slime, interrogated his assistant gathering what evidence and loot was available and returned to the first level where the plug was opened and the mine flooded taking care of the enemies they had left unmolested below in their hasty dash to the bottom.
They returned to civilization making trips to FAI and Beregost then made their way north to the city of Baldurs Gate where they were requested to investigate the Seven Suns by Guard captain Scar and passed along their concerns about the Iron Throne to him which he promised to look into.
The party settled in at the Elfsong for some ale and rest before beginning their new assignment altho they were a bit put off by the constant noise of the city.
****************** No issues this time - can't believe I never remembered that Yeslick was waiting there until I had already picked up Ajantis or I would have taken him instead. Altho Ajantis is a pretty good fit too. Still no reloads and the death count is 9 with Rasaad chunked and the Dwarf WS lost in the wilderness. I had really hoped we would get to do Rasaads quest but nothing even started with it prior to his chunking.
The noise when outside in the opening area in BG city is quite annoying - I'm hoping it does not persist in all sections. It stops when you enter a building or when you change from the game screen to another screen (inventory, journal etc).
I stayed hot on the trail of the Bandits & struck a serious blow. The Bandit Camp brought us to four difficult battles – all of them challenged us severely.
We destroyed Ardenor Crush & his Chill Hobgoblins. They were assisted by the human Bandits that permeated the place. We took our booty from that battle & headed back to Beregost to get rid of the Bandit scalps @ the Jovial Juggler. I’d forgotten to mention that a Flaming Fist Officer, Vai by name, searched us out after our destruction of the Nashkel Mining operation. She offered 50gp a scalp in hopes that we could kill enough of Bandits to clear the road & allow her & her Flaming Fist Mercenaries to return to Baldur’s Gate.
From there we returned & fought an extremely difficult battle against Taugosz Khosann, the leader of the Black Talon Elite. We beat him in a pitched battle that raged on for what seemed an eternity. I’m frustrated because I let Taugosz get the best of me. I had to retire & revert to my Crossbow while others stayed up front in melee. After healing, I charged back in but just could not land a solid blow while he continued to punch holes in all of our armor. Each of us, it seems had to drop back @ one time or other to heal from his solid blows. The Bandits that were supporting him were no easy task either. Finally, Imoen took him down w/her Short Bow. Once again, to lighten our load we returned to Beregost.
Our presence completely expected, we returned a 3rd time & ran into a torrent of arrows outside of the main tent in the Bandit Camp. Here we battled Credus, the leader of the Bandits & a handful of his lackeys outside the Bandit headquarters. Credus & his pesky Bandits didn’t drop easily & we had to work taking them out.
Key Event: All my senses warned me to pull the party back & rest but I decided to have Jaheira cast Bless on us. We charged in. I fired a Crossbow @ an obvious wizard & had Dynahier focus on her evil counterpart also. I charged the wizard calling on all of my Wizard-Slaying skills to take him out of the fight. I was able to land a couple of good blows on him w/my Bastard Sword & Dynahier blasted him with 3 M/Ms. He fell. Elsewhere, Jaheira had cast Entangle near the back of the building & tied up one aggressor armed w/a Long Bow. Minsc pummeled another in his Berserker state of mind. Shortly, the fourth enemy fell. We were able to pick off the other who remained Entangled but he still managed to land a couple of poison arrows that required Antidotes. We took the booty after speaking w/a prisoner named Ender Sai & then plundered the remainder of the camp before returning again to inform Officer Vai of our success. Our reputation grows!
Treasure of note: Full Plate Mail (Minsc); Legacy of the Masters/Gauntlets of Weapons Expertise & The Dead Shot +2/Longbow of Marksmanship (Khalid); Mage Robe of Fire Resistance (Dynahier).
Current Disposition: Resting, Recuperating & Resupplying in Beregost @ the Red Sheaf
Next Steps: Our conversation w/Ender Sai & a scroll we found at the Bandit Headquarters both direct us to the Cloakwood.
Level Up: Dynahier’s power increased to Conjurer (Invoker/3) & she memorized Web & Glitterdust spells to aid our efforts. Khalid & I were both promoted to Hero (Khalid, Fighter/4 & Behmen, Wizard Slayer/4)
... the mageling fell to the floor but must have completed enough of the spell she was casting before falling as when she arose she immediately loosed a lightning bolt with no preparation and Rasaads body was vaporized his gear falling to the floor with nothing left inside them and the gnome and halfling perished as well altho he was still whole and should respond to a raise dead spell....
Stupid Mages & their indoor Lightning Bolts! What gives?
... the mageling fell to the floor but must have completed enough of the spell she was casting before falling as when she arose she immediately loosed a lightning bolt with no preparation and Rasaads body was vaporized his gear falling to the floor with nothing left inside them and the gnome and halfling perished as well altho he was still whole and should respond to a raise dead spell....
Stupid Mages & their indoor Lightning Bolts! What gives?
Comments
Neera wanted to go find a Wild Mage named Adoy so then she could learn how to control Wild Magic. On the way to Adoy's Enclave, however, the group came across some Amazon bounty hunters. Neera's wild magic actually proved somewhat useful when she entangled one of the women.
When the Enclave was finally reached, the group explored. Finding several treasures. A hobgoblin, and his army, which was taken down quite easily. As well as Adoy himself. Then, the Red Wizards returned. They were quite difficult. Garrick sung his song. Neera cast sleep, her wild magic, and her magic missile. Khalid seemed to not skip a step when dealing with the mages. Jaheira had tried to cast a bless spell, and after the battle, a few Light Cure Wounds. (I had to reload on this one because...Cone of Frost or Ice or whatever that spell is killed Saki.)
After that ordeal was over, the group headed back out into the Wilderness. Where they found some diviner, who tried to tell Saki her future, but ultimately went insane when Saki prodded about it. She turned hostile against Saki and died for it.
Then, the group came upon a woman named Safana. She said that she knew where some treasure was at. So, Saki decided to help out, and she did. The group kept Safana, she was actually good to have around, anyway.
After discovering the treasure, they went to the Nashkel mines. On the last level of the place, the group came upon a very depressing mage, and he decided he was going to go to Everaska. Then the group took on the Half-orc sabotaging the Iron Ore! Neera cast magic missile, and sleep spells. None of them going into Wild surge.
After collecting the reward for dealing with the invader in the mines. The group came across another person wanting to kill Saki. He was dealt with easily. Neera cast her magic missile, and learned a find familar spell.
Current Party:
Saki: Kensai - 5
Khalid: Wizard Slayer - 5
Jaheira: Fighter/Druid - 4/4
Safana: Bounty Hunter - 5
Neera: Wild Mage - 4
Garrick: Skald - 5
Reloads: 2
Notes: There appears to be a bug in the Armor Pack that lets a Kensai wear some of the armor. Weird.
