Thanks @semiticgod Looking forward to BG2. Not sure if I'll continue the extensive reporting though. Eats up a lot of time. Will read up on your Cleric/Thief/Mage, tomorrow. Time for me to get some sleep now.
Glorydd was happy to be in the great outdoors again after many weeks had been spent mostly in the city of Baldur's Gate. Being free of worries about possible assassins, bounty hunters or even lawmen on her trail, only added to her bliss until south of Nashkel a light-headedness befell her. Initially she ignored it, but after an hour or so, she felt the need to sit down, and did so, against a tree. Soon after she laid herself down, flat on the ground, her face in the grass. The Dwarf closed her eyes for a moment. But suddenly, murmuring voices sounded right next to her. She failed to register the words. She attempted to get up again, but hadn't the strength. And then nothing, just blackness...
Time passed. Hours, days, weeks, maybe even months. Glorydd had no concept of time when flashes of consciousness returned to her. What she did realize during these flashes, was that her reality wasn't pretty: a prison cell, the permanent smell of death and decay, painful magics torturing her, a desire to die, a strange male with a leathery face examining her.
"Wake up you! Glorydd, come on, wake up!" a familiar female voice kept saying. Images of innocent days filled Gloydd's mind. Candlekeep, Gorion, Arkanis, Phlydia, Imoen... Imoen! Glorydd opened her eyes and looked straight at her old friend who had somehow ended up in the same prison, and had just opened her cell door.
The two girls hadn't seen each other in months. Glorydd had expected to find Imoen in Candlekeep during her visit there to investigate the Iron Throne, but her friend hadn't been there. A tear ran down her face as she studied the dear friend whose company she had rejected because of the bounty hunters that had been after her. The lass looked different, scarred in her face, and her eyes were sad. Imoen explained to Glorydd that a powerful wizard had been messing with their minds and bodies. She helped Glorydd back up on her feet, and led her to a small room that contained some gear, stashed in a chest. It wasn't Glorydd's gear, but a suit of mundane leather armor, a unenchanted short sword, a helmet and a small shield were better than nothing. She also picked up a Katana. Equipped with said items, she felt the survivor she had always been rise up in her again. The adrenaline released by the thought of a possible but no doubt dangerous escape did away with the lethargy and feebleness that Glorydd had become used to during the wizard's experimentations.
Glorydd instructed Imoen to stay back. She would lead the way for her friend. In the room with the cells the Dwarf released two more prisoners: Jaheira, the bossy Half-Elf she had briefly met at the Friendly Arm Inn (had that woman been following her?), and one Minsc, a loud, befuddled Rashemaan berserker Ranger that claimed to know her. Glorydd had no use for either of them, for she had decided to rely on her stealth ability to explore the dungeon. She followed a narrow hallway lit by torches that led into a small room with an engine that was humming with electrical energy. A small winged creature, a Mephit, Glorydd remembered from her lessons in Candlekeep, was guarding the engine, but it didn't see the hidden Dwarf. She moved a switch to stop the engine from working and then moved on to enter a cavelike area where she was greeted by a Djinni that wanted to play a game of riddles with her. Glorydd told the creature she had no time for such games, and continued her exploration. In several corridors she scouted more Mephits as well as small bands of Duergar Dwarves, an evil race, she knew well enough, and evil were their intentions with her as soon as she spoke to one of them: they were out to kill her. A Djinni, Mephits and Duergar; Glorydd wondered where she was. None of these creatures she had ever encountered before on the Sword Coast.
She relied on hit and fade tactics to deal with the Duergar and the different Mephits, often using the katana for more powerful backstabs (in spite of her lack of proficiency in said weapon).
[Note: as you can see Glorydd dealt quadruple backstab damage. That was because surplus XP from BG1 made her reach level 9 as a Thief and level 8 as a Fighter.] The hit and fade tactics appeared to be Glorydd's only way of survival, because she was too vulnerable in straight combat against the Duergar (especially their sharpshooting crossbowmen).
In a library, a backstab that failed to kill a Mephit alarmed not only four Duergar that she had spotted in the vicinity,
but more of their ilk, coming from a corridor she hadn't explored yet. Amongst them was a Duergar wizard, which alarmed Glorydd. She had always treated mages with care, and had made a habit of using potions to protect herself against their spells. But this time she didn't have any protective potions. The Dwarf fell back and managed to hide in shadows. She then sought out the Duergar Mage and stabbed him in the back. The attack didn't kill her foe, but it was enough to cause his morale to fail, allowing the Dwarf to slay the mage without having to fear his spellcasting.
The corridor from which the wizard and other Duergar had come, led to a large room in which she found some of her gear on a table. Before she could don her Shadow Armor, Boots of Stealth and Cloak of Non-Detection (the only BGTTweaks-imported items I allowed Glorydd to keep, in addition to Semaj's Cloak which she cant't use pre-UAI due to being a Dwarf), she had a bloody battle to win against Ilych, the Duergar leader, and some of his minions.
A different passageway led from the room to nowhere, so Glorydd had to return.
In a small room before the library she delivered a wardstone to a Golem that had asked her for the stone in order to open a number of locked doors. These doors all led to an open area guarded by yet another "new" creature, an Otyugh. Glorydd slew it using backstabs and surprise attacks.
She then had to battle her way past four more Duergar
to reach an open area with trees and friendly Dryads she promised to free by bringing magical acorns she had found on Ilych to one of their sisters in the Windspear Hills. The Dryads referred to their captor as Irenicus, a name Glorydd engraved in her memory. Next to the green area were two well-kept, but heavily trapped rooms. Glorydd had to draw upon her divine might to be able to remove all the traps.
The rooms contained various treasures, including two more items of hers: the Claw of Kazgaroth and the Helm of Balduran, and a portal stone that enabled her to travel between different levels of the dungeon. (I wonder which mod imports both the Claw of Kazgaroth and the Helm of Balduran into SoA. According to the BGTTweaks readme it's not that mod, and iirc vanilla SoA only imports the helm if both items are in charname's inventory at the end of BG1). On her way to the teleportation portal, Glorydd had to defend herself against two Golems, which she did successfully, abeit with difficulty.
With Imoen in her wake, Glorydd stepped through the portal, and saw a Kara-Turan looking rogue approach them. Although not openly hostile, something told Glorydd not to trust the man. She allowed him to follow her but begged him to keep his distance because stealth was a vital aspect of her strategy. The rogue was willing to cooperate and told her that in the next room, she would encounter four Mephit "portals" that would constantly release Mephits. Therefore destroying the portals rather than the Mephits themselves appeared to be the way to go. Glorydd did just that. With an oil of speed at the ready (which in the end she didn't use), she entered the room, ignoring the agitated creatures. She struck at the portals, one after the other, with her two short swords until they all stopped functioning.
She then pushed on, eager to escape, slaying a Doppelganger and a second Duergar Mage (which allowed her to pick up a Girdle of Bluntness) on her way,
until she found a tunnel hat sloped upwards, toward what looked to be the light of day. There were rogues running around in no clear direction, but they paid little attention to Imoen and Glorydd; something much more urgent seemed to be on their minds.
The girls made their way through the tunnel and came upon a marketplace in a city neither of them knew. Both Imoen and Glorydd had traveled much of the Sword Coast (separately), but the white buildings, large ornamental pillars, and onion domes gave this city a much more southern or maybe eastern feel. The girls didn't have long to ponder over the matter though, as the leathery wizard, their captor, appeared in front of them. With his powerful magic that Imoen and Glorydd knew all too well, he first dispatched some of the thieves they had seen running around, and then turned to the Dwarf. He started an incantation but was interrupted by a Magic Missile that Imoen cast at him. Glorydd was impressed. "Where did you learn that?" she asked her friend. But before Imoen could answer, four cowled wizards came teleporting in. Irenicus slew three but others took their fallen colleagues' places. Eventually, the wizards arrested both Imoen and Irenincus for unsanctioned uses of magical energy, leaving Glorydd alone again. She spoke to some of the bystanders but none of them knew where the wizards had taken Irenicus and Imoen.
You also remind me how far behind I am on my write up...
Thank you @Grum! And I understand. Proper writing takes quite a lot of time, time one can also spend playing the game Hopefully we can soon read more of Durak's exploits!
Freshly escaped from Irenicus' dungeon, Glorydd had little idea what to do. She knew not where Imoen and Irenicus had been taken, she was penniless and she had been deprived of most of her possessions, in what turned out to be Athkatla, a new city where she didn't know anyone. She felt just like she had months ago, after Gorion's death. Vulnerable and clueless. But she also remembered how she had coped with her hardships: she had not despaired, rather she had put herself to work. It had helped her to learn more about herself and her environment, to become a better survivor, and eventually to overcome her enemy, the powerful Sarevok.
This would be her course in Athkatla as well, she resolved. She started by investigating a circus tent that according to a city guard had seen various people disappear. Upon entering the tent Glorydd, discovered why. Illusory magics had made good people, including an Elven lass and a mother who had lost her son, look like monsters. And vice versa, a number of monstrous creatures had been given the appearance of commoners. Glorydd helped the Elf return to her original form and reunited the mother with her lost son. She also confronted the mastermind behind the illusions, an Ogre Mage that when slain turned out to be a Gnome named Kalah - another illusion. Having been ridiculed for being a puny Gnome for most of his life, he had taken his revenge by converting the circus into his personal playground, in which he was looked up against. She pitied the Gnome. (She knew all too well the shallowness of humans and their society based on surface, not substance. In the Dwarf's case it was her curvy body that caused many a man to see her as an object rather than a sentient being.)
Exploration of the city led her into the Slums, a name that was well-earned because it was dirty and insecure for the unarmed traveler. She met a rogue there, Gaelan Bayle, who told her he knew an organization that could help her get to Irenicus and Imoen, but they required 15,000 GP for their help. It was an amount that Glorydd did not own at that moment. Bayle and his nephew Brus pointed her toward potentially lucrative jobs though: helping a noblewoman in the nearby Copper Coronet inn who had been looking for adventurers to aid her, and doing a number of commissions for the Shadow Thieves. Glorydd had had good experiences with the Thieves Guild in Baldur's Gate, and hoped it would be the same in Athkatla, but she first went to visit the inn. She met the noblewoman, a girl really, Nalia. Nalia told Glorydd that her keep was under attack, but was unwilling to shed light on who were the attackers or their numbers. This made it difficult for the Dwarf to commit.
Glorydd found that the Copper Coronet was the stage for activities she strongly disapproved of: forced prostitution, and pit fighting by slaves. She didn't hesitate to set things straight even though it meant slaying innocent creatures, wild animals that a Beast Master set upon her.
It also meant the innkeeper's death,
and the installation of Hendak, a slave freed by Glorydd, as the inn's new manager. Hendak begged Glorydd to rid Athkatla of its slavers by overthrowing their nearby stronghold. Glorydd agreed to do so, but she traveled first to the Docks District where she presented herself at the Thieves' Guild. She took a job from one of the higher ranking rogues, Renal Bloodscalp. It consisted in finding evidence of treachery by one Mae'Var, manager of a guild hall just around the corner. The Dwarf infiltrated the guild hall with false documents, and got her first assignment from Mae'Var, stealing a necklace at the Temple of Talos.
She went to the Temple District forthwith but got ambushed in the Bridge District by a band of slavers that included a wizard. Her instinct told her to flee as she had no means to protect herself against the wizard's spells. But when she saw a sparkling short blade in the hands of one of the slavers, she decided to take her chances. She had one advantage, the slavers hadn't seen her yet. She placed three traps, but would not get much out of them, for they would be triggered by a summoned Ogrillon. With a Ring of Human Influence she had taken from Kalah's corpse, she charmed one of the fighters, an archer.
There was little he could do against the mob but he did provoke the wizard in wasting some of her spells on him before he fell. Glorydd wasn't sure whether it had been enough and was glad to charm (with a Nymph's Cloak she had bought at Mae'Var's guild house) another summoned Ogrillon, just when the wizard came after her.
The Ogrillon soaked up a Slow for Glorydd, but that was all the wizard had to offer in terms of debilitating magic at that point. Thus it was with relative ease that Glorydd managed to slay the wizard and the other slavers, including the man with the enchanted blade.
Identification by means of a pair of Glasses of bIdentification she had bought at Bayle's place, taught her that she had just acquired Arbane's Sword. A Blade that protected against Hold effects and that allowed her to Haste one per day.
Also in the Bridge District she met Lieutenant Aegisfield, who told her of a series of gruesome murders. The perpetrator would flay their victims, often homeless people, and leave their bodies to rot in the streets. Disgusted by the lieutenant's account of the abominable practices, Glorydd offered to help him find the murderer. Several clues she picked up from local residents led to the tanner Riejek Hidesman. When she entered his shop, he admitted, but he was unwilling to go with Glorydd to Aegisfield. He fled, Glorydd pursued him and even hit him a few times,
but the man escaped. Aegisfield was nevertheless thankful for her unraveling the mystery of the murders, and rewarded her with 500 GP.
