Coran once again scouted ahead and discovered yet another angry looking bear ahead that it seemed wise to avoid. So he took us around it to the path to the bridge that Eldoth had told us lay to the east.
Coran slipped across the bridge as stealthily as possible in order to spy what lay on the other side of the river. He returned to report that he had seen a man standing not far from the bridge who may well be a druid, given Eldoth’s account of the chanting he reported he had heard coming from that general direction near to the bridge. His appearance suggested as much in any case.
We are in need of a healer. So I asked the group how they felt about us approaching this individual. Everyone was in agreement that whatever risk this might pose (such as if the man proved hostile towards us), that was worth the potential gain of an ally with healing powers. So we elected to speak with him.
So we walked across the bridge quite openly. The man saw us as we neared the other side of the bridge and walked up to meet us there.
The fellow said his name was Laskal. And he was indeed a druid. Laskal advised that he was a protector of the Cloakwood, and before we may proceed he sternly demanded to know if we allied with the Iron Throne, as he bore a message for any that serve them.
There was no time to consult among the party about what answer to give, or to cast the runes. I had to react on the spot. My gut reaction was that it seemed to me unlikely that a druid committed to protecting the Cloakwood would belong to such an organization.
[RP-wise I think the above is what Oracos would most likely do forced to choose in a split second. But in the spirit of this method I still flipped a card anyway. Does the party respond that they are allied with the Iron Throne? Red card = yes (response 1) , black card = no (response 2). Result: black card = no.]
Laskal then stated he was glad that we were not allied with the Iron Throne. Since the bandits had reopened a long inactive dwarven mine to the east they were despoiling the forest. There was actually no message, he said—the question was simply a test. As a token of good will (and support for our stating we were enemies of the Iron Throne) he gave us a potion that makes martial combatants more formidable.
Before we could thank Laskal—and more importantly to ask him if there were more druids nearby—he abruptly took his leave of us and quickly disappeared into the wood.
A light rain began to fall, nourishing the forest with moisture. The rain actually cooled us off a bit on this muggy day.
Coran scouted the area to the west where Eldoth recalled having heard druids chanting. Coran soon returned to tell that to the west laid a circular stone henge. Just to the north of that was a massive oak that seemed to be both green and thriving, and yet had a large cavernous natural hollow at its base. Coran reported that this site was evidently the home of a druid enclave. He had spotted a couple of druids standing about.
We all agreed that we must find a healer to join us. Having just met a druid defender of the wood who was opposed to the Iron Throne, it seemed… probable… that this group of druids would be friendly towards us.
We approached a tall and imposing man standing between the henge and the great tree. Like Laskal he was fiercely protective of his wood. He demanded to know our purpose in the Cloakwood.
Hoping to benignly display some respect, I responded that we were travelers appreciating the beauty of the wood. Our interrogator was dissatisfied with that answer however. He angrily pressed us for a more sincere one.
So I formulated an answer that I figured would meet with approval. Following from what Laskal had told us, I said that we were hunting the bandits who had recently come to the forest and defiled it.
At this the druid was impressed. He identified himself as a “Shadow Druid” and advised that if we are to travel through their wood in pursuit of the Iron Throne bandits we required an escort. He directed us to speak with one of his order, a druid by the name of Faldorn.
We found Faldorn within the circle in an apparent state of communion with the forest, or worship with her deity. She seemed a bit annoyed that we had disturbed whatever type of meditation she was engaged in.
Faldorn struck me as an intruiging figure. She was fair of face, an attractive woman. However anything but mild in manner was she. She had a kind of feral animalistic energy to her. There was a fierceness about her. Perhaps with some sort of druidic magic she had somehow grown her fingernails supernaturally thick and had filed them to points, akin to the claws of a beast. She wore many totems in her hair, around her neck, and from her belt. (A few of them reminded me somewhat of some of my runes, actually.)
We introduced ourselves to her and told her that her fellow druid had told us to have her escort us through the wood. Faldorn stated with some zeal she was intent upon assaulting the Iron Throne mining operation, and demanded that we go there at once. She was furious that the mining had been tearing open the flesh of the earth, ripping its bones out, and pouring foul smoke into the air.
At this point I begged her indulgence to listen to our tale, for I knew more of the Iron Throne than I cared to ever have learned, I said. (I was not going to tell her everything, however.)
“The Iron Throne is indeed our enemy,” I began. “They have been trying to kill me for weeks now, although exactly what I did to garner their ill will, is a complete and utter mystery to me. They actually have a bounty on my head! “ I found myself quite impassioned in expressing this, realizing I had never actually spoken it.
“For all I know it may even be a case of mistaken identity,” I continued. “I have done nothing at all—nothing whatsoever—to them. I am a humble Diviner from Candlekeep and had never even heard of them until all this started!”
Faldorn looked at me with some skepticism. But she was certainly interested.
“Go on,” she said.
I found myself maintaining the same passion. “These are no ordinary miners! I can tell you that they are run by a very powerful and deadly organization,” I continued. “It is only through the gods’ favor that we have survived given the attacks they have marshaled against us...”
I paused just a moment to gather my thoughts for the right words. Content that I had found them I continued.
“But I can tell you most assuredly that even just a spying expedition to investigate their compound would have to be very carefully planned,” I advised. “And its execution woud require even greater skill.”
I then looked her directly in the eye and spoke with utmost earnestness. “One thing I can tell you with certainty about them: if we were simply to storm their complex we would surely die.”
Faldorn’s brow furrowed a bit as she considered what I had shared. She seemed to still be sifting through the information. She was perhaps still assessing how much we may be trusted.
Coran, who was hearing these words from me for the first time, shook his head and peered at me with a bemused expression.
“Somehow I knew there was probably more to you than meets the eye, Oracos,” Coran laughed gently. He did not seem obviously put off by this new information... But then again if he was he probably would not have worn that on his sleeve either.
“We have two tasks that we must complete before we can consider helping you, Faldorn,” said I. “First, I have a journey to make that may have us leave your wood, if you would agree to accompany us. As a practicioner of Divinatory magic I have embarked on an omen quest, seeking guidance from the gods as to what to do about the Iron Throne’s pursuit of me. I must travel to the north a short distance to cast my runes to determine a location where I hope to receive a final omen. I have received four already, and the fifth will be the sum.”
“And the other task?” Faldorn asked curtly.
“Our friend Coran seeks to help the Governor of Beregost in killing a dragon that has been terrorizing the countryside. Coran does not believe it to actually be a dragon, however. Rather, he is convinced that it is actually a wyvern. He believes that if we can but produce the skull of a wyvern that will satisfy the noble quest he has taken on to help the farmers of the region.”
Faldorn violently spit on the ground at this in disdain. “Farmers! I would sooner see them killed by a dragon,” she declared. “And how dare this elf take the life of an innocent woodland merely to satisfy the whims of a ‘Governor’?”
At this point Coran interjected himself into the conversation by querrying Faldorn. “Ah, good lady, but I beg you to consider: what if such a wyvern has been routinely venturing well beyond its wood to hunt, into human habitations? I know well the ways of wild creatures. This behavior is not normal for a wyvern. The creature has developed a taste for human flesh, sheep, and cattle. This is not something we wish to see mimicked by other wyverns is it? I think you know the answer as well as I.”
“No indeed,” answered Faldorn slowly. “It is not... That would only bring more hunters here...”
I then seized this moment to try to secure a deal. “Please, if you will but join us in completing these two tasks we may be of great use to you. I will receive a decisive omen from the gods in probably just a few days. If the omen I receive is clear that we should help you, I have much valuable information that I feel will be useful in your quest to drive the Iron Throne from this wood. I pledge to share everything that I can, if the gods direct me to help you in your goal to remove the Iron Throne from the Cloakwood.”
Faldorn studied my face for a moment, looking directly into my eyes. I met her gaze evenly, and with self-assurance. For what I said was essentially true.
After a silence that was an almost uncomfortably long Faldorn finally spoke.
“I believe that you may offer a rare opportunity,” Faldorn said. “I will join you.”
She then added a statement that I found intruiging. “Your appearance here, now, in this wood, is… most uncanny. Why I cannot share as yet. I may never be able to. But I shall join you, and that is all you need know for now.”
[Note: I did not draw a card for whether Faldorn joins because I have a roleplay concept for her that is extrapolated from her circumstances. This will be revealed as the story develops. But suffice it to say that from a RP vantage joining the party does make sense for her.]
Faldorn told us that the coast was a short hike to the north, and it was indeed hidden from view by an almost impenetrable tract of trees and thicket, as Eldoth had suggested. She said we could go there now for me to cast my runes.
We passed by the great tree, which Faldorn noted we should treat with reverence and respect, as it is holy to her order.
Just pass the tree a pack of four wild dogs came rushing at us. Traveling as we were with a druid, we were very much taken by surprise that any wild creature should attack us (and she as well)!
Everyone in the party used their ranged weapons. Coran suffered a minor bite during the attack when one of the dogs closed on him, but nothing serious.
Faldorn noticed me hurling darts and commented that she has a good aim with darts as well. I gave her some of mine to try instead using only of her club.
Faldorn commented that dogs that were once domesticated by human farmers and now running wild are in many cases not out of tune with the Balance, and are often unstable. And she added that since the Iron Throne had come to the wood, indeed, a great many creatures of the forest have been behaving abnormally; quite violently in fact toward the presence even of druids. The entire forest was actually alive and amazingly sensitive, she said. The Cloakwood is itself a living creature in its own right, she added. The wood had been deeply disturbed by the mining operation, and was showing a kind of sickness from it, as manifested by the strange behavior of its creatures.
I offered to have Coran scout ahead for us. Faldorn said nothing. She seemed indifferent.
We sent Coran ahead.
Having encountered no further dangers we reached the northern-most spot we could nearest to the sea, and I cast my runes.
[Which direction shall the party travel? Roll 1d17 where 1-17 are possible final destinations from Cloakwood 3. See here. Result: 10, which is the Valley of the Tombs (AR5000).]
[How far shall they travel in this direction? Roll 1d5 where 1 = Cloakwood 2, 2 = Beregost, 3 = Lonely Peaks (AR4400), 4 = Durlag’s Tower, 5 = Valley of the Tombs (AR5000). Result: 3 The Lonely Peaks.]
The runes revealed that we are to travel to the Southeast to a region close to three days travel from our current location.
We continued on our way, back in the direction that we had traveled through the Cloakwood. The gods seemed to be protecting us from harm until about half a day into our journey our luck took a sharp turn.
We were assaulted by two great wyverns!
It is not difficult to imagine how these creatures have been mistaken for young dragons by the farmers of the region! Terrible fearsome beasts they are, with powerfully muscular segmented tails, at the end of which are stingers the side of a human head. They buffeted us with their bat-like wings and swung their immense tails at us. Their large heads have a razor sharp beak as well, which could probably rip the head off a goat.
They approached from two different directions. I cast Blindness upon one, but the spell failed. Neera cast her Chromatic Sphere at the other.
Unfortunately, then something went even more terribly wrong.
Neera’s magic—which she warned us can at times behave quite unpredictably—did just that.
She was held immobile, frozen in place like a stature, by a surge of wild magic.
Eldoth fired arrows at first. But the creature beside him was right upon him, and he was forced to switch to his scimitar. He then took a a terrible swipe of the creatures stinger directly into his leg near the groin, and cried out at the pain. Blood began spurting out of his inner thigh as if it was being spat out of a well pump.
Our bard tried to save himself by fleeing, but the massive loss of blood (and perhaps also horror at its sight) and confusion of battle must have addled his senses. He simply could not get his bearings. The wyvern that had struck him gave chase after him, seeing that he was near death. Eldoth moved close to Neera and stood between her and the wyven that had been chasing him. The wyvern then killed him.
And then it killed Neera.
As all this was happening Coran had fired his bow, but the creature next to him was also too close for that weapon to be effective. So in an instant he equipped the buckler Imoen had given him and took up his long sword.
The creature managed to successfully strike Coran with a sting from its tail, poisoning him. Undeterred, our wily elven hunter immediately gulped down a vial of poison antidote and kept swinging his blade at it.
He actually seemed elated that he finally had the opportunity to take a wyvern’s head!
Amidst this action, Faldorn had cast a spell. She conjured a massive, ferocious wolf from the spirit realm to help us. The wolf engaged the wyvern that Coran was fighting. And fortunately for all of us, the wolf was also positioned such that the other wyvern attacked it as well, ignoring Imoen and me for the time being.
I then attempted to cast a Sight-Robbing spell again at the wyvern Coran was fighting. But again the creature seemed immune to my magic. I also tried to put both creatures to Sleep, but to no avail. So I was left with nothing to do but throw my darts. I chose the one Coran was fighting. Imoen joined me in shooting arrows at it as well. Our chances seemed best of killing that one first.
Again Coran received venom from the stinger of his opponent. And once again he used our last potion of antidote to stop it from coursing through his veins. Faldorn then healed Coran and cast a spell on him that seemed to darken and toughen his skin almost to the appearance of tree bark.
Coran apparently then remembered that he had the fighter’s potion that Laskal had given us. So he drank it down. This made him a much more formidable opponent.
We all concentrated our efforts on the wyvern that Coran was fighting and killed it dead and done. With a mighty sweep of his sword Coran severed the wyvern’s head and triumphantly grabbed it by the beak to carry it with him.
As the wolf Faldorn had summoned kept the other wyvern at bay, Coran and Faldorn grabbed the bodies of Neera and Eldoth. Just as they did, the wolf conjured by Faldorn fell to the other wyvern!
Imoen and I then raced around the creature to join our comrades. We were only inches from being stung by its great tail. My heart was nearly jumping out of my ribcage at this point.
By the blessings of the gods, we were able to find cover amid some trees and eluded the wyvern there.
After it appeared that the immediate danger of pursuit by the wyvern had vanished, we inspected the bodies of our fallen comrades. They were dead. But they weren't missing any limbs, or disfigured in any way. We could get them to Gellana at the Friendly Arm Inn to be returned to life. Coran advised that we fashion a pair of travois for our fallen comrades.
As we continued our journey back through the Cloakwood we yet faced several dangers. Coran scouted ahead and Imoen, Faldorn and I took turns dragging the two travois with our comrades.
Coran and Imoen killed several giant spiders with their bows. Coran also steered us around some viscous wolves more than once. Faldorn detected an ettercap trap for us that Imoen removed.
We came again to the cabin that we had avoided the first time, and Coran advised that we might seek shelter there. My runes had advised otherwise the first time. And my instincts now were that we were relatively close to the Friendly Arm and we should push on, though we were nearing exhaustion, frankly. Even so I cast my runes again.
[Does the party seek shelter at the cabin? Black card = no.]
The runes again steered us clear of the cabin. (I shan't ask again!)
We arrived at the Friendly Arm in the morning and went straight to the temple to have our friends raised from the dead. Gellana for some reason wanted twice the amount to raise Eldoth. She wouldn’t say why, and did not seem pleased in raising him.
Once the two were restored to full health Neera virtually swooned over Eldoth’s courage in protecting her. She said she had seen him just out of the corner of her eye, even though unable to move a muscle. Neera was soooo grateful for his bravery in chivalrously giving up his life to try to save her.
Eldoth smiled confidently, and assured her with a silky smoothness that he was ever at her disposal and would always be her champion.
[Note: In reality Eldoth had suffered a morale failure. He just happened to run right next to Neera and stand there panic stricken before the wyvern killed him. You’ll recall that Neera was then Held by a wild surge.]
“I did my best to protect you with my spells, Neera!” I exclaimed. Imoen smiled at the energy with which I proclaimed this.
“Oh, I know you did Oracos,” Neera said warmly putting her hand on my arm. “Sometimes the spells just don’t work very well, do they? It’s not you’re fault that you couldn’t save me. I know you tried.”
Then she fluttered her eyes a bit at Eldoth. “But you were so brave! My hero.”
“M’lady, I assure you, I shall always be there to rescue you from any peril,” said Eldoth.
“Well, we had better get going,” I said. “We need to to Beregost so Coran can present the wyvern’s head to Kelddath.”
“Shouldn’t we rest first?” asked Eldoth. “Neera and I are fine, of course. But the rest of you look utterly exhausted.”
Everyone else agreed that we should rest.
Which was fine. Really.
So we spent the night at the inn, and enjoyed a hot meal and ale. I had some wine. Neera and Eldoth continued to get along famously having bonded in their shared death experience. I was growing less enthused about Eldoth by the minute as I watched how he seemed to wrap Neera around his little finger.
In the morning we bought more supplies. This time we noticed an enchanted buckler that seemed interesting, but we didn’t quite have enough gold to purchase it. Maybe next time, if we have the gold to spare.
Off we headed then to Beregost. On the way we encountered a rather formidable band of Black Talons. Coran scouted them out and Neera and I cast spells to put them asleep. We killed them of course.
Then Eldoth performed the same barbaric act that we had seen Montaron do. He scalped the dead bandits.
Neera was horrified. Imoen gave a look such as to suggest ‘is he actually doing this?’ and turned away as well. Coran, the hunter, and by profession accustomed to skinning animals, laughed at their reaction and was otherwise unconcerned. Faldorn grunted at the irony of a human removing the ‘hide’ (or a part of it) of another human.
I was actually quite glad to see Eldoth reveal his true colors before Neera. His act of savagery certainly seemed to have made an impression on her.
Eldoth noticed the girls’ reactions (Neera clearly was the more upset) but seemed not to care in the slightest. As he wiped the bloody scalps in the dirt and stuffed them into a sack he explained the reason for taking them. “These scalps should be worth a goodly sum. Before disap… er, venturing… into the Cloakwood I heard rumors in Baldur’s Gate that they were fetching a very good price in Beregost from the Flaming Fist. Everyone in the Gate is all a-twitter about the bandits. Well, we’ll soon find out whether those rumors are true.”
We continued southward and ran into a small child near the wreckage of the caravan that had been waylaid just north of Beregost. Imoen and Neera approached the lad to try to see if he was lost or needed help. But the whelp was actually a bit of a brat. He angrily mentioned something about bandits being nearby, but that was hardly news to us.
We entered Beregost, which was truly a sight for sore eyes. Right to the Song of the Morning we headed. Coran proudly presented his trophy to Kelddath and explained that this was without a doubt the beast that had been plaguing the farmers to the north. Kelddath seemed quite pleased at Coran’s work. We were then stunned by the bounty that Coran collected. No less than two thousand gold!
Coran generously offered to put the windfall towards any expenses we may have.
Coran said that he was happy to keep working with us if we wished to have him around. He said he was eager to learn more of Eldoth’s plan to rescue Skie, and he himself had some ‘loose ends’ to tie up in Baldur’s Gate. So Coran looked forward to going there for his own reasons as well.
The party was glad to have him. Notably, our newest member, Faldorn, did not seem troubled by him. Even though Coran was a mercenary hunter, and she a druid protector of his prey, Faldorn seemed nevertheless rather impressed by Coran after witnessing his great bravery during our battle with the wyverns.
I asked the group’s indulgence that we finish the omen quest before we spend any of the money on supplies. We were only about one to two days from our destination. Once there I would try to make sense of the omens I had received throughout, with whatever we found there as its sum.
The party agreed that we could press on. So off we went, first to the south for a ways, and then we would travel a short ways southeast.
I just stumbled across this thread yesterday. What an entertaining read! It certainly offers a fresh take on the game storyline. I eagerly await the next installment, and wonder how Oracos will deal with the truth of his heritage as he learns more. Do you plan to take this story forward into BG2?
Thank you @kcwise! I think by the time this tale ends and I embark on a game in this style for BG2:EE I may be feel like trying a different character for SoA/ToB. I'll have to see once I get there.
