I see. Guess Wise_Grimwald is trying to save time by giving you condolences before you are dead - maybe Wise is going on vacation, and won't be around when you go down, Aasim.
I didn't go to WK; but I did have an itch that needed to be scratched. So I decided to fight a relatively risky battle that potentially yields high rewards. First, since I was already in Temple District, I stole the Lathander statue (my rep is 7). That done, Docks, deal with Mae'var.
Easy peasy. The itch grew on me, so I took care of the Copper Coronet slavers to get Tugian bow (my wizardlsayer was unarmed up to this point.) That done, Temple District (incredibly enough, still no Suna Seni ambush) - get Celestial Fury. I bought 2x Minor sequencer scroll + Spell Sequencer. This kinda took away all gold I had, but whatever. I buff downstairs, hide everyone in 10' radius invisibility, load up sequencer - 3x Ice storm, Minor 2x Web, 2nd Minor 2x Acid Arrow (unused). I rush the stairs and open up with the sequencer.
Unfortunately, enemies got hasted as well. Web sequencer was a total fail, and two of my characters got held in it. Sion opens with Time Stop.
He fails to do much within it - Dispel Magic got absorbed by our Screen - meanwhile, my barbarian and druid are free of webs. I summon skeletons + Otyughs (Gaius leaves Monster Summoning 7 scroll). These are cool, but are very large and won't fit in tight spaces.
I focus down Koshi first.
Next should be Ketta, she's very annoying...
She turns invisible asap, but that doesn't stop AoE spells...
Sion gets rid of the summons via Banishment and joins the frey. He fires a defensive sequencer (beats 3x Lighting bolt, in any case - that would kill any of my characters instantly).
I can't touch him (he also has a Spell Trap active, so he's immune to all magic) so I focus the two remaining fighters (cleric died to ice storms). Sion doesn't stand idle - I avoidied his Dragon's breath by running away, but Comet is unavoidable...
I summons some monsters via wand and spread out. He fires his trigger (3x Chain Lighting) at my Disciple. She lives, incredibly enough. Sion's PfMW expired, he doesn't recast it, so I send my wizard slayer after him. Shaman starts to dance (first time in the game I use this ability), some spirit boars appear. Cute, but they're uncontrolable....
Wizard Slayer hits him with Disruptive Strike, removing his stoneskin and inflicting spell failure. He's done for.
I still lost my sorceress (Sion tagged her with Bigby's Icy Grasp, which continously damaged her); but all is good. Celestial Fury is mine, and now I have a mean dwarven katana-wielding barbarian.
Turn out @Wise_Grimwald was right about Ogrim. We did manage to finish WK statues (the first bunch, at least - I haven't even tried the 2nd that includes mages). Torgal was also finished. All good, but the problem was - what next? Vampires are quite dangeorus still, Unseeing Eye ended too much of my runs already, Trademeet is a lagfest, so - Umar Hills dungeon it was. The problem is in "always spawn toughest spawns" part of my install. This meant I will have to tackle 2 liches. First one was kinda ok. 4 dead, nobody chunked. Go to city, revive, get back.
The 2nd one, however....auch. Just to point out the odds here - we're fighting a level 25 lich with HLAs, my party is level 12. We don't have a single spell that can damage him, we're out of any magical ammo but quiver+1 and 20 arrows of Piercing (needed to kill the Planetar he would summon). He comes with his undead retinue (Greater Mummies, skeletons) and has at least 4(!) Cornugons to summon. These cast Dispel and Lighting bolts at will. We were brave; and I tought I could defeat this one just as I did the 1st one (the key figure was wizard slayer, who managed to disrupt a few Cornugon gatings, so I only had 2 to fight). However, this time, the Lich played his cards right, and had a hidden ace up his sleeve - trigger 3x Chain Lightning. This spell is utterly devestating, comes with a -4 save penalty, and loaded in trigger - wrecks those not ready for it. We did kill most of the undead and the planetar thou, which is a feat by itself considering Lich bombarded us with a Dragon's breath and a Comet. The fact that Remove Fear needs to be active constantly didn't help either.
This is what his trigger did to us. All died, sans protagonist (teleport field placed him away from the rest of the party.)
I hid him away; only a Cornugon and an Efreet followed. But these two are very troublesome, especially Cornugon - his Lightning bolt deals up to 40 damage. Ogrim ran out of healing potions, and gets back to where his falled comrades lay. Lich is there as well, starts a Cojuration spell; I knew what it was before it even hit....
R.I.P. Ogrim.
I think I'm gonna have to make a new install. This "always spawn toughest" is insanity when coupled with "HLA's as innates" + "All spellcasters get HLAs".
Just briefly... We dealt with some Assassinations (with some mercy), the opening tasks for Aran, some adventurers, and Trademeet- picking up Afaaq again. (Unfortunately I didn't have the Faldorn part of BG1 in SOA installed so no Dogtown for me this run!). A vampire encounter momentarily unnerved me as Tanova and her friends chased us into the Five Flagons and only the Keto twins (a bug duplicated her) tried to help- that ungrateful wretch Haer just turned his back and continued scribbling graffiti on the wall. However some invisibility potions ensured that none were targeted for long, and Kivan's return means that any fight ends as soon as Strong Arm gets thrumming.
Edwin has just developed a dilemma as to which bathroom to use and I imagine that we shall do some shopping and visit either Watcher's Keep or the Umar Hills next. Reputation is not too high yet despite our our heroic deeds as Whitworth tends to take a proactive approach to justice and not allow miscreants like Sethle (or Harpers!) to escape.
