My story of a Tag Team No-Reload
HenkeB
Member Posts: 97
So ive made a few attempts on No-Reload runs, both solo and in custom and full groups, but ive never managed to finnish one and a few runs ive gotten bored with the group and havnt completed.
As an incentive to keep the tun going I have decided to retell the progress here in this thread.
I have three teams with two chars in each that will take turns trying to complete the saga.
Team 1 : Daco and Arya, Elf F/M/T and a human assasin. Arya will put all points in finding traps and then dual to cleric.
Team 2 : Henke and Dany, Human Kensai and Half-elf Ranger/Cleric. Dany will have to pull this team trough alot and no thief skills will be a problem.
Team 3 : Gothia and Anilora, Human Cavalier and Half-elf Blade.
Its a no-reload, not realy RPing, I will let others in to the group to take their stuff and possibly to finnish quests but the main idea is to use the two chars only.
As an incentive to keep the tun going I have decided to retell the progress here in this thread.
I have three teams with two chars in each that will take turns trying to complete the saga.
Team 1 : Daco and Arya, Elf F/M/T and a human assasin. Arya will put all points in finding traps and then dual to cleric.
Team 2 : Henke and Dany, Human Kensai and Half-elf Ranger/Cleric. Dany will have to pull this team trough alot and no thief skills will be a problem.
Team 3 : Gothia and Anilora, Human Cavalier and Half-elf Blade.
Its a no-reload, not realy RPing, I will let others in to the group to take their stuff and possibly to finnish quests but the main idea is to use the two chars only.
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The duo have left for their adventure, passed trough Berengost to run some errands and on to do some Basilisk hunting.
They had a scary battle with a brown bear where Arya came close to falling and then real scary when a Gnoll elite almost cut Daco in half as he was trying to protect the Ghoul Korax from taking too much damage.
Back in Beregost now though as lvl 3/2/3 and lvl 5.
Tried saving Neera from Thayan wizards, didnt end well. She died in the fight ( never seen that happen before )
But after all I got wat i was realy after, her gem bag and her robes.
On to the friendly arm inn.
On the way i picked up a nice protective ring, tried my luch fighting an Ogre, Arya managed to poison him and all would have been fine if not a dire wolf had shown up and tried to make a meal out of Daco.
We survived and continued on our way.
Tarnesh fell to a biting arrow Daco had picked up in Beregost and made the fight real easy.
Joia got her ring back and Daco got an even nicer ring helping him memorize more spells.
Decided to take on Silke a bit nervous. If she can get her lightning bold off the adventure is over.
Aryas Poisoned arrow together with Dacos biting arrow made short work of her.
The assasin in the Read sheaf Inn proved more dangerous but fell after a longer fight.
Have made my way too Nakshel after fighting some Hobgoblins and a pair of Ogrillions. Sleep spell helped in those two fights.
The lack of HPs on both my heroes are a problem Arya at 28 and poor Daco at 13 means every hit is dangerous.
Bounty hunter in Nakshel Inn fell to the proven combo of poison and biting arrow.
Picked up the Ankheg shell and heading west to to run some quests and pick up a tome. Might make and attempt to save Dynaheir, havnt decided yet.
Cleared my way to the gnoll fortress, aquired some winter wolf pelts on the way and went back to nakshel to sell and then to the carnival to pick up the shield amulet.
Entered the wrong tent and a mage named Zordral got both heroes with his acid arrow spells.....
That proved to be a short run.....
Will return once team 2 have something to report.
Henke the human Kensai and Dany the Cleric/Ranger
I imagine these will be the hardest. Kensai will have to be handheld constantly and lack of thieving skills could prove fatal.
I have made my way to nakshel taking the same route as the previous team. Got the shield amulet and even dared to take revenge on Zordal.
Difference ive made is that i brought Imoen to Berengost to pick up the stupifier and beeing able to sell evermemory ring have given me spare cash to spend.
Dany is tanking and using DUHM and command to punish any foes and Henke is doing a decent job with daggers and throwing daggers.
