Vishnaera finally dealt with the Bandit Camp. I used Improved Invisibility to sneak into Tazok's Tent, and blasted everyone out of this world with a bunch of Webs and Potions of Explosions. The battle went pretty straightforward, except she got pretty hurt after she ran out of Ironskins.
I took a Potion of Invisibility to sneak out, and rested. With Web and the remaining Potions of Explosions/Oils of Fiery Burning, I took care of most of the remaining Bandits. I killed the last of the Hobgoblins with whatever spells I had at hand, Ardenor Crush got killed by Petrification from a Chromatic Orb + a wild 2nd strike of Lightning Call. I rested again and used Web + Spiderwoman to take care of the remaining Bandits in the area.
Notable loot: an unidentified Tome from the dude with the Full Plate Mail, a pair of Magical Bracers (might be cursed), two Potions of Firebreath, around 2,5k gp and 20 Bandit Scalps.
After all this, Vishnaera got ambushed, by an Ogre Mage and it's Vampiric Wolf pet. Might sound like they are worthy foes, but they actually are pretty lousy when you throw in the Spider-Web-tactics and a bunch of Sunscorches.
I didn't memorize any spells yet. Travelled to the FAI, rested again and saved. Might play a bit more later... Spiderwoman might have to fight against her own kin today...
More Vishnaera/Spiderwoman. I killed 9 Wyverns (got 5 extra by resting inside their cave and killing them with missiles weapons over the wall they can't pass), murdered about seventy zillions of Baby freaking Wyverns with Lightning spells (my favourite was in Peter of the North's Cave, casting Prot. from Lightning over myself and letting them die from the bounce) because there are thousands of the little idiots and I'm not willing to waste an entire minute for each of these carrot heads just to kill them in melee with my fabulous Spider powers.
I was lucky enough to get the Hamdryad to fail her saving throw against the opening Chromatic Orb, because she can Charm me, and Mind Spells isn't something I can make Vishnaera immune to (I need to get the Greenstone Amulet ASAP but I have no clue of where it might be... Thank you, Item Randomiser... I might check the mod's readme to see where it might be because I really need it, even if that feels like cheating), although I believe she'll cast Entangle first, it was nice that there was no risk involved.
The battle against Drasus' party was hard. Mostly because I fucked up by sending in a bunch of Hamadryads and a Charmed Guard, and wanted to sneak invisible to Charm both of the Wizards with the Hamadryads, but before I could cast Improved Invisibility, Drasus ran to me, Genthore killed one of the Dryads and the two wizards were already super buffed.
I ran off, got Confused, but it wore off before they could do anything else than dispelling my Ironskins. Luckily Genthore didn't follow me; he was probably too busy polishing his armor I guess. Confused, I somehow managed to separate my persecutors (Kysus, Drasus and Rezdan). After the effect was over, I ran away from both Drasus/Kysus and stumbled into Rezdan, whose MGoI (and Mirror Image!) had wore off. I instantly casted Web, he got Held and killed by Spiderwoman.
I rested, killed Drasus with Web, rested again and tried to face Kysus, but well, he's really tough. I almost got killed by him, but survived again by a miracle named Potions of Extra Healing (thanks, SCS), ran away, slept and went back at him. This time I casted Improved Invisibility upon myself, and went out to the Woods to find him. After I had found Kysus, I moved away, so that he would be out of my line of sight, and dropped a good couple of Webs, waited until he got Held, and bit him to death as a Sword Spider. Genthore was dealt with in the same old fashion, Web and Spider form.
No useful loot, although it will give me some good coin (Plate Mail+1, Morning Star+1 and Large Shield+?). I also got a Studded Leather+2 and a Chain Mail+1 from Centeol, besides the Spider's Bane. As I've said before, nothing useful, but it'll amount a lot of gold once sold.
I need to get the Greenstone Amulet ASAP but I have no clue of where it might be... Thank you, Item Randomiser... I might check the mod's readme to see where it might be because I really need it, even if that feels like cheating
I'll put it into spoiler so in case you would think it might be cheating information you'll skip it:
As Greenstone Amulet originally is on sale in Ulgoth's Beard it belongs to ToSC content and thus Item Randomiser put it somewhere in those ToSC areas - Durlag's Tower, Ice/Werewolf Isles.
For a while now nearly all my time available for gaming has been spent playing @Shandyr's Heroes 3 map of the sword coast (https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/37276/beta-testers-and-proofreaders-wanted-baldurs-gate-meets-heroes-of-might-and-magic-3). Oh all right if you want the truth then nearly all my time available for gaming AND quite a bit of time not available for gaming has been spent playing that . However, I have been doing some MP Baldur's Gate and am sadly behind in recording progress in the run with Gate70. I'll get around to that, but in the meantime here's a missing session from the Trio.
