@Blackraven , Do you prefer song & silence to rogue rebalance mod?
I like both a lot. RR fo the changes it makes to gameplay and some nice but not OP items, and S&S is nice becasue it adds new well-balanced kits to the game. As @CrevsDaak said, you could play with both.
Other Charnames you might have read aren't included here because they never died. My playthroughs with Aya the Avenger and Grynne the 2nd (Half-Orc Wizard Slayer) are lost due to game crashes and simplified re-installs, with less mods. I kind of gave up on Serene (Half-Elf Beast Mistress) after a bug at near death status, but strictly speaking she never died.
† Nelsy † CG Halfling Bounty Huntress Date of Death: Unknown Cause of Death: Insta-killed by Jenkal’s backstab. Nelsy was a friendly, kind-hearted and naive young Bhaalspawn. She died a premature death in Gullykin where she had wanted to meet more of her (Halfling) kind and make some friends. The villagers all received her amiably and one, Alora, had even joined her, much to Nelsy's joy, until Jenkal ended her bliss. Maybe she was a bit too soft to be a successful Bhaalspawn or even adventurer.
† Elloysia † CN Gnome Transmuter Date of Death: Unknown Cause of Death: Shoal’s kiss of death proved that not only males have to be wary of Nereids. Elloysia was an aspiring young mage, and a very unlucky one at that as she could only cast Alteration spells. Would a wider range of spells have saved her though? Probably not.
† Teyl the 1st † NE Halfling Priest of Cyric/Thief (solo) Date of Death: Unknown Cause of Death: Charmed by Hareishan in the Cloakwood Mines. Truth be told Teyl was a bit of a jerk: a double-crossing, conniving little trickster who was only out for himself and expected no less of others. Many would underestimate the sneak due to his unimpressive physique, his dapper appearance and the absence of friends surrounding let alone protecting him, but that’s exactly how he liked to work.
† Teyl the 2nd † NE Halfling Priest of Cyric/Thief (solo) Date of Death: Unknown Cause of Death: PW Stunned by Rayic Gethras and subsequently slain by the wizard’s MMMs.
† Grynne the 1st † LN Half-Orc Wizard Slayer Date of Death: Unknown Cause of Death: Fainted in Mulahey’s Stinking Cloud and finished off by the latter's ‘improved’ Battle Horrors With her honesty and her sense of honor Grynne could have been a Paladin if only she had been human, and probably a bit less suspicious of magic. She distinguished herself as a merciless hunter of evil arcane magic users, and had difficulty staying her hand even against non-evil casters.
† Gylliane the 1st † TN Elf Swashbuckler/Mage Date of Death: Unknown Cause of Death: Webbed by Kysus at the Cloakwood Mine entrance and finished off by the latter and two of his Ogrillon minions Gylliane was a typical ‘what you see is what you get type of girl’, turning heads wherever she went with her elven beauty and very no-nonsense in her dealings with others: courteous when she could, ruthless when she had to.
† Gylliane the 2nd † CG Elf Swashbuckler/Mage (solo) Date of Death: Unknown Cause of Death: Unknown. During the final showdown she had already taken down Angelo and was gaining the upper hand against Tazok when all of a sudden she instantly died. One theory is that Semaj successfully petrified her, but it’s something we’ll never know.
† Lenno † CN Halfling Swashbuckler Date of Death: Unknown Cause of Death: Combination of (modded) Traps and Flesh Golems at Alaric’s Cave Flamboyant, risk-prone and with an unmatched talent to choose the wrong friends and generally fail at missions, Lenno was unlikely to live a long and healthy life. Even so, his unfortunate death in a pirate cave came disappointingly early.
† Ocker † NG Dwarven Skald Date of Death: Unknown Cause of Death: Charmed and death-kissed by Shoal. Ocker was a good Dwarf, noble of heart. A brave warrior poet who took his role as the leader of an adventuring party very seriously, Ocker would inspire his companions with his battlesong but suffered when he saw his friends in trouble, causing him to step into battle ill-prepared on more than one occasion. His valor in the end also meant his death.
† Vallon † LG Human Undead Hunter Date of Death: Unknown Cause of Death: Panicked, cornered and slain by TorGal at Nalia’s Keep. Vallon combined his outstanding fighting prowess with an impeccable moral integrity, and a humble disposition he often found lacking in fellow Paladins. He singlehandedly saved the Sword Coast from the brute Sarevok and was already making a name for himself in Amn before mind-altering magic ended his life.
We all have waited SOO long for this list. RIP all the heroes.
And you should definitely get a promote as the lesser compensation for losing so many characters. All of them are well respected and known on this forum. Their stories are still in our minds.
@bengoshi, yay my 2nd Promote! Thanks a lot! I've been a bit busy with all kinds of (generally pleasant) RL distractions, but I've been trying to catch up on here, and reading @SharGuidesMyHand's, @Gotural's, @Elrandir's, @Lemernis', and @CaloNord's runs I'm very eager to venture forth again... The list will no doubt get longer, I just hope it won't be too rapidly
@Blackraven Yay! More awesome content! Your play through is epic! Elrandir, Shar, Lolien and yourself are the people who inspired me to create my. . . abomination. :P So I for one would be thrilled to see more from you!
Hoorah! Now we just need one of these fine heroes with the determination to crawl their way out of the grave and adventure again! Or perhaps another hero stands, just beyond the horizon, sharpening his (or her) blade for adventure. Either way, I can't wait to read more! =D
@Elrandir, thanks my friend I kind of feel honor-bound to give it a shot with my Halfling Barbarian/Druid that people were enthusiastic about. RP-wise probably one of my more interesting characters. At the same time there was @booinyoureyes' great idea to resurrect one of my fallen Charnames and do a yes-reload run with him/her. And then there's my recent predilection for human warriors. This is based on nice experiences with Serene, Vallon, and a Ranger->Cleric of Lathander named Sterlyng, who's been waiting for more than a month to go through the Cloakwood. Not sure yet what to do with the latter (start anew and journal extensively, continue and post concisely about his exploits in this thread, or abandon the character altogether). @Sergio, my condolences for your Barbarian. Phase Spiders' poison is very damaging. I see you posted about a no-reload run with a Kensai, but not your Barbarian am I right? I hope you won't give up on no-reloading, and that you journal your adventures...
@Sergio, I wouldn't say that dealing with the Bandit camp is impossible in SCS no-reload solo playthroughs. It can be done, but you'll either want to use invisibility inside Tazok's tent and only loot the chest without fighting, or to be as high level as possible before doing the main plot quests. You can "farm" XP by killing Basilisks, Sirines, Ankhegs etc.
@Sergio I didn't get the bug you are speaking about, and I'm playing with the SCS prebuff option (I chose the option number 5, prebuff on difficulty of Hard or Insane, that way my actual no reload is affected because I play this one on Insane, but the others are not).
I had a crash with the Dark Horizons mod though, but I managed to get around it and continue my run (A party of druids who ambushed me crash the game when they talk, so I had to reload and ambush them instead to initiate the fight before the talking occurs).
As for the Bandit Camp, it's pretty hard if you can't deal area of effect damage, like with a Wand of Fire or with spells. I strongly advice you to buy something like 10 Potions of Explosion to clean them.
@Blackraven I also really like the concept of your Halfling B/D. What about using a kit for the Druid part ? Actually I thought about this character as a Shapeshifter/Barbarian after reading about the Feralan kit added by Unfinished Business. It could be pretty cool. I'm also with you if you decide to pick again one of your previous character and raise it from the dead.
@Gotural, I must have missed your post between the comments on the 'Favorite race' thread. So sorry for my late reply. Anyway, after some hesitation I've decided to give Sampariy the Halfling B/D a try. Kitting him as a Shapeshifter as you suggested or as an Avenger would be very nice, but unfortunately I can't kit him since Barbarian is already a kit. I could edit in one or more innate shapeshift abilities, but I think I won't. The Feralan is a very interesting kit imo, and might have worked for Sampariy, but it's a Ranger (good aligned).
Your willpower is impressive indeed. I've played no reload games myself, but when a character dies whom you've grown fond of, it's very difficult not to give in.
I was playing a no reload game with a Jester who had reached level 6. His death was so pointless (critical hit by a mindless skeleton) and the NPCs accompanying him were so distraught by his end, I could not help myself but reload.