Up the coast the party went clearing out pockets of riff raff along the way. They encountered Brage and convinced him to return to the Temple in Nashkel altho he was most reluctant and may have prefered we simply take him down.
An archelogical dig provided an interesting afternoon and a seer apparently went beserk and they put her out of her misery. They took out some worgs that had a youngster trapped in an old lighthouse and Olin went sirine hunting bringing a matched set of large pearls to add to the coffers and directed the party to a large cave to explore.
Tarmin lived up to his trapfinding and disarming reputation and they dispatched a trio of flesh golems who were guarding the caves treasures. Surprisingly enough it turned out to be the dwarf who was most interested in the heavy tome found there and he seems to have grown in stamina - perhaps from lifting it so often and his wounds almost heal as you watch now.
They took out what seemed to be an entire brigade of hobgoblins on their way east scattered about the landscape in small scouting groups but they posed no real threat MIkeli's well trained group who took them down quickly and effeciently.
The party sold much of the magical gear they found to the tempermental mage at High Hedge and are currently resting in Beregost prior to heading North in search of Tazoks camp.
Current levels:
Mikeli – Inquisitor – same gear and weapons AC -4 and Thac0 13 with his +1 Two handed sword.
Tambul – Barb 5 – Splint mail AC -1 Bastard sword +1/Ashideena Thac0 13/17
Axel – WS - Plate & Lg shield +1 AC -2 Axe +1 Thac0 10
Baila Beastmaster 3 > Cleric 5 Un-ID leathers and Lg shield +1 AC 0 Club +1 Thac0 14 secondary scout
Tarmin – C4/T5 – Shadow armor Lg shield +1 AC -2 Stupifier or sling +1 Thac0 16 or 15 OL- 75 / FT- 90/ MS- 70/ HS- 50 (no points added to others)
Olin – Archer 5 Stud leather RoP+1 AC +2 Comp Longbow +1 Thac0 \4 Varscona Thac0 11 Primary scout (stealth 87)
Pretty solid group - still debating how to take on the bandit camp for this group.
No reloads, no deaths (except Tambul for the nymph/Ogre mage quest)
Saki led her group North to Beregost. Talked to some people, such as Elminster. Then, went to Feldepost's Inn. There, she dealt with a man named Marl, and a mage named Tranzig. Both were quite simplistic, as in, they both only took a couple of sword strikes and they were gone.
Then, the group headed towards the bandit camp, as indicated by Tranzig's letter. They pretended to be wanna be bandits. After dueling with Tazok, the group went into his tent, and fought with the group within. Garrick sang his song. Neera cast resist fear, a chaos shield, and some wild magic, one of which turned into a fireball, and killed Garrick, Jaheira, and Safana. After, resurrecting those three, the party went back to the tent.
Current Party:
Saki: Kensai - 6
Khalid: Wizard Slayer - 6
Jaheira: Fighter/Druid - 5/5
Safana: Bounty Hunter - 6
Neera: Wild Mage - 5
Garrick: Skald - 6
Reload: 2
Note: Resist fear and Garrick's song are redundant!
Edit: Forgot I had to reload twice. Ha.
Next, Saki led her group into the spider infested part of the forest. She helped a man named Tiber find his, unfortunately, deceased brother. The usual things were done, except Neera had turned herself into a wolf when her wild magic surged.
Then, there was a part of the forest that had some shadow druids, and a man taming wyverns. They were all dealt with. Neera's wild magic caused the weaponry to glow for a short time. Of course, while dealing with the man taming the wyverns, Neera cast skull trap and nearly killed everyone...Well, except for Garrick she did kill him.
Finally at the mine part of Cloakwood, the group had to deal with several mages just to get to the final person. Skull traps, Minor Spell Deflections, Wild surges all being flung all over the place!
Once on the last floor, the last mage there was easily slaughtered after his use of dimension door was stopped. Neera cast Haste of herself and Jaheira. Garrick sang his song as per usual as Khalid, Jaheira, Saki, and Safana attacked.
Current Party:
Saki: Kensai - 8
Khalid - Wizard Slayer - 8
Jaheira - Fighter/Druid - 7/7
Safana: Bounty Hunter - 9
Neera: Wild Mage - 8
Garrick: Skald - 9
Reloads: 2
Notes: Nothing of real interest except...I started laughing when Neera turned herself into a wolf.
I have somewhat of a dilemma - the party was traveling from Gullykin to Firewine and we were ambushed by a basalisk - the dwarf got petrified and we had no scroll to release him nor could we go get one and come back becuase it's an ambush map - my choices would be:
1) Go back to the autosave and chalk up my first reload of the game.
2)accept his loss and move on with no reloads yet and:
2a) replace him with another PC
A) a new level 1 PC
2b)replace him with an NPC - (not sure yet who is still available that would fit in the group)
2c) Don't replace him just go on with a party of 5
Suggestions welcome - I'm going off to see what sort of PC characters I have available that would fit with the witch hunter group.
First real deaths (not quest related) and a reload opportunity passed by - for now...
Ok after my dilemma (above) I made a couple save games - one from the autosave before the dwarf got stoned & one from after he got stoned (right after leaving the ambush area). Then I went to character creation and looked at possible options of adding some other PC to the group from my numerous parties but no one really stood out.
I then looked at creating a new character but came to the conclusion that the dwarf WS was just right for that slot and that I may as well just go with option 1 and take a reload and move on with the group intact (and go buy some stone to flesh scrolls to avoid this happening again).
I did so - and we moved on cleared Firewine (above ground) and quit for the night with a new save.
Today I looked at my options again and it occured to me that I could avoid a reload by taking option 2b (recruit NPC to fill Axels slot) and that Rasaad would fit well in this mostly goody-two shoes group and that it would give me a chance to see his quest so I went back to the save after leaving Axel and headed to Nashkel and picked up Rasaad. We returned to Firewine and Rasaad almost immediately died...go figure LOL
Back to Nashkel to revive him and forgot to grab his gear from Firewine Bridge (including the expensive dex gloves we had bought back from a merchant) Dohh... Thankfully it was still there when we returned and we cleared the above ground map and headed to Beregost.
Along the way we were ambushed by knobgoblins and guess who was sitting there stoned in the middle of the map? Our old buddy Axel - so now we had another dilemma or so I thought - I was going to take Axel back and hope Rasaad would tell me I could find him somewhere (altho I was pretty sure he would not) but after turning the dwarf back to flesh he had nothing to say to me and I could not get him to rejoin.
