Coming back here after the weekend and seeing only one (!) update to this thread after previous lively weekends (and working days) of this thread... All I can say is that Hachiman's BG1 story will be continued this week!
At the Red Sheaf inn yet another bounty hunter tried his luck against Butch and his gang but the rogue, pleasantly surprised to see Finch and to see her wade into battle with her flail, had little to fear from his opponent.
Finch, more a bookworm than an adventurer yet eager to experience the Life, was welcomed into the party. They traveled south to Nashkel because they wanted to finally explore the mines. However in Nashkel their plans changed.
In Nashkel we were approached by a disoriented fellow with a rodent in his hand that he pointed toward us. He spoke incongruently to his pet and later to us. From what I could understand he was a Ranger from Rashemen who had lost his ward Dynaheir, his 'witch' he called her, captured by Gnolls. I was about to express my symapthies and bid the man farewell when Kivan, no doubt reminded by the stranger's words of his tortured and killed mate Deheriana, stepped in to say we ought to help the woman.
I conceded, and the others didn't protest either although Finch decided to stay in Nashkel (she had business there, setting up a library). Minsc, as the lout called himself, joined us. He explained to us that we had to travel westward through the Cloud Peaks, toward a Gnoll settlement.
Our journey was a lot more eventful than I had hoped for. Unwillingly we got into a fight with three Amnish hunters who basically refused to allow us into 'their' territory. The combined firepower of Kagain, Minsc and Jaheira was too much to handle for their leader, a dualwielding warrioress, and the other two (archers the both of them) fell soon after their commander.
The woman dropped a pair of what would later turn out to be Bracers of Archery, and two enchanted scimitars. [Note: with Item Randomisation, items have to be identified before they're equipped because cursed items can look like other, useful items as we know them. The Bracers of Archery could have been Bracers of Binding for example. The party also found a suit of cursed Missile Attraction armor that had the appearance of Shadow Armor.] We met an old man, Ordolath, who offered to pay us 2,000 Guilders and a precious item for bringing him a candle from his home in Baldur's Gate.
Kagain and I agreed that this lucrative errand would have to be our next job, as soon as Minsc's business with the Gnolls was over.
In the same area we unknowingly helped an unaggressive demon (disguised as a young boy) find his wolf, and we slew two bandits even though one of them managed to stupefy Jaheira with Darts of Stunning.
On their corpses we found a pair of enchanted bracers (AC6, we would discover later, useful for Kivan who, as a Feralan, doesn't wear armor) as well as a very nice enchanted axe (+2, +1 APR) for Kagain.
Further west the companions protected a Dryad from two numskulls who wanted to cut down her tree, and they reunited a sobbing young girl with her lost (and dead) cat. Much more consequential was an ambush of sorts by Ogres in the same area: two Berserkers, an initially invisible Mage, and one Ogrillon, all of them hasted.
The battle soon turned into a chaos (quite literally) for the party. Minsc enraged but seemed more interested in battling Kagain than in dealing with the Ogres, which angered Butch to no small extent. Whereas Kagain had been doing a good job at proving himself a trustworthy brother-in-arms to Butch, the addlepated Ranger thanked his presence in the party to Kivan's sentiments and had done little to nothing thus far to actually earn his place in the group. Both warriors and Jaheira were Slowed by the Ogre Mage, leaving them highly vulnerable to the faster Ogre Berserkers. Jaheira went down in no time, while Imoen and Kivan saw their minds jumbled by a Chaos spell - with Butch narrowly escaping said spell's area of effect. On his own against the three Ogres, Butch rushed to Jaheira and took an invisibility potion from her that he promptly swigged.
Unseen, he saw slowed Kagain and Minsc succumb to the Berserkers' attacks, but Kivan and Imoen endured the Chaos effect. Not much later a Minor Sequencered Invisibility and Mirror Image enabled the Ogre Mage to sneak-attack Imoen with great success
before Kivan and Butch could defeat the creature (and its aides).
Kivan and Butch stripped their companions of most of their equipment (storing it in an abandoned cave), and returned to Nashkel with them, where the Helmite priest Nalin took care of them. Butch then dismissed Minsc, insisting that notwithstanding the Ranger's good intentions, there was no place in the party for a berserker who wasn't in control of himself. He did however keep his word of trying to rescue Minsc's watch.
With Finch again in our midst we returned to the Cloudpeaks, and were happy to find the equipment we had stashed in the cave. After about a day we reached a bridge that led to a large fortress on a cliff, the Gnoll Stronghold. At the end of the bridge two Half-Ogres wanted to charge us for passing and attacked when we refused to pay, so we slew them. The path that led to the fortress was clear for everyone to see, but we decided to look for alternative routes that would allow us to surprise the Gnolls. Alas we found no such route. When we returned to the entrance to the fortress an assassin attacked us. We fell back but were too slow to prevent him from stabbing me.
I quaffed a potion of healing to recover from the blow and my companions dispatched my attacker. When we finally thought we could enter the Gnoll stronghold, three more assassins or bounty hunters appeared: a hasted Dwarven fighter, a spellcasting rogue, and a female backstabber. I shouted at my companions to retreat, but when we first paused we didn't see Jaheira and Kagain anywhere, and Imoen and Kivan were unable to go on.
[Note: Kagain and Jaheira had been subjected to a Chaos spell. Kivan died because he had less than 15 HP when his feral rage wore off.]
Imoen, Kivan, Finch and I returned to Nashkel, and later to Beregost, expecting to find Kagain and Jaheira there, but unfortunately we wouldn't. We bought some valuable equipment in Beregost and at the High Hedge: an agility-increasing ioun stone, an infravision-providing ioun stone, and a very nice crossbow that allows me to launch bolts at a greater pace. Having no idea where Kagain and Jaheira were, we decided to return to the Gnoll fortress. Maybe our comrades expected us there. Upon arrival we were appalled to discover the assassins were still there even though days had passed since our encounter with them. Before we could blink the caster downed Imoen with a magical burning arrow.
Finch did us a favor by Silencing the mage, but he then neutralized both her and Kivan with powerful backstabs.
Butch escaped the same fate thanks to a potion of invisibility he had kept at hand. He then crossed the bridge, wary that the wizard might cast a detection spell that would reveal him. He was most pleasantly surprised to find Kagain and Jaheira there, hidden behind a large rock. The two other assassins they had seen before, the Dwarf and the female rogue, were nearby as well. Butch revealed himself before Kagain and Jaheira and had them follow him to the female assassin. Kagain slew her with a forceful swing of his axe.
Butch placed two traps and then lured the Dwarven assassin toward Kagain and himself. The traps and another mighty swing of Kagain's axe finished their foe.
However, the most dangerous enemy was still around, the Thief/Mage. Jaheira cast Sparks at him,
but that spell didn't deal as much damage as she must have hoped, and it also didn't interrupt the assassin's casting of a Chaos which would affect both Kagain and her.
Kagain and Butch kept attacking the assassin though. The wizard failed at casting his next spell (thanks to Wizard Slayer Kagain's spellfailure penalty on hit). It instilled a trace of hope in Butch that soon all would be well. But then the mage successfully brought Butch under the effect of a second Chaos spell, and he petrified Jaheira with a Chromatic Orb. She was gone forever. Kagain, initially still under the effect of Chaos, then single-handedly dealt with the assassin while Butch was walking around aimlessly, confused.
Jaheira's loss was a devastating blow to me and even to Kagain who, in spite of philospohical differences, had appreciated the Druid for her prowess in battle, no-nonsense attitude, and courage as much as I had. Of the people I had traveled and worked with since I left Candlekeep, Jaheira had been amongst the best, together with Kagain and maybe Kivan. She would be missed. I also felt terrible because sooner or later I would have to tell Khalid what had happened.
With Jaheira's demise and with Kivan, Finch and Imoen more dead than alive and in no condition to fight, I was in a mood as glum as after Gorion's fall. I was sat next to Imoen, talking softly to her, when Kagain came to me with a grim resolve in his look. "Let us bust some Gnoll heads friend and release that Minsc's wench. Get that piece of business out of the way, and get out of this stinking place." We took Imoen, Kivan and Finch to one of various caves where they could rest. I took another look at my hurting companions, placed a bolt in my crossbow and found some of the Dwarf's stubborn resolution take hold of me. "Time to kill," I told Kagain. There were many Gnolls of different ranks, two Clan Leaders, a handful of Elite Warriors and several Veterans as well as lower ranked Gnolls. Although some of them hit hard, and caused us to retreat at some point,
we did not relent. We exterminated each and every single one of the hyena-like monsters.
We found Minsc's ward, Dynaheir, disheveled hair and dressed in rags in a pit. Unlike her companion she was completely sane though. She thanked us for releasing her, and offered to join our party. Said she was a mage. I politely declined, knowing that having her around would also mean having to put up with Minsc in the party eventually. We did escort the woman bck to Nashkel though, where we reunited her with Minsc.
In Beregost the party sold a lot of loot, and bought an enchanted large shield (+2) and a very nice suit of Dwarven Mithril Plate armor for Kagain (AC -2, +1 CON; I had to change it in NI because it gave a +3 CON bonus rather than a +1 bonus as per the item description). [Note: taking into account Item Randomisation plus Kagain's Wizard Slayer kit, meaning no Dex Gauntlets, I think the armor won't overpower him.]
Moving on with the main questline. We side with the Shadow Thieves for two reasons: first, I've already decreased the Robe of Vecna's casting speed bonus from 4 to 2, and want to gain access to the Amulet of Power's casting bonus as soon as possible to maintain our fast spellcasting. Second, I want to get back at Tanova for killing Vivian. The cost is the Shadow Thief Dagger, which has an undocumented bonus: it sets your APR to 2. It doesn't benefit from STR bonuses and has no to hit or damage bonuses, but it is a speed weapon, and has the curious advantage of being a nonmagical weapon, making it very excellent at breaking through PFMW. The Tuigan Bow with normal arrows is better for Blueberry, but the STD is usable by Cavaliers and Kensais--it has its uses, even if there are good alternatives.
On the first mission for Aran Linvail, Blueberry gets temporarily feebleminded by a unique SCS2 vampire Domination spell.
Luckily, she's tough enough to weather Lassal's attacks. Since I've had trouble dealing with him in the past, we just teleport away and rest until sunrise, forcing Lassal to turn to mist.
At Bodhi's hideout, we approach Tanova while hidden, under the effects of Protection from Undead. Tanova sees through Protection from Undead, as she is not classified as undead, but I don't want any vampires bothering us while Blueberry deals with Tanova. First, we take care of Tanova's girlfriend.
When Tanova appears, Blueberry nails her with a disabler. Tanova fails her save, though we had other spells memorized in case the first failed.
But Tanova is not done yet. I need +3 weapons (Blackblood or the Short Sword of Backstabbing) to hurt her, which means I need to be within melee range, and therefore her range of sight, to hurt her.
I've gone over the possible contingencies and set up Blueberry's spellbook to address the many ways this fight could go wrong. We have Dimension Door to escape Tanova's Remove Magic spells, and Blueberry can bring out Minor Spell Deflection almost instantly if Tanova should try a Breach spell or the like. She could still hit Blueberry with PW: Stun, but her Stoneskin would keep her alive for a bit. And once Blueberry recovered, she could turn invisible instantly, and heal myself a little with Cure Light Wounds in case Tanova used Melf's Acid Arrow, which would keep Blueberry safe from Tanova's second PW: Stun.
But my preparations prove unnecessary. Tanova fails a save against one of the most overpowered spells in the game.
When she gets low on HP, however, she starts to run--Feeblemind won't stop that. But Hold Undead will.
And a Breach removes Tanova's pesky Fire Shield as well as her Stoneskin. This allows Blueberry to finish her off in the five rounds before Hold Undead wears off.
Gellal, too, is easily handled with Feeblemind.
Durst and Lassal meet the same fate. I lose multiple Protection from Undead spells, but relying on Feeblemind kept Blueberry safe. But one problem remains.
Bodhi is a monster in SCS2, and the Amulet of Power won't be enough on its own. Checking her files suggests we would have much difficulty killing her. I calculated Bodhi's and Blueberry's hit chance, resistances, average damage, regeneration, and factored in our potions, and found that Blueberry could only barely defeat Bodhi, if she was fully buffed. But I have an alternate plan.
We enter the coffin room, unbuffed, and stake Lassal. Bodhi appears and gives us a speech. Due to some dialog.tlk oddities, several of her lines are the spell descriptions for Spell Trigger and some other high-level mage spells, but that's just a cosmetic quirk. The real surprise is when Bodhi spawns in some allies. I recognize some Spectral Guards, which don't matter much, and also Manasseh--the counterpart to Hazarmavath. We have two high-level mages facing us, plus Bodhi and some minor goons.
Blueberry is utterly outclassed. We activate our backup plan: Blueberry teleports out of the room, hoping to reach the exit. The moment she appears in the hall, Bodhi ends the fight.
Success! But that was just a test run, hence her arriving unbuffed. I have to do it again to confirm that it wasn't a fluke. I reload and try it again.
Sure enough, Bodhi ends the fight as soon as Blueberry teleports away. We won!
It seems that fighting Bodhi is actually completely option in Chapter 2, even if you side with the Shadow Thieves. All you have to do is run away, and the battle will be over.
Not sure when I'll resume with Nadeem heading to Spellhold; just been very busy lately.
Could I also request, if it's not out of order, that people stop posting bitmap images? I spend most of my time on these forums on my phone and opening a single page destroys my data allowance for a month because there's so many images that are each over 1MB in size. How about converting to jpeg before posting?
I thought this forum didn't support jpeg images, or that they didn't upload properly. I've been using bitmaps because I thought it was the only way. If jpegs work just as well, I'll switch to jpegs.
We're ready to go to Spellhold, but I want to squeeze some more XP out of the game before I move on--I don't want to fight Irenicus and go through the Underdark until I'm ready. The next easiest quest is in Firkraag's lair. Now that Blueberry is at mage level 12, she can cast level 6 mage spells, and because she has a kit, the game erroneously gives her an extra spell slot per spell level, as if she was a specialist mage. It's not an intentional bonus, but I think it's pretty fair, considering she's restricted from both Conjuration and Evocation spells.
And it's nice to have those extra slots. For once, we manage to kill the Ruhk Transmuter, instead of watching him kill himself with a Skull Trap or a Cloudkill spell. After disabling him with Web Tangle (which has a spell level of 0, bypassing Rakshasa immunities), Blueberry attacks him while Misled and under the effects of Improved Haste.
Since skipping over enemy spawning triggers is still new to me, and therefore fun, I avoid spawning the first pack of golems, but accidentally trigger the spawns in the undead room when I'm distracted by fighting some orcs. The undead spawns, fortunately, turn out to be ghouls and mummies.
Some may object to using Mislead to backstab. I think it's realistic considering the Ruhk Transmuter was webbed. Besides, a teleporting spider should excel at getting in backstabs, especially when aided by illusion magic.
I've been limiting my rests out of curiosity and found that it saves time, particularly since I'm limiting pre-buffing as well: I don't pre-buff if I'm fighting spellcasters, since they don't pre-buff in my install. I still pre-buff for some non-caster enemies, though.
I also give Blueberry a couple of new abilities. Since it makes little sense that a Phase Spider can't cast Spider Spawn, I add a couple of new abilities to the kit. First, Blueberry gets a variant of Spider Spawn that has an equal chance of summoning a Phase Spider, Sword Spider, or Giant Spider. Second, the kit now has a female-only summoning spell in which Blueberry can spawn in 10 very tiny baby spiders. The spiders are terribly weak and easy to hit (10 AC!) and have a 20% chance of dying on birth. Also, Blueberry can't cast spells or use any thieving abilities for two rounds after she spawns the little spiders, and she gets a -5 to hit and damage for 3 rounds as well. The little spiders are just there as an escape option, but they might also have some offensive potential in BG1.
My earlier worries about Samia proved unfounded. Blueberry fled in the first round, brought out her buffs, and webbed the enemy with traps, following up with Mislead backstabs. They didn't stand a chance.
Blueberry could take on the djinni Guardians with Protection from Fire and backstabs (the easternmost djinni can be rotated via talk-blocking so you can backstab him), but since Blueberry can't wear helms or masks or circlets, she can't wear the Mask of King Strohm, and therefore cannot ever get the Dragonslayer sword or the Dragonscale Shield: the last Guardian will never appear, and even if it's possible to hurt the Guadian via area-effect damage, Blueberry cannot cast any area-effect spells.
We stopped short of fighting the Adamantite Golem and Conster because our inventory got filled up, so we headed to Watcher's Keep to barter with Garlena. While we were there, I decided to venture into Watcher's Keep, as I had the Amulet of Power and therefore immunity to the Vampiric Wraiths' level drain.
I got surprised by a Spirit Troll early on. Mercifully, Blueberry made her save against Greater Command.
She brings out SI: Enchantment and takes down the Spirit Trolls during the next rest period. We also got surprised by a pack of Devil Shades where I normally have seen spiders, but Blueberry managed to bring them down anyway.
Blueberry overpowers the first group of Statues, using Mislead backstabs to great effect.
Oddly enough, her Mislead clone can attack, but it can't do much damage and it's still quite defenseless. Her spider traps give her automatic backstabs against the first fighter, and the rest of the Statues follow.
We return to Firkraag's lair and receive an ominous sign of the dangers of critical hits.
Let's hope our Stoneskins never run out.
Conster is a cakewalk. Blueberry removes his Improved Invisibility with Detect Illusions and pelts him with debuffing spells. With Improved Alacrity, he simply can't maintain his defenses as fast as Blueberry can tear them down. As I had expected, the Phase Spider kit makes for an excellent debuffer.
With Firkraag out of the way, Blueberry is nearly at 3 million XP (she actually would have exceeded it a while ago if it weren't for her XP penalties). I want to reach that before Spellhold, so I decide to finally take on the De'Arnise Hold. At such a high level, Spirit Troll spawns are guaranteed (and for some reason, I never thought to tweak my install to remove their Tactics abilities).
I buy all 10 of Mrs. Cragmoon's Potions of Stone Form. Blueberry needs to drink two such potions to gain immunity to Greater Command, and I want enough potions for provide protection for multiple fights. She could use Spell Immunity instead, but that will only last 5 rounds (she casts it at 2 levels lower than her actual level, and even then the spell only has half its normal duration), and I'm not confident I'll remember to refresh the spell when needed. The potions aren't liable to run out on me in the middle of the fight; Spell Immunity is.
To minimize my potion usage, I decide to avoid the normal fights and head straight for TorGal. On the first level, Blueberry only fights the two normal Trolls (the ones who kill the servants in front of you), ignoring the two groups of Trolls in the center room and the northernmost room. We pick up the Ring of Earth Control and a scroll of Find Familiar, though Blueberry can't use either, and continue to the second floor.
Blueberry drinks two Potions of Stone Form, then teleports past the first group of Trolls. She talk-blocks the Yuan-ti Mage for safety's sake, nicks the Keep Key, and teleports all the way to Lady Delcia's room, webbing the door behind her. Since I'm not sure her save bonuses from the potions will last long enough for the next fight with Trolls, we just tear down the golems and loot the room.
After resting up, Blueberry drinks another two Potions of Stone Form and heads down to fight the two Spirit Trolls and one Spectral Troll in the De'Arnise dungeons. Her traps only web the Spectral Troll, where the Spirit Trolls are by far the more pressing matter, but Blueberry still manages to overcome the enemy's regeneration.
She slays the Umber Hulks as well--she doesn't need to rest first. Now all that's left is TorGal.
As I've mentioned before, TorGal will chase after an invisible character, but his allies will not. You can therefore fight TorGal on his own, which is all the danger I'm willing to tolerate for Blueberry. We hit 3 million XP right after the Spirit Troll battle, and choose not UAI, but Time Trap, as our first HLA.
Why Time Trap? I haven't quite decided what items UAI should give us access to. I think I will limit it to one-handed weapons and rings--Blueberry still won't be wearing metal armor, or armor with shields, or helms or circlets or masks, or using two-handed weapons, and she still won't be able to use Evocation or Conjuration spells or scrolls like Mordenkainen's Sword or Find Familiar. This means that UAI will only give Blueberry a +1 bonus to saving throws and a +2 bonus to AC at this point--this will mean very little in the upcoming fight with TorGal. Time Trap, however, will give us automatic hits on TorGal, which means we can sneak in several backstabs before the time is up.
To my dismay, Blueberry's backstabs deal precious little damage.
TorGal survives the attack with most of his HP. Blueberry casts all the buffs she has, brings in her summons, and very slowly wears TorGal down.
TorGal makes a couple lucky saves against a couple of Slow spells, before failing on the third one, which slows down his regeneration and raises his AC. Notice the placement of the trap, in the Spirit Troll room instead of the Umber Hulk room: this is because I needed TorGal to be visible when the Time Trap went off, or else I wouldn't be able to backstab him (unless I spent several seconds using Detect Illusions first), as he approaches you while invisible and only appears when he makes his first attack roll. To make sure I could make those backstabs without delay, I had to lay the Time Trap in the Spirit Troll room, lure TorGal out of the throne room, get attacked in the Umber Hulk room, and then lead TorGal into the Spirit Troll room.
After many rounds, TorGal finally collapses, with Blueberry down to 4 STR (it would have been 1 if she hadn't drunk a Potion of Fire Giant Strength) and we get TorGal's Claw, a special dagger with crazy stats. It does 2d6+3 damage, slows the target or drains STR on a failed save vs. death at -4, and neatly fits into Blueberry's existing proficiencies.
There's only one thing left: I want the Flail of Ages. I'm not sure I'll ever let Blueberry use it, even after UAI, because it seems so odd to have a spider wielding a flail, but I won't be able to get it after I complete this quest--if I'm ever going to use the flail, I need to get it now.
This means I must retrieve the last flail head from Glaicas. Blueberry turns into a Troll with the Cloak of the Sewers for immunity to unconsciousness and therefore Greater Command (I didn't do this before because it cripples her damage output, and also prevents talk-blocking the Yuan-ti Mage), and hurries out the door to Lady Delcia's room, running and teleporting past the other Trolls to reach Glaicas. Since shapeshifting disables spellcasting and I neglected to give Blueberry an innate version of Dimension Door, I have to use CTRL-J to teleport instead. Blueberry webs another door behind her, lowers her save vs. spell with potions, and tackles the group of Trolls before Glaicas. Glaicas himself falls to Mislead backstabs, delivered while Glaicas was held by Web Tangle. With her immunity to Greater Command still intact, Blueberry teleports all the way to the forge, creates the Flail of Ages, and teleports outside to report her success to Nalia.
Blueberry accepts the fighter stronghold, even though I really want the mage stronghold instead, because we can't say no to Nalia when she needs somebody to take over after her father's passing. I'll tweak my install to let Blueberry get the mage stronghold--I want to see the apprentices survive this time.
The updated Phase Spider kit is working as planned: it excels as a disabler and debuffer, but has difficulty dealing damage due to its non-humanoid form, even with Mislead. It is very adaptable, quick, and mobile, but lacks versatility due to its item restrictions. It's a very free, loose playing style that also rewards close management--precisely the sort of thing I like in a solo run. Most importantly, it really feels like a spider struggling to function in an environment dominated by bethumbed bipeds.
After some thought, I've made some final tweaks to the Phase Spider kit. It now has no item or spell restrictions, it should be balanced for both BG1 and BG2, and all of the new abilities and drawbacks are fully implemented. Right now I'm just figuring out how to use Weidu--I've never posted a BG2 mod before.
This is the revised kit, plus a new description:
Phase Spiders are giant, predatory, generally non-social arachnids with the unique ability to "phase" in and out of the Ethereal Plane. Phase Spiders use this ability to hunt, approaching their prey from Ethereal Plane, and retreating while their poison takes effect. Some rare Phase Spiders, however, also possess unusually human-like traits: sentience, a social instinct, higher intelligence, some magical abilities beyond phasing, and even the ability to speak Common and other humanoid languages. Why these more intelligent spiders are born to otherwise non-sentient monsters--whether the result of drider lineage, some peculiar magical aberration, or simply the result of natural variation among the species--remains unknown.