I see. Guess Wise_Grimwald is trying to save time by giving you condolences before you are dead - maybe Wise is going on vacation, and won't be around when you go down, Aasim.
I did. Well actually to an IGO convention. But as I enjoyed it, it was like a holiday. However, like a lot of people of a certain age, I made a mistake. Sorry.
Seems like I just jumped the gun. I'd better change my name to Alaundo the Seer.
Coldearth brought this run to an end. Dragonspear spoiler ahead.
Firstly Semahl was killed by our common enemy. That meant that I didn't have his input when I told the dwarves that Coldearth was a lich. The dwarves attacked and as a result I didn't get the potions to weaken Coldearth. (I would have thought they would have been on the body of one of the dwarves. They weren't! This made the battle against Coldearth much more dangerous. Cyresia got stunned and Tiax killed early on in the battle. Not sure what killed Cyresia. I thought Kagain was blocking Coldearth. It could have been a spell.
Corewild the fighter/thief, his berserker tank, and group of wild mages update: Corewild=gnomish fighter/thief Joshua=gnomish berserker Misty, Forrest, Hanna, Paja = human wild mages
SETUP: EasyTutu TotSC Core rules at all times no mods
Wild Surges of note (since the START of the run): 1) party slowed when casting armor when entering sirines area (not in combat) 2) Forrest polymorphed into wolf when trying to skull trap the kobold commandos guarding the entrance to level 4 of the Nashkel Mines 3) Paja got held by a wild surge during an ogrillion ambush. However, with direct damage spells, the ogrillions were not able to take advantage of that. 4) During a cave bear ambush got a particularly helpful surge - entire party was mirror imaged! Needless to say easy to win that ambush...
The party is still level 6 (long way to level 7, probably somewhere in Cloakwood we'll get level 7). Now that the wild mages are level 5, we are dying a lot less, and enemy parties aren't too much problem either (well, at least as long as we have spells available they aren't).
Here are some of the things that happened:
* Got into quite a few ambushes this session. But now that our magic missiles are 3 orbs, ambushes are much less a problem. One ambush Forrest got held by a ghast and got very low life, but concentrated direct damage spells on the ghast made sure Forrest pulled through without dying
* Apparently in my install, you EITHER get the rep from the dig leader OR you kill the Doomsayer, but NOT both - I wanted the Doomsayer (we had tons of magic missiles memorized and ready), but didn't know this and talked to the dig leader and he took the idol with him, thus no fight. We got 1 round of attacks in before he fled but the Doomsayer lived...
* We've cleared everything that isn't North of Beregost except Durlag's. Ankhegs are our next target. We will then do the bandit camp, Larswood, Pelvale, the area with the Wizards of Thay, then will have no choice but to tackle the Cloakwood.
* Now that Corethief has some HP (60), he has decided to put away his bow and equip his +2 long sword. The higher AC is better against Ankhegs. We plan to get the acid scroll for him (for safety reasons) as well as upgrade his shield (Bjorin's shield) to a +1 large shield before we tackle the Ankhegs.
* We are finding that enemies (even enemy parties) are pretty helpless to 4 level 5 wild mages supported by a berserker and fighter/thief. Am sure that will change later, but that's what we are finding in Chapter 3.
Click spoiler to see screenshots from the adventure:
Corewild the fighter/thief, his berserker tank, and group of wild mages update: Corewild=gnomish fighter/thief Joshua=gnomish berserker Misty, Forrest, Hanna, Paja = human wild mages
SETUP: EasyTutu TotSC Core rules at all times no mods
Wild Surges of note (since the START of the run): 1) party slowed when casting armor when entering sirines area (not in combat) 2) Forrest polymorphed into wolf when trying to skull trap the kobold commandos guarding the entrance to level 4 of the Nashkel Mines 3) Paja got held by a wild surge during an ogrillion ambush. However, with direct damage spells, the ogrillions were not able to take advantage of that. 4) During a cave bear ambush got a particularly helpful surge - entire party was mirror imaged! Needless to say easy to win that ambush...
Well, had a very short session this evening because of chess club. But significant stuff happened so putting this post up. The group tried to clear Larswood, but had a lot of issues. Mainly, almost any time mages got seen 1st, they got killed.
Paja got killed by a dread wolf, Misty got killed by archers, requiring a temple visit and 800 gold each. Paja's death was particularly scary and made Corewild glad he wasn't a wild mage - she got one-shotted from full health by a 28 damage critical of a dread wolf. The dread wolf was attacking Misty and brilliantly switched targets to Paja and before I could equip her melee weapon she was dead.
So decided enough was enough, the tanks (Joshua and Corewild) duoed the rest of the area, with only the mages assisting if it was safe to do so. This worked better, and is what we will do for Pelvale and Bandit camp as well. Mages won't help with wolf type enemies.
Corewild the fighter/thief, his berserker tank, and group of wild mages update: Corewild=gnomish fighter/thief Joshua=gnomish berserker Misty, Forrest, Hanna, Paja = human wild mages
SETUP: EasyTutu TotSC Core rules at all times no mods
Wild Surges of note (since the START of the run): (click Spoiler to see details)
1) party slowed when casting armor when entering sirines area (not in combat) 2) Forrest polymorphed into wolf when trying to skull trap the kobold commandos guarding the entrance to level 4 of the Nashkel Mines 3) Paja got held by a wild surge during an ogrillion ambush. However, with direct damage spells, the ogrillions were not able to take advantage of that. 4) During a cave bear ambush got a particularly helpful surge - entire party was mirror imaged! Needless to say easy to win that ambush... 5) Misty gets a wild surge while casting magic missiles at at an ankheg - bit more than 11000 gold goes poof.
