One more try: the SCS solo no-reload tale of Glorydd, Dwarven Fighter/Thief
Blackraven
Member Posts: 3,486
For good fortune I'm doing this again in a separate thread rather than in "We're all doomed". (It worked pretty well for Norgath after all).
I'm kind of close to wanting to take a break, but I still had Glorydd, a female Dwarven Fighter/Thief. When I loaded her game, I found the enthusiasm again to give it a shot with her. I like her portrait, quite baldurish and a bit enigmatic (hence her True Neutrality), and she has Annah's (PS:T) Scottish voiceset, very enjoyable.
I think that Fighter/Thief is a class that I'm relatively comfortable with (maybe even good at, though the cautiousness that straight Thieves require me to exercise may even suit me better). It's also a combination of the two classes I've performed best with so far, so here's hoping for a first no-reload Trilogy success
Glorydd ('Silver Queen' in AD&D Dwarvish) is currently a level 3/3 Fighter/Thief thanks to having been a good lass with the common folk of the FAI, Beregost (including Melicamp, who had wandered quite far off), and Nashkel; and thanks also to having made the areas surrounding those places a bit safer.
Hopefully I can report some nice progress soon...
I'm kind of close to wanting to take a break, but I still had Glorydd, a female Dwarven Fighter/Thief. When I loaded her game, I found the enthusiasm again to give it a shot with her. I like her portrait, quite baldurish and a bit enigmatic (hence her True Neutrality), and she has Annah's (PS:T) Scottish voiceset, very enjoyable.
I think that Fighter/Thief is a class that I'm relatively comfortable with (maybe even good at, though the cautiousness that straight Thieves require me to exercise may even suit me better). It's also a combination of the two classes I've performed best with so far, so here's hoping for a first no-reload Trilogy success
Hopefully I can report some nice progress soon...
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Should you be interested, the soundset, as well as those of other PS:T characters, can be downloaded here. I like them for their great quality and for the fact that unlike certain custom soundsets, they all have good lines for actions such as hiding in shadows, scoring a critical hit etc.
I’m not able to use your link. Someone else had trouble with one of those this morning. I’m not sure how they fixed it.
I do hope you'll like her hehe. As to the little lady herself, she's quite content: "Oh adventure... glory... aye, this is the life" is what she keeps telling me
I like those F/T so much. I used to play an elven female (chaotic good) or a mighty and evil halfling and I am already a fan of this thread!
I had left that project for a while but last week I had a look at it again. I need to write two more installments, one of which is almost done, before I can get to actually playing him. But even then I'm indecisive as to who will join his party. I have a shortlist but it's still too long...
And now there is Glorydd
The other runs are over with the deaths of the protagonists.
I also love Fighter/Thieves btw
My first character to complete ToB (after three or four hours and various reloads in the final SCS Ascension battle) was an Elven female Fighter/Thief as well, I think she was True or Chaotic Neutral, but tending toward Good, as most of my Neutral characters tend to do.
While traveling between the above-mentioned places the Dwarf would train her stealth skills. She wouldn't pick fights but neither would she shun combat altogether, especially when it came to evil monsters such as Hobgoblins, Ogrillons, and Ogres. Initially it took some courage to fight these large creatures rather than hide or flee, but her decisions paid off well. Her prizes included a Ring of Protection +1, a pair of Boots of Stealth, and a Girdle of Piercing. One of her first purchases was the Claw of Kazagaroth, an item that made her more difficult to hit with spells and missiles.
Her combat experience also made her better at defending herself, an ability that would prove invaluable. Wherever she went, Glorydd could never stay for long in one place. Sooner rather than later bounty hunters or assassins would track her down. This happened first at the Friendly Arm Inn where she was to deliver boots and wine to a Gnomish lady from her home in Beregost. A tall human Mage would have killed her at the entrance to the inn if she hadn't taken advantage of the shadows to kill him first.
Life wasn't any easier in Beregost, where she ended up killing a bounty hunter of her own kin, or down south in Nashkel, where a priestess in the local inn nearly held the Dwarf (Glorydd had to save vs spell, because a peasant blocked the way out) before Glorydd buried her enchanted short sword (Sound Defense +2) deep into the female's back.