These "semi-human" Phase Spiders may attempt to integrate into human society, whether in search of companionship or to develop their abilities, but as dangerous monsters in the eyes of humankind, they are poorly received by virtually all civilizations besides the drow and some more open-minded or very trusting adventuring bands. Phase Spiders may cast Dimension Door at will and can train as any class, from the art of war to arcane magic, but in these fields--all developed by and designed for humanoids--a Phase Spider's alien physiology is a constant obstacle to their progress.
Alien Form: -10% penalty to Intelligence Immune to poison, web, and entangle Immune to humanoid-specific spells (Hold Person, Charm Person, etc.) +3 to save vs. death Arachnophobia: +2 to AC and saving throws vs. humanoids Phase Spider thieves cannot set normal thief traps Natural weapon (dagger proficiency): 1d6 piercing damage, save vs. death or suffer 3 damage per round for three rounds; 15% chance of webbing target for one round on a failed save vs. breath at +1; strikes as +1 weapon. The weapon is an equippable dagger that the spider can conjure via an innate ability. The weapon upgrades to +2 at level 13 and +3 at level 17. Phase Spider monks' fists use original damage and to hit values, alongside poison and web effects, but use piercing rather than crushing damage. Phase Spider monks gain Stunning Blow at half the normal rate.
Alien Affinity: Can cast Dimension Door at will, whether as an innate ability, a mage spell, or a cleric or druid spell Base 5 AC, -1 AC vs. missile and piercing Infravision +25% to hide in shadows and move silently At level 2, can charm an enemy spider for 2 turns, 3 times per day. A spider that fails its save cannot be charmed again. Can cast Web Tangle once per day per four levels. Web Tangle webs the target for 15 seconds on a failed save vs. breath. At levels 8 and 15, the spider can web an additional target. Can set special traps once per day per five levels. Non-thieves have a base 50% set traps chance, which increases by 10 every five levels. The special traps poison and web the target depending on the spider's level: Level 1: Webs target for 1 round on a failed save vs. breath; deals 1 damage per round for two rounds, and an additional 3 damage per round for two rounds on a failed save vs. death. Level 10: Webs target for 2 rounds on a failed save vs. breath; deals 3 damage per round for three rounds, and an additional 3 damage per second for two rounds on a failed save vs. death. Level 15: Webs target for 3 rounds on a failed save vs. breath; deals 6 damage per round for three rounds, and an additional 2 damage per second for two rounds on a failed save vs. death. Once the target is webbed once, it cannot be webbed again for another 3 rounds. Can use Poison Weapon once per day per six levels, starting at level 1 with one use per day. The ability works as an Assassin's poison, but only lasts for 2 rounds, and the effects do not stack.
Thumbless: Cleric, druid, and mage spells are cast at 2/3 of the caster's actual level (-1 penalty to caster level every 3 levels) -1 penalty to casting speed -2 penalty to hit and damage with weapons besides its natural attack Stunted THAC0 development: THAC0 increases by a one point penalty at levels 5, 10, and 15. This stacks with the Phase Spider's -2 penalty to hit at level 1. -50% penalty to open locks and pickpocket -1 penalty to backstab multiplier, if any
Crazy Legs: Improved Alacrity Free Action Improved movement rate +1 attack per round +15% bonus to Dexterity Suffers no THAC0 penalties from dual-wielding
Culture Shock: -50% to Charisma -10% to Wisdom
The important changes entail the removal of the innate summoning spells, the removal of the item and spell restrictions, and the addition of new spellcasting and combat penalties. The summoning spells would have been game-breaking in BG1, and I was unable to rig the baby spider spell to be female-only. The item restrictions can't be implemented due to engine limitations, so I added in THAC0 penalties and will also include some limits on pips on two-handed weapons and such. Likewise, the spell restrictions can't really be implemented, either, so I replaced the spell duration penalty with a 33% penalty to casting level. Now the Phase Spider can learn Magic Missile and Flame Arrow, but it will do much less damage with each casting than a normal mage or bard.
Butch and his companions traveled from Beregost to Baldur's Gate to fetch Ordolath's candle for 2,000 Guilders. Their journey was smooth until a few hours north of the Friendly Arm Inn their progress came to temporary halt. A large Ankheg population had been terrorizing the lands bordering the river Chionthar. According to a Ranger the giant insects had been extra aggressive as it was their mating season. She begged the party not to slay more than ten, but the companions nevertheless ended up killing about twice that number, both on the surface and in their nest underground. Kagain would lock the creatures in close combat, and the others would pelt them with their missiles.
Along with some random loot, they found a fresh corpse in the nest - the body of a local farmer's son, they would later discover. The band was asked by three fishermen to slay an evil priestess of Umberlee for them who was said to dwell further north in a small cottage east of Wyrm's Crossing. Butch and Imoen scouted the area and found the bridge to Baldur's Gate guarded by a group of Elven warriors. With Butch's history of being hunted wherever he went, the companions considered themselves warned. Nonetheless, Butch and Kagain snuck past the Elves to confront the priestess of Umberlee. She was young, fifteen winters at the very most, and a bit overconfident. She attacked Kagain when he asked her what her business with the fishermen was. The Dwarf then hit her with the blunt side of his axe to teach her some manners, which helpd the girl come to her senses. She explained that the fishermen had slain her mother and stolen a bowl from her.
Butch and Kagain felt betrayed by the fishermen. They promised the girl they would help her get her bowl back.
On their way back Butch and Kagain found the Elves still guarding Wyrm's Crossing. If the party were to enter Baldur's Gate and retrieve Ordolath's candle, they would have to get past them. As soon as they spotted Butch it became clear that they were indeed looking for trouble. Butch and Kagain sped toward their companions, with the Elves at their heels. The battle didn't start off well for the party, for Imoen was soon brought down by a vicious backstab.
But the tides turned very shortly after that, with Finch successfully Holding two of the Elves and Butch injuring most of them with snares he tossed at his foes from behind.
He then slew Imoen's attacker with his trusty crossbow, and saw the others take care of the rest.
On the corpse of one of the Elves they found a bounty notice, signed "M.S.", finally a first (if vague) lead as to who wanted Butch dead.
As the party crossed the bridge, they saw the gate to the city closed and guarded by a single Flaming Fist Mercenary.
"Sorry traveler, but the entrance to Baldur's Gate is closed. With all the bandit activity about, we've been forced to keep the gate closed. Perhaps if you return later, things may have changed and we may be able to re-open the city."
"But this is the city of Baldur's Gate! You have the mighty Flaming Fist to defend you. Why woud you be afraid of bandit incursions?"
"Normally what you have said would be true, but most of the Flaming Fist is down to the south, and the Grand Dukes feel that the city is exposed. I apologize for any inconvenience, but there's nothing I can do."
So we had journeyed all the way to Baldur's Gate for nothing, or almost nothing. We did eventually retrieve the bowl for the priestess (and got no reward, which I guess was to be expected from a child), and Kivan had kept an Ankheg cuticle. Back in Beregost Taerom Fuiruim the smith offered to work it into a suit of armor for 4,000 Guilders, an offer we accepted. Also at the smithy we bought a Returning Throwing Axe +2 (note: probably Item Randomized) and a Helmet of Charm Protection for Kagain. We rested at the Jovial Juggler and prepared for a trip to Nashkel the next day.
Just south of Beregost we encountered a Drow Elf, a priestess, hunted by a Flaming Fist Mercenary. The latter told us she was wanted for murder, so we decided to ignore her pleas for help.
Further south we slew a Vampiric Wolf and we ran into a tall and imposing warrioress, a woman named Shar-Teel. She challenged Kagain into a duel for the mere reason he was a male. Should she lose, she would join the party. Well, lose she did. It was a bloody affair and Shar-Teel fought to kill, but in the end it was heavily armored Kagain that nearly killed her instead.
We took her to the temple of Helm in Nashkel where we had Nalin heal her. However, rather than being grateful and a bit more modest, she had a practice fight with Kivan and went way overboard. Kagain and I told her off. An unruly woman like that in our midst was only likely to cause strife. I was surprised with her reaction though. She said she respected Kagain and me and that she didn't consider her debt paid yet. I told her to go the Jovial Juggler in Beregost, so we might talk there later.
The rest of us visited the Nashkel Carnival for some shopping, before we would head to the Mines at long last. We cast Stone to Flesh on a petrified woman, a nordic battle priestess of Tempus, Branwen.
She was most thankful, and even offered to travel with us, but with Finch already in our midst we politely declined. The woman told us she would travel to Beregost, and that we might find her there should we not linger too long. She also warned us of a wizard named Tranzig, the man who had entrapped her.
In the area surrounding the Nashkel Mines we faced the same Dwarven bounty hunter that had attacked us days before. This time we fought back. Kivan almost single-handedly dispatched our foe.
We also ran into Prism, an emerald thief we had been told of by Oublek the bounty handler in Nashkel. Prism was carving the face of his muse, Ellessime the Elven queen, in a rock wall, while a female Paladin stood watch. She explained that as a Paladin of Sune, she was more lenient than your average Paladin in the interpretation of laws, and very appreciative of the arts. She had decided to wait for Prism to finish his work and then deal with the legal aspects of the matter. But then a bounty hunter appeared, Greywolf, intent on taking the prize on Prism's head. We defended the sculptor against this Greywolf, but soon after the latter went down, Prism too, collapsed.
Isra joined us after we explained to her that we had come to investigate the Nashkel Mines.
Inside the Mine the miners spoke of demons oppressing them, but Kagain's nose told him that it had to be Kobolds.
He was soon proven right; the creatures had the second level of the mines firmly in control until we set things straight.
Much more problematic was a band of Duergar on the third level. Hidden in shadows, I spotted four: two warriors, a priest, and a rogue. Sensing trouble from their evil ilk, I preventively set a number of traps, and I asked Kagain to check what they wanted. They might or might not respond better to a Dwarf. The Duergar turned out to be yet more bounty hunters. They recognized Kagain and came straight after him. My snares killed their leader,
but that did not deter the others. Kagain got repeatedly poisoned by their assassin, until I downed the rogue.
And then it was their turn to wreak havoc. They had not one but two priests in their midst, it turned out. In no time they held Isra, Imoen and Kagain, and they dominated Kivan.
Packs of Kobolds must have heard the clamor of battle. Apparently they were in league with the Duergar, turning the odds even more against us. With only Finch and me left, I decided to distract our foes so that she could look after my comrades. I applied an oil of speed, returned to the second level, and saw dozens of Kobolds follow me there (effectively blocking the way back to the third level).
With my Ring of Energy I thinned their ranks until I found a way down to the third level. There I took on the Duergar priests with sneak attacks. One of them cast a Cloak of Fear, forcing me to swig a potion of clarity, but in the end I prevailed.
I found most of my companions' gear scattered about. I suspected Finch had taken it off in order to heal and to unburden my comrades. The gear I stored and covered in one of many carts, hoping that no one would find it.
I threw a snare onto a narrow path that was blocked by many Kobolds,
but otherwise kept myself hidden. Deeper down, I encountered a large round structure with a single entrance, surrounded by an narrow underground canal. The area was quiet, allowing me to rest from my battles with the Duergar and the Kobolds before entering the edifice. Inside, I spotted a few more Kobolds and, in a ratherly nicely arranged chamber, a Half-Orc priest of Cyric. Unseen I set three snares near the entrance, but I was dicosvered soon after by the priest. He attacked but got severely injured by my traps (just like a pack of Kobolds that had come to his aid). A Ring of Energy-scorcher finished him off.
I then released an Elven prisoner, Xan, a battlemage of Evereska, and together we dealt with Elite Kobold warriors and Skeletons that the Half-Orc, Mulahey, had summoned. I was most pleased to find a Bag of Holding amongst his possessions for it enabled me to carry my companions' gear with me. I also found an enchanted Short Sword (+2), a pair of Gauntlets of the Faithful Warrior (+3 Thac0/Dmg, priests only), and a letter from one Tazok, linking the sabotage of the Nashkel Mines to an unnamed bandit faction. We left the mines through a barren area that was infested with Undead. I resolved to revisit the area later.
Back in Nashkel, Xan and I visited Nalin. He told us that Finch had left Imoen, Isra, Kagain, and Kivan in his care to pursue her own clerical duties in Nashkel, and that my comrades were all in dire conditions. They might take months to fully recover, if they were to recover at all.
I paid Nalin a few thousand gold for his good work.
To be honest I felt very bad about the suffering their association with me has brought upon my comrades, but there was nothing I could do for them apart from praying for their sound and speedy recovery.
Butch and Xan then visited the Nashkel Carnival to barter with some of the merchants. The carnival was an interesting place where many people came and went: nobles, traders, adventurers, and peasants alike. This time there was a stunning Half-Elven Skald, Keiria Silverstring, who was eager to join Butch and Xan. She said she had been looking for adventure, for heroes with feats to immortalize in song. Two Gnomish Illusionists, Skeezer and Quayle, joined as well. Both were apparently heading north. Skeezer wanted to go to Baldur's Gate (in spite of Butch's assurance that the city gate was locked). Quayle was less specific but at least seemed quite pleased to be accepted into the party. It was quite a different experience for Butch to travel with no less than four arcane casters (whereas his previous companions had almost exclusively been warriors, rogues and priests). Berrun Ghastkill rewarded the party for their efforts with 900 Guilders. The new party of five ran into an assassin in Nashkel, but the Amnish soldiers and a critical hit from Butch, finished him off without anyone suffering any harm.
On the assassin's body they found an interesting letter, from what was likely the same Tazok that had also been in a correspondence with Mulahey. The letter mentioned Tranzig, a name Butch remembered from his meeting with Branwen. According to the letter this Tranzig was staying at Feldepost's Inn in Beregost, so that's where they headed.
They first visited the Jovial Juggler, where a Flaming Fist Enforcer named Officer Vai offered Butch 50 Guilders for every bandit scalp he'd bring her, and where Shar-Teel (after a short talk about party discipline) and Branwen rejoined the party. Skeezer left, to continue his journey to Baldur's Gate.
Shar-Teel is a Firewalker in my setup:
At Feldepost's Inn, Tranzig was more a pest than a danger to the party. He put Shar-Teel to Sleep, injured Branwen and blinded Xan. But with a devastating blow the latter ensured Branwen's revenge on the wizard.
The party rested and left in the early morning to travel to the High Hedge where they wanted to buy an Ioun Stone for Keiria. Unfortunately more bounty hunters awaited them: two priestesses and two rogues.
The six got back inside the inn, and positioned themselves. Butch and Quayle on two opposite sides; Xan, Branwen and Shar-Teel in the center near the entrance. One of the rogues struck Keiria down with a devastating backstab, while one of priestesses Commanded Branwen to sleep.
Not much later, the other priestess Held Shar-Teel and Branwen, and somehow Slowed Xan. At the same time Quayle successfully Held two of the women (one rogue and one priestess).
Xan was then held as well, and the Held priestess was released by her colleague with a Remove Paralysis. It left Butch and Quayle up against two priestesses and a rogue. Butch warded off a Hold Person with a potion of freedom, and finished the rogue. Quayle in the meantime managed to Blind both Priestesses.
The Gnome's crucial spells turned the tides in Butch and Quayle's favor. The priestesses did not cast any more spells except for an Animate Dead, an example that Quayle followed. As soon as the Hold effects on Shar-Teel, Xan and Branwen wore off, the party had little difficulty dispatching their enemy.
On one of the women they found an enchanted staff whose properties explained why Xan had been Slowed:
I'm pleased to have found what seem to worthy companions after the (temprary?) loss of Kagain, Kivan and Imoen, and to a lesser extent Isra. Branwen especially seems have taken a liking to me, entrusting me with personal tales of her past. I wonder why.
I updated the relevant files and tweaked Blueberry to suit the revised version of the Phase Spider kit. Her THAC0 has dropped by 4, and her casting level by 2, but she immediately gains 2 levels due to the removal of the XP penalty, and she can now wear rings. For our next two HLAs, we pick Whirlwind Attack and Power Attack. Power Attack is a monster of an HLA, but has unfortunately gotten little attention: every hit for the next two rounds forces the target to make a save vs. death at -4 or be stunned for 2 rounds. It's an amazing disabler, and is absolutely devastating against enemy mages due to their poor saves vs. death, as I found in an Archer solo run a while back. And because Blueberry has Improved Alacrity, she can activate multiple HLAs in one round--plus her Poison Weapon ability, which unfortunately no longer stacks with itself due to the kit revisions.
This is terribly overpowered, of course. But Blueberry is a Fighter/Mage/Thief at epic levels--she should be terribly overpowered by now.
She also can learn Evocation and Conjuration spells now, and after spending several tens of thousands of gold on new spells, she gains a level, and picks Use Any Item. Now she can use Vhailor's Helm. If a Chaotic Evil Thief with UAI can use Carsomyr or a Time Stop scroll, I'm sure a Phase Spider can figure out how to use a helmet.
We test out our newfound HLAs against Gaius and the other sewer-dwellers beneath the Temple District. Blueberry sneaks up while hidden and sets a Time Trap next to Gaius, hiding again and backstabbing Rengaard before the enemy turns hostile and triggers the trap. Gaius is doomed.
With Mislead for backstabs, Blueberry slays both Gaius, Rengaard, and Zorl in the 10 seconds before the Time Trap runs out. The game crashes for some reason, but it plays out almost as well the second time around. Blueberry makes use of her new Evocation spells--unlike the enemy, she is immune to Web. This opens itself to certain exploits, as BG1 veterans know from painful experience in the Cloakwood.
Her backstabs have gotten much nastier since getting TorGal's claw, with its 10 average base damage. The especially cruel thing about this is that Blueberry is also immune to poison damage, which means she is unaffected by her own Cloudkill spells.
Now that we have UAI and the item restrictions on the kit have been replaced by casting and fighting penalties, Blueberry can wear boots. And since she just hit Fighter level 13, her APR is now 3.5, which I could bump up to 4 with Boots of Speed. And because I'm too impatient to wait until Spellhold, I decide to take on the Planar Prison, one of my least favorite quests, where Blueberry's mobility will be the most constrained.
The Coiled Cabal in Mekrath's lair are unable to disable Blueberry: she is immune to any Web spells, and her save vs. death is at -1, which means she is also immune to their Stinking Cloud spells. She floods the area with her own Web spells, dispelling the enemy's invisibility with Detect Illusions and attacking whichever enemy is webbed. Mekrath falls to Power Attack. The Planar Prison is open.
Blueberry enters the area while invisible. Informed by the fight with Gaius, she lays a Time Trap at the beginning of the fight. Aawill is our first target.
Blueberry overwhelms the enemy mages with HLAs, and backstabs the remaining enemies into oblivion. The Coiled Cabal to the east is more problematic. The fight requires much closer management, including, notably, a Secret Sword to remove a Minor Globe of Invulnerability, which allowed Blueberry to web a Yuan-ti Mage who otherwise might have caused a lot of trouble.
Power Attack did a lot to weaken the Master of Thralls, who we tackled without resting--not very standard for my no-reload runs.
The Warden proves difficult. It turns out he had both an Improved Mantle spell and a PFMW spell ready, which means Blueberry's one Breach spell was not sufficient to remove his defenses. Instead, Blueberry webs him, and follows up with some damage spells.
Ultimately he dies to the lingering damage from an Acid Arrow spell, shortly after he broke out of the web.
Blueberry is in good shape, at more than 4 million XP and decked out with most all of the items she needs.
Note the presence of Jan's flashers. I may well find a good use for them.
I am satisfied enough with this run that I have decided I'm willing to take some risks. This means Blueberry is going to take on the Statues on the first level of Watcher's Keep--the second group, with the two high-level mages with Time Stop, the backstabbing thief, and the five fighters.
Blueberry has nowhere near enough spellpower to debuff the mages. This means the enemy mages are guaranteed to succeed in their spells. Therefore, we must use a hit-and-fade strategy, taking advantage of the large area and the many walls that will help Blueberry hide. We seed the area with Time Traps, stock up on Spell Immunity spells, drink a Potion of Stone Form, and complete the ritual, bring the Statues to life.
The first Time Trap triggers, but the only Statue that has awoken, and therefore become targetable, is the male mage, who already has his defenses up. Blueberry searches for an opening, but does not get one until another Time Trap activates: the female human fighter Statue awakens. Blueberry backstabs it to death, then retreats into another room. Along the way, one of the mages hits her with Breach, right before she activated SI: Abjuration.
The Iron Golem Statue triggers another Time Trap, and in the process blocks the doorway, ensuring Blueberry's safety. She can't do much damage, unfortunately, and once the Time Trap is over, one of the mages takes control of time. But the Iron Golem keeps the mages at range.
A Time Trap triggers off-screen. Blueberry teleports past the Iron Golem Statue and casts Web, hoping to make some progress on the other fighters. She struggles to harm the Iron Golem Statue, but the little pieces of damage build up over time.
The Statue falls, but a mage takes control of time again, and we no longer have that barrier protecting us.
The mage brings out some of its defenses, but more importantly, it throws out a very dangerous spell.
But Blueberry brought out SI: Conjuration just moments before, specifically to protect her from Power Word: Stun, Symbol: Stun, and Symbol: Fear. Her saves vs. spell aren't good enough, now that her Potion of Stone Form and Spirit Armor have been removed with Breach.
Blueberry spends the next several rounds running circles around the Statues, striking at the fighters while giving the mages a wide berth. At the same time, she has to avoid a Bone Fiend from one of the mages. Bone Fiends can see through invisibility, cast Cone of Cold, teleport across the map, and are very hard to kill--right now, Blueberry is not very well equipped to face them.
Finally the last of the fighter Statues collapses. Blueberry lures the male mage Statue into the Guardian Golem room, triggering another Time Trap and permitting her some free attacks.
Poison Weapon isn't actually doing anything--as I later noticed, the Statues were all immune to poison damage. But it does wear the mage down a bit. Blueberry retreats when time returns to normal, and seeks out the female mage.
Blueberry summons the Efreeti, whose Magic Missile fails to bypass the female mage Statue's magic resistance. The Bone Fiend, still lurking around the map, blasts the Efreeti with Cone of Cold. I see a tremendous amount of damage in the dialog box, and for a moment I think it's the Bone Fiend's Cone of Cold spell, but it's actually from one of the Statues.
I forgot about the thief Statue, which apparently has some very nasty backstabs. Blueberry still has her Stoneskins intact, but I don't want to get caught off-guard. Blueberry drinks a Potion of Invisibility and starts to track down the thief using Detect Illusions.
Time stops again, but this time, it's not ours.
One of the mage Statues must have started casting Time Stop when Blueberry was still around, but only finished it long after she was gone. This means their Time Stop was completely wasted. Notice the Bone Fiend triggering Demon Fear every round. Blueberry already drank another Potion of Stone Form to make sure her saves were successful.
When the Time Stop ends, Blueberry flits around the map, trying to shake the Bone Fiend. She makes a save against spell, and out of curiosity, I check the Record screen, only to find that her save vs. spell has risen to 2--the last Potion of Stone Form must have run out. She drinks a Potion of Clarity, just in time for it not to matter.
I haven't noticed any True Seeing spells for a while, so I decide now is a good time to use Detect Illusions to root out the thief. A True Seeing spell comes out of nowhere--I was wrong; it's still active--but Blueberry teleports away, just far enough to hide.
With the Cloak of Non-Detection, Blueberry can remain invisible while hidden, but not while invisible. This means we can't remain out of sight while searching for the thief.
Instead, Blueberry goes to the place where her Efreeti died and allows herself to be seen, drawing the thief's attention. She lures it to the south, into another Time Trap. When time returns to normal, the thief Statue is already in shambles.
Now all that's left are the two mages. Blueberry has saved her HLAs and the simulacrum from Vhailor's Helm for precisely this occasion. She hides behind a pillar, spawns in her clone, and sends the clone to attack the male mage statue with Blackblood.