Continuing their progress in the early game Hannater concentrated on blinding all-comers, such as Greywolf (incidentally, the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that the previous update referred to Hanna. She hasn't actually had a sex change after talking to Edwin. Instead he has more in common with she-who-must-not-be-named from SoD - having apparently been a man all his life, but only noticing that after starting adventuring ).
The first problem of the session came when trying to take Samuel to the FAI to get some healing. A bandit ambush provided Hannater with his first death and Friendly was lucky to make it to the edge of the map with a few HPs left (meanwhile, the brave Ijut actually went to pick up Hannater's things before running away).
Hannater was keen to get some bracers to improve his AC against bandit attacks so led the way to the xvart village. He had previously picked up a wand of frost and proceeded to put that to use - not particularly good use considering that in this BGT installation it produces a cone of cold rather than a single target blast, but the others survived the experience .
A few quests to improve reputation included successfully saving Melicamp and pushing up levels for everyone there.
After a bit more reputation harvesting the arcane specialists in the party decided that they had more than enough magic missiles for the Doomsayer. Hannater ran out of his spells first, but rather than wait for Friendly to finish things off he made use of a scroll to claim the kill.
With reputation up at 20 the Trio made their way up towards Ulgoth's Beard. On the way Ijut lived up to his name by volunteering to play target for a bunch of ankhegs. That went more smoothly than might be expected though thanks to the 12 sleep spells available daily to Friendly - those took down all but the last ankheg in the cave without a scratch on Ijut. Hannater blinded the final one and although it managed one bite before it died that didn't do much damage.
Looking for a bit of quick XP the battle horrors at Durlag's were helpless against magic missiles, while the basilisks on the roof were not intelligent enough (no SCS in this installation) to target unprotected characters. Ijut also picked up the tome there to give to Hannater (with both high intelligence and wisdom his lore is currently a match for most bards). There were more basilisks on offer east of the Beregost temple. After finishing those off Mutamin was webbed and poisoned. Kirian tried to point out the attackers to her companions only to find that all three of them were blinded and sitting in a web. Her chances of doing anything were also pretty limited by the assassin poison coursing through her veins (not playing in EE so poison will take down all enemies very quickly).
Björn and party wiped out the bandits at their camp. Ouside Tazok's tent went straightforwardly. Inside however, it was another story as half the party got incapacitated. On the plus side, ALL the bandits got incapacitated and as a result, the battle was quickly won.
On his way back to Beregost, Björn got waylaid by some paladins who were misled into thinking Björn was evil. Björn prevailed however.
He proceeded to Cloakwood where the party was strong enough to defeat most enemies easily. However a dragon was clever enough not to target the tank who attacked first with his scorching spell, but kept it back to attack one who was not so well protected from fire. Thorin got quite badly hurt by it.
Selene rewarded them for their exploits.
Some winter wolves however were less perceptive and used their spells on a party member with 100% resistance to cold.
A crazy dryad was the next to attack and she and her allies fell quickly.
A Hamadryad was next to fall:
In the wyvern cave, after killing the wyverns, the party deemed it the correct time to rest, however, every time this was attempted, another wyvern turned up. This was good for experience, but was a drain on potions to slow the poison. After attempting to sleep 17 times, the party decided to go elsewhere to rest.
Björn then headed for the Cloakwood Mines where Safana by use of stealth was able to warn Björn about the enemy's position. As a result, the party was triumphant.
In the mines, Hareishan was most obliging in her positioning which made her easy to kill.
At the bottom of the mines the party were once more successful, but Dynaheir got killed when trapped in her own web. .
Outside Safana got badly ghurt by lightning.
They took a spider egg to Thalantyr who was unable to deal with it. However his dialogue with Mellicamp was entertaining.
More assassins attacked as the party attempted to enter Baldur's Gate. They died!! :
Inside the city Larze attacked and died, as did Marek.
The rest of the quests in the city posed no problem.
A quick update. We decided to take down Bodhi and did the lair with few problems. Doing the Troll's Whisper quest (UB or Quest Pack? I forget ) we ended up in Druid's Grove and a die roll let Cernd in for us to slay the dragon. However rather bizarrely some of Cernd's equipment (from I Shall Never Forget Mod) caused wild surges unbeknownst to us, and he caused fear on Firkraag which led to a rather easy battle, although one or two companions were also nearly petrified... Then on the return to the city we had yet more of a song and dance as we picked up Cernd's baby and slew the offending wizard only for Cernd to decamp with some valuable equipment and entirely fail to show up in the Druid Grove. I've never really got the hate for Cernd but he is just clearly waaay too unreliable a hippy for us.