On her way again to the Temple District, Glorydd got ambushed a second time, this time by a party of ruffians that had just poisoned a man named Renfeld. Glorydd didn't fight the ruffians this time. She took the wounded man to the Docks District, where a friend of his took Renfeld into his care.
Having had enough of the ambushes in the Bridge District, Glorydd decided to look for a second, possibly safer bridge to cross. She explored the southern part of the city from the Docks District in an easterly direction. It eventually brought her to the Graveyard District, where she discovered a hidden area inhabited by Spiders and a Half-Drow Hivemaster Druid, Pai'Na. Glorydd slew the Spiders,
but not Pai'Na. She agreed to perform a task for the Half-Drow: the retrieval of Spiders' Bane (a blade that had once belonged to Glorydd!) from the sewers below the Temple District. Said district could only be accessed via the Bridge District though.
Fortunately she reached the Temple District without any ambushes. At the Temple of Lathander she bought a Helm of Charm Protection, at the Temple of Talos she stole the necklace for Mae'Var, and in the sewers [note Blackraven: where no Beholders spawned, unlike in other playthroughs with the same install] she bought Spiders' Bane from two sewer cleaners. Glorydd brought the (severely damaged) sword to Pai'Na and was rewarded with a spider figurine, a Web Sack wand (hold target for 1 turn unless save vs spell at -5), and an Ioun Stone. She brought Mae'Var the necklace, and was then given a second task by Mae'Var's right hand, a wizard named Edwin. She had to dispatch Rayic Gethras, a Cowled Wizard that resided in the Docks District, and that had been following Edwin a bit too much for his liking. Glorydd had no reservations about taking on a Cowled one. She strongly disliked the wizards for having taking in Imoen without giving her a proper warning. She was sure that their unfair treatment of Imoen had been inspired by their fear of Irenicus. For Glorydd the Cowled Wizards had therefore become the Coward Wizards.
Rayic Gethras' home was guarded by Mephits and Stone Golems. A Steam Mephit gave Glorydd a good scare by stunning her (in spite of her good saves thanks to a potion of stone form: 1/-2/2/2/-1).
Most Mephits had already died at that point though, and the two survivors failed to kill Glorydd before the stun effect wore off.
She slew the remaining Mephits and, with difficulty and Kitthix' help, the Stone Golems.
Rayic Gethras was very upset about Glorydd's intrusion. He had three instantaneously cast protections: Stoneskin, PfMW and PfNM. Glorydd hid and remained undetectably invisible thanks to her Cloak of Non-Detection, until the latter two of Gethras' protections wore off. She then hit him with an arrow of dispelling and various acid arrows,
but that didn't keep the wizard from throwing a Symbol: Fear at the Dwarf. Glorydd protected herself against that spell's effect by quaffing a potion of clarity.
One acid arrow later, Rayic Gethras was no more.
Edit: thank you @Ravenslight. It seems my readership is in decline, but I'm pleased you're still enjoying Glorydd's tale.
I'm skimming. I'll come through and give a full read-through when it's over, good or bad. Expect a windfall of around twenty likes when that happens. =p
Glorydd had completed two simple assassination quests for Edwin and Mae'Var (without actually killing any of her marks, she was no hatchet woman), when the former surprised her by telling her he knew she was a spy and by giving her the key to Mae'Var's strongbox. It contained written evidence that Mae'Var had been making overtures to the Night Masks. She took the evidence to Bloodscalp, and got from him the instruction to 'remove' Mae'Var. First however, she rested at the Sea's Bounty, an inn right next to Mae'Var's guild hall. She had a bizarre dream in which she met Irenicus and Imoen in Candlekeep. The citadel was floating in the sky. Imoen spoke about the past, but Irenicus didn't seem to like that. He asked Glorydd a number of questions but they made little sense to her, things like: "Will you cringe from what you know you want? Will you cling to the past or can you see through the pain?" Eventually Irenicus told her that nothing was real yet, which comforted the Dwarf.
In the morning she entered the guild hall. Mae'Var' and his thieves had found out about Glorydd's loyalty to Bloodscalp. She slew several thieves on different floors of the building,
saving the cellars, where Mae'Var used to hang out, for last. With Kitthix she fought a Priest of Cyric, various elite assassins and Mae'Var himself. She took more hits than she cared for and had to go invisible at one point to heal herself.
When Mae'Var slew Kitthix, still invisible Glorydd retreated and used Vhailor's Helm, a helmet she had bought at the Adventurer Mart, to summon forth a simulacrum of herself, only to see it Dominated by Mae'Var soon after it attacked the rogue.
She had more success with her traps, and with her bow. An arrow of dispelling, followed by acid arrows that both injured Mae'Var, peeled away his later Stoneskins and repeatedly disrupted his spellcasting meant his downfall.
Bloodscalp rewarded her richly, with an enchanted blade and with the management of Mae'Var's now vacant guild hall. She promptly instructed her thieves, setting moderate challenges for them but insisted that they targeted the rich rather than the poor, and that they refrained from unnessecary violence.
Inside the Slum's Slaver Compound she made short work of the slavers, relying on backstabs and on her summons (Vhailor's simmy and Kitthix). [Note Blackraven: I unintentionally deleted my screenshots of this quest, nothing spectacular though. It was all quite straightforward, with the mages being webbed by Kitthix.]
That night Glorydd had to deal with a group of Mae'Var's old friends,
and she also had a run-in with a Vampire that was getting the upper hand in a fight against three of her Guild colleagues. With her Helm of Charm Protection and an oil of speed all she had to worry about were the Vampire's draining powers. The Vampire did indeed drain two of the Dwarf's levels, but that didn't stop Glorydd from slaying it.
Glorydd then traveled to the Umar Hills, to the village of Imnesvale, because a young boy had told her of killings and disappearances of townspeople. In Imnesvale she "rested", i.e. had another strange dream featuring Irenicus. This time he offered her power, but Glorydd hadn't forgotten about how he had treated her in his dungeon. She didn't think much of the dream the next day. She had grown used to helping townsfolk with their needs; she had done this in Beregost, in Nashkel, and in the city of Baldur's Gate. Imnesvale was no different [note Blackraven: this means that Ilbratha and a Beljuril were secured; Madulf and Minister Lloyd were brought together]. The people's main concern however were the killings and disappearances.
Glorydd's investigations took her to ancient Temple Ruins, northwest of Imnesvale. The area was replete with Shadows, Shade Wolves and Wraiths. She slew all the creatures but got level-drained and energy-drained in the process.
It prompted her to use one of her green scrolls of Protection from Undead on herself (after she had restored herself and rested). Thus protected, she breezed through the ruins, rescuing a Halfling warrior for which she was thanked with an anti-stun sword, and slaying all kinds of Shadow creatures as well as Skeleton Warriors, without having to worry for her safety. She did have to be careful with two Greater Mummies whose Aura of Fear was still capable of paralyzing and panicking her, and with two hard-hitting Bone Golems. The combination of those creatures was especially dangerous. However, two potions of clarity and a second scroll of PfU kept her safe from the Mummies, and an oil of speed in combination with Tuigan Bow ranged attacks greatly facilitated dealing with the Bone Golems.
When she left the dungeons again, she found the root of the undead evil: a Shade Lord. As Glorydd was still protected from Undead, neither its lackeys nor the creature itself had any means of defending themselves against the Dwarf.
There was another creature though, much more powerful and not so simple warded off as the undead: a Shadow Dragon. Glorydd rested, summoned her Vhailor's Simmy and instructed it to place three snares. It caused the dragon to go hostile,
but it didn't attack yet. Glorydd sent the simmy to fight the dragon, but but saw the clone soon overcome with dragon fear. Glorydd then buffed with an oil of speed and with a potion of clarity (she was rapidly running out of those), and summoned Kitthix to her side to engage the dragon before the massive creature would come after her. She placed three traps of her own, which together with the simmy's traps injured the dragon as soon as it triggered them; [Thaxxy's status due to the trap damage was 'Injured', but] the good thing about the traps was that beside their initial damage they also deal poison damage over time. The simmy didn't last long and neither did Kitthix, so it was up to Glorydd to deal with the monster. She noticed it relied much on magic removal, debilitating magic and wing buffets. The dragon dispelled her buffs and Malisoned the Dwarf,
but Glorydd countered that with her penultimate potion of clarity, and after some running around, she applied another oil of speed. More running around ensued, with Glorydd landing the occasional hit and paying for it with the dragon's wing buffets.
The advantage with the wing buffets was that they launched Glorydd far away from her foe, buying her time for healing. She slew the creature with a critical, and survived its final wing buffet.
Her feats made her the heroine of Imnesvale, and the Shadow Dragon scales were forged into suit of armor.
It looks like Protection from Undead is becoming a standard method for the Shade Lord, rather than toughing it out with SI: Necromancy. In fact, I just used it today, in a party of Archers: Charname used the scroll while her friends stayed hidden or used Potions of Invisiblity to evade notice. Shadow Patrick tried a divination spell, but one of the Archers blocked it with the Horn of Blasting (an odd way to avoid notice) before drinking a Potion of Invisibility to stay invisible.
Also, it turns out the level drain from Darkling Aura isn't permanent: it only lasts 1 turn, so you don't have to use Restoration after the battle. I'd never noticed that before.
Good to see Glorydd is progressing steadily. What are all those new items she has? I don't recognize any of them.
@semiticgod, PfUndead can be considered cheesy, but the Shade Lord is very, very hard without it, and without NPP the level drains are annoying (regardless of their short duration). The only reliable, non-cheesy way I've used is Insect Plague, which almost always makes him panic, and obviously frustrates his casting. Interesting to see that you're doing yet another archer playthrough.
As to Glorydd's items, the only new/different items she has, are Sound Defense (off hand), a Short Sword +2 that gives +1 AC and +1 to Saves vs Death, and the Black Cat's Claw, which is a Ninja-To +2, +1 Luck, +1 DEX (main hand, not wielded). By the way in my set-up Short Swords and Ninja-To are one weapon class. The other items may look different from what you're used to. That's due to the 1pp mod which gives many items a BG1 or BG1-style appearance. I know the Helmets look different from vanilla: Vhailor's, Charm Protection, and Balduran (donned). The gloves are those of Pickpocketing. Not sure if there are more items that look different.
@Grum, thanks for crossing those fingers Same here for Durak. The Mae'Var fight is probably too easy in vanilla. Mae'Var is a Thief/Mage, but in vanilla he wears the Shadow Armor meaning he can't cast any of his spells. SCS places the armor in his inventory so that his Mage levels actually matter.
@Blackraven: I've always been fascinated by the Archer's Strength drain, and wondered under what circumstances it could be useful. It's been very frustrating to me that the vanilla game only allows single-classed Rangers to choose the kit, as there are so many uses you could find for Called Shot with other characters. It's very difficult for a lone Archer to drain enough Strength to take down the bigger critters. An Archer can't drain more than 13 STR unless it uses limited charge resources: Vhailor's Helm, the Bracers of Blinding Strike, the Improved Cloak of Protection, or Greater Whirlwind Attack.
I figured an all-Archer party would make for an interesting run. For one thing, it greatly lowers the threshold for STR drain, since the whole party will have lots of Called Shots. Once I hit level 12, we can drain over 30 STR in one round if everyone casts Called Shot together, and we can do that three times per day. For another, it should provide a much different experience than Sil's party. Nobody in my Archer party has Chaotic Commands or Spell Immunity or UAI to protect them. They're pretty much an all-offense party. All I've really got defend my Charname (Poppy again, and Snowy Tae and Rovala also reappear in the group as Archers) are potions (I bought 10 Potions of Stone Form from Adratha) and Arbane's Sword, to make sure she can't get paralyzed and eaten up while she's disabled.
They've been remarkably successful. No reloads so far, and I'm about halfway through Chapter 2. Their APR is just absurd (over 20, without haste), easily capable of breaking through any mage's Stoneskins and Mirror Image in a single round. And since we now have the Cloak of the Stars, and therefore +5 darts, the only thing that can resist our attacks are mages with Absolute Immunity or Liches or Rakshasas with PFMW. We did have a lot of trouble, though, fighting Clay Golems and Spirit Trolls, as we fought them before we got many magical or blunt weapons.
APR is so much more important than damage when it comes to mages.
Glorydd had another adventure waiting for her outside Athkatla: helping the troubled people of Trademeet. The village was under attacks from animals, and Dao Djinns had monopolized all trade. An aggressive Druid community in the wilds east of Trademeet were the suspected cause of the animal attacks, Glorydd learnt from High Merchant Logan Coprith and from a friendly Druid named Cernd. The Dwarf traveled to the community to see if the Druids could be reasoned with. She was respectful of nature and she thanked many of her abilities to having spents months in the wilds. At the same time she considered the animal attacks an extreme measure against whatever wrong the people of Trademeet had committed.