The mage brings out Improved Mantle. Now the clone can do nothing but use Web Tangle on the Statue. Blueberry uses the Cloak of Stars to conjure some +5 darts in case she needs them (we have no other weapons that can bypass Improved Mantle, much less SCS2's Improved Mantle), but without any proficiencies in darts, and with her Phase Spider THAC0 penalties, she won't be very accurate with them.
As the male mage fails a save against Web Tangle, the female mage appears from the eastern library. Blueberry assigns her clone to distract the female mage, but her clone has no defenses left. Some pre-set traps fire and hit the male mage, but the poison still won't do any damage. The mage is still wounded from Blackblood's acid damage, however.
The female mage leaves her room and joins the male mage--now Blueberry can no longer deal with them one at a time. To manage the situation, she equips Firetooth and some of Jan's flashers. Desperate to keep the enemy subdued, she activates both Power Attack and Critical Strike, guaranteeing successful hits, and significantly increasing the chance of stunning the enemy--flashers won't necessarily be enough. The female mage fails a save, but her counterpart does not.
The problem is APR. With Firetooth and no proficiencies, Blueberry only gets 2 attacks per round, which means the enemy only needs to make 4 saves.
The male mage was lucky enough to remain functional, but he appears to be out of spells--he just walks up and starts swinging his staff. Recognizing that the female mage is the only remaining threat, Blueberry uses the Tuigan Bow with Acid Arrows on the female mage.
From there, the only thing left is to tear down the male mage Statue. With no Stoneskins left, and already in bad shape, the Statue dies in two hits.
The rest of Watcher's Keep is wide open, though only the next level is safe for a solo character of Blueberry's level in SCS2. The only problem with level 2 are the two Fire Giant spawns in the fire room. They are boosted by Tactics, have obscene regeneration, and have permanent and undispellable Berserker immunities.
I'm still upset that their Enrage immunities never run out. In the dual-class run, Horun Fallows got disabled incessantly, because his Enrage kept running out. It's illegal and unfair for Fire Giants to get those immunities when they're supposed to just be Berserkers.
Fortunately, I already have a method for dealing with these guys. Their immunities don't extend to instant death effects, which means Flesh to Stone is perfectly capable of killing them. Blueberry delivers a Greater Malison spell while time is stopped, and follows up with a string of Flesh to Stone spells.
The other Fire Giant survives, so we have to rest and return later--tanking a Tactics-style Fire Giant is foolish without an ample supply of SI: Evocation spells, and I don't trust Blueberry's buffs to last long enough to beat the giant. Instead, we just set a new trap the next rest period and pummel the Fire Giant while time is stopped. It ends up at Near Death and panics when time returns to normal, and Blueberry finishes it off with the help of the Flesh Golem.
I can't figure out how to turn the Phase Spider kit into a Weidu mod. The setup file won't start and I'm not sure about the cause. I might just release the Phase Spider kit as a set of CLAB files that the player could use to replace one of the vanilla kits. You'd be able to play the kit as normal, but you'd have to overwrite, say, the Archer kit or the Swashbuckler kit, in order to use it. Also, I don't know how to apply the kit to a mage, since the specialist mages don't seem to use a CLAB file--you'd have to start the game as a Phase Spider fighter or bard whatever, and then use Shadowkeeper to switch the class to a mage.
On to the Planar Sphere, simply because at this point it's no longer a real threat.
The halfling cannibals aren't much trouble. Critical Strike combined with a backstab proves the end of Mogadish--as a cleric, he has no Stoneskins to help him.
Web does in the other halflings. We actually get through the next group of halflings without resting first.
For Lavok, Blueberry stocks up on debuffing spells, and renders the necromancer vulnerable to direct damage spells.
And Tolgerias and his mage friend? Debuffs and Web.
Blueberry takes on three apprentices--Nara, the sweet one, Morul, the serious one, and Larz, the total jerkbag loserface that we don't like. Unfortunately, choosing the dangerous options will get Nara killed before Larz, so we choose all the safest magic item creation whatevers. All the apprentices survive and are happy. Yay!
Also, I finally resolved the Knights of Solamnia quest using Ribald.
In 15 years of playing this game, this is the first time I've ever gotten that belt. Blueberry wears it for several seconds, just so it has finally been done, then equips the Girdle of Bluntness, since it gives a bigger bonus and crushing damage is usually more dangerous.
There are only a few things left for us to do before Spellhold: Watcher's Keep Firkraag Thaxll'ssillyia The Guarded Compound Kangaxx The Twisted Rune
But I don't want to do those things because Blueberry doesn't need the XP and the only item we'd really want would be the Ring of Gaxx. And honestly I forgot about Kangaxx. So off we went to Brynnlaw.
We get ambushed by vampires. Go figure. Blueberry teleports to safety, rests until daylight, and teleports back to watch the stupid vampires turn to mist.
Blueberry decides to visit the local whorehouse, and is delighted to find that the prostitute at the front is open-minded about spiders.
He even calls her "pretty lady." But we had to rescue Claire from getting murdered, so Blueberry had to run off to murder some guards, and then backstab Galvena into a bunch of gooey chunks. Only then could she go back to the fancy courtesan to relax.
Perth the Adept proves shockingly easy to beat.
I should use that again sometime.
There was nothing interesting about the Spellhold maze. Blueberry teleported over the spawn triggers for the Lich and the first Coiled Cabal, and slaughtered everything else with HLAs and brute force. There was only a momentary scare when we found that a Mind Flayer was the fourth spawn in the magical tome room--I was expecting a Beholder--but Blueberry brought it down with Whirlwind Attack during a Time Trap.
We have a problem with this fight. I don't know how SCS2's AI is going to handle Blueberry's clone. If her clone is going to start activating multiple HLAs in one round, taking advantage of her Improved Alacrity effect, then things could get really, really complicated. I have Blueberry unequip everything to make sure her clone arrives without any items--no reason to play fair in a no-reload run.
As per our rules, we arrive unbuffed aside from Stoneskin, though Irenicus starts out with many layers of buffs. Once Blueberry's clone appears, Blueberry puts on all of her equipment, including the Robe of Vecna (the battle apparently had not started, so she was still able to put it on). To our good fortune, Blueberry's clone gets its first spell interrupted.
The green spell effect indicates an Abjuration spell, almost assuredly a PFMW or Mantle spell.
Blueberry herself has already drunk a Potion of Invisibility to make sure her clone won't greet her with any Greater Whirlwind+Power Attack+Critical Strike attacks. She equips the Tuigan Bow and Firetooth, with a set of flashers, Arrows of Dispelling, and nonmagical arrows as well, and summons her own clone via Vhailor's Helm. While Blueberry is setting up her defenses, the friendly clone uses Critical Strike and Whirlwind Attack, which allows her to immediately shut down the enemy clone.
The enemy clone dies under sustained pressure. Irenicus maintains his defenses, but gets confused by Wanev's Chaos spell and wanders off to the south. After dispelling his illusion spells, Blueberry and her clone pelt him with debuffing spells.
To our dismay, we can bring down absolutely none of his defenses. Why is this? Apparently our Ruby Ray of Reversal took down his Spell Shield instead of his SI: Abjuration. Since we only have one RRoR, this means all our debuffers are Abjuration spells, and therefore are blocked by Jon-bon's SI: Abjuration. Irenicus will retain his buffs, and therefore will have free reign in his casting.
He knows what cards to play.
We can't break through Irenicus' defenses, so Blueberry and her clone retreat. An enemy Glabrezu has joined the fight, so we decide to make it our next target. Demons have no immunity to stun, which means our flashers will work against it. They do.
Wary that we might fail to kill the Glabrezu before it recovers, Blueberry casts Mislead for some extra backstab damage. Then a new problem arises.
That purple cloud is a Fallen Planetar joining the battle, easily the nastiest HLA for a solo character like Blueberry. In SCS2, Planetars thankfully offer a save vs. death at -2 to survive a vorpal strike, but even with our boosted saves vs. death, I can't rely on Blueberry and her clone to survive. So Blueberry's clone activates Avoid Death, for immunity to vorpal strikes, and uses two castings of Hardiness for near-immunity to damage.
Blueberry can't land a hit on Irenicus. This is a surprise.
Jon-bon has PFMW active. Blueberry is using nonmagical arrows. And based on the timing of the attack roll, I'm sure the attack is coming from Blueberry and not her clone.
With Irenicus somehow invincible, we turn our attention to the Fallen Planetar. Web Tangle fails all 7 times the clone attempts it, but we have other options. Planetars, like demons, are not immune to stun, and therefore we can disable it with a flurry of flashers bolstered by Power Attack--though we have to target a fellow inmate to get at the Fallen Planetar, since Planetar's can only be hit by +3 weapons or better, and flashers strike as +1 weapons.
Blueberry's clone only has flashers, Arrows of Dispelling, and nonmagical arrows equipped, which means she can't actually harm the Planetar without running out of her few remaining flashers, nor can she hurt Irenicus due to his many defenses. Instead, Blueberry's clone hits the Fallen Planetar with a few low-level spells. The Planetar fails a save.
Now the Planetar is blinded as well as stunned. But there's one problem. See that Transmutation spell Irenicus is casting?
Yup. This means the stun effect will wear off long before Time Stop ends. Our attempts to disable the Fallen Planetar were futile. The Planetar is still blinded, so it turns invisible and flees. Meanwhile, Irenicus keeps us busy with another hideous HLA.
Blueberry teleports away until the spell is over, but now the last of the inmates are dead. Irenicus' only remaining target is Blueberry, her clone, and some loose Efreet.
Worse, the Fallen Planetar recovers from its blindness--it must have cast True Seeing, which in SCS2 cures and prevents blindness--and attacks Blueberry.
Blueberry activates Avoid Death for a split second immunity to vorpal strikes. But Avoid Death makes little difference. Blueberry teleports into a glass jar, and the Fallen Planetar, one of the most powerful critters in the Baldur's Gate Saga, can do nothing to stop her.
These are the tactical possibilities opened up by phasing. Sometimes all it does is let you move around. Other times, it breaks the encounter. It all depends on what you do with it.
The Fallen Planetar vanishes, and Irenicus is alone. Blueberry teleports to another jar and hides in shadows. Meanwhile, Jon-bon destroys the last of the inmates' summoned Efreet, plus a Nabassu somebody summoned.
Irenicus starts to prepare for an incoming battle.
Then he kind of loses it.
Finally, his buffs wear off, and his summons vanish as well. Blueberry teleports to a safe place, hides, and approaches Irenicus, confirming his spell protections are down.
She retreats to a corner where she had earlier placed a Spike Trap and a Time Trap, ensuring her some safety if Irenicus should approach, then summons her own Efreeti. Irenicus wastes a divination spell trying to find her--with the Cloak of Non-Detection, no divination spell can uncover her--but I don't think to take advantage of his unclear aura to attack.
Blueberry hides again, moves over to Irenicus to monitor the situation, and calls the Efreeti over to deal with Irenicus. Irenicus begins casting a Necromancy spell, either the Death Spell or Horrid Wilting. The Efreeti hits him with Magic Missile to interrupt the spell... but Irenicus resists the damage.
This is an extremely important detail. I forgot Irenicus still had his specific protections, including all his resistances, still active. I waited out his Spell Turning, but Protection from Magical Energy lasts a lot longer. This means the spells I was about to unload on Irenicus would have failed to do any damage. Instead, I first hit Irenicus with an Arrow of Dispelling.
With his Stoneskin down, the Efreeti can interrupt Irenicus' Necromancy spell, but it doesn't really matter. The battle is already won. Irenicus' spell protections have worn off, and his specific protections removed with a single arrow.
We activate our plan: a triple Flame Arrow Spell Sequencer, followed by a double Acid Arrow Minor Sequencer.
The battle is over. Irenicus teleports away.
It's a characteristic strategy for a Phase Spider. Evasion, attrition, and a surgical strike.
FYI since you seem to be misunderstanding something. SI Abjuration does not block Abjuration debuffing spells like Breach, Spell Thrust etc unless that's a Spell Revisions change. It seems your problem was Spell Trap, not SI Abjuration. Very few spells remove Spell Trap and you had to remove Spell Shield first. So the order should have been Spell Thrust (or Secret Word or Breach, anything that cancels out the Spell Shield) followed by Ruby Ray. But starting with Ruby Ray only removes the Spell Shield which means you don't have a spell powerful enough to remove Spell Trap.
@Jaheiras_Witness: I believe it's an SCS2 change, but I could be wrong. SI: Abjuration I know doesn't block Breach in vanilla, nor does it do so in Spell Revisions, since SR removes Spell Immunity outright.
Minor nitpick: I'm almost positive Irenicus never cast Spell Trap. SCS2 enemies seldom ever use it, preferring instead to dedicate 9th-level mage slots to Absolute Immunity or Time Stop. I do know Irenicus used Spell Turning, however.
I believe Spell Shield absorbed the Ruby Ray of Reversal, preventing Secret Word from getting past SI: Abjuration, in which case the only way to break down Irenicus' defenses would have been to use two Ruby Rays, followed by a Secret Word. Maybe somebody could confirm how SI: Abjuration works in SCS2.
I don't believe SCS changes that at all, in my experience SI Abjuration is only used to block Remove Magic but not any other abjuration debuffing spells.
I just tested it with Blueberry and a clone. Breach does not bypass SI: Abjuration.
But Spell Thrust will take down SI: Abjuration.
But Secret Word and Spell Thrust are blocked by Globe of Invulnerability.
So in the fight with Irenicus, Spell Shield blocked Ruby Ray of Reversal, and then Irenicus' Globe of Invulnerability blocked Secret Word and Spell Thrust.
I also checked the files. It seems that:
-SI: Abjuration blocks Breach, Dispel Magic, and Remove Magic, but not magic attack spells like Spell Thrust, Secret Word, Pierce Magic, RRoR, Warding Whip, Pierce Shield, or Spellstrike. -Globe of Invulnerability blocks Spell Thrust and Secret Word. -Spell Shield will block any Abjuration attack spell besides Dispel Magic and Remove Magic. -All Abjuration attack spells besides Dispel Magic and Remove Magic will take down Spell Shield.
I was wrong: GOI was blocking my attack spells, not SI: Abjuration. But SI: Abjuration does block Breach in SCS2.
Breach not bypassing SI Abjuration is consistent with SCS revised Breach, that makes sense.
Spell Thrust only affects spells of level 5 or below, so that should never work against GoI, that also makes sense.
However Secret Word *should* remove GoI, there's something amiss if it doesn't. It says in its spell description that it should and it's such a niche spell anyway (only real use is vs GoI, Spell Deflection and Spell Turning) that it becomes worthless if it doesn't remove GoI.
However Secret Word *should* remove GoI, there's something amiss if it doesn't. It says in its spell description that it should and it's such a niche spell anyway (only real use is vs GoI, Spell Deflection and Spell Turning) that it becomes worthless if it doesn't remove GoI.
Secret Word doesn't remove GoI and according to description it shouldn't:
// Secret Word (Abjuration) Level: 4 Range: Visual sight of caster Duration: Instant Casting Time: 4 Area of Effect: Target creature Saving Throw: None
When this spell is cast at a target creature it will dispel one spell protection of 8th level or lower. The spells that are affected by this are: Minor Spell Turning, Minor Globe Of Invulnerability, Spell Immunity, Spell Deflection, Spell Turning, and Spell Shield. The target's magic resistance, if any, does not affect this spell.
Note: This spell removes the magical protections of the closest (hostile) creature to the point that the spellcaster designates. For this reason, the spell may be used to remove magical protections even from creatures which could not normally be targetted by spells (for instance, because they are invisible). //
So MGoI but not GoI. Personally, I use it to remove Spell Shield and Spell Turning if opponent is not Lich (I don't use SP removals on Rakshasa anyway) and those are common for SCS Mages so I can't think of it as *useless* or *worthless*.
The point is it's worthless because Spell Thrust overlaps so heavily. Secret Word removes one spell protection of up to level 8. Spell Thrust removes ALL of 5th level or lower. Both negate/are negated by Spell Shield.
That means there are now only 2 spells that Secret Word removes which Spell Thrust does not: Spell Deflection and Spell Turning. And that's assuming the opponent is not a rakshasa or lich. That's why it's so weak, because Spell Thrust covers nearly all its bases.
It seems very inconsistent that GoI is not dispelled by Secret Word. Spell Thrust (level 3) removes MGoI which is supposed to protect from spells up to level 3. So by the same logic why shouldn't Secret Word (level 4) remove GoI which is supposed to protect from spells up to level 4?
I can think of a few reasons why the inconsistency makes sense, though the inconsistency might not have been intentional.
(1) If Secret Word could take down GOI, then Pierce Magic would be of very little use, since enemies with spell protections seldom have MR, and vice versa. Comparing Secret Word with Pierce Magic, the latter's only advantage is a minor decrease in the target's MR, which doesn't justify, in my opinion, occupying two whole spell levels higher than Secret Word. -The inconsistency makes Pierce Magic more useful.
(2) GOI would be much less useful relative to MGOI if it didn't block Secret Word. The number of spells that are blocked by GOI but not MGOI aren't very many: Emotion, Confusion, Polymorph Other, Ice Storm, and Teleport Field. And people seldom use those spells to break through MGOI anyway: mages already have excellent saves vs. spell, rendering the first three very weak, and Teleport is more often beneficial for enemy mages. This means GOI has very little advantage over MGOI, unless it blocks Secret Word. -The inconsistency makes GOI more useful.
(3) Secret Word is only 1 spell level higher than Spell Thrust, but Globe of Invulnerability is 2 spell levels higher than Minor Globe of Invulnerability. -The inconsistency matches the spell level difference.
1) Pierce Magic has a niche use vs liches (immune to levels 1-5). But agree with you that it's a weak spell.
2) Neither Ice Storm or Teleport Field offer saves. Mages save vs spell are not that great, especially vs spells with a penalty like Confusion (not good enough to risk anyway, especially as they can't drink Invulnerability). Actually the biggest use of GoI is to protect against Greater Malison.
3) Makes sense but surely not intentional. Definitely think Secret Word needs improving if it can't touch GoI.
After the dust-up with the bounty hunting amazons at Feldepost's, Butch and his gang decided that it was time to leave town again and either lay low somewhere in the wilds, or seek out the bandit syndicate that - according to the letters found on Mulahey, Nimbul and Tranzig - were the ones who wanted Butch dead. The rogue was sick and tired of assassins and bounty hunters trailing him wherever he went, and had resolved for himself to face the bandits head on, so as to leave the business with his invisible enemy behind him once and for all, for better or worse. The letters had told him that the bandits had a secret location in the Wood of Sharp Teeth, so Butch knew where to look for them. He considered this forest as fine a wilderness area as any to shake off any remaining bounty hunters, but Branwen, who had been growing ever more attached to Butch, had come up to him to confess that she missed the salty air and the bustling waves of Seawolf, her hometown on one of the Norheim Isles. She didn't say she wanted to return home, but she did long to behold the sea again. Butch didn't really object to spending a few days on the coast, and the others seemed to care even less where they went, as long as the group stayed together (Quayle) and there was adventure to be had (Keiria), blood to be spilled (Shar-Teel), or death to be feared (Xan).
We traveled to the southwest, crossing the lands where we had slain Bjornin's Half-Ogres. For days we trekked through canyons and over rocky slopes that provided little cover and that were inhabited mainly by wild animals (wolves, bears). But on the third day of our journey we came upon a Xvart settlement. We didn't take long in discovering we were not welcome. I didn't notice any of their females (maybe they all look and sound the same), but boy they reproduce like rabbits: we had to fight for our lives against overwhelming numbers. And worse, they had massive Cave Bears fighting for them.
Shar-Teel had to fight most of the time with a wooden staff after all her greatswords had broken. There were helmed Xvart Protectors and they even had Shamans who liked to cast Hold Person at us.
Quayle and Xan were the only ones who didn't get held, but despite a Blindness by Quayle, their combined power was insufficient to slay all the Shamans before they could critically hurt Branwen.
Ironically the one person we had undertaken this journey for, now required us to abort it, albeit not before Quayle used his innate Invisibility spell and a Sanctuary to loot what scant treasure the Xvarts kept in a cave. The nearest temple was that of Helm, in Nashkel. Father Nalin patched up Branwen, and we rested at the local inn.
A single day in Nashkel proved to be too long, we found out as we left the inn. A new group of bounty hunters, led by one Molkar, had found us. We reflexively retreated into the inn to take away part of our foes' advantage of surprise, but found the inn too cramped to fight the enemy, especially a hard-hitting Dwarf. We ran outside, at least Keiria, Branwen, Shar-Teel and I did. Xan and Quayle apparently decided to stay inside and fight. The Dwarf and a Gnomish battlemage followed the girls and me. I had us split up. The girls entered the store, while I continued running toward the southern edge of town, to the Amnish guard. The hasted Gnome kept up with me with ease, but I lost the Dwarf. Later Keiria told me the latter had followed them into the store. Branwen had held him, and together they'd slain the warrior.
I swigged a potion of invisibility in front of the Gnome, whose magics I was wary of, and the Amnish soldiers. The soldiers kindly finished the runt off for me.
When I hid in shadows and went to check on Xan and Quayle in the inn, I found that they had not fared well. Molkar and his Cleric companion stood triumphant over what seemed to be my comrades' dead bodies. Molkar must have sensed my presence as he followed me outside and into the Nashkel store. But there the ladies and I made short work of him.
Finally, a backstab and a couple of my snares killed the priest.
From our enemies' corpses we took some valuable equipment. We kept part of it (armor and helmets that provided some elemental protection, and a helmet that protected against Charm), and sold the rest. [Note: the party sold weapons which I considered OP due to extra APR or overly generous Thac0/damage bonuses]. Nalin helped Xan and Quayle back on their feet. Of course he doesn't travel with the party, but his loyal and affordable help almost makes him a party member to me.
Our second attempt at visiting the coast failed just like the first, albeit not because anyone of us required medical care. We battled bandits, Ogres and a Mountain Bear in Ogre's Reach (earning us a pair of Boots of the North), and at an excavation site near the coast we protected an archaeologist against bandits (and against his own men who went berserk in a foul-smelling ritual chamber we entered). We also ran into Brage, the Nashkel guard captain who according to Nalin had killed his own family. He seemed eager to do the same with us, but we calmed him down, and escorted him to Nalin. The priest rewarded us with no less than 1,000 guilders. The source of Brage's wicked ways had been a cursed greatsword. Nalin gave it to us, and we took it to Thalantyr, who lifted the curse and enchanted the blade, transforming it into a Sword of Rage +3 for Shar-Teel. Finally a weapon for her that shouldn't shatter as easily as the unenchanted blades she had worked with up till then. The encounter with the Xvart Shamans inspired us to buy a Ring of Free Action from Thalantyr as well.
Third time lucky, they say, and so it was for Branwen. We left Brage - the third and last of the fat bounties we had wanted to claim after Bassilus and Prism - in Nalin's care, and a day or two after that we finally reached the coastland, west of the High Hedge. As expected the land was plain, with scarce vegetation, and windy. What we didn't expect, was the presence of Sirines and Nereids. It was a good thing that we rescued a small boy from three Worgs near a lighthouse, because an old man appeared and warned us of Sirines guarding the treasure of Black Alaric, a pirate captain, in a cave on the shore. This meant that Branwen would only observe the sea and the beach from afar, because getting too close could easily mean death at the hands of the extremely territorial Sirines. I, however, was intrigued by the alleged treasure. Keeping to the shadows, I slunk past the Sirines, and entered the cave. It was trapped and guarded by Flesh Golems, but I managed to disarm the traps and to take out the Golems with sneak attacks.
The treasure included a Wand of Lightning, a Manual of Bodily Health that I read with great interest, a Bard's Cloak, and a Bard's Ring, well worth the hassle. When we went to see the old man, he somehow knew that I had entered the cave and taken the treasure even though all the loot was safely stashed away in our Bag of Holding. Maybe he'd had one of his man spy on me. Either way he ordered his men to attack. The battle that inevitably ensued ended in their deaths.