She explored the lands surrounding the city, and was pleased to find that any remaining bounty hunters seemed to have lost her trail. In the fishing village of Ulgoth's Beard she bought a Cloak of Displacement and a Greenstone Amulet that would provide her protection against missiles and magic. She also spoke with a kindly fellow Dwarf, Hurgan Stoneblade, who wanted her to find his dagger in the haunted tower of his forefather Durlag. Glorydd had heard of Durlag's Tower, and would like to visit there someday, if only to learn more about Dwarven culture. But she had heard of all kinds of dangers cursing the place - undead creatures, deadly traps, and what not - so she knew that if she ever went there, she'd have to go prepared.
A child priestess received the Dwarf's protection against three fishermen that had killed her mother and would have killed the girl as well if they could. Using a Wand of Sleep, Glorydd also helped a Ranger contain an Ankheg plague in the same area,
As much as she appreciated the peace she'd found, something inside her told her that her purpose in life wasn't to spend her days as a hire on a farm. What her purpose was, she didn't know yet. But she would travel to learn more about herself, she resolved, and she would keep mostly to the rural and wilderness areas where she expected to be relatively safe from bounty hunters and where she would hone her tracking, hunting and survival skills.
First however, she returned to the civilization of Beregost, albeit only for a short visit. She used a charisma-enhancing ring she had been gifted by a good nobleman, Lord Foreshadow, on one of her travels, to sell a variety of items she had little use for, and to buy a suit of Shadow Armor at the smithy, a Helm of Charm Protection at Feldepost's Inn, and a Deep Red Ioun Stone that would increase her dexterity whenever she sported it. She also accepted two commissions for Keldath Ormlyr of the Temple of Lathander: hunting down Bassilus, an evil priest of Cyric west of Beregost, and dealing with an equally wicked Gnome, Mutamin, that had charmed a pack of Basilisks and used them to petrify innocent folk and animals in the area. These assignments were perfect for Glorydd. They would result in profit and they would take her into the wilds, just as she had intended.
This new approach will result in a few irregularities, though nothing major in my opinion. An example: she's already done some coastal exploration, but I'll only mention it later.
Armed with a scroll of protection from petrification, she first went east. It took her less than a day to run into her first Basilisk. Thankfully the creature hadn't noticed her lurking in the shadows. She retreated to cast protection from petrification on herself, making her completely immune to the Basilisks' otherwise deadly gaze attacks.
She had slain eight of the creatures when she met a talking and surprisingly friendly Ghoul named Korax. The Dwarf allowed the creature to accompany her. She was glad to have an ally amidst all these Basilisks and, somewhere, their tamer. When they found the Gnome, both Glorydd - hidden in shadows - and Korax approached. Glorydd positioned herself behind Mutamin, signaled with an arm gesture to Korax to attack, and planted her blade into their mark's back. Glorydd's stab injured the Gnome, whose immediate spell buffs identified him as a wizard, but Korax failed to touch him.
She then tried something new. As part of her self-instruction as a huntswoman Glorydd had recently begun to experiment with building snares, something she considered a vital part of her training. But she had never actually set any snares for real. In spite of her still modest ability with trap setting (50 Set Traps), she succesfully placed two snares out of Mutamin's sight. She then took her shortbow and an arrow - she was glad to have followed the advice of longbowman and fellow Dwarf Arkanis in Candlekeep to specialize in bows rather than crossbows, and to have taken lessons from him, if only because arrows were more commonly used and thus easier to come by than crossbow bolts, even in the wilds. Glorydd's first arrow struck true. It caused Mutamin to go after her and trigger her traps. They proved quite deadly.
She traveled back westward without calling on Keldath or stopping in Beregost, in search of Bassilus the mad priest. A few days of uneventful travels went by, but Glorydd wasn't bothered by that. Her independence, her increasing affinity with the wilds, and the awareness that she had never learnt so much in such a short time made those days almost blissful, even if Gorion's death and the price on her head never disappeared from her thoughts for long. The wilds west and southwest of Beregost housed large populations of undead: mainly skeletons and zombies, and also the occasional ghoul or ghast. It suggested that Bassilus might be near, for his crimes had been murdering people and animating their corpses. Her suspicions proved to be true. In the Red Canyons area she slew three Hobgoblins,
Also, you got quite lucky there with the Basilisk fight. Fear is no joke.