@demented, I've reached the point where as a diehard no-reloader (no pun intended) it would require impressive willpower from my part to actually reload. However I get what you mean. I still have the saves of three charnames I really like, and whose exploits I extensively journalled on the forums: Lenno the Swashbuckler in a Thieves only run, Ocker the Skald, and Serene the Beast Mistress. If I restarted with them, I think I wouldn't bother with writing about their feelings, their interaction with NPCs etc again, so the only way to continue their stories would be to switch to minimal reload. I'm intent on starting a new minmal reload run with a different Swashbuckler (not Lenno) with a strong RP-emphasis. Maybe I'll make another poll asking people which of the characters I mentioned they'd like to see continued (or started, in the case of the second Swashbuckler) in an RP-heavy playthrough. Other charnames will remain to be no-reload characters (unless I grow superattached to them aswell lol).
Ok people, I’ve been playing some no-reload BG again. A run with a Halfling Swashbuckler was troublesome (thanks to Item Randomizer no good loot at all even after having explored pretty much the entire Sword Coast up till Cloakwood) but it was fun for as long as it lasted. It ended yesterday when he got charmed by the trap at the altar in Durlag’s Tower. (First time I think that trap actually did something.)
So I decided to roll a new Charname. After Grynne the Wizard Slayer, Serene the Beastmaster, and Vallon the Undead Hunter, I went with yet another hopefully badass warrior type that fits Blackraven’s anti arcane magic narrative. This time I decided to combine the two non-magical basic classes Fighter and Thief into Elgryn, a Half-Elven (edited) Barbarian/Thief multiclass with Blackraven’s portrait. The Gods blessed Elgryn with amazing stats: 92 with 18/00 STR (within 15 minutes of lazy rolling at work, I almost rerolled due to being distracted).
The Candlekeep guards recognized Elgryn’s exceptional strength at a young age, and trained him to become a fighter. This was an arduous job for the guards because Elgryn was an ill-disciplined student. For instance after a single unpleasant training session in heavy armor he became adamant on always using light armor despite objections from the guards. He would also resort to unsportsmanlike, dirty fighting whenever it suited him. And he would often get very angry and aggressive when things didn’t go the way he wanted, transforming his training sessions into true battle. Thankfully Elryn controls the latter aspect better now, having converted his rage into an asset that helps him focus better in combat or use it as a second wind that allows him to turn the tide of a losing battle. His somewhat dubious combat discipline stands in stark contrast with his correctitude in his relations with others. Elgryn’s a man of his word and expects the same from the people he deals with. I’ll be role-playing him as a vigilante who takes the law into his own hands whenever he deems it necessary. If he witnesses a wrong he won’t hesitate to exact (capital) punishment, and if someone asks him to rectify a wrong he’ll step in and gets the job done unless he finds he wasn’t fully informed or new information comes to light. Elgryn’s very steadfast in his views. He considers magic unnatural and is very suspicious of it, even biased against it. This may be because Elgryn himself doesn’t understand magic.
BG1 is going to be a solo undertaking with the exception of the final chapter, or at least the coronation event in BG City, provided Elgryn makes it there. In BG2 I can see him form a team with co-badasses such as Keldorn the Inquisitor, Mazzy the Truesword of Arvoreen, Kivan the Stalker, Valygar the Wizard Slayer, Anomen the Warrior Priest of Helm and I might give Cernd the ‘rebalanced’ Shapeshifter a try. That would be ideal, but I can’t rule out a need for some minor arcane magic (maybe a Bardic debuffer in the form of Haer’Dalis or Aerie). I hope to create discord in the BG2 party between the virtuous law-abiders (Keldorn, Mazzy) and the vigilantes (Valygar, Kivan, Elgryn).
***
Elgryn started off diligently doing all the Candlekeep quests except rat killing for Reevor. He considered trying to pickpocket Fuller’s magical dagger but out of respect for his former teacher he pulled out. Equipped with two scimitars, a suit of studded leather armor and a horned helmet, he set out with his foster father Gorion, the sage he had never spent much time with but cared for nonetheless. He even felt indebted to Gorion for having taken care of him. An ambush by bandits led by a powerful warrior meant the end of Gorion’s life. Elgryn witnessed the fight from a distance, after he had obeyed Gorion’s orders to run away. Gorion’s decease caused first of all a profound sadness in Elgryn, secondly a feeling of regret about having run from the battle scene and thirdly, much to his shame, a secret pleasure: he’ll never say the words but somehow it had pleased him to see the warrior’s steel prevail over Gorion’s sorcery. Elgryn saw similarities and differences between him and the warrior. Both were physically strong and ruthless. At the same time he was aware that the warrior had wielded a two-handed greatsword, whereas Elgryn was more comfortable dualwielding smaller blades for faster but almost equally vicious attacks. Moreover, the warrior had been clad in full plate mail while Elgryn refuses to use anything heavier than studded leather or perhaps light elven chain if he were to ever find such a rare suit of armor.
Gorion had told him before the ambush that he should make his way to the Friendly Arm Inn if something were to happen to the former. So that’s what Elgryn, respectful of the old sage, did. However, he first arranged for Gorion’s burial in Candlekeep with the citadel’s Keeper of the Portal. The Keeper had been kind enough to give Elgryn 100 GP and had warned him not to give out his name to every stranger. By the way, on the Candlekeep Coastway he had run into Imoen, a serving girl at the Candlekeep Inn that seemed to like him more than he was aware of. Either way, the wide open world was no place for a serving girl Elgyn reckoned, so he had escorted her back to Candlekeep. An uneventful trek to the Friendly Arm Inn followed, with a handful of Gibberlings constituting no threat whatsoever to Elgryn. At the entrance to the Friendly Arm Inn, a wizard asked him who he was. Elgryn, heedful of the words of warning Candlekeep’s Keeper of the Portal had given him, refused to answer. The wizard then told him to hold still and started an incantation, which infuriated Elgryn. Battle ensued. A first spell aimed at the mind had no effect, but the Mage had a number of physically damaging spells in his repertoire as well. by Entering and leaving the Inn, Elgryn tried to interrupt the wizard’s casting to mitigate any damage. He hid in shadows whenever he could, while in the meantime trying to deal out damage with his scimitars. It resulted in the wizard’s death at the doorstep of the Inn.
Inside the Inn, Elgryn spoke with Gorion’s friends, Half-Elves like himself, one a feisty Druid and the other her husband, a nervous Fighter. Elgryn didn’t like the idea of the two lovebirds babysitting him, so he politely thanked them for giving him a Potion of Invisibility and bade them farewell. In the Inn a Dwarven scholar asked Elgryn to look for a Rogue Ogre south of the Inn and retrieve a belt it had stolen from her, and a Gnome named Landrin begged him to clear her Beregost home of four Huge Spiders. Thus, Elgryn decided to travel southward. He spotted the Ogre soon enough, snuck up to it and killed it with a single blow from behind.
In Beregost he found Landrin’s home as per her instructions. He lured the Spiders outside and took care of them with backstabs.
Eldryn decided to rest before he would return to the Friendly Arm Inn. It almost got him into a fight with two drunkards, but he managed to placate them. Back in the Friendly Arm Inn, Unshey gave him some gold, nothing to be excited about, though on the other hand it hadn’t been a difficult job either. Landrin was more generous with her gold. The young warrior traveled south again, where he further explored Beregost and its surroundings. Just south of town he slew two Ogrillons and found a letter on one of their corpses from one ‘Roe’ to his wife Mirianne. They must have taken the letter from a Halfling messenger whose corpse Elgryn had seen near the monsters.
Asking around in Beregost he learned where Roe and Mirianne lived. Mirianne was at home. She had been very worried about her husband’s wellbeing and thanked Elgryn generously with a protective ring. Southwest of Beregost he saved Melicamp, a mage apprentice that had been polymorphed into a chicken, from a hungry wolf. Elgryn hesitated between slaying the abomination on the spot and giving in to Melicamp’s pleas to take him to a Mage called Thalantyr, who would allegedly restore Melicamp to his human form. The young warrior, not at all interested in the sorcery of Thalantyr and his apprentice, decided to give in, hoping for a proper reward.
Standoffish Thalantyr did as Melicamp had expected. He restored Melicamp. But neither of the two had any reward for Elgryn, much to the latter’s chagrin. Thalantyr did have many good potions for sale, of which fact Elgryn made a mental note. He made his way back to Beregost to follow the road south. Near it he rescued a Drow priestess from a Flaming Fist Officer. Elgryn was reluctant to place trust in the Drow but she claimed to be innocent. He didn’t have to decide on how to proceed though, because the Flaming Fist Officer attacked him for “protecting” the Drow. Now this warrior was a formidable opponent, clad in plate mail and blessed by some God with clerical spellpower. At one point he even magically held Elgryn (who had run out of sight when the spell energy was coming his way), and Elgryn only survived because the Flaming Fist Officer decided to focus his efforts on the priestess first. That was a mistake since the priestess was incapable of upsetting the warrior whereas Elgryn, once he was in control of his body again, managed to fatally wound his foe with a backstab.