Come back Edwin all is forgiven... and just as we visit Watcher's she becomes he again so hopefully we can rely on him from now on... Will tour Watcher's upper level and then catch a boat.
Dealt with level 1 apart from the statues but now after talking to Aran no transition to the voyage takes place. I shall google the problem... am using original BG2 this time of course.
Edit: No luck so far... if anyone has advice about globals then let me know...
Björn and party visited Durlag's Tower and have killed everything in sight apart from the merchant and Love. They even killed both Rigglio and Kirinhale. They are now returning to the Gate where they intend to visit the Iron Throne. The only major problem in the tower was that Safana set off a trap whilst trying to pick it. The entire party got badly burned, but were able to heal themselves. They intend to return on the tour to the tower when they have tied up a few loose ends.
@Mantis37 - I think if you turn on cheats for BG 2 (you can google how to do that), you can jump to Brynnlaw. There may be other variables too but not sure. I don't know the AR code for that, you'll have to look that up. I also know this problem has come up before and is in the BioWare threads somewhere (the answer I mean). The threads archived by Serg Blackstrider. He put them up on a web site.
Here is the BG 2 BioWare thread archive (answer is somewhere in there):
Thanks for the suggestion. Looks like I have some no-reload study to do! I can alter the chapter number to 4 and jump to Brynlaw but there's no Saemon/Sime/ vamps so I'm not sure if going on from there will just lead to a broken game.
I don't think you need the vamps, but you do need to spawn Saemon. Find out his creature code then you can use CLUAConsole to put him in and talk to him to get things going. But the answers in the thread answer all of this.
Björn and party went through Candlekeep prevailing in every battle. They are now investigating the Section HQ in Beregost. In using the term "investigating" I mean "killing everyone in sight."
@Mantis37 I was trying to find the answer I was referring to but no luck so far. But then it dawned on me. It was customary to make a new topic whenever we ran into bugs, so as not to derail the no-reload thread. So maybe it's one of those threads (which unfortunately were lost forever when the BioWare forums went down). So maybe the answer isn't there.
But if you can already get to Brynnlaw, then spawning Saemon might be all you need to get you going.
But I don't think you need Saemon until you get out spellhold and he might be there without having to put him in.
Thanks for searching. Spawning Saemon/ Sime hasn't helped so far. I begin to think of the show Whose Line Is It Anyway? , where they had a game where all the actors but one died, who tries to keep the play going by moving everyone else around..."What's that Saemon? You want to betray me?" I may just try playing on and see if I can fudge things, as unsatisfying as that will feel.
I suspect that playing around with the globals in AR0307.bcs (Shadow thief lair) might help but I haven't got any experience with playing around with those kinds of variables. Will play around a little though, problems are always opportunities to learn new things .
The Trilogy in a day shouldn't be too hard for him then...
I CLUAed my way to Brynnlaw and seem to have been able to make progress. I used the Spellhold Gauntlet challenge mod to speed on and save time in case the install was indeed super wonky, but have defeated Irenicus and met Saemon again with no apparent problems. Should be under the sea and then under the light before long... put my back out with a hernia so playing in spurts for now.
So, here's an attempt to reconstruct my notes from action several weeks ago. The dauntless duo had just finished off Sarevok and arrived in Jon's dungeon, where: - there were some painful encounters with traps, but nothing fatal.
- Beark took advantage of a MP glitch to talk to a mis-placed genie.
- Lessa's desire to drop skull traps on top of Beark was somewhat justified in the elemental plane when the latter was stunned by a mephit.
- Ulvaryl was about to disappear, but Beark got her just in time.
After the Circus Suna Seni offered little threat
before Beark went in search of the Ring of Gaxx (mainly to heal skull trap damage more easily). The rakshasa in the temple sewers that ended one recent run didn't get around to trying any spells this time
and it wasn't long before Kangaxx had a fatal encounter with Daystar.
Despite our heroics there though Sir Ryan Trawl was not interested in offering us a commission at that time.
A side trip to Watcher's Keep was made to get the potion case and, as only mephits were guarding the main room of the top level that was looted as well. With the cash gained there Gaelan Bayle was paid off.
Thinking about getting the protection of the iMoD for Beark the duo started doing Aran's tasks. On arriving at the Bridge District though disaster struck when some muggers tried to extort money. Lessa offered her normal gift in those circumstances - a skull trap - and that cast despite her attempt to abort as a passer-by appeared around the corner of a building at just the wrong moment (hence the reason Lt Aegisfield seems a bit put out here).
A slight reduction in reputation would not normally be classed as a disaster, but with a ranger in the party the description seems fair .