Glory to Glorydd!
@Grum, I'm not sure if I consider the invisibility potion and Mutamin's Horror luck. I've made it a habit to always carry a few of those around as 'emergency buttons'. Ototh I'd say the Save vs Spell against Neira's Hold Person was an example of life-saving luck (facing a commoner that blocked the way out was pretty unlucky).
Glorydd didn't stay long in Beregost. One of the townspeople had told her of riches, be they of academic or commercial import, to be found in the Firewine ruins to the east. She dediced to follow that lead.
The Dwarf's exploration of the Firewine Plains that stretched southeast of Beregost all the way to the Troll Mountains, was not without incident. She ran into different species of Ogrekind that were after her metal, for apparently their weapons kept breaking. Glorydd was aware of the impact of the mysterious iron crisis on trade and the economy, but it had never really affected her because a high quality enchanted blade had been one of her first investments (Sound Defense +2 short sword, which gives +1 AC and +1 Saves vs Death bonuses), and she had secured a second enchanted blade from one of the Hobgoblins that had unwisely attacked her in the Red Canyons (Zargal's Short Sword +2). These weapons were of true, untarnished steel. Glorydd wasn't prepared to relinquish said weapons to the Ogres. She slew the monsters, ironically doing most of the work with her bow, as if to teach them that one may get by without steel.
In that town she accepted three new commissions that would take her into the wilds again: to investigate the Nashkel mines, a day's travel south of the town, to deliver ex-captain of the Guard Captain Brage dead or alive, and to retrieve two stolen emeralds from a Thief named Prism. Having recently acquainted herself with the dry, barren lands east of the Coast Way, Glorydd decided to go westward to see if she could find Brage or Prism, and to get to know the lands west of the Coast Way a bit better.
There's more to tell but I've got too much RL work to do
So this is all for now.
Be that as it may, three bandits that wanted to rob Glorydd and, judging by their dirty comments, perhaps even force themselves upon her, discovered that the Dwarf could be merciless as well.
The road can be such a dangerous place for a woman who must travel alone. It does my heart good to know that she can handle any such evil she encounters.
(I really love the little role-play bits you add to your runs.) : )
Also, yes Glorydd is quite an independent little lass.
Further south Glorydd protected an archaelogist against possible bandits and against his own men, and she also ran into the captain of the Nashkel Guard, Brage, who had slain many an innocent, but not voluntarily she discovered. A cursed sword rather than his own will had been the cause of the captain's actions. Glorydd reasoned with him and brought him to Nalin, the Priest of Helm in Nashkel, for redemption. [These areas were done at the very beginning of the game, before I had decided to take a slightly more roleplayed approach to this run.]
South of Nashkel, Glorydd went about her remaining two commissions: (1) Prism the emerald thief she found carving a beautiful portrait of Ellessime the Elven queen while she was exploring the Nashkel Mines area, and (2) investigating and solving the troubles in the aforementioned mines.
She had to protect Prism and his emeralds from a bounty hunter, a tall, muscular man clad in studded leather armor who arrived shortly after her. With two traps that slowed her foe, and with her trusty shortbow the Dwarf defeated the man before she saw Prism fall to a heart attack leaving the emeralds free for her for the taking.
EDIT: whoops, I posted instead of saving my draft... I'm continuing this tomorrow or maybe Thursday, but have to work now...
But the first Sil I played was a sorcerer, in a BG2 game that might have preceded my ever finishing Tutu, and I waffled on whether to spell her name "Syl" instead. I'm not sure I even came across the BG1 Sil before making my own Sil. And I associated the name with something divine and heavenly, despite the BG1 Sil being a scantily-clad forest critter. So maybe it's not from BG1.
Creepy.
Confession: I was sure @semiticgod named his character after that Sirine.