Made some good progress this morning. Pelvale, Bandit Camp and Ankeg Farm area have all been cleared. Pelvale was uneventful when we made sure only Corewild or Joshua were seen first. Bandit camp same strategy was used. Khosahnn got held by Paja so that was easy. Inside the tent, Joshua used a magic blocking potion and got Venkt's attention - then the party assisted and was a clean mop up. I got a lot of magic weapons/armor and decided maybe I should put in a barrel in case my gold goes poof.
As it turned out, this was almost prophetic. Because the Ankheg Farm area was next. We were killing the last of the ankhegs, but Misty got impatient and used magic missiles to speed up a kill. Was a VERY expensive set of magic missiles - wild surge destroys bit more than 11000 gold!!!
So while broke at the moment, not really broke as I will get at least a few thousand from the saved items. Will need to be sure to always do this for entire run, especially with 4 wild mages I have more chances than Grond0 to get this surge.
Will keep at it. Might be able to play a bit more tonight. This group is fun to play, if a bit challenging.
Sorry to hear Ogrim go down, @Aasim - so Wise was right after all. But you have a very hard install - have you even one Trilogy success yet? Maybe you need to tone it down a bit to give yourself a chance.
What's next @Wise_Grimwald ? Maybe a themed party? I already know the next themed party I will try when/if the wild mage party I'm currently working on goes down. My party full of wild mages who are actually casting spells isn't necessarily very promising on living a long life and all...but it makes for good forum material it seems...
Corewild the fighter/thief, his berserker tank, and group of wild mages update: Corewild=gnomish fighter(6)/thief(6) Joshua=gnomish berserker(7) Misty, Forrest, Hanna, Paja = human wild mages(7)
SETUP: EasyTutu TotSC Core rules at all times no mods
Wild Surges of note (since the START of the run): (click Spoiler to see details)
1) party slowed when casting armor when entering sirines area (not in combat) 2) Forrest polymorphed into wolf when trying to skull trap the kobold commandos guarding the entrance to level 4 of the Nashkel Mines 3) Paja got held by a wild surge during an ogrillion ambush. However, with direct damage spells, the ogrillions were not able to take advantage of that. 4) During a cave bear ambush got a particularly helpful surge - entire party was mirror imaged! Needless to say easy to win that ambush... 5) Misty gets a wild surge while casting magic missiles at at an ankheg - bit more than 11000 gold goes poof. 6) Lots of squirrels summoned in Ankheg ambush (had no combat effect that time) by a surge 7) Misty gets a surge that holds an ettercap that is attacking one of our mages
So the party is very nearly ready for the Cloakwood - but we decide to clear the last non chapter 4 area and non-TotSC area, the far eastern map (not sure on name, the one with the web traps and lost of spiders). Well we got into some ambushes on the way there, so we used lots of direct damage spells before we had even arrived. As is my custom, I clear the edges of the map, then explore the interior. It was taking quite a while to find enemies - eventually the tanks found spiders and the mages moved up to assist. However, all of a sudden though, Forrest was getting hit from an ettercap. By the time I found him to try to do something to help, he was already dead.
We are low on direct damage spells (that wouldn't also hurt ourselves that is), so start using items like wands and scrolls. However Misty came to the rescue with a wild surge that held the ettercap. Hey a wild surge that was actually useful...
So we loot Forrest's stuff, go to FAI, resurect and try to come back - but get an Ankheg ambush. The Ankheg was attacking Forrest. I equipped his staff (you can't really run from Ankhegs anyways). Wasn't too worried, thought maybe could kill it in 1-2 rounds. So we go to use our DD spells and Misty gets a new surge - mass of squirrels! Will this help us?
I tell squirrels to attack - they basically tell me to get lost and do their own thing. But then another Ankheg appears! Uh oh, could be bad for mages. I take the ambush seriously now, and luckily for Forrest, the Ankheg gets a critical miss - Forrest was hurt though and so started gulping heal potions.
By leaving nothing to chance, we do manage to save Forrest and win the ambush without a death.
This eastern area gets the mages level 7 - we now can cast level 4 spells, except most mages don't actually know any level 4 spells. So a visit to Durlag's is in order. We stock up on anything we think we might need and head to Durlag's - most battles were handled well by the team.
We cleared the upper levels of the Tower - most fights went without much comment. However, the mages started resenting the two fighters doing much of the fights themselves - so at the top level with the ghasts in the narrow corridors, the mages moved up to try to assist the fighters of the party. Most of the mages were smart and moved up the left corridor, which was clear and BEHIND the fighters. Forrest foolishly decided to forge his own path and go right - big mistake! There was a ghast at point blank range which wasn't engaging a fighter - Forrest tried scorcher (from wand) but was held immediately!
The party unloads everything they have to try to save him...
Because Corewild was in leather much of the time because of all the traps and locks, he was using his Bow of Markmanship - this bow saved Forrest! But Forrest was badly hurt (3 HP).
Party is starting to wonder if Forrest is just inherently unlucky - we will keep our eyes open for a rabbit's foot in our travels, and get him one if we find one.
Another quick update on Vishnaera, I cleared out the East Wood/Peldvale and most of the other forest with Bandits (didn't kill the Druids yet, because I don't remember how beefed up they are), almost got killed by the Red Wizards (9hp was my lowest, Slowed, Blinded and overrun by all type of creatures), but managed to take them out one by one after my first frontal attack failed. They were out of my reach but I got lucky that I saved against most spells they threw at me. I thought I had lost around 3 times, but luckily I had 3 potions of Extra Healing.