Divination spells are powerful in BG2 so it might be fun to play a character such as Oracos that focuses on using them. Here in this game at very low level Oracos hasn't really had much to work with by way of his own school's spells, at least if they wish to survive (eg, Infravision versus Sleep?).
Also btw, ideally, Oracos really should have used a Shaman kit from 2nd ed. AD&D tabletop. But Diviner was the closest kit in the game engine at my disposal for the concept of someone who uses divination methods to seek omens and portents.
As for how Oracos will react to his origins, that truly will be interesting to see. He's an erudite, scholarly fellow who's simply doing his best to survive. He has an adventurous and exploring spirit in pursuit of knowledge, but he isn't a thrill-seeker at heart with respect to physical danger. Suffice it to say he has no interest in becoming the new Lord of Murder. All of this adventure and upheaval is not something he would ever be naturally inclined to go in search of. As to how he deals with his divine blood, the runes might play a crucial role. Anyway, I will find out along with the rest of you when we get there!
I have recently been developing ideas for more ways that Oracos can use divination methods. I think they could open up the storytelling and roleplaying possibilities even more. If I do roll them out (and I think I probably will) they would mirror his natural development as a Diviner.
Okay, so to recap and comment a bit on the last two installments, I am very pleased at how things played out.
First, I'm finding it refreshing to be using Eldoth and Faldorn for once. I've literally almost never used either of them. (Perhaps only once each? In all these years of playing BG!) Like most of us I have a party that I like assembled by the time I arrive at Cloakwood. So I pass on taking them. But both characters seem to offer some fertile roleplaying material. So this is the perfect type of game to fully explore them.
I'm especially looking forward to developing Faldorn, who is such a neglected character. It's been observed by many a player that there's a kind of disconnect in the game with a Shadow Druid protector-of-the-wood accompanying an adventuring party into the city of Baldur's Gate. But I have a plot device in mind for her that will justify that, to be shared in the next installment.
I'm also glad that I was able to keep Coran because in a game like this what he does in BG city provides some great material. He is after all, a Thief with a very high ability score in Locks and stealth. He is the perfect burglar. And his bio states that he was regularly using those skills in BG city. He and Eldoth share some similarities, although I should think that their respective alignments carve out some major differences. I think there will be a kind of synergy between them.
The relationship between Coran and Faldorn should be interesting. They are at odds in terms of what defines who they are.
It's also going to be very interesting tactically with the current party composition, but I've already commented on that in another post.
I had such mixed emotions about the wyvern ambush when it occurred! On the one hand, it offered the chance to complete Coran's quest. And I'm enjoying using Coran (I don't have him in the party very often). But on the other hand, that was a difficult battle with this tank-less party. I reload when the PC dies; but I always have a decision to make about whether the party flees versus Oracos going down fighting--and I roleplay the latter in earnest. Here, as a player I knew that they really needed that wyvern head before fleeing! But ingame as i was roleplaying the fight it was really touch and go there as to whether they were going run. Fortunately, Coran's bravery (motivated by his desire to collect the bounty) spurred them on. When I said Oracos heart was pounding, literally so was mine, lol.
Anyway, I was able to comfortably make it to the SotM with a wyvern head after only 10 days (Coran's quest timer is set for 16 days). And fortunately Beregost was right on the way for their last leg of the omen quest.
Had I not had a wyvern ambush encounter the party would have had 9 days days to travel to AR4400; then back to Cloakwood in search of a wyvern; and then to the SotM to complete the quest! It was doable, but I would have been cutting it very close.
I leveled Coran and Imoen on the way from Cloakwood to FAI. I did Imoen first and kind of forgot that Coran already had a whopping 70 in Locks, so I'm considering EEkeeper to adjust the points for both of them.
I'm keeping to the no-reload and 'realism' ethic for sharing of inventory items during battle, level-ups, learning spells, making decisions based on what I feel the character would do (versus me, the player), etc. But I don't feel a need to be ridiculously restrictive for something like this in particular.
Prior to the level-ups:
Coran had 70 in Pick Locks and 40 in Pick Pockets. With the level-up he has 25 points to spend. (His stealth is already great.) The question is whether to pour all the points into Locks (95) and then have him certain to open any locked container; or to raise Locks to whatever is required to open nearly every lock (whatever point score that is) and apply the rest toward Pick Pockets. Eg, If I can get his Pick Pockets to 60 or 65 I can probably lift Algernon's cloak with a near certain chance of success, shoplift items, etc.
Imoen had Open Locks 50, Find Traps 40, Pick Pockets 25, and (with Boots of Stealth) Move Silently 60 and Hide in Shadows 45. She too gets 25 points to spend, and I really should pour them all into Traps, I think.
Mind you, Eldoth has 50 in Pick Pockets. He's currently level 3, and I'm not sure how many points get added to his Pick Pockets ability upon each level.
So I guess my question is mainly for Coran: what Pick Locks Score is high enough to be able to open virtually any chest in the game? 70? 75? 85? 100?
I'm thinking that 85 would suffice for the majority of the locks, but once you get access to Baldur's Gate you can buy potions of master thievery from the thieves guild merchant and even potion of perception or power.
@jethro Thanks for the encouragement to keep it going, it's been a blast!
Thinking on this some more, I guess I can't totally assume that I will have Coran until the end of the game... It depends on what happens interpersonally via the roleplay and whatever else may take place in the game. So the point distribution that I gave Imoen is actually probably wisest.
As @Fighting_Ferret pointed out potions can be used to increase pickpocketing skill, so I think either Imoen or Eldoth can probably handle that duty just fine.
With Coran at 95 Pick Locks (admittedly overkill, but as mentioned his stealth is fine) no chest in the game will be safe.
On the way out of town we stopped in to see Taerom at the Thunderhammer smithy, and we sold the gear we had taken from slain foes. Eldoth asked the smith if he knew of anyone who was paying gold for bandit scalps.
[Has Taerom heard about Officer Vai buying bandit scalps at the Jovial Juggler? Black card = no.]
Taerom rubbed his beard for a moment and said he thought he might have heard a rumor to that effect. But he was busier than ever with orders since we had saved the Nashkel mine and had spent little time on the last several weeks anywhere but behind his anvil, so he couldn’t say for sure.
At Taerom’s mention of our rescue of the mine, Eldoth arched an eyebrow.
“So this is the fabled band that saved Nashkel? You have created quite a stir in the Gate! To some you are heroes for making production of dependable iron possible again. To others you are allies of war mongering Amn, who many believe are amassing an army to again invade these lands as they had once tried to do centuries ago.” And this Eldoth said with a look of mild amazement: “As a bard I consider it great fortune indeed to have joined you, as many a wealthy noble may one day pay to hear the tale.”
I had not much to say in response other than we were merely doing what needed to be done simply in order to survive.
“Oh, worry not! Someone needs to tell of your heroism for posterity—even if there was no heroism. Whatever your motives actually were, people never tire of a rousing tale of heroes and villains. And, rest assured, none can spin such a yarn better than I!”
It was a clear night, and Selune's full countenance in the sky above shone down upon the land brightly. We journeyed south on the Coast Way long into the night, until we reached the location where we could head to the east and complete the omen quest. Coran led the way, scouting ahead. We came to a region where rocky formations jutted dramatically upward from the earth in an otherwise flat plain, and I sensed that had perhaps found our destination.
Coran scouted along a rock ridge and returned to report that a half-ogre lay in wait ahead, almost certainly in order to ambush unwary travelers in a narrow pass. We could avoid him, or kill him and perhaps spare his next victim, Coran proposed.
We had been brought here by the gods to be shown something, I reminded myself inwardly.
In whispered tones we discussed what we might do. I commented that, sadly, we had by now become somewhat inured to killing highwaymen.
Eldoth suggested with a sly grin that the brigand might have loot on him from his robberies. Such treasure would certainly better fund us than him. The bandit should easily fall to our band of mighty ‘dragon slayers’, he quipped.
Eldoth’s jest brought a smile to the party’s faces.
The bard added that he would like to use this as an opportunity to demonstrate his skill at poisoning arrows. Eldoth then pulled one from his quiver to show us. He explained that the poison he uses is created through a special spell that limits the toxin’s use to its creator—himself, that is.
Eldoth proposed a plan of attack. “Imoen and Coran can approach the ogre unseen and fire their arrows at him together,” he said. “And I shall remain here with Neera, Faldorn, and Oracos. When the creature chases after Coran and Imoen, they shall lead him to us. I will shoot him with poisoned arrows, and Oracos, Neera, and Faldorn can hurl their darts at him. If I pierce him with several poisoned arrows, trust me, he won’t remain standing for long.”
“I can also Blind him for good measure,” I added. “Just be prepared to run far enough from him that he can’t reach you with a swing of his weapon.”
I was struck by the notion that somehow, after everything we had been through since Imoen and I left candlekeep, that such a daring deed had become an acceptable risk to take. We had grown in our abilities to defend ourselves to the point that we could be the aggressor against such evil creatures if we now chose. And I found myself wondering if what the gods had brought us here for may be symbolized in some way by this act we were presently undertaking.
I said that I approved of the plan. The others were all in agreement as well. We would rid the Sword Coast of this bandit scum.
Imoen and Coran carefully crept along the rock ledge and disappeared for a short time. We soon saw the two of them racing back towards us—and my heart almost pounded out of my ribcage at the sight of the giant half-ogre! He was easily seven feet in height, perhaps taller.
I was momentarily seized by a fear that it was our dreaded tormentor Tazok! And unfortunately he did not look injured!
Coran and Imoen distracted the gigantic muscle-bound ogre-man by running short bursts and firing their bows, flanking him on either side. The enraged half-ogre lurched first toward one then the other, as their arrows in turn found their mark.
Eldoth’s first arrow missed, but he made up for it by following with a string of successful shots. Faldorn and Neera threw darts. But I could see they were anxious to cast spells.
I then moved hastily to cast Blindness, as I had said I would. The spell apparently worked. For the massive ogre howled in rage and frustration at his, by then, certain doom. He was rendered sightless and feeling the poison’s effects.
I am happy to say that it was one of my darts that ended the evil creature’s life. This brought me a strange satisfaction. I was growing to experience a feeling of power in my abilities. I liked it.
Imoen and Coran then told us of the battle’s start: Imoen had fired the one arrow of frost she still had in her quiver at the half-ogre. The enchanted arrow hit… even as Coran’s arrow uncharacteristically missed! The beast recovered enough from the shock of the sneak attack to roar at them to hand over their iron. So he was likely allied with the Iron Throne…
But in any event, the ogre gave chase. Imoen was able to again hide in the rocks and stab him from behind as he chased after Coran. Coran of course peppered the brute with arrows as she did this. Then they led him to us.
We examined the slain bandit. All three of us who had survived the bandit headquarters in the Wood of Sharp Teeth were satisfied that it was not Tazok. But he did bear an eerie resemblance to him, all agreed.
The half-ogre had quite a few gems on him, a sizable purse of gold, and an enchanted greatsword. Eldoth removed the creature’s scalp and added it to his collection, which he hoped would eventually bring us some gold upon our return in Beregost.
Coran continued exploring along the ridge to the narrow pass where the beast was hiding. Our scout halted us and sneaked back towards us to report that three more ogre-men lay in wait ahead. Coran added that they have to be aware that their fellow bandit was likely drawn away and killed, given the blood curdling scream he gave out before we ended his life. The three of them were clustered tightly together, he said—but we should be able to use this to our advantage. For example, I could use a spell to put them all into a slumber, he suggested.
I told Coran that unfortunately I had cast my Sleep spells (to no effect) against the wyverns we had fought in the Cloakwood. Neera shared that she had no further castings prepared of the spell either. However I did have a spell to Terrify them, I announced. Faldorn asserted that she could cast a Tangling Vine spell on them as well.
It was unanimously agreed that we should destroy the remaining three, lest they follow us and seek revenge on their comrade.
Coran inched close enough unseen with Faldorn and I just behind to cast our spells without them detecting it. Faldorn Entangled them within her conjured magical vines. This undoubtedly confused and alarmed them. And I then also cast the spell to Horrify all three of them. As such they were utterly incapacitated.
We subsequently fired away at the trio of bandits with our arrows and darts, easily killing the closest two of them.
One minor complication presented itself that one of the robbers, in his terror, managed to break free from the tangle of vines. It helped him not, however, as he was still in a mindless state of panic. Coran quickly moved around the ridge, darting unseen through the black of night, and found him again entangled in the vines on the other side. He killed the bandit with a single well placed shot.
These bandits too had some gold, but not as much as their apparent leader whom we had killed first.
[Find Easter egg water opal on the ground? Black card = no.]
Coran was about to continue scouting. But I asked the group to stop and wait a moment, as I felt the need to reflect.
Had we just been shown our final omen in this quest, I wondered? I took a mental inventory of our fivefold quest for omens, with this as the the sum. And just then I remembered something vitally important that I had been floating around in the back of my thoughts. I searched my pack and found several items that solved a riddle that had been posed earlier by this omen quest. I was able to see well enough in the bright light of the night’s full moon to be sure. Everything seemed to come into focus. My intuition at that point was strongly that yes, I believe we had received our final omen.
I then shared my thoughts with my comrades.
“My friends, I think the gods have led us on quite an interesting and fruitful journey over the last tenday,” I began. “During our travels I have been meditating on the portents we have received and I believe we finally have our answer.”
The others looked at me expectantly, evidently eager to know. And indeed, our three newest companions had only heard brief mention of our earlier destinations on the omen quest from Imoen and Neera as we hiked along our way.
I then set forth my findings:
“On the first leg of our trek we were shown two different men who each, in their own right, had a stubborn intent to pursue a course of action that was highly dangerous and ill-advised. The first man had a foolish plot to burgle mighty Thalantyr’s fortress! That, we may assume, would surely have ended in his death. And the other man regularly frequented a cliff where he verily contemplated taking his own life. In both cases, these men turned away from a path fundamentally unwise upon which they were beforehand intent to pursue.
“As I relate this sign to our own plight, I must confess that the similarity that I see is my own pigheadedness in seeking to flee our aggressors at all costs—a course to which I too have unswervingly held, but which I am forced to contemplate may not be as wise as it initially seemed.
“The second leg of the omen quest took us to the Cloakwood—the very location at which our aggressor hides! There we met a stalwart companion in Coran, a hunter who knows the wood well, and serves as a capable guide and protector in that forest. Here, I feel, the gods seemed to be showing us plainly that the Cloakwood is prominently involved in our destiny.
“On the third limb of the trek the gods sent us to the Sea of Swords; and where the land met the sea we encountered the man named the Surgeon. Imoen, Neera and Coran may recall that this man, in effect, uttered a prophesy that we would meet his brother, a most cruel and evil man by the name of Davaeorn who had recently come to the Sword Coast. At the time, that name sounded vaguely familiar, but I was unable to place it. I have now have confirmed it: the letters in Tazok’s chest are signed with that very name! Davaeorn is no less than Tazok’s puppetmaster. The Surgeon told us that this Davaeorn’s crimes are so despicable and heinous, and such a menace is he to good folk everywhere, that he warrants death at the hands of his very own brother. This omen seems little effort to interpret: seek and kill Davaeorn.
“For the fourth leg of the omen quest we were sent back into the Cloakwood… which tells much in itself in light of the second omen… and there we found two more companions to join us. The first of these, Eldoth, helped us find the second. And the second, Faldorn, seeks our help in confronting our nemesis the Iron Throne!
“And for the fifth and final section of our journey, the gods sent us here. Amidst these strange, solitary peaks that burst forth so strikingly from this flat plain we found a creature who I at first mistook for our arch-enemy, Tazok. He, a rutheless bandit stealing iron from the innocent; and with elan we sent him and his band to the Abyss. It felt clear to all of us at the time that was what we must do—even to me, being one normally disinclined to seek a fight. And this portent was the sum of the first four.”
“So I think our path is clear, my friends. As much as I hate to admit it, apparently our former companion, Jaheira, was right. We must face down our tormentors, the leaders of the Iron Throne, and destroy them.”
I took a brief moment to survey the faces of my comrades. Imoen seemed less troubled by the news than I had expected. She nodded a bit grimly in resignation. Neera was perhaps a bit more anxious in her initial reaction. But she sighed then squared her shoulders with a look of increased confidence. Faldorn gave me a knowing smile that might have bespoken gratitude, although I was tempted to read it perhaps even as admiration from her as well. Eldoth and Coran looked to one another as if possibly to confirm a reaction of approval versus going their own way. The two of them had mirthfully shared tales of their past adventures (and we all had enjoyed their entertaining conversation) as we had made our journey here.
I should note now there had not been much conversation between Faldorn and the rest of the group as we had traveled to Beregost. She remained rather aloof. Eldoth had attempted to chat her up. But she had shown no interest in talking to him.
Eldoth spoke first. “This ‘Iron Throne’ that you mention… could you, ehm, please tell me more about them?”
“Of course,” I responded. “The Iron Throne is an organization that has been hounding us over the last month, ever since Imoen and I left Candlekeep on the first day of Mirtul. We have discovered that it is the Iron Throne that engineered the Sword Coast’s iron shortage. They have done so presumably to corner the market on the metal which is now more precious than gold.
“I know not the full reason why, but from the start they have regularly sent assassins to kill me. My father, the renowned sage, Gorion of Candlekeep, apparently had learned something of their intrigues. We came to learn from friends of my father that he was something of an adventurer in secret. My father died bravely defending us (just he and I then) when Iron Throne assassins ambushed us in our hasty departure from the library fortress. But for some reason they wish me dead as well! I have always assumed that they believe my father must have shared information with me about them—which he never did. But even as we have steadfastly evaded them and fended off their attacks, we have learned much of their plans through their letters.
Eldoth’s interest was piqued. “So you possess valuable information then, which may be worth a small fortune to the right people in Baldur’s Gate. I have some influential connections there,” he responded. “I can help you sell that information, if you wish.”
At this Coran laughed heartily. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, eh?” said Coran. “But I admire your thinking, Eldoth.”
Neera looked at Eldoth a bit doubtfully. “Are you sure we could pull that off?” she asked.
Eldoth answered her query quickly and with sureness. “It may be the only way to get the Iron Throne to stop hunting you down.”
Imoen and Faldorn looked unimpressed. Neither seemed particularly fond of Eldoth. I caught some looks shared between them on our journey here. During the entire trip from Beregost, although we enjoyed the wit shared between Coran and Eldoth, Eldoth had spoken mostly of himself; and although at times he did so with humor (to maintain interest), it was always ultimately in glowing terms. Faldorn and Imoen kept a steady commentary with glances back and forth, more than one from Imoen with an eyeroll.
The party burst into chatter about the idea. But before more conversation could continue further along these lines, I brought the group back to the topic at hand.
“Friends, we can discuss all that when we arrive eventually at Baldur’s Gate,” I interrupted. “I need to know if you all understand what I am saying and can follow this plan—namely, that we must venture back into the Cloakwood. And there we must seek out and kill Davaeorn. Hopefully, by doing so we may bring an end to this madness.”
The party stared at me for a moment, somewhat surprised at my assertiveness.
“The runes were entirely clear on this, I think,” I felt the need to add.
Coran smiled at me with calm assurance, perhaps as an older brother might. “It could just as easily be your own decision, Oracos,” he said. “And I can see the soundness to it. Imoen has told me some of your tale, although not all that you just shared.” He put his hand on my shoulder and spoke with a sense of ease that I was coming to appreciate about the elf. “Your plan seems as good a course as any. Better to become the hunter than the hunted.”
“Sayeth the hunter,” chimed Faldorn. (She speaks!)
“Aye, become the hunter versus the hunted,” said I. “That seems to be what the gods have revealed.”