On the third level the prevalence of Kobolds seemed even higher than on the second level. While disarming a trap on a bridge Glorydd was spotted by a small pack of Kobolds that immediately attacked and rallied many more Kobolds to join the fray. With difficulty the Dwarf found a place to hide in shadows again allowing her to shake off her pursuers,
Glorydd released the Elf and gave him two healing potions, but she declined his bemusing proposal to travel together. She left the Mines to find herself in unfamiliar territory inhabited mainly by undead. The Dwarf quaffed a potion of freedom to protect herself against their paralyzing touch attacks, slew the creatures,
Weeks had gone by in which bounty hunters and assassins had appeared to have lost her trail, and had almost ceased to be a concern for her, but now the game seemed afoot again. Glorydd had not been idle in those weeks though. She had honed her trapping skills, improved her ability with her short blades, and acquired powerful gear. The Dwarf decided that the time had come to stop hiding herself, and to confront her enemy, whoever they were.
The first thing she did was to seek out Tranzig in Beregost. Just like Nimbul, the wizard Tranzig recognized her, and he left her no time to protect herself against his magics. He cast a Horror on her, just as Mutamin had done before. However, Tranzig did little after that to kill the Dwarf, allowing her to retalliate with lethal force once the Horror effect had worn off.
This information shocked her at first. Surely an evil faction capable of uniting countless bandits and disrupting the economy through an iron crisis, would have to be reckoned with. But she told herself that she had succesfully coped with the all the attempts on her life by assassins and bounty hunters no doubt enticed by the mysterious organization to kill her. She also reminded herself that she had thwarted the organization by single-handedly clearing the Nashkel Mines. These realizations encouraged her to continue her search for answers and strengthened her in her resolve to deal with her enemies.
Puzzled by this question and unrested Glorydd got up. When she wanted to leave town a young girl asked her to speak with a Flaming Fist Officer in the Jovial Juggler Inn. Glorydd obliged. Officer Jessa Vai, cut off from Baldur's Gate just like Glorydd due to bandits, offered 50 GP for each bandit scalp the Dwarf would bring her. Glorydd considered the offer but declined. The scalps would probably fester amidst her clothes and provender in her pack, a thought that nearly made her vomit. The Dwarf did reveal to Officer Vai that she had her own dispute with the bandits, so she might prove to be of help anyway. She said goodbye and then set out to the Wood of Sharp Teeth where she hoped to locate the bandit stronghold and learn more about her enemy.
She trekked through Larswood and Peldvale, remaining hidden from Black Talons and small bandit patrols, until she got noticed by a larger group. Their leader, a handsome, fair-haired man named Raiken, offered her a choice between her gold and her life, but in his hungry eyes that were screening her body Glorydd read that there was something else Raiken desired from her. "Let me join you, you're simply to good at what you do, and there's lots for us to gain" - Glorydd answered him, feeling rather awkward for she was no charmer. But Raiken readily agreed.
She traveled to the Bandit Camp with her new companions, and was presented to Tazok as a new recruit. Tazok, a tremendous Half-Ogre warrior, wasn't as pleased as Raiken had been, but the Dwarf managed to convince him she'd prove a useful addition to their cause. Tazok told Glorydd to stay at the camp, and left with Raiken (who would have much rather stayed with Glorydd) on a raid somewhere. The Dwarf explored the camp until a flatulent bandit instructed her to guard Tazok's tent. There were important people and important papers inside the tent, she was told, so her job was an important one as well.
When the bandit was out of sight, she applied an oil of speed on her body, quaffed a potion of defense and donned her Helm of Charm Protection. Ready for battle she entered the tent. The bandits gathered there, Glorydd counted around ten, immediately attacked. Most were archers, but there was also a Gnoll with Halberd, and a human wizard. The latter fruitlessly attempted to remove her potion buffs, before Glorydd struck him down. She then dealt with the Gnoll and after that, with the archers, including their leader Raemon. She alternated between different foes in order to hit them before they could switch to their blades.
Importantly, she had dealt her still invisble enemy another blow. She searched the chests and the bodies of the fallen for clues as to her nemesis' identity. Two letters linked the bandits to the Iron Throne, which surprised the Dwarf because as far as she knew the Iron Throne were merchants not criminals. A prisoner of Tazok's revealed to her the location of a hidden Iron Throne base in Cloakwood after she had released him. Thus Cloakwood would be Glorydd's next destination.
First however she had to deal with hordes of hostile bandits, led by Black Talon leader Taugosz Khosann. In order to break morale and unity amongst the bandits, she decided to take on Khosann. Glorydd, still hasted, set two snares and lured him into them. Ignoring the pain of arrows that hit her, as she had done inside Tazok's tent, she ran off, hid and returned to finish Khosann with a powerful backstab.