Then made my way to Ulgoths beard, killed 4 Ankhegs along the way and the last of them killed Dany. Picked up her most important items and continued on.
Did some shopping for Greenstone amulet and cloak of Displacement.
Returned to friendly arm Inn to raise Dany and then hunting for Shoal the Neriad, killed her for 5000xp and then went hunting sirenes, killed 6 of them in lighthouse area and 2 fleshgolems in the cave all for 2000 xp each.
Got the tome in the cave and returned to Nakshel via the excavation site and Brages hiding place.
Henke is now lvl 6 and Dany 5/4. Currently in Nakshel and about to head to mines.
Blasted my way trough the mine, and then Mulahey rolled a 20 on the save vs hold person, manages to get of hold spells on both Dany and Henke and then starts pounding them with spirit hammer and they adventure is over.....
Il take a break from it and leave them there for now.
Ive started letting the team recruit some NPC´s to cover their weak points.
I might also start to play some of them paralell so i dont have to do the same thing over and over.
Its starring team 2 with Kensai and cleric/ranger
They took Imoen with them as they left candlekeep, got lost on their way to the Friendly arm Inn and eded up in Beregost, ran som errands there and fought a mad wizard named Mutamin and his scary pets.
A some detours later and the three finaly found friendly arm Inn and is not on their way to find Nakshel and the mines there.
Henke was tricked by an assasin at the Inn and accidently killed a commoner who where having a quit drink.
Henke have some work to do if he wants to regain the trust and popularity of his neighbours.
Hunting for winterwolf pelts and following a rumour of a gnoll fortress to the West, the group made its way trough the forrests and mountains west of Nakshel.
Locating the fortress and during the following assault of the same Rasaads combat techniques of taking a halbeard to the head wherent so impressive anymore.
The group uncerimonusly left his body in the fortress and on their way out found the mage Dynaheir held captive by the gnolls.
Rescuing her and bringing her back to Nakshel, where they met up with her bodyguards Minsc and Boo.
Scouting the Nakshel mine area, Dynahier got bored with Minsc and took a job housesitting just east of the mine.
Dealing with the bountyhunter Greywolf and clearing the rest of the area. The group is now getting ready to take on the mine.
All of them at lvl 4.
Mulahey hit Dany with rigid thinking.
Mulahey gave up and all his minions where slain put there was nothing stoppning Dany from beating on Henke.
Game over. No more Baldurs Gate this week.
It'd be like two solo character going the same time, as neither has demand on the other's equipment,and you'd have a mage who can lay traps plus a warrior who can turn undead. Best of both world.
I think i would miss divine spells though. current choise would be F/M/T and a C/T or more likely a F/M/T with an assasin dualed to cleric.
I could split theiving skills and both would make good combos i think.
However ive laid that on ice for now, I dont know the game well enough and il start with beating it with a full group to start with.
Its become an obsession....
So for now i have 5 groups of different composition standing outside Mulaheys cave. And they are :
Canon Team
Canon - Human fighter, Imoen, Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc, Dynaheir. - Canon will be dualed to thief, in BG2 and Imoen will be dualed to mage.
This team will be my trial and error and have unlimited reloads.
Team 1
Human kensai, Cleric/ranger, Imoen, Minsc, Dynaheir, - will kick Dynahier for Xan and recruit Viconia later on.
This team is weak on hps but should have lots of CC and good hitters.
Team Drow
F/M/T, Blade, Kagain, Dorn, Edwin, Viconia.
Will kick Edwin for Baeloth, and maybe switxh Viconia too to have variation in NPCs.
Team Rightous
Elven sorceror, Cavalier, Ajantis, Kivan, Branwen, Rasaad.
I olanned to go without a thief in this group, but now im leaning towards switching Kivan for Coran.
Team Green.
Druid avenger, Stalker, Jaheira, Minsc, Kivan.
Rangers and druids only, will get me to think outside my comfort zone, will suffer from lack of arcane magic and lack of thief. Will recruit Faldorn if i get to that.