So to recap what has transpired with this current group:
Before Axel was stoned we cleared the lower Gullykin bounty hunters and killed the ogre mage and freinds from the hobbit hole entrance. Lost Axel on the way to Firewine and picked up Rasaad and cleared upper Firewine with a death for both Rasaad (by a kobold) and Baila (by the Ogre mage at Firewine).
(we were then unable to reconnect with Axel in another ambush)
We are now in Beregost and will soon head to Larswood where I think we will battle an evil sorcerer and see how effective this group of witch hunters is...
Everyone is level 5 except Rasaad who is level 4...
Current group has endured 2 deaths (revived) and no reloads...
The party entered Larswood and battled a large horde of gibberlings and as the battle ended were surprised with the appearance of a drow in mage robes. He began spouting drivel and Mikeli was having none of it and they slew the evil sorcerer on the spot knowing the Sword Coast was a safer place with his passing.
Soon after an archer in a group of bandits targeted Rasaad and once more they found themselves carrying the monk to a healer to be revived. He fairly trembled with verbosity once he was back with the living and Mikeli did his best to follow along with his story as convoluted as a barrel full of worms.
Eventually he came to a pause and they headed back to Larswood and finished their cleansing and moved north to Peldvale.
Baila finally succeeded in charming a bear who was most helpful in clearing a nasty bunch of spiders and eventually the group cleared the area of vermin and bandits and rested before heading north once more in search of thier camp.
The camp when they found it was larger than they expected but that turned out to be more of a help than a hindrance as the bandits were spread out and Olin did a fine job of sniping the scattered guards one at a time and then leading the foreman back to the waiting arms of our heroes.
With the guards lying dead all over the yard the group burst into the main tent and took down the small group of leaders in short order barely taking a hit themselves. They spoke to a prisoner and gathered documents pointing the way to the Cloakwood forest and then spent the afternoon stripping the camp of anything useful and headed back to Beregost to turn in almost 40 bandit scalps and celebrate their victory.
Rasaad is level 4 and the rest are all level 5 with a couple of them and Rasaad getting within a couple thousand points of leveling while the other 3 have closer to 5K to go. I suspect it's time to go ankeg hunting before we enter cloakwood.
The only issues so far is the armor restrictions - both the archer and beastmaster>cleric are limited to leather and the cleric/thief has the shadow armor while the barby has mail of the dead. At the moment the Barby, cleric/thief & beastmaster have shields and are down to -3, -2 and 0 respectively, while the archer is at +2 and Mikeli is at -4 in Ankeg plate. Rasaad with dex gloves and an RoP is 0 as well.
Thac0 is decent with a couple at 12, one at 14, two at 15, and the archer at 4 with their best weapon. The two clerics keep partners healthy and enemies napping (command) or held when needed as well as the occasional bless, silence, summons, or call lightning which means we don't miss the mages too much.
So starting Chap 4 with no reloads and 3 deaths (revived) and one dwarf lost in the wilderness.
That said, I’m introducing Behmen von Bleibruck of Candlekeep. Behmen is modeled after the movie character of the same name who acts as the protagonist in Season of the Witch.
I was originally going to play him as an Inquisitor or Undead Hunter. However, in the movie, Behmen deserts from the Teutonic Knights. To try & portray his fallen status, I’m stripping him of his Paladin status & playing him as a Fighter/Wizard Slayer.
This class works well, since the movie plot has Behmen escorting an accused witch to a monastery to have a curse (Black Plague) lifted from the land.
* Note: This game would be even more interesting if the ‘Hard Times Mod’ would work with BGEE. The ‘plague’ could then be associated with the Iron Crisis.*
Behmen von Bleibruck is Lawful Good but has Neutral Good tendencies @ times.
I intend, at least now, to keep w/the typical comrades & play them throughout Baldur’s Gate/Tales of the Sword Coast & then onward through Baldur’s Gate II Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhaal.
I envision dual-classing Behmen to Fighter/Wizard Slayer-Cleric at the beginning of Baldur’s Gate II as he tries to recover some of what he lost when he deserted.
Key Event: Character creation – took three days to develop this character idea
Treasure of note: Absolutely none
Current Disposition: Standing in front of the Candlekeep Inn
Next Steps: Equip Behmen for a journey
Level Up: None
Current Party: (Reputation: 12 - Average)
Behmen von Bleibruck, Ftr/WS (18/27, 10, 16, 10, 15, 10)
Reloads: 0
The group revisited the Bandit Camp area to assure they were not rebuilding and then explored the local farmland to the West. They discovered the body of a local farmers missing son in nest of nasty ankegs and when they returned the body they convinced him to take some gold off their hands as it was too heavy to carry which brought a snort from the halfling and a chortle from the gnome which Mikeli stifled with a look.
They turned down a suspicious offer from a group of fishermen and later ran across the priestess of Umberlee the fishermen had asked them to chastise. Alas when Mikeli mentioned the group the priestess attacked commanding Mikeli to lose conciousness then breaking off her attack when the remainder of the party severely wounded her and she pleaded for help and mercy. Sadly it was right after that moment that Mikeli arose and his well trained muscles completed the strike he had begun before her spell unaware of her surrender. His blade nearly cleaved her skull in two and there was no chance she would ever be raised. This may not end here as Umberlee is a mostly unforgiving diety.
The party stashed several of the ankeg shells in the now empty nest and carried seven of them to Thunderbottom in Beregost and sold them for 500 gold each returning to the nest later and bringing another 8 to Beregost which funded a trip to the trader at Ulgoths Beard where some fine items were added to thier gear including a scary looking staff for Baila as well as a cloak thats so confusing in design it hurts the eyes to see it, a pretty greenstone amulet, a wand of the Heavens for the Gnome and a silly harp he claims to have mistakenly added to the pile which he refused to return once the deal had been done. He can't even play the damn thing.
The party is resting at FAI and will enter Cloakwood on the morn...
The ankegs added some levels with Baila at Beastmaster 3> Cleric 6, Tambul the Barby at 6, and Rasaad at 5, and the other 3 needing about 2K now to level.
No reloads - death count still 3 (revived) and the lost dwarf.
I was disappointed in the botch up of the Umberlee quest I didn't think the Inquisitor would accept it but if you don't then apparently the fishermen won't talk to you again even when she dies (which was totally accidental - she had already started her dialoge and we had answered that we would help her and Mikeli got up from the command and almost chunked her.)
The harp from Ulgoths was accidental too - I had been reading the description and apparently had clicked on it - I didn't even see it in the gnomes inventory until we were back at FAI. LOL
Maybe after we finish Rasaads quest we will grab Garrick for a while.
Now just scant months from that event, now a Fighter/Wizard Slayer, I am thrust out upon the road, away from the security of his lifelong home in Candlekeep. Gorion is dead, & the demons inside me continue to dog my heels.