"Such pride undeserved, great conqueror, when your whole being is borrowed. Credit where it is due, and dues where payment is demanded. You were made as you are, and you can also be broken."
What had she borrowed, and what payment was she due? And to whom? She had many questions, but no idea where to look for answers. Glorydd decided to leave those questions for future dreams, and focus on the waking world where her main concern was the Iron Throne. The Dwarf traveled from the inn into the vast and densely vegetated Cloakwood in search of their hidden base. Most Dwarves would think twice about venturing into that seemingly infinite forest, but Glorydd was a topsider, and one attuned to the wilds. The woods were safe for the most part, but danger - mostly in the form of Spiders - was never far away, so Glorydd forced herself to try and remain vigilant at all times.
A full day had passed when she met a first demihuman: Aldeth Sashenstar, a human noble from Baldur's Gate. He asked her for protection against a group of Druids that were out for his head. Glorydd agreed to protect the man, but when the Druids came and explained to her that Aldeth had slain a Druid for no good reason and Aldeth started hurling insults at the Druids, she told the men that she would no longer involve herself in their quarrel. Aldeth didn't take this well; he attacked her. Strangely the Druids did nothing to stop Aldeth, so the Dwarf had to deal with the nobleman herself.
Deeper in the woods she reached an area colonized by Spiders. At the outer reaches of it, Glorydd met a young man, Tiber. He begged her to find his brother Chelak who had wandered off looking for the fabled greatsword Spiders' Bane. The Dwarf wasn't very enthusiastic about a thorough exploration of "spider country", but moved as always by the plights of the common folk, she promised to find Chelak. She quaffed a potion of freedom (and kept more of those potions at hand) and she cast protection from poison on herself, from a green scroll. The potion allowed her to wade through several web traps as if they weren't there, and the protection from poison helped a great deal in her encounters with the Spiders, especially the Phase Spider variants which she knew have a very potent venom. Even with those protections, prevalence over three Phase Spiders was hard-fought. The creatures' fast and incessant attacks left her bruised and scarred.
The next day she found the spiders' nest. No longer protected from poison, Glorydd was hesitant to enter it, but she realized she might find Chelak there, or whatever remained of him. She swigged another potion of freedom, found the den inhabited by a morbidly obese, naked female, and many spiders and Ettercaps. Neither the female nor the spiders appreciated the Dwarf's visit, so the latter hastily retreated. The spiders and Ettercaps followed her outside. Remembering how three Phase Spiders or one Sword Spider had proven to be barely manageable for her, Glorydd knew she had no way of dealing in melee combat with two Phase Spiders, two Giant Spiders, two Ettercaps, and two Sword Spiders at the same time. Instead, she opted for stealth and surprise attacks. She made generous use of her stock of arrows of biting (purchased before from Taerom Fuiruim), especially against the otherwise lighting fast Sword Spiders.
Glorydd had roamed the forest for three more days, staying hidden most of the time, and come close to giving up the search for the Iron Throne base, when she spotted two mercenaries, snuck up to them, and listened in on their conversation. They appeared to be guards, and they were speaking ill of Davaeorn. This Davaeorn was a name she had encountered in Tazok's correspondence. Completely unaware of her presence the men guided her to the hidden Iron Throne base. From the outside it consisted of a number of plain wooden structures, nothing impressive.
Upon arrival she charmed one of the guards with Lord Foreshadow's ring, and together they slew the other guard. The two then walked to the entrance of the main building, but were accosted by a party of two wizards and two warriors. Their spokesman told the Dwarf they had been hired to get rid of her. Again, and this worried her more than the imminent battle, her enemy had somehow been aware of her movements.
She first dealt with the mages. The charmed guard soaked up a number of spells for her, before he got himself killed,
Inside the mine, Glorydd kept to the shadows, only to reveal herself to one miner who was standing next to a large plug keeping a river from flooding it. If they removed the plug, he told her, they could inundate the mine and deprive the Iron Throne of their business. Glorydd would have to retrieve the key to the plug from Davaeorn though, at the lowest level, and the miner was willing to flood the mine only if Glorydd found a way to ensure the safety of the other miners.
