A minor update. I have been using my alternate BGT installation to give Whitworth another chance in an alternate universe. Due to the BG1NPCs in SoA mod this means that he can travel with Shar-Teel and Kagain still, and also Aran Whitehand (f/c - he was bugged in EE) in a more fighter-heavy party, though I have delayed Kivan's arrival to give a chance to other mod npcs.
Without Kivan's watchful eye he has been a bit more despicable, rep is currently about 5. The most memorable incident so far was following an alternate route for the Harpers Quest (Quest Pack)- helping Xzar to slaughter them with the crazy mage flinging fireballs and cones of cold in all directions- I would have killed him myself but I wanted the Quest XP...
It's pretty crazy yes, I think I picked it up from your original recommendation on the SHS megamod forum. An interesting mixture of whimsical dialogue, surprising quests, and hack & slash.
@Wise_Grimwald: Where did you find Cyresia's portrait? It's really interesting.
Here. To find it, I typed in evil sorceress, and got some intereting results including that one. The problem that I find is that most of them are insufficiently detailed when you zoom in for the portrait. That one is the exception. When I found it, it wasn't on that page otherwise I wouldn't have used it as the artist requests that you ask for permission for whatever use. I have done that, and in the case of a refusal will edit my post to delete it. However he has in general granted permission for non-commercial use. http://shockbolt.deviantart.com/art/Evil-sorceress-64084600
The two of us headed to the Ankheg area where we collected many ankheg shells. This was good for both our experience and for our pocket.
In transit we killed many bandits which had a similar though smaller effect.
We killed many wolves to the east of the Beregost temple, some of them yielding 2000 exp. points before heading even further east where we killed agressive adventurers, gnolls, basilisks, medusae and finally Mutamin. A scroll of protection from petrification was used to protect from gaze attacks.
After resting we felt that it was safe to return to the lighthouse area wwhere we killed pirates and flesh golems. We discovered that it was hardly safe as we were badly injured several times, however as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. After recovering from our ordeal, we killed Sil as well.
Our courage having been bolstered, we went for the red bag on the shipwreck. This proved to be a step too far for Tiax who was killed.
After raising Tiax, we continued sirene hunting in that area and then killed Tristan and Isolde south of Beregost.
After that we decided to visit Durlag's Tower to see if it was as dangerous as its reputation. We survived.
We headed southwards and raided several tombs killing a Revenant and a number of ghasts before vleaving to fight some half-ogres that we had been asked to kill.
We then went to the FAI where for the first time I donned a belt that had an interesting effect. I decided to be more adventurous than usual and found the experience fascinating.
I then took Khaled and jaheira, Xzar and Montaron to Nashkel. We left Khalid and Jaheira there.
Xzar insisted that we visited the dryad that we had helped, and then helped himself to her essence. This resulted in druids attacking us when we travelled to another area.
That turned out to be extremely dangerous. We received a reward from Bjornin and then after leaving Xzar and Montaron, we sorted the problems at Nashkel mines.
Upon exiting, we killed Nimbul and sold a winter wolf pelt.
We then rescued a fellow gnome by killing Chop the Lady Ogre.
South of the FAI we killed the assassins Malious, Nicardian, and Phallen Nightsbane.
We then proceeded to the bandit camp where we defeated Tazok without killing him before dealing with Brotus Bloodthirsty and others.
We then killed the caravan bandits before returning to the camp.
We then joined up with Edwin, killed Dynaheir and went to Gullykin.
As we don't have any means to protect us vs Sirine's charms (neither Clarity Potions nor Greenstone Amulet are available for purchase with Item Randomizer) remaining eastern areas were our next destination. First Ulcaster School. The outskirts were thoroughly cleared and eventually we stumbled upon an abomination named Icharyd. The fight ensured and pretty soon we realised that the only reliable (and safe) tool to harm him is Spiritual Hammer but right after that realization the fight turned into the second phase and we were stripped of all our buffs (and lost Spiritual Hammers) while Icharyd cast Draw upon Divine Might under which he hit like a truck alone with all those Call Lightnings. Our healing potions stock ran low anxiously quickly so in the end Jaheira sipped a strength potion, equipped a quarterstaff +1 and using hit-n-run approach eventually killed the foul creature.
Inside the Ruins Spiritual Hammers proved again to be an excellent tool vs Mustard Jelly
while Skeletons are perfect to distract Wolf of Ulcaster, Web to hold on the Wolf's reinforcements and Holy Smite - well... to Smite'em All:
Some time later eerie Wolf was set on the run, boxed in and eliminated. In the huge pile of bodies and other remains of unfortunate adventurers in his lair we found a very nice piece of armor which fit Imoen perfectly and greatly improved her scouting skills:
To have some rest we've visited a nearby village of Gullykin but rest has to wait as local folks are in trouble with Kobolds inhabiting nearby ruins. We also met a cute lass Alora there and after some pleasant chatting asked her to join our comrades in Jovial Juggler Inn in case we need her skills someday. In the ruins invisible Imoen scouted ahead and removed all the traps alone the way (well, one trap she failed to disarm and was hit with Fireball). Further in the dark ruins we faced an Undead Knight who asked to strike him down and take his armor which we duly fulfilled (and brought it later to some Ghost Knights deeper in the ruins).