I'm level 10 with around 160k XP, I think I can take the Bandit Camp, but I don't want to risk it (mainly because I'm a terrible melee/ranged fighter, have bad AC and THAC0, and not enough spell damage to kill all of them instantly) yet (maybe I could use Potions of Explosions/Oils of Fiery Burning, but I have non atm I think and dunno where to buy them). I might leave the run on hold and play Alia a bit. Or I might go for the Ice Island, since mages aren't that hard to kill as an Avenger (if they fail their saving throw against Web they're dead), but I'm not sure if Shandalar is hostile, since I killed Dushai for her ring.
In Sword Spider form, you should hit -6 AC easily, -10 if you count Improved Invisibility and the only spellcaster in the bandit camp is Venkt. If you only bother with the tent, it should be an easy victory. If you fight the masses, Web and Call Woodland Beings are your friends. And Chaos, of course.
@Corey_Russell I have already started my next run. It is starting as a solo, but he will pick up allies that will be useful in Dragonspear. Despite what others have said, I still find that difficult. Perhaps they have characters with 50000 experience at the start, not 161000 as I do. https://forums.beamdog.com/uploads/editor/z8/a7pc9i4i6evs.jpg Björn headed for the Friendly Arms where he was attacked by an unfriendly mage. Björn cast sanctuary and the guards came to his help. When the mage was on the point of death, Björn joined in the fight and killed him.
Björn then killed some hobgoblins at Joia's request and then headed north where he killed the undead husband of a widow at her behest. He then agreed to help some fishermen against a priestess, but upon discovering the truth, he switched sides. This gained him a +1 flail, his weapon of choice. He then killed an ankheg. He used two potions of healing in the battle, and still only just survived, but survive he did.
He headed to Beregost, calmed down Marl and took a tome to his friend Firebead. He then killed some ogrillon to the south and an ogre to the north of Beregost before heading to Nashkel where he killed hobgoblins and kobolds on the way. Lord Foreshadow gave him a useful ring that negates his poor charisma. At the carnival he gained additional healing ability and in Nashkel he found some ankheg armour.
Briefly... we did some shopping in Trademeet and dealt with the Umar Hills quests. I rather like the Temple Ruins, short and sweet. Whitworth squeezed the locals for money until their pips squeaked though. The current party is proving rather deadly but Whitworth is still rather vulnerable to status effects. We're now in Windspear, we'll see if the vampires here cause any difficulty, and deal with Bodhi if they don't, maybe via Watcher's.
Björn headed south of Nashkel where he was attacked by Zargos Flintblade. Despite being buffed, was losing in melee so fled to the mine entrance where the guards helped him reduce the health of Zargos. Björn then fled east still followed by Zargos. Over and over he used his sling but without success. Then just when he was thinking of fleeing and trying again when a little stronger, Zargos fell. This was sufficient for him to become a third level fighter and Björn now has *** in flails. That levelling up made fighting Greywolf feasible and Björn prevailed again. However he now has no healing potions, so some shopping may be in order.
EDIT
Björn then killed some gnoll and helped Mellicamp.
Reputation now up to 16. He will soon be fulfilling his desire to be a real hero.
Bassilus was next to bite the dust. Buffing plus silence was most effective.
Hm, one or two bugs are putting a crimp in my progress. First at Windspear the Tomb Guardian caused a crash, possibly infinity animations related. A bit miffed I decided to wander a little elsewhere rather than completing the quest and letting Kivan cut down Tazok mkII.... But then when I tried to visit Watcher's Keep on my arrival I got the message that all exits were sealed and an 80,000 XP award. Hmph, Demogorgon must have heard I was coming and hid back under the bed. Anyone else had that bug? For now we shall head back to the city instead I guess. Possibly we could do the Planar Sphere instead or one or two left over quests.
Sorry to hear Ogrim go down, @Aasim - so Wise was right after all. But you have a very hard install - have you even one Trilogy success yet? Maybe you need to tone it down a bit to give yourself a chance.
No, in my 5 years no-reloads I haven't had one success. I did come close once; I even finished it (final battle is on Youtube) but I had to reload beforehand due to crash ; and moreover one of my characters got chunked before I reloaded so I don't consider that a success. Ao only knows what would happen if that character remained dead and how the battle would end. I had one (undocumented; Revisions) where I got up to Ascension finale, forgot to buff up (I tought I'd have a chance to do it there....years of not playing this battle took it's toll); got wiped in 2 rounds. It was a good game and I enjoyed it a lot; going through WK was a great experience after so many years of avoiding it (or dying there).
Vanilla game wise, I had several attempts with Grond0's one day challenge. Best bet, fighter/illusionist, got mazed by Abazigal. I'd love to try that again but I don't have the time to do so currently. The hardest run I ever had (Revisions+SCS+aTweaks) ended in Sendai's enclave. I can never forget the scene of a dozen demons teleporting to my back-row casters and ripping them apart. Fun days....
Corewild the fighter/thief, his berserker tank, and group of wild mages update: Corewild=gnomish fighter(6)/thief(6) Joshua=gnomish berserker(7) Misty, Forrest, Hanna, Paja = human wild mages(7)
SETUP: EasyTutu TotSC Core rules at all times no mods
Wild Surges of note (since the START of the run): (click Spoiler to see details)
1) party slowed when casting armor when entering sirines area (not in combat) 2) Forrest polymorphed into wolf when trying to skull trap the kobold commandos guarding the entrance to level 4 of the Nashkel Mines 3) Paja got held by a wild surge during an ogrillion ambush. However, with direct damage spells, the ogrillions were not able to take advantage of that. 4) During a cave bear ambush got a particularly helpful surge - entire party was mirror imaged! Needless to say easy to win that ambush... 5) Misty gets a wild surge while casting magic missiles at at an ankheg - bit more than 11000 gold goes poof. 6) Lots of squirrels summoned in Ankheg ambush (had no combat effect that time) by a surge 7) Misty gets a surge that holds an ettercap that is attacking one of our mages 8) Party is slowed by a wild surge while fighting a skeletal warrior in Durlag's Tower.
