Wow, waiting for the final showdown! Finish strong, Teyl!
thank you lunar will try so in an hour or so. problem is that in my setup I have to kill Sarevok's lackeys first before I can hurt him (SCS I think). And with Semaj and Angelo going invisible all the time and not even attacking my skellies, I'll have to be patient. Hopefull they'll show up at one point.
Wasn't the manual of quickness action in a barrel in the Thieves' Guild, behind Black Lily...? I never played BGT so I can't say if it has been changed.
It hasn't been changed in BGT, but the Item Randomiser mod I'm using changes the locations of many items that aren't quest-related, such as the Archmagi Robes, Boots of Speed, most tomes (but not the tome of WIS at Tymora's Temple in BG), etc.
wow @CrevsDaak, that's really cool! Love it! Well I've got good news: the fight was done with little to no trouble: Stealth/Invisibility potions and Speed potions did the job.
***
I entered Sarevok's sanctum, a dark, rustic temple. When I approached him he told me he was going to take Bhaal's essence and become the new Lord of Murder. In response I asked him what would happen if I wanted to take the essence for myself. This taunted him and caused him to call forth his four truest followers: Diarmid (a ranged fighter), resurrrected Tazok, Angelo Dosan (a Fighter-Mage, and in charge of the Fist after Scar's assassination), and Semaj (a mage). Sarevok told me I had to kill them first before I could even touch him. I don't know what kind of black magic was involved in that, but I took his counsel to heart without questioning it.
Protected against mind-controlling and movement hampering magic, and boosted with an Oil of Speed, I was confident to attack from up close, using my proven hit and fade tactics. Thus I slew the first of the four minions, Diarmid, with two backstabs. I was shocked to see how out of Diarmid's remains rose a Skeleton Warrior. The same would later happen with the remains of Sarevok's other minions by the way. To take the undead warrior down I used backstabs with my club the Root of the Problem.
I then tried to take on Angelo, but had difficulty hitting him due to his many Mirror Images (I think he cast that spell thrice). A skeleton I had summoned was no match for him, and my Wand of the Heavens' Flamestrikes did little damage. When I saw Tazok appear I decided to focus my attention on him instead. With two or three backstabs I banished him for the second time to the Nine Hells.
After Tazok's death and that of the Skeleton Warrior that rose from his remains, the fight lost some of its pace. Both Angelo and Semaj had turned invisible and weren't even provoked to attack by my skeletons. So I started taunting Sarevok, with surprise attacks, to see whether his remaining lackeys would come to Sarevok's aid. This worked after a while, when Semaj turned visible. Like Angelo he was very difficult to hit. Not much later I saw a non-Mirror Imaged Angelo casting a spell, so I decided to go after him and leave Semaj for now. That turned out to be an effective strategy. A poisoned backstab and one hit with my Frost Dart ended his existence, and made Shar-Teel an orphan.
For Semaj I needed lots of backstabs to consume his Stoneskins. With my lightning speed (the combination my Boots and Oils of Speed), there was little risk involved in that. When I struck him down, Sarevok showed some concern.
With all the Skeletal Warriors dead as well, only Sarevok and I remained.
He said: "You know Rieltar once told me I could never be like him. Wouldn't have bothered him knowing you were around somewhere alive." - "So, you found out you're not a businessman after all," I replied. - "Just a man." - "An ancient race," I told him. "Other Rieltars will be along, and they'll kill it off. But you won't live to see that happen."
I quaffed a Potion of Invisibility and pierced my dagger through his armor into his flesh. He tried to retalliate with a swing of his greatsword, but although he was remarkably quick and agile for a bulky, heavily armoured warrior, he was still too slow for me. We danced around a statue, and we played hide and seek, with me hiding in shadows whenever I saw the chance. To his credit I must concede that he was able to take many a hit without losing morale or his concentration. I knew that he would fall sooner or later, and so he did.
***
With this I could move Teyl on to Amn, but I won't have him report to Belt yet. While this is a roleplayed playthrough, I can't live with the fact that there's a Manual of Quickness of Action out there, and that Teyl hasn't found it. If something spectacular happens, I'll post another update. If not, his next update will be from Amn.
The Item Randomiser mod puts all the items into tiers, you'll be able to see what tier the manual is put into and then see where you'll be able to find that tier of items.
Here is a list where you can see what tier the items are put into and where you might find them.
The Item Randomiser mod puts all the items into tiers, you'll be able to see what tier the manual is put into and then see where you'll be able to find that tier of items.
Here is a list where you can see what tier the items are put into and where you might find them.
Thank you @Elrandir! I indeed never completed SoA on no-reload. Will take some people along as well. However restartitis inspired me to come up with another concept: a party full of specialist mages who can cast only spells from their own school. So I will be dividing my time between Teyl and Eloysia.
Would that be black pits or that thing I've heard people doing where they somehow play multiplayer by themselves? Either way, that's an awesome idea! I had a similar idea of a band of thieves just a couple days ago. Half multiclassed, half kitted, all with unique skills.
Would that be black pits or that thing I've heard people doing where they somehow play multiplayer by themselves? Either way, that's an awesome idea! I had a similar idea of a band of thieves just a couple days ago. Half multiclassed, half kitted, all with unique skills.