I surveyed the faces of all and there found acceptance. “We are in agreement, then?”
Each expressed their approval, either with an ‘aye’ or a nod.
“Then back to Beregost we shall go to plan,” I said.
And with that we commenced our journey back to town.
The dice rolls for the five destinations of the 'omen quest' worked out about as well I could ever have hoped. It allowed Oracos to stitch the five omens together into a cogent narrative and meaning. This would have been much harder to do with destinations, and the things found there, that seemingly had no connection whatsoever to one another; or to the party's overall plight.
It's also about the right time in the tale for Bhaal's essence to start being felt by Oracos. So this notion of 'the hunted becoming the hunter' works extremely well for the assertion of Bhaal's energy.
When I had rolled the final destination of AR4400 'Lonely Peaks', I was initially worried that it provided weak material to work with in order to sum up the four previous omens. (And there is a surprisingly difficult encounter there for a low level party (Ioin, Dribben and Billy) at the center of the map that might well have ended with some fatalities. From a story development vantage I'm glad I avoided that one!) But the events and story basically just flowed as I played it out. I'm actually very, very pleased at the symbolism of 'hunted becomes the hunter' that may be drawn from the encounter with Arghain and his party of half-ogre bandits. That psychological turn-around fits this protagonist--and the story thus far--like a glove, actually.
It's also quirky, offbeat fun to be roleplaying with Coran, Eldoth and Faldorn. Having Eldoth and Coran tees up some entertaining excursions in the big city. And I look forward to developing Faldorn as a more sympathetic and relatable character than we're accustomed to seeing her in BG2.
Tactically speaking, with this party (and at low level) it'll be a bit tough to take out the four guardians/assassins at the entrance to the Cloakwood mine. But if I can credibly RP that they do this one enemy at a time, perhaps involving Charming one (or more) of them, I think I can manage it.
Lol, darn, I just realized that that the party is now standing right next to a cave entrance that I completely missed in all the excitement as a player. It is actually not obvious at all from their present location, however. (It faces out 45 degrees away from where they're standing, and is obscured on the other side of a jutting v-shaped outcrop.) I should have turned a card for whether Coran detected it when he moved around the base of the rocky peak to kill the half-ogre that had escaped Faldorn's vines, or at least perhaps should now. (That said, Coran was totally focused on the task at hand from a RP standpoint; and he came back through the pass, IIRC.) But from both a story and roleplaying vantage the party is now intent to return to Beregost, so I may leave this stone unturned. I'll see how I feel when I resume the game.
I just read through your story over the weekend, and I'm absolutely loving it. It is really fascinating to see how organically everything has developed so far, and how well the combination of role-playing and luck of the draw works together. Thanks for doing this. I will definitely keep reading!
I'm really enjoying Oracos' tale. I tried some RP journalling of my own and it's made me even more impressed with what you're doing. It takes so much time and effort and many areas that take minutes in an ordinary game can take hours. It's definitely worth it, but it requires so much patience.
@Warmage Thank you for taking the time to read it. It makes me feel good to know that you found it worth the time!
I'm frankly amazed at how well the method works. There's a static framework of game content. But roughly 50% of the experience is dynamic through the roleplaying and dice-rolling.
With
each protagonist that one might dream up
the various methods by which one might generate random outcomes (when and how to use dice/cards/coin flips, etc.)
such a variety of NPCs
additional custom NPCs of one's own creation if desired
how each NPC might be roleplayed
relationships between NPCs
every game approached in this style becomes not just a thoroughly unique experience, but also one with a surprising level of depth.
I think soon I'm going to start putting the story into a Word document as well that'll get updated with each installment. I'll feature a link for it in the topic starter. (Maybe just the story itself without the dice rolls and card flips?)
@demented Once I got underway with this project I was a bit daunted by the time it takes. Ideally, I don't think I would feel compelled to share everything that the party does. But here in order to illustrate the dice/cards method, I'm being pretty comprehensive in this game.
From the craft standpoint as a writer, with limited hobby time it's boilerplate writing (although the beauty part is that so much of it just writes itself). But as a piece of fiction it can always be improved later.
But anyway, I view it as about akin to a PnP tabletop campaign in terms of the commitment. If you love creative writing it's well worth the time and effort. By the end you've had a full and unique adventure--and a fanfic novella to show for it.
Yep, I do plan to resume the adventure before too long. RL has been intruding on my hobby time in a huge way. Probably can't get back to it for at least another week, though. Thanks for asking!
I must say, @Lemernis, this whole approach and your journal thereof are absolutely brilliant! BRAVO! And, I hope to see more... you've even inspired me to try this approach on my freshly rolled Chaotic Neutral Necromancer (I've been having an extremely tough time RPing him).
My attempt at this failed miserably but what a ride! My dice roles produced little to no loot, rampant killing of NPCs, and ignoring the few allies I could have possibly obtained. Those NPCs I did recruit were Good Aligned and therefore defected from my Chaotic Neutral Necromancer after he went a little spell happy with some rude guards. It was great fun, but I had to restart and took control of the situation before it again went out of hand. I think the biggest problem is that my PC is Chaotic Neutral (i.e., erratic and anti-authoritarian... insane), therefore the my ability to make rational RP choices is truly up to chance. I'll probably play the game through with him and then using his exported profile try it again when he will be able to at least limp through the game alone, if need be.
Sounds like you had a good time with it, that's great to hear! I know it completely opened my game up into an unpredictable adventure.
My rule of thumb has been to behave in-character first and foremost. Then for anything that might be in question I'll flip a card or roll the dice. Ditto whenever decision-by-chance seems to just add some fun value.
But to reemphasize, if I feel relatively certain what various characters would do (and that includes NPCs), I just roleplay it out. So using the approach, a CN Necromancer would probably appreciate having certain NPCs, and they in turn might like to join up. And ditto for the reactions for NPCs that do not seem a good fit.
However, notwithstanding, whether you would even meet up with the NPCs you would most like to have as party members in still up in the air with this method. The roleplaying will direct many of your destinations, and dice rolls re: where to explore will lead who-knows-where. So you may never meet up with the ones you want to join.
As for my own tale here, unfortunately I'm not sure of RL will allow me to complete this adventure at anything more than a snail's pace over the next couple of years. But if I can keep it going, I will.
Thanks, I'm so busy now that I have virtually no hobby time. Eventually I may get some time in here and there to keep this going, which I really want to do. I need a large enough block of time to play and record the events. The writing takes time. But if I'm able to do anything at all with computer gaming, completing this game over the next couple of years will be it.
I'm looking forward to playing out and recording the upcoming battle at the Cloakwood mines. That should be tough with the party I currently have. Honestly, the only path to victory that I can see is to draw the assassins out one at a time. For this type of game, that stretches believability, I know. But perhaps I can pull it off... I don't want to fudge what I imagine the enemies would do. But on the other hand, the party can't advance without winning this battle, and I've hardly got a badass line-up.
Hopefully I can defeat them individually one at a time! Perhaps they can be taunted into such a challenge. If they accept that challenge (card flip), hopefully they won't come all at once after they lose one or two members of their own team that way. On the other hand, after one or two members of their side dies, there could be a card flip as to whether those remaining decide to flee; or perhaps to then parlay and accept gold in exchange for terminating their contract with the Iron Throne. We'll see how it plays out.
I'm reloading only if the PC dies, so at least the game continues if other party members die. I'd really like to keep the current team intact for a good while further into the game, though. So hopefully none of them will get chunked in the first effort in which the PC survives!
I just wanted to add what others have already said: I think this story of yours is awesome, and I hope that you can one day continue it. Still, I can understand that RL can get in the way of something like this...
After a full day’s march north through the night we arrived uneventfully at Beregost in the early afternoon. A rest at the Burning Wizard was in order. Beforehand, the spellcasters among us consulted briefly about what spells we should prepare. It was agreed that Faldorn should concentrate on her ability to enlist creatures to do her bidding, and I would focus on a spell that instills panic. No adjustment was necessary for the spells that Neera and Eldoth had already prepared.
During our meal we concurred that when we arrived at the old mine operation resumed by the Iron Throne, Coran would scout first to avoid detection as we approached. Then, if feasible, Faldorn would use her druidic charms to have a woodland creature spy out how well defended the camp appears to be. It was agreed that we would obviously need extraordinary stealth, the element of surprise when and wherever possible, and all of our wiles to negotiate this challenge. And of course we would need the support of the gods, as I would ever seek direction through runes and omens as the situation warranted.
It had by now become our custom before embarking on the Trade Way to stop at the Thunderhammer smithy. But in this case the establishment was closed for the evening. We would like to have identified an enchanted greatsword wielded by one of the half-orcs vanquished the night before, as neither I nor Eldoth could tell whether it was enspelled; it was of very high craftsmanship. We also wished to sell other items looted from the half-orcs. So instead we visited Feldepost’s to sell gems we had collected through our battles, and see if the owner would buy any of the gear we had stripped from them. Fortunately, we had an adequate supply of arrows and darts.
[At Feldepost’s does Eldoth know the value of the Glitterdust spell? Red card = yes.]
Feldepost’s owner was interested only in the helmets of our enemies. But as we were conducting business, Eldoth took note of a spell for sale that that the bard recommended we make a purchase of. The magic both revealed anyone made to be invisible and usually caused temporary blindness to them by use of an exceedingly fine enchanted golden dust that the Weave generates around the target. I had seen this spell before but because it belongs to the Conjuration school I am unable to scribe it. I admit that it had not occurred to me that Neera or Eldoth might use it. In any event, Eldoth was however quite persuasive that the scroll would be well worth the investment. He counseled that indeed he had once witnessed its effectiveness in his own adventures in Baldur’s Gate.
Since we had acquired a good sum of gold, and such an investment seemed sound based on this advice borne of firsthand experience, it was decided that we would take the gamble to buy the spell. We would stop at the Burning Wizard, stow the swords, and either Neera or Eldoth would attempt to scribe this new Gold Dust spell.
When we reached the Burning Wizard we had a brief discussion about who should attempt the learn the spell. Neither Neera nor Eldoth had the ability to yet cast the spell quite yet. However, Neera’s powers had grown rapidly during her travels in our group. She said she felt that she was about ready to be able to wield such magic. Eldoth sighed that he would love to make the attempt to learn the spell himself, as a reward for having identified its value and having made the suggestion. Having learned of Neera’s wild magic surges he also recommended that it was ultimately safer that the spell be used by him. Both seemed eager to learn the spell, so I consulted the oracle.
[Red card = Neera attempts to scribe Glitterdust; black card = Eldoth tries to learn the spell.Result: red card = Neera attempts to scribe the spell.]
I cast the runes, and they were clear that it should be Neera who should try to learn the spell. Unfortunately, to everyone’s disappointment our elven enchantress was unable to keep the spell clear in her mind in order for the spell to be imprinted into her book of the Weave. At the failure, Neera looked dejected and apologetic. Eldoth looked up, then away, and snorted subtly in an “I told you so” sort of way. Imoen gave Neera a smile of encouragement and patted her back to show support. There was then nothing to be done but to shrug it off and push on.
Thus we set forth on our journey north back into the Cloakwood; although I admit not without a shudder inwardly on my part at the dark natural dangers we must seek to avoid even merely to reach the mine.
Our journey to the location where we met both Faldorn and Eldoth went fairly well. We were at one point waylaid by ettercaps, but managed to elude them. A dread wolf surprised us at one point as we moved through the wood, but we killed the beast with arrows and darts just at it closed in. Later several giant venomous spiders appeared, but there too we managed to escape them choosing to save our ammo, spells and health for the even more formidable dangers that surely awaited us at the mine.
After two full days of since our departure from Beregost, with the barest minimum of rest along the way, and travel through a treacherous wood, we had drawn within a day’s journey to the mine, Faldorn advised. But we were nearing exhaustion. We decided to make camp.
During the rest a giant spider attacked us and its venom came dangerously close to killing Coran due to a lapse on my part. I was able to stop the poison from working its way to his heart, but the attack cost us two valuable healing potions. I misjudged in my response to the attack by instead making no less than three attempts (the last successful) to blind the creature, that we might make it helpless in order to more easily kill it. In the meantime Faldorn healed Coran in addition to him using healing vials, but her healing powers didn't stop the poison.
In all events, after the spider attack we completed our rest. Then we proceeded with utmost caution through the remaining leg of woods to the mines.
Along the way Coran reported that he spied a duo of guards for the mine on patrol. With his keen elven ears he was able to overhear up some of their idle chatter to ascertain this. We skirted the guards and continued. After several hours we made our way to a bridge across a large stream that adjoined the mining complex.
It was the height of the midday sun. Coran was however able to quietly slip into the stream and spy from beneath the bridge. From there he spotted two guards posted on the other side of the short bridge. Beyond that, however, the compound was fenced and hidden from his view.
At this point our plan was to see if Faldorn could use a woodland creature to spy for us, although she advised that there was a considerable risk that such an enchantment on a creature could be detected by a wizard. I observed that since wizards and priests, both, had constantly beset us seeking the bounty set by the Iron Throne, this was certainly a risk; but perhaps it was one that had to be taken.
“Perhaps I can draw the guards away from their post,” Coran suggested. “Then I can gain a clear line of sight onto the grounds beyond the fence,” he noted. Neera added that I could simply put them to sleep and Coran could act quickly to kill them and remove their bodies, hopefully avoiding detection. There was of course a chance that the guards could be spotted as they slumped into a slumber, but it was about the same risk that they would call out to others if Coran attempted to lure them away.
Coran advised that we could do both. He would attempt to get the guards to investigate and come to the other side of the bridge; I could them put them to sleep. All agreed that was the most sensible plan.
Coran walked up to the guards and signaled that he was in need of assistance, beckoning silently for them to come. The guards had in all likelihood been given orders to kill anyone on sight who was not a known member of the iron Throne or unable to identify themselves as such. They pursued Coran and one was able to strike a blow with his sword that actually injured Coran’s arm. Before they knew what happened, however, I put them to sleep and we filled them with arrows and darts.
We stopped the bleeding to Coran’s wound but Coran said he didn’t need any healing for it just yet.
It was decided that we would then take the chance to have Faldorn enspell a squirrel to spy out the grounds. She did so and the rodent returned and chittered to her that four formidable looking men stood guard. The two nearest the bridge were armored, and other two behind them wore mage robes.
We had learned by now that our best battle tactic was to try to separate out as many individual attackers as we could. Thus, perhaps the best strategy here was to see if we could find some way that they might be tempted to either face us individually, or two at a time.
“Perhaps we could offer to make sport of the contest—offer to make a game of it. As such we might be able to exploit any overconfidence they might have,” Eldoth suggested. The bard continued to develop his idea. “With all but one of us hidden here amidst the trees, one of us could approach them alone, with a bold swagger, and propose a 'fair' man-to-man fight. The greater proposal would be to battle each of them individually as such, one at a time. And if asked why? For no better reason than for our chellenger to hone his impeccable skill at swordplay—<1>and take their treasure! But during the fight our daredevil will flee and draw the lone enemy here for an ambush. The bravest—and most foolish—among them may agree to such a contest. We could at least reduce their number by one by such a scheme.” At this idea Eldoth seemed at first fairly pleased, although in only seconds a faint frown furrowed his face. “Of course if the others follow as well the plan doesn’t really succeed…”
Coran stated that he liked the idea; but, ever the gambler, he suggested that one of us approach offer to make it a game of chance. “But just how we could propose a tempting wager I do not yet see. Has anyone an idea?” he queried.
As the party reflected about that suggestion, Faldorn spoke up with a different idea of her own. “I suggest that we pose a distraction that they might investigate without suspicion. I can summon a dread wolf that attacks as if rabid and lures them away. The wizards are unlikely to give chase—but the two warriors probably would. The creature will lead them here, and we’ll kill them both. Then we’ll quickly make a stealthy assault against the two sorcerers.”
Faldorn’s stratagem was met all around with nods of approval and a few raised eyebrows in recognition of the soundness of the plan as we took it in.
“That said, we know not if the warriors possess magics as well, either arcane or divine,” I added. “But I agree that the plan does seem to offer our best hope.”
Then I offered a caution. “Let us take a brief inventory of helpful items that we have at our disposal… I have two potions that shield the user from magic. One of the potions lasts quite a while, but only reduces the chance that an enemy’s magic will work by about half. The other potion prevents all but rather advanced spells from working, but not for long. We may want to hold onto these potions for the battle to follow against the wizards. And I have one healing potion left. Does anyone have any more?”
None among the group had any. That was concerning. We should have bought more at the Song of the Morning before leaving Beregost.
Faldorn answered, “I have some berries that heal a little. But I think I shall just give them to Coran now.” Coran nodded and smiled in appreciation, as she tossed him the pouch with the berries.
Eldoth paused for a moment as if perhaps struggling inwardly to avoid acting against his own better judgment. But if so this he overcame, and he came forward with a weary tone and a sigh. “I can craft poisoned arrows, and have five of them now in my quiver," he said. "Only I can use these arrows, I should add. They are probably best utilized against the wizards. The poison causes such pain that it should distract them from their wizardly mentations. I also have a spell scroll to enchant another to do my bidding. Beyond that I have a scroll to avoid being turned to stone; though not many wizards possess powerful enough magic to pose such a threat.”
“True enough about the protection from being turned to stone,” I acknowledged. “But the spell to Charm another can certainly help! Should we succeed in luring the two warriors here, let us enchant one to fight the other! Eldoth, don’t use the scroll for now, however, since Neera and I can both cast that same spell. What spells have we all prepared?”
Neera advised that she could place enemies to sleep; panic an enemy with an illusion; and cast an iridescent glowing energy orb that inflicts pain and temporarily blinds. Faldorn said she had the power to enchant not only animals to follow her commands, but humans as well. Like our former companion Jaheira, she could bring forth magical vines to engulf a target. I shared that for my part in addition to placing enemies into a slumber and enchanting them to follow my orders, I could also blind them or utterly terrify them.
It was agreed that we would simultaneously attempt the following: Neera would try to put the enemy to sleep; for insurance, I will try make them to panic (should they resist sleep); Faldorn would try to charm whichever appeared the mightiest to fight the other(s); and Coran and Eldoth would fire arrows. And we agreed that, ideally, Eldoth should save his poisoned arrows for the mages.
With the strategy thus solidified, everyone's morale seemingly enjoyed a boost.
“Let us take out positions behind the trees here then,” Coran directed, assuming command for the field combat to ensue. “Faldorn and I will approach close enough for her to conjure the wolf undetected. Then I will watch from the closest vantage I can find as the wolf tries to lure the warriors away. Once the enemy is close enough we’ll launch the full attack.”
Coran and Faldorn crept forward, and near to the foot of the bridge the druid brought forth a terrifying greatwolf with her powers. She whispered in its ear for it to obey Coran. Coran and the wolf slowly advanced, with Coran hiding in the shadows and the wolf out ahead. With Coran hidden at the fence, he signaled for the wolf to attack the squirrel that had been charmed earlier by Faldorn. The enemy was clearly taken by surprise and braced themselves for an attack by the wolf. (It appeared likely that they did assume the beast to be mad, Coran later told us). But then Coran whistled for the wolf to attack one of the fighters—and unfortunately this gave him away. One of the two well armored warriors shouted out threats at Coran. And then according to our plan, Coran and the wolf retreated back to our position beyond the bridge.
What did not match our strategy was that both the warriors did not follow—only the fighter who spoke first. That one carried a morning star. And as that fighter followed we heard the mages begin their dark incantations.