Carrying on regardless, despite Beark's changed status, the duo solved the skinner murders, picked up Renfeld and did the harpers before going to the de'Arnise Hold in search of the FoA. That was safely acquired with the help of some furry friends
- and a quick exit when a different summons appeared.
Moving on to Trademeet Beark came a cropper once more in the troll mound when staying to fight with giant trolls a moment too long.
After returning from a temple trip there were no more problems on the way to watch Cernd deal with Faldorn.
A bit more reputation was recovered from the tomb and sorting out Rejiek.
Back in Athkatla the Copper Coronet got a change of management before returning to the Bridge District. When sorting out the skinner murders earlier various Rejiek's had been making a pest of themselves and that was still the case - multiple versions of them persistently refusing to die,
so stealth and invisibility had to be used to strand them in unpopulated areas.
Next up the Graveyard was cleared, while downstairs some spiders were having a confusing time.
Inside the vampire lair the creatures of the dark were no problem, but Beark realised too late he had not got the right weapon equipped against the clay golem.
After another temple trip summons helped smooth the way to sort out Bodhi - she didn't last long against the 8 APR with Daystar provided by Gaxx haste.
Lessa, wild mage 13, 69 HPs (incl. 6 from familiar, 6 from ioun stone), 126 kills (+73 in BG1) Beark, fallen stalker 11, 122 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 251 kills (+277 in BG1), 3 deaths
Björn and party did indeed kill everything in sight in the Beregost Section HQ. Nikita stopped fighting for the enemy and so wasn't killed, and Dynaheir got killed at the bottom too. However she was not chunked. There was no room for Nikita in the party, but if I ever need her she will be at the FAI. I will post screenshots later. It is as well that the party have a bag of holding as they currently have 56 sets of Full Plate Mail. That will come to quite a lot of gold if I ever need any. Party currently has over 20,000 gp. I will probably go shopping at some point to recharge the wands. It is not currently a top priority as they have an abundance of wands. There will be no more levelling up before going to either the Nine Hells or Dragonspear as all party members have reached 161,000 experience. If I do the Drizzt Saga I will have no problems with my conscience in levelling up at that stage as Belhifet et al are overpowered. It is a long time since I did the Drizzt Saga so I may well go to the nine hells on this run. Dynaheir was raised at the Beregost temple.
Dawn Priest Blaise is going to ask Sister Sapienta up to see his Illuminations and is going to dust off his incubabula. The mind boggles!
Björn and party went down into the depths of Durlag's Tower and gradually began to wish that they had heeded the warnings of others.
First of all Safana was hurt by a trap and continued to get hurt despite there no icon saying that she was poisoned. Everyone tried to heal her but to no avail. She died slowly but surely.
(Are there traps that give poison damage but which don't register as such?)
Because of the lack of trap detection Dynaheir also got killed. The party killed a wyvern and then headed back, tails between their legs. They are in need of some encouragement at the moment. Even the mighty hero Björn Ironfist was feeling somewhat dejected.
However after raising Safana and Dynaheir his spirits revived somewhat and after a good night's sleep they feel ready to face the world again.
From Under Sea to Under Stone. We completed the Sahaugin City, though Shar-Teel annoyed the prince into a fight so the king was the winner this time out- though we'd already pickpocketed him anyway... One scare as Whitworth trod on a green blob trap but survived. Now in the Underdark as a level 19 scout (party 14-16). Fairly sure that we will cut things short and not try to hang around the drow city for too long after last time's debacle.
This time Björn and party reached the demonknight but sadly no helm of opposite alignment down there. I was going to test what has been posted on this thread about that helm: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/29289/did-you-know/p85 The initial post was by @Abi_Dalzim with @ThacoBell giving further information. I may CLUA the helm in to do some testing, but won't use that game for my run. Since I had already reached experience 161,000 there was no real reason to go down there other than getting the equipment and it was the helm that I really wanted, as the other stuff is no better than I already had.
EDIT
Back in Beregost now. I've heard that the January sales have been extended and with over 40,000 gp, a rep of 20, and a charisma that I can boost to 21, clearly a shopping spree is in order. I also have equipment for sale but that can perhaps wait until it is needed.
In real time Beark & Lessa have just climbed up the Tree of Life into ToB, but here are a few more of their earlier adventures.
To get the iMod they completed the Sir Sarles quest - I really don't know what Neb had to laugh about here ...
The Mae'Var tasks were quickly done without problems before moving on to Umar Hills. We were still relatively low level and the greater mummies leading the undead there were suckers for an iMoD punch.
Thaxy was a bit more troublesome - a wild surge early on causing a potential problem when Lessa was entangled - Beark did a good job of luring the dragon away however.