In the span of only a few days, I’ve gone from the doorstep of the Candlekeep Inn to a Commoner’s Room in an inn in Beregost by way of the Friendly Arm Inn. I am accompanied by follower’s including my childhood friend, Imoen. Gorion gave me the name of two companions I was to seek out should he & I become separated, which his death brought to fruition. Khalid is a knight w/Longbow skills, & his wife, Jaheira, is a Druid trained as a fighter herself. In Beregost, the four of us assisted a mage named Neera &, after defeating his evil mistress, picked up a Bard named Garrick.
Key Event: I have defeated four assassins, a Red Wizard w/a couple of thugs, an evil mage, a handful of Gibberling’s & their diseased cousins. I have no question; however, that defeating the Assassin Wizard, Tarnish, on the steps of the FAI has been the key to my early success. W/the help of a guard @ the FAI, Imoen & I were able to defeat him despite my taking two separate Magic Missile blasts from him. We picked up a little booty from his person, including a spellbook (which had his name on it). Imoen has the spellbook – wonder what she’s doing with it.
Treasure of note: Quarter Staff +1 (Jaheira); Potions of Invulnerability & Defense (Khalid)
Current Disposition: Resting, Recovering, Recuperating, Resupplying in Beregost (Red Sheaf)
Next Steps: Continue toward Nashkel
Level Up: None
Current Party: (Reputation: 12 - Average)
Behmen von Bleibruck, Ftr (Wzd Slyr)//Lvl1 (18/27, 10, 16, 10, 15, 10), PlMail/LgShld w/BSwd, HCBow,
Imoen: Thf//Lvl1, StLthr w/SBow, SSwd & WMM
Khalid: Ftr//Lvl1, SpMail w/LBow, LSwd (MdShld)
Jaheira: Ftr/Drd//Lvl1/1, StLthr w/Slg & Staff +1
Neera: Wld Mg//Lvl/1, Trav Robe w/Staff +1
Garick: Bard//Lvl1, ChMail w/LCbow & SSwd
Reloads: 0
The Ogrillons carried a letter addressed to, “My dearest Marianne” from “Roe.” I feel I need to find this Marianne & deliver its good tidings to her.
Shortly after arriving in Nashkel, we met a Ranger, Minsc, who asked our assistance in rescuing his companion, Dynahier, from a Gnoll Stronghold w of Nashkel. In agreeing to do so, I had to make a difficult decision to release Garrick from his service to me. While that service has been minimal from a combat standpoint, his friendly personality will be missed. Still, I feel I need the ‘sword arm’ of another warrior @ my side & having a ‘Bard of my own’ might just bring forth pride, something I don’t need out here on the road, for Pride, it is written, leads to destruction.
We were mistakenly offered opportunity to collect on a bounty that was due someone named Greywolf. Honesty won the day & we garnered a measure of respect and gratitude for our efforts.
Key Event:Once again, found myself in a battle for my life against an assassin. I assume this one was a Cleric but I’m not sure she was serving her deity, at least directly, no matter how evil that deity might be. No, it appears she, like the others I’ve faced, was acting on a bounty notice from some unseen hand. She managed to get off an Entangle Spell but aside from that, we took her down using bows, crossbows, sling stones, a Magic Missile from Neera & a Doom Spell from Jaheira.
Reloads: 0
Treasure of note: The Eyes of Truth is a Helm of Infravision & while I could use this in a dungeon setting, I am going to sell it and use the gold to purchase a Long Bow for Minsc, who as a Ranger has been trained in that weapon skill as well as his immense 2-Handed Sword. I have found my Crossbow, @ times, to be a real combat multiplier. Minsc w/a Longbow will make us even more difficult for any foe close to us in experience.
Current Disposition: Resting, Recovering, Recuperating, Resupplying in Nashkel
Next Steps: West to the Gnoll Stronghold to rescue Minsc’s charge, Dynahier
Level Up: Jaheira has improved to Warrior/2//Ovate/2. She’s been granted a 4th 1st Level Spell. Initially, she’s chosen Doom to compliment Armor of faith, Bless & Cure Light Wounds, which she was already using to our benefit,
Current Party: (Reputation: 13 - Popular)
Behmen von Bleibruck, Ftr (Wzd Slyr)//Lvl1 (18/27, 10, 16, 10, 15, 10), PlMail/LgShld w/BSwd, HCBow,
Imoen: Thf//Lvl1, StLthr w/SBow, SSwd & WMM
Khalid: Ftr//Lvl1, SpMail w/LBow, LSwd (MdShld)
Jaheira: Ftr/Drd//Lvl2/2, StLthr w/Slg & Staff +1
Neera: Wld Mg//Lvl/1, Trav Robe w/Staff +1
Minsc: Rgr/1, PlMail w/2HS, Mace
Twice, I fell in front of my followers to the swipe of a Cave Bear’s mighty paw. As I mentioned in my last note, inexperience is our greatest foe here in the vastness of the Faerun where we are ‘like a mist that appears for a little while, and then disappears.’ Only the honor of my companions allows me to use my quill @ this moment. Twice they carried my belongings the Temple of Helm @ Nashkel where the honorable priest, Nalin cast Raise Dead to restore my person, for a suitable donation of 100gp on each occasion.
Key Event: While my run-ins w/Cave Bears are obviously fresh in my own mind, our victory @ the Gnoll Stronghold is a success for all of us & has increased our confidence. We really had little trouble w/the Gnolls and their Xvart slaves. Although, once we’d rescued Dynahier & were mopping up the sentries outside the walls, I took two deep wounds from a Gnolls' Halberd that reminded me how quickly I could arrive @ a dirt nap if I’m not more careful.
Sadly, I had to make the tough decision to part ways w/Neera. I just cannot afford more than five henchmen. Maybe it’s for the best, b/c I found myself becoming attracted to Neera & I’m sure the feeling was mutual. I need my focus & so do my henchmen. Depite her disappointment, as a parting gift, Neera gave the party a Gem Bag she'd had when we met her.
Treasure of note: Ankheg Plate Mail (Behmen); Brawling Hands (Gauntlets of Dexterity – Minsc)
Current Disposition: Resting, Recovering, Recuperating, Resupplying in Nashkel
Next Steps: On to the Nashkel Mines
Level Up: Imoen to Footpad (Thief) 2 & increased skill in Open Locks, Find Traps & Move Silently to 35%, Hide in Shadow to 25%;
Current Party: (Reputation: 15 - Popular)
Behmen von Bleibruck, Ftr (Wzd Slyr)//Lvl1 (18/27, 10, 16, 10, 15, 11*) Akg PlMail/LgShld w/BSwd,
HCBow, *Tome L/Inf
Imoen: Thf//Lvl2, StLthr w/SBow, SSwd & WMM
Khalid: Ftr//Lvl1, PlMail w/LBow, LSwd (MdShld)
Jaheira: Ftr/Drd//Lvl2/2, StLthr w/Slg & Staff +1
Minsc: Rgr/1, PlMail w/CLBow, 2HS, Mace
Dynahier: Mg-Invk//Lvl/1, Slg, Dgr
Reloads: 2 (wilderness Cave Bears x2)
Just know that Saki kicked some butt around Baldur's Gate, Candlekeep, Shandalar's Icy Island, and Werewolf Island.