Coran and the wolf drew the mace wielding warrior to the bridge, and there the rest of us sprung from the trees and began casting our spells or firing weapons. Both Neera’s and Faldorn’s spells appeared to have failed. But my spell to Horrify succeeded. We then hoped to at least vanquish this one enemy given his compromised state. But as we fired weapons at him the other warrior and one of the two wizards made their way to the bridge and joined the attack. This new warrior was a devastating dagger thrower, and he moved with astonishing speed. He dealt a fatal blow to our conjured wolf. He also hurled a dagger at me that cut my leg rather badly. At this I retreated and Coran tossed me the berries Faldorn had given him; and I began eating them.
The enemy wizard cast the same Horror spell that I had used, and it sent Coran temporarily into a highly panicked state. We then feared losing our elven archer to the dagger-hurler. But at this turn of events Eldoth saved the day. He began singing a song that through some magic quickly restored Coran to his senses. Thus reconstituted, Coran continued to use his bow from then on, for some time to come firing either at the enemy carrying the mace or at the mage.
Then Eldoth proved himself yet again. He had the keen presence of mind to use his Charm scroll against the dagger thrower—and was successful! This proved a turning point. For then Faldorn used her Engulfing Vines spell, which kept the two enemies rooted to the bridge, preventing them from pursuing us. Eldoth commanded the dagger-hurler to attack his mace-wielding comrade, who was by then scurrying around disorganized in a stupor of fear, still near to the bridge. The fighter with the mace at one point tried to run across the bridge and got trapped in the vines, sustaining devastating attacks from the dagger-thrower.
Eldoth wasn’t done. He used one of his poison arrows on the wizard, and fired yet another one at the mace wielder, such that both would then suffer the ill effects of the poison. In the meantime Neera used her multicolored energy orb on wizard, and Faldorn continued to try to take druidic mental control of the wizard. Neither attempt met with success, best I could tell.
It’s possible that I may have succeeded in blinding the wizard with a spell of my own. I really could not tell, given the pulsing, wreathing mass of vines and mayhem of battle. But regardless, the wizard seemed unable from then on to launch a further spell. Perhaps it was due to being blinded. Or maybe it was the poison. Imoen’s and Coran’s arrows, and Faldorn and Neera’s darts may have distracted him as well. Perhaps all these things were true.
In all events, I cast the Terrifying spell again, for good measure. And that definitely did work against the mage, who promptly began screaming and yipping in terror. We then proceeded to pummel both vine encumbered foes trapped on the bridge with our ranged weapons. They both fell quickly.
With the morning star wielding enemy still under the effects of the Terror spell, we felt that we had to act quickly. So we took a gamble and did our best to hack our ways through the wreathing mass of vines that Faldorn had summoned. Not surprisingly, the vines held us too. But we got close enough to the badly injured and terrified warrior that we were able to kill him with our combined ranged weapons, despite getting stuck in the vines.
This left only the final mage. Coran used his stealth to scout the other side of the fence to see if the wizard or any other foes lay in wait for us there. And there he found only the mage standing not far ahead, remaining very still and apparently at the ready for battle. Perhaps the wizard had frozen mentally. Otherwise it is unclear why he would not have fled. It occurred to me later that perhaps he had hoped to offer information in exchange for his life. In any case, we could never have trusted him, I felt. So we will never know what his intentions were.
In preparation against this final enemy I gave Coran the potion that briefly blocked all but very high level magics. Coran then approached the wizard by slinking unseen around him, and stabbed him from behind with his sword. The rest of us remained hidden behind the fence with all with our ranged weapons prepared.
After Coran struck his blow, our elven friend fell back behind the target and notched an arrow. The grievously injured wizard turned toward Coran and cast the spell that issues energy bursts from the caster’s fingertips. Surely to his dismay, the spell had no effect whatsoever due to the potion Coran had consumed.
Coran fired his bow. Either from Coran’s arrow, or the arrows and darts from the rest of us that hurtled into the wizard’s back, our last enemy from this Cloakwood mines ‘welcome party’ slumped to the dirt. He was likely dead before he hit the ground.
[Note: Neera leveled up from this battle and may now cast level 2 spells.]
Coran checked the immediate area and spotted no further enemies for the time being. However, we stood next to a building that was clearly part of the mining operation. So we had to proceed with haste, lest other guards on patrol should happen upon us.
The loot from this battle was impressive. The dagger-thrower’s extraordinary speed was due to his boots, which were enchanted. They gave the wearer exceptional speed of action in general, not merely foot speed. These it seemed should be best utilized by our scout Coran. Also among the spoils was a strong and light armor, possibly enchanted, that required identification; an extremely well-crafted morning star; two mages robes (one like the ones Neera and I both already wore, and the other with enchantments to protect against cold magics); a potion that gives its imbiber the strength of a frost giant; and a spell scroll to create a protective ring of fire around the wizard.
There was also a letter to this band of hired assassins mentioning our arch foe Davaeorn, that was written by someone named “Rieltar.” The letter warned of an impending assault on the mine (us?), and gave orders to kill on site anyone who does not belong to the mining operation.
Coran listened carefully to the door of the building, and ever so gently pulled the edge of the door to peak in. He whispered to us that there were two guards immediately inside who appeared bored and inattentive. Coran told us to stand outside the door and be prepared to unleash a volley of missiles. “Just don’t hit us! Because if we do come out it’ll be us first,” he said with a wink. He whispered to Imoen and the two of them drew their swords and ever-so quietly slinked in.
A moment or two later they did burst through the door with guards in hot pursuit. However the guards' faces were white as sheets, and one had blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.
Coran dazzled and distracted them with his now enchanted blazing foot speed, darting about and firing his bow. In the meantime our arrows and darts did the work of ending their lives.
We were evidently in a guard house barracks. Imoen and Coran then did the same thing upstairs, but this time dispatching both instantly with swords to the back.
There was a fair bit of gold to gather from their footlockers.
Coran stealthily killed another guard in a smaller outbuilding as we proceeded.
When we came to the final building of the complex, the very same tactic used for the barracks worked again. Imoen sustained a minor injury. But Faldorn healed her.
Further scouting by Coran revealed that the last building contained an entrance down into the mines. We held a brief meeting, and it was agreed by all that it would be wisest then to attempt to rest since we had exhausted nearly all of our prepared spells. Unfortunately our resting was interrupted by guards—whom we promptly killed.
This time Coran received a minor injury, which Faldorn also healed.
The rest period seemed wise, for who knows what dangers may lay ahead. We decided that Faldorn should mentally prepare her druidic ability to sense traps. We decided Neera should concentrate on the Slumber spell, plus a new enchantment that she now found herself able to use which makes targets physically weak as a kitten. Eldoth could use some of the time to produce even more poisoned arrows. And indeed, by the time he was done he counted twelve in his quiver.
And so it was on the seventh day of Kythorn that we entered into the Cloakwood mines in pursuit of our arch nemesis, Davaeorn of the Iron Throne. In the dank, musty, tunnels of the mine, dimly lit by flickering torches, we could hear the clinking of pick axes and the screeching of iron wheels of mining carts on tracks audible just around the corner. Coran put his finger to his lips as a reminder to all to keep noise to a minimum. And motioning to Imoen to draw her blade, the pair of thieves stole around the corner, silently slipping out of our view, to scout the tunnel ahead.
I'm very pleased and relieved that this battle went so well. Not what I expected! I was thinking I'd have multiple deaths for sure. This fight is such a ball-buster when you attack them head on. (I usually have to reload it at least several times.) And the roleplaying of the divide-and-conquer strategy actually felt pretty credible, I feel. There was no outright cheese here.
I guess it just goes to show that whoever may be in the party, there's always a way to win if you use your resources well enough.
As someone who virtually never adds Eldoth or Faldorn to the party, it was gratifying to see them play a pivotal role in what is often one of the toughest battles in the game (for me anyway--and here without a tank!). I'm beginning to like both of these seldom-used NPCs; although maybe that is as much because of the roleplaying/storytelling aspect as for their skills.
This battle would have been a helluva tougher with SCS installed, of course. But hey, whatever. It's still a great fight even in vanilla EE.
After a short while Imoen and Coran returned to report that they killed one guard in a sneak attack just outside the entrance where we stood. They also spoke with several miners a short distance away. The miners are not paid workers—they are all enslaved. And the mine is clearly an enterprise of the Iron Throne, as the slaves made references both to Davaeorn and the Blacktalons.
Our scouts reported that a short distance away lays a junction of several tunnels. At that spot there are four new possible tunnels to explore.
We proceeded to that point and I cast my runes as to which tunnel to tread.
[Roll 1 d4 where 1 = SW, 2 = S, 3 = SE, and 4 = E. Result: 4 = East.]
The runes directed us east.
Coran and Imoen scouted the tunnel due east from our location. They soon returned and told that they stealthily killed yet another guard. Their report was that the tunnel came to an end; but shortly before that they discovered a large, circular metal door with spoke handles. There were some miners about standing about it. One of them was dressed in slightly more than rags—perhaps a slave overseer?
It certainly seemed worth investigating. So we proceeded to the odd looking door. Once there we questioned the slave who appeared to possibly be of higher status. It was fortuitous that we found this fellow since the miner shared priceless information about the door. The door is actually magically sealed, he said; and it prevents a river directly above from completely flooding the entire mine! The rebellious slave who told us this wishes to destroy the mine in an act of defiance against his captors. He advised that on the next level down we should seek out a dwarf named Yeslick. This Yeslick knows the mine’s history, construction, and all its secrets—possibly including a way to unseal the door. Yeslick is the last surviving member of the dwarven clan that originally constructed the mine over a century ago. This miner also told us that all the enslaved miners can be saved from drowning if we coordinate a plan with a miner named Rill. Rill should also be found on the level directly below us.
[Note: Here I decided to roleplay that the river plug quest-giver would without a doubt provide direction to the level below, i.e., there was no need to flip a card for that. I felt he would also tell where the two jail areas may be found.]
The miner gave simple directions to the next level, and provided the location of two jail areas, one of which is probably where Yeslick is still locked up, as the writer got to know him when jailed. Yeslick constantly mouths off to the slavers, he said; so he is usually in a jail cell.
(I didn’t ask why Yeslick was kept alive, but inwardly I speculated that from this man’s description he probably best understands the construction of the mines, and he may be needed to fix any structural problems that might arise. Yeslick would also know any possible hidden chambers and their possible magical dwarven enchantments should they stumble onto them.)
[Does the miner provide information about the layout of the second level, i.e., what specifically is found in each area? Black card = no.]
I wished to gather more information about the layout, and what we may encounter on the next level. But the miner warned that guard patrols for the door are regular, and the next one felt about overdue. Thus we had best continue with due haste to the next level. We thanked the miner for his assistance and took our leave, as ever with Coran and Imoen scouting ahead.
Upon entering the second level of the mine we encountered two guards that had to be killed. Imoen sustained an injury in the fight that Faldorn promptly healed.
According the miner’s instructions there were two sets of jail cells on this level. One was adjacent to the entrance straight ahead. And another was found by making the first left, traveling all the way to the end; and then to the right (the only direction one can take), and again making one’s way all the way to the end.
Coran first scouted the jail cells ahead. Neither Yeslick nor Rill was there, and none of the slaves locked up there had any useful information to provide.
Coran and Imoen scouted ahead in the direction of the other set of jail cells at the opposing corner of the level. They and found two guards directly ahead. One was armed with a bow, and the other used sword and shield. Our scouts agreed that they would sneak up on the archer and attack him from behind in tandem. When they did so and the fight was enjoined, we would come aid them. Coran would use his speed, darting about and firing his bow, to distract the enemies as the rest of us were to use ranged weapons.
And so we did just that. The strategy basically worked, with the only wrinkle being that Coran’s sword broke! He replaced it however with a sword from one of the vanquished guards.
Imoen and Coran continued scouting down the corridor. Before too long they returned to report that they had encountered a guard who spotted Coran as he was sneaking up. The guard pleaded to trade information in exchange for sparing his life. Coran accepted the offer, and the guard told that Davaeorn’s headquarters are located on the fourth level, two more levels down. Coran continued that he felt bad about killing the guard afterward, despite having made the promise to let him live. Imoen seemed bother by that turn of events, but we had no time to discuss it now.
[Note: This occurred because Coran left shadows as I was attempting to position both him and Imoen for the sneak attack. That of course prompted the conversation with the guard. I.e., this happened in-game—but the intention was to just take this guard out without conversation, like all the others.]
In all events, this information was a boon from the gods; and I felt it indicated their favor. For we now possessed the knowledge that there are at least two more levels beneath us; and that on the fourth Davaeorn is most likely to be found.
Imoen and Coran continued their scouting around the corner elbow of the corridor. They returned to report that a shambling ghast roamed the hallway ahead. We formulated a plan of attack that Imoen would lie back just behind the corridor’s elbow, hidden in the shadows. The rest of us would be situated a bit farther back in the corridor. Coran would sneak up and fire his bow and hopefully try to remain hidden and repeatedly sniper the creature. If Coran was seen and pursued by the creature, he would lead it back our way, and we would ambush it.
It turned out that Coran’s skill with the bow was all that was needed. His first well-placed shot badly injured the creature. As the monster advanced Coran fell back with his great speed. He then fired another shot that killed the noxious beast.
Further scouting down the corridor revealed yet another ghast ahead. We killed this one too using the very same tactic.
This brought us to the jail cells, where we found both Rill and Yeslick. Rill promised to free all the miners if we could but provide 100 gold that he needed for a bribe. We gladly made that transaction.
Yeslick was quite helpful in providing information. He told us that a man named Rieltar (presumably the same that had written the letter to Davaeorn) had tricked him into entering a business deal, but then tortured the mine’s location out of him and enslaved him. Yeslick shared a safe path out of the mine in the event the mine is flooded. He also advised that we must keep pushing deeper into the mine to find the means to break the magical seal on the door. Whoever created the magical seal likely knows how to undo it, he added.
I didn’t want to tell Yeslick, but we honestly had next to no interest whatsoever in the mine itself. We truly cared little how the operation fared, or about the affairs of the Iron Throne in general. We only wished to kill Davaeorn and hopefully thereby put an end to the bounty on my head. But it certainly did occur to me that were we to flood the mine, that event might well kill Davaeorn.
[Does Yeslick provide directions through the next two levels to Davaeorn’s chambers? Red card = yes.]
I asked Yeslick if he could tell us about the layout of the two levels beneath. He was helpful for our main purpose of seeking out Davaeorn, but did not provide a great deal of detail. He simply told us the straightest path to Davaeorn’s sanctum at the deepest level of the mine. In so doing, Yeslick advised that the entrance to next level down was just to the left of a door in the jail cell area. And with that Yeslick thanked us for freeing him and took his leave, wishing us well.
[Note: Naturally, Oracos would have had Yeslick join if it didn’t require booting someone else to do so; but the latter is definitely not something that Oracos would do. So due to game engine mechanics I’m pretending Yeslick’s offer to join never happens.]
Getting to the next level took us some doing! Some stout Blacktalon guards intermittently strolled about in the room next to the exit, including a couple of Blacktalon Elite. To our dismay Coran also spotted a mage on the other side of the cell doors. A direct assault carried the risked over being overwhelmed.
Coran shrewdly managed to keep opening the door, and as they variously wandered in to the adjacent chamber they inspected the open door, investing gating the jail cell area; as such we were able to silently ambush each of them. Imoen and Coran got hurt, separately, during two of these melees. But Faldorn and I healed them. Neera also discovered that during the fight at the entrance to the mine complex, when she had attempted to cast a spell a wild surge had created healing berries like the ones Faldorn had. We had Imoen eat them to heal an injury.
Finally only the wizard remained. I tried casting the Horrification spell into the adjoining room twice from a hidden spot in the jail cell area. But it was to no avail. So Coran used the potion that blocked all magical harm by half, and proceeded to backstab the wizard. Fortunately, the potions effects were not needed, as the sword attack killed the target instantly.
With the mage ahead thus removed we finally had secured a safe path to the next level of the mine. We hurried down, lest we face detection by more guards roaming the area.
Then, to our chagrin, we stumbled right onto a patrol at the entrance to the next level! Three Chill hobgoblin archers fired their bows from the rear. Blacktalons with swords and shields stood before them right before us.
Coran drew his blade and raced toward the archers to try to force them to melee. Imoen did the same.
Faldorn used the good judgment to summon a dread wolf, which was extremely helpful.
I cast the Slumber spell which worked on all but three of the enemy. Coran called out to me that he had taken a poisoned arrow, and so I ran to him to remove the poison with a spell.
Neera attempted to cast the Sleeping spell as well. But unhappily a wild surge resulted instead, making her physically enfeebled. However, the temporary debilitation did not prevent her from spellcasting, moving about, or throwing darts. She threw darts.
Eldoth used his bow.
We killed them all, and looted them.
Coran continued to scout the next area using the summoned dread wolf as his companion. Together they killed two Chill hobgoblins in the next area, in which molten iron ran from a central smelter through stone carved channels. Coran and the wolf also continued their stealthy assault at the end of a long hallway where a large room served as a smithing area. Four Chill fell there to the dread wolf and our ranged weapons.
We then finally came to the entrance of the deepest level of the mine, where Davaeorn’s lair lay. There we hoped to surprise our quarry and kill him. But we had exhausted quite a number of spells. Was it worth the risk to rest here we wondered?
After some discussion we agreed that in the balance it was probably the wiser to have all of our spells. Coran and Imoen went back to the areas we had just covered and dragged the corpses of the slain to dump them into a seemingly bottomless cavern we noticed in a room off the main corridor. Then our plan was to attempt to rest in the small room where the entrance to the final level of the mine was.
However before resting we took stock of the loot we had acquired. We noted that now had several more spell scrolls. The most valuable was a spell to Hasten all of us, imparting essentially the same effects that Coran enjoyed as he sped about with his enchanted boots. Another interesting looking spell employed necromancy to paralyze enemies with a single touch, similar to when a ghoul grabs someone. (Hmm. Perhaps a suitable spell for Eldoth? We would see.) We had picked up a scroll for a spell that protects a target from evil creatures. And we now had a potion that explodes violently upon impact with its target.
We decided not to try to scribe any of the news spells. The scroll to accelerate our speed would be highly valuable for our battle against Davaeorn. We would be wisest to assure its use by expending the scroll in a one-time-only casting.
To our great relief, our rest period was not interrupted by an attack.
Thus, it seemed we were now probably as ready to face Davaeorn as we were ever going to be given our circumstances. Hopefully by his death we might finally bring to an end this utter insanity of the seemingly inexplicable bounty placed on my head.
The upcoming fight against Davaeorn is going to be difficult not to meta-game... at least somewhat. It can't be avoided. It has to be won in order to proceed in the game. I do reload in the event of the PC's death, but otherwise I have to live with fatalities...
At this point I don't envision the PC fleeing if the battle is lost--he'll go down with his comrades (provided that likes them and feels strongly allied with them, which he does here). There's a strong chance that if several party members die, it wouldn't be practical to try to drag their bodies to the surface as the mine is flooding. So I could end up with a winnowed down party.
And I also roleplay who would flee if death seemed all but certain, and an opportunity presented itself to bolt: Eldoth would, I'm sure. Coran likely would (plus he's interested in participating in Eldoth's blackmail scheme--so if he saw Eldoth taking off he might well join him). I'd probably flip a card for Coran as to whether he would take flight.
Faldorn would not, I don't think--as a militant Shadow Druid she would fight to the death.
I really don't imagine Neera fleeing, as she has basically found a new family of sorts with Oracos and Imoen. And Imoen of course would not flee.
