Back to the diary, from outside a mine in the deepest reaches of Cloackwood. These past three weeks have been full of events but I haven´t had much time. At the beginning because Brawnen was around and it was nice to chat with and after Beregost, things have gone very quickly. After flooding an ancient dwarven mine (another check on things to do before you die!), the pace has relaxed a little so here I am again. Where did I leave it?
Oh yes. The Nashkel Mines. The perfect example of how marketing really works. The mines were a joke. A small clan of kobolds had taken residence there and terrorized the miners. It took Brawnen and me a couple of hours to get to the bottom of it and clear the mines. Another incompetent priest of Cyric was running the whole thing in the shadow, poisoning the iron and making sure no more ore was being mined. He was also in league with the bandits, that are making sure no Amnian iron reaches Baldur´s Gate. It all falls into place.
His contact was a name named "T." in some correspondance he had in his lair and he was staying in Beregost. We went there the next day, after dealing with more bounty-hunters. One would think it is David ElNomo hunting season!! Well, if hunting means the prey was smarter, more powerful and getting bored of the whole deal. I guess it is more like bounty-hunter hunting season after all. I wonder if I will find more waiting in line to be killed by me when I go back to civilisation.
Surprisingly T. was the powerful wizard Tranzig, that had turned Brawnen to stone. Will not go in detail as to what happened in that fight as it is a sad memory. Let´s just say that Brawnen died defending me and killed his nemesis. A good way to go, better than most. I hope she is happy, wherever she is now.
From there I found out a connection between Tranzig and the bandits razing the sword coast. Found their lair by infiltrating their ranks and destroyed the encampment. I kind of missed Dynaheir there. Fireball would have been a great spell to use and I didn´t have time to learn it in our short time together. I also think I had become overconfident and went to kill the bandit bosses out in the open. I even prepared a small speech, I thought would be fitting. " Bandit fools!' I said. 'Bandit fools! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!'
Needless to say, they were not impressed by my ilusions and I got hit, poisoned and brought to the brink of death. Not a nice experience, let me tell you. Survived by becoming invisible and running the hell out of there. When they started searching for me, I picked on them one by one but it was a real close call. They didnt have no Cyric Priest in their ranks which might explain why they were more competent.
Found a letter tying their activities to a mine in the cloakwood and here I am. Big place this Cloakwood. And dangerous. Almost got killed by Wyverns (again, had to run and regroup. If I ever write my Adventures in a book, I have to make sure I "forget" writing about all my cowardly running around like a little halfling girl), met some interesting druids I would not invite for my birthday (or anywhere close if the sky is cloudy) and met a couple of nice folk along the way. First one is Coran. Good chap for an elf. Makes me laugh. He is also a quite skilled thief and as I would need one of those for the mines I took him along. In the mine, after clearing all the bandits and their boss, some incompetent wizard whose parents never loved him, judging by his horrible name, we met Yeslick the dwarf. Not the smartest kid in the block, I have to say, but trustworthy. He has a personal grudge against the Iron Throne (yes, they seem to be behind all of this. Need to read all the letters again carefully) so I told him he could do so beside me. Wouldn´t want him running around by himself and getting killed. Now, the course of action is clear. Travel up to Baldur´s Gate and find out what is going on at the Iron Throne. And do some sightseeing. And shopping. And drinking. Damn, I need a drink.
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Still alive after the Mines and maximum level with BG1 level cap, so I have taken companions to help around.
Hey good job, staying alive through all this! I was just wondering when you'd publish the next episode. I normally prefer taking my time in Chapter 5 BG City, because in Chapter 7 BG City you get harrassed a lot by the Fist... However quests can be done in Ch. 7 as well.
Finished Chapter 5. Almost no side questing as I am at the XP cap already. Last fight at the Iron Throne was easy spamming web + wand of fire + amulet of missiles.
Only trouble were a couple of jellies at Ramazig's that one-shoted Coran with 2 inmediate crits.
Is there something I have to be specially careful in Chapter 6? Any fight or trap specially nasty?
Is there something I have to be specially careful in Chapter 6? Any fight or trap specially nasty?
The fight against the Iron Throne dudes (Prat and those), the Spiders and the Web traps and all the stuff in the first level which is d-e-a-d-l-y. Then, the Greater Basilisks near the exit of the last level. The second level is easy, watch out of the Arrow of Detonation trap in the room where the Watcher-Doppleganger is, it's in the container.