Further north the we slew a band of Ogres, including Berserkers, Half-Ogres and Ogrillons, and I got beguiled by a Nereid until Shar-Teel struck the creature with her new sword and ordered it to remove the charm. The Nereid complied, but then an Ogre Mage Dimension Doored in. It was in league with the Nereid and scolded the sea creature for not having killed us. My special snares and a Silence by Quayle allowed us to slay the evil creature before it could do us any harm.
The north coast was otherwise peacefcul though, so we could relax for a bit. We met a man who called himself the Surgeon and warned us of his evil brother Davaeorn, a wizard, and we had a friendly encounter with a Gnomish riddler. The sea air, the winds, the peace and quiet, and the mere fact that we had sacrificed some of our time for her, seemed to mean a lot to Branwen. The looks she gave me, and her smiles even suggested that she harbored something more than a friendly affection for me.
The party postponed their exploration of the Wood of Sharp Teeth with an excursion to the Valley of the Tombs, the area where Butch and Xan had left the Nashkel Mines. They dispatched various undead there,
and got into a fight with a selfish wizard that didn't want to share with Quayle the details of a Slime/Jelly summoning spell he had developed. Xan charmed a bounty huntress and had her slay the wizard with enchanted arrows, but the Elf himself succumbed to the spit attacks of two Mustard Jellies.
Who else than Nalin restored the Elf to health, and the party traveled to Beregost to rest and to prepare for their incursion into the Wood of Sharp Teeth, but before they left they killed a thespian, Silke. This was ironic because she had actually hired the party to protect her, against three thugs. The reason for this turnaround was that the 'thugs' proved to be innocent men and that Silke attacked as soon as the party refused to kill the three. Quayle Blinded the woman, rendering her pretty much helpess against the party's collective firepower.
In the vast Wood of Sharp Teeth, the party had violent dealings with numerous bandits, many of whom wearing insignia of the Black Talon mercenary company, and with different types of Wolves, the creatures that had given the forest its name.
It was a pair of feuding Druids however that gave the party the hardest time. The first Druid wrongly accused them of having slain a member of his order. He had many powerful spells, including Call Lightning with which he struck Shar-Teel down, and after Quayle Silenced him, he fought Xan with an enchanted club that dealt poison damage, causing the Elf to fall some time after Butch had slain the frantic Druid.
The second Druid had initially come to the party's aid, but when the party insisted on an explanation why he had attacked his fellow Druid, he too attacked the party. Thankfully the party didn't have as much trouble with this one. Branwen attacked him in close combat, while Butch and Quayle attacked with their missiles and spells. Keiria, highly esteemed by Butch, inspired the companions as always with her Skald song and gave them tips as to their enemy's vulnerabilities.
The party traveled back to Beregost to have Xan and Shar-Teel treated by Keldath Ormlyr at the Temple of Lathander. The two recovered fast, and soon the party found themselves deep in the Wood of Sharp Teeth again. It was in the Peldvale area that they were ambushed by a group of bandits accompanied by no less than three (initially invisble) Ogre Mages. The bandits and the Ogres were all hasted, which provoked Xan into Hasting the party as well. The bandits weren't a much of a threat, after all Haste won't convert a poor marksmen into a deadly sniper, but the Ogre Mages proved a tougher nut to crack. Branwen silenced two of them, reducing most of the battle to physical as opposed to arcane combat, but the Ogres were fairly good fighters too. One of them struck Quayle down, while Keiria got Charmed. Branwen, Xan and Shar-Teel had to alternate melee duties various times until the party finally overcame the monsters.
Another visit to the Temple of Lathander was necessary to get Quayle back up on his feet before the party could continue their bandit hunt.
Several more bandits fell in the Peldvale area but it took the party another day before they would find the syndicate's actual camp. The companions approached it invisibly, thanks to Quayle who had learned to cast Invisibility 10' Radius. A first reconnaisance of the area taught the crew that the camp harbored circa twenty Chill Hobgoblins, ten Black Talons, another ten to fifteen bandits of non-descript appearance, and a handful of Gnolls. That was not counting any bandits in the seven tents that made up the camp. The companions then discussed strategy. It was agreed that Shar-Teel and Butch, bolstered with potions of defense and oils of speed, and keeping plenty of healing potions at hand, would reveal themselves and thin the bandits' outer ranks, preferably without being noticed. Keiria would follow them around, invisibly, inspiring them with her song (that had become almost indispensable to the party) and upsetting the bandits. The others stayed behind, invisible, but ready to cast their spells should the situation call for it. Shar-Teel fought with her Sword of Rage, and Butch attacked with Bolts of Biting he had bought at Thalantyr's and in Beregost. The idea of sneakily thinning the bandits' ranks didn't really pan out. Soon an alarm bell sounded and the entire camp came after the two, including bandits that had been in the tents. Either way, with their buffs and protections the duo proved hard to hit, and whenever one of them did suffer a hit or two, they would quaff a healing potion. (This applied especially to Shar-Teel who, as a melee fighter, drew more aggression then Butch.) When they had slain a few of the bandits, the two noticed a heavily armored Black Talon commander amongst their many foes. The two isolated him and finished him off first,
gulping potions of Magic Shielding in the process, as soon as they discerned a wizard amidst their pursuers. That wizard became their next target. He got poisoned by one of Butch's bolts before Shar-Teel severed his torso above the waist.
The Chill leader (who dropped a Tome of Leadership and Influence), and countless other bandits followed soon after, until they were all dead. Branwen, Xan, and Quayle's spells were never needed.
In one of the tents they released a prisoner, Ender Sai, who told them that the masterminds behind the bandit syndicate and the sabotage of the Nashkel Mines - and thus the ones to want Butch's scalp - were the Iron Throne; a merchant consortium known for exclusionary practices and cut-throat competition to drive out rivals but not for vandalization, raids and outright murder. According to Ender Sai, they had a secret base of operations in the Cloakwood.
I had mixed emotions regarding our assault on the bandit camp. On one hand it was a resounding success as Shar-Teel and I, backed only by Keiria's song, completely routed the entire camp of what must have been at least sixty bandits. It still sounds unreal when I think of it. On the other hand we did not find Tazok, we did not find whoever wanted me dead, and what we did find seemed as unlikely as it seemed worrying. Why would one of the most influential mercantile organizations in Faerun want me dead? And what am I expected to do against such a powerful institution?
I kept having sinister dreams, dreams in which some voice would criticize me, threaten me. I have no idea who this 'presence' was supposed to be, other than that it seemed to be male. When we rested at the Friendly Arm Inn, shortly after our destruction of the bandit camp, I had one in which a bone dagger flew in the dark until it struck a statue of myself. The statue cracked slightly, but the pain I felt was very real. "You were made as you are," taunted the voice, "and you can also be broken." I awoke with the power to cure afflictions (poisons, disease).
My life seems to be a big puzzle pf which I've barely managed to connect a few pieces.
Got out of Spellhold. Blueberry saves a Potion of Invulnerability by using her new Avoid Death HLA instead when a trap comes out of nowhere.
After setting sail for Athkatla, Blueberry tries to hide from the Githyanki and scurries across the boat to avoid them. But this interferes with the cutscene, and we end up stuck on the Githyanki's boat, waiting for a sailor to deliver the warning about our own ship breaking. But the sailor does not come.
I know he won't. I've had this problem before. We have to reload to resolve the issue, as otherwise the sailor won't say his line of dialog and the game will be broken completely.
The City of Caverns is very kind to us. Blueberry nails the Sahuagin Priestess with the Cloak of Mirroring using a Critical Strike-boosted backstab.
Oddly enough, because the Priestess never spoke to us, none of the other enemy Sahuagin ever attack us. Blueberry can run around the map making sushi left and right, and the Sahuagin will never react to her. Apparently killing the Priestess before she can speak breaks the script somehow.
We gather all the Sahuagin's loose equipment--I believe this is a Tactics change--and gather 38 Light Crossbows of Speed and 39 copies of the Spear +3, plus about 800 Paralytic Bolts and a few Bolts of Biting. Because the other priestess, the friendly one near Senityili in the northearn reaches of the map, buys items at inordinately high prices, Blueberry nets 240,000 gold (not a typo; 240,000 gold) by selling the crossbows and spears she took from the hostile Sahuagin.
There's also an exploit where you can get infinite gold from that priestess by boosting your CHA high enough, as you can eventually sell her an item and buy it back for less than you sold it to her. Vhailor's Helm is good for this, as it has a high base price and moves the gold quicker. But we don't need that much gold, so we don't bother.
Blueberry drinks a Potion of Insight to make sure she can solve the Spectator Beholder's chest anxieties, then kills Ixilthetocal and Villynaty with HLAs. Down to the Underdark.
The Greater Earth/Air/Fire Elementals die to (Greater) Deathblow from Blueberry's clones. She has just reached mage level 16 and can finally cast Simulacrum without Vhailor's Helm.
She can also cast Summon Fiend. Out of curiosity, we try using a summoned Glabrezu on the drow by the Imprisonment sphere thingy, and find that the drow don't fight back.
They just stand there and let the Glabrezu tear them apart. Another weird AI quirk. It has the unfortunate drawback of granting no XP on a successful kill, however, so it's not a perfect solution. Blueberry attacks to make sure she can get some XP out of the fight. It's an easy battle--we've got too many immunities for the enemy to pose a credible threat.
I decide to take on Alchra Diagott. It's a disappointing show.
The other imprisoned critters all die to backstabs. Blueberry doesn't even fight anybody. She just explodes them.
Deathblow on the Kuo-toa. Whirlwind Attack and Critical Strike on the Balor. More Deathblows on the drow ambush. Say hi to Adalon. Time Trap and Spike Trap on the Mind Flayers holding Imrae hostage, with a Mantle to ward off brain drain.
Boring stuff over! Now for something cool. Normally, I'd play things very conservatively around here, but I want to try something new. In the spare time we have before the Ust Natha missions get hectic, I decide to take on the Mind Flayer city.
As a test run, though. I don't need anything from the city, though there is some nice loot there; I just want to try out something new. I have a new plan for this place.
We stock up on a specific set of spells to make sure we can stay safe without having to rest: Blur, Spirit Armor, Stoneskin, Spell Immunity (for SI: Conjuration, to block psionic Maze), PFMW and Mantle to block brain drain, and Simulacrum, for extra castings of our HLAs, notably Greater Deathblow, which can wipe out a whole room of Mind Flayers if Blueberry's clone uses a flasher.
Blueberry is captured normally, and drinks two Potions of Stone Form to drop her save vs. spell down to -3. This means she is immune to the psionic Maze spell, which bypasses MR and spell protections but offers a save vs. spell at -4 to negate the effect, and counts as a Conjuration spell.
We wait until the first fight, then teleport onto the Mind Flayer platform above the coliseum.
The Mind Flayers don't mind her presence; the game assumes you can't get up there, and so there is no script or whatever to make them kill you, as they're supposed to be able to do, for getting too close to them.
Blueberry then teleports to the door to the Master Brain's room. Some Mind Flayers follow her, and step onto the trigger that opens the door--even hostile Mind Flayers can open the door for you, as long as they step on the trigger. Blueberry may proceed.
Blueberry teleports up to the Master Brain and activates Greater Whirlwind Attack, Assassination, and Critical Strike. I did the math and calculated that we could expect her to do 1200 damage on average within 6 second. That's three times as much as we actually need to bring down the Master Brain. It doesn't stand a chance.
I find that I still can't reach the eastern half of the map, as killing the Master Brain apparently doesn't unlock a certain door. So, we return to the coliseum and kill the Umber Hulks.
After they're gone, we are transported back to our cell. A couple of Mind Flayers follow us there--the other Mind Flayers who attacked us were focused on Blueberry's clone, whom we directed into a hall, out of the way--but Blueberry kills them before the next cutscene.
Finally, we speak to the Githyanki and agree to their plan. Blueberry teleports past the ogre when he opens the door, hoping to avoid the fight and skip right to the exit.
It doesn't stop him, though. He talks to us from across the room, and Blueberry is returned to the coliseum. Too impatient to fight the Kuo-toa, she opens the door and leaves.
Somehow I forgot the Mind Flayers kill you instantly if you try to leave early. It seems that Simyaz's opening dialogue in that fight, asking you to deal with the Kuo-toa while they handle the Mind Flayers, prevents that instant death thing from happening, which is why you can escape during that battle.
I try again, starting over from the beginning. This time, to simplify things, we just kill the Umber Hulks in the first fight, rather than skipping right head to the Master Brain. We also finish off the Kuo-toa. Only then do we repeat our plan, leading Mind Flayers to the door opening triggers, teleporting all the way to the Master Brain, and killing it with a string of HLAs. Blueberry gets her buffs dispelled at some point, so she has to drink a Potion of Magic Shielding before she deals the final blow to the Master Brain. From there, she can teleport all around the dungeon, picking up all of the nice loot, including the Control Circlets, and freeing the slaves, without fighting a single Mind Flayer.
But since this was a test run, we don't get any loot or XP, and have to reload the pre-Mind Flayer city save. To justify getting the loot and XP, I'd have to do a real run of the city, and if I make another mistake in there, the run would be over.
Still, I'm quite pleased with how this turned out. With Blueberry's high mobility, she can skip most of the Mind Flayer city, jumping right out of the coliseum and delivering a guaranteed fatal blow to the Master Brain itself.
Which makes me wonder: why didn't Blueberry just teleport out of her cage at the beginning of the game, and backstab Irenicus in his sleep?
I'm enjoying your mixing of first person and third person narrative styles, @Blackraven . You definitely manage "to connect a few pieces" together when you write. Excellent!
Satisfied with the test run of the Mind Flayer city but unwilling to try it for real, we instead resumed the Ust Natha questline. After Phaere gives us a "few days" to do whatever, we head to our default source of blood for the later Ust Natha quest: the Kuo-toa hideout. Deathblow works against the Kuo-toa and Kuo-toa Whips, and Greater Deathblow takes down the priests and Kuo-toa Monitors. Power Attack on the Kuo-Toa Prince, and then we're off to the Demon Knight chamber. The Demon Knights mostly die during Time Trap. The others die the next round.
The drow and their Glabrezus and Stone Golem put up more of a fight, but they almost all succumbed to a clone's flashers boosted by Power Attack+Critical Strike+Whirlwind Attack. Multiple HLAs in one round is really overpowered, but Blueberry really needs Critical Strike to overcome her horrible THAC0 (she had a 50% miss chance on Sahuagin when using TorGal's claw--her best weapon), and the flashers aren't much use without Whirlwind Attack. Once the enemy was disabled and dying in a Cloudkill spell, Blueberry could finish them off in safety.
Her labors completed, Blueberry lays down to rest. She destroys the Ust Natha questline in the process.
Poor sleepyhead. Phaere teleports in to kill her, and dies promptly. We send Kitty after Adalon, then flee Adalon's lair and then leave the Underdark. We already got all the equipment we want, though the XP loss is unfortunate.
Now for Bodhi. I don't bother with a Protection from Undead scroll. We have some new tools at this level. Notably, Horrid Wilting.
We also blind Tanova, but when Blueberry gets close, Tanova begins casting a Conjuration spell. I assume it's a Maze spell, and I only have a moment to respond to it.
The description for Minor Spell Deflection says it only applies to level 7 spells and below, which means Maze should bypass it. Blueberry therefore have no defenses against it, except for her MR. I try to have her drink a Potion of Magic Protection using the Wand of Lightning trick to guarantee a resisted spell, but she can't do it in time.
Luckily, it was actually a Glitterdust spell. Blueberry breaks down Tanova's remaining defenses and stuns her with Power Attack.
Wulfgar died, mostly due to poison damage from the Giant Rats' disease damage. Whatever. We stunned the vampires facing Drizzt with a clone's flashers.
The Guard went down with a Breach and a Power Attack.
Now for Bodhi. I've prepared tons of magic attacks to deal with Manasseh and Hazamaharmahorvath, but the main plan is to concentrate on Bodhi. Blueberry summons a clone right after she opens the door to Bodhi's room. The clone does a blitzkrieg attack on Bodhi with GWW, Critical Strike, and Assassination. Bodhi has no Stoneskins, just like the Master Brain. She is helpless.
Bodhi delivers her mid-battle dialog and heals herself. The clone keeps up the attack.
A Fledgling Vampire triggers a Time Trap laid the day before. Blueberry, suffering through a Cloud of Bats spell she didn't remember to buff against, and attacks Bodhi with the Firetooth dagger (not the crossbow, the dagger) until time returns to normal. Bodhi gets hit by a string of flying daggers all at once.
I almost never use fighter-type characters, so seeing big damage like this is very unusual for me.
After Bodhi falls, Manasseh and Hazzerbazzer vanish. The fight is over, and Blueberry takes another giant leap towards 9 million XP. I removed the XP cap, because I want to see Blueberry use Time Stop.
No reason to get whacked in the face by a 30-foot Iron Golem if you can fight it safely from afar.
Power Attack on the Rakshasas. Backstab Ramilaat. Hit 9 million XP.
Now Blueberry can cast level 9 spells, and I gave her a Summon Planetar spell in Shadowkeeper. But I want to try and kill Nizidramanii'yt without level 9 spells or the Planetar. I decide to try something else, another test run, and if it doesn't work, I'll just eat his brains during Time Stop. Blueberry prepares her buffs (enemies have been pre-buffing lately, despite my install not having changed), including a single scroll of Protection from Acid.
With careful timing of her spells to make sure they're not interrupted, Blueberry lowers Nizidramanii'yt's magic resistance with three castings of Lower Resistance, then hits him with Maze.
Blueberry and her clone lay four Spike Traps and four Time Traps between the two of them.
Time stops. Whirlwind Attack to break through Stoneskins. We choose Flail of Ages so it'll deal an extra 20 fire and cold damage in the process, even though we have no pips in flails--the THAC0 is irrelevant because of Time Trap, and the base damage is irrelevant because of Stoneskin. Blueberry's clone also attacks during Time Stop. The second Time Trap expires (there were supposed to be four, but we only got 20 seconds of stopped time), and the Spike Traps come into play.
The dragon survives. It buffets Blueberry and chases after her.
Blueberry's clone teleports in to help out, having been blown back by Wing Buffet. They activate Greater Whirlwind Attack and Critical Strike. That's 20 guaranteed hits in 6 seconds.
Next up, Suneer.
Suneer gets a Time Stop off the ground before Blueberry does. I think Blueberry has a -3 penalty to casting speed due to some mistake I made in Shadowkeeper, when she should have only -2. This would explain why her Magic Missiles have been casting at a speed of 1 instead of 0: with the Amulet of Power, and the Robe of Vecna nerfed to a +2 bonus to casting speed, Blueberry should cast Magic Missile instantly, and her Time Stop should come out faster than Suneer's. Either way, the first Time Stop isn't too bad, mostly involving Suneer's defenses.
Right before Suneer finishes his second Time Stop, Blueberry's kicks in. She hits him with a stream of debuffers. Then Suneer finishes casting his second Time Stop spell, and regains control of time.
He casts Improved Alacrity and summons a Fallen Planetar, but Blueberry casts PFMW, takes control of time, and slays it before it can cause any trouble.
None of Blueberry's debuffing spells have any effect on Suneer. He had Spell Shield, SI: Abjuration, and Spell Turning or Deflection. Blueberry used Ruby Ray, then Khelben's Warding Whip, then Pierce Magic, then Breach. She even spaced the Breach spell so it would hit after the other ones did.
In any case, it didn't matter. Blueberry concentrated on the other enemies and waited out Suneer's buffs. Eventually, Blueberry's own Planetar did him in.
There are two battles left. Irenicus at the Tree of Life, and Irenicus in the Nine Hells.
Here we are. The final battles of Baldur's Gate 2. First, the Tree of Life.
Blueberry stocks up on debuffers, lots of them, and lays down all her traps at Jon's feet: two Spike Traps, two Time Traps, and three spider snares. I move one of the Time Traps out of Jon's sight. because I've gotten stuck in the past with enemy mages who repeatedly pre-cast Stoneskin during Blueberry's Time Traps and render themselves invincible to physical damage.
Turns out Irenicus is not immune to web.
I've found in the past that he's also not immune to Power Attack--that works perfectly fine, too. Anyway, he's already at Near Death, but just for good measure, we remove his Stoneskins with Whirlwind Attack and then stab him a few times with TorGal's claw. Sure enough, he gives his dying line and we end up in Hell.
HLAs on Sarevok. No story there. Because I haven't gotten tired of the trick yet, I decide to stack the Hell bonuses on Blueberry, giving her duplicate bonuses from the saving throw reward. I accidentally give her a WIS and CHA boost, too, though, which is useless to Blueberry.
Either way, it doesn't make any difference. It seems when I uninstalled the Tactics-style final battle in Hell, hoping to try instead the standard SCS2 vanilla fight... it didn't actually uninstall.
That's the standard Tactics lineup: the Ring Wraith, a Sarevok clone with a Protection from Magic scroll and a Strength-draining sword; the Scary Ball, a Beholder with only one eyeball ray because Anti-Magic Rays are totally underpowered; Gram the Sword of Greed, which you can only kill with magic damage because strategy is when you can't just punch it to death; a clone of Thaxll'ssillyia, but without a cool name; and finally Jon-bon himself, who I think casts Magic Missile or something. And if the difficulty is set to Insane, then there are also little bitty Wraiths, and also Liches, and maybe some other random critters summoned by Jon-bon's multifaceted personality.
Normally this fight begins with you losing all of your buffs due to an Illusion spell called Shatter Magic, which is Dispel Magic but it always works. Then you reload, cast SI: Illusion to make sure you keep some of your buffs, and take the enemies down one by one: Horrid Wilting on the Grim Sword of Grief, then Whirlwind Attack on the Scary Balls, then Whirlwind Attack on Sarevok or Bhaal or the Whiny Wraith or whatever its name is, then Whirlwind Attack on Thaxll'ssillyia. Then you chase Jon-bon around the room for 30-40 rounds, break through his buffs, and whomp him with, say, Whirlwind Attack.
Then Jon-bon dies, but he's still alive, so he comes back, turns into the Slayer, disables all your friends, takes all of your clothes, and then tells you it's only fair if he fights you one on one. So you cast Protection from Magic Weapons, run up to your items, then kill him with, say, Whirlwind Attack.
Then he dies, but he's not dead, so he comes back and starts casting spells infinitely with a permanent Improved Alacrity. So you chase him around the room for another 30-40 rounds, struggling to deal damage to him while he doesn't actually do much of anything to you, but he always teleports away and heals himself when he gets hurt, because mages cast cleric spells, too, when they feel like it. So you lay a Spike Trap at one of his spawning points, wait until he teleports onto it, and then he explodes off-screen and the battle is over.
But I don't wanna do that again. I just want to kill him and be done with it. So, to make sure the Tactics fight is really uninstalled this time, I uninstall SCS2. Then I reinstall it.
But there's an error message. I can't re-install it. The "initialize" thingy won't work. I've seen this before, and usually I can fix it with a clean install.
But I don't have the SoA CD, so I can't do that. I load up BG2 again, try the final battle, and find that the Scary Ball and the other critters are still there. So they're still there even without SCS2 or Tactics installed. I spawn in HELLJON.cre with the console, but he won't say or do anything, and he won't die or trigger an ending dialogue if I eat his brains. So I can't fight the battle I want to--all I've got is the ludicrously unbalanced Tactics version, which is really more designed for 5, 6, or 7-member parties of epic-level Berserker/Mages, Kensai/Wild Mage/Swashbucklers, Monk/Sorcerers, Cleric of Lathander/Skalds, Bounty Hunter/Shadow Dancer/Thief/Mages, and Mystic Theurge Warlock Druid Mind Flayers dual-classed to Beholders.
So now I have to figure out how to deal with the end of the game without being able to play the fight Blueberry is equipped to win.
I've already accomplished all I really came here to do. I only started this run to test out and balance the Phase Spider kit, and that process mostly ended with the fight with the Statues in Watcher's Keep. Every major fight after that was resolved with HLAs--once you hit epic levels, HLAs are basically how the game is played; the other abilities of your class seldom ever matter, unless you're a Bounty Hunter or something.
But I want to have some sort of ending for Blueberry, so here it is.