*** Teyl is in dire straits, and has less time to update his journal, but I'm going to let you know how he fares...
After defeating Sarevok he returned to the City, killed Arkion and found the highly estimated Manual of Quickness of Action on the mage. He read the tome and then reported to Belt of his success. Belt sent him on a mission to Amn, but he was poisoned and handed over to a very powerful mage. His old friend from Candlekeep, Imoen had been captured as well. She helped him escape from his cell. Stripped of all their equipment, Teyl found some very basic gear. He's fatigued [very annoying, -3 to my rolls, I think charname never starts out fatigued in Irenicus' Dungeon], but he feels he can't rest lest his captor returns for him. A moment ago he barely managed to overcome a puny Mephit, much to his embarrassment. The Mephit had even injured Imoen and Teyl.
He also saw Minsc in a cage, but wasn't sure whether or not to release the rashamani ranger, considering how he'd left Minsc to his fate, surrounded by vampires, zombies and vampiric wolves at the Firewine Ruins, a few months before. Another cage contained an elven woman whose face he vaguely recognized. One of the elves he had seen staring at him at the Friendly Arm Inn? They had never spoken though. His main concern being to get out of this hellhole, he didn't bother with looking for keys or a way to release Minsc or the elf. He soon changed his mind though. When he proceeded he met a Djinni posing him a riddle he ws too tired to solve. His answer caused the Djinni to summon an Ogre Mage. Hidden in shadows Teyl retreated and decided to find a way to "help" the other prisoners escape with him. (He was well aware that it would most likely be the other way around, with them helping him!) Minsc's great warrior strength allowed him to bend the bars of his cage and step out. Teyl was particularly pleased when the intellectually challenged ranger showed no memories of the circumstances in which they had parted at te Firewine Ruins. Teyl thought this to be a most satisfactory arrangement, but even Minsc was uncapable of bringing down the Ogre Mage. It wasn't until the Djinni intervened, with Minsc at the brink of death, that they could relax. The Djinn advised Teyl to seek out someone named Rielev.
They had three healing potions, but those are all gone now. Their grievous wounds inspired the party to take a rest (and a risk of being captured again).
Things have gone from bad to worse, to a bit better for Teyl. With Minsc and Imoen both being reasaonably good at hiding and moving without being noticed (even if Minsc's battlecry might give him away), the three sneaked through the halls and a few chambers. They saw many Duergar apparently working for whoever owns this dungeon. Teyl and Minsc tried to take three of them, but Teyl's backstabs seem to have lost much of their potency (8 damage on a quadruple backstab is laughable). So it was with great difficulty and with Minsc taking many a hit, that they bested the Duergar. This only caused the fugitives to be more cautious. They did manage to find Rielev, whom they were supposed to seek out, a creature stored in a glass container with some kind of liquid in it. He had little to tell them except for to go and check out another room with more creatures in similar jars, who could be brought to life with energy cells Rielev gave them, before he died. They found a curious stone and moved on the other room. In it were two Mephits. With little difficulty they managed to take on one at a time.
A swing by Minsc's 2h sword and a pathetic backstab by Teyl sufficed for this Mephit.
Being the best sneaker of the three, Teyl proceeded to scout out the area a bit more. With the stone he had found in Rielev's room he activated a golem and had him open a number of doors. After that, Teyl came upon a library with two more Mephits he ignored. An adjacent room was filled with Duergar, including a mage. On one of the tables in that room, Teyl glimpsed some of his gear, though not his best. Suddenly one of the Duergar noticed his presence and they started pelting him with their arrows, causing Teyl to urge on in search of a place to hide again. He did find such a place, but when he returned hidden in shadows, he triggered a damaging trap, bringing him close to death.
He retreated, through the library, back to Imoen. He then healed himself with potions and cast a Sanctuary to pick up the gear he'd seen in the other room without the Duergar being able to touch him. The loot included: Shadow Armor, a suit of Ankheg armor, his Ring of Free Action, the Cloak of Balduran, a Cloak he'd taken from Semaj's body, the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, the Gauntlets of Ogre Power, his Greenstone Amulet, and a Wand of the Heavens. (This is a component from the BGT Tweak mod.)
Teyl surprised at how vulnerable he was, decided to use most of the gear for himself, though the Ankheg armor and the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise went to Minsc. (Teyl himself donned the Shadow Armor and the Gauntlets of Ogre Power, in the hope that his backstabs would do more damage thn they had done thus far.)
With difficulty, and with all the help he could get Teyl managed to escape from the dungeon he found himself in. With the gauntlets of ogre power his backstabs became more likely to hit and more damaging. [Which goes to show how important STR is for backstabbing thieves.] They cleared the entire level of its ubiquitous Duergar. But it must be said the dwarves were strong opponents for this party, and they always worked in groups of five or six at least. Interestingly they commonly attacked Teyl rather than Minsc who was the more damaging meleer, but Misn did a good job in protecting Teyl. In fact, Teyl has become rather appreciative of Minsc. As long as he keeps his mouth shut the broadshouldered ranger may actually be quite useful to have around.
This is a point where the party had already slain about seven duergar, and still more were to be found nearby.
The resistance they encountered had the trio use almost all the healing potions they came across. They found two golems they tried to activate. When they failed to do so, they attacked them, one at the time, with the idea that it would be better to deactivate them before they could turn against the party. Hitting them did activate the golems and caused them to fight back. But one golem was no match against the three adventurers.
The doors, unlocked by the other golem, led to a chamber with an Otyugh. A good swing by Minsc and a confidence inspiring backstab by Teyl put the monster to rest, though it infected Minsc with a disease.