All teams have taken basicly the same route to get here. After the ambush I go to Beregost and then Mutamin and his basilisks, then back to beregost and then kill Shoal the neriad. With some groups ive taken Imoen with me trough Basiliskt to lever her thieving skills and letting her steal some nice to have items.
After that its North to FAI and then go down the lassic route to Nakshel, before entering the mines I have cleared the gnoll fortress and grabbed charisma tome.
So wich team will make it? Wich team will struggle with what?
All bets are open!
Devine spells are hardly a pain to miss. What rules is trapping everything, and whilrwinding everything to death (with 1 Hardiness to protect for every shape of Melissan, plus the last pool, but if you have traps, most fights with Melissan doesn't even exists).
Also what happened with the TITLE, what says here TAG-TEAM, aka. a duo is wanted, not an entire party?
By the way Team Green sounds most horrid, as they are all weak, and use all the same equipments in the party, and you never yet made a successful no-reload at all. Very dis-advised.
So i present the tag-team:
F/M/T lvl 4/4/5
Assasin dualed to cleric at lvl 6 currently cleric lvl 5 and waiting for thief skills to kick back in.
They have traveled for 16 days trying to find their direction after the ambush outside Candlekeep.
They have encountered various monsters and both have deeloped their persnal skills and gathered some magical equipment that will help them survive on their journy, the road ahead is far from clear but atleast it seems like they have a general direction in wich they must travel.
The small village of Nakshel needs their aid.
low HPs are a concern every hit they take is scary.
Ive named them Henke and Jonte as to not confuse the story for anyone reading.
A theological dispute that started friendly but ended in violence have forced our team to flee Beregost sooner then they had planned. Looks like Beregost will need a new mayor and high priest....
Fighting there way south trough Ogrillions hobgoblins and bandits to reach Nakshel, picking up whatever gold and other loot they could find on the way.
Finaly reaching Nakshel and they are yet again ambushed by a bounty hunter as they hope to get some rest at the local inn.
The bounty hunters are getting more and more skilled as well as better equipped, this one they where able to strike down but she did manage to cripple Jonte with a feeblemind spell and it could have ended alot worse.
Avoiding Inns for awhile seems like the smart thing to do, and a ranger that hangs out in town seems to offer them a good reason to leave town and head for the wilderness.
Off to save a damsel in distress.
Again fighting trough the wilderness, wolves, gnolls, and lumberjacks are all felled by spell and sword. ( most by arrows from Henkes bow tbh )
Finding the gnoll fortress far to the west and scouting the area, taking out some stray patrols and examining some surrounding caves they are debating if they dare assault the fortress or not.
Deciding to make an attempt to save the girl after all it all goes smoother then expected. Some well placed sleep spells and alot of arrows and even the gnoll chiefttain falls to Henkes arrows.
After rescuing Dynaheir and giving her directions to find her way back to Nakshel, the team decides to try their luck to the north.
They fight more Hobgoblins with relative ease, and a polar bear that had to be put down..... And then discover that Ogre berserkers are not to be taken lightly......
Surviving with healthpotions and killing them with backstabs did the trick though and our team is back in Nakshel, spending their well earned gold on some trinkets at the carnival and getting ready to explora the mine area.
Found a sculpor with a broken heart that pleaded for our heros help to guard him while he finnished his work.
It was obious that he needed the help for during thier exploration of the area >Henke and Jonte had fought off both undead, kobolds, hungry wolves and ever a few winter wolves, whos fur are in high fashion at the moment.
Serring up a perimiter defense with a trap and Henke going invisible to be able to early spot any incoming threats, the heros settled in on guard duty.
Did not take long before the bounty hunter Greywolf appeared, and no ammount of smoothtalking would keep him from his bounty so violence was inevitable.
Triggering the trap previously set and two landed backstabs meant Greywolf had collected his last bounty. Good thing our heroes where there to do it for him since the sculptor died soon after. Probably a heart attack from all the excitement.
Back to Nakshel and what will have to pass as civilasation, collect the bounty, sell off some furs and a few collected trinkets.
For the next episode our heroes are preparing to enter the Nakshel mines.