Before opening the door to Irenicus, Blueberry casts Stoneskin, PFMW, SI: Necromancy, and prepares a triple Power Word: Chain Contingency Spell Sequencer. After laying several Exploding Traps in the center of the map, she activates Hardiness to make sure nobody breaks through her Stoneskin spells until the first turn is over. Finally, she lays the last Tear of Bhaal on the door, and after several painful knock-knock jokes and much dilly-dallying, Jon-bon finally emerges from his hidey-hole.
Irenicus: "So, we are to battle one last time. No more hiding for either of us. I will enjoy destroying you, Blueberry. To die in this place is to cease to exist!"
Blueberry: "Are you sure you wouldn't rather just give me my soul back? It'd be really nice of you."
Irenicus: "Your soul was never truly yours, Bhaal child! You should let me put it to better use!"
Blueberry: "What if I give you a cookie? It's a little old, but I've already taken a bite, so I know it's good."
Irenicus: "You will not be so calm when I doom you to non-existence!"
Irenicus casts Breach, removing Blueberry's spell protections, and summons a Fallen Planetar via a Contingency spell. Blueberry responds with Power Word: Silence, preventing Irenicus from negotiating his Wish spell with the Fallen Planetar. Instead, the Fallen Planetar goes toe-to-toe with Kitty, and Irenicus resorts to Energy Blades, trying to break through Blueberry's Hardiness spell, but her magic resistance blocks the electricity damage, and she makes her save against most of the physical damage. While weathering Irenicus' assault, Blueberry struggles to cast spells under pressure. She gets a Blur spell off the ground, but her Spirit Armor spell is blocked by her own SI: Necromancy spell, which was removed moments earlier by Irenicus' Breach.
Shorn of his Energy Blades, Jon-bon casts Tenser's Transformation and closes in for melee combat, showing off lots of kickass kung-fu moves, but Blueberry activates her Expertise Feat and counters his pitiful two arms with her many spider legs. She fails on a Disarm check, so she switches back to her magic, activating her Spell Sequencer to cast three Chain Contingency spells at once--a classic move for BG2 veterans. She chooses a defensive lineup: Reflected Image, Mantle, Mirror Image, Barkskins, Minor Spell Trap, Protection from Magical Missiles, Protection from Undead, a pre-cast Call Woodland Fiends, and a Minor Globe of Invincibility+Spell Turning+Protection from Prettyfication Spell Trigger to ward off her Nymph's upcoming Nature's Beauty spell.
Meanwhile, Kitty has nailed the Fallen Planetar with a maximized Web Tangle spell (Kitty gets metamagic feats if you give her a few levels in Geomantic Sorcerer), suffering only minor cuts in the process. This is a perfect setup for Blueberry's Nymph, who casts Nature's Booty on the first round she comes out, using a Staff of Striking as a focus for the spell. Inspired by the Nymph's pole-dancing, and still tightly bound by Kitty's silky ropes, the Fallen Planetar fails its save against Kitty's seduction roll, and the Fallen Planetar is successfully neutralized. Kitty starts a grapple, aided by the Nymph, and between the two of them, they manage to organize an impromptu S&M scene. Fallen Planetars make excellent subs--their one weakness relative to normal Planetars.
With the Fallen Planetar occupied and her defenses raised, Blueberry regains the advantage, only for Irenicus to cast a Warding Whip on her. Not all of her specific protections get lowered, but Blueberry has a history with whips dating back to an old foray into the crypts beneath the Graveyard District, and she can't help herself: she has to get involved in the threesome nearby. While the scene unfolds, Irenicus waits until all of Blueberry's buffs have worn off except for PFMW, though he is too spellbound to take offensive action.
When the scene is over and the Fallen Planetar is unsummoned, Irenicus takes control of the nymph--he has his own history with them, and his own share of tricks--and keeps Kitty occupied with the charmed Nymph, though Blueberry regains her senses and returns to the fight.
Irenicus begins casting Time Stop, but Blueberry interrupts it with another Power Word: Silence spell. Irenicus makes use of his Monk levels, but this time, Blueberry's Disarm is successful, and Irenicus' hands fall to the floor. She stuffs one of the hands into her "Bag of Holding," but Irenicus manages to pick up the other hand.
Sensing his disadvantage, Irenicus tries to run, but Blueberry phases after him, dogging after him like the spider she is. Finally Irenicus realizes his mistake, and casts Polymorph Self, turning into a Sword Spider to even the odds. I'll spare the reader the details (some people are squeamish about spiderotica for some reason) but when the spell wears off, both are sluggish and weary, having expended most of their spells. Kitty, too, is beat, in more ways than one, and even the Nymph can only last so long.
They spend a moment catching their breath. Irenicus has returned to normal form and is left with only one hand--he already expended all of his Mage Hand spells, and Blueberry is still in tight control of the hand she disarmed, among several other Mage Hands that Irenicus lost in various dark and wonderful places. They spend a moment reminiscing about Chateau Irenicus, and after sharing the abovementioned cookie Blueberry had been saving for a special occasion, they recover enough to fight again.
Irenicus activates his Spell Trigger, summoning a group of Lesser Hobgoblins, shielding himself with an Armor spell, and disabling Blueberry with a Power Word: Stun spell. Helpless, dazed, and surrounded by Hobgoblin thugs, Blueberry has painful flashbacks to her attempts to fit in with the Chill at the bandit camp by the Beregost copper mines. Kitty and the Nymph lurch forward, still exhausted, to defend Blueberry from the gang, and for a moment, they are successful. But Irenicus realizes he has a better option: he banishes the whole group with a Death Spell and takes the opportunity to recover his hand from Blueberry's Bag of Holding. He also filches Vhailor's Helm from the real Bag of Holding, and promptly summons a Simulacrum.
Blueberry suddenly recovers from the stun effect, and she manages to Dominate the simulacrum before it can take action. Irenicus casts Chaos, confusing his clone, but Blueberry is unharmed, still protected by the Shield of Harmony strapped to her back. Blueberry fires her own Chaos spell, from a scroll, and Irenicus fails his save, but not before trapping Blueberry in a Resilient Sphere spell. For the next 10 rounds, Blueberry can do nothing but sit down and watch Irenicus wrestle with his clone.
After a full turn of homoerotic clone play, Irenicus regains his senses, and is faced with the same set of eight legs that stymied his efforts many rounds before. To regain the upper hand, he turns into the Slayer, sprouting extra arms in the hope of pinning down Blueberry and her many crazy legs. But Blueberry has the same power, and enjoys an even greater benefit from the Slayer form: as a Spider Slayer, Blueberry gains 48 separate limbs, and wrestles Jon-bon to the ground, though she still fails 48 Disarm checks in a row (just bad luck, really), and Irenicus holds on to his hands.
But as a mage with nearly 18 Intelligence, Irenicus has a backup plan. He activates a triple Spider Spawn Minor Sequencer, and the resulting Sword Spiders tackle Blueberry--Blueberry hasn't had this much attention since her date with Rose Bouquet at the tanner house. If you've ever seen a nice pair of legs, just imagine 78 sexy legs in one tangled mass--the spectacle is overwhelming.
As if that wasn't enough, Blueberry casts Mirror Image from a scroll, trying to confuse the Sword Spiders and get a handle on Irenicus. Over 300 Slayer legs in one big pile, even if many of them were illusory. Wow. I'd attach a screenshot, but I'm not sure it's wise... I always have a bucket of ice water around to cool myself down (thank goodness for that), but I'm sure some of you don't take these sorts of precautions for when you're roleplaying as spiders. I'd hate for you guys to get heat stroke... and there's always the chance somebody might see what's on your monitor, and start coming on to you, thinking they've found a fellow arachnophile. My friend is an arachnologist and she gets hundreds of love letters whenever she publishes any of her research. She tried saying she was a black widow to try and scare them off, but it just seemed to encourage them (turns out that's a very popular fantasy).
Where was I? Oh, yes, the details. Blueberry, sensing the battle was not going her way, teleports out of the spider pile and hides in the corner until the beefy Sword Spiders despawn and her heart rate returns to normal. Irenicus and Blueberry both return to their natural forms--she still has the numerical advantage in legs.
Irenicus grows desperate. He casts Maze and Power Word: Spell, but Blueberry makes both her saves, courtesy of a Potion of Clarity. Blueberry also drank a Potion of Freedom for immunity to stun, thinking Irenicus might try a Symbol: Stun spell, but I belatedly realize that as a Diviner, Irenicus can't cast Conjuration spells. Instead, he tries his hand at some Enchantment magic, throwing out Glitterdust and Power Word: Blind spells to try and put Blueberry to sleep. After weathering three such spells, Blueberry makes a Spellcraft check and realizes the next one might well succeed--her Potion of Clarity has worn off, and with it, her save vs. spell is at a pathetic -3. She phases into a faraway corner and drinks a Potion of Invisibility for safety's sake, and sure enough, she fails her save, falling asleep for several rounds while Irenicus tries to find her. Luckily for her, Dragon Disciples can't cast True Seeing--Irenicus has to search for her without the aid of magic.
By the time Blueberry awakens, Irenicus' Globe of Invulnerability has worn off--and Blueberry can sense it. Her opportunity has come. She finally makes use of her thieving abilities, hiding in shadows, creeping out of her own little hidey-hole, and sneaking up on her adversary.
Now that Irenicus' MGOI is down and he is vulnerable to level 6 spells, he can be taken down with a single HLA. But his Mantle is still active, and so we need a nonmagical weapon. But Blueberry's natural weapon strikes as a +3 weapon now, and there is only one nonmagical weapon on the map: Irenicus' hands.
But her Disarm checks have been failing consistently--she needs to disable Irenicus first. So she switches to the Pixie Prick, casts Greater Malison, hits Irenicus with the Answerer to lower his saves even further, and finally backstabs him with the Pixie Prick +3. Miraculously, Irenicus fails his save and is rendered helpless, snoozing peacefully on the grounds of Hell.
Blueberry's Disarm check automatically succeeds. She steals Irenicus' hands, activates Greater Deathblow, and slays the level 13 Illusionist with a double damage backstab, killing Irenicus with his own hands.
Blueberry recovers her soul from the fallen mage, and awakens from the Five Hells in a soft bed in Shuldashashaller, where Princess Ellesime greets her with breakfast in bed, including a plate of warm cookies and cold milk. Ellesime thanks Blueberry for saving Shabashasher and rewards her with a sizable harem of hot spiders they had captured from the invading drow armies. Relieved of her duties and restored of her soul, Blueberry is free to spend a long, hard-won vacation in the city of Shubbasher, getting backrubs from hot elven dudes, giving rides to, and/or feasting upon, the local children, and rolling in the hay with her newfound harem of sexy Sword Spiders.
Great thread guys! Love reading some of your adventures and seeing the many nostalgic screenshots. I would love to see a few short clips of your CHAR going at some of the more memorable battle scenes and perhaps commenting on your own playing style, battle strategies, etc. That would be awesome!
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At the Red Sheaf inn yet another bounty hunter tried his luck against Butch and his gang but the rogue, pleasantly surprised to see Finch and to see her wade into battle with her flail, had little to fear from his opponent.
In Nashkel we were approached by a disoriented fellow with a rodent in his hand that he pointed toward us. He spoke incongruently to his pet and later to us. From what I could understand he was a Ranger from Rashemen who had lost his ward Dynaheir, his 'witch' he called her, captured by Gnolls. I was about to express my symapthies and bid the man farewell when Kivan, no doubt reminded by the stranger's words of his tortured and killed mate Deheriana, stepped in to say we ought to help the woman.
Our journey was a lot more eventful than I had hoped for. Unwillingly we got into a fight with three Amnish hunters who basically refused to allow us into 'their' territory. The combined firepower of Kagain, Minsc and Jaheira was too much to handle for their leader, a dualwielding warrioress, and the other two (archers the both of them) fell soon after their commander.
We met an old man, Ordolath, who offered to pay us 2,000 Guilders and a precious item for bringing him a candle from his home in Baldur's Gate.
In the same area we unknowingly helped an unaggressive demon (disguised as a young boy) find his wolf, and we slew two bandits even though one of them managed to stupefy Jaheira with Darts of Stunning.
Further west the companions protected a Dryad from two numskulls who wanted to cut down her tree, and they reunited a sobbing young girl with her lost (and dead) cat.
Much more consequential was an ambush of sorts by Ogres in the same area: two Berserkers, an initially invisible Mage, and one Ogrillon, all of them hasted.
With Finch again in our midst we returned to the Cloudpeaks, and were happy to find the equipment we had stashed in the cave. After about a day we reached a bridge that led to a large fortress on a cliff, the Gnoll Stronghold. At the end of the bridge two Half-Ogres wanted to charge us for passing and attacked when we refused to pay, so we slew them. The path that led to the fortress was clear for everyone to see, but we decided to look for alternative routes that would allow us to surprise the Gnolls. Alas we found no such route. When we returned to the entrance to the fortress an assassin attacked us. We fell back but were too slow to prevent him from stabbing me.
Imoen, Kivan, Finch and I returned to Nashkel, and later to Beregost, expecting to find Kagain and Jaheira there, but unfortunately we wouldn't. We bought some valuable equipment in Beregost and at the High Hedge: an agility-increasing ioun stone, an infravision-providing ioun stone, and a very nice crossbow that allows me to launch bolts at a greater pace. Having no idea where Kagain and Jaheira were, we decided to return to the Gnoll fortress. Maybe our comrades expected us there. Upon arrival we were appalled to discover the assassins were still there even though days had passed since our encounter with them. Before we could blink the caster downed Imoen with a magical burning arrow.
Butch escaped the same fate thanks to a potion of invisibility he had kept at hand. He then crossed the bridge, wary that the wizard might cast a detection spell that would reveal him. He was most pleasantly surprised to find Kagain and Jaheira there, hidden behind a large rock. The two other assassins they had seen before, the Dwarf and the female rogue, were nearby as well. Butch revealed himself before Kagain and Jaheira and had them follow him to the female assassin. Kagain slew her with a forceful swing of his axe.
Jaheira's loss was a devastating blow to me and even to Kagain who, in spite of philospohical differences, had appreciated the Druid for her prowess in battle, no-nonsense attitude, and courage as much as I had. Of the people I had traveled and worked with since I left Candlekeep, Jaheira had been amongst the best, together with Kagain and maybe Kivan. She would be missed.
I also felt terrible because sooner or later I would have to tell Khalid what had happened.
With Jaheira's demise and with Kivan, Finch and Imoen more dead than alive and in no condition to fight, I was in a mood as glum as after Gorion's fall. I was sat next to Imoen, talking softly to her, when Kagain came to me with a grim resolve in his look. "Let us bust some Gnoll heads friend and release that Minsc's wench. Get that piece of business out of the way, and get out of this stinking place."
We took Imoen, Kivan and Finch to one of various caves where they could rest. I took another look at my hurting companions, placed a bolt in my crossbow and found some of the Dwarf's stubborn resolution take hold of me. "Time to kill," I told Kagain. There were many Gnolls of different ranks, two Clan Leaders, a handful of Elite Warriors and several Veterans as well as lower ranked Gnolls. Although some of them hit hard, and caused us to retreat at some point,
In Beregost the party sold a lot of loot, and bought an enchanted large shield (+2) and a very nice suit of Dwarven Mithril Plate armor for Kagain (AC -2, +1 CON; I had to change it in NI because it gave a +3 CON bonus rather than a +1 bonus as per the item description). [Note: taking into account Item Randomisation plus Kagain's Wizard Slayer kit, meaning no Dex Gauntlets, I think the armor won't overpower him.]
On the first mission for Aran Linvail, Blueberry gets temporarily feebleminded by a unique SCS2 vampire Domination spell.
Luckily, she's tough enough to weather Lassal's attacks. Since I've had trouble dealing with him in the past, we just teleport away and rest until sunrise, forcing Lassal to turn to mist.
At Bodhi's hideout, we approach Tanova while hidden, under the effects of Protection from Undead. Tanova sees through Protection from Undead, as she is not classified as undead, but I don't want any vampires bothering us while Blueberry deals with Tanova. First, we take care of Tanova's girlfriend.
When Tanova appears, Blueberry nails her with a disabler. Tanova fails her save, though we had other spells memorized in case the first failed.
But Tanova is not done yet. I need +3 weapons (Blackblood or the Short Sword of Backstabbing) to hurt her, which means I need to be within melee range, and therefore her range of sight, to hurt her.
I've gone over the possible contingencies and set up Blueberry's spellbook to address the many ways this fight could go wrong. We have Dimension Door to escape Tanova's Remove Magic spells, and Blueberry can bring out Minor Spell Deflection almost instantly if Tanova should try a Breach spell or the like. She could still hit Blueberry with PW: Stun, but her Stoneskin would keep her alive for a bit. And once Blueberry recovered, she could turn invisible instantly, and heal myself a little with Cure Light Wounds in case Tanova used Melf's Acid Arrow, which would keep Blueberry safe from Tanova's second PW: Stun.
But my preparations prove unnecessary. Tanova fails a save against one of the most overpowered spells in the game.
When she gets low on HP, however, she starts to run--Feeblemind won't stop that. But Hold Undead will.
And a Breach removes Tanova's pesky Fire Shield as well as her Stoneskin. This allows Blueberry to finish her off in the five rounds before Hold Undead wears off.
Gellal, too, is easily handled with Feeblemind.
Durst and Lassal meet the same fate. I lose multiple Protection from Undead spells, but relying on Feeblemind kept Blueberry safe. But one problem remains.
Bodhi is a monster in SCS2, and the Amulet of Power won't be enough on its own. Checking her files suggests we would have much difficulty killing her. I calculated Bodhi's and Blueberry's hit chance, resistances, average damage, regeneration, and factored in our potions, and found that Blueberry could only barely defeat Bodhi, if she was fully buffed. But I have an alternate plan.
We enter the coffin room, unbuffed, and stake Lassal. Bodhi appears and gives us a speech. Due to some dialog.tlk oddities, several of her lines are the spell descriptions for Spell Trigger and some other high-level mage spells, but that's just a cosmetic quirk. The real surprise is when Bodhi spawns in some allies. I recognize some Spectral Guards, which don't matter much, and also Manasseh--the counterpart to Hazarmavath. We have two high-level mages facing us, plus Bodhi and some minor goons.
Blueberry is utterly outclassed. We activate our backup plan: Blueberry teleports out of the room, hoping to reach the exit. The moment she appears in the hall, Bodhi ends the fight.
Success! But that was just a test run, hence her arriving unbuffed. I have to do it again to confirm that it wasn't a fluke. I reload and try it again.
Sure enough, Bodhi ends the fight as soon as Blueberry teleports away. We won!
It seems that fighting Bodhi is actually completely option in Chapter 2, even if you side with the Shadow Thieves. All you have to do is run away, and the battle will be over.
Could I also request, if it's not out of order, that people stop posting bitmap images? I spend most of my time on these forums on my phone and opening a single page destroys my data allowance for a month because there's so many images that are each over 1MB in size. How about converting to jpeg before posting?
And it's nice to have those extra slots. For once, we manage to kill the Ruhk Transmuter, instead of watching him kill himself with a Skull Trap or a Cloudkill spell. After disabling him with Web Tangle (which has a spell level of 0, bypassing Rakshasa immunities), Blueberry attacks him while Misled and under the effects of Improved Haste.
Since skipping over enemy spawning triggers is still new to me, and therefore fun, I avoid spawning the first pack of golems, but accidentally trigger the spawns in the undead room when I'm distracted by fighting some orcs. The undead spawns, fortunately, turn out to be ghouls and mummies.
Some may object to using Mislead to backstab. I think it's realistic considering the Ruhk Transmuter was webbed. Besides, a teleporting spider should excel at getting in backstabs, especially when aided by illusion magic.
I've been limiting my rests out of curiosity and found that it saves time, particularly since I'm limiting pre-buffing as well: I don't pre-buff if I'm fighting spellcasters, since they don't pre-buff in my install. I still pre-buff for some non-caster enemies, though.
I also give Blueberry a couple of new abilities. Since it makes little sense that a Phase Spider can't cast Spider Spawn, I add a couple of new abilities to the kit. First, Blueberry gets a variant of Spider Spawn that has an equal chance of summoning a Phase Spider, Sword Spider, or Giant Spider. Second, the kit now has a female-only summoning spell in which Blueberry can spawn in 10 very tiny baby spiders. The spiders are terribly weak and easy to hit (10 AC!) and have a 20% chance of dying on birth. Also, Blueberry can't cast spells or use any thieving abilities for two rounds after she spawns the little spiders, and she gets a -5 to hit and damage for 3 rounds as well. The little spiders are just there as an escape option, but they might also have some offensive potential in BG1.
My earlier worries about Samia proved unfounded. Blueberry fled in the first round, brought out her buffs, and webbed the enemy with traps, following up with Mislead backstabs. They didn't stand a chance.
Blueberry could take on the djinni Guardians with Protection from Fire and backstabs (the easternmost djinni can be rotated via talk-blocking so you can backstab him), but since Blueberry can't wear helms or masks or circlets, she can't wear the Mask of King Strohm, and therefore cannot ever get the Dragonslayer sword or the Dragonscale Shield: the last Guardian will never appear, and even if it's possible to hurt the Guadian via area-effect damage, Blueberry cannot cast any area-effect spells.
We stopped short of fighting the Adamantite Golem and Conster because our inventory got filled up, so we headed to Watcher's Keep to barter with Garlena. While we were there, I decided to venture into Watcher's Keep, as I had the Amulet of Power and therefore immunity to the Vampiric Wraiths' level drain.
I got surprised by a Spirit Troll early on. Mercifully, Blueberry made her save against Greater Command.
She brings out SI: Enchantment and takes down the Spirit Trolls during the next rest period. We also got surprised by a pack of Devil Shades where I normally have seen spiders, but Blueberry managed to bring them down anyway.
Blueberry overpowers the first group of Statues, using Mislead backstabs to great effect.
Oddly enough, her Mislead clone can attack, but it can't do much damage and it's still quite defenseless. Her spider traps give her automatic backstabs against the first fighter, and the rest of the Statues follow.
We return to Firkraag's lair and receive an ominous sign of the dangers of critical hits.
Let's hope our Stoneskins never run out.
Conster is a cakewalk. Blueberry removes his Improved Invisibility with Detect Illusions and pelts him with debuffing spells. With Improved Alacrity, he simply can't maintain his defenses as fast as Blueberry can tear them down. As I had expected, the Phase Spider kit makes for an excellent debuffer.
With Firkraag out of the way, Blueberry is nearly at 3 million XP (she actually would have exceeded it a while ago if it weren't for her XP penalties). I want to reach that before Spellhold, so I decide to finally take on the De'Arnise Hold. At such a high level, Spirit Troll spawns are guaranteed (and for some reason, I never thought to tweak my install to remove their Tactics abilities).
I buy all 10 of Mrs. Cragmoon's Potions of Stone Form. Blueberry needs to drink two such potions to gain immunity to Greater Command, and I want enough potions for provide protection for multiple fights. She could use Spell Immunity instead, but that will only last 5 rounds (she casts it at 2 levels lower than her actual level, and even then the spell only has half its normal duration), and I'm not confident I'll remember to refresh the spell when needed. The potions aren't liable to run out on me in the middle of the fight; Spell Immunity is.
To minimize my potion usage, I decide to avoid the normal fights and head straight for TorGal. On the first level, Blueberry only fights the two normal Trolls (the ones who kill the servants in front of you), ignoring the two groups of Trolls in the center room and the northernmost room. We pick up the Ring of Earth Control and a scroll of Find Familiar, though Blueberry can't use either, and continue to the second floor.
Blueberry drinks two Potions of Stone Form, then teleports past the first group of Trolls. She talk-blocks the Yuan-ti Mage for safety's sake, nicks the Keep Key, and teleports all the way to Lady Delcia's room, webbing the door behind her. Since I'm not sure her save bonuses from the potions will last long enough for the next fight with Trolls, we just tear down the golems and loot the room.
After resting up, Blueberry drinks another two Potions of Stone Form and heads down to fight the two Spirit Trolls and one Spectral Troll in the De'Arnise dungeons. Her traps only web the Spectral Troll, where the Spirit Trolls are by far the more pressing matter, but Blueberry still manages to overcome the enemy's regeneration.