Elgryn traveled further south, dispatching Kobolds and Hobgoblins (which earned him a pair of Boots of Stealth), until he reached Nashkel. At the edge of town he met Lord Foreshadow who gifted him a Ring of Human Influence (18 CHA, 1x/day Charm Person). In the Nashkel Inn he had to deal with a priestess that hoped to claim an apparent bounty on his head. Elgryn had little time to wonder why there would be a price on his head; he had to defend himself. The priestess didn’t put up much of a fight. While she wasted her spells on the enraged young warrior, he dealt numerous blows until she fell. Nashkel was otherwise peaceful although he was informed of a murdering guard captain on the loose, and of problems in the Nashkel Mines with tainted iron ore and disappearing miners. Rather than worrying over these events, he decided to visit the Nashkel Carnival, hoping to find useful and cheap wares with the inevitable merchants. He saw good scrolls, bought a few potions, and had a run-in with a wizard that was arguing with another mage and slew the latter. Normally Elgryn wouldn’t mourn two wizards killing each other, but the surviving wizard attacked him. Although he suffered some minor magic damage and one of his scimitars broke, furious Elgryn had little difficulty dispatching the Mage.
The young warrior left Nashkel and the Carnival and traveled in a southwestern direction to the Cloudpeaks. There he had to deal with bandits and brigands who would mock him or demand his money, but he felled them all. And the rewards were sweet: two enchanted scimitars that were much less likely to break than his old weapons, and a pair of what turned out to be Boots of Speed. Later, Elgryn would have Thalantyr merge the two pairs for a hefty sum of gold into a pair of Boots of the Thief: Fast Legs.
Elgryn also did some good deeds for others such as protecting a Dryad’s tree from two dimwitted men intent on cutting it, bringing a sobbing young girl her dead cat, and finding a boy’s lost dog (although he regretted the latter deed when he saw the boy transform into a demon and teleport away). Further to the west, on the South Coast, he stood guard for archeologist Charleston Nib by an excavation site and had to slay the man’s diggers when they went berserk. He also found the frenzied Nashkel guard captain. Elgryn managed to calm him and guided him to the Temple of Helm in Nashkel where he left it to High Priest Nalin to decide the captain’s fate. [Elgryn is a vigilante, not a mercenary.]
When he was back in the Beregost region, where he had the scimitars identified by the blacksmith and the aforementioned Boots of the Fast Legs produced by Thalantyr, he visited the Temple of Lathander to replenish his stock of healing potions. The High Priest told him of a 5000 GP bounty on the head of a murderous cleric by the name of Bassilus. Elgryn was a good, agile fighter, but his basic studded leather armor offered little in terms of protection. He had seen a very nice suit of Shadow Armor at Feldepost’s Inn in Beregost, but couldn’t afford it yet. Surely the 5000 GP on Bassilus’ head would be a more than welcome boost to his funds. Not far from the Temple he saw a petrified woman. He decided to fetch a scroll of Stone to Flesh to bring her back to life. The woman was thankful and explained to him that it hadn’t been someone’s magic that had petrified her, but one of a number of lizardlike creatures. Basilisks, Elgryn knew. He decided to travel to the Nashkel Carnival where he bought a green scroll of Protection from Petrification. East of Beregost he indeed found a colony of about ten of the creatures. He cast the protection on himself and used the cover of night to sneak up on the beasts and hurt them where they’re most vulnerable: their bellies and the heads. A Gnomish wizard who had apparently controlled the beasts was not amused with Elgryn’s antics and blinded the warrior. This resulted in an uneven fight in which the wizard dealt Elgryn many blows until a lucky swing with his enchanted scimitar did the Gnome in.
After this adventure Elgryn took things a bit easier. He went Tasloi hunting in the Cloakwood which yielded him the Cloak of Non-Detection, and he slew Gnolls for a Halfling man in the Red Sheaf Inn, also in Beregost (after having to dispatch yet another bounty hunter at the latter inn), as well as four Half-Ogres for a wounded Paladin he had met in Beregost’s Jovial Juggler Inn. Northwest of where he slew the Half-Ogres he accidentally met Bassilus. A hard battle between two almost even foes ensued. Elgryn’s inner fury, with which he neutralized the priest’s magics, made the difference.
Elgryn went straight back to the Temple of Lathander to claim the bounty. Together with the proceeds of miscellaneous loot he sold he had more than enough to get himself the Shadow Armor. He bought the armor and decided to save for an enchanted venomous dagger, also for sale at Feldepost’s.
After reading your playthroughs mine seems always gibberish to me... (Sigh.) Very good work! The part, where Elgryn compare himself with Sarevok, is my favourite. I hope, that you will reach with him to the end!
Unfortunately Elgryn’s life ended in Irenicus’ dungeon (after he got repeatedly stunned by one of the Mephits, while the other Mephits slowly killed him). I can’t be bothered with updating his exploits up to his death. Instead I give you:
The Adventures of Galadhiel the Swashbuckler
The idea with this one is to do a non-metagamed playthrough. I normally take a quasi-non-metagame approach with my runs, using the Item Randomizer mod and prohibiting prebuffing except with long duration spells. However, as opposed to my usual runs, this time I’ll also try to avoid metagaming when it comes to quest order. This means, as you will read below, that Tarnesh, Silke and the likes cannot be avoided for long.
Here’s Galadhiel:
For her survivability I waited until I rolled very good stats for Galadhiel and I almost completely min-maxed them. The only compromise I made was to lower CHA at the cost of higher shop prices, so that she could have slightly above average WIS, to be increased with at least two tomes, which makes it more credible to role-play her as not overly careless or naïve. Her CHA is still well above average as is her INT, making her a perceptive observer and a quick learner.
Galadhiel is a typical CG character in that she’s no law-abider (either in terms of adhering to a personal code of conduct or the laws of society), addressing problems rather on a case-by-case basis. But ultimately she’s out there to do good, helpful to others, and respectful of nature. She possesses the grace, flair, and assertiveness that people may associate with Swashbucklers, but at the same time she’s gentle and pensive. She has the love for nature, beauty, arts, and song that’s so emblematic of Elves, and is also strongly attracted to Elven culture due to being an Elf that was raised among mainly Humans. Galadhiel has a tattoo on her face drawn by her mother, a Sylvan Elf from the High Forest in northern Faerun. Sylvan tattoos may offer magical protections. Galadhiel’s tattoo allows her to cast Know Alignment three times a day, which may help her decide who to trust. The tattoo is Galadhiel’s only reminder of her mother, who died shortly after Galadhiel was born. Gorion never told Galadhiel much about her mother.
Galadhiel will have companions, a full party most of the time. When I started this run, I didn’t think of a limit on NPC deaths, and at the moment I’m writing this, some of them already died a few times . To might make myself more careful I’m toying with introducing a rule that from the present point of the game NPCs may die and be raised/resurrected twice (not counting prior deaths). At the same time, I’m also eager to take RP aspects into account and to try and create this party of close friends though thick and thin for the entire trilogy. The latter idea might prevail over that of a limit on NPC deaths. Another option would be to manually reduce CON by 1 each time an NPC dies and gets raised, or (more likely) to flip a coin over whether or not CON will be lowered. Again, I wouldn’t count previous deaths because up till now I haven’t played the game with that rule in my mind. The party of friends would consist of (Half-)Elves Khalid, Jaheira, Coran, Kivan, and Xan (playing with the Coran, Kivan, and Xan NPC mods for BG2). Besides these five there’s Imoen who’s also difficult if not impossible to ignore for Galadhiel. This creates a problem for BG1 because Galadhiel can only have five companions. I might solve this by establishing a base somewhere and changing my party composition time and again, so that all of the six aforementioned NPCs play their part. Besides, I want to be able to enter into temporary alliances (Minsc in order to save Dynaheir and to make sure his imprisonment by Irenicus makes sense, maybe Yeslick in the Mines, Valygar in the Planar Sphere etc). Another problem could be the absence of a Cleric. Viconia might play this part but I foresee alignment and reputation issues with her; nevertheless she could be someone that Galadhiel reluctantly calls upon time and again. In BG2 Aerie could be a useful and fitting addition to the party. In hindsight I should have rolled a Cleric I think, but when I rolled Galadhiel I didn’t have this more role-played approach with a party of (Half-)Elves in mind. I’ll try to role-play the companions as well, give them their own temperament and opinions. This shouldn’t be overly difficult thanks to compatible alignments and personalities. At the same time it means I’ll have to pursue the main plot (Nashkel Mines for Khalid and Jaheira, bandits for Kivan) sooner than I’d like.