On the second level she made sure again to remain hidden to those she didn't want to notice her,
She also met a fellow Dwarf, Yeslick, a warrior priest of Clangeddin and the last of the Orothair clan that had operated the mine for centuries. He wanted to help her against Davaeorn, and even travel with her. Glorydd loved the idea, but she also knew (and confessed to him) that she had many battles awaiting her, challenges that weren't his. His challenge was to restore the Cloakwood Mine to its old glory. Yeslick agreed to the flooding of the mine and told her he would leave with the other miners and return in the future with more clanless and outsider Dwarves to drain the flooded mine, and make it a Dwarven stronghold again. Glorydd promised Yeslick to spread the word on his noble pursuit, and the priest advised the lass to protect herself against magic when confronting Davaeorn, for he was a skilled wizard.
She descended two more levels, unnoticed, to reach Davaeorn's lair. There a single guard tried to stop her. He would pay for it with his life.
Glorydd rummaged through Davaeorn's belongings, took what valuables she could carry, as well as correspondence mentioning an Iron Throne headquarters in the city of Baldur's Gate and the key to the river plug. Back on the first level of the mine she found the miners all gone, except for the one who would flood the mine for her. She hastily left the premises and set out to Baldur's Gate, hoping she would be welcome there this time around.
Also for the assassins at the entrance: a trick is to sneak up and use the cloak that gives 'charm person' to charm the assassin who initiates dialogue. This stops the group from going hostile. Meaning you can order him to take a hike. Then backstab a mage or further charm a mage to make him nuke his own party.
This time the gate was open for Glorydd. She was even hailed by a Flaming Fist commander, Harold Loggerson, or simply 'Scar'. He offered her a number of informal jobs for the Fist.
The city was overwhelming for her: so many people, so many places to see and things to do. It would distract her from her course for a number of days, but she had an eventful and educational time.
Niklos, a Thief, introduced the Dwarf at the Thieves Guild, where she made some friends who took her with them on a couple of jobs and who showed her the city. Note that Glorydd didn't consider herself a Thief per se, even though many moons of surviving on her own had taught her a thing or two about picking a lock, hiding herself, and detecting and building snares. Glorydd had never lent herself to harming the common folk, quite the opposite, as she knew some of her 'colleagues' at the Guild might. At the same time she had no compunction about depriving the rich of some of their wealth.
Thus she went thieving with two friendly rogues named Rededge and Narlen Darkwalk, and she bartered with a fence, Black Lily, which yielded her a manual that increased her dexterity as soon as she finished reading it, the Sparkburst shortbow, a protective cowl, and some useful potions. Less friendly were her dealings with the guild leader, Alatos Thuibuld. After having retrieved three components for the building of a Haalruan skyship for him and Resar, a wizard, the latter attacked Glorydd. Apparently he didn't like her knowing anything about these components. Thankfully Narlen and Rededge prevented the mage from harming the Dwarf, impressing even Alatos with their loyalty to her.
Another noteworthy event was a bloody affair at the Bitch Queen's House. Glorydd considered that one could never have enough healing, so she had made it a habit to visit temples to purchase healing potions. When she entered the Umberlee Temple she remembered Tenya, and asked for her. The child was somehow offended by Glorydd's presence and she attacked the Dwarf. Soon the entire clergy, including the high priestess Jalantha Mistmyr, were hostile. Glorydd tried to get away, but saw the high priestess at her heels. Jalantha could have held Glorydd if it weren't for a timely quaffing of a potion of free action.
Glorydd released a Nymph from captivity even though she had promised a wizard named Ramazith to bring him the creature. She just couldn't bear to see the Nymph pine away. When she went to tell Ramazith of her failed mission, the wizard got extremely angry and promised to kill her. Unfortunately for him, Glorydd had potions of magic shielding and enchanted arrows that injured him through all his spell protections. He fell.