And I am more then a little worried about the fight with Mulahey....
But when Henkes first backstab missed Mulahey turned to him and started casting, Henke not having any mental protections aside from his elven heritage didnt dare to take any chanses and quaffed a potion of invisibility.
The next backstab landed and from there it was all over very quickly.
Henke failed to learn the web spell found among Mulaheys belongings, very dissapointing.
So the mine was clear and the villagers in Nakshel could sleep easier at night.
The heroes from from satisfied with their financial situation continues to hunt the countryside for contracts and valuables.
Slaying hobgoblins by the hundreds, hunting bandits and gnolls. Even got a contract on a few Ogre berserkers, that was a tough fight but never realy dangerous.
They have dared to move back to Beregost, cleared a house of spiders, fought yet more assasins in tavarns and Inns and also saved a clueless trio from the murdering plans of Silke.
Jonte didnt manage to take it out or draw aggro from it and it relentlessly kept attacking Henke.
Henke died and its game over for this pair.
My next team will be a bit modded. F/M/Assasin and if i can get it to work a Cleric/Stalker
Henke - ( yea not very imaginative ) a Half-elf cleric/stalker with a stat roll of 93. Aside from the kit ive given him access to bows and katanas. Yea im cheating! As a long time Neverwinter Nights player with clerics as favourite class to base char builds on I feel limited by the restrictions imposed on clerics in 2e.
Anilora - Elf F/M/Assassin rolled 91 on her, all in all pretty good rolls on both.
The death of Gorian came with mixed feelings for Henke and Anilora, for a long time now hey had dreamt of escaping Candlekeep to start a life together somwhere far from the swordcoast.
But Gorion had always managed to keep them apart, offering vague reasons and mumbling about dangerous heritage when he though they couldnt hear him.
Thinking Gorion reffered to her elven heritage and his mixed blood thier relationship with Gorion had turned very cold and they tried to stay out of his way as much as possible.
So when the summons come for Henke that he must leave Candlekeep togehter with Gorion this very night it all came as a big surprise. After two assasination atepmts within the very walls of Candlekeep, Henke agreed to leave but refused to go anywhere if they didnt take Anilora with them.
Not having much choice Gorion grudingly agreed to take Anilora along, as long as they left that very night!
Now Gorion was dead, ambushed in the night by an armoured figure acompanied by mages and even an Ogre, Henke hated Ogres above all other things in this world.
The couple now had a choice, to follow Gorions last instructions and head for the Friendly arm Inn and search for Gorions friends. Or take the chanse they had hoped for so long, and try to find a place for themselves in the world without the meddling of wizards.
Comming to a decision wasnt easy, aside form the latest period where their relationship had taken a turn for the worse, Gorion had been a good foster father for Henke, and the only father he had ever known.
But a descision had to be made, and the opportunity to start a life of their own had never been so real. So instead of heading north to the Friendly Arm Inn, the couple decided to head south to Beregost, hoping to find someplace to stay and a way to raise some gold to start their lifr together.
Little did they know of the troubles that lay in wait for them.....
I'd advise never tanking a ghoul or a vamp wolf. Instead, kite and use ranged weapons. I know it's really hard to do that down in the Ulcaster ruins, because of the enclosed space, but I've done it successfully before by pausing every two seconds and triangulating directions (the enemies always give chase in a pattern of predictable angles, and they pause for a split second before changing directions.) You can use their predictable motion combined with timing rounds to stay out of melee even when an enemy is faster than you.
But maybe you already knew that, and it was just an accident of clicks with the vamp wolf.
You may also want to consider avoiding unnecessary encounters like that one, unless you're aiming for a completionist no-reload.
As you discovered, invisibility and the greenstone amulet are very important to surviving caster fights. Protective potions also really help. Know which mages are going to cast lightning, and use potions of grounding, for example. I usually drink both potions of grounding and fire protection against Davaeorn, since he casts both Lightning and Fireball. Then there are blue and yellow potions of magic blocking and shielding, plus green scrolls.
Anyway, keep it up, and I'll be cheering for you.