*** Galadhiel’s adventuring life started with a very exciting day that ended in the roughest night of her life. One moment she was helping out some of the residents of Candlekeep, her home for almost all her life, with simple chores and the other moment she was on the road to an unknown destination with her foster father Gorion. Galadhiel had been thrilled, but the delight wouldn’t last long as Gorion and she were waylaid by what seemed to be bandits or bounty hunters, that were after her! ‘Hand over your ward’, their leader had said. Gorion had urged her to run, and she had complied. From a distance she had seen her foster father use his magic to put a priestess to sleep, kill two Ogres and hurt the brigand leader, a warrior of giant-like proportions. The warrior resisted Gorion’s magical onslaught however and Galadhiel witnessed him kill her foster father with his two-handed great sword.
The next morning, she was greeted by Imoen (Human Blade, with proficiency in long swords and short bows and three pips in dual wield thanks to the Rogue Rebalancing mod), her childhood friend from Candlekeep. Curious as ever, Imoen had snuck out of Candlekeep the night before and had followed Gorion and her. They hugged for what Imoen perceived as a surprisingly long time, and when Galadhiel mentioned Gorion they both cried. Imoen told Galadhiel that she was going to stick by her side through thick and thin. That thought soothed her and at the same time it worried her. She knew she would have to tell Imoen that the bandit leader who had killed Gorion had in fact been after her, not Gorion. She couldn't bring herself yet to telling Imoen this though. As there was no trace of the warior, the two girls decided to take a look at the place where Gorion had fallen. They found some gold, a necklace, Gorion’s dagger and two morning stars that the Ogres had wielded. Galadhiel put the necklace and the weapons in her wolfskin bag. She might have use for the dagger herself [Galadhiel is proficient in scimitars and daggers] and she could sell the other stuff. They also found a letter to Gorion, signed ‘E’ by an anonymous friend of Gorion’s. Most of the letter was too cryptic for Galadhiel to understand but the mention of two friends who were waiting for Gorion and her at the Friendly Arm Inn triggered her memory of Gorion’s words at the Candlekeep’s gate: ‘If we’re ever to become separated, it is imperative that you make your way to the Friendly Arm Inn. There Khalid and Jaheira will be waiting for you. They have long been my friends, and you can trust them.’ Imoen and Galadhiel returned to Candlekeep to inform the Keeper of the Portal of last night’s events and to request Gorion’s burial in Candlekeep, a request that Candlekeep's elders would honor. Back on the Candlekeep Coastway the girls ran into a Human Mage and a Halfling Rogue who offered them a healing potion Galadhiel gladly accepted. They also asked the girls to accompany them to Nashkel. Imoen was intuitively reluctant and Galadhiel’s power to Know Alignment taught her that both characters were Evil. Galadhiel, wary of the warrior and other possible dangers on the road, accepted the strangers’ proposal nonetheless, but on the condition that they first travel to the Friendly Arm Inn to meet with Gorion’s friends. The Wizard and the Rogue, called Xzar and Montaron respectively, assented. Galadhiel warned Imoen that they had to make sure that at all times either one of them was awake and close to the other if they were ever to set up camp in the wild with their new companions. The four continued on the Candlekeep Coastway until they met a red robed wizard that greeted them with benevolence. Galadhiel responded in kind, and asked the man for directions toward the Friendly Arm Inn. Interestingly Imoen told the man that he looked like Elminster the sage, which had the old man smile and call Imoen by her name. Who was this man to know Imoen? None of them knew.
A few hours south of the Friendly Arm Inn the party set up camp. Montaron actually prepared them a pretty good meal, and thankfully no betrayals occurred, so that the next day they reached the immense, walled inn well-rested. At the entrance they were accosted by a wizard in black robes who, as Galadhiel’s Know Alignment demonstrated, was of evil intent. He said to recognize Galadhiel and told her to hold still. He instantly buffed himself with magical protections and started casting a spell. Xzar managed to interrupt the Mage with a Larloch’s Minor drain while Montaron rushed toward the Wizard to attack him in close combat. Imoen and Galadhiel tried to hurt and disrupt the mage with their respective arrows and throwing daggers. Rather than focusing on Montaron, the direct threat to his life, the wizard managed to Sleep both Xzar and Imoen. After that, he futilely tried to Horror Galadhiel [she failed to get out the spell’s AoE in time, but saved against spell anyway]. Galadhiel hit the Mage once or twice with her throwing daggers for minor damage, but the credit must go to fearless Montaron. It was he who slew the wizard with one stab too many with his short sword.
Montaron checked the Mage’s corpse but found nothing but mage scrolls he had no interest in. Galadhiel picked up the scrolls anyway, thinking they might be of use to someone, possibly Imoen. Between the scrolls she found a bounty notice mentioning a 200 GP bounty on her head. She kept the bounty notice to herself. Both Montaron and Galadhiel were worried over their companions, who remained asleep until long after the battle had ended despite Galadhiel's and Montaron's attempts at waking them. Neither Montaron nor Galadriel was knowledgeable of Sleep magic, and they feared that the effect was permanent, so they were relieved to see Imoen and Xzar get back up on their feet. Inside the Friendly Arm Inn, the party was approached by a beautiful, blonde Druidess with Elven features and a fighter with a long sword, also of Elven heritage: Jaheira (Fighter/Totemic Druid specialized in staves and slings) and Khalid (Fighter/Wild Mage with **** in long swords). Galadhiel introduced herself and the others to them and showed them Gorion’s letter. The pain and the sadness showed in Khalid’s and Jaheira’s faces when Galadhiel told them what had happened. Jaheira informed them that Khalid and she had business in Nashkel, where they were supposed to look into the Iron Crisis. Galadhiel knew little of that crisis although she did recall the Candlekeep guards mentioning it. Since Galadhiel and Imoen had agreed to accompany Xzar and Montaron to Nashkel anyway, the party’s course was set. First however they rested, and they spoke with a few more of the guests at the Friendly Arm Inn. Unshey, a Dwarven writer, asked them to keep an eye out for a rogue Ogre with a bel fetish, and a Gnomish woman named Landrin promised them an ample reward if they would clear her Beregost home of four Huge Spiders and bring her a pair of boots and some wine from her home.
A couple of hours south of the Friendly Arm Inn, not far from where Galadhiel and Imoen had set up camp with Montaron and Xzar, the party encountered the rogue Ogre. The monster was slow and had no answer to Jaheira’s, Imoen’s and Galadhiel’s ranged attacks. Galdahiel looted its corpse and returned to the Friendly Arm Inn to give Unshey her belt back.
Just outside the Inn’s walls the party slew five Hobgoblins so that they wouldn’t pose any threat to traveler to and from the Inn. On one of the Hobgoblins they found a flamedance ring that they returned to a woman named Joia after Jaheira mentioned she had been told by Joia that Hobgoblins had stolen her ring. Their trip south to Beregost was relatively uneventful although they did have to deal with a few Gibberlings. In Feldepost’s Inn in Beregost they almost got into a fight with Marl, a father who had taken to drinking after his adventuring son had died. He vented his frustration on Galadhiel and even tried to pick a fight with her, but she didn’t accept his challenge nor did she back down, and in the end she even managed to talk some sense into him. Although Imoen seemed to be more than a little interested in a young man loitering in front of the Burning Wizard Inn, and although there was still the matter of the spider-infested home, on Jaheira’s behest the party didn’t linger in Beregost. They didn’t get very far south either though. Minutes after having left the town in a southern direction they were confronted by two Ogrillons that had just slain a Halfling. They would have done the same to Khalid and Jaheira, but the party wisely chose to retreat to the relative safety of Beregost.
In the first Inn they encountered, the Jovial Juggler, they reserved rooms to heal and rest, much to Montaron’s and Xzar’s chagrin, impatient as the two were to get to Nsahkel. Meanwhile Galadhiel and Imoen socialized with a funny Dwarf that kept telling the patrons how he was robbed of his cloak in the Cloakwood of all places. Further inquiry taught Galadhiel that this wasn’t just any cloak, but an actual Cloak of Non-Detection, an item that piqued her interest. She was aware though that there was no way she would be able to convince her companions to travel all the way north to the Cloakwood with her. The Dwarf, Gurke, promised her a monetary reward should she return the cloak to him. By the way Khalid and Jaheira weren’t the only patrons recovering from their injuries; there was also Bjornin, a Paladin recuperating from grievous wounds inflicted by four Half-Ogres, south-west of Beregost. Galadhiel and Imoen promised the man that they would avenge him if they were to run into the monsters.
Well-rested the party set out again. Their second encounter with the Ogrillons went a lot better. Montaron took down one with a fatal backstab, and Jaheira, Imoen and Galadhiel finished the second one off with their ranged weapons. The second Ogrillon did injure Imoen when she was attcking him with her bow from close range, but it was nothing that Jaheira's healing skills couldn't repair.