Even Teyl's non-critical backstabs had become more damaging than when he had just escaped his cage:
They proceeded to an open area with plants, and stunning dryads who asked Teyl if he had found their acorns. Teyl, having no idea what acorns they were talking about, left the creatures where they were and continued with Imoen and Minsc to explore a comfortable looking bedroom. Imoen triggered a trap and almost got herself killed. She found more traps and disarmed them all.
In the room they found a key. According to the dryads it could be used to travel between different levels of the dungeon. She urged them again to find the acorns. Apparently they were to be found on one of the Duergar, Ilych. They had already slain many Duergar, perhaps they had alread killed this Ilych they thought. This turned out not to be the case. When they returned to the library they were faced by more Duergar, including Ilych and a mage. They had to keep Imoen mostly out of battle as she was still injured from the trap she had triggered. Teyl summoned two skeletons to help them prevail. On Ilych's corpse they found the acorns.
Beyond the library they passed a locked door and Teyl noticed how a stone in his pack started to pulse. This would have to be a key. Before using the key however they continued to explore one more room they hadn't seen before. On their way the same trap that had injured Teyl when he fled from a group of Duergar, triggered again, severely damaging both him and Imoen, who promptly disarmed it.
The terrible state of their health caused the adventurers to decide to seek out the trapped elven woman. Maybe she could offer them healing in return for her release. The elf, a woman named Jaheira, would prove very difficult to bear with for Teyl, as she continuously critized his actions with sarcastic comments, and she unnerved him with stories about 'their' travels on the Sword Coast, which as such were true enough, except for the fact she had never been there to share them with him. She did heal the party, so she was allowed to continue with the group. Teyl noticed she was fairly adept with a quarterstaff, so he was happy to have her risk her neck with Minsc in the frontline, keeping his rescuer Imoen and Teyl out of trouble. With Jaheira they returned to the locked door, which was opened when they held the pulsing stone in front of it, and entered what seemed to be an extraplanar area. It was filled with all kinds of Mephits that were disposed of mostly by Minsc and Jaheira and with backup by Teyl and Imoen. They met a Djinni who would offer them a weapon of theirs in return for his flask. The party returned to the dryads to ask if they had seen this flask, and when they saw that Teyl had Ilych's acorns, they gave him the flask. The genie was grateful and gave him Sarevok's Sword of Chaos. Teyl handed the sword to Minsc who happily received the weapon and promised to kick major evil butt with it. The thought of having his own, docile bodyguard pleased Teyl.
When they used the key to travel between the dungeon's levels, they arrived in a room with an injured Kara-Turan bounty hunter, Yoshimo, who was willing to join their party. Teyl, not knowing whether or not to trust the man, decided to have him along. He didn't consider the injured warrior capable of taking on his entire party. In the next room they had to kill many Mephits, but didn't stuggle much. Yoshimo took up most of the damage, while Jaheira and Minsc did the killing. With a further injured Yoshimo, Teyl was more confident that he wouldn't have to fear any betrayal by the oriental swordsman.
Jaheira had a painful moment when she found her husband dead, cut open on a table. Teyl had little sympathy for the bossy elf and her predicament though. He found it most unsettling that she refused to even try and have her husband restored. This scene made him decide that he'd ditch the woman as soon as he saw fit.
The party of five proceeded their way until they came upon a large hall with rooms on both sides. In one the rooms they encountered an escaped clone that attacked them after she'd killed a thief whose reasons for being in the dungeon they had no idea of. The clone charmed Yoshimo, causing the rest of the party to retreat. When the charm had worn off, Yoshimo retalliated with a clean, fatal backstab. An action Teyl greatly appreciated.
The party also got mixed up in a fight between a vampire and a group of thieves. The vampire killed all of the thieves except one, a Shadow Thief Battlemage with an impressive arsenal of spells. The battlemage killed the vampire with little effort. Teyl, pleased with the woman's performance walked up to her to ask her if she'd join them to escape ths place. The mage had other plans though: she attacked Teyl on sight. He retreated, summoned two skeletons, and set a trap, but the skeletons only served to soak up some damage from her Chromatic Orbs and Magic Missiles, and the trap wouldn't kill her as she timely quaffed a potion of extra healing. It took the entire party and a critical hit from Teyl to take the mage down.
In another room, they were confronted with seven Duergar they managed to slay in an ultimate effort. Again all healing potions were needed to maintain Teyl, Minsc and Jaheira at reasonable health levels. (Yoshimo was refused any aid, because the party was still distrustful of the Kara-Turan.) There was some reward though, in the form of Adrian, a LE elven sorcerer joining the party. The wizard immediately proved his worth with two succesfully cast Spooks on a group of deadly assassins who, like the battlemage, somehow saw the party as a threat or even a rival. One of the assassins almost killed Imoen with a well-placed backstab. However Adrian's Spooks and a Hold Person cast by Teyl helped the party overcome the assassins without further trouble.
Leaving the slain assassins behind, the party made their way toward the dungeon's exit, toward the light...
My installments in this thread will be more concise from now on. I choose to save some time this way.
**** After Imoen's arrest the party went to the Den of the Seven Vales to confer and to rest. The next morning Teyl, used to working alone, dismissed all his companions, sold loot from Irencius' Dungeon at the Adventurer's Market (the wands brought in some good money) and bought some gear:
The Delnar dart I bought in order to try it out. It should be good against mages, although I think it doesn't work against PfMW or Mantle. If it's too powerful I'll only use it late game. Edir: the dart doesn't seem to be doing much. The dagger has a good enchantment but its Stealth bonus is mainly interesting for roleplaying purposes as Teyl's HiS and MS are both beyond 100. All three items are from the Underrepresented Items mod, which adds to BG2 a number of weapons from IWD2 in "underrepresented" weapon classes such as bastard swords, maces, darts etc. The items are too cheap IMO, though I compensate by paying 40k instead of 15k to get to Spellhold and will probably do a lot of donations.