She slays the Umber Hulks as well--she doesn't need to rest first. Now all that's left is TorGal.
As I've mentioned before, TorGal will chase after an invisible character, but his allies will not. You can therefore fight TorGal on his own, which is all the danger I'm willing to tolerate for Blueberry. We hit 3 million XP right after the Spirit Troll battle, and choose not UAI, but Time Trap, as our first HLA.
Why Time Trap? I haven't quite decided what items UAI should give us access to. I think I will limit it to one-handed weapons and rings--Blueberry still won't be wearing metal armor, or armor with shields, or helms or circlets or masks, or using two-handed weapons, and she still won't be able to use Evocation or Conjuration spells or scrolls like Mordenkainen's Sword or Find Familiar. This means that UAI will only give Blueberry a +1 bonus to saving throws and a +2 bonus to AC at this point--this will mean very little in the upcoming fight with TorGal. Time Trap, however, will give us automatic hits on TorGal, which means we can sneak in several backstabs before the time is up.
To my dismay, Blueberry's backstabs deal precious little damage.
TorGal survives the attack with most of his HP. Blueberry casts all the buffs she has, brings in her summons, and very slowly wears TorGal down.
TorGal makes a couple lucky saves against a couple of Slow spells, before failing on the third one, which slows down his regeneration and raises his AC. Notice the placement of the trap, in the Spirit Troll room instead of the Umber Hulk room: this is because I needed TorGal to be visible when the Time Trap went off, or else I wouldn't be able to backstab him (unless I spent several seconds using Detect Illusions first), as he approaches you while invisible and only appears when he makes his first attack roll. To make sure I could make those backstabs without delay, I had to lay the Time Trap in the Spirit Troll room, lure TorGal out of the throne room, get attacked in the Umber Hulk room, and then lead TorGal into the Spirit Troll room.
After many rounds, TorGal finally collapses, with Blueberry down to 4 STR (it would have been 1 if she hadn't drunk a Potion of Fire Giant Strength) and we get TorGal's Claw, a special dagger with crazy stats. It does 2d6+3 damage, slows the target or drains STR on a failed save vs. death at -4, and neatly fits into Blueberry's existing proficiencies.
There's only one thing left: I want the Flail of Ages. I'm not sure I'll ever let Blueberry use it, even after UAI, because it seems so odd to have a spider wielding a flail, but I won't be able to get it after I complete this quest--if I'm ever going to use the flail, I need to get it now.
This means I must retrieve the last flail head from Glaicas. Blueberry turns into a Troll with the Cloak of the Sewers for immunity to unconsciousness and therefore Greater Command (I didn't do this before because it cripples her damage output, and also prevents talk-blocking the Yuan-ti Mage), and hurries out the door to Lady Delcia's room, running and teleporting past the other Trolls to reach Glaicas. Since shapeshifting disables spellcasting and I neglected to give Blueberry an innate version of Dimension Door, I have to use CTRL-J to teleport instead. Blueberry webs another door behind her, lowers her save vs. spell with potions, and tackles the group of Trolls before Glaicas. Glaicas himself falls to Mislead backstabs, delivered while Glaicas was held by Web Tangle. With her immunity to Greater Command still intact, Blueberry teleports all the way to the forge, creates the Flail of Ages, and teleports outside to report her success to Nalia.
Blueberry accepts the fighter stronghold, even though I really want the mage stronghold instead, because we can't say no to Nalia when she needs somebody to take over after her father's passing. I'll tweak my install to let Blueberry get the mage stronghold--I want to see the apprentices survive this time.
The updated Phase Spider kit is working as planned: it excels as a disabler and debuffer, but has difficulty dealing damage due to its non-humanoid form, even with Mislead. It is very adaptable, quick, and mobile, but lacks versatility due to its item restrictions. It's a very free, loose playing style that also rewards close management--precisely the sort of thing I like in a solo run. Most importantly, it really feels like a spider struggling to function in an environment dominated by bethumbed bipeds.
This is the revised kit, plus a new description:
Phase Spiders are giant, predatory, generally non-social arachnids with the unique ability to "phase" in and out of the Ethereal Plane. Phase Spiders use this ability to hunt, approaching their prey from Ethereal Plane, and retreating while their poison takes effect. Some rare Phase Spiders, however, also possess unusually human-like traits: sentience, a social instinct, higher intelligence, some magical abilities beyond phasing, and even the ability to speak Common and other humanoid languages. Why these more intelligent spiders are born to otherwise non-sentient monsters--whether the result of drider lineage, some peculiar magical aberration, or simply the result of natural variation among the species--remains unknown.
These "semi-human" Phase Spiders may attempt to integrate into human society, whether in search of companionship or to develop their abilities, but as dangerous monsters in the eyes of humankind, they are poorly received by virtually all civilizations besides the drow and some more open-minded or very trusting adventuring bands. Phase Spiders may cast Dimension Door at will and can train as any class, from the art of war to arcane magic, but in these fields--all developed by and designed for humanoids--a Phase Spider's alien physiology is a constant obstacle to their progress.
Alien Form:
-10% penalty to Intelligence
Immune to poison, web, and entangle
Immune to humanoid-specific spells (Hold Person, Charm Person, etc.)
+3 to save vs. death
Arachnophobia: +2 to AC and saving throws vs. humanoids
Phase Spider thieves cannot set normal thief traps
Natural weapon (dagger proficiency): 1d6 piercing damage, save vs. death or suffer 3 damage per round for three rounds; 15% chance of webbing target for one round on a failed save vs. breath at +1; strikes as +1 weapon. The weapon is an equippable dagger that the spider can conjure via an innate ability. The weapon upgrades to +2 at level 13 and +3 at level 17.
Phase Spider monks' fists use original damage and to hit values, alongside poison and web effects, but use piercing rather than crushing damage. Phase Spider monks gain Stunning Blow at half the normal rate.
Alien Affinity:
Can cast Dimension Door at will, whether as an innate ability, a mage spell, or a cleric or druid spell
Base 5 AC, -1 AC vs. missile and piercing
Infravision
+25% to hide in shadows and move silently
At level 2, can charm an enemy spider for 2 turns, 3 times per day. A spider that fails its save cannot be charmed again.
Can cast Web Tangle once per day per four levels. Web Tangle webs the target for 15 seconds on a failed save vs. breath. At levels 8 and 15, the spider can web an additional target.
Can set special traps once per day per five levels. Non-thieves have a base 50% set traps chance, which increases by 10 every five levels. The special traps poison and web the target depending on the spider's level:
Level 1: Webs target for 1 round on a failed save vs. breath; deals 1 damage per round for two rounds, and an additional 3 damage per round for two rounds on a failed save vs. death.
Level 10: Webs target for 2 rounds on a failed save vs. breath; deals 3 damage per round for three rounds, and an additional 3 damage per second for two rounds on a failed save vs. death.
Level 15: Webs target for 3 rounds on a failed save vs. breath; deals 6 damage per round for three rounds, and an additional 2 damage per second for two rounds on a failed save vs. death.
Once the target is webbed once, it cannot be webbed again for another 3 rounds.
Can use Poison Weapon once per day per six levels, starting at level 1 with one use per day. The ability works as an Assassin's poison, but only lasts for 2 rounds, and the effects do not stack.
Thumbless:
Cleric, druid, and mage spells are cast at 2/3 of the caster's actual level (-1 penalty to caster level every 3 levels)
-1 penalty to casting speed
-2 penalty to hit and damage with weapons besides its natural attack
Stunted THAC0 development: THAC0 increases by a one point penalty at levels 5, 10, and 15. This stacks with the Phase Spider's -2 penalty to hit at level 1.
-50% penalty to open locks and pickpocket
-1 penalty to backstab multiplier, if any
Crazy Legs:
Improved Alacrity
Free Action
Improved movement rate
+1 attack per round
+15% bonus to Dexterity
Suffers no THAC0 penalties from dual-wielding
Culture Shock:
-50% to Charisma
-10% to Wisdom
The important changes entail the removal of the innate summoning spells, the removal of the item and spell restrictions, and the addition of new spellcasting and combat penalties. The summoning spells would have been game-breaking in BG1, and I was unable to rig the baby spider spell to be female-only. The item restrictions can't be implemented due to engine limitations, so I added in THAC0 penalties and will also include some limits on pips on two-handed weapons and such. Likewise, the spell restrictions can't really be implemented, either, so I replaced the spell duration penalty with a 33% penalty to casting level. Now the Phase Spider can learn Magic Missile and Flame Arrow, but it will do much less damage with each casting than a normal mage or bard.
Butch and his companions traveled from Beregost to Baldur's Gate to fetch Ordolath's candle for 2,000 Guilders. Their journey was smooth until a few hours north of the Friendly Arm Inn their progress came to temporary halt. A large Ankheg population had been terrorizing the lands bordering the river Chionthar. According to a Ranger the giant insects had been extra aggressive as it was their mating season. She begged the party not to slay more than ten, but the companions nevertheless ended up killing about twice that number, both on the surface and in their nest underground. Kagain would lock the creatures in close combat, and the others would pelt them with their missiles.
The band was asked by three fishermen to slay an evil priestess of Umberlee for them who was said to dwell further north in a small cottage east of Wyrm's Crossing. Butch and Imoen scouted the area and found the bridge to Baldur's Gate guarded by a group of Elven warriors. With Butch's history of being hunted wherever he went, the companions considered themselves warned. Nonetheless, Butch and Kagain snuck past the Elves to confront the priestess of Umberlee. She was young, fifteen winters at the very most, and a bit overconfident. She attacked Kagain when he asked her what her business with the fishermen was. The Dwarf then hit her with the blunt side of his axe to teach her some manners, which helpd the girl come to her senses. She explained that the fishermen had slain her mother and stolen a bowl from her.
On their way back Butch and Kagain found the Elves still guarding Wyrm's Crossing. If the party were to enter Baldur's Gate and retrieve Ordolath's candle, they would have to get past them. As soon as they spotted Butch it became clear that they were indeed looking for trouble. Butch and Kagain sped toward their companions, with the Elves at their heels. The battle didn't start off well for the party, for Imoen was soon brought down by a vicious backstab.
"Sorry traveler, but the entrance to Baldur's Gate is closed. With all the bandit activity about, we've been forced to keep the gate closed. Perhaps if you return later, things may have changed and we may be able to re-open the city."
"But this is the city of Baldur's Gate! You have the mighty Flaming Fist to defend you. Why woud you be afraid of bandit incursions?"
"Normally what you have said would be true, but most of the Flaming Fist is down to the south, and the Grand Dukes feel that the city is exposed. I apologize for any inconvenience, but there's nothing I can do."
So we had journeyed all the way to Baldur's Gate for nothing, or almost nothing. We did eventually retrieve the bowl for the priestess (and got no reward, which I guess was to be expected from a child), and Kivan had kept an Ankheg cuticle. Back in Beregost Taerom Fuiruim the smith offered to work it into a suit of armor for 4,000 Guilders, an offer we accepted. Also at the smithy we bought a Returning Throwing Axe +2 (note: probably Item Randomized) and a Helmet of Charm Protection for Kagain. We rested at the Jovial Juggler and prepared for a trip to Nashkel the next day.
Just south of Beregost we encountered a Drow Elf, a priestess, hunted by a Flaming Fist Mercenary. The latter told us she was wanted for murder, so we decided to ignore her pleas for help.
The rest of us visited the Nashkel Carnival for some shopping, before we would head to the Mines at long last. We cast Stone to Flesh on a petrified woman, a nordic battle priestess of Tempus, Branwen.
In the area surrounding the Nashkel Mines we faced the same Dwarven bounty hunter that had attacked us days before. This time we fought back. Kivan almost single-handedly dispatched our foe.
Inside the Mine the miners spoke of demons oppressing them, but Kagain's nose told him that it had to be Kobolds.
Much more problematic was a band of Duergar on the third level. Hidden in shadows, I spotted four: two warriors, a priest, and a rogue. Sensing trouble from their evil ilk, I preventively set a number of traps, and I asked Kagain to check what they wanted. They might or might not respond better to a Dwarf. The Duergar turned out to be yet more bounty hunters.
They recognized Kagain and came straight after him. My snares killed their leader,
I threw a snare onto a narrow path that was blocked by many Kobolds,
Back in Nashkel, Xan and I visited Nalin. He told us that Finch had left Imoen, Isra, Kagain, and Kivan in his care to pursue her own clerical duties in Nashkel, and that my comrades were all in dire conditions. They might take months to fully recover, if they were to recover at all.
To be honest I felt very bad about the suffering their association with me has brought upon my comrades, but there was nothing I could do for them apart from praying for their sound and speedy recovery.
Butch and Xan then visited the Nashkel Carnival to barter with some of the merchants. The carnival was an interesting place where many people came and went: nobles, traders, adventurers, and peasants alike. This time there was a stunning Half-Elven Skald, Keiria Silverstring, who was eager to join Butch and Xan. She said she had been looking for adventure, for heroes with feats to immortalize in song. Two Gnomish Illusionists, Skeezer and Quayle, joined as well. Both were apparently heading north. Skeezer wanted to go to Baldur's Gate (in spite of Butch's assurance that the city gate was locked). Quayle was less specific but at least seemed quite pleased to be accepted into the party. It was quite a different experience for Butch to travel with no less than four arcane casters (whereas his previous companions had almost exclusively been warriors, rogues and priests). Berrun Ghastkill rewarded the party for their efforts with 900 Guilders.
The new party of five ran into an assassin in Nashkel, but the Amnish soldiers and a critical hit from Butch, finished him off without anyone suffering any harm.
They first visited the Jovial Juggler, where a Flaming Fist Enforcer named Officer Vai offered Butch 50 Guilders for every bandit scalp he'd bring her, and where Shar-Teel (after a short talk about party discipline) and Branwen rejoined the party. Skeezer left, to continue his journey to Baldur's Gate.
One of the rogues struck Keiria down with a devastating backstab, while one of priestesses Commanded Branwen to sleep.
I'm pleased to have found what seem to worthy companions after the (temprary?) loss of Kagain, Kivan and Imoen, and to a lesser extent Isra. Branwen especially seems have taken a liking to me, entrusting me with personal tales of her past. I wonder why.
This is terribly overpowered, of course. But Blueberry is a Fighter/Mage/Thief at epic levels--she should be terribly overpowered by now.
She also can learn Evocation and Conjuration spells now, and after spending several tens of thousands of gold on new spells, she gains a level, and picks Use Any Item. Now she can use Vhailor's Helm. If a Chaotic Evil Thief with UAI can use Carsomyr or a Time Stop scroll, I'm sure a Phase Spider can figure out how to use a helmet.
We test out our newfound HLAs against Gaius and the other sewer-dwellers beneath the Temple District. Blueberry sneaks up while hidden and sets a Time Trap next to Gaius, hiding again and backstabbing Rengaard before the enemy turns hostile and triggers the trap. Gaius is doomed.
With Mislead for backstabs, Blueberry slays both Gaius, Rengaard, and Zorl in the 10 seconds before the Time Trap runs out. The game crashes for some reason, but it plays out almost as well the second time around. Blueberry makes use of her new Evocation spells--unlike the enemy, she is immune to Web. This opens itself to certain exploits, as BG1 veterans know from painful experience in the Cloakwood.
Her backstabs have gotten much nastier since getting TorGal's claw, with its 10 average base damage. The especially cruel thing about this is that Blueberry is also immune to poison damage, which means she is unaffected by her own Cloudkill spells.
Now that we have UAI and the item restrictions on the kit have been replaced by casting and fighting penalties, Blueberry can wear boots. And since she just hit Fighter level 13, her APR is now 3.5, which I could bump up to 4 with Boots of Speed. And because I'm too impatient to wait until Spellhold, I decide to take on the Planar Prison, one of my least favorite quests, where Blueberry's mobility will be the most constrained.
The Coiled Cabal in Mekrath's lair are unable to disable Blueberry: she is immune to any Web spells, and her save vs. death is at -1, which means she is also immune to their Stinking Cloud spells. She floods the area with her own Web spells, dispelling the enemy's invisibility with Detect Illusions and attacking whichever enemy is webbed. Mekrath falls to Power Attack. The Planar Prison is open.
Blueberry enters the area while invisible. Informed by the fight with Gaius, she lays a Time Trap at the beginning of the fight. Aawill is our first target.
Blueberry overwhelms the enemy mages with HLAs, and backstabs the remaining enemies into oblivion. The Coiled Cabal to the east is more problematic. The fight requires much closer management, including, notably, a Secret Sword to remove a Minor Globe of Invulnerability, which allowed Blueberry to web a Yuan-ti Mage who otherwise might have caused a lot of trouble.
Power Attack did a lot to weaken the Master of Thralls, who we tackled without resting--not very standard for my no-reload runs.
The Warden proves difficult. It turns out he had both an Improved Mantle spell and a PFMW spell ready, which means Blueberry's one Breach spell was not sufficient to remove his defenses. Instead, Blueberry webs him, and follows up with some damage spells.
Ultimately he dies to the lingering damage from an Acid Arrow spell, shortly after he broke out of the web.
Blueberry is in good shape, at more than 4 million XP and decked out with most all of the items she needs.
Note the presence of Jan's flashers. I may well find a good use for them.
Blueberry has nowhere near enough spellpower to debuff the mages. This means the enemy mages are guaranteed to succeed in their spells. Therefore, we must use a hit-and-fade strategy, taking advantage of the large area and the many walls that will help Blueberry hide. We seed the area with Time Traps, stock up on Spell Immunity spells, drink a Potion of Stone Form, and complete the ritual, bring the Statues to life.
The first Time Trap triggers, but the only Statue that has awoken, and therefore become targetable, is the male mage, who already has his defenses up. Blueberry searches for an opening, but does not get one until another Time Trap activates: the female human fighter Statue awakens. Blueberry backstabs it to death, then retreats into another room. Along the way, one of the mages hits her with Breach, right before she activated SI: Abjuration.
The Iron Golem Statue triggers another Time Trap, and in the process blocks the doorway, ensuring Blueberry's safety. She can't do much damage, unfortunately, and once the Time Trap is over, one of the mages takes control of time. But the Iron Golem keeps the mages at range.
A Time Trap triggers off-screen. Blueberry teleports past the Iron Golem Statue and casts Web, hoping to make some progress on the other fighters. She struggles to harm the Iron Golem Statue, but the little pieces of damage build up over time.
The Statue falls, but a mage takes control of time again, and we no longer have that barrier protecting us.
The mage brings out some of its defenses, but more importantly, it throws out a very dangerous spell.
But Blueberry brought out SI: Conjuration just moments before, specifically to protect her from Power Word: Stun, Symbol: Stun, and Symbol: Fear. Her saves vs. spell aren't good enough, now that her Potion of Stone Form and Spirit Armor have been removed with Breach.
Blueberry spends the next several rounds running circles around the Statues, striking at the fighters while giving the mages a wide berth. At the same time, she has to avoid a Bone Fiend from one of the mages. Bone Fiends can see through invisibility, cast Cone of Cold, teleport across the map, and are very hard to kill--right now, Blueberry is not very well equipped to face them.
Finally the last of the fighter Statues collapses. Blueberry lures the male mage Statue into the Guardian Golem room, triggering another Time Trap and permitting her some free attacks.
Poison Weapon isn't actually doing anything--as I later noticed, the Statues were all immune to poison damage. But it does wear the mage down a bit. Blueberry retreats when time returns to normal, and seeks out the female mage.
Blueberry summons the Efreeti, whose Magic Missile fails to bypass the female mage Statue's magic resistance. The Bone Fiend, still lurking around the map, blasts the Efreeti with Cone of Cold. I see a tremendous amount of damage in the dialog box, and for a moment I think it's the Bone Fiend's Cone of Cold spell, but it's actually from one of the Statues.
I forgot about the thief Statue, which apparently has some very nasty backstabs. Blueberry still has her Stoneskins intact, but I don't want to get caught off-guard. Blueberry drinks a Potion of Invisibility and starts to track down the thief using Detect Illusions.
Time stops again, but this time, it's not ours.
One of the mage Statues must have started casting Time Stop when Blueberry was still around, but only finished it long after she was gone. This means their Time Stop was completely wasted. Notice the Bone Fiend triggering Demon Fear every round. Blueberry already drank another Potion of Stone Form to make sure her saves were successful.
When the Time Stop ends, Blueberry flits around the map, trying to shake the Bone Fiend. She makes a save against spell, and out of curiosity, I check the Record screen, only to find that her save vs. spell has risen to 2--the last Potion of Stone Form must have run out. She drinks a Potion of Clarity, just in time for it not to matter.
I haven't noticed any True Seeing spells for a while, so I decide now is a good time to use Detect Illusions to root out the thief. A True Seeing spell comes out of nowhere--I was wrong; it's still active--but Blueberry teleports away, just far enough to hide.
With the Cloak of Non-Detection, Blueberry can remain invisible while hidden, but not while invisible. This means we can't remain out of sight while searching for the thief.
Instead, Blueberry goes to the place where her Efreeti died and allows herself to be seen, drawing the thief's attention. She lures it to the south, into another Time Trap. When time returns to normal, the thief Statue is already in shambles.
Now all that's left are the two mages. Blueberry has saved her HLAs and the simulacrum from Vhailor's Helm for precisely this occasion. She hides behind a pillar, spawns in her clone, and sends the clone to attack the male mage statue with Blackblood.
The mage brings out Improved Mantle. Now the clone can do nothing but use Web Tangle on the Statue. Blueberry uses the Cloak of Stars to conjure some +5 darts in case she needs them (we have no other weapons that can bypass Improved Mantle, much less SCS2's Improved Mantle), but without any proficiencies in darts, and with her Phase Spider THAC0 penalties, she won't be very accurate with them.
As the male mage fails a save against Web Tangle, the female mage appears from the eastern library. Blueberry assigns her clone to distract the female mage, but her clone has no defenses left. Some pre-set traps fire and hit the male mage, but the poison still won't do any damage. The mage is still wounded from Blackblood's acid damage, however.
The female mage leaves her room and joins the male mage--now Blueberry can no longer deal with them one at a time. To manage the situation, she equips Firetooth and some of Jan's flashers. Desperate to keep the enemy subdued, she activates both Power Attack and Critical Strike, guaranteeing successful hits, and significantly increasing the chance of stunning the enemy--flashers won't necessarily be enough. The female mage fails a save, but her counterpart does not.
The problem is APR. With Firetooth and no proficiencies, Blueberry only gets 2 attacks per round, which means the enemy only needs to make 4 saves.
The male mage was lucky enough to remain functional, but he appears to be out of spells--he just walks up and starts swinging his staff. Recognizing that the female mage is the only remaining threat, Blueberry uses the Tuigan Bow with Acid Arrows on the female mage.
From there, the only thing left is to tear down the male mage Statue. With no Stoneskins left, and already in bad shape, the Statue dies in two hits.
The rest of Watcher's Keep is wide open, though only the next level is safe for a solo character of Blueberry's level in SCS2. The only problem with level 2 are the two Fire Giant spawns in the fire room. They are boosted by Tactics, have obscene regeneration, and have permanent and undispellable Berserker immunities.
I'm still upset that their Enrage immunities never run out. In the dual-class run, Horun Fallows got disabled incessantly, because his Enrage kept running out. It's illegal and unfair for Fire Giants to get those immunities when they're supposed to just be Berserkers.
Fortunately, I already have a method for dealing with these guys. Their immunities don't extend to instant death effects, which means Flesh to Stone is perfectly capable of killing them. Blueberry delivers a Greater Malison spell while time is stopped, and follows up with a string of Flesh to Stone spells.
The other Fire Giant survives, so we have to rest and return later--tanking a Tactics-style Fire Giant is foolish without an ample supply of SI: Evocation spells, and I don't trust Blueberry's buffs to last long enough to beat the giant. Instead, we just set a new trap the next rest period and pummel the Fire Giant while time is stopped. It ends up at Near Death and panics when time returns to normal, and Blueberry finishes it off with the help of the Flesh Golem.