On one of the monsters’ bodies they found a letter from one Roe to his wife Mirianne. The Halfling the Ogrillons had murdered must have been a messenger for this Roe. The party asked around in Beregost till one of the townspeople directed them to Roe’s and Mirianne’s home. Galadhiel entered and found Mirianne inside. The woman was most grateful and rewarded Galadhiel with a Ring of Protection +1. Outside, the party discussed who should wear the ring. Montaron wanted it for he had slain one of the Ogrillons singlehandedly, but Galadhiel alleged that she had a claim as well because she was the most vulnerable in battle. (Xzar was arguably more vulnerable still, but the Mage simply didn’t do battle. He would at best carelessly cast a Larloch’s Minor Drain on a foe, but most of the time he would simply walk off. He seemed more interested in the corpses on the ground after battle). Montaron, Khalid, Jaheira and Imoen all had splint or chain mail armor, while Galadhiel was clad in nothing more than Studded Leather. With Khalid and Jaheira backing her, Galadhiel was allowed to keep the ring. Xzar and Montaron on the one hand and Khalid and Jaheira on the other had pretty much ignored one another up until then, but the way discussion about the ring was solved spurred open animosity between both ‘camps’. Insults and threats were uttered in both directions. Imoen and Galadhiel looked at each other and the former cheerfully reminded them that they all had something in common: their travel destination, Nashkel.
PS: thanks @lolien, personally I like your writing, full of humor. I hope to read more about your Dwarven chef! Thanks to you too @Gotural, how is your ultra-hard challenge going?
EDIT: as you can see under the 4th spoiler tag, I changed Imoen's portrait to one more fitting to the other portraits I'm using for the core party I have in mind.
Aww I'm sad than Elgryn fell I really liked his class, but he managed to defeat Sarevok which is awesome.
I've said it before, but the start of BG2 looks really difficult for no-reload, I guess the sudden lack of equipment represents a good part of the difficulty, especially the lack of potions / Greenstone Amulet.
For the moment, your new run reminds me of the one of Lenno, both with a party and both with a Swashbuckler, we'll see how things go !
I completed BG1 with my F/M/T and now I'm not sure whether I should start another no-reload in BG1 or if I should continue with BG2 right now, I'll update my thread soon.
Comments
As @CrevsDaak said, you could play with both.
Other Charnames you might have read aren't included here because they never died. My playthroughs with Aya the Avenger and Grynne the 2nd (Half-Orc Wizard Slayer) are lost due to game crashes and simplified re-installs, with less mods. I kind of gave up on Serene (Half-Elf Beast Mistress) after a bug at near death status, but strictly speaking she never died.
† Nelsy †
CG Halfling Bounty Huntress
Date of Death: Unknown
Cause of Death: Insta-killed by Jenkal’s backstab.
Nelsy was a friendly, kind-hearted and naive young Bhaalspawn. She died a premature death in Gullykin where she had wanted to meet more of her (Halfling) kind and make some friends. The villagers all received her amiably and one, Alora, had even joined her, much to Nelsy's joy, until Jenkal ended her bliss. Maybe she was a bit too soft to be a successful Bhaalspawn or even adventurer.
† Elloysia †
CN Gnome Transmuter
Date of Death: Unknown
Cause of Death: Shoal’s kiss of death proved that not only males have to be wary of Nereids.
Elloysia was an aspiring young mage, and a very unlucky one at that as she could only cast Alteration spells. Would a wider range of spells have saved her though? Probably not.
† Teyl the 1st †
NE Halfling Priest of Cyric/Thief (solo)
Date of Death: Unknown
Cause of Death: Charmed by Hareishan in the Cloakwood Mines.
Truth be told Teyl was a bit of a jerk: a double-crossing, conniving little trickster who was only out for himself and expected no less of others. Many would underestimate the sneak due to his unimpressive physique, his dapper appearance and the absence of friends surrounding let alone protecting him, but that’s exactly how he liked to work.
† Teyl the 2nd †
NE Halfling Priest of Cyric/Thief (solo)
Date of Death: Unknown
Cause of Death: PW Stunned by Rayic Gethras and subsequently slain by the wizard’s MMMs.
† Grynne the 1st †
LN Half-Orc Wizard Slayer
Date of Death: Unknown
Cause of Death: Fainted in Mulahey’s Stinking Cloud and finished off by the latter's ‘improved’ Battle Horrors
With her honesty and her sense of honor Grynne could have been a Paladin if only she had been human, and probably a bit less suspicious of magic. She distinguished herself as a merciless hunter of evil arcane magic users, and had difficulty staying her hand even against non-evil casters.
† Gylliane the 1st †
TN Elf Swashbuckler/Mage
Date of Death: Unknown
Cause of Death: Webbed by Kysus at the Cloakwood Mine entrance and finished off by the latter and two of his Ogrillon minions
Gylliane was a typical ‘what you see is what you get type of girl’, turning heads wherever she went with her elven beauty and very no-nonsense in her dealings with others: courteous when she could, ruthless when she had to.
† Gylliane the 2nd †
CG Elf Swashbuckler/Mage (solo)
Date of Death: Unknown
Cause of Death: Unknown. During the final showdown she had already taken down Angelo and was gaining the upper hand against Tazok when all of a sudden she instantly died. One theory is that Semaj successfully petrified her, but it’s something we’ll never know.
† Lenno †
CN Halfling Swashbuckler
Date of Death: Unknown
Cause of Death: Combination of (modded) Traps and Flesh Golems at Alaric’s Cave
Flamboyant, risk-prone and with an unmatched talent to choose the wrong friends and generally fail at missions, Lenno was unlikely to live a long and healthy life. Even so, his unfortunate death in a pirate cave came disappointingly early.
† Ocker †
NG Dwarven Skald
Date of Death: Unknown
Cause of Death: Charmed and death-kissed by Shoal.
Ocker was a good Dwarf, noble of heart. A brave warrior poet who took his role as the leader of an adventuring party very seriously, Ocker would inspire his companions with his battlesong but suffered when he saw his friends in trouble, causing him to step into battle ill-prepared on more than one occasion. His valor in the end also meant his death.
† Vallon †
LG Human Undead Hunter
Date of Death: Unknown
Cause of Death: Panicked, cornered and slain by TorGal at Nalia’s Keep.
Vallon combined his outstanding fighting prowess with an impeccable moral integrity, and a humble disposition he often found lacking in fellow Paladins. He singlehandedly saved the Sword Coast from the brute Sarevok and was already making a name for himself in Amn before mind-altering magic ended his life.
And you should definitely get a promote as the lesser compensation for losing so many characters. All of them are well respected and known on this forum. Their stories are still in our minds.
Thanks a lot! I've been a bit busy with all kinds of (generally pleasant) RL distractions, but I've been trying to catch up on here, and reading @SharGuidesMyHand's, @Gotural's, @Elrandir's, @Lemernis', and @CaloNord's runs I'm very eager to venture forth again... The list will no doubt get longer, I just hope it won't be too rapidly
Ahahah, I like it! What do you think about copy/paste it in the OP, @Blackraven?
@Metalloman, good point, easier to find that way.... Done!
@Sergio, my condolences for your Barbarian.
I had a crash with the Dark Horizons mod though, but I managed to get around it and continue my run (A party of druids who ambushed me crash the game when they talk, so I had to reload and ambush them instead to initiate the fight before the talking occurs).
As for the Bandit Camp, it's pretty hard if you can't deal area of effect damage, like with a Wand of Fire or with spells. I strongly advice you to buy something like 10 Potions of Explosion to clean them.
@Blackraven I also really like the concept of your Halfling B/D. What about using a kit for the Druid part ? Actually I thought about this character as a Shapeshifter/Barbarian after reading about the Feralan kit added by Unfinished Business. It could be pretty cool. I'm also with you if you decide to pick again one of your previous character and raise it from the dead.
I look formard your next playthrough !
The Feralan is a very interesting kit imo, and might have worked for Sampariy, but it's a Ranger (good aligned).
I was playing a no reload game with a Jester who had reached level 6. His death was so pointless (critical hit by a mindless skeleton) and the NPCs accompanying him were so distraught by his end, I could not help myself but reload.
Other charnames will remain to be no-reload characters (unless I grow superattached to them aswell lol).
So I decided to roll a new Charname. After Grynne the Wizard Slayer, Serene the Beastmaster, and Vallon the Undead Hunter, I went with yet another hopefully badass warrior type that fits Blackraven’s anti arcane magic narrative. This time I decided to combine the two non-magical basic classes Fighter and Thief into Elgryn, a Half-Elven (edited) Barbarian/Thief multiclass with Blackraven’s portrait. The Gods blessed Elgryn with amazing stats: 92 with 18/00 STR (within 15 minutes of lazy rolling at work, I almost rerolled due to being distracted).