As for strategy, it's going to be a challenge because I must have the party act such that they don't know what I the player do. It's more or less critical that the party avoids the battle horrors, though; since they can only be harmed with magical energy. Faldorn's summoned dread wolf is the best I've got for them. Eldoth can cast two Magic Missile spells. I hope the ice arrows and Eldoth's poisoned arrows might harm them as well? i.e., if so it would be the cold damage and poison damage from them only. No one prepared anything like Flame Blade or Agannazar's Scorcher because they don't know that the possibility of those monsters being summoned lies ahead.
The traps that summon the battle horrors need to be removed to have the best chance of low casualties. I kind of blew off checking for traps in the other levels of the mine before this. I could draw a card for whether they have the presence of mind to do it now. Or I could just roleplay that they they do think to detect traps (and Faldorn does have that memorized, although Imoen's check traps is about 50).
So when I resume the next play session, I'll see how I feel about roleplaying it (having the presence of mind to check for traps) versus flipping a card to see if they do.
***
Having thought some more, I think it's actually very reasonable that they think to detect traps at this point. So I'll RP it as such. (The only reason I didn't do it on the previous levels of the mine is frankly because I find the Cloakwood mine slightly tedious to begin with. So I usually blow through it. I guess it's because at this point in the game I'm already looking forward to the wide-openness of BG city; and this dungeon crawl stands between me and the freedom of the big city.)
Does anyone know if when Davaeorn is Blinded (i.e., via Blind) whether he will still nevertheless teleport about and attack as if he can see you? (I.e., is Blind bugged in that case?)
Given this party and its resoruces, the best strategy that I see is:
- remove traps (eliminate the Battle Horror spawns) - Faldorn will summon a dread wolf to be used as main attacker (which will be Hasted) - Haste the entire party - Coran will use potion of Frost Giant Strength and potion of Magic Shielding - with the wolf just out of sight, Coran approaches in stealth and first hurls potion of explosions; then the wolf rushes in; Coran will move in and try to draw Davaoen's attacks along with the wolf - Coran uses ice arrows that he collected from the Blacktalon Elite - Eldoth uses his poison arrows (theoretically, even one of these might prevent Davaoern from successfully casting anything further) - Oracos casts Blind on Davaeorn
Removing the traps and starting off with arrows of biting from everyone who can shoot them is my stand-by strategy and it works almost every time -
I don't recall trying blindness before but I suspect he will still teleport around (he always has for me regardless of what I throw at him) but if you have characters that have targeted him before he starts moving (under pause for instance) some of them almost always follow him from spot to spot without your direction. (In fact interrupting them to issue a new order can make them stop following him.)
Comments
Coran once again scouted ahead and discovered yet another angry looking bear ahead that it seemed wise to avoid. So he took us around it to the path to the bridge that Eldoth had told us lay to the east.
Coran slipped across the bridge as stealthily as possible in order to spy what lay on the other side of the river. He returned to report that he had seen a man standing not far from the bridge who may well be a druid, given Eldoth’s account of the chanting he reported he had heard coming from that general direction near to the bridge. His appearance suggested as much in any case.
We are in need of a healer. So I asked the group how they felt about us approaching this individual. Everyone was in agreement that whatever risk this might pose (such as if the man proved hostile towards us), that was worth the potential gain of an ally with healing powers. So we elected to speak with him.
So we walked across the bridge quite openly. The man saw us as we neared the other side of the bridge and walked up to meet us there.
The fellow said his name was Laskal. And he was indeed a druid. Laskal advised that he was a protector of the Cloakwood, and before we may proceed he sternly demanded to know if we allied with the Iron Throne, as he bore a message for any that serve them.
There was no time to consult among the party about what answer to give, or to cast the runes. I had to react on the spot. My gut reaction was that it seemed to me unlikely that a druid committed to protecting the Cloakwood would belong to such an organization.
[RP-wise I think the above is what Oracos would most likely do forced to choose in a split second. But in the spirit of this method I still flipped a card anyway. Does the party respond that they are allied with the Iron Throne? Red card = yes (response 1) , black card = no (response 2). Result: black card = no.]
Laskal then stated he was glad that we were not allied with the Iron Throne. Since the bandits had reopened a long inactive dwarven mine to the east they were despoiling the forest. There was actually no message, he said—the question was simply a test. As a token of good will (and support for our stating we were enemies of the Iron Throne) he gave us a potion that makes martial combatants more formidable.
Before we could thank Laskal—and more importantly to ask him if there were more druids nearby—he abruptly took his leave of us and quickly disappeared into the wood.
A light rain began to fall, nourishing the forest with moisture. The rain actually cooled us off a bit on this muggy day.
Coran scouted the area to the west where Eldoth recalled having heard druids chanting. Coran soon returned to tell that to the west laid a circular stone henge. Just to the north of that was a massive oak that seemed to be both green and thriving, and yet had a large cavernous natural hollow at its base. Coran reported that this site was evidently the home of a druid enclave. He had spotted a couple of druids standing about.
We all agreed that we must find a healer to join us. Having just met a druid defender of the wood who was opposed to the Iron Throne, it seemed… probable… that this group of druids would be friendly towards us.
We approached a tall and imposing man standing between the henge and the great tree. Like Laskal he was fiercely protective of his wood. He demanded to know our purpose in the Cloakwood.
Hoping to benignly display some respect, I responded that we were travelers appreciating the beauty of the wood. Our interrogator was dissatisfied with that answer however. He angrily pressed us for a more sincere one.
So I formulated an answer that I figured would meet with approval. Following from what Laskal had told us, I said that we were hunting the bandits who had recently come to the forest and defiled it.
At this the druid was impressed. He identified himself as a “Shadow Druid” and advised that if we are to travel through their wood in pursuit of the Iron Throne bandits we required an escort. He directed us to speak with one of his order, a druid by the name of Faldorn.
We found Faldorn within the circle in an apparent state of communion with the forest, or worship with her deity. She seemed a bit annoyed that we had disturbed whatever type of meditation she was engaged in.
Faldorn struck me as an intruiging figure. She was fair of face, an attractive woman. However anything but mild in manner was she. She had a kind of feral animalistic energy to her. There was a fierceness about her. Perhaps with some sort of druidic magic she had somehow grown her fingernails supernaturally thick and had filed them to points, akin to the claws of a beast. She wore many totems in her hair, around her neck, and from her belt. (A few of them reminded me somewhat of some of my runes, actually.)
We introduced ourselves to her and told her that her fellow druid had told us to have her escort us through the wood. Faldorn stated with some zeal she was intent upon assaulting the Iron Throne mining operation, and demanded that we go there at once. She was furious that the mining had been tearing open the flesh of the earth, ripping its bones out, and pouring foul smoke into the air.
At this point I begged her indulgence to listen to our tale, for I knew more of the Iron Throne than I cared to ever have learned, I said. (I was not going to tell her everything, however.)
“The Iron Throne is indeed our enemy,” I began. “They have been trying to kill me for weeks now, although exactly what I did to garner their ill will, is a complete and utter mystery to me. They actually have a bounty on my head! “ I found myself quite impassioned in expressing this, realizing I had never actually spoken it.
“For all I know it may even be a case of mistaken identity,” I continued. “I have done nothing at all—nothing whatsoever—to them. I am a humble Diviner from Candlekeep and had never even heard of them until all this started!”
Faldorn looked at me with some skepticism. But she was certainly interested.
“Go on,” she said.
I found myself maintaining the same passion. “These are no ordinary miners! I can tell you that they are run by a very powerful and deadly organization,” I continued. “It is only through the gods’ favor that we have survived given the attacks they have marshaled against us...”
I paused just a moment to gather my thoughts for the right words. Content that I had found them I continued.
“But I can tell you most assuredly that even just a spying expedition to investigate their compound would have to be very carefully planned,” I advised. “And its execution woud require even greater skill.”
I then looked her directly in the eye and spoke with utmost earnestness. “One thing I can tell you with certainty about them: if we were simply to storm their complex we would surely die.”
Faldorn’s brow furrowed a bit as she considered what I had shared. She seemed to still be sifting through the information. She was perhaps still assessing how much we may be trusted.
Coran, who was hearing these words from me for the first time, shook his head and peered at me with a bemused expression.
“Somehow I knew there was probably more to you than meets the eye, Oracos,” Coran laughed gently. He did not seem obviously put off by this new information... But then again if he was he probably would not have worn that on his sleeve either.
“We have two tasks that we must complete before we can consider helping you, Faldorn,” said I. “First, I have a journey to make that may have us leave your wood, if you would agree to accompany us. As a practicioner of Divinatory magic I have embarked on an omen quest, seeking guidance from the gods as to what to do about the Iron Throne’s pursuit of me. I must travel to the north a short distance to cast my runes to determine a location where I hope to receive a final omen. I have received four already, and the fifth will be the sum.”
“And the other task?” Faldorn asked curtly.
“Our friend Coran seeks to help the Governor of Beregost in killing a dragon that has been terrorizing the countryside. Coran does not believe it to actually be a dragon, however. Rather, he is convinced that it is actually a wyvern. He believes that if we can but produce the skull of a wyvern that will satisfy the noble quest he has taken on to help the farmers of the region.”
Faldorn violently spit on the ground at this in disdain. “Farmers! I would sooner see them killed by a dragon,” she declared. “And how dare this elf take the life of an innocent woodland merely to satisfy the whims of a ‘Governor’?”
At this point Coran interjected himself into the conversation by querrying Faldorn. “Ah, good lady, but I beg you to consider: what if such a wyvern has been routinely venturing well beyond its wood to hunt, into human habitations? I know well the ways of wild creatures. This behavior is not normal for a wyvern. The creature has developed a taste for human flesh, sheep, and cattle. This is not something we wish to see mimicked by other wyverns is it? I think you know the answer as well as I.”
“No indeed,” answered Faldorn slowly. “It is not... That would only bring more hunters here...”
I then seized this moment to try to secure a deal. “Please, if you will but join us in completing these two tasks we may be of great use to you. I will receive a decisive omen from the gods in probably just a few days. If the omen I receive is clear that we should help you, I have much valuable information that I feel will be useful in your quest to drive the Iron Throne from this wood. I pledge to share everything that I can, if the gods direct me to help you in your goal to remove the Iron Throne from the Cloakwood.”
Faldorn studied my face for a moment, looking directly into my eyes. I met her gaze evenly, and with self-assurance. For what I said was essentially true.
After a silence that was an almost uncomfortably long Faldorn finally spoke.
“I believe that you may offer a rare opportunity,” Faldorn said. “I will join you.”
She then added a statement that I found intruiging. “Your appearance here, now, in this wood, is… most uncanny. Why I cannot share as yet. I may never be able to. But I shall join you, and that is all you need know for now.”
[Note: I did not draw a card for whether Faldorn joins because I have a roleplay concept for her that is extrapolated from her circumstances. This will be revealed as the story develops. But suffice it to say that from a RP vantage joining the party does make sense for her.]
Faldorn told us that the coast was a short hike to the north, and it was indeed hidden from view by an almost impenetrable tract of trees and thicket, as Eldoth had suggested. She said we could go there now for me to cast my runes.
We passed by the great tree, which Faldorn noted we should treat with reverence and respect, as it is holy to her order.
Just pass the tree a pack of four wild dogs came rushing at us. Traveling as we were with a druid, we were very much taken by surprise that any wild creature should attack us (and she as well)!
Everyone in the party used their ranged weapons. Coran suffered a minor bite during the attack when one of the dogs closed on him, but nothing serious.
Faldorn noticed me hurling darts and commented that she has a good aim with darts as well. I gave her some of mine to try instead using only of her club.
Faldorn commented that dogs that were once domesticated by human farmers and now running wild are in many cases not out of tune with the Balance, and are often unstable. And she added that since the Iron Throne had come to the wood, indeed, a great many creatures of the forest have been behaving abnormally; quite violently in fact toward the presence even of druids. The entire forest was actually alive and amazingly sensitive, she said. The Cloakwood is itself a living creature in its own right, she added. The wood had been deeply disturbed by the mining operation, and was showing a kind of sickness from it, as manifested by the strange behavior of its creatures.
I offered to have Coran scout ahead for us. Faldorn said nothing. She seemed indifferent.
We sent Coran ahead.
Having encountered no further dangers we reached the northern-most spot we could nearest to the sea, and I cast my runes.
[Which direction shall the party travel? Roll 1d17 where 1-17 are possible final destinations from Cloakwood 3. See here. Result: 10, which is the Valley of the Tombs (AR5000).]
[How far shall they travel in this direction? Roll 1d5 where 1 = Cloakwood 2, 2 = Beregost, 3 = Lonely Peaks (AR4400), 4 = Durlag’s Tower, 5 = Valley of the Tombs (AR5000). Result: 3 The Lonely Peaks.]
The runes revealed that we are to travel to the Southeast to a region close to three days travel from our current location.
We continued on our way, back in the direction that we had traveled through the Cloakwood. The gods seemed to be protecting us from harm until about half a day into our journey our luck took a sharp turn.
We were assaulted by two great wyverns!
It is not difficult to imagine how these creatures have been mistaken for young dragons by the farmers of the region! Terrible fearsome beasts they are, with powerfully muscular segmented tails, at the end of which are stingers the side of a human head. They buffeted us with their bat-like wings and swung their immense tails at us. Their large heads have a razor sharp beak as well, which could probably rip the head off a goat.
They approached from two different directions. I cast Blindness upon one, but the spell failed. Neera cast her Chromatic Sphere at the other.
Unfortunately, then something went even more terribly wrong.
Neera’s magic—which she warned us can at times behave quite unpredictably—did just that.
She was held immobile, frozen in place like a stature, by a surge of wild magic.
Eldoth fired arrows at first. But the creature beside him was right upon him, and he was forced to switch to his scimitar. He then took a a terrible swipe of the creatures stinger directly into his leg near the groin, and cried out at the pain. Blood began spurting out of his inner thigh as if it was being spat out of a well pump.
Our bard tried to save himself by fleeing, but the massive loss of blood (and perhaps also horror at its sight) and confusion of battle must have addled his senses. He simply could not get his bearings. The wyvern that had struck him gave chase after him, seeing that he was near death. Eldoth moved close to Neera and stood between her and the wyven that had been chasing him. The wyvern then killed him.
And then it killed Neera.
As all this was happening Coran had fired his bow, but the creature next to him was also too close for that weapon to be effective. So in an instant he equipped the buckler Imoen had given him and took up his long sword.
The creature managed to successfully strike Coran with a sting from its tail, poisoning him. Undeterred, our wily elven hunter immediately gulped down a vial of poison antidote and kept swinging his blade at it.
He actually seemed elated that he finally had the opportunity to take a wyvern’s head!
Amidst this action, Faldorn had cast a spell. She conjured a massive, ferocious wolf from the spirit realm to help us. The wolf engaged the wyvern that Coran was fighting. And fortunately for all of us, the wolf was also positioned such that the other wyvern attacked it as well, ignoring Imoen and me for the time being.
I then attempted to cast a Sight-Robbing spell again at the wyvern Coran was fighting. But again the creature seemed immune to my magic. I also tried to put both creatures to Sleep, but to no avail. So I was left with nothing to do but throw my darts. I chose the one Coran was fighting. Imoen joined me in shooting arrows at it as well. Our chances seemed best of killing that one first.
Again Coran received venom from the stinger of his opponent. And once again he used our last potion of antidote to stop it from coursing through his veins. Faldorn then healed Coran and cast a spell on him that seemed to darken and toughen his skin almost to the appearance of tree bark.
Coran apparently then remembered that he had the fighter’s potion that Laskal had given us. So he drank it down. This made him a much more formidable opponent.
We all concentrated our efforts on the wyvern that Coran was fighting and killed it dead and done. With a mighty sweep of his sword Coran severed the wyvern’s head and triumphantly grabbed it by the beak to carry it with him.
As the wolf Faldorn had summoned kept the other wyvern at bay, Coran and Faldorn grabbed the bodies of Neera and Eldoth. Just as they did, the wolf conjured by Faldorn fell to the other wyvern!
Imoen and I then raced around the creature to join our comrades. We were only inches from being stung by its great tail. My heart was nearly jumping out of my ribcage at this point.
By the blessings of the gods, we were able to find cover amid some trees and eluded the wyvern there.
After it appeared that the immediate danger of pursuit by the wyvern had vanished, we inspected the bodies of our fallen comrades. They were dead. But they weren't missing any limbs, or disfigured in any way. We could get them to Gellana at the Friendly Arm Inn to be returned to life. Coran advised that we fashion a pair of travois for our fallen comrades.
As we continued our journey back through the Cloakwood we yet faced several dangers. Coran scouted ahead and Imoen, Faldorn and I took turns dragging the two travois with our comrades.
Coran and Imoen killed several giant spiders with their bows. Coran also steered us around some viscous wolves more than once. Faldorn detected an ettercap trap for us that Imoen removed.
We came again to the cabin that we had avoided the first time, and Coran advised that we might seek shelter there. My runes had advised otherwise the first time. And my instincts now were that we were relatively close to the Friendly Arm and we should push on, though we were nearing exhaustion, frankly. Even so I cast my runes again.
[Does the party seek shelter at the cabin? Black card = no.]
The runes again steered us clear of the cabin. (I shan't ask again!)
We arrived at the Friendly Arm in the morning and went straight to the temple to have our friends raised from the dead. Gellana for some reason wanted twice the amount to raise Eldoth. She wouldn’t say why, and did not seem pleased in raising him.
Once the two were restored to full health Neera virtually swooned over Eldoth’s courage in protecting her. She said she had seen him just out of the corner of her eye, even though unable to move a muscle. Neera was soooo grateful for his bravery in chivalrously giving up his life to try to save her.
Eldoth smiled confidently, and assured her with a silky smoothness that he was ever at her disposal and would always be her champion.
[Note: In reality Eldoth had suffered a morale failure. He just happened to run right next to Neera and stand there panic stricken before the wyvern killed him. You’ll recall that Neera was then Held by a wild surge.]
“I did my best to protect you with my spells, Neera!” I exclaimed. Imoen smiled at the energy with which I proclaimed this.
“Oh, I know you did Oracos,” Neera said warmly putting her hand on my arm. “Sometimes the spells just don’t work very well, do they? It’s not you’re fault that you couldn’t save me. I know you tried.”
Then she fluttered her eyes a bit at Eldoth. “But you were so brave! My hero.”
“M’lady, I assure you, I shall always be there to rescue you from any peril,” said Eldoth.
“Well, we had better get going,” I said. “We need to to Beregost so Coran can present the wyvern’s head to Kelddath.”
“Shouldn’t we rest first?” asked Eldoth. “Neera and I are fine, of course. But the rest of you look utterly exhausted.”
Everyone else agreed that we should rest.
Which was fine. Really.
So we spent the night at the inn, and enjoyed a hot meal and ale. I had some wine. Neera and Eldoth continued to get along famously having bonded in their shared death experience. I was growing less enthused about Eldoth by the minute as I watched how he seemed to wrap Neera around his little finger.
In the morning we bought more supplies. This time we noticed an enchanted buckler that seemed interesting, but we didn’t quite have enough gold to purchase it. Maybe next time, if we have the gold to spare.
Off we headed then to Beregost. On the way we encountered a rather formidable band of Black Talons. Coran scouted them out and Neera and I cast spells to put them asleep. We killed them of course.
Then Eldoth performed the same barbaric act that we had seen Montaron do. He scalped the dead bandits.
Neera was horrified. Imoen gave a look such as to suggest ‘is he actually doing this?’ and turned away as well. Coran, the hunter, and by profession accustomed to skinning animals, laughed at their reaction and was otherwise unconcerned. Faldorn grunted at the irony of a human removing the ‘hide’ (or a part of it) of another human.
I was actually quite glad to see Eldoth reveal his true colors before Neera. His act of savagery certainly seemed to have made an impression on her.