I can't figure out how to turn the Phase Spider kit into a Weidu mod. The setup file won't start and I'm not sure about the cause. I might just release the Phase Spider kit as a set of CLAB files that the player could use to replace one of the vanilla kits. You'd be able to play the kit as normal, but you'd have to overwrite, say, the Archer kit or the Swashbuckler kit, in order to use it. Also, I don't know how to apply the kit to a mage, since the specialist mages don't seem to use a CLAB file--you'd have to start the game as a Phase Spider fighter or bard whatever, and then use Shadowkeeper to switch the class to a mage.
The halfling cannibals aren't much trouble. Critical Strike combined with a backstab proves the end of Mogadish--as a cleric, he has no Stoneskins to help him.
Web does in the other halflings. We actually get through the next group of halflings without resting first.
For Lavok, Blueberry stocks up on debuffing spells, and renders the necromancer vulnerable to direct damage spells.
And Tolgerias and his mage friend? Debuffs and Web.
Blueberry takes on three apprentices--Nara, the sweet one, Morul, the serious one, and Larz, the total jerkbag loserface that we don't like. Unfortunately, choosing the dangerous options will get Nara killed before Larz, so we choose all the safest magic item creation whatevers. All the apprentices survive and are happy. Yay!
Also, I finally resolved the Knights of Solamnia quest using Ribald.
In 15 years of playing this game, this is the first time I've ever gotten that belt. Blueberry wears it for several seconds, just so it has finally been done, then equips the Girdle of Bluntness, since it gives a bigger bonus and crushing damage is usually more dangerous.
There are only a few things left for us to do before Spellhold:
Watcher's Keep
Firkraag
Thaxll'ssillyia
The Guarded Compound
Kangaxx
The Twisted Rune
But I don't want to do those things because Blueberry doesn't need the XP and the only item we'd really want would be the Ring of Gaxx. And honestly I forgot about Kangaxx. So off we went to Brynnlaw.
We get ambushed by vampires. Go figure. Blueberry teleports to safety, rests until daylight, and teleports back to watch the stupid vampires turn to mist.
Blueberry decides to visit the local whorehouse, and is delighted to find that the prostitute at the front is open-minded about spiders.
He even calls her "pretty lady." But we had to rescue Claire from getting murdered, so Blueberry had to run off to murder some guards, and then backstab Galvena into a bunch of gooey chunks. Only then could she go back to the fancy courtesan to relax.
Perth the Adept proves shockingly easy to beat.
I should use that again sometime.
There was nothing interesting about the Spellhold maze. Blueberry teleported over the spawn triggers for the Lich and the first Coiled Cabal, and slaughtered everything else with HLAs and brute force. There was only a momentary scare when we found that a Mind Flayer was the fourth spawn in the magical tome room--I was expecting a Beholder--but Blueberry brought it down with Whirlwind Attack during a Time Trap.
The only obstacle left was Irenicus.
As per our rules, we arrive unbuffed aside from Stoneskin, though Irenicus starts out with many layers of buffs. Once Blueberry's clone appears, Blueberry puts on all of her equipment, including the Robe of Vecna (the battle apparently had not started, so she was still able to put it on). To our good fortune, Blueberry's clone gets its first spell interrupted.
The green spell effect indicates an Abjuration spell, almost assuredly a PFMW or Mantle spell.
Blueberry herself has already drunk a Potion of Invisibility to make sure her clone won't greet her with any Greater Whirlwind+Power Attack+Critical Strike attacks. She equips the Tuigan Bow and Firetooth, with a set of flashers, Arrows of Dispelling, and nonmagical arrows as well, and summons her own clone via Vhailor's Helm. While Blueberry is setting up her defenses, the friendly clone uses Critical Strike and Whirlwind Attack, which allows her to immediately shut down the enemy clone.
The enemy clone dies under sustained pressure. Irenicus maintains his defenses, but gets confused by Wanev's Chaos spell and wanders off to the south. After dispelling his illusion spells, Blueberry and her clone pelt him with debuffing spells.
To our dismay, we can bring down absolutely none of his defenses. Why is this? Apparently our Ruby Ray of Reversal took down his Spell Shield instead of his SI: Abjuration. Since we only have one RRoR, this means all our debuffers are Abjuration spells, and therefore are blocked by Jon-bon's SI: Abjuration. Irenicus will retain his buffs, and therefore will have free reign in his casting.
He knows what cards to play.
We can't break through Irenicus' defenses, so Blueberry and her clone retreat. An enemy Glabrezu has joined the fight, so we decide to make it our next target. Demons have no immunity to stun, which means our flashers will work against it. They do.
Wary that we might fail to kill the Glabrezu before it recovers, Blueberry casts Mislead for some extra backstab damage. Then a new problem arises.
That purple cloud is a Fallen Planetar joining the battle, easily the nastiest HLA for a solo character like Blueberry. In SCS2, Planetars thankfully offer a save vs. death at -2 to survive a vorpal strike, but even with our boosted saves vs. death, I can't rely on Blueberry and her clone to survive. So Blueberry's clone activates Avoid Death, for immunity to vorpal strikes, and uses two castings of Hardiness for near-immunity to damage.
Blueberry can't land a hit on Irenicus. This is a surprise.
Jon-bon has PFMW active. Blueberry is using nonmagical arrows. And based on the timing of the attack roll, I'm sure the attack is coming from Blueberry and not her clone.
With Irenicus somehow invincible, we turn our attention to the Fallen Planetar. Web Tangle fails all 7 times the clone attempts it, but we have other options. Planetars, like demons, are not immune to stun, and therefore we can disable it with a flurry of flashers bolstered by Power Attack--though we have to target a fellow inmate to get at the Fallen Planetar, since Planetar's can only be hit by +3 weapons or better, and flashers strike as +1 weapons.
Blueberry's clone only has flashers, Arrows of Dispelling, and nonmagical arrows equipped, which means she can't actually harm the Planetar without running out of her few remaining flashers, nor can she hurt Irenicus due to his many defenses. Instead, Blueberry's clone hits the Fallen Planetar with a few low-level spells. The Planetar fails a save.
Now the Planetar is blinded as well as stunned. But there's one problem. See that Transmutation spell Irenicus is casting?
Yup. This means the stun effect will wear off long before Time Stop ends. Our attempts to disable the Fallen Planetar were futile. The Planetar is still blinded, so it turns invisible and flees. Meanwhile, Irenicus keeps us busy with another hideous HLA.
Blueberry teleports away until the spell is over, but now the last of the inmates are dead. Irenicus' only remaining target is Blueberry, her clone, and some loose Efreet.
Worse, the Fallen Planetar recovers from its blindness--it must have cast True Seeing, which in SCS2 cures and prevents blindness--and attacks Blueberry.
Blueberry activates Avoid Death for a split second immunity to vorpal strikes. But Avoid Death makes little difference. Blueberry teleports into a glass jar, and the Fallen Planetar, one of the most powerful critters in the Baldur's Gate Saga, can do nothing to stop her.
These are the tactical possibilities opened up by phasing. Sometimes all it does is let you move around. Other times, it breaks the encounter. It all depends on what you do with it.
The Fallen Planetar vanishes, and Irenicus is alone. Blueberry teleports to another jar and hides in shadows. Meanwhile, Jon-bon destroys the last of the inmates' summoned Efreet, plus a Nabassu somebody summoned.
Irenicus starts to prepare for an incoming battle.
Then he kind of loses it.
Finally, his buffs wear off, and his summons vanish as well. Blueberry teleports to a safe place, hides, and approaches Irenicus, confirming his spell protections are down.
She retreats to a corner where she had earlier placed a Spike Trap and a Time Trap, ensuring her some safety if Irenicus should approach, then summons her own Efreeti. Irenicus wastes a divination spell trying to find her--with the Cloak of Non-Detection, no divination spell can uncover her--but I don't think to take advantage of his unclear aura to attack.
Blueberry hides again, moves over to Irenicus to monitor the situation, and calls the Efreeti over to deal with Irenicus. Irenicus begins casting a Necromancy spell, either the Death Spell or Horrid Wilting. The Efreeti hits him with Magic Missile to interrupt the spell... but Irenicus resists the damage.
This is an extremely important detail. I forgot Irenicus still had his specific protections, including all his resistances, still active. I waited out his Spell Turning, but Protection from Magical Energy lasts a lot longer. This means the spells I was about to unload on Irenicus would have failed to do any damage. Instead, I first hit Irenicus with an Arrow of Dispelling.
With his Stoneskin down, the Efreeti can interrupt Irenicus' Necromancy spell, but it doesn't really matter. The battle is already won. Irenicus' spell protections have worn off, and his specific protections removed with a single arrow.
We activate our plan: a triple Flame Arrow Spell Sequencer, followed by a double Acid Arrow Minor Sequencer.
The battle is over. Irenicus teleports away.
It's a characteristic strategy for a Phase Spider. Evasion, attrition, and a surgical strike.
Minor nitpick: I'm almost positive Irenicus never cast Spell Trap. SCS2 enemies seldom ever use it, preferring instead to dedicate 9th-level mage slots to Absolute Immunity or Time Stop. I do know Irenicus used Spell Turning, however.
I believe Spell Shield absorbed the Ruby Ray of Reversal, preventing Secret Word from getting past SI: Abjuration, in which case the only way to break down Irenicus' defenses would have been to use two Ruby Rays, followed by a Secret Word. Maybe somebody could confirm how SI: Abjuration works in SCS2.
But Spell Thrust will take down SI: Abjuration.
But Secret Word and Spell Thrust are blocked by Globe of Invulnerability.
So in the fight with Irenicus, Spell Shield blocked Ruby Ray of Reversal, and then Irenicus' Globe of Invulnerability blocked Secret Word and Spell Thrust.
I also checked the files. It seems that:
-SI: Abjuration blocks Breach, Dispel Magic, and Remove Magic, but not magic attack spells like Spell Thrust, Secret Word, Pierce Magic, RRoR, Warding Whip, Pierce Shield, or Spellstrike.
-Globe of Invulnerability blocks Spell Thrust and Secret Word.
-Spell Shield will block any Abjuration attack spell besides Dispel Magic and Remove Magic.
-All Abjuration attack spells besides Dispel Magic and Remove Magic will take down Spell Shield.
I was wrong: GOI was blocking my attack spells, not SI: Abjuration. But SI: Abjuration does block Breach in SCS2.
Breach not bypassing SI Abjuration is consistent with SCS revised Breach, that makes sense.
Spell Thrust only affects spells of level 5 or below, so that should never work against GoI, that also makes sense.
However Secret Word *should* remove GoI, there's something amiss if it doesn't. It says in its spell description that it should and it's such a niche spell anyway (only real use is vs GoI, Spell Deflection and Spell Turning) that it becomes worthless if it doesn't remove GoI.
//
Secret Word (Abjuration)
Level: 4
Range: Visual sight of caster
Duration: Instant
Casting Time: 4
Area of Effect: Target creature
Saving Throw: None
When this spell is cast at a target creature it will dispel one spell protection of 8th level or lower. The spells that are affected by this are: Minor Spell Turning, Minor Globe Of Invulnerability, Spell Immunity, Spell Deflection, Spell Turning, and Spell Shield. The target's magic resistance, if any, does not affect this spell.
Note: This spell removes the magical protections of the closest (hostile) creature to the point that the spellcaster designates. For this reason, the spell may be used to remove magical protections even from creatures which could not normally be targetted by spells (for instance, because they are invisible).
//
So MGoI but not GoI. Personally, I use it to remove Spell Shield and Spell Turning if opponent is not Lich (I don't use SP removals on Rakshasa anyway) and those are common for SCS Mages so I can't think of it as *useless* or *worthless*.
That means there are now only 2 spells that Secret Word removes which Spell Thrust does not: Spell Deflection and Spell Turning. And that's assuming the opponent is not a rakshasa or lich. That's why it's so weak, because Spell Thrust covers nearly all its bases.
It seems very inconsistent that GoI is not dispelled by Secret Word. Spell Thrust (level 3) removes MGoI which is supposed to protect from spells up to level 3. So by the same logic why shouldn't Secret Word (level 4) remove GoI which is supposed to protect from spells up to level 4?
Bad programming
(1) If Secret Word could take down GOI, then Pierce Magic would be of very little use, since enemies with spell protections seldom have MR, and vice versa. Comparing Secret Word with Pierce Magic, the latter's only advantage is a minor decrease in the target's MR, which doesn't justify, in my opinion, occupying two whole spell levels higher than Secret Word.
-The inconsistency makes Pierce Magic more useful.
(2) GOI would be much less useful relative to MGOI if it didn't block Secret Word. The number of spells that are blocked by GOI but not MGOI aren't very many: Emotion, Confusion, Polymorph Other, Ice Storm, and Teleport Field. And people seldom use those spells to break through MGOI anyway: mages already have excellent saves vs. spell, rendering the first three very weak, and Teleport is more often beneficial for enemy mages. This means GOI has very little advantage over MGOI, unless it blocks Secret Word.
-The inconsistency makes GOI more useful.
(3) Secret Word is only 1 spell level higher than Spell Thrust, but Globe of Invulnerability is 2 spell levels higher than Minor Globe of Invulnerability.
-The inconsistency matches the spell level difference.
2) Neither Ice Storm or Teleport Field offer saves. Mages save vs spell are not that great, especially vs spells with a penalty like Confusion (not good enough to risk anyway, especially as they can't drink Invulnerability). Actually the biggest use of GoI is to protect against Greater Malison.
3) Makes sense but surely not intentional. Definitely think Secret Word needs improving if it can't touch GoI.
After the dust-up with the bounty hunting amazons at Feldepost's, Butch and his gang decided that it was time to leave town again and either lay low somewhere in the wilds, or seek out the bandit syndicate that - according to the letters found on Mulahey, Nimbul and Tranzig - were the ones who wanted Butch dead. The rogue was sick and tired of assassins and bounty hunters trailing him wherever he went, and had resolved for himself to face the bandits head on, so as to leave the business with his invisible enemy behind him once and for all, for better or worse. The letters had told him that the bandits had a secret location in the Wood of Sharp Teeth, so Butch knew where to look for them. He considered this forest as fine a wilderness area as any to shake off any remaining bounty hunters, but Branwen, who had been growing ever more attached to Butch, had come up to him to confess that she missed the salty air and the bustling waves of Seawolf, her hometown on one of the Norheim Isles. She didn't say she wanted to return home, but she did long to behold the sea again. Butch didn't really object to spending a few days on the coast, and the others seemed to care even less where they went, as long as the group stayed together (Quayle) and there was adventure to be had (Keiria), blood to be spilled (Shar-Teel), or death to be feared (Xan).
We traveled to the southwest, crossing the lands where we had slain Bjornin's Half-Ogres. For days we trekked through canyons and over rocky slopes that provided little cover and that were inhabited mainly by wild animals (wolves, bears). But on the third day of our journey we came upon a Xvart settlement. We didn't take long in discovering we were not welcome. I didn't notice any of their females (maybe they all look and sound the same), but boy they reproduce like rabbits: we had to fight for our lives against overwhelming numbers. And worse, they had massive Cave Bears fighting for them.
A single day in Nashkel proved to be too long, we found out as we left the inn. A new group of bounty hunters, led by one Molkar, had found us. We reflexively retreated into the inn to take away part of our foes' advantage of surprise, but found the inn too cramped to fight the enemy, especially a hard-hitting Dwarf. We ran outside, at least Keiria, Branwen, Shar-Teel and I did. Xan and Quayle apparently decided to stay inside and fight. The Dwarf and a Gnomish battlemage followed the girls and me. I had us split up. The girls entered the store, while I continued running toward the southern edge of town, to the Amnish guard. The hasted Gnome kept up with me with ease, but I lost the Dwarf. Later Keiria told me the latter had followed them into the store. Branwen had held him, and together they'd slain the warrior.
Our second attempt at visiting the coast failed just like the first, albeit not because anyone of us required medical care. We battled bandits, Ogres and a Mountain Bear in Ogre's Reach (earning us a pair of Boots of the North), and at an excavation site near the coast we protected an archaeologist against bandits (and against his own men who went berserk in a foul-smelling ritual chamber we entered). We also ran into Brage, the Nashkel guard captain who according to Nalin had killed his own family. He seemed eager to do the same with us, but we calmed him down, and escorted him to Nalin. The priest rewarded us with no less than 1,000 guilders. The source of Brage's wicked ways had been a cursed greatsword. Nalin gave it to us, and we took it to Thalantyr, who lifted the curse and enchanted the blade, transforming it into a Sword of Rage +3 for Shar-Teel. Finally a weapon for her that shouldn't shatter as easily as the unenchanted blades she had worked with up till then. The encounter with the Xvart Shamans inspired us to buy a Ring of Free Action from Thalantyr as well.
Third time lucky, they say, and so it was for Branwen. We left Brage - the third and last of the fat bounties we had wanted to claim after Bassilus and Prism - in Nalin's care, and a day or two after that we finally reached the coastland, west of the High Hedge. As expected the land was plain, with scarce vegetation, and windy. What we didn't expect, was the presence of Sirines and Nereids. It was a good thing that we rescued a small boy from three Worgs near a lighthouse, because an old man appeared and warned us of Sirines guarding the treasure of Black Alaric, a pirate captain, in a cave on the shore. This meant that Branwen would only observe the sea and the beach from afar, because getting too close could easily mean death at the hands of the extremely territorial Sirines. I, however, was intrigued by the alleged treasure. Keeping to the shadows, I slunk past the Sirines, and entered the cave. It was trapped and guarded by Flesh Golems, but I managed to disarm the traps and to take out the Golems with sneak attacks.
We met a man who called himself the Surgeon and warned us of his evil brother Davaeorn, a wizard, and we had a friendly encounter with a Gnomish riddler. The sea air, the winds, the peace and quiet, and the mere fact that we had sacrificed some of our time for her, seemed to mean a lot to Branwen. The looks she gave me, and her smiles even suggested that she harbored something more than a friendly affection for me.
The party postponed their exploration of the Wood of Sharp Teeth with an excursion to the Valley of the Tombs, the area where Butch and Xan had left the Nashkel Mines. They dispatched various undead there,
The party traveled back to Beregost to have Xan and Shar-Teel treated by Keldath Ormlyr at the Temple of Lathander. The two recovered fast, and soon the party found themselves deep in the Wood of Sharp Teeth again. It was in the Peldvale area that they were ambushed by a group of bandits accompanied by no less than three (initially invisble) Ogre Mages. The bandits and the Ogres were all hasted, which provoked Xan into Hasting the party as well. The bandits weren't a much of a threat, after all Haste won't convert a poor marksmen into a deadly sniper, but the Ogre Mages proved a tougher nut to crack. Branwen silenced two of them, reducing most of the battle to physical as opposed to arcane combat, but the Ogres were fairly good fighters too. One of them struck Quayle down, while Keiria got Charmed. Branwen, Xan and Shar-Teel had to alternate melee duties various times until the party finally overcame the monsters.
Several more bandits fell in the Peldvale area but it took the party another day before they would find the syndicate's actual camp. The companions approached it invisibly, thanks to Quayle who had learned to cast Invisibility 10' Radius. A first reconnaisance of the area taught the crew that the camp harbored circa twenty Chill Hobgoblins, ten Black Talons, another ten to fifteen bandits of non-descript appearance, and a handful of Gnolls. That was not counting any bandits in the seven tents that made up the camp. The companions then discussed strategy. It was agreed that Shar-Teel and Butch, bolstered with potions of defense and oils of speed, and keeping plenty of healing potions at hand, would reveal themselves and thin the bandits' outer ranks, preferably without being noticed. Keiria would follow them around, invisibly, inspiring them with her song (that had become almost indispensable to the party) and upsetting the bandits. The others stayed behind, invisible, but ready to cast their spells should the situation call for it.
Shar-Teel fought with her Sword of Rage, and Butch attacked with Bolts of Biting he had bought at Thalantyr's and in Beregost. The idea of sneakily thinning the bandits' ranks didn't really pan out. Soon an alarm bell sounded and the entire camp came after the two, including bandits that had been in the tents. Either way, with their buffs and protections the duo proved hard to hit, and whenever one of them did suffer a hit or two, they would quaff a healing potion. (This applied especially to Shar-Teel who, as a melee fighter, drew more aggression then Butch.) When they had slain a few of the bandits, the two noticed a heavily armored Black Talon commander amongst their many foes. The two isolated him and finished him off first,
I had mixed emotions regarding our assault on the bandit camp. On one hand it was a resounding success as Shar-Teel and I, backed only by Keiria's song, completely routed the entire camp of what must have been at least sixty bandits. It still sounds unreal when I think of it. On the other hand we did not find Tazok, we did not find whoever wanted me dead, and what we did find seemed as unlikely as it seemed worrying. Why would one of the most influential mercantile organizations in Faerun want me dead? And what am I expected to do against such a powerful institution?
I kept having sinister dreams, dreams in which some voice would criticize me, threaten me. I have no idea who this 'presence' was supposed to be, other than that it seemed to be male. When we rested at the Friendly Arm Inn, shortly after our destruction of the bandit camp, I had one in which a bone dagger flew in the dark until it struck a statue of myself. The statue cracked slightly, but the pain I felt was very real. "You were made as you are," taunted the voice, "and you can also be broken." I awoke with the power to cure afflictions (poisons, disease).
My life seems to be a big puzzle pf which I've barely managed to connect a few pieces.
Got out of Spellhold. Blueberry saves a Potion of Invulnerability by using her new Avoid Death HLA instead when a trap comes out of nowhere.
After setting sail for Athkatla, Blueberry tries to hide from the Githyanki and scurries across the boat to avoid them. But this interferes with the cutscene, and we end up stuck on the Githyanki's boat, waiting for a sailor to deliver the warning about our own ship breaking. But the sailor does not come.
I know he won't. I've had this problem before. We have to reload to resolve the issue, as otherwise the sailor won't say his line of dialog and the game will be broken completely.
The City of Caverns is very kind to us. Blueberry nails the Sahuagin Priestess with the Cloak of Mirroring using a Critical Strike-boosted backstab.
Oddly enough, because the Priestess never spoke to us, none of the other enemy Sahuagin ever attack us. Blueberry can run around the map making sushi left and right, and the Sahuagin will never react to her. Apparently killing the Priestess before she can speak breaks the script somehow.
We gather all the Sahuagin's loose equipment--I believe this is a Tactics change--and gather 38 Light Crossbows of Speed and 39 copies of the Spear +3, plus about 800 Paralytic Bolts and a few Bolts of Biting. Because the other priestess, the friendly one near Senityili in the northearn reaches of the map, buys items at inordinately high prices, Blueberry nets 240,000 gold (not a typo; 240,000 gold) by selling the crossbows and spears she took from the hostile Sahuagin.
Blueberry drinks a Potion of Insight to make sure she can solve the Spectator Beholder's chest anxieties, then kills Ixilthetocal and Villynaty with HLAs. Down to the Underdark.
The Greater Earth/Air/Fire Elementals die to (Greater) Deathblow from Blueberry's clones. She has just reached mage level 16 and can finally cast Simulacrum without Vhailor's Helm.
She can also cast Summon Fiend. Out of curiosity, we try using a summoned Glabrezu on the drow by the Imprisonment sphere thingy, and find that the drow don't fight back.
They just stand there and let the Glabrezu tear them apart. Another weird AI quirk. It has the unfortunate drawback of granting no XP on a successful kill, however, so it's not a perfect solution. Blueberry attacks to make sure she can get some XP out of the fight. It's an easy battle--we've got too many immunities for the enemy to pose a credible threat.
I decide to take on Alchra Diagott. It's a disappointing show.
The other imprisoned critters all die to backstabs. Blueberry doesn't even fight anybody. She just explodes them.
Deathblow on the Kuo-toa. Whirlwind Attack and Critical Strike on the Balor. More Deathblows on the drow ambush. Say hi to Adalon. Time Trap and Spike Trap on the Mind Flayers holding Imrae hostage, with a Mantle to ward off brain drain.