Glorydd's visit to the Lady's House, a temple dedicated to Tymora, went about as badly as her visit to the Umberlee temple. But this time she had herself to blame. A rare fit of kleptomania saw the Dwarf attempt to steal yet another magical tome (at least that's what she inferred from a glance at its cover). She failed to snatch the tome unseen. [Note: she only succeeded at the 2nd or 3rd pickpocket attempt.] Her action prompted the priests to start a number of ominous sounding incantations,
Having antagonized two clergies, Glorydd didn't feel too safe in the city, so she resolved to focus on her missions for Scar and on the Iron Throne, and to leave the city as soon as she was done with those jobs. Her first task for Scar was to investigate the Seven Suns trading coster. She didn't take long in discovering that the strange acting merchants were in reality Doppelgangers. When she called them what they were, they attacked. However, Glorydd was the superior fighter by far. She slew them, released their prisoner, one of the Seven Suns owners who hadn't been replaced by a Doppelganger yet, and reported back to Scar.
He congratulated and rewarded her and then begged her to clear up the mystery of disappearences of people, purportedly into the sewers. The perpetrator turned out to be an Ogre Mage aided by a huge pack of Carrion Crawlers and Phase Spiders, indeed in the sewers. Glorydd quaffed a potion of freedom and to protect herself against the Carrion Crawlers with their paralyzing attacks and a potion of magic shielding, and then stubbornly, foolishly, focused her arrows on the Ogre Mage. She soon found herself surrounded by the giant centipedes, and the object of the Ogre's Magic Missiles, Melf's Arrows and Flame Arrows. She barely managed to fight herself free and find her way out of the sewers into a brothel, with her enemies at her heels.
Eventually all turned out well though. She hid and healed herself, and then confronted the Ogre Mage, which had also followed her into the bordello. A rain of enchanted arrows brought the monster down.
Glorydd allowed herself a night in the luxurious Helm and Cloak Inn, whose peace and quiet would allow her to contemplate her actions. The incident at the Lady's House was still on her mind, as was her impetuous course of action in the sewers. The Dwarf forgave herself her greed at the temple of Tymora, possibly a result of her work with the Thieves Guild, and pledged to use her thieving skills only where they would serve a higher need. As to her overconfidence in the sewers, she could only hope her near death experience would serve as a lesson. It was something she had to remember each time she was to undertake a mission that might involve violence.
When she awoke the next morning, the room was already lit by the morning sun. She rubbed her eyes and looked around to take in the room a bit better. She was surprised to to find a copper wire sticking out of a painting on the wall beside her bed. A closer look revealed that a snare had been attached to the painting. The Dwarf, quite handy with snares, disarmed the trap without difficulty, and removed the painting. Behind it, there was a hole in the wall, containing a marvelous helmet. Glorydd put the helmet into her pack and left the inn. She had the helm identified by Halbazzer Drin at the Sorcerous Sundries, and was overjoyed to discover she had found the Helm of Balduran, an item of legend with many powerful enchantments. The Dwarf decided not to sport the helmet in the city so as not to alarm its possible owner. Instead she replaced it carefully in her pack.
When she reported back to Scar, she was again handsomely rewarded, and she was also asked to investigate the Iron Throne. Glorydd's account of the Iron Throne's doings in Nashkel and the Cloakwood, and the problems that had befallen the Seven Suns were sufficient reason to investigate the Throne (even if it wasn't enough for a formal accusation and procedure). Glorydd also had her own, peronal reasons to investigate the Throne of course, but Scar knew not of those motives.
She entered the Iron Throne headquarters invisibly, and she did nothing to make herself seen until she reached the top floor. It was heavily guarded by what looked to be a team of deadly sentries judging from their attires and high quality weaponry. Glorydd snuck past them,
She also ran into an Iron Throne executive whom she forced with her blade on his throat to reveal her the location of the Throne's leaders: Candlekeep! She bound and gagged the man, hid in shadows and reported her findings to Scar and Duke Eltan, Commander of the Flaming Fist. The latter gave her an expensive tome that would guarantee her access to the citadel in order to continue her investigations for the city of Baldur's Gate (and her personal quest).
Funny how things work out like that. Indeed, a wise dwarf does not steal from the gods.
"The Dwarf decided not to sport the helmet in the city so as not to alarm its possible owner. Instead she replaced it carefully in her pack."
Very nice detail here. Really adds to the RP immersion.
It was still early, but she went to visit the library anyway. Inside, she spoke with a man named Koveras, a visitor like herself, and with a few of the her old acquaintances. There were other people she would have liked to see, including the Iron Throne board with whom she still had some unfinished business, but she was arrested by the Gatewarden, for killing the same Iron Throne leaders she hadn't even met!