Eldoth noticed the girls’ reactions (Neera clearly was the more upset) but seemed not to care in the slightest. As he wiped the bloody scalps in the dirt and stuffed them into a sack he explained the reason for taking them. “These scalps should be worth a goodly sum. Before disap… er, venturing… into the Cloakwood I heard rumors in Baldur’s Gate that they were fetching a very good price in Beregost from the Flaming Fist. Everyone in the Gate is all a-twitter about the bandits. Well, we’ll soon find out whether those rumors are true.”
We continued southward and ran into a small child near the wreckage of the caravan that had been waylaid just north of Beregost. Imoen and Neera approached the lad to try to see if he was lost or needed help. But the whelp was actually a bit of a brat. He angrily mentioned something about bandits being nearby, but that was hardly news to us.
We entered Beregost, which was truly a sight for sore eyes. Right to the Song of the Morning we headed. Coran proudly presented his trophy to Kelddath and explained that this was without a doubt the beast that had been plaguing the farmers to the north. Kelddath seemed quite pleased at Coran’s work. We were then stunned by the bounty that Coran collected. No less than two thousand gold!
Coran generously offered to put the windfall towards any expenses we may have.
Coran said that he was happy to keep working with us if we wished to have him around. He said he was eager to learn more of Eldoth’s plan to rescue Skie, and he himself had some ‘loose ends’ to tie up in Baldur’s Gate. So Coran looked forward to going there for his own reasons as well.
The party was glad to have him. Notably, our newest member, Faldorn, did not seem troubled by him. Even though Coran was a mercenary hunter, and she a druid protector of his prey, Faldorn seemed nevertheless rather impressed by Coran after witnessing his great bravery during our battle with the wyverns.
I asked the group’s indulgence that we finish the omen quest before we spend any of the money on supplies. We were only about one to two days from our destination. Once there I would try to make sense of the omens I had received throughout, with whatever we found there as its sum.
The party agreed that we could press on. So off we went, first to the south for a ways, and then we would travel a short ways southeast.
Divination spells are powerful in BG2 so it might be fun to play a character such as Oracos that focuses on using them. Here in this game at very low level Oracos hasn't really had much to work with by way of his own school's spells, at least if they wish to survive (eg, Infravision versus Sleep?).
Also btw, ideally, Oracos really should have used a Shaman kit from 2nd ed. AD&D tabletop. But Diviner was the closest kit in the game engine at my disposal for the concept of someone who uses divination methods to seek omens and portents.
As for how Oracos will react to his origins, that truly will be interesting to see. He's an erudite, scholarly fellow who's simply doing his best to survive. He has an adventurous and exploring spirit in pursuit of knowledge, but he isn't a thrill-seeker at heart with respect to physical danger. Suffice it to say he has no interest in becoming the new Lord of Murder. All of this adventure and upheaval is not something he would ever be naturally inclined to go in search of. As to how he deals with his divine blood, the runes might play a crucial role. Anyway, I will find out along with the rest of you when we get there!
I have recently been developing ideas for more ways that Oracos can use divination methods. I think they could open up the storytelling and roleplaying possibilities even more. If I do roll them out (and I think I probably will) they would mirror his natural development as a Diviner.
First, I'm finding it refreshing to be using Eldoth and Faldorn for once. I've literally almost never used either of them. (Perhaps only once each? In all these years of playing BG!) Like most of us I have a party that I like assembled by the time I arrive at Cloakwood. So I pass on taking them. But both characters seem to offer some fertile roleplaying material. So this is the perfect type of game to fully explore them.
I'm especially looking forward to developing Faldorn, who is such a neglected character. It's been observed by many a player that there's a kind of disconnect in the game with a Shadow Druid protector-of-the-wood accompanying an adventuring party into the city of Baldur's Gate. But I have a plot device in mind for her that will justify that, to be shared in the next installment.
I'm also glad that I was able to keep Coran because in a game like this what he does in BG city provides some great material. He is after all, a Thief with a very high ability score in Locks and stealth. He is the perfect burglar. And his bio states that he was regularly using those skills in BG city. He and Eldoth share some similarities, although I should think that their respective alignments carve out some major differences. I think there will be a kind of synergy between them.
The relationship between Coran and Faldorn should be interesting. They are at odds in terms of what defines who they are.
It's also going to be very interesting tactically with the current party composition, but I've already commented on that in another post.
I had such mixed emotions about the wyvern ambush when it occurred! On the one hand, it offered the chance to complete Coran's quest. And I'm enjoying using Coran (I don't have him in the party very often). But on the other hand, that was a difficult battle with this tank-less party. I reload when the PC dies; but I always have a decision to make about whether the party flees versus Oracos going down fighting--and I roleplay the latter in earnest. Here, as a player I knew that they really needed that wyvern head before fleeing! But ingame as i was roleplaying the fight it was really touch and go there as to whether they were going run. Fortunately, Coran's bravery (motivated by his desire to collect the bounty) spurred them on. When I said Oracos heart was pounding, literally so was mine, lol.
Anyway, I was able to comfortably make it to the SotM with a wyvern head after only 10 days (Coran's quest timer is set for 16 days). And fortunately Beregost was right on the way for their last leg of the omen quest.
Had I not had a wyvern ambush encounter the party would have had 9 days days to travel to AR4400; then back to Cloakwood in search of a wyvern; and then to the SotM to complete the quest! It was doable, but I would have been cutting it very close.
I'm keeping to the no-reload and 'realism' ethic for sharing of inventory items during battle, level-ups, learning spells, making decisions based on what I feel the character would do (versus me, the player), etc. But I don't feel a need to be ridiculously restrictive for something like this in particular.
Prior to the level-ups:
Coran had 70 in Pick Locks and 40 in Pick Pockets. With the level-up he has 25 points to spend. (His stealth is already great.) The question is whether to pour all the points into Locks (95) and then have him certain to open any locked container; or to raise Locks to whatever is required to open nearly every lock (whatever point score that is) and apply the rest toward Pick Pockets. Eg, If I can get his Pick Pockets to 60 or 65 I can probably lift Algernon's cloak with a near certain chance of success, shoplift items, etc.
Imoen had Open Locks 50, Find Traps 40, Pick Pockets 25, and (with Boots of Stealth) Move Silently 60 and Hide in Shadows 45. She too gets 25 points to spend, and I really should pour them all into Traps, I think.
Mind you, Eldoth has 50 in Pick Pockets. He's currently level 3, and I'm not sure how many points get added to his Pick Pockets ability upon each level.
So I guess my question is mainly for Coran: what Pick Locks Score is high enough to be able to open virtually any chest in the game? 70? 75? 85? 100?
Thinking on this some more, I guess I can't totally assume that I will have Coran until the end of the game... It depends on what happens interpersonally via the roleplay and whatever else may take place in the game. So the point distribution that I gave Imoen is actually probably wisest.
As @Fighting_Ferret pointed out potions can be used to increase pickpocketing skill, so I think either Imoen or Eldoth can probably handle that duty just fine.
With Coran at 95 Pick Locks (admittedly overkill, but as mentioned his stealth is fine) no chest in the game will be safe.
On the way out of town we stopped in to see Taerom at the Thunderhammer smithy, and we sold the gear we had taken from slain foes. Eldoth asked the smith if he knew of anyone who was paying gold for bandit scalps.
[Has Taerom heard about Officer Vai buying bandit scalps at the Jovial Juggler? Black card = no.]
Taerom rubbed his beard for a moment and said he thought he might have heard a rumor to that effect. But he was busier than ever with orders since we had saved the Nashkel mine and had spent little time on the last several weeks anywhere but behind his anvil, so he couldn’t say for sure.
At Taerom’s mention of our rescue of the mine, Eldoth arched an eyebrow.
“So this is the fabled band that saved Nashkel? You have created quite a stir in the Gate! To some you are heroes for making production of dependable iron possible again. To others you are allies of war mongering Amn, who many believe are amassing an army to again invade these lands as they had once tried to do centuries ago.” And this Eldoth said with a look of mild amazement: “As a bard I consider it great fortune indeed to have joined you, as many a wealthy noble may one day pay to hear the tale.”
I had not much to say in response other than we were merely doing what needed to be done simply in order to survive.
“Oh, worry not! Someone needs to tell of your heroism for posterity—even if there was no heroism. Whatever your motives actually were, people never tire of a rousing tale of heroes and villains. And, rest assured, none can spin such a yarn better than I!”
It was a clear night, and Selune's full countenance in the sky above shone down upon the land brightly. We journeyed south on the Coast Way long into the night, until we reached the location where we could head to the east and complete the omen quest. Coran led the way, scouting ahead. We came to a region where rocky formations jutted dramatically upward from the earth in an otherwise flat plain, and I sensed that had perhaps found our destination.
Coran scouted along a rock ridge and returned to report that a half-ogre lay in wait ahead, almost certainly in order to ambush unwary travelers in a narrow pass. We could avoid him, or kill him and perhaps spare his next victim, Coran proposed.
We had been brought here by the gods to be shown something, I reminded myself inwardly.
In whispered tones we discussed what we might do. I commented that, sadly, we had by now become somewhat inured to killing highwaymen.
Eldoth suggested with a sly grin that the brigand might have loot on him from his robberies. Such treasure would certainly better fund us than him. The bandit should easily fall to our band of mighty ‘dragon slayers’, he quipped.
Eldoth’s jest brought a smile to the party’s faces.
The bard added that he would like to use this as an opportunity to demonstrate his skill at poisoning arrows. Eldoth then pulled one from his quiver to show us. He explained that the poison he uses is created through a special spell that limits the toxin’s use to its creator—himself, that is.
Eldoth proposed a plan of attack. “Imoen and Coran can approach the ogre unseen and fire their arrows at him together,” he said. “And I shall remain here with Neera, Faldorn, and Oracos. When the creature chases after Coran and Imoen, they shall lead him to us. I will shoot him with poisoned arrows, and Oracos, Neera, and Faldorn can hurl their darts at him. If I pierce him with several poisoned arrows, trust me, he won’t remain standing for long.”
“I can also Blind him for good measure,” I added. “Just be prepared to run far enough from him that he can’t reach you with a swing of his weapon.”
I was struck by the notion that somehow, after everything we had been through since Imoen and I left candlekeep, that such a daring deed had become an acceptable risk to take. We had grown in our abilities to defend ourselves to the point that we could be the aggressor against such evil creatures if we now chose. And I found myself wondering if what the gods had brought us here for may be symbolized in some way by this act we were presently undertaking.
I said that I approved of the plan. The others were all in agreement as well. We would rid the Sword Coast of this bandit scum.
Imoen and Coran carefully crept along the rock ledge and disappeared for a short time. We soon saw the two of them racing back towards us—and my heart almost pounded out of my ribcage at the sight of the giant half-ogre! He was easily seven feet in height, perhaps taller.
I was momentarily seized by a fear that it was our dreaded tormentor Tazok! And unfortunately he did not look injured!
Coran and Imoen distracted the gigantic muscle-bound ogre-man by running short bursts and firing their bows, flanking him on either side. The enraged half-ogre lurched first toward one then the other, as their arrows in turn found their mark.
Eldoth’s first arrow missed, but he made up for it by following with a string of successful shots. Faldorn and Neera threw darts. But I could see they were anxious to cast spells.
I then moved hastily to cast Blindness, as I had said I would. The spell apparently worked. For the massive ogre howled in rage and frustration at his, by then, certain doom. He was rendered sightless and feeling the poison’s effects.
I am happy to say that it was one of my darts that ended the evil creature’s life. This brought me a strange satisfaction. I was growing to experience a feeling of power in my abilities. I liked it.
Imoen and Coran then told us of the battle’s start: Imoen had fired the one arrow of frost she still had in her quiver at the half-ogre. The enchanted arrow hit… even as Coran’s arrow uncharacteristically missed! The beast recovered enough from the shock of the sneak attack to roar at them to hand over their iron. So he was likely allied with the Iron Throne…
But in any event, the ogre gave chase. Imoen was able to again hide in the rocks and stab him from behind as he chased after Coran. Coran of course peppered the brute with arrows as she did this. Then they led him to us.
We examined the slain bandit. All three of us who had survived the bandit headquarters in the Wood of Sharp Teeth were satisfied that it was not Tazok. But he did bear an eerie resemblance to him, all agreed.
The half-ogre had quite a few gems on him, a sizable purse of gold, and an enchanted greatsword. Eldoth removed the creature’s scalp and added it to his collection, which he hoped would eventually bring us some gold upon our return in Beregost.
Coran continued exploring along the ridge to the narrow pass where the beast was hiding. Our scout halted us and sneaked back towards us to report that three more ogre-men lay in wait ahead. Coran added that they have to be aware that their fellow bandit was likely drawn away and killed, given the blood curdling scream he gave out before we ended his life. The three of them were clustered tightly together, he said—but we should be able to use this to our advantage. For example, I could use a spell to put them all into a slumber, he suggested.
I told Coran that unfortunately I had cast my Sleep spells (to no effect) against the wyverns we had fought in the Cloakwood. Neera shared that she had no further castings prepared of the spell either. However I did have a spell to Terrify them, I announced. Faldorn asserted that she could cast a Tangling Vine spell on them as well.
It was unanimously agreed that we should destroy the remaining three, lest they follow us and seek revenge on their comrade.
Coran inched close enough unseen with Faldorn and I just behind to cast our spells without them detecting it. Faldorn Entangled them within her conjured magical vines. This undoubtedly confused and alarmed them. And I then also cast the spell to Horrify all three of them. As such they were utterly incapacitated.
We subsequently fired away at the trio of bandits with our arrows and darts, easily killing the closest two of them.
One minor complication presented itself that one of the robbers, in his terror, managed to break free from the tangle of vines. It helped him not, however, as he was still in a mindless state of panic. Coran quickly moved around the ridge, darting unseen through the black of night, and found him again entangled in the vines on the other side. He killed the bandit with a single well placed shot.
These bandits too had some gold, but not as much as their apparent leader whom we had killed first.
[Find Easter egg water opal on the ground? Black card = no.]
Coran was about to continue scouting. But I asked the group to stop and wait a moment, as I felt the need to reflect.
Had we just been shown our final omen in this quest, I wondered? I took a mental inventory of our fivefold quest for omens, with this as the the sum. And just then I remembered something vitally important that I had been floating around in the back of my thoughts. I searched my pack and found several items that solved a riddle that had been posed earlier by this omen quest. I was able to see well enough in the bright light of the night’s full moon to be sure. Everything seemed to come into focus. My intuition at that point was strongly that yes, I believe we had received our final omen.
I then shared my thoughts with my comrades.
“My friends, I think the gods have led us on quite an interesting and fruitful journey over the last tenday,” I began. “During our travels I have been meditating on the portents we have received and I believe we finally have our answer.”
The others looked at me expectantly, evidently eager to know. And indeed, our three newest companions had only heard brief mention of our earlier destinations on the omen quest from Imoen and Neera as we hiked along our way.
I then set forth my findings:
“On the first leg of our trek we were shown two different men who each, in their own right, had a stubborn intent to pursue a course of action that was highly dangerous and ill-advised. The first man had a foolish plot to burgle mighty Thalantyr’s fortress! That, we may assume, would surely have ended in his death. And the other man regularly frequented a cliff where he verily contemplated taking his own life. In both cases, these men turned away from a path fundamentally unwise upon which they were beforehand intent to pursue.
“As I relate this sign to our own plight, I must confess that the similarity that I see is my own pigheadedness in seeking to flee our aggressors at all costs—a course to which I too have unswervingly held, but which I am forced to contemplate may not be as wise as it initially seemed.
“The second leg of the omen quest took us to the Cloakwood—the very location at which our aggressor hides! There we met a stalwart companion in Coran, a hunter who knows the wood well, and serves as a capable guide and protector in that forest. Here, I feel, the gods seemed to be showing us plainly that the Cloakwood is prominently involved in our destiny.
“On the third limb of the trek the gods sent us to the Sea of Swords; and where the land met the sea we encountered the man named the Surgeon. Imoen, Neera and Coran may recall that this man, in effect, uttered a prophesy that we would meet his brother, a most cruel and evil man by the name of Davaeorn who had recently come to the Sword Coast. At the time, that name sounded vaguely familiar, but I was unable to place it. I have now have confirmed it: the letters in Tazok’s chest are signed with that very name! Davaeorn is no less than Tazok’s puppetmaster. The Surgeon told us that this Davaeorn’s crimes are so despicable and heinous, and such a menace is he to good folk everywhere, that he warrants death at the hands of his very own brother. This omen seems little effort to interpret: seek and kill Davaeorn.
“For the fourth leg of the omen quest we were sent back into the Cloakwood… which tells much in itself in light of the second omen… and there we found two more companions to join us. The first of these, Eldoth, helped us find the second. And the second, Faldorn, seeks our help in confronting our nemesis the Iron Throne!
“And for the fifth and final section of our journey, the gods sent us here. Amidst these strange, solitary peaks that burst forth so strikingly from this flat plain we found a creature who I at first mistook for our arch-enemy, Tazok. He, a rutheless bandit stealing iron from the innocent; and with elan we sent him and his band to the Abyss. It felt clear to all of us at the time that was what we must do—even to me, being one normally disinclined to seek a fight. And this portent was the sum of the first four.”
“So I think our path is clear, my friends. As much as I hate to admit it, apparently our former companion, Jaheira, was right. We must face down our tormentors, the leaders of the Iron Throne, and destroy them.”
I took a brief moment to survey the faces of my comrades. Imoen seemed less troubled by the news than I had expected. She nodded a bit grimly in resignation. Neera was perhaps a bit more anxious in her initial reaction. But she sighed then squared her shoulders with a look of increased confidence. Faldorn gave me a knowing smile that might have bespoken gratitude, although I was tempted to read it perhaps even as admiration from her as well. Eldoth and Coran looked to one another as if possibly to confirm a reaction of approval versus going their own way. The two of them had mirthfully shared tales of their past adventures (and we all had enjoyed their entertaining conversation) as we had made our journey here.
I should note now there had not been much conversation between Faldorn and the rest of the group as we had traveled to Beregost. She remained rather aloof. Eldoth had attempted to chat her up. But she had shown no interest in talking to him.
Eldoth spoke first. “This ‘Iron Throne’ that you mention… could you, ehm, please tell me more about them?”
“Of course,” I responded. “The Iron Throne is an organization that has been hounding us over the last month, ever since Imoen and I left Candlekeep on the first day of Mirtul. We have discovered that it is the Iron Throne that engineered the Sword Coast’s iron shortage. They have done so presumably to corner the market on the metal which is now more precious than gold.
“I know not the full reason why, but from the start they have regularly sent assassins to kill me. My father, the renowned sage, Gorion of Candlekeep, apparently had learned something of their intrigues. We came to learn from friends of my father that he was something of an adventurer in secret. My father died bravely defending us (just he and I then) when Iron Throne assassins ambushed us in our hasty departure from the library fortress. But for some reason they wish me dead as well! I have always assumed that they believe my father must have shared information with me about them—which he never did. But even as we have steadfastly evaded them and fended off their attacks, we have learned much of their plans through their letters.
Eldoth’s interest was piqued. “So you possess valuable information then, which may be worth a small fortune to the right people in Baldur’s Gate. I have some influential connections there,” he responded. “I can help you sell that information, if you wish.”
At this Coran laughed heartily. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, eh?” said Coran. “But I admire your thinking, Eldoth.”
Neera looked at Eldoth a bit doubtfully. “Are you sure we could pull that off?” she asked.
Eldoth answered her query quickly and with sureness. “It may be the only way to get the Iron Throne to stop hunting you down.”