The delay allowed Thaxy to heal himself of the damage inflicted in the initial assault, but Beark took some healing potions to keep going and a combination of his melee attacks and some fire wand damage from Lessa finally saw victory.
On my screen the Shade Lord then died without even being attacked, but Gate70 was able to provide the evidence of the fatal blow.
After forging the dragon armour to improve Beark's AC a bit (he still has the restrictions of a stalker, though he's lost the benefits) it was time for the Planar Sphere. Beark was confused when facing Necre, but skeletons kept him safe while indisposed.
He went out of his mind again against Tolgerias, but the mage had greater concerns than trying to finish him off.
Some golems proved fairly tough opponents due to Beark's relatively poor AC, but he survived to take the Sphere home.
It was Lessa's turn again to struggle after killing Mekrath. Some umber hulks initially didn't seem to be a problem, but their habit of disappearing into the wall by a door resulted in Lessa following them into danger - particularly after being confused.
Fortunately Beark was able to get himself in the way and limit the attacks on Lessa until she got herself back under control.
An invisible entry to the Planar Prison allowed some bounty hunters to be disposed of and the duo swiftly moved on round. Improved invisibility protected Beark from the Master of Thralls for the short time necessary to hack him down with a Gaxx haste. The Warden also didn't last long against some raging ice storms.
The last of the main Chapter 2 & 3 areas was Windspear Hills. A group of vampires met their normal fiery end
before Lessa summoned some skeletons to help with some lycanthropes - an area surge there allowing her to bypass the normal summoning limit!
Beark had no fire protection, but was still just able to finish off all the Guardians without any healing
and some would-be ambushers had a bad day.
Beark still had relatively little fire protection when confronting Firkraag, but the dragon was so closely pressed in melee he forgot to breathe (until he couldn't).
Back in Athkatla Lessa wanted to get a staff upgrade before leaving for Brynnlaw. The Twisted Rune saw the normal protection - undead scrolls for the lich, saves for Vaxall. Lessa produced a fireball surge here, that would have killed her during many past encounters - fortunately though she was at full HPs at this point and survived comfortably enough.
Layene then surprisingly proved unable to handle Kitthix and Lessa grabbed the staff.
I recorded stats progress at various points, but not around here it appears ...
This time Björn and party reached the demonknight but sadly no helm of opposite alignment down there. I was going to test what has been posted on this thread about that helm: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/29289/did-you-know/p85 The initial post was by @Abi_Dalzim with @ThacoBell giving further information. I may CLUA the helm in to do some testing, but won't use that game for my run. Since I had already reached experience 161,000 there was no real reason to go down there other than getting the equipment and it was the helm that I really wanted, as the other stuff is no better than I already had. .
It most be changes that a mod made. Just killed the demon knight in an unmodded game (version 1.3). The helmet was there - it didn't make a difference if you brokke the mirror.
Rambling along in the Underdark we played around with releasing prisoners. After a battering from Mr. Diggot, we rested up and dealt with the Balor. Then we came back and played with a few more facets of the rubiks cube. Out pops a crazy mage. Now we would have killed the mage but Aran has the bright idea of healing them so we can demand our rightful reward. No sooner has he finished the spell than the mage has imprisoned him.
Not a single freedom scroll in sight so far mind you.
So... obviously the mage is chunked into oblivion but we now have a problem....
The freedom scrolls were in the drow city. Which we can only get into after Adalon's magic takes effect. Which Aran is not around for. I have no idea if he still gets drowified or not. I could RP it either way, that Adalon can do the spell only once or many times.
For now I have used Level 1 NPCs to switch Xulaye to become a cleric. I can try continuing with her, and finishing the Drow City her way... though playing the shell game with dragon eggs is what got Whitworth killed last time.
Or I can say sod it and try to leave at some point with Aran before getting locked in. However if the drow at the surface entrance recognise him as a non-drow (even if he's under invisibility?), then we may be unable to bribe our way out and then we'll have to kill Adalon. Something else which I can't remember doing successfully.
For now we have Xulaye and will help Phaere. But our path just became that little bit forked again...
Grr, long and witty comment got eaten. Short short version.
Underdark.
Aran gets imprisoned by mage from the rubiks cube just as he casts heal.
No freedom scroll till drow city so Aran stays imprisoned while Adalon applies shoe polish to us.
Picked up Xulaye instead, level 1 npc-ed to a cleric.
Can RP that Adalon can cast drowifying magic more than once or that it's a one-shot unique magic. Have no idea how drow will react if Aran rejoins now.
Can 1) Go Xulaye's route all the way, and then pick up Aran on the way out.
2) Break off before the city gets locked and try to get out the exit by bribing the guards. If this fails for some reason (will Aran get in the way, even if invis-ed?) then we may have to kill Adalon. Which has a slight risk and I can't remember doing it.