So as mentioned in my last post, we went looking in the lower levels of Durlag's Tower, trying to find some level 4 mage spells. The mission was nearly a success - all mages but Hanna know a level 4 spell now. Hanna had a chance to know a level 4 spell, but despite her 22 INT at the time, she flubbed the scribing.
It's my custom (in no-reload anyways) to never go below the Pride level. We don't do the puzzles on this level but scoured it trying to find some spells. We actually found some level 5 spells, which was good. But at two level 4 spells were flubbed and thus Hanna still has nothing for level 4, despite being able to cast level 4 spells. Maybe we'll find something in the Cloakwood MInes when we get there.
As for the Pride level, clearing and exploring this place was harrowing. We set off a lot of traps, despite Corewild detecting traps all the time. Despite his 100 detect trap skill, he couldn't see the fireball trap you get at the entrance to the Pride level - this trap killed Paja, so we had to leave, resurrect, re-quip and return.
Massive amount of ammo found (excess put in our bank). We found a mountain of blue potions - good thing on that, as we used a mountain of blue potions, so evened out. Many of the fights were quite hard. That fight with the skeletal warrior and the phase spiders was very hard - we survived but much of the party was badly hurt.
We had a rather nasty surge - we got slowed while fighting a skeletal warrior. So now we have a tough time actually damaging it. We tried spells, but he resisted most of them unsurprisingly. We eventually got him though all the same.
Once this level was cleared (not counting the puzzle portions), we decided we had enough of Durlag's Tower. We put massive amount of goodies (to sell) in our barrel in Beregost - if we lose gold again from a surge, we are ready!
Will brave the Cloakwood next session. Might try to pick-pocket Dushai's free action ring next session also, just so things like ghasts/carrion crawlers are bit safer to deal with - would also allow us to put bunch of webs on Joshua's head.
Comments
Hahhahahah.....
I didn't go to WK; but I did have an itch that needed to be scratched. So I decided to fight a relatively risky battle that potentially yields high rewards. First, since I was already in Temple District, I stole the Lathander statue (my rep is 7). That done, Docks, deal with Mae'var.
Easy peasy. The itch grew on me, so I took care of the Copper Coronet slavers to get Tugian bow (my wizardlsayer was unarmed up to this point.)
That done, Temple District (incredibly enough, still no Suna Seni ambush) - get Celestial Fury. I bought 2x Minor sequencer scroll + Spell Sequencer. This kinda took away all gold I had, but whatever.
I buff downstairs, hide everyone in 10' radius invisibility, load up sequencer - 3x Ice storm, Minor 2x Web, 2nd Minor 2x Acid Arrow (unused).
I rush the stairs and open up with the sequencer.
Unfortunately, enemies got hasted as well. Web sequencer was a total fail, and two of my characters got held in it. Sion opens with Time Stop.
He fails to do much within it - Dispel Magic got absorbed by our Screen - meanwhile, my barbarian and druid are free of webs. I summon skeletons + Otyughs (Gaius leaves Monster Summoning 7 scroll). These are cool, but are very large and won't fit in tight spaces.
I focus down Koshi first.
Next should be Ketta, she's very annoying...
She turns invisible asap, but that doesn't stop AoE spells...
Sion gets rid of the summons via Banishment and joins the frey. He fires a defensive sequencer (beats 3x Lighting bolt, in any case - that would kill any of my characters instantly).
I can't touch him (he also has a Spell Trap active, so he's immune to all magic) so I focus the two remaining fighters (cleric died to ice storms). Sion doesn't stand idle - I avoidied his Dragon's breath by running away, but Comet is unavoidable...
I summons some monsters via wand and spread out. He fires his trigger (3x Chain Lighting) at my Disciple. She lives, incredibly enough. Sion's PfMW expired, he doesn't recast it, so I send my wizard slayer after him.
Shaman starts to dance (first time in the game I use this ability), some spirit boars appear.
Cute, but they're uncontrolable....
Wizard Slayer hits him with Disruptive Strike, removing his stoneskin and inflicting spell failure. He's done for.
I still lost my sorceress (Sion tagged her with Bigby's Icy Grasp, which continously damaged her); but all is good. Celestial Fury is mine, and now I have a mean dwarven katana-wielding barbarian.
Turn out @Wise_Grimwald was right about Ogrim. We did manage to finish WK statues (the first bunch, at least - I haven't even tried the 2nd that includes mages).
Torgal was also finished. All good, but the problem was - what next? Vampires are quite dangeorus still, Unseeing Eye ended too much of my runs already, Trademeet is a lagfest, so - Umar Hills dungeon it was.
The problem is in "always spawn toughest spawns" part of my install. This meant I will have to tackle 2 liches. First one was kinda ok. 4 dead, nobody chunked. Go to city, revive, get back.
The 2nd one, however....auch. Just to point out the odds here - we're fighting a level 25 lich with HLAs, my party is level 12. We don't have a single spell that can damage him, we're out of any magical ammo but quiver+1 and 20 arrows of Piercing (needed to kill the Planetar he would summon). He comes with his undead retinue (Greater Mummies, skeletons) and has at least 4(!) Cornugons to summon. These cast Dispel and Lighting bolts at will.