Imoen and Faldorn looked unimpressed. Neither seemed particularly fond of Eldoth. I caught some looks shared between them on our journey here. During the entire trip from Beregost, although we enjoyed the wit shared between Coran and Eldoth, Eldoth had spoken mostly of himself; and although at times he did so with humor (to maintain interest), it was always ultimately in glowing terms. Faldorn and Imoen kept a steady commentary with glances back and forth, more than one from Imoen with an eyeroll.
The party burst into chatter about the idea. But before more conversation could continue further along these lines, I brought the group back to the topic at hand.
“Friends, we can discuss all that when we arrive eventually at Baldur’s Gate,” I interrupted. “I need to know if you all understand what I am saying and can follow this plan—namely, that we must venture back into the Cloakwood. And there we must seek out and kill Davaeorn. Hopefully, by doing so we may bring an end to this madness.”
The party stared at me for a moment, somewhat surprised at my assertiveness.
“The runes were entirely clear on this, I think,” I felt the need to add.
Coran smiled at me with calm assurance, perhaps as an older brother might. “It could just as easily be your own decision, Oracos,” he said. “And I can see the soundness to it. Imoen has told me some of your tale, although not all that you just shared.” He put his hand on my shoulder and spoke with a sense of ease that I was coming to appreciate about the elf. “Your plan seems as good a course as any. Better to become the hunter than the hunted.”
“Sayeth the hunter,” chimed Faldorn. (She speaks!)
“Aye, become the hunter versus the hunted,” said I. “That seems to be what the gods have revealed.”
I surveyed the faces of all and there found acceptance. “We are in agreement, then?”
Each expressed their approval, either with an ‘aye’ or a nod.
“Then back to Beregost we shall go to plan,” I said.
And with that we commenced our journey back to town.
It's also about the right time in the tale for Bhaal's essence to start being felt by Oracos. So this notion of 'the hunted becoming the hunter' works extremely well for the assertion of Bhaal's energy.
When I had rolled the final destination of AR4400 'Lonely Peaks', I was initially worried that it provided weak material to work with in order to sum up the four previous omens. (And there is a surprisingly difficult encounter there for a low level party (Ioin, Dribben and Billy) at the center of the map that might well have ended with some fatalities. From a story development vantage I'm glad I avoided that one!) But the events and story basically just flowed as I played it out. I'm actually very, very pleased at the symbolism of 'hunted becomes the hunter' that may be drawn from the encounter with Arghain and his party of half-ogre bandits. That psychological turn-around fits this protagonist--and the story thus far--like a glove, actually.
It's also quirky, offbeat fun to be roleplaying with Coran, Eldoth and Faldorn. Having Eldoth and Coran tees up some entertaining excursions in the big city. And I look forward to developing Faldorn as a more sympathetic and relatable character than we're accustomed to seeing her in BG2.
Tactically speaking, with this party (and at low level) it'll be a bit tough to take out the four guardians/assassins at the entrance to the Cloakwood mine. But if I can credibly RP that they do this one enemy at a time, perhaps involving Charming one (or more) of them, I think I can manage it.
I'm frankly amazed at how well the method works. There's a static framework of game content. But roughly 50% of the experience is dynamic through the roleplaying and dice-rolling.
With
- each protagonist that one might dream up
- the various methods by which one might generate random outcomes (when and how to use dice/cards/coin flips, etc.)
- such a variety of NPCs
- additional custom NPCs of one's own creation if desired
- how each NPC might be roleplayed
- relationships between NPCs
every game approached in this style becomes not just a thoroughly unique experience, but also one with a surprising level of depth.I think soon I'm going to start putting the story into a Word document as well that'll get updated with each installment. I'll feature a link for it in the topic starter. (Maybe just the story itself without the dice rolls and card flips?)
@demented Once I got underway with this project I was a bit daunted by the time it takes. Ideally, I don't think I would feel compelled to share everything that the party does. But here in order to illustrate the dice/cards method, I'm being pretty comprehensive in this game.
From the craft standpoint as a writer, with limited hobby time it's boilerplate writing (although the beauty part is that so much of it just writes itself). But as a piece of fiction it can always be improved later.
But anyway, I view it as about akin to a PnP tabletop campaign in terms of the commitment. If you love creative writing it's well worth the time and effort. By the end you've had a full and unique adventure--and a fanfic novella to show for it.
My rule of thumb has been to behave in-character first and foremost. Then for anything that might be in question I'll flip a card or roll the dice. Ditto whenever decision-by-chance seems to just add some fun value.
But to reemphasize, if I feel relatively certain what various characters would do (and that includes NPCs), I just roleplay it out. So using the approach, a CN Necromancer would probably appreciate having certain NPCs, and they in turn might like to join up. And ditto for the reactions for NPCs that do not seem a good fit.
However, notwithstanding, whether you would even meet up with the NPCs you would most like to have as party members in still up in the air with this method. The roleplaying will direct many of your destinations, and dice rolls re: where to explore will lead who-knows-where. So you may never meet up with the ones you want to join.
As for my own tale here, unfortunately I'm not sure of RL will allow me to complete this adventure at anything more than a snail's pace over the next couple of years. But if I can keep it going, I will.
I'm looking forward to playing out and recording the upcoming battle at the Cloakwood mines. That should be tough with the party I currently have. Honestly, the only path to victory that I can see is to draw the assassins out one at a time. For this type of game, that stretches believability, I know. But perhaps I can pull it off... I don't want to fudge what I imagine the enemies would do. But on the other hand, the party can't advance without winning this battle, and I've hardly got a badass line-up.
Hopefully I can defeat them individually one at a time! Perhaps they can be taunted into such a challenge. If they accept that challenge (card flip), hopefully they won't come all at once after they lose one or two members of their own team that way. On the other hand, after one or two members of their side dies, there could be a card flip as to whether those remaining decide to flee; or perhaps to then parlay and accept gold in exchange for terminating their contract with the Iron Throne. We'll see how it plays out.
I'm reloading only if the PC dies, so at least the game continues if other party members die. I'd really like to keep the current team intact for a good while further into the game, though. So hopefully none of them will get chunked in the first effort in which the PC survives!
After a full day’s march north through the night we arrived uneventfully at Beregost in the early afternoon. A rest at the Burning Wizard was in order. Beforehand, the spellcasters among us consulted briefly about what spells we should prepare. It was agreed that Faldorn should concentrate on her ability to enlist creatures to do her bidding, and I would focus on a spell that instills panic. No adjustment was necessary for the spells that Neera and Eldoth had already prepared.
During our meal we concurred that when we arrived at the old mine operation resumed by the Iron Throne, Coran would scout first to avoid detection as we approached. Then, if feasible, Faldorn would use her druidic charms to have a woodland creature spy out how well defended the camp appears to be. It was agreed that we would obviously need extraordinary stealth, the element of surprise when and wherever possible, and all of our wiles to negotiate this challenge. And of course we would need the support of the gods, as I would ever seek direction through runes and omens as the situation warranted.
It had by now become our custom before embarking on the Trade Way to stop at the Thunderhammer smithy. But in this case the establishment was closed for the evening. We would like to have identified an enchanted greatsword wielded by one of the half-orcs vanquished the night before, as neither I nor Eldoth could tell whether it was enspelled; it was of very high craftsmanship. We also wished to sell other items looted from the half-orcs. So instead we visited Feldepost’s to sell gems we had collected through our battles, and see if the owner would buy any of the gear we had stripped from them. Fortunately, we had an adequate supply of arrows and darts.
[At Feldepost’s does Eldoth know the value of the Glitterdust spell? Red card = yes.]
Feldepost’s owner was interested only in the helmets of our enemies. But as we were conducting business, Eldoth took note of a spell for sale that that the bard recommended we make a purchase of. The magic both revealed anyone made to be invisible and usually caused temporary blindness to them by use of an exceedingly fine enchanted golden dust that the Weave generates around the target. I had seen this spell before but because it belongs to the Conjuration school I am unable to scribe it. I admit that it had not occurred to me that Neera or Eldoth might use it. In any event, Eldoth was however quite persuasive that the scroll would be well worth the investment. He counseled that indeed he had once witnessed its effectiveness in his own adventures in Baldur’s Gate.
Since we had acquired a good sum of gold, and such an investment seemed sound based on this advice borne of firsthand experience, it was decided that we would take the gamble to buy the spell. We would stop at the Burning Wizard, stow the swords, and either Neera or Eldoth would attempt to scribe this new Gold Dust spell.
When we reached the Burning Wizard we had a brief discussion about who should attempt the learn the spell. Neither Neera nor Eldoth had the ability to yet cast the spell quite yet. However, Neera’s powers had grown rapidly during her travels in our group. She said she felt that she was about ready to be able to wield such magic. Eldoth sighed that he would love to make the attempt to learn the spell himself, as a reward for having identified its value and having made the suggestion. Having learned of Neera’s wild magic surges he also recommended that it was ultimately safer that the spell be used by him. Both seemed eager to learn the spell, so I consulted the oracle.
[Red card = Neera attempts to scribe Glitterdust; black card = Eldoth tries to learn the spell. Result: red card = Neera attempts to scribe the spell.]
I cast the runes, and they were clear that it should be Neera who should try to learn the spell. Unfortunately, to everyone’s disappointment our elven enchantress was unable to keep the spell clear in her mind in order for the spell to be imprinted into her book of the Weave. At the failure, Neera looked dejected and apologetic. Eldoth looked up, then away, and snorted subtly in an “I told you so” sort of way. Imoen gave Neera a smile of encouragement and patted her back to show support. There was then nothing to be done but to shrug it off and push on.
Thus we set forth on our journey north back into the Cloakwood; although I admit not without a shudder inwardly on my part at the dark natural dangers we must seek to avoid even merely to reach the mine.
Our journey to the location where we met both Faldorn and Eldoth went fairly well. We were at one point waylaid by ettercaps, but managed to elude them. A dread wolf surprised us at one point as we moved through the wood, but we killed the beast with arrows and darts just at it closed in. Later several giant venomous spiders appeared, but there too we managed to escape them choosing to save our ammo, spells and health for the even more formidable dangers that surely awaited us at the mine.
After two full days of since our departure from Beregost, with the barest minimum of rest along the way, and travel through a treacherous wood, we had drawn within a day’s journey to the mine, Faldorn advised. But we were nearing exhaustion. We decided to make camp.
During the rest a giant spider attacked us and its venom came dangerously close to killing Coran due to a lapse on my part. I was able to stop the poison from working its way to his heart, but the attack cost us two valuable healing potions. I misjudged in my response to the attack by instead making no less than three attempts (the last successful) to blind the creature, that we might make it helpless in order to more easily kill it. In the meantime Faldorn healed Coran in addition to him using healing vials, but her healing powers didn't stop the poison.
In all events, after the spider attack we completed our rest. Then we proceeded with utmost caution through the remaining leg of woods to the mines.
Along the way Coran reported that he spied a duo of guards for the mine on patrol. With his keen elven ears he was able to overhear up some of their idle chatter to ascertain this. We skirted the guards and continued. After several hours we made our way to a bridge across a large stream that adjoined the mining complex.
It was the height of the midday sun. Coran was however able to quietly slip into the stream and spy from beneath the bridge. From there he spotted two guards posted on the other side of the short bridge. Beyond that, however, the compound was fenced and hidden from his view.
At this point our plan was to see if Faldorn could use a woodland creature to spy for us, although she advised that there was a considerable risk that such an enchantment on a creature could be detected by a wizard. I observed that since wizards and priests, both, had constantly beset us seeking the bounty set by the Iron Throne, this was certainly a risk; but perhaps it was one that had to be taken.
“Perhaps I can draw the guards away from their post,” Coran suggested. “Then I can gain a clear line of sight onto the grounds beyond the fence,” he noted. Neera added that I could simply put them to sleep and Coran could act quickly to kill them and remove their bodies, hopefully avoiding detection. There was of course a chance that the guards could be spotted as they slumped into a slumber, but it was about the same risk that they would call out to others if Coran attempted to lure them away.
Coran advised that we could do both. He would attempt to get the guards to investigate and come to the other side of the bridge; I could them put them to sleep. All agreed that was the most sensible plan.
Coran walked up to the guards and signaled that he was in need of assistance, beckoning silently for them to come. The guards had in all likelihood been given orders to kill anyone on sight who was not a known member of the iron Throne or unable to identify themselves as such. They pursued Coran and one was able to strike a blow with his sword that actually injured Coran’s arm. Before they knew what happened, however, I put them to sleep and we filled them with arrows and darts.
We stopped the bleeding to Coran’s wound but Coran said he didn’t need any healing for it just yet.
It was decided that we would then take the chance to have Faldorn enspell a squirrel to spy out the grounds. She did so and the rodent returned and chittered to her that four formidable looking men stood guard. The two nearest the bridge were armored, and other two behind them wore mage robes.
We had learned by now that our best battle tactic was to try to separate out as many individual attackers as we could. Thus, perhaps the best strategy here was to see if we could find some way that they might be tempted to either face us individually, or two at a time.
“Perhaps we could offer to make sport of the contest—offer to make a game of it. As such we might be able to exploit any overconfidence they might have,” Eldoth suggested. The bard continued to develop his idea. “With all but one of us hidden here amidst the trees, one of us could approach them alone, with a bold swagger, and propose a 'fair' man-to-man fight. The greater proposal would be to battle each of them individually as such, one at a time. And if asked why? For no better reason than for our chellenger to hone his impeccable skill at swordplay—<1>and take their treasure! But during the fight our daredevil will flee and draw the lone enemy here for an ambush. The bravest—and most foolish—among them may agree to such a contest. We could at least reduce their number by one by such a scheme.” At this idea Eldoth seemed at first fairly pleased, although in only seconds a faint frown furrowed his face. “Of course if the others follow as well the plan doesn’t really succeed…”
Coran stated that he liked the idea; but, ever the gambler, he suggested that one of us approach offer to make it a game of chance. “But just how we could propose a tempting wager I do not yet see. Has anyone an idea?” he queried.
As the party reflected about that suggestion, Faldorn spoke up with a different idea of her own. “I suggest that we pose a distraction that they might investigate without suspicion. I can summon a dread wolf that attacks as if rabid and lures them away. The wizards are unlikely to give chase—but the two warriors probably would. The creature will lead them here, and we’ll kill them both. Then we’ll quickly make a stealthy assault against the two sorcerers.”
Faldorn’s stratagem was met all around with nods of approval and a few raised eyebrows in recognition of the soundness of the plan as we took it in.
“That said, we know not if the warriors possess magics as well, either arcane or divine,” I added. “But I agree that the plan does seem to offer our best hope.”
Then I offered a caution. “Let us take a brief inventory of helpful items that we have at our disposal… I have two potions that shield the user from magic. One of the potions lasts quite a while, but only reduces the chance that an enemy’s magic will work by about half. The other potion prevents all but rather advanced spells from working, but not for long. We may want to hold onto these potions for the battle to follow against the wizards. And I have one healing potion left. Does anyone have any more?”
None among the group had any. That was concerning. We should have bought more at the Song of the Morning before leaving Beregost.
Faldorn answered, “I have some berries that heal a little. But I think I shall just give them to Coran now.” Coran nodded and smiled in appreciation, as she tossed him the pouch with the berries.
Eldoth paused for a moment as if perhaps struggling inwardly to avoid acting against his own better judgment. But if so this he overcame, and he came forward with a weary tone and a sigh. “I can craft poisoned arrows, and have five of them now in my quiver," he said. "Only I can use these arrows, I should add. They are probably best utilized against the wizards. The poison causes such pain that it should distract them from their wizardly mentations. I also have a spell scroll to enchant another to do my bidding. Beyond that I have a scroll to avoid being turned to stone; though not many wizards possess powerful enough magic to pose such a threat.”
“True enough about the protection from being turned to stone,” I acknowledged. “But the spell to Charm another can certainly help! Should we succeed in luring the two warriors here, let us enchant one to fight the other! Eldoth, don’t use the scroll for now, however, since Neera and I can both cast that same spell. What spells have we all prepared?”
Neera advised that she could place enemies to sleep; panic an enemy with an illusion; and cast an iridescent glowing energy orb that inflicts pain and temporarily blinds. Faldorn said she had the power to enchant not only animals to follow her commands, but humans as well. Like our former companion Jaheira, she could bring forth magical vines to engulf a target. I shared that for my part in addition to placing enemies into a slumber and enchanting them to follow my orders, I could also blind them or utterly terrify them.
It was agreed that we would simultaneously attempt the following: Neera would try to put the enemy to sleep; for insurance, I will try make them to panic (should they resist sleep); Faldorn would try to charm whichever appeared the mightiest to fight the other(s); and Coran and Eldoth would fire arrows. And we agreed that, ideally, Eldoth should save his poisoned arrows for the mages.
With the strategy thus solidified, everyone's morale seemingly enjoyed a boost.
“Let us take out positions behind the trees here then,” Coran directed, assuming command for the field combat to ensue. “Faldorn and I will approach close enough for her to conjure the wolf undetected. Then I will watch from the closest vantage I can find as the wolf tries to lure the warriors away. Once the enemy is close enough we’ll launch the full attack.”
Coran and Faldorn crept forward, and near to the foot of the bridge the druid brought forth a terrifying greatwolf with her powers. She whispered in its ear for it to obey Coran. Coran and the wolf slowly advanced, with Coran hiding in the shadows and the wolf out ahead. With Coran hidden at the fence, he signaled for the wolf to attack the squirrel that had been charmed earlier by Faldorn. The enemy was clearly taken by surprise and braced themselves for an attack by the wolf. (It appeared likely that they did assume the beast to be mad, Coran later told us). But then Coran whistled for the wolf to attack one of the fighters—and unfortunately this gave him away. One of the two well armored warriors shouted out threats at Coran. And then according to our plan, Coran and the wolf retreated back to our position beyond the bridge.
What did not match our strategy was that both the warriors did not follow—only the fighter who spoke first. That one carried a morning star. And as that fighter followed we heard the mages begin their dark incantations.
Coran and the wolf drew the mace wielding warrior to the bridge, and there the rest of us sprung from the trees and began casting our spells or firing weapons. Both Neera’s and Faldorn’s spells appeared to have failed. But my spell to Horrify succeeded. We then hoped to at least vanquish this one enemy given his compromised state. But as we fired weapons at him the other warrior and one of the two wizards made their way to the bridge and joined the attack. This new warrior was a devastating dagger thrower, and he moved with astonishing speed. He dealt a fatal blow to our conjured wolf. He also hurled a dagger at me that cut my leg rather badly. At this I retreated and Coran tossed me the berries Faldorn had given him; and I began eating them.
The enemy wizard cast the same Horror spell that I had used, and it sent Coran temporarily into a highly panicked state. We then feared losing our elven archer to the dagger-hurler. But at this turn of events Eldoth saved the day. He began singing a song that through some magic quickly restored Coran to his senses. Thus reconstituted, Coran continued to use his bow from then on, for some time to come firing either at the enemy carrying the mace or at the mage.
Then Eldoth proved himself yet again. He had the keen presence of mind to use his Charm scroll against the dagger thrower—and was successful! This proved a turning point. For then Faldorn used her Engulfing Vines spell, which kept the two enemies rooted to the bridge, preventing them from pursuing us. Eldoth commanded the dagger-hurler to attack his mace-wielding comrade, who was by then scurrying around disorganized in a stupor of fear, still near to the bridge. The fighter with the mace at one point tried to run across the bridge and got trapped in the vines, sustaining devastating attacks from the dagger-thrower.
Eldoth wasn’t done. He used one of his poison arrows on the wizard, and fired yet another one at the mace wielder, such that both would then suffer the ill effects of the poison. In the meantime Neera used her multicolored energy orb on wizard, and Faldorn continued to try to take druidic mental control of the wizard. Neither attempt met with success, best I could tell.