Current Party:
Saki: Kensai - 9
Khalid: Wizard Slayer - 9
Jaheira: Fighter/Druid - 8/8
Safana: Bounty Hunter - 11
Neera: Wild Mage - 10
Garrick: Skald - 11
Reloads: 2
Notes: Saki now has 19 strength, 11 intelligence, and 11 wisdom due to finding some tomes. Also, after this update, I'll be going back to my more detailed writing.
I’ve learned once again never to let my guard down out here. At any moment, evil can emerge & bring tragedy. Just as we were returning to the Nashkel Inn to recuperate & e some nourishment we were attacked, yet again, by an assassin. We’d beaten him, or so I thought, when I was blasted with one too many of the missiles in his Magic Missile. Once again, my honorable followers got me to Nalin @ the Temple of Helm. Then they got me to the Nashkel Inn where I rested. Fate was with me, I suppose, because when we emerged from the Inn my assassin was still about. I guess he felt he had nothing to fear & had been spending some of his bounty @ the belching Dragon. The second time I met him, it didn’t go as well…for him.
Key Event: Nonetheless, I’ve finished running down the secret of the mines. Four levels of constant pin-pricking Kobold attacks led us to the master of the operation, Mulahey, a Half-Orc Cleric. We fought a long battle to take him down, especially with his minions fighting @ his side. I suppose there were some 7 or 8 skeletons & ~ a dozen Kobolds at least.
From Nashkel we followed clues to beregost, where we took down a Mage named Tranzig, who's letters send us henceforth, NE to Peldvale and Larswood.
Treasure of note: Talos’s Gift (Boots of Grounding)(Behmen); SSwd +1 (Imoen)
Current Disposition: Resting, Recuperating & Resupplying @ the FAI
Next Steps: Toward Larswood and Peldvale
Level Up: Khalid promoted to Warrior (Fighter/2); I too have been given greater power & responsibility by becoming a Swordsman (Wizard Slayer-Fighter/3) & have been granted two Cure Light Wounds abilities; Imoen to Cutpurse (Thief/3) & increased skill in Open Locks, Find Traps, Move Silently & Hide in Shadow to 40%; Minsc to Strider (Ranger/2)
Current Party: (Reputation: 16 - Popular)
Behmen von Bleibruck, Ftr(Wzd-Slr)/3 (18/27, 10, 16, 10, 15, 11*) Akg PlMail/LgShld w/BSwd,
HCBow; *Tome of L/Inf
Imoen: Thf//Lvl2, StLthr w/SBow, SSwd +1
Khalid: Ftr//Lvl1, PlMail w/LBow, Varscona +2 LSwd (MdShld)
Jaheira: Ftr/Drd//Lvl2/2, StLthr w/Slg +1 & Club
Minsc: Rgr/1, PlMail w/CLBow, 2HS, Mace
Dynahier: Mg-Invk//Lvl/1, Slg, Dgr, WMMs
Reloads: 3 (wilderness Cave Bears x2); Nimbul
Shadowhawks journal:
The gnome Boris Badenov had been chafing a bit under Gorions tuteladge but had to admit he was growing quickly in power here. The magic training was grand and his long time freind Imoen and he had formed their own little lecture series picking out glorious chapters in the old tomes that described the workings of the minds and fingers of numerous ne're do well thieves, cut-throats, pirates, and cut-purses and they did a fair or maybe unfair bit of practice on the travelers who stopped by Winthrops and partook a bit too heartily of his fine ale and wines.
Their game got the notice of an odd pair of wanderers called Friar Gluk and Nillini Nightflight who caught them at their craft one evening and offered to teach them a few new tricks for a pitcher or two of Winthrops best. He was a huge half-orc Cleric with a fetish for setting traps for the unwary and his partner was a ghostly elven lass who seemed to disappear from right before your eyes only to announce her new position behind you with a pinch to your butt cheek if you were a freind. Boris didn't think her enemies would feel just a pinch in the same situation.
As it turned out the good Friar & Nil were on the premises when Gorion told Boris they would have to leave immediately and when Boris told them of his surprise journey they promised to keep an eye out for them on the road. Boris and freinds were wandering about Candlekeep as he prepared for his journey but even the appearance of two assassins that they easily dispatched left him unprepared for the severity of his troubles.
However that quickly became apparent when he and Gorion were ambushed by a fairly large group soon after leaving Candlekeep. Gorion sent him running and Boris looked back from the shelter of the trees just in time to see Gorion fall to the sword of the huge armored figure leading the enemies tho he had taken down all but two of the foes that he faced with his powerful magics.
Boris snuck off into the darkness steaming in anger and frustration and determined to avenge his foster fathers death and discover what lay behind this.
Things looked up significantly in the morning light as he carefully stepped out of the woods into the roadway and saw not only the Friar and his Nil coming down the trail but his own longtime partner Imoen as well. They banded together and made their way back to the ambush site where they gathered what they could and hurried off. They were attacked by several wolves along the way and the Friar was almost beheaded by a bear that Nil had aroused with an arrow to it's backside. His cleric skills came into play and on they went.
Along the way towards the Freindly Arms Inn they came across a somewhat frazzled mage with a psychotic halfling at his side and added them to the group. The mage never made it to the FAI as he cried out something about death incarnate while he foolishly set about attacking an ogre with his dagger despite the warnings of the group. His skull was cracked by the ogres club altho the group took the ogre down with some help from Friars command spell and they gathered the spoils and moved on knowing there was no raising the mad mageling this day.
Wary now the group camped outside the walls of the FAI to refresh their spells and Boris spotted something glittering under a tree which turned out to be a beautiful ring he promptly put on his finger. After a nights rest they entered the compound and faced yet another assassin who was put down without a struggle - this one carried a bounty notice on Boris which he tore into tiny bits.
Inside they met Gorions freinds Khalid and Jahiera but once they had finagled them out of some potions and other useful items for their journey they bade them good day and farewell and moved on without them. They also met a surly Half-orc who looked like he might be useful in a fight but he had nothing to offer them today.
They cleared some hobgoblins from around the compound and rescued a drow from the Flaming Fist - Friar was pleased the Fist armor fit him well and they sent the drow packing as she would no doubt attract too much attention to them and they wished to keep a low profile.