She would have been delivered to the Baldur's Gate authorities to receive her (capital) punishment if it weren't for good old Tethtoril, who somehow managed to teleport her to secret catacombs below the citadel. The old priest also pointed out to Glorydd that 'Koveras' was Sarevok spelled backwards (how could she have missed that!?), and he gave her a very revealing letter that Gorion had left for her. It told her that her real father was the dead God of Murder, Bhaal, of the human pantheon. Apparently Bhaal had foreseen his death during the Times of Troubles, when the Gods walked the realms, and forced himself upon females of all races, including her Dwarven mother. The letter also warned Glorydd of many who would want to use her for her own purposes, and of Sarevok, who as a former student at Candlekeep knew a great deal about Glorydd and her history.
The Dwarf forced herself to think as little as possible of the implications of being a child of Bhaal and to focus on a number of more urgent issues: escaping from Candlekeep, clearing her name, and dealing with Sarevok who, she now realized, had been responsible for Gorion's death and for the bounty hunters and assassins. Apparently he had used the Iron Throne as a tool to accomplish his own, darker objectives.
In the catacombs Glorydd was surprised to run into her old neighbor Phlydia, until Phlydia changed shape and became an ugly, greyish, familiar-looking creature: a Doppelganger. This was actually much less of a surprise, as Sarevok and the iron Throne had used Doppelgangers in Baldur's Gate to orchestrate the downfall of rivaling merchant houses. She slew the creature, and proceeded to carefully explore the catacombs. The Dwarf's keen eye for snares found the hallways heavily trapped, but she had no difficulty disarming the snares. It allowed her to pick up some interesting items, including two more magical, abililty increasing tomes of the type she had found before during her travels. She eventually escaped, hidden in shadows, bypassing more Doppelgangers, a party of adventurers, two Basilisks and, back above ground, a group of Ogre Magi.
For her own safety, and out of a long-suppressed curiosity, Glorydd traveled to Durlag's Tower rather than heading straight to Baldur's Gate, where she was wanted by local law enforcement. She would use the side trip to clear her mind on recent events, and to lay low for a while. But a couple of triggered traps, a tome of Wisdom and a frustrating (undecided) battle against a succubus later, she found herself outside the tower again, decided to set things straight in Baldur's Gate.
[I seriously considered trying Durlag's Tower as I've never done it solo. But the no-reload survival instinct prevailed. I have a separate save though, so I might just give it a try, when no-reload Glorydd is in Amn.]
Back in Baldur's Gate, Glorydd kept a very low profile. She spoke only with people she knew and trusted: her friends at the Guild, Halbazzar Drin at the Sorcerous Sundries, and Silence (whose shop formed the setting of a rough night with dreams of Bhaal and of Sarevok, culminating in a second divine might ability the next morning). She also spoke with a woman that seemed to know an awful lot about Sarevok and herself, Tamoko. It was she who directed Glorydd to the Undercellars, to slay an assassin named Slythe - quaffing healing potions and dispelling his haste while being hasted herself - as well as his lover Krystin, an arcane caster.
When she arrivedat the palace the ceremony seemed to have begun already. Glorydd saw various nobles assembled for the event, waiting for Dukes Belt and Liia Jannath and for Sarevok to speak. When the Dwarf asked one of the nobles whether she had missed something, he remained silent and just looked at her with two expressionless eyes. When a second nobleman's response, or complete lack thereof, was identical to that of the first, Glorydd knew enough: these were Doppelgangers. She stepped back, set two snares behind the Doppelgangers, and buffed with various potions (violet, fortitude, agility, mind focusing x2, defense, heroism, power) and an oil of speed.
Thankfully she didn't have to. Poisoned arrows of dispelling, Belt's incessant fighting in spite of his being confused, and poisoned melee attacks finished the Doppelgangers off in no time. (The poison was from vials Glorydd had bought from Black Lily at the Thieves Guild.)
Stealthed and still fully buffed, Glorydd rushed through the maze ignoring monsters and harmless traps.
Glorydd didn't approve of Sarevok's plans. She defeated Diarmid in a ranged duel,