Teyl then entered the Circus tent to solve the problem of a number of mysterious dissapearances in there. He "killed" (destroyed) two illusions in order to get Aerie's sword, but he wouldn't let her join the party. He proceeded without bothering to kill any Shadows, and went straight for Kalah. Kalah was easily taken care off. Unfortunately he didn't drop the ring of human influence, but Teyl's 15 CHA isn't bad anyway. Aerie's proposal to join Teyl was declined. In the Den of the Seven Vales, Mencar Pebblecrusher and friends were taken down with the help of an Amnish guard and Alatelo de Bonito, and with some luck: initially only Amon and Pooky followed Teyl downstairs. Teyl killed Amon, and the guard slew Pooky. Of the remaining foes Brennan disappeared, Mencar was taken down with backstabs and the returning dart, and the backstab immune Barbarian fell to Teyl's dart as well. The eagerly anticipated Cloak of Non-Detection wasn't on Amon's body (thank you Item Randomizer), so Teyl will remain to be vulnerable against enemy mages.
Selling the loot from Kalah and from Mencar & Co. allowed Teyl to purchase a returning poison tipped dart:
This dart is quite powerful, but not overly so as it is an unenchanted weapon. Teyl will use it mostly to deal more effectively with mobs of lower level foes.
He then moved to the Slums District to have a talk with Gaelan Bayle, and after that he visited the Copper Coronet where he slew the Beastmaster and his pets, freed the slaves, and also stole Hendak's revenge on Lethinan.
Teyl received a mysterious letter from Bernard, with an invitation to meet with a curvy woman in The Five Flagons Inn.
When he spoke with Hendak, the latter requested him to cleanse the Slaver Stockade. Teyl consented, and almost had to pay for that with his life. When exploring the backrooms and corridors under the cover of stealth he came in an area with three Myconids. When they noticed him Teyl decided to flee as he couldn't really be bothered with fighting this type of creatures. But they followed him through the corridors. Teyl managed to hide in shadows and distance himself from the monsters. He decided to animate dead and see how they would fare against the Myconids. However his foes must have caught the sound of Teyl's incantations as they showed up all of a sudden. The Myconid King successfully confused Teyl just when he was finishing his incantation. Confused Teyl, completely cornered, and his skeletons fought bravely against their foes. Initially the Myconids focused on the skeletons, but these didn't last very long. When the skellies were destroyed, the Myconids bagan dealing serious damage to Teyl's health to the point where death seemed inevitable. A critical hit killed one of the Myconids however, and with it the elimination of one his foes, proved to be just enough for Teyl to survive while waiting for the Confusion effect to wear off. The first thing he did when he came to his senses was to quaff a potion of invisibility, distance himself again from his foes, and heal. He then activated his Greenstone Amulet and killed off the remaining two Myconids.
After this narrow escape Teyl solved the riddle in the sewers. He repeatedly tripped a Coudkill trap which helped him slay a number of hobgoblins, but also depleted his own health. Before proceeding to take on the slavers, Teyl returned to Bernard to rest, and went to the Bridge District where he encountered a temple that sold him some healing potions. He also met with Aurora who appeared to have his stylish boots of the cheetah. He wasn't happy buying something he thought belonged to him already back, but he didn't want to make a fuss and invested 6500 GP for the boots that double the wearer's movement speed.
Teyl dealt with the slavers by confronting some of them in their stockade, Captain Haegan and the Priest of Cyric, while others had been lured away toward the sewers/corridors. The Priest of Cyric was dangerous. After being poisoned by Teyl he managed to fully restore his heath with potions. A critical backstab did him in. Haegan fell to Teyl's darts. The Stockade can be used quite well for backstabbing tactics, since there's a large pile of boxes in the middle, behind which Teyl would hide. One room contained two trolls that were brought down with backstabs and killed with Flamestrikes from Teyl's Wand of the Heavens.
When more slaver guards, including two wizards, came for Teyl he retreated to the sewers to take care of the guards down there first. That way he would have more room to manoeuver. Unfortunately the wizards and the other guards followed Teyl down into the sewers. At one point they even cornered stealthed Teyl. As he knew one of the slavers to be near death, he flamestruck that one and freed himself.
One of the mages made Teyl waste another potion of invisibility when he saw a Ray of Enfeeblement cast his way. (Teyl Saved vs the spell.) The slavers, and two Yuan-Ti, were taken on patiently by Teyl, one by one.
Teyl's next step will be to buy some invisibility potions. He has only one left. After that he'll go to the Sahdow Thieves Guild in the Docks District.
Teyl's adventures in Amn were short-lived. For the Shadow Thieves / Edwin, he undertook to kill Rayic Gethras in his home in the Docks District. He worked his way past the Mephits on the first floor, and even bested the golems on the second floor.
On the third floor he saw with Rayic himself. Teyl entered stealthed, and placed two traps out Rayic's sight. When he became visible the two spoke, and Teyl exused himself and left, only to return once again hidden in shadows, to try a dispelling attack with his Delnar' Eye Gouger dart, but that didn't work. Teyl moved away from Rayic. The traps triggered but didn't kill the mage, who cast a Power Word, Stun on Teyl. It give the mage sufficient time to finish Teyl off with Melf's Minute Meteors.