The Candlekeep guards recognized Elgryn’s exceptional strength at a young age, and trained him to become a fighter. This was an arduous job for the guards because Elgryn was an ill-disciplined student. For instance after a single unpleasant training session in heavy armor he became adamant on always using light armor despite objections from the guards. He would also resort to unsportsmanlike, dirty fighting whenever it suited him. And he would often get very angry and aggressive when things didn’t go the way he wanted, transforming his training sessions into true battle. Thankfully Elryn controls the latter aspect better now, having converted his rage into an asset that helps him focus better in combat or use it as a second wind that allows him to turn the tide of a losing battle. His somewhat dubious combat discipline stands in stark contrast with his correctitude in his relations with others. Elgryn’s a man of his word and expects the same from the people he deals with. I’ll be role-playing him as a vigilante who takes the law into his own hands whenever he deems it necessary. If he witnesses a wrong he won’t hesitate to exact (capital) punishment, and if someone asks him to rectify a wrong he’ll step in and gets the job done unless he finds he wasn’t fully informed or new information comes to light. Elgryn’s very steadfast in his views. He considers magic unnatural and is very suspicious of it, even biased against it. This may be because Elgryn himself doesn’t understand magic.
BG1 is going to be a solo undertaking with the exception of the final chapter, or at least the coronation event in BG City, provided Elgryn makes it there. In BG2 I can see him form a team with co-badasses such as Keldorn the Inquisitor, Mazzy the Truesword of Arvoreen, Kivan the Stalker, Valygar the Wizard Slayer, Anomen the Warrior Priest of Helm and I might give Cernd the ‘rebalanced’ Shapeshifter a try. That would be ideal, but I can’t rule out a need for some minor arcane magic (maybe a Bardic debuffer in the form of Haer’Dalis or Aerie). I hope to create discord in the BG2 party between the virtuous law-abiders (Keldorn, Mazzy) and the vigilantes (Valygar, Kivan, Elgryn).
***
Elgryn started off diligently doing all the Candlekeep quests except rat killing for Reevor. He considered trying to pickpocket Fuller’s magical dagger but out of respect for his former teacher he pulled out. Equipped with two scimitars, a suit of studded leather armor and a horned helmet, he set out with his foster father Gorion, the sage he had never spent much time with but cared for nonetheless. He even felt indebted to Gorion for having taken care of him.
An ambush by bandits led by a powerful warrior meant the end of Gorion’s life. Elgryn witnessed the fight from a distance, after he had obeyed Gorion’s orders to run away. Gorion’s decease caused first of all a profound sadness in Elgryn, secondly a feeling of regret about having run from the battle scene and thirdly, much to his shame, a secret pleasure: he’ll never say the words but somehow it had pleased him to see the warrior’s steel prevail over Gorion’s sorcery. Elgryn saw similarities and differences between him and the warrior. Both were physically strong and ruthless. At the same time he was aware that the warrior had wielded a two-handed greatsword, whereas Elgryn was more comfortable dualwielding smaller blades for faster but almost equally vicious attacks. Moreover, the warrior had been clad in full plate mail while Elgryn refuses to use anything heavier than studded leather or perhaps light elven chain if he were to ever find such a rare suit of armor.
Gorion had told him before the ambush that he should make his way to the Friendly Arm Inn if something were to happen to the former. So that’s what Elgryn, respectful of the old sage, did. However, he first arranged for Gorion’s burial in Candlekeep with the citadel’s Keeper of the Portal. The Keeper had been kind enough to give Elgryn 100 GP and had warned him not to give out his name to every stranger. By the way, on the Candlekeep Coastway he had run into Imoen, a serving girl at the Candlekeep Inn that seemed to like him more than he was aware of. Either way, the wide open world was no place for a serving girl Elgyn reckoned, so he had escorted her back to Candlekeep.
An uneventful trek to the Friendly Arm Inn followed, with a handful of Gibberlings constituting no threat whatsoever to Elgryn. At the entrance to the Friendly Arm Inn, a wizard asked him who he was. Elgryn, heedful of the words of warning Candlekeep’s Keeper of the Portal had given him, refused to answer. The wizard then told him to hold still and started an incantation, which infuriated Elgryn. Battle ensued. A first spell aimed at the mind had no effect, but the Mage had a number of physically damaging spells in his repertoire as well. by Entering and leaving the Inn, Elgryn tried to interrupt the wizard’s casting to mitigate any damage. He hid in shadows whenever he could, while in the meantime trying to deal out damage with his scimitars. It resulted in the wizard’s death at the doorstep of the Inn.
Inside the Inn, Elgryn spoke with Gorion’s friends, Half-Elves like himself, one a feisty Druid and the other her husband, a nervous Fighter. Elgryn didn’t like the idea of the two lovebirds babysitting him, so he politely thanked them for giving him a Potion of Invisibility and bade them farewell. In the Inn a Dwarven scholar asked Elgryn to look for a Rogue Ogre south of the Inn and retrieve a belt it had stolen from her, and a Gnome named Landrin begged him to clear her Beregost home of four Huge Spiders. Thus, Elgryn decided to travel southward. He spotted the Ogre soon enough, snuck up to it and killed it with a single blow from behind.
In Beregost he found Landrin’s home as per her instructions. He lured the Spiders outside and took care of them with backstabs.
Eldryn decided to rest before he would return to the Friendly Arm Inn. It almost got him into a fight with two drunkards, but he managed to placate them. Back in the Friendly Arm Inn, Unshey gave him some gold, nothing to be excited about, though on the other hand it hadn’t been a difficult job either. Landrin was more generous with her gold. The young warrior traveled south again, where he further explored Beregost and its surroundings. Just south of town he slew two Ogrillons and found a letter on one of their corpses from one ‘Roe’ to his wife Mirianne. They must have taken the letter from a Halfling messenger whose corpse Elgryn had seen near the monsters.
Asking around in Beregost he learned where Roe and Mirianne lived. Mirianne was at home. She had been very worried about her husband’s wellbeing and thanked Elgryn generously with a protective ring.
Southwest of Beregost he saved Melicamp, a mage apprentice that had been polymorphed into a chicken, from a hungry wolf. Elgryn hesitated between slaying the abomination on the spot and giving in to Melicamp’s pleas to take him to a Mage called Thalantyr, who would allegedly restore Melicamp to his human form. The young warrior, not at all interested in the sorcery of Thalantyr and his apprentice, decided to give in, hoping for a proper reward.
Standoffish Thalantyr did as Melicamp had expected. He restored Melicamp. But neither of the two had any reward for Elgryn, much to the latter’s chagrin. Thalantyr did have many good potions for sale, of which fact Elgryn made a mental note. He made his way back to Beregost to follow the road south. Near it he rescued a Drow priestess from a Flaming Fist Officer. Elgryn was reluctant to place trust in the Drow but she claimed to be innocent. He didn’t have to decide on how to proceed though, because the Flaming Fist Officer attacked him for “protecting” the Drow. Now this warrior was a formidable opponent, clad in plate mail and blessed by some God with clerical spellpower. At one point he even magically held Elgryn (who had run out of sight when the spell energy was coming his way), and Elgryn only survived because the Flaming Fist Officer decided to focus his efforts on the priestess first. That was a mistake since the priestess was incapable of upsetting the warrior whereas Elgryn, once he was in control of his body again, managed to fatally wound his foe with a backstab.
Elgryn traveled further south, dispatching Kobolds and Hobgoblins (which earned him a pair of Boots of Stealth), until he reached Nashkel. At the edge of town he met Lord Foreshadow who gifted him a Ring of Human Influence (18 CHA, 1x/day Charm Person). In the Nashkel Inn he had to deal with a priestess that hoped to claim an apparent bounty on his head. Elgryn had little time to wonder why there would be a price on his head; he had to defend himself. The priestess didn’t put up much of a fight. While she wasted her spells on the enraged young warrior, he dealt numerous blows until she fell.
Nashkel was otherwise peaceful although he was informed of a murdering guard captain on the loose, and of problems in the Nashkel Mines with tainted iron ore and disappearing miners. Rather than worrying over these events, he decided to visit the Nashkel Carnival, hoping to find useful and cheap wares with the inevitable merchants. He saw good scrolls, bought a few potions, and had a run-in with a wizard that was arguing with another mage and slew the latter. Normally Elgryn wouldn’t mourn two wizards killing each other, but the surviving wizard attacked him. Although he suffered some minor magic damage and one of his scimitars broke, furious Elgryn had little difficulty dispatching the Mage.