Boris returned a ring to a woman named Joia and she told him he could use her cabin whenever he wished as she was leaving for a time so he stashed Gorions last letter and a few other things there and the group headed south towards Beregost and Nashkel.
Thus begins the journey of Boris Badenov and the Shadowhawks.
Boris Badenov M CN Gnome Illusionist/Thief - 14 - 18 - 18 - 19 - 10 - 13 *shortbow *crossbow
(no melee for this one LOL) Mage & Lockpicker
Nillini Nightflight F CN Elf Shadowdancer - 18 - 19 - 16 - 10 - 10 - 12 *shortbow*longsword
Scout & Backstabber
Friar Gluk M NE Half-orc Cleric/thief - 19 - 18 - 19 - 10 - 18 - 10 - *mace *sling
Cleric & Trap setter
Imoen - trapfinder
Monty - tank
Not totally decided yet but I think I may leave the last slot open for shuffling NPCs in and out for their quests but eventually I will fill it with another thief type NPC.
Minimal reloads - core roolz (including scribing & hp rolls at level up)
The Shadowhaws made their way to Beregost where they encountered the age old dilemma of a damsel in distress. It seems a somewhat ditzy wild mageling is being chased by some Wizards of Thay - Boris thought she looked promising in more ways than one and promptly committed the party to assist her - Imoen scoffed and rolled her eyes knowing what a ladys man Boris thought himself to be.
The wizard hunting party arrived right on cue and the battle was joined and tho Boris was busy sending a magic missle towards the most dangerous of their foes he was momentarily distracted as Nil who was standing just to the left of him faded into the shadow she was standing in and suddenly reappeared right behind the still standing Red Wizard and almost decapitated him with her long sword. No butt pinch for that one he thought and raised his bow to help the others mop up the minions.
He welcomed the new wild mageling called Neera with open arms and a broad wink towards Imoen who once again rolled her eyes knowing their standing bet was on and wondering which inn he would park them at so he could work his magic on the new girl.
After disposing of some loot and restocking at Feldposts Boris did indeed lead them right into the Red Sheaf Inn where yet another bounty hunter awaited. The group dispatched him without much trouble and Boris set to plying the new girl with some wine and stories. The following morning Imoen tossed Boris a silver to pay off their standing bet shortly after seeing Neera scampering from his room tugging her robes back into some sort of order.
The group set out to explore the woods south of Beregost where they had heard a vampiric wolf prowled at night. They saw no sign of him but managed to take down a ghast and a few smelly knobgoblins before running into a Flaming Fist who threatened to arrest them - Boris winked at the Friar and surrendered the group offering to set down there arms.
The Friar cast command on the silly guard as Nil snuck up behind him and he was dead before he knew what hit him. Monty readjusted the gaurds armor to fit himself and they headed back north. A couple Ogrillions got in the way and they discovered a letter on one of their bodies and went off in search of Mariane.
After selling off some hobgoblin loot Thundergasser told them Mariane lived right behind the smithy. Boris found her and gave her the letter and she returned the favor with a lovely ring that glowed slightly as he put it on.
Later as the party ventured further south a small tribe of kobolds surprised them and Nil took several hits in a row that felled her before she could gulp down a potion or hide. Friar Gluk was beside himself and insisted they immediately take her the Beregost Temple and bring her back - which they did.
Traveling south once more they arrived at the Nashkel Carnival where they sold off some loot and rested a bit before entering town.
*********************************
So far only one death and no reloads. Imoen and Nil are both level 2 and everyone else is still level 1.
Will have to decide now whether to explore some more or go ahead and clear the mine map and go right for the mine. Imoen has 60 in traps and Nil has 85 MS & 55 HIS with the boots so they should be able to clear the traps in tandem without much trouble.
The witchhunters rested a bit at the FAI then stashed some surplus items at Joias and headed for the fabled Cloakwood. They were determined to search every glade in search of signs of the Iron Throne camp. A merchant was having troubles with some druids at his hunting camp and asked that they assist him - Mikeli suspected he was not getting the whole truth but decided to speak to the druids anyway - his diplomatic overtures were met with an immediate attack and the group responded in kind - Tarmin silenced the entire area and they cut the angry druids down without much trouble. The merchant promised to make things right if they would visit him in Baldurs Gate and Mikeli said he would.
As they made their way across a stream to the next area of the wood they stumbled upon an ambush by several ettercaps. Olin despises these creatures and immediately his bow began to sing - Tarmin went to scamper out of range and carelessly triggered a web trap freezing him, Olin and the monk in place but Mikeli and the halfling were just out of its range and Baila managed to jump out of it without getting caught and she quickly began to summon lightning to the area - Mikeli and Tambul took out the creatures that were outside the web and Bailas lightning took the last one inside but not before the monk died of the poison.
The group made their way back to the FAI and raised him then rested and headed back to Cloakwood.
Mikeli and Olin leveled - now everyone is level 6 except the monk and Tarmin (C/T) who are still 5.
No reloads and the death counts moves to 4.
The Witchhunters made their way through a trap filled spider infested area with Olin scouting ahead as Tarmin shadowed him searching for traps and disabling them then leading any spiders or ettercaps found back towards the rest of the group. A huge stinking nest was found in the center of the area occupied by the fattest person Mikeli had ever seen.
Diplomacy was shunned again and the party quickly laid waste to the denizens within discovering the body of a young adventurer in the process which they returned to his brother and Mikeli now had a new sword to work with tho he was unsure exactly what the runes on it signified.
They cleared the surrounding area finding the remains of another adventurer on a cliff overlooking the sea and Rasaad was the only one interested in the scimitar they discovered under the corpse and so he shall have it.
They moved on to another section of forest inhabited by a rather testy coven of druids and it looked like they might have to fight every time they met one but as the druids discovered the Witchhunters were enemies of the Iron Throne they were allowed to pass unmolested.
As they left the druid area they began to run across small wyverns and eventually discovered a cavern where some young adults resided. A fierce battle took place and as the last wyvern fell Baila was almost dead to poison and could not gulp down a potion in time to save herself and she fell.
Mikeli never hesitated in ordering the group to gather her things between them and he then led them back through the forest to the FAI. Baila was raised successfully and the group made their way to a suite of rooms to rest and regroup before heading back to what surely must be the Iron Thrones lair.
***************************
Some oddness in this session I had rested at the very start of the spider area yesterday and then saved and quit and when we started off today the first batch of spiders normally encountered were not there at all - the first foes we faced were the ettercaps. Perhaps due to saving/quiting at the start of the area?
No reloads and the death/raised count moves to 5.
While in Peldvale, we also fought & destroyed ~ 9 Flinds, ~ 7 individual Bandits, 3 or 4 Hobgoblins, a small pack of Gibberling’s & some War Dogs.