@illusion, thanks man! I hadn't played Teyl in a while, until this afternoon. Most of it went pretty smooth, even though my metaknowledge of BG2 has become quite rusty. PW Stun, man there's not even a save against that... Deadly if you'all alone.
The good thing is that I can think of a new character now, or maybe give Grynne the Wizard Slayer a second chance.
@Blackraven or you can start BG2 again Or just create a new character Or a all cleric party instead Or play with Grynne BUT HELL, HE (Teyl) FREAKING DIED!!!! Also, the Stone Golem is grey because of aTweaks, right? Now I regret not installing that particular part of the mod :P
@Blackraven or you can start BG2 again Or just create a new character Or a all cleric party instead Or play with Grynne BUT HELL, HE (Teyl) FREAKING DIED!!!! Also, the Stone Golem is grey because of aTweaks, right? Now I regret not installing that particular part of the mod :P
Won't restart BG2, for me Charname has to start in Candlekeep. All clerics or more likely all thieves is an option yes, as is Grynne. Am looking into Avenger atm. Will figure something out Am a bit reluctant to continue with the specialist mages, ever since Elly died and I had to reload.
I've got no idea why the stone golems look grey (or even what color they're supposed to look lol).
I'm so sad Teyl died ! It was a very interesting thread, and i'm looking for your next playthrought (and i'm also starting to play only no-reload now, you got me !)
Hey thanks @Gotural, will post about anew playthorugh today And I think it's really nice that you're going no-reload as well! I'd love to read about it if you care to share on the forums!
Comments
Probably :P I like your run a lot too! Here's another version of the image.
@Blackraven: Item Randomizer mod: ruining Crevs' metagame knowledge of items since 2001!!!
***
I entered Sarevok's sanctum, a dark, rustic temple. When I approached him he told me he was going to take Bhaal's essence and become the new Lord of Murder. In response I asked him what would happen if I wanted to take the essence for myself. This taunted him and caused him to call forth his four truest followers: Diarmid (a ranged fighter), resurrrected Tazok, Angelo Dosan (a Fighter-Mage, and in charge of the Fist after Scar's assassination), and Semaj (a mage). Sarevok told me I had to kill them first before I could even touch him. I don't know what kind of black magic was involved in that, but I took his counsel to heart without questioning it.
Protected against mind-controlling and movement hampering magic, and boosted with an Oil of Speed, I was confident to attack from up close, using my proven hit and fade tactics. Thus I slew the first of the four minions, Diarmid, with two backstabs. I was shocked to see how out of Diarmid's remains rose a Skeleton Warrior. The same would later happen with the remains of Sarevok's other minions by the way. To take the undead warrior down I used backstabs with my club the Root of the Problem.
I then tried to take on Angelo, but had difficulty hitting him due to his many Mirror Images (I think he cast that spell thrice). A skeleton I had summoned was no match for him, and my Wand of the Heavens' Flamestrikes did little damage. When I saw Tazok appear I decided to focus my attention on him instead. With two or three backstabs I banished him for the second time to the Nine Hells.
After Tazok's death and that of the Skeleton Warrior that rose from his remains, the fight lost some of its pace. Both Angelo and Semaj had turned invisible and weren't even provoked to attack by my skeletons. So I started taunting Sarevok, with surprise attacks, to see whether his remaining lackeys would come to Sarevok's aid.
This worked after a while, when Semaj turned visible. Like Angelo he was very difficult to hit. Not much later I saw a non-Mirror Imaged Angelo casting a spell, so I decided to go after him and leave Semaj for now. That turned out to be an effective strategy. A poisoned backstab and one hit with my Frost Dart ended his existence, and made Shar-Teel an orphan.
For Semaj I needed lots of backstabs to consume his Stoneskins. With my lightning speed (the combination my Boots and Oils of Speed), there was little risk involved in that. When I struck him down, Sarevok showed some concern.
With all the Skeletal Warriors dead as well, only Sarevok and I remained.
He said: "You know Rieltar once told me I could never be like him. Wouldn't have bothered him knowing you were around somewhere alive."
- "So, you found out you're not a businessman after all," I replied.
- "Just a man."
- "An ancient race," I told him. "Other Rieltars will be along, and they'll kill it off. But you won't live to see that happen."
I quaffed a Potion of Invisibility and pierced my dagger through his armor into his flesh. He tried to retalliate with a swing of his greatsword, but although he was remarkably quick and agile for a bulky, heavily armoured warrior, he was still too slow for me. We danced around a statue, and we played hide and seek, with me hiding in shadows whenever I saw the chance. To his credit I must concede that he was able to take many a hit without losing morale or his concentration. I knew that he would fall sooner or later, and so he did.
***
With this I could move Teyl on to Amn, but I won't have him report to Belt yet. While this is a roleplayed playthrough, I can't live with the fact that there's a Manual of Quickness of Action out there, and that Teyl hasn't found it. If something spectacular happens, I'll post another update. If not, his next update will be from Amn.
I hope David will soon make it as well!
Here is a list where you can see what tier the items are put into and where you might find them.
http://www.gibberlings3.net/readmes/spoilers-randomiser.html#locations_totsc
However restartitis inspired me to come up with another concept: a party full of specialist mages who can cast only spells from their own school.