We didn't went further into the ruins for now but instead checked out the hospitality of local folks. Most of those were pleasant charitable people but one named Jenkal was quite the different and attacked us after we smell the Kobolds in his hole. But even after we unleashed all our disabling arsenal on him somehow he managed to slip away. Something tells me we will meet again...
All those recent battles dried out my Fire Wand so we've visited Talanthir for recharging but after we sold it it turned out we need 3000 more gold to buy it back. Were to get such an amount quickly? The answer is obvious - the evil priest Bassilus just south of here.
Hidden Imoen led three our skeletons to occupy him for awhile but as we talked him the way that his undead army collapsed the very same moment our skellies shattered as well.
As Bassilus was prebuffed with Free Action we tried to disable him with other means (Obscuring Mist, Stinking Cloud and Silence). He saved vs both Mist and Cloud, but Silence connected. Though he held both Imoen and Jaheira I stand ready with Remove Paralysis. Being silenced he used a Wand of Heavens on Viconia but her magic resistance kicked in. Somehow he managed to cast Dimension Door over the Mist/Cloud and then Doom on Viconia while Khalid pelted him with Ice Arrows. I was afraid he will use his Wand of Heavens on other party members (with our hp pools this might mean inevitable death) so I pulled out my Wand of Lightning and shot all 6 bolts electrocuting him instantly. He dropped that precious Wand of Heavens and Shield Amulet.
This BG2 version of Wand of Lightning is definitely an overkill for BG1/ToSC so I tweaked it a-la SR/IR, i.e. it now shoot three 3D6 single target bolts.
With my machine gun fully charged again the "demons" in Nashkel Mines where duly fried:
Mulahey's call for his minions remained unanswered for some reason, he tried to hold Jaheira so she sipped Potion of Freedom while I unleashed hell holy fires on him and Viconia cast Silence after which his fate was sealed. Another Wand of Fire and Bracers of Archery were our well-earned reward.
Xan took place of Dynaheir (with Spell Revisions many spells have different schools so his spell repertoire is now far more comprehensive and I decided to try him out) and we returned back to Nashkel to report of our investigation but were attacked by yet another wanna-be-headhunter. His prebuffs didn't allow us to harm him reliably so we took shelter in nearby store. He followed us and put Xan to sleep, tried to backstab Jaheira with inappropriate weapon and Magic Missiled Imoen. Then he held Khalid, Imoen and Viconia but as always I stand ready with Remove Paralysis and as soon as his MGoI expired he was instantly fried with God-blessed fire. He dropped the Robe of the Neutral Archmagi, right for the Xan, which I took as another omen of doing right thing taking him alone with us.
We had some unfinished business in Nashkel Carnival
and after that we've traveled to the mysterious Durlag's Tower.
Cleared all top levels and (under protection of Potion of Mirrored Eyes) the roof (Ghost is far too dangerous for us at the moment so was left alone). Tome of Understanding wasn't randomized again (I use the option of randomly replace it with any other tome), Jaheira got nice scimitar (generally I prefer blunt weapons but "enough is as good as a feast" as they say) and I got another Wand to supplement my collection
In Firewine Bridge area the best-ever swordsman failed to hit us even once
and we tied up some loose ends in the Firewine Ruins. Our skellies sucked out Lendarn's most dangerous spells and then he nearly performed a sacred suicide reading Fireball scroll right after his MGoI expired. To cool him down I hit with my newfound Wand of Frost while his Stinking Cloud (erroneously, as I think) ate out my Minor Spell Deflection. Lendarn hit with Dispel Magic and stripped all my buffs so I reapplied Shield and Mirror Image. Ogre Mage joined the fun so my next Fireball both finished Lendarn and badly hurt the Mage. Another Fireball spelled his doom. Short Sword +2 for Imoen and Wand of Monster Summoning for me were our reward.
Back in Beregost Tranzig opened with Dispel Magic but got Fireball in the face, panicked and fell dropping Tome of Leadership and Influence
En route to Mutamin's Garden we were ambushed by four amazons. Both thieves immediately went invisible and chased Xan whom I sent on constant move to avoid him being backstabbed (also cast Mirror Image to further secure him). I gave my Wand of Heavens to Jaheira and concentrated on clerics who soon fell to combined firepower. Xan shrugged off his pursuers and when they tried to hit Jaheira killed both with his Fire Wand. The loot was pretty insignificant (just for sale).