Lots of potentially deadly traps! Either have a good trap detector/disarmer along or bring a couple of potions of perception. There are a few fights possibly tricky fights, but I think your strategy of Web, Free Action, Wand of Fire etc, should work there.
When you get into the catacombs under candleekeep make sure to use a scroll or protection from electricity or a potion. There are several lightning bolt traps down there, and when you step on them in a small space like the catacombs the bolt will hit the walls and could possible kill you in a second or two.
Down to the last fight with Sarevok... And my iPad switched off without battery :-D will do it later.
A bit worried, as in the throne room his magic resistance ignored 3 layers of web. Is he also reisistant to arrows of detonation, wand of fire and amulet of missiles? Was thinking of putting yeslick with 100+ fire resistance in the middle of the room, boots of speed and potions of magic inmunity or whatever while Coran and david use the fireball items.
Is there an easier tactic?
EDIT: I have seen somewhere that Sarevok has 99% magic resistance and 90% fire/other elements resistance. Is that correct? That would make the whole Fireball tactic useless
My solo tactic is almost always using a stealthy character with boots of speed + potions of speed for superspeed, and stealth/invisibility potions for surprise attacks/backstabs. If you're in a group you might be able to kite him with a hasted character and have other party membes take him with ranged attacks. In melee your fighter/mage might survive and deal reasonable damage with protection from evil, stoneskins, mirror images, haste (or better: potions of speed), DUHM. Especially if you dual wield I think. I've always had difficulty using magical attacks on Sarevok, although I've heard good things about the Wand of Cloudkill. (I can also imagine having Faldorn cast Magic Resistance on Sarevok, and then have your party cast offensive magic.)
Darts of wounding and arrows of biting. Try to get in a shot or two from distance, you'll be able to shut down some enemies this way, and if i remember right Sarevok isn't immune to poison?
Wand of Monster Summoning to keep them at bay, then snipe the casters, buy a few arrows of dispelling if needed. The important part with playing solo is to keep your distance and don't get locked down. Always keep a potion of invisibility in hand so that you can quickly escape if needed.
Use as many charges on your wand as needed to get more meat shields up, then focus on taking them down one at a time instead of rushing inside.
David did it! :-) when I started this run I really thought it was crazy to do a no-reload but it turns out with a fighter/mage is quite easy, as I had been told :-)
I escaped all fights in the maze and before the temple with invisibility (no point doing them as I was at the XP cap). Then, Coran died in a detonation arrow contest with Angelo, killing Angelo, Tazok and Simaj in the process. Sarevok was not drawn to battle for some reason, the rest followed the summons out, but not him. Then, an arrow of dispelling (for his haste) and several detonation and piercing arrows from David killed Sarevok, while he was trying to reach me. Not the most epic battle, but it did the trick :-)
Now to SoA! Well, that was fun :-) The kick from the couple of times were death was almost there but I survived( wyverns or bandit camp) was almost like a first time run :-) let's see how I fare in SoA. Will open another thread to ask for advice. Thanks for all the tips!
Comments
Back to the diary, from outside a mine in the deepest reaches of Cloackwood. These past three weeks have been full of events but I haven´t had much time. At the beginning because Brawnen was around and it was nice to chat with and after Beregost, things have gone very quickly. After flooding an ancient dwarven mine (another check on things to do before you die!), the pace has relaxed a little so here I am again. Where did I leave it?
Oh yes. The Nashkel Mines. The perfect example of how marketing really works. The mines were a joke. A small clan of kobolds had taken residence there and terrorized the miners. It took Brawnen and me a couple of hours to get to the bottom of it and clear the mines. Another incompetent priest of Cyric was running the whole thing in the shadow, poisoning the iron and making sure no more ore was being mined. He was also in league with the bandits, that are making sure no Amnian iron reaches Baldur´s Gate. It all falls into place.
His contact was a name named "T." in some correspondance he had in his lair and he was staying in Beregost. We went there the next day, after dealing with more bounty-hunters. One would think it is David ElNomo hunting season!! Well, if hunting means the prey was smarter, more powerful and getting bored of the whole deal. I guess it is more like bounty-hunter hunting season after all. I wonder if I will find more waiting in line to be killed by me when I go back to civilisation.
Surprisingly T. was the powerful wizard Tranzig, that had turned Brawnen to stone. Will not go in detail as to what happened in that fight as it is a sad memory. Let´s just say that Brawnen died defending me and killed his nemesis. A good way to go, better than most. I hope she is happy, wherever she is now.
From there I found out a connection between Tranzig and the bandits razing the sword coast. Found their lair by infiltrating their ranks and destroyed the encampment. I kind of missed Dynaheir there. Fireball would have been a great spell to use and I didn´t have time to learn it in our short time together. I also think I had become overconfident and went to kill the bandit bosses out in the open. I even prepared a small speech, I thought would be fitting. " Bandit fools!' I said. 'Bandit fools! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!'
Needless to say, they were not impressed by my ilusions and I got hit, poisoned and brought to the brink of death. Not a nice experience, let me tell you. Survived by becoming invisible and running the hell out of there. When they started searching for me, I picked on them one by one but it was a real close call. They didnt have no Cyric Priest in their ranks which might explain why they were more competent.
Found a letter tying their activities to a mine in the cloakwood and here I am. Big place this Cloakwood. And dangerous. Almost got killed by Wyverns (again, had to run and regroup. If I ever write my Adventures in a book, I have to make sure I "forget" writing about all my cowardly running around like a little halfling girl), met some interesting druids I would not invite for my birthday (or anywhere close if the sky is cloudy) and met a couple of nice folk along the way. First one is Coran. Good chap for an elf. Makes me laugh. He is also a quite skilled thief and as I would need one of those for the mines I took him along. In the mine, after clearing all the bandits and their boss, some incompetent wizard whose parents never loved him, judging by his horrible name, we met Yeslick the dwarf. Not the smartest kid in the block, I have to say, but trustworthy. He has a personal grudge against the Iron Throne (yes, they seem to be behind all of this. Need to read all the letters again carefully) so I told him he could do so beside me. Wouldn´t want him running around by himself and getting killed. Now, the course of action is clear. Travel up to Baldur´s Gate and find out what is going on at the Iron Throne. And do some sightseeing. And shopping. And drinking. Damn, I need a drink.
--------------
Still alive after the Mines and maximum level with BG1 level cap, so I have taken companions to help around.
What is the fastest way around chapter 5 in BG city? Can the side quests be done in Ch. 7?
I normally prefer taking my time in Chapter 5 BG City, because in Chapter 7 BG City you get harrassed a lot by the Fist... However quests can be done in Ch. 7 as well.
Only trouble were a couple of jellies at Ramazig's that one-shoted Coran with 2 inmediate crits.
Is there something I have to be specially careful in Chapter 6? Any fight or trap specially nasty?
There are a few fights possibly tricky fights, but I think your strategy of Web, Free Action, Wand of Fire etc, should work there.
A bit worried, as in the throne room his magic resistance ignored 3 layers of web. Is he also reisistant to arrows of detonation, wand of fire and amulet of missiles? Was thinking of putting yeslick with 100+ fire resistance in the middle of the room, boots of speed and potions of magic inmunity or whatever while Coran and david use the fireball items.
Is there an easier tactic?
EDIT: I have seen somewhere that Sarevok has 99% magic resistance and 90% fire/other elements resistance. Is that correct? That would make the whole Fireball tactic useless
In melee your fighter/mage might survive and deal reasonable damage with protection from evil, stoneskins, mirror images, haste (or better: potions of speed), DUHM. Especially if you dual wield I think.
I've always had difficulty using magical attacks on Sarevok, although I've heard good things about the Wand of Cloudkill. (I can also imagine having Faldorn cast Magic Resistance on Sarevok, and then have your party cast offensive magic.)
Wand of Monster Summoning to keep them at bay, then snipe the casters, buy a few arrows of dispelling if needed. The important part with playing solo is to keep your distance and don't get locked down. Always keep a potion of invisibility in hand so that you can quickly escape if needed.
Use as many charges on your wand as needed to get more meat shields up, then focus on taking them down one at a time instead of rushing inside.
I escaped all fights in the maze and before the temple with invisibility (no point doing them as I was at the XP cap). Then, Coran died in a detonation arrow contest with Angelo, killing Angelo, Tazok and Simaj in the process. Sarevok was not drawn to battle for some reason, the rest followed the summons out, but not him. Then, an arrow of dispelling (for his haste) and several detonation and piercing arrows from David killed Sarevok, while he was trying to reach me. Not the most epic battle, but it did the trick :-)
Now to SoA! Well, that was fun :-) The kick from the couple of times were death was almost there but I survived( wyverns or bandit camp) was almost like a first time run :-) let's see how I fare in SoA. Will open another thread to ask for advice. Thanks for all the tips!
Good luck in Amn, both Teyl and David will need it