In the wilds she encountered and slew different types of monsters: Trolls (including - with Kitthix' help - Spirit Trolls), Spiders and Fungi.
But her most challenging encounter was with an (aTweaked) Elder Earth Elemental. It could go invisible at will, cause earthquakes that knocked victims unconscious and it was immune to Glorydd's (+2) weapons. Glorydd set three snares and used Kitthix to lure the creature toward them. (She could not do the luring of the invisible creature herself because earthquake-caused unconsciousness would likely result in death.) The Spider even managed to deal some damage. The traps injured the Elemental; their delayed poison damage didn't.
An Efreeti was summoned (from a bottle Glorydd had nicked from a Dao Djinn in Trademeet), but neither the Efreeti nor Kitthix would deal much damage before an earthquake meant the end of both summons. Glorydd survived because she had gone improved invisible with her Ring of Air Control.
She healed herself and then saw the Elemental go invisble. A Vhailor's simulacrum, Glorydd's last summon, caused the creature to show itself again, allowing the Dwarf to fry it with three potions of firebreath.
The remainder of her journey to the Druid Grove was less eventful. She bought some potions from an old witch, helped a party of Druids fight a pack of Trolls (but failed to save any of the humans),
and she had a violent encounter with another group of Druids, whose Insect Plagues and summons gave Glorydd a hard time, until their leader yielded.
Two more Druids, in front of the Grove, opposed Glorydd, but she dealt with them using dispelling and acid arrows.
She met Cernd [who was level 14, probably because of the level 1 NPCs mod which makes NPCs have more or less the same amount of XP as Charname when they join the party] and rested with him. Cernd challenged the (Shadow) Druid leader, a woman named Faldorn, to a duel. She accepted. Faldorn went improved invisible, but Cernd positioned himself next to her and cast Nature's Beauty, which blinded Faldorn. He then summoned Woodland Beings, Fire Elementals and wild animals
to provoke Faldorn into attacking and thus making herself visible. Faldorn did indeed attack whatever creatures came up close to her, but the summons counterattacked, and slew Faldorn.
Cernd stayed at the Grove to reorganize it and to restore relations with Trademeet.
Glorydd returned to Trademeet where, protected by a potion of stone form and buffed with an oil of speed, she slew the Dao Djinn leader after he'd refused to leave the townspeople be. [This was not very well played. For one I should have first traded with him, and secondly his lackeys disappeared when Khan Zahraa fell, so Glorydd obtained less XP than she could have, which fortunately isn't a big deal for a solo character.] The High Merchant and the townspeople were extremely happy with Glorydd. They even raised a statue in her memory. Merchants promised her they'd soon offer her some fine goods at special prices. Glorydd liked that because she had been rewarded a generous amount of gold to spend.
First however she had to return to Athkatla on guild business. In the Athkatla Bridge District Glorydd learnt that in spite of her arguably heroic feats, she had no reason to stop being the modest Dwarf she had always tried to be. She bought an enchanted scimitar from a poor man who needed the gold to save his ill, endangered father. She had little use for the item though, she wasn't even proficient in scimitars, so she sold it. At the southern end of the bridge she then ran into a girl demoness that claimed to be the owner of the blade.
Glorydd would have returned the sword had she still possessed it. Now all she could do was defend herself. The demoness hit much harder than Glorydd did, even though the Dwarf landed a few good hits herself.
She had to apply an oil of speed and quaff various potions of extra healing to keep going. Some of the Bridge District residents vilified Glorydd for gating in the demoness, unwilling to believe that Glorydd had done no such thing.
Eventually, and much to Glorydd's chagrin, the day was saved by the intervention of the contemned Cowled ones. They imprisoned the Demoness.
If asked, Glorydd would have probably preferred to die, rather than to rely on the help of that corrupt clique. All in all it was a humbling experience for the Dwarf.
Her humor didn't improve in the Docks District, for she got fooled by the Harpers there. A brief talk with a wizard named Xzar, whom she had briefly met before during her travels on the Sword Coast, resulted in her agreement to release his friend Montaron from imprisonment in the Harper compound. It was the same building where she had previously delivered poisoned Renfeld into Rylock's care This time, instead of being allowed entrance, Rylock required her to first perform a task for him - slaying two monster summoning wizards. She did the job,
and was allowed to enter the premises. When she had finally managed to bring 'Montaron', who had supposedly been changed into a bird, from his cage to Xzar, the bird promptly transformed into an assassin, not Montaron, and slew Xzar. The assassin escaped Glorydd's clutches, but the Dwarf took revenge on three Spectral Harpists inside the compund and pledged never to do the treacherous Harpers any favors again.
She left the city for Trademeet, and on her way enjoyed immersing herself in the revigorating energy of the great outdoors. It raised her spirits considerably. In Trademeet she was well-received. She was given discounts on several goods (but gave herself even better 'discounts' on most, not all, of those goods). Glorydd also followed a lead to Riejek the skinner who had barely escaped from her grasp a good tenday before. She slew both the tanner and an associate, and with that feat saved one of their victims from certain death.
Finally she put an old family feud to rest by retrieving the Mantle of Waukeen from a tomb, and bringing it to the High Merchant.
Glorydd had little else to do in Trademeet, but was uneager to return to Athkatla. She then remembered her promise to young Nalia d'Arnise and decided to travel to the d'Arnise Hold, midway between Trademeet and Athkatla. The lands surrounding the keep were relatively quiet except for the occasional Troll, and for a Dryad named Phluafae that somehow knew of the acorns that Glorydd had promised Irenicus' slaves to bring to a sister of theirs, in the Windspear Hills. Glorydd didn't trust Phluafae and refused to hand over the acorns, a decision she was told she would regret.
When she arrived at the keep, she met Nalia and a d'Arnise guard in a provisory encampment outside. Nalia finally told the Dwarf of her troubles. The keep had been invaded by Trolls. It was a tiding that worried Glorydd. She had dealt with Trolls in the wilds surrounding Trademeet. The creatures had proved hard to kill, and quite dangerous, especially the Spirit Trolls. Nalia showed Glorydd a secret entrance into the keep and offered to join Glorydd but the Dwarf, unwilling to put the young woman's life at risk, told Nalia to wait for her, and went inside alone. The ground floor was infested with the creatures. She counted about fifteen, but there could have been more, for she knew Spirit Trolls shared her habit of keeping to the shadows. Glorydd only showed herself twice, to stop Trolls from killing d'Arnise household members. Alas, she failed to slay the monsters in time on both occasions.
One of the rooms contained a magical forge that allowed her to make an enchanted Flail that dealt cold damage with each hit. Glorydd had found that certain creatures seemed more vulnerable to blunt weapons like flails or staves than to her blades, and for that reason had extensively trained herself in the use of her Defender of Easthaven flail, a defensive weapon she had picked up in Athkatla from a merchant from Icewind Dale. [note Blackraven: Glorydd had become specialized when she reached level 12 as a Fighter]. She kept the Flail in her pack.
Upstairs she spotted more Trolls in the corridors, and in the keep library, a Yuan-Ti surrounded by a few Trolls. She had dealt with the fighting snakemen before, in the slaver compound in Athkatla, but this one started an incantation when she snuck past it... a Yuan-Ti Mage. Glorydd realized that her situation called for swift action. Before the creature could finish the incantation, Glorydd positioned herself behind it and severed its head and body with a single strike of her blade.
This obviously caught the attention of the Trolls, so she had to fight those as well. She bested the creatures in melee combat and finished them off with acid arrows fired from her trusty Tuigan bow.
On one of the shelves Glorydd found the all-important keep key. With it she would be able to open various locked doors. She climbed a stairway to the roof of the Keep. Walking the battlements she found a lever with which she could lower the drawbridge and allow a host of d'Arnise Guards to enter the courtyard, and the keep, to deal with the Trolls. Glorydd went down again, back to the library. She had leave the library through the same door she had originally opened to enter it, for Trolls had blocked the other doorway.
In one of the locked rooms she met the d'Arnise guard captain, a man named Glaicus. Unfortunately he had been charmed by the Trolls or perhaps a Yuan-Ti. He was openly hostile. Glorydd attempted to charm him with her Ring of Human Influence, but failed. Eventually she saw no other option than to slay the dangerous man before he could do any harm to her or others still about. She did this with a (Staff of Striking) backstab and her Defender of Easthaven.
From his body she picked up a flail head that was similar in shape as the pale white ice-head on the flail she had forged on the ground floor, but it was different in color, green as grass. Another, larger room contained a six Golems, standing still but pulsating with an energy that made them look very much alive. Glorydd remembered the difficulties she'd had with two Golems in Irenicus' Dungeon. It made her decide to destroy them, as a preventive measure. Each time she hit one of the creatures, it would fight back. The only Golem to really cause her trouble was a massive Iron Golem. She chose to attack it from the shadows to prevent it from inflicting massive damage until it fell.
In the back of the room she found a number of enchanted weapons she took as payment for her hard work, as well as a third, crimson flail-head. She forged the different components into the Flail of Ages, a wonderful weapon.
There was only one area of the keep for Glorydd left to investigate, the cellars. In one room she had to fight a pack of Trolls, and in another a pack of Umber Hulks she bottlenecked in a doorway.
The latter battle cost her an oil of speed and a potion of clarity. But perhaps it was for the best that she had used those items because she might otherwise have shunned a confrontation with the creatures she encountered in a large room nearby, a burial chamber it seemed. There were two Giant Trolls, an Elder Umber Hulk, two Yuan-Ti Mages, three or four Spirit Trolls, and one enormous Troll, larger even than the Giant Trolls. At the entrance Glorydd placed three of her traps, to ensure herself an easy escape should she have to flee. Hidden in shadows she entered the vault a second time. She discerned a corpse in front of one of the tombs, and would have approached if the largest Troll hadn't spoken to her. He had somehow smelled her presence, and when the Dwarf retreated, the Troll - TorGal he had called himself - followed Glorydd, with his minions in his wake. TorGal triggered the traps. The initial physical damage and the delayed poison damage injured the creature,
but didn't kill it. Glorydd and TorGal exchanged various blows. When the minions arrived, injured Glorydd chose to go invisible to heal, and think of a plan B to deal with the powerful opposition.
Suddenly however TorGal collapsed, overpowered by her traps' poison damage. Glorydd didn't hesitate. She finished the creature with an acid arrow.
With the Troll leader dead Glorydd left the minions for the guards, though she dealt with the particularly powerful Umber Hulk Elder herself.
When she reported back to Nalia, the poor girl's emotions were mixed. On the one hand there was relief that the invaders had been slain or banished and that at least some people including an aunt had survived, but on the other hand the corpse in the cellars proved to be Lord Arnise's remains.
Nalia later told Glorydd of the Roenall family, who had wanted to marry one of their sons into the Arnise family, through Nalia, in order to get hold of the Arnise keep and lands. Nalia had no interest in marrying any of the Roenalls and invoked an old tradition where a fighting soul could become the Lord of a landed estate. She asked Glorydd to assume title to the keep. Glorydd was surprised by this proposal but accepted to become Lady of the Keep, if only to help Nalia. (She didn't care much about human titles.) [Note Blackraven: in my setup multiclasses can obtain both - or in the case of triple classes, all three - strongholds that pertain to their classes.]
]An Efreeti was summoned (from a bottle Glorydd had nicked from a Dao Djinn in Trademeet), but neither the Efreeti nor Kitthix would deal much damage before an earthquake meant the end of both summons.
It does remind of something unhappy, doesn't it? Glad that this time your character has become a "hero of Trademeet" rather than "fallen in Trademeet".
Glorydd rested with Cernd, eh? Good for them. I had no idea Cernd had a thing for dwarves.
The dude's a werewolf by choice. He doesn't wear armor because his transformation would ruin it. Hence, his clothes must also be ruined when he transforms. Thus, unless he has an unlimited amount of clothes with him, he likely spends much of his adventuring time naked.
When it comes to Cernd, resting with a dwarf is the last thing you should worry about.
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And just to throw this out as well: In the BG1 background, no matter what your race it says that your mother was Gorion's mother. Now there was a wizard who was willing to be with dwarfs, halflings and gnomes. He very well might have dated a Jansen during his travels.
Think about that the next time you see him fight Sarevok.
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And to get back on topic: I'm sure that Glorydd will be a right fine ruler. Heck, solo a castle and I say that you should be allowed to keep it! (Yes, that was a bad pun. And yes, I regret nothing)
@bengoshi, I cannot but agree @semiticgod, many men of all races have a thing for Glorydd, the thing is she hasn't found anyone worthy of her... @Grum, thanks for the lolz, and for defending Glorydd But this:
In the BG1 background, no matter what your race it says that your mother was Gorion's mother..
I don't get... What background says this?
Ok so this was to be my last playthrough for a while (aptly called 'One more try') but some interesting playthroughs and discussions about magic over at the Bioware forums made me eager to try a new party run with an arcane character. Rolled a Skald, had a great time with a war party of five (everyone level 5 or 6, Ajantis in love with Charname) but then a Water Weird, an aTweaks creature, 'enveloped' her. This means it held her. And its next move was to 'drown' i.e. kill her. It was quite shocking to me that this barely 420 XP granting creature, notwithstanding its insane physical resistances and deadly save or else powers, had the audacity to end my very entertaining run. Anyway I humbly returned to Glorydd. This is going to be an update of what little progress I've made with her, before I forget the details. Because I'm eager to roll a new Skald.
Upon leaving the d'Arnise Hold, Phluafae returned to claim the Dryads' acorns. It was aided by Dread and Dire Wolves, a Shambling Mound and Sirines. Glorydd saw no other option than to slay Phluafae and, with Captain Cernick's help, the other creatures.
The event reminded her of her promise to Irenicus' captives. Glorydd decided to make a brief stop in Athkatla to manage her guild affairs and to have a chat with the mistress of the Shadow Thieves' rivaling guild, and then travel to the Windspear Hills. Not only for the Dryads, but also to remove a gang of bandits from the area for Lord Firkraag, a man she had met in the Copper Coronet. She arrived in Athkatla at night time and had to do her utmost in order to save a colleague that was under attack from three Vampires. She was severely level-drained after she had slain the last Vampire.
Glorydd respected the Vampires, not for what they were (creatures of pure evil) but for their powers, so much that Glorydd seriously considered the offer she got from Bodhi,
the leader of the rival guild (evidently a den of vampires), to reach Imoen and Irenicus via them rather than the Shadow Thieves. Eventually however, she felt she couldn't betray her fellow Shadow Thieves, so she declined. It meant that she was now one of the vampires' principal enemies in Athkatla.
In the Graveyard District, where she'd had her meeting with Bodhi, Glorydd released a man who had been buried alive. She found, and slew, the perpetrators in the Bridge District, and released another victim (though only after nicking a pair of Silver Pantaloons, her ransom, from a man in the Slums District).
The Dwarf then spoke with Gaelan Bayle and paid him 15,000 GP for help in finding Imoen and Irenicus. Bayle stated the obvious by telling her that the organization that she was going to work with, was the Shadow Thieves Guild. The rogue gave Glorydd a key with which she could access the guild hall's backrooms. In a loft, spacious room she met Aran Linvail, the Athkatla Shadowmaster. He explained to her that Imoen and Irenicus had been taken to Spellhold, an asylum for deviants on a far off island. With her payment Glorydd had secured herself passage to Spellhold, but there were a number of preparations still to be made (finding a good ship, hiring a captain, among others). Her gold was going to be used for that purpose. Linvail gave her a necklace that offered protection against vampires' level-draining attacks and a protective ring (she later had Cromwell merge it with a Ring of Regeneration into the Ring of Preservation +2), and he asked her to do a few tasks for him in order to somewhat speed up the preparations. Glorydd carried out two missions for Linvail: protecting a shipment from raiding vampires and preventing a number of Shadow Thieves from joining the rivals.
Interestingly Linvail's amulet failed to protect her from the vampires' draining attacks in her encounter with the undead.
After she was done with her two jobs for Aran Linvail, Glorydd finally traveled to the Windspear Hills. Upon arrival she slew a pack of Orcs, at least that's what she thought. When her enemies had fallen they took their natural, human form, much to Glorydd's horror. She had slain a party of Paladins. Garren Windspear, a witness of the bloodbath, told her that it must have been the work of Jierdan Firkraag... The man who had hired Glorydd turned out to be the man who had robbed most of Garren Windspear's lands. An evil man. That same day, when Windspear had departed to explain the killings of the Paladins at the Order of the Radiant Heart, a band of Firkraag's thugs kidnapped Windspear's son Taar. Glorydd waited for Garren Windspear to return, explained to him what had happened, and promised him to find his son. A few moments later a Halfling messenger gave her a letter from Firkraag saying she would find him in the ruins northeast of Windspear's cabin. Glorydd returned the acorns to Irenicus' captives' sister, better late than never, and then went looking for Firkraag and Taar Windspear. From the outside the ruined structure looked like a splendid hall, almost Dwarven in appearance. But when she entered she found herself in a cave. It was inhabited by Hobgoblins, Mists, and a Ruhk Transmuter guarding a door. The latter was a potentially dangerous foe he fell to a backstab by Glorydd and an explosion caused by one of its own Kamikaze Kobold minions.
She went through the door and and found herself in an old dungeon. She snuck past Orc Archers, destroyed three Golems,
and - protected from Undead thanks to a green scroll - slew three Mummies, a few Fell Ghasts, six Elder and Ancient Vampires,
as well as several Wraiths.
[Note Blackraven: the SCS improved vampires are so annoying that I've pretty much made it a habit to just deal with them using green scrolls.]
The Wraiths had guarded a key with which Glorydd opened a door the lock of which she had previously failed to pick. As soon as she opened the door, a woman approached her. She presented herself as Samia and she asked Glorydd to help find her a number of historical artifacts in the dungeon's northeast wing. Ever helpful, Glorydd agreed to the task. The corridors were inhabited by Genies that guarded pieces of a Mask of one King Strohm III that she would need in order to gain acces to the artifacts. Glorydd slew the guardian Genies with backstabs,
and a Director Beholder,
assembled the mask and obtained the artifacts: an enchanted sword that protected against fear, and a shield that offered the bearer protection from fire. When she wanted to return to Samia, she saw the woman with a party of roughnecks lying in ambush. Glorydd chose to keep the initiative. Like an elite assassin, she took her ambushers down one by one, making optimal use of her stealth skills and generous use of potions of invisibility (of which she had many).
Glorydd left the northeast wing to discover some of the southern corridors. In them she met a type of enemy that was immune to all her weapons: Greater Wolfweres, three of them. The Dwarf lured two of the creatures into the northeast corridors with the help of Kitthix, and slew the third with traps and an Efreeti Flamestrike.
The dispatching of Orogs and Golems
in the halls beyond the one which had contained the Greater Wolfweres, led Glorydd to feel a sudden surge of power within her. A power that was there to stay. She knew she was now able to wield with ease weapons that had previously felt awkard in her hands, such as Mazzy's sword. Aran Linvail's amulet briefly gave her a tingling sensation against her chest; its enchantment finally seemed to work. She tested the limits of her new powers by reading a simple mage scroll: one that allowed the caster to find a familiar. Much to her surpise an intelligent rabbit appeared out of nowhere, a companion at last! A particularly large Golem, an Adamantite variant, was brought down from a safe distance with the Dwarven Thrower warhammer.
Glorydd had to kill an Orog Chieftain and Tazok (how many lives did that one have?), using backstabs, before she could speak to Garren Windspear's son. He was kept in a cell, and he told the Dwarf that the key could be find on a Mage named Conster, downstairs in Firkraag's lair. Glorydd found both Conster, and Firkraag, though the latter had grown a bit since the last time they has spoken. Firkraag was a Red Dragon! It explained to Glorydd that its interest in her was an old unsettled score with her foster father Gorion (without going into details), and a measurement of her ability as a Bhaalspawn. It told her to battle Conster for the key to Taar Windspear's cell door. This she did. With stealth, patience (required because of PfMW, Improved Mantle and Mantle) and special arrows (dispelling, acid arrows) she slew the evil wizard without breaking a sweat herself.
She released Taar Windspear, who begged the Dwarf to accompany him to Garren's cabin, and leave Firkraag alone. But Glorydd had other plans. [Note Blackraven: a new level-up followed, with Spike Trap as Glorydd's second HLA.)
She went down the stairs again, determined to rid the realms of Firkraag. A Vhailor's simulacrum was instructed to set a spike trap and four regular traps, and then sent in to battle Firkraag. While the simmy was occupying the Dragon, Glorydd set a spike trap of her own, followed by a regular trap.
She buffed with a potion of speed and potions of fire resistance. Firkraag had no difficulty with the simulacrum, killing it with Red Dragon Breath. [Note that in my install simulacra cannot use consumables, so the only way of protecting the simmy would have been to cast PfFire on it, which Glorydd hadn't.] Firkraag then came after the real Glorydd. The two spike traps injured the Dragon, but the regular traps did nothing. Glorydd's Flail of Ages dealt only minimal elemental damage. Apparently the Dragon had many Stoneskins for her to strip. She summoned her fast attacking Spider, Kitthix, to help her remove the Stoneskins, but Kitthix lasted about as long as the simulacrum had [maybe two rounds]. Glorydd knew by then that she was going to have to do it herself. Her summons could only serve as emergency decoys. By fleeing back upstairs she successfully evaded two Remove Magics cast at her, but that only lulled her into a false sense of security, because Firkraag's Lower Fire Resistance ability had made her very vulnerable to fire anyway, as she found out the hard way.
She made it her business to remain protected from fire at all times, but refused to use one of her few green scrolls of Protection from Acid against the Dragon's acid attacks. At one point Firkraag had blocked the way upstairs after a Wing Buffet, which Glorydd didn't appreciate, but she solved that inconvenience by running away from the Dragon, causing it to come after her, and by summoning an Efreeti as a decoy.
She then allowed the Dragon to hurt her repeatedly and quite severely,
while hitting away at Firkraag's Stoneskins (of which it had two or three casts). Potions of extra healing and, when necessary, retreats upstairs kept her going. At long last she noticed that her attacks were beginning to actually hurt the Dragon; it had run out of Stoneskins.
Blows were exchanged between the Dwarf and the Dragon. The Dragon hit harder, but the Dwarf hit more frequently, and besides she had her healing potions. Incessant pounding away at the creature, wherever she could, resulted in the downfall, quite literally, of Firkraag the Red Dragon.
The Dwarf found a very powerful greatsword in the Dragon's hoard. It makes the wielder highly resistant to magic, while enemies hit by the blade will see their magical protections removed. Glorydd had never trained herself in the use of two-handed swords, but this blade alone appeared to be a good reason to change that.
The Dwarf said goodbye to the thankful Windspears, and returned to Athkatla where more Vampires attacked her, including a group that seemed to be working with ex-Shadow Thieves.
Glorydd's gold clearly hadn't decided the guild war in favor of the Shadow Thieves yet, and there was still no ship to Spellhold, much to the Dwarf's disappointment. On the bright side of things, the situation would allow her to carry out another commission or two, such as delivering Valygar the murderer to the Cowled Wizards (even though she wasn't too enthusiastic about working for the cowled ones).
Stellar work, @Blackraven. Firkraag is a monster with SCS... I usually don't bother. I also feel Protection from Undead is the most non-frustrating way to deal with SCS vampires, though even then, they tend to turn invisible or run away.
Please forgive me for my obsession with Cernd's soft, fluffy werewolf form.
"You know little of how you came to be a ward of Gorion's, but over the years you have gleaned something of your mother's tale from his vague allusions and from the words he sometimes uttered in tear-filled sleep. She was a dwarf from Mithral Hall and a friend of his for many seasons..."
So there you go. The race and place changes based on Charname's race.
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And down goes a dragon! Keep this up and she'll be remembered as a greater hero than Durlag!
@Grum, ah ok. This is true. In your previous post you stated that Charname's mother was Gorion's mother, which would make Gorion your sibling. But I guess you meant lover... Yes racially Gorion was pretty cool it seems, to quote one of my film faves (Big Lebowski). Glorydd thanks you for the compliment re: Firkraag. @semiticgod, what you say is true. For a character without True Sight/Seeing or Detect Illusions, a PfUndead scroll against Vampires isn't that helpful.
Glorydd's fame, mostly earned in the country (Umar Hills, Windspear Hills, Trademeet, Arnise), appeared to have followed her back into Athkatla, because several prestigious institutions requested her services. First, there were the Paladins of the Order of the Radiant Heart, who must been informed by Garren Windspear of how she avenged the Paladins she had unknowingly slain as a result of Firkraag's trickery. Her task consisted in convincing a band of Fallen Paladins that acted within the city as if they were still true Paladins. Unfortunately the only way to 'convince' them was by giving them a beating with the Flail of Ages.
Glorydd took quite a few hits herself, but didn't suffer any serious injuries. The reason was her use of the Defender of Easthaven in combination with a suit of armor she had received as a gift from a Gnomish peddler for saving his skin from the Athkatla revenue service. Both items increased her damage resistance. [Bracers of AC3 gave her reasonable AC.]
The second reputable institution that employed her was the Temple of Helm. The priests wanted Glorydd to investigate a sect of the Unseeing Eye, whose members ritually cut out their own eyes in devotion to their supposed God. She even got a second commission from the church: convincing the famous artist Sarles to produce a sculpture for the temple. Glorydd began with the latter task. It took her to the Government District, where she learnt from Sarles that he'd only work with 200 pounds of illithium, and to Waukeen's Promenade, where an ore merchant told him that such a quantity would be impossible for her to obtain. Glorydd got an alloy from the merchant, but when she gave it to Sarles the sculptor noticed the difference, and was quite upset with it. Glorydd returned to Waukeen's Promenade and obtained the ore merchant's source of illithium, a Duergar named Hilldark. Unger Hilldark however, told her that any illithium was to be found with his brother Gorje, in the Umar Hills. Glorydd deicded to rest in the Den of the Seven Vales inn, before she'd head out to the Umar Hills. In said inn she would only have her rest after dealing with a band of brigands that were no match for Kitthix and her.
In the Umar Hills she found Gorje Hilldark, but he told her that he had no illithium. Gorje and Glorydd traveled back to Athkatla, to the Copper Coronet, to hear Unger confess that their latest shipment had been stolen by a fellow named Neb. She would find - and have to kill - him in the Bridge District.
When Glorydd went to see Sarles, she learnt that he had left Athkatla with no intentions of returning. Much to her surprise the Helmites actually appreciated Sarles' 'work' (he had barely touched it) on the illithium alloy.
Glorydd started her investigation of the Unseeing Eye in the sewers below the Temple District. It proved to be a dangerous place. First there was group of thugs. Glorydd had already taken out their Mage when their leader, an arrogant Dwarf, required her to hand him 1000 GP. Glorydd, buffed with a potion of defense and an oil of speed, and still reliant on her equipment's damage resistance, used her flails to exact justice on the lot.
Other violent encounters included a Sea Troll, and a Rakshasa that was injured by Wand of Cloudkill poison, and whose protections were dispelled with an arrow of dispelling before Glorydd struck it down.
She found the Unseeing Eyes cultists' base, but not yet the Unseeing Eye - a Beholder - itself. The Dwarf agreed to obtain part of a control rod for the cultists, hoping that would increase her standing in the cult. However, when she learnt from an ex-cultist that the rod, if assembled, could be used to slay the Unseeing Eye, Glorydd decided to doublecross the cultists, should she ever find the rod.
But first she inspected a sarcophagus similar to one she had found in the Docks District when she had been looking for Valygar (who was said to live in one of the houses there). From the sarcophagus in the Docks District, the voice of a trapped soul had spoken to her, and begged her to find parts of his body in other tombs. Glorydd opened the tomb and was shocked to face a hostile Shade Lich. She quickly cast Protection from Undead on herself, but the Lich cast Remove Magic on a Gelugon it had gated in.
It removed the protection from undead, and provoked Glorydd into using another of her green protection scrolls. She then survived a Time Stop, slew the Gelugon,
and found her melee combat prowess inadequate against a Dark Planetar, so she fled from the latter creature until it returned to the lower planes. She then gave the Shade Lich a taste of her flails,
until it was permanently slain.
The voice of the trapped soul sounded in her head. It complimented her, told her to pick up the remains that could be found in the sarcophagus and directed Glorydd to the Bridge District. There she found an abandoned home that contained another sarcophagus, guarded by yet another Lich, an Elemental variant. It was as clever as its Shade cousin had been, for it removed Glorydd's protection from undead by casting Remove Magic on summoned Mordenkainen's Swords before the Dwarf could distance herself enough from the summons. Thus Glorydd had to use up yet another Protection from Undead scroll before she could finish off the Lich.
She took the skeletal remains out of the sarcophagus and returned to the Docks District to bring them to the trapped soul.
This trapped sould proved to be another Lich, albeit a special one. She slew it with relative ease, using her trusty flails, and without having to recast Protection from Undead on herself, but then it took another form, that of a Demi-Lich. And that Demi-Lich simply flouted Glorydd's protection from undead; it defiantly attacked her with spells and with Melf's Minute Meteors.
She fled upstairs, and outside, but Kangaxx the Demi-Lich was determined to kill her. It followed her out on the streets, prompting Glorydd to get back inside the house (hoping to prevent any casualties). Glorydd was near the stairs when she saw Kangaxx enter the building again. It proved to be perfect position for her for it allowed her to escape the magical energies Kangaxx would cast at her, by simple descending the stairs. It was also a good position for slowly stripping the creature of its protections with her Sling of Everard (a highly enchanted sling that required no bullets).
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Glorydd's Reflection Shield bounced any Flame Arrows cast at her back to Kangaxx. Thus the Dwarf and the Demi-Lich remained locked in combat for a long time, with neither being able to hurt the other. Until Kangaxx ran out of Stoneskins and PFMWs. At that point Glorydd equipped Carsomyr, and with an oil of speed, DUHMs and later a potion of Storm Giant Strength she managed to slay the abomination.
[The strength buffs were considered appropriate in order to reliably hit the fast-regenerating creature, because Glorydd was non-proficient in greatswords, until after Kangaxx fell. She leveled up both as a Fighter (15) and a Thief (18). A proficiency pip went to Two-Handed Swords, HLAs were WW and GWW.] Amongst Kangaxx' remains Glorydd found an extremely powerful, enchanted ring that she equipped after identifying it with her Glasses, and a blue scroll.
she would later trade for a Time Stop scroll with the Half-Elf and her mysterious cat that had previously asked her for a scroll of that type.
Outstanding work @Blackraven , with Firkraag and Kangaxx dead, you have pretty much defeated the most powerful foes of SCS BG2 except maybe Irenicus himself. You will soon get to ToB again !
Thank you @Gotural! It's nice to see you enthusiastic about this. There are still quite a few scary foes out there like Lavok, Tolgerias, the Unseeing Eye, Planar Prison Warden, the Twisted Rune gang (I love Staff of the Magi), and Demons and Fallen Planetars are still quite capable of handing Glorydd her arse if she doesn't watch out... I'm cautious in my optimism. Overconfidence should not kill the dwarf, like @Grum said.
In the Docks District Glorydd found Valygar's home but was told by his butler to look for the renegade in the Umar Hills. It seemed this Valygar wasn't the bad guy the Cowled Wizards had made him out to be. Yes, he had slain two cowls, but according to the butler in self-defense. Still a pseudo-Ranger at heart, Glorydd was eager to set out, but guild affairs kept her in Athkatla.
First of all, Narlen Darkwalk, Rededge, Black Lily and other old friends from Baldur's Gate had decided to leave Alatos' guild, and to join Glorydd's Guild House. However, Narlen was the only one to arrive. She was glad to seem him, even though he was clearly upset. He explained that his party had been ambushed and captured by Orcs and Orogs. The two went to look for the ambushers' hideout and found it just north of Athkatla. It was a cave guarded outside by a priest, wizard and various warriors; all Orcs. They also had a large Wyvern doing their bidding. Glorydd buffed lightly with an oil of speed and when she got Malisoned, a potion of invulnerability, and then attacked. Narlen wasn't much of a fighting man, although he did his best with his bow, so Glorydd had to do most of the work herself (and heal Narlen with her innate powers).
She didn't mind that though. Narlen was a good friend, who had once acted against the will of his superior Alatos, to save her from the wrath of a Haalruan wizard. A Dwarf doesn't forget such things. When all their foes lay dead, Narlen took her to the cave but warned her that many enemies awaited her. Glorydd buffed with potions of heroism, cloud giant strength, invulnerability, an oil of speed and a potion of power. [More than necessary but I really wanted Glorydd to keep Narlen alive.] The duo stepped inside and were greeted by circa ten Orog and Orc warriors and two casters. Their leader was a massive Orog warrior, clad in full plate. Glorydd's first action was to drop a Teleport Field around Narlen, in hopes of keeping the many monsters from hurting her friend.
She then proceeded to slay the Mage before it could attack Narlen with its spells,
and she healed her comrade when she saw him injured by one of the warriors.
Alas, it was all in vain. Narlen was killed by an Orc priest's Blade Barrier.
Glorydd remembered little of the remainder of the battle. Tears ran down her face as she butchered the monsters one after the other. The Dwarf found some solace in the release of Black Lily and the others. But she spoke little on the way back to her guild hall. The event had been a good reminder of why she didn't like people to come near her. Her thoughts wandered off to Imoen. She loved that girl, but would she want her close, and expose her to the dangers of her life as an adventurer?
Back in Athkatla, another upset awaited Glorydd: the disappearance of Arledrian, an Elven fence and associate of Gaelan Bayle.
Glorydd had bartered with Arledrian a tenday or two before, when she had taken her first steps in Athkatla. She even recalled purloining from him an enchanted dagger that provided Negative Plane Protection. A poster about a theatre play she found among his belongins at Gaelan's led her to the Five Flagons Inn. It turned out the Elf had a room there, but when she went to call on him, he wasn't there. She did find his diary though. It contained some extremely confidential information. Arledrian was in reality a spy who had infiltrated the Shadow Thieves. Through them he was to learn more about the 'Exiles', whoever they might be. It seemed these Exiles were somehow associated with the rival guild, the vampires. One passage alarmed Glorydd greatly. It said that he had been sent to spy on the Vampires in the Graveyard District, and he was very upset because his NPP-providing enchanted dagger, a gift from his loved one, had been stolen from him.
Glorydd had previously postponed the job she had accepted from Aran Linvail to take on the Vampires, but now there was no time to waste. She rushed to the Graveyard District and found Arledrian surrounded by Vampires and Spiders. Still heavily buffed [note Blackraven: Glorydd had actually begun the search for Arledrian before she went after the Orcs and Orogs with Narlen Darkwalk], she had little difficulty felling the Vampires, and saving Arledrian.
He had no idea, but Glorydd was about as happy with Arledrian's survival as the Elf was. She didn't want to think about the guilt she would have felt if she had failed to rescue Arledrian. She handed the Elf his diary and promised to keep what she knew to herself. The two then said goodbye, with Arledrian returning to his Elven community, and Glorydd venturing deeper into Vampire territory.
A slaughterfest ensued. With her saves well in the negatives, she didn't even have to protect herself against the Vampires' dominating gazes. Vampires that dared to oppose were treated to a beating with the Flail of Ages.
One of the Vampires was different though. It possessed powerful magical abilities, including an ADHW (that didn't hurt Glorydd thanks to 75 MR as a result of Carsomyr, Semaj's Cloak and Amulet of Power), and numerous PfMWs.
She didn't want to waste debuff spell scrolls on the creature, but that didn't mean there was nothing else for Glorydd to do but wait. She slew more Vampires and a Golem guarding a room with three coffins for Vampires to rest in. Glorydd trapped that important room with two Spike traps and some of her regular traps. When she was done she successfully dispelled the caster Vampire's Stoneskins with Carsomyr, and gave it a pounding with her Flails until she fell.
In a lower chamber she found more Vampires, feeding off pools of blood, and various Grimward Archers, but they too were permanently put to rest.
After Glorydd had slain three Vampires with wooden stakes, guildmistress Bodhi appeared. She was big on words, suggesting a relation with Irenicus and denigrating the Shadow Thieves, but did not stay long to fight. She triggered Glorydd's traps, suffered a blow or two from the Dwarf's flails, and left.
Back in the Docks District Glorydd had a nasty bit of business involving a new Guard Captain who had gained his position by manifesting himself as a true crime fighter. Glorydd wasn't pleased with Captain Sterling. She had run her Guild House as a relatively honest, steal-from-the-rich-give-to-the-poor institution, providing employment, commerce opportunities, and even the cocasional alms for the poor. She removed Cpt. Sterling from the equation,
and mitigated the resultant reputation hit with some donations at the Temple of Oghma.
Glorydd didn't bother with informing Aran Linvail of her work in Bodhi's lair, as she knew such tidings would reach his ear sooner rather than later anyway. Instead, she traveled to the Umar Hills where she hoped to find Valygar.
Glorydd didn't take long in finding Valygar. It turned out he had a cabin near Imnesvale. The Ranger explained to her that he was the last living relative of Lavok Corthala, owner of the Planar Sphere, a bizarre structure in the Slums District. His body was literally the only key to enter the Sphere, which was why the Cowled ones were after him. Glorydd had no love for the Cowled Wizards - although she remembered their convincing intervention when she'd had to deal with a powerful demon in the Bridge District - and Valygar's story did little to change her views. The two traveled back to Athkatla to enter the Sphere, to confront Lavok (apparently an evil Necromancer), and to make the Sphere useless for interplanar travel before the Cowled Wizards would claim it for themselves.
Ever the loner, she made Valygar wait for her at the entrance, and went exploring the Sphere. She didn't like the place. It made her think of Irenicus' dungeon, with guardian Golems, strange apparatuses, innocent captives namely Knights of Solamnia from another plane, and slaves, in the form of highly aggressive, cannibalistic Wild Halflings. Glorydd had no choice but to defend herself. She relied on Carsomyr for dispels (because some of the Halflings proved to be highly intelligent spellcasters), and on her Flails for damage.
She battered Iron Golems and Juggernaut Golems, and with a non-hostile Guardian Golem, she downed an Elder Orb.
[Note that Glorydd merely finished the creature; the Golem had already brought it at Near Death status.] She found Lavok in a navigator room. He wasn't happy to see her, but he didn't take long in changing his attitude. He had a string of protections: Shield, Fireshield Red, Globe of Invulnerability, Spell Turning, Stoneskin, PfCold, Spell Shield. These were all great protections if Glorydd had been a wizard like him, or if she hadn't wielded Carsomyr. As it was however, she got rid of his buffs in a single strike with Carsomyr.
A Chain Contingency with Improved Mantle, SI: Abjuration and ADHW did nothing that Carsomyr couldn't fix. The only damage Glorydd took was from the hitting the Fireshield.
Lavok saw reason, and begged Glorydd to show him the open sky of Athkatla. For that to happen, she had to slay a demon - apparently the sphere had traveled to one of the lower planes - and throw its heart into an engine. As she went to take a look at the engine room, she found Tolgerias, the Cowled Wizard that had commissioned Glorydd to find Valygar, accompanied by an adherent. She had no idea how Tolgerias had entered the Sphere. What she did know, was that he wasn't there to make conversation with the Dwarf. Like Lavok, Tolgerias saw all his initial instantly cast buffs dispelled by Carsomyr.
The difference with Lavok was that Tolgerias knew what was needed to stall Glorydd: PfMW.
In the time he had thus bought himself, Tolgerias further buffed, and faster than Chiktikka Fastpaws he summoned Mordenkainen's Swords and, somehow simultaneously, two Glabrezus, Glorydd noticed from a distance.
Glorydd switched to her Sword of Arvoreen just in case a sudden decline in health would make her vulnerable to the Glabrezus' PW: Stuns. The Fiends teleported toward her, and soon she saw herself surrounded by the Glabrrzus, Tolgerias and a bunch of Skeletons that the other Mage had summoned.
When Tolgerias resfreshed his PfMW and subsequently Wished for himself and his allies to become impervious to injury, Glorydd knew it was time for her to excuse herself for a moment.
As she returned, it was much less crowded; the Fiends had departed. She stripped Tolgerias' assistant of her protections, and slew her shortly after that.
At that moment Tolgerias was in the process of casting what would prove to be a Time Stop, but an invisibility potion made Glorydd vanish before her foe was done casting.
It made him idle his time away. She waited for a while after the Time Stop had expired, slew a Skeleton that was in her way, did a Carsomyr-dispel on Tolgerias, and finished him off with her Flails without allowing him to cast anymore spells.
Behind the area where she had run into Tolgerias, were an ice room and a fire room. In the latter room she ran into trouble. She thought herself hidden as she entered it (the disadvantage of Semaj's Cloak's Blur effect), visible only to a pair of Hell Hounds, but the collective attack of all the room's inhabitants made it clear to her that she hadn't been hidden at all. She had to leave the room, blinded and badly injured due to fire damage.
A Rod of Resurrection Heal, followed by fire protection potions (and ring) enabled her to deal with respectable foes such as a Salamander Noble, and - with a Whirlwind Attack - a Noble Efreeti.
She had no problems with the creatures from the Ice room. In the Power Core she struck down a number of Golems before she left the Sphere in search of a demon heart.
She didn't have to look around for long. In fact, after she had killed a number of Imps and Quasits, she ran into two Fiends at pretty much the same time, a Nabassu and a Marilith.
Two demons at the same time was a bit more than Glorydd had bargained for. The Marilith hit hard and fast, so Glorydd chose to run and heal and try to get in the occasional hit. (Again, the Sword of Arvoreen was equipped, because with the damage she took and the running around, she feared she might catch the attention of more Fiends, such as PW: Stunning Glabrezus.) Gaxx-Hasted, she managed to slay the Marilith with her flails.
It made things a lot easier for Glorydd. The Nabassu followed not much later.
And indeed there was a Glabrezu for Glorydd to slay as well.
Glorydd threw one of the demon hearts into the power core, and left the Sphere with Lavok. Valygar rewarded Glorydd for her good deeds with a nice suit of armor, a family piece.
In a home near the Sphere the Dwarf retrieved a ring from Talassan thieves for the Temple of Lathander. She delivered it at the temple, and then decided to pay Aran Linvail a visit to see if he had made any progress with his preparations for Gloydd's journey to Spellhold. Much to her satisfaction (and relief), he had. A ship and a captain were waiting for her, ready to depart. Glorydd told the men to wait for her to settle some unifinished business that she said would not take long.
Comments
Looking forward to BG2. Not sure if I'll continue the extensive reporting though. Eats up a lot of time.
Will read up on your Cleric/Thief/Mage, tomorrow. Time for me to get some sleep now.
Glorydd was happy to be in the great outdoors again after many weeks had been spent mostly in the city of Baldur's Gate. Being free of worries about possible assassins, bounty hunters or even lawmen on her trail, only added to her bliss until south of Nashkel a light-headedness befell her. Initially she ignored it, but after an hour or so, she felt the need to sit down, and did so, against a tree. Soon after she laid herself down, flat on the ground, her face in the grass. The Dwarf closed her eyes for a moment. But suddenly, murmuring voices sounded right next to her. She failed to register the words. She attempted to get up again, but hadn't the strength. And then nothing, just blackness...
Time passed. Hours, days, weeks, maybe even months. Glorydd had no concept of time when flashes of consciousness returned to her. What she did realize during these flashes, was that her reality wasn't pretty: a prison cell, the permanent smell of death and decay, painful magics torturing her, a desire to die, a strange male with a leathery face examining her.
"Wake up you! Glorydd, come on, wake up!" a familiar female voice kept saying. Images of innocent days filled Gloydd's mind. Candlekeep, Gorion, Arkanis, Phlydia, Imoen... Imoen! Glorydd opened her eyes and looked straight at her old friend who had somehow ended up in the same prison, and had just opened her cell door.
The two girls hadn't seen each other in months. Glorydd had expected to find Imoen in Candlekeep during her visit there to investigate the Iron Throne, but her friend hadn't been there. A tear ran down her face as she studied the dear friend whose company she had rejected because of the bounty hunters that had been after her. The lass looked different, scarred in her face, and her eyes were sad. Imoen explained to Glorydd that a powerful wizard had been messing with their minds and bodies. She helped Glorydd back up on her feet, and led her to a small room that contained some gear, stashed in a chest. It wasn't Glorydd's gear, but a suit of mundane leather armor, a unenchanted short sword, a helmet and a small shield were better than nothing. She also picked up a Katana. Equipped with said items, she felt the survivor she had always been rise up in her again. The adrenaline released by the thought of a possible but no doubt dangerous escape did away with the lethargy and feebleness that Glorydd had become used to during the wizard's experimentations.
Glorydd instructed Imoen to stay back. She would lead the way for her friend. In the room with the cells the Dwarf released two more prisoners: Jaheira, the bossy Half-Elf she had briefly met at the Friendly Arm Inn (had that woman been following her?), and one Minsc, a loud, befuddled Rashemaan berserker Ranger that claimed to know her. Glorydd had no use for either of them, for she had decided to rely on her stealth ability to explore the dungeon.
She followed a narrow hallway lit by torches that led into a small room with an engine that was humming with electrical energy. A small winged creature, a Mephit, Glorydd remembered from her lessons in Candlekeep, was guarding the engine, but it didn't see the hidden Dwarf. She moved a switch to stop the engine from working and then moved on to enter a cavelike area where she was greeted by a Djinni that wanted to play a game of riddles with her. Glorydd told the creature she had no time for such games, and continued her exploration. In several corridors she scouted more Mephits as well as small bands of Duergar Dwarves, an evil race, she knew well enough, and evil were their intentions with her as soon as she spoke to one of them: they were out to kill her. A Djinni, Mephits and Duergar; Glorydd wondered where she was. None of these creatures she had ever encountered before on the Sword Coast.
She relied on hit and fade tactics to deal with the Duergar and the different Mephits, often using the katana for more powerful backstabs (in spite of her lack of proficiency in said weapon).
The hit and fade tactics appeared to be Glorydd's only way of survival, because she was too vulnerable in straight combat against the Duergar (especially their sharpshooting crossbowmen).
In a small room before the library she delivered a wardstone to a Golem that had asked her for the stone in order to open a number of locked doors. These doors all led to an open area guarded by yet another "new" creature, an Otyugh. Glorydd slew it using backstabs and surprise attacks.
Next to the green area were two well-kept, but heavily trapped rooms. Glorydd had to draw upon her divine might to be able to remove all the traps.
On her way to the teleportation portal, Glorydd had to defend herself against two Golems, which she did successfully, abeit with difficulty.
The girls made their way through the tunnel and came upon a marketplace in a city neither of them knew. Both Imoen and Glorydd had traveled much of the Sword Coast (separately), but the white buildings, large ornamental pillars, and onion domes gave this city a much more southern or maybe eastern feel.
The girls didn't have long to ponder over the matter though, as the leathery wizard, their captor, appeared in front of them. With his powerful magic that Imoen and Glorydd knew all too well, he first dispatched some of the thieves they had seen running around, and then turned to the Dwarf. He started an incantation but was interrupted by a Magic Missile that Imoen cast at him. Glorydd was impressed. "Where did you learn that?" she asked her friend. But before Imoen could answer, four cowled wizards came teleporting in. Irenicus slew three but others took their fallen colleagues' places. Eventually, the wizards arrested both Imoen and Irenincus for unsanctioned uses of magical energy, leaving Glorydd alone again.
She spoke to some of the bystanders but none of them knew where the wizards had taken Irenicus and Imoen.
You also remind me how far behind I am on my write up...
And I understand. Proper writing takes quite a lot of time, time one can also spend playing the game
Hopefully we can soon read more of Durak's exploits!
But she also remembered how she had coped with her hardships: she had not despaired, rather she had put herself to work. It had helped her to learn more about herself and her environment, to become a better survivor, and eventually to overcome her enemy, the powerful Sarevok.
This would be her course in Athkatla as well, she resolved. She started by investigating a circus tent that according to a city guard had seen various people disappear. Upon entering the tent Glorydd, discovered why. Illusory magics had made good people, including an Elven lass and a mother who had lost her son, look like monsters. And vice versa, a number of monstrous creatures had been given the appearance of commoners. Glorydd helped the Elf return to her original form and reunited the mother with her lost son. She also confronted the mastermind behind the illusions, an Ogre Mage that when slain turned out to be a Gnome named Kalah - another illusion. Having been ridiculed for being a puny Gnome for most of his life, he had taken his revenge by converting the circus into his personal playground, in which he was looked up against. She pitied the Gnome. (She knew all too well the shallowness of humans and their society based on surface, not substance. In the Dwarf's case it was her curvy body that caused many a man to see her as an object rather than a sentient being.)
Exploration of the city led her into the Slums, a name that was well-earned because it was dirty and insecure for the unarmed traveler. She met a rogue there, Gaelan Bayle, who told her he knew an organization that could help her get to Irenicus and Imoen, but they required 15,000 GP for their help. It was an amount that Glorydd did not own at that moment. Bayle and his nephew Brus pointed her toward potentially lucrative jobs though: helping a noblewoman in the nearby Copper Coronet inn who had been looking for adventurers to aid her, and doing a number of commissions for the Shadow Thieves. Glorydd had had good experiences with the Thieves Guild in Baldur's Gate, and hoped it would be the same in Athkatla, but she first went to visit the inn. She met the noblewoman, a girl really, Nalia. Nalia told Glorydd that her keep was under attack, but was unwilling to shed light on who were the attackers or their numbers. This made it difficult for the Dwarf to commit.
Glorydd found that the Copper Coronet was the stage for activities she strongly disapproved of: forced prostitution, and pit fighting by slaves. She didn't hesitate to set things straight even though it meant slaying innocent creatures, wild animals that a Beast Master set upon her.
Glorydd agreed to do so, but she traveled first to the Docks District where she presented herself at the Thieves' Guild. She took a job from one of the higher ranking rogues, Renal Bloodscalp. It consisted in finding evidence of treachery by one Mae'Var, manager of a guild hall just around the corner. The Dwarf infiltrated the guild hall with false documents, and got her first assignment from Mae'Var, stealing a necklace at the Temple of Talos.
She went to the Temple District forthwith but got ambushed in the Bridge District by a band of slavers that included a wizard. Her instinct told her to flee as she had no means to protect herself against the wizard's spells. But when she saw a sparkling short blade in the hands of one of the slavers, she decided to take her chances. She had one advantage, the slavers hadn't seen her yet. She placed three traps, but would not get much out of them, for they would be triggered by a summoned Ogrillon. With a Ring of Human Influence she had taken from Kalah's corpse, she charmed one of the fighters, an archer.
Also in the Bridge District she met Lieutenant Aegisfield, who told her of a series of gruesome murders. The perpetrator would flay their victims, often homeless people, and leave their bodies to rot in the streets. Disgusted by the lieutenant's account of the abominable practices, Glorydd offered to help him find the murderer. Several clues she picked up from local residents led to the tanner Riejek Hidesman. When she entered his shop, he admitted, but he was unwilling to go with Glorydd to Aegisfield. He fled, Glorydd pursued him and even hit him a few times,
On her way again to the Temple District, Glorydd got ambushed a second time, this time by a party of ruffians that had just poisoned a man named Renfeld. Glorydd didn't fight the ruffians this time. She took the wounded man to the Docks District, where a friend of his took Renfeld into his care.
Having had enough of the ambushes in the Bridge District, Glorydd decided to look for a second, possibly safer bridge to cross. She explored the southern part of the city from the Docks District in an easterly direction. It eventually brought her to the Graveyard District, where she discovered a hidden area inhabited by Spiders and a Half-Drow Hivemaster Druid, Pai'Na. Glorydd slew the Spiders,
Fortunately she reached the Temple District without any ambushes. At the Temple of Lathander she bought a Helm of Charm Protection, at the Temple of Talos she stole the necklace for Mae'Var, and in the sewers [note Blackraven: where no Beholders spawned, unlike in other playthroughs with the same install] she bought Spiders' Bane from two sewer cleaners. Glorydd brought the (severely damaged) sword to Pai'Na and was rewarded with a spider figurine, a Web Sack wand (hold target for 1 turn unless save vs spell at -5), and an Ioun Stone. She brought Mae'Var the necklace, and was then given a second task by Mae'Var's right hand, a wizard named Edwin. She had to dispatch Rayic Gethras, a Cowled Wizard that resided in the Docks District, and that had been following Edwin a bit too much for his liking. Glorydd had no reservations about taking on a Cowled one. She strongly disliked the wizards for having taking in Imoen without giving her a proper warning. She was sure that their unfair treatment of Imoen had been inspired by their fear of Irenicus. For Glorydd the Cowled Wizards had therefore become the Coward Wizards.
Rayic Gethras' home was guarded by Mephits and Stone Golems. A Steam Mephit gave Glorydd a good scare by stunning her (in spite of her good saves thanks to a potion of stone form: 1/-2/2/2/-1).
Edit: thank you @Ravenslight. It seems my readership is in decline, but I'm pleased you're still enjoying Glorydd's tale.
First however, she rested at the Sea's Bounty, an inn right next to Mae'Var's guild hall. She had a bizarre dream in which she met Irenicus and Imoen in Candlekeep. The citadel was floating in the sky. Imoen spoke about the past, but Irenicus didn't seem to like that. He asked Glorydd a number of questions but they made little sense to her, things like: "Will you cringe from what you know you want? Will you cling to the past or can you see through the pain?" Eventually Irenicus told her that nothing was real yet, which comforted the Dwarf.
In the morning she entered the guild hall. Mae'Var' and his thieves had found out about Glorydd's loyalty to Bloodscalp. She slew several thieves on different floors of the building,
Inside the Slum's Slaver Compound she made short work of the slavers, relying on backstabs and on her summons (Vhailor's simmy and Kitthix). [Note Blackraven: I unintentionally deleted my screenshots of this quest, nothing spectacular though. It was all quite straightforward, with the mages being webbed by Kitthix.]
That night Glorydd had to deal with a group of Mae'Var's old friends,
She had grown used to helping townsfolk with their needs; she had done this in Beregost, in Nashkel, and in the city of Baldur's Gate. Imnesvale was no different [note Blackraven: this means that Ilbratha and a Beljuril were secured; Madulf and Minister Lloyd were brought together]. The people's main concern however were the killings and disappearances.
Glorydd's investigations took her to ancient Temple Ruins, northwest of Imnesvale. The area was replete with Shadows, Shade Wolves and Wraiths. She slew all the creatures but got level-drained and energy-drained in the process.
Also, it turns out the level drain from Darkling Aura isn't permanent: it only lasts 1 turn, so you don't have to use Restoration after the battle. I'd never noticed that before.
Good to see Glorydd is progressing steadily. What are all those new items she has? I don't recognize any of them.
Got my fingers crossed for this play through.
Interesting to see that you're doing yet another archer playthrough.
As to Glorydd's items, the only new/different items she has, are Sound Defense (off hand), a Short Sword +2 that gives +1 AC and +1 to Saves vs Death, and the Black Cat's Claw, which is a Ninja-To +2, +1 Luck, +1 DEX (main hand, not wielded). By the way in my set-up Short Swords and Ninja-To are one weapon class.
The other items may look different from what you're used to. That's due to the 1pp mod which gives many items a BG1 or BG1-style appearance. I know the Helmets look different from vanilla: Vhailor's, Charm Protection, and Balduran (donned). The gloves are those of Pickpocketing. Not sure if there are more items that look different.
@Grum, thanks for crossing those fingers
The Mae'Var fight is probably too easy in vanilla. Mae'Var is a Thief/Mage, but in vanilla he wears the Shadow Armor meaning he can't cast any of his spells. SCS places the armor in his inventory so that his Mage levels actually matter.
I figured an all-Archer party would make for an interesting run. For one thing, it greatly lowers the threshold for STR drain, since the whole party will have lots of Called Shots. Once I hit level 12, we can drain over 30 STR in one round if everyone casts Called Shot together, and we can do that three times per day. For another, it should provide a much different experience than Sil's party. Nobody in my Archer party has Chaotic Commands or Spell Immunity or UAI to protect them. They're pretty much an all-offense party. All I've really got defend my Charname (Poppy again, and Snowy Tae and Rovala also reappear in the group as Archers) are potions (I bought 10 Potions of Stone Form from Adratha) and Arbane's Sword, to make sure she can't get paralyzed and eaten up while she's disabled.
They've been remarkably successful. No reloads so far, and I'm about halfway through Chapter 2. Their APR is just absurd (over 20, without haste), easily capable of breaking through any mage's Stoneskins and Mirror Image in a single round. And since we now have the Cloak of the Stars, and therefore +5 darts, the only thing that can resist our attacks are mages with Absolute Immunity or Liches or Rakshasas with PFMW. We did have a lot of trouble, though, fighting Clay Golems and Spirit Trolls, as we fought them before we got many magical or blunt weapons.
APR is so much more important than damage when it comes to mages.
The Dwarf traveled to the community to see if the Druids could be reasoned with. She was respectful of nature and she thanked many of her abilities to having spents months in the wilds. At the same time she considered the animal attacks an extreme measure against whatever wrong the people of Trademeet had committed.
In the wilds she encountered and slew different types of monsters: Trolls (including - with Kitthix' help - Spirit Trolls), Spiders and Fungi.
Cernd challenged the (Shadow) Druid leader, a woman named Faldorn, to a duel. She accepted. Faldorn went improved invisible, but Cernd positioned himself next to her and cast Nature's Beauty, which blinded Faldorn. He then summoned Woodland Beings, Fire Elementals and wild animals
Glorydd returned to Trademeet where, protected by a potion of stone form and buffed with an oil of speed, she slew the Dao Djinn leader after he'd refused to leave the townspeople be. [This was not very well played. For one I should have first traded with him, and secondly his lackeys disappeared when Khan Zahraa fell, so Glorydd obtained less XP than she could have, which fortunately isn't a big deal for a solo character.] The High Merchant and the townspeople were extremely happy with Glorydd. They even raised a statue in her memory. Merchants promised her they'd soon offer her some fine goods at special prices. Glorydd liked that because she had been rewarded a generous amount of gold to spend.
First however she had to return to Athkatla on guild business. In the Athkatla Bridge District Glorydd learnt that in spite of her arguably heroic feats, she had no reason to stop being the modest Dwarf she had always tried to be.
She bought an enchanted scimitar from a poor man who needed the gold to save his ill, endangered father. She had little use for the item though, she wasn't even proficient in scimitars, so she sold it. At the southern end of the bridge she then ran into a girl demoness that claimed to be the owner of the blade.
Her humor didn't improve in the Docks District, for she got fooled by the Harpers there. A brief talk with a wizard named Xzar, whom she had briefly met before during her travels on the Sword Coast, resulted in her agreement to release his friend Montaron from imprisonment in the Harper compound. It was the same building where she had previously delivered poisoned Renfeld into Rylock's care This time, instead of being allowed entrance, Rylock required her to first perform a task for him - slaying two monster summoning wizards. She did the job,
She left the city for Trademeet, and on her way enjoyed immersing herself in the revigorating energy of the great outdoors. It raised her spirits considerably. In Trademeet she was well-received. She was given discounts on several goods (but gave herself even better 'discounts' on most, not all, of those goods). Glorydd also followed a lead to Riejek the skinner who had barely escaped from her grasp a good tenday before. She slew both the tanner and an associate, and with that feat saved one of their victims from certain death.
It was a tiding that worried Glorydd. She had dealt with Trolls in the wilds surrounding Trademeet. The creatures had proved hard to kill, and quite dangerous, especially the Spirit Trolls. Nalia showed Glorydd a secret entrance into the keep and offered to join Glorydd but the Dwarf, unwilling to put the young woman's life at risk, told Nalia to wait for her, and went inside alone. The ground floor was infested with the creatures. She counted about fifteen, but there could have been more, for she knew Spirit Trolls shared her habit of keeping to the shadows. Glorydd only showed herself twice, to stop Trolls from killing d'Arnise household members. Alas, she failed to slay the monsters in time on both occasions.
Upstairs she spotted more Trolls in the corridors, and in the keep library, a Yuan-Ti surrounded by a few Trolls. She had dealt with the fighting snakemen before, in the slaver compound in Athkatla, but this one started an incantation when she snuck past it... a Yuan-Ti Mage. Glorydd realized that her situation called for swift action. Before the creature could finish the incantation, Glorydd positioned herself behind it and severed its head and body with a single strike of her blade.
She climbed a stairway to the roof of the Keep. Walking the battlements she found a lever with which she could lower the drawbridge and allow a host of d'Arnise Guards to enter the courtyard, and the keep, to deal with the Trolls. Glorydd went down again, back to the library. She had leave the library through the same door she had originally opened to enter it, for Trolls had blocked the other doorway.
Another, larger room contained a six Golems, standing still but pulsating with an energy that made them look very much alive. Glorydd remembered the difficulties she'd had with two Golems in Irenicus' Dungeon. It made her decide to destroy them, as a preventive measure. Each time she hit one of the creatures, it would fight back. The only Golem to really cause her trouble was a massive Iron Golem. She chose to attack it from the shadows to prevent it from inflicting massive damage until it fell.
There was only one area of the keep for Glorydd left to investigate, the cellars. In one room she had to fight a pack of Trolls, and in another a pack of Umber Hulks she bottlenecked in a doorway.
At the entrance Glorydd placed three of her traps, to ensure herself an easy escape should she have to flee. Hidden in shadows she entered the vault a second time. She discerned a corpse in front of one of the tombs, and would have approached if the largest Troll hadn't spoken to her. He had somehow smelled her presence, and when the Dwarf retreated, the Troll - TorGal he had called himself - followed Glorydd, with his minions in his wake. TorGal triggered the traps. The initial physical damage and the delayed poison damage injured the creature,
Nalia later told Glorydd of the Roenall family, who had wanted to marry one of their sons into the Arnise family, through Nalia, in order to get hold of the Arnise keep and lands. Nalia had no interest in marrying any of the Roenalls and invoked an old tradition where a fighting soul could become the Lord of a landed estate. She asked Glorydd to assume title to the keep. Glorydd was surprised by this proposal but accepted to become Lady of the Keep, if only to help Nalia. (She didn't care much about human titles.)
[Note Blackraven: in my setup multiclasses can obtain both - or in the case of triple classes, all three - strongholds that pertain to their classes.]
He doesn't wear armor because his transformation would ruin it.
Hence, his clothes must also be ruined when he transforms.
Thus, unless he has an unlimited amount of clothes with him, he likely spends much of his adventuring time naked.
When it comes to Cernd, resting with a dwarf is the last thing you should worry about.
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And just to throw this out as well: In the BG1 background, no matter what your race it says that your mother was Gorion's mother. Now there was a wizard who was willing to be with dwarfs, halflings and gnomes. He very well might have dated a Jansen during his travels.
Think about that the next time you see him fight Sarevok.
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And to get back on topic: I'm sure that Glorydd will be a right fine ruler. Heck, solo a castle and I say that you should be allowed to keep it! (Yes, that was a bad pun. And yes, I regret nothing)
@semiticgod, many men of all races have a thing for Glorydd, the thing is she hasn't found anyone worthy of her...
@Grum, thanks for the lolz, and for defending Glorydd
But this: I don't get... What background says this?
Ok so this was to be my last playthrough for a while (aptly called 'One more try') but some interesting playthroughs and discussions about magic over at the Bioware forums made me eager to try a new party run with an arcane character. Rolled a Skald, had a great time with a war party of five (everyone level 5 or 6, Ajantis in love with Charname) but then a Water Weird, an aTweaks creature, 'enveloped' her. This means it held her. And its next move was to 'drown' i.e. kill her. It was quite shocking to me that this barely 420 XP granting creature, notwithstanding its insane physical resistances and deadly save or else powers, had the audacity to end my very entertaining run. Anyway I humbly returned to Glorydd. This is going to be an update of what little progress I've made with her, before I forget the details. Because I'm eager to roll a new Skald.
Upon leaving the d'Arnise Hold, Phluafae returned to claim the Dryads' acorns. It was aided by Dread and Dire Wolves, a Shambling Mound and Sirines. Glorydd saw no other option than to slay Phluafae and, with Captain Cernick's help, the other creatures.
In the Graveyard District, where she'd had her meeting with Bodhi, Glorydd released a man who had been buried alive. She found, and slew, the perpetrators in the Bridge District, and released another victim (though only after nicking a pair of Silver Pantaloons, her ransom, from a man in the Slums District).
The rogue gave Glorydd a key with which she could access the guild hall's backrooms. In a loft, spacious room she met Aran Linvail, the Athkatla Shadowmaster. He explained to her that Imoen and Irenicus had been taken to Spellhold, an asylum for deviants on a far off island. With her payment Glorydd had secured herself passage to Spellhold, but there were a number of preparations still to be made (finding a good ship, hiring a captain, among others). Her gold was going to be used for that purpose. Linvail gave her a necklace that offered protection against vampires' level-draining attacks and a protective ring (she later had Cromwell merge it with a Ring of Regeneration into the Ring of Preservation +2), and he asked her to do a few tasks for him in order to somewhat speed up the preparations.
Glorydd carried out two missions for Linvail: protecting a shipment from raiding vampires and preventing a number of Shadow Thieves from joining the rivals.
After she was done with her two jobs for Aran Linvail, Glorydd finally traveled to the Windspear Hills. Upon arrival she slew a pack of Orcs, at least that's what she thought. When her enemies had fallen they took their natural, human form, much to Glorydd's horror. She had slain a party of Paladins. Garren Windspear, a witness of the bloodbath, told her that it must have been the work of Jierdan Firkraag... The man who had hired Glorydd turned out to be the man who had robbed most of Garren Windspear's lands. An evil man.
That same day, when Windspear had departed to explain the killings of the Paladins at the Order of the Radiant Heart, a band of Firkraag's thugs kidnapped Windspear's son Taar. Glorydd waited for Garren Windspear to return, explained to him what had happened, and promised him to find his son. A few moments later a Halfling messenger gave her a letter from Firkraag saying she would find him in the ruins northeast of Windspear's cabin.
Glorydd returned the acorns to Irenicus' captives' sister, better late than never, and then went looking for Firkraag and Taar Windspear. From the outside the ruined structure looked like a splendid hall, almost Dwarven in appearance. But when she entered she found herself in a cave. It was inhabited by Hobgoblins, Mists, and a Ruhk Transmuter guarding a door. The latter was a potentially dangerous foe he fell to a backstab by Glorydd and an explosion caused by one of its own Kamikaze Kobold minions.
The Wraiths had guarded a key with which Glorydd opened a door the lock of which she had previously failed to pick. As soon as she opened the door, a woman approached her. She presented herself as Samia and she asked Glorydd to help find her a number of historical artifacts in the dungeon's northeast wing. Ever helpful, Glorydd agreed to the task. The corridors were inhabited by Genies that guarded pieces of a Mask of one King Strohm III that she would need in order to gain acces to the artifacts. Glorydd slew the guardian Genies with backstabs,
A particularly large Golem, an Adamantite variant, was brought down from a safe distance with the Dwarven Thrower warhammer.
She went down the stairs again, determined to rid the realms of Firkraag. A Vhailor's simulacrum was instructed to set a spike trap and four regular traps, and then sent in to battle Firkraag. While the simmy was occupying the Dragon, Glorydd set a spike trap of her own, followed by a regular trap.
Glorydd knew by then that she was going to have to do it herself. Her summons could only serve as emergency decoys. By fleeing back upstairs she successfully evaded two Remove Magics cast at her, but that only lulled her into a false sense of security, because Firkraag's Lower Fire Resistance ability had made her very vulnerable to fire anyway, as she found out the hard way.
The Dwarf said goodbye to the thankful Windspears, and returned to Athkatla where more Vampires attacked her, including a group that seemed to be working with ex-Shadow Thieves.
Please forgive me for my obsession with Cernd's soft, fluffy werewolf form.
"You know little of how you came to be a ward of Gorion's, but over the years you have gleaned something of your mother's tale from his vague allusions and from the words he sometimes uttered in tear-filled sleep. She was a dwarf from Mithral Hall and a friend of his for many seasons..."
So there you go. The race and place changes based on Charname's race.
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And down goes a dragon! Keep this up and she'll be remembered as a greater hero than Durlag!
@semiticgod, what you say is true. For a character without True Sight/Seeing or Detect Illusions, a PfUndead scroll against Vampires isn't that helpful.
Glorydd's fame, mostly earned in the country (Umar Hills, Windspear Hills, Trademeet, Arnise), appeared to have followed her back into Athkatla, because several prestigious institutions requested her services. First, there were the Paladins of the Order of the Radiant Heart, who must been informed by Garren Windspear of how she avenged the Paladins she had unknowingly slain as a result of Firkraag's trickery. Her task consisted in convincing a band of Fallen Paladins that acted within the city as if they were still true Paladins. Unfortunately the only way to 'convince' them was by giving them a beating with the Flail of Ages.
The second reputable institution that employed her was the Temple of Helm. The priests wanted Glorydd to investigate a sect of the Unseeing Eye, whose members ritually cut out their own eyes in devotion to their supposed God. She even got a second commission from the church: convincing the famous artist Sarles to produce a sculpture for the temple. Glorydd began with the latter task. It took her to the Government District, where she learnt from Sarles that he'd only work with 200 pounds of illithium, and to Waukeen's Promenade, where an ore merchant told him that such a quantity would be impossible for her to obtain. Glorydd got an alloy from the merchant, but when she gave it to Sarles the sculptor noticed the difference, and was quite upset with it. Glorydd returned to Waukeen's Promenade and obtained the ore merchant's source of illithium, a Duergar named Hilldark. Unger Hilldark however, told her that any illithium was to be found with his brother Gorje, in the Umar Hills.
Glorydd deicded to rest in the Den of the Seven Vales inn, before she'd head out to the Umar Hills. In said inn she would only have her rest after dealing with a band of brigands that were no match for Kitthix and her.
Glorydd started her investigation of the Unseeing Eye in the sewers below the Temple District. It proved to be a dangerous place. First there was group of thugs. Glorydd had already taken out their Mage when their leader, an arrogant Dwarf, required her to hand him 1000 GP. Glorydd, buffed with a potion of defense and an oil of speed, and still reliant on her equipment's damage resistance, used her flails to exact justice on the lot.
But first she inspected a sarcophagus similar to one she had found in the Docks District when she had been looking for Valygar (who was said to live in one of the houses there). From the sarcophagus in the Docks District, the voice of a trapped soul had spoken to her, and begged her to find parts of his body in other tombs. Glorydd opened the tomb and was shocked to face a hostile Shade Lich. She quickly cast Protection from Undead on herself, but the Lich cast Remove Magic on a Gelugon it had gated in.
The voice of the trapped soul sounded in her head. It complimented her, told her to pick up the remains that could be found in the sarcophagus and directed Glorydd to the Bridge District. There she found an abandoned home that contained another sarcophagus, guarded by yet another Lich, an Elemental variant. It was as clever as its Shade cousin had been, for it removed Glorydd's protection from undead by casting Remove Magic on summoned Mordenkainen's Swords before the Dwarf could distance herself enough from the summons. Thus Glorydd had to use up yet another Protection from Undead scroll before she could finish off the Lich.
This trapped sould proved to be another Lich, albeit a special one. She slew it with relative ease, using her trusty flails, and without having to recast Protection from Undead on herself, but then it took another form, that of a Demi-Lich. And that Demi-Lich simply flouted Glorydd's protection from undead; it defiantly attacked her with spells and with Melf's Minute Meteors.
Amongst Kangaxx' remains Glorydd found an extremely powerful, enchanted ring that she equipped after identifying it with her Glasses, and a blue scroll.
First of all, Narlen Darkwalk, Rededge, Black Lily and other old friends from Baldur's Gate had decided to leave Alatos' guild, and to join Glorydd's Guild House. However, Narlen was the only one to arrive. She was glad to seem him, even though he was clearly upset. He explained that his party had been ambushed and captured by Orcs and Orogs. The two went to look for the ambushers' hideout and found it just north of Athkatla. It was a cave guarded outside by a priest, wizard and various warriors; all Orcs. They also had a large Wyvern doing their bidding. Glorydd buffed lightly with an oil of speed and when she got Malisoned, a potion of invulnerability, and then attacked. Narlen wasn't much of a fighting man, although he did his best with his bow, so Glorydd had to do most of the work herself (and heal Narlen with her innate powers).
When all their foes lay dead, Narlen took her to the cave but warned her that many enemies awaited her. Glorydd buffed with potions of heroism, cloud giant strength, invulnerability, an oil of speed and a potion of power. [More than necessary but I really wanted Glorydd to keep Narlen alive.] The duo stepped inside and were greeted by circa ten Orog and Orc warriors and two casters. Their leader was a massive Orog warrior, clad in full plate. Glorydd's first action was to drop a Teleport Field around Narlen, in hopes of keeping the many monsters from hurting her friend.
Back in Athkatla, another upset awaited Glorydd: the disappearance of Arledrian, an Elven fence and associate of Gaelan Bayle.
A poster about a theatre play she found among his belongins at Gaelan's led her to the Five Flagons Inn. It turned out the Elf had a room there, but when she went to call on him, he wasn't there. She did find his diary though. It contained some extremely confidential information. Arledrian was in reality a spy who had infiltrated the Shadow Thieves. Through them he was to learn more about the 'Exiles', whoever they might be. It seemed these Exiles were somehow associated with the rival guild, the vampires. One passage alarmed Glorydd greatly. It said that he had been sent to spy on the Vampires in the Graveyard District, and he was very upset because his NPP-providing enchanted dagger, a gift from his loved one, had been stolen from him.
A slaughterfest ensued. With her saves well in the negatives, she didn't even have to protect herself against the Vampires' dominating gazes. Vampires that dared to oppose were treated to a beating with the Flail of Ages.
Glorydd didn't bother with informing Aran Linvail of her work in Bodhi's lair, as she knew such tidings would reach his ear sooner rather than later anyway. Instead, she traveled to the Umar Hills where she hoped to find Valygar.
Ever the loner, she made Valygar wait for her at the entrance, and went exploring the Sphere. She didn't like the place. It made her think of Irenicus' dungeon, with guardian Golems, strange apparatuses, innocent captives namely Knights of Solamnia from another plane, and slaves, in the form of highly aggressive, cannibalistic Wild Halflings. Glorydd had no choice but to defend herself. She relied on Carsomyr for dispels (because some of the Halflings proved to be highly intelligent spellcasters), and on her Flails for damage.
She found Lavok in a navigator room. He wasn't happy to see her, but he didn't take long in changing his attitude. He had a string of protections: Shield, Fireshield Red, Globe of Invulnerability, Spell Turning, Stoneskin, PfCold, Spell Shield. These were all great protections if Glorydd had been a wizard like him, or if she hadn't wielded Carsomyr. As it was however, she got rid of his buffs in a single strike with Carsomyr.
Lavok saw reason, and begged Glorydd to show him the open sky of Athkatla. For that to happen, she had to slay a demon - apparently the sphere had traveled to one of the lower planes - and throw its heart into an engine. As she went to take a look at the engine room, she found Tolgerias, the Cowled Wizard that had commissioned Glorydd to find Valygar, accompanied by an adherent. She had no idea how Tolgerias had entered the Sphere. What she did know, was that he wasn't there to make conversation with the Dwarf.
Like Lavok, Tolgerias saw all his initial instantly cast buffs dispelled by Carsomyr.
She didn't have to look around for long. In fact, after she had killed a number of Imps and Quasits, she ran into two Fiends at pretty much the same time, a Nabassu and a Marilith.
Gaxx-Hasted, she managed to slay the Marilith with her flails.
In a home near the Sphere the Dwarf retrieved a ring from Talassan thieves for the Temple of Lathander. She delivered it at the temple, and then decided to pay Aran Linvail a visit to see if he had made any progress with his preparations for Gloydd's journey to Spellhold. Much to her satisfaction (and relief), he had. A ship and a captain were waiting for her, ready to depart. Glorydd told the men to wait for her to settle some unifinished business that she said would not take long.