Key Event: My followers & I had an extremely tough battle, one that grew from a single Wraith Spider which we were struggling w/mightily until we figured out that to damage him we needed to use enchanted weapons. Before we did so, however, we came into contact w/2 Black Talon Elite (BTE). Their Arrows of Ice rained down upon us even as the Wraith Spider continued his relentless attacks. I chose to rush the BTE & try to force them to draw swords vice continue w/their barrage. I got one of them to bite. I directed Khalid to draw Varscona +2 & Imoen her ShSwd +1 & direct their attacks on the Wraith Spider. I shouted for Dynahier & Jaheira to use their slings & focus on the BTE that was still using his deadly LBow while I focused on the other. Dynahier fell to an Arrow of Ice & shortly after that, Minsc was bitten by the Wraith Spider & lost all of his 'Berserker' strength. Unable to move, he fell to a combination of attacks from the spider & a BTE Arrow of Ice. Suddenly, a Giant Spider wandered into the melee & we were fighting 2 Spiders & 2 BTE. Khalid & Imoen finally killed the Wraith Spider & a combination of attacks killed my BTE. I too had been bitten by the Wraith Spider & had lost most of my strength & was forced to use my Crossbow because I couldn't move. To make matters worse, 2 more BTE charged into the fight from the NE after they spied Khalid repositioning to get the best shot w/his LBow. Being down to four was tenuous at best but when Jaheira fell also, I became desperate. Between the 3 of us, we somehow managed to kill the Giant Spider & the other two BTE but I don’t remember how. It’s all a blur. It took hours before I regained my strength and we were able to grab our fallen comrades’ equipment. We returned to Gellana @ the Temple of Wisdom but it seems her services have gone up – 600gps to Raise Dead for Jaheira, Minsc & Dynahier. Still, I’d sell anything I had to bring them back.
Treasure of note: 80 Arrows +1 & 14 Arrows of Ice (Khalid); on the way back to the FAI, Dynahier stumbled on a Ring of Wizadry!
Current Disposition: Resting, Recuperating & Resupplying @ the FAI
Next Steps: S of Peldvale to Larswood
Level Up: Imoen now has the skills of a Robber (Thief/4) & has improved to 50% F/Traps & 45% in H-Shadows/M-Silently & O-Locks; Khalid is now a Swordsman (Fighter/3) & improved his LBow**; Jaheira is now a Swordsman//Initiate of the First Circle (Fighter/3//Druid/3). She chose to improve to Club** & added Entangle, Ch/Person/Mammal & Slow Poison to her repertoire; Dynahier improved to Evoker (Invoker/2) & chose to memorize Armor to protect her in combat
Current Party: (Reputation: 16 - Popular)
Behmen von Bleibruck, Ftr(Wzd-Slr)/3 (18/27, 10, 16, 10, 15, 11*)
Akg PlMail/LgShld w/BSwd & HCBow; *Tome of L/I
Imoen: Thf//Lvl4, StLthr w/SBow, SSwd +1
Khalid: Ftr//Lvl3, PlMail w/LBow, Varscona +2 LSwd (MdShld)
Jaheira: Ftr/Drd//Lvl3/3, StLthr w/Slg +1 & Club (Slg**,Clb**,Q/S*)
Minsc: Rgr/2, PlMail w/CLBow, 2HS, Mace
Dynahier: Mg-Invk//Lvl/2, Slg, Dgr, WMMs
Reloads: 3 (wilderness Cave Bears x2); Nimbul
We killed about a half-dozen Bandits along the trails too. Among other foes we fought was a large pack of Gibberling’s, 20 or so strong, near an abandoned tower & maybe 20 various wolves & war dogs.
Once again, we ran into a squad of Bandits led by a lesser-knight. We used a different strategy with Jaheira using her Entangle spell to wrap them up. From there we picked them all off pretty easily. Actually, Minsc went berserk & became the biggest danger of all as he started firing @ Khalid instead of the Bandits. Khalid gave him a wide birth but still Minsc kept pursuing him despite everyone’s best efforts to redirect Minsc's ‘Berserkness.’ Still, we killed all the Bandits & their leader w/o taking any losses. Minsc eventually recaptured his senses but not before forcing Dynahier to use one of our valuable Potions of Healing.
Key Event: We found a Druid shrine & ended up in a strange battle w/2 Druids. The first attacked us, accusing us of murdering other druids from his sect. We couldn’t change his mind & he attacked, leaving us no choice but to respond in kind. Once we killed him, we spoke to another Druid that had actually been helping us kill the first. The second Druid tried to convince us that his ‘companion’ had gone mad when they were attacked by Chill Hobgoblins who'd killed the other Druids earlier. It became pretty clear that the second druid had actually wanted us to attack the first. Turns out he was a Shadow Druid type and wanted his weaker counterpart dead. We returned the favor but he did use a spell on me that incapacitated me. Luckily, my loyal & faithful followers were up to the task & killed him. He was aided by a Cave Bear but they were able to defeat him also – with some difficulty.
Treasure of note: Nothing really for use by any of us. We did get a spear, Backbiter +3, from the Druids but weren’t about to risk using it so we sold it for a 1000gps.
Current Disposition: Resting, Recuperating & Resupplying in Beregost @ the Red Sheaf
Next Steps: Bandit camp
Level Up: Minsc rose to Scout (Ranger/3) & improved his C/LBow to **
Current Party: (Reputation: 18 - Heroic)
Behmen von Bleibruck, Ftr(Wzd-Slr)/3 (18/27, 10, 16, 10, 15, 11*) Akg PlMail/LgShld w/BSwd & HCBow;
*Tome of L/I
Imoen: Thf//Lvl4, StLthr w/SBow, SSwd +1
Khalid: Ftr//Lvl3, PlMail w/LBow, Varscona +2 LSwd (MdShld)
Jaheira: Ftr/Drd//Lvl3/3, StLthr w/Slg +1 & Club (Slg**,Clb**,Q/S*)
Minsc: Rgr/3, PlMail w/CLBow, 2HS, Mace
Dynahier: Mg-Invk//Lvl/2, Slg, Dgr, WMMs
Reloads: 3 (wilderness Cave Bears x2); Nimbul
Witchhunters Journal
The group made their way back suffering only a couple of skirmishes along the way but when they got to the Iron Thrones mine the battle that they faced in the courtyard did not fare quite so well. Olin got things started a bit ahead of time and found himself in a bit of trouble before the rest of the group even got to him and things were very chaotic from that point on. The group eventually won the day but not before Olin fell and again Mikeli led them back to the FAI where Olin was raised and the group dropped off some of their spoils at Joias until they could sort them out later.