We were brave; and I tought I could defeat this one just as I did the 1st one (the key figure was wizard slayer, who managed to disrupt a few Cornugon gatings, so I only had 2 to fight).
However, this time, the Lich played his cards right, and had a hidden ace up his sleeve - trigger 3x Chain Lightning. This spell is utterly devestating, comes with a -4 save penalty, and loaded in trigger - wrecks those not ready for it.
We did kill most of the undead and the planetar thou, which is a feat by itself considering Lich bombarded us with a Dragon's breath and a Comet. The fact that Remove Fear needs to be active constantly didn't help either.
This is what his trigger did to us. All died, sans protagonist (teleport field placed him away from the rest of the party.)
I hid him away; only a Cornugon and an Efreet followed. But these two are very troublesome, especially Cornugon - his Lightning bolt deals up to 40 damage. Ogrim ran out of healing potions, and gets back to where his falled comrades lay.
Lich is there as well, starts a Cojuration spell; I knew what it was before it even hit....
R.I.P. Ogrim.
I think I'm gonna have to make a new install. This "always spawn toughest" is insanity when coupled with "HLA's as innates" + "All spellcasters get HLAs".
Edwin has just developed a dilemma as to which bathroom to use and I imagine that we shall do some shopping and visit either Watcher's Keep or the Umar Hills next. Reputation is not too high yet despite our our heroic deeds as Whitworth tends to take a proactive approach to justice and not allow miscreants like Sethle (or Harpers!) to escape.
Seems like I just jumped the gun.
That meant that I didn't have his input when I told the dwarves that Coldearth was a lich.
The dwarves attacked and as a result I didn't get the potions to weaken Coldearth. (I would have thought they would have been on the body of one of the dwarves. They weren't!
This made the battle against Coldearth much more dangerous.
Cyresia got stunned and Tiax killed early on in the battle.
Not sure what killed Cyresia. I thought Kagain was blocking Coldearth.
It could have been a spell.
Corewild=gnomish fighter/thief
Joshua=gnomish berserker
Misty, Forrest, Hanna, Paja = human wild mages
Last update
SETUP:
EasyTutu
TotSC
Core rules at all times
no mods
Wild Surges of note (since the START of the run):
1) party slowed when casting armor when entering sirines area (not in combat)
2) Forrest polymorphed into wolf when trying to skull trap the kobold commandos guarding the entrance to level 4 of the Nashkel Mines
3) Paja got held by a wild surge during an ogrillion ambush. However, with direct damage spells, the ogrillions were not able to take advantage of that.
4) During a cave bear ambush got a particularly helpful surge - entire party was mirror imaged! Needless to say easy to win that ambush...
The party is still level 6 (long way to level 7, probably somewhere in Cloakwood we'll get level 7). Now that the wild mages are level 5, we are dying a lot less, and enemy parties aren't too much problem either (well, at least as long as we have spells available they aren't).
Here are some of the things that happened:
* Got into quite a few ambushes this session. But now that our magic missiles are 3 orbs, ambushes are much less a problem. One ambush Forrest got held by a ghast and got very low life, but concentrated direct damage spells on the ghast made sure Forrest pulled through without dying
* Apparently in my install, you EITHER get the rep from the dig leader OR you kill the Doomsayer, but NOT both - I wanted the Doomsayer (we had tons of magic missiles memorized and ready), but didn't know this and talked to the dig leader and he took the idol with him, thus no fight. We got 1 round of attacks in before he fled but the Doomsayer lived...
* We've cleared everything that isn't North of Beregost except Durlag's. Ankhegs are our next target. We will then do the bandit camp, Larswood, Pelvale, the area with the Wizards of Thay, then will have no choice but to tackle the Cloakwood.
* Now that Corethief has some HP (60), he has decided to put away his bow and equip his +2 long sword. The higher AC is better against Ankhegs. We plan to get the acid scroll for him (for safety reasons) as well as upgrade his shield (Bjorin's shield) to a +1 large shield before we tackle the Ankhegs.
* We are finding that enemies (even enemy parties) are pretty helpless to 4 level 5 wild mages supported by a berserker and fighter/thief. Am sure that will change later, but that's what we are finding in Chapter 3.
Click spoiler to see screenshots from the adventure:
Corewild=gnomish fighter/thief
Joshua=gnomish berserker
Misty, Forrest, Hanna, Paja = human wild mages
Last update
SETUP:
EasyTutu
TotSC
Core rules at all times
no mods
Wild Surges of note (since the START of the run):
1) party slowed when casting armor when entering sirines area (not in combat)
2) Forrest polymorphed into wolf when trying to skull trap the kobold commandos guarding the entrance to level 4 of the Nashkel Mines
3) Paja got held by a wild surge during an ogrillion ambush. However, with direct damage spells, the ogrillions were not able to take advantage of that.
4) During a cave bear ambush got a particularly helpful surge - entire party was mirror imaged! Needless to say easy to win that ambush...
Well, had a very short session this evening because of chess club. But significant stuff happened so putting this post up. The group tried to clear Larswood, but had a lot of issues. Mainly, almost any time mages got seen 1st, they got killed.
Paja got killed by a dread wolf, Misty got killed by archers, requiring a temple visit and 800 gold each. Paja's death was particularly scary and made Corewild glad he wasn't a wild mage - she got one-shotted from full health by a 28 damage critical of a dread wolf. The dread wolf was attacking Misty and brilliantly switched targets to Paja and before I could equip her melee weapon she was dead.
So decided enough was enough, the tanks (Joshua and Corewild) duoed the rest of the area, with only the mages assisting if it was safe to do so. This worked better, and is what we will do for Pelvale and Bandit camp as well. Mages won't help with wolf type enemies.