BTW my plan isn't for Blackpits or Multiplayer. If you're interested, you can look here: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/31147/scs-no-reload-with-a-band-of-specialist-mages#latest
Teyl is in dire straits, and has less time to update his journal, but I'm going to let you know how he fares...
After defeating Sarevok he returned to the City, killed Arkion and found the highly estimated Manual of Quickness of Action on the mage. He read the tome and then reported to Belt of his success. Belt sent him on a mission to Amn, but he was poisoned and handed over to a very powerful mage. His old friend from Candlekeep, Imoen had been captured as well. She helped him escape from his cell.
Stripped of all their equipment, Teyl found some very basic gear. He's fatigued [very annoying, -3 to my rolls, I think charname never starts out fatigued in Irenicus' Dungeon], but he feels he can't rest lest his captor returns for him. A moment ago he barely managed to overcome a puny Mephit, much to his embarrassment. The Mephit had even injured Imoen and Teyl.
He also saw Minsc in a cage, but wasn't sure whether or not to release the rashamani ranger, considering how he'd left Minsc to his fate, surrounded by vampires, zombies and vampiric wolves at the Firewine Ruins, a few months before. Another cage contained an elven woman whose face he vaguely recognized. One of the elves he had seen staring at him at the Friendly Arm Inn? They had never spoken though.
His main concern being to get out of this hellhole, he didn't bother with looking for keys or a way to release Minsc or the elf. He soon changed his mind though. When he proceeded he met a Djinni posing him a riddle he ws too tired to solve. His answer caused the Djinni to summon an Ogre Mage. Hidden in shadows Teyl retreated and decided to find a way to "help" the other prisoners escape with him. (He was well aware that it would most likely be the other way around, with them helping him!) Minsc's great warrior strength allowed him to bend the bars of his cage and step out. Teyl was particularly pleased when the intellectually challenged ranger showed no memories of the circumstances in which they had parted at te Firewine Ruins.
Teyl thought this to be a most satisfactory arrangement, but even Minsc was uncapable of bringing down the Ogre Mage. It wasn't until the Djinni intervened, with Minsc at the brink of death, that they could relax. The Djinn advised Teyl to seek out someone named Rielev.
They had three healing potions, but those are all gone now. Their grievous wounds inspired the party to take a rest (and a risk of being captured again).
A swing by Minsc's 2h sword and a pathetic backstab by Teyl sufficed for this Mephit.
Being the best sneaker of the three, Teyl proceeded to scout out the area a bit more. With the stone he had found in Rielev's room he activated a golem and had him open a number of doors. After that, Teyl came upon a library with two more Mephits he ignored. An adjacent room was filled with Duergar, including a mage. On one of the tables in that room, Teyl glimpsed some of his gear, though not his best. Suddenly one of the Duergar noticed his presence and they started pelting him with their arrows, causing Teyl to urge on in search of a place to hide again. He did find such a place, but when he returned hidden in shadows, he triggered a damaging trap, bringing him close to death.
He retreated, through the library, back to Imoen. He then healed himself with potions and cast a Sanctuary to pick up the gear he'd seen in the other room without the Duergar being able to touch him. The loot included: Shadow Armor, a suit of Ankheg armor, his Ring of Free Action, the Cloak of Balduran, a Cloak he'd taken from Semaj's body, the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, the Gauntlets of Ogre Power, his Greenstone Amulet, and a Wand of the Heavens. (This is a component from the BGT Tweak mod.)
Teyl surprised at how vulnerable he was, decided to use most of the gear for himself, though the Ankheg armor and the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise went to Minsc. (Teyl himself donned the Shadow Armor and the Gauntlets of Ogre Power, in the hope that his backstabs would do more damage thn they had done thus far.)
In fact, Teyl has become rather appreciative of Minsc. As long as he keeps his mouth shut the broadshouldered ranger may actually be quite useful to have around.
This is a point where the party had already slain about seven duergar, and still more were to be found nearby.
The resistance they encountered had the trio use almost all the healing potions they came across.
They found two golems they tried to activate. When they failed to do so, they attacked them, one at the time, with the idea that it would be better to deactivate them before they could turn against the party. Hitting them did activate the golems and caused them to fight back. But one golem was no match against the three adventurers.
The doors, unlocked by the other golem, led to a chamber with an Otyugh. A good swing by Minsc and a confidence inspiring backstab by Teyl put the monster to rest, though it infected Minsc with a disease.
Even Teyl's non-critical backstabs had become more damaging than when he had just escaped his cage:
They proceeded to an open area with plants, and stunning dryads who asked Teyl if he had found their acorns. Teyl, having no idea what acorns they were talking about, left the creatures where they were and continued with Imoen and Minsc to explore a comfortable looking bedroom. Imoen triggered a trap and almost got herself killed. She found more traps and disarmed them all.
In the room they found a key. According to the dryads it could be used to travel between different levels of the dungeon. She urged them again to find the acorns. Apparently they were to be found on one of the Duergar, Ilych. They had already slain many Duergar, perhaps they had alread killed this Ilych they thought. This turned out not to be the case. When they returned to the library they were faced by more Duergar, including Ilych and a mage. They had to keep Imoen mostly out of battle as she was still injured from the trap she had triggered. Teyl summoned two skeletons to help them prevail. On Ilych's corpse they found the acorns.