Upon arrival to Mutamin's Garden we triggered Xan personal quest which dragged us through the Spider Wood to the FAI and back again:
As we were unable to loot those mercenaries in time we returned to the Spider Wood after FAI but the trip took 32 hours so the loot has gone. At least we took an opportunity to clean the area (Red Wizards were left for later):
Now, after all those distractions, we are going to visit Mutamin's Garden at long last. But that will be another story.
I have not visited Ice Island as of yet (and do not intend to pay a visit there in nearby future), moreover I'm still trying to avoid strong Mages due to lacking of usefull spells in both mine and Xan's spellbooks. But nonetheless thanks for your kind words - I'm trying my best to keep all my fellow Crew members safe
On the way from the mines to Baldur's Gate, a mage told us that he was no longer interested in his spider's egg. Perhaps someone in the Gate can use it.
We decided to call in at the FAI to rest, and in doing so met Najara who attacked us. We killed both him and Vallius.
When we had rested we headed south where Davenport and his men attacked us.
We triumphed against them too. Returning to the FAI we killed some of the caravan guards and gained some good equipment.
At the bridge into Baldur's Gate we were attacked by Jhaeros Auglathla and his cohorts.
We entered the Gate and once inside killed a basilisk that some adventurers had stupidly taken in.
We rather stupidly fought Larze using mêlée weapons. Whilst we prevailed, we realised afterwards that our actions were not the wisest.
We helped Arkion by supplying a corpse and tried to help Nemphre by stealing an amulet from him. Unfortunately the pickpocket failed and we had to kill him. Nemphre was killed by choice.
In the North-West sector we killed some monsters and shortly afterwards we were attacked by Dabron Sashenstar.
After doing some minor quests for Scar we took on the Iron Throne, killing numerous of their minions.
Marek then tried to kill us, but he was the one who ended up dead.
Jardak and his butler fell to our swords next, and after them Ragefast.
In the south-west Sunin accused us of being thieves and attacked us. He and his cohorts died.
We then decided to investigate the Section HQ in Beregost. We gained a lot of experience and equipment, but unfortunately two of our party were killed by Ashirukuru and Cyresia had to sneak out, the job unfinished.
Duke Eltan then sent us to Candlekeep which we later escaped from:
Upon returning to the Gate, we rescued Duke Eltan.
We then fought Krystin and Slythe successfully and acquired invitations to the Ducal Palace. Edwin has now reached the 161000 experience cap too.
We beat the doppelgangers at the Ducal Palace and afterwards stole goods from the basement.
We then returned to the Section HQ in Beregost and defeated Paul Wolfe and his associates.
Nikita thanked us and joined the party.
We then picked up Kagain before taking on the Section HQ in Baldur's Gate.
We then went after Sarevok:
One of the amusing occurences in the battle was that they fought each other. As the party is now entering SoD, I am raising the Level Cap from 161000 to 500,000.
I have not visited Ice Island as of yet (and do not intend to pay a visit there in nearby future), moreover I'm still trying to avoid strong Mages due to lacking of usefull spells in both mine and Xan's spellbooks. But nonetheless thanks for your kind words - I'm trying my best to keep all my fellow Crew members safe
Yea, the Firewine, not Ice Island. I never visit any of these places (I sometimes visit Ice Island, but very rarely, Firewine scares me since I have vague memories of my party dying there....)
This is a report from last night. I played very tired and my utter lack of concentration showed quickly, loosing my wizard slayer to a random punk spider isn't something that happens often.
Things got very strange from the start. I don't know if this was due to bad rep (5) or what, but the Dwarves of Durnthom or whatever went hostile after I gave them news about the undead guy. Odd, and I haven't witnessed it before. Be that as it may, the evil dwarf shall live on in his undeath, while the dwarf cleric died. This could have ended very badly, my sorceress was hit by Miscast Magic - this spell works so that inflicts Wild magic. I failed to notice that she got affected (as I said, lack of concentration) and cast a spell - luckily, no uber-bad effects....
Menhirs, also strange. I got hit by lighting every time I touched them. Stone golem spawned. And when finishing the quest, the woman turned to Wraith which I had to kill 3 (!) times until she found her peace. Odd....
Spider cave was also horribly played and I allowed my protagonist to get boxed in by dozens of spiders, and didn't notice that for a while. He had Cloak of Fear active (enemies run in fear on a failed save, inflicts -2 THAC0 penalty unless target is fear-immune, no save) so that gave him the edge he needed to get back in formation. I lost my dragon disciple there.
The worst was yet to come. I wanted to go to sleep, but I had that "just one more quest" thing going. Ofc, it was the poison-breathing dragon. I wanted to buff inside, forgot that it would wake up the beast...my protagonist, barbarian and wizard slayer managed to apply Pro Poison scrolls, Haste was cast - and then in comes the dragon and kills all my spellcasters. Luckily, poison doesn't chunk...
I ended this rather horrible session by assaulting the enemy camp (I didn't bother with sidequests any more) which was done succesfully via AoE Ice Storm bombardment + few detonation arrows.
Firewine is... generally just not worth it. High chances of death due to lousy pathing through tiny corridors, pretty deadly traps, and a mage that IIRC casts Lightning Bolt in tiny corridors. And Kobold Commandos are worthless in terms of experience.
@Aasim, @Neverused, @Mantis37 About Firewine. Worth it or not but I'm sick completionist, so... Invisible thief makes those traps irrelevant threat. Besides, Spell Revisions trivialized those Ruins even further as it makes Lightning Bolt a single target spell, so it no longer bounce off the walls. And Kobolds, well, yes, they are annoying, but at this stage they are not deadly anymore.
I generally don't find "clearing" Firewine Ruins worth it either. But Serg is right, invisible thief takes care of traps. Also, a potion of absorption or boots of grounding + protection from lightning make dealing with the mage quite a bit easier. Just have this protected character approach alone. Pathing is a huge issue there for sure. Which is why a fighter with high missile resistance (and lighting/fire resistance if you can) makes the most sense for him to do most of it by himself/herself.
Where is the challenge in that? My noreloads often end in firewine because I always misremember the traps...
It's not necessary to make Firewine more challenging - doing a Trilogy no-reload (Candlekeep to defeating Melissan) is plenty of challenge, and usually I fail, so hardly need to make Firewine more challenging than it needs to be.
Where is the challenge in that? My noreloads often end in firewine because I always misremember the traps...
It's not necessary to make Firewine more challenging - doing a Trilogy no-reload (Candlekeep to defeating Melissan) is plenty of challenge, and usually I fail, so hardly need to make Firewine more challenging than it needs to be.
I would say: "Each to his taste" I don't usually do Firewine but have done in my last two runs. I vary which extra bits to do just to keep the game fresh.
Another update (although short) on Vishnaera. I hadn't played much Druids before, and it's rather fun, which is why I'm playing much more on this run than Alia's. I cleaned the Gnoll Fortress, the Xvart Village and the Ogre-filled area next to the Gnoll Fortress. I want to reach level 11 before heading to the camp, so that I can cast Heal/Chain Lightning. Thought I'd share this one because it's both funny and sad. I had forgotten about the rage, and didn't use my direct damage to save the XP. I accidentally turned Laurel down on her job, and since I have good Charisma I succeeded (otherwise she would turn on me, which would have been worse) and lost that XP as well. I know I said I'll be doing Shoal/Mutamin/Camp, but I delayed that a bit, I want a bit more XP before I get Mutamin/Camp, so Shoal/Ogre Mage should follow.
In the Dragonspear expansion I have discovered that, NPCs that have not been included in the Dragonspear Expansion by the devs, disappear upon arrival at the Ducal Palace. However mod NPCs don't. If you want to keep Tiax, Kagain etc. you need to change their name in Shadowkeeper which is a shame.
EDIT I could change the name of the Characters in my game as they were created by yours truly and just given tthe same name and script. Characters that you pick up in-game do not have editable names using Shadowkeeper. (Unless you know a bit more about Shadowkeeper than I do)
Let us hope that the devs in subsequent versions will allow such characters to continue to the end of the mod. If they don't, perhaps this is something that modders could do to improve the expansion.
To include Tiax, they would have to have an addendum to Tiax's conversation in the prison with words something like "Cyric has declared that Tiax the mighty will defeat all his foes bringing Chaos to the Sword Coast." His stats would also need to be adjusted to be what they should be.
Am I correct in thinking that there is currently no way of getting Tiax to join the party?
Just assume Glint is one of his split personalities after a bash on the head. Cut and paste Cyric into his dialogue, mod his stats, and away you go .
A quick update on Whitworth BGT edition. We have completed the thief, fighter, and bard strongholds so far, along with a few minor quests such as the Circus and paying the Shadow Thieves.
After a fair amount of npc-swapping the current crew consists of Kagain, Shar-Teel, Edwin, Kivan, Aran, and a level 13 Whitworth. I imagine that I'll give some of them an enforced rest after resurrections etc. to do character quests though.
Edwin has proven his worth with some crucial magical interventions, particularly against Mencar's crew, while Kivan showed up when Haer was kidnapped. I was very uncertain about doing the Planar Sphere quest early to be honest but from a RPing perspective it flowed rather naturally from other events. The Warden and his bodyguards did prove rather tough (Shar fried herself on his shields!) but we were able to outlast his protections and shoot him down eventually.
On an unrelated note I am finding no reloads to be a rather nice way of destressing after reading too much news these days... A bit of tension but fewer surprises...
Ogrim Durth, 2nd and final SoD update, last post here
SoD turned out to be rather surprising. I've never read a complete walkthrough for it yet, so every time I play it I find out something new. This new almost kill me this time, when I met some failed experiments below the castle. Incredibly enough, all survived, even if I had to use Monster Summoning wand.
Ogres wouldn't take us up. Bad rep, low CHA, a combination of both or just jerk replies? I don't know, but I was kinda happy to kill 'em all.
Upstairs, I used two Cloudkill scrolls (one from BG1 wilderness, the other from just below this area) to mess up the mages; Ice storm(s) on the bunch coming in from the right side, and summons to hold on the south side. Good fight, no casualties.
My party gained level 10 (single classes) after this. This gives me access to level 5 spells. Most important, my Shaman now can cast Insect Plague. The spell in SR allows a save vs spell failure, it won't go through Fireshields, but other than that - it wrecks everything. I can't wait for it's big brother Creeping Doom to become available. The spell has several neat effects - most important one being that it bypasses magic resistance. This + Web got us through crusader attacks almost alone.
And through castle battle.
I refused to fight their angelic leader alone in a fair combat - instead we choose the more boodthirsty option.
In lower planes, I found out I forgot to stock up on Pro Fire scrolls. This means I had to rely on potions + equipment. Took some damage, battle lasted longer than usual, but it's done w/o casualties. Caelar also died.
Ogrim Durth, 1st BG2 update (last post just above)
We exited the dungeon via DBG, and didn't even bother going to the shop - instead, Mencar was crushed with Ice Storms and wands from the dungeon. Unfortunately, ice caused Amon's loot to dissapear. Bad tradeoff for some junky equipment which I was planning on replacing asap.
That done, Slums - unavoidable discussion, exit to Temple District - summon skeletons as tanks (and keep the away from enemy clerics, or they'll be turned), talk with hostile party leader, attack via AoE spells.
I didn't have access to Chaos this time, Gaius did have Globe, so no spells affected him (Fireshield prevented insects). However, alone he's no threat to us, even if he outlevels us greatly.
Ogrim removes his invisibility, I land a Breach and 2x Secret word on him. He plays defensively, casting Teleport Field and firing a contingecied stoneskin.
I had no ranged options here (no bows yet...) but instead used Call Lighting (SR makes it castable indoors, but damage is nerfed greatly in comparison to vanilla spell); ended him with a neatly placed Skull Trap.
I won't make the mistake of rushing WK that early this time.
Comments
Without Kivan's watchful eye he has been a bit more despicable, rep is currently about 5. The most memorable incident so far was following an alternate route for the Harpers Quest (Quest Pack)- helping Xzar to slaughter them with the crazy mage flinging fireballs and cones of cold in all directions- I would have killed him myself but I wanted the Quest XP...
the SHS megamod forum. An interesting mixture of whimsical dialogue, surprising quests, and hack & slash.
http://shockbolt.deviantart.com/art/Evil-sorceress-64084600
Journal of Cyresia and Tiax
We got into conflict with a winter wolf and won.Heading northwards, we killed a polar bear before moving still further to the north where we helped Brage.
At Beregost we charmed Glayde and Tessilan. Silke killed them with lightning bolts, but in doing so killed herself.
Journal of Cyresia and Tiax
The two of us headed to the Ankheg area where we collected many ankheg shells. This was good for both our experience and for our pocket.After resting we felt that it was safe to return to the lighthouse area wwhere we killed pirates and flesh golems. We discovered that it was hardly safe as we were badly injured several times, however as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. After recovering from our ordeal, we killed Sil as well.
Our courage having been bolstered, we went for the red bag on the shipwreck. This proved to be a step too far for Tiax who was killed.
After raising Tiax, we continued sirene hunting in that area and then killed Tristan and Isolde south of Beregost.
After that we decided to visit Durlag's Tower to see if it was as dangerous as its reputation. We survived.
Journal of Cyresia and Tiax
We headed southwards and raided several tombs killing a Revenant and a number of ghasts before vleaving to fight some half-ogres that we had been asked to kill.We then went to the FAI where for the first time I donned a belt that had an interesting effect. I decided to be more adventurous than usual and found the experience fascinating.
I then took Khaled and jaheira, Xzar and Montaron to Nashkel. We left Khalid and Jaheira there.
That turned out to be extremely dangerous. We received a reward from Bjornin and then after leaving Xzar and Montaron, we sorted the problems at Nashkel mines.
We then proceeded to the bandit camp where we defeated Tazok without killing him before dealing with Brotus Bloodthirsty and others.
We then killed the caravan bandits before returning to the camp.
We then joined up with Edwin, killed Dynaheir and went to Gullykin.
Chapter IV - In Darkness Let Me Dwell.
TOC:
1. Einleitung.
2. Chapter I - Trapped and Scared.
3. Chapter II - Damsels In Distress.
4. Chapter III - Night of the Wolf.
As we don't have any means to protect us vs Sirine's charms (neither Clarity Potions nor Greenstone Amulet are available for purchase with Item Randomizer) remaining eastern areas were our next destination.
First Ulcaster School. The outskirts were thoroughly cleared and eventually we stumbled upon an abomination named Icharyd. The fight ensured and pretty soon we realised that the only reliable (and safe) tool to harm him is Spiritual Hammer but right after that realization the fight turned into the second phase and we were stripped of all our buffs (and lost Spiritual Hammers) while Icharyd cast Draw upon Divine Might under which he hit like a truck alone with all those Call Lightnings. Our healing potions stock ran low anxiously quickly so in the end Jaheira sipped a strength potion, equipped a quarterstaff +1 and using hit-n-run approach eventually killed the foul creature.
Inside the Ruins Spiritual Hammers proved again to be an excellent tool vs Mustard Jelly
while Skeletons are perfect to distract Wolf of Ulcaster, Web to hold on the Wolf's reinforcements and Holy Smite - well... to Smite'em All:
Some time later eerie Wolf was set on the run, boxed in and eliminated. In the huge pile of bodies and other remains of unfortunate adventurers in his lair we found a very nice piece of armor which fit Imoen perfectly and greatly improved her scouting skills:
To have some rest we've visited a nearby village of Gullykin but rest has to wait as local folks are in trouble with Kobolds inhabiting nearby ruins. We also met a cute lass Alora there and after some pleasant chatting asked her to join our comrades in Jovial Juggler Inn in case we need her skills someday. In the ruins invisible Imoen scouted ahead and removed all the traps alone the way (well, one trap she failed to disarm and was hit with Fireball). Further in the dark ruins we faced an Undead Knight who asked to strike him down and take his armor which we duly fulfilled (and brought it later to some Ghost Knights deeper in the ruins).
We didn't went further into the ruins for now but instead checked out the hospitality of local folks. Most of those were pleasant charitable people but one named Jenkal was quite the different and attacked us after we smell the Kobolds in his hole. But even after we unleashed all our disabling arsenal on him somehow he managed to slip away. Something tells me we will meet again...
All those recent battles dried out my Fire Wand so we've visited Talanthir for recharging but after we sold it it turned out we need 3000 more gold to buy it back. Were to get such an amount quickly? The answer is obvious - the evil priest Bassilus just south of here.
Hidden Imoen led three our skeletons to occupy him for awhile but as we talked him the way that his undead army collapsed the very same moment our skellies shattered as well.
As Bassilus was prebuffed with Free Action we tried to disable him with other means (Obscuring Mist, Stinking Cloud and Silence). He saved vs both Mist and Cloud, but Silence connected. Though he held both Imoen and Jaheira I stand ready with Remove Paralysis. Being silenced he used a Wand of Heavens on Viconia but her magic resistance kicked in. Somehow he managed to cast Dimension Door over the Mist/Cloud and then Doom on Viconia while Khalid pelted him with Ice Arrows. I was afraid he will use his Wand of Heavens on other party members (with our hp pools this might mean inevitable death) so I pulled out my Wand of Lightning and shot all 6 bolts electrocuting him instantly. He dropped that precious Wand of Heavens and Shield Amulet.
This BG2 version of Wand of Lightning is definitely an overkill for BG1/ToSC so I tweaked it a-la SR/IR, i.e. it now shoot three 3D6 single target bolts.
With my machine gun fully charged again the "demons" in Nashkel Mines where duly fried:
Mulahey's call for his minions remained unanswered for some reason, he tried to hold Jaheira so she sipped Potion of Freedom while I unleashed
hellholy fires on him and Viconia cast Silence after which his fate was sealed. Another Wand of Fire and Bracers of Archery were our well-earned reward.Xan took place of Dynaheir (with Spell Revisions many spells have different schools so his spell repertoire is now far more comprehensive and I decided to try him out) and we returned back to Nashkel to report of our investigation but were attacked by yet another wanna-be-headhunter. His prebuffs didn't allow us to harm him reliably so we took shelter in nearby store. He followed us and put Xan to sleep, tried to backstab Jaheira with inappropriate weapon and Magic Missiled Imoen. Then he held Khalid, Imoen and Viconia but as always I stand ready with Remove Paralysis and as soon as his MGoI expired he was instantly fried with God-blessed fire. He dropped the Robe of the Neutral Archmagi, right for the Xan, which I took as another omen of doing right thing taking him alone with us.
We had some unfinished business in Nashkel Carnival
and after that we've traveled to the mysterious Durlag's Tower.
Cleared all top levels and (under protection of Potion of Mirrored Eyes) the roof (Ghost is far too dangerous for us at the moment so was left alone). Tome of Understanding wasn't randomized again (I use the option of randomly replace it with any other tome), Jaheira got nice scimitar (generally I prefer blunt weapons but "enough is as good as a feast" as they say) and I got another Wand to supplement my collection
In Firewine Bridge area the best-ever swordsman failed to hit us even once
and we tied up some loose ends in the Firewine Ruins. Our skellies sucked out Lendarn's most dangerous spells and then he nearly performed a sacred suicide reading Fireball scroll right after his MGoI expired. To cool him down I hit with my newfound Wand of Frost while his Stinking Cloud (erroneously, as I think) ate out my Minor Spell Deflection. Lendarn hit with Dispel Magic and stripped all my buffs so I reapplied Shield and Mirror Image. Ogre Mage joined the fun so my next Fireball both finished Lendarn and badly hurt the Mage. Another Fireball spelled his doom. Short Sword +2 for Imoen and Wand of Monster Summoning for me were our reward.
Back in Beregost Tranzig opened with Dispel Magic but got Fireball in the face, panicked and fell dropping Tome of Leadership and Influence
En route to Mutamin's Garden we were ambushed by four amazons. Both thieves immediately went invisible and chased Xan whom I sent on constant move to avoid him being backstabbed (also cast Mirror Image to further secure him). I gave my Wand of Heavens to Jaheira and concentrated on clerics who soon fell to combined firepower. Xan shrugged off his pursuers and when they tried to hit Jaheira killed both with his Fire Wand. The loot was pretty insignificant (just for sale).
Upon arrival to Mutamin's Garden we triggered Xan personal quest which dragged us through the Spider Wood to the FAI and back again:
As we were unable to loot those mercenaries in time we returned to the Spider Wood after FAI but the trip took 32 hours so the loot has gone. At least we took an opportunity to clean the area (Red Wizards were left for later):
Now, after all those distractions, we are going to visit Mutamin's Garden at long last. But that will be another story.
Current state:
Grim Face: Cleric (5) / Illusionist (5), 305 kills (Battle Horror);
Jaheira: Fighter (5) / Druid (6), 177 kills (Mustard Jelly);
Khalid: Fighter (6), 497 kills (Wolf of Ulcaster);
Imoen: Thief (7), 261 kills (Greywolf);
Viconia: Cleric (6), 75 kills (Winter Wolf);
Xan: Enchanter (6), 18 kills (Phase Spider).
to be continued...
That's quite early for Ice island...gj.
Journal of Cyresia Edwin and Tiax
We headed for Coakwood where we killed Aldeth and his group after he was rude to us.We proceeded through the forest and in the spider area were asked to kill a dragon.
EDIT
We then tackled the Cloakwood Mines successfully.Journal of Cyresia Edwin and Tiax
On the way from the mines to Baldur's Gate, a mage told us that he was no longer interested in his spider's egg. Perhaps someone in the Gate can use it.Journal of Cyresia Edwin and Tiax
Upon returning to the Gate, we rescued Duke Eltan.We beat the doppelgangers at the Ducal Palace and afterwards stole goods from the basement.
Nikita thanked us and joined the party.
We then went after Sarevok:
This is a report from last night. I played very tired and my utter lack of concentration showed quickly, loosing my wizard slayer to a random punk spider isn't something that happens often.
Things got very strange from the start. I don't know if this was due to bad rep (5) or what, but the Dwarves of Durnthom or whatever went hostile after I gave them news about the undead guy. Odd, and I haven't witnessed it before. Be that as it may, the evil dwarf shall live on in his undeath, while the dwarf cleric died. This could have ended very badly, my sorceress was hit by Miscast Magic - this spell works so that inflicts Wild magic. I failed to notice that she got affected (as I said, lack of concentration) and cast a spell - luckily, no uber-bad effects....
Menhirs, also strange. I got hit by lighting every time I touched them. Stone golem spawned. And when finishing the quest, the woman turned to Wraith which I had to kill 3 (!) times until she found her peace. Odd....
Spider cave was also horribly played and I allowed my protagonist to get boxed in by dozens of spiders, and didn't notice that for a while. He had Cloak of Fear active (enemies run in fear on a failed save, inflicts -2 THAC0 penalty unless target is fear-immune, no save) so that gave him the edge he needed to get back in formation. I lost my dragon disciple there.
The worst was yet to come. I wanted to go to sleep, but I had that "just one more quest" thing going. Ofc, it was the poison-breathing dragon. I wanted to buff inside, forgot that it would wake up the beast...my protagonist, barbarian and wizard slayer managed to apply Pro Poison scrolls, Haste was cast - and then in comes the dragon and kills all my spellcasters. Luckily, poison doesn't chunk...
I ended this rather horrible session by assaulting the enemy camp (I didn't bother with sidequests any more) which was done succesfully via AoE Ice Storm bombardment + few detonation arrows.
About Firewine. Worth it or not but I'm sick completionist, so... Invisible thief makes those traps irrelevant threat. Besides, Spell Revisions trivialized those Ruins even further as it makes Lightning Bolt a single target spell, so it no longer bounce off the walls. And Kobolds, well, yes, they are annoying, but at this stage they are not deadly anymore.
My noreloads often end in firewine because I always misremember the traps...
Thought I'd share this one because it's both funny and sad. I had forgotten about the rage, and didn't use my direct damage to save the XP. I accidentally turned Laurel down on her job, and since I have good Charisma I succeeded (otherwise she would turn on me, which would have been worse) and lost that XP as well. I know I said I'll be doing Shoal/Mutamin/Camp, but I delayed that a bit, I want a bit more XP before I get Mutamin/Camp, so Shoal/Ogre Mage should follow.
EDIT
Let us hope that the devs in subsequent versions will allow such characters to continue to the end of the mod. If they don't, perhaps this is something that modders could do to improve the expansion.I could change the name of the Characters in my game as they were created by yours truly and just given tthe same name and script.
Characters that you pick up in-game do not have editable names using Shadowkeeper. (Unless you know a bit more about Shadowkeeper than I do)
To include Tiax, they would have to have an addendum to Tiax's conversation in the prison with words something like "Cyric has declared that Tiax the mighty will defeat all his foes bringing Chaos to the Sword Coast." His stats would also need to be adjusted to be what they should be.
Am I correct in thinking that there is currently no way of getting Tiax to join the party?
A quick update on Whitworth BGT edition. We have completed the thief, fighter, and bard strongholds so far, along with a few minor quests such as the Circus and paying the Shadow Thieves.
After a fair amount of npc-swapping the current crew consists of Kagain, Shar-Teel, Edwin, Kivan, Aran, and a level 13 Whitworth. I imagine that I'll give some of them an enforced rest after resurrections etc. to do character quests though.
Edwin has proven his worth with some crucial magical interventions, particularly against Mencar's crew, while Kivan showed up when Haer was kidnapped. I was very uncertain about doing the Planar Sphere quest early to be honest but from a RPing perspective it flowed rather naturally from other events. The Warden and his bodyguards did prove rather tough (Shar fried herself on his shields!) but we were able to outlast his protections and shoot him down eventually.
On an unrelated note I am finding no reloads to be a rather nice way of destressing after reading too much news these days... A bit of tension but fewer surprises...
SoD turned out to be rather surprising. I've never read a complete walkthrough for it yet, so every time I play it I find out something new. This new almost kill me this time, when I met some failed experiments below the castle. Incredibly enough, all survived, even if I had to use Monster Summoning wand.
Ogres wouldn't take us up. Bad rep, low CHA, a combination of both or just jerk replies? I don't know, but I was kinda happy to kill 'em all.
Upstairs, I used two Cloudkill scrolls (one from BG1 wilderness, the other from just below this area) to mess up the mages; Ice storm(s) on the bunch coming in from the right side, and summons to hold on the south side. Good fight, no casualties.
My party gained level 10 (single classes) after this. This gives me access to level 5 spells. Most important, my Shaman now can cast Insect Plague. The spell in SR allows a save vs spell failure, it won't go through Fireshields, but other than that - it wrecks everything. I can't wait for it's big brother Creeping Doom to become available. The spell has several neat effects - most important one being that it bypasses magic resistance.
This + Web got us through crusader attacks almost alone.
And through castle battle.
I refused to fight their angelic leader alone in a fair combat - instead we choose the more boodthirsty option.
In lower planes, I found out I forgot to stock up on Pro Fire scrolls. This means I had to rely on potions + equipment. Took some damage, battle lasted longer than usual, but it's done w/o casualties.
Caelar also died.
We exited the dungeon via DBG, and didn't even bother going to the shop - instead, Mencar was crushed with Ice Storms and wands from the dungeon. Unfortunately, ice caused Amon's loot to dissapear. Bad tradeoff for some junky equipment which I was planning on replacing asap.
That done, Slums - unavoidable discussion, exit to Temple District - summon skeletons as tanks (and keep the away from enemy clerics, or they'll be turned), talk with hostile party leader, attack via AoE spells.
I didn't have access to Chaos this time, Gaius did have Globe, so no spells affected him (Fireshield prevented insects).
However, alone he's no threat to us, even if he outlevels us greatly.
Ogrim removes his invisibility, I land a Breach and 2x Secret word on him. He plays defensively, casting Teleport Field and firing a contingecied stoneskin.
I had no ranged options here (no bows yet...) but instead used Call Lighting (SR makes it castable indoors, but damage is nerfed greatly in comparison to vanilla spell); ended him with a neatly placed Skull Trap.
I won't make the mistake of rushing WK that early this time.