What a shame about Faldorn! It would have been great to have the spellpower of a Druid in the party; especially for BG1.
Yeah. I love Summon Woodland Being, especially for the Ducal Palace battle and the battle against the Iron Throne leaders. Really with Faldorn, this would be close to my ideal group for BGI... Coran enters the mix at some point, but Faldorn, Edwin, Viconia, Kagain, and Imoen are 5 of the best 8 NPCs available imo: with Yeslick, Coran, and Jaheira filling out the 8.
Scouting the interior of the compound, Amend noted 4 guards: 2 mages and 2 fighters and-or clerics. Another chokepoint was readily available as the only entrance to the walled compound was a bridge over a stream. To those inside, a looked like a fortified position. To Amend it looked like a death trap. He fixed his party in a position at the opposite side of the bridge, trapped the bridge, and would funnel the enemy across the bridge into his prepared defenses.
He entered the compound and exchanged some banter with a mouthy mercenary named Drassus, who chased after Amend right into his trap. The 2 mages shadowed-doored away. The cleric followed slowly behind the hasted Drassus, so the 4 ended up pursuing one-by-one and were killed one-by-one.
Once inside the mines, Amend discovered a sophisticated and productive operation, with many slave-workers. The slaves begged him to free them, but this was nonsense. Why would Amend disband a perfectly productive work-force mining iron in the midst of an iron crisis? Others asked Amend to flood the mines and destroy them, but this was just their rage at their condition speaking. He was not about the flood the only productive iron mine in the region. The slaves were relentless, and their pathetic pleas to "get me out of this hell-hole" made the entire journey through the mines rather unpleasant.
On the second level of the mines, Amend encountered a command post of some kind. A mage and a large number of guards, clustered in a dining room off a kitchen. The room had 3 entrances, and Amend decided to attack from the hallway leading to the kitchen. The plan was simple; center a web on the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room, just out of sight of the guards, then have Imoen empty her wand of fire on the doorway. This would kill all the guards and separate the mage from the guards, since he as likely to have a globe of invulnerability up. The group could then kill him 6 v. 1. The mage did not have a globe up, however, and got stuck in the web and died to the fireballs along with most of the other guards. The company suffered no injuries in this battle.
On the 4th level of the mines, Amend scouted the headmaster of the facility, a mage Davaeorn, flanked by 2 undead knights. The mage sensed something amiss, after the company killed his guard in an antechamber, and tried to detect invisibility on Amend as he scouted the mage´s quarters and defenses, but Amend was wearing a cloak of non-detection that he had found in the Cloakwood, and was able to properly set up the battle the way he wanted it. He planted traps in each of the rooms and then one by the entrance to block the exit and defend against any reinforcements that may arrive.
The group prepared for battle in the antechamber. After detecting and disarming some traps in the hallway, Imoen followed Amend invisible into the mage´s bedchamber to flank the mage or ambush him if he retreated into this chamber (Imoen had just reached lvl. 6 as a mage and got her rogue abilities back on level 3 of the mines, just in time to deal with the traps). Dorn drank a potion of invunerability (as did Kagain), and armed with Spider´s Bane (a greatsword that he had found in the spider´s lair in Cloakwood, which granted him immunity to movement impairing effects), Dorn set off down the hall to confront the mage. Davaeorn fired a sequenced web and stinking cloud into the intersection, but with his saves buffed and free action, Dorn moved through the spells effortessly. The mage then cast a teleport field to prevent Amend and Imoen from approaching (as Imoen was going to spell thrust him, then remove his images for a backstab). He then teleported into a side chamber, setting off a trap, which prompted him to teleport into his bed chambers, setting off another trap. Imoen hit him with a spell thrust there, removing his globe of invulnerability, while his 2 skeletal knights engaged Dorn and Kagain.
A group of Black Talon mercenaries entered from the stairwell, but were caught in Amend´s trap and badly wounded. Viconia got off a hold person and Edwin a Charm person, holding some of the survivors of the traps and turning one of them on their fellows. But Viconia took 2 arrows ,was wounded, and had to retreat out of sight. Sensing the danger of the stealthed rogue and with only 1 image and 1 or 2 stoneskins remaining after an Imoen magic missile, Davaeorn fled toward the intersection, but Dorn, Kagain, Viconia, and Edwin had dealt with the knights and with the black-talons fighting one another, the company was ready for him. There the entire company attacked him and he fell to a flame arrow from Edwin.
Well done, almost effortless (compared to the struggle I had yesterday at the same point in the game). I'm quite impressed with the effectiveness of your traps. This is an SCS run yes? Are the traps actually a viable instrument against mobs? Do you have to rest a lot, to be an effective bounty hunter? Compliments by the way for the writing, I like Amend's ind of evil, ruthless and smart.
Well done, almost effortless (compared to the struggle I had yesterday at the same point in the game). I'm quite impressed with the effectiveness of your traps. This is an SCS run yes? Are the traps actually a viable instrument against mobs? Do you have to rest a lot, to be an effective bounty hunter? Compliments by the way for the writing, I like Amend's ind of evil, ruthless and smart.
It is easier to this battle with a group. One does not have to worry about metagame knowledge so much (do you leave the battle horrors to avoid spawning the blacktalons... etc.). Just have the group positioned to handle each threat. It is much easier this time through as well, because I have metagame knowledge of SCS. With Aurorus, I had to be prepared for anything (which is one reason I never had any money. I bought every potion and a lot of arrows and used them much more often than necessary).
The traps are ok and a very nice touch that gives a lot of flavor to the rogue. As I scout out battles and plan how to deploy and where to use the traps, it feels like I am playing a deliberate, careful hunter-type character. The traps are not terribly OP, but in certain situations very effective. In other situations not so effective. I can see how if you could throw them (as in previous versions) they would be game-breaking especially against the more predictable AI in vanilla. As they are in EE, I think they are pretty balanced. In this battle, they did some nice damage against the blacktalons, but only killed 1 or 2 and just stripped a couple images-stoneskins from Davaeorn, nothing game-breaking. The group still had to handle the blacktalons and Davaeorn.
With the fall of the last of the bandit outposts, the Gates of Baldur opened for Amend and company. Kagain and Amend celebrated with many pints at the Friendly Arm Inn. The incredible capacity of the dwarf to drink left Amend intoxicated to the point where Bentley refused to serve him any more alcohol. At first, Viconia refused to join in the celebration, fearing the city and the reaction of the people to her ancestry. Both Amend and Dorn tried to best each other with pledges to guard her against any danger she may face there, and reassured, she ordered the men to fetch her something to eat and drank several glasses of the most expensive wine.
There was little doubt that the two men were now in open competition for her affections (I have no idea if this is scripted for Dorn in BGII or not, but it should be, given the interactions between the 2 in BGI), and Viconia reveled in their passions. She glowed with a dark and alluring majesty, and for one night at the Friendly Arm Inn, she was not the helpless and lost outsider hunted in a strange world. That night the patrons at the Friendly Arm Inn beheld a rare and sublime thing: a high drow priestess, her dark splendor in full array. All who saw her lusted and despaired. The next morning, as they set out for the city, she was Vicky again: taciturn, scared, and lost, and Amend marveled at her mysterious and mercurial nature. He was hopelessly in love.