3) Forget Aran's complications, and recruit some other deserving healer back on the surface, after retrieving valuable equipment. Is this the game's way of making me take back Cernd??? Those hippies have ways and means to influence the cosmic skein man...
createaccount said: Wise_Grimwald said:This time Björn and party reached the demonknight but sadly no helm of opposite alignment down there. I was going to test what has been posted on this thread about that helm: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/29289/did-you-know/p85 The initial post was by @Abi_Dalzim with @ThacoBell giving further information. I may CLUA the helm in to do some testing, but won't use that game for my run. Since I had already reached experience 161,000 there was no real reason to go down there other than getting the equipment and it was the helm that I really wanted, as the other stuff is no better than I already had. .
It most be changes that a mod made. Just killed the demon knight in an unmodded game (version 1.3). The helmet was there - it didn't make a difference if you brokke the mirror.
You should clua the helmet..
I suspect that the Drizzt Saga might be the culprit as that has Demon Knights in it. Thanks for the input.
One comment which got cut when I rewrote... doing option 1) and playing the shell game with dragon eggs is of course what got me killed last time... So clearly it can't happen again!
Comments
Notable loot: an unidentified Tome from the dude with the Full Plate Mail, a pair of Magical Bracers (might be cursed), two Potions of Firebreath, around 2,5k gp and 20 Bandit Scalps.
After all this, Vishnaera got ambushed, by an Ogre Mage and it's Vampiric Wolf pet. Might sound like they are worthy foes, but they actually are pretty lousy when you throw in the Spider-Web-tactics and a bunch of Sunscorches.
I ran off, got Confused, but it wore off before they could do anything else than dispelling my Ironskins. Luckily Genthore didn't follow me; he was probably too busy polishing his armor I guess. Confused, I somehow managed to separate my persecutors (Kysus, Drasus and Rezdan). After the effect was over, I ran away from both Drasus/Kysus and stumbled into Rezdan, whose MGoI (and Mirror Image!) had wore off. I instantly casted Web, he got Held and killed by Spiderwoman.
I rested, killed Drasus with Web, rested again and tried to face Kysus, but well, he's really tough. I almost got killed by him, but survived again by a miracle named Potions of Extra Healing (thanks, SCS), ran away, slept and went back at him. This time I casted Improved Invisibility upon myself, and went out to the Woods to find him. After I had found Kysus, I moved away, so that he would be out of my line of sight, and dropped a good couple of Webs, waited until he got Held, and bit him to death as a Sword Spider. Genthore was dealt with in the same old fashion, Web and Spider form.
No useful loot, although it will give me some good coin (Plate Mail+1, Morning Star+1 and Large Shield+?). I also got a Studded Leather+2 and a Chain Mail+1 from Centeol, besides the Spider's Bane. As I've said before, nothing useful, but it'll amount a lot of gold once sold.
As Greenstone Amulet originally is on sale in Ulgoth's Beard it belongs to ToSC content and thus Item Randomiser put it somewhere in those ToSC areas - Durlag's Tower, Ice/Werewolf Isles.
Friendly, sorcerer (Grond0); Ijut, halfling assassin (Gate70) & Hannater, gnome illusionist (Corey_Russell)
Previous updates
For a while now nearly all my time available for gaming has been spent playing @Shandyr's Heroes 3 map of the sword coast (https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/37276/beta-testers-and-proofreaders-wanted-baldurs-gate-meets-heroes-of-might-and-magic-3). Oh all right if you want the truth then nearly all my time available for gaming AND quite a bit of time not available for gaming has been spent playing that
Continuing their progress in the early game Hannater concentrated on blinding all-comers, such as Greywolf (incidentally, the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that the previous update referred to Hanna. She hasn't actually had a sex change after talking to Edwin. Instead he has more in common with she-who-must-not-be-named from SoD - having apparently been a man all his life, but only noticing that after starting adventuring
The first problem of the session came when trying to take Samuel to the FAI to get some healing. A bandit ambush provided Hannater with his first death and Friendly was lucky to make it to the edge of the map with a few HPs left (meanwhile, the brave Ijut actually went to pick up Hannater's things before running away).
Hannater was keen to get some bracers to improve his AC against bandit attacks so led the way to the xvart village. He had previously picked up a wand of frost and proceeded to put that to use - not particularly good use considering that in this BGT installation it produces a cone of cold rather than a single target blast, but the others survived the experience
A few quests to improve reputation included successfully saving Melicamp and pushing up levels for everyone there.