Boring stuff over! Now for something cool. Normally, I'd play things very conservatively around here, but I want to try something new. In the spare time we have before the Ust Natha missions get hectic, I decide to take on the Mind Flayer city.
As a test run, though. I don't need anything from the city, though there is some nice loot there; I just want to try out something new. I have a new plan for this place.
We stock up on a specific set of spells to make sure we can stay safe without having to rest: Blur, Spirit Armor, Stoneskin, Spell Immunity (for SI: Conjuration, to block psionic Maze), PFMW and Mantle to block brain drain, and Simulacrum, for extra castings of our HLAs, notably Greater Deathblow, which can wipe out a whole room of Mind Flayers if Blueberry's clone uses a flasher.
Blueberry is captured normally, and drinks two Potions of Stone Form to drop her save vs. spell down to -3. This means she is immune to the psionic Maze spell, which bypasses MR and spell protections but offers a save vs. spell at -4 to negate the effect, and counts as a Conjuration spell.
We wait until the first fight, then teleport onto the Mind Flayer platform above the coliseum.
The Mind Flayers don't mind her presence; the game assumes you can't get up there, and so there is no script or whatever to make them kill you, as they're supposed to be able to do, for getting too close to them.
Blueberry then teleports to the door to the Master Brain's room. Some Mind Flayers follow her, and step onto the trigger that opens the door--even hostile Mind Flayers can open the door for you, as long as they step on the trigger. Blueberry may proceed.
Blueberry teleports up to the Master Brain and activates Greater Whirlwind Attack, Assassination, and Critical Strike. I did the math and calculated that we could expect her to do 1200 damage on average within 6 second. That's three times as much as we actually need to bring down the Master Brain. It doesn't stand a chance.
I find that I still can't reach the eastern half of the map, as killing the Master Brain apparently doesn't unlock a certain door. So, we return to the coliseum and kill the Umber Hulks.
After they're gone, we are transported back to our cell. A couple of Mind Flayers follow us there--the other Mind Flayers who attacked us were focused on Blueberry's clone, whom we directed into a hall, out of the way--but Blueberry kills them before the next cutscene.
Finally, we speak to the Githyanki and agree to their plan. Blueberry teleports past the ogre when he opens the door, hoping to avoid the fight and skip right to the exit.
It doesn't stop him, though. He talks to us from across the room, and Blueberry is returned to the coliseum. Too impatient to fight the Kuo-toa, she opens the door and leaves.
Somehow I forgot the Mind Flayers kill you instantly if you try to leave early. It seems that Simyaz's opening dialogue in that fight, asking you to deal with the Kuo-toa while they handle the Mind Flayers, prevents that instant death thing from happening, which is why you can escape during that battle.
I try again, starting over from the beginning. This time, to simplify things, we just kill the Umber Hulks in the first fight, rather than skipping right head to the Master Brain. We also finish off the Kuo-toa. Only then do we repeat our plan, leading Mind Flayers to the door opening triggers, teleporting all the way to the Master Brain, and killing it with a string of HLAs. Blueberry gets her buffs dispelled at some point, so she has to drink a Potion of Magic Shielding before she deals the final blow to the Master Brain. From there, she can teleport all around the dungeon, picking up all of the nice loot, including the Control Circlets, and freeing the slaves, without fighting a single Mind Flayer.
But since this was a test run, we don't get any loot or XP, and have to reload the pre-Mind Flayer city save. To justify getting the loot and XP, I'd have to do a real run of the city, and if I make another mistake in there, the run would be over.
Still, I'm quite pleased with how this turned out. With Blueberry's high mobility, she can skip most of the Mind Flayer city, jumping right out of the coliseum and delivering a guaranteed fatal blow to the Master Brain itself.
Which makes me wonder: why didn't Blueberry just teleport out of her cage at the beginning of the game, and backstab Irenicus in his sleep?
The drow and their Glabrezus and Stone Golem put up more of a fight, but they almost all succumbed to a clone's flashers boosted by Power Attack+Critical Strike+Whirlwind Attack. Multiple HLAs in one round is really overpowered, but Blueberry really needs Critical Strike to overcome her horrible THAC0 (she had a 50% miss chance on Sahuagin when using TorGal's claw--her best weapon), and the flashers aren't much use without Whirlwind Attack. Once the enemy was disabled and dying in a Cloudkill spell, Blueberry could finish them off in safety.
Her labors completed, Blueberry lays down to rest. She destroys the Ust Natha questline in the process.
Poor sleepyhead. Phaere teleports in to kill her, and dies promptly. We send Kitty after Adalon, then flee Adalon's lair and then leave the Underdark. We already got all the equipment we want, though the XP loss is unfortunate.
Now for Bodhi. I don't bother with a Protection from Undead scroll. We have some new tools at this level. Notably, Horrid Wilting.
We also blind Tanova, but when Blueberry gets close, Tanova begins casting a Conjuration spell. I assume it's a Maze spell, and I only have a moment to respond to it.
The description for Minor Spell Deflection says it only applies to level 7 spells and below, which means Maze should bypass it. Blueberry therefore have no defenses against it, except for her MR. I try to have her drink a Potion of Magic Protection using the Wand of Lightning trick to guarantee a resisted spell, but she can't do it in time.
Luckily, it was actually a Glitterdust spell. Blueberry breaks down Tanova's remaining defenses and stuns her with Power Attack.
Wulfgar died, mostly due to poison damage from the Giant Rats' disease damage. Whatever. We stunned the vampires facing Drizzt with a clone's flashers.
The Guard went down with a Breach and a Power Attack.
Now for Bodhi. I've prepared tons of magic attacks to deal with Manasseh and Hazamaharmahorvath, but the main plan is to concentrate on Bodhi. Blueberry summons a clone right after she opens the door to Bodhi's room. The clone does a blitzkrieg attack on Bodhi with GWW, Critical Strike, and Assassination. Bodhi has no Stoneskins, just like the Master Brain. She is helpless.
Bodhi delivers her mid-battle dialog and heals herself. The clone keeps up the attack.
A Fledgling Vampire triggers a Time Trap laid the day before. Blueberry, suffering through a Cloud of Bats spell she didn't remember to buff against, and attacks Bodhi with the Firetooth dagger (not the crossbow, the dagger) until time returns to normal. Bodhi gets hit by a string of flying daggers all at once.
I almost never use fighter-type characters, so seeing big damage like this is very unusual for me.
After Bodhi falls, Manasseh and Hazzerbazzer vanish. The fight is over, and Blueberry takes another giant leap towards 9 million XP. I removed the XP cap, because I want to see Blueberry use Time Stop.
First, choke points.
No reason to get whacked in the face by a 30-foot Iron Golem if you can fight it safely from afar.
Power Attack on the Rakshasas. Backstab Ramilaat. Hit 9 million XP.
Now Blueberry can cast level 9 spells, and I gave her a Summon Planetar spell in Shadowkeeper. But I want to try and kill Nizidramanii'yt without level 9 spells or the Planetar. I decide to try something else, another test run, and if it doesn't work, I'll just eat his brains during Time Stop. Blueberry prepares her buffs (enemies have been pre-buffing lately, despite my install not having changed), including a single scroll of Protection from Acid.
With careful timing of her spells to make sure they're not interrupted, Blueberry lowers Nizidramanii'yt's magic resistance with three castings of Lower Resistance, then hits him with Maze.
Blueberry and her clone lay four Spike Traps and four Time Traps between the two of them.
Time stops. Whirlwind Attack to break through Stoneskins. We choose Flail of Ages so it'll deal an extra 20 fire and cold damage in the process, even though we have no pips in flails--the THAC0 is irrelevant because of Time Trap, and the base damage is irrelevant because of Stoneskin. Blueberry's clone also attacks during Time Stop. The second Time Trap expires (there were supposed to be four, but we only got 20 seconds of stopped time), and the Spike Traps come into play.
The dragon survives. It buffets Blueberry and chases after her.
Blueberry's clone teleports in to help out, having been blown back by Wing Buffet. They activate Greater Whirlwind Attack and Critical Strike. That's 20 guaranteed hits in 6 seconds.
Next up, Suneer.
Suneer gets a Time Stop off the ground before Blueberry does. I think Blueberry has a -3 penalty to casting speed due to some mistake I made in Shadowkeeper, when she should have only -2. This would explain why her Magic Missiles have been casting at a speed of 1 instead of 0: with the Amulet of Power, and the Robe of Vecna nerfed to a +2 bonus to casting speed, Blueberry should cast Magic Missile instantly, and her Time Stop should come out faster than Suneer's. Either way, the first Time Stop isn't too bad, mostly involving Suneer's defenses.
Right before Suneer finishes his second Time Stop, Blueberry's kicks in. She hits him with a stream of debuffers. Then Suneer finishes casting his second Time Stop spell, and regains control of time.
He casts Improved Alacrity and summons a Fallen Planetar, but Blueberry casts PFMW, takes control of time, and slays it before it can cause any trouble.
None of Blueberry's debuffing spells have any effect on Suneer. He had Spell Shield, SI: Abjuration, and Spell Turning or Deflection. Blueberry used Ruby Ray, then Khelben's Warding Whip, then Pierce Magic, then Breach. She even spaced the Breach spell so it would hit after the other ones did.
In any case, it didn't matter. Blueberry concentrated on the other enemies and waited out Suneer's buffs. Eventually, Blueberry's own Planetar did him in.
There are two battles left. Irenicus at the Tree of Life, and Irenicus in the Nine Hells.
Blueberry stocks up on debuffers, lots of them, and lays down all her traps at Jon's feet: two Spike Traps, two Time Traps, and three spider snares. I move one of the Time Traps out of Jon's sight. because I've gotten stuck in the past with enemy mages who repeatedly pre-cast Stoneskin during Blueberry's Time Traps and render themselves invincible to physical damage.
Turns out Irenicus is not immune to web.
I've found in the past that he's also not immune to Power Attack--that works perfectly fine, too. Anyway, he's already at Near Death, but just for good measure, we remove his Stoneskins with Whirlwind Attack and then stab him a few times with TorGal's claw. Sure enough, he gives his dying line and we end up in Hell.
HLAs on Sarevok. No story there. Because I haven't gotten tired of the trick yet, I decide to stack the Hell bonuses on Blueberry, giving her duplicate bonuses from the saving throw reward. I accidentally give her a WIS and CHA boost, too, though, which is useless to Blueberry.
Either way, it doesn't make any difference. It seems when I uninstalled the Tactics-style final battle in Hell, hoping to try instead the standard SCS2 vanilla fight... it didn't actually uninstall.
That's the standard Tactics lineup: the Ring Wraith, a Sarevok clone with a Protection from Magic scroll and a Strength-draining sword; the Scary Ball, a Beholder with only one eyeball ray because Anti-Magic Rays are totally underpowered; Gram the Sword of Greed, which you can only kill with magic damage because strategy is when you can't just punch it to death; a clone of Thaxll'ssillyia, but without a cool name; and finally Jon-bon himself, who I think casts Magic Missile or something. And if the difficulty is set to Insane, then there are also little bitty Wraiths, and also Liches, and maybe some other random critters summoned by Jon-bon's multifaceted personality.
Normally this fight begins with you losing all of your buffs due to an Illusion spell called Shatter Magic, which is Dispel Magic but it always works. Then you reload, cast SI: Illusion to make sure you keep some of your buffs, and take the enemies down one by one: Horrid Wilting on the Grim Sword of Grief, then Whirlwind Attack on the Scary Balls, then Whirlwind Attack on Sarevok or Bhaal or the Whiny Wraith or whatever its name is, then Whirlwind Attack on Thaxll'ssillyia. Then you chase Jon-bon around the room for 30-40 rounds, break through his buffs, and whomp him with, say, Whirlwind Attack.
Then Jon-bon dies, but he's still alive, so he comes back, turns into the Slayer, disables all your friends, takes all of your clothes, and then tells you it's only fair if he fights you one on one. So you cast Protection from Magic Weapons, run up to your items, then kill him with, say, Whirlwind Attack.
Then he dies, but he's not dead, so he comes back and starts casting spells infinitely with a permanent Improved Alacrity. So you chase him around the room for another 30-40 rounds, struggling to deal damage to him while he doesn't actually do much of anything to you, but he always teleports away and heals himself when he gets hurt, because mages cast cleric spells, too, when they feel like it. So you lay a Spike Trap at one of his spawning points, wait until he teleports onto it, and then he explodes off-screen and the battle is over.
But I don't wanna do that again. I just want to kill him and be done with it. So, to make sure the Tactics fight is really uninstalled this time, I uninstall SCS2. Then I reinstall it.
But there's an error message. I can't re-install it. The "initialize" thingy won't work. I've seen this before, and usually I can fix it with a clean install.
But I don't have the SoA CD, so I can't do that. I load up BG2 again, try the final battle, and find that the Scary Ball and the other critters are still there. So they're still there even without SCS2 or Tactics installed. I spawn in HELLJON.cre with the console, but he won't say or do anything, and he won't die or trigger an ending dialogue if I eat his brains. So I can't fight the battle I want to--all I've got is the ludicrously unbalanced Tactics version, which is really more designed for 5, 6, or 7-member parties of epic-level Berserker/Mages, Kensai/Wild Mage/Swashbucklers, Monk/Sorcerers, Cleric of Lathander/Skalds, Bounty Hunter/Shadow Dancer/Thief/Mages, and Mystic Theurge Warlock Druid Mind Flayers dual-classed to Beholders.
So now I have to figure out how to deal with the end of the game without being able to play the fight Blueberry is equipped to win.
But I want to have some sort of ending for Blueberry, so here it is.
Before opening the door to Irenicus, Blueberry casts Stoneskin, PFMW, SI: Necromancy, and prepares a triple Power Word: Chain Contingency Spell Sequencer. After laying several Exploding Traps in the center of the map, she activates Hardiness to make sure nobody breaks through her Stoneskin spells until the first turn is over. Finally, she lays the last Tear of Bhaal on the door, and after several painful knock-knock jokes and much dilly-dallying, Jon-bon finally emerges from his hidey-hole.
Irenicus: "So, we are to battle one last time. No more hiding for either of us. I will enjoy destroying you, Blueberry. To die in this place is to cease to exist!"
Blueberry: "Are you sure you wouldn't rather just give me my soul back? It'd be really nice of you."
Irenicus: "Your soul was never truly yours, Bhaal child! You should let me put it to better use!"
Blueberry: "What if I give you a cookie? It's a little old, but I've already taken a bite, so I know it's good."
Irenicus: "You will not be so calm when I doom you to non-existence!"
Irenicus casts Breach, removing Blueberry's spell protections, and summons a Fallen Planetar via a Contingency spell. Blueberry responds with Power Word: Silence, preventing Irenicus from negotiating his Wish spell with the Fallen Planetar. Instead, the Fallen Planetar goes toe-to-toe with Kitty, and Irenicus resorts to Energy Blades, trying to break through Blueberry's Hardiness spell, but her magic resistance blocks the electricity damage, and she makes her save against most of the physical damage. While weathering Irenicus' assault, Blueberry struggles to cast spells under pressure. She gets a Blur spell off the ground, but her Spirit Armor spell is blocked by her own SI: Necromancy spell, which was removed moments earlier by Irenicus' Breach.
Shorn of his Energy Blades, Jon-bon casts Tenser's Transformation and closes in for melee combat, showing off lots of kickass kung-fu moves, but Blueberry activates her Expertise Feat and counters his pitiful two arms with her many spider legs. She fails on a Disarm check, so she switches back to her magic, activating her Spell Sequencer to cast three Chain Contingency spells at once--a classic move for BG2 veterans. She chooses a defensive lineup: Reflected Image, Mantle, Mirror Image, Barkskins, Minor Spell Trap, Protection from Magical Missiles, Protection from Undead, a pre-cast Call Woodland Fiends, and a Minor Globe of Invincibility+Spell Turning+Protection from Prettyfication Spell Trigger to ward off her Nymph's upcoming Nature's Beauty spell.
Meanwhile, Kitty has nailed the Fallen Planetar with a maximized Web Tangle spell (Kitty gets metamagic feats if you give her a few levels in Geomantic Sorcerer), suffering only minor cuts in the process. This is a perfect setup for Blueberry's Nymph, who casts Nature's Booty on the first round she comes out, using a Staff of Striking as a focus for the spell. Inspired by the Nymph's pole-dancing, and still tightly bound by Kitty's silky ropes, the Fallen Planetar fails its save against Kitty's seduction roll, and the Fallen Planetar is successfully neutralized. Kitty starts a grapple, aided by the Nymph, and between the two of them, they manage to organize an impromptu S&M scene. Fallen Planetars make excellent subs--their one weakness relative to normal Planetars.
With the Fallen Planetar occupied and her defenses raised, Blueberry regains the advantage, only for Irenicus to cast a Warding Whip on her. Not all of her specific protections get lowered, but Blueberry has a history with whips dating back to an old foray into the crypts beneath the Graveyard District, and she can't help herself: she has to get involved in the threesome nearby. While the scene unfolds, Irenicus waits until all of Blueberry's buffs have worn off except for PFMW, though he is too spellbound to take offensive action.
When the scene is over and the Fallen Planetar is unsummoned, Irenicus takes control of the nymph--he has his own history with them, and his own share of tricks--and keeps Kitty occupied with the charmed Nymph, though Blueberry regains her senses and returns to the fight.
Irenicus begins casting Time Stop, but Blueberry interrupts it with another Power Word: Silence spell. Irenicus makes use of his Monk levels, but this time, Blueberry's Disarm is successful, and Irenicus' hands fall to the floor. She stuffs one of the hands into her "Bag of Holding," but Irenicus manages to pick up the other hand.
Sensing his disadvantage, Irenicus tries to run, but Blueberry phases after him, dogging after him like the spider she is. Finally Irenicus realizes his mistake, and casts Polymorph Self, turning into a Sword Spider to even the odds. I'll spare the reader the details (some people are squeamish about spiderotica for some reason) but when the spell wears off, both are sluggish and weary, having expended most of their spells. Kitty, too, is beat, in more ways than one, and even the Nymph can only last so long.
They spend a moment catching their breath. Irenicus has returned to normal form and is left with only one hand--he already expended all of his Mage Hand spells, and Blueberry is still in tight control of the hand she disarmed, among several other Mage Hands that Irenicus lost in various dark and wonderful places. They spend a moment reminiscing about Chateau Irenicus, and after sharing the abovementioned cookie Blueberry had been saving for a special occasion, they recover enough to fight again.
Irenicus activates his Spell Trigger, summoning a group of Lesser Hobgoblins, shielding himself with an Armor spell, and disabling Blueberry with a Power Word: Stun spell. Helpless, dazed, and surrounded by Hobgoblin thugs, Blueberry has painful flashbacks to her attempts to fit in with the Chill at the bandit camp by the Beregost copper mines. Kitty and the Nymph lurch forward, still exhausted, to defend Blueberry from the gang, and for a moment, they are successful. But Irenicus realizes he has a better option: he banishes the whole group with a Death Spell and takes the opportunity to recover his hand from Blueberry's Bag of Holding. He also filches Vhailor's Helm from the real Bag of Holding, and promptly summons a Simulacrum.
Blueberry suddenly recovers from the stun effect, and she manages to Dominate the simulacrum before it can take action. Irenicus casts Chaos, confusing his clone, but Blueberry is unharmed, still protected by the Shield of Harmony strapped to her back. Blueberry fires her own Chaos spell, from a scroll, and Irenicus fails his save, but not before trapping Blueberry in a Resilient Sphere spell. For the next 10 rounds, Blueberry can do nothing but sit down and watch Irenicus wrestle with his clone.
After a full turn of homoerotic clone play, Irenicus regains his senses, and is faced with the same set of eight legs that stymied his efforts many rounds before. To regain the upper hand, he turns into the Slayer, sprouting extra arms in the hope of pinning down Blueberry and her many crazy legs. But Blueberry has the same power, and enjoys an even greater benefit from the Slayer form: as a Spider Slayer, Blueberry gains 48 separate limbs, and wrestles Jon-bon to the ground, though she still fails 48 Disarm checks in a row (just bad luck, really), and Irenicus holds on to his hands.
But as a mage with nearly 18 Intelligence, Irenicus has a backup plan. He activates a triple Spider Spawn Minor Sequencer, and the resulting Sword Spiders tackle Blueberry--Blueberry hasn't had this much attention since her date with Rose Bouquet at the tanner house. If you've ever seen a nice pair of legs, just imagine 78 sexy legs in one tangled mass--the spectacle is overwhelming.
As if that wasn't enough, Blueberry casts Mirror Image from a scroll, trying to confuse the Sword Spiders and get a handle on Irenicus. Over 300 Slayer legs in one big pile, even if many of them were illusory. Wow. I'd attach a screenshot, but I'm not sure it's wise... I always have a bucket of ice water around to cool myself down (thank goodness for that), but I'm sure some of you don't take these sorts of precautions for when you're roleplaying as spiders. I'd hate for you guys to get heat stroke... and there's always the chance somebody might see what's on your monitor, and start coming on to you, thinking they've found a fellow arachnophile. My friend is an arachnologist and she gets hundreds of love letters whenever she publishes any of her research. She tried saying she was a black widow to try and scare them off, but it just seemed to encourage them (turns out that's a very popular fantasy).
Where was I? Oh, yes, the details. Blueberry, sensing the battle was not going her way, teleports out of the spider pile and hides in the corner until the beefy Sword Spiders despawn and her heart rate returns to normal. Irenicus and Blueberry both return to their natural forms--she still has the numerical advantage in legs.
Irenicus grows desperate. He casts Maze and Power Word: Spell, but Blueberry makes both her saves, courtesy of a Potion of Clarity. Blueberry also drank a Potion of Freedom for immunity to stun, thinking Irenicus might try a Symbol: Stun spell, but I belatedly realize that as a Diviner, Irenicus can't cast Conjuration spells. Instead, he tries his hand at some Enchantment magic, throwing out Glitterdust and Power Word: Blind spells to try and put Blueberry to sleep. After weathering three such spells, Blueberry makes a Spellcraft check and realizes the next one might well succeed--her Potion of Clarity has worn off, and with it, her save vs. spell is at a pathetic -3. She phases into a faraway corner and drinks a Potion of Invisibility for safety's sake, and sure enough, she fails her save, falling asleep for several rounds while Irenicus tries to find her. Luckily for her, Dragon Disciples can't cast True Seeing--Irenicus has to search for her without the aid of magic.
By the time Blueberry awakens, Irenicus' Globe of Invulnerability has worn off--and Blueberry can sense it. Her opportunity has come. She finally makes use of her thieving abilities, hiding in shadows, creeping out of her own little hidey-hole, and sneaking up on her adversary.
Now that Irenicus' MGOI is down and he is vulnerable to level 6 spells, he can be taken down with a single HLA. But his Mantle is still active, and so we need a nonmagical weapon. But Blueberry's natural weapon strikes as a +3 weapon now, and there is only one nonmagical weapon on the map: Irenicus' hands.
But her Disarm checks have been failing consistently--she needs to disable Irenicus first. So she switches to the Pixie Prick, casts Greater Malison, hits Irenicus with the Answerer to lower his saves even further, and finally backstabs him with the Pixie Prick +3. Miraculously, Irenicus fails his save and is rendered helpless, snoozing peacefully on the grounds of Hell.
Blueberry's Disarm check automatically succeeds. She steals Irenicus' hands, activates Greater Deathblow, and slays the level 13 Illusionist with a double damage backstab, killing Irenicus with his own hands.
Blueberry recovers her soul from the fallen mage, and awakens from the Five Hells in a soft bed in Shuldashashaller, where Princess Ellesime greets her with breakfast in bed, including a plate of warm cookies and cold milk. Ellesime thanks Blueberry for saving Shabashasher and rewards her with a sizable harem of hot spiders they had captured from the invading drow armies. Relieved of her duties and restored of her soul, Blueberry is free to spend a long, hard-won vacation in the city of Shubbasher, getting backrubs from hot elven dudes, giving rides to, and/or feasting upon, the local children, and rolling in the hay with her newfound harem of sexy Sword Spiders.