The young warrior left Nashkel and the Carnival and traveled in a southwestern direction to the Cloudpeaks. There he had to deal with bandits and brigands who would mock him or demand his money, but he felled them all. And the rewards were sweet: two enchanted scimitars that were much less likely to break than his old weapons, and a pair of what turned out to be Boots of Speed. Later, Elgryn would have Thalantyr merge the two pairs for a hefty sum of gold into a pair of Boots of the Thief: Fast Legs.
Elgryn also did some good deeds for others such as protecting a Dryad’s tree from two dimwitted men intent on cutting it, bringing a sobbing young girl her dead cat, and finding a boy’s lost dog (although he regretted the latter deed when he saw the boy transform into a demon and teleport away). Further to the west, on the South Coast, he stood guard for archeologist Charleston Nib by an excavation site and had to slay the man’s diggers when they went berserk. He also found the frenzied Nashkel guard captain. Elgryn managed to calm him and guided him to the Temple of Helm in Nashkel where he left it to High Priest Nalin to decide the captain’s fate. [Elgryn is a vigilante, not a mercenary.]
When he was back in the Beregost region, where he had the scimitars identified by the blacksmith and the aforementioned Boots of the Fast Legs produced by Thalantyr, he visited the Temple of Lathander to replenish his stock of healing potions. The High Priest told him of a 5000 GP bounty on the head of a murderous cleric by the name of Bassilus. Elgryn was a good, agile fighter, but his basic studded leather armor offered little in terms of protection. He had seen a very nice suit of Shadow Armor at Feldepost’s Inn in Beregost, but couldn’t afford it yet. Surely the 5000 GP on Bassilus’ head would be a more than welcome boost to his funds.
Not far from the Temple he saw a petrified woman. He decided to fetch a scroll of Stone to Flesh to bring her back to life. The woman was thankful and explained to him that it hadn’t been someone’s magic that had petrified her, but one of a number of lizardlike creatures. Basilisks, Elgryn knew. He decided to travel to the Nashkel Carnival where he bought a green scroll of Protection from Petrification. East of Beregost he indeed found a colony of about ten of the creatures. He cast the protection on himself and used the cover of night to sneak up on the beasts and hurt them where they’re most vulnerable: their bellies and the heads. A Gnomish wizard who had apparently controlled the beasts was not amused with Elgryn’s antics and blinded the warrior. This resulted in an uneven fight in which the wizard dealt Elgryn many blows until a lucky swing with his enchanted scimitar did the Gnome in.
After this adventure Elgryn took things a bit easier. He went Tasloi hunting in the Cloakwood which yielded him the Cloak of Non-Detection, and he slew Gnolls for a Halfling man in the Red Sheaf Inn, also in Beregost (after having to dispatch yet another bounty hunter at the latter inn), as well as four Half-Ogres for a wounded Paladin he had met in Beregost’s Jovial Juggler Inn. Northwest of where he slew the Half-Ogres he accidentally met Bassilus. A hard battle between two almost even foes ensued. Elgryn’s inner fury, with which he neutralized the priest’s magics, made the difference.
Elgryn went straight back to the Temple of Lathander to claim the bounty. Together with the proceeds of miscellaneous loot he sold he had more than enough to get himself the Shadow Armor. He bought the armor and decided to save for an enchanted venomous dagger, also for sale at Feldepost’s.
***
To be continued
The Adventures of Galadhiel the Swashbuckler
The idea with this one is to do a non-metagamed playthrough. I normally take a quasi-non-metagame approach with my runs, using the Item Randomizer mod and prohibiting prebuffing except with long duration spells. However, as opposed to my usual runs, this time I’ll also try to avoid metagaming when it comes to quest order. This means, as you will read below, that Tarnesh, Silke and the likes cannot be avoided for long.
Here’s Galadhiel:
For her survivability I waited until I rolled very good stats for Galadhiel and I almost completely min-maxed them. The only compromise I made was to lower CHA at the cost of higher shop prices, so that she could have slightly above average WIS, to be increased with at least two tomes, which makes it more credible to role-play her as not overly careless or naïve. Her CHA is still well above average as is her INT, making her a perceptive observer and a quick learner.
Galadhiel is a typical CG character in that she’s no law-abider (either in terms of adhering to a personal code of conduct or the laws of society), addressing problems rather on a case-by-case basis. But ultimately she’s out there to do good, helpful to others, and respectful of nature. She possesses the grace, flair, and assertiveness that people may associate with Swashbucklers, but at the same time she’s gentle and pensive. She has the love for nature, beauty, arts, and song that’s so emblematic of Elves, and is also strongly attracted to Elven culture due to being an Elf that was raised among mainly Humans. Galadhiel has a tattoo on her face drawn by her mother, a Sylvan Elf from the High Forest in northern Faerun. Sylvan tattoos may offer magical protections. Galadhiel’s tattoo allows her to cast Know Alignment three times a day, which may help her decide who to trust. The tattoo is Galadhiel’s only reminder of her mother, who died shortly after Galadhiel was born. Gorion never told Galadhiel much about her mother.
Galadhiel will have companions, a full party most of the time. When I started this run, I didn’t think of a limit on NPC deaths, and at the moment I’m writing this, some of them already died a few times
The party of friends would consist of (Half-)Elves Khalid, Jaheira, Coran, Kivan, and Xan (playing with the Coran, Kivan, and Xan NPC mods for BG2). Besides these five there’s Imoen who’s also difficult if not impossible to ignore for Galadhiel. This creates a problem for BG1 because Galadhiel can only have five companions. I might solve this by establishing a base somewhere and changing my party composition time and again, so that all of the six aforementioned NPCs play their part. Besides, I want to be able to enter into temporary alliances (Minsc in order to save Dynaheir and to make sure his imprisonment by Irenicus makes sense, maybe Yeslick in the Mines, Valygar in the Planar Sphere etc). Another problem could be the absence of a Cleric. Viconia might play this part but I foresee alignment and reputation issues with her; nevertheless she could be someone that Galadhiel reluctantly calls upon time and again. In BG2 Aerie could be a useful and fitting addition to the party. In hindsight I should have rolled a Cleric I think, but when I rolled Galadhiel I didn’t have this more role-played approach with a party of (Half-)Elves in mind.
I’ll try to role-play the companions as well, give them their own temperament and opinions. This shouldn’t be overly difficult thanks to compatible alignments and personalities. At the same time it means I’ll have to pursue the main plot (Nashkel Mines for Khalid and Jaheira, bandits for Kivan) sooner than I’d like.
***
Galadhiel’s adventuring life started with a very exciting day that ended in the roughest night of her life. One moment she was helping out some of the residents of Candlekeep, her home for almost all her life, with simple chores and the other moment she was on the road to an unknown destination with her foster father Gorion.
Galadhiel had been thrilled, but the delight wouldn’t last long as Gorion and she were waylaid by what seemed to be bandits or bounty hunters, that were after her! ‘Hand over your ward’, their leader had said. Gorion had urged her to run, and she had complied. From a distance she had seen her foster father use his magic to put a priestess to sleep, kill two Ogres and hurt the brigand leader, a warrior of giant-like proportions. The warrior resisted Gorion’s magical onslaught however and Galadhiel witnessed him kill her foster father with his two-handed great sword.
The next morning, she was greeted by Imoen (Human Blade, with proficiency in long swords and short bows and three pips in dual wield thanks to the Rogue Rebalancing mod), her childhood friend from Candlekeep. Curious as ever, Imoen had snuck out of Candlekeep the night before and had followed Gorion and her. They hugged for what Imoen perceived as a surprisingly long time, and when Galadhiel mentioned Gorion they both cried. Imoen told Galadhiel that she was going to stick by her side through thick and thin. That thought soothed her and at the same time it worried her. She knew she would have to tell Imoen that the bandit leader who had killed Gorion had in fact been after her, not Gorion. She couldn't bring herself yet to telling Imoen this though. As there was no trace of the warior, the two girls decided to take a look at the place where Gorion had fallen. They found some gold, a necklace, Gorion’s dagger and two morning stars that the Ogres had wielded. Galadhiel put the necklace and the weapons in her wolfskin bag. She might have use for the dagger herself [Galadhiel is proficient in scimitars and daggers] and she could sell the other stuff. They also found a letter to Gorion, signed ‘E’ by an anonymous friend of Gorion’s. Most of the letter was too cryptic for Galadhiel to understand but the mention of two friends who were waiting for Gorion and her at the Friendly Arm Inn triggered her memory of Gorion’s words at the Candlekeep’s gate: ‘If we’re ever to become separated, it is imperative that you make your way to the Friendly Arm Inn. There Khalid and Jaheira will be waiting for you. They have long been my friends, and you can trust them.’