Beyond the library they passed a locked door and Teyl noticed how a stone in his pack started to pulse. This would have to be a key. Before using the key however they continued to explore one more room they hadn't seen before. On their way the same trap that had injured Teyl when he fled from a group of Duergar, triggered again, severely damaging both him and Imoen, who promptly disarmed it.
The terrible state of their health caused the adventurers to decide to seek out the trapped elven woman. Maybe she could offer them healing in return for her release. The elf, a woman named Jaheira, would prove very difficult to bear with for Teyl, as she continuously critized his actions with sarcastic comments, and she unnerved him with stories about 'their' travels on the Sword Coast, which as such were true enough, except for the fact she had never been there to share them with him. She did heal the party, so she was allowed to continue with the group. Teyl noticed she was fairly adept with a quarterstaff, so he was happy to have her risk her neck with Minsc in the frontline, keeping his rescuer Imoen and Teyl out of trouble.
With Jaheira they returned to the locked door, which was opened when they held the pulsing stone in front of it, and entered what seemed to be an extraplanar area. It was filled with all kinds of Mephits that were disposed of mostly by Minsc and Jaheira and with backup by Teyl and Imoen. They met a Djinni who would offer them a weapon of theirs in return for his flask. The party returned to the dryads to ask if they had seen this flask, and when they saw that Teyl had Ilych's acorns, they gave him the flask. The genie was grateful and gave him Sarevok's Sword of Chaos. Teyl handed the sword to Minsc who happily received the weapon and promised to kick major evil butt with it. The thought of having his own, docile bodyguard pleased Teyl.
When they used the key to travel between the dungeon's levels, they arrived in a room with an injured Kara-Turan bounty hunter, Yoshimo, who was willing to join their party. Teyl, not knowing whether or not to trust the man, decided to have him along. He didn't consider the injured warrior capable of taking on his entire party.
In the next room they had to kill many Mephits, but didn't stuggle much. Yoshimo took up most of the damage, while Jaheira and Minsc did the killing. With a further injured Yoshimo, Teyl was more confident that he wouldn't have to fear any betrayal by the oriental swordsman.
Jaheira had a painful moment when she found her husband dead, cut open on a table. Teyl had little sympathy for the bossy elf and her predicament though. He found it most unsettling that she refused to even try and have her husband restored. This scene made him decide that he'd ditch the woman as soon as he saw fit.
The party of five proceeded their way until they came upon a large hall with rooms on both sides. In one the rooms they encountered an escaped clone that attacked them after she'd killed a thief whose reasons for being in the dungeon they had no idea of. The clone charmed Yoshimo, causing the rest of the party to retreat. When the charm had worn off, Yoshimo retalliated with a clean, fatal backstab. An action Teyl greatly appreciated.
The party also got mixed up in a fight between a vampire and a group of thieves. The vampire killed all of the thieves except one, a Shadow Thief Battlemage with an impressive arsenal of spells. The battlemage killed the vampire with little effort. Teyl, pleased with the woman's performance walked up to her to ask her if she'd join them to escape ths place. The mage had other plans though: she attacked Teyl on sight. He retreated, summoned two skeletons, and set a trap, but the skeletons only served to soak up some damage from her Chromatic Orbs and Magic Missiles, and the trap wouldn't kill her as she timely quaffed a potion of extra healing. It took the entire party and a critical hit from Teyl to take the mage down.
In another room, they were confronted with seven Duergar they managed to slay in an ultimate effort. Again all healing potions were needed to maintain Teyl, Minsc and Jaheira at reasonable health levels. (Yoshimo was refused any aid, because the party was still distrustful of the Kara-Turan.)
There was some reward though, in the form of Adrian, a LE elven sorcerer joining the party. The wizard immediately proved his worth with two succesfully cast Spooks on a group of deadly assassins who, like the battlemage, somehow saw the party as a threat or even a rival. One of the assassins almost killed Imoen with a well-placed backstab. However Adrian's Spooks and a Hold Person cast by Teyl helped the party overcome the assassins without further trouble.
Leaving the slain assassins behind, the party made their way toward the dungeon's exit, toward the light...
****
After Imoen's arrest the party went to the Den of the Seven Vales to confer and to rest. The next morning Teyl, used to working alone, dismissed all his companions, sold loot from Irencius' Dungeon at the Adventurer's Market (the wands brought in some good money) and bought some gear:
The Delnar dart I bought in order to try it out. It should be good against mages, although I think it doesn't work against PfMW or Mantle. If it's too powerful I'll only use it late game. Edir: the dart doesn't seem to be doing much.
The dagger has a good enchantment but its Stealth bonus is mainly interesting for roleplaying purposes as Teyl's HiS and MS are both beyond 100.
All three items are from the Underrepresented Items mod, which adds to BG2 a number of weapons from IWD2 in "underrepresented" weapon classes such as bastard swords, maces, darts etc. The items are too cheap IMO, though I compensate by paying 40k instead of 15k to get to Spellhold and will probably do a lot of donations.
Teyl then entered the Circus tent to solve the problem of a number of mysterious dissapearances in there. He "killed" (destroyed) two illusions in order to get Aerie's sword, but he wouldn't let her join the party. He proceeded without bothering to kill any Shadows, and went straight for Kalah. Kalah was easily taken care off. Unfortunately he didn't drop the ring of human influence, but Teyl's 15 CHA isn't bad anyway. Aerie's proposal to join Teyl was declined.