With reputation up at 20 the Trio made their way up towards Ulgoth's Beard. On the way Ijut lived up to his name by volunteering to play target for a bunch of ankhegs. That went more smoothly than might be expected though thanks to the 12 sleep spells available daily to Friendly - those took down all but the last ankheg in the cave without a scratch on Ijut. Hannater blinded the final one and although it managed one bite before it died that didn't do much damage.
Looking for a bit of quick XP the battle horrors at Durlag's were helpless against magic missiles, while the basilisks on the roof were not intelligent enough (no SCS in this installation) to target unprotected characters. Ijut also picked up the tome there to give to Hannater (with both high intelligence and wisdom his lore is currently a match for most bards). There were more basilisks on offer east of the Beregost temple. After finishing those off Mutamin was webbed and poisoned. Kirian tried to point out the attackers to her companions only to find that all three of them were blinded and sitting in a web. Her chances of doing anything were also pretty limited by the assassin poison coursing through her veins (not playing in EE so poison will take down all enemies very quickly).
Friendly, sorcerer 5, 22 HPs, 65 kills
Ijut, assassin 6, 41 HPs, 99 kills, 1 death
Hannater, illusionist 5, 22 HPs, 33 kills, 1 death
He proceeded to Cloakwood where the party was strong enough to defeat most enemies easily. However a dragon was clever enough not to target the tank who attacked first with his scorching spell, but kept it back to attack one who was not so well protected from fire. Thorin got quite badly hurt by it.
In the mines, Hareishan was most obliging in her positioning which made her easy to kill.
Come back Edwin all is forgiven... and just as we visit Watcher's she becomes he again so hopefully we can rely on him from now on... Will tour Watcher's upper level and then catch a boat.
Edit: No luck so far... if anyone has advice about globals then let me know...
Here is the BG 2 BioWare thread archive (answer is somewhere in there):
blackstrider.net/forum_bioware_arhiv/forum.bioware.com/topic/124277-baldurs-gate-2-no-reload-challenge/index.html
But if you can already get to Brynnlaw, then spawning Saemon might be all you need to get you going.
But I don't think you need Saemon until you get out spellhold and he might be there without having to put him in.
I suspect that playing around with the globals in AR0307.bcs (Shadow thief lair) might help but I haven't got any experience with playing around with those kinds of variables. Will play around a little though, problems are always opportunities to learn new things
I CLUAed my way to Brynnlaw and seem to have been able to make progress. I used the Spellhold Gauntlet challenge mod to speed on and save time in case the install was indeed super wonky, but have defeated Irenicus and met Saemon again with no apparent problems. Should be under the sea and then under the light before long... put my back out with a hernia so playing in spurts for now.
Lessa, elf wild mage (Grond0) & Beark, human stalker (Gate70)
Previous updates at:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/845200/#Comment_845200
So, here's an attempt to reconstruct my notes from action several weeks ago. The dauntless duo had just finished off Sarevok and arrived in Jon's dungeon, where:
- there were some painful encounters with traps, but nothing fatal.
After the Circus Suna Seni offered little threat
A side trip to Watcher's Keep was made to get the potion case and, as only mephits were guarding the main room of the top level that was looted as well. With the cash gained there Gaelan Bayle was paid off.
Thinking about getting the protection of the iMoD for Beark the duo started doing Aran's tasks. On arriving at the Bridge District though disaster struck when some muggers tried to extort money. Lessa offered her normal gift in those circumstances - a skull trap - and that cast despite her attempt to abort as a passer-by appeared around the corner of a building at just the wrong moment (hence the reason Lt Aegisfield seems a bit put out here).
Carrying on regardless, despite Beark's changed status, the duo solved the skinner murders, picked up Renfeld and did the harpers before going to the de'Arnise Hold in search of the FoA. That was safely acquired with the help of some furry friends
Moving on to Trademeet Beark came a cropper once more in the troll mound when staying to fight with giant trolls a moment too long.
Back in Athkatla the Copper Coronet got a change of management before returning to the Bridge District. When sorting out the skinner murders earlier various Rejiek's had been making a pest of themselves and that was still the case - multiple versions of them persistently refusing to die,
Next up the Graveyard was cleared, while downstairs some spiders were having a confusing time.
Lessa, wild mage 13, 69 HPs (incl. 6 from familiar, 6 from ioun stone), 126 kills (+73 in BG1)
Beark, fallen stalker 11, 122 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 251 kills (+277 in BG1), 3 deaths
Dawn Priest Blaise is going to ask Sister Sapienta up to see his Illuminations and is going to dust off his incubabula.
First of all Safana was hurt by a trap and continued to get hurt despite there no icon saying that she was poisoned. Everyone tried to heal her but to no avail. She died slowly but surely.
(Are there traps that give poison damage but which don't register as such?)