They rerturned again to the mines after several skirmishes along the way with ettercaps and wyverns and discovered that the courtyard was free of guards this time and enetered the mine itself. They found little resistance on the first level taking out a couple of solitary guards and speaking to a slave who told them he could flood the mines if the group returned with a special key they would have to take from the mageling who ran this stinkhole and Mikeli promised it would be so.
The second level proved better guarded and the group had just finished clearing a trapped corridor and luring a couple guards into their own trap when a pesky mage showed up while the group was scattered. It was hard to manuever in the cramped corridor and the gnome failed to command the mage to the ground.
Baila quickly shot out a command and the mageling fell to the floor but must have completed enough of the spell she was casting before falling as when she arose she immediately loosed a lightning bolt with no preparation and Rasaads body was vaporized his gear falling to the floor with nothing left inside them and the gnome and halfling perished as well altho he was still whole and should respond to a raise dead spell.
The rest of the team cut the mage down in seconds but the damage was done. The remaining members did not speak just responded to a look from Mikeli - gathered the loose gear and headed back out of the mine prepared to return to the FAI once again.
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A tough day at the office for our heroes as the death count raises to 9.
(edit added halfling death and changed death count.)
Once there they sought the quickest path to the bottom level and the mageling who ran the operation leaving a wake of bandits and hobgoblins bleeding in their wake.They funded a miner along the way who promised to get his freinds to safety so they could open the gates and flood the mine once they had Daveorns key.
At the bottom Tarmin smelled traps and carefully disarmed them finishing the last one just as the mage appeared already garbed in protective spells. The fight was on but it was a short one - the group managed to dodge both lightning bolts that were loosed and Mikeli quickly chased the mage down as he teleported from room to room and once Mikeli caught up with him he stripped the mage of his protections and the battle was over seconds later with only minor injuries to Olin and Ajantis.
They cleared his chambers of a nasty slime, interrogated his assistant gathering what evidence and loot was available and returned to the first level where the plug was opened and the mine flooded taking care of the enemies they had left unmolested below in their hasty dash to the bottom.
They returned to civilization making trips to FAI and Beregost then made their way north to the city of Baldurs Gate where they were requested to investigate the Seven Suns by Guard captain Scar and passed along their concerns about the Iron Throne to him which he promised to look into.
The party settled in at the Elfsong for some ale and rest before beginning their new assignment altho they were a bit put off by the constant noise of the city.
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No issues this time - can't believe I never remembered that Yeslick was waiting there until I had already picked up Ajantis or I would have taken him instead. Altho Ajantis is a pretty good fit too.
Still no reloads and the death count is 9 with Rasaad chunked and the Dwarf WS lost in the wilderness. I had really hoped we would get to do Rasaads quest but nothing even started with it prior to his chunking.
The noise when outside in the opening area in BG city is quite annoying - I'm hoping it does not persist in all sections. It stops when you enter a building or when you change from the game screen to another screen (inventory, journal etc).
We destroyed Ardenor Crush & his Chill Hobgoblins. They were assisted by the human Bandits that permeated the place. We took our booty from that battle & headed back to Beregost to get rid of the Bandit scalps @ the Jovial Juggler. I’d forgotten to mention that a Flaming Fist Officer, Vai by name, searched us out after our destruction of the Nashkel Mining operation. She offered 50gp a scalp in hopes that we could kill enough of Bandits to clear the road & allow her & her Flaming Fist Mercenaries to return to Baldur’s Gate.
From there we returned & fought an extremely difficult battle against Taugosz Khosann, the leader of the Black Talon Elite. We beat him in a pitched battle that raged on for what seemed an eternity. I’m frustrated because I let Taugosz get the best of me. I had to retire & revert to my Crossbow while others stayed up front in melee. After healing, I charged back in but just could not land a solid blow while he continued to punch holes in all of our armor. Each of us, it seems had to drop back @ one time or other to heal from his solid blows. The Bandits that were supporting him were no easy task either. Finally, Imoen took him down w/her Short Bow. Once again, to lighten our load we returned to Beregost.
Our presence completely expected, we returned a 3rd time & ran into a torrent of arrows outside of the main tent in the Bandit Camp. Here we battled Credus, the leader of the Bandits & a handful of his lackeys outside the Bandit headquarters. Credus & his pesky Bandits didn’t drop easily & we had to work taking them out.
Key Event: All my senses warned me to pull the party back & rest but I decided to have Jaheira cast Bless on us. We charged in. I fired a Crossbow @ an obvious wizard & had Dynahier focus on her evil counterpart also. I charged the wizard calling on all of my Wizard-Slaying skills to take him out of the fight. I was able to land a couple of good blows on him w/my Bastard Sword & Dynahier blasted him with 3 M/Ms. He fell. Elsewhere, Jaheira had cast Entangle near the back of the building & tied up one aggressor armed w/a Long Bow. Minsc pummeled another in his Berserker state of mind. Shortly, the fourth enemy fell. We were able to pick off the other who remained Entangled but he still managed to land a couple of poison arrows that required Antidotes. We took the booty after speaking w/a prisoner named Ender Sai & then plundered the remainder of the camp before returning again to inform Officer Vai of our success. Our reputation grows!
Treasure of note: Full Plate Mail (Minsc); Legacy of the Masters/Gauntlets of Weapons Expertise & The Dead Shot +2/Longbow of Marksmanship (Khalid); Mage Robe of Fire Resistance (Dynahier).
Current Disposition: Resting, Recuperating & Resupplying in Beregost @ the Red Sheaf
Next Steps: Our conversation w/Ender Sai & a scroll we found at the Bandit Headquarters both direct us to the Cloakwood.
Level Up: Dynahier’s power increased to Conjurer (Invoker/3) & she memorized Web & Glitterdust spells to aid our efforts. Khalid & I were both promoted to Hero (Khalid, Fighter/4 & Behmen, Wizard Slayer/4)
Current Party: (Reputation: 19 - Heroic)
Behmen von Bleibruck, Ftr(Wzd-Slr)/4 (18/27, 10, 16, 10, 15, 11*)
Akg PlMail/LShld w/BSwd & HCBow; *Tome of L/I
Imoen: Thf//Lvl4, StLthr w/SBow, SSwd +1
Khalid: Ftr//Lvl4, PlMail w/LBow +2, Varscona +2 LSwd & GWExp (MdShld)
Jaheira: Ftr/Drd//Lvl3/3, StLthr w/Slg +1 & Club (Slg**,Clb**,Q/S*)
Minsc: Rgr/3, FPMail w/2HS, CLBow, Mace
Dynahier: Mg-Invk//Lvl/3, Mage Robe FR w/Slg, Dgr, WMMs
Reloads: 3 (wilderness Cave Bears x2); Nimbul