In the Den of the Seven Vales, Mencar Pebblecrusher and friends were taken down with the help of an Amnish guard and Alatelo de Bonito, and with some luck: initially only Amon and Pooky followed Teyl downstairs. Teyl killed Amon, and the guard slew Pooky. Of the remaining foes Brennan disappeared, Mencar was taken down with backstabs and the returning dart, and the backstab immune Barbarian fell to Teyl's dart as well.
The eagerly anticipated Cloak of Non-Detection wasn't on Amon's body (thank you Item Randomizer), so Teyl will remain to be vulnerable against enemy mages.
Selling the loot from Kalah and from Mencar & Co. allowed Teyl to purchase a returning poison tipped dart:
This dart is quite powerful, but not overly so as it is an unenchanted weapon. Teyl will use it mostly to deal more effectively with mobs of lower level foes.
He then moved to the Slums District to have a talk with Gaelan Bayle, and after that he visited the Copper Coronet where he slew the Beastmaster and his pets, freed the slaves, and also stole Hendak's revenge on Lethinan.
Teyl received a mysterious letter from Bernard, with an invitation to meet with a curvy woman in The Five Flagons Inn.
When he spoke with Hendak, the latter requested him to cleanse the Slaver Stockade. Teyl consented, and almost had to pay for that with his life. When exploring the backrooms and corridors under the cover of stealth he came in an area with three Myconids. When they noticed him Teyl decided to flee as he couldn't really be bothered with fighting this type of creatures. But they followed him through the corridors. Teyl managed to hide in shadows and distance himself from the monsters. He decided to animate dead and see how they would fare against the Myconids. However his foes must have caught the sound of Teyl's incantations as they showed up all of a sudden. The Myconid King successfully confused Teyl just when he was finishing his incantation. Confused Teyl, completely cornered, and his skeletons fought bravely against their foes. Initially the Myconids focused on the skeletons, but these didn't last very long. When the skellies were destroyed, the Myconids bagan dealing serious damage to Teyl's health to the point where death seemed inevitable. A critical hit killed one of the Myconids however, and with it the elimination of one his foes, proved to be just enough for Teyl to survive while waiting for the Confusion effect to wear off. The first thing he did when he came to his senses was to quaff a potion of invisibility, distance himself again from his foes, and heal. He then activated his Greenstone Amulet and killed off the remaining two Myconids.
After this narrow escape Teyl solved the riddle in the sewers. He repeatedly tripped a Coudkill trap which helped him slay a number of hobgoblins, but also depleted his own health. Before proceeding to take on the slavers, Teyl returned to Bernard to rest, and went to the Bridge District where he encountered a temple that sold him some healing potions. He also met with Aurora who appeared to have his stylish boots of the cheetah. He wasn't happy buying something he thought belonged to him already back, but he didn't want to make a fuss and invested 6500 GP for the boots that double the wearer's movement speed.
Teyl dealt with the slavers by confronting some of them in their stockade, Captain Haegan and the Priest of Cyric, while others had been lured away toward the sewers/corridors. The Priest of Cyric was dangerous. After being poisoned by Teyl he managed to fully restore his heath with potions. A critical backstab did him in. Haegan fell to Teyl's darts. The Stockade can be used quite well for backstabbing tactics, since there's a large pile of boxes in the middle, behind which Teyl would hide. One room contained two trolls that were brought down with backstabs and killed with Flamestrikes from Teyl's Wand of the Heavens.
When more slaver guards, including two wizards, came for Teyl he retreated to the sewers to take care of the guards down there first. That way he would have more room to manoeuver. Unfortunately the wizards and the other guards followed Teyl down into the sewers. At one point they even cornered stealthed Teyl. As he knew one of the slavers to be near death, he flamestruck that one and freed himself.
One of the mages made Teyl waste another potion of invisibility when he saw a Ray of Enfeeblement cast his way. (Teyl Saved vs the spell.) The slavers, and two Yuan-Ti, were taken on patiently by Teyl, one by one.
Teyl's next step will be to buy some invisibility potions. He has only one left. After that he'll go to the Sahdow Thieves Guild in the Docks District.
For the Shadow Thieves / Edwin, he undertook to kill Rayic Gethras in his home in the Docks District. He worked his way past the Mephits on the first floor, and even bested the golems on the second floor.
On the third floor he saw with Rayic himself. Teyl entered stealthed, and placed two traps out Rayic's sight. When he became visible the two spoke, and Teyl exused himself and left, only to return once again hidden in shadows, to try a dispelling attack with his Delnar' Eye Gouger dart, but that didn't work. Teyl moved away from Rayic. The traps triggered but didn't kill the mage, who cast a Power Word, Stun on Teyl. It give the mage sufficient time to finish Teyl off with Melf's Minute Meteors.
I hadn't played Teyl in a while, until this afternoon. Most of it went pretty smooth, even though my metaknowledge of BG2 has become quite rusty. PW Stun, man there's not even a save against that... Deadly if you'all alone.
The good thing is that I can think of a new character now, or maybe give Grynne the Wizard Slayer a second chance.
Or just create a new character
Or a all cleric party instead
Or play with Grynne
BUT HELL, HE (Teyl) FREAKING DIED!!!!
Also, the Stone Golem is grey because of aTweaks, right? Now I regret not installing that particular part of the mod :P
Am a bit reluctant to continue with the specialist mages, ever since Elly died and I had to reload.
I've got no idea why the stone golems look grey (or even what color they're supposed to look lol).
(I think I read somewhere you were going to install SCS)
And I think it's really nice that you're going no-reload as well! I'd love to read about it if you care to share on the forums!