It’s possible that I may have succeeded in blinding the wizard with a spell of my own. I really could not tell, given the pulsing, wreathing mass of vines and mayhem of battle. But regardless, the wizard seemed unable from then on to launch a further spell. Perhaps it was due to being blinded. Or maybe it was the poison. Imoen’s and Coran’s arrows, and Faldorn and Neera’s darts may have distracted him as well. Perhaps all these things were true.
In all events, I cast the Terrifying spell again, for good measure. And that definitely did work against the mage, who promptly began screaming and yipping in terror. We then proceeded to pummel both vine encumbered foes trapped on the bridge with our ranged weapons. They both fell quickly.
With the morning star wielding enemy still under the effects of the Terror spell, we felt that we had to act quickly. So we took a gamble and did our best to hack our ways through the wreathing mass of vines that Faldorn had summoned. Not surprisingly, the vines held us too. But we got close enough to the badly injured and terrified warrior that we were able to kill him with our combined ranged weapons, despite getting stuck in the vines.
This left only the final mage. Coran used his stealth to scout the other side of the fence to see if the wizard or any other foes lay in wait for us there. And there he found only the mage standing not far ahead, remaining very still and apparently at the ready for battle. Perhaps the wizard had frozen mentally. Otherwise it is unclear why he would not have fled. It occurred to me later that perhaps he had hoped to offer information in exchange for his life. In any case, we could never have trusted him, I felt. So we will never know what his intentions were.
In preparation against this final enemy I gave Coran the potion that briefly blocked all but very high level magics. Coran then approached the wizard by slinking unseen around him, and stabbed him from behind with his sword. The rest of us remained hidden behind the fence with all with our ranged weapons prepared.
After Coran struck his blow, our elven friend fell back behind the target and notched an arrow. The grievously injured wizard turned toward Coran and cast the spell that issues energy bursts from the caster’s fingertips. Surely to his dismay, the spell had no effect whatsoever due to the potion Coran had consumed.
Coran fired his bow. Either from Coran’s arrow, or the arrows and darts from the rest of us that hurtled into the wizard’s back, our last enemy from this Cloakwood mines ‘welcome party’ slumped to the dirt. He was likely dead before he hit the ground.
[Note: Neera leveled up from this battle and may now cast level 2 spells.]
Coran checked the immediate area and spotted no further enemies for the time being. However, we stood next to a building that was clearly part of the mining operation. So we had to proceed with haste, lest other guards on patrol should happen upon us.
The loot from this battle was impressive. The dagger-thrower’s extraordinary speed was due to his boots, which were enchanted. They gave the wearer exceptional speed of action in general, not merely foot speed. These it seemed should be best utilized by our scout Coran. Also among the spoils was a strong and light armor, possibly enchanted, that required identification; an extremely well-crafted morning star; two mages robes (one like the ones Neera and I both already wore, and the other with enchantments to protect against cold magics); a potion that gives its imbiber the strength of a frost giant; and a spell scroll to create a protective ring of fire around the wizard.
There was also a letter to this band of hired assassins mentioning our arch foe Davaeorn, that was written by someone named “Rieltar.” The letter warned of an impending assault on the mine (us?), and gave orders to kill on site anyone who does not belong to the mining operation.
Coran listened carefully to the door of the building, and ever so gently pulled the edge of the door to peak in. He whispered to us that there were two guards immediately inside who appeared bored and inattentive. Coran told us to stand outside the door and be prepared to unleash a volley of missiles. “Just don’t hit us! Because if we do come out it’ll be us first,” he said with a wink. He whispered to Imoen and the two of them drew their swords and ever-so quietly slinked in.
A moment or two later they did burst through the door with guards in hot pursuit. However the guards' faces were white as sheets, and one had blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.
Coran dazzled and distracted them with his now enchanted blazing foot speed, darting about and firing his bow. In the meantime our arrows and darts did the work of ending their lives.
We were evidently in a guard house barracks. Imoen and Coran then did the same thing upstairs, but this time dispatching both instantly with swords to the back.
There was a fair bit of gold to gather from their footlockers.
Coran stealthily killed another guard in a smaller outbuilding as we proceeded.
When we came to the final building of the complex, the very same tactic used for the barracks worked again. Imoen sustained a minor injury. But Faldorn healed her.
Further scouting by Coran revealed that the last building contained an entrance down into the mines. We held a brief meeting, and it was agreed by all that it would be wisest then to attempt to rest since we had exhausted nearly all of our prepared spells. Unfortunately our resting was interrupted by guards—whom we promptly killed.
This time Coran received a minor injury, which Faldorn also healed.
The rest period seemed wise, for who knows what dangers may lay ahead. We decided that Faldorn should mentally prepare her druidic ability to sense traps. We decided Neera should concentrate on the Slumber spell, plus a new enchantment that she now found herself able to use which makes targets physically weak as a kitten. Eldoth could use some of the time to produce even more poisoned arrows. And indeed, by the time he was done he counted twelve in his quiver.
And so it was on the seventh day of Kythorn that we entered into the Cloakwood mines in pursuit of our arch nemesis, Davaeorn of the Iron Throne. In the dank, musty, tunnels of the mine, dimly lit by flickering torches, we could hear the clinking of pick axes and the screeching of iron wheels of mining carts on tracks audible just around the corner. Coran put his finger to his lips as a reminder to all to keep noise to a minimum. And motioning to Imoen to draw her blade, the pair of thieves stole around the corner, silently slipping out of our view, to scout the tunnel ahead.
I guess it just goes to show that whoever may be in the party, there's always a way to win if you use your resources well enough.
As someone who virtually never adds Eldoth or Faldorn to the party, it was gratifying to see them play a pivotal role in what is often one of the toughest battles in the game (for me anyway--and here without a tank!). I'm beginning to like both of these seldom-used NPCs; although maybe that is as much because of the roleplaying/storytelling aspect as for their skills.
This battle would have been a helluva tougher with SCS installed, of course. But hey, whatever. It's still a great fight even in vanilla EE.
After a short while Imoen and Coran returned to report that they killed one guard in a sneak attack just outside the entrance where we stood. They also spoke with several miners a short distance away. The miners are not paid workers—they are all enslaved. And the mine is clearly an enterprise of the Iron Throne, as the slaves made references both to Davaeorn and the Blacktalons.
Our scouts reported that a short distance away lays a junction of several tunnels. At that spot there are four new possible tunnels to explore.
We proceeded to that point and I cast my runes as to which tunnel to tread.
[Roll 1 d4 where 1 = SW, 2 = S, 3 = SE, and 4 = E. Result: 4 = East.]
The runes directed us east.
Coran and Imoen scouted the tunnel due east from our location. They soon returned and told that they stealthily killed yet another guard. Their report was that the tunnel came to an end; but shortly before that they discovered a large, circular metal door with spoke handles. There were some miners about standing about it. One of them was dressed in slightly more than rags—perhaps a slave overseer?
It certainly seemed worth investigating. So we proceeded to the odd looking door. Once there we questioned the slave who appeared to possibly be of higher status. It was fortuitous that we found this fellow since the miner shared priceless information about the door. The door is actually magically sealed, he said; and it prevents a river directly above from completely flooding the entire mine! The rebellious slave who told us this wishes to destroy the mine in an act of defiance against his captors. He advised that on the next level down we should seek out a dwarf named Yeslick. This Yeslick knows the mine’s history, construction, and all its secrets—possibly including a way to unseal the door. Yeslick is the last surviving member of the dwarven clan that originally constructed the mine over a century ago. This miner also told us that all the enslaved miners can be saved from drowning if we coordinate a plan with a miner named Rill. Rill should also be found on the level directly below us.
[Note: Here I decided to roleplay that the river plug quest-giver would without a doubt provide direction to the level below, i.e., there was no need to flip a card for that. I felt he would also tell where the two jail areas may be found.]
The miner gave simple directions to the next level, and provided the location of two jail areas, one of which is probably where Yeslick is still locked up, as the writer got to know him when jailed. Yeslick constantly mouths off to the slavers, he said; so he is usually in a jail cell.
(I didn’t ask why Yeslick was kept alive, but inwardly I speculated that from this man’s description he probably best understands the construction of the mines, and he may be needed to fix any structural problems that might arise. Yeslick would also know any possible hidden chambers and their possible magical dwarven enchantments should they stumble onto them.)
[Does the miner provide information about the layout of the second level, i.e., what specifically is found in each area? Black card = no.]
I wished to gather more information about the layout, and what we may encounter on the next level. But the miner warned that guard patrols for the door are regular, and the next one felt about overdue. Thus we had best continue with due haste to the next level. We thanked the miner for his assistance and took our leave, as ever with Coran and Imoen scouting ahead.
Upon entering the second level of the mine we encountered two guards that had to be killed. Imoen sustained an injury in the fight that Faldorn promptly healed.
According the miner’s instructions there were two sets of jail cells on this level. One was adjacent to the entrance straight ahead. And another was found by making the first left, traveling all the way to the end; and then to the right (the only direction one can take), and again making one’s way all the way to the end.
Coran first scouted the jail cells ahead. Neither Yeslick nor Rill was there, and none of the slaves locked up there had any useful information to provide.
Coran and Imoen scouted ahead in the direction of the other set of jail cells at the opposing corner of the level. They and found two guards directly ahead. One was armed with a bow, and the other used sword and shield. Our scouts agreed that they would sneak up on the archer and attack him from behind in tandem. When they did so and the fight was enjoined, we would come aid them. Coran would use his speed, darting about and firing his bow, to distract the enemies as the rest of us were to use ranged weapons.
And so we did just that. The strategy basically worked, with the only wrinkle being that Coran’s sword broke! He replaced it however with a sword from one of the vanquished guards.
Imoen and Coran continued scouting down the corridor. Before too long they returned to report that they had encountered a guard who spotted Coran as he was sneaking up. The guard pleaded to trade information in exchange for sparing his life. Coran accepted the offer, and the guard told that Davaeorn’s headquarters are located on the fourth level, two more levels down. Coran continued that he felt bad about killing the guard afterward, despite having made the promise to let him live. Imoen seemed bother by that turn of events, but we had no time to discuss it now.
[Note: This occurred because Coran left shadows as I was attempting to position both him and Imoen for the sneak attack. That of course prompted the conversation with the guard. I.e., this happened in-game—but the intention was to just take this guard out without conversation, like all the others.]
In all events, this information was a boon from the gods; and I felt it indicated their favor. For we now possessed the knowledge that there are at least two more levels beneath us; and that on the fourth Davaeorn is most likely to be found.
Imoen and Coran continued their scouting around the corner elbow of the corridor. They returned to report that a shambling ghast roamed the hallway ahead. We formulated a plan of attack that Imoen would lie back just behind the corridor’s elbow, hidden in the shadows. The rest of us would be situated a bit farther back in the corridor. Coran would sneak up and fire his bow and hopefully try to remain hidden and repeatedly sniper the creature. If Coran was seen and pursued by the creature, he would lead it back our way, and we would ambush it.
It turned out that Coran’s skill with the bow was all that was needed. His first well-placed shot badly injured the creature. As the monster advanced Coran fell back with his great speed. He then fired another shot that killed the noxious beast.
Further scouting down the corridor revealed yet another ghast ahead. We killed this one too using the very same tactic.
This brought us to the jail cells, where we found both Rill and Yeslick. Rill promised to free all the miners if we could but provide 100 gold that he needed for a bribe. We gladly made that transaction.
Yeslick was quite helpful in providing information. He told us that a man named Rieltar (presumably the same that had written the letter to Davaeorn) had tricked him into entering a business deal, but then tortured the mine’s location out of him and enslaved him. Yeslick shared a safe path out of the mine in the event the mine is flooded. He also advised that we must keep pushing deeper into the mine to find the means to break the magical seal on the door. Whoever created the magical seal likely knows how to undo it, he added.
I didn’t want to tell Yeslick, but we honestly had next to no interest whatsoever in the mine itself. We truly cared little how the operation fared, or about the affairs of the Iron Throne in general. We only wished to kill Davaeorn and hopefully thereby put an end to the bounty on my head. But it certainly did occur to me that were we to flood the mine, that event might well kill Davaeorn.
[Does Yeslick provide directions through the next two levels to Davaeorn’s chambers? Red card = yes.]
I asked Yeslick if he could tell us about the layout of the two levels beneath. He was helpful for our main purpose of seeking out Davaeorn, but did not provide a great deal of detail. He simply told us the straightest path to Davaeorn’s sanctum at the deepest level of the mine. In so doing, Yeslick advised that the entrance to next level down was just to the left of a door in the jail cell area. And with that Yeslick thanked us for freeing him and took his leave, wishing us well.
[Note: Naturally, Oracos would have had Yeslick join if it didn’t require booting someone else to do so; but the latter is definitely not something that Oracos would do. So due to game engine mechanics I’m pretending Yeslick’s offer to join never happens.]
Getting to the next level took us some doing! Some stout Blacktalon guards intermittently strolled about in the room next to the exit, including a couple of Blacktalon Elite. To our dismay Coran also spotted a mage on the other side of the cell doors. A direct assault carried the risked over being overwhelmed.
Coran shrewdly managed to keep opening the door, and as they variously wandered in to the adjacent chamber they inspected the open door, investing gating the jail cell area; as such we were able to silently ambush each of them. Imoen and Coran got hurt, separately, during two of these melees. But Faldorn and I healed them. Neera also discovered that during the fight at the entrance to the mine complex, when she had attempted to cast a spell a wild surge had created healing berries like the ones Faldorn had. We had Imoen eat them to heal an injury.
Finally only the wizard remained. I tried casting the Horrification spell into the adjoining room twice from a hidden spot in the jail cell area. But it was to no avail. So Coran used the potion that blocked all magical harm by half, and proceeded to backstab the wizard. Fortunately, the potions effects were not needed, as the sword attack killed the target instantly.
With the mage ahead thus removed we finally had secured a safe path to the next level of the mine. We hurried down, lest we face detection by more guards roaming the area.
Then, to our chagrin, we stumbled right onto a patrol at the entrance to the next level! Three Chill hobgoblin archers fired their bows from the rear. Blacktalons with swords and shields stood before them right before us.
Coran drew his blade and raced toward the archers to try to force them to melee. Imoen did the same.
Faldorn used the good judgment to summon a dread wolf, which was extremely helpful.
I cast the Slumber spell which worked on all but three of the enemy. Coran called out to me that he had taken a poisoned arrow, and so I ran to him to remove the poison with a spell.
Neera attempted to cast the Sleeping spell as well. But unhappily a wild surge resulted instead, making her physically enfeebled. However, the temporary debilitation did not prevent her from spellcasting, moving about, or throwing darts. She threw darts.
Eldoth used his bow.
We killed them all, and looted them.
Coran continued to scout the next area using the summoned dread wolf as his companion. Together they killed two Chill hobgoblins in the next area, in which molten iron ran from a central smelter through stone carved channels. Coran and the wolf also continued their stealthy assault at the end of a long hallway where a large room served as a smithing area. Four Chill fell there to the dread wolf and our ranged weapons.
We then finally came to the entrance of the deepest level of the mine, where Davaeorn’s lair lay. There we hoped to surprise our quarry and kill him. But we had exhausted quite a number of spells. Was it worth the risk to rest here we wondered?
After some discussion we agreed that in the balance it was probably the wiser to have all of our spells. Coran and Imoen went back to the areas we had just covered and dragged the corpses of the slain to dump them into a seemingly bottomless cavern we noticed in a room off the main corridor. Then our plan was to attempt to rest in the small room where the entrance to the final level of the mine was.
However before resting we took stock of the loot we had acquired. We noted that now had several more spell scrolls. The most valuable was a spell to Hasten all of us, imparting essentially the same effects that Coran enjoyed as he sped about with his enchanted boots. Another interesting looking spell employed necromancy to paralyze enemies with a single touch, similar to when a ghoul grabs someone. (Hmm. Perhaps a suitable spell for Eldoth? We would see.) We had picked up a scroll for a spell that protects a target from evil creatures. And we now had a potion that explodes violently upon impact with its target.
We decided not to try to scribe any of the news spells. The scroll to accelerate our speed would be highly valuable for our battle against Davaeorn. We would be wisest to assure its use by expending the scroll in a one-time-only casting.
To our great relief, our rest period was not interrupted by an attack.
Thus, it seemed we were now probably as ready to face Davaeorn as we were ever going to be given our circumstances. Hopefully by his death we might finally bring to an end this utter insanity of the seemingly inexplicable bounty placed on my head.
At this point I don't envision the PC fleeing if the battle is lost--he'll go down with his comrades (provided that likes them and feels strongly allied with them, which he does here). There's a strong chance that if several party members die, it wouldn't be practical to try to drag their bodies to the surface as the mine is flooding. So I could end up with a winnowed down party.
And I also roleplay who would flee if death seemed all but certain, and an opportunity presented itself to bolt: Eldoth would, I'm sure. Coran likely would (plus he's interested in participating in Eldoth's blackmail scheme--so if he saw Eldoth taking off he might well join him). I'd probably flip a card for Coran as to whether he would take flight.
Faldorn would not, I don't think--as a militant Shadow Druid she would fight to the death.
I really don't imagine Neera fleeing, as she has basically found a new family of sorts with Oracos and Imoen. And Imoen of course would not flee.
As for strategy, it's going to be a challenge because I must have the party act such that they don't know what I the player do. It's more or less critical that the party avoids the battle horrors, though; since they can only be harmed with magical energy. Faldorn's summoned dread wolf is the best I've got for them. Eldoth can cast two Magic Missile spells. I hope the ice arrows and Eldoth's poisoned arrows might harm them as well? i.e., if so it would be the cold damage and poison damage from them only. No one prepared anything like Flame Blade or Agannazar's Scorcher because they don't know that the possibility of those monsters being summoned lies ahead.
The traps that summon the battle horrors need to be removed to have the best chance of low casualties. I kind of blew off checking for traps in the other levels of the mine before this. I could draw a card for whether they have the presence of mind to do it now. Or I could just roleplay that they they do think to detect traps (and Faldorn does have that memorized, although Imoen's check traps is about 50).
So when I resume the next play session, I'll see how I feel about roleplaying it (having the presence of mind to check for traps) versus flipping a card to see if they do.
***
Having thought some more, I think it's actually very reasonable that they think to detect traps at this point. So I'll RP it as such. (The only reason I didn't do it on the previous levels of the mine is frankly because I find the Cloakwood mine slightly tedious to begin with. So I usually blow through it. I guess it's because at this point in the game I'm already looking forward to the wide-openness of BG city; and this dungeon crawl stands between me and the freedom of the big city.)
Given this party and its resoruces, the best strategy that I see is:
- remove traps (eliminate the Battle Horror spawns)
- Faldorn will summon a dread wolf to be used as main attacker (which will be Hasted)
- Haste the entire party
- Coran will use potion of Frost Giant Strength and potion of Magic Shielding
- with the wolf just out of sight, Coran approaches in stealth and first hurls potion of explosions; then the wolf rushes in; Coran will move in and try to draw Davaoen's attacks along with the wolf
- Coran uses ice arrows that he collected from the Blacktalon Elite
- Eldoth uses his poison arrows (theoretically, even one of these might prevent Davaoern from successfully casting anything further)
- Oracos casts Blind on Davaeorn
I don't recall trying blindness before but I suspect he will still teleport around (he always has for me regardless of what I throw at him) but if you have characters that have targeted him before he starts moving (under pause for instance) some of them almost always follow him from spot to spot without your direction. (In fact interrupting them to issue a new order can make them stop following him.)
Good Luck!