Imoen and Galadhiel returned to Candlekeep to inform the Keeper of the Portal of last night’s events and to request Gorion’s burial in Candlekeep, a request that Candlekeep's elders would honor. Back on the Candlekeep Coastway the girls ran into a Human Mage and a Halfling Rogue who offered them a healing potion Galadhiel gladly accepted. They also asked the girls to accompany them to Nashkel. Imoen was intuitively reluctant and Galadhiel’s power to Know Alignment taught her that both characters were Evil. Galadhiel, wary of the warrior and other possible dangers on the road, accepted the strangers’ proposal nonetheless, but on the condition that they first travel to the Friendly Arm Inn to meet with Gorion’s friends. The Wizard and the Rogue, called Xzar and Montaron respectively, assented. Galadhiel warned Imoen that they had to make sure that at all times either one of them was awake and close to the other if they were ever to set up camp in the wild with their new companions.
The four continued on the Candlekeep Coastway until they met a red robed wizard that greeted them with benevolence. Galadhiel responded in kind, and asked the man for directions toward the Friendly Arm Inn. Interestingly Imoen told the man that he looked like Elminster the sage, which had the old man smile and call Imoen by her name. Who was this man to know Imoen? None of them knew.
A few hours south of the Friendly Arm Inn the party set up camp. Montaron actually prepared them a pretty good meal, and thankfully no betrayals occurred, so that the next day they reached the immense, walled inn well-rested. At the entrance they were accosted by a wizard in black robes who, as Galadhiel’s Know Alignment demonstrated, was of evil intent. He said to recognize Galadhiel and told her to hold still. He instantly buffed himself with magical protections and started casting a spell. Xzar managed to interrupt the Mage with a Larloch’s Minor drain while Montaron rushed toward the Wizard to attack him in close combat. Imoen and Galadhiel tried to hurt and disrupt the mage with their respective arrows and throwing daggers. Rather than focusing on Montaron, the direct threat to his life, the wizard managed to Sleep both Xzar and Imoen. After that, he futilely tried to Horror Galadhiel [she failed to get out the spell’s AoE in time, but saved against spell anyway]. Galadhiel hit the Mage once or twice with her throwing daggers for minor damage, but the credit must go to fearless Montaron. It was he who slew the wizard with one stab too many with his short sword.
Montaron checked the Mage’s corpse but found nothing but mage scrolls he had no interest in. Galadhiel picked up the scrolls anyway, thinking they might be of use to someone, possibly Imoen. Between the scrolls she found a bounty notice mentioning a 200 GP bounty on her head. She kept the bounty notice to herself. Both Montaron and Galadhiel were worried over their companions, who remained asleep until long after the battle had ended despite Galadhiel's and Montaron's attempts at waking them. Neither Montaron nor Galadriel was knowledgeable of Sleep magic, and they feared that the effect was permanent, so they were relieved to see Imoen and Xzar get back up on their feet.
Inside the Friendly Arm Inn, the party was approached by a beautiful, blonde Druidess with Elven features and a fighter with a long sword, also of Elven heritage: Jaheira (Fighter/Totemic Druid specialized in staves and slings) and Khalid (Fighter/Wild Mage with **** in long swords). Galadhiel introduced herself and the others to them and showed them Gorion’s letter. The pain and the sadness showed in Khalid’s and Jaheira’s faces when Galadhiel told them what had happened. Jaheira informed them that Khalid and she had business in Nashkel, where they were supposed to look into the Iron Crisis. Galadhiel knew little of that crisis although she did recall the Candlekeep guards mentioning it. Since Galadhiel and Imoen had agreed to accompany Xzar and Montaron to Nashkel anyway, the party’s course was set. First however they rested, and they spoke with a few more of the guests at the Friendly Arm Inn. Unshey, a Dwarven writer, asked them to keep an eye out for a rogue Ogre with a bel fetish, and a Gnomish woman named Landrin promised them an ample reward if they would clear her Beregost home of four Huge Spiders and bring her a pair of boots and some wine from her home.
A couple of hours south of the Friendly Arm Inn, not far from where Galadhiel and Imoen had set up camp with Montaron and Xzar, the party encountered the rogue Ogre. The monster was slow and had no answer to Jaheira’s, Imoen’s and Galadhiel’s ranged attacks. Galdahiel looted its corpse and returned to the Friendly Arm Inn to give Unshey her belt back.
Just outside the Inn’s walls the party slew five Hobgoblins so that they wouldn’t pose any threat to traveler to and from the Inn. On one of the Hobgoblins they found a flamedance ring that they returned to a woman named Joia after Jaheira mentioned she had been told by Joia that Hobgoblins had stolen her ring.
Their trip south to Beregost was relatively uneventful although they did have to deal with a few Gibberlings. In Feldepost’s Inn in Beregost they almost got into a fight with Marl, a father who had taken to drinking after his adventuring son had died. He vented his frustration on Galadhiel and even tried to pick a fight with her, but she didn’t accept his challenge nor did she back down, and in the end she even managed to talk some sense into him. Although Imoen seemed to be more than a little interested in a young man loitering in front of the Burning Wizard Inn, and although there was still the matter of the spider-infested home, on Jaheira’s behest the party didn’t linger in Beregost. They didn’t get very far south either though. Minutes after having left the town in a southern direction they were confronted by two Ogrillons that had just slain a Halfling. They would have done the same to Khalid and Jaheira, but the party wisely chose to retreat to the relative safety of Beregost.
In the first Inn they encountered, the Jovial Juggler, they reserved rooms to heal and rest, much to Montaron’s and Xzar’s chagrin, impatient as the two were to get to Nsahkel. Meanwhile Galadhiel and Imoen socialized with a funny Dwarf that kept telling the patrons how he was robbed of his cloak in the Cloakwood of all places. Further inquiry taught Galadhiel that this wasn’t just any cloak, but an actual Cloak of Non-Detection, an item that piqued her interest. She was aware though that there was no way she would be able to convince her companions to travel all the way north to the Cloakwood with her. The Dwarf, Gurke, promised her a monetary reward should she return the cloak to him. By the way Khalid and Jaheira weren’t the only patrons recovering from their injuries; there was also Bjornin, a Paladin recuperating from grievous wounds inflicted by four Half-Ogres, south-west of Beregost. Galadhiel and Imoen promised the man that they would avenge him if they were to run into the monsters.
Well-rested the party set out again. Their second encounter with the Ogrillons went a lot better. Montaron took down one with a fatal backstab, and Jaheira, Imoen and Galadhiel finished the second one off with their ranged weapons. The second Ogrillon did injure Imoen when she was attcking him with her bow from close range, but it was nothing that Jaheira's healing skills couldn't repair.
On one of the monsters’ bodies they found a letter from one Roe to his wife Mirianne. The Halfling the Ogrillons had murdered must have been a messenger for this Roe. The party asked around in Beregost till one of the townspeople directed them to Roe’s and Mirianne’s home. Galadhiel entered and found Mirianne inside. The woman was most grateful and rewarded Galadhiel with a Ring of Protection +1. Outside, the party discussed who should wear the ring. Montaron wanted it for he had slain one of the Ogrillons singlehandedly, but Galadhiel alleged that she had a claim as well because she was the most vulnerable in battle. (Xzar was arguably more vulnerable still, but the Mage simply didn’t do battle. He would at best carelessly cast a Larloch’s Minor Drain on a foe, but most of the time he would simply walk off. He seemed more interested in the corpses on the ground after battle). Montaron, Khalid, Jaheira and Imoen all had splint or chain mail armor, while Galadhiel was clad in nothing more than Studded Leather. With Khalid and Jaheira backing her, Galadhiel was allowed to keep the ring. Xzar and Montaron on the one hand and Khalid and Jaheira on the other had pretty much ignored one another up until then, but the way discussion about the ring was solved spurred open animosity between both ‘camps’. Insults and threats were uttered in both directions. Imoen and Galadhiel looked at each other and the former cheerfully reminded them that they all had something in common: their travel destination, Nashkel.
PS: thanks @lolien, personally I like your writing, full of humor. I hope to read more about your Dwarven chef! Thanks to you too @Gotural, how is your ultra-hard challenge going?
EDIT: as you can see under the 4th spoiler tag, I changed Imoen's portrait to one more fitting to the other portraits I'm using for the core party I have in mind.
I've said it before, but the start of BG2 looks really difficult for no-reload, I guess the sudden lack of equipment represents a good part of the difficulty, especially the lack of potions / Greenstone Amulet.
For the moment, your new run reminds me of the one of Lenno, both with a party and both with a Swashbuckler, we'll see how things go !
I completed BG1 with my F/M/T and now I'm not sure whether I should start another no-reload in BG1 or if I should continue with BG2 right now, I'll update my thread soon.