Corewild=gnomish fighter/thief
Joshua=gnomish berserker
Misty, Forrest, Hanna, Paja = human wild mages
Last update
SETUP:
EasyTutu
TotSC
Core rules at all times
no mods
Wild Surges of note (since the START of the run): (click Spoiler to see details)
2) Forrest polymorphed into wolf when trying to skull trap the kobold commandos guarding the entrance to level 4 of the Nashkel Mines
3) Paja got held by a wild surge during an ogrillion ambush. However, with direct damage spells, the ogrillions were not able to take advantage of that.
4) During a cave bear ambush got a particularly helpful surge - entire party was mirror imaged! Needless to say easy to win that ambush...
5) Misty gets a wild surge while casting magic missiles at at an ankheg - bit more than 11000 gold goes poof.
Made some good progress this morning. Pelvale, Bandit Camp and Ankeg Farm area have all been cleared. Pelvale was uneventful when we made sure only Corewild or Joshua were seen first. Bandit camp same strategy was used. Khosahnn got held by Paja so that was easy. Inside the tent, Joshua used a magic blocking potion and got Venkt's attention - then the party assisted and was a clean mop up. I got a lot of magic weapons/armor and decided maybe I should put in a barrel in case my gold goes poof.
As it turned out, this was almost prophetic. Because the Ankheg Farm area was next. We were killing the last of the ankhegs, but Misty got impatient and used magic missiles to speed up a kill. Was a VERY expensive set of magic missiles - wild surge destroys bit more than 11000 gold!!!
So while broke at the moment, not really broke as I will get at least a few thousand from the saved items. Will need to be sure to always do this for entire run, especially with 4 wild mages I have more chances than Grond0 to get this surge.
Will keep at it. Might be able to play a bit more tonight. This group is fun to play, if a bit challenging.
Corewild=gnomish fighter(6)/thief(6)
Joshua=gnomish berserker(7)
Misty, Forrest, Hanna, Paja = human wild mages(7)
Last update
SETUP:
EasyTutu
TotSC
Core rules at all times
no mods
Wild Surges of note (since the START of the run): (click Spoiler to see details)
2) Forrest polymorphed into wolf when trying to skull trap the kobold commandos guarding the entrance to level 4 of the Nashkel Mines
3) Paja got held by a wild surge during an ogrillion ambush. However, with direct damage spells, the ogrillions were not able to take advantage of that.
4) During a cave bear ambush got a particularly helpful surge - entire party was mirror imaged! Needless to say easy to win that ambush...
5) Misty gets a wild surge while casting magic missiles at at an ankheg - bit more than 11000 gold goes poof.
6) Lots of squirrels summoned in Ankheg ambush (had no combat effect that time) by a surge
7) Misty gets a surge that holds an ettercap that is attacking one of our mages
So the party is very nearly ready for the Cloakwood - but we decide to clear the last non chapter 4 area and non-TotSC area, the far eastern map (not sure on name, the one with the web traps and lost of spiders). Well we got into some ambushes on the way there, so we used lots of direct damage spells before we had even arrived. As is my custom, I clear the edges of the map, then explore the interior. It was taking quite a while to find enemies - eventually the tanks found spiders and the mages moved up to assist. However, all of a sudden though, Forrest was getting hit from an ettercap. By the time I found him to try to do something to help, he was already dead.
We are low on direct damage spells (that wouldn't also hurt ourselves that is), so start using items like wands and scrolls. However Misty came to the rescue with a wild surge that held the ettercap. Hey a wild surge that was actually useful...
So we loot Forrest's stuff, go to FAI, resurect and try to come back - but get an Ankheg ambush. The Ankheg was attacking Forrest. I equipped his staff (you can't really run from Ankhegs anyways). Wasn't too worried, thought maybe could kill it in 1-2 rounds. So we go to use our DD spells and Misty gets a new surge - mass of squirrels! Will this help us?
I tell squirrels to attack - they basically tell me to get lost and do their own thing. But then another Ankheg appears! Uh oh, could be bad for mages. I take the ambush seriously now, and luckily for Forrest, the Ankheg gets a critical miss - Forrest was hurt though and so started gulping heal potions.
By leaving nothing to chance, we do manage to save Forrest and win the ambush without a death.
This eastern area gets the mages level 7 - we now can cast level 4 spells, except most mages don't actually know any level 4 spells. So a visit to Durlag's is in order. We stock up on anything we think we might need and head to Durlag's - most battles were handled well by the team.
We cleared the upper levels of the Tower - most fights went without much comment. However, the mages started resenting the two fighters doing much of the fights themselves - so at the top level with the ghasts in the narrow corridors, the mages moved up to try to assist the fighters of the party. Most of the mages were smart and moved up the left corridor, which was clear and BEHIND the fighters. Forrest foolishly decided to forge his own path and go right - big mistake! There was a ghast at point blank range which wasn't engaging a fighter - Forrest tried scorcher (from wand) but was held immediately!
The party unloads everything they have to try to save him...
Because Corewild was in leather much of the time because of all the traps and locks, he was using his Bow of Markmanship - this bow saved Forrest! But Forrest was badly hurt (3 HP).
Party is starting to wonder if Forrest is just inherently unlucky - we will keep our eyes open for a rabbit's foot in our travels, and get him one if we find one.