Because of the lack of trap detection Dynaheir also got killed. The party killed a wyvern and then headed back, tails between their legs. They are in need of some encouragement at the moment. Even the mighty hero Björn Ironfist was feeling somewhat dejected.
However after raising Safana and Dynaheir his spirits revived somewhat and after a good night's sleep they feel ready to face the world again.
EDIT
Back in Beregost now. I've heard that the January sales have been extended and with over 40,000 gp, a rep of 20, and a charisma that I can boost to 21, clearly a shopping spree is in order. I also have equipment for sale but that can perhaps wait until it is needed.Lessa, elf wild mage (Grond0) & Beark, human stalker (Gate70)
Previous updates at:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/845200/#Comment_845200
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/850430/#Comment_850430
In real time Beark & Lessa have just climbed up the Tree of Life into ToB, but here are a few more of their earlier adventures.
To get the iMod they completed the Sir Sarles quest - I really don't know what Neb had to laugh about here ...
The Mae'Var tasks were quickly done without problems before moving on to Umar Hills. We were still relatively low level and the greater mummies leading the undead there were suckers for an iMoD punch.
After forging the dragon armour to improve Beark's AC a bit (he still has the restrictions of a stalker, though he's lost the benefits) it was time for the Planar Sphere. Beark was confused when facing Necre, but skeletons kept him safe while indisposed.
It was Lessa's turn again to struggle after killing Mekrath. Some umber hulks initially didn't seem to be a problem, but their habit of disappearing into the wall by a door resulted in Lessa following them into danger - particularly after being confused.
An invisible entry to the Planar Prison allowed some bounty hunters to be disposed of and the duo swiftly moved on round. Improved invisibility protected Beark from the Master of Thralls for the short time necessary to hack him down with a Gaxx haste. The Warden also didn't last long against some raging ice storms.
The last of the main Chapter 2 & 3 areas was Windspear Hills. A group of vampires met their normal fiery end
Back in Athkatla Lessa wanted to get a staff upgrade before leaving for Brynnlaw. The Twisted Rune saw the normal protection - undead scrolls for the lich, saves for Vaxall. Lessa produced a fireball surge here, that would have killed her during many past encounters - fortunately though she was at full HPs at this point and survived comfortably enough.
I recorded stats progress at various points, but not around here it appears ...
You should clua the helmet..
Rambling along in the Underdark we played around with releasing prisoners. After a battering from Mr. Diggot, we rested up and dealt with the Balor. Then we came back and played with a few more facets of the rubiks cube. Out pops a crazy mage. Now we would have killed the mage but Aran has the bright idea of healing them so we can demand our rightful reward. No sooner has he finished the spell than the mage has imprisoned him.
Not a single freedom scroll in sight so far mind you.
So... obviously the mage is chunked into oblivion but we now have a problem....
The freedom scrolls were in the drow city. Which we can only get into after Adalon's magic takes effect. Which Aran is not around for. I have no idea if he still gets drowified or not. I could RP it either way, that Adalon can do the spell only once or many times.
For now I have used Level 1 NPCs to switch Xulaye to become a cleric. I can try continuing with her, and finishing the Drow City her way... though playing the shell game with dragon eggs is what got Whitworth killed last time.
Or I can say sod it and try to leave at some point with Aran before getting locked in. However if the drow at the surface entrance recognise him as a non-drow (even if he's under invisibility?), then we may be unable to bribe our way out and then we'll have to kill Adalon. Something else which I can't remember doing successfully.
For now we have Xulaye and will help Phaere. But our path just became that little bit forked again...
Underdark.
Aran gets imprisoned by mage from the rubiks cube just as he casts heal.
No freedom scroll till drow city so Aran stays imprisoned while Adalon applies shoe polish to us.
Picked up Xulaye instead, level 1 npc-ed to a cleric.
Can RP that Adalon can cast drowifying magic more than once or that it's a one-shot unique magic. Have no idea how drow will react if Aran rejoins now.
Can 1) Go Xulaye's route all the way, and then pick up Aran on the way out.
2) Break off before the city gets locked and try to get out the exit by bribing the guards. If this fails for some reason (will Aran get in the way, even if invis-ed?) then we may have to kill Adalon. Which has a slight risk and I can't remember doing it.
3) Forget Aran's complications, and recruit some other deserving healer back on the surface, after retrieving valuable equipment. Is this the game's way of making me take back Cernd??? Those hippies have ways and means to influence the cosmic skein man...
.
It most be changes that a mod made. Just killed the demon knight in an unmodded game (version 1.3). The helmet was there - it didn't make a difference if you brokke the mirror.
You should clua the helmet..
I suspect that the Drizzt Saga might be the culprit as that has Demon Knights in it. Thanks for the input.