Arriving in Baldur´s Gate, the group passed the first evening at the Elfsong tavern, where a halfling asked them to pilfer an item from the Hall of Wonders. He was offering a large sum of money, so even though this was not the type of thing to which Amend was accustomed, he agreed. Just outside the Elfsong, another man on the street offered Amend 50 GP just to follow him to hear another offer. This is what he had come to the city for. His fame had preceded him. Here he had respect: the respect afforded only to man with a reputation for being true to his word and getting the job done, regardless of the job or what he needed to do to complete the task. This respect is measured by money, and riches, beyond measure, were his for the taking.
He followed the rogue and was not disappointed. He was led in to the headquarters of the Thieves´Guild, where the leader of the thieves, Alatos, offered him a job: steal 3 components for a skyship from the daughters of a local mage. The fee for this labor was generous, so Amend agreed. Another member of the guild, Narlen, seemed to want to test Amend´s abilities. Narlen wanted Amend to come along with him and another thief on a small-time burglary that night. Although Amend was insulted by this request, he had to admit that Narlen had reason. Amend was not known as a burglar or thief in these parts, and truth be told, he was not a very good burglar by trade or ability. The reality was that Imoen was better at these things than he and had been since their youth. Deciding it would be a good test of his abilities before stealing the skyship components, Amend agreed to Narlen´s challenge.
So he passed his first few days in the city as a burglar and a thief: new professions for him. With the help of some potions that he bought at Sorcerous Sundries, a local purveyor of enchanted goods, Amend was able to perform admirably on 2 burglary jobs with Narlen, before entering the Hall of Mirrors and stealing the gnome´s item without setting off any alarms or causing any stir. Later, he and Imoen entered the Mage´s mansion and together they stole the skyship components. One of the daughters confronted them, before they were able to escape to the shadows, but Imoen was able to charm her before the 2 disappeared into the night. When he returned to the guild with the items, the mage and Alatos attempted to kill him, but Narlen intervened, backstabbing the mage and rebuking Alatos for turning on one of their own. Amend was now a respected member of the Thieves´Guild.
Awesome writing man! Boy do I dig Amend's style and personality As you might know I've been thinking of starting up an all-thieves run, in which I would edit NPCs into different, possibly conflicting prototypes. Kagain (who would have to become a F/T) or perhaps a TN amoral (rather than immoral) charname. Amend can be an inspiration for this.
Awesome writing man! Boy do I dig Amend's style and personality As you might know I've been thinking of starting up an all-thieves run, in which I would edit NPCs into different, possibly conflicting prototypes. Kagain (who would have to become a F/T) or perhaps a TN amoral (rather than immoral) charname. Amend can be an inspiration for this.
Amend is actually a partial anagram for my last name... lol.
I'm wondering why Faldorn wasn't wearing a helmet back when she got chunked by that Wyvern? Also, could Shar-Teel not wear a helmet any more after she dualled?
Regardless, great run and writing. A very enjoyable read.
I'm wondering why Faldorn wasn't wearing a helmet back when she got chunked by that Wyvern? Also, could Shar-Teel not wear a helmet any more after she dualled?
Regardless, great run and writing. A very enjoyable read.
No Shar Teel could not wear a helmet until her fighter abilities returned, so while she was leveling as a thief, she could not wear a helmet. Faldorn did not have a helmet, because, like all nearly all the NPCs, she does not come with one (which is incredibly frustrating). I figured that I would just find a helmet for her in the mines, which was only 1 map away, rather than returning all the way to Beregost (because there are no helmets in for sale in the FAI) to buy her one. Never for a moment did I think that a baby wyvern would somehow hit her for 40 damage in about 2 seconds... but it did.. and she got chunked.
Sorry to have been so long in continuing the story of Amend, but I was out of town and without internet for much of the past week.
Amend and Imoen were working well together as a burglary duo, and Imoen was naturally curious to explore as much of Baldur´s Gate as possible. Amend did not care to steal from homes and businesses without reason or cause, but he agreed to explore the city with Imoen. So the two began entering any buildings in the city that seemed to be of interest. They discovered many strange goings-on in the city and found no small number of odd and often violent folk, including other members of the Thieves´ Guild who attacked them on sight, a strange butler named Drelik for an equally strange master named Jarduk, both of whom also attacked Amend on site (Drelik is just plain tough with SCS. He is at least a 9th level thief and mage, and he nearly killed Amend with a backstab. Amend was down to 3 or 4 hitpoints after the x4 damage backstab for 42 damage), and a store full of rabid chickens.
Assault of the Rabid Chickens It has been a long time since I fully explored Baldur´s Gate and I had forgotten much of this, so I was delighted by the chickens, the slimes in Ye Olde Taverne, and many of the other strange encounters in the buildings in town.
Among the buildings Imoen and Amend explored was the home of a mage Degrodel, which they entered in stealth. In his foyer, Amend and Imoen encountered a number of foul summons: helmed horrors and invisible stalkers. Suspecting foul-play, they summoned the other members of the group. After preparing for battle, they entered to engage these minions. The battle went remarkably well. An invisibility purge from Viconia revealed all of the hidden enemies (but not Amend who was wearing a cloak of non-detection). The group had received many blessings from Shar, including defensive harmony, and haste from the mages. The party entered and started off with greater malison and confusion from Imoen and Edwin, followed by slow. Viconia began with a chant- now a standard start to many battles. The battle went so smoothly in fact that only Edwin suffered any wounds. The aura of invincibility surrounding the group only seemed to grow.
After his minions were defeated, Degrodel himself was not hostile, and in fact, had an offer for the group- to retrieve a helm from a group of adventurers turned to stone. The reward that he offered was handsome and so Amend agreed (however, he suspected treachery at this point from any mage who made him a deal). Turning to flesh some of the adventurers revealed the helm to be located behind a painting in the Helm-and-Cloak tavern. Amend also learned that the cloak was in possession of a prostitute in the undercity. After retrieving the Cloak of Balduran from the prostitute, Amend retrieved the helm for Degrodel.
Amend´s suspicions proved correct, however. Degrodel did indeed pay the promised reward for the helm, but then had hidden minions attack the company. All 6 of the band focused their attention on Degrodel as he tried to flee and killed him (recovering the helm) and then killed his minions: leaving another dead, treacherous mage in their wake.
Man that is insanely risky to give Degrodel the helm of balduran. You have about 4 seconds to kill him before he disappears, and in a no-reload run, I would never have turned that helm over!
I was thinking the same thing as I read it. I turned in the helm on a 75 stat no res/no reload run. It had been a long time since I'd made it that far in the game so I didn't know he was going to turn on us. We barely made it out of that house alive.
Man that is insanely risky to give Degrodel the helm of balduran. You have about 4 seconds to kill him before he disappears, and in a no-reload run, I would never have turned that helm over!
Amend is many things, but above all, he is a man of his word. When he takes a job, he gets the job done- no matter what he has to do (hence the Lawful Evil). So unless I was going to metagame "find" the helm, I had to take the job and then do the job. If I lose the helm, I lose the helm. I try, generally, to keep my characters "in character." Amend suspected betrayal (since all the mages have betrayed him) so being prepared to attack Degrodel really wasn´t out of character or even using metagame knowledge.
For me, the first time I found that helmet was quite accidental. I was stashing stuff that I hoard in that inn. I chose that room because it was identical to the Jovial Juggler, the party's former residence. I think I was also on the lookout for something behind a painting (I think related to a different quest though) and found the trap (and killed off some of my party in the process). So the first time I encountered the actual quest, I was quite surprised there was a quest attached to the helm.
For me, the first time I found that helmet was quite accidental. I was stashing stuff that I hoard in that inn. I chose that room because it was identical to the Jovial Juggler, the party's former residence. I think I was also on the lookout for something behind a painting (I think related to a different quest though) and found the trap (and killed off some of my party in the process). So the first time I encountered the actual quest, I was quite surprised there was a quest attached to the helm.
I can´t remember when I first found that helm, but I know that I do remember getting the cloak first and only later discovering that there was a helm to go with it, so I must have done the quest. I often skip many of the Baldur´s Gate sidequests and explorations, mostly because I often play good or neutral characters and often druids or rangers or other nature types, and I just cannot justify them barging into homes or spending a lot of time exploring the city. So with Amend, I decided I was going to explore the whole city, since I have not done it for many years and even then only once or twice. It was great fun.
While traveling through Baldur´s Gate, Amend encountered yet another mage, Ramazith, with a proposition and the promise of payment: to steal a nymph that a rival, Ragefest, had captured and imprisoned. Suspecting treachery from this mage as well, but seduced by the reward, Amend agreed. Stealing the nymph proved to be a rather simple task. The mage was alone, and although prepared for the party, he was little match alone for the group. A combination of invisibility purge from Viconia, Secret Word from Edwin, remove illusions from Imoen quickly removed most of his defenses, and he fell in 2 rounds: only casting 1 spell successfully.
Amend returned to Ramazith with the nymph and was surprised when the mage honored his word without treachery, making good his promise of payment. Ramazith went on to explain that he intended to use the nymph for spell components. Amend asked if this meant Ramazith intended to kill the nymph and dissect her corpse. Amend asked simply out of curiosity. The nymph belonged to Ramaztih now was his to do with as he pleased. Ramazith took this question the wrong way and assumed Amend intended to prevent him from killing the nymph. He turned hostile and teleported to the top of his tower, issuing a challenge to follow him if the company dared. After glancing at Kagain, Viconia, and Imoen (all of whom smiled and seemed to be in accord that the mage´s challenge was excuse enough at least to explore the tower), Amend hid and followed the mage to the top floor.
Each floor had a group of summoned guardians. At the top of the tower, Ramazith was alone with the nymph in a room full of manuscripts, books, and possibly treasures. Amend decided he would teach this mage a lesson about whom he should and should not challenge. The group battled their way through the summoned minions, and preparing for battle, entered Ramazith´s room. He went down as quickly as Ragefest to similar array of spells and abilities.
After killing Ramazith, the company searched his quarters and discovered a tome of intelligence. Amend had grown increasingly interested in magic, mages, and the powers that they wielded, especially since Imoen had seemed to compliment her thieving abilities so well with her new abilities as a magic-user. Amend decided to use the book himself, anticipating a future date when he may begin to study mage-craft.
(I may dual-class Amend to a mage in BGII. It was my original plan. I also left open the possibility of dual-classing him to a fighter- by giving him a 16 strength to start, later augmented by the strength tome. Thief HLAs, however, are really very good, and as much as I dislike the idea of trying to "cheese" some encounters by relying heavily on maze and spike traps, I may remain a thief, owing the difficulties of Ascension and SCS. Of course, I have to survive SoA and the conclusion of BGI, first).
Near the home of Ramazith, Amend also encountered a small child, pleading for his aid. The child promised that his father was a powerful priest of Tymora who could pay for his services, so Amend agreed to follow the child and hear this proposition. The proposition was simple: break into the temple of the Bitch Queen and steal the body of a boy whom the priestesses had murdered for trespassing so the priest of Tymora could raise the boy from the dead. The priest offered a magic item in exchange for the deed. Amend pressed him for money as well, and the priest refused. The boy pleaded with Amend to reconsider and stated that the reward would be waiting if he completed the deed.
Around this same time, Amend also encountered an assassin from the Iron Throne who convinced Amend that he and his accomplice had poisoned every member of the company with a slow-acting poison. This assassin was under a geas, which could only be removed by a priestess of the Bitch Queen. If Amend agreed to acquire the scroll from the Priestess to remove the geas, the assassin would help Amend acquire the antidote to the poison. After visiting the Bitch Queen´s temple and discussing the matters with the priestess, Amend was troubled. The priestess wanted Amend to steal an item from a priest at the Temple of Tymora in exchange for the scroll to remove the geas. In addition, she wanted a large sum of money for the return of the boy´s body. Amend simply was not going to pay- since he had been promised no money for the boy´s body. There was no financial gain in this. If he wanted to buy a magic item, he could simply go to Sorcerous Sundries.
Killing a couple of mages was one thing, but angering gods, by stealing from their temples or killing their priests was another thing entirely. Amend decided that he were to risk the anger of one or even two gods (the Bitch Queen and Tymora), he should appease others, so he donated a large sum of money to the Temple of Helm. (I was not sure what effects my solutions to these various quests would have on my reputation, but it was 8 at this point. I did not want my reputation to drop much lower, and I also preferred to have at least 1 DUHM as opposed to Vampiric Touch for my 3rd-tier Bhaalspawn powers. This seemed valid reasoning to donate money to a temple- which Amend normally would never consider).
He decided stealing the tome from the priest of Tymora was preferable to killing the priest of Tymora. Whatever he was going to do, he was not going to pay for the tome. Drinking a potion of master thievery, Amend set out to pick the priest´s pocket. The priest detected him, however, and immediately turned hostile. Amend drank a potion of invisibility and fled the temple. The priest followed him outside and remained outside on vigil waiting for the thief to reappear.
This was quite the predicament. There was now a hostile priest of Tymora, a well-respected local deity, standing in the middle of the street searching for Amend- right next to the building where Amend was to receive payment for stealing the boy´s body from the Bitch Queen´s temple. After conferring with Edwin and Imoen, Amend decided on a risky strategy. The company would try to charm the priest into being their friend, then try again to steal the tome. Imoen and Edwin protected themselves with minor spell deflection, and both approached the priest, casting charm persons. They both failed to charm him, and he began attacking the party, casting hold person on Edwin. A full blown fight was breaking out on a public street between the group and a popular local priest. This was becoming a disaster.
Viconia stepped in and cast rigid thinking on the priest. He began wondering off confused. Imoen pulled out 4 scrolls of charm person and finally was able to charm the confused priest. Then she drank a potion of perception and another potion of mastery thievery and was finally able to steal the tome. The rigid thinking wore off, and Imoen suggested that the priest move into an out-of-the-way alley to continue his search for the thief. With the priest out of the main thoroughfare, Amend and company could now travel safely through the district without provoking a battle with the local clergy.
Amend and company returned the tome to the Bitch Queen´s temple. With Imoen still under the effects of the potions, Amend decided to have her try to steal the boy´s body from the priestess. In her first pick-pocket attempt, she stole the tome back (Amend did not approve as he viewed this as a violation of his agreement with the priestess, but what could he do?). On her second attempt, she was able to steal the boy´s body, and the group left without further incident.
That was almost a disaster. Well done with the charm person spell. In a no-reload run you have to sometimes take extraordinary measures to avoid what normally would be an easy "try again until success" scenario
That was almost a disaster. Well done with the charm person spell. In a no-reload run you have to sometimes take extraordinary measures to avoid what normally would be an easy "try again until success" scenario
Yeah. I really felt it would be out of character to just kill him, and I was worried about reputation. It would certainly have been out of character to give away any more money. So I had to try to steal it.
I don't tend to get bored following other people's playthroughs, but I agree with what @Sirk8 says. You've struck a nice balance between the RP aspects and the tactical/battle aspects. I enjoy reading it a lot. As to Amend's future. I think I'd like him to remain a Bounty Hunter. It's who he is, and what he does, imo. Besides it's quite a unique character. There are many arcane casters, but only one Bounty Hunter in BG2, and we all know what happens with him... Anyway, just do whatever makes you enjoy this great playthrough the most.
I don't tend to get bored following other people's playthroughs, but I agree with what @Sirk8 says. You've struck a nice balance between the RP aspects and the tactical/battle aspects. I enjoy reading it a lot. As to Amend's future. I think I'd like him to remain a Bounty Hunter. It's who he is, and what he does, imo. Besides it's quite a unique character. There are many arcane casters, but only one Bounty Hunter in BG2, and we all know what happens with him... Anyway, just do whatever makes you enjoy this great playthrough the most.
I have been leaning more and more toward this as I continue. I just really like rogues and stealth (always have... even my fighter-type is a ranger who uses stealth a good bit). I also tend to play very carefully (when I am playing well and not being foolish), always scouting ahead, preparing a plan for each battle. So Amend as pure bounty hunter suits my style and keeping in character tends to keep me playing carefully and not getting careless.
This means I will have to make a mage of some kind, however, since I wanted to do a fighter, a rogue, a divine caster, and an arcane caster. I had a dragon disciple but he died. Ellsbeth, my totemic druid, is coming along nicely and is just about to enter Cloakwood. She is almost level 7 and quite powerful (will be even more-so after getting Call Woodland Being). Her play-through has really been interesting. I will have to put some thought into what type of mage I want to be.. .something different.. maybe a cleric-mage necromancer type, an elven sorceror, or possibly a wild mage (which is not so bad for a no-reload as I have discovered with Neera in my Ellsbeth play-through).
Cleric/Necromancer is an interesting archetype. Elven Sorcerer is, as I understand it, very powerful. Wild Mage I think is a bit risky at the early stages (one gated Fiend and you're probably toast). They get better later on though.
Looking forward to your other playthorughs.
And I agree on the stealth. It's the reason I mostly play thieves (and in the past, Rangers).
And I agree on the stealth. It's the reason I mostly play thieves (and in the past, Rangers).
Just finished reading your journal on Lenno. I like it much better with a group, especially Eldoth. I really wanted to take him with Amend and probably should have. I did not want to part with Imoen, Kagain, Edwin, or Viconia, so Skie presented problems, and this is the reason I did not take Eldoth early on. I just did not think that I would have a place for Skie... little did I know.
With much of the city explored and his limitations as a burglar and thief exposed (by his failure to pick-pocket the priest of Tymora), Amend turned his attention to activities to which he was more accustomed and better suited: investigation. While dealing with Degrodel, Amend encountered an old friend: Aldeth Sashenstar. Aldeth was having problems. His business partners were acting strangely, he confided to Amend. He asked Amend to investigate and promised hard money. Amend quickly agreed.
A quick investigation and interrogation of merchants in the league found that Aldeth´s suspicions were well-founded and that some of his colleagues also suspected the partners of unusual behavior. Amend and Imoen stalked unseen up to the office of one of the partners and searched his desk for any evidence to indicate foul-play. Documents in the desk revealed that the League had indeed been infiltrated and that both the partners along with many others were imposters. The documents also revealed that these imposters intended to kill Aldeth at a party, which was soon to take place upstairs.
Amend shared his suspicions and the documents with Aldeth, who asked for the company´s protection at the party. After notifiying the authorities, Aldeth arrived at the party with the group serving as his bodyguards. The assembled guests, who number a dozen or more including Aldeth´s partners, revealed themselves to be dopplegangers as they assaulted Aldeth and the group. With little magic support, however, the dopplegangers were no match for Amend and company who slew the lot of them with little difficulty. Aldeth rewarded the group with a magical sword, and Amend departed, chuckling as he strolled out: a new friend of the Merchants´League and a members of the Thieves´ Guild.
Quite pleased with himself and with his prospects in this line of work generally, Amend wanted to continue in this vein by assisting Scar, the captain of the Flaming Fist. Scar had confronted Amend when he arrived in Baldur´s Gate and asked him to investigate the Seven Suns Trading Coaster. Amend had agreed, since the fee that Scar was offering was sizeable, but he had been reluctant to pursue this investigation for fear of being too closely associated with the Flaming Fist as he was ingratiating himself with the Thieves´Guild. He was now in good-standing, however, and decided to pursue this investigation. It proved a simple matter really, of freeing the leader of the Seven Suns, Jhasso (who had been imprisoned in the basement), and learning from Jhasso that the Seven Suns also had been infiltrated by dopplegangers.
Amend returned to Scar with the information and received his reward. The Thieves´Guild member could now count himself as a friend of the Seven Suns Trading Coster, the Merchants´League, and Flaming Fist. He had come a long way from Candlekeep and was now on the cusp of becoming one of the most powerful and wealthy (he had over 70,000 GP at this point) men on the Sword Coast. It was time to begin thinking about what he should do with the power and wealth that he had been accumulating. As he began to ponder these things, one thought kept entering and occupying his mind: Viconia. He could keep her safe; make people respect her; give her power; give her everything she ever desired.
Scar had another proposal: investigate the Iron Throne headquarters. The payment was substantial: 5000 gold. These was not the wages of some vagabond mercenary. These were wages reserved only for the most capable of men. It was not just money that Scar was offering; it was a signet of prestige. Amend could not suppress a smile as he agreed to work, once again, for the Flaming Fist.
Amend and company strode boldly into the compound and began questioning everyone. It became immediately apparent that the Iron Throne was also experiencing problems akin to those of the Merchants´League and the Seven Suns: dopplegangers, no doubt. The company also learned that an emissary from the Grand Dukes was in the compound meeting with the leaders of the Iron Throne to work out a contract to purchase iron. The meeting was taking place on the top floor.
With the rest of the group waiting downstairs, Amend moved in the shadows up the stairwell to the 6th floor and saw the leaders of the Iron Throne, 8 in total, arranged there and apparently waiting for him. He also found the body of the emissary, murdered, in a back room. Returning to the party, he explained the situation to the others. Evaluating their options, they decided to move invisible through the entourage assembled to greet them in the foyer at the top of the stairs and take up defensive and flanking positions in the back chambers. Imoen invisibility on Kagain, and Edwin made himself and Dorn invisible. Viconia drank a potion of invisibility. Amend and Imoen hid, and the whole party took up positions in the back chambers of the 6th floor.
Amend, Imoen, and Viconia took up flanking positions in the side rooms after Amend set traps in each of the doorways and one in the hallway. The goal was to lure the enemy down the hallway with Kagain and Dorn engaging the fighters, while Viconia, Amend, Imoen, and Viconia´s skeleton warriors attacked the spell-users from the flanks.
The battle proved more difficult than Amend had anticipated. Edwin led off with a spell thrust on the most imposing of the 2 mages to remove his globe of invulnerability. Imoen cast greater malison into the hallway, but did not affect the mage or Couldwolfe, a fighter, in the rear. Cloudwolfe immediately pulled down 3 of Edwin´s images with arrows and the mage´s dispel magic removed Kagain, Dorn, and Edwin´s protections. Edwin cast confusion, but took significant damage in the next round from Cloudwolfe before he could move out of sight. Viconia cast invisibility purge in the doorway, revealing 2 enemy rogues, but not Amend, who had his cloak of non-detection. Amend moved into the hall and backstabbed one of the rogues, killing her in 1 shot. He moved back into the side-room and hid again. He repeated this process throughout the entire battle scoring a number of grievous blows, and felling several of the enemy.
Dorne and Kagain proved more than a match for the fighter and the doppleganger attacking them, but Cloudwolfe had forced Edwin to retreat to heal and cast another mirror image. Imoen could not target the enemy mages from the side room, so one of the enemy mages was able to cast confusion. Kagain made his save, but Dorn did not. Dorn abandoned his position blocking the doorway and wandered off down the hall and toward the enemy mages and Cloudwolfe. At some point in the 3rd round, the group lost track of the other thief. Amend was hidden and moved out to backstab her, but she was gone. Viconia moved into the hallway with Imoen behind her. Imoen tried to cast a detect invisibility, but it was too late; the rogue had moved behind Edwin and felled him with a backstab just as he was trying to get his mirror image back up. Amend killed one of the enemy wizards who had lost his mirror images from Viconia´s skeletons.
Viconia and Imoen turned their attention to the other wizard. Both he and Cloudwolfe were preoccupied by Dorn, who was standing between the two of them now, confused and taking a beating. With his minor globe down, Viconia was ultimately able to hold the other mage. Kagain finished off the fighter. By this time, Dorn was down from several arrows, acid arrows, and magic missiles. The battle was fairly closely and evenly fought at this point. The other rogue had disappeared again and was now a threat to everyone. Imoen decided to summon some war dogs to turn the tide. Kagain charged down the hall hoping to draw a backstab from the rogue. Fortunately, the remaining rogue targeted Kagain with his attack from stealth, and Imoen´s war dogs immediately pounced on him.
With one wizard dead, and one held, one rogue dead, and the other surrounded by dogs, the battle shifted in the parties´favor. Kagain began tearing into the cleric with his axe. Imoen paralyzed the fighter-mage with a wand, and Viconia started unleashing command spells every round. Amend continued attacking from stealth and then returning to the side-chamber to hide again for a new sneak attack. After another 30 seconds or so of hard fighting, the last of the Iron Throne leaders fell and the company was victorious yet again. The battle was a hard test though, harder than Amend had anticipated, and both Dorn and Edwin were counted among the casualties.
Comments
Scouting the interior of the compound, Amend noted 4 guards: 2 mages and 2 fighters and-or clerics. Another chokepoint was readily available as the only entrance to the walled compound was a bridge over a stream. To those inside, a looked like a fortified position. To Amend it looked like a death trap. He fixed his party in a position at the opposite side of the bridge, trapped the bridge, and would funnel the enemy across the bridge into his prepared defenses.
He entered the compound and exchanged some banter with a mouthy mercenary named Drassus, who chased after Amend right into his trap. The 2 mages shadowed-doored away. The cleric followed slowly behind the hasted Drassus, so the 4 ended up pursuing one-by-one and were killed one-by-one.
Once inside the mines, Amend discovered a sophisticated and productive operation, with many slave-workers. The slaves begged him to free them, but this was nonsense. Why would Amend disband a perfectly productive work-force mining iron in the midst of an iron crisis? Others asked Amend to flood the mines and destroy them, but this was just their rage at their condition speaking. He was not about the flood the only productive iron mine in the region. The slaves were relentless, and their pathetic pleas to "get me out of this hell-hole" made the entire journey through the mines rather unpleasant.
On the second level of the mines, Amend encountered a command post of some kind. A mage and a large number of guards, clustered in a dining room off a kitchen. The room had 3 entrances, and Amend decided to attack from the hallway leading to the kitchen. The plan was simple; center a web on the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room, just out of sight of the guards, then have Imoen empty her wand of fire on the doorway. This would kill all the guards and separate the mage from the guards, since he as likely to have a globe of invulnerability up. The group could then kill him 6 v. 1. The mage did not have a globe up, however, and got stuck in the web and died to the fireballs along with most of the other guards. The company suffered no injuries in this battle.
On the 4th level of the mines, Amend scouted the headmaster of the facility, a mage Davaeorn, flanked by 2 undead knights. The mage sensed something amiss, after the company killed his guard in an antechamber, and tried to detect invisibility on Amend as he scouted the mage´s quarters and defenses, but Amend was wearing a cloak of non-detection that he had found in the Cloakwood, and was able to properly set up the battle the way he wanted it. He planted traps in each of the rooms and then one by the entrance to block the exit and defend against any reinforcements that may arrive.
The group prepared for battle in the antechamber. After detecting and disarming some traps in the hallway, Imoen followed Amend invisible into the mage´s bedchamber to flank the mage or ambush him if he retreated into this chamber (Imoen had just reached lvl. 6 as a mage and got her rogue abilities back on level 3 of the mines, just in time to deal with the traps). Dorn drank a potion of invunerability (as did Kagain), and armed with Spider´s Bane (a greatsword that he had found in the spider´s lair in Cloakwood, which granted him immunity to movement impairing effects), Dorn set off down the hall to confront the mage. Davaeorn fired a sequenced web and stinking cloud into the intersection, but with his saves buffed and free action, Dorn moved through the spells effortessly. The mage then cast a teleport field to prevent Amend and Imoen from approaching (as Imoen was going to spell thrust him, then remove his images for a backstab). He then teleported into a side chamber, setting off a trap, which prompted him to teleport into his bed chambers, setting off another trap. Imoen hit him with a spell thrust there, removing his globe of invulnerability, while his 2 skeletal knights engaged Dorn and Kagain.
A group of Black Talon mercenaries entered from the stairwell, but were caught in Amend´s trap and badly wounded. Viconia got off a hold person and Edwin a Charm person, holding some of the survivors of the traps and turning one of them on their fellows. But Viconia took 2 arrows ,was wounded, and had to retreat out of sight. Sensing the danger of the stealthed rogue and with only 1 image and 1 or 2 stoneskins remaining after an Imoen magic missile, Davaeorn fled toward the intersection, but Dorn, Kagain, Viconia, and Edwin had dealt with the knights and with the black-talons fighting one another, the company was ready for him. There the entire company attacked him and he fell to a flame arrow from Edwin.
Compliments by the way for the writing, I like Amend's ind of evil, ruthless and smart.
The traps are ok and a very nice touch that gives a lot of flavor to the rogue. As I scout out battles and plan how to deploy and where to use the traps, it feels like I am playing a deliberate, careful hunter-type character. The traps are not terribly OP, but in certain situations very effective. In other situations not so effective. I can see how if you could throw them (as in previous versions) they would be game-breaking especially against the more predictable AI in vanilla. As they are in EE, I think they are pretty balanced. In this battle, they did some nice damage against the blacktalons, but only killed 1 or 2 and just stripped a couple images-stoneskins from Davaeorn, nothing game-breaking. The group still had to handle the blacktalons and Davaeorn.
With the fall of the last of the bandit outposts, the Gates of Baldur opened for Amend and company. Kagain and Amend celebrated with many pints at the Friendly Arm Inn. The incredible capacity of the dwarf to drink left Amend intoxicated to the point where Bentley refused to serve him any more alcohol. At first, Viconia refused to join in the celebration, fearing the city and the reaction of the people to her ancestry. Both Amend and Dorn tried to best each other with pledges to guard her against any danger she may face there, and reassured, she ordered the men to fetch her something to eat and drank several glasses of the most expensive wine.
There was little doubt that the two men were now in open competition for her affections (I have no idea if this is scripted for Dorn in BGII or not, but it should be, given the interactions between the 2 in BGI), and Viconia reveled in their passions. She glowed with a dark and alluring majesty, and for one night at the Friendly Arm Inn, she was not the helpless and lost outsider hunted in a strange world. That night the patrons at the Friendly Arm Inn beheld a rare and sublime thing: a high drow priestess, her dark splendor in full array. All who saw her lusted and despaired. The next morning, as they set out for the city, she was Vicky again: taciturn, scared, and lost, and Amend marveled at her mysterious and mercurial nature. He was hopelessly in love.
Arriving in Baldur´s Gate, the group passed the first evening at the Elfsong tavern, where a halfling asked them to pilfer an item from the Hall of Wonders. He was offering a large sum of money, so even though this was not the type of thing to which Amend was accustomed, he agreed. Just outside the Elfsong, another man on the street offered Amend 50 GP just to follow him to hear another offer. This is what he had come to the city for. His fame had preceded him. Here he had respect: the respect afforded only to man with a reputation for being true to his word and getting the job done, regardless of the job or what he needed to do to complete the task. This respect is measured by money, and riches, beyond measure, were his for the taking.
He followed the rogue and was not disappointed. He was led in to the headquarters of the Thieves´Guild, where the leader of the thieves, Alatos, offered him a job: steal 3 components for a skyship from the daughters of a local mage. The fee for this labor was generous, so Amend agreed. Another member of the guild, Narlen, seemed to want to test Amend´s abilities. Narlen wanted Amend to come along with him and another thief on a small-time burglary that night. Although Amend was insulted by this request, he had to admit that Narlen had reason. Amend was not known as a burglar or thief in these parts, and truth be told, he was not a very good burglar by trade or ability. The reality was that Imoen was better at these things than he and had been since their youth. Deciding it would be a good test of his abilities before stealing the skyship components, Amend agreed to Narlen´s challenge.
So he passed his first few days in the city as a burglar and a thief: new professions for him. With the help of some potions that he bought at Sorcerous Sundries, a local purveyor of enchanted goods, Amend was able to perform admirably on 2 burglary jobs with Narlen, before entering the Hall of Mirrors and stealing the gnome´s item without setting off any alarms or causing any stir. Later, he and Imoen entered the Mage´s mansion and together they stole the skyship components. One of the daughters confronted them, before they were able to escape to the shadows, but Imoen was able to charm her before the 2 disappeared into the night. When he returned to the guild with the items, the mage and Alatos attempted to kill him, but Narlen intervened, backstabbing the mage and rebuking Alatos for turning on one of their own. Amend was now a respected member of the Thieves´Guild.
As you might know I've been thinking of starting up an all-thieves run, in which I would edit NPCs into different, possibly conflicting prototypes. Kagain (who would have to become a F/T) or perhaps a TN amoral (rather than immoral) charname. Amend can be an inspiration for this.
Regardless, great run and writing. A very enjoyable read.
Amend and Imoen were working well together as a burglary duo, and Imoen was naturally curious to explore as much of Baldur´s Gate as possible. Amend did not care to steal from homes and businesses without reason or cause, but he agreed to explore the city with Imoen. So the two began entering any buildings in the city that seemed to be of interest. They discovered many strange goings-on in the city and found no small number of odd and often violent folk, including other members of the Thieves´ Guild who attacked them on sight, a strange butler named Drelik for an equally strange master named Jarduk, both of whom also attacked Amend on site (Drelik is just plain tough with SCS. He is at least a 9th level thief and mage, and he nearly killed Amend with a backstab. Amend was down to 3 or 4 hitpoints after the x4 damage backstab for 42 damage), and a store full of rabid chickens.
Among the buildings Imoen and Amend explored was the home of a mage Degrodel, which they entered in stealth. In his foyer, Amend and Imoen encountered a number of foul summons: helmed horrors and invisible stalkers. Suspecting foul-play, they summoned the other members of the group. After preparing for battle, they entered to engage these minions. The battle went remarkably well. An invisibility purge from Viconia revealed all of the hidden enemies (but not Amend who was wearing a cloak of non-detection). The group had received many blessings from Shar, including defensive harmony, and haste from the mages. The party entered and started off with greater malison and confusion from Imoen and Edwin, followed by slow. Viconia began with a chant- now a standard start to many battles. The battle went so smoothly in fact that only Edwin suffered any wounds. The aura of invincibility surrounding the group only seemed to grow.
After his minions were defeated, Degrodel himself was not hostile, and in fact, had an offer for the group- to retrieve a helm from a group of adventurers turned to stone. The reward that he offered was handsome and so Amend agreed (however, he suspected treachery at this point from any mage who made him a deal). Turning to flesh some of the adventurers revealed the helm to be located behind a painting in the Helm-and-Cloak tavern. Amend also learned that the cloak was in possession of a prostitute in the undercity. After retrieving the Cloak of Balduran from the prostitute, Amend retrieved the helm for Degrodel.
Amend´s suspicions proved correct, however. Degrodel did indeed pay the promised reward for the helm, but then had hidden minions attack the company. All 6 of the band focused their attention on Degrodel as he tried to flee and killed him (recovering the helm) and then killed his minions: leaving another dead, treacherous mage in their wake.
While traveling through Baldur´s Gate, Amend encountered yet another mage, Ramazith, with a proposition and the promise of payment: to steal a nymph that a rival, Ragefest, had captured and imprisoned. Suspecting treachery from this mage as well, but seduced by the reward, Amend agreed. Stealing the nymph proved to be a rather simple task. The mage was alone, and although prepared for the party, he was little match alone for the group. A combination of invisibility purge from Viconia, Secret Word from Edwin, remove illusions from Imoen quickly removed most of his defenses, and he fell in 2 rounds: only casting 1 spell successfully.
Amend returned to Ramazith with the nymph and was surprised when the mage honored his word without treachery, making good his promise of payment. Ramazith went on to explain that he intended to use the nymph for spell components. Amend asked if this meant Ramazith intended to kill the nymph and dissect her corpse. Amend asked simply out of curiosity. The nymph belonged to Ramaztih now was his to do with as he pleased. Ramazith took this question the wrong way and assumed Amend intended to prevent him from killing the nymph. He turned hostile and teleported to the top of his tower, issuing a challenge to follow him if the company dared. After glancing at Kagain, Viconia, and Imoen (all of whom smiled and seemed to be in accord that the mage´s challenge was excuse enough at least to explore the tower), Amend hid and followed the mage to the top floor.
Each floor had a group of summoned guardians. At the top of the tower, Ramazith was alone with the nymph in a room full of manuscripts, books, and possibly treasures. Amend decided he would teach this mage a lesson about whom he should and should not challenge. The group battled their way through the summoned minions, and preparing for battle, entered Ramazith´s room. He went down as quickly as Ragefest to similar array of spells and abilities.
After killing Ramazith, the company searched his quarters and discovered a tome of intelligence. Amend had grown increasingly interested in magic, mages, and the powers that they wielded, especially since Imoen had seemed to compliment her thieving abilities so well with her new abilities as a magic-user. Amend decided to use the book himself, anticipating a future date when he may begin to study mage-craft.
(I may dual-class Amend to a mage in BGII. It was my original plan. I also left open the possibility of dual-classing him to a fighter- by giving him a 16 strength to start, later augmented by the strength tome. Thief HLAs, however, are really very good, and as much as I dislike the idea of trying to "cheese" some encounters by relying heavily on maze and spike traps, I may remain a thief, owing the difficulties of Ascension and SCS. Of course, I have to survive SoA and the conclusion of BGI, first).
Near the home of Ramazith, Amend also encountered a small child, pleading for his aid. The child promised that his father was a powerful priest of Tymora who could pay for his services, so Amend agreed to follow the child and hear this proposition. The proposition was simple: break into the temple of the Bitch Queen and steal the body of a boy whom the priestesses had murdered for trespassing so the priest of Tymora could raise the boy from the dead. The priest offered a magic item in exchange for the deed. Amend pressed him for money as well, and the priest refused. The boy pleaded with Amend to reconsider and stated that the reward would be waiting if he completed the deed.
Around this same time, Amend also encountered an assassin from the Iron Throne who convinced Amend that he and his accomplice had poisoned every member of the company with a slow-acting poison. This assassin was under a geas, which could only be removed by a priestess of the Bitch Queen. If Amend agreed to acquire the scroll from the Priestess to remove the geas, the assassin would help Amend acquire the antidote to the poison. After visiting the Bitch Queen´s temple and discussing the matters with the priestess, Amend was troubled. The priestess wanted Amend to steal an item from a priest at the Temple of Tymora in exchange for the scroll to remove the geas. In addition, she wanted a large sum of money for the return of the boy´s body. Amend simply was not going to pay- since he had been promised no money for the boy´s body. There was no financial gain in this. If he wanted to buy a magic item, he could simply go to Sorcerous Sundries.
Killing a couple of mages was one thing, but angering gods, by stealing from their temples or killing their priests was another thing entirely. Amend decided that he were to risk the anger of one or even two gods (the Bitch Queen and Tymora), he should appease others, so he donated a large sum of money to the Temple of Helm. (I was not sure what effects my solutions to these various quests would have on my reputation, but it was 8 at this point. I did not want my reputation to drop much lower, and I also preferred to have at least 1 DUHM as opposed to Vampiric Touch for my 3rd-tier Bhaalspawn powers. This seemed valid reasoning to donate money to a temple- which Amend normally would never consider).
He decided stealing the tome from the priest of Tymora was preferable to killing the priest of Tymora. Whatever he was going to do, he was not going to pay for the tome. Drinking a potion of master thievery, Amend set out to pick the priest´s pocket. The priest detected him, however, and immediately turned hostile. Amend drank a potion of invisibility and fled the temple. The priest followed him outside and remained outside on vigil waiting for the thief to reappear.
This was quite the predicament. There was now a hostile priest of Tymora, a well-respected local deity, standing in the middle of the street searching for Amend- right next to the building where Amend was to receive payment for stealing the boy´s body from the Bitch Queen´s temple. After conferring with Edwin and Imoen, Amend decided on a risky strategy. The company would try to charm the priest into being their friend, then try again to steal the tome. Imoen and Edwin protected themselves with minor spell deflection, and both approached the priest, casting charm persons. They both failed to charm him, and he began attacking the party, casting hold person on Edwin. A full blown fight was breaking out on a public street between the group and a popular local priest. This was becoming a disaster.
Viconia stepped in and cast rigid thinking on the priest. He began wondering off confused. Imoen pulled out 4 scrolls of charm person and finally was able to charm the confused priest. Then she drank a potion of perception and another potion of mastery thievery and was finally able to steal the tome. The rigid thinking wore off, and Imoen suggested that the priest move into an out-of-the-way alley to continue his search for the thief. With the priest out of the main thoroughfare, Amend and company could now travel safely through the district without provoking a battle with the local clergy.
Amend and company returned the tome to the Bitch Queen´s temple. With Imoen still under the effects of the potions, Amend decided to have her try to steal the boy´s body from the priestess. In her first pick-pocket attempt, she stole the tome back (Amend did not approve as he viewed this as a violation of his agreement with the priestess, but what could he do?). On her second attempt, she was able to steal the boy´s body, and the group left without further incident.
As to Amend's future. I think I'd like him to remain a Bounty Hunter. It's who he is, and what he does, imo. Besides it's quite a unique character. There are many arcane casters, but only one Bounty Hunter in BG2, and we all know what happens with him... Anyway, just do whatever makes you enjoy this great playthrough the most.
This means I will have to make a mage of some kind, however, since I wanted to do a fighter, a rogue, a divine caster, and an arcane caster. I had a dragon disciple but he died. Ellsbeth, my totemic druid, is coming along nicely and is just about to enter Cloakwood. She is almost level 7 and quite powerful (will be even more-so after getting Call Woodland Being). Her play-through has really been interesting. I will have to put some thought into what type of mage I want to be.. .something different.. maybe a cleric-mage necromancer type, an elven sorceror, or possibly a wild mage (which is not so bad for a no-reload as I have discovered with Neera in my Ellsbeth play-through).
Looking forward to your other playthorughs.
And I agree on the stealth. It's the reason I mostly play thieves (and in the past, Rangers).
With much of the city explored and his limitations as a burglar and thief exposed (by his failure to pick-pocket the priest of Tymora), Amend turned his attention to activities to which he was more accustomed and better suited: investigation. While dealing with Degrodel, Amend encountered an old friend: Aldeth Sashenstar. Aldeth was having problems. His business partners were acting strangely, he confided to Amend. He asked Amend to investigate and promised hard money. Amend quickly agreed.
A quick investigation and interrogation of merchants in the league found that Aldeth´s suspicions were well-founded and that some of his colleagues also suspected the partners of unusual behavior. Amend and Imoen stalked unseen up to the office of one of the partners and searched his desk for any evidence to indicate foul-play. Documents in the desk revealed that the League had indeed been infiltrated and that both the partners along with many others were imposters. The documents also revealed that these imposters intended to kill Aldeth at a party, which was soon to take place upstairs.
Amend shared his suspicions and the documents with Aldeth, who asked for the company´s protection at the party. After notifiying the authorities, Aldeth arrived at the party with the group serving as his bodyguards. The assembled guests, who number a dozen or more including Aldeth´s partners, revealed themselves to be dopplegangers as they assaulted Aldeth and the group. With little magic support, however, the dopplegangers were no match for Amend and company who slew the lot of them with little difficulty. Aldeth rewarded the group with a magical sword, and Amend departed, chuckling as he strolled out: a new friend of the Merchants´League and a members of the Thieves´ Guild.
Quite pleased with himself and with his prospects in this line of work generally, Amend wanted to continue in this vein by assisting Scar, the captain of the Flaming Fist. Scar had confronted Amend when he arrived in Baldur´s Gate and asked him to investigate the Seven Suns Trading Coaster. Amend had agreed, since the fee that Scar was offering was sizeable, but he had been reluctant to pursue this investigation for fear of being too closely associated with the Flaming Fist as he was ingratiating himself with the Thieves´Guild. He was now in good-standing, however, and decided to pursue this investigation. It proved a simple matter really, of freeing the leader of the Seven Suns, Jhasso (who had been imprisoned in the basement), and learning from Jhasso that the Seven Suns also had been infiltrated by dopplegangers.
Amend returned to Scar with the information and received his reward. The Thieves´Guild member could now count himself as a friend of the Seven Suns Trading Coster, the Merchants´League, and Flaming Fist. He had come a long way from Candlekeep and was now on the cusp of becoming one of the most powerful and wealthy (he had over 70,000 GP at this point) men on the Sword Coast. It was time to begin thinking about what he should do with the power and wealth that he had been accumulating. As he began to ponder these things, one thought kept entering and occupying his mind: Viconia. He could keep her safe; make people respect her; give her power; give her everything she ever desired.
Scar had another proposal: investigate the Iron Throne headquarters. The payment was substantial: 5000 gold. These was not the wages of some vagabond mercenary. These were wages reserved only for the most capable of men. It was not just money that Scar was offering; it was a signet of prestige. Amend could not suppress a smile as he agreed to work, once again, for the Flaming Fist.
Amend and company strode boldly into the compound and began questioning everyone. It became immediately apparent that the Iron Throne was also experiencing problems akin to those of the Merchants´League and the Seven Suns: dopplegangers, no doubt. The company also learned that an emissary from the Grand Dukes was in the compound meeting with the leaders of the Iron Throne to work out a contract to purchase iron. The meeting was taking place on the top floor.
With the rest of the group waiting downstairs, Amend moved in the shadows up the stairwell to the 6th floor and saw the leaders of the Iron Throne, 8 in total, arranged there and apparently waiting for him. He also found the body of the emissary, murdered, in a back room. Returning to the party, he explained the situation to the others. Evaluating their options, they decided to move invisible through the entourage assembled to greet them in the foyer at the top of the stairs and take up defensive and flanking positions in the back chambers. Imoen invisibility on Kagain, and Edwin made himself and Dorn invisible. Viconia drank a potion of invisibility. Amend and Imoen hid, and the whole party took up positions in the back chambers of the 6th floor.
Amend, Imoen, and Viconia took up flanking positions in the side rooms after Amend set traps in each of the doorways and one in the hallway. The goal was to lure the enemy down the hallway with Kagain and Dorn engaging the fighters, while Viconia, Amend, Imoen, and Viconia´s skeleton warriors attacked the spell-users from the flanks.
The battle proved more difficult than Amend had anticipated. Edwin led off with a spell thrust on the most imposing of the 2 mages to remove his globe of invulnerability. Imoen cast greater malison into the hallway, but did not affect the mage or Couldwolfe, a fighter, in the rear. Cloudwolfe immediately pulled down 3 of Edwin´s images with arrows and the mage´s dispel magic removed Kagain, Dorn, and Edwin´s protections. Edwin cast confusion, but took significant damage in the next round from Cloudwolfe before he could move out of sight. Viconia cast invisibility purge in the doorway, revealing 2 enemy rogues, but not Amend, who had his cloak of non-detection. Amend moved into the hall and backstabbed one of the rogues, killing her in 1 shot. He moved back into the side-room and hid again. He repeated this process throughout the entire battle scoring a number of grievous blows, and felling several of the enemy.
Dorne and Kagain proved more than a match for the fighter and the doppleganger attacking them, but Cloudwolfe had forced Edwin to retreat to heal and cast another mirror image. Imoen could not target the enemy mages from the side room, so one of the enemy mages was able to cast confusion. Kagain made his save, but Dorn did not. Dorn abandoned his position blocking the doorway and wandered off down the hall and toward the enemy mages and Cloudwolfe. At some point in the 3rd round, the group lost track of the other thief. Amend was hidden and moved out to backstab her, but she was gone. Viconia moved into the hallway with Imoen behind her. Imoen tried to cast a detect invisibility, but it was too late; the rogue had moved behind Edwin and felled him with a backstab just as he was trying to get his mirror image back up. Amend killed one of the enemy wizards who had lost his mirror images from Viconia´s skeletons.
Viconia and Imoen turned their attention to the other wizard. Both he and Cloudwolfe were preoccupied by Dorn, who was standing between the two of them now, confused and taking a beating. With his minor globe down, Viconia was ultimately able to hold the other mage. Kagain finished off the fighter. By this time, Dorn was down from several arrows, acid arrows, and magic missiles. The battle was fairly closely and evenly fought at this point. The other rogue had disappeared again and was now a threat to everyone. Imoen decided to summon some war dogs to turn the tide. Kagain charged down the hall hoping to draw a backstab from the rogue. Fortunately, the remaining rogue targeted Kagain with his attack from stealth, and Imoen´s war dogs immediately pounced on him.
With one wizard dead, and one held, one rogue dead, and the other surrounded by dogs, the battle shifted in the parties´favor. Kagain began tearing into the cleric with his axe. Imoen paralyzed the fighter-mage with a wand, and Viconia started unleashing command spells every round. Amend continued attacking from stealth and then returning to the side-chamber to hide again for a new sneak attack. After another 30 seconds or so of hard fighting, the last of the Iron Throne leaders fell and the company was victorious yet again. The battle was a hard test though, harder than Amend had anticipated, and both Dorn and Edwin were counted among the casualties.