I'm level 10 with around 160k XP, I think I can take the Bandit Camp, but I don't want to risk it (mainly because I'm a terrible melee/ranged fighter, have bad AC and THAC0, and not enough spell damage to kill all of them instantly) yet (maybe I could use Potions of Explosions/Oils of Fiery Burning, but I have non atm I think and dunno where to buy them). I might leave the run on hold and play Alia a bit. Or I might go for the Ice Island, since mages aren't that hard to kill as an Avenger (if they fail their saving throw against Web they're dead), but I'm not sure if Shandalar is hostile, since I killed Dushai for her ring.
https://forums.beamdog.com/uploads/editor/z8/a7pc9i4i6evs.jpg
Björn headed for the Friendly Arms where he was attacked by an unfriendly mage. Björn cast sanctuary and the guards came to his help. When the mage was on the point of death, Björn joined in the fight and killed him.
Björn then killed some hobgoblins at Joia's request and then headed north where he killed the undead husband of a widow at her behest. He then agreed to help some fishermen against a priestess, but upon discovering the truth, he switched sides. This gained him a +1 flail, his weapon of choice. He then killed an ankheg. He used two potions of healing in the battle, and still only just survived, but survive he did.
He headed to Beregost, calmed down Marl and took a tome to his friend Firebead. He then killed some ogrillon to the south and an ogre to the north of Beregost before heading to Nashkel where he killed hobgoblins and kobolds on the way.
Lord Foreshadow gave him a useful ring that negates his poor charisma. At the carnival he gained additional healing ability and in Nashkel he found some ankheg armour.
was losing in melee so fled to the mine entrance where the guards helped him reduce the health of Zargos. Björn then fled east still followed by Zargos. Over and over he used his sling but without success. Then just when he was thinking of fleeing and trying again when a little stronger, Zargos fell.
This was sufficient for him to become a third level fighter and Björn now has *** in flails. That levelling up made fighting Greywolf feasible and Björn prevailed again.
EDIT
Björn then killed some gnoll and helped Mellicamp.Reputation now up to 16.
Bassilus was next to bite the dust. Buffing plus silence was most effective.
I had one (undocumented; Revisions) where I got up to Ascension finale, forgot to buff up (I tought I'd have a chance to do it there....years of not playing this battle took it's toll); got wiped in 2 rounds. It was a good game and I enjoyed it a lot; going through WK was a great experience after so many years of avoiding it (or dying there).
Vanilla game wise, I had several attempts with Grond0's one day challenge. Best bet, fighter/illusionist, got mazed by Abazigal. I'd love to try that again but I don't have the time to do so currently.
The hardest run I ever had (Revisions+SCS+aTweaks) ended in Sendai's enclave. I can never forget the scene of a dozen demons teleporting to my back-row casters and ripping them apart. Fun days....
Corewild=gnomish fighter(6)/thief(6)
Joshua=gnomish berserker(7)
Misty, Forrest, Hanna, Paja = human wild mages(7)
Last update
SETUP:
EasyTutu
TotSC
Core rules at all times
no mods
Wild Surges of note (since the START of the run): (click Spoiler to see details)
1) party slowed when casting armor when entering sirines area (not in combat)
2) Forrest polymorphed into wolf when trying to skull trap the kobold commandos guarding the entrance to level 4 of the Nashkel Mines
3) Paja got held by a wild surge during an ogrillion ambush. However, with direct damage spells, the ogrillions were not able to take advantage of that.
4) During a cave bear ambush got a particularly helpful surge - entire party was mirror imaged! Needless to say easy to win that ambush...
5) Misty gets a wild surge while casting magic missiles at at an ankheg - bit more than 11000 gold goes poof.
6) Lots of squirrels summoned in Ankheg ambush (had no combat effect that time) by a surge
7) Misty gets a surge that holds an ettercap that is attacking one of our mages
8) Party is slowed by a wild surge while fighting a skeletal warrior in Durlag's Tower.
So as mentioned in my last post, we went looking in the lower levels of Durlag's Tower, trying to find some level 4 mage spells. The mission was nearly a success - all mages but Hanna know a level 4 spell now. Hanna had a chance to know a level 4 spell, but despite her 22 INT at the time, she flubbed the scribing.
It's my custom (in no-reload anyways) to never go below the Pride level. We don't do the puzzles on this level but scoured it trying to find some spells. We actually found some level 5 spells, which was good. But at two level 4 spells were flubbed and thus Hanna still has nothing for level 4, despite being able to cast level 4 spells. Maybe we'll find something in the Cloakwood MInes when we get there.
As for the Pride level, clearing and exploring this place was harrowing. We set off a lot of traps, despite Corewild detecting traps all the time. Despite his 100 detect trap skill, he couldn't see the fireball trap you get at the entrance to the Pride level - this trap killed Paja, so we had to leave, resurrect, re-quip and return.
Massive amount of ammo found (excess put in our bank). We found a mountain of blue potions - good thing on that, as we used a mountain of blue potions, so evened out. Many of the fights were quite hard. That fight with the skeletal warrior and the phase spiders was very hard - we survived but much of the party was badly hurt.
We had a rather nasty surge - we got slowed while fighting a skeletal warrior. So now we have a tough time actually damaging it. We tried spells, but he resisted most of them unsurprisingly. We eventually got him though all the same.
Once this level was cleared (not counting the puzzle portions), we decided we had enough of Durlag's Tower. We put massive amount of goodies (to sell) in our barrel in Beregost - if we lose gold again from a surge, we are ready!
Will brave the Cloakwood next session. Might try to pick-pocket Dushai's free action ring next session also, just so things like ghasts/carrion crawlers are bit safer to deal with - would also allow us to put bunch of webs on Joshua's head.
Are these portraits your family?
Hanna, Josh=Kids
Forrest=co-worker
Misty